NOTE: I DO NOT OWN RWBY! ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO ROOSTERTEETH!

Look Not with the Eyes

By thrillerartist

Chapter 14: The Weight of the Mantle

Yang and I had always wanted to be huntresses. It was more than just playing Huntress in the backyard, or dressing up as the heroes in our stories. Yang wanted to live a life of adventure, and I wanted to be a hero that saved people from the Grimm. Dad would gently try to steer us towards other interests- science, writing, art, literally anything that wasn't going to put us in danger. He'd even gotten the idea that showing us the police station and emergency response headquarters would help satiate our intense desire to be around danger, just with fire or guns instead of mean-eating monsters.

So, as children usually do when their parents introduce them to something, Yang and I went along with Dad's attempts to introduce us into mainstream careers.

But the result was always the same in the end. Yang and I would go right back to playing Hunters and Grimm in the backyard, and designing our own weapons with crayons and paper. Hunting Grimm and saving people was the only thing that stuck with us.

The day after I applied to Signal, Dad sat me down for a talk on the couch.

"I know that I can't convince you to devote your life to something else." Dad said. "And as a parent, I shouldn't stop you from pursuing your dreams. But hunting...It's gonna be a hard life, Ruby. For Yang, too. It's going to be hard, and dangerous, and not every mission or assignment is going to end the way you want it to. It's not going to be a storybook ending every time."

"I know, Dad." I said.

"And your mom…"

"I know." I said. "I know."

Dad wiped his eyes. "I am so proud of you. You know that, right? I will always be proud of you and Yang, no matter what happens, or what you choose."

"Dad, what's this really about?" I asked. My dad is a sentimental man, but there's a certain point where he cuts off his emotional side.

"I wanted to give you a talk-"

"I know where babies come from, Dad." I said, rolling my eyes. "Yang explained the Birds and the Bees to me."

"What?!" Dad coughed, blushing, and then cleared his throat. "Not-not that talk, Rubes. A talk about what it means to be a huntress. When we train, we train to hunt monsters that threaten the people under our guard. We learn how to work together in teams, how to lead, and how to follow orders even when we don't understand them at the time. When we are licensed, we fully take on the mantle of a hunter of Grimm. We serve the people of Remnant, not just those in our nations. We hunt Grimm that threaten the lives of innocent people. We work with law enforcement when people begin messing with peace, and sometimes, we get called in when power is being misused."

Dad looked at me then, not as his daughter, but as his student.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to say in all this, Ruby?" He asked me.

"We protect the people." I said. "We don't just kill Grimm and fight bad guys."

"Correct." Dad put his hand on my head, and tousled my hair. "When we take up the mantle, Ruby, we are not just saying we will hunt for dangerous creatures. We call ourselves huntsmen and huntresses because we will protect the people of Remnant- those we love, and those we don't know."

Dad put his hand on my shoulder then. "You're still young, Ruby. This job is tough on most grown adults; on the most seasoned hunstmen and huntresses. Are you really sure that this is what you want?"

I looked into his eyes. "Absolutely." I said. "I'm going to be a huntress."

-Ruby-

The sour mood from the night before had bled into the following morning. No one was in a good mood after Yang and Blake came back with the trailer from the shed. Dinner consisted of reheated canned food that Weiss and Ruby had scavenged from an alcohol-filled storage pantry. That night, Ruby had sat by Weiss in front of the fire. It was odd to feel the heat without seeing the light, but Ruby was more focused on making sure her partner was okay after finding two skeletons laying in a bedroom.

Qrow had said that he'd wake them up at dawn, but it was actually Ruby who woke him up- and that was only because her extra-on-edge-brain had heard an empty bottle hit the floor. And once Ruby was able to practically drag everyone out of bed to Bumblebee and the trailer, the tire popped, and then Qrow left them in a huff to drown his frustration. Luckily, Oscar being a farm boy came in handy, and he knew how to fix the tire.

Ruby was doing everything she could to not fall apart.

Ruby was tired. So, so tired, of the arguing, of the complications, of the lies and the secrets. Most of all, she was tired of her team;s behavior the past day and a half.

I just want to get to Argus and find the rest of our team, Ruby thought as she leaned against a low stone wall, and just try and figure out what the hell we're going to do next.

