RWBY (c) RoosterTeeth
Rose Above The Clouds
Conversations
"Do you recall the last time I saw you?" Admiral Thorne's voice was thoroughly reproachful, as though lecturing a misbehaving ten year old than the fully grown Huntress who stood before her.
They were standing in a briefing room adjacent to the two-tier control centre. Upon learning that she had a guest, Admiral Thorne almost barked an order to send them away while her attention was focused on overseeing the deployment of units in Mantle's foundation plates. That order died in her throat when she discovered precisely who the guest was.
Delegating the task to Teale, a skilled logistician and her right hand, Thorne invited the Huntress into the briefing room while the mute specialist waited outside. It was almost look she was looking at a ghost. And when Summer Rose gave no answer, Thorne continued with her interrogation.
"The last time I saw you, you were being shipped off to Vale with your father to avoid charges of assault." Thorne circled the central control console, her tone reproachful and stern. "On a fourteen year old girl as I recall."
"I was fourteen too." Summer Rose was regretful but only to a point.
"And, many years on, do you still believe your actions were worth it? Justified even?" Thorne pressed, her scarred brow furrowing into a dark scowl.
Summer simply stared back at her, confident and defiant. "Do I regret what happened because of my grief? Yes. Do I regret the consequences it had for my mother? Of course. But I'm not going to stand here and pretend that beating up a pretentious racist little shit who laughed at my family tragedy is anything other than a good thing."
Thorne allowed herself a small smirk. "I see there's still something of the wolf in you, girl. Your time away has done little to quell that fire."
"I'm my mother's daughter after all." Summer shrugged lightly.
"That you are. A bane and a boon if ever there was one." Thorne agreed solemnly with a nod. It was now she turned to face the Huntress in white, her eyes narrowed before she offered her arms out. "Its been a long time, pup."
Summer crossed the room and embraced her with a melancholic smile. Only with the greatest reluctant did Thorne peel away, her aged craggy hand cupping Summer's cheek as the Admiral appraised her with softer eyes. "We thought you'd died. Your mother was heartbroken."
"Mother... still thought of me?" Summer blinked, astonished to hear this news. Her silver eyes fell to the floor. "I... sent letters, but I never received a reply. I just assumed mother threw them out before she even read them."
"Oh no. She read them alright. Every single one of them." Thorne declared, shaking her head in bemusement. She raised an eyebrow and her lips curled into a smirk. "... but, a bandit?"
Summer blinked in surprise, "Excuse me?"
"You married a bandit?" Thorne clarified.
Summer scowled then crossed her arms in a huff. "Ex-bandit, thank you very much. He's a licensed Huntsman, he's a good person, a good husband and a better father."
The admiral couldn't help herself, and let out a short chortle. "I'm sure he is. Forgive me, Pup. I couldn't resist a tease. Violet and I had a running bet when she heard you were getting married to that young man. She didn't think the marriage would last a year, I disagreed."
"You were betting on my relationships?!" Summer accused,
"Playfully, I assure you. And I won after you wrote Violet to inform her of your pregnancy." Thorne informed her kindly, "And the pictures of the babe, why, I could scarcely believe it when that same little rose bud showed up just this morning for escort duty."
Summer blinked in surprise then smiled softly. "So, you've already met her?"
Thorne nodded, "The girl, Ruby Rose? Of course I have, when I saw her it was unmistakable that she was your daughter. The hair, the eyes, even that ridiculous choice in weapon."
Summer's brow twitched at the insult and Thorne controlled herself, she didn't want to laugh in her adopted niece's face. "That's her."
The jovial atmosphere turned sour as Thorne's face was etched with stern lines. "Although, I will confess my doubts. They claim they're huntresses, but they're still children. Yet Ironwood sends them down to me in lieu of anything else to assist in repairing the literal cracks in this city's foundations."
Summer took a step forward. "I'm not denying that they're all young, but from what I've seen and read, they're very capable in a fight."
"Fighting and leading aren't the same thing, as you're no doubt aware. I have no doubt that they've seen some carnage in their time. You cannot live the life of a warrior without experiencing an equal measure of misery. But they're at a dangerous age; Too mature to be called children, too young to know how the world truly works. I fear that they'll end up doing something disastrous that may cause more harm than good."
