Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.
Day 3
A new morning began in Mistral as the sun illuminated the castle in between the split of a mountain. The sunlight shone through the arc, illuminating the center of the city while leaving the lower parts covered in shadow. The castle was one of the few buildings able to bask in the glorious light.
Still lying in her bed, Weiss could hear some birds singing a few lovely tunes through the window. The melody was sweet enough to wake her up and fill her with indescribable joy. She drew a smile and, in content, hugged her pillow. As if her morning couldn't get any more relaxing, a splendid smell wafted underneath the door, almost making her drool.
There was an aroma of apples and cinnamon coming from the kitchen.
"Mmmmm… huh?" The former heiress opened her eyes to see what was happening. Oddly enough, the room was empty. "Where did you go?" Weiss asked when she realized Ruby was nowhere to be seen.
She yawned and stretched her arms contempt. She slept so soundly after last night's dinner. Due to Ren and Nora's late return, Oscar and Jaune had to cook by themselves. Oscar had more experience. He made roasted potatoes with mushrooms, spinach, and melted cheese on top. It could be described as a traditional country dinner at best — not the fanciest meal but satisfactory for any hungry soul.
Weiss walked downstairs to see who was working in the kitchen. She could hear the oven cooking something while someone was chopping something with a knife. The aroma of apple and cinnamon got increasingly more prominent as Weiss got closer. Once there, she noticed some bowls, spoons, flour, a bag of sugar, and a lot of sliced apples spread out on the table. It became evident that someone was baking apple pies earlier than usual.
"Good morning, Weiss!" Ruby greeted her teammate while putting a few apple slices onto a pie plate. She was wearing a cute red apron.
"Morning… Should I even ask?" Weiss asked indirectly, arms crossed in a judgment.
"Oh… I was thinking about making some since we didn't have any dessert yesterday." Ruby replied, struggling to form a sentence. She heavily focused on making the third pie.
"Hold on, where is everyone? Are we the only ones here?" Weiss rubbed her eyes, her face still half asleep.
"Yang left early for her therapy session, Blake went out to help for the preparation of the Gala, Uncle Qrow took Oscar on some Huntsman business. I don't know where Ren and Nora went, though."
"What about Jaune?"
"He's still training. He's been getting up early the last days." Ruby sighed as soon she mentioned him, worry seeped through her tone. Weiss wasn't happy about it either and became alarmed.
"Do you think he's alright? He's been keeping to himself lately."
"I was thinking the same. He went to sleep early after dinner. I tried to ask him when I saw him a few hours ago, but he brushed me off and just said he was okay." Both girls frowned at the thought of their friend's attitude. "Don't you think he…?"
"Yeah, ever since the Battle of Haven, he looks… empty. I'm kinda starting to miss the goofy old Jaune, the one that tried his best to impress me and failed miserably." Weiss crossed her arms and shook her head.
"I might have an idea why." Ruby put the plates and bowls away while looking her teammate in the eye. The young Huntress-in-training made a serious expression, very mature, in fact. "Back when we were traveling to Mistral, I saw Jaune training in front of his Scroll. He had a training video recorded by Pyrrha on the loop. He still doesn't know I spied on him or that I know he used to cry himself to sleep." Ruby lowered her head as Weiss uncrossed her arms in shock.
"I… I didn't know that."
"To make matters worse, his confrontation with Cinder. That rage. I'm worried that it'll be his undoing. He rushed in to fight a Maiden. A few bad moves, and he could have ended like Pyrrha."
"You don't have to mention it…" Weiss frowned as she touched the scar on her stomach, almost feeling a burning sensation.
"I might be stretching it, but he is trying to grow stronger to take Cinder down."
"But Cinder is gone, Raven already took care of her, right? At least that's what Yang told us."
"It looks like Jaune doesn't think the same." Ruby grimaced as she heard the oven make a noise, signifying the first two pies were ready. "You know, I'm anxious about his mental health."
"Same thing for Yang and Blake. Neither could stand in the same room for long. They wouldn't even come home if it meant looking one another the eye." Weiss grabbed a glass and poured some cold water into it.
