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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Witch”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Well, it's perhaps happier provided you didn't watch today’s episode lol. Getting through these 18 minutes felt like watching an extended version of a CinemaSins vid. I heard a little 'ding!' every time something nonsensical, contradictory, or just downright stupid happened. My mind became a pinball machine.

Which, in the interest of being fair as opposed to just snarky, only matters if you're looking for something resembling emotional depth in this show. RWBY, for all its faults, is enjoyable as a mindless spectacle. It's when you expect — or simply hope — for anything more that this very fragile house of cards comes tumbling down.

If it’s not clear already, today’s recap contains copious amounts of salt. Fair warning.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s dive in. Episode nine is titled "Witch," which is fitting since many members of our group go toe-to-toe against Salem herself. The narrative issues inherent in having your heroes fighting their final boss years before the series is meant to end might have been avoided if it weren't for Oscar's ridiculous, sacrificial attack... but we'll get to that.

We open with a sweeping shot of the Atlas battle, as hundreds of dead soldiers segue into endless grimm. Hold onto that image for a bit. At the end of this carnage is, of course, the mouth of the whale. We cut to Jaune, Ren, and Yang already safely inside.

"Well," says Yang, "that was harrowing."

I'm on the fence about this choice. On the one hand, yes, it's good that RWBY knows it can skip over extraneous scenes. We have NINE characters to keep track of and develop, fourteen if you count Ozpin, Maria, Winter, Ironwood, and now Whitley. Plus villains. There simply isn't time to show every insignificant moment... but was this insignificant? Obviously finding Oscar and escaping Salem's clutches is the true hurdle of this mission, but that doesn't mean getting through an entire army of grimm is in any way a cake walk. I'd be more willing to ignore this time skip if it weren't likewise presented as such a challenge for Winter's team. They have to "clear a path" to the whale, but our trio got there unscathed and unnoticed? The obvious implication here is that Ren just masked them the whole way — supported by his aura breaking later in the episode — but it still feels like we missed an important chunk of this task.

I'm nit-picking though. As said, I’m straddling the fence on this one and, given that, I'm inclined to settle on a, "Good job, RWBY. You're keeping the writing tight," if only because I don't have much else to praise about this episode. Throw the poor, struggling show a bone lol.

Now that they're inside, they realize they haven't the slightest idea how they'll find Oscar. “Like finding a needle in a giant…whale… why did we think this was a good idea?!” Because you and your friends are idiots who no longer bother to think about a situation before throwing yourself straight into it? This isn't me being mean to Yang, she literally says as much later on. Our heroes no longer get by on intellect, strategy, and skill, but rather plot armor and a staggering number of coincidences. For example, Ren.

Yang: Wow, it sure is lucky for us that on our way to this incredibly dangerous mission Ren inexplicably developed a new part of his semblance. Now he can not only mask peoples' emotions, see the true emotions that someone is feeling, pull thoughts out of their head about what they believe about a situation, but can also track someone across long distances through their emotions alone. Even that doesn't actually help us find Oscar, we just got lucky again when, in this maze of a whale, he ran right into us!

Me: So what were you going to do if this meta-world stopped giving you the most contrived solutions in Remnant history?

Yang: Die gloriously, I guess.

What Yang actually says is, "Okay. That's new!" and they enter the literal belly of the beast wielding a shield of convenience.

Jaune is also being awkward again because remember, RWBY doesn't know when to incorporate humor and when to treat a situation seriously. He reminds Ren not to "drain [himself]," he'll help him, and it's clear the scene is hinting at their earlier fight. There's a lot to unpack there, but I want to save it for the second conversation.

For now, we cut to Oscar, curled up in his cell, repeating stories to comfort himself. Yeah that's fine. I could use a broken heart right before Valentine's Day.

“She brushed off her bumps and bruises, for nothing hurt worse than the loneliness in her chest." It's a line from The Girl Who Fell Through the World, which Ozpin recognizes given that he's "lived through" a fair number of fairy tales. He immediately asks how Oscar is holding up — because he's a caring person! — and Oscar admits that he never understood why the girl of the tale was sad upon reaching home again. Now he does: she wasn't the same person anymore. I don't think the fact that Oscar has had both a metaphorical fall — leaving his farm to 'fall' into this war — and a literal one — falling through Atlas to unlock his magic — is lost on anyone. This is a nice allusion to our themes. Yang's speech to Salem later on? That’s something else entirely.

Storytelling done, Ozpin says he thinks "this plan to divide might have run its course” and it's time to try and find a way to leave. I'm sorry, I love my farm boy, but what plan? He didn't do anything. At least nothing that could remotely be termed an intellectual plot. Oscar convinced Ozpin to try and turn Hazel by telling him the world would end under Salem's rule and the only reason that worked is because the story decided to chuck out Hazel's entire character. You know, the one that hates Ozpin above all others, wants the world remade into a non-Academy horror show, can't understand that people make their own choices, is terrified of Salem, and has no reason to trust a prisoner he's currently torturing. Oscar's "plan" hinged on his writers erasing a great deal of work to build a new story that fits said “plan.” He didn't even get Emerald involved, she just — again, conveniently — eavesdropped outside their door at just the right moment.

To be clear, I'm not against a story being written to work in the hero's favor. Of course things are going to be convenient in a happy-ending tale. Someone manages to hold out just as long as they need to, a sword is lying just within reach, you, yes, happen to run into the one person you're desperate to find. This kind of stuff is reassuring, telling its audiences that sometimes things do work out for the best. It's enjoyable... but only provided the hero's entire success doesn't hinge on fate being shockingly kind to them. That's what RWBY has become. A world where Salem doesn't attack Mantle, Amity Tower is suddenly finished, the group can charge into any deadly situation they want to and bank on destiny twisting around itself to ensure they come out of it safely. A hero finding a convenient weapon nearby to defeat their enemy with is only reassuring after we've seen them implement a brilliant attack, struggle, nearly win, but then suddenly be faced with failure, necessitating that little push from coincidence. They earned it. The hero doesn't get to run in blindly and find a Defeat Bad Guy plot point gift wrapped for them at the first sign of trouble. They just die.

RWBY used to be a better written show because that's precisely Pyrrha's story. She charged a Maiden unprepared, without a single plan or hope for success, and she died. That's what happens in a dangerous, internally consistent world, but RWBY has since lost the second half of that formula.

I'm harping on this because this entire episode is built on that foundation of coincidence, something that shouldn't be happening at all, but especially not when you're pitting the heroes against Salem herself.

So yeah, it just gets worse from here.

Back to Oscar. Without the cane magic is the only weapon they have at their disposal, but he's reluctant to use it because every time he does, they merge more quickly.

They... do?

Okay, there are three major problems with this announcement:

I'm pretty sure we've only seen Oscar use magic once: creating that barrier to survive the fall through Atlas. That was the point of his near death experience, to unlock something that had previously been unavailable to him. Yet if he's only used it once, why is he so sure that it hurries the merge along? What's this "every time" business? This confusion could have easily been avoided if the show had just let Oscar use his magic this volume, tackling some other questions and gaps in the process. Let him use it to fight off the grimm in Mantle, giving him the opportunity to admit to at least Jaune, Ren, and Yang that Ozpin is back. He could have used some magic against the Hound with Ozpin's encouragement, answering the question of why he was entirely silent while the two of them got their ass beat. Give us a moment where Oscar uses his magic against Hazel, nearly escaping in the process, but is captured again at the last moment. Basically, his line makes it sound like magic has been this ongoing resource with an established downside when... it hasn’t.

Coinciding with all of the above, how is it that Oscar can suddenly use magic at will? Yeah, yeah, he unlocked it during the fall, but really? You open up the magic gates and from then on out it's as natural as breathing? This is the same issue with Ruby's silver eyes. The story gives these characters incredible powers, but never has them talking about how they work, let alone training them. They just exist, perfect in execution, as soon as the plot needs them. (See: the final shot of this episode.) At least Weiss had to practice her summoning for multiple volumes.

Finally, the question of how Oscar instinctively knows how to use magic could easily be answered with, "Well, he's kind of Ozpin now," but that would require the story to actually explain what the merge is. "We merge faster," Oscar says, but what does that mean? The Ozpin and Oscar we see in this scene are fundamentally indistinguishable from the Ozpin and Oscar who existed at his aunt's house, four whole years ago. They're still separate people, with one controlling the body and the other existing as a consciousness he can talk to. Nothing has changed. The show keeps insisting that Oscar is going through this deep and painful arc of losing himself to Ozpin... despite the fact that he has yet to lose a single bit of Oscar-ness. Has he changed? Well of course, but anyone going through these experiences is going to change. Remove the "merge" aspect and Oscar's confidence or power up is likewise indistinguishable from any of the other characters' developments. Nora is becoming more of an individual this volume. Ren is becoming more powerful in his semblance. Neither have an Ozpin to force that change, it just happens on its own. So what separates Oscar from every other character going through a formative experience? When is “I’m not the same person anymore” due to unnatural magic vs. just growing up?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy our boy is getting more screen time — and that the cast is actually being kind to him now — but overall his arc is objectively terrible. He bought some clothes, told Ironwood he was as bad as Salem, told Hazel how to access the Relic, and then asked him not to be a villain anymore. Somehow these things are presented as significant moments of growth while the real questions surrounding his merge go unanswered.

“Honestly, I think you’re doing just fine on your own," Ozpin tells him, but he's not. God knows our boy is trying, but this is a moment where Ozpin's self-hatred (and the story's insistence that the younger generation is intrinsically better than the older) is blinding him to the situation. Oscar has made terrible decisions lately, in as much as he's been able to decide anything at all, and now he's rejecting escaping captivity because he's terrified of a concept he doesn't even understand yet. None of that is fine. Reassurance is one thing, but painting this situation as Oscar making better choices than he would with Ozpin's input is insane. He literally just decided to keep them in Salem's clutches indefinitely because something something magic is scary, I guess. Oscar doesn't need a, 'You're better than me' speech, he needs a reality check so they don't both die. Remember back in Volume 5 when Oscar, a brave but idiotic 14 year old, insisted on fighting someone entirely out of his league and Ozpin was like,

then saved him from getting his head crushed in like a cantaloupe? We need more of that. Our teenage heroes need guidance, but because RWBY keeps insisting that every adult they encounter is corrupt or incompetent, that hasn't happened in three volumes. They're just aloud to decide things like, “Let's tell our captor the Relic's password because UwU ~trust~” and then the story bends over backwards to make that work. Instead we could, you know, let characters learn that they can be wrong.

The snow scene was the beginning, but RWBY really went off the rails the day it let Qrow warn the group against stealing from and attacking an allied city, only for them to call him an idiot for doubting them. Now, Ozpin doesn't even get to warn Oscar about stupid decisions, he just agrees with them, reassuring and passive. Never mind the complication of whether Ozpin is even emotionally capable of providing guidance after they labeled him the worst thing to ever happen to them.

Why does RWBY keep ruining my faves 😔

Anyway, we’ve got to stay on track. Oscar has decided to just lie there but, luckily for him, Hazel's redemption — I use that term so loosely — has begun. He drags Oscar out of his cell before we cut to Winter.

She's leading a portion of Ironwood's army, trying to get things ready for when the bomb arrives. Neon and Flynt are a part of her team, sharing scared glances and trying to remain optimistic. It's a legitimately hard-hitting moment, striking that balance between horror and hope. Funny though, I wonder that RWBYJNOR would think of their friends fighting for evil Ironwood...

Marrow, continuing the tradition of insisting that our heroes be both adults and kids simultaneously, looks sadly at the soldiers heading into battle and goes, "But... they're just kids." I would like to remind everyone reading that Ruby is younger than them. Anyone who thinks that these teenagers shouldn't be fighting grimm — the thing they have been training to do as their professional career, during an unprecedented attack on their home — should not simultaneously be looking to the girl who is two years younger as his savior. (Something that, while not overt yet, is very much where Marrow is heading as he continually doubts the Ace Ops and looks to RWBY's group as his new, moral leaders.) I'm glad that, for once, this perspective is firmly called out. Elm arrives to tell him point blank that he needs to figure out his personal ethics later. It doesn't matter because there's an army of grimm out there and monsters aren't going to spare anyone, adult or child. Quit philosophizing and kill some already.

Back to Hazel where we get the doorway shot from our trailer. He's taken Oscar to the Relic, because of course he has. Do I really need to list how convenient this is too? Apparently, "the moment we move that thing, this place goes on high alert," but there’s no alarm for when Oscar is taken from his cell, they enter the Relic's room, or when they use it. What does a movement alert matter if someone can just waltz in and waste the last question themselves? Put some of those endless grimm in the room to guard it, Salem!

Just assume that I am, at any given point in this episode, letting out the longest sigh my lungs are physically capable of.

Emerald shows up, demonstrating both the convenience of everyone arriving when they need to, and the very real danger that Salem herself could come in and discover what they're up to. Hazel has Oscar summon Jinn, only to immediately say that “Actually, I think all my questions are answered now.”

I'm sorry, how does this answer any of Hazel's questions? His driving question was not, "Is the Relic actually a magical object capable of doing magical things?" but rather "Are you telling me the truth about Salem's plans to summon the Gods and destroy all of Remnant in her quest to finally die, thereby changing who I'm going to support in this war?" Seeing a naked, blue djinn does not answer that question.

Hazel's "redemption" is non-existent. He — we — learned about Salem's death wish despite how that contradicts previous lore, then he trusted Ozpin despite that contradicting his entire character, now he joins the heroes because, literally, he sees Jinn floating there. It’s bad enough that Hazel goes from clear villain to sacrificial hero in a matter of in-world hours, but we don’t even get a reason for why that change occurred.

Oh, there's also this:

So Jinn doesn't come out of her lamp unless someone intends to ask a question, but does it for Ruby because she's special, yet still reiterates that this won't happen again. Then Oscar summons her without intending to ask a question, she comes out anyway, confirms that none of them seek knowledge from her, and happily pops back inside her lamp because eh, it’s whatever.

If RWBY had any courage the three of them would be cursed now for toying with a powerful, magical object. Remember the days when Jinn was a little terrifying because it felt like she was warping her answers and we had no idea what she might do to someone who used her carelessly? When she felt like a djinn? Good times.

Or better times, at least.

So Good Guy Hazel and Good Gal Emerald promise to get Oscar out. Never mind all the horror they caused, the people they killed, and that for Hazel, at least, this defection is coming out of nowhere.

Anyone remember that Emerald orchestrated Penny's death? No? Just me?

As they leave it turns out Neo was camouflaged against the wall, because she was also precisely where she needed to be. Does everyone just periodically pop into the Relic room to see what’s going on? At least this time it's not working in the heroes' favor. Remember when I said it's beyond idiotic for Oscar to just hand out the Relic information to known enemies currently holding him captive and torturing him?

Yeeeeaah.

So Neo's got the Lamp. Funny how all of this could have been avoided if Ruby had just put it in the vault like she came to Atlas to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We return to our trio where Jaune and Ren need to rest because their aura is giving out. Good! These guys fought a battle, fought Neo, fought more grimm, fought the Hound, traipsed through the tundra, presumably fought through more grimm to get to the whale, and have been using both their semblances to look for Oscar. It's about time their reserves started to falter.

Jaune decides to scout ahead a bit, leaving Yang and Ren to talk about nothing of importance. I mean that seriously. Remember a few days ago when I spoke about how, if the snow conversation does come back up, Ren's points would be entirely ignored for a nonsensical “I’m glad we’re friends” speech? Remember how I also spoke about how every emotional beat now is entirely generic and you could replace any character with another and not a single thing would change? Yeah. This is both those arguments in one. Nothing is said about the points Ren made. His problems with how the group has been acting lately and the very real, very deadly consequences it has had are flat out ignored. We went from

"But these aren't the kinds of decisions we should be making because we have no idea what we're doing!"

"Forward, no matter what!"

in a matter of hours, with precisely zero insight into how Ren went from one perspective to the exact opposite. Kind of like Hazel. Because see, RWBY doesn't write arcs, it just writes one thing until it decides to switch it up for something else, with the opposite idea presented as a “resolution” or a “twist.” Our creators writes scenes they know the fandom is begging for without considering how to get a character to that place, let alone how to get them out of it. That's all Ren's speech was, the equivalent of moral fan service. Here's a glimpse of actual character depth and a morally gray situation... now forget it ever happened because we're back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Instead of working through the laundry list of issues Ren raised, Ren instead accepts Jaune's aura help — something they've been doing since Argus — and tells Yang it's okay to be scared. These moments are meaningless and, as said, could have been between anyone in our cast. Ren could have told Nora she doesn't have to use jokes to cover up that she's scared. Jaune could have reminded Ruby that she can depend on him. Yang could have tried to keep Blake and Weiss' hopes up. This scenes ignores the individuality of the characters, like the fact that they just fought over very different world views, to instead favor any dime-a-dozen moment of support. The number of times this volume has rejected the conflict and resolution the group needs for bland, generic reassurances staggering.

Also, apparently Jaune isn't scared at all? I don't think that's as good a thing as Ren seems to think...

Then Jaune immediately rounds the corner, terrified lol.

One of the seer grimm is on its way and he tells Ren to mask them. Apparently he had been masking them before — one of the reasons he's so tired now, trying to do two things at once — but it's only here that they go black and white again. Ren manages to keep it up for a little while, but his aura breaks before the seer passes and they're spotted.

Hark! A consequence!

That was well done. It makes sense and it adds to the stakes. We've seen the insane amount of fighting the group has done since Volume 7, we just established that they're at their breaking point, and then Ren's aura fails him right when he needs it the most. Add this to the miniscule pile of things that were well done this episode.

Salem runs into Emerald and Hazel, the former of which is acting very suspicious when asked if he's made any headway with Oscar. The seer's alarm interrupts them though and... okay. Was I the only one who cackled during this moment? Between Salem's voice acting and the fact that she just yeets herself down the hallway, it came across as really funny to me.

Either way, it is a bad situation. Our trio is trying to figure out what to do, to which Yang responds, "Do what we do best… charge blindly into danger!!”

Ren's aura is broken. Jaune barely has any left and it’s unlikely he could heal right now even if Ren had any aura to amplify. If Ren takes a single hit anywhere important he is dead.

Me, on my knees, surrounded by the ashes of the Hound, the last bit of serious storytelling we had: "For the love of God, the kingdom is on fire and simultaneously dying of cold. There's a grimm army decimating hundreds outside. Half their group is missing and they're wandering lost inside a devil whale, about to have the most powerful being Remnant has ever known personally try to kill them — can we please have their attitudes reflect that?"

The answer, in case you were wondering, is no.

Back to the bomb. Whatever scientists were given this task have completed it and Marrow watches as it's flown out towards the whale. "Come on, Juan" he whispers and I'm all, "Juan?" Apparently it's a callback to last volume when Marrow couldn't remember Jaune's actual name, but it took me hopping onto the RWBY wiki to remember that.

As death via explosion inches closer, the trio runs into Hazel and Emerald. Turns out though that Hazel is really Oscar, disguised through Emerald's semblance. Nice trick! Jaune immediately drops both weapons to hug Oscar and, while that's nice and all, it's also the stupidest thing he could possible do in enemy territory. Also, Oscar has been beaten up by the Hound, tortured with magic, and likewise beaten bloody by Hazel. I was hoping for a tender hug like the one Nora gave him, not a giant squeeze for more comedy purposes. It just feels like RWBY has no idea how to manage the tone of this volume, let alone the torture of a child...

There's the obligatory, "Why should we trust you?" from Yang regarding Emerald joining the team, to which Ren responds, "Because she's scared, just like us."

That doesn't prove anything. Literally everyone is scared right now. There is a war going on. I really cannot emphasize enough how RWBY throws out Deep™ sounding lines that are, upon inspection, absolutely nonsensical. Nora reminding Penny that there are different parts to her personhood, Hazel saying that all his questions have been answered, Ren announcing that Emerald is scared... it's all worthless chatter that has no bearing on their problems: How do I keep from being hacked? How do I know you're telling the truth? How do we know you're trustworthy after you spent years trying to kill us? But of course, because it's RWBY, Ren's announcement is treated as some sort of secret truth that everyone accepts. Emerald joins up.

As they head for an exit we return to Marrow who, frankly, is getting on my last nerve. I know the fandom loves him because he's clearly leaning towards Team RWBY, but does anyone actually listen to what he says? He starts yelling at Winter for sending in the bomb because the trio might still be alive in there, despite:

Seeing for himself the hundreds of soldiers that have fallen trying to keep Atlas safe

Knowing and hearing again from Winter that the only way to stop this carnage is to take out the whale. Given more time, the whole city falls

Sadly announcing to the world that children shouldn't have to fight in a battle, rather than just joining the fray and helping to keep those kids safe

How does Marrow think those kids are going to be able to stop fighting? How does he think he'll get a city to return to? It's no wonder that he's drawn to Ruby because both characters stand around twiddling their thumbs, mourning that things are bad, and blaming others for imperfect solutions rather than doing something to make the situation better. Marrow's disgust at Winter over the bomb is precisely the same as Ruby's disgust at Ironwood over Mantle: how dare you not have a plan that results in both victory for us and zero sacrifices? They want perfection which, yes, is an admirable trait, but their problem is they refuse to do anything until that perfection appears. They’re paralyzed, a trait that’s particularly dangerous when your story insists that perfection will never appear: it’s not a fairy tale. So they just continue to get mad at others for the fact that they live in an unfair world. You want that perfect solution? Think it up yourself. Otherwise, stand aside and let those coming up with something do what they can to make things better.

Marrow goes so far as to drag Weiss into things, trying to guilt Winter with the knowledge that she'll have to relate the death of her sister's friends back to her. Winter, because she's a badass who isn't in denial over the situation, tells him that yes, she will shoulder that responsibility. To Marrow's credit he backs off then, but man. RWBY has legitimate moral questions here — when is holding out for a few worth risking the many? — but they go about exploring it in the most frustrating way possible. I personally have no respect for the guy who wants to announce that Children In War Is Bad instead of, you know, using the power he currently has to protect those kids already neck deep in a battle.

Because John Mulaney remains relevant:

"There shouldn't be a horse in the hospital :( "

"We're WELL PAST THAT."

Marrow is the one going, "There shouldn't be kids in a war :( We shouldn't have to kill a few to save the whole kingdom :( " and everyone around him is like, "No shit, dude! But this is the hand we were dealt! You going to help us, or what?"

Literally all of these characters could have been so much more than what they currently are.

Except Winter. She's doing great.

Now for the final scene. Our group nearly manages to escape the whale, but is incapacitated by some sort of screechy power that Salem employs.

She contorts her body, stretching out her arms to snag Emerald, and the others have a brief, but intense skirmish. Jaune manages to block a blast of magic aimed at Ren with his shield — nice — and Yang dots Salem's face with a bunch of bombs before blowing her sky-high — double nice. Oscar shoots out some magic of his own because, yeah, I guess he can just do that now? It really feels like it came out of nowhere after eight episodes of being the punching bag.

Of course, Salem immediately reforms. She traps the group with grimm arms that come out of the whale, interrogating Ozpin about why he bothers to keep coming back. There's a very sad answer there of, "I don't," referring to his lack of choice in reincarnating to fight her.

