Chapter 2: The Dream Of The Butterfly

You fine readers have called out for more, and I, The Draigg, have listened! I've been looking forward to writing this, actually. It's interesting to give the RWBY characters a nice Zen pep-talk and see their reactions. It also being a crossover with Overwatch is more icing on the cake, really. So, without further ado, let's continue on with the adventures of our favorite omnic monk!

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Zenyatta was having a good day that day.

But what day wasn't good to him? Even when the odds were stacked against him, Zenyatta always looked past whatever adversity faced him and towards the beauty the world naturally had to offer. If he was caught in a firefight along Route 66, Zenyatta would make sure to admire the way centuries of erosion formed impressive rock structures. If Zenyatta paid a work-related visit to Hanamura, he'd try to immerse himself in what Genji himself saw and experienced in his youth.

Such was Zenyatta's view of the world.

However, opportunities to do so were getting narrower and narrower, between Soldier 76 trying to push Talon on the offensive, and some rather unpleasant chaffing between some of his fellow Overwatch colleagues. As it turned out, recruiting a motley crew of do-gooders and mercenaries to save the world didn't exactly lend itself to team cohesion. In that regard, it did pay off to shed his metal skin and traverse different layers of reality using his mind alone from time to time.

In that regard, Zenyatta decided to spend some quality meditation time in Remnant. Even his metal body could feel the radiating beauty of the lands that world contained, even if they were as deadly as they were majestic.

The only sounds that could be heard in Beacon Academy's botanical gardens at night were the babbling of the large decorative garden, and the light electric hum that sounded from Zenyatta's body.

The night around Beacon Academy was more often than not rather relaxed, despite the amount of teenagers wielding weapons designed to painfully rip things apart. Maybe it was due to that stressful life that students tended to go to sleep and stay asleep for quite a while.

Zenyatta leaned in closer to the plants near the fountain. Some stray beads of moisture had settled on the shrub's leaves, and reflected the moonlight brilliantly. Inside the bushes, he then noticed a rather pretty blue butterfly not moving, as if it was asleep.

"I bid you good rest, friend," Zenyatta said quietly to the butterfly. It must certainly be tired after spending a day gathering pollen and flying around lazily.

Hovering around the fountain, Zenyatta then craned his neck to take a good look at the moon. It was interesting how different it looked from Earth's moon, mainly because of how it managed to be broken but not have it constantly rain deadly meteors on the planet's surface. There was something truly interesting in how something so discordant could still be stable. Maybe that was something that the rest of his Overwatch associates would learn in due time.

However, as he looked downwards, Zenyatta noticed someone who was clearly having some issues. On a faraway bench sat a girl in a white dress, and from the way her shoulders were hunched over it looked like she was rather sad.

Zenyatta's metallic heart couldn't allow someone to suffer in silence alone. It wasn't right to let someone be sad and not offer some kind of assistance, in whatever form it may be needed. To that end, the omnic monk hovered his way towards the bench.

"Excuse me, miss," Zenyatta said to the girl, "I couldn't help but notice that you were sad."

"No, I'm fine—" the girl haughtily said, before turning around to look at Zenyatta. "What's your model number, unit?" she then coldly asked.

"Model number?" Zenyatta asked back to the girl.

"I can't believe someone lost an Atlesian Knight…" the girl muttered to herself. Then, directly to Zenyatta, "Tell me your model number so I can return you to your rightful owner."

"I am only owned by myself, miss," Zenyatta replied. He knew it was hard sometimes for humans to accept that Omnics were a free people, but he was sure that in time that everyone would accept that omnics needed to be judged by their character, not the fact that their bodies were metal.

"Do you have a malfunction?" the girl then asked, now sounding fairly annoyed.

"I am not broken in any way. But I cannot say the same of you, judging from the tears on your cheeks," observed Zenyatta. At that, the girl quickly blinked away the tears in her eyes and wiped away the streaks on her face.

"What does a robot like you know anyways…" the girl grumbled bitterly.

"I know that living is not as easy as it may seem to be, even when everything seems better on the outside," Zenyatta offered back.

That seemed to stun the girl into silence, since she dropped her eyes to look away from Zenyatta.

"I am Tekhartha Zenyatta. And who may you be?" Zenyatta gently asked.

"Weiss Schnee," the girl replied. "I'm sure you've heard of me."

Zenyatta hummed, "I take it your name carries some weight."

"I'm only the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company," Weiss said, with a mix of what sounded like pride and disgust.

"I see," Zenyatta replied. "Then what is an heiress doing outside, alone in a garden at night?"

"That's none of your business," spat Weiss, crossing her arms. "I don't see why I have to tell you anything, robot."

"If you had nothing to hide, then you would not be acting so defensive," rebutted Zenyatta. Again, that seemed to make Weiss take a slight pause.

"Shut up!" Weiss then hissed. "I don't have to tell a tin can like you anything! Now go away!"

Zenyatta couldn't help but feel sad for this girl. She was clearly upset, and was using disparaging slurs against him. He knew well enough that epithets like that were only words to hide a person's fears of what they did not understand. Holding out his Orb of Harmony, Zenyatta began to emanate an aura of warm radiance from his golden ball.

"What're you—" Weiss began to demand to know, before she felt very relaxed. The light coming from that orb made her feel like she was wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day, or feeling of a refreshing sea breeze coming from the beach. "Doing…"

"Are you feeling better now?" Zenyatta politely asked, then putting the orb away.

