So I felt bad that the I missed a chapter update the last week so I decided to spend some more time writing and ended up being able to get in a second chapter. I would like to thank all of you who have left a review and I'm thinking about making some changes but not sure yet.
POV RUBY
"H-Hi Blake." The two of us stared at each other for what seemed like eternity both too scared to say anything. All the talking I'd done to Qrow before evaporated into mist and left me thinking about what Blake had said to me before. It also wasn't helpful that Jaune was there. I'd almost killed him during our fight. If Blake hadn't stepped in he would have been run through by my sword.
To my surprise, it was Jaune who tried to break the silence though it was like a piece of heavy steel. "Hey Ruby, Me and Blake were just heading over to the cafeteria for a snack. Care to join us?" Blake gave Jaune a panicked looked but settled ever so slightly after realizing what his plan was. I looked at Qrow who had a deadpanned look on his face but gave me a nod. "I already ate but...uhh...sure I'll come along."
I kept my hand holding the rings around my neck and followed the two towards the cafeteria. Qrow had to stay with me due to Ozpin's orders but he lagged behind keeping his distance. I gave Qrow a pleading look trying to beg for help but he just gave me his cocky smile and waved me off like I was some little kid scared to go talk to someone on the playground.
The three of us slowly walked into the cafeteria and sat down at a table in the back corner away from prying eyes. "Jaune what do you want to eat." Blake looked like she was ready to book it just looking at me and chose to sit in the farthest seat from me. "Just grab me a turkey sandwich and fries." Blake gave a nod and took off heading for the food line as if she was running from dangerous Grimm. Overall it was not the biggest confidence builder.
"So Ruby what exactly happened between you two, Blake told me but she didn't give me a lot of detail." Jaune's question caused me to freeze and lock eyes with him. "Uhmm I don't really feel comfortable talking about it." Jaune gaze hardened and he reached out with lightning fast speed grabbing my hand that was wrapped around the rings. I used my free arm to knock his hand away but Jaune did what he had planned to do. The necklace popped out from my shirt and laid out in the open so he could see them.
Jaune sighed and slouched into his chair rubbed his brow. "So she really did give them back. And seeing your reaction to it you remember what happened!" I quickly grabbed the necklace and stuffed it back into my shirt and scowled at Jaune. "What right do you have to touch me! I almost killed you and here you are acting like it never happened. Like I never left."
Jaune own face hardened into a scowl that rivaled mine and slammed his hands down on the table. A few groups nearby us tried to steal a few gazes but looked away in fear. "Ruby I was your best guy friend through school. You helped me get over Pyrrha's death and I've forgiven you for what happened. If I was in the same situation I don't think I could have stayed as sane as you have. Ren and Nora have already forgiven you so why shouldn't I."
For some reason, everybody was being the biggest person they could. No matter what happened they seemed to shrug it off like it was nothing like I didn't come back from the dead like I wasn't a killer. All except Blake. "How can you guys treat me so normally, I don't understand. Explain to me why you can!"
"Ruby you heard what happened between your sister and the White Fang, well I was there too. Between losing Pyrrha and then you, my best friend, I lost it. So what if I haven't killed as many people as you have. I still let my anger take over and I ended more lives than needed to be. All of us have a monster inside waiting to be unleashed but we can control it. So what if you hurt me I can take it. Just as long as you don't hurt yourself."
Just as Jaune finished Blake came back to the table with a tray of food in her hand. Blake silently placed Jaune food in front of him and placed a tuna sandwich in front of herself. Then Blake surprised me and slid over a small bowl filled to the top with strawberries. "I know you already ate but I still grabbed you something, I know there your favorite." Blake's gesture caused me to smile slightly as I grabbed one of the small fruits and popped it into my mouth.
The sweet juice of the strawberry gushed into my mouth and brought my taste buds to life. It was a rare case at the castle to have fresh fruit and only once in the past three years did I have strawberry this fresh. Blake own face had a hint of pleasure to it as she ate her tuna sandwich. It wasn't her being a Faunus that made her like fish since Ari seemed to despise most of it while Kita neither liked nor disliked it.
