Chapter XI: Parting
Weiss stood alone under the starlit skies, silently mulling over her troubled thoughts – or, to be more exact, trying to think of more ways to describe just how pathetic she saw herself in her own eyes, as none of the insults she came up with so far did her feelings justice. She had but a single job, one which she had fucked up royally: to simply be there for her team until the very end, whatever end it would be. In a sense, her messing up was all old news – she knew that much the moment she woke up at Beacon, and the bitter aftertaste of failure had never left her mouth since, even despite Ruby's plea for Weiss not to blame herself. Thing was, said aftertaste grew ever stronger with each little detail the heiress learned about the events that had occured while she was unconscious, and Jaune's tale caused this chalice of poison to finally overflow, then toppled it over altogether.
Having said his part, Jaune bid her farewell soon after wrapping up his story, probably aware that she needed some space. 'Or simply hoping to get out of the blast radius before I explode,' the heiress mused with a fairly sour smirk plastered on her lips, slightly amused by the thought. While assuming that she was angry would not be incorrect, just an understatement, Jaune – or anyone else, for that matter – was not the object of Weiss' ire, as the white-haired girl had reserved all of her hatred for her own self. She knew that upsetting her was not Jaune's intention, and, in fact, she was quite grateful to the lad for telling her how everyone had fared while she was out cold, even though this knowledge was nothing if not painful; she just needed a while to process all of this information... and to stomp on her own ego until it no longer drew breath.
The way she saw it, the rest of the group sent to get rid of Salem did nothing wrong when they carried on without her, simply making most of the worst situation; as far as Weiss was concerned, these people were bloody heroes, and she had no reason to harbor any ill will towards them. She herself, on the other hand... she tried to make a difference, but at the end of the day all she had accomplished was learning that she was too weak to do so, and failing those who had relied on her. Now she also knew just how much pain had this failure caused for those whom she loved – and, combined, it hurt far more than any physical wound ever could.
Time flew by as dark thoughts whirled inside Weiss' head. She just stood in the same spot for fifteen, maybe thirty minutes, exactly where Jaune had left her, resting her elbows against a stone balustrade; although she was gazing at the night sky, she remained indifferent to the serene beauty of the starry firmament, too occupied to actually perceive it. Eventually, something picked her attention, stirring her from her toxic reverie – a soft echo of steady, energetic footsteps of someone who absolutely did not try to be sneaky. She looked over her shoulder in the general direction of the noise and, soon, a familiar blonde girl walked into her field of view, a smile appearing on the newcomer's face when their eyes met.
"Here you are. Ruby started to worry about you. Wouldn't sit still till I promised that I'd go and look for you." As Yang came a bit closer and took a better look at the white-haired girl, she slowed her pace, her smile quickly melting into a worried frown. "What's wrong?"
Weiss lifted one corner of her mouth in a manner that was supposed to resemble a nonchalant smirk, but it came out as nothing more but a painful grimace. "Nothing much. Jaune and I have had a small chat about what happened while I was out cold, and now I'm having an episode of well-justified self-loathing. Please, don't mind me." She turned away from Yang, fixing her gaze on some unspecified, infinitely distant point straight ahead. Dropping her facade, Weiss knitted her brows, her expression a mixture of disappointment and sorrow. "It's not like I'm worth of your time, anyways," she added quietly, sounding frail even in her own ears.
Yang, in spite of Weiss' last remark, approached her friend and leaned her back against the balustrade, looking the white-haired girl in the eye. "I'd like to disagree," she said, dead-serious, with her arms crossed. One look at the blonde's face was enough to tell that she had already entered full big-sister mode, and it was fairly obvious that she had no intention of going away. She stayed silent, giving Weiss a choice – if she wanted to talk, Yang would listen; if not, she'd simply keep her company. No third option to be chosen from.
A faint, bitter smile crept onto Weiss' lips. It was moving, in a way, how deeply her friends cared for her... but it also made her sense of guilt all the harder to bear. Still, Weiss figured that her situation always could have been worse – even though a small part of her being was disappointed that it was not Ruby who had found her, she was thankful that it turned out to be this way, as she had a feeling she would not even be able to hold her partner's gaze at that very moment.
A few minutes had passed and neither of them spoke, with the heiress silently clinging to the hope that Yang would eventually run out of patience and leave her alone. The blonde, however, thought nothing of being ignored, simply pretending to be looking around and enjoying the views, glancing at Weiss from time to time. In the end, the heiress was the first one to give up; guessing that she would not be allowed to brood in peace, she figured she might as well use that opportunity to vent.
"Ruby asked me not to blame myself that I hasn't been there for you when you went to fight Salem. Of course, I still hated the thought that a single Beowolf – a Beowolf, for fuck's sake - was enough to stop me from being there for the rest of you... but I tried, I really tried not to think about it too much. For Ruby's sake," Weiss said and, raising one corner of her mouth sorrowfully, shot Yang a brief glance before looking down, at her clasped together hands hanging off the edge of the balustrade. "But you know how it is: it's easier not to think about your failure when you're unaware of its full extent. Now I simply know a bit more." She sighed heavily and, with some difficulty, mustered enough willpower to look Yang in the eye. "I didn't do anything. I wasn't there with you during that final fight. I made you worry for my life. If I'm not only unable to stand by your side when the three of you need me, but also cause you so much pain... then what good am I? How am I even supposed to look at myself in a mirror, Yang?"
The blonde gave Weiss a lopsided smile. "Can't help but point out that you forgot to mention the part where you got hurt just because you saved our asses from being overran. The four of us and Qrow are awesome, sure, but there's only so many Deathstalkers, Griffons and other-motherfuckers-I-don't-even-know-the-name-of we can take care of at one time before getting overwhelmed. Besides..." Suddenly, Yang paused for a while, as if she needed a moment to gather her thoughts, earning herself a questioning look from the heiress. Letting out a weary breath, the blonde pushed her hips away from the balustrade and turned around, placing both of her elbows atop the handrail. With a frown marring her forehead, she spent a few seconds staring at the waning moon that silently sailed through the night sky, then continued with a slightly absentminded expression on her face, as if recalling a memory.