"Y-yeah," Weiss admitted, still amazed at that golden light. Did that robot have some kind of calming Aura power?

"Now, what is troubling you, Miss Schnee?" Zenyatta then lightly asked.

Weiss sighed. She had a rough day that day, and it really did seem like her feelings had started to betray her. Despite having all the money and goods that she could ever want, Weiss still wanted something that couldn't come easily.

"I… I'm having a rough day," Weiss admitted. "I slept in, I didn't study enough for today's test, that stupid Team JNPR tried to start a food fight, Ruby didn't want to spend time with me…"

Weiss flinched at the mention of Ruby. She had no intention of bringing up her partner, it just slipped out when she was listing her complaints about the day. It was too personal of a subject to bring up with a strange, weirdly calming robot.

Zenyatta nodded, noticing Weiss' reaction to mentioning Ruby. "Indeed, your day does sound rather stressful. But what of your associate, this Ruby person?"

Weiss fidgeted with the end of her ponytail. She couldn't believe she was laying out all of her emotions in front of this robot, but at that point she needed to get it out to somebody. "It… made me feel sad that she didn't want to spend time with me. I've really made an effort to be a better person, but… I don't know, I feel like maybe I'm letting her down. Maybe that's why she doesn't want to be around me."

"I see," Zenyatta said, gesturing for Weiss to continue talking.

"And if I'm letting down someone I… care about, then maybe I'm disappointing everyone else too. Nobody wants to be around a loser. Nobody wants to be around some bitchy heiress who can't live up to her full potential in the world. God, why can't I be the person that everyone wants me to be?!" Weiss finally cried. She hiccuped, valiantly struggling to hold back a flood of tears.

Zenyatta hovered over to Weiss' side and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Weiss didn't bother to swat it away, instead allowing Zenyatta to try and comfort her.

"You fear failure, and you fear losing people you care about," surmised Zenyatta.

"What tipped you off?" Weiss growled, angry at her tears. Damn it, a strong person wasn't supposed to cry in front of strangers! She was a strong heiress! But… why didn't she feel like one?

"Would you like to hear a dream I once had?" Zenyatta calmly asked.

Weiss let out a deep sigh. "What does that have to do with this?"

"I assure you, it will make sense in time," reassured Zenyatta, before continuing. "I once dreamt I was a butterfly. In this dream, I had wings, and I flew around nature without a care of the world. Every moment of my life as a butterfly, I felt as happy as could be. To feel the wind beneath my wings as I flew around was most exciting, and I thought that things could not be better than what I experienced in my dream."

"Do robots even dream?"

"Indeed they do. But when I woke up from my dream, I was not sad that it was over. I know of many people who would love to live as that butterfly, and would give up anything to live that life. But, I know that the life of a butterfly is not my life. I am just a mere Omnic, not an insect that flies around and gathers pollen. I did not try to seek out and live a life I knew that was not my own. Instead, I resolved to live as myself, rather than something I think I would rather be."

"What's your point, robot?" Weiss asked, not fully understanding the robot's point.

"The lesson is that you should not try to be something you think you should be. It is best in your life to develop the way you see fit. If you try to live up to what you think others think of you, then you are only going to invite despair into your life. It is good, however, that you see the need to improve yourself for the sake of someone you care about. That is very mature for someone your age. If you try to change yourself because you feel it is important, instead of for the sake of an image to society, then you will attain peace of mind and body."

Weiss was enraptured by Zenyatta's words. He… was right. He was totally right. If Weiss was ever going to have a close relationship with Ruby, then she would need to be the best Weiss she could be for herself, rather than try to juggle the roles that she thought society wanted her to be. And once she was the best Weiss for Ruby, then she could be the best Weiss for everyone. It all made so much sense!

Picking up her head, Weiss said to Zenyatta, "That's very wise of you to say, robo—Zenyatta. Do you do this often? You know… programmed to give advice?"

If Zenyatta had the ability to smile, he would have done so in a heartbeat. "The world is filled with too much despair and grief, weighing down people's hearts. I am simply doing what is right for those feeling unease."

"Thanks for that, then," Weiss said, genuinely thankful for Zenyatta's wisdom. "Oh, and don't worry, I won't call you in for asset recovery."

"And I must thank you for that, Miss Schnee," Zenyatta replied. It wasn't that he could be captured, as he was merely projecting himself on this plane, but the gesture was certainly appreciated.

Weiss' slight smile dropped as she put on a stronger, more serious face. "Now go, before I change my mind," she then said.

Zenyatta could tell that she didn't mean it, judging from her body language. It was pretty clear that Weiss was saying that to try and save some face. Still, now that he was done here, Zenyatta could afford to move on. He was probably needed back at Watchpoint Gibraltar, anyways.

"I do hope we can meet again, Miss Schnee," Zenyatta said, as he waved goodbye to Weiss while hovering away.

"Same here," quietly agreed Weiss.

Once Zenyatta disappeared back into the gardens, Weiss stood up from the bench and started to head towards the dormitories. She would need her rest if she was going to start living for herself.

And, Weiss secretly hoped, maybe she would dream of butterflies.

XXX

And there you have it! I'm really glad to be continuing this story. I feel it has plenty of potential. Plus, after writing stuff filled with darkness and despair, it's nice to write a story filled with positive messages without some kind of catch to it. It's certainly a feeling I could be used to. And I hope that all of you like it as well!

Until next time, I'm The Draigg, and I'll be seeing you around!