In A Rose's Scales, pokeman1280 did not give Silver Eyed Warriors any ability related to their eyes. I, however, am going to give Silver Eyed Warriors a unique ability. In fact, it has already popped up in chapter 11, ANCR.
Also, yes, I know that it is technically chapter 12, not chapter 11, but I don't really count my OC info page as a chapter.
Wednesday, September 2
POV: Ruby
Ruby snuck through the forest after her prey. She had tracked the kidnapper for several miles. Overhead, Cerise scouted for more of them. They were so close to finding the Nevermore base. The man Ruby followed was heading in that direction.
A building appeared through the gap in the trees. The man entered the building and disappeared behind a door. This is the place, Cerise, Ruby told her dragon.
The red dragon rumbled her agreement. Get in there and do what you can, she said. Ruby nodded with her head and mind. She ran toward the door and placed a hand on Crescent Rose, ready to draw her weapon at a moment's notice. The Rider opened the door and stepped inside.
Ruby gasped as she entered the room. All around her lie dead Faunus, all chained to the wall. Some had slits across their necks, others had numerous cuts across their bodies. As Ruby looked around the room, her eyes rested on a young cat Faunus girl who looked awfully familiar. The corpse opened her eyelids, revealing the tortured orbs behind. Her lips moved. "Why?" she asked.
The young Rider brought a hand to her mouth. Tears streamed down her face. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I…I wasn't fast enough." The corpse closed her eyelids and returned to being dead.
Footsteps caught Ruby's attention. She looked up and saw the man she had been chasing for who knew how long. The Boss of the Nevermores. Ruby moved bring up Crescent Rose, but something caught her arm. She glanced down at her hand and saw it was chained to the wall. Another thing, a large tear cut her sleeve in half. She saw bloody and inflamed skin underneath. She snapped her head to the other side and saw much the same thing. Pain on her right side screamed for attention. Something flopped into her right eye.
Panic overtook Ruby as the Boss approached with an evil smile on his face, and a combat knife in hand. Cerise! I need help now! There was no response. Cerise, where are you?
The Boss stuck out a hand and grabbed Ruby's neck. "Did you know you have three ears?" He squeezed Ruby's neck. "Normal people only have two. Let's fix that, shall we?"
Ruby screamed, and everything turned black. The black slowly faded to silver, as Ruby found herself in a hallway that looked to be made of a strange silver metal, with blue lights lining the walls. The next thing she noticed was several people in strange, olive green military armor, with one person in a white officer's uniform, standing in front of a door, as if preparing to breach it. Ruby managed to stop screaming right as she noticed them, but they didn't seem to notice her.
Then, the man in the officer's uniform spoke up, "Right, let's get this door open."
Another solider spoke up in response, "I'll try, Sir. But looks like the Covenant worked pretty hard to lock it down."
The officer pointed to him and nearly yelled, "Just do it, son."
"Yes, Sir." The solider closest to the door then began to do something on a panel of some kind. After a few seconds, the door opened, and all of them aimed their weapons into the doorway.
The room on the other side was made of the same material as the hallway, but was somewhat box shaped, with several pillars connecting the celling to the floor, more doors on several of the walls, and a strange structure jutting up in the center of the room.
The solider that opened the door motioned for the rest of the squad to move forward, and one by one, they entered the room, which had a strange stain on the floor near the door. As the second one entered, Ruby followed, curious as to what was going on despite everything about the situation telling her not to. The soldiers were looking all around, as if expecting a threat to make itself known at any moment.
"I got a bad feeling about this." One of the soldiers, a black male with a simple cap instead of a helmet on his head, said.
The officer replied with, "Boy, you always got a bad feeling about something."
Another voice suddenly sounded out from each of the men, likely from some kind of comms, "Captain? Sargent? -you hear me?"
The black one put his hand to his ear and said, "What's going on soldier?"
"We got contacts-lots of 'em! But they're not Covenant- just tearing through us! -No! No!" Those last words sent a chill up Ruby's spine as she attempted to remember where she had heard the term 'Covenant' from before.
"Corporal? Do you copy, over?" No response. "Mendoza, get your ass back up to second squad's position and find out what the hell is going on."
Another soldier, presumably Mendoza, said, "But-"
"I don't have time for your lip, soldier! I gave you an order!"
"But Sarge, listen!" There was a strange scratching type noise present in the background.
"What is that?"
"Where's that coming from, Mendoza?" Another solider asked.
"Everywhere, I don't-" Mendoza started, but then cut himself off to say, "There. Mira!" as he pointed to a nearby door, which then promptly blew outwards.
The soldiers looked around, when suddenly, one of them started screaming as something tan had attached itself to his face. "Get it out! Get-it-out!"
