Author's Notes: Hey gang, so yea. Hope everyone's hanging on alright in hellworld and trying to stay safe and healthy. Thanks for all the comments/reviews, appreciate feedback as always. Also, I've decided to make a few more core changes to the canon (namely Volume 2) because I'm a total madlad and no one can stop me. I won't spoil what those are yet, but I know jumping around in the timestream is confusing storytelling at times and rather imperfect. So for the sake of everyone's whiplash, this chapter takes place after the previous one. And it is the morning of the Episode "Field Trip", which for obvious reasons, is about to get altered drastically.
But anyways, it's time to get this show really started.
Music Choices: Kill V. Maim by Grimes
Eclipse
Chapter 30
A Meeting Part II
The Present…..
A knock on the door. Soft, but persistent. Clearly meant for her ears, and not those of her sleeping teammates.
Blake fought the urge to hiss in frustration, and sighed softly instead. She was bone tired, and their first real mission was today. In just a few hours. The team hadn't even fallen asleep until after midnight, mostly because Yang and Ruby had both been struggling to cope with the mountain of trauma that she had been accidentally complicit in dropping in their laps.
Today was going to be a long, grueling day.
Softly, Blake slinked to the edge of her bunk and dropped down without making a sound. Yang didn't stir at all, not that she expected her to. Her partner always slept like the dead, even after stressful evenings like the one previous. She did, however, snore a little.
Fighting the urge to smile at the slight rumble, Blake glanced towards the other half of the room. Weiss woke easily, if irritably; but not like Ruby. Ruby's hearing and reaction time were at times parallel to Blake's own. The half-faunus could sleep soundly, or not all, depending on certain factors.
However, Ruby did not react to Blake's movement, and stayed facing the wall in her top bunk, huddled under far more blankets than usual. For a brief moment, Blake considered the image of the two of them cuddling, with Blake wrapped around her; trying to bring some comfort and safety from the storm that hovered menacingly over all their heads. She blinked, night eyes flashing briefly as she glanced away, willing the warmth out of her face.
Shaking those thoughts away, Blake habitually looked through the peephole, sniffing the air that breezed under the door; she knew who was out there already, but still. Old habits die hard; and a little paranoia these days certainly couldn't hurt.
After a brief pause, Blake opened the door and slipped out into the brightly lit hallway, the keycard to her room in her pocket. Ren was staring at her solemnly, more so than usual, and Blake sighed.
"Yes?" she prompted. She wasn't trying to be rude to the boy, but she was nervous about what had brought him to their doorstep at three or so in the morning.
"She wants to meet them," he said quietly, glancing down the hall before looking back at her.
Briefly Blake noticed something glowing in his hand, and realized he was taking measures to prevent eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Great," Blake said, her voice flat and devoid of any surprise she may have felt. "She couldn't have sent you to tell us this at, like, any other time? Because, I don't know if she realizes? But her daughters have been up with us crying most of the night. And we have a mission in four hours."
A gentle, regretful breath.
"I'm sorry, I do understand. Jaune is also..."
Blake's ears flicked, and her eyes pulled tighter in a slight wince.
Ruby and Yang aren't the only one's dealing with the fallout from this information.
"Sorry," she muttered, shifting her body weight.
Blake had the feeling that the two of them could potentially stand here the rest of the night apologizing to one other. Ren smiled softly, but his gaze remained solid and serious. Businesslike, as he compartmentalized his own feelings on the subject and put whatever he felt was his duty first.
"Originally, we were going to arrange for something after your mission. But, she...contacted us again, a few moments ago. Something has likely escalated. She needs to meet with you all today ."
Blake stared blatantly, her ears laid flat against her head. She hadn't bothered to put on her bow before stepping out into the empty hall. Ren knew already, after all, and no one else sane was awake. She was also steadily reaching a point where she cared less and less about who knew her heritage.
"We won't be available today," Blake droned laconically. "You know that."
This woman has a lot of audacity, if she thinks we'll drop whatever we're doing to come running at her beck and call.
Ren met her gaze and held it firmly.
"What I am trying to say, is that she's going to be meeting you all during your mission today, Blake," he intoned gently.
"I," she blanked briefly. "Um wait- Ok? How?"
They didn't even know what their mission was going to be yet. Or where, or with who.
Ren shrugged, apparently as bemused by this information as she was.
"I am not certain, but I do know that she means it," he insisted. "I don't think she will be alone, either, going off what she said. So, I wanted to prepare you for what to expect."
Things were moving fast, apparently. Blake wondered briefly what had happened in the shadows in the last few hours, for the woman to change her tactics so rapidly.
