Another year, come and gone. It's been up, it's been down, it's been weird. I meant to put this out as a completely different project with a completely different premise on Christmas Eve/Day buy well... you know... writer's block. *gags* Alas, I managed to finish this, brand new, with shiny bells and whistles and all, as a nice little New Years fic. Here's hoping y'all's enjoy it and have an absolutely wonderful 2016. I'm really thankful of Monty for making this wonderful universe and FNDM and everything, and as usual, Monty, This one's for you. Happy Holidays.
And so, another year had come, and another year was set to go, leaving with it a generous gift.
The thick blanket of snow was a welcome sight to many of the students of Beacon, for they knew that with the fresh snow came a cozy night with hot cocoa and friends, and a morning fraught with adventure and fun in the snow. The spectacle was beautiful to many, peaceful to others, and generally a welcome addition to the idyllic campus.
For Ruby, however, she had more on her mind than warm drinks and snowball fights. She walked down the corridor, past smiling students and twinkling lights, catching whiffs of gingerbread and chocolate wafting through the air. She smiled at her friends that waved to her, laughed as Nora tried to coax Jaune and Pyrrha under the mistletoe, and even (tried to) sang a few bars of 'Auld Lang Syne' with her suspiciously red-in-the-face and giddy friends from team CFVY. She smiled with them and shared in their joy, but eventually she bid them farewell and continued on, her strained smile slipping.
Snow whispered through the branches, a gentle breath of wind ushering it forth.
The world was largely at peace, save for a spot of red flitting through the monochrome forest, trailed by dissolving bodies of Grimm. Like the Reaper himself, Ruby's scythe would dart out and strongly discourage any Beowolves from coming any closer.
Eventually, the trees thinned, revealing the cliff that lay ahead.
A peaceful spot, Ruby observed, with the snow draped heavy over the smooth rock face, unmolested by any trace of human or Grimm activity, save for a a spot where the cover of snow abruptly peaked like a miniature hillock. Ruby plodded through the snow towards it, and knelt down besides it. She began to slowly clear the snow from the area, revealing a simple stone monument.
"Summer Rose, Thus Kindly I Scatter."
Ruby smiled sadly at the monument. It was strange, being so close and yet so far from Super Mom, baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters, but close here? It was close enough for Ruby, and sadly, the closest she would ever come anymore. But did it matter? It wasn't apparent, but deep down, Ruby knew. Summer was listening, smiling sadly back at her.
"Hey mom... It's me again. Things haven't been too different..." She looked downwards, suddenly finding the snow by her feet to be very interesting. But suddenly she perked up, a new light in her eyes. "But mom, guess what happened over Christmas? Guess guess guess guess!"
The tombstone offered no answer. Only the wind spoke whispered nothings in return.
Undeterred, Ruby continued beaming brightly. "We found Yang," she squeaked out, her voice pitched with excitement. "After all that happened with Mercury in the Coliseum and Ironwood taking her away and her breaking out and why am I telling you this, I already told you last time..." Her voice trailed off, and she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "But...yeah... Mom, I know I promised you I'd find her and bring her home. Uncle Qrow is trying his best too." She looked up again, the hopeful smile back on her face. "I won't stop trying to help her and find out what's been going on."
She didn't hear the two newcomers behind her, making their way silently to her.
Ruby continued, completely unaware, until one of the newcomers, dressed in black, laid a hand on her shoulder.
She screamed in surprise, throwing herself backwards, crashing into the other newcomer, who also cried out in shock. Ruby looked up to see-
"Blake? What are you doing here!? Don't scare me like that!" She pouted, looking up at her Faunus teammate, who was doubled over in laughter.
"Oh Ruby, I'm so-" Blake couldn't finish her sentence from laughing way too hard.
"Blake..." A smile crept back onto Ruby's face as she began to chuckle as well. "Hey, after you're done trying to kill your team leader... what were you guys doing out here?"
"Nora's been looking for us, she got CFVY and the rest of her team too."
"What for?"
"She's been concerned... concerned about how Ren's been lately, so she decided to get everybody together to look for him."
"But where's Weiss-"
Blake began to laugh again as the ground beneath Ruby began shake. Ruby squeaked in surprise and leapt away as a snow-covered, bedraggled, and very irritated Weiss Schnee rose from the spot from which she had thrown herself backwards onto.
"You dolt, you landed right on top of me!"
"Ahhhhh oops! Weiss I'm sorry!" The young huntress leapt into her partner's arms, staring up with large puppy eyes. Weiss simply sighed, and allowed herself a small, "whatever" smile.
