The Aftermath

Just me! For those of you who don't know me I write a few other RWBY fanfictions. After I was done crying my eyes out after the season finale I decided to start a new one! So here it is!

NOTE: I edited a hole bunch because of some gaping plot holes so give it another read if that kind of stuff bothers you.

The school was in ruins. Weiss had never felt like this before. So…empty. Like no amount of things mattered now that Beacon was gone.

Winter had left. Her Father had tried and make her leave too but she had outright refused. She wouldn't abandon her friends now. She picked her way around the heaps of broken stone to the air pad were the last few ships were leaving. Sun was holding up an unconscious Yang as everyone else limped through the metal doors. Jaune was still in the city.

Everyone was numb.

Losing Penny was the first blow.

Seeing Yang…..

Many Hunters were missing. This had been a loss of epic proportions. The Dust ship made a stop in the safe zone of Vale. Jaune met them there. He didn't even speak. Everyone was numb.

Ruby and Pyrrha were missing. After the flash of light on top of the tower everyone was told to evacuate. They weren't sure what had happened. They huddled with the other Hunters to wait for the news. Nearly an hour of waiting in the dusty air and Qrow appeared as if out of thin air, holding Ruby. She looked fine but she was as unconscious as her sister. He didn't speak either. A word with the pilot of one of the planes and he returned to the huddled group.

"I'm taking Yang and Ruby home, Taiyang will want them back after…this."

"Let me come." Weiss jumped out. "I want to help I want to do- something."

"You should be with your family." he gave her almost a look of distaste.

"They left. I told them I wanted to help my friends so, they left me." she raised her chin a little, refusing to let him know she was equally as ashamed of her family.

He paused before finally nodding. "Alright, you can come. I'll need the help anyways." He turned to the rest of the group. "Will you all be okay?"

They all nodded mutely, except for Jaune. He had sat down and stared at the ground. Unmoving and unblinking. After making Ren and Nora promise to watch after him, they headed out. Weiss handled Ruby because she was smaller and uninjured. She laid her on the bottom of the plane and held her head in her lap. Qrow pulled out bandages from the first aid kit and starting wrapping up Yang's severed arm a little more carefully.

Weiss hated to look at it. It was so unlike the Yang she was used to seeing. It was a reminder that they had failed.

She dozed off somewhere on the ride over, leaned against the closed door of the plane. Qrow shook her shoulder gently. "We're close, help me get Ruby."

After Qrow carefully placed the small Huntress in Weiss's arms, he took up Yang in his own. After they landed, they walked up to a beautiful house that stood in the woods. A man with blonde hair stood at the door, looking like he had the weight of the world on him.

He hurriedly rushed them in and showed them to the girls' rooms. Weiss changed Ruby into some comfortable pajamas while the men were dealing with Yang, nestling her in her bed. She had no idea what had happened on that tower, but she knew it was a miracle Ruby was laying here.

"I'm glad you're okay, Ruby." She smiled and smoothed down the covers over her friend. She walked over to the other bed in the room and sat down, slipping out of her shoes.

Qrow and Taiyang walked in a little while later. They checked on Ruby and asked if anything had happened. Weiss shook her head.

Ruby's Dad gave a strained smile. "I'm Ruby's Father, Taiyang. I've heard much about you, Weiss. I'm sorry we had to meet like this." He gave a pause and tried to collect himself. "I am- thank you for watching over her."

"She's my partner." Weiss said simply.

"There's a room down the hall if you want your privacy."

"No thank you, I'll stay in here with her if it's okay. Just for tonight."

"Of course. I'm in the room downstairs if you need anything. You are welcome to borrow some of Ruby's clothes if you need some. I know she won't mind."

"I can message my sister; she should send my stuff over. Whatever wasn't at Beacon…" she trailed off.

Taiyang smiled apologetically. "No rush, you're more than welcome to stay as long as you need."

"Thank you."

He nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Qrow behind.

"Ruby might be a little confused when she wakes up. It's important we don't overload her with what happened. We don't know what she will remember."

"Was she on the tower? With Pyrrha?"

Qrow looked at the ground. "Yeah, yeah she was. But Pyrrha….she didn't make it Weiss. Cinder was just too strong."

Weiss felt a hole burn into her chest. For the first time in a long time tears stung her eyes. But she remembered herself at the last second. She sat up straight and pressed her hands in her lap. She couldn't speak but just nodded her head.

