I'm back with a new chapter for you all to enjoy! Last time we ended on Ethan's face being exposed to everyone and if you want a better description of what he looks like, look at my profile picture. Let's continue with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or the Iron Giant, they belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 8: Lake Fun and Hard Lessons

"Well…. This is awkward," muttered Ethan as everyone stared silently at his exposed face. "I'm not that ugly am I? Cause your silence is not very reassuring."

That snapped everyone out of their stupor.

"N-no! You're not ugly at all!" Stammered Weiss, "We were just surprised, we didn't think you would look so…"

"Normal?"

"Ye-yes, normal." She said and the others nodded in agreement.

"What did you expect, me being covered in scars? Or a black void where my face should be?" Joked Ethan. "I assure you that my good looks are all natural, my parents tell me that whenever I see them."

"Wait, you have parents!?" said Yang incredulously. "Of course I have parents; did you think I just poofed into existence?" asked Ethan with a raised eyebrow, and students just chuckled nervously and didn't make eye contact.

Ethan just sighed and suddenly remembered that Ruby was still being held in his arms. Glancing down, he saw the cherry red face of Ruby who was trying and failing to hide her blushing face. A mischievous glint lit up Ethan's eyes and he leaned in close to Ruby's face and whispered, "See something you like, my little blooming rose?" Steam blew out of Ruby's ears and without warning went limp in a dead faint in Ethan's arms.

"Ruby!/Miss Rose!/Friend Ruby!" shouted everyone in alarm at seeing the girl faint in embarrassment. Yang's lilac eyes turned red and was about to pummel the boy for embarrassing her sister, that was her job! She stopped herself however, when Ethan suddenly burst out laughing.

"HAHAHA, oh man I haven't played a prank like that in a while, I need to do it more often," laughed Ethan and carried the limp girl to her worried friends and family when another idea for a prank hit him. Instead of handing Ruby to her sister or father, he placed the girl into the arms of Penny who looked at him with a questioning gaze. "I want you place her head in your lap as she sleeps, it will help her recover faster, trust me." he told the android and inwardly chuckled at what Ruby's reaction would be when she woke up and saw where she was currently resting her head.

"I understand; I'll make sure my friend Ruby is as comfortable as possible on my lap while she recovers," said Penny with a salute and carefully sat back down and gently placed Ruby's head on her thighs and began stroking her hair gently.

"Why did you do that?" asked Jaune curiously as he and his team watched Nora and Yang take pictures of the cute scene while gushing at the how adorable they looked.

Ethan just shrugged his shoulders, "Mostly just to amuse me, I haven't pranked anyone in a while and my usual pranking partner in crime has been busy with his family and his job to pull any pranks with me." said their host while thinking of a certain whiskered blonde ninja who regularly pranked his whole village without getting caught. "Anyway the next scene is about to begin, so sit back and enjoy."

Just as the screen lit up, Ruby stirred from her unconsciousness. "What happened?" she asked groggily and found that she was laying on someone's lap while her hair was being softly stroked. Looking up, her silver eyes widened when she saw the green eyes of her robot friend staring back at her.

"Friend Ruby, you're awake! I'm happy to see that your recovery was a fast one," she said without stopping her gentle stroking of Ruby's hair.

Shaking her head in confusion, Ruby stuttered, "P-P-Penny? Why am I on your lap?" Penny smiled and said, "Oh our host Ethan said it would help you recover faster, and I'm glad to see he was correct," replied the orange haired android happily.

"Well as n-n-nice as this feels, you can stop now, I'm feeling much better so thank you Penny," stuttered a blushing Ruby and sat back up next to Penny who smiled in return. "You're most welcome Ruby, if you feel the need again, my thighs are yours to use!" Penny said with a pump of her fist, making steam once again blow out of Ruby's ears.

Tai, who had taking a sip of his drink, did a spit-take and began coughing at what he just heard while Qrow clapped his back to calm him down while laughing like a hyena.

Jaune and Pyrrha blushed at what Penny inwardly implied while Nora and Ren chuckled in amusement.

Weiss failed to hide the blush that appeared on her face while Yang laughed out loud and made a mental note to tease her sister about this later and Blake was trying hard not to imagine certain scenarios that would was not suitable for minors.

The adults, minus Tai and Qrow could only smile at the ignorance of youth and turned their attention to the screen.