"Then its up to us to pick up the pieces." Summer declared with a shrug, "That's what we're supposed to do as adults after all. Give 'em a pat on the back or a slap in the face."
"I suppose." Thorne nodded once again, conceding to the point before turning her scrutinizing eyes on Summer. "So, why don't we get down to business. Not that I'm complaining, but why has my formerly Missing-In-Action niece suddenly returned to Atlas, and why is she answering Ironwood's beck and call?"
"Yang, can we talk?" Ruby asked gently.
The first Paladin team had been loaded onto a crane's flatbed along with accompanying supplies and they were slowly descending along the line of the city's support pillars. The trip was a slow one, with nothing to occupy attention beyond bland metal walls broken by the occasional painted letter or number designation.
Ruby found Yang alone, leaning on a supply crate while idly tinkering with Ember Celica on her human arm. She'd been morose for a few days now, and Ruby knew that if they didn't clear the air now, it'd fester and cause resentment between not just the team but their family. Ruby was so sick of seeing her family suffer because of it.
Yang huffed irritably. "Look Ruby, I really don't want to right now. Can you just leave me alone?"
"I have." Ruby replied firmly, her tone verging on anger. "I've left you alone because I knew you needed time to sort through… well, all of this stuff with Mum and Qrow and-"
Yang scoffed and shook her head. "Ruby, look. I understand why they did what they did, but I'm not ready to jump on the forgiveness bandwagon just yet. Besides, we have more important things to take care of right now. Like trying to reunite Remnant or stopping Salem. Family drama can wait until we're finished there."
"No, it can't." Ruby shook her head firmly. "I want it resolved now. I don't want you constantly glaring daggers in Qrow's back every time he leaves the room anymore. I understand you're angry-"
"I'm not going to forgive Qrow and Tai for all the lies! Ozpin did the same damn thing to us, and I'm just sick of it all. I want the truth, and have can I trust any of the adults in our lives anymore?" Yang demanded, pushing herself to her feet. "I'm sorry Ruby, but I've been burned too many times to take anything they say at face value anymore. I think we both have."
Ruby's shoulders slumped, disappointment etched on her face but she sympathized with Yang's point. Nearly every adult in their life has either lied to them, or made them active participants in secrets. It was... tiring, to put it mildly. But now the truth was ready and willing
"What's going on?" Weiss interjected, as she moved towards the two and Blake followed at her side. Their expressions etched with identical looks of concern.
"Nothing." Yang answered unconvincingly before Ruby could get a word in edgewise. She turned to look at the cargo crate, pretending to be preoccupied with the lock.
"No. Its not nothing." Blake declared firmly.
Weiss had her hand on her hip, her lips pressed in a thin line. "You two have been acting strange for the last couple of weeks. Not days, weeks. And to be honest, you're both suffering because of it. Yang, you're becoming too brash and aggressive fighting Grimm - even more so than usual, and Ruby - I have never seen you miss a shot with your sniper - but I've countered at least six instances in the same fortnight where you have. Something is wrong. Something has you both distracted."
The half-sisters, no the cousins, blinked and stared at Weiss in surprise at her deduction.
Blake took a step forward, her hands held out before her as if pacifying a confrontation that was about to come to blows. "Please. Ruby, Yang - We're your teammates, your friends. You can trust us, and we want to help. And we can only help if you tell us what's wrong?"
Ruby's fingers curled into fists as she mustered her nerve. She inhaled a deep breath and looked into her teammate's faces. "My mum is still alive."
Blake was the first to recover from the shock of the news. "What? She disappeared when you were a child, didn't she?" She glanced towards Yang for conformation. "I thought she-"
"W-Wait, I don't understand. Shouldn't that be a good thing? Your mother's been found. She's alive and well, right? Do you know where she's been this whole time?" Weiss interrupted her friend, shooting a quick apologetic look to Blake whose lips pressed in a grim line.
"Yeah, you'd think it'd be a good thing alright. But that's only the half of it." Yang declared glumly, arms crossed over her chest.
"What do you mean?" Blake questioned.
