RWBY: MRRN

Volume 4, Chapter 4: Remembering the Past

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.

Author's Notes: I'd like to give a shoutout to several Fanfics I've been reading!

The Wanderer by Red Eyes Shadow Dragon

SLVR: A Beacon of Hope by DarkHero12

PALDN Volume One by PaladinofArgyle

Someone Special (Yang x Male Reader) by SlinkyDog

"Ruby!" Penny's voice cried out. "Help me!"

"Ruby!" Yang's voice followed. "How could you abandon me!? I thought we were sisters!"

Ruby woke up in near panic from her nightmare. It had become harder for her to sleep ever since she had left her home on Patch with Jaune, Ren and Nora. She had become tired, weary, and barely holding up against any Grimm they encountered.

Unable to get back to sleep, she got out of her sleeping bag and walked through the trees until she found a branch to sit on. She looked up at the shattered moon that orbited around Remnant, thinking of the past six months that had happened.

She wanted justice for those who died the night Beacon was attacked. The very first victim had been none other than Penny Polendina, an innocent and curious girl who had become Ruby's friend ever since the night at the docks. She remembered a conversation she had with her.

"Penny, how do you plan on coming to Beacon?" Ruby asked as she and Penny walked across the Beacon courtyard the day after Yang's and Weiss's match against Team FNKI.

"I'll talk things out with my father," she answered. "It may take some convincing, but I'm sure I can persuade to let me attend Beacon."

"Why is he so protective of you?" Ruby asked as they stopped near the CCT.

"He's afraid of people finding out…that I'm…not real," Penny answered as if ashamed of herself. "He's afraid of what could happen. I'm the first of my kind; a robotic being able to generate an Aura." Ruby put her hand on Penny's shoulder.

"You are real," she assured. "Don't ever forget that. You're real and you're my friend." Penny smiled as she touched Ruby's arm.

"Thank you, Ruby," she replied. "I'm glad to have you as my friend." The two of them hugged for several moments before two Atlesian soldiers approached them.

"Excuse me, but she needs to come with us," one of them said.

"I'm coming," Penny assured. She left with the soldiers, waving to the red hooded girl as she walked away.

"Penny," Ruby spoke, feeling a tear run down her cheek. "I could've saved you. I could've prevented this."

"Ruby?" Jaune asked, nearly making the girl shriek. When she saw it was her friend, she calmed down.

"Hey, Jaune," she replied.

"What are you doing up?" he asked her. "We need to get some sleep."

"I can't," Ruby replied solemnly, losing her welcoming smile. Jaune climbed up the tree to sit next to Ruby, though he struggled to maintain his balance at first, making Ruby laugh.

"It's about Beacon, isn't it?" he asked her. Ruby sighed and looked up to the moon as Jaune followed suite.

"She did all this," the reaper Huntress stated. "Cinder…" She tightened her fists in anger.

She, Mercury and Emerald had fooled her into thinking that they were friendly, genuine people. She offered them a smile whenever they crossed paths out of the pure kindness of her heart.

How did they repay her kindness? First, by framing her sister for apparently attacking Mercury Black unprovoked. Second, by setting up Pyrrha to kill Penny by ripping her to pieces. Third, by slashing out Robin's eyes, robbing him of his sight and his Semblance. Finally, by nearly killing Pyrrha and destroying so many lives that night, along with Adam Taurus and Nachtfel.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked as he cautiously reached his hand to touch her shoulder.

"How could they do this?" she asked. "How can they destroy so many lives and not care about the damage they cause? How could this happen?"

"They fooled all of us," the Arc reminded her. "You can't put that on yourself."

"That's not why I blame myself," the reaper responded. "If I had been faster, if I had stopped the match, then Penny would still be alive." More tears started to run down her cheeks as she remembered another memory.

"Yang!" Ruby cheered as she hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"I'm not," Yang responded. Ruby pulled away to see Yang's arm bandaged.

"What happened?" the scythe user asked. "Where's Weiss and Blake?" Yang tensed up a little after hearing Blake's name.

"Weiss's father came to Vale and forced her back to Atlas," she answered.

"Forced her?" Ruby asked.

"It's a mess, Ruby," the blonde brawler answered. "Everyone saw footage of Atlesian Knights and Paladins attacking Beacon and innocent civilians. Everyone's blaming Ironwood and Atlas for what happened that night. No one knows who to trust anymore."

"And Blake?" Ruby insisted on knowing. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know," Yang replied. Her expression changed from sadness to anger as she said "And I don't care."

"Yang, there has to be a reason why-"

"No, there doesn't!" Yang snapped. "Bad things just happen sometimes! This is one of them!" Ruby reached her hand out to touch Yang's shoulder.

