… … …
Summer stood before her, hood raised and face faded. They stood amidst a battlefield strewn with rapidly dissolving black bodies – remains of the Creatures of Grimm.
Who had done this? Her? No… others.
Her mother seemed to be pulling away, but not of her own will. She seemed desperate to stay, to tell Ruby something… but could not.
She tried to stay with Summer, to run and catch the rapidly shrinking form of her mother, but it was no use. She couldn't move.
A door slammed shut between them, blocking the way. She saw the grain of the wood, the inlay of silver in the gold hinges and knob. She saw the elegant pattern of a rose in full bloom carved into the center of the panel.
But she had seen it before… and forgotten it.
… … …
Unshed tears glimmered at the edge of vision as Ruby awoke, sunlight streaming onto her face from the nearby window. She expected to be unable to move a single muscle after the events of the night before, yet she sat up with no trouble. Had it all been a dream after all?
No… somehow she knew it wasn't. This was her reality.
Several faces awaited her – the rest of team RWBY foremost among them. Weiss and Blake sat on either side of her bed, both watching her with looks of anticipation. Yang sat in a chair by the door, head back against the wall, fast asleep and snoring.
Blake spoke first, quietly saying, "Welcome back to the land of the living."
Ruby could only chuckle, replying, "…You mean I'm not dead?"
Weiss responded dryly, "You'd better hope not. She…" the heiress jerked a thumb at Yang, "…would be impossible to live with if you were."
Yang let out a snort, causing Ruby to giggle.
A warm lump under her covers caused the redhead to look – little Cherry was fast asleep next to her, purring lightly. The child was wearing a new set of clothes; a red t-shirt and black shorts. Ruby's questioning look was promptly answered by Blake. "She's been by your side ever since we brought you in this morning. Been worried about you."
"We've all been worried," Weiss added.
Ruby smiled warmly and stroked the young catgirl's hair, paying special attention to the space between her ears. "Thanks, guys," she muttered.
The events of the night were fuzzy, muddled, but she remembered them. Most of them. She remembered a lot of Grimm, several new versions of herself, white-colored energy bursting out of her, and…
"I lost Crescent Rose," she said sadly.
They gave a solemn nod, but didn't reply. All of team RWBY knew how attached their leader was to her sweetheart. It must have been a pretty bad blow.
A new voice spoke up just behind her, from the other side of the room that Ruby hadn't looked at yet. "But you gained a new partner, remember?"
Carmine was busy looking over Ruby's medical sheets as she spoke, quickly making sure the nurses had done their jobs right. She was still a doctor, after all.
"New partner? You mean …Omega? Isn't that your weapon?"
The mad scientist put down the papers, her face falling just slightly. "Yeah, about that… … … can you call him in here?"
"Again, isn't it yours?"
Carmine responded by snapping her fingers into the air several times. Three sets of eyes looked around, waiting for movement… but nothing happened.
"As you can see, he doesn't seem to be listening to me at the moment. Would you please?"
She hesitated, but eventually Ruby raised a hand into the air and snapped her fingers – it wasn't a good snap, either. She was never good at doing that.
Instantly there was a response. Within seconds, the amorphous black substance flowed into the room and took the shape of the original Crescent Rose in her hand. Ruby stared at it in stunned silence.
"So that's how it is, huh…?"
Carmine's gaze had lost all emotion as she stated, "I've been betrayed… … … abandoned… … … cheated on by my own creation…"
Weiss tried to cut her off by saying, "Aren't you exaggerating just a little?"
"He likes the younger me better than the older me… … … betrayed… … left behind… … tossed aside…" Her face fell further and further as she droned on, her voice losing all emotion as she descended into the depths of depression.
Ruby turned to Blake, hoping for some help, when she noticed a new detail about the faunus. "Are your eyes …red?"
Blake's reaction was instant: "No…" But she still turned to face the other wall, hiding her eyes as best she could on short notice.
Yep, she'd been crying. Now was not the time to pry, however.
"How long have I been out?"
Carmine pulled herself together enough to answer, "About eight hours. You had good timing, though – I'm sure you'd hate to miss zero hour."
"Zero…?"
"At 3:00 this afternoon… … … we're going home."
…
… … …
… … … … …
Chapter 21:
Time to Say Goodbye
… … … … …
… … …
…
…
… … …
… … … … …
Two Hours Earlier
Beacon Academy, BMAC – Weapon Workshop
…
Rose had her own Crescent Rose mk-II folded up, maintenance finished. The tools here were thankfully the same as back home, so it was quick work. Mk-II was bigger than the original, but for Rose the heavier frame and larger caliber rifle was perfect for her new style of fighting. She had developed it with Coco's help back home, and the influence was clear to anyone who knew of the brown-themed girl's penchant for heavy-caliber weaponry.
