"You want to be a faunus whore?"
Ruby woke with a start, the stars still out over her head. She shook the vestiges of the nightmare from her head. That night would always haunt her. But without it, Phoenix would never exist… how many people can say the best thing in their life was born from their worst? A peek at her scroll told her it was just after 3 in the morning, Vacuo time. Vacuo… I'm on a hunt, The redhead recalled. Another look at the stars told Ruby she could probably stand to get a bit more sleep. She was close enough to her hunt now to catch up in the morning.
"Or I can move now while it's still cool." Ruby told herself, remembering she was in a desert. She grasped her locket, and peeked at the pictures inside. Phoenix's infant picture was still in there, and Ruby began to fill the other side with his yearly school photos. "Or I can make sure I'm properly rested… this fight won't be my easiest."
Ruby set her scroll alarm for 5 30. Still cool, starting to get light, another two hours of sleep… it was perfect. With a hopeful smile for better dreams, Ruby turned back over in her bag for more rest.
Her alarm woke her what felt like a few moments later. With a very long sigh, she sat up and shut off the device. She began to unpack the metal pot she started bringing with her. Ruby was getting older, and while still in her twenties, she noticed some of her natural energy drain over time. By midday she would be her old hyper self, but she noticed a cup of coffee was starting to really help her in the morning. Especially mornings like this, when she had a hunt to finish and a foggy eye to chase away.
Refreshed and feeling 18 again, she packed up her camp, grabbed her gear from where it was stashed nearby, and was on her way. She had spent the last three days tracking a collection of Deathstalkers. Normally solo-hunters, the desert scorpions in question had decided to stay in a group of three for some reason. It made them very difficult to deal with, and in the three months the contract had been active, three teams tried and failed to bring them down. One from the last trip was in critical condition. Not anymore.
Some would say Ruby taking this assignment on her own was cocky. That it was suicide, that she was being arrogant. Maybe it was, but whatever arrogance the redhead had, she could back up with skill. Eight years of solo hunting had only refined the prodigious huntress's abilities. She was becoming a common name, a living legend. She had recently learned she even had a trading card, and was a contender in playground arguments of 'which Hunter is the best!'
Her 'legend' status was helped by the fact that she was a rather private person these days. Whatever fame she gained, she wanted to raise Phoenix away from all of that. She wanted him to have a normal childhood. She was no longer intentionally hiding him by any means, she just didn't reveal him to the world. If the truth ever did out, she wouldn't hide it. But she originally picked Mistral for a reason… it was excellent place to hide in plain sight. And so, she easily stayed private.
She noticed a glint, one that was different than the sand, rock and occasional glass… a deathstalker stinger. She had found her hunt. In full Huntress mode, she dashed up a nearby dune, finding a place to watch. Lowering high-tech goggles of her own design, she used the binocular function to scout the area.
Three of them. Battle scars. A few of the previous teams got some good hits in. They seem a little tired even… and an approaching sandstorm. Ruby switched her goggles to heat-vision, lighting up the deathstalkers through the approaching wind. Perfect cover…
Ruby waited, watched… she may be good, but one of the reasons was she did know her limits. Three deathstalkers solo was a little above her. But two was more reasonable, so she only had to disable one before the sandstorm passed. Not even kill it, just make it unable to fight with its brothers.
She kept one hand on Crescent Rose, though maybe that name wasn't too accurate at the moment. Her Sweetheart was recently upgraded with a camouflage drive that could actively change its color. White in Atlas, green in Vale's forests, near black in Mistral's swamps, and for Vacuo's desert the huntress chose a dirty tan. Of course, it was always red again when she went back home.
A shift in their behavior caught her attention. They started to circle a single point, tensing like they were ready to lash. No one else is on this contract… who the hell is that? Crescent Rose's scope was still a little more powerful than her binoculars. With it, she peeked between the legs of the grimm and spotted someone… long blonde hair, an up close and personal fighting style, and out of place black leather sleeve…
"Yang!?" Ruby was startled. "What the hell is she doing here! Damn it, she's going to get herself killed!" The huntress launched herself off the dune and slid down the slope, picking up with her semblance as she leveled out.