"Yang, I know you're mad, but please, just calm down-"

"Do not tell me to calm down!" Yang barked, slapping Ruby's hand away. "Don't you get it, Ruby!? Our teammates are gone! Blake has abandoned us and Weiss's father will never let her leave Atlas! Team RWBY…is dead."

Ruby was shocked at Yang's behavior. She knew that the loss of her arm would definitely take a toll on her, but to see her so broken and willing to give into despair made Ruby feel like she was talking to a complete stranger.

"Yang, you can't possibly think that," the scythe user asked.

"I don't think it, Ruby, I know," her sister responded. "Grow up and accept it."

"Yang-"

"Just go," Yang interrupted, not wanting to talk to Ruby anymore. "You can do whatever you want; I don't care. Just get out."

Ruby's face said it all; shock and sadness. She had come here to try and help Yang and all she was doing was taking her anger out on her as if she was the one responsible for her condition. Yang looked over at Ruby; seeing that she was still here, she angrily gripped the sheets and her eyes turned red.

"Wake up, Ruby!" she shouted. "The world isn't black and white! This isn't a fairy tale where we all get our happy ending and dance into the sunset! This is reality! Stop being so naive and grow up; there is no more Team RWBY!"

Ruby finally walked out of Yang's room and closed the door behind her. She only walked a few steps before leaning against the wall and breaking into tears.

"I just wanted to help her," the reaper told Jaune. "She didn't…she didn't have to do that to me!"

"She's just angry right now," Jaune tried to assure her. "She needs time before she realizes that what she did was wrong."

"I…I honestly don't know," Ruby responded solemnly. "I've never seen Yang like that before. To see her like that…it breaks my heart." More tears caused by the pain started to swell in Ruby's eyes, prompting Jaune to reach over and hug her tightly as she cried into his shoulder.

As she did, Jaune thought about his own issues; Pyrrha wasn't with them. She had been the one to train him, the first to have faith in him as a Huntsman, even after learning about his fake transcripts, and the one who helped him have a chance with Weiss.

She wasn't with them; her injuries prevented her from doing so. He felt lost without her, not having her to guide and train him back in the days at Beacon. He wished she could've come with them, but he had to understand that she couldn't; at least, not yet.

These past months had taught him that she wouldn't always be there to be of aid to him. She wouldn't always be able to get his mind back on track nor help him get back on his feet if he lost faith in himself.

The two of them sat in the branch, hugging as they remembered the pains they were having to endure.

-0-

Nasser lit a cigarette after yet another battle with Grimm, losing two professional Huntsmen and four students. Goodwitch had tried to press them on, but they refused and took the time to rest from the seemingly endless fighting.

"You okay, Nasser?" Octavia asked her boyfriend as she sat next to him.

"No," he replied bluntly. "And honestly, no one here is. Goodwitch is just not listening; we're not machines. We can't fight forever without needing to rest and eat."

"You're not the only one," Octavia replied. "We thought staying here instead of going back to Shade would be helpful, but…"

"You're regretting your decision?" Goodwitch asked as she approached them.

"We've been fighting for months," Octavia replied. "You're working us like mules. We need time to rest and eat."

"Perhaps you don't understand," Goodwitch stated in an unusually hostile manner. "We have a mission to accomplish, so stop whining and do your job."

"Back off," Nasser threatened as he stood up; despite him being 5'9 and her being 6'5, making her look rather intimidating, he refused to back down.

"We've been fighting for you all these months and you're not cutting us any slack! We deserve to rest, so back off and leave us alone!" Goodwitch stood there, shocked at what she just heard. It was very rare for anyone to yell at her because of how strict and no-nonsense she was.

What happened next shocked everyone.

One moment, Nasser was standing up to Goodwitch; the next, his face was turned towards the ground, feeling a painful sting on his cheek. He looked up to see Goodwitch's riding crop in her hand and an angered expression on her face.

"You will know your place, Mr. Achdarr!" she warned. "I better not have to remind you again!"

"That was out of line!" Coco protested as she walked up to Goodwitch. "He's right! You've been making us fight for so long and we've barely had any time to rest. You can't keep doing this to us!"

"I will do what I must, Ms. Adel," Goodwitch stated. "We must retake Beacon; Ms. Scarlatina would agree with me." Coco activated her minigun and pointed it right at Goodwitch's stomach, prepared to blow her to hell.

"Don't you dare mention Velvet," she warned as if her voice belonged to one of a demon. "If you ever-"

"Coco," Yatsu calmed, putting his hand on her shoulder. Coco didn't even look at her teammate for several moments before deactivating her weapon and going to sit down.

"Leave me alone," Velvet pleaded on her first day at Beacon, feeling her ears being tugged by a bully.

"Shut up, Faunus bitch," the bully responded sadistically. Velvet finally pushed his arms and tried to walk off, but the bully wouldn't have it. He angrily grabbed Velvet's bunny ear and threw her into the mud.