Now to get back to the team CFVY room. She still had a few things to discuss with Coco. About Coco. But not this Coco, the one back home…
Gods she wanted this alternate-world crap to be over. It hurt her head.
Thinking back on what Rain had promised her back when they first met, Rose started to wonder if she was really ready to go back. The whole point of bringing her into this mess was to get her ready to face the trials back home, but as far as she was concerned that was not gonna happen. She could see no way around the issue of Coco trying to kill Yang. And vice versa.
It was too bad she couldn't get an extension on this vacation. Rose liked it here – the girls weren't doing everything in their power to get into bed with her. She would miss this place, really.
Just as she reached the door, it opened on it's own to admit the only faunus Rose had personally gotten to know since joining Beacon almost a year earlier: Blake. Those amber-colored eyes widened, apparently not expecting this encounter, either.
As Rose opened her mouth to speak, Blake put her hand up to stop her. "Have you… used your medicine recently?"
A reasonable question. "Less than an hour ago. I used a double dose, even." No way was she gonna go home and leave anyone else here …entranced.
Her face lit up with relief, and the brunette made her way into the room. She then shut the door behind her, essentially keeping the tall redhead from leaving.
"Um, Blake? Everything okay?"
"I need to …check something."
"I told you I'm clean. No smell."
"That's why I need to check now, while there is no smell." Blake strode forward, putting herself closer to Rose than she'd ever dared before – at least while fully sober. Rose sometimes recalled that day when Blake succumbed to the pheromones; it still made her nervous.
The cat faunus mentioned, "I had Carmine take an extra step to clean me out: she used a special detox incense on me. It was strong enough to flush out any lingering effect of your pheromones. No extra chemicals. Right now it's just you… … … and me."
Something about her words made Rose swallow hard. That and the fact that she'd never had the chance to see Blake's eyes up close… and she was struck by how pretty they were.
The faunus kept her voice low, "I don't need you to say anything, just … … …indulge me for a few minutes?"
In any other circumstance, Rose would have refused. Fought back. Ran out of the room. If it was any other girl, she would have found some excuse to get away. To deny her. She'd had lots of practice back home, with most of the female members of the student body actively trying to get into her pants.
But she did not deny Blake.
The faunus began running her hands over Rose's arms lightly, caressing the skin and causing goosebumps to ripple all over them. One hand found its way to her head and began running through her hair. No movement was rushed, no touch was harsh. Rose found herself thoroughly enjoying this.
Blake's face remained unreadable during her ministrations. Rose had no way of knowing what the girl was thinking, or why she was doing this. The clock on the wall ticked the seconds away as she continued sitting there, letting Blake paw at her.
After what seemed like a half-hour, Blake said in a quiet voice, "…If I were to kiss you right now… what would you do?"
Her immediate reaction would have been to pull back and leave, but Rose could feel the Xiao Long genes kicking into high gear. She didn't know what to do… and yet she did. Instinct took over.
Rather than reply, Rose took Blake by the chin with her fingers, tilted the brunette's head up, and gently gave her a soft, slow kiss.
Coco had taken Rose's first kiss. She had been forced to lay one on Neo.
But she freely gave this one to Blake. That made it special. That made it mean something.
As she pulled back, Rose gave a half-grin and muttered, "Probably something like that."
The redhead was startled to see tears falling from amber eyes. That pretty face twisted into a strained sobbing expression, her breath coming in short gasps.
"God… … … dammit… … … …!" Blake's voice choked out a few words before she buried her face in Rose's shoulder, letting her wailing sobs out in the safety of the redhead's arms.
For a brief moment, Rose felt panic creep up on her. She'd made a mistake, pushed the girl away, ruined a perfectly good friendship. She'd screwed up.
But then she quickly realized that Blake did not run out of the room, which she would have were any of those things true – she had run into Rose's arms instead.
Those Xiao Long genes saved her again as Rose simply held the weeping girl, one hand lightly stroking her back. She had no freaking idea what had just happened, but it was plain to see that Blake was in serious pain – and she would be damned before leaving that alone.
Thinking back to that year at Beacon, Rose began to wonder at the point of it all. She had adamantly refused to become involved with any other girl beyond being good friends, no matter how much they pursued her. She had convinced herself that she was straight. She had run from Coco's dangerous level of passion… although that was acceptable, as Coco could easily have killed her.
