#//what happens when you let grimm get manic?

[down-in-devildom]

if You don’t mind, could you do a therapist MC who diagnosed Mammon with ADHD, BPD, and major depressive disorder? I happen to enjoy projecting onto mammon and I wonder how the brothers would react. if you feel like you wouldn’t be able to do a certain disorder justice you can skip it.

First and foremost, I would like to say that I needed to do a lot of research in order to touch on this prompt and even then, I am not an expert. Please understand that my portrayal of Mammon’s behavior and diagnosis is based on limited research and some personal experience (with ADHD and general anxiety). I will be sure to link any resource videos I used for my education below. My primary focus will be on the ADHA, BPD, and I substituted major depressive disorder with some signs of bipolar disorder. Doing 3 and 3 for now and will link part 2 with it is completed. Thank you so much for the request and the challenge! 

Mammon with ADHD, BPD, and possible Bipolar Disorder feat. Lucifer, Mammon, and Satan

Lucifer

Lucifer was not a demon to have immediately thought that someone like Mammon may have had an outside force that was causing his erratic behavior. He just assumed that Mammon was unable to pay attention for very long on anything outside of planning get-rich-quick schemes and MC. Lucifer felt like maybe the diagnostic was incorrect. The second brother was just hyper, not hyperactive

It was only a few days after Mammon talked about possibly having the mental disorders in the brothers’ group chat, and asking them if they knew anything about it, Lucifer felt compelled to do his own research. It only took a bit of snooping in Satan’s room to find a few psychology books that may be of use to him.

When Lucifer really sat down to read about ADHD, he was not really surprised with what he found. He knew what it was, just not all of the nuances of it. He then started to think of instances where Mammon would seemingly just keep talking regardless of whether there was anything to be said. Mammon’s speech would get progressively faster and faster, almost like he was running out of time to talk about why, exactly, hellfire cup noodles were the perfect dinner. He would then just randomly stop sometimes in the middle of the sentence as if he had completed his last thought and either look at Lucifer expecting some kind of response or would walk away like the conversation was over.

Lucifer did not feel the need to do additional research for the moment, he had paperwork to get done for Lord Diavolo, after all, but he did try to show a little bit more leniency towards Mammon and his meaningless ramblings. Lucifer does not let up on his punishments, per say, they were just as cruel as usual, he just did not feel the need to hang Mammon by the rafters whenever he felt the need to waste Lucifer’s time talking about Goldie having the perfect ratio of metallic shine and rich color.  

Mammon

Mammon did not accept what MC said what he may have at first. He could kind of get the ADHD part of it, that was just having a lot of energy, right? But the more he learned about it, the more he understood his supposedly impulsive behavior. 

He talked a few things out with MC and really tried to reflect on his behavior. The term that MC used to describe his endless energy was almost manic and the stigmatized word scared him. Manic made him seem crazy. MC then had to explain that real mania was more of a bipolar disorder trait, and not what they were describing and still not something to fear. When MC talked more about his money schemes and seemingly sudden life alternating plans, he kinda understood a bit more.

There was a certain point in time when Mammon was convinced that he could become the owner of a club that was a thousand times more popular than The Fall and rake in massive amounts of Grimm. He spent a massive amount of his brothers’ money on buying furniture and alcohol and marketing even before he secured a building. The idea wouldn’t leave his mind but evaporated in a day or so. It wasn’t even like he took the time to research how to open a club in the Devildom, he just assumed that he could do anything in the moment and nothing would stop him. Unfortunately, Lucifer did stop him when Mammon’s new furniture collection started to pour out into the hallways of HoL.

Mammon wasn’t all that sure what he could do to maybe help manage his symptoms. MC suggested stimulants to see if he can see a change in his ability to control his impulsiveness. He had to think about it for a bit though. He did not really like that his “manic-like” episodes were impeding on his ability to enjoy his life but he did figure it may have an impact on the people close to him. He is glad to have MC around to help him with this new journey to better managing his mental health.

Satan

Satan was acquainted to some extent with a variety of mental disorders and have thought about a few possible diagnostics for several of his brothers. When Mammon told everybody about his comorbid diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and ADHD, Satan was very interested in talking to MC to find out a bit more information about the conditions. 

Satan was intrigued by how BPD was able to impact how Mammon approached his relationships. The impulsiveness was something that could be attributed to the ADHD, but his seemingly unnatural, wholehearted devotion and idealization of MC shortly after they arrived was something he could now see in perspective. Call him a cynic, but Satan thinks Mammon attached themselves to MC a little too fast.

When MC was assigned to be in Mammon’s care, Satan was very quick to notice that his tune changed relatively quickly after just a few days. Mind you, MC really was a great and outstanding person and it was no wonder that the brothers all came to like them as much as they did. However, this was the first time in centuries that Mammon met a human that wasn’t after some sort of advancement in life, so his suspicions should have been high. Next thing Satan was aware of, Mammon was practically walking on Mc’s heels trying to please them or expecting MC to do almost impossible feats just because they stood up to Lucifer for him once. Impressive, yes, but not worth the stars in Mammon’s eyes.

Satan was also aware that there was a major possibility that Mammon would experience the flip side of the idealization and assume that MC was the worst person in existence. It hasn’t happened yet, but Satan keeps an eye on Mammon. Maybe just because demons have a different internal rhythm than humans, this switching between love and hate hasn’t happened nor will it happen. Either way, Satan found comfort in knowing just a bit more about his brother.

------

So, mania is defined as symptoms lasting for more than two weeks. Wanted to clear that up as to why it was manic-like and not mania. This is where the bipolar disorder hinting came into play. Resources below. Thank you for reading and hopefully part 2 will be out soon! -Leo

Bipolar Disorder Vs Borderline Personality Disorder

ADHD Vs Bipolar Disorder

Anxiety vs Mania

[heliosthegriffin]

A blade should be sharp at all times

Marrows up to the group, his tail wagging ecstatically behind him: You guys want to play a prank on Juan?

Ren and Nora’s eyes narrow, but they say nothing.

Flynt, Cobalt, Ivory, Neon, Yang and Elm all look at him with obvious interest.

Harriet snorts dismissively: Why would I want to bother the new meat? He’s got enough problems as it is.

Winter nods her head in agreement.

Marrow’s tail stops wagging, as he looks offended: Because it would be funny!

Harriet rolls her eyes and walks away.

Marrow: Fine, be that way!

He turns back to the more interested members of the room: So, what about you guys? Wanna hear it?

Ren says nothing and Nora motions for him to continue: Depends on what the prank is?

Yang nods along: Yeah, Xiao-Long as it’s nothing too mean to Milf-Magnet.

The rest of the room groans; while Yang absorbs the life-force they’ve lost to her pun.

Marrow smiles and continues: It’s nothing too out there, it’s just an old Atlas military tradition, to see how prepared a recruit is for field work.

Ren rubs his chin: I don’t know, Jaune and the rest of us have spent pretty of time in the field, he hardly ever leaves his armor, or his weapons besides when he cleans himself.

Marrows smile widens: That’s the idea!

Ren’s eyes widen in disbelief: You’re going to prank him in the showers?

Marrow doesn’t say a thing but his tail wags faster.

Ren groans and hold his face.

Nora though...

Her face splits into a manic grin as she starts cackling wildly, falling onto her back as she laughs so hard.

Ren shakes his head in leaves.

Marrow points his hand at Ren: STAY!

Ren freezes in place.

Marrow a little sheepishly: Uh, can’t have you spoiling the surpise, sorry.

Nora still keeps on laughing.

Ren’s pink eyes sparkle briefly, then a magenta pulse of aura breaks Marrows hold on him.

Marrows eyes widen in disbelief.

Ren rolls his neck and scowls at Marrow: Believe it or not, having strong aura control is just as important as a strong semblance.

Marrow falls to his knees, his tail desperately waving behind him: Please, please, don’t tell Joanna!

Ren shakes his head and leaves.

Nora: Don’t worry, he won’t say a thing or do anything, in fact, neither will I. Have fun kids.

Nora then follows Ren out.

The room goes silent.

Yang: Well, that’s ominous.

She then notices Winter is still in the room.

Yang: Why are you still here?

Winter huffs: To make sure you all don’t go too far with your ‘Prank’. I will observe and intervene should you all go to far.

Marrow cheers: Yay! Alright, everyone here is how it’ll work. Flynt, Ivory, and Cobalt, you three will being most of the legwork. Cobalt and Ivory, find Jaune and tell him he’s got special permission to use the Specialist private bathrooms, Flynt I want you to hide in the bathroom and use your semblance to make it seem like we’re under attack to scare him out.

Marrow takes a breath and turns to Neon, Yang and Elm: Here’s you girls is part, to really sell it I want you all to make sound noises and make it seem like you’re fighting, then when Joe runs out from the showers I’ll make his freeze, then you girls can throw cold water on him! He’ll be so embarrassed!

Ivory and Cobalt shrug, though Flynt, Neon and Yang seem a little put off.

Neon: I don’t know, seem a little mean spirited.

Flynt: Yeah, we’re not best friends and all, but I don’t want to embarrest the guy.

Yang scratches her chin: It doesn’t seem very, cool thing to do to a friend.

Elm though looked excited: Don’t worry! This is nothing, what’s a little nudity between comrades! If you’re out in the field and not prepared to fight at anytime, even naked, or if you get embarrassed by your comrades seeming you nude, you’re not cut out for being a Hunter. Hell, all of the Ace-Ops have done it. Even Winter!

The sound of a sword leaving it’s sheath rang out.

Winter says says menacingly. I made you promise to never speak of it again, all of you.

Elm: Oops.

Marrow waves them off: Whatever! Anyway this is just a rite of passage in Atlas, come on guys it’ll be a laugh.

The group thinks it over and eventually complies.

Marrow: Alright! Lets get this show on the road!

--------

Ivory and Cobalt escort Jaune through the halls.

Jaune: Wow, Gen. Ironwood really said I could use the Specialist Showers? That’s really kind of him!

Ivory nods and smiles: Gen. Ironwood always takes care of his own.

Cobalt taps Jaune’s shoulder and gives him a approving look. 

Cobalt: Deserve it, hard training and self-improvement are their own reward. But, Top Brass notice.

Jaune’s cheek glow slightly, a slight smile forming: Thanks, It really hard sometime, you know, to be able to see that I’ve improved, heh, no matter how much I feel like i’ve grown, I still feel like a waste of space and a burden on my team.

The group comes to a stop, Ivory and Cobalt looking slightly uncomfortable now.

Jaune turns around flashing them a pleasant grin, “Well, thanks guys. I’ll make sure to tell the General thanks, and that I won’t disappoint his trust for giving me a chance to be Huntsman.

Ivory and Cobalt say nothing and nod.

Jaune then enters the private bathroom.

Cobalt and Ivory look at each other.

Ivory: Are we the baddies?

Cobolt: Yes, but better him, than us.

Ivory sighs and taps his wrist, a small ringing occurs.

Ivory: The target is in position.

-------

Jaune walks through the state of the art bathroom humming a pleasent tune, completely unaware of the watching eyes on him.

He goes into a stall and undresses, the prying eyes losing sight of him.

Jaune then leaves the stall a towel wrapped around his waist and goes the hi-tech showers, another towel bundled in his arms.

Flynt watches Jaune enter the shower stall and sighs deeply, he liked Jaune, he really did, a decent guy all-around. But, if it kept others from seeing’s Flynt’s birthmark for another day, he would do what must be done.

He used his semblance, dividing himself into four copies of himself and then took off running inbetween the stalls.

Flynt x4: We’re under attack!

As Flynt came to the end of the room, he was not prepared for what happened next.

--------

Neon and Yang sparred with Elm in the changing room, where Jaune would have to enter to get dressed, trying to create as authenity as possible combat sounds.

Elm grabbed Yangs right hook and swung her into Neon.

Elm smiles: Got to be quicker than that.

Yang and Neon got off of each other and squared up for round two.

Marrow whispered yelled at them: It’s time! Get into postion, I just heard Flynt.

The girls and Elm nodded picking up bucket of ice-water while Marrow got ready to freeze Jaune. With Marrow having to stop himself from cracking up at the thought of Jaun’s expression.

Yang looked slightly recluntant, but the idea of a good prank won out.

Winter sighed in the corner ready to stop the prank if it goes to far, and hopefully preserve some decency.

The wall to the showers exploded out towards them, a spray of dust and stone and metal sharpnel covering the room, as heavy wet foot steps ran towards them as bellowing war howl echoed out from the destroyed room.

A figure running through the cloud of dust glowing a faint golden white, carrying a mechashifted sword in two hands over his head, the blade glowing blue from the hardlight dust along with gravity dust purple in the middle.

Jaune then leaps out of the dust howling: Just try and take them from me again you bastards! I’ll split you in twain, I’ll break you over my knees and slay you! I won’t let you take them from me again!

The group stands dazed as Jaune runs straight through them and through a wall, completely naked, his towel being shredding into binding that tied his meaty tube of a cock to his lower-thigh, while holding his sword overhead before slashing in front of him creating a hole for him to jump out into the campus.

A blush creeps up the faces of those present.

Marrow burst out laughing: That was amazing! Did anyone, get a picture?

Elm falls to her knees: I think I’m in love?

Neon shake her head sadly: No, I was too... Mesmerized.

Yang: So that’s why he wears two belts.

Winter...

Winter has disappeered.

------

Later that evening....

Atlas Reporter: A well-known Huntsman known as Jaune Arc has gone on a murderous Grimm-Hunting rampage all while streaking! What will those crazy kids think of next! Next on the block, pregnancy rates in Mantle having been climbing by over 750% over the last six hours, is this related to the previous new? The Answer may surprise you.

Ren flicks the Scroll-Box closed.

He then rests his head on Nora’s shoulder. 

Ren: Yep, it happened again.

Nora: We did nothign to stop it.

Ren: We could have warned them... But, better they learn first hand.

Nora: You did it because you thought it was funny, don’t you dare lie to me.

Ren smiles as he opens the scroll so that Nora can see, the Scroll showing a madly blushing Winter chasing after Jaune in a Bullhead, providing both aerial support, and firing t-shirt and boxer shorts at him, while he rampages through a horde of Grimm.

Ren smirking and pulling Nora close: You know me too well.

[four-letter-girl]

InuKag Fanfic Recommendations

Hi everyone 🌻

I joined the Inuyasha fandom over the summer, and I’ve been having a good time reading fanfiction since finishing the series. Recommendation posts helped me find some great ones. I’ve decided to put one together for fun [lmao for all 10 of my followers - squad]. These are fics I’ve enjoyed [i.e. binged and used as COVID coping mechanisms]. They aren’t in any particular order. I’m sure there are plenty I’ve read that I’m forgetting, but I wasn’t exactly planning to do this.

I’m copy and pasting the summaries from the writers with each link because that’s more helpful than my fangirl thoughts about each one. Ha. I’ve included ratings, but this list is being made with the assumption you’ll determine if a fic is right for you by reading Author Notes and additional ratings within each link.

I tagged the Tumblrs of the authors I follow/could find. If you see someone on here who isn’t tagged and you know their Tumblr, let me know and I can add them. Also, I’ve been using Tumblr less than a month, and I have no idea what I’m doing. If I’ve done something wrong or something looks weird, THAT’S WHY. 💀

As of 11.22.20

Multi-Chapter In Progress:

(T) Light Me a Lantern by Novaviis / @inuyashasforest: “Picking up the pieces after being separated for three years isn't as easy as it may seem. A quiet, burning kind of chaos sweeps through Feudal Japan, and it's going to take a lot more than a fairy tale ending to put things back together. They defeated a man who would become the Devil. Can they survive a man who would become a God?”

(M) Behind the Silk Screen by Eiennobasho / @eien-no-basho: “When a twist of fate brings the common-born priestess Kagome to serve Inuyasha, Divine Emperor of Japan, will she be able to help him claim his place on the throne and bring order to their country? Or will court intrigues and their own burgeoning feelings tear the two and their nation apart? A historical romance set in Japan’s Heian Era.”

(M) Fate Carving by willowandfog / @willowandfog: “The human world has been brought to its knees by the demons, reverting their culture back a century. Demons now control everything and the humans? Set to be servants forever. Kagome’s city is ruled over by the Inu youkai clan and when she goes to Kaede on her 18th birthday for her required “Fate Carving,” the tattoo that will determine what her place is in the world, she’s stunned, terrified, and overwhelmed by the results. Everyone she’s ever known has been a worker, but when has Kagome ever been the same as everyone else?” (M) Kintsugi by Evilillusions / @soliska: “Failing to be chosen as her village's miko, Kagome had resigned herself to a humble life. An unexpected summons returns her to the city where she's forced to reconcile the taught virtues and the spiralling, warped reality created by those that abuse their power. She holds the key to repairing the fracture between humans and youkai, and the freedom of her new hanyou friend.” (M) Bound Across Time by wonderwander / @thornedraven: “InuYasha and Kagome are separated for three years, travelling for so long together only to be ripped apart without so much as a good-bye. Pain and heartache manifests itself in different ways. It hardens you or breaks you. How long can one hold on to hope?” (M) The Half-Breed’s Wife by Gypsyn / @gypsin: “On the night of the new moon, a runaway girl stumbles into Inuyasha's life. Little did he realize then what he would be undertaking by saving her. But when Kagome has nowhere else to go will he leave her to her fate Or will he rise to the occasion? And what will the humans think?” (M) Hit The Like Button by omgitscharlie / @omgitscharlie: “After a public breakup, successful social media influencer Kagome Higurashi is single for the first time since she started her career. Trying to cheer her friend up, Sango hosts a party in hopes of getting Kagome out of her stooper; unbeknownst to her, there was a certain person Sango wants her to meet. Unfortunately, the set up does not go as hoped as the two know each other from previous, unsavory interactions.” (M) Youkai In The Mirror by SugarRos / @sugarrosfanfiction: “Kagome Higurashi is lucky. She has good grades, good friends, and the cute, popular boy in class just asked her out. But when she accidentally unleashes a very wicked youkai from a very wicked spell, her luck runs out. Now on the run from a powerful priestess, Kagome must help Inuyasha get his revenge.” (M) Demon Nature by Shardetector / @shardetector: “He spoke low and gently, although his voice was gruff with his demon still so close to the surface, ‘You saved me wench, now I’ll repay the favor.’ With that, his muscles bunched in his legs as he sprung up and out of the well, a red blur in the night as he made his way through the forest to his destination. His precious cargo held safely to his chest, as he raced to save her with his demonic speed.”

(M) A Crack in the Glass by willowandfog / @willowandfog: “Kagome’s being watched, followed, but has no idea who it is or why they are doing it. When Kagome hires the help of a private investigator things take a dangerous turn. Uncovering secrets that Kagome didn't even know she had.” (M) The Shogun’s Daughter by Shnuggletea / @shnuggletea: “Kagome’s father passed away when she was just a child but his Shogun status still makes her a valuable bride to a Lord of lands that border their village. She isn’t given much choice but still agrees to marry the stranger so those she cares and loves would be happy and safe, taking her village under his protection in return for her hand. Lord Inuyasha Tenoe is pushed by the council into marriage, assured his new bride was an excellent choice. He has his doubts but has no choice, agreeing to the match sight unseen. All their fears and anxiety are amplified when they meet. It’s an interesting coupling to say the least.”

Multi-Chapter Complete:

(M) The Kings Concubines by The ReddQueen: “The Concubines of the House of the Moon are the most beautiful & idolized women across the Western Land. A chance arises as they search for another to take such a prestigious position. One will find that a true concubine is more than beauty, but she must overcome the most painful of hurdles, keep the darkest of secrets, & still stay true to her heart.”

(M) Thousandfurs by RosieB: “Based on the little known Grimm fairytale. Princess Kagome is forced from her home and into the demon territories. Will Prince Inuyasha ever figure out who his new servant is?” (M) Base Instincts by ImaniJoain: “When Inuyasha is lost to his youkai half, Kagome must find a way to convince him to return to himself.”

(M) To Summon a Mate by Penthesileia / @pentheseileia: “On Halloween night, Kagome is tricked into releasing a possessive, dangerous, hotter then hell demon from his prison of 500 years. She's in danger, but it's not her life she's worried about…yet.”

Oneshots

(M) Lesson by akitokihojo / @akitokihojo: “After a long night out, tensions begin to build. Kagome gets herself into a little trouble with Inuyasha, and Inuyasha is more than happy to teach her right from wrong.”

(M) Dominance by omgitscharlie / @omgitscharlie: “She'd been teasing him all day, and she knew it. Those fleeting glances and knowing smiles, it drove Inuyasha insane; not to mention she smelled sweeter, more intense. What happens when Kagome pushes Inuyasha beyond his limits?”

(M) It Will Come Back by wonderwanderer / @thornedraven: “A one shot inspired by Hozier's song "It Will Come Back". Slight Little Red Riding Hood inspiration as well. Darker themed Little Red Riding Hood, and much more adult themed.”

(M) Touch by KeiChanz / @keichanz: “’I want…’ He paused, trying to find the words, and growling in frustration when he couldn’t. A grunt left him and he dropped his forehead onto her shoulder. ‘I just…I…dammit.’ Inuyasha sighed raggedly, nuzzled her shoulder, and then husked against her skin, ‘I want…you.’”

(M) After the Well Closes by Shnuggletea / @shnuggletea: “It's been a year since Kagome made the decision to jump back through the well and leave her family and life behind. And she is confused to say the least that things are almost the same. Tired of being Inuyasha's demon-killing partner and nothing more, Kagome decides to start her new life and family. When she is stopped by a manic demon Inuyasha, her new life beings quickly.”

(M) Mine by jaygirl987: “She was so beautiful and pure. And his.”

(M) Diamonds and Moonglow by annabeth: “That whimper, right there, is what Inuyasha loves most about this.“

(M) Together Again by wonderwanderer / @thornedraven: “Some intimacy between InuYasha and Kagome after being reunited after three years, rediscovering each other in some of the more intimate ways one can.”

[max-is-tired]

It’s Fine By Me (If You Never Leave)

Pairing: Dukexiety

Characters: Remus Sanders, Virgil Sanders

Words: 2.062

Warnings: Sympathetic Remus, swearing, crying, kissing

Notes: I... might be starting to grow lowkey in love with Dark Sides ships sdkjvnsjkfvn 

Anyway!! here is a new fic, not even a week after the last one I posted -miracles exist apparently. A big thank you to my boyfriend @afulldeckofaces for catching the mistakes that slipped past 3am me skvnsfjv you’re the best babe <3

I hope you guys like it!!

Commission me!!  Buy me a coffee!!  Join my Discord server!!

If you had told 15 years old Virgil that one day he would’ve fallen in love with none other than Remus Grimm, he would’ve probably ended up cracking a rib or two by laughing too much.

And yet, look at him now -19 years old ad head over hills for his best friend, who just happened to have had to move two towns over because of college.

God, feelings sucked.

Virgil groaned in frustration, letting his forehead hit the textbook lying open in front of him with a muffled thump.

He was tired. He was so. Fucking. Tired. Tired of college, tired of this stupid crush that kept stubbornly refusing to go away, tired of his stupid anxiety and tired of having to deal with all of this without his best friend by his side.

Yes, he was grumpy because he hadn’t seen Remus in more than a month, sue him.

As if sensing his worsening mood, his phone buzzed, breaking Virgil out of his thoughts. Letting out a series of annoyed grumbles and half-assed curses, Virgil snatched his phone from where it was lying on the desk, Remus’ wild grin staring back at him from the screen.

It was a photo they had taken that summer, just before Remus had had to leave for college. Roman had been the one taking it, the day Patton had decided to drag -for some more literally than others- their entire group out for some ice cream.

Remus had thrown his arm around Virgil’s shoulder, proudly showing off his chocolate mustache as the other fumbled with his cone to keep it from falling to the ground.

Virgil remembered glaring daggers at him for a total of two seconds before Remus’ waggling eyebrows did him in and sent him in a snickering fit.

Virgil remembered the weight of Remus’ arm around his shoulder, his warmth seeping through his shirt in a way that somehow, didn’t make him uncomfortable -he had never felt uncomfortable with Remus, not once, not even under the hot summer Florida weather in the middle of July.

He only saw that photo for the first time later that night, staring at Remus’ wide grin and sparkling green eyes as his heart hammered in his chest.

The realization had crashed over him like a tsunami, every thought in his head screeching to a halt as he slowly became more and more aware of the fact that he was very much in love with his best friend.

”Of course,” Virgil remembered thinking, staring at his phone with wide eyes, ”who else could it be?”

And boy if that thought alone hadn’t scared the living shit out of him.

For a moment, Virgil let his mind linger on the memory of that sunny afternoon, a soft smile stretching on his face.

Then, he swiped up and clicked on the notification.

”You up for a little chat?” read Remus’ message, followed by a string of random emojis Virgil didn’t even try to decipher -he knew it would probably be useless since they rarely made sense in the first place.

Virgil frowned, threw a considering glance at his textbook and the various papers still scattered on the desk and shrugged -it was not like he was getting anything done anyway.

“sure, why not”

Not even ten seconds later Virgil’s phone lit up with an incoming call, the first notes of My Immortal filling the room.

“Hey there Spider boy!” came Remus’ voice from the other side of the line.

Immediately, Virgil felt some of the tension leave his shoulders, relaxing back on his chair as he pushed himself away from the cluttered desk.

“Sup, Trashman,” he answered, not even bothering to fight down the tired grin tugging at his lips -Remus was not there to tease him about it anyway, so.

“Wow, don’t sound too excited to hear from me.”

Virgil snorted, his smile turning more and more genuine as the seconds passed.

“Fuck you.”

“Maybe later. But really, you sound like shit -everything alright? Are there some bones that I need to break?”

Virgil groaned, leaning back as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Now that he wasn’t panicking over his homework exhaustion was slamming down on him full-force, making it very hard for him to string together a coherent thought let alone think about filtering whatever shit was coming out of his mouth.

“It’s just… fucking everything, man. College is kicking my ass, my anxiety is kicking my ass and I’m just- I’m just tired, you know?”

From the other side of the line, Virgil heard Remus hiss in sympathy at his words.

“Yeah, shit, that sounds rough as hell.”

A beat of silence, and then-

“I can drive over and burn down your campus if you want. No college, no classes. Boom, airtight.”

Virgil couldn’t have stopped the amused snickers leaving his mouth even if he’d tried, shoulders shaking with his laughter as he fought to stifle it down.

“Thanks for the very tempting offer, but I think I’ll give it a pass for now.”

Then, he sighed, feeling his smile slip away as he stared at the ceiling, his sadness starting to creep up on him again. “... I miss you,” he whispered -he hadn’t exactly meant to say that out loud, but he had and now just couldn’t stop.

“I just- I miss our daily escapades and you sneaking into my room at the oddest hours of the day because you decided for some reason that simply using the front door was too mainstream.”

Virgil took in a ragged breath, distantly feeling his eyes start to sting with unshed tears.

“I miss being able to just call you when everything gets too much with the knowledge you’ll be knocking at my window in five minutes max. I miss having you physically by my side every day, I miss my best friend and I feel so fucking bad about it because you’re following your dreams and I’m proud of you, I really am but I also want you right here by my side and-”

Virgil audibly snapped his mouth shut, pressing a hand over his lips to stifle his sobs as tears streamed down his face out of his control.

“I’m sorry,” he whimpered, moving the phone away from his ear.

“Virgil-” Remu voice called, sounding worried and maybe a little desperate. but before he could say anything more, Virgil hung up, letting his room fall back into silence before throwing the phone somewhere on his bed.

Virgil bit down hard on his lip, but he could do nothing against the sobs that kept bubbling in his throat. One escaped, then another and soon Virgil could do nothing but curl up with his head hidden between his knees, yearning for the one person that could not help him the way he wanted him to.

+++

Virgil didn’t exactly remember when he fell asleep, his memory being somewhat hazy in-between the tears that seemed to never end and the way he kept feeling like something was trying to squeeze him to death from the inside-out.

What he did remember, however, was waking up to a very familiar sound -one he’d thought he wouldn’t get to hear again in quite some time.

