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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Refuge”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Welcome to week two of… fourteen? Is that how many episodes we’ve got this Volume? Man, we’re going to be here for a while.

There’s a ton to unpack in “Refuge,” but as promised I want to delve into the opening first. Given the scattered, symbolic nature of our intro I think it’s easiest to just chuck out observations in list form. I’ll segue back into cohesive recapping in a moment.

So, what have we got?

The glitching between a happy, whole Atlas and the burning wreckage we’re now dealing with. That works well given both Atlas’ tech-focus culture and the ways that tech has led to some of our biggest tragedies (hijacked army, framing Penny, etc.)

Ruby looks scared and is standing behind the rest of her team, separated from them by the title. I’m not really feeling that theme so far though, given Yang’s incredibly weak challenge, Ruby’s immediate forgiveness (during her talk with Penny), and the fact that she’s still working with half the team who vocally support her, particularly Nora. Unless something drastic changes, the idea of Ruby being the outsider here is silly.

We get shots of the girls with their past selves superimposed over their bodies and weapons. I like the message here—they carry those versions of themselves with them—just not how it’s contrasted with Ironwood’s image of an earlier Atlas now burning. So that’s all he is now? Everyone gets to embody their growth except for him? His past is erased to focus solely on our current predicament? I’m not picking up any redemption flags here…

Robyn’s hand reaches down towards Clover’s badge, which then circles to show off the Ace Ops. The final image contrasts an angry Harriet with a defeated Qrow. At least, I hope they’re contrasts. It’s going to read as absurd if they somehow end up working together after Qrow helped get her leader killed.

This morphs into Qrow alone who sits, devastated, until Robyn offers him a hand up and they both smile. I’m not a fan of this symbolism after the prison scene we got this episode. It’s like Qrow might have thought about his choices until Robyn’s anger reminded him that, oh yeah, he can be angry at Ironwood instead. These two teaming up, when their last team-up led to a death, is worrisome to say the least.

We get our horrifying image of Salem looming over Oscar as he clutches his head. The group’s weapons fall. This makes sense given this episode’s kidnapping and the team’s sheer inability to do anything to stop it.

Jaune stands determined—also makes sense with his trend of giving “pep talks”—while Ren and Nora stand apart, facing opposite directions. Nora looks back though.

Paralleling them are Winter and Weiss who also face opposite directions. This is becoming a common visual theme: Harriet and Qrow, Nora and Ren, Winter and Weiss. Here though, Weiss looks determinedly ahead while Winter stares down at her feet, unsure. Ugh, I just know they’re going to have her betray Ironwood too.

We get a brief glimpse of Whitley and Willow, not a whole lot to go on. Then we see Salem turning her chess pieces into grimm—literally changing the game—while Ironwood’s white pieces are turned to dust. I could make a quip about how white is supposed to go first, but the initial move was made thousands of years before Ironwood existed and thus he never stood a chance, certainly not when his own allies are actively working against him… but I won’t lol

Watts is smiling at a terminal while at his back Pietro works at his. More opposites. Pietro’s reflection looks to Penny even as his body continues to work, his heart contrasting his head. Penny, in turn, looks upset as her reflection flinches at something off screen and the glass cracks. Watts hacking her, perhaps?

We see the new teams as a cherry blossom (I think?) floats across the screen. It melts in Ren’s hand while escaping Nora’s. Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of that just yet.

Ruby and Yang share a look—undermining their supposed conflict this volume. Couldn’t we have gotten sister unity over the last three years instead?—and a fight against grimm starts up. It freezes as Cinder walks through it, hopefully implying that the group’s attention is on the wrong threat. While they concern themselves with low-level grimm, Salem and her allies are walking free and wreaking havoc.

Then Cinder screams and clutches her grimm arm as things go up in flames. I hope that’s not a death flag given that we’ve teased her death twice already and we only just got a glimpse at her backstory. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning here that there’s a “Summer is the Hound” theory gaining traction which, frankly, I think is 100% unsubstantiated. It’s a fun crack theory, but not something I’m inclined to take seriously until we get some actual evidence behind it. There is, however, potential evidence for people becoming grimm in general: Salem falling into the pool and Cinder receiving that arm. That’s not much though. So while I’m far from convinced that the Hound was once human—let alone that it was Summer—there is something to the theory that Salem may be able to control Cinder via her arm like she controls other grimm. After all, she knew Cinder was alive despite everyone else thinking she’d perished. They seem to have some sort of connection that hasn’t been explained yet and now that Cinder has willingly walked back into Salem’s clutches, she may not be able to walk out.

There are shots of all our other villains, the Lamp and the Staff reflected in Salem’s eyes, and Jinn’s blue smoke, perhaps suggesting that we’ll see her again, or the entity residing in the Staff (if they exist).

Atlas glitches back to normal—a false victory?—before the ice breaks and Team RWBY falls into the darkness below. Volume 3 vibes all around. There’s light above them emanating from the Staff, but as Ruby reaches for it grimm arms circle and pull her deeper. I hope this means that the group will suffer the defeat we need to keep Salem as a legitimate threat, but we had very similar imagery back in Volume 6 and they made it out of that situation just fine, so.

“Happy Ever After” glitches into “Happy? Never Again.” Which isn’t ominous or anything. We finally end on the classic RWBY image of Crescent Rose buried in the snow underneath the shattered moon.

On the whole I think the opening is strong and I like a lot of the symbolism in it, though I do question how much will actually end up being relevant to the story. My only gripes are that there are too many different styles going on—it feels like three or four different Volume openings slammed together—and the fact that it also feels overly long. I don’t think it’s actually any longer than our Volume 7 opening, but it seems that way to me, perhaps because of those varying styles breaking things up.

So that’s what we’ll be watching for the next twelve weeks! Let’s move onto the actual episode.

We open on the image of Clover’s bloody badge in Qrow hand, the same one we got in the trailer. I theorized last recap that we’d be getting the rest of our trailer/promo material this week and I was almost entirely correct in that. This moment, retrieving the bikes, fighting off the grimm, Watts getting hit, Oscar carried away… all we’re missing are some eye closeups and Nora powering up her hammer. As said, it makes me nervous for what the rest of the Volume holds. I can’t decide whether the footage wasn’t ready to be included in promo materials that early, or if RT is just determined not to give us any information past the first two episodes…

Regardless, this is supposed to be a moment of grief and all I could focus on was Qrow’s hand. Specifically, the lack of detail in it. On the whole, I’ve been very happy with the engine upgrade and I quite like RWBY’s animation now, but a closeup here draws too much attention to how, sometimes, they’re just not animating their characters in a way that looks natural. Where is Qrow’s wrist? Why is his palm perfectly smooth? Stylistically that’s usually fine, but when given the chance to stare at it you realize how odd it looks.

Says the woman whose own drawing skills suck but, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But we’re talking about the important bits in this episode! Out of frame Robyn is heard yelling, “This is your fault. You realize that, don’t you?” We’re meant to think that she’s telling Qrow this, especially with how he’s bent guiltily over the badge, until we cut to reveal Jacques right next to them.

I wish Robyn was saying all that to Qrow. It would mean that she was ignoring her own responsibility in Clover’s death, but at least it would have started an arc where Qrow has to grapple with what he did. Not the awful moment that’s coming up.

Before that though, Jacques claims that he’s the “victim” here who was “duped.” His hands may not be clean, but “at least I’m not a murderer.” Look, I’m not here to absolve Jacques of anything. The guy is an absolute shit stain on the Remnant world. However, he’s right in his overall point even if his words are BS. Meaning, Jacques is not a victim and he is a murderer, but he is not the one responsible for Clover’s death. Robyn has plenty of things to be furious at him for, but this is not one of them. Ironically, here we have Jacques functioning as the kind of villain the show wants Ironwood to be. He is a murderer because the company he runs exploits faunus and forces them to work in dangerous conditions (see: the death of Ilia’s parents). He is culpable because he a) had control over these conditions and b) has full knowledge of their flaws. He’s a racist who cares more about money than lives. His informed choices then led directly to deaths. Ironwood? Not anywhere near the same thing. Overlooking the “Omg Salem is here and I have to do something about it” context, he did not try to arrest Robyn. He did not force Qrow to resist arrest, or Robyn to get involved, or Qrow to break Clover’s aura, or Tyrian to stab him in the chest. Ironwood had no control or knowledge of these events, so he is not responsible for Clover’s death in the way that Jacques is responsible for the faunus’. RWBY is giving the right arc to the wrong character.

Robyn then insists that Qrow didn’t kill anyone. He didn’t strike the blow, but he certainly helped! Look, Qrow is one of my favorites, but I’m not about to claim that he didn’t have a hand in getting his friend killed. I seriously can’t believe the show is ignoring this.

We then segue into some, uh, questionable dialogue choices. Jacques is a “snake with a mustache”? Sorry, I can’t take Robyn seriously at the best of times, but definitely not when she’s tossing out laugh worthy insults like that. Nevertheless, this “snake with a mustache” is guilty because he “helped that man tear us all apart.” That man being Watts.

…why are they all in what amounts to the same cell with barriers dividing them? I suppose we could make the argument that they’re being held in some secret facility, given that they’re in this dark, garage-esque space with no lights and no other prisoners. Some sort of maximum security setup that... doesn’t have any other inmates and no additional security? Hmm. Then again, the power is supposed to be out and I don’t really trust RWBY’s ability to craft consistent backgrounds. I feel like they’re packed together merely because that’s plot convenient, not because it makes any sense in world.

Watts looks pretty comfortable in there though and Jacques is likewise full of confidence. He says that by now Whitley will have already called their lawyers to get him out. Now, non-imprisoned people know that the apocalypse is currently underway, as Joanna will later put it. No one is lawyer-ing at the moment, but it will be crucial to see whether Whitley is trying to get Jacques out despite the chaos. How faithful is he to his abuser? Can Willow start undermining Jacques’ influence now that they’re alone?

Jacque’s confidence thoroughly pisses Robyn off and she screams, punching the barrier between them. Keep this in mind for a second.

A moment later two guards show up to take Watts somewhere and… oh no. Please don’t tell me Ironwood is going to team up with him now that Penny has written him off? I know the guy has (presumably) already killed someone, and he must assume he’s killed Oscar, so we’re definitely in full villain territory despite the stupidity of it… but please don’t start working with Salem’s henchmen too. You know what? I’m not going to assume the worst until I actually see it. RWBY gives me enough nonsense as it is lol.

What I really want to talk about is that hit.

I’m somewhat concerned by a lot of the fandom’s reaction to this moment in comparison to another. Who remembers Volume 6? That scene when Qrow punched Ozpin directly into a tree? Now, I’m not keeping track of who says what when—this is a generalized reaction—but I saw a lot of posts defending that action. There were numerous justifications for the punch, but the three big ones were: 1. These characters are fighters and they’re used to it, 2. These characters have aura so it’s not that bad, and 3. Ozpin totally deserved it. Now, the problems here are that 1a. I don’t think punching someone when they’re crying on their knees is justified, whether they’re a fighter or not, 1b. Qrow was likewise punching Oscar, a totally innocent kid, 2. We had established earlier that Oscar was having trouble remembering to activate his aura and didn’t seem to have it active then (no ripple effect, he’s rubbing his jaw afterwards), and 3. Ozpin’s crimes are, as explored on this blog, not nearly the horrific actions that the story and fandom would like to paint them as. The point is that despite all this, lots and lots of fans said it was totally okay to punch Ozpin&Oscar. What’s the big deal? they asked. Now, lots and lots of fans—mostly when the trailer first dropped—say it’s not okay to punch Watts. Despite the fact that he’s also a fighter. Despite the fact that his aura has broken. Despite the fact that he’s not currently a threat (seated on the bed/Ozpin on his knees). Despite the fact that he’s responsible for helping Salem try to take over the world. If we were to make a case for who deserves to get hit, Watts is a WAY stronger candidate in my opinion, yet he’s the one who a lot of fans are scrambling to defend. Why? I assume it’s because hitting him feeds into the generalized police state/dictator theme Ironwood has been thrown into. It helps villainize Ironwood for fans to go, “Poor Watts. He’s done horrific things but no one deserves to face police brutality.” I agree. The only problem is that a lot of those same fans seem to have gone, “Ozpin can get over it. He deserved to be hit! I would have done a whole lot worse to him…” So is the difference only that one attacker is a military professional and the other is… a huntsmen professional who soon after that scene starts working for the military? Yeah. The show continually ignores that the group aren’t the rogue heroes they pretend to be. They worked under Ironwood for weeks, if not months.

The show isn’t clear about its morals and neither are the fans, with both changing tactics whenever it helps blame the character they already don’t like. When Robyn punches the barrier, do we really think she wouldn’t have hit Jacques if given the chance? Why would it be heroic for her to hit the Evil Man but it’s not okay for the grunt minor character to hit the other Evil Man? These morals don’t change just because you like Robyn and don’t like Ironwood.

Jumping ahead for a moment, we get another example of this hypocrisy with Joanna. A reporter is informing the people that the military seems to have stopped evacuations and there is an unheard number of grimm hanging out overhead, both things that are objective facts. He’s reporting as he should, sticking to what’s known and provable, and thus is, notably, not some lackey of Ironwood’s who is hastily presented as evil. Yet Joanna treats him like he is. She snatches the microphone from him and, when he starts to protest, threatens him with her weapon. After she’s done hijacking the feed, she shoves him on her way out.

Look at how scared this guy is. These are our heroes? This back and forth doesn’t work. Prior to his random killing spree, Ironwood took his fear and frustration out on some furniture, yet the show acted as if he was hurting real people. The mere possibility that he might use violence and intimidation to achieve heroic goals—getting Amity up/escaping Salem—was enough to label him as an antagonist because the understanding was that you can’t act like that no matter what your intentions are. Yet our current heroes can use as much violence and intimidation as they want to achieve their own heroic goal of warning the people? Do we think the story will encourage us to be critical of the group if they start beating up a bunch of Atlas goons to reach the access point? Of course not. And it’s that flip-flopping that’s the problem. Your heroes have to function differently than the villains in order for them to be heroes. Under that logic, our heroes haven’t acted like heroes since mid-Volume 6 and it’s getting harder and harder to watch.

Especially when we take the scene before this into account. Yup, we’ve still got Qrow gunning for Ironwood. Robyn bemoans the fact that they can’t do anything, to which Qrow replies, “We can do something. We can kill the man who put us here.” I… feel like I shouldn’t start repeating myself given how long this recap is—we’ll be here for forever lol—BUT I hope everyone reading this understands precisely how little this makes sense. How god awful a choice it is. I mean c’mon. Robyn attacked Clover unprovoked, Qrow teamed up with Tyrian, he broke Clover’s aura, Tyrian murdered him, Salem is here, and now he’s sitting in a cell with Watts and Jacques… but Ironwood is the guy he wants to kill? REALLY, QROW? THAT’S WHO YOU’RE GOING TO GO AFTER? I really can’t with this show sometimes. RWBY, put your clown makeup on.

We get a cut to Ironwood’s image just so there’s no confusion about who Qrow wants to help kill next and Joanna threatens that reporter who, you know, is also a citizen in need of help and protection… Her “General Ironwood has abandoned you, but we have not” sounds absolutely ridiculous when we just watched her intimidating this guy to get what she wants. ‘You can trust us! Unless we randomly decide we don’t like you.’ I have other things to say about Yang calling out that racist woman later on, but she gets props for helping her regardless. Honestly, I don’t get that sense from the cast very often: that they’d help you even if they don’t agree with you. They certainly didn’t offer that to Ozpin, Ironwood, or the Ace Ops.

There’s a very long shot of a scared toddler staring out the window, just to hammer home how young and innocent Mantle is. Seriously, pay attention to our imagery: Mantle is scared children in homes, cute children fist-bumping Jaune, family photos lost in the street, a stuffed toy run over by hoverbikes. It’s meant to evoke a general sense of domesticity and, again, innocence. Meanwhile, Atlas is only shown via Ironwood and Jacques, the villains. Where are the families living up in the sky? The children? The humanizing details? Our racist woman is an outlier who is quickly silenced by Yang. The rest of Mantle is characterized as victims: scared women, worried fathers, the faunus huddling together in the slums, even another racist who, while an asshole, is supposed to have a point about things like the embargo. Which is all true. These characters are all of these things, it’s just that they’re not unique in this. All this exists above too—from those families, to the faunus slave labor, to the beloved objects that remind you of someone’s worth—but they’re ignored to provide a simplistic look at Atlas as the villain.

Throughout this entire episode the group tosses out snide remarks about how “They” don’t care about you and it’s just… they who? The other thousands of innocents who have nothing to do with Ironwood? The hundreds of Mantle citizens you already evacuated? The redeemable people like Winter and Whitley? The group fights alongside a Schnee who was one of the most vocal racists a year and a half ago, yet writes off the entirety of Atlas as the bad guys. What a mess.

As Joanna’s voiceover finishes, we cut to Yang’s group going after Pietro’s tech. I already covered this scene in our promo material, but to summarize here: horrible tone. Absolutely nonsensical given the situation. Salem is here and Yang is giggling over bikes. In fact, the tone is off for most of the episode (our end being the wonderful exception): Yang’s joy ride, antics with the Mantle citizens, Blake poking fun at Weiss, the tube scene… none of it fits the context of the series’ big bad here to kill everyone. Arguments along the lines of, “But it can’t be doom and gloom all the time” or “This is a brilliant parallel to Volume 3 with happy times heralding tragedy” don’t erase the fact that our cast isn’t taking this threat seriously. Last week Weiss’ “We’re never going to sleep again” moment worked because it’s humor in the context of how bad everything is. All of this? It’s just the group goofing off despite supposedly being in mortal danger. This?

This doesn’t read well. I’d argue this scene is even worse in context due to lines like “The others are definitely missing out.” In our promo material I assumed that the group just split for the sake of splitting and they were, in fact, just missing out on something cool. But we’ve since learned that they split due to a fundamental disagreement about how to help people, a split Ruby compared to Salem’s plans, a split that Yang started! Why is she now acting like their separation is a funny “missing out” moment? It’s like if half your friend group decided to go to the movies while the other half went to a party with an unexpectedly good DJ. The movie-goers are people who are “missing out,” not the group who went off to take over a military base and everyone left angry.

Keep in mind that Ozpin is also back. Every fun times scene with Oscar in it has the added problem of Ozpin hanging back, not saying anything, not acknowledged, still a secret.

The other issue I brought up weeks back was the lack of grimm. Why are the streets deserted? Shouldn’t the army be overrunning the city? Well, turns out that there’s no army because… Salem just hasn’t bothered to send it into the city yet? When Jaune and Ren take out the low-level grimm Oscar asks if they’ve “already pushed this far in,” to which Yang replies, “No, I think those are from last night.” A few minutes later, last night’s grimm change to new non-Salem grimm as Oscar observes, “It’s the negativity. Salem’s forces aren’t moving in, but it’s enough to attract the stragglers.” Later still, Joanna asks, “…grimm are circling out there. What are they waiting for?” GOOD QUESTION. We don’t know, but it’s real convenient, isn’t it? RWBY redeems itself a bit at the end of this episode with that Hound grimm, but I’m still calling it out for having Salem hold off long enough for the group to evacuate pretty much all of Mantle and infiltrate the base. That’s real nice of her. As the characters keep pointing out, it would be a staggeringly different situation if they were overrun with grimm right now, huh? Kind of like the situation Ironwood (rightfully) assumed they’d be dealing with.

Again, I’m so glad our Big Bad is kind enough to let the heroes do everything they need to before lifting a finger to attack them.

RWBY seems to be setting up a, “See! There was always time to evacuate the city!” accusation even though no one could have known that and it makes zero logical sense. Salem brings an army with her so she can not use the army against Atlas? Right…

This all segues directly into our other promo scene. My initial comments still stand: the tone doesn’t work, the lack of urgency doesn’t work (Jaune playing with the kid, Oscar politely knocking on doors), the low-level grimm are not a threat, that shield is useless against anything not driven by plot convenience, and it’s weird for Jaune to be yelling, “Heads up!” when there’s no one in front of him. As said, this moment really doesn’t sit well given everything that’s going on. I had hoped that it would read better when seen in the episode itself, but that’s sadly not the case.

After Ren one-shots the grimm Jaune suggests that they use his amplified semblance to get everyone to the crater safely. Ren seems less than pleased about this, but agrees. Right now, it’s easy to say that he’s in a bad mood because Nora is mad at him, but what about the Volume before? Where’s this underlying tension coming from? I can come up with lots of theories, but at some point the show needs to confirm something. The longer we go not explaining what’s wrong with Ren, the less faith I have that it will make sense when we get it.

We see the racist woman upset that they have to go live with the “animals in the slums” rather than going up to Atlas. As said, I like that Yang helps her despite clearly hating the woman, I also think her criticism holds up well (ignoring the simplified ‘They abandoned you’ narrative). The only thing that bugs me is RWBY continually presenting racism as a problem to throw a band-aid on and then pat yourself on the back for ‘solving.’ Racist drunk says shit? Toss him in the trash! Racist woman says shit? Remind her that her survival depends on you! It’s not that these responses aren’t earned, but that we’re given them instead of an actual arc that tackles the complexities of this issue. I mean, Blake has abandoned the White Fang and we’ve barely mentioned the faunus slave labor in Atlas. When they head to the dust facility it’s conveniently run by bots instead of faunus. Can you imagine if Weiss Schnee walked into a group of exploited minorities, hoping to use them to access a military base? But of course, there’s nothing like that. RWBY ignores the actual issues for these simple solutions. Heroes just attack/threaten racists and then it all goes away. Yay.

The other problem with this scene is that we learn the crater is the slums. Um… what? Hold on, Joanna made it sound like it’s a separate place, potentially inhabited by grimm, yet it’s the same area Oscar was in last episode? How is that area warmer? This makes no sense to me.

Also, ha, the crater below Atlas apparently houses all the “animals” that Team RWBYJNR is very protective of. I’m waiting for them to do something that messes with the Staff—Ruby reaching for it in the opening—Atlas crashes down on a whole city of exploited minorities, and then Ironwood is blamed for it somehow. Can’t wait for that episode.

So the group starts making their way there and hark! An Ozpin! I’m always thrilled to hear him, even if he’s treated just terribly by the show. Oscar is at the back of the group and comments that “It should not be this hard just getting people to cooperate.” Except… they are cooperating? Oscar, you are watching them cooperate right in front of you. That one woman might grumble a bit, but she hasn’t made a move or said a word about not doing what you say. Where did this complaint come from? Another example of RWBY insisting something is there when it simply isn’t. More importantly, Ozpin responds:

“And yet, it’s becoming something I’m increasingly concerned about.”

“You know, I really don’t need your additional comments right now.”

Then why did you comment out loud, Oscar? What, do you normally talk to yourself like that? You were clearly speaking to Ozpin! Don’t criticize him for responding. I hate traps like that.

Ozpin immediately says that Oscar has every right to be upset and apologizes for leaving… it’s not apologizing for his entire existence like I wrote on the bingo board, but it’s close. Who’s surprised that Ozpin is the first to offer (another) apology? Not me. Oscar corrects him with, “I’m upset you came back!”

Okay. Here’s the thing. I like the idea of Oscar rejecting Ozpin both because he’s taken over his life and because Oscar has suffered horribly due to Ozpin’s presence (punched, slammed into walls, kidnapping attempts, etc.) That makes sense, it’s actually morally complex, and it’s great groundwork for character growth. The only problem is… this came out of nowhere. Oscar was shown accepting this new life when he left the farm. Then again when he insisted on fighting Hazel. Then again all the times he’s been told he’s acting like Ozpin and seems to accept that just fine. He’s clearly pleased with this new badass self he’s got going on—he even says as much—yet doesn’t want to acknowledge Ozpin as the catalyst for all this positive change. Okay, that’s something we could still work through, but what about the group? Fans are already theorizing that this is why Oscar is keeping Ozpin a secret, because he’s scared of how the group will react, punishing him to get at Ozpin again, and though he 100% has reasons for thinking that will happen, Oscar hasn’t shown that fear before now. Qrow punches him? Bonding moment with Ruby. Jaune attacks him? I made you all dinner. They all smile over his inevitable death/disappearance? He smiles back. Yang is the most scream-y? Happy to have her using him as an armrest. The group continually ignores him and treats him with suspicion? Not a peep of protest. It’s horrifying that Oscar accepted how the group previously treated him, but he did accept it. Where did this fear come from if we haven’t seen it in response to the harm done towards him? Just as importantly, can’t we have an arc where Oscar is mad at the team some too? I’ll admit that the general premise of blaming Ozpin makes sense for the traumatized fourteen-year old, but after two years of blaming Ozpin for everything… aren’t we sick of this? His team has actively hurt him, outside of Ozpin’s ability to prevent, yet Ozpin is the one who takes all the heat for their behavior. “I felt like I was actually part of the team” should lead to the realization of, “Hey, Yang shouldn’t yell at both of us for things outside of our control” not, “Hey, you should stay away forever because others have decided they don’t like you.”

All of this following Ozpin saving Oscar’s life in the airship. Then saving his life again after Ironwood shot him. Our heroes are real grateful, huh. I hate that RWBY is taking another fave and doing them dirty, though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.

Ozpin also mentions his magic—would be nice if Oscar brought that up with the team!—and that he is now “recollecting my longest held memories.” He…is? When? Don’t you think that’s something important to show us? We keep being told that “the merge” is occurring but not shown what that actually means. Seriously, when did Oscar get slammed with that many memories??

Please just use the aura machine and give Ozpin a robot body. RT doesn’t have the chops for writing this situation.

As they continue on towards the crater Ren snaps at Jaune about not needing a “pep talk.” Jaune looks annoyed at the attitude which, fair. It says a lot about the writing the last few years that Jaune is the character I’m least frustrated with lol. Likely because they haven’t had him do anything lately which, given that he’s not one of the title characters and our cast is bloated enough as it is, I’m still totally fine with.

Ozpin concludes the scene with, “We need to find a way to work together. Not just the two of us, all of us” with the camera panning up to look at Atlas. I’m glad someone isn’t ready to throw Ironwood under the bus. Given how the group reacted to him sparing Lionheart’s name though, I don’t think they’ll follow Ozpin in his forgiveness. If anything, I expect this perspective to just be more hate fuel.

We move to Ruby’s group which now includes May. Woohoo! She still hasn’t gotten half the screen time as Joanna, but I’m really glad she’s here. In fact, between a useful semblance and that adorable courtesy, I love her already. Despite, you know, helping the team break into the base and all that. Everyone has their flaws lol.

She also frames the Amity plan as getting the world “talking again.” Why is everything presented like a fun romp rather than avoiding death via Salem? Absolutely terrible tone this episode.

The group hilariously waltzes past a sign labeled AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY and enters the dust facility with the bots I mentioned earlier. This I do like. My hypothetical scenario incorporating the racism issue aside, I like that Weiss is using her knowledge and connections to further the mission, rather than something conveniently dropping into the group’s lap. Like Amity suddenly being ready for launch…So yeah, it makes sense that Weiss would know of a potential way in.

Sending someone up through the tubes though? Ehhh… I know they have aura and everything—and that Zwei was once mailed—but are we sure this is safe?? Doesn’t matter because Nora sends Weiss through with a misplaced button press. Good thing that was the tube heading to the base. Too bad Weiss is heading to a guarded military base alone. It should have been May going first with her semblance activated, but no. Chuck this onto the ever increasing ‘Bad Tone’ pile. There should not be giggles over Weiss being in that level of danger, especially with everything else going on. Ruby’s expression is the only one on point.

Before Weiss is yeeted off though, Penny and Ruby have a talk wherein Ruby lies her ass off. Penny says, “I do not like it when friends fight” and when Ruby starts talking about Yang she corrects her, revealing that she’s actually thinking about Winter and Ironwood. “They were our friends.”

I was ready to sing Penny’s praises and really, she still gets credit for being the only one who has acknowledged this, but her opinion is (once again) overridden by Ruby’s. Penny goes, “but then the Ace Ops attacked you” which Ruby doesn’t bother to correct. How would Penny know otherwise? The only information she has about that battle is what Ruby has told her, but Ruby is lying via omission here. The Ace Ops never attacked her. They very explicitly refused to start a fight. Ruby attacked them. Then when Penny is upset that Ironwood said “people were going to die because of me,” Ruby takes her by the shoulders and angrily insists, “That was a lie and he was only saying it to hurt you.”

Ruby… you’re the one lying. You know damn well Ironwood didn’t just say that to hurt Penny. Oh yeah, the general trying to keep a kingdom alive from an immortal witch is preoccupied with hurting Penny’s feelings for no reason other than being evil. That makes sense. More importantly, Ironwood is right. Look, I’m by no means blaming Penny for anything. She fought off Cinder, took the power when there was no other choice, and has now gotten caught up in Ruby’s plans which include incredibly misleading information that Penny has no reason to question. She’s doing her best and deserves that hug. But that doesn’t mean she lacks responsibility here. Ironwood needs Penny to evacuate. Penny—listening to Ruby—won’t help him. Ergo, if something happens to the people up in Atlas Penny will be partly responsible. If I have the key to a door with lots of people trapped behind it as a fire rages, and I refuse to open that door, I have indeed allowed a lot of people to die. As Penny says, she didn’t want this responsibility… but she has it. She has to deal with it. Too bad she’s with Ruby who encourages her to ignore it instead, insisting that nothing bad that happens after their choices could in any way be connected to them. Kind of like Qrow ignoring his own actions against Clover.

Because that’s the takeaway from this scene. Penny had empathy for their friends and then Ruby talked her out of it. She never even acknowledges that those were indeed seven friends that she betrayed. That’s horrible.

What happened to Ruby? I used to love this girl.

Continuing our tone issue, Nora is watching this show like her favorite soap is on. Okay then.

Weiss goes up the tube and then we cut to Fiona saying that… the Mantle police are helping them evacuate? So the military is bad, but the police are good? I need to stop trying to make sense of RWBY’s allegory.

When Yang and the others return Fiona makes an innocent comment about being worried about how they’d fare without the rest of their team. Yang is pissed.

Ah, so we’re back to her giving allies attitude for random observations. Remember the anger at Marrow for suggesting she and Blake try different team-ups? Now here Yang is, in a different team-up, doing quite well. Funny how we never acknowledge who first suggested that. Now, Fiona reveals a totally logical worry that losing four fighters might make a difference when fending off grimm, but Yang is poised to be angry at everyone, about everything, all the time. Which I get is something that a lot of fans like. I’ve already seen a couple of posts praising RT for letting Robyn and Yang be angry without consequences because women often can’t do that and, fair. That is indeed one way to read it. My problem is that their anger is actually irrational, not just called as much because we women are ~emotional~. Their anger isn’t justified: Robyn because she had a significant hand in all this nonsense (that she’s ignoring) and Yang because it’s clear Fiona means no harm here. This is anger that needs to be called out, not ignored because yay women expressing emotion. That kind of defense is reserved for a woman’s justified anger that needs to be expressed without criticism, especially in a narrative that tries to undermine her perspective. But what has Fiona done to Yang? Nothing. More importantly, the show has yet to teach Yang a better coping mechanism than lashing out at people, be it with her fists, words, or angry glares. Yang has been through the ringer and it makes sense that she’s angry, but that doesn’t mean she gets a lifelong pass to treat those around her badly.

Anyway, Joanna says they have a lot of people to keep warm even though the crater was supposed to be warmer? And they’re stealing dust? So what are they using it for it not heat? We’re not seeing any difference here and frankly all the civilians should be dead by now. Or at least entering hypothermia. (Give me that conflict: how do you keep people safe when they’re not all conveniently up for walking all the way to the slums?) Joanna also says that they’re trying to get the “Old mine shafts into a livable condition” which would take how long exactly? In fact, I’d say our timeline is already wonky. We’ve watched Yang hide the Ace Ops last Volume, fly to Winter and Penny, find the Happy Huntresses, wait around for Oscar to show up, ran off on her own at some point to scout, went to get bikes, evacuated all those people to the (far away) slums, then went back out to fight off the grimm. That had to have taken up a good chunk of the night, though it’s impossible to tell the time with Atlas’ snowy sky. I’m leaning towards a bingo mark though…

The faunus who I thought was a badger or something is… a bear I guess? He has a bear-like paw, but his nails seem too long… I honestly don’t know. But he’s Fiona’s uncle! Cute. She's off to deal with a fight that’s starting while the group goes to fight more grimm. Finally, the episode gets good.

The teamwork to take out the dragon grimm was nice, always glad to see it, but the real fight starts when two more grunts show up and then immediately run away. What could have scared them off?

The Hound. (I’m sorry, all I can think of is Game of Thrones when I write that, but it seems to be the name the fandom is adopting, so…) Remember how I said it was unlikely to be a threat on its own? I WAS WRONG. Holy shit this thing is terrifying. It snatches Oscar and in some wonderfully quick animation absolutely obliterates the kid. Oscar is thrown around like a chew toy, desperately trying to rabbit kick at this thing and it does [checks notes] absolutely nothing. I’d normally say something about our farm boy always getting the shit kicked out of him, but this scene was too good for my salt.

