Chapter 15: Questions Unanswered
The forest gate was choked with familiar faces when they returned. The counter-alarm had gone off as soon as Orlovski reported back to Beacon, but there were still many students with friends or teammates who had yet to report home.
Heather actually used her semblance to phase through the ancient wrought-iron and tackle the rest of her team in a flying hug, wailing apologies for not having joined them sooner. Sufjan's team hurriedly took up his stretcher and rushed him to medical, while the others met up with their various teammates and friends.
RWBY was the only full team who'd shown up to the fight, but they of course had Team JNPR to greet them.
"RWBYIES!" Nora cried as she rushed to pull them all into a crushing hug the second they were through the gate and back on school grounds. "Oh my crackers are you guys all okay!?"
"Yeah!" Ruby beamed, hugging her excitable friend back. "We're okay! Everybody's okay."
"Except Sufjan," Blake added. "But he's been making puns the whole time so… he'll probably be alright."
"That's incredible," Ren said, his lips twisting into a rare, wide smile. "To defeat a Settlement Killer with so few casualties is exceptionally rare."
Ruby traded hasty glances with her teammates. "And Yang was the one who killed it!" Ruby said, smiling extra wide as she grabbed her sister around the waist and pulled her into a side-hug. "She took it out in one big punch like WA-BAMMM!"
Nora let out a dramatic gasp, while Yang blushed sheepishly. "Aw, it wasn't that big a deal…"
Pyrrha clapped her firmly on the shoulder. "Yang. You do realize that an Atkorrock is the kind of Grimm that most licensed Hunters would run away from? "
"She's right," Weiss agreed, looking up at Yang with infinite fondness. "You might just be the youngest person ever to bring one down."
"Guys, it's really not a big deal—Nora! Hey—NORA—!"
The protests fell on deaf ears as Nora lifted Yang high over her head. "HEY EVERYBODY THIS IS YANG XIAO LONG SHE'S MY FRIEND AND SHE JUST PUNCHED A GIANT SQUID IN THE FACE!"
A chorus of cheers exploded around the courtyard, growing into a whooping chorus of applause. Yang had the gumption to quit protesting to smile and wave, even if she was obviously embarrassed about it.
Ruby laughed, cheering and clapping along with the rest, until someone tapped her on the shoulder.
Anxiety spiked through her body. She looked back, and found Belka and Ruth standing together, looking at her with furtive concern.
"Hey," Ruth said in a low voice, pulling Ruby gently away from her team. "I dunno what you did back there, but it probably saved our lives."
Ruby swallowed. "W-well, I mean, uh—"
Belka held up a hand. "We been checkin' around, and we think it's just us who saw you blow up. Nobody else knows that weird light came from you." She smiled, winking slyly. "And we ain't gonna spread the rumor 'less you want us to."
Ruby felt a hesitant smile break out across her face. "Thank you," she said, sincere relief settling her muscles.
Ruth simply offered a thumbs-up.
"No worries," Belka said, giving Ruby an easy smile. "But hey, lemme know if you do figure it out, 'kay? Cuz that was fuckin' badass."
Ruby nodded, waving shakily as the two went back to their teams, her smile quickly falling off.
"Ruby?" Jaune's voice behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin. "You okay? What was that about?"
Ruby shook her head, closing her eyes and taking a steadying breath. "I'll… explain later," she promised.
If I can even figure it out myself.
4/9/825 at 11:22 A.M.
The Fiery FRNS Groupchat
SuperSufi: So hey guys they're about to put me under but i wanted to do one last thing
SuperSufi: Y'know, in case this doesn't work and ol lefty's really gone for good
SuperSufi: i just want to prepare everyone
SuperSufi: Okay here goes
*SuperSufi changed their username to StumpySufi*
FortuneFavors: is2g sufi im gonna sit by your bed after they stitch you up
FortuneFavors: im just gonna sit there and watch you
FortuneFavors: and youll wake up and be like "oh my beautiful and brilliant leader fortuna…"
FortuneFavors: and i will punch you in the dick
Ramalamadingdong: Hey that's uncalled for I think it's all right.
