Chapter-17
Ruby
Ruby found herself standing in a snowy forest. The sky was cloudy and there was light snowfall.
She could see no one in sight except two people by a fire. One of them was a red-haired man with green eyes who looked a lot like Pyrrha in a brown coat. The other was someone whose face she couldn't see clad in a black cloak with storm grey designs with their back facing the other man.
"Hello?" Ruby spoke but found herself unable to move. It seemed she was in one of her weird dreams again that somehow let her see the past of heroes from Remnant's history.
"You know, I wasn't expecting you here after Xiao-Long declared a bounty on your head and your encounter with the White Grimm." The man spoke in a confused tone.
"Yeah…" The cloaked person spoke in a tired voice. "I guess I played with a little fire and got burnt…" He spoke chuckling before coughing painfully.
"This isn't funny, Thane…" The other man spoke in exasperation. "Julius and I were panicking when your half-dead body was dragged in chains through Mistral's Imperial road before you seemingly rose from the dead and sliced off General Kuro's head. At this point, we're going to have to put a chain around you to keep you from rushing off and getting mauled by the White Grimm again."
Ruby gasped. Thane as in The Hunter?! But he shouldn't be alive!
"You know I'm not going to stop until that specific grimm is dead, Nikos. The relationship between me and the White Grimm is like that of two apex predators. Only one can be at the top of the food chain. Hence, we'll hunt each other down until one kills the other." Thane spoke in a serious tone. "But that's not what I'm here for." Thane spoke. "In my little period of absence, I went looking for something something."
He turned around slightly to show a part of his face and Ruby caught a smug smile before he held out some ornate lamp.
The other man's eyes widened. "How the…?"
"Kuro was in kahoots with the Spring Maiden. She had been planning to take him to this little thing's location when he'd learnt of my capture and postponed it so that he could watch my execution like the sadistic piece of shit he is. So, knowing this, I went to the Branwen tribe from where Morrigan and I tailed the spring maiden in these 6 months through Anima before we found the relic."
Ruby tilted her head in confusion. She couldn't count the number of times she'd heard them talking about the Maidens, but she still could not believe it.
"And the Spring maiden?" The red-haired man asked uneasily.
"She's still walking around thinking the Lamp is safe. With the Lamp in my hands, I can now ask it a question that's been plaguing my mind since I first saw the White Grimm."
The Lamp? This was the first time she was hearing about this in her dreams.
He put his other hand on the lamp before uttering a single word.
"Jinn."
And Ruby's dream ended.
Ruby opened her eyes to see the familiar light green walls of Beacon's infirmary.
"Wha…?" She spoke before she noticed her team, JNPR, Sun and Neptune to the side.
"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed as she rushed to her with a relieved smile. "You're alright!"
Ruby rubbed her forehead. "What happened? And…were you crying, Yang?" She asked noticing the stains of tears on her sister's cheek.
"Yeah, I was." She spoke as the others came up.
"How're you feeling, Ruby?" Jaune asked.
"I'm a little woozy, but I think I'm okay." Ruby replied as Nora grinned.
"Then we can relax! You gave us a bad scare, Ruby! Don't do that again!" She spoke getting upto Ruby's face as Ruby whimpered.
"Nora." Ren spoke as Nora leaned back. "Woops, sorry!"
"I'm glad that you are fine." Pyrrha spoke with a smile while Blake had her arms crossed. "Ruby…we're sorry that we couldn't protect you." She spoke as Ruby frowned.
She remembered the beating her team had received from the knight. Especially Yang.
"No…I let my guard down and gave that knight the opportunity."
"But we still failed." Weiss spoke up. "At least we almost got the robot. With the knight, we weren't just defeated. No, we were humiliated by that knight and just watched her carry you away, not doing anything. We all failed miserably."
"Weiss…"
"Your time is over, all of you." Ruby heard Headmaster Ozpin as he walked in with Professor Saber and Professor Lancer. "While I agree that Ms. Rose needs to have a little talk with her friends, you also have other responsibilities. Ms. Rose is awake and as you can see, fine. So relax yourselves and go back to your dorms. Professor Oobleck's class starts in 10 minutes and I think only Ms. Rose can be given exemption."
Yang furrowed her eyebrows. "But…"
"Ms. Xiao-Long, the doctors have assured me that Ms. Rose will be discharged from the infirmary shortly. You will have all the time you want with your sister once classes are over."
Yang went to say something, but Ruby grabbed her arm.
She smiled softly at her sister and shook her head. Yang stared at her before nodding. "Come on, guys." She spoke. "We need to go."
Sun nodded. "Yeah, get well soon, Ruby!" He spoke as the 9 went out, leaving Ruby with Ozpin and Professor Saber.
