Chapter IV: Together
The area felt almost completely deserted as the trio was making their way through the campus, seeing no one but an occasional worker or a lone Huntsman performing the guard duty.
"It's kind of impressive how quickly the repairs are progressing, even with professor Goodwitch's help," Yang pondered aloud.
"True," Weiss agreed somberly. "And yet it seems that the work isn't even halfway done."
"Yeah. It does remind you how much of a ruin Beacon was when we took it back, doesn't it."
Even though the three of them would like to say that 'ruin' was nothing more than a poetic exaggeration, they were unable to – that was simply the truth. Once the Dragon – or Kevin, as Yang, Ruby and Nora had unanimously dubbed him - had been gone and the other Grimm had fallen back, they all were free to witness the scale of destruction that had been caused during the time the Academy had been in the enemy's hands. No classroom was spared, no corridor remained unmarred; it was as if the Grimm had been intent on not only finding the Relic, but also desecrating that beacon of hope as much as they possibly could. Even at that moment, looking at the now kind-of-presentable buildings around them, the three members of team RWBY couldn't help but recall the memories of the toppled walls and collapsed rooftops.
It was the sight of an elegant, blonde-haired professor heading in their direction at a brisk pace that roused them from their gloomy reverie.
"Good day, professor Goodwitch," said three different voices.
"Good day to you, girls," the woman replied, bowing her head politely in a greeting. For a while it seemed that she was going to simply pass by, minding her own business, but then she suddenly stopped and turned as if to address them, and Yang could have sworn that for a split second she had seen Glynda Goodwitch actually smirking. "How was your last night, miss Schnee? Restful, I hope?"
"Oh." Sparks of understanding flashed in Weiss' eyes as they widened, her usually pale face flushing bright red in embarrassment. "Oh. Yes, it was. Thank you, professor. And my apologies."
Even though the professor managed to keep a straight face, she was still unable to hide the soft gleam of amusement behind her glasses. The woman nodded, accepting Weiss' words and bidding the three of them goodbye, then fixed the eyeglasses on her nose and moved past them, resuming her walk towards the CCT Tower.
Once the silhouette of their teacher waned in distance, Yang looked at Weiss, feeling a tad bit confused. "What was that about? Coz' it felt as if she was telling a joke and I kinda missed the gist of it."
"You talked to professor Goodwitch yesterday?"
"Yes, I did. Ozpin sent her to check up on me. She brought me painkillers and something to eat, then we talked for a while..." Her blush deepened, then she mumbled something so quietly that Yang couldn't even catch a single word. Blake, however, could, and snorted loudly in a mostly unsuccessful attempt to suppress her laughter, causing Weiss to glare daggers at her.
"What did ya say? Couldn't hear you," Yang asked, but after seeing that the heiress was completely unwilling to repeat herself, she turned to Blake, hoping that the girl would save the day.
The Faunus glanced at Weiss, smiling in a cheeky, very cat-like way. "Quoting: 'and I might have dozed off on her'."
For a while Yang just stared blankly at the heiress, as if she was not ready to believe Blake's words without some sort of a confirmation on Weiss' part.
"It's the painkillers!" the white-haired girl exclaimed angrily in a hopeless effort to defend her dignity, also giving the blonde all the proof she needed to start cackling.
"You fell asleep on Glynda. Oh dear," Yang muttered. "You got a death wish, Weiss?"
The heiress huffed at that and, adamant about not dignifying the blonde's comment with a response, pressed forward, leaving the other two behind.
"Hey, Weiss, wait!" Yang called, the hilarity still apparent in her voice. "I'm sorry, okay?"
Weiss ceased her stride and glanced in the other girl's direction, giving the culprit an unamused look. "It would've worked better if you weren't still laughing."
Yang raised her hands above her head in surrender. "Alright, alright, you've got me, I'm not." She admitted, coming a few steps closer. "But I didn't want you to be angry with me, either."
Weiss' expression softened a bit. She wasn't really angry, just embarrassed, and she knew that there was nothing but sincerity to Yang's words. Not willing to admit it aloud, she simply rolled her eyes in a gesture of ceasefire and turned away, resuming her walk at a much slower pace and letting the other two catch up with her.
It didn't take them much time to reach the statue in front of the main entrance to the Academy. There, they sat on the pedestal, made themselves relatively comfortable and waited for half an hour or so, enjoying the pleasant silence between friends.
Eventually one of Blake's cat ears twitched a bit and the girl stirred, her eyelids fluttering open as she raised her head from its resting place atop Yang's shoulder. "I think she's coming."
Yang glanced in the direction of the school. "Took her long enough."