"Blake, I blame you for scaring her half to death. And as for you..." Weiss looked down at Ruby with a mock stern expression as Ruby looked up with an excessively innocent expression and a small little 'hi'. "Don't you ever try and smother me ever again."
"I blame Blake." Ruby let go of Weiss and dropped lightly to the ground. "But guys... before we go, could... could I say goodbye to Mom again?"
Her friends smiled and backed off, allowing Ruby to say her goodbyes.
She knelt down once again by the memorial, brushing an errant drift of snow from it. "Happy New Year, Mom. I miss you. I know Yang misses you too. But I'll bring her back soon."
The RWB of Team RWBY made their way back from the cliff, through the darkened forest, as Blake led the way back towards... well... wherever Nora and everyone were.
"So... guys," Ruby quipped up, "Where's everyone?"
"We'll get there when we get there," Weiss groused. You asked us that five minutes ago.
"But are we close? It doesn't look like anybody's around or has been around in a wh-"
"Ruby."
"Sorry Weiss..."
The trio walked on a few more minutes in silence, until Ruby once again spoke up.
"Hey guys..."
"Ruby, if you say one more thing about-"
"Weiss, I don't think she was talking about being there yet," Blake interjected. "She doesn't look like she was going to."
And indeed, Ruby had stopped a few paces behind them, staring nervously at the ground. Weiss's expression softened a little at the sight of her partner.
"All right... what do you need, Ruby?"
"Weiss... it's about Yang... Do you really think we can bring her back?" She glanced up sadly at her teammates. "Everything's just been so weird lately and I don't know if anything's gonna be the same when she's back... I really hope everything'll be fine."
Weiss sighed sadly and stepped forwards and embraced her gently, patting her back reassuringly. "I miss her too, Ruby. We all do. We know where she is now, that's a start, and we have Qrow and JNPR and Blake who want her back. And me."
Blake stepped forwards as well, patting Ruby lightly on the shoulder. "Ruby, I promise you you'll be able to count on me. You can count on all of us."
Ruby looked up at her teammates, smiling warmly at her. In their smiles she saw sadness and loss, hurt and longing, but also, sparks, little tiny sparks of hope and happiness and a yearning to make things right.
"We're a team, right? Ruby, We'll always have your back." Blake gave her team leader a thumbs-up, which she gladly returned.
"We've got our fearless leader Ruby to guide us, don't we?" Weiss laughed, offering Ruby a hand. Taking it, Ruby allowed herself to be ushered gently forwards, deeper into the forest.
"Now come on, 'fearless leader', we've got Nora's little mission to do. Unless you're too scared to deal with her wrath," Weiss teased.
Ren walked through the snow, his footsteps a whisper in the vast expanse of forest. Not even the snowbirds cared to venture out tonight, and even the glowing red eyes he had seen flitting from tree to tree seemed oddly disinterested. But he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
He plodded on, as gusts of wind ruffled his hair and accosted his exposed face. Ahead, in the forest, the boy could spot disturbances in the snow. Kicked up snow here, disturbingly dark stains in the snow there, and shadows melting behind the trees at his approach. The Grimm ahead that he saw were nothing more than younglings that scattered at the mere sight of the young huntsman. Normally, the sites of tragedy would be fraught with danger, as widespread memories of fear and horror would bring the creatures of darkness in droves. Such was the case of Mountain Glenn. But here...
Only two people lived that could remember what had happened today seven years ago, two people to tie the negative energy to. It wasn't much for the Grimm to thrive on, and for that, Ren was grateful.
After a while, the trees thinned, and eventually disappeared, only to be replaced by mounds in the snow. Ren stopped, looking out at the drifts ahead of him. The largest were about three times as tall as he was on average, and the smaller ones tended to reach up to his shoulder, he noted. Most of them had hints of metal or wood protruding from them. Ren made his way to a longer drift, and stopping by its side, brushed away a layer of snow, to reveal faded black letters on a pale yellow backdrop.
"...Duquette Local School District..."
He felt sick.
Ren backed away from the towering snow drift, and continued eastwards, into the forest of towering snowy monoliths.
Eventually he turned right on to a flat patch of snow flanked by more of the mountains of snow. Halfway down the stretch, he turned to face one, and approached it. This one had a large piece of wood protruding from the snow before it.
But he didn't need the marker to remind him.
Ren stared at the snow mound before him, trying to imagine what lay within the blanket of snow. In his mind's eye he remembered a small, yet cozy house, with dustings of white on the roof, blinking lights dancing in the window, and a young boy and girl flying gaily out the front door to play in the snow, while a dark haired man laughed heartily with a red haired one in the doorway.
