A/N: Hello everyone, and Happy New Year's Eve/Day! I promised that I was going to write a RWBY fanfic with a New Year's theme around it, and here it is! This actually took more effort than I thought and I wrote it all today, so hopefully it came out well. Plus, 2014 words (excluding title)! C'mon, I want something for that! Anyways, enjoy! Feedback appreciated.
Solemn Night
"Hey, the snow stopped falling."
The silence that shrouded the evening at Beacon Academy was broken by the revelation and to hurried footsteps of two girls in jackets and sweatpants trying to get out of the cold.
"So it has. But I'm surprised, Weiss. I thought your family would like the cold" the other girl teased with a smirk. "Shut up, Blake. My name and where we live doesn't make me any less susceptible to the cold. Speaking of which…is it getting colder?" "Feels like it. Let's move." The two sprinted back to their dorm building across campus. They had been at the library all evening being productive, something that their partners would probably scoff at. Yang and Ruby were both more of the 'We'll get it done eventually' type. Makes sense. They are sisters, after all.
By the time they got back up to their floor, Blake let out a huge sigh and slumped against the wall, while Weiss was near out of breath and stumbled onto the floor, gasping. After a minute, Blake helped up a now normally breathing Weiss and the two made their way back towards their room at the end of the hall.
"Hey Weiss, you think those two are still up?" "Probably. It's 11:12. Way too early for the dunce and the oaf to turn off and be quiet for a few hours." "You mean sleeping, right?" Weiss nodded. Blake gave her a smirk. "We're the only sane ones on this team, aren't we?" "Compared to those two, yes. Yes we are." And with that Blake and Weiss laughed in one of those light moments the two shared together. The two more studious members of Team RWBY didn't have many light moments, but they savored it when they did. Neither had many happy memories from their childhoods, so anything was good for them, including teasing their partners behind their backs.
When they reached their door, Weiss was reaching for her key when Blake held Weiss' arm and motioned her to stop. "Let's try and see if they're still up or something" she whispered. Weiss gave her a funny look, but she understood. "You can hear through the door, right?" "Yeah, gimme a sec." Blake tried to listen in with her advanced Faunus hearing, but no sound was coming from inside the room. "I can't hear anything. Are they sleeping?" "Well, it's New Years' Eve. I don't think they went out anywhere tonight, since everything in Vale is closed today." "Only one way to find out." Blake motioned for Weiss to get her key. Weiss complied and opened the door slowly. What they saw was something they could've never expected.
The room was dark, save for one lit candle on the floor. Ruby was sitting on the floor, silently staring at the slowly moving flame. She was wearing her cape with the hood up. Weiss and Blake were silent as they were almost staring at Ruby. They didn't understand how she could be like this. Ruby was…sad? That didn't feel right.
"Guys. Hey, snap out of it."
Weiss and Blake withheld their screams as they jumped back in shock. Yang was standing in front of them, very tired-looking and tears present in her eyes. That didn't look right either. Blake spoke first. "Yang…are you okay? What's going on?" Yang sighed, looked back at Ruby for a second and motioned the others to go outside. Yang closed the door quietly behind them. She looked at her friends and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Yang?" asked Weiss in a calm voice. "Forgive me, but…this isn't like you. This isn't like Ruby. What…what's going on?" Weiss sealed it with a near-pleading look, something very few people saw from Weiss, let alone Yang or Blake. Yang saw that look and sighed again. "Okay. I'll tell you. But it's a personal thing, and don't tell Ruby I said this. Both of you. She hates it when people find this out. Okay?" The other girls nodded. Yang gave a small smile and cleared her throat. She wasn't sure how she was going to tell this story. It made her remember the pain too.
"Our mother was a huntress, and a good one at that. She was well-known throughout Remnant for her heroic deeds and such, slaying Grimm left and right like it was nothing to her. After some time, she kinda settled down with Dad and then Ruby and I showed up. We were a really happy family back when Ruby and I were kids. Dad made sure he worked hard for Mom, Ruby and me. The three of us would always find fun things to do. It was…it was a happier time…" Yang started crying softly. Blake moved in quickly to hug Yang. "Shh, Yang don't cry. We're here for you." "No, its okay…I, I'm fine, really…" Yang managed to say between sobs. Blake continued to hold Yang until she calmed down. Weiss could only look on with a pained expression. She was thinking about Ruby. How was she feeling about all of this? Weiss' mind wandered as she tried to understand Ruby's reaction to an event she fully didn't know yet.