"Stay down in the mud, where you belong," he growled. Velvet was about to get up, but was stopped when she felt a rock hit her face.

"I said stay down," the bully growled.

"Hey!" Coco shouted as she approached the scene. The bully's scowl changed from angry to flirtatious in a single instant.

"Hey, hot stuff," he greeted. "Damn, you've got a killer body."

"And you've got a crap attitude," she shot back. She walked over to help Velvet out of the mud, wiping most of it off.

"What are you doing?" the bully questioned. "Don't help her; she's a freak."

"And you're an asshole," Coco responded.

"What did you call me?" the bully asked in a threatening tone as he approached her.

"You heard me," Coco clarified. "You're an asshole."

She felt a sting on her cheek and her glasses thrown into the mud. She had just been slapped.

"You shouldn't have done that," Coco replied. She grabbed her bag and…smashed his manhood. As he groaned and wheezed in pain, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him into the mud just as two birds flew above him and pooped.

"Thanks," Velvet said to Coco.

"Sure thing," she replied. "No one deserves to be treated like that, human or Faunus."

"What about him?" the bunny Faunus asked. Coco waved her hand.

"He'll be fine," she assured. "Name's Coco. Coco Adel."

"Velvet Scarlatina," she replied shyly.

The two of them went on to become good friends, especially after they were put on the same team. The bully was eventually expelled when he and his teammates tried to brutalize them after Coco publicly turned down his advances, humiliating him, which he didn't like at all.

Coco's mind went back to that day, the day she met Velvet, her dearest friend. Despite their opposing personalities, they got along very well and always had each other's backs; Velvet had Coco's whenever she was hit on by some sleaze ball and Coco had Velvet's whenever she was bullied for her Faunus heritage.

Now she was gone, killed trying to defend the other students during the Fall of Beacon. She was her best friend out of everyone in Beacon…and she was still trying to come to terms with her passing. Her mind went back to months before.

"Today, we bury those who fell defending Beacon Academy," a priest stated. Many of the Beacon students and faculty were gathered in the seats in front of the memorial where the pictures of those lost were hung for everyone to see. Coco saw Velvet's picture in the middle, next to Medeia Iris.

"That night, we lost many friends and family," he went on. "We pray that their souls find peace and they may rest undisturbed."

As Velvet's casket was placed in her grave, Coco saw Velvet's parents weeping for the loss of their daughter. Coco wanted to walk over and comfort them, but she couldn't find the courage to do so. All she could do was place the flowers she had brought on her friend's grave.

"Goodbye, Velvet," Coco said, fighting the urge to break down. "You were the best friend I ever had."

"Coco?" Fox asked, snapping her back to reality. "What happened with Goodwitch earlier?"

"She had no right to mention Velvet," the fashionista replied. "No right at all." She felt Fox put his hand on her shoulder.

"We all miss her," he informed solemnly. "The truth is simple; she's gone. She's not coming back."

"I know," Coco replied rather harshly. "I…" She breathed heavily before looking down in anguish. "I wish I could've saved her."

"But the truth is, we didn't," Fox replied. "Instead, we'll have to live for her…because that's what she would want from us."

He was right. Velvet would want them to keep on living to become professional Huntsmen, just as Coco would want the same if she had been the one to fall that night.

-0-

Safirlas sat on her bed, constantly looking between her laptop…and Himmelkanten. Ever since the Fall of Beacon, she hadn't come close to picking it up. She couldn't, not without remembering the times she had with her teammates.

Medeia Iris, Rong Luse and Imamu Nyekundu were her closest friends from the years she spent at Haven Academy in Mistral. She looked forward to the time they'd spend together as official Huntsmen and Huntresses once they graduated.

Because of the Fall of Beacon, that dream was gone, nothing more than burned ashes. Nachtfel, the same monster who had nearly killed her brother, succeeded in brutally killing each of her teammates one by one. She would've lost her life as well if Glaucus hadn't arrived and fended Nachtfel off.

She was angry at herself. She was angry for wanting to blame Mathdon for the deaths of her teammates, so why did she?

"He was the one who insisted on that rescue mission," she thought. "If we had just stayed with everyone else…" She immediately cut off that thought.

"No, it's not his fault," she firmly stated. "We knew what we signed up for. We knew and..."

"Imamu, how many times do I have to tell you?" Rong scolded. "Stop flirting with all the beautiful young women here."

"Aww, that's mean," Imamu replied, faking offense.

"That last girl had a boyfriend," Safirlas spoke. "Do you really have no shame?"

"Stop being so high-strung," Imamu responded. "I didn't know she had a boyfriend." Safirlas groaned in frustration before turning to Medeia, who was looking out the open window with a pair of binoculars.

"Medeia…what are you doing?" Safirlas asked bluntly.

"Oh, looking at the men's changing room," Medeia replied. "The boys' fighting class has just finished. I can see the showers from here."