Yang interrupts their little tet-a-tet to throw the question back in Salem's face, calling her out on her choices. A great idea but, as always, execution: "because something bad happened to you once upon a time? No one gets a fairy tale ending."

I’m sorry, but that dialogue had me cringing. Like I said before, way too on the nose. There's keeping with the fairy tale theme, and then there's shoving the viewer's face in it. More of Oscar's musings on how he relates to the protagonists of fairy tales, blurring the lines between storytelling and reality, which in turn encourages the viewer to consider how they see themselves in the RWBY cast. Less... whatever this is.

Yang goes on to talk about how many people Salem has taken from her, which upon reflection makes a certain amount of sense if you toss in all the people who are here, but changed somehow due to Salem's influence, as well as acquaintances who died as a result of her meddling: Raven is scared off, Tai suffers as a result, Pyrrha dies, Penny dies, Yang loses her arm and her school. I think the dialogue could have been revised to reflect that better though because what Yang implies is that Salem has killed countless of her loved ones, yet what she says is, "Summer Rose. My mom." Honestly, for the few seconds this exchange was happening my thoughts weren't even on Summer. Yang calls Salem out for killing loved ones and my brain went, "Pyrrha??"

That's how little they've done with Yang and Summer. I know in the past I've argued that RWBY has a "better late than never" situation going on, that I would praise them for making the right writing choices even if they arrive years too late... but now that we're here, I find that it's a hard problem to overlook. Summer is Yang's mom? When's the last time we heard that? Volume 2? Whenever the conversation with Blake was. Since then Yang has called Raven "Mom," focused on that emotional connection (or lack thereof), was excluded from the conversation with Qrow, comforted Ruby after she was blindsided by Salem's taunt, and otherwise hasn't mentioned Summer at all. There is no foundation for this accusation except a few lines about getting cookies as a child and the fact that we're tossing references in now makes me worried that we'll indeed get a grimm!Summer reveal. Better remind the audience that she exists before the twist arrives! Honestly, as much as a part of me wants to praise RWBY for trying to get things back on track, moments like this just ring hollow now. They waited years and now it’s too late. It doesn't help that this is the episode where we shrug off Ren's speech. What will Yang's cutting admission amount to based on this trend? Probably nothing. Summer will become Yang’s mom again in another six seasons.

Salem, obviously, doesn't care. The real Hazel arrives and she orders him to take Oscar back to his cell. Instead, he gives him his cane with a whispered, "No more Gretchens, boy."

Behold, another meaningless line. Hazel hates Ozpin for "forcing" Gretchen on a mission and "getting" her killed. The whole point of his villainy is that he doesn't understand the concept of choice and that bad things can happen to good people with no one able to prevent it. Not every loss has a responsible party attached (outside of, you know, Salem/the grimm). So what is he even demanding here? No more huntsmen schools? That's what you wanted Salem for. No more "forcing" people to fight for you? Ozpin never did that in the first place. Or is it just a strange promise that no one else will die here? RWBY seems to be under the impression that they can just name drop dead family members — Summer, Gretchen — and that's that. Emotional depth created, never mind a lack of buildup or clarity.

Then Hazel punches Salem across the room and she releases every single hero from their bonds. See the theme of this episode: convenience. Hazel shoves a whole bunch of dust crystals into his shoulders and yells that he's doing what Gretchen would have wanted, clearly sacrificing himself so that the others can escape. The battle between him and Salem is pretty decent. I enjoyed the dust vs. magic creativity and the sheer damage Salem can take before reforming. This fight really showcases how not human she is.

It does, however, bring into question Hazel's reveal about her needing an hour to heal at the longest. I mentioned how unlikely it would be that our heroes would get the chance to "kill" her multiple times, yet here we are, just a few episodes later. They got that opportunity and... does it matter? Salem's reforming doesn't appear to slow down at all, despite her head getting obliterated at least three times, so at what point does she need longer than a few seconds to heal? If this was meant to be a potential weakness the group would eventually exploit, we needed to see it here, both for that setup and to keep it consistent with Hazel's story.

Regardless, they fight and at first it looks like a pretty straight-forward sacrifice on Hazel's part, giving the group their chance to escape. Except... Oscar.

"She'll just come after us," he tells Jaune, turning away from him to fight.

I need a list for this:

Of course she's going to come after you. This is not some shocking revelation. At no point has anyone thought that escaping the whale is the answer to all their problems, it just creates one less problem to deal with. Namely, the problem of "Our ally is captured, being tortured, and may give up important intel to the enemy. Oh, also he's about to be blown up with a bomb." Salem coming after them doesn’t matter. What matters is making her plans as difficult as possible as you work to come up with more solutions of your own. This is just a smaller version of the Ironwood conflict: “Well, Salem will just follow Atlas into the sky so it’s useless to attempt escape, or to buy ourselves time.” It’s really not. I know I’ve used this ridiculous comparison before, but if you’re ever chased by a horror movie serial killer hell-bent on your destruction and your reaction to this problem is, “Why run? He’ll just chase us. The only possible choice is to fight him with a 99% chance of our death,” then I beg you to re-evaluate things.

What was the point of coming to rescue Oscar if he was just going to stay behind? The whale is about to be blown up by a bomb and the trio risked their lives ten times over to get to him. If I were them I would be pissed. We went through all that to get you out and now you’re refusing to leave when we have a chance? Thanks for that.

Same with Hazel. Not that I care about the guy, but if I was sacrificing myself for others to escape I'd be pretty annoyed at them randomly deciding not to do that.

What does Oscar even think he's going to do? Kill the immortal witch? The entire point of our series is that they can’t do that (yet).

However, if he is able to do something significant via Ozpin's magic, why didn't Ozpin do that generations ago? Somehow I don't think a younger Ozma closer to the height of his power was in a worse position to attack Salem than a tortured, aura-less kid who unlocked his magic yesterday. The more RWBY reveals about Salem, the more I go, “Okay, but why didn’t his happen [insert any number of years] ago?”

Did Jaune actually leave? I assume he's just grabbing an airship or something before coming back to drag Oscar away, but seriously where did he go?

There's no way I can approach this scene without throwing up my hands and going, "What? WHY?" Which is a real shame because we finally get to see a bit of what the cane does and it’s... precisely what Ozpin's magic has always done? I mean, we saw that green shield five years ago and now there's a giant white beam. Okay.

If the beam just hits Salem with Generic Magic Power then there was never anything secret about the cane, it’s just, you know, Ozpin’s weapon. If the cane does something significant to hurt her we're left with the question of why it took literal generations to use it. Nothing is making sense to me and the only way I can think to salvage this scene is if Jaune runs back in, snags Oscar like a sack of potatoes, and runs out yelling about how he's clearly suffering from a concussion because what are you trying to accomplish here?

It doesn't help that this moment feels... final. Hazel has managed to hold Salem in place. Oscar has unlocked his cane and lands some mega hit right before Hazel passes out and looses his hold. Not only does this feel like a scene that should be at the end of the volume (we've still got five episodes), but also the end of the series. RWBY is building Salem into an unbeatable enemy by giving her more and more powers, and simultaneously eliminating the stakes by having our currently weakest character (in terms of exhaustion/injuries/aura/training) landing a shot like that. Why would you nerf Salem's threat level like that in the middle of a volume? Especially with a tool our group has had available from the start? If the cane does damage, maybe lead with that in the, “Here’s why we should stay and fight” office conversation.

I assume that Oscar's hit will obliterate Salem to the point where both he and Hazel have time to escape, or he obliterates both of them (“Do it”) and that's somehow presented as a better choice than just running while Salem is captured, or the bomb will interrupt things somehow... but it's just so shoddily done. At the very least, if they were going to have Oscar refuse to let someone fight alone, have it be an actual friend he's staying to assist. Having Oscar refuse his own rescue to help Hazel has more than one problem attached to it. We can say what we want about RWBY's themes of forgiveness, but this guy was torturing him just a few hours ago while serving Remnant's version of the devil. Just let him sacrifice himself and move on.

And that's where we end. Oscar powering up, the cane getting all magic-y, and him shooting a crazy big blast that engulfs both Salem and Hazel. I can't believe how not excited I am about my farm boy doing something badass, but here we are.

Overall I think this episode was way worse than last week's. We absolutely had problems in "Dark," particularly when it came to the Hound and the group's blind devotion to Ruby, but at least those moments were cushioned by an otherwise decent episode. "Witch" felt like I was watching something closer to a parody of RWBY, one deliberately poking fun at the fandom's desires: erase all conflict for awkward silly times, your favorite villains are instantly good now, the heroes go toe-to-toe with the main antagonist because why not, throw a bunch of magic in there for good measure, and wrap it all up in some over the top "this isn't a fairy tale" lines. I can see the pieces of a much better episode here — Emerald sneaking Oscar out with her semblance, Neo snagging the relic, Flint and Neon, Hazel attacking Salem — but it simply didn't come together.

I know I said this last time, but I have no idea what we're going to do for another five episodes. Salem slowly reforming from bomb damage as the group tries to keep Penny from opening the vault? The grimm attack halted with the whale gone so Qrow can go after Ironwood? The longer this volume runs, the more I think it was a mistake for them to introduce Salem as a fightable antagonist now. RWBY doesn't know what to do with her besides have her inevitably fall in the final season, so until then she's left being stupid (Relic), passive (Mantle), or, likely, written out of the story temporarily so the heroes can turn their attention towards smaller conflicts and weaker foes. They literally can’t beat Salem yet, but they can’t focus on other problems when she’s around without coming across as negligent, so if you have to find ways to erase her to make room for that... what was the point of bringing her here in the first place? We could have established that Salem is bound to her realm and had her send the Hound and whale to attack Atlas. There, all the fun parts of the volume without her complicated presence.

Well, the next five weeks will certainly be interesting, at the very least...

Until next time 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby witch #mymetas #rwby recaps

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zero-rider · 4 years

Text

A grim knight in the world

He didn't know why that new wolf-knight themed Grimm scared him, but at the same time it gave him a sense of familiarity. It was concerning for him, he was surprised by the hound when it took Oscar in Atlas, but this new Grimm scared him more than the first beowulf he saw when he was still untrained and on his way for his forged transcrips for Beacon. It didn't help the fact that he made him retreat from Atlas before he could enact the plan were he had fight Salem and endure so his friends could escape Atlas alive, maybe it was a bad idea, since he was talking about a freaking magical and inmortal old hag with probably TOO MUCH free time and an enormous grudge against his husband, who was in the body of a prepubertal boy... yep, normal as eff

But he was rambling right now

After they leaved Atlas, he, his team, RWBY, Qrow and Penny fought with the Grimm wolf knight him more than once, he always retreated with just a wound and followed them to everywhere, it was almost like he knew where they would go. It was curious that the knight Grimm always aimed for him only and occasionally Yang and Oscar, but in the end, he was always the target. Not Nora, not Ren, not Ruby, not Oscar or any other in his group, him. It was even curious that the Grimm knight tried to cut Cinder's head when she was about to kill Ruby and Penny in their way to Vacuo and he could only watch from afar, he and Ruby could swear that his topaz eyes changed to a deep saphire when he helped her to stand up. He was also skeptical about the identity of the humanoid Grimm, he called himself Alexandrine Arc, whose name was of his great-great grandfather, man whose history was as lost as Blake in a mall with only blond people and whose weapon was a sword and shield combo, not a great sword similar to his own after the upgrade in that village in anima

But again, he was rambling thanks to the nerves

it didn't took him too much to put two and two together and reveal the mystery of that humanoid grimm after some fights and some small chat with him when they crossed swords, it was clear to him who the masked man was, but he needed to be sure before jumping that bridge. That's why he made a plan for that in three simple steps, Step 1; wait for his ambush and made him bring Grimm or Salem's henchmen to distract the group. Step 2; find and make him follow him to a far away place to talk freely without breaking the mind of his friends. And lastly, Step 3; confront him. This plan was also a failure, the grimm knight sure as hell knew partially what he planned but followed his lead just to humor him. And when he finally got him alone to talk in a vast death forest in the frontier between Vacuo and Vale? Well, that was complicated

"... Alexandrine, that's not your name, Isn't it?" aske Jaune, whose sword was being sheathed on his shield, the grim knight only watched "i know your name... your true name..." that got an angry reaction of the grimm

"SILENCE!" he raised his sword and dashed to the blonde, who didn't move an inch, and when the name was said, he stopped, took a deep breath and cleaved his sword on the ground

"Jaune Arc... that is your name" the Grimm knight growled, his long sword changed to how it looked before, gold guard and a shining silver blade took the place of the stylish design on the blade and the bat wing looking guard. It was Crocea Mors again, looking as new as the day he got it from that blacksmith time ago "what happennd to you to leave you like this?"

"it was my fault... i made a dangerous wager and i lost, everyone died!" in that moment, the wolf mouth of his helmet open wide and leaved his head to reveal his face. Ashen white and long hair with only one blond fringe, tired red eyes with black sclera and veins popping out from his eyes and standing out on his bone white skin.The face and those words were enough to make him sheathed his sword on his shield sheath for an explanation

"plan?... then, that mean-" before his mind could go to think the consequences of his plan, his Grimm twin confirmed his suspicious

"yes, our plan failed, Salem won" he avoided his gaze, anger was found in his voice while he clenched his fists "they died... by Salem's word and by my own hand" this time his eyes moistened

"you... what..." tears came from him too, first was Pyrrha, now he had to lose all his friends too? and the worst of all, he was their executioner? "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!? DID YOU LOSE YOUR MIND!?" Jaune clenched his hands and even readied to fight with his fists, but the other Jaune didn't flinch

"lose my mind? how could i not?... all our life seems to be cursed by the twin gods, our family is tied with Salem and Ozpin, Remnant killed my family with reasons based in fear for the hypothetical power they could have. And after killing all my friends while i was not in control of my body, while she made me the general of her Grimm... my sanity, it died with them" he looked how his Grimm twin took his version of Crocea and give it back his dark form, only to be sheathed in a black, red and white sheath he generated with some weird looking black liquid

"did...did you also killed Ruby?" he knew very well the answer, and wondered if he was secretly a masochist for wanting to feel that wound in his heart, more tears hanged from his eyes as he downed his gaze to the dirt. As for the Ozpin and Salem being his many great grandparents, he just shoved it in the most deeper part of his mind, right now he needed his mind clear to try to understand his evil twin and his motivation, as dumb or inconsistent as they could be

"... i did, she said that she was glad to meet me at Beacon, that i was the best friend she could ask along with Penny... that she loved me... and then, she died with a smile on her face" that moment got a sad smile on his ivory face, even in her dead she looked so radiant and brave, not scared from him after their second meeting as huntress and Grimm. He only lamented the outcome and cursed that gift from his ancestor

"so?... you want my place don't you?" he asked, Jaune thought it was obvious. Both of them were family of a pair who didn't knew about couple therapy and killed possibly one, two or three of their daughters (not four, since his existence proved that one survived), so he wanted to kill him or made him take his place as the Grimm wolf knight

"in that your wrong, i came here with a task and a choice to do, those are, your world or mine?" Grimm Jaune circled him while he looked warily at his actions, how he calmed and was confused by his words

"mine or yours?" he was confused, but with the more information he had from his twin, the more he was lost at his reason to be there

"Salem stole the brother gods magic and gave me the choice to throw away everything in order to bring a dead world back to life i must sacrifice another self... That's the task i have. When someone of another world die, someone from this world is saved, in those terms, i must decimate your world to save MY world"

"... " he was lost of words, was he really that bad when his partner died or that only applied to his twin? either way, he was bound to stop him "you truly lost your mind"

"if it bring back my family, my friends... and Ruby. Then it's a price i'm willing to pay" Jaune knew he was serious, he was him after all, and that meaned that it would be a pain in the ass to fight against himself

"then i will not let you" he unsheathed his sword and pointed it to his twin, who was not amused by his answer

"just think about it for a moment, you can bring back Pyrrha, Clover and all the people who died by Cinder and Salem's hands. All this sorrow and pain can be avoided!" he opened his arms and looked around the dead grey forest they were

"if by destroying this word means that many more can be saved... then i will have to pass"

"let me say this again, you can save RUBY by doing that!" now his patience was giving up, how dared him to let his team die like that!? to let Ruby die on his arms!!? even his hands were shaking from pure anger at himself

"i know, but i would be saving your Ruby, not mine" that sounded as he didn't care about them, he did care, but those were the dead ones, the ones who were alive were fighting and succeeding to beat the small battalion of Grimm his twin brought with him

"so that's your answer? didn't we said that if our dead bringed time for RWBY's victory, then so be it!? why change that now!?" it was ironic, he disliked Salem, but right now he saw the resemble with her in his twisted version of him. it made him shiver just thinking about the process to make him look like the crazy inmortal ex-wife of Ozpin

"because that would make MY team and MY Ruby very sad, and that is something i can't allow" he did ready this time, he took his stance and prepared for the inminent fight with himself. That took the ‘you are your own sworn enemy’ thing to a next level on his mind

"and here i thought that you would understand since i am you" the Grimm looked at himself with a betrayed expresion, one that later passed to be an angered one "you will regret this!"

"i'm already regreting being me, being an idiot who didn't thought better" he ran at himself, semblance activated, shield up and sword ready for a strike

"what's done cannot be undone" his twin did the same, not before covering his face with his wolf helmet and unsheated his sword mid way to his human version

with the great sword on his right hand, he swinged his sword at Jaune, who got the cover with his shield and later did two opposite slashes at his Grimm version, the wolf knight dodged without moving to much and later crossed his sword with himself. After couple of seconds later, both of them took distance and ran at each other again

"HAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!/HOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!" their part concluded with Grimm Jaune’s sword hitting Jaune's shield while the human one was preparing to parry his attack

Far away from the border of Vacuo and Vale

"so in the end i win despite Ozma's silver eyed pawn and my family on his side... this war has become more interesting" Salem laughed, watching the battle of his two descendants(one more perfect than other, in her opinion) from a seer Grimm in the comfort of her castle and surrowded of her minions, with mixed reactions from all of them

Watts was amazed from a scientific point view, and wondered if the process was the same as Cinder. Tyriand laughed and watched amazed the little huntsman he was interested, along with Neo. Mercury and Emerald while amazed too, they were actually a little scared about the Grimm twin of Arc. Hazel was wondering what to do about him, he was his queen child, so he was probably untouchable, but he was also Ozpin’s child, se he wanted to repay him with the same coin... what to do, what to do. And lastly, Cinder, she was pissed and hoped for both to die in a draw. It was understandable on her words, the guy not only give her a scar on her left eye in Heaven, but also tried to cut her head to save that damn red child

"watch carefully everyone, since he is my successor, the future general of my army and the key of my victory along with the maiden powers" everyone nodded, and waited for the end of the fight, if there was an end to this battle

To be continue

Part 1

#rwby #Jaune Arc #Grimm!Jaune #Salem #jaune is salem's descendant theory #rwby lancaster

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noneatnonedotcom · 4 years

Text

random scene i came up with

Jaune: *spits out blood and glared at his enemy*

Cinder: “are you ready to give up now boy?”

Whitley and oscar: *crouched behind jaune both clearly worst for wear from the fight before but not seriously wounded*

Cinder: “it’s not that hard of a decision all you need to do is hand them-” *brings her weapons up to block as crocea mors crashes into them driving her back an inch. Jaune’s sword glows with aura as she pulls up her maiden powers to counter it*

Jaune: *through gritted teeth as he tries to free his blade* “why so you can kill oscar? So you can use Whitley as a pawn in your games? It won’t happen. I’ll stop you” *frees sword and steps in to bash cinders face with his shield. Follows up with a slash that cinder parries only for her other blade to find purchase in his guts, he grits he teeth so hard he thinks they might have cracked as he headbutts cinder then hits her with a hook from his shield arm and a stab with his sword that flashes against her aura he draws the sword back into a backhanded thrust focusing his aura into the tip and the point bursts with light as the impact throws cinder away*

Cinder: *snarls frustrated that jaune is still forcing her back even with all her power* “WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE!” *throws a fireball that jaune dispurses only to see it was just to break line of sight as she drives her sword into his aura. He flares it at the last second amping it further with his semblance diverting her blow, she quickly follows up with another* Cinder: “ozpin was the one who used your precious Pyrrha!” *jaune parries the blow with his shield, then thrusts forward with his sword, cinder knocks it aside with her bare hand as she throws a tongue of flame at his eyes forcing him to take a step to the side* Cinder: “she’s dead because of him!” *cinder capitalizes on his weakened stance and hits him with a burst of power knocking him back, she goes in for the kill as jaune rolls to his feet knocking her hand away with the flat of his blade, once again headbutting her but this time amplifying the strike with his aura, cinder is forced back and jaune shoulder checks her but she plants her feet and throws him with a hip toss having to jump back as he slashes at her ankles from the ground*

Cinder: *glaring at the huntsman as he struggles to his feet* “and you don’t even know the other one! You fight for these children so fervently and yet nothing will change for it, why do you even care!” *throws a massive fireball at jaune*

Jaune: “BECAUSE SOMEBODY SHOULD!” *amps his aura as he dives into the flame coming out on the other side swinging down with his sword* “I DON’T KNOW THEM!” *moves his arm with the momentum of the previous swing striking from the same direction again* “THEY MIGHT NOT EVEN LIKE ME!” *shoulder checks cinder before slamming her in the face with his shield* “BUT AS LONG AS I DRAW BREATH” *swings his sword again aura cutting through cinder’s own defenses leaving a shallow cut* “I PROMISE!” *swings sword up from the other side cutting into her again, he rears back forcing as much aura into this as he physically can then amping that further with his semblance* “I’LL BE THE HERO THEY NEED!” * the brilliant sword of yellow power looks to the world like the sun itself pushed into the form of a weapon slams into the barrier that cinder creates with her magic there is an ear-splitting screech as the sword hews through the powers of the maiden before there’s an explosion* Cinder: *stands, albeit barely, and glares down at the knight kneeling before her* “how pathetic” *coughs up blood and notices the bullhead carrying team rwby and the ace ops on the way* “you may feel proud of yourself for once boy… no jaune” *disappears in a shattering of glass* “in this moment, you are strong”

Jaune: *wakes up with a startled gasp in a hospital bed* “CINDER!” *looks around to see his friends asleep on various surfaces in the room, as well as Whitley in a chair beside him, then he notices oscar sitting on the opposite side looking at him bemused* “oscar?”

Ozpin: “asleep, or the mental version of it I suppose, I was woken up by your outburst, but everyone else had quite the long day so you’ll have to forgive them for this” *gestures at the sleeping heroes* “I must say, you made quite the impression during your fight” *smirks* “you’ve got quite the fan club now”

Jaune: *groans* “who exactly saw me getting my butt kicked?”