Initially, during those few moments floating between dreams and awakening, when reality hasn’t quite set in yet and sleep still hangs heavily from your eyelids, Virgil had almost believed he was still dreaming, his own vain hopes playing cruel tricks to his brain.

But the seconds kept ticking and Virgil kept hearing the goddamn sound, so there were only two possible explanations -either someone was trying to break into his room, or-

Virgil bolted up, almost tumbling off the chair he had fallen asleep on -which, ouch- in his haste to get to the window.

And sure enough, there Remus was, with his signature manic grin as he waved at Virgil from the tree branch he was perched on.

Virgil stared, hands moving almost on their own as they went through the familiar motions of unlocking the window to let his best friend in.

“Thanks, it was starting to get chilly out!” Remus chirped, climbing in with practiced ease and plopping himself down on the bed.

“What the fuck,” Virgil answered, still trying to process what was going on.

“I- you- what???” Virgil felt like his brain was about to implode, his gaze flickering from Remus to the window and then back to Remus again.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing here? It’s fucking two am or something like that and you live like, three hours away!”

Remus shrugged, shuffling around so he could sit cross-legged in the middle of the bed.

“My best friend is hurting, why would I not come?”

“It’s the middle of the week, you have classes tomorrow,” Virgil weakly pointed out, starting to feel a little choked up with all the emotions coursing through him at once.

“It’s Thursday, or Friday morning is you wanna be accurate,” Remus easily countered. “I know for a fact that neither you nor I have anything important going on tomorrow and the weekend is class free, so I’m going to crash here until Monday morning since we both have afternoon classes. And no, this is not up to debate. It’s happening, Spider Boy.”

Virgil blinked, staring at him with wide eyes as his heart hammered in his chest.

There was a tingling sensation running through all of his body, electrifying in the best of ways. It felt like fire and ice and water altogether, filling him up and up until-

“I love you,” Virgil blurted out, unable to stop the words from tumbling out any longer.

Remus stared for a second before a dazzling grin took over his face.

“I love you too!” he chirped, grinning so wide Virgil distantly worried if it didn’t hurt to pull at the muscles that much.

“No, uh-” Virgil stuttered, all too aware of how flustered he probably looked at that moment.

He bit his lip, pondering his next course of action. He could still salvage this, just let it go and make Remus believe he meant it in a platonic way and nothing more, burying his feelings in the deepest and darkest corner of his heart. But on the other hand… did he really want to do that?

“I meant in a romantic way, Remus,” he finally admitted, looking everywhere but at his best friend, “I love you as in I want to be your boyfriend and kiss you and stuff.”

Silence fell, filling the room as Virgil kept carefully avoiding Remus’ eyes.

God, he’d ruined everything, didn’t he?

Then he saw a familiar hand reach out and grab a fistful of his hoodie, firmly tugging him forward before he could express his confusion.

Virgil let out a startled yelp, stumbling towards the bed until he found himself face-to-face with his best friend. Still grinning, Remus winked before leaning in, erasing the last few inches separating them as he kissed him square on the lips.

Virgil froze, eyes as wide as saucers as he tried to comprehend whatever the fuck was going on. But before he could do that, Remus pulled back, slowly letting his eyes slide open again as a small, soft smile tugged at the corner of his lips -it was such a strange expression to see on Remus’ face, but Virgil found that he didn’t mind it at all, as long as it was directed at him.

“I know what you meant,” Remus chuckled, pecking Virgil on the lips again for good measure, “and I love you too. Now, are you gonna actually get on the bed and cuddle or do I need to drag you under the covers myself?”

Virgil let out a startled snort, feeling like he was reeling from the last five minutes alone. Still, he dutifully climbed on the bed and flopped down, feeling his exhaustion start to creep back on him again.

Remus grinned, laying down beside Virgil and immediately cuddling as close as humanly possible.

“Comfy?” Virgil teased, moving his hand to gently card it through the other’s hair.

“Hush boyfriend, pillows don’t talk,” Remus grumbled, already halfway gone as he somehow snuggled even closer.

Virgil hummed, leaning down to leave a kiss in Remus’ hair.

Boyfriend, uh? Well, it did have a nice ring to it.

[tayman001]

GrimmIchi (post epilogue): Includes some Anime characters and an original character of mine also using Anime terms. 2

Taylor: The maximum amount of kids a man can give birth at one time is 10 and the number in general is random each time so...

Grimmjow (visibly scared): shaking uncontrollably Ichigo: Great Tay now you've freaked out Grimm... tries to comfort Grimmjow Taylor: ...you have to wait another month until we know for sure how many at once you'll be having but I will say this 10 is the rarest amount and only a lucky few ever get only that amount. Grimmjow: Then I hope I'm not lucky because I don't think I'd survive that... Kazui: Awesome so if it is 10 I'd have 10 younger half brothers! Ichigo: Kazui don't you see your Dadjow is freaking out. Kazui: Isn't he an Arrancar? If so than shouldn't his Hierro protect him from harm? Grimmjow (visibly panicked): Ichigo: Please go to your room Kazui because you aren't helping. Kazui goes to his room Uryū: If you want I can be his personal Doctor to make sure he doesn't suffer any injuries during his pregnancy, Ichigo. Ichigo: Sure, Uryū. Taylor: You'll probably say no but I can inject something into him specifically designed to allow him to survive just in case it turns out he is to have 10 kids. Ichigo: You sound like Mayuri with his experiments so no. Taylor: If you think its an experiment you are wrong so no I'm not mimicking Captain Kurotsuchi since I actually test my experiments on clones of volunteers that are specifically designed to run tests on so that actual people aren't harmed so no the substance has already been tested and is unharmful in fact it actually will make him live longer but if you truly don't trust me or my science then fine, if Grimmjow does and 10 kids and ends up dying you'll have no one to blame but yourself. proceeds to walk away Ichigo: Wait... Fine inject him with it. BUT IF HE ENDS UP DEAD YOU'LL BE DEAD BECAUSE I'LL KILL YOU IN COLD BLOOD! Taylor: If I wanted him dead I'd never have said anything. injects the formula into Grimmjow Grimmjow (feeling drunk): his words are slurd and are not understandable Ichigo: What the fuck have you done to him! I TRUSTED YOU! Taylor: That is supposed to happen idiot and its only temporary it does that so he doesn't feel any pain during the procedure. Grimmjow (still feeling drunk): changes are happening inside him that aren't affecting his pregnancy *moments later* Grimmjow (is an immobile slob): What happened and why can't I move? Ichigo: What the fuck have you done to him Taylor! Taylor: He needs that wait to survive the 10 kids since the pregnancy needs blood to give birth and as a result of the pregnancy any fat he has is measured in blood for the pregnancy so each pound of fat is equal to a liter of blood and each child needs 100 liters of blood to be used to successfully be born and for the pregnant man to survive with 100 extra liters per child just in case the procedure takes longer than the estimated time so in total for 10 kids he needs to weigh 2000 pounds which he now weighs well plus the weight he had prior and if you are worried about his weight the formula makes it so he never suffers health problems again and I even have a formula solely for the no health problems just in cause you were worried about your gluttonous appetite might lead to those and I have another formula solely for always being mobile. Ichigo: Yes inject both of those sole formulas into me then inject the mobile one into Grimmjow. Taylor: does just that Ichigo: Now leave... I wanna go order 50 boxes of Pizza. Taylor leaves and so does Uryū A month later Ichigo (pigging out on some pizza): moans and chumping Grimmjow (feels 10 things kicking inside him as they form): moans in pain Ichigo: Grimm what's wrong? Grimmjow: moans in pain Ichigo: Grimm please say something! Grimmjow: moans in pain call... moans in pain ...everyone. moans in pain Ichigo: calls everyone An hour later Taylor, Kazui, Uryū, Brandan, Rukia, Renji, Ichika, Chad, Noba, Orihime, Nozomi, Karin, Yuzu and Riruka show up Karin and Nozomi: Ichigo why'd you call us like I don't see why... Karin: ...Nozy and me... Nozomi: ...Kary and me... Karin and Nozomi: ...had to come.

Yuzu: Karin you do realize I was called to so don't go assuming Ichigo called you and your girlfriend on a whim since he probably has a reason for calling all of us. Chad and Noba: silence Rukia and Renji: Why did you call all of us? Riruka: I bet something stupid. Orihime: Maybe it has something to do with Grimmjow's pregnancy? Uryū and Brandan: Probably. Kazui and Ichika: But why were we called aren't we still too young to hear where babies come from? Taylor: I doubt that is why we were called here since if that were the case they would have only called the two of you not all of us. Shinji, Shunsui, Nanao, Momo, Suì-Fēng, Nelliel, Marechiyo, Kensei, Shūhei, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Rose, Izuru, Isane, Kiyone, Byakuya, Tetsuzaemon, Atau, Lisa, Yuyu, Mashiro, Tōshirō, Rangiku, Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Mayuri, Akon, Sentarō, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro and Chizuru show up Taylor: Hi, Captain Hirako, Head Captain Shunsui, Lieutenant Ise, Lieutenant Hinamori, Captain Suì-Fēng, Nel, Lieutenant Omaeda, Captain Muguruma, Lieutenant Hisagi, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Captain Ōtoribashi, Lieutenant Kira, Captain Kotetsu, Lieutenant Kotetsu, Captain B Kuchiki, Captain Iba, Lieutenant Rindō, Captain Yadōmaru, Lieutenant Yayahara, Lieutenant Kuna, Captain Hitsugaya, Lieutenant Matsumoto, Captain Zaraki, Lieutenant Madarame, 3rd Seat Ayasegawa, Captain Kurotsuchi, Lieutenant Akon, Lieutenant Sentarō, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro and Chizuru. Shinji: ...Taylor I told you, you can call me Shinji I don't care much about formalities. Shunsui: Hey Taylor. Nanao: You'll never get promoted Taylor if you slack off and don't do what your ordered to do! Taylor: Lieutenant Ise who said I wanted a promotion? Since I'm perfectly fine staying unseated even if I have the strength of a Captain. Momo: Nanao why not just let it go? Nanao: I might as well since he seems to have his mind set. Suì-Fēng (focused on Yoruichi and not realizing she is talking out loud): I wanna marry Lady Yoruichi! Yoruichi (hearing Suì-Fēng say that): flash steps over to her So its a promise then? Suì-Fēng (shocked and embarrassed): I, uh... Yoruichi: kisses Suì-Fēng Suì-Fēng and Yoruichi leave to spend some alone time Taylor: Well that was kinda unexpected but I had a feeling that info would soon come out. Nel: I fell on my face when I arrived since I keep tripping out of the sky Garganta. Taylor: If you don't look wounded than its clear that your Hierro is strong enough to protect you from the impact. Nel: True. Marechiyo: I kinda knew Captain Suì-Fēng was a Lesbian all along! Suì-Fēng returns and kicks Marechiyo so hard he passes out and needs medical attention Taylor: I would have told him to shut up but it was already too late since as soon as he opened his mouth I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened. Kensei and Shūhei: Yeah he can be a idiot sometimes. Taylor: Say how is your lives treating you after the two of you tied the knot? Kensei and Shūhei: Pretty good. Shūhei: And I'm Pregnant and he is due next month. Kensei: I'm still kinda scared to be a father. Since the last time I tried to handle crying all I could come up with was "Laugh or else!!!!" Shūhei: Yeah and that was 100 years ago when you were yelling that to me when I was a kid. Kensei: Yeah but I'm still confused on why you stopped crying? Shūhei: I saw your chest and 69. Kensei: Oh come here. Kensei and Shūhei make out Kisuke: I wish Tessai could have been here... Taylor: Why where is he? Kisuke: Hospital... Someone ran him over in a hate crime. starts crying Taylor: He is gonna be ok, Kisuke after all he is your husband and you know how strong he is. Kisuke (stops crying): Yeah you're right. Rose: playing his guitar Izuru: guarding the perimeter Isane: gets bumped into I'm sorry that was my fault. Kiyone: Isane its not your fault you were the one bumped into not him since he bumped into you. Byakuya: Ichigo Kurosaki why the fuck did you ask all of us here like really. Taylor: Captain B Kuchiki, I think it has to do with his husband Grimmjow's pregnancy.

Byakuya: ...wasn't he married to Orihime Inoue? Orihime: He was but I divorced him once he told me the truth so that he could marry the one he loves. Tetsuzaemon: Atau I'm gonna go take Sajin for a since he is is bugging me to walk him. Atau: does ok in sign language Taylor: Let me guess Captain Iba, you are taking care of Sajin Komamura who was your captain back when you were the Lieutenant of Squad 7 but who was turned into a wolf after using the Humanization Technique back during the war with the Quincy. Tetsuzaemon (ashamed): Yeah... Taylor: There is no reason to feel ashamed after all he was your captain for a long time and you still care for him and its not in your nature to leave anyone behind, now is it. Tetsuzaemon: That is true. Taylor: I can look at ways to reverse his condition if you want I just need to clone him genetically so he doesn't end up dying in case a formula doesn't work. Tetsuzaemon: I'll have to ask him. Taylor: If he is in the form a normal wolf he can't speak in any language that we as humanoids can understand so how can you understand his wolf speak? Tetsuzaemon: He taught me it when he was still a werewolf. Taylor: Oh. Lisa: Hey Taylor. question do you have Line? Taylor: Uh no but I have Facebook. Lisa: You should get Line! Yuyu: Yeah get line!~ Taylor: How about stop asking! Mashiro (using her Hollow mask): Mashiro Super Cero! Taylor: jumps out of his body, puts on his hollow mask and blocks the cero with his hand Mashiro: Big deal so you countered it... Here it goes Mashiro Drop Kick. Taylor: grabs her foot and throws her across the room Mashiro (dizzy): I was just getting started... passes out Kensei and Shūhei: She deserved that. Tōshirō: Why is it that everyone is so manic today? Rangiku: Relax Captain. Kenpachi: attempts to attack Taylor Taylor: cuts Kenpachi's arm off Kenpachi: Asshole! Taylor: I warned you never to attack me. Ikkaku and Yumichika: Well it looks like we need to take the Captain to Orihime again... Mayuri: I would like to test a new drug on you Taylor. Taylor: Too late you are already testing new drug of mine. Mayuri: Huh? Akon: Captain... Get off me your crushing me. Mayuri: Well now look what your drug did Taylor, I can't move and if I don't get off of Akon quickly I'm gonna end up killing him. Taylor: checking Akon's vital signs Nope he is lying in fact he is too ashamed to admit it that he is actually aroused by all of this and is in fact not being crushed to death. Akon: blushing Mayuri: blushing Oh so he likes this huh? Maybe this isn't so bad after all. Sentarō: I'm gonna go fight with Kiyone for old time sake. goes over to where Kiyone is to pick a fight Tatsuki and Chizuru: making out Keigo and Mizuiro: making out Taylor: Ichigo please tell me you didn't invite anybody else. Since I doubt this place can handle anymore people. Ichigo: Nope this is everyone. Kazui: Dad I'm sleepy can I rest on your belly until I can reach my room? Ichigo: Sure Kazui. Kazui: climbs onto Ichigo's fat belly and falls to sleep Ichigo: starts eating more pizza Hours later Ichigo (looking like a immobile blob): I think I ate too much pizza. Kazui: still sleeping Taylor: Well you aren't immobile even though you look like it. Rukia: GET THE FUCK UP ICHIGO! Taylor: Captain R Kuchiki there is no need to yell like do you wanna wake Kazui? Rukia: Oops sorry. Kazui: still sleeping so... comfy... love... dad's... fatness.... so.... soft...... Ichigo: Please tell me he'll wake up eventually since I don't intend to have him sleep only on my belly. Taylor: Depends on his actions. everyone eventually clears out except for Taylor, Rukia, Renji, Ichika, Orihime, Riruka, Chad, Noba, Karin, Nozomi, Yuzu, Uryū and Brandan Kazui: still sleeping Ichigo: Why has he still not woken up like did he fall in love with my belly or something? Taylor: That is a likely reason. Grimmjow: If he loves it why not teleport him in and have him stay there until I give birth to his half brothers. Ichigo: Yeah I'm not gonna risk digesting Kazui, Grimm.

Noba: I have that risk when I do my job as a living Taxi. So I release my passengers as soon as I start burping just so I don't digest them and they never reach their destination because of it. Rukia and Renji: Yuck. Chad: What's so yuck about it, its hot. Karin and Nozomi: We have to agree with Rukia and Renji since YUCKY! Yuzu: I agree with Mr. Giant since if my Future Husband went around and did that I'd be turned on by it. Uryū and Brandan: We are agreeing with Chad and Yuzu. Taylor: I like it as well. Orihime: Of course you would after all you made this Gigai for Noba since Kisuke decided against making them any new Gigai for the three of them... speaking of which where is Ririn and Kurōdo? Riruka: I wouldn't know since I have never met them. Meanwhile Ririn: showing off her new sexy look which she's been doing for years Kurōdo: showing off his new handsome look which he's been doing for years Meanwhile Taylor: I have a feeling they haven't stop doing what they said they were gonna do when I made and gave the three of them their new Gigai. Sometimes I wish that I didn't ask them what they wanted and just remade their original Gigai and only asked Noba what he wanted. Meanwhile Gō Koga returns to Karakura Town for the first time in years Koga: I really hope those kids don't assume I'm here for revenge. Meanwhile Noba: A Bount! Meanwhile Ririn and Kurōdo: BOUNT! Meanwhile Ichigo: But the only Bount left would be the one with the Doll known as Dalk the one who Yoruichi said Thanks me for defeating Kariya. Uryū: You think he is here for revenge. Taylor: Doubt it since I can sense him and based on his Spirit Energy he isn't here to fight in fact he is here for peace. Rukia, Renji, Chad, Noba, Ichigo, Grimmjow, Orihime, Riruka, Uryū, Brandan and Ichika: HUH? Kazui: still sleeping gay Taylor: Um.... where'd Kazui decide to say that out of the blue sure he is sleeping but still it must have been a reason. Rukia, Renji, Chad, Noba, Ichigo, Grimmjow, Orihime, Riruka, Uryū, Brandan and Ichika: Beats us. Gō Koga shows up in the house Koga: Sorry to barge in uninvited but I wanted to say sorry for my actions years ago... wait... I must have the wrong house since none of you look familiar. Taylor: The ones who you've never seen before are myself, Grimmjow the blue haired guy, Kazui the little orange haired guy who is sleeping, Ichika the red haired little girl with violet eyes, Brandan the auburn hair guy and Riruka the magenta haired lady with the magenta eyes. I'm pretty sure you remember Ichigo, points to Ichigo Uryū, points to Uryū Rukia, points to Rukia Renji, points to Renji Orihime, points to Orihime Chad, points to Chad and Noba. points to Noba Koga: WAIT HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN? Taylor: 10 years and 20 months since you and the other Bounts showed up about 3 months before the fight with Aizen took place and its been 10 years and 17 months since that fight with Aizen. Koga: ...I might as well leave since it seems I waited to long to apologize. proceeds to leave Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Chad, Uryū, Renji and Noba: There is no need to leave. Koga: OK if you... Ririn and Kurōdo show up Ririn: Stop there this is no place for someone of your kind Bount. Kurōdo: If you don't leave we will have to destroy you. Taylor: Ririn and Kurōdo back down he isn't an enemy any longer. To Be Continued

[drblood-bringer-of-death]

Yay! Another Tyrian x Watts fanfiction for Nuts and Volts week! Seriously I cant get enough of these guys! Anyway, hope everyone over at @nutsandvoltsweek enjoys it!

Waltzing into love

Warnings: literally just some mild cursing.

They hated it. Every single second of being stuck in the stuffy, crowded room full of pompous, rich assholes. Arthur glared at anyone unfortunate enough to make eye contact with him and he stayed as far away from the dance floor as possible. He hated parties as much as he hated people. He would much rather be back in the grimm lands, tinkering away at his inventions without a single interruption. But he was not the only one who hated being there. As grand and beautiful as Atlesian parties were, they had a very strict policy to them. No Faunus, No improper dress, and absolutely No exceptions. Tyrian, as sporadic and chaotic as the man was, unfortunately was the best fit to go with Arthur to this party. Salem decided that Hazel would be too intimidating, Emerald and Mercury were too young,  and Cinder would have stuck out like a sore thumb. So Tyrian was voluntold to attend as Arthur's date. He sulked even more than Arthur did. He might have even hated it more than the mustached man. Due to the strict policy, Tyrian had to wear what he considered "constrictive" clothing. And worst of all he couldn't even use his tail! Arthur had insisted he hide it, since it was against the rules. Tyrian fought him on it, to no avail as he knew Arthur was right. So the two brooded in their fancy clothing in a corner of the ballroom. They avoided everyone and if it wasn't for Arthur's accursed reputation he would have never even attended this godforsaken party. Maybe he could figure out some way to fake his death or even actually die just to avoid these parties.

"This is pointless!" Tyrian growled.

"It's not entirely pointless, but it's Incredibly dull." Arthur retorted, focusing all his attention on his scroll.

"Why did I have to come here?! I hate this! I feel like I'm restricting all my natural instincts!" Tyrian continued to complain as he pulled on the dark purple tie around his neck.

"Stop pulling at that you'll undo it! And you know why she chose you to come with me. And stop tugging on the tie!" Arthur said angrily as he turned towards Tyrian, who had managed to actually undo his tie. "How did you even? Ugh just let me fix it!" Arthur swatted away Tyrians hands and grabbed ahold of the tie. Fastening it once again.

"Ahem, am I interrupting anything?" The unwanted and annoying voice of Jaques Schnee broke through Arthurs grumbling. His brow twitched in annoyance and he sighed before facing the unbearable aristocrat.

"Why Jaques, what a pleasure to see you again." Arthur lied through his teeth.

"A pleasure as well. Who, may I ask, are you?" He directed the question towards Tyrian who stiffened as a response.

"Uh, Tyrian Callows, associate of Watts here." He shook the older man's hand in forced politeness.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Callows. I had no idea Arthur was into such… interesting company." His tone of voice and the way he glanced at Arthur smugly,  clearly portrayed that he suspected something else. "why I'd even say you might be planning something… more forbidding." Tyrian pailed, could he really figure them out that easily? He looked at Arthur and they shared a panicked look.

"Jaques if you're suggesting-" Arthur started to accuse him but Jaques cut him off.

"Oh come now Arthur, you know i wouldn't care if you were gay, it's quite common nowadays, and I've been suspecting it for a while anyway-" Watts and Tyrians faces went bright red. "I was simply baffled that you managed to find someone to deal with your arrogance." He finished.

"I-my arrogance- excuse me?!" Arthur said offhandedly. Jaques only laughed at him.

"Relax, you know that the General himself is gay right? Really it doesn't matter here, why not show some affection! Have a dance or two! There's nothing to hide." And before Arthur, pr even Tyrian for that matter, could stutter out a response Jaques turned on his heels and walked away smirking.

"Does he think-? I mean really?" Tyrian asked before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. His entire body shook with each inhale of breath. As he laughed and laughed Arthur's face grew more and more red, out of both embarrassment and anger.

"You shut up!" He snapped at Tyrian. Whose laughter seemed never ending. Making Arthurs anger grow.

"Re- hehehe- relax Arthur. Haha, as far as we know, this could be an advantage." Tyrian offered through dying giggles.

"What do you mean?" Arthurs anger sizzled but he stopped feeling the innate need to punch the Faunus. Tyrian wiped a tear from his eye.

"Well think about it. You could gain some massive publicity points if you came out as gay, and if we did it here it would be massively successful. All we have to do is dance a little bit and maybe hold hands. People will come to the conclusion on their own and it'll be all over the news tomorrow. "Infamous inventor Arthur Watts supporting his community through love!" Can you imagine that?" Arthur paused.

Unhinged, deranged, murderous, insane… and intelligent. Those are the words Arthur would use to describe Tyrian right now. As unpredictable as the man is, he could read people and play off them better than even Salem herself.

"That… could work." Arthur poundered. The plan was foolproof, and even if it went wrong then it would cause protests in the communities drawing grimm in. "Yes. It would work quite well." Arthur hummed to himself and Tyrian smirked.

"Well then let's get to it and put on a show!" He cheered in a manic giggle as he pulled Arthur away from their protective corner and into the center of the dancefloor. Arthur huffed behind him, not expecting the pull. Although he should really expect everything from Tyrian.

"I told you to relax already Arthur! All we need to do is dance a bit and act all coupley." Tyrian smirked again and Arthur got some sort of primal feeling in his gut to run. As if something far more sinister than even they had planned was happening. But he ignored it, it was not the first, or last, time he would have that feeling while with the scorpion.

"It's Impossible to relax with you" he retorted harshly, shifting himself and Tyrian into a waltzing position. Slowly the music ran through the room and the many people around them began to move to the three step beat.

"Your words wound me Arthur," Tyrian mocked. "I'm the most relaxing person I know! Well besides Hazel." He held back a giggle.

"Your a caffeinated maniac trapped inside a padded room. I absolutely do not find you relaxing!" Arthur all but growled.

"A bit touchy aren't you? Was it something that Mr. Schnee said that caught your nerves?" He smirked wildly at Arthur who tried his best to keep his composure. As he tried to calm his breathing Tyrians insane smile reached his eyes. "Oh my, your heart rate picked up! I must be onto something!" Arthur started to panic.

"You did not- wait you can sense my heart rate? No, nevermind that!" He attempted to gather his thoughts as he and Tyrian glided across the ballroom floor, sliding in time with everyone around them. If you weren't right next to the pair it would be like they were just enjoying themselves and not having a frantic argument.

"Poor Arthur Watts, not admitting that old Mr. Schnee was right! What an exciting evening this has become!" Tyrians giggles seemed to pour out of his mouth.

"Would you just shut up! I've already said that to you tonight, you psychopath! Now stop talking and lets finish this stupid dance!" Arthur was pissed off now, he couldn't stand looking at Tyrians pretty eyes or his handsome face any longer. So he decided to do something about it. As the song approached it's climax he brought Tyrian into a sudden spin, catching the scorpion off guard. As he pulled Tyrian back into him, he made up his mind. Placing one foot behind Tyrians and throwing his center of balance off, he dipped the younger man. He heard people around them gasp, some of them seemed shocked, but through all the noise he heard two distinct things. One: Jaques Schnee saying " I called it!", and two, Tyrian Callows' sharp inhale of breath. He pulled them back up. Releasing Tyrians lips as he did, and then he turned and walked out of the room.

Tyrian stumbled, that was not expected at all. He knew Arthur was gay but he never dared to dream that Arthur liked him. He got over the shock, more delayed than he'd like, but nevertheless he rushed after Arthur and found the man pacing an empty hallway.

"Why did I do that? What was the logic of that? It was pointless, im pointless. For fucks sake we're both adults why couldn't I just talk to him!?" Arthur mutters to himself as he paced, not even noticing that Tyrian was right next to him. "Damnit, that was so stupid! Why is he so handsomely intimidating? What can't I just be normal-"

"Because you're Arthur Watts, inventor and doctor, smarter than anyone else i know and absolutely hopelessly in love with me" Tyrian interrupted, his voice caught Arthur off guard and he would never admit how much that genuinely scared him.

"Ty- Tyrian look, what I-" he was cut off as said man lunged at him suddenly, crowding his precious space.

"Just shut up and kiss me again" the scorpion demanded as he rolled his eyes and pulled Arthur into him. Their lips crashed together again, yet the feeling was different. Before Arthur could barely feel the kiss at all, but now he felt like sparks were flying down his spine and static was invading his mind. Arthur let himself fall mentally, his brilliant mind failing him when he needed it most, so he just let it happen. Let his body do the talking for once.

Tyrian on the other hand was practically shaking with joy, he had a crush on the doctor for a while now but he truly never believed Arthur would like him back, let alone make the first move! He could not be happier even if his own goddess showed up just then! He felt as if nothing could ruin this sweet moment of love. And he was right, not a soul came out of the party to find them and they were left alone in the hallway. As Tyrian let go of Arthur he smiled. Not a crazed, classic Tyrian smile, but a calm, genuine one. Arthur felt his heart skip more than one beat, and he was sure Tyrian felt it too. Soon enough Tyrians soft laughter bubbled out of his mouth.