"Yeah, I noticed that too... Even more so with Blake. She hasn't come in for two days. I know she is busy helping with the Gala and all, but this doesn't feel right."
"It might be weird for me to be the one saying this, but I feel like we should… no... we MUST attend the Gala. All of us." Weiss' suggestion was enough to take Ruby by surprise. The Ice Queen herself being on board with this type of thing was unexpected.
"Who are you, and what did you do to Weiss?"
"Very funny." Weiss' cold attitude was brought to the surface as she rolled eyes unamused. "But seriously, seeing everyone like this is depressing."
"Well… I tried asking Yang to come, but she felt uncomfortable with the idea."
"I might know how to convince her." The girl said as she put her finger under her chin and pondered upon the situation.
"How?" Ruby asked.
"You said she went to therapy today, right? I'll try asking her to come to help me pick out a new dress for the Gala." Weiss took a sip of water before going back to explaining her plan. "However, we're going to say we're doing this to cheer up Jaune."
"Do you think she'll agree to that?"
"If we're lucky, yes. I'll talk to Ren and Nora. It'll help our odds. It might be a good idea to keep a distance from your uncle and us too, now that I think about it."
"I hope it works." As soon as Ruby sighed, the oven's timer rang, with the pies done. They looked and smelled delicious, probably because Ruby prepared them with her unique ingredients. Love and care. And a lot of sugar. A lot of sugar.
The optimistic girl grabbed a knife and cut one of the pies into six slices. She served one slice on a plate and offered it to her partner.
Weiss smiled and took a bite out of the slice. It was sweet and warm. As she tasted it, it was something that not even the best bakers from all of Atlas could give her. Her expression of pure bliss was enough. Ruby didn't find it necessary to ask.
"I'm glad you like it." Ruby said gratefully. She put a basket on the table and started packing a few pies along into it along with a small carton of milk, a knife, a few forks, and one plate. Weiss looked on with curiosity as she noticed what Ruby was doing.
"Uhh… what are you planning?"
"Oh, I'm going out. It won't be for too long." Ruby said as she grabbed her crimson cape that was hanging on the front door.
"Are you going to see someone?"
"I'm bringing food to a sick person."
"So you've been talking to strangers, weren't you?" Weiss facepalmed at Ruby's naïve and childish attitude on that matter. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Don't worry. I just wanted to help him. I found him one day just lying on the ground injured and practically dead. I took him to his house, but I looked around, and he didn't have anything to eat."
"Just… be careful out there, alright?" Ruby nodded at Weiss' warning. She left the house with a pep in her step. Almost as if she was a child about to visit her grandma. The former heiress sighed while taking another slice of apple pie.
Ruby walked down the street, happily watching the vendors open up their shops and kiosks in the morning. She couldn't stop thinking about her friends due to the circumstances. Everything's not lost, but things can't continue to go on like they are now.
She glanced at the dogs barking at her as she walked by. They were harmless behind their fences. She continued on her way but felt that the dogs looked more agitated than usual. Almost as if something was bothering them.
She finally arrived at Sal's house and started knocking at his door, hoping he was inside or at least awake. She waited for a couple of minutes.
"Who's there?" She heard his voice, weak and severe.
"It's me, Ruby."
"What are you doing here?" Sal asked, surprised to hear from the cape clad girl.
"I brought you something you might like. It's an apple pie." There wasn't any response for several minutes. Ruby waited for a little and took a look at the house's exterior. It looked pretty big for just one person. It was probably one of the many apartment complexes Mistral that didn't get enough reconstruction due to poor business. The view was pitiful. It almost reminded her of what Vale looked like after The Fall.
In the blink of an eye, the door slowly opened in front of the hooded girl.
"I don't have any ice cream to go along with it." Sal said with a soft voice.
"It's alright. No need for it, though."
"Come on in." Ruby entered the house looked at the basket to see if nothing was missing. She made her way inside the humble house while Sal moved the table to the center and turned on the lamp in the corner. His room was about as dark as a Grimm pool in a tunnel at night.
"Sorry for the mess. I wasn't expecting visitors." The man in white said with modesty.