Ozpin: *chuckles* “you may swear Mr.Arc Miss Rose is quite out of it at the moment”

Jaune: *eyes ruby warily* “I don’t wanna test it. Not with that swear jar of hers already taking most of my money”

Ozpin: *smiles* “as to your other question, everyone saw that Mr. Arc, as it turns out there was a news crew on the scene, though they knew enough to keep their heads down and out of the fight. They caught quite a lot of the battle on film and were showing it live all across the cities of atlas and mantel” *leans in* “they got an especially good angle on your little speech there at the end”

Jaune: *groans in embarrassment*

Ozpin: “yes, well, I’m now stuck in the head of your biggest fan so I’ve had to listen to that on repeat, as well as deal with oscar and Whitley arguing over who exactly you were protecting so we must all suffer Mr. Arc” *looks at the children around them* “you do not know just what you have done Mr. Arc in all my time never have a seen a man so able to inspire loyalty, you should feel proud of your…” *trails off when he notices that jaune’s asleep* “yes, I suppose it would be a good idea to rest, for now, tomorrow will bring chaos with it” *goes to sleep, idly thinking about the nature of heroism*

#jaune arc

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razieltwelve · 5 years

Text

The Christmas Conspiracy (RWBY AU Snippet)

Weiss looked about furtively and then hurried to unlock the door to her apartment. Ever since she’d stumbled across what could easily be the biggest conspiracy in the history of the world, she’d felt as though she was being followed. It would have been tempting to simply walk away, but she hadn’t become one of the finest investigative reporters in the world for nothing.

The door opened, and she stumbled inside before slamming it shut behind her. The sensation of being watched grew stronger, and she rushed to turn on the light.

She wasn’t alone.

“Hello, Weiss.” A tall figure in a blood-red cloak was sitting at her dining table. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

Of all the gods she could have investigated, of all the gods she could have potentially angered, why had she thought it was a good idea to pick this one?

“I…” Weiss turned back toward the door only to stumble away. A corgi was standing between her and the door. It was an incredibly cute and cuddly corgi, yet it somehow managed to radiate so much menace that she could barely even think. Simply breathing was becoming hard, and she clutched at her throat.

“Zwei,” the figure murmured. “Be nice. I asked Weiss to sit down. She can’t sit down if she suffocates from terror.”

The fear passed, vanishing like smoke on the breeze. For a split-second, the corgi was gone. In its stead was a colossal beast, a hell hound whose head seemed to vanish into the clouds. Black flame roiled over its body, and the spectral shadows of the Abyss shimmered around it. And then the corgi was a corgi again.

Weiss swallowed thickly and sat down at the dining table.

“It has come to my attention,” the cloaked figure said. “That you have come into possession of certain… information.”

Weiss licked her lips. They were incredibly dry. In fact, the air itself seemed parched. “I…” She forced herself to speak. “You don’t scare me.”

“Oh?” The cloaked figure shifted slightly, so Weiss could see her eyes. Silver starlight greeted her. “Would you like it better if I did scare you?”

Raw, unbridled terror struck Weiss like a physical force. Her eyes widened in shock, and every muscle in her body froze. Her mind shut down, and the last thing she felt was her heart bursting from the sort of primordial fear that only one of the Greater Gods could generate.

And then the figure leaned back. The fear vanished.

“Weiss, I’ve chosen to be… polite. Don’t make me regret that decision.”

Weiss nodded slowly.

“So…” The figure gestured and a pack of cookies appeared on the table with a glass of milk. Weiss realised that they’d come out of her pantry and fridge, and she felt a brief surge of indignation before squashing it. Absurd. She had bigger things to worry about than some cookies and milk. “Why don’t you tell me what you think you know, Weiss?”

Weiss wrapped her arms around the charm to Pyrrha that she wore around her neck. She’d worn it since she was a child, and the warmth it radiated had always comforted her. It was ice cold now, yet another reminder that the being in front of her was no mere god. “There is no Santa,” Weiss murmured. “It’s all a sham. You’re Santa.”

“And who am I?”

“You… you’re Death.”

“Yes.” Death chuckled softly. “So you thought to yourself that you would expose a secret that I was keeping. At what point did you think that would be a good idea? I am Death, Weiss. I see everything. I know what everyone is doing.” She smiled thinly. “He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. The words in that song aren’t exaggeration, Weiss. From the moment you worked it out, I’ve known.”

“Are you going to kill me?” Weiss trembled.

Death stared at her again with those starlight eyes. It was like staring into another universe, like seeing every single thing she’d ever done or failed to do laid bare. “I could. It would be easy. It would take less than a thought, and you’d be dead. It could look like an accident. No one would ever know.”

Weiss felt a surge of pride that she hadn’t burst into tears. She’d always wondered how she’d face her end. She was, apparently, meeting it with some small measure of dignity.

“But I’m not going to do that.”

“What?”

“You put all the little clues together, Weiss. You worked out that Death is Santa, but you never stopped to ask the most important question. Why?” Death reached down and lifted her dog onto the table. Zwei glared for a moment before settling as Death scratched his back. “Why do you think I pretend to be Santa, Weiss?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“The gods are part of the world, Weiss. But we prefer to limit our intervention. We gave you free will. It would be hypocritical if we never let you use it.” Death dipped one of her cookies into the glass of milk before taking a bite out of it. “But the thing is… the mortal world is full of both the best and the worst of what mortals can do. There is so much suffering here, so much sorrow, so much pain. It is… unpleasant. As Death, I see more of it than any of the others. But there is goodness in this world as well, just as there is goodness in mortals. Christmas is a time to celebrate that goodness.”

Weiss nodded slowly.

“When you think about it, the idea of a jolly fat man flying around in a sled pulled by magical reindeer is a bit silly.” Death chuckled. “But the idea of bringing joy and good cheer to all the children of the world, to everyone who has done their best to live a good and decent life, well, that’s not silly.”

“But why you?” Weiss asked.

“Because I can. Because I see into people. I know who has been good, and I know who has been bad. I can be anywhere I want to be. I can be everywhere.” Death smiled. “And because it’s nice, at least one night a year, to not be feared. I am Death, Weiss. What I do is not done out of cruelty or malice. Death simply is. It is part of what makes you mortal. It is part of the world itself. Yet with few exceptions, I am only ever greeted by fear and hate. It can get a little… tiring at times.” Death sighed. “The only people who ever visit my temple, Weiss, are the ones who are doing everything in their power to avoid me, or the ones who want me to pay their enemies a visit.”

“So what now?”

“I’m going to give you a choice, Weiss.” Death stood up. “I want you to think about all the good that Christmas does. I want you to think about all the joy, friendship, and warmth it brings to people’s lives. And I want you to think about how much of that would remain if people knew that I was Santa.”

“And?”

“And now I’m going to leave. I’m going to let you choose whether you keep that knowledge to yourself, or whether you tell everyone.”

“Are you serious?” Weiss blurted. “Do you know how big a story this would be? It… I’d win prizes. I’d be the most famous reporter on the planet, I’d…”

Death smiled. “Weiss, I can see into people. You’re a better person than you think.”

And then Death was gone, along with her dog, the cookies, and the milk.

Weiss sat there. It would be easy to pick up the phone. She could have the story on the front page of tomorrow’s paper. It really would be the story of her career. Not merely a story about a god, but one of the most famous gods of all. But then her mind drifted to all of the Christmas displays she’d passed on the way home, all the children eagerly lining up to take photos with Santa at the mall, and all the people doing their best to stay friendly and cheerful because it was the holiday season.

“Damn it…” Weiss muttered. “Well played. Well played.”

X X X

Weiss trudged into her apartment. It was Christmas eve, and she’d only just gotten back from work. She’d kept quiet after all. She hated to admit it, but Death was right. The world really was a better place with Santa in it. She had just shrugged off her coat when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey!”

“AAHHHHHHH!” Weiss stumbled back and would have tripped over her couch if Death hadn’t reached out to grab her. Seeing Death’s hand around her wrist, Weiss screamed again. “AHHHH!” She thrashed. instinctively, she began to say a prayer to Pyrrha. “Noble Pyrrha, protect me from harm -”

“Relax,” Death said. “I’m not here to punish you.”

“Oh.”

“You didn’t say anything,” Death said.

“I…” Weiss sighed. “You were right.”

“Still,” Death sai. “You did give up a lot of fame and fortune to do the right thing. It kind of seems like a shame.”

“Yeah, well, it turns out I’m a decent human being.”

“Would you like a gift?” Death asked.

“Can it be a billion lien?” Weiss asked.

“Heh. No.” Death grinned and scooped Weiss up into her arms. “Hold on.”

And then they vanished.

They reappeared high over the city.

“AHHHHH!”

“Hmmm…” Death chuckled. “You’re screaming a lot more than the last time.”

Weiss found herself clutching onto Death for dear life. “Yes! Because mortals can’t fly, and we’re really high off the ground!”

“Yep. In fact, we’re exactly thirty thousand feet above the ground. You’d probably be enjoying this even less if I wasn’t using my powers to help you out.” Death smiled. “Now… look down.”

“Do I have to?”

“Trust me. Look down.”

Weiss looked down. They were floating high above the city, and the clouds had somehow cleared to give them a perfect view of it. “It’s… beautiful.”

“It’s going to get better.” Death’s lips twitched. “You mortals look at everything around yourselves, but you don’t see. Weiss, it’s time for you to see.”

And Weiss saw.

She saw the lights of ten million souls for the first time. Every single person in the city below them was made of light, and she could see them all. They were countless different colours in countless different shapes. Some were small. Some were large. Some were a blazing, brilliant white. Others were a tranquil blue. And still others were a dazzling gold. The distance didn’t matter. It was like they were right there beside her.

She saw the wind, and the spirits that rode on the breeze.

She saw the stars above them, each of them a hero from ages long past.

She saw the blades of grass, the drops of water, the stones, every single thing, she saw it all, and she saw it not with the eyes of a mortal, but with the eyes of a god who had been there when Creation was young.

She saw it all.

And it was so beautiful.

She’d always thought the world was chaotic. But now she saw. Everything, everything was connected. Everyone was connected. They were all pieces in the puzzle, all notes in the song, all brushstrokes in the masterpiece of the gods’ design.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Death asked quietly.

Weiss was weeping too much to reply.

“But it gets better.”

As the clock ticked over to Christmas Day, a wave of light and radiance swept through the city. It was, Weiss realised, a wave of emotion, the joy and warmth of Christmas made manifest, a sight only the gods could see.

And her.

“It’s not an award, and it’s not money,” Death said. “But I hope it is enough.”

Weiss scrubbed at her cheeks. “I…”

Slowly, the vision faded. Her sight was mortal once again. And they were back in her living room.

“Weiss,” Death said. “The world can be an ugly place. It can be full of horror and suffering and woe. But it can be so beautiful too. It can be full of kindness and joy and love. The gods see both what is worst and what is best in you all.” She tapped a spot over Weiss’s heart. “You saw with the eyes of Death, Weiss. Do you understand now why I was so confident that you would make the right choice?”

Weiss nodded.

“Merry Christmas, Weiss.” Death grinned and then vanished.

Staring around at her empty living room, Weiss found herself laughing. She’d never been more right and more wrong about anything in her whole life. “Merry Christmas, Death.”

X X X

Author’s Notes

A little Christmas challenge. I wanted to write a snippet for Christmas, and I gave myself an hour to get it done. Mission complete! This took me just over 45 minutes in a single sitting, excluding the time I took to proofread it afterward.

More importantly, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Like Death said, the world can be such an awful place, but it can be a truly beautiful place too. I hope, for all of you, that the world is a beautiful place full of kindness, joy, and love. Merry Christmas.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

You can find my original fiction on Amazon here.

#rwby #fanfiction #ruby rose #weiss schnee

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pilot-boi · 4 years

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By Any Other Name: Chapter Six

Daffodils

Sunny disposition and bright petals to hide the strong will and yet fragile nature within.

AO3 LINK

With ten people living in the household, flowers were a constant in the Arc house. A veritable rainbow of color surrounded them, so Jaune’s contributions of Green, Red, and Pink were barely noticed. At least, not by the rest of his family.

Jaune noticed them.

When the legacy of his family grew to be too much, a light green lily would be there to calm his nerves. When he’d come home from school with middling to low grades and his parents wouldn’t say anything, but he could tell they were disappointed, the bright pink petals were there to cheer him up.

And on his darkest days of doubt, when he wondered if he’d ever be able to amount to anything, one of the rare red chrysanthemums would help draw him out and remind him that there were people out there that needed him.

He sometimes wondered whether he irritated his soulmates with the amount of flowers they must get from him. Jaune certainly never got that many from them, and by the time he reached his early teens, he was getting next to no flowers at all. On the rare occasion that he would be graced with the small petals of a lily or one of the mandevillas he would feel like he was walking on air for the next couple of days.

Red hadn’t gotten any serious injuries since he was ten. When Green or Pink got injured he couldn’t help but be reminded of his suspiciously absent soulmate. Jaune hoped that they were okay, but with every passing day it became less likely.

Jaune hit his growth spurt, and his already not too coordinated limbs became even harder to deal with. He was certain that he’d earned his soulmates more than few flowers just from hitting his forehead on door frames that he was used to passing safely over his head. No matter how much taller than her he grew, Saphron insisted on calling him her baby brother.

She’d found her soulmate last week, finally answering where the soft blue lobelias were coming from. Saphron wasted no time moving in with Terra, and Jaune realized that he had to get out of this house.

In the dead of night he made his mother promise to hold his sisters at bay for a couple of hours, promising to do well at Beacon. She agreed reluctantly, and his father couldn’t hide the look of pride that his son had gotten into Beacon Academy. The best of the best.

Jaune could swear he could feel the forged transcripts burning a hole straight through his pants pockets.

He was so distracted on his ride to the shipyard that he nearly crashed his bicycle into a tree. Well, he said nearly. He did crash, but he saved himself from a head on collision by bailing out at the last second. Scrapes all the way up his arms. Thank goodness for the sturdiness of jeans, or that could’ve been much worse.

The airship ride was a nightmare, just like he knew it would be. Stupid motion sickness. His vision was blurring, and he could barely focus enough on not tripping to make it to the trash can just outside the bay doors. The armor on his shoulders sat awkwardly, making him wonder if he was wearing it wrong. Maybe he’d tightened the straps wrong or…?

An explosion, an honest to goodness explosion, shook him out of his melancholic wondering and led him to meeting a girl who seemed much too young to be here. But who was he to talk, he’d lied his way in after all. They bonded over their shared awkwardness, both failing miserably at holding up a normal conversation.

They got to the entrance hall, the girl, Ruby, ran off to join her sister, and the headmaster gave a welcoming speech. It wasn’t that welcoming, to be honest, and Jaune’s heart sank right down to his toes at the “wasted energy” line.

One girl, Weiss freaking Schnee, pointed him out, and he nearly tripped over his feet on his way over to her. She was talking to Ruby, and someone who he assumed was Ruby’s sister but who looked nothing like her. Jaune’s flirting went off without a hitch. Ten out of ten, nailed it, knocked it out of the park.

He was trying not to think about initiation the next day. He was especially trying not to think about how unprepared he was for initiation the next day.

Jaune was so much more woefully unprepared than he ever could’ve guessed.

Some girl with flaming orange hair woke him up way before he would’ve liked, and then she nearly knocked him over in her rush into the dining hall. He couldn’t find which locker he put his armor in. Then he failed so abysmally at interacting with Weiss and that other girl, Pyrrha, that even he couldn’t find a spot in the conversation where he succeeded.

Pyrrha also apparently some kind of champion in a bunch of tournaments that he’d never heard. Not to mention that she was apparently the mascot for Pumpkin Pete’s?! How cool was that!

They all lined up on the edge of a cliff, even though Jaune was pretty sure initiation was supposed to be in the forest several hundred feet below them. How the heck they were supposed to get from up here to down there was-

-wait landing strategies?! Trying to sound less worried than he was, Jaune asked the headmaster what the actual hell he was talking about. He of course didn’t say it like that, but that’s how he should’ve said it. He could barely get a word in edgewise before he was launched into the air.

This was it! This was how he died! Jaune was screaming his lungs out as he tumbled head over heels through the air, passing by his classmates who all seemed to be handling this much better than he was.

There was an explosion in the distance, and just as he passed through the treeline something caught the hood of his hoodie and jerked him backward. Jaune’s back impacted with the trunk of a tree so hard all the air was knocked from his lungs, and after a moment of stunned disbelief where he was convinced he was still falling he looked up.

A red and bronze spear was impaled straight through his hood and had him pinned to the trunk of the tree. “Thank you!!” he yelled out gratefully, his voice scratchy from all the screaming in fear of his life. He recognized the spear from when it’d pinned him to the lockers only about half an hour before. Jaune hoped beyond hope that Pyrrha had pinned him here on purpose and was going to come get him down.

Because although he wasn’t falling anymore, he was still trapped about twenty feet off the ground.

“I’m sorry!” he heard Pyrrha call from the distance. What the heck was she sorry for? She’d saved him from an impact with the ground at about a million miles per hour, and the inevitable death that would’ve followed that.

He tried to tug the spear from the tree and waved lamely at Weiss Schnee when she wandered into his clearing. Then she turned around and walked away, and he was just beginning lamenting his predicament when Pyrrha arrived.

They made eye contact, and hey! Guess that made them partners. She got him down, pulling her spear back to her with some kind of wizardy powers, and they began to trek through the forest. Occasionally Jaune would hear explosions in the distance, and the increasingly apparent knowledge of how outmatched he was by all his classmates was not helping his nerves.

More explosions echoed through the trees and Jaune jumped. “Did you hear that?” he asked his partner, eyes wide and scanning the forest for any movement. Or really anything, he didn’t know what he was looking for.

Pyrrha pushed a bush out of their way and held it there while they walked past. “Gunfire,” she responded, barely glancing over her shoulder, “It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy.”

Comrades? The enemy? What kind of language was that? It was like she’d never spoken to another human being before. He was still keeping his gaze on the forest in the direction of the noise. Pyrrha held her shield up and bent a low hanging branch out of the way.

Unfortunately Jaune only realized this in time to turn back around and have it clothesline him in the face hard enough to knock him straight to the ground.

Hearing his cry of distress, Pyrrha turned. “Jaune!” she said when she saw him on the ground. Her emerald eyes narrowed slightly at how he was clutching his head, but then widened again when they traced a path up to the offending branch. “I’m sorry,” Pyrrha apologized reflexively as she crossed the clearing over to him.

“Heh, it’s okay,” he reassured her as he clambered to his feet and lowered his arms back to his sides. She was examining the cut on his face, and yeah it stung but not too badly. “It’s just...just a scratch?” His eyes narrowed. What the heck was going on with her face?

“What’s wrong?” she asked, glancing behind her. “Did you see something?” In turning, she saw them. The daffodils. Small soft yellow petals waving in the slight breeze. Yellow had gotten hurt again.

“No I didn’t see anything over there,” Jaune said, craning his head around to look at the flowers growing in a short thin line just under her right eye. “You got some...ya know.”

“Hm? Oh yes, Yellow,” she responded absently, turning back to face him and plucking the flowers from her cheek. “They’re always getting themselves hurt. Just a few days ago they must’ve gotten scrapes-”

“-Scrapes all up and down their arms?” he completed as he arrived at a conclusion with dawning awe and a touch of horror. Was Pyrrha…?

“I… yes. How could you possibly…?” She’d realized it too. He could see it in the way one of her hands came back up to lightly touch the few flowers on her cheek, and in the way her bright green eyes fell on the shallow stinging cut on his cheek.

A cut in exactly the same place as the daffodils were growing.

#rwby #jaune arc #pyrrha nikos #saphron cotta arc #nora valkyrie #weiss schnee #mine #my writing #by any other name #chapter 6 #writing wednesday

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hasbrobear · 5 years

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This is what I think rwby season 7 or 8 finally will go down. My opinion and what I think. And nothing about shipping in this. For once heh.

So in the last episodes after all the filler or nice emotional or awesome stuff comes by like dealing with Weiss’s father or Ozpin still technically being alive explained to James.

James:What do you mean Ozpin in a kid?!

James:So your the kid Ozpin residing in.

Or hell maybe as their arguing, Salem and her massive army of Grimm, flying beringals come to Atlas and I’m hoping she’s has another leviathan to use as like a ride, come over to get the relic.

Salem:(riding on Leviathan) Yes go and get what belongs to me!

The teams split up with JNR and Oscar staying up and evacuating the people on the flying kingdom, either via bullhead or Air travel. And the entire atlas military support Team RWBY And JNR in evacuating Both faunas and humans from the top and bottom layer to safety.

(Though with some resistance from Jaqcues who says the faunas should be left to distract the Grimm while the humans get out. And earn a well deserved punch from ironwood himself.)

Rwby go down and are immediately attacked by the beringal Grimm. A bunch of atlas ships crash the Knights and paladins and Troops. With the soldiers knowing they’re fighting a loosing battle, only motivated with the fact that they’ll be sacrificed to save both human and faunas innocents from the carnage they trained to deal with.

Team RWBY will try to fight Salem head on. But it will be a sweep her her since she’s the Grimm queen.

Weiss:Agh! She’s so strong!

Yang:We can’t... Ahh.. beat her!

Blake:This is impossible.

Ruby:Gnnn come on guys.. we can do this!

Then Jaune notices that Oscar isn’t there and so does Nora and Ren But Ren tells them that he can take care of himself and top priority is to keep any Grimm form attacking civilians. (And as an addition here will be a part where Jaqcues gets attacked by a beringal but then Jaune reluctantly kills it since Jaqcues is still Weiss’s father and he’s not pity enough to let him get killed because he doesn’t like him. Team RWBY and JNR are the good guys.)

As for Qrow, there’s two things that might happen, either he gets cut out due to his voice actor being fired(which I will not talk about) he gets killed or is the first one to die/ or the one I’m hoping for, he and Winter team up against Watts/Tyrian/ or Hazel to protect the relic.

Ironwood would probably be in the largest ship there, or maybe Atlas’s military base of operations coordinating the attack.

Maria Calavera would probably be the one to take Oscar down to the battle and then say goodbye as she flies off to try and evacuate anyone else under Atlas.

Maria:Good luck kid.

Oscar:Thanks... (eyes change)

Ozpin:I will need it. (Gets off)

So back to Salem, as it turns out as she was going to kill one of the girls, Oscar comes out and stalls her for time. She recognized Ozpin in Oscar and ignores him and starts monologuing about how she won and he’s lost. And how she is going to finish off he last of the silver eyes warriors(Ruby not Maria) and she explains how she knew that Summer was killed, bringing an emotional state to Ruby who yells out and uses her powers on Salem now with the added focus to Salem mostly.

Ruby:Mom... no... NOOOO! (Eyes shine)

In a large flash(bigger than Pyrrha and at Argus) all the Grimm underneath Atlas are destroyed instantly, except for Salem and the Leviathan. Who are both statues. Ozpin would reminisce and say sorry to her while she was frozen.

Then in a horrifying realization Salem’s statue slowly cracks and they all would panic before they get into Maria’s bullhead and fly off. But while Ruby looked at Salem she got an idea.

Ruby:(looks up at atlas)Thats it!

She remembers how Atlas was floating because of the dust inside that is activated by machines. So she calls Jaune and tells him to tell Ironwood to shut down the machines so atlas can fall. He hesitated but does so as the city was nearly fully evacuated. Ironwood reluctantly agrees to do this seeing as he can eliminate humanities biggest threat and does so. But in a twist Cinder and Neo show up and attack them.

