Embrace Your Dreams…
It had been some time since Ruby was able to visit this area. Between studies at Signal and Beacon, foiling Torchwhick's plans and training, Ruby never had the time to come here that often. She felt a shiver of sorrow pass through her at the thought of not visiting for so long. Busy or not, surely she could spare some time to come here every now and then.
Ruby was standing near the edge of a familiar snowy cliff. The cold air blew around her as a reminder of the long travel that she had to undertake to get here. The darkened sky above her providing the only source of light, with the cracked moon showcasing its crater in all its glory. In front of Ruby stood a lonely gravestone, the emblem of the Rose family displayed prominently with a few words underneath.
'Thus Kindly I Scatter.'
Ruby lowered her head in remembrance, her head covered by the hood that her mother had given her. The very same mother that was now resting in the grave before her. It had been a long time ago that Ruby had been given her distinctive red hood and cape, so long that it almost feels like another lifetime ago. However, no matter how long ago she had received her gift, Ruby wore the clothing with pride. It was the only thing that she had been given to remember her mother, so she made sure to treat it with the proper respect and pride that she guessed her mother had for her cape as well. Despite not remembering what she actually looked like, Ruby always remembered the stories her uncle Qrow and her farther would tell her about Summer – a kind, caring mother of two who slayed Grimm like nobody's business.
From all the stories she had been told, Ruby was inspired to be just like her mother. To be the person that cared about everyone under her guard, to protect them from the evil that existed in the world. To be the listening ear for when people cried out for help, be it from a physical attack or an emotional wound. To be the person to heal them when they couldn't bear their injuries anymore. It was an ambitious task to be sure, one that many would consider to be overwhelming, yet Ruby wanted to set the same example that her own mother had shown.
And yet, for such a huge responsibility, even Ruby needed someone to listen to her own problems.
With this in mind, Ruby had made her way to the grave of her dead mother, hoping that she could hear Ruby's problems, and to help heal her worries away.
"Hey mom." Ruby said to the quite grave. She knew that she would never get response back, yet she felt like just speaking to the grave would help carry her voice to her mother, no matter where she may be. "Sorry I took so long to come."
The young reaper shifted her weight on her feet. Despite not being their physically, she could almost feel the scolding glare Summer might give her for forgetting to visit. It was an unusual feeling, considering she was too young to even know what such a glare would look like. Nonetheless, Ruby had come here for a reason, one she intended to see through.
"Things have been really busy. Seems like ages ago since I last came here." Ruby continued, her unease gradually fading. "Signal's been great. Got to learn a bunch of cool moves from uncle Qrow, hanged out with the old gang. You know, the usual. That is, until I met Professor Ozpin. You see, there was this one time when I went to this dust store, and whilst I was reading this cool weapons magazine, the store was getting robbed by this crook called Roman Torchwick. I managed to stop the robbery, but he got away. I bet if it was you at the store, you would have totally beaten him and had him arrested."
Ruby smiled to herself, imagining what would have happened if Summer was in her place instead. "Anyway, Professor Ozpin allowed me to go to Beacon because of that. Now I'm a team leader, leading me, Yang, Weiss and Blake. Weiss is an heiress, or princess, I forget, to the Schnee Dust Company. She can get a bit crabby sometimes, but she means well. Oh, and Blake's a super cute cat Faunus who used to be in the White Fang. She's one of the good guys though; she left a long time ago. We're studying really hard, entering the Vytal tournament, even stopping the White Fang's evil plots."
Her smile slowly turned to a frown. "Their last plan though, almost succeeded. They opened up this huge hole in Central Vale, letting in all types of Grimm into the city. Everyone managed to beat them all, and we even arrested Torchwick. But, he escaped a couple of days ago. I thought I was 1 for 3 for my bad guy capture score, but with him escaping, it probably puts it back to 0 for 3." Ruby let out a slow, steady breath, trying to keep her composure together. "I bet, if you were still here, none of the bad things the White Fang are doing would happen."
Ruby closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears that she could feel breaking free. She wouldn't allow herself, a huntress-in-training, to cry in front of her own mother. "Why did you have to go? Why did you leave us? Why did you die?"
A single tear escaped from her closed eyelids "I just, want you to come back home, mom."
"You always were a weak-minded cry-baby." A malicious voice spoke.
The voice was definitely feminine, but also a dark, evil voice speaking at the same time. The two voices had spoken in perfect synchronization. In a heartbeat, Ruby's eyes shot wide open. What she saw before her, would probably scar her for life.
