A/N: Huh this used to be part of Chapter 1 before...
Chapter 2: Forcing Evolution
Back at the school of beacon after their emergency evacuation from the blast site, all of the girls were rushed to the infirmary to treat their wounds, of which there were many. Though unfortunately most went unnoticed in their grief. On the ride back to the school they realized they had taken quite a beating. On Pyrrha and Nora's bodies, they had gashes and lacerations, though nothing too overwhelming or major. Though on the other end of the spectrum, Ruby and Weiss's wounds seemed minor at best as the most they had were sealed as their aura was seemingly supercharged. This was something the infirmary staff took serious note of as they got the four survivors cleaned up. Due to the situation, Goodwitch was present, though she conducted her aura exam from afar so as not to disturb the very upset girls. Stitches gauze and bandages adorned the girls as they sat in the infirmary, all of them in shock at the sudden of four of their friends. Though they all knew soon enough they were going to be debriefed and that was not going to go well. With all of this Weiss kept quiet about what she had done, lest she wanted to upset Ruby even more, though Ruby seemed oddly quiet as well whenever she looked at Weiss. Though that did cause Weiss to wonder, how was she alive, the aura transfer usually killed the donor, and yet she had her aura, and it felt even more powerful than before, but she wasn't allowed much time to ponder on that thought.
After being allowed a short amount of time to recover, the girls were escorted by Atlesian soldiers to the main tower of Beacon. They were stripped of any weapons, as they walked defeated, with their heads hung low, not wanting to catch any glares from the onlooking crowd, that already knew what happened from a leak. They were led to the main lobby where they waited, listening to the monotonous ticking of the clock tower, at first quietly sobbing, then crying as grief fully set in as the full force of the situation came down on top of them.
"Ruby, Weiss, Nora, Ironwood wants to see us in Ozpin's office," Pyrrha said gloomily her face stained with green streaks of makeup as she checked her scroll, Weiss tried as best as she could to comfort a very disturbed and muttering Ruby. She tried doing this while she herself was stifling tears that wanted to erupt forth. Nora was another case, she curled up on the floor sobbing, on the verge of hyperventilating, sounding like an overworked pair of bellows. Beneath her, it seemed a small puddle of tears was forming.
Managing to get Ruby to her feet, Weiss supported the distraught leader, seeing the fresh scar-covered wound on her shoulder from the beowolf. Weiss felt most of the younger girl's weight on her shoulder as they walked. Pyrrha was supporting weeping Nora, from how she looked she was broken beyond repair. them walking to the elevator was a sad sight for any onlookers the main one being Goodwitch as she couldn't even watch this and retreated back to her office. She wanted to help the girls, but her orders were final. Holding Ruby, Weiss felt her leader's pain, as she walked her legs quivered and she felt her strength giving out with each step though she felt Ruby supporting her. They were like a symbiotically linked organism, one supporting the other as they walked.
As they entered the office they were greeted by the cruel voice of Ironwood. The man the security council gave command and charge of Beacon and her security to after the breach. This was due to the Security council's opinion that Ozpin was not doing his job of securing Vale for the Vytal festival well enough. They gave Ironwood a full run of Beacon and its operation till the Vytal festival was complete. At this time the Altesian government along with Ironwood had locked down interests in Vale in the military occupation, even offering Students at beacon full transfer to Atlas for huntsmen training. It was obvious, that the occupation for security was turning malignant. the General who ordered their mission was standing looking out of the window. "Such a waste of talent," He said cruelly, seemingly unaffected by this loss, "a waste of life unlike any that has occurred at this academy or any academy for that matter!"
"Then why did you send us!" Ruby screamed, her face looked quite fearsome to those in the room. Weiss was shocked seeing and hearing Ruby yell like this, Ozpin could do nothing as he was stripped of his power till the end of the Vytal Festival, especially after the Mountain Glenn debacle. All he could do at Beacon was discipline minor incidents and manage faculty. Missions and debriefing were to be handled by Ironwood, not him. This disgusted him as Ironwood even had command over him, due to that damned security council.
"I was confident you eight could handle the situation, though it seems I was mistaken," he said walking up to Ruby, who at this point was glaring death at Ironwood, her nails digging into the palm of her hands causing a trickle of blood as her nails buried into the soft tender skin of her palms which dripped to the floor. Ironwood glared back at her with an odd shine in his eye, a red shimmer.
"Did you know it was a trap!?" Weiss accused, raising her voice, as she was getting that feeling from Ironwood, She noted the slight tingle in her palms she flared her arms out at Ironwood.
