Well everyone, I'm not sure how I managed to find time to do this today since I literally had class from 8 am to 7pm... five of those hours were all programming classes... that coupled with the back pain from helping my uncle with construction work yesterday... and then I wasted two hours of my life waiting on the bus...
You know what? I'm not even gonna question it. I blame it on the red bull I drank for breakfast.
Chapter 22: All's Fair In Love And Grimm Invasions
Nova slowly peeled open his eyes, the glaring light shooting pain through his retinas. His sense of vision was blurred and all he could hear around him was, well nothing, except for a distinct high-pitched tone like someone threw a flashbang on him. His senses were cleared when he was pulled up harshly by one Weiss Schnee.
"Get the fuck up you suicidal maniac, that stunt you pulled with the cart sent us crashing through the explosion. If Ruby hadn't pulled us off the train in time, we'd all be dead!" Weiss yelled in his ear.
Nova now fully awake looked around, the wall of Vale city was breached and Grimm were pouring in by the masses. Seems while he was unconscious Ruby and the others managed to hold back the hoard. There was one thing he didn't see, Luna.
"Weiss! Where is my sister?!" Nova looked frantic, his eyes scared and wide.
She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Some lady's taking care of her and Nitro, she's a doctor. Right now, you need to focus on clearing those Grimm."
Nova nodded and joined up with the rest of them. Seemingly endless supplies of Grimm were spewing from the breached hole, the nine of them weren't nearly enough to handle all these enemies, given the fact that they not only toppled an underground network but slowed a runaway train, fought a fifty-foot-tall robot and survived an explosion.
Nova tried summoning fire to blast away at the hoard but he couldn't do much more than let out a few bursts. His aura was drained to its limit.
Beowolf after Beowolf came rushing toward the team. Weiss deflected and froze a few while Yang smashed them, shooting off a few bursts from her shot-gauntlets. Ruby hacked and slashed as many as she could but the bodies kept piling and dissipating.
"THEY JUST KEEP COMING!" Blake screamed over the roar of gun fire.
"It's like an onslaught of rats!" Hex squirmed as she threw a few small bombs at a group blasting them sky high. "WHERE THE HELL IS OUR BACKUP?!"
"I radioed for military back up when we came out of it, Atlas soldiers are on their way." Winter said as she cleaved her way through two Ursai.
Nova grimaced, if this was Ironwood's squad, they were talking about then no way in hell were they getting here in time. He needed to regenerate some aura...if he could just muster just enough for a heat wave to drive them back...
When the Ursai finally made it through, taking them down took time causing the rest of the Grimm to breach their line of defence. Ruby's eyes grew wide in horror, the people of Vale were still in panic. A mother and her child cowered in fear as they awaited their impending doom at the hands of a lunging Beowolf, Ruby saw flashbacks of her own mother... she wouldn't make it in time.
She faltered as she realized she wasn't fast enough and closed her eyes in despair expecting a shower of blood... Nothing came however as a hailstorm of bullets showered the unsuspecting hoard of Grim, blasting them into a smoky mess.
Standing at the centre of Vale square was a chocolate and yellow clad girl, sporting a rather large minigun and a bullet belt. Extremely fashionable sunglasses rested on her face, a brown scarf wrapped around her neck accompanied by a black beret, completing the stylish, elegant yet dangerous look. Beacon brought Reinforcements, Coco, Fox, Velvet and Yatsuhashi, team CFVY.
The giant of a man, Yatsuhashi, stood seven feet tall, as he swung his massive sword crashing into packs of Grimm. Velvet herself had a copy of what looked to be Coco's weapon tearing the Grimm down with Fox. Coco spotted the ASHNRWBY leaders letting out sighs of relief and shot them a dazzling smile accompanied by a thumbs up.
"The cavalry has arrived!" she shouted back.
"HI NOVA!" Velvet waved cheerily as she slaughtered seven Beowolves in one clip.
The young dragon awkwardly waved back unsure how she recognized him... Ruby on the other hand looked about ready to tear the rabbit a third ear.
