I feel ashamed for not following through on a commitment previously made. That, which is, writing this story. Unfortunately, the only excuse I have is... Well, not even an excuse. It's a lame statement. I lost inspiration and interest. Unfortunately, that's what happened. And I'll do my best to make it up. I should also state that my definition of 'Modern AU' is comprised of some aspects of the RWBY world itself. In this, there are still Grimm monsters, but hunters and huntresses aren't a thing, and some supernatural events will occur, such as in this chapter. Moving on, this is Chapter 10, Rejuvenating The Wilting Rose.
"What do you mean 'no one knows where she is?'" I ask alarmingly. A seventeen year old girl wouldn't just up and leave randomly, right? Wait. Seventeen years old, but she always acts like a kid- Ah, shoot.
"We've gotta find her!" Yang exclaims, picking up the phone again and addressing Weiss on the other end. "Weiss, your at my house right?!" She asks frantically. A slight pause. "'K, we'll be there in five minutes!" She clicks the phone shut hurriedly, pulls on her coat and grabs the handles of my wheelchair.
"Yang, I need my coat!" I shout alarmingly, attempting to slow her progress.
"You'll be fine!" Yang shouts indifferently as we run outside the apartment and ride down the elevator. We streak outside and run into the residence of the Xiao Longs. "Weiss, where are you?!" Yang calls wildly, searching the house frantically to find the ivory haired girl.
"I'm in your sister's room Yang!" The voice of Weiss says from the other side of the house. Yang sprints past me and blurs into the room, leaving me to roll myself over there.
"Where is she?!" Yang's voice emanates from behind the doorframe. I slowly roll around he corner, beholding the scene of Yang grasping Weiss by the shoulders.
"I told you already, she's missing and no one knows where she is!" Weiss retorts coldly, prying Yang's hands off her shoulders.
"Well, there's gotta be SOME clue or reason for it!" Yang says hastily, but her face slowly darkens and drops, her expression becoming very pained. "I think I might actually know why..." We turn suddenly to face the blonde, waiting for her response. "She looked very upset when I told her that I was moving in with Blake. Maybe she's actually afraid of being alone?" We look among ourselves cautiously.
"Yang, where would she go?" I ask in an attempt to try and help. Yang looks around the room aimlessly after the question, unsure of what to answer in response. But, she locks her gaze upon something hanging on the wall. She walks up to it, me and Weiss following close behind. "She drew this picture a couple weeks ago..." Yang mutters ominously.
The picture itself is of a barren, snow covered cliff. There's a small marker overlooking the cliff and a person wearing a white cloak standing behind it. Weiss looks intently at the picture for a few seconds before she hums in thought.
"Isn't that The Cliffside Altar?" She asks tentatively, looking at the picture more closely with squinted eyes. We all take a closer look as well.
"Oh my god, you're right," I say in shock. "You don't think...?"
"We're goin'!" Yang exclaims wildly, grabbing me by the handles and blasting out the room with me. We load into the truck and start the fifteen minute drive out.
The Cliffside Altar is located through the Snowy Forest, on a mountainside fifteen minutes out of the city. The place is cold, desolate, and completely out of the way of any traveller. It baffles me why Ruby would want to go there at all...
When we arrive at the start of the Snowy Forest, there is a pathway made of cobblestone, completely free of any snow. We pile out of the truck and look at the path warily. Regardless, we walk along it warily, looking at the trees lined along it carefully for fear that a Beowulf may jump out. However, nothing disturbed us on our journey. A few minutes of silent trudging gave us time to see our destination. Ahead, we see a red cloak flapping in the wind.
"Ruby...?" Yang asks disbelievingly. She pauses for a few seconds before her face lights up with joy. "Ruby!" She cries, sprinting along the pathway and running up beside her. She grabs Ruby by her arms and whirls her around, hugging her. "I thought we wouldn't find you!" However, Ruby doesn't respond. She just breaks free of Yang's embrace and stares in front of herself. "Ruby..." Yang whispers, pained and hurt by what she had done. Weiss and I walk up beside her warily, looking at the same thing Ruby is. A gravestone. With the marking of a rose, the same that Ruby has imprinted upon her brand new red cloak. Upon the marker are the words: Summer Rose, this kindly I scatter.
