Ruby sat there still as a statue, her void-like eyes staring blankly into my soul as the menacing smile that crept across her face didn't move or twitch an inch out of place.
Pretty sure with how high the tense muscles in her cheeks were stretched upward and how the edges of her lips crinkled and folded, her face was going to cramp up sooner rather than later.
My eyes narrowed on the ominous entity that was hovering right next to me.
"What do you mean this isn't you?"
"Precisely what I said." The dark, undefined shape just swayed in the air, completely engrossed yet also intrigued with the current trance Ruby was in.
It made a mixed guttural sound deep within its throat equivalent of sultry purring and an amused chuckle as it went right next to Ruby, its unblinking eyes scanning her up and down as if a scientist observing their life's work.
"I didn't do anything to her," It circled with only half its attention spared in my direction. "Nor am I making you see things."
"Stop lying." My teeth grated as Ruby gazed at me almost... expectantly.
Even if she didn't say a word, I somehow felt the guilty urge to do... something.
"Believe what you will." Umbra, as Nora had named it, sniggered. "All I'm saying is the truth, and nothing but the truth."
I eyed Ruby, who didn't even bother blinking.
"Interesting," The dark entity shot past Ruby, before coiling up and around her neck and stopping directly in front of her face. "It's like looking in a mirror only... "
It copied Ruby and tilted its snout.
"Not."
"You just said it wasn't you." I glared at the back of its hollow body that dwindled into nothing but a wispy tail.
"It isn't." I somehow felt it shrug almost carefreely, even as it did nothing but swirl and fold within itself as its spine slowly molded as a pointy snout jutted out what's equivalent to its neck. "So what are you planning to do now that you finally encountered something you can't predict?" It chuckled darkly. "Or are you just gonna give up before you even start?"
...
I hated it.
My eyes narrowed into slits to see if there was any shift in emotion, a twitch of its snout or darting in its eyes, but as it stands, there were none.
I hated...
That it was right.
I have not a damn clue on what to do.
Before I could even think of an answer of sorts, something burst through my thoughts.
Literally.
The dark entity parted in two as the world spun in a full circle, before sharp pain lanced from the back of my head.
When I finally found enough strength to crack my eyes open...
The first thing I noticed was that there was a small red figure on top of me.
My vision seemed to double upon a hazy and blurred silhouette of someone comfortably resting on my lap.
Comfortable...
... For her.
Not so much for me.
Her arms latched tightly onto my wrists, while her knees dug into both sides of my thighs, crushing my joints to the bone.
She seemed to manipulate gravity itself as I found no way to push her off.
"Why do you decline... such wonderful power?" Ruby asked, grinning madly the entire way. "I would've- Could've... Saved... everybody by now!"
I found myself sucking in short and sharp breaths through the spaces between teeth as I felt my calves constricting into a rapidly forming cramp.
"What...?"
Even though she shouldn't weigh as much, she had me pinned down like an anchor.
"Nobody has to die anymore." The small leader pressed on. "Nobody else would have to get hurt!"
She closed her eyes and sighed contentedly. "Nobody else will get hurt."
"Ruby, snap out of it!" I barked, one part so that she would wake up from the trance she's in, but also due to the pain that she shouldn't have the strength in delivering. "This isn't you!"
"But it is me, Louis." Ruby's piercing glare bore into the back of my skull and crept ever so closer until soon, her face was only inches apart from mine.
I felt her lips part as hot breaths expelled on my own and gazed into hypnotic eyes swirled with everlasting relief and bliss.
"You just never got to know me." The small reaper muttered under a somber breath as her nails dug holes into the top of my wrists.
What...?
"You never bothered because you thought you knew everything about us." Her face slowly shifted from my sight as she took all the time in the world to draw herself back, savoring the pained look I was giving her against my will. "About me."
"You didn't even give us a chance even as I opened up to you." A lone tear streamed down her void-like eyes, but her malicious expression didn't falter. "Looked up to you." The pressure on my hands nearly cracked my wrists. "Trusted you."
Her voice dwindled over to a mere whisper.
"Loved you..."
That's... not...
"Ruby!" My hands barely left the ground before it was slammed back down.
"Let me take over."
"No!" I hissed out in pain as Ruby's knees dug deeper, reaching into the deepest parts of my bones and making them creak.
