Lovely to see so many new readers, I hope you're all thoroughly enjoying this fic, cuz I don't intend to stop anytime soon.
Also to my guest reviewer, MWAHAHHA, YES! Give in to your hate, let it drive you, soon you will kill all the Jedi, the women and the children too!
On another note, sorry if this took a while, I had an exam to write yesterday so the chapter got delayed, but it's here now so, enjoy ^_^
Chapter 40: The Ashes of War
Ruby tossed and turned in her sleep as the world's most horrible dream flowed through her mind like the waters of the river Styx. She could see it, the awful images passing by her eyes like slow, painful movies, each second lasting a lifetime. The Grimm surrounded her, Beacon was burning, the smell of smoke and death in the air more pungent than rotting of the piles of corpses that lay torn to shreds on the streets. White Fang and Grimm working in almost cohesion as Vale was torn asunder, brick by brick.
Worst of all, she saw him. The boy she held most dear to her heart above all others, standing there with the life in his eyes fading ever so slowly as blood poured from his left shoulder, his face bruised and scarred as he whispered words to her, though she could not hear them.
"Nova...!" She called out, though her words carried no sound, "PLEASE! DON'T GO! STAY WITH ME!" she echoed. The lifeless body of Nova turned to her, his eyes hollow, "Ruby, it's time to wake up…" "NOVA!" She sat up in bed with a start, cold sweat dripping down her face as she looked around the room.
The bright golden morning sunshine streamed through the window as she gauged her surroundings. She was back at Patch, lying in bed in her pajamas. Her head hurt, like someone beat her with a mallet and the back of her eyes were in pain.
"Ugh… what…" she mumbled out when suddenly there was the distinct shuffling of feet and rapid tapping, causing Ruby to turn and see Taiyang burst through the door to her room looking frantic.
"Dad?" Ruby looked toward her father.
"RUBY!" He ran up to her bedside and placed a hand on her head, "You're finally awake…"
"Yeah… how long was I asleep?" she asked looking at her state. "What happened…?"
Tai sighed, "Qrow found you… he got you home safe. You've been out of it for a few days…"
"DAYS?! Wait… Yang! Where's Yang?! And Nova? Is he okay? He took a really bad hit at the tower, I saw him and I couldn't make it in time." She said not looking at her father, and beginning to ramble.
"He's really tough so I doubt anything could hurt him. He's probably up and about right? Where is he?" Ruby asked turning to her father, a light expression on her face.
Tai held the exact opposite. He looked tired, and at the mention of Nova his face fell Grimm and Ruby paled. "Ruby… Yang's lost her right arm, her aura won't regrow a missing limb, and she's been out of it since… Nova on the other hand…"
"No, no, no… I don't want to hear it…"
"Want to or not… Nova… he's…" Tai started to choke, tears forming in his eyes, "He's gone…"
"No… that can't be right! THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!" Ruby said her face distorting into a crinkled expression, "He… he promised…" she started to sniff and Tai moved closer and held her hand.
"He promised he would come back, dad! He… said he would…" her words became muffled as she began to break down, an endless stream of tears pouring down her face as she clutched onto her father for dear life.
Tai sat there, crying with her, holding her as she released her sorrows. Ruby felt broken, her heartfelt as though it were torn apart and she was left there to bleed out. Her soul had a hole in it that felt so large that it would consume the rest of her.
How could she live on like this? Now that the love of her life was gone. How could she bear to move on with such pain, gnawing at her being, consuming her entirely?
Tai felt his daughter's pain, "When Summer… died… you two girls were my only reasons for holding myself together." He released her from the embrace, staring at her tearful eyes and shattered expression. He'd never thought he'd see his bright, cheerful little girl this torn apart before.
"I know… you need time to come to terms with it all… but… if you want to live, semi-normal again, then… you need to find something to keep you going…" He rose from his chair and headed for the door.
"When you're ready… come downstairs, there are some people who you should meet…" and with that, he shut the door behind him.
The moment he was gone Ruby broke down again.
