I do not own RWBY. All rights go towards Rooster teeth
Daughter of the Gods
Chapter two: The World Is changing
"Hello old man, been awhile." I said with a smirk. He must not have recognized the magic in me. Well to be fair it has been several centuries and my magic had changed to accommodate the fall maiden power, so I guess I could understand why he thought of me as Ruby Rose and not 'The unnamed woman with her four best friends.'
"It's you! But how?" He asked, his cane slipping from his hand in shock as he stood quickly.
"That's a long story 'Ozpin' and I would rather tell it at home." I explained. He nodded, and I stood up, free from the handcuffs. Qrow laughed at Glynda's surprised expression.
Walking out of the cell and the police station altogether, I turned around at the footsteps echoing on the dark street as the group followed me.
"I hope you don't mind, but it is a rather nice night and my home is close by." I said. It really was a nice night and I enjoyed walking through the street lit town of patch.
"So where are we going exactly." The gruff voice of Qrow spoke. We had been walking for a few minutes in silence, the only noise being our feet on the ground and the tapping of Ozpin's cane. Even with this group it was still quiet and peaceful here. I've been staying with a nice family for several years now, the Xiao-long family.
I showed up when his first wife, coincidentally the sister of Qrow, Raven Branwen, left him with their child, a little girl named Yang. It had been storming terribly and I was huddled in the corner of the bus stop, wrapped up in my cloak for warmth when Tai-yang spotted me and offered to take me to his house for the night. I introduced myself as summer when he introduced himself. Feeling grateful the next morning I had made breakfast and cleaned around the house. Yang wasn't old enough to attend the academies and Tai was embarrassed to ask if I could watch her while he went to work at signal. I agreed.
Coming home that night he told me he would take me home if I wanted. I declined and left, but not before yang made me promise to come back and visit. I said it was okay so long as Tai was fine with it and he was. it was two days later when he found saw me heading into the forest and ducking into a run-down shack. He confronted me and I confessed that this was where I had been living, not because I was poor, but because I liked the quiet, and my old house now felt wrong somehow. He ranted at me about the dangers of being in the forest alone and before I could get another word out he dragged me back to his home.
Yang was ecstatic when Tai announced that I would be living here. Unfortunately, it was almost time for me to disappear and start a new life. I tried to explain to Tai that I couldn't stay and he kept asking why. I did so much for yang and around the house why not just stay with them. In my frustration the truth of my existence and life came out without me really intending to say that.
"Are you being serious?!" He asked incredulously. "Do you take me for some kind of idiot?" he got upset that I might think him so foolish.
"It's not like that and I'll prove it." I whipped out a dagger and dragged it over the palm of my hand before he could do anything, and he watched as it healed immediately.
"holy shit you're serious." He breathed out
"Yes I am." I hung my head. "I'm nearly a thousand years old and have seen so many things." I whispered brokenly. He pulled me into a hug and for the first time since I was created I felt safe.
'Is this what having a father feels like?' I thought to myself as I cried.
I stayed with him and yang for six months before I decided staying with them was a bit risky, so I rebuilt the shack in the forest and he and yang would come visit me.
Yang and I grew close like sisters and after her fifteenth birthday we decided she could learn my secret. She was confused at first but eventually understood that nobody could know about my powers or immortality. She thought it was the coolest damn thing she'd ever seen and heard of. She also took it as her responsibility to protect me for some reason. It was cute when she was being protective.
Yang would stay with me in my little shack sometimes and I would tell her stories of old, things that had become legends or forgotten completely. When she was good enough after training with Tai I began teaching her different fighting styles, having mastered dozens of them myself. Her preferred style was brawling, and I aimed to teach her everything I knew about the various brawling forms. Even Tai would spar with us every now and again so yang could get experience against fighting multiple opponents.
I was snapped out of my reminiscing when Qrow loudly cleared his throat to get my attention. Realizing I had stopped in the middle of the path thinking about the past, I shook my head free of those thoughts and pushed on. As we walked he seemed to be getting more and more tense until I finally realized why. Or rather, his anger at me told me why.
"What the hell are we doing here!? I swear to god if you've done anything to them!" he jumped in front of me when we broke through the tree line coming upon Tai's house.
"I've done nothing and you will do nothing as well. These are nice people." I explained. There was an edge to my voice that only Ozpin seemed to catch. He tried to reign in Qrow but the old drunk was to angry.
"That's my family in there so don't you go telling me what to do! I'll kill you if you've hurt them!" he shouted. Just then Tai and yang came out of the house to see what the commotion was.