Without me realizing...
Some actually did.
I felt the pinching of my wrist tighten and pain from past wounds flare.
"Let. Me. Take-"
"I told you I got this!" I yelled as I attempted to flip Ruby over, only to feel sudden numbness in my arms.
"GAAAH!" White-hot pain flooded my senses as I saw my forearms bend at a slightly awkward angle before the wooden floorboards bathed in red.
Even then, Ruby didn't flinch.
"You're hopeless." I felt it stir and attempt to push itself out.
"I said-!"
"Either this," It warned hastily.
A bit too hastily.
"Or we both die."
One glance towards Ruby saw her feet scrape towards the direction of Cresent Rose while still managing to pin me in place.
Her ankle hooked around the hilt and before I could do anything, felt a jerking movement from the sides of my hips that were somehow still capable of sensing something despite being numb.
Her weapon gathered enough momentum to sail through the air and she skillfully grabbed it from the air in one hand.
"And if we both die, none of them," I felt a tingling within my chest directing towards Ruby. "Will survive."
Good news, one of my hands was now free to try and defend myself from... whatever was possessing Ruby.
Bad news, it was the same hand that was severely bruised from the failed attempt to push her off a few moments ago.
At least that's what I told myself.
In reality...
It's dislocated.
Fuck.
"Don't you dare hurt her." I warned.
"With little to no respect at all that should be the last thing in your mind right now." It hissed. "You may not care for your pathetic life, but destiny decided that you're my host." It pushed on, trashing violently within my lungs as it did. Or agitatedly, I couldn't tell.
"Until I find another-"
"There. Won't. Be. Another." I glared at it balefully as its physical form gradually dissolved with the air into soot and ashes, its remnants permeating my skin as it returned to where it belonged. "Not as long as I'm around."
Right before it completely faded away...
It smirked.
Loathe as I am to admit it...
It was right about one thing.
Cresent Rose sailed above her head as Ruby's other hand joined the former.
We didn't have the time to argue.
I heard deep mechanical shifting that told me her weapon's blades has completely unfolded, and then I felt a dark haze creeping over the corners of my vision.
"I'm strong." She whispered, then her voice cracked. "Strong enough to help..."
Another lone tear streaked down the other eye and cascaded down the side of her face.
"See?"
Cresent Rose dove down.
Its tip landed in a dull thud.
"Well well." I was only able to sigh from the corner of my mind, but with the loud crack that echoed around my head and the fact that I was still capable of thought, I was certain that Cresent Rose had missed its target.
"The rose has thorns."
Though whether that sigh was of relief or disappointment, I had no idea.
Relief, because now I could finally snap Ruby back to her senses.
Disappointment, was for doing something I'd swore I'd never do again.
Gave in.
"And for the record..." My lips twisted into a snarl.
Ruby was launched onto the other side of the room and the wall erupted in a plume of sawdust and smoke.
"You're." I shot up.
"Still." Another, ferocious step.
"Weak."
My body rapidly closed the distance, only for Ruby to come charging with her Semblance to maneuver around and appear behind me.
The world flipped yet again as I was thrown off balance, then heard some loud splintering as my body bent double.
Dull pain lanced from my spine and told me to stay down, but my body moved against my will.
My eyes cracked open to see that I was launched through one of the bed's frames.
The mattress didn't cushion my impact any more than Weiss's glyphs do in a crash landing.
"Why don't you just let me help?!"
"I HAVE!" This time it was my own voice I recognized coming out of my mouth. "You just never realized how much you've been helping because I took the ones with more risk!"
Ruby's whole body trembled with unadulterated rage as time seemed to slow down in an area around her, evident by the dust that slowed down upon descent as she prepared to charge back in.
"GYAAH!"
The floorboards bent and splintered.
A massive swirl of rose petals came flooding in my direction and slamming onto my side.
This time, I staggered and my knees buckled as I took the brunt of the impact when she drilled her shoulder onto my midsection.
But I didn't fall.
"But just because you had to all pitch in for the part, you deemed those actions-" I slammed my elbows down on her shoulder. "Unnecessary!"
Ruby drew back by a few steps.
She wobbled.
For a moment I thought she was about to fall.
I should've known better.
With a loud cry, Ruby lunged in my direction with an un-Ruby-like snarl.