"Wh… what the..?"
Ruby shot upright, gasping for air. Her eyes were wide open and alert, looking around for any danger around her. Her breathing had quickened at some point before she woke up, as she was breathing at a rapid rate. Taking a few moments to survey her surroundings, she realised where she was – safe and sound within the comforting walls of her dorm, the small amount of lighting being provided by the moon outside.
As her breathing steadied, she turned to her left. Too distracted in her own thoughts, she had failed to notice, until now, Yang snoring away peacefully whilst Blake slept quietly in the bunk below her sister. If she were to guess, Weiss was also fast asleep in the bunk below herself. With a slight adjustment of her head, Ruby saw that Zwei was also fast asleep in his little basket.
"What a wild nightmare." Ruby muttered to herself. Despite having an early night, it seemed that she still managed to wake up far too early in the morning. Again. If this ended up like yesterday, then tomorrow was going to be even worse.
"I'm serious, Yang. Ruby has not been herself lately, have you at least tried talking to her?"
"Relax Weiss, it's only a phase she's going through. She'll be fine in a few days."
"She nearly killed herself in one day Yang. ONE day. Ruby has been like this since general Ironwood informed us about Torchwick's escape. Since then, Ruby has been sleep deprived. What if the two are connected? You know she likes being the hero from the books she reads, seeing that criminal escape must have been a shock to her."
"Or it all could be a coincidence. I mean, the other night she was up late looking for me whilst I was out letting off some stress. If she didn't sleep last night as well, it was probably because of all those cookies she had before she went to bed."
"I warned her not to eat them."
Blake sighed quietly to herself. Yang and Weiss have been having this argument between themselves since this morning, and it wasn't helping her whilst she read her latest book. Whenever Ruby wasn't present in the group, the two would argue about how to approach the concern that's been building over the last few days –Ruby's insomnia. The two both had valid points. Ruby had admitted to her on day one that she wanted to be the hero, like the ones from the books that Yang read to her growing up. To have been told that Roman Torchwick escaped from a holding cell, several hundred feet in the air in an Atlesian airship, must have been a huge blow to her confidence. She would probably start doubting herself, wondering what the point of capturing criminals would be if they would only escape justice again.
On the other hand, Yang had her own theory that held water. She knew her sister longer than anyone in the team, so it stood to reason that Yang understood Ruby's situation better than the heiress. Ruby and Yang had both mentioned the same story about the blond brawler sneaking off into the courtyard to relive herself of some pent up stress that she had. Throw in the fact that, as Yang mentioned, Ruby did eat her fair share of cookies last night, despite Weiss warning her not to.
"Hey Blakey, what do you think?"
"You have been fairly quiet about all this."
Blake placed her bookmark on the page she was currently reading, before closing it and hugged it close to her chest. "Once she gets back, we'll go inside the dorm and talk to her about it as a team. The least we can do is let her know that we'll support her, no matter what." She explained, looking between the two worried girls. The trio had been standing at the entrance to their dorm for a few minutes now, waiting for Ruby to return. She had remembered that she left something behind after the last lesson with Professor Port. That was a few minutes ago, she wasn't normally this slow at running.
Yang's face light up at hearing her partners comment. "Yeah, a little team pep talk might help her out." Despite shaking her head slightly, Weiss allowed herself a small smile creep onto her face. The heiress had mentioned a couple of times about talking to Ruby, but Yang had always been slightly hesitant. Understandable, Blake reasoned, seeing that Yang believed that Ruby's misfortune was a long string of bad luck. It was nothing to be too concerned about in her view.
"Hey guys, what are you three doing out here?" called out a friendly voice.
The trio turned to greet the newcomers. Heading towards them was team JNPR, with Jaune catching their attention. "Hey Jaune, we're just waiting for Ruby. She left something behind during last lesson." Yang explained
"Is Ruby alright? She has not been herself just of late." Pyrrha asked. The remainder of team RWBY looked towards each other, wondering who should explain the situation to team JNPR. After a few moments mentally debating between themselves, Weiss let out a defeated sigh.
"Ruby has been having trouble sleeping recently. We're not a hundred percent sure why she has trouble sleeping. However, when she comes back, we intend to find out."