"Uh…"
"You created a mess that required me to spend a lot of Beacon's funds to fix. The property damage caused, plus some of the huntsmen who saw your little stunt were understandably annoyed. Then there's the fact that Saber was forced to fight a dangerous battle against three opponents who are individually close to him in strength and skill to rescue you. In truth, you give me enough reason to expel you."
Professor Saber looked at Ozpin as Ruby paled. Ozpin was going to expel her?
This can't be happening, this can't be happening… Ruby thought in panic. How was she going to be a huntress if she was expelled from Beacon of all places? How was she going to fulfill her dreams if she was expelled…
"…But I have chosen not to do so." Ozpin spoke as tears gathered in Ruby's eyes. "Despite your failure, you helped us in pinpointing the location of the white fang hideouts and ensure Vale was free of its presence."
"But you are not ready for this, Ruby." Professor Saber spoke up. "You and your friends are still children and hence lack experience. Against what Ozpin is working to stop, you'll only get yourself into worse situations. For now, I suggest that you remain in Beacon away from all of this."
Ruby went to protest but closed her mouth and hung her head in shame.
I just wanted to help… She thought. The White Fang was causing trouble in her city, how could she not have helped in taking them down? She even knew a lot more than the VPD through Blake. And yet, she and her friends had been defeated and she put Professor Saber in danger.
But that didn't mean she was going to lay down, right?
"Eh, I'll try not to waste too much energy on you runts."
They'd been beaten so easily…so easily, even when the knight admitted they were barely trying. And Professor Saber was saying there were more like her.
Doubt seeped into her mind. Could she do it?
Can I really fight against such strong enemies…? She thought.
"I know you couldn't sit back and watch, Ms. Rose. But until you have more training, it is best that you follow Saber's advice."
Ruby looked away. It was so difficult to just accept it. She wanted to protest, to tell Ozpin that she could do it, but for some reason, she just couldn't muster the courage.
"Ok…"
"Excellent. Now, someone's here to visit you, Ms. Rose. They've been rather concerned about you since last night." Ozpin spoke typing into his scroll
"Hey, pipsqueak. You really took a beating last night." Ruby's eyes widened as she noticed a familiar drunkard walk in a few moments.
"U-Uncle Qrow?!"
Ruby looked fine, which was a relief. Qrow couldn't really sleep after he heard that one of those magicky people hurt Ruby really badly and had taken her hostage after he found the kids bruised and exhausted.
I should have taken Taurus down a lot quicker… He thought bitterly. It was all going fine until Taurus distracted him for just a few more minutes. That distraction almost caused a catastrophic outcome which was thankfully prevented by how tough Saber is.
"We'll be outside." Ozpin and Saber spoke before they walked out, leaving Qrow and his niece.
"So, how are you feeling?" He began reaching for his flash before remembering Ruby's little game of taking money from him and retracted his hand.
"I'm fine, but…but…" Ruby struggled to speak as her eyes slowly brightened up in excitement. "When did you get here?!"
" 'Bout a few days after the Nepotain shootout. I was busy taking part in Oz's little clean-up so I couldn't visit uptill now." Qrow spoke scratching his head, remembering the white fang grunt he'd interrogated last night. All it took was a little demonstration and their 'tough guy' act turned into 'scared to the point of pissing' act. He was going to tell Oz what he found out after this.
Breaking out of his thoughts, he saw that Ruby looked very dejected, as if she was worried about something.
"Now, Ruby." He spoke. "What's going on in your mind?"
Ruby blinked. "What?"
"You've got that same dejected look on your face that you have when you try something new, except it's a lot more serious from what I can see."
"No…nothing's wrong…"
"Ruby."
Ruby tensed up. "Sorry. It's just…that knight was barely even trying and just took all of us down. I still want to help out but…I don't know." She spoke shaking her head. "How am I going to help if things like this happen? If I get beaten by the bad guys now, how am I going to be the huntress I wanted to be?"
Ah, so she's just demoralized. That's understandable, especially after he heard about the details of their fight with the knight.
"Look, Ruby. You can't expect to get past every single hurdle in your life in one go. You'll get past some, and you'll be stopped by some. And what do you do if you can't get past it?"
"…"
"You get stronger." Qrow spoke. "Oz is arranging a little extra training regime for you guys."
Ruby's eyebrows shot up. "Ruler will be conducting those classes which will be more extreme compared to the regular stuff. It'll be harsh, but you'll be better prepared for such missions."
"Ruler, who is he? What about Professor Saber and Lancer?"
"They're going to be in Vale for the rest of the month to look for any traces of those strange guys working with the White Fang. Once the Vytal festival starts, they'll be back in Beacon. As for Ruler, he's just another huntsman with experience fighting those guys like Saber and Lancer. You know him as Shirou."