"I thought so. That's why I brought you a plate, a knife, and a fork. For you."
"Why?" Sal looked confused, even though the mask and shades covered his face. "Why did you come here? What's your goal?"
"I… I wanted to make sure you were alright. You had no one around, so I just wanted to see if you healed up alright. I was the one that found you in not-so-great shape, and I would sleep better if I knew you were in a... better shape?" Ruby pulled the pie out of the basket along with a plate. She started cutting a slice. The man saw some of the steam flying up into the air. Sal could sense the warmth from it. Fresh from the oven. "Here. I hope you enjoy it."
"I appreciate it, but I'm not so sure I can." Sal's voice started wavering, and his hand started shaking. He didn't want to take off his mask when other people were present. He moved his face away but grabbed the slice with his hand. It was burning his hand, but it was worth it. Sal lowered the surgical mask and took a bite out of the pie slice without letting Ruby see his face.
The man in white became speechless as he tasted the sweetness of the slice.
"D...Do you like it?" Ruby asked, already sensing his reaction.
"This is better than I imagined. Did you make this?" Sal put his mask back on while he looked the girl straight into her bright silver eyes.
"Yeah, you could say I have a talent for pastry."
"Wow. Your mother must be proud of."
"My… mother didn't teach me." Her smile switched to a more somber one as soon as Sal mentioned it.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"No, no, it's alright. It's just… my mother died when I was very young. I had to go by an old recipe she wrote down. I don't have many memories of her." Ruby looked at the window with a sigh. Sal felt bad for killing the mood.
"I'm sorry if I upset you. I completely understand where you're coming from."
"How so?"
"You could say that I lost my father not too long ago. He was the only family I had in this world." Sal said, taking another bite from the slice.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I guess I'm a bit too ungrateful. I still have my sister, my dad, my uncle, and my friends." Ruby let out a little laugh, looking down in sadness as more memories started flooding in. Nowadays, whenever she thought of her mother, her mind would automatically bring her back to Beacon. Back to Penny's body lying on the cold arena floor, torn asunder, wires and circuitry scattered. Back to Pyrrha's ashes scattering harshly into the winds.
"No need to apologize. Sometimes that's how the universe works. The world always seems to hang hope in front of us like an apple on a stick. Hope, always just slightly out of our reach. I'm quite jealous of you, Ruby. But one must endure it till the very end. Leap forward, bite into that hope and never let go. Be happy with what you have, and cherish what you have lost."
Sal's words of wisdom made the young girl reflect on a lot of things. She thought he was an experienced huntsman, so it shouldn't have been that big of a surprise to her that he had some wisdom to share. "Maybe I'm not the best person to tell you this, but take my advice to heart. For how much red you have on you, you couldn't be greener. Take advantage of every chance you have to spend that youth of yours, especially with your friends."
"I will." Ruby smiled as she cut another slice for Sal. "Thanks for telling me that."
"It's the only way I can pay you for everything you've done for me." Sal looked at his Scroll to check the time. "Better go back, you don't want to waste your time with someone like me."
"What do you mean, someone like you? What is that supposed to mean? You're a pretty cool guy!" Ruby tried to lift Sal's spirits. Sal smirked, not even trying to hide it. Still, he didn't want her to get into any trouble because of him.
"Seriously, though. It's getting late. Your friends are gonna get worried." Ruby paused for a moment and comically crossed her arms. She looked outside the window with a pout on her face. She rolled her eyes back at Sal.
"Ok, gramps. I guess I better get going." Ruby stood up, and Sal followed after her to send her off.
"Huh? Aren't you going to take the basket with you?" The man in white asked the young girl. "Gramps? I'm not that old..." He mumbled in disbelief as she called him like that.
"Don't worry. It's all for you. I hope you get better." She waved her hand and closed the door.
Sal went silent. The girl's kindness was almost unbelievable. He pulled out a notebook while still eating his piece of the pie. Once he opened the notebook, he looked into its content. Each page was full of cheesy one-liners, and some of them were even marked out. There were phrases like 'I will chase you to the end of the earth' or 'I was born to kill you.' Every overused line under the sun and moon. Cliche, but satisfying as all hell.
