RWBY Reloaded Volume 2 Chapter 4 Preperations
(Beacon Academy)
A glum Ruby is resting her head on her hand and staring into the distance before she is startled by someone slamming their palms on the table she is at. This, of course is Weiss Schnee, who couldn't get Ruby's attention because of the state she was in.
Weiss: I need you to pick a tablecloth.
She says this while smiling at her younger teammate. Weiss slides two squares over to Ruby, both seeming to be similar shades of white.
Ruby: Aren't they both the same?
The redhead looked back at the heiress with confusion, who then responded with her frustration.
Weiss: I don't even know why I asked!
Weiss walks away from Ruby as Yang comes in carrying a massive sound speaker on her shoulder, which bounces her sister and the table she's moping on again to jump in the air when she drops it on the ground. Yang then is brushing her hands as she approaches Ruby
Yang: So, have you picked out a dress yet?
Ruby: What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?
Yang: Oh, don't worry; she's going. Weiss! I thought we agreed: No doilies!
Weiss then walks up to Yang, pointing in her face.
Weiss: If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!
The girls are interrupted by the sound of doors opening.
Neptune then walks in with Sun.
Neptune: Your dance is gonna have fog machines?
Weiss then walks over to him, becoming sweet
Weiss: We were thinking about it...
Neptune: That's pretty cool.
Sun: You ladies all excited for dress-up?
Ruby: Pfft... Yeah, right!
Yang: Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night!
Weiss the turns her head to Sun and Neptune.
Weiss: What are you two wearing?
Sun: Uuhhh... this?
He gestures to his current shirtless outfit.
Neptune then steps up and holds a hand in front of his friend's face
Neptune: Ignore him for he knows not what he says.
Sun then knocks Neptune's hand away.
Sun: Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo, sand that get everywhere and is coarse and just frankly hot.
Sun rubs the back of his head, preparing to ask.
Sun: Soooo... what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y'know... Blake-y?
Weiss: Obviously.
Weiss turns and crosses her arms in disapproval.
Ruby: I still can't think of a way to change her mind.
Yang: Guys.
Everyone looks at her as she starts walking out.
Yang: Trust me; Blake will be at the dance tomorrow.
(Beacon Academy, Library)
The Faunus herself is sitting at one of the library tables with a holographic screen in front of her. She is obviously more sleep-deprived than ever, barely focusing on what she's seeing. She had no clue that Reuben had successfully fought against him and won. It wasn't on the news and was pretty quiet after the first incident in downtown Vale. Blake continues this until a small, bright red light appears on the screen. Moving up and down, Blake's eyes follow it down to her hand, then disappears entirely. She looks behind herself, obviously irritated, but no one walking among the tables is her culprit. Acting like a cat, she is drawn to the laser pointer.
Blake (Mind): What the hell….?
Turning back to the computer, she starts typing on the beeping keyboard before the laser dot appears on her hand briefly, prompting her to look around again and still find no one. The red point shows up on the screen, moving around in circles until Blake scowls and pounds her fists on the table. She stands up from her chair and finds the light on the floor, following it blindly through shelves of books until both the dot and its pursuer turn the corner, only for Blake to bump, shocked and shaken out of her more "animal" instincts, into...
Yang then waves with her left hand as her right holds the laser pointer.
Yang: He-lloooo!
Blake: What are you...?
Yang grabs Blake's arm.
Yang: We need to talk.
And with that, amid Blake's single cry of surprise, Yang whisks her partner away and over to a classroom.
Blake: Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath.
Yang is currently sitting cross-legged on the central desk of the empty classroom they're in, orange light shining across her calm features.
Yang: I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down.
Blake then continues to pace with arms crossed, still irritated. Her boots threatening to wear a mark into the spot.
Blake: I don't have the luxury to slow down!
Yang: It's not a luxury; it's a necessity.
Blake: The "necessity" is stopping Torchwick.
Torchwick had only been delayed with his encounters with the Atlas Superman.
Yang: And we're going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say.
Yang then pats the part of the desk across from her.
Blake looks away for a moment until she relents and drapes her legs over the desk's edge.
Blake Fine.
Yang: Ruby and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was, like... Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters.
Blake: Like the Atlas Superman?
Yang ignores this.
Yang: And then... one day she left for a mission and never came back.
Yang looks down as she says this, and Blake looks sorry for her.
Yang: It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but... I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of... shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second. The first... was my mom.
Blake looks amazed at this information as Yang keeps talking.
Yang: He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow, named Team STRQ. That she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since.
Raven had been secretly watching over Yang in her Bird form, but she had no idea.
Blake: Why did she leave you?
Yang sighs, then turns to the chalkboard.
Yang: That question... Why?
Yang gets off the desk and walks to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk.
Yang: I didn't know an answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anyone I could about what they knew about her. I still don't have an answer…
As the reminiscent blond starts drawing on the board,
(Flashback)
A young Yang, with orange bows holding her brunette pigtails, looking at the photo found in a smashed picture frame.
Yang (Future): Then, one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers, or maybe even my mother.
Yang then is walking down a long winding path through the towering trees shedding their leaves with a little creaking wagon pulled right behind her, a little sister in a crimson hood sleeping soundly inside. Ruby Rose herself.
Yang (Future): I waited for Dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes...of a Grimm.
In the shadows of the worn-down house the siblings had arrived at, beastly red shapes glow from the darkness. Yang's younger self looks petrified.
Yang (Future): There we were: A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter. But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time.
As the Beowolves leap into the air to devour their young prey, the familiar sound of a gun-scythe follows the sight of them all being cut into pieces by a caped warrior. His bird-haired silhouette fades away.
(End Flashback)
Yang has just finished drawing a clockwork eye.
Yang: My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night.
Blake: Yang... I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different. I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers! I can't just-
Yang is still facing the board, fists clenching.
Yang: I told you, I'm not telling you to stop! I haven't! To this day, I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process, what good are we?
She takes a deep breath.
Yang: Raven Branwen is out there. I will hunt her to the edge of the planet if I must.
Blake: You don't understand! I'm the only one who can do this!
Yang: No, you don't understand!
She turns around sharply to reveal her activated semblance. Her rage overshadowing her feelings for the feline Faunus.
Yang: If Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do?
Blake: I'd fight him!
Yang: You'd lose!
Yang then pushes Blake away.
Blake: I can stop him!
Blake then tiredly tries to do the same to Yang, but she doesn't even budge.
Yang: You can't even stop me!
She pushes Blake again, knocking her to land on the desk. Yang, still angry-eyed, walks toward Blake as she gets up, but then does the unexpected and embraces her in a hug, her eyes going back to their normal purple.
Yang: I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest.
Yang pulls back to look at her partner.
Yang: Not just for you, but for the people you care about.
Yang steps away and starts walking past the startled Blake, who turns then she says over her shoulder
Yang: And if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance.
Yang winks down at Blake, and Blake stares at Yang as she leaves before sighing heavily and walking away, questioning her sexuality.
(End of Volume 2 Chapter 4)