Chapter Four
Four walls, two souls, two chairs, one table, six hundred books in five shelves and no windows.
This was just one, small corner of the immense Beacon Academy Library. Layers of dust covering a battery of knowledge. The library had been built long, long ago, well before the school had been built around it. The Beacon Library had always been a candle in the darkness, a small light signalling hope in a world of fear and despair. The wealth of annals within stood as an auxilliary line of defense against the greatest collective fear of human- and faunuskind: the fear of being forgotten. The fear of being wiped off the face of the planet by the creatures of Grimm and leaving no trace.
After centuries being passed between different curators' hands, nobody had a clear record anymore of exactly how many books took residence here. The layout of the shelves had gradually evolved over the years, adding branches, arms, spirals, rows of shelves winding through the many floors and wings of the library. But the motto had never changed: History will never be quenched. The library had never burned down, never been ransacked, and never been assaulted by the Grimm. It was older than any human or faunus alive.
This was the third largest library in the world, after the Mistral Royal library and a private library belonging to a wealthy Atlesian industrialist. But it was not large enough that the chill remained quarantined to this small corner. The entire building dropped in temperature by a degree.
Weiss' expression was unreadable, but Ruby shivered as she waited for her partner's cold eyes to thaw.
9:45 AM
Ruby saw Weiss open her mouth to say something in response. But she didn't say anything.
"Are... are you..." Ruby tried to finish. She was shaking hard, sweating, and her heart was pounding. Are you going to respond?
Weiss leaned back. "I wasn't expecting that."
Ruby blinked. "W-well, what were you expecting?"
She didn't meet her eyes. "I thought it was like that time you forgot your locker code and you couldn't break your scythe out."
Ruby instinctively patted her waist to make sure Crescent Rose was still there. It was.
Weiss continued, "You stood next to that locker for hours, Ruby. I thought I heard you talking to it at one point."
She nodded wearily, remembering how worried she was that she'd never get her treasured scythe back again. Her hands shaking, she gently bit her knuckle on her right hand to calm herself.
Weiss stood up and walked over to one of the bookshelves. She picked up one of the books and tossed it over in her hands, examining the cover absentmindedly.
"Oh, Ruby, you can get so worked up over the littlest things."
"Do you think I'm crazy?" Ruby asked. She knew for sure Weiss would think she was crazy. Even Ruby thought she was crazy. There were some messed-up thoughts in her head and over the past few weeks she had felt close to breaking several times.
Weiss turned back to her. "No. No, I don't think you are crazy. Although, I can't say I really understand."
Ruby breathed out. Not crazy. Okay. At least Weiss didn't think so. That was good. But still...
"What don't you understand?" Ruby asked.
"I guess... I don't see why it matters to you. Really, what's the difference anyway? Nobody's ever going to care about something like that."
"I care," said Ruby, firmly.
Weiss shook her head, not understanding her. "But, why?"
"I don't know why, Weiss," she said softly, "I just do."
How could she make Weiss understand? Ruby knew her feelings were, if not crazy, then weird and unnatural. But she needed somebody on her side. She needed to know that her partner was on her side.
Weiss placed the book in her hands back into the shelf. One spine free of dust among rows of faded ones.
"I can't even stand to look at myself anymore," Ruby said. "All I can think is that I look like my mother."
She looked at her sadly. "You don't get along with your mother?"
"My mother's dead," said Ruby.
Weiss averted her gaze. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't," Ruby smiled. "But I never really knew her. Bits and pieces. Nothing more than vague memories."
"So why does it bother you? That you look like her."
"I don't want to look like someone else," Ruby said. "Not somebody I never even knew. Not somebody who abandoned me before I could speak. I just want to be myself. And when I look in the mirror, I just, I don't see that. I don't see me. It makes me," she swallowed. "Sick. It makes me feel sick, what I see. A flimsy little girl who can't even figure herself out."
"So you hate your mom? Is that it?" Weiss sighed.
"N-no, that's not it," Ruby said. "It's not my mom. It's me. I can't stand being like this."
"Being like what?" Weiss asked. "There's nothing wrong with you."
Ruby buried her face in her arms on the table. She wasn't crying - she'd done that three times today already, she'd had enough of that. She just felt hopeless and alone.
"I can't do this, Weiss. I can't keep this act up anymore."
She heard Weiss pull up the chair next to her and sit down again.
"Ruby."
"What?"
"You're just going to have to get through this."
She looked up at her partner. "What do you mean?"
Weiss sighed. "You don't like your body. Fine. I get that. I have to look at myself in the mirror every day and wonder if I'm going to end up like my father." She raised her hand to silence Ruby pre-emptively. "Not in that way. But in the mirror I see a Schnee. That's not such an honourable face to have these days."
"Weiss..." Ruby started.
"And every day, they remind me of my failures. Every time I look at myself." She blinked, slowly, and Ruby noticed once again the scar across her eyelid. They'd never talked about it.
"So you want to..." Ruby was unsure. "Change your face?"
"No. You dolt." Weiss smiled, briefly. "I could put makeup over my scar. I could hide my face behind a mask. But that's not really going to make my mistakes go away. It won't make my family's mistakes go away. If you don't like yourself, it's not your body that's the problem."
