Chapter 14: Stories scattered through time

Ruby smoothed down her uniform, grabbed her textbook and notes for History, and set out to find her tutor. It wasn't a long trip, as Yang and Blake's room was just across the hall from the one she shared with Weiss and their weapons. The door to the room was closed. Ruby could have knocked, but as the team leader she did have access to her teammates' room. She decided the moment called for decisive leadership and swiped her scroll at the reader. The door unlocked, and she let herself in.

The room was identical to hers, except for the décor. Ruby and Crescent had donated one of their beds to Ember and Celica, and at some point they and Yang had improvised a bunk bed for them on Yang's side of the room. The other side had the two regulation beds, with Gambol Shroud jumping up and down on the furthest one.

The second Gambol Shroud saw Ruby she froze. Though her body went rigid, the momentum still made her bounce a couple of times as she stared at Ruby with wide eyes. Once she recovered she sat down in a flash. She pressed her legs together and bowed her head, looking down at her hands resting on her lap. Her cheeks turned pink with embarrassment, and even her bow seemed to droop. Ruby felt bad for barging in and startling her.

"Hi, Gambol."

Silence.

"Is Blake in the bathroom?"

A nod.

"Full of energy, but nervous around strangers, huh?" Ruby set her things down on Blake's desk, then laid down on the bed with her head next to Gambol Shroud and her legs dangling over the end. The angle let her look up at the young Aegis's face. "You know who you remind me of?"

The Aegis glanced at Ruby and then quickly looked away again.

"Me." Gambol Shroud still didn't look at her. "I used to be just like that when I was younger. I'd take cover behind Yang's legs when strange people were around, and if they got too close I would run and hide."

Gambol Shroud peeked at Ruby again, and she gave her a friendly smile.

"People were surprised when they heard I wanted to be a Huntress. They thought it was funny. It always annoyed me. Just because I didn't know how to deal with people didn't mean I was afraid of monsters, you know?"

Gambol Shroud looked at Ruby and gave a little nod. Ruby smiled at her again.

"I knew you'd understand. You and Blake have killed your share of monsters, haven't you?"

"Yes." Ruby gave a little internal cheer at hearing the shy weapon's voice. She was making progress.

"Oh, Ruby. You're here already."

"Hiya, Blake."

"Where's Crescent Rose?"

"She figured she's doing well enough to pass the class without help. She's not really that into history."

"She's probably right. Besides, it's not like they would kick your weapon out as long as you are here."

"No, but they'd probably expect me to get on her case. I don't really want to do that."

"You are responsible for your Aegis."

"I know. And like I said she's probably going to pass. She can hang out with Myrtenaster if she wants." Crescent had always been more social than Ruby, especially among her fellow Aegises. Ruby quite supported her getting friendly with her partner's weapon. She wanted to be closer to Weiss, too.

"I don't think you really need this, either."

"I just want to set a good example."

"Well, let's get started then."

Blake took a chair from Yang's desk and brought it over to hers. She sat down and motioned Ruby to join her.

"Should Gambol Shroud maybe join us?"

"She already knows this stuff."

"Figures. She just looks so young, but it's always tough to tell with an Aegis." Ruby turned to look at the young-seeming girl. "Hey, how old are you?"

Gambol Shroud looked a little alarmed and glanced at Blake.

"She's about your age, I think, maybe a little younger. We're not really sure." Blake gave a Ruby a considering look before elaborating. "She's an orphan."

"Oh. That's tough." Orphans weren't uncommon in this world with Grimm in it, especially outside the major settlements. Ruby recalled Blake saying she'd grown up outside the Kingdoms. "She has you, at least."

"Yes. Can we just get started? Last week Doctor Oobleck covered the major battles of the Faunus Rights Revolution, and you wanted me to give you some background to that."

Ruby wasn't the most perceptive of souls, but she knew when someone wanted to move away from a painful subject. "Yeah, that'd be great. I don't really know that much about the Revolution."

"What do you know?"

"It was right after the War, right? Faunus got the Menagerie for their own country and they were supposed to get equal rights to humans, but they didn't think the humans were living up to the bargain, I guess?"

"That's actually not bad, especially since most humans consider it ancient history. Okay, to give a real background we need to go all the way back to when humans and faunus first met."