Yang tries once again to get Ruby's attention by grabbing her shoulder. "Ruby, it's me, your sister Yang," she pleads. Ruby just shrugs off her grip.
"Yang's gone. Busy living with her new girlfriend and leaving me behind," she says monotonously, not turning her head or acknowledging us.
"Ruby... Please," Yang pleads, but without any real result. Weiss moves up for a second but hesitates. Eventually, she walks up to Ruby.
"Hey, Ruby," Weiss whispers gently, subtly grasping Ruby's shoulder. Ruby sucks in some air quickly, turns, and facing Weiss. Her eyes are clouded over, almost like she's zoned out.
"Oh, Weiss," she whispers quietly. Ruby turns away and stares at the marker again. "Why are you here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," she replies calmly, walking up beside Ruby, grip still firm on her shoulder.
"I came here to see the stone," Ruby replies monotonously, her complete focus set on staring at the marker. "This stone has a story Weiss. Do you want to hear it?" Ruby mutters. Weiss nods and swallows hard. Without facing away from the marker, Ruby begins speaking.
"Once upon a time, there was a happy young woman by the name of Summer Rose. She didn't have a single duty or responsibility. But she was, however, bored. Her father wished for her to go to University and become something big, something important, have a career planned out for herself. However, Summer never found any interest in doing such things, so, she did the one thing she found a sense of adventure in. She left.
She left her family behind, without warning, and decided to roam around the continent of North America. She first roamed around to the state of California in mid-summer time. Around the city of San Francisco, she met her first actual challenge- hunger. She had been drifting for a week, and hadn't eaten much in that time span. She also didn't have any money on her. So, she weighed her options. She could get a job, work for money, and buy the food, or steal it herself. After factoring in her ability to hardly ever get caught by her own two parents or brother whenever she did decide to take something from them, she decided to go with that option. She stole from the unwary, but only taking what she absolutely needed.
After about five days later, she continued onward, leaving the city behind and wandering around from place to place, repeating the same process she had gone through in San Francisco. Eventually, after roaming around northbound, she found herself in the cold clutches of late fall time, up in the country, that she had been told, was Canada. She had noticed how differently the place was from her home. Everyone was very kind and polite, holding doors open for people, giving please's and thank you's, and asking random strangers how their day was going. She found the change exhilarating as compared to the denizens of the United States.
It was then that she experienced true frigidity for the first time. The rain was pouring in a torrential downpour, soaking any unwary bystander that found themselves unfortunate to be outside. Summer was outside, in a back alley, clutching her arms tightly around her shoulders, trying to trap every essence of warmth that she could in her body. Shivering uncontrollably, she stared at the ground in front of herself, unable to properly focus on any particular point. Of course, she would've gone into a public building, but it was midnight, and places had closed everywhere around town for the night. So, she found the most sheltered place she could, in an alley. However, just because it was the most sheltered, it didn't mean that she was going to be warm.
In the time she had taken to get up and into Canada, her beautiful white cloak had become dirtied and tarnished, many a hole and rip blemishing it's usually silky soft fabric. Her usually vibrant, velvety soft hair was now rough and matted. All in all, Summer may have felt that she was beginning to regret her decision. But only just a little bit.
The rain was still coming down, hard, leaving Summer to shiver violently in the back alley, her soaked white tank top, red shorts, and ripped up white cloak hardly serving as proper insulation to retain her body heat. It was then that she heard the sound of footsteps and the splashing of water. She immediately turned her head in the direction of the sounds, coming face to face with a curious looking young man, roughly her own age by his looks. Summer looked at the man for a few seconds before she turned away and started to try to warm herself up again. The man sat on his haunches and stared Summer down.
'You know,' he said. 'Help is easy to come by if you just ask.' Summer looked at the man incredulously.
'H-Helping out a st-stranger... S-Such a w-wayward p-prospect..." Summer chattered, not daring to lock eyes with the man.
'Is extending an open hand in assistance so wrong?' he countered light-heartedly, his smile unwavering from underneath his umbrella. He sided up to Summer and shifted the umbrella over top the both of them to stop the constant onslaught of the rain. Summer stared at the man in wonder.