"Every time I look back at that mess of a day, I can't shake off the feeling that it was not a simple recon that went FUBAR, but a trap. So many Grimm, of so many different types, all of them acting coordinated? I know that we were in the middle of a Grimm territory, but I still doubt it was a coincidence." Prying her eyes away from the sky, Yang looked at Weiss. "I belive that our battle with Salem started earlier than you might think, and both Ruby and Qrow are with me on this one. First she threw a horde at us to wear us down, then decreased the pressure to make us lower our guards. We got cocky, and by that time you had already used up most of your Aura to protect us, then hit your head... so she took advantage of it and used one of her Grimm – one that was something insignificant, something that the rest of us would likely completely ignore among all of that chaos – to get you. And then, probably coming to the conclusion that getting the rest of us right then would be a waste of resources, she pretty much let us go, to let the metaphorical wound fester; practically no Grimm followed us when we were running away." Yang forced a wry smile, but it looked almost as if she was baring her teeth in a snarl. "Psychological warfare at its finest, lemme tell ya."
"So you think I was a target?"
The blonde's shoulders rose and fell as she shrugged. "Maybe, or maybe she would be fine with any of us – I dunno. All I know for sure is that this bitch was clever, and that she wanted to break us before finishing us off in person." Looking to the side with a dark expression on her face, Yang lowered her voice. "And I've gotta admit, she had the right idea."
"Well, then there's at least one difference I made in this war. But did it have to be giving Salem a way to weaken the rest of you?" Weiss shook her head with a short, self-depreciating laugh. "I really am pathetic," she stated. Then, having received an exasperated huff in response, she turned her eyes towards Yang, and was met with an irked glower.
"Are you saying that the few of us who had the questionable pleasure of fighting that bitch in person were the only ones who have actually mattered in this goddamned war?" Yang questioned, her voice taking an uncharacteristically harsh tone, the ice in the words she spoke making the heiress regret having said what she had. "What about all those who have helped us along the way, or about those who have willingly sacrificed their lives to protect Remnant, making it possible for us to go after Salem? Is all they've done also pathetic and meaningless? Is that how you really see things, Weiss?"
The girl in question bit her lower lip and let her gaze fall to the ground, not really knowing how to respond. Yang's cold tone brought her back to her senses, dispersing the toxic thoughts that clouded her judgement. She understood the point Yang was trying to make, and knew that her teammate was right; no matter how badly Weiss loathed herself for what had happened, saying that she hadn't accomplished anything in the war was factually wrong, even if it didn't seem to be the case when she was looking at the things through the lens of her self-hatred. This whole conflict was not won by her team alone, nor even by those involved with the Circle – it was bigger than all of them. Winning this struggle was an effect of years of work and of the joint effort of thousands upon thousands of people, both Huntsmen and ordinary folk, many of which had become nameless heroes of this time of troubles. Without those seemingly random people, there would be no strike force sent to take down Salem. There would be no victory. The Relics would've been lost, the Academies would've been destroyed, and the Kingdoms thrown into chaos. But, together, they prevented this grim fate – and Weiss was also a part of that. More than that, she was someone who had been in the very heart of things for well over a year, in a sense being one of those who led the charge, and she did all in her might to help the effort; if all her contributions were to be rendered void by the fact that she was not present during the showdown with Salem, the same would be true for all those people who made said showdown possible in the first place, at times paying the highest price. It would not fair towards them... and, by analogy, it was not fair towards Weiss, even if the heiress' feelings didn't quite agree with it.
The blonde continued to grace the heiress with her withering glare of disapproval for a few more seconds, making the white-haired girl shrink in herself in a manner not unlike a child would after being scolded by a parent or an older sibling. Eventually, seeing that she got her message across, Yang softened her stare, her scowl slowly melting away. She reached towards Weiss, who flinched briefly as Yang's hand drew closer to her head, then pulled the surprised girl into a sisterly embrace.
She exhaled loudly before she proceeded to speak. "Schnee, you moron. Even though you were not with us at the end, you still made this victory possible. We wouldn't get nowhere as far as we did without you. If you weren't with us over the past year and half, we wouldn't be able to stop Her from getting the Relics, nor from destroying Atlas Academy. If you weren't there to save her ass, Ruby would've drowned in that frozen river in Atlas. Blake, Ruby, Qrow and I would've been fucking dead before we could even face Salem if you haven't done your best to protect us. The list goes on and on," Yang said, then fell silent for a few seconds before carrying on. "This war was not won with a single battle, or by our team alone... and it might've been long lost without you. Can you just acknowledge that, or do I seriously need to give you some of my tough love?"
Weiss cast her gaze down. She logically understood that the final days of the war would've unfolded very differently if she hadn't forfeited her own safety in order to make sure that her team made it out alive. It admittedly wasn't a conscious decision on her part back then, and it resulted in being taken down in a rather humiliating manner, but even if she was given an opportunity to go back in time, she wouldn't change it – her teammates' lives were a priority. If she hadn't given it her all to keeping the advance of Grimm relatively manageable, they would've all died, overpowered by a horde that was simply too numerous for them to handle in an open field. The humanity's last chance would've likely died along with them - the whole operation was a risky gamble that the whole war depended on, and the people involved were far too few for their lives to be a commodity, making the loss of an entire team of skilled Huntsmen something that would almost surely lead to failure. Among the five of them who took part in the battle, she was the only one capable of effectively slowing down the enemy's assault, thus, in a way, the fate of the entire world rested on Weiss' shoulders for a while, relying on her ability to ensure her comrades' survival. In theory, she succeed... and yet, every time she thought of the pain she had caused to her team, or every time she recalled the tormented look in Ruby's eye when the girl had been telling her how Salem had tried to break them, she felt as if a metaphorical shard of ice that was embedded in her chest had been driven slightly deeper into her heart. She might've saved their lives, but she also should've been there for them afterwards. She would've given anything to do so, but the cruel fate still did not allow her to do both; it made her furious - at herself, and at the very way the world worked in... and now every single fiber of her being wanted to scream at the injustice that was done to her, done to all four of them.