She was trying so hard to keep it together, and she couldn't even see where she was going! Why isn't anyone else doing their part to help? Ruby thought, fighting tears of frustration. Why are they all just turning to me for everything, when Qrow's the experienced huntsman here?

Ruby balled her hands into fists, feeling the cold, wet snow squishing between her fingers.

And then a faint memory, one that seemed so many years ago. It was the voice of a man that she used to look up to as a wide leader, but now he was nothing more than a coward. But...there were some good things about him that Ruby remembered.

I have made more mistakes than every man, woman, and child in the world, Ms. Rose; but I would not consider my assigning you as a leader being one of them.

Leaders at Beacon were assigned...but Ruby's dad used to tell her that true leaders rose to the occasion.

Can I really do this? Ruby thought, taking in another deep breath, and letting out a long sigh. I am so tired. Why am I so tired?

The air smelled like fresh snow and dirt. Her team wasn't yelling at her, but they kept insisting that there wasn't anything that they could do to help the world. There wasn't anything they could do to defeat Salem, so why were they even continuing on to Argus?

"Do we really need to go to Atlas?" Blake asked. "What is Ironwood going to even do? We get the staff, and then what?"

"I don't know!" Ruby shouts. "I don't know, but that's all we have right now! It's the only goal we have right now, the only plan we have, so it's what we're going to do!"

"We'd be carrying a Grimm magnet all across Remnant in order to do that." Weiss said. "How many people would we be putting in danger?"

"Weiss-!" Ruby snaps.

"We can just leave the lamp." Yang says, tiredly. "The Grimm can sense it, yeah, but wouldn't it be better if we just left it here? If we just drop it in the well? Or bury it?"

"JUST SHUT UP!" Ruby screamed. "What's WRONG with all of you! Why are you acting like this!?"

"Ruby-"

"SHUT UP AND LET ME THINK!" Ruby screamed, her pulse pounding in her head. Her eyes were aching ever since she'd stepped outside, and currently, panicked thoughts were racing throughout her mind, the first and foremost being, If what Jin said is true, there's no human way to defeat Salem.

So what's the use in even trying?

"Just...Let me think." Ruby said half-heartedly. She could feel herself getting more and more tired by the second, becoming more sluggish and more frustrated at the same time. She brought one hand down to her belt, feeling the surface of the lamp, cool yet reassuring.

Knowledge has no temperature, the lamp seemed to say. Knowledge favors neither good nor evil- it is what one chooses to do with that knowledge that defines its morality.

"I'm so...tired." Ruby thought, her hand clutching around the lamp. She found herself bringing it up towards her face, close enough to where she could feel the cool temperature emanating from it.

"I'm so tired." Ruby said again.

"So are we." Blake replied. "Let's just leave the lamp and go."

"We don't have to go to Atlas." Weiss said.

Ruby nodded at the thought, feeling the weight of the lamp pressing down on her hand like it weighed a thousand pounds.

Has the lamp always been this heavy? Ruby thought.

Why did Ruby have to carry this burden? It was a weight of the responsibility that came with the leadership, Ruby knew that this was what she had signed up for...she just hadn't expected that it'd come this soon.

My leadership at Beacon was supposed to be about training schedules, battle formations, and making sure my teammates didn't fail their classes. This...I don't know if I can do this.

You don't have to, a raspy voice said, almost as if it was another voice in Ruby's mind. You've fought so hard for so long, and nothing has come from it except pain, heartache, and ungrateful people. Let. This. Go.

Was that true? Was all that came from everything Ruby's been through just more pain and heartache?

Pyrrah had died, fighting a battle she couldn't win. Penny was ripped apart to make a statement that ended in the fall of Vytal. Beacon was destroyed by Salem's forces. Her sister had lost her arm trying to save her partner from a madman. She spent the last six months backpacking across Anima in order to get to a school that was run by a traitor, and had nearly died because a madman was trying to take her away.

No matter what you do, the result will always be the same. People will die, and there's nothing you can do to save them. You are bound to suffer if you continue. Let go, and walk away. Someone else will take care of it.

Ruby felt her grip around the lamp loosen...

Save yourself the pain, because that's the only thing waiting for you at the end of this.

Ruby felt her fingers loosen again- but those last few words had caused a flicker of anger to light inside of her.