"Ruby are you okay?" Nova asked concerned at his friend who looked just about ready to break someone in half.
Ruby smiled with a terrifying sweetness, "Of course I am!" she said as she gripped a Beowolf by the throat...without looking... and snapped it in half with her bare hands. Nova didn't know why but a cold chill ran down his spine.
"RUBY DUCK!" He yelled as he pushed the red leader to the ground, narrowly saving her neck from being torn off by the claw swipe of an alpha beowolf. The massive beast barely had time to register that it missed before a blast of fire shot out of Nova's palm and incinerated it.
"Are you okay?" He asked Ruby, the girl was still very much pinned to the ground under him.
She turned crimson, "N-Now I am..." she stared up into his mismatched orbs. The sounds of battle began droning out as Nova just found himself lost in the silver eyes that were so close to his own. He inched himself closer, Ruby made no motion to move as their noses were but a ghost of a space from touching... all that was left was for him to close the final gap...
"HEY! NO KISSING ON THE BATTLEFIELD! SAVE THAT FOR WHEN THE BREACH IS PLUGGED!" Hex yelled as she tossed a rock onto Nova's head causing the dragon to pull back and rub the spot where he was hurt.
"R-Right..." He muttered out not bothering to deny what he was about to do.
Ruby just lay there slightly dazed... and disappointed. Yet...something inside her told her... this wouldn't be the end of that...moment. She mentally shook herself; she'd confront herself later... for now there were Grimm that needed slaying.
"Anyone got any bright ideas? These things are endless..." Yang turned to her team as everyone gathered up desperate to push back the brunt of the force. They were exhausted and spent, everyone's aura was either down or low, their speeds were slowing down but the Grimm weren't.
"I may have one!" Doctor Oobleck finally piped in, he'd been holding back as many as a he could, but he wasn't exactly the most ideal combatant.
"Well spill it doc! Don't keep us waiting!" The blonde yelled in exasperation.
"Mr. Flareheart, Miss Rose, could you corral them to the hole?" The doctor inquired.
Nova and Ruby looked at each other, then back at the doctor, "We can try." They said simultaneously.
"Good, get as many as you can around the breach and I'll blast them back!"
"Blast them back? With what?!" Weiss asked incredulously looking around for explosives, but came up empty handed.
The doctor didn't bother to answer as the two leaders had already taken up action. Nova was superheating the air forcing the Grimm to unconsciously close back around the hole, unable to bare the heat. The few that strayed away were caught by rest of the team. Ruby transformed into a burst of petals and began zipping around the mass of monsters in a circle, drafting the heat as she moved creating a pillar of inferno. When most of the Grimm had been herded, she stopped her motion and came to rest next to Nova, exhausted from using her semblance so much she collapsed in his arms panting hard. He held her close, cradling her against his chest, grinning like an idiot at their handiwork.
The pillar of fire was massive, it soared into the sky like a symbol that testified to the synergistic power of ASHNRWBY. "Okay... doc... do your...thing..." Nova said with laboured breath from overusing his powers. Had he generated anymore he'd be pulling from his own lifespan.
"I still don't get what he's going to use to..." Weiss started to say but fell short when she saw Oobleck light his weapon on fire and pick up a certain corgi with the other hand.
"Zwei?" Ruby asked curiously as she observed, absolutely baffled as the corgi covered himself in aura and Oobleck threw him into the air and batted him into the mass of Grimm.
Like a fuzzy fireball, the corgi crashed into the brunt of the conglomeration of creatures and exploded like a dying star, blasting all the Grimm either to kingdom come or back through the hole. It was at that exact moment the military ships arrived and squads of soldiers filed out to clean up the straggler Grimm.
"Well... better late than never... some 'elite military unit' they are..." Blake spat as squads pushed past her to block off the hole.
"No matter what they say, I vote Zwei for MVP!" Weiss squealed picking up the soot covered puppy and nuzzling him.
"ARF!" he barked in response.
