Chapter 17
Blake was freaking out - not because she and her friends had been flung into the future, but because her lover was about to give birth.
"What do you think our odds are that the nearest hospital is still standing?" Velvet couldn't help but ask even as she attempted to comfort her fellow Faunus.
"Même si c'était le cas, nous n'y arriverons jamais à temps. (Even if it was, we'd never make it there in time)" Ciel remarked with a shake of her head, her eyes briefly glowing.
"Ciel's right." Jean declared, recognizing that her teammate had just used her Semblance - Future Sight - and saw that they likely wouldn't make it to a proper medical facility in time. True, her teammate usually only saw a possible future, but now wasn't the time to make a gamble like that. "We're...well, I'm going to have to make sure it's delivered here."
"Whoa! I'm not trusting you to deliver my step-daughter!" Blake snapped. "Oobleck told me you're not even a real medic! How do you expect to-?!"
"Blake listen to me!" Jean interrupted. "I know I've done things I'm not proud of, but without Dr. Oobleck, I am the only person here who has any semblance of medical training, whatsoever! Granted, I never really learned how to use my semblance. And it's been a while since I took the birthing class. And, honestly, I'd feel a lot more comfortable if someone other than me could help her-"
"Oh, my gods!" Weiss grabbed her head in frustration. "Either help us, or don't!"
"Right, right, right!" Jean nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna need a pot of boiling water, a couple of clean sheets, a stress ball, a bunch of latex gloves…"
As Jean made her list, Ruby was being comforted by her girlfriend, her best friend, and her parents. "This is all my fault." She whimpered. "If I hadn't trusted the Doppelgangers in the first place, Yang wouldn't be in this mess."
"You can't blame yourself, Sweetie." Summer soothed.
"Yeah, and don't worry; Yang's tough enough to pull through this." Taiyang added.
"Oh, when I get my hands on that Doppelganger, I'll make him regret biting Yang!" Ruby growled.
"'Biting?'" Weiss arched an eyebrow at her partner's threat.
"Yeah." Ruby shrugged. "Y'know, when he impersonated Blake so he could bite Yang and put the baby in her with his baby-making venom. Just like how normal babies are made."
Everyone else silently turned to the girl's father. "You haven't had the talk with her, yet?" Summer whispered, angrily.
"She didn't have my sex-ed class, yet." Taiyang replied, sheepishly. "Besides, I'm not very good with that subject, anyway."
Years ago, at Signal Academy, Yang Xiao Long blushed brightly as her father lectured her and all her friends on the basics of sex-ed. "Okay, now that we've covered puberty and the effects it has on your bodies and correlation with your auras and semblances, we can move on… " Taiyang rubbed his neck as he tried to find the right words. "Y'see… all I can really say is… well, when two people love each other… or like each other…? Uh, tolerate? Yeah, let's say 'tolerate.' When two people tolerate each other, they want to be together. Sometimes. Well, sometimes, one of them wants to be together, but the other doesn't want to be together at all. Sometimes, the closer they are together, the more miserable they are. But the further they are apart, the better it is for everyone. It's complicated."
"Wow." Qrow Branwen - Taiyang's former teammate and fellow teacher - leaned against the wall. He had heard everything. "You are really bad at this."
"I'd like to see you do better!" Taiyang snapped.
"Yes! Please!" Yang shouted. "Literally anyone other than my dad!"
"Alright, fine." Qrow cleared his throat and took his partner's spot in front of the blackboard. "Uh, teach… teach…"
"We're waiting." Taiyang goaded as he crossed his arms.
"... okay, here's the deal." Qrow started. "I've got a hangover. Who knows what that means?"
"Uh… doesn't that mean you're drunk?" One student asked.
"Close." Qrow smiled. "It means I was drunk yesterday. So instead of talking, I'm gonna show you a few fun videos-"
"NO!" Taiyang screamed in horror.
"You two are worthless." Summer crossed her arms in disappointment.