No. Ruby thought, fingers tightening again. No, that wasn't all that came from it. That wasn't the only thing that came from my suffering, from my suffering...my friends' suffering.

DrOp It.

I met my team, I made myself a leader, and yeah, that was hard work, but it was worth it. I got to meet Pyrrah and Penny, I got to attend Beacon, and all three gave me a reason to fight. I can't save everyone, sure, but that doesn't mean I won't try. If I suffer at the end of this road, then fine. I'll take it, I'll take it all, if it means that I can prevent the suffering of someone else!

DrOp tHe LaMp!

Ruby thought she was holding tight to the lamp; a bird cawing from right next to her, startled her so much, she flinched, and in that moment, she felt the lamp slip from between her fingers.

Ruby thought that she was leaning against a low stone wall...until she heard a splash.

It was a well. She had dropped the lamp down a well. She was effing blind, and she dropped the lamp down a well!

"I- I dropped the lamp!" Ruby yelled, panicked. We have to get it back!

"It's fine," Yang said, before letting out a yawn. "Let's just get the tire fixed and go."

What. The. Heck?!

Ruby reeled on Yang and her team, and screamed in frustration "I'm not leaving without the lamp!" Ruby ordered. "And since I can't see well enough to get it myself, all three of you are coming with me!"

The sewers smelled like low tide and despair. The water came up a little past the soles of Ruby's boots, and the coldness seeped through the leather.

"I can't find it." Yang grunts. "It's too dark, and the tunnels are branching out. It probably floated downstream."

"Yeah, and then we'll be walking bli-in-uh…." Yang tapered off. "Sorry." She muttered to no one in particular.

"You get used to darkness." Ruby said simply, holding Crescent Rose closer to her. The eeriness of the well, the echoing of the waters, sent chills down Ruby's spine. Though nothing was getting in through her water-proof boots did nothing to stop how damp and clammy her feet and hands felt.

"Maybe turn off the lights and look for the glow?" Blake suggested.

There's the sound of clothes being rustled, a soft click, before Blake tiredly called out, "There."

Suddenly, pain shot across Ruby's head like a bullet. She felt her face contort in pain, and she brought her hand up to clutch her head, hoping for it to fade away.

"I'll grab the lamp." Yang grumbled, the sound of splashing water following her grumbling words.

The pain behind her eyes grew stronger, almost like there was something trying to push itself out of her skull. There was also an encroaching sense of terror that shook Ruby to her core.

"We have to go." Ruby groaned. "Something's here." Ruby gasped. She scrunched her eyes shut, and when she opened them again, she could see two black and red splotches ahead and to the left.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked.

"Grimm." Ruby wheezed, her fingers digging into her scalp to try and ease the increasing pain. Ruby didn't know how she knew it was a Grimm that was in the tunnel, but she didn't need to see evil to know it was there. "Yang, it's Grimm!"

The pounding in her head increased, the fear almost making her want to vomit; and as it climaxed, Yang screamed, "RUN!"

Ruby can sense the evil growing closer and closer, and fires off a few rounds of her weapon.

Why am I still using a gun when I'm literally blind!? Ruby thought, angry and scared and tired all at once.

There was a loud, high pitched shrieking noise, so bone-rattling and haunting that it seemed to speak utter despair.

Give up. The voice said. It's pointless anyway. Give in...rest.

No. Ruby thought. I am not done. I will not stop.

"Girls!" An old woman screams.

Maria? Ruby thought. What's she doing here?

"Follow me, NOW!" Maria yelled, followed by more splashing and hurried footsteps. A hand grabbed onto Ruby's arm, and dragged her away from the growing wall of red and blackness.

Ruby looks forwards, and sees another impending wall of red and black approaching them.

There was another shriek, followed by another crushing feeling of despair and exhaustion. Tears began to prick in the corners of Ruby's eyes, as horrible memories flashed across her mind's eye.

Pyrrha, shot in the heart and then disintegrated. Penny, ripped apart.

You're fighting a war that you can't win. The dark voice cooed.

A hand tugs on her arm, and Ruby snaps back to the present after she hears Weiss shout, "This way!"

You're running from a monster that can't be slain.

Ruby's dragged to the right, and feels her shoulder brush against a cold, damp wall.

Give in, the voice said gently, and this will all be over.

