New Moon
Chapter 3: Road Trip
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except myself and my own ideas.
Being sealed wasn't really that bad honestly. He was starting to think Kurama was just a big whiny baby. It's not like he even knew whether or not any time had passed. Most of the time, he just slept. At least until a little silver eyed girl picked him up. Now he just pitied Remnant. It wasn't ready for his particular brand of chaos.
****NM***
Notes: For the record, I have never read or watched Boruto and I don't plan to. Therefore, what Naruto can or cannot do in the Boruto generation will probably not be mentioned in this fanfiction.
Please enjoy the chapter and review. Reading your comments encourage my creative juices.
****NM****
Ruby greedily sucked in a breath of fresh, non-hospital, air and stretched happily, reveling in the feeling of finally wearing something that wasn't a flimsy hospital gown that floated and exposed everything. It had taken a while, roughly another 2 weeks, so she had been stuck in the hospital for a total of 1 month, but the doctors had finally given her the green light to leave, and a stern warning not to do anything excessive.
Pah, when had she ever been excessive?
She was the very picture of reason and rationality!
"Ruby!"
Silver eyes shot around to find a cloud of yellow hair floating towards her, accompanied by the familiar blackish grey of her uncle.
"Yang! Uncle Qrow!" Ruby squealed happily as she burst into a shower of pink petals before reappearing in front of her family members and embraced both of them tightly.
"Hey, Ruby." Qrow greeted with a nearly gentle smile as he patted her back, "You're finally out."
"Mmhmmm!" Ruby then stepped back with a rare serious expression, "Do you guys have a moment? I kinda really really really need to talk to you about something."
Over the past two weeks, if she wasn't sleeping, she had had a continuous stream of visitors, which had made it rather difficult for her to bring it up until now.
Yang just shrugged with a self-depreciating smile, "It's not like I got anything to do at the moment with my arm like this." She completely failed to notice the brief look of triumph and gloating that appeared on Ruby's face.
On the other hand, Qrow just looked resigned. Beckoning his two nieces to follow him, the two of them left the hospital at a brisk pace.
The hospital wasn't too far from Beacon Academy where she knew her Uncle had an apartment, so Ruby took the opportunity to energetically look around. Her energy dimmed slightly as she finally beheld the extent of the damage that had been done during the Attack on Beacon as the locals were calling it now.
Entire shops and buildings had crumbled and there was a lot of construction on-going. Near a few other buildings, she could see many firemen and a pair of ambulances outside, bustling around.
"Looks bad, doesn't it?" Qrow commented as he noticed what his younger niece was gaping at and he patted her back, "It could've been worse if not for you and that ring. Take pride in that."
Ruby nodded sadly. She just wished all of this wouldn't have been necessary at all in the first place.
'Don't worry, you'll do better next time.'
Ruby smiled and touched the ring hanging around her neck happily.
As the trio approached the city center where the main road would lead them straight to Beacon, she saw a few screens that were still covering the attack and providing progress updates on the rebuilding. The damage here wasn't so bad, the crowd was already bustling and the streets were packed. Considering this was the economic center of Vale, chances were, the damage here had already been fixed while she was still in the hospital.
She even saw herself plus blond hair on one screen, it was loudly calling for Professor Ozpin to release her name and whereabouts for the people to thank. Thankfully, Yang had brought her some casual clothes to wear the day before, so the similarities between her and the picture of her in her combat gear wasn't so readily obvious anymore.
Just as she was thinking that, she saw another screen playing an advertisement for new clothes that for some odd reason, resembled her combat gear; corset, skirt and all.
Ruby blushed.
It kinda felt… nice.
Just as she was daydreaming, she felt someone shout her name, "Ruby!"
All three of them stopped to look around until they saw a flash of red hair and an arm waving at them enthusiastically, "Pyrrha!" Ruby called back happily.
The other girl was dressed in casual clothes, a homely looking blouse and a pair of jeans, and she was…. With Jaune.
In a café.
Oh.
Ooooh.
As Pyrrha said something to Jaune and began to jog over to her, Ruby noticed that Nora and Lie Ren were nowhere to be seen.
