I do not own RWBY. All rights go towards Rooster teeth
Daughter of the Gods
Chapter Six: Honor Thy Leader
I Couldn't just charge in, that would be irresponsible, especially with the nevermore still circling overhead.
"There's nothing we can do here!" Yang looked at me sharply, thinking I might be able to do something. I shook my head and she nodded.
"We need to leave now!" She shouted.
"That's a much better idea. The objective Ozpin gave us was to retrieve the relics. We don't actually HAVE to kill the grimm." Weiss said. I tossed her the 'relic' for safe keeping. Where she put it, I have no idea. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Run and live. Now that is a great idea." Jaune said enthusiastically, putting more doubt in my mind about his skill.
"Now! We have to leave!" Grabbing Yang's hand I began running, though at a normal human pace. The nevermore and deathstalker gave chase, the giant avian grimm launched its feathers at us, splitting up the groups between Weiss, Blake, Yang, myself, and Jaune, Nora, Pyrhha, and Ren.
Running through the forest, we were separated further when the forest broke into a larger temple built into the side of the cliff. My eyes widened.
This was the church I tried so hard to forget and nearly succeeded. The temple built in my honor where I slaughtered the church goers. There was blood everywhere for the briefest second, my hands felt slick with it and it was running down the walls. Bodies surrounded the dais, the boys body lying still.
I was dragged away from the memory by Yang pulling me towards the covered dais, I resisted at first, not wanting to step on the bloody stone, but it disappeared and the memory faded like ashes in the wind.
The nevermore screeched high above, sending down another flurry of feathers. Most of my other initiates were able to dodge them, All except Jaune, when a smaller feather sped faster than the rest and embedded itself in his thigh. The foot long feather slowed her down just enough for the death stalker to attempt to capitalize on injured prey, launching its stinger at the young man.
Pouring my magic into my semblance I sped as fast as I could, the air around me snapped as I blocked the stinger with the shaft of Crescent rose. While I still couldn't use my silver eyes, I could use my weapon and the natural strength I had. Gritting my teeth I pushed the stinger back.
Immortal I may be, but I inhumanly strong I was not.
"Yang!" I grit my teeth. "Get Jaune out of here! Pull the feather out so his aura can heal him!" If he was anything like Danielle, his aura reserve was massive.
Holding back the stinger until Jaune had been dragged away, gritting his teeth through the pain, I swiped the blade of my scythe downwards and caught the deathstalkers largest right eye. Jumping back and planting my scythe in the ground, I racked the bolt of my rifle and fired a shot into another of the deathstalkers eyes. It wasn't enough to blind it, but it slowed it down significantly.
I heard a scream behind me, Yang had yanked the nevermore feather out of Jaunes thigh, his aura working to heal it instantly. It didn't seem to be slowing down at all, so that meant he had an amazing pool to draw from.
The deathstalker roared loudly and the nevermore screeched above. This needed to end quickly, and I could've, if not for Ozpins stupid condition that the other students not learn about everything.
Rolling my eyes, I pulled Crescent rose out of the ground and collapsed it, running towards Yang, Blake, And Weiss.
"You three need to take care of the deathstalker!" I quickly took charge and commanded the three soon to be team members. Looking at Jaune I pointed at his future team. "Direct them! You Can't fight just yet so point out obvious things." Hopefully Danielle's tactical mind was another family trait.
"You three are with me! We're taking down that nevermore." My future team members nodded at me and we sprang into action.
Yang jumped onto the roof of the temple. And I screamed at her stupidity as she literally into the nevermore's beak and started firing her shotgun gauntlets, Ember Celica, into the things mouth.
It was going to be nearly impossible to keep my promise to tai at this rate.
Blake started firing from her swords gun form and Weiss was casting the dust of her rapier towards the giant bird. I provided as much support as I could with my large caliber sniper, but nothing seemed to faze the damn thing.
