Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and RWBY. Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum (rest in peace you saint of a man).
A question one would ask why type this up? Simple – why not?
Chapter 31: Death to Apathy
The last thing Ruby expected was to see Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Oscar at the door staring at Ruby like she had a second head. Admittedly, Ruby and Senna may have gone a bit too far in their spar. It only went over Ruby's head as she gave her friends a sheepish expression. She gently dropped Senna on a nearby chair before speaking.
"You're up on time." Ruby noted blankly.
"No thanks to you." Weiss chided.
Ruby's expression turned a bit serious. "So you saw?"
Seconds passed as Team RWBY just stared at their leader. Ruby could note some minor annoyance in Weiss, Blake was a bit cautious with Ruby for obvious reasons, and Yang was unreadable. Another ten seconds passed and one of the faces changed into a wide grin from the blonde.
"That was awesome, sis!" Yang exclaimed, "You told us you were strong, but call me wrong when we watch you tear up the landscape."
"How is this funny?!" Weiss berated the blonde. "I'm sure Ruby just caused an earthquake somewhere in the night."
Yang ignored Weiss and continued. "Now I'm more excited to see what you can do against us."
"If you think that was awesome," Ruby said with a wolfish grin, "that was only a light exercise at best."
While Blake and Weiss were gawking in disbelief at Ruby's words, Yang didn't even falter her smile. In fact, it somehow widened by just a few centimeters. A terrible image came to Ruby's head seeing such a similar look on a battle-crazed maniac in Soul Society. Her eyes widened a moment before Yang's hand touching her shoulder brought her back to reality. That added to Ruby's mental list of rules: never let Yang and Kenpachi meet.
Ruby should probably make an entirely new list of people Yang should never meet back in Ichigo's world.
"I don't know what happened to you, sis, but I like this new attitude of power and confidence you have around you." Yang praised. "I have to thank whoever broke you out of your shell and revealed the awesome baby sister I knew you are."
"One of them is Ichigo." Ruby said with a slight smug smile. If there was one thing Ruby can boast about to her sister it would be that she had a boyfriend first. "Speaking of orange sunshine, is he awake?"
Yang nodded. "Passed out on the floor with nothing but a blanket. Guess I don't have to worry about you two going in the same bed if he's offering to sleep on the floor."
By accident, Yang got a reaction from Ruby as her cheeks burned a bright scarlet. "Same... bed!"
Ruby's eyes took on a glossy gaze to them. Her mind instantly into such scenarios. A key detail being Ruby inching into Ichigo's amazing aura of comfort and safety line never before. Slowly those thoughts became a bit... less tame to say.
As evident by a strange reddening on Ruby's nose.
"... Ruuby~..." Yang's voice echoed, waving a hand in front of her hypnotized sister, "... Remnant to Ruby... Come on, Ruby!"
"Eh-wha- what!?" Ruby exclaimed snapping out of her trance. She felt like that she was rudely awoken from a wonderful dream that memories of such were fading away.
"C'mon, Ruby," said Yang with a knowing grin, "We don't need our leader to have any perverted daydreams of your walking hotstuff."
"I was having no such thing!" Ruby denied, her blush betraying her.
Yang leaned in closer till their eyes were just several inches apart. That grin on the blonde's face did not let up like she was reading her mind and every thought bringing more to embarrass Ruby.
"Oh, I can see how you look at him sometimes." said Yang, "You were in pure bliss. If I couldn't see it, then Blake of all people would of course see it."
Blake quirked an eyebrow at that statement. "Why me specifically?"
Weiss and Yang gave the cat Faunas a flat look that basically said 'It's so obvious'.
"Blake, as much as I disgust that filthy smut you read in Beacon," said Weiss, "it does warrant some basic insight. Besides, did you really think no one was going to find your stash?"
Blake's eyes dilated to the slits of a real cat. Beads of sweat went down her face trying to come up for an answer only to lower her head in shame.
"Shame on you, Blake." Ruby scolded playfully.
"That's the pot calling the kettle." Yang retorted, "At least you've finally hit puberty a few years late."
Ruby glared at her sister while her wolf ears twitched in irritation. Then they stiffened when Ruby's face almost lit up at an idea for payback. She tried her hardest to keep back a devious smile that would've definitely been obvious of her intentions with her canines.