Then it changes shape, growing arms, and starts using Oscar as a shield. Yang can’t pull back in time and is snagged by her head, the Hound tossing her into the wall hard enough to break the stone. She’s still conscious though and warns the others about its strategy.

“But grimm aren’t that smart,” Jaune says. Maybe if you kids (Fiona keeps calling them kids) had stayed in school you would have learned that grimm get smarter with age! Oobleck knew that. Or, just as likely, this is a special Salem grimm. Hard to say at this point.

The point though is that the group is helpless in the face of this monster. I do want to emphasize this. I’ve seen a few people criticizing them for not doing enough to save Oscar and it’s like, what did you want them to do? Yang tried to attack and the grimm nearly had her hitting Oscar instead. Ren tried to attack and the grimm changed so fast his weapon was useless. Factor in that morphing—which the group has never seen before—the horror of Oscar hanging there limp, and the general fighter response of, ‘I can’t just keep attacking head on because that thing might kill me,’ and you realize the group was screwed from the start. They can’t stand up against this thing, not without a good strategy anyway, which there’s no time to think up. For the first time in years, ever since Tyrian, Salem actually made the right, villainous call.

Ren screams, “Give him back!”—which was just lovely in an angsty way—and the grimm creepily cuddles Oscar against his chest. Then he responds, “No.” Yeah, they’ve never seen that before either. Can you blame them for their shock? I’m impressed that they were on their bikes just seconds later, managing to keep the grimm in sight. That speaks to their combat experience. Not the ability to power through a situation where they’re clearly outmatched, but their ability to pick themselves back up and try again.

... Ah, so that’s why Pietro was oh so randomly making them bikes. The plot needed a way for them to keep up with a flying grimm. Got it.

My takeaway? RT should be writing horror. They’re far better at it. The animation, sound effects, voice acting, the grimm’s speech and protective instincts, that splatter of goo on Oscar’s cheek…

... stellar all around. Like the Apathy, this is the best I think RWBY has been since the lore episode of Volume 6. Granted, action sequences like this aren’t required to grapple with any of the messy morals and character consistency of other scenes, but still. If RWBY had just given me a lighthearted ‘Girls fight cartoon monsters’ show or a horror fueled ‘Girls fight monster abominations’ show, I’d have been happy. This? This is the only redeeming part of the episode. And it’s indeed one hell of a redemption. Look at this thing!

I’m not going to say it erases all the bad we got—it doesn’t—or that it likewise erases problems like Salem not using the rest of her army, but it’s a notable step in the right direction. This grimm is a threat. This grimm is a mountain the cast has to overcome. If this is the minion its master should be Everest. I still think this Volume is going down the tubes fast (it’s going the way of Weiss lol), but if it can give me more scenes like this? It might not be a total loss.

Last thing to acknowledge: What about Ozpin? I’ll admit it doesn’t look good. Given how fast he takes control he should have been able to override Oscar’s will and at least fight back a little with that spectacular magic we saw during the finale. So why didn’t he? I hope we get an in-world explanation: it happened so fast even Ozpin couldn’t do anything (shaky, but I’ll take it in a pinch), now that the merge is farther along he can no longer take control—something. Because I can easily imagine how quickly the fandom, and even the cast, will turn on him for not playing deus ex machina here. In reality, I think Ozpin didn’t take control simply because the plot needed him not to. The writers needed Oscar kidnapped so any potential out from that is conveniently forgotten… which is another knock against their writing, despite how great the scene otherwise was. The point is to take all these potential pushbacks and find a satisfying way to circumvent them, not pretend they don’t exist. RT can still save themselves here by providing that explanation later, so I hope they’re smart enough to do that. Ozpin has been blamed for everything at this point. His own kidnapping doesn’t need to be added to the list.

Also, still no word on Schrödinger's councilman. We’ve got to wait another week to see whether he’s dead or not.

Finally, let’s update the bingo card!

I’m crossing off “Ruby gives an ‘inspiring’ speech built on ignoring facts she doesn’t like” for that conversation with Penny. Yeah, it’s a speech to her alone about her worth, but Ruby mischaracterized the situation so badly I’m mad at her lol

I never thought the story would straight up just not have the grimm army attacking, so I think I’ll hold off on “Army of grimm conveniently doesn’t kill any civilians” until we see if/when it gets involved.

I’ll likewise hold off on the timeline slot until we see how bad things get…

Maria is on thin ice given that we have no idea what she’s supposedly doing while the group is off on their missions. Stay tuned.

Today we’re crossing off “Deadly cold conveniently doesn’t kill any civilians.” They should all be dropping like flies by now.

A friend pointed out that Cinder’s Cinderella flashback counts as an “Overly obvious fairy tale allusion.” In fact, I talked about how much of a shorthand that is, so that’s getting a mark.

From last week I’ve also decided to include Amity for “Retconning previous lore.” Now that the group is fully underway with their plan it reads as even more egregious that we were told it wasn’t ready.

I’ll hold off on Ozpin’s space for a while. See if he apologizes to the whole group and, if so, exactly what for.

“Oscar is finally kidnapped”—check!

Well, that’s a whole lot of headway this week. Can’t wait to see where the next episode takes us... Here’s hoping we spend a lot of time with that Hound. MVP of the episode.

Until next time! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

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

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astoria00 · 4 years ago

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Shattered Destiny - Chapter 5

The Emerald forest had always been their safe space of sorts. Emerald of course had proudly attributed that fact to the strange occurrence that they shared a name, but Cinder still thought there was more to it than that.

Of course trekking through the woods was strictly prohibited…especially now of all days, but when had regulations ever stopped them before?

She led her team down rather narrow paths, overgrown by the nature around them. The initiation exam forced her to take multiple different roads, as to not be spotted by some meddling professors…or worse, Goodwitch.

Cinder hadn’t forgotten about the very open threat the teacher had thrown in her face. Maybe that was exactly the reason why she had accepted Yang’s proposition of watching her and Ruby today in the first place. Her mothers always told her that she was too rebellious for her own good, but she would be damned if she let that woman get to her!

Besides…this would give them the needed distraction to check on Shriek unhindered and without the worry of being followed.

They just needed to be careful not to run into the first years prancing around the forest right now.

“This seems like a good spot to camp out.”

Cinder stopped at a small clearing. It was far enough away from exam territory, but still close enough to keep an eye on the cave of the giant Deathstalker.

She wouldn’t underestimate it ever again after last year. Fighting against one with a broken ankle was rather…life threatening…to say the least.

She shrugged out of her vest and dropped to the ground, waiting for her teammates to follow her lead.

Mercury and Neo just shrugged and sat on a fallen trunk without further questions, but Emerald couldn’t hide her confusion.

“But we still have some ground to cover if we want to reach Shriek.”

Patting the place next to her, Cinder beckoned her girlfriend closer, an amused smile adorning her face.

“Let him find us for a change.

Besides…”

A loud shot echoed through the woods, affirming the dark haired girl’s suspicions.

“Looks like the initiation already started.”

Begrudgingly Emerald sat next to her, a dark blush spreading over her features when she suddenly realized Cinder’s current state of dress.

‘That certainly took some time.’

Chuckling quietly she leaned against the thief, resting her head on her shoulder, observing Neo unpacking several sandwiches from her bag.

Laying them down in front of them, the short girl signed with a triumphant grin:

/I came prepared./

Mercury’s eyes widened in awe, as he immediately grabbed one, giving Neo a thumbs up.

“Neo I love you!”

Snickering teasingly, Emerald shifted against Cinder, shrugging her girlfriend’s head off of hers, as she made herself comfortable by resting her cheek on the dark haired girl’s lap.

“Don’t you mean you love her food?”

Cinder found Neo’s gaze and they smiled at each other knowingly. This sounded like a round of bickering ready to take off.

And without missing a beat Mercury rose to the bait and smirked, wagging his finger at the retired thief.

“You’re just mad it wasn’t your idea.”

“What, making you sandwiches?

I think I’ll pass.”

Swinging his sandwich around like a weapon he scowled a little.

“You’re so losing your touch, Em.”

Crimson eyes gleamed at those words, as Emerald jumped up, making her way to the silver haired boy with an air of danger around her.

Cinder had to force herself not to grin mischievously.

‘That’s my girl!’

Putting their relationship aside it was refreshing to see that all of her teammates preserved their wild edge. Their street smarts if you will. Honing their skills to perfection...that was what made her team so dangerous to deal with.

They were different.

They have fought way before most of their peers, in battles more hopeless than anyone could ever fathom…

And Cinder was so proud of them, of Emerald, to see that she still got what it took not to starve in this world.

“You sure about that?”

Emerald’s voice was challenging to say the least, her smile only a small indicator of what she might come up with.

That didn’t stop Mercury to quiver in fake fear, calling out theatrically:

“Oh Emerald, master thief, please don’t take my food away!”

With a sudden elegant jump forward Emerald invaded Mercury’s personal space, but instead of chiding him she waved a couple of Lien under his nose, grinning from ear to ear.

“Seriously, how much do I have to pay you to shut up?”

There was a certain edge to her playful tone, a hidden warning...maybe even a way for him to back out...but Mercury wouldn’t be Mercury if he didn’t see his teasing through the very end.

“That’s not your money, though”, he retorted with a lazy smile, while trying to figure out his teammate’s angle.

“But it could be yours.”

You could say a lot about team CMNE, but beyond all their teasing they had each other’s back...even if it didn’t seem like that most of the time.

In the end it didn’t seem like Mercury had been able to gather whether Emerald’s offer was legit or not, so he simply shrugged, as he took the money with a smug smirk while searching his wallet to put it away...only to realize it was empty.

“Wait…”, he said slowly, putting one and one together,

“This IS mine!”

“Told you it is”, Emerald retorted easily, biting into the silver haired boy’s sandwich which she suddenly had in her hand, after sticking out her tongue childishly.

With a scowl, Mercury sat back, muttering softly under his breath.

“Cheater.”

Before the retired thief had a chance to respond to that however, Cinder, who had relocated to sit next to Neo in the meantime, had enough.

“You two finished yet?”

Looking at them expectantly, she received a reluctant nod from each of them.

The warning in her voice had been clear.

Their pasts were...an odd topic to talk about...a sensitive one...for all of them at least. And that was the direction their bickering had been heading to.

“Good.”

She leaned back satisfied, as she bit into the sandwich Neo handed her.

Emerald’s mood fell a little, standing in front of Cinder visibly pouting.

“Now what?”, she asked with a sigh, sitting next to her girlfriend.

“Now we wait.”

Groaning loudly, she stretched her arms above her head, fixing Cinder with a mock glare.

“That’s booring.

I thought we’d take a peek at the newbies‘ initiation.”

“We will, but first we ought to let Shriek know we’re back right?”, the dark haired girl said in between bites, giving Neo a small smile, who returned it eagerly.

Out of all of her teammates, Neo had always been the fondest of Shriek. Cinder wondered if it had to do with the fact that she was mute and communicated with him in a different way, but whatever it was, she appreciated it. Shriek had caused...some distress when she had found him. Emerald and Mercury hadn’t been that on board with their leader’s idea to keep him a secret, let alone alive. It took quite a lot of coaxing to convince them to give him a chance first.

She could feel Emerald’s head landing on her shoulder once more. It seemed to be her favorite place...not that Cinder could blame her of course.

“Yeah…but what should we do in the meantime?”

Her girlfriend’s innocent question caused Mercury to grin almost diabolically.

“Oh I know!

How about we play Uno again?”

The groan that followed made Cinder’s lips twitch upwards. Sometimes her girlfriend was just too adorable for her own good.

“Gods no!

I still have a headache from last time.“

...and too easy to read.

Not that she seemed to have noticed what she had given away with how she rubbed her temples, as if to chase a headache away. And of course Cinder wasn‘t the only one who caught on to that.

“So you’re finally admitting being responsible for Cinder’s unbelievable lucky winning streak?”

Emerald flushed a deep red, an admission of guilt if she had ever seen one. Her head snapping back up in shock, as it finally sunk in what she had revealed.

“N-no…I…”

Her arms flailed around pitifully. It tugged on Cinder‘s heartstrings. Time for her to intervene, before her little thief dug herself even deeper. Pulling Emerald back against her, she raised one eyebrow at Mercury, her tone all too pleasant.

“Are you implying I am not capable to win on my own?”

His eyes widened at the question, holding up his hands in a, what he hoped, placating way.

“No! I meant…”

He trailed off, visibly searching for the right words.

“Well?”

“…a-anyway, this was a bad idea. We should totally use our free time to make plans for the Vytal Tournament.”

‘So that‘s how he wants to play it.‘

Neo, who had seemed to enjoy their back and forth, blinked perplexed at the sudden change of topic.

/Isn’t that next semester?/

“Yes…but it’s better to be prepared. We do want to win after all…right, boss?”

He sounded so hopeful. The dark haired girl could let him off the hook here...but where was the fun in that?

Smiling sweetly at Mercury, she inclined her head, as if to praise him.

“That’s right.

I originally had wanted to ease into the special training I prepared for us, but seeing how passionate you are about this, I’ll double your workload, how does that sound?”

She knew she got him when he groaned loudly, waving his hands in defeat.

“Fine, I yield, you win. No harping on the girlfriend.”

‘Looks like he got the message.‘

“Good.”, she hummed satisfied, earning her a soft giggle from Emerald who was still safely tucked against her chest. Feeling her silent laughter filled Cinder with a strange feeling of...contentment? Peace?

She couldn‘t quite tell.

“My hero“, she heard her whisper, as she cuddled even closer...only to be startled away when a black shadow descended on them like a flash, tackling Cinder from the stump she had been sitting on.

It took the dark haired girl a few seconds before she was able to process what had happened and not immediately using her semblance to throw the dark mass off of her. It was grimm after all. A small grimm with little claws and wings and a tiny skull, but grimm nonetheless.

‘Aren‘t you an excited little Wyvern?‘

The only response she earned were pictures centered around her.

(Back, back, back, Cinder!) It seemed to scream.

‘Yes, Shriek, we are back.‘

There was a soft quiver running through the grimm‘s body at her words, as he appeared to calm down a bit, halting his movements enough for Cinder to finally stand up again.

With a content sigh she picked Shriek up who shrieked happily, wagging its tail like Cinder had seen Ruby‘s dog do all the time.

Turning towards her teammates she smiled, while patting the Wyvern‘s head.

“Look who found us after all.”

Neo‘s eyes lit up at, practically skipping to her, as she cradled Shriek‘s head affectionately.

Emerald and Mercury threw each other some questioning looks.

They both still had some...reservations about keeping a grimm secret from the school. Cinder knew that. Of course she did. She had been the one to ask them to keep quiet after all, but still…

Sometimes she wished they were at least trying. And with them, she mostly meant Emerald. Mercury on his part just seemed to shrug it off, as he looked the small grimm up and down, whistling in recognition.

“Whoa, he certainly grew some over the holidays.“

And he certainly did. A year ago he was barely larger than a kitten.

She couldn‘t help the proud note that entered her tone, as she looked at Shriek in her arms fondly.

“That he did.”

With a light snicker, Mercury elbowed Emerald into her side.

“Maybe you’ll get your wish after all and ride on him with Cinder one day.”

Emerald smiled weakly, but her her eyes were still filled with worry, as she answered hesitantly:

“That...depends on how big he will get…”

Furrowing his brows the silver haired boy scratched the back of his head, pondering over her words:

“Good point.“

Raising his voice slightly he turned his head towards Cinder:

“Hey boss, what do you think, how big will our fella get?”

“Hello?

Is someone there?”

Cinder froze in shock, as Shriek leaped out of her arms at the shout, causing her teammates to still and look at her startled, the question on their faces obvious:

What are we supposed to do?

Quietly, she motioned for them to hide, while sprinting after the spooked grimm.

Of course he had taken off into the direction the voice had come from.

Cursing under her breath, the dark haired girl broke through the treelines, spotting her little runaway just short of encountering a person with fiery red hair.

“You can’t be serious!”

‘Don‘t move!‘

Coming to a sudden halt right in front of him, he pushed him back inside a bush, coughing loudly to drown out his soft whining noises, as she stepped forward, right into Pyrrha‘s view.

“If it isn’t Pyrrha Nikos“, she drawled with a wide grin. It wouldn‘t do her any good if she let her see how uneasy her sudden presence made her.

“If I didn’t know any better I would say you’re following me.”

Of course it was just their luck to run into a first year. She only hoped she would be deflecting enough for her not to be too suspicious...or worse...tell Goodwitch about their little run in.

Pyrrha for her part seemed to be just as startled to see her as Cinder, before she scoffed lightly.

“Hardly.

But it is kind of curious how we seem to bump into each other.

Are you secretly a fan of mine after all?”

The soft smile that had adorned her face became more teasingly, her posture relaxing somewhat. It caused the tension inside Cinder to lessen as well.

She couldn‘t quite tell why, but she had taken a liking to Pyrrha.

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head in amusement.

“You wish.”

The dark haired girl hadn‘t expected Pyrrha to laugh at that, but she did...and she couldn‘t help but wonder why the sound made her feel so at ease right now.

‘What a strange girl…‘

“So does that mean you are my partner now, seeing as you are the first person I laid eyes on?”

‘...partner?‘

...oh!

It took her a while for the words to fully sink in. She had been kind of lost mustering the girl‘s face and reminiscing about those contrasting green eyes of hers. But now that she did, she could feel herself becoming somewhat flustered.

“I’m afraid Goodwitch wouldn’t allow that even if I agreed to it.”

Pyrrha nodded along, appearing to be thoughtful, tilting her head to the side.

“You are absolutely right, but that begs the question...are you even allowed to be here?”

Cinder couldn‘t help but chuckle.

‘Well played, new girl.‘

Trying to appear unbothered she simply shrugged.

“I did promise Yang to watch her and Rubes, didn’t I?”

“That you did...but why are you here?“

The redhead motioned to the trees around them, her eyes finding Cinder‘s.

“Why show yourself to me?

That‘s very risky. I could tell everyone that you broke the rules.“

This was...strange. The dark haired girl found herself rooted to the spot. When had she lost control of the conversation?

Why couldn‘t she look away from Pyrrha‘s darn eyes?

The silence between them stretched on. Cinder needed to answer her, but...her mind was blank, just full of hollow excuses.

“Do you believe…“

Pyrrha started to say, only to shake her head, biting her lip, stopping herself.

“In Destiny?“, she found herself finishing the other girl‘s question almost inaudible.

‘...what?‘

Cinder‘s eyes widened in shock. Why had she just said that? That...didn‘t even make sense...right? The words had just tumbled out of her mouth.

So why...why did Pyrrha look as shocked as her?

A soft whine behind her caused Cinder to almost turn around instinctively.

Right, she needed to end this conversation and get Shriek out of here.

Focus...she needed to focus.

Appearing impatient, she put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side.

“Well? Do you believe in vanity?

Because I certainly do.

I mean...who wouldn‘t enjoy me showing myself to them?“

Crossing the distance between them she leaned closer to Pyrrha, an innocent smile on her face. She could only hope the girl would be rising to her bait.

“Please don‘t tell on me“, she almost whispered, “I only wanted to rattle some first years.“

As if to affirm her words she reached out her hand to ruffle Pyrrha‘s hair, whose face now began to match the color of its fiery redness, backing away with both hands flailing in front of her.

“I-I won‘t.“

She chuckled nervously.

“A-anyways, you should probably relocate.“

Cinder almost felt sorry for the way she had decided to go about this situation, but she had to admit, the redhead‘s sudden high pitched voice and her flustered behavior made her downright adorable.

“S-see you later, Cinder.”

A hasty retreat if the dark haired girl ever saw one, but she didn’t miss the gentle smile Pyrrha had given her before taking her leave. A smile she couldn’t help, but to reciprocate.

Only the approach of her teammates made her snap out of her stupor and sigh in relief. Her girlfriend on the other hand was fuming, glaring in the direction the redhead had left off.

“Who does she think she is?!“

“Aw, Emmy, was that too much flirting for you?”

At Mercury‘s words Cinder scratched the back of her head guiltily. Maybe she should have done something different to distract Pyrrha after all.

Her expression didn‘t seem to help the silver haired boy‘s case though, as Emerald punched his arm with a firm:

“Shut it!”, before turning around to Cinder, pressing a short, but distinct kiss against her lips, staking her claim.

Neo rolled her eyes at their display, picking up the small grimm to calm his soft whimpers. Nudging Cinder to gain her attention she motioned for them to get going, ignoring Emerald‘s glare for daring to interrupt them.

Entwining their hands, Cinder kissed her girlfriend‘s forehead softly, giving her another apologetic look, before nodding to the rest of their team.

“Now that we’re all together I guess it is time to relocate.

Wouldn’t want another 1st year to stumble over us now, would we?”

It was time to find her little sisters.

#cinder fall #rwby #rwby fanfiction #fanfiction #pyrrha nikos #summerlife au #chapter 5 #art by Austa ^^#I‘m finally writing again ^^#just my writing

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sid471 · 4 years ago

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I watched episode 4 you know what that meeeeeans :3

RWBY Volume 8 spoilers you know the drill. TL;DR: Robyn’s funny, Qrow’s sad, JYR are... any synonym for upset, especially Ren, Harriet’s a bitch, but we been knew, Salem is a bitch, as well as a bad bitch, aaaaaand.... Shit >_>. Cool :3

We start off with the Birbs, Robyn telling a funny story about Joanna to try and lighten the mood ^_^... Doesn’t work but the thought that counts. Robyn says “Tough crowd. Maybe Ironwood shoulda gotten better in cell entertainment >_>” And Qrow laughs and Robyn is pleased with herself :3. Aaaand then Qrow gets sad again. Robyn says that she’s sorry for what happened and says it isn’t his fault, which it isn’t >_<, But Qrow says that it is his fault because he made a deal with the Dark and Clover paid the price for it. My Fair Game heart jumped when I heard Qrow say “I thought for once maybe I could...” but he finishes it with “Be around someone without my semblance making things... weird. And now I’m alone again. That thought... It feels like a dream.” And Robyn says “Believe it or not... I kind of know how you feel. When people are afraid you’ll spill their secrets, people tend to avoid you. And it makes making real connections... difficult.” Birb bonding we love to see it :3

And as Qrow is saying “Huh. I never thought about it like that” Harriet and Marrow throw Watts back in his cell. So I guess he fucked up. And those armed soldiers were just for show >_>. Harriet says to Qrow “You don’t get to keep that 😒” referring to Clover’s pin to which Qrow reiterates that he didn’t kill Clover. And Harriet says “You keep saying that but it was your weapon that has it blood on it.” which... true but what happened to Tyrian’s fingerprints .-. Did they just... not try to scan Harbinger for finger prints? Well y’know what makes sense considering where Ironwood is >_> anyways. Robyn sticks up for Qrow, again as she should :3, and says “He didn’t do it and if you were so sure that he did you’d lower my cell and take my hand. 😋 “ And Harriet tries to be all confident and cocky but Robyn goes for the jugular, like the queen she is, and says “Right. Because you don’t actually care about the truth. You just want someone to be mad at 😒.” And Harriet ALMOST unlocks Robyn’s cell but Marrow stops her. But something tells me even if she did open the cell and use Robyn’s semblance she still wouldn’t believe it >_> Because Robyn is right she DOES just want someone to be mad at <_< But yeah, after Marrow stops Harriet from opening the cell they leave and Robyn lays back down on her bed and says “Well. That was almost interesting 🙄 “ and the scene changes

To Ren Jaune and Yang. They’re chasing after The Hound and they Ren manages to grab onto it with the help of Jaune and Stormflower. And Ren just kinda... Flies around for a bit, latching on the Hounds foot while Yang and Jaune continue to give chase. During the chase, The Hound stops carrying Oscar in his, sorry Summer Rose theory believers I’m gonna use he/him pronouns for The Hound lol, mouth and roars, resulting in more Grimm to appear. Kinda like how the Wyvern was able to bring about more Grimm. Which Yang expresses surprise by, not the fact that it was ABLE to bring more Grimm, but by the fact The Hound was calling for reinforcements. Which is also surprising, but he was able to call forth more Grimm by roaring .-.

Anyways, Yang and Jaune continue to ride past the Grimm, Jaune using his tossy shield thing as a ramp, so that’s neat :3 But also did he get it back? .-. We didn’t see him use the Gravity dust in his shield ._. I hope he didn’t just... leave this advanced Atlas tech in the snow 😶 Nah I doubt he did but still weird we didn’t see’im retrieve it. I go off topic, so Jaune and Yang continue driving and evading Grimm until Yang almost drives off a cliff... Well... not almost. She drives off a cliff. But Ren comes by in the nick’a time and saves them ^_^ A clutch use of his Semblance keeps them from being Grimm food :3.

Buuuuuuut now they’re stuck, and lost, in an icy tundra with their Aura in the high 30s all around. So... wonderful. So they’re trekking through and following Ren because he said that he saw the compound when he was flying on the hound. And we FINALLY get some sense of what’s going on with Ren. Well, he said it at the end of volume 7, he doesn’t think they, and by they he means he, aren’t ready to be huntsman. Which Yang says exactly what I’ve been thinking this whole time “Were we ready at the battle at Haven? How about when we stole an Atlas airship >_>” the latter wasn’t the example she used but I couldn’t remember cause it��s been a few hours lol. But Ren continues on his tirade and says that “If we just give the staff to Ironwood everything would be okay”... Now listen I know he wasn’t really THERE when Ironwood broke, it was just RWBY, and he doesn’t know Ironwood shot Oscar, only Oscar knows that, but even so.... Ren, sweetie, honey, baby, that is SOOOOO far from the truth ._. Like even the last time he saw Ironwood he was still on the “Hey let’s ABANDON Mantle” train .-. and now he’s helping to evacuate Mantle... Technically illegally? So... Ugh Ren please don’t get on my shit list >_< He also called out Jaune for “Cheating his way into Beacon”, his exact words. Which brings the question did Jaune tell them about that? Cause last we knew only he, Pyrrha, and Cardin knew. And presumable the rest of CRDL. So did Pyrrha tell them while she was still angry at Jaune for hanging around Cardin or did Jaune tell JNPR in confidence? Either way...... Not cool to just bring up >_> Especially with how much Jaune HAS improved as a leader, a fighter, and a strategist. I don’t talk about it much but I’m proud of Jaune :3. AS proud as I am of Weiss with her whole arc ^_^... Heh... Arc. After Ren says that Jaune, obviously hurt, says “You may not think we’re ready, but I’m still going. We have a job to do.” And Yang says to Ren “Is your goal to push everyone away? 😒”

So then we see Oscar after and Salem is here... Lovely. She tries to coax information out of Oscar, namely the information about the relic of choice, which Oscar says he doesn’t know anything about, and then she asks about the “password” to the Lamp. And Oscar says that he’ll never tell her that. To which Salem promptly BLASTS him with Magic. So............. Oscar’s not doing well. And he’s REALLY not doing well when Hazel appears and starts beating his shit in. So.......... Farm Boi’s really uh... In a predicament. Salem leaves to let Hazel continue his beating, Salem comes across Cinder and Neo, Cinder asking “What is that? 🤨” Referring to The Hound to which Salem says “An experiment. I am quite pleased with the results. Did you need something? 🤨” Despite being uncomfortable around The Hound, Cinder still says her piece, that she should go back to Atlas and claim the Maiden’s powers and gain the Staff. But she stands firm and says no again and when Cinder tries to stick up for herself, The Hound roars in her face. So she backs off and says, for the second time, “Without you, I am nothing.” Which is very interesting that that’s a recurring thing between her and Salem. So, she leaves with Neo to an air ship and says “Salem doesn’t know those children like I do, they won’t ever stop their attempts to save the world.” and her plan is to go to Amity... Ya know... where Penny is, and Pietro is. And then Emerald steps up and says “Well if she [Neo] doesn’t wanna go, I will.” and says that she’s been working on her semblance and that she can help. Great. Just what Penny needs. Hallucinations and Illusions >_>. Cinder, sweetie, love you but I don’t think this is the plan Salem’s GONNA find out .-. she literally has eyes everywhere <_<

And then we see RNBW+May show up to the Schnee Manor so they can help Nora. Whitley isn’t happy to see them but seeing as he got Myrtenaster put in his face he quickly agreed to let them stay there 😊. While Weiss Nora and May are going to, presumably, a guest room, Ruby and Blake have a brief conversation with Blake saying “You know if you’re worried about Yang you can try calling her 🙂.” And we find out that Ruby DID try to call her, which is cute.

After that the scene changes to reveal team JYR found shelter, good :3 and that Yang found something to fix the damaged bike that she and Jaune were on, also good ^_^. Jaune TRIES to talk to Ren but it doesn’t work because Ren is too busy being angry at the world. Which... Don’t get me wrong, fair. I’d be angry too. But if my friend, practically my brother for how long? 2, 3 years? Was trying to tell me to try to open up, I’d open up to him. Like, maybe he was a little uncomfortable with Yang being there, but after Jaune said “Hey the more you bottle up your feelings the worse it’s gonna get.” Ren immediately went outside, so he could’ve gestured Jaune to follow him so they could talk. But they didn’t. Instead, Yang and Jaune talked ^_^ So I mean I’m okay with this lol. Yang asks Jaune “Do you think she thinks less of me? For not going to Atlas...” And Jaune says “Ruby is your sister. She’s gonna love you even if you disagree 🙂.” Which is true :3. But Yang wasn’t talking about Ruby. She was talking about Blake. Which is interestiiiing ooh bees :3

So the episode after the Jaune and Yang talk, Jaune saying he wants to go to sleep but can’t stop thinking about Oscar, and Yang says not to worry and she’ll be sure that Ren doesn’t “Brood himself to death” which I found funny lol. After she says that, the camera pans to the ground to some cracks in the ground. Which then rumble. So................. Damn it Ren your angst is gonna cause another giant Grimm to appear >_>

#RWBY #RWBY8 #RWBY Volume 8 #RWBY8 Spoilers #RWBY Spoilers #RWBY volume 8 spoilers #Yang Xiao Long #Lie Ren #Jaune Arc #Oscar Pine #Salem (RWBY)#Emerald Sustrai #Cinder Fall

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rwby-grimm-guardians · 4 years ago

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RWBY Grimm Guardians Arc 2: Beacon’s Fragile Light Ch VI

Hey, everyone! I’m back! This is the sixth chapter of Beacon’s Fragile Light. These next two chapters take place during the sixth and seventh episodes of Volume 2.

This chapter will feature Bumbleby and...another ship. Also, prepare for Summer experiencing slight angst. As usual, please give feedback and enjoy!

Also, I apologize if some parts seem rushed. And there’s a small tribute at the end, given the date that this was originally posted on.

Disclaimer: Still own nothing.

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“So…. What are you two planning on doing for the dance?” Yang asked Gambol and Ember. The faunus raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?” Giving an unamused look, the blonde teen pointed at the two Weapon Spirits’ hands, which they clearly were holding each other’s. Blushing, the monk cleared her throat, “Okay, so...we...might be an item….” “Might?” Ruby smirked, earning a glare from the two women, which she laughed off easily.

“So… You’re dancing. Correct?” The younger of the two step-sisters asked. Ember sighed and gave a soft chuckle, “Yes, we’re dancing as a couple.” The blonde woman fell to the floor as Ruby tackled her in a tight hug, groaning in slight pain. Gambol and Yang laughed as the blonde teen hugged the older faunus. “I’m happy and proud of both of you.” She said, earning a smile from Gambol. “Thank you.” She replied. “I promise I will treat her well and love her always.”

Yang nodded, “I know you will.” Ember groaned as she stood back up, with Ruby getting off of her. “Now, I believe we should ask what YOU are going to do.” She said to her wielder, only for Yang to raise an eyebrow. After a couple moments, her mind clicked, causing her blush a deep red. Clearing her throat, she finally said, “I need to talk to her and ask her first.” The Weapon Spirits just nodded, while Ruby hugged her step-sister to wish her luck.

After the blonde teen left, Rudy looked around, before asking, “Where’s Cres?” Ember raised an eyebrow, looking around, before chuckling. “She’s probably keeping a protective eye on those two.”

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A little while later, Yang brought Blake to an empty classroom and, after a bit of persuading, convinced the younger faunus to listen to her. Little did they know that a certain step-mother was keeping an eye on them from the shadows, making sure that they were safe. Sure, Summer was a little over-protective. Though both as a mother and as a friend, she HAD to be. It was her duty to make sure her loved ones were safe from any sort of harm.

As Summer watched, she unintentionally began to listen in on their conversation...and, of course, heard something that she really wasn’t expecting. “You remember that Ruby and I lost Summer at an early age, right?” The blonde asked, receiving a nod from Blake. This prompted her to continue, leading to Summer to hear about the two half-sisters’ events when they got lost in a forest near their home.

Raven’s departure, however, seemed to have gone unnoticed. While she knew that Yang brought it up, the red clad woman didn’t focus on it. And given the fact that she was receiving flashbacks of being told about what happened. ‘Oh fuck….’ Summer thought, before she began hyperventilating. Quietly, she hopped down from her hiding place and, as quietly as possible, went for the door.

Though, if she had not stay there a moment longer, she would have probably missed something remarkable. “Blake, I want you to be safe! And if you keep putting yourself in this position...how am I supposed to help you?” Yang asked. The faunus went silent as she bit her lip, causing the blonde teenager to hug the other girl tightly. “I love you, Blake… So PLEASE. Let me help you.” The blonde said. Blake just looked at her wide-eyed.