As the clean-up began drawing to a close, bullheads came to pick up the exhausted and quite literally collapsing team. The machines landed in the square and let down the ramps allowing Nova, Ruby and the others to board. Hex curled herself up next to Yang and the two were fast asleep on the ride back. Weiss and Blake were the next most exhausted people there, having been doing the majority of the fighting work along with Ruby.
The two leaders on the other hand had no other choice than to keep awake, ensuring their team made it on board and their belongings stowed away, Zwei who miraculously followed them through the entire rail way and helped them fight off a few Grimm was now sleeping on the floor of the ship.
With a heavy groan, Nova collapsed his body onto the nearest comfortable armchair, Ruby following suit next to him. He rubbed the underside of his eye and tried his best to recline, only to find out the chair did not in fact lean back, much to his displeasure.
"I'm…so…tired…" he groaned out, his usually startling white hair was covered in dust and soot, making it look almost grey. The same char smearing his face and you could see the soreness in his muscles as he moved. While he held the least injuries, his aura was depleted for several hours on end meaning he felt worse than getting hit by a truck.
Ruby giggled and leaned on his shoulder, earning a raised eyebrow from the young dragon, normally he'd sputter and try to move away from the sudden contact but he was too tired, that was until he felt a subtle softness pressing against his arm.
"R-Ruby w-what are you…" he sputtered blushing profusely. Ruby didn't look at him but her ears were slight coloured when she realized what she was doing. "I-I'm really sleepy and your arm is comfortable so uh... just let me rest…" she said until her brows furrowed and realized she couldn't sleep right now.
"No rest for the wicked or so I've heard Weiss say. Us leaders gotta stay awake to deal with all the complicated stuff," Ruby said with a pout. Nova trying to get over his embarrassment ruffled her hair.
Looking over her features, she had a few scratches on her face, a cut lip and some bruises along her arms, other than that she seemed okay, no broken bones or fatal wounds. "Yeah well you didn't have to fight a titan sized robot then face tank an explosion before fighting off a hoard of Grimm," he said flicking her forehead earning a cute 'owie'.
Ruby frowned remembering why he had to stay back, "How did you beat that thing anyway? What happened to Torchwick?" she asked. Nova rolled his eyes remembering, "The mech was easy, I just turned up the heat and it melted like butter. Torchwick, being the slippery snake that he was got away, even our resident specialist wasn't good enough to track him," he recalled. He was glad that Dr. Oobleck and Winter had left before them, on a different ship, to make a report to Ozpin otherwise that comment would have earned him a cold stare and few agitated excuses.
"At least we're not as beat up as the rest of them. That just means we can help out in their place," Ruby said her arms coming to rest at her sides, quite close to Nova's.
He frowned a bit at the mention of injuries, both Nitro and Luna suffered some serious damages, and from what Ruby told him about their adventures on the train, she pushed herself to the brink of near death with her powers. Unlike him, hers were still unstable and using them took not only tremendous mental energy but consumed more aura than his, precious aura that should have been healing her wounds from the fight against Dune. His stomach felt like he had swallowed a stone, it just sat there cold and disturbing his mental. The worry had amassed to the point where he was almost visibly shaking from the fear that his sister could possibly never recover.
Ruby felt his concern as the muscles in his arms tensed, she knew what he was thinking. She used her right arm and took hold of his left that was next to her and squeezed it gently. She looked up into his distant eyes and shook him a little, "She's going to be fine, Ellie's taking good care of her, she patched me up like it was nothing, if anyone can save your sister, it's her."
Nova barely registered the name of the person she said, his mind so fixated on Ruby's eyes that held such a determination and unwavering confidence that his sister would be okay. He had to believe she was right, for all their sakes.
-At Beacon-
Nova and Ruby stood outside the infirmary, staring at the beige door as though it was the one thing that separated them from an uncertainty, they weren't sure they wanted confirmed. Nova rubbed his arm nervously as if trying to raise the will power to open that door.
"Are you gonna go in or are we going to have to force you out of the way?" A voice came from behind them. The two nearly had a mild heart attack from the surprise as the atmospheric intensity they had created was like a thin veil that separated them from the rest of the world. Yang, Weiss, Blake and Hex were standing their arms folded. Dark circles under all their eyes and even Blake and Weiss had a few purple bruises on their usually unblemished faces.