"It didn't go well, huh?"

"No, it didn't. From the start, the humans found the faunus unnerving, and treated them with mistrust and sometimes even open hostility. Or so it's said, we don't actually have any records going back that far. The Kingdoms didn't exist yet, there were only small, isolated communities. I guess they treated all outsiders with suspicion, and the faunus looked obviously different. I've heard some people even suspected they were related to the Grimm."

"That's just silly, though. Faunus have souls, too. You can feel it."

"People were silly and superstitious back then. Anyway, humans didn't let them into their fortified villages, and sometimes even hunted them down."

"Not the most glorious past, is it? But didn't the faunus have villages of their own?"

"There's always been less faunus than humans, and you know how vulnerable remote settlements are. There may have been faunus villages, but history doesn't know them. So much has been lost to the Grimm."

"But we've survived. And now it's our turn to keep the darkness back."

"That's right. The turning point in human-faunus relations was a Grimm attack on a village somewhere on Sanus, where humans and faunus joined forces to fight it off. That made the humans there realize that faunus were people like them, and could be trusted. Unfortunately, the humans couldn't be."

"I guess we kinda suck, huh?"

"Not all humans. But too many do. I don't want to dwell on this too much, but from the start faunus were treated as second class citizens. They may have been allowed into the villages, but they got the crummiest jobs and only scraps to show for it. When the Kingdoms began to form, their treatment developed into actual slavery in Mistral and Mantle."

"Anyone would revolt at that."

"There wasn't a lot they could do about it, outnumbered as they were. It changed after the Great War."

"How? I mean, the war didn't exactly make more faunus, did it?"

"No, but all the Kingdoms recruited faunus to fight, often in their own units, and they served with distinction. After the war, it was harder to pretend they were inferior to humans. It also helped that the slave nations lost. Vacuo had always treated the faunus better than the other Kingdoms, and they were on the winning side."

"Vale, too. We weren't that bad, right?"

"Not compared to Mantle and Mistral, at least. The postbellum was a—"

"The what?" Ruby wasn't sure she'd heard that right.

"The time after the war. It was a period of great change as the Kingdoms tried to find a way to ensure peace would last. The faunus saw their chance. They pushed for equal rights, and in the post-War euphoria, the winning Kingdoms were willing to grant it. It didn't hurt that for the first time there was a unified movement of faunus, and quite a few of them had experience in the War. They were a force to be reckoned with. They got their freedom, and they even got Menagerie for their exclusive use."

"That was pretty generous, right?"

"The Kingdoms didn't really give up much, as none of them had settlements there anymore. Having it inhabited would also keep the Grimm in check. It seemed like an arrangement that would work for everyone. Some faunus saw it as reparation for their treatment in the past."

"But obviously things didn't work out, since the Revolution broke out. Or did the faunus just get greedy?"

"Of course not! It was the humans who went back on their word. It didn't take long for the discrimination to start up again. It was even worse, in a way. Quite a few humans felt that if the faunus didn't like how they were treated in the Kingdoms, they had a place of their own now where they could go."

"Then why didn't they?"

"The Kingdoms were their home, too. Some did move, but most felt that they had fought for their Kingdom right beside the humans, and they had just as much right to live there."

"Oh, yeah, I can understand that."

"The discrimination was leading to raising tensions again, and the leaders of the Kingdoms decided that the best way to keep the peace was to kick the faunus out. Relocation of the faunus to Menagerie became an official policy. Faunus could have their equal rights, far away from the Kingdoms of humans. That's where the name Menagerie came from; a place to keep the animals."

"That's horrible!"

"Yes, it was. And the faunus had had enough. An army formed around the faunus veterans of the Great War, and the faunus fought for their rights. And they won."

"You can't really change people's minds through war, though."

"No, you can't. But you can change policy. The Faunus Rights Revolution led to the Kingdoms starting to protect the rights of the faunus and to censure the bigots, like they should have done in the first place. It didn't change the world with a stroke of magic, but it ended the organized discrimination, and things finally started getting better for the faunus. And they have, ever since. Many faunus feel the progress is too slow, though."

"The White Fang, especially."