"You don't know how the world works, but you comment on it as if you do!" A fist rocketed towards her and caused her to crash into Cresent Rose, then barreled and spun into the opposite wall.
"And you do?!" I heard her muffled voice yell out through the smoke and debris. "You're not even from this world!"
"No." Bracing myself, I gritted my teeth as my fingers latched onto my shoulder. "I don't."
Luckily nobody was in the room to hear the cringe-inducing pop that my arm was apparently capable of emitting.
My mind was telling me to scream but my body took the pain as it is.
Raw and painful.
"But I know I understand it better than any one of you do," My feet dug the floor as my knees bent down into a crouch and I drew one fist back, waiting for her to charge back in. "And I refuse to let any of you lose anything else along the way."
Once the sawdust and debris settled, I could see a rough shape of her downed form clawing her way out of the wreckage of torn floorboards and masonry.
She managed to limp forward on one knee before her other leg failed her.
Ruby yelped in pain and shrieked frustration, causing a surge of guilt to almost make me want to rush up to her and check if she was alright.
Almost.
"I thought you, of all people knew better." The small reaper cried, her face twisting one of fear and guilt as tears continuously streamed down both sides of her face.
It was then that I noticed Cresent Rose was no longer embedded in the ground.
She clung to it tightly, using it to prop her unstable stature.
Then...
Flicking it around the back, she aimed it at the wall behind her before her knuckles ran white with the trigger at the ready.
I slowly drew out Requiem.
"Don't." I snarled.
Ruby then crouched in a pose that told me she's going to end it all under one swing, not caring at all if she missed and crashed into the wall behind me.
She wanted to prove to me she wasn't the weak link barely capable of holding us all together.
And prove it she shall.
"I won't lose!" She shouted and planted her foot down.
A shadow appeared behind her before she could do something she'd regret.
Her eyes widened.
Requiem clanked and deployed to swat Cresent Rose out of her hands, before I grabbed onto her shoulders.
I swept her legs from under her, causing her lithe form to enter freefall with a startled cry.
"Wake up." A fist rocketed down, causing one of the floorboards to take on the shape of her head, before bouncing back up in the air.
Red Aura flared before shattering and blood trickled down her split lip.
"HEY!" I roared. "I told you no-!"
"H...uh... "
That... Voice...
My eyes desperately sought out where the weak voice came from.
The darkness in her orbs receded to the back of her skull, and while she looked dazed as her eyelids fluttered owlishly, she seemed seemingly unhurt.
The silver in her eyes shone forth as the light returned and then, just like that...
Everything was normal again.
"Lou... is?" Ruby croaked weakly as she scanned the room around her. "What... happened?"
Oh thank god...
"You... don't remember?" I scooped her up in my arms.
"A little." She muttered under her breath as she grasped onto the side of her head, and wincing afterward from the aftermath of my blow.
"That thing was most probably tied to her Aura. Just like I am." Its voice emanated within my head. "You're welcome."
My face twitched.
"Couldn't have you just used my Semblance?!"
"Yes," It snickered. "But this way... I get to have more fun..."
Well... can't argue with the results...
In fact...
"Surprised you actually kept your end of the bargain."
It paused, then made a guttural noise I could only identify as what's equivalent to disappointed and frustrated mumbling.
It meant to go further but it can't.
I had the reigns if it even so much as tried.
Probably the sole reason it did what needed to be done was that its survivability depended on it.
"H-hey Louis..."
"Hm?" She looked pale as a sheet as if she'd just seen a ghost.
"W-why are your eyes..." Ruby's breath hitched and her pitch shifted onto a higher note. "Completely bla-"
"RUBY!"
One second later my view switched from the room to the great outdoors as I felt the wind rushed past my hair and roared in my ears.
My face impacted the ground only seconds later, making me swallow mud and dirt before dragging the ground with me, and finally, spinning and slamming past a few trees.
I drew out Requiem which I miraculously still had in my hands, and dragged it across the gravel to hopefully bleed out all momentum before I could hit the concrete wall that was rapidly closing in.
Pain flared in all different parts of my body, and I was sure at least one of my ribs was broken and many ligaments were either at the brink of tearing or were already torn.
A quick glance towards the house that we were just in said we traveled... at the very least...