Cinder:(walks in with Neo) Hello again~

As Atlas is slowly loosing dust power JNR and Ironwood fight with Cinder and Neo. As this happens Neo gets knocked out and Ironwood manages to keep Cinder at bay as the others get to a ship with a pilot. Seeing that they didn’t have a quarrel with Neo, JNR tie’s her up and throws her into the storage in the ship while keeping her weapons. As Ironwood ‘takes care’ of Cinder he was actually wrong and then cinder shoots an arrow into the piloted head killing him thinking she’s taking them all down with her.

Cinder:If I’m dying then I’ll take you with me!

Then Jaune moves forwards and decides to deal with Cinder once and for all with Nora and Ren at his side. They then go fight her while Ironwood mends his wounds and turns the ship on. He then flies away as the team stayed to fight Cinder. As they were going to finish her off she stops them and says something about Pyrrha before Ironwood comes back and hits her with the bullhead. She’s knocked away and then Nora and Ren get into the bullhead and as Jaune was going to do so he gets shot in the back by Cinder’s arrow.

Cinder loses her mind and is crazy on killing any of her enemies after all the stalling and fighting. (Like How Freiza did in DBZ) and she goes to kill Jaune but he manages to stall a bit more and jumps up to grab the bullhead. His hands slip and he’s going to fall back down but both Nora and Ren grab his arms and pulls him up as Cinder throws fireballs at the ship but misses due to her rage.

Cinder:THATS IT! IM KILLING ALL OF YOU! YOU HEAR ME?! HAHAHAH!v

By the time they’re all flying away from Atlas Qrow(If he isn’t dead) and Winter m get word of what was happening and they then fly off, (with winter on a nevermore.) leaving Salem’s henchmen there.

And as for Emerald and Mercury, they’re just being taken by Hazel to a redemption or something. Or maybe they could assist in fighting 2 skilled Huntsmen and escape via bullhead.

If it was watts he’d do the same, (if it was Tyrian he might crawl on the manor and grab onto Winters nevermore and pull her down. Qrow helps her and then takes a stink to the side for her. He says “not again” before winter quickly distracts Tyrian and summons another nevermore and fly them off.)

Anyways after a couple moments the entire kingdom loses power and starts to fall. Albiet slowly at first. And Cinder tried to get into a bullhead and fly out(remember she can still do that) and just as she’s going to get out a random Flying beringal(something she’s never seen) comes out and attacks her seeing as she’s a maiden and half human. She manages to kill it but it destroys the control panel and she noticed how everything around her is floating up and the wind is leaving. She sees fire around the borders of the flying kingdom.

Cinder:What?! Oh... oh..... shit....

Salem under them breaks free if the stone prison and yells out in rage and looks around to try and find the group and Ozpin.

Salem:Where are they?! Where the hell are they?!

She then hears a loud noise and then she slowly looks up only to see the ENTIRE kingdom of atlas falling towards her. She’s terrified and intimidated by this as she stood there and saw it get closer as she and everything around her was shadowed. Cinder on the island sighed and closed her eye as Salem closed her eyes as well, the then utter their final words.

Cinder & Salem:Son of a bitch.

Then BAM! the biggest explosion in rwby history from all the dust in the mines, and Isolde the kingdom that held it up exploded. Creating something similar to a nuke mushroom cloud and RWBY and co watch in awe as the shockwave hits them and makes every ship stumble a little. They see he bright lights begin to die down and let out breaths.

Yang:Well.... that was a thing.

Of course she’d say that. And also, Cinder would definitely be dead from that, and the maiden powers go to someone else, who knows who it will be maybe, Neo? Maybe Nora since she was the last female she saw, maybe Emerald if it was the last she thought off but the main point is she’s dead.

Neo would either be taken into custody(only to get out later lol) and JNR and RWBY would reunite with Oscar trying to get over the fact that they just experienced the battle of a life time.

Nora:Wait... does this mean Weiss is poor now?

Weiss:... I don’t care.

She’d say since she has her friends. (Now after that if Tyrian was there Qrow could die from the sting this time and die off. Or he could stay or something else after being cured.)

And after the credits of it all it fades to black and then in the large amount of rubble that was once Atlas. A pale hand broke out of the rock and steel. Mangled and broke with the fingers bending the wrong way another arm in the same state comes out and they start to glow and heal themselves. And after a couple moments of resurfacing Salem comes out of the rubble, with her robe and clothes in tatters and her body bruised and slowly healing form the immortality she’d vow to pay back RWBY and her friends for dropping a kingdom on her.

Salem:I’ll.... get them for this... and their little friends too...

(And Maybe for destroying the relic idk)

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calliecat93 · 6 years

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RWBY V6 CH8 Review: Dead End

Last week, Kerry revealed that the finale would take place on January 26th, which since this week was a holiday, totals to a 13 episode season. It's one episode short from last year, but hey 13 is a standard number for an anime season, so fair enough. Also sorry that this took so long, I had... stuff happen with the blog the past few days. But it's fixed now, I posted Chapter 7 yesterday, and now it's time to cover Chapter 8! Lets get to it!

Overview

Team RWBY, Qrow, and Maria at at Argus' military base, but are denied access by the... bizarre twin guards. I think that they may be based on The Cards form Alice in Wonderland, and it'll be more clear why in a bit. The heroes are forced to play the Weiss Schnee card, and it gets the guards to agree to fetch their commanding officer. But to the ire of all the Winter fans out there... it's not her. Maria thinks that she knows who it is though, and they happen to be enemies because said CO put Maria on the advanced screening list for life for taking cashews on a flight. Sheesh. But hey, maybe Maria's right and she's dead! Funniest moment of the episode BTW.

The CO of the Argus base is an egotistical elderly woman known as Caroline Cordovan. She displays much of the attitude that we expect from Atlas characters. Egotistical, boastful, authoritarian, and sees Atlas as the greatest kingdom of all. She had already refused to help JNR, who are also there, and it's pretty clear that she's not going to help the group still. They try to reason with her by explaining that they know that Atlas isn't at fault for Beacon, but it only makes it worst. Cordovan DOES offer to take Weiss home if she's come to her senses... but isn't going to do the same for her friends of 'questionable nature' while looking at Blake. Wow, she's a racist. Lovely. When Weiss questions this, Cordovan slams the gates int heir faces. I agree with Maria's previous sentiment, she's a she-devil. I'm pretty sure that she's supposed to be the Queen of Hearts considering her personality, which would explain the guards being the Cards.

With the plan reaching... well, a dead end, Qrow calls it quits and goes to drink. So he obviously learned nothing form Brunswick! JNR just suggests coming up with a plan without him, pointing out that they still have Ozpin. Que an awkward beat and we cut to later... where Jaune punches a hole in his sister's wall. I hope she has home insurance. So yeah... JNR doesn't take the truth well. Even Nora is pissed off. I'm... mixed about this. It's very understandable for them to be angry and upset, especially considering they lost Pyrrha due to this. But it does bring up a minor critique I have. The response to Salem being un-killable and Ozpin not having a true plan have all ha done reaction: anger and giving up. Some took ti worst than others, but it's still the same. The only one who hasn't is Ruby, which helps but it makes the fact that no one is wondering 'well maybe we can win without killing Salem' or 'maybe we can ask Jinn if there's a way to defeat Salem and not destroy her' hasn't been brought up once. It gets annoying when, even though you understand why everyone is reacting the way that they are, no one has had any logical thought since and continue to spew in their negativity, like Qrow is. All I'm saying is let the reactions be a bit more diverse, if only to keep this from getting either predictable or just irritating.

Oscar tries to calm everyone down, pointing out that they aren't the bad guys in this. Jaune questions this however before storming over to Oscar, wanting to know if he had known about this the whole time. Even when Weiss tries to say he didn't, Jaune grabs the farmboy and slams him into the wall, questioning where his loyalties stand and even if it's even Oscar that they're talking to. Throughout, Oscar is clearly terrified and it only ends when Ruby calls out Jaune. To the paladin's credit, this get shim to realize what he's doing and is clearly horrified. He backs away before going upstairs, Nora and Ren soon following and wanting to be left alone. The RWBY girls also scatter, leaving a clearly distraught Oscar. Great for none of you to check if he's okay or not. Doing a bang up job ladies.

As the others go to get food, Ruby goes outside to an absolutely beautiful butterfly garden. She's trying to call Qrow to find out where he is, but she gets nothing and throws her Scroll in frustration. It's clear that all of this is beginning to get to Ruby, something that Maria, who had gone back there to avoid the yelling, sees as well. Ruby explains how with everything happening, she's at a loss of what to do. Maria can't help with that, or at least she can't without it defeating the purpose, but she does offer to help Ruby feel better if she's sick of not knowing about things. Yes my friends, we are FINALLY going to talk about the Silver Eyes! I have waited for this for so long!!!

When Ruby explains what she does know, aka more or less nothing Maria explains that there isn't much known about the bloodline. She was lucky as she was trained by her father, who we can assume was also a Silver Eyed Warrior. He taught Maria all that she knew and it led her to scoring higher on the Huntress Exam than any other applicant without having to even attend one of the academies. But if the Silver Eyes are so powerful, why are they so rare? Simple, they were hunted down and killed by Salem. This is why Maria took on a masked persona and hid things such as her name, to hide her powers and not be a target. Of course, we all know how that ended, and Maria credits her survival to both her training and her Semblance. The latter is revealed to be what she dubs Preflexes, which is more or less Spider Man's Spidey Sense. She can sense things before they happen and can be one move ahead of her opponent due to it. Awesome!

Ruby is all set to learn to vaporize monsters with her eyeballs... which earns her a bonk on the head. I guess Maria attended the Rafiki School of Mentorship. The Silver Eyes aren't fueled by the desire to destroy Grimm, it is powered by the desire to protect people. On every case where Ruby used the powers thus far (Pyrrha's death, Jaune facing Cinder, The Apathy), she did so because she was trying to save someone and it allowed her to freeze the Wythern and vaporize the Apathy. Maria goes on to explain that where the Grimm were created by the God of Darkness, the light of the Silver Eyes comes form his brother, the God of Creation. How does Maria know this? Well remember in Jinn's vision when the God turned into the dragon for the first time? We saw a burst of light that vaporized the Grimm. I thought that was just the effects of the transformation.. wow I feel stupid! That is an awesome detail!

Now since the light only effects Grimm, any training that Ruby can get is going to be a trial by fire. But Maria does suggest that the young huntress can work to create a mindset that she can turn to in order to unleash the power when she needs to. But Ruby is confused by something. The light on works on Grimm, right? Well if you recall, Ruby was able to use it on Cinder back in Haven... IDK how she remembers this since Emerald knocked her out immediately, but still. Now we all know why that is, but Ruby doesn't. Which has Maria suggest that maybe there's something that the huntress isn't seeing. But anymore talk comes to an end as Ruby and JNR are informed that Oscar has gone missing. Well... shit.

Review

Of the episodes so far, it's safe to say that this may be the weakest. But only in terms of it being an exposition/build-up episode instead of an action episode or something along those lines. I can't call it bad though as a lot of good came out of this episode. The first half was pretty dang funny. Caroline is terrible, but her boastful personality makes her entertaining to watch at the very least. Maria was comedy gold here with her rant about the cashews and the 'Maybe she's dead!” line. Again, funniest moment in the episode. It's nice that we got to have a couple of laughs before the heavy stuff came back in because... haha, IDT we're going to be having many more light-heated moments in these last five episodes. Call it a hunch.

As I said, while I would like for the group to have some cold hard logic hit them already, Team JNR's reactions are completely understandable. Jaune especially. Really, he's got the most reason out of everyone aside form maybe Qrow to be angry. Remember, Pyrrha got killed because of this and even she wasn't aware of all the details when the whole Fall Maiden thing happened. We can argue about the circumstances all that we want, Pyrrha still died trying to do what was right, and ever since everything that Jaune has done has been to not let her death be in vain. So finding out that all of that was for nothing? I can't blame him for being angry or how he reacted. Am I defending him? Hell no. Oscar did NOTHING wrong. The way that Jaune manhandled him was horrifying and seeing this young kid clearly terrified was just wrong. But it still makes sense hwy Jaune reacted that way all things considered, and to his credit he DID realize what he was doing and stopped. And we find out that Oscar is gone, it is very clear that Jaune feels remorseful for taking his anger out on Oscar and of what could happen to him now. Out of everyone so far aside from Oscar, I sympathize with Jaune the most.

Who I have lost my sympathy for however is Qrow. He is just...a mess. Brunswick was bad enough, but now? Look, I know how hard it is to let go of addiction, especially considering how bad of a mental state that Qrow is in. But after how his drinking caused him to be so out of it that he failed to realize that the kids that he's responsible for to get killed, it's becoming more and more difficult to feel bad for him. He SAW what his carelessness could have led to, and even now he hasn't learned. Because of it, Ruby has to be the adult trying to keep everyone going despite all the circumstances, and she has to try and find him on top of everything else. It's at the point where this can't go unaddressed anymore. Ruby or someone needs to give Qrow an intervention and outright tell him to stop. I imagine that it'll get ugly, but if something isn't done soon, then most likely Qrow is going to get either himself or someone else killed. It's time for him to stop the self-loathing.

Okay, lets try to talk about something more positive, like the Silver Eyes! First, I need to say this again. Maria has been a delight as a character and has just fit right in with the cast. Funny, sassy, practical, she's been a great addition and is the kind of character that Ruby needs to mentor her. I loved hearing some details about her past, like her relationship with her father and how she became a Huntress. It's exposition, sure, but it's used to show Maria's experience and wisdom. We learn more about a character that so far the fandom really loves, and it serves a purpose. We also see her intelligence as she pieced together about the source of the Silver Eyes powers just form Jinn's vision. She is very much what Ruby needs. She's an optimistic character, but also firm and wise. She can push Ruby in the right direction without being too harsh or too nice. Hopefully she sticks around after this season because she's such a welcome addition.

As for Ruby, she continues to be a bright spot in the season. She's trying so hard, but the weight is really beginning to get to her. She had to stop Jaune from physically hurting someone, is being ignored by Qrow and his unreliableness is clearly upsetting her, and she feels like she's letting everyone down due to how hopeless everything seems. She is meant to be an inspiring, hopeful figure and she is trying her damnest to be this way. After the initial plan went up in smoke, her first response is to comfort Weiss and again assure her that they won't leave her side. She's stepped up as a leader, but she's till a 16, maybe 17 if Lindsay can be believed, year old girl in a very difficult situation and with Qrow intoxicated and Oz gone, she has to be the adult. She has to look after everyone and keep them on track. She has to try and encourage them and not give up, and so far that doesn't seem to be working. This girl has so much pressure on her because everyone else has given up, and it's starting to weigh on her. Will this be the season where she breaks down? It's hard to say, but I do think that before the volume is over, we're going to see some kind of reaction out of her.

On the upside however, after so long, Ruby is finally learning about the Silver Eyes. She's asking questions. She's excited to learn to use this power. She actively WANTS to learn about it. This is what I have been hoping for ever since the end of V3. This is the moment where we are seeing Ruby beginning to go from a rookie fresh out of Beacon long before she was ready, to taking the steps to becoming the Huntress that she has always wanted to be. In light of everything and even with her doubts, Ruby has stepped up as a leader, has yet to give up despite how hopeless it looks, and is still determined to do what's right. Now she has a mentor to teach her to use her gift, something unique to her, and hopefully that can help ignite the will to continue on. Ruby's goal has always been to be a Huntress to help people, and overtime that has gone form naive ambition to seeing how dark the world can be, and wanting to do whatever is possible to do good because it's the right thing to do. Ozpin was right about what he said in V5, she truly is an inspiring figure, and this is why. Even in face of the hopelessness and everyone around her giving up, she hasn't. Will she? It's hard to say, but there is no doubt that no matter what tries to keep Ruby down, she'll face it and she will somehow pull everyone up with her. This volume, more than any other, has made that clear and I love it.

What helps that entire scene, of course, is both the setting and the music. The garden is absolutely beautiful, having a very calming atmosphere, which after the blowup was very much needed. The butterflies also added to the beauty and calmness. Apparently blue butterflies can symbolize change, and butterflies in general can symbolize life. You see it in anime all the time. It's perfect symbolism here as Ruby seeks to change herself and become a Silver Eyed Warrior, so it's a very welcome touch. And the music... gosh the music is so beautiful and serene. Jeff and Alex once more killed it, especially with the new renditions of Red Like Roses and This Will be the Day. Very nostalgic and it added to this being about Ruby taking that next step forward. Very well done!

Then of course we have the ending. Oscar is missing. For the moment, we will assume that he has left of his own volition due to the manhandling and the questioning of his identity, which was already a problem for him. And... is anyone surprised? I mean Jaune shoving him alone would be enough reason to leave. But the way everyone keeps seeing him as Ozpin, directing the anger at him even if unintentionally, and how no one seemed to care about how he's felt about all of this. Only Ruby ever did, and Qrow made sure to kill that. Of course he would leave. No one trusts him and now even he's questioning who he is and what to do now that it looks like they will inevitably lose. Hopefully he will be found safe and sound and will come back. And hopefully everyone will apologize, or Jaune will at the very least. For now, all that we can do is worry about his safety until Saturday roles around.

Final Thoughts

This may not have been the heaviest chapter, but it was still enjoyable. The first half was entertaining and did a good job of setting up the next obstacle for our heroes. The second half was very much emotional and Jaune's reaction was pretty much what we were expected. The exposition was welcomed and added to the scene instead of dragging it down. And of course we're left on a cliffhanger that is mean, but not 'Weiss just got stabbed' levels of mean. Overall, while it may be the weakest episode of the volume so far, I still give it two thumbs up! Great work!

#rwby #rwby6 #rwby reviews #callie reviews

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ruffsficstuffplace · 6 years

Text

The Viridian Vanguard (Part 32)

Elsewhere in the Grove during the duels, Weiss was in her nest, Penny snuggled up to her chest, Cheese and Winter’s summons around her for company, menial tasks, and/or food as she watched holos through Penny’s projector. (The quality was far superior than her comm-crystal’s.)

“I feel it… the purity of their love…!” screamed the monster of the week. “This is it… the power, of YURI!”

A wave of purple-black miasma shot out of the monster, washing over the convention floor, reality itself beginning to warp and change as bright, prismatic energy was sucked out of them.

Hina gasped. “Akane, Aoi, look! All the couples, the anime and manga, even the doujins and the fan art—they’re all losing their gayness!”

“You monster!” Aoi screamed. “Do you know how long that slow-burn was between Diya and Nene?! This is an affront to all of Girls Love!”

“You’re going down, Yarama!” Akane screamed as she whipped out her spear, Hina and Aoi doing the same with their weapons.

“Piper, this show is so fucking stupid...” Weiss muttered.

“Would you like to change to something else?” Penny asked through an annotation on the holo.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t enjoying it!” Weiss said.

A fight sequence began, the tables and displays being torn up and destroyed from the empowered monster, the heroes trying their best to spare the panicked, confused convention goers, and the merchandise, too, if they could help it.

“Face it, Spiral Hearts!” the Yarama cried. “The power of women loving women is just too strong!”

“That is true…” Hina replied “… but it’s not as strong as the true fans of yuri, those who make and support new content for fans everywhere, not filthy parasites like you! Akane! Aoi!”

“On it!” they both cried, before they all joined their weapons into one giant cannon. “For the love of all that makes our lives worth living… SPIRAL PIERCER…!”

The projection suddenly stopped, Penny’s eyes flashing green.

“What happened?” Weiss asked amid the disappointed growls and groans of the summons.

“It seems there was a serious accident during Jaune and Pyrrha’s training!” Penny replied, untangling herself from Weiss’ arm, then hovering towards the window. “I’m afraid my medical expertise is needed on-site, apologies, Weiss.”

“Don’t you just have first-aid equipment right now?” Weiss asked as she sat up.

“Yes, but I still have my treatment database, patient history, and high-precision scanners,” Penny replied. “I’ll inform you of any new developments as soon as I can!”

Weiss sighed, frowning as she watched Penny fly out the window and out of sight. One of Winter’s summons gently prodded her on the side, and gestured to her comm-crystal charging on a dock in the corner; she turned to them and shook her head. “You’ll have to find out what happens next later, I’ve got a hunch I need to investigate,” she said as she stood up. “Help me get dressed, everyone!”

The summon sighed, before everyone available either fetched Weiss’ garments from the closet, or helped her put it on. “Cheese, you’re coming with me,” Weiss said as she scooped what remained of him from his plate, now just a small blob no bigger than her hand.

“I’m heading out to the training grounds!” Weiss said as she passed by Winter in the living room.

“Don’t try to squeeze in more exercise when you’re supposed to be recovering, I really did mean that was the only time I’d carry you back!” Winter replied, not looking up from the Nivian-Actaeon book she was reading.

“I won’t, sheesh! It’s been what, four years since that happened?” Weiss said as she opened the door.

“I know you, Weiss, it takes a long while for you to give up on something you’ve put your mind to,” Winter replied as she turned the page.

Weiss shook her head as she shut the door behind her, called for the elevator before taking a bite out of Cheese.

He was down to just his soulstone by the time she arrived, by which point Jaune was securely strapped to a spine board and being carried away by Taiyang and Nora, Ren and Penny following them with medical supplies.

Futher away, Yang was on a bench, comforting the rather glum looking Pyrrha sitting beside her. After a few moment’s consideration, Weiss stepped over and asked, “May I ask what the hell happened to Jaune this time?”

“We were dueling, and I accidentally threw him far harder and further than I intended,” Pyrrha replied. “His landing was… ugly.”

“Should I…?” Weiss asked uneasily.

“In short: he looked a human pretzel,” Yang said. “Just so you know, the un-pretzeling process wasn’t pretty, either.”

“Uh... huh...” Weiss mumbled. “Do you need me to stay, or should I just leave…?” she asked, thumbing behind her.

“If your brain is functioning enough again for Pit Fighter business, sure!” Yang said.

“I’ve made quite a lot of progress on the weapon choice front, it’d be a shame to waste this time,” Pyrrha added.

Weiss nodded, and sat down with them. “So how’s it going, exactly?”

“If we’re being thorough about it, I’m halfway through the process,” Pyrrha replied. “I still haven’t explored any of the Fae firearms that weren’t almost-complete replicas of AFA armaments, but now I know for sure that I have a solid idea of what I’m looking for in melee weapons.”

“And what would that be?” Weiss asked.

“Something versatile with reach, coupled with a shield and elemental mediums for an all-rounded offense or defense,” Pyrrha replied. “Weiss’ temporarily limited powers aside, both of you are highly specialized fighters, and I’d rather not lose a good chunk of our effectiveness, or expose glaring weaknesses in our defenses should one of you be downed, or otherwise indisposed. Whether it’s defending against attacks from any range, leading a charge into our enemies, or wreaking some elemental havoc, I’ll be ready for it.

“That being said, I haven’t seen what Fae ranged weapons can bring to the table, and if the melee weapons were any indication, they should be quite the learning experience.”

“You should probably join us at the firing range later, Weiss!” Yang said. “Get a feel for how the Fae deal death from a distance.”

“I’d rather not,” Weiss replied. “After all that training at the Terrace, my arms will definitely become too sore to even hold a gun as soon as I’m hit the recoil.”