Yet now she found herself holding a sobbing girl in her arms, trying valiantly to still the shaking and calm her tears. And she wasn't hating it. In fact, she almost found herself enjoying it. Almost.
As her shirt became rather soaked, Rose considered the brunette. Blake had always seemed the strong, silent type with a welcome affinity for reading books. She had apparently struck the perfect balance of feminine and masculine qualities that kept her firmly on Rose's radar. Blake had also managed to keep an air of mystery about her, one that Rose tried to peer through at every opportunity. There had been a few moments where she saw behind the curtain, getting a look at the hidden side of Blake. The side she kept private. The side she didn't want anyone else to see.
Just like now, with Blake openly weeping into her arms. Rose would have bet money at that moment that the only other people on the planet who had seen her crying were her own parents, and even then only when she was very young.
It was a shame she couldn't read minds; Rose would have paid a lot to know what Blake was thinking right then.
Before much longer, Blake's tears seemed to dry up – she did not move away, however. The faunus kept a tight grip on Rose's shirt, still breathing hard. The redhead opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she saw Blake's hand come up and undo her ribbon, letting it fall to the floor and leaving Rose face-to-ear with Blake's faunus traits.
Still not speaking or looking up, Blake took Rose's right hand and placed it onto her head, aiming the fingers to make contact with the ears. Rose glanced down, but Blake still did not look up at her. Those amber eyes were closed, though.
Rose smiled warmly, understanding spreading through her. She began lightly rubbing and caressing Blake's ears, relishing the softness of the fur.
Honestly speaking, Rose had been wanting to do this ever since she found out Blake even had cat ears… but held herself back. No longer – now she could pet them to her hearts content.
Less than a minute after she started, Rose was rewarded for her efforts with a low purring from Blake. Another wave of goosebumps rippled down Rose's back as she continued. She decided she liked that sound.
Rose sighed, admitting to herself I guess I'm not as straight as I thought.
They stood there for another hour, simply holding each other.
No one bothered them. No one else was in the world for all they were concerned.
…
… … …
… … … … …
2:00 PM, Sunday Afternoon
Beacon Academy East Courtyard, The Pavilion
(One Hour Before Transport)
…
Weiss and the others had gathered out here almost an hour ago, right after lunch. Carmine had been hard at work getting her transport device remodeled – sending everyone back one-by-one was not an option today. No time for that. Instead, she opted to put together a complicated multi-transport program and send them back all at once. This also required her to enlarge the apparatus itself, since otherwise they would be a bit… cramped.
News of the leave-taking spread quickly and other groups came out to see the new celebrities off. And they were, too – you don't save an entire kingdom and remain anonymous for long.
The extra company didn't bother Weiss, though. Her issue was with …something else.
She didn't want Sapphire to leave.
To be perfectly honest, she didn't want any of them to leave.
But saying so would only cause undue tension and extra stress, so she kept quiet. It would tear her up inside, but that was the sort of damage that she could heal slowly, over a longer stretch of time. Like the scar over her eye, however, she knew the effects would not be easy to hide. She would be a changed woman.
Every one of the Ruby Rose look-alikes had wormed their way into her heart, no matter how hard she tried to keep them out. Cherry and Ku were the first (for obvious reasons), but even Red found his way there in time – much to the heiress' surprise. She actually found him somewhat …charming now. Rose was little more than eye-candy at first, but Weiss eventually thought of her as a very Yang-like version of Ruby… which was a scary thought all by itself.
Even Carmine and Rain had become somewhat important to her, like old relatives or distant authority figures that she had come to accept and cherish. Even if you handed her double her value in lien, though, Weiss could not have explained why this was. She really didn't like them, but she still didn't want them to leave. It was strange.
And then there was Sapphire Schnee. The carbon-copy of Winter Schnee. The silver-eyed woman who had Weiss' heart wrapped around her little finger.
This wasn't 'being in love' …Weiss had read a few of Blake's secret books, so she knew a little about that flippant emotional response. She didn't want to take Sapphire down to the lake, gaze deeply into her eyes, and make sweet sweet love all through the night – perish the thought, dear gods.
Yet Weiss truly enjoyed being with the woman. There was a deep connection there, a comradery. It was similar to how she felt after spending a lot of time around Winter, but far more personal. More intimate. Winter felt too distant, too isolated. Sapphire would have shared her bed if Weiss had asked.
