6

A Feast and a Fool

Rose Thorn cut through another Beowolf as Ruby shot past it's now dissolving corpse and bounced from one enemy to another, severing limbs and heads alike. The familiar sounds of her sister's weapons came from not too far off in the trees and Ren could be seen cutting down an Ursa that Jaune was occupying. All around her a small war raged as the hunters in training systematically destroyed the Grimm standing in their path.

Hurriedly they progressed onwards towards their objective, staying close enough to see each other and help when needed, but far enough not to interfere with anyone else's attacks. After a few dozen minutes they made it to the quarry where they spotted a beleaguered huntress beset upon by a pack of Beowolves with Ursa scrambling around the narrow edges towards them. She was protecting the group of miners and could not fight well and keep them safe at the same time.

Ruby reached for Crescent Rose but berated herself for forgetting she no longer had it with her, instead she raced down towards the civilians as fast as she could. Yang called out for her to wait but it was too late and she was gone in a burst of rose petals. With a curse her sister started out after with the other three close on her heels. None dared fire their weapons in case they hit the miners by accident.

Every time the huntress felled a Grimm, another took it's place. She was tired and it looked like she had been at it for far longer than she should have. Her spear tip blazed and a high pitched keening sound could be heard from over the din of melee. Quantity had a quality all it's own and even though the huntress felled the various grimm with ease their numbers hardly diminished and soon she would be overrun.

Ruby blew through the pack with her katana slashing and skidded to a halt next to the huntress, her blade held out in defense of those now behind her. With a reinforcement next to her and a force now attacking the back of the group besieging her the huntress found her second wind and began attacking with renewed vigor.

The young, cloaked girl slashed and parried the incoming Beowolf only to gasp in surprise when the red haired huntress' weapon burst through the skull of the creature. The brightly flaming spear tip danced around the battle dealing death with every pin point accurate strike. Ruby almost forgot herself staring at the weapon before a growl lurched her back to her own predicament just in time to dodge the swipe of another grimm.

Not thirty minutes passed before the last creature fell to the defenders who panted heavily from the extended battle. The keening noise stopped from the woman's spear and the fire faded from it. Ruby eyed the weapon with a gleam, the haft was the same vibrant red as it's owner's hair while the speartip seemed to not be made of metal.

The huntress sat down on a nearby crate, resting her weapon against her shoulder as she eyed the newcomers gratefully, "Thanks for coming when you did. Never seen that many grimm in a pack like that, not out here on the frontier at least. The name's Scarlet Cromwell. Mind if I ask what yer doin' out here?"

"We received the local distress call on our scrolls when we were passing nearby. We rushed to your aid as soon as we could." Ren was the one who answered first as the others were busy catching their breath. Scarlet flashed a smile and thanked them again. The miners were busy loading up some transports and treating the wounded.

"Well I'm lucky you bunch showed up. Why don't ya come with us to Verde Vista? It's just an hours ride away and I wanna thank you guys."

The idea of staying under a roof was an enticing once and the group quickly agreed and started helping load up the vehicles. The sooner they were on their way the sooner they could clean up, a hot shower was enough to make their knees weak and Yang yelled out dibs on it before anyone else. All the while Scarlet laughed loudly at them and proclaiming how much they were like her old team.

They traded questions back and forth on the way back to Scarlet's town. They found out that she was the only huntress in the town she asked them about the state of Vale. News was scarce around the kingdom now that the CCT was down and they traded information. The older huntress invited them to stay at her place for a night and they readily agreed. Ruby kept pestering the woman about her weapon, getting her to brag about it's functions.

The younger girl kept her robotic hand firmly clasped onto her other wrist while she talked with Scarlet and that did not escape the notice of her older sister who was watching out of the corner of her eye. The blonde filed it away as something to keep an eye on but not worth asking about yet.

Yang had been worried about her sister's first real combat after leaving Vale. The prosthetic was now painted red and black, Ruby's colors, and matched her typical outfit so well it almost blended in perfectly. The elation of having a piece of advanced technology attached to her hadn't faded until the second day after they left Vale. The other's reactions had been typical. Nora went on about how the young girl was a cyborg with Ren correcting her futilely. Jaune had eaten his foot with some comment about it being barely noticeable that had earned him a few looks that made him look away.

They arrived in town to cheering and cries of relief. The miners stepped off the transports and hugged their families. Ruby beamed in pride at this, it was why she had wanted to be a huntress. It was an addictive feeling as she was thanked by another woman glad their husband was home. A father carrying his daughter offered his thanks for saving his wife. The rest of her team was getting the same treatment until Scarlet started scowling at the crowd and ushering the young team towards her house, which, as it turned out, doubled as a tailor.

