IMPORTANT:
Right, so here it is: I majorly fucked up. Not much else to say besides that. Maybe there is, but no one wants to hear it. What you do need to know is that I have scrapped the preceding chapter and made some MAJOR changes to this one. Changes which will actually further the story and not linger in psychological BS for longer than necessary (there's already going to be plenty of that as it is). So, if you would kindly, reread this chapter, and I'll post the one I wrote to replace the next tomorrow.
Please forgive me.
NOT QUITE AS IMPORTANT:
Rambling time. This will hopefully take the place of the rambling I tend to do in my stories, though I don't hold out much hope for this either. Although, if anyone cared to notice, I have been going back and making some edits to try and make some of the segments more readable. I mean, there are parts which are awkward for even me to read, and that's unacceptable.
What's more painful is the treatment of the characters, Ozpin and Jaune in particular. I made the former too feckless and the latter too competent. After taking a step back, I remember just how much of a whiny bitch Jaune was, and that hasn't been totally fixed yet. It shouldn't, in fact, be fixed for a while, but hopefully more than in canon. Ozpin on the other hand should be more assertive, more confident in his decisions- even when he isn't sure about them. Anyways, like I said, these two replacement chapters should make up for this.
Wow, is this really all I have to say? Well, perhaps not, but I lost it in favor of shit that actually matters. Which reminds me:
Would you all kindly let me know when I make such a grievous error? I know there are at least like, five of you or something. I'd like to know if I fixed things or if I mucked them up even worse. Not that it'll change anything...
"Come on, Ruby, let's go."
Such a voice that she would follow it to the end of the world if only to remember who waited for her there, outside the blackness. By her right arm it pulled her along, out of the conoscopic diffusion and into the aperture tube which compressed her down to sneak through the gaps in time.
"I don't wanna!"
Betraying words, echoing from somewhere behind her in a pitch that was stretched by how rapidly she was pulling away from it. Mortified, she tried to deny them but was laughed off by that voice which could heal all wounds.
"Come now, you have to go to school. Don't you want to grow up like your sister?"
Yellow star twinkling at the end of the tunnel, turning, winking, shooting on ahead.
"Can't I stay here with you?"
That would be more than enough to satisfy her, falling back into the fabric of the universe until it crystallized around her, preserving this moment for all eternity.
"My silly girl," Tinkling laugh shimmering color. "I'll be right here when you're done. I'm not going anywhere. Now, come on, we don't want you to be late."
"But-"
She wanted to call out, to tell it to wait, but it had already gone on ahead and took her arm with it.
"You lied."
"No way!"
"Seriously? You got into Beacon?! I'm so jealous!"
Colors fracturing all around, sharp ends like thorns digging into her and trying to keep her there.
"Heh, yeah, it's pretty wild. I can hardly believe it myself." She didn't want to, but there was no denying her voice which sounded so light, unconstrained by the pressure mounting all around her. "Still, I'm going to miss you guys. I don't know when I'll get a chance to see you again."
Seeing nothing now but shards of stained glass depicting a scene from a story that was unrelatable.
"Don't worry! We'll catch up soon enough, and we'll write to you every day in your fantasy castle." Joints of lead crept in around her shoulders, not reassuring in the slightest. "Until then, we'll just have to make do with this to remember you by."
With that, she was pushed on ahead while the fragmented picture collapsed into the past, stealing her other arm with it.
"You lied."
"Really, I'm fine, Ruby."
At last, a tone to match her mood. Despondent, disillusioned, despairing. Color fading into black and white.
"I'm just headed out to meet a friend. After all this, don't you think I'd tell you if there was something wrong?"
Knowing what would happen next, she chased after as it retreated into nothing. The first step backwards severing her leg mid-stride and sending her tumbling back into darkness.
"You lied."
'I promise I will still be here, no matter what.' Naruto's voice filled her memory from the inside out, reverberations sending cracks throughout her fragile body. 'That's a promise of a thousand-million lifetimes.'
Every single generation passing her by in a flash until she found herself at that end dreamed about so long ago. A shell of her former self, without a leg to stand on.
"You lied."
Laying there in ultimatum, no friends or family in sight. The only one having kept their promise being death, that mordant fiend- friend, stranger, familiar, clad in crimson cloak with scythe raised above her head. Mercifully quick, an instant, smashing that hourglass resting on its side and severing the last connections to a stagnant life that was tragically short, yet which dragged on so cruelly long…
The sound of an alarm rescued her as it frequently had before, reminding her that she still had to get up, get dressed, go to class, and do all those other things which were expected of normal people. Not only that, but these days it harped the fact that she was not normal, that her body was one around which so many others revolved. Distant, eccentric orbit shackled to an inescapable yet intangible truth like a black hole.
Suddenly, getting up felt all the harder. A pointless resistance to the gravity trying to swallow her.
"I thought she had been stabilized?"
Sound at the edge of her solar system, at the edge of concern.
"She was. The wound on the right wrist was closed before we even got her on the gurney. Heart-rate had been normalizing ever since the transfusion."
"Internal bleeding?"
"No sign of it. Bruising is contained, and the swelling on the left ankle is even starting to go down."