"What's so funny?" Arthur asked, his usual scoff lightened just a touch.

"Well the fact that we literally waltzed into love." Arthur's eyes rolled.

"That was cheesy." He huffed as he set his head on Tyrians shoulder.

"No, parmesan is cheesy." Arthur sighed. The moment was ruined by the man who created it. And he could not help the small smile that was hidden by his mustache. Maybe tonight was worth the party.

[itsclydebitches]

The RWBY/It Crossover That Absolutely No One Asked For But You’re Getting Anyway

Ozpin - The “gifted child” who is already sick of that shit, both because of the bullying he’s gotten for it at school (what middle schooler uses his vocabulary and dresses in a suit?) and because it has given his parents another reason to ignore him. You’re basically a functioning adult! The Losers are Ozpin’s first group of friends outside of his little sister Salem, gone missing one day and now re-appearing in his basement, pale like she drowned, with strange black veins threading over her skin... Though they all silently think of him as the leader once the horror begins, he discourages that whenever possible. He’s done with being the odd one out. 

Qrow - Qrow “Trashmouth” Branwen. Twin brother of Raven who also disappeared around the same time as Salem, though only Qrow knows that’s because she finally hitch-hiked out of their fucked up town. He hasn’t heard from her since. Unfailingly annoying and loyal in turns, Qrow’s nickname is only partly because of his foul-mouthed tendencies. The group decided he needed another, proper nickname after he quietly told them that he and Raven would like to be known by those names indefinitely now, regardless of what’s on any birth certificates. The Losers respect that. Devoted to Ozpin in particular, Qrow often uses his status as the (presumed) local bad boy to keep others off his friends’ backs. 

James - Coming from the only Jewish family for miles around, James has his own share of problems, thanks. Lately, with his bar mitzvah approaching, he’s found his adoration of science is somewhat at odds with his faith, especially when so much is riding on him continuing tradition. Quieter and more reserved than the others, James was inwardly pleased to make a friend in Ozpin, the only one around capable of keeping up with his theories---even if they disagree 99% of the time. When all the horror starts, it’s James who is the most resistant to it, first through sheer disbelief, then later through confidence in his own sense of what is and is not reality. It’s often his mental fortitude that gets them out of tight spots. 

Bart - Manic almost to the point of being obnoxious (some Losers would lovingly argue that there’s no ‘almost’), Bart has ADHD according to a couple online quizzes he took with Glynda. That’s the best they can do with no money, no resources, and no one else who cares. It’s fine though. They make do. With an intense passion for all things history, Bart is more than happy to start researching the town once Ozpin brings it up. A good thing too, considering that he’s probably the only one capable of working through that many massive, dry tomes. Find him in the library and you’ll be startled by the contrast: a vibrant look that includes dyed green hair and a bright yellow shirt paired with the most studious of attitudes. Researching something he loves is the only time when Bart keeps still. 

Peter - A stocky, boisterous boy, Peter longs for nothing more than to be the hero of his own story. Even if he really doesn’t look the part. Or seemingly have any heroic skills. And sometimes freezes when things get messy. None of that matters because he’s going to succeed one day, dammit. Fake it till you make it! Practically attached at the hip to Bart, the two make an unlikely---but as others quickly learn---unstoppable pair. Contrasting James’ skepticism, when Ozpin first told them about seeing an evil looking Salem in his house, Peter immediately pulled an ax out from under his bed and demanded to know where he was needed. Oh, the ax? He just had it for... reasons. 

Tai - Kind-hearted almost to a fault, Tai took Raven’s bedroom when she left in order to escape his own parents. He’ll take indifference over his previous living arrangement any day. Though more than once Qrow has tried to talk to him about the broken school supplies and badly hidden bruises, Tai never offers anything except a smile. It’s the same for all of them, all the time, and whenever his back is turned the Losers share glances among each other, wondering when he’ll finally break. Not if, but when. Not that it matters because they all intend to be there when it happens, determined to show Tai that he’s allowed to be something other than that constantly cheerful, helpful version of himself. 

Glynda - The one girl of the group and no, she’s never going to let you forget it. Also the real leader if we’re getting right down to it. Glynda had no intention of making friends with six other boys, especially when she already has an entirely undeserved reputation as the town slut. Why not embrace it then? The Losers lose their collective shit the day she walks up in a new purple skirt, black boots, and white top, all of them stolen from the store where the manager dared touch her. The persona isn’t at all what she’d intended---like Ozpin and James, Glynda is somewhat introverted---but then she had no intention of fighting whatever was hiding in those sewers either. Something dark and otherworldly, capable of transforming into a massive bird, a boar, sometimes a vaguely human-like shape...  Glynda hates that version most of all. 

Fun plot points after the time jump include: 

Qrow losing his goddamn mind as he remembers that he’s been in love with Ozpin for over thirty fucking years and what pRECISELY is he supposed to do with that information NOW? 

Ozpin is also panicking, he’s just quiet about it 

The awful realization that this Grimm thing beneath the town feeds on/grows stronger through negative emotions so lol that’s a bit not good when the seven of us are all such a mess 

Oh hi Tai great to see you again quick question WHY DID YOU BRING YOUR TWO YOUNG DAUGHTERS TO THE MURDER TOWN? 

Hey Tai second question what do you mean you went and had a kid with my long-lost sister 

Whole side plot involving Ruby and Yang meeting Weiss and Blake who grew up here. Cue culture clash and the kids helping the adults out on their messed up adventure 

Blake: “You won’t believe me if I tell you... no one does... it’s just too horrible...” Yang: “Oh you mean the supernatural entity that wants to devour you and frequently finds its way across the town via the sewers? Yeah. Dad filled us in on the drive up.” 

James takes all of .5 seconds to start bickering with Oz again, mostly on how to handle the situation. The Losers know they’re really back together once the shouting starts

Bart greets Glynda with an enthusiastic “I finally got diagnosed and you would not believe---I need you to sit, honey, this is gonna take a while” speech and she’s so happy to do it

Peter still has his ax. It comes in handy 

[ezmodo]

Volume 7 Shorts - Friendship v2.0 (V7E1)

(Gonna try doing shorts alongside the new volume like I did for V6. Spoilers abound, so if you haven’t seen the episode in the title then I’d say steer clear. Hope you enjoy!)

Penny’s heart soared as she danced through the air above the streets of Mantle.

Ruby was here.

She unleashed a beam that tore through two Sabretooths that were preparing to pounce on a man cowering behind a car. She saluted the civilian as she flew past, continuing her sweep of the city.

Ruby was here!

Ruby, her best friend in the whole wide world, was here in Mantle!

Penny thought she’d never see her again. After the Fall, Penny woke in the safety of her father’s workshop. He told her that she’d “died,” killed by Pyrrha Nikos during their tournament fight. Penny didn’t remember that at all. She had been fighting blow-for-blow against Ms. Nikos and having such a grand time of it. No one had ever been able to match her in a spar before and Penny found the whole experience delightful.

When Penny pulled back to unleash her special move, everything went black. Moments later she was rebooting and her father was smiling down at her. He must have deleted that last moment from her memory to spare her the pain. He was such a kind man. Penny was just a little bit disappointed though - she thought it would have been a rather unique experience to have.

Penny wanted nothing more than to leave and go find Ruby. There were villains out there and she just knew that her best friend would be out there fighting them. Mr. Ironwood asked her to join the military officially and protect Atlas. He’d said that they could be attacked at anytime and that the people of Atlas needed her help. Her father argued a lot with Mr. Ironwood about that but they eventually found a middle ground. Penny would be the unofficial protector of Mantle and be there to respond to any attacks the military weren’t able to stop in time.

It was frustrating at first. Ruby was a huntress and a hero but she’d need all the help she could get, but the people of Mantle really did need Penny. The Grimm were getting into the city at least once a week and they were often stronger than the AK-200s that patrolled the streets could handle. She knew Ruby would never abandon people in need and she wasn’t about to either. Penny had even made new friends, though none as close as Ruby.

One such friend was calling to her now. Penny turned at the next intersection, using a streetlight to swing herself around and gain momentum. The traffic over the military network indicated that the attack was over but a sole distress signal was coming in from two blocks away. She didn’t need to rush - there were no hostiles in the area, after all - but the sooner she helped her friend, the sooner she could get back home to see Ruby.

---

The street had seen fighting. Scanning the road, Penny was happy to see that none of the local residents had been caught up in the attack. The only “casualties” to be found were the remains of the AK-200s that fell victim to the Grimm. It was under one such crumpled robot that she found her friend.

“Salutations, Lemon! Are you in need of assistance?”

She received no response, though the distress signal continued to broadcast. Crouching down, she came face-to-camera with the surveillance drone. The poor thing was on its side, crushed under the weight of the combat robot.

“Are you well?” she asked. The only response was the whir of the bot’s camera as it scanned Penny’s face. 

She lifted the heavier robot off the little drone and dumped the mangled remains off to the side. Penny dusted her friend off and patted the lemon sticker on its chassis affectionately. She had given each of her drone friends one and each neighborhood had its own theme. This neighborhood was fruit, to the east was vegetables, to the west was birds, and so on. Whenever the little girl who lived across the street gave her a new sheet of stickers Penny would range further from home to give her friends names.

“I’m glad to see you’re unharmed,” Penny said happily.

The little droid hovered in place for a time, internal devices whirring as it did a self diagnostic. Then, without so much as even a glance, it continued down the road on its preprogrammed route. Penny waved after him until he disappeared around the corner. They weren’t like her, she knew. They didn’t have aura, or a personality, and they never responded when she chatted with them, but she loved them all the same. She was glad Lemon was okay.

Lifting off, Penny decided to make one last lap around the neighborhood to make sure no one else needed assistance. There were no hostiles reported in the area, but casualties among the local residents often went unreported. As excited as she was to hang out with Ruby, she wouldn’t abandon the people she swore to protect.

Penny couldn’t help feeling giddy. She wanted to hear all about Ruby’s adventures. They hadn’t seen each other in so long, after all, and no news ever came in about the outside world. Penny even had stories of her own to share. And when was the best time to share stories? At a sleepover, of course!

Nails! Clothes! Cute boys! Penny would finally get that sleepover she had been planning since she first met Ruby. She’d invite the rest of Ruby’s team, naturally, and Team JNPR as well. The more the merrier, after all. Team JNPR was 50% cute boys though. Could you talk about cute boys while said cute boys were in the room? She’d have to ask Ruby.

Penny didn’t recall seeing Pyrrha Nikos with the group earlier. She’d have to ask about that as well. She really wanted to tell Ms. Nikos that there were no hard feelings for what happened during the tournament. After all, they’d cross blades in the heat of battle and, according to that cartoon Ruby told her to watch, that built the strongest friendships.

Her sweep of the city complete, Penny turned towards home. She just knew her father would let her have a sleepover. Tonight would be the birth of v2.0 of the unstoppable Ruby/Penny friendship!

---

Maria sat heavily on the curb outside of Pietro’s house, back complaining about her choice of seat. Not half an hour in Mantle and the brats had already gotten themselves arrested. She shouldn’t be surprised, honestly. Not since they all so readily jumped at the blond doofus’ plan to steal a bullhead to get here in the first place. Pietro paced nervously in the street, robotic legs taking him to and fro. His daughter was on her way back and he didn’t look prepared to deliver the bad news.

In a flash of green, said daughter rocketed down onto the street, going down to one knee dramatically as dust whirled around her landing zone.

“Father!” the girl exclaimed, approaching her father. “I was hoping Ruby and her friends could stay over tonight for a sleepover…” Penny started, hands gesticulating excitedly.

“Penny,” Pietro said patiently as he wrung his hands.

“And her boy friends, too. Not boyfriends, though maybe one of them is her boyfriend. Do you think so? Anyway, it would be rude to leave them out, and I know it’s unorthodox…”

“Sweetie…”

“They can sleep in the other room! Oh, we can watch movies, and play games, and...”

“Darling.”

“Oh! We’ll also need to feed them. Do you think they’d like pizza? I’ve read that pizza is the sleepover cuisine of choice. But I don’t have any allowance...do you mind if-”

“Enough!” Maria snapped, slamming her cane onto the curb for effect. She thought Ruby and that Nora girl were bad, but Pietro’s daughter was a whole new level of spastic.

“My apologies, Ruby’s Grandma,” Penny said quickly before turning back to her father. “Where is Ruby, Father?”

Maria nearly choked. “Who are you calling grandma?”

“My apologies,” Penny repeated, bowing. “Granny.”

“Granny?!”

“Listen,” Pietro blurted before Maria could start in. “Your friends were...well…”

“They were tied up and thrown into the back of a bullhead bound for Atlas,” Maria said, grumbling at the robotic whippersnapper’s sass as she climbed to her feet.

“They were KIDNAPPED?” Maria didn’t see where the blades came from, but now Penny was surrounded by the things, each glinting dangerously in the low light. “Don’t you worry, I’ll go and rescue them! You should alert the military!”

Pietro rushed to stop her. “They were arrested, Penny. By the military.”

“That’s silly. Ruby’s a good girl! Her friends are too!” Penny asserted.

Maria rolled her robotic eyes. “They stole the bullhead they flew here in.”

That gave Penny pause. Her swords lowered and folded in towards her, disappearing behind her back. Pietro reached a hand towards her in concern. “Now honey, I’m sure it’s all one big misunderstandi-”

“Ruby’s in her rebellious phase?!” Penny shouted excitedly. Maria nearly stumbled back from the girl’s explosive excitement. Her eyes were shining as she looked between the two adults. “Puberty! It must be puberty!”

This is it. This insanity will be what finally puts me in the ground, Maria realized. I should have never gotten off that train.

The blades sprung out again, circling quietly behind the robot girl’s back. Penny’s grin was wide and just a little manic. It reminded her of Ruby’s back in Argus, when they were in the thick of planning their “heist”.

“I should be able to catch up with their transport in no time at all,” Penny stated matter-of-factly. “Then I’ll-”

“No breaking the law, sweetie.” Pietro begged. “Please.”

The blades retracted in a flash and a more innocent smile graced her face. “I’ll go speak with Mr. Ironwood. Farewell Father!”

Resigned, the older man’s shoulders sagged. “Be safe, darling!” Pietro called after her.

Penny shot into the air and waved back over her shoulder as she streaked away. “I will! And it was nice meeting you, Nana!”

Maria thought she might need dentures after how hard she ground her teeth. She was just starting to get used to the normal level of wackiness Ruby and her friends got up to and now it looked like things were about to get zanier.

“That girl is an angel,” Pietro said with a heavy sigh. “The one that will see me to heaven, at this rate.”

Maria only grunted. She was too old for this ten years ago.

“I suppose we should get out of the cold and have a look at your eyes,” he said, turning back towards his home. “I’m sure we’ll be hearing from the General in no time at all.”

[valasania-the-pale]

The Last Rose - Chapter Five

Here’s chapter five for all of you. Please enjoy and reblog!

X_0_X

“How do you keep going?”

The question was couched in a whisper, not intended for Ruby’s ears, really. She felt it in her neck, where Weiss had pressed her face deep into the juncture of Ruby’s parka, right next to the hot tears leaking through the fabric of her shirt.

It was a question Ruby didn’t have an answer to, though she’d asked it of herself plenty of times before.

“Hey,” she whispered, pulling back to wipe a few glossy tears away from Weiss’ delicate face, though they were soon replaced. She put on a smile – shaky, fragile, but for the way Weiss’ eyes fixated on her, swollen eyes wide and rapt and desperate, enough to suffice.

She tried to make her words more genuine. “I know things look bad,” she said, pushing a strand of white hair behind an ear. “And it hurts to keep going, but we’ve still got each other, alright? When this is all over, we’ll work through it together, I promise. But right now, we’ve got to keep moving.”

“I know!” Sweet Dust. Weiss’ voice normally made Ruby thrum like the string of a guitar, but right now? The tremors shaking it to pieces broke her heart. “But… please Ruby… how?”

She tightened her hold, burying her face in Weiss’ hair. What else could she say? “I’ve got you, that’s how.”

…

I once heard my parent’s team described as three troubled people who relied exclusively on the fourth – their leader – to hold them together. Their combined strengths made them the most formidable team fielded in the entire history of Beacon. Any of the four kingdoms, really. They were smart, strong, talented, cunning, and brutally, mercilessly effective, when it came to killing Grimm.

But there’s a vulnerability that comes with lynchpins and keystones and other things of that nature: when they’re taken away, invariably, inevitably, the whole thing falls apart, with disastrous results.

It took me a long time to realize just how much of a lynchpin I was for my teams over the years. It took them even longer to realize that I relied on them to the same degree. What is the lynchpin without something to bind together?

When they were gone…

X_0_X

“You’re going to hurt Sun.”

Sage Ayana wasn’t really in the mood for mincing words.

The dark shadows that ringed his leader’s eyes that morning, the slumping posture – even Scarlet finding him at the breakfast table at five in the morning told his teammates all they needed to know about how well Sun was taking the news.

Sage was sickened by it all.

It was the last morning. Moving day. Ruby would be on her flight to Vale before the hour was up and they wouldn’t see her again for months, if not years.

One proclamation – it seemed like a whim, really – and suddenly Sage’s entire world was flipped upside down as his leader turned frantic, manic.

So it was with some satisfaction that he watched the dark-haired reaper flinch.

Sun was back at their house. Grabbing the keys Sage had forgotten on the ring. Velvet was with her team, moving the last of her things back where they belonged. Scarlet; off distributing the last of Ruby’s unneeded possessions to her neighbors. Sage rankled at the minute trickle of satisfaction he felt when he saw Ruby realize they were alone. That wasn’t someone he liked being very much. But it was who he would be now, if it put an early end to this mistake.

He could read wariness in her shoulders. They were hunched. Her hands balled up into fists. She was turned away from him, sitting at the lonesome dining table and pouring over the last of her remaining paperwork. Or pretending to.

“Sun is going to be back soon,” she said lowly.

Avoiding the question. Sage not-quite-sneered. “He’ll be gone long enough.”

“…You hid the keys, didn’t you?”

Underneath a few books on Scarlet’s nightstand. His partner asked him to make his bed this morning; Sun wouldn’t question it and wouldn’t find the keys until Sage had had his say. “Why are you leaving?”

She took a deep draft of air. He could see the tension building up in her frame. “Are we really doing this right now?”

“Answer the question.”

“You don’t think Sun hasn’t asked me why?” Her voice was low. Controlled, but unable to hide the slightest tremor of nervousness.

His jaw tightened.

Sage crossed the room in three large strides, slamming his hand down on the table with a colossal crack, close enough for her to feel the impact reverberate through the floor. He could feel the shudder run through the wood; the promise that if he poured just a little more of his strength into it, he could smash straight through to the floor.

His face was twisted. He could feel it. He could see reflected in her eyes the shadow of darkness burning through him, rage barely masked. “Stop. Avoiding. The question,” he grit out.

Her silver eyes held some emotion Sage couldn’t really read. He didn’t really care to know it, anyways. He could read the rest of her just fine. She might be able to look him square in the eyes, but her body gave lie to her confidence.

Oh, he wanted to punch something. Badly. Pulp it until it was nothing but a tattered mess of wood and straw – or blood and bone, if he could get his hands on a Grimm. It was how he’d trained – pour the strength of his body into his strikes and all would fall before him. It was instinct, now.

He restrained himself, though. Now wasn’t the time.

She looked away. Her next words would be a lie. “I have to.”

Hidden behind his back, he flexed one of his calloused hands, pouring the flaring irritation he felt into the motion. Don’t break the table, Sage. They’re expensive.

He couldn’t force himself to say her name, even though she’d insisted that her friends call her by it. He wasn’t speaking as a friend right now. Not hers, anyways. “Rose.”

She surged to her feet, the chair crashing to the floor behind her. She made to walk away, face turned deliberately away from him. Her voice was strained. “I don’t have to deal with this.”

Sage stared, shock numbing him briefly. She was… running. Fleeing. From him.

Not for long. His fury resurged. He lunged toward her, hand closing around her shoulder as an iron vice. Only for a moment though, for faster than thought she whirled, her tiny hand wrapping around his wrist and tearing it away.

Their eyes locked. Hers were a thunderclap to Sage’s ire, shaking him.

Sage held a healthy amount of respect for Ruby Rose. How couldn’t he? She was the deadliest huntress this side of Remnant. She had countless successful missions under her belt. She was kind and compassionate, fierce and skilled. Despite her tiny stature and light build, she dished out damage fit to bring even a large man like himself to his knees faster than he could ever hope to respond.

She had beaten him in a fight. Easily, even.

She looked at him now like she’d looked at him then, during their duel. Death stared through silver eyes. Warning him: Don’t push, or I’ll hurt you so badly you’ll never even think of trying again. In a thin line across his spine, Sage felt his skin crawl in memory of the last time he’d seen that look and the price he’d paid for taking that challenge.

She pinned him there for a long moment, letting it sink in.

He backed down, the burn in his blood abating slightly. His hand slackened on her shoulder and she let him pull back. Permitted him to retreat behind his neutral mask even as she let hers fall away as well. She looked tired, now, but Sage knew that the huntress would return if he pressed his luck again.

“Losing my team… my family… broke me, Sage.” The words were quiet and flat, her expression unreadable. Sage felt a twinge of uncertainty as suddenly she turned away, her dark bangs hiding her eyes from him entirely.

Suddenly Sage was cut off from the huntress; with her back held straight and shoulders back, she was eerily still. It was the stillness of cold stone – and save for the imperceptible movement of breathing, she did not so much as twitch.

Sage didn’t like it. No, he hated it. Predators used stillness as a weapon, holding before the pounce for the perfect moment. The huntress was gone but he still felt like prey; the slightest feeling of pressure chafing the sixth sense he’d ingrained within his very being.

Anger. Defiance. How could someone so small – so tiny – bring him so low, when he’d stared death in the face so many times?

He would not… No. He would not let himself be cowed again. Not by mere words. “You’re not the only one.”

A twitch, or possibly an aborted shudder, ran through her body. Nervousness, or more likely, pain. Emotion of some kind, he knew at least. More than that, his fury whispered: emotion he could use.

“I never got better,” she plowed on, teeth audibly grinding. “I just learned to live with it even though it’s been killing me inside.”

“So, you’re just going to up and leave Mistral.” Sage piled on the scorn. “Pack up, say your goodbyes and hide away at Beacon, never mind the people you’ll be leaving behind.”

‘Person,’ his mind whispered. He could care less about everyone else.  

It worked. The stillness broke, and the glare she turned on him was fearsome, though wholly in line with what he was used to. Anger, he could handle. Anger made people stupid – like it had with him just moments before. It wasn’t a predator staring at him now, just an angry woman.

“I’m not running.”

“Bullshit,” he sneered, keeping the rage within him tamed. This was for Sun. “Bad shit happened to you and now you lost your nerve. You’re running scared and fuck the rest of us while you’re at it. Ruby Rose finally decided she’s had enough of her ‘friends.’”

Her fingers flexed. Her good arm, too. She was thinking about hitting him. His own hands twitched, adrenaline slipping into his blood. ‘Try it,’ he thought coldly. ‘Give it a shot. Give me an excuse.’

In her sorry state the little reaper was nothing to him. He would love to pay her back the pain she was causing his leader.

It didn’t come though. “You’re way over the line, Sage,” Ruby’s voice was tight. Her face schooled back into a carefully controlled mask. “And you have no idea what you’re talking about.” Fire seeped through the cracks, her eyes burned. “Back off.”

Something snapped.

“Over the line?” There was a note of astounded laughter in his voice that surprised even him, but he was already in motion. “You think I’m over the line?!”

With one brutal sweep of his hand the dining table was shoved aside, clattering with the chairs on the ground against the wall. Nothing else separated them, leaving Ruby trapped against the low furniture. She could probably vault it, but with her weakened limbs Sage doubted she would chance it.

Nevertheless, Ruby ducked his right hook easily, backing away as he halted his momentum instantly and twisted to face her. Only a few feet away. “Do you know how many fucking sleepless nights he’s had because of you?!” He leapt, just barely avoiding putting his fist through the wall and sliding on the smooth wooden flooring. “Or about the stress, the anxiety?!”

She didn’t block anything – he would have broken through anything she could muster. Instead she danced around him – a fucking ghost for all he could manage to touch her. Even without her semblance she was slipperier than a greased eel; harder to grab than the wind.

There was little space for her to run, however. Even as she leapt over the couch (arm flaring with scarlet aura, briefly strengthening it) Sage would merely follow, adrenaline spiking as he hit his stride.

Even through the haze of battle he could read her – could read his enemy. Defensive posture, eyes wide and face lightly flushed with exertion. Her arms were raised to protect her face, but he could see the shake in her left, the slight tremble in her knees not quite erased by combat.

She was shocked. Maybe even afraid, though knowing her he doubted it. Sage didn’t care.

“Every!” Jab. “Fucking!” She ducked a haymaker and lightly punched him in the side, sending him stumbling forward. “Nightmare!” Waking up to hear Sun’s panting, lurching out of bed to fuss and fret and ask if he could help, if there was anything he could do. Scarlet right beside him, or in the kitchen making up the cocoa that Sun liked to wind down with. Always trying, never able.

“I know, Sage!” Ruby shouted, her voice muted by the roar of blood in his ears. “I was there, as often as I could be!”

A left hook missed by near inches – always a near miss, he couldn’t fucking touch her! “You’re always on assignments!” Sage roared, unwilling to hear her pleas. “Putting your life in danger – what would happen if you died, huh?!” He leapt, she twisted away, his hands poised to close around her pale throat closing on air. “It would kill him!”

“I didn’t have a choice!”

She danced backwards a few steps – Sage could see the sweat beading on her brow, the faint pink of her cheeks now a blotchy scarlet as she panted – and the punch he threw to exploit that vulnerability – so close! – overextended. Ruby grabbed him by the wrist and yanked. Sage staggered forward, then buckled around the sharp point of her knee into his unprotected gut, below the ribs.

She released him and backed away, letting him drop to the floor and attempt to regain the breath that suddenly refused to fill his lungs. A masterful pacification, and something he should have been ready for. That he’d trained to be ready for. Sage closed his eyes, his forehead touching the cold floor.

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t fucking do it. As always, falling short. Impotent. Useless.

He didn’t see her with his eyes shut, but her voice came from just over his left shoulder, a few paces away. Safe. He barely heard her over the roar in his ears. What he heard was rough, rife with signs of her fatigue. “I’m sorry that leaving will hurt Sun, Sage,” Ruby said, exhausted emotional. “I’m sorry that I can’t do more to help him. I told him that he should come with me to Vale – I asked him to do it, so we could face it together – but he isn’t ready.”

“He’ll never be ready,” Sage rasped, still pained.

“He will be if you give him the time he needs.” Ruby’s voice was firm, despite the ragged huff of her breathing. “But I need this now – I need to face this while I have the courage, or I’ll never do it at all.”

But images of Sun being awake danced across his eyes, the knowledge that he could never understand what his leader needed to heal, the feeling of being a constant disappointment. Sage wanted so badly to help his friend – Sun was team, his leader, his friend since before they even travelled to Haven from their ruined homeland, just like Scarlet and Neptune were. He was hurting now, but like the hunger that plagued their small quartet before they could scrounge the money up to enter Sanctum, Sage couldn’t fight this enemy with his fists.

So what did he fight it with? How could he protect his friends from something he couldn’t see? Couldn’t touch? Couldn’t understand? The medication barely helped sometimes, though Sun slept better when he tolerated it. The blonde hated it, however – hated how it made him feel, how it confined him to their home, prevented him from doing the thing he’d dedicated his life to.

“I can’t be a huntsman if I’m on sleep meds, Sage,” Sun grunted for the dozenth time after he’d found him at the table, head in his hands and shadows beneath his eyes.

But what will you be if you’re hunting, and too tired to save yourself, idiot? What if we’re not there? Sage wanted to rage at the injustice of it all. Scarlet was always calmer, always there to talk him down and cool his searing temper. Once upon a time Neptune might have pulled him aside to talk it out, spill his soul and just vent to someone who got it. Neptune always understood, always had a plan of attack, even though Sun was their tactician.