“I meant in a mental, tactical sense, see what you might go up against in person!” Yang replied. “You’ve barely seen anyone really use a ranged weapon outside of all-out war where tracking who fired what was the least of your worries. Plus, the special ammo will give you a great idea of what happens when you mix elements up—nothing wrong with your using pure, but you miss out on useful things like Melty Wash that way.”

“’Melty Wash…?’” Weiss asked.

“Melty Wash,” Yang repeated, nodding. “It sounds just as stupid in Actaeon, don’t worry.” She winced as her stomach growled. “Ugh, all this drama made me forget how hungry I am—come on, let’s go get some grub and a nap, then on to lighting shit up!” she said, getting up.

Weiss shrugged. “Alright, fine, I’ll go!” she said as she hopped up. “I figured I needed to get out of bed and do something productive today, anyway...”

Jaune was left in the cabin he bunked in, Taiyang and Penny stayed behind to take care of him and keep him company. Everyone else had lunch and rested a while, before discussing Pyrrha’s firearms training.

As elementally-infused ammo, alchemical grenades, chemical weapons and the like needed to be specially ordered by and used under the supervision of a senior watcher or other qualified individual, and Qrow was far too drunk at the moment, they started out with the standard Fae firearms.

In contrast to the practical, sleek, and streamlined AFA guns Pyrrha was used to, the Fae practically made it a point to have their guns as flashy and embellished as possible. Every one of them seemed to have as many engravings, stylized components, and decorations as they could possibly add without compromising function too much, like an iron sight made out of some long-dead predator’s skull, the gun barrel coming out of its jaws

Metal and wood were the materials of choice for most of them, all manner of colours, grains, and sheen from the varieties, mixtures, and treatments, with the rest of the parts made from bone, rock, crystal, plant fibers, and whatever else the Fae could get their hands or hand-equivalents on. There was barely any built-in magitech to be seen, no small-form targeting systems, recoil adjusters, or ammo management systems, just physical springs, levers, hammers, revolvers, and whatever else.

And almost all of them were powerful, even the quietest guns having massive impact.

Thip. Crack. Thip. Crack. Thip. Crack.

Pyrrha fired her “Fang Gun” into a log target, each bone projectile lodging an inch or two deep into the wood, splinters flying out from the holes, the cracks clearly audible to Weiss even as she watched from well away to the side.

She stopped after six shots, putting her rifle down and massaging her arms. “Not the kind of gun you fire just for fun, is this?” she asked Ren.

“Not unless your idea of ‘fun’ is accuracy competitions, or clean hunting kills,” Ren replied calmly. “Shall we focus on lower-caliber weapons that are easier to fire for sustained periods, such as repeaters? Most every Fae firearm hits the user almost as hard as they do the target.”

“No,” Pyrrha replied, picking the gun back up, and aiming for a farther target. “I suppose I’ll just have to learn to make every single shot a hit from here on out!”

Ren nodded. “One well-placed bullet’s all you really need, most of the time.”

“And the rest?” Pyrrha asked.

Ren smiled. “Two bullets.”

After Pyrrha started getting used to the intense recoil, and firing far less frequently than she would have with human guns, they started planning which weapons she was to try out, how she was going to test them out, and who would be involved.

Everyone except Weiss donned a set of armour; a small arena was built by a copse of smaller trees with the help of deployable cover, ballistic shields, and the foliage; and several dozen crates of ammo were carted out of storage, their contents transferred to smaller boxes set around the area, or to loaded into all manner of belts, bags, and quivers just waiting to be strapped on.

Before Pyrrha’s first live-fire exercise, however, Ren wanted to demonstrate how Fae opponents would be using firearms themselves, exchanging his usual sickles for two “Shredders,” Fae-style SMGs.

“The first thing you need know is, except for heavy weapons like Hailstorm cannons or extreme long-distance weapons like Shardslingers and Farslingers, Fae tend to prefer shooting on the move, and most can shoot quite accurately and survive getting shot at also,” Ren said as he loaded one of his guns with a clip.

He dashed towards some training dummies, shredding their canvas coverings with short, accurate burts. He maneuvered around their cover and shot them from behind, slid on the ground to slip through tiny gaps and holes in defenses, even leaped off a ledge and fired the last of his clip in mid-air.

“Predicting your enemies movements and firing where they will be in a second is a helpful skill in lower ranks, and absolutely vital as you move up,” he said as landed, pulled out his second shredder and loaded them both.

“The second is that, thanks to our biology and engineering advancements, dual-wielding guns isn’t as stupid and dangerous idea to us Fae as it is to you humans,” Ren said as he adjusted the stocks, shortening them and fitting them over his forearms. “In fact, it’s actually quite popular inside the Pits, both as a stylistic choice and a significant combat advantage.”

He calmly crossed a bridge lined with target dummies, both guns blazing and ripping apart targets on both sides, casually bending his arms further and more dramatically than any human could to shoot behind his back, over his shoulders, and even under his leg.

“And the third and arguably the most important is: we Fae are far, far more mobile and agile than any of you are right now, or will be in the immediate future, so do consider any way your enemies can outmaneuver and flank you,” Ren said as he holstered one gun, replaced the empty clip with a drum magazine.

He moved towards one of the “bases” in the arena, a tight cluster of trees with platforms rising up two stories above him, a small sniper’s nest on the third. Several dummies stood behind cover, well-protected from any shots angled upwards, free to pump Ren full of bullets if they were actually armed and alive.

Then Ren started jumping from branch to branch, running up and along the trunk and the walls, swinging from the ropes or running on top of the ziplines, raining metal hell down on all of them from above and behind.

Ren zipped down from the base, gracefully landing back down to the ground. He unloaded the empty drum, turned over to Pyrrha and Weiss said, “Generally speaking, never forget to look up. Now, any questions or concerns?”

“None,” Pyrrha said, smiling as she put on her helmet. “Let’s get shooting.”

“Oh yeah!” Nora cried as she shot out of her seat. “We about to get all John Woo up in here!”

Note: Aside from the tendency for special ammo and the like to deteriorate over time, to the point of being unusable or dangerous to use, it’s also expensive to produce, and capable of causing severe injuries to folks and damage to property that oftentimes require urgent, specialized treatment, thus the many hurdles to legally acquiring and using them. Due to the nature of the Keeper and her team, restrictions are a bit looser and relatively easier, but not by much.

The shardslinger is the non-elemental version of the farslinger. Though they use many similar designs, the key difference is in the loading mechanism and the insides of the barrels, with the latter being specially treated and much, much, MUCH more expensive, to be able to handle the severe wear of high-power elemental mediums. It’s not unknown for substandard barrels to simply explode or melt during stress testing.

This chapter was coded “Shooty Shooty Bang Bang.” The next chapter is coded “John Woo-ing It Up In Here.”

#white rose #rwby #fanfic #the viridian vanguard

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randomaccount2 · 7 years

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EVERYTHING WRONG WITH: RWBY VOLUME 5 CHAPTER 11

> Just what is that statue even? Is there any reason as to why it's there? Any history behind it? > "You seem to be more than last time." That's a little obvious don't you think Leo? > "Why do you have your weapons with you?" At that moment everyone should be running for their lives. It's that obvious! > Who shot her? Yang isn't in her combat stance, and nobody else has their weapons out. > Wait... Lionheart is a faunus? REALLY?! The most powerful man on remnant is a member of the supposedly horribly oppressed group? How is that even racism in any form? He couldn't have hid that all this time! That totally nullifies any claim of racism in this show at all! HE'S THE HEADMASTER OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST KINGDOM FOR FUCKS SAKE AT LEAST STAY CONSISTENT! > "... and made a choice." Actually it seems like Leo didn't have a choice at all. > All that time everyone said Salem can't be defeated, yet nobody gave any reason why. > Oh you're one to talk Ruby, you only heard about Salem from your intoxicated uncle in a shitty campfire scene. > Cue the motivating speech sequence. > Raven is not pleased > Oh shit, she dropped the bomb! > Fireball shoots out of newly opened portal. Nobody has that reaction time. > Fireball perfectly and directly shoots Ruby, as if Cinder could see through it. What if Raven wanted to escape and got shot instead? > Cue the dramatic music > "Hello boys and girls." Cinder, you had time to think about a dramatic entrance since Volume 3, and that's all you come up with? This isn't even better than Adam's dramatic entrance in Volume 3. > Hazel just comes in as if he magically knew that the cat is out of the bag yet. He could have ruined everything, EVERYTHIIING. > He didn't even look at anybody, and unveiled the great nefarious plan. FFS Hazel it could have just been innocent visitors. > In only two minutes the white fang arrived, took out the overly large supply of bombs and placed bombs everywhere without making a sound? > Also these bombs are way too close to each other. For something of this size, you'd think only one of those could blow up I don't know... an entire train wagon! > Uh, yeah Adam what do you think everyone places these bombs here for. They probably already know Haven is going to fall. > Wow Weiss, you sure are fast. > Wow Qrow, you sure are fast. > Yes Jaune, what is wrong with Cinder? She's been here since episode one and nobody knows anything about her at all. > Why are they taking out their weapons? They have absolutely no reason to. They should really listen to Qrow. > Miles voice acting is really great! Minus one sin - > Weiss and Nora are taking out their weapons too? Why though? None of the bad guys even have their weapons out! FFS LISTEN TO QROW! > Cinder doesn't need her fire powers to deliver burns. > Jaune it's obvious she's trying to provo- oh, there he goes. > Ruby you can instantly break the sound barrier, you don't need to waste ammunition to go fast. > See, Ruby if you used your semblance, you could have gotten past the chain. > Cue the gay subtext > Cinder charges at Jaune, but they magically disappear in the next shot. > We hear Merc's gunboots go off as if he jumped, but in the next shot, he stands exactly where he was before. > "Let's see what the Schnee family name really means." "I'm more than a name!" **mortal combat's "Fight!" can be heard in the distance.** > Hazel can see Oscar sneak up away, clearly Oscar could become a threat, so why doesn't he act on it? > It's been entire 5 minutes, and Ren and Nora are still standing there, wordlessly facing Lionheart. > Really Leo? You know about Salem and magic, but you can't guess that Ozpin can reincarnate and that he is probably behind this child right now? > IT'S TIME TO DDDDD-DUEL! > Seriously now. A child with an ancient spirit inside him fight a man with what might as well be a duel disk? This really is Yugioh. > Why is there a magic circle now? I thought only maidens and Ozpin have magic. > Uh WHAT even is that thing? > Is Oscar's Aura already depleted? Or did he just activate it? Horray Oscar got better with his Aura! > I know they're trying to make Oscar look badass, but why isn't Leo attacking? He's a trained Huntsman against a 14 year old boy! > Leo do you honestly think Salem is going to leave you alone? Once she has the relic she's just going to dispose of you. > Obligatory Yugioh reference. > Isn’t it obvious Oscar? > Meanwhile Weiss is playing The Floor is Lava > This would be a great opportunity to put in a new song for the soundtrack. That only consists of 3 songs. That we last heard before Chapter 1. That was eleven weeks ago. > At this point Weiss should have learned that summoning doesn't work. Weiss, you have a broad repartoire of glyphs, but you choose to use the slowest against the fastest enemy? You can bend time for fucks sake! > Ruby is just casually watching Jaune during a fight. > Instead of hitting Ruby with her blades or doing anything, Emerald just spams bullets. > Ruby can magically deflect all the bullets with the handle of a scythe that's bigger than most humans. > Weiss didn't learn from her mistakes and turns her back to her enemy. Then this happens. > Everyone stop fighting to the death, somebody almost got hurt! > Ruby is in the middle of a fight, but turns around to look at Jaune. > Cinder can fly apparently. > Please ignore the sudden artstyle change, we didn't have the resources to remake the models. > Okay, now Ruby is about to activates her silver eyes, which itself is enough to bring cinder to her knees, but why didn't she know how to do that in the first place? She had all the time to ask Tai, Qrow and even Ozpin himself, but she didn't. It's been almost a year since she knows about the Silver eyes, and that she can basically beat any Grimm and every maiden with just one look, but she doesn't try to control it, because plot. > Come on Jaune, she's on the ground without Aura, but you try to stab her instead of slashing like any sane person would do? You could have finished this god dammit! > Jaune you trained for all this time, and still don't know how to stand properly when using your weapon? Also you could have just taken a step forward instead of falling over like a sac of potatoes. > Why did you drop your weapon? You're trying to survive! > Reusing opening animations > Jaune did you honesly think she'd listen to you when you basically say, don't kill them? > Does this fire spear look familliar? Here's a hint: It's Pyrrha's spear. > Jaune you have more than enough time to get up and throw yourself onto her, or stab her in the back. Instead you just scream NOOOO like somebody who is completely incapacitated. > Reusing Pyrrha's death animation > Weiss didn't make any sound, but yet everyone magically stops fighting to their bloody death for a second, only too look at Weiss being stabbed to death. Like what did you expect? > Apparently Jaune didn't cry, even though we saw him cry for the first time three times already. > Weiss faints, and the spear dissipates. Meanwhile Cinder sees a wounded Weiss that she wanted to kill. If Cinder really wanted to kill Weiss, she could have just burned her this instant, so why does she leave Weiss alive? > Black screen of death. Along with the worst damn cliffhanger RWBY has ever given us. > The CRWBY only knows one way to end an episode. Which is a cliffhanger.

BONUS SINS:

> Whenever one person stops talking, the camera just cuts to another person that starts to talk. For a fight scene this was an awful lot of talking. > Aparently one week isn't enough for Blake to arrive at Haven. And it looks like all the bombs have been set already. Let's see how Miles and Kerry try to save this one. > Nobody believes that Sienna Kahn is dead. Nobody believes Weiss is dead. It seems to me like something with the writing isn't right.

#rwby #rwby5 #rwby volume 5 #rwby volume 5 chapter 11 #rwde

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wingedsam · 6 years

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RWBY S5EP14 Confirms

Here we go on the last episode of the volume, bringin it on home. Thanks for enjoying the couple of these I’ve done, maybe I’ll do them again for next season.

We’ll go split by heroes and villains

Ilia CONFIRMED thanked by her people and finally on the path to helping them in a productive manner. And of course for pile driver queen.

Sun CONFIRMED volunteer Blake fighter player 2. Ready to take Adam down a peg until Blake talks some sense into him.

Blake CONFIRMED reunited with the team, and has that and other better things to do than worry about Adam anymore. Probably the biggest wound to his ego if seeing is believing. Was the quiet one, and now is the one ready to scream into battle to help her friends. Nice. Also ehem Blake telling her team she’s not going anywhere when Ruby said it’s a long story... yes good thank you dear.

Weiss CONFIRMED glad to see Blake and be back in the checkmate formation. Good ol team attacks. Also now gone from ‘don’t touch me’ to the huggy one. Team RWBY was always #1 in her heart.

Ruby CONFIRMED callin those team attacks and leading like a champ. Tuckered herself out there, but damn if this is any indication we’ll get to see her be the great huntress we know she can be in coming seasons... though did she seem more shaken by the Salem illusion than the others?

Yang CONFIRMED done with her mother’s bullshit. Taking her to task about her own conflicting claims and behavior. AND of the two the one brave enough to step up and take such a big weight onto her shoulders... didn’t rat her mom out to Qrow though. So that’s interesting. I’m assuming she could see Raven opening the door/the door just finishing opening from the elevator shaft on her way down, and put two and two together.

Team JN_R CONFIRMED happy to see team RWBY back together, and ready to keep moving. Surprisingly Jaune is back up like a trooper covering for his teammates so they can catch their breath. He really does have a lot of Aura or regens it fairly quickly. Still missing Pyrrha.

Ozpin CONFIRMED trying at least to direct the kids in fighting. Now tired and resting so we’ve got Oscar back yay.

Oscar CONFIRMED still not overtaken by Ozpin’s personality. And things are looking good for that staying that way if fighting for like an hour[?] is enough to wear the professor out. Hoping this whole mess can be settled before Ozpin even needs to converge on Oscar.

Qrow CONFIRMED dodged those death flags yet again. And not liking the look of things even if the teams back together.

Ghira and Kali CONFIRMED ready to pick up where they left and lead the faunus in a better brotherhood than the White Fang. Also happy their daughter is safe and happy back with her friends.

Tai CONFIRMED just, done with his wife’s shit. She’s his ex-wife though right? Would have to be since Yang is older than Ruby, meaning he got together with Summer after Raven.

Villains

Raven CONFIRMED shut the hell down by her own daughter. Mercy killed the last Spring Maiden, ouch. Pretty far off from people hoping she’d let her into the tribe and take care of her... but really probably more fitting for Raven. We’ll see how things go with her in the future. Will she pop up again? Salem doesn’t necessarily need the maidens and the Spring Relic is already retrieved. Also it would seem the only one left alive who knows she’s a maiden anyway is Yang. Who covered for her.

Hazel CONFIRMED kicked in the fucking face by Blake. Also the group pack mule carrying off Emerald... how is he still moving after getting fucking harpooned? I guess they did mention his Aura coming back quickly, so I guess he’s healed it? He’s a scary guy to have as an enemy.

Mercury CONFIRMED actually concerned about someone other than himself? Huh.

Emerald CONFIRMED distraught to learn Cinder is likely dead. People are saying this and that about the close up on her eye and ‘fake out to becoming next fall maiden’ or ‘could still become the fall maiden’ etc... but can we just like unpack the fact that she made an illusion that everyone in that room saw? To my knowledge, Emerald’s illusion ability has only ever been able to target one person at a time, and she made a giant illusion to fill the entirety of that room that effected everyone present... even if she’s not the next fall maiden, there’s something interesting there.

Leo CONFIRMED dead coward. Wow that was a harsh way to go out.

Salem CONFIRMED done with Leo’s shit and not happy with her team rn.

Adam CONFIRMED still bitch of the week. Time to cry loser.

Cinder CONFIRMED probably dead.

Vernal CONFIRMED still definitely dead. rip

#rwby #rwby season 5 #rwby season 5 episode 14 #rwby spoilers

5 notes · View notes

nezzfiction · 5 years

Text

ENMY Chapter 84 - Crownless War God

Series Synopsis:

Team RWBY is disbanded, and Yang must find herself new allies. For her, that might very well be yesterday’s enemies. Joining up with the likes of Emerald, Mercury, and Neo, the four will comprise Team Enemy(ENMY).

Links to read the series: Ao3 or FF.net

Or hit the jump below

Narrated by Emerald Sustrai

(Previously on ENMY)

Okay, where to begin?

Well, Salem declared war on Vacuo, sending Cuckoos, a type of parasitic Grimm, to infiltrate the Kingdom’s capital.

At the same time, the Witch took a crack at splitting my team apart—and succeeded.

Yang thinks Neo killed a kid, which was actually impersonated by a Grimm. The two get into some real relationship problems (the kind that takes more than a few couple therapy sessions to fix). Merc’s deep-seated daddy issues catch up to him. Oh, yeah. I also killed a couple of Cuckoos pretending to be my parents. But, hey. I dealt with my family/abandonment issues like—what, two, three arcs ago? So whatevs.

Some more dramatic shit happens when Temujin gives us a job to bring back Professor Oobleck from the Tower. We run into a creepy-ass Grimm who likes riddles (in the form of spouting gibberish and mindfucking, apparently). Neo and Mercury don’t pass Giza’s test, and head back to Vacuo without us.

After me and Yang reach the Tower of Alexandria, we learn about the true history of Remnant. That, and the end of the world via the Tree of Balance’s reset mechanism (good going, Masa), and by extension, the Last Fairy Tale.

While we’re using the Tower’s resources to read intel on Salem’s side, Vacuo’s capital comes under attack. The first battle between the Grimm army and the Kingdom’s warriors is ended prematurely when Glynda Goodwitch forces the enemy commander to retreat tactical, magic-nuclear styles.

But we learn later the battle was only a distraction to let assassins infiltrate the city. Attacks are carried throughout the Kingdom. Taking advantage of us not around, Neo and Mercury also become targets.

After some (short)deliberation, me and Yang decide to use an experimental, top-secret thing we can only call the “Bridge Project”. Cause of that, we were able to warp-drive from the Tower to the city in time to save our partners. I got to shiv some cold-steel irony between ribs nine and ten of Mercury’s douchebag of a cousin, Jupiter. And Yang got to save Neo from Adam and Blake (very dramatic, parallels stuff). Finally, some checks in the win column.

After the couple’s reunion, and having read Summer’s romance biography with Raven, Yang decides to pop the question to Neo.

To which, our resident psychopath says, “yEs”.

They both get married (blegh). Yes, it was very touching. Apparently, they also exchanged Auras, which I have no idea what that means yet.

Blakes goes a little bit more crazy after hearing about their marriage (just a little bit), and it actually gets her to shake off Salem’s influence. Deciding that her future vessel isn’t quite up to the task yet, the Witch decides to see to the war personally. (i.e. the big bad herself arrives in Vacuo…)

Meanwhile, after letting the bosses know what we learned at the Tower, Vacuo and Atlas officially enter an alliance. Cinder and the Snow Queen send a fleet of airships, due to arrive somewhere in a week’s time. Truly, nothing brings people together more than an approaching apocalypse, headed by some crazy bitch everyone hates.

And then, and then, and then—

Seeing as we made such good pals with Vacuo, I decided to take some liberties with that. Needed to have a private chat with the boss, so I had my team create a (little)distraction. It really wasn’t that bad, they just fought a few palace guards and Chain Nai.

We got arrested, cause that’s somehow fair.

Good times.

And now, the Vacuo Arc continues!

So excited…

Crownless War God

I am the bone of my sword.

Steel is my body and fire is my blood.

I have created over a thousand blades.

Unknown to death

Nor known to life.

Having withstood pain to create many weapons.

Yet these hands will never hold anything.

My life is an Unlimited Blade Works.

“…I wonder how long they plan to keep us here,” Yang muttered, while staring at the ceiling. She must have counted the number of bricks a hundred times by now. “I mean, no one even got hurt…badly.”

“Yeah,” Mercury replied. “I bet you anything Temujin just wants to mess with us.”

“If we broke out, and saw her the next morning, she’d probably act like nothing even happened.”

In her team’s dank prison cell, Yang lied restlessly on her cot with Neo snuggled under her arm. Mercury was sitting with his back against the wall, staring out the window into the night sky. And Emerald sat cross-legged in deep mediation.

“I just wish there was some way to past the time,” Yang complained.

There is, Neo looked at her suggestively.

“Definitely, not into exhibitionism.”

“Please, don’t,” Mercury added. “I’d rather run a death simulation marathon before sitting through that.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

“I was kidding.”

“Hey, Em!” Yang shouted to their leader in the corner. “How about you run us a hallucination, already? I’m thinkin’ my mom, Cinder, Pyrrha, and Victoria. Or maybe, some Nightmare-Class Grimm? We could practice for when Salem’s army shows up.”

Emerald remained silent.

“…Helloooo?”

Emerald’s temple creased with a vein.

“I’m getting bored heeerreeee~”

“Would you shut up?!” Emerald finally snapped. “I’m trying to concentrate!”

“You’ve been doing that since forever. What are you trying to do, anyway?”

“Yes, Yang. By all means, I’ll tell you exactly what I’m doing, out loud—while the prison guards listen on every word of our conversation.”