"Hold still! Hold still!" another soldier said as he attempted to remove it. After a second, he was met with success as he managed to remove the bulbous object, revealing it to have several tentacles with red, pine needle like protrusions on the ends of them.
"Let 'em have it!" The Sarge said.
The soldier holding it grunted as he struggled with it, the creature attempting to latch onto his face now, only for more of the creatures to appear from behind them as the other soldiers and even the officer began to open fire.
"Sargent, we're surrounded!"
"God damn it, Jenkins! Fire your weapon!"
"There are too many, Sarge!"
"Don't even think about it, Marine!"
"Aur- this is loco!" Mendoza said as he began to run away.
"Get back here, Marine! That's an order!" The officer said, as the other soldiers began to be overwhelmed.
One of the creatures managed get to Jenkins, the one that Ruby followed into the room, and proceed to horrendously mutate and mutilate his body, making him turn on his own comrades. In the process, it also succeeded at getting Ruby to want to throw up. The scene was then replaced with blackness, as a deep, gravelly voice called out to her and said, "What our kin failed to do to Earth, we will do to Remnant." At that, Ruby started hyperventilating and looking around frantically, only to end up screaming at what she saw. Thousands of mutated and mutilated human and faunus, along with a trio of dragons. And at the front of them all, she saw herself, with her head barely connected to her neck and hanging limply, with something else having taken its place. She quickly turned away from them and was met with blackness once again.
The blackness, however, was quickly replaced by a red curtain. She sat up, but still she screamed. The curtain raised and Ruby saw she was in a warehouse of some kind. For whatever reason, she had a red heart rate monitor in the upper right corner of her vision. She stopped screaming and quickly looked around for an exit.
Before she could move, someone put hands on both her shoulders. "Ruby! Snap out of it!" a voice said.
Ruby clenched her eyes and started flailing her arms at her attacker. "Get off of me! Get off of me! Get off of me!" she repeated over and over.
"Ruby! It's me! Yang!" Ruby slowed her flailing as she recognized the name and voice. She opened her eyes and looked right at her big sister. Tears started to roll down the younger sister's cheeks. Ruby whimpered once, then threw her arms around Yang and began sobbing intensely. Yang returned the hug and Cerise sent comforting thoughts, but it was not nearly enough. "Ruby, it's okay. It was just a dream."
The younger sister kept sobbing for several minutes before she could talk again. "But it wasn't a dream," she said. "It was real. I lived it. He was torturing me. They were going to kill Cerise! And… there was something else." Just thinking about it made her throw up in her mouth a little, as she barely managed to keep from completely throwing up.
Cerise hummed and Ruby felt her dragon's snout against her forehead. They wouldn't kill me, the red dragon said. Scales regrow, and Nalia says dragon scales are extremely valuable in Alagaësia, I'm sure they're even more so here.
Ruby opened her watery eyes and locked hers with her dragon's. What if they aren't? she asked her dragon. The scales on your leg should be fully regrown by now. What if your scales can never grow back?
Cerise' wings drooped. We don't need to worry about what ifs. We are free and alive. She once again pressed her snout against her Rider's head. We are safe here.
"You said that there was something else, and then you seemed to have to fight the urge to throw up. If you're ok with it, do you think you can describe it?" Zach, no Sephiroth asked, Zach's uncovered irises' now white coloration and the more comforting voice telling Ruby who was speaking.
"Maybe later, after I've been able to comprehend what it was."
"Fair enough." Zach said, his irises returning to their normal silver color.
The intensity of Ruby's sobbing lessened, but it didn't stop. Yang gently rubbed her sister's back like she used to. Ruby felt someone else hug her from behind, then saw Weiss's white sleeves wrapped around Yang's and her body. "You don't have to go through this alone Ruby," the heiress said. "We're with you all the way."
Soon after, Blake entered Ruby's vision, and she wrapped her arms around those already on the floor. "I can't pretend to know what you went through in there," she said, "but you saved all those Faunus that way. I don't think I'll ever be able to make it up to you for going in there like that."
Ruby slowly melted into her teammates' arms. One more set joined, these ones clad in green. The young Rider turned her head to see Aaron had joined the group hug. He didn't say anything and the expression on his face said that he wasn't exactly comfortable, but he was still there.
Two golden wings enveloped the biped members of team RWBY. Halcyon just hummed happily, most likely because he couldn't speak yet. Cerise wrapped her long neck around the group, and ended up looking Ruby right in the eyes. Even Nalia got involved. She lay down across from Cerise and draped one massive wing over them all.
Ruby once again buried her head in her sister's shoulder. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you all." She stayed in that position for a while, the stream of tears more controlled. She was literally surrounded by her friends, her family. They all stayed in their respective positions, not saying anything, just being there. After who knew how long, Ruby felt herself falling back asleep. She hesitantly let it happen, hoping the time among her family would at least dull the nightmares.
