So then, here we are at Christmas Eve. This is kinda my version of a present for all of you who like my RWBY stories. See you next year.
"Weiss!" - Regular Speech
'Dolt!' - Thoughts
-{Sis!}- Radio/Scroll communications.
Chapter 2: Flickering Sparks
The Next Day
Headmaster's Office, Beacon Academy
Ozpin drank his coffee and gazed out at the view that his office, at the top of Beacon's Tower, offered him. It was moments of peace like this that constantly reminded him of why he had become the Headmaster of Beacon in the first place; to ensure that the peace they had earned after the Great War eighty years ago did not shatter.
Alas, these moments never seemed to last as a beeping noise on his desk alerted him to the fact that Glynda and the rest of Beacon's Professors were ready for the morning meeting.
With a sigh, Ozpin placed his cup onto the desk and pressed a button that told Glynda to come in. The doors at the end of the room opened and Glynda Goodwitch led the other professors in. Tall, stern, unflinching, loyal and utterly professional in all things, she was the ideal person to act as his deputy.
Behind her, Bartholomew Oobleck was taking frequent sips of coffee as he rapidly talked to Peter Port, who was talking just as enthusiastically, if not as rapidly, as his peer. Ozpin knew most students regarded Oobleck and Port as something of a joke, but they were, appearances and eccentricities to one side, highly skilled Hunters that he trusted with his life.
Taking up the rear was Professor Peach, her face drawn as she had been staying up late for the last week thanks to the fallout of the attempted poisoning of Ruby Rose. The number for forms needed to relegate evidence under an airtight seal thanks to the Black Eleven Protocols was excessive, to say the least. Especially if it was to do with the Individual Eleven.
The other professors trailed in behind them and Ozpin settled in for the meeting, which was the usual start-of-week nonsense about problem students. Most prominent among these were Team CRDL, the first year team. Cardin Winchester, the leader, was especially vicious against any Faunus students.
He dearly wished to do something about the thuggish boy, but knew that some people couldn't change. Cardin was one of those people. What was little known by the general public was that people who were full of such petty hatred, spite and malice such as Mr Winchester rarely made it through a year post-graduation before suffering mishaps in the field, victims of their own arrogance and stupidity.
"…and to conclude, the representatives of Shade, Atlas and Haven Academies will be arriving here within the next week." Glynda ended the meeting with this announcement, "Ensure that all students are aware to represent Beacon with integrity and honour for the duration of their visit. Emphasis the is Team CRDL especially, as foreign Faunus might not care about who Cardin's father is long enough to pull their punches."
The Winchester family was a producer of, frankly, substandard weaponry (by the standards of the Hunter Corps) used by civilian game hunters and criminals, which earned him quite the profit, feeding the arrogant man's sense of self-worth, as well as his son's.
"Glynda, Bartholomew, Peter, Peach." Ozpin said as the meeting broke up, "Could you remain behind? There are some additional issues to discuss between us."
Once the other teachers had departed and the doors closed, Ozpin came right to the point. "How has Team RWBY been in the last week?"
"Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna have been acting as bodyguards for Miss Rose." Glynda replied, "They rarely let her out of their sight, even during class. Miss Schnee especially seems…ardent…in her desire to protect Miss Rose. She frequently glares at Mr Winchester to make him back away from Miss Rose."
"I've seen the same in my class." Port agreed.
"Indeed." Oobleck nodded.
"What of Miss Xiao Long? One would have thought she would be the most ardent to be at her sister's defence." Ozpin asked curiously.
"She does…when she is awake." Glynda sighed, "Apparently, she's suffering from night terrors; she keeps seeing Miss Rose…dying in all sorts of unpleasant ways. She's been listless and frequently sleeps during non-combat classes. Miss Schnee has put forward a request to have a councillor assigned to her so she can have this problem mitigated."