“Soooo, what are you doing?”

“Kay. Not listening anymore. La la la la la~”

“Em~!”

“LA LA LA LA~!!”

X X X X X

…

I was dead.

I’m sure I was well and truly dead.

…

My body and soul sunk into the deepest depths. I don’t know what it was, but I swear, to this day—I grasped something at the core of our world. Some form of enlightenment, perhaps?

And then, I felt the very hells of Vacuo spit me back out.

*Cough!*

When I woke, I tasted nothing but ash and sand in my mouth. I could feel the sun roasting my skin. There was no way to know how long I had been out there.

As soon as I could get my bearings straight, I immediately wished I hadn’t.

It was a pit of corpses. The naked dead piled on more naked dead. All dignity stripped away. Their souls gone, leaving only dry husks. They were mutilated, they were burned, they were cruelly disected into even segments.

I remembered what happened.

They experimented on us. They sought the secret to eternal life, forced us to take toxic amounts of Dust and Bane.

We were nothing but lab animals to them, and they killed us by the thousands without batting an eye.

And when we were no longer of use, they discarded us out in the middle of the desert—like common refuse.

I was in a panic. My memories were becoming clearer. Our parents were with me.

My hands searched the bodies around. I can still remember that feeling to this day, the sensation forever carved in my memories. Tender flesh and hollow bones. The final moments of countless lives, recorded in every corpse’s face.

Anguish, fear, despair.

The loss of hope.

…

And then, I found them.

I don’t know how I could possibly have known. My experience with death had undoubtedly changed my senses.

There was nothing left of our mother and father, save for a pair of charred black ribs.

I could feel Vacuo suffocating me, or was that the grief?

I cried at the heavens through a throat that no longer worked.

My mind ceased to function. I became something base, primal. I could only feel.

…

And all I was became Rage.

…

The concentration of negativity drew the Grimm. Monstrosities circled me, the lone survivor. A girl who could not fathom what was happening.

And it was that moment, I digressed further. I was no longer something I would call sentient.

Not a living thing.

Not an organism.

Lesser, simpler.

An element.

My baptism—the Awakening of my Semblance was performed by none other than the Heart of Vacuo itself.

I was its nature.

I was its storm.

My Aura merged with my surroundings, and I felt the Kingdom answer my call.

The bones of my parents would be the very first weapons I would ever forge.

They made the finest of blades.

I struck down my first foes with them.

Once they were spent, I sough my next set of “weapons”,

And I realized everything became a weapon to my touch.

The fallen corpses of Vacuo became my next blades.

And the next.

And the next…

Until all my enemies were nothing but dust in the wind.

…

What returned was no longer a nameless slave.

It had devolved—

I became a Fang.

The Fang of Vacuo.

X X X X X

As soon as I reached the city, I was able to find my brother.

Shepherd had avoided the mass abductions for the experiments. He was lucky.

As lucky as one can be, having his parents and only sibling go missing for several months.

He could see the change in me… the violence I could control at my fingertips.

Sometimes, I look back and wonder…

Did he embark on his pacifist crusade to save Vacuo’s soul—or mine.

…

Or maybe, he tried to save Vacuo from me.

How ironic, but so very fitting.

If they never took his life through their Third Crusade, they would never have seen one light of my wrath.

He was so foolish.

I warned him. I knew the world would turn on him and others like him.

The corrupt always justify themselves to the righteous through strength.

No. While my brother tried to offer redemption for those crooked souls, I took my time finding those who would rise with me, when his ambitions failed.

Chain Nai was a champion of the Gladiator Arenas. He had “won” his freedom, but the ones controlling the games propagated the backstory, he stayed to fight for the thrill and honor.

Peh! What nonsense. Still, their foolishness would ultimately work to my favor.

Nai was the only one to ever defeat me during my time as a gladiator, and I was the only one to ever face him in a fair match, and live.

He would become my first general, my first Khan. The Fist of Vacuo, many would later proclaim him.

…

My friendship with Minerva was unexpected, to say the least.

By then, I was forming the first vestiges of the Red Fang, when I heard about a single Faunus massacring a small army of Human aristocrats.

I sought her out eagerly, entertaining the idea I had found one similar to myself.

But Minerva could not be more different.

She was originally an attendant to a young noble. A Human who researched Magic and even managed to learn a few tricks himself.

Minerva and the man fell in love. He taught her what he learned, and surprising them both, found she had a gift for Magic.

Rumor spread. A romantic relationship between Human and Faunus was forbidden. They were inevitably caught.

…

They lynched the poor man, and hung his body from the roof of his house.

Minerva joined me the moment I asked her.

She became my second Khan.

The Sorceress of Vacuo.

X X X X X

I…

I do not look back as fondly on our first meeting as Raven probably does.

When I first found her, she hid behind a miner’s mask. The shovel in her hands was covered in blood. A tiny thing, but she held onto it like a sword made to smite all those who would do her and her brother harm.

I didn’t think much of her at first. I had seen countless children like her in my travels.

But when she removed her mask, I found myself captivated.

The way she stared at me through her tears. A fire of defiance, but at the same time, a purity—an innocence.

I lost myself in that moment.

Raven looked to me like a little goddess of death. So precious and deadly. I don’t believe in a god or a heaven, but if such things ever existed, I could only think they sent her to me.

I embraced her without thought, and she wept openly in my arms. I didn’t know little goddesses could cry.

In time, I believed she would one day become my third Khan. The greatest of my generals and a stronger warrior than myself or Nai.

But she needed time.

…

And in that time, Raven would become someone I would care for deeply as a daughter. Less than the weapon I wanted her to be at our first meeting. The compassion I thought I lost, was returned to me by her, and her alone.

My brother and I sent her and Qrow to Vale, hoping they would find a better life.

I’d never seen Raven as furious as the day we saw her off for Beacon Academy. But I was fine with it. Even if she grew hating me for the rest of her life, I was content.

I would wage my war without Raven. I was satisfied with that thought.

…

For a moment, I may have believed in my brother’s campaign of nonviolence. After all, what did I have to lose should he succeed?

I would satiate my bloodlust some other way, I was sure.

When he inevitably failed, I promised I would be there. I would protect him, nurse his wounds and ego— give him the older sibling’s “I told you so”.

…

They killed Shepherd, and I practically let them.

I let my own brother fall.

And like all things, I turned him and the very memory of him into a weapon.

His death caused an outrage.

And I used it to wage the war I always wanted, the war I waited every day for.

…

Nai was more than ready. Minerva was at my side.

…

Raven had returned to Vacuo a few years before. She left her child behind for me. And I foolishly welcomed back my goddess of death as the Third Khan I always dreamt she would be.

I sent the younger generation like Blake, Ilia, and Adam to fight my battles. Be it to die on the frontlines or execute the defenseless in the rear, it did not matter.

My war was waged.

The three Khans, as well as their Great Khan, laid ruin to countless Crusaders.

In time, I won my Vacuo.

And when I finally sat on that cursed throne in the Hanging Gardens, I felt something I hadn’t felt since before I died—since before my rebirth in that desert all those years ago.

I was afraid.

X X X X X

The moment we won Vacuo, I saw a room filled with the faces of those I loved.

Every life I touched, turned into a weapon before my very eyes.

And I was overcome.

…

One word, and they would march.

A single command, and a Kingdom of blades would have ravaged the world of Remnant without mercy.

I doubt even Salem would have been able to stop that.

…

I had made weapons of everyone I had ever cared for.

And when I held the crown made of the blood and souls I had sacrificed to, I learned I did not want it.

But I couldn’t let anyone else have it either.

Who knows what insanity someone else could do with what I built.

Vacuo would be ruler-less. And I would play the guard dog until someone suitable could claim the throne. Someone who would not lead our people down a path of destruction.

Minerva would have proven adequate, but she wanted to help create a brighter future through its children. Perhaps, inspired by her lost love, she decided to become an educator for eager minds. And the Headmaster of Shade Academy came to be.

For a time, I also believed Blake could take the throne. But she held no desire to play such a role. Guilt-ridden by the things she did under my order, she wanted the life of a Huntress to atone. She wanted to do good, not rule. The least I could do was support her.

…

And then, I finally found them.

A pair of siblings, Mouse and Knives Rakis. Their mother gave birth to them, while suffering the symptoms of Dust Poisoning. They were born with a few health complications, but more importantly, their capricious circumstances allowed them to develop Silver Eyes. I can only assume the large consumption of Dust and Bane awakened some ancestry connected to the Fairies.

Both were absolutely gifted— young, malleable, bright. They could share the throne of Vacuo and lead our people to prosperity.

What greater rulers could there be than those with a Semblance to predict the future?

They were young and ready to be groomed. But as their abilities developed, they revealed to me the fates to befall not only our Kingdom, but all of Remnant.

A world where every living being was wiped out.

We worked to make sure such a future never came to be, but all efforts so far have failed.

Until a slight deviation occurred in the prediction. The timeline corrected itself almost immediately, but more of these “alterations” appeared as time went on.

It was only recently, we were able to match the deviations with certain events happening outside our Kingdom…

A war over some Grimm-infested isles.

Rumors of a young team of mercenaries waging battle at Tower trapped in a storm.

A newly christened Spring Maiden.

The resurrection of the Fall Maiden.

The usurping of the Atlas Kingdom.

…

“Sound familiar?”

In the open desert, watching a swirling storm of floating debris, two figures stood. The dreamscape showed the fluttering pages in the hurricane to be the host’s memories. Like Yang’s and Neo’s before, Emerald found herself traversing Temujin’s “Soul”.

“Sound familiar?” Temujin repeated her question.

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious,” she rubbed her arm uncertainly. “Guess, it’s too late to say sorry for making you dream about your past.”

“Eh,” the other simply shrugged.

Though she tried to play it off lightly, Emerald could see the forlorn sentiment lingering in Temujin’s heart. Emotions were amplified in the host’s dreams. The mint-haired girl saw the deepest contents, and was taken back by what she found there.

There was something else after Temujin’s recollections. Something she didn’t say aloud. A secret she kept from everyone, including Minerva and especially Raven.

Before the end of Remnant, there was an event preceding it that the Rakis siblings foretold and feared.

The Death of Vacuo.

…

Unable to stand the silence any longer, Emerald spoke.

“You’re pretty critical of yourself,” she said passively.

“Oh? I’ve said nothing but the truth.”

“In my experience, people always make their pasts worse than they actually were. But thanks for the story.”

“Hm. Is that all you have to say?”

Emerald looked down for a moment.

“…You’re too arrogant,” she finally said. “The people who followed you chose to follow you. You didn’t turn them into weapons. They decided to fight for themselves. Thinking you had any actual control over them is nothing but arrogance.”

“Hmmm… Maybe, so. Is that what your team is to you?”

“Obviously. I can’t make my idiots care about me. And they do it anyway, even if I don’t want them to.”

Temujin gave a dry chuckle.

“If only you were born earlier, and had been raised in Vacuo. You would have made a fine Khan.”

“Not even in your dreams, lady.”

“Current topics aside, you are rather talented.”

“Just a little bit.” Emerald rubbed her nails on her chest, and breathed a huff. “I’ve hallucinated dreams before, but this was some new level shit.”

“Heh heh heh,” Temujin gave another hollow chuckle, and grasped the younger woman’s arm in a firm grip.

“This talent of yours gives me an idea.”

NOTES

Q: Schedule?

A: Nope. Can’t make one. Tried. Chapters comes out when they’re finished.

Q: CinderxNeo (sinnamon spice/spicecream) fic?

A: Ugh. Kind of, maybe, interested, but I don’t see the romance aspect? But I do think they could make one of the best partnerships in RWBY in general. Maybe a platonic sidequest in the future during the hiatus? No promises.

But, yes. I’d love to write something about the two of them. That would be fun. (Message suggestions?)_

Q: Ever think of writing a lemon(smut fic?)?

A: No. Not interested in writing pure smut.

Q: Ever think of writing a romance fic?

A: No. I don’t have that ability. It would end up being too short.

Q: Kingdom Hearts fic?

A: Maybe. Not immediately, if ever. Have a rough idea of a party consisting of Aqua, Lightning, (young)Tadashi, (and Balthier or Fran?). One of the worlds they visit is Atlantis or Treasure Planet.

Q: What do you think of toxic wasps and bumbley shippers/drama?

A: …What?

(Googles)

Oh. I had no idea there was stuff like that happening in the RWBY community.

…

I got nothin’. I barely pay attention to stuff outside the show as it is. Feels like a lot of noise I just don’t understand. Welp, time to write the next chapter.

As always, thank you for reading.

See you, when I see you.

-Nezz

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #rwby au #yang xiao long #emerald sustrai #enmy

0 notes

allthejoeks · 7 years

Text

The Person I need(ed) to Be

“Having some trouble?”

Jaune whirled around. It was the dead of night. Everyone should be asleep, and even if they weren't, he still should have been able to hear them move about. Nonetheless, Ren was standing there like he had been there the whole time. Which he might have. Jaune honestly couldn't say that wasn't a possibility.

“Nothing, Ren. Just training,” he replied, brandishing his sword to prove the point.

Ren tilted his head a little. “Forgive me, but I'm not sure I'm aware of the training benefits of screaming in frustration every swing while replaying a video of your dead best friend ad nauseam. Care to explain?”

Jaune sighed. He had never really told anyone the specifics of what had happened that night, but he was tired, both physically and emotionally, and Ren was literally the most trustworthy person he had ever met. He would never bring it up again if Jaune so desired.

“She was a little more than a best friend towards the end.”

Ren's eyes widened. “So she-”

“Yup,” Jaune replied bitterly. “Then, before I could respond she shoved me into a locker and went to go fight an enemy she couldn't beat.”

“Ah. I see,” Ren remarked quietly.

Jaune turned around. “Ren, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“How long did she… you know.”

“Have a crush on you?”

“Yeah, that.”

Ren hesitated. He knew the answer would make Jaune miserable, but he felt like he deserved the truth more. “As long as I've known her,” Ren admitted.

Jaune scowled and turned back around, stabbing the air with a few powerful jabs. Ren waited for a moment.

“I know, 'there was nothing I could do', but there was! If I had been even just a little more observant, things could have been different. Not 'Oh, hey Pyrrha, how was your day today? What, you're going through a traumatic life-or-death situation? That's nice, anyway, I need your help composing my latest song for Weiss!” he ranted, ending his tirade with an incredibly angry backslice.

“Yes. That's true,” Ren responded. “But you aren't that observant, so none of that happened.”

Jaune sighed and sat down on the ground, head at his knees. “I know,” Jaune muttered. “I know I shouldn't let myself get caught up in all the stuff that I couldn't do, but it just frustrates me. I'm mad because there was so, so much I could have done, maybe not enough to save her, but at least I could have made her happy! I could have taken some of the weight off of her shoulders instead of just adding to it!”

This is what Ren liked about Jaune. Ren had always been bad with words, always a little slow in conversation and maybe a bit too curt, and it always showed, but Jaune always assumed he meant the best. It was probably Jaune's blind optimism at work, sure, but regardless, he always heard what Ren couldn't figure out how to say. Well, most of the time, anyway.

“Granted, you could have taken more off if you had been paying attention, but the same could be said for Nora and I. Everyone could have been better. I know for a fact that, in the end, you were Pyrrha's greatest support.”

“That's not saying much,” Jaune muttered.

“Maybe it isn't,” Ren admitted. “But it will be next time.”

“If there's a next time.”

“There is always a next time, Jaune.”

Jaune noticed that Ren's usually serene voice had a decided strain of non-serenity in it. “Wanna talk about it?”

Ren sighed. “I'm just tired of losing my home.”

Jaune froze. He had some inklings from previous conversations, but he had never quite heard the full story. “Y'know, I sure could use some practice at listening to people,” Jaune offered.

Ren smiled at that, briefly. The smile fell as he gathered his thoughts. “When I was little,” he began. “The village I grew up in was destroyed overnight. A massive Grimm. In evacuating, I was a little slow, too scared. My mother died and my father was injured when our house collapsed around us. Every time I think about, I can't help but imagine what would happen if I was a little more brave, a little more aware. If I had been, we all probably could have made it out alive.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” Jaune muttered.

“That isn't even the worst of it.”

“What? How could it possibly get any worse?”

“Because, if I did handle that situation perfectly, if my parents lived, Nora probably would have died, crushed under a house because I was never there to be the friend she needed.”

Jaune's jaw dropped.

“Nora and I never would have traveled the countryside ,” Ren continued. “Never would have gone to Beacon, and I, at this moment, would have been short both one Nora...” He smiled at Jaune. “And my brother.”

Jaune turned away. After a moment, he responded. “C'mon, man. It's really hard to wipe tears away when you're wearing armor.”

Ren laughed, and clasped Jaune's shoulder. “It's not easy to stop thinking about the past,” Ren admitted. “But, the past is what has allowed the good of the present. It's the reason we're all here, we're all still together. Don't regret the past, Jaune. Use it, learn from it, so that you cam make the future that much better.”

Jaune sniffled loudly. “This is the most I've heard you talk, like, ever,” he joked.

“I figured you really needed the pep talk.”

Jaune began to get up off the ground. “Yeah, it was… it was one hell of a pep talk.”

“Good. I don't think I have another one in me.”

“Hey, uh, Ren, can I ask you for a favor?”

“Sure.”

“It's just… y'know, I know we're two manly dudes, and you've never been the touchy-feely type, but, like,” he muttered, turning to face Ren. “I could really use a hug right now.”

Ren pondered it for a moment, then let out a breath and, smiling, opened his arms. Jaune immediately rushed in and crushed him in a hug. Wow, he really had gotten stronger. “Thanks, man,” Jaune muttered. “I'm really glad I got to meet you.”

“And I you,” Ren responded, returning the hug.

The two stood like that for a bit. Eventually, Jaune broke away. “Alright, I'm good,” he said. “Thanks for talking things out with me, Ren. I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime,” Ren replied. “I'm just glad I could help.”

“What, are you kidding me? You were great! We should start a booth or something,” Jaune praised, stretching his hand out in the air. “Ren, the Traveling Sage. The life advice you've always needed, a mere 20 lien away.”

“I would… really not enjoy that,” Ren said, making a face.

“Yeah, probably not, huh? But, something to think about if we run out of ammo.”

“I would rather we didn't,” he replied.

“Fine, fine,” Jaune conceded. “But that means I'm going to have to run a kissing booth instead, and that means we're going to be flat broke forever.”

Ren nudged him. “You're wrong about that. You should know that by now.”

Jaune looked up at the sky “I'm just happy to be a part of your life.” Ren was right. He wasn't Jaune Arc, loser extraordinaire. That self-deprecation had never gotten him anywhere, it had only hurt him and others. He was Jaune Arc, the guy who had brought genuine joy to at least one person's life. Two, if Ren meant what he said about them being brothers, which he was pretty sure he did. He did and would matter to people. Now he had to act like it.

“You're right, Ren. Thank you. Thank you, for being so supportive.”

Ren shrugged. “I've got big shoes to fill after all.”

Something clicked in Jaune's head, why, now of all times, Ren was being so talkative, why he was also having trouble sleeping.

“Health smoothies aren't an excellent way to show that you care for somebody,” Ren confirmed. “I know that now.”

Jaune sighed. “She really is amazing. She's dead, and she's still schooling us.”

Ren laughed. “Life is a learning experience, after all.”

“Never was much good at that,” Jaune admitted. “But, luckily, I've got a really smart guy to help me out.”

“First lesson: sleep is very important,” Ren instructed. “Secret training sessions will only backfire on you if they're at the expense of sleep.”

Jaune laughed. “Yeah, yeah, you're right. I'm going to bed. You should too.”

“In a moment,” Ren responded. “I'd like to be myself for a bit.”

Jaune nodded and ventured back to where Ruby, Nora and Qrow were sleeping. Ren walked over to one of the nearby trees and crouced. At the base of the tree, growing out of the ground, was a group of lilies. He stroked the petals. “It took me a while,” he whispered. “But I think… I think I can be like you now, Father, Mother, Pyrrha. I think I'm finally the person I need to be.”

#rwby #lie ren #jaune arc #rwby spoilers #rwby fanfiction #insomniacfics

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havcolyte · 6 years

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RWBY Vol6Ep3 Info Dump? Theories? Lore? World Building? Eh, Read yourselves

So spoilers if you haven’t watched it. On my like 3rd viewing, and looking for various World of Remnants to Build off on. Things that I wanna get out of the way first. (All speculation and have NOT been officially confirmed)(Also I like theory Crafting, may do more if I feel like it)(I'm covering quite a bit of topic. I'll List them in the Tags or something) +++++++++++++++++++++

OZMA'S FIRST REINCARNATION AND MAIDENS Ozma’s first reincarnation is the Old Wizard story from one of the WoR about Maidens- O.Wizard and the first Reincarnation looks the same- I’m paraphrasing but, Ozpin mentioned that their Souls are combined when convincing Oscar. For me that means that for them to be one in the same, it makes sense for Personalities and their Mindset to be somewhat similar. Since I figure if you put a madman like Tyrian(Just pulling an extreme example of what a madman is like) and Ozma's nature...they would not mix well and would clash. Like all the time. So I'm going with the assumption that Souls, mindset etc needs to be of somewhat similar tones.

- Why I think the first Reincarnation is the Old Wizard. They started that short-intro with him an almost broken man. Keep in mind that before that, Ozma had a, disagreement is putting it lightly, with his Lover and Mother of his Children, Salem. That disagreement brought about a fight between them that resulted in the Death of Ozma. Off-screen death's imply that the Children also died. So we remember a man who has lost everything. It'll be a wonder if he didn't find somewhat of similar tones. So Ozma's soul would reincarnate of someone who has lost everything or is weebit mentally drained.

- So Maiden's WoR story. I'm pulling out of Harry Potter Head canon that Magical users have an extended (not immortal) lifespans since Albus was like past a 100 Years, and that's without the Sorcerer's Stone that Nicholas Flamel has (which made a cameo in Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindlewald btw. Uhh Spoilers? Sorry.). Anyway, Story was that O.Wizard was staying in that hut in isolation for centuries. I mean heck if someone lost their children, wife, kingdom and lose all purpose, and you'd stay alone too for awhile. O.Wizard became bitter and didn't care for a lot. Now go watch the WoRemnant about maidens, Okay, back? Sweet.

- So I'm one of the peeps who believe that Ozma's and Salem's kids actually died during their battle. Dark, I know. But eh, Collateral happens regardless. They just happen to pay the price due to proximity. Anyway, So O.Wizard bitter, alone. Gets his purpose build back up by these 4 Sisters. I'm fully going to say random citizens of the world. Who happen to want to help people. O.Wizard gets reminded of his purpose by the God of Light, gets motivation from the Sisters, and figures, If such Kind Souls can exist, maybe they humanity does have a chance. Gifts his powers to the 4 Sisters/Maidens. (and some voodoo that when they die their powers goes to the one they thinking about) (Which btw still exploitable by 'bad' people, like what if you get killed by an enemy and starts cursing their name as you die...Rant for another time. Anyway.)