POV: Yang
Eventually, Yang heard Ruby's breathing slow down to an easy pace. She gently brushed against her sister's mind and her suspicion was proven correct. She's asleep, Yang told everyone else. The large group hug slowly broke apart, soon leaving only the sisters together. Yang slowly brought Ruby's head down onto her dog pillow.
Cerise snaked her own head beside Ruby's. She looked up at Yang. This can't happen again tonight, she said.
Well, yeah, Yang said back, unsure of herself, but how?
If she dreams, we make sure it stays away from all that.
Yang looked at Cerise nervously. Are you saying we go into her head and prevent it ourselves? The red dragon simply nodded. Isn't that a little invasive? I don't even know if I can do that, or of its possible.
I don't know, but I can't watch and feel her suffer through another one of those. Cerise moved her head right next to Ruby's.
Yang bit her lip. Aaron explained before that a person's mind is their last bastion of privacy. Going that deep into Ruby's head would definitely be an extreme intrusion. Still, Yang didn't want to see her little sister freak out like that again. That was the worst reaction yet. Eventually, she sighed. Alright, but if she gets angry, I'm pinning this on you.
Cerise blinked slowly. I will take that. Yang turned around and walked back to the spot Halcyon picked for the night, but stopped halfway there. She looked back at Ruby and bit her lip. When they were kids, Ruby crawled into Yang's bed whenever there was a bad storm. That always calmed her down before. Would it work now?
Yang decided to bite the bullet. She returned to Ruby's side and laid down next to her. Cerise didn't protest. Halcyon also approached and stretched a leg out for Yang to use as a pillow. Yang curled an arm around Ruby's head and pulled her close. Instantly, Ruby picked her head up and rested it on Yang's shoulder. Her feet pushed her up as well. Yang thought she woke up Ruby, but she was still asleep. After all this time, it was still instinct for Ruby. Yang tilted her head forward and touched her forehead to Ruby's. Please don't hate me Ruby, she thought. I'm doing this for you. Yang pulled her head back and rested it on Halcyon's leg. Halcyon rested a wing over both sisters. She closed her eyes and stretched her mind out to her sister's. Ruby would not have another one of those nightmares tonight.
Thursday, September 3
POV: Ruby
Ruby slowly opened her eyes and saw she was staring right at one of Cerise' closed eyelids. Ruby looked to the side and saw she had both her arms wrapped around her dragon's neck. She did not remember doing that in the night. Still, there were worse things that could have happened. She rubbed her forehead against the side of Cerise face, somehow not waking the dragon.
Her pillow also felt weird, kind of hard and lumpy. Ruby looked down and saw one of Yang's arms wrapped around her. She turned her head around completely and saw a lot of blonde hair, the back of Yang's head. When did that happen? Also, when did she start using one of Halcyon's wings as a blanket? Still, she had to admit she was comfortable.
Ruby started to bring her arms back to herself, but her new one caught on a scale. That woke Cerise up in a hurry, and she groaned. "Sorry," Ruby apologized. She managed to pull her arm back to herself. The offending section of arm was just a small overhang allowing for movement on the underside of the elbow.
There wasn't any damage, but Ruby still got depressed. She didn't feel the snag on her elbow, but on the stub of her arm where metal met skin. It would have hurt, but it would have been nice to feel something. Ruby tapped on her metal leg with her metal arm, and again, only felt vibrations in the connected areas. Her shoulders slumped, and a single tear left her good eye. Cerise hummed sadly and once again nudged her snout against Ruby's face. You'll be fine, the dragon soothed. At least you won't be able to feel pain there.
Or anything else, Ruby thought glumly. Not rain, not blankets, not anything. You don't really know how much you appreciate feeling things until you can't. Cerise hummed again and placed her head on her Rider's lap. Ruby ran her good hand over Cerise' head.
After about a minute of petting Cerise in silence, Ruby looked around the Dragonhouse. Of course, Yang and Halcyon were right there with her. Nalia sprawled out in her normal spot, but her position said Aaron couldn't be under one of her wings like usual. Ruby turned her head to look behind Cerise and saw Blake sleeping on a tarp next to the wall. There was no sign of Weiss or Gray team.
Yang moaned and she turned her head. Her eyes opened and immediately locked with Ruby's. "Morning Ruby," she said. "Sleep well?"
Ruby smiled and nodded. "Second half anyway. Best I've had in weeks." She paused as she remembered some strange things that happened in her dreams, like Yang being there the whole time. "Did you have something to do with that?"
Yang froze, then put a hand behind her neck. "I couldn't bear seeing you go through another one of those fits."
The younger sister smiled at the older. She knew Yang only meant to help, not intrude. "Don't worry about it. Just don't tell anyone what you saw."
