A/N Been a while huh?
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY
EDIT: Formatting is hard :P
Remnant
"I'm sorry."
It was the first word to have been spoken between them apart from Yang's whispered apologies to the comatose Ruby.
This apology wasn't from Yang's mouth, but from the girl's polar opposite, the Schnee heiress.
Blake blinked, staring blankly into space. For a second, Weiss wondered if Blake even heard her say anything, but the distant loner turned her head to face Weiss, her mouth slightly agape.
It wasn't every day that the ice cold teen would say sorry. A flaw she saw in herself was that she couldn't, for the life of her, admit that she wasn't leagues better than someone.
Now, she wasn't sure.
At first, Weiss had been slightly taken aback at her first impression of Blake. Threatened, almost. Intimidated enough to walk away with a huff, concealing her surprise.
It hurt that she was being recognized as a conceited little girl just because of her last name. And sometimes, she admits she was acting that way too. Just because of her upbringing.
"Are you happy now?"
Blake's lips pursed, "Don't even try. It happened. We can't change it."
Weiss let out a frustrated sigh. She didn't mean for it to come out that way.
"That was stupid. Out there. We… I was being stupid."
"I…" Blake trailed off, her gaze wandering. Weiss wondered for a second if she had said the wrong thing. Seconds turned into minutes, and now Weiss was certain she had said the wrong thing.
It took a moment to realize that Blake was not ignoring Weiss, but calmly observing their team leader.
Her still body seemed out of place. She was supposed to be moving, jumping around excitedly. Blake never thought she'd see the day when Ruby would run out of energy. Now, it seemed like it was potentially going to be gone forever.
Just a still corpse of a hyperactive child.
Yang fell asleep at Ruby's side, clutching her hand as if it was a lifeline. Blake was glad that she could finally get some rest. And partially glad that Yang closed her eyes so that Blake couldn't see the spark in her eyes fade away.
When they had got here, the bed sheets were covered with Ruby's blood, somewhat dried out into the cloth. The nurses, rather hesitantly, switched out the sheets for white ones, stashing the red soaked material into a trashcan.
She had always seen death around her as a child. The faces of the faunus she had met were some she could never see again. Most of them had already faded from her memory.
Sometimes she regretted not paying attention to those features at all. The color of a certain faunus' hair or the length of a tail. The special eye color they'd possessed dulled until it was just accepted as a stationary color like black or brown.
It was getting harder to remember Adam's face in the times he had taken off his mask. Before he became a psychopath.
Yet strangely enough, she wished that she could never see him again, because she knew she would have to fight him.
That was the duty of a huntress.
It took a while to notice that she had completely ignored Weiss' apology. She whipped her head back again at the heiress.
And looking at the thoughtful face of the Schnee, she wondered.
How on Remnant did she manage to befriend her former enemy? It confused her.
But perhaps they were not a different as they had thought. Blake lost her faunus comrades, Weiss lost her family relatives.
Maybe amidst this fighting and war, Faunus and Humans were not as different as people thought.
They needed more people like that. People like Professor Ozpin who blurred the line between the two species. People like Yang who would willingly befriend a person regardless of their heritage. People like Ruby that were so simple yet so rare. People who accepted.
Weiss noticed that Blake was just staring blankly at her. She looked at the faunus with a questioning look.
Blake gave the heiress a rare smile, "Okay."
It was enough.
Qrow took a long gulp of the admittedly lackluster alcohol in his hand. It had been a few hours since he had gotten the text, and he had retreated to his favorite bar to pass the time.
Instead of getting his favorite drink, he opted for the strongest he could find. The bartender happily handed over some of the bottles that have been collecting dust in storage.
Guess he had another reason to go back to Beacon.
"Getting a bit tipsy?"
Qrow scoffed, "Nah. Got anything else stronger than this?"
The bartender laughed, patting the hunter on the shoulder, "You're kidding right? That's the strongest we've got."
"Right…"
"So… Got something happening at home? Maybe lady troubles?"
Qrow glared at the smiling man before taking another swig.
"If you're calling my 15 year old niece a lady."
"Oh… teens right? I got you."
"My niece is dying," Qrow snarled.
The bartender was silent before he continued polishing the glass in his hand.
"She's dying."
It hurt.