- So running on the theory that Magic helps extend life, s'why O.Wizard lived so long. O.Wizard now has a 'regular', by Remnant standards at least, lifespan. Second and Third reincarnation of Ozma is seen him still trying to, uhh walk straight? I'm putting that as, He realized that reincarnation is or has become a common thing when he dies. He realizes that its a Curse, as he Ozpin put it. It settles down in his head that, he WILL be reincarnated, he WILL have to Unite Humanity to be Judged? (wtf is Ozma's purpose. Help Salem, Unite Humanity, Bring the Gods back to Judge them? Damn you God of Light, what you want. and dammit Ozma, Can you at least Listen before saying Yes?! Pyrrha Nikos Parallel when she accepted Ozpin's idea waay back in season 2)... Uhh Anyway, so he gets kinda down on his dumps starts drinking and whateves before finding the strength in him to get back into his mission. This is his Third Reincarnation as seen in the episode.

- Total theory with NO current evidence to support. So I figure during his second or third reincarnation Ozma met people wielding the powers he granted the Sisters/Maidens. I wanna say that lifted his spirits and kept him going. +++++++++++++++++++++ SILVER EYES STUFF

- So anyone notices his Third Reincarnation, the one with his Wife and Kids, That his Kids have SILVER EYES?! Right, so back to speculating. I'm going by each Reincarnation that Ozma retains whatever magic he has left that he didn't give to the Maidens. If we go by the World during the time of the Two Brother Gods, Everyone can wield Magic. It was gifted to them. But I'm gonna doubt that they continued to Gift every single Generation of people. No, I'm thinking they gifted a group or the first generation of people. They had kids, and so on and the Line of Magic continued to pass on. (Pureblood Harry Potter stuff comes to mind too. THE BLOODLINE!? Anyway.)

- So Ozma's Third Reincarnation had a family and, I'm going by visual indications, that his Kids inherited 'something'. We've never really seen what Silver Eyes could do. Other than Ruby freezing Dragon Grimm..or burning's Cinder's Left side and arm out....Eh it does something only those who have that trait can do. And apparently Salem's group, Hazel specifically, mention that they have been dealt with before. (IT'S SUMMER ROSE! The only other Silver Eyed person we've seen so far!) (Well Dead...But she exists!)

- So when Ozpin or Oscar mention meeting Ruby, their first response is 'You have Silver Eyes' or something. For the former, I think it's Ozma just realizing that his bloodline still lives on. (The one that had magic at least) And for Oscar...Well, farmboy meets older cute older girl and notices her oh so Captivating Eyes. (Not really a shipper in this sense, just trying to figure out why he, on his circumstances would notice this trait)

- ..Yeah not much Silver Eyes stuff, just that it was a magic Bloodline trait that passes on abilities. Those with Silver Eyes would have the most concentration in their genetics/bloodline to use more abilities, and it shows more when their Eyes are Silver. (Totally getting a Shirou/EMIYA vibe from the Fate-Type/Moon Series when he uses his Magecraft. The more he uses it, the more the side effects turn his eyes the same shade of Silver.) (Also not getting into that, I could, but not here.) +++++++++++++++++++++

FAUNAS AND WHY THEY EXIST....AND THE WORLD OF REMNANT? - Okay right of the bat, I'm gonna say it. Salem did not get lonely and there are Animals around since she was the last of Humanity./shuddersWas watching RWBY Rewind and that creepy theory came up. (Never again.)

- That out of the way, So back to World of Remnant stuff. The Brother Gods, together created the First Civilization. (Not related to Assassin's Creed in any way) I'm going on the off-handed comment that the God of Darkness when he was assaulted by the army that Salem brought. "My own Gift to them. Used against me."

- So creation isn't an exclusive ability. Since God of Dark brought Ozma back...and the whole back and forth of dying and not dying in front of Salem thing (Which if you've seen someone you love die, multiple times in the span of like minutes, I'm gonna be upset too)

- The Brother Gods were/are? at odds with each other during the First Civilization. One made stuff during the day. Then at night, the other just stomped it out. Very obvious but Dark God made Grimm. Light God made Humans.

- Then one day, blah blah blah, they decided on balance. To create something together. That is the First Civilization. One who which everyone could wield Magic. (See Silver Eye stuff above about magic bloodlines if you skipped to here. Why you would do that, I don't know. Anyway.)

- Life, Death, Balance. etc etc. And they Brother Gods lived on the world with the First Civilization. Respecting each other's domain and the Rules they set about the World.

- Kinda obvious that people would flock to the God of Light. I mean, hey. God of Darkness with Grimm spewing about doesn't exactly scream worship. or at least Safe worship. So people would flock and worship the God of Light.

- So when Salem came about and spoke about her plight with Ozma's death, he brought him back on her request.

- Ooo did God of Light get mad about balance and stuff. God of Dark was like, "Bro, This my first follower. Why you gotta diss in my home Bro." (I totally do not mean any offense, and I don't even know that accent. Just watched TV and stuff. And I also found that to be a hilarious exchange.)

- God of Light be like "Dude...She came to me first, Bro" Then "..Bro..Sorry man. Let me fix that" and then proceeds to destroy Ozma...again..In Front of Salem. (Yikes.)

-The Brother Gods are accepting that the Humanity they created, the First Civilization is their best works together. A humanity that could wield Magic.

- Fast forward to Salem bringing the army together, facing the Gods. And lost. See quote about God of Dark gifting Magic.

- Also fast forward to God of Light Speaking to Ozma in that Between the Realms place. From here I believe that the God of Light recreated Humanity. With an addition of the Faunas. Yeah, that's it. That's how Faunas are made.

- Still here? Well. More Speculation then. Ozma was not reincarnated immediately. Nah. Given the time unknown time between Salem wandering around with Grimm and seeing Humanity tell tales about the 'Witch'. I believe that the God of Light recreated Humanity and the Faunas. After some time, he decided to bring back Ozma about the new task about judging Humanity again. Without the aid of the God of Darkness, Magic could not be spread as wide. (Oooo maybe God of Light blessed people with Silver eyes too?! That came to mind as I was typing this. Anyway.) +++++++++++++++++++++

AURA, SEMBLANCE & DUST - Soo...World of Remnant went all Super Smash or Thanos Snap. Whichever. See above about Faunas and Remnant. - So humanity is living in a world populated with Grimm as well. How they fight? Well no magic. Basic weapons...What else...

- Oh right. The destroyed bodies, the ashes of the First Civilization. You know, the one that could wield Magic. Oh what happened to them...They turned to...Dust...

- Dun Dun DUUUNNNN!

- Ahh all in good fun of World Building. That bit about Dust being people. Total Speculation....Tho it makes sense as a kind of Fossil Fuels tho....Oh what do you run on? Dead Dinosaurs from ages past. What about you. Oh you know, Dead people from the last Civilization. (Idea from RWBY Rewind about this particular snippet)

- Anyway, So Humanity had to survive. and all they had from the God of Light was just themselves...So they did good. They weaponize themselves. Aura is the manifestation of their Souls. Semblance is their expression of self. - Not much there actually. A lot of it y'll could read of the RWBY wiki I think. (I could expand but I won't for now) +++++++++++++++++++++

THE KING OF VALE AND THE RELICS - So...How did the King of Vale Unite the warring continents/faction. Oh by utterly annihilating them.

- Hmm how did one person do that? Could he have High Aura reserves like a certain Blonde Knight or a Broken Semblance that affects any and All weapons that can be magnetized.

- Oh i got it. How bout the Relic of Choice as a Crown and the Relic of Destruction as a weapon.

- Yikes.

- So Relic of Destruction is kind of self-explanatory. But Choice. My thoughts are that it can take away, influence or seize control of Freewill. Taking away their 'Choice'

-Sounds like a total Telepathic Control or something from DC or Marvel Comics.

- So the King of Vale got 'Crowned', hehehe. And his weapon of choice is one that can wipe out an army in a Swing. (I mean what else can it do. If we go by the Concept of Destruction, then it can do waay more things.)

- With the powers of the two Relics combined, the Academies of Remnant were made, blah blah blah, etc etc. Current RWBY World. +++++++++++++++++++++

Made this just to get all the theories in my head out.

It's not even close to all the head canons, theories I'd come up with.

But I'll do it again, when motivation comes again.

#rwby #rwby6 #spoilers #Lore #World Building #World of Remnant #King of Vale #Maidens #Ozpin #Ozma #Oscar #Salem #Silver Eyes #Magic #Aura #Semblance #Dust #Relic #rwby spoilers

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nezzfiction · 6 years

Text

ENMY Chapter 71 - Black and White

Chapter Synopsis: With the battle for Atlas concluded, the Kingdom is ushered into a different era of rule. Meanwhile, the greater game resumes in the fight against Salem.

Series Synopsis: Team RWBY is disbanded, and Yang must find herself new allies. For her, that might very well be yesterday’s enemies. Joining up with the likes of Emerald, Mercury, and Neo, the four will comprise Team Enemy(ENMY).

Links to read the series: Ao3 or FF.net

Or hit the jump below

Black and White

I can’t change who I love.

I can’t ask you to return my feelings.

But if you did feel the same way,

…

Would it hurt you so much to show it?

“…”

At the top of a Tower, in the night that cast shadows never-ending, Weiss stared at the back of a fluttering caped figure. Their visage stood stoic against the breeze and the ever-dark horizon. She couldn’t have known, she couldn’t have even imagined back then. Only now, did it seem so obvious.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” Weiss’s voice barely a whisper.

“…It’s meeee, who?”

“You’re her. The voice that helped me after Hades gave me the poisoned apple. The one who protected me, while I slept. And then, you helped me again when Ruby came to wake me up. That was you.”

The mysterious figure showed no signs of turning around. Her white hood hid her expression and features.

“Oh. Yeah, that was me,” the voice answered.

Weiss paused for a moment.

“…You’re Ruby’s mother.”

“Ahaha~ What gave it away?”

“Why can’t anyone find you? Why hide yourself?”

“That’s a little bit of an ask. Besides, even if I told you, you wouldn’t remember anyway~”

The sudden realization took Weiss by surprise.

“…! That’s right! After I woke up, why couldn’t I remember you?!”

“That is kind of how dreams work…”

“But! Ruby misses you! She wants to meet you! And… Yang. She feels the same way, I’m sure.”

“Oh. Yes, well,” Summer’s shoulders shifted uncomfortably. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Weiss could only continue to stare at Summer’s blurring figure. Something told her if she came too close, the woman would disappear into nothing but petals in the wind.

What a beautiful voice, Weiss thought.

It rung like the moon in a starless sky. It filled the void, and then dissipated as quickly as it came. A fleeting nature that didn’t seem real…

“Is there no way of letting us know where you are?” Weiss asked.

“Ah. You don’t need to worry about that. People will remember where I went off to soon enough.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oops. Looks like we’re out of time! Tell my daughters I miss them too! Not that you’ll remember anyway!”

“WAIT! HEY!”

…

“WEEEIIIISSSSS!!!”

“What do you want, Ruby?! I was in the middle of a very important discussion with your—!” Weiss jolted awake violently in a hospital bed. “…Where are we?”

“Told you I could wake her up,” Ruby puffed her chest out. “Now, free my prisoners!”

“Fine!” Mercury conceded and pushed the units he captured from his side of the board game to Ruby’s.

“You too, Coco! I did it without a kiss this time!”

“It was worth a shot,” the girl with sunglasses muttered, as she returned her captured pieces as well. “Welcome back to the world of the living, princess.”

“………Someone care to explain to me what exactly is going on?!”

As Weiss looked about the hospital room, there were rows of beds set up on opposite sides. While a couple of patients seemed to crowd around Ruby’s to play a board game, the others were filled with more than familiar faces.

“Oh, hey. Morning, Weiss,” Jaune waved with a bandaged arm.

“Um, good morning~” Pyrrha joined, while in the middle of feeding Jaune a sliced apple.

“What?”

“Oh, yeah. Pyrrha’s alive,” Ruby added as an afterthought.

“What?!”

“Hello, again~”

“I said, PYRRHA’S ALIVE!” Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs. “Oh, wait. You were just surprised, not that you didn’t hear me. Yeah. Cinder and Yang brought her back to life.”

“WHAT?!”

“I said…”

“She heard you!” Emerald shouted from the other bed, immediately regretting her decision. “No more yelling. It’s making my head ring.”

“Should I ask the nurse for more morphine?” Mercury offered.

“She won’t let me have anymore.”

“I can say it’s for me and just hook you up.”

“God, yes, do it. What’s it gonna cost me?”

“Your fruit jello.”

“Done. Get her ass in here.”

“So, glad all of you are so energetic after yesterday’s dramatic affairs,” a sultry voice permeated the room, and drew everyone’s focus.

“Cinder!” Emerald brightened as the young woman stopped at the foot of her bed.

“No more morphine.”

“Boo!”

Cinder continued to walk between the patients before stopping at Weiss. A single, amber eye focused on her fellow Maiden. The one previously lost in battle was replaced with a rather dignified-looking eyepatch.

“You and I have some very important matters to discuss, Weiss Schnee,” she clasped her hands behind her in an authoritative manner.

“…I suppose so,” Weiss worded warily. “You haven’t killed us yet. There must be a reason. Do you want to use me as some sort of political pawn?”

“Actually—”

“I refuse.”

Tensions rose immediately as silence filled the thick air.

Cinder gave Weiss the pregnant pause to allow the patient some time to reflect on her next words carefully. Besides, suddenly waking in a hospital bed, surrounded by allies and enemies alike, along with a resurrected Pyrrha—Cinder understood it would be enough to make anyone a little…unbalanced.

“I will choose to overlook that for now,” the Fall Maiden waved off. “First, let me say I would never dream of making a pawn of you. You’re far too powerful and individualistic for me to control, and you would prove a better asset if you acted independently. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. At this point in time, I need you to reactivate the Aegis System.”

“…What?”

“The giant force field covering the city, providing safe sanctuary to the citizens of Atlas. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

“Rrgh!”

Cinder’s snide aside, Weiss asserted the powers of the Winter Maiden, and found to her surprise she still had access to the Tower’s defense capabilities.

“After gaining full control of the Tower, I granted you the same administrative authority you once held, below my own, of course,” the woman answered Weiss’s question for her. Cinder then, tapped on her electronic ear piece and spoke into it. “How is their response, General?”

The radio cracked.

“Alliance forces are retreating. Your bluff seems to have worked.”

“And now, to make the lie—truth. That will be all, Trafalgar. I will see you and Ironwood in a few hours.”

Cinder tapped the comms off and peered deeply into Weiss’s soul, while pulling up a nearby chair. If the devil themselves sat down at the table to make a deal, Weiss surely thought it would start like this.

“Despite any personal feelings you may harbor towards me, I only hold you in the highest respects. You were truly a worthy opponent. And it is my hope, you will make for an even keener ally.”

“…”

“Upon being named Queen of Atlas,” Cinder emphasized with a gratuitous smile, “I publicly expressed my opinion of your importance to this nation. And in the backstage, rumors of a dual matriarchy have been circulated. I only await your response.”

Weiss could not keep the surprise on her face from showing. Cinder had just suggested they co-ruled Atlas together. Paranoia took reins over her thoughts. She had to figure there was some sort of scheme to it.

Just as Weiss was about to argue or search for the hidden agenda, the leader of the Kingdom leaned forward.

“Surely, you’ve realized, Weiss Schnee, this is no time to reignite a civil power struggle between us. Although, I could clearly have you erased should you refuse, finding a suitable replacement, much less controlling the Winter Maiden’s Inheritance, would prove more trouble than its worth,” Cinder’s smile was so sharp, it could cut glass. “No. Together, you and I can lead Atlas into a more promising future. You’re smart, formidable, and resolved. I have no doubt you would have made an excellent regent for this Kingdom, had I not intervened. But united,” she knotted her hands together. “We could be the unstoppable force and the immovable object.”

Cinder gestured to herself. “Queen”. Then, to Weiss. “And, Queen.”

The Fall Maiden saw the gears turning in the other’s head.

“Take your time to digest this information. Think on it, consult your confidants. I will await your answer with bated expectation.”

“…” Weiss closed her eyes solemnly. “As if I have an actual choice in the matter.”

“Hm. I understand the doubts you hold, but in time, you will see I am true to my word. Because deep down, in your heart of practical hearts you know the same truth I do.” Her tone went even. “You and I are essential to the Kingdom of Atlas—completely ingrained and irreplaceable.”

“…”

“Besides,” she added with a wave. “Having you as a puppet would be such a waste. No, I need to put you to work as soon as possible. The Great War resumes, my fellow Queen. I expect you to report for duty in two days and no later.”

“I…” Weiss gripped her bedsheets tightly. “…will think on it.”

Without waiting for further response, Cinder tossed Weiss a snow-white signet ring she had already prepared. It matched Cinder’s own char black one on her index finger. The ring bore the Schnee family crest embedded with the Fall family’s insignia. Its significance was not lost on Weiss.

The Queen then, strode out of the hospital ward, already making another call on her ear piece. Once she was gone, the Winter Maiden gazed down at the piece of jewelry. Her mind trying to absorb the symbol and the weight carried within it.

“Unbelievable…” she muttered dishearteningly. “Must she always act like she knows everything?”

““Pretty much.”” Emerald and Mercury said together.

“At least we’re not dead,” Coco commented.

“Unbelievable,” Weiss continued to mutter, burying her head in her knees. “This is disgraceful.”

“Yeah. You should be grateful,” Mercury said.

“No, Merc. She said disgraceful. With a ‘dissss’,” Ruby corrected.

“Oh. You can make out the difference in that?”

“Weiss does this all the time when she gets embarrassed or really emotional.”

“Ruby! Why are you acting so friendly with them?! Team ENMY corrupted this Kingdom, started a battle between the Alliance and Atlas, and placed a complete sociopath in control of this nation!”

“Hey!” Emerald took offense. “This Kingdom was already corrupted before we got here, so we didn’t have anything to do with that! Boom!”

“Boom!” Mercury echoed.

“This Kingdom is doomed,” Weiss palmed her face. After a few more agonizing sighs and groans, she leaned back into the recline of her bed. “I suppose I have Yang Xiao Long to thank for all of this…”

“Yeah! You do!”

“No, Merc,” Ruby corrected him again. “She was being sarcastic.”

“Really? I swear, I cannot get a beat on this girl.”

“Nah,” Emerald joined. “It’s just that everything she says sounds so whiny and complainy, you just can’t tell.”

“Oh, makes sense. Knew it couldn’t have been me.”

“And by the way, snow angel. You should be thanking Yang—for like—everything.”

Weiss glared, but stopped at Ruby tugging at her sleeve.

“You were asleep when they told us. Yang… she made sure the least amount of damage as possible was done.”

“What?”

“You idiots were going to fight a war with the Alliance anyway,” Emerald elaborated. “Because we triggered the battle prematurely, everyone’s plans were messed up, so both sides entered the battle looking for an excuse to leave it from the get-go. It’s why all the soldiers wanted to retreat so quickly. Duh!”

“…”

“She also made a deal with Cinder,” Ruby resumed. “Apparently, there were a bunch of conditions. One of them, was that Cinder would offer to rule Atlas with you.”

“Yeah!” Emerald glared. “Yang was the one, who convinced Cinder you were too useful to kill. That she stood a better chance of defeating Salem with the current Winter Maiden alive. Cause of that, killing any of your little friends is also off the table. You’re welcome!”

“…Unbelievable.”

“I’m starting to think that word doesn’t mean what she thinks it means,” Mercury commented.

The door to the patient room opened again to a nurse-cosplaying Neo arriving with a bowl of ice cream.

“Nurse! I need more morphine!” Emerald raised her hand. “These assholes are giving me a migraine!”

Neo only shoved more spoonfuls of ice cream into her mouth with a blank look.

“Damn it, Neo! Get me Yang or something!”

“Heyo?”

Yang followed Neo right after, and an awkward pause hung in the air for a second or two.

“Yang, go steal me some morphine.”

“Is that what the doctor prescribed?” Yang asked with a smirk.

“FUCK what the doctor prescribed! I’m your team leader, and I order you to steal me some pain pills!”

“Okay, okay. Take it easy, Em,” the blonde girl snickered. “I knew you’d want some anyway, so…” With a flick of her wrist, she materialized a bottle of pills and tossed it to Emerald. “Now, only take two every—she just downed the whole bottle. Kay, maybe some private sleepy time would be best. Neo?”

The petite girl nodded and began to wheel Emerald to a private room. Once they were gone, Mercury threw one of the game pieces at Yang to get her attention.

“Hey, so is the pharmacy closed, or do you have any more hospital presents?”

“Those were placebos, Merc. You didn’t really think I was gonna give her a full bottle of painkillers, did you?”

“I can dream.”

“The dream’s dead, buddy. Just gonna have to make due with classic R&R—or until Jaune gets his mojo back.”

“Hey, miracle touch! How close are you till your Semblance is back online?” Mercury yelled over to the other bed.

“Not soon,” Jaune replied flatly.

Mercury motioned for Yang to lean close for a whisper. “You think he’s still mad I ate his cereal that one time?”

“Ohhhhh yeah. Totes.”

After a small laugh, Yang turned to face Weiss.

“Weiss.”

“Yang.”

The Winter Maiden took one more glance about the room.

“…Where’s Blake? I also don’t see Qrow, Raven, or Adam here.”

“Qrow’s being held nearby.” Yang shrugged. “He’s fine, Ruby,” she added after seeing worry in her little sister.

“As for Blake…”

X X X X X

(Yesterday, shortly after Pyrrha’s revival)

“As much as I’d hate to break this tearful reunion,” Cinder rolled her eye at the sight of Jaune weeping openly into Pyrrha’s arms. “I believe we should start cleaning up this mess.”

Yang took a cursory glance at the heavily injured bodies of her former teammates.

“Yeah. Also, I’m worried about Em and Merc.”

“As am I.”

“…”

“…? What?”

“Nothing. Just didn’t expect you to come out and say something like that.”

“Hmph. Enough of that,” Cinder dismissed. “Raven’s condition is also a point of concern.”

“Neo did her job. Their fight ended the cleanest.”

“Yes, but I doubt the replication of Ruby Rose’s Magic can imprison her for long. We would do well to confirm her capture as soon as—”

The two Maidens jumped back at the sudden cascade of black miasma flooding the chamber.

“Blake?!” Yang shouted into the fog. “This fight’s over! It won’t be hard to put you down again, so let’s give it a rest! Look, Pyrrha’s alive! We should just…”

“NoO!!!” Blake’s distorted voice grew with the encroaching haze. “It’S A TrIcK!!! pYRHhA’S DEaD!!”

“Blake! Stop this, now! Your Semblance is getting too close to them!!!”

“IT’s a LIE!!!!”

A giant, shadow cat leapt at Pyrrha, and was about to bite down on her, when Jaune raise his shield. Blake’s teeth engulfed his arm, sinking the corruptive substance into his skin. The young man buckled in pain, but then glowed with an argent hue that flickered like a dying light bulb.

“Damn it!”

Yang catapulted forward, only for her punch to whiff through the smoke. The cat Faunus reappeared at a distance, her Semblance still billowing around her. Her expression twisted in anguish as she braced the sides of her head.

“It CaN’T be…!! PyrHHa iS DeAD!”

