Chapter 5
"So... I heard that you liked scythes." Qrow tried to say as nonchalantly as possible. He failed miserably, considering his role in espionage.
"What?" Ruby asked. Her hearing hadn't fully recovered, and while her arm was still in a sling she could use her fingers. Not that they were helpful when pressed against her chest, but still.
"I heard you liked scythes!" Qrow shouted, staying away from the drink just this once. His liver had developed suicidal tendencies, but it had only been a month since Summer's funeral.
"You don't have to shout." Ruby sighed, touching at her sensitive ears.
"Sorry." Qrow burped, thumping his chest with a fist.
"And scythes are cool. Dad said he would make one with me, but..." She flexed her still aching arm. "Not for a little bit. I almost have the design done. Want to see it?"
They were inside a reformed Beacon dorm, set up with walls for privacy. They were in the pseudo living room, with Ruby continually refining her weapon design. Yang was 'out', and although such vagueness from a 10 year old on what they were doing was rather worrying, Qrow figured that they were still on campus and safe.
Ruby moved the drafting paper over. Her right hand had been the scythe's victim— originally her dominant hand. It had forced her to become ambidextrous, and she put the restraint to good use. She could now draw and write better with her left than she could with her right, mostly from the fact that she had practiced day and night to do so. There was no other way for her to pass the time, as she'd been banned from strenuous physical activity, and playing video games had been difficult up until recently. Books had their place, but she devoured them so quickly that even the small library they had amassed, some courtesy of Ozpin and some 'borrowed' from Beacon's library, she had read all of it several times over. Especially the process of designing and creating weapons.
So when Qrow saw a perfectly drawn draft of what she had named 'Crescent Rose', he was both impressed and filled with worry.
"Hey, Rubes..."
"Yeah? Is it good?" She asked, shifting uneasily.
"It's great. Best one I've ever seen, sadly." Most Hunters were not known for their artistic merit. The fact that an eight year old showed them up is rather telling of the state of weapon creation in this day and age. Most of the time Hunters outsourced the creation of their weapon, losing the personality and fit that a weapon designed by the user held. Once, quite a bit of work had been put into creating your first weapon. A tradition clearly seen at Signal, but nowhere else.
"Oh..."
"Uh... I meant it in a good way." He said, realizing how she had taken it. "But are you sure you want to become a Huntress?"
None of the things that Summer had done to try and destroy her dream amounted to the monumental hit to Ruby's drive that Qrow unintentionally slammed her with.
"Um... yes?"
"It's a pretty serious decision, kiddo." He said, carefully placing down the draft. "You train for years and can die just like that." Qrow snapped his fingers. "You can be the best there is, but if you're unlucky even once..."
"Was mom the best there is?"
"Yes." Qrow answered without hesitation.
"Then why did she die?"
This was not a question that Ruby asked with tear filled eyes, but rather eyes filled with the will to learn from the mistakes of one's predecessors. The irony of this should not be lost on anyone.
These dull eyes made Qrow even sadder than if she had asked him sadly, perhaps even angrily like Yang had several times. And every time Yang had asked, he had given her the same answer. "Because she was unlucky."
But when Ruby asked...
"I dunno, kiddo. Just how fate works."
"Fate?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.
"Yeah, you know what fate is. The whole idea of a predestined future?"
"Oh. I guess I know."
"But Ruby, you need to seriously think about whether you want to become a Huntress. You've got a year and a half until you have to decide. And from what I can see, you could make a career out of making weapons."
Out of harm's way. Qrow mentally added.
The spirit slumped in the corner 'woke' with a start. Summer was not attentive as she'd been before, but she perked up at the sudden change in Ruby's heart. What she had thought was ironclad was now breaking apart. If her mask was still up, she would have given Qrow a full hug. She now leaned forward from her corner, hoping that her daughter would give up her dream.
"...I'll think about it." Ruby finally said.
"Okay. I don't want to put anything on you— do whatever will make you happy."
Ruby gave a genuine smile at that. "Thanks, Uncle Qrow."
The spirit in the corner would have bashed her head against the wall if she could. Qrow had been so close, but had realigned her to the path of the hero.
"Why do you like scythes?" Qrow asked, trying to move to a lighter topic. Ruby shrugged, absentmindedly shading a line in.
"I just think they look cool."
"Same. Want to take a look at mine?"
The reaper blinked. The thought of analyzing a real life weapon had never occurred to her. It was such an obvious path forward, too.
"Yeah."
Qrow's weapon landed with a 'thunk' on the table, allowing Ruby to take a closer look at the ridiculously complex weapon.
"Your mother made most of this." Qrow held his neck sheepishly. "To be honest, I've looked at it for hours and still don't get it. Maybe you will though. Wait—"
It was too late. Ruby had already pressed a button, activating Harbinger with a click and cleanly cutting through part of the temporary wall.
"...shiii— crap." Qrow said, managing to correct himself just in time. "Do you have any posters around?"