Ethan, who had been watching from the shadows was holding his sides as he laughed out loud and made a mental note to do more pranks in the future.

(on screen)

Ruby entered the junkyard on her bicycle expecting to find carnage, but instead she found the ridiculous sight of Tai giving the Giant instructions on where to put the cars in what appeared to me a massive swinging sculpture. "Little lower, little bit lower," instructed Tai while Ruby parked her bike and marched up to the blonde man, annoyance and disbelief written on her face.

"Hey, I thought you were in trouble," she said but Tai ignored her and continued his instructions.

"That sucks, let me…." he continued telling the Giant who was carefully moving the sculpture around.

"I had ditch this weird guy who's staying at our house. It took hours to shake! I kill myself to get out here! And you have him doing arts and crafts." Finished Ruby with her rant and pointed at the Giant who had opened the hood of one of the suspended cars and smiled like a kid on Christmas day while pointing at the vehicle as if he had just discovered gold.

"You got a problem with arts and crafts, little lady?" asked Tai. "He's a giant robot Tai, it's a little undignified," replied Ruby.

"Well smart girl, what you have him do?" questioned Tai with his arms crossed. Ruby glanced around the junkyard and grinned when a, at least in her mind, genius idea hit her.

(off screen)

"Oh no, it's Ruby's I have really cool but dangerous idea face!" said Yang.

"Yaaanngg!" wined Ruby while everyone laughed and watched to see what happens next.

(on screen)

Ruby was sitting in the driver's seat of a convertible car with a pilot's helmet on her head and began pushing the dials on the dashboard, pretending it was an actual plane. The car then began to rise, showing it was being held in the Giant's right hand and was shaking, to simulate the engines starting. "All systems go. Five, four, three, two, one! Blast off! AAAAAAHHHH!" Yelled Ruby in shock and surprise as Giant rotated his body a full 360 degrees and continued to spin at incredible speeds.

Ruby tried to stay calm but he speed was becoming too much for her to handle and as her helmet flew from her head, she screamed at her metal friend, "We're landing. We're landing! We're landing!"

Now on solid ground, Ruby sighed and dropped her messy haired head while the Giant copied her movements.

"Say can you guys cool it a little, I think we're pushing our luck here." Said Tai.

Ruby however disagreed, "Hey, we are cool!" she said dramatically. "Welcome to downtown Coolsville. Population: Us." She indicated to her and Giant.

"Well can you move Coolsville to someplace less conspicuous?" asked Tai. "How about the lake?" answered Ruby as she climbed into the Giant's hand. "Alright," agreed the artist and began to walk back to his house, but was stopped by Ruby's voice.

"Aww come one with us. It'll be fun," she said while the Giant made a 'come here' movement with his finger.

Tai just shook his head and decided to join them, after all, what's the worst that could happen?

(With Roman)

The government agent was currently walking around town and questioning witnesses about the sightings of the unknown creature that had been destroying property and taking bites off various metal structures. The only downside was that he would need to take a bathroom break every few minutes due to the laxatives in his system, he swore he would make that little red headed girl pay the next time he saw her.

After questioning his last witness and taking more than one bathroom break to relieve his bowels, he made his way through the forest near the power station and found the shut-off switch on the ground. He made a few notes and was about to continue walking when his felt the familiar stirring in his stomach. After relieving his bowels on the forest floor, Roman began making his way back to town when his head collided with a hanging object.

Wincing slightly, Roman eyed the object which turned out to be a camera. Turning it around, Roman found the owners name on the back, 'RUBY ROSE'.

(At the lake)

"This can't last forever Ruby, we gotta tell someone about him," said Taiyang as he set up a fold-up chair.

Ruby just waved him off, "You worry too much." She told him and pulled off her clothes to reveal a plain red one-piece swimsuit with a rose design on the side. She then ran up a rock formation overlooking the lake and yelled to her blonde friend, "Hey Taaaiii! Watch this!"

"All right, we're watching." Said Tai as he sat in his chair and put down a flask of coffee before picking up a newspaper to read.

"This one's for professionals only!" bragged the girl before she jumped off the rocks. "Banzai!" she screamed and cannonballed into the water below. The Giant blinked curiously as he watched his friend sink in the water and swim up to the surface while tilting his head to the side.

Ruby broke the surface while shivering, her already pale skin turning white in the cold water. "C-c-come on in. T-the water's great!" she stuttered out.