"You two stay back!" The drunkard shouted.
"Rubes what the hell is going on!" Yang shouted. Qrow looked at me incredulously as I walked up to the porch and gave yang a hug.
"Hey little dragon." Using her nickname always assured her everything was okay.
"These are just some people who I need to give an explanation to." I said lightl. She didn't need to worry about me.
"Okay but what do two teachers from beacon and my uncle have to do with anything you could explain." Yang countered.
Wait a minute.
"Uncle?" I pulled away from the hug. I glared t Tai and he at least looked sheepish.
"You never mentioned any family. Have you told him anything about me?" I accused. His jaw opened widely in protest.
"I haven't said anything to anybody, I swear." Tai crossed his finger over his heart. Grow whipped his head away from glaring at me to glaring at Tai.
"You knew. About all of this! I've been trying to track her down for years and she's been under my nose! How long have you been hiding her!" He accused.
"Now wait just a minute!" I was in Qrows face in a split second. "don't go blaming him. I asked him to keep my secret and he did. Admirably so. Him and Yang both. And they haven't been 'hiding me' I just never wanted to be found and in fact, if it weren't for other factors," I glanced at ozpin for a second "I wouldn't even have said who I was. What I am. And if you ever! Talk to me like that again, I'll shove my boot so far up your ass you'll taste the pine needles we just walked through." I growled at him.
Ozpin asserted more of his authority and Qrow finally backed down. He deactivated his scythe and stowed it in sword form behind his back. He growled and walked over to yang and gave her a tense hug. She shook her head to something he whispered in her ear. Probably making sure I hadn't done anything to them. I turned back to Tai.
"I'm sorry to have brought this upon you. If I had known you were related I wouldn't have brought them here. I hoped that if things got messy I could get rid of them all and take you and yang to safety." I explained. He nodded before bringing me in for a hug. Over the years he had become a sort of father figure to me. Speaking of parental figures.
"Oh shit I have to make a call!" before anyone could argue I sped to my shack where I had left my scroll.
Dialing the familiar number, I held it up before a panther faunus answered.
"Hey Khali! Sorry I'm calling so late but I had to tell you that something came up." I told the woman.
"That's okay, but is everything alright? Is Blake safe?" she questioned. I swore to myself that I would watch over the Belladonna family but not interfere unless they were being enslaved or hurt. Blake was neither, so I couldn't help her and hoped she would learn when she became part of the more violent faction of the white fang. Eventually she did and I gave Khali the money to give to Blake for a safe place to stay when she left the white fang.
"Bake is safe and sound and she still has her acceptance letter to Beacon." I promised. Khali let out a sigh of relief.
"That's good to hear. Now how are you dear?" she asked. Her motherly tendencies towards me were always appreciated. She had become a mother to me ever since I had saved he, a baby Blake, and her husband Ghira from a sea grimm that decided to attack the ship they were on. They had been heading towards Vales port to negotiate a trade deal between the kingdom and menagerie. I escorted them the rest of the way, was there for the meeting, and escorted them back where they asked if I could stay. I stayed nearby reluctantly until Ghira remembered the story that had been passed down in the Belladonna family for years.
A lone warrior, a guardian angel sworn to protect the family for all time. In the dead of night, he had confronted me about it and I had to tell him the truth. As they were in the white fang, and Blake was too young to know the secret, I acted as a body guard for years, hooded so nobody would know that I wasn't a faunus.
I had to leave eventually when Ghira didn't like the white fang was headed in so he stepped down. Blake stayed with the fang and her parents asked me to keep her safe. So I followed her around the kingdoms where she remained in the dark about me.
She still is to this day.
"I'm tired Khali." I said slowly. Her face got softer as she looked at me through the hologram.
"What happened." she asked softly.
"It's time for me to stop hiding. The old man found me and I had to reveal myself. I fear that I won't be able to keep my promise to your family much longer. With my purpose coming fast it means that whatever catastrophe I was created for is on its way." I confessed in a hushed whisper. Khali looked scared for a moment before she schooled her features and spoke.
"Whatever happens will happen, sweetie. You may be immortal, but you aren't a god. And besides, by preventing the catastrophe you will protect the Belladonna family." She rationalized.
I smiled at her. She was always an optimist.
"The old man has found me again. The 'champion of the gods.'" I scoffed at the title. It wasn't any better than some of the ones I had gained over the centuries. 'Slayer' being of them.