Sensing that her eyes started to water, Weiss buried her face in her friend's shoulder. "I should've been there with the three of you till the very end," she mumbled weepingly into Yang's jacket, letting the hot tears of bottled-up frustration flow. "We didn't deserve to be separated like tha-at. It just wasn't fair."
Yang wrapped Weiss a bit tighter in her arms, gently stroking the back of the girl's head; when she spoke, her voice was calm and soothing. "You're right, Weiss. You deserved better than to go down like this, and we deserved to have you with us when we went to fight Salem. But since when was any of this shit about what we deserved?" She paused for a while, as if giving Weiss an opportunity to speak. The heiress remained silent, spare for occasional soft sobs; the question was rhetorical enough, and Weiss also feared she'd only further embarass herself if she tried to say something. After a moment had passed, Yang continued. "None of us deserved to go through this hell of a war. Not you, not me, not Blake... and certainly not Ru. But if there's one important thing to remember about bad things, it's the fact that they just fucking happen anyways. So we had to roll with the punches, whether we liked it or not. And we survived, somehow. But it wouldn't be possible if we didn't have each other's backs. And if you really think that we could've made it through without you, or that you didn't make a difference in the end, then you're a bloody idiot, Weiss. An idiot I love, but still an idiot," Yang stated, then blinked in surprise after hearing a muffled giggle coming from Weiss.
"Things really must look serious if an oaf like yourself calls me an idiot."
Once her initial bemusement had passed, Yang found herself grinning a bit; letting out a quiet chuckle, she rested her chin atop the shorter girl's head. "That they do."
Yang and Weiss talked some more before heading back towards the field where the marquee housing the banquet was pitched. As they drew closer and the large tent came into view from behind a hedgerow, they noticed that someone was standing by the entrance, waiting for them; the girl, dressed in black and red, waved happily the moment she saw them. A few seconds later, a tall, blonde man peeked out from the tent; when Ruby noticed his presence, she crossed her arms and gave him a rather pointy look, which prompted the boy to awkwardly retreat back inside. Once he disappeared, the ravenette started marching in Weiss and Yang's direction; seeing this, the heiress, who had already been lagging a bit behind her blonde teammate, further slowed her pace, eventually coming to a halt.
The sisters exchanged meaningful glances as they passed each other by, with Yang heading towards the tent and leaving Weiss alone with Ruby. With her eyes directed the other way, Weiss rather heard than saw her partner's approach – the sound of light, measured steps muffled by the grass that ultimately faded into silence when the scythe-wielder came to a halt. Still, even though she was well aware that her best friend was standing just a few feet away from her, waiting, Weiss did not turn to face her leader, as if too afraid to do so.
"Weiss," Ruby softly called her partner' name, hoping to get white-haired girl to look at her. It was not an order, but a plea – one which Weiss was unable to not comply with.
Slowly turning her head, the heiress looked up, meeting Ruby's compassionate gaze. The girl simply seemed to know what thoughts had been – and still were, to some degree – plaguing Weiss' mind, and the heiress found it to be both reassuring and highly embarassing; nonetheless, despite the strong temptation, break the eye contact she did not.
For a while, Ruby simply observed the heiress with a concerned frown, then opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came forth. Instead, the girl stepped closer and pulled the other into a hug.
Weiss silently enjoyed the warmth of the embrace for a few seconds. "That's it? You're not going to give me another lecture?" she asked half-jokingly.
A gust of air tickled Weiss' ear when her friend puffed in amusement. "Would you like me to reiterate on some of the points that Yang, as I believe, has already presented to you?"
"Hell no."
"Then I just want you to remember that you've always been by my side, unless you really couldn't help it. That you've always believedin me, even when I didn't. And that none of your teammates think any less of you now – we all owe you a lot, even if you don't feel that way right now."
The heiress remained silent for a while, a small wrinkle present between her brows while she was thinking of a reply. "I appreciate what you are saying, and I understand the points both you and Yang are trying to make... but I still feel that I've failed the team. Especially you, as your partner."
Ruby chuckled under her breath, but there was no mirth to this melody. "Seems that the sense of having failed each other is one of the things the four of us have in common, then," she said with a hint of pensiveness in her voice, releasing her friend from her arms.
As she unhurriedly pulled away, Weiss shot Ruby an inquisitive look. "What do you mean?"
Having glanced towards the nearby tent, Ruby gestured with her hand in the opposite direction, away from other people's ears. Weiss, not opposed to the idea of enjoying the night for a bit longer, simply started marching where the other girl had pointed, with Ruby striding by her side.
As they were strolling across the field and down the small hill, Ruby began to elaborate on her previous statement. "So, where to start... Ever since we've returned, there are times when Yang gets all thoughtful and falls silent, looking away every time she meets mine or Blake's eyes. It doesn't happen that often and is rather brief, but it keeps reappearing every now and then." She left it hanging there for a moment, curiously searching for any reaction on Weiss' face. Indeed, the heiress was vaguely familiar with the thing Ruby had described, having noticed such bahaviour on a handful of occassions, though not really understanding the reason behind it; seeing a spark of recognition in her partner's eyes, Ruby carried on, unconsciously putting her thumbs in her pockets.
"When we went to fight Salem, sis... had her doubts. About herself, about our odds of survival, about other things. And then, when we've finally met the Witch... she had lost her hope, and because of that she couldn't snap out of Salem's control. And so, she was used against the people she loved... she was made to try and murder those people. She wasn't herself, but she feels like a traitor anyways, and keeps saying that 'this would not have happened if she wasn't so weak-willed'. Still, I..." she started, only for her voice to trail off almost immediately afterwards.