Two weeks prior
Weiss's internal clock roused her near the crack of dawn. A curious look at the actual alarm clock told her it was the weekend, and her company didn't need her today. She was about to turn over and fall back asleep, but ran into two issues. One, her wife wasn't in bed for her to cuddle with. And two, the pillow next to hers was completely clean. Not a single strand of hair. Weiss could never make it one night without waking up and finding silver strands shed in her pillow, but somehow the blonde brute never lost a single hair! What did she do to that supposed mess to keep it all together!?
Weiss banished the menial worry from her mind. Yang had heard enough of her little pet peeves before they were even together to hear this one again. She would likely just shrug and say something like I just don't worry about it, Weissy.
Stress can lead to hair loss… Weiss began thinking. Maybe there actually is something to simply not worrying about it…
Weiss went to the bathroom and washed up in the sink. While letting her good eye wander around, she noticed something. Yang's painkillers for her arm were in the same position on the counter they had been for the past three days. Weiss picked them up and looked over the issue date with a frown. While she had managed to get Yang to stop popping the numbing pills like candy in the last few years, the beautiful blonde unfortunately never broke the habit of stopping entirely before hunts… That certainly explains some of her behavior lately…
Weiss decided this was something worth confronting her wife for. She strode briskly to where she now assumed Yang would be now that she knew the huntress intended to go somewhere. She had a training room specifically built to withstand a giga-bomb going off within it, just so Yang would stop destroying gyms. She still worried the brawler would someday break it. As she approached, she heard nothing. Stepping inside proved the soundproofing was still holding up, as her ears were assaulted by explosions and Yang's 'workout mix'.
"Yang Xiao Long!" Weiss shouted, somehow making it to the blonde's ear.
Yang stopped was she was doing and quickly turned the music off. "Good morning, Weiss Xiao Long! What's up?"
Weiss held up the medicine bottle. "Going somewhere?"
Yang sighed. "Weiss, have I ever kept anything from you?"
The CEO shook the bottle. "Then what's with this?"
"I was going to tell you over breakfast. You're never up before noon on a Saturday." Yang told her. "I have a flight to Vacuo iiinnnnn five days now."
Weiss's frown only deepened. "Yang, honey… you know we don't need the extra income."
"I know." Yang shrugged. "But I like going out there. I thought we had this conversation before?"
"Back when I asked you to plant your feet and stay here with me." Weiss remembered fondly. "I don't mind you going out there, as long as you come home."
"But?" Yang asked.
"But you've been going out there more and more." Weiss answered. "Yang, honey… what's going on? Do you not like it here? Is… it me?"
Yang's eyes widened. "No! God, Weiss, why would you even think that!" She drew her wife into a deep hug. "I love it here, and I love you."
Weiss breathed a sigh of relief and hugged back. "You just keep going out... and even when your home, your mind seems elsewhere."
"I'm so sorry if you feel neglected." Yang told her. She pushed off, keeping a grip on Weiss's shoulders. "look, there is something. But the only reason I didn't say anything is because I didn't want to get either of our hopes up."
"What is it?" Weiss asked.
Yang took a deep breath. "I think I know how to track Ruby."
Weiss understood everything in that moment. "Yang… After this long, are you sure she even wants to come back?"
"I've had seven years to think about this Weiss." Yang stated. "You were right. I can't stop. I need to see her. Even if it goes bad, I need to try. She's my sister."
"I understand." Weiss smiled. "Just making sure you're prepared for the worst."
"The worst already happened." Yang lamented. "Either I'll be talking to her again, or I won't. We'll just have to see."