"Well, we need to head out soon." Ruby said, "Yang, could you please go wake up Ichigo? He needs a really good punch to wake up."
"You had me at 'punch'." Yang said, already walking with glee to wake up the pseudo-shinigami.
Once Yang ascended to the top of the stairs, Ruby finally allowed herself to let out snickers. Blake and Weiss shared confused faces while staring at Ruby like she had a second head. A few seconds later there was a masculine yelp, a crash of wood, and followed by a hurling Yang bouncing down the stares and embedding herself in the wall. Blake and Weiss stared unblinkingly at the blonde who was driven into the wooden wall with pure force alone from a punch no less if the bruise on her belly indicated anything. Ruby finally couldn't take it and clutched her stomach in pain from laughter till she collapsed and rolled all over the floor.
"Damn, orange-head knows how to punch." Yang groaned, "Why the heck didn't you tell me, Ruby!?"
"It - , ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, - is called payback." Ruby laughed, kicking her legs.
"You win this round." said Yang, pushing herself out of the wall.
Ichigo arrived downstairs with a scowl on his face along with a fist mark on his cheek. "I thought I had enough of Goat-chin punching me while I'm asleep. Why is your sister the same nutcase?"
"That's just Yang for you." Ruby answered innocently, "So, where's Uncle Qrow?"
The mood instantly dropped a bit, leaving a confused Ruby in the silence. Yang gestured to a corner where Ruby's gaze followed and locked in both fury and a bit of shock. Her smile flattened to a stony look, and the temperature seemed colder than a second ago. Ichigo gulped a bit at the frustration almost etching a copy of his own hated scowl on Ruby's seemingly innocent face. WBY made cautious steps back from their team leader.
"Leave." Ruby simply stated.
WBY glanced at Ichigo, who nodded in confirmation and they exited to the porch. Ruby took a shaky breath to quell her raging emotions certainly enhanced from her Cristina's powers. Ruby approached her uncle unconscious in a chair with a bottles of alcohol at his feet. Every step she took showed how livid Ruby was in this situation. Just what possessed Qrow to just drink himself out cold? If it wasn't for her spar with Senna, none of them would've woken up. Ozma's truth revealed may have shaken up the group, but Ruby's experiences from Earth as a shinigami told her this was not the time. Looking at him right now, Ruby could see that he was tearing himself apart.
"Uncle Qrow." Ruby snarled, shaking her uncle rather violently, "Get up, you lazy bum!"
"Leave me... alone." Qrow groaned in his sleep.
Ruby's free hand clenched at her side. Leave him alone? ALONE!? If he leaves them alone, the whole group will far apart and they'll lose some significant manpower, even with Team SIRR on their side. The message was clear in his moaning: give up.
That made Ruby livid beyond belief at the best thing she had as a mentor. Ruby tried to shake him again, or get a grip on him to throw him out the window, but Qrow pushed her arm away. A tick mark made itself visible on Ruby's forehead. Her hand went to a bottle, empty like all the rest but still stinking with the drink.
Ruby's hand shook as she raised the bottle, small cracks appearing on the glass around her fingers. With one stroke, Ruby struck the bottle on Qrow's head and the glass shattered on contact.
"Ow, what the hell-" Qrow stopped himself short at the hated glare his own niece was bearing down on him and the bottles littering the floor. Qrow cursed inwardly for drinking himself out instead of focusing on his damn responsibilities. But Ozpin had been his savior. He owed him, trusted him with his life and yet he lied to them. How was he supposed to cope with that?
Before Qrow could make an excuse, Ruby cut him off with a tone that contrasted with her innocent nature.
"Stupid old man!" Ruby shouted in a rant, "You have people who need you, but, no, drinking had to be more goddamn important!"
"Ruby, I-"
"Don't!" Ruby growled, "Just don't! We need to all have clear heads here. But apparently if you want to lazy about, go right ahead! You want to talk, wait till I cool off so I don't try to strangle you like I want to right now! I've got work to do."