But before him, stood a mound of snow, smothering his past like the tomb he knew it was. Part of him hated it, hated it so for hiding from him what he truly desired.
The other part of him thanked the snow for hiding the ugly truth.
From his backpack Ren pulled a lotus blossom, setting it gingerly in the snow before his childhood home, closed his eyes momentarily in prayer, and continued up the buried street.
He made it only so far before he stumbled over something in the snow. Looking back, he pushed through the snow and noticed something dark in his trail of footsteps. Moving to pick it up, he saw it was a decently rusted metal mailbox, with words printed on the side.
"V-A-L-K-Y-R-I-E..."
He looked to his left. The once welcoming home that used to house his best friend was nothing more than kindling under the snow. Again, he closed his eyes, tried to imagine life before it all came. Pausing again to lay a lotus blossom before the mound of snow, he closed his eyes in prayer again.
Something rustled in the trees above.
Ren turned immediately towards the disturbance, slowly puling Stormflower from his sleeves.
That something rustled again.
He raised his weapons, preparing to fire-
"Crrrrrrraw! Crrrrrrrrraw!"
Wait, was that-
He lowered the guns and stared in disbelief as Nora Valkyrie dropped down from the trees above, landing with a thud in the snow.
"Nora…why? I told you I wanted to be alone today."
Nora crossed her arms, a scowl plastered on her face.
"Ren, you've wanted to be alone for the last couple weeks. You've been quite a jerk to me, Jaune and Pyrrha, and everyone else. Seriously, Ruby's been asking me 'where's Ren, where's Ren' for the last couple weeks and we're all wondering what's been up with you and we just want you to come home and be all right and frankly I just want my old Renny back." She punctuated the last sentence with an angry stomp, sending white powder fluttering up around her.
"Nora, please-"
"Nora, please WHAT? Please stop caring about you? Ren," she groused, cutting him off, "you've not been yourself. You love Thanksgiving and turkey and Christmas and everything but you didnt even bother to show up and now its New Years Eve and you're out alone and sad and cold out here and forgetting about us... It scares me, I know this is hard on you but Ren…" Tears were beginning to roll down her cheeks.
Ren looked down at the ground for a long moment. "They're gone because of me."
"Renny," she whimpered. "Don't blame yourself, nobody knew the Grimm would follow us back. I don't blame you."
"Nora," Ren began, but was cut off when she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"I don't blame you. I don't blame any of it on anyone. I don't wanna worry about it anymore. I just want my old Renny back, the one who made pancakes and joked around and built pillow forts with me and the team, I miss the Renny I could talk to and make jokes with…"
Taken aback by the sudden hug, Ren took a moment to return it. Words came to him, words left him, but they never stayed long enough to convey the thoughts and waves of emotion stampeding through his head like wild animals. Confused, scared, sad, angry, hurt all melded together into a storm front of screaming madness, crashing into him like a storm upon the cliffs, throwing him around like driftwood. But Nora's embrace, along with the scent of syrup and burnt pancakes and flowers reached down to him like a rope trailed from a ship, beckoning to toss in the waves in the company of others, high and dry, instead of being tossed, twirled, drowning, falling, sinking…
He looked at his partner, her eyes brimming with tears. And this was his fault. His fault he had left them, locked himself away and moved on. And truly, the saddest part of moving on was the people that one left behind…
But moving on? Moving on spoke of transcendence, going forwards to bigger and better. What was bigger and better in the ghosts of the past?
To move on was to look forwards to better things in one's life.
But at the same time, he knew the past was of his doing, he felt it deep down, he never wanted it to come to pass but no, that voice that would whisper daggers in his ear…
Did he deserve bigger and better?
Maybe so, maybe not, maybe it wasn't up to him to decide, maybe it was some weird roll of the dice that determined this and that. But anything bigger and better wouldn't be the bigger and better if he let it pass, would it?
He couldn't fix his home. He couldn't bring back Ba, he couldn't bring back Ma, he couldn't bring back Mr. and Mrs. Valkyrie…
But he could bring back Ren, right?
And the way he had been, moving through life as a ghost, living only to slave through schoolwork and venture back to the woods, probably would have had yielded the same result that having died seven years ago would.
All she had left was him.
"All right, Nora, let's go home."
She smiled at him, one he hadn't seen in ages, well, not since he began to do whatever the hell he had been doing for the last however long. It was refreshing, a nice change of pace from solitude and-
"GAAAH-"
Ren spun around in surprise as something in the trees above snapped, sending a bundle of black, white, and blonde smashing into the snow.