“Are you...certain about this?” She asked, earning a nod from Yang. After a couple of moments, the faunus gave a small smile, “I...love you too. Though I would...like to take this slow, please.” The blonde nodded, “Of course. This is my first time too…” Before she could continue, the two heard the door close, prompting them to turn and face it. Blake and Yang looked at each other, before Yang sighed with a smile, “Still being the over-protective mom as usual.”

The faunus raised a nervous eyebrow, “Should I be…?” “Worried? No. She’s always over-protective of people she cares about.” Yang said walking with Blake to the door. “She was looking out for both of us. She’s THE mom like that.” Blake gave a soft giggle as the two exited the room, “That’s certainly true.” The two then found Summer in the hallway...trying her best to control her breathing.

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She didn’t mean to panic, but fucking hell, she did. Summer had wanted to watch them, just to make sure that Yang and Blake were safe, but she hadn’t intended to eavesdrop on them. So when Yang talked about her and Ruby being lost in the woods, of course she freaked out. She blamed herself for that event. Hell, now that she had some of her memories back, she still did! Thank gods she left the room and went into the hallway unnoticed...or at least that’s what she thought.

After about three minutes, two of which were used hyperventilating and the last one used to calm down, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She nearly jumped before she realized it was a concerned Yang, holding Blake’s hand gently. “Uh, hey! How are you two doing?” She asked, trying her best to change the subject. Blake let out a soft sigh with a small smile, before saying, “We’re doing better now, thank you. And you?” Just that one question was all it took to make Summer cave in.

“Okay, listen. I’m really sorry for eavesdropping on you two. I really am, but I wanted to make sure that you two were safe.” The red clad woman explained. As she continued explaining frantically, Blake whispered, “I think you might need to talk to her about what happened when you and Ruby were kids.” The taller teen nodded in agreement, whispering, “That’s probably why she was panicking.” Blake nodded, before the two waited for the human-turned-Weapon-Spirit in front of them to relax.

By the time Summer had finished explaining, the trio were back at Team RWBY’s dorm room and the woman was a bit out of breath. The elder Rose did not miss seeing Blake give Yang a kiss on the cheek, as well as the latter’s blush, before the faunus headed in, leaving the blonde teen and the red clad woman in the hall. “I’m guessing you want to talk about something?” Summer asked, sitting against the wall, where Yang joined her.

Yang nodded, “Yep. You heard me talking to Blake about when Ruby and I were kids, right?” Summer paled, before thinking, ‘Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…’ “Summer? Supermom?” Yang called out, noticing her step-mother had gone silent. The red clad woman was panicking and had tears streaming down her face. She then tried to speak, “I’m so sorry, Yang…..” “Mom…” Yang started, only to stop when Summer spoke again, “I should have been there for you two. Instead, I ended up risking your lives and safety!”

Before Summer could ramble again, she felt her step-daughter’s arms wrap around her shoulders. The blonde teenager began rocking her step-mother back and forth as the woman cried silently, grabbing a hold of Yang’s arms. The former STRQ leader finally stopped after 10 minutes, before whispering in her now-raw voice, “I’m sorry….” Yang’s hug on her just tightened, “Even though it’s not your fault, you know we forgave you long ago. Right?”

Summer just sniffed as she wiped her tears away, “Doesn’t make the guilt that much easier to carry, honestly.” Yang didn’t say anything; not because she didn’t want to, but because she couldn’t think of what else to say. So, as a replacement, she just kept hugging the woman. The two ultimately stayed like that for another 5 minutes, before Summer gave a soft chuckle through her raw voice.

The blonde teenager raised an eyebrow at her step-mother, before the red clad woman said, “You and Blake. As a couple.” Yang blinked a couple times, before giving a small chuckle, “I don’t think it’s been established yet.” She then began laughing as Summer stood up and lifted the teenager in her arms, followed by the red clad woman stating with a grin, “I’m so happy and proud of you, ensoleillement !”

Once the two entered the dorm room, Ruby was practically bouncing in her seat on the bed. “Well!?” She nearly shouted, prompting her step-sister and mother to look at Blake. Blake nodded at Yang, “I think we should tell her. And before you ask, yes. I’m sure.” Nodding at the teenage faunus, the blonde teenager sat next to her and took a breath, before saying, “Blake and I...are...now in a relationship….” It took a lot of her resolve to say that, as Yang and Blake are now blushing wildly.

Despite that, the youngest of the group couldn’t be happier. With her trademark grin, she immediately rushed over and tackled them in a hug. “I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!” Ruby shouted happily, squeezing the two tightly. “We’re glad, Ruby. But...could you...please let go…?” The faunus asked, as both girls were struggling to breathe.

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That night, as everyone was asleep, Summer went outside to the Academy’s front entrance, meeting a familiar man. “I assume the girls are doing good?” He asked, receiving a smile and a nod. “They’re doing well. I’m guessing you’re happy with that?” The red clad woman asked. The man nodded, “Yes…. But I’m...worried.” Summer raised an eyebrow.

“They will...experience events that will...separate and harm them...in ways that can be difficult to understand.” The man said. “And I can’t interfere with trying to prevent that anymore.” “How come?” The elder Rose asked. The man sighed, “I’ve...reached my limit. My other self in another world with be leaving soon without any intention. And with him, my own existence in this world.”

Summer nodded and hugged the man, “I promise. I will do whatever I can to protect them.” The man hugged her back with a sad smile, “Thank you, Summer.” With that, the two broke the hug, before the man started fading away. “Well, looks like it’s time.” He said. “I wish you the best, Summer.” The red clad woman smiled sadly and nodded, “I wish the same for you, Monty.” With that, Monty smiled, before fading away completely.

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Thank you, Monty Oum. (1981 - 2015)

Holy SHIT, did this take a while or what? Finally done. Yes, I know I might have fucked up on some of the history, but at this point, I’m too exhausted to care.

Anyway, next chapter will be the ball. And chapter 8 will have Weiss learning something about her weapon spirit.

After that, THEN we get to the GOOD STUFF! Anyway, see ya then!

#rwby #rwby au #rwby ocs #yuri #bumbleby #Gambol Shroud #ruby rose #yang xiao long #Blake Belladonna #Summer Rose #ember celica #monty oum #grimm guardians au

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pilot-boi · 5 years ago

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Five Injuries Hidden: Chapter One

A little look into the extents that Jaune would go for his team, his friends, his family. Did he maybe go a little too far at times? Maybe. Is it really necessary for him to get medical attention and actually heal his injuries? Probably. Will he ever stop gladly throwing himself on top of the wire to protect even one of them? Definitely not.

Maybe he should actually let them help him when he goes too far and gets hurt in their stead. But for that to happen, they’d have to know about the hits that he keeps taking for them, which they don’t and never will. And what they don’t know won’t kill them.

But… It might kill him if he isn’t careful.

((I keep forgetting Aura is a thing, so don’t mind me giving him injuries that he shouldn't really be able to get. Set vaguely between V5 and V6.))

Oscar

Jaune’s never had a baby brother before, so he can be forgiven for being just a little bit more protective than he really needs to be, right?

AO3 LINK

It was pouring

Not an innocent little sprinkle either, oh no. It was a torrential downpour.

The water kept getting in his hair and washing it down into his face. Who needs eyesight anyway? That wasn’t necessary, right?

And to think, he had been having such a nice day, too.

A wild shout snapped Jaune out of his thoughts, and he snapped up his sword to block the clumsy swipe of the Ursa’s paw, the resounding clang leaving a faint ringing in his ears. A grin made its way onto the soaked knight’s face as he batted the offending limb away with his shield and slashed across with his blade to decapitate it.

Whipping his head around, Jaune quickly scanned the impromptu battle field for his friends. His family. A voice that sounded suspiciously like Yang’s joked in the back of his head about counting heads like a teacher on a field trip, but he paid it no mind.

Relief swept through him as he saw that they all had their battles well in hand. Yang and Nora even seemed to be making a game out of it, shouting out the number of kills to each, both trying to one up the other. Their partners were taking it more seriously, but Jaune could see Blake smiling in amusement and hear the laugh tinging Ren’s words.

Ruby and Weiss were dashing around each other, working like a perfectly oiled machine. Glyphs would appear for Ruby to run on, perfectly timed for her to take out a truly obscene amount of Grimm with one strike. As he watched, he even saw Oscar take out a Beowulf singlehanded.

Jaune couldn’t help the swell of pride in his chest.

Shaking his sopping wet out of his eyes -in vain, apparently, as it simply slid right back after he swept it away for the millionth time- a movement in the trees caught his eye by complete chance. Red glowing eyes and feathers flickered from branch to branch.

Whipping his head around, Jaune zeroed in on a hidden Nevermore. It must have been drawn by the strife of the combat. With a screech it launched itself from the trees and reared back its wings to launch its feathers like throwing daggers.

Aiming directly at Oscar. Oscar, who still had trouble remembering to keep his Aura up. His brother. His baby brother.

Everything seemed to slow as his mind’s eye worked out just what he was seeing. He quietly pushed away the rage that bubbled up, and sought the cool planning mindset that had saved him and his friends time and again. Jaune would have time for anger later -because how dare that monster even think of laying a feather on Oscar Pine- because he had more immediate problems.

For one, and most immediately, that he would not be able to warn Oscar in time. No, the stupid bird was already locked and loaded onto Oscar, and by the time he warned him, there could be a feather a foot long skewered through his chest.

So, that brought his options down to only one. One acceptable solution. If that arrow was going to hit anyone, it was going to be him.

As he came to that conclusion, everything rushed back into full motion.

The Nevermore loosed its feathers like a hailstorm.

Oscar heard the noise and turned to see what was flying towards him.

Their friends yelled out in warning. Weiss threw up a wall a moment too late. Ruby jumped into a cloud of petals.

And Jaune slammed Oscar -his little brother, dammit stupid bird would pay for that- out of the way, his momentum carrying them both mostly out of the path of the barrage. Mostly.

Jaune was never so happy to have a soaking wet red sash tied around his middle than at that moment. It hid injuries quite well.

Hiding a grimace of pain as something just short of agony raced across his lower ribs, Jaune quickly checked over Oscar for injuries. His Aura flared up in his hands, liquid light pouring down into any possible imaginary injuries the boy could have. “Are you okay?! It didn’t get you, did it?”

Oscar shook himself out of his shocked stupor, blinking dazedly. “N-no. I’m fine. Thanks Jaune.”

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, shoulders slumping, before they raised back up rigidly and his shield spiraled back out to cover them both. “Wait, what about the Nevermore?!”

Ren laid a calming hand on Jaune’s shoulder. “Not to worry. Ruby and Weiss are taking care of it. Are you alright, Jaune?”

A sharp sting lanced across his ribs. Couldn’t spare Aura for an injury he didn’t know the extent of. What if he needed to heal someone? “Yeah, sure, I’m fine! Do you think you could check over Oscar to make sure that it really missed him?”

Ren tilted his head to one side in confusion and crouched down beside them both. “I saw you using your Semblance, but it you’re sure-”

“Guys, I’m fine! Not even bruised anymore thanks to you,” Oscar reassured him.

“You got him to the ground before the others even took off after the rest of the Grimm,” Ren reminded Jaune, ignoring the knight’s skeptical expression. “You did well, Jaune.”

“My ‘good enough’ almost wasn’t good enough.” Jaune slumped tiredly, resisting the urge to sling his arm across his torso to cover the angry welt he could feel. “I’m just relieved I saw it in time.”

Oscar punched him lightly in the arm, and then shook out his fingers from punching his metal armor. Jaune didn’t even notice the hit, but he noticed the reprimand. “Come on, stop that. Please! You saved me, you made it. I’m right here, on the ground, safe and sound.”

“Yeah, what he said!” Ruby called as she waded through the semi-dense brush, the tell tale smoke of dead Grimm dripping and seeping off the scythe leaning on her shoulder.

Good. The thing was dead. Jaune tried not to feel so satisfied about that.

Nora bounced out from behind her and slung an arm across Jaune’s shoulders, unknowingly aggravating Jaune’s side. “C’mon fearless leader, cheer up! Everything turned out a-okay. Now, what do ya say we all finish up here and go get something to eat, huh?”

Jaune heartily agreed, and soon they were all back in Mistral proper. Qrow, slung across the couch with one arm covering his eyes, grumbled when their troop stomped inside covered in mud and shouting to each other.

Excusing himself with the plea of exhaustion, Jaune snagged the first-aid kit from the kitchen and sequestered himself into his and Oscar’s shared room. And with a wince, he finally took in the extent of the damage.

The less said about the torturous removing of his armor and soaked through clothing, the better.

A long, angry red mark was gouged across his side, right under his rib cage, and a dark, grim looking bruise covered from just above the severe laceration all the way down to the top of his hip.

He stared at it for several long seconds, debating whether to heal it or not. Who knows what they’d be doing over the next couple days. Could he afford to leave it? Or could he afford to siphon off precious Aura to heal himself, when he might need it for the others?

After far too long, he settled on cleaning it out first and figuring it out later.

Biting back the few curse words he knew, mostly from Yang, he quickly balled up the cleanest, least muddy piece of his shirt before biting down on it, effectively blocking any yelps that would be sure to somehow slip past the firm barrier he had paced against them.

Taking a deep breath in through his nose, his side protesting fiercely, and gathering up all his courage, Jaune tore open a sterile package and applied the large antiseptic patch found within.

The world whited out.

Suddenly, in some part of his brain that was untouched by overwhelming agony, he was very, very glad that he had taken the precautions to stop anyone from seeing or hearing him. Locking the door behind him had been an afterthought born from years of sibling life, but now he was so very glad that he took the second to do so.

After all, he couldn’t have someone walking in on him feeling like he was dying, now could he?

He used to like rainy days.

Somehow pulling himself back together out of the sheer force of will, he finished cleaning out the gash. He channeled a sliver of Aura into the injury and watched as it stitched himself up into a barely healed slash, still surrounded by bruising. Just enough to stop the bleeding.

Taking a moment to center himself, he spit his shirt out of his mouth and finished up by wrapping a loop of gauze around his middle and over the still extremely tender wound.

Finished. Now he could die in peace. Didn’t they say that death was eternal rest? Yeah. He could go for an eternal nap right about now.

Sadly, that wasn’t in the cards for Jaune at the moment. Briefly mourning the fact that he couldn’t stay seated on his bedroom floor with stray medical supplies strewn about forever, Jaune mentally shook himself off and begrudgingly started cleaning up any evidence of this little escapade.

His dirty shirt got tossed right into the laundry, along with the bloody soaked and slightly-more-tattered sash. Hopefully nobody would notice the extra holes in the latter.

That done, and knowing that Oscar at the very least would undoubtedly be coming by soon, Jaune quickly pulled a new shirt over his head to hide the remaining evidence, i.e. his injury.

It was quick for him, but really he walked slowly with shuffling steps, as his side strongly rebelled against the thought of doing anything fast other than sleeping. So he shucked off his soaking wet jeans, tossed them into the pile with his shirt and sash, tugged on a pair of sweatpants, and collapsed painfully into his bed.

No training tonight. Sorry, Pyrrha, but he didn’t think he’d manage to wake up to his alarm no matter how loud he set it. And setting it loud enough to wake the others was a no-go. Jaune felt so exhausted that he doubted even his nightmares would be enough to wake him.

Don’t get him wrong, Jaune didn’t regret what he did. He never would. You could scour his soul for eternity, and you would never find even a slightest shade of remorse for doing what he had done to save Oscar, the little brother he’d never had.

This result was the optimal one. That’s what he did, he crunched the numbers. And the numbers would always come to this result, without question. Jaune would gladly relive this entire horrible, muddy, rainy day a million times if it meant that Oscar would come out of it uninjured.

In fact, he would willingly do this for any of his friends, his family, the family he’d found and made and cobbled together. This family that was a little damaged and cracked, but that had dragged him out of the darkest time in his life without a second thought and without asking for anything in return.

A debt that Jaune could never begin to repay. Not that he’d ever stop trying. He hadn’t been grateful enough when they’d been doing it, so he was doubly grateful for them sticking with it and not giving up on him like he’d so dearly wanted them to.

So he’d do anything for them. Anything at all. With absolutely no hesitation at all. If any of their lives were on the line, there were really no numbers to be crunched. This decision was a no-brainer.

Hands down, no questions asked.

#rwby #jaune arc #oscar pine #lie ren #nora valkyrie #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #qrow branwen #mine #mistral au #my writing #five injuries hidden #chapter 1

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shinobirain24 · 4 years ago

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Water and Ice- Chapter 6: Let me Protect You

Back in Beacon, I have met a boy, then everything dawned on me. He may not have remembered me when we first met in Poseidon Island. The land of seas. There, he has eyes, blue as the deep ocean. Blue hair as bright as the morning sky. The moment I held his hand when we gazed at the meteorites, I can feel the warmth through his aura. Such a funny and cocky personality. What I feel fond of him for is that he never asked for my name, nor did he came after me for my status as an heiress. I have one desire, and one thing only. To let him know how I feel for him. But how can I if I am not the right person he can choose? But now, all I saw was a struggling soul beneath his own cockiness. I knew he lost someone important to him. All I want to do now is to stay by his side, until the very end. But will he feel the same for me? After my sister is about to go after him? For what his brother has done? Either to help Winter catch Neptune, or to help him escape and find his brother? I love my sister, but I cannot let her bring him to justice. I think he's already suffered enough as it is. Neptune, I know you asked me not to follow you. But please give me a sign you're still around the island. I don't want you to die. Let me be there for you. Weiss is sitting in front of a firepit to warm herself up for the night.

Her thoughts began to roam in her mind. Now that her sister deemed the man she holds dear as a suspect. First he teamed up with her to find the answers about the Thunderbolts. After the lies Winter spread in the news. Meant to lure the Thunderbolts. Winter had been there for her when their mother couldn't. Defended her from their father. But when she left for Atlas Academy, Weiss has never felt lonelier in her life. She cannot meet eye-to-eye with either of her family members. Until she went to Beacon Academy to get away from it all. There she met Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. They became a team and the best of friends any girl can ask for. Standing by them to fight for freedom and peace.

Currently, her younger brother is working things out with their mother after she put their father in jail. Starting little by little to his recovery from what their father have put them all through. Still, the siblings are still not yet in speaking terms. Now that her elder sister is clenching to her duties as a general. Weiss cannot seem to bring herself to talk to her due to their differences.

Still, she does not want her to arrest the man who melted her frozen heart. Then the thoughts went on, tears stream from her eyes. She left her team to recuperate from the events; the Fall of Beacon, Battle in Haven, and Atlas. Who will she choose, Winter, or Neptune? She cried herself to sleep. Chills blew on her spine. But it didn't matter to her.

"Hey Schnee, wake up." She is then shaken awake when somebody is talking to her. Her eyes fluttered when she felt like someone is placing a hand on her shoulder. She roses up from the log she used as a pillow and rubbed her eyes. Hoping it was Neptune. Her vision went blurry at first. But when she blinked, she sees Drey. "Looks like the snowflake awakens."

"Oh no, not you." Weiss gasped. Hastily drawing her Myrtenaster and leapt backwards. But Drey raised his hand in defense, showing that he surrenders for a moment. "I'm not here to harm you." He assured her. But Weiss did not seem to believe him. But puts away her blade to hear his side of the story.

"Cut the act, Brandwood. I already know you and Rick are spying on us." She snarled.

"I came here to warn you. I saw you with Neptune earlier, and it looks like you're the only person he can trust."

"Why are you telling me this? What does that have to do with him?"

"What I'm saying is that you need to get Neptune off this island right now. Ricks' going to hunt him down and kill him to end his bloodline." Weiss eyes widened when she heard this. Another person hunting him down. But why would an enemy like Drey warn her? Then she has a theory that he has a soft spot. Not willing to do what Rick says.

"But why would you follow Rick? For all I know, you and him attempted to torment Neptune. And what do you mean ending his bloodline?" Drey turns around before he could spoke a word. He sighed to brace himself for the revelation.

"I cannot give you the full details about Neptune. But I can tell you this. I only followed Rick because not only he's my best friend. But he's also my cousin. My mother and his father are siblings. When we were young, he used to stood up for me. We make trouble together. I wasn't willing to do anything bad to the guy. But I go along with it because I owe everything to him. But as we got older, he changed. I don't know what he has against Vasilias, but it started when my uncle got killed in a cruising accident. The same day his brother, Jupiter Vasilias, disappeared along with his huntsmen team. After his semblance was unlocked, it's like his eyes are burning with pure hatred. And he blamed him for a reason." Drey explained, feeling ashamed to ever be related to the arrogant huntsman.

"Why didn't you report him when things got this bad? Why not giving him the help he needed?" Weiss glared. Wishing that he would've done it sooner.

"It would mean losing the best and only friend I ever had. He'll hate me for it." Drey responded in sadness. The he turns back to her. "I have to go, or Rick will find out. Get Vasilias off the island while you still have the chance. I'll try to stall him while you're at it." He begged. Leaving Weiss in desperation to save Neptune from the would-be assailant. Drey puts out the fire to not leave any traces that would led his cousin to kill his rivals. Weiss begins to understood the fact that being close to a family member would mean a sever bond, between parents, siblings, and cousins. And she and Drey are one of those people who're not willing to betray their loved ones.

Sorry Rick, but I can't let you do this. What else can I do to have you let this hatred go? He thought. Staring at the former heiress as she runs. Pulling out her Myrtenaster once again.

The next morning, Weiss keeps rushing through the island. Everywhere around is all too quiet. Since the other huntsmen and huntresses are petrified and taken to the Atlas Hospital for recovery. Neptune, where are you? Please. She thought pleading to herself for his safety. "Neptune, where are you!" She shouts. Needing the response. But all she hears is nothing but silence. To the point that Neptune has already decided not to involve anyone he cared about because of his reasons of searching for his brother. But this got Weiss thinking if Jupiter is truly a Thunderbolt. Why was Neptune blaming himself for his vanishing? It could've been an accident, at least not on purpose. She then questions herself about his bloodlines. And why would Rick wanted to end it? Could it be that there is a connection between Rick's father and Jupiter. As they both got caught on the accident on the same night. Nevertheless, she has to convince him to let her help him connect the dots.

Meanwhile, Neptune is back into the Colosseum, where he was still trying to touch the water before he can look further for his brother. Until he heard footsteps. He could tell somebody is following him. "I know you're out there. Come out." He said coldly, Weiss didn't hesitate to come out for his sake. "I've been looking for you, Neptune!" He looked up to the upper right corner to see Weiss standing on the pillar. She then jumps off and lands in a perfect form.

"What are you doing here? I told you to go back to Atlas." Weiss ignored this and shook her head in response.

"Never mind that, Neptune. We need to get off the island immediately." He turned away again.

"I can't, I have to find..."

"I know. I could already see how you felt. But you need to listen. Rick Argo is coming to kill you if we don't escape."

"Fine by me. I can take care of him myself."

"You're never going to stand much against him. Drey have me fully aware of how dangerous he is. You should know that there is a reason he has a grudge against you. And he won't stop."

"You can leave if you want to, Weiss. I'll take him down by myself." He shot a cold glare at her. Acting tough for a man with aquaphobia. Weiss isn't having it, so she has to take drastic matters. "If you won't listen to me, then you left me no choice." She then spun her revolver on her Myrtenaster. Summoning a platform to form earth objects from the ground underneath Neptune. But he jumps backward and lands near the walls. And Weiss stikes lunging. Neptune avoids her again by flipping back into the air.

"I guess there's no other way to convince you, huh? You know the strength of my glyphs!" Weiss gave him one final warning. "Don't you understand? I don't want you to die, Neptune!"

"Oh, yeah?! Try me, Snow Angel!" He called her by that nickname. But with no effect. Despite that his weapon is at a disadvantage, it's still enough for defense. Blocking her slashes.

Weiss has the upper hand by summoning her Armored Gigas. The projection then swung its sword at Neptune. But he transform his guandano into a trident in his Tri-hard. Stab it on the back of its head and making a huge electric barrier to make it dissipate. He then lands on the water. Which he wasn't aware of, since he's too busy fighting.

Weiss landed there to collide her blade with his spear. "I'm tired of fighting with you already, just give it up!" She said.

"I have to find Jupiter one way or another. I am not afraid of death! Now get out of the way!" He pushes back.

"No!" But she also pushed back holding him on the position. "That's enough!" Neptune didn't realized that the water is reacting to his body for defense. Catching her off guard, and pushes it at Weiss, knocking her to another pillar. "Ahh!" She screamed. He then realized what he has done, and rushes towards Weiss to see if she's okay. "Weiss...Weiss!" He held her into his arms. She felt her head hurt for seconds before regaining consciousness. Opening her eyes and gazed at him sadly.

"I'm sorry for being so selfish, Neptune. After Beacon, and Haven fell, anybody we knew and cared about has either lost their minds, or their lives. The truth is, I don't want to lose you." Weiss does not hesitate to cry onto his shoulder. Neptune felt guilty for hurting her, and not letting her help him when he needed it.

"Oh, Weiss." Neptune said softly. Wrapping his arms around her to console Weiss. He has no idea what she has been through over her journeys. How traumatic those experiences must be. "Neptune." She sobbed. "There's nothing for you to be sorry for. If anyone's apologizing, it should be me. I am an idiot, okay? I don't like to let anybody get hurt or killed because of me. I should've told you this a long time ago. I wasn't honest with myself." He felt her body shaking from all the sobbing, still in fear that he could get hurt. He never saw her cry before. Weiss has been very composed and more focus, sometimes bossy, she has yet to show any emotion towards him. But this time, she did.

Weiss looked up at him. He wiped the tear from her left cheek. Calming her down. To assure that he'll be fine. He lifts her up and asks her, "Why don't we get back to Argus and take a break?" Much to her relief. She nods. He held her hand to lead her back to the bay and waited for the ferry to come. Weiss looked back at the island, worried what might come to Drey since he warned her of his cousin's insanity. Then she and Neptune boards the ferry and went back to Argus.

#iceberg rwby #Icy Seas #neptune vasilias #weiss schnee #Arctic Ocean

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mackinmacki · 5 years ago

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July 22, 2003 Track 4

Rating: K+

Word Count: 3500

Summary: It's not always a good thing when the person you care about comes over in a late night storm.

Pairing: White Rose

Notes: This is for day four of White Rose Week. Topic: Home.

Alternate title: May 22, 2001 Track 9

Link: (FFN) | (AO3)

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It was a very boring Saturday night. Yang had been over at Blake's the entire day, leaving her alone with their dad. However, he had conked out early, leaving her up by herself with nothing to do. She'd watched some TV, but there wasn't anything on that really captivated her. There weren't any video games that she wanted to play either. Online, these symptoms were supposedly signs of depression, but she didn't think it was that severe. She was just very, very bored.

The fact that it was pouring rain outside didn't help matters. Even if there was something outside that she wanted to do, the terrible weather had decided to put the kibosh on that. At this point, she was sitting in her bedroom with the curtains open, staring out into the rain and sighing oh-so dramatically. Weiss would've been proud. She was just so freaking bored! If only the stuff she could do inside interested her at the moment. It'd be more fun if Yang was there, but of course she wasn't. If only she'd gone over to Blake's with her... Then she would be third-wheeling hard, and she suddenly appreciated her boredom a bit more.

She heard the doorbell ring, faint but audible against the pounding storm. That caught her by surprise. Her first thought was that Yang had returned, but that didn't make sense. She had the keys to get in, so she wouldn't need to bother with waiting. Unless she had lost them... It didn't seem likely, but no other explanation made sense. The weather was too awful for anybody to come around trying to sell something, and nobody had mentioned to her that they wanted to come over. Not that they'd likely want to when it was raining like this. Her curiosity was now heightened as she left her room and headed for the front door.

Looking through the peephole, her surprise didn't end, but her concern immediately ratcheted up to ridiculous levels. Standing on her porch was Weiss, staring at the ground with completely disheveled hair. Ruby hurriedly unlocked the door and flung it open, gaping at the sight of the Schnee heiress. She was soaked from head to toe, her arms wrapped around her stomach as she shivered where she stood. An angry red mark was visible on her left cheek, which only made Ruby's concern worsen. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew she couldn't leave Weiss standing out there a moment longer.

Grabbing Weiss's hand, she helped her inside and shut the door. Water dripped from her body, quickly creating a puddle on the wood paneling beneath her. "Wait right here!" Ruby turned and ran towards the bathroom, nearly tripping over herself in her haste to grab some towels. She raided the cabinet and grabbed three of them, hustling back to the front door. Weiss still stood there just as she'd left her: staring down and frozen, as if in shock. It was making her stomach feel sick with worry.

She set down a towel in front of Weiss's feet, which she stepped on without a word. Now the majority of the water was dripping onto the towel, though a few errant drops kept hitting the floor. That could be dried off later, though. Dropping one of the towels next to her, Ruby used the other to start drying Weiss off. She had a feeling that Weiss didn't feel like doing it herself, and she wasn't wrong. Weiss didn't make a move to help, or really any move at all. She just stood there with a dead-to-the-world expression, neither thanking Ruby nor acknowledging her presence.

The silence between them was torturous. Ruby wanted to make Weiss look her in the eye and tell her what was wrong, but she had to keep holding her tongue. Weiss was usually not very upfront about her emotions, but she didn't tend to stay this quiet. Seeing how she was at the moment let her know that something serious had happened. If she pushed her for an answer like she so desperately wanted to, then she might end up doing more damage. As much as it pained her, she was forced to remain silent.

The two remaining towels got full usage as she dried Weiss off. It took quite a bit of time, since it was somewhat awkward to dry off another person, but eventually she was as dry as she was gonna be. That wasn't saying much, though, since her clothes still retained a good amount of rainwater. Her towels weren't going to do much to combat that, nor were they going to help keep Weiss very warm. A passing shiver along her body showed that truth very well. Okay, so she needed something that would bring warmth back into her body. A bath should do the trick.

Leaving the wet towels by the door, Ruby took Weiss's hand and led her to the bathroom. Once in there, she closed the door behind them and started up a bath. Standing there with nothing to do but wait for the bath to fill up, the silence that still permeated the room became truly unbearable. She caught herself tapping her foot several times when the sound reached her ears. While the bathtub was being filled up, Weiss mostly just stared silently at the water, though Ruby caught her staring at herself in the mirror once. It was only for a moment before she looked away.

Eventually the bath was filled up completely. Ruby shut off the water and walked to the other side of the room. She turned around to give Weiss her privacy, which was understood even without words. With nothing else going on, Ruby could hear the sound of Weiss's clothes being removed, then there was nothing for about fifteen seconds. It made her want to turn around and see what was wrong, even at the risk of being yelled at for glimpsing Weiss's nudity. At least she'd say something.

The sound of water being displaced quelled some of her fears, though she kept facing the door until she was sure Weiss had become fully submerged in the water. "You can turn around." She was surprised when she heard Weiss's voice, turning around due to that shock more than having been given permission to do so. Weiss was indeed hidden beneath the water, with the bubbles Ruby had added truly covering everything below the very top of her chest. Ruby headed back over to her, cautiously sitting down on the side of the tub.

"Is the water warm enough?" Weiss nodded, still not looking at Ruby. It wreaked havoc on her heart, but she just had to take a deep breath and not take it too personally. Weiss was obviously going through something, and she wasn't going to coax the truth out of her by being sad. So she sacked up and gently ran her fingers through Weiss's hair, hoping that she could inject some happiness into the otherwise-tense scenario. "Nice weather we're having, huh?"

"Hah." Weiss scoffed, subtly leaning into Ruby's hands. "Hardly." Well, at least she was saying words now. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Ruby kept stroking her hair, having a feeling that it was helping calm Weiss down somewhat. Well, it was either that or the bath. Or both. She wasn't being told to stop, at least. "Thank you, Ruby."

"Huh? For what?"

"For letting me in."

"I wasn't going to let you stand outside in the rain." Ruby laughed, untangling her fingers from Weiss's hair so she could stand up and look for a couple more towels that Weiss could use when she was done with her bath. There had at least been one more remaining after she raided the cabinet for them originally. Hopefully there was another one just in case. "You're always welcome in my house, Weiss."

"Huh..." Weiss hummed quietly, lifting a hand to slowly swirl the bubbles around her. Ruby came back with two towels, setting them nearby so they didn't get any water splashed on them. She felt her heart start to swell with hope as she sat down again, feeling like Weiss was getting closer to saying something about what was going on. How close, she couldn't be sure. There was something in the little she had said, though, and she just needed to figure out what it meant.

Things were mostly quiet for the rest of Weiss's bath. Once the bubbles started to fade out, that was around the time she was ready to come out and dry off. Ruby grabbed one of the towels and held it out for Weiss, turning the other way and closing her eyes. She heard the water starting to drain from the tub, then felt the towel being taken from her hands. Taking a few steps towards the door, she opened her eyes again and kept walking, making sure to avoid looking in the mirror. Her face felt a bit warm, but she tried to chalk it up to the room being heated up from the bath than the fact that Weiss was in that bath.