Not that she had tried, mind you; that was Cherry's job. Weiss often found herself being snuggled beneath the sheets during those two weeks – Cherry frequently snuck into everyone's beds each night in search of warmth and cuddles.
Weiss smiled at the memory. Everyone would miss Cherry. Goodness.
As her attention returned to the event at hand, Weiss spied team CFVY making its way to the Pavilion. She noticed Coco handing something small to Rose, but it was wrapped in a bag to keep it hidden. The second-year had an odd smile on her face during the exchange, but Weiss chose to ignore it. Coco Adel was one girl she did not want to get too involved with if she could help it.
Team JNPR had arrived about ten minutes earlier, each member already mingling with everyone else. Red and Nora were talking with Red, and Jaune was talking with Sapphire while Pyrrha stood nearby. From what Weiss had heard, Pyrrha seemed a bit …irritated that Jaune had continued training with Sapphire without her. Just a bit. She had always been the competitive type.
Velvet's arrival prompted a happy squeak from Cherry, who quickly bounded over to the faunus and began eagerly telling stories. Weiss noticed, however, that Cherry had been pulling Ruby along with her ever since the young leader had been released from her hospital bed a few hours ago. They seemed inseparable now.
That could be a problem when Carmine finished. She did not want to watch Cherry get pulled away in tears. Weiss knew she would start crying, too.
Yang's attitude was the most surprising. Weiss expected the blonde to either be her normal casual-and-happy self or her new angry-and-brooding self… but Yang was simply staring into the middle distance, lost in thought. She didn't seem to even know where she was.
Curiosity getting the better of her, Weiss walked over to her friend and said, "Are you okay?"
No response. She was acting like a zombie. Welp… in that case…
"Are you feeling… Yang-xious?"
A snort, followed by, "Nice try, Ice Queen."
"I get an 'A' for effort."
"But a 'D' for finesse."
"You can't even spell finesse."
"And you can't spell …uh…" A pause, then a muffled curse word fell to the ground.
One white eyebrow raised, "Actually I can spell that word, but I will not as we are in public. So I ask you again… are you okay, Yang?"
The blonde sighed, looking intently at her shoes. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Very," the heiress sighed. "But I've found that talking about it sometimes helps."
"Not this time it won't," Yang quietly muttered. She once again fell silent, looking off to one side.
Weiss decided not to press the issue, but instead found herself following Yang's gaze. What she found raised even more questions than she had before.
She was staring at Rain.
… … …
The time was around midday. The day was Thursday.
Or was it Friday? Who knew? Who cared?
All Weiss knew was that she'd lost a day or two after falling prey to Rose's pheromones along with Blake. And she was busy venting to Sapphire about it.
She remembered that Yang had come up to the two of them about something, but the details of the conversation were a bit foggy - no doubt due to her usual mental defense mechanism that forced her to forget any sort of bad joke the blonde brawler tried to tell. That happened a lot.
After a moment, Weiss remembers seeing Ruby approaching the trio from two different directions at once. One is accompanied by Blake, the other is alone. With only a little mental effort, the heiress realizes that the lone Ruby is actually Rain, the supposedly 'immortal' look-alike. Thus far she had yet to see any proof of this.
Rain says nothing as she passes the group, now five strong (including Ruby and Blake), but Weiss notices a large piece of jagged metal sticking out of the girl's back. It is also rusty and wet, as though it had been there for quite a while. Naturally, she points this out with barely restrained panic. Ruby and Yang don't bother restraining anything as they instantly begin to freak out. Only Sapphire and Blake hold back on their reactions, watching the supposedly injured girl to see what she would do.
As they all watch, Rain simply looks back at the scrap, shrugs, then reaches back and simply YANKS IT OUT. She doesn't even flinch.
Weiss comes quite close to passing out on the spot.
Before she can recover herself, Weiss is shocked yet again to see a strange light shoot out of the gaping hole in the girl's shoulder - it lasts only a moment, the fades. The hole is gone without a trace.
"I wondered where that piece went after the explosion," she offhandedly comments. She dropped the scrap where she stood and walked away, offering no explanation about this 'explosion' or anything.
Off to one side, Ruby and Blake are trying to revive an unconcious Yang.
Weiss could only stare at the departing girl, now with a better understanding of how she could have survived nearly 2,000 years.
…
… … …
… … … … …
12:50 PM
Beacon Academy, BMAC – Weight Lifting Room
(About an Hour Earlier)
…
Yang did not eat lunch with the others. She wasn't hungry.
She hadn't had much of an appetite since last night.