"Might be because she had company," said Blake, causing the other two to give her a look both curious and confused. Before any of them could even begin to question her, however, the main gate of the Academy was opened and Ruby came through the doorway, accompanied by the familiar silhouette of the old Headmaster.
The two had noticed the waiting trio immediately and slowed their pace, exchanging a few last words within the earshot of the girls.
"...even if there will be no victory in the end, even if we have to lose sooner or later... Every person we save, every life we protect is a gift worth fighting for," Ruby spoke while descending down the steps, her gaze fixed on the pavement. When they reached the foot of the stairs, the girl came to a halt and looked up, straight into the Headmaster's eyes. "So, let's make sure that this flame lingers just a little longer, shall we?"
Ruby's smile was contagious, even to Ozpin. "Yes, Ruby. We shall." He glanced in the direction of the rest of the team. "Well, I think I have taken enough of your time for now. Have a good day, girls." Having said that, he bowed his head to bid them farewell and turned back, soon disappearing within the Academy.
With the Headmaster gone, Ruby was quick to close the distance between her and her friends. Her hair was still tied in a ponytail that cascaded down the girl's left collarbone, but she had traded the bland, generic hairband for her custom one, decorated with two artificial rose buds and a pair of crow feathers. She wore a beige high-neck decolletage blouse that accentuated her waistline quite nicely, with scarlet hem and cuffs. Its long, puffed sleeves were tied right under her armpits with blood-red ribbons, creating small bulges of excess material around her shoulders, not unlike ones that appeared right above her wrists. The blouse itself was very similar in design to the one Ruby took with herself on her journey to Mistral, with one key difference: it was slightly shorter, and without a corset or a waist cincher it showed just enough of Ruby's stomach to make Weiss painfully aware of all the blood suddenly rushing to her head and cheeks. There was one novelty about the way she looked – her cape was folded and tucked behind her belt, flowing freely down the back of her left thigh. Along with her blouse, a pair of dark gray leggins and her combat boots it all made up an outfit that was in Weiss' opinion both sexy and incredibly cute.
"Lookin' good, Ru!" Yang exclaimed enthusiastically, and for once Weiss couldn't agree with her more.
"Thanks," Ruby responded to her sister's toothy grin with a slightly bashful smile of her own. "So, are there any specific places you'd like to go?"
Weiss thought for a while, but drew a blank. "No, I don't think so." She glanced at Yang and Blake, who both simply shrugged.
Ruby crossed her arms and pressed a fist to her mouth, pondering. After a few moments of soft humming an idea sparked in girl's mind and she smirked, then, without a single word, she turned away and started marching in the direction of the landing platforms, gesturing her teammates to stand up and follow her.
"So, what were you two talking about? I mean, if it's not a secret," Yang asked after a while had passed.
"No, guess it's not. Not like I'd keep anything important from you," Ruby assured, giving her teammates a serious look. It was then that Weiss, who was walking closest to their leader, noticed that the girl's eyes seemed to be slightly bloodshot. Before the heiress could be sure, however, Ruby had taken notice of Weiss' watchful stare and averted her gaze. "It was not that different from the talk Weiss had with him yesterday. He asked how I'm feeling, how the three of you are faring, stuff like that. Then I asked him a few questions of my own."
The heiress shot Ruby a look that was part-worried and part-suspicious, making a mental note to interrogate the girl once the two of them would be alone.
"Learned anything new?"
"A thing or two, yeah, but nothing really worth mentioning. I was just curious about what happened after I've passed out." She glanced at her teammates and gradually her expression changed into a more serious one, almost troubled. "Aaaanyway, he also wanted me to speak with you about... well, our future at Beacon. Whether or not we want to be enrolled again... and whether or not we still want to be Huntresses at all."
Weiss, Blake and Yang stopped dead in their tracks, staying a bit behind their leader.
"He wanted you to know that no matter what you decide, he won't hold it against you..." Ruby paused and ceased her stride, then looked back at her teammates with both pain and sincerity in her eyes, "a-and neither will I."
"Ruby, shut up," Weiss snapped at Ruby, then pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. She began to walk slowly in the younger girl's direction. "Dolt. Being a member of this team was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have great teammates and the best leader I could have ever asked for. True, we've faced some waking nightmares along the way, and had more close calls than I care to count, but it doesn't change how I feel about being a Huntress. It's the right thing to do, and I'm willing to pay the price that comes with it as long as I have the three of you by my side. And in case that alone wasn't reason enough..."
Having already closed the distance between them, Weiss pulled Ruby into a hug.
"This is my place in our world. Here, beside those few who see and accept me for who I really am, who care about me, Weiss, not my family's name. I used to believe that I had no need for friends, but you've managed to change my mind. And now you're stuck with me for better or worse, because I'm not going to just give that up."