"I suspected it, yes," Ironwood said calmly looking Weiss in her eye. For someone, Weiss thought she thought he was being overtly cold. something he was not known for. He seemed not to care about withholding this information, he was a General a man who viewed his troops as expendable. he felt bad about the incident, but nothing unmanageable, he had lost friends before, and this was nothing new to the man.
"Then why weren't we warned!" the stoic Pyrrha interjected, her anger being unleashed in a torrent, comparable to an explosion of fire and brimstone. Her eyes looked on with a fiery fury at the Atlas general.
"I wanted you eight to learn to identify a trap on your own," he said stonily, not seeming to care about the feelings of the four students in front of him. His eyes glimmered red in a hard to notice manner.
"Four people are DEAD!" Weiss yelled, stomping her foot for emphasis. Her face was marked with a scowl of pure anger, an anger she had never unleashed before.
"I know it's a shame," he said as he walked back over to the window "Loss is a lesson all hunters and huntresses must get used to, no matter how close." This line caused Ruby to snap bursting out in a fireball of rage embracing her anger.
"WELL, MAYBE THEY WOULDN'T BE DEAD IF YOU WARNED US!" Ruby screamed, voiding her lungs of air as she did. She was also wishing she had Crescent right now or any weapon for that matter. This outburst made Ozpin and her three friends look at her with wide eyes, as she inhaled continued, "YOU GOT MY SISTER AND FRIENDS KILLED BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT WITHHOLDING FUCKING INFORMATION WAS A DAMN GOOD IDEA!" Ruby outright screamed as she had shown she could say a word that no one expected her to say. other than that Her voice bombarded Ironwood's ears. Though it was after this line the sound of a coffee cup can be heard shattering as it hit the floor and the long-silenced Ozpin spoke out,
"Please, Miss Rose is right, though I would like to ask that you refrain from using profanity," Ozpin said as he looked at Ruby whose eyes almost had a glimmer of gold in them as they seemingly flickered yellow as she huffed, accepting what Ozpin said and did not continue her rant, despite wanting to along with breaking Ironwood's jaw, though Ozpin received a long Ironwood replied, with brutality and savagery
"No she is not" Ironwood snapped at Ozpin, before returning to Ruby "Miss Rose, your error to have your team go to the back of the mine is what got them killed, so you are as much at fault as I am," Ironwood declared as Ruby lurched forward though she felt a hand on her chest as she started to move, and Weiss stepped forward and spoke only maintaining her composure for a few words,
"After all that you said, HOW THE HELL COULD SHE BE RESPONSIBLE, YOU MASSIVE IDIOT!" Weiss screamed as loud, if not louder than Ruby, while she held back a very enraged rose.
"Miss Schnee, I recommend you calm down or I will make sure your father hears of this incident," Ironwood smiled pleasantly, as Weiss replied with a scowl, though, all of this talk was going on a brewing rage was boiling over in a certain person, her eccentric attitude crushed, now seething Nora leaped forward, like a ravenous animal. Though, Pyrrha intercepted the raging redhead, determined to stop her from doing anything to make the situation worse for them, though Nora was screaming trying to get free yelling
"MY LIE REN IS DEAD! THANKS TO YOU!" Weiss extended her other free arm to tell Nora it wasn't worth it. Though it was at this point Ozpin noted the tears strolling down their faces, in full streams. It was a sight like this that made him truly question if the man in front of him was truly Ironwood, as the man in front of him did not act like the General he knew.
"Let this be a lesson to you four in loss!" he spoke boldly, ignoring the peering hatred that wanted to jump him the second he turned his back. "As of right now you four are one team, I would name you team Prune, but you four are beyond tradition, so you shall be team Prydwen effective now, also you four are restricted from missions for the rest of this year and the Vytal Festival. You are dismissed, please leave." Ironwood said firmly, his chosen name broke the code of the color naming rule, something he did to dishonor the poor team. He noted an old tradition among old Huntsman teams made up of what remained of two or more teams to forsake the color name rule, though in most modern circumstances it is more of a punishment than an honor to the dead.
As the newly minted team left, they had firmly pinned the blame on Ironwood and that damned White Fang, Ozpin said, "are you happy Ironwood? Torturing them like that? They are not soldiers, and Who do you think you are forming them into a team like that and barring them from the Vytal Festival"
"They are huntresses. They will learn they might as well be soldiers." Ironwood spoke firmly, looking at his friend who he wished could see the world through the new view he had just been enlightened to by a new friend who used the alias of Kreia. Though a glimmer of a red haze could be seen in his iris. He chuckled as he walked over to Ozpin making a point to step on the shards of his dropped cup. "that is your weakness Ozpin, you care too much for your troops." Ozpin was in shock at what he was saying.