The thwap-thwap of boxing gloves against heavy bag filled the space as Yang fought with her inner demons. Her guilt. Her rage. The thuds grew heavier as her anger built itself up – anger at the Grimm for making such a mess, anger at the White Fang for putting everyone through hell to begin with, anger at –
Rain.
All at once, the image of Rain's demolished face flashed before her eyes. Yang stumbled backwards, unable to land another blow. The heavy bag had become that girl's meaty corpse for just a moment, but that was all it took.
Her anger was gone. Yang put hands to her knees, breathing hard at both the exertion and the fear.
"Hmm… It's worse than I thought."
Wide lavender eyes turned crimson in a heartbeat as Yang beheld the intruder. Rain, of course. The girl had slipped in making less noise than a ghost ninja. Seriously, how did she do that?
The anger was slow to return, so Yang took a moment to pull her gloves off and take a breath. "What's worse?" She tried asking calmly. Rain was not much of a talker, so maybe she could drive the girl away by asking lots of questions?
"You. It would seem you are broken."
Both fists clenched painfully. "And whose fault is that?"
"Your own."
"After what you pulled, you've got a lot of nerve blaming be for this."
"If you're talking about Ku, then you need to understand something – if I hadn't stopped her, Thorn would have done things to you that make …this… seem a mercy."
"And you think that makes what you did okay?"
"Good or bad, what's done is done. I will not ask for anyone's forgiveness."
"You wouldn't get it, even if you did."
"The pain you hold onto is the problem. That is what will destroy you."
"You regenerate everything, so you don't know shit about pain!"
"Pain? You think this is PAIN?!"
"…"
"I have loved and lost more people than you will ever meet in your entire life. I have watched dear friends succumb to the ravages of time, I have seen whole villages burn to the ground, and I have seen tragedies the likes of which are only in your nightmares! So tell me again that I don't know about pain!"
"…"
"…"
"But… I killed you."
"Yang… did you really think you would never have to kill someone in this line of work?"
"I'M NOT LIKE YOU, OKAY?"
"…"
"I've never… … … I don't… … I… I'm scared, sis. I snapped and just… kept hitting you, even after I knew it was over. I totally lost control. I… I don't want that to happen again…"
"A long time ago, you told me something…"
"…?"
"You said that your anger was like a drug. A little bit can go a long way, but it's also dangerous. An overdose could kill somebody."
"…"
"Yet you also understood that you needed to feel it every so often, if only to remind yourself of the damage you were capable of. Fire off the big guns so you can fully appreciate the smaller guns… that sort of thing."
"You're saying… … … I shouldn't be scared of it?"
"Your anger is as much a part of you as that glorious blonde hair of yours. To be scared of it would be the same as wanting to dye your hair pink."
"The day my hair turns pink is the day Beacon is left a smoldering crater."
"Heh… that's more like it."
"Still, … … …that doesn't mean I'm okay with killing somebody."
"You will understand in time, Yang Xiao Long. In time."
…
… … …
… … … … …
2:55 PM
The Pavilion
(Five Minutes Before Transport)
…
"These are for you guys. For being the best hosts ever," Carmine's grin was a mile wide as she presented each member of team RWBY with a gift.
New scrolls. Highly advanced and loaded with brand-new technology that was at least twenty years ahead of its time… according to her, that is.
As far as Yang could tell, they were simply the same devices but with different colors – Ruby's was red, Weiss' was a bluish-silver, Blake's was black with a purple shine, and Yang's was a glittering gold color. Each also had a newly-colored dust stone in the center that matched it's owner's eye colors. Other than being fully personalized to each of them, they didn't look any different.
"I've already transferred everything from your old scrolls to your new ones, so you're good to go right away. The new batteries will last for years without needing to be re-charged. And they are loaded with lots of goodies – you'll still be finding new ones long after you graduate!" Carmine was practically strutting as she made these outlandish statements. Yang merely blinked at her, then pocketed the device.
All of team RWBY, team JNPR, team CFVY, and even a few of the transfer students who hadn't done anything up to this point (Sun: "Hey, I helped too!" Neptune: "Dude, no you didn't…") were all present to witness the Ruby Squad's departure. Even Professor Ozpin and Glynda had made their way down to watch. It was a grand farewell.
"Welp, time to go…" Carmine began hitting a few buttons, starting up the process. Slowly, each member of the squad came up to take their places on the platform.
Sapphire took a moment to give Jaune and Pyrrha a hug, then Yang and Weiss. She lingered on Weiss, whispering a few words of encouragement before they parted. Yang clearly saw the tears in Weiss' eyes as the Atlesian Specialist took her position.