Half a football field.
Despite the pain, I somehow still managed to work through it and sigh in relief when I saw a small patch of dark hair poking its head out in the new opening the building had.
Ruby was safe.
Wait...
Since when did we have a large gaping hole on the wall?
Hotel management won't like the sight of that...
"I don't know who you are..."
Rustling filled my ears, before blonde hair trudged through the edge of my vision.
Then I felt it.
A hot wave, flooding the ground around us with pulsating heat.
"But you just hurt one of my girls." He pounded his fists together, and yellow Aura flared. "And I won't ever forgive you for that."
Taiyang Xiao Long stood there with flaming fists, glowing hair, and an expression that seemed to spell only one thing awaited me.
Death.
Ruby's POV
"Ruby!" Yang suddenly appeared at the doorway, looking equal parts worried and alarmed.
Her eyes darted around frantically until she caught sight of Ruby at the far end of the room.
"Are you okay?!" The blonde brawler ran to her side and scooped up Ruby in her arms. "What happened?!"
Before she could reply Blake appeared next to her and tried to do the same.
Even though her ears were still ringing, she could more or less make out that her teammate was asking the same thing.
"I-I'm... fine." She winced before her legs failed her. "What's dad doing here?"
"I was about to ask him the same thing. But he charged upstairs when I told him you were in here and- " Yang then paused, before her jaws dropped to the floor.
A flash of yellow flickered in the night evening air, before a large explosion ensued.
Black steel reflected upon the street lights, but then a burst of flame blocked that strike.
"Is that-"
"Yes." Ruby flinched again, this time not knowing if it's from the pain or the fact that their dad is pummeling their teammate. "Dad's not going to listen even if we try to explain..." Her eyes focused on the melee. "Is he?"
Yang slowly shook her head. "Not like this, he isn't. Did Louis..." Her sister stared around like she wished she'd gotten here sooner. "Do this? How did you survive?"
"We need to get there and- Ahh!"
Ruby stumbled and nearly dropped flat on her face. "Blake! What's-"
A quick look to a rapidly fading Blake told them she already had a head start.
"Well..." Yang blinked owlishly.
"We need to stop dad." Ruby concluded. "He won't attack if we get in the way-"
"If I get in the way."
Ruby blanched.
"Yang, I could-!"
"You aren't going anywhere, little sister." Yang set her back down as she tried to get up. "You don't have your Aura and could barely walk on your own. If dad overextends..."
A chill traveled down their spines, causing the hair on the back of their necks to stand up.
The last time their dad let loose on a Beowolf that scratched Ruby's Cresent Rose's prototype nearly half the forest around their house got destroyed.
No telling what's on his mind right now, but with how the pale yellow flashes were appearing more rapidly she could only assume he took her downed state as a declaration of war.
Ruby's whole body shook as she attempted to prop herself up with Cresent Rose, but to no avail.
"Ugh..."
She'd never felt more useless in her life.
Once Yang was sure Ruby won't attempt it again, she nodded and then dashed for the nearest exit.
"Yang."
The blonde brawler stopped in her tracks and raised a brow.
"Louis..." Ruby inhaled sharply. "Isn't... Louis."
Yang opened her mouth to reply, but thought the better of it and rushed out.
Louis's POV
[Yakuza: Like a Dragon OST - Receive You Ver.7 (Kiryu Theme HQ)]
"Pretty sure you're glad for slamming her head in now aren't you?"
"Shut up!" I snarled. "That was your doing!"
Taiyang charged in with a bloodthirsty roar, winding one fist back to deliver a fatal blow.
I diverted it away quickly with Requiem's pommel before it could connect with my chest, but when I saw the ground crack where his redirected fist was burst with incandescent light, one hand shielded my face from what I knew was about to happen.
The ground tore open.
One moment I stood on solid ground, another, there was nothing but sharp gravel and clumps of soil erupting buffeting my whole body.
And I was right at ground zero.
I would've tripped and fallen right then and there had I not elbowed him away on time.
He managed to use both his hands to soften the blow, but it still gave some breathing space for me to land in a crouch.
I stared at Taiyang, who glared fiercely as he planted his hands to flip backward and land with little to no damage.
Requiem swept to the side, clanking open as StarDust charged within, forming a red construct as Taiyang didn't waste any time, launching himself back in and closing the distance between us.