The three of us sat in silence while we ate our food, each taking their time to savor the flavor. Once all of us finished Blake collected the dishes and place them into a cart close by and sat back down. The silence continued to hang in the air and it started to eat away at me. There was so much I wanted to say and it was ready to burst out. I summoned all the courage I had and said. "I'm sorry!" (I'm sorry)
Blake said the same thing at the same time I did and it stopped both of us in our tracks. I'd been so afraid that Blake hated me and I needed to apologize but here she was saying the same same thing. I raised my hand trying stopping Blake before she could continue, I need to say something before she could. "Blake I need to say this, I'm sorry for everything I've done. I have no excuse for it and I'm sorry. I hurt all our friends and it's eating me away inside. If I'd known I would never have done it. The only thing I can do now is ask for forgiveness."
I felt like a small weight was lifted off my chest but it was only a little. Everything that had happened was weighing down on me and saying sorry didn't cover a tenth of it, but it helped. Blake shifted through an array emotions while I spoke, none of them where anger but she was upset, sad and even seemed happy if only a little bit. "Ruby, I should be the one asking for forgiveness from you, not me. Everyone else has forgiven you and you never hurt me. You tried to explain what happened and I wouldn't listen. I hurt you and I'm sorry for that."
I looked dumbfounded at Blake, I couldn't believe she was apologizing if there was anybody I thought I hurt it was her, but her she was saying I didn't. Silence returned as neither of us knew what to say. Jaune decided to be a mediator and loud out a quiet cough. "Seeing as you are both sorry for what happened it seems you two have made up am I correct?" Blake and I kept our eyes locked before we both realized what had truly happened. We both said we were sorry and neither had given a reply of forgiveness.
"I'm ready to make up if it's ok with you." lake gave a smile and a nod and this time more weight was released from my burdens. My hand went back up to the rings this time out of happiness rather than fear. Blake noticed what I was doing and looked at me a panicked expression. "Ruby are those...I didn't...you remember"
I gave Blake a quick nod and pulled out the two rings and showed them to Blake. "It took some time but it's not something I could forget. I know I've changed and we may not ever be able to go back to what we were. However I…."
Just as I was about to finish what I was saying Qrow stepped up to me and stopped me dead in my tracks. "Ruby, Blake, Ozpin wants to meet us in his office. Jaune you can come too." Jaune accepted the invitation and we all left the cafeteria together. This time, while we walked Qrow, stayed back as usual but Blake and I walked closer than we had before. There was still some distance between the two of us but it was drastically less.
When the four of us reached Ozpin's office it wasn't a surprise that Weiss and Yang were already there. The sight that was a surprise was the taller and more voluptuous version of Weiss standing in the corner. It took me a second but I soon realized it was the person Qrow had told me about, his wife Winter. From the story, He said the two had always been at each other's throat but it was really a large amount of sexual tension that their pride refused to submit to. After being forced to spend more than a few missions together, after The Fall they overcame their pride and last year the two tied the knot.
The three of us walked into the room and took one of the remaining open seats. Qrow opted to stand next to his wife instead. "Now that we are all here we can talk about some very important things. Thanks to Winter, we have confirmed Cinder's location using Ruby's information. Tonight we will be making our move."
I looked at Ozpin shocked at how quickly this was happening. Cinder knew how to lay low and even being able to confirm that she was at the safe house should have taken days. I wanted to get my kids back as quickly as possible but this felt rushed. "Ozpin are you sure, Cinder won't leave without me, I think we have more time to plan!"
Ozpin gave a slow nod but pulled out an actual paper file and placed it on the table and opened it. Inside the file was the picture of a fast moving object but I could tell instantly who it was. "Salem's pawn Tyrian has been spotted on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Vale. He has yet to reach the city but he will arrive by tomorrow morning at earliest. We no longer have time to wait. If we wish to rescue your kids and capture Cinder then we must move now."