"This isn't working." I mumbled. Yang fell out of the sky, Blake launching her sword like a boomerang, which was attached to a ribbon. Yang caught the ribbon and was slung under the bridge before swinging back up. The nevermore crashed into the cliff, stunning itself.
"We need a new plan!" I could hear the other team delivering hits to the deathstalker, if they were doing any damage, I didn't know.
"Yang stand over by that pillar, Blake, toss your sword and ribbon to Yang, Weiss, freeze the tail to the cliff and get ready!" I shouted out orders. God it felt just like being in the war with Preto again. Everyone nodded, Blake tossed her sword and yang caught it before slamming it into the stone. Thank god blades were tougher these days.
Jumping up onto the ribbon I had Weiss use her glyphs to hold me in place.
"This is a giant slingshot, think you can make that shot?" I asked. She looked incredulously at my question.
"Of course I can!"
"You better. Now!" The glyph dissolved, launching towards the nevermore, using my rifle I gained more speed and Weiss' glyphs appeared on the cliffside, leading up to the edge. Planting my feet on the wall, I hooked the nevermore's neck in the blade of my scythe and started running. Using my semblance and a little bit of magic I was able to run faster up the cliff face without having to waste a lot of ammo. Just before I got to the top I tugged hard and let off a shot, feeling the blade as it cleaved through the neck of the nevermore.
I got airborne from my speed and landed in a crouched positing. Turning around I walked over to the edge, my cloak flapping in the wind.
Gotta love the dramatic timing.
Back in the auditorium, they announced Team CRDL, a bunch of assholes if I ever some em,' and team JNPR, made up of Jaune, Nora, Pyrhha, and Ren. I think I was just as surprised as Jaune when he was announced team leader. Though, he did have potential based on what I heard when his team was fighting the deathstalker.
Next was us.
"You all retrieved the White knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as team RWBY. Lead by: Ruby Rose." He gave the most imperceptible smirk.
Oh, he was so eating the shattered pieces of his favorite mug when I got the chance.
Weiss looked at me with anger, and while I couldn't care less for her anger, it was the problems it would make for the team that I was concerned about.
After the ceremony I sent a message on my scroll to Ozpin, asking if I could meet him in his office after I got my team settled.
"Alright girls," I said as I unlocked the door to our dorm room. "You all get ready for bed, I'm going out for a bit." I said simply.
"You just became team leader and you're already going out at night. Unbelievable!" Weiss accused. Breathing in through my nose I decided to calmly try and explain things.
"There will be times that I do this, yes. And because I'm team leader I have that right. If you have a problem take it up with Ozpin but don't bitch about it too me." I said tightly. Flicking the cape of my cloak, I walked down the hall and out of the dorm building. Crossing over the courtyard, I stopped at the statue for a brief second before walking to the elevator for Ozpins office. Glynda wasn't there, as it was late at night, so I just got on the elevator and went up.
The door opened and Ozpin was sitting at his desk, his hand supporting his face as he looked at me.
"What can I do for you Ruby. Do you prefer any other name. it was rude of me to assume that you would like to be called Ruby."
"Honestly I prefer that you call me by Ruby, as it is my current name. That's not the reason I'm here Ozpin. What the hell was that about today? I thought I was supposed to be lying low and using my team mates to blend in, not riding high as a team leader." I said with frustration. While I wouldn't pretend to know the mind of Ozpin, it was frustrating not being told his plans sometimes. I knew from the look on his face and the tone of his voice when he announced the team that I was always going to be team leader.
"Honestly the choice was solidified when your team first formed. Weiss was a good choice but she has no combat experience. Yang, while very intelligent, is more suited for a supporting role on a team. Blake is not a leader, preferring to work alone and striking from the shadows. You were the best choice out of all four because you have hundreds of years of combat and training under your belt. If you so chose to, you could make your team excellent combatants." He explained. It made sense, but I still didn't like it.