What did he do?

Sage didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until the hand touched his shoulder, shaky and tentative. His breath was harsh, though he’d gotten his wind back. He was still strong, there was adrenaline singing in his veins, and she was close enough now that if he tried, he could probably grab her by the wrist and finish what he’d started.

He didn’t.

“Be there for him,” Ruby said softly, close enough to whisper, far enough that she had a chance of backing away if he exploded again. Smart. “Even when it hurts – especially when it hurts – and when it seems like it’s never working.”

“But it never helps!” Sage flared, wetness on his cheeks. The fire in his veins had nowhere to go but his eyes.

“It does,” Ruby said firmly. “It might not seem like it, but it does. Things like this don’t go away easily, or for long. You don’t have to understand to be kind.”

Sage hugged himself tighter, angry with himself. Angry at the streams coming from his eyes. Angry at Ruby, at Sun, at life. What did that even mean? How did that help, why couldn’t he do more?

He didn’t notice the door opening far away, but he did notice Scarlet’s surprised yelp at the displaced furniture and his crumpled form on the ground. “Sage?! Ruby, what’s going on?”

Ruby left him, her tiny hand taking away its coolness from his flushed skin. Sage could hear her talking to Scarlet in a hushed voice, but he didn’t hear any of it.

‘What do I do?’

X_0_X

“I’m going to be—”

“Don’t say you’re going to be alright, Ruby. You don’t know that.”

Ruby stared at her friend mournfully. With his elbows propped up on his knees and chin resting on his calloused fists (to hide their trembling, she knew), Sun stared out of the large panoramic windows of Mistral’s airport terminal.

After Scarlet finally managed to cajole Sage into following him back to their house – without so much as a sideways glance her way from the huntsman, at that – Ruby soon realized that their altercation would only lead to an even longer day.

Fortunately, Sun was none the wiser to his teammate’s actions. Unfortunately, his mood had taken a nosedive anyways the closer she came to departure.

Only twelve hours and she would be in Vale…

…The scent of DEATH on the air FIRE in the sky metal falling scraping bending burning as MONSTERS roamed the streets…

No. Sun first, stress later.

Her lips parted – what she meant to say even she didn’t know – but she was interrupted before she could really begin as Sun suddenly slumped in his seat. He hid his blue eyes from the world and dragged his palms down his face, shame draping over his shoulders like a cloak.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I shouldn’t be putting a downer on this. I should be happy for you.”

Ruby scowled. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, Sun.” She would hardly be any better, were their positions reversed.

“No, I do.” Sun’s guard dropped. The naked vulnerability on his faced surprised her. What she saw did not. Ruby itched to wrap him in a hug; sadness, pain, fear, and behind it all the slightest glimmer of tears. “You’re my closest friend, Ruby. You know that, right? I care about you. I want you to be happy, even though it means leaving me behind for a while. I want that.”

Her eyes feeling suspiciously moist, Ruby lunged forward and seized him in a bear-hug, squeezing as tightly as her ravaged strength permitted her to. Warm, strong arms closed around her in return.

“Thank you, Sun,” she whispered. “And I get what you’re saying… I don’t want to leave you alone, but I need to do this… Are you sure you can’t come with me?”

“I promise I’ll think about it,” he muttered into her hair. “But not yet… I… I can’t, Rubes. There’s too much waiting for me there for me to go right now… I don’t think I could stand seeing Neptune around every corner – visiting Haven was bad enough.”

A shock of electric blue hair, juxtaposed with the mundane pavement it lay upon… Oh no…

“Just give it time.” Ruby squeezed him tighter, ignoring the prickling of the muscle in her arm, as well as that of her heart. “I’ll make sure to send letters regularly, and the CCT will be back online in a few months too. We’ll keep in contact. I won’t be gone completely.”

“Yeah…”

There were no more words to share between them, so Ruby just leaned into his side and waited for the announcement for her flight. They had time, and she wasn’t about to spend it anywhere else.

X_0_X

Mistral’s airfleet was supplemented by around a dozen passenger-class ships, each designed to safely transport civilians between kingdoms. They were fast, fortified, and only slightly larger than the usual cargo ships one could find tearing through the skies. As a huntress, injured though she was, Ruby’d received an instant pass to the front of the waiting list for a flight to Vale.

It meant that she would be on call to provide assistance in the event of a Grimm attack, but she’d been assured that with the other two huntsmen on board, she had nothing to worry about, nothing whatsoever, Miss Rose.

The flight attendants had been painfully kind and patient in helping her limp to her seat, even providing her with an extra blanket against the chilly air conditioning. It was all – of course! – a pleasure to help out one of the kingdom’s staunchest servants. No problem at all, and would you like us to fetch you anything?

All of that was to say that they’d still put her next to a bleary-eyed mother and her whiny child. Some things were universal.

“But moooooom!” Tune it out. Tune it out. “Why does she get the window seat? I wanna see the sky! The clouds!” Maybe it was so that she didn’t have to worry about tiny children or weak-bladdered neighbors squeezing past her still-sensitive legs. “Can I ask the pretty lady for a snack, mom? Can I get some juice?”

Sweet fucking Dust help her.

“I’m sorry,” the woman apologized again wearily. Deftly, and against strong protest, she lifted and imprisoned the little girl in her lap with deceptively strong arms. The volume grew with the girl’s squirming. Ruby cracked her eyes open to nod tiredly at her, ignoring the slug to the arm she got for her troubles.

Strong arm, little girl. Might have even left a bruise, but aura was a potent force indeed…

The mother was a kindly-looking brunette, probably in her late thirties if the developing lines on her face were anything to go by. Her hair was in disarray, flyaway strands sticking all over the place – clearly, she hadn’t had the time to groom herself that morning before the flight. Her daughter on the other hand looked nothing like her. All dark hair and fine cheekbones. Probably took more after her father.

“It’s fine,” Ruby sighed, smiling bitterly. Never mind that she’d already been in a fight that day. Nor that she’d woken up exhausted, nightmares of a burning city and descending Grimm tormenting her. “It’s still better than sitting in the huntsmen quarters in the front.”

With its terrible air conditioning and way-too-little legroom. Economy class took a new meaning where huntsmen were concerned…

The woman glanced down at Crescent Rose, folded into its compact travel form against the wall, Heron sheathed beside it. Normally, weapons were forbidden on board airship flights. Huntress she was though, so they’d waived her by without so much as a second glance. “True enough… you wouldn’t happen to be Huntress Rose, would you?”

Ruby looked her more fully in the eye. “Ruby Rose, yeah.” She blinked. “Who’s asking?”

“Bard Hvit, my brother. We’ve heard plenty of stories about you from him.”

She didn’t know anybody by that name, though… “Is he Atlesian?” Ruby peered closer at her, looking for something she missed. “You don’t really have the look, but the name…”

“Yes,” the woman smiled. “My name is Helgi. My husband and I emigrated when we married, but my parents came to Atlas from Vacuo. My brother was always much more attached to the city than we were though and stayed. He fought with the militia during the Battle of Mantle.”

Ruby blinked, neurons firing for a brief moment, and then the memory was on her.

Snow fell in driving flurries, cold and wet against her stained cheeks. Though she could see the mouths gaping wide wide, the crumble of masonry and twist of steel, and the unstoppable wave of black and crimson, her ears had long since been deafened to the cacophony.

She would never get used to the flashbacks.

Crescent Rose sang in her hands, the texture of the music resonating in the metal. Together, they clove Grimmflesh like warm butter, bone like dry kindling.

But the dark tide kept coming. They never stopped coming. She was a machine on autopilot by now – it was simple instinct to fight and kill after so many hours, no matter the fatigue leeching the vigor from her limbs – but they were relentless.

A Nevermore – an alpha, if not ancient, judging by the dense, bony crest on its face – screeched above her amidst the clash of air forces, the sound muted to the faintest screech of nails on steel. Ruby felt, more than heard, the concussive force of the explosion as the monstrous avian tore another airship from the sky, its huntsman overwhelmed. She glanced up, traced its trajectory.

Her breath hitched.

She had to run she had to get overthererightnow—

“Miss Huntress?” A tiny hand pulled on her sleeve and Ruby snapped out of it, sucked abruptly back into her seat on the airship… not in Mantle.

The hand tugged again, Ruby looked down at the little girl with the nice cheekbones. Her eyes were a very deep shade of green, like maple leaves. Once she was older and lost her baby fat, she’d be quite the beauty.

“Yes?” Ruby said. Her words seemed to echo, to her ears, from the end of a long cavern.

Ignorant, the child smiled wider. “Do you know any good stories? Huntsmen always have the best stories!”

“Gem, why don’t you leave Miss Rose alone for a little while,” her mother interceded, her eyes lingering on Ruby with a nervous – guilty? – cast. “You’ve got your toys to play with during the flight.”

“But mom, she’s a huntress!”

“It’s alright.” Ruby forcefully pushed away the memories and plastered on a smile. “I know a few good stories. Do you know the one about Betushka the Fleet?”

“Nuh-uh, who was she?”

“Well… If I recall, Betushka was a peasant girl who liked to dance…” As she dove into the story, Ruby kept a careful eye on Helgi, a part of her guilty for zoning out on the woman. Undoubtedly her brother dealt with some of the same problems that dogged her – she didn’t want to make the woman feel terrible for drawing out some of that pain by accident.

Thankfully, her daughter was easy to distract once she had an in, and Ruby was well-equipped with dozens of huntsmen stories to keep her enthralled. Storytelling was probably in her blood. Her father was most likely the culprit, what with his big mouth and habit of boasting when Qrow got a few drinks in him.

Ruby hitched in the middle of her sentence as Golden curls shining bright even in the darkness, she snuggled deeper into the warmth, savoring the kindly words even as she awed at the acts of heroism, bravery, and sacrifice— Stop.

Gem looked at her oddly, but she quickly recovered and returned to the story.

They took flight not long into the second story – Betushka the Huntress was a simple tale, especially with a little girl for an audience – and for the third Ruby chose a particularly long-winded rendition of ‘The Mirror of Tsubaki.’

It was the story her dad would tell her when he’d had a long day and needed her to fall asleep. It was good, but very long and very dry and absolutely riddled with Mistrallan custom and tradition.

Suffice to say, halfway through the telling, Gem’s eyes acquired that particular glaze of a child who will sooner do anything else than pay attention.

That something turned out to be taking a nap.

“You’ll have to tell me where you found that one,” Helgi commented dryly as the little girl slumped against her arm, a few strands of dark hair puffing out from her nose as she sank into slumber. “She’s usually a terror.”

“It’s in most of the old books of Mistrallan folk tales,” Ruby waved her off. “Nothing obscure.”

“I’ll remember that. Thank you for putting up with her, Gemini loves her stories. I can’t seem to teach her manners just yet, though.”

Ruby snorted, a smile tugging on her lips – one that Helgi soon shared as they moved on to lighter conversation.

The flight was smooth, something that shouldn’t have surprised Ruby as much as it did. Aviation had finally caught up to Dust advancements in the last couple of decades, turning the early, primitive airship models left over from the Color Wars into smoother, sleeker passenger flights. Ruby was used to the constant thrum of turbulence or listening to the muted chatter of the pilots. It was what huntsmen were subjected to when they needed to travel long distance – no time for luxury, just the bare minimum necessary to get them where they needed going.

She’d only ever been on one other flight like it – the crossing from Vale to Mistral just after the Fall of Beacon – and even that was riddled with Grimm alerts.

To their credit, the huntsmen and pilots managing the flight warded the Grimm away before she’d even been tempted to ask if she could lend a hand.

It was… odd. Internally, Ruby warmed knowing that this kind of experience – one lacking the fear or tension of her chosen lifestyle – was what she was able to bring to others through her work.

And Helgi was good company once her daughter wasn’t being a distraction. At first, she avoided bringing up Ruby’s work, probably hoping to not plunge her back into bad memories, but Ruby was quick to cure her of that notion.

She was proud of her skills, and her lifestyle. Maybe she had her doubts – maybe she didn’t know if she would continue anymore – but so long as the woman didn’t touch on Horikiri or other similar dark spots (and it wasn’t like she’d know to touch those things in the first place), she was happy to answer whatever questions were thrown at her.

The proverbial flood gates opened after that.

Ruby was a Huntress, after all. The Huntress according to the (overblown) rumors floating around. The Reaper of Mistral. The best of the best, in a profession where mediocrity was far and away beyond what a civilian could even hope to achieve. And she’d been at it for nearly a decade.

Anyone even remotely interested in huntsmen circles, or that kept up with the local news, knew her name, and knew it well.

Her work carried with it a reputation that can’t really be shaken.

Ruby bore it with what she hoped was grace. It helped that she didn’t hate her reputation – stories were what drew her in in the first place. But the attention it brought her, as well as the expectations…?

…They pressed onwards, no matter the pain. They had a job to complete…

…Just keep moving forward…

She did not know whether or not they were deserved, or that she could uphold them. But she would try, at the very least.

It passed the time well if nothing else.

Before she knew it, the flight attendants began making their rounds, offering their meals. Ruby declined, her appetite distinctly lacking since she’d woken up, but Helgi had no such qualms. Gem slept like the dead between them, and without anything to distract her Ruby stared out of the window at the clouds passing below.

How long until Vale came into view? What would it look like?

…The city on a hill, the city in the valley, the city with its back fixed against the wall, now crippled, vulnerable afraid and overrun by its mortal foes, parasites, intruders.

Vale was being eaten, devoured from the outside in, the inside out. The monstrous incursion, a black wave, abetted by the corrupted guardians and the rebels… A dark cloud descended upon the city that would not be dispersed for a very long time indeed.

And then she was back. Years had passed. She gazed down upon that city from the airship, hands tight on Crescent Rose and frozen heart cracking just a little more seeing the city she loved reduced to such a mangled, grey specter of its former glory.

The Drake loomed. The Grimm snarled. Within the airship, the chatter died. All was silent before the order went out, the city itself tensing in time with the unusual calm.

Then, the Airfleet shattered the sky with a hail of gunfire, and it all went to hell.

Joyless, she leapt, plummeting down into the chaos…

She knew it would be different. When last she’d been in Vale it was still that specter, only just reclaimed from the grip of the Grimm infestation. Fortifications were still being built, Grimm were rampant even weeks after they scoured the ruins for stragglers. There were just too many, and more poured in constantly from all across the continent through their threadbare defenses.

It had been gruesome work, carving their beachhead. Hard work.

The worst was burying the multitudes of dead left behind by the attacks. Many were simply scraps, consumed for sport or satisfaction by the Grimm, but many too were locked away in homes and basements and bunkers, starved out while awaiting rescue…

…Ruby’s memories of the city were grey.

But she knew that, over the last few years, once the world realized that it wasn’t simply a fluke, and that those who remained staunch in their resolve to restore the capital to its former glory were truly dedicated,

Vale had undergone an almost-miraculous rebirth. Merchants in the markets in Mistral – when she failed to redirect the topic of conversation back to her work – were always happy to inform her of the incredible investment opportunities to be found within the city. There was always a need to be found there.

Food, cloth, water, stone – you name it, Vale needed more of it and was happy to pay handsomely with the funding it received from Atlesian investors and the newly reformed city government.

Most importantly, she knew the CCT Tower was soon to come back online after a decade of disuse. It was all the four kingdoms could talk about – many missed the luxury of internet and international communication and were eager to see them return.

But those were just surface level thoughts. Ren and Nora were there. An too. Jaune. Oscar. The professors. They were all there.

In her bag she still had the letters. When he’d heard the news, Jaune had been quick to forward her to Glynda Goodwitch, now headmistress of the resurgent Beacon Academy. Ren and Nora were enthusiastic in their encouragement, urging her to accept her generous offer – employment was abundant in Vale right now, with all the reconstruction, but to work at the school? Plenty of huntsmen would kill for such an honor.

‘We would be honored to have you here at Beacon, Ruby,’ Glynda’d written. ‘While no individual position has opened up that requires a new professor to take up tenure, I’m sure your skills and experience out in the field will be valuable additions. Professors Port and Arc are always on the lookout for new opportunities to demonstrate alternative forms of combat and tactics. They are happy to have you work with them as a part-time instructor to supplement their class material.’

She’d added, softer to contrast the earlier high formality, ‘I personally hope you accept our offer. You may not have graduated, but I consider you one of our brightest alumni. However, in the event of your declining, I expect you to at least visit for a spell for some tea, and some catching-up.’

She had accepted without issue. She still didn’t know whether she’d make an effective teacher or not, or whether she could be content in limiting herself to that, but she would do her best. It was just one more expectation on her shoulders to match the myriad others, after all.

“Do you know,” Helgi hummed beside her, setting aside her meal. Her eyes startled Ruby with their clarity, emeralds she’d given to her daughter. “How I knew you from any other huntress?”

Ruby turned away from her brooding – grey to match the clouds passing by below. “No, why? Did your brother tell you?”

“He said he was saved by a scythe-wielder in red. That she turned the tide of the Grimm for long enough for the city to be evacuated.”

Why was she so bold now? Ruby shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with the line of thought. No memories – not yet – but they would quickly return. “I wasn’t alone.”

“Maybe not,” Helgi conceded. The corners of her lips were raised, and she watched Ruby with a soft expression. Inwardly, she jolted upon realizing that the woman had been watching her the entire time, witnessing her ruminations. “But I’ve heard stories about you for quite a while – everyone knows the Reaper in red with her scythe, it’s not hard to put two and two together.”

Where was she going with this?

“Yes?”

“But you’re not wearing your cloak.”

Ruby tucked her arms against herself. No, she wasn’t.

…It was a rag. A red, muddied, torn rag.

She stared back at Velvet blankly, the faunus taking the article back with gentle hands. “It can be repaired, Ruby. You’ve been doing it for years. I’ll wash it tonight and see what I can do to sew it back up for you…”

And she had. Bless her, the cloak Velvet returned to her was functional and as whole as Ruby could have hoped for. Even more worn for wear than it had been even before – and it was in a sorry state indeed before her failed assignment – But she hadn’t had the heart to put it on while she still doubted her purpose.

“So. How’d you know it was me? My scythe?” She didn’t want to talk about this any more.

“That and your eyes,” Helgi admitted. “I’ve never seen silver eyes like yours.”

No, nobody had. What was the point of all of this? Helgi just kept staring at her with soft eyes that made Ruby squirm on the inside. The look held the same penetrating quality of the one Sun levelled at her when she’d just freshly awoken from unconsciousness. It pierced too many layers. It saw too much.

Helgi reached over her daughter’s head to pat Ruby’s arm comfortingly. “Every story I’ve heard says you never go anywhere without your cloak… I think I can draw my own conclusions. I hope whatever you’re looking for in Vale, you find it.”

She looked away. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, huntress.”

…She hoped so too.

X_0_X

‘I should probably come back later…’

Velvet had excellent hearing. Better than excellent, actually, given that she had twice the usual number of ears – and two of them were exceptionally designed.

Not that it wasn’t annoying sometimes, such as when Coco brought home one of her conquests and she could hear them through the (literally) paper thin walls of their Mistrallan home…

She didn’t really need to hear some random girl melting under the not-so-tender administrations of her leader, thank you very much. She didn’t need that in the slightest.

And she wasn’t the only one to hear it, either – Yatsuhashi and Fox were always just a little too awkward the mornings after – she just happened to hear it with much greater clarity than you’d expect from the average person.

So yeah. Great ears. Great hearing.

Which was to say that she could hear Sun and Scarlet through the door.

From outside. Shouting.

…Awkward.

She didn’t want to – it was so hard to avoid listening in on private conversation sometimes! Especially when the gossip was especially salacious…

But this time she rather felt she’d be better off not bearing witness, so her knuckles hovered in front of the wood, knock abandoned.

The two huntsmen within were arguing. Vociferously. Violently, maybe, though she couldn’t hear the telltale smack of flesh on flesh to confirm her fears.

The passion in their voices though…

“Maybe you’d understand better if you even tried seeing his side of the argument!”

“He attacked her! There is no ‘his side’!”

Velvet bounced on her heels, nervously chewing her lips. Should she intervene? Was this private? No, she cursed herself, of course this was private. They were in their house. Private property. People didn’t usually appreciate strangers barging in to put a stop to arguments. Unless there was actual violence, at least. But would even that much count if it was between huntsmen…?

But she wasn’t quite a stranger either, was she?

“Damnit Sun, he’s worried about you!”

“I don’t give a fuck if he’s worried! He can’t just – vent that! – on my friends!”

“He didn’t hurt her – nothing came of it!”

“Bull-fucking-shit nothing came of it, she’s still recovering! She was exhausted the entire time I saw her this morning!”

What happened? Velvet wasn’t oblivious – she had no doubt who the ‘she’ they were talking about was. She knew that something significant must have happened to turn Ruby’s complexion that pasty, fatigued grey that morning.

Her movements had been sluggish, like she hadn’t slept that night (and she hadn’t, but this was worse!), and her cheerful demeanor was just a bit more forced than it had been before she’d left her side for a few hours.

It wasn’t a good look on the woman. But it had been the last time Velvet would see her friend for several months, so she’d put on the same act Ruby had and hoped that it was just the nerves of returning to the nest of touchy memories that was Vale getting to her.

Maybe it was nothing. Was she so wrong to think that?

…Bad idea, apparently.

…Fucking hindsight…

“Well if you’re so broken up about her leaving, you should have gone with her!”

“This isn’t about that!”

Brown eyes cast around the street for other onlookers, unlikely as it was that they’d be able to hear the two arguers. The walls were thin in Mistral, but you’d need good ears to hear over the wind blowing through the city that evening (out of necessity she’d long since learned to tune out that sort of background noise lest it drive her insane).

They were more likely to wonder why she was standing awkwardly outside the door.

Oh Dust, she didn’t want to be a rumor.

Velvet twitched, ears curling up into tight little rolls on her head. Maybe she should have brought along Coco after all. She would know what to do in this kind of situation. She wasn’t as sensitive as Velvet was, after all – Coco was all blunt force, crass attitude and persona. She would barge in and start taking names like it was nothing, like she owned the place.

Should she…?

Picturing herself – trying and utterly failing to do the same – quickly wilted that intention. She did not have the brass that kind of direction required.

Maybe knock after all?

“The fuck are you so worried about?!”

“What am I worried about? I’m tired of watching your back, hoping you haven’t gotten yourself killed while we’re not looking, that’s what! You hunt even when you’re dead on your feet – when you’ve gone days without sleep! Of course we’re worried! You think Sage and I haven’t been absolutely fucking terrified we’ll turn around and find you being torn to pieces? What about that, Sun?!”

Scarlet’s voice hit a fever pitch that grated on her ears, and her fist dropped again. Gods, she should just go home and return in the morning when tempers cooled some.

Hopefully cooled.

Would they?

Scarlet’s voice rose to drown out Sun’s protestations. “Neptune is dead! Dead and fucking buried! You’re the only one who hasn’t moved on! Get over yourself and go after her if you can’t handle it, because I can’t handle this shit anymore!”

BANG!

Velvet flinched. That would be the bedroom door… the hinge was probably busted after that… Footsteps. Approaching. Oh shit someone was leaving and she was in the fuckin—

Velvet ducked away from the door just in time for it to fly open with a loud crash. Sun Wukong, blonde hair askew, jaw clenched, and weapon clutched in trembling hands, stormed out without a second glance at her. Down the road.

Velvet’s ears drooped.

He’d left the door open, too.

Sun’s angry stride carried him swiftly through the streets of Mistral. His steps were not loud; a huntsman would never be so careless as to make his movements obvious, and the light snowfall muffled what little might have been otherwise. Velvet followed behind him, equally silent.

A careful huntsman would not allow himself to be stalked so easily, either. Velvet didn’t think that Sun was in a very careful mindset at the moment.

Down a level, not very far from the Huntsmen Guild, Mistral’s council maintained a set of training rings and a small field for its huntsmen to maintain their skillsets while staying in the city. They were compact, rough, and efficient, much like the fighters that used them. In the early mornings, packs of children would sometimes congregate to watch the fighters run through their forms, dreaming of the day that they could join their exalted ranks.

Some even had the nerve to ask to join in.

The fields were largely empty that night, a lone woman in her mid-twenties swinging at one of the many practice dummies with her claymore the exception. She gave only a cursory glance to Sun as he stalked onto the field, whipped his dual weapons into a single stave in one smooth motion, and swung viciously at an imagined foe.

Her dark eyes locked on Velvet a moment later, measuring.

‘Do I need to worry about you?’ those eyes seemed to ask, fingers dancing on her claymore. They flickered to Sun. ‘I don’t think he’s in the mood.’

Velvet gave her a minute shake of the head, hands held away from her waist. ‘No, you’re fine.’ Her hands twisted upwards to match her shrug. ‘I can handle it.’

The huntress’ head bobbed, already losing interest in the exchange, ‘Fine.’

And that was that. It was nice sometimes, talking to huntsmen. Actions were much simpler to speak through than searching for the right words.

Sticking to the shadows, Velvet took the time to observe her friend.

He looked ragged. Tired. His movements were fluid and efficient, body twisting and contorting in time to the internal rhythm he’d set for himself, but there was missing the usual undercurrent of energy and vibrancy Velvet associated with the friendly huntsman.

Emotion could only substitute for that lack for so long; it was only a few minutes into his forms before Velvet could see the minute cracks in his defenses opening up.

A backswing took a split-second too long. Feet dragging just ever so slightly across the dusty earth raised an opportunity to sweep him off his feet. Eye movement – integral to keep pace with the ever-shifting battlefield – started to slow, unable to keep up with the rest of him through the most ambitious of his acrobatics.

Muscle memory carried him through – this wasn’t a real fight – but in that real fight those moments would have been easy for her to exploit.

And he still hadn’t seen her, and that was telling enough on its own.

Velvet shifted her weight, frowning as she considered her options. What could she say? What should she do? Should she even do anything?

She knew that Yatsuhashi would council patience. He was tepid at best when it came to emotions, a rock amidst the flowing tides of the world around him. Fox and Coco would recommend something more… overt. They were impatient and passionate – as fiery a duo as Velvet and Yatsuhashi were reserved.

As his stave came down in a powerful overhand strike, Sun stumbled, overbalanced.

He quickly corrected himself, face contorted in a fearsome picture of anger, but the mistake seemed to flick a light off in Velvet’s head.

Sun was angry, so fire wasn’t going to work for that, nor was patience.

Fighting flame with flame would just leave them both fuming and reduce him to cinders in the process. Patience might leave her untouched, but he would just burn himself out on his own without her interference. Sun needed a different touch than anything her teammates could provide.

Maybe…?

…It was a few years prior, after a particularly exhausting mission. Velvet had been lucky where her team had not – the Ursai they’d been hunting weren’t agile enough to catch her out and she’d emerged relatively unscathed. Yatsuhashi, by contrast, was nursing bruised ribs, Fox a sprained ankle, and Coco aura exhaustion. Rest was what the doctor ordered, and soon enough Velvet had found herself going stir crazy, aching for a release of all the energy pent up inside her.

“Go to the training ring, Hun,” Coco rolled her eyes tiredly, reclining back on the sofa. If Velvet hadn’t been used to her leader’s provocative nature, she would have blushed up a storm seeing the brunette’s shirt ride up on her torso to reveal her pale tummy, washboard abs visible from across the room.

That was long ago. Now, Velvet had seen Coco blind-piss drunk and hung over – after that night there was no way she would ever be embarrassed by Coco manipulating her with her body ever again.

…Maybe a little, but she wasn’t so easy anymore.

Training sounded like a great idea, though, so she dressed herself in some functional clothes and made her way down to the training ring, the fading sun low on the horizon. To her surprise, she’d found the ring occupied.

It wasn’t the occupation that surprised her, but rather the occupants. Ruby Rose was a whirlwind of flashing steel and rose petals as always, and her opponent – equally nimble – panted furiously as he tried and failed to pierce her guard.

“Just. Stand. Still!” Sun grunted. Ruby swatted away his staff before he could complete his lunge and retaliated by following through and swiping at him with the butt end of her scythe’s snath.