"The White Fang were originally founded as a symbol of peace and unity between the humans and the faunus. Their goal was to foster mutual understanding and safeguard faunus rights. They remained non-violent for a long time. It wasn't until recently they started trying to secure those rights through force."

"Don't they realize that doesn't work?"

"But it does work! W... the faunus only have what rights they do because of the Faunus Rights Revolution, which was an outright war. After the White Fang started attacking people and organizations oppressing faunus, they have been treated better, at least outwardly."

Ruby wondered how to express her thoughts on the matter. Blake had clearly given the matter some thought, while she struggled to find the right words. "You can't change people's hearts through violence, not for the better. If people treat faunus better only because they are afraid of retaliation, they will hate it. It will only lead to more hatred towards the faunus."

"You... are not wrong." Blake hugged herself. "But given the history of faunus, it's not hard to see why so many of them support the current methods of the White Fang. The faunus should be equal already, not still getting there."

"You really are passionate about this, aren't you?"

"What do you mean? I'm just trying to give you the background you asked for."

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk this much."

"How am I going to teach you without talking?"

"You know what I mean. You obviously sympathize with the faunus."

"What about you?"

"I guess I'm with the faunus, too. I haven't known very many, but they've all been people just like me. They should be treated just the same as the rest of us."

"You are one of the good ones, Ruby. It's a shame everyone isn't like you."

"You are, though. And so's Yang."

"I know. What about Weiss?"

"I'm sure she feels the same way. She has a good heart, under all the ice."

"I wish I shared your confidence. But some of the things she says are a little... insensitive."

Ruby couldn't help a little wry smile. "Lot of the things she says are a little insensitive."

"I know, but I mean... well, let's just drop it for now."

"So, what next?"

"I guess that's pretty much the overview of the developments that led to the Revolution. I can go to greater detail, but I don't think you'll need that for the class. Maybe some names and dates."

"I've got to be honest, that was a little shorter than I expected." Perhaps Blake wasn't confident about her attention span.

Blake gave a little chuckle. "I had a lot more written down, but I skipped a lot of it. I guess I'm more comfortable writing than talking."

"Well, I enjoyed listening to you. It feels a little silly to only come here for a few minutes. We could cover something else, maybe?"

"I don't have anything else prepared. Maybe I could tell you more about the faunus?"

"I'd like that."

Ruby smiled at Blake as they sat side by side. She suddenly realized Blake's startling amber eyes were very close.

"What?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. You just have really unusual eyes."

"That's something, coming from a silver-eyed girl."

"Point. Anyway, they're really pretty."

Blake's pretty eyes widened at that. "Uh, thanks. Yours are pretty, too?"

"Thank you." Ruby felt her cheeks heat up at the compliment. The moment stretched on as they held each other's gaze.

Blake looked away. "Anyway, how about those faunus?"

"Uh, yeah, go on ahead." Ruby just hoped she hadn't given Blake the wrong idea. She didn't need to give Crescent any more reasons to feel jealous.

Ruby spent the next hour talking with Blake about the faunus, the talk getting less structured and more casual the longer it went. Ruby didn't mind; she found that she quite enjoyed hanging out with Blake, and Blake seemed happy enough to talk, too. This socialization wasn't too bad, especially with someone as nice as Blake. Gambol Shroud occasionally listened to them, or occupied herself by reading her scroll or a book, alternating between lying on her own bed and on Blake's.

"I think we strayed from our original topic at some point."

"It's been fun, though. And informative."

"I'm glad. But maybe we should wrap it up?"

"You want me out of your hair, huh? Well, okay. But I enjoyed this."

"I didn't mean that, I'm just not used to talking this much... Maybe we could go get coffee?"

"I'm not a big coffee drinker. But I could join you for a few cookies?"

Blake smiled. "Sure."

Blake led them out of the room, and Gambol Shroud joined in, naturally enough. They waited in the corridor while Ruby stashed her materials back in her room. As they walked towards the cafeteria, Ruby sent a quick text to Crescent about her plans.

The cafeteria had a fair crowd in it, but Beacon Academy was built on a truly heroic scale, and there was no shortage of free seats. While Blake and Gambol Shroud were getting their coffee, Ruby poured herself a tall glass of milk, and piled cookies on her tray until her guilt at looting the table overcame her love for the delicious treats. But it wasn't like she wasn't going to share; she was sure Gambol Shroud would appreciate a cookie with her coffee.