Ruby started to speak but Weiss put her hands on Ruby's shoulders.
Weiss stared deeply into her. "There is nothing. Wrong. With. Your body."
Ruby shook her head. "Yes there is. If I could change it, I would, in a heartbeat. And then -" She bit her lip. "I'd be happy."
"That won't make you happy," Weiss said, releasing her grasp on her shoulders. "What you want is impossible."
Ruby didn't say anything.
"You can't change something like that. I could wake up one day and decide, 'I want to be a faunus.' I could even go to the store and buy some cat-ear hairband, if they still sell them here. I could wear it every day. But that won't make me a faunus. Just like Blake isn't -" she looked to the door to make sure nobody was listening. "Just like Blake's bow doesn't make her a human," she whispered.
Ruby still didn't say anything.
"You're going to be a Huntress," she explained.
"I don't want to," Ruby said. She knew Weiss was right, but she felt deep down like there was still an out somewhere. "I can't stay like this."
"There's nothing wrong with you," Weiss repeated. "You're not being reasonable."
"Please, Weiss," Ruby stood up. "I'm serious. I'm trapped in here." She spread out her arms, displaying herself to her partner.
Ruby felt Weiss' eyes examine her. It was an unbearably tense moment. Unlike Weiss, who conducted herself with dignity wherever she went, Ruby was usually stilted and anxious in almost every interaction. She felt best when she could pretend that she was invisible. As someone who couldn't even look at herself in the mirror, it took all her nerve not to back away and hide from her partner's gaze.
Finally Weiss said, "I don't see anything to be ashamed of. Ruby," Weiss paused, "I think you just need more self-confidence. You just need to believe in yourself, and trust that everything will work out. Sit down."
Ruby sat down.
"I think, that if this is the way you are," Weiss opened her arms, indicating Ruby's body, "then this is the way you're meant to be."
Ruby shook her head. "How can you know that?"
Weiss grabbed her hand. "Just trust me."
Ruby didn't meet her eyes.
"There are some things you can just know. Things you can feel."
Ruby didn't blink. She refused to blink. Somehow, not blinking would make everything okay.
"This is one of those things, Ruby. You just have to accept it. Trust me." Weiss shifted, releasing her hand.
"Hm." Ruby didn't know what to say. She wanted to trust Weiss, but she also didn't want to believe what Weiss was saying.
"But, if you're really serious about this... Maybe I'm not the one to talk to."
Still not meeting her eyes, Ruby said, "You're my partner. You're my friend."
"Yes. But I'm not your family."
Ruby rubbed her nose. She knew what Weiss was saying.
"I'm not your sister," Weiss said softly.
"I can't," Ruby croaked. "She -"
"She's seen it, too. The way you've been lately. You have to talk to her."
"I can't, it's -"
"You're being unfair to her. What if she had something bottled up like this? Wouldn't you want to be there for her?"
"Of course!" Ruby exclaimed. "But I..."
"You're hurting her," Weiss said, more angrily now. "And why? Because of this crazy fantasy?"
"Not crazy," Ruby said, reflexively. "Please, this is really hard for me!" She clasped her hands together to stop them from trembling.
Weiss breathed out. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
Ruby fixed her gaze on the floor.
"It's just, you have such an amazing, special relationship with her. Don't let," Weiss started, her voice cracking. She brought her hand to her mouth. "Excuse me. I just don't want to see what happened to me and my sister happen to you."
She looked up at her partner's eyes. "You have a sister?"
Weiss glanced away. "Yes. Her name is Winter."
"You've mentioned your father before, but not her," Ruby said. Weiss flinched. "You... don't get along well with your family, do you?"
With a pained look in her eyes, Weiss shook her head. "I don't get along with my father. But with Winter it's different."
"Then what happened to you and Winter?"
"My father -" Weiss started. Then she regained her composure. "It doesn't matter. My family is a complicated business." She smiled. "But it's okay. Just so long as they don't come to visit."
Ruby narrowed her eyes, uncertain. "You don't want your sister to visit?"
"No, I do. I just know she won't." Weiss sighed. "But your sister is here, at Beacon, on your team. There is no excuse not to go see her right now."
"There are things you don't know about my sister," Ruby said slowly.
"Obviously," Weiss said. "And there are a thousand and one more things you don't know about mine," she flicked her ponytail. "But your sister is my teammate as well as yours. I think I have some responsibility to both of you. And from what I know of her, personally," Weiss gazed at her serenely. "You should tell her."
"She really wouldn't take this well," Ruby explained.
"Over the past month I have started to realize that I am not the most open-minded person," Weiss said. "But I'm trying to be sensitive. So, trust me, if you can tell your," she paused, unsure about her words, "your secret to me, then you can tell it to her."
"Mm-maybe," Ruby said. Weiss' gaze remained fixed on her. She gave in. "Okay."
"Will you tell her now?" Weiss asked.
"I'll think about it," Ruby said. Then she glanced down at the book on the table in front of her. "Maybe we should keep studying?"
Weiss smiled. She looked tired. Ruby felt bad for dumping all this on her. But was also relieved to finally have told someone, though she wasn't sure Weiss really realized just how deep her insecurities were.