"So she realises that this isn't going to go away anytime soon." Ozpin nodded. Trauma such as what Yang Xiao Long had suffered wouldn't fade away without the one thing that healed all things, time. She had healed when the initial incident had happened years ago, and she would heal in time in this instance as well.
"I must say, I am glad that Miss Schnee has become such a team player." Port boomed bombastically, "I had a talk with her at the start of term, when she was…less than enthusiastic about your choice in leader for Team RWBY. She seems to have come around nicely."
"Indeed." Bartholomew said with a rapid nod, "It is unfortunate that it took this whole poisoning incident to draw it out of her. Bad business that."
"The way Miss Schnee was raised has something to do with it." Ozpin sighed before refilling his cup with fresh coffee, "Her father, Schwarz, is a tin god in his own household, with her mother, Whitney, mostly acting as a trophy wife. Winter was away in the military most of her teenaged years and her brother Whitley is…unscrupulous, to say the least. She was alone most of her life, aside from mingling with the Atlesian high-society, which doubtless gave her poor impressions about humans in general. You know how cutthroat nobles can be."
"She couldn't risk showing herself to be human because it has led to her getting hurt in the past." Port nodded.
"Let us not forget about the fact she has apparently memorised the names and signs of all of the deadliest poisons on Remnant." Glynda reminded her colleagues, "She's been under threat from her father's business rivals long before the White Fang turned violent, which undoubtedly made things worse."
"Speaking of, what about her relationship with ex-Agent Shadowcat?" Oobleck asked, using Blake's old codename among the Hunter Corps when she was active with the Faunus Rights group.
"There was tension between them, but the incident at the docks defused most of it." Ozpin replied and looked slightly forlorn, "I just wish I could convince Blake to stop wearing that bow of hers."
Glynda snorted. "As long as people like Cardin Winchester are around, she'll never take it off at Beacon, Ozpin. I've seen the way she looks at him and his team; fear and a great deal of smouldering anger dwell within her eyes for bigots. She's been hurt badly by humans in the past; I'm shocked that she can stand to be around us."
He hated it when his deputy was right about something like this.
"What about Miss Rose? She has been working hard in my classes." Port asked, unsubtly changing the subject.
"And in mine." Oobleck said.
"She's still barred from any combat activities, even sparring, for the next week." Glynda replied, "From what I've been able to tell, she's been spending them in the Forge or her Dorm room."
"She is making thank-you gifts for those who helped to save her life; namely her teammates and JNPR." The headmaster nodded sagely, "Miss Rose is fond of weaponry and other apparel, so she will no doubt be building devices to make their careers as Hunters easier. I gave her access to some items of information that she required to build them, ad a free run at the materials by way of an apology for failing in my charge to protect her."
"Speaking of Miss Rose, has there been any sign of Roman Torchwick?" Peach spoke up for the first time, "I'd dearly like to rake him over the coals for what he did to her."
"As would we all, Peach." Ozpin assured her, "Sadly he seems to have decided to lay low after his two failed attempts on Miss Rose's life. There have been no signs of him since before last week."
"I must say that it is unlike you to allow this man to evade capture as long as he has, Ozpin." Port said with a concerned look on his face.
"Sadly, that is because the Vytal Festival is almost upon us, Peter." Ozpin said with a shudder, "So much fuss and feathers, regardless of the fact it is in a good cause. Unfortunately, that means that James will be here…and a trusted source of mine in Atlas has informed me that he's bringing most of the Atlesian Air Fleet with him."
"King's Rook?" Glynda asked.
Ozpin nodded. "She has also informed me that the White Fang sent an assassin after her the other day…the one known as the Black Fang."
The faces of the other people in the room stiffened at that. The Black Fang was the most infamous assassin in the White Fang, the one who had kidnapped and murdered several members of the Schnee Dust Company's Board of Directors from inside their fortress-like homes surrounded by Atlesian Knights and SDC Security Troops. No one knew who he or she was.