Red got a hug from Nora (whether he liked it or not), then gave Ren a hearty handshake. He tried the same with Yang, but was pulled into a fierce hug anyway. She gave him a strong pat on the shoulder as he walked away.
Rose gave each member of team CFVY a handshake (she refused any hugs), then moved to do the same for team RWBY – but Blake had other ideas. In front of the gods and everybody, she pulled the taller teen down to her height and laid a steaming kiss right on the lips. A few of the onlookers whooped in delight. The muscular teen was rather red-faced as she joined the others on the platform. Blake just looked pleased with herself.
Cherry couldn't leave until she'd given everybody present a hug, sometimes more than once. She couldn't help it. Yang overheard her mumbling cute little goodbyes to everybody. Velvet got the longest one, the faunus trying to stand up a few times as Cherry pulled her back down. Finally Rose came over and picked the child up, carrying her to join the group.
Rain simply materialized amidst the group, clearly there just for show. She ignored everybody as she walked right up to Yang and simply said, "Are you well?"
There was no simple answer to that, so Yang just sighed and said, "I will be."
"That is all I ask. And … … …I'm sorry."
The blonde was genuinely surprised at that, but she managed a nod. Then, without knowing what she was doing, Yang raised a fist towards Rain. The look-alike saw the fist, glanced at Yang's face, then bumped the raised fist with her own.
They shared a silent nod as Rain joined the rest of the Ruby Squad.
Carmine, the last one, set the machine to activate after a timer went off, then paused to give the onlookers a few last words:
"You can do what you like with the machinery I left here, but I would recommend having it completely dismantled. I can't promise you'll never see me again, but I can promise that I will do everything in my power to keep this timeline as stable and secure as possible. Remember, the future is in your hands."
She dashed up to the now-crowded platform in time to turn and give the crowd one last wave, along with all five of the others. The crowd waved right back, some of them teary-eyed. Yang spied Blake sending a kiss towards Rose, who made an exaggerated show of catching it.
Yeesh. The cat faunus was literally begging to be teased later.
At long last, the device fired up for the final time and emitted a near-blinding flash of blue-green light that fully engulfed the group of alternate-reality Ruby Roses.
When the flash subsided, the Ruby Squad was gone.
It was finally over. Life could go back to normal.
As the onlookers began to disperse, Weiss walked up to Yang and gave the blonde a hug of her own. "I'm not gonna lie… I will miss them," she admitted.
"I know what you mean," Yang agreed.
They had become so used to the presence of a gang of Ruby look-alikes that living without them would feel …empty. Like a large part of their lives had simply walked away. It would be a hard transition back, but at least it would be less …forced than it was back when this whole thing started.
Back on that fateful day that Carmine the Mad Scientist stepped into their lives and changed everything…
"Um, guys?" Blake asked with a slightly worried tone.
Yang almost didn't catch it, but when she did her heart rate quickly began to rise. "What's wrong?"
"… … …Where's Ruby?"
"…"
"…?"
It was in that moment that Yang noticed that there were no heads of dark red hair anywhere nearby.
Panic began to set in full-force. "Ruby? Ruby?" Yang's pleas were not answered. The few teams left standing there tried to look around, but to no avail.
Ruby was gone.
…
…
After almost an hour of searching, there was no trace of her. Jaune took team JNPR into the BMAC in the hopes she simply slipped away to work on a new Crescent Rose or something. Coco took team CFVY to search the dorms from top to bottom. The remainder of team RWBY made for the airship docks on the off-chance the girl had made a break for town.
But it turned out to be useless. All four of the registered transports were present and accounted for. None had gone into town.
Yang was ready to slam her fist into the concrete, but a new noise drew her attention away – a low rumbling, similar to the sound of a larger transport powering up nearby. Except none of them were occupied at all.
It was also quickly getting darker. All of Yang's mental alarm bells were blaring at full strength by now.
Weiss nearly slammed her shiny new scroll against the ground in frustration, growling, "Nothing. No answer. Dammit!"
Blake's voice carried a clear note of raw panic as she pointed out into town and cried, "What the hell is going on…?"
Yang looked out and beheld a terrifying sight – the city was disappearing.
The rumbling was getting much stronger as a grey …wall quickly swallowed everything up. The emptiness had completely surrounded the teens, engulfing the nearby mountains, the city, even parts of the school itself.
Yang could not stop the tears as Carmine's words rang out into her mind:
A Ruby Rose died. The timeline collapsed soon after.