Ruby's eyes widened. "The guy who saved Blake?"
"The same. So get stronger, pipsqueak. Maybe then Oz will be convinced to send you on missions alone."
Ruby's smile widened. "Really?"
Qrow chuckled. "really." He spoke ruffling her hair. "Now, I gotta go." He spoke hearing a glass break. "I don't think I can stay here longer." He spoke before walking out. He looked one last time at the euphoric Ruby before exiting.
"She's really eager." Qrow told Ozpin and Saber who were standing outside. "It reminds me so much of shortstack and her shenanigans."
Ozpin smiled. "Then I'll inform Ruler." He spoke before walking off with Saber, but Qrow's expression was neutral. After all, last night had made a lasting impression on him too.
Jackdaw. The accursed name he'd taken when he was in a period of pain and anger. That was a name which held a dark story that he really did not want to reiminisce of again.
"Don't worry, Qrow! I'll be back in a jiffy!"
Qrow leaned against the wall and took a swig of his flask.
Years have passed since he buried Jackdaw in Summer's grave, but Jackdaw's bloodstained legacy lingers on. Adam was one of the many who had been a victim of Jackdaw's trail of blood.
He just wished everyone could forget Jackdaw, most of all, himself.
Ozpin had a finger on his chin as he listened to the recording Qrow sent of the interrogation.
"I-I don't know. W-We were planning to plant bombs throughout Vale to destroy it's infrastructure. That's all I know! Please let me go!"
Ozpin sighed. While his little operation had been a success, now the enemy was not going to follow with that plan, since the VPD had recovered 60% of the dust stolen by the white fang while 20% was destroyed, leaving the white fang to have salvaged only 20% of what they required. Ozpin hadn't dismissed the association yet. He still needed to be completely certain that Salem's plans were foiled.
He checked his watch. The meeting was about to begin.
Soon, the faces of James Ironwood, Leo Lionheart and Theodore popped up.
"Ozpin." They spoke bowing their heads in greeting.
"Headmasters." Ozpin replied. "How are things going on your ends?"
Theodore scoffed. "Those little royal runts are starting to become a problem again, having raided some of the tribes in Shamal desert. I've already sent some huntsmen with the tribes allied with Vacuo's council to go deal with them in the northern coast of Vacuo. I wanted to send the Summer Maiden too, but she felt something there that really spooked her."
Ozpin perked up. "She was…scared?"
"Yeah, started muttering about 'The king is there, the king is there' or something like that. So she's not coming."
"Do you require assistance?"
"Nah, I think I'll be fine. The runts are anyways facing problems of their own."
"Really?" Ozpin asked. The Asturias twins had gathered quite a powerful force of huntsmen that posed a serious threat to a kingdom. He didn't expect there to be something in Shamal desert to give them trouble.
"Yep, some guy's been going about helping the people against the runts' pets. He's already escorted a bunch of refugees back to Vacuo."
"Have you identified him?" Ironwood asked in curiosity.
"No. He's been wearing a beige cloak so we can't figure out his identity. I'll tell you when we get him."
"Very well, Leo?"
Leo crossed his arms. "Actually rather peaceful here in Mistral. The 13 Hanzai are being more cooperative with the council and the Branwen tribe continues its abnormal behavior of actually helping villages against the grimm in exchange for basic necessities to survive."
"And the spring maiden?"
"Same as usual. Not found." Leo spoke with a shake of his head. "I honestly think that she is with the Branwen tribe considering the coincidence of you sending Raven after the Spring Maiden."
"But we know Raven wants nothing to do with us and the council won't permit any action considering how beneficial the Branwen tribe had become for its revenue from villages that are saved by them from the grimm." Ozpin spoke as Leo nodded in agreement. "True. I'll see what to do. But for now, I need to see what can be done about the Hanzai suddenly being cooperative."
"James?"
"Atlas is fine, Ozpin. But what about you? I heard about what happened at Nepotain."
Ozpin sighed. "James, I have gotten the situation under control. The White fang has been expelled from Vale and now is most likely gone into hiding. Finding them will be difficult, but Vale is safe for now."
"I still believe Atlas should step in. All you have to do is…"
"No, James." Ozpin spoke. "While Atlas will certainly make things easier, especially when the Vytal Treaty permits its intervention in this situation, but the people will still be worried. People have been taught and told about those days when Mantle's prototype dive-bombers would fill Vale's sky to bomb the capital during the great war. Even after 80 years of peace, they will still be afraid when they see your warships floating above their homes. The Atlesian army will remain out of Vale until I have no option."
"…Yes, Ozpin."