It shouldn't hurt. The elixir always worked. Why did it hurt?
"Ruby is dying."
"Look sir. I can see you're suffering. Maybe you should take a breather outside or something?"
Qrow repeated his statement again, the words sounding cold and soulless on his tongue. It hurt to inhale the oxygen to say the statement again. It hurt to toss his pain out into the air for everyone to see.
"Sir?"
Then he laughed, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. He shouldn't have been complacent. He should've taught her how to escape the clutches of death.
"Qrow?
"I'm fine."
"No you're not. Let me help you."
"Just leave me alone."
"But-"
"Summer…"
She looked exactly like her.
Earth
They had stopped to get some fuel on the way home.
Ruby had put on her new earphones and plugged it into her phone, with Michael's help. Ruby spent some time scrolling through the songs she'd downloaded. Surprisingly, the phone was rather similar to the scrolls back on Remnant. She did prefer holographic screens instead of glass though.
Shrugging slightly, she picked at random and switched the phone off with a press of a button.
"They see you as small and helpless. They see you as just a child. Surprised when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild!"
A huge smile broke out on her face. Her favorite song! Ruby couldn't help but sing along with the lyrics.
"Prepare for your greatest moments. Prepare for your finest hour. The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower!"
Michael tapped on the window suddenly, making Ruby jump in shock. Slipping off her earphones, she saw him give her a weird look.
Ruby smiled back in reply, before putting her earphones back on.
She frowned when she realized that she had missed the next few lines, but instead started rocking out to the chorus.
"This will be the day we've waited for.
This will be the day we open up the door.
I don't wanna hear your absolution,
hope you're ready for a revolution.
Welcome to a world of new solutions.
Welcome to a world of bloody evolution.
In time, your heart will open minds.
A story will be told,
and victory is in a simple soul!"
Ruby laughed, fixing her hair. She could Michael giving her another weird look as he refilled the fuel tank.
"Your world needs a great defender. Your world's in the way of harm. You want a romantic life, a fairytale that's full of charm!"
Huh. That's strange. She never remembered a second verse. Nonetheless, she still danced in her seat listening to the lyrics so she could rock out to it later.
"Beware that the light is fading. Beware as the dark returns. This world's unforgiving, even brilliant lights will cease to burn!"
The lyrics… she thought, her unladylike dance slowing as she concentrated hard to separate the words from the blasting guitar.
"Legends scatter. Day and night will sever. Hope and peace are lost forever."
This song's darker than she'd originally thought. The awesomeness of the first verse practically spelled out why she wanted to be a huntress, but as the song progressed, it didn't seem like the fairytale she'd imagined.
Is this what she'd wanted?
"Hey kid!"
Ruby took off the earphones again as the last chorus ended.
"Yes?"
Michael had reappeared in the driver's seat next to her, shaking her shoulder to get her attention.
"What 'cha doin'?"
Ruby glanced down at the phone in her hand, stopping the still rather loud music from playing through her earphones.
"Nothing. Just… looking through some stuff."
"I'm sorry Ozpin. But this is what is needed to keep our people safe."
Ozpin stared blankly at Ironwood, taking another casual sip of his coffee. He hated that, how he seemed so unconcerned with… everything.
"Are you even listening to me?"
It frustrated him. Instead of sending fully qualified scouts to the south-east, Ozpin sent four first year students and an overly hyperactive history teacher with them.
Unacceptable.
"The students you sent weren't ready for a full blown attack. They were unexperienced, and you failed to judge them so."
"They prevented the Breach from escalating further. Without them interrupting the attack, it could've been even more devastating. Instead of focusing on the amount of injuries, think about the lives they saved," Ozpin replied evenly.
His eyes finally focused on Ironwood's.
"It was under control."
Ironwood slammed his prosthetic fist into Ozpin's desk, shaking the liquid inside of his coffee mug. A few droplets fell out, and he took the time to frown at the loss of fluid, angering Ironwood even more.
"While you're here 'focusing' on the positives, I'm here to fix the negatives. All four of your students were injured along with countless Atlesian Knights and the people of Vale. You can't escape from the outcomes of your decision, Ozpin."
Ozpin was silent. Ironwood unclenched his fist and strode out of the office, believing that he had made his point. Before the elevator began to descend, he heard Ozpin's scroll ringing, signaling that someone wanted to communicate with him.