Yang nodded. "It never even crossed my mind." She pulled Ruby into a tight hug. Halcyon stood up and walked around so he could nuzzle Ruby's cheek. Yang looked up and out one of the windows. "You got the time?"
Ruby sat up and searched her pockets for her Scroll, if she even had it anymore. As her fingers came up empty, some blue numbers appeared in the upper right corner of her vision. "A little after noon, apparently." She shook her head. "Is there an instruction manual for this thing?" Sure enough, an envelope's outline appeared directly underneath the time. It opened and an instruction manual covered most of the right side of her vision. Ruby gave a full arm shrug as the intrusive page stayed put.
"You okay Ruby?" Yang asked after a few seconds.
Ruby raised her right arm and tapped right beside her eye once. She immediately regretted it, as her new metal fingers moved faster than she wanted them to and hit at least ten times harder than intended. "Ow!" she yelled as she clenched her eye. She rubbed that side of her face with her good hand. "Apparently my eye can act like a scroll." She opened her eye, and the manual disappeared.
"Sounds like you're tuning into Cybercop," Yang quipped.
"Only there's a little more to me than there is to him." Ruby stood up slowly and tested her balance on her new leg. She didn't notice it before, but her tights were extremely baggy on that leg. As she took a step, a small prick of pain shot up what was left of her right leg. She stumbled a bit, but Cerise was right there to catch her.
By that point, Blake was staring at the red pair through half open eyes. "How you doing this morning?" she asked.
Ruby shrugged. "Better than last night, but then again, that's not hard." Cerise and she took a few more tentative steps, the pain in her leg decreasing with each footfall. "You wouldn't know what happened to Weiss or Gray team, would you?"
"I think they left around seven-thirty. Weiss and Gray team were going to classes while Aaron said he had something to do in the city."
Ruby froze in place. "Classes! We're slept through both!"
"Relax, Ruby," Yang said. "I'm sure professors Port and Oobleck would be understanding on why we missed."
"Do they know?" Ruby was getting worried again.
Blake and Yang exchanged a quick glance. "We are students, and you were injured," Blake said. "The soldier who debriefed us said they were obligated to inform Ozpin."
Ruby's head sunk between her shoulders. "I take it dad knows too?" she asked Yang.
"If he doesn't, he will soon." Yang crossed her arms. "That couldn't have been a fun call to get late at night."
"Note to self: call dad." The note appeared in the top right of Ruby's vision. She chuckled a little. "Well, at least I won't forget now."
The human-sized door to the Dragonhouse opened and the two missing team members and Gray team entered, Weiss and Gray team wearing their school uniforms, Aaron in his normal clothes. Nalia finally showed signs of life; she yawned, stretched, and looked at the new arrivals. "Afternoon, everyone," Aaron called. Ruby waved, and started making her way back toward the center of the Dragonhouse, Cerise right by her side.
All members of team RWBY met up in the middle of the building. Aaron held a bag of something, but there was no business name on the bag. "How you holding up?" Weiss asked Ruby.
The youngest Rider rolled her eyes at have to answer the same question for a third time. "I'm just testing out my new leg. I don't want to be stumbling around in public." Weiss just nodded.
"So apparently we made the news last night," Aaron said, taking his scroll out of his pocket with his free hand. "Well, they didn't call us out specifically, but they definitely have our story out." He broke the circle and walked toward the projector. Nalia met him there and nudged him with her snout.
"So Weiss," Ruby started, "what did we miss in class today?"
"Nothing terribly important," Weiss responded. "Professor Oobleck just had a review session for the test next Tuesday, and Professor Port, well, he claims to have ripped an Ursa apart with his bare hands."
"Come on, you always find some meaning behind his stories," Yang chipped in.
Weiss shook her head. "Not this time. Not sure if it's because I was tired, or he really was just boasting."
"Anything from that story that he would put on a test?" Blake asked.
Weiss' eyes narrowed in concentration. "Maybe how long it takes to physically rip an Ursa apart. Other than that, no."
"For him, it took about two and a half minutes. For one of us, it would probably take like three seconds at most." Percy said.
"Ve are also magical, super powered, super soldiers, dummkopf." Gregor retorted, only to receive the middle finger, courtesy of Percy. "Do you vant me to cut zat sing off?"
"Do it, and Riptide will find its way into your neck."
"Enough!" Zach said in a demonic tone of voice, indicating that it was actually Maliki that was speaking. Well, that and the fact that his irises were black now. They soon returned to normal, however. "Thank you."
"I think I've got it," Aaron called. Ruby looked up and saw the VNN homepage projected on the wall. The main headline read 'Atlas Destroys Criminal Organization's Complex.'
