Finally on spring break. I apologize sincerely for the delay. To be clear: I am not giving up on this story. So I ask that you bear with me.
There will be some things happening in this chapter. I did have a bit of difficulty as far as what I see in my small twisted little mind to flowing out into my arms and on to the computer screen as to what I want to happen so I apologize in advance if it seems somewhat choppy.
Anyway not that it should need to be said, but it does so here it goes: I owe nothing but my laptop and student loan debt.
New Divide
These passions slowly smoldering, a lesson never learned.
Only violence.
Is your world just a broken promise? Is your love just a drop of rain?
Will we all just burn like fire? Are you still there?
Tell me now, how long can you stand the pain?
How long will you hide your face? How long will you be afraid?
Are you afraid?
How long will you play this game? Will you fight or will you walk away?
How long will you let it burn?
Let it burn
-'Let it Burn' Nightcore
"Do you think I can be a hero too?" An innocence glowing in the depths of silver eyes with the tone of voice to match comes to her as she stares into her bowl of stew, curtsy of her mother's tribe, with a frown on her face. A simple innocent question that arose from the many stories of princesses, courageous heroes, terrifying monsters, and an ideal world.
She had done everything she could to keep that hope and encourage her sister during those dark times in their life when Summer never returned home from that mission. Essentially she sacrificed her childhood so that her little sister could try and have one.
"I'm not a kid!" She had yelled that one afternoon to her uncle when he took them out of the house, "I couldn't stay a kid." It was an admission of defeat and anger.
"You have every right to be angry," Qrow's voice comes to her now, "please don't let it consume you though. Let it go. Have some fun. Try to be a kid. Don't hold the anger and frustration in you."
She had let it go, or at least she thought she had. However seeing her mother and her sister's interaction as if she wasn't even there stirred something within her. Something that she long since buried; it was a feeling of weakness. Weakness at having those emotions toyed with and awakening that anger all over again; especially at seeing Ruby's anger, which was another thing. Never once (at least in her memory) had she seen Ruby in such a state of anger for a woman she had never even met. What did she have to be angry about? Raven wasn't her mother after all.
"You alright Yang?" Weiss asked softly looking at her partner's sister.
They had been giving each other looks since Blake had almost dragged Yang away from the clearing when Ruby and Raven had told them to leave. Yang hadn't wanted to, but seeing that neither one of them was going to relent and let them stay; Blake had led her away (albeit grudgingly).
Yang gave the heiress a look, and that is all Weiss needed, "Yea I guess that was a dumb question." She responded to the look.
Yang went back and stared into the fire and they lapsed back into silence. Across the way, the bandits were cheering as the one had his scroll out and the rest were surrounding him. Looking for a change in topic, Jaune observed, "They look like they are happy about something."
"Yea, I wonder what." Ren commented back.
"It's the Vytal Festival Tournament." They turned and saw Vernal standing behind them holding out a small tray of drinks, "Here curtsy of the Branwen Tribe."
Hesitantly they took the glasses and Blake handed one to Yang, "The tournament?" Pyrrha asked confused, "I thought that wasn't supposed to start yet."
"At least until next week or something." Nora stated in agreement.
Yang was marginally listening as she kept mulling her thoughts over in her head. At the mention of the tournament, her mind had switched gears slightly but still stayed on par with her current thoughts. Things were not adding up and it frustrated her to no end. Watching the flickering flames of the fire, she made her resolve. She was going to get Ruby and Raven to talk to her if it was the last thing she did.
-Snoopykid-
"Say for the sake of argument I believe everything;" Raven drawled out as Ruby finished giving her the quick story version of Remnant's fate, "why are you telling me this? Why have you not confined in your team…your sister even?"
Ruby was leaning against a tree, their weapons sheathed her head back and staring up at the sky arms crossed. She had been asking herself that question for the past twenty-minutes. She hadn't told Raven everything of course (she wasn't that trusting), however she wanted to give Raven a chance to do what was right (for Yang's sake). That and it wouldn't hurt to have someone play a double agent if Raven was already playing with Salem, "You know," Ruby eventually sighed out, "I've been asking why I haven't told my team everything for a long while now."
