#the way Yang just sounds so defeated when they find her

[honeyby]

THE TACKLE HUG

RUBY CONFIRMING THEY ABSOLUTELY WOULD’VE GONE IN AFTER HER

YANG BEING UPSET THAT THEY FELL BECAUSE SHE KNOWS WHAT THAT MEANS

POOR WEISS TRYING TO NOT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED

THE GIRLS ARE BACK TOGETHER

[lovelynim]

Failing successfully

Honkai: Star Rail - Welt & Caelus

A/N: Second comm to no other than the magnificent @otomiyaa herself!! [crowd cheering noises]. Thanks for being so patient and for allowing me to project dad behavior onto Welt. I hope you like it!!!

Summary: March 7th's plans are always perfect, aren't they? Even if they fail, you can be sure that the outcome won't let you down!

Word count: 1912 words

“Hmmm,” March 7th looked over the little window in the door that led to the Parlor Car. Welt was still sitting in one of the couches, reading or doing something on his phone. “Target spotted,” she chirped excitedly, quickly getting her face away from the window to avoid getting caught.

The girl turned back to look at her partners in crime - Dan Heng, who wasn’t as willingly as her, and Caelus, the new guy who seemed thrilled with their plan. “Ready?” She asked, looking towards the latter. He nodded. Dan Heng sighed. “Then let’s go!”

It wasn’t a complex, heavily prepared plan. Some wouldn’t even refer to it as a plan, in fact. Maybe “prank” would be a better keyword for this whole course of action.

It has been over a week since Caelus boarded de Astral Express and, so far, everything was flowing pretty smoothly. The crew was nice, everyone worked in their own little way to make sure he felt welcomed; there was this hot, dark-haired guy aboard, and Caelus definitely wanted to get closer to him; and even the food was great, except for that ungodly espresso that the navigator made every morning.

But through the past few days, one question had been sitting on top of his head: why was mr. Yang always so serious?

He brought it up with Dan Heng, Himeko and even Pom-Pom, but the simple answers didn’t exactly satisfy his curiosity. Then, Caelus brought it up with March 7th one day, in one of their daily gossip bonding sessions, and that was the moment when she proposed the plan they were currently putting up to practice.

Tested with Dan Heng (against his will) and proved, everyone had a fun side. March knew it. They just needed to find it.

“But what if it goes wrong?” Dan Heng complained, trying to be the voice of reason of the trio - all in vain. Of course there was a plan B and even a C one, March explained while sounding convincing enough, bringing the three of them back to the present.

The Parlor Car’s door opened swiftly, allowing Caelus to walk through while March 7th and Dan Heng watched from the other car. So far, everything was going according to the plan. One step after the other, Caelus made it past Pom-Pom, Himeko and, at the other side of the car, he met Welt.

As always, mr. Yang wasn’t just sitting idly in one of the comfortable couches. Welt seemed to be reading something in his phone - moving the screen closer and further from his face as his eyes worked to read each of the tiny letters. Caelus smiled slightly at that mannerism - so like mr. Yang, he thought.

Still, he needed to focus. He wasn’t there to help Welt change his group chat’s icon or wallpaper. He had a mission. Right.

“Hm? Caelus?” Welt muttered, gently but lacking any sort of emotion. He moved his head up from the phone, looking at the younger guy approaching him with a puzzled face. “Can I help you?”

Caelus froze in the spot. He shouldn’t be noticed so soon, he remembered. “A-ah,” he shook his head. No, it wasn’t time to abort the mission yet - he could still make it, yes! “Hello, mr. Yang!” Caelus chirped, waving his hand.

Not thinking twice, Caelus sat himself a couple inches away from Welt. “What are you doing?” He smiled, swinging his legs and tilting his head, trying to peek at Welt's phone.

The latter sighed, his eyes shifting back to the screen. “I was reading some article about Herta’s Station's latest studies, but these annoying IPC ads keep popping up…” Welt sighed, sounding almost defeated. The frown was just the excuse Caelus needed, which made him nearly beam with excitement.

“Ah, don't be sad, mr. Yang!”

“Huh? But I'm not-”

“Here, I know a way to help you! It's 100% effective!” Caelus’s smile widened, so much excitement that It almost made him sound creepy. “Do you want to try it?” He leaned a bit towards the older man, his eyes nearly sparkling.

Welt couldn’t help but be a weirded out by Caelus’s straight forwardness. With a nervous chuckle, he fixed his position, coughing to clean his throat. “I… suppose so, yes. We can try it out,” Welt nodded, remembering Himeko’s words that they should encourage the “kids”.

Caelus gasped, turning around as he got himself in position. “Ok ok,” Caelus held out his hands in front of his chest, his fingers twitching slightly, ready to strike. Welt’s eyes widened a bit.

“Caelus, wait a secon- AH!”

A pair of hands just made contact with Welt’s knee and side and the sound that came from his lips was enough to freeze both him and Caelus on the spot. 

“Are… you ticklish, mr. Yang?” Caelus chirped, daring to squeeze both spots again and jumping along with Welt when he reacted with a sudden jolt, a restrained chuckle held back in his throat.

“C-Caelus,” Welt groaned, an awkward, crooked smile in his face as he tugged at Caelus’s wrist, trying to dislodge his hand from his side. “What a-are you doing?” His breath hitched, looking at the guy with the corner of his eyes.

Caelus blinked, confused. Right, he should have a proper explanation for that. “A-ahm,” however, he didn’t. “Trying t-to… cheer… you… up?” He smiled, his hand slowly leaving Welt’s knee, but when he tried to pull the other back, Caelus realized that Welt continued to hold him by his wrist. “I see,” Welt nodded, chuckling again - but more scarier this time. Yeah, this was the time to run.

Yanking his hand as hard as he could, Caelus managed to free himself and quickly dashed back towards the Passengers' Car. Through the little window in the door, he could see March 7th’s expression turn towards a panicked one as she spoke something with Dan Heng. 

“O-open the door!” He cried, forcing his legs to their limit. Caelus didn’t dare to look back - that expression on Welt’s face told him everything he needed to know, including the fact that if he didn’t escape, he was done for. 

But sending all his hope down the drain, Caelus watched as both March and Dan Heng’s figures left the other side of the door. He was… betrayed. Those two!! Confirming his suspicions, the door didn’t move when Caelus tried to open it, not in the slightest

That was it, the end of his journey.

Caelus turned around, watching in horror as Welt slowly approached him, step by step. Despite his cries and the scene that just happened, both Himeko and Pom-Pom were seemingly unbothered. So cold!

“M-mr. Yang, wait a moment!” Caelus pleaded one last time, pressing himself against the locked door, his hands desperately waving in front of his chest. “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean t- WAHH!!”

An embarrassingly loud squeal escaped his lips when Welt reached him, pushing the back of his knee with his cane and forcing Caelus onto the ground. There, in the corner of the Astral Express’s parlor car, Caelus met his demise.

Or something like that.

Skillful and experienced hands quickly rendered him helpless, pinning one of his arms above his head while the other kneaded into his side. Caelus kicked his legs and planted his heels against the floor, but all for naught. Welt, softly smiling - or smirking, if you will - at him, tilted his head before speaking out loud again.

“This method is, indeed, effective, isn’t it?” He muttered, barely audible over Caelus’s panicked giggles, as he squeezed the guy’s waist with his thumb, rubbing small circles against some patches of bare skin that started showing once his shirt was railed up.

Swatting his free hand towards Welt’s, Caelus thrashed as much as he was allowed to. He tried to pull his arm down and roll away from the tickling that crept up his sides, but nothing seemed to work. “M-mr. Yang! AHAHah, I-I’m sohohorry! Plehehease!!” That traitor, Caelus thought while laughing his head off, March 7th would surely pay for leaving him like this. “I-it’s Mahaharch’s fahAHAhault!”

Welt chuckled, shaking his head as he prodded at Caelus ribs, already having figured this would be something she would encourage. He could deal with her later, though, right now Caelus was the one deserving some attention.

“Is that so?” Welt hummed, freeing Caelus’s arm, but, in exchange, freeing his other hand to tickle the guy’s torso, clawing at his tummy and lower sides, “then why didn’t I see her, hm? Are you trying to blame her instead, Caelus?”

“N-no! It’s noHOHoht that, I swehehear!” Caelus squealed, holding onto both Welt’s wrists to try to stop them from climbing up his sides again. “It was h-heheher ideahaha!! AhaHAHAh!!” Caelus could feel his eyes turning a little watery and his cheeks hurting from smiling, but Welt didn’t hesitate for a single second.

“So you two were working together,” he pointed out, wiggling his fingers over Caelus’s ribs, playing the both sides of his ribcage as some sort of piano - a loud and high pitched one, as a matter of fact.  “Good thing you are getting along, but I’d rather if you were combining your efforts to do something else other than teasing me,” Welt smiled. Despite the soft, gentle tone that carried his words, it was clear he wasn’t going easy on Caelus.

“So, once I’m done with you, I’ll go hard a word with her. Fair enough, right?”

“W-wAHAhahait!” Caelus squeaked like a toy, his elbows pressing against his torso as hard as they could when Welt threatened to go for his underarms. Caelus’s cheeks wore a beet-red tone and his eyes nearly popped up when he felt the incoming threat. He was just an accomplice, a tool in the hand of an evil mastermind. Shouldn’t he be spared?!

No. At least, not in Welt’s view of the situation.

Fingers pressed into Caelus’s ribs, aiming for the higher ones, just below his armpits. It tickled a lot. Welt barely tweaked his fingers and a loud, desperate laugh already broke past his lips. He pressed his head back into the soft carpet and kicked his feet, throwing his legs up before hitting the ground with his heels.

Caelus tried to roll into his side, hugging his poor, ticklish body in a vain attempt of protecting it from the merciless tickling. “M-mr. YahAHAHang, plehEHEHease!! I’m sohOHOHOrry!!” He cried out, feeling his head a little light thanks to the lack of air. 

And just like it started, it was over. The pressure on his body suddenly was gone and, when he realized it, Welt had lifted his fingers. “Alright, I think that should be enough for you,” Welt smiled, getting into one of his knees as he tried to give Caelus some room to recover himself.

“I- hahah, ahh… that w-was a lohot, heh,” the guy wheezed, little tears partially blurring his vision. Caelus looked up in silence as Welt stood back up and reached his hand out to him. “Thanks, mr, Yang,” he smiled shyly as he was pulled back into his feet as well.

“You seem to have had fun,” Welt pointed out, a proud, but small, smirk on his lips. “Now, if you excuse me, I have something to settle with your partner in crime.”

Caelus nodded, watching Welt walk through the nearby door and into the passengers’ car. He sighed.

Mental note: do not mess with mr. Yang. Ever!! 

[multeasers]

@cuckoo-among-beasts // continued from here

A-Qing hums quietly as she works, careful to not pull at his hair more than she needs to. She’s not quite sure she’s actually pulling it up in any particular style, she’s always just done hers up any way she so pleased, but Sang-gege doesn’t seem to mind. He looks as if he’s in his own little world, for what it’s worth, though she doesn’t mind that either; she’s just glad he’s letting her do anything to it.

“Your Clan has a specific way of doing hair.” She comments, the statement coming to her as she recalls the hairdo. She’s been here with the Qinghe Nie, in Huaisang’s care, for a little while now, and plenty of the disciples (and Sang-gege himself!) sport it every day.

“I can’t do all that,” she continues on, sounding only slightly defeated, “you’d have to teach me.”

And that’s all there is to say, really. It’s her way of asking for a lesson without actually asking—she’s always had such a knack for that, especially when she makes it obvious. Or, at least, obvious to herself.

Still though...even if Sang-gege doesn’t take the hint, she won’t be bothered. She’s just happy to play with his hair; it reminds her of the times Daozhang had let her do the same to his, had let her brush it and comb it and run her fingers all through it. Xue Yang had never allowed her to come close enough for something like that, but there’d been a time where she nearly got him to agree to it. If she’d tried for longer...

Not much reason to think it’d have worked, she sighs out loud, though she keeps these thoughts to herself. She hasn’t told Huaisang about any of that business yet, she just can’t find a good time. Soon, maybe, but not just yet.

“This ain’t so bad, though. Hopefully.”

[bridgyrose]

Cinder finds an injured cat during a walk and patches it up, keeping it in her apartment overnight. The next morning she wakes up to RW_Y, dressed as witches, surrounding her bed. Yang holds up the injured cat "Our cat decided to adopt you, so you're one of us now."

Cinder paused as she watched a small, black cat limp near the side of the road and fall to it’s side. Patches of its fur had been missing and a large scratch near its eye looked like it was still bleeding and starting to stain its fur. For a moment, she had thought about walking away. It would’ve been easy since only the strong are allowed to survive. Instead, she found herself picking up the small cat and holding it close to her as she made her way back to the dorm. As she walked, she wasnt sure when she found herself petting the kitten or gently trying to find other injuries on the cat. 

Once she returned to the dorm, she started to rush around to grab pieces of fabric she no longer needed to help bandage up the kitten and keep it from bleeding. As everything started to settle, she made sure to give the kitten a small bowl of fish and gently pet it. 

“You’ll get better in no time.” 

With a gentle hand, Cinder pulled the kitten to her and laid down to sleep. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to relax and sleep. The sounds of her door closing and footsteps on the floor woke her up. Instinctively she reached for the kitten to pull it close, pausing when she didnt feel it on her chest anymore and sat up to see three cloaked figures standing over her. 

“Of all people, I’m surprised she’s the one who found her,” one of the figures said. 

“See? I told you that she was okay,” another said. 

“Who are you?” Cinder asked as she did her best to keep her semblance from activating. “And what are you doing in my room?” 

One of the figures pulled down her hood and smiled with bright silver eyes. “You helped our cat and so we’re here to make you one of us!” 

Cinder hesitated for a moment as she watched Yang and Weiss pull down their hoods. “Make me… one of you?” 

Weiss nodded as the black kitten jumped onto her shoulder. “Our familiar told us how you helped her. And because of that, you’re now bound to her the same way we are.” 

Cinder looked at the kitten as its golden eyes seemed to reflect the light. “Then.. that cat… is Blake?” 

“Dont be silly, Blake’s just running late.” Yang leaned against the wall and sighed. “She’s out keeping Sun distracted because heard our cat went missing and he wanted to find it. And, as Weiss said, anyone who helps our familiar becomes bound to it like we are.” 

“What exactly do you mean by bound?” 

Ruby walked over to Cinder and dropped a small book into her lap. “It means you’re bound to it as a witch and for as long as she’s alive, she’ll provide you with powers to help defeat the grimm. Though, you do have to keep it a secret because people still think witches control the grimm, not keep people safe from them. And if you stick with us, we can teach you how to heal the sick and protect yourself from anyone who wants to harm you.” 

Cinder slowly picked up the small book and started to flip through the spells listed through the pages. “And if I refuse?” 

“Once our familiar has adopted you and bound you to her, its not exactly something you can refuse.” Yang pulled the cat off Weiss’ shoulder and smiled a bit. “However, since this is pretty new to you, we can give you a little time to let this sink in. Though, any training you want to do with us is still optional.” 

“Then… I’d like to have a little time to figure out how I feel about all of this.” Cinder slowly closed the book and watched as Ruby, Weiss, and Yang left her room. The light faded and she laid down once more to let everything sink in, raising her hand and looking at the scar from the grimm beetle she had used to steal a portion of the maiden powers. For years she had been told her only way to freedom was to follow Salem’s will, and now, she was offered another way to be free. She picked up the spellbook once more and flipped through the spells, mostly finding wards and potions. A smile crossed her lips as she sat the book down on her nightstand, a small tear rolling down her cheek. “I can finally make him proud.”

[geodax]

Somewhere Beyond the Stars

The RWBY/Star Wars crossover that nobody asked for but now exists anyway.

Enjoy!