"The Black Fang, otherwise known as a panther-Faunus called Gayle Quinn, is now in custody, missing an arm." Ozpin said with a smile, "Apparently she had an intangibility Semblance called Ghostwalker. She couldn't be seen by the naked eye or on camera and she could walk through walls and even phase through attacks below a certain level of Aura-enhancement."
"She evidently wasn't ready to deal with King's Rook." Oobleck smirked.
"Quite." Ozpin agreed, "King's Rook is currently engaged in watching Schwarz Schnee to ensure he doesn't violate the agreement I have with him, so I suspect that the Black Fang's target was actually Schwarz; King's Rook was just to be eliminated so as to remove a potential witness to his kidnap and murder."
"So the arrogant so-and-so actually owes you one, even if he doesn't know it!" Port brayed with laughter, "Ah-ha! That will stick in his craw once he finds out about it."
"Yes, well, sadly it prompted King's Rook to request to be Castled once again." Ozpin said with a frown, "She isn't eager to be near Schwarz after what she believes he did to her."
"I don't blame her." Glynda huffed, "Just talking to the man over the CCT makes me feel the urge to take a shower afterwards."
Later
Beacon Academy Forge Area
For one of the few times in her life, Ruby wasn't wearing her red cloak. Instead, she wore a red leather apron as she beat at the piece of metal on the anvil, shaping it to how she desired.
This was something she understood well. No having to deal with people's overblown egos, no worrying about hurting others, no having to play nice just to be polite. Just her, her Aura and the metal on the forge.
Yang liked to joke that she was a weapons nut, and Ruby agreed with that assessment of herself, but there was more to it than that. The weapons and armour of a Hunter or Huntress could tell you a lot about the wielder. Take Pyrrha Nikos' weapons, Milo and Akouo̱ for example. The first was a javelin/sword/rifle that was immensely complex, more so than even Ruby's sweetheart, Crescent Rose. The fact that the Invincible Girl could flawlessly shift between the three forms told Ruby how adaptable Pyrrha was, as well as how hard she trained in order to master such a complex weapon.
The shield, Akouo̱, was a very good shield, but it also had a razor-sharp edge that allowed its wielder to use it as an offensive weapon thanks to her Semblance, Polarity. It spoke of how she could think outside the box in a fight and how she could fight unpredictably, even for a Huntress.
Ruby had studied the fighting styles of all of her year mates, but especially the members of her own team and JNPR, since they worked so closely and so well together. This helped when she thought about how to thank JNPR and her teammates for helping her so much. Ruby wasn't a domestic person. She was still growing, so she was a bit clumsy outside of combat and just about the only cooking skill she had mastered was baking cookies.
She was not going to give Nora more reason to be hyperactive!
Elsewhere, Ren had a sudden urge to be thankful to Ruby for some reason.
So then, what to do to thank her friends for saving her life and supporting her? She immediately turned to her obsession and decided to make them accessories for their combat styles.
She had finished her gifts for Yang, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Ren and Nora, and was just putting the final touches to Pyrrha's gift. Normally, she'd insist that a Hunter (or Huntress) should forge their own equipment to better bond with it, but as that would be entirely beside the point for this, she had used her stealth skills to sneak into JNPR's dorm room and acquire several strands of hair from each of them. Her own team had been far easier.
When she had been learning how to make Crescent Rose, she had devoured volume after volume on weapon forging techniques. One of them dealt with dealing with how to link a weapon to someone without the recipient being involved in the forging process. By adding hair, blood or something else belonging to the recipient at the very end of the shaping process and adding her Aura to it, the weapon would be linked to the recipient rather than to her.
Well, it would still be slightly linked to her, but mostly to the intended recipient.
Grabbing the tongs, Ruby lifted the cherry-red metal off of the anvil and thrust it into the stone basin of ice-cold water nearby, causing steam to rise up and the water to bubble. Holding it there until it was fully cool, the brunette eased it out and carefully laid it beside its mate.