Noticing that her partner had rather abruptly slowed down and then stopped walking, Weiss also came to a halt, turning around as a sudden wave of anxiety washed over her. Ruby was standing just out of arm's reach, looking away with a somewhat harrowed expression visible on her face, the words she had been about to say having gotten stuck in her throat. Before the heiress could speak or do anything, the girl, not turning around, proceeded to continue from where she had left off; still, Weiss could practically feel just how hard it was for Ruby to talk about the matter.
"I know how it was like, to have Salem in my head. And I really can't bring myself to blame Yang. After all, she's not the only one who was close to slipping," the silver-eyed girl confessed quietly.
Something tightened inside Weiss' chest, an ice cold shiver running down her body. "Ruby...?"
Ruby glanced at her partner before once again turning her eyes towards the ground. She seemed apolegetic... ashamed, even, as if she genuinely wanted to give Weiss a reply, but couldn't bring herself to do so. "It's... I'm sorry, Weiss, but it's something I'd rather not talk about at the moment. All I'm going to say for now is that the thought that there were people who counted on me, who still believed in me, was the only thing that kept me afloat..." She turned her head towards her partner, apparently having mustered enough willpower to hold Weiss' gaze. "And that even if you haven't been able to be there, you've still helped me in the darkness." Along with these words, Ruby gave her partner a weak but affectionate smile, one that shone beautifully even despite the girl's slightly watered eyes, for a second making Weiss' heart mess up its rhythm. Then, as if in a fit of sudden embarassment, the ravenette looked away, sheepishly scratching the back of her head with her left hand. "Uh, but I've digressed, so let's get back on track."
Ruby awkwardly resumed her stroll, carrying on with her explanation. "So, Blake... Blake still blames herself for willingly abandoning sis and I after the Fall of Beacon. She knew that Yang would need her, and yet she still ran away... but, even if she only wanted to protect us, she's done the very worst thing she could do when it comes to Yang. Sure, it's all long forgiven and repaid as far as we are concerned, but she is still not done with guilttripping herself, even though sis is working on that. As for myself..." She exhaled through her nose with a quiet puff, as if letting out a short, silent laugh. "I keep replaying every situation that went downhill in my mind, thinking of things I could've done differently, done better... you all have entrusted me with your lives, and yet time and time again I've fucked up and failed said trust by putting you in unnecessary danger, or by making you suffer because of my decisions, or..."
"As if!" Weiss objected ardently, going as far as to interrupt her partner. "We've been over this, but fine, here we go again: I can see how alleged 'fuck-ups' might seem in the hindsight, but you are not omniscient - you just couldn't predict every single outcome or scenario that would happen. Yes, it did result in close calls and hardships, but you were never the one that was to blame; you were the one that got us through them. We all have followed you out of our own volition, and I, for one, have never felt that my trust was misplaced, or that you've failed me as a leader, or as a partner, or a friend."
Ruby seemed to appreciate Weiss' words, but, at the same time, the faint smirk that had appeared on her lips told the heiress that the girl might've just set Weiss up, having predicted how her partner would react and using it to make her point. Nonetheless, it did seem that Ruby had truly meant what she had said.
"Even if you're objectively right... tell me, did anything that Yang has said change the way you feel about yourself?" Ruby questioned with a knowing look in her eyes, then grinned, seeing a 'no' painted all over the heiress' face. "I rest my case. Even if no one else blames me, I do, the same way Blake and Yang blame themselves. Just like you do, despite having saved the day back when there was a real risk that years of efforts to defeat Salem would all go to waste."
Weiss marched onwards alongside Ruby, quietly considering what her partner had said. While most of the things the girl had mentioned were issues the heiress was more or less aware of, she also knew Ruby's goal was less to inform her, and more to show her a different point of view, to make Weiss look at her own case from a slightly different angle; to that end, Ruby had certainly succeeded.
Having remained silent for a while as to let her words sink in, Ruby fixed her gaze on the starry sky overhead and continued speaking, pretty much voicing Weiss' thoughts. "When something dear to us is at stake, we want to give our best to make sure nothing bad happens. But there are times when the things don't go the way we would want them to, when even 'our best' is not enough – expectations are not met, duties are not fulfilled, feelings are hurt, promises broken, lives put in danger... and when something so important is at risk, we often blame ourselves for failure, taking it personally and coming up with a number of 'what ifs', even if there was nothing we possibly could've done, or when no one else blames us. But, irrational as it objectively may be, it's just how we feel, and our feelings are always valid. So I understand why do you feel the way you do – it's only natural. It shows that you care." She glanced at her partner, giving the white-haired girl a fond smile that bore some visible traces of underlying sadness. "Just remember that you're not alone... and that we shouldn't let our regrets eat us alive. We all have messed up at some point. We all are messed up. But we have to keep moving forward."
"Easier said than done."
Ruby laughed softly, turning her eyes towards the waning moon and wrapping her arm around Weiss' shoulder. "Oh, don't I know it. Still, as long as we stick together... I think we will be fine, eventually."
Weiss didn't say anything to that, simply thinking about all that she had heard that night. "They are fine, at least as far as their bodies are concerned," Ozpin's words echoed in her mind, causing the heiress to smile bitterly. Back at the time, she didn't think much of the second part of his statement, simply relieved that all of her teammates had survived, but, as more days passed, she started picking up on some little things that eventually made her realize that the old headmaster had stressed that distinction for a reason. In truth, none of the girls had returned from their last battle unscathed – the wounds were there if you looked long enough, even if it wasn't the body that they scarred. Each member of team RWBY had been given a new burden to bear, and Weiss was no exception, having to live with the guilt of the one that had stayed behind.
Ruby was right – they all were broken, in their own unique ways... but not yet beyond repair. Each of them was going to need their friends just as much as they had ever needed them in the heat of the battle, but, given enough time and with each other's support, they should be able to eventually recover. Or so she hoped, at least.