"We are not going to just give that up," Blake corrected her.
"That's right. We're way too cool for that," Yang agreed. Soon a smug smirk appeared on her face, giving the other three a moment to brace for what was to come. "Besides, if I didn't back off after the situation got out of hand, then I'm sure as hell not going to do that now."
The trio just stared at her with disbelief, their eyes darting back and forth from Yang's face to her bionic arm. Her grin grew ever larger with each passing moment of their silence.
"Did you just..." Weiss finally muttered, staring at the blonde with her mouth slightly ajar. Ruby just facepalmed, seemingly not willing to give her sister the satisfaction of a verbal response.
Blake let out a long, loud groan. "You're impossible."
"Part of the reason you love me so much."
Coming to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to simply ignore the blonde, Weiss turned to her silver-eyed partner. "I guess it settles it, then. Did he tell you when exactly should we answer?"
"Nope," Ruby chirped, popping the 'p'. She started to slowly move away, and her friends soon followed. "He said that we can 'take our time and think about it'. But, seeing that there's apparently not much to discuss, I say we go and pay him a visit... tomorrow morning?" She suggested, glancing at her teammates in search of their approval.
"And how morning is that morning of yours, exactly?" Yang questioned, eyeing her sister warily.
"Around 10 AM?"
The blonde eased to that. "Then it's an idea I can get behind."
"Me too," The Faunus agreed.
"No objections. Ruby?" Weiss called, getting her partner to look at her. "Do you have any specific destination in mind, or are we just walking for the sake of walking?"
"I do, actually," Ruby replied with a playful smirk tugging at her lips, obviously not willing to let go of the suspense. "You'll see."
And so the three girls had no other choice but to follow her into the unknown, curious as to where she would lead them. Soon, they passed through the southernmost landing platform to get across the river and, before long, the four of them found themselves well off the beaten track, with Ruby guiding her friends along the edge of the Beacon cliff.
The walk was neither very long nor eventful, but none of them was complaining about boredom as they shuffled a few feet behind their leader, chatting among themselves and – especially in Weiss' case – enjoying the views. Since the moment Ruby started heading south, they all had a pretty good idea where she was leading them, but no one said a word, wondering how different would that place be after the whole two years. Eventually, after reaching the top of a small hill, their destination appeared within the eyeshot.
"It's been a while since our last visit," the Faunus hummed, looking into the distance and recollecting the memory that dated all the way back to their first – and so far the only – summer spent at Beacon.
There, right next to the edge of the precipice, stood a single, old tree, a vanguard of the nearby forest. One thing about it made it really unusual – instead of simply growing vertically, a part of its trunk was almost lying on the ground, parallel to the cliffside, then suddenly it sprouted upwards and backwards, developing into an almost perfect "V" shape. Despite its proximity to the Academy, not many people knew of this place, and even less bothered to ever come here; those few who did – team RWBY among them – liked to simply sit there and relax, enjoying the solitude and the shadow the tree provided.
As they came closer and walked into the shade under the branches, Ruby finally stopped, watching her teammates' reactions with a satisfied smirk dancing on her lips. Birds chirped happily amidst the foliage of gold and red above their heads as the girls were looking around, taking in the views and comparing what they saw with their memories.
"I completely forgot about this place."
"Yeah, me too," Weiss admitted as she grazed the bark with her fingers, gazing up and admiring the play of light among the autumn leaves. After a while, she moved a bit closer to the edge of the cliff and let her eyes wander freely, savoring the enchanting moment. Somewhere along the way, a smile had crept onto her lips, getting brighter as more time passed. At some point she noticed that Ruby stood right beside her, watching the heiress expectantly, as if waiting for her to say something. Corners of Weiss' mouth twitched a bit. "A fine choice of scenery, if I do say so myself."
Ruby beamed at that.
"That's true," agreed Blake, who had already seated herself on the trunk. "It's even more beautiful than I remembered it to be."
"Yeah. Autumn does that to trees." Ruby settled next to the Faunus, then looked at Weiss and, patting the spot right beside her with her hand, prompted the heiress to sit. Seeing no reason not to, Weiss drove Myrtenaster into the ground and eagerly complied. In the meanwhile Yang plopped on the ground behind them, leaning her back against Blake's.
The four of them spent the next hour or so on talking between themselves, discussing matters both important and not important at all. The conversation flowed effortlessly, shifting smoothly from one topic to the other as the sun was making its way through the clear sky. It would had lasted even longer if not for the sake of Blake, who - after bravely fighting a hopeless battle against her own tiredness for quite some time - finally cracked and let out a long, stifled yawn of defeat, trying to hide it behind her hand.