"Sure," Weiss finally said. "After all, we won't be able to study tomorrow."
"We... won't?" Ruby wasn't sure what her partner meant.
"Of course not! After all, we're going shopping tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Ruby exclaimed. "I thought that was Monday."
Weiss shrugged, emulating Gylnda. "Did I say that? Hmm. I thought I said Sunday."
Ruby laughed, then glanced down nervously. "You're going to need a lot of practice with some of these problems," she said.
"If only somebody could teach me," Weiss shot her a hopeful look.
"It would help to have tomorrow. And I need to finish my History assignment."
"Shopping won't take all day," Weiss said. "Besides, the dance is next weekend. We have to find you a dress." Ruby glared at her. "Or, something."
Ruby shrugged and opened the book, flipping in a few pages. "Okay... 'Calories'... Blah blah blah..."
"'Calories?'" Weiss repeated, uncertain. "I thought this was a physics text."
"Calories are an important unit of measurement in combat physics," Ruby explained.
"Of course they are," said Weiss, skeptically.
"The calorie is the primary unit of energy. Here, let's work through some example problems."
"Oh, boy."
10:00 AM
"Dust, this day is getting long," Jaune complained, taking a swig from his water bottle. Only a few drops came out.
"You've been awake for less than two hours," Pyrrha said quizzically.
"I was asleep for barely more than three," Jaune explained. Then he planted himself on the ground, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Out of boredom, he rolled his now empty water bottle across the enormous arena at Ren, who was lying down on his back with his arms splayed out. Nora giggled as the bottle rolled past her and bounced off of Ren.
"Let's not antagonize our teammates," Pyrrha lectured. She smiled, though, as Ren swatted the area around him for the bottle, not opening his eyes.
"Why does Ren get to have nap time?" Jaune asked.
"He's not napping," Pyrhha explained. "As he has said many times, he's performing -"
"'Sha-something death position', yeah," Jaune rolled his eyes and splayed himself out on the ground, imitating his teammate.
"You can get coffee from down the hall if you're still tired," Pyrrha said.
"Nah, we should probably get back into gear in a minute." Jaune rolled over and stretched out like a cat. "It's so nice that we..." he trailed off, yawning.
"That we..?" Pyrrha prompted.
"That we..." he trailed off again.
"That we..?" Pyrrha prompted again.
"That we..." he trailed off again, again.
Pyrrha lightly nudged him in the side with her foot.
"Carmine!" Jaune exclaimed, sitting up.
"Pardon me?" said Pyrrha, confused.
"Uh," said Jaune, scrambling for words. "It's so nice that we came in here, to the arena," Pyrrha tilted her head, "because normally it's all booked up."
"Indeed," said Pyrrha, uncertain. "So, what exercises do you think we should do next?"
Jaune frowned. "Hmm, I was thinking about that actually," he said.
"I'm glad you were, team leader," Pyrrha smiled.
"Uh, yeah." Jaune looked at Pyrrha dubiously. She was always so well-spoken and positive that it was sometimes hard to tell whether her tone of voice was sincere or if it contained just a hint of of sarcasm.
Pyrrha smiled slightly wider.
"And, uh," Jaune coughed. "Have you noticed that all of our exercises are designed to teach us how to fight people?"
She scratched the back of her head. "I think that is generally the intent, yes," she agreed.
"But," he yawned, "shouldn't we be training to fight Grimm?"
Pyrrha's smile decreased in width. "I am sorry Jaune, but my expertise is in tournament fighting," she lamented.
"No, no, it's not your fault," he stammered. "Even what we're doing in class, though; most of what we're learning here is how to fight humans. And faunus," he added, remembering how Blake would scold him. She always seemed sensitive about faunus for some reason.
"I have noticed that. I came here to Beacon to learn how to better myself as a Huntress, and I was disappointed to discover that the instruction here is rather familiar to how it was at Sanctum Academy. However, as I understand, it is simply easiest for us to practice against other humans. And faunus. Grimm do not make willing target practice."
Jaune thought about this. "Professor Port sometimes brings Grimm to class in cages."
"That is in a highly-controlled environment," Pyrrha pointed out. "And normally the purpose of those exercises is to discuss some trait of the Grimm, or to analyze that species in detail. Or for the professor to report his own escapades," she added dryly.
Standing up and brushing himself off, Jaune said, "That's true. But I wonder if we could change things up a bit."
He heard an irritated grunt in the background as Nora tried to braid Ren's hair.
"What do you suggest?" Pyrrha asked.
Jaune rubbed his chin. "Couldn't we go out into the forest and track down some actual Grimm?"
"That seems quite dangerous to me, Jaune."
Jaune continued to rub his chin. It seemed fuzzier than usual. "Well, we could inform one of the professors."
Pyrrha brightened. "That would be wise."
Jaune excitedly hopped up and down, like Ruby sometimes did. "Okay, let's go!"
Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "We do have the arena for another two hours. Perhaps we could go hunting for Grimm another time, after we've thought about it more?"
He sighed. "Okay. You're probably right." Pyrrha sometimes was overly cautious, but Jaune had found it was generally prudent to listen to her.