Team JNPR nodded their heads solemnly, praying that their friend would get well soon. Jaune scratched the back of his neck using his right hand. "Seems like a lot has been going on around here. The breach, Ruby's lack of sleep, the disappearances. Looks like we can't catch a break huh?"
"What disappearances?" Blake asked, curious about what Jaune mentioned.
"They were posting the news on the billboards as we passed by it." Pyrrha explained. "Basically…"
"A ghost got them!" Nora exclaimed excitedly. "You see, apparently there was this girl, who was being picked on by this evil gang. They would do all sorts of bad things to her, bullying her none stop. It became so bad, that at one point, they hid her inside one of their lockers and left her there overnight. She screamed all through the night, not knowing what was to happen to her. The next morning, the gang returned to the locker, only to find it empty! No-one knew where she went to, but it was said that her ghost haunted her tormentors, until they were all found unconscious outside the school cliffs! It's said that, even to this day, she haunts the lockers when someone is alone during the night."
Everyone stared at the young Valkyrie, trying to take in the story that they just heard. Weiss, Blake and Yang were in their own separate states of confusion whilst Jaune and Pyrrha looked away awkwardly, perhaps already having heard Nora's theory already.
Ren remained unfazed.
"I still have no idea where she heard that one before." He explained. "Apparently, three students are missing from Haven Academy – Cinder Fall, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. They haven't been seen since yesterday." Team RWBY, minus their leader, all sheared a look of surprise amongst the three.
"Wait, Emerald? Wasn't she the one who was meant to of fought Ruby yesterday?" Yang asked.
"That's where I heard the name!" Jaune exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "I knew I heard the name before."
"The rumour going around at the moment is that Professor Goodwitch asked around the faculty." Pyrrha explained. "After Emerald's no-show, she asked the other professors if their team had shown up to class. Apparently they didn't, because she went to their dorm for answers, only to find it empty with their belongings still there."
"Well, that's not creepy at all." Yang deadpanned.
"Maybe they got kidnapped!" Nora added in, her enthusiasm never leaving her.
"At a school full of hunters and huntresses? I doubt it." Blake replied.
"Doubt what?"
The two teams turned towards the newcomer's voice. What they saw could only be described as a walking mess that was human shaped.
"Rubes, what kept ya?"
Making her way to her team, Ruby looked the definition of messy – her hair was all over the place, her school jacket was undone exposing her shirt that was partly tucked in, dark rings were starting to form under her eyes, even her right shoelace had come undone. Her walk was slow and heavy, a far cry from her usual cheery spring she had in her step.
"Sorry, the cafeteria ran out of chocolate chip cookies." Ruby explained meekly. Her partner raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I thought you said you left something behind from our last class?"
"Huh, what do you mean?" Ruby replied. "I got everything here."
"So why did you say you left something behind?" Weiss demanded
"…I did?" Ruby asked, her question directed towards the rest of her team. Whilst Weiss muttered angrily to herself, Blake swiped her scroll at the door.
"Ruby, we need to talk." She explained, entering the dorm as she did.
Yang grabbed one of her sister's arms and made her way to the dorm. "She's right Rubes. Catch you guys later!" She called out to team JNPR, who were left slightly confused as to what was going on.
"Wait, talk about what?" Ruby asked in her confused state, being dragged into the dorm. Weiss was the last one to enter the dorm. The door was closed with a slight slam, showing Weiss was still a little annoyed about her situation. "So, uh, what do you guys want to talk about?" Ruby looked around, taking in the looks of her teammates. Yang looked like she was really worried about something, whilst Blake had what looked like concern on her face. Weiss was still angry, but Ruby couldn't figure out why she was mad.
Zwei was relaxing in his basket, watching the events unfold in comfort.
"Ruby, are you sure you're ok?" Yang asked. "I know that I kept you up the other night, and I'm still sorry about that, but surely you shouldn't be worse than yesterday."
"Yang, I'm fine." Ruby answered. "I've already told you, you don't have to keep apologising for it. I'll be fine guys, seriously."
"Yet you barely managed to stay awake during the last two classes today." Blake pointed out. "Professor Peach almost caught you out a few times if it wasn't for Weiss waking you up. Look, you're slowly becoming like I was after the fight at the docks last semester. We just don't want you to go down that road, Ruby."
"Look guys. Nothing's wrong, I'll be fine. I get what you're saying, Blake, but I promise everything will be fine."