"I'll leave you alone now. If you need anything, or if she wakes up, you call us."

She nodded again as he left, shutting the door. She changed into some pajamas of Ruby's. She started an emotionless email before she remembered the CCT tower was down and it was useless. She lay her useless scroll on the bed next to her and laid down. Only then did the tears begin to flow.

It was nighttime again when she woke up. Her eyes glanced around the room and she saw Taiyang tending to Ruby with his back to her. She strained to hear what his soft voice was saying, but the soothing tones lulled her back into the blissful blackness. It was morning when she felt someone lightly shake her shoulder. Taiyang was smiling down on her with a breakfast tray.

"Morning. Thought you might be hungry."

"Thank you. What time is it?" she sat up and he placed the tray over her lap before returning to his seat by Ruby's bedside.

"Almost ten. You slept all day yesterday but I figured you needed your rest."

She occupied herself with spreading jam on her toast. She took one bite but it tasted like sawdust. After that she couldn't bring herself to eat any more. "How is Yang?"

"She's still out too. You all have been through a lot."

"Is she…?"

"She'll make it. There's going to be a lot of adjustment for everyone here for a while."

She moved the food around on her plate to make it looked like she'd had something. She politely pushed the tray away from her. "Thank you for breakfast, sir."

"Sure. I'll be downstairs if you need me." he took the tray from her and left the room, closing the door behind him.

She got up and decided on a shower. It was probably the longest she'd ever had. She sat scrubbing every follicle of dust and the mere idea of sweat from every inch of her. But no matter how hard she scrubbed she couldn't wipe the memory of that night out of her mind. She dressed in jeans and a t-shirt out of Ruby's closet before settling down on the window seat with a book. She desperately tried to focus on the details of the ancient weapon techniques the pictures and passages were showing her but it was fruitless. She eventually took to just staring out of the window aimlessly.

Taiyang came in and told her dinner was ready but she told him she wasn't hungry. It wasn't a lie. She had never felt less like eating in her life. Night fell and she watched the moon slowly rise over the trees of the forest that surrounded their house. She leaned against the window frame and started to doze off.

The door opened, startling her awake. In the light from the hallway stood Qrow carrying a bowl. "Eat this." He whispered.

"I'm not hungry." She shook her head.

"I know, but you're going to eat it anyway." He shoved the bowl in her hands, almost spilling the soup inside. "You're a Schnee, I know you'll starve yourself before you'd admit you're not okay."

"I'm fine." She said hotly.

"Mhm." He looked over at his niece. "It's so hard to see them like this. They look so innocent and so…"

"Broken." Weiss finished. She didn't eat but she held the bowl close to her for warmth.

He nodded and stood there in silence for a while. He jerked as if coming out of a trance and his eyes darted to her. "Eat. You're no good to Ruby if you pass out too."

She huffed but when he left but she tried a few bites. She was sure it was delicious but it felt like sandpaper on her throat. Here she was all curled up eating a bowl of soup when Pyrrha was-

She ran into the bathroom and immediately threw up all she had just eaten. It burned coming up. Tears mixed in with the bile as she emptied her stomach. She flushed and cleaned up her face before returning to Ruby's room. She laid down, facing Ruby's sleeping form. She just needed to sit a little before she went and did something else. Anything else. She had never been so bored in her life but she couldn't find the will to do anything.

The next day was exactly like the day before, and the four days following. Weiss wouldn't leave Ruby's side for any reason, and she couldn't hold down any food. Taiyang began to worry about her as well as his daughters. One of the few things she'd managed to do was was write a letter to her sister, and a few days later a package arrived from Atlas. But even having her possessions didn't cheer her up. Her weapon lie on the corner, still dusty and scratched from the battle. She laid around in the same nightgown.

Every time someone came in she would sit up straight and respond to their questions, but it didn't fool them. She was suffering. Her face got a hollow look after a few days without food. The shadows under her eyes grew dark as the night.

Weiss hadn't meant to. She had needed to go to the bathroom and had seen the light under the door. She knew it was Yang's. She was the only other bedroom on the second floor. She quietly turned the knob and looked inside. Yang was awake, sitting up in her bed. Weiss meant to leave but Yang turned her head and their eyes met.

"Dad told me you were here."

"I couldn't leave you guys."

"Blake left." She spat out. "Sun watched her go. When you guys landed in Vale, she just left."