"What are you all doing here? You should be resting?!" Ruby yelled frantically, zipping in and out of their group looking over their various injuries, only to be comedically picked up by the scruff of her hood by the yellow brawler.
"Chillax sis, you think a few scratches are gonna stop us from checking on our resident psychic and favourite dumbass?" Yang put her down.
"Seriously, you'd think you knew us by now, we're just as worried as you are. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't know she was okay." Weiss said with a huff.
Blake smiled, "Nitro is probably fine, but Luna is our little sister to."
Nova's heart melted a little at the sight before him, it made him feel so good to see that his sister who, had spent her entire life with no one else but him, was accepted by so many people.
Hex poked a finger at Nova and Ruby's chests. "We should be the ones telling you to get some rest, you refused medical treatment when the ships arrived and you haven't even gotten a wink of sleep."
"We totally got sleep, we're fine, right Ruby?" Nova turned to the red hooded girl as if to get help with his lie.
Ruby was about to answer but the look Hex and Yang shot them said otherwise, there was no lying to the group's pair of older sisters.
"Okay fine, so are we ready for this?" Nova looked at them.
They all nodded affirmatively, Nova reached out for the door handle but it was opened before he could touch the handle. Ellie, looking quite frustrated and tired glared daggers at the team, her hair was still wrapped up in the beanie and her sweater was replaced by a long white lab coat.
"Are you kids done? I have two patients in here trying to rest, one of which just got out of surgery." She said agitated.
"SURGERY?!" All of them yelled in surprise. Ellie felt a vein throb in her head as she yanked all of them inside. "I SAID PIPE DOWN!" she said in a hushed whisper.
Nova felt his heart stop when he saw Luna on the hospital bed. Her hair spread around her as she rested on the white mattress. Bandages around her arms and legs, her rib cage was also wrapped in what appeared to be a supporting vest.
Nitro was sleeping soundly on the other bed, a bandage wrapped around his head but overall, he looked alright.
"Four broken ribs, two spinal fractures, a severe concussion, both arms were broken and her left fingers were almost all smashed. On top of that, she had two counts of internal bleeding and her brain was deprived of oxygen she almost died of asphyxiation. What in the world did she do to get that much damage? Fight a Goliath?" the woman sighed heavily as she leaned against the nearby wall.
"H-How is she…" Nova choked out, everyone else in the room was too shocked to speak, Ruby herself was quite mortified.
"She'll be alright. My semblance is healing, normally I can't heal fatal injuries and she had several. It's amazing she survived as long as she did, girl's got the will power of a god. I performed surgery to remove the splintered bones in her arm and used metal to connect what was left. Her ribs weren't shattered so those will heal over time, the spinal fractures were minor and weren't fatal, just a few small cracks that should heal with my semblance. Her left hand will be out of commission for a long time until the nerves reform." she concluded, causing everyone in the room to release a relieved sigh they didn't know they were holding.
"Will she be able to join us in the field again?" Blake asked tentatively. Ellie raised an eyebrow, "Surprisingly, yes. It will be a few weeks until she's fully functional again but she'll make it. She's a fighter, for a girl so small I'm genuinely impressed." The older woman responded.
"Words can't express how grateful I am Doctor but, thank you…. Thank you so much for saving my sister." Nova hugged the woman, causing her to become embarrassed from the physical display of gratitude.
"No problem kid, it's my duty as a doctor," she said releasing herself from him. Ruby then turned and hugged her.
"So uhh, you're the lady from the train?" Weiss asked breaking the collective silence from them.
"Ah yes you must be so confused, my real name's actually Elain, my friends call me Ellie for short." she held out her hand for Nova to shake, who took it confused. That name….
"Nice to meet you Doctor," he responded cautiously.
"I already know of Ruby and her team from what she's told me, she found me in Mt. Glenn, afterall." She said pulling out a cigarette from her pocket and opening a window, lighting it and taking a long puff.