"Well, by all means, you tell our daughter about-"
"Hey!" Blake clapped her hands, irritably - trying to get everyone's attention. "Have we forgotten that Yang is about to give birth?!"
"Right." Summer nodded. "Our baby needs us."
"Uh, are you referring to Yang or to our grandchild?" Raven asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yes." Summer replied.
Meanwhile, back at Beacon, a woman who was definitely not Glynda Goodwich burst into the office of the Academy's headmaster. "Sir, we've picked up some strange energy readings from the cave system near the academy. Also, for some reason, our scanners are indicating that there are several huntsmen and huntresses in the area, but no one seems to recall sending anyone out there yet."
The man in question looked at where the energy readings were located, and the ID numbers that flashed across the screen; smiling as he did so. "It seems Jasmine was right after all." He replied, waving off a confused look from his assistant. "She was a good friend of mine that has long since passed away. Regardless, call off any huntsmen and huntresses that are on route: I'll deal with the situation personally."
"Sir, are you certain that is a good idea?"
He chuckled. "If it makes you feel any better, you can have some of our students on stand-by. But I assure you, I'll be in no danger. I simply wish to say hello to a few old friends."
Back at the cave, Yang was screaming at the top of her lungs in pain. Blake winced as she felt several bones in her hand shatter in her lover's iron grip. Taiyang, Summer, and Raven tried their best to help ease Yang's discomfort, but it was little help. Jean, however, felt elated at the chance to perform a real medical procedure on her own. "You're doing great, Yang!" She beamed. "Just a few more pushes!"
"YOU SAID THAT SEVEN PUSHES AGO!" Yang screamed.
"Yeah, but I mean it, this time!" Jean looked back down at the crowning head. "Just keep following your mom's breathing instructions!"
"Blake! Blake!" Yang's teary eyes locked onto the yellow irises of her girlfriend. "Blakey, you love me, right?!"
"What?!" Blake fought back a scream in her throat. "O-of course, I love you!"
"Would you do anything for me?" Yang whimpered.
"A-anything, my lo-AAH!" Blake yelped as Yang gripped the scruff of her shirt and pulled her close.
"THEN CUT ME OPEN AND PULL THIS THING OUT OF MEEEEEE!"
"No need!" Jean cut the umbilical cord and held up Yang's baby; wiping some sweat from her forehead with a smile. "Congratulations: it's a girl…" Having taken time to really take in the child's appearance, however, she couldn't help but frown. "...uh, I think. I've never actually seen a half-grim child before."
Said half-grimm child - sporting white skin, purple eyes, yellow hair, and what seemed to be cat ears protruding from her head - couldn't help but give the medic the infantile version of a glare, before looking to Yang; a curious expression on her face. "Mama?"
Yang - despite her surprise at how the child in her arms had already said her first word - couldn't help but give a teary-eyed smile in response. "How can something so potentially dangerous be so precious? You look so delicate, but I can already tell that you'll grow to be a fighter, just like the rest of your crazy family. No one will touch you unless they go about it gently, just like the holly bushes we have back on Patch." Yang let out a soft gasp. "That's it; how do you like the name 'Holly'?"
The newly christened "Holly" just gave a smile in response, even as Blake gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Welcome to the world, Holly." The way that the human-grimm hybrid seemed to give her kiss back only made the cat ninja's smile grow, ecstatic that her step-daughter had accepted her.
Watching this, Ruby couldn't help but smile. It didn't matter how it came about. It didn't matter that they were currently trapped in the future. All that mattered was one thing. "I'm an Aunt now!"
"Funny, I don't see any antenna on your head," Yang remarked, getting a raspberry from Ruby and a chuckle from Holly.
"Wow… this is both disturbing and heartwarming." Taiyang chuckled.
"Hey, you always said you wanted grandkids." Raven remarked, elbowing her ex-husband in the ribs.
Jaune looked to Weiss. "Is it weird that I find this to be a bit cute?"