"It's just," he paused, "I still need practice. I did take down that Ursa once, but I don't even know how I did that."
Pyrrha squeezed his shoulder. "You'll get there."
Jaune brushed her hand off, and Pyrrha stepped back.
"I guess." He pursed his lips. "Ruby said that, too," he said quietly to himself.
She looked away. "Did she," she said, absentmindedly. Then she looked back to him. "I'm sure she is correct."
Jaune nodded slowly. Then he turned to his other teammates.
"Alright!" he announced. Nora and Ren both froze and looked at him. "Into the breach once more!" He unsheathed Crocea Mors and held it high above him. Nora and Ren glanced at each other.
Pyrrha laughed at his dramatic antics. Then she twirled Miló about her, switching it from its javelin form into its rifle form and levelling it their teammates.
Nora licked her lips hungrily and smashed Magnhild into the ground, releasing a concussive shockwave that travelled across the arena's floor and caused the bleachers to shake. She looked at Ren expectantly, waiting for him to strike a dramatic pose as well. It was their unspoken custom to do so before every sparring session.
Ren sighed, his face slightly redder than normal. "You are all very strange," he said.
Nora shrugged. "Good enough. We'll work on that in the future, okay?"
Jaune laughed. Pyrrha laughed too.
He shook his head, once again wondering how he ended up with this team. Whenever he wondered this, he always smiled.
11:00 AM
Ruby closed the door behind her, letting her partner continue to study on her own.
She stopped, after the door was fully closed, and breathed out heavily. What just happened in there? she wondered. She'd told Weiss about the feelings she'd been having, and she... How did she even react? Weiss didn't think she was crazy. That was good, at least. But also...
If this is the way you are, then this is the way you're meant to be.
She looked down at herself and shut her mouth firmly. She hated what she saw. She knew others saw it, too. She was small and helpless. This was not the body the warrior inside her wanted. The warrior she desperately wanted to let run wild.
What you want is impossible.
She couldn't help but feel that Weiss was right. This was all just a fantasy that had slowly tangled her up in its grasp, so many years ago, and she just needed to learn to let go of it. She didn't even know why she had these feelings or where they came from, but she felt them strongly, whatever the reason.
Gripping a folded-up Crescent Rose tightly at her waist, she made her way out of the library. It took her a while - this place was incredibly confusing. Finally she found herself outside, in the Beacon Academy gardens. It was still partly cloudy from the storm yesterday, the clouds forming patches here and there in the otherwise bright and sunny sky. The sky reflected beautifully in the pond next to her.
Really, what could she do? She could cut her hair shorter. Wear something different. Change her name. She paused, looking at her reflection in the surface of the pond. Those damn silver eyes.
Continuing on leisurely to her dorm, she pondered her options. She already kept her hair short, sufficiently short for her liking. And her clothes were comfortable enough for her, though they did remind her of Summer. Maybe Weiss could help her with that if and when they did go shopping. As for her name...
Her sister wouldn't forgive her if she changed that.
Again, she desperately needed Weiss to be on her side. Working through all of this with her sister was going to be a challenge, and she needed somebody to hold on to if things went south. From what she could tell, Weiss was doing her part in trying to make their partnership work. But something big was coming. Would they make it through?
There are some things you can just know. Things you can feel. You just have to accept it.
Reaching the dorm, Ruby sighed. She'd gone through a lot today. Time to relax.
12:00 PM
After reading Blake's book for an hour, Ruby rubbed her eyes. It was much easier on her eyes back when Yang would read to her. Maybe Ruby needed glasses. She chuckled, thinking what she'd look like. Some people could pull off glasses well, like Ozpin, but she figured glasses on her would just make her look like more of a dork.
Her stomach gurgled. She still felt sick from the cookies at breakfast this morning. Glynda probably hadn't cursed her for real, but she couldn't help feel a little worried.
Her stomach gurgled again. Deciding she was probably just hungry, not cursed, she hopped out of her bed and left her room.
"Ruby!" said Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren, in surprise. (Ren was only slightly surprised.)
"Rose!" Nora added a second later when she noticed who her teammates had seen.
"You are still as dense as lead," Ren muttered to his partner.
"Uh, hi guys!" Ruby said. They were all covered in sweat and sort of wobbly, standing outside their room in the hallway. "You were practising, right?" Jaune had mentioned that last night.
"Uh-huh," said Nora. Then she leaned over to look into the Team RWBY dorm room. "What were you doing?"
"Reading... But now I'm going to get lunch."
"I see," Nora said mysteriously. "Maybe there will be ice cream."
"Do you think so?" Ruby asked doubtfully.
"Ice cream," Nora winked at her.
"Okay..." Ruby smiled nervously. Nora was a very nice person but sometimes hard to understand.
"Because it sounds like -" Nora started to explain, but then Ren elbowed her.
"Oh yeah," Jaune said, clueing in. "How is Weiss doing, anyway?"
"She's okay, she's studying right now," Ruby said.
"Do you know when she'll be back?" Jaune asked.
"He's been learning guitar," Nora said sweetly. Jaune blushed. "Do you play any instruments, Ruby?"
"No," Ruby said, "I wish I did. But then..." she patted her scythe at her side. She had the strange feeling that Crescent Rose would get jealous of her. "Weiss sings, though!" she said.