Raven watched as the girl pushed herself off the tree and paced ideally away from her, just to turn in a small circle, this time looking right at her; silver eyes gleaming with more knowledge that what was shared with her, "However the answer was always the same, I don't want to hurt them anymore. I hadn't banked on them leaving Beacon to come find me, nor had I really counted on them to follow me either."
"So then tell them all of this. Again why tell me?"
Ruby groaned and asked back, "Isn't it obvious? You know where I am coming from. You and I know that Salem doesn't care about who gets hurt. You and I know that it's no longer about Ozma, or power, or dominance. It's about annihilation. She defiled and destroy this world because she no longer has what we, yes even you deep down inside, have." Ruby took a step towards her now, "Hope. Trust. Potential."
"Really? You think I am or ever was a person filled with such weaknesses?" Raven goaded, "Such naivety, just like your mother."
Ruby rolled her eyes, "I am nothing like my mother." Then in a darker tone, she added, "Not anymore at least."
Raven cocked an eyebrow and then smirked, "Yes that is true. You do have an unyielding rage boiling inside of you. I guess it is true what they say."
"Meaning?"
It was Raven's turn to pace around the caped reaper, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
Ruby scoffed, "Yes I admit I did some questionable things after a while, but in no way did I ever become a villain."
"Perhaps not yet, but there is a rage boiling in you. You think you are protecting her, all of them, Remnant; however you are also here for something else." Seeing that she had Ruby's attention, she said simply, "Revenge. Pure and simple."
"Really? Is that what you think?"
Raven nodded, "Yes; for the most part you're very good at hiding it. Only letting it out when your loved ones are in danger, but I know it's there."
"Gee I wonder why?" Ruby asked sarcastically.
Raven ignored her comment, "I can see it, even now with us just standing here. You think you are keeping it in check, controlling it; however it's controlling you. Every lie you tell to cover yourself or keep them in the dark, just feeds it."
Ruby stilled the wise-ass comment that threatened to escape her mouth. She wanted to deny it, but found she couldn't. For once, Raven wasn't bull-shitting her; still though she tried to deflect, "I've only told you a snapshot of what happened to me, but you know nothing about me or my inner rage."
Raven smirked again, "I've done terrible things too as you clearly know; however I do know a thing or two about revenge and doing what needs to be done." She turned her back to Ruby and said, "Give it time. You say you see something in me? Or you want to help me? Well let me give you some help back; you think you have control? Well you don't. You're controlled. By your mission, by Ozpin, by your team, destiny. What would you be if all those controls went away?"
Ruby shook her head, "Clearly I'd be you. Selfish. I will use every ounce of this rage to stop my loved ones from dying and preventing the end of Remnant as we know it. Either help us and protect your tribe, or the next time we see each other after tonight…" Ruby let her sentence hang.
"You end me? Yang wouldn't appreciate that." Raven said, "I would go as far as to say that she would never forgive you if you did something to me."
Ruby crossed her arms, "That's why I am hoping it doesn't come to that."
"Answer me this last little bit; you've told me the fate of my tribe and how that came to be, but…" Raven started out slowly as a moment or two passed since Ruby's comment, "the powers of the spring maiden, how did you get it from me?"
Ruby looked at her and then looked away, "I don't have all your powers. Only half."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"And what if I don't feel like talking anymore?"
Raven eyes her, but after their initial confrontation, she senses no further threat. In fact the longer they stood in this clearing, the inner pull towards Ruby started to disappear. It was no longer a vibrating need to escape, just a very low simmer at this point, "Fine. I'll drop it, and I won't say anything to Yang…on one condition."
Ruby crossed her arms and says slowly, "What is it?"
"You stay out of my and Yang's relationship. That is our business and our business alone."
