Chapter 11 – Looking Up
Ruby blearily opened her eyes to look around her surroundings, the road bobbing up and down slightly. Huh? She turned her head and saw that she was being carried by Ren, who was panting heavily. He looked her in the eye and dropped her, surprise and weariness causing him to lose his grip on her, though his reflexes were good enough to turn that into a slide down that let Ruby land on her feet.
"Wha-" she half asks before everything that happened comes rushing back to her. The Grimm swarming them, everyone else was low on Aura, Ren was right out, Qrow was in bad shape, wobbling a few times, dozens of them had been slain, but more were moving in even as it was getting easier to see the rest of the forest past them. Pyrrha was helpless, about to be eaten by that monster and she had… she had used her silver eyes again. She still didn't know how she did it exactly, but in that moment she had just felt sure that she was able to use it, and she was.
Taking a proper look around she saw that they were on a road, some distance away from the forest they had been camping in. It was hard to tell in the darkness of night how far away it was, but at least she had enough light from the stars and the broken moon to see her friends. Nora up ahead turning to look at back at her, Qrow hoisted upon her back. Ren was looking at her concerned asking "Are you alright?" To which she nodded at him. Behind Ren she saw Pyrrha awkwardly jog up to her. Pyrrha's armor was dented in places, her bracers and tiara scratched, her usually vibrant red hair dulled by dirt and with a couple twigs sticking out of it, but she was alive. Pyrrha gave her a hug that was ginger, which meant she was probably still sore from the fight with that elder Grimm, but she didn't have any major wounds on her or anything bandaged up that Ruby could see.
"You're alive" Pyrrha whispered to her as if she couldn't believe it. Ruby laughed and hugged her back, trying to be careful not to squeeze her too hard.
"I should be the one saying that, you almost got eaten by that horse-person Grimm thingy!" Ruby said as she saw Nora come closer with her uncle. Qrow was groaning, looking almost like he'd had too much to drink (which Ruby knew to be a whole lot) but worse somehow. At first she had thought that he had been knocked unconscious which is why Nora was carrying him, but now it was looking like something else. Turning to Ren she says "Tell me what happened."
"So, after we fought back that huge horde of Grimm and the Nucklathingy" "Nuckelavee" "Right, after Qrow destroyed it, he just keeled over?" All three of the others have been looking at Ruby with a look of awe. Pyrrha had been pretty distracted by Jaune's death at Beacon, so she guessed this was the first time they had all really seen what her Silver Eyes could do. Ren and Nora though, there seemed to be something more, especially whenever the Nuckelavee was mentioned, Ruby just couldn't figure out what it was.
All of them are sitting down, their backpacks used as makeshift back supports as they sit on the side of the road. Not good for actually sleeping, but the others need a moment to recover their Aura and gain back some stamina (it had only been 15 minutes of carrying her apparently, but that and the fight before it had really drained Ren). Pyrrha hesitantly responds "It was his blood, it… it doesn't look good." Rolling Qrow over slightly from where he's lying, Ruby can see the purple splotches on his bandages.
"Oh no. How is he doing?" Ruby hears Qrow coughing a bit and he seems so… frail. Qrow's always been her teacher, always there to pull her out of any serious danger when she was young, one of her heroes, second only to Summer in her mind. To see him like this, it was upsetting for Ruby on many levels, like something fundamentally wrong.
Nora grimaces slightly "It's not looking good. He needs proper medical treatment, something to deal with that venom."
Ruby turned to Pyrrha with wide eyes "I'm so sorry."
Pyrrha blinks in surprise "Whatever are you sorry for? It was my negative emotions that drew in the Grimm. I… I was so, so, sooo wrong about you. I nearly ruined everything, but you were the one to save us."
"No, I was too reckless. If I hadn't been Qrow would be fine and then-"
"How about ya both stop feeling bad for each other before we get even more Grimm on our hands?" Qrow speaks up, coughing a few times.
"Uncle Qrow!" "Mister Branwen, are you ok?" "Do you need anything?"
He turns to Ren as he tries to sit up, getting only far enough to slouch with his back slightly upraised against a bed roll. "Some gin would be nice but failing that I'll take some water." Ren passes him a waterskin which the Hunter almost drops before Ren just lifts it up to give him a drink before taking it back away. "Right, so I don't know how long I have, so I better fill you in on a couple of important details I didn't get the chance to before." He gives a slightly apologetic nod to Pyrrha "You're right to be angry with me-" "No, I was-" "-But I need you to really listen to me now. I'll tell you everything I know, but we might now get another chance."
