#it was a loooong time ago. my memories might not be reliable

[eerna]

Do you like Lore Olympus? I don’t know why but I never got into it and the art style wasn’t for me.

I used to like it when I was young and it was still being published on tumblr, but when I tried to read it after it got picked up by Webtoon a couple years later... y i i i i ii i k e s. It's basically every NA romance but in comic form. I don't even mind the art style, as long as it's not Persephone bc that girl has the cringiest design ever and I am uncomfortable with looking at her

[nezzfiction]

ENMY Ch. 42 - Burning Rose

Chapter Synopsis: After the battle between Team ENMY and Team RNJR come to a close, and a surprise visit from Raven Branwen and Adam Taurus, Yang and company were forced to retreat. Now, they must rest and heal. The next turn of their fates is anyone’s guess. Branded enemies of the state by three separate Kingdoms, their journey grows ever perilous. Their challenges, more daunting. And in-between, the relationship between Yang and Ruby will never be the same.

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.

Links to read the series: Ao3 or FF.net

Or hit the jump below

Burning Rose

.

Red like roses fills my dreams.

Yellow beauty burns gold.

.

.

“Think fast, Jauney boy!”

As soon as Emerald entered the living room, she pitched a box of cereal at the young man as fast as she could.

To her surprise, Jaune caught it.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Reparations. A peace offering to avoid a hungry-kill situation.”

“…”

Emerald went into the kitchen for a moment and came back with a bowl, spoon, and milk. She placed the set on the coffee table, at Jaune’s disposal. An amiable, business-like grin plastered on her face.

The only one present, besides Jaune and Emerald, was Taiyang in his barcalounger chair. He viewed the scene with vested interest. It was a funny feeling, but he couldn’t get over the teammates his daughter had chosen. There was certainly never a boring moment with them around.

“I thought you barely had any lien. Your accounts should be frozen, so how did you buy that?” he asked.

“Please, only chumps keep their money in government-influenced banks. No offense, if that’s your prerogative. But people in my line of work usually like to keep funds off the books and far out of legal reach.”

“You mean, criminals.”

“Employees of an unorthodox profession.”

“Criminals.”

“To-may-to, to-mah-to.”

“No one ever says to-mah-to.”

“I’m starting to see where Yang gets it from…” Emerald flipped onto the remaining sofa surrounding the coffee table, and started filing her nails. “Anyway, thank goodness for Midas Underground Banking. The only way to keep a tomato’s money safe. Are you gonna eat or what, Jaune? I could’ve stolen it, but I bought it with my own cash to ease your conscience.”

Jaune stared at the girl, and then at Taiyang, who shrugged. He started pouring a bowl for himself.

“Do you believe in destiny?” he asked Emerald.

“Nope!”

“I do. And when the time comes, we’ll settle the score.”

“……Yeah, kid,” she muttered, while examining her nails. “If you’re still raw, come at us whenever you like.”

“Want to have a friendly match after I’m done eating?”

“I must kindly, and politely, decline your offer.”

“Guess, we’ll have to wait till later.”

“Sure, if someone else hasn’t beaten you to it. We’re the enemy of a lot of grudges, after all. Each of us has a loooong waiting line.”

“Yeah. Yang’s especially.”

“Where is the lion queen, anyway?”

“Who knows,” Jaune crunched a mouthful of cereal.

“I wonder, who’s first in line to kick her ass.”

.

* * * * *

.

“I don’t understand…” Ruby said in a small voice.

“Don’t understand what, Ruby?”

Yang crossed her arms in a stand-offish manner. There was nothing soft or friendly in her tone. An almost open hostility exuded from her.

“I don’t understand what’s going on with you!!!” Ruby exploded. “I don’t know what to think! I just want to talk with you! I JUST WANT TO UNDERSTAND YOU!!!”

“Why? So, we can be the best sisters ever, again? You need to grow up.”

“Why can’t we? Why can’t things just be the same again?!” *Hicc* “We’re together again. We’re home. But now, it’s all messed up…”

Ruby buried her face in her hands.