"We all went through a lot, Yang. She's probably just scared."

"I was there for her when she ran herself into the ground about Torchwick." She growled angrily. "And now that I need her-" her voice broke and she closed her eyes.

"Well I'm here, and she'll come around." Weiss moved to sit on the end of Yang's bed.

"Dad told me about Pyrrha." Yang looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Weiss nodded. "She's gone."

They sat in silence while tears fell silently down Yang's cheeks. Weiss was too good a friend to let her suffer alone. She scooted up on the bed and hugged Yang. Yang broke in Weiss's arms. Her tears flowed freely and she began to sob.

"It all went to hell so fast."

"It's over now." Weiss replied with a hollow voice.

"If I had gone. If I had gone up there I could have saved her. I could have saved Penny. I could have done something."

"Yang, we can't change the past." Weiss whispered. "What's done is done."

"We are supposed to be heroes!" Yang looked up with red eyes. "And we were helpless. We couldn't do a damn thing."

"We took out a lot of Grimm, we saved thousands of civilians. It wasn't for nothing Yang." She gulped before continuing. "Pyrrha didn't die for nothing."

"It sure seems like it!"

"How could you say that?" Weiss gasped, leaning away. "She was our friend!"

"And what did that get her? She's dead now! Just like Penny! Probably like everyone else that night that we will never know. That we didn't bother to even say hi to in the hallways. Because we weren't good enough, they died! Because I wasn't good enough." She looked down at her dilapidated arm in disgust. "And I'll never be any good anymore."

"That's not true. You're an amazing Huntress. Just because you got injured doesn't mean you aren't talented."

"I didn't sprain an ankle, Weiss, I lost my arm. That isn't something you recover from."

"There are great prosthetics, Yang. You've seen Hunters who have lost things and replaced them with whatever they want."

"It won't be the same." She almost whispered, looking down.

"Of course it won't be the same." Weiss snapped. "Nothing will ever be the same. Everyone lost things that night, Yang. We have to move on."

"And you're moving on? Qrow told me you haven't even been able to eat. You just stare out the window all day like a bump on a log."

"That's beside the point." She huffed. "We can't keep wallowing in the yesterdays."

"You tell me that when you see what happened that night." Her red eyes stung through Weiss now. "You tell me that when you go to protect a friend and she abandons you. You tell me that when you thought your sister was dead because you couldn't do a damn thing about it. You tell me to move on when we figure out what the hell happened that night. Penny is gone, so is Pyrrha. She was the best of us. If she was taken out like that, how long do you think I would last?"

The silence was too heavy. After a few seconds Yang nodded and slid down, pulling the covers over her chin. Weiss sighed before leaving, shutting off the light in hopes Yang would get some sleep. She knew very well neither of them would that night.

The screams. Those horrible screams. The Grimm's scent filling her nose. The dragon circling the tower. Then the bright light, blinding.

She woke up with a jolt, an exclamation of fear stuck in her throat. She was sitting in the living room laying in a chair. Qrow was holding a steaming mug out to her.

"Drink."

She deftly took the mug and sniffed it. "What is it?"

"You like tea, right?"

"Yeah." She said slowly, blowing to cool the tea down.

"So does your sister."

"How do you know so much about my sister?"

"Me and her go way back. Among other things, she is Ironwood's right hand. Me being so close to Ozpin crossed our paths more than a few times."

"You guys never..?" she raised her eyebrow. She'd heard the rumors.

"She wishes." he laughed.

"Gross." Weiss mumbled before taking a slow sip. It burned going down but it wasn't unpleasant.

"If you can hold that down maybe we can try some food."

She nodded sadly, staring into the amber liquid. "Is that why you drink so much?"

His eyes regarded her for a second before he nodded. "You saw one battle, lost a couple friends. I've seen hundreds, and lost too many to count."

Weiss was quiet, seeing his eyes slide into remembrance. It took a few seconds for him to come back again. "I heard your talk with Yang last night."

She blushed. "I didn't mean to be so harsh."

"Yang is going through a lot. She just needs time. But you didn't say anything she doesn't need to hear." He glanced around. "Don't tell Tai though. He would flip if he heard."

"Why?"

"He doesn't like anyone giving his daughter's a rough time."

"I wasn't being mean I just-"

He held up his hand. "I know. I'm just warning you. You're growing on him. Trust me, you don't want to get on his bad side."