She was grateful to Jaune for filling her in on what had happened, even if it did nothing to alleviate the feeling of guilt that had been slowly eating away at her soul; true, it did add more fuel to the flame of self-hatred that she had been trying to suppress, but it also shed some light on what her friends had gone through, allowing Weiss to better understand what they were feeling. It was also a much needed reminder that, despite all of her shortcomings, both large and small, she was still cherished and respected by those who were dear to her, and, while it came with its own set of issues related to her sense of worthlessness, it meant a lot to her.
Though they tried, neither Yang nor Ruby was able to completely calm her conscience. She still felt as if she had failed them, or maybe failed herself; she did, however, feel slightly better, having talked about her bottled up anxiety, as if some weight was lifted from her chest, no longer crushing her under its pressure. That being said, one thing she had heard kept bothering her.
Weiss glanced at her partner's moonlit profile, the image of the girl's pained expression from before still burning vividly in her memory. It was the second time Ruby mentioned what had happened during their encounter with Salem, and once again the little bits of information the heiress had learned - both from Ruby's words and the way she behaved - had left her deeply concerned, shaken, even – perhaps more so than before, seeing that it was the first time, Weiss believed, when her partner had ever told her that there was something she didn't want to talk about. Weiss understood that the day was emotionally exhausting as it were, so she still had faith that Ruby would confide in her eventually, but the refusal alone was very telling. What worried her the most was something that she hadn't realized outright, though it had given her the creeps back at the time – the fact that the phrase 'to have Salem in my head' coming from Ruby's mouth didn't sound like a simple metaphore.
Looking at the silver-eyed girl with a worried frown, she couldn't help but wonder: 'what has she done to you, exactly?' Somehow, Weiss was unable to shake off the feeling that a part of her did know, on some subconscious level, the answer to that question. It kept eluding her mind despite her best efforts, however, just like a name that was on the tip of one's tongue that stubbornly refused to be remembered; whatever it was, it made her worry all the more. 'And how have I 'helped you in the darkness'? The words 'I haven't done anything' once again popped inside Weiss' mind, but this time they didn't spark any hateful thoughts – she was just too concerned about Ruby at that moment to be angry with herself.
The girl in question noticed Weiss' concerned stare and their eyes met for a brief while. Before long, Ruby looked aside, pursing her lips in a weary, sheepish smile, as if once again knowing exactly what was going on inside Weiss' head. She didn't say anything nor moved away, simply marching onwards with her gaze firmly placed on the ground one feet ahead of her. She looked vulnerable, but even though she was probably aware of that fact, she was not trying to hide behind her usual mask of an undaunted leader. It was almost as if Ruby wanted to seen like that, and for some reason Weiss had a feeling that it was a sight reserved for her eyes only.
'Perhaps Jaune was right,' the heiress thought to herself as she continued walking by her partner's side. Regardless of her doubts related to her own worthiness, if there was a single thing she was sure of in that very moment, it was that she actually felt needed, and this notion made the autumn night seem ever so slightly brighter and warmer.
"'As long as we stick together, we will be fine', you say," Weiss repeated Ruby's words thoughtfully, breaking the silence. She turned her eyes towards the moonlit sky, reassuringly reciprocating her friend's side hug. "I guess we are going to find out about that eventually, aren't we?" Although she worded it as a question, there was no uncertainty in her voice when she spoke, the message that she wanted to convey being that she would stay by Ruby's side, and that she deemed the prospect of the two of them parting ways to be unfit of being spared a single thought.
Ruby, seemingly aware of what her partner meant, glanced in Weiss' direction with a tiny simper on her lips, then followed the heiress' gaze all the way to the distant stars. "Yeah."
Sticking together was never considered to be a question, as neither of them would have it any other way.
Not much time had passed before Ruby and Weiss returned to the marquee, rejoining other guests. The banquet carried on rather uneventfully in the air of amiable solidarity, with students from various Kingdoms and Beacon's staff mingling with each other. As the hour arm of the clock was pulling further and further away from midnight, the soft buzz of conversations began to quieten, the crowd slowly thinning out; eventually, only about half of the people remained.
Weiss, having politely withdrawn herself from all conversation some five minutes prior, was sitting alone on one of the solitary benches that were lining the tent's walls, away from the tables; with one of her elbows placed on the backrest and her legs stretched along the length of the bench, she was resting her head on her hand, struggling to stay awake. While she was entertaining herself with observing some poor students from Mistral being subjected to one of professor Port's lengthy anecdotes, she was approached by Ruby, who gave the heiress a slightly concerned look.
"You okay?"
"Mm. Just tired," Weiss murmured sleepily, then proceeded to take her legs off the bench in order to make some space for her partner to sit on. Ruby, having eased up a bit after hearing Weiss' reply, gratefully took up on the offer; a few moments after the silver-eyed girl had seated herself right next to the heiress, Weiss, apparently having an idea, glanced at her and asked: "Do you plan to get up anytime soon?"
The look on Ruby's face was one of confusion. "Uh... I don't think so? Why?"
Weiss, seemingly satisfied with such a response, paid no mind to her partner's bafflement. Leaving the girl's question unanswered, she simply rested her head against Ruby's shoulder and closed her eyelids, crossing her arms across her chest as to preserve her own body heat. "Good."
After a brief while, a quiet snort of laughter reached Weiss' ears; no objection ever came.
In her dreams, Weiss' explored a strange, eerie world of shadows and shades of gray, where human-shaped silhouettes of pure radiance and the tempestuous energy of Dust seemed to be the only sources of colour among the all-encompassing bleakness. She herself was nothing more than a spectator, unable to do much aside from passively witnessing scenes that were flashing before her eyes, sporadically being given a moment to listen or to take a better look before time and space shifted somewhere else. Because of that, she was unable to learn much from what she had heard or seen – just small bits of information devoid of context, seemingly unrelated to each other. While it was hard to connect one vision with another, one thing remained constant: the presence of a person wreathed in familiar, red light that seemed to act almost like an anchor, drawing Weiss towards it. The presence that she believed she'd recognize anywhere – Ruby's.