"What about my powers. I know we agreed that I would keep them hidden for now but since I'm team leader I have an obligation to disclose these things. But if I have to keep it a secret it will come out if my team is ever in danger. I will use either or both of my magics if it means my team gets to come home safe and sound." I explained. He nodded in understanding.
"While the chances of team RWBY being in serious combat are low, I cannot begrudge you for making any choices that saves the lives of your team mates." He said softly. I decided to change topics.
"Any change with Terra or the hunt for her attackers?" I asked. He pulled out his scroll and looked through the files on it.
"Not much. We were able to find a picture of the woman we believe to be the attacker. It's grainy and low quality, but it shows whoever this person is talking to Roman Torchwick." I growled. So these two were working together?
"What could it mean if they're working together, how did they even get in touch?" I asked.
"Right now Qrow is looking into the possible connections. I Know you don't care for the man, but Qrow is good at what he does." Ozpin said as my eyes flared at the mention of the old drunk, affectionately know by Yang as 'Drunkle Qrow.'
"My problem is his attitude. It rubs me wrong. And something always feels off with him" Was all that I offered. Ozpin nodded
"That would be his semblance. 'Bad luck' as he calls it. I feel the same thing too. Apparently my magic, and possibly yours, makes you immune to the effects of his semblance." I nodded. It sorta made sense?
"As for his attitude I can't really explain it, since it's his job to tell you his story." That's true. I knew a lot about Qrow Branwen, but not the man himself.
"Why did you lie to him about me?" I asked out of the blue. I was still kinda pissed about that. "No bullshit, just tell me why you lied to him." Ozpin breathed deeply before sighing.
"Qrow has always held me in a high regard, a role model that he never had growing up with Raven. It makes him rather defensive when it comes to me, as you saw, and makes me infallible in his eyes. If I told him the truth, which Raven learned and tried to tell him before he cut ties with her, it would destroy his hope that the world can be fixed. Right now, that hope is the only thing keeping him afloat. Without it, he'll drown in his demons." Suddenly I understood Qrow more, and I felt bad for the things I'd said in our earlier meeting. Sighing through my nose, I paused to consider his words.
"I understand your reasons. Truly I do, even though I'm not happy about it." Pausing for a few seconds I gathered myself. "I still don't appreciate that you lied to who knows how many people about me. You have to realize I have been alone for centuries, and I did search for you early on. But when I heard about a wizard and a dark queen I thought 'surely this can't be the champion!' do you understand now why I stopped trying to find you?" I asked.
"Yes. And I apologize for lying to an ally that you might have been able to use. Qrow is a good man. Hopefully now that the truth is out there we can all work together." He said earnestly. His face scrunched up in thought before he spoke again.
"Earlier when you were yelling, how did you know I'd wasted three lives."
Well shit. I had hoped to keep this a secret, but after my rant about being honest I had to tell him the truth.
"I call it 'sight.' I can use my silver eyed magic when looking in peoples eyes to see what they've seen. I looked into your eyes and saw everything I needed to see. It's very invasive and I'm surprised you didn't feel it."
"So it works on all humans?" He sounded surprised.
"Yes. It was very useful during the war." The implication of that was not lost on Ozpin.
"I see. Ruby I would like to talk to you about something from your past." Jumping straight into it are we?
"I would also like to feed you your mug by the way for sending me to the Temple. You knew. You knew what was there and you still did it anyway." I wasn't angry. Just…disappointed.
"I actually didn't. I had my suspicions, but I didn't know that the small and larger temples were dedicated to you."
"They were. Those villagers worshipped me as the 'eternal rose.' I didn't mind the title, because it gave them hope, but then they took it to far and I lost it. it was not my proudest moment." I hung my head in shame.
"Leave the past where it is." I felt Ozpins hand on my shoulder. "Learn to forgive yourself of these failings like I once did and move forward." He spoke his wisdom.
"You're right."
"This has been an eventful day Ruby. Go back to your team and get some rest." I nodded my head.
"Thanks Oz." I said quietly as I got up and headed to the elevator. He gave me a fond smile as the doors slid shut.