She grinned. Not for the hard part; finding a way to give them to her friends.
RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBY
The Next Day, After Classes
Team RWBY Dorm Room
"OK Rubles…what's got you so excited?" Yang asked, eying her little sister warily. When Ruby got excited, it was usually to do with weapons, cookies or a new book.
The blond was sitting at her desk, actually doing her homework for once, while Ruby was using her Semblance to flit around the room almost non-stop for the past half an hour.
"Nothing~!" Ruby sang smugly, making the blond brawler's eyebrows twitch.
"Where's the Ice Queen and Blake anyway?" Yang asked instead of trying (and failing) to grab her irksome sister.
"Weiss is helping a teacher prepare a lecture on rare dust and Blake's gone off to the library to change out her books." Ruby replied as she flitted over to stand next to her older sister, "They ought to be back soon."
"Could ya sit down until they do get here? 'Cause you're giving me a headache zooming all over the place like that." The blond girl asked.
"Sorry sis." Ruby apologised as she sat down at her own desk, "I've got to finish an assignment for my leadership class anyway."
The room fell silent as the sisters worked on their assignments in peace, the silence only broken by the sound of pen on paper and the occasional frustrated sound that they made as they came to a part of their assignment that they had trouble with.
So it was something as a shock to Weiss, when she walked in fifteen minutes later, to see the Rose/Xiao Long sisters working on their schoolwork without her nagging them to death about it. Blake, coming up a step behind her, blinked slowly like a cat as she beheld this same sight.
"Weiss!" Ruby yelped as she spotted her partner. She crashed into the whitette and hugged her, making the pale-skinned girl flush adorably as she tried to extricate herself from her enthusiastic partner's embrace.
"Get off me you dolt!" Weiss scolded her, although Blake and Yang could see that she didn't really mean it. The SDC Heiress had mellowed slightly towards them, but had greatly mellowed (by Weiss' standards) towards Ruby ever since she had almost been killed the previous week.
It was, Yang reflected at the White Rose pair squabbled, somewhat bittersweet to see Ruby being able to stand up to someone as intimidating as Weiss, especially considering how the cape-wearing girl had jumped into Yang's arms in fright the second time they had met.
Once Weiss at last convinced Ruby to let her go, the brunette zipped across to JNPR's room and knocked on the door, which was answered by Jaune. Before the blond leader could say anything, his head was dinged by a thrown bowl, dropping him to the ground with a yelp. A mad cackling laugh emerged from behind him that was all too easy to recognise.
"Nora!" Ren complained in the background.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha came up and knelt next to her leader in concern.
"I'm OK…" the blond boy essayed dizzily, "Ow, my head…"
"Umm…did I knock at a bad time?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. Jaune was wearing his fluffy onesie pyjamas, while Pyrrha was wearing her combat armour, which was good for Ruby's intentions.
"No, Nora just covered Jaune in syrup…again." The redhead frowned in displeasure.
"He liked eating it!" Nora called.
"He could have drowned in it, Nora!"
"Umm…doesn't he have clothes other than his PJ's?" Ruby asked, eying the abominable onesie with scant favour. Yes, it looked cute…on a little boy, but Jaune was no little boy.
"As long as Nora stops throwing syrup around…then yes." Pyrrha looked pointedly at the hyperactive orangette, who pouted.
"Oh pooh."
"In that case, can you guys come over to our dorm once Jaune's in proper clothes?" Ruby smiled happily.
"Sure." The older girl raised an eyebrow at the silver-eyed girl, "What's up?"
"You'll see~!" Ruby said as she skipped back to her dorm.
"What's with Ruby? She's…acting a bit like Nora." Jaune said as he staggered to his feet, wincing at the pain on the back of his head.
"Nah. I'm cooler!"
Five Minutes Later
"So we're all here." Yang eyed Ruby carefully, "So spill. What's got you more wound up than normal?"