Yang's plan was simple. Ruby's huntress license was still active, and Yang had managed to track her turned in bounties. They were all over the place, and couldn't be used to find where she lived (if she even lived in a single location). But there was something else… a number of highly dangerous hunts were taken down by Ruby, solo, after other Huntsmen, Huntresses, and teams thereof failed. Her hero complex acting up, Yang supposed.
So, she found another hunt that didn't fit the bill quite yet, but was close. And she pursued it without actually picking it up from the website. If Ruby saw Yang's name on the registered Hunters list for the mission, she may avoid it. And now she was here, and for the past three days had kept goading the Deathstalkers to attack, running at the last moment, knowing when Ruby showed up she would reveal herself to save her. Yang was starting to feel it was a bad idea after all, until a glint of gold and sentient wind.
Something had blast by, slowing down just long enough to sweep the legs of one of the Deathstalkers. To Yang's amazement, the legs were all severed with this single slice. Yang was picked up before she could properly register how impossible that must have been, and found herself on a dune several hundred meters away. Yang looked up at her savior, and for a moment, her hopes were dashed.
No black and red corset, instead loose and breathable combat gear including cargo pants, knee high boots, a long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and small armor plating all around. Instead of a short red cape and hood, a large, flowing tan cloak with a low hood. Instead of silver eyes, cold glass goggles set above a bandanna mask that hid her savior's features. It was all desert colors, and Yang was sure that if she wasn't saved by her, she would never have spotted her amongst the dunes.
But then there was the weapon. All brown camouflage at the moment, it was undoubtedly the same layout and design as Crescent Rose. The only real difference between this scythe and the one she knew, was a thin golden edge to the scythe blades. Yang jumped up and hugged the figure. "Ruby! I found you! Oh god, it's been so long…"
"Stop crying…" Ruby tried to shake her sister off.
"Ruby, I'm so sorry…"
"Yang!" Ruby shouted, pulling down the bandanna that made up her cloth mask. "We'll talk in a minute, but right now, your emotion is calling to the Grimm."
Yang's eyes shot to the Deathstalkers, which were starting to look their way. The girls quickly hid behind a nearby dune. "So, sis… what's your plan of attack?"
"There's a sandstorm coming. Perfect visual cover." Ruby told her sister, raising her mask again. Its purpose was to filter the sand out of her breath, after all.
"Sounds good. I got lefty, you got righty? I don't think that other one is going anywhere." Yang pointed out.
"Sounds good." Ruby nodded.
"Just promise me, when we're done fighting, that you'll stick around and talk…?" Yang asked cautiously.
Ruby turned to her sister. This all happened so fast, her mind had yet to truly register she was here in front of her. "I promise…" Ruby replied.
"So that's how you found me." Ruby stated. After they finished with the Deathstalkers, the pair decided to walk until nightfall and talk by firelight. Yang had just finished explaining how she ended up in Vacuo. "But why come in the first place?"
Yang paused. "Isn't it obvious? To bring you home…"
"Yang…" Ruby started.
"No, I'm sorry I tried push you into staying before, but seven years with no contact is a little much!" Yang scolded.
"My scroll broke on my way home. By the time I got a new one, I ended up with a different number." Ruby explained. "And besides, it's not as easy as just 'coming back'."
"Why not?" Yang asked. "Wait… home?"
Ruby looked into violet eyes, thinking deeply on how to answer. It's been seven years, Ruby. Now's as good a time as any. But how to tell her? "Yes Yang. I've had a 'home' to return to for almost ten years now."
"Ten… how come you never told us?" Yang asked.
"The answer's not simple… Maybe it was once…" Ruby thought carefully. "Hey, Yang? Are you still doing the Reunions?"
"Same day, every year." Yang answered. "Always hoping you'd show up. Will you?"
"I have a lot to think about…" Ruby told her, "if I show up, you'll understand. I hope."
Yang nodded. She wasn't going to push it anymore. She learned her lesson. I hope I see you then.