"Then what the heck is going on?"
Colors, coming to her from lightyears away, fuzzy and diffuse.
"Nightmare?"
"Hang on- I think she's conscious." A sun swung in close, and she tracked it as it passed a couple times over her horizon. "Ms. Rose? Can you hear me? We're the medical team, and right now you're on your way to Glade General Hospital. You were banged up pretty good, do you remember any of that? Can you describe for me your injuries?"
All four of her limbs had been ripped off and her body shattered into a thousand-million pieces. But for some reason, they seemed to think they could save her.
"Are you sure she's awake?"
"She tracked the flashlight."
"Maybe it's the pain from the fracture. Did we give her an anesthetic?"
Oddly enough, she wasn't in all that much pain. Consistent with her dream-memory, her body overall felt numb. Except for that gaping hole in her chest.
"No, heart-rate was too slow when we got her. Sedatives in such a small body might have killed her."
"Hardly seems to be a problem now." Another meteor plunged in overhead, blocking out more of that glaring light. "Are you uncomfortable, hon? Would you like a pain-killer?"
What she'd like was for her friends to be there, something familiar to cling on to so that she didn't slip away into the darkness again.
"I don't think she has the strength to talk right now."
Words, things which could never penetrate the vacuum. Not for lack of trying- she opened her mouth to tell them:
I don't want to be alone.
But all that came out was:
"Blllaaarggh!"
Vomit, stale and acidic filled the oxygen mask pressed tight over her mouth, robbing her of breath and flinging those hovering geoids far out of her trajectory.
"Shit! Screw it, clean her up now! I'm giving her a tranquilizer."
No, no, no, no, no. Do not go gently into that good night. Her mind reeled against the prospect even as her body began to shut down, fought against the solitary dreams in which the only light was a fading glow from the past or too far off in the future for her to ever reach.
This was not what she wanted. She didn't want to die.
Not alone.
Alone. Always alone. From the day they were born, henceforth into an eternity of solitude, deprived all vindication of life.
Who knew that there were so many types of loneliness? Caged like an animal, far away from one's home, family, in the presence only of hostile strangers. Exiled in plain sight against the wall of a thousand cold shoulders. Physical prisons, wherein one was locked away underneath stone and earth and forgotten by the world.
Sequestered in the confines of one's own mind, wrapped in chains like the arms of a warm embrace. Self-imposed solitary the most difficult to escape.
Tears fall upon the shadow of the mind, a shadow like a great beast with tails flailing, trying to seek out an end to it all. Darkness spreads, snuffing out luminous ideas, broken thoughts like fangs poking holes in lofty dreams.
Suddenly realizing that they were the shadow of intent, forever awaiting action. Fingers become the iron bars of the cage which keeps them trapped in the past.
"~So long adolescence of the frightened soul
You're entering the ritual
Lay down your every fear upon the altar child
Prepare to play the man's role~"
More beeping. This time steady like a metronome, keeping pace with a somber song wafting in from far away.
"~Lay me down on sacramental ground
Lay me low in times of woe~"
Lain down in a soft bed. She could feel that much now past the anesthetic burying her limbs in sand. They were so heavy she couldn't lift her arm to silence that constant and grating drone. Everything was heavy, her eyelids buried underneath the vast Vacuo desert. Bright light beating down on her and not letting her rest. -Yet it was still a tad chilly, dry breeze rasping over the single cotton sheet draped over her.
Breaking through the crust, she opened her eyes. Squinting around at her surroundings revealed a whiteness more than wind-tumble quartz grains could ever emulate. It immediately gave her a headache. She wanted just to turn away, crawl into the indentation of the mattress and back into the imaginary realm between waking and opening her eyes.
"~Headlong little one into the wild unknown
With the creatures and the cold night
Stay strong the sound of screaming's just the sacred rite
Of death begetting new life~"
Words not affecting her nearly so much as the timbre, the flow, slow and somber as a dirge. Welcoming, accompanying, leading her away from the prickliness creeping in through her fingers and back to the unfeeling depths of slumber.
"~Lay me down on sacramental ground
Lay me low in times of woe~"
Couldn't do that, she couldn't sleep any longer. Baby steps, her eyes were open to the discourteously bright light, and now she had to get her head out of the dirt to see what else her situation held.
Where numbness cut off at the elbows she pushed herself, shuffled backwards like a sidewinder up the gentle slope of her pillow.
"~There's a road less traveled and a life less led
And it's the path between your spirit and the voice in your head
We are here but for the grace of everything divine
It's the providence that we must find-"
Exhausted upon reaching the top, wanting nothing more than to roll back down and sleep until the dry wasteland around her found life once again. She felt out of place, it was too still, too deathly quiet.
It was quiet. Silent, except for the steady beat which chimed like a glass heart.
Above her the breeze had stopped, and next to her on the nightstand the radio had fallen silent, Blake's finger removed from the ancient thing with a slight click.
"Sorry," The black-haired woman apologized, replacing her rear into the shapely indentation of the emerald upholstered chair. "It looked like the music was upsetting you."
"Mm-nn." Ruby shook her head slowly, the room and its other inhabitants staying mostly in place. "I-"
No puke came up this tame, thankfully, but that was probably because she'd been drained of everything.