"Good. Moving on…"
Perseus sat in their new base, watching the white fang soldiers interact with each other from a railing.
"Come on, give me your best shot!" He heard Mordred yell as the rhino faunus opposite her struggled to even move her hand. Draconic strength was certainly not a joke.
Other than Mordred, Mercury and Emerald talked with each other leaning against a pillar while Roman had gone with Cinder for some discussion. Castor was talking to the faunus with an almost strange look of compassion, perhaps sympathizing with the fact that like him, the faunus had been toppled down from their earlier
He noticed Pollux come up beside him. To be fair, meeting the Dioscuri felt odd. From his life, the only family he ever had was his dear mother Danae and the kind fisherman Dictys who took them in when they were running from his grandfather Acrisius. His father, Zeus, was up in Olympus ruling the gods, not coming to interact with his son like he always did. To meet one of his step-sisters felt odd and strangely warm.
"I'm Perseus, so technically…I'm your brother?"
Castor levelled a death glare at him as Pollux smiled. "It…does. I guess that makes you our big brother?"
Castor looked at his sister with a stink eye, conveying his dissatisfaction and receiving a playful smile in return.
Perseus smirked. He was a bit concerned that he would be stuck with unbearable allies, but these two, even if Castor was a bit rude, would certainly be fine.
"What's in your mind, Perseus?" Pollux asked. It was strange how quickly they'd warmed up to each other, much to Castor's annoyance.
"Oh…just a bit unhappy about our failure." Perseus spoke. He had been so close to eliminating Sigurd. That alone would have been compensation for the loss of most of the work they'd done in the past few days.
Pollux put a hand on his shoulder. "He was a lot more resilient than we thought. As expected of the greatest hero of the Varangians."
"Hm, you're right. Honestly, Sigurd Sigmundsson and Cú Chulainn, both are formidable opponents. If we were this close to bringing one of them down, then it means our planning is going on the right track. The Ruler with them won't be much of a problem."
"Good, because things are a little heated here." They heard their employer speak in Greek as The Carrier walked up behind them.
"Amdusias visited me some time earlier. The Will is not happy with recent events. If they hadn't been occupied with the construction efforts, he would have come himself to see what was going on. We will have to go with the other plan."
A drop of sweat went down Perseus' head. "Milord, there are still a lot of unknowns about that thing. Even Salem doesn't know the full extent of its condition."
Carrier chuckled. "Perseus, progress cannot be achieved without taking some risks."
Perseus and Pollux both exchanged looks.
"Milord, the last time you took a risk, it had very painful results." Pollux spoke.
"But the sweet rewards its produced were all worth it." The Carrier spoke stroking their stomach. "Now, mark the deserter at Beacon as a high-priority target. I did not consider the fact that Ozpin could use her knowledge a lot more effectively than them. But make sure Taurus does not get wind of this. I suspect his earlier feelings for her might hinder our plans. Begin working on that, Perseus." The Carrier spoke before walking off.
Pollux looked at Perseus, who had a frown on his face. Despite what he had appeared, Perseus was very reluctant about taking the life of a young girl like her.
"Perseus?"
"I'm fine, Pollux. Just thinking about some things." Perseus spoke in a somber tone. Oh, how he missed running through Seriphos' sandy beaches as a child, oblivious to what was happening to the world.
A/N: Got another chapter in, Hooray for me! This is mostly focused on the aftermath of the events of last chapter and a little setup for the next one. Considering that Perseus and Pollux are in a way step-siblings due to having the same dad, I thought it would be a little fun concept to put a little sibling bond between them. And man do I feel strangely excited whenever I write about the Great war because I have many bits and pieces of a RWBY fanfic set in the Great War planned out in my mind, making it really easy whenever I write mentions of it.
The Cyclops from last chapter basically doesn't have good eyesight (Due to its one eye creating some real issues for peripheral and stereoscopic vision) and instead rely on a 'smelling' system to pinpoint their target's location. Once found, their neural cortex essentially classify the targets under pre-existing knowledge. For example, Sun's designation was 'Beast man (Monkey)' (Which I now realize I've written wrong in the previous chapter, woops). The reason why Ruby's came up as '?' is related to her silver eyes. The water part is because those cyclopes had some of Poseidon's Klironomia in their build, as a nod to the fact that many Cyclopes are Poseidon's offspring.
Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Response to Reviews:
longbowchris50 and Gojosin: Well, I wanted to show how much of a threat Perseus is to Sigurd. He may not be strong, but he's smart and knows when to pick his fights. I figured he would be a good foil to Sigurd, who while having his crystallised wisdom, is still more of a warrior who overcomes his enemies through skill and strength rather than cunning. And I've thought carefully about including the new servants to make sure they fit with my story.