It was always funny that each academy had its own 'elite' hunters and huntresses, usually based around a title I or my friends had earned. Beacons 'elite' students were in the 'skull splitter' program, a nickname Sage had earned because of the giant sword she wielded with ease.
"So what does the old man finding you mean?" Khali spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"It means that Ozpin needs help now, and I am the only one capable of helping him." I answered honestly. Khali got really pale and I was worried she would pass out.
"Ozpin, as in the headmaster of Beacon, the school Blake is going to?" She asked unsteadily. The shake in her voice was undeniable and it hurt to hear it there.
"Yes. The old man is Ozpin. I've already got an idea however so just trust me okay."
"Maho-Ruby, I do trust you." I laughed at the slip of an old name. Mahogany, not one of my favorite identities in all honesty.
"The trust Indi put in me to protect her family has always astounded me, just as the trust you place in me now does." Khali smiled softly at my statement.
"After everything you've done, how could I not trust you?" She said like it was the most obvious statement in the world. I shook my head and gave her a grin before remembering the main reason I wanted to call her
"Oh shit-" I said
"Language." Khali exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. Honestly this woman couldn't not be a mom if she tried.
"I almost completely forgot to tell you but it should be fairly obvious by now due to recent events-" I was cut off again.
"You wont be able to come visit." I heard the slight disappointment but the understanding on Khali's face made me thankful for someone like her.
"I'll try, but it's gonna be awhile before I can see you…I'm sorry."
"It's fine dear." She cooed "As long as you'll be here at some point so Ghira and I can see you I'll be happy." She smiled.
"Alright. I promise I'll visit the moment I can." I promised.
I hung up and ran back towards the house at full speed and arrived seconds later. not bothering to knock I walked in the house and everyone was sitting in the living room waiting for me.
"I would rather not do this but it seems I don't have a choice." I said. Ozpin nodded his head.
"There are several things we need to discuss." Ozpin said. Qrow shot to his feet.
"How about we start with where the hell you've been for the last seventy-five years. The last time anyone saw you was the great war and before that recorded history puts you as dissapearing five hundred years before THAT." the drunkard said in a huff. somehow he was drunk from the time I left to the time I got back. I don't even want to know.
"First off where the hell do you get off on accusing me of just dissapearing. Finding a reincarnating wizard isn't as easy as it would seem asshole. Eventually I got tired of searching and figured that if it was meant to happen Ozpin would find me. Now he has and we can begin the mission the brothers set for us." Frustration was not a word that came close to describing what I felt towards the graying sythe master.
"Well you could've started sooner if you had kept looking for him!" He shouted at me. I narrowed my eyes and looked at Ozpin.
"What the hell is he talking about?"
"In my frustration at not being able to find you and not being able to access the vault you hid for the relic of destruction, I pressed upon the brotherhood that finding you was of the utmost importance."
"So you blamed me for not being able to save the world just yet?!" Now I was livid.
"No that's-"
"I don't care if it;s what you meant. It's clearly how this birdbrain has taken it, and who knows how many of your other followers think the same thing!" I shouted.
"Since you clearly don't care about the truth how about I fix that. How dare you lay the blame of not being able to save the world at my feet when you nearly ruined it! I was a goddess for a brief period of time but you?! You were a Conqueror! A Tyrant! You pulled thousands of people into a war for 'unification' that cost thousands more lives! I Heard the legends! That ones that you wish were buried! You forget that i met you after you wasted two of your reincarnations and were well on your way to wasting a third!" I ranted and shouted at him. He didn't even try to deny it either, he just asked, "How did you know I wasted three lives?!"
"Screw you if you think I'll ever tell you! You lying bastard!" I shouted at him. I was so fed up I ran out into the yard. I heard Yang run after me. Standing in the middle of the training ring I collapsed on my knees and screamed at the sky. Yang wrapped strong arms around me that felt like they were trying to hold the pieces together.
"A thousand years I've waited for my purpose, only to for Ozpin to lie to everyone about his role in everything and throw the blame at my feet." I sniffled. Yang just held me tighter. I cried before I wore myself out and Yang carried me back into the house and laid me down on her bed while she laid out her bed roll. I was asleep in minutes.
Something I forgot to include in the last chapter; just how powerful Ruby's magic is. It isn't all powerful. Cause that would be OP like her semblance. It can't do certain things, like healing a life-threatening wound on other people. Now it does allow her more power for her aura and semblances, thus giving her near indestructible aura and a crazy powerful semblance. Her eyes also work much like in the show, but with a little something extra that will come into play in a later chapter. Sorry for anyone who was confused by it.