Nova looked at Ruby questioningly, "Long story," the girl responded.
"Wait you're smoking..." Weiss pointed out.
Elain looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, "Yes and?"
"Well you're a doctor... aren't you supposed to... you know..."
Elain drew a long breath and released a pillar of smoke, "Kid, when you've seen the shit I've seen... you'll need something to take the edge off. Besides... I can just heal own lungs when I'm done." She said waving off the heiress.
"Well when you put it that way..."
"Dr. Elain, I don't know how I could repay you…" Nova started but Elain held up her hand with the cigarette.
"Don't thank me kid, like I said it was my duty… besides I couldn't lose another one…" she said solemnly.
"Another one?" Nova asked, a feeling rising in the pits of his soul… he couldn't explain. The woman before him looked so familiar, as if he'd seen her before. And that name… it couldn't be…
"Yeah, a long time ago, I had two kids, the tiny things. There was an… unfortunate event that happened when they were young. My husband and I were separated from them. My little girl would probably be around her age right now," she said gesturing to the sleeping Luna.
Nova felt his heart stop for what seemed to be the thirteenth time today. His eyes went wide and his hands started shaking. She couldn't possibly… His body felt cold and Ruby just stared at his reaction, unsure of what was becoming of him.
"E-Elain… y-your kids…" Nova said shakily. The older woman looked at him with a raised eyebrow, the soot covered boy staring at her. "It wouldn't happen to have been nine years since you last saw them would it?" he said, unsure he was even speaking, his throat was dry and he looked so scared.
"Yes… how could you possibly…" She said, she looked him over just once and it hit her like a someone swung a sledgehammer at her gut. Nova wiped his face on his sleeve, rubbing away any extra soot that was clouding his features. Elain could see it now, on his face, on his sister's face, the looked so similar.
"W-what's the name of your sister…" Elain said her eyes shadowed over. Nova swallowed hard, "Luna, Luna Sapphire Flareheart, and my name is…"
"Nova Alexandrite Flareheart." She choked out, tears running down her face as she stared, a wave of emotions just crashing over her. She tore off her beanie to reveal the blue and orange hair with accompanying wolf ears. Nova's entire world seemed to crumble away before him as he stared her down, not daring to speak as if his words would betray him.
"M-M-Mom…?" he finally choked out, his voice cracking as tears were spilling from his eyes like streams. Team RWBY and Hex watched the scene unfold not daring to say a word. All eyes wide at what was being revealed before them.
Elain walked up, slowly to Nova as if he were a ghost and any sudden movement would blow him away into the wind. She gingerly reached out her hand to touch his face. The ghostly faint feeling of her palm against his cheek as though he were a fragile doll. She could see it clearly now, the resemblance, that fire, those eyes. That stupid wide grin, he was undoubtedly her son.
"My little dragon…." And with those words she hugged him so fiercely, as though if she were to let go, he would disappear between her fingers.
Nova, crying his eyes out returned the hug, feeling his mother's embrace once more, the wave of emotions came pouring through, breaching the gates that had held them back for so long.
"MOM!" He said amidst his sobbing, Ruby felt tears forming in her eyes as well as she watched the heartfelt exchange. The two finally released and Elain took a good look at him.
"Nine years… oh god look how big you've gotten," she said gauging their height differences, he was in fact almost an entire head above her. "You look so much like your father. And your Eyes! What the hell happened to your eyes?!" she asked incredulously, the burning red eyes he once had was now a mismatched pair that looked as though they had seen living hell. The scar running down his face, the body built like a lean mean, Grimm killing machine... though his form was slimmer than she expected…
"What happened to you…" She said solemnly, then turning to the sleeping form of Luna, gently caressing her face. "My daughter… oh my sweet baby girl," she teared up realizing the girl who had fought against all that pain and suffering, who saved all their lives at nearly the cost of her own was her very own daughter.
Suddenly Elain smacked Nova hard on the head.