It was a bit later in the day, around noon, when Ruby managed to bring the strength to head downstairs.
As she approached the living room she could hear the voices, several of them.
"We can't put this off for much longer…" someone said it sounded like Qrow.
"Qrow! Ruby just woke up this morning, she needs to come to terms with her grief before we can do anything else! She loved him!" Tai responded.
Ruby rounded the corner of the stairs and walked into the room, dressed in a casual black shirt and a skirt.
Sitting around the living room were Hex, Luna, Nitro, Elain, Qrow, Randolf and Yang. Upon seeing the remaining members of team ASHNRWBY sitting together, minus Yang who sat away from everyone else, she ran up to them and dive-bombed them in a hug.
"OH THANK GOD YOU GUYS ARE ALRIGHT!" Ruby said pulling the trio into a tight hug, but her mood was anything but jovial, she may be smiling but, she was hurting on the inside, and they all felt it.
"We're glad to see you too…" Luna said hugging back, burying her face into Ruby's shirt, "I'm… so glad…" she sniffed.
"Where is Weiss? And Blake? And what of the others like Team JNPR any word from them?" she asked looking around.
They all shared wary glances, "Weiss' dad… took her… after we evacuated an SDC ship showed up and they practically forced Weiss at spear point to go back home… something about not wanting the heiress to the SDC anywhere near Huntsmen and their dangers… " Luna said nervously.
Ruby's face fell, out of all the people here, she wanted her partner with her, so she could at least have her best friend there to cope. "And Blake?"
"No one knows, probably on a boat to Menagerie by now…" Yang answered up from the back, anger, and scorn evident in her voice. "The least she could do was stay for her friend's funeral… though I doubt she ever cared seeing as how she just fucked off the moment things turned bad…"
"YANG!" Hex yelled looking angry.
"What? I'm right aren't I?" she said angrily, "Whatever…" she walked off.
Tai sighed and turned back to Ruby, "Yang's… sore… since she lost her arm. She hasn't been the same since…"
"Team JNPR's alright, to answer your question, Ruby." Luna said turning to her, "But… there's… some complications."
Ruby paled, she didn't want to hear any more bad news.
"Jaune, Nora, Ren, they're fine. Pyrrha on the other hand… It seemed that the fight took more out of her than anyone thought, her aura was overused to the point where it's no longer stable and she was hit by a glass arrow. The tip of it shattered inside her and the pieces are sapping her strength. She's alive but… barely…"
"Can't they just remove the arrow pieces?" Ruby asked looking at them.
Elain shook her head this time, "Took a look at her myself, dear. The shards are too far down and too close to vital arteries to safely remove, on top of that, the glass is made of aura, like a semblance, the only way to remove them would be to take out the person that controls them…"
"Cinder…" Ruby spat the name like it was rotten.
Luna walked up to Ruby, "Here... I think you should have this..." she took out a piece of gold metal.
Ruby's eyes widened upon seeing the ever so familiar fragment of weaponry. It was one of Asura's dragon fangs, from the head of the scythe.
"Luna this is..." she said almost in awe, "Shouldn't you keep it?"
The young dragon shook her head, and closed Ruby's palm around the cool metal, "No, it belongs to you now."
"I'll treasure it... always... " she clutched the shard close to her heart, imagining the warmth of Nova.
"Ruby, sweety, how… are you doing?" Elain asked drawing the girl's attention, realizing her emotions must be running wild.
The girl in question felt her heart stop for a moment before she regained herself, "I…"
Elain got up from her seat and hugged the girl tightly, "It's alright… you don't have to say. That look you just gave me says it all…"
Ruby found herself feeling the tears well up in her eyes, "I don't know what to think anymore Aunty E. I… just… don't… know…" she said that last part through choking back the tears and everyone in the room felt their hearts shatter more at the thought of the love between Ruby and Nova was now up in smoke.