Summary: Obi-Wan and Ahsoka find themselves in the world of Remnant. Ahsoka enrolls in Beacon academy and Obi-Wan joins the staff while they wait for the Republic to find them. But something dark is stirring in Remnant and their new friends are going to need the help of the Jedi.

Read on AO3 or read below

"Hello there!” Ahsoka said, chipper as she could manage. “I’m Ahsoka Tano.”

“And I’m Ruby Rose,” Ruby said, vigorously shaking her hand. Professor Ozpin had asked Ruby’s team to help Ahsoka integrate with the students, but Ruby doesn’t seem to resent it. In fact, she seemed excited at the chance to conduct what she must be thinking of as a sort of mission.

That was a relief. Some of the other young students and diplomats Ahsoka had met as a padawan had been stiff and awkward at best or scheming and manipulative at worst.

Ruby introduced her team, a group of teens about Ahsoka’s age, all of them wearing the academy’s uniform. Ahsoka hoped she wouldn’t have to wear it. It was not really her style.

“So, you’re all training to be huntresses?” Ahsoka asked. “That must be exciting.”

“This is our first year, but it’s already been so exciting! We defeated a giant Nevermore during a first training exercise. You see, when we got lost in the forest, I said we should ride the Nevermore—”

“Which was by far the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Weiss said.

“It was brilliant! You just didn’t like me yet,” Ruby said. “But then we all met up, and I ran up a cliff—”

“With my glyphs!”

“And cut off its head!” Ruby mimed the act with a flourish of her cape.

“I am so proud of my baby sister,” Yang said, pulling Ruby into a headlock to mess up her hair.

“Hey!” Ruby’s arms waved uselessly, before Yang let her go. She patted her hair back into place with a scowl, but it didn’t quite hide the smile.

“But don’t worry, our training isn’t usually so… intense,” Blake said.

Yang snorted.

“We like to get involved,” Ruby said. “Even if that means things get dangerous sometimes.”

Ahsoka smiled. They sounded so much like the clones, especially when they met up with the 212th and got to exchange stories over campfire. And despite how much she wished they were here, and Anakin with them, at least being here won’t be too boring.

Besides, Master Obi-Wan was here too. She doubted she could have gotten herself so ingratiated with Professor Ozpin without his help. Even though being enrolled in school felt an awful lot like being sidelined, she couldn’t deny that she missed being with people her own age. And it was nice to have a break from the war.

And, even better, she doesn’t have to deal with all the boring diplomatic discussions Master Obi-Wan will endure to get them back in contact with the Republic.

“Do you want to spar?” Ahsoka asked. “I’ve never met huntresses before.”

The four girls glanced at each other. “You’re not a huntress?” Blake asked. Her bow twitched.

“We call ourselves Jedi, where I’m from.” Ahsoka sparked up her shoto saber. “And we all use these. They’re called lightsabers.”

Ruby openly gaped at yellow saber, her smile growing impossibly wide.

“Did you make that? How did you—Is that Light Dust? Does it change shape? Can you zap Grimm with it? Does it change color, hold on, actually—”

“Let’s spar,” Yang said with an equally excited grin on her face.

Weiss rolled her eyes, but Ahsoka didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on Ahsoka’s sabers. “The practice fields are this way,” Weiss said. “Come on.”

Ahsoka followed them through the campus, noting mostly friendly, but a few hostile reactions to her presence. Ozpin said people would assume she was a faunus, one of the two sentient species on this planet, and that not everyone would treat her kindly because of it.

It wouldn’t be the first time. She was a Togruta on Coruscant, a majority human planet. She was also a Jedi in a galaxy that was increasingly turning against them.

She supposed it would have been too much to ask to have a break from that too.

Team RWBY changed into their combat clothes in the locker room and retrieved an interesting assortment of weapons, not one of which Ahsoka recognized. She ignored the twinge of nervousness in her belly. They may not be the blasters or lightsabers she had trained to face, but Master Anakin would call this a test of adaptability and creativity.

She won’t let him down.

“Who���s first?” Ahsoka asked. She kept her body purposefully relaxed and at ease, then smiled what Anakin had once called her ‘Obi-Wan’ smile.

Yang waggled her eyebrows in response, but Ruby stepped up faster. “Let’s do this,” Ruby said. She unsheathed her weapon, which rapidly expanded into the most gigantic scythe Ahsoka had ever seen.

Ahsoka ignited her own weapons in response, then settled into the ready position.

Yang counted them off and then they were moving.

Ruby was fast, so much faster than Ahsoka had ever anticipated. She had the speed of a Jedi, but she didn’t move like one. Her movements were sharp and jerking, constantly shifting direction and tone, making her a very difficult target to hit.

Ahsoka took a kick to the face before she realized the scythe was also a blaster. The blasts aided in Ruby’s dashes and dives, shifting her momentum in an instant.

It was incredible.

Ahsoka breathed slowly, then settled into the Force. It guided her movements, pulling her along faster and faster to keep up with the spinning of Ruby’s scythe and the blaster shots that followed. Even using the Force to shove Ruby away had next to no effect. She simply blasted herself right back at Ahsoka, a trail of rose petals in her wake.

But slowly, she adjusted her own strategies. She dove within Ruby’s reach, using her shoto blade to her advantage in the close quarters. Without the space to move and swing her scythe, Ruby was quickly losing ground. Her footwork couldn’t keep up with Ahsoka’s nor could she get her blaster between the two of them to fire off any shots.

Ahsoka knocked the scythe away, then kicked Ruby’s legs out from under her. She pointed her saber at the other girl’s throat.

“Yield,” Ahsoka said, her chest heaving and sweat dripping down her brow.

“You win,” Ruby said, just as exhausted.

Ahsoka quickly sheathed her sabers and offered her a hand up. “You’re amazing. I’ve never seen anyone fight like you.”

“You’re pretty amazing too,” Ruby said. “And your semblance is awesome! Can you just push people away? Or are you controlling the metal or fabric or is it some sort of explosion type semblance—”

“I can do a lot more than just push people away,” Ahsoka said. She opened her hand and floated her lightsaber over it. “It’s a form of telekinesis. All Jedi have it.”

“The same semblance held by an entire group?” Weiss said. “That’s unusual.”

Ahsoka shrugged. “It is what it is.” She wasn’t supposed to share too much about her life in the galaxy. This planet was uncontacted, too far out into the outer rim to even be on the Republic’s radar. Bringing tales of a galaxy at war would cause anything from disbelief to panic. Nothing good.

“You up for another round?” Weiss asked.

Ahsoka was tired, but Anakin wouldn’t want her to quit now. “Let’s do it,” Ahsoka said. She ignited her lightsabers again.

Weiss pulled out her rapier and held it aloft. Strangely, the opening post reminded her of Master Obi-Wan’s favored opening.

It took only a few strikes to realize that Weiss was nothing like Ruby. She fought like a fencer, precise and fast, jabbing and slipping past her guard with needle-like accuracy. She was almost like Master Obi-Wan when he chose to use the saber form Makashi.

The explosions of fire and ice were a nasty surprise.

But the sword, at least, Ahsoka could handle.

She used the Force to swing the Dust attacks back at Weiss, but Weiss was fast. Very fast. And she had clearly trained against someone who wielded two swords.

And then the magic came into play.

Ahsoka leapt away from the markings that formed on the ground and in the air. Weiss used them as platforms to leap from, to create explosions, to speed her reactions, and even to throw Ahsoka from one side of their little arena to the other.

Glyphs, Ahsoka realized. Weiss’s semblance.

Ahsoka sank deeper into the Force, drawing on it to push her further, faster, but not fast enough.

Never fast enough.

The next blast knocked her into the arena’s shield. Her body seized, struggling on the verge of unconsciousness, but she only collapsed, exhaustion settling in her veins.

Get up, Anakin would have said.

Get up!

“Ahsoka!” Weiss cried. She tossed her rapier aside and came running to her. “Are you okay? I didn’t realize your aura was so low already. I’m so sorry!”

Ahsoka shook the dizziness from her head. “I’m okay. I think I just—Oh.” She tried to blink the spots from her vision. Dust packed a hell of a punch.

“Let’s get you to the nurse,” Weiss said.

“No, no, I’m okay.” Ahsoka levered herself to her feet. Already, the Force was restoring her balance, healing her body. She forced herself to smile. “Let’s go another round.”

“Absolutely not,” Yang said, something oddly strained in her voice. “We’re getting lunch. Come on.”

Ahsoka blinked dumbly at her, but that didn’t stop Blake from grabbing her arm and tugging her along. “There’s serving ramen in the cafeteria today,” Blake said. “It’s probably the only thing worth eating there and I’m not missing it.”

“Trust me,” Yang said. “You’ve done enough training today. Let’s have some fun.”

Obi-Wan sat across the desk from Ozpin as the man drank his coffee with slow, measured sips. Already, he had explained why they had no space travel despite the advancement of their technology; the Dust that powered their ships simply didn’t work beyond the atmosphere. Even trying to contact the Republic was near impossible. The communications network of Remnant was tightly bound to the planet; all signals would degrade before they reached the atmosphere, let alone reached into hyperspace and onto the Republic.

They were trapped here until the fleet found them.

If they ever found them. They were deep in Wild Space. At least, that was his best guess after his limited stargazing. They were impossibly far from where they should have come out of hyperspace, farther still from the Republic and the war.

He could barely sense the Jedi and the light they had so stubbornly cultivated for over a thousand generations. Even his sense of Anakin was nearly absent.

“What do you suggest, Professor?” Obi-Wan asked.

“You are welcome to remain here,” Ozpin said. He set his coffee aside. “Ahsoka may certainly continue her training here, among children her own age. And I’m sure our students wouldn’t mind a few lessons of your own form of combat. There are extremely few huntsmen that can take down a Goliath Grimm alone.”

Obi-Wan studied the man across from him: his manufactured calmness, the age in his eyes, the guilt practically ripping him apart.

Ozpin sought allies. Against the Grimm, certainly, but something else. Something his huntsmen and huntresses were not prepared for despite the already impressive display of ability Obi-Wan had seen when one of Ozpin’s men, Qrow, had come to his and Ahsoka’s aid.

They had been in dire straits. The fight with the Goliath had drained Obi-Wan’s strength, leaving Ahsoka to fight the Grimm that dogged their path as the struggled desperately for civilization.

It had been kindness, yes, that brought Qrow to them. But not only kindness.

Because there was something else going on. Obi-Wan just didn’t know what.

He would find out though.

“I believe some time here would do Ahsoka some good,” Obi-Wan said. She needed time away from the war and certainly more time to train without the threat of death haunting her every step. She was still a padawan. She deserved this kindness.

He also could not deny that the monsters that plagued this city were evil. They were constructs of the Darkside itself. And while he sensed great fear in Ozpin and certainly didn’t trust his motives, he also sensed his desire to preserve life. To protect what peace they had achieved.

“And I believe I could be of some help to your students,” Obi-Wan said.

“Then allow me to introduce you to the other professors,” Ozpin said. He led Obi-Wan out of his office, through the tower, and the courtyards. It was a truly beautiful campus, classical stonework interspersed with modern metal sheathed towers. Young men and women lingered among them, talking and playing in the shade of the trees.

It reminded him of the padawan dorms before the war. They had always been busy and full of life, usually with more than a few pranks waiting to be sprung in the name of vigilance training. Obi-Wan remembered when he had accidently caught Qui-Gon in a downpour of sap. It had been meant for Quinlan, revenge for the week Obi-Wan had spent in green robes, courtesy of his friend’s paints sneaking into his laundry.

Obi-Wan had been mortified, but Qui-Gon had only laughed. He had known the risks of entering the padawan dorms, had remembered what antics he got up to with his own friends growing up. It had been a way to let off steam, to simply be teenagers after coming home from missions where they often found themselves with the weight of the galaxy on their shoulders. Or at least, partially on their shoulders. Masters protected them from the worst of it, while still teaching them how to bear the responsibility.

It had finally broken the ice between them after Tahl’s death.

But the padawan dorms were so often empty except for those too injured to fight or who were on what bereavement leave the Senate allowed them after their masters died. Obi-Wan had not even had to watch his head when he had last visited Ahsoka’s sparse quarters.

They found a few of Beacon’s professors gathered outside the cafeteria. They greeted Obi-Wan with smiles, handshakes, and a few brief words of introduction. Glynda, Ozpin’s second, reminded him of Mace. She was stern, yes, but kind. Oobleck was what he believed Madame Nu would be like if she was given unlimited access to the stims and caffeine patches that healers kept well away from her.

And Port, well, he was a terrifying hybrid of Shaak Ti, Plo Koon, and Evan Piell that Obi-Wan was certain would barrel through any obstacle in the name of protecting others. And then would inevitably force the Council to listen through an hours long recap of their adventures.

None found Obi-Wan’s presence particularly unusual. Ozpin must call in huntsmen to teach now and then, perhaps even to take students on training missions. They did much the same at the Jedi Temple.

“Let’s see that weapon of yours!” Port said, finally cutting through the small talk.

“So forward,” Obi-Wan said. He winked at the other man, pulling a blush from him and a laugh from the group.

“It is tradition that we test new teachers on the field of battle,” Oobleck said. “It is a good way to form bonds of friendship and camaraderie. And to better understand how well we will function as a team.”

“I’m afraid I’m still recovering from my last battle,” Obi-Wan said, pointedly rolling his shoulder. It was about the only part of him that wasn’t injured by the goliath, but even to his allies, he had no intention of revealing weakness. Not until he better understood the lay of the land. “But perhaps a different sort of test would suit your purposes, Doctor Oobleck.”

“A game of strategy, perhaps?” Oobleck said.

“Or chance?” Port said.

“It’s a bit early to begin gambling, don’t you think?” Glynda said.

“Nonsense! It’s the weekend and the chefs have cooked up a very tasty collection of chips for our game. Now, what say all of you?” Port said.

“A bit of fun would do us some good,” Ozpin said.

“So long as you all don’t mind losing,” Oobleck said.

“You’ll be the one losing this time!” Port said, clapping Oobleck on the back before leading them all into the cafeteria.

Once inside, he caught sight of Ahsoka sitting in one corner, a group of teenagers surrounding her as they all hurriedly slurp through bowl after bowl of ramen. Her laughter echoed across the high ceilings when one of the girls teasingly stole her bowl of noodles and replaced it with a pile of empty ones. The joke quickly devolved into a squabble, ending with an orange haired girl standing on the table and threatening another food fight.

Obi-Wan quickly followed the teachers, more than happy to let them have their mischief. Their hall was much smaller than the students’, but it was cozy and warm, the tables low to the ground and cushions to sit on.

One of the chefs arrived with lunch and a bowl of delicate cookies, which Port claimed as the chips for their game. Apparently, the chefs only made a very limited supply every month.

The rules of the game were simple, though the strategy was not. Port immediately established himself as an average, yet reckless, player, though Obi-Wan suspected that was a deception. The others were more subtle in their manipulations, but, truthfully, it was all fun. More than a few cookies were snuck out of the bowl when Oobleck wasn’t looking, several handed specifically to Obi-Wan to help him out after he lost a few hands in a row.

“Obi-Wan,” Port whispered when Obi-Wan moved to put half his chips into the very large pot. Oobleck was making his master move, ready to tip the course of the game permanently in his favor and drag the rest of them slowly through the painful final rounds. “That is not the best strategy. Remember the alternate eights? Oobleck has the advantage right now.”

“Oh, no,” Obi-Wan said, but like the other mistakes he made before, Oobleck wouldn’t let him take it back. That man was more of a stickler for the rules than Cody was.

But in the end, that only made him predictable. And all the easier to manipulate.

“As you can see, Obi-Wan,” Oobleck said, revealing his cards to the group to a round of groans and folded cards from the rest. “While rarely applied, the rule of alternate eights—”

“Can be negated by the trio of nines,” Obi-Wan said. He flipped his own cards over with a smirk.

“And yet, in the end, they are both overruled by the full house,” Glynda said. She swept the chips to herself in uncharacteristic display of glee. After that move, the rest of them had no chance of victory.