"Ok. That's not suspicious," Blake drew out slowly, folding her arms. "What, is she trying to jump us for the thumb drive or something?"
Ren actually laughed at that, and Blake's eyebrows rose sharply.
"No," he chuckled, shaking his head. "If the Morrigan wanted it that badly, she would simply have asked me to steal it from you. Or done it herself."
Blake's mouth parted at the blatant admission.
"Ren," she whispered, aghast. "You wouldn't ."
He smiled ruefully.
"I would , actually. Though I would be very sad and confess to everything afterwards," Ren scratched the back of his neck, abashed. The gesture was distinctly Jaune in nature. "It's, well. I'm making my point very badly, it seems."
"Yea, you really are," Blake observed dryly.
Ren coughed lightly.
"This isn't really about what's on that thumb drive, Blake," he persisted. "Knowing her, it's to try to keep Yang and Ruby both out of real danger. Given their...ah, dispositions."
Blake eyed him skeptically, despite being aware of the conspiracy that was apparently running amok in Vale's gilded streets; her instincts for once were failing her, as she had struggled to get a read on the strange bird woman who had suddenly deigned to appear in all their lives, after eighteen years of silence. However, skepticism had never failed her yet. This "Morrigan" or whatever she called herself would have to earn her trust first.
"Uh huh. Sorry, but I'll believe that when I see it."
Ren sighed, his eyes flickering with something, before nodding.
"Well. You're going to. And it's not going to be very pretty, Blake," he confessed, his gaze sincere. "Today is going to be a...very long day. For everyone."
Blake sighed, pushing away from the wall and tipping her head as she prepared to go back to bed.
"Oh, I know . Night, Ren."
A soft pause as she opened the door to her room.
"Goodnight, Blake."
Team RWBY was definitely not on their 'A' game this morning. They had all woken up before their various alarms; and that was despite how late they'd gone to bed, unable to sleep in due to various nightmares and tension. Then, to make matters even worse, Blake had sat them all down and told them they'd apparently been visited by Ren at like, three frickin am.
Because her mom wanted to meet them. Today. While they were all out on their first real mission of the year. After they had stayed up most of the night, having their own emotional breakdowns.
Yang was not ok.
Like, really. She was not ok.
However, at the moment, none of her teammates expected her to be. They didn't need or want her to put on a show, or pretend that she wasn't kinda, totally freaking out a little. Even if she did feel guilty that she wasn't capable of being everyone's rock at the moment, she was extremely grateful that they all seemed to understand and support that. None of her teammates expected her to pretend that she was invincible right now.
Ruby was also obviously struggling to adapt to, well, everything. However, once Blake had informed them of what Raven's intentions were that morning, as they all sipped various sources of caffeine in the kitchenette, Ruby's entire demeanor had changed. Her body language, her facial expressions, everything. She did what Yang had dubbed 'putting on her leader face'; which, to be very blunt, was something Yang was still adapting to.
Seeing Rubes as her team leader and not, well, her baby sister Ruby had taken some serious adjustment on her part during this year. Weiss had even called her out on it a few times, like - frickin Weiss! Weiss Schnee , who had acted like she wanted to duel Ruby for the honor of team leadership title or what the heck ever on their first day! Prissy, know-it-all Princess Schnee of all people had previously had to call Yang's butt out on not always respecting Ruby's calls in the field or during training, and gods, had she been mad about it. They'd even gotten into a rather embarrassing shouting match at the time, which Yang had lost and stormed away from.
Because, Weiss had been right; and Yang had known it.
It was hard though, you know? She felt she had raised Ruby herself at times; to go from that dynamic to this one almost overnight was genuinely pretty coconuts.
So now, in the midst of their second semester at Beacon and a moon-shattering conspiracy involving both their mothers and potentially certain factions of the Valish government, Yang was having to step back and genuinely trust Ruby to take point; for all of them.
Herself especially.
She'd never had a panic attack in her life, and was genuinely unsure what anxiety even tasted like, but gods above it had to be close to this. Because Yang's chest? Hurt . Her eyes had flashed to red earlier, and had stayed that way, even after they left the room and headed downstairs for chow.
None of her teammates had commented on that, but they also weren't blatantly ignoring it; they saw that she was upset, and they accepted it. She was relieved that her visible distress wasn't making them uncomfortable. She'd always felt like she had to hide certain feelings, at least when she wasn't in a fight with Grimm or a pack of baddies.
Not because of her home life, really - she actually felt most comfortable there, even when things weren't perfect. However, expressions of real anger or deep sadness when coupled with a Semblance like hers, had always felt a bit socially taboo; and it was something she figured out at an early age.