I struck right where his shoulder should be, only for him to go under and plant both hands on where I stood.
"Shit!"
His leg rapidly swept across the ground in a full three-sixty, taking out my leg with it.
His other leg rocketed to where my ribs would have been, but a loud clunk informed him that he'd hit nothing but solid steel.
Requiem's blade rested within the ground as my body was safely balanced in a complete one-eighty right above it, before smirking at the blonde brawler's shocked face.
Too late.
He overcommitted.
With his feet being the driving force, the blade tore out of the ground, dragging soil behind it with a loud groan.
My body tipped over the imbalance and rolled forward.
Rapidly spinning forward with the head start he gave, I managed to spin three times in the air, wracking enough momentum to make it look like a giant lethal sawblade before I brought it down with enough momentum to cause Tai's feet to buckle.
Or so I thought.
I gawked.
"Not bad..." He hissed.
Both Aura-infused hands, if the way the blistering pulses of heat were any indication, clamped around Requiem's edge, rattling but not giving away even as half the blade reached deep in the middle of his palm.
It halted completely just as it was mere inches away from reaching his face.
"But you're not the first sword user I had to deal with." He batted me with the back of his hand before I could even think of countering. "Nor would you be the last."
My back slammed into the crater's outer rim, causing searing pain to erupt from my chest.
A lump formed in my throat before blood erupted out of my mouth.
"Come on." He taunted from the middle of the battlezone as he tossed Requiem away. "What's the matter?"
He slowly strode forward as his hair reignited.
His entire body radiated with Aura.
"Where did all that cockiness you had a second ago go to?" Taiyang cracked his knuckles. "I'm just getting started."
Before my vision could come back into focus or the ringing could go away, I felt something lifting me up with the hem of my collar.
"Wanna tell me who you are or why you were beating Ruby up in an enclosed room?" Out of the edge of my vision, I could see Taiyang gnashing his teeth. "Now would be a good time. " He reeled his fist back, before setting ablaze. "Not that it'd change what I'm about to do to you."
"Dad!" Someone yelled. "Stop it! It's not his fault!"
"Stay out of this Yang!" Her dad snapped back. "Go back and make sure Ruby is okay!"
My hands snaked over his forearms, and my palms landed nearby his wrists.
"Dad, just lis-"
His Aura flickered, before it turned pitch black.
Taiyang fell down choking on his own breath as he spasmed, feeling every bit pained and vulnerable as he tried to usher Yang away while he recovered from his coughing fit.
The heat died down around us as the flames on his palms dwindled into nothing more than a dying wick and smoke that poured out of his body.
"I had that." The buxom blonde stormed up next to me.
"Yeah... sure you... did." My eyes rolled as painfully as they could possibly at the moment, before I saw the world spun and toppled over.
"Woah there."
I felt her arms snaking around my shoulders before I could fall flat on my face, then felt another pair support my other side.
"And where... " My eyes slowly roved over to cat ears. "Have you been kitten?"
"Hiding behind cover as you two caused the explosions at Beacon to look like child's play."
I stared at the charred trees around us.
"Could be worse." I shrugged. "Could've used StarDust."
Her cold glare told me I should've kept my mouth shut. "No?" She shook her head. "Just trying to break the mood."
"Y...ang." Taiyang croaked once he managed to recover from the shock of having all of his massive Aura pool stripped away in an instant.
My body seized up.
I couldn't take another beating.
"Who... is this...?"
My shoulders sagged in relief.
"Ha... see... funny story..." Yang rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Remember... when we said we went to Vale to try and help with rebuilding the school?"
"Yeah...?" Her dad coughed into his fist and nodded, before pulling a twig out of his hair that was miraculously unsinged.
"We... " Her eyes met the ground. "Sorta... it was... not really the full truth."
"Oh for fucks sake," I cut off as Yang's eyes widened and tried to cut me off by flailing her usable hand in front of my face. "They lied."
Shift
"YOU WHAT?!"
Ruby and Yang looked like they wanted to burrow a hole into the middle of Remnant and hide in it for all eternity.
"And you." He glared in my direction as I laid on my sore back.
I just managed to close my eyes.
Give me a break!