Obi-Wan huffed. He’d pegged her as an good player, steady, but unable to take the risks needed to claim victory. “A good game, Glynda,” Obi-Wan said.

“And a good game from you as well, Obi-Wan,” Oobleck said. “Truly, you must have played before.”

“Something similar, though these rewards are far more delicious,” he said, popping one of the distinctly blue cookies into his mouth.

“Hey!” Oobleck cried, realizing too late that Obi-Wan stolen the rest of his chips while Glynda had claimed victory.

Obi-Wan handed the cookies back with minimal resistance and to the laughter of the larger group. “I should teach you all sabacc,” he said. “Though, I will warn you that cheating is very much encouraged in that game.”

“Perhaps, we should stick with this game then,” Oobleck said with a frown.

[waheelawhisperer]

Once more unto the breach, with my impressions of Volume 9 Episode 3 of RWBY below the cut. I liked this episode more than the last 2, but I'm frankly not sure how I could've liked them less, so I'm praying that the only way we can go is up.

Welcome, everyone, to the continuing adventures of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, and the shambling corpse of what was once Blake Belladonna, hereafter referred to as Blek. Last time, Team RWBY set out to find a way to return home, Blake's characterization was brutally massacred by the writers, and the gang got Yang's arm back from a raccoon whose name sounds like a slur. Next up, we're off to visit the Red King in the hopes that following the path of a story that we know very little about and wasn't properly set up or foreshadowed will allow our protagonists to make it back to Remnant (please go back to Remnant, the sooner the better).

The episode actually starts out by raising an interesting question: what happened to the Red King? Was it something to do with humans? Is this something Alyx did somehow?

That said, the Red Prince is annoying. I think someone should punt him like the football. I do like the way they've conveyed so much of his personality through his movements and gestures and body language though.

"Did I used to be this unbearably pompous?" No, Weiss, you didn’t. At least I enjoyed it while you were on screen.

Honestly, Weiss, I feel your pain. Best character of the Volume so far.

On the one hand, I feel like our heroes should’ve done more than stare in horror as two guards were beheaded on a whim. On the other hand, I don’t care about the guards either, so I can’t blame them.

Ruby is kinder and more diplomatic than I am. I someone had thrown away my only memento of someone I was incredibly close to like that I would’ve thrown hands and to hell with the consequences. I would’ve done anything to get that sword back. I wasn't expecting her to let go of the last piece of Penny she had. She just seems so... defeated.

Honestly this token protest isn't doing a lot to sell me on her grief for Penny or their supposed closeness/importance to each other, like I'm buying into it because of what we got from earlier Volumes and all but it's not really coming through in this scene. I think the writers are trying to show how powerful Ruby's depression is, but it's not really landing for me.

I wish Ruby had cared more about Penny’s sword in this scene but I do like that she’s being a bit of a guile hero. It’s a reminder that she’s supposed to be clever, even if sometimes it doesn’t really feel like the story remembers that.

I’ll say this for the Ever After: it’s visually impressive. The people in charge of the art part of the show really went all out.

Ruby’s reaction when the Red Prince mentions her friends being available to play is interesting. She very much does not want to lead, it seems.

Great. WBY are small now. I hope this is a temporary thing. I'm steadily getting more and more fed up with this Volume's gimmicks.

Of course everyone gets to look good but Yang here, who punches herself in the face and then faceplants. Was this really necessary? Stop trying to be funny. Please. Not only is this not the time for it, but your jokes aren't even good. I've given up all hope of these writers treating Yang with any kind of respect at this point, not gonna lie.

“No one’s going to get hurt, right?” I like this line. It’s very clear now that Ruby’s struggling with the burdens of leadership and the consequences of making decisions. We’re finally starting to see her insecurities come to light.

Between the way the Red King’s pawns look bigger and tougher and the little nod he gives the white pawn, he’s obviously not playing fair. Time for Ruby to cheat? I sure hope so, she is supposed to be a leader and a tactician. Show us some clever stratagems.

Looks like WBY are going to carry here, something I predicted the moment it became clear they'd be competing.

When I saw Yang get cocky I fell in love all over again holy shit she’s exactly my type

Like not to be a heterosexual but oh my God Jesus Christ

Watching the Bees cheer for each other was cute, honestly. Unfortunately, I’m not as delighted by Bumbleby moments as I normally would be after the shitshow that was Episode 2.

As I watch the Red Prince throw yet another temper tantrum, I really want to know what happened to his predecessor, inasmuch as I want to know anything related to this setting. Please give us the Red King back and not this obnoxious little prick.

Oh shit. Eyes in the shadows.

Okay that got a reaction. Humans are not welcome here, it seems. Is this related to something Alyx did?

Love the reminder of just how damn good Team RWBY are in a fight after a Volume or so of them not really getting to show that. Love the decision to have Blek job a lot less. Of course she's the first one to take a hit in this fight.

I feel like there’s no tension here, Ruby can flatten all the pawns with one foot lmao and her friends have Aura, what is she even getting worried for

I guess this is following up on her fears from earlier and her struggle with the consequences of leadership but it just feels silly as things stand and I don't have enough faith in the writers to be confident that they'll do anything with this later

Blek why do you look terrified you've faced (lost to) better foes in your sleep

Was hoping Ruby’s heroic resolve would be accompanied by a display of tactics on her end where she maneuvers individually superior forces to defeat a large group of lesser opponents but instead WBY just kinda do it on their own. Maybe this will feed into Ruby’s insecurity about leadership somehow?

It was pretty badass seeing Weiss pull out (part of) the Nevermore and amplify Yang's combat capabilities. Good reminder of how valuable she is as a team support.

Give a pansexual a sword and she'll want some bloodshed to go with it.

This is how Bee’s Schnees can still win.

That’s it, Ruby. Get mad. Nice to see you invested in something.

I still don’t feel worried for WBY, they all have Aura and can double-jump.

Well, this certainly feels like Alice in Wonderland. Glad they’re finally doing something visually interesting with the setting.

Ruby’s gonna feel even more like a failure after this. RIP girlie.

Kitty's feeling just a biiiiiit sinister to me.

Little is sleeping again. What is the point of this character?

Go off, Weiss, tell them all how much this sucks.

WBY are still small. I hope we don’t have a whole fucking sidequest that involves getting WBY back to normal size but I’m 100% certain we will. I hate this Volume.

I agree with you, Weiss. No one here can be normal. Please let us go to Vacuo. I’m begging you.

Did they really have to make “Rubes” canon? I have genuinely never liked that bit of fanon. Including it here is too late to make it feel organic. It just feels like something thrown in for the fans.

I like how, again, Blek and Yang are the ones who know the story. I am not overly fond of Blek being so upbeat when Ruby’s clearly hurting and the gang just lost a major battle (Atlas), but I feel like if anyone’s going to be this peppy, it does make sense for it to be Little Miss Bookworm.

Shut up, Little. All you do is nap. You’re about to go back to Emergency Rations status.

Oh shit Neo in the house

And her Semblance evolved. Either we get to see how dangerous the Jabberwalker really is, or Neo’s being set up for a big fight later in the Volume.

Or we get literally nothing. What the fuck?

RIP Jabby I guess

Overall rating: Mediocre/10

Overall, this episode was better than the two colossal turds that preceded it. Hopefully this trend continues. If I didn’t hate the setting so much, this would probably be decidedly average, a stunning endorsement by Volume 9 standards.

[dowhatteverer]

Can you explain a bit about your Remnant City AU?

Sure!

Remnant City is a city that was created after the great war in which the four primary kingdoms of Remnant came together and conquered the Grimm. They named this city after the Planet they live on because it's meant to belong to every kingdom.

Some things in the remnant city story have been pushed a little earlier for my own reasons, such as Team RWBY being in their second semester of Beacon Academy and therefore being given real Grimm hunting missions for most of their time, Yang got her prosthetic when she was younger so she has that at the beginning of the timeline, Qrow has just gotten out of rehab, those sorts of things. I also gave Weiss a larger scar and a permanent eye injury.

I also made some quick changes to parts of the world too, Beacon Academy and all other academies in remnant are now officially colleges where people of all ages, but usually eighteen year olds, can enroll to become hunters. This also means that Team RWBY with the exception of Ruby herself who is still fifteen, are all eighteen instead of seventeen. I also changed how aura and semblances work a little bit.

Aura is now something that is always on because it's part of a character's metaphysical being, and now has three functions that can be recorded like stats in a video game. Shielding, healing, and semblance use. Some characters will have really powerful semblance use, but really weak shielding, like Weiss for example, which is my excuse for having her get he much bigger scar in the AU, but still winning her fight. While other characters like Yang will have powerful shielding and semblance use (because her shielding is a part of her semblance) but really weak healing.

I decided to have Team JNPR just be side characters that are occasionally useful instead of the deuteragonists to team RWBY because I want Ironwood, Qrow, and Penny to be the deuteragonists. I just think that Ironwood and Qrow being traumatized older characters who have been in this profession for a long time and are a sort of dark look into what Team RWBY could one day become is a lot more compelling than following what RWBY's school friends are off doing.

And Penny's story about finding validation and autonomy in the face of being a girl with an atypical body and mind in a world that thinks that being a human means you have to be flesh and blood with no animal parts whatsoever is so much more interesting to follow than Jaune having to grieve another pure hearted redhead. I'm also trying to cut down on characters.

And finally, this AU is far more about the Character's emotional journeys and finding ways to cope with a world that can be pretty cruel and difficult to live in. Even the Grimm, while also being cool monsters that the girls get to fight, are like visual representations of the girls determination in defeating the everyday evils that permeate their lives. I know that sounds kind of cheesy but that's what the Red and White trailers felt like to me when I got more context for what the creatures the girls are actually fighting are.

It's not a perfect explanation, but it's what I've got at the moment. Feel free to ask for any clarification!

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

s1ep10 reflekta

23rd verse same as the first. pacing was okay. set-up was dumb and contrived.

i love juleka's english va. like nathaniel, she doesn't sound like a high schooler, but whoever is voicing juleka has that evil laugh on lock. she has a fun voice.

i'm annoyed that chat noir was completely null in this episode. when, again, ladybug and chat noir are supposed to balance each other out. so it stands to reason that if he's voided, ladybug can't do her side of things bc things are too imbalanced. that's like. literally what yin and yang is and means. i don't understand (that's a lie, i do understand) how they got it so backwards.

the creator kept telling us that it's about balance without actually knowing what that meant or, more importantly, showing us that. if they were truly partners who could not be without each other, then there has to be raised stakes where if chat noir goes out, so does ladybug in some way.

a better written show would've thought through that and, to raise the stakes, would've shown that in like. a two-parter finale.

like imagine if they had actually been more balanced and equally contributed to defeating akuma. and both of them could cleanse akuma in their own way. but they never lose. it may seem close at times, but they win the day. but then. in pt1 of the season finale, chat noir gets taken out (or ladybug, if we're going for truly balanced here), and suddenly the other who is left behind is unable to defeat the akuma until they figure out a way to get their partner back. like how tense would that be!! can you imagine the stakes if hawkmoth figured that out! you could build up to that in the next season, even. like maybe he doesn't notice in the s1 finale, but you start to slowly build it up more over the next season and he exploits that to raise the stakes even more!

and this is just me brainstorming on the fly. can you imagine what they could've written had they actually put thought and care into the story?

another thing that annoyed me was chat noir trying to make his case for ladybug to take him with her to fight reflekta. he comments he sometimes has ideas, and i just honestly wanted to laugh, bc like when? when has he had an idea that tangibly contributed to helping them defeat the akuma. if he was as smart as ladybug, he wouldn't have gotten so caught up in trying to get the already-turned kids out of the school, and instead focused on finding reflekta. not only was his catalysm not going to be useful, but he turned his back on his enemy.

that also makes me think about how sometimes they silently communicate or they just know what the other is thinking and will act accordingly. which i think is supposed to be demonstrative of like how they're partners and are supposed to be yin and yang, but that once again misunderstands what yin and yang actually is and means. also you should teach children that communication is always important, even in close relationships like ladybug and chat noir are presumably supposed to be. it's really not clear and it's never really shown to us in the show.

the final scene in the tv station was also annoying bc they had a really good setup had they not fucked it up. esp bc the way they did end up writing it was totally backwards? ladybug tells chat noir to cut the lights but can she see in the dark? literally the first episode shows us she can't and that chat noir has night vision!!! AND THEY DON'T UTILIZE HIS NIGHT VISION BC THEY TURNED HIM INTO A REFLEKTA. LIKE MAYBE THE WRITERS SHOULD'VE JUST GONE BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD AT THAT POINT.

i can just see them story-boarding this and getting to this part and someone bringing up the fact that ladybug can't see in the dark but chat noir has night vision bc he's a cat. and the writers being utterly at a loss at what to do. like instead of trying to write a better script that keeps chat noir as chat noir so they could actually have him be useful and use what they established in episode one, they just. idk. thought it would be fine.

they set something up and never wrote the fucking pay-off.

the fact that chat noir can't take a few jokes. pathetic. he's fine dishing them out but can't take them himself. weaksauce. don't give if you can't take, chat noir.

also (and i know this is a lot less organized) i didn't like the lesson/"bad luck" marinette had to deal with in this episode. tikki scolding her for sneaking into the principal's office to delete a photo, and then chloe blackmailing marinette felt so wrong on so many levels. again, it's not a bad thing for her to do something wrong under the guise of her thinking she's doing something right. in a better show.

but as i've stated before, we never feel marinette ever learns from these little incidences bc they write the show like it's episodic. so everything resets at the beginning of a new episode.

this is not to mention that chloe has once again gotten another akumatized, and marinette is forced to protect someone who should have been turned into soup in the last episode (that i watched, not in the word of god order). i honestly don't like the message it teaches people. that you should be kinder overall to everyone, even the person who bullies you and your friends, who's racist, and classist, and every other ism bc what do you expect from a rich, white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl.

like no! you have no obligation to be nice to people who have blatantly, time and time again, demonstrated that they do not respect you as a human being. again, anyone who acts that violently racist should be turned into fucking soup!

[howlingday]

tragic backstory (tm) au) jaune is overheard talking about how tonight he faces his most dangerous enemy. his friends try to follow him when he goes out but the man is like a ghost when he wants to be. (they lost him in a crowd while arguing about who his greatest enemy should be)

turns out it was jaune's little sister (the actual little one) and she's really into stage combat (like for movies and the like) and she's very attached to her big brother and doesn't wanna share.

so by the time the gang finds him jaune seems to be in a major fight with a tiny little girl who's shouting about how she won't share her big brother with any of his cheep floozies.

on the plus side this is some of their finest work, if jaune didn't know better he'd almost believe his sister was a real fighter (if not for her telegraphing all her hits and generally giving him tons of warning where her next movement will come from) he's gonna need to buy her a treat after this she's really been practicing

EEK! MO SISTERS?!

What is a man's greatest fear? What does a king have to fear? Can he feel fear, or does he only know fear? And what does one, man or king, do when he must face that fear? This was a question to be answered tonight.

Jaune: Today is the day.

Pyrrha: Jaune?

Jaune: I'll be right back guys, I have to face my destiny. (Leaves)

Nora: Follow that mystery boy!

???: So, you finally arrive, brother! Are you ready to meet your fate by my sword?

Jaune: I am ready to do what is right for the Kingdom of Vale!

???: The face me, oh, brave prince, and know the fury of a thousand wretched souls!

Ruby: Who is that?! He's so... so...

Weiss: (Cooing) Small~! Him just a widdwe iddy biddy baby~!

Nora: Whoever they are, they have some guts to challenge our fearless leader!

Ren: Could they be a rival for the throne?

Blake: It seems likely, but they look so young. If I had to guess, they're probably younger than Ruby.

Yang: My money's on Vomit Boy. No way my brother would lose against that shrimp.

Pyrrha: That stance, though... I've seen it before.

???: Face me, Brother, and we shall end this age of darkness!