Ruby turned to look for a suitable seat, only to see Pyrrha cheerfully waving at her. Her mouth automatically formed a smile in response, and she walked over.

"Hello, Ruby. Would you care to join us?"

"Sure. Is it okay if Blake joins us, too?"

"Of course. That's... quite a lot of cookies for just the three of you."

Ruby didn't correct Pyrrha's misconception as she sat down facing her and her Aegises, leaving room for Blake and her weapon beside her. They showed up shortly, and Blake sat down next to her.

"Hello, Blake," Pyrrha said.

"Hi."

"Gambol, do you want a cookie?"

Gambol Shroud looked at the table in front of her, then at Blake, shot a quick glance at Pyrrha, and then finally looked at Ruby. "Okay."

Ruby handed her one cookie. She had to reach all the way past Blake to place it on the table as Gambol Shroud didn't move to receive it, keeping her hands on her lap and her eyes lowered. It was generally considered becoming of an Aegis to act demure around Guardians, but Ruby thought Gambol Shroud was carrying it a little too far. Or perhaps she was just too used to the more outgoing weapons she'd grown up around.

"Thank you." Well, at least she was talking to her. Ruby smiled at her, hoping she would at least notice it from the corner of her eye.

"So, fancy seeing you three here."

"Blake was helping me catch up with History classes." Ruby reached for a cookie.

"Oh? That's very nice of you, Blake."

"It wasn't a big deal."

"Evfy... sorry." Ruby washed the cookie down with milk. "Every little bit helps. I really appreciate it. I really didn't know much of anything about the history of the faunus."

"Nobody does. The faunus haven't really been in a position to record history until the last century or so. Anything older comes from human writings, or oral traditions."

"That's the case for all of us, isn't it? It wasn't until the rise of the Kingdoms that we started having reliable historical records. Before then, we were too busy just trying to survive."

"Why does everybody know more about these things than me?"

"We do have two years on you."

"Do you have to keep reminding me?"

"You should be proud of it, Ruby. I have been called a prodigy, but I wasn't invited to this prestigious Acedemy when I was fifteen. Your youth is a mark of distinction."

"I don't want a mark of distinction. I just want normal knees."

"I'm sorry?"

"Never mind." Ruby tried to make herself small and ate another cookie.

"There may be written records out there, somewhere, lost and waiting to be rediscovered. But we still haven't even recovered all the territory lost to the Grimm during the Great War."

"I didn't think you were interested in history, Pyrrha?"

"No? I've always been very proud to carry on the traditions of Argos."

"Argos? I thought you were from Mistral."

"I am. Argos was an independent kingdom before it was conquered and assimilated by Mistral. That was a long time ago, and we are loyal Mistralians now, but we still treasure our regional histories and legends. If you're interested, I could tell you about them, some time."

"Why not now?"

Pyrrha looked at Blake and Ruby. Ruby looked back with an earnest expression.

"Well, why not. But there are so many to choose from, we have such an illustrious history."

"I'm sure you do," Blake said.

"It's going to be the Mother and the Maiden, anyway," Miló said.

"It is my favorite story."

"We know," Akoúo̱ said.

"Story? So this isn't history?"

"This is part of our oral tradition from way back in the beginning. It may be more legend than fact, but you'll have to decide for yourselves."

"Ruby!"

Ruby turned, startled at Crescent's voice. Her Aegis hurried to their table and leaned down against the back of the empty chair next to her. "Oh, hi, Cress. I thought you were with Myrtenaster."

"She went... to check up... with Weiss, in the library," Crescent said, panting. "I thought I'd... come and find you."

"You didn't need to run, you know. We were just having some coffee. Oh, and Pyrrha was about to tell us an old story."

"Hello."

Crescent took the free seat next to Ruby.

"Don't you want anything to drink?"

"I'm fine."

"Do you want a cookie?"

"I could have a kiss."

Ruby felt her cheeks redden; that was a pretty forward request given the company. She couldn't deny her weapon, however, and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"Anyway," Pyrrha said with vaguely embarrassed air, "shall I begin?"

"Please." Ruby leaned forward on the table, eyes locked on Pyrrha and eager to hear a story about heroes and monsters.