GunsOfNavarre: yeah Tuna you don't really have a leg to stand on here
FortuneFavors: *amendment
FortuneFavors: im gonna punch each of you in the dick individually
FortuneFavors: no dick will go unpunched in this house tonight
StumpySufi: Aw i love y'all too.
StumpySufi: Okay they got the needle in see ya.
GunsOfNavarre: sweet dreams Sufi
Ramalamadingdong: Goodnight sweet prince.
FortuneFavors: dont die u beautiful idiot
4/9/825 at 11:25 P.M.
GunscytheGirl: PENNY OMG
MotherOfInvention: Friend Ruby! Are you alright!? I saw that there was an S-Class alert and that you were among the students who participated in the engagement and I know that the alert was called off but they haven't input any after-action reports yet and I saw from the gate cameras that one young man was badly injured but everything was moving so fast I couldn't see you clearly!
GunscytheGirl: im ok im ok!
GunscytheGirl: penny it was amazing we fought an atkorock and WE WON AND NOBODY DIED!
MotherOfInvention: Oh thank goodness! :D
GunscytheGirl: yeah i saw the flare go up and i was on the edge of the woods so me n a couple seniors ran in and we KILLED IT
GunscytheGirl: yang punched a huge hole in it it was AWESOME
MotherOfInvention: SENSATIONAL! That is extremely impressive, friend! Congratulations!
GunscytheGirl: ^#W#^
GunscytheGirl: thanks penny!
GunscytheGirl: i mean idk i only showed up at the end though
GunscytheGirl: and there were like 20 ppl there by then
GunscytheGirl: and a couple people did actually get hurt p bad but they should be okay
GunscytheGirl: i gotta go take care of stuff b/c things are super hectic rn but ill text you again later ok?
MotherOfInvention: That is acceptable! Take care of yourself Ruby!
GunscytheGirl: thanks penny you too!
4/9/825 at 4:10 P.M.
CameraShy: Hi! Taffeta, right? Weiss told me a little about what's going on!
CameraShy: I'm Velvet from team CFVY and I've been dating my entire team for two years.
LaffyTaffy: Hi Velvet!
LaffyTaffy: Thank you so so so much!
LaffyTaffy: Um!
LaffyTaffy: So things happened! Idk if Weiss mentioned names but Hikari asked me out after all the stuff today!
LaffyTaffy: And, Ruth didn't say yes but didn't say no just that she needed to think about it!
LaffyTaffy: And we're gonna tell Heather when she gets out of the shower and I think I'm gonna ask her out too!
LaffyTaffy: Which is a little scary but also really great they're so great!
CameraShy: OMG!
CameraShy: CONGRATS OMG!
CameraShy: This is the best week ever!
LaffyTaffy: I KNOW!
LaffyTaffy: Anyway thank you for reaching out do you want to get lunch sometime sorry idk what protocol is like for poly mentoring or w/e?
CameraShy: Lunch sounds great! I'll check my schedule and get back to you okay?
LaffyTaffy: Ok Heather's back I gotta go but thank you thank you thank you!
CameraShy: Of course! And congratulations again!
4/9/825 at 9:34 P.M.
GunscytheGirl: okay im back sorry about how long that took
MotherOfInvention: Not to worry, Ruby! It seemed as if you were very busy!
GunscytheGirl: yeah turns out settlement killers require a lot of paperwork but also we each got a 1 million lien bounty for it which is COOL I GUESS!?
GunscytheGirl: i guess i kinda didn't realize how big a deal this all was until ozpin just handed me this card like "oh and here's enough money for a year's supply of hot dogs"
GunscytheGirl: and they don't even tax it bc it's technically not a job!
GunscytheGirl: but um anyway
GunscytheGirl: okay serious mode, can i tell you something that im freaking out about that you can't tell anyone else?
MotherOfInvention: ^===^
MotherOfInvention: That is meant to be a zipper, indicating that my "lips are sealed," so to speak!