"So," Taiyang's eyes narrowed. "You didn't want Remnant to know it was you-"
"Salem."
"Excuse me?" He raised a brow.
"I didn't want Salem to know it was me within that armor." I corrected. "Keep going."
"You didn't want Salem to know it was you," His voice dripped with acid. "Within that armor, and thus you faked your death?" He yelled. "Why go through this at all?!"
I shrugged.
"It's the only way we could've traversed the world of Remnant to do what you and Team STRQ couldn't."
"Don't use that tone on me boy." The blonde man warned. "I still don't get what you were doing with Ruby in that room alone and-"
"Ruby was possessed." Said person in question flinched. "By what? I don't know. What I do know is that it's similar to the condition I have." I honed in on the small leader to make sure the darkness didn't invade her eyes again. "And that I have to fix it before she decides to kill us all in our sleep."
"Psh, nice try. Quit it with the excu-"
"Actually dad..." Ruby slowly got up and started to fidget with her fingers. "He... isn't making it up."
Taiyang's jaw dropped.
"He was helping me and..."
"Ruby, you don't have to go through lying with me to defend your..." His eyes narrowed. "Friend here-"
"I'm. Not. Lying!" She shrieked.
I raised her brow in her direction and she immediately flinched.
Slowly drawing back, she traced circles on the floor with the tip of her toes.
"I'm... sorry." She looked up at me. "For what I said."
Though all of it is true and is what you actually feel went unsaid.
"So you were in there after all." I managed to kick my legs to rock my body forth and sat upright, even with the sore and aching muscles these two knuckleheads graced me with. "Good. I'd thought I'd lost you."
"I tried to stop it... Whatever it was." Ruby sighed. "But I... can't. It didn't help that the more I screamed at it to stop the more it tried to hurt you."
"Now you know what I feel." I slowly stood up. "Not so nice being the savior of Beacon now is it?"
Her shoulders slumped as she nervously toyed with the hem of her skirt.
"What the hell is going on kid?" Taiyang glared. "Last I checked she was fine. What have you done to her?"
"Well, excuse me!" I spread both my arms out wide. "One moment I was getting my wounds cleaned, and not a minute later, she was putting in new ones!"
"I said I was sorry..."
"It's not your fault." I hissed as my chest flared with searing pain, forcing me to sit back down. "After all, it was beyond your control."
Taiyang still had his arms crossed, his piercing glare saying he didn't believe a word I said.
But he did believe Ruby's.
"What are you doing here dad?" Yang asked again. "Weren't you supposed to be at home? Who's taking care of Zw-"
His backpack barked.
"The plants?"
"I've arranged some people to water them daily." Their dad waved off. "It's nothing you should concern yourselves with. As to why I'm here..."
Taiyang stared in their direction.
Yang and Ruby gulped.
"I got tipped off by an old friend that my daughters were apparently roaming around Mistral. After several attempts at making contact to ask if this was true and failing miserably," Ruby and Yang checked their scrolls. Through the holographic screens, I could roughly make out ten or so missed calls.
They whimpered.
"I decided to come and check it out myself." He sank into the couch. "Where did I go wrong?" Taiyang asked no one in particular as he stared idly at the ceiling.
Zwei hopped out to avoid being crushed by the blonde brawler's muscular back.
Nobody dared to interrupt.
Well... except Nora and her loud munching of pancakes.
"I just don't get why you girls wouldn't just tell me the truth."
"You would've never let us!" Ruby cried. "Especially when we tell you we've been staying over with boys."
"And for good reason." Both me and Taiyang looked at each other, then snarled and growled respectively, before refusing to acknowledge we were thinking the same thing.
"But we're fine dad," Yang reassured as she scooted next to him. "You didn't have to take a Bullhead all this way just to-"
"Who said I took a Bullhead?"
The girls who weren't Ruby and Yang all stared at his legs.
His very muscular legs.
I had to close Blake's mouth with my good arm, while Ren had to prevent Nora from touching them.
"Anyway," Yang continued as she tried not to turn green over a prospect of their dad gaining a third wife. "Point is, you could've just stayed at home and we'd be fine."
Their father's face fell.
"If you're doing what your friend says you're going to do, then you're anything but fine."
Ruby and Yang looked at each other, with Ruby shrugging and shaking her head.
