And back we are with another installment in this fanfic! As someone has asked me how many more chapters I have in mind, I'm not entirely sure, but I really do not foresee more than four left. If that. So, we're very close to the conclusion, which I do in fact have in mind! I just hope you guys enjoy the current chapter, and once again wish to express my appreciation for all the kind words people have said to me, even when threatening my life for putting these poor girls through hell! :D
Disclaimer-I don't own RWBY at all. Sad, sad day.
It took Qrow exactly seven seconds to realize the person before him was not the same person he had watched get on the airship to Beacon. Even if he set aside her current mental state, she had improved far beyond what he had ever expected she would in such a short time. Every advantage he had had as her teacher had nearly been negated. She was as strong as him, as agile as him, and she had truly joined to the motions of the scythe. He'd always told her it was more like a dance, but she never seemed to catch onto that. Now, she had. Even as he ducked another swing and returned with his own, he marveled at how far his little protégé had come. Even his reach was no longer a factor, with how tall she had grown. He was reminded so much of her mother. Summer had been one of his best friends ever since they'd landed on a team, and he remembered sparring with her all the time, or fighting with her at his back.
His semblance was of little help either, since Ruby had known for a long time exactly how it worked. Most peopled assumed it was some sort of illusion, how the shadows would creep out and cover his body, making him blurred and difficult to strike true, but they were wrong. Not that Qrow would reveal that to anyone, except those he trusted…like his niece. No, what Qrow's semblance did was it fused him with the shadows, making him part shadow entirely. Hitting him was actually easy…doing damage was not. You were more often than not actually striking empty space, as Qrow would shift what the shadows were fused to as his enemy got close. The problem was Qrow was limited in how much of his body he could fuse to the shadows, and for how long any one part was fused. Excessive use of it would chill his blood and organs to the point that he was in danger of them not functioning if he did not give that part of himself time to recover from the cold embrace of the shadows, and Ruby knew it.
The reverse was not true however, as Ruby's semblance had no inborn weaknesses like his did. As long as she had Aura, she simply was faster than he could be. Luckily, his years of battle experience did negate her speed somewhat, as well as the fact he had taught her every move she knew. The only true advantage Qrow had right now was her mindset. Ruby was not thinking clearly, consumed by her own guilt and misplaced rage.
Ever since Summer had been taken from them, Qrow had always worried most for Ruby. Tai had eventually fallen out of his depression, even though mention of Summer still hurt him, he was strong and remembered all the good times they'd have together. Yang, though she still missed the woman she'd known as her mother her whole life, had accepted it. Qrow always thought his blonde niece was the most emotionally stable person he'd met in his entire life, except for her teeny problem with her anger. But Ruby…Ruby hadn't understood. And while Yang had been trying to help Ruby with all the fairy tales she'd read to her younger sister, she never realized what Qrow did.
Ruby had a very black and white view of morality, and of what her purpose in this world was. Ruby wanted to be a hero, the knight in shining armor, a single point of light against the darkness. The problem with that was Ruby placed everything on her own shoulders, refusing to let others suffer if she could help it. But you could only hold so much before it began to weigh on you, before it began to drag you down, and Qrow could see this time she had truly snapped. He'd always worried about when this day would come, when Ruby would not be able to save someone, when she had to face the cold reality that you cannot be the perfect hero from the books. He had no idea she'd go this far though…the thought of her executing someone in cold blood chilled him more than his own semblance did, as did the rage in her eyes as she swung at him. Ruby was his little niece, the one he'd affectionately dubbed squirt, and she was a kind, loving soul. Clumsy as all hell and sometimes a bit of a weapons dork, but still someone who never had held darkness in her hands like Qrow had. And it had cost her. He could see it in her eyes, the way she slashed at him back and forth, her desperation to make someone pay sending her into a frenzy.
Qrow kept calm, waiting for the right moment, the time when he could break through her anger. He was being as defensive as possible, letting Ruby wear herself out. He noted she was seldom using the rifle on Crescent Rose, which was a blessing for him. Far easier to dodge the blade than the bullet, even with how predictable her shots could be when she was enraged like this. He knew he had to play this just right, he had to remind her of what she was doing and who she really was. This wasn't his niece, and it was time she remembered who she was. There! A quick dash forward and he locked his scythe up with hers, straining against her as he looked her dead in the eyes.
"Ruby! Stop this, now! This isn't you!"
Ruby growled, the light from the sun glinting off the water still gathered at the corner of her eyes. "What the hell do you know, Uncle?!"
Qrow spun around, dragging Ruby with him, throwing her off balance for a millisecond. "Of course I know, I'm your damned Uncle! I trained you! I helped raise you! I know you, Ruby Rose, and this is not how my niece acts!"
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think!" Ruby's reply was shouted even as she pushed Qrow back, bringing her scythe around her back for a quick swipe at his legs which he leapt up and over, kicking out and forcing Ruby back once more.