"You're spying on them?" the spear wielder scolded.

"What?" Medeia asked with a coy expression. "What's wrong with wanting to see hot boys?"

"Then look at me," Imamu offered, flexing his muscles.

"Pfft, you wish you were hot," Medeia dismissed. "Oooh, here they come~"

"Medeia," Safirlas groaned.

"Take a look," the leader of IRIS insisted as she shoved the binoculars into Safirlas's hands. Reluctantly and against all her better judgment, Safirlas used the binoculars.

"Hey, that's Bolin Hori," Saf caught. "Whoo! He's got muscles! Medeia, you're terrible."

"Excuse me, Mrs. Self-righteous, but you're the one looking," Imamu reminded her.

"Let me look," Medeia demanded as she took the binoculars back. "Oooh, so many abs. So many well-built male bodies."

"Hello?" Imamu called out. "Hot guy over here!"

"Where?" Medeia asked. "Unless you're being a friend and referring to Rong, I don't see a hot guy anywhere." Imamu groaned in frustration.

"Someone's coming in," Medeia alerted as she shared the binoculars with Safirlas. The two waited in anticipation as the door opened…to show someone who did not have a well-built male body.

"Professor Fern!?" they screamed in agony as they dropped the binoculars and closed the curtains.

"I'm blind!" Medeia cried in agony.

"We should've stopped!" Safirlas insisted. "Great, I can never get that out of my head now!" Rong and Imamu laughed at their misery from seeing a not well-built male body.

"Shut up, you twits!" Medeia demanded.

Safirlas laughed from the memory that ended in her being unable to shake that image out of her head whenever she saw that professor at Haven. That laughter quickly died when the reality of the situation sunk back in; she would never be able to share those memories again.

"Saf?" a voice asked, belonging to Corcra as she slowly opened the door.

"Hey, mom," she replied. Corcra entered the room and looked over at Himmelkanten, immediately noticing that it hadn't been touched due to the large amount of dust gathered around it.

"You haven't touched it at all?" she asked her daughter.

"I just can't," Safirlas replied. Corcra grabbed a chair and sat next to her daughter's bed.

"You can," she assured. "I've already suggested you go to counseling. Math's willing to do it, so why are you so against it?"

"Because I don't want to," Saf answered bluntly.

"Safirlas, you can't spend more time like this," Corcra told her. "I know you miss them, but this is getting ridiculous. You're barely doing anything around the house, you're not looking for ways to get past this-"

"Shut up!" Safirlas shouted, turning to her mother in anger. Corcra's gentle expression immediately switched to one of stern discipline.

"Watch your tone, young lady," she responded, not tolerating that from her. "This has gone on far enough. You need to move on and let go of the past. I'm offering you a good solution to that problem; instead of being open to it, you just keep turning it down and for what?"

"Because I don't want to," Saf repeated.

"No, that's not it," Corcra denied. "You're scared, scared to return to the world without your friends."

"Who wouldn't be?" the spear user barked. "They were my friends. Medeia, Rong and Imamu…they're gone, all of them. They're gone because of those monsters!"

"I miss them too, Safirlas," the guandao user told her. "But you're using this as a crutch not to return. You could've gone back to Haven and continued your training. Do you really think your friends would just want you to sit here and do nothing?"

"You barely knew them!" Saf barked.

"I said, watch your tone!" Corcra silenced her. "I came here to offer you comfort. But if you're so determined to not do anything, then I'm not giving you a choice anymore." Saf raised an eyebrow, confused by what her mother meant.

"You're going to counseling, whether you like it or not." Saf's eyes widened in anger.

"I told you-"

"And I'm telling you, I'm done watching you mope around, feeling sorry for yourself," Corcra interrupted. "I've lost friends during my years as a Huntress, friends I'd known for years. I cried, I mourned, I needed time…but I bounced back. Do you know why?" Safirlas didn't answer.

"Because for two reasons," Corcra stated. "First, because I knew they'd want me to keep going and not give up. They'd want me not to lose everything because I couldn't move past my pain. Second…because you and Math needed me. I needed to be there for you because Donovan wasn't."

"You don't understand!" Saf claimed.

"No, you don't understand!" Corcra refused to hear. "Your teammates knew what they were signing up for. They knew it and they accepted it. I will not let you sit around here any longer, doing nothing. You're going to counseling and, this time, you're not saying no anymore. You're going, even if I have to drag you there." Corcra stepped out of her chair and left her daughter's room.

Safirlas didn't want to return to the world of the Huntsmen, not without her friends. Ever since that night, she wanted to wake up and believe it was all just a horrible nightmare, but it wasn't.

They were gone. They were no longer there to help her as her friends and teammates. She had to accept it, no matter how painful it was.

"Why did this happen?" Safirlas wept. "Why couldn't they still be here?" They left too soon. That was the most obvious fact to her.