There didn’t seem to be a point to their exercise – Sun’s motions weren’t practiced or smooth, nor were they anything close to the usual aptitude Velvet had seen from him in the past. With a soft gasp she noticed the yellow light of late evening glinting off his cheeks, trails of liquid gold streaming down.

He panted and renewed his assault, but it was Ruby’s face that caught her attention. Cast from simple patience – empathy and understanding in her silver eyes – Ruby simply let the huntsman vent his frenzied emotions on her, her own skill more than enough to keep ahead of him…

What would Ruby do if she were here?

The answer came to her with stark clarity, and Velvet felt her spine straighten of its own accord as purpose settled within her. Hand drifting down to Anesidora, Velvet left the shadows and strode toward her friend.

Sun barely had a moment to breath between noticing her approach and her first attack, the ghostly-blue apparition of his Bo staff halting the original’s motion in its tracks. “Velvet?”

“Hey Sun.” Velvet felt her semblance take over, electricity dancing in her veins as she let it guide her limbs through the unfamiliar motions. She had control; it wasn’t autopilot, but rather like she had temporary access to the same muscle memory of the people she emulated. Muscles she hadn’t used in weeks – she typically preferred blades over stave combat – filled with blood and worked themselves.

She would ache in the morning, but it would be worth it. Unless she really overdid it, it was usually a good ache.

She shoved him back and skipped back a few steps, her personal rhythm blending with Sun’s frenetic fighting style. That was similar. But she was just a beat faster, like the tempo had been touched up just a smidge. Speed over power; Sun would have the advantage in a conventional clash, but she could feel her muscles itching to dance around those powerful strikes.

His eyes narrowed. “What are you…” the tip of his staff dropped, a scowl overtaking him. “Velvet, I’m not really in the mood for talking right now.”

Velvet paused, her rhythm stymied momentarily. What would Ruby do?

She considered it for a moment, then allowed her ghostly weapon to dissolve into light, and recalled something else. With a tap of her finger, she summoned a different weapon.

Crescent Rose twirled in her hands, Ruby’s instinct filling her arms, mimicking the heft of fifty pounds of solid, tempered steel.

Dust, the girl had biceps to make a bodybuilder cry.

Velvet crouched lower, the ghostly scythe running parallel to her body.

Keep the circle, always keep the circle. Know your range, her muscles seemed to scream. Know when to strike, and strike hard, strike fast.

She knew that scythes were different from the other weapons; Crescent Rose required a mastery of the body, the mind, and the fight that Velvet just barely felt she’d tapped into. Wielding it was an art unto itself.

She locked eyes with Sun, willing him to sense the challenge she projected. “Don’t talk then. Fight me.” Her fingers twitched on the ghostly metal; not quite cold, not quite solid, yet very present and almost alive with energy.

Sun stared at her hard, motionless. For a moment, the only sound between them were their soft breaths, the wind, and the huntress in the next ring over.

‘Show me your fire, Sun,’ she thought. ‘I can take it.’

Blue eyes peered into hers, searching, saw her own spark. His hands flexed around his staff. ‘Are you sure?’ Velvet flicked the very tip of Crescent Rose’s blade upwards, playful like a cat’s tail. Sun’s lips twitched despite himself.

The overhead strike he opened with – all the more powerful for the brief rest he’d taken – would have shaken Velvet to her core had it landed solidly, but Ruby’s instincts were more than prepared to deal with it. They were ready; a heady lust raring to engage in the fight. She caught his staff with the inward edge of her blade, deflecting it off to the side. Her body followed through, twisting around at high speed.

Keep your circle.

The butt of the snath came back around, ready to catch Sun unawares but he was already in motion, planting his stave in the ground, using it too root himself as he lifted himself perpendicular to the ground. With a clipped yell, his legs snapped up, and he lashed out with both feet.

Velvet took the blow, her chocolate-brown aura flaring slightly to disperse the minor damage. She landed on her back, rolled with it, halting her momentum and resetting her feet in a single motion. But Sun was already on her.

Left, right, shove, spin and upward diagonal back up!

Ruby’s dance was exhilarating. Velvet could feel Sun’s anger with each and every blow she deflected, redirected, blocked and dispersed. Nothing got through; her own battle instincts were more than enough to keep up with the huntsman even without Ruby’s superb reflexes backing them up. If she was just using her short sword, she would – probably – still be able to take him, though Sun’s abilities were clearly meant for huntsman-to-huntsman fighting more than they were suited for Grimm.

It made for an interesting contrast. Crescent Rose, made for reaping Grimm, versus Sun’s Bo staff, made for a constant barrage of lighter, exhausting blows perfect for draining her aura in the one-on-one.

It was his emotions that gave her the edge she needed to control the flow of the fight. Velvet could feel Sun’s skill in the thrum of her heartbeat and the bead of sweat on her brow, but his anger made him sloppy.

A lateral strike – aimed above her circle, trying to circumvent her reach – missed as she ducked down below it. Velvet took the opening and hooked her scythe behind his ankle, yanking hard to compensate for the lack of bullet-recoil Ruby would have used.

Sun toppled, his foundation ruined. Velvet moved her blade below his chin, signaling the end of their bout, and met his eyes. Again, her mind returned to her purpose, seeing the burning emotions behind those blue orbs. Ruby would be patient. Understanding. Kind. Her eyebrows quirked. ‘Again?’

He nodded and took the hand she held out to him.

Their next fight, Sun was more patient. Professional. He didn’t have the energy to be as reckless, so he tamed his anger and took his time measuring her up. Velvet relished in the slight twitch of his brow, the shift in his stance as they circled each other. She could see the myriad strategies running through his mind.

This was what she lived for.

She was a huntress. If Sun wanted victory, he’d have to work for it.

Velvet traced various patterns in the air with the tip of her scythe, already having a measure of the man across from her. Her tempo slowed from its frenetic beat. She could feel its tight coil tensing ever further, waiting to pounce.

The sun disappeared fully below the horizon, casting the duelists in shadow. In the single instant of distraction Sun leapt on her and she was forced back on the defensive.

Unlike before, where he’d focused his strikes into powerful, sweeping blows, this time his staff was a viper. Velvet was fast on her own. Ruby’s reflexes granted her an even deeper wellspring of agility to draw from. But Sun’s strikes were an eyeblink, and she was suddenly hard-pressed to avoid or redirect everything.

And that was a problem, because that was the entire point of this style she was borrowing. What was the point of redirecting something when the power behind it vanished as soon as she could meet it?

Velvet floundered, instincts at war with themselves as her semblance shuffled through the catalogue of muscle memory, seeking for a new response.

She assumed control in the meantime, lashing out with her scythe to give herself a moment to breathe, and then twirled Crescent Rose around in a tight circle. Her semblance hummed beneath her skin suddenly, information flooding her brain. The style she’d drawn from Ruby wasn’t the correct form to meet this change from Sun. He’d shifted tactics to compensate for her style’s weaknesses. That didn’t mean she couldn’t win. She could do the same thing.

She breathed in. Upped the tempo.

‘Time to dance, Monkey Boy.’

They clashed again, and this time Velvet focused less on the vicious, cleaving attacks and constant clashing Ruby’s primary style favored. She merely danced, a wraith to Sun’s stinging gadfly. The two wove around each other, at times breaking free to catch their breath and reassess their opponent, at times dashing forward to unleash a flurry of blows.

Velvet was on the run, but that was hardly to Sun’s advantage. She was rested. Energetic. Patient. He was exhausted, worked up and even now feeling the full weight of his earlier emotional toil. She could afford to run.

Eventually she saw her opportunity. Sun made to jump backwards, planting his staff into the ground to push off of like before. But Velvet was already in motion, sweeping bottom of the staff from the ground with the butt end of Crescent Rose’s snath – leaving Sun wide open for the heavy, wicked scythe blade to crash into his side and send him to the ground.

She gave him a minute to rest before they circled each other for the next bout. She was a little fatigued from the two fast-paced duels, but still had plenty of energy to burn.

The tension broke like a thunderclap, splitting the air with the sound of aura-reinforced hardwood meeting steel.

Almost immediately Velvet was struck by the change in Sun’s fighting style once again. No more powerful strikes, and less emphasis on the smaller, stinging strikes. Instead Sun kept on her, moving in too close for her scythe’s range to be effective. She made to shove him away, but he was just a bit faster, slamming her scythe’s snath with the length of his staff. She was forced away, and he repeated the tactic over and over.

It didn’t do anything in the way of damage, but it kept her off balance and on the defensive. Every time she was forced away, she would have just a split second to prepare herself before he was on her again, and whenever she made to turn the tactic on him, he would twist to the side and send her careening off balance.

Ruby’s instincts warred with her. Keep your circle! They told her.

‘He’s in my circle, shut up!’ she protested back.

Still, it didn’t do much to actively hurt her or tire her overmuch, so she didn’t see much of a point in it. Maybe he was trying to throw her off guard…?

And then Sun hit the transformation switch on his staff, splitting it into four separate components, and suddenly she understood.

He leapt on her like a panther, Velvet’s aura flaring into visibility as she struggled against multiple simultaneous lines of attack at once. Backing away did nothing, he just leapt at her and continued the onslaught, and every attempt to create some distance between her and him was firmly rebuked or instantly nullified. She shoved, he took the force and immediately returned with greater fury. She swiped, he twisted out of the way or jumped straight over the slashing steel.

It was a style most effective in very close quarters – and thus excellent against such a cumbersome, unwieldy weapon as a scythe. Had she a moment to prepare Velvet would have drawn her sword or summoned another weapon – maybe those twin daggers she’d taken a snapshot of the other day? – but he didn’t allow her even that.

Clever bastard. How long had he been practicing against Ruby to have this particular counter at the ready? It was just another configuration of the weapon he already used, sure, but his tactics – throw her off balance, get inside her guard, and now the relentless barrage of strikes where she simply couldn’t be all at once – were perfectly designed to work against scythe-wielders.

Very clever indeed.

Amidst it all, Velvet deferred to her fallback strategy and attempted to throw up what defense she could. Though she could feel her aura protesting the constant stream of impacts, it wasn’t nearly so bad as it could have been. Sun’s gunchucks traded raw power for speed and flexibility; she could keep up her shields for several minutes at this rate.

Her opponent was not so fortunate.

Sun’s brow was shiny with sweat, even in the low lighting. Her sensitive ears could easily hear his heavy, controlled breaths, and even now he was slowing. This was his, what? Third wind? Huntsmen had reserves unlike anybody else, but Sun’s were low to begin with between his recklessness before and the drain his sleeplessness had eaten into his stamina.

Eventually, he faltered.

And this time, when Velvet knocked him flat on his back, she joined him. The dusty earth was cold – almost painfully so against her sweaty arms and legs – but against her back, protected from the bite by her shirt it was incredibly refreshing.

They stared at the cloudless sky together.

“Feel… better?” Velvet panted.

“I think… I needed that,” Sun rasped tiredly, voice drained of some of the raw emotion clouding it before.

“Glad I… could help.”

“Yeah…” His head turned to look at her, dark shadows under his eyes every more prominent on his pale face. He looked unusually ghostly that night; the rising moon turned his normal tan into something thinner, less healthy. “Sooo… why’d you come all the way out here?”

“I overheard your argument with Scarlet.” The words seemed to come easier after their bout. “I didn’t mean to – I just wanted to see how you were doing – but yeah. I didn’t think you should be alone after that.”

Ruby would be honest. Direct.

He looked away from her, hands stretching up behind his head and a jagged laugh escaping his lips. “Ha… You’re probably right. Thanks.” She didn’t like the sour note in his voice.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“You sure?”  

“Pretty damned sure, Velvet.”

“You su—”

Okay maybe she was drawing on Coco just a little, but her leader was usually pretty excellent at getting others to open up. Sun glared at her sullenly. “You’re not gonna let me leave without talking, are you?”

Should she?

“Nah,” Velvet sighed.

Some of the impetuous energy remaining from the fight left her. Maybe she could press a bit more. Maybe it would do some good, even. But she could sense that the toxic fire burning within her companion had managed to burn its way out of him – and wasn’t that her goal in the first place?

“I won’t make you talk about it,” she said. “I’m here though, you know? I didn’t know you well before Ruby had her accident, but you’re my friend now too. I look out for my friends.”

He thought over her words for a long minute, before finally releasing a tired sigh. “Thanks, Velvet. I might take you up on that sometime.”

“Good.”

Her eyes flickered shut, a smile touching her face. She’d done it! She’d comforted someone without pissing them off or making them cry in the process! Suck it, Fox! Velvet Scarlatina can do the social thing!

“Do you know what you’ll be doing next?” she found herself asking.

“Dunno. Don’t think Scarlet’s had enough time to cool off yet. Don’t really want to talk to Sage right now, either.”

Velvet’s ears quirked, and she glanced at the huntsman next to her. He was staring up at the sky, gaze distant. Should she… hm. What would Ruby do?

X_0_X

Coco eyed up Sun from the doorframe, hip cocked to one side and glasses pulled just ever-so-dramatically down the bridge of her nose. “Another charity case, Vel?”

Well, so much for her earlier confidence. It had seemed like such a good idea, when she’d made the offer. Maybe she could convince Yatsuhashi to back her up? Maybe nick some of Fox’s blackmail material? “Ah…”

Coco waved her off. “Save it. Bring him in. Fox can bunk with Yatsuhashi for a while, maybe he’ll learn how to keep a clean room while he’s at it.”

Sun rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, a touch of pink entering his cheeks. “I don’t want to put anyone out…”

But Coco interrupted him, a single manicured digit hovering just over the tip of his nose. “Nuh-uh. If Velvet’s got you figured for needing help, I’m not gonna question it. Just get your butt in here and make yourself at home before I change my mind, ‘kay?”

Silent beside him, Velvet glowed with pride – Coco had a heart! No extortion required!

“Right…”

X_0_X

“Huntress?”

Her feet were fixed in place.

“Huntress? Miss Rose?”

“I can do this,” Ruby whispered, her eyes on the ground, half lidded. Her feet felt like they were shackled in cast iron, or lead.

It was too quiet for the lady to hear, though.

Helgi and her daughter were already gone, leaving with a lingering look from the kindly mother. Crescent Rose dangled limply in her hand at her side, her thumb rubbing absently over the metal.

This was it.

“Do you need assistance, Miss Rose?”

No, she didn’t. Not the kind she was thinking of.

Vale. Vale. Vale.

She’d put off thinking about it as best she could. She’d convinced herself that she could do this. She wanted to recover that sense of safety she remembered. Vale. Home? No. No longer.

It hadn’t been home for a long time. Not Vale, and not Beacon.

Not Patch either, when she thought about it, though something ached in her when she thought of her childhood stomping grounds and the old, quiet cottage in the woods…

Even Mistral – the place she’d considered home for the last ten years – now felt more like an extended stopover.

Where was home, now?

The flight attendant was irritated. “Miss Rose, we really need you to depart from the airship. If you require assistance, I would be happy to help you.”

Ruby could hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes, the cast of her shoulders, the slightest scowl of her lips. Professionally cool though she was, she couldn’t hide those markers from Ruby’s keen talent for observation.

Ruby ignored her.

Hope.

She felt it, deeply buried and cautious. It couldn’t hide from her either. She didn’t know herself – not well, not anymore – but she could sense that ember in her chest.

She could do this.

Maybe.

No.

Yes.

Ruby swayed, her weak hand coming up to grab one of the seats in front of herself. Pull. Step. Reach. Pull. Step.

‘Don’t stop now.’

One footfall followed another. The flight attendant moved aside for her, sighing in that way Ruby wasn’t supposed to hear but heard anyway. She didn’t care.

Vale. Hope.

She could do this. One foot in front of the other. She could feel the other emotions bubbling within her, threatening that tiny ember – to drown and smother it beneath a tidal wave of breathe but she wouldn’t let it drown. She could do this.

She stopped in front of the door. The light shone through, bright. A cloudless day. Cool air spilled through, one of Vale’s mild winter days. No snow. She knew the weather here like the back of her hand – a memory she’d never even realized she’d not forgotten. Would snow be on the ground, or had it saved itself for later in the season? Would the cafes be open for business, selling their wares? The docks? The shops? Was Beacon alive?

“Miss Rose?” Shut up please.

Crescent Rose clicked at her side, a reassuring presence. It wasn’t quite a warm hand on her shoulder, guiding her, but its weight on her hip was comforting. If only it weren’t so cramped, she could let it unfurl.

Vale…

Ruby surged forward, sucking in a gasp of the cool air and plunging into the light band-aid band-aid she could do this and suddenly she could see the sky, the tarmac, the city sprawl below the plateau, Beacon standing tall above her head like a shining guardian…

Silver eyes flickered over the view, the many views, the colors. Grey, green, blue, black, white, and so many shades between. Red hair. Pink eyes. She could see the hand waving frantically at her from not so far away but seemingly so distant…

But wait, no, the woman was rushing at her arms now wide open and oh no Dust damnit Nor—

“RUUUUUUUUUBY!”

[jadekitty777]

Hero for the Day

So to celebrate Father’s Day... how about a quick little drabble for my little dragon and bird duo! I just recently finished this one, and it’s one of my absolute favorites too. And it really just seems to fit the spirit of the holiday.

Rating: K

Word Count: 2,100

Ao3 Link: Hero for The Day

Summary: Huntress, the new family dog, has gone missing. Qrow doesn't particularly care - so why is everyone acting like it's all up to him to find her?

~

His first drink was just being placed down when his scroll rang. Qrow sipped the first glorious sip of the high-quality scotch as he eyed the ID. As he answered it, he was fully expecting to hear Tai’s bubbly voice.

When all he got was his blubbering niece instead, he went into high alert. “Ruby? What’s wrong?”

“Uncle Qrow, I can’t find Huntress!” She sniveled out.

Relief swept through him and he rolled his eyes. “Ah, I’m sure she’s around kiddo. She’s too fat to get far.”

They had only gotten the overweight, two-year-old corgi a few weeks ago and she was already trouble – which was exactly what he had warned Tai about. But his partner had insisted, saying it would be a good addition for their family. He even roped his own kids into the excitement, and Qrow was a little weak when it came to being triple-teamed with puppy-dog eyes. So they adopted the over-yeasted loaf of bread and within three days she’d already peed on the rug twice and chewed through his nicest pair of dress shoes.

He could certainly say that if she’d actually run off that he wouldn’t be the least bit upset.

But for an eight-year-old, it was the biggest crisis of her life. “I looked everywhere! She’s not in her bed. Or anywhere in the kitchen! What if she’s stuck somewhere?”

Maybe we need to look for holes in the flooring. Qrow had to take another drink so he wouldn’t laugh. “Well, she’ll come out of hiding if you pour her food.”

“I already tried that! She isn’t anywhere!” Ruby wailed. “Yang said she probably got out when daddy brought in the groceries! You have to come home and help me find her before a Grimm eats her!”

Oh no. No way. He didn’t put up with a week’s worth of teaching classes with the brattiest students in all of Patch to NOT enjoy his Friday drinking night. “A Grimm’s not going to eat her Ruby. She’ll come around when she’s ready.”

“You don’t understand, this is a matter of life and death!! You’re a huntsman, you gotta save her!”

He fought the urge to sigh but was spared from having to come up with anything to say when he heard Tai shout in the background, “Ruby, you know you’re not supposed to take my scroll without asking!”

“Tell Uncle Qrow he has to come home soon, okay?!” Her demand grew faint as the device was taken from her.

He must have been covering the speaker, because his voice became muffled. “I will. Now go get into your coat and then we can go looking okay? Yang, help her out will you!” His voice came through a lot clearer as he pulled the phone to his ear. “Sorry Qrow. She’s really devastated.”

“You don’t say.” He said, swirling his glass so the ice would clink together.

“I can see you’re torn up about it too.” He quipped sarcastically.

“Utterly brokenhearted.” Qrow assured.

“In that case, I’m sure you’re just rushing on over here then, aren’t you?” Before he could even open his mouth to argue, Tai was adding, “You know it would mean the world to Ruby if you were here.”

Damn him. He sunk a bit in his chair, grumbling, “That was low man.”

Tai’s only response was a jovial, “See you soon! Love you!” And then the call was ended.

Qrow sighed, quickly downing the rest of his drink and leaving the money on the table. As he headed out of the bar, he was tempted to call up Oz and blame him for not warning him he’d have to worry about puppy patrol duty. Not that his old Headmaster would do anything more than laugh at his misfortune.

He hurried down the alley, taking to the sky, intent on finding the little menace as soon as possible so he could get back to his night.

~

Qrow couldn’t help but wince as the slam of the girls’ bedroom door echoed down from the second floor.

Nothing. Three hours of searching, and there was nothing. He’d even used the skills he’d been taught for hunting deer to try and figure out which way the dog had run, but there were no imprints in any of the soft soil of the forest or the sandy spots around the house. It was as if she’d just disappeared into thin air.

That only left one actual possibility, the one he’d reassured Ruby couldn’t have possibly of happened: that a Grimm, likely a Nevermore, had swooped down and snatched the dog up when she got into the yard. He would say that should have been impossible with such a short timeframe to work with and there having been a Huntsman not even twenty feet away; but with his semblance around, such improbable things suddenly became a lot more likely.

A sniffle drew his attention to the living room where Yang and Tai were.

Tai knelt so he could hug her. “You okay, sweetie?”

“Yeah. Just sad.” Her words where muffled against his chest.

“I know.” He rubbed her back. “But, hey! Let’s not lose hope yet. It is really dark. How about first thing tomorrow morning, we go looking again? We’ll be sure to find her when it’s light out.”

“No.”

“No?” Tai echoed, looking down at her in confusion.

She pulled away from him, rubbing her fists into her eyes. “Things don’t come back when they go away.”

Qrow sucked in a sharp breath, and when his partner looked up at him, expression practically pleading for help, he finally spoke up, “Yang, that’s not true.”

She looked towards him. “Then where’s Huntress?”

“I- well. We’ll find her.” Now it was his turn to plead for help.

“Yeah, we will!” His partner jumped in as he placed a hand on her head. “Who knows, she may even be home in time for breakfast.”

Yang didn’t seem very convinced. “Okay. I’ma go check on Ruby.”

“Alright honey.” Tai stood, watching her scurry up the stairs. Once she was well out of earshot, he ruffled his hair agitatedly. “Fuck.”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, snipping as he headed for the kitchen, “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Qrow - come on now.”

He heard the other’s footsteps as he followed him but didn’t bother to slow down. He snatched a beer from the fridge and stepped out onto the porch. The moon above was bright, illuminating the yard and the faint chirping of crickets echoed from the surrounding forest. He lent up against the railing, twisting off the cap of the bottle and chugging half of it. Tai shut the door behind them, coming to stand beside him. He expected him to say something – reassure him with that boundless optimism he always tried to carry – but he stayed oddly silent. Somehow, that was even more annoying.

Qrow slammed the bottle down, grunting, “Why’d you even have me come back, huh? What good did that do?”

Tai folded his arms over the railing, glancing sideways at him. “You know, you are so stupid sometimes.”

“Uh, what?”

His ire didn’t even seem to make Tai twitch. “Why do you think the first person Ruby thought to call when she was having a problem was you?”

 “Uh, I don’t know?” He shrugged. “‘Cause more of us looking means more chances to find her?”

He snorted. “That’s some impressive logic for an eight-year-old. But no.” He turned to face him, leaning his hip against the rail. “It’s because you’re her hero Qrow.”

Qrow felt like someone had just jabbed a crystal of lightning dust right into his back. “I am?”

“Yeah. To her, there’s nothing you can’t do.” He laughed, looking up at the sky. “I even heard her tell Yang once that she knew you could put back together the moon if you weren’t so busy saving everyone else.”

He followed his gaze, smiling faintly. Her hero, huh? He remembered having one of those when he was her age. How he’d ask every adult in the tribe for just one more story about the Grimm Reaper or how his mother had used the last of their spare fabric one winter to sew him a cape. He knew it wasn’t quite the same as the cloak she was said to wear, but it had been big enough to pretend with when he was smaller.

His smile weakened, then fell.

He also remembered when those stories stopped. How his father finally told him the hero he thought was undefeatable had been killed. It had flipped his worldview upside down, showing him the unkindness lurking just outside their wooden walls.

He picked up his bottle. “Yeah well, eventually she’s going to figure out that stuff ain’t true.”

His partner laughed softly. “Of course she will. That’s all part of growing up.” He shoved his shoulder slightly. “But kids need someone to look up to; someone to strive to be like. You certainly wouldn’t be the same without your hero, right?”

Qrow rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I guess so. But I’m not exactly a role model.”

“Only in some ways you’re not.” Tai gave a pointed look at the beer before focusing back on him. “But right now, Ruby can only see all the good things about you. So, instead of being a Pessimistic Perry about it, try and hold onto that for as long as you can, and appreciate it while it’s there.” He turned away, expression unusually somber, “After all, it doesn’t last forever. And once it’s gone, it never really comes back.”

He rolled the bottle around on the rim of its bottom end, feeling like he was missing something as he tried to decipher that look. “Do-” He had just started to ask, when a soft crying had him changing tracks, “Do you hear that?”

Tai lifted his head some, both of them staying very quiet.

And there it was again – an insistent and high-pitched whining coming from below them.

They shared a wide-eyed look before leaping over the railing. As they crouched down to look through the latticework that was supposed to close off the underside of the porch, Qrow took out his scroll and flipped on the flashlight. It took a moment of searching, but eventually he spotted movement and paused the beam on it.

“Oh my gods!” Tai breathed, his smile near manic as it spread across his lips.

Sure enough, Huntress was there, tucked away against the wall where the foundation of the house met the ground. And she wasn’t alone – four little bundles were curled up by her belly, squirming occasionally. They were the ones making all the racket.

“Guess she wasn’t fat after all.” Qrow snorted. Just their luck they’d get a pregnant dog.

Tai felt along the wood, probably debating where to break through it. “I wonder how she even got under there? Do you think we’ve got a hole somewhere?”

Or she made one. He thought with a snicker, trying to get a better look at the pups. They were mostly just blobs of color – three brown and one black. “Maybe we should just pull up the floorboards?”

“Yeah, that might be smarter. I’ll go get the tools.” The blond bounced to his feet, his liveliness renewed. He jabbed him lightly in the arm when he stood up next to him. “As for you, I think there’s a little girl upstairs waiting for her hero to come save the day.”

“Ah, come on.” He shoved him back, though dutifully climbed up the porch steps, convincing himself he was only doing it to stop all the rampant waterworks. He paused before going inside, chuckling secretively when he caught the excited little hop Tai performed as he sprinted for the shed. It was hard to tell if he was so happy because they had actually found the dog or because they now had four puppies they were stuck with raising.

Ah, who was he kidding. It was absolutely the puppies.

Qrow crossed through the house, scaling the stairs to the second floor until he was standing in front of the girls’ bedroom, hearing their faint whispering. Just as he was about to knock, Tai’s question pushed its way through his head again.

Why had Ruby chosen to call him when her dad was right there?

The more he thought it over, and coupled it with Yang’s practical, almost too grown-up reasoning, the more the picture became clear and his partner’s somber expression began making more sense.

At least he knew how to make it go away, even if only for one night.

Qrow pulled open the door. “Ruby, Yang! Get out here. You won’t believe who your dad just found!”

-

A/N: This one was Prompt 57: “Just get home as soon as possible, okay?!”

[lifesbestescape]

Convergence: Chapter

I knew it was a dream for several reasons. The first being that I was outside. Running through a maze of trees under a starry night sky. That was my first warning that something was off because I had never seen the night sky before. The next give away came once I realized that the trees were not really trees but bushes and that I was actually running on four legs instead of two. As I jumped over a puddle I looked down to see the reflection of a small white mouse leaping through the air.

The next thing I realized was that I was not alone. On either side of me were more mice and that behind us, catching up at an alarming rate, was a wolf. I could feel my little heart beat faster and faster as we tried to outrun him. Suddenly a shadow briefly blocked out the moon and then there he was. Snarling teeth and all. His fur was covered in mud and across his left eye lay a jagged scar. I could feel my body freeze in fear. I knew this wolf would kill me. I knew his sharp teeth and drooling mouth would be the last thing I saw before I died. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a large owl come swooping down toward us. The last thing I could remember before waking was if the owl was really a better way to die or if I should have taken my chances with the wolf.