Ruby stomped to the door but not before shattering a cabinet with a single kick. She closed the front door behind her with a slam that shook the whole house and awoke any occupants who were once asleep. Qrow was paralyzed on the spot in bewilderment. He hadn't receive a talk like that since Summer.
(Time-Skip)
WBY, Ichigo, Oscar, Qrow, and Maria gathered outside of the house. The Huntresses had almost empty looks in their eyes, like they didn't want to do this and just stop. Meanwhile, Ren was giving Senna some last-minute instructions for her Kido to avoid the mishap from the other day. If the others went ahead, they could easily catch up with shunpo.
At the far end of the courtyard of Brunswick Farm approached Ruby pulling on a cart to carry most of the party in while Yang dragged it with her motorcycle. Her trudge in the snowy ground and the furrowed brow showed her agitation. Fortunately, Ruby did not look like she was going to lash out again.
"'Hi, I'm Qrow'," Ruby mumbled in a mock tone of her uncle, "'I like peeping on girls and drinking myself out cold because I can't handle a simple truth that the bad guy is immortal so that means we already lost'. Bunch a bull is what I call."
Once in front of her friends and family, Ruby dropped the cart with a loud thud and mumbled some curses. However, the gods of Remnant said otherwise and one of the tires sprang a leak and flattened. Ruby shook on the spot, clenched her fists, and her eyes twitched.
"###############!" Ruby outraged, her Grimm mask materializing for just a moment. A moment that was long enough for Ruby to unleash Mazarozu and bring down a house with the force of her swing.
"Damn piece of crap can't do freaking anything I goddamn want!" Ruby ranted, stomping on the cart to make a small dent. "Is this what you want, you sadistic bitch of a universe?! I say screw you and your goddamn laws!"
Yang shot a glare to Ichigo when she heard the poor choice of words in Ruby's outrage, making the teen sweat a bit. Ruby huffed till her anger died down and she faced her group with a much more calm outlook.
"All we need is a spare tire." said Ruby.
"I'll go look." Ichigo answered. Ruby nodded, and Ichigo vanished in shunpo to quickly look for a tire. Meanwhile, Yang gave a sigh and sat down on the ground with a tired look.
"I just want this to end." said Yang, getting a look from Ruby, "Everyday we have to go through storms or monsters. I'm so tired."
"Me too." added Blake, "We are always having to fight to get by."
Ruby sighed. "Of course that's going to happen, but we signed up for this."
"To save the world, not delay the inevitable." Oscar said.
Ruby frowned. "Are-Are you still going on about Salem being immortal?! We can still stop her."
"How?!" Yang exclaimed.
"Seal her away, imprison her." Ruby answered immediately.
"How does that work?!" Yang argued, leering toward her sister, "She will still live after we are all gone and one day Salem will get free."
"Just because she can't die doesn't mean that she is powerful, and someone stronger will eventually defeat her again." Ruby said, glaring defiant daggers to her sister. 'Though there may be the possibility I might live that long as a shinigami.'
"Then it changes nothing!" Yang shouted.
"Of course it does!" Ruby snarled, clenching her fists till the knuckles turned white, "So what if it is temporary!? At least with Salem locked up, the Grimm won't be organized and humanity can have periods of true piece we so desperately wanted."
"Why are we even doing this?!" Yang exclaimed, "There's never an end to it. We're supposed to save the world but Salem can just outlive us all. And the relics? Why are we even bringing it to Atlas when the rest are just behind giant doors? Let's just throw it down the well and be done with it."
Ruby gritted her teeth and a guttural growl rumbled in her throat. "You want the easy way out!? Have all of you completely lost it?! So-so you would rather give Salem an edge when she finds it and let her kill more people than just doing the right thing and secure it!?"
"Then it can be someone else's problem." Yang said.
Yang's eyes had a bored but unrelenting look to Ruby who reciprocated with cold hate. Silver reiatsu brimmed off of Ruby's body, but Yang did not bow to the spiritual pressure. The rest of the party merely paced back seeing the inevitable clash between sisters.
"NO!" Ruby denied, "I'm not gonna lower myself like that."
"If you're not going to do it, then I will." Yang roared.
Yang's robotic arm reached for the lamp at Ruby's hip, only for her sister to grip it and hold it back. Silver eyes hard as steel glared back at Yang's now red eyes. The robotic arm tried to move forward with little success.