"I'm sure she does." Nora winked again.
"Nora..." Ren said, in a warning tone.
"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed, remembering what Weiss had told her earlier. "Nora, Weiss and I aren't dating."
"It's okay," she interrupted. "Your secret is safe with me." She held up two fingers in a scout salute. Her other arm was behind her back.
Ren swiped his scroll, pushed open the door to the Team JNPR dorm, and grabbed Nora's arm, pulling her in.
"W-wait!" Nora exclaimed. "Ruby you better watch out or Jaune's -"
The door slammed shut.
Pyrrha glanced at Ruby and Jaune nervously. "Perhaps I should go check on them," she said.
"Oh, no, I think they'll be fine..." Jaune said. But by then she had taken out her scroll to unlock the door and left them alone.
Ruby and Jaune stood in the hallway sheepishly for a few seconds. "Your team is -" Ruby started.
"Pretty weird, I know," Jaune admitted.
Ruby laughed.
"Uh, oh yeah," Jaune rubbed his nose. "Glynda said we should go talk to Ozpin tomorrow."
"She said that last night, though," Ruby pointed out. "Do you think she meant today or tomorrow?"
"I think it was after midnight when she said that. So it would be tommorow."
Ruby hummed, thinking again about their encounter with Glynda at breakfast. "I have a feeling Glynda meant today, though."
"She is rather punctilious about these things," Jaune pointed out.
"Puncta-what?"
"Oh," Jaune shrugged. "That was the word Pyrrha used to describe her."
"Well, punctiferous or not, Glynda might not remember things the way we do."
"Huh?" Jaune asked.
"We should probably talk to Ozpin today," Ruby explained.
Jaune pulled out his scroll to check the time. "After lunch?"
The door unlocked. Jaune frowned, glancing between his scroll and the door. Then Ren emerged from the dorm.
"Hi, Ren!" Ruby smiled.
"Ruby Rose," Ren bowed his head in acknowledgement.
"What's up?" Jaune asked.
"Nora has 'banished' me from our room," Ren said wryly.
"Oh, that sucks, man," Jaune said sympathetically. They both shook their heads sadly.
"She - she can do that?" Ruby asked. "Banish you?"
"Yep," Jaune sighed. Ruby saw a deep, mutual understanding in the two men's eyes.
"Well, um," Ruby paused. "Ren!"
Ren looked at her expectantly. His violet eyes stared deep into her.
"Do you want to - later today..." She trailed off. His eyes were actually very mesmerizing. She'd never looked right at them before. Ruby was vaguely aware of Jaune glancing between the two of them. He raised his eyebrows.
Ren stared at her blankly. "Later today..?"
Ruby shook her head. "Yeah!"
"I'm not sure what you mean," Ren admitted. "But I'll be on the hill past the east gardens if you want me for anything."
"Wait, the hill past the gardens?" Jaune asked. "Isn't that technically in the Emerald Forest?"
Ren nodded, bowing his head again.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Jaune asked.
"It's rare to see Grimm so close to Beacon," Ren said. "I can take care of myself. I would sense them coming."
Ruby frowned. "You can sense Grimm? They don't have auras."
Ren smiled. "No, but they make a lot of noise."
Jaune laughed, and turned to Ruby. "So, are we off to see Ozpin or what?"
Ruby nodded slowly. "Sounds wonderful." She stole one last glance at Lie Ren's eyes - wow, they were like little purple nebulae being sucked into tiny black holes - and they took off.
"Oh, wait, Ruby," Ren called out to them. Ruby froze.
"Mhmm?" she said.
"Would you know what happened to the cherry tree in the quad, by the assembly hall?"
Ruby and Jaune exchanged glances.
"Hmm," she hummed.
"Funny story," Jaune said.
"I see," said Ren. "I'm sure it's very funny. You must tell me the story some time, then."
"Hehe, yeah..." Jaune mumbled.
The two of them exchanged glances and sighed. "Ozpin first," Ruby said.
"Yeah."
Talking to Ozpin about the tree was one thing, but neither of them wanted to break the news to Ren. Ren was so sweet and innocent, how could they do that to him? Plus, Ren was Ren. He's kinda, kinda, hmm... Ruby didn't know how to describe him.
"He's Ren," Ruby decided.
"What?" Jaune asked.
"Uh, nothing."
12:15 PM
As they approached Beacon's large central tower, Ruby realized she'd never been to the top before. She'd been in the central part of the tower, which housed the CCT hub. Ozpin's office was at the very top. At night, bright green lights could be seen, the famous light of Beacon tower. It was said that the ghoulish lights and sinister machinery were built to keep away the Grimm. Ruby had always thought the tower was beautiful and serene.
When they entered the base, Ruby pressed the button for the elevator.
"Do you think there are stairs to the top?" Jaune asked.
"It would be a really long flight of stairs. I don't think even I could do that," she said.
After a minute, the elevator arrived.
"Are there any other elevators, at least?" He asked.
"Nope. This is the only one."
They walked in. The panel had a large number of buttons, one separated far above the rest.
"So we could trap Ozpin in his office if we just, say, pressed the button for every floor?"