Once they released Luna looked to them, "Um… I… I know it's.. still a raw subject, for all of us but… Ruby," she said turning to the red-leader. "We were, deciding on where we should… bury him…"
"We can't bury a body we don't have…" Qrow said morbidly and everyone stared at him harshly. "What?"
"Wait… if you never found a body doesn't that mean he might be…" Ruby said realizing.
Elain shook her head, "We tried everything, not a single one of our scanners, life detectors or device locators could find him… judging by the story we were told… and the fall he would have taken… I'm sorry dear, but… he's really gone…"
Ruby wanted to fight her down, tell her she's wrong, but Nova was Elain's son. More than anything she would have tried the hardest.
"Why not Menagerie? On home soil?" Qrow asked returning to the matter at hand.
Elain shook her head, "No… we can't… Menagerie was never his home. His home was with the people he cared about…"
Ruby thought for a moment, then looked to Tai and it seemed they both had the same morbid idea, "I think I know where…"
The funeral was the next day. The procession was short and attended by only those who were present, including Randolf. All of them gathered at the edge of a special cliff in Patch, deep into the woods, overlooking the endless sky. There it was sitting neatly on the edge.
'In Memory of Nova Flareheart. A Leader, a Fighter, and A Loyal Friend and brother to all' read the headstone as it stood side by side with Summer Rose's memorial.
"I… think we should say a few words… I'll start at…" Randolf said stepping forward.
"I found him and his sister when they were too small to do much. He was a crazy bastard who would fight the gods themselves if it meant protecting his sister. Nova was… my student, and for all it was worth, he was a great one. He may not have been the fastest learner, but he was dedicated. When I found out he was my nephew, well, I sort of felt pride in knowing that such an exemplary boy was one of my own… I'll miss him every day…" He stepped back and allowed someone else to take over.
Qrow then stepped forward, "Like Wulf, Nova was also my student, and my nephew, though he was more adopted than anything else. He was a fighter, determined to do what was necessary, no matter the cost to himself… for that, he has my eternal respect. One of the only people on Remnant who could take me in a fight… I'll drink to you kid…" he muttered as everyone could swear they saw a tear fall out of the man's eye as he poured out his flask on the ground at Nova's headstone.
Hex and Nitro stepped forward, "We may not have known Nova as long as some of you here but to us… he was the greatest leader anyone could ask for. He stood by us, even when we had no one. He helped us survive and taught us how to become who we are today. He's saved our lives more times than we can count and for that, we owe him everything." Hex said tears streaming down her face.
"I looked up to him when I had no one else to look up to. He was my shining light of hope, and most of all, he was someone who I called brother. I'm going to miss you bro…" Nitro choked as he and Hex made way for someone else.
"Nova's the reason I'm alive today…. When we were kids, too young to survive on our own, he took care of me, all by himself. He kept me safe, gave me hope and made sure I always had enough to eat and drink even if it meant he'd get none himself. He'd given me the clothes of his back and spent all he had to make sure I was alright. He was my father when I needed one, my mother when I had none, and my friend when all we had was each other. He's the greatest brother anyone could ask for, and there isn't a single soul in the world that held more worth than his…" Luna said trying to sound stoic but her voice cracks and streaming tears gave it all away. She broke down hard in front of the headstone and cried for a solid minute before getting up.
Elain rubbed her arm and walked up, "Nova, was my son. My precious little dragon that I had not nearly enough time with, in my life. I was taken from him at too young an age, and I regret more than anything, to have spent more time with him… I can't say about his characteristics as much as the rest of you, but… he was my son, and I'm proud to know that he left this legacy."
Ruby watched them come and go and was amazed at the sheer respect they all held for him. Nova really was the best of them all.
Yang grunted but walked up, "I don't have a lot to say about him… at first, I thought he was weird and kind of awkward. I didn't want him to really go anywhere near my sister but, as time grew on I realized what an amazing person he was. I'm glad I got to fight alongside him, and I'm glad he was my leader. A truer friend has never existed, and without him, I'd never have met Hex… Nova… I'll miss you buddy…" the blonde said, showing the first real emotions other than anger since she'd awakened.