The entire second floor was her home and she explained that when she wasn't performing her huntress duties she tailored clothes. Verde Vista was close enough to Vale that grimm were few in number and she needed something to do or the boredom would kill her.

"Alright kiddos, Mayor Puck says the feast will be at sundown in the town proper so you've got about two hours to rest and clean up."

Nora perked up immediately, "Feast?"

"We didn't do anything to hold a feast over, did we?" Ruby asked the senior huntress.

Scarlet chuckled, "No, no. The feast ain't for you guys. It's to create positivity. Grimm are attracted to negativity right? So when shit like this goes down we gotta spread some cheer around. Gonna be a grand event. So clean up an' have some fun. You'll be the center of attention. Maybe even a few cute daughters looking to be impressed." The last comment was addressed with a wink at Jaune who flushed and looked away which earned him a cackle from both Scarlet and Yang who high-fived each other.

Ruby pulled her hood over her head, she did not want to be the center of attention, though she had to admit she was curious as to what the event would look like.

She tried to ignore the twinge of pain in her left wrist.

Jaune was in the middle of staring at his food decidedly not looking at the giggling girls his own age trying to catch his attention across the plaza. They were outside and the feast was in full swing, lots of delicious food laid out. Scarlet had been right when she said they would be the center of attention. Nora was a hit with the kids as she told tale after tale of vicious grimm and daring heroism, an exasperated Ren tried to correct her but gave up when it seemed no one was listening. Ruby had turned to Scarlet and was discussing weapons with the huntress.

Jaune didn't understand it all but apparently her spear, Tiene Dawn, combined gravity dust and flame dust to create a very dense and hotter than fire that wasn't quite fire. The spear tip wasn't metal either but a hardened, heat resistant ceramic. Ruby was over the moon at just that and went on to ask questions about how she kept the spear wreathed with the fire that wasn't quite fire, Jaune thought they called it plasma. It had gotten over his head a long time ago and so he had just resigned himself to eating the good food. The village reminded him of his own, there were the same kind of friendly people in every place on the frontier.

Yang plopped down onto the bench seat right next to him with her back against the table. She leaned her head back to look at him, "Hey lady killer I couldn't help but notice your adoring fans. Why don't you go say hello?"

"What and ruin my mysterious image of a dashing hunter by opening my mouth? I think not." This got a snort out of the blonde. She looked at him seriously for a second.

"I don't think I properly thanked you Jaune."

The teen turned and looked at her, confused, "For what?"

"For what you said in Patch, idiot." She punched him lightly in the shoulder before staring out at the sky that was just getting dark enough that stars could be visible, "And for throwing that spar."

Jaune nearly choked and looked at her with a question of how she had known written all over her face and her shit eating grin said it had been the whole time, "Look I know she wasn't at her best but you did prove your point, but I stopped it because I couldn't take any more of your bad acting."

The blonde boy hung his head, "Please don't tell Ruby." She laugh and reached out, turning is head to look at him.

"I won't. I know exactly how that'd go down. Besides the point wasn't a win at all. You wanted to show me that Ruby was ready to pick up, get up, and try again. If I denied her that I'd be hurting her more in the long run. So yeah, thanks for that. I'd give you a reward but I don't think your adoring fans would appreciate it." Yang patted his cheek with a wink.

His face flushed and he stammered, "Is it really necessary to tease me like that?"

"Oh come on lady killer, I'd be so bored if you weren't around to tease. You make it so fun." She flashed a toothy smile right back at his face and laughed again when he looked away. He wished she didn't take so much enjoyment in eliciting a response like that from him. Yang had always teased him but it had always been from something of a distance. He was her sister's friend and that was it. But now they were all on a journey together as a single team and her teasing had ascended to a new level.

Jaune may have lived with two other women, who weren't family, for half a year but he was still not so used to women that Yang's overly flirtatious teasing didn't affect him. The girl started swiveling her head back and forth, searching the crowd. A frown spread across her face as she sat up straighter, "Hey Jaune have you seen Ruby lately?"

"Hm? Yeah she was talking with Sca-" He stopped mid-sentence when he looked over and found the huntress but no Ruby beside her, "Well she was talking to Scarlet about her weapon. That was the last I saw her."

With a hum of acknowledgement Yang got up and told him she was going to go find her sister. Silently thanking Ruby for saving him from her sister Jaune went back to his dish, which was some kind of sliced potatoes in a cheesy sauce. Just as he was about to finish it a new voice spoke up.