I woke up tangled in the sheets drenched in sweat. My gaze automatically went to the bed next to mine. Sitting up with her hair still a mess from sleep was Blake going to town on her sketchbook. Between the sight of her and the familiar tingle in the back of my head, I knew the dream I just had wasn’t mine. I swung my legs over the bed so I was sitting up and asked Blake “You think it was a vision? What do you think it meant?”

She asked back “You saw it?”

I pushed the hair out of my face as I answered her “Yeah, I must have slipped in. Sorry.”

“It’s ok I know you can’t help it. It’s just now I’m not sure what it meant. You know the visions lose credibility when you’re in my head. That may not even have been what I was supposed to see.”

           Blake shut her sketchbook and got up from the bed. One hand went to collect her uniform while the other was busy at her mouth as she chewed on what was left of her thumbnail. She seemed nervous but I never knew Blake to not be nervous. I guess having the ability to randomly get glimpses of the future in cryptid visions tends to do that to a person. I asked her “You don’t have any idea at all what it was trying to tell you?”

Blake released her nail from between her teeth with a loud huff before saying “No, not a clue. Besides, since you were in my head I can’t completely trust it. Occupational hazard of sharing a room with a girl who can slip in and manipulate dreams. Still, I feel like this one was important. I feel like something big is coming.”

I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Blake always thought something big was going to happen. She would spout off her visions like prophecy’s and always talked like she knew of some ancient evil. If she hadn’t been a 90-pound 14-year-old girl barely passing for 5 foot even I might have actually believed her. Of course, it didn’t help that she almost always misinterpreted her visions. The coats always told her she was making progress but I had yet to see it. Then again I wasn’t doing any better. Six years at The Camp and I still had trouble controlling when I slipped into people’s heads.

After getting dressed in our standard gray uniforms Blake and I made our way to the mess hall. The mess hall was about the closest thing we had to this place being like a real camp. I guess there is something about a room of ten to seventeen-year-olds all talking and eating that had a universal feeling no matter where you went. The rest of The Camp, however, was anything but normal. Instead of cabins, we had barracks with steel beds, instead of arts and crafts we had our special testing in one of the hundreds of labs, instead of a lake we had our daily two hours outside in the pen, and instead of cabin mascots, we had our abilities. We were generally split into three groups; the mentals, the physicals, and the cyborgs. When we reached our usual table Jack and H.D. were already there waiting in deep discussion.

“I can’t believe they did this. I was going to make history today for the fastest run time. Not to mention I was really looking forward to getting this thing off for a while.”  As Jack spoke he fiddled with the metal bracelet around his ankle. The bracelet was specially made for Jack so that any time he tried to use his super speed outside of the labs he only made it about 30 feet before the dampeners turned on. So, in other words, Jack hated the thing. I looked to H.D. for an explanation.

“They canceled our testing today. According to Dr. Swan, the four of us are to report to her group session in the outer labs.” H.D. said. H.D. was always good to talk to when you wanted to know something. His brain practically worked like a computer. Suddenly he got tense as he stared off behind me. I could see him pulling on the blue sleeve that I knew hid a robotic arm. I followed his gaze and turned around to see one of the scientists headed our way. You were always able to tell the scientist apart from the soldiers by their bright white coats, hence why we called them the coats.  He came toward our table in big hurried steps like a man on a mission.

“Rose you’re needed in Dr.Manchester’s lab right away.” Said the scientist.

“That can’t be right,” I replied, “I thought I was supposed to be headed to Dr.Swan’s.”

“There’s been a change of plans. You have been requested personally for a demonstration. Mr. Wolfe is here.”

I could feel the cold settle low in my stomach as the coat grabbed my arm and lifted me from the table. I had never met Mr.Wolfe personally, none of the kids here have. All we knew were the basics. He was the suit sent from Grimm’s Corp or otherwise known as the people whose experiments created us. Every once in a while they would send him to check on the progress of The Camp by seeing a demonstration of a kid’s unique ability. His visits were never seen as happy ones though since the kids sent for these “demonstrations” almost never came back.

I kept my head held high and my back straight as the coat lead me towards a lab in the center of the compound. I’d be damned if I gave him the satisfaction of seeing me afraid. Which I was, I was terrified. I had never liked my testing. The kids with mental abilities had always had it harder than the rest. The beeping of the machines they hooked me up to, the cold metal of the chair I was strapped to, and the screams of the people they’d have me practice on all haunted me. I loathed my testing with everything in me, but I’d rather be strapped to that chair then find out why kids never came back from demonstrations with Mr. Wolfe.

When we turned the corner I caught sight of the end of the hall and felt my blood run cold. Standing there with coats on either side of him was a man in a gray suit. His hair was combed back neatly, shoes nice and shiny, and on his face across his left eye lay a long scar. I could catch bits and pieces of the coats describing me to him. “Subject 312…” “15 years of age, first wave…” “Ability to manipulate dream stasis….”  

I could feel the panic rise in me. Every instinct in my body was telling me I had to get away. That I had to stop. Something was screaming in me not to let them take me through that door. Suddenly, still a mere 10 feet away from them, the lights cut out followed by the sounds of the emergency alarms. I could hear people start shouting and panicking and then I could feel myself being yanked out the grasp of the scientist who came for me. Before I had time to react or even scream I was being pulled through crowds of manic people filling the hallways. My only anchor was the hand grasped tightly over my wrist. We turned a corner and then I was abruptly shoved into what I guessed was a hall closet just in time for the emergency floodlights to kick on.

I had to swallow my shock as I could finally see who had been pulling me “Dr.Swan! What are you doing? What’s going on?”

“Oh thank God you’re ok. When the others showed up and told me where you went I got so worried I wouldn’t make it to you in time. He wasn’t supposed to be here till this evening. Here put these on.” Dr. Swan rushed through her words as she threw an infirmary staff uniform at me.

“We have to hurry we still need to go back for the others.” Dr. Swan was saying to me as she kept her ear to the door.

“Wait just wait,” My mind was spinning at a million miles an hour as I hurried and changed “I still don’t understand. What’s happening right now?”

Dr. Swan gave me a once over before answering me “I’m tired of biting my tongue. I’m tired of playing their game. You want to know what’s happening Rose?”  

           I held my breath as Dr.Swan shoved the closet door open and took me by the hand again before leading us back into the hallway. Back into the unknown.

“I’ll tell you what’s happening. We're finally getting out of here.”

[knightofbalance-13]

You Sure It Isn’t You?

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/165158509133/the-racist-subplot-is-still-racist

Yeah... Don’t even tr it Dudeblade.

I’m going to pull the Your Terrorists are our Freedom Fighters card. The WF might be a terrorist group for humans, but let’s face it, the anti-WF movements (Read: Schnee Company)  are terrorists to faunus… Well, more accurately, they’re slavers to faunus. Killing or Slavery. That’s literally the two extremes that we’re given. And it’s also the only ones that we can have. There’s no WF members who are still advocating for peace outside of our main character(s). Nobody else in the WF gives voice to moderation. They’re literally just terrorists. Except to most faunus, they’re people who are trying to get equal rights by any means necessary.

Except the Schnee Dust Company isn’t a movement, they aren’t trying to make the lives of all Fanaus worse: They’re just underpaying them and putting them in terrible living situations. Is this bad: YES! I never said it wasn’t bad but what the White Fang is doing, on the scale of how many people are affected and how badly people would be affected, the White Fang that serves under Adam at the very least are FAR WORSE. Adam wants to kill all humans because they’re humans and people on his side (like the White Fang Lieutenant) has expressed this same sentiment. And considering that he let loose a bunch of Grimm in Vale, which has FANAUS IN IT: He doesn’t seem to care about any Fanaus that side against him, fighting, neutral or uncaring. Yeah, the SDC is at fault for not providing better pay and better working conditions but to take that out on the whole of humanity? Yeah, NOT FREEDOM FIGHTERS.

Which should be obvious because Adam doesn’t really care about freedom. In the link you are SUPPOSE TO give (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters), we have a case of a Defied Trope in which in the movie To Die Anotehr Day, James Bond outright rebunks the idea that the villain is a freedom fighter because he doesn’t actually care about freedom. Likewise, Adam has used terrorism to control people’s behavior, broke up a peaceful protest to hijack it and use it as a means for attack (said protest is also made up of FANAUS) (https://youtu.be/-sGiE10zNQM?t=9m38s) and when confronted with teh fact that he isn’t promoting freedom, his response is to say he wants to kill all humans. He’s not a freedom fighter: He’s a terrorist. And the people who work for him are guilty of the same. They may have their reasons for doing this but none of them will excuse genocide.

Also: No, he doesn’t speak for most of teh Fanaus. Neon has shown no instance where she agrees with them, Velevt is actually PUNISHED for it be4cause their terrorism justifies Cardin’s abuse and Sun...Sun fucking HATES the White Fang. Out of all the people we’ve seen who are not in the  or were in the White fang, their opinions are unbknwon at best and outright hateful at worst. Something that also happens in real life (http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/09/politics/carol-swain-black-lives-matter-smerconish/index.html)

This is why claiming that the humans are completely innocent in this situation is just plain wrong. Why are we supposed to boo Ilia for punching someone who makes light of a tragedy? - If anything, we should be encouraged to cheer for Ilia for standing up to a bully who dubbed her ‘unworthy’ and ‘inhuman’ for simply not being human.

A.) No one is saying that.

B.) Illa just GAVE them a reason to be racist

And C.) Illa is a grunt who serves a GENOCIDAL MANIC, no I am not going top stop saying that: It needs to be said.

To prove how it’s still racist, imagine if there were no faunus to be a stand-in for all racial minorities, and Ilia was a person of African decent who was being saddened by a cave-in that killed and injured hundreds of other people of African decent, and likely even her parents.

- Would we still root against Ilia for punching her ‘friend’ for that, or would we feel a sense of satisfaction?

Once again, that’s not the argument. The argument is that Illa punched people without being assaulted herself so now they can claim victimhood. Had she told them off and responded with equal force, not greater, then yes it would. But she attacked people over their words so now they can always bring that up to justify their words.

And then we have her joining a terrorist group lead by an obviously unstable, psychotic, genocidal man and not trying to do something else with her life because she thinks all humans that way, ironically displaying similar behavior to her former “friends.”

To be honest, I like the idea of having an idea of a “Passing Minority.” I really do. But the way it’s executed is just bad. Ilia’s emotive ways of saying how she wasn’t allowed to even HINT at her faunus heritage is powerful, and shows just how much a minority portion has to go through just to fit in with “Normal Society.”

But the way that we’ve seen the writers handle racism so far, and considering that the people on their team don’t really have that sort of experience/knowledge/research capabilities - It’s not exactly comforting.

Uh, considering you were JUST being racist towards the writers for being white and being racist towards all minorities assuming they all suffer racism and have the exact same opinion on the subject: I’m not going to listen to you.

First racism is bad, then it’s morally gray, then the discriminator is a victim, then it’s back to bad, then it’s back to morally gray… I’m still waiting on it going back to bad.

No, that was never the message, you only see it that way because you cannot see shades of grey.

No, the issue has been ALL OF THEM: There is both and black and white on both sides with Jacques and Adam being the Black, Blake and evntually Weiss being the white and people like Illa being the grey.

Just because you think that oppressed people should be allowed to do whatever they want doesn’t mean it’s a fault of RT.

[teamrnbw]

RNBW v CAPA: The 4v4 Tag-Team Battle. (Part 1/3)

“Well, that could have gone better in any number of ways,” said William Wulfric as he rested an ice pack on his forehead, throwing his head back against the chair he sat on. Around him in Atlas Academy’s Lecture Room 19-02 were the rest of his team members, all exhausted from earlier that day. Rusty Redwoods was slumped over on the floor, exhausted, Nappa Springs was sitting in the corner of the room, furiously tinkering with her equipment, and Brandeis Cygnette was sat quietly at her desk, sullen. 

The team had just returned from a particularly difficult mission which involved attempting to storm a notorious robber’s hideout. While Team RNBW had successfully infiltrated the base, taken down its defenses, and secured a large majority of the stolen goods within, the criminal who had stolen them, Daisy Marion, had escaped once again after putting up a particularly good fight. 

The team’s teacher, Ms Loca Star, had thus allowed them some much-needed rest, and let them recover from their recent battle in her classroom. Which would have gone much better if Team CAPA hadn’t decided to barge in and gloat right there and then.

“Hiiii~!! Guess you guys messed up your mission, huh~?” taunted Argenta, gleefully.

“ ‘Sup, losers.” said Ptolemy.

“You have not successfully completed your task. It will be our job to do so in your stead.” stated Cutter.

“ -But that’s no big surprise anyways. What else would you expect from a bunch of loser weirdos that were scooped up off the streets, right?” laughed Aurelia.

“Look, you you guys just lay off for once?” groaned Will.

“Yeah! You try being shot in the face with a Dust cannon!” shouted Nappa as she finished welding the armor plating on her shoes. “I could probably arrange it for you…” she muttered soon after.

“Well, since you guys only got accepted here because your teacher wanted more “diversity” in this school with her “Inclusion Program” , you obviously don’t have what it takes anyway”  mocked Aurelia.

“Hey, you can laugh at us all you want, but don’t make fun of Ms Star because of our mistakes, okay?”

“She has a point, Ms Allum. Just because these children didn’t grow up with the same advantages you did doesn’t mean they aren’t as capable as you in their own ways.”

Both teams turned towards the source of that comment to see that, standing in the doorway was Ms Star, who had just responded to Aurelia’s jibe. 

“In fact,” continued the silver-haired woman, “now that we accept students from all across Remnant and from all walks of life means that our school has no doubt become a much larger pool of cultures and skills!”

“Really? Because at this rate it’s starting to look a lot more like a farm to me.” snickered Aurelia as she pointed at Rusty.

“Hey!” shouted Rusty.

“You guys wanna go at it right now, huh?!” said William.

“WE’LL WRECK YOU SNOOTY %$!@?S!!” yelled Nappa.

“Pffft. As if you losers will even be a challenge~” responded Aurelia

“Oh, you wanna throw down, young lady-?! *ahem* So wonderful to hear this from you, children! But if you’re going to fight, take it inside so we can make this a training exercise for you all.” 

With that, Ms Star brought both teams of students to a reinforced arena several floors beneath the school. It consisted of a large circular section of city-scape, the battlefield being mostly just small buildings and roads. It was in a massive hemispherical arena made of reinforced metal to ensure collateral damage did not become too extensive.

“This arena was a section of abandoned city we extracted from a Grimm-infested area.” explained Ms Star. “It’s meant to be one of the battlefields for the upcoming Vytal festival, but the state it’s in once that comes around doesn’t matter, so it should be perfectly okay for you kids to let off some steam here!”

Teams RNBW and CAPA each assembled at opposite halves of the battlefield as Ms Star began to explain the rules of the fight.

A massive display screen mounted on the arena walls flared to life. It showed eight colored bars, each with a photo of the huntsmen and huntresses participating in the battle beside them.

“Your aura levels will be monitored on the screen there.” explained Ms Star. “When it drops below 10%, you will be eliminated. Because I’m the only referee, each team can only have one member on the battlefield at any time to make it easier to keep track of the battles. You may switch places with each other at any time during the fight by exiting the bounds of the battlefield. Obviously, the first team to have all its members eliminated loses. Now, may the best team -but hopefully mine- win!”

And with that, Rusty and Ptolemy charged onto the battlefield and the battle began.

Ptolemy started off with an aerial assault, using his AKS-V9 armored flight suit to fly high up above the battle field and fire off a barrage of rockets from the suit's small wrist-mounted cannon down onto Rusty. Rusty converted her axe into its turret mode to shield herself, shooting a flurry of incendiary grenades at Ptolemy, but he was easily able to either dodge them or use his armor’s wrist-mounted energy shield to block them.

In response, Rusty activated her semblance and a bright orange field of energy flared to life around her, as she used her Charge to propel herself into the air to try and get closer to Ptolemy. With a great deal of difficulty, Rusty tried her best to use her semblance to steer herself towards Ptolemy, but his aerial maneuverability was far more superior, and he quickly flew out of the way and simply fired one rocket at Rusty to send her spiraling off-course and crashing back down into the ground at the edge of the battlefield, losing a small portion of her Aura.

“Uggh… I can’t get to him.” groaned Rusty, rubbing her sore head. “Looks like I’m tapping out for now.” she continued as she dashed off the battlefield.

“We need someone who can effectively combat an aerial opponent!” commented Brandeis.

“Hmm I could probably land a good shot on him with a lightning bolt from my rifle.” said William. “Maybe-”

“Outta my way, I’ve got this!!” interrupted Nappa as she bounced onto the battlefield in a flash using her Spring shoes, hopping from building to building and using the momentum she gained to get much closer to Ptolemy.

Ptolemy tried to land a shot on the tiny, manic, dark-skinned girl rocketing from building to building all around him, but she proved to be too tricky a target, evading all of his rockets. 

“Ugh, quit running you cowardly little m*dg*t!!” grunted Ptolemy.

Suddenly, Nappa rebounded off a building right at Ptolemy and the two began duking it out 100 feet in the air, with Ptolemy just barely managing to use his energy shield to block her kicks and blasts of sonic semblance energy. 

In order to put some distance between them, Nappa kicked against Ptolemy’s shield and propelled herself high up above all the buildings in the battlefield.

“Who said I was running?” she retorted, raising Ptolemy’s suspicion. Only then did he notice several small yellow bombs stuck to the buildings all around him. Nappa’s frantic circular hopping earlier wasn’t just to evade or confuse Ptolemy- she was keeping him occupied while she stuck the bombs from her soles onto the battlefield!

“Bye!” Nappa shouted triumphantly as she detonated all the bombs simultaneously, sending several stories of several buildings all crashing down onto Ptolemy, shearing away chunks of his aura. 

Desperately, Ptolemy tried using his rockets and shield to nullify as much of the rubble descending on him as possible, but it was too much and he was slammed into the ground under several tons of debris.

Clinging to consciousness with just a sliver of aura left, after several long seconds Ptolemy managed to crawl his way out of the rubble. And received a rocket-powered dropkick straight to the head from Nappa as she touched down to the ground at 700mph, taking him down for the count.

Team RNBW all cheered jubilantly as Ptolemy, limp in his armor, was gently carted off the battlefield by Ms Star via her semblance, while the remaining members of Team CAPA were still stunned from what just happened.

“Aw, yeah!!” cheered Nappa. “Get destroyed, flyboy!! You-”

Before she could finish her gloating, within a millisecond, Cutter had dashed across the field and landed a precise, incredibly powerful slice on Nappa using his katana, immediately taking her down.

“Uh-oh.” said the remaining Team RNBW members all at once.

[thewhiterabbit42]

After the Rain

Summary:  When the weather gets in the way of something Gabriel needs to do, you remind him he has everything he needs right at home.  

Pairings: Gabriel x Reader

Warnings/tags: fluff

Word Count: 2428

Author’s Note:  This was written for @becaamm who I thought could use some fluff right now.  If nothing else, I hope this can be a happy little distraction for you. <3

It was written using April’s @gabriel-monthly-challenge statement prompt:

He stared out the window, silently cursing the rain that was pouring from the sky and ruining all of his grand plans for the day.

This one didn’t make it through my betas.  Apologies for any mistakes.  

***Please do not repost or copy my work to any other site without my written permission.  Giving credit does NOT count.  Reblogging is ok.***

He stared out the window, silently cursing the rain that was pouring from the sky and ruining all of his grand plans for the day.  It wasn’t just any day.  Today was the day.  The one where he desperately needed everything to fall into place.  As usual, the universe refused to cooperate, causing the thread of what made him an archangel to begin to fray, drawing a little more of the innate, primordial being to the surface.  

That was how you found him, staring out the sliding glass door to the deck, glowering fire and brimstone down upon the first gloriously sunny day you’d had all week.  

“Uh, Gabe?”  You’d sounded confused and more than a little wary, though the caution your words carried wasn’t the kind where you recognized the inherent danger in him.  It was where you wondered if he hadn’t somehow slipped out, drank a liquor store in your absence, and now you were going to have to keep him entertained or spend the rest of the day hiding the existence of Sparkle Fingers (his drunk alter ego aptly named for his tendency to zap things indiscriminately) from the rest of suburbia.  

Unbeknownst to you, what he was looking at was halfway across the world and under the threat of taking on some serious water.  Sure, he could snap his fingers and there’d be clear skies again, but it was one thing to clear up a little rain storm and completely another to wipe out a category four typhoon.  The latter might draw a little more attention than he hoped considering he was technically still in hiding.  Though that was mostly from the Winchesters at your insistence since the Brothers Grimm had already gotten you both respectively killed during the apocalypse.

Gabriel hadn’t argued considering how painful it had been resurrecting you once, not to mention how nearly devastating to most of North America.

“Is something wrong?” You continued when he didn’t respond.  He turned, forcing himself to rein in his vexation as he made an attempt at a convincing smile.  The excuse he gave sounded hollow to his own ears, though his tongue was more talented with those than the even weaker attempt at reassurance that followed.  The way you continued to regard him like you were trying to remember where you kept the holy oil suggested he hadn’t been very successful.  

The joke was on you.  There wasn’t a single drop of the stuff left on the property after the last stunt you pulled, no matter how justified you’d been using it.   

Eventually, you had wandered back out, leaving him to figure out just what he was supposed to do about his dilemma.

He thought about changing locations, but it would be too risky.  He’d studied this place from every angle, knew the surrounding terrain, and had run through every potential complication in his mind.  Well, all save one, apparently.  Regardless, there was never a good contingency plan for Mother Nature when she came out in full force.  

No, it needed to be there.  Too much depended on it, which just meant it couldn’t be today.  Except it had to be today.  He’d sat on the knowledge for weeks now, letting it grow heavy with mounting urgency until it had erupted in a fever pitch, threatening the serenity of everything you two had worked so hard to build.  

He was at a standstill, and if something didn't give, he wouldn’t be moving anytime soon.

“Brought you something,” your voice broke through his thoughts and as before he’d been too caught up to hear you approaching.  Your instincts were still sharp, though it had been years since you’d quit hunting, and this time you were waiting in the doorway for him.  

His eyes fell to the plate in your hand and the smell of warm sugar and cinnamon wafted in with your approach.  How he had missed you baking his favorite cookies was beyond him, considering last time that had happened, he had smelled them clear across the neighborhood.

As you stopped in front of him, his eyes weren’t on the treats you offered but solely on you.  He realized he’d been so preoccupied lately the only exchange the two of you had since breakfast yesterday was when you wandered in earlier.  It was uncommon to go this long without having some meaningful interaction since the two of you had decided to try being “normal.”

Well, you were pretending to be normal.  Gabriel was just doing his best not to do anything that would make you have to move again.  

Today there were traces of the past lingering beneath your eyes.  The dark circles were a reminder of just how poorly you slept without him there and guilt gave a hearty nudge somewhere near his spleen when he realized he had never made it to bed last night.  Patience laced the weary smile you gave him, suggesting you’d probably drop from exhaustion before ever mentioning it to him.  Your need to protect him in ways he never considered had his frustration fading.  

He reached out, tenderly erasing a streak of flour that ran across your forehead from where your fingers had tried to keep your hair out of your face and failed.  A halo of strands framed your face, falling from where you had them haphazardly secured at the back of your head.  Now that he was the only being you had to worry about tugging on your hair, you’d let it grow out and he had a sudden urge to see it.  He reached for the tie, gently freeing y/h/c until it tumbled past your shoulders, giving you a tousled look that normally put all sorts of unwholesome thoughts into his head.  

Today, it simply reminded him of how lucky he was.  

He took the plate from your hands, setting it on a nearby stand before drawing you against him.  Even the feel of your body was different.  Intentional or not, the Winchesters had a way of draining people dry before leaving a (normally dead) husk in their wake and while you were with them you were in a constant state of agitated survival.  You lived every moment wondering when the next enemy would round the corner, knowing the moment you let your guard down it would likely be your last.  

Now, there was nothing but a calm that came from knowing you didn’t have to worry about anything hurting you anymore. There was a contentment from letting go of the need to chase that next case, to save just one more person before you could even consider thinking of yourself.  The two of you were able to connect in a way he never thought possible because you were both so relaxed knowing the only world whose fate either of you had to worry about was each others’.  

He brought his lips to yours, liking the low hum of appreciation you gave in response.  There was no more need for urgent, impassioned kisses as if they might be the last ones you shared and he found he preferred the series of slow, gentle ones he stole in quiet moments like these.  His hands slipped beneath the hem of your shirt, splaying across your lower back.  His fingertips drank in the smoothness of your skin, reminding him of how the only scars acquired since your resurrection had been through far more ordinary means.  

He never thought he could be content with what always seemed like such a mind-numbing existence, day in, day out the same routine, buying groceries, mowing the lawn, fixing leaks without snapping his fingers, only to have to go back and do it all again.  There was safety in simplicity, however, and a greater depth of joy than he had known in quite some time.  

Then again, that may have had more to do with you being  along for the ride than the ride itself.   Regardless, he never thought he could be content with the “mundane”.  Once again, you’d gone and surprised him and it was exactly why he needed to follow through with his plan sooner rather than later.  

He finally drew back, a rare smile touching lips as he allowed all these sentiments to come soaring to the surface.  

“You know how much I love you, right?”  Impulsivity sparked a question he hadn’t realized just how much he needed the answer to until the words had left his mouth.  He suddenly needed you to understand just how much you enriched his existence in a way he never thought possible and he needed it to happen right now.

Whispers of the past echoed through the present in a startling and sudden shift that had shadows casting over your features.  They brought with it a familiar, manic edge that lined the borders of y/e/c, hinting at the panic that flared in a vibrant flash of emotions that were better left buried.  

“Don’t do it,” you whispered, barely able to breath life to words he could tell you desperately wished you didn’t need to.  “Whatever it is, you don't need to do it.”

The vehemence rising swiftly within your tone almost left him speechless.  Had you somehow known where he’d been going all this time? How could you when he had been so careful to ensure you were always at work when he left?

“Is it the Winchesters?” You demanded, anger burning bright and dangerous.  “Did they find you?”

Him.  Everything was focused solely on Gabriel to the point it had an ache blooming deep within his chest.  He had hoped a quieter life would tame that blinding need to protect those around you.  If anything, it had only made it grow more fierce.  

“It’s not them,” he reassured, stepping back and taking your hands into his.  He didn't know how to explain things to you, not without giving everything away.  It wasn’t until he felt the fear buzzing through your system that he realized even the snap of his fingers couldn’t calm the storm gathering in the darks of your eyes.

Today was the day and it was happening right here whether he wanted it to or not.  

This was exactly why he did whatever struck him in his current mood rather than attempting to plan ahead.    

A dizzying bout of nervousness rushed through his system as he realized this was it.  The way his heart hammered against his vessel was disconcerting.  He couldn’t remember it doing that in what had to have been centuries.  He’d forgotten how loud his pulse became and how off kilter it made him feel being acutely aware not only of his heart rate but suddenly of everything about him.    

“Just tell me,” you insisted, determination rallying your  strength and resolve as you prepared yourself for the worst.  “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.  Together.”

Your declaration brought out a blinding moment of clarity.  He’d been wrong.  He didn’t need the tropical island.  He didn’t need the magnificent ocean view at sunrise.  All he needed was you to tell him you’d be by his side no matter what came along.

“Marry me?” He asked, his tone quiet with a touch of tenderness as he flashed you a tentative smile.  Everything in your gaze stilled as you continued to stare at him.  You seemed to forget how to breathe, let alone blink and it took a minute before your chest rose again.  Your lashes fluttered once.  Twice.  A third had your brow arching clear to your hairline.

“You serious this time?”  You questioned, seeming to have recovered.

Exasperation seeped in in the wake of his fading anxiety.  Ok.  He might have deserved that.  In his defense, however, only one of those times you had actually been a joke.  The other he’d been wholly serious (though also wholly inebriated).

“Third time’s a charm?”  For the love of his father, why was that suddenly a question?  Where was the archangel in him now when he could use a little absoluteness?