"Oh. Hang on." Getting up, Blake slunk out of ward, and Ruby was left to wonder if she ever would have figured out Blake's Faunus nature on her own.
On her own, again. Alone, again.
No- not alone, spying the unforgettable spray of hair from her sister strewn over the bottom of her mattress. Her other half sprawled haphazardly in another institutional chair, twisted at an angle which would be uncomfortable when she finally awoke… however long that would be.
How long had it been? Long enough to become entrenched to her bed, sprouting a number of wires and tubes which grew from her skin like roots. Long enough to lose the rest of her human trappings, replaced only by a paper-dress and wooden stiffness.
A better question would be what had happened during the battle, those memories being even harder to access than her limbs.
"Here you go." A Styrofoam cup was pressed gently into her unbending fingers, pale hand curling gently around both and guided the straw into her cracked lips. "Slow sips."
Mechanically she followed the instructions, slowly swelling back to life with each drop that made it past the parched surface.
"There you go." There it went, all the water disappearing into the dark pit of her stomach. "Doing better?"
"Mm." Still not trusting her words, not relying on her own muscles to guide the cup over to the tray.
"You want some more?"
She shook her head no. "What-" Her body decided otherwise, protesting with spiking coughs that she tried to stifle with arms that wouldn't move to her command and lungs that rebelled against the flooding.
"Take it easy."
Unable to listen as the spasms violently shook her corpse out of stillness. Only when it finally settled did she realize Blake's hands were the only things keeping her sitting up. This did not brew confidence in her body, least of all her historically untrustworthy mouth. Instead, she pleaded to her teammate with her already watery eyes for some kind of good news.
"Well, we won."
Obviously. All of them were alive and mostly well, Ruby herself being the most injured. Weiss was there too, sitting in the opposite corner. Propped upright with only her head lolling to the side and an indulgent waterfall of drool sneaking past lips that even in sleep were pursed in irritation.
Everything appeared right with the world. Yet the echoes of her dreams continued to reverberate through the quiet room and within Blake's hollow words.
It all felt empty.
"You're safe. We're safe. You shouldn't concern yourself with anything else right now. Not after what you went through."
That was right. She was right. So long as they were alive, everything else could be mended. Bones, bricks, flesh, friendships.
Even still.
-Even so, she could hardly muster enough concentration to do simple things, like realize when another cup of slightly chilled water was squeezed into her hands.
"Drink."
Come the last drop, she had almost enough coordination to place the empty vessel on the bedside tray to her left. The slight overbalance making her finally notice her mummified right arm, the splints strapped to it accounting for some part of her rigidity.
She stared at the foreign appendage for a while, trying to recall all the time which had disappeared into that black trench of sleep. It was almost a pity that Blake was the only one who was awake, given the woman wasn't very talkative on a normal day.
Locked in her own silence for so long, Ruby longed for something besides that sterile, electric tone pelting away at her groggy head.
"How-" Taking matters into her own, manually lubricating her lips with her tongue. "How l-long-?"
"Easy," Quick enough to react, pulling out her scroll and checking the hour. "Almost two days, on the dot. Doctors thought you'd be out for at least another twenty-four hours."
Ruby nodded like it made sense. But she supposed anything would, waking unto that island of thought. Her dreams had been choppy and suffocating, and the only thing she could say for certain was in front of her.
But there had been something in those depths. Leviathan of a secret contained within the silvery reflections of a past she never knew, within the head of a boy with golden hair.
No answers here, she had to crawl onwards.
"I'm sorry." Ruby surprised even herself that she was able to eke these words out past the heaviness which migrated to her chest. "I guess I worried you, huh?"
Left dumbstruck, Blake tried to deny the matching black bags under her eyes as well as the rut she had worn in the floor. Before she could, Ruby found the words that she had spent those many sleepless nights looking for.
"I should have been stronger. I should have been a better leader. I should have been a better friend." Saltwater threatened to consume her again, but she held it at bay. "I should… I should have known better."
"-Ruby," Those sleepless nights had not been enough to prepare her for this inevitable conversation. "You've nothing to be sorry over. I-"
It had been all her fault. There was no denying this- even if she had tried to run away from it, the truth and her comrades.
"I never thought it would get this out of hand." Still so weak. She would wear the title of 'scaredy-cat' without irony, but with shame.
Ruby smiled, the first since she woke up. It crinkled the corners of her mouth which were still quite dry despite the occasional drool that Blake had to wipe off.
"Yeah, ever since I met Naruto, things have been getting a bit crazy, haven't they?"
Blake bit her lips, fear once again trying to stifle her. Fear of rejection- of making the wrong move and destroying all she had worked for. And yet, she was still here. Previously, she'd be able to blame her own troublesome ghost for forcing her to do things she didn't want to. What kept her shackled to Ruby's bedside might have had its roots with Shikamaru, but it was now wholly hers.
Guilt.
"Ruby, there's something else you should know…"
"…So, are you satisfied, Ozpin?"
His perpetual smile might have given this impression, but like the scalding mug poised at his lips, it was just an adornment which served little purpose outside reality. The true litmus would come when he set down the report balanced in his other hand.