Jaune: This darkness only serves as a prelude to my glorious light!

???: Enough banter! (Unsheathes qatar) Draw your blade for the last time!

Jaune: Have at you!

Weiss: Damn you, Arc! He's only a widdwe baby! Weve- Er, leave him alone!

Nora: Woah! Look at that sword swing! And those... arm thingies!

Ren: They're qatar, Nora. And he's quite skilled with them, too.

Blake: Do you think he's an assassin?

Ren: With that kind of boasting and theatrics? No, he's definitely making a play for the throne.

Ruby: Wow! I've never seen a qatar used in real life! Did you think it's also armed with a high impact projectile launcher?

Yang: If you mean a gun, I don't think so. The flat of the blades is resting perfectly on the back of his hands. There's no room for a gun underneath it.

Pyrrha: He doesn't need a gun. I know that fighting style too well, and I can tell you, he doesn't need it.

Weiss: Fighting style?

Pyrrha: It's the Broken Mantis. Keeping his arms wide means he's ready to block and defend, and he can slip easily into Jaune's guard. But something is off about it.

Jaune: You're pretty good! How much have you practiced?

???: (Panting) More than enough to defeat an amateur like you!

Jaune: You sound tired. Do you want to stop?

???: (Leaps away, Spits) I'll stop when I have your head! (Rushes in)

Pyrrha: This fight's over.

Ruby: Huh?

???: (Battle cries)

Jaune: (Steps to the side, Trips his opponent) I win.

Nora: Woo! Go, fearless leader!

Ren: Something isn't right about this.

Blake: That was way too easy. If he's an assassin, then he's the worst I've ever seen.

Yang: No kidding. Just look.

???: (Hiccups, Sniffs)

Jaune: (Leans down) Hey, now, don't cry. You'll get me next time. Okay, (Removes hood, Reveals blonde girl in pigtails) Cin-Cin?

Cin-Cin: Jaune! You big meanie! (Stands up, Hits Jaune over and over with her bare fists) I wanted to win! I wanted to win!

Jaune: Sorry, but you'll have to work harder.

Weiss: Jaune Arc, you disgusting, despicable degenerate of dullards!

Jaune: Huh?

Weiss: (Kneels, Holds Cin-Cin) You would assault this poor girl in broad daylight for no reason?!

Jaune: I wouldn't say no reason. She was asking for it.

Weiss: (Balks) The nerve! (Looks down) Are you okay, little one?

Cin-Cin: Let go of me, you hag!

Weiss: H-Hag?!

Cin-Cin: (Breaks free, Hides behind Jaune) Stop being mean to Jaune!

Jaune: Cin, what have we told you about being rude? Sorry, Weiss, she gets like this around strangers. (Stands up, Holds her hand) Come on, let's take you back to your class. (Walks away) That was some fancy footwork you did. Are you liking your ballet...

Pyrrha: So, that was Jaune's younger sister?

Blake: His youngest, I'd say. She didn't look older than twelve.

Yang: And she's definitely Jaune's favorite. Or at least, he's her favorite. She immediately jumped to his side, eh, Weiss?

Weiss: H-Hag?

Ren: But why a qatar of all weapons?

Ruby: It might be a starter weapon. During my first two years at Patch, Crescent Rose was just a scythe before I installed her high-impact sniper rifle. She's probably still learning the motions, and Jaune was probably helping her practice.

Nora: But why the destiny talk?

Ren: Well, that much is obvious. Jaune is training her to kill him.

Nora: WHAT?!

Pyrrha: What are you talking about?! Why would Jaune train his youngest sister to kill him?!

Blake: Because he's afraid.

Ruby: Afraid?

Blake: Yes, of himself. Think about it like this, you're the King of Vale, and you've amassed a great amount of power. Too much power. So much power, it drives you mad. That's why you have a fail safe, an assassin trained to perfectly kill you should the day comes.

Yang: But to put it all on his sister...

Blake: She probably doesn't even know it yet. She's probably just training to be a professional fighter, like Pyrrha was. He wants her to have a normal life before he's king. Before it's too soon, and she loses everything.

Pyrrha: That's... That's horrible...

Ren: Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Jaune: Okay, Cin, we're back with your class. You be good, okay?

Cin-Cin: Jaune, I wanna tell you something.

Jaune: What is it?

Cin-Cin: There's a bad man walking around. He has a ponytail, and I saw his eyes turn purple!

Jaune: Did you tell your teacher?

Cin-Cin: Mhm, but he doesn't believe me!

Jaune: Okay. I'll take care of the bad man, okay? You just focus on the Festival, okay? (She nods) Good. I'll see you you get back home. I love you, Cinnamon.

Cin-Cin: I love you, too, Jaune.

[greatwyrmgold]

At the risk of pissing of another mouthy Original RWBY fan, a post about Ice Queendom's last episode.

Ozpin: Did you notice any unusual power that helped you defeat the Nightmare? Ruby: Yeah, the power of friendship! Ozpin: I meant something more chosen-one-ey. Like, something using your eyes? Ruby: ...do you not use your eyes when you fight, Professor? Because that sounds rad, but also really hard. Ozpin: [sip] Ozpin: Well, good job.

Ozpin: Why do you hide your ears behind a bow? We have an anti-discrimination policy here at Beacon. Blake: Have those actually stopped people from discriminating against faunus? Ozpin: ...I guess you'd know more about that than me. [sip] Ozpin: We're trying to fix it, though. If you'd just— Blake: It's not that easy. I want a chance for people to judge me on the content of my character before they see my ears. Ozpin: Well, figured I'd ask. Blake: ... Ozpin: By the way, I know you're from the White Fang.

Every time Blake and Weiss talk about their pasts and promise to do better than their forebears makes me think about how Monochrome is a way more interesting ship than White Rose and Bumblebee combined. Like, obviously the latter two have more support, in the source material and especially the fandom, but they don't have that much substance. The conflict between the Schnee family and the White Fang, emblematic of that between humanity and faunus more generally, gives so much meat to the relationship between them.

It feels like Weiss's racism flaw is just gone, kinda like it was after Volume 1 of Original RWBY. A bit annoying, but Weiss's issues were the primary focus of this entire season. (And it's a bit less ominous in the epilogue of one season than it would be in the prologue of another. And she still acts more coldly than she did in Original's "Best Day Ever," so she didn't just lose all her flaws between seasons and become a whole new character.)

Speaking of O!R's BDE, the food fight in that episode felt way more indulgent and pointless when it was our re-introduction to Beacon than it does as a fun way to cap off the season. I've said this before, but the Ice Queendom team has done a great job restructuring RWBY. Whether you want to say Monty Oum was a better animator than he was a writer or blame it on Ice Queendom having years of hindsight on their side, it's true.

Speaking of structure...Ice Queendom spends a lot of time setting up stuff for future volumes that didn't and couldn't pay off in this season. Maybe it's just a brand thing, making it easier for people to get into RWBY without rewatching a whole volume's worth of stuff, but they also skipped a couple of things that are important but easy to establish later (Pyrrha's Semblance, for instance). So it feels like they are, at least, preparing for the possibility of a second season/sequel/whatever being greenlit.

My assumption is that the team would want to have the next few seasons focus on Blake, Yang, and Ruby the way this season focused on Yang. But also, once Beacon gets Grimm'd it's gonna be hard to sneak in big episodic plots about random things bedeviling our characters, and there's only two volumes before then. So I figure, either the second semester is getting trisected, Ruby's gets the Volume 4 season, or she's just getting skipped. Oobleck didn't worry about her character development on the Mountain Glenn camping trip, why should IQ? (Or whatever it ends up being called.)

I figure volume 2 would make a pretty good Blake one and 3 a good Yang one. There's a big conflict with White Fang members at the climax of volume 2, and Yang's obviously a pretty big deal in volume 3. But I can't imagine what those conflicts might look like. If someone had told me someone would remake Volume 1 of RWBY but make it about Weiss's inner conflict, I wouldn't have guessed "dream Grimm".

I hope a second season gets greenlit so I get to find out!

Also: Was Ren's ponytail always that long?

[songofclarity]

I have aquestion, about a previous ask of nmj end being satisfying. You mention the process of dealing with a typical fierce corpse: liberation, supression, elimination. Its a very flawless thing all things considered, but the problem i see is: nmj body is not so easily destroyed, in the book it is mentioned no sword can pierce his skin no attack seems enough. How to destroy it then? When weapons are not an option, and we see the best fighters go against him to just be batted away. Do you think elimination is even possible? Maybe a more slow approach is needed? Like... emptying a pool with a bucket? Keep the body restrained until the energy bleeds out? It is also mentioned that with the dismemberment the soul was shattered and no rest awaits nmj, maybe that is something to consider too? The soul is broken so the resentful energy prevails? Kind of hard to tell what it would mean or if it even affects the process. Man, this sounds like such an existencial crissis. This only makes me really think how awful jgy murder plot was.

An excellent question and I think your ideas are on point!

Jin Guangyao was able to cut up Fierce Corpse Nie Mingjue 1.0, but after some needle and thread treatment, Fierce Corpse Nie Mingjue 2.0 is now blade-resistant. His skin hasn't inherently changed, but instead his resentment has clearly grown between 1.0 and 2.0, which has strengthened him physically.

Resentment, however, exists in the mind/the heart/the soul. So it's theoretically possible that elimination doesn't need to be physical if they could target his soul directly…

Although that might be easier said than done--and might not even be possible in the MDZS universe. A quick and dirty search of the use of elimination/eliminate in the Exiled Rebels Translation shows the term, if translated with consistency, as always used in a physical sense: Wei Wuxian thought Mo Xuanyu expected him to eliminate the Mo family, Jin Guangyao told everyone he had eliminated Xue Yang, Wei Wuxian was eliminated when he was ripped apart by corpses at the Burial Mounds, and Wei Wuxian used the Summoning of the Painted Eyes technique to eliminate Xue Yang's walking corpses.

Another event to consider is how the sects handled the statue of the Heavenly Maiden at Dafan. She is basically just a semi-sentient piece of stone. Instead of targeting her spirit, however, everyone attacks her physically. She is only defeated when Wen Ning (controlled by Wei Wuxian) smashes her to literal dust.

Elimination occurs when the body is destroyed.

Liberation occurs when the body remains whole.

This is why Xue Yang kept Xiao Xingchen's body preserved. Xiao Xingchen's soul was in complete shambles, unrecognizable, but he wasn't eliminated yet. There was still hope in repairing his soul and returning him to his body to be "himself" again.

Fierce Corpse Nie Mingjue 2.0's body is impenetrable to cuts and stabs, but it might be possible to crush him... But otherwise it might actually be impossible to actually eliminate him as he is now!

Your analogy about emptying a pool/bleeding out energy feels more like liberation to me! To liberate means to set free, and just like how some cultures bleed out patients to remove "bad blood", giving Nie Mingjue time to bleed out his resentment inside that coffin works the same way: bleed it out, give it time, and perhaps his soul will be cleansed/freed of the poison so that it could find peace and move on in the reincarnation cycle. His resentment is what's holding him back because he can't exactly move on to the next life if he's still gripping onto the old one.

Same as Xiao Xingchen, Nie Mingjue's shattered soul is also holding him back from reincarnating. But Song Lan appears to believe that Xiao Xingchen's soul could mend and one day come back again. All the soul needs is time and Song Lan, as a sentient fierce corpse, has plenty of time.

So what got Nie Mingjue into this situation is awful but not necessarily, conclusively tragic. No one can eliminate him now (or ever) because he is too strong, but give it 100 years and if they open that coffin to find him weakened, that suggests the resentful energy is in fact being purged, meaning he is a candidate for liberation! But that also depends on if there is someone around in 100 years who is willing to care enough to give him that chance or make a quick and dirty job of cleaning up, like Wei Wuxian did with those walking corpses...

[batfamscreaming]

I finally finished skyward sword so now I can actually put out my basic reading of the Zelda Religion Thing without being accused of skimming.

Early Canon History As Said To Skyward Link:

Three Golden Goddesses/The Old Gods/Trio create the world. They create Hylia, to essentially be the guardian deity of the world, and the triforce, which represents the Trio's power of creation. Then they leave, ala clockmaker theory (the theory that a god created the world and then let it go ticking on its own, like a clockmaker, because once they've made the clock it's supposed to continue to function on its own)

The Triforce is the power to shape the world through desires/wishes, but it can only be used by mortals: immortals like gods can't use it. Hylia is guarding it and can grant access to it (she decides the best way to decide who gets it is through fucking puzzle labyrinths) but can't use its power herself.

Demise shows up to consume the world. Things get very confusing but at the end of the fight, Hylia has won a phyrric victory, Demise is sealed but not destroyed, and Hylia become mortal voluntarily thus entering the reincarnation cycle. It's implied in wikis that Hylia becoming mortal releases the Triforce to be able to use it? but that is the part that mainly confuses me. Regardless, Hylia stalls for time until later reincarnation of her finds someone (Link) who is capable of wielding the Triforce as her Proxy.

(Unnecessary note on reincarnation: The person who can wield the Triforce is assumed to be the same soul reincarnated over and over, but this isn't strictly provable, and aside from considering them a precious person, all Zeldas and Links are treated as separate people, just with 'the bloodline of the goddess' running through them, but like... You go back far enough and it's all the same bloodline. If all humans in Skyloft eventually became Hylians, then all Hylians are descendants of the goddess' people. If we take it as a literal bloodline, this also means that a lot of Gerudo probably are also in the bloodline, since they usually intermarry with Hylians. And if it's a metaphorical bloodline, then we literally don't have to worry about it lmao.)

So with the setup the games have given us, this is a possible way the religous setup of Zelda works:

Hyrule's World was set up in a Creation/Destruction cycle. This is pretty natural, and an instinctive way to set up a world. Hylia is a Cultivator Goddess (mother goddess, one who raises but doesn't dominate), and Demise is literally called Demise: he is either a manifestation of Entropy on this plane, or was created by the Golden Goddesses also as a yin-to-yang situation, where Demise would destroy things that Hylia created, leaving more room for more creation later on, like how a volcano erupts burns everything down, but new land grows from that eruption.

The issue comes when the cycle became imbalanced. One thing that keeps coming up with Ganon is that he equates rule and destroy pretty equally. He will rule Hyrule! And it will be destroyed. But also he will get rid of the barren ocean! He will create a new Hyrule... which he will rule over with a harsh hand uwu.

It sounds to me like Demise wanted to at some point take Hylia's role as the creator/guardian Diety, but his power is literally destruction. So the way he understands raising something is like... to the ground. It is a fundimental Nature Thing that influences his understanding of the world. If he destroys the world, he is making it anew maybe, or maybe the monsters are his equivalent of Hylians, or etc. Regardless, his plan is basically "I'm in charge now and it will be Better", and there's nothing beyond that--he's good at his job and he's sure he'll be excellent at this other job as well.

At some point after Skyward Sword and being defeated by a Hylian with the Triforce, he changes strategies. I'm not certain if the plan was to get the Triforce of Power because it is the most powerful of the three, or if he meant to possess all three pieces and only managed to grab one, but his attention turned to claiming the Triforce instead.

The Triforce, which holds the ability to shape the world they live in (the power of a creator god, available to the beings in the world it shapes) is only attainable by a mortal, so Demise does as Hylia did, and becomes mortal.

It is... difficult to figure out how to talk about Ganondorf without discussing racism inherent in the design of the Gerudo. But at some point Demise has a connection to Ganondorf of the Gerudo, either that being the mortal form he's been reincarnated into, or "a manifestation of Demise's hatred." It could be chance that Demise became a Gerudo, or like... deeply unfortuante implications that I don't want to deal with for a Watsonian the-religion-is-true type speculation?? Doylian answer: the real world had racist influences. Watsonian answer: Gerudo have the goddess bloodline too, making them capable of wielding the Triforce, and it's just deeply unfortunate that the dieties in this world have strong opinions on their gender.