Weiss, knowing that he was referring to how Yang, Blake, Ruby, and the adults were just flat-out ignoring the fact that the blonde brawler's first child was half-grimm, could only give a shrug by way of reply. "If it is, then I'm weird too." She glared. "Don't even think about it, Coco."
Coco could only give a pout in reply. "You're no fun."
Pyrrha then cleared her throat. "Not to interrupt the heartwarming/disturbing moment, but what do you suppose our next move is?"
"You could always come back to Beacon with me."
Turning towards the new voice, Ruby couldn't help but blink at how the newcomer was dressed, taking particular note of the man's cane. "Professor Ozpin?!"
The man couldn't help but chuckle. "It's been a long time since I've heard that name, but in regards to your question, the answer is yes...and no. There will be time for explanations when we're safe at Beacon, but for now, know that it is good to see you again, my students. It's just a shame that Jasmine could not be here to see your return."
"Uh, yeah, I guess we feel the same way." Rachael couldn't help but remark, the name drop more than enough to back up his claim that whoever this man was, not only did he know who they were, but he had somehow lived through the same events as themselves. That just left one question, however. "If you aren't Ozpin, who are you?"
The man gave an almost fatherly smile. "Like I said, the time for explanations will come, but as to my name, you may call me Professor Ozymandias."
"Well, I'm sold." Jaune shrugged. "Let's get back to Beacon."
The next morning, Penny returned to the cave to work on getting back to the past. But truthfully, she needed a little time away from Ruby to cope with what she had learned in her travels. Unfortunately, she had accidentally woken up Weiss on her way out. The Schnee heiress followed the android outside and saw her heading towards the caves.
"Weiss?" Ruby whispered, rubbing the sand from her eyes. "What's going on?"
"I think Penny went to the caves."
"Oh, well, let's get dressed and go meet her. " The hooded huntress yawned. "She might need help."
"If she did, I think she would've asked for it." Blake, who had also woken up, added. "I'm sure she knows what she's doing."
"It's more than that." Ruby shifted, uncomfortably. "She's been acting weird around me lately. She hasn't given me one kiss since she went back in time."
"Oh, heaven forbid." Weiss retorted - failing to hide her jealousy once again.
"Ugh… what're we doing up so early?" Yang yawned.
"Well, well, well." Weiss snorted. "Look who finally decided to join us."
"Shut it, princess." Yang snapped. "Holly took forever to get to sleep last night. Add that to the raging hormones and I'm not feeling like much of a morning person."
"If it makes you feel better, I think your boobs have gotten bigger." Blake smiled.
Yang looked down at her breasts with a smile of her own. "Yeah, they have. I still need to work on losing this baby weight, though."
"Uh, yeah." Ruby coughed into her palm, turning her gaze to Weiss. "We, uh, we could all try to lose some weight."
"Some of us more than others." Blake snorted, also looking at Weiss.
"Yeah. Some of us have definitely let ourselves go." Yang added.
Weiss' brow furrowed as she noticed all the eyes on her. "Are… are you guys talking about me?" She asked, defensively.
"Yeah, we didn't want to say anything." Ruby replied, apologetically.
"Yeah, that's why we said something." Yang chuckled.
"Well, excuse me!" Weiss spluttered. "I've been under a lot of stress lately! I've been carrying this team since day one!"
"Carrying us where?" Yang snarked. "To the buffet?"
Before the Schnee heiress could give a no doubt anger-filled reply, Penny returned, looking like she had been crying. "I'll need a day or two, but I should be able to get us home."
"That's great and all, but Penny? Is everything alright?" Weiss couldn't help but ask.
Penny just gave the heiress a hug. "Take care of Ruby for me."
"Are...are you breaking up with me?" The hooded huntress couldn't help but ask.
"Believe me, I don't want to." The android replied as she broke the embrace. "But with what I learned while I was in the past, I have to. I just...there's no way I can be comfortable dating my sister."