"Oh cut the crap kiddo, of course I know you. And I know you're hurting, but this isn't the way to deal with it! It's not your fault Ruby!" Qrow ducked a vicious swing at his head, spinning around and flinging his leg out for a sweep, one that Ruby back-flipped over. She dashed to the side, blurring as she attempted to get behind Qrow, but he had the haft of his scythe in position to block her swing before she'd even finished getting behind him.
"Shut up! Just shut up, Uncle! She's dead! She's dead and its cause of this stupid signal so I have to stop it! I have to stop it, she's dead and it's cause I'm too slow!" Ruby's eyes were tearing up even more as she screamed at Qrow, blurring her vision. Qrow waited patiently, seeing her swings get wilder the longer the fight went on, knowing he'd have his chance soon.
"Stop being so arrogant kid! She's dead because someone shot her! You can't blame yourself, you can't do everything by yourself Ruby!" Qrow whipped his scythe around in an arc, letting his blade impact hers, stunning her for a brief moment since he'd always told her never to hit blade to blade. She shook off the shock and leapt into the air, bringing her scythe screaming down at her uncle, firing Crescent Rose for more speed.
"I have to fix this! It's my job! It's…my…JOB!" Qrow stood there, looking up at her as she fell, not even moving as her blade came screaming down at him. Calmly, he held his scythe out to the side and without a second's hesitation, he dropped it. The clang of his weapon landing on the ground made time slow down for Ruby, as she saw the form of her uncle, unarmed, standing calmly with his hands out wide, waiting for her to land. She closed her eyes tightly and screamed incoherently, before firing Crescent Rose again to spin herself away from her uncle. She didn't have time to fix her course, and she hit the ground hard, landing painfully on her side. A gasp of air escaped her lungs as she struggled back to her feet, feeling a sharp pain shooting through her side that made her cringe. She felt more than saw an arm hit her hand, forcing her to drop Crescent Rose, before she felt her uncle's arms wrap around her shoulders. One hand on the back of her head, pushing her face into his shoulder, the other around her back, holding her tightly, ignoring her struggling. His voice came out, quiet and calm.
"It's not your fault kiddo. It's not. No one blames you but you. Come back to us Ruby. Your family still needs you. Your friends still need you. Pretty sure that pretty girl in the white needs you too. So just let it go…it's not your fault. I've never lied to you before kiddo, and I'm not about to start now." Ruby didn't bother to open her eyes, feeling something clenched inside her heart easing just barely, just enough for her to wrap her arms around her uncle and squeeze him as tightly as she could. She stopped struggling against him and just let one tear fall, before the downpour began, sobbing into the comforting shoulder of her mentor.
Yang breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her uncle and Ruby embracing, even as she fought her way closer. Blake and Weiss had finally regrouped with her, and the three of them had begun clawing their way through the army of soldiers to get near the two scythe wielders. JNPR had also joined them, along with her father who was currently using one of the soldiers as a blunt weapon, swinging it around in great sweeps to clear a path. Cardin had moved off to rejoin his team, but Yang and Pyrrha had both given him a respectful salute as he left, one he returned. Yang's eyes ran over the battlefield, noting how teams had finally seemed to regroup with each other and were all making their way to the central tower as best they could. Taiyang turned around and grinned at Yang, the look in his eyes making her pause and raise an eyebrow.
"Hey daughter dearest?"
Yang narrowed her eyes at him, always worried when he called her like that. "Yeah dad?"
Tai chuckled for a brief moment, before making a grand gesture towards the tower. "How do you feel about playing a game?" Yang slowly was catching onto his suggestion, even as Weiss and Blake looked at her father in confusion, or in Weiss' case, appalled.
"A game? Now? I hardly think this is the time or place!" Weiss exclaimed, skewering another soldier on Myrtenaster. Taiyang waved her off.
"Oh, this is a game I feel Yang will be happy to play, now that she's old enough. It's one Qrow and I just love to play. It's actually very simple…you see, I pick Yang up, I aim her, and then I throw her really really hard at the bad guys, and she makes the bad guys fall down. I think she's old enough now!" Blake's jaw dropped, aghast, as Yang giggled.
"You know what Dad, I'd love to play! In fact, I think this would be a blast! Eh? Eh?" Yang nudged Blake in the side, making the faunus glare at her.
"Yang, that's insane!"
Yang shrugged. "So's dad. So am I. So is my uncle, and Ruby. Crazy is part of the blood, kitty cat. Ok dad, whenever you're ready!" Taiyang picked Yang up as though she weighed nothing, holding her over his head with one hand flat against her abdomen, almost like he was holding a javelin. He held his other hand out in front of him, fist closed with his thumb pointed up. He closed one eye and stuck his tongue out as he 'aimed' (although both Weiss and Blake were pretty sure he was faking it) before rearing back and launching Yang like a living, burning, golden missile.