"Someone in my position can rarely afford that sort of complacency." Flipping the cover-sheet back in place and neatly tossing the papers into a growing stack, Ozpin took a careful sip of his drink and acknowledged his visitor for the first time since they'd handed him the report. "-But I am pleased, James. From what I saw, and now the handlers' report, Penny is meeting or exceeding all expectations. Even with the intervening incident, I think we can call this a victory. No one died, nothing of strategic value was lost, and we came out of it with valuable information."
Working on his scroll while Ozpin was perusing the document, general Ironwood now replaced this in his breast pocket before giving the man his undivided attention. Not looking nearly so pleased as his counterpart.
"Maybe for you. The only thing illuminated by this is that I have a serious security breach that needs to be taken care of before I can even consider mobilizing forces for the Vytal festival. That, and Project Copperhead is looking less and less like a sound investment."
"Oh?" Looking as surprised as he ever did, Ozpin cocked an eyebrow. "I thought Ms. Poledina handled herself splendidly. She can hardly be faulted for letting that X-Class Grimm escape after it changed its mind."
"-Only because there was something else it wanted more." Heretofore relaxing in the carved high-back chair provided for him and becoming one with the furniture, now Ironwood appeared ready to spring forward as if loaded onto one of Ozpin's student catapults. "You should have told me that stronger Dust attracted stronger Grimm."
Ozpin shrugged, in the same move gesturing to his bookshelf which occupied one whole wall of the office- the only wall which wasn't glazed over in windows. Its shelves sagged with the burden of Remnant's past.
"I would have thought this to be a risk you considered. It is fairly well-known that the first major Dust deposits were discovered because there were Grimm nests guarding them. It is also the reason that there has never been idol worship of Dust as a form of Deity. Human admiration is quite easily dwarfed by human fear."
Red Oak was no match for Ironwood as the man's metal hand absently came down hard on his armrest.
"-That doesn't help me now, Oz! I have constituents who want results. And unlike you, I need their support, or else they're threatening to back Schnee for the next election. The weapon they wanted doesn't do what was promised- it actually attracts Grimm. This only complicates the other issues that I'm dealing with. We're on the cusp of crisis. With demand for Dust rising, Atlas' mines can't keep up. The only other resources are too hard to get to one way or another, either too deep or too overrun by Grimm. Penny was supposed to solve the second issue, but now that won't work. So we're left with trying to exploit places which have been black-listed for decades- and we will, because people need that Dust. You think our Faunus attrition rates are bad now? In comparison to Dust, their lives just got a lot cheaper."
"What would you have me do, James?" Smile having since vanished and mug set to the side, Ozpin regarded Ironwood with equal intensity. "You know I can't provide any help with security issues up North. And I already gave you what you asked for with regards to Poledina. I am sorry if you don't feel it was a fruitful trade, but the exchange cannot be reversed."
Ironwood seethed silently, doing more unintentional damage to the irreplaceable furniture before his hand let up with an audible creak.
"Double or nothing."
"Excuse me?"
For the first time- ever- Ozpin was the one to be taken aback, and the General allowed himself a small smirk for this accomplishment.
"I know you want Penny. Take her- and the Dust. Call it a show of goodwill between our two kingdoms, flaunt her all you want. In exchange, I want mining rights to the Fox Islands."
Another first as far as Ironwood was concerned- Ozpin frowned. Not just a pensive look or mild indigestion, but a pointed expression of distaste. And it was directed at him. He enjoyed the previous surprise far better.
"There is a very good reason those Islands are off limits."
"And you've yet to tell me it." Adopting a relaxed pose with his fist perched under his chin, Ironwood was in fact trying to disguise the deep gulp he experienced forcing this gamble. "We both know it isn't for the Grimm, they won't go near the place. And I can't exactly go back to Atlas without at least a plausible excuse. Unless, of course, you'd like to explain it to them…"
Ozpin almost broke with the stoicism to praise the man in his conniving. There was a fine line between having men like Ironwood indebted to you, and having them reliant on you for their position of power. This was what James was truly wagering against him, knowing that there were only a few things he wanted less than Schnee in charge of the Kingdom.
"I'll consider it." Eyes firmly shut and no longer looking at the General. In fatigue, in contemplation, either way Ironwood knew his que.
"That's all I ask." He stood carefully with arms raised in surrender. "I'll be in Vale a few more days, but you can always contact me in your usual way." Pausing in his tactical retreat, "Sorry about the chair."
There was no sign Ozpin heard him, and he frankly didn't want to wait and find out what would be revealed when the man next opened his eyes. Ironwood's exit was marked by a pneumatic hiss, and the chime of the clock overhead striking three.
"How important are those islands?"
Another chime came in response to this probe.
'Either extremely, or not at all.' Being in one of his rare serious moods, Ozpin didn't question Jiraiya's flippant answer. 'It's either there, or it isn't. I'd give a higher than 50% chance, though, knowing the rumors that've spread around those islands. To me, it isn't worth it.'
'I also must ask what it benefits us to have the gynoid back in our fold. Was she not to be our agent to hold Ironwood accountable?'