'Why? Why extend your hand to begin with?' Summer asked in confusion.
'It's my own belief that everyone should be given help in their time of need,' he replies firmly. He puts out his hand, gesturing for Summer to grab it. She hesitates warily for a couple seconds before she grabs it.
The man took Summer to his home, and there she stayed for a month before she found out about her shocking revelation. Summer had unawarely became pregnant. When news of this has surfaced, the man left Summer. Then, she was truly worried. She was in a foreign country, without a home, and pregnant with a child. She had no clue what to do, so she just stayed in the man's house, without any knowledge as to who, or where, he was. But, she found her help in the form of her brother, Qrow. He somehow found out where Summer was and came around to talk to her.
The siblings didn't talk for long, but they were both on terms with how the other was doing. Summer was at a complete loss for how she was going to get herself out of her situation. Qrow had the idea of moving into an old log cabin out in the middle of the woods, which Summer found to be a gamble, but a good idea nonetheless. And that's what they did. Summer moved into the log cabin, which already had everything she needed. Qrow decided to stick around and help her out until she could be well enough to look after the child by herself.
Roughly ten months pass, and the child is born into the world. Summer looks after the child with Qrow's help for a couple months before he leaves to go back to their parents. Qrow tells Summer not to worry, that he'll visit periodically. And so, he leaves. Summer read to her child every night, and every night it was a new story. From Goldilocks, to Little Red Riding Hood. The first word the child learned was 'story' and then it was 'Summer.' And every night, after the girl learned to say it, she's say 'thank you!'
Summer only had three rules for her child growing up. Never go outside by yourself, always listen to what is said to you, and always call Summer by her name. And, the pair lived happily together in the cabin for the course of four years, and they celebrated birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter together. Everything was great, Summer and the child were happy. Life was perfect.
"However, not every fairytale has its happy ending. It was always like Summer said, 'unfortunately, real life isn't the same as a fairy tale.' Eventually, the beowulves in the woods around us got very restless one winter. There was lots of howling, and scraping. And the constant, desperate shout of, 'Run dear child! Just run!' The daughter didn't want to leave, but Summer was too adamant to take no for an answer. So, the young girl did as she was told."
Ruby sighs slightly. "That young girl is living the rest of her life without memory of a father, and with the death of her mother, tortured every waking moment by the pain of her loss."
"However, that girl also said something the night before the incident. After being read the story Snow White she said that was simply the most innocent remark ever, but it shaped into a huge aspect of her life. She asked, 'Why can't Prince Charming ever be a girl?' In response I replied, 'why do you ask?' The young daughter hesitated for a second before giving out her answer. She said, 'I don't think it's fair that only boys get to live happily ever free with pretty princesses.' The young girl's name that escaped the night after from the Beowulf pack is Ruby Rose," a neutral voice emanates from somewhere.
Everyone's head shoots up except Ruby's. Before us we see a medium height woman, rose red hair, silver eyes, a billowing white cloak, arms crossed, and a disapproving look in her face.
"Yeah, that girl's name is Ruby Rose," Ruby says indifferently, stunning us all speechless. There's no possible way that everything she just said is real. "However, it isn't easy for a child to let go of someone dear to their heart."
"When something's gone in your life, you let go. Simple as that. I thought you had something to replace me in your life," Summer counters simply.
"You make it sound like its easy to let to go Summer," Ruby says with bitter resentment, not lifting her gaze from the marker. Everyone looks at Ruby shockingly, disbelieving in her statement that the apparition appearing in front of us is her own mother... Floating in the middle of the air... White cloak flapping in the wind, hood drawn.
"It is that simple. You just have to have the resolve to follow through," Summer says firmly.
"But no matter what I do, nothing ever takes the place of you!" Ruby shouts desperately, everyone backing away quickly from Ruby in her sudden outburst.
"You weren't the only one who needed me, I thought you understood," Summer replies flatly, crossing her arms and looking at Ruby disapprovingly.
"Well, I can't!" Ruby exclaims angrily, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I needed you and you left me!" A scowl forms upon Summer's face. "I grew up without my birth mother or father, that's hard! I was left alone for four months with Qrow, until he found a family for me!" Ruby screams in anguish.