With Tyrian joining the game the entire playbook needed to be changed. Tyrian may have been a psychotic lunatic but he was an impressive fighter. From the experience I had fighting Weiss, Jaune, Yang, and Blake they would have trouble handling him even if they were together. Tyrians expertise was with fighting large groups of people. He used a mix of martial arts and acrobatics to cause mayhem to teams. Luckily I knew his style and could take him on single-handedly, this was why Salem preferred me as her go to assassin.
"Ozpin if we are moving this up it's gonna cause some problems. We haven't trained at all together and I don't think Cinder is gonna come willingly." Jaune was right, we haven't fought together for three years and things can change quickly. It also didn't help Cinder wasn't going to come easily. Salem had Cinder wrapped around her finger and only I could convince her and it would still end in a fight.
"Jaune is correct, In three years your skills have changed a large amount. Especially Ruby who has completely changed her fighting style. That is why you will have the next three hours to work back some of your team skills. Ruby you will be given back some of your weapons. Sadly due to the law we will be keeping your "special" dagger. Qrow and Winter will both supervise the session so please...don't do something stupid."
After Ozpin had finished giving us some final details the seven of us headed to the main training arena. When we got there Qrow gave me access to the reinforced locker that held my equipment. When I looked inside it was almost a sad sight. The only three things were Nox Atra, Reaper, and Thorn. To my surprise, somebody had taken the time and repaired the broken tanto to its former glory. When I picked up the blade a piece of paper fell off of it and I quickly reached out and grabbed it. "Ruby you've been through a lot and it's time you need to remember you aren't alone. Things may seem tough but friends and family always look out for each other, don't forget that. Keep this blade as a reminder that just because something is broken doesn't make it unfixable."
I stared at the not for what seemed like an eternity. There was no name on the note and I had no idea who could have wrote it. The words on the note were short but to me, they meant the world. I looked over through the door and saw Yang, Blake, and Weiss fiddling with their equipment. Yang noticed me and waved me over to join them. I took the note and folded it up and slipped it into my pocket. Whoever wrote it was right, I had a family again and I was going to fight to keep it.
I grabbed the last of my gear and walked out the door. I joined the three in the middle of the arena while Jaune, Winter, and Qrow sat in the stands watching. "So how we gonna do this?" The four of us stood in a circle looking at each other not knowing exactly what to do. It had been three years and Weiss, Yang and Blake had gotten used to fighting without me. We didn't really know how to fix it in only three hours. From the stands, Qrow stood up and held up his scroll and pointed it at the Arena's screen. "Hey, how about you guys get ready I'm not gonna go easy on you!"
We all looked at Qrow who gave a cocky grin and clicked his scroll. The arena screen turned on displaying all of our aura levels. A clanking sound came from the walls of the arena and the four of us put our backs to one another. I raised Reaper up in front of me and put into assault rifle mode and aimed it toward a door that opened up in the arena wall. Blake and Yang readied their weapons while Weiss summoned an array of glyph traps and laid them around the arena. If one of us stepped on them we would get one of her special effects but if an enemy did they would be met with a painful surprise.
The clanking sound inside the arena's wall stopped but we all stayed at the ready. No more than ten seconds later dozens of robots wielding swords, spears, rifles, and axes ran out from the multiple opening in the wall and encircled us. Almost if on instinct I started shouting out orders. "Weiss try and funnel them with traps towards Yang, Blake keep the stragglers from getting behind us, and Yang do what you do best!"
The three of them seemed almost shocked at what I said but didn't hesitate and jumped into action. Weiss summoned a glyph and walls of ice surrounded us with an opening large enough for only one or two bots to enter through. The wall was only a few feet tall and was low enough for me to shoot over but still tall enough that the bots would struggle to get over it quickly.