GunscytheGirl: lol thank you penny you're the best
MotherOfInvention: Of course! You keep many secrets for me, so it is only fair.
MotherOfInvention: Also you are my most trusted and valued friend and I am delighted and honored to be held in your confidence!
GunscytheGirl: ahhhhh that's so sweet penny!
GunscytheGirl: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
MotherOfInvention: :D
GunscytheGirl: okay okay okay so uh
GunscytheGirl: have you ever heard of anything that can turn grimm to stone?
MotherOfInvention: ?
MotherOfInvention: Not trapped, as with Earth Dust, but entirely petrified?
GunscytheGirl: that's what it looked like yeah
MotherOfInvention: I have not heard of such a phenomenon.
MotherOfInvention: You witnessed this occur with the Atkorock?
GunscytheGirl: …..kinda?
GunscytheGirl: but weiss thinks *i* caused it
MotherOfInvention: O_O
MotherOfInvention: Oh.
MotherOfInvention: Oh my.
MotherOfInvention: Can you recall the event or describe it in further detail?
GunscytheGirl: so i got in and weiss was about to get hit
GunscytheGirl: like… probably bad enough to be really messed up ;_;
MotherOfInvention: Oh no! D:
GunscytheGirl: yeah
GunscytheGirl: and so i kinda
GunscytheGirl: jumped in front of her to protect her, and then suddenly i was waking up on the ground with a headache and the grimm was turned to stone
GunscytheGirl: everybody says there was this really bright light
GunscytheGirl: blake and yang and a couple of our classmates said it looked like it came from me and weiss said it felt really weird
GunscytheGirl: she said it was like it the light touched her aura directly and interacted with it somehow
GunscytheGirl: it was cold and she heard singing, but she can't remember what song.
MotherOfInvention: Oh my. That's very strange.
GunscytheGirl: I KNOW
GunscytheGirl: what else…
GunscytheGirl: oh! the stone was like, flaky and thin
GunscytheGirl: and it crumbled and disintegrated like grimm normally do just more slowly
GunscytheGirl: and the grimm woke up again after a minute or so
GunscytheGirl: like some parts of it were still alive under the stone I guess
GunscytheGirl: it was super stunned though so we had a chance to get in close and then we used coldsnap which was super cool and killed it in one big shot like BAM!
GunscytheGirl: anyway uh
GunscytheGirl: i'm trying to play it off rn but my team and i have no idea what i did and its FREAKING ME OUT
MotherOfInvention:
MotherOfInvention: I do not believe I have knowledge of any such phenomenon. However, I will use my resources to see if I can uncover anything of relevance. In the meantime, if you can ask Weiss more about her experience, or try and recall any other details yourself, please share your findings!
GunscytheGirl: will do!
GunscytheGirl: thank you so so so much penny!
MotherOfInvention: Any time, Ruby!
GunscytheGirl: oh! and uh
GunscytheGirl: would you like to get together again at some point next week?
GunscytheGirl: we haven't done that since last semester and there's a lot of stuff i wanna talk to you about!
MotherOfInvention: That sounds lovely, Ruby! Feel free to name any time and place!
GunscytheGirl: aaaaa will do!
GunscytheGirl: i gotta go bc weiss is being a sweetie and making spaghetti and im really hungry (which is maybe bc of the big flash of light thing idk?)
GunscytheGirl: but anyway thank you so much!
GunscytheGirl: and see you soon!
GunscytheGirl: and
GunscytheGirl: love you penny!
MotherOfInvention: I love you too, Ruby! Enjoy your spaghetti!
MotherOfInvention: Goodnight!
4/10/825 at 2:12 AM
RedRosie: hey louis? u up?
SunKingLouis: I am studying in the library. What is it?
RedRosie: can i join u?
RedRosie: i got something i need to talk about
A/N:
Thanks to Sgt. Chrysalis, FriendofYggdrasil, and JuniorThib for looking this over! I'm pretty sure that's everybody, but lemme know if you looked it over and I forgot ;w;
And thank you all for reading!