A sad silence drawn between them. For a little while, only distant thunder provided the only source of noise.

“You’re the one, who messed everything up, Ruby.”

“……What?”

The younger sister raised her head from her palms.

“What did you say?”

“YOU LEFT ME!!! YOU ALL LEFT ME!!! Weiss and Blake, I can understand, but YOU! You followed me everywhere, but once I wasn’t the big sister you looked up to, YOU LEFT ME!!!”

“B-b-but I couldn’t bring you. It was dangerous and—”

“DON’T LIE! You ditched me because I was dead weight to you! You abandoned me because you thought I was useless! YOU ONLY WANT ME BACK BECAUSE I’M STRONGER AGAIN!!!”

“That’s not why! I was afraid you’d get hurt again if you came with us!!!” Ruby screamed back. “I want us to get along again, because I love you!!! I missed you! I still do, because you’re not acting like yourself at all!”

“And how’s ‘myself? The nice, older sister that always spoiled you? Who always had to look after you, and protect you, and make you feel better? I’ve noticed, you know. How upset you get when I’m around my team.”

“I don’t get upset…!”

“How you wish you and me were working on my arm, instead of Mercury.”

“That’s not true…!”

“How I pay more attention to Neo than you.”

“I said, that’s not true!”

“But, hey. I get where you’re coming from. Emerald’s kind of like my big sister now. Trying to do what’s best for me, even when I don’t listen. Does it hurt that I replaced you with them?”

“THEY CAN’T REPLACE ME!!!”

The thunderstorm that rumbled in the distance, was now hailing rain on the cliffside. Violent gales blew with enough force to drag Ruby’s hood from her face.

There, all her anger was laid bare. Her silver eyes glinted with a fierceness. The cape fluttering in the wind, expanded to an enormous size. It lent the image of a hauntingly red ghost.

“Finally,” Yang muttered.

Her hair shuttered with a brief glow. A fire stoked behind her blood-red irises. She bore her teeth, like a wrathful dragon.

“Finally.”

.

* * * * *

.

“They’re weird.”

Emerald and Taiyang turned to Jaune, while sipping on hot chocolate. It was a cozy environment, with the storm raging outside and the fireplace lit.

“They’re weird, right?” he repeated.

“Who are we talking about?” Emerald asked.

“Ruby and Yang. They’re really weird siblings…”

“I guess. I mean, they’re not blood-related, or anything.”

“That’s not the point. It feels like, they get along too well. Or they try really hard to.”

“That’s weird? I thought that was just how happy-go-lucky families were.”

“Huh,” Taiyang blurted. “I remember Qrow saying the exact same thing. Even Raven mentioned it a couple times before.”

“I have seven sisters and they fight every second of every day. They’ll argue over something as little as walking into the room at the wrong time. They’d scream and yell about what to watch on TV or who gets the last dessert. It can get pretty crazy…”

“…… I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ruby and Yang so much as argue,” Taiyang admitted. “Not like what you’re describing. One of them would always give in before it went too far.”

“They were even on the same team. And they were always together, getting along, supporting each other. I remember thinking, maybe that’s just how other siblings are. But now, looking back, I think it was strange.”

“Siblings, huh?”

“Siblings fight.”

“I’ve never seen them fight.”

“It’s almost like, they purposely try to do everything not to.”

Jaune and Taiyang contemplated it for a while. They thought, even close friends would get angry with each other at some points in their lives. Even the best of ones.

“HAHAHA!” Emerald suddenly cackled.

“What’s so funny?” Jaune asked.

“Nothing! I could just totally see Yang doing that. At least, the old Yang. Pretending to be the big, reliable sister, when she’s actually really annoyed on the inside.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being good to your younger sibling.”

“Doesn’t sound like there’s nothing too right about it either. I don’t believe in dancing around hot button issues.”

“Really?” Jaune noted with skepticism. “That sounds exactly like something you’d do.”