So as Demise becomes Ganondorf, he starts doing the thing Hylia did upon becoming mortal: gains the fun mortal emotions and experiences, and becoming less godly. The Power Triforce allows Ganondorf to live a very long time, so sometimes he's the same person between Zelda/Link incarnations, and that also gives him a long time to build up mortal experiences.

He is no longer a being completely of hate, but he has yet to obtain the power of 'creation' the way Hylia has it, because of his inherent roots as a being of destruction and entropy. Even when he intends to make something, his method for doing so is through destruction. In Wind Waker, he's furious that Hyrule's been flooded, but the ocean is a dead and barren place, and he wants to fix it: he wants to positively change the world... and he does it by ripping the seas apart trying to find the Triforce.

Conversely, Hylia is a being of creation/preservation, which is why she can't directly fight effectively. She can make prisons to seal Demise away, but that's still creating a prison. She can make light arrows, but needs someone else to fire them. She can make a master sword, but needs someone to weild it for her. That's why she sends out heroes as proxies in the fights. She isn't an omnipotent type deity. She gave up a lot of her power to get the triforce, and she can't walk it back. I see a lot of fic with Links frustrated that Hylia has 'put them in this position' or 'relies on young kids', which like, I get? But you have to think smaller gods. She has power on her own, but not the power of outright destruction, which is what she needs if she were going to destroy Demise forever. If she did manage to destroy demise, presumably she would then take up the role as both creator and destroyer? But since she's locked in mortal form, maybe the world is already functionally goddessless, which is why the only working relics are things from the ancinet past, when she was immortal, and killing Demise now would mostly just mean less Ganondorf-based events in the world, but otherwise not change much.

Hyrule is locked in a very degraded creation/destruction cycle, where the creation goddess is finding ways to destroy, and the destruction diety is trying to create. Both of them are mortal, leading to huge stretches of time where one or both are dead or sealed away, and when that happens, the Triforce is sealed away with them: it can only be used when all three parts are combined. So Hyrule, a place with absolutely 100% proven godly magic, is fully unable to use it to change their environment for long stretches of time.

This is. A very busted clock.

[hanniiesuckle17]

Chapter 7: The Library

A/n: so this chapter has been long-awaited by some and i hope you guys enjoy it! the series will really start moving after this so i would love to hear what you guys think of the chapter! Sorry about any typos- i didn't have time to edit this with all my schoolwork this week! Tag List is Open <3

Tag List: @woodiegochile @mini-meanhoe @leggomylino @hanstagrams @desertofdessert @hoes4hoseok @jeonqqin @geminirules @mrsunshine999 @jisungsjheekies @hannie-squirrel00 @cotccotc @kodzu-ken @konenichi @yangs-jeongin @binniebutter @orangegyu @little-precious-baby @raethethey @sofie296 @hongjoong-a-holic

RBTL Tag List: @bluejayboys @wonderlandless @introverted-stay24  @sunfics​ @deputyjuyeon​  @studioreader​

Warnings: Cursing

WC: 2.9k

Summary: True love has never come easy; life makes sure of that. From unrequited love to missed timing, does anyone have any hope at finding success- let alone pass History at the same time? All these questions leave young people wondering….will they still love me in the morning?

❖

Third POV

Y/n’s eyes grew tired as words about some minuscule event in history floated off the page of her textbook. She closed her eyes, stretching her neck-the bones cracking softly as her stiff neck rolled back. The odd silence drew her attention. Curious, she took the headphones from her ears and listened. All she could hear was the sound of raindrops falling against the large windows of the library.

It became quickly clear to the girl that she was alone and the only light in the room was coming from her little desk. “Hello?” She called out. Her voice echoed out from the second floor and filling the open building. When she heard no response, she shrugged and began pacing up her things to head home.

Though there was no response to the girl’s call there was in fact one lone soul left in the university’s library. One floor directly below Y/n sat a tall and slender boy, books piled high on his desk. Changmin twirled a pen between his fingers before checking his phone. His eyes widened seeing the time. Quickly he stuffed his journals into his bag, leaving his bag only half zipped. Red tuffs of fake hair stuck out as his doll was pushed towards the top of his bag.

The boy did a backtrack wondering if he should put his books away but decided against it knowing if he kept Chanhee and his friends waiting much longer then he might not live to see the midterm. Instead, he turned around and headed for the door- backpack on his shoulder and adjusting the glasses that were falling down his nose. 

It seemed fate was entirely focused on these two tonight. Only the storm clouds had a view of the girl walking down the stairs just in time to meet the boy as he stepped onto the main floor. The two shared a brief look- shocked to see another person at this hour, but continued their way to the front doors wordlessly.

Just the sight of the girl had Changmin’s hands starting a nervous sweat. He tried to focus on anything but how pretty he thought she looked with the dim light from the streetlamps outside casting streams of light over her face. As the two students grew closer to the door the sound of the storm outside grew louder. It was also easier for them to see as they neared the larger windows. 

Y/n reached out for the door. Surprisingly, she found resistance as she pushed. Again the girl tried, sending an awkward smile to the boy behind her. After pushing multiple times she gave up with a sigh.  “I- uh....I think it’s locked.”

“Locked?”

Changmin stepped forward and tried his hand at the closed entranced. He pushed and pulled until retreating, brows furrowed. “What you didn’t believe me?” The girl asked with a breathy laugh. Changmin’s eyes widened as he turned to face her.

“What- no! No, not all! I- I- I just...”

“I was just joking, don’t worry.” A timid smile quirked up the corner of the boy's lips. He watched as she shed her bag- placing it against the nearest row of shelves. “Should we try together?” His head moved faster than his mind could process Y/n’s words. He shed his backpack next to hers and the two turned towards the sealed doors.

In his mind, he knew that even with both of their strengths pushing, the industrial locks on the university doors would not break. “I’m Y/n, by the way.” Instead of looking at the boy, she readied herself at the door, palms pressed against the metal bar.

“Oh- I’m..uh...C-Changmin...”

“Well C-Changmin, push on three?” He nodded, finding Y/n’s smile, though small, even more enchanting up close. “One, two, three!”

The two of them pushed with all their might but to no avail. Y/n looked defeated as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. Her delicate fingers pushed the button but the screen refused to light up. 

Changmin had a similar idea. He reached for his own phone. Both of them smiled as it lit up showing the time and 11% battery left. The grin quickly fell as he realized there was absolutely no signal. Using his long limbs to his advantage he reached up searching one measly bar. 

Y/n ran a hand through her hair. This was the absolute perfect way to end her already stressful and torturous day. She reached for the lamp on a nearby desk but a huge roll of thunder resonated through the building and it suddenly became even darker. 

“Well, this is the beginning of a horror movie if I’ve seen one.” Changmin joked, kicking the door with a grin. His smile fell as he turned to see the fearful look on Y/n’s face.

“Dude- why the fuck would you say that!” 

“I don’t know! I’m sorry!” He mentally hit himself over and over. Why did he say that? There was no need to break the silence. The silence was his safety net right now. If he was silent there was absolutely no way he could appear like some weird Freakazoid to her. He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, casting brief glances over at the pretty girl he had liked for so long.

The two gradually gravitated towards each other. There was really nowhere else to go. Y/n enjoyed the sound of the storm outside, letting it calm her ever-growing nerves. Changmin resisted the urge to engage in embarrassing small talk.

A bright crash of lightning brightened up the room in sheets just as Y/n’s eye fell on the two backpacks several feet away. Her scream echoed off the ceiling as she caught a glimpse of the Chucky doll peeking its head out of the boy’s bag. Instinctively, she grabbed onto the closest thing- which happened to be Changmin’s hoodie.

Heat flooded every inch of his face and he wasn’t quite sure where to put his hands so he settled for keeping them up in the air. Inside his heart was beating faster than he ever thought possible. It was like all of his senses were heightened the moment she touched him.

“What the hell is that?”

“Oh...umm...he’s my Chucky.”

“Your what?” She pulled away from him and Changmin instantly missed her touch. The girl all but laughed seeing the blush on his cheeks and his arms still raised in the air almost in surrender.

“My Chucky. You know- like from the movie...”

“Yes, I’ve seen the fucking movie!”

Nervously he adjusted his sweater before shuffling over and gently tucking his doll safely pack in his bag- out of sight from the still shaken girl. “Why are you carrying that around anyway?”

The scare had seemed to lessen the tension between both of them; though Changmin was still very aware of every word and action towards Y/n. “I was headed to a thriller marathon at my friend’s apartment after I finished some studying.” She nodded but in her mind, she wondered how if he had been studying for as long as she had, he did not have tears running down his face and a massive migraine. “I guess I just lost track of the time.” 

Y/n couldn’t help but smile a the boy’s lopsided grin. She found it endearing how one side was always high than the other. The more he smiled at her the more she wanted to take a picture of his little quirk.

Another weighted silence fell between them. Against his better judgment, Changmin began to speak. “I don’t mean to pry...but what were you doing here so late?” For a moment Y/n had forgotten all about her troubles that had been following her for the past month and a half. A visible heaviness pressed down her shoulders.

Her back pressed against the bookshelf and she let herself slide down to the floor. “I gave up on finding a tutor last week. I was hoping some miracle would happen if I read that stupid book long enough.”

At that moment she wasn’t just the girl he had been pining after since he was in braces. Changmin saw the exhaustion. He saw the complete lack of hope. He moved his backpack- which she had sat down next to and took its place. 

“What book?” He didn’t need to ask but saved her the embarrassment of telling her that he had been in the room for her lecture with Professor Jeong. Wordlessly she pulled out a book, her hand dipping in the air from the significant weight. “Ah,”

“Good ‘ah’ or bad ‘ah’?”

“I’m not sure which the situation calls for?” He said pushing up his glasses with a little smile. 

Changmin’s grin grew a little wider as he heard her laugh. Even sitting in the dark, her smile seemed to fill the room with a warm glow. “At this point, I think I’m just useless.” She pressed her forehead against the cool cover of the book. 

She wondered why she found herself so comfortable with this stranger. It felt easier to talk with this boy she had known for twenty minutes than to talk with her closest friends- even her parents. A small shock of something she could only describe as electricity, raced up her arm as the boy’s hand brushed hers. He reached for the book, gently taking it from her hands and opening it to the tabbed page. 

“You aren’t useless, Y/n,” His words gave her comfort, wrapping around her like a warm blanket fresh from the dryer. Changmin chuckled, turning the page. “However, one might find it useful to highlight only the useful information and not the entire page.”

He found it cute looking down at Y/n’s textbook. Most of the passages were marked with yellow highlighter- easy to see even in the growing darkness. Some lines were underlined in red and there were circled statements with question marks all over the page. It was evident that she was in fact trying. Actually, her notes were in more detail than his. 

“I just don't understand it.”

“What?”

“All of it.”

“All of history?”

“Sure- let’s go with that.” She shrugged leaning her head back on the bookshelf.  

“I think history can be confusing sometimes too.” Changmin let her textbook rest on his lap. The two of them looked out the huge windows in front of them, watching the storm rage on outside. Occasionally, a flash of lightning would light up the library. “You know, I’m in Professor Jeong’s class too.”

“You are?”

Chanhee was right. She had no idea he existed until now and unless he played his cards right, she would forget about him the moment she left this building. “Yeah...I sit two rows behind you.” He watched her eyes widened a little as if she was trying to recall every face she had seen in that classroom. “Actually...to be fully honest...I knew who you were before tonight.”

Her brows furrowed, creating a small crease in the middle of her forehead. Everything about her fascinated Changmin, even down to her smallest expression. Getting a little nervous, he started rummaging through his backpack. As he chose his next words carefully in his mind, Changmin pulled out a half-full plastic water bottle and portable charger he forgot he carried. 

Interested in the boy’s previous statement, Y/n watched him with intrigue. “I-uh....” His hands shakily turned on his phone’s flashlight after plugging his phone into the charger. “We went to the same high school. You and I have shared classes since grade nine.” Her jaw dropped a little at his words.

“I feel....like such a bitch.”

“Oh no-” He stuttered, trying to balance the water bottle over his flashlight- creating a makeshift lantern. 

“Oh my god, I am the biggest asshole! I’ve never once noticed you in seven years? You must hate me!”

His heart warmed, seeing how bothered she was. He felt a little pride swell in his chest knowing that Sunwoo and Chanee were completely wrong about Y/n. “No, not at all! I just think we had different friend groups that’s all.”

Shrouded in the light from their little water lamp the two of them exchanged old high school gossip that Changmin never quite understood from the outside. “Wait so Miyoung stole Yeonu away from Hajoon?” Changmin covered his mouth in shock, his eyes widening in a cute way. 

Y/n smiled and nodded, hand falling on his knee. “Yeah- I know right!”

“And Yeonu was the guy who-”

“Yeah who sold Class 4B the midterm answers!”

Changmin let loose a huge sigh. “Damn- I missed so much in high school by just studying and playing games.” This time a comfortable silence fell between the two students on the floor. By the way her eyes were drooping, Y/n assumed it was about three am. 

“Nah you just missed....a whole lot of drama.” She yawned shaking her head to stay awake. 

It was then that Changmin’s willpower gave in to the weariness of his body. His brain no longer had control of his mouth at that moment. “What if I tutored you?”

A sleepily smile slid onto Y/n’s face. She turned her head against the shelf to look up at the boy next to her. His hopes fell as she laughed a little. “I need more help than just History.”

“What else?”

“Math, Physics, Psych...”

“I can help you with all of that too!” 

Changmin hated how eager he sounded. “What are you? Some kind of genius?” She smiled even though her back was getting sore and the sound of the rain was lulling her to sleep. 

“No, just a mathematics major whose parents paid for top tutors until he was sixteen.”

The girl stared at him. Her expression was unclear. In her mind, she knew there had to be some catch. No way was this guy going to tutor her in all the subjects she needed for nothing. “What’s your rate, Genius?”

“Like money?

She nodded, turning to fully face the boy. Y/n waited for some terrible number that was hellbent on destroying her bank account. Changmin on the other hand was panicking trying to decipher what number was high enough to get her to say yes but not low enough to make her think that he wasn’t serious. “Um.....$8?”

“An hour? For four subjects?”

“Yes...”

“DEAL!” 

Once again Changmin was frozen as Y/n threw her arms around him in a hug. His hands returned to their familiar place- up in the air, shaking, and far away from her. 

The pair spent the next hours with textbooks sprawled around them. Changmin patiently assessed where Y/n was in each of her subjects, surprised how someone of her intelligence was struggling. He found that she was indeed very bright- but simply not understanding the information the way it was being given to her. 

Neither of them noticed the rain stopping or even the sun rising with a pink and orange glow coming over the horizon, morning light sliding across the marbled floor. They didn’t even notice the sound of keys being turned in the front doors hours earlier they tried so hard to open. 

“What are you kids doing here?” The two students looked up to see one of the librarians standing in the doorway, keys in hand. 

They looked at each other before scrambling to grab their things and running out the doors. The warm, wet morning air greeted them as they stumbled outside. The sun was just peaking over the buildings and Y/n smiled at the dew clinging to the bright green blades of grass lining the sidewalks. It was a new day and a new hope filled her chest. “We’re finally out!” Changmin cheered, jumping up and down adorably. 

Y/n found it precious that someone so tall and graceful looking could be so clumsy and cute. “Changmin, I can’t thank you enough. I don’t think anyone could have explained the Joseon Era principles better.”

“Oh- i-it was nothing.”

“Here,” Taking a pen from her pocket she reached for his right arm and rolled up the sleeve of his hoodie. He took the moment to once again appreciate her beauty up close while the girl wrote her number on his arm. When she was done she placed the pen in his large hand and looked at him expectantly. “Aren’t you going to give me yours?”

Changmin vigorously nodded his head ‘yes’ and internally screamed at his brain to remember the numbers to his own phone number. With anything but steady hands, he wrote his number on her forearm and basked in the glow of the smile he received.

“So-uh..I’ll call you? You’ll call me? We can talk about times that work?”