"That's the problem Ruby, you're not fine!" Weiss exploded. "You're normally better than this. You look a complete mess, barely learnt anything during class today AND kept us waiting outside our dorm for several minutes. Normally you run off and come back in seconds, but you kept us waiting for minutes. MINUTES Ruby. We are all worried about you Ruby, so please, as your partner, tell us what's wrong."
"I said I'm FINE, princess! Seriously, why is everyone asking if I'm alright?" Ruby shouted back, the anger suddenly bursting out of nowhere. She looked around her team with an angry glare. Ruby was getting frustrated on why everyone was getting on her case about being ok. She was fine.
The others didn't look like they believed her.
The heavy silence was eventually broken when Ruby let out a tired sigh. "Sorry. It's just that… last night I had this really wired dream. I… I went to see mom's grave. I remember talking, but then I saw… I saw…" she felt herself shaking a little bit, having to recall the nightmare from last night was something Ruby did NOT want to do. The red Grimm reaper was so lost recalling the dream that she was surprised to find herself enveloped in a hug.
"It's ok Ruby, it was just a bad dream." Yang said reassuringly. Ruby just nodded her head as she returned the hug, not wanting to let go in case she remembered the nightmare again. She heard the footsteps of her teammates approaching the sisters.
"If you want to talk about it, we'll listen. We're all here for you Ruby." Blake explained.
"We're all a team. We can help each other, no matter what the problem may be." Weiss added. Even Zwei decided to give his support by leaning his body gently on Ruby's leg.
"Thanks guys." Ruby said, letting go of Yang. "It's just that, that dream was really disturbing."
"In any case, tomorrow's Sunday. Try to catch up on your sleep then, ok?" Blake asked. Ruby turned to the cat Faunus and nodded, a smile slowly appearing.
KnockKnockKnockKnock!
Everyone turned towards the door, wandering who was there. Being close to the door, Weiss made her way towards it. As she opened the door, she was suddenly knocked down as a figure whizzed past her.
"Who wants some special happy pancaaaaaakes?!"
"Gah, Nora! What are you doing here?" Asked Yang.
"You could have at least waited until I opened the door!" Weiss yelled in annoyance as she got back to her feet.
"Well, we saw that Ruby was a little down. Soooooo, I decided to make some of my top secret super pancakes! It's just the thing to cheer poor Ruby up. Do you guys fancy some?"
Team RWBY looked amongst themselves for a few seconds, wandering what to make of her offer. Eventually, Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, why not. Sounds like it could be fun. Come on Weiss, lets go!" with a smile on her face, Ruby grabbed Weiss's left arm and dragged her out of the dorm.
"Ruby, you dolt! Let go, I can walk there myself!"
"That's the spirit! Let's go!" With a rally cry, Nora skipped out of the dorm, singing a tuneless song using nothing but the word 'pancakes'. Blake closed her eyes as she let a smile show on her face. Despite the heavy nature of their talk a few moments ago, it was nice to see something go right today for Ruby. Opening her eyes, she turned towards Yang, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.
"Yang? Are you alright?" Blake asked.
Yang's head suddenly shot up, surprised from the sudden call. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Blake, do you mind if I ask you something?" Blake was curious as to what Yang had to ask, her tone was something the Faunus girl had never heard from her before – uncertain, like she was afraid of asking her question. Blake nodded, prompting her partner to continue. "It's just that… We've been partners for a while now, right. You've had my back, and I've had yours. I couldn't ask for a better partner, and um, I want to ask if… well. Err. i…" Yang then lowered her head sighed. "Sorry, I just can't find the right words." Without another word, Yang quickly made her way out of the dorm, leaving behind a very confused Blake.
"What was that all about?" Blake muttered to herself.
"I just, want you to come back home, mom."
"You always were a weak-minded cry-baby." A malicious voice spoke.
The voice was definitely feminine, but also a dark, evil voice speaking at the same time. The two voices had spoken in perfect synchronization. In a heartbeat, Ruby's eyes shot wide open. What she saw before her, would probably scar her for life.
"Wh… what the..?"
The scene around had suddenly morphed around her. Where once she stood near the edge of the cliff standing before one tombstone, she now found herself further back then where she had originally started from. Under normal circumstances, the fact that Ruby had moved without actually moving would have frightened her, even if it was a little awesome that she could now teleport. No, what had frightened her was the sight before her.
Where there was once one tombstone, now lay several dozen.