Ruby made a face, pressing the button for Ozpin's office. "Why would you want to do that?"
"No," Jaune raised his hands, then dipped with the changing inertial reference frame. "I wouldn't. I probably wouldn't. But it just seems like a design flaw."
"Maybe there's a secret back-up elevator, then."
"Hmm."
"Let's keep an eye out for any secret passages in his office."
"Secret passages?" Jaune asked. They passed the 16th floor.
"You know, like, bookcases with suspicious scratch marks on the floor. That sort of thing."
"Ohh," Jaune said. "Or hidden levers under his desk."
"Yeah!" Ruby agreed.
"I wonder what kind of furniture is in his office."
"Well, he's got to be quite wealthy, right," said Ruby. "I bet there are a ton of paintings and stuff, maybe some class photos, awards, and a couch."
"A couch?" Jaune asked, doubtful.
"A really, really nice couch," Ruby said. "I really like couches. Nice, soft, fluffy ones. If it were my office I'd have one."
"If it were your office there'd be gears and gadgets everywhere," Jaune said.
Ruby laughed. "I'm never going to have an office, though. No way."
"No?"
They passed the 34th floor.
"Nope. I don't want a desk job."
"Huh."
Some time passed. "Hey, Ruby, do you think -"
Ding! The doors opened. Jaune hadn't even noticed they'd slowed their ascent.
And there was the man himself.
"No receptionist even," Jaune muttered.
They stood there, in the elevator, taking in the scene before them. It was not what Ruby had expected; there was no lavish furnature, no paintings, no couch. Not even any bookshelf to hide a secret passage. All there was was a desk, and the city of Vale behind it.
One desk, one man, three chairs, one elevator, one enormous window, and the thing that was on the ceiling above them.
Ruby gasped as she took in the massive assembly of gears and cogs and machinery of various sorts on the ceiling. It would be more accurate to say it was the ceiling. It was utterly breathtaking; she couldn't even begin to imagine how much perfectionism had gone into the metalwork. She couldn't even understand what its purpose was. But somehow, it seemed warm and welcoming to her. It felt familiar, even. She held Crescent Rose tightly at her waist.
Ding! The elevator announced it was about to leave. "No - wait!" Jaune reached out to stop the door. Ozpin gave them a bemused expression, looking up from his coffee and paperwork.
Smash. Crescent Rose unfurled and jammed the door. Sparks flew as the metal ground together. Eventually the doors surrendered, opening again to allow them out.
"Graceful as always, Ms. Rose," Ozpin smiled.
Ruby felt her face turn red. "Uh," she started.
"What brings you and Mr. Arc here to see me today?" He nodded politely at Jaune.
They stepped out of the elevator. The doors swiftly shut behind them, locking them out.
"Ruby and I -" Jaune started.
"Mostly me," Ruby admitted.
"We chopped down Ren's favourite tree," Jaune explained.
"In the quad, by the assembly hall," Ruby continued.
"Glynda -"
"- Professor Goodwitch -" Ruby corrected.
"- Said it was your favourite tree, too," Jaune finished.
"Actually, she just said he planted it in memory of a friend," Ruby pointed out, "not that it was his favourite tree."
Ozpin blinked, and took a sip of his coffee. "She said I planted that tree?"
"Yeah - oh," Ruby paused, remembering something. "How old are you?"
Ozpin took another sip of his coffee, and then he stood up and walked over to the window, looking down at the courtyard beneath them. "I was certainly born after any of those trees were planted," he said.
"Who planted the tree, then?" Ruby asked.
"Who planted those trees is not important. However, they were all planted in memory of a dear friend -"
"Whose dear friend?" Ruby asked, impatiently.
"- So we ought to treat them with respect," Ozpin finished, and turned back to them. "Now, I'm sure Professor Goodwitch already gave you both a slap on the wrist for this, but thank you for informing me personally."
Jaune and Ruby exchanged glances. She hadn't slapped them, actually.
"I expect your scythe - what was its name again?" Ozpin asked, sitting down.
"Crescent Rose."
"Crescent Rose," Ozpin repeated. He took a sip of coffee. "I expect it was involved in the process of obliterating the tree?"
"Obliterating is a bit much," Jaune said defensively.
"Yes, it was me and Crescent Rose primarily," Ruby acknowledged.
Ozpin chuckled. "I did say that you wielded one of the most dangerous weapons ever created."
Ruby frowned. "Why do you say that? I made her myself."
"Her?" Jaune asked. He recalled she had a tendency to personify her weapon. I took her last name. Jaune gulped, remembering his dream.
"It," Ruby corrected.
Ozpin brought his cane around and tapped it on the desk. "What is your semblance, Ms. Rose?"
"Uhh," Ruby paused. "Well I can go really fast and stuff."
"And rose petals!" Jaune added. "It doesn't even make sense that rose petals is her semblance. But it is pretty cool."
Ruby sighed inwardly. The roses were a bittersweet feature.
"Is that all?" Ozpin asked.
"Yes - why do you ask?"