“Blake! Get a grip—”

Cinder laid a hand on Yang’s shoulder.

“It’s meaningless trying to get through to her,” the Fall Maiden stopped her comrade, and stepped forward. “You’re there, aren’t you? I knew the moment I saw your pet project materialize your Grimoire. So, Blake Belladonna is to be your next vessel?”

Blake stopped rocking back and forth. She stepped out of the fog to reveal tattoos painted across her body. Dark cracks webbed her skin and the whites in her eyes were inked jet black.

“Is that surprise I detect in your voice, dearest Cinder?” Blake spoke in a tone that was not her own. “Surely, you must have known this would happen, or did the infallible Cinder Fall make such a simple oversight?”

“Salem…” Cinder scowled. “I’m only too happy that you didn’t choose Raven, as I had initially predicted.”

“You do have a bad habit of overlooking simple clues, after deciding on an obvious outcome.”

“SALEM!!!” Yang’s voice boomed with a roaring fire.

The sudden plume of fire made the chamber shake with a violent tremor.

“Ah, yes, the Maiden of Spring. Are you absolutely sure you wish to act on this impulse? Your friends seem to be in awful vulnerable proximity.” Blake looked to Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune still injured on the floor. “They ARE still in fact your friends, I presume? No matter how much you hide it or shun it—or earn their deepest ire, it does not bode well do deny it. This latest development just proves that. You cannot change who you love. Isn’t that correct, Cinder?”

The two Maidens went silent, thinking on their next move. As if to make sure they didn’t find such an alternative, Blake materialized the black tome they saw in their previous battle. From its flipping pages, an unfamiliar emblem projected from it.

“Allow me to retreat with Adam and Raven, or there will be irreversible consequences.”

“No deal,” Yang answered.

“I must concur,” Cinder added.

“There is no shame in acquiescing as small a defeat as this, following such a grand victory,” Salem spoke amiably. “With my possession of Blake Belladonna, it would not take much to render this chamber inoperable. Not only that, but killing your friends would be such a simple feat. It would require the sacrifice of this vessel, but… I do what I must,” Salem revealed a sorrowful expression. “Meet my demands, Cinder. I will not ask again.”

“…You may take Adam only.”

“Tsk tsk tsk. Oh, dear. Contrary to what you think, Raven is my willing accomplice. Even should you keep her, you would not be able to hold her. You know this better than anyone.”

Salem’s words cut deeper than Cinder could have imagined. She bit so hard into her bottom lip that it bled freely. She wanted with everything to destroy the one standing in front of her, even it was just a possession.

“This changes nothing.”

A calm voice reverberated at her side.

“This changes nothing, Cinder,” Yang repeated. “We’ll find her again. And next time, we’ll be ready—it just won’t be today…”

“…” The Fall Maiden blinked slowly and sighed. “You are correct, Yang. We did not prepare for this thoroughly. One of her best cards has been revealed. There is a bigger game to be won.”

“Yeah…”

The two Maidens eased their fighting stances.

“Leave,” Cinder snarled. “Begone from my sight, Witch.”

Blake gave off a lighthearted chuckle.

“Do not be discouraged, young Cinder. I’ve just been playing this game longer than you have. Well, until we meet again. I bid you farewell, Maiden of Fall and Maiden of Spring.”

With a bow, Blake disappeared in a shock of smoke.

Upon reviving everyone from their sleep, Yang and Cinder would find Raven and Adam gone.

A bitter taste of chagrin left in the back of their thoughts.

X X X X X

“…That’s all I came here to say,” Yang stood from her chair, after explaining the events that transpired after the battle.

“Yang,” Weiss called out to her. Her brow knitted with conflicting thoughts. “I’m sorry I dishonored our duel.”

“I think we’re way past apologies by now.”

“But that is all I am sorry for.”

“…”

“You caused all of this. I understand why you did it. I don’t blame you, but I will hold you accountable. This situation, the things you’ve set into motion, and the damages you’ve caused—they’re also responsibilities of the victor. You may have done it for good reasons, but I can only wonder if a day doesn’t come where you won’t regret winning. I was prepared for all the consequences and its burdens. Are you?”

They stood in a tense silence for a moment, before Yang chuckled.

“Heh! You’re putting way too much care into playing the good loser, Weiss. All I did was act on a bunch of selfish whims. There’s nothing to regret for me.”

“…”

Just as Yang was making her way through the door, she stopped. Her expression etched in stone.

“Accept Cinder’s deal, Weiss. We don’t have time to waste fighting you. I’d rather put my fist through Salem’s face then yours. Blake needs my help, and so do both my moms. If you do anything to stop me again, I swear, I’ll end you the next time. That’s a promise.”

As Yang moved into the hallway, she took a stuttering breath to settle her nerves.

“Are you alright?” a concerned voice asked.

“Yeah. I’m good. How was Qrow?”

“He’s agreed to speak with you.”

“About time. Hey, before you go in there, you should probably take it a little easy on her.”

“Did you?”

“No, but we’re not friends anymore. All love lost between us.”

“…”

“See ya around.” Yang passed.

“…Yes. Around,” the other responded promptly before entering the patient room.

The woman strode to Weiss’s bed with a perfect, military gait.

“Weiss.”

In the wake of the visitor’s curt greeting, Weiss froze absolutely still. Her already pale complexion lost any color it had. The sight alone made her heart stop beating.

“I see your recovery is proceeding well,” the woman resumed. “Do you require anything? Water, medicine, I thought of bringing a get-well gift, but all I could think of was this.”

She produced Myrtenaster from her back and laid it across Weiss’s lap.

“Uh-buh-wuh!”

“…?” the woman tilted her head. “Have your injuries impaired your vocals?”

“WINTER?!” Weiss screamed.

There, standing before the Weiss, was her sister, Winter Schnee.

“Yes. I’ve recovered from being bedridden,” Winter’s harsh expression softened into a smile. “I understand I’ve been asleep for quite some time. You must have been worried, even if you shouldn’t have.”

“BUT—! HOW?!”

“How do you think?”

Weiss blinked repeatedly with tears in her eyes. Her emotions had taken repeated heavy blows in the last hour alone. It was enough to offset anyone’s reactions.

“Yang,” she muttered. “She…?”

“Yes. She played a significant part in my recovery. On that note,” Winter moved to her sister’s bedside with an *ahem*.

A direct chop delivered with the firm edge of her hand knocked the younger sibling on the head.

“OW!”

“You boob! What’s this I hear about you severing relations with your comrade, attempting to kill her, all for the sake of avenging my injuries?”

“BUT! But—She tried to kill you!”

“It was war, Weiss. She and I stepped onto the battlefield knowing our lives could be forfeit at any given moment, or that we would have to take it. Do not bring your personal feelings into an outcome that is empty of any singular person’s fault. If it was not Yang, it could have easily been any other. Such is the nature of war.”

“But…!” Weiss refused to listen. “I can’t forgive her. I just… can’t. Even if she did wake you from your coma. She tried to kill you knowing exactly what it meant.”

“Hm, this is true—” Winter nodded. “But also, untrue.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am saying Yang Xiao Long was in control of her actions, but as I’m familiar with, the Reaper’s Semblance does tend to skew one’s perceptions and behaviors.”

“Winter, what are you talking about?” Weiss asked slowly.

“And as I observed, I believe that was the first instance Yang utilized its true nature. A rampant bloodthirst, followed by a knee-jerk response to releasing such aggression of newfound power. It is simply the way events unfolded, I suppose.”

“Wait, I don’t understand!”

“I’ve bore witness to something similar in the past. Tragedy tends to haunt the Branwen line. Not to say Yang Xiao Long should be absolved of any guilt. We must all bear the full weight of our actions…” Winter flashed a deep sorrow at a thought. “But there is a pain there, a suffering that we will never understand. They are born thinking they are cursed—”

Winter rubbed her arm uncertainly.

“And sometimes, due to those around them—”

“They may actually start to believe it.”

X X X X X

“We’re cursed, aren’t we?”

“What? You just getting that now?” Qrow replied.

In a surprisingly luxurious cell made to confine preferentially treated prisoners, Yang and Qrow spoke at length. Rather than a cell, it resembled a reserve suite at a five-star hotel. Accommodations included a lavish bed and furniture, a shelf full of books to read from, and even a television set. There was also a rather large window, though, extremely reinforced and unopenable.

But the only thing Qrow cared for was—

“Kid, tell me you at least brought something to drink with you.”

“I did,” Yang replied shortly.

“So?”

“So, you need to listen to something that I have to say—sober.”

“Goddamn it, Yang,” Qrow grasped at his disheveled hair. “Do you know what withdrawal does to a person? You think I’m in a real state of mind to listen to anything?!”

“Maybe not… Or maybe I just wanted you to be a bit tender for it.”

“Taking sadist lessons from your new friend, I see.”

“This is actually the watered-down version of what I had in mind. You can thank Cinder for that.”

“…”

Yang could feel Qrow’s Reaper Semblance reliving a thousand scenarios, where she could die. There was no way to block it out, no way to lose himself elsewhere. And she thought, this was probably the most vulnerable she’s ever seen him.

“You’ve been lying to Ruby her whole life.”

“…”

“Doesn’t matter that she knew the truth. You pretended to be her Uncle and her teacher and took every chance to run off when you thought you were getting too close. I don’t even remember how many times, when things were going so nice for you guys, you suddenly had some ‘Huntsman’ business to take care of. But Ruby never blamed you. She did everything to grow into a daughter you could be proud of, while you were busy putting up your damn walls.”

“What I did was to protect her!”

“Just like how mom lied to you and all of us?”

Qrow was seething with rage. His usual control over his emotions was absent with his forced sobriety.

“I don’t care if it’s a low blow,” Yang crossed her arms. “Can you actually say your lies were for the better after learning Summer’s been alive this whole time? You need to set things straight with Ruby. She deserves it… And, I guess you do too, a little.”

“Ruby doesn’t need another father in her life. She has Tai.”

“People can have two dads, Qrow! Stop trying to look for a way out of this.”

“I guess thanks to you, I don’t.”

“…I’ve said what I wanted to say. If you want to keep playing the stubborn old man, then that’s that.”

“…” Qrow turned a stern stare towards her niece. “So, you’ve stopped me from synchronizing with Oz. Again.”

“Yeah,” Yang frowned. “After seeing what happened with Blake, I can’t help but think I made the right call.”

“You don’t understand. We need Oz.”

“No, it’s you, who doesn’t understand. Neither of you.”

Something in Yang’s demeanor pierced Qrow’s physical form. She spoke to her Uncle, but also to the one taking residency in his body.

“I don’t know what you’ve seen, and I don’t pretend like I do. But you’ve lost all faith in people.”

“…”

The red gleam in Yang’s irises burned with anger.

“I’ve seen what this secret war between two immortals is doing. You’ll never beat Salem, and it’s no longer up to you. It’s the responsibility of the people who live in the here and now to decide what happens to their world.”

Yang grabbed Qrow by the collar.

“You guys have played your game for the last time. We are gonna be the ones to end this.” Yang shoved a small flask into Qrow’s chest. “Ruby’s going to come around eventually. You better milk that flask for all its worth, ‘cause you won’t be getting any more.”

She let go and breathed a long exhale to cool her anger.

“I am close friends with the Queen after all. Comes with a few perks. One of them being, the ability to force a stubborn old man to talk to his daughter, at least once.”

“What do you plan to do next?”

Yang narrowed her brow. The verdant green of another shone within her Uncle’s soul.

“…I think you already know.”

As Yang was about to leave, she caught a silver flask thrown at her. When she turned around, Qrow was massaging the bags under his eyelids, looking for a book to keep him occupied. She had second thoughts about keeping alcohol away from him, but then banished the thought.

Yang left the facility, while gritting her teeth. Her hands dug into her pockets, while she made her moody, brisk walk across the courtyard. She wanted to find Neo as soon as possible. Her partner always set her at ease, or at least made the tough times more bearable.

...

“…I don’t know if I’m in the mood for this right now. And, shouldn’t you be resting?”

“I need to know.”

Yang thought about refusing, before motioning to a nearby bench. The two then, sat down under the chill, Atlesian blue sky. They could see the slight rippling of the Aegis System’s shield above. The sun shined through, like some beacon demanding truth in its plainest.

Yang hated it with something vitriol today.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Jaune asked after a time. “Why didn’t you tell us you were trying to revive Pyrrha?”

“…”

“The things I said.”

“You meant them. They were the truth, and nothing changes that. It’s fine. No hard feelings.”

“Yang… Tell me why.”

“You’re a big boy, Jaune. Plus, I’m sure you spent a lot of time thinking about the reason already. Unless Pyrrha distracted you that much.”

Jaune stared at her, but Yang only continued to look towards the sky, trying to get lost in the passing clouds. He drew a deep breath.

“You wanted to take the decision out of our hands,” he finally said.

“…”

“You knew, if you told us the truth, we would’ve had to fight Weiss. We would’ve had to help Cinder take over this Kingdom. A lot of people would have to…”

His voice trailed off at the sight of rising smoke. They came from the crashed airships on the outskirts. It was only a day since the battle between Atlas and the Alliance took place. Wounds were still fresh from the war’s visit to this nation. The sight still burned vividly into the memory of its citizens.

“You wanted to spare us the guilt.”

Yang remained silent, which all but confirmed Jaune’s suspicions.

“Yang, I don’t know how I can—I don’t know what I can do.”

“Why would you do anything?”

“…?”

“You’re super off, by the way. I didn’t tell you guys, ‘cause you wouldn’t have been any help. And there’s no way you would’ve fought Weiss, even for Pyrrha’s sake. You probably wouldn’t have believed Cinder in the first place.”

“Yang…” Jaune could only respond, in the face of the obvious lie. “I wish there was some way—"

“You really want to owe me one, Jaune?” Yang asked with a sting in her tone. “Don’t ever ask me about this ever again. Just be happy Pyrrha’s alive. Now, if we’re done, I got things to do.” She stood from the bench and began walking off.

As Jaune was about to go after her, the sound of breaking glass stopped him in his steps. Neo appeared from behind and held the point of her parasol underneath his chin.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Weiss. I don’t regret anything,” Yang said without turning around.

Neo let Jaune go before following after her partner.

…I just feel everything.

X X X X X

“…Are you sure we should be allocating so much of our resources in the shorter term, Ma’am? I understand the intent, but with this plan, Atlas runs the risk of experiencing a depression some ten years down the line.”

“To assure Atlas exists at the end of this year, drastic measures must be taken,” Cinder answered.

The Queen looked down the length of the table and saw no more opposition. She scanned the papers in front of her and swore she saw the letters jumble into a mess.

“That will be all for today, ladies and gentlemen. Any other matters will have to be tabled until tomorrow’s discussions.”

One of the members of the Board was about to object, when Trafalgar intervened.

“Her Majesty has only recently ascended to her position as sovereign of this nation. Before that, she took part in the defense of our home against the Alliance. I think it would do well not to tax her so heavily, so soon.”

“I am well-acclimated to working under less than ideal conditions, General,” Cinder responded.

“We know that very well, Ma’am. What I said was not meant to undermine you. It was to emphasize that you are still human, and the fact that you are this Kingdom’s leader, means it lives and dies with you. That said, it is my professional opinion that you take care of yourself, and that we, as your cabinet, make sure you do so.”

“…”

A smart one, this Trafalgar. He will prove extremely useful.

“Meeting adjourned,” Cinder called the conference to an end.

When the members of the cabinet filtered out of the room, with Trafalgar the last to leave, Cinder turned down the lights. She stared at the walled windows pensively, not to the outside, but at her own transparent reflection. Her greatest battle took place only yesterday, but there was only so little time to rest. As Raven taught her, the next battle was always waiting.

“Should you really be out and about so early from the hospital?” Cinder heard Trafalgar’s voice outside.

“I’m in fine health, General. I can’t rest easily, not when our Kingdom stands at such a crucial juncture,” a familiar voice replied.

“Hmmm. Though I may not be in a position to say this myself, it would do well for you two to take the time you need to recover and avoid overwork. Much rests on both your shoulders.”

“And what exactly would that imply?”

“Nothing, Miss Schnee. Only my hopes that the rumors of a second queen would be true.”

“That will be all, General.”

With the end of their conversation, Weiss entered the conference room.

“He’s a clever one, that Trafalgar,” Cinder commented.

“My teacher is well-versed in adapting to new situations and acting accordingly.”

“Do you think we should give him more responsibility, then?”

“’We’?”

“Yes, of course. Let us continue this charade of you possibly planning to refuse my offer.”

Weiss didn’t rise to Cinder’s bait but joined her in facing the window. The patient, who recently snuck out of the hospital, still had bandages showing just barely outside her dress. Compared to their talk only a few hours ago, the Winter Maiden was much more composed and steady.

It seems the student demonstrates the same adaptability as her teacher, Cinder thought.

“I wish to know your reasons before going any further,” Weiss told her. “You clearly could force me into a subordinate role, but instead offered me a position of equal power. I understand you made a deal with Yang, but does it really compel you such extents?”

“Would it ease you to be given a less integral role?” Cinder asked teasingly. Taking Weiss’s silence as her answer, Cinder continued. “No, I thought not. To answer your question, only as an equal would you be able to draw out the fullest measure of my potential. The same can be said vice versa, of course.”

“Your potential?”

“Indeed. Let me make one thing clear. While Yang may have suggested keeping you in a position of power under my rule—it was my own decision to make you Queen.” Cinder materialized a poor obsidian dagger and began sharpening it.

“…And why in the world would you ever think that would be a good idea?”

“Because I came to realize something after meeting Yang.” Cinder heated the dagger to more refinement. “Opposition hones one’s self, not only from her enemies, but also her allies. My growth would be nowhere near as extensive without the consulting perspectives of my confidants, especially in their disagreements.”

Cinder handed Weiss the glass blade, still glowing hot.

“I have no need of subordinates who simply bend to my will. I require equals with abilities and principles different from my own, to provide balance and completeness in vision. Ying and Yang. Black and White.”

Weiss took the hot knife and chilled it to a complete form. She peered into her own reflection in the weapon for a while.

“…I have a few conditions before accepting my position,” Weiss said.

“I figured as much. Name them.”

“I understand you’ve taken control of my family’s company during my absence. I want it returned. I also want you to relinquish your stranglehold on this Kingdom’s economy.”

“Easily done. You may keep your company. I’ve never possessed much of a business acumen, nor has money ever interested me. Such a false sense of wealth and power.” Cinder examined her nails in thought. “You may oversee the economy going forward, but I expect you to support me as director of all affairs military. The S.D.C. will no longer own the Atlesian Fleet in the shadows.”

“…Fine.”

“We have other matters to sort, but they can wait for another time. I take it you’ve accepted my offer?”

“Yes. I accept the terms,” Weiss spoke evenly.

“Very well, then. I look forward to working with you, White Queen.” Cinder extended her hand.

There was only a brief delay before Weiss shook it. The Winter Maiden turned the glass dagger in her other hand and handed it to the other.

The Black Queen turned the weapon in a similar manner.

“Hm. Well-balanced.”

X X X X X

Seeing Yang and Neo wrapped in each other’s arms, sleeping soundly in the living room of the Mantle Mansion—Cinder decided to leave the two to their own.

As she wandered the vast estate, she entertained the idea of visiting Emerald and Mercury, but quickly dismissed it. They needed their rest and, although she reached a new level of transparency with them, exposing her loneliness was out of the question.

Deciding that sleep was the best option, she entered a private sector of the house. It was a place that held special meaning. A room Raven once stayed in…

…

“Now, this is a pleasant surprise,” Cinder grinned.

“You really shouldn’t wander around by yourself without any guards.”

“I remember you saying something similar in the past.”

She walked over and sat on the bed, close to Raven. Her old mentor gave a weary sigh.

“Your guard is down.”

“I wasn’t aware it needed to be ready. Or are we playing that kind of game?”

“You always had a bad habit of playing with fire.”

“And you always liked playing with pretty, little sharp things. A taste your daughter seems to have acquired.”

Raven scoffed at that.

“Will you be staying the night or...”

“Business, Cinder.”

“Before pleasure?”

Raven took Cinder’s chin and locked her in her eyes.

“Take off your dress.”

“No foreplay?”

Raven turned her around and forcefully untied the dress from behind. There, she saw a large scorch mark with the remnants of what was once a tattoo.

“You burned it…” Raven said half-impressed and half in disbelief.

“I had an idea of what it was. It appeared after I took the Fall Maiden’s Inheritance. Care to enlighten me?”

“It was Salem’s mark. Proof you’ve used her Magic.” Raven turned her around in anger. “You were lucky. You didn’t know, but you would’ve been made Salem’s vessel if you didn’t make that guess. It was still stupid to rely on her in the first place.”

“If you were around, maybe it wouldn’t have come to that,” Cinder said with a slight hurt in her voice.

“How many times do I have to repeat myself before it sinks into your thick head? I did what was best for both of us. You will always live a better life without me!”

“And how many times have I told you that I want a life with you?!”

The two were about to exchange another string of angry words, when they realized they should be quieter.

“You never came to see me,” Cinder said softly.

“I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“You didn’t come for me, when I was trapped in the Never Realm.”

“…”

“You didn’t come for me, after I was revived by your daughter.”

“…”

“You didn’t try to find me, when I returned to Atlas.”

“…”

“Only at my most powerful, when I need you least, do you show yourself.”

“……That’s right.”

Cinder’s Aura materialized into falling ash. Her anger and sorrow surged.

“Why, Raven? Why didn’t you come for me?!”

“I have no excuse.”

“You love me! SO, WHY?!”

“I don’t.”

“You’re lying!”

“You don’t know anything! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A CHILD! I took advantage of you and made you dependent! I reciprocated something I shouldn’t have, and that was a mistake!”

“You can’t hide from what you truly feel.”

“There’s only one person I ever loved. And it wasn’t you.”

Seeing the pain cross Cinder’s expression caused Raven to get up and fall into the nearest chair. The older woman felt an unbearable guilt by the time the words left her lips. Emotions always ran high when Cinder was concerned—as well as a persistent headache. She said so many things she never meant. This girl Raven met as a child and raised into a young woman. On her personal long list of reasons to hate herself, this was one of the more prominent.

…

“…I tried to find you,” Raven admitted.

“I know.”

“I tried to kill the previous Spring Maiden myself.”

“I know.”

The older woman stared at her wide-eyed.

“You knew I tried to save you?!”

“I knew,” the Fall Maiden spoke with a bitterness. “I wanted to torture you a little. How does it feel to be on the other end?”

Raven scratched her head in frustration. When she was ready to yell more, Cinder pushed herself onto her lap.

“I can see it. You wish I loved another. You think you aren’t worth loving, because you’re cursed.”

“…”

“What a foolish sentiment.” Cinder weaved her hands through Raven’s hair, and then held her face in her palms. “Even if such a thing were true, I can’t change who I love…”

She planted a teary kiss on the other’s lips.

“I can’t ask you to return my feelings. But if you did feel the same way……Would it hurt you so much to show it?” Cinder pleaded.

“…It would.”

Raven picked her up, and then pressed Cinder into the bed.

“It would.”

#rwby #yang xiao long #weiss schnee #cinder fall #raven branwen #cinder x raven #ENMY

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