Yang took her kickboxing stance and Blake stepped away from us and prepared for the bots behind us that started to try and get over the wall. A large portion of the bots chose to take the simple path and started to flow through the open gap Weiss had left but quickly fell to the fiery blonde in their path. Weiss opted to keep a supportive role and continuously repaired the wall were parts began to weaken or to give Yang a boost. I stayed in the middle of the circle and pulled back Reaper's bolt chambering a round. Leveling red dot onto one of the bots head I pulled the trigger and a flurry of bullets blew it to shred. I continued to track bots after bot and each received a bullet through the head.
Even with a number of bots we had destroyed more flowed out from the arena walls and their numbers climbed from twenty to almost sixty. Were Ozpin got the money for all the robots was beyond me but right now I had a job to do. A flash behind me gave way to Blake standing by my side with a robot at her feet. "Ruby, Weiss can't keep this wall up forever, the bots are getting in and soon we're gonna be swarmed."
I looked up at the board and saw Blake and I's aura was at a 100% while Weiss and Yang's were in the low 90's. Blake was right with the number of bots we weren't going to last. Weiss could only repair a section at a time and the bots were hacking away at the sides. Yang was also getting hit the hardest out of all of us with a pillar of scaped bots around her. "Blake you're right we won't last long but I have an idea. Did we have any team or partner attacks that could take out groups."
Blake gave a nod and quickly explained the attack to me while I continued to blow the heads off of the bots. Once she was done I stopped firing and told Blake to get ready. "Yang, Weiss let them come in closer and when I give the call duck." The pair did as I said and backed off letting the enemy get closer. "Blake you ready." Blake gave a nod and transformed her Gambol shroud into kusarigama form. "LADYBUG GO!"
I quickly built up my semblance in my legs and shot off while pulling Nox Atra out of its sheath. Using my semblance I ran along the wall of ice but began to slow down. Blake saw this and threw out Gambol Shroud, I watched the ribbon fly towards me and quickly realized that the throw was off. Our years of being apart unable to practice together had caught up to us and a spinning blade of death was going to hit my side. The problem was that I couldn't slow down or else I would fall but even though we hadn't been together for a long time it didn't mean I didn't have a trick up my sleeve.
Activating my semblance I disappeared into rose petals and the blade passed harmlessly through me. Just as I cleared the ribbon I reformed and shot my hand back and grabbed the ribbon. Blake seemed surprised at this but pulled the ribbon tight giving me something to keep my speed up with. Pushing my semblance I ran faster and held Nox Atra over the wall and held on tight as the blade began to slice through bot after bot. Once I'd made two passes around the circle I stopped my semblance and jumped off the wall and joined my team.
The attack had done more damage than I had expected, leaving only around half the bots left but it had also damaged the wall more than I expected. Some of the robots walked up to the wall and simply kicked it in as if it wasn't even there. "Weiss give Yang a speed boost and Blake some dust for her clones. Keep the bots from bunching up and getting too close to the circle. Play it smart and don't do anything stupid."
We all ran out from the circle and took the bots head on. With the help of Weiss' time glyph, Yang was moving swiftly between punches and kicks blowing bots apart while Blake jumped and dodged bots leaving behind clones that when hit let loose different types of dust that destroyed bots like they were made of glass. I rushed in and blocked the swing form an ax-wielding bot and pulled Thorn from my belt and shoved it into its chest. I continued to wield Thorn in my left hand and Nox in the other parrying a blade while using the other to land a fatal blow.
The fight slowed down to a halt as Yang let out a yell and shoved her fist through the final bot's chest ripping out its power core like it was someone's heart. With a grunt, Yang pulled her hand free and the bot fell to the ground lifeless. Yang smiled and nudged the bot with her foot and smiled. "I think I broke it!"
I looked around as the arena walls began to open and a new set of droids that were painted black and yellow come out into the arena and began to pick up the remains of the robots. The four of watched as the team cleaned the arena in under three minutes leaving nothing behind. When the bots disappeared into the walls Qrow stood up and we turned to face him. "That was pretty good but you can do better. How about we turn up the difficulty? Qrow activated the arena again and this time, even more, bots poured out surrounding us. Mixed in with the regular bots were larger, sturdier versions that would require more skill to destroy. The four of us lifted up our weapons and jumped into the fray.