"Yes and no." Quitting the sleepy posture if not his actual fatigue, Ozpin leaned back so that he could properly face the conversation. "I also feel that James has a legitimate concern. Atlas is one of the foremost exporters of Dust, not only because of their reserves, but because of their experience in mining it. If even they are running out of options, it could be a problem. With the SDC turning their attention Southward, it means they think there is a legitimate chance of turning a profit."
'-Which is exactly why this situation has the potential to turn tits-up.' Jiraiya sighed, not even the thought of those glorious mounds could lighten the mood. 'We're damned if we do, damned if we don't. We can't let anyone find it, not until we figure out what it does- and we can't find it- not with the piss-poor mining equipment Vale has. Schnee will find his Dust alright, one way or another. It's just a matter of what else he digs up.'
'Not even mentioning the issues this will bring with the White-Fang in either case. It certainly is a quagmire.' Not disagreeing with her subordinate's assessment, nor even his crass phrasing, even the experienced politician could see no clean way to cover their bases. '-Likely to become even more so when the question comes to that android. Poledina does not seem like the kind of man to give up his work without a fight. Nor do I think the General would willingly let the man come to our side.'
"The General will have to make some compromises, and he knows this." Ozpin clicked his tongue, already knowing that he would have to be swallowing some rather distasteful decisions himself. "-Though I'd as soon ignore this latter issue. It doesn't sit well to me, treating that girl like a bargaining chip. Besides, if your suppositions are true, nothing matters as much as that Statue."
'If it still exists.' Koharu reminded, knowing it was useless semantics. 'And we still do not know for sure that it is there. We are making a lot of suppositions based on speculation.'
'Either way, I'd not want to gamble on it.' Jiraiya too clucked, demonstrating where Ozpin had picked up this passive habit. 'But do we have a choice? You people have based so much of your society on Dust, that to quit cold turkey could destroy it. I suppose this situation was inevitable, we'd find out if we were right sooner or later.'
Ozpin sighed, opening a drawer in his desk which allowed a soft white light to flood into the darkened room, frame his face in multicolor shadow.
"I suppose, sooner or later, we all have to face our past, don't we?"
"Now just hang on Ruby! You only now woke up and you're injured! I can't let you get out of bed, let alone go anywhere!"
"Yang's right! Quit moving around before you end up doing something you'll regret!"
Regret? There was plenty she could in fact regret, all those mistakes sticking out of her stream of consciousness like stepping-stones, begging to be swept away- much how she swept away the electrodes from her arms and yanked the IV out of her wrist before anyone could stop her. That was as far as she got, though, and for the first time she regretted not being faster when both her sister and Weiss jumped on her before she could stick a toe out from under her covers.
"Calm down, Ruby, you're not thinking straight! There's probably still anesthetic in your system."
True, that if she had her wherewithal, she would have escaped their crucifying clutches with just a trickle of her Semblance. But the only thing coursing through her veins right now was the burbling desire to fly straight to the headmaster's office to demand he return what was not rightfully his.
"Please stop struggling, you're going to reopen your wound!"
"I swear, you better not get blood on me- Damnit! Blake, quit standing there and turn that thing off!"
Over their racket the heart-monitor's siren continued to wail loudly, protesting its loss of an electrical signal. Blake was meanwhile trying to disappear into a fold of the curtain, but Weiss' outburst was enough to shock her into action and she leapt at the off-switch.
"There! Now help us get a hold of her!"
Having done the one without question, Blake now hesitated at this new command. Stopping cold, as if awaiting the outcome of an internal debate which could now be heard without the blaring alarm. All the while her other two teammates continued to struggle with their captain whose writhing motions shook the wheeled bed and whose violent flailing appeared to be wearing on both the girls' patients and their muscles.
"What are you just standing there for?" Shooting her head around, Yang glared at her partner. "Grab her legs before she hurts herself!"
Just then, Blake watched as the little girl's powerful legs posted into the bed and bucked her hips against her human restraints.
"Crap! When did Ruby get so strong?" Hanging on with all her might to her captain's supposedly injured arm, Weiss had to admit that at this point they were likely the ones to get hurt. "Seriously Blake, any time you want to jump in would be great!"
Wondering if they were not already past that point, wondering if she had made a mistake sending the nurse home for the night, Yang dared not glance back at Blake to see the woman's answer. Nor did she have the strength to look at her sister who was now more animal than her Faunus partner, throwing herself against the fleshy bars of her cage.
So, instead, she shut her eyes and held on.
"…I'm sorry…"
This whisper from far away floated in like a hammer, making Ruby's bridged back collapse against the white ripples of her sheets. It smashed the reservoir of adrenaline pumping through her veins, letting the liquid spill out silently down her cheeks as she fell still.
Collapsing next to her, Weiss caught herself on her knees and the corner of Ruby's bed while Yang lost consciousness on her feet. Still awake, but unable or unwilling to comprehend what was going on behind her sister's exhausted stare.
"…Why…?" Plaintively Ruby begged, asking more to the heavens than the three in the room. "How could you?"
But none of the gods, mortal or otherwise, were listening, and the burden rained back down on their shoulders. The three who had made the decision while she was asleep felt the brunt of it.