After another series of rapid flashes, the shadowy world around the heiress once again stabilized for a while and Weiss found herself in a gorge between two imposing masses of land that towered over the shattered landscape. Numerous spires that looked like holes punched clear through the canvas of the universe surrounded her, emanating an unsettling aura; the earth itself seemed dead and tainted with shadow. Here and there, small patches of grass fought for survival among the uncaring rocks, giving off a faint, ghostly glow that made them stand out among the barren, dark environment; the sky was about the only thing that seemed normal – moonlit and littered with tiny dots, its familiarty giving Weiss some semblance of comfort in this bizarre setting.
Nearby, four radiant figures ventured through the night – Ruby, accompanied by silhouettes of yellow, light purple and green, with the latter seemingly fluctuating between two slightly different shades. The identities of the rest of the group weren't hard to guess – Yang was the yellow one marching in the middle, following after Ruby and green Oscar, who were leading the party through the darkness; Blake, with her superior sight and hearing, strode silently at the end of the column, acting as a rear guard.
Weiss spent a moment to take a better look at the each of them; when she concentrated, she could practically make out – or imagine, at least - their facial features or what kind of clothing they wore, what expression they had on their faces. Tense and serious, they didn't talk much to one another; still, even though all were visibly concerned, they pressed onward nonetheless, and when it came to Ruby, Weiss could practically sense her determination almost as if it was her own.
Some time after they had left the ravine, Yang, who looked as if she wanted to say something for the past while, finally decided to voice her thoughts. "Hey, Os... isn't Salem's castle a bit more to the south?" she asked, pointing in the direction of another titanic crag, behind which the Witch's keep was supposedly hiding from their view. While everyone's internal light seemed to Weiss to be a bit dimmed in colour, it appeared to be especially true when it came to Yang, and although she had no idea how she came that conclusion, she just knew she was right.
Oscar glanced over his shoulder to look at the blonde. "Uh... yeah, I guess," he replied awkwardly, as if not sure how to respond, continuing his stride northwest.
"I doubt we're headed to the castle. Seems unlikely we'd find her there," Ruby replied calmly, almost matter-of-factly. "Sure, it'd be a good position to hole up in if she was outnumbered... but she isn't, and it's probably too confined inside to effectively use her numbers against us. Which might be exactly what she plans to do, considering that our ability to deal with swarms has gotten significantly reduced."
After these words, the redness of Ruby's radiance lost some of its intensity, with the lights of the others soon following suit. Then, the distant echo of gunshots was carried to them by the wind, and they all as one stopped dead in their tracks and turned their heads in the direction from where the sound had come.
"So it has started, huh," Yang murmured after a while of listening.
Ruby stared in silence, with her glow growing dull as worry and fear began creeping into her mind. Seeing this, Weiss nigh automatically approached the girl from behind, wishing she could say something or comfort her partner with a touch, wishing she could do anything... but, being a powerless spectator, she could not.
That's why she was surprised when Ruby actually turned around and looked right at her with a slightly confused look on her face – or rather right through her, as Weiss came to realize after a brief moment, much to her disappointment. In the end, it appeared that the girl simply thought she had heard something behind her, her silver eyes peering into the darkness as to discern whether she was right or not.
Having noticed this strange behaviour, Blake, with her hand slowly drawing closer to the grip of Gambol Shroud, called Ruby's name, audibly concerned. "Ruby?"
Ruby simply took a deep breath and sighed, then, after casting a fleeting glance in the general direction from where they'd come, she turned away from Weiss and, seemingly having collected herself, renewed their group's march northwest. "T's nothing. Let's get going."
As Weiss watched the party march off into the unknown, the world around her began to spin and blur, and soon, the scenery had changed. For a brief while, she was presented with a full-coloured image of Ruby kneeling on all fours among the seemingly infinite darkness, but then, something suddenly jerked the heiress to the side, causing her to plunge into nothingness...
Weiss groaned as she stirred awake, called into consciousness by someone gently shaking her by her shoulder. Feeling as if she had barely gotten any sleep, she groggily opened her eyes and turned her head towards the girl sitting on the bench right next to her, whom she suspected to be the one who had dared to disturb her slumber. Once the slightly blurred image of her partner's face came into her view, Weiss, too tired to be angry, shot Ruby a long, drowsy look from under her only half-opened eyelids.
The younger girl smiled apologetically in response. "Hey. It's time to go. Blake and Yang are waiting for us outside."
The sun was already out, its golden glow seeping into the marquee through the windows and lighting up the white canvas of the walls. Most people had already left the tent, the few who had not either sleeping or chatting in hushed voices. If Weiss was to risk a guess, she'd be inclined to say that it was sometime after seven in the morning, which would mean that she had dozed off for about three hours, give or take – amount of sleep far from optimal, but still adequate... -ish.
Weiss sighed, slightly disappointed that she'd not be allowed to nap just for a while longer. Resigned to her sleep-deprived fate, she attempted to lift her hand in order to rub her eyes, but she unexpectedly encountered some resistance along the way. Feeling something warm and soft to the touch brush against her skin, the heiress cast her gaze down, onto her lap; only then did her drowsy mind register that both she and her partner were covered from the shoulders down with Ruby's cloak, which the other girl must have placed over their bodies like a blanket sometime after the heiress had fallen asleep. Seeing that small but thoughtful gesture, Weiss gave her partner a look of silent gratitude, corners of her mouth gently curving upwards.
Having rubbed the sleep from her eyes, the heiress left the comfort of her partner's cloak and stood up, exposing herself to the cold bite of the morning air that almost immediately caused her to miss the pleasant warmth she had been feeling just a moment before. She stretched, then, wrapping her arms around herself in the hope of fending off the chill, threw a sweeping glance at the handful of people who still remained within the tent. By the time her eyes once again turned towards Ruby, the girl had already risen from her seat and bundled herself up in her trademark red cloak.
"Have you stayed awake the whole night?" Weiss asked her partner, seeing the girl stifle a rather lengthy yawn.