He turned to Nora, a bemused look on his face. "You…brought Jaune?"
The grin on Nora's face widened, as around him, Ren heard soft little thuds in the snow, as he looked around to see more of his friends dropping considerably more gracefully from the trees. There was Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Blake Belladonna of Team RWBY (RWB, considering present events) Velvet Scarlatina and Coco Adel of CFVY, and Pyrrha Nikos, of their own team. They helped Jaune up from his sprawled position in the snow and made their way slowly up to Ren, all smiling brightly.
It was Ruby who spoke first. "Well, see, it was kinda Nora's idea to find you, but well we saw her going and we didn't know what she was doing, but we found out she was going to find you and stop you from being… well… Blake-y." That last comment earned her an eye roll and a soft punch in the shoulder by her teammate.
"Ren," she continued, we've all seen how you've been lately. We all want you back. It's New Year's Eve, and we were gonna watch the fireworks from the hillside… and I guess there's room for one more." She grinned hopefully at him.
"So how about it?" Nora leaned forward to grasp his hands. "We've really all missed you, and we don't wanna end the year on a bad note."
Ren slowly looked around, at all of his friends smiling encouragingly at him, with nothing but warmth in their eyes.
"Of course."
Wrapping his fingers around her hands, her eyes awash with tears of a happier sort, Ren stepped forwards with his friends, out of the forest, back home.
The night was clear and cold, with the stars twinkling like coins above, the stalwart green glow of Beacon's clocktower standing as a sentinel on the cliffs, protecting the city of Vale that lay below.
As his friends chattered on around him, he stared out into the world, with a smile on his face and Nora clinging to him for warmth.
Of course, the ghosts of the past weren't things to be laid to rest overnight. Little voices still hissed at him, grabbed at him, wanting to drag him back into the depths of the night.
But louder, happier voices shouted over the smaller ones, talking of pancakes and a new year to come and Crescent Roses and snow, drowning out those that wished to usher him back into darkness, pushing them away to parts unknown.
Sometimes, you would want to be all alone, away from the world, away from all that hurt, safe and quiet in your own little world. Sometimes, the world was just too mean and dark and scary for you at the moment. Sometimes it was too sad and blue and all you could see before you was a black hole, with no options or ways out.
But sometimes, you just couldn't afford to be alone.
Sometimes, there would be simply too much for you to sit alone, things too bright and wonderfully sparkly and loud for you to ignore and let slip through your fingers. Sometimes you could look into that black hole and find that one little spark, and watch it grow and expand and shine, and when it exploded into being you would find yourself surrounded by love and happiness and all the pretty happy things in life that wanted to hug you and tell you that it was all right. Sometimes, yes, the world was a scary place. But here, upon the hillside, surrounded by his partner and teammates and friends looking down upon the world at its happiest and most hopeful, with Nora's hand in his, Ren knew that all of the time, even in the darkest of nights, there would be that one spark to ignite the poisonous clouds of sadness around him into a firestorm of warmth.
And I could appreciate that, he mused, as the bells rang and the first fireworks of the new year split the sky above Beacon in a glorious drumroll of color.
Keep moving forward.
Hearing that quote from Monty all the time...it keeps me going. Its always resonated with me.
I've not had the best of years, I've been hounded by this and that and this and everything until I wanted to shut down.
I took small comfort in watching Roosterteeth/AH videos, just smiling at a bunch of doofs who wanted to get together and have a good time, making videos about a couple idiots in a box canyon, and so forth. Life was pretty suck at that time, but at least I had the AH/RT guys.
I wanted to take a look at RWBY to see all the hype and such. Sadly at the time I picked up RWBY, Monty had already moved on. I didn't know much about him at the time, and I was definitely intrigued by his works, so I decided to do a little research on him.
Needles to say, I was blown away at his works, his ideas and relationships and his hopes and desires, but seeing Monty's work ethic, all the little aphorisms he had said throughout the years. But "keep moving forward." Monty had definitely struggled through thick and thin during his life. He never stopped pushing through it. He kept moving forward. He worked his hardest, surrounded himself in love and friendship and the labors of his love, and gave the world his best.
Thank you, Monty. You've created something wonderful that's made millions of people smile. Watching you as you went gave me something to learn from, a little mantra that reminded me of all the possibilities ahead, gave me new strength to keep on going.
Some day soon, I'll get the chance to meet you. And I'll really get the chance to thank you.
But for now, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, Monty.
Happy Holidays to all my wonderful readers as well.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, to all my readers, the new friends this year who helped me with my work, and everyone in the FNDM for being awesome.
Cheers,
i-Pie.