"I'll keep it in mind." She gave a pitiful attempt at a smile before returning to the mug.

"Just try not to be so hard on Ruby."

She nodded and swallowed, loving the sear she felt as it slid down her throat. "I know. I just hope she's okay."

"She's a lot tougher than you'd think." He smiled before taking a swig from his flask. "It's nice to see you up and around."

"I figured I should get out of Ruby's room for a while."

"It's good for you. When you feel up to it we should probably try and take Yang out. All she does is stare out the window and feel sorry for herself."

"That's an awful thing to say." she said softly.

He held up his hands. "I'm not saying she's wrong. But she needs to move on. We need to figure out what that night was all about. We can't be sitting here like we are, wallowing in our self-pity. We have to make sure those lives given mean something. We need to take some action."

"We aren't ready for that." She felt weird talking to an adult like this, but it was hard seeing Qrow as an adult when he was drinking from his flask like it was a bottle. "Ruby's still out, it will be a while before Yang can fight again."

"And you?"

"Me?"

"You're not hurt. You're not sleeping. You're perfectly fine."

"I have to be here for Ruby."

"Do you? Or is Ruby here for you?"

"What are you implying?"

"I'm saying you're scared to get back out there. You're hiding out here because you know once you go back out there you'll have to cope with what happened."

"How dare you!"

He gave a mean chuckle. "You Schnees are all the same. You need to wake up, Princess. Just because you don't want to get out there doesn't mean people don't need you."

With furrowed eyebrows she slammed the mug on the coffee table. "I don't see you doing anything either."

"Because you've been in Ruby's room." He quipped back. "I've been very busy, trying to fill Ozpin's shoes."

"Making tea for students?"

"You're not a student, not anymore." He leaned closer to her. "Your headmaster is gone; your school is destroyed. You're nothing but half a Huntress with a bad attitude."

"I am not!" she stomped her bare foot and crossed her arms.

"Prove it."

"I will!"

She dashed up the stairs and grabbed Myrtenaster, charging through the house with it. Qrow was waiting for her on the front lawn, sipping from his flask. She held Myrtenaster out in a challenge. He didn't even take his own weapon out of its holster, just stood there with terrible posture. Fueled by anger, she dashed forward, delivering a quick series of swipes which he all dodged easily. She spun and launched at him from above but he stepped sideways and she slammed into the ground.

She rolled and tried to swipe his legs but he jumped, moving away from her. Her last move was to activate Myrtenaster's dust compartments but something jammed it and threw her off balance. Qrow shoved her and her own momentum propelled her into the ground into a painful ten-foot slide through dirt and tree roots. He took another swig from his flask before sauntering over.

"You done yet?"

"You wish!" she tried to get up but he stepped on Myrtenaster's blade, pinning her hand down.

"Don't bother. Just a week out of practice and you're pathetic. Your weapon isn't even ready. What if a horde of Grimm came charging through right now?"

"I'd fight them."

"And how long until they ate you?"

She huffed and he laughed.

"The way I see it, you got two options here. You can either go home to Daddy and beg his forgiveness, or you get back in shape and start doing some real work."

"I was doing real work!"

"What, at school? Those tests and quizzes? Those are nothing. You know your Grimm, that's all you need. The real school is out there." He pointed to the distant forest. "Out there is where the real lessons are. The ones about survival and speed. Where is you aren't fast enough, you're dead. Where you aren't skilled enough, you cause others to die."

She picked herself up, clutching her rapier in her hand so hard her knuckles showed white. "I'm not ready for that. We didn't eve graduate."

"You think you need a piece of paper to kill Grimm? You think the bad guys are going to spare you because you haven't graduated yet? Did Cinder spare Pyrrha because she was only a first year?"

Tears pricked her eyes at the name. "No."

"Exactly. If you don't start learning the real lessons now, you will all join her soon enough." He turned away and headed back into the house.

She looked down at her dirty nightgown, biting her lip. "Qrow?"

He didn't say anything, but stopped to take a swig.

"Pyrrha was the best of us. She was ten times better than me. If that happened to her, what chance do I have?"

"I see your little talk with Yang had some effect." He screwed the lid back on and tucked the silver canister in his coat. "All I can say is sometimes even the best of us fail. Sometimes the bad guys win and the good guys get killed. All you can do is try your best, and when the time comes; hope your death means something."