“Yeah! Dates....and what not...Study-dates I mean! Tutoring! Yes.”

“Awesome! I can’t wait! Thank you so much, you have no idea how much you are saving my ass.” Y/n cheered as she started to back away towards her dorm. 

“So you’ll call me?” He called after her. His feet were planted firmly where he stood for he feared if he moved an inch he might float away.

She laughed, her smile even brighter in the growing daylight. “Or something, yeah!”

“Okay!” He watched Y/n unit she rounded a corner before letting all the joy explode from his body in a fit of jumps, hollers, cheers, dance, and maybe what some might consider singing. 

The sun basked in the boy’s glee as he danced and jumped his way down the sidewalk screaming “YES! SHE KNOWS WHO I AM!” His body was no longer sore and his mind was no longer tired. Instead, he ran all the way back to his apartment with a grin that the sun could not compete with. 

Previous Chapter ❖    Next Chapter

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[najatheangel]

𝐌𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐞

pairing: Lee donghyuck x reader (ft. nct members)

genre: fluff, angst, comedy and spice.

inspired song: Bestie by Lloyd.

summary: donghyuck’s and his s/o memories as best friends leading up to becoming lovers. (btw this one’s a little longer than the ones i usually write so beware loves.)

Haechan’s POV: June, 24th, 2018. “Today’s the day where I finally tell her how I feel. After 7 years of my friendship, growing up together and holding back my feelings for so long, Today is the day where things change. I’m tired of being stuck in the friend zone this is my one and only chance before she moves away. Now or Never Hyuck...”

“She's a bad one not a fast one. Every time we get together we have fun”

Growing up, me and y/n always were always bound to be apart of each other’s lives. We’ve grew up in the same neighborhood, our parents met each other in school, our friends are dating each other and we even go to the same school together. Sounds very corny right? It’s true though.

Our thing was always playing horror games together every night after we finish doing homework together. She was always the procrastinator so I had to give her some motivation. Not only that, we always play around the swing sets in the park that’s right in front of our houses to talk about anything and everything that was going on in our life’s.

This one time she got so drunk after Mark’s birthday party and was trying to swing so high and flew off the swing set thinking she was super man. Heh, she can be such a idiot at times. She may be one of the goofiest, bubbly and sweetest people I know. She can also be caring, overprotective and keep me calm whenever I’m always acting crazy.

I don’t remember what exact moment I feel in love with you, but I do remember feeling like as time went by, my love for you stared to grow much stronger. Everyone around us was starting to suspect how we felt about it each other especially my mom she adored you so much and loved the idea of us being together.

She would always ask “Where’s your girlfriend y/n?” Or “Aren’t you supposed to be with your girlfriend right now?” Ah girlfriend, I love the sound of that. Anyways I was grossed out at the idea at first because I only saw you as my sister once before and not to mention I was immature.

She would always ask “Where’s your girlfriend y/n?” Or “Aren’t you supposed to be with your girlfriend right now?” Ah girlfriend, I love the sound of that. Anyways I was grossed out at the idea at first because I only saw you as my sister once before and not to mention I was immature.

She would always ask “Where’s your girlfriend y/n?” Or “Aren’t you supposed to be with your girlfriend right now?” Ah girlfriend, I love the sound of that. Anyways I was grossed out at the idea at first because I only saw you as my sister once before and not to mention I was immature.

She would always ask “Where’s your girlfriend y/n?” Or “Aren’t you supposed to be with your girlfriend right now?” Ah girlfriend, I love the sound of that. Anyways I was grossed out at the idea at first because I only saw you as my sister once before and not to mention I was immature.

Once we’ve started getting much older I've tried dating other girls but none of them just didn’t compare to you. I’ve tried to joke around with them, they wouldn’t take me seriously. When I try to ask them out on dates, they would ditch me for someone else. When I try to be affectionate, they reject and always want to stay friends. I normally had luck keeping girls around, but only for a short amount of time. It seemed like every week I had a new girlfriend.

I knew y/n was always frustrated at me trying to tell me there’s other fish in the sea, but hell I want to my little mermaid and that’s y/n-ie. I even teased her about it, but she didn’t seem to take a hint.

“You know y/n... we should honestly just date. We would be the next Hyuna and Edawn in the school. They would have nothing on us.” I even nudged her on the shoulder to get her smiling.

“Hmm? Are you insane that would be too weird. We’re like brother and sister.” I could tell she was flustered, but she wasn’t exactly to thrilled with the idea. “Plus you know how I feel about Mark already. I’ve got to really wow him at this game tonight.” Oh yeah I forgot to mention she had a crush on my other best friend Mark Lee at the time.

“I know she should just be my friend Yet I'm hoping, I'm hoping that maybe it will lead In love happy end.”

It would work my nerves every time she would talk about him and always would ask advice on what to do, but I was very hopeful and believed I still had to chance to win her heart. I gush to everyone including the boys everyday about how madly in love I was with y/n without even realizing.

I would tell everyone, well except her of course. Johnny almost told my secret to everyone at Jaehyun’s house party when we were all playing strip uno. It was shut down real quickly because Doyoung gave him a long hard talk after awhile.

That night was also the worst for me because that was the same days the homecoming game where you confessed your feelings to Mark and became officially a couple. In my mind I wanted to be happy for the two of you as I watched you two kissed each other in front of everyone.

After that day, I avoided you for a while and couldn’t accept the fact that I couldn’t have you at that very moment. I couldn’t spend more time with you, hold you, kiss you, brag to everyone how much I loved you.

Although I was torn and felt defeated when you started dating Mark, I still felt a tiny bit of hope that someday I would still have a chance to make you mine and have our happy ending.

Y/N POV: June 24th, 2018. The day that I say farewell to my best friend Lee Donghyuck before going leaving to go to Harvard. I can’t believe this day has finally come we haven’t had the chance to hang out throughout our entire senior year so I want to make this count. I also want to tell him how I’ve felt about him. Let’s see where do I even start....

“We were children when we met. Just playing house and drinking sodas at the corner store.”

I remember having a hard time making friends my family moves from city to city because of my dad career as a entrepreneur for multiple companies and my mom working as a travel nurse. I was bullied for my struggling with my weight and for being an outcast which caused a lot of depression for me.

One day I remember running away from these girls in my school because they were trying to throwing apples at me. It was they’re way of trying to help me “eat healthy.” Jokes on them I was the top runner in the track team hehe.

Anyways, I lost them for a good second until I was trapped surrounded by them at the market by my house. I almost felt at lost against the 4 girls, until this crazy guy Lee Donghyuck comes out of no where scaring them away with his Freddy Kruger mask threatening them to leave me alone or he’ll haunt them in their sleep.

I felt bad for laughing, but it was one of the most nicest thing anyone has ever done for me ever since I’ve moved to Korea. He randomly introduces himself to me and offers me to play with him for an exchange of saving my life from those bullies.

“Hey my name is Donghyuck. Those girls always find their next target to pick on, but no worries princess I’m here to protect you. Let me introduce you to my other friends.”

He reached his hand on to me and ever since I was always dragged on to his crazy adventures.

“Like a brother from another. Didn't notice all the other girls they wanted more.”

Donghyuck was pretty popular when it came to having lots of guy friends and dating even when we were kids. In 5th grade on Valentine’s I remembered his desk being flooded with chocolates and anonymous love letters stuffed in backpack.

The idea didn’t bother me at first because I saw Hyuck as my older protective brother. I even slid some letters in my self saying “Happy Valentine’s Day loser. Enjoy those kits kats!” We tend to tease each other a lot, but that’s how we showed our love to each other.

People in our class including the boys Jaemin, Chenle and Yang Yang were encouraging us to date, but we just never seemed thrilled with the idea.

“Awhh c’mon you guys would be so cute together. You guys have kissed once before anyways it’s a sign.” I remember the boys would always poke fun at us, but we both would scream.

“Ew no way! Plus that kiss didn’t count it was for a school play.”

Yet every time a guy would try to ask me out, Donghyuck would scare them away because he claims that I’m still too young to date. Smh, yeah I should’ve known that it was actually because you were jealous.

“But now look at the glow up. You're the finest thing I ever seen, but you never been more than a friend to me.”

As much as I hate to admit it, but god sometimes Donghyuck can be hot...sexy...hell good looking when he wants to be. It doesn’t help that he’s teasing me about it either.

There was this one time when we were playing Mario Karts in his room and it was on a hot summer day at the time. This guy had the nerve to take his shirt off in front of me with sweat dripping on his abs, hair slightly messy to the side, and leans back with his grey sweat pants on.

GREY SWEATS!! Like cmon. I could barely concentrate on the game after awhile admiring how painly handsome. I felt very guilty because I was still dating Mark at the time, but my mind was going 2 different directions.

“Hey y/n if your hot you can take your shirt off too. I thought my mom had the mechanic fixed the ac by now so sorry about that.” There he goes sticking his tongue out like that again. Does he have no shame.

“Umm, Hyuck I just remembered I have a test on Friday to study for. Tootles!” I knew if I would’ve stayed in his room much longer I would’ve either passed out or sink deep into his tempting body leaning against mine. It was not only the heat in the room that was driving me crazy, but my beating heart that was burning my chest.

Before I tried to leave he shut the door and pushed me against the wall staring deep into my eyes. “You know princess, we don’t have a math test Friday right? I’m in the same class as you.”

This man uggh, next he proceeds to make me look at him in the eye by lifting my chin up. “D-did I say math test, silly me. I meant biology test.” After laughing awkwardly for a while I realized he wasn’t laughing with me like he usually does. It was like the vibe changed in a matter of 5 sec.

“Listen y/n...I know your dating Mark and all, but would it be wrong to just let me hold you one last time.” Yeah it would be awful, especially when your still technically half naked in front of me.

I’ve never even gotten close to kissing Mark before, yet my friend of 6 years is going to do it. So I had to run out of there before things got worse. “I-I can’t do that Hyuck. You know that wouldn’t be right. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

“I'm thinking that one day you'll be mine. And I don't wanna lose you.”

I ran home as fast as I can hyperventilating before I let myself caught any feelings. The truth was for awhile I only wanted to date Mark to try to forget about Hyuck, but after that night I’ve started to realize that I can’t escape my feelings that I have for him it’s impossible.

I love him more than anyone in this world. The thought of that saying had me laughing and crying that night.

June 26th, the day Donghyuck will have one last chance to confess his feelings before his princess y/n leaves off to go to school. Y/N and Donghyuck both run out of each other’s house and decided to meet up at the swing set after 6 years.

They both sit down sighing looking up at the orange sunset sky that’s shinning throughout the area. The two of them slowly swing looking down at the ground waiting for the other person to speak up first.

“So...I bet you probably heard the news already huh? I’ve finally got accept to Harvard. So tomorrow I’ll be going back to my hometown to begin my semester in fall.” Donghyuck responds back by saying.

“I know, I heard from my mom. She nearly cried. You know it would’ve been nice to hear from you. I haven’t seen you since last week.” Y/n finally looks up at him with tears falling down her face.

“Hyuck I’ve been going through so much this past week. I’ve broken up with Mark, my brother was stuck in the hospital and I almost had to repeat senior year if I didn’t pass that state test. So I’m sorry I didn’t contact you lately.”

Hyuck quickly stands up and hugs y/n gently by stroking her hair. “It would’ve been nice to hear your voice. I miss you and I love you.”

They both freeze up at the words he just said “Y-you what now?” Hyuck gulps at first, but then he snaps out of it ready to pour his heart out.”

“LISTEN PRINCESS I LOVE YOU OKAY?? Not just as a friend either. This whole year I never got to hang out with you and I don't know how to pretend, I hate falling in love with my best friend. That night you left my room I almost gave up on us, but I knew I had to tell you before you walk out of my life. Talk about bad timing right?”

Y/N starts giggling wiping her tears for a split second but then smiles by saying.

“I love you too Donghyuck. I have for a long time actually I just didn’t want to ruin my one and only specially friendship I had with you. I was even thinking that trying to move on by dating someone else would work, but it didn’t. Without you in my life, I am blue as the sky.”

The two of you of crack up laughing again at your embarrassing thoughts of each other, but immediately stop trying to think of what should happen next.

“We’re truly some idiots. Now we only have a few hours left of being a couple before you leave. So what happens next y/n?”

Y/n sits on Hyuck’s lap hugging him tightly and leans into his face by saying. “No worries we’ll figure this out once I move. For right now let’s just enjoy our last few hours together as a couple.”

Hyuck wraps arms around y/n waist and feels his heart skipping a beat once she starts kissing him softly in his ear. “Princess you know I’m very ticklish right there.” Ignoring his comments y/n proceeds to kiss his ear again, but then starts trailing down to his neck.

“My B-E-S-T, a true friend to me. Give me love and energy, that is what you send to me”

“Mmm keep calling me princess and I promise you I won’t be able to hold back.” He wiggles his eyebrows at your bold response and smirks by saying...

“Well what’s stoping you? We can do it right here right now on these swing sets.” He starts sliding your hands in your thighs while finally kissing you on your lips.

All that built up passion and emotion was easily displayed as you were kissing him. Not to mention the fact that he’s sliding his hand in your jeans which is making it hard for you to keep your voice down.

“Ahh keep it down y/n...Do you want the neighbors to hear you?” He teases you more by moving your hand in his jeans. “Do it for me too.”

“Lee Donghyuck, are you crazy?? Why don’t we just do this in your room. We will get caught for sure.” He pouts for a second and says

“Yes I’m crazy for you. You already know this though. How about this, we can finish this in my room and we can just tell my mom we stayed up playing games again all night long. Deal?”

“Deal!” You give him one last peck on the lips and grab him by running into his house like there’s no tomorrow. “Slow down princess!” The two of you slammed the door in his room and for the whole night you never dared to leave his side for a split second.

“It's what you do to me.”

The morning after ended up becoming very emotional for the both of you, because this is the last the you’ll be seeing each other face to face until the both of you are done with school. While he’s off becoming a singer, you’ll be on your way becoming a lawyer.

Out of all the places you could possibly move away from again your home next to Donghyuck and his family was the hardest to leave from. You made so many memories here and would cherish it for the rest of your life.

Before heading the road you give your best friend and now boyfriend one last hug and kiss on the forehead before putting your last luggage in the trunk and hitting the road to start your journey.

Although your both moving on to different paths of life career wise, you both will always have your history together and promised to reunite as a couple again when the time is right.

Thanks so much for reading this far you guys and feedback would be much appreciated. ✨

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 🏷 : @himitsu-luna @starrdustville @xxminmixx @dundun-baby @purplepsycho03 @kpopsnowball

Send an ask if you want to be added or removed from the tag list. 💫💫💫

[tanakavox]

The screen runs again as shows the red coated Jaune standing around looking annoyed as a voice calls out to him.

"Hey look it's half demon Jaune again!" Nora cheered.

"...Half what? Coco deadpan.

"Jaune in this universe is the son of Ozpin,who's a demon who saved all of humanity. Cinder is like his twins or something." Yang quickly brought the others to speed.

"Teach is a demon?" Coco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait who's the mom then?" Velvet asked, confused.

"That's….. A very good question. We didn't get an answer to that. Yang mused.

"I just wanna know who this person with the annoying voice was." Whitley muttered

"Another good question that we don't get answers to. Sorry."

"Thanks for destroying the lock for me, devil boy! And welcome to hell! Please accept my gift. Don't be humble, just take it. After all, we are buddies aren't we?" The voice the viewers recozinge as Jester as she cackles loudly.

A fountain of blood flows onto the statues which bring out blood bat-based demons called Blood-goyles flies toward Jaune and he cuts it in half with a casual swipe from his sword.

Jaune shakes his head in disappointment. "Well, isn't that special. To be honest, I'm expecting something a little better than this," Jaune then goes to dispatch them and leaves on his way to find Cinder.

The scene cuts to Jaune walking in front of a door with two statues and stopping when they began to start talking. Jaune doesn't look a bit shocked.