Ozpin's rich, hazel-brown eyes focussed on her. They weren't beautiful purple vortices like Ren's, but they did have an intensity to them that made Ruby felt like he wasn't just looking at her - he was staring right into her soul. Ruby gulped. He couldn't possibly know about her secret, but still, she felt like there was nothing she could hide.
"Any weapon can become incredibly dangerous in the right hands," Ozpin said. It was similar to what Professor Goodwitch had said earlier. Ruby's stomach gurgled once more.
She patted her tummy. There, there.
"Are you saying Ruby's semblance makes Crescent Rose so dangerous?" Jaune asked.
Ozpin glanced at him as though he'd forgotten he was even there.
"Or are you saying there is more to my semblance than I know?" Ruby asked. The idea seemed crazy. She knew herself through and through. Sort of. Well, there were definitely some parts of her she didn't understand, but her semblance wasn't one of them.
Ozpin's eyes twinkled. "While you two are here," he said, changing the subject, "there is something I would like to ask. I've been taking a census of sorts."
"A census?" Jaune asked.
Ozpin nodded. "Where do you see yourselves, years from now, after graduating?"
Jaune thought for a moment. "As a Huntsman, so, hunting Grimm, I guess," he said.
"Not all Huntsmen end up hunting Grimm," Ozpin said, glancing at Ruby. Ruby wondered if he knew about how many Grimm she'd taken down when she was back on Patch. Hunting had been something like a part-time job for her. Signal Academy had taken record of it, she knew that. So he probably did.
"For example," Ozpin continued, "You could attain a teaching role. Or enter politics. Hunting is just one possibility."
Jaune frowned. "Isn't the whole point of becoming a Huntsman to protect humanity from the Grimm, though? We're spread thin as-is," his voice raised by a decibal. "We should be encouraging as many people as we can to join the fight. Just last week I read in the papers, a whole village just south of here was overrun."
"Have you ever played chess, Mr. Arc?"
Jaune shook his head, visibly frustrated that Ozpin was shying away from the topic.
"Or you, Ms. Rose?"
Ruby nodded. "Yes, a long time ago, with my sister. I'm not very good, though."
Ozpin's face became gentler. "Neither am I."
"Really?" Ruby asked. "I would have thought you'd be a grandmaster, or something."
Ozpin smiled. "I'm flattered."
"What does chess have to do with fighting Grimm?" Jaune asked.
"I have never won a game of chess by playing defensively," Ozpin said.
Have you ever won a game of chess? Ruby wanted to ask.
"Well, that makes sense, the object is to take out the opponent's king piece, isn't it?" Jaune asked. "I've never played but I had the rules explained to me once. It seems very complicated."
"Do the Grimm have a king we can take out?" Ruby asked, curious.
"That remains to be seen. Ruby, you haven't answered."
"Answered?"
"What do you see yourself as, years from now?" Ozpin prompted. Her silver eyes reflected in his glasses.
Ruby glanced away. One answer in particular popped into her head. But she shook her head; bringing that up with Ozpin seemed like a bad idea.
"A - a Huntress. Protecting the people, out in the field."
"Ruby doesn't want a desk job," Jaune explained.
"Is that all?" Ozpin said. Ruby found him to be a rather probing person. "There are no other details you have in mind?"
"Maybe instead of being a lone Huntress..." she said, trailing off.
Ozpin raised his eyebrows.
"I'd be a Huntress with my sister," she decided.
"Are you getting along well with Ms. Xiao Long?"
"Yes, of course," Ruby nodded emphatically. She could feel Ozpin searching her face. He was very probing indeed.
"Um," Ruby added, "We get along pretty well." She looked down.
Ozpin smiled sympathetically. "I had a sister."
Ruby glanced up at him.
"We didn't get along well," he added.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Ruby said. She and Jaune shifted awkwardly.
He pulled his cane back and rested the tip on the floor. Then he leaned back and looked up at the machinery on the ceiling. "Would you look at that, it's lunch. Perhaps you two should be running along, then?"
Ruby looked up at the gears, too. How did he discern the time from looking at that monstrosity? Was it a clock?
"What, uh," she said. "What does it do?" She pointed her finger upward.
Ozpin glanced back at her. "It solves problems."
Ruby wondered if Ozpin enjoyed being mysterious, or if he really did have a good reason to never give her a solid answer on anything.
"So is there something I should know about my semblance?" Ruby asked. "Or Crescent Rose? Or chess? Or - you?"
Ozpin shrugged. "I certainly wouldn't know about any of those, least of all myself. But keep searching. I'm sure in time you will find the answers to all of those questions."
Ding! The elevator doors opened. Ruby and Jaune glanced at each other, and got up to leave. Nobody was in the elevator. Ozpin must have called it here somehow.
"Have a good day, Ms. Rose, Mr. Arc." They entered the elevator. Ding!
The man sipped his coffee once more, and the doors sealed themselves forcefully.
12:45 PM
The button for the bottom floor had already been lit up by the time Ruby and Jaune entered the elevator.
"That was..." Ruby trailed off. Interesting? Weird? What was the point of all that, even?
"Frustrating," Jaune finished her thought for her. His brow was furrowed.
"Huh?" Ruby asked. She looked at her friend, studying his face. Something was bothering him.
"Something weird is going on here in Beacon," he said. "They're teaching us to fight Huntsmen and Huntresses, not Grimm."