She had a very specific memory, in fact. When she was like eight, they were at a playground in Vale with their Uncle, and some punk had pushed Ruby off the swing-set. Ruby had started crying and Yang's Semblance had triggered, and she was on him so fast , faster than Bo eating leftovers on a Sunday fast.
She'd broken both his arms actually in a light-second. She hadn't even known she had, she was eight , but with her Semblance? Against someone with no active aura? Even if he was twice her size, Yang could have ripped that boy apart like tissue paper and not even felt it. Uncle Qrow had been there like a sudden puff of smoke and had scooped her up in his arms, and for a moment, Yang had seen her devil may care Uncle look genuinely spooked; but not of her.
He had been afraid of the people suddenly surrounding them; and what they might try to do to her in their own fear.
It had taken her a long time for her to really understand what that moment had been, or meant to her, but on a gut level she had understood something . So after that day, Yang had often felt compelled to comfort other people, even at the expense of herself.
Hide her claws. Hide her teeth. Hide behind a pretty face and a sunny smile. Don't scare them. Put them at ease. Be the life of the party, be sunshine and fun. Like, she enjoyed being those things, too! Loved it, but it wasn't really all that healthy to do to yourself all the time . This was something else she'd come to understand since coming to Beacon.
Today though, she didn't feel compelled to do that. The people around her weren't afraid of her, or her Semblance. Her teammates cared about her. They understood her and they weren't scared if she was angry or sad. She wasn't sure if she was relieved by that knowledge, or kinda terrified.
Breakfast was a blur. Yang didn't even remember what she ate, she just knew that she robotically put food in mouth and that was it. Her entire body was buzzing, and she could feel the energy from her Semblance, flickering beneath the surface; plasma coils whirling beneath the surface of the sun.
Ruby was equally tense and quiet, so naturally anyone within range could see that something was really up with team RWBY. Because RWBY were always one of the rowdiest tables in the morning. They just fed off each other's energy somehow; and combined with team JNPR, well. Let's just say, in her opinion? They were usually the fun table.
Even with Weiss.
Speaking of which, gods, the Ice Queen and Blake were really carrying the conversation right now, and they weren't even talking out loud. Weiss and Blake both seemed ready to do crisis management at a moment's notice, and kept having those knowing, silent conversations with their eyeballs whenever they thought she and Ruby wouldn't notice.
The pair had bonded quite a bit in the last few months, especially after their vacation to Patch over the winter break. Yang was glad of it, but it also left an odd, gnawing worry in her stomach which she was not accustomed to and did not have the emotional energy to explore currently.
Yang barely even noticed when they had reached the auditorium where they would be assigned their mission. She was a million miles away. Until, that is, she saw her Uncle Qrow.
Ruby and Yang must have tensed up at the same time, because Weiss and Blake noticed their body language shift before they also took notice of the Huntsman below. Uncle Qrow was talking with Professor Oobleck, his familiar rasp carrying in the early morning quiet.
"Come on Barty-"
"Qrow! No! Youshouldhavecalledahead!" Professor Oobleck scolded, his jittery frame zooming about as he gathered their portfolios together.
Qrow groaned, loudly.
"You know I don't know my schedule like that," Qrow took a seat on top of Professor Oobleck's deck, stretching out to make himself very much in the way.
Professor Oobleck furiously mainlined his second thermos of espresso that morning, before slamming his palm down briskly.
"Getoffmydesk, you rascal!"
Qrow winked up at him, caught Yang's eye, and laughingly waved. Meanwhile, Ruby had yet to blur down the steps to greet him in her typical fashion; instead she was holding back, glancing Yang's way briefly to convey a deeper understanding. Their partners were staring at this scene unfold with varying expressions of concerned confusion.
"Aagh! Youaresofrustrating! How old are you?" Professor Oobleck bemoaned.
Uncle Qrow started counting on his fingers, pretending to do very complex maths. After a long moment, he held his fingers up. Professor Oobleck vibrated through the fabric of space-time, sipping furiously as he glared at his unrepentant colleague.
"Come on!" Qrow tossed his hands up after a minute. "You owe me! It's their first mission-"
"Iwantedthismission! Specifically! Me! I asked for it days ago!"
"You'll have a million more just like it, and they only get the one," Qrow scoffed, and started pushing papers off Barty's desk. "Oops!"
"Hey! AllofthisisorganizedthewayIlike- god damnit Qrow, you are not a cat!"
"Hmmm. Will gravity work this time ? I dunno. Guess we'll find out-"
"How does Taiyang putupwithyou?!" Professor Oobleck zoomed around, trying to put his belongings back where they belonged.