"You can turn around again." When she did, she nearly lost her breath. Weiss was still standing in the bathtub as the water drained around her, the towel she'd been given now tied around her body. It hugged her really well, and seeing her standing there like that nearly made Ruby overheat. She had to keep reminding herself that this was a serious situation, and she needed to be hyper-focused on helping Weiss through whatever she was going through. It was just sort of hard to fully concentrate on that when she was just standing there in a towel! And looking super good as well. 'Focus, Ruby, focus!' "Can you, uh, leave while I dry off?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah sure." She hastily tore her eyes away and stepped out of the bathroom, shutting the door and leaning against it. Sighing quietly, she lightly slapped her cheeks before starting to pace around the living room. This was finally her chance to try and burn off some of her worries. She really wanted to know what was going on, but she knew it wasn't the right time to ask. It made her wonder if she was even equipped to deal with whatever was happening. She wasn't much of a therapist or a problem solver. Yang, with her years of big sister experience, would be much more helpful. If only she was here and not sucking face with Blake...

She could do this, though! If she doubted herself now, she'd just be handicapping her chances right off the bat. Weiss needed her, and she was going to be there for her for as long as it took. Whatever she had to do to make her feel better, that's what she was going to do. She just needed to remember how Yang made her feel better whenever she was sad as a child. Not that she was going to treat Weiss like a child. She just figured it could help in some way. She hoped so, anyway.

"Uh, Ruby?" Weiss's voice made her stop pacing and turn back to the bathroom. She had stuck just her head out, eyes searching for Ruby. "My clothes are still wet. Do you have anything I can wear?" Crap, she'd forgotten all about that!

"I'm sorry! I'll get you something right now!" She raced off to her room, yanking open drawers to grab something for Weiss to wear. They weren't too different when it came to body type, so she figured most things she had would fit. She didn't spend too much time finding clothes, since she didn't want to keep Weiss waiting. A red 'Vale Raiders Athletic Club' t-shirt and a pair of black shorts seemed fine enough, at least for one night. She also grabbed a white bra and panties before running back to the bathroom. Holding them out, she smiled apologetically as Weiss opened the door more to grab the clothes offered to her. She had wrapped the towel around her body again, something noticeable for only a moment before the door was closed again. Once more, she had to wait out in the living room with nothing to do but worry and try to pep herself up to pep Weiss up.

When Weiss opened the door and came out, Ruby was struck by just how cute she looked in her clothing. It all seemed to fit her pretty well, but the fact that she was wearing Ruby's clothes specifically made it seem different. Now she understood why Yang always seemed so happy to see Blake wearing one of her nightshirts. It made her heart flutter in a way that was almost medically concerning.

She grabbed Weiss's wet clothes from the bathroom and took them to the laundry room, which she should've done in the first place. It'd kind of escaped her mind with all the worry and Weiss being all naked in her tub. Kind of hard to remember what she was supposed to do with all that going on. Thankfully things were finally getting done: the clothes were in the wash and a warmer Weiss had followed her into her bedroom. Now all that was left was the rest of the night. Time to see how that went.

"So, you can sleep on my bed tonight, and I can sleep in Yang's room, since she won't be here tonight. Or if you want me to stay with you, I can sleep on the floor. I have a sleeping bag in the garage, I think." They were both sitting together on Ruby's bed. Weiss was now looking at her, which was an improvement over her staring at the floor earlier.

"Absolutely not. You're not going to sleep on the floor. This is your room, after all." Weiss crossed her arms, staring at Ruby with an expression that told her there was no room for discussing. At least her stubbornness was back on display. She'd been worried about where that had gone.

"You're my guest, though, so you're not sleeping on the floor either. You wanna sleep in the same bed or something?"

"Yes. I would prefer that, actually." That made Ruby do a double take. She gawked at Weiss, half-expecting her to say that she was joking. Her serious expression never wavered, though. So she was being serious. Being allowed to touch Weiss was one thing, and that thing had taken quite an effort to happen. Sleeping in the same bed was a completely different animal. That was... really intimate.

"Really?" Ruby couldn't help but ask, being too surprised to say nothing. With the sad look that appeared on Weiss's face, she wished she had said nothing.

"I... don't want to sleep alone tonight." Say no more. Ruby moved over to hug Weiss, continuing to see the depths of how serious whatever had happened to her was. Otherwise she likely wouldn't have even thought to ask for this to happen. She had, though, and Ruby wasn't going to blow that chance.

"Then we'll sleep in the same bed. I'll be right here next to you if you need me. It'll be like a sleepover!" That got Weiss to laugh. It was a dry laugh, but it was a positive reaction in Ruby's book. Better still, it opened up the dialogue between them. It wasn't much, and there was no talk about what had happened to Weiss, but Ruby appreciated what she could get at this point. She was doing most of the talking, but she was willing to do whatever it took to take Weiss's mind off of what happened and onto something more lighthearted.

Eventually there was a lull in the conversation, and Ruby watched Weiss move over towards the window. She pulled up one of the blinds' flaps and looked outside, staring at the rain coming down. Ruby scooted over and grabbed the blinds' cord, opening them up so that they both could see the weather. Weiss didn't say anything, instead leaning against Ruby and watching the raindrops fall. They both sat there together in silence for a few minutes, with the sound of the storm acting as a likely soundtrack for whatever was going on inside Weiss's head.

"You said I was always welcome in your home earlier." She turned to look at Ruby, something flashing in her eyes that Ruby couldn't place. "Did you really mean that?"

"Of course! You've always been welcome here." Ruby smiled brightly, gently stroking Weiss's arm. "No matter where I live, you'll always be welcome there."

"I appreciate that. I really do." Weiss laid her head down on Ruby's shoulder and closed her eyes, listening to the rain and the sound of Ruby's soft breathing. "I wish I could stay here instead of going home. That place..." She sighed deeply, rubbing her left cheek. "It doesn't feel like a home anymore. Maybe it never did. It's just a house now." Her eyes fluttered opened, glancing up towards Ruby. "This place feels more like a home to me. You and your family have always treated me so wonderfully, even when I didn't deserve it."

"You could stay here if you wanted. I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind having you over more often." Ruby's stomach was churning at the thought of Weiss being that miserable at home. She'd known things weren't all that 'fairy tale'-like, but this sounded much worse. At the same time, she definitely wasn't opposed to Weiss spending more time over at her house. They'd be able to be in each other's company more often, which was never a bad thing. "And I bet Yang would like to have someone else to talk about haircare products or whatever." She laughed, running a hand through her short hair. "I'm not exactly Herman Li or anything."

"I can't do that, Ruby. As much as I want to... My family wouldn't allow it, and they would do everything they could to get me back. It'd just make more hassle for you and your family. That's the last thing I want." She lifted her head off of Ruby's shoulder and shuffled towards the window, staring out in the black. The streetlights were the only thing allowing true sight of the storm. For how roughly it was raging on, it was strangely comforting.

"Well, if your dad tries to take you home, then... then I'll punch him right in the nose!" For emphasis, Ruby made a quick jab at the air, making Weiss laugh. "He won't dare come around when I'm protecting you."

"While I appreciate the sentiment, I'd rather not become prison pen pals with you." She shook her head with a light smirk on her face, but it faded quickly as she came back to Ruby. "I know it can't happen, but... I'd like to pretend, just for tonight, that I can live here with you. I won't have to go back home, and I don't have to worry about anything." She closed her eyes again, a sudden heaviness overtaking them as she pressed herself against Ruby. "Can we pretend?"

"Sure, we can pretend." Ruby ran her hands down Weiss's back, an uncomfortable lump in her throat. She didn't want to pretend: she wanted it to be real. How incredible it would be to get to live with Weiss. It'd be much better than sending her home to whatever was awaiting her there. Weiss still hadn't elaborated on it, but it surely wasn't good. Knowing that she was going to have to let Weiss go and watch her head back there made her feel sick to her stomach. It made her feel like she was enabling something bad, but she didn't know what.

She didn't realize the silence wasn't intentional until she heard Weiss's quiet breathing. Looking down, she realized Weiss had fallen asleep. She smiled softly at the sight, noting how calm she looked in the throes of slumber. There weren't any of the lines on her face caused by annoyance or worry: it was as peaceful as she ever looked. She wished that she could make Weiss feel that peaceful every day. There was only so much she could do, though, and that made her feel like a failure.

Somehow, though, in some way, she'd help Weiss. At some point they'd both be out in the world, and there'd be nothing stopping them from living together. Then she'd always be able to protect Weiss from anything that wanted to harm her. If her family wanted to say something about it, then they'd have to go through her first. Gently kissing the top of Weiss's forehead, she whispered a promise to her sleeping form. A promise that she'd protect her from anything. That they'd live together someday, and that would be a home for her. A real home.

She promised that someday, they wouldn't have to pretend.

#White Rose Week #RWBY #White Rose #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #my writing

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calliecat93 · 5 years ago

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Welcome to the Chapter 6 review, everyone! Where everything is nice and happy and full of sugar and rainbows! Sure we got stuff like Jaques being horrible and Mantle breaking out into a riot, but hey! It’ll be fine! EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE! So let’s discuss all the happy things, okay? Okay!

Overview

It’s Election Day, and while the riots have calmed down, things in Mantle are still tense. While Robyn doesn’t condone the violence, she does encourage those who support her to take that anger and use it in the polls. Indeed, it seems that she already has the lead over Jaques Schnee and a large amount of support behind her. Up in Atlas, the kids are training more when Ironwood comes in. The gang tries to convince him that maybe working with Robyn will help with the cause, but the general is uncertain and unconvinced that she’ll be willing. Either way, he grants the kids a night off. After all, it’s going to be a new Atlas the next morning, and they need to be up and ready to face whatever happens.

Everyone divides off. Blake and Yang are going to a dance club with Team FNKI, Weiss is going with Jaune and Oscar to the movies, and Ruby, Ren, and Nora are going to a victory party for Robyn in Mantle. As they walk, they talk about how this seems… well, too soon, but Nora says that they should have something certain to hold onto. Ruby agrees, especially since when Amity Arena goes online nothing’s going to be certain anymore. She’s still concerned about how Salem can’t be beaten is about to be common knowledge, even when Nora suggests that Jinn only said that Oz couldn’t, so there could still be a way. Ruby in uncertain though and Ren is clearly on edge due to them running out of time. He even gets worked up at Nora, which only makes Ruby feel more conflicted about what’s coming.

The trio arrives at the party location, but it isn’t joyous as Ren and Nora are bickering due to Ren’s more closed-up attitude that he won’t talk to Nora about. Ruby is uninterested in relationship drama and goes to hang out with Penny, who is handling security detail along with Marrow. The Happy Huntresses aren’t very happy about that since… well, they’re there for that and don’t want any Atlas personnel around. Robyn’s more open about it though since she’s going to have to work with them when she becomes councilwoman. We get a nice talk with them about how Robyn works outside the law and despite what she says, doesn’t exactly do things legally so Marrow is suspicious of her. But Robyn points out that the law isn’t perfect nor exactly equal, a fact that Marrow can agree with due to his Faunus status. Nevertheless, he wants to act within the law, while Robyn is more than willing to go outside of it to do what she feels is right.

With the polls getting ready to close, Fiona has Robyn get up and give her final speech. Ruby’s forced to be on her own since Penny has to focus on the job, and the Renora pair are still bickering. So she joins the crowd and listens as Robyn speaks of how despite never planning to get into politics, she thanks the people for choosing her and swears that whether she wins or loses, she will continue to fight for the betterment of the city and its people. But as the polls enter the final minute, it seems that Jaques is quickly catching up and while her girls encourage her, Robyn looks worried.

The speech was enough to cool Nora down, but Ren is still tense. Nora pleads with him to just tell her what’s going on, and it’s clear that the young man is conflicted. He says that he’s never been good at talking, which is true, but Nora decides ‘screw talking’. And thus my friends, we get something that we have been waiting for for so, SO long. Nora pulls Ren over… and full-on kisses him. Ren is shocked at first, but he quickly melts into it and relaxes. All while this really nice song that kinda makes me think fo New Years sung by Casey and another singer by Santi C plays in the background. This was a long time coming my friends,,, but trust me, getting this beautiful moment is gonna come with a cost. Why?

Well… remember V3 Chapter 6? The one where pretty much everything began to take us down the route of no return? Well.. deja vu anyone?

As Robyn’s supporters count down the final seconds… we find out that Tyrian is there. Watts is elsewhere, having live footage of the party up as well as one of Penny fighting. He gives Tyrian the signal, and Ruby turns just in time to see the stinger of Tyrian’s tail. She tries to warn Robyn in horror, but it’s too late. The entire building blacks out, and Tyrian proceeds to go on a murder spree. We watch him slash at various bystandards with his tail and blades, and Ruby is knocked down and due to the dark, can’t see him. Penny can see though as she tries to stop Tyrian from attacking Robyn. He fails to strike her, though he DOES manage to severely slash Fiona and even bypass her Aura. All as Watts takes the live footage and begins to splice it with footage of Penny fighting.

By the time the lights come back on, it’s… a grizzly scene. Multiple bloody corpses lay along the ground, and standing on the stage with her swords armed and ready, is Penny. The people of Mantle immediately jump to the conclusion that it was her who did this due to being ‘Ironwood’s robot’. Penny is understandably horrified at this revelation. To make things worse, the polls have closed… and with a sudden last-second surge in votes, Jaques Schnee has won the Council Seat. Ruby goes to check Fiona, informing Ren and Nora that the real assailant was Tyrian. An outright riot breaks out as the Huntresses, as well as the citizens, charge at Penny, but Marrow freezes them. Ren and Nora lead Penny away as Robyn outright pushes Ruby away hard from Fiona to check on her herself. As they all leave, Marrow tries to tell Robyn that it wasn’t Atlas that did this, but whether she believes that or not is currently uncertain. Considering how Joanna shot at him though, it doesn’t look good.

Watts has uploaded the edited footage for all of Atlas and Mantle to see, properly framing Penny for cold-blooded murder seemingly due to Ironwood’s orders. She is understandably horrified, confused, and… well take how Yang and Pyrrha respectively felt when Emerald tricked them in V3, and you get how Penny feels. Marrow tells her that she should get back to Atlas, but Penny offers no reply though she does indeed fly off. Riots are once more breaking out, and along with it the Grimm. And the only ones currently available to protect the city are Ruby, Marrow, Ren, and Nora though Marrow does call in backup. The warning sirens blare and go red, all as Jaques makes his victory speech and promises to serve all of Mantle and Atlas. Fittingly bleak words to end a bleak episode.

Review

Damn man, just… damn… we all knew that things were gonna go off the rails in this volume sooner or later, but damn I don’t think that ANY of us expected this.

Okay, lets… let's talk about Renora first. This was an interesting episode for the duo. While I still think that the Chapter 3 scene with them was a stupid scene if only because of how predictable and overused that trope is, we do get to see that there is more going on. It’s clear that Ren is tense. His danger senses have been going off, the weight of the secret mission is piling on, they’re running out of time regarding Ironwood and the Salem reveal, it’s understandable for them to be edgy. But Ren seems to be moreso than anyone, even more than Ruby. This is making him more withdrawn and focused on the job, which means neglecting Nora and not talking to her. As he said, he isn’t one for talking, but I would imagine that since he's been with Nora since forever, fi h could talk to anyone it would be her. And yet, he isn’t.

It makes you feel for Nora. I mean Ren isn’t being cruel or anything, but he won’t let Nora in and just brushes her off when she tries to address it or lighten things up. So far, Nora’s been… well Nora, but she’s been pretty vocal about wanting to help Mantle be better and clearly wants to trust/believe the people trying to do so. Ironwood may not be doing a great job. But at least he’s well-intentioned. Robyn also wants better for Mantle and compared to Jaques, she would keep her word about helping both cities… at least he says, but still. Nora’s well aware of what’s coming, but she’s remaining optimistic and even pointed out to Ruby that just because Salem can’t be defeated by Oz doesn't mean that no one else can. They’re in a position to help people, so that’s what Nora is trying to do while Ren is stressing out over the larger picture and what’s about to come.

We’ve never seen the duo have issues like this. I can't really recall any time that they argued aside from the occasional friendly spat. With how much these two are usually shoved into the background, it’s nice to see some focus on them and especially on their relationship. While we’ve known since at least V4 that Nora at least had feelings for Ren, the show has been VERY unclear about if they’re canon or not. Sure they sit together, stand next to each other, and are with each other a lot, kinda like Blake and Yang are now, but there was still this kind fo air of ‘are they nor not’ especially since little was done with them in V5 and 6. This volume seems to finally be addressing this by having them reach an impasse between them and their views. Nora is living in the present, while Ren is scared about what’s coming and not being ready. I’m really happy that Nora decided to take that step and kiss him. Maybe it was to try and get Ren to open himself up to her in some form. Maybe it was to comfort him. Whatever the reason, we know that this has been building up for a while and clearly Ren reciprocated after the initial shock. It was really, really nice…

Then the murder spree happened…

Yeah, things went to shit FAAAR sooner than I was expecting. Its a brilliant plan on the villains part. Have Tyrian murder people, splice the footage with Penny, and then set it up so that Penny takes the fall Penny: the Protector of Mantle. A member of Ironwood’s inner circle. The girl who Ironwood assigned to protect the city, despite frequently pulling her away for Atlas matters and offering no other form or protection for the city. Penny is very well-meaning and is genuinely trying to do everything at the sacrifice of having any personal life, but add this to the other murders, Ironwood’s police state, the frequent taking of valuable resources, and now Jaques winning the election and this whole thing just adds onto the tension between the two cities. Watts and Tyrian clearly want to create as much chaos as possible, and so far they’re killing it. Their only snag was that Ruby saw Tyrian, so now the gang knows that Salem’s minions are there, but that doesn’t undo the damage that they caused.

This is certainly the breaking point. All that tension has boiled over, and it’s probably not going to simmer down any time soon. Even before, you could see how the Happy Huntresses were mad about Marrow and Penny’s presence and wanted them gone. Robyn let them stick around, but her view is clearly… well, not the most moral. From what we can tell she isn’t a bad person, but she’s perfectly happy with robbing and breaking a few laws to accomplish her goals. Which if she did win council, might have made her look somewhat dubious. Marrow is a Faunus who is fully aware of Atlas’ crooked system, but he wants to work within the law and do what’s right morally. Both sides have good intentions, but Robyn’s efforts are to help a broken city while Marrow is ultimately still siding with a place that frequently puts others down. You can see the right and wrong with both sides, but they do ultimately want what’s best for everyone, a fact that both ignore because of their different ways of accomplishing it.

Now? Reaching some kind of middle ground just got a Hell fo a lot harder. We saw the kids try to convince Ironwood to work with Robyn, but he won't for it, and she probably won’t be now either. While I do think that Robyn will realize that it wasn't Penny eventually, especially with her fighting Tyrian in the opening, she’s clearly not happy. Her girls seem even more angry with how hostile May had been towards Marrow earlier, and Joanna hooting at him when he tried to ask if Fiona was okay. Neither side is willing to talk or cooperate with each other, and in the current state where doing so would be more important than ever, it’s only been made much more difficult, if not outright impossible. That’s not even mentioning what’s going to happen once Ironwood reveals Salem. It was already a very dangerous idea, but doing so with this much chaos and mistrust everywhere? And when it’s unlikely that Ironwood will send the standby forces into the city while the Manticore are swarming, allowing for even more devastation due to his paranoia? Doing it is going to lead to outright slaughter.

Heck, this is only going to make things worse for Ruby. For one, she’s still running out of time. But think about what’s going to happen once Ironwood is made aware that Tyrian was the murderer. That Salem’s forces are indeed there. That they have been compromised and didn't even know it. Ironwood’s likely going to be even more paranoid. He’ll double efforts ton Amity Arena. Double down on the police state. And worse of all, he’ll care even less about his mage and Mante’s perception of him. WHich will not only continue the thread of mistrust and hate, but it’ll make it all the easier for Jaques to paint all the fault onto Ironwood. While IDK if he can play the political game well, Jaques isn’t stupid and clearly he’s in on Watts’ schemes on some level. If he plays his cards right, he can make everyone hate Ironwood and paint him as the cause of everyone’s pain and suffering. All that he wants is to get rid of the Embargo (at least currently cause he’s sure as Hell gonna abuse his power for SO much more) so he’d have zero issues playing long, especially with his own contempt towards Ironwood. Which is going to make everything even harder for our heroes.

Ruby knows that she’s running out of time. She knows that once the truth about Salem is out, nothing’s going to be the same again. But she also doesn’t know how Ironwood will respond about Salem’s immortality, and this could make her either unwilling to reveal it or at least doubtful. Which is unlikely to go well among the team. But either way, she’s going to make a call soon. But she doesn’t know what to do. Even if there is a way to beat Salem like Nora said, Ruby doesn't know what to do. She may very well be over her head here, and it’s all going to come crashing down. Add that to what happened with Penny and being unable to do anything to stop Tyrian, and… yeah, poor Ruby’s got it rough.

Despite all the bleakness though, this was an excellent episode. The bleakness came across very strongly, and it felt like Volume 3 Chapter 6 all over again when Yang got framed. It really paints the two sie of Mantle and Atlas as flawed, but well-meaning but they cannot find a compromise and that is by far the biggest thing holding them back. The villains have been ramping things up between them, kinda like how the Mercs did to the two opposing side son Chorus in RvB. Though I think it’s better here since while the Reds and Blues came into it when the tipping point had LOOOONG been crossed, the RWBY gang are there to witness the tipping point themselves. It was an appropriately shocking episode, but it had it’s light moments as well. Dorky Bees, some training scenes, some cute Ruby and Penny bits, and of course the Renora kiss. Whether that will cause issues later is yet to be seen, but hey we finally got it! About time~!

Chapter Seven Predictions

While no thumbnail is currently available, RT DID accidentally reveal some brief clips of Blake and Yang in Mantle fighting Robyn. Not sure which episode it’s in, but if they’re in Mantle with FNKI, chances are they’re going to get pulled into the current conflict. Why they’d go after Robyn? Heck if I know. But we’ll get to see Robyn in action, so that’ll be nice. I’m hoping that maybe Robyn is looking into what happened and is realizing that something’s amiss, and maybe it’ll even lead to her fight with Tyrian. Not sure, but let’s hope. Otherwise, assuming that we start where we left off, we’ll likely get some Grimm fights, but IDT that it’s gonna end any happier…

Episode Stats

Favorite Character: Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie Favorite Scene: Renora Kiss Least Favorite Scene: Honestly? I got nothing. Favorite Voice Actor: Sam Ireland (Nora Valkyrie) but Honorable Mention to Kdin Jenzen (May Marigold) because about dang time that she got a part in this! Favorite Animation: Renora Kiss, the camera work and background blurring were perfection. Rating: 9/10

Final Thoughts

What’s left to say? This episode was the Wham Episode. The point where everything goes to Hell. It captured the shock and bleakness so well, but also had plenty of light-hearted moments and nice character perspectives. It really paints these two sides similarities yet vat differences perfectly, and that divide is only going to get wider. It’s uncertain how things are going to go from this point, but we can only hope that we get some kind of miracle by the end. But I’m for certain that I'm still gonna be here to find out~

#rwby #rwby7 #rwby reviews #callie reviews

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lazyfox411 · 6 years ago

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Some more Qrow Angst

Ruby is in trouble so she calls her uncle qrow for help. Warnings I guess for alcohol use and a dude being.. creepy?

Let me know what you think! And sorry if this ends up formatted strange, I'm in an airport and using my phone which I normally dont do for posting fic..enjoy..

Qrow smacked his lips as he polished off what was left in his glass. He played his fingers along the neck of the bottle, contemplating another.

Tai cleared his throat, nestled in an armchair across the room. His eyes immediately flicked back down to the novel in his hands when Qrow looked up. It was subtle, but it was enough. Qrow left the bottle where it was. This was Tai's house, he would at least try to behave. If not for Tai, then for the girls. Even though it was late, so Yang was already locked away in her room for the night, and Ruby was out at a friend's.

No sooner had the thought left his mind than his scroll, tucked away in his back pocket, began to vibrate. He pulled it out and looked at the contact photo: Ruby's smiling face. Tai was fully immersed in his book now, and after years of living with the man in a small dorm room, Qrow knew not to interrupt him when his nose was stuck between pages. He quietly stepped into the kitchen to take the call.

"Hey, kiddo, what's up? I thought you were at your friend's, Violet, or whatever her name is."

"It's Velvet," Ruby corrected softly, and in that instant, Qrow knew there was something wrong, very wrong, because he had never heard his niece speak in such a quiet, timid voice.

"Ruby, what is it?" he asked.

"I lied," she replied, barely a whisper. "I lied, Uncle Qrow, I didn't go to Velvet's, I went somewhere else. These kids at school were having a party, and they asked me to come, and I did, but now everything's getting out of hand, people are drinking, and they're breaking stuff and yelling and this one guy has been following me around all night, and I don't know anybody here, they're all older than me and I'm hiding in the bathroom but people keep knocking on the door--"

"Whoa, slow down there, kid, just breathe for a sec," Qrow tried to keep his voice steady, but just about every muscle in his body was tensed and ready to spring to action.

There was a muffled knock, and someone shouted from Ruby's end of the line.

"Occupied!" Ruby called out. She must have put her scroll closer to her face then, because Qrow didn't have to strain to hear, "I'm scared, Uncle Qrow."

"Where are you?" Qrow demanded. Ruby rattled off an address. "Alright. I'm gonna get Tai, and we're gonna get you out of there."

"No!" Ruby cried, "You can't tell Dad, please, Uncle Qrow, you can't let him find out. He'll be so disappointed in me."

That made Qrow pause, if only for a split second. Did Ruby think so little of him that she didn't care what he might think? But that didn't matter, not right now, because his niece was in trouble, and she was trusting Qrow to help her.

"Okay. Hang tight, kiddo. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Please hurry."

Not even seconds after hanging up, Qrow was scrambling up the stairs. "Going to bed, goodnight!" he called to Tai, not much caring about his reading anymore.

Qrow burst through the door to the spare room he'd been staying in, kicking it shut behind him and grabbing his weapon from where it was leaned against the wall. He threw open the window and leapt into the night air.

There was a moment of vertigo as his body plummeted towards Tai's flowerbeds on the ground below, before he erupted in feathers and propelled himself higher into the sky. With all the places he'd been, the things he'd done, the missions for Oz, he had never flown this hard.

The only thing faster than his wings was his mind, racing a mile a minute, tearing him apart from inside. What was Ruby doing at a party with people she didn't know, people older than her, and a lot less innocent and a lot more reckless? Ruby was smart, why would she make the decision to go there? Unless she thought it was something okay. Unless she had seen her uncle drinking and wanted to try it for herself. Unless she'd heard the stories Qrow had told from his younger days, about the wild and reckless things he'd done. He was regretting those things now more than ever before.

It was easy to spot the house, it was the only one on the street with all the lights on, music was blaring, and kids were scattered over the lawn. Qrow swooped down, only to have a red plastic cup thrown at his head. With an indignant squawk, he dove into some bushes.

Nobody seemed to notice a grown man stepping out of the shrubbery; they were too drunk or didn't care, or both. Qrow brushed the leaves from his hair and started up the walkway. The obnoxious music was starting to give him a headache.

He nearly keeled over when he opened the front door. The crowd inside was generating a powerful stench of weed, body odor, and booze. It was even louder in here, people were shouting and breaking things. Qrow flinched as an expensive-looking vase was thrown and shattered against the wall. But he had more important things to worry about.

"Bathroom?" he asked a kid next to him.

The kid pointed to a worn set of stairs leading farther up into the house.

"Hey man," he said, "cool sword. What are you, like a huntsman or something?"

Qrow gripped the hilt, feeling reassured. He was an adult. He could handle this. And even if he couldn't, Ruby needed him, so he would try.

The kid who he'd asked about the bathroom and had liked his weapon was trying to give him a beer now. Qrow brushed him off, thinking he would very much like a drink of something to calm his nerves but now wasn't the time. He elbowed his way through a sea of dancing teenagers to get to the stairs, nearly tripping over someone passed out and sprawled across the landing. Qrow did his best not to step on her and continued on his mission.

What he heard at the top of the stairs curdled his blood.

"Come on, Little Red. Open the door. I'm sorry, let me make it up to you. We can get out of here, go back to my place--"

The guy didn't finish his sentence, because if he did, he would have lost his Adam's apple. Qrow shoved him against the wall, blade millimeters away from his throat.

Qrow had never really believed in the term "seeing red" until now. He was seething, breathing so hard he could hardly get his words out, and in that moment, he could have killed this guy.

"You stay away from my niece," he spat. "Stay away, and if you so much as look at her again, this blade is gonna be the last thing you ever see. Understand?"

The guy nodded as much as he could, given one wrong move could cost him his head.

"Say it," Qrow growled through his teeth.

"I- I understand." He was obviously drunk, but fear shone through his glassy eyes. Good.

"Get the fuck out." Qrow lowered the sword, and gave him a shove towards the stairs for good measure.

When he was sure the guy had left, Qrow turned to the bathroom door.

"Ruby," he knocked softly. "Ruby, open up, it's me, it's Qrow."

"U-uncle Qrow?" Ruby sniffled from inside.

"Yeah, it's me, I'm here, kiddo. Can you open the door? Please." He just had to see her. He had to know she was alright.

After a few moments, the door opened with a soft click, and before Qrow could brace himself, Ruby crushed him in the tightest hug he'd ever received. And he returned it.

"Ruby," the air rushed from his lungs, and he fought to refill them. "Kid, what the hell are you doing here? Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"You came," Ruby managed. Her voice was shaky. "I'm so, so sorry, Uncle Qrow, I'm so sorry, it'll never happen again, I promise."

"I'm just glad you're safe," Qrow murmured, gently stroking her hair. "Let's get outta here."

He escorted her down the stairs and to the door, shielding her from stray elbows and flying objects, and they left the property altogether. He kept a steady hand on her shoulder the whole way.

They had a decent walk ahead of them. Cabs wouldn't take passengers carrying giant weapons unless they had a huntsman's liscence, and Qrow had left the house in a panic, not thinking to grab his wallet. Even then, there was no money in it.

Ruby was silent as they plodded towards home, which was unusual for her. She kept opening her mouth like she wanted to speak, but then changed her mind. Finally, Qrow couldn't take any more of it.

"Spit it out," he said, not unkindly.

She stared down at her hands. "I'm sorry, Uncle Qrow."

Qrow sighed. "I'm just glad you're safe now. But I hope you learned your lesson, 'cause I'm pretty sure you turned all my hairs gray after tonight."

That made Ruby smile a little bit, and Qrow put an arm around her as they walked.

"Seriously, though," Qrow said, losing some of the light tone, "what were you doing there?"

"These kids at school," Ruby explained, picking at a loose thread on her sleeve, "they told me about it, and they said if I didn't go, then I might as well not bother coming back to school because I'd be a laughing stock. And you know what? Those kids weren't even there tonight. I don't know how I could be so stupid."

There was a bit of relief that washed over Qrow that he wasn't the immediate cause of this, then guilt at the fact he might have been at all. Stronger though, was anger, threatening to bubble over. He had some very specific words for Ruby's schoolmates, but he bit them back for now. He stopped walking, and knelt to look Ruby in the eye.

"You are not stupid. You made a mistake tonight, we all do. What's important is that you recognized it. And those kids at school, don't let them, or anyone else, speak to you like that. And if they do, you need to tell me. Tell me, or your dad, or some friends or a teacher, tell somebody. Understand?"

Ruby nodded, "I understand."

Somewhere along the way back, Ruby grew tired, her feet started to drag, and her eyes drooped. Somewhere along the way, Qrow crouched down and mumbled, "Get on board," and that was how he ended up sneaking back into the house with Ruby clinging to his back like a koala.

It was late, and all the lights were out, so Tai was probably gone to bed. Qrow didn't much feel like dealing with an angry dad tonight. He lowered Ruby to her feet as they tiptoed through the kitchen towards the stairs. Qrow cursed when he stubbed his toe on the banister. The whole thing set him off balance, and he landed, unceremoniously, on the staircase with a resounding thud.

"Shit," he muttered, listening for the sound of footsteps to tell him what little luck he had had run dry. The house was silent.

"Come on," he whispered to Ruby, "let's get you to bed."

Ruby kicked off her shoes and crawled under the covers as soon as they got to her room. Qrow eased the door shut, and lowered himself to sit on the edge of the bed. It hit him then that he was exhausted, and sore from falling up the stairs.

"Uncle Qrow?"

"Yeah?"

"You won't tell Dad about this, will you?"

What was left of Qrow's energy may as well have seeped down into the floorboards and been absorbed by the moonlight. He rested his forehead on his hand and sighed.

"Kiddo, I don't think this is something I feel comfortable keeping from your dad. Tai'll kill me if he finds out I kept this from him."

"He'll kill me, too!" Ruby protested.

Qrow chuckled and shook his head. "You're his little rose petal, he'll get over it. But, Ruby, if you don't tell him, I will. You're growing up, and you've gotta learn to take responsibility for your actions. I'll tell that you now, because I know how much it sucks to learn the hard way."

Ruby sighed and laid her head down on her pillow. "You're right."

"You'll be fine," Qrow assured her. "Just get some rest now."

