The Burden of A Huntress
The past days had been rough for all of Team RWBY and the fractured Team JNPR, barely making it to Atlas with their heads on their shoulders and getting some time away from fighting the Grimm. While they had been met with a joyful reunion with Penny, their exhaustion from the endless battles against Salem's forces and henchmen had caught up to all of them; even Qrow, who, for once, had not fallen asleep over too much alcohol consumption. He was finished with that habit, both for his sake and the others, after what happened at the abandoned house.
Less to say, as soon as Penny had left all companies to their own businesses, there was no bed choice or eenie-meenie-minie-moe shenanigans; they just chose and passed out. At least, until Weiss had awoken from her slumber. She was normally one who never woke up during the night, so this unusual occurrence even baffled her. But the more strange thing about it, was that, despite all that had happened as of late, she couldn't find herself able to go back to sleep.
She had tried tossing and turning for awhile, but there was no success, and she was slowly getting irritated at this anomaly with her body. So irritated, that her occasional groans had caused the other girls to become disturbed in their respected slumbers. Something she didn't appreciate and didn't want to repeat, potentially accidentally waking one of them abruptly.
She sat up, letting out a groan of irritation to spell out her current mood, then quietly tip-toed across the room where her rapier sat up against the wall. She wasn't taking any chances out and about Atlas Academy, especially considering who they were up against. The trauma of Cinder's spear impaling and nearly killing her had still not left her mind.
Gripping her weapon tight, she quietly worked her way out of the room, into the long hall that gave a great indication of the majority of the entire academy; long lit halls that seemed endless, no matter which way you went. Across the hall was Jaune, Nora, and Ren's room, Jaune's snoring being enough of an indicator, which caused Weiss to chuckle lowly.
"How in the world do those two sleep with that?" she muttered in wonder. "Whatever, he's their leader."
She smiled at that as she chose a direction and walked forward, making a map in her mind to avoid getting lost. The hallway wandered for what felt like an eternity to Weiss, not really knowing where she was planning on going. Maybe take a stroll around the academy's perimeter? Practice her semblance in the courtyard? Swing her sword around until she started to feel tired?
All options seemed plausible enough, but her better senses refrained her from going outside alone, given the entire world seemed to be against Huntsmen and Huntress's alike. There was a freak with a scorpion tail, fire and maiden-obsessed killer, Dust-powered hulk, green-haired mind manipulator, and jerk with a planet for a name after them. All being led by the Grimm queen, Salem.
Weiss would never forget the first time she saw what Salem looked like through the illusion at the fight for Haven; she was petrified in fear at it; all of them were, and it only intensified when the truth of Salem being impossible to destroy was revealed by Jinn. Despite the truth, Weiss never tried to think about that fact, knowing it wouldn't do her any good. If anything, it would only make things worse for wear, and if she and the others were going to somehow win in the end, they couldn't think of only the negatives.
Slowly, they were making progress each day, despite what impact Salem may have had on the world. At this point, treachery and unexpected turns in their quest had become second nature, considering it was happening almost everywhere they went. Lionheart was the start, and Weiss wasn't sure who was next in line to pull the "good guy gone bad" card, but she knew it was only a matter of time before it was going to happen. She only hoped that the others, especially Ruby, could see it too.
Ruby had a good heart and was a fantastic leader, but even Weiss could see the growing weight on her shoulders. She was honestly shocked that Ruby was still managing to hold her sanity together, seeing most wouldn't be so calm and collected in her position. She was their leader; she practically was holding the weight of humanity and beyond on her shoulders, and yet she never showed it; she just carried on in life with a smile on her face.
Weiss would have lost it long ago. She couldn't just pretend that there was nothing wrong, and treat life as if it was any other day prior to Beacon's fall. The fall of Beacon alone would've thrown her into an unstable mindset, and most likely, she wouldn't have been able to recover.
Ruby's strength amazed Weiss. While she wished that she could lift some of the weight of all the loss, stress, terror, and trauma from her shoulders, just to give her some relief from all of the turmoil, she knew Ruby wouldn't let her. She knew what she would say; something in the area of "this is what I signed up for, so I knew the risks going in."