"Nyooom! There it goes!"
Ruby had, despite having her 'leader face' on, started giggling hilariously at this display of extremely childish behavior from two men in their forties.
"Stopit! Stop!"
"Say the magic words, Barty," Uncle Qrow drawled threateningly, still lounging across Professor Oobleck's desk and kicking books and papers off, even as other teams started to drift into the auditorium.
None of the other students seemed to have any idea what was going on, and several looked like they had walked in on something they shouldn't have; others, who had yet to wake up fully and who seemed completely dead to the world, plopped down in their seats without any reaction at all.
Ruby was losing her mind by this point, and even Blake was hiding a wry smile behind her fist. Weiss simply looked aghast at the amount of disorganization that was intentionally taking place, and might actually consider it a war-crime. Yang, who was still very much not ok, was starting to chuckle at least a little at the scene below.
"Idon't-Fine! Fine you pest, takethestupidthing! Now getouttahere! Shoo!"
Professor Oobleck literally shooed their Uncle off his desk with a small broom he pulled out of a drawer, cursing so quickly that no one could possibly understand what he was saying. Uncle Qrow meanwhile, was completely unperturbed by this barrage and gave them all a shiteating grin as he strolled up the steps to meet them.
"Thanks Barty! I owe you one," Qrow waved over his shoulder lazily.
Ruby finally gave in to her instincts, and with a joyful laugh, proceeded to jump him; to his credit, Qrow managed to catch her and not fall down the stairs.
"Mornin, squirt," Qrow chuckled as she hung from his arm.
"Hi!" Ruby chirped. "You butt, Uncle Qrow! You didn't tell us you were in town!"
Qrow met Yang's eyes, taking note of their current shade of red and nodded.
"Yup! Wanted it to be a surprise," he shrugged.
Yang gave him a skeptical look, but Qrow barely shook his head once, his pale red eyes flitting towards one of the drone's silently hovering overhead. Blake immediately noticed this gesture, and didn't comment on it; her partner had stayed close to her since they had left the room, her cool, bare arm brushing against her own feverishly warm one. Yang pushed back, applying the slightest pressure.
Weiss, who was also extremely perceptive of layered conversation, had promptly allowed a mask to slip over her typically aloof face; in fact, she looked like a politely interested intern, fresh out of school and here to learn how to adoringly pour coffee and to ask no intrusive questions. It was really, really weirding Yang out, how unnatural that look was on Weiss's face.
Uncle Qrow waved the dossier, and started heading up the steps, Ruby in tow until she dropped off his back and started to walk next to him. On a normal day, Ruby would have likely made him carry her all the way out of the building. Qrow gave his niece a brief, pained look, but didn't say anything out of the ordinary as he led the way, hands shoved firmly in his pockets.
He kept the conversation completely, painstakingly normal, focused on asking them questions about school and what they had learned the last few months since they had seen him over the winter break. Which was total bologna - Uncle Qrow hated talking about that stuff, he thought it was boring and so did she. However, they all played along for now.
Yang barely managed to say anything at all, despite trying to keep up appearances. Blake was reserved as ever, and kept shooting her inscrutable glances as she studied the hallways with a suspicion that, even for Blake, seemed excessive. When a drone flitted around a corner, following the traffic of Beacon students, the faunus's pupils had slitted. Yang brushed her fingers over her forearm, instinctively trying to comfort her. After a moment, Blake brushed back.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of traversing underwater, they left the confines of Beacon's halls, which had felt more constricting now than they ever had previously. The airfield was buzzing with more bullheads than average, as various teams and the Hunters they'd be shadowing departed and arrived. They even spotted team CFVY finally returning, an entire week later than they'd been scheduled for.
The four second years looked utterly exhausted, their combat outfits covered in Grimm ink and other dubious liquids. Even Coco, unflappable, cold as ice, Coco Adel, looked completely beat. Velvet, sweetheart that she was, stopped to smile and wave at them encouragingly, before following the rest of her team off to catch a shower, a meal and pass the hell out.
Their bullhead was ready and waiting on them, and with very little prompting from Qrow, lifted off once they had all clambered inside. Once they were finally in the air, Ruby dropped the masquerade first.
"Uncle Qrow," she prompted, her voice deceitfully calm. "What is going on?"
Qrow inhaled slowly, before letting it out in a rough huff.
"I'm gonna be honest with you, Rubes. I'm still tryin to figure a lot of that out for myself," the Huntsman admitted, his hands looped in the holds above their heads. "I am, ah. Pretty late to the party. There's a good fuckin chance ya'll have more intel than I do currently, and. Haha, that's a BIG gods damned problem. For obvious reasons."