"Sorry" slips out of Pyrrha's mouth before she just nods at him to go on.
"Alright" he huffs a few times before continuing. "The first thing you need to know, is that Ozpin is alive."
"WHAT!" Or some variation of that cry goes up from Ruby and everybody else. Qrow gives them a stare that can't quite be called a glare, not enough energy behind it, but they get the picture
"He's alive… in a manner of speaking. If you haven't figured it out yet, Ozpin was the wizard who made the 4 Maidens. He reincarnates every time he dies, his soul passing on to inhabit and share another body. If I'm not… around… you need to look for him. Lionheart should have more details on how to locate him, but it's gonna take some searching." Ruby was rocked by this news. While no one had shown a body to confirm his death, Cinder's emergence from the tunnels without him had led everyone to believe he was gone. Which in a way, Ruby guessed was true, but in an even more important way it wasn't. Ozpin could help tell them what to do about the Relics, and Cinder, and Salem, and everything else. Even Pyrrha seemed uplifted to hear that the legendary huntsman/headmaster was out there.
"There's been some, uh, discrepancies about Lionheart's actions and Cinder's enrollment. Just… be wary when talking to him." His breath is coming in more ragged now. "Sorry about bringing this all down on you. It's why I didn't travel with you before. My semblance, it brings bad luck."
Ruby can't help herself from speaking up here "Wait, isn't your semblance turning into a Crow? I've seen you do it before." She thinks she hears Pyrrha mutter something about '..that's where the feathers come from'.
"I was named after my semblance, but it was from how crows are often seen as a sign of ill omen. Ozpin gave me and Raven a tiny bit of his power, to let us turn into birds." How old was Qrow when he was named? And who would name him like that? Ruby's wondered about his past before, which he's always deflected, but it's even more glaring now. Who waits until their child has unlocked their semblance to name them?
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to… to put you all in danger. I'm sure you'll all do great without m-"
"No! Uncle Qrow, you aren't going to die! We're, we're going to get you some medicine and you'll be all better soon. We just have to make it to a town…" Ruby's voice breaks and her words die off as she desperately tries to convince Qrow that he'll survive. Qrow seems unconvinced, his words starting to slur.
"It's too far away, with you lot all banged up… no way Raven will help me now… you're good kids…"
He starts to drift into unconsciousness when Pyrrha grabs everyone's attention with a piercing question.
"Mr. Branwen can you still turn into a bird? If you can, with Ruby's speed, she could save you." Qrow's eyes open in surprise before he grins.
"Yeah, I just might be able to do that." He focuses and in an instant a wounded crow is lying in his place. Ruby has no idea where his clothes or weapons 'go' when he transforms, but when Ruby gently picks Qrow feels so light, even lighter than she thought he'd be for that size. She passes him over to Ren to bandage his wound again. Qrow doesn't move much throughout the process, just lightly twitching, seeming unconscious again.
"Pyrrha, thank you so much. With this I can run Qrow to safety. He even feels light enough that I can lift him when I use my semblance and turn to rose petals (I don't have much strength like that, but he's really, really light)." Pyrrha seems shocked at Ruby's thanks.
"It was my fault that… look, you're the one who saved me, saved all of us." Pyrrha takes a deep breath "You were right and I was wrong. I was so caught up in being angry, in being so certain of myself, and I lashed out at everyone else. When I couldn't see the problem was me." The last line is far quieter than the other, barely hearable to Ruby. "But things will be different now. I'll follow your lead."
"You saved us too, you know. You were holding that Grimm off us for a long time." Ruby's glad to see that Pyrrha is a bit more stable now, though she doesn't want her to depreciate her own actions. "And it wasn't like you were the only one drawing Grimm there."
"When your uncle recovers, can you tell him I'm sorry?" Pyrrha asks Ruby. "For my anger towards him, the Grimm" she cuts off looking even more apologetic towards Ruby, Ren, and Nora. "For my hypocrisy in keeping secrets from you guys and being mad at him for doing the same."
"You can tell him yourself soon enough, right?" Ruby asks as she takes the newly bandaged Qrow from Ren. Pyrrha might not be angry anymore, but Ruby doesn't want her pulling anymore stunts like she did against the Nuckelavee and putting her life in danger again, and she makes those thoughts clear to Pyrrha with a look.