"Um…" Ruby took in the circle of friends around her and smiled timidly. She hated crowds, but these were her friends. Still, having them surround her was a bit intimidating, "I wanted to, y'know…say thanks again for what you guys did for me last week…saving my life and all that."
"Thanks are not necessary, Ruby." Pyrrha said seriously, "You are our friend and as such we were glad to be of assistance."
That earned her nods around the room.
"Still, I am grateful, so I kinda wanted to show it." Ruby smiled, "Soooooo….I spent my time all this week in the forges making stuff for all of you. Hope you like 'em!"
With that, she zipped over to her backpack and took out some messily wrapped presents and handed them out to their intended recipients. They were colour coded so there was no mistaking who they were intended for. Weiss' was a light blue with a white ribbon, Yang's was yellow, Blake's was black with a white ribbon, Jaune's was brown and dark yellow, Nora's was pink, Ren's was dark green and Pyrrha's was crimson red.
"Ruby, we can't accept gifts!" Jaune protested, then gulped as Ruby unleashed a devastating attack; the Rose Puppy Dog Pout (© Summer and Ruby Rose) that looked devastatingly cute on the girl. He instantly felt guilty, even though he knew she was doing this deliberately.
JNPR had never been hit with this before and even the Invincible Girl felt her resolve not to accept the present shrivel away. WBY looked on in amusement as the other team was OTK'd by their leader's specialty.
"Is it just me or is it satisfying to see people other than us crumble under that look?" Weiss whispered to Blake.
"It isn't just you." Blake whispered back. The two girls had been hit with that pout several times since the start of term and they had still not built up any resistance to it. Yang, by dint of being Ruby's sister, was all but immune to it by ease of long practice.
"So sis, who gets to open their gift first?" Yang asked easily. She had expected this from Ruby's secretive behaviour the last week or so.
"Weiss!" the brunette beamed at her partner, who flushed red before regaining control.
"Very well, I accept." She said and tugged at the ribbon on her gift, finding out that despite its rough appearance, the ribbon had been tied so that a strong enough tug on it would make it unravel. The paper fell open to reveal a fabric and metal bracer. It was white, with Weiss' white emblem emblazoned on the forearm section. It looked as if it had been made by a master craftsman. It wasn't bulky or out of place with her combat outfit; rather it looked elegant.
"Oh…!" Weiss let out a soft voice as she held the bracer in her hand. She had never received a handcrafted present before, at least not one made by the person giving the gift.
"It's made for your right hand." Ruby said with a grin, "Try it on."
Trembling, the Schnee Heiress did so. It fit her hand like a glove. She flexed her fingers before clenching them into a fist. Almost no loss of dexterity. The metal was very lightweight, almost having no impact on how she moved her arm.
"That isn't the best part though. Check this out." Ruby said and pressed a hidden button in the centre of Weiss' palm that made three slots open up in the side and top of the metal forearm section, which then ejected thin Dust chambers.
"I could only put three, very small, chambers in it, but this way you have something to fight with, even if you somehow lose Myrtenaster." Her dolt of a partner was saying, somewhat nervously. "So do you like it?"
"Like it?" Weiss said quietly as she hit her palm again and watched as the Dust chambers closed. She examined the knuckle area of the glove and found that it had the emitter located there. "Ruby, this is good enough to be a handfasting gift in Atlesian high society. I love it. Thank you."
Ruby beamed at her partner happily. She had worked extra hard on that, even sneaking off at night to make sure it was in perfect condition. "OK, Blake next!"
The Cat Faunus smiled gently and unwrapped her present, which turned out to be simple by comparison; a replacement blade, muzzle and magazine for Gambol Shroud.
"I could tell that Gambol needed some upgrades, but honestly these can just be a backup if anything happens to the originals." Ruby confessed, "I'd have included another Aura-reactive ribbon, but the one you have is the best on the market even now."