Yang glanced towards her uncle, who met her red gaze unflinchingly.
"But look," he started quietly, pulling some odd trinkets out of his pockets. "Ya'll put these on real quick."
Weiss dropped her polite, corporate-animatron mask faster than a hot potato
"Why?" Weiss glanced at the odd bobbles. "Ew, what are these? Are those... teeth ?"
The trinkets definitely had human teeth strung along them, some of which had carved weird symbols and what looked like glyphs in them.
"Just some precautions," Qrow insisted firmly.
Weiss's face said everything she thought about the items he was trying to pass out. There was a good chance she was going to outright refuse to let it anywhere near here, but then Ruby held her palm out.
Naturally, the rest followed suit.
"Precautions against?" Blake prompted quietly, giving a quick glance around the empty confines of the bullhead.
Qrow shrugged, and refused to say anything else until they had all adorned the strange bracelets.
"Eavesdroppers," he grunted. "And anything, uh, potentially latched onto ya'll."
Team RWBY shared extremely disturbed looks at that.
"Excuse me?" Weiss started. "What do you mean by that?"
"There's a lot of shit out there, kids, that you can't necessarily see or detect through regular means," Qrow declared over the noise of the wind, leaning as the bullhead gained height and turned towards their destination.
"Like….in the mirrors?" Ruby prompted, her silver eyes astute. Yang's eyebrows shot up at that, while their partners gave them extremely confused looks.
"Yea, Rubles, like in mirrors. And uh, other things," Qrow coughed. "Now, tell me ya'll didn't leave that shit lying around in your dorm room and brought it along?"
"Maybe we did. Maybe we didn't," Yang clipped out finally, glaring at her uncle. "Maybe we hid it somewhere? Guess you guys will just have to be honest with us first to find out."
Qrow's face hardened suddenly, and he met her gaze with a level of authority he never pulled out unless things were really serious; and he was genuinely really mad. A pang shot through her heart, but she didn't flinch. She was tired of the people she loved lying to her or holding things back.
Her jaw set stubbornly.
"Yang? Do. Not. Screw with me right now," Qrow glared at her. Blake moved closer to her, glaring defiantly at the older Huntsman. "I am very fuckin serious. Did you bring it, yes or no? Cuz if you try to mess me around right now? I will turn this ship around so fast, you four won't know what fuckin hit you !"
Yang opened her mouth in a defiant snarl, ready to argue when Ruby intervened.
"Uncle Qrow, we just want people to be straightforward with us. For once," Ruby said, several layers of emotion coating her voice. "We've all had a very difficult night. And we just want to make sure that we aren't going to be given the runaround on this."
"Ruby, we do not have fuckin time for you guys to try to blackmail us," Qrow growled, his face plainly distressed. Yang had not seen him this upset in years. "This isn't just fire that you guys are playin with! Ok? It's - you've literally dived face first into the fuckin furnace! This shouldn't have happened! At all!"
"We're Huntresses in training, Uncle Qrow," Ruby continued firmly, keeping the tremor out of her voice. "We can handle a lot more than you think- we're basically adults now-"
"Ruby," Qrow pleaded, turning towards his niece. His face was literally anguished. " Nobody is ever old enough or grown enough to handle shit like this well. Ok?"
Yang and Ruby stared at their uncle in complete shock. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, and that was something that had never happened in their lives. Or at least, something he had never let them see; and in that moment, Yang realized that her uncle hadn't known that Summer had been assassinated for doing her job, either. He had found out just like they had, and he looked absolutely gutted over it.
Oh….Crap.
"No one! Being an adult doesn't magically make it any easier! So please," he continued, his voice hoarse from the pain. "Tell me ya'll didn't leave it unguarded in your room? Or we might all be seriously fucked."
"I have it," Blake said after a moment.
The faunus gave Yang a distressed look when she turned her way; however, Yang wasn't angry with her for telling the truth. She knew she wasn't being very reasonable at the moment. She gave Blake a brief nudge and reassuring smile, to indicate she wasn't upset with her. Some of the tension instantly slid out of Blake's frame.
Qrow exhaled, closing his eyes as if in prayer and shaking his head before coughing and looking away, trying to swallow the grief so they couldn't see it. Team RWBY stared out at the scenery below, and Yang realized they were heading out over the walls of the Kingdom and towards the ruins that stretched out in the distance.
"So, where are we going?" Weiss asked after a painful pause. "We don't even know what mission you picked for us yet."
Qrow didn't answer at first, staring down grimly at the trees scattered below.
"We're going where everything started."
Yang felt an odd trill up her spine, as she realized what he was saying.
"Mountain Glenn."