Tai's turn, "Nova was like the son I never had. When I'd found out he was dating my daughter, I was furious… and I challenged him to duel… he beat my ass. I thought he was some frivolous pretty boy who was all bark and no bite… but in reality, he was incredible. He was respectful, and kind, a great listener and a kind soul. I'm proud to call him a son, and my only regret is… I'd never get to see him and Ruby become a real family…"
Everyone stared in awe, they weren't expecting anything from Tai but this was an impressive surprise.
Ruby inhaled deeply and walked up, kneeling down at his grave before turning to them, "When I first met him… it was weird and awkward. I still remember his hand brushing up on mine in that gun shop in Vale… Even when I found out his secret, I realized that he was still the same person as always, and through it all, good times and bad, I fell in love with him. He was the kindest, most gentle, funny, dorky little flamethrower I'd ever met… but he was my flamethrower. I don't think I'll ever move on from this… true love comes around once in a lifetime after all… so… Nova, if you're listening, I miss you, I'll keep missing you even until I grow old and die." She was about to walk back when the words found their way into her mind as if speaking about Nova lifted a weight in her.
"And I swear to you, here on this day, before your memory. I will find the ones who did this to you, I'll find the cause of all the pain and suffering, and I'll stop them. For your sake, and for the sake of everyone else…" Ruby said confidently, vigour burning in her eyes and Luna also felt it, everyone else did too.
Ruby was a leader, she was just like Nova.
Everyone hung around Patch for a few days before eventually moving on. Randolf left to make his way to Atlas, specifically Mantle, he said if they were going to take on the enemy then he needed to do his own mission. This left everyone else there.
"I've decided," Ruby said as they sat around the living room.
"Decided on what?" Luna asked sipping on some tea.
"I'm going to Mistral."
Luna almost spat out her tea, she choked instead, "What…?" she asked in a coughing fit.
"You heard me… I'm going to Mistral. Before… the fall… Nova was onto something. All the evidence, Cinder's team and the like, they came from Mistral. Something's not right there and I'm going to find out!" she said standing up.
Nitro looked at her nervously, "Uhh, you mention this to your dad?"
"No, he'll try to stop me…"
"Ruby, we'll try to stop you…" Hex said nervously.
"But I'll just go anyway!" Ruby said standing up.
Elain sighed, she didn't like this, "I'm not lying to your father about this…"
Luna sat and pondered for a moment, "You won't have to…"
"Huh?" they all turned to her.
"I've been thinking about this to… Before Nova… well… his original plan was for us to head back to Menagerie and spread the word about the White Fang. He wanted us to start digging up the evil at its roots, gather allies and take the fight to them. The more people that turn on the White Fang the easier our lives become, and we might be able to topple them entirely…" the blue dragon said placing her hand on her chin.
Elain sighed again, "I don't like the idea… but it's not bad…" she muttered.
"You guys won't be able to come with us, Menagerie and humans don't mix if you catch my meaning…" Luna said. "Nova wanted humans and Faunus to get along and set aside their differences, but bringing a human to Menagerie is still a stretch…"
"Then it's settled. I'm going to Mistral while Luna and Elain go to Menagerie!" Ruby said almost jumping up.
Nitro and Hex shared worried glances, "We're coming with you…" Nitro said standing up.
"What?! Really?" the red leader looked at them hopefully.
"Yup! Nova would kill us if we left you to go on a dangerous mission by yourself, especially since we can't follow Luna." Hex said smiling.
"Weelll…." Ruby said stretching the word.
"You already talked to JNPR didn't you? How the hell did you communicate with them? The CCT Tower was destroyed!" Luna said waving her arms.
"Vale to Patch isn't considered international so I still had coverage," Ruby stuck her tongue out and winked.
They all rolled their eyes, "You're at least telling your father something, leave a note…" Elain said not wanting to condone her actions.
They spent a couple more days hanging around Patch, with air transport services down and the majority of international commuting routes from Patch to Vale, it left them with only one real option to get to Mistral. By foot.