"What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Ruby growled.
"I'm ending this mess now!" Yang announced.
"Back - off!" Ruby warned, her voice growing darker.
"And if I don't?" Yang said.
"Don't make me do this, Yang." Ruby warned.
"I'm tired of all this fighting." Yang said.
The blonde suddenly pushed forward to get Ruby off balance and reached with her left hand to the lamp. As soon as her fingers touched the handle, something akin to a truck hit her in the jaw and careened her into the porch. Yang reached a hand to her cheek and winced from the sting. Her eyes widened when she realized Ruby just gave one of the most heavy punches she felt in a long while.
"Goddammit, Ruby." cursed Yang.
"Ruby, please." Blake said, "Just throw the lamp down the well. That's just one less problem."
"What has gotten into you, guys?!" Ruby shouted, "You guys can't give up. We've come through far worse than this."
Ruby's eyes widened when a black glyph appeared at her feet to trap her down with gravity. She easily avoided it with shunpo before the effects took hold, then glared shockingly at Weiss who drew her rapier. She glanced next to Blake who also drew Gambol Shroud, though all three had almost lazy stances.
"Are you guys seriously going to do this?" Ruby said, trying to sound emotionless despite the betrayal she was feeling.
"We just want this to end." Weiss said sadly.
"You made me do this." Ruby all but warned. It wasn't even a threat; it was a promise. She drew out her zanpakuto blade and took a basic kendo stance to her teammates. No one moved as each side tried to find an opening to seize upon.
Next, there was a swish of shunpo and Ichigo arrived on the scene with a spare tire in hand. "Yo, found a tire. Let's... what the #### happened while I was gone?"
"Ichigo," Ruby said in deceptively sweet tone, "could you be a dear and please stay out of this?"
Ichigo didn't need to be told twice before backing up a considerable distance. That interaction gave Weiss the opportunity to dash in a lunge after Weiss. The new, shinigami Ruby only stared blankly at Weiss' attempt for an attack.
'Predictable.' thought Ruby.
Ruby lazily shifted to the side. With her enhanced Aura protecting her hand, Ruby grabbed a hold of Myrtenaster in mid-motion. A simple twist of the wrist yanked the weapon out of Weiss' hand, and Ruby spun into a kick to knock Weiss away while throwing her rapier the opposite way.
"C'mon Weiss, you could've lasted a lot longer than that." Ruby mumbled.
Next, Yang barreled forward with a cocked fist. Ruby simply put her zanpakuto in a downward, vertical hold and the Yang's fist struck the sword with a bang. The ground made a crater at their feet, but Ruby didn't budge nor did the steel of the blade even crack. Ruby's senses alerted to Blake presence coming from her right flank to grab the lamp. Ruby pointed a finger from her left hand and charged it with reiatsu.
"Hado 1: Sho."
Blake couldn't use a clone to take a hit as an invisible force slammed into her abdomen and forced her into the ground. Ruby turned back to her sister, who broke the lock and was throwing a flurry of fists. Ruby just pushed the punches out of the way with one hand. When it came to the fast-paced style of hakuda, Yang had no chance of landing a hit. After parrying a jab, Ruby countered as her arm blurred and Yang stumbled back in pain by being hit multiple times in such a small time frame.
"Give up." said Ruby, only for her sister to grit her teeth and attack again.
Qrow could only watch in shock and a bit of pride as Ruby was basically beating down her teammates with such little effort. He could tell that every move that Ruby made came out of extreme discipline and practice. He would have to thank whoever picked up where he left off on teaching Ruby.
"What the heck?" The exclamation came front Senna who just arrived on the porch to see the team leader of SIRR battling against her friends. Ren followed, but his only reaction was widening his eyes. They returned to a calm nature as the Kido master thought what was making the others act this way. The moment he walked into town he knew nothing was right, especially how the townspeople died. It was like they literally never woke up, and they starved to death in their sleep.
Ren looked to Maria, who was too distracted with the fight one-sided fight. It reminded the former silver-eyed warrior how she fought in her battles, yet this girl seemed to have surpassed her. A tap on the shoulder brought her attention to Ren.