Ruby's eyes widened in shock. How did so many tombstones appear out of nowhere! Slowly, she walked closer towards the tombstones; slightly curious as to whom they were for. It took her a few seconds to realize what had been marked on the grave, but it was those few moments that her brain wished she never bothered. Etched upon the nearest tombstones were the emblems of the people who had fallen, along with a short sentence to remind the person of who they were visiting.
The nearest tombstone's emblem had a burning heart emblem. Yang's burning heart emblem.
Ruby could feel the vomit trying to make its way out of her body. Yang had… died? When, how?! It was impossible, no way would Yang, of all people, die without Ruby knowing. Her fear grew as she read the small passage written on the tombstone.
'The flaming heart has burned its last'
What did it mean? It made no sense! Her unease grew as she turned her head towards the tombstone next to her sisters. The emblem was easy to recognise as that of the team's Faunus member, Blake. Underneath her emblem was –
'The shadows have descended upon her ninth life.'
Blake too? This couldn't be happening, there's no way that her super-awesome team would all die! Yet, standing next to Blake's tombstone laid the team's final member. The single snowflake printed everywhere the Schnee Dust Company advertised their products was clear to see, as was a few words underneath.
'The loneliest heart has turned to stone.'
"They are all dead. Dead because of your incompetence. You sought to be a hero, yet all you gained was nothing but loss." The malicious voice spoke, its voice seemingly coming from everywhere. Ruby took a few steps back in fear, the mysterious voice hurting worse than any cut or bruise she had ever felt. "They died because you wanted to play pretend. Living out a childish lie to yourself has only cost you the lives of those you hold dear."
"That's not true!" Ruby screamed at the sky, hoping to make it shut up. She just wanted to get away from all this, all the tombstones of everyone she knew. Her team, team JNPR, team CFVY, team CRDL, team SSSN, all the professors, all her remaining family, and all her friends at signal. They were all here, along with countless more, and this voice was telling her it was all her fault, for trying to realize her dreams!
That was a lie, a damned lie!
"Look around you." It continued. "Everyone you ever loved has died. You couldn't save them. Their deaths were all in vain, because you wished to pursue a childish dream."
Without warning, a black furred hand smashed its way out of Yang's grave. If her eyes could open any wider, they would have done so at the realization of what was happening. She recognised that hand, a hand of a Beowolf! Another hand appeared from the grave, before the pair rested themselves onto the ground. Within an instant, the grave tore itself apart as whatever was resting inside shot upwards. In a blink of an eye, a huge black creature landed in front of the grave.
She took a few more steps backwards, fear racing through her. Before her stood the biggest Beowolf she had ever seen. It easily stood around 7 feet tall, with muscles that would make any bodybuilder look like a twig. Within a heartbeat, all of the graves suddenly opened up before the red Grimm reaper, spawning dozens of this new type of Beowolf. All of them stared at her, hatred glowing in their evil red eyes. Their intent was as clear as day – they wanted her to be ripped apart, limb from limb. Fearing the worst, she reached out towards her trusted weapon. As she reached behind her, her heart suddenly felt like it turned to ice.
"No." She muttered in fear. She patted her back several times, but each time only confirmed her worst fear – her sweetheart wasn't there!
"Now, you will pay for your childish ways." The voice taunted, as the angry growls from the Beowolves reverberated around the Cliffside. With an almighty howl, the one from Yang's grave charged at Ruby, its speed way beyond that of any of its kind. Out of instinct or fear, she wasn't sure of which, Ruby braced herself for the incoming attack, a scream of fear escaping from her.
Annnnnnnnnnnnd cliffhanger! A.K.b00m here, with chapter 6 of BtB! Can I just say, FUCK THIS CHAPTER! Seriously, I knew what I wanted to do for this one, but for the love of anything that is holy, the words just would not come. I got my ass handed to me on this one. Nonetheless, perseverance shall triumph! Poor Ruby, as much as I love her as a character, persona rules state that she needs to go through her share of troubles. You don't gain a persona by doing nothing now, do ya.
Anyway, time for the review replies!
LeviathanTamer – thank you so much! I hope that you will enjoy the fight scenes that I have planned for the rest of this story. As for Grayson vs. Pyrrha, she would wipe the floor with him IF she were to use her semblance aggressively. Still, it would be an interesting fight nonetheless.
Thank you everybody so much for reading. Please remember to follow, favourite and drop a review. I always wish to hear what you all think about this story.
As always, I've been A.K.b00m, and thank you for reading. Have a great day!