Weiss still hated to see her leader and close friend bear all of the hits taken from all of the horror and tragedy that had befallen across Remnant over the past years. How much could she take before she eventually snapped?
Weiss had trekked somewhere she didn't recognize, but luckily she hadn't turned any directions, and was relieved to have found a sign with directions. She was surprisingly close to the entrance of the academy, but was still leery about going outside the academy walls, given the absence of her team.
"Maybe just stay close to the entrance, and if anything happens, charge back into the academy to get help?" she pondered. "Sure. I should be able to defend myself fine if anything goes wrong."
Turning right into a shorter hall, Weiss came to the elevator she and her friends had travelled up from the ground floor earlier that day in handcuffs. She pushed the arrow button pointing down, and listened as the sleeping elevator erupted to life with mechanical sounds, a pulley being audible through the closed metal doors. While she waited, she decided to gaze out the adjacent window at the beautiful view of Atlas, not really an unfamiliar view to her, given this was her home kingdom.
The moon's mystical glow gave Atlas a beautiful reflection in her eyes, along with the calm that night brought with its presence. A calm that seemed like a rare occurrence to Weiss, seeing her life had been all-but-calm over the past years. It was a soothing essence that she just took a moment to relish in, seeing it would more than likely not last long.
It was these rare moments that she had grown to cherish in the race to save the world; the life of a Huntress was one devoid of even a single moment where you could relax and just enjoy life for what it was. It was a life that only a madman would dream of, but Weiss had known that prior to Beacon, and now, she was accepting her life's dream and curse. While the view was a sight she didn't want to leave, the elevator's arrival pulled her from it.
However, just before she could pull away entirely, something caught her eye near the trees hiding the courtyard. At first, she just assumed it was a trick of her eyes, but the same object that had caught her vision flashed in the same vicinity again. This time, Weiss knew exactly what she had seen from the clear flash of red adorning the object, but it also caused her alarm to rise; why would Ruby be using Crescent Rose at this time of night?
Weiss immediately darted into the elevator and pressed every button sporadically; Ruby was being attacked. Why else would she be defending herself this late at night?
The second the elevator met ground floor, Weiss forced open the doors before they could open fully, and dashed to the academy doors, out into the front courtyard where she could hear the distant strikes and slashes of Ruby's signature sniper-scythe just off to the west side. Weiss gripped her own weapon and ran quickly to Ruby's aid, finding her quickly and in a state of exhaustion and anger.
"Ruby, I'm here!" Weiss called out, but Ruby seemed to not even hear her, which struck her strangely.
Ruby continued to breathe heavily from exhaustion as she proceeded further into battle with…. The wind?
Weiss raised an eyebrow, lowering her weapon and focusing more on Ruby's demeanor. Immediately, she noticed something off and odd; her eyes were shut tight.
"Is…she asleep?" Weiss questioned.
She looked again, and once again, Ruby's eyes were shut, but her demeanor said otherwise, being less sleepy and more engaged in whatever she was battling. Weiss was baffled and relieved at the same time, thankful that they weren't in any danger, but Ruby was asleep and at danger of either harming herself or potentially an innocent pedestrian. She had to stop her. Fast.
"The things that don't happen to me, I swear," she grumbled to herself, turning to Ruby. "Ruby, wake up. You're going to hurt yourself or someone else."
It was like talking to a wall. The passed-out Ruby Rose only held her guard up and remained unphased by anything Weiss had said. Weiss decided to just take it straight to the source of the issue, walking toward her friend in a battle pose.
"Ruby, come on," Weiss said calmly, attempting to grab Ruby's weapon.
That was a big mistake.
Ruby suddenly forced her sniper-scythe forward, making contact with Weiss and knocking her down.
Weiss grunted at the action, but she kept her cool, knowing Ruby was completely unaware of what was even happening. She stood back to her feet, holding her weapon up defensively for safety.
"Ruby, I don't want to hurt you," Weiss pleaded with a serious tone.