A weary Ruby Rose climbed the steps to her Mistral apartment. She had time. She would think on going to Atlas tomorrow. But tonight, it was time to see someone she missed very much. She opened the door and stepped inside. The front room was dark, the air still. It was all quiet… Too quiet… that can only mean… Ruby was on guard immediately, eyes darting to the various dark corners. She turned around as a black shape jumped at her from behind the door.
"Oof!" She hit the ground, the shape settling on her torso. Ruby opened her eyes and saw a small figure with short dark red hair, silver eyes, and black horns that swept back along his hair before curving up just before the tips. He wore simple clothes and a familiar red hood that was a little large for him, pinned together around his neck by a single cross clasp.
"I got you, Momma!" Phoenix grinned triumphantly, grabbing his little wooden sword from where it was strapped across the small of his back, and brought it around to his mother's neck.
Ruby quickly decided to make a big show of being 'gotten', thrashing about without actually disturbing Phoenix's position. "Urgh! Blech! Gaah! You have vanquished me, oh brave warrior!" She dropped all her limbs and shut her eyes.
"Momma? Momma? You okay?" Phoenix asked, slightly worried. He knew she was alright, of course, but it wouldn't be the first time she came home more exhausted than she let on.
One eye opened, a smile stretching across the woman's face. "Hey, kiddo."
"Momma!" Phoenix was excited, and quickly put his toy sword back. "I really got you, huh!?"
"Yes you did!" Ruby sat up, grabbing her son and setting him in her lap. "You're getting good!"
"As good as you?" Phoenix asked.
"Woah, there, buster. You got a long way to go for that." Ruby warned.
"I'll do it! I'll be strong like you! I'll be a Huntsman!" The child declared for the umpteenth time.
Ruby giggled and tousled his hair, answering as she always did. "I'm sure you will. You'll be strong and brave, and you'll get the girl and save the day."
Flora came out of the other room just then, already dressed for her shift at the clinic. "Welcome home Ruby! Sorry I'm in a rush."
"We'll catch up later. Go save some lives. And thank you for watching Phoenix. Again." Ruby told her friend.
"You're welcome. Again." Flora smiled. "You two be good."
The nurse left, and Phoenix bounded off his mother and set himself on the couch, across from Ruby's 'chair.' This was how they partook of the same ritual they always had upon the huntress's return. "Story Time, Story Time! What happened, what happened!?" Phoenix bounced in his seat with excitement.
Ruby sat down and began to recount the tales of her various contracts this run. She exaggerated a bit, of course… Story Time had to be exciting. She managed to stay awake and energized to get all the way to her last contract in Vacuo. "And then, without warning, they started circling around and fighting-"
Ruby stopped on her tracks, and Phoenix was impatient for the finale. "What happened!? Who was it!?"
The mother raised an eyebrow at her child. "How do you know it was a person?"
Phoenix shrugged. "Empty desert, grimm moving different… it had to be a person."
Ruby smiled. "You're a smart little man, you know that?" Her smiled faltered. "Phoenix, do you remember when I told you about my old team? About your aunt, Yang?"
"Yeah-huh." Phoenix nodded. "You said you guys don't talk no-more? Was it her?"
"There's something I never told you… She wasn't at fault when we parted ways." Ruby confessed.
"Huh? What do you mean?" The boy was genuinely confused.
Ruby giggled. "Your momma's not perfect, honey. Hardly. I'm very bad with people. And well… let's just say I was scared. They didn't know about you, and I was scared of how they would react of they did."
"Why…?" Phoenix asked, saddened.
Ruby moved next to Phoenix, draping him in her arms. "I think it's time for a different kind of story, Nix. I think you're old enough, or at least smart enough, to understand. Just know, no matter how this comes out, I never lied to you. I love you, more than anything, and nothing will change that."
Phoenix nodded and listened closely, sensing this was important.
"This," Ruby continued, "is the story of you, Phoenix Rose."