Despite girl's best effort to conceal her drowsiness, Ruby noticed the yawn immediately. "Sleepy?"
"A bit, yes." Blake nodded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Being concussed is not fun, let me tell you."
"Blake?" Yang called from behind. Then, once her partner turned to face her, she pulled the unsuspecting, squealing Faunus off the impromptu bench and onto the grass. "Comfy?" the blonde asked, grinning as she looked in the amber eyes of the girl lying in her lap.
"Now that was uncalled for." Blake muttered, glaring at her girlfriend with feigned anger. Soon, however, she could feel her resolve melting away as a gentle hand landed on top of her head, scratching behind one of her cat ears.
"Probably. But that's not what I asked about."
Unable to hold the facade any longer, Blake snickered and rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes, I'm comfy. Though a bit of a heads-up would've been appreciated. I could have kicked Ruby."
"Oh, you did kick me alright," laughed the silver-eyed Huntress. "But don't worry about that."
Blake glanced in the direction of Ruby and Weiss, who both seemed to be thoroughly amused, and gave the younger of them an apologetic smile. "Hey, would it be okay with you two if I took a little nap?"
"Sure, nap away."
"Thanks." With Ruby's blessing, the girl closed her eyelids and made herself more comfortable in the lap of her personal heater, embracing the call of the warm and inviting darkness. Between the soft whisper of the wind dancing amongst the leaves and the most pleasant touch of Yang's fingers, it didn't take her long to drift off to blissful sleep.
"You two want something to eat? I've got some snacks," Yang asked Ruby and Weiss after a longer while of silence, nudging the bag she brought with herself with her elbow.
"Not at the moment, thank you."
"Ditto. Eating too much after abaout a day and a half of not eating at all probably wouldn't be the wisest of ideas," Ruby said, then got up from her seat and arched her back, popping her spine with a loud moan. "Hey, Weiss, could you stand up for a moment?"
Weiss raised a brow at her partner but obliged without a complaint, watching patiently as Ruby pulled her cloak from behind her belt, then unfolded it and began covering the grass in front of their make-do bench with the scarlet material. After a while, apparently satisfied with the result, the silver-eyed girl placed her folded weapon on the ground and then plopped on top of the makeshift blanket.
"Much better." Ruby let out a contented sigh as she leaned against the tree, placing her right elbow onto the trunk behind her. Weiss, not needing any invitation, sat right next to her. "For a moment I considered driving Crescent Rose into the ground behind us, so we could use the shaft to lean our backs on." Ruby glanced at Weiss, who seemed to be trying really hard not to laugh. "It could have worked, y'kno?"
Weiss just sighed hopelessly and snickered, then shifted on her spot a little and rested her head on top of her partner's shoulder, finding it to be a very comfortable position. Not minding Weiss' action in the slightest, Ruby simply smiled.
And so they remained for the next few hours, filling their time with chatter, playful banter and long moments of comfortable silence. Eventually, the shadows started to grow and the sun lowered over the western horizon, bathing the four friends and the world around them in golden light.
The city of Vale stood in the distance, glittering in the sunset. There was a strange similarity between the capital and the four of its defenders that were resting at the cliffs of Beacon Academy - they all were wounded and scarred, but their will remained unbroken; in time, they would heal and live on, even greater and stronger than they has been before.
At some point, Ruby let her head fall on top of Weiss'. Despite all doubts and worries, she found herself at peace, surrounded by her teammates. She knew that whatever the tomorrow would bring, they would face it without fear – together.
Author's Note:
Alright, here it is – the second part of the monster I've written, along with the new cover for the story. And yes, the correlation between the content of this chapter and the scene depicted on the cover might or might not be related to the true reason why I decided to split this chapter into two parts.
I uploaded the cover image in full resolution on my DeviantArt page, should anyone want to take a better look. Just type terkontar dot deviantart dot com in your browser or google "terkontar deviantart" and you should be able to find me without a problem.
As for the chapter itself... it's a bit transitional, is it not? I'm really sorry for that and I hope that the lack of things happening didn't disappoint you too much. At this moment I'm planning to take a day or two of a break, then, once I regain my sanity, I'll immediately get back to writing. When am I going to post the next chapter? Well, I don't want to jinx myself this time, so all I'm gonna say is this: I'll try to get it finished as soon as I can.
If you liked this story so far and have a bit of time to spare then please, consider writing a review – they might not seem like much, but they truly make writing this story feel all the more worthwhile. Critique is also appreciated!
GrnDrgnzrd: Well, things would probably get pretty damn awkward should Weiss have stayed. But you were indeed right to assume that she'd find out eventually.
2017-03-09