"I really hope Weiss and Blake will be okay while we're gone."
"They'll be fine."
"But what if they strangle each other?"
"Ruby, I think you're over exaggerating. The worst that will happen is deafening silence, which I'm sure they'll absolutely appreciate."
"Sometimes silence can kill..."
"We're talking about Weiss and Blake here, not us."
"I guess you're right Yang," I mumbled. We took our seats on one of the many rows of benches the bullhead offered. I crossed my leg over the other and leaned my head against the cold metal walls of the rumbling vehicle. "Does everyone at home know that we're coming back?"
There was a pregnant pause until Yang shook her head with a small chaste smile. "It might sound selfish of me, but I never told anyone. Not even the news about you." Her eyes averted down and she started rubbing the ends of her hair with her fingers, a tendency that I noticed when she was feeling anxious.
"You wanted them to see me with their very own eyes." I finished her train of thought. She meekly nodded and I gave her a supportive smile back. I understood her actions because I was in her shoes before. It's easier to believe something when one sees it in real life, as opposed to a picture or a few words.
"I wanted them to know that you're real, and you're back here with us."
"Of course Yang," I said, my expression softening. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
The trip took relatively a couple of hours to arrive at Patch. Sounds of shoes clicked against the bullhead's platform lift as Yang and I descended down the vehicle. My sister silently placed her hand onto my shoulder and nodded her head to a particular direction with a warm smile. I followed besides her while my eyes drank the sight of the rural area.
So this is home.
I audibly drew in air through my nose and exhaled contently. There was a strong stench of damp dirt and old fallen leaves. Coastal winds brushed against my ears, hair, and skin as it swept across the island. Plots of forest trees sashayed with the imperceptible wind, naturally swaying back and forth like mesmerizing oceanic waves. Patch is definitely more serene in comparison to Vale.
"Ruby?"
"Hm?"
"Do you... Remember anything?" Yang asked hopingly.
A subtle sigh escaped my lips before I looked away. I didn't want to see the disappointment on her face when I answered. "No... Nothing." My sister noticed my glum voice and my faltered ears.
"That's okay," she said as she gingerly wrapped her strong arms around my neck. Her hand comfortingly squeezed my shoulder as we left the airship bay. "I'll show you around some time later, though not much have changed in Patch while you were gone. It's still quiet and close knit."
We strode down towards the main avenue, passing a few residential cottages and market stalls along the way. In the background, we could hear the locals busily selling their freshly farmed products while delightedly chatting with their customers.
"We normally buy our groceries here," Yang continued as she pointed out a few stalls and stores. I wordlessly nodded along as we followed the road. "There's still grimm prowling around there area. They're more active during the night, but they usually keep to themselves during the day." Her fingers then pointed out the long dirt path that stretched far out to the horizon. "And if we follow along this path, we'll be home soon!"
My tail excessively wagged back and forth at the mention of home. Five years. It took me five fucking long years to be here once again. My heart pounded faster as we left the premises of the downtown area and traveled further along the broad dirt path. After a trekking for a few minutes, metallic eyes lit up like fireworks at the sight of an erected lodged house. I bit the insides of my lips to suppress the joyful tears and looked at my sister gleefully.
"Welcome home pup," Yang murmured tenderly.
Red tipped ears perked up and my lips stretched widely into a smile. "Come on Yang!" I squealed excitedly. I grabbed her hand and tugged her along. My sister slightly tripped over herself from my over-the-top eagerness.
"Ruby! Hold on! Slow down a bit!"
"I can't! Come on! Hurry up!" I continued to drag her to the front entrance. "Get your keys, get your keys!" I bounced up and down from the over excitement while Yang fished for her keys. Once she got the lock undone, she turned the knob and pushed the door wide. Her hands cupped around her mouth and she vocalized a loud shout.
"We're home!"
The sound of her booming voice traversed through the dwelling and only the sound of rapid pitter patter answered her. A small black welsh corgi barked frantically down the stairs until he stumbled and rolled from tripping over his short stubby legs. I confusedly blink a few times at the tumbling clumsy dog until vague memories unconsciously resurfaced.
"Here kiddo, your dad wanted you to have this." The blurred face man handed me a wrapped present.
"What's in this box?"
"Open it and see."
I took the lid off the box and an adorable animal attacked me with brutal licks. Its small legs pawed against my chest, imploring for hugs and kisses.
