Chapter 4: Uncertainty.
For team RWBY, life back at Beacon was a welcome luxury. Though in truth the team had only been gone for a couple days, it still felt nice for the huntresses in training to be able to sleep in their warm beds without the fear of late night grim attacks or one of their team mates going missing again.
"Uh guys, wheres Yang?" Ruby sat up in bed half asleep rubbing one of eyes as the other looked toward the empty sheets across the room where her sister was supposed to be sleeping. Ruby looked around the room at her team mates. Blake slept quietly underneath Yang's bunk while Weiss slept under her own. Neither of them had heard Ruby's question.
Deciding not to disturb her teammates, Ruby quietly dropped down to the floor of the dorm room; her feet hitting the carpet below with a muffled thud. Ruby looked back toward the sound of a high pitched whine behind her as she landed. Zwei sat there on Weiss's pillow, just above her sleeping teammates head, snuggled against her white hair as he raised his head; intrigued with Ruby's sudden drop from the bunk bed above.
'Shhh", Ruby whispered as she pressed a finger against her lips, "Go back to bed Zwei, Im just going out for a bit." The dog tilted his head panting stupidly with an adorable look on his face before settling back down; his nose snuggled into Weiss's hair.
Ruby walked over to the doorway of the dorm; grabbing her red cloak and some shoes before quietly opening the door and shutting it behind her. Once outside the dorm, she slipped into her shoes before draping the cloak around herself. "Stealth mode!", she whispered gleefully, as she pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head before making her way out of the dorm building.
It didn't take very long for Ruby to decide where she should look first. In fact, she didn't even need to decide as she knew already where Yang would be. Ruby walked out just past the dormitories of Beacon to the small forest at the edge of the academy. Since the forest was still located within Vale's natural borders, it was free of any grim that might otherwise inhabit it. Students often would use the woods to practice their more lethal combat skills that were too dangerous to perform on school grounds.
After only a few yards into the thin forest, Ruby could hear the loud thuds of Yang's Ember Celica gauntlets. he followed the sound until she reached a large clearing. In the center of the clearing were several large boulders. Each one was riddled with hundreds of chipped edges, burn marks, and impact craters from students using them to hone their skills for combat.
The large stones were originally placed there by the Bacon staff to be used as a training ground for the students. Located in the center of the boulders was a thick rectangular block made entirely of dense metals. For the students who truly wanted to test their strength, the large monolith stood as the ultimate challenge. To even crack the structure was a feat in itself. In fact, in the many years the training ground existed, only four students had ever managed to break the structure completely; resulting in a new monolith being forged to take its place.
Yang stood facing the metal structure. Feet spread and arms in a ready stance, she stood with her eyes closed while focusing her breath. Ruby watched her sister. She always loved to watch her sister train. Yang was so much stronger than Ruby was and she supposed that's what she admired most about her. No matter how hard Yang was hit, she would just get back up and come back fighting stronger than before. Even her semblance reflected that personality of hers.
As Ruby secretly watched from beyond the tree line, Yang began focusing her aura. As she built up her energy, her long hair began to glow bright yellow until it finally burst into flame. As she reached the peak of her power, Yang's eyes burst open, revealing their now dark red color. A trail of ember flames trailed behind her as she thrust her body forward. Her first pulled back, she screamed at the top of her lungs as she pushed forward. Just before she could collide with the thick monolith, she thrust her fist forward with all her might. As her flaming fist hit the monolith, a loud crack sounded through the air as her Ember Celica shot forth an explosive round at the moment of impact.
Dust from the earth was thrown in all directions as Yang made contact with the monolith. Ruby's eyes squinted shut as dirt flew through the air; blinding her. Once the air cleared, she looked back to her sister to see the result of her attack. Yang stood against the monolith, her fist pressed hard against its surface. Yet despite all the power she had put into her attack, the monolith remained unfazed save for a large scorch mark spread across its surface.
Yang fell to ground, her knees hitting the hard dirt as she began punching the ground in frustration. Over and over she struck the earth, yelling as each punch sent an explosive round into the ground. She did this until her gauntlets finally ran out of ammo; forming a large crater around her. Out of ammo and exhausted, she propped her back against the unyielding monolith panting while she rested on the ground.