"They are?"
"Yeah, think about it. What was your last class on?"
Ruby thought back to Glynda's class on Friday afternoon. "We were reviewing torque and angular motion in combat physics."
Jaune nodded. He had that class, too. "Right, and, what was the example Glynda kept coming back to?"
"Uh..." There were a bunch of diagrams Glynda had drawn on the blackboard. Various arrows indicating forces applied to different points of... "The human body. That's important, though; all Huntsmen and Huntresses need expert control over the kinematics of their bodies in combat."
"Okay," Jaune admitted, "but why have we never studied the motion of Grimm?"
"Not enough data?" Ruby posited.
"Maybe. How about before that, in Oobleck's class. We were studying historical battles. Humans against humans. Humans against faunus. Why haven't we studied Huntsmen against Grimm?"
Ruby frowned. The elevator slowed as they approached the floor for the CCT hub. "Actually, we have, in Port's class -"
Jaune shook his head, "Really? Name one thing you've learned in Port's class."
"Well, you said you didn't know what a Boarbatusk was before his class."
"Yeah, but I'm worthless!" Jaune smiled frivolously. "Name one thing you've learned."
Ding! Open. Ding! Closed. They had a new passenger, not someone they recognized.
"Well -" Ruby started
Jaune stuck up his finger. "Other than all of Port's personal accomplishments."
Ruby sighed. "Okay, you may have a point there."
"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "And then there was what Ozpin said."
"About chess?" Ruby asked. They both glanced at the student who had joined them in the elevator. She glanced nervously back at them.
"Yeah," Jaune continued. "He treats it all like a game, Ruby. Human lives, Ruby."
The student with them coughed. Jaune noticed her tail wagging anxiously.
"Uh," Jaune said quietly. "And faunus lives."
Her tail continued to wag, slightly more anxiously. She gave them both an embarrassed look.
Ding! Bottom floor. They filed out. Their co-passenger hurried away, looking back once.
"Well," Ruby said, "I'm sure by second year we'll be covering more advanced material. And I believe Ozpin knows what he's doing."
"Why? Who is he, even?"
Ruby pictured the man's eyes again. They felt strangely comforting to her.
"I don't know," she said, opening the door to the outside.
"Then why do you trust him?"
"I just feel like I should, you know?" Ruby smiled.
Jaune stopped. Ruby stopped, too, and turned to face him. The uncertainty in his eyes right now, although the cause was different, it reminded her of how Weiss looked this morning.
"There are some things you just feel, Jaune," she said, putting her hand to her chest. "Some things you feel and you don't know why. You just have to accept it."
Weiss had told her that her body wasn't the source of her problems. Maybe Weiss was right, maybe she wasn't. But she had a friend here.
Jaune frowned. "I don't know, Ruby."
Friends, Ruby corrected. I have friends here. She didn't know why she felt the way she did, but maybe why or why not wasn't important.
Without any warning, Ruby stepped closer to Jaune and wrapped him in a hug.
"Wh-what!" Jaune exclaimed, turning rigid. "What was that for?"
Ruby stepped back and shrugged, smiling. Jaune's messy blonde hair reflected the sun above them, practically glowing. It was pretty.
Jaune was her friend. Weiss was, whatever - probably on her side? Blake was, too. Yang was going to take some work. And Ruby herself, she wasn't crazy, but she still didn't know what she was. Maybe Ren could help with that.
But for now, Jaune was her friend. For whatever it counted for, it counted.
Ruby beamed. "There doesn't have to be a reason."
1:00 PM
Ding! Glynda stepped into Ozpin's office.
"Ironwood will be arriving soon," she said. Ding!
Ozpin nodded. He was staring at a photograph in his hands. There was some writing on the back of it, the side facing her.
"And the exchange students will begin arriving here on Tuesday," she said, stepping closer.
Ozpin nodded. He didn't look up at her.
"We also received another message from Qrow Branwen."
Glynda sighed. Was he even listening to her?
"He's requesting radio silence."
No response. She sighed and sternly walked right up to his desk, leaning over the table.
"He mentioned his sister."
Ozpin looked up at her, finally. "Raven Branwen? Are you sure?"
Glynda nodded.
"She's never shown up before."
Glynda raised one eyebrow. "Never? Not once, after her disappearance?"
"This will be the first time." Ozpin's eyes widened. "Please keep an eye on Ms. Xiao Long."
Glynda nodded, and eyed him steadily.
"Your sister is -" she started.
"My sister is gone," he finished.
Glynda stood up straight. "She's out there. You could talk to her, if you wanted to," she said, slowly. We're still waiting for her to make her next move.
Ozpin shook his head. "It wouldn't be right. Thank you, Professor - Glynda."
Glynda bowed her head. "We can discuss matters further when the rest arrive."
Ozpin waved his cane at her dismissively. He seemed to be in a bad mood. Before leaving, Glynda took a furtive glance at the photograph on his desk. He'd turned it face-down, but she could read the faded handwriting.
To the best little brother in the world.
As Glynda walked away, she smiled. Ozpin was often stone-faced and clouded, even to her, but occasionally there were moments when his humanity shone through.