The screen changed and a recording of the news broadcast filled the wall. Lisa Lavender started speaking. "Late last night, the Atlas military launched an assault on a building controlled by the Nevermore Cartel. The cruiser Vytal received the location from a Huntsman infiltration team around midday yesterday." The image changed to an aerial view of the building with several transports on the ground with several places on it burning or blown apart. Ruby's head sunk between her shoulders as she looked at the building she was tortured in. Cerise hummed sadly as she settled down beside her Rider.
"The military reports the death of one of the heads of the Cartel, Granite O'Donnell." Ruby didn't hear what was said next, as she looked at the face of the man who tortured her. She took a few small steps backward and nearly tripped over Cerise' tail. Aaron apparently saw this and skipped ahead in the recording to after the man was off screen.
Lisa continued. "The raid on the facility freed eleven Faunus captives and one member of the infiltration team. The ages of said captives ranged from five to sixteen, not including the captured Huntsman. Soldiers also secured unconfirmed amounts of various narcotics."
"Five?" Ruby mumbled. That little lion Faunus girl that almost never stopped crying?
"Unfortunately this attack was not without loss. Five soldiers lost their lives in the fighting, and twelve more were injured." Aaron shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Nalia looked at her Rider, and something unheard passed between them.
"All remaining soldiers were evacuated from the facility, and then the building was destroyed using an experimental device.." Once again, the projection turned to an aerial view of the building, this time at night. All of a sudden, a bright flash appeared, followed by another dimmer but longer flash as a gargantuan explosion with a mushroom shaped cloud formed above the site, destroying everything.
Ruby sighed in relief and leaned on Cerise. At least no one else will be tortured in there, she told her dragon.
A hand fell on Ruby's shoulder. She looked up to see Yang's concerned eyes staring right back. "You going to be okay?" she asked.
"Let's just put this behind us as soon as possible," Ruby said while hugging herself.
Blake sighed, then said, "I am perfectly fine with that."
"Oh, Ruby, you got something in the mail." Weiss said, changing the subject. She reached into her bag and removed a white envelope. Ruby took it and read the return address.
"Aqua Calrow?" she said confused. Then it hit her. "Violet?" Cerise perked up at that revelation.
"Who's Violet?" Yang asked, thoroughly confused.
"She's the first Faunus me and Aaron found." Ruby opened the envelope using a finger and took out what was inside. She gasped and covered her mouth with her free hand. It was a completely hand drawn card. A sun wearing sunglasses sat in the top right corner. The background was what Ruby assumed to be the city of Vale. Bottom center, two figures stood, one with red hair, the other with little ears sticking out the top of her head. The words 'Tank you!' were written in large letters just off dead center of the card.
Ruby opened the card and saw more of the same. Instead of Vale, the CCT tower in the center of Beacon rose up the crease of the page. A green dragon flew on the top right corner of the page, with another stick figure on its back. On the ground, the same two figures from the front were holding scythes matching their own colors. Two dragons also were also on the ground, one red, one purple. In the center were the words 'Wen i grow up, i want to be just lik you.'
"Hey, Remnant to Ruby, you okay?" Ruby looked up at Yang with a large smile on her face. Her throat was too constricted to say anything, so she just nodded and handed over the card. Yang took it, and almost immediately a smile formed on her face. "I'd say you have a fan for life here, sis." Yang passed the card over to Weiss, then crushed her sister in a hug.
"I still need to breathe here," Ruby choked out. Yang released her sister, and Ruby took a few seconds to catch her breath. "How'd they get my mailing address anyway?"
"Your face and name were all over the news for a few days," Weiss said after handing the card over to Blake. "They might have contacted Ozpin to get it."
"Why would Ozpin give away a student's address to anyone?" Aaron asked, more than a little incredulous.
Ruby shrugged. "Well, they aren't exactly media. He's smart enough to make a connection." Suddenly, her stomach growled loud and long.
Yang looked like she was about to laugh, then her face turned a complete one-eighty. "When was the last time you really had something to eat?" she asked completely serious.
"Not since breakfast yesterday." Ruby covered her stomach and blushed slightly. Even though she had every right to be hungry after what she'd been through, it still was a little embarrassing.
"I think I may have something to help with that," Aaron said as he reached into the bag he carried. He pulled out a colored box and Ruby couldn't help but laugh.
"Is that why you went into the city?" she asked as Aaron handed over the box of cookies.
"Well, you seem to like these, and after yesterday, you deserve them."
After you eat some healthier food, of course, Cerise chimed in.
Ruby turned to look her dragon in the eye. "You haven't eaten for two days. I expect you to fix that when the rest of us are eating."
"I'll pick something up for you from the cafeteria, Ruby," Yang said and she started walking toward the door.
"Why would you do that? I'm going with you."