"Look brother, it's been ages, but we finally have company," one called Rudra said gleefully.

"I see that," The other is called Agni simply.

"We must entertain our guest."

"You're right. We have to be gracious hosts."

"Brother, what should we do?" Rudra asked.

"How do I know? We need to come up with something," Agni stated.

Jaune began to get impantice pacing back and forward and sighed.

"I don't blame him for getting impantice. These guys are annoying." Mercury stated. He was already starting not like these guys.

"Oh come on they weren't even talking!" Ruby pointed out glaring at Mercury.

"Still annoying."

Rudra took notice with this. "Brother, our guest is... sighing."

"SIGH? What is... SIGH?" Agni asked, a bit confused.

"Well a sigh is when -" Rudra was about to answer until he was cut off by their guest.

"Enough already!" Jaune said, finally snapping, "How long are you two gonna keep carrying on like this? In case you didn't get the hint, I'll spell it out. Your guest wants to go through. Got it."

"Our job here is to guard this door," Rudra said the statue was moving a bit.

"That's right! We can't let you pass," Agni added his piece.

(After Agni & Rudra battle)

"Wow, he took them out without much effort." Fiona said wide eyed.

"That kinda sums up this Jaune huh? He didn't have much trouble with the last guy either. Nora responded with a huge grin.

"He's gonna die when he gets to Cinder though. Emerald said with a smirk. "Remember what happened at the start. Nora turns to glare at her.

"Shut up!" She barked.

After their bodies were defeated in battle, both demon swords spun around in the air until they fell and got stuck on the ground in a crossed-blades position. They see Jaune walking towards the exit of the room, about to leave them behind.

"Wait!" Rudra cried out to Jaune.

Against his better thinking, Jaune turns around to acknowledge the two demon guards

"Yes, wait. We have been waiting for a long time," Agni said after his brother.

"Yes, a very long time," Rudra echoed.

"For someone stronger than us."

"Someone who can control us."

"My name is Agni," the red demon sword said.

"And my name is Rudra. You shall take us with you," The blue demon sword stated.

"We could be a great help to you!" Both brothers said as one.

Jaune took a moment to think about their offer. They were pretty strong together and seeing as how he's already let Cereberus tag along, he could use these two as Devil Arms as well. "Okay, but on one condition," He pressed.

"What is it?" Agni asked ecstatically.

"Name it!" Rudra sharing his brother's joy stated.

Jaune points to both brothers, "No talking!" While they were a strong force together, he would not deal with their constant chit-chat along the way.

"Thank god he said it." Mercury stated.

"Much as I hate to agree with you but yeah." Jaune piped up.

"Jaune!" Ruby cried, lightning punching him in the arm. Jaune raised his arms defensively

"I'm sorry Rubes, But they're really annoying.

"Fair enough!" Agni agreed to the blonde's terms.

"As you wish," Rudra echoed his agreement.

Jaune picks up the two swords and does a kata. The force of every swing of the two swords generated sharp winds and scorching flames. By the end, Jaune couldn't help but smile in satisfaction at how amazing these Devil Arms were and how strong they felt in his hands.

"... That was so cool." Ruby whispered with stars in her eyes.

"Impressive," The blue brother praised his new master.

Jaune flips the swords and bangs the two brother's heads together. "No talking," He repeated their agreement.

Neither Agni or Rudra said anything more, almost like they really were inanimate objects.

"Good," Jaune said in satisfaction, having peace and quiet again.

—

The scene changes to show the young crimsonette walk stealthily down a corridor with a gun in hand, the sounds of heavy steps closing in around her.

"Hey look! It's me! Ruby cheered. She didn't get to show up alot in this movie so far. But she started to get worried. It looked like she was about to get ambushed.

It's all of a sudden when a group of Pride Hell's attempt to ambush her. She's able to evade the swings of their scythe weapons thanks to her fast reflexes, allowing her to retrieve a second pistol from a holster. She shoots at two of the Hells and continues to fire in quick succession. One of the Hells thrusted the blunt pommel of their scythe in her direction, Ruby's able to dodge the strike by hopping on top of it and evade multiple swings directed at her in an expert show of her athletic ability. She continues to return fire to them as they continue to advance.

"WHOOO GO RUBY!" Yang cheered as she went to town on the demons.

Even when she gets cornered she has a plan. Ruby kicked two Hells back with her legs, a gift for each of them in the form of grenades. The explosion results in the Hells along with herself being propelled into the air. She doesn't give them a chance to recover as she continues to send bullets their way via cyclone of death. She finds footing on an embedded scythe in the wall, she fires at a nearby Hell and then uses the scythe as a high bar as a means to continue her attack on the rest of the Hells while performing many acts of peak acrobatic ability and gunfire. Eventually she finds herself upside down, her only support was her feet hooked around two embedded poles. The Hells take this opportunity to strike against Ruby together, they never seem to learn.

"Which version of Ruby seems very skilled,'' Weiss mused.

"You say that like you believe I'm not skilled now Ruby said smiling at Weiss. Weiss doesn't say anything as Ruby stares at her. She pouted at the former heiress. "I'm skilled Weiss!"

"Yes. Of Course Ruby." Weiss replies with a smirk.

Ruby turns to Jaune to get him on her side but stops when she noticed that Jaune crossed his legs tightly and was staring at the screen intently.

"Uh Jaune? Why did you cross your legs so tightly?"

Jaune turns to Ruby wide eyed and stutters out an answer. "Uh I-i just feel more comfortable like this!" No way he was gonna tell Ruby watching her go to town on demons was hot to him. Ruby stares at him for a few seconds and goes back to the movie.

Deciding it was time to bring out the big guns, Ruby draws out her trusty Crescent Rose and fires a missile at the ground beneath her. The explosion knocks back the Hells while propelling her into the air once more. Ruby lands onto the ground in a crouch position with no signs of harm throughout the ordeal. As she looks around, she releases a sigh of relief as the Hells were no longer a threat. She tugs her darling back on her shoulder and continues on, as she leaves the screen pans to an overhead shot to see that the charred remains of the ground resembling a '6.'

Ruby is now seen on a balcony of Temen-ni-gru, reloading her arsenal, sitting on a rock until she hears a voice come from behind her. Upon recognizing the voice she immediately pulls out one of her guns.

"Well, well... You've grown stronger," Raven said as she approached the young woman.

"Mom." Yang had a dark look on her face.

"What does she want with Ruby? Blake asks.

"If you shut your yap you may find out." Mercury said nonchalantly causing Blake to glare at him.

"Go to Hell," She raises her pistol directly towards Raven's face.

"You point a gun at me? Your own kin? Your dear Auntie?" Raven said as though she were truly shocked.

Ruby's face twists in rage, "The only family I ever had was my sister, and she's dead!"

"SHE KILLED ME?!" Yang yelled out in shock? The rest of her team and friends were in shock as well. Qrow couldn't believe it. Yang and Raven never really had a good relationship but he didn't think Raven would kill her own daughter.

Ruby shoots with her pistol four times, but finds that Raven has vanished. She draws out a SMG and aims both guns to her left and right in case Raven could get the jump on her. She scans around her surroundings for any signs of Raven only to find nothing. That only left one direction left uncheck... was above!

"You break my heart. After all, it was I who gave you your name. My darling niece!" Raven yells as she stares at Ruby while hanging upside down on the balcony roof.

Ruby was about to shoot when Raven's book dropped on her face blocking her vision. Raven takes this opportunity to get the jump on Ruby and throws her niece off the platform. Before she was out of Raven's sight, she felt her cheek get grazed by one of Ruby's bullets that she fired her way.

"That should have gone into her head!" Yang screamed, her eyes glowing red. Qrow couldn't help but agree with his niece.

Ruby continues falling Temen-ni-gru, that is until Jaune catches sight of her falling and proceeds to catch her by one of her boots. She looks at what stopped her fall and upon recognizing the boy in red, points both her guns at him.

Jaune looks down at the girl with a grin, pleased to see this interesting girl again. "Well, this is my kind of rain. No wonder the sky looks so funny today," He said while looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Getting bold ain't ya Bondie?" Qrow said, turning to Jaune who gave him an annoyed look.

"Yeah? And you want me to what Old man?" He snapped.

Qrow growled knowing he couldn't do anything.

"Let me go!" Ruby yelled.

"Don't say that stupid" Ruby yelled at the other version of herself.

Jaune looked at her with surprise, "Let you go? But it would be a waste if you ended up as just a pretty stain."

"Smooth Arc. Smooth." Coco teased as Jaune faces red at his alternate self boldness with his best friend.

Ruby having enough this guy's talk shoots him in his head. When the bullet makes contact with Jaune's face, it causes him to let go of the girl which results in her fall down again. This time however she's able to use the blade of Crescent Rose as a means to stop her fall. As she hangs off her weapon, she hears the sound of footst coming from the platform above.

"NO ME NO!" Ruby yelled out in horror at the fact she possibly killed her best friend.

"Huh look at that. He died earlier than I thought." Emerald laughed.

Jaune peers over the edge of the platform at the girl, sporting a bleeding bullet wound on his forehead and a miffed expression, "What the hell was that for? Here I am trying to help you and you show your thanks by shooting me?"

"Oh thanks goodness." Ruby sighed in relief.

"We shouldn't be too surprised. Getting stabbed several times with scythe only made him mad." Oscar pointed out.

Ruby, very confused with how he's even standing, responds by shooting him again.

The bullet once again makes contact, however, Jaune is able to react quickly enough to catch it between his teeth. After spitting the offending bullet out of his mouth he decides it would be in his best interest to ditch the girl, "Whatever, do as you please."

"God me! You just lost your chance at getting a friend!" Ruby said in a disapproving tone.

Ruby lowers her gun as she's finally able to pick up why she's been having a bad feeling about this guy, "So he's a demon too."

As he leaves, Jaune cleans off a bit of leftover blood from his face and wipes it on the wall. "I'm beginning to think I've got rotten luck with women," The line of fresh blood drips down the wall, creating the image of a '7.'

—

The scene changes to the very top of Temen-ni-gru, there stands a black haired woman in the rain, a ethereal full moon shining its light in the night sky, and the only sound that was present was the roaring winds in the air.

The silence would soon be broken as the sound of approaching footsteps began to come up the stairs. Jaune approaches the platform, finally making it to the top of the large tower that was Temen-ni-gru. After fighting multiple demons just to get here he was finally met with his gracious hostess, Cinder.

Cinder turned her head to address her guest, already knowing who it was, "...You showed up," She smiled.

Cinder sat forward in her seat. Ready to see herself destroy this weakening again.

Jaune walks up to her, while twirling Ivory in his hands. There was a smile on his face as he paced around the platform, "You sure know how to throw a party. No food, no drinks, and the only babe just left." Jaune lightheartedly pokes at his sister's very poor party preparation.

"My sincerest apology, brother. I was so eager to see you I couldn't concentrate on the preparations for the bash," Cinder replies with a warmth that was difficult to tell if it was genuine or not.

D-do they hate each other?" Oscar asks. "They seem pretty happy to see each other."

Jaune brushes it off continuing his pacing, "Whatever. At any rate, it's been a whole year since we last met. How about a kiss from your little brother? Or better yet, how about a kiss from this?"

Jaune immediately points Ivory directly at Cinder. The sound of lightning and thunder echoed throughout the dark sky, signaling the change in the atmosphere around the two siblings.

"So, this is what they call a heart warming family reunion eh…" Jaune questions as his face grinned, expressing that he was ready for a fight,

Cinder's eyes darkened, her facial expression becoming cold but determined, "You got that right."

Cinder opens up Yamato with her thumb, its blade gleaming in the moonlight.

"Take down, Fearless leader" Nora cheered.

"Heh. Come red. We both know how this is gonna end up."" Mercury said chuckling at her.

"I thought I told you to shut up?" Nora hissed.

—

Jaune and Cinder separated from each other, both breathing heavily from the battle, after fighting so intensely they took a moment to catch their breath. Their fight in the rain had lasted for some time, as evidenced by Cinder's hair being flat down, wet from all the rainwater.

Jaune is able to recover first so he takes Rebellion and starts charging at his sister, Rebellion's tip generating sparks as he drags it on the ground. Cinder recovers in time to evade his attempted strike, giving her the opportunity to parry with Yamato.

Jaune spins Rebellion with both hands then thrusted the sword towards Cinder, who then sidesteps the blade's path. She rotates Yamato to hold the katana backhanded, following up by knocking Jaune backwards with its kashira (pommel). Both of them quickly clashed their blades together, resulting in both of them being knocked back, Jaune having already off his feet is knocked the farthest back.

Jaune skits to one of the pillars standing on the platform, stopping his backwards momentum. He quickly draws out Ebony from her holster, and fires seven shots at his brunette sibling. The bullets are seen speeding towards Cinder who begins spinning Yamato in a quick rotating motion, deflecting three of the bullets while catching the remaining four that were originally aimed towards her.

Cinder places the caught bullets on the floor with Yamato in single file and then returns them to her blonde brother. Jaune sees the returning bullets coming towards him but he quickly lifts Rebellion over his head and is able to quickly slice through them, which then burst behind him.

"...That was fucking cool. Mercury stated and no one disagreed with him

Cinder points Yamato at him, her face expressing her frustration towards her brother, "Why do you refuse to gain power? The power of our father Ozma?"

"I thought you guys said that teacher was their dad?" Coco turned to everyone with a raised eyebrow.

"He is, that's just his real name." Blake said with a sigh. "It's a long story. Don't ask." Coco shrugs and goes back to the movie.

Jaune, after using Rebellion to help him stand, looks at Cinder as if she told him a bad joke, "Father? I don't have a father. I just don't like you, that's all."

Ozpin's heart ached hearing Jaune say that. He knew that they weren't his kids in his universe but the fact that any kids of his were fighting at all as well one of his sons rejecting him, hurted.

A moment of silence passes before the two siblings charge at each other once more, both of their swords clash against the other, while both Jaune and Cinder stare the other down. The spot where both Yamato and Rebellion met begins turning a bright orange, the generated sparks and heat being caused by the force behind both blades, as the two continue staring down the other. The whining of two metals being tested is heard, Jaune seemed to be exerting everything he had, while Cinder showed no apparent signs of exertion at all. The struggle is finally ended when Cinder strikes Rebellion away from her brother's grasp, the large sword spinning in the air until it strikes against the ground, timed perfectly as Cinder impales Jaune with Yamato.

Cinder smirks as she hears the cries of the blonde fools friends as her blade sinks into his stomach. Today was a good day. Two universes where she totally domanations. She turns to Jaune to see his reaction. To her disappointment the blonde didn't react much. Only had a stoic expression. Jaune knew he was gonna lose but didn't want to give the bitch the satisfaction of his disappointment.

His blood trickles down onto the floor and Yamato itself while Jaune grasps at the blade that was impaling his abdomen.

Cinder looks down at her impaled sibling, her face expressing neither joy or satisfaction in the act, only disappointment, "Foolishness, Jaune, foolishness. Might control everything. And without strength, you can't protect anything. Let alone yourself."

Cinder agreed with her counterpart but didn't really care on how she wasn't enjoying her other self with her impaling the fool.

"She... looks disappointed?" Mercury echoed Cinder's thoughts.

"Maybe they do love others? In some kinda weird way?" Ruby said, scratching her head in confusion.

Cinder forcibly removes Jaune from Yamato's blade then takes his amulet from him and leaves a slash on Jaune's sleeve. She looks at the amulet in her hand for a moment, fixes her hair back to its original shape, and starts to walk away but not before taking hold of Rebellion. When Jaune tries to get up, Cinder turns around and quickly impales him with his own sword.

A pan up shot shows Jaune as his blood begins pooling under him, Rebellion pinning his body to the floor.

"Do you finally have it?" Cinder turns around and there she sees Raven standing behind her, seeming to have just arrived.

"Yes. Now the spell Ozma cast will be broken," Cinder says to the scarred woman.