"They are not soldiers, Ironwood. I fear you have made a grievous problem even worse," Ozpin spoke in cool defiance that was riddled with anger. He noted the red and he gave a grimace at it figuring it to be something new he was hiding.
"Let anger and rage fuel them," Ironwood said, thinking this would groom them into good units for Atlesian special operations or other special projects for Atlas's interests. These girls would work well for Atlas's secret projects and interests that he knew of, and having another Schnee under his command wouldn't hurt or so he thought. He smiled ambitiously as his new contact promised him great power.
"This is wrong!" Ozpin yelled breaking his ever stoic cool, as he clenched his fists as walked up to Ironwood's face looking him in the eye to see if he evaded his gaze and presence.
"You are in no position to argue Ozpin," Ironwood said coldly ignoring Ozpin's attempt at blatant intimidation. "I am in charge of your academy for the remainder of this year for the Vytal Festival," Ironwood said cleanly and crisply announcing the same fate Ozpin had heard numerous times so far.
"Can you not see that they are traumatized, we should be helping them not tossing them away?" Ozpin growled as he stamped his cane on Ironwood's boot. An action Ironwood rebuked with a swift raising of his foot and a grabbing of the cane.
"Ms. Rose and her friends need to learn a cold lesson, in reality, there will be no further discussion on this Ozpin and no aid for team PRWN." Ironwood said with a simple dismissive gesture "Any opposition to my command will be met with your forceful removal from the headmaster position." Ironwood said as he looked Ozpin in the eye, "so don't get in my face like that again Ozpin or I may have to take it as a threat."
Which those harsh words Ozpin was left with his own thoughts as he had never seen Ironwood this cold. He was a more stern man but not cold and unfeeling like this. This made the man ponder as he tried to relax.
The new team returned to the hallway where they were simply neighbors and friends prior. though Weiss made a call to the group, stating.
"Well, I guess you two will be moving in with us," Weiss said in a gloomy tone as the Pyrrha and Nora went to get their things, Ruby sat on her death trap bed quietly sobbing. Weiss looked up unsure of what to say, She had never seen Ruby act like this during their first year at Beacon, though never had someone died like this.
That's when Ruby spoke, her voice broken and filled with grief, "Why today of all days, Weiss, we lost our friends and Ironwood and Ozpin don't seem to care." Ruby's voice petered out as her throat was sore from screaming at Ironwood. On the day of her birth, four lives were snuffed out in an instant.
"I know it's infuriating" Weiss grumbled in a tone Ruby knew all too well, though for once was not directed at her or her antics, "He has some major nerve to act like that!" though as Weiss yelled Ruby felt how shook up she was as well.
"I know!" Ruby cried, the tears rolling down her face, "Also Weiss, I'm sorry that I used your sword, I know you don't really let other people handle it," Ruby said, being apologetic over something trivial, trying to take her mind off the torrent of thoughts in her mind. Varying from, Was this actually my fault? what could I have done? And Why did it have to be them? Why couldn't it take me instead?
"No, don't be, you actually surprised me that you could use it" Weiss responded shocked Ruby would be apologizing for that. She could get apologetic sometimes if she really messed up, but Weiss wasn't expecting her to apologize for that, as it was trivial considering the situation.
"Really?" Ruby replied, her sobbing subsiding for the moment, looking up at Weiss as the tears relented for a brief moment as she looked up into Weiss's eyes.
"Yes, you Dolt," Weiss said still with her saddened tone in her voice, "you looked really good with a sword actually," Weiss admitted with a slight blush, not knowing what she was feeling as her chest tightened up and her heart fluttered, something that happened often when Weiss looked at Ruby, though she denied it at times. Though this time, she really did think she looked good with a sword, and with the proper training, she could become very deadly, though she would need a blade that could take the brunt of high speed. Weiss shook her head clearing her mind of the thoughts as Ruby continued.
"Thanks, Weiss, I just lost it there in that fight. I couldn't bear to lose you too," Ruby said her sobbing truly subsiding and a glimmer of a smile shine through as she looked at Weiss thankful she didn't die.
"What do you mean?" Weiss inquired, as there seemed to be something weird about the way Ruby said that.
"It's nothing," Ruby said hiding the fact of what she did to save her life, and some felt she was acting upon that she had kept hidden throughout her time at Beacon, mainly pertaining to the snowy-haired heiress.
"You saved all three of us, Ruby," Weiss said popping up on the bed next to Ruby, ignoring what she said as she knew Ruby would talk in due time. Her action of getting up on the bed caused it to rock a bit and creek, but she had seen Yang climb up there so she figured it was safe.