Waiting until James had left, Ozpin answered the call.
"Taiyang."
"Ozpin," the blonde man growled with an obvious hint of anger in his voice.
"It's been a while."
"Where the hell is my daughter?"
"Safe at Beacon. A few cuts and bruises, nothing a few days can heal. Unless of course, you mean Ruby, who is currently comatose in the infirmary."
Ozpin listed off their injuries like he was discussing the weather. Matter-of-factly and easily. Not like he was pointing out why she could die.
"I'm on the first flight to Vale. I'll arrive there tomorrow."
"Qrow?"
Taiyang laughed. "Haven't seen him for ages. Probably hitting a club somewhere."
Qrow had gone dark a few weeks ago, according to James. Although, he did doubt that Ironwood even tried to contact him.
"Let's cut to the chase here, Oz," Taiyang said seriously, his persona taking an immediate turn around. Ozpin nodded and nudged away his now cold coffee.
"I want to cancel Yang and Ruby's enrollment at Beacon."
Ozpin blinked one or two times, before responding.
"No."
"What kind of answer is that? I wish to terminate their admission into Beacon. Is that hard for you to understand?"
"I brought Ruby and Yang to Beacon for a reason. Their ability as huntresses can benefit Vale, and even Remnant."
"What use are they to the world when they are dead? I know you Ozpin. I trust you, but this is not about Vale or Remnant. This is about me and the safety of my children."
"Enrollment at Beacon cannot be redacted. Teams have already been decided. We can't have a team of two now, could we?"
Taiyang shook his head at the distasteful question.
"Even if I could cancel their entry at Beacon, I hardly believe that Yang and Ruby would give up their dreams just for your approval."
"Please. As a father. And as your friend."
Taiyang looked so broken. He wouldn't be able to handle another death.
But while the Queen lives and Grimm exists, nobody can be safe from the darkness that knock on their doors.
"I'm sorry, Taiyang. But let me ask you this. Would you rather stand by them in their final moments, or abandon them for a second time?"
Jaune returned from the cafeteria, trying to balance 4 trays of food in his arms. He contemplated getting his shield out to carry them all easily, but to his quiet dismay, he had left his shield in his room.
He had probably left a lot of stuff in his room as well. His empty wallet, his sword, the packet of gum he carried just in case Weiss came by, oh and his scro-
Ah nuts.
He locked himself out again.
Jaune tried to slide the 4 trays onto the ground safely, only to unsuccessfully spill half of Ren's lighter tray onto the carpet.
He checked his pockets again, only confirming his fears. He dug his hand deeper into his back pocket, hoping that for some miracle that his scroll had magically shrunk down a size that could hide in the deepest corners of his jean pockets.
Nope. All he found was a few balls of lint.
For some unsettlingly weird reason, the whole situation sounded kind of familiar.
Shrugging it off, he proceeded to knock on team RWBY's door.
He had given permission for Ruby to carry the JNPR dorms passcode around, just in case Jaune had forgotten his scroll again. Maybe if she was he-
Oh, right.
Realizing his mistake too late, the door opened, revealing a tired Weiss.
Her hair was somewhat damp, as if she'd just taken a shower. The bags under her eyes almost made Jaune look away.
"What?" Weiss snapped, a bit too harshly. Jaune had flinched away too fast to notice her slight wince.
"I-um-was-just-here-to-um-ask-Ruby-something-but-I-figured-that-she-wasn't-here-oh-well-sorry-Weiss-gotta-go-goodbye!"
"No you dork! Get back here!"
Jaune was already halfway down the hallway when he had heard Weiss' order. His mother always told him to never disobey a woman's command so he cautiously returned back outside team RWBY's dorm.
"Y-yes?"
Weiss looked like she was weighing her options. Jaune was sure she was about to choose the angry yelling option.
Her light blue eyes caught Jaune's nervousness. Sighing weakly, she leaned against the frame of the door.
"So… how have you been?"
Jaune's mouth fell open, and after realizing that he had lost control of moving his jaw he lifted a hand up to close it.
Was Weiss… having an actual conversation with him?
Jaune, in his surprise and obliviousness, didn't notice Weiss getting even more uncomfortable as the situation progressed.