"Spell?" Velvet asked

"Ozpin in this universe sealed the demon world from the human alongside all of his power.

"And Cinder and Raven want to open the gate to the demon realm to get his power?" Yatshu finally speaks up.

Jaune lays on the platform unconscious, seeming like he is dead… until the skull on Rebellion changes form and the sword is launched into the air, the water rises behind Jaune as he charges ahead and tries to attack Cinder.

She quickly blocks Jaune's fist with Yamato, resulting in his hand being covered in blood as the blade sliced through it. Unlike before, Jaune's face shows no evidence of being in pain due to the injury, instead his face shows significant rage towards Cinder.

"I see, the devil inside you has awakened as well," Cinder said to him. This time showing a peaked interest.

"Holy shit Blondie doesn't that hurt?!" Fiona cried out wincing in pain just watching Jaune's hands sink into the blade.

Jaune forces his impaled arm through Yamato, his tissue healing at such an astonishing rate as once his hand is removed it shows no sign of damage or deformity. He grabs the blade once more, then uses his newfound strength to fling Cinder over his shoulder.

"Interesting. It seems like the boy's regen has increased incredibly."Salem mused on learning forward. "They seem more like my children than your Opsin." She smiles at him mocking but it dropped when Nora spoke.

"Probably because you are their mom."Nora replied nonchalantly while still looking at the movie.

Salem took pauses at this and took a closer look at Jaune in the movie and the one in the theater. She got a weird feeling from him, but she decided to push it to the back of her head and just decided the pink one was talking nonsense.

Cinder lands on her feet soon after, preparing to fight him once more before she is stopped by Raven's voice from behind her, "Wait. We should leave. For the moment we have all that we need."

A white aura surrounds Jaune as he walks towards them, his eyes dulled and his steps heavy as he slowly begins triggering the demon inside of him. It was at this time that Cinder and Raven walked away, jumping off the edge of Temen-ni-gru, letting him transform into his Devil Form for the very first time. After releasing an inhuman roar, Jaune falls to the ground unconscious, returning to his human form.

"Holy shit what was that?!" Ruby looked at Jaune in shock.

"Is that what Cinder meant when she said Jaune unlocked the devil inside of him? Because that is a badass looking devil man!" Mercury shouted, getting hyped up.

—

After some time has passed, Jaune awakens once more and gets up off of the ground. The rain having stopped results in many of the clouds to clear up, one of them showing a figure of an '8.' He rips the broken portion of the sleeve from his jacket, then picks up Rebellion. Jaune finds them gone, feeling defeated he slams his fist at the nearest pillar, which results in the top portion of the structure to explode. Jaune looks at what he's done and he discovers he has awakened newfound power, it surprisingly felt...good.

"Oh know that look." Yang had a knowing smile.

Next thing Jaune knows, he jumps off the top of Temen-ni-gru, beginning his pursuit to get his amulet back from his sister and that scarred woman. During his plummet he decides to test his new capabilities on incoming demons. The incoming Blood-goyles will do nicely.

He slays large quantities of the Blood-goes with extraordinary ease, all of his speed, strength, and agility had increased so much that he was like a blur to the normal eye. He throws Rebellion at a number of Blood-golyes, quickly impaling and to finish the job he fires Ebony at the swords pommel, increasing the speed of his sword so much that it reaches terminal velocity. Jaune chases after Rebellion until his outstretched arm is able to reach the same speed as his falling sword. Once he's able to grasp it, Jaune launches himself off of Temin-ni-grun at a horizontal angle.

"... I hate the fact that I've said that's badass to this guy more there once. Mercury muttered.

This new power felt amazing to him, he felt invincible. Powerful. Unstoppable…

That's when the giant Leviathan in the sky showed up and swallowed him whole.

Salem eyes widen at the sight of the giant whale. "Richard?!" she took a closer look and realized that it was not Richard and settled down/

—

The scene changes to a separate corridor of the tower, where both Cinder and Raven appear before an enormous locked door.

Raven is seen looking into her book, very focused on its contents, starts sharing her knowledge with Cinder, "People once cried out in fear of this tower. Temen-ni-gru, a foundation that brought out fear. Fear. Yes, fear. Can't you feel it? The rage and agonies of people. Those who are confined here... with their desires of evil being unfulfilled... It was all because Ozma slammed the door to the Demon World in their faces…"

""

Raven looks towards the gate as it begins to unlock its many safeguards. Once they undone, the doors opened, allowing the two to continue forward.

Raven before continuing on turns around to see if someone she knows followed them.

"What's wrong?" Cinder asked the distracted Raven.

"...Nothing," Raven replies, obviously lying to her about her true concerns.

"I hope Ruby comes and ends up shooting you in the head, you witch. Yang said seething with rage.

"Same here." Qrow growled in agreement.

Without another word being said, the two women begin making their way deeper into the tower of Temen-ni-gru.

—

As soon as Jaune finished destroying Leviathan's heart, the titanic beast let out a final bloodcurdling scream as it fell to the ground.

Ruby is seen somewhere outside of the tower continuing her search until she sees an enormous whale plummet to the ground. The force of the beast as it crashed down shook the very earth where she stood, its shock felt all across the tower and even by those in the lower levels. Even Cinder and Raven took note of the aftershock of the Leviathan, even if they dismissed it completely after a few seconds.

"Holy shit he just killed that Whale by himself." Coco looked on in wonder.

"Okay guys I'm blind. What the hell happened?" Fox asked, getting a bit annoyed.

"Oh sorry Fox! Uh Jaune killed a giant whale and is now covered in blood."

"Oh. That's really cool." Fox said simply.

The young crimsonette finds where the corpse of the demon landed and witnesses as its blood colored eye is being slashed as Jaune, having finally got out of the oversized whale that swallowed him. Although he did end up being covered head to toe in its blood, so it was a Pyrrhic victory.

"So, this is the next stage?" Jaune thought out loud, thinking he was by himself.

"Wait!" A voice called out behind him.

Jaune turns around to see that it was the same girl from before, and having recalled their last meeting, he had a sour feeling towards her, "If you're asking for a date, forget it. Because I made it a point not to go out with women who shoot me in the head." Emphasizing his point by pointing to a specific spot on his forehead, where he knows she shot him.

"That's a deal breaker most. You're a meanie for doing that Ruby." Nora teased the redhead. She sinks into her seat with a pout.

Ruby scoffed, "Date a demon? I'm not that desperate. Besides, I really don't care for guys who stink like blood."

Jaune quickly sniffs at his clothes, then double takes at how bad the Leviathan's blood reeked, "You're right."

That got a laugh out of most of the viewers. But Ruby shook her head a bit. She just didn't get it. A few years ago, She and Jaune were dating, but now they hate each other. It was weird and it made her feel odd. But she keeps watching.

The mood suddenly changed when both Jaune and Ruby pulled out their guns, however, they weren't aiming at each other. Soon enough, a swarm of Demons ambushed them, causing both of them to form an unofficial alliance to fight off all the various demons.

During the shootout between them and the Pride Hells the two moved back to back for a defensive advantage. Seeing as they had time to kill, Jaune thought he should get to know this mystery girl he had allied himself with, "So tell me, what's your name?"

"I don't have a name," the crimsonette quickly replied, not wanting to get buddy-buddy with a demon.

"Uh… But that Raven chick said she named you Ruby earlier." Coco pointed out.

Not dissuaded in the slightest, Jaune continues to ask questions, "Oh, then what should I call you?"

"I don't care. Whatever you want," Ruby plainly replies, she would rather be focused on killing these Hell Prides than getting distracted by chit-chat.

Jaune laughs as he jumps over a group of incoming demons, then turns back to call out to the crimsonette, "Whatever Lady. I'll leave this to you. Because I don't want to miss the party."

"Lady? That's the best you could come up with?" Yang looked unimpressive.

"More concerned that he just ditched Ruby." Blake said, crossing her arms.

"She did shoot him in the head. Might not want to deal with her," Weiss reminded her team to which Blake nods her head in agreement.

Ruby scoffed, "Who counted on you anyway?"

With the red coat demon gone, she continues fighting against the Hells. The screen shows one of her bullet shells that fell to the ground, the ammunition being a '9. millimeter'

—

Jaune enters a gothic structured room, with a stage and all. He was left wondering where the gatekeeper of this room was until a cauldron of bats emerged in the room. They all form into one shape, which happens to look like an extremely attractive redhead with deathly pale skin and crimson eyes, who'd hair acted as a covering for her bare upper body.

Jaune has to admit, as far as demons went for deceiving their prey, this was new. He liked new things.

Nevan looks upon this new guest with great interest and hunger, "Hmm, welcome sir. Is this your first time here?"

"Yeah it is. You'll be nice to me won't you?" Jaune asked her, playing along with her game.

Ruby's eyes dimmed as she turned to Jaune and muttered out "Filth." Which left the Blonde confused.

"What do I do?" He asked but Ruby didn't answer him. What should I do?!" He asked her again but still received no answer.

Nevan laughs sweetly at her guests request, one that was intended to lower his guard, "Of course I will. I'll treat you so nicely, you'll never want to leave."

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Jaune says before drawing Rebellion, making his point clear to his hostess that he wasn't here for that kind of fun.

Nevan, now knowing her guest was not a typical desire driven human, concedes to play with him for a little while. She walks towards her stage until she looks back at her blonde guest, "Then come on, Sugar."

—

Nevan falls back in defeat, or would have had Jaune not catch her in his left arm, "My, you're sweet."

Thinking she has him fooled, Nevan tries lunging at Jaune's throat before feeling her abdomen being penetrated by a bullet from Ivory.

Jaune laughs, "You'd think so, wouldn't you?"

"Good job Jaune." Ruby cheered with a wide smile which left him even more confused as she was just mad at him a few seconds ago.

Nevan also laughed, already knowing she was beaten, having already decided that it would be much easier on herself if she would surrender to him, "Alright. I'll help you. Your father was a handsome devil, but you're no slouch yourself."

"Salem blinked at the she-devil's comment on her ex's looks. And frankly she didn't appreciate it. She wanted to make sure Ozpin never knew happiness with another woman and thankfully her… possibable son killed her.

After giving up her physical form, Nevan transformed into the Devil Arm "Nevan"... an demonic electric guitar.

While performing an amazing death metal solo, Jaune showcases "Nevan's" unique ability as both a demonic guitar and an electrified scythe. The end of his act ending in a shower of fireworks and sparks.

Ruby let out a shriek at Jaune's new weapon. "It's not fair! I want an electric scythe guitar she whines."

"He plays better on the guitar than he did at beacon though." Weiss said with a teasing smirk at Jaune, who stuck his tongue out at her.

—

Meanwhile, Ruby continues to fight against the Hell Prides, utilizing her full arsenal on them while she simultaneously reloads all her weapons throughout the fight. From her pistol to her Crescent Rose.

When all the Hell Prides had been slain, a falling pistol from the sky is caught by the crimsonette, who smiled at its return.

"Welcome back!" Ruby said.

After packing all of her things, she makes her way towards the next entrance, continuing towards her end goal.

—

Raven and Cinder make their way to the final door to their destination, their end goal within their grasp.

Raven expresses excitement to Cinder, having finally been so close to their goal, "Soon we will reach the lair of judgement. Temen-ni-gru will finally regain its full function and lead us into the Demon World. The world where Ozma's power has been sealed. And the one who will lift the incantation is you, his own daughter. It must be fate."

Before they enter the chamber, Raven looks to check back the way they came, Cinder stops walking concerned of the woman's actions.

"Does that woman really bother you?" Cinder asked Raven.

Raven looked at the brunette quizzically, "What are you talking about?"

Looking back at the older woman, Cinder made her thoughts clear, "Why didn't you kill her? Perhaps, because she is your niece? Did some pesky auntie love get in your way?"

"... Why didn't she kill Ruby?" Yang realized Cinder brought up a good point. Raven was fine killing herself but didn't kill Ruby when she got the chance. It was odd.

Raven immediately became defensive in her body language and tone, "That is none of your-"

Raven is cut off when Cinder impales her in the abdomen, causing her to drop her book. Her blood trickles down onto the surface of the book, the drops that landed vaguely reminiscent of the number '10.'

While looking at the wounded Raven, Cinder decided it was time that she shared some of her own background knowledge, relating to Raven specifically, "To further your study of the black arts, you sacrificed your loving daughter, to become a devil as well. Knowing this I thought you'd be more useful to me, but I was wrong. No wonder your attainment of power is incomplete."

"... I'm not surprised my sister did this all in the search of power" Qrow muttered.

Cinder was incredibly giddy on getting her revenge on Raven, Even though it was technically her, it was close enough and she bathed in the scene with great glee.

Raven coughed up some of her blood, trickling from her mouth, before she exchanged an enraged glare towards Cinder, "What about you? You're an incomplete being as well. Both demon and human blood mingle in your veins. You dare judge me, even after you abandoned your own infant child-"

Cinder forcibly removes Yamato from Raven abdomen, her face showing genuine anger, "Shut up. Now that the final door is open, I have no use for you."

Without another word or glance, Cinder left Raven to lie at the entrance of the door as the old woman bleeds out. She has already come this far in her quest for power, she will not allow another minute pass while she is kept away from her birthright.

Everyone in the theater went dead silent at the bombshell Raven had just dropped. No one said a word and they all slowly turned toward Cinder with widen eyes with the expectation of Salem who had a mixture of anger and disappointment on her face. Cinder only look at the floor shaking as the words finally sinked in for herself.

"I… have a child?" She whispered to her in disbelief.

[conspirwbytheorist-inactive]

STRQ Contrasts in V8

So, maybe I’m just letting my hopeless STRQ fan show, but I really hope that they’ll be using the Ruby/Yang disagreement/split/eventual resolution as a contrast to the one between Raven and Summer. Like, we haven’t gotten much confirmation on what split Team STRQ, but judging from the nuggets we’ve gotten (Raven’s “you sound just like your mother”, scraps of dialogue) I suspect it has something to do with the ideological differences between those two.

On the one hand you have Raven who (despite her lovely lectures) is very focused on the small scale. She left her family to go fight Salem in her own way, stealing Maiden powers and maybe trying to get a relic in some weird scheme to succeed where Ozpin failed. So long as she could argue she was making the “hard choices” to keep her family safe, she could rationalize just about anything (like abandoning them. Or killing a young woman for glowy eye magic). Heck, her entire semblance (Kindred Link) revolves entirely around letting her teleport directly to the people she loves to keep an eye on them. She doesn’t let go of people easily.

Summer, on the other hand, did about the exact opposite. We’re just now getting to see more of Summer, but from what we’ve been told (namely in the moments Ruby is compared to her), she was something of an idealist. She never gave up hope on defeating Salem no matter what it cost at a personal level. As she says to Ruby in “Red Like Roses Part II” as much as she loved her family they “[weren’t] the only one[s] who needed [her]”. No matter how much she cared for them, they were part of a much larger group of people that were counting on her to defeat Salem. So, in the end, she made the choice to confront Salem on her own, knowing full well it might hurt the people closest to her, because she felt it was necessary for the greater good.

Both Summer’s and Raven’s stories ended/devolved into tragedies because they both took their approach so far that they failed to see the importance of the other. Raven became so focused on immediate goals she failed to see how she was playing into Salem’s hands and Summer was so intent on the greater good that she failed to live her own life. Both stand as stark reminders that, in order to help people, you have to find a balance of both the immediate and long term goals. Going too far either way only serves to divide.

I don’t doubt that Team RWBY will get through this by the end of the Atlas arc, but with how Ruby and Yang are going right now, I think this might help them to process some of the unresolved pain around their mothers. Not to go “ah, I understand you and forgive you, you were totally justified”, but to personally experience what they were going through. To feel how tempting it is to pull apart under pressure and how difficult it is to trust when everything is falling apart and empathize with their decisions. Reach a point where they can go “you messed me up, I have anger, but I realize now that your decisions reflected your issues, not mine” and get the closure they need to do what their parents couldn’t: find balance and forge on.