It was early in the morning when Ruby and Hex popped into Yang and Ruby's room to find the blonde sitting up in bed, looking disgruntled with life.
"Yang… The rest of us are… heading to Mistral. I know that things have been rough since…" Ruby started off.
"Ruby!" she said stopping her from talking. "I know you want me to come with you but… No one outside of Vale knows what really happened here. The last thing people saw was Atlas attacking everyone and betraying people's trust. No one saw the White Fang because the camera feeds were cut long before they arrived. Nova, Penny… they're gone… and even Pyrrha's hospitalized for who knows how long…"
"Yeah, I know… but we have to try… we can't let them win…"
"RUBY! Don't you get it? We've already lost!" the blonde exploded making her sister recoil with a hurt expression. "You saw what happened, Ruby! This isn't a game, this isn't some fairy tale where you can play the heroine and save the day, so why don't you shove those childish ideals away and realize the reality we are living in!"
Ruby felt her heartbreak a little more, her own sister, someone she thought that would have her back was no against her as well. Weiss wasn't here, Blake's missing and at the end of the day the glory days of Team ASHNRWBY were long gone…
"I… I'm still going anyway… because somethings are more important than my own life…" she sniffed before walking out the door.
Hex who had been quietly observing behind Ruby waited for her to leave, staring down her girlfriend. "Yang, I've put up with your shitty attitude for the last week and I've just about had enough…"
"If it's so shitty then why are you still here?" Yang retorted, narrowing her eyes.
Hex bit back the tears, the words stung worse than any stab wound, "Yeah… you're right. I guess I was wrong to think you'd have the courage to follow your sister and support her. To help the people of Remnant…"
Yang just continued staring at the open window, not bothering to look at the purplette.
"You're not the only one that lost something at Beacon… we all did. When will you realize that we're all grieving just as hard if not worse? Luna lost her brother! HER ONLY BROTHER! Elain lost her son, and Tai to a certain extent. Nitro and I lost a man we called family, and Ruby lost the love of her life, and that Penny girl!" Hex continued on but Yang just refused to look.
She'd just had about enough of Yang's bitterness. The pain was too much to bear, it was like looking at a stranger.
"I fell in love with a courageous, powerful, ray of sunshine, who would let nothing stop her from rallying behind her friends and fighting alongside them. I don't know where she is anymore, so… if you find her let me know… until then… this is goodbye…" Hex said this time Yang turned around wide-eyed at what she was implying. Her face was stock-still and shocked, but Hex was fuming. The tears streamed down her face as she waited for Yang to say something, but there were no words. Sobbing silently, she stormed off to follow Ruby, leaving the blonde hollow and questioning herself.
Elain and the others stood outside waiting for Ruby.
"Are we all set?" Luna asked looking at their party. Ruby nodded as she and Hex came through the door, the remnants of tear stains still on Hex's face.
"The journey will be perilous, and whether we'll find answers at the end is almost entirely uncertain…" Ren said as they gathered up their supplies.
"Long, almost unending distance, small chance of success, high chance of death. What're we waiting for?" Nitro said smiling.
Luna turned to Ruby and held her hand, "We'll come to find you at Haven, hopefully with reinforcements…" she gave the red leader a tight hug before waving goodbye as they went their separate ways. Ruby looked to the road ahead, clutching the shard of Asura, which now lay strung up in a pendant around her neck.
-Beacon Academy, under a pile of rubble-
It was dark, and stifling. The air was stale and cold as he lay there, broken and torn. What had happened to bring him to such a state? Everything hurt like hell and his airflow was restricted, he was being suffocated. The only saving grace was the soft, warm hum of a round object that lay on his chest as if it was protecting him.
He tried to open his eyes but there was nothing but cold darkness. Visions of the past began to play like a bad movie in his slowly dying mind. The burning of Beacon, the Grimm, the tower. Pyrrha, Onyx, Cinder… Ruby…
RUBY! The name resounded in his mind like a bell chime, rousing his muddled mind and clearing his senses. The moment he began to regain feeling in his limbs, the greater the pain came.