"It's much appreciated, Ruby." Blake assured her, the black-haired girl's amber eyes suspiciously bright. She hadn't received a present since she had been a child and this present, to her, proved that Ruby found no weaknesses with her fighting style. Weiss' gift was an emergency fall-back for if she was disarmed, as well as an extra defensive measure. The fact that Ruby merely gave her improved versions of what she already had was an immense complement for her. "I'll have these put in as soon as possible."
Yang, not waiting for Ruby's permission, ripped her gift open and found two pairs of odd-looking circles.
"Ah, these are an upgrade for Ember Celica." Ruby rushed over to explain, "They'll let you carry double the amount of ammo, and you can even switch them around like this-" she demonstrated, "-so you can carry both regular shells and the Burn Shells that you like to use at the same time without having to reload. It will mean redesigning them to account for the extra space, but it'll be easy to do that."
"Go sis!" Yang cheered, grabbing Ruby into one of her infamous 'Yang Bear Hugs' that left Ruby begging for air.
Once Ruby was released and surreptitiously checked to make sure her ribs were still in one piece, she turned to Ren and nodded. The quiet boy deftly opened his own package to find new blades for his StormFlower submachine guns. He hefted them, feeling that they were far denser and heavier than the ones he currently had attached to his weapons.
"I noticed that you have trouble dealing with heavily armoured enemies." Ruby explained, "Hopefully, these will help. They're made of a dense tungsten alloy that I've treated with a diamond and Thunder Dust coating. It will be quite some time before they grow dull, especially if you channel your Aura into them."
The studious boy studied the gifts for a moment before inclining his head in Ruby's direction. "Thank you Ruby. This will help tremendously."
Nora, as excitable as ever, ripped her gift's paper apart to find a pair of bracers that were the same pink colour as her original ones. They also bore her emblem.
"Those are made of an electro-conductive metal that should give your Semblance a bit of a boost." Ruby told her, "They also have small batteries that can store electricity and release it for when your Aura level is low." Nora's Semblance, Thunder's Might, used electricity to stimulate her muscles, granting her super strength enough to allow her to wield the war hammer/grenade launcher Magnhild with ease.
"Cool!" the orangette put her new bracers on at once, admiring them before hugging Ruby in thanks.
"Uh…me now?" Jaune asked. At Ruby's nod, he opened the parcel, which was the largest out of all of them, to reveal a new set of armour of the same design he currently wore, but with his emblem on the shoulders. There were differences in the design; the new armour was custom made for his body, Ruby informed him, and was designed to be let out as he grew. It was also made of a better metal and was lighter than his old set. He nodded his gratitude to the brunette as he couldn't speak with happiness.
"My turn, I guess." Pyrrha said with a smile at an excited Ruby. She delicately undid the paper and gasped audibly by what lay within. A pair of intricately wrought gauntlets, identical in shape to the pair she wore at that moment.
"Try them on." Ruby suggested.
Hesitantly, she did so. They felt perfect, even more so than her old pair, which she had worn with pride in the Mistrallian Tournament Circuit. The one she wore on her left arm had the design of a rippling helix on it, bisected by a long bar, while the right one had a sword design upon it.
"Hit the wrist portions together." Ruby instructed her.
Confused, Pyrrha did so and was taken aback by the bar on the left gauntlet rising up and a shield formed from multiple segments cycled out, locking into place once the circle was complete. It was a mere parrying shield, but now if she lost her shield, she had a backup ready and waiting.
"Press the dagger." Ruby told her and this time Pyrrha had an idea of what would happen as she pressed it. It sprang up out of the slot it was in and extended into a short sword. The Invincible Girl automatically grabbed it and felt its weight. Perfectly balanced, although a bit light. It would do as a backup weapon.
"The final trick…well. Use your Semblance and you'll find out." Ruby said with a smirk.