Which meant…. Ruby's grin widened with glee.
"Ohohohoho…" Ruby laughed evilly, prompting Pyrrha to skid to a stop and give her a wary look.
"Why are you laughing like that, Ruby?"
"Nothing." Ruby cleared her throat, "So…. Was that a date?"
Pyrrha blushed shyly.
Blushed! Ruby mentally squeeed, the mature girl never blushed!
Not in front of her at least.
"Uhm, anyway," the tall red head cleared her throat with some embarrassment and glanced at Yang's teasing grin and Qrow's amused expression, "Do you think I could have a moment to speak to you once you're free?"
"No problem!" Ruby chirped happily, "I got something to do in Beacon with Yang and Uncle Qrow right now, so I'll call you on your scroll when I'm free. Is that okay?"
Pyrrha nodded gratefully with a surprisingly intense look in her eyes and waved them goodbye.
This time, Ruby walked with a pep in her step.
****Nm****
As Ruby entered the living room of Qrow's teacher's apartment, she narrowed her eyes with distaste, "It's even messier than normal."
Qrow shrugged as he closed the door behind him, "Yang's been living here too. I've been camping out on the sofa instead."
Her eyes shot to Yang who shrugged uncomfortably, "I didn't want to stay alone in the dorm room."
Ruby immediately hugged her big sis, she had forgotten that with her in the hospital and both Weiss and Blake gone, Yang would've been the only one left in Team RWBY.
"So, what do you wanna talk about, pipsqueak?" Qrow began as he led them to the small and cramped dining table.
Well… here came the hard part, Ruby groused as she let go of Yang and took a seat.
"Senseiwantsmetogoonatrip!"
Yang straight up exploded, "What!? What trip?!"
Qrow slowly deciphered that stream of consciousness before sighing.
If he was being honest, he didn't want Ruby anywhere near Beacon at the moment either. But he had to try because he felt that being near Ozpin was probably the safest place for Ruby to be. So, he placed one hand on Yang's shoulder to calm her down before looking straight at a fidgeting Ruby, "Did he say why he wants you to leave Beacon, Ruby?"
"He uh…. Said a lot of things…." Ruby hedged.
"Things like…?"
"Well, the walls and the city aren't fixed yet, right? So, Grimm can attack easier now, right? And there's a lot of unhappiness in the air and all."
"We're Huntresses, Ruby." Yang countered with a frown, "Even if we're still in training, we're supposed to be helping protect the people until that barrier is fixed. That's not a good reason to leave right now. And for the record, I dunno bout you, but I still think talking to spirits in ringsain't a good thing."
"Well, that wasn't all he said! He said it a lot better than I did too!" Ruby protested.
"None of which you remember right now." Qrow noted with a painfully dry tone.
Ruby buried her face in her palms with an embarrassed keen and grabbed the ring before the two of them could stop her.
All at once, Ruby slumped down in her seat before Yang watched disbelievingly as her little sister's hair lengthened again and shone a bright vibrant yellow before crystal blue eyes that were previously dark silver snapped open.
The blond Ruby looked around in a non-plussed manner for a while before rubbing her temples, "She ran, didn't she?"
Qrow looked down at his bottle of alcohol and wondered if it wasn't too early to get sodding drunk yet before he looked back up, "Yep."
Yang shot up and made to grab the blond, "What are you doing!? Make her come back! You're going to hurt her again!"
The blond Ruby merely caught Yang's hand and gently set it down the table, "Be calm, Miss Xiao Long. You misunderstand what I'm doing. As long as I'm just sitting here like this, there will not be any harm done to Ruby's body. At the worst, she will simply feel a little tired."
Yang eyed the blond girl doubtfully; this was the first time she was actually seeing Other Ruby in person. Unlike the others, she had been with Blake at the time. Of course, she had seen the video recordings, but seeing this in person?
It was kind of an eye opener.
It was equally obvious even with a single glance that it wasn't her sister in that body right now.
The mannerisms were completely off.
Where Ruby liked to flap her hands around, this girl had her hands were primly folded on her lap. Ruby liked to jiggle her feet as if she couldn't contain herself, but this girl's legs were folded confidently. Ruby tended to slump timidly but this Ruby's back was iron rod straight.
"Tired? You sure you're not draining her life span or something right? Like in those video games?"
The blue-eyed blond laughed at that (even her laugh was prim and proper, Yang noted), "No, I'm not. Please, believe me. She was hospitalized because I was simply pushing her body to be faster and use more strength than it actually had. Not to say that she won't eventually reach that point even without my interference, but that is a while away yet. This…. Possession, if you could call it that, is tiring, but far from dangerous especially since it was done willingly by both parties with no ill intent."
"Then why haven't the two of you done it more often?" Qrow pointed out cynically.
"Other than that one time when she was a child, I've never had a reason to do it until now nor is it something I would easily do." The blond waif responded simply, "I am content to just stay in the ring and sleep, and I still am, mind you. I only came out because Ruby requested for my help."
"Wait, wait, wait, that one time when she was a child?" Yang spluttered, "When was this?"
"I think she was five." The blond waif replied after a thoughtful moment.
"You mean that time when Ruby fainted for months?" The taller blond exhaled heavily, "That was because of you?"
"It was, yes." The blue-eyed blond didn't deny it, "She was visiting her mother's grave again, alone if I might add, and was attacked by a Beowolf." The blue-eyed blond explained resignedly, "I had been asleep before that. I wasn't even aware that someone had picked up my ring until her screams woke me up. I didn't know what was happening other than the fact that the girl who had picked my ring up was being attacked by some odd black beast, so I had to forcefully take over and defend her before I walked her back home, but even that one short instance of combat affected her badly due to her age, to say nothing of the forced possession. You can see why I would prefer not to do it unless necessary."
Yang and Qrow shared a complicated look before sighing.
"Let's get back on topic. You want to take her out of Beacon, right? What are you going to do about her education?" Qrow challenged.
"Anything Beacon can teach her, I can as well." the blond replied calmly, "And the things that Beacon can't, I can."
"And why do you want to take her out of Beacon?"
The short blond shrugged and outlined everything he had informed Ruby 2 weeks ago without hiding a single thing. Including everything he had noted about Ozpin. Especially everything he had noted about Ozpin.
The significant look he was sending Qrow told him that he had not missed the look Qrow and Ozpin had shared in that room. At this point, even Yang was watching him curiously.
Qrow hesitated at that, "Ozpin…. Ozpin's a complicated person. He's someone I trust, and I know he only has your best interests at heart."
"Has he tightened security around Beacon? More patrols maybe? Has he checked all the construction workers that are coming into Vale right now? Has he checked all the supplies that are being sent to Vale? Has he been investigating how Miss Fall got into Beacon so easily? Has he investigated how Miss Fall corrupted all the Atlas Mechs?" The blond rattled off, one finger tapping on her knee with a raised eyebrow.
"… I don't know." Qrow admitted.
"So if he can't even plug all the holes Team RWBY found before the Attack on Beacon, how is he supposed to keep her safe after?"
"Look… there's a reason why you have to stay in Beacon." Qrow drew a deep and annoyed breath. The blond didn't interrupt him but crystal eyes glinted as Qrow finally fell into his trap, "There's a fairytale that basically says that there's four Legendary Relics; Choice, Knowledge, Creation and Destruction. Alone, they're pretty powerful, but gather them and they can do some pretty whacky things. However, to access them you need Four Maidens. He thinks you might be the fifth Relic that no one knew about until now."
"I don't know what Relics you are talking about, but he is most assuredly wrong." The blond commented wryly, "This isn't a Relic. I know who put me in there and I know it sure as hell wasn't a God."
Qrow's mouth fell open, "You know who put you in a ring?"
"I do." The blond waif replied curtly with a dangerous glint in her eyes that warned Qrow not to push further, "Long story and most definitely not related to your Relics." She tilted her head, "Miss Fall was a Maiden wasn't she?"
Qrow looked like he had swallowed a lemon as he nodded slowly, "She's the current Fall Maiden. The remaining ones are Summer, Spring and Winter."
The blond contemplated that for a while, "And Miss Nikos? Cinder said that those powers had been promised to her."
Qrow just slumped back into his chair. Without a word, he pulled out the flask at his hip and drained it empty in one go. He felt dizzy, like he was being seen through and read like a book.
"She was supposed to be the replacement Fall Maiden. Normally, those powers stay with someone until they die." Qrow uttered quietly, "The previous one was in a coma after an attack by some unknown people that we now know was Cinder and her gang. Cinder stole half of her Fall Maiden powers in that attack somehow. I got there in time to save her, but she was in a coma. We kept her body safe, but Cinder got through anyway and killed her. The power immediately transferred to Cinder since half of it was already with her. Nikos was originally there with Ozpin to take the remaining half from Amber without killing her in the process via some janky machine, but well…. Cinder got there first. Then you showed up and the rest is history."
Yang stared at her uncle as if this was the first time she had seen him. All these talk about fairy tales, Maidens and Relics sent her head spinning.
"Thank you, Mr. Branwen. I appreciate your honesty." The blond waif smiled gently at his exhausted expression.
"You really going to take Ruby away from Beacon? Alone?" Yang muttered sadly, "What bout me?"
The blond waif quirked one eyebrow, "I never said she was going alone. She was going to ask you to come with her. I believe she plans on finding Blake and Weiss too."
Yang brightened up, "Yeah, that's right! We're Team RWBY!"
The blue eyed blond nodded before turning back to Qrow, "What do you think Mr. Ozpin will do when we inform him of our intent to leave."
"I don't think Ozpin will force you to stay. But… He means well, he wants to ensure your safety. Please believe that at least."
"Both you and I know that Ruby would never stand by while people are getting hurt. She won't stand to let herself be caged like some prize bird." The short, and currently blond, girl smiled gently, "You also know that keeping her will simply mean that people will keep coming after h-"
The blond was suddenly cut short and she looked away abruptly, "Hmm… well. Looks like the first attempt is already here. Someone in the city must have seen us on our way here."
Qrow frowned, "What?"
"The city is being attacked by Grimm." The blond who was staring into the distance outside the window observed.
"WHAT?! How?!"
"No time. We need to go. Get your weapons."
With a muttered curse, Qrow grabbed Harbinger as Yang went to the room to retrieve Ember Celica's left gauntlet. No one said anything or stopped her, for which she was profoundly grateful. She hated it when other people commented on her right arm nowadays. Like her days as a Huntress was already over. She had heard from Professor Ozpin that General Ironwood was sending her a prosthetic, but she was loathe to use it. It felt like admitting that there was no going back.
"Are we going to the city?" Qrow asked seriously.
"No, it's just a diversion." The short blond replied casually, "We're heading to the dorms."
As they left Qrow's apartment, the blond waif blurred mid-step and all of a sudden there were three identical Rubies to Yang and Qrow's complete shock. The other two immediately veered off without a word while the middle one kept going without even breaking a step.
"What was that!?" Yang blurted out, "Was that your Semblance?"
"Don't have a Semblance." The blond in Ruby's body replied simply, "It's a bit complicated, I'll tell you once we're done with this."
When they arrived, the blond stopped short at the entrance to the dorms, "I won't be fighting. I'd prefer if Ruby not spend another month in the hospital."
"Fair enough." Qrow grunted as he pushed open the door and sprinted down a corridor infested with Grimm. Ruby leisurely followed behind him while Yang brought up the rear. There was screaming and sounds of fighting as the students in the dorms started fighting back. There was a distinct hint of aggression and anger in their moves.
The three of them began to hacking and slashing their way through the mess until the blond waif led them to Team RWBY's dorm. There, she kicked the door open and casually stepped back, evading a furious claw swipe before she had even seen it.
"There. That's our target." She noted a little unnecessarily.
It was huge, and it had completely thrashed the dorm room, behind it, there was a huge hole where the windows had once been. Clearly the Grimm had used them as a point of entry. It looked like a Beowolf, if a Beowolf was tall enough to reach the ceiling, or stand on both feet.
And that was before it talked.
"Sil…ver eyes…." The thing groaned hungrily, "Blue…. Eyes…."
Qrow and Yang were both stopped short to stare at the talking Grimm in horror. Behind them, the blond simply rolled her crystal blue eyes and grabbed Yang's collar, yanking her back before the beast could shred her face. Qrow was experienced enough that he hadn't been affected for too long. Instead, he rolled and slashed upwards before the sword transformed into scythe that he hooked onto the beast's neck in one smooth motion and pushed.
The scythe swung around one full circle around the Grimm's neck before the handle landed back in Qrow's hand. Then he stared in disbelief as the Grimm simply ignored his attacks. It chuffed as if it was chuckling even as the slash wounds, he had made simply warped and then closed.
"Blue… eyes…." It made to reach for Ruby before it was blocked by Qrow with Harbinger in long sword form when a tower of earth suddenly shot out of the ground and pierced its shoulder.
There was a brief lull as Qrow blinked.
Then there was a huge forest of stone spikes shooting up all over the room, forcing Qrow to leap back as the Grimm thrashed and roared behind the wall of earth spikes.
They saw it punch a hole straight in between the cracks of the spikes where one glowing red eye appeared. it glared at the blond Ruby who had one foot forward with a glowing seal beneath her shoe.
Said blond simply quirked one eyebrow in return.
It watched them a bit longer, as if memorizing their faces before it turned around and they heard the sounds of the beast leaving.
"What… was that?" Qrow muttered in disbelief as the stone spikes receded back into the ground, before turning around.
The blond Ruby simply shrugged, "My point being made for me."
Qrow set his shoulders, "Go pack up, you two."
****NM****
Beneath Beacon, another blond Ruby hummed as she strolled down a corridor until she came to a bunch of cells. In one of them, was a girl she recognized as Cinder's companion. The green haired one at least. The grey haired one wasn't here.
She briefly considered the girl who just glared back, "What do you want?"
"The city's being attacked by Grimm again." The blue-eyed blond explained languidly, "I'm sure you know what that means."
The girl with mint colored hair blanched, "They're here for Cinder…."
"Hmm… well, I'm not quite sure who 'they' is yet, but I reckon I'll find out eventually." The blond replied casually, "Would you like to go and see Miss Fall?"
Emerald stared at the blue-eyed girl standing behind the bars incredulously, "What?"
"Would you like to go and see Miss Fall?" She repeated patiently.
Emerald hesitated before she nodded slowly.
"Why?"
"Look, if you just want to fuck around, go find someone else." Emerald spat.
"I'm not playing around." The unruffled blond replied, "You seem to genuinely care for Miss Fall, even though you know she barely even thinks of you as a person. I was just curious why and if it was worth it."
Emerald flinched away at the blond's blunt assessment.
"She's everything I have." The girl muttered, "I would be nothing without her."
"Fair enough." Emerald looked up to see the blond fiddled with the door for a while before it suddenly swung open, just like that.
Emerald twitched, "Who are you?"
"You can call me Ruby for now I suppose." The blue-eyed girl bowed slightly, "May I know your name?"
"I've met Ruby. You are most definitely not Ruby." She replied sarcastically as she stepped out of the room before shrugging, it's not like they didn't know who she was at this point, "Ëmerald Sustrai."
"It's nice to meet you, Miss Sustrai." Blond Ruby tilted her head before her left hand suddenly shot out and snatched at the air on his side, "That's not very nice, Miss Sustrai."
Emerald wavered back into visibility, a disbelieving look on her face at the hand that had caught her left bicep, while the Emerald in front of the blond evaporated.
Rather than get angry, the blond simply pulled her along by the hand, "Come along. Best we get to Miss. Fall before your friend finds her."
"Friend?" Emerald's dark skin paled, "Who?"
"No idea." The blond replied calmly, "I only know that he's not a very pleasant person."
The blond hurried the two of them down another corridor until they came to the medical facility where the blond entered without any hesitation, "Miss Fall, I hope you are well."
The raven-haired woman who was chained to a hospital gurney glared at him ferociously.
The chains amused the blond. Was there even a point in chaining a woman who had a broken spine?
She couldn't even move her arms, much less her legs.
In fact, he was pretty sure everything below her neck was useless at the moment and Ozpin was smart enough to know not to change that.
The blond Ruby just smirked even as Emerald rushed to Cinder's side, "Cinder! Are you alright?"
The amber eyed glare turned on Emerald and the dark-skinned girl flinched away, "I'm sorry." She choked quietly. Unseen to the two of them, the blond Ruby made some hand signs before she placed her hands on the door.
"Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu".
'Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique'
Satisfied, she moved next to the gurney and observed as Emerald gently, and carefully helped Cinder take a sip of water, although the dark-haired woman steadfastly refused to stop glaring at her or even say a word.
"He's here." The blond suddenly commented and waved one hand, causing the door to turn transparent.
Emerald's breath hitched as she turned around. Together, the three of them watched a silhouette with a segmented tail arched behind his back, prowl past the doors, muttering curses and swearing softly.
"Tyrian." Cinder finally growled through gritted teeth as the clearly lost man paced back and forth in confusion outside the medical facility.
"Why can't he see us?" Emerald asked softly.
"I put an illusion on the door." The blond shrugged at Emerald's wide-eyed stare, "He can't see the door. He thinks it's just a wall."
Then he gave Cinder a sidelong look once the man named Tyrian had given up and finally left, "Your employer must be an interesting person. That man is no better than a mad dog."
"They're after me because of you! If you hadn't interfered, I wouldn't be in this situation!" Cinder hissed angrily.
"Oh, was I supposed to stand back and let you commit a massacre?" the blond inquired politely, "I'll remember that and stand back the next time your employer sends another assassin after you."
Emerald slumped down on a stool next to the gurney and looked at the blond waif, "What do we do now?"
Blond Ruby simply quirked an eyebrow, "Why exactly are you asking me?"
The fact that she had been the one to put them in here in the first place went unsaid.
The dark-skinned girl flushed.
The blond took pity on her and patted her shoulder reassuringly, "Mr. Ozpin isn't the malicious type. I suggest you cooperate with him. It'll be better than whatever Miss Fall's employer has planned for both of you."
"Don't you dare!" Cinder hissed angrily.
"If you wish, I can lift the illusion and go find this Mr. Tyrian. I'm sure he'd be please to see you." The blond countered pointedly.
Cinder just growled and went back to silently glaring at him.
Emerald's red eyes flickered back between the two of them desperately.
The blue-eyed Ruby simply shrugged and leaned on the walls and folded her arms. Her orders had been to stay there and guard the two of them, and so that was what she was going to do.
****NM****
"Mr. Ozpin."
Ozpin looked back from his contemplation of the world beneath him, "Ah…. Ruby. Or Other Ruby I suppose."
The blond waif bobbed her head in acknowledgement even as she looked around in interest.
"If I may ask, how did you get here?" Ozpin asked somewhat warily as he watched the blond who had somehow appeared in his office curiously glance around the room.
"I took the lift." The blond replied dryly as she came to his bookshelf and ran one finger along the spines of several books before picking up a thin book from one of his shelves.
Ozpin decided not to comment on the fact that he most certainly had a lot more security around his office than just one lift, and none of them would have let the blond through without informing him first.
"The Gift of the Moon." Ozpin observed the blond flip it open, "It's an interesting fairy tale. Have you heard of it before?"
The blond girl shook her head, "My homeland doesn't have many fairytales. There were more important things to do." She elaborated with a sidelong glance at the gray-haired man, "And yes, that means I'm not one of your Relics."
Ozpin breathed in slowly with an expression of disappointment, "I see…. You spoke to Qrow."
It wasn't a question.
The blond hummed in agreement as she placed the book back on the shelf and primly sat down in the seat across from Ozpin.
"It's an interesting fairytale. Originally, the world had a sun which bathed half the world in light. At night, there was no moon and no stars, and therefore absolutely no light at all. When humanity decided to try and light the night, they convinced the sun to race faster and faster across the sky, hoping that it could move so fast all the world would be constantly bathed in light. This exhausted the sun so much that it collapsed, falling out of the sky to crash onto the earth. This shattered the sun and spilled all its light. Humanity was forced to make a brand-new sun and fill it with the broken sun's spilled light. With the new sun doing a better job, the broken sun got stuck as the moon, lighting the night sky but never bright enough to make it day."
Ozpin paused as he noticed the twitch of anger on the blond's face, "…. Many versions of this story tend to emphasize the fact that it was humanity's fault that the sun was broken in the first place. He then points out that, while they did damage the sun, they were also the ones to correct the mistake by creating a new, brighter sun." Ozpin observed.
"And then they abandoned the broken old one there for the new shiny one."
"You misunderstand, the story is a symbol of what humanity can achieve when it works together. Back then, the world used to be divided between light and darkness. However, humanity overcame its flaws to unite together and make the darkness brighter for all."
"Indeed?" The blond waif smiled thinly, "Then maybe it's time that humanity faced their problems instead of patching it up with newer and shiny things. Who knows, they might even make a new moon in the process."
Ozpin wasn't quite sure what to make of that, "May I know why you're here today, Miss Rose?"
"I plan to take Ruby out of Beacon."
Ozpin closed his eyes in resignation, he had been afraid of this, "Are you certain that is a wise decision, Miss Rose?"
The blond pointedly looked beyond Ozpin, at the window he knew overlooked the city of Vale which was currently under attack by Grimm. He'd also heard about the odd Grimm in the dorms, so he could only sigh, "I still think the risk is too great."
"Understandable I suppose, but let me outline it for you. Perhaps you'll feel better once you understand my reasoning." The blond waif smiled disarmingly, "First, you currently have Cinder downstairs. She's the current Fall Maiden, so you will never be able to tell anyone that you have captured the perpetrator behind the Attack on Beacon nor can you punish her beyond keeping her locked up, which can't be good for Vale's morale considering how much damage was done and how close they came to losing everything. She's also paralyzed, so she can't run away, much less fight back. Hell, she can't even wipe her own butt anymore. She obtained all that power, but now she can't use it, after everything she has done to obtain it. Fitting, given what she did to the previous Fall Maiden I suppose. And unlike the previous Fall Maiden, she'll be conscious and screaming the entire time."
The blonde's smile widened as he continued to insidiously drive Ozpin further and further into a mental corner with every word, "I'd argue that's a torture worse than anything you could ever possibly inflict on someone like her. Your primary issue here will be the fact that she can't resist when someone comes for her life and her powers, hence you will need to guard her. This segues nicely into my original request. With Beacon the way it is, you and your forces will be divided between rebuilding Beacon, keeping it safe and the fact that you now have two very big and very vulnerable targets in the same place. You may be confident that you can repulse any intruders who come knocking, but let's be honest, you're not a God. You can only be in one place at once. All it's going to take is a single distraction, which is more or less how you let this mess happen in the first place."
Ï… see." As he watched the old man stare back unseeingly, consumed by all the variables he had just been slapped with, the blond waif mused that it was a good thing he was a nice guy.
If he ever went bad, Ozpin probably would have folded in one go.
The blond waif decided to throw the old man a bone and smiled neutrally, "Incidentally, may I ask for a favor?"
Ozpin tiredly nodded, "If it is within my power."
"Please allow the girl with the green hair, Emerald, to take care of the Fall Maiden."
"That… is somewhat difficult." Ozpin hesitated before continuing to explain, "With her particular semblance, the chance that she takes the opportunity to bring Cinder away is too great."
"You do not need to worry on that front. I'll personally ensure that she is unable to leave the tower unless you allow it."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
"I have my ways." Naruto noted the look Ozpin was giving him and decided to throw the old man another bone, "I'll talk to her before I take Ruby with me, you are free to come and see what I do."
"That… that would be agreeable with me, Miss Rose."
****NM****
At the same time, in another part of the building, another blond waif, completely identical to the one that was currently in Ozpin's office was in Beacon Academy's library, calmly picking up book after book and rapidly flipping through them.