Ruby's breath hitches as another bout of pain crosses her head, and another wall of darkness and evil. Weiss yanks her arm again in the opposite direction, but another harsh shrill hits Ruby with enough force to make her fall to her knees.

Instead, Ruby crawled forward.

Trying to be the hero, the voice rasped, will only make you into a martyr.

I'm not done yet. Ruby thought, the pain in her head and her heart the only thing keeping her mind awake enough to defy the voice. I don't quit until I'm done. I'm not done. I'm not done!

"There's an exit." Maria gasps. Ruby was barely able to hear it through the pounding of her head, and Ruby crawled in the direction of Maria's voice.

The chills running down her back made her want to turn around. The little vision in her one eye showed a white coat, and a splotch of black, while the rest of her vision saw an encroaching evil getting. To Ruby, it looked like a cloud of blackness encroaching closer and closer, almost arm's length away.

"Blake?" Ruby called. "Blake, c'mon, get up." Ruby felt her throat begin to close up, felt the salty sting of tears in her eyes.

"It's fine." Blake responded, sounding devoid of energy and emotion.

Ruby's tears returned, along with the overwhelming feeling of fear, of a desire to protect those she loved. There were those memories again.

Pyrrha, shot, and burned alive until nothing remained but ashes.

Penny, ripped to shreds.

Beacon, her school, her second home, in shambles.

They were all gone; but Ruby was still here.

No. Ruby thought. I'm not losing anyone else!

Blake...C'mon, get up! Ruby screams internally, shocked at how her mouth couldn't even find the words. Blake...please...get up...this can't end here...C'mon, Blake…

A deep breath, and a guttural scream of "BLAKE!"

Simultaneously, a warm feeling shot through her entire being. The voice was gone, and the black void washed away in a sea of light.

Ruby finally has the strength to stand on her two legs, and a pair of hands pulls her forwards.

The Grimm shrieks again, more powerful than last time. Ruby fell to her knees, only having strength enough to roll over on her back.

And then there was a motherly voice, a pair of gloved hands on her face.

"Ruby...Ruby, what color are your eyes?"

My eyes? Ruby thought, then said, "They were...silver."

Maria gasped. "Do you have a family? People you love?"

"Yeah." Ruby felt fear seize her again. Dad...Yang...JNR. I can't...it can't end here.

Mariah's hands were gentle, and guided her hand back down. "Don't think about the Grimm, Ruby." Maria said, soothingly. "Think about people who love you. Focus on what they mean to you, how they make you feel."

Her father, how scared he must be waiting at home for his daughters to come back. Yang, always there for her, and so willing to teach her combat skills. Weiss, always telling her how it was, never sugar coating anything. Blake, her book buddy, her listening ear whenever the anxiety of leadership seemed too much those first few weeks. Jaun, Nora, and Ren, who'd she'd spent the past six months travelling and fighting with. Uncle Qrow, who really was a great mentor when he wasn't drowning himself in his despair.

"Life is precious, Ruby." Maria says. "It is beautiful. It must be protected."

When we take up the mantle, Ruby, her father had once told her, we are not just saying we will hunt for dangerous creatures. We call ourselves huntsmen and huntresses because we will protect the people- those we don't know, and those we love.

To protect...the people that we love, Ruby thought.

And just like that, that sensation of comfort and light returned so strongly that Ruby was able to push herself up off the ground, starting right in the face of the wall of darkness and evil.

-Blake-

As soon as Blake came back to her senses, she jumped to her feet, grabbed Ruby's hand, and practically dragged her up the stairs and out of the cellar. The cranky old woman- Maria- was following directly behind them. Once they got out, Weiss and Yang immediately closed the cellar doors behind them, before sticking a plank of wood between the door handles.

"That won't hold them for long!" Yang shouted, quickly shoving everyone outside the cellar. Outside, in the pantry, they found Qrow, leaning over the bar with empty bottles all around him.

"Whas' goin'-" Qrow groaned, before Weiss grabbed the bottle from his hand and started throwing them into the room leading to the cellar. She then took her entire vial of fire dust, and lit the alcohol into a blaze, before tossing in a few more bottles for good measure.

"Hey!" Qrow growled, not happy to have been interrupted drinking. "What's the big-"

Weiss just grabbed him by the collar, and yanked him down to see the Grimm clawing their way through the cellar and past the flames. But that doesn't stop Qrow from trying to grab another bottle.