Closing her eyes, Pyrrha extended her Polarity Semblance over her new gauntlets. They reacted to her, welcoming her warmly, or so it felt. She'd have to ask Ruby how she did that later. When she felt the final surprise Ruby talked about, she chuckled and activated them.
Two strips, each about two inches long and half an inch wide, fell off the sides of each of her gauntlets and whizzed through the air, sometimes spinning like helicopters and sometimes like arrows. Once she was done with them, she restored them to their original places.
"Ruby, this is…far more than I deserve." The crimson-haired girl said weakly as she opened her eyes.
"I value my life pretty highly, Pyrrha." Ruby retorted, "Especially since I couldn't even defend myself. You saved me…you all saved me, so please, accept my gifts. I want you to have them."
"If you're sure…" Pyrrha said uncertainly, stopping when Ruby nodded very firmly, "Then I accept with honour."
"How'd you get the measurements for these things, Ruby?" Jaune asked, gesturing at his new armour, Nora's bracers, Weiss' bracer and Pyrrha's armguards, "I don't think even you could measure them with sight alone."
"I actually did estimate them at first." Ruby admitted, "I wasn't off by more than a millimetre or so. Professor Ozpin let me have access to the details about your armour as a one-off bonus apology for…you know, the White Fang almost…well, I used that data. So there you have it."
"Have you constructed nothing for yourself?" Pyrrha asked, deftly changing the subject as Yang started to look sad at the reminder of what almost happened to her sister a week ago.
"Nope; my equipment's pretty much all good. I did do a couple of replacements on worn parts of Crescent Rose today though." Ruby replied with a shrug.
"Aside from the fact that you are all but helpless without Crescent Rose." Yang put in dryly.
"I've tried to learn how to fight barehanded from you; it didn't work." Ruby pouted. She had been thrown around for over two hours with no sign of improvement.
"Were you trying to learn Yang's style?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yup. Best hand-to-hand student at Signal." Yang nodded.
"That would be why she couldn't learn anything then." The Spartan said with a frown, "You have vastly different body types. Yang is built for strength and power while Ruby is built for speed. It must have been like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole."
The sisters looked at each other for a moment then shrugged in mutual agreement.
"Yeah, we figured that out after the first ten minutes," Ruby said with a sigh, "but Yang was getting extra credit for teaching a student hand-to-hand, so I stuck it out for the entire two-hours."
"Blake might be a better teacher for you. Or Ren." Pyrrha suggested, "Both of them favour fast styles that focus on rapid movement. With your Semblance, it would be a better fit for you."
Ruby blinked, then looked thoughtful.
"I'd be happy to teach you." Blake offered, and then amended her statement hastily when Weiss eyed her, "Once you've been cleared for combat class again."
"I would be happy to aid you in that." Ren said quietly.
"Awesome!" Ruby beamed. She loved Crescent Rose, but she knew, deep down, that she was weak without her weapon. The sniper-scythe was as much her confidence as it was her weapon and she relied on it mentally as well as physically. Holding Crescent Rose told her 'You are a Huntress-in-Training and not to be messed with.'
If she was taught how to fight without her weapon, she could hopefully become a better Huntress. Maybe even make her mother proud. She vaguely remembered the one time that a Beowolf had come to their house on the outskirts of the Patch settlement. Summer Rose had slapped the thing silly for 'daring to frighten her little rosebud and fiery sunshine' before breaking its neck with a single strike.
Granted, it had been a Midnight Beowolf, one of the weaker subspecies of the breed that didn't develop bone armour until they became Alphas, but still, it had been what had inspired Yang to use her fists as weapons. It was something that Ruby had wanted, but could never have because she was only good at using scythes.
Weiss clapped her hands twice to draw attention to her. "Right. Now that this is all done with, has everyone finished their homework?"
A groan made itself known from most of the occupants of the room.
RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBY
Next Chapter: Flame Alight
RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYRWBY