Chapter 44
Time to Say Goodbye
(A/N: This chapter is dedicated to all the loved ones I've lost over the years who couldn't be here to see the end of "The Patchwork Prodigy". I love you, I miss you, I wouldn't be here without you, and I'll see you all again someday. God bless)
From the southeastern shores of Signal Academy to the northwestern peaks of the Patchwork Mountains was roughly a two day hike all uphill and often over difficult terrain. In recent years the trails had become less frequented and less maintained by the inhabitants of Patch due to a grizzly incident in the mountains involving Beowolves, and nowadays if the islanders wanted to get away from civilization, they would either just find a secluded beach all to themselves or visit the interior plains where cattle outnumbered the people ten to one.
Ruby had been one of the few to make the pilgrimage weekly if not daily back when she was still attending Signal Academy. Even when she had begun her training at Beacon, she and her sister had still found the time to visit their father every other weekend even if just for hugs and a quick chat, and Ruby always took the time to visit the one place on Remnant she felt at peace.
Knowing the area better than anyone, every shortcut and every scenic route, Ruby made the journey in record time even without relying on her semblance every step of the way. In her mind she took her time, and also paused at regular intervals to take a deep breath and enjoy the countryside after spending so many months in the city.
She had briefly visited the cabin her family rented during the summer months but hadn't stayed long after using the facilities and walking through every room of her mostly empty home-away-from-home. Although it was as much home to her as the apartment back at Signal, without her sister, father, Zwei, or Blake and Weiss, it just didn't feel like home anymore.
Afterward she began her trek up the mountain using only the moon and stars as her guide, though Ruby suspected she probably could've found her way blindfolded. Grimm were almost nonexistent on the Isle of Patch, but even so she remained cautious due to her training and having once lived in a sleepy village not far from where she was currently, which she made sure to stay clear of.
In truth, Grimm sightings had risen since The Patchwork Massacre, but despite weekly exterminations by Signal's upperclassmen, very rarely was anything found bigger than a juvenile Beowolf or Nevermore. A part of her almost wished a Beowolf would try and ambush her now. An entire pack of them. All Alphas. It would've been too poetic after all these years...
It only took Ruby only a few hours to arrive at her destination, and carrying several bouquets of roses at the behest of her sister and friends, along with Zwei and her father, her pace quickened but she was careful not to damage her and her mother's namesakes.
The cemetery in town had never been a place Ruby visited unless it were to accompany someone visiting Raven, which she and her father had done earlier that night. She could only recall visiting there a few times with her mother when she was little, but she'd been too young at the time to fully understand who Raven was and what she had meant to her family.
It wasn't a place that Ruby associated with happiness, but more importantly it wasn't a place she associated with her mother. An empty casket had been buried along with several photos and a white cloak, but what little remained of her body after the Grimm attack had been cremated and scattered across her favorite garden.
Ruby had only vague memories of her mother's funeral. She had still been too numb to comprehend what was going on around her, and that period of her life was mostly pieced together through what she'd been told, much of which could've been a lie for all she knew. It had taken weeks if not months for that empty void within her to begin filling once more, and after all these years Ruby finally understood why she'd had that hollowness inside of her. She had died, so had her mother, and it had simply taken them both time to feel alive again, even if only partially.
There were also the occasional funerals for friends of her father and uncle, and it was always difficult for Ruby to get through them without having a disturbing sense of deja vu.
The closest thing to pleasant memories of the cemetery were of Yang pulling her out of class in order to go do something fun together, but only after a quick visit to her mother. Ruby knew such occasions meant Yang was feeling particularly sad or lonely that day, and unlike herself, Yang preferred having company at such times and being distracted from her thoughts.
Ruby on the other hand generally preferred being alone, and when she wanted someone to talk to she'd visit the cliffside she was standing at now, overlooking the ocean toward her mother's homeland of Vacuo, and where the two had spent countless days together. At least once a week her mother would lay out a picnic blanket and the two would watch the sunset and stars together until they inevitably fell asleep in each other's arms, only to wake up hours later and watch the sunrise.
A small gravestone had been placed at the site, and as Ruby respectfully approached she took a moment to admire the multitude of rose bushes her mother had planted, as well as the single bush her family had planted once Ruby returned to her senses. A yellow rose bush had been planted to coincide with Yang's birth and later a red bush for Ruby, but there were numerous bushes of every color natural or otherwise all around the cliffside, each one dedicated to someone special. Rose bushes grew semi-naturally around the mountains as a matter of fact, no doubt because of her mother, who had claimed to have a green thumb when it came to plants and would become defensive when accused of using aura manipulation or glyphs.
Only now did Ruby realize what she had really been doing, and she laughed to herself thinking of her mother as much a cheater as her uncle.
After walking through the garden taking the time to sniff several roses, she dropped to her knees in front of the marker with her mother's emblem emblazoned proudly in the center. Underneath it, 'Summer Rose' had been etched with an epitaph reading 'Thus kindly I scatter', a verse from her favorite poem.
"'Thus kindly I scatter. The last rose of summer'," Ruby recited, her mouth suddenly dry. "I guess that makes me the last Rose of Summer..."
She shifted her weight onto her side and tucked her legs in order to get more comfortable, and wrapped herself in her cloak to keep out the wintry mountain chill. It never felt right to Ruby to be taller than her mother, and much preferred talking to her at eye level as though she were sitting on her lap again.
For the first time she took notice of the wilted black roses resting against the marker, but instead of replacing them, Ruby merely began arranging them alongside the other bouquets. Once she was satisfied that only her mother could've done a better job, she turned her attention back to the sad-looking roses that had been lonely for far too long.
The only time her father visited the cliffside was with Ruby or Yang, and only ever to come and get them. This was a special place to her and her sister, not their father, and he only ever brought her yellow roses. Perhaps it had been an old friend of her mom's that had come to visit. Ruby wasn't sure if anyone else actually knew of this place's existence, but if someone had stumbled across it perhaps they had simply decided to honor the woman with roses from the only two black rose bushes that grew in the garden.
Ruby smiled and shook her head. There was only one person she could think of who would do such a thing, and only one person who visited this place almost as much as herself. A dusty old crow that supposedly hadn't been in Vale since earlier that year...
Scooping the withered roses into her arms, Ruby began channeling her aura in a way she never had done before but felt both natural and familiar to her. Her eyes lit up and all around the garden roses began blossoming, including those already withered and dead.
She suddenly felt lightheaded as though some essence of herself had just escaped, but she continued smiling and set the flowers down again, assured that they wouldn't wither again anytime soon.
"Hi, Mom," Ruby said softly. "Sorry that it's been a while since I came to visit. I've just been really busy with school work, training, and, well-"
She sighed and looked away suddenly embarrassed. "Actually I've been putting off seeing you for a while now. I-I know the truth, Mom. About Patchwork. Maidens. Everything..."
Ruby paused as if waiting for a response and squeezed her eyes shut when tears began welling up. "I guess it doesn't really matter anymore," she whimpered. "You don't know how much I miss you, Mommy. I think about you every day, from the moment I wake to when I fall asleep at night, and I even dream about you. I think about you whenever I look in the mirror or whenever I'm eating chocolate chip cookies, or whenever someone whistles one of your favorite songs. Sometimes I just think of you out of the blue, for no reason at all."
She spent the next few minutes crying and drying fresh tears with her cloak, pretending it was her mother's doing and not her own. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I don't think I'll be coming back here again. We have a lot to talk about, but that's not really why I came here tonight. I just want to watch the sunrise with you one last time, and also tell you that I love you and that I forgive you."
Her voice cracked and she laid a kiss on the gravestone before curling up next to it. "I know something bad is about to happen, and I know I'm going to be in the middle of it. I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm going to repay my debt to Patchwork, and the next time I see you it'll probably be in person..."
(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Since before I began writing "The Patchwork Prodigy", I knew that this was the scene I wanted to end on. Ruby visiting Summer's grave is how Volume 3 started so thematically it felt right, but The Red Trailer is also what made me fall in love with RWBY and ultimately what led me on this crazy adventure of writing fanfiction. It's my favorite piece of RWBY media, and "Red Like Roses Part 2" is my favorite song from the soundtrack. It's lyrics are just so hauntingly beautiful, and that's probably an apt description of what RWBY and Ruby Rose are supposed to represent in my opinion. In Volume 3 this scene was in tribute to Monty Oum, who I owe so much to, and likewise this chapter is in honor and tribute of my friends and family who sadly couldn't be here today. I love you all dearly, and I'll see you again someday.
As I stated in the previous chapter, I'm not sure if I'll continue the narrative of "The Petals Scatter Now" and "The Patchwork Prodigy" by writing a Volume 3 pseudo-novelization, which is why I'm leaving the door open. I have many outlines and scenes written for it, but at the moment I'm just not in a hurry to begin another 40 chapter, 400,000 word, multi-year fanfic. I do intend to continue writing RWBY fanfiction, but for the foreseeable future I believe I'll work on finishing my current fics and the occasional one-shot or short story.
Fanfiction for the time being is going to be taking a backseat to the novels that I'm currently writing. It's always been my dream to be a published author and successful writer, and while some have said I've been wasting my time writing fanfiction, I truly believe God put me on this path for a reason. I owe RWBY, fanfiction, and all of you a great deal of gratitude for giving me the experience and encouragement that I was sorely lacking back in late 2014. The past six and a half years haven't always been easy, and more than once I considered abandoning this story, RWBY, and fanfiction altogether, but God was there for me, and I believe He sent you to help me as well. Thank you, and I hope to make you all proud as a published author in the near future.
I love you all, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. Thank you, and God bless)