"Not if you are going to hurt her. No dice."
"Oh sure and you are the prime example of keeping her happy right now." Raven said sarcastically.
"At least I didn't abandon her when she was born and then have dad keep it a secret from her."
The older woman glared, "Yes I left to return to the tribe that I was raised in. However Tai's choice to keep me a secret from Yang until the death of your mother was his alone. I had nothing to do with that." Raven felt her powers brewing now as she stared down her former leader's daughter, "Besides if you really know supposedly 'everything', then you know that I have always kept an eye on Yang for many years before this reunion."
"I know, you used your raven form so she would not recognize you." Ruby stated unimpressed with this, "In my timeline we had a supervised mission at Mountain Glenn, where you stopped a woman named Neopolitan from killing Yang before once again disappearing. Later you gave Qrow a message warning Yang that you would not do so again."
Ruby gives the woman a narrowed look, her own powers stirring now and finishes with, "Which you kept your word since when you later found out that Yang lost her arm, you do not attempt to contact her, so way to look out for her. Congratulations on winning 'Mother of the Universe'."
Raven moves her hand towards her sword, trying to bite down the surprise that she was feeling at having more information given to her, "Do not give me all this futuristic bull-shit. You have made it sound like you messed up the timeline by leaving when you did which has accelerated events that you claim shouldn't be happening yet. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out." She took a deep breath and said in a low tone and trying to become more relaxed and aloof, "In any case, if you care about her like you say you do, then let her make her own choices."
Ruby had reached for her scythe when she had seen Raven reach for her sword, her own powers coming forward slightly sensing a threat once more, "And why should I? The only time I've seen you remotely looking proud was the fact that Yang finally found you, albeit she was with her team. She already accomplished it in my timeline, but by herself. So what do you really want from her? To recruit her into the tribe or something? Sorry to disappoint, she turned you down once, and she'll do it again."
Raven just simply crossed her arms and gave Ruby a level look, "Well someone seems abundantly cocky." Ruby gave her a prideful smirk, "However yes, I do have plans to recruit Yang into the tribe. She is a strong young woman who I can help her reach her strongest potential, and by the sounds of it-" she gives Ruby a leveling look, "keep her alive."
Ruby let out a low snarl and fought the urge to lunge at the woman, "Did you not hear a word I said? Your tribe is going to die! If you keep on the path you are on, you will lose everything that you hold dear! So yea protect Yang?! You are not even protecting yourself!"
Raven narrows her eyes, "Then agree to our deal. I am going to talk to Yang, you stay out of it; and who knows? Maybe if she agrees, I agree to help you to an extent."
"Extent?"
"I will not be your spy like Ozpin wanted me to be." Raven growled out, "I do you one favor, and that is it."
Ruby's eyes widened at this, "I am supposed to count on Yang agreeing to stay with you?"
"Let Yang make her own choices." Raven corrected, "Not influencing her with false…hope. This war is hopeless. There is nothing to be gained, I'd thought someone like you would have caught on to that the first time. I mean do you even have a plan for all of this, or are you just bull-shitting your way through like you are doing everything else?"
"I refuse to believe it." Ruby stated, "Even with my so-called 'rage', I refuse to have a shred of hope die. If anything here is my plan. I defeat Salem and live or I die and somehow take her with me. That is where I am at. Either way I am not letting them or anyone else die again."
Raven stares into flaming silver pools at this proclamation. She is not taken aback at the declaration or the earnest in her voice. In fact she is unimpressed, "That has to be the shittiest thing I've ever heard. That is a little girl's answer right there and even then it is a cluster fuck of a response! You know what you are on? A suicide mission! Newsflash! You cannot kill Salem. She is immortal."
"You do not have to worry about that. I think I have a way or an idea how to fix that." Ruby stated, "Now what do you want with Yang?"