"Ten years ago, today," Yang started. Weiss snapped out of her trance and looked back at Yang, with Blake moving back beside her. Yang paused. "Ten years ago, there was a major Grimm invasion within another part of Vale, and they were spreading fast. They had come towards the elevated shelter where we were staying at. Mom…she went out and defended us from the Grimm. Ruby and I watched her fight, even though Dad called for us to get back. We watched as she killed off one Grimm after another so easily. We didn't really get it, we just saw Mom being really cool, so we were pretty excited. Then…she, she was hit by a huge Beowolf or something, I don't remember. Before she could get up, they just…" Yang trailed off and went silent. Blake was stunned silent, and Weiss held back tears of her own. Again, Weiss' thoughts turned to Ruby. "You were seven, she was five. She…you…you both saw your mother…" Weiss tried to string together a sentence but couldn't. Yang nodded slowly. "I screamed when it happened. I knew. Ruby didn't. She couldn't have understood what had happened to Mom at that time. I grabbed her and ran. Ran as fast as I could so I could protect her. And I had to break it to her. I had to tell her that…that Mommy wasn't coming back. I couldn't tell her anything else, no reason. I was seven, what could I do? What else could I say? Mommy wasn't coming back. And she cried. She couldn't stop. She didn't stop for a long time…Weiss, what are you doing?"
Weiss had opened the door back into their dorm. Beyond the melting candle, Ruby sat there, as still as they had found her. "She does that every year, Weiss. Lights a candle every New Year's Eve and looks at it until it runs out. She told me it's her reminder to live life to the fullest and to be a good person every day. The candle represents that, I guess. The flame is life, and the melting wax is like a person's life, so…yeah, made sense to me when she told me." Yang looked back at Blake, who was standing behind Weiss. "It's why Ember Celica has fire rounds and stuff." Yang smiled, and Blake returned the favor. "Ruby's lucky to have you, you know." "I dunno about that…" Yang sheepishly admitted. Blake just put her hand on Yang's shoulder. For the so-called 'oaf', she was a great sister. The two looked back at Ruby and noticed that Weiss had silently sat down next to her, watching the candle like Ruby was. Both Yang and Blake took note of this and both smiled, Yang more so. "So the ice princess has a heart after all. I knew it was in there somewhere." Yang teased, trying to instill a moment of normalcy to the night. Weiss heard her, but she didn't react. Instead she focused on the candle and on Ruby, making sure she was okay.
Yang looked back at Blake. "One more thing I should tell you, since I think you'd like this: do you remember when we met? How Ruby would talk about all the fairy tales I used to read to her?" Blake looked back with some wonder in her eyes. "Of course. That seemed to shape Ruby into the girl she is now. But why bring that up?" Yang sighed again and looked back at Ruby. "Ruby was too young back then to know what Mom used to do for a living, or what she did the night she…" A pause. "Anyways, she wanted to know what Mom used to do. She wanted to know more about Mom. So I told her the truth; she was someone who fought monsters and protected people. The 'Huntress' term wouldn't have made sense. But she kept asking for examples and stuff. I was seven, how could I give her examples? I never experienced it, but I figured the books could explain it better than I could. So I read them to her at night. And she came to really love Mom from all the stories. She could connect all the heroic stuff the characters did to Mom and what she did. And…and I did too. That's why we're here, I guess." Yang looked at Blake to drive in the point. "Silly little kid's books are why we're here, risking our lives for the good of others simply because it's the right thing to do."
Blake was utterly speechless, and Weiss was looking up at the two now with tears falling down her face. She didn't know about the stories. Ruby managed to continue to tune everything out as continued to watch the candle slowly melt, with more than half of the wax in a pool on the hardwood floor. Weiss spoke up. "Yang…I never knew…any of this…I'm so sorry." She walked over to Yang and embraced her, tears still in her eyes. "You're an amazing sister." Yang returned the hug, not wanting to try and convince Weiss otherwise. Blake walked into the room and looked at Ruby, then at Weiss and Yang as they broke off the hug. "Everyone has a past. Everyone has felt pain. But each person's pain is their own to deal with and nobody should be treated differently for it. It's a marvel how we all keep ourselves together. Come to think of it, we all don't have the fondest memories of childhood, but now we're here. We can put this all behind us, and work towards our goal of helping others. We'll do it as a team, and I vow that we will, no matter what."
With that, Weiss and Yang entered the room, with Yang again shutting the door behind her. They all sat down around the candle and watched the flame quietly for a while, until Weiss looked at Ruby. "Ruby, your mom's proud of you, I know it." The other girls looked at Weiss with fear, since it might agitate Ruby. Ruby did nothing but shed a single tear. She buried her head between her legs and cried quietly. Weiss took notice. She knew what crying quietly sounded like, what it felt like, and thus wrapped her arms around Ruby and held her. Yang and Blake could do nothing but smile. They've all come a long way. The candle finally flickered out, the only light in the room shining from the moon. "Ruby, your resolution?" Yang inquired. "It's midnight. It's the New Year." Ruby stopped crying, looked up with an extremely confident smile and wiped the tears from her face. "Be a better person than last year, and to improve every day until I become a Huntress, just like Mom." Everyone smiled and nodded in unison. After that, Ruby looked up at the moon.
"Happy New Year Mom. I love you."