"There was a reason Team STRQ failed." He sighed into his palms. "You're both coming back with me-"
"What?!" Both sisters yelled in unison. "NO!"
"Ruby." Their father said sternly. "Yang. Listen to me, both of you-"
"Aren't Huntsmen supposed to do what's right?!" Ruby argued. "Isn't that what you've always taught us?!"
"Yes but-"
"After we've gone through so much, now you want us to head back to Patch to relax while the whole Remnant suffers from a worse fate?!" Yang swiped a hand across the air.
"Girls."
"We can do this da-!"
"Girls!"
That silenced them.
"I've lost your mother once." His brows furrowed at the painful memory. "I will not lose you too. This is not up for debate."
Ruby's mouth open and closed as she tried to speak but the lump that formed in her throat didn't allow it.
She looked desperately in my direction.
"I agree."
Yang's head spun so fast she nearly caught whiplash.
"What...?"
"I agree completely with Tai."
"Don't call me that." He glared at me. "Only my team gets to call me that."
"Louis..." Yang gawked. "You can't be serious."
"But you said-!"
"That was before I knew you had a similar entity within you." I pierced through her gaze. "What if it came at the worse of times, right when you're in the midst of battle?"
"Then I can-!"
"You could barely control it!" I shot up, and with the way Taiyang's was about to do the same and with the way Ruby whimpered, either my voice changed or... something did. "Go back, get some rest. Maybe we'll meet again somewhere along the line but right now..."
I stared deep into her eyes. "You're just dead weight."
Ruby's eyes welled up, then before anyone could stop her, the door flapped open as a gust of wind blasted through the living room.
Yang glared balefully at me, before she chased after her sister.
"Harsh."
"You have no say in this." I replied as I stared at him from the corner of my eyes. "You wanted them back at home, safe and sound? Well there you have it."
Taiyang sighed as he pushed on his knees to get up.
A pained groan snapped out attention to the doorway.
Qrow's clothes were in tatters and his entire body was covered head to toe with gashes and wounds.
A severe black eye rimmed around the right of his face and with the way he was barely able to keep himself up, I'd say he took a nasty blow to his kneecap.
"Qrow!" Taiyang rushed up to his side, and to the best of my abilities, so did I, though it was more of a stagger.
"Ice." I yelled. "Hot water, alcohol, towels!"
Team JNPR took one look, and then nodded as they split to take an item each.
"What happened?!" I fanned him to the best of my abilities while Blake rummaged through the rooms and desperately searched for first aid.
"Raven... " He muttered and my blood ran cold. "Backstabbed me when fighting the Grimm out in the woods."
Taiyang's eyes narrowed. "Raven is here?"
Qrow paid him no attention, probably dismissing it as an ex wanting to get revenge for being left alone.
He turned to me.
"Kid..."
I leaned down to lend my ear.
"She has..."
"What?"
"The... Relic."
Then his arms went limp.
A/N
For those of you who are about to say "Taiyang let them go off into their own adventure in the show" Uhh... no he didn't.
You saw how he reacted when Ruby fled and the only reason he let Yang go was presumably because he'd thought she was going to seek out Raven for answers.
He never knew they took up his and Team STRQ's mantle for pursuing Salem.
Not to mention the latest season where Ruby's broadcast suddenly got cut off and he went to full-on panic mode.
Anywho, a bit late on this one, been getting busier as usuals, cheers!
Pa treon . com (/) R26
Reviewer Sessions
paradox0.5white : No prob as usual.
lilbigstoryteller : Okay okay sheesh, I'm on it to fix it. Ghira shall wear something, aight? That new thing being a Mankini. I do struggle to write them, was a bit of a challenge, but yeah, I've been dilly dallying a bit with the backstories I guess. Hope you at least had a great time reading through them.
Damien the Storm Caller: If you've read through you'd probably know by now. Anywho, nice to see you again, hope you saw the comment I've made on previous chapters about you making the youtube stuff. Thank you.
SpiritOfErebus : First of all, Follow and Fav this fic. Second, what do you measure success by? If it's by the amount of follows and favs tbh I don't think that's accurate. Third, I'm taking it you're talking about the Adam backstory? I've done a few in the past, and more to come, so you're gonna have to be specific.
samuelcaldeira76gmail: Thank you. Welcome aboard!