"Man… I need to come up with better one-liners. That son of a Grimm Spade will see that my words cut just as hard as my blades." Sal sighed and got to work, brainstorming his perfect taunts.
"Watch the speakers! You break them, and you pay for them!" Starlock warned the two Faunus that were moving the equipment on stage. The staff of Sher's were helping accommodations inside of Haven's Academy Hall for the Gala by doing the decorations and moving furniture. Among the staff, Starlock A'Dayle was the most qualified when it came to special events, even if that meant losing his cool. "Hey, you! The table-sheets should be blue over white, not white over blue!"
"T-Take it easy, Star. Things are g-going s-smoothly r-r-right now." Natto said to the Rooster Faunus as he looked at the clipboard.
"As much I would like to take it easy, I have to make sure everything is in working order. Aside from checking on the girls' singing, choosing the menu, I have to make this place look so prestigious that it would put an Atlesian Socialite Party to shame." Starlock's eyes sparkled with fire as he educated the Tanuki Faunus. "Can't you see we're shining a giant spotlight on ourselves!? Before long, we'll be the national treasure of Mistral!"
"I c-comple-ly underst-t-tand. I a-already spoke with C-Chief Bella-do-donna's wife that she w-will help us today."
"And I'm grateful for that, but with all due respect, she would need to learn how we do things here. That kind of thing takes… Dana! What, in the sweet merciful name of Auntie Goldie, are you doing here!?" Starlock focused on the Fox Faunus, who was busy on top of stepladder hanging ribbons on the ceiling.
"What? I'm just doing what you told me to do." She shrugged.
"You're doing in the wrong place! It has to go horizontally from left to right! Not from up to down!" He kept yelling at her.
"For crying out loud, don't be so nitpicky, Star. I'll fix it right away." Dana said nonchalantly. Starlock grabbed his temples in frustration, swearing under his breath. Dana grabbed one extended part of the hanging ribbons and swung on it across the room as if she was part of a trapeze act. Already in position, she put the ribbon in the correct spot. She looked down, noticed everyone's infatuated glares due to her acrobatics enthralled the people. They cheered her on for some reason.
"Did I do something?" She thought for a moment. Clapping and wolf whistles echoed throughout the room. "Eh. Whatever." Dana went along with the crowd and bowed modestly towards them, still hanging from the ribbon.
Natto and Starlock weren't amazed at all. "H-Hey, be careful with that! Those ribbons were imported from Vale!" The Rooster Faunus yelled at her. "Oh, lordy… I need a glass of cranberry juice." Starlock touched his forehead and walked away with a tired look.
Dana climbed down from a ladder and approached Natto, confused. "What's the deal with Star?" She asked the stuttering manager of Sher's .
"H-He is just t-taking his j-job as o-o-organizer seriously. I w-want to a-a-ask you to b-b-behave while we're w-working here."
"As if it wasn't bad enough that I had to wake up early today. Now I can't even have some fun while helping."
"Y-You know this e-event is important for our b-business. B-But with all due r-respect, you have to a-act like T-Tod if we want to l-leave a g-good impression. You g-got that?" Natto looked straight at the clipboard while Dana rubbed the back of her head.
"Speaking of Tod, what is he doing?" The Fox Faunus asked.
"H-He's helping Nori and Mrs. B-Belladonna bring in the l-liquor." As soon he mentioned them, they walked through the front door with boxes of liquor in hand.
"Oi, Natto! Where's the kitchen?" Nori asked his trusted friend.
"T-The r-room on your l-left. Exactly where the g-g-guest tables a-are." The Sher's manager pointed in the right direction with his pen.
"Thanks. Would you kindly let us help you carry those boxes, Mrs. Belladonna?" He asked Kali, who was doing some heavy lifting.
"That won't be necessary. I can handle it myself." She said with a modest tone.
"No, no, please, I insist. Your attention should be primarily on supervision. You've got a keen eye for decorations."
"Well, I could ask my daughter to help you with the boxes if you'll allow it."
"That's fine by us, ma'am." Nori focused his eyes on Natto. "Hey, where is that girl?"
"She's h-helping Sheldon a-at the k-kitchen." Natto replied.
"Alright, go talk to her. Oh, and where in the world is Starlock? Wasn't he supposed to be in charge of organizing this place?"
"He w-went to get some j-juice. D-Dana's attit-tude got to h-him."
"Again? Son of a…" Nori sighed. "What is Dana doing?"
"D-Decorating the c-ceilings."
"Tell her to help us with the boxes. We have so much work ahead. At that's not even including recreating The Beishang Waterfall." Nori walked into the kitchen while Natto called Dana to give her instructions. She complained at first, since she was starting to have fun but obeyed anyway and headed to the main door.
Natto started taking notes about stuff that was missing from the list. He got the stage already assembled. Music wouldn't be an issue. The food was more exceptional than what you'd find at your average pub. So far, things were progressing at a steady pace with minimal inconvenience. Natto felt someone tapping on his left shoulder from behind and then a female's voice.
"Excuse me. You need me for something?" Blake asked the manager of Sher's.
"Why y-yes we d-do. Just m-move the b-boxes of liquors in, p-please." Natto said nicely. Without any more words, Blake went headed to the front door.
The preparations for the White Fang Gala made her extremely busy, to the point that she couldn't even see her teammates and friends. She felt isolated from the duties that fell upon her. She knew getting back to her team would have to wait. After the party, she promised herself she would stay with them without any more distractions.
"Excuse me." A young man's voice said to Blake while passing through, carrying the large box of booze. He had short black hair and wore glasses. Blake found it pretty surprising that he wasn't a Faunus. Did someone force him to help, or did he volunteer himself?
"Where's the kitchen, Natto?" The young man asked.
"R-Right there." He pointed at a door where the guest tables were.
"Thanks." The human continued with his task as he walked away. Blake got curious and approached Natto.
"Hey, who is that?" She pointed at the guy with glasses.
"That's K-Kingston D-Diamo. One of our s-staff members." Natto explained.
"I never saw him before."
"He's a t-temporary w-worker. You d-don't have to w-worry about him. Is there a p-problem?"
"Not at all. Just curious." Blake wasn't bothered with the human helping them. It was a good thing for the New White Fang. Blake headed to the entrance to help with the rest of the boxes. As the Huntress approached the truck, she heard laughter coming from behind it.
"I'm telling you, I thought I was going to die, Dana."
"No way is that how you got that scar?" Dana was sitting on top of a box while Sun showed the wound on his left shoulder.
"Yep, it was a harsh lesson, but don't worry, we're cool now." Sun laughed while putting his shirt back on. "Besides, I don't hold grudges against girls."
"Oh, I didn't know you are such a gentleman. Do you say that excuse every time a girl kicks your tail?" Dana snarked.
"Of course, not…! Not always."
"Sun?" Blake walked around the truck and intruded the two Faunus while they were talking.
"Hey Blake, how's it going?" Sun greeted her with his usual smile.
"I'm helping with preparations. What are YOU doing here?"
"Well, you know, I was just passing by." He slowly turned his glance to the Fox Faunus. "Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you to each other. This is my friend Dana; she lives around these parts." Both Faunus stepped down from the truck to introduce each other appropriately.
"Hello, I'm…." Blake extended her hand to the other girl.
"Blake Belladonna, I know…" Dana interrupted her while shaking hands. "Sun told me a lot about you. Almost everyone here knows who you are."
"I guess I'm getting trendy here." Blake commented.
"Well, when you're the daughter of the Chief of Menagerie and behind all that White Fang revolutionary-thingy from days ago, it's hard not to recognize you." As Dana laughed, Nori came through the front door with a not-so-pleasant look.
"Hey, Dana! What's taking so long!?" He yelled.
"Sorry, I…?" She looked nervous while trying to come up with an excuse. When she saw Sun next to her, a lightbulb in her head turned on. "I brought some extra help since carrying those boxes might take all day. We don't want to waste time, do we?"