After a few minutes of watching this, Ruby stepped out from the shadows of the forest tree line. Without saying a word, Ruby walked to her sister; too exhausted to hear her approach, she nearly jumped when Ruby spoke.
"You're punch sure has gotten stronger Yang.", she said with a smile.
Yang looked up, surprised to see her sister out in the forest so late at night. "R-ruby," she began, "What are you doing here?"
Ruby turned and sat down next to her big sister against the monolith, "I was looking for you. I got worried when you weren't in your bed."
Yang held her head low, staring at the crater her punches had made into the earth, "How'd you know I'd be here?" she asked.
Ruby smiled as she leaned against her sister, pulling her cloak tighter around her pj's to block out the chill of the nighttime air. "Because the last time I disappeared in the middle of the night back home, it was caused I wanted to train. So...I just sort of figured you'd do the same thing," Ruby looked up at her sisters face. Yang looked back but looked away; a large frown on her face."
"I'm not strong enough," she said at last.
Ruby giggled, as she looked up at the monolith behind her. "Yeah, but I doubt even most of Beacon seniors could break this big'ol rock that easily."
"No," Yang interrupted. "That's not what I mean," Ruby sat up, looking at her sister. Something was different. The usually unyielding spirit her sister possessed seemed completely non-existent this night.
"What exactly do you mean?" ,Ruby asked.
Yang's fists clenched as she thought about events that had transpired only the previous day. "Back then," she began, "Back on the train. While you and Oobleck were taking care of the enemies on top of the train. Me and the others encountered that weird Neo girl of Torchwick's. The others went ahead to the next train car while I dealt with her, but,.." she paused, "No matter what I did. No matter what kind of attack I used. I couldn't land a single hit on that girl. She just stood there. The whole time, smiling. Like I was some sort of game to her."
Yang looked over at Ruby to see her drooling all over herself, "Mmmm….Neapolitan Ice Cream," she was chanting to herself.
"Ruby! This is serious!" Yang said.
Ruby shook her head, clearing her mind of the images of delicious ice cream. "I-I know it is." she began, "But so what? Sure, you got beat, and sure you might not be as strong as everyone we fight, but who cares. Isn't that precisely why we're at Beacon; to get stronger?"
"It's not just the train." answered Yang, "It's everything. When we fought the nevermore during our first day here, I couldn't make a single dent in it. It wasn't until you guy's formed a plan that we were able to take it down. When I fought the paladin mech, I was only able to destroy it because the rest of you had weakened it. Sure I made the final hit, but only after I got my ass kicked. My own semblance relies on me losing to my opponent. But against that girl on the train, I couldn't even do that."
Ruby sat quietly, thinking about everything Yang had told her. After a few seconds, she came up with the same answer that she always gave when people felt unsure of themselves. "Nope."
Yang pulled her legs up against her chest, holding them with her arms as she rested her chin her knees. "What's that supposed to mean?" she said bluntly.
"It means that you're wrong." Ruby replied. "Yang, you think that you can do everything yourself; that you can put yourself in harms way to protect others, but you're wrong Yang. Look at me, I was a complete mess until you and Uncle Crow helped me, " Ruby giggled, "I may have gotten stronger, but without Crescent Rose I can't even beat low ranking White Fang grunts. "Ruby looked at her sister, "That's why I have you. That's why we're a team. We cover each other's weakness so we don't have to do so alone."
Yang smiled. Ruby was right. Though every victory they had faced was not won by Yang herself, she was still a vital role within each one of those victories. "You know sis. Sometimes I forget how grown up you really are you know th-..." Yang felt something drop against her shoulder. She looked over to see that Ruby had fallen asleep. Her head resting on Yang's shoulder like a child up past their bedtime as she quietly snored.
Yang giggled to herself before she gently lifted up her sister in her arms and began carrying her back to their dorm. "You may be our leader Ruby, but you're still my little sister. And there's no way in hell that I'll never stop protecting you."