“It was… until an idiot and I learned why we shouldn’t. Better to pull the pin on purpose than letting the bomb sit in your bed.”

Taiyang’s thoughts drifted to memories surrounding his daughters.

“Yang might have always felt guilty towards Ruby. Something happened when they were young, and because of Yang, they both almost died for it. Maybe some of that always stayed with her.” He paused and stared into this cup. “And without a mother, it was Yang and I who showered Ruby with love. She grew up bright and energetic. I thought she was perfect, and so did Yang. I wonder if we forced her into being that around us.”

“Being the youngest sibling,” Jaune commented, “I get that. Expectations can suffocate you until you don’t know what to do. If you don’t meet what you think is expected of you, you become lost, and you can spiral. It’s frightening.”

“Yang’s been pushing Ruby away, putting up some distance.”

“Ruby probably doesn’t know what to do or how to react.”

“But why would Yang act that way? I doubt it’s because she actually hates Ruby.”

“She wants to be free,” Emerald suddenly answered, drawing strange looks from the other two. “If she feels guilty and obligated towards Ruby because of some stuff that happened a long time ago, she probably wants to get over it. She’s capable of doing that now.”

…

“I want you both to take care of my daughters. I think you two are the best for the job,” Taiyang announced.

“I wouldn’t say—” Emerald started, but he cut her off.

“You are. I know it. After meeting the both of you, I can be sure……” He stood from his chair, and his tone darkened. “Or else, I’ll beat the crap out of you. I mean it.”

Emerald and Jaune strained under Taiyang’s short, but intense threat.

“You got it, Papa Xiao Long.”

“I’ll help Ruby any way I can.”

“I mean, I can’t control everything she does.”

“Ruby gets in a lot of trouble on her own. To be fair, Mr. Xiao Long.”

“Like, I can’t be responsible for all of it. You should really give the same speech to Neo and Merc.”

“I promise to do my best. But most of the time, she helps me so I don’t know how much I can do. Not to say I can’t—”

Taiyang chucked another log into the fireplace. The loud crack and the flaring embers quieted the other two.

“Yang and Ruby aren’t back yet.” he said after a time.

“Well, if all that sister-sister talk was right, I think I know exactly what Yang’s doing.”

“And what would that be?”

“Pulling the pin.”

.

* * * * *

.

A string of gunfire pierced the whistling winds. The ricochet of bullets reflecting off steel matched the striking thunder. And two figures fought in the pouring rain, before their mother’s grave.

“We’re not even real sisters!” Yang roared.

“If you hated me so much, you should have just said so!!!”

Ruby’s image flickered, before a wide swing of her scythe forced Yang to duck. When the older sibling tried to throw a punch back, the cape whisked its owner away from harm.

“And what? Hurt the baby’s precious feelings?! If I treated you badly, dad would have yelled at me! If I tried to ditch you, Qrow would make me bring you!”

“That’s not my fault! I didn’t ask you to protect me! You decided that yourself. And then, you got mad when I didn’t need you anymore!!!”

Ruby unleashed a flurry of slashes. Yang used her Semblance to find the best spots to parry. A firework of sparks and rings blasted the rain around them away.

“But you want me back just cause you feel like it?! You think life’s that convenient?! I guess you would, since you’re such a spoiled, little brat!!!”

“You’re the one, who’s spoiled! Dad still cares about you, even though you became a criminal! Everyone still loves you, and is willing to forgive you, even though your friends with Penny’s killers!!!”

Ruby’s cloak grew another size, and began swirling around her body. Through the red cover, the girl unloaded sniper round after sniper round in the other’s direction.

Yang was barely able to block the shots. The spare prosthetic was thinner than Ember Celica and less durable. As a result, Ruby’s rounds caused a knockback that made Yang’s joints ache. Defense was going to be problem. It was unfortunate, but she could only rely on her left arm’s Ember Celica as a real weapon.

Yang took aim, and combined with her vision ability, placed a few shots into the crimson cape. The shells detonated inside, signaling they hit their mark.