"I've lost so much, Weiss, if I lost you, or anyone else, I don't know what I would do," Ruby cried, her tears resuming in full force. As she couldn't bear the thought of losing anyone else she held dear.
"The same goes for you Ruby If I lost you-" Weiss said with a saddened tone in her voice that was breaking down with each word she spoke, though she was interrupted.
"First my mother, now Yang and Blake, Jaune and Ren, even Crescent, not one more person I hold dear will die, Weiss!" Ruby declared with a slight sadness still present, but her voice was tainted with the growl of darkness. This declaration shocked Weiss to her core, as she had never once seen Ruby in this light, it was frightening to the heiress as she ranted. "Peace is a lie. Heroes are a lie. Good and evil are all lies! I don't care those who did this will face my wrath and I don't care HOW!" Ruby screamed in a statement that almost effectively denounced her dreams of becoming a hero.
Weiss herself was stunned by what Ruby was saying, but something in her agreed with Ruby, that's when Ruby asked a question that shocked Weiss to the core, "Weiss, do you think revenge is wrong?"
"No, not anymore," Weiss felt herself smile slightly at the thought, she knew about Blake and her Vendetta but, this was different. That beast back at the mine murdered and killed their friends and family. Something Weiss could relate to and Ruby commented on this.
"Then we will smash the White Fang," Ruby growled effectively declaring a personal war on the White Fang.
"That we will," Weiss said in full agreement. She never thought revenge was fully the 'proper' thing to do but for this, she would, as she had her personal vendetta against the 'Fang.'
"If we may, could we join in as well, Ruby," Nora inquired calmly and quietly, pain seeping through her voice as she entered the room.
"Feel free, you have as much right as us," Ruby spoke her voice lowered with a meaner tone, as her lips curled into a smirk, "We are a team after all."
"No, we are more than that we are in your debt Ruby. You saved us both. Without you we would be dead," Pyrrha said with a muted smile as the new team forged a bond of vengeance and justice.
"Well then, I don't need this anymore," Ruby said as she unpinned her now tattered cloak, allowing it to fall to the floor in a pile. "It's too bright for me now."
"What do you mean, Ruby?" Weiss asked concerned for Ruby who jumped back up to the bunk, cloak-less. Something that looked odd to the three other girls.
"It's too distinct of a color, besides red used to be the color of my heart," Ruby frowned as she laid back down on her bed as she cursed today the day of her birth yet the day of four deaths, though as she laid there she said to her team, "now it's time to paint it black."
Barely an hour after the incident at the mine and the traumatic debriefing. One instructor, in particular, was very concerned. She walked to the tower of Beacon, her scroll at the ready and her riding crop tucked under her left arm. Her makeup was in disarray as she watched the feed from Ozpin's office during the 'Debriefing' if one could call it that, and with her most recent discovery, she felt like she had failed the girls even further. The normally harsh teacher would have agreed that Ruby and her team need to grow up, but not so suddenly, and not with a grudge or grief, especially with the challenges to come next.
Ironwood walked past her to return to his airship, he gave Glynda a smile, which Glynda returned with a glare, as she walked past him. Ironwood looked like he had change, like someone new had his leash. Heading towards the tower she looked up to the dorm building, specifically at the window of the now scorned PRWN. News of the event was starting to make its way around in whispers throughout the campus, Caring teams like CVFY, discussing how they could help the newly formed team. Neutral teams like those brought for the Vytal festival would offer help if they could. While those of meaner spirits would use this to torment them, like CRDL. She terminated this line of thought as she entered the tower and focused her attention on the conversation, as she hoped for it to be reasonable. Though, knowing what had just transpired she figured Ozpin was going to be drunk, or at least on his way there.
She was not wrong, as Ozpin sat in his office he was pouring hard liquor into a coffee cup, undiluted. He was angry at the world considering what had happened to his two most promising teams, though he was more ashamed at what happened to the daughter of Summer, and all of their family. Summer herself wasn't a normal person, and neither was Ruby, though he feared what she would become with vengeance taking priority over justice and righteousness in her mind. Though his thoughts on this matter were quickly interrupted by knocking on his door, something that made the man lower his head on his desk.
"Ozpin may I enter?" inquired a feminine voice from outside the door to the ticking clockwork office. At least it isn't Ironwood again he thought, as she knocked again, though much harder and louder this time
"Yes, Glynda, come in," Ozpin said head flat on his desk able to see his lap through the ticking gears under the glass in his desk. Ozpin raised his head as soon as he heard the door open, reaching to hide the bottle of whiskey that he had been drinking from. Instead, he whacked it with his hand sending it plummeting to the floor, only for Goodwitch to catch it and raise it up setting it back on his desk. After doing so she spoke,
"Professor, I am sorry to go against your wishes of not disturbing you, but I think it would be prudent to make sure we have plans in place for the funerals and support for Team PRWN," Glynda spoke as calmly as the situation would allow, she wanted to get plans together before the News teams could arrive to interrogate their school.