"Ah, yes, we'll meet up with you soon enough. We'll be safe, I promise, just a bit slower than you."
Nora chimes in "And once Reny is feeling rested he can cover us with his semblance." She's leaning over him, looking like her usual bubbly self, but the two of them exchange a look and both adopt a more serious expression. "I know you have to run off now, so we won't take long but…"
Ren picks up for her "… Thank you for ending the Nuckelavee." How they say that, something clicks, and Ruby remembers Ren talking about that Grimm before Tyrian attacked them, about how dangerous that one ancient Grimm that wiped out Ren's village… She's stunned for a moment having trouble finding the words to respond.
Ruby's glad to help people, and especially her teammates, but she isn't great with such awe, for lack of a better word. She nods and says "I just did what I could. I'm glad I could help." Ruby stands up and begins her run towards Mistral.
The journey is a tiring one, going as fast as she can up the mountain path. Her semblance can let her go fast and she does use it to boost her speed, but she knows if she tried to race there using only her semblance she'd be exhausted long before she could make it. Pacing it out, especially for the trickier parts of the mountain made the journey a lot easier. It would have been next to impossible to carry her uncle in human form, but as a bird it was pretty much like running unencumbered for Ruby, and there was an actual path that had been beaten up the mountain, which was mostly consistent.
The path she went up led to a cave full of weapons scattered throughout it. She was feeling a little spooked by this, the cave had an eerie feel to it. She was careful as she moved through it, following the wind that rushed through for a path to the summit, ready for any ambush. Ruby knew the cave must be occupied by a Grimm, and an old one to have collected so many weapons, and it was only when she got halfway through the chamber that she recognised some of the hoof markings and claw scratches on the ground. This was the Nuckelavee's den.
Ruby was happy to know that there wasn't another ancient Grimm waiting in the cave to attack here but didn't feel relaxed until she passed through the cave fully and reached exited through the opening leading to the summit. Qrow was twitching in her hands and she worried as she flew up the rocky cliff. Would she make it in time? How far away was Haven? And then she saw it as she looked over the top of the mountain.
The sight of Mistral floored her. Buildings of white stone and brown roofs sticking out all around the lush mountain, bridges covering the gaps where a giant waterfall flowed through, and at the top, lightly obscured by the clouds, a giant building with a tower piercing up past it. Haven academy, the sun rising behind it. She'd made it! Pumping her free fist in the air she felt invigorated. She only had to run down this mountain, across the short road in between the two mountains, and Qrow would be safe.
Ruby ran faster than she ever had before, racing down the slope. She only tripped up a few times in her haste and was able to use her semblance to recover each time, pushing herself even further. She made it an entrance up to Mistral by noon.
It took a bit of asking around to find a doctor, but that was a bit problematic in itself.
"What do you mean you won't look at him? He's dying!" Ruby said shoving her uncle in the doctor's face.
She reeled back from Qrow "I am a human doctor, and I mostly deal with rangers and hunters who've suffered too serious wounds for there aura. Find a vet to deal with your… pet."
"He is a huntsman. He got stung by a scorpion faunus and poisoned and I needed to run him here so he used his semblance to turn into a bird! Now can you help him?"
The doctor seems bewildered by what Ruby's saying but after a moment she comprehends what the young huntress is saying and tentatively holds out her hands to accept Qrow.
"I'll do what I can young lady, but you better not be pulling my le-" she's cut off by Qrow turning back to human form right then, knocking her down and pinning her under him.
Qrow still seems a little out of it, saying "Hey, who's the cutie?" His eyes have barely opened to see the woman underneath him. She's struggling but can't seem to move him.
"I'm so sorry about, here let me" Ruby says as she pulls him off, and then with the Doctor's help takes him onto a table before she gets told to wait outside.
The wait isn't very long. While her uncle doesn't look much different than before, Ruby's been assured he's been given an antidote that while help stop the poison. Combined with some medicine she's given (and strict bed rest orders for Qrow for the next week) Ruby's assured that he'll make a full recovery.
By the time she's gotten a room for her and her Uncle (and reserved a room for the rest of her team) it's almost sunset. Getting a nice room near the entrance to the upper part of the mountain for everyone took a bit of time, but it'd be a good place to rest. She called the team and it sounded like things were going well with them, they'd be there in a day or so. With her fears settled and things looking to be back on track Ruby sat down at the desk in her room and started writing her letter to Yang.