"You two seemed close." Jaune groaned inwardly as he looked up to see the same grin plastered on Scarlet's face. It appeared the two were more similar than it first appeared. He hadn't noticed when the older huntress had sat down across from him. She was wearing the same black tank top and combat pants as when they had first met. They showed off the various tattoos that ran from her shoulders down to her hands.

She couldn't have been older than thirty and from the conversation on the way back to Verde Vista he knew she was a Beacon alumni. Her green eyes shined and he could just tell she loved gossip.

"Yang likes to tease. It doesn't mean anything."

"That's not what I saw~" Scarlet said in a singsong voice, "I saw a girl staking her territory."

Now it was Jaune's turn to laugh, the woman didn't know Yang like he did. There was no interest there. None at all. And he told her so.

"Oh please, I've seen your type before. Probably to busy in self doubt to tell if a girl might be interested until it's too late right? Well guess what boyo, those girls eying you earlier? They bounced the moment she had her hand on your cheek. Make of it what you will but I'd be willing to bet she was making sure no one got close."

Could she? Jaune wondered, she was being more personal than she ever had before. The blonde shook his head to dispel doubts. He was sure that if she really did do that on purpose it wasn't out of any kind of interest. She probably just didn't want a friend being taken advantage of.

Scarlet continued to pester him about his love life until he changed the subject to his sisters and she became enraptured in stories about a home with eight children. Jaune in particular enjoyed talking about his sisters, he was proud of all of them and loved showing it.

Ruby sat on the floor with her back against the wall her teeth grit against the burning pain flushing through her nonexistent left arm. She had taken her prosthetic off and laid in down next to her, her hand gripped her stump trying in vain to lessen it. It had started as a little itch and then turned into something where it was all she could do to cry out. Though the doctors had warned her this could happen this was far more than she had thought it would be.

The young girl repeatedly took deep breaths very grateful that no one else was here, especially her sister. When she had begun having trouble dealing with the pain Scarlet had told her she should probably go to bed if she had an early day on the morrow. How the woman had noticed when Ruby was hiding it so well she didn't know but took the excuse to be alone. She couldn't afford to trouble the others with it.

At last the pain abated and Ruby wiped the sweat from her brow. She hadn't realized how hot she felt. Reaching out the young girl slotted her robotic arm back in place, flexing it as she did so. It was still hard to believe she had been given something so incredible. It almost felt like nothing had happened in the first place but the clod metal was a constant reminder of her failure atop the tower.

Her sister popped her head in, "Hey Rubes, missed you at the party."

"Sorry Yang, I was feeling tired. It's been a long day and I wanted to get an early day tomorrow." Ruby smiled at her sister, leave it to the her to notice the small things.

"Yeah, I thought you looked tired on the way to town." A strange look passed over her for a moment before she changed to a smirk, "I saw some girls checking Jaune out. He's surprisingly popular."

Ruby's head shot up and looked at her sister and then realized she was caught before she immediately pulled her hood over her head , Yang crooned, "Why so interested sister of mine?"

"'M not."

"Oh please Ruby, of course you'd be interested. He's nice, friendly, one of your first guy friends. I'd be worried about you if you didn't have an interest."

"But Pyrrha…" Ruby curled up. Embarrassed and now sad. She had had some maybe not really feelings for Jaune but it was plain as day how his partner felt and the only one who didn't see it was the guy himself.

"Don't worry about it Ruby. You guys will grieve. Let it run it's course and if you feel like something might be there, go for it." With some chuckles her sister bid her good night and ruffled her head a bit.

Now Ruby was alone with her thoughts as she once again looked at her new hand.

The metal hand was a reminder of what she had lost. Her friends killed by that monster, and how she had failed to save them. Every time she closed her eyes she could see Pyyrha's face full of shock at the arrow lodged in her chest and she could remember the moment Penny was torn to pieces just to prove a point. That monster was still out there plotting to do the same to more people.

Slowly the metal digits curled into a fist.

Ruby promised herself not to fail again.

A/N: So yeah this came up a bit later than I wanted because real life got in the way. But here it is, updated on a Saturday.

Gonna say this here, this in no way confirms any pairing. A lot of this chapter is told from the specific points of view of certain characters, it's the same in this entire story, and those characters are liable to have their own opinions and perceptions and such. So don't take everything at face value.

A couple people asked about Crescent Rose. I have not forgotten Ruby's beloved scythe but as with everything else: All according to plan.

See you guys next week.