"No. I am not telling you anything more. Now do you want my help or not? If you do then you know what you have to agree to." Raven eyed Ruby and the caped girl just stared just as challengingly, "Tick tock Ruby, based on what I have gathered you do not have much time on your side. Now what is it going to be?"
-Snoopykid-
It felt like forever when they saw Raven and Ruby coming through the tent and coming over to them. Yang immediately got up from her seat with Blake coming to her side and Weiss going over to Ruby, who wore a dark scowl on her face. Team JNPR wisely stayed in their seats and watched. "Hey what-?" Weiss started to ask as she went to her partner's side.
"Don't. Just don't ask." Ruby said with a dark tone to match her facial expression.
"Ok look," Yang started to say completely ignoring the atmosphere, "I do not know what the hell is happening, but I do not appreciate being ignored or treated like a child." She then looked at her sister, "She is my mother, if anything I have the right to be pissed off not you!" Then looking between the two of them once more, she demanded, "Now what the hell is going on between you two?"
Raven crossed her arms and gave Ruby a supreme look while Ruby just glared right into her red eyes as if accepting a challenge. Raven quirked an eyebrow and Ruby felt herself slowly backing off. Taking a deep breath, she turned away, "Yang Raven wants to talk to you."
Yang was surprised. She had gone from watching a deadly stare off to now being invited into her mother's presence. She looked at Blake, who just simply nodded. Raven motioned to her tent and Yang started to follow before stopping and looking at Ruby, "You coming?"
Raven was about to open her mouth to respond, but Ruby beat her to it, "Ah no. I think you and your…mother…need to talk."
"But-" Yang started to say, wanting to not only talk to Ruby but to have her sister there as a moral support.
"Go. I'll be here…" Ruby said trying to give Yang a small smile.
Yang saw the smile as a grimace, but slowly followed behind her mother. Weiss and Blake approached the reaper, "So I know you said to not ask, but we're asking." Blake said in a low tone.
Ruby sighed and approached the fire, "Raven and I came to a malcontent understanding." She grabbed a bowl from Jaune and a glass from Pyrrha. She nodded her thanks and sat down, but did as Yang had done, just stared into the fire.
"Meaning what?" Weiss asked slowly after a moment as she shared looks with her teammates.
Ruby shook her head, "It's personal." There was some cheering that had come from the next campfire over. Ruby sees the large crowd and asks, "What is going on over there?"
They look, "Oh they are watching the tournament." Nora responded, "Speaking of which…" She pulled out her scroll and unlocked it. Giving a few taps, she finds the broadcast, "YES!" She shows Ren who just nods, but gives a small smile.
Ruby feels a ball of dread, "What tournament?"
"It's the Vytal Festival Tournament." Jaune says leaning over now to get a look.
"That can't be. It's not supposed to be for another week." Ruby says placing her bowl and glass down on the ground.
No one missed the note of panic in her tone, and gave her looks of concern, "That's what we said." Pyrrha stated, "But according to Vernal it's going on. Nora show her."
Nora switched her phone around and Ruby saw the fight. Immediately the ball of dread turned to lead. She sees that it is Sun Wukong and Mercury Black are facing off. She internally flinches as Sun launches shot after shot from Nunchaku only for Mercury to dodge each of them, sliding around the stage on clouds of air until he attempts to come down on him with his leg, "No…" Ruby whispers as she reaches for Nora's scroll and Nora allows her to take it with a look of concern on her face. This look is transferred to the others as well as they look at their leader.
Sun rotates his weapon and just barely manages to block and pushes away the attack, but Mercury goes under and manages to land a kick on him. Sun rotates his body and lands in a crouch, now grimacing. They looked at Weiss now and the heiress leaned over to see what had Ruby's haunted like attention on Nora's scroll.
Weiss doesn't know what to feel watching the faunus, but she cannot deny that he was very skilled. Sun launched forward with his weapon shifting into the staff, landing blow after on Mercury. However Mercury managed to escape the attack and gave a roundhouse kick in the back and attempts to hit him with his heel, "Ruby?" Weiss called out and gently places her hand on Ruby's shoulder.