"I can't fall asleep."

"You didn't even try yet."

"Uncle Qrow," Ruby looked up at him with puppy dog eyes, "will you stay with me? Just until I fall asleep?"

Qrow answered by closing his eyes and leaning back. Ruby snuggled into his side.

"Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."

"You're welcome, kiddo."

#qrow branwen #ruby rose #rwby fics #rwby #rwby fanfic #ruby whump #protective qrow #rwby fic #rwby fanfiction #hurt/comfort #angst #alcohol #creepy dude #idk lol

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jadekitty777 · 5 years ago

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Across the Distance

Unofficial Taiqrowweek: Day 7 Bonus entry!

As promised, today is a double hitter. I wasn’t sure how to end this barrage of Taiqrow goodness - but some of my most well-liked stories tend to be my domestic fluff stories... so, you better believe we got some of that in here.

Rating: K

Word Count: 2,400

Ao3 Link: Across the Distance

Summary: Upon entering Atlas, Qrow immediately jumps on the chance to use all the kingdom’s fancy technology by to call Taiyang. After all, there was something really important he needed to tell him.

Qrow stuffed his hands in his pockets, following James down the hallway, eyeing yet another troop of heavily armed soldiers as they walked by. Atlas really was on high alert these days. He looked towards the general, seeing how tense he seemed to be as he walked tall among his subordinates. Normally, he’d poke fun at him about it; irritating Jimmy was one of his favorite past times after all.

But it was an important day and he didn’t want to risk souring the other’s generosity just because he felt a little out of place.

“Here it is.” James announced, punching in the access code into the keypad. There was a ding and the door slid open.

As they stepped inside, Qrow peered around the room. The space was small and square, with desks pushed against the walls that were laden with ancient looking computer equipment. There were also several rectangular boxes with blinking lights that he couldn’t even begin to guess at their function. “And you sure this’ll work?”

“I’ve been using it myself to keep in contact. As long as he’s there, you’ll get through.” He looked at him, frowning sternly, “But I can only afford you a few minutes. And you can’t-”

He placed a hand on the general’s shoulder before he could prattle on about all his ‘stipulations’ again. Most of it went over his head anyways, especially the stuff on how improper decoding made for easier line tapping. All he really got was this was a risk and whatever he said had to be brief and non-incriminating. “I got it Jimmy. I promise I’ll play by your rules – just this once.” He grinned cheekily.

He studied him skeptically, finally sighing. “Alright.”

Qrow watched as James took a seat at the console, turning on the box-shaped monitor. The machine started to whir as it booted up, the screen turning from black to a deep blue. He pulled up a program on it that started running rapid lines of text. A few switches were flipped on another device next to it and he adjusted a little stand microphone, buzzing soon being heard. A few more keystrokes and a dialing started to emit from the speakers.

He lent against the desk beside the other, rather impressed. It really was ringing!

A click and then a voice spoke through: “General?”

“Hello Iseria. I apologize for calling so suddenly. I didn’t interrupt anything did I?”

“Not at all! Is something wrong?” Though it’d been years, Qrow could still detect that singsong quality in his old boss’ voice. It was the only hint the world had to know the headmaster of Signal was actually a canary Faunus.

“Everything’s as fine as they can be. Actually, this is more of a,” James glanced towards him, “Social call.”

Taking that as his cue, Qrow cut in, “Hey Izzy!”

There was a long pause, then Iseria shrilled, “Qrow?! Is that you?”

“The one and only.” He took the seat as James vacated it, nodding in understanding when the other tapped at his wrist as if a watch were there counting down the minutes. “And as much as I would like to catch up, I don’t have a lot of time. I was, uh, hoping you could get Tai?”

“Oh.” She said, all too knowingly, “It’s that kind of social call.”

He flushed a bit. “No! I mean, sort of but – I just, wanted to check up on him and-”

Iseria’s laughter interrupted him. “Yes, I’ll call him in.”

There was a bit of rattling and some feedback from the intercom system, the headmaster’s voice echoing across campus. He’d timed it to make sure it was lunch time, so Tai didn’t have to worry about leaving his class. He only had to hope he hadn’t left school grounds for some reason. As they waited, Qrow chatted it up with his former employer, simple things like how classes were going or if there were any promising students this year. But, he wasn’t really paying all that much attention to what was being said, just let her drone on while he tapped his foot along the floor.

“So, we started to tell the students that they couldn’t – oh! Tai, there you are.”

He sat up attentively, a smile spreading the moment he heard Tai speak. “Oh uh, sorry. Should I-?”

“No, no! Come in. The call’s for you.” Iseria insisted, her voice growing faint and he could only guess she had stood up.

“Oh um, okay?” He sounded so confused, he had to wonder what the set up on their side looked like. There was a bit of shuffling as they traded spots, and then Tai’s voice was coming through crystal clear, “Hello?”

Qrow could have melted. “Hey sunshine.”

Tai sucked in a sharp breath. “Qrow?! How in the world-? Wait, are you in Atlas?”

“Yeah. I managed to get that stick out of Jimmy’s ass long enough that he actually considered doing me a favor.” He grinned when that one actually earned him a chuckle.

From the other side of the room, James grunted, looking mildly insulted. “Five minutes Qrow.”

“Got it.” He replied, shifting the chair a little closer to the desk.

“Only five, huh?” Tai echoed softly.

“Yeah, guess this thing uses up a lot of power. And,” He hesitantly added, “I probably won’t be able to call again.”

There was a resigned sigh. He could almost picture Tai’s sad smile. “Well then. We’d better not waste it. How are you doing? How are the girls doing?”

“Just fine.” He said, though it felt like a bit of a lie. There was so much he needed to tell him… but not here. Not like this. “Met up with the pipsqueak and her ragtag friends halfway through Mistral. You shoulda seen her. She’s really getting good maneuvering with her semblance now. And when she’s leading her team, she’s-” He trailed off, folding his hands over the desk, idly fiddling with one of his rings.

“Like a carbon copy of Summer?” Tai filled in. “Yeah. I saw that too, especially during the tournament.”

“It kinda freaks me out.” Qrow admitted.

He chuckled. “And Yang?”

“Found us after we got to Mistral. Actually, the ice princess and faunus gal did too. Oh!” He lent forward, smirking, “You were totally right about cat girl by the way. Yang’s so into her.”

Now Tai was full on laughing. “I told you! Dad’s intuition. They getting along well?”

“Yes, professor. They’re playing nice.” Qrow teased, before tacking on more seriously, “They got some issues still, but they’ll work it out.”

“Good. And… What about Raven? Did Yang find her too?”

He sighed. He was waiting for that one. “Ooooh yeah.”

“Didn’t go well?”

“Not even a little bit.”

Tai huffed, unable to hide his slight irritation. “How she holding up?”

“Eh, honestly? Better than expected.” In fact, had she not literally walked out of one of her portals, he may not have guessed Yang had ever even had a run in with his sister at all. “She’s got your strength, that’s for sure.”

“Mmm, I think she’s got something stronger than that.” He argued fondly. “And, you? You handling that okay?”

If he had more time, he may have tried to find a way out of answering that. He could still remember that evening, just a few days after Beacon’s fall when he admitted to Tai what he’d told Yang shortly after her disqualification – about where she could go looking if she really wanted to find Raven. The fight that resulted because Tai knew why he’d really done it. His partner had been so furious, he stopped talking to him for the next two days entirely – had Ruby not awakened when she had, who knew how long he could have kept it up.

“I just, I thought she’d… I dunno.” Qrow struggled, unsure how to put his feelings into words. All this time he’d tried to solve Raven like a lock that was missing the right key – if it wasn’t him, or Tai, or Summer then surely Yang had to be it. To find out it wasn’t was more a blow than he cared to admit. “I just wanted her to come back.”

“I know you did. And I’m sorry she didn’t.”

He knew Tai well enough to recognize when he was being completely sincere. His eyes flickered towards the blue screen, wishing he could see his face. He could really use one of his softhearted little smiles right about now. “You forgiving me that easy?”

“Oh no, I still want to kick your head in.” He said, chipper as ever. “But, I get it too. She was practically all you had for years; that’s not a bond easy to forget. I’m sorry if my anger made you feel like I was insulting that.”

Warmth beat in his breast. How did Tai always do that? Sometimes he wondered if he pre-wrote all the sappy lines he would say, because he always seemed to know just what he needed to hear at any given moment. Conversely, Qrow was never quite as eloquent in return – if he could find the words at all.

“H-Hey, shouldn’t I be the one apologizing here?” Qrow chortled nervously. “Which I am. Sorry. For – I’m just sorry, okay?”

“Okay.” He repeated, mostly amused at his awful attempt.

He cleared his throat, glancing towards James. The man rose two fingers. He nodded, exhaling slowly, “Hey, Tai? I’ve only got a bit left here so… there’s something I really need to tell you.”

“Uh-oh, that sounds ominous.”

“Hey now! It’s not bad!”

Tai hummed doubtfully. “I dunno, usually when you start off like that, it’s to tell me you broke something.”

“Well-!” Damn, he was right. “It’s not like that this time.”

“Alright then, what is it?”

He took another deep breath, smiled at the screen, and said, “Happy birthday.”

In his surprise, Tai stumbled over his words, “You-You remembered?”

“Of course.” Qrow reassured, “How could I ever forget about you?”

Even with his bandit days far behind him, he was still pretty awful at remembering precise calendar dates. So, for what it was worth, Tai didn’t immediately list off every example of him doing exactly that.

What he said instead was worlds better:

“I love you.”

The same feeling seemed to fill every inch of him until it was spilling off his lips, “I love you too. And I miss you like crazy.” That was when he realized he’d gotten so caught up, he hadn’t even asked how Tai was doing. “Are you holding up well?”

“It’s… really lonely without you guys at home. And since I can’t call and check in, I’m just worrying all the time.” He admitted, unable to keep the melancholy from his tone. “But, I can’t tell you how much this call helps. Just hearing your voice and knowing you and the girls are safe… heh, it’s the perfect birthday gift.”

Qrow placed his chin in his hand, unable to stop smiling. “Oh, it’s that easy? Then next August, I’ll plan a month-long trip to Vacuo with the girls’. We’ll send you postcards.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He laughed at the way the other hissed that; sometimes he could really sound like the little dragon he was named for. His gaze flicked up as James walked over. Five minutes had never seemed so short. “Looks like my time’s up. We’ll be home soon. I’m not too sure exactly when right now, but – soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.” He could hear the mirror of Tai’s own smile in his voice. “Be safe and watch after our girls.”

“Always do.” Qrow promised, leaning back. “See you; love you.”

“Love you too; and thank you, for everything.”

“Yeah. Bye Tai.” It felt like the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, giving Jimmy the nod to disconnect them.

“Bye.” Was the last thing he heard before the speakers were nothing but static. He stomped down on the loneliness that immediately crept into his heart, knowing it had to be ten times worse for his partner.

“I’m sorry it couldn’t be longer.” It was odd, hearing the normally stoic and firm general be so gentle.

Qrow shook his head, getting up from the chair. “Nah, you did plenty. I really appreciate it.”

He waited for James to shut down his equipment before following him out the door and back out of the high security facility. They mostly walked in silence, leaving himself with thoughts that swarmed him with all the things still left unsaid. All the troubles weighing him down and all the unearthed lies that had shaken his trust. He wished he could just go back to that room and be on that call the rest of forever, where it felt like those problems could be left behind.

And it was in that thought that he realized something in himself he’d never really perceived before: How he’d been on a path of self-redemption for so long, he had missed something important along the way.

It was hard to deny how good it felt to be a huntsman; to go out into the world and earn the praise of those he saved. To obtain that elite status he’d worked so hard for that made him both revered and feared. To be apart of something he once thought so large and important that even if he died doing his mission, he was paving a way for a better future.

Those things, those feelings, they were so large that they quickly overshadowed the simpler life with Tai he rarely slowed down long enough to enjoy. Waking up to the smell of coffee in the morning and eating toast with jam spread into sappy heart patterns. Picnics in the park or walks through the forest under a warm afternoon sun. An evening of late-night programs and movie marathons. Nights spent wrapped up in one another.

The more he debated it over in his head, the more he moved towards a conclusion that he’d never once considered in his entire life, never thought he ever could consider. But yet here he was, not only considering it, but determined to make it a reality.

After all, his own birthday was coming up soon too - and there was only one gift he could think of that he wanted. Now, he just needed to figure out how to tell Tai. Maybe the girls would have some ideas.

After all, retiring at forty-three was certainly something to celebrate.

A/N: Prompt used was 66: “How could I ever forget about you?”

#qrow branwen #taiyang xiao long #Taiqrow #rwby #fanfiction #100 Days of Taiqrow #Chase Firekitten's Tale

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itsclydebitches · 6 years ago

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 6 “Our Way” (The Finale!)

We made it, folks. Volume 6 is finally over and my god what a disappointment it turned out to be.

I’ve danced my whole life and I had an instructor once who gave a lecture on choreography, cautioning us that the order you put your pieces in is just as important as the pieces themselves. Though each comes together to create a whole, your audience is more likely to remember the first and the last piece—so make those two count. Volume 6 began strong with the relic and the lore, and then ended on a flat, uninspiring, illogical note. Sadly I know what part of the performance I’ll be remembering from here on out.

However, first let’s tackle what we didn’t get this episode. There was no flashback to Oscar at Argus, re-characterizing his outing as something significant that might actually impact his growth as a character. Rooster Teeth really just… did that. They gave us an exact repeat of episode four, had Jaune physically assault Oscar, no one stepped in, no one bothered to check if Oscar was okay, we set him up staring morosely at the door, a two week cliffhanger, and then we really got an episode all about Jaune’s emotions while Oscar bought new clothes and made these people a casserole. He immediately accepted an incomplete apology, went so far as to speak like he thinks he’s going to die… and the group just smiled at him. Because remember, right now they only care about outsiders—which Oscar still very much is—when they’re helping and not getting in the way. Which Oscar has now promised to do. The finale gives us a brief moment where Ruby tries to praise Oscar for his efforts and it just rang as incredibly hollow to me. It’s easy to be kind to people when everything is going your way. You show your true colors when things get tough. RWBYJNR has repeatedly demonstrated this volume that when push comes to shove they’re willing to throw Oscar (and Ozpin) under the bus.

I’d need an entire, separate recap to detail exactly how horrible their treatment of him has been and how worrying it is that the story continues to frame this behavior as not just acceptable, but the actions of heroes. Suffice to say, if you have friends who seem nice on the daily but use you as a punching bag whenever they need an outlet? Do me a favor and get far, far away from them.

In the interests of moving on, another thing we didn’t get was any mention of Raven. A few friends theorized that last volume’s end credits scene (where Tai spots Raven using his portal) might finally come into play, but no such luck. More importantly to my mind, Yang still hasn’t said anything about Raven being the Spring Maiden, so that continues to be a secret she keeps while heaping more judgement on Ozpin. We’ll get to that later.

We didn’t see that true reconciliation teased in the last shot of the opening. Ruby never fought grimm with arms like those, let alone in a sewer tunnel… even though one was right there at the farm. I’m honestly starting to believe what others are saying about whole episodes being cut to make time for GenLock. Something happened this volume because the writing took one hell of a nosedive. It’s not just that I don’t agree with the messages the show is expressing, it’s that we have dangling threads, confusing “twists,” and what honestly feels like half-assed storytelling. Like they knew they had to complete the volume but just weren’t feeling motivated, so they chucked together something shoddy and left it at that.

(We also didn’t get to hear what Ruby bought them all at the gift shop. I realize this is a comparatively tiny thing, but to my mind it was a missed opportunity. They could have bookended the premiere and the finale, revealed that tiny mystery, told us something about Ruby based on the gifts she chose—the fandom keeps complaining that she’s one-dimensional—and if she’d picked up something for Ozpin at the time, that would have been an easy moment to have the group start reflecting on their behavior, a reminder that just a few days ago he was an important member of their team. Obviously I doubt the gifts survived the train crash, but there’s no reason why Ruby couldn’t tell them about it; a quiet moment before they reach Atlas. Like the shorter season length though, this episode was short for a finale. We were barely given enough time for the plot, let alone any reflection.)

For now though, let’s dive into the actual episode. We open on a field where an airship lands, Neo transforming as she steps out. That really is a powerful semblance. She can create copies of herself, disguise herself, and (as we’ll see in just a moment), disguise a whole freaking airship too. Granted, that last one seems to take some effort, but as this finale will inform us later, it doesn’t really matter how tired you are. If the plot needs you to do a thing with your semblance, you’ll manage it. Somehow.

Cinder arrives in a new outfit as well and, like Neo’s, it’s pretty damn skimpy? I haven’t bothered to bring this up before because on the whole RT writes it’s mostly female cast very well, but considering how many other criticisms I’ve got today, why not chuck out one more. Meaning, why do these designs continually have to promote sexiness over practicality? Weiss, Nora, and Ruby all fight in skirts—hastily justified as “combat skirts”—and at least half the women on this show fight in heels. Yang sports short-shorts. Both she and Blake have bare midriffs. Now Neo is in a top that looks like it’s held up by a prayer and Cinder is sporting lingerie-like knee highs. There’s just no reason to design characters like this, especially when a good chunk of your cast is made up of teens. Cinder says herself that Neo will soon need snow boots. Just dress her appropriately for the weather from the start. You know, like how we didn’t get with Team RWBY while traveling through a kingdom filled with snow. Apparently Weiss wearing a scarf is enough to combat hypothermia for the whole team.

And yes, I realize costume changes require new models to be made, but that’s precisely why you should design your fighters as fighters from the start. You’re battling giant monsters? No one would wear heels. Or skirts. Or expose their midriff. It seems pretty convenient that aura supposedly protects them, eliminating the need for armor, and yet now it’s only our most masculine character—Jaune—who still bothers to wear it. Neo and Cinder are just the most recent examples of, “Why the hell would you wear that to a fight?”

Well, maybe these two will freeze to death before they ever reach the group… They’re heading to Solitas too and though they didn’t do anything in this scene besides reveal new and impractical clothing, I was more interested in their brief discussion than I was in the entirety of RWBYJNR’s fight. At least I’m comfortable in how I feel about Neo and Cinder. They’re bad guys. They’re gonna do bad things that the story frames as bad. They’re usually fun to watch. I don’t get frustrated and confused whenever they come on screen nowadays.

Cinder says, “Someone once asked me if I believe in destiny…and I’m happy to say I still do” as we get a final shot of them planning their nefarious deeds. We’re getting a lot of references to Pyrrha this volume—this, the statue, Ruby’s memories later—and taken on its own that’s fantastic. In a season though where Pyrrha’s death is subtly ‘justifying’ the group’s awful behavior and acting as a reminder to the fandom for why they unjustly hate Ozpin? Ehh…

We close on the villains and open on our “heroes” with rousing music to signal the upcoming battle, which… isn’t really a battle at all. The Leviathan is steadily approaching Argus and the Atlas personnel are calling for Cordovin. She’s still stuck, yelling about how “This is your fault!”

And it is. However, once again Cordovin’s exaggerated attitude makes it easy to ignore the fact that she’s right. She’s racist! She’s arrogant! She’s screaming and sounds like a child! Clearly our group is the mature ones here. Look at how calmly Ruby faces her down in contrast… It reminds me of how people (particularly women) are told that they’re being “Too emotional” in this conversation and therefore all the points they’ve made are somehow invalid. Of course Cordovin is emotional. A group of kids just lied to her, stole from her, started a battle against her, and destroyed her mech right when her city is about to be overrun by grimm. I’d be screaming in frustration too.

Though of course, most don’t view it that way. I agree with what others have pointed out, that if we’d been given a calmer authority figure saying the exact same things—No you can’t go into Atlas. Why would I let anyone other than Weiss cross a closed border?—it would have been easier to see exactly how horrible the group’s actions are here. As it is, Cordovin’s personality acts as a distraction. One more way to present the group as heroic when they’re anything but.

Yang and Blake arrive on the scene, wanting to know what the hell is going on. Yang asks, “Is that a giant grimm?” and Weiss responds, “Yes…and we just ruined the only thing capable of stopping it.”

That’s an admission of facts, not necessarily an admission of guilt. The group acknowledges that they ruined the one defense capable of taking out a grimm of that size, but as we’ll see, there’s no regret attached to doing that in the first place. It’s just summarizing the situation for Blake and Yang.

Granted, we get a moment where Ruby looks worried/potentially sad as they fly away from Cordovin, but what does that mean here? Is she sad about what she’s done? Or just worried about this new situation? Their actions have been so extreme that the story can’t afford to be vague about the characters’ emotions here. Plenty of people will (and are free) to read this moment as Ruby experiencing fierce regret at her choices the last few hours… but it’s just as easy to attribute her expressions to fear about the coming battle. I’m not inclined to give these characters the benefit of the doubt here. They haven’t earned it.

Regardless, we cut to the airship where apparently Yang and Blake have already told everyone about Adam. That was not the sort of thing that should have happened off screen. By all means, be practical. There’s no time for a long-winded conversation with the Leviathan bearing down on Argus, so have Yang announce that they’re okay, yes something happened, we’ll explain things later. Now you’ve established that this very important information will be conveyed either on the airship later, or at the beginning of volume 7.

What a waste. This is the end of a villain we’ve had since the Black Trailer—the first time our protagonists have killed a fellow human being—and that admission is regulated to the 30 seconds it takes to fly from Cordovin to the middle of the fight. Ruby hugs Blake and tells her she’s safe, but that’s it. That’s currently the extent of the team’s reaction to this huge revelation and like JNR learning about Salem, the audience has no idea what sort of details they received. Do they just know Adam died in the fight or that they deliberately killed him? Did Weiss hear about the brand? We don’t know. Hopefully this conversation is given more weight in volume 7, but given what else we’ve seen lately, I’m not counting on it.

Maria then interrupts with one of the most jaw-dropping lines of the episode: “I suppose I have to be the bad guy and say it, but getting the lamp to Atlas is still our top priority.”

Are we for real right now? Where was this calm, level-headed, pragmatic Maria when she was pissing off Cordovin with cashews? Or cheering at Ruby rejecting all adults? Now she starts trying to think rationally? But of course, when she does stop her manic cackling it’s to suggest something horrific. Yes, Maria. It does make you a bad guy to want to abandon a city to the grimm you brought here. She realizes that everyone is dead if they leave, right? That without the mech or silver eyes Argus has no decent way of stopping that Leviathan? Maria is meant to be the Grimm Reaper, the greatest huntress of her generation, and the writers think it’s appropriate to not only have her encouraging a bunch of kids to recklessly commit treason, but then condemn a whole city to probable death for their mistakes?

No, the relic is not the top priority. The relic is a side mission. The top priority has always and will always be protecting humanity. At least Yang, Blake, and Weiss realize this. They say firmly that they’re not leaving and Ruby gives a little shrug like, ‘Guess we’re not leaving then.’

(They really like having Ruby treat her mistakes as jokes, don’t they?)

So Ruby announces she has an idea, the one the whole fandom saw coming a mile away, and the next second Qrow says, “Eyes up, everybody” because they’ve reached the Leviathan. Ha. Get it? Eyes up?

Okay. I’m done lol.

We get shots of the terrified Argus population, including Terra and Saphron.

Ruby asks Ren and Jaune to mask the ship which, reminder, they shouldn’t be able to do. Ren maybe, but Jaune just used all his aura to protect himself and Nora from getting splattered by Cordovin’s arm. Then he was thrown into a boulder for good measure. Last episode he couldn’t even stand without hanging off of his teammates. Now we get exactly what I was afraid we would: the plot needs someone to Do A Thing so aura burnout is conveniently forgotten. Jaune gives a confident smile. Of course he can boost Ren’s semblance and cover an entire airship!

Keep in mind that we just saw Neo dropping in exhaustion after a second of using her semblance on a whole ship. Granted, her ship is bigger, but she’s also presumably at full strength right now. If we were bothering to follow the rules established by this world, I highly doubt Jaune would have been able to pull this off.

Meanwhile the Leviathan has easily taken out Argus’s first barrier. “It tore straight through…” Oscar whispers, reminding me that he hasn’t had many encounters with grimm. If I remember correctly he mentioned to Ruby that there was an occasional one on the farm (as expected), but they must have been pretty weak if an untrained kid can take them out with farm equipment. Oscar then goes straight to Haven, battles people at the Academy, gets on that train where he fought some manticores, but then he didn’t get to see the Apathy for himself. This seems to be one of the first times Oscar is seeing grimm at all, let alone one this deadly. No wonder he sounds shocked.

With the shield destroyed in an instant the Atlas personnel start giving the order to evacuate… when Ruby interrupts them. No worries, fine people. I have a plan! Wait, why should we trust you? “I’m a huntress.”

No you’re not, Ruby. Literally and symbolically, you are not currently a huntress. Ignoring for a moment all the stunts you just pulled, undermining everything a huntress is meant to uphold, that is a formal position. It’s a title that embodies great power in this world and you achieve that title by studying four years and graduating from an academy. You don’t get to call yourself a college graduate because you did one year and then studied on your own. Same with being a doctor, or a lawyer, or literally any titled position. Ruby (in continuing with the theme of this volume) is lying to that Atlesian soldier. She’s misrepresenting herself, claiming she’s something other than what she actually is: a half-trained teen with a current chip on her shoulder.

This is also another moment where she ignores Qrow when he yells for her to stop. The issue isn’t about who’s right here—whether Ruby should tell the others about her plan or not—but that Ruby is consistently ignoring everyone around her to charge forward with whatever plan she personally thinks is best. Qrow told her not to attack the Atlas military… look what happened. Qrow told her not to go stare down Cordovin’s missiles and try to make an impossible shot… look what happened. Qrow told her not to stubbornly stand her ground against a mech when the rest of her team is beaten and exhausted, and though Ruby survives, it’s only by the will of Plot Armor. She leapt into a freaking cannon. She knocked herself out. You’d think after all this Ruby would at least pause a moment to give Qrow the time of day.

It ultimately doesn’t matter though because their ship is still flagged as hostile. Atlas isn’t going to help them on what clearly looks like a suicide mission. We get a close up of Ruby daring to do what no one else can or will. “Fine… we’ll do it alone if we have to.”

…which is precisely the problem. Atlas backing off might feel like a consequence—Oh no! Their actions lost them their backup!—but all it does is get the extras out of the way (who just happen to be adults) so we can more easily focus on the protagonists (who just happen to be teens). It’s a reward. They don’t actually need the airships here, as the group is about to demonstrate, so this ‘consequence’ is absolutely meaningless. It would be something entirely different if, say, the story actually framed the soldiers as necessary to distract the Leviathan and Ruby had to admit her faults, begging them to help despite her mistakes; if the story made it clear that teamwork was a necessity. But there’s nothing like that. This is meant to read as the hero’s crowning moment.

Also, as an aside, why in the world would Ruby tell them to wait on the rest of their evacuation? What if—a wild thought here—something went wrong? Like literally every plan you’ve ever come up with? Isn’t it better to get people to safety while you try out your idea, just in case it all falls to pieces? This is just one more moment of Ruby’s overconfidence putting others at risk. She’s endangered her team, herself, and an entire city this volume… and has learned precisely nothing from it.

But we’ll come to that. Right now Ren masks the airship’s approach, conveniently keeping it up just long enough for them to reach the Leviathan, and then he’s out. They still didn’t make it in time though. The Leviathan sends out another stream of fire that takes out the second shield and hits the top of a tower in Argus. Needing to get closer, Yang and Nora distract the Leviathan while Ruby rides in on one of Weiss’ summoned lancers. I did appreciate Blake briefly supporting Weiss as she works to keep her semblance up. Whatever else, this volume has been good about brief, non-partner interactions.

We hear Ruby encouraging herself as she flies in and then she chucks her communicator into the water to concentrate. I thought something would come of that? Why bother having Yang interrupt her if there wasn’t a serious issue (it takes another long moment for the Leviathan to turn on Ruby) and why full on get rid of the communicator if that choice wasn’t going to come into play later? Eh, whatever. Far from the first time we’ve had setups that go absolutely nowhere. This volume is full of them.

So Ruby does as Maria taught her: cycling through memories of her family and friends, trying to drum up that fierce desire to protect them.

I did appreciate that Oscar, Qrow, and Maria get brief appearances… but again, the one team member who isn’t shown is Ozpin. Apparently Ruby now hates him to the point where he’s not even a part of her very generalized thoughts about who she wants to protect. I mean she met Maria three days ago and the woman now means more to her, apparently.

(For the record, I say this because Ruby knew Ozpin primarily in his headmaster form and is drawing largely from volume 1-3 material. We might have seen him in the new engine, easily. The shot of Oscar we’re given is also the one from the training room where Ozpin didn’t speak until Ruby left. Alongside Ozpin’s absence this volume, that’s the closest we’ve ever seen Oscar as only Oscar. That choice says a lot in my opinion.)

Eventually Ruby’s memories start to segue into darker thoughts and… okay. I’m confused now. Why is thinking about bad memories the thing that doesn’t let the silver eyes work? Not only were those moments where fierce protection would be at its strongest, but Ruby has only ever been in horrible situations when her eyes went off: Watching Pyrrha die, watching Jaune about to be killed, watching Blake about to kick it via Apathy. You’re telling me that during those times Ruby somehow thought about bright and happy things, not the horror of the fact that her friends were in the process of being murdered? If anything, those flashes of Yang without her arm or Penny cut into pieces should be the very thing that does set her eyes off.

Instead they fail. Ruby opens her eyes to find the Leviathan turning her way and then, as a friend of mine pointed out, she gasps out a “What?” and looks down at the relic.

No. That relic has very conveniently done nothing the entire time the group was trekking through the woods, staying at an abandoned farm, driving who knows how far, and running around a new city. You’re not going to tell me now that suddenly it’s the cause of the Leviathan turning away from people currently attacking it. Either the relic’s draw is strong enough that Oscar should have been in trouble on the train, or it’s not strong enough to act as a justification here. The relic is the new Qrow’s semblance: turning off and on when the story wills it.

In a panic Ruby yells for Jinn, which is less the “clever” choice Jinn says it is and more a potentially clever gamble. The last time they used Jinn every creature in her vicinity remained active. Granted, all those creatures were human or faunus then, but Ruby wouldn’t know if she would freeze the grimm as well. Regardless, her gamble pays off (because of course it does) and we get another example of how the protagonists are currently super special people who can never do any wrong.

Jinn: “You do not seek knowledge, but just this once I will give it freely…I will not allow you to use me without a question again.”

Why? That’s the question you have to ask for all your characters’ decision. Why are they doing this? What’s their motivation? Jinn provides none. She has no reason to let Ruby off the hook for summoning her without a question, especially since she frames that as another bad choice that she’ll (somehow?) punish Ruby for if she does it again. But this time, once again, our protagonist is let off the hook, purely because she’s the protagonist.

With this very generous second chance Ruby re-shuts her eyes, thinks only of the good times, including a memory of Summer Rose. The fandom has been waiting a long time to see her outside of a covered photograph.

Ruby manages to activate her silver eyes. It works—mostly.

I mentioned previously how the show needs to introduce some downside to the silver eyes so that Ruby isn’t suddenly over powered against every grimm from here on out. This is a downside… but an odd one. The grimm turned to stone, but not all the way? Sort of just a stone encasing that it partly manages to break out of? Okay. I mean that works, but it’s a pretty easy downside to overcome. The grimm is still stopped in its tracks, giving the others plenty of time to take it out.

And, as always, pay attention to how it’s all framed. Despite not working exactly as she intended, this is meant to be a moment of victory for Ruby. She’s succeeded in her trial by fire. She’s single-handedly saved all of Argus. The music is rising, the people are cheering, people who have no idea what silver eyes are and will now start up legends about this girl. Who was the huntress with the magic-like power none of us understand? Ruby Rose. The girl who stood toe-to-toe against a Leviathan grimm and won.

This would indeed be a wonderful moment if it weren’t Ruby’s fault the grimm was there in the first place. Like her own claims of “I’m a huntress,” this moment misrepresents Ruby to the people. No one is going to learn that she’s the one who endangered them, only that she’s the one who came to the rescue. She’s fixing her own mistake and then allowing that to stand as a heroic act.

I was so looking forward to Ruby learning to wield her silver eyes. Not like this though.

Cordovin arrives with her pinned arm gone, ready to finish taking out the Leviathan, and she’s suddenly stupidly cheerful about it. Again, characters need motivations. If their outlook on a situation changes we need to see why that happened, especially when moving from such extremes. In a matter of minutes Cordovin went from shrieking at the group to not just sunnily helping them—which is a practical consideration. As she herself says, “I was sworn to protect the people”—but also letting them go.

….there is no reason to let them go. None. It goes against Cordovin’s entire characterization, the logic of the situation, and nothing has happened in the last few minutes to change her mind. This is the story at its laziest: “We don’t have a reason for Cordovin to let them go. She’s just gonna. Because they’re heroes.”

During this conversation we get an “I’m sorry” from Ruby and that’s admittedly something, but like Weiss’ comment about destroying the mech or Ruby’s worried looks, what is she apologizing for? Because she doesn’t seem very contrite right now. The framing isn’t telling us Ruby has anything to be ashamed of. She’s the star in this moment. So that ‘I’m sorry’ feels less like an admission of wrong doing and more, ‘I’m sorry I had to attack you and that it almost got everyone killed. But I absolutely had to. No doubt. So I guess I’m only sorry that fate screwed us over. It’s not like I had a hand in this mess or anything.’