Ruby’s cloak whipped about, performing evasive maneuvers to dodge Yang’s gunfire.

“Pyrrha, Penny, that’s all I hear from you guys. You don’t think I haven’t turned them over in my head a million times?! They’re not who you’re mad about. Who you’re really mad at is yourself!”

“Of course, we are! But just because we do, doesn’t mean you’re not at fault either!!!”

The climate dipped below freezing. Falling rain formed into shards of snow. The thunder clouds above growled with increasing fury.

“Hey, Ruby…”

“What?!”

“How did it feel, when you thought I killed Qrow?”

“Shut up, Yang.”

“What did you think, when he died, and you never told him you knew he was your actual dad?”

“What does that matter?!”

“I want to know. I want to know how you felt, because we come back home, and you act like I didn’t do anything wrong! That I didn’t just pull all this messed up crap! Like, I’m still your idiot older sister, who’s always going to smile and babysit—”

“I HATED YOU!!! I WISHED I’D NEVER MET YOU!!! I WISHED YOU WEREN’T MY SISTER!!! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR?!?!”

The glow in Ruby’s eyes became shimmering blights. Through Yang’s Semblance, she could see her younger sister’s Aura manifesting with something new. Rather than a person, the energy generated within her was more like a phenomenon. A chaotic event, too great to be contained inside flesh and bone body.

Rose petals dispersed from Ruby’s cloak in droves. They painted the blizzard in red. It was becoming all encompassing. When they reached a certain distance of their target, they instinctively jumped back.

Slashing sensations ripped the air, and Yang felt gashes open on her skin. They were superficial wounds, but could have been much worse. She was quickly running out of options.

Without giving Yang a moment to collect herself, the crimson specter stalked after her. Appearing just on the edge of the blonde girl’s peripherals, Ruby unleashed another deadly swing of her scythe.

The blade lopped off a few locks of Yang’s hair. It elicited an angry growl from the older sibling.

“You never got angry with me, Ruby. I always hated that. Not the angry part, but never showing it. Even though, I knew there were so many times you wanted to.”

“You never wanted to see it. You never wanted me to act like anything you didn’t want. You were afraid of me. And I was afraid I’d hurt you.”

“I can’t be the same person you looked up to anymore. I stopped a long time ago.”

“I didn’t care if you became a criminal, or who you teamed up with. But you crossed a line, when you killed Qrow.”

“I hate you.”

“I hate you too…!”

Yang ejected the spent rounds in her arm, and reloaded fresh ones. Her Aura burned, enough to send flames licking from her hair. The Semblance in her eyes bled a vicious luminescence.  

On the opposite side, Ruby’s cloak thrashed, like a bird’s angry wings. It had now grown to an unnatural size. Silver sparked from her sight, like an overloading dynamo. Her long-latent abilities, revealed some of its truest form, then and there.

The two bolted towards each other, leaving a shockwave impression on the land. Rose petals trailing one, and a streak of yellow flames from the other.

“RUBY!!!”

“YANG!!!”

Yang pitched her left fist with all her strength. Her full momentum behind the punch. She triggered a round to increase the velocity. Yang aimed her knuckles exactly where the cracks of light converged.

Her arm was engulfed by the haunting red cloth. It ate the attack, as if it were snacking on some small morsel.

Yang wasn’t sure what was happening, but in the next moment, she felt countless thorns chain her body. Only red painted her vision, and the sensation of Crescent Rose on her torso.

Then, all at once, she felt Ruby’s weapon and the thorns tear through her body like a blender.

…

…

…Ruby…

…

“…Ruby…”

…

“If something ever happens to me, I don’t want you to take revenge… or anything stupid like that.”

…

“Okay?”

…

“’Kay.”

…

…

“You know, it would be kind of nice to see the old team again. Even if you guys hate me.”

…

“It would be fun. Team RWBY.”

…

               .

* * * * *

.

Emerald, Taiyang, and Jaune heard a great thumping at the front door.