"It's a puppy! Is he mine?"
"He sure is."
"I'm going to name him... Zwei!"
Before the corgi completely toppled down to our level, he nimbly leaped at the last few steps of the stairs and surprisingly managed to tackle me to the floor.
"ZWEI!" I shrilly exclaimed. He barked and whined with overwhelming joy as he cheerfully licked my face. "Ack — Zwei! Stop!," I giggled. Even though he assaulted me with a deluge of sloppy kisses, I never had the heart to push him away. "That tickles!" Zwei restrained his overwrought behavior, nuzzled his head under my chin, and sadly whimpered. "I know Zwei," I replied to the sad tone of his soft cries. I picked him up into my arm as I got off the floor. "I miss you too." My cheek burrowed against his fur and I tightened my hug.
"Didn't think I'll bring you a surprise did you Zwei?" Yang scratched behind the panting corgi's ear. "And I guess only you're home huh?"
The welsh corgi barked in response and jumped out of my arms back to the floor. He happily trotted around us, swishing his tail excitedly, before he calmingly sat back down. However, he immediately picked himself back up on all fours and followed behind me as I curiously explored the living room. Only the sounds of heels and Zwei's scampering brought life to the soundless house. I circled around the room, letting my silvery pool of eyes wander from decoration portraits to the spines of the neatly lined up books. However, I paused at the front of one bookshelf and my hand reached out to pick up a lonely picture frame.
"That's team STRQ," my sister said as she stood beside me, gazing at the same picture.
"Team STRQ?" I questioned with interest. Ozpin did mentioned about our parents graduating from Beacon.
Yang pointed to the woman wearing a white cloak on the most left side of the picture. "Yeah that's your mom, Summer." Her finger then trailed to the smiling blond man whose arms were crossed on his chest. "That's our dad, Taiyang." She trailed to the woman wearing a crimson blood robe next to dad. "That's my mom, Raven." And lastly, she pointed to the man on the far right side of the picture. "And that's her twin brother and our uncle, Qrow."
A faint discomforting feeling rose to the top of my head. My eyes immersed in the picture for a little longer before I tore my gaze away to rub my temples.
"Are you okay?" Yang asked concernedly before placing the frame back back onto the shelf panel.
"Yeah— Just a headache." I continued to rub the side of my head with two fingers to soothe the pain.
"Do you want some medicine for it? We have some in the cabinet somewhere." She pointed her thumb to the room over which seemed to be the kitchen.
"No, I'll be okay. It'll go away soon."
"Are you sure?" she asked, her head tilted ever so slightly. She was worried. I could tell because of the way she scrunched up her brows, how one corner of her lips slid down, and how she wringed her hands together.
"Yep!" I stopped massaging my temples and assembled a smile. "See I'm fine!" The pain leveled down a bit but there was still a faint throb present. My sister looked at me dubiously but waved it away.
"Come on," Yang beckoned me to the adjacent room. "Let me show you around the house." Zwei followed my sister into the kitchen first. Before I followed behind them, my ears flickered to the sounds of jingling keys. I inquisitively looked over my shoulders and watched the door creaked ajar, then followed by a forceful kick. The door swung wide open, and a blond man entered the living room with paper bags filled with consumables tucked under his arms.
"D-Dad?"
Silver met startled blue eyes.
Bags of groceries crashed to the floor as the older man's well defined arms grew inexplicably weak. Perishable food escaped from its encasing paper-thin tote, splaying chaotically out on the floor. His jaw speechlessly unhinged before he swallowed.
"R-Ruby?"
Without sparring any second for me to respond, dad immediately closed the distance between us and squeezed his arms around me. He buried his head on the crook of my neck and began to softly sob. "It is you..." His embrace tightened and I could feel a silent torrent of tears smothering my neck and my cloak. I chewed my lower lips to suppress the knifelike spark jolting through my head and wreathed my arms around his shaky broad shoulders.
"Hi dad," I meekly managed out after removing the knot in my throat. One tear broke free followed by another. Then an unbroken stream of tears trickled down my face as I silently pressed my forehead against his shoulders. I could feel him quivering from the flood of desolating emotions rushing through him.