Blake grabbed Ruby by the hand and led her outside, where Oscar was setting up the trailer onto Yang's bike.

"OSCAR!" Blake screamed. The freckled boy looked up at her with shock. "WE GOTTA GO!"

The house had caught fire- Weiss probably, or maybe Yang- but both of them were currently dragging Qrow out of the burning house, his legs limp in the snow.

Either he's too drunk to move on his own, Blake thought as she helped Ruby onto the trailer bed, or he's too shocked at his own stupidity.

Weiss practically threw Qrow onto the trailer, while Yang ran and jumped onto the bike. She revved the engine, and floored the gas, causing everyone to lurch forwards, and Ruby to frantically fall head-first into Blake's lap.

"Ruby!" Blake said. "Are you okay? What was that back there?!"

"I'd be better able to answer you once the pounding in my head stops." Ruby groaned.

"Trust me, child, the pouding goes away rather quickly." Maria said. "That power's like a muscle, it needs to be built up over time. Powering up twice in one go when you've had no prior training is like sprinting for miles without warming up first."

"How would you know?" Ruby groaned. "Better question, how did you know about what was happening? And the thing with my eyes?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Maria looked back, her electric, goggle-shaped eyes were emotionless, but Blake knew that the smile on Maria's face was an almost melancholic mischief. "I had silver eyes, too."

Maria told the story about how she had read all the diaries Bartelby had written in, and about his master plan to use a Grimm called the Apathy to keep his town calm, and avoid needing a huntsman to protect them.

But Blake knew that a plan involving using Grimm- a force that was born from darkness and brought only tragedy- to protect was never a good plan. Anything involving Grimm tended to end in tragedy, one way or another.

And in the end, Blake thought, trying to cheat nature got his entire town killed.

To be honest, Blake wasn't that surprised to find out that Maria was a former huntress. The woman was too calm in the face of danger, and to have stayed on a train that was being attacked...that's a stupid move that only a hunstman would do.

Finding out that the old woman who had butted in on their little adventure was actually the famed huntress, The Grimm Reaper was a little bit more shocking, though. But yeah, Blake could get behind that. The Grimm Reaper was Qrow's hero growing up? The huntsman who he modeled his weapon after and aspired to be like? Well, all Blake could say to that was, "every kid had a hero, real or legendary,".

No. What had shocked Blake in all of that was finding out that Maria lost her eyes to a band of rogues after a failed attempt to assassinate her. That she was hunted because of her silver eyes.

Just like Ruby's had been.

"Even after my surgery," Maria said, "I was afraid to fight. Too afraid that someone else would find me, and finish what the others had started. So I ran away from the fight. And that's why you shouldn't aspire to be anything like me." Maria turned around to look at Yang and Qrow. "It's comforting, though, to see that some of you are clearly stronger already, more ready than I was to face the world. I'm sorry I didn't do more to make it better."

"Well," Ruby said. "Then that's something you and I have in common, I guess." Ruby brought her hand up to her face. "My eyes were damaged, too, by someone who wanted to take me away because I have- had, silver eyes." Ruby put her forehead in her hand, and closed her eyes. "But now, it seems that every time I have headaches, there's a grimm nearby. I can't see where I'm going, and I get these flashes of warmth all over my body- like back in the tunnels under the farm. I don't know what to do." Ruby looked up, facing no one in particular, but clearly addressing Maria. "Please...If you still want to do something good, please, teach me how to use my powers like you did."

"I'm afraid that I know just about as much as you when it comes to that, child." Maria said. "My eyes were rendered useless after my attack- to be honest, I wasn't completely sure that your eyes would work down in that tunnel. I was acting on a wing and a prayer."

Ruby's scroll rings, and Ruby has to fish it out of her pocket rather clumsily.

"Can someone else answer it?" Ruby groans, eyes clenched shut at the sound.

"It's Jaune!" Weiss says, hitting the "SPEAKER" icon. Blake swore she saw the screen say "Vomit Boy,".

"RUBY!" Jaune's voice rings from the other line. "Are you guys okay? I've been checking your scroll signals ever since we got to the city-"

"Wait, the city?" Ruby said groggily.

Yang stops the bike almost immediately after she hears that question. "Guys." Yang says, pointing towards the horizon.

"We made it to Argus."