At first, it was a dull throbbing, but now it came like searing torture. Where was he? He needed to get up! He needed to find Ruby! His friends!
Biting down hard on his lip he gritted through the intense pain and made to move his left arm, but all he got was more pain. An intense weight pressed down on his body, like three tonnes of hardened rock, as if an entire building was resting on his chest.
Come on Nova, move… I have to… no I NEED TO MOVE! He screamed in his brain as he pushed through the pain, he could feel his left arm's muscles tear and split, bones that were supposed to be broken, broke even further as he forced the weight above him upward. The faint glow of his aura slowly began to cover him as he forced himself to overcome his situation.
FUCKING MOVE DAMNIT! He cursed as the weight above him began to shift. Slowly but surely his semblance began to work again as his aura became focused on the task at hand, halting his healing, the object on his chest began to burn with a fire that generated strength, helping him to push through.
"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Nova yelled as he gave one last solid push, forcing the massive pile of rock that sat on him forward and off his body. There was a resounding crash and crunch of rock breaking as he lay back down on his spot, the bright sunlight piercing down on his face, almost blinding his eyes. He was in a crater of rubble, cogs, and gears strewn around him suggesting he wasn't that far off from Ozpin's tower. Glancing down at his state he saw his left arm buried in the ground under him, no feeling in it as he lay there on his back, staring up at the sky. His chest rose and fell as he breathed, trying to regain composure of his body. His armlet on his right arm was damaged, and upon glancing down at himself, he realized he was in his girl form.
He took a few deep breaths, his legs, and right arm were thankfully semi-operational, so he sat up and got down onto his knees, placing his right arm for support.
"Alright, Nova… you can do this… " he muttered, though his voice was raspy and barely a whisper. His throat felt dry and uncomfortably raw.
"One… two… three!" He yelled as he forced his weight upward to bring his arm out of the hole it was in, but the rubble was too tightly compressed. The moment he forced himself upward a loud snap was heard in his elbow and the feeling of tearing skin and flesh burned through him like an unbelievable pain.
"OH FUCK! Oh fuck…" he muttered to himself as he realized what needed to be done. His arm wasn't coming out and he didn't have the strength to dig around it as it would take too long. He was on enough borrowed time as it was…
Cursing he tore a bit of his already ruined shirt and wrapped it around his exposed upper arm, tying an extremely tight knot.
"Alright, it's just like tearing off a bandage… just a hundred times more painful and a high chance you bleed to death…" He closed his eyes and forced his body upward.
The pain was unlike anything he'd felt before as he squeezed his eyes shut, his legs refusing to stop. Skin and muscle tore as bone broke off at the joint, like a fleshy red fountain his arm was now free dripping lightly due to the tight cloth. His veins and flesh that hadn't been severed properly hung from the missing limb like grotesque streamers.
Nova collapsed back onto the floor, all the strength leaving his body. The smell of blood attracting nearby Grimm and Nova didn't even have the strength to stand.
"Fuck… all that work and this is how it really ends?" He muttered to himself as he spied a Beowolf approaching out of the corner of his vision. The monster of darkness looming over him as it inspected him for life. The Grimm didn't eat corpses that were already dead. They only ate fresh kills.
Nova tried to stay as still as possible but the bleeding of his arm just roused the creature's senses, overriding its state of preference. It was hungry.
Nova closed his eyes and waited for the impending doom, but there was none, as the creature that stood above him was now missing a head, the swift sound of sheathing metal was heard behind him.
"Well… look who's still alive…" A male voice said, "Can't believe you've let yourself go… Nova…"
The dragon couldn't care less who his saviour was as his vision darkened and he blacked out.
Who saved Nova? What's going to happen to our heroes now?
Find out next chapter :P
If y'all actually thought I was going to let Nova die then I'm glad I stirred your emotions. Yes, it's true... this entire time, your author WAS actually evil MWAHAHAHA.