Emotions bubbled out of the blonde in a torrent, her voice choking out a sob as the reality of their situation sunk in.
They were all dead. Ruby was gone. Somehow or other their entire world was collapsing.
Terrified beyond anything she had felt during the war less than a day ago, Yang quickly grabbed both Blake and Weiss in a tight hug. Tears flowed freely as she sobbed, "I love you guys… you know?"
Weiss finally understood their situation as well, but she merely held Yang and Blake tightly. If nothing else, they would go together.
Blake had a look of angry defiance. She held her friends, but her gaze was aimed at the oncoming greyness and locked in a scowl. A fighter to the last.
They held fast to each other as the world came to an end.
She wondered if it would hurt when they disapp-
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WARNING: REMNANT-1802
TIMELINE COLLAPSE DETECTED
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LIFELINE PROTOCOL
ACTIVATION DETECTED
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SUBJECT 9559-YANG TRANSFER CONFIRMED
SUBJECT TRANSFERRED TO REMNANT-6971
AWAITING CONFIRMATION
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SUBJECT 2525-BLAKE TRANSFER CONFIRMED
SUBJECT TRANSFERRED TO REMNANT-2789
AWAITING CONFIRMATION
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SUBJECT 9483-WEISS TRANSFER CONFIRMED
SUBJECT TRANSFERRED TO REMNANT-1148
AWAITING CONFIRMATION
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SUBJECT 7330-RUBY TRANSFER NOT CONFIRMED
PROTOCOL ACTIVATION ERROR DETECTED
SUBJECT LOST
PLEASE CONFIRM ERROR
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EINHERJAR PROTOCOL
ACTIVATION DETECTED
SEVEN SUBJECTS CONFIRMED TRANSFER
SUBJECT STATUS UNKNOWN
TRANSFER DETAILS UNKNOWN
PROTOCOL DETAILS UNAVAILABLE
PROGRAM CLASSIFIED
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AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS
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Ruby had never been big on trees, but as she opened her eyes, that was the very first thing she noticed: These trees were different.
Taller than anything she had seen before, the trees before her had leaves of a more pale green as well. She was on a hill overlooking a small mountain range. In the expanse of forest she could see, there were large patches of yellowish leaves. She had no idea what those were, but she was willing to bet she wouldn't recognize them, either.
Where in the nine hells was she?
Muffled thunder drew her attention to the side as a dozen figures rode into her clearing, each riding a large, armored horse. The riders themselves also bore armor the likes of which Ruby had never seen before. It looked like small metal plates held together by thin ropes. It had a Mistralian feel to it, but also an older tone. Like she was looking at ancient armor.
One rider lowered a spear at her, barking a few words that Ruby had no chance of understanding. A few of the other riders did the same. The language sounded nothing like what she knew back home.
A strange world… with strange people… talking in a strange language…
Crap.
Ruby kept her voice low as she muttered to herself, "I'm in bi-i-i-ig trouble, mm-hmm."
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Unknown World
Ruins of Beacon Academy
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She walked forward at a brisk pace, but tried not to look like she was in any hurry. It would not do to look like she was uncomfortable here.
The wreckage around her was total, complete. This was the kind of devastation she imagined wreaking upon those idiots herself – but it seemed a bit worse in this reality. The sky was almost black, yet filled with deep purple clouds that littered lightning and spit rain with impunity. There was a darkness to the air that could leave even the hardest murderer looking back over his shoulder.
Thorn had to fight the urge to do just that. She picked up her pace just a hair as she made her way to the remains of Beacon's main assembly hall.
She followed no lights or signs. There was no voice in her head, nor floating spirit to guide her steps. Rather, there was a signal – an undeniable urging in her brain that almost pulled her along. Even if she closed her eyes and spun around, she could instantly point where she needed to go.
The girl absently rubbed the skin of her neck before pushing her way through the rotted out double doors.
Within the room lay almost total blackness, but Thorn's eyes adjusted quickly. Before her waited four figures, each wreathed in the darkness like it was a blanket. Each vastly different from herself, as well as from each other.
The first stepped close as Thorn entered, her flimsy dress doing it's damnedest to hold her excessive …assets in. It was fighting for it's life by this point. And it didn't have much hope.
"Thorn, my darling," she purred as she glided closer, "I've been waiting for you. I trust you are well, my pet?" One hand slid under Thorn's black hood to stroke the girl's hair.