Yang turned back, skepticism evident on her face. "You sure you want to do that? You were stumbling around just a few minutes ago."
"I'm fine Yang. If I'm not, someone will catch me."
Blake shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Are you sure you want people to know about…" She let her thought hang.
Ruby blinked, then looked at her metal hand. People would find out eventually, most likely in Goodwitch's sparring class, but that day wasn't today. "Did we keep my gloves?" she asked Cerise.
The red dragon took a few steps forward stopping with the saddlebags right by Ruby's right arm. They should be in one of these. Ruby looked through two of the bags before she found the black gloves. She hesitated before she put them on. The last time she wore them, they were covered in Cerise' blood. That was a long time ago, Cerise soothed.
Ruby turned back to her dragon. It hasn't even been a month.
Don't worry. I'm fine. Ruby stole a glance at Cerise leg injury before the dragon hid it from view. The Rider sighed then put her gloves on.
"Well, if we're going to go, let's go!" Yang said, back in her regular voice. Ruby quickly took her place beside her sister, with their dragons on either side. Weiss and Blake were right behind, and Aaron and Gray team brought up the rear. Nalia took flight right as she left the Dragonhouse. Throughout the walk to the cafeteria, Ruby tried her best to walk normally, but the awkwardness from walking on an unfamiliar leg and the occasional spike of pain prevented her from doing so. Luckily, the students walking around didn't notice. Still, Ruby saw every time her sleeve flapped more than it should have in the wind. The worst part was she still couldn't feel it.
Team RWBY and Gray team arrived at the cafeteria with no one trying to stop them. Cerise and Halcyon nudged their respective Riders, then took off themselves. The bipeds of the group entered the building and headed for the serving line. Ruby subconsciously scanned the room to see how many people were around. Luckily there weren't many students eating at that time, and team CRDL was nowhere to be found. The members of team CFVY were the only ones Ruby recognized in the room.
Ruby picked up a tray, and she could only think about not accidentally breaking it with her new hand. It was plastic, but it still could break. She picked the table closest to the end of the line, so she didn't have to walk too far to quickly get back in line. The rest of the group sat down shortly after.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, everyone focusing on eating. Apparently everyone was hungry after the previous day. "So Aaron," Yang finally said, "you've been here a few weeks, what's your favorite thing that Remnant has to offer that your place can't?"
"That's easy, air conditioning," Aaron said between bites. "I can take the cold just fine, I just can't stand when it gets hot. Nalia will tell you, I'm not the most pleasant person when I'm overheated."
"I know what you mean," Weiss agreed. "I can't stand the heat either."
"Says the one from the frozen tundra of Atlas," Yang snickered. Weiss glared at her teammate.
You two ain't the only ones. Ponda spoke up, signing it as well to keep from drawing too much attention. And I'm from bloody Australia.
"One, you're a son of Hades, whose Roman form is Pluto, the same name as the celestial body that's cold and dark in the Sol system. Two, you're from way south in Australia, which means that you didn't get too much hot weather. And three, what have we told you about using the term 'bloody' around here?" Sakura said, her Boston accent shining through as always.
Touché. Ponda replied. Also, don't even get me started on that bloody tangent. I've told you a thousand times that it's just how I speak. I can't just stop using the term when I've been using it this bloody long. Kind of like Zach and the F-Bomb.
"Hey, don't drag me into this!" Zach exclaimed.
"Too late now." David said.
"Damnit. Ponda, you will regret this."
Oh, bloody hell.
"Don't dragons like it hot?" Ruby asked.
"They prefer it, but they get along just fine in the mountains. Though I will say, I've never seen Nalia happier than when she's in the Hadarac Desert."
"Then I guess me and Cerise will have to go to Vacuo some time." Ruby returned her attention to the pizza in front of her.
About a minute passed before someone else spoke. "Hey, there you guys are." Ruby looked up and saw team JNPR making their way over to the table. Jaune waved with one hand while holding his food tray with the other. "I was wondering what happened to the rest of you."
"Hey Jaune," Ruby waved back with her good hand. "Yesterday was…unexpectedly busy."
"Busy enough to miss the egg meeting?" Nora asked, sounding extremely disappointed.
Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that. We didn't get back until well after dark."
"Well that explains why Weiss was so sleepy in class today." Nora's voice went back to its normal self.
"So what happened yesterday?" Ren asked.
"Family emergency," Ruby said, almost too quickly. "Dad had an accident back home and was in the hospital." Jaune's and Nora's shocked reactions were expected, but Ren and Pyrrha looked unconvinced.
"He nearly lost an arm believe it or not," Yang continued, picking up on Ruby's lie. Ruby could tell Yang was holding back a wince. "He's fine now. Aaron was able to take care of what the doctors couldn't."