"Nah. I fell asleep not that long after you, and have been up for... dunno, maybe the past ten minutes or so," Ruby replied, slowly inching away from the bench as she spoke. Drawing past the heiress, she gestured with her head for Weiss to come along. "Let's go."
Seeing no good reason to object, Weiss followed the huddling under the red mantle ravenette to the exit. True to Ruby's word, they found their teammates just outside the tent, chatting with Coco and Velvet; seeing the two of them walking out of the marquee, their friends waved them hello, all of them looking the worse for wear.
"Damn. You two look terrible," Yang quipped as Ruby and Weiss aproached, herself being a far cry from well-rested.
Hearing that taunt, Weiss smirked with a playful twinkle in her eyes; although still fairly sleepy, she had been sobered enough by the chilly air to be able to retort without missing a single beat. "And you look almost as bad as I'm feeling at the moment, which, believe me, is an achievement" she paused briefly, throwing in a yawn for good measure, "in and of itself."
Yang chuckled, showing her teeth in a weary grin. She seemed relieved, for some reason, and it made the heiress wonder whether the blonde's teasing was, perchance, an attempt to gauge Weiss' mood after the last night.
"Yeah, I'm beat; been awake the whole damned night," Yang said, rubbing her neck. "Take all of my regrets."
Having heard the part about the alleged regrets, the girl in the wheelchair placed her hand over her heart and shot Yang a theatrically hurt look. "Hun, you wound me. Would you rather have napped than spent some quality time with me? Unbelievable." After a brief while, Coco dropped her melodramatic mask and quickly grabbed the Scroll lying in her lap, then opened it and checked the hour, frowning a bit after doing so. "Anyhoo, we really should get going now. I know that the four of you are taking a later flight, but ours is in eighteen minutes." With that, Coco began to slowly drive away in her wheelchair, giving the rest of the group a cue to follow.
"What about Fox and Yatsu?" Ruby asked, seeing that neither of the two was to be seen around.
Coco turned in her chair as to look at the girl in red. "Oh, guys? They went ahead, taking our luggage. Jaune and the rest of the dorks tagged along."
And so their party of six traversed the campus grounds, dropping by the dorms so Ruby and her team could retrieve their belongings from their old room. Fairly drained after the last night, they chatted lazily on their way to the landing zone, their discourse lacking its usual energy, with periods of comfortable silence separating one exchange from another. Although initially active, Weiss slowly grew more and more detached from the conversation, her attention drifting away as she was getting absorbed in her thoughts.
The more she pondered on it, the more she felt there was something unsettling about her last night's dream. It had been... different – clearer, almost tangible, a mix of a surprisingly believable scenario with a dreamscape just as unusual; then, when it ultimately had come to pass upon waking up, it had left the heiress with a perplexing sense of déjà vu. Logically, she figured it was nothing more than her brain projecting what she knew onto her dreams, letting her imagination – and her fears – to fill in the gaps. Still, she was growing anxious, as if worried that there was something more to what she had dreamt of, or afraid that it was truer to what had really happened than she'd like it to; learning from Jaune that the tune she had heard in her dream a few days prior was the very same piece as the song Ruby had sung by her bedside did not help the matters, even if there was something truly heartmelting about the idea that the girl's voice had reached Weiss' unconscious mind.
She just couldn't shake off the feeling that all of the dreams she had had lately were somehow connected, and that she was missing something; then again, she reasoned she was simply being paranoid after she had recognized the melody that Jaune, unable to recall the exact lyrics of Ruby's song, had hummed. She was well aware that she was being silly, fretting over nothing, but the sensation persisted nonetheless.
Eventually, their group arrived at their destination, just in time to see one of the airships approaching the landing zone. The others – Jaune, Sun, and their teams, along with Fox and Yatsuashi - were already there, picking up their luggage from the ground and preparing to board the ship.
Coco once again checked the hour, then eyed the advancing vessel briefly. "That's our ride alright. Seems we're not late, after all... bummer." She glanced at Ruby and smirked seeing the girl's slightly confused expression. "I was kinda looking forward to that drink you'd have to buy me if we missed the flight because we've waited for your team."
"You know I'm still a minor, right?"
Coco grinned. "That'd be a part of the fun," she said with a wink, then smiled and opened her arms – an invitation Ruby gladly accepted. When the silver-eyed girl released her from the hug, Coco reached up and ruffled Ruby's hair, adding: "See you around, kid."
After hugging both Coco and Velvet, Ruby trotted off to say goodbye to the others, with Yang and Weiss following suit shortly after; Blake was the last one to approach the two senior girls.
While Velvet was being held in cat Faunus' embrace, Coco was peeked over her aviator sunglasses, watching a certain duo from afar with a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Keep us posted on any developments between those two dorks of yours, would ya, dear?" she asked, turning her eyes towards Blake.
The Faunus in question let out a short laugh, then, having pulled away from Velvet, threw a brief glance over her shoulder to look at Ruby and Weiss. "Sure. Have a nice trip, girls. And good luck with the rehab."
Coco smiled wryly at the mention of rehabilitation, but nodded her head nonetheless. "Yeah... thanks."
Eventually, all the goodbyes were said and all the hugs were given, and the time had come for the most to board the airship; only Ruby and her team were going to remain on the landing platform, their direct flight to Patch scheduled ten minutes later. Seconds before Velvet was about to enter the vessel, Blake sent her a short text; the moment the girl had read the message, her head snapped towards the cat Faunus, Velvet's cheeks practically set aflame and her rabbit ears standing nigh perfectly upright. Seeing that look of embarassment she was given, Blake just waved at her friend good-naturedly with a smile of pure innocence on her lips, somehow – but not without a great effort – managing to keep her face straight; only after the rabbit Faunus had disappeared deep within the ship did Blake let out a self-satisfied chuckle. She always had fun messing with Velvet; besides, she truly meant what she had written. Shooting a brief glance at the message she had sent, Blake closed her Scroll shut and put it back in a pocket of her coat.