"Why?" An unearthly cold came to inhabit Yang's void, conduct her lifeless limbs. "It's just a rock. How is it… that thing came to make you like this?"
That question appeared perched on the verge of tears, but Ruby was not moved. Neither was to give an inch.
"He was my friend."
"And I'm your sister!" Over the frigid stillness swept this wave, nearly knocking over the bystanders Blake and Weiss. "How could you… how could you lie to me?"
"Yang…" Rediscovering her sibling at the same time she found herself sitting upright, Ruby reached out with an arm that had again lost its strength.
Strength that Yang found, regaining control of herself and releasing the other self with a sigh.
"I'm not stupid, you know." Sidelined though they were, neither Blake nor Weiss were exempt from the guilt of this statement. "I get that I'm easy going… so in that way, maybe it's my fault. I knew a while ago that something wasn't quite right, and I did nothing. Is it… is it wrong that I'm glad they're gone? I know I don't deserve it, but I want my sister back. I want my team back. I just want to rewind everything to before this happened. Can't we do that? Can't we at least pretend?"
Even as she asked the question, Yang was afraid of the answer she might receive. Glancing around revealed Blake's slightly drooping feline ears, the normally infallible Weiss glancing sidelong while fidgeting with the empty space on her wrist, and Ruby…
Just stared at her, nonesuch empathy, or comprehension, or even pity. Only a polished vacancy where there used to be someone she knew.
"Normal knees." For lack of something to lash out against Yang's fists turned on themselves, clenching and unclenching impotently. "When we came here… all you wanted was to be normal. Not to be special in any way or stick out. -And Weiss, you wanted to be free of your family's legacy! Blake- I'm sure that I still don't get what you're going through, but it's pretty clear to me that you just wanted a fresh start, and that's why you hid who you really were. And me…"
Another deep breath as her muscles went slack and Yang tried to let go, of her pride, of everything but what mattered.
"I suppose I want action. Ruby's got her sugar, but for me it's the adrenaline rush. That night… that night was too much. Like a binge, because afterwards I felt guilty just thinking about what I could have lost."
Yang shivered at these saccharine thoughts still tingling in her bloodstream, and wondered if it wasn't too late already.
"This is way too much for us! It's too dangerous! I know that it's damned tempting. The power those things have, it's an easy ticket. I'd be lying if I said that adventure is the only thing I want out of this. I need to get stronger too…" Shaking her head definitively. "But I can't. Not at the cost of my sister. I'm not going to lose you too."
"I-"
In the wake of this Ruby was left to her thoughts, by herself to find some way to express how she felt. Never, not even in those cloistered dreams did she feel quite so isolated and alone.
"I don't want to lose anyone either."
Under that paper dress feeling naked, and under the anticipatory eyes of those dear to her feeling more than stripped. Flayed, gutted, clutching at the empty space in her chest.
"But I guess… none of us are strong enough to guarantee that, huh?" A bitter chuckle which echoed in her ribcage. "I know I'm certainly not. Remember Yang, how I couldn't even take care of Mr. Dreiling?" Ruby turned to the other two who were trying not to be there. Which was okay, because there was a sense that Ruby wasn't really looking at them. "When I was nine, I wanted my own pet to take care of, so Dad got me a hamster. Strange how now I can't even remember what he looked like. I only got to take care of him for about a week when I accidently left his cage open and he escaped."
Returning focus to her sister, Ruby managed to conjure up a twisted smile in the form of an apology.
"I remember that we looked everywhere for him for several days. We were on our hands and knees, poking our heads into bushes and Yang got her hair caught more than once." In spite of the tension and what was obviously not a pleasant memory, Yang too managed to summon a smile in retrospect. "Of course, we never found him. Dad and Sis told me that he likely got snatched up by a fox or something. But I know that it was our dog, Zwei, who ate him."
While Yang choked, Ruby finally managed a laugh that wasn't painful.
"I'm not stupid either, you know." Fingers clawed at the frustratingly flat spot beneath her collar. "-Just foolish, I suppose. Immature. It was me who forget to lock the cage. I wasn't capable of keeping anything I loved safe back then, and now even with Crescent Rose… it's no different."
With the unbandaged hand she forcibly pried her other arm away, glaring at it unfamiliarly and with disdain.
"I came here to try and help others, but I couldn't even protect something that was tied around my neck, let alone those people around me. Moreover, I needed help just to save myself. You're right, I don't deserve the responsibility."
"Oh, Ruby…?" What was supposed to be supportive came off instead as confused when the young girl swung her legs off the bed and onto the floor. "-Hang on, you're still supposed to be in bed."
"I need to see Ozpin." Calmly brushing off the several hands offering support, Ruby adjusted the paltry vestments as they rested on her shoulders while she searched her space for proper clothes.
"Still? Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
"It's already well past midnight." Chimed in Blake while shadowing the smaller girl in case she should falter in her stride. "I doubt that he's still here."
"He is." Even with her head in the closet, the absolute certainty was not muffled. "And it's important that I talk to him. He'll want to pick a new captain as soon as possible after I resign."
Vocal protestations flew around her head with less effect than would gnats. Effectively swatting them away, she stripped off her invalid garb without a glance backwards.