Aaron shrugged. "I do what I can."
Jaune sighed. "Well then, I'm glad he's okay." Nora nodded her agreement. "But what about you guys?" Jaune asked, looking at Gray team.
Zach sighed, and said, "something dangerous from our home popped up and, as the only ones who know how to dispose of it, we had to deal with it."
"Almost blew up in our faces when someone decided to try and simply overload it, David." Sakura said, looking right at him.
"Hey, I was trying to use Armor Lock's E.M.P. function to short it out, not overload it." David retorted. "Besides, it's not like you were helping."
"That's because 1, it's not my expertise. I can dismantle a gun and put it back together, but a Fury is a different story altogether. And 2, I was helping keep Grimm off Zach while he made sure that it didn't go off on us."
David was about to respond, when he took a shuriken to the head. Sakura also took a knife to the head at the same time.
"Thank you Ponda, Gregor." Zach said.
"You are velcome." Gregor said, with Ponda simply nodding and Sakura and David glaring at them.
The Weiss and Blake exchanged a glance, then Pyrrha focused on Ruby. "I don't mean to pry, but what's really bothering you?"
Ruby tensed up and unintentionally put her good arm over her metal one. "What do you mean?"
"A family emergency typically doesn't need to involve the whole team."
"Pyrrha," Yang said in a lowered voice, "we don't want to talk about it."
"Yang..." Ruby looked at her sister.
"I'm going off you here." Yang winced. "I thought..."
"Not like that." Ruby shook her head.
"Oh. Well then..." Pyrrha stuttered, "will the rest of you be back in class later?"
"Maybe. I've got a..." Ruby stopped. Did she really want to lie to JNPR? Pyrrha probably already had it figured out with her Semblance. By now, they all had to know what was going on, and they wouldn't stop wondering. Ruby sighed, then looked around herself, making sure no one was in listening distance. She turned back to the other team. "Have you paid attention to the news this morning?" she whispered.
"What about it?" Jaune asked. "It's all about Atlas taking out that Nevermore base." Ruby looked down at the table, then back up at the other team leader. Realization quickly made its way onto Jaune's face, and it infected the rest of his team. "That was you?"
Ruby nodded, then lifted her sleeve on her metal arm a about an inch. Pyrrha and Nora covered their mouths with a hand, Jaune looked absolutely horrified, Ren just stared at the arm with sad eyes. Ruby quickly covered it. "Please don't tell anyone," she pleaded.
Jaune's face cleared. "Like I said, I'm glad your dad's alright."
Ruby sighed and lowered her head. "Thank you," she whispered. When she looked back up, she saw Velvet walking back to her table. Something was off. There was already a set of rabbit ears sitting with team CFVY. A student blocking Ruby's view to the other table vacated his seat. Ruby's eyes widened and she gasped. It wasn't a set of ears, it was just one, and it belonged to the girl that was chained up next to her.
"Ruby, you okay?" Yang asked.
"Yang, turn around." She did and searched the room for a few seconds. Her eyes widened and she turned back to Ruby. "What is she doing here?" The rest of team RWBY searched the area, and one by one they all had the same reaction.
"Who are we talking about now?" Jaune asked innocently.
"One of the Faunus who was ch…who was in the room with me." The Faunus looked up and made eye contact with Ruby. Recognition immediately crossed her face. Velvet put a hand on the other Faunus' shoulder and said something. The girl gestured at Ruby, and Velvet looked in her direction. She immediately turned back to her friend, and said something with more urgency. The girl took out a scroll and said something else to Velvet. The latter hesitated, then nodded. Both rabbit Faunus stood up and started walking toward Ruby.
Jaune turned to his team. "I, uh, think we have stuff to do elsewhere," he said. Team JNPR stood up and brought their food with them. Ren gave Ruby a sympathetic nod as he passed. Ruby watched them go. She knew why they were leaving, but she couldn't help wishing they didn't. Ruby looked at the rest of her team. At least they weren't going anywhere.
The two rabbit Faunus stood across from Ruby, the former prisoner looking as nervous as Ruby felt. "Hi," Ruby eventually squeaked out. She halfheartedly waved with her good hand.
"Hi," the girl said. "I don't think we were ever introduced. I'm Claret." She stuck out a hand.
Ruby took it after less than a second's hesitation. "I'm Ruby." They let go of each other's hands and Ruby looked between the two Faunus. "You two know each other?"
"We grew up on the same street," Velvet answered. "We're practically sisters." She smiled. "So thank you for helping her out."
Ruby rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't know what I did. The rest of my team did all the work."
"HEY! We helped too." Momaw said.
"You fought back when no one else would," Claret said. "You hurt them in ways none of the rest of us could." She turned to the rest of team RWBY and Gray team. "I wouldn't be here right now if not for the rest of you either. Thank you all so much."