He removed the weapon from the wall carefully, making sure not to cause further damage. Only a small amount of the wall's material came with it.
"I don't think so. Do you think dad'll be angry at me?"
"You? No. Me? Different story. We probably should have opened it outside." Qrow admitted.
"Sorry..." Ruby trailed off.
"It's fine. Why don't you show me some of your other designs?"
Trying to forget about the large horizontal gash in the temporary wall, Ruby flipped through an assortment of drawings she had, making sure to pass by a few of the ones she thought didn't look good.
She settled on one that sent a shiver down Qrow's spine.
"Did you practice drawing with Summer's weapons? I didn't know you'd seen any of them. Besides the uh... the scythe."
Ruby nodded, taking out thirteen other drafts, with the weapons she had seen in the basement. Not all of them were accurate to the original version, but they were closer than they had any right to be for what amounted to a glance.
"This one was named Flower." He said, holding up the massive mace. "I think you got most of it. Not a particularly complicated weapon. I remember her using that and it was..." Qrow shivered, despite the fact that it was perfectly warm. "...enlightening. That one's Stem." He added before Ruby could ask why. "She wasn't too fond of it."
"Why?"
"Summer had some sort of aversion to weapons that could be used against other humans. She was adamant about that, but I never really knew why... Stem's just a rapier. It's pretty useless to use against Grimm. You want weapons that are good at culling hordes— this isn't. I remember her nearly breaking it in half in anger." He frowned at the strange memory, forgetting an important piece of it.
"Roots." He said, holding up a flail. "This one was good against Grimm, but she told me it didn't feel 'right'. Actually, she said that about all of these." Qrow gestured to the collection of drafts. "She didn't make only thirteen weapons. She made a lot more, but trashed or gave them away. Like she was looking for something specific. They were just barely off. That was always her excuse." He smiled at that memory, before losing it forever.
"Why is there only a gun in this one?" Ruby asked, sliding over the scythe that had broken her arm and hearing. "You have a gun on yours, and it seems like it would be good for killing Grimm. I think, at least." She added, unsure.
Qrow shrugged. "The bullets themselves are surprisingly useless against Grimm. Don't do a whole lot unless you've got some sort of... I dunno. You'd need a gun that could go straight through a tank in order to have it be worth it. And even then, the dust cost would be ridiculous."
"Why does it have to go through a tank?"
"Well, because if it's a small fry you can already take care of it by, you know, whacking it. And if it's large enough that getting close enough to whack it is dangerous— a pea shooter ain't gonna do much." He picked up Harbinger, his weapon, making sure it wasn't pointing at Ruby.
"I was never supposed to be the one to take care of the horde. I was the one making sure that the weird ones— the dangerous ones— died. This doesn't pierce a tank, but it'll dent it. Dent a tank a few times and... boom."
"But that means you would have to get close." Ruby pointed out.
"Yeah. I did. There's not just beowolves and usrae, kiddo. There's lots more. Ones that possess objects— Geists. Others that can control people—" He winced at that. "Luckily those are rare enough that they don't even have an official name."
"What's the unofficial name?" Ruby asked.
"Motherfucker. Because that's what you say when you see it."
"Oh."
"Anyway. My point was that guns can work sometimes. I've never seen one like that, one that actually propels the blade forward, I mean. That's one of her more recent ones. Probably..."
He didn't finish the sentence with, her last one.
"I'm pretty weak, and I broke my arm, but uh..." Just thinking back on the memory didn't bring Ruby grief or pain, but rather satisfaction. "It was really cool. It just cut it in half. I didn't even have to do anything."
"...huh. I didn't see it on your design though. For Crescent Rose."
Ruby smiled, happy that he had remembered the name of the weapon. "I figured it was better to start simple."
"Probably. Wait, what's this? Never seen that metal before."
He pointed to one of the materials outlined in the draft for Crescent Rose.
"Oh, I forgot to take that out." Ruby said, embarrassed. "It was in one of mom's books I read before the fire."
"Ah-loo-me-num, huh? Why that?"
"It's super light."
"Oh, that's why I've never heard of it. You need weight in order to cut, and to properly balance your weapon. If it's super light it'll never cut anything, even if it is pretty sharp. You don't have another metal listed on here to balance it either."
"Not if it's propelled by a gun." Ruby smiled.
"...huh." Qrow said again. "Probably, yeah. That would offset that issue, but it would also make it an extremely poor weapon if you ever ran out of dust. You'd basically be a sitting duck."
Ruby deflated. "I didn't think about that."
Qrow patted her head. "I think it's pretty cool, and it was a nice idea. Maybe when you're better we can do some testing. Keep up the good work."
"You're leaving?" Ruby asked, a little sad.
"Yeah. I've got some stuff to do. Seeya, Rubes."
Ruby sighed, after her Uncle left.
It was only then that she realized that the gash in the wall had never been fixed.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I am always open to feedback or criticism.