All of which is to say: there are no consequences. None. Zip. Nada. No one in Argus died (despite the fact that all those flying grimm apparently bypassed the mass of terrified people to go battle with the airships on the opposite side of the Leviathan??), no one was arrested, no Ironwood or Winter, no Ozpin coming to their rescue, no problems with aura, the mech still manages to fight, the airship still manages to fly, no one was even reprimanded for their behavior. This volume we have seen the group betray a man they were demanding trust from, steal a secret they knew nothing about, force him to relive thousands of years of trauma while taking in the personal history that was never theirs to see, verbally and physically assault him to the point where he has to remove himself from their presence, they repeat that on an innocent kid days later, do absolutely nothing to make up for that, show no remorse for their actions, steal military property, plotted to mess with one of the few remaining relay towers the whole world depends on, beat up Atlas personnel, chucked them out of a plane, started and continued a fight with a special operative that endangered an entire city of people, destroyed a city’s primary defense, risked straining kingdom relations, nearly got friends killed with these foolish stunts ….and nothing. Not a single consequence, punishment, or reprimand. RT set up a situation where the group makes horrific mistakes and then had them learn nothing from them. Far from it. They’re rewarded, telling the audience that provided you have power—be it physical strength, access to resources, or the knowledge of a super secret mission—you can do whatever you want. There is no single stupid, illegal, dangerous, or callous thing you can do that isn’t ‘justified’ with, “Well I literally could do it, so I guess that means I’m allowed to do it, right?” Our title, “Our Way,” definitely embodies the morals we’re given this season.

I’m honestly disgusted with this volume. Just as a piece of media. This isn’t a story where we’re following anti-heroes and are well aware that they’re committing horrible deeds. This is a story about traditional heroes who are now using anti-hero means, something the story has just straight up ignored. I really didn’t think RT would take things this far… but here we are. This is apparently our group now and I personally think they’re awful.

And ugh, there’s still more of this episode. We cut to the group flying that night and Maria comments that “We should have just enough fuel to make it.” Wow you… literally didn’t think anything through, huh? No one even bothered to find out if they’d have enough fuel to not crash land in the ocean halfway there. Wonderful.

We get another entirely illogical conversation between Qrow and Ruby. He tells her she, “Did good out there today, kid” despite the fact that Qrow was consistently (and correctly) trying to get her to not do the things she was doing. Is it too much to ask for Qrow to have a firm and honest conversation about her making reckless decisions instead of more unearned platitudes? And then Qrow lowers his bottle which… what? Alcoholism doesn’t work like that. Much more importantly, no one has tackled his drinking this season. Or the reasons he was drinking in the first place. Literally, Qrow’s semblance, his place in the war, Ozpin’s secret, none of it has been addressed. He has no reason to suddenly put aside his flask like he’s actually learned something. Does RT think we’re going to just imagine scenes that never actually happened?

(I mean, that’s what fic is for, but that’s… fic. The canon should at least be attempting to hit a higher bar. This is their job, not an unpaid hobby done late at night when you’re exhausted after your own full day of work.)

Qrow and Maria also have a conversation about how he was there to “Catch them when they fell. Literally, if I recall,” implying, again, something that didn’t happen. Yes, Qrow literally caught Ruby when she fell from the cannon, but that line is meant primarily in the metaphorical sense: You were there to support them, keep them from doing something stupid, steering them back to the right path, etc. That’s what Qrow tried to do, but Ruby consistently ignored him.

This is all such a mess. Though we do get some nice shots of Blake and Yang sitting together—lots of hand-holding now—and Weiss comments that she’s glad Yang was there for Blake. Yang corrects that they were there for each other, confirming the lesson they learned off screen at some point.

A conversation starts up once again painting Ruby’s recklessness as awesome heroics. Among her clique she’s all bashful now, no more arrogance when there aren’t outsiders to push back against, and Ruby tries to foster attention off on Oscar. He corrects them about landing the airship… he didn’t actually do that himself.

Oscar: “I didn’t land the ship on my own.”

We get a flashback to him panicking as the ship crashes, but this time we hear Ozpin saying, “Stay calm. It’s going to be okay.” Back in the present Nora immediately freaks out, “He took control?!” and Oscar corrects her with no, he helped guide me.

Let’s unpack this a bit. First of all Ozpin would have been 100% justified in taking control, just like he was justified in taking control at Haven when Oscar was going to get them killed by stubbornly insisting that he fight Hazel. Like everything else in this volume, each situation has its own context. Just saying, “Ozpin took control of Oscar without permission” sounds bad, until you bother to acknowledge that dying is kinda worse. It’s like if I see a 14yo boy running towards a road an I yank him backwards. Technically I just took away his agency—I haven’t allowed him to keep running forward when he wanted to—but I did it so he wouldn’t get hit by that car. If Ozpin had taken control to keep three team members, including everyone’s precious leader, from dying a horrible death via airship crash… that’s a good thing.

But he didn’t. Even now, even after everything, Ozpin is so careful to give people as much choice as he can. He assessed the situation and decided that he could guide Oscar without taking away the use of his body, the sort of consideration most people wouldn’t even bother with during a time of crisis. And think about those lines. “Stay calm. It’s going to be okay.” The last time Oscar spoke to Ozpin he was forcefully stealing the means to allow the rest of the group to betray him. Now here Ozpin is, not angry, just endlessly reassuring.

Then he leaves again. Everyone realizes Ozpin is still doing his best to give everyone what they supposedly want, right? I mentioned ages back that the group wants a contradiction, to have Ozpin fix their problems without having to deal with Ozpin as a person, and now he’s managed that. He comes in, saves their lives, then leaves so no one has to deal with the apparent horror of speaking to him. His level of selflessness is off the charts and it astounds me that anyone thinks this man is a cruel, manipulative puppet master.

…and then there’s Yang.

Yang: “Does that mean he’s been watching us this whole time?!”

Oh yeah. I don’t like Yang much nowadays. I forgot because the last couple of episodes the show isolated Yang with Blake. She’s good with Blake because she actually likes Blake and is probably in love with her. But put Yang with someone who isn’t willing to enable her misplaced anger (Maria, Ozpin) and suddenly she’s not a very kind person anymore. Like the rest of the group right now, Yang’s basic, human empathy doesn’t extend beyond the confines of their team.

Plus, what does that accusation even mean? She makes him sound like some sort of peeping tom and not the leader she was following three days ago. Yang realizes, right, that Ozpin isn’t allowed a body of his own? That he’s connected to Oscar? That anything Oscar sees Ozpin automatically sees too? There were admittedly questions about whether Ozpin was connected to the outside world while locked that deep in Oscar’s head, but Yang makes it sound like he physically left and then started stalking the group without their permission. She makes him sound like Adam.

I really can’t with this group right now. Man arrives to save the lives of the people who betrayed/assaulted him and their reaction is basically, “How dare you even look at us?” The worst part is, you know a huge chunk of the fandom is going to agree. No matter what Ozpin does, even literally saving our title character’s life, it’s somehow twisted into an act of manipulative cruelty.

Also gotta love that Qrow is sitting right there and apparently doesn’t care about this conversation. He only interrupts with a smile to tell them they’re in Atlas.

Which is, admittedly, gorgeous as hell. I do like these shots a great deal.

The only thing that ruins the view is the fleet of airships above, stationed like they’re expecting a battle. This seems to connect to the army we see Salem building in the post credits scene… but how in the world does Atlas know about something like that? Did Ironwood hear something and come up with an excuse to scramble the fighters? Or are they prepping for something else entirely? An attack from another kingdom?

Regardless, we end on one of the personnel telling the group, “Welcome home.”

After the credits we see Emerald and Mercury utterly horrified by something below. We pan down to see Salem creating grimm from the pool… and then making them grow wings. My first thought was, “That guerrilla is going to need a much bigger wingspan to accommodate his weight.” My second thought was, “Oh. Flying monkeys.” That should tell you something about what my brain considers a priority.

Hazel comes in and reminds Mercury and Emerald of an old saying: “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” That’s admittedly unexpected. Looks like after hearing that Ozpin reincarnated and ruined her plans for the Spring relic, Salem has decided to get her own hands dirty for once. I hope we get to hear more explanations for this because she’s apparently kept to the sidelines for generations and now, pretty randomly, decides to announce her presence to the world by leading an army? Who knows. It wouldn’t make less sense than anything else RWBY has given us lately.

And that’s it! We’re done! Hallelujah I need a break. Well, pseudo-break. I still intend to upload my other recaps to tumblr, dive back into our older episodes, and there are still asks to answer. So meta-ing is far from over, but it’ll be less intense than 4000+ words every Saturday lol.

Thank you all so much for reading. I’d sill be writing these with an audience of one (me), but it’s way better when there are others as well. So kudos to you all—and happy hiatus!

Other Details of Note

Neo is fully wearing Roman’s hat now and Cinder canonically wears Louboutin heels lol.

A bit of an odd note, but Cordovin’s repetitive screams about “This is your fault” almost sound painful. Like she’s physically in pain. Obviously that’s not the case in any literal manner, but there’s something horrible about watching the group destroy a part of the mechanical body she’s currently inhabiting and then just abandoning her, watching as she tires and fails to move. I really can’t emphasize enough how callous this group has become to anyone not in Team RWBY or JNR.

I enjoyed the red of the Leviathan glowing under the water as it moved. Nice touch.

“Never get used to that view,” Maria says, once again framing her eyes only as a joke and never a legit issue when it presumably would be.

Yang has ditched the casing on her arm after Adam’s attack. Maybe she and Blake can go arm/weapon shopping together.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #RWBY Recaps #mymetas

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a-mellowtea · 6 years ago

Text

Ruby | Volume 6 Conversations

The cafe was a quiet place, especially late at night. It usually wasn’t open past supper time, but neither of them had any trouble walking in. In fact, her smile, though shy, seemed completely genuine when she caught sight of the person waiting for her by the soft glow of the lamps.

“Hey!”

There was a soft clink as they set down their teaspoon and stood, their own smile bright as they held out a hand for her to shake.

“Hi,” they said, warm and kind. When she lowered her hand, they gestured to the empty chair across from them before which a mug of something had already been placed. She obediently sat. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Ruby.”

“Oh, you too,” Ruby replied cheerfully. She lifted the mug and took a cautious sip. Surprised, she lowered it almost immediately and eyed the contents. The person settled back into their own seat with a gentle, knowing chuckle.

“You still take it with cream and five sugars, right?”

“Yeah.” Ruby curled both hands around the steaming beverage. It was strange, but it didn’t feel like something she needed to worry about. “So, uh... you just want me to talk?”

The stranger leaned back with a nod. “About whatever’s on your mind,” they said then, after a moment, clarified. “Whatever you want to or need to say, big or small.”

“And you... know all of it already?”

“Only as much as you as of this moment, but yes,” they explained. Silence settled, broken only when Ruby took another sip of her coffee, looking anywhere but them. They hadn’t stopped smiling, but it was softer now. Almost sad.

Eventually, they spoke again. “Would it help if I asked a question?”

“Sure!” Ruby set her mug back on the table, keeping her hands clasped around it.

“How’re you doing?” they asked, smile fading completely as they leaned forward, propping their head up on the backs of their hands. “How are you feeling, really? There’s been a lot on your shoulders recently.”

Ruby shrugged, posture sagging. “Yeah, I guess,” she said, voice dropping low and tinged with uncertainty. “I... I dunno. I mean, I feel... tired.”

“I’ll bet.”

There was another, brief minute of silence. Ruby turned her gaze to the cafe windows, and the snow falling gently in the empty street beyond. If she listened carefully, she could hear voices singing in the distance. She couldn’t make out the words, but it comforted her nonetheless.

“It’s almost Christmas,” they announced softly, as though reading her mind. “Solstice, I guess, for Remnant. People love to celebrate as early as they can.”

A smile flickered across Ruby’s face. Then, she remembered -- remembered all the times she had celebrated with her family, and the Solstice RNJR had missed on the road, and the likelihood that they’d not find time to acknowledge it this year either -- and her expression fell as she turned to stare into her coffee.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said quietly. “Everything’s just falling apart, and I don’t know how to keep them together.”

“Them?”

Ruby knew they knew, but she clarified anyways. “Everyone,” she replied. “Weiss, and Yang, and Blake. But Oscar a-and Uncle Qrow too.”

They hummed in response, nodding. “It’s been hard.”

“Really hard,” Ruby agreed with a sigh. Hands tightening around her mug, she shook her head. “I just wish we’d have gone straight to Argus. I wish none of this had happened.”

“You regret it?”

Ruby lifted her head. “Huh?”

“You regret it,” they repeated, no longer a question but a statement, eyeing her with what seemed to be simple curiosity. “Agreeing to fight? Going to Mistral?” They lifted their teacup, but didn’t drink. “Attending Beacon?”

Ruby paused. “Yes,” she said. “I mean, no. I mean...” She tossed her head back with an exasperated noise. “I don’t know. There are things... things I wish had gone differently.”

“Like what?”

“Pyrrha,” Ruby muttered, ducking her head lower. They didn’t miss her wince, nor the way she seemed to curl in on herself. “Penny. And Yang losing her arm, and Weiss being taken away, and Blake running.”

The stranger nodded along silently. “You’ve been through a lot,” they agreed. After a moment, they folded their hands, looking indecisive for the first time. “Ruby. You told Jaune once that being a good leader means putting your teammates first and yourself second. Do you still believe that?”

“Absolutely.”

The answer was easy to give but, when they frowned, Ruby couldn’t help but feel like it was wrong.

“I see.”

“Why... wouldn’t I?” she asked.

They flashed her a worried smile. “You just seem to be holding back,” they replied. “You don’t have to. Not here.” They gestured to the closed cafe with a small wave of the hand. “You can tell me what you’re thinking.”

It was a few minutes before she spoke, and when she did, she was watching the snow again. “I don’t like it,” said Ruby. “Any of it. Being on the road like this. I’m...” She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “I’m scared about what might happen.”

“I miss Beacon,” she continued, a sudden edge of hysteria to her tone. “I miss our bunk beds and waking up early for class. I miss our professors, I even miss our homework!” They gave a soft, sympathetic huff of laughter, but didn’t interrupt, even as her voice rose and broke, and tears glistened in her eyes. “I miss hanging out with JNPR, and training with my team, a-and having fun. I miss having breakfast together on Saturday, and spending weekends in Vale, and going to visit dad at Signal, and I just want things to be the way they were!”

Ruby buried her face in her hands, muffling a hiccuping sob. “I just want everyone to be happy...”

Hoarse and keening were the cries that drew themselves from the young Huntress. The winds swirled silently beyond the frosty windows, and they let Ruby weep. It’s what she needed -- had been needing for a long time and denied -- and they knew it. They stood only to produce a box of tissues from somewhere else in the room, setting it next to her before retaking their seat and waiting patiently for her to calm.

“Things change, Ruby,” they said once she had begun to quiet. “I know it’s hard. But sometimes-”

“Bad things just happen,” she finished dejectedly, wiping at her eyes. “I know.”

They smiled again, reaching over to put a hand on her arm. “But that doesn’t mean good things can’t come of it.”

They drew back and sat silently, letting her dry her tears until only sniffles were left. She rubbed a hand against her cheek, staring at some invisible blemish on the table. Then, she picked up her mug, and took a long sip.

“I do,” she confessed. It was scarcely above a whisper, but in the silence of the cafe, it might as well have been a shout. “Sometimes I do regret going to Beacon.”

She glanced up at them, and though they didn’t ask, she explained anyways. “My team being here... Jaune, and Ren, and Nora being here... it’s my fault. I wanted to think I could fix things. I wanted to keep being a Huntress, and protect people, but I don’t know if I can anymore.”

She set her cup down, and her expression shifted into a glare, which she directed at the beverage. “I think Uncle Qrow was right. Meeting Professor Ozpin that night was bad luck.”

“You don’t trust him?”

“Would you?” she snapped. They seemed to contemplate that for a long moment, swirling a spoon lazily around their as-yet untouched tea.

“Considering everything...” they began. “I would. I’d be angry. And as upset as you all are. I’d question what I thought I knew. Maybe I’d even wonder if it was all pointless, and the suffering needless, and hate him for it.” They tapped their spoon on the edge of the cup, the ring like a bell. “But, in the end, I would.”

“Why?”

“Why do you?”

“I don-” Ruby stopped, because that... wasn’t true. She did still trust Professor Ozpin. Maybe not the same way, but she trusted him to know what to do. To keep them safe. Thinking about it, he’d never led them astray, and he’d always been there when they needed him. “I think...”

She glanced at them, and they nodded encouragingly. “He lied to us,” she said slowly. “He didn’t tell us about his past with Salem, or that she couldn’t be killed, or any of it...”

“But?”

“But... it doesn’t change what we have to do.” Ruby lifted her head fully, expression hardening with determination. “Salem can’t be killed, but... we can still protect the Relics. We can still fight. It’s always been about protecting people, and that isn’t different now.”

“Attagirl,” they said, soft with an affection that made Ruby blush. Another comfortable stretch of silence came and went, in which Ruby finished her coffee, and her shoulders sagged once more.

“Uncle Qrow might not see it that way.” She shook her head. “I’m worried about how he’s taking it.”

“With good reason,” the stranger replied, pushing themselves back from the table. Their teacup had vanished. “But remember, Ruby. Some things are out of your control.”

Ruby stood, adjusting her cloak around her shoulders. They took her empty mug and set it in a nearby bin, then held the door open for her. A gust of cool air blew into the cafe before Ruby stepped out into the snow. They followed close behind. She stuck out a hand, catching a few snowflakes on her fingers and watching them melt against her skin.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” she asked. “isn’t it?”

They stuck their hands in their pockets and turned their gaze upward. “Things often do,” they said, breath disappearing as fog in the gentle wind. They looked at her out the corner of their eye, smile firmly in place. “You’ll find your way. You always have.”

“Thank you,” Ruby replied, and she meant it.

They smirked. “You’re more confused than ever, aren’t you?”

“Oh, yeah,” she shrugged, and the pair shared a laugh. Ruby had forgotten how good it felt. An arm slid around her shoulders, and she found herself returning the sideways hug.

“We’re proud of you,” they said. “Don’t forget that.” They let her go and though they were still smiling, their eyes were sad again. “You’re so much braver than you realize.”

Ruby didn’t know what to say to that, so she simply nodded. “Good night.”

“Goodnight, Ruby.”

#ruby rose #basically me or you or the fandom having a conversation with her #rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 6 spoilers #i don't really know what this is #but it came to me at about 2am #and i liked it well enough #edelwrites

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rwbyremnants · 6 years ago

Link

WARNING: Mental health issues. Suicide attempt. Transphobia. Family arguments.

I AM SERIOUS. PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF ANY OF THAT COULD TRIGGER YOU.

OTHER NOTES: Whoo boy. This was as hard to reread and edit as it was for us to write the first time... and very tempting to take it out or make it less awful. But I decided to leave it as is. I think it's more impactful for people who haven't had to deal with mental health issues of their friends and family, to maybe help them understand what can happen when someone is going through something like what happens in this fic.

The US Suicide Prevention Hotline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255 or online at Suicidepreventionlifeline.org. For a list of international numbers, please click here. Please reach out if you ever have thoughts like those.

=Chapter 32

For Yang, everything had spiraled out of control. Far more than it ever had before. She tried to seek help, had tried to do as Blake asked and go to see a counsellor, but when she got to the door… she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to go inside and admit she needed help. At the same time, she couldn't tell Blake she didn't go, either. She'd let her down enough.

The past week had been awful, getting drunk and sometimes high alongside every moment she could. Blake had more or less been at Sun's every night, expressing to him how stressful things were back at home while Yang was there. She knew why, and understood. But it made things no better. Not when Blake had been making significant strides to try and help Yang, which she seemingly threw aside when Yang more or less resigned herself to not caring about putting in the effort anymore.

For three days straight, she had been late for work, and growing ever sloppier with her duties. But the last straw had been when she was asked to serve and ended up in a fist fight with a customer over an unpaid tip. Even though she knew in her gut said victim had said something very personal about her that she didn't have to take, and it wasn’t right for the jerk to get away with that, it had the same result. She was fired, ordered to leave the premises immediately.

The additional unintended punishment was her having to deal with her own thoughts at home. Which wasn't going well either, judging by the fact an entire six pack had gone from the fridge, its remains scattered around her room. Another hit of weed on top of that, and Yang might as well be dead to the world. At least, that was what she had hoped.

That horrendous thought was growing more and more appealing. What if she was? She wouldn't have to deal with these emotions anymore, nor would anyone else have to put up with the burden of looking after her. Blake would be free to roam her own apartment again, Ruby would be free to talk to Weiss as a friend, and Weiss would be free to move on. As she lay on the bed and blankly stared upward at the ceiling, she continued to wonder if there was a point, any positive aspect of continuing her life. And in her drunken and high mind, she was beginning to come to the heart-wrenching conclusion: there was none.

First thing was first, she picked up her phone, calling Ruby. Part of her hoped that she would pick up, while another one hoped she wouldn't, so she wouldn't have to face that choice. But she did not. And so left a heartfelt voicemail before hanging up. But then she noticed another contact in her scroll, one she thought she had no need for until now.

Winter.

Of course, the one that started all this. The one that left her with no choice but to leave Weiss's company, in a manner that ensured Weiss would hate her forever, and with words that made her hate herself forever. All of this was her fault, the hatred, the self-loathing; none of it would exist if not for her. And she wanted her to know that.

"Hey! Guess who it is?!" Winter wasn't really there, it was her voicemail, as expected. Nobody could be bothered to pick up for useless old Yang. But as she held the phone and stumbled around the room, collecting various things she needed, she continued her slurred and angry rant. "I just wanted to call to tell you, you did it! I hit rock bottom! I'm everything you said I was so you could get rid of me! Yay for you!"

As she managed to hold the phone to her ear with her shoulder, she was quickly writing a note to Blake, a shorter one, with kinder words and more apologies. The opposite of the message she would leave for Winter. "You did this to me. Nobody else, just you. I tried to pull myself out of this pit, tried so so hard to at least live on as who I am. But you ruined that for me, too, didn't you? Made me question myself, how I look, made me hate my body again just when I was finally happy with myself. Every time I come close again, I hear you, calling me a circus freak, saying I'm disgusting. That Weiss deserves better. Well I agree, congrats!"

Now that was done, she was getting on to the part she was not looking forward to. Set up. She had the method planned out, but continued to rant that bit longer on the phone as she collected the thin blanket and rolled it up as tightly as she could, setting up a stepstool beneath the sturdy light fixture she had been eying for weeks.

"I don't know how long it's going to be before you hear about what's happened to me, what you made me do to myself, but I want you to know this so you don't ever do it to anyone else. You did this. You're the one that pushed me this far… you might as well have been here in person to put the noose round my neck or shove the pills down my throat. But whenever you're about to go to sleep at night, I want you to remember that. See you in hell, bitch."

And then she hung up the phone, tossing it alongside the note she had left for Blake.

Last task. Climbing onto the stool and tying one end of the sheet up against the light fitting, she stared at the noose end in her hand. Inches away from slipping it over her neck, inches away from the end. The end of her suffering… was she really ready for this? Done exploring every other option? Yes. As it stood in her hazed mind, there was no reason to go on, only reasons for leaving for good. No Weiss, and not even Blake now. No job. No prospects. Family that was pulling away more and more every day. And yet she continued to stare, continued to question, running her thumbs along the texture of it. The longer she stared, the heavier her breath was turning. The faster her heart was beating. Why was it that in that moment of staring at the makeshift rope, she felt more adrenaline then she ever had before in her life? What was stopping her?

The distant sound of laughter came from downstairs. It could just as easily have been from outside or from the television Yang had left on, but it wasn't.

"No, you give me a break!" Blake was laughing as she managed to get the door open, despite the two bulging grocery bags in her hands. "Nobody cares about the White Sox - this is a Cubs town and a Cubs town only!"

"Yeah, well your team sucks ass." Sun continued to tease and taunt, even deliberately pushed one hand with the grocery bags out to try and hit her side with it. Both had just got back from their brief venture, but Sun had already agreed to stay tonight, for the first time in weeks. Of course, they had their reasons.

"So… are you really okay with staying here?" Blake asked in a softer voice as they made their way into the kitchen. "Even with Yang in the bed with us? I wouldn't ask you to, except… you know."

Sun rolled his eyes, already beginning to unpack the items from the various bags. "Don't be silly, of course I'm okay with it! Who knows, maybe a cuddle session might help her out more. Like you said, she’s had a couple days to kinda chill out by herself, go to therapy; maybe she won’t be such a stubborn bull about friendship or whatever. We gotta get her back to a place where she sees the rest of life is still waiting for her, even if she lost her girl."

"Exactly. And maybe what you’re really hoping for out of a cuddle session is that she'll cuddle up to your butt - and we both know you'd like that." Giggling, she leaned in and pressed her lips against Sun's temple before whispering, "Wouldn't you, little boy?"

Although he tried to glare back, he couldn't keep his composure for too long, and ended up chuckling to himself. "Yeah yeah, whatever. So, shall I unpack all this while you run up and get her?"

Nodding, she kissed his cheek this time, then gave him a showy pat on the butt before going back to lock the door and step out of her sneakers. A quick sprint took her to the top of the stairs and around the corner, knocking briefly at her roommate ’ s door.

"Hey, Yang? Listen…" This time, she didn't stop to wait; she eased open the door as she kept talking. "We were thinking about making tacos tonight, and then, if you'd be… up for…"

All of Blake's energy drained away when she saw what was waiting for her on the other side of that door. A nightmare. A literal waking nightmare. Her amber eyes took in the loop in Yang's hands, the surprised look on her face, the stepladder… the fixture where the makeshift lariat was hanging from. Back to her face, where they focused sharply.

Once she heard the door open, Yang flinched. She was no longer staring at the loop in her hands, and was looking right at Blake instead. Her own eyes were larger than they'd ever been before, nothing present in them but pure terror. She never once released the loop, only felt her hands quivering as she grasped it tighter. But there was still no move to pull it toward her. She couldn’t even do this right.

What little energy she was left with was used to whisper, "P-Please leave…"

But Blake would not be obeying that one little plea. Instead, she trusted her instincts, which propelled her the few steps from the door, into the air, where her arms wrapped around Yang's middle and snatched her from atop the stepladder, tackling her to the floor.

"NO!"

That was the bloodcurdling scream that followed her action. Hitting the ground hard, she was frantically trying to push up from the ground to get back to her feet, but Blake wasn't having any of it, wasn't letting it go. It'd failed, her one attempt at freedom from the pain, the misery, and it had completely failed. All she could do was continue to scream out incoherently as she struggled against Blake's grip, tears streaming down her face.

After roughly one full, ugly minute of this, she sat up off the blonde and looked down at her for a long moment, listening to her blubber and scream. Then she reared back a hand and brought the palm sailing down to the side of her face.

SLAP!

By which time, Sun had ran upstairs to the sounds of Yang's screams, throwing the door open to find out what was happening. But he was in for a shock. The sight of a noose hanging from a ceiling, accompanied by a nearby step ladder wasn't the only haunting thing. The other was what her girlfriend was currently sat on top of, which was a blubbering and tearful mess. All she could do was loudly sob, the slap having forced her to at least stop screaming and struggling so hard. But it didn't stop the desperate plea, a horrifying one.

"L-Let me go! I-I don't w-want this anymore! J-Just let me die!"

The instant she heard the last word cross Yang's lips, her hand drew back again - but Sun was grasping her wrist, keeping her from delivering another strike. She struggled as she shouted, "You don't want this?! You don't want… friends who love you, a roof over your head? Warm food, cold beer? What is it about living here you hate so fucking much?!"

"MYSELF!" she screamed back at her, sobbing more and more straight after. She couldn't bring herself to look at either of them, only kept her eyes tightly shut as more and more tears streamed down her cheeks. Instead, her hands dove into her hair, grabbing handfuls and pulling hard. "I don't deserve to live! I don't deserve friends! I don't deserve ANYTHING!"

"BULLSHIT! Bull… fucking… SHIT!" So hard was she straining against Sun that he had to go down on one knee to stay close, to keep her from hitting Yang again. "You're one of the most incredible people I know! Why should you hate yourself?! That's… that's fucking stupid!"

"Babe, breathe! Calm down!" Sun insisted, keeping a hold of her to prevent another slap. He knew in this state there would be no calming of Yang, not for a long long time. But having the both of them in such an awful state would just make things worse.

Especially since Yang seemed completely irrational, only continuing to loudly sob and cry, continuing to pull her hair. "Because I'm a freak! A fucking circus freak who everyone's helped out, and I just… waste it ! I deserve to die!"

But then she was leaning forward, trying to curl herself into a ball as she continued to sob loudly, managing to push out the phrase, "Please let me do it…"

"NEVER!" Even with her arm twisted back behind her, Blake still managed to lean down close to Yang's face and growl, "I don't care if I have to quit my job and sit here twenty-four hours a day for the rest of my fucking life, I am never, ever letting that happen, okay?! So you can just… just forget about this stupid idea right now!"

But all Yang could do was sob, sob loudly and continue to cry out. She didn't have any more words to say, nothing that Blake wouldn't yell at her loudly for. She just wasn't in the right state of mind for any rational thinking. And while it was stressful to watch, Sun finally let go of Blake's arm once Yang had remained in her ball and sobbed for a minute, trusting she wouldn't try and slap her anymore as he went to do undo the noose, and to pick up Yang's phone to call the hospital.

The minute Sun was out of the room, Blake let out a choked sob and whispered, "I'm sorry… I got so mad at you, I… you're in pain, and I hit you… why did I do that?"

"I deserve it." It was a small and quiet voice that answered, but it was there. And that wasn't all. The rest of her words would be even more haunting. "I deserved it all. The slapping, the choking, even getting my dick hit… I deserved it. And I lied to you about it, telling you I enjoyed it when really I just wanted to… t-to be…"

A hand fisted against Yang's shirt as she remembered. The signs were all there; she was just too blinded by lust and affection to notice. Her stomach twisted horribly, and she felt like she might be sick.

"Yang… I love you exactly the way you are. I don't understand w-why you can't see that, I… I'm so stupid, I let all this happen, you were this close to-" Another sob cut off her words, and she clung hard to the girl beneath her, desperate to remind herself that she was still there.

It took a long while until Yang finally did the same. She released the handfuls of her own hair and instead clutched at Blake's shirt tightly, closing her eyes tight to try and suppress the tears away. Even if it wasn't exactly working, she refused to let go.

"I k-keep hearing her w-words…" She mumbled into her shoulder. "T-that I'm a circus freak. That I was t-taking advantage of Weiss b-because I was t-there… a-and I tried ignoring her, but I can't. I c-can't…"

"And who the fuck is she to decide who you are?!" Sniffling, she kissed all over the part of Yang's head she could reach. "You're… my Yang, my friend! Not hers!" Her hands dug into the back of Yang's shirt. "You're not going anywhere, okay? We'll… we can get you help, we can do something, this isn't over. You just… you let yourself get too far away from who you really are. But we can fight - and we will."

On one hand, she wasn't yelling back about dying anymore. That part seemed to have calmed down. On the other, she was still clutching, still sobbing horridly as she tried to avoid eye contact. But again, there were more whimpers of confession. "I did try to go to that counselling… but when I got there, I-I couldn't. I couldn't go in the building, I was too scared. And then, then today I got fired, so I drank, and I just… I don't know…"

Blake nodded and kissed her more - she couldn't seem to stop. Proving to her body that Yang wasn't leaving, that she hadn't let that happen. "That's okay. It's okay! I… I was hoping you could do it on your own, but you don't have to. We'll… go together next time. You and me. And I'll be out in the waiting room the whole time, and… and we can leave right away if that therapist sucks. And we'll try again." Another hiccupping sob, and her words became barely coherent. "I'll do anything, okay? Anything to keep you from… to keep you here! God, I'll do anything you want!"

And then Blake's words devolved so badly they couldn't even be understood anymore, though it seemed to be more of the same.

"You've been doing everything already… I just kept being a… a bonehead, and didn’t listen," Yang assured her, burrowing her head into Blake's shoulder now it was exposed. And just in time for Sun to get back in, who was holding the phone to one side, as though he was still mid conversation.

"They want her to come in for a psychiatric evaluation. I'll drive, you two in the back?"

"Yeah," Blake said without hesitation, voice strained. Then she pulled back and pressed her hands into either side of Yang's face. "Listen… we're gonna go do this thing. I'm not leaving you, I'm not dumping you on their doorstep… we'll let them see what they see, and then we'll figure out where to go from there. Together, all three of us. Okay?"

Tears still falling from her cheeks, she only had the power left to nod, continuing to cling to whatever clothing she could of Blake's. Anything to keep her grounded in reality, instead of succumbing to the dark thoughts Winter had planted in the back of her mind. And then the final whisper: "Thank you…"

"There's nothing else I'd rather do right now." And it was the God's honest truth; there wasn't.