Once the three hours of training were up and Qrow was satisfied with our teamwork the four of us were ready to drop. In the three hours we fought, Qrow had continuously turned up the difficulty till we maxed it out. By the final round, the four of us were each down to around 25% aura and the mix of heavy and light bots was close to 200. The whole idea of this training was not to face large numbers but to learn to work together. The bots were weak and clearing the number wasn't that difficult. The difficult part was making sure we knew where the others were and using teamwork to keep the bots from crowding on each other.
The first hour went smoothly but as the numbers increased out teamwork became more stressed. Weiss was used to only supporting two people and summoned only two support glyphs at a time, this lead to one of the three of us being forgotten and in the end, Blake ended up taking a hit to the back of the head from one of the heavy droids. After that Weiss increased her focus and with some time she was able to support the three of us.
Yang ran into the problem of checking where all of us were when she threw her kicks or punches. Yang didn't notice me come up behind and to take out one of the droids that was sneaking up on her, Yang spun on her heel and I had to use my semblance to dodge her punch. Yang gave an apology but we just jumped back into the fight. Blake didn't have any big problems due to her fighting style of hit in run. The only thing that came up was needing to jump in between three people instead of two.
Out of the three of us, I ended up having the hardest time fighting as a group. Over the past three years, I had fought almost exclusively alone and it had increased my skill tremendously. At the same time it was also a skill that had never been applied to a group before and on more than one occasion I fucked up. I had to hold back in order to keep up with others and it was a strain, I wanted to push my semblance but if I did it would end in disaster for the others. I opted to try and lead naturally which worked most of the time the problem was I'd forgotten the team attacks which limited our abilities.
By the end of the third hour all four of had found our new spots and began working more like a team. It wasn't close to being perfect but it was better than it had before. If the four of us could keep this up we could handle almost any situation.
After changing and having my gear locked back up by Qrow all seven of us decided to head back to the cafeteria. Yang had asked to head to Vale but Qrow pointed out that I couldn't leave Beacon and so we opted to pick up some food and head to Weiss, Yang, and Blake's room. I was surprised at how nice the apartment was and how large it was. The apartment consisted of six rooms in total and was almost identical when split in half.
When we first walked in there was a large kitchen that had an array of equipment for cooking laying around. Across from the kitchen was the living room that supported a large couch and two lounge chairs. Splitting the apartment in half was a hallway that leads to the two bedrooms on either side of the hall and the bathrooms for each bedroom. Since Weiss didn't spend a lot of time at the apartment she bunked in Yang's room while Blake was in the other. Each was set up similar to our first year's dorms but were slightly smaller and had two beds instead of four.
The seven of us walked into the living room with food in hand and sat down. Qrow and Winter sat together on top of each other in one of the lounge chairs while Jaune took the other. Yang and Weiss sat next to each other on the couch leaving Blake and me to sit in the remaining spot next to each other silently. We all sat in silence and ate, too tired to talk after training. Jaune tried to get us to talk but gave up seeing our lack of enthusiasm. When he finished his food he excused himself and said he was going to visit Ren and Nora.
I quickly got up and moved over to claim his empty seat but Qrow decided to ruin it before I could sit down. "Seeing as you're all done eating how about you go try and catch a few hours of sleep. Today has been long and we're departing at 2 am and I rather not have you all sleep deprived. Ruby, I know Blake has an empty bed in her room so you take that. Winter and I will stay out here!"
I froze and looked at Blake who seemed just as displeased as I did. The two of us hadn't fully made up and it was extremely awkward, the hate and anger were gone but something was still holding us back. "Qrow that sounds like a good idea, Blake show Rub to your room while Weiss and I head to ours." Yang and Weiss practically ran off to their room while Blake and I stood slowly. I motioned for Blake to lead the way and I followed, slowly.