Thorn wanted nothing more than to tear that hand clean off of her arm… but she dared not. Instead she simply muttered, "…Don't call me that…"
The woman chuckled, causing her massive chest to sway several inches. Thorn could hear the stitches of her dress crying out in pain. "I'll call you whatever I want. I pulled you from the jaws of death. You are mine… … …remember?"
Her neck suddenly burned fiercely, causing the hooded girl to give a sharp gasp of pain. The woman merely smiled wider, her mouth stretching much too far. Her eyes gleamed with madness.
"As cute as this whole exchange is," the second woman grunted, "I do have other things to do." Easily the tallest of the group, this woman folded her arms in annoyance. Thorn noted the gleam of metal from her left arm, as well as the broad eyepatch over one of her eyes. This one had a definite air of authority.
"Relax… we are merely here to welcome our newest ally, nothing more."
The third woman present was closer to a young girl in appearance – but her attitude and her voice painted a far different picture. She carried herself like a woman several times her age, and her child-like face did not match the adult voice that came out of it. The large eyes beneath her hood glowed red.
"Ally?" Thorn said, confusion clear in her voice. "You mean me?"
She wanted to tell them all how nuts they were to think she would join up with anybody, but the fourth member of the group gave her pause. The presence it emanated was worse than anything she'd felt before, and far-and-away the worst of this lot.
The fourth person in the room stood towards the back, leaning against the wall with arms folded, head down. Thorn almost missed that one entirely, but the thick darkness coming off of her (Him? It?) was almost palpable. Thorn soon made out one single detail – a featureless, bone-white mask that sported two narrow eye slits.
"Do you see anyone else, child?" the younger girl asked, a touch of mirth in her voice.
The supremely well-endowed woman grabbed the back of Thorn's head and pulled, jerking the girl's head back painfully. Her voice was at odds with her violent action as she calmly stated, "You have been honored by our goddess, dog. Show her your gratitude by licking her feet."
Thorn would rather have bitten off her own tongue and stuffed it down this bitch's throat… but she could not. She wanted to use her new dimensional powers to simply escape, but she could not do that either.
This woman already explained why, too: she gave Thorn this power, so she alone could give her permission to use it. Thorn was well and truly leashed.
Her hands and knees moved against her will, putting Thorn almost face-down on the floor before the girl. She had no idea who this damn kid was, but she knew that if no one stopped her, Thorn would do exactly as she had been told. She tried to fight it, but her mouth opened and let her tongue start to come out anyway.
"There's no need for that, my dear," the kid said at last. "Our new friend is joining us as an equal, not a lower creature."
The one-eyed woman huffed, "And why should we welcome her? What does she bring to the table that we don't?"
"Thorn, was it?" The child's eyes were gleaming once again as she addressed Thorn. "Why don't you show us what you can do?"
She knew the kid was not talking about her newly-bestowed gift of dimensional transport. Thorn stood to her feet and locked eyes with each of the figures in the room, the turned and strode towards a shadow in a corner…
…Only to re-appear from a shadow on the other side of the space. The one-eyed woman grunted with surprise. Thorn almost grinned with satisfaction.
The masked figure also turned to regard her. Thorn felt a shiver run down her spine - it was like being watched by a spirit of death.
"Free movement through shadows – that is our new friend's semblance."
The child finally walked forward, her small body entering the shaft of dim light cast by the open door. Thorn was not very surprised to find her wearing an all-too-familiar red hood and cloak, but the glowing red eyes from beneath that hood were a bit …disconcerting.
The woman with the gigantic melons began stroking Thorn's head again, almost as if to say good doggie. Thorn swallowed the urge to tear the woman's tits clean off her chest.
The child's gaze was disarming as she said, "Welcome to the family. I'm expecting good things from you."
Whatever… just as long as I can have as many Yangs as I want… I'll put up with just about anything for that… Thorn had rather big plans ahead of her. Lots of places to visit… … … lots of Yangs to steal…
Deep in the back of her mind, Thorn almost heard the sound of a small child crying. She drove it away, though, leaving only blessed silence.
Yang… I'm coming for ya, babe. Heh heh heh…
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TO
BE
CONTINUED
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Author's Note: Yep, I just did that.
I'm sure most of you knew that I was nowhere near done, but I bet none of you saw that coming. Yeah, I just blew up the world. Fight me.
At this point in the story, the plot of Concurrence will also start at the same time. Yes, that one will have a plot. Shock and awe.
And finally, as a few of you no doubt noticed with the epilogue, I kinda tricked you guys back in chapter 19 – the General Ruby was not actually one of the parodies. She technically wasn't even invited to the party. Now you have some idea why… and we will see those guys again.
=^w^=