Ruby hesitated once more. "It, uh... it turns out that our family situation's a bit more complicated than we realised. See... My uncle Qrow isn't actually my uncle..."
Weiss nodded slowly, not quite sure where the conversation was going. "Of course not. He's Yang's uncle, but doesn't mean he's any less your-"
"He's my father." Ruby finished quietly, almost too quietly to be heard over the noise of the crane behind them.
Blake as the first to break the silence. "What…?"
Ruby repeated. "He's my father. A few days after we got our licences, he took us to the Hospital to meet my mother. But, well, Neo decided attack my mother."
"I was there." Weiss stated, "I mean, I wasn't 'there' there. But that was the day Winter showed me Fria. The entire complex went into lockdown and Winter rushed off to deal with a 'priority patient'. I'd just assumed that it was VIP, like a councilman or some other old Atlesian name - I never knew it was your mother."
"Why would he lie about that? To you for all those years." Blake questioned, arms crossed.
Weiss turned to her faunas teammate. "I think we all know why: Salem."
"You're taking his side?" Yang balked, shooting straight to her feet.
Weiss held her hand up defensively. "I'm not taking anyone's side, I'm just saying that given the situation - I can understand why he chose to distance himself. We all know what's at stake now, and his semblance is a wild card at the best of times. Hardly the best circumstances to raise a defenseless baby."
"Maybe..." Blake began uncertainly, "Maybe, you should just sit down and talk it out? Sometimes, the best thing to do is just let everything out? Let him know you understand but remind him how much this hurt the pair of you."
"Yeah, fat chance." Yang scoffed.
"Grow up!" Ruby's anger snapped like a twig as she turned towards her cousin, shocking all three girls into silence. "Look, I get it. I really do. But what good does it do? Does it make you feel better to dwell on it? To just let it linger and hold it over him like a noose? Everything, and I mean everything, Qrow has ever done has been to protect us. So Grow. Up."
They were all stunned at her assertive statement and a long tense silence followed before Ruby felt a sting of guilt. She didn't mean to snap at her sister, but if that's what it took for her to see sense.
"I'm sorry I yelled." Ruby apologized quickly. Now that she'd finally gotten the first matter off her chest, she decided it was time to let loose the second one too. Lowering her voice an octave, she gave a quick glance around to ensure no one else was nearby and could be listening in.
"There's more... I think - I think my mum might be the Summer Maiden."
"What?" Weiss frowned.
"How can you be sure?" Blake asked.
"Process of elimination, right?" Yang surmised, sharing a look with Ruby. Her anger had clearly quelled quite a bit. "Cinder was the Fall Maiden, Vernal the Spring Maiden, Fria's winter. All that's left over is Summer."
"But how can you be sure? How do you know that your mother's the Summer Maiden?" Blake pressed, frowning. "How could she be? Isn't there some sort of age limit on who can inherit the powers?"
"Something she said." Ruby's expression was lined with thought. "Mum told me - us, that her last mission was to locate the Summer Maiden. And she did. She said that she spent a good deal of time bonding with her before having to leave for some business in Vacuo where she went missing. She went missing fourteen years ago, in her mid twenties. Well within the age for Maiden powers. Add to that, Mum said that she still had a role to play in this war."
Another silence descended over the teenagers as they proceeded the information Ruby had just given them. "And that's why you said you'd support someone you loved getting the maiden powers," Weiss mused, "Because your mum has those powers."
"Its just a guess, I don't know if she does or not." Ruby shrugged lightly, feeling oddly liberated for revealing these truths.
"Lets say it is true. The next question becomes, how did she hide it from Salem for all those years as her prisoner?" Yang asked, almost lost in her thoughts.
"I don't know..." Ruby answered honestly.
"I think... I'd like to meet your mother, Ruby." Weiss declared a moment later, smiling gently. "She sounds like a truly fascinating woman. And I think we'd all have some questions to ask her."
"Agreed." Blake nodded firmly. "The things she could tell us about Salem, about the Maidens and everything in between. I think we could learn a lot from her."
Author's note:
Cat's out of the bag. Thorne's not a total bitch, but she's not really that nice either.
I welcome feedback and criticism,
Aurora313