It read 'I'm expecting updates on your own endeavors, too, Velv. Best of luck.'
Before long, the airship took off towards the city of Vale with everyone on board, its passengers waved off by Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, who all watched from the edge of a cliff as the aircraft drew further and further away from Beacon, slowly turning into a mere shiny dot in the morning sky. After a while, Ruby and Blake walked to the nearest bench and sat there, leaving Yang and Weiss alone near the brink of the landing platform. A soft breeze was in the air, one which Weiss found herself enjoying once her body got used to the temperature outside; not talking much with her blonde teammate, she focused on her breathing, taking steady, deep breaths – something she had made a part of her daily routine lately, just as doctor Grapes had recommended her to do.
A few minutes had passed and, eventually, the airship that would take them to Patch appeared in the sky. Still, even though the hour of their departure was drawing near, Taiyang, for whom the girls were supposed to wait at the landing zone, was nowhere in sight.
Seeing this, Weiss turned to her blonde teammate, who had been standing next to her for the past few minutes, looking into the distance. "Hey, Yang... where is your dad? Weren't we supposed to meet with him here?"
Yang jumped a bit at the sound of Weiss' voice, apparently having been deep in thought. "Huh? Oh, yeah, but something came up at Signal, so he went to Patch two days ago. He'll be waiting for us at home."
Weiss simply nodded in acknowledgement, falling silent for a brief while before once again looking at the blonde with a sly smile. "Speaking of parents... when are you going to Blake's?"
Yang blinked in surprise, as if not expecting such a question, then glanced to the side, her left hand disappearing within her blonde mane. "Well, uh... in ten hours or so? The moment we get home, me and Blake are going to hit the bed and try to get some sleep before going to visit 'em. I asked dad to pack a few things for us in advance, so it won't take us long to prepare." Seeing the surprised look she was given, she smiled apolegetically. "Sorry for keeping you out of the loop, I kinda forgot you weren't around back when we've told Ruby."
Weiss waved her hand dismissively. "It's alright, I just didn't think you'd leave so soon. Tomorrow, maybe, but not sooner."
Yang cracked a toothy grin, wrapping her arm around Weiss' shoulder and leaning in a bit. "Well, look at it this way: starting today, you'll have Ruby all to yourself for a whole... long... week," she said, outstretching her other arm as if showing the heiress a whole realm of new possibilities, the blonde's theatrics earning her a well-deserved eyeroll from Weiss.
After a short while, something seemed to have clicked in the heiress' mind. "Wait. What about your father?"
"Oh, yeah, I suppose you might need to share with him from time to time," Yang conceded lightheartedly, chuckling at the sight of the long, unamused look given to her by Weiss, who had just barely stopped herself from throwing a quick elbow jab at the blonde's ribs. "In all seriousness though, something's telling me you won't be seeing him around all that much. Work and stuff."
"I see."
With her arm still around Weiss' shoulder, Yang cast her gaze down, a moment of awkward silence following while the girl was searching for words; after a few seconds, she finally spoke up. "So, yeah... just wanted you to know that I'm really glad you're staying with us. Not just because Ru won't be left out when me and Blake are doing whatever it is that couples usually do – though I gotta admit, you certainly made things easier for us when you accepted dad's invitation. Made Ruby's day, too." Having said that, Yang looked up at Weiss, a brief, warm smile appearing on her face before her expression shifted into a more serious one. "None of us should be left alone after all that shit. Now we at least won't have to worry about you driving yourself up the wall, with no-one around to keep you sane."
"Thanks," Weiss replied with corners of her mouth pointing marginally upwards, deeply grateful but not really knowing what else to say; then again, maybe there was nothing that needed to be said.
Upon boarding their airship once it had arrived, none of the girls took their seats outright; instead, they stopped by one of the vessel's big windows, standing arm in arm and watching wistfully as Beacon was becoming progressively smaller and smaller with each passing moment, a lone warden overseeing the sparkling river hundreds of feet below. There was some peculiar finality to that sight, a strange sense of relief, as if they had finally closed a certain troubling chapter of their lives, leaving behind not only their school, but also some of the pain and burdens the past two years had wrought. There was some sadness to it, but it was pure, devoid of bitterness; true, they parted ways with their friends and their beloved Academy, but it would only be temporary – they'd return to them, in time. Right then, however, the were finally truly liberated, free to take a breath, tend to their wounds and pick up the pieces of their once shattered lives – together.
'It's not exactly a fresh start,' Ruby mused, taking in the sight of the morning sun rising behind the Beacon Tower, 'but it sure feels like a new beginning.' With her hand in the pocket of her hoodie, she was tracing the edge of a piece of stiff paper with her thumb, thinking of all the battles they were yet to have, mostly of those that they would have to wage against their own selves.
Not all their problems were gone; the Remnant would still need them, and their road to recovery was probably going to be long and sometimes trying, but, for now, Ruby figured she should try not to dwell too much on these problems and the past, and looked forward to what the future would bring.
After all, when one thing ends, the other begins. And she sure hoped it'd be something good.
Author's Note:
So, uh... hi. It's been a while, huh?
Sorry about the long radio silence; first I've been trapped within an exam limbo for about a month, then I've been sick, then I've had some catching up to do... yeaaaah, long story short, real life happened. The fact that two paragraphs were a bitch to write didn't help, either. But hey, it's finally here.
Do you remember how I said that "Save Her" would be the last chapter of the "Beacon Arc"? Well, let's just say that "Parting" has ever so slightly spun out of control, and the initial two scenes turned out to be far longer than I originally intended; no regrets, I guess, but I ended up moving the actual post-Beacon stuff to the next chapter.
A bit of heads up: my finals are coming up in less than two months, so it's hard for me to say at the moment when am I going to release the next chapter; hopefully within a month, but I can't say for sure. Besides, you know me - I'm a wildcard when it comes to releases.
Anyways, thank you all for reading, for motivating me with your follows, faves and reviews; I hope you've all enjoyed this little update, and that I'll see you next chapter!