When we got to the room Blake opened the door and I wasn't surprised at all by the decor. The room was painted a deep purple and had bookshelves lining the walls all around. Each shelf was filled to the brim with books making it Blake's own personal library. "That bed over there is yours, I'm gonna go change so I'll be back in a minute."
Blake quickly disappeared through the bathroom door and left me alone in the room. I went over to one of the shelves and began to look through them. My eye caught upon a red leather-bound book. I pulled it out from the case and was surprised to find it had my emblem etched into the cover. The side was locked shut and I reached out to it when my finger made contact the lock popped open. Just then Blake walked in dressed in her yukata she'd had since I first met her. "Hey, Blake what is this?"
I turned around and showed her the book and a light blush appeared on her face. "That your diary from when we were here at Beacon, Yang had me keep after...that...None of us could open it since it required your aura to open and so I kept it on the shelf. Since it yours, you can do whatever you want with it." I gave Blake a nod and closed the lock on the diary and placed it on a desk I also added a mental note to read it, hopefully, it would add some insight to my past. I went back over to the bed and pulled off my coat laying it across the baseboard and pulled the covers up and went to get in. "Ruby, are you really going to sleep in dirty clothes?"
I turned around and looked at Blake. "I don't have any change of clothes with me, all the ones Ozpin got me are back in my room." Blake walked over to a dresser and grabbed a set of clothes and threw them at me. I caught the clothes and examined them, they were a pair of black cotton short and a dark purple tank top. After checking out the clothes I turned away from Blake and slipped off my clothes only leaving on my bra and underwear and slipped on the clothes.
The clothes were little tight and small for my liking, I usually wore long clothes to cover the scars from the accident because I hated to look at them. I hated wearing shorts for that reason because my robotic leg was connected halfway up my thigh to a mix of nasty, wicked scars. My arm was a little better and I'd grown used to the sight of it more through the past years but I always stared at them both with a hint of disgust, it seemed to prove just how broken I was.
I turned around after folding up the clothes after I took them off and saw a heavily blushing Blake. It took me a second to realize what I'd done and quickly reddened as much as Blake did. "I-I'm s-sorry, not really used to privacy...you know with the kids in all!"
Blake jumped back into the world and reddened, even more, noticing she'd been staring. "No...no, it's ok...I mean we used to live in the same room….Wait did you say, kids?"
My mind went into overload as I thought back, had I not told her, I thought I did, that was what this entire mission was about. "Blake...you don't know?" I turned around and bent over and grabbed my jacket and felt eyes on me as I did so. I grabbed the picture and gave it to Blake.
"They are why this mission is so important to me, When I was on missions Cinder was the only one I trusted to watch them and since we were on this one together we brought them with us to the safe house. That's the reason I made sure Cinder got away. Salem would have taken them and I couldn't let that happen!"
Blake stood dumbfounded staring at the picture with a thousand yard stare on her face. "R-Ruby do you know why I was so mad at you, the true reason?" I quickly shook my head saying no. "It's because of what you said when you let Cinder get away, I thought you two...you know...were together."
"W-wait you thought what….Cinder and I….no no no...Cinder and I are not like that. S-she's more like a sister. Cinder was the one who helped me get through things when I first woke up and after bringing back the twins, she's like an Aunt to them. I know it's stupid but Cinder is not a bad person just mislead, Salem has manipulated all of us...some of the things she said still linger in my head. Cinder is the same and if I can help her be good then I want to try."
Blake collapsed on her bed and held her hand over her chest letting out a large sigh. "Well, that's a weight off my chest. I really thought something completely different. Now I just feel stupid about everything." Blake paused and looked at the picture in her hand and a smile appeared on her lips. "So tell me about these two!"
To end this chapter I would like to put out there that I would like to have a beta reader to check somethings over so I don't have so many screw-ups. If you want to help my out send me a personal message and we can talk some more.