"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" He half yelled turning to see his crying mother. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING LETTING YOUR SISTER RUN AROUND HALF DEAD?!" she yelled back causing Nova to wince.
"Anyone wanna explain what's going on here?" Weiss said exasperated that the two had essentially ignored everyone else's existence. Nova wiped the tears from his eyes and turned to everyone, "Weiss, Yang, Blake, Hex, Ruby, I want you guys to meet my mother, Elain Flareheart."
They all smiled warmly, Hex cut in, "Sooo Mama Flareheart, you been gone a long time."
Elain nodded slowly, "I think I should find out what my son and daughter have been up to while I've been absent,"
"Mom… you have… a lot to catch up on…" he said, there was one burning question. "Where's dad?"
At the mention of her husband Elain face turned solemn, "Your father is… Well after we got separated from you two, the White Fang set us on some rather… painful endeavours…" She said rubbing her arms.
"What do you mean?" Nova asked hesitantly.
"Onyx wanted me to create a formula for the Aegis gene, you know that thing in your DNA that gives you your powers," She gestured to Nova and he nodded. "See I figured out how to not only stabilize existing Aegis powers, but also… create them." Everyone in the room stared bug eyed, mouth agape. "WHAT?!" was the resounding response.
"Yeah see, I figured out how to mutate Faunus cells to produce power akin to the Aegis using nano machines. Well at least had a volatile prototype. Anyway, he wanted it to fuel his army, I wanted nothing to do with them. They kidnapped us and forced us to work for them. It was either we worked or they would kill one of us. If I didn't do my job, they would kill your father, and if he didn't do his then they would kill me." She hung her head, fists clenched in rage.
"But… please don't take this the wrong way but, If they had you, what reason would they need to keep your husband? Why not kidnap the kids, kill the husband and force you hostage?" Weiss said rather bluntly, causing everyone to just stare at her as if she were some mutated beast. "What?"
"Fair question Schnee, see, I'm the doctor and while I do a little tinkering here and there, my husband is the real mechanical genius. I only know a few things from him, my specialty is the medical science. So, while I'm working to make his super soldier serum, my husband is engineering their army, fortifying their weapons and soldiers. They split us up so we wouldn't see each other, I was sent to their genetics research team in Mt Glenn while he was sent to god knows where." she explained.
Nova drank it all in, a mix of fear, worry, impulse and happiness were swimming around like a witch's brew in his mind. Fear of the potential super army, worry for his father, impulse to go save him and happiness just knowing his parents weren't dead.
"I guess it's only fair you know what's been going on…" Nova looked at her nervously.
"Tell me… everything." She pulled up a chair, squashing the lit end of her cigarette on an ash try. Nova turned back to his team and Ruby placed hand on his shoulder.
"Alright it's gonna be a looong story…." He said.
-One long story later-
"Annnd that sums up what's been going on so far…" Nova finished telling the story. Most of his team had already lumbered off to bed saying they'd rather not hear the recount of their 'achievements'. Hex, Ruby and Nova were the only ones who stayed behind. The dark circles that had been around Ruby and Nova's eyes all day were even more prominent now as the evening descended into night.
"So, you fought Adam? And Lived? Who the hell taught you how to fight? Wait where did you even…" the woman stared shocked. Nova just smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Umm… my master, Randolf Wulf…"
"Did you say... Randolf…Wulf…" Elain said again almost in disbelief.
"Yeah he took care of us and trained us how to fight, well him and Ruby's Uncle Qrow." He explained. Elain looked at the little red and she just blushed.
"Is Wulf around? He's got some explaining to do..." Elain said with a tone hinting something unknown.
"Uhh sure, he's supposed to be here somewhere…" as Nova was about to pick up his scroll to call Randolf, the door to the infirmary flew open, to reveal a rather dishevelled and distraught Wulf. "Speak of the devil…"
"Nova what's happening?! I heard your sister's in Intensive Care and I came as fast as I could…" his voice died down as his eyes drifted onto a certain blue and orange haired woman in a lab coat.