"I am so sorry," his words jumbled together in between broken sobs and shaky breathes. "I couldn't protect you; I couldn't protect you or your —" He choked on his sobs and broke down into intelligible wails before he could finish. Yang stood silently between the doorway of the kitchen and the living room with Zwei obediently by her side. They watched us with a latent smile as they chose to let us have our heartfelt moment.
While my tears persistently fell down, a handful of long forgotten memories managed to return back to me. My awakened memories happened to be almost like an old, dusty scrap book. It was as if I blew away the specks of dirt and finally cracked it open after sitting in the attic for so many years. A collage of vivid photographs emerged through my mind, and I felt as if I could point to each and every image and confidently say 'I remember that'. But not all photographs were in mint condition. Chunks of corners, sides, and the centers were singed, marked with black wisps, making it essentially difficult to recognize a few of them.
But this was better than remembering nothing.
Tears continued to spill down my face and onto the shoulder of his brown leather vest he sported on. There was a sickening feeling in my stomach and my chest ached from hearing him cry. It hurts me to see dad like this. My hands comfortingly pat his back with light strokes, and I inhaled deeply through my nose. A rush of air infiltrated my lungs and I straightened out my unsteady voice.
"I'm okay dad. I'm okay now. I'm back."
The sound of our sharp, deep breath completely drowned the atmosphere. I could feel a wave of short undulating trembles coursing through his body as he struggles to contain his heart wrenching sobs.
"I missed you —" he made a strangled sound from choking on his grief. "So much."
"I missed you too dad."
Seconds went to minutes as we stood at the center of the room. Neither of us spoke; the sounds of our sobs was enough to relay our heart-rending messages. His unrepressed cries wrote its own heartbroken soliloquy, and the spell of silence broke as he profusely grieved out a poem of apologies.
It wasn't until it felt like ages that we manage to compose ourselves.
"There's not enough words in the world to describe how much I'm glad to see you again," he smiled tenderly as he released me from his hug to whisk the tear stained fringes of my hair to the side. He then wiped his leftover tears with his forearm and took one last sniffle to clear his system. "What happened to you sweetie?" Large protective hands cupped my face as his thumbs wiped my wet cheeks like windshields wipers. I could see the mix emotions welled inside of him from his blue eyes that bore into my silver.
My ears deflated and my gaze despondently shifted down. "I lost my memories," I spoke suddenly quiet, lips barely moving.
"You lost your... Memories?" My red tipped wolf ears picked up a strain in dad's voice.
I nodded my head and dad replied with unusual silence. When my eyes questioningly shifted back to him, his eyes were already dilated and his posture stiffened. He did little to hide the evident shock on his ghost-like face. He couldn't have looked any more pale.
"Dad?" My head flopped to one side worriedly. He elicited a clear audible swallow and subtly shook his head to snap himself from his daze.
"Sorry honey," he croaked as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. "Just... Lost in thought." His lips pulled into a sad smile before he murmured softly. "It must've been hard for you huh?"
I could only return a nod back and he pressed his lips at the top of my head.
"I wish you wouldn't have to suffer through all of that alone, " he whispered with a distressing pain in his voice. He pulled me into a comforting hug once more before continuing. "I wish you didn't have to go through all those agonizing pains; I wish I could've chased it all away; I wish... I wish I could've been there for you."
My dry mouth opened to say something, but promptly closed. Yet again, I couldn't voice anything out. Only the hot wet tears that slowly escaped from my eyes conveyed my feelings. They weren't exactly tears of sadness or anger. No, I didn't understand what I was actually feeling. But I felt relieved from dad's consolation. I felt like... He kind of understood.
"I know you've worked hard and I'm proud of you," dad smiled as he knelt down to my eye level. His fingers delicately brushed the wet hair obscuring my face again. "I'm proud to see that you've grown up so well. I'm proud that you've became strong —physically and inwardly. I'm so proud of you Ruby."
I didn't know what came over me. I felt like I reduced to my younger self, back to when I was slowly adjusting to this world. I stood there and listened while shedding tears helplessly. The back of my right hand covered my tear stained eyes and I cried, and cried like a child.
How long has it been since I felt like this?
How long has it been since I felt... Parental love — a deep emotional connection? How long?
Dammit, how long?
Fuck, I missed it so much.
Dad blotted my face with a soft, thin tissue paper that Yang silently handed him. The lightweight paper pressed against my face until my hand took it. I slowly brought the moist soft paper to my face and continued where he left off.