Ruby jumps out of the memory that was playing in her head. Throughout her mind, she had replaced Sun with her sister. It had been Yang that had fought Mercury. It had been Yang that had been disqualified and it was because of her fight that had been the catalyst of Beacon's demise. This…this is so far worse than that. It was with this knowledge that the pieces fall into place: Sun is going to be a scapegoat, and being a faunus to boot, all hell and negative emotions are rise like an inferno and Beacon will be annihilated. The only question now is: why hadn't Ozpin trusted her warning and apprehended them?
Nora carefully took her scroll back and continued to watch, cheers erupting all over camp as everyone tuned into the fight, "What's going on?" Ren asked as Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha looked at the scroll but watching the reaper out of the corner of their eyes.
"Nothing good." Ruby said standing up pulling her own scroll out. She hadn't wanted to, but she has to do something, "I'll be back."
"Who are you calling?" Weiss asked surprised.
"Qrow, Dad, Winter-" Weiss's eyes narrowed at this, still not knowing how Ruby had her sister's contact information, "Ironwood, or Ozpin." Ruby listed, "Someone, anyone that can stop this fight."
"What? Why?" Nora asked surprised looking up as more cheers were heard.
Ruby shook her head, "Trust me, we do not want to see the end of this fight."
"It's too late." Pyrrha stated turning the scroll back to Ruby.
Ruby paused her finger over the dial icon and saw what Pyrrha meant. The buzzer sounded on the scroll and roars of people cheering both on the scroll and all around them could be heard. Ruby shakes her head and lowers her hand as she sits down on the bench again as she hears Port's voice, "What a way to kick off the finals!" The scroll shows Sun breathing a sigh of relief and raising his staff up in victory.
"Sun Wukong wins!" Oobleck exclaimed excitedly. Ruby just shook her head again, not wanting to hear anymore.
"That faunus wasn't too bad!" They heard one bandit say proudly.
"Hey you owe me a couple hundred Lien!" Another shouted to as his friend started to sneak away.
Ruby got up once more as she heard Sun's echoed voice on the scroll, "Better luck next time."
Ruby mentally started to countdown in her head as she stepped away the scene that had become engraved in her mind. She knew that it was roughly two minutes after they declared Yang the victor that would forever change Remnant's fate. Speaking of fate, she stopped near another campfire and heard the sudden outrageous outcries and the swearing along with Oobleck's voice of, "My word!"
Taking a deep breath, she looks over and slowly approaches. Looking over the shoulder of the bandit, she hears Port's voice, "Cut the cameras!"
However the camera doesn't cut off just yet. She sees Sun standing over Mercury who is grasping his injured body part, rocking back and forth, "My leg, MY LEG!"
Ruby recognizes them immediately and she is now starting to swear in her head and cursing Ironwood and Ozpin. She had warned the headmaster of Ironwoods droids as they are storming the stage and surrounding Sun and Mercury. Sun doesn't seem to have noticed what had happened as his voice echoes over the campsite as now everyone is tuning in, "That's what you get, you little- Huh?" He stops and finally sees that he is surrounded by the Atlesian Knight-200 droids and two soldiers circling the Hunter-in-training and raising their guns to him.
One of the soldiers who has his gun raised orders, "Sun Wukong, stand down!"
It is clear to Ruby that Sun doesn't have any idea what is going on, but everyone else is yelling derogatory insults, "Faunus scum!"
"Flea bag ape!"
"That's what you get you banana loving animal!" Ruby glances over to Blake, who becomes visibly uncomfortable.
"What!? Why!?" Sun asks confused and hurt as now people start throwing things at him down to the stage.
Ruby looks away when she sees Emerald running towards her partner to comfort him, "Mercury!"
Mercury is now whimpering and his voice echoing before the camera is finally cut, "Why'd he do that!? WHY'D HE ATTACK ME!?"