Yang blazed clean through the soldiers before them, her burning semblance melting anything foolish enough or too slow to get out of her way. As she neared the front of the building, she flipped herself over midair and let out a blast from Ember Celica, arresting her motion and allowing her to lightly contact the cracked walls of the CCT. Pushing off, she did a half back-flip, landing on her feet with her hands up in the air, fists clenched. Even at the distance Blake was, she could clearly her Yang's exuberant 'Nailed it!' cry. Blake rolled her eyes and jogged along in the path Yang had left behind, one not unlike the previous one Ruby had left, only with less collateral damage.
As Weiss and Blake neared the building, they arrived just in time to see Yang slowly peel Ruby from her uncle and gently pulled her into a hug, holding Ruby delicately. Taiyang joined in the hug, holding both his daughters before giving a kiss to the top of their heads. Weiss carefully crept forward, not wanting to disturb the happy family, but so worried about Ruby. When Ruby lifted her head and her eyes met Weiss', Weiss had to struggle not to shudder at the pain reflected in the younger girl's eyes. Ruby's eyes cleared for a second as she glimpsed Weiss, and she broke the hug with her father and sister to shuffle slowly towards Weiss. Looking up at Weiss, the heiress was struck again by how much pain was reflected in her eyes, but even more worrisome was the fear Ruby had as she looked at Weiss. It hit Weiss, then, that Ruby was worried Weiss would react as she had before. Ruby was worrying that Weiss would fear her. Weiss held her arms open wordlessly, hoping Ruby could see that she held no fear of her.
Ruby collapsed into Weiss' arms, sobbing silently, her shoulders shaking even as Weiss gripped her tightly. She held the younger girl close for a brief moment, but the sounds of nearby battle interrupted their reunion, even as a body flew over and crashed down before them. Looking down, Weiss and Ruby saw the slightly singed form of Cardin laying, groaning at their feet. He looked up at the two as his team rushed to his side, holding his head and staring blankly at them for a moment before his mind caught up with his eyes. Eyes wide, he leapt to his feet and stood, eyeing Ruby warily. Noticing the way everyone around her was calm, it seemed like he took it in stride, nodding at them before speaking, Dove handing him his mace.
"Look, glad you're ok and all that Rose, but we have a situation here that needs addressing. You said we gotta stop the signal. Well, we're at the tower, how about we get on that?" The four members of team RWBY blinked at the sight of Cardin speaking to them moderately respectfully, but decided not to comment on it. Ruby released Weiss and looked up at the tower, lifting Crescent Rose up determinedly. Jaune came striding up to her side, followed quickly by Coco. A few other team leaders came up near her cautiously, all waiting to hear what she had to say. Ruby looked around, before taking a deep breath and speaking in a subdued tone.
"We can't send everyone in. We need people to stay here and keep the soldier's occupied till we can get the signal shut down. I'm pretty sure they won't leave it unguarded though. I'll take my team and JNPR inside. The rest of you, stay out here and keep them out here." Most of the team leaders nodded sharply, before rejoining their teams and repeating the orders given, but Jaune placed his hand carefully on Ruby's shoulder.
"You sure about this, Ruby? I mean, after what just happened…" he left the sentence hanging in the air, but everyone knew what he meant. Ruby looked down at the ground, hand tightening its grip on her scythe.
"…I'm not ok. I don't know when I'll be ok. But I gotta do this. I have to see this through. I won't be alone though. I got you guys with me. We can do this. We can stop this. I can figure this out after…for now, we got a job to do."
Jaune nodded, his expression still worried, but trusted his friend. Ruby turned to her uncle, but before she could speak he held up his hand.
"I believe in you, kiddo. Me and your father will keep them off you. You kids can do this." Ruby nodded, giving a tremulous half smile that quickly fell again. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, before shouldering her scythe and looking around at her team and JNPR. Yang grinned at her, eyes blood red and hair aglow. Weiss spun the chamber on Myrtenaster, checking to be sure it was rotating correctly, before giving her a soft smile. Blake reloaded Gambol Shroud, an audible click sounding as she snapped the clip into place. Nora had Magnhild slung across her shoulder, her irrepressible grin still present even as she winked at Ruby. Ren ejected the clips from Stormflower before flipping them up, a new set of clips sliding out of his voluminous sleeves into his guns. Pyrrha just gave Ruby a salute, her own half smile painted on her face. Jaune nodded at her, his expression set as he looked towards the shattered remains of the entryway to the CCT. Ruby took one last deep breath, before raising her scythe in the air, letting it hang for a brief moment before dropping it.
As one, the eight teens dashed forward, charging straight forward into the dark foyer of the CCT, prepared to put an end to this nightmare.