Weiss hadn't caught up with team JNPR or Sun or Neptune.
"Well… I suppose it's a bad time to bring up that we've been preparing for the Vytal festival?"
Weiss scowled. "Yes, a very bad time."
"Right…"
The awkward silences became more frequent.
"Look, I just really wanted to say that I'm sorry that you can't participate. We were looking forward to a RWBY-JNPR fight."
Weiss allowed a small unnoticed smile break through.
"Ruby was excited for that. I made sure not to get her hopes up, but we did try to make some strategies to counteract Pyrrha."
"I guess I should come visit sometime. We've just been so busy."
"It's alright."
Weiss wasn't sure if Jaune wanted to see the light in Yang's eyes fade away every single day.
"How's… Neptune?"
Somehow, the pang in his chest whenever she mentioned the blue haired boy didn't seem to matter anymore.
"He's good, I think. Sun's been trying to prepare his team too so I understand why he hasn't come to see you."
"Wonderful."
Jaune's eyes was drawn to the sleeping animal behind Weiss. It looked like the same corgi that Jaune had spotted in the aircraft a few weeks ago.
"What was Ruby to you?"
Jaune's attention was brought back to Weiss. Stammering more than a few times, he finally stuttered out an answer.
"She-uh-she's kinda like a little sister. Like a stronger, more powerful and wiser sister. Honestly, it feels like I'm two years younger than her."
"Was it me?"
"What?"
"Did I do this? Was I just so bad of a partner that I couldn't save her?"
Jaune always thought of Weiss as a confident woman. Now, confidence wasn't something that he could see in her now. Her gaze was almost pleading, like she needed someone to tell her that she didn't.
Weiss always thought she knew what she wanted. Even with her relatives disappearing every now and then, she was always given all that she wanted, even if it was temporary for a while. Except it wasn't what she wanted.
Now she knew what she wanted, but it might not be granted.
"Nope."
"No?"
"Not at all. I think that Ruby would just beat you over the head for thinking that way."
"But-"
"Ruby wouldn't blame you. She wouldn't hate anyone. That's just how she is."
Jaune could still see the uncertainty in Weiss' eyes. The look he saw every day in the mirror.
"You're not a failure, and you can't be because your team leader isn't one. She didn't lead you to become this way, so you shouldn't be."
"I…"
"Have a good day Weiss. Say hi to Ruby for me."
And then he closed the door.
It felt exhilarating to pass on the knowledge Ruby had given him to others. He could only hope that Weiss would feel the same like he did after that talk beside JNPR's door.
The locked door didn't seem like a problem anymore. Jaune felt like he succeeded.
And he could only hope that Ruby did too.
Earth
She didn't.
Success was a subjective term. What was success anyway? And how do you achieve it?
It all seemed so far away. Like she wasn't someone special anymore. All of those things she achieved on Remnant didn't even matter anymore.
She didn't move up 2 years to Beacon, one of the most prestigious schools in the world. She didn't behead a Nevermore on her initiation. She didn't lead a team.
Everything that made her her was gone. Gone was the weapons dork. Gone was the awkward girl who blew herself up on her first day.
She didn't get to know Weiss or Blake. She didn't befriend team JNPR. She never met Sun, Neptune or Penny.
Everything was gone now. Maybe they didn't even exist anymore.
And somehow, that hurt more.
It had been a month.
A month since Ray left. A month since she had met Samantha, Jen, Shannon and a bunch of other people she couldn't think of from the top of her head. A month since trips to the office and existing on Earth became the norm.
But most importantly, it had been a month since she became Ruby Jones.
It was strange, changing her last name. It felt almost disrespectful. She had her name switch from Xiao Long to Rose since her mom died. But compared to everything else she'd lost about herself, her name seemed insignificant.
Michael and Lindsay were worried about this fact. "You don't have to change it too much. You could be Ruby Rose Jones if you wanted to."
But Ruby knew that if that somehow got out, her life would become even more drastically different than it was before.
Michael and Lindsay tried to make Earth seem as similar to Remnant as possible, tried to make the change easier. But the more time she spent here, it seemed that Remnant was the fictional world instead of Earth.
She felt alien, but then again, didn't. That made absolutely no sense.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to Game Kids!"
"Today we are joined by Michael, Lindsay and Ruby Jones!"