“Is this why you’ve been acting strange?”  You asked, hope sparking beneath the question in a way that had sentiments squeezing tighter around his heart.  

“Yes,” he promised, eager to reassure you that what you both had was not under threat.  His patience on the other hand, might have been a different story as nerves renewed their jarring thrum the longer he waited for your answer.  

You let out a slow breath, relief easing the tension that had crept into your frame. 

“I’ll take it into consideration,” you replied, as if he were asking you to change the color of the curtains than make a lifelong commitment to him.  His brows raised in disbelief, unable to bridge the discrepancy between who you had been just one minute ago and your sudden indifference to an incredibly important matter.  

“You’ll take it into consideration?” He demanded, hands moving to his hips.  “Are you seri-uufff--” you shoved a cookie into his mouth, cutting him off with a burst of delectableness that almost had him moaning.

How you baked such heavenly creations without a touch of divinity in you was beyond him.   

“Of course I’ll marry you, chuckles.  I just figured I owed you some sweat and heart palpitations for once,” you said dryly.  He froze, mouth stopping mid-chew.  He had run all the variables for both the situation and your personality, carefully mapping every potential response he could receive from you in hopes of calculating the chances you would accept.

He never imagined you’d end up being just as much of a smart-ass as he was.  

He also never imagined it would be so hot.

There was nothing gentle about the way his mouth came down this time, his lips searing over yours, unable to get enough of the taste of you on his tongue.  The moan you gave was decadent, drawing him further beneath the waters of desire as your fingers raked through his hair.  

“You have ten seconds to make it to the bedroom,” he warned, forcing himself to release you.  

“Or what?”  You challenged, eyes glinting playfully.  

He leaned forward again, nose grazing yours as his voice dropped to a sensual husk, “Or I’m going to take you against that sliding glass door and give our neighbors the show of their lifetime.”

Considering you were pulling his hands back on you before you even started moving, you were lucky you didn’t end up revealing anything that would give you no choice but to pack up and leave yet another neighborhood behind.  

GMC tags: @lacqueluster   @archangel-with-a-shotgun  @ashiewesker  @revwinchester  

All the tags:  @girl-next-door-writes @sumara62 @fand0maniac @feelmyroarrrr @omgreganlove @jannalionheart  @baritonechick

Gabe tags:  @theblackenedsky @bloodstained-porcelain-doll  @pepperwoodatnight @samikitten

[forgetspecifics]

Murphy’s Law: Breaking Murphy’s Law

Rated M

Story summary: Because anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Mutual pining, mutual sexiness. Attempts at real issues, plot, and humour. Slight AU.

(Complete)

Chapter summary: 5.  Is the cycle broken? Will they do the do? Tune into the...interesting...conclusion of Murphy's Law!

AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/9450161/chapters/24426717

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12335981/5/Murphy-s-Law

Chapter 1: Stupid sexy grin™

Chapter 2: With friends like these

Chapter 3: Rainchecks, refunds, and returns

Chapter 4:  ... --- ... ---... / ... - --- .--. / --- ..- .-. / ... . -..-

Available below

ForgetSpecifics Productions Presents:

A TRAINWRECK

Yang returned home to her shared apartment with Ruby in record time.

Though it was obvious to the younger sibling that her older sister may have felt slightly embarrassed upon her entrance due to several reasons, including:

Yang was wearing the same clothes as when she went out last night; 2. Ruby herself had messaged Blake via scroll, and knew she was with Blake, and 3. Weiss had relayed – in a manner that was mostly peeved, but still very much mortified – that she had caught the other half of their team in the middle of foreplay – not to mention Blake flat out lying that they were not doing any such thing before that – and been forcefully coerced into a potential fiscal wedding nightmare while simultaneously having her afternoon slash lunch ruined;

Ruby put on her most nonchalant face.

The best Ruby could achieve though, she knew, was probably between extremely not nonchalant and looking like she needed to pee. Because she was terrible at lying and terrible at letting anything to do with her team slide. Especially when it came to the fact that-

“You’re not gonna say anything, Rubes?” Yang asked suspiciously, having seen through her nonchalant-I-gotta-pee face, right before she noticed Ruby inhaling to her maximum lung capacity no doubt preparing to release an incomprehensible spiel. The (still at ages likely not appropriate anymore) red cloaked cookie inhaler received a well-recognised ‘don’t bother I won’t ever understand you’ stare.

For a couple of seconds, she looked to be contemplating whether or not she could just say everything that was probably queueing up on the tip of her tongue, so Yang turned to leave her to her own devices.

As soon as she did, Ruby was upon her. Well, up on her. She had jumped on her back and was clinging like a sloth would to a branch. That’s what Nora would say, anyway.

Ruby’s weight and strength had certainly grown to the point where she didn’t want her on her back. Damn that giant scythe and damn their alcoholic uncle for ever letting her have it. It created a sugar-fuelled cute as a button Grimm Reaper that was almost choking her around the neck.

The voice in her ear hadn’t matched the appearance of Ruby ever since she first wielded Crescent Rose. “Where are you going?! Tell me everything!” she demanded.

Unluckily, for Ruby, Yang was still stronger. And she’d much rather have a shower before doing as Ruby demanded. Prying off her little sister’s arms was child’s play – she had grown up dealing with this kind of thing – just as peeling the excited ball of energy from her back by the red hood was executed efficiently enough for Yang to be rid of Ruby long enough to dart into the bathroom and lock the door.

She let herself breathe a sigh of pride and relief, noting a loud thump on the floor. She picked up that stupid foot stamp from hanging around with Weiss for so long; it was almost endearing. Almost.

“Yaaaaang!”

-- ..- .-. .--. .... -.-- .----. ... / .-.. .- .—

When Yang finally deemed herself ready as she would ever be to talk about the best sex she had almost ever had, with her little sister that was begging to know – ew, why though, she pondered – she exited her bedroom to come face to face with her assailant from earlier that day.

Weiss.

Yang honestly would have preferred that dickbag from the sidewalk incident. Only a little.

The Ice Queen had her coldest stare directed at Yang, and Ruby, well, she had another face that just looked like she was still yet to pee.

Okay, she’d prefer the dickbag a lot.

“Sit.” Was the only word Weiss decided to grace her with. Not even a hello? Probably still huffed about earlier, Yang supposed.

“Seriously? What is this, an interrogation?” She sat down anyway. Only because she told Blake she’d explain to Ruby what had happened. It was kind of a big deal.

Ruby shook her head manically. “Of course not! We just really wanna know what’s going on with you!” The most unconvincing answer award would always go to Ruby Rose.

Yang could feel her eyes rolling before she had even spoken, because, really, it felt like an interrogation. “Me?”

Icy blue eyes narrowed in annoyance, “Stop it, Yang. Tell us what’s happening with you and Blake! I have no time for your conversational banter!”

Yang blew a raspberry out of the corner of her mouth, disappointed, “To be straight with you, I don’t really see this as a conversation I want to have with my sister.”

Ruby completely missed her partner muttering ‘there’s nothing straight about this situation’, flashing a disgusted look at Yang.

“You can spare me the NSFW stuff, yuck! I mean, you and Blake! Weiss said she’d,” Ruby confusedly looked at her interrogation partner, “uh-”

“I graciously offered to pay for yours and Blake’s honeymoon!” irritated, Weiss finished Ruby’s sentence.

Even though that wasn’t entirely accurate, Yang was more concerned as to why Ruby was bringing it up. “Ah, so?”

She was starting to feel like she’d never let Ruby and Weiss question anybody for any reason if need be. Before Yang could even get any further in figuring out this weird situation, the apartment was filled with a knock from the door. And then a crazy amount of louder whacks.

Her bullet train of a sister left the couch and Weiss showered in rose petals as she opened the door, revealing team JNPR – Nora still trying to bang on the wood – to her confusion.

“Sorry we took so long, I pressed the wrong button on the elevator by accident,” Jaune said sheepishly as he was ushered in by Ruby.

Nora pushed past them both, gleefully shouting, “RWBY AND JNPR UNITE!”

Pyrrha actually addressed Yang as she took a seat next to Weiss, brushing the rose petals away, “Hello again!”

“Sorry about Nora,” Ren cringed as the orange-haired maniac leapt over and landed in an armchair. Ruby darted back and squished herself next to Pyrrha.

Yang was beginning to regret sitting down. Everybody was here, because of Weiss no doubt, to talk about her and Blake, no doubt. Although, to her credit, Weiss certainly had cornered her. Blake was going to be relieved Yang was about to deal with this without her.

Yang took her time glancing at all her closest friends in her living room. “This really is an interrogation, isn’t it?”

Jaune cleared his throat gawkily, obviously taking his role as leader and speaking for the rest of JNPR. “Ruby and Weiss asked us to come over to...discuss what’s going on with you and Blake.”

So far, ‘her and Blake’ kept being brought up. Nobody seemed to elaborate on this. Why did everybody need to be in on this discussion? Why were they all…so calm? She had only ever, and in confidence, told Ruby about how much she liked Blake. Sure, she openly flirted with her in front of them all, but that wasn’t a reason for them to be suspicious nor be included in this discussion.

“And what is going on with us? Everybody keeps saying it and not actually telling me what they think is happening!”

Slowly, her interrogators all collectively looked at each other, nodding once. What the fuck was going on here?

In unison, they all said, “You’re going to ask Blake to marry you!”

What. The. Fuck?

What.

The.

Actually flipping fuck were they talking about?

Yang was almost going to laugh at the absurdity of them saying that, least of all in sync. But then she noticed that they were all…serious.

“Ah, I think there’s been a mistake,” Yang groaned into her hands. This was so weird.

Weiss looked at her accusatorily, “You told me you wanted me to pay for your honeymoon, did you not?”

“I did! I didn’t say that I was marrying her, though,” suddenly she realised why they had all assumed. It kinda sounded like they were going to get married. She also suddenly was very happy Blake wasn’t part of this trainwreck.

“Well, this is awkward.” Ren stated quietly, though that did not retract from its clearness. The most understated statement aware was going to Lie Ren.

“For the love of,” Yang stopped herself short of swearing, since poor JNPR was dragged into this unfairly anyways, “let me explain.

Blake and I went out for drinks last night. Short version, I was teasing her and said something dumb, and she got pissed off and left. I stayed, drank a lot, and then went to her apartment to see if she was awake so I could apologise. I was just a bit drunk, and still the short version, I went up the fire escape and in the window. She was awake, I apologised, she was happy. She made a dirty joke and kissed me, but before we could get to the good part, I kinda,” embarrassedly laughing, Yang continued, “fell asleep on her. But she put me in bed and when we woke up she wanted me to make up for it. So, we were going for it,”

“Ew.” Ruby interrupted.

“Sorry Rubes. Speaking of, Ruby messaged Blake about me since I was supposed to go home, which we soon figured out was because Weiss was waiting for Blake to meet her for lunch and they were conspiratorial and ruined everything. Weiss called, and Blake tried to cover up that she forgot, but she was literally at her apartment being a sneaky little sneak!” Weiss scoffed like she was offended that she was a freaky spy, Yang glaring at her as she tried finished her story, “and so I went out there to literally fight her because I really wanted to-”

“EW!” Ruby covered her ears.

“Yeah yeah. I only let Weiss live because I got her to promise to pay for a honeymoon for me and Blake so we could make up for the interrupted-”

“Yang!”

“But I never said I was going to actually marry Blake!”

JNPR engaged in a silent conversation, through stares only. Pyrrha felt it was best for her to ask, “Forgive me if I’m intruding, Yang, but why were you so upset that Weiss interrupted you?”

Ren added, “It does seem rather…rash. Even for you.”

To say she was amazed that they were questioning her actions would be pretty accurate. Why wouldn’t she be angry? “I had every right to be mad!” she said vehemently. Though it was personal, she’d come this far with her story, they might as well know they’d failed at their attempts at intimacy, “I couldn’t even stay awake the first time, and then I couldn’t even make it up to her,” Yang admitted abashedly.

Everybody, sans Ruby and Weiss – and Jaune – looked stunned.

“What does your first time have anything to do with this time?” Jaune blurted, oblivious.

“First time?” Nora incredulously gasped. “You mean you guys haven’t done it yet?”

Dejectedly, Yang sighed, “Unfortunately, no. We haven’t.”

“REALLY?! Wooooow!” the boisterous hammer-wielding burst into a fit of giggles. To which Yang promptly sent a scathing look, which swiftly ended the mocking, and changed her tone.

Nora chuckled nervously. “This whole time, we thought you had! Next you’re going to tell me you’re not even together-together!”

“Uhhhh, we aren’t?”

Welp, this trainwreck was blowing up in their faces. How had they not known this?

“Oh my GOSH!” It sounded like Nora was dying. For real.

Seriously, how did they not know? Sceptically, Yang turned the questions on JNPR, “I can’t believe you guys assumed all that. Why didn’t you ever ask me? Or Blake? I never noticed any of you mention us in that way!”

“We never did, that’s why!” Jaune laughed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Nora snorted. “But we did tease Blake about how much she obsessed over you, like, all the time.”

Yang’s jaw involuntarily opened in offense for her partner. “Is that why she wanted to avoiding talking to you guys about us? Guys, what the fuck?!”

A more important question arose in the forefront of her mind, amidst the absolute chaos.

“Ruby, Weiss, you know we aren’t together! Why would you think we’re suddenly getting married?”

Ruby absentmindedly touched her fingertips together nervously, not even convinced with her own answer, “We kinda thought you’d both stopped pretending you weren’t in love and confessed and wanted to be together forever?”

“Obviously we’ve all jumped to conclusions here. I’m sorry, Yang,” acknowledged Pyrrha. Sweet Pyrrha, she could never stay mad at. Although she was quite sure that the teasing that was mentioned was mostly Nora and Weiss’ doing, so probably could forgive Ruby, Jaune and Ren pretty easily.

Yang shrugged, letting her anger go. “Thanks, Pyrr. Although this was frustrating as hell, it’s still not really comparing to being zero for two with Blake.”

“Not that you’d want my advice, but I think if you’re organised enough to figure out a perfect time, you could spare yourselves of any interruptions,” Weiss casually offered, heading into the kitchen.

Why should she listen to Weiss? She made this problem into a huge mess. The free honeymoon was just a start on what she’d have to pay back for it. Yang blew another raspberry and shouted back at her, “Make me a drink, you crazy stalker!”

Ren raised a finger in thought, “If I may?” Yang nodded, since he was likely the most wise of them all, “maybe you would be better off waiting for the right moment to present itself.”

“Like, not think about how badly I want it even after waiting for years, just so the universe will be nice and let me have it?” Yang translated her own interpretation.

Ren smirked his little ninja smirk, nodding.

They all laughed when they heard the unsatisfied cry of Yang Xiao Long.

-- ..- .-. .--. .... -.-- .----. ... / .-.. .- .—

It had been weeks since the impromptu trainwreck chaotic interrogation failure, and, even though Yang had diligently followed Ren’s suggestion, she and Blake were still at two strikes on the scorecard. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

She thought this would have been easy. Easy peas-y, lemon squeeze-y. It was more like difficult difficult, lemon difficult.

While Blake had been very grateful she had avoided being present for it, she wasn’t that grateful. Especially when she was told that Nora laughed about it hysterically, and they all laughed at Yang being punished by some otherworldly force that cringed at the mere idea of a sexual relationship between them. It had only made to greaten her concern that they were doing something wrong.

Never having been a woman of much patience, Yang decided she’d have to bring up some sort of discussion about it sooner or later. Tonight, all the gang would be meeting up once again for drinks and hangs – Ruby’s lame name of course – and she had gone over to Blake’s in the afternoon to just be cutesy and couple-y before it.

And touch her butt.

They were lounging on the couch, Yang staring at reruns of cooking shows while Blake lay on her, reading. Of course she was reading; in that position Yang would never understand how, she shouldn’t be comfortable. But neither of them were complaining.

Maybe because Yang was indeed touching Blake’s butt (the possibility was there).

Yang turned the television off. If the universe wasn’t going to get her laid, she’d do it some other way. “Blake?”

Yellow eyes met purple. “Is it time to get ready?”

“No, I just wanted to tell you something,” the blonde effortlessly used her strength to bring Blake level with her. Mostly because dragging the svelte body over her own was just the kind of something she was thinking about.

She was not afraid to disclose this. “Blake,” she used her most serious tone, “I’ve been waiting for the right time for us to try again. If I have to keep waiting for some sort of miraculous sign, I’m gonna go insane.”

The Faunus gave a coy smile. “I was wondering when you were going to bring this up,” she muttered as her attention was directed back at the novel. Surely a book wasn’t more interesting? No. Yang would not be jealous of some paper and ink.

Almost like she was reading her mind, Blake leant over Yang’s head to deposit her book in a safer place. But Yang was devious, and trapped the form above hers in place.

“Ah, boobs. Such a blessing,” she breathed from the depths of Blake’s covered cleavage.

Blake recalled a time when she had been in Yang’s cleavage, and flatly warned, “Be careful, you might suffocate in there.”

“I’d die almost happy, then,” was the retort. Blake felt hands tugging her back to a less face-suffocating position, to which she obliged. Hands then brought her face closer to tempting lips, to which she obliged again. Because over a short amount of time, she’d really come to enjoy kissing them.

“Come on, do you want me?” Golden eyebrows waggled suggestively, “or do you want to read a lame book?”

Trying her hardest not to react to the overactive eyebrows, Blake jabbed, “You’re lame.” She was only avoiding the question to avoid a potential failure. As time had passed since their last attempt, she had only grown more nervous in spite of her sexual frustration.

But it would be completely rude of her to brush Yang off, she knew, so she asked, “Why are you so eager all of a sudden? Why now?” but was shot look of disbelief, like she had grown a third set of ears.

“Well,” was Yang’s cocky reply, “it’s not ‘all of a sudden’. I think about it a lot.” Blake decided to ignore that when she went further. “And why not now? If not now, when? We can just find a good time, like now, and-”

“This is ridiculous. I’m not planning when we’re going to have sex,” she cut her off, “that’s creepy, Yang.”

“Creepy? Blake, is the word you’re looking for organised?” Yang retorted, more a statement than a question.

“You sound like Weiss,” a pause. “You didn’t ask Weiss?” That was totally more a question than a statement.

The two were now locked in a face off that consisted of trying to look more offended at the other. Yang was sporting more of a caught-red-handed expression, though, as Blake knew that that was exactly what Weiss would have told her.

Still, obviously the brawler was not going to go down without a fight, and was attempting to salvage her ‘well laid plans’ (because that was a fucking awesome pun if anybody asked), “Not that I did-”

“Please, no.” Was the shut-down.

Yang tried again, “Hypothetically-”

“I said no.”

Meeting a hard state from narrowed eyes, she grumpily gave up, feeling more than just lame. “Well, hypothetically, her advice sucked!” Dumping Weiss’ idea seemed to have created a more receptive Blake, and she figured she might as well just find out what the other woman wanted to do. “If you don’t want it planned, how do you want it?”

“Spontaneous.” It sounded like there was no room for argument in the request. Obviously conflicting since demanding spontaneity was way too ironic to bother mentioning.

Yang went the easy route, just going with persistence as her best bet. “How about right now?”

Blake exhaled, knowing she was about to disappoint with her requirements, “But I also want it to feel right,” all their failed attempts had left her more than worried. “As if the planets have aligned, and it was meant to be; romantic crap like that.” She truly didn’t know if she was doing this for their own good or not. It was getting really hard to tell.

She almost thought that her partner had reached her limit on this topic, emerging from a thinking face with the stupidest grin ever. The stupidest stupid grin™.

“I got it!” Yang happily exclaimed, hoisting them both into a sitting position.

Not bothering to clarify on that, too taken in her own genius, Blake eventually had to prompt her. “Got what?” she probed doubtingly. What could Yang have come up with that was that good?

“I know how to know if we should do it right now. ‘Rock, paper, scissors’!” Hands fluttered as if presenting themselves in a flashy dance.

The feline woman swatted the obnoxious appendages away, trying to convince herself it was a bad idea to turn this into a scuffle for such a dumb plan.

“How the hell is ‘rock, paper, scissors’ going to help us?” she all but yelled.

Now bouncing up and down, Yang disregarded her frustrations entirely. “Just do it!”

Adopting a deadpan face, Blake started, “I’m starting to think we should just get married and go on an all-expenses paid trip, thank-you Weiss, to somewhere very secluded,” regaining her composure. “Actually, maybe, I’ll go alone. You can stay here and play ‘rock, paper, scissors’.”

“Babe, I got this!” Yang confidently assured. She wasn’t going to let it go.

“Yang-”

“Blake,” hands gripped her shoulders, “throw down.”

This didn’t even make sense. In any way.

“Rock,” Yang baited, fist balled.

If anybody asked, she would say she was coerced into playing. Because no sane person would comply with something so futile.

“Paper,” Blake joined, half-heartedly.

“Scissors,” they both spoke and chose their weapons in tandem.

Keen eyes assessed the result, and just as was expected, “It’s a draw, Yang. It didn’t help.”

“Nope,” wild hair shook in disagreement, “the universe has spoken. We both chose scissors!” Yang gleefully cried, crudely jamming her own spread fingers to fit with Blake’s, akin to…

Oh.

Oh.

“I can’t decide whether to be impressed or hate you,” she choked out, overcoming initial…shock, slash disappointment.

The other pair of ‘scissors’ went to work ‘snipping’ against her own. “I thought the universe made it clear that you should have very hot, and probably badly executed sex with me.”

…tempting.

Arriving at the one, solitary, viable conclusion that Yang had no way of knowing for sure that she’d have gone with scissors, Blake Belladonna let her have the victory. Because it worked, and, it was so very Yang. But…

“Only if I get to be on top.”

“In your dreams.”

“How did you know I-” Blake spluttered, quickly realising that Yang hadn’t known and that she’d been tricked twice in thirty seconds.

“…dream about it.”

She let loose a rumble of exasperation, opting to stop digging her own grave. “Just kiss me.”

And that’s exactly what she did. Yang’s lips and tongue could work in tandem to take her breath away in such a short amount of time, she was starting to believe that the scheming fiend would have had her screaming in less than the ten minutes she had promised.

“I’ll do it.” The lips spoke.

Dumbfounded, her own let out, “Huh?”

“I’ll do it,” Yang said earnestly, “you said I would have made you scream in less than ten minutes.”

Well, if she had said it out loud without even noticing, then she probably wanted that, right?

“Please,” Blake said, voice laced with want.

Yang chuckled, “You realise we have to go out soon, right? I don’t want to start something we can’t finish. Uh, again, that is.”

She ceased her laughter as her now determined, soon-to-be lover grabbed her shirt and took off towards the bedroom, almost struggling to keep up.

Blake showed off her own sexy grin, “Oh, no. We’re not leaving until I’m finished with you, Xiao Long,” snickering as the other woman tripped over her own feet upon hearing the news.

It was more like a Cheshire cat grin. -- ..- .-. .--. .... -.-- .----. ... / .-.. .- .—

“Sorry we’re late, guys,” a somewhat flushed and hurried Yang announced, as a casual Blake trailed in behind her at a much more relaxed pace.

As they sat in their usual seats among Ruby, Weiss, and team JNPR, the Ice Queen was visibly not impressed with the apology, “You’re an hour late. How on Remnant do you manage that?”

Nora was giggling next to Ren, an almost empty glass of her favourite craft mead in her hands (along with the other empty two on the coffee table), snorted, “You get lost, Yang?”

The blonde barked out a brazen laugh. “Very funny,” she said sarcastically.

“Only a Xiao Long,” though she said one name, Weiss pointedly looked at another – another who just happened to be the other Xiao Long by blood. Whom stuttered a shocked and offended ‘what do you mean?’ in her weak defence.

“Yes, Yang got lost,” Blake cut in. Nefarious innuendos filling her mind – like she could help it after what they’d done – gave her the most brilliant opportunity.

This was her moment. Blake finally had won. Everyone had tortured her about them. Made fun of her sexual desperation. Laughed when Yang fell on top of her in this very seat. Laughed when they had found out they hadn’t had sex once at all over the years when everyone thought they had, let alone had been interrupted trying to. She was going to make them feel her savagery for it all.

They had no idea what was about to befall them.

“Between my legs.”

Drinks were spat out unceremoniously; with an “I’m sorry!” from Pyrrha, for Jaune, jaws dropped, gasps were had – almost violently.

VICTORY!

Blake was treated to the best thing she had ever seen. Second to Yang’s face buried bet-

No! Blake internally stopped herself to instead to voice these brilliant thoughts. This would go down in history as the day she ruined their lives.

“That was the best thing I’ve ever witnessed. Second to Yang’s face buried betw-“

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!” Ruby – and even Weiss – squealed loud enough to make all her ears ring, with JNPR all frantically yelling and flailing about like fishes out of water.

She looked at her partner, elated.

“Blake,” Yang whispered in her ear, “marry me.”

Notes:

... yes I am implying Blake sat on Yang's face  ... I hope you enjoyed the ride. Super happy to have finished this off. And for the longest chapter of the whole story. It was a one chapter joke that spiraled out of control, but I'm kinda glad it did.

I opted to omit the dirty stuff we all love, because this truly isn't a well constructed story and I have something much larger planned that I should begin/put effort into. So maybe keep an eye out for that. I might do progress updates here because boy it's hopefully gonna be a big one!

See ya next time, and, thank you to every single reader and those that have left feedback. 'preciate ya. <3

[moonsandstar-s]

The Final Warning - Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXIV - Aeternum Vale

Summary:  As the year draws to a close, peace has finally dawned. The time for unity has arrived. In the Vytal festival, it is time for heroes to rise, bringing glory to their kingdoms. But as autumn dies, the first winds of winter blow over Remnant, chilling the hearts of the people; breathing doubt into their souls. Long-buried secrets will triumph, and every action will have a consequence. Ruby must reconcile herself with her own fate. Weiss struggles to escape her legacy. Blake cannot erase memories. Yang’s search leads her into more peril than ever— but none of them can outrun fate. Shadows turn on shadows, and bonds shatter as they are tested to the limit. For in dividing them, they will fall and burn; at the eye of the storm, no peace lasts forever. In the end and beginning of time, there is a place where the sun never rises, and the dead delight to teach the living. A great danger is rising from the darkness. It’s time to take sides. The final warning is coming. The first chill of winter is the most deadly; it is the chill that kills more than any other. The first betrayal is the most damaging; it is the act that shatters bonds of love and trust, crushing even the strongest heart, tearing teams apart. AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7745314/chapters/21824744 Blake 

She would never have described her partner as anything other than strong, confident, beautiful, but none of it applied as she stared down at Yang’s prostrate body, looking oddly vulnerable and small, and it was all her fault that she was lying there at all. Sage was bent over her, and she had never been so thankful for his gifts in healing as she was now. He had stabilized her after her sacrifice in the doubles round of the tournament… now, it seemed, the shoe was on the other foot, with Yang having made the sacrifice.

The battle of Beacon was over. The Grimm were mostly gone— dead, or fled. At the appearance of the Grimm wyvern, all of the White Fang had fled, and now, thanks to Blake, they were leaderless. But, like a hydra out of some terrible myth, they would grow another head, another leader, and they would pursue revenge on Blake, thanks to Adam’s influence.

She looked up at the stars and wondered where she could possibly go now. 

As soon as Sage finished weaving the last flickers of green light around Yang, he turned around, his face grim. “She’s stable for now,” he growled. “At least, physically. I’ve gotten her heart rate up to a higher range, but not so high she’ll bleed out from it, and narrowed the veins around her arm so she won’t lose anymore blood from there. I can’t do anymore, Blake. The rest will have to be mental healing.” His eyes were dark with exhaustion. “When the airships arrive, you need to go. Get her out of here. I don’t know where, but somewhere safe.”

Patch, Blake thought. Back home, where she can rest and heal and forget about me entirely and what I’ve done to her…

“Hey.” He caught her gaze, his golden eyes concerned. “Blake, it wasn’t your fault. Be grateful she’s alive. We already had to bury two tonight. Thank your lucky stars he didn’t get her in the heart, or any closer to her chest, or she’d... she’d be gone.”