"Ruby —" Dad paused from hesitation. "I want to show you something."
A pause.
Then I meekly nodded.
The damp tissue paper began losing its fundamental components as I unconsciously tore it into tiny pieces for therapeutic purposes. It was weird seeing myself reduce into a reserve mess. In fact, it's unusual for the Sword Angel to be at a loss for words. However, I didn't know what to do or say because all of these feelings were new to me.
Dad stood at his full height as he straightened out his legs. He glanced at Yang, and Yang returned a worrisome look back. I could see a silent communication they were sharing, but I couldn't interpret their expressions. Dad beckoned us to follow him out the door before ordering Zwei to stand guard of the house. Yang and I closely trailed behind him and we went through a forest at broad day light.
None of us initiated any conversations. Sounds of crunching leaves and our breathing disturbed the tranquil stillness in the air. The ground we trekked on gradually became steep and I could pick up a trace of breeze circling around. From observation, I noticed lush forest trees began to thin out and the land began to plateau. Eventually we made our way through the patch of forest and a wide open field came into view.
Nothing but knee length grass covered the entire land as my eyes scanned across the cliff top. What did dad wanted to show me? It wasn't until I squinted harder that I noticed something at brink of the cliff. Without thinking, I strode further towards the edge of the cliff. I didn't question how heavily cemented my feet were to the floor. I dragged them like dead weight while unconsciously picking up my pace. I felt like it was calling me — beckoning me to come closer. Like a spellbinding siren's call, I couldn't stop myself from being lured closer, almost as if I was lost in a trance. As the gap got shorter, so did the distance for my heart drumming against my chest. The banging got increasingly louder and my heart sped faster. It sped rapidly until it just suddenly... Stopped.
Everything stopped.
My legs.
My heart.
My breathing.
I could practically hear my world practically shattering into a million of irreparable pieces, considering how quiet everything was. The bone-dry sensation in my throat burned like a Vacuo's scorching desert. I could barely swallow, in fact, I could barely even swallow what I was even looking at. Strong knees instantly grew weak until it could no longer be a pillar for my body. In a sickening thud, I dropped down to my knees in front of a dull gray colored memorial stone. A picture of a charcoal black rose was engraved at the top, and under it had etched writings.
Summer Rose
Thus I Kindly Scattered
I didn't want to understand; I didn't want to admit it; I didn't want to accept it, but a crushing pain burned through my head, and forcibly enlightened me of my ignorance. The palm of my sweaty hands clamped both sides of my head, and my finger nails dug into my scalps. I didn't want to accept it. I felt like my mind was being shredded from the inside as more memories tore its way to the surface. My teeth sank into the insides of my lowers lips and raw tears rained down onto the parched dirt in front of the grave. I didn't want to accept it. My knees sank down into the dirt, staining the brim of my dress with its earthly filth. A single cough came from my mouth, then emotional pain burst out, and finally, a screaming sob tore from my lungs.
"Dad — What are you doing?! Let go! Can't you see she's hurt?"
"I know Yang, I know. But please — Trust me. She needs to do this herself."
My hands slithered to the front of my face and gut-wrenching sobs cried into them. Tears trailed between the openings of my fingers, and my ragged breaths stayed detained between the flesh of my palms. Only hideous, heartbreaking sounds liberated itself free from my mouth. I didn't want to accept it.
But ignorance can only go so far.
But I still didn't want to accept it.
I didn't want to accept that my mom — Summer Rose is dead. But memories doesn't lie. The solid proof laying in front of me told no lies. She's gone. She's dead. It's obvious.
Get it through your head.
It's hard though. I didn't want her leaving me. I didn't want one of the most important person in my life be forever gone. But my mind wouldn't let me play tricks. I couldn't lie to myself or deny everything in front of me. Why? Because I remember. Summer, Tai, Yang, Zwei, and even Uncle Qrow — I remembered them all, and it fucking hurts to know that I almost forgot.
So accept it.
My lips quivered slightly open, and I only let a quiet sliver of my voice escape my throat.
"She's dead."
This chapter took me awhile because whenever I looked back and reread it, I didn't like it. Right now, I'm still iffy about it, but I suppose it's somewhat acceptable.
Anyways, leave a review and let me know what you think so I know what I can improve on or what I did good on