"Heh, no thanks," said Tai, seeing straight through her act. "You weenie!" she yelled childishly and looked to her Giant friend instead. "Come on in. It's really, really refreshing."

Giant said nothing, he just turned around and started walking back through the forest. His footsteps getting fainter and fainter.

"What? You too?" Ruby questioned in disbelief. "You….big….BABY!" She yelled in frustration, but quieted down when the ground started shaking as the sound of massive footsteps got closer and closer.

"RROOOAAARRR!" Screamed the Giant as he jumped from the tree line over Tai who just shrugged and returned to his paper. The Giant landed in the middle of the lake with a massive splash that created a massive tidal wave that made Ruby swim as hard as she could to catch it.

Tai looked up from his paper and all he saw was a massive body of water looming over him. Quivering in his seat, he instinctively covered his face with the newspaper just as the wave crashed on top of him.

The forest was engulfed by the massive wave as animals were swept away. Tai, still in his chair actually dropped perfectly in the middle of the road in the forest while the Giant was sitting in the now shallow lake and Ruby was hanging on top of one the trees.

"WHAOO! She cheered as the water dropped in the forest.

Tai was still sitting in the road when a truck with pigs in the bag stopped beside him. "Hey!" said the driver.

"Yeah?" replied Tai.

"You're right in the middle of the road."

"YEAH!" Tai responded again, tired of the todays events and clearly not giving a f**K.

"Alright," said the driver and drove off, leaving the blonde man in the road.

"I think that's enough fun for one day," he deadpanned to himself.

(off screen)

"Now that looked like fun. We are so doing that the next time we go to a lake; I can use my hammer to make giant waves that can wash away everything in its path. It will be awesome!" Rambled Nora while her friends turned pale at the thought of the mad bomber of team JNPR causing tsunami's in lakes and flooding forests.

"I'm pretty sure you'd get arrested for that Nora," said Ren which made his girlfriend put childishly in response.

"Your boyfriend is right miss Valkyrie, as much as we would all enjoy seeing you create a massive tidal wave in the forests, I'm afraid that you would be arrested for damaging the ecosystem and endangering the wildlife." Said Ozpin with a sip of his coffee.

"Alright , alright I get it, no causing tsunamis with my hammer." Pouted Nora while Pyrrha patted her back in comfort and Jaune and Ren letting out sighs of relief.

Winter turned to Glynda and asked, "Would that girl really have caused a tidal wave just for her own amusement?" Glynda's only comment was, "She's done far worst for much less."

Winter paled and wondered what sought of students was her sister associating with.

(on screen)

(Summer Rose's home)

Roman was in the bathroom with a red light illuminating the room as he developed the photo's he found in Ruby's camera. So far all the photos were nothing special, just regular shots of the forest, of Summer and Ruby together and strangely a piece of sheet metal resting on a stump.

Taking the last blank photo, Roman placed it in the water and waited for the image to appear and as the image formed, his eyes widened when he saw what was on the photo. His thoughts were broken by Summer's voice from outside the bathroom telling asking if he felt better and that she had more toilet paper. He replied that he was feeling much better as he grinned evilly and stared the photo of a smiling Ruby in the forest with a Giant metal man staring down at her from behind.

(off screen)

Everyone felt their heart drop when they saw Roman get the evidence he needed to bring in reinforcements to potentially destroy the Giant.

"This is not good, that picture is enough to bring a good amount of soldiers to attempt and destroy the Giant, and unless it magically disappears I don't see any way other outcome." Said Ironwood.

"No, they can't do that!" shouted Ruby in distress. "He didn't hurt anyone or do anything wrong. Why can't they just leave him alone?"

"Because people fear what they don't understand," said Blake softly. "People always fear things that are beyond their understanding and will treat it like garbage or destroy them." She said as unpleasant memories surfaced of the unfair treatment of Faunus around the Kingdoms.

"That's just stupid! Just because he is a giant robot, doesn't mean that he isn't a person! Why can't they just treat him like a normal person and not fear him!?" Ruby ranted and caught her breath when she finished.

"I'm afraid not everyone shares your way of thinking Ruby," said Tai. "Though if more people did, then I'm pretty sure the world would be a much better place."

"Your father is right miss Rose, you are clearly wise beyond your years and I'm certain that you will help the shape the future of our world for the better." Said Ozpin, and he meant every word of it.