“Will she remember what happened to make her lose her arm?” Blake could barely get the words out. She didn’t think she could bear it, if Yang remembered Adam. My fault, my fault, my fault. But it’s almost time for me to leave.

He shook his head, swaying slightly from fatigue. “Who can say?”

Blake opened her mouth to say something before a jagged bolt of amber flashed across her vision, and her eyes widened as a wave of exhaustion hit her full force, making her stagger. She knew what it was instantly: her Aura, under the pressure of what she had gone through, had finally expended its last drops of energy on keeping her standing.

Instantly, she went to her knees with a low groan, her hand falling away from her side, sticky and warm with seeping blood. The wound suddenly burned, fiery with pain in such a terrible way that she knew it would scar. All her energy was gone, with her Aura down, all her defenses, allowing her to feel the extent of her wounds full-force, brutal and bloody. “Blake!” Sage’s voice was yelling in her ear, and she rolled on her side with a choked gasp of pain, unable to see anything but blackness behind her eyes, a deep blackness with stars swimming around. “You idiot, why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?”

“Can’t… my fault…” she croaked, her voice sounding very distant to her own ears, her heartbeat feeling slow and heavy. Everything was remote and far away as the stars, Sage’s frantic golden eyes, Sun suddenly appearing above her with an expression of panic on his face, someone screaming in the background. She reached out blindly, seeking warmth, and her hand brushed Yang’s. She grabbed it, squeezing it, knowing it was the last time she would ever have a chance to touch her, this girl she loved, this girl she always would love, until the day she died, the girl who she would never lay eyes on again after tonight, because to be near her was to bring down death upon her. At the touch of her hand, memories flooded her mind like some fever dream, vibrant in color, whirling through Blake’s mind and spinning away just as fast, like a book caught in a high wind—

— flying from tree to tree in the Emerald Forest, seeing a flicker of gold in the undergrowth beneath her—

and seeing her new partner grinning at her in a manic excitement, as if there was nothing they couldn’t do, no limits and no impossibilities, never the ‘I can’t’, but always the ‘I can’, of a life unfettered by nightmares and unbound by fear—

— and a rope of fire twining up her wrist as a Bond settled into both of their souls—

— and the wind stirring her hair and the moonlight making her smile seem as though it was aglow as she walked up the steps, offering Blake her hand for a dance—

— and her bare skin against Blake’s, her smile lighting up the room as she held her wrists lightly, scattering kisses down her collarbones—

— and the way she looked when she was asleep, her mouth half-open in a smile—

— and her eyes blazing doubly red in the reflection of Adam’s sword before they went dark —

Blake jolted back into consciousness as a burst of energy suddenly flooded her veins, a low humming through her body letting her know that her Aura was within a safer range, even though it was still low. The world swam into shaky focus, colors and lines sharpening in her vision. Sage was sitting across from her, his hands fading with green light, his face pale and wan with utter exhaustion. Sun crouched beside him, one hand on his shoulder.

“Get to an airship, buddy,” Sun murmured, rising and helping his teammate as he staggered to his feet, swaying slightly as he gripped his sword. “Get a bit of rest, find some food and water and a medic. Then try to go find Neptune and Scarlet and get them together. Head back to Vale, and see if you can help out there— get citizens out and help repair.”

“To hell with that,” Sage mumbled, stumbling away like a drunkard, his voice slurring and fading as he ambled off into the throng of people waiting to board airships. “I’m finding a nice bed and never waking up again.”

Sun watched him go before turning back and crouching beside her once more, a respectful distance away, and he reached out and lightly stroked the place where her bandages were with a look of pain on his face. “God, Blake, who did this to you? And where did all this blood come from?”  

Words bubbled up in her throat and rushed out before she could stop them. “I killed someone,” she blurted, and instantly wished she could sew her mouth shut as his eyes rounded.

“I— what?” Sun’s jaw sagged open in an expression of honest surprise, his hand dropping away. “Killed who?”

“Adam. I killed him, Sun.” She shivered, but she knew it had nothing to do with the icy night air. “I… he was about to kill Yang and I fought him and I just… I couldn’t let him go, not after what he did, not after everything… it had to come down him or me, and I picked…. I picked me.”

He looked from her to Yang in astonishment. “So he’s the one that—”  He gestured vaguely with his arm. “Jesus Christ, Blake… so she lost her arm because… he wanted revenge because she’s your… and because he’s not your partner anymore, he took it out on her. Was that what happened?”

She nodded, curling in closer to herself, but she knew no amount of hiding could banish the thick sense of shame in her chest.

“Oh, Blake,” he whispered, rocking back on his heels and looking completely lost for words. “I’m so sorry.”

“I am too.” Mouth working, she turned her head away, but the only thing that lay in the other direction was Yang’s unconscious body, and Blake couldn’t bear to look at that, either. She turned her face upward, towards the sky, the shredded scraps of wind-torn clouds slowly blowing away. Stars shone feebly in the gaps between, pulsing silver in their myriad of constellations. The night was almost over. Dawn would soon arrive. 

I prayed to you, begged you— and you didn’t keep her safe! She accused the silent stars, accused her parents, who were watching from wherever spirits went. A deep sense of betrayal throbbed in her chest. This happened to her, and not to me… I’m the one that deserved it, not her. Why couldn’t I have been the one who paid the price? Adam is part of her story now, too, ever since she met me— but I have the bigger role. It was my fault, I left him… why didn’t he hurt me worse, instead of her? Why?  

But deep down, she knew the answer. Adam knew hurting Yang would hurt me far worse than any injury he could ever give me, she thought dully, before Sage’s words rang in her mind, almost as if he was there to speak them aloud: Be grateful she’s alive. We already had to bury two tonight. Thank your lucky stars he didn’t get her in the heart, or any closer to her chest, or she’d be gone.

So you didn’t save her, Blake thought. You didn’t keep her unharmed. But you… but you kept her alive. You let me have the strength to do what needed to be done. To kill a part of my past I never would have been able to get over. You kept my team alive when others weren’t as lucky… and that’s all I can ask for, isn’t it? Mother, Father, I don’t care where my path takes me now, as long as it’s away from Yang, so it keeps her safe from whatever misfortune my presence will bring… and let her heal. Please… don’t let this be the end of the Yang I know.  

Blake realized Sun was speaking with a detached, clinical interest; she glanced at him, her ears slowly flattening as his words sank in. He looked calm enough, but his tail was lashing side to side in obvious agitation as Blake observed him quietly. “You know how Yang is,” he insisted. “Even after everything she’s been through, she had the courage to stay happy and alive; she’s strong, stronger than you realize. She’ll get through this. But if you leave, if you leave her alone—” He broke off his words, pain etched in every line of his face. “I don’t think that’s a scar she’ll be able to recover from. Not now, and not ever.”  

“Don’t you get it?” She shouted, suddenly furious at the world itself, her voice jarring and harsh to her own ears. “It doesn’t matter how I feel, and she’ll never recover anyways! Not from this, not when it’s my fault, Sun! Don’t belittle that by saying things that don’t even apply when you don’t know… don’t know what happened, what she sacrificed, what she did for me…. and I don’t belong here,” she repeated blindly, whispering, unable to hold onto anything but that one truth. “I don’t belong anywhere, if all I bring is pain.”

“You belong right where you are,” Sun said, his voice husky with concern. “Wherever you are at any given moment, that’s where you belong. No place can give you any sort of meaning. You’ve gotta find it yourself. And you can’t blame yourself for what’s happened just now, it’s in the past— that’s all it is, the past. I never meant to belittle what you had with Yang— what you still have. I can’t fix it, I can’t imagine what you’ve just been through, and anything I say will fall short of that. But Blake… you can’t just give up. You can’t run away, throw away everything that’s happened because you don’t know what might be coming next, what you might have to put up with. Yeah, the future’s uncertain for you. It’s uncertain for all of us; you’re no different. We can’t all just run away, give up on trying to get to a better place… a happy place.” He shook his head. “Not everyone can have a happy ending, that’s true, but you can give your damnedest and hope you get it, Blake. And maybe it won’t be what you thought it was. Maybe yours isn’t being at Beacon and being a Huntress or whatever. Maybe it’s not getting a fancy title alongside your team and isolating yourself from being a Faunus. Maybe that’s not what you’re meant to do. Maybe you’re destined for different things— maybe you’re supposed to go off with Yang and come to terms with losing the life you had, and figure everything out from there. Who knows? I can’t pretend to, but I do know that none of those will happen if you just give up, if you just run away. Yeah, there’s no guarantee that everything will turn out okay if you try your best, but there’s no chance whatsoever if you don’t try at all.”

I wish I could stay more than anything, doesn’t he see that? I love Yang more than I love life. I love her so much it hurts… and that’s why I have to go. That is why… I have to leave everything I love behind. Because everyone I love will die, and… if Yang died, if she were killed because I was selfish enough to stay… I would die, too. A world without her in it… that’s not one I could stand to live in, not anymore, not after so many losses… I was such a fool, to truly believe we would make it, in the end. A cowardly, blind fool. She is too light, too gold, too warm, to stay with me… and the White Fang… but she’s not light anymore, really. She’ll never be light again, not with the shadows I’ve cast her into. And it’s my fault, my fault. I can’t be without her. And yet, I cannot be with her.

She turned away from Sun’s gentle words, his desperate pressing for her to be okay, her eyes prickling with tears. “You’re like the brother I never was lucky enough to have,” she choked, “and I’ll never quit being thankful that you weren’t hurt tonight, too. I’m so sorry for everything. Everything. Sun, I… thank you. For being there for me for all this time. I hope… I hope you’ll find peace when you go back home.”

His gray eyes clouded over with a deep, aching sadness. “Blake, don’t. You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing that happened tonight was your fault.”

“Goodbye, Sun,” she whispered quietly, clutching a hand to her side and rising to her feet, beginning to slowly walk away. She cast one glance down at Yang’s body, and a jolt of pure, unadulterated pain went through her.

Goodbye, Yang Xiao Long. Hail and farewell, until we meet again, someday in another life.

Sun was crying out now. “Blake, wait—”

She took each limping step slowly, waiting for her strength to gradually return, and even as Sun tried to follow behind her, she didn’t respond, and even as he tried to convince her not to leave, she set off in the direction of the lands beyond the fallen Tower of Beacon, and did not look back once.

/ / /

Weiss  She saw Ruby streaking up the side of the Tower, and she began to slowly back away, her face still flushed, lips still tingling with something that felt like frost and fire.

“Weiss,” a voice called out. She turned to see Velvet limping towards her, having sustained a bad leg wound from fighting so many of the White Fang. “The professors are calling us to board the airships; they want us to leave before anyone else gets hurt.” Her eyes were full of grief, and Weiss felt pity go through her. Velvet had lost a teammate, and Weiss couldn’t begin imagine how she was feeling, how you could cope with that kind of loss. “I think your teammate Yang is already on board on the one back to Patch.”

“Is she okay?” Weiss felt a flicker of hope go through her.

Velvet shook her head slightly, and Weiss’s flicker of hope was doused in a flood of worry. “She’s still unconscious. I saw Sage stabilizing her, though,” she added, “so I wouldn’t fret too much.”  

“I suppose that’s all I can ask for,” Weiss murmured. “Thank you.”

“Thank you for helping me during the battle.” Velvet gave her a nod, her brown eyes filled with surprise. “I didn’t expect it.”

Weiss looked away with a pang of shame. “I’m not my father,” she began, and then she broke off with a frown as the ground seemed to give the slightest ripple under her feet. “Did you—?” She said in confusion, and then broke off as her sight shattered into waves of white, the world around her exploding into pure, unbridled agony.

She collapsed to the ground with a scream as her heart gave a twist, flipping over in her chest. As she fell, a white-hot pain jabbed her in the face, right between her eyes, as if someone had taken a poker out of a fire and stabbed her with it, and she screamed again, curling up in the fetal position on the ground, agony washing through her like an ocean, but she was unable to drown. No pain she had ever felt could compare to this.

But there was a distance to the pain, and she knew it wasn’t her own. The Bond was fluttering, and her eyes snapped open. That could only mean—

“Weiss?” Velvet shook her shoulder frantically. “Weiss, what’s wrong?”

“My heart— it felt like someone just grabbed it and twisted— and my head, my eyes—” Her voice rose as realization hit her with the force of a truck. “Ruby!”

At that exact moment, right as she stood up, the ground was ripped from under her feet as the entire world lit up a blinding white. Velvet screamed once, reaching for her weapon, before everything dissolved into a terrible, crushing chill, the world around them erupting into a white that shone with the brilliance of the sun, brighter than daylight. Weiss staggered and fell, landing on her hands, as the light slowly faded from the air as quickly as it had come, and the chill dissolved into the regular coldness of winter. Her eyes throbbed, blue spots dancing behind them like she had stared directly into the sun, and a terrible ringing blared in her ears.

“What was that?” Velvet cried, her hands bloody and scraped where she had tumbled down and used them to stop her fall. Weiss shivered, pain still throbbing behind her eyes, before she realized something.

“My Bond,” Weiss whispered hoarsely, voice trembling. “It’s… it’s gone.”

It was as though an emptiness had suddenly yawned inside of her, like some terrible black abyss. It felt like a raw wound, one that was especially noticeable in contrast to what it had been before— because a sense of security and trust, and a place of always humming-emotions, that she had never really been aware or conscious of had filled its spot only moments earlier. Before the chill of the white light… and that meant…  

“Oh,” Weiss said, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as her eyes flew wide. “Oh my God. No— Ruby—”

At the exact moment she spoke her partner’s name, someone roughly seized Weiss’s shoulder and spun her around. Snarling, she ripped out of their grasp, her head spiking with pain as the world swam in a triple-layer before her eyes.

It took a moment for everything to sharpen into focus, but she recognized the person in front of her in an instant, even while everything was hazy and indistinct. She was barely conscious of Velvet backing away with a sharp intake of breath— not a sound of shock, but a sound of fear— because she had never, never expected to see him tonight, not here, not at Beacon.

“Father,” she whispered.

Vincent Schnee stood in front of her, his broad shoulders, cut sharply in a white business suit, stark against the shadowy night. His blue eyes were colder than the stars, and they traveled down her body with a look of clear disapproval. He was silent, but his mere presence, the way he held himself and his expression, let her know the fury that lay beneath the surface of his apparent tranquility.

“How are you—” She managed, before her voice failed her. Confused, she looked wildly towards the landing docks and saw her father’s ship there, a cold ice-blue machine with polished windows and glimmering chrome that all looked terribly incongruous with the carnage that surrounded them. But of course he’s here, she thought with a detached fear. He had heard Cinder’s speech. He must have boarded an airship here before she had even finished… and he’d arrived at exactly the wrong moment, right when everything had shattered at the precise moment it seemed they would all survive.  

"Father," she said again, by way of greeting, painfully aware of the stinging wounds she sported, how disheveled and wild-eyed she must appear. To him - he, who believed that poise and perfection were the pinnacle of virtue - this would look like one of the greatest insults. She sheathed Myrtenaster quickly, ignoring one of the first lessons she had ever learned: wipe the blood from the blade to prevent rust. She could do it later, but not now, with his cruel hawk eyes locked on hers. She hated that she looked so much like he did.

"Girl," he said coldly, ignoring the desolation around them. He had never called her 'Weiss', not even 'daughter' - always 'girl'. Probably a side-effect of his resentment of her; he'd always blamed her for Ivana's death. She’d always longed to scorn him for it: how could she help that her mother had died giving birth to her? "You look... different. I did tell you that your choices would never have a fruitful outcome. This..." The contempt in his eyes, not the horror she'd expected, jarred her. "This mess does not strike me as a great shock, I must admit."

Rage gripped her. "I - there was no way anyone could have foreseen this, Father." That our friends betrayed us... I admit I never liked Emerald or her team, but I never thought...

"Regardless," he continued callously, ignoring her words, "some fortune has, at least, emerged from this reckless stupidity that transpired tonight. I hear that scum, that witless fool Ozpin is missing. However, do not think me heartless. I grieve for the innocent children who died, girl. That Faunus teammate of yours, did she perish?"

Blake's alive... but Ruby, oh, God... No. She couldn't think of that, or she would crumble. She was a heiress, Ruby's ex-partner— ex-partner, she thought with a flinch; but first and foremost, she was Weiss Schnee, a warrior tough as steel. She endured and moved forward.

Fury engulfed her. "She is alive. As is her partner. They are my family, more so than you are, and I am not leaving them. Not that it's good news to you. I threw myself in the line of fire to save a Faunus, Father. Maybe if I died, it would have knocked some sense into that selfish head of yours. I heard that General Ironwood survived an explosion this night. He seems to have changed greatly. I do wonder, does that make him, half-mechanical though he is, more human than you?"

She'd never spoken to her father so carelessly, and it was freeing, seeing his face morph from coldness, to disbelief, to rage. His expression was tight with anger. "You will not speak to me like that. As it is, it is unsafe here. Nothing fit for you. I was a fool to allow you to pursue such a dangerous career." He curled his lip. "You recklessly endangered your life for that... that creature. Very well. I can tolerate mistakes in the midst of this ruin. That reminds me... What befell your... partner?" He said it like he was thinking of another word besides 'partner', and Weiss staggered.

"I... I'm not saying. Not to you."

"You are coming with me, girl." The coming winter seemed to gather in his eyes, two condensed spheres of ice and snow. "Back home, where I can watch you, keep you safe from harm.”

"Keep me safe?" Weiss shouted, poise crumbling. "When have you ever kept me safe, Father? I learned more of the world and the monsters that dwell in it than I ever learned from you; at least with you, I knew that family wasn't mutually exclusive with love! You never let me be free - "

“You claimed Beacon would help you.” He made a great show of looking around. “Instead, this is what I find— ruin, death of students. It’s luck you weren’t killed yourself, not any skill you claim to have gained from this riffraff ‘academy’. For you to be here, running amok like some ruffian in a hopeless endeavor to heal this place, will plague our family name. It will bring ruin on the company. This is for the good of us.”

Her face heated. “You can take the good of the company and shove it up your—”

He seemed to snarl. “You are my daughter. A fact you seem to forget, in this childish fit of yours!"

”So? Just because I’m your daughter doesn’t mean you own me! The only thing you want is to control me, to cripple my wings and smother me with the girl you want me to be! You are not my father. You don't deserve to be called that."

He bared his teeth, but before he could get out a word, a flurry of commotion broke out behind Weiss. She whirled to look and saw Blake determinedly limping away from the airship-docks— where was Yang?— with Sun chasing after her, yelling out for her to stop. However, even in the midst of Blake staunchly ignoring him and him persisting in chasing after her, they both must have sensed two pairs of eyes on them— Weiss’s fearful ones and Vincent’s furious pair— because in an almost comical unison, Sun and Blake turned to stare at them.

Their faces both immediately filled with recognition and then, surprisingly, hatred. But of course they would hate my father, Weiss thought again, almost tiredly. Vincent made life a living hell for the Faunus on Remnant. And once, I thought he was right.

Blake, her countenance torn, turned away from her path and began to make her way towards Weiss, Sun flanking her right side. They both came to a stop beside her; Blake looked shell-shocked and haunted, but still angry, and Sun was looking at the man with pure loathing.

“They’re boarding Yang on the airship now,” Blake said, and Weiss thought she could see her shudder at the name. “I…” She shook her head, seeming as if she was steeling herself, before looking at Vincent with cold, dark eyes. “Weiss, do you need some help dealing with… him?”

Vincent seemed taken aback, drawing himself up and looking contemptuously at Blake’s bow, which was torn and bloody from the night’s carnage. “Little girl—”

“She’s not a little girl, actually,” Sun seethed, his gray eyes furious. “Her name is Blake. And she’s been through a hell of a lot more tonight than you could ever dream of, you bigot, lording over your cosy office in Atlas while Faunus suffer because of you and your company!”

The pure amazement and disgust on her father's face as he looked at Blake and Sun, both Faunus, both bristling at him, made Weiss feel sick to her stomach. "Help," Weiss said, speaking around the growing lump in her throat, "would be pretty spectacular right now, Blake."

Blake’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. ”Regardless of whether you’re her father or not, I’m Weiss’s teammate, Vincent Schnee, and I’ve sworn an oath to protect my team, however I—” She faltered. “However I can. I’m sure you saw the carnage of tonight; I know you heard Cinder’s speech; you can see what your daughter and what everyone around you has been through, fighting for their friends and school, some of them dying for it…” She cast a forlorn glance at the two graves by the fountain. “Those circumstances would elicit sympathy and compassion from a normal human." Blake fixed narrowed eyes on Vincent. "But you are not a normal human, are you?“

Her father, ever-composed in his white Atlas uniform as she had always known him to be, seemed to be— unraveling. "You are quite a fine one to talk, Faunus girl— I demand you leave this instant. I have every right to speak with my child— alone."

“‘My child’? She's your daughter, you selfish prick!" Sun whirled on him, his lip half-curled back in a snarl. Weiss doubted if he was even aware of it. “You’ve always ordered us to leave, always ordered the Faunus to hide away in the dark so you didn’t have to see them and know that there was more to Remnant than rich bigots like you—”

"Faunus scum," her father snarled, "always poking your muzzles in where they're not wanted—”

“How dare you talk to us like that. How dare you stand on the grounds of Beacon after innocent people have died for it and act like you’re not a part of this too!” Blake shouted, her voice ringing off the pillars and stones around them. Vincent actually flinched back as she got up in his face, her ears pressed flat to her skull, teeth bared— he flinched, barely a ripple in his expression, but it was there, nonetheless, only growing as her voice rose in volume. “I grew up in the White Fang and everything that led me here today was a product of the hatred humanity holds towards my kind— a hatred that you encouraged and tolerated! I grew up stealing and hurting people just to stay alive, and yet I turned out less of a monster than you! I don’t know how you produced your daughter. She has none of your evil, none of your prejudice. You can take her lawfully, true enough. But heed a final warning: you take her, but you won't keep her. You cannot contain Weiss. She isn't that kind of person. You smothered her once— she won't let you do so ever again, and that’s no one’s fault but your own.” Blake’s voice lowered. “And God only knows that you’ll learn your lesson this time.”

He got over his shock, glaring at Blake as he spat at her, “Is that a threat?"

"No," Sun growled. "That's a promise." He looked at Vincent in disgust before striding off, kicking up puffs of grit in his wake.

Vincent cast a suspicious glance between the two of them, Weiss and Blake, his eyes hard. “I expect you in the airship in ten minutes, Weiss.” His voice regained its cool composure— the voice of a businessman deciding how much ‘leash’ to give his daughter. “Do not be late, or I will come out here after you. And you will not find me as forgiving this time around.”

He swept off in a flurry of white, leaving the two teammates— Faunus and daughter of their oppressor— staring silently, devastated, in his wake.

“Blake,” Weiss began, before everything that had happened before she saw her father plunged back into her mind. “I—”

Blake’s amber eyes had lost their anger and were filled with a puzzling mixture of haunted sorrow and terror. “Weiss, your father— I’m sorry if I overstepped myself, but after tonight—”

“What? No, no— never mind him,” she said, her mind flurrying with hundreds of thoughts that came and went quicker than snowflakes. “Blake, the Tower— Ruby was up in it when… when Pyrrha and Cinder were fighting, when that white light covered everything— and my Bond was just flooded with this pain, like—”

Blake’s expression filled with horror as Weiss’s words hit her. “Ruby was on the Tower?”

“Yes, she was,” Weiss said uncertainly, taken aback by the stunned fear in her face.  

“My God,” Blake whispered, her voice trembling. “We can’t lose another teammate. Not tonight…”

Weiss stared at her. “Lost? You can’t mean that— Yang’s not dead—”

“For what happened to her, she might as well be!” Blake burst out, before inhaling deeply and closing her eyes, counting to three as she recomposed herself. “I… but— that’s not the point right now. Are you sure Ruby was up there when the light struck? And your pain in the Bond… do you think she’s…? “  

"I let her go up there," Weiss snarled as it all sank in, the pain, the Bond being empty, the truth of it all. "I let her go up there all alone, and she— I sent her up there to die. She went alone, and I expect she died alone."

Blake’s expression was sharp with pain, and something else that Weiss couldn’t make out. “No, that— that can’t be. Ruby isn’t dead. Your— your Bond would have shattered if she was; you’d be unconscious, no one can stand that type of pain without passing out… it’s too much, too much for anyone to bear.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“I’ve experienced it, Weiss; I’ve had one break before, remember?” Her face twitched with a grim expression as she added, “You wouldn’t be standing right now if you’d gone through a breaking Bond. The body reaches a breaking point with pain, and trust me… you and Ruby have both had a lot of pain in your lives.”

“But our Bond isn’t… active, or anything. Blake, I felt it. There was a huge pain in my head and then that silvery light— and then that chill— and then our Bond just… went away, melted like dew in the sunlight. Like it never existed.”

Blake shook her head, looking mystified, but somehow distant, as if the night had shattered her in more ways than one. There was blood all down the front of her outfit, now dried to an ugly rust-brown; Weiss wondered where it had come from. “Not broken. As I said… you couldn’t be conscious right now if your Bond was broken. Too much pain from the both of you. Something’s happened to Ruby,” Blake added. “God knows what, but… I don’t know if she’s okay, Weiss. I just know she’s not dead.”

“She must be unconscious, then,” Weiss whispered. “My Bond is off because she’s… unconscious? ”

“It’s a possibility,” Blake exhaled, before her eyes clouded. “Mine is out too, with Yang and… and what happened. But Ruby— she’s not… she’s not okay, Weiss. Something happened up there with Cinder and Pyrrha and her… that light…”

Weiss closed her eyes, a fresh sense of grief sweeping over her, leaving her gasping and helpless. It seemed like ages ago that she had left the fairgrounds with Blake— years upon years. “My father is taking me home,” she said. “Back to Atlas.”

“The land of the ice and snow and the cold of heart,” Blake croaked. “But it’s not home to you anymore. Sometimes I wonder if any of us really have a home at all.”

“You could… you could still stay,” Weiss murmured, desperately clinging to any scrap of comfort she could. “You could go to… to Patch, or help with Vale, or…”

“No. There’s no place for me to stay anymore. Not after what I’ve done.” And Weiss found, upon looking at her teammate, that however awful her night had been, nothing could have amounted to what Blake had gone through. Her eyes held a sadness, a quiet belief that nothing could ever be alright again, so deep and haunted that Weiss knew she could never find the right words to mend the holes in Blake, the whistling loneliness that yawned between them. "Hail and farewell, Weiss Schnee," she said softly, clasping Weiss's hands between hers. Already, they felt ice-cold and angular—not human at all. "If we meet again, I hope that it is some time, less miserable than this, in a world where we are not decreed to meet suffering at every turn."

"Blake," Weiss said helplessly, "Yang would never blame you for getting hurt."

Blake gave a bitter smile that already seemed ghostly, like she was becoming part of the shadows gathering in the courtyard. Night had fallen, well and truly, and the stars that sparkled above seemed more like chips of ice scattered across an uncaring black expanse than stars. "If I believed that," she murmured, "perhaps I would be able to live in a lie, but it is my fault. Tell her—" Blake faltered, shaking all over. "I'm sorry. This life... it meant more to me then you will ever know. I wish you luck, Weiss… there is no one who can match you for bravery.” She looked her in the eyes. “And, perhaps, you should remember that you’ve grown… maybe too much for your father to confine you anymore.”

She turned— a fluid, not quite human movement, and gave Beacon one long, lingering look. There was such grief in her eyes that Weiss felt surely she must voice it or die; but this was Blake, and she had never let her emotion spill, not when she blamed herself. She whispered a farewell before she leaped into the shadows, following trails only she could distinguish, leaving behind the only world she had ever loved, running to a destination only she knew.

“Blake,” Weiss whispered, but there was no one there to hear her. She was a Schnee; she didn’t cry.

But she wasn’t her father’s daughter anymore, and tears spilled in hot succession down her face. It felt like an ending, sad and bittersweet, where everyone but the one who needed it most got a happy ending. An ending, miserable because it was the end.

“Don’t forget,” she whispered brokenly— to Ruby, to Yang, to Blake, “to remember who we were.”