"You? Caring about not wasting time? Now that's a good one." Nori turned his eyes to Sun. "And how exactly could he help us with this? We don't need more people."
"No problem. I've got the strength of four people." Sun played along with Dana's excuse. He didn't mind helping since he would gladly do it if they asked him to.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you look too skinny actually to carry all that by yourself." Nori said unamused.
"He ain't joking." Dana's comment made Nori raise an eyebrow. Sun clapped both hands into a praying gesture, and his yellow Aura started glowing. In a matter of seconds, four physical projections of Sun appeared and began unloading boxes from the truck. Each one of them carried boxes into the gala.
"Huh, impressive, I must admit." Nori said.
"I know. You don't have to worry about it."
"And tell me, how long can those copies last?"
"Say again?" Dana's smile began to fade away as she slowly remembered how Sun's Semblance works. Once the clones got inside, the four Faunus started hearing boxes fall to the ground, and bottles break on the floor. Nori gave a glare to Sun, and Dana crossed his arms in displacement.
"Sorry, I forgot to mention that I trained earlier this morning." Sun tried to apologize but felt that it wasn't enough. Blake facepalmed in embarrassment.
"I guess we all know who's going to clean this mess." Blake commented.
"MY SUIT!" They heard someone yelling from inside the gala. Nori turned around to see who it was. "My suit, wine stains are so hard to clean!" It was Starlock. He looked to be in distress, standing in a puddle of liquor.
"Sorry, Star!" Dana shouted from outside the gala.
"Pick up those boxes and clean this place up! And by the Gods, no more tomfoolery!" Nori began ordering everyone around, sending shivers down their spine. Sun went to get a mop while Dana, Nori, and Blake started unloading the rest of the boxes. They had to speed up to make up for so many inconveniences.
It would be a long day for both Sher's staff and The White Fang.
Outside of Mistral's limits, an hour away from the city, Qrow walked towards an Inn. There were some broken windows from on both the first and second floors. "Did something happen here?" The Huntsman pondered as he eyed the place.
He opened the door to see if there was anyone who could answer his questions. Behind the counter, a man was cleaning some cups and organizing the bottles on the shelf. Not only that, a few tables and chairs were missing, and the barrels were open.
"Sorry, we can't serve anyone at the moment." The bartender said. He wasn't in the best mood to serve anyone yet. It was too early for drinks.
"I'm not here for that. I need to ask you a few questions." Qrow said.
"Oh? What kind of questions?"
"Nothing too long. I just wanted to know if you saw any of these people." The Huntsman started showing pictures of the missing people on his Scroll with their names written below them. "Anything ring a bell?"
"Nah-Ah. None of them look familiar." The bartender shook his head.
"Anything unusual happens here as of late?"
"Not really. This place has usual trouble. Grimm, thugs, you know how it goes."
"I see. Sorry to bother you then." Qrow turned around and headed to the door. He stopped for a brief moment as he looked at the windows. "One last question. What happened here?"
"Weren't you listening? A bunch of thugs got into a fight and wrecked this place. It was like three days ago. Damn punks."
"Anyone in particular?"
"Aside from the thugs. Hmm… yeah. A bunch of teenagers. They looked tough as nails."
"Were they Huntsmen?"
"Who knows. As far as I could tell, one had a robotic arm." The little detail caught Qrow's attention. Not many people had the privilege of having robotic limbs unless they had contacts in Atlas.
"Is that so? I guess that's useful."
"If you found them, I'd appreciate it if you made them pay. I didn't get the full charge, and someone has to compensate for the damages." Qrow nodded as he left the Inn while hearing the man rant about "the youth of today."
Qrow stepped outside. He opened his flask and took a sip, reflecting on who those teenagers and the one with the robotic arm might be. He knew many people with robotic limbs around Remnant, but it was pretty uncommon to find someone like that in Mistral.
It was inevitable that there was no relation between the punks and the disappearances, but one can never be too safe. Knowing his luck, Qrow wanted to be sure. Chances were that those people were either that those punks know something or are just another dead end. The best he could do at the moment was inform Ozpin and keep investigating.