The ride to the hospital only took about twenty minutes. All the while, the two girls were huddled under a fleece blanket in the backseat, even though it was the middle of summer; Yang couldn't stop shivering in shock from what she had been through, how close she had come to the worst mistake of her life, and Blake wasn't about to let her curl under the blanket by herself. Soft rock from a local radio station music played out over Sun's speakers, which gave them something to laugh about to help keep their mind off darker things. Everyone was tired of "Eternal Flame" by now.

Soon after they got there, Yang was taken back into an evaluation room they had onsite. Blake and Sun weren't permitted to go back there, but after a few more assurances they weren't going anywhere, they let her go and found their way back to their seats in the waiting room.

"Ugh, I'm sorry today turned into this," she sighed at him as she slumped down in the hard-plastic chair. Sun had one arm around her and pulled her toward him, giving a light squeeze when he could. It had been a terrible ordeal for them both, even for him. But all the while, he tried to remain calm and collected.

"Don't be stupid. You didn't know, none of us did. It's just one of those … awful fucking things."

"Definitely that." She looked over with pleading eyes that he was all too used to. "Could you get me some coffee from one of those vending machines? Or maybe some soup? I don't really care which, they probably taste the same."

"Sure, babe. Black coffee?" He kissed her cheek before letting her go to sit himself upright again. However, before she could respond there was an interruption in the form of an upbeat ring tone.

But it wasn't Blake's. Reaching into the purse she had hastily grabbed, she came up with Yang's cell. The blonde had passed it off to her when she was being admitted, as they didn't want her to have it back there. The minute she saw "Lil Sis" as the contact name, she whispered, "Black" to her boyfriend before swiping down to answer.

"Hello?"

"Who’s this?" The voice sounded quiet, completely full of fear even in that first second. But whoever was on the other line was about to get an earful of yet another blubbery mess. "Please, i-is Yang there? I n-need to speak to her! She left me a voicemail about d-doing… s-something… Oh my god, is she okay or not?! Please say I’m not too late!"

"Ruby… I, um, I don't think we've seen each other since way back in school, have we? It's Blake…" How could she even begin to have this conversation? The poor girl had already received a message, by the sound of things. There would be no covering this up.

"Oh… Oh, god, Blake! I f-forgot… forgot she went to.." Ruby was trying to hold herself back from blubbering still, but it wasn't doing much good at all. The conversation seemed to have been completely forgotten as she sobbed rather loudly, only managing to squeeze very few words out. "I d-didn't make it in time, d-did I? Otherwise s-she would have p-picked up…"

"NO! You're fine, she's fine!" Clearing her throat, she ran a hand through her bangs as she tried to figure out what to say. "Well… she hasn't been 'fine' for a long time, I guess. But if the message was about her doing something stupid, don't worry, she, um, she’s still… she’s going to be okay."

"Oh thank god!" she seemed to shout. Even from a quarter of the way across the country Blake could feel her relief as she sobbed again, quickly sniffing between breaths. "I don't understand, she seemed fine! I m-mean… we were only skyping once a week, but I thought that was because she was busy. Even then, she was laughing, s-saying she was drinking with you guys!"

Blake's voice filled with tears; she had been fighting to keep them out, but listening to Ruby cry was enough to get her going again. "I'm sorry! I… I knew she wasn't happy, but I thought if w-we just kept hanging out with her, showing her we're her friends, it w-would be enough, that she would… snap out of it, or whatever! And she was supposed to be going to therapy…"

And then, as she was sitting there on the phone with her girlfriend's little sister, cold realisation crashed down over Blake Belladonna’s head: she wasn't enough. Even if Yang did care about her, enjoyed her company, she and Sun could not fill the void that Weiss left in her heart. Couldn't compensate for the demon seeds Winter had planted in her mind, that were growing into thorny roots all these weeks. It was equally comforting and crushing to realize that she had done everything she could… and come up short.

"B-But why? Why didn't she tell me?" Sobbing with her the other side the phone, Ruby could only sniff again. "I d-don't understand… She let me think she was okay, I actually have been telling Dad she's happy there! Then she j-just leaves a message saying goodbye… God, you have no idea h-how glad I am you're there with her!"

The reality of that crashed over her even harder. Never did she expect to literally save someone's life . "Ruby, I didn't… I had no idea what I was going to walk in on, b-but you're right, I'm glad I was there, too." Her voice got even tighter as she added, "If I didn't make it, if we got back a little later, I… I'd n-never be able to f-forgive myself…"

"D-Don't…" Sighing in an attempt to compose herself again, she seemed to be adjusting the phone in her grip a moment, as though she were sitting down. "You did save her. It didn't happen, that's the important thing. We should focus on that. Where is she?"

"We're at the hospital. Just for a checkup!" she added in a hurry, before Ruby leapt to the wrong conclusion. "She's fine, she's not even hurt, just… I mean, Sun and I aren't professionals, so even though we're pretty sure she won't try it again, we, um… we wanna be extra sure. I'm not taking chances."

"Oh… Okay, I get it. Better to be safe than sorry. Oh no, I'd better tell Dad before she does, soften the blow." Ruby had calmed down significantly now that she had been reassured there was no immediate danger, with only the occasional sniff being a sign that she was upset. "Should I get him to send some money to cover the bill? O-Or he can even pick her up, if you think she needs it."

"No, Ruby, we got this. I'm paying for it. I…" Her voice tried to close off again, but she forced herself to keep going. "This is my fault for not figuring out how bad her pain was earlier. She… I tried to get her to go to therapy by herself. What was I thinking? Like I'd want to go by myself if it was me…"

"No, no you're trying. You and I know her, she's stubborn. She won't admit she needs help, ever. Not even with… this stuff. I bet if you asked about going with her, she'd have said ‘no’ and tried to go herself anyway. Kind of annoying sometimes! But y’know, I love my sister, anyway. I… I’m so, so glad she’s not… "

But the conversation was interrupted as the phone began to vibrate again. Another call was coming in on the background. But the contact didn't have a particular pet name like the entirety of her phonebook, and it spoke volumes as to how she felt about said person. Winter .

Suddenly, Blake felt ice water running through her veins, the tightness in her heart relaxing. This was a situation she did know how to take care of. "Ruby, I'll have to call you back; someone is on the other line that I need to scream at."

"Oh, okay then. Um… Get Yang to call me later! And thanks again!" Ruby shouted just before Blake cut off her call to activate the next one.

Which was a rather shaky voice on the other line. Shaky, but trying to act professional as she asked quietly, "Xiao Long? Xiao Long, is that you?"

"So," Blake began in a steely voice. "You're the one."

There was a pause. "Who is this? I'm looking for Yang, Yang Xiao Long."

"You did say that already." Churning over possible follow-ups in her mind, she finally decided to just attack. "Do you have any idea what you've done? Do you care?"

"Who is this?!" the voice responded quickly. It wasn't the stern professional that Yang had described before. This sounded more like a frightened child. "Can't you tell I'm in a hurry?! I need to talk to Yang, now!"

"Well, you can’ t! Because she is in the hospital, and it is entirely your fault, you… you homophobic, transphobic piece of SHIT!" People in the waiting room were looking up at her now, but they didn't matter; all that mattered was focusing every last shred of her anger on the one target that truly deserved it. "My friend was happy, she had actually found what she needed in life, and you were too worried about appearances to let that be okay, to… to keep your fucking nose out of it!"

"In the hospi-" The quiet voice was beginning to trail off. Winter had to take a moment in silence as she took in the words, her breath seeming to quicken and become shaky. After a small moment, she spoke again quietly. "No… no she can't be. You're lying to me, trying to make me feel bad! Y-You're both pulling a sick, SICK joke!"

Still unbelievably furious, she held the phone away just long enough to send Winter a picture message of her own enraged face with the obvious markings of a typical hospital waiting room in the background, the nurse behind the desk in her blue scrubs. Anyone who had been to one more than once could never forget. There was silence on the other end of the line, more silence as Winter was clearly mentally processing. It seemed to be the rock-hard evidence she needed to finally believe her. And the only response was heavier breathing.

"S-She… But she's alright, isn't she? She wasn't… she wouldn't have… s-she-"

"Not dead, no. But I wouldn't call what she is 'alright', you…" This time, she fought to keep from hurling more petty insults. They weren't what she really wanted to say. "Sorry to disappoint you. I'm sure that's what you wanted, isn't it? To find out that the… the obstacle to Weiss's future is out of the picture for good. Too damn bad."

"I-I…" She seemed to have the wind knocked out of her, barely able to continue a few words, let alone an entire sentence. Taking a deep breath in to compose herself as best she could, she calmly continued, "I didn't want this. I wanted her to stay away from Weiss, move out of the city and… and leave her alone. I never… I didn't want anyone hurt. This isn’t my fault."

"Well, you did hurt her. She's been hurting for a month. Every day. Every fucking day, I watched her wish she was dead, and today? Today I found her trying to make that wish come true." Her voice got deadly quiet. "As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than a murderer."

"No… no you… I-I didn't, I never…" Her words were becoming more and more fumbled, and it seemed like a hand was raised over her mouth when she continued. "J-Just tell me she's not hurt. Not physically hurt. Please, so I can… So I can inform Weiss…"

Her voice dropped to a venomous hiss. "Give me one good reason you deserve to know that information."

There was no vocal response. Only shaky breathing. Winter Schnee was completely speechless about the whole ordeal, she couldn't even figure out a phrase or word to say to try and convince the woman on the other line.

"That's what I thought. Enjoy your life, murderer . I hope you're proud of what you did."

Then Blake hit the "end call" button and stared down at the drab carpeting. Somehow, she had been hoping that taking out all of her frustrations on the elder Schnee would make her feel better, but all she had left now was sadness.

By which time, Sun had returned with two cups, one in each hand. But seeing his girlfriend keeled over and staring out blankly made him hesitate a moment before he sat down by her side, holding the cup toward her. When he left, he had only managed to catch the contact name of the first person who rang, so assumed the sadness was due to that.

"Guessing you had to bear the bad news, huh?"

For a moment, she didn't say anything. Then she just whispered, "I can't believe we're here, doing this. I can't believe I had to have those conversations, it's… how did I let this get so bad, and didn't figure out how bad it was?"

"Blake…" Sun said quietly, putting both cups down on a nearby table so he could hold an arm around her instead, leaning in close. "You can't blame yourself for this. How could any of us have known? Depression's not something that makes itself brutally obvious."

"I mean… I know that. Deep down, I do, but right now I'm worried about my friend. That's all." Shakily drawing in breath, Blake leaned into his touch, laying her head on his shoulder. "You think she'll be okay? I know we didn't let her die, but… I don't know what to do about her mental state… should we try to call Weiss? Get them talking again? I don’t know…"

"I think the problem runs deeper than just Weiss." He idly stroked her arm as they leant against one another, and occasionally pressed a kiss against her head to try and keep her calm. Even he was dramatically affected by this, having only just managed to hold his own tears back through the whole ordeal. "The things she was saying when she was frantic… they weren't aimed toward her, they were aimed at herself. I think the whole thing with Weiss made it way worse, but I wouldn't say it's the root cause."

"She's beautiful, Sun. She's the most beautiful woman in the world, and… and that bitch convinced her that because she was born with a dick, that sh-she's not valid! I hate it, I hate that I can't help her any more than this!"

"But you have been doing all you can!" He stopped her continuing that trail of thought, pulling her in tighter. It still hurt to hear his own girlfriend talk about someone else in such a way, but they'd already agreed to the terms. That he allowed it because he trusted Yang. Perhaps that was a mistake on his part, but right now that wasn't important. What was instead was his girlfriend's feelings. "You've helped her where other people wouldn't, booked her in therapy, everything. You've gone above and beyond, dude. Don’t beat yourself up."

"Yeah… yeah, I know." Snuggling against his side, she finally admitted it to herself. "I know you're right, in my mind. That I was really trying, and that I didn't know what else to do, so… but it doesn't keep me from feeling guilty that she still came this close. It should never have been this close, Sun!"

"But you stopped it. You saved her life, Blake. And even if none of us thought she'd have to be in that room, we're here. We just have to keep going, keep moving forward. Keep her moving forward."

Nodding hard against his neck, she then sat up and pushed at the moisture on her cheeks. "Yes… that's very true. We have to think about her future, not this one little setback." Then she kissed his cheek. "Thanks for being my rock. I was trying to be hers, and it didn't work, which only proves to me how much better at that you are."

"Hell no. Do you really think I could have handled this if it was the other way around? No way. You're the better rock here, and don't you forget it," he insisted, finally breaking away their hug to pass the drink over to her instead, now that it'd had a moment to cool down.

"Thanks." She took a sip, then made a face. "Oh ugh, you did get soup! I was totally kidding!"

"Um… that's the coffee… " Sun had started to laugh, but it wasn't long until ahead there was a familiar sight making its way down the hallway. The messy blonde hair of Yang, accompanied by a doctor whom was still writing on the clipboard as she led her back to the waiting room.

"What's the verdict?" Blake asked, trying for an awkwardly hopeful smile.

"Yang is going to be just fine," the doctor told them with a pleasant smile as she gestured to their friend, and the piece of paper in her hands. "She doesn't present an ongoing danger to herself or others, and all that marijuana and alcohol mixed poorly in her system. They're not very compatible ‘highs’, regardless of one being more legal than the other. She mentioned you were both aware of what was going on in her personal life before she moved here, so I think you can understand how too many mind-altering substances would make it worse if she already doesn’t know what to do."

"So keep her clean, I'm sure we can deal with that.” Another thing for Blake to kick herself over; getting Yang self-medicating. “Anything else?"

"I got Prozac," Yang responded rather blankly to the other blonde, looking down at the prescription the doctor had given her while in the room. "And counselling, but that I wanted to go for, anyway… and I mean actually go this time."

"Still going with you," Blake told her flatly.

"Good," the doctor said as she continued writing on her clipboard. "A network of friends is always helpful in situations like these." Then she let her professional demeanor drop, laying a hand on Yang's shoulder. "You will get through this. Plenty of us hit this wall at some point in our lives; I came close in grad school. But if you talk to someone… it can make all the difference."

Although she was looking down at the ground, she was listening to every word; nervously folding her arms over her chest as she nodded. She knew everyone was there to help, to try and make her feel better; but that didn't stop her feeling so guilty for their need to be there in the first place.

"So is she free to go?" When the doctor nodded, Blake slid an arm around her friend's back. "Thanks. Um, where do we… check out, or whatever?"

"All taken care of. Just have that prescription filled at any pharmacy and that's all you have to pay for. I got this one. You guys just worry about Ms Xiao Long." And before they could protest or further inquire, the doctor left them to it with a little wave before heading back the way she came.

"Thanks a bunch, doc! We'll get her back to norm," Sun called up toward the doctor as they headed for the exit, watching as the two girls walked together.

Closely together. And yet again, he noticed how in this case, it was Blake doing the main work. Blake was the one giving affection, pulling her in close and occasionally leaning her head against her, while Yang blankly kept going. If they were going to help Yang out of this pit, and even help her get out to see the world, Blake herself would need help, as well. Help to inevitably let go of Yang when the time was right.

But for now, as they headed back toward the car again, Sun opened the back door for them both. "So… how about we hit a McDonalds instead of tacos? I think after that, none of us wanna cook."

"Oh, shit," Blake breathed, covering her mouth with her hand. "I hope you got most of that stuff in the fridge… but yeah, I agree. Greasy, nasty fries would really hit the spot a lot better. Plus, you know how much I love their strawberry shakes."

"And a Big Mac for me — I wonder what cheesy things they have right now…" Sun pondered as he got into the driver's seat, already strapping himself in as he waited for the other two to get ready. Turning back, he asked, "How about you, blondie?"

But Yang continued to stare down blankly, even as she strapped herself in, and as Blake wrapped the blanket back around them. Yet again, she could feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes, whispering, "I think I just wanna go to bed…"

Blake watched her for a few seconds, considering. Pursing her lips, she seemed to come to a decision. "Chocolate shake and twenty-piece McNuggets for Yang. Just… trust me on this." Then she snuggled up next to her as they drove off.

Since that chilling phone call, Winter had completed no work whatsoever. She sat in deep thought, in complete silence. Over and over, that word continued to go through her head: 'murderer'. And Yang's voicemail also ran through her mind again and again. How Yang described the hatred she felt for herself because of her words, how completely not herself she sounded. She sounded destroyed, and Winter did that to her? That wasn't possible. It wasn't as if she was actually attacking Yang, all she said was what she saw. That Yang wasn't natural. Surely everyone knew that!

Either way, what was done was done. She had no way of finding out Yang's health, or even what had happened in the first place. What business was it of hers?

But as she finally dragged herself up to fetch a coffee, that thought continued to haunt her. Yang could be in critical condition, or worse. And the guilt was only made worse when she passed the door to her sister's apartment, and heard another heart wrenching sound. "WHY?!" echoed out into the hall; it would only be audible from right next to it the way she was, but it was so strained and urgent that it bordered on being feral. A growl of lament.

She couldn't just walk away from that. She had no choice with Yang; she wasn't about to drop the ball with Weiss, as well. Not with her baby sister. So tightening her eyes shut, she braced herself for whatever consequence was about to come, and quietly opened the door …

The sight was utterly pitiful. Weiss was curled up on the couch, her phone lying on the cushion next to her, playing the video clip of them performing the song in Penny’s house on repeat. Her head was pressed down against that orange "infinity scarf" she had seen the brutish bodyguard wearing on more than one occasion. It was so late in the day, and yet she was still dressed in fuzzy pajamas. And, of course, she was crying her eyes out, huge streams of wetness making their way down her face and into the snood.

For a moment, she stared. And it made her heart sink all the more, for even worse reasons. She'd assumed her sister was well over the bodyguard by now, over the petty fling that posed a threat to her career. But it seemed not. Forcing back the fears about Yang in her head, she pushed open the door a little more.

"Weiss?"

"Go away!" she sobbed weakly, curling in tighter, quivering from nose to toes as she pulled the phone closer. "You… don't understand and you don't care, I… I don't want to see you right now!"

But Winter wasn't leaving. She entered the room, shutting the door behind her. The worst thing that could happen was for their father to walk in on this moment. Frankly, Winter didn't want to be there at all, but she felt far too guilty to leave this untouched.

"That's not true, and you know it." She tried to remain stern, pulling up a chair next to the sofa so she could sit next to Weiss without moving her. "I'm still your sister, you know. I do care."

"Not about this." Sniffling she turned her head to smoosh her face down into the scarf. "You have m-made your feelings about Yang abundantly clear."

Biting her lip in an attempt to suppress the fresh wave of guilt, she watched as Weiss continued to burrow her head into whatever she could, feeling worse and worse by the second. To the point when she couldn't stand it any longer.

"Stop it!" she insisted. "Do you really think you were ‘in love’? You’ve never even dated anyone before! This was just… just Yang taking advantage of you at a vulnerable time!"

But all that came out of Weiss for the next minute or so were strangled screams, hiccups and sobs. When she finally calmed down enough to speak again, the conversation went in a direction Winter was not expecting.

"I tried to move on… the way you seemed to think I would. It didn't work. She still… I can't, Winter, I can't!"

"You can, and you have to!" Shuffling her chair a little closer, she breathed in deeply. Struggling for any way of avoiding this, she went on, "And you will tomorrow. We're going to find you some new bodyguards. Father and I won’t go over your head again – it’s your choice."

"Not as a bodyguard, you ignoramus! As…" She was past the point of caring, past everything. "As my girlfriend! I was in love with her, and I'm still in love with her now! You might hate me for telling you, but you know what?! It doesn't even matter anymore! She left me, she is… gone, gone, gone! Not only that — my new girlfriend apparently isn't enough to erase her memory, which makes me a really crappy person! So think whatever you want, because it d-doesn ’ t make any difference at this point!"

The more Winter was hearing from her, the worse she felt. It was the wake-up call she truly needed to tell her that this was real . Weiss really was in love with another woman, and wasn't just having a fling because she was there – not just a phase, some flirtation with ‘sin’ as she and her father thought of it. The experimentation of youth. No, it seemed that no matter what happened, she would continue to date women rather than men, and nothing could change that. Not even the risk it was to her career, or her family life. If she truly was willing to put all that on the line for someone else…

And then she began to stare blankly at the ground when the crushing reality of what she had done hit her like a bus. Weiss's loved one could be dead, or as good as. She heard haunting stories of the after effects of people's attempts depending on the method. What if it was pills, and her insides could already be destroyed? What if she jumped off a building and could never walk again? She had to bear that crushing guilt that not only had her actions pushed someone down that dark path, but that she had destroyed the most special person in Weiss's life.

"…She didn't leave you."

There was no real emotion left in Weiss's voice as she growled, "Oh, what are you babbling about now?!"

"She didn't leave you," she repeated louder this time, gesturing the words with her hands. It was a small habit she only tended to do when she was trying to get people to believe her point and listen carefully. But in addition, she sighed, bringing her hand up to her face and running it down. Swallowing her fear, her self-preservation instincts, she added … "I forced her to leave."

Only now did she have Weiss's undivided attention. She pushed up onto one elbow, and the horrible state she was in became crystal clear; red-rimmed, bloodshot eyes, salty residue from earlier tears that had run in different directions from the current ones.

"You… what… are you talking about? What did you do?"

Now she was keeled over, head in her hands, staring at the ground as she tried to stop the lump in her throat from keeping her quiet. She wanted to be sick, or to run… but there was no way of escaping this.

"I knew she wasn't going to leave unless I gave her a good enough reason. So I confronted her with her old Facebook account. The one with pictures of hi- …her, from before." She corrected herself before slipping with the pronouns, even if she still didn’t quite buy that Yang was a woman. That would no doubt just make everything worse. "And she still didn't leave, even when I threatened to tell Father about this. Nor when I threatened to hand it over to a media source. I had to firmly remind her that the stories would be about you dating a tranny and that it would ruin your reputation before she considered it, and even then she was arguing with me for what seemed like hours."

"So when I didn't… when…" Everything began slotting into place behind the clear blue eyes of her little sister. Certain emotions shut off, some shifted slightly, and some blazed into being. It was another minute or so before she stopped looking so completely stunned and was able to respond.

"Wow. You… really do hate me, don't you?"

"No, I don't," Winter swore to her. Even though she was only just able to bring herself out of the pathetic ball she had made out of herself, she looked toward her seriously. "It's because I love you I did this. I thought you were just having a fling, something to rebel against Father with, or that she was manipulating you because you were living in the same bus. A-and… and I wanted it to end before it cost you your career."

Her fists clenched as she looked back at the floor again, voice becoming shaky. "But I was wrong. I was so, so wrong…"

"Oh! Oh, okay, I- I'm sorry! I get it now! My mistake! You were just…"

Then something much worse than crying happened. Weiss began to laugh. It wasn't the kind of laugh you ever wanted to hear; high, unhinged. Dangerously close to the edge of insanity. As she giggled and cackled, she sat up and rocked slightly back and forth, eyes popping wildly and mouth agape.

And Winter just sat, sat and listened, as horrendous as that punishment was. And this was without telling her the most gut-wrenching part. But she knew she deserved it, and that Weiss deserved to hear the truth after so long of blaming herself – one piece at a time. It didn't make any of this easier though.

"YOU! You're so nice to me! That's why all these years, you've been making me feel like a nuisance that y-you just have to take care of or else Father will make you, or punish you… why you don't think I can wipe my ass without supervision! Because you love me! Oh, I get it, I see!"

“Weiss, that isn’t true,” she urged her with wide eyes. “You have no idea how much I’ve sacrificed! For you! I really- I couldn’t love you more if I tried! And I know it won’t seem that way right now...”

Still giggling, the girl clutched her sides as more tears joined the old ones, sucking air noisily and horribly. "You love me so much, you had to save me from the big scary ‘ tranny ’ who wanted to… to what, exactly? Oh yeah, that thing she did!"

Then suddenly it was like a switch flipped, and Weiss was on her feet, screaming down at Winter, "She loved me! She loved me, and I had someone, and you didn't! And you couldn't let that happen - you had to ruin the rest of my life because you… you're just so, SO loving! I can't believe you're sitting here, telling me this like I'm supposed to buy any part of it!"

And all she could do was begin to cringe even more at each and every word. But she deserved it all. Weiss's anger was rightfully placed. She couldn't even bear to make eye contact with her anymore, see what she looked like this angry. And that's when the tears had begun. Even though this hurdle was over, the worst part of the confession was about to begin, and when things got quiet, she spoke again.

"You need to sit down, because there's more…"

"OH! Oh, I see – there's more. I interrupted you ruining my life, you're not done." Weiss practically threw herself down onto the couch, sending one of the throw pillows to the floor. "Go ahead. I mean, what, did you set fire to my tour bus? Or hey, maybe you already called Neon and told her that she has to leave the country because… I don't know, she has tattoos and piercings, or something else you don't find acceptable!"

It didn't even register to her that Weiss had just told her her new girlfriend's name. All that her mind could think about was the events on the phone from earlier, the yelling she received from one of Yang's friends. How was she meant to explain this? She had to keep going. Taking a deep breath in and waiting for Weiss to be quiet, she finally managed to get the words out.

"The last contact I had with her was a very worrying voicemail. I called back and could only reach a friend of hers. Telling me that she tried… that she had been hospitalized."

"Hospitalized? Oh, how would you know whether she's hospit-"

The ringing of her phone filled the air, cutting off the umpteenth rendition of "Changes Come For You" in mid-note. It was one she had set for someone specific, one of her own songs from the very early days; extra bubbly. Abandoning her conversation with Winter immediately, she snatched it up and swiped to answer.

"Hello? Ruby? Is everything alright?!"

"Weiss!" Already she seemed to be frantic on the other side, voice coming quick and fast as she spoke. "God, I’ve been trying to reach you, but my signal kept cutting out! S-something happened."

Her eyes widened so much further than they had been as her breath caught. "What? Ruby… what happened?"

"She's okay, now she is at least anyway. But, um, something’s going on. I’m not there, I can’t tell you for sure." Ruby took a deep breath. Weiss glanced over at Winter, staring blankly toward her with tears falling down her face, before she heard, "Weiss… okay, she made me promise not to tell you, because Winter might do something, follow through on her crazy threats; but I've been talking to her off and on. She went back to Chicago, to Blake's. And I thought she was doing okay, but today she got really drunk and depressed, and Blake found her trying to… t-trying… to…"

"Trying to what?! Ruby, spit it out!" She knew she was being mean, but she was tired of being kept in the dark by well-meaning people. Winter had frayed that nerve far too much for one day.

There was a clear gulp from the other line. Then the following, hollowly-delivered comment: "She was trying to kill herself."

Never before in her life had Weiss regretted asking someone to be honest with her. Not before that moment.

"No." It was all she could think of to say. Completely unworthy of the situation, but no other words would come. Her head swayed back and forth slightly as she tried her best to remain upright.

"S-she's alright now; she's been checked over and evaluated, got some meds, a-and is gonna start counselling…”

“No. I… what?”

“B-but I needed to tell you. This isn’t the same as just keeping a secret that she’s in another state, a-and you’re my friend, and… I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry."

"That's… good." Again, not up to par. "Thank you. I'm… yes. She's okay. She’s okay. " A wave of relief was flooding through the icy veins of Weiss Schnee. Just for a second, she had known – believed deep in her heart that she literally lost Yang forever. Even worse than she had when Yang left. Now, she had learned differently; there was still time. Maybe Yang didn't want to see her anymore, but at least she was alive, and had someone to help her get back to where she had been.

"I-I don't wanna sound rude, or pushy; but can you fly out here? So we can really talk? I don't wanna explain all this on the phone, and… a-and we’re flying up to see Yang ourselves soon."

That part Winter could only just hear for herself from her chair, and looked up from where she was covered in tears. She desperately hoped Weiss wouldn't, and would remain so she could be told anything she wanted. So they could finish this conversation. But that choice was hers.

"Yeah… yeah, you probably need me as much as Yang does, even if Yang wouldn’t-" Weiss’s throat closed off around the words "let me see her". She couldn't do it, couldn't poke her already-wounded feelings openly that way. "I'll… I'll be there soon, it's not a long flight. Can you pick me up, or sh-should I get a cab?"

"Penny can come get you, she’s renting a car. From your place?"

But then Winter was looking directly at her, pleading for her to remain as more tears fell from her face. She regretted everything that had happened. Everything.

"Oh gosh, I wouldn't dream of making her drive across the country! I… yeah, just from the airport. Um… I'll be there soon. Very soon. I'm… I gotta go pack."

Then she hung up. Only afterward did she realize that was rude to do without letting Ruby answer, but it was too late now. Standing, she immediately walked past Winter and down the hallway toward her bedroom.

"Weiss, wait! Please!" Winter insisted, following as quickly as she could and trailing behind her. By now the tears were free flowing, making things worse and worse. "This isn’t- you have to know that none of this is what I wanted !"

"I'm going to be gone for a few days," Weiss told her in a dead tone as she slung random items of clothing into her suitcase. Glancing down, she realized her other hand was still balled around the snood, so she put that in, as well. "Tell Father it was urgent business. I'll call him when I land to make sure he knows I'm fine, and that I haven't forgotten the Beach Fest; I'll be back well ahead of that."

"Can we just stay and talk, please?!" Her voice was getting increasingly frantic as she followed her pacing around the room, watched as she finished packing and zipped it up. "I didn't even finish telling you why she's there! Please!"

Pulling on one of Yang's old hoodies she had somehow missed underneath her bed, and Weiss retrieved a week or so later when the maid tried to throw it out, she fluffed her hair out of the neckline of it as she went to grab some comfortable shoes for the flight.

"Ruby will tell me. She seems to know about as much as you d-"

"I was wrong!" Winter suddenly shouted. She needed something to try and snap her out of what she was doing, snap her attention back to her again. So far nothing was working. But maybe if she kept going… "I … was wrong. She loved you, she loved you so, so much. And I was too focused on protecting you to see it… I just wish I could take it all back, we'd find a way to tell Father… please don't leave now."

"Really?" Weiss asked as she tugged on her shoes, tone razor-sharp now, even without shouting, without even raising her voice at all. "And who do you think you are, asking me to stay after what you did?"

"I'm your sister!" But when there was no response whatsoever from those words, Winter's brow was beginning to furrow, and her lip began to quiver. "…Weiss?"

As she pulled the suitcase through the doorway Winter was standing in, Weiss stopped just long enough to say a single sentence, voice crystal clear.

"I don't have a sister."

Then she kept walking, scooping up her phone from the couch and heading straight through the door to her apartment and out of sight. Without looking back at the devastation she had wrought.

#White Noise #rwby fanfiction #suicide tw #suicide attempt tw #depression tw #mental illness tw #rwbyremnants

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mikotyzini · 7 years ago

Text

What Defines Us - Ch. 20

Thank you to those who’ve been following this story, and a special thanks to the people who’ve signed up on Patreon for early chapters and commentary and everything. Your support means the world to me! Recently, I’ve been spending 3-4 hours a night after work writing, and I really wouldn’t do that if not for you guys. <3

If you want to read on ff.net (or find previous chapters), here’s the link.

After briefly rubbing her tired eyes, Ruby blinked and then blinked again - trying to get the tiny object in her hand to come into better focus. It’d be a whole lot easier if it weren’t so dang small! Like, seriously, why were small things the coolest? It made them so friggin’ difficult to work on!

Taking a big breath, she let it out in one smooth exhale while carefully layering another swipe of paint - her hand steady while a thin line appeared against a background of dark grey. Taking another breath, she blew softly on the fresh paint so it would dry before she set everything down on the workbench.

Perfect!

It was really tough to make such little lines, but she’d figured out how to do it after a whole bunch of practice. ‘A whole bunch’ meaning pages and pages of trial swipes done just to make sure that one itty bitty line would look great. But it did, so the sleep hours devoted to drawing instead of sleeping had been worth it.

And, for not having a heck of a lot of time, her latest project had turned out a lot better than expected. Maybe because her inspiration was better than usual. Or maybe because she was better than usual!

That was definitely something Yang would say. But Yang wasn’t here right now, so Ruby got to say it! Er...think it.

It wasn’t very long ago that she’d kind of dreaded the days her big sister would leave for hunts, but this time had been different. Without Yang around, the house was actually...quiet. It was really weird, but also kind of nice. If anything, it gave Ruby the chance to work on her projects without her sister barging in and throwing random objects at her. Although she missed the candy - it wasn’t so bad when Yang would throw candy into the garage. That was the best! It just wasn’t as great when Yang threw things like lemons or pieces of cheesecake. It was really hard to catch cheesecake without smearing it everywhere...

Yang and Blake had left last night after dinner, but would hopefully be back soon. Using her novice interrogation skills (she was still learning from Blake), Ruby had managed to pry the hunt details from Yang like a hot knife slicing through warm butter. Or...well, basically it had been really easy to get Yang to talk. Like bribing a parrot with a carrot. Heh, that rhymed.

But Blake and Yang had picked up an ‘assassinate’ contract - the kind Blake loved to do. Ruby could see why - they sounded awesome! Basically, certain Grimm were so smart and deadly that they’d earn themselves a nickname - a cool one like ‘Deathdealer’ or ‘Ten Claws’ or ‘The Vanisher.’ The goal of an assassinate contract was to hunt down and destroy these overly powerful and aggressive Grimm. Wipe them off the face of Remnant!