"Do what you feel is necessary Glynda," Ozpin replied evading his counterpart, and burying himself deeper in the bottle than he already was.
"Ozpin, we don't need you to become like Qrow, so please let us have this discussion, I will handle the results," Glynda said poking at Ozpin who quickly replied by sitting back and slouching drunkenly in his chair.
"Go ahead Glynda," Ozpin replied calmly being careful to not slur his words as he spoke.
"Well firstly I think we should decorate the school in the colors of the fallen for a week, maybe more, also we should prepare for a media blitz, of which I suspect Ruby will probably be the target of, from Ironwood blaming her for the incident," Glynda explained quickly and calmly, the latter part of the explanation was one she truly wished wouldn't come to fruition, but it was one she wanted to prepare for.
"Wait, you really think Ironwood would vilify Ruby?" Ozpin asked knowing Ironwood would stoop low, but low enough to vilify a just recently turned sixteen-year-old girl.
"Considering his latest actions, I personally wouldn't put it past him to do that, continuing on I say we suspend classes for a week and allow team PRWN two to three weeks more to recover from this, and we have the funeral within the week as a school-wide event, though we should consult the families to see what they want," Goodwitch spoke calmly, thinking how to respect the families of the deceased.
"Would you handle the contacting, I don't think I could do that right now?" Ozpin asked not wanting to deal with that strain, besides Glynda is the public face of the academy, not Ozpin.
"Also my last topic, I am concerned about Miss Rose and Miss Schnee, even more so than originally," the blonde instructor spoke calmly at Ozpin as she readied her scroll with the pertinent information.
"You know what Ironwood said," Ozpin said slumped over his desk, defeated and dropped down by his old 'friend's' control of his academy. Though, what he was referring to was Ironwood's orders to not interfere with Miss Rose or her team.
"Damn him and his opinions!" Glynda yelled breaking her cool, though the cracks in her facade were showing long before her outburst.
"So, what's wrong?" the grey-haired man asked, raising his head from his desk again. He was concerned about what could have Glynda so concerned that she would bother coming to him with this, he knew the Situation for PRWN was quite bleak.
"Aside from how they are acting now, I think Ruby and Weiss have managed to merge their auras," Glynda explained calmly and stoically. This sentence made Ozpin's eyes shoot open.
"WHAT!? How is that possible! aura merging is extremely rare and dangerous. Glynda, why do you suspect this?" Ozpin inquired, legitimately shocked actually standing up at this news. As he asked himself What happened on this mission?
"I was running a post-mission aura scan on them, and the signs showed their auras were equal and both astoundingly more powerful than when they left. Along with that Weiss and Ruby have started showing the first symptoms of a merge." Glynda spoke explaining the situation to an even more perplexed Ozpin.
"So, it's a symbiotic merge?" Ozpin inquired, having experience with this type of bond before. Though limited he knew the potency of such a bond along with its consequences.
"From what I observed, I would conclude that to be the case," Glynda confirmed, firm in her discovery of the existence of the merge.
"Interesting, Let them know and this is the critical part, Please do it in private away from Ironwood as soon as possible. I would hate to see them be carted away under pretense as test subjects for Atlas's labs. Now leave me be I must battle with my own Demons right now," Ozpin said sadly as he retreated into the bottle on his desk.
"Ozpin don't let them battle you," Glynda worried, as she noted the bottle of whiskey on Ozpin's desk was three-quarters of the way empty. as she walked out Qrow walked past her not saying a word, he looked angry, though not at Ozpin but at Ironwood.
Away from the team's grief and loss, and back on the Sith Capital, another verse replayed in the walking Sith's mind, "The fear of further losses and, a hatred of weakness. They walk the dark path. A passion that drives them to strength fuels them. a passion unlike any other, though when They arrive They will be ruins, tatters, a foundation without structure. Destroyed by the trails of loss and morphed by Their fates. They will need to be rebuilt," These words echoed in the Darth's mind as he continued his stroll through the murky swamp as lightning crackled above as the force storms grew and swelled. He was contemplating the implications of the use of "they," this meant there are two of them or maybe even more. This to the dark figure would seemingly make things much more complicated.
A/N: Well my goal here was to show the pain of loss that PRWN would be feeling after losing their friends and how such a cold and callous hand can hurt someone in such a critical moment.