Each time he did so, a copy would materialize in his ring and sort itself in his own library.
He was fully serious about being able to teach Ruby everything that Beacon could, but to do that, he first needed to know what exactly Beacon could offer in the first place.
The library itself was completely empty, presumably no one was in the mood to read anything in the current situation. So, it was very obvious when someone entered the building.
He could hear heels clacking down the aisles as if looking for something until they came to a stop at the one he was in.
"Ruby! I heard someone say they saw…." The speaker stopped short, "You're the Other Ruby right?"
The blond girl continued what she was doing and greeted the newcomer without looking at her, "Miss Nikos."
A brief glance told him that she was still wearing that blouse and jeans combo, but she had added a shield and a spear to the ensemble. The blouse was a little torn, which indicated that she had been in battle before this. Probably in the city.
"Oh. Uh…. Hi." Pyrrha said awkwardly.
The blue-eyed blond tilted her head at the red head, "Is something the matter?"
"No… in fact, I had wanted to speak to you personally." Pyrrha bowed lowly, "Thank you for saving my life. When I went up there, I knew without a doubt I would not have survived. But I did because of you. I am in your debt."
"You are very welcome." The blond responded simply, "But you can ignore the debt."
"I cannot." Pyrrha countered mulishly.
"Then how would you feel if you saved a friend and now, she wants to be in debt to you?"
The blond waif smiled as she heard the red head speechlessly grunt in annoyance.
"What are you doing?"
"Copying books." Blond Ruby admitted blandly, "I'm sort of memorizing them I guess."
The bewildered girl stared at him for a moment, "For?"
"I'm taking Ruby out of Beacon Academy. It's not safe here for her at the moment. Gotta make sure she doesn't slack off while we're out there after all." The blue-eyed blond explained with some humor, he could hear Ruby already complaining about it in the background.
"Oh… I see…"
Something in Pyrrha's tone prompted him to turn around and look at her properly, "Is everything alright, Miss Nikos?"
"No. It's nothing to trouble you with." Pyrrha flushed at the look of concern and shook her head.
Blond Ruby eyed her critically for a long moment before he spoke, "You've been getting nightmares, haven't you?"
Pyrrha took a step back as if she had been slapped, "How did you…."
"I can sense negative emotions." The blond girl admitted quietly.
"So, you…."
"You feel afraid that every battle you enter will be your last one. Every night, you dream of that moment again and again and you can't sleep." The blond replied as clinically as he could, "It's not uncommon amongst people who have had a brush with death. It happened to me as well."
"Even… you?"
The blond laughed a harsh bark of laughter, "I've forgotten how many times I've nearly died. But the worst is always the first."
Pyrrha came a little closer, "How did you deal with it?"
"Where I come from, life wasn't easy. Children became soldiers and mercenaries at twelve. Most got their first kill at thirteen. Even earlier if they weren't affiliated with the bigger powers around." The blond smoothly ignored Pyrrha's horrified expression, "Obviously, therapists wasn't really a thing back there, so something like this, you either get over it yourself, or let it affect you and stop you from being the best you can be. In which case, you'd just die for nothing. And I really didn't want to die. So, I kept moving, kept fighting, kept training. Eventually, it stopped bothering me."
On impulse, Pyrrha leaned forward and captured the surprised blond in a tight hug. The blasé way he spoke about his childhood tore at her heartstrings.
The blond just stood there stiffly for a moment before patting her back awkwardly, "You should probably go talk to a therapist though. I tend to be a very bad example of how to do things."
Pyrrha chuckled, "I will, I promise."
****NM****
"Everyone ready?" Qrow looked back as Yang and a blond Ruby climbed on board his personal bullhead.
Yang threw up her hand, "ROAD TRIP!" She roared happily.
Qrow glanced at the other blond, "Where to first?"
The short girl smiled thinly, "We should probably head to Patch first. Mr. Xiao Long probably wouldn't be happy if we left without a word. Plus, I want to fix Miss Xiao Long's arm before we set off for real."
"HOM- Wait what!?"
****NM****