"Now just hang on!" Springing forward, it wasn't that hard to shield Ruby's naked body with her own, not least because she was not struggling nearly as hard against Yang's well-meaning embrace. It was, however, a stark realization just how much larger, how much more developed the younger girl felt within her swaddling arms whereas previously she could simply disappear beneath Yang's shadow. "Please, just calm down and think about this for a bit, okay? Nothing needs to be done now. We should talk about it when we're all in better heads."
"I have thought about it." Without Naruto there to guide her, Ruby would have to do more independent thinking. This was less liberating than one might assume. Constrained instead, to failure. "As I am, I'm not suited to lead this team."
"Well, so what?" With a light blush, Weiss turned away from the shear attention she garnered -Or, maybe it was that one look which was still clad only in her birthday suit? "Look- we're still in school, right? So who cares if we make a little mistake now and then? The whole purpose of us being here is to improve."
"You know, Naruto said almost the same thing." When Ruby smiled so tenderly at her, the crimson burned hot and furiously across Weiss' pale face. And when that smiled died, so did the spring bloom. "It's just that I don't think I have that luxury anymore."
"What do you mean?"
Though having done her best to cut the heartstrings which tied her to this conversation, Blake knew to what the girl referred.
"The White Fang are my problem and I'll deal with them. There's no reason for any of you to get involved." This said, Blake never had much luck with severing such ties. No matter how hard she tried to keep it all in, she was always shedding bits of herself wherever she went.
"Of course there is." Much as she'd feared, she'd grown accustomed to that wide, earnest face innocently staring her down. "I could never abandon a friend."
A Doberman's bark would not have more effect than those puppy-dog eyes, and Blake flinched as if snapped at.
"You really have listened to him…"
"Sorry, but that's 100% Ruby." Yang declared, maneuvering for a cheeky smile while at the same time making sure no other cheek showed. "-And I'm with her on this one. No way you're doing anything stupid alone."
"Can we not do anything stupid at all?" Placing a hand on her forehead, Weiss considered the merits of sitting back down in her chair- whether she'd be able to get back up again.
"I'm also worried about Roman Torchwick." With a shiver that may or may not have had anything to do with her state of undress, Ruby admitted this. "Even without Naruto and the others, I don't think he's going to quit."
"You do seem to have some bad luck with always running into that shmuck." Yang agreed.
"That's why I just want to try and minimize the stupid mistakes." Determined in this commitment, more than the others could hope to be after a thousand reincarnations. "I'm never going have the confidence of my Sis. I'll never be the meticulous planner like Weiss. And Blake's got that natural intuition I couldn't achieve even with an actual ninja helping me. I don't have any of that. We're talking about going up against real dangers, and I couldn't bare the thought of losing any one of you."
A sentiment that touched them all the same and yet differently. Wanting to simply wrap her arms tight around her sibling, Yang had to restrain herself out of both delicacy and reverence. Such a bright ideal that Blake had to turn her head, and Weiss-
"Idiot." Glad she chose to remain standing a little longer. "That's why you're the only one who should be captain."
With the flabbergasted looks she was receiving, it was a good thing Weiss already had her eyes clenched against the vein throbbing in her forehead.
"Yes, yes, I know. Like I said: we learn from our mistakes. And in case you haven't noticed, you're the epitome of that! The fact that you've clearly thought about all this while on death's door is as admirable as it is exasperating.
"Look- We've all got our strengths and we've all got our weaknesses. Life's not always going to wait until we're all prepped and ready so that's why I'm no longer bidding for the job. You, Ruby, are the one who flipped from being flatfooted to giving Roman the boot. You're the one who was pushed ahead two grades because of this and had to deal with it. You are the one who gets saddled with a talking Dust crystal and just rolls with it!
"Clearly Yang is right. This is too much and we're not ready. But we're stuck in it now, and you're the best choice to get us out of it in one piece… more or less."
No longer propped up by the argument which had likely been festering since that night, Weiss deflated and collapsed back into the waiting seat while the others watched enraptured.
"Now, can we please go back to bed?" Draped over the stiff-backed chair which moaned in sympathy, Weiss didn't even have the energy to protest should this not be the case.
"That sounds like a good idea." Ready and able to find herself a nice spot to curl up just about anywhere, Blake commiserated with a drawn-out yawn.
"Mm. You guys go right ahead." Ruby did not anticipate being that far behind. Despite being unconscious for so long, these few hours were enough to drain anyone even if they hadn't already been empty. "I'll be fine here. It'd be better if you slept in your real beds."
"I'm not going to get much sleep if I have to worry about you waltzing around at this hour." A look that Ruby hadn't seen in a while made her sweat regardless of the relative cool.
"Relax, Yang." Able to brush off even this, Ruby gave her sister an assuring smile. "I'll always be here. That's a promise of a lifetime."
One she could keep easily, the thought of passing back through that surface of sleep no longer so cold and fearsome.
"Alright, Squirt." Removing herself until just a hand was left on Ruby's cheek. "Don't ever change, Ruby."
Turning around, Yang swiftly collected the others who didn't have the strength to put up much resistance- or any at all in Weiss's case, as she was unceremoniously tossed over the blonde's shoulder.