"May I borrow that journal?" Ren said, noting the book written by one of the townspeople.
Maria nodded and handed the journal to Ren. He simply started from the back till he found the last entry. Once he found the page, Ren noted the words 'I feel tired'. He was on the right track given the symptoms everyone was having on being low on moral and tired. Ren only needed to flip one page till his eyes widened on a drawing of a zombie-like Grimm and the plans the author made of keeping them underground.
'Apathy Grimm.' thought Ren, 'So that's why they are so off in attitude.'
Ren tossed the book aside and stepped closer to the fight to prepare a Kido spell, and just to be cautious a full chant.
"Disintegrate, black dog of Rondaniini, Look upon your burning soul and sever your throat! Bakudou 9: Geki."
A red hue surrounded Weiss, Yang, and Blake and they were suddenly frozen on the spot. Only their faces had any movement, which cringed trying to move their bodies.
"They are not acting normal." Ren informed, "According to the journal, he brought a horde of Grimm called the Apathy into the sewer system. They have the power to slowly wilt down the will of humans. That would tell why everyone in town died in their sleep."
Ruby sighed in mild frustration. This entire town had pressed on all of her nerves. A grim (no pun intended) look washed over Ruby's face. This town caused so many headaches, and she finally had an excuse to destroy it.
"Ichigo!" called Ruby, "Did you get the tire in?"
Ichigo nodded just as he stood on his feet from the side of the cart.
"Ren, Senna." Ruby ordered, "Get everyone on the cart and get out of here."
"I can drive the motorcycle." Ichigo said as he hooked the Yang's vehicle to the cart.
"Don't you dare break my baby or I'll break your manhood!" Yang threatened through gritted teeth.
Maria, Oscar, and Qrow boarded the cart followed by the petrified Weiss, Yang, and Blake. Once Ren and Senna situated themselves, Ichigo turned on the engine and sped off out of Brunswick Farm.
"Hey!" shouted Qrow through the roar of the engine, "Why are we leaving Ruby behind?!"
"Trust me, old man." Ichigo said, "You want to be very far from what Ruby has in store."
Meanwhile, Ruby flew up into the air for a few hundred feet till the town seemed to fit between her fingers. She rested her right palm out, and began a chant that made the temperature rise as she continued.
(Que Escanor's Theme "Sunshine")
A small orange ball of flame burned to life in Ruby's palm but began to grow at a large rate as Ruby continued to chant.
"Two suns of Earth, of judges of soul. Golden sun, pity the weak. Silver sun, thou ask for flesh for sin. Demand your wrath, Amaterasu, to go in thy hands. By pride conquers such rebellious destruction. Great heat become my standing of strength above all..."
By now, the once small ball of flame grew to a shining beacon that dwarfed any tree below. Its light was so great it seemed there rose a second sun, and its heat reached the ground below melting the snow like the breath of spring. But this heat and flame was not for life's rebirth. Blank eyes stared down at Brunswick Farm without remorse.
"... Hado 79: Zankokuna Taiyo."
Ruby threw down the sun of orange flames that burned to destroy. In the sky, it shined like a meteorite ready to smite any unfortunate soul below. The others who were watching from a distance could only stare in awe. Brunswick Farm was its destination.
A second later the sky and earth lit up in a brilliant light, followed by a tremendous bang of a mighty explosion. The trees bent away from the force of the blast reaching the party. Snow was either lifted or melted. The trees closest were mostly likely burned to ash, or maybe even uprooted to crash elsewhere. Winter no longer had dominion of the forest as the temperature reached near summer season levels. Then, the sky was pierced by a great cloud of ash and smoke from where the Kido spell exploded.
From where Ruby was floating in the air, there was no longer the spec of a town. What was a town and the forest was a pitch black crater almost a mile wide and even deeper at its lowest level. Ruby took just a single breath of air, and a smile of relief was put on her face. As soon as that Kido spell hit, her mind felt like it had all weights and headaches gone.
Brunswick Farm was a horrid place of those Apathy Grimm. I had a heart attack when I first saw those things, so why not blow it to hell? Because that's what that town deserves!
Up next is Chapter 33.
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