“So, you think the storm blew a cow into the door, or…”

Emerald’s question was answered, when Ruby kicked the door in.

On her shoulders, she dragged Yang’s unconscious body. Both of them looked relatively wounded, though the older sibling, more severely.

“Jaune,” Ruby called.

“Right, set her down here,” Jaune leapt off the sofa to make room for the siblings. His Semblance activated, immediately setting to heal the pair’s wounds.

Taiyang came closer, and noticed a bruise developing on the younger sister’s eye.

“What happened, Ruby? Did someone attack you—”

But she shook her head.

“We were working some stuff out. I’m going to bed.”

“Ruby, I haven’t finished healing.”

“Then, you can finish it later. I’m. Going. To. Bed.”

She stomped from the living room, paying no mind to anything else. A wounded Yang left behind, for three confused figures to treat.

““Huh,”” they expressed a level of astonishment.

“Hey, boys,” Emerald called their attention.

“Doesn’t this loser look like she’s smiling?”

.

* * * * *

.

It was bright and early in the morning. The sun had barely peeked over the horizon, and night’s dark blue still shaded some of its skies.

Outside the house, Team ENMY and Taiyang stood in the front yard.

“You sure I can’t convince you to stay? Not even a little longer?”

“Nah, Dad,” Yang smiled. “It’s time for us to go.”

“You don’t want to say goodbye to the others?”

“We might end up fighting, if they think this is the last they’ll see of us for a while.”

“And your sister?”

“We already said our goodbyes.”

“……I see.”

They looked back at the house, and for a second, they swore they saw a head peeping out of the window.

“What are you going to do?” Yang asked.

“Your old man has his own plans. Can’t sit on my hands, teaching at Signal forever.”

‘That’s what I thought.”

“Hmph. Don’t be strangers.”

Yang gave her father one last hug before departing. And the man watched the group of four go, until he could see them no longer.

The snow was starting to pile up. Taiyang rubbed his hands together and breathed warm air into them. This winter would be especially cold, he thought.

While watching for the team that was already out of sight, a short figure appeared beside him.

“Is Yang gone?” Ruby asked.

“Yup. Gone to who knows where…” He patted her head. “Feeling lonely?”

“Nope.”

“Not even a little?”

“Nope.”

“You know something I don’t?”

“Nope. I just… don’t feel bad about Yang leaving. The next time we meet, she’ll be an enemy anyway. So, I don’t feel bad about anything at all.”

“That’s…good? I don’t really get it.”

“It’s a sister thing.”

“Okay. So, I guess you’re all ready to leave, huh?” Taiyang turned to the house, and saw Team RNJR packed up, as well.

“Sorry to spring this so quickly, Dad.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t let you all leave, just yet.”

“Huh?”

Taiyang clenched his fist and revealed a challenging grin. Even through the distance and the cold weather, they could feel heat irradiate from the man. Tattooed emblems surfaced along the arms of his skin.

“I don’t exactly feel safe, letting you guys leave.” He banged his knuckles together, and the shockwave blew away the frost covering the grounds. “So, I’m gonna have to train you up a little. Until you can take me down reasonably, you four aren’t leaving.”

“What?!” Ruby exclaimed. “But you let Yang leave!”

“It’s kind of embarrassing, but her team passed my test in less than a minute—without their Semblances.”

The eyes of Team RNJR went wide.

“Anywho,” Taiyang continued. “I don’t plan on letting you guys participate in the war, until you stand at least half a chance against me. Now that you get it, come! If you don’t take this seriously, you’ll never leave! HAHAHA!”

“Um. Ruby? Isn’t your dad a little—”

Jaune started to say something, but Ruby interrupted him.

“Juggernaut! Red Lotus!”

Every member of Team RNJR simultaneously drew their weapons and paired up. Taiyang sneered, and taunted them forward with a wave of his hand. Ruby wore a similar expression, and made a vow to herself.

We’ll meet again one day.

Not just us, but Team RWBY.

I promise.

If not, one last time.