"And yet, I wouldn't change what happened if I could," Summer replies neutrally. Ruby goes over the edge at that statement.
"Why?! Is it because you enjoy seeing me in pain?! Is it because you revel in the agony I ha to go through all my life?!" Ruby shrieks painfully.
"You just as well as I do, that's not my reasoning!" Summer counters, her voice escalating in volume. "It's almost like you haven't even grown up from that scared four year old that ran aimlessly away thirteen years ago!"
"Who I am now is because you left me! What makes your reason so valid?!" Ruby screeches at the top of her lungs, the tears she wishes to desperately shed unable to come forth any longer.
"Open your eyes and ears Ruby Rose! Because the very reasons lie before you, in your own 'tortured' life!" Summer retaliates angrily, pointing at Ruby with an angry finger. "You have a mother, father, and sister that love you with all their hearts. Already that's much better than what I alone could've provided for you." Summer hesitates as she begins her next sentence, lowering her finger and slightly lowering her gaze. "You also have met someone that loves you for who you are, not based upon fantasies or fancies. And, from what I can tell, that person loves you a lot if they're standing out in minus twenty degree weather without a heavy jacket with you."
The fog around Ruby's eyes seems to clear up, the silver sparkle that they contain finally gleaming in all it's luminosity. Ruby seems taken aback slightly from the talk given to her by her dead mother. She looks to Weiss, standing slightly behind herself. Then to Yang, and to myself. She looks aimlessly at the snow at her left side before she takes a deep breath, resuming to look back a her mother with confidence.
"You're right, I guess," Ruby replies with a small smile, Weiss stands close to Ruby, wraps her arms affectionately around Ruby's shoulders and rests her head upon them. Ruby wraps her cloak around Weiss and herself, attempting to shield the both of them from the bitter wind. Summer nods in satisfaction, looking upon her daughter with pride.
"Don't be bitter for what you have lost or don't have, but feel blessed for what you do. Make the most of what you're given in life, because, eventually, your life will end, just like everyone else's. Sorry for being so serious to you Ruby, but that's the only way to get through to you." Summer apologizes. Ruby nods in agreement. "Red looks good on you. It's your color."
Yang and I saddle up beside Ruby, wrapping our arms around the two as well, in an affectionate hug. "You're in good hands Ruby..." Summer mutters, sighing shortly after observing the small symbol of closeness. "My time's up." Ruby looks startled and gazes, hurt, at Summer.
"W... What?" She says, her face pained by the information given. Summer's face darkens drastically, a downcast cloud of sadness storming her.
"I bargained for the time I was given here today Ruby. I won't see you again. I won't be able to communicate with you easily, but I will be watching, and forever listening. Weiss," Summer says, directing the conversation towards the girl in white. Weiss looks up at Summer, giving her her undivided attention. "Look after her please. I don't want to be seeing her face to face again any time soon." Weiss nods in understanding, gripping Ruby even tighter.
"Don't worry, I'll keep her out of trouble," she replies cooly. "You mean you'll try. And Yang?" Yang looks up, surprised by her name being called. "I thank you. You looked after the sister you never asked for," Summer says sincerely, a sad smile adorning her face. "Goodbye you four. You're all as close as family." Her spirit fades away with her final remark, leaving us behind with a small sense of emptiness, but also with the aura of fulfillment.
We stand around silently for a few minutes, letting her words sink in and having the bitter cold breeze blow past our faces.
"We should go back..." Ruby says quietly, her head tilted inward to Weiss's contently. Everyone turns to look at the young girl in red.
"Are you sure?" Weiss asks cautiously. Ruby nods in response, her mind made up.
"Yeah. We're out in the cold because of me. And that's not fair."
"All right then Rubes. Let's go," Yang says, turning and leaving, myself following her actions as well as Weiss. Ruby however stays behind for a second, the three of us turning and looking at her warily.
"Goodbye Summer," Ruby whispers solemnly before she turns to join us. As the four of us start our long trek back, we hear the single sound that we had all been worrying about. However, it didn't come from the source you'd expect.
"Achoo!" Came the sudden, violent sneeze from... Me
Yep. This took too long for what it actually could've taken. But now it's live. Yep. Suggestions are welcome because I've forgotten where I was gonna take this story... I think...