Ruby blushed under praise and nervously rubbed the back if her head. "T-Thank you dad and professor Ozpin, I'll try my best!" she said and turned back to the viewing.

(on screen)

Ruby and the Giant were walking through the forest and the metal man was awed by the sheer beauty of sea of tree's and wildlife.

"It's beautiful, huh?" asked Ruby from the Giant's shoulder where she was currently sitting. The giant nodded when the girl spotted movement below. "Hey look!" she whisper yelled and pointed to an animal grazing.

"It's a deer," she whispered.

"Deer?" the Giant asked.

"SHH, let's get closer," said Ruby and the Giant walked as lightly as he could towards the majestic animal.

The deer looked up from its grazing and spotted the duo approaching, but didn't run away. Instead it cautiously stepped closer and sniffed one the massive metal fingers when a noise got its attention, the deer then turned and made its way deeper into the forest until it was out of sight.

Ruby and the Giant were still smiling after their encounter with the animal, even after it left.

"Well, guess he decided to - -!"

(BANG!)

The sound of loud gunshot startled them both and as the birds flew away from the sound, the giant headed towards it to investigate.

Two hunters were crouched down over their kill when the trees parted and the giant peered down at them.

"It's the monster!" said one in fear and dropped his rifle before running away with his partner hot on his heels.

"Oh no," said Ruby when she saw the unmoving form of the deer they had seen earlier. The Giant reached down and lightly touched the animal with his finger, but got no reaction. "It's…. dead," Ruby said with sadness in her voice.

"Dead?" the Giant asked, not understanding the term. He then tried to pick up the body, hoping it would begin to move on its own.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Shouted Ruby angrily.

Startled, the Giant released the dead animal and asked, "B-But why?"

"It's dead, understand? They shot it….with that gun." Explained Ruby and pointed to the discarded rifle.

As the Giant laid his eyes on the rifle, something strange happened. His eyes suddenly turned red and the visors began to narrow as he focused on the weapon as if he was in a trance of some sort.

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked Ruby, not noticing the change in her friend's eye colour but his sudden quietness.

The giant jumped slightly and his eyes returned to normal, he shook his head and said, "Gun."

"Yes, guns kill."

"Guns, kill."

The duo then left the forest, both with heavy hearts filled with sadness.

(Than night, Tai's junkyard)

The Giant was laying on his side and flicking the hood of a car open and closed, the events of the day still weighing heavily on his mind. He then saw his best friend climb on top the car he was flicking and began speaking to him.

"I know your feel bad about the deer. But it's not your fault, things die. It's a part of life. It's bad to kill. But it's not bad to die."

"You die?" Giant asked.

Ruby looked a little uncomfortable before sitting down and answering, "Well…yes, someday," she replied.

"I die?" Giant asked again.

"I don't know," Ruby said and thought a little. "You're made of metal, but you have feelings. And you think about things and that means you have a soul, and souls don't die." The girl explained and gestured to the sky that was filled with stars.

"Soul?"

"Mom says it's something deep inside of all good things, and that it goes on and on forever."

With her piece said, Ruby patted her massive friend's cheek and left him to his thoughts as he processed what Ruby had told him.

"Souls don't die." he said softly and closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

(screen darkens)

The students all had heavy hearts as the scene ended. They did feel a bit better after hearing the on screen Ruby though. The adults were a different story, as veteran Huntsman, they had to do things that sometime went against their morals, but they did them to ensure the safety of those they swore to protect.

Qrow glanced at his nieces who were chatting animatedly with their friends, and made a promise to protect their innocents for as long as possible, because he knew more than most what was going to happen to them when they had no choice but to make a decision that would haunt them for a long time.

(END)

A/N: Hey everyone hope you enjoyed the chapter. The lake scene is definitely one of my moments from the movie and I hope I did it justice in my story. The deer being shot still makes me sad to this day and Hogarth comforting the giant still warms my heart, so I really enjoyed writing it with Ruby.

Next scene we have the infamous interrogation between Roman and Ruby and I can't imagine how Yang is going to react to seeing her sister being questioned, threatened and then drugged with chloroform…..yeah….I'm gonna have to reinforce the theatre a little, hehe (chuckles nervously).

Well, that's all for now, enjoy your day, stay safe and stay awesome. Ja Ne!