Ruby lunged forward again, swinging her weapon straight into the blade of Weiss's rapier. The strike was more powerful than Weiss had expected as she pushed back against the blade of Ruby's weapon; she was in full combat mode, and Weiss knew now that there was no "gentle" way of solving this; she would have to fight her way to victory.
The blades broke contact, sending sparks flying from the area of contact. The two girls were sent back a few feet from the break, but they both quickly recovered, taking a moment to assume posture again.
"I'm sorry Ruby, but you're giving me no choice but to defend!" Weiss apologetically stated.
Weiss had noticed that Ruby had appeared more fatigued than she was, which gave her the perfect opportunity to sum this up quickly. Focusing hard, she worked quick to channel her semblance, stabbing her rapier's blade into the ground and summoning a glyph. The glyph extended out into a larger size, and from it, ascended a giant guardian, standing high and mighty beside Weiss.
Ruby was still recovering from her fatigue, which was a huge relief to Weiss, knowing this wouldn't go any further than this. She channeled a command to her guardian to not hurt Ruby, only subdue her to where she could wake her up from her very deep slumber. The semblance guardian followed, approaching Ruby with it's weapon raised, to which Ruby winced and rose to her battle posture.
Ruby lunged into an aerial strike, swinging hard into the massive glyph monster's blade.
A feat that spelled out defeat for Ruby.
The guardian easily knocked Ruby back onto the ground with a hard hit, Ruby losing her weapon in the process, and with painful grunts upon impact, Ruby opened her eyes to the sight of Weiss and her giant protector in a defensive stance.
"W-What…Weiss?" Ruby muttered through her drowsiness.
Weiss only allowed Ruby a moment to come to full clarity on where she was before doing anything else; she didn't want to risk hurting Ruby or herself unintentionally. The impact of the fall had taken a heavy hit on the sleepy Huntress's demeanor, taking her time on getting up onto her feet and retracting Crescent Rose back to its usual form, clipping it to her waist.
"Why am I outside?" Ruby asked, her voice going from calm and confused to a sporadic parade of questions. "Was I captured by one of Salem's servant's?! Are the others okay?! Is the relic safe?! Are YOU oka-
"Ruby! Calm down!" Weiss commanded, to which Ruby received and followed, a long sigh escaping her lips.
Weiss was relieved, retracting her guardian to nothing but a magical mist into the night sky, and settling her own weapon into its sheath.
"To be absolutely honest, I have no idea how you got out here," Weiss claimed. "The others are fine and safe. You, on the other hand, is not the same case."
"What do you mean?" Ruby questioned with an eyebrow raised.
Weiss let out a long sigh.
"Ruby, I found you out here attacking nothing," Weiss started. "But more strangely, you were doing it in your sleep."
Ruby jumped at that comment, not sure how to take it.
"I was "sleepfighting?" Ruby questioned.
"Yeah, you were," Weiss answered directly. " But, it wasn't just a case of silly business. You were in full combat, just like when we face the Grimm or any of Salem's forces. You were so focused that you actually attacked me without a second thought."
Ruby gasped in horror.
"I did!"
"Yes, but I-
"Oh my god! I'm so so so sorry, Weiss! I don't know what I was thinking!"
There was sincerity in Ruby's voice. A sincerity that Weiss recognized as when Ruby was truly distraught by something. This wasn't silly-joking Ruby coming out, it was a truly emotionally-affected Ruby.
"Ruby, it's okay. You weren't thinking. Whatever was going on in your head was causing your actions."
Weiss had expected a tight hug to follow, given that was usually Ruby's way of being affectionate, but what followed was something even Weiss couldn't have predicted would've happened.
"No! It's not okay!" Ruby barked, the tension growing tighter, and the world seeming to go mute for just a second.
Weiss had never seen Ruby this angry and emotionally-driven, and upon Ruby turning her back to her, Weiss knew that there was more to this than she already knew.
"I-I haven't been telling you and the others the full truth lately," Ruby confessed. "This isn't the first time this has happened."
Weiss jumped.
"I can't recall exactly when it started, but it wasn't long after the fall of Beacon. I started having horrible nightmares. Nightmares about you, Blake, and Yang dying at the hands of Cinder. The same way as Pyrrha."