Energy enough though, as she was carried like a sack of potatoes out of the infirmary, to yell back one last thing at her troublesome captain.
"And for goodness'- sake- put some clothes on!"
Within every glass window which circumscribed his office, the view was all the same: A dark reflection of the interior. Sparse furniture in fuzzy disarray, shadows of toothy cogs gnashing like the boogiemen which loitered in the back of the mind. Ironwood had long since gone away, leaving his vacant chair as a faded cenotaph in the middle of the room.
But all Ozpin saw was his own pale image, staring back at him from the place where Vale should be. The city just another piece of that black mirror now, with the newly established curfew snuffing out all the lights. Not even the ocean with its glistening ripples of moonlight could reach him in his high tower, it was all too far away and drowned out by the backscatter.
Haloed in that light, the man appraised his mortal appearance with disdain. Hands too weak to do what was necessary- eyes burdened with such baggage that he couldn't see what that was. Everything about his appearance was much as it had been decades ago, but to him it all spoke about his age and neglect.
And that silver hair- that he begrudged most of all. Only a shade, a stain apart from a dead white.
"Some things never change, do they? No matter how hard we try…"
Glaring at his reflection, it stared back with the burn of a red dawn.
"We still have to keep pushing forward blindly. For what other option is there?"
"To quit the world. Just… let go."
"I can't do that, not yet."
"Neither of us can give up. We are two sides to the same coin, aren't we, Oz?" Within the creeping darkness the image had changed only slightly. Lines of his visage going to places where, but for the grace of gods long lost, he might have ended up. "One face in light, the other in darkness."
"Darkness will take me eventually, and I await that day. But I will not make it easy."
"Silly man, long ago you chose to run and now you can never stop. To and froe, going nowhere."
"You're wrong." Closing his eyes so that he didn't need to see the ruby-red suns winking at him. Folded his hands behind his back so that they didn't show his fear and breathed heavy so that he couldn't hear the backtalk. "I've moved on from the past which is your grave. Where you will rot away until you are nothing."
"Nothing is what I came from, being reborn from that dark pit of despair. Don't forget, you were the one who chose the light, watching as the world burned." Cold slivers of darkness reached out from their crystalline prison. Obsidian fingers caressed his cheek, and even thought he wasn't looking he could feel them.
"-Meanwhile, you turned your back on the world. Is that any better?"
"I have become better. More. I am the future, the memory, the possibility which haunts you. Grow old all you want, run from the truth as fast as you can, hide from me in those many incarnations, but I will always find you."
The sultry daggers pulled themselves back into the abyss without so much as a bead of sweat to show as a prize. But Ozpin knew that they had already taken so much more.
"I am your guilt, your deepest regret, and you will never escape me…"
"I don't need to escape you." All of this he already knew, repeating it only to himself and not to the ghoulish image which had long since vanished. Emerald eyes snapped open but only to confront a pale travesty.
"You are my mistake, and I will erase you."
His only answer was from the real sun which had by now started its arduous journey over the horizon, framing the expansive landscape as it unfolded in daguerreotype.
And where behind him there might have been an amused cackle only in his mind, there came a rapping and the laughing creek of his door as it opened.
"Headmaster?" Thankful for the voice of Glynda Goodwitch which never allowed compromise. "You're here early. That's unusual."
"There's lots of unusual work to be done." He turned to her with a grin which came easy.
Glynda arched an eyebrow in accusation of his excuse.
"There always is." Leaving the comment to hang there, she'd already moved on, depositing another sheave of work on his desk next to the other which looked to have yet been touched. "What else is new?"
"The world, I suppose." Turning back to it, Ozpin watched as the light quickly spread once the sun passed the mountain. "It moves in mysterious ways, with or without you. Every succeeding generation bringing something different to the age-old story." New problems, new drama, he neglected to mention. "Even the sunrise can come as a surprise if you spend long enough in darkness. I should try to catch it more often, because moments like this are ever so fleeting."
"Try doing my job for a few weeks." Unaffected by her boss' rhetoric, Glynda bustled about the office automatically. Cleaning up the pages which had spilled across the floor while simultaneously fixing them both their drinks of choice from the small bar tucked off to the side with all the other clutter. "You'll get used to it soon enough."
"It is my sincerest hope that I never do."
Stopping just short of the headmaster, Glynda held both mugs in her hands as she silently appraised the man. Even staring at his back, she could tell that there was something different.
"-Ozpin?"
"You are right though, there is much work which needs to be done." Not yet perceiving the woman behind him nor the steaming beverage which would replace the lukewarm mug languishing on his desk. "Glynda, see if you can't catch Ironwood before he leaves. Just tell him he has my provisional acceptance."
"Sir." Not put out in the slightest by the abrupt turnaround. If anything, Glynda seemed to pick up on the unusualness of this request and relished in the opportunity to set things into motion. -Anything outside of the routine.
Hurrying outside to this task, the new mug would be placed alongside the old one while Ozpin continued to stare and ponder.
"Things will quickly slip past us if we let them." Contemplating, rubbing his chin, "I could probably use a shave…"