This particular contract was for an Ursa who’d grown a bit too well known near the outskirts. His name was - and Ruby had thought Yang was teasing her until she saw the name with her own eyes - The Hugger. The Hugger! That didn’t sound like a deadly Ursa - it sounded like a character from some kids’ cartoon show!

Or just a cartoon show, because cartoons weren’t exclusively for kids. In fact, people of all ages could watch cartoons. Not just kids. And watching cartoons didn’t make someone childish. Adults could watch cartoons - cartoons with characters named The Hugger.

When Ruby asked how they’d know they’d found this super deadly bear hugger, Blake had almost too calmly answered that it’d be whichever one tried to hug Yang. It was funny because sometimes Blake could be really possessive about people getting too close to Yang, but didn’t seem to care much when it came to Grimm. If anything, it kind of sounded like Yang was going to be bait for this contract.

Tracking a Grimm through the forest at night though...that sounded like a lot of fun! Ruby wished she could’ve gone, but she also knew she was a little clumsy and wasn’t sure she could stay quiet for that long. She didn’t know how Yang could stay quiet for more than a few minutes at a time!

Because Blake and Yang had to find the Grimm before they could kill it, they had no idea when they’d get back. It could be next week; it could be in a few minutes - it all depended on how quickly they could track and dispose of the beast. Theoretically, they could be gone for years - stuck out in the forest, eating berries and tree bark to survive…but Yang had sounded pretty confident that they wouldn’t be gone for long. She’d even made a joke about how Ruby should make dinner for them, as if they’d want to eat undercooked noodles and raw vegetables after they’d been up all night.

Staying at home wasn’t so bad though. It meant Ruby didn’t have to eat tree bark and it had given her enough time to finish a spur of the moment idea she’d had. Unfortunately, being spur of the moment didn’t mean this project was quick and easy. It was actually the opposite of that - never-ending and horribly challenging. But she’d been determined! Determined enough that she’d skipped her last few practices - something she hadn’t done in months. Ordinarily, she’d feel guilty about skimping out on her training, but Yang said it was ok to take a little break after a hunt to rest and recuperate.

Sitting on the edge of her seat, Ruby leaned over the bench to look at what she’d just created - being extra careful not to touch it for the next few minutes while the paint dried. When a big yawn slipped out, she covered her mouth with one hand and blinked several times to knock the exhaustion away.

The little project looked pretty good, but the most important question was - would she like it?

When Ruby’s scroll buzzed beside her face, she jumped out of the seat in surprise and knocked her knee into the workbench with a loud bang.

It was Weiss though!

Hopping on one leg while rubbing her broken knee, Ruby grabbed the scroll and was immediately disappointed.

It wasn’t Weiss. It was a message from Yang - a picture.

Resuming her perch on the chair, Ruby opened the message and found a picture taken through a heavily wooded area. At first glance, it looked like nothing more than trees and bushes and leaves, which was totally something Yang would do. Send a photo and get Ruby all excited…

Ah! But there was something! If she squinted her eyes, she could barely make out a black shape in the distance. Zooming in on that spot, the caption of ‘huggin’ time!’ suddenly made a lot more sense. If that was a regular sized tree right next to the black blob, then that was a big Ursa. Big, big, big Ursa. They should’ve called him Jumbursa. No, that was lame. But not as lame as The Hugger!

She knew better than to respond right away, but her heart was pounding from just looking at the photo and knowing that Yang and Blake were, right at this moment, within shouting distance of the monster. While Ruby was safe at home, they were getting into a huge fight. It was weird...she felt like she should be out there with them, but she also knew that they could take care of each other.

Hearing two knocks on the front door, she instantly leaped to her feet and yelped when both of her knees crashed into the bench this time, nearly knocking everything over. Squealing, she managed to catch her newest prized possession, steadying it on its stand before dashing into the house and flying to the front door. Not even checking through the window to see who was outside, she threw the door open and grinned.

“Weiss!” she exclaimed, rushing forward and pulling Weiss into a hug that was returned with one arm.

One of these days Weiss would hug properly - which meant using both arms! A full circle! Although it probably didn’t help that she was currently carrying a brown paper bag in one hand...

“Hi, Ruby. I hope you don’t mind, but I brought you some food,” Weiss replied with a timid smile, holding out the bag.

“Why would I mind??” Ruby asked in confusion while accepting the bag.

“Oh. Well, that’s just - I didn’t actually think that you would - it’s a saying.”

Ruby couldn’t help but giggle at Weiss’ adorably flustered response, which only made Weiss look even more unsure of what to say next.

“How about - I brought you some food,” she finally concluded, her eyes searching Ruby’s to see if that had cleared up the miscommunication.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind if I accept the food I don’t mind that you brought me,” Ruby replied while unfurling the top of the bag. “You really didn’t have to - oh!! Spaghetti! That’s my favorite!”

The comment made Weiss smile while she followed Ruby into the kitchen. Setting the bag on the table, Ruby pulled out the containers and gave them a second and third glance. It didn’t take a master-level detective to figure out that they hadn’t come from any restaurant she’d ever been to.

“Did you make this?” she asked, which only made Weiss look embarrassed.

“Yes, I did.”

Homemade spaghetti! From Weiss! That was a gift Ruby really didn’t mind!

“You can cook?” she asked in complete amazement. “Wow, is there anything you can’t do?”

“Many things,” Weiss answered so sincerely that Ruby chuckled.

“Yeah right...tell me one thing you can’t do!”

Searching for an answer, Weiss looked into Ruby’s eyes while her mouth opened, but no words came out.

“See? You can’t even think of anything!” Ruby pointed out happily. Finally smiling, Weiss shook her head.

“I can’t catch butterflies.”

Bursting into laughter at the memory, Ruby quickly stuck the containers into the fridge so she could turn back to Weiss. “But you looked so cute trying!”

Ah - that word! It just slipped out. Could she use that word with Weiss? Yeah? No, she could play it off.

“I can’t cook at all,” she added quickly, changing the subject like a pro. “But I’m great at cutting things up! Yang calls me the Super Chopper.”

Waving her hands through the air in a chopping motion, she beamed when Weiss chuckled.

“Well that’s perfect - every chef needs a sous chef to prepare ingredients for them.”

“Then I can be your sous chef?”

“Absolutely.”

For a long time, the two of them shared a smile - probably the longest one they’d shared yet - before Weiss finally turned away and coughed into her hand.

“So...what have you been up to while Blake and Yang are away?”

“I’ve been keeping myself busy! Working on another project and enjoying the silence,” Ruby replied with another small laugh. “They might be back tonight though, so it’s not so bad.”

“You don’t mind having the house to yourself?”

“It’s awesome! I can do whatever I want!” After spinning in a quick, semblance-fueled circle, Ruby planted her feet and caught one of her petals out of the air when she came to an abrupt stop. “I used to get kinda lonely or bored when they left for a few days,” she admitted. “But it’s not so bad anymore.”

This time she’d actually been excited for her two roommates to leave. The front door had hardly closed before she’d messaged Weiss to see when she could come over. And then the front door had reopened because Yang had forgotten something, so she’d caught Ruby texting and gotten in a few lame jokes before actually leaving.

“But now when they leave we can hang out, right?” Ruby shot Weiss a hopeful look before quickly adding, “I mean, if you’re not busy.”

“I can always make time for you.”

The effortless reply made Ruby’s cheeks warm right up. It made her feel special when Weiss said things like that! Like she’d actually try to create time for Ruby, if it came to that. And the way Weiss said it was so simple, like of course she would do that - because why wouldn’t she go through the effort of doing something impossible just to hang out with Ruby?

“Great! Then I hope they go on a lotta hunts,” Ruby said before stifling a yawn and rubbing her eyes.

“Are you alright?” Weiss’ eyes were openly concerned as she asked the question, so Ruby rubbed her eyes again to remove some of the tiredness Weiss must be seeing - only for another yawn to slip out.

“Yeahhh just a little tired!” she said after her yawn had passed. Staying up all night tended to do that to a person.

“Did you not sleep well? Is it your wrist? Did you take anything for it?”

Giggling at all the questions, Ruby shook her head. It was sweet how Weiss fretted over something so simple, but the worry was unnecessary.

“Naw, just stayed up too late!”

The answer was made of fudge. Technically Ruby had stayed up until this moment - which was quite late (in her opinion).

“Do you want to get some sleep? I could always come back later -”

“No, it’s ok! I’m feeling great!” Ruby yelped before forcing a wide grin.

Weiss couldn’t leave yet - she’d just gotten here! Plus, Ruby felt fine! Sure, she was tired and had a bit of a headache, but it was just one of those vague tired headaches - like when your head is squishing your brain a little too hard. Being too tired must make your skull shrink...either that or makes your brain bigger!

She could always take a nap later, but right now she had something for Weiss.

“Oh! I have something to show you!”

Even though she’d been thinking about it since Weiss had knocked on the door, Ruby tried to make it sound like she’d just remembered it. That way it would seem like no big deal - because it wasn’t really. It was just…a normal deal.

Waving Weiss after her, Ruby made her way back into the garage, where she’d spent practically all of her time since their visit to the Dust factory. Which had been amazing and so much cooler than Ruby had ever expected. And so, so thoughtful – like, wow, Weiss had really gone out of her way to make sure they had a great time.

Because Weiss had done something so nice for them, Ruby wanted to give Weiss something nice in return. So she’d been hard at work! That meant she’d stayed up a little later than she should have - or hadn’t slept at all - but it was worth it! Or it would be worth it if Weiss liked what Ruby had created - which was still resting on top of the workbench where she’d left it. By now the paint would be dry, so she didn’t hesitate reaching over to pick it up and hold it out to Weiss.

It was a little nerve-wracking! Weiss was so amazing and obviously had enough money to buy anything she wanted, so the idea of giving her a gift was kind of stressful...stressful enough to make Ruby’s heart beat really, really fast.

“What do you think?” she asked, dropping the tiny object into Weiss’ hand.

“Wow...Ruby, this is spectacular…” Weiss whispered while holding the shiny object carefully between her thumb and forefinger, rotating it gently so it caught the light in the garage just right.

It was just a little ring, but Ruby had made it from scratch!

The band had been the easiest part - repurposing a nice dark grey metal that had welded together smoothly. Along the outer surface, Ruby had painted a single vine of thorns, but the thorns were in the same shade of white-blue as Weiss’ glyphs. Against the dark grey metal, they popped way better than red or black would have.

“You made the entire thing, I’m guessing?”

“Uh, yeah. The band is from an old sword, and I just finished the painting before you got here,” Ruby answered, wringing her hands while Weiss continued to look over the ring.

“It’s beautiful,” Weiss finally said, the reply making Ruby grin while her heart thundered in her chest.

“I’m glad you like it! Because...uh...well, I made it for you.”

Running one hand through her hair, a nervous smiled tugged at her lips when light blue eyes shot up to hers.

“I can change the design if you want,” she added when Weiss said nothing in response. “I’ve just been drawing thorns everywhere since naming my glove. Yang keeps making jokes about how ‘prickly’ I’ve been.” Ruby rolled her eyes at the lame joke. “But I wanted to give you something as a ‘thank you’ for showing us around your family’s factory. It was really fun!”

From the way Weiss was staring, she was at a loss for words. It was only when Ruby shuffled her feet uncomfortably at the silence that Weiss opened her mouth to speak.

“You didn’t have to do this…”

“I know! I wanted to. I had fun making it, too.”

When Weiss’ eyes fell back to the ring in her hands and searched the inside of the band, Ruby held her breath. Spinning it in a slow circle while examining it closely, Weiss eventually turned it back over, and Ruby couldn’t help but grin.

She might have taken a page out of the book of the person who’d worked on Myrtenaster and hidden a word on the interior where the two pieces seamed together. It had taken hours of practice before she’d gotten good enough to make the tiny letters somewhat legible, but she’d eventually figured it out. And apparently she’d done a good enough job that Weiss couldn’t see it - score one for Ruby Rose!

“I don’t know what to say…” Weiss whispered towards the ring in her hands before looking up and meeting Ruby’s eyes. “Thank you. This might be one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me...”

“I’m really glad you like it! Here I was all worried…” Ruby let out a small chuckle at how silly her fears seemed now.

“I love it, Ruby.”

Weiss looked directly into Ruby’s eyes as she said the words, making Ruby’s heart do a silly little double beat that felt just as weird as it sounded. She’d hoped that Weiss would like it. Loving it was way better.

“But don’t feel like you’ve gotta wear it or anything!” Ruby hurried out before Weiss could feel any pressure to do so. “You can always put it in a drawer or something - I won’t be upset!”

Biting her lip, Weiss thought about the words for several seconds before she slipped the ring onto her finger and gently wiggled it around.

“It fits perfectly,” she remarked, her brow furrowing in confusion. “How did you know my ring size?”

“Oh, you know, I have this super scientific way of figuring out someone’s ring size,” Ruby bolstered before letting out a giggle. “It’s called ‘Ruby’s Art of Guessing!’”

Her laughter made Weiss chuckle softly along with her.

“But I figured your hands are, uh, more delicate than mine, so I used my ring and then made yours a bit smaller!” she explained, briefly holding up the ring around her neck to prove her point. “Oh, and the best part!” Moving around Weiss, Ruby grabbed Thorn from his stand and pulled the glove over her hand. “Ok - give me a high five!”

Curious, Weiss held up her hand and reached towards Thorn. The moment the ring and glove were in close enough proximity, the thorns painted on each illuminated - the vibrant ice-blue popping out against the dark gray backgrounds.

“Luminescent paint!” Ruby exclaimed, clasping her hand around Weiss’ so the heightened color wouldn’t fade away. “Isn’t it cool? It’s purely cosmetic, but ya know, totally worth it.”

“That’s...amazing…” Weiss replied softly, intertwining her fingers with Ruby’s while staring at the thorns glowing brightly.

Ruby watched Weiss’ reaction with a grin, their hands still locked together. She’d had to repaint Thorn since she hadn’t used the same paint the first time around, but it was worth it. Now she and Weiss had a cool friend thing! If they went on more hunts together, people could give them a cool nickname - like The Glowing Thorns or The White Thorns. Or they could be officially lame and go with The Huggers. Ha. Grimm beware…

Still undecided on a nickname, Ruby’s attention flitted back to Weiss when she suddenly slipped her hand away and rubbed both hands up and down her arms with a barely noticeable shiver.

“Are you cold?” Ruby immediately asked.

“Um...just a little.”

“It gets cold out here. Come on - I’ll get you something warm to wear!”

“It’s really -”

“No no, don’t say it’s ok!” Ruby interrupted while heading towards the door to the house. Turning around, she grinned at the perplexed expression on Weiss’ face. “You’re cold, so I’m getting you a jacket or sweater or something! You can either wait here or come with me!”

Taken aback, Weiss blinked several times before finally nodding her head.

“Then lead the way.”

Chuckling at Weiss’ acquiescence, Ruby walked inside - tugging Thorn off her hand and tossing him onto the kitchen table while they walked by it. Making it to her room, she gently kicked open the door with one foot and gestured towards her bed.

“You can sit if you want,” she offered, before heading to the closet to find some warmer clothing to lend her friend.

If she had to guess, Weiss would like something super trendy and fashionable. In other words, nothing Ruby owned. But she couldn’t let Weiss be cold! There had to be something that would kinda...maybe...sorta…well, a great lesson to be learned right now was that Weiss had a different taste in fashion than Ruby did. So...her favorite one would have to do!

Grabbing the red and black jacket and spinning around – her headache giving a slight twinge of complaint as she did so - Ruby found Weiss perched on the very edge of the bed like she didn't know how to sit there. Her back was super straight, her hands were in her lap, and her hair draped over one shoulder. Maybe she felt uncomfortable, but she looked like a princess.

“Here you go!” Holding up the jacket, Ruby waited for Weiss to stand and then helped her into the sleeves. It was a little big on her - the sleeves too long and the shoulders too big - but it was kind of cute the way it enveloped her.

Ah! That word again! At least Ruby hadn’t said it out loud this time. Wait - she hadn’t said it out loud the first time...had she?

“Sorry, it probably smells like roses,” she apologized when she noticed Weiss lower her nose towards the collar. “I can never get the smell out of my stuff! It’s like permanent perfume. Permafume.”

Letting out a small scoff of amusement, Weiss gave Ruby one of the best smiles she’d received yet.

“Don't be sorry. I love the smell.”

The words made Ruby’s cheeks pleasantly warm while Weiss turned her gaze down to the cuffs of the jacket.

If Weiss loved the smell of roses, that was great! For Ruby. Probably not for people who didn’t always smell like roses.

“At least it beats smelling like I just jumped out of a burning building like Yang does!” Ruby joked at her sister’s expense, earning another surprised laugh from Weiss.

“If I’m not mistaken, Blake loves that smell,” Weiss replied with a smirk.

“Oh yeah. Something about how it smells like ‘home.’” Laughing a little, Ruby shook her head. “Those two are so weird.”

“At least they have each other.”

“That’s right! Every weirdo must have a matching weirdo, right?”

“You’re right,” Weiss agreed, smiling back at Ruby. Again their eyes stayed locked for a few seconds before Weiss abruptly turned away in favor of staring at the ground.

Maybe Ruby wasn’t the best at social interactions, but she was more interesting than the ground, right? Seriously, the carpet was just carpet. It was a kinda gray, kinda blue color that probably had a weird name like ‘afternoon sky’ or ‘inky clay.’ The little whatchamacallits - the fabric part that stuck up - were super soft though. They felt really nice when she wasn’t wearing any socks! There was also a small patch hidden underneath the bed that had gotten an itsy bit burned by complete accident. Yang had wondered why Ruby decided to rearrange her room so suddenly...

Ok, maybe the carpet was kind of interesting - but not as interesting as she was!

Determined not to be outdone by the flooring, Ruby grabbed the desk chair and spun it around so she could sit in front of Weiss.

“Did you get to hang out with your sister while she was here?” she asked, happily noting that Weiss was subconsciously playing with the newly appointed ring on her finger, but the question made her let go and return her attention to Ruby.

“Yes, we had dinner before she returned to Atlas.”

“I hope you had fun!”

“It was...great,” Weiss answered with a thoughtful nod and small smile. “I wasn’t expecting to see her, so that was a nice surprise.”

“Yeah! For me too!” Ruby replied. “I mean, I didn’t even know you had a sister, so that was the surprise. And the nice part was, um...her. She seems super nice!”

Nice, and pretty, and kind of stern. A bit intimidating, actually.

“She is. She supported me growing up...I owe her a great deal.”

“Aren’t older sisters the best?” Ruby asked with a smile that Weiss returned.

“They are. You happen to have a great one, yourself.”

“I do! Yang’s awesome.”

“She is…” Weiss replied softly. “She cares so much about you too.”

Growing up, Ruby had never questioned her sister’s love for her. It was always her and Yang against the world - whether it was the actual world or some pretend universe they made up.

“I know she does. With my injuries and stuff, she really went out of the way to help me get better. One day I want to make it up to her! I have no idea how, but I’ll figure somethin’ out.”

Ruby knew that sacrifices had been made in order to help her recover. Of course, with the way Yang was, she’d never mention them. So Ruby had no idea what they were, but she knew they must be there. No one devoted a year of their life to helping another person go through rehab without missing out on something for themselves.

“Well, if you ever figure that out, let me know. I’m still trying to make things up to her, myself,” Weiss added with a self-depreciating shake of her head that made Ruby frown.

“Is she still being mean to you?”

Yang had said that she’d try to be kinder to Weiss…but Ruby would talk to her sister again if she needed to.

“Actually, she’s been a bit more...tolerant...recently. But something is still really...broken between us.” Pausing, Weiss sighed and shook her head. “I know I hurt her, but I want to make it up to her. I have to. We used to be so close.”

“I’m sure she’ll give you another chance! She has no reason not to when you’re here making an effort!”

“Well, I think I’ve finally learned that running away fixes nothing. It only leaves the wounds to fester…” Brow furrowing, Weiss was silent for some time before sighing and meeting Ruby’s gaze with mournful eyes. “It was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop regretting it, but hopefully, I can find a way to overcome it.”

The biggest mistake she’d ever made? What was it? The biggest mistake Ruby ever made had landed her in the hospital with some pretty serious boo-boos and quite a few missing memories. But that seemed like a completely different type of mistake. The way Weiss looked right now made it seem like she’d done something horrible. But, to Ruby, it seemed impossible that Weiss was capable of anything that bad.

Maybe it was kind of bad, or maybe Weiss was just really hard on herself. Whichever it was, Ruby didn’t care. What she cared about was how sad Weiss looked right now.

“I’m sure you’ll overcome it,” Ruby replied confidently, leaning forward and nearly reaching over to grab one of Weiss’ hands before stopping and tugging on her necklace instead. “And I’m sure you had a good reason to leave!”

“But she gave me the chance to come back. I just...I couldn’t do it…”

“But you did! You did do it! Unless...are you a hologram??” Reaching out, Ruby lightly poked Weiss in the shoulder. “No, you’re real! And you’re in Vale, so you did come back!”

“It took me so long though -”

“So? What matters is that you did it,” Ruby said. “You’ve gotta let go of how long it took, Weiss. You’re here now, and that’s what matters. It’s like my mom used to say -” Scrunching up her face, she searched for the exact wording, so she didn’t mess this up. “Mistakes don’t define you - your reactions to them do.”

When Weiss stared at her thoughtfully, Ruby kept talking.

“Basically, you made a mistake, but did it make you a better person in the end?”

“I...don’t know. I hope so.”

Weiss was clearly unconvinced, so Ruby decided it was time to do some ultra convincing.

“Like, look at this!” she said, holding out her wrist so Weiss could see the scar running all the way across it on both sides. “Clearly, a mistake was made. But I’m not going to be Ruby Rose - injured girl, forever. I train really hard every day so that I won’t be that person.”

After briefly glancing at Ruby’s wrist, Weiss turned away and bit her bottom lip in thought.

“We get to choose our reactions to our problems,” Ruby continued. “That’s the great thing about life! Maybe it took you a long time, but you chose to come back, Weiss. Running away can’t define you anymore, because that’s not how the story ends.”

While Ruby grinned at her hopefully-successful argument, Weiss stared for a long, long time while processing the information. It looked like she was going to disagree, but eventually, with a partial smile, she seemed to concede - for now.

“How did you become so...strong?”

“I’m not though!” Ruby answered with a laugh, holding up her left hand and wiggling her fingers. Without Thorn, her left hand was still injured - and she was beginning to realize that her full strength might never come back. Fortunately, she’d found a way to compensate for her weaknesses and then some.

However, Weiss shook her head at the response.

“You are,” she insisted. “You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. I still don’t know how...how did you work your way back so quickly from your injuries? They were so serious...from what you’ve told me. And with your memories...it must’ve been so difficult.”

“Yeah, I guess it was...the beginning especially, but I had a lot of help!”

“Yang?”

Ruby nodded.

“Yang and Blake encouraged me, and I tried to keep my spirits up. My mom helped too - it felt like she was trying to talk to me all the time, reminding me not to give up. Oh, and can’t forget my secret source of power!”

Looking in both directions like she was about to disclose top secret information, it was only when she found the coast was clear that she leaned forward and held her necklace up in between them.

“Tada!” she exclaimed. It was supposed to be a big reveal, but Weiss only looked confused - glancing between the ring and Ruby several times.

“Your...ring?”

“It’s not just a ring!” Ruby stated matter-of-factly, spinning the necklace around so she could fumble with the clasp. “It’s also filled with magical powers!”

Since she hardly ever took it off, she was less than skillful in getting the itty bitty fastener to open, but after several failed attempts she was finally successful. Letting the necklace fall into one hand, she made a show of slumping her shoulders at the same time.

“Oh...yeah...I feel weaker already…” she tried to say in a tired voice while sliding the ring off of the chain and holding it out to Weiss. “You can feel it – it’s like there’s an invisible power in this ring.”

Even though Ruby was holding the ring in between them, Weiss seemed extremely hesitant to take it.

“Don’t worry, it’s not one of those buzz rings or anything,” Ruby assured her. Finally convinced, Weiss held out her hand, and Ruby dropped the ring into it. Curling her fingers around the small band, Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Can you feel it?” Ruby asked in a whisper, watching Weiss intently. When Weiss opened her eyes, crystal blue seemed to be looking deep into Ruby’s heart.

“It’s important to you,” Weiss remarked softly, uncurling her fingers and looking down into the palm of her hand.

“Yup!”

With a small smile, Weiss gave the ring one last glance before extending it back to Ruby.

“I guess the answer is that I had a lot of people looking out for me,” Ruby explained while accepting the ring and sliding it back onto its chain. “Yang, Blake, my mom, and the one thing from my past that feels...powerful in a way. They all kept me going.”

Stringing the necklace around her neck, she fumbled with the clasp several times before giving up and holding it out to Weiss.

“Can you help me? I haven’t taken this off in months, so I kinda suck at putting it back on.”

Nodding, Weiss took both ends of the necklace in her hands while Ruby turned around. Carefully lowering the chain, Weiss gently fastened it in place - drawing a round of goosebumps when her fingers lightly grazed the back of Ruby’s neck. When Ruby turned around, Weiss moved the ring so it was sitting perfectly in front - holding onto it for a few seconds longer while staring at it intently.

“Who’s it from?” she asked.

The question made Ruby’s brow burrow.

“I’m actually not sure,” she answered truthfully.

“You’ve never asked?”

“Naw...Blake said she’d tell me, but…” Ruby shrugged one shoulder and gave Weiss a small smile. “Is it important where it came from? Or that when things sucked, it made me feel better?”

Weiss opened her mouth, but said nothing for a long time until finally muttering, “I guess...that it made you feel better…”

“But I have a sneaky hunch it’s from my partner,” Ruby admitted. The words made Weiss’ eyes widen in surprise.

“Your partner?”

“Yeah, I know we had a fourth teammate - every team at Beacon has four,” Ruby explained, rubbing her forehead as sleep deprivation continued to weigh on her, pressing behind her eyes in a super annoying way. “But Yang hasn’t told me much about her, and I haven’t asked. There was just...so much else to focus on. I don’t know. All I know is that whoever she was, she was really cool.”

The revelation seemed to catch Weiss completely by surprise.

“How do you know that?”

“That’s one of the only things Yang told me!” Ruby explained, briefly closing her eyes while trying to recall Yang’s words around the stupid, growing headache. “She said…that our teammate was one of the most talented fighters she’d ever seen. And was super smart - like the brains of the whole operation.”

“She said that?”

Ruby nodded. “Yup! ‘We got the smartest in school,’ she said.”

“But you never wanted to know who it was?”

“Of course I wanted to know! I still do. There were so many times I almost looked it up myself...because I’d love to meet her. She sounds amazing, but…” her words trailed off as a familiar twinge pulled at her heart.

It was a decision she’d made a long time ago and stuck with to this day.

“But what?” Weiss prodded, her eyes searching Ruby’s for whatever was going to come next.

“But she’s not here, is she?” Ruby finally answered, temporarily drawn back to the times when she hadn’t had enough energy for anything - when getting out of bed might be the best thing she could accomplish in a day. “If I wanted to get better, I couldn’t dwell on the past. So I decided to focus on the here and now. Maybe one day I’ll be lucky enough to meet her if...I mean...if she’s still...”

They’d reached the root of the matter - something she was too scared to ask, yet quietly desperate to know. But if she could share this worry to anyone, it was Weiss.

“If she’s...still alive, you know?”

Weiss’ response was one of pure shock. For a second, her mouth hung slightly open with no sound coming out before finally speaking.

“But what makes you think she’s not?”

Raising one hand to clutch the ring around her neck, Ruby shook her head – and paid for it with another pang in her forehead, this one sharper than the last.

There were a lot of reasons why she’d avoided her past for such a long time. It was confusing. It was scary. It made her feel vulnerable and small.

And it would’ve been impossible to move on if she remained stuck in the past. Being able to let go and move on had been important. But, beyond all of those things, something was lurking in the fog that was really painful. Whenever she thought about it, her chest tightened with this ache that only went away through distraction. There was something surrounding her partner that hurt, even with no memories of who they were.

It was the part of her past that eluded her most. Some days she wanted the answers but was terrified to know them. The way Blake and Yang dodged around the subject only made her more nervous to know what the truth might be. So she’d avoided the topic altogether - content to deal with more important matters and live in blissful ignorance. One day she’d probably figure everything out, but she wasn’t in any hurry for that day to arrive.

“I’ve always felt like someone or something important to me was missing,” Ruby tried to explain. “It’s kinda difficult to describe, but...it must be her, right?”

“But to think she died -?”

“It’s either that or she left and has no interest in speaking to me, or us.” Either of those answers kind of sucked - enough to bring tears to her eyes as a sense of loss grew in her chest. Sniffing once, she tried to play it off by rubbing her tired eyes.

This was part of the reason why she avoided thinking about the wall of fog sealing her off from those memories. It made her way too emotional!

“I’m pretty sure the ring is hers,” she whispered, briefly scrunching her eyes closed when another quick jab of pain appeared over her left eye. “That’s why it’s so powerful,” she continued, opening her eyes and shaking off the exhaustion. “It’s a huntress’ ring. And that’s why I always kept it near me. Honor her memories even if I don’t have them, ya know?”

Picking up the ring again, Ruby looked down at it the best she could while it was still hanging around her neck.

“Maybe she’s not in my life anymore, but she helped me get through some rough times without even being here. If I ever get to meet her...and I hope I do, you know? I hope I’m wrong. But if I ever get to meet her, I want to thank her for that. For leaving me with something that helped me through.”

Smiling, Ruby looked up only to find that Weiss was staring back with tears growing in her eyes.

“Weiss?” Ruby yelped in concern, quickly moving over to the bed and sitting by Weiss’ side. “Are you ok? What’s wrong??”

“I’m -” Choking up, Weiss stopped and shook her head. “I’m sorry. Just...hearing you say that…I didn’t realize...”

“Hey, it’s ok.” Consoling Weiss, Ruby made sure to smile to prove that she was just fine. Because she was. This was something she’d come to terms with a while ago. “It’s just one of those things, you know? That’s why I try not to think about it too much!”

“Yes, but…”

When Weiss’ lip quivered, Ruby reached out and pulled her into a hug that again made her stiffen. Only this time she eventually gave in and returned the hug in full, wrapping both arms around Ruby and pulling her closer.

“I’m sorry,” Weiss murmured, burying her face into Ruby’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry…”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about,” Ruby replied softly, rubbing one hand up and down Weiss’ back. “I’m probably just overthinking it anyway. Maybe she decided to go off on her own after school and no one’s heard from her since. Maybe we were never that close. Or maybe I bought the ring for myself!”

Her sense of loss could come from not having access to any of those memories, not over some specific person or thing. The ring might only symbolize the years she’d lost - a tiny, pretty reminder that she could carry with her everywhere.

Maybe she should consider that her story might be a little sad to people who were hearing it for the first time. Just because she’d accepted what had happened to her didn’t mean that others were on the same page as her. But it was really sweet that Weiss was so sympathetic!

Savoring the hug, Ruby gave Weiss a gentle squeeze to try to comfort her even more. Now, this was a good hug. Firm yet comfortable. Open and accepting. This was how a hug was supposed to be.

It was only a few more moments before Weiss pulled back and looked at Ruby for what felt like a long time - her hands resting softly on Ruby’s knees. If Ruby could look into Weiss’ mind right now, she could probably see the wheels turning full speed - coming up with an answer to some question Ruby had never asked.

The next second, Weiss abruptly stood up.

“Ruby, I need to tell you something,” she said, immediately pacing back and forth in front of the bed.

The sight made Ruby feel a strange twinge of anticipation - like something really significant was about to be revealed. If she was right, that would be amazing. The possibility of getting another glimpse into Weiss’ thoughts made her both hopeful and excited at the same time.

“I’m listening,” Ruby said, standing up as well. The moment she did so, there was another prick of pain in her temple that caused her to temporarily close her eyes and wait for the feeling to pass, but it only slightly went away this time. Thankfully, Weiss hadn’t noticed, but Ruby might need to get some sleep soon…

“There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you, but I wasn’t sure how you’d respond -” Weiss was saying quickly, pacing the small room and not daring to glance Ruby’s way. “I know it took me a long time to summon the courage, but I hope that telling you now counts for something. Because I need you to know.”

Standing in the middle of the room, Ruby remained as motionless as possible. She didn’t want to move because the room had kind of started to spin. The tired tension in her forehead was getting a little harder to ignore, and she was growing increasingly light-headed the longer she watched Weiss walk back and forth, back and forth.

Something didn’t feel right.

“I know you’ve wondered how Yang and I know each other. From school, but -”

Weiss’ words were beginning to fade away as a dull roar crept into Ruby’s ears, and a black spot appeared in the center of her vision. She blinked, but it didn’t go away - it only got bigger. Probably not a good sign.

“Weiss…” she said, her voice sounding hazy and far away. “I don’t feel so good…”

“Ruby? Ruby!”

The last thing she saw were light blue eyes headed her way.

#RWBY #White Rose #Weiss Schnee #Ruby Rose #what defines us

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