Weiss gasped. The trauma of Pyrrha's life coming to an end must've been permanently painted in Ruby's mind. Something that had caused permanent mental damage to her psyche that would never heal. She was starting to understand.
"It constantly haunts me, Weiss… How I failed… Failed to save her… Failed to stop Cinder from taking power she doesn't deserve… How I'm afraid that history will repeat, and I'll be too late…too late to save any of you!"
Ruby's demeanor had quickly escalated into a sad and angry one, sadness starting to fill her voice as she went on.
"The dread has only progressively gotten worse, and now my nightmares are putting my friends in danger! What do I do if I can't stop myself from potentially harming any of you; the people I love and care about!? What if I…. What if I do what Salem wants?!...What if it's already too late to save the world?!"
That did it.
Ruby fell to her knees in an emotional breakdown, crying her eyes out harder than ever before. Weiss worked quickly, rushing to Ruby's aid and wrapping her arms around her in a comforting manner. Weiss thought back to her initial thoughts on Ruby being calm and collected, despite the state of the world and all of the loss and tragedy that had befallen Remnant.
She had been completely wrong.
Ruby was emotionally broken and torn, and she had been for over two years of trekking against the seemingly impossible. She was fighting the impending doom on their world, but also was fighting an internal war inside of herself. Weiss couldn't imagine what in the God's names she was feeling, facing, and experiencing with each passing day, somehow managing to hold a straight face through it all.
She'd never look at Ruby's will and strength as their leader the same ever again. It was a strength that she couldn't even fathom or even imagine existed, but Ruby was living proof that it did, and she couldn't help but comfort Ruby more at the discovery. Her leader and friend was pouring her heart out to her and needed her more than anything right now, so she held Ruby tight against her chest like a mother would their troubled child.
Ruby eventually shifted into a natural hug, allowing her long-concealed emotions to escape her. She had kept this to herself to keep her team from getting distracted from their main mission, but in doing that, she had caused herself a great amount of pain and suffering, blaming herself for others deaths, only to find that she had been driving herself mad, and eventually, would've hurt herself or somebody else over it.
Weiss could see that Ruby's strength was no longer able to fight for her, so she took the next step in helping Ruby through her current emotional battle.
"You're not going to hurt anyone, Ruby," Weiss started gently. "I've known you long enough to know that you aren't a murderer, even under the influence of sleep, so don't even start to think that you are anything like Salem, because you're not."
"How can you be sure?!" Ruby objected through tears. "I attacked you! How can you be so sure I won't attack any of you again!?"
"Because, there's one thing you have that Salem doesn't, Ruby. Your reason and drive to keep going, despite what Jinn said about Salem; friends."
Upon that statement, Ruby felt something spark inside of her, and a sudden series of memories began to flash before her eyes. Memories she held dearly; her days at Beacon, fighting against evil forces with her friends at her side, the silly times, the random times; every memory she had kept locked away from herself after Pyrrha's demise.
Memories she needed to remember.
The onset of memories ended after a minute of Ruby recollecting everything that once kept her sane, and once she came out of it, a smile met her face as she pulled away from Weiss's stained shoulder.
"We're not going to let anything happen to you, Ruby," Weiss comforted. "and you be damn sure that we won't go down without a fight. As long as we breathe and have our weapons in hand, or in Yang's case, arms, we'll all be standing by your side and fighting for Remnant."
The comment about Yang's weapons caused both of them to giggle, engaging in another hug.
"Thank you, Weiss," Ruby said with a smile.
The two broke the hug and stood back up to their feet. A long yawn from Ruby broke the silence of the night, causing Weiss to realize that she too was feeling sleepy.
"Come on, let's get back to bed," Weiss offered. "We've got a long day ahead of us."
"Yeah. Sounds good," Ruby replied sleepily, exhausted from her emotional breakdown.
The two walked out of the courtyard, back into the academy, and made their way back to their room where they shed themselves of their weapons and fell back into a deep slumber. No disturbances or abrupt awakenings followed; only silence, aside from the low breathing of all four girls in their respective beds, until dawn came the following day.