The rest of the team smiled and nodded. "How's your arm?" Aaron asked.
Claret rolled out her right shoulder. "Not broken, and I can feel my fingers again." Ruby subconsciously moved her good hand to her own right shoulder. At least she could still feel that. Claret once again removed her scroll from her pocket and turned back to Ruby. "A few of us recorded something for you back on the ship."
Ruby took the scroll and hit the play button. The rest of her team gathered around her. The video opened up with Claret alone on the screen. "Uh, hi. Ruby, Yang, Aaron, I don't know how I'm going to get this to you, but this is something I feel like I have to do. A few of us want to say some things to you, but, well, you're all kind of busy right now. I hope this is good enough."
The video cut to another one of the Faunus from that room. He went on to thank Ruby and the rest for getting him out of there. It wasn't just a simple thank you either. He went on for a few minutes saying how Ruby helped him get through those final hours. Then he thanked Yang specifically for helping with a head injury. The boy finished off by wholeheartedly wishing that Ruby would recover from that rocket. By the time the screen changed to the next person, Ruby's eyes were tearing up and her throat had constricted.
The next three Faunus spoke in a similar pattern. By the time the little lion girl came on screen, Ruby had handed the scroll off to Yang to hold because her arms were shaking too much. She covered her mouth with both hands, unintentionally covering a massive smile underneath. Her tears soaked her gloved hands fairly quickly.
Next came a pair of soldiers that Ruby didn't recognize, yet they were talking about her like she was one of them. They both said that Ruby was tougher than any soldier on the Vytal in their own ways. One of the soldiers went as far as saying that he'd do his best to get team RWBY military support if ever needed. Whether that was actually possible, Ruby had no idea, but at that point it was the thought that counted.
The video wrapped up with Claret giving her own two cents. She said the least out of all of them, most likely because she heard everything the rest had to say. The video ended and Yang handed the scroll back to Claret. "Any way I can get a copy of that?" Yang asked Claret.
"I can send it to your scroll." The Faunus hit a few buttons on her scroll, and pointed it at Yang's. Apparently the transmission went through.
Yang put an arm around her sister's shoulder. "Forget what I said earlier," she said. "You have several lifetime fans now."
Ruby nodded and wiped some of the tears off her face. She looked up and smiled at Claret, who had since sat down directly across from her. Ruby tried to speak, but was unable to get out a sound out for a few seconds. "Thank you," she finally said.
Claret made a confused face. "Why are you thanking me?" she asked
"You showed me I'm doing something right." Ruby looked back at the table. "Still, I hope I never get another one of those videos again." Claret smiled and nodded.
"Ruby," Velvet started, "if you or any of your team need anything, let any of us know." She gestured to the rest of her team.
Ruby smile and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."
Coco walked over to Velvet and tapped her on the shoulder. "Sorry to break this up, but we got to go." She looked over to Ruby, and tilted her sunglasses down. "If you need help making that arm look natural, or want a better way to cover it up, come find me."
This time Ruby intentionally grabbed her metal arm. "How'd you know?"
"The gloves, and your right sleeve is baggier than your left." Ruby stared at the other team leader dumbstruck.
"I've been with her a year and a half," Velvet said, "and I still don't know how she does it." Both rabbit Faunus stood up. "See you around Ruby."
"Claret," Ruby called, "you going to be around for a while?"
The rabbit Faunus shook her head. "I had to pay Velvet a visit after all that. Get my mind off it, you know?" Ruby simply nodded. With that, team CFVY and Claret left the cafeteria.
"Well, that was unexpected," Weiss said after a few seconds of silence.
"Yeah, but it was nice." Ruby wiped some more tears off her face. As she was doing so, she saw that several other students in the cafeteria were staring. "Maybe we should leave."
"Probably a good idea," Aaron agreed while looking around himself. Team RWBY got up and made their own way to the door. Yang had an arm around her sister's shoulders she whole way.
"Ruby, you're eyes are as red as your hood," Yang commented.
"Heh, I wonder why." Ruby paused. "Both of them?"
Yang hesitated. "It's trying, but it's still nowhere close."
Ruby sighed. A message appeared in the right corner of her vision again. 'Reminder: Call Dad.' "Not now," Ruby said, drawing a weird look from her teammates. "My eye's being weird." That was enough for them. For Ruby, the day was off to a decent start. Her own disabilities and earlier episode were temporarily forgotten, replaced by memories of the card and the thank you video. For the first time, she felt she was making a difference. That was more than any other fifteen-year-old girl could say.
FYI, after Zach killed O'Donnell and mister rocket man, as I'm going to call that one asshole, is when team RWBAY began to see the SPARTANs as SPARTAN Gray team, not as huntsman-in-training team Gray.