Sliding into the dark room, I saw a pair of Yellow eyes watching me, glinting in the pale moonlight. Smirking, I got into bed without even changing my clothes. I decided to mess with Blake a little bit.
"I know you're still awake." Her breathing picked up in surprise.
"How did you know?" Came her response a few seconds later.
"I've learned a few things over the years." I said cryptically. That wasn't a total lie. I'd learned how to do more than just listen though, but she wasn't ready to learn the truth yet.
"Oh. Well…I just thought I'd make sure you got in. Goodnight." She said before rolling over and going to sleep. I waited until her breathing evened out before going to sleep myself.
Waking up in the morning early, around seven, I got in the shower. Finishing up, I hopped out and wrapped a towel around myself, brushing my teeth and hair, before looking at my uniform.
"Oh god. I can't believe I'm gonna do this."
Throwing on the jacket after the shirt and neck ribbon, I tucked the shirt into my skirt, but not before pulling on a special belt and slipping my dagger, which may or may not double as a small gun, into the sheath that hid under the skirt and attached to my thigh. Waling over to Yangs bed I shook her awake.
"No. Five more minutes dad." She mumbled into her pillow. I flicked her ear, she mumbled again, though this time with more of an attitude. Rolling my eyes I flicked her all over the face pouring my semblance into my hand and arm, moving like a blur. She shot up, her eyes red with annoyance and anger before she looked at me and her eyes flickered back to lilac.
"It's time for you to be up. Your hair takes forever for you to get done. I already showered. The rest of the team is gonna help me unpack." I spoke softly. She blearily nodded, grabbing her multitude of hair products. Shaking Blake awake was easy but the biggest surprise was Weiss. She absolutely refused to get out of bed. How was I supposed to get her up.
A thought popped into my head.
"Weiss if you don't get up we'll get a poor grade." I deadpanned. Her head shot up so fast I worried it might pop off.
"I'm up!"
"Good. We're getting ready for classes. We could unpack now but we would be cutting it close for class time." I explained. It was already eight-fifteen and Weiss and Blake hadn't even showered yet. Banging on the door Yang shouted that she would hurry up. She was done in another five minutes, Blake said she could be quick so she was next.
When she said quick she literally meant ten minutes, though I suspected a bit of her time was dedicated to her ears, and she was out of the bathroom and dressed with her bow on her head.
Weiss was up next, and she took fifteen minutes, somehow looking the exact same as yesterday.
"Alright we definitely don't have time to unpack, so why don't we head to class since it's eight fifty, and we'll unpack when classes are done." I really didn't feel like being almost late, and being immortal had taught me how to be more time conscientious.
"What's our first class, Rubes?" Yang said enthusiastically.
"Grimm studies at nine so we should be going now." I said as I walked out the door. We would have to miss breakfast but now that I knew how long Weiss and Blake took in the mornings I could adjust accordingly.
We walked past the dining hall, and I used my semblance to grab us some muffins.
"Thanks Rube's!" Yang said as she bit off half the muffin.
"Yang slow down." She choked down her food. "Sorry."
Thanks Ruby." Weiss said politely.
"Yeah. Thanks." Blake added on
Walking into professor ports class, I wracked my brain, thinking I had heard his name somewhere. Looking at him I realized I was mistaken, he just had one of those names and faces, not that you could see much of it to begin with.
Team JNPR burst into the room just as he was about to start class. Allowing the team to take their seats, he began the lesson.
It was completely unremarkable, not to mention fairly self-serving. After bragging about capturing a live beowulf and hitting on Yang at one point, he finally decided to begin actually teaching. Briefly going over several of the grimm types, he asked for a volunteer from the class to demonstrate the qualities of a true huntsman. Weiss' hand immediately shot up.
"I do sir!"
Oh this should be good.
Not.
To anyone who recognized where I got the mug scene from; don't really win anything but you have great taste in stories :)