"I'm sorry, I must still be asleep." Yang remarked. "I could've sworn I heard Penny call Ruby her sister."
"She did." A newly arrived Summer declared, a somber expression on her face, before giving a sigh. "I think it's time I told you where I went on my last mission. You see, while I was up in Atlas during one of my brief moments of looking after Weiss, Whitely, and to a lesser extent Winter, I overheard Dr. Pietro Polendina discussing with Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood about something he called the P.E.N.N.Y. Project. Apparently, he wanted to - in his own words - 'cut the strings off of one of James' mechanical soldiers.' To put it another way, he wanted to give his stillborn daughter a chance at life by placing her brain in a robot chassis and giving it a heart; a soul. Unfortunately, they had a problem: while he was already working on a way to give his daughter an aura of her own, the mind was still a blank slate. Deciding that it couldn't hurt to give Weiss, or even Ruby, another playmate, I volunteered to allow a copy of my mental patterns to be inserted into the mix."
"You… what?" Ruby asked, already seeing where this was going.
Summer sighed. "As you already know, things didn't go according to plan. It was supposed to be a surface-level type of deal, so that Penny would still be able to develop an identity of her own, not to mention I was to let you know about all this. Unfortunately, Jacques Schnee somehow got wind of the project and offered to fund the whole thing. That's where everything went wrong. Jacques was always a proud man, obsessed with perfection, and made it no secret that, even though he was already married, he saw me as his ideal wife. And here I was, willingly allowing my mental patterns to be inserted into a machine to be molded to his liking. The child in question ready to be molded into his child. It's no accident that I discovered a control chip on my person soon after the first scans were taken."
"So...you were…" Weiss looked like she wanted to throw up, disgusted that Ruby's mother had been held captive in her home and never knowing about it.
Summer just nodded. "His first order was to make certain that I never make contact with anyone other than whom he approved of. Knowing that you and my family would not approve of what he was doing, you were on the top of his list of 'do not contact.'"
"How much did the General know about this?" Penny couldn't help but ask.
"He knew bits and pieces, admittedly." Summer said with a shrug. "But Jacques made sure to keep him in the dark about what he was really up to. Even if he knew everything, though, he couldn't do anything about it: Jacques made it clear that if he went down, James and Atlas itself would go down with him."
"Yeah, that sounds like my father," Weiss begrudgingly admitted, before she blinked. "Wait, does that mean that…?"
Summer shook her head with a smile. "Oh, no. Pietro did everything he could to make sure that neither Penny nor myself would ever truly become corrupted by Jacques' ambitions. He could only do so much without endangering countless innocents, but he made sure to make it clear that Penny was his daughter, and in fact was very pleasant to be around. In fact, I suspect that he was the reason that one guard was late for his shift, meaning that he played a part in allowing me to finally escape my confinement."
"...why didn't you tell me all of this before?" Ruby couldn't help but ask, tears running down her eyes.
"Because honestly, there wasn't ever a good time for it." Her mother remarked. "Between all the attacks and all the other stress you've been going through, there honestly wasn't a moment when I could've sat down with you and said, 'Hey, Sweetie. Oh, by the way, Penny's your sister.'"
"She has a point." Yang nodded, holding up her hands in a calming manner upon receiving a glare from her sister. "I'm not saying that we didn't have a right to know; just that there really wasn't a good time for us to have talked about this until recently."
"I...yeah, I guess that's fair." Ruby said with a frown. "I...I think I'd like to be alone for a bit."
Penny nodded. "For what it's worth, Ruby, this doesn't change how much I love you."
"I...I know. It's just going to take some time for me to get over this, you know?" The hooded huntress declared before she walked off.
Penny sighed before turning to Weiss. "Go after her."
"What? But I can't just…"
"I know that she said she wants to be alone, but right now, she needs to know that you're just as upset about what your father did to me - to us - as she is." Penny declared.