"Oh no…" he gulped, his form visibly shaking as he held up his hand. "H-Hey Ellie… nice to see you…"
"NICE TO SEE ME?! Nice to see me my ass!" She roared as she leapt off her chair and sent a fist flying into the older man's face.
Nova, Ruby and Hex just looked on confused. "Dude, is your mom… on crack?" Hex whispered only for Nova to shoot her a disdained look.
"This is confusing for me to" he replied.
"Um… Mom…. Can you explain…." Nova stared up at the two. They paused their mini squabble to gaze back at the young dragon. They coughed into their hands comically before straightening themselves up.
"Ahem yes… Nova… your 'Master' over here is…." She started.
"Her brother." Randolf finished.
"WHAT?!" Came the resounding confusion once more for the night.
"Randolf you're my uncle? Why didn't you say anything…" Nova felt slightly betrayed.
"Um. Well, you see… At first when I found you two, I had no idea who you were since you both share your father's Faunus trait. Secondly, I only confirmed that I was when I left you both on to go hunting down Onyx. I met your mother at a White Fang warehouse in Mistral before they moved her to Mt. Glenn, and then I heard the story from her and I figured it out." He explained rubbing the back of his head.
Elain just smacked him again, "And your dumbass didn't even tell me my kids were at Beacon. We worked together at that facility, you helped me hide the prototype nanomachines! You had so many opportunities..."
"To be fair, I was a pretending to be a White Fang soldier and you were my superior, there were a lot of guards and no secure way to tell you… besides, I thought they were at Haven until a few months ago..." he tried to rationalize but realized he couldn't. "I'm sorry Ellie, I should have found a way to tell you…"
"Damn right you should have… I bet you were a terrible guardian." She huffed, the childish display causing everyone in the room to feel a sweat drop.
"Oi, I was a great caretaker thank you very much. If it weren't for me these two would still be starving in the streets by now…" He explained his eyebrow twitching, along with his ears.
"What…?" Elain said in a soft and quiet voice. The mood in the room drastically shifted.
"He didn't tell you?" Randolf gestured to Nova who just stood there, Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What is he talking about?" Elain asked her son, her voice scared of itself.
"B-Before he found… er we found him. Luna and I… lived on the streets." He said, flinching at the look of horror on his mother's face. "After the fire, Uncle Quartz helped us escape but he was… he was…" Nova visibly shuddered, Elain placed a hand over her mouth and looked downward.
"I took Luna and ran; we camped out in an alley and then boarded the next ship off the island. We went to Mistral and lived on the streets for about a year before we were eventually chased out of the city." The young dragon gravitated closer to Ruby unconsciously, the memories were bad and he instinctively sought comfort, to which she obliged.
"How did you survive?" Elain choked out.
"Scraps mostly, you'd be surprised what rich people throw away in their garbage. If I got the chance to lynch some Lien off some chump, I'd use it to buy food for Luna, couldn't have her eating the trash you know?" Nova rubbed the back of his neck looking down, uncomfortable about recalling this time period.
"You poor...poor thing. Oh, my sweet child," Elain burst into tears and crushed her son in a hug to which he flailed helplessly.
"ACK! YOU'RE CRUSHING MY RIBS!" his cries for release went unheard. "Seriously mom, we're fine, we survived."
She wiped her tears, "You said you were chased out? You didn't leave by choice?" she asked confused.
"Yeah well, when a crazy crackhead tries to kill you and your sister and you kill him in self-defence, the odds don't look too good for two homeless kids covered in blood when the cops show up. Especially two Faunus kids… and the local racist neighbours decided to speak out against you just nets you in a worse situation. So, when the time came, I hauled Luna on my back and we ran into the forest. That's where we met Randolf." Nova finished.
"Oh, that makes sense…. YOU WHAT?!" Elain felt her eyes bugging out and a migraine coming on. She had to sit back down and rub her temples for a bit while Ruby flinched at her outburst. The woman was either bipolar or crazy with all these mood swings.
"You've killed a man, granted it was in self-defence but you still killed somebody… at the age of eight? Nine?" she reached into her coat pocket and withdrew another cigarette and lit it. Inhaling deeply and breathing out a billow of smoke, she said "My eldest child has blood on his hands… next you're gonna tell me you survived a near death experience and stole from the SDC."
Nova laughed and Ruby felt herself get sick. The reaction on their faces made his mother pale, "Well…." He started.
"Please don't…." she dragged her free hand across her face.
"I was kinda sorta bleeding to death after that fight with Adam and…." He was about to continue when Randolf finished for him realizing it probably made his sister feel sick that her son was talking about his practical death.
"We managed to save him with the nanomachine serum you left behind for them!" Randolf interjected. He held out the remaining blue vial of nanomachines left for Luna. He had brought it with him in case he needed to give it to the girl to save her life, just like he did with Nova.
"So, you did find my prototypes... In that giant Facility? AND YOU GAVE IT TO HIM WHILE HE WAS ON THE BRINK OF DEATH?!" she said quite flabbergasted.
"…. Yes? Well Nova found it…" he gestured to her son.
"The instructions I left with the serum were that, introduction to new cells in your body of foreign, non-organic type, would cause tremendous pain. It was to be administered when the subject was in perfect health. Anything less and you risk potential death due to mental overexertion." She said her eye twitching. "AND YOU GAVE IT TO MY DYING SON, HE COULD HAVE LITERALLY EXPIRED!" She screamed.
Ruby piped in, "It did save his life… the wounds caused by Adam weren't closing up. There was so much blood…" she shuddered.
Elain sighed, "At least it worked, though I'm not sure what side effects it had on you."
"Side effects?" Hex asked as she sat near Nitro looking over her sleeping brother, raising an eyebrow at Nova who just shrugged.
"I'll ask Ozpin if I can get set up in the school somewhere. I'll need to you to come by once a week at least to make sure you're… functioning…" she said looking over her son, sticking fingers in his mouth, observing his fangs and shining lights in his eyes.
"What side effects could I be facing?" Nova asked hesitantly.
"Provided you haven't had any yet…. They could be anything really, depends on how you were when you took them. Patients I tested before, specifically rats, tended to rather violent behaviour, half dead and/or crippled rats went insane, started running into walls and eating their own kind." She said nonchalantly.
Nova visibly shuddered, "I'm not going to try and eat my friends, am I?" he looked toward Ruby who made a squeak.
"Hmmm probably not… if you start hearing voices in your head please inform me immediately." She said extinguishing her cigarette.
"I don't know Mrs. E, with or without the side effects, I bet he wants to eat a certain someone." Hex snickered pointing to Ruby. The girl in red just tilted her head in confusion while Nova turned the colour of Ruby's hood.
"HEX THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" He yelled trying to cover his embarrassment.
Elain looked at the interaction curiously, well well… at least he's not asexual, she smiled. The people in the room swapped stories for a bit more until the night grew into itself.
"I shouldn't be keeping you all up anymore, you should get some rest." Elain said with a yawn.
"I'm heading to bed but uhh… should I get those two?" Hex asked the older woman with a smile. Elain raised her eyebrow and followed Hex's gaze only to smile warmly.
Sitting on two chairs next to each other, Nova and Ruby were quietly snoring away, leaning on each other for comfort. The chill of the room caused them to unconsciously draw closer to each other until they were practically interlocked, Ruby's arms draped around Nova, her head resting under his chin, as they slept in the armless chairs. Nova's right arm was clutching Ruby.
"It's adorable isn't?" Hex said snapping a picture.
"Are they a couple?" Elain asked seeing the two of them so comfortable in each other's personal space.
"Not yet, those two idiots are too dense to notice each other's feelings." Hex groaned quietly as she shuffled out the door, "Gonna show Yang this…."
Elain shook her head, "What am I going to do with you?" she smiled before draping her lab coat around them, not wanting to ruin the image. She closed up the infirmary windows and left with Randolf.
AND WHAM! Nova and Luna finally have their mom back. That's one parent down, one to go... just one small step on their quest to reclaim their lives.
Next chapter should be up by friday/this weekend hopefully.