Weiss could only give a determined nod before running off. Yang, on the other hand, couldn't stand to look at her step-mother at the moment. The blonde brawler was secretly holding back a serious amount of resentment towards the older huntress. Why hadn't she tried to contact them after escaping from Jacques? With a huff, she left to go check on her own daughter. With any luck, she wouldn't end up abandoning Holly like she had been abandoned.
Meanwhile, Weiss carefully knocked on the door of the room where her partner was hiding. "Ruby?"
"Go away, Weiss."
Weiss just shook her head. "Denying everything isn't going to make your problems go away. Believe me, I know."
"I said, go away."
"You're not the only one who's upset about this, you know. Honestly, the next time I see Jacques, I'm sticking Myrtenaster right where the sun doesn't shine."
"...I think I'd pay to see that." Ruby said with a bitter chuckle, before carefully opening the door a crack.
Weiss had to hold back a wince: even through the door, she could see the red-stained eyes of intense weeping, clear evidence that Ruby had not been taking this news well. "Stupid question, but are you okay?"
"No."
This time, Weiss did let out a wince. "Right. Duh, of course you aren't, but then again, I did say it was a stupid question."
"Why are you here?" Ruby growled.
Weiss just shook her head. "You wouldn't leave me alone if I had suffered a heartbreak, so I won't leave you alone, either."
"Well, I wish you would!" Ruby declared. "I know you hated how Penny and I were dating. I bet you're ecstatic to hear that the two of us have broken up."
"Whoa, hold up, you dolt." Weiss declared, "I'll admit I was jealous of how much time you and Penny were spending together, but I never intended to interfere with it. I know that this is a pretty messed up situation…"
"...then why are you talking to me about it?!" the hooded huntress demanded, opening the door completely so that she could fully face her partner. "Why do you insist on talking to me about any of this?! WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!?"
"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!"
Both partners stared at each other in shock as those words echoed through the hallway, before Weiss nodded, accepting that this was the situation they were in, as well as the truth that until recently she'd been denying to everyone, including herself. "I love you, Ruby Rose."
"...why?"
"Why?" Weiss couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, Ruby: you're smart, brave, kind, noble, and cute as a button, to boot. The better question is why wouldn't I fall in love with you?" She then sighed, "I know that you're still hurting from what happened with Penny, but whatever happens, I'm with you to the end of the line."
"...I might kiss you." Ruby declared with a teary-eyed whisper, taking all of this in, not quite noticing how they were leaning into each other.
"I might let you." The Schnee heiress replied as their lips touched, briefly relishing the kiss before hearing someone clear their throat.
"Sorry to interrupt." A newly arrived Yang declared in a way that said she wasn't sorry at all. "But Professor Ozymandias wishes to speak with us."
Ruby just gave a blush-filled nod before turning to Weiss. "We'll talk about this some more later," she promised.
Weiss gave a blush-filled nod of her own as she watched Ruby run off before turning to Yang. "How...how long were you…?"
"Not long." Yang promised. "Only caught the end of it, but I know my sister enough to know that she hasn't gotten over what happened with Penny just yet. Don't know how she could, in all honesty."
"I know." Weiss said with a nod. "But if I can have even a tenth of what she and Penny had, that'd be enough for me."
Yang blinked, before giving a respectful nod. "You really aren't your father. Very well, I'll help however I can." She promised, before gaining a glare. "but that said, you break her heart, I break your face." The way she readied her Ember Celica only served to emphasize how serious she was right now.
"N...noted," Weiss remarked, not quite sighing with relief as Yang smiled and deactivated her weapons. As she and the blonde brawler left to join the others, she couldn't help but huff. "Huh, so this is what it's like on the receiving end of a threat. I should probably apologize to Penny later."
"Ah, don't sweat it," Yang declared with an impish smirk. "I'm sure she'll get you back for it later." She wasn't quite able to hold back her laughter upon seeing the "Oh, shit, she's right" look that appeared on Weiss' face.
To be continued
