I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.
Daughter of the Gods
Chapter Ten: To Be Human
"The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss exclaimed as she surveyed the damage to the dust shop.
Ah shit.
Thankfully, before Blake could get very defensive, Yang came to the 'fangs defense.
"That's not necessarily true." She said. unfortunately the phrase came with poor time, as two crewmen on a boat were shouting at what appeared to be a monkey faunus, telling him to stop.
"Hey! Stop that faunus!" One of them shouted as we ran towards the waterfront to see him running away from them. The faunus shouted back, but it was a little difficult to make out over the ocean. Say what you will about immortality and all, but my body was still basically human.
The faunus jumped off the boat and ran, climbing up on the exit archway and hanging upside down by his tail. He must have decided to go with the stereotype and started eating a banana, or not because honestly, bananas are delicious.
He shouted something about being a great stowaway, and honestly he must have been since he wasn't caught. I noticed the detectives from the dust shop approaching, one holding a rock in his hand. I pulled out crescent rose.
Just as he threw it, right between his hand and the faunus' head, the rock disintegrated into dust, the detectives whirled around and looked at the smoking barrel of crescent rose. They must have decided it wasn't worth it and turned back to the boy, telling him to get down.
I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but most of all was Blake.
"Damn. A second too slow." I mumbled to myself as I walked away, my cloak billowing behind me. I turned my head slightly as I felt someone running up past me, it was the faunus.
In closer detail I could see he was blonde, blueish grey eyes, tanned a little bit, tall, and a long dexterous tail. He had vambraces, his weapon strapped to his back, a belt with a chain, an unbuttoned shirt with rolled up sleeves, blue shorts, and wrappings on his legs, and some thin shoes.
When he was running past, Blake had her mouth open and everything as he winked at her.
I rolled my eyes.
"Teenagers." I scoffed quietly to myself. Not quite enough apparently since Yang had seen the whole thing and was trying to contain her laughter.
Yang got a smile on her face once she reigned herself in. "Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes." She said with smirk.
"Quick! We have to observe him!"
Gods, this isn't science class.
We ran, which was weird since I could run past the speed of sound, after the faunus. Running for a block or two, I wasn't really paying attention, Weiss ran around the corner and I heard her smack into something or someone. Rounding the corner, I was right. She had run into a girl.
"No! he got away!" Weiss exclaimed. Really…she was laying on top of a girl and didn't even seem bothered to care about that. Yang was the first to point it out.
"uhh Weiss?" She pointed under her, and Weiss finally noticed when Penny gave a somewhat creepy smile. Weiss got up with a jolt.
"Salutations." She said.
"Hello." I said awkwardly.
"Are you…okay?" Yang was obviously confused with the girl, as she just continued laying on the ground. No inclination of wanting to get up.
"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking!" The mysterious girl exclaimed.
"Do you…wanna get up?" Yang asked with an awkward tone. The girl seemed to think about it for a few seconds. How odd.
"Yes!" She finally answered. And then she did a flip to get herself off the ground, telling me that there was more to her than met the eye. We all took a step back.
"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!" She said politely. I was pretty neutral with my introduction.
"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby." Weiss seemed annoyed.
"I'm Weiss." Blake obviously didn't care.
"Blake." And then there was Yang.
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Blake elbowed her. "Oh! I'm Yang."
'Honestly, I thought I taught that girl better manners.' I thought with a fond smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said again. Weiss voiced my thoughts.
"You've already said that." Again the girl seemed to think for a second.
"So I did!" She said with an awkward smile.
"Sorry for running into you." Weiss apologized. We walked away and I left her with a few parting words.
"Take care, Friend!" I don't know why I said it, it wasn't something I often said.
I heard a noise behind me, but wrote it off as Penny leaving.
"She was…weird." Yang gave voice to all of our thoughts. I've met thousands of people in my life, but Penny reminded me of a child, one who was just discovering the land outside the village wall.
"now, where did that faunus riff raff get off to?" Weiss said with agitation. I could feel Blake tensing up and getting ready to give Weiss a verbal lashing, but the weirdest thing happened. Right in front of us was Penny.
"What did you call me?" She asked. Weiss looked back and forth between where she was and where she had been. Yang thought Penny might be angry about the weird comment.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't think you heard me." Yang stammered out. But Penny didn't even look at her. She was looking at me.
Pushing through Weiss and Yang she said, "No. Not you. You." She walked toward me.
"Me? I-I don't know I-Uhh-" She cut me off
"You called me friend! Am I really your friend?" She asked. It was a little desperate, a little sad, but still there was hope in her voice. Oh Gods I was really not the person to have friends with. Weiss, Blake, and Yang were telling me no with their eyes and hands. But this girl sounded like she needed a friend.
"Yeah sure! Why not!" I said. The girls all looked at me with wide eyes before collapsing.
Overdramatic weirdos.
Penny threw her arms up and laughed, telling me how we could do all kinds of girls things together like hair, nails, and talk about cute boys.
"Look, I'm not really the type of girl that likes that kind of stuff. I like weapons and fighting mostly…and food but that's beside the point." I said. She nodded, not once losing that charismatic smile. Weiss got up and dusted herself off. Yang got up and pulled Blake up with her.
"So, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked. Penny's answer was not expected.
"I'm competing in the tournament." She said like it was obvious.
It wasn't.
"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss' tone was incredulous. Penny just gave her a look and a salute.
"I am combat ready!" She exclaimed. What an interesting choice of words. Weiss was a bit…harsher…in her attitude towards Penny's readiness.
"Forgive me but, you hardly look the part." If Penny was insulted she surely didn't show it. Blake jumped in.
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Now Weiss was definitely affronted.
"Excuse you! It's a combat skirt." I ran up, showing my support for Weiss and got a high five. It was one of the few good interactions we had so far. Too bad things went from 'hey this is pretty good' to 'why do the Gods hate me' pretty quick.
"Wait a minute, if you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey tailed…rapscallion!" Weiss questioned Penny as she shook her shoulders.
"The who now?" Penny was obviously confused.
"Weiss that's enough." I said. Clearly she either didn't care or didn't hear me.
"The filthy faunus from the boat!" She exclaimed as she pulled a poor drawing from Gods know where. I was about to be more forceful when it got even worse.
"Why do you keep saying that? Why do you keep calling him a rapscallion, a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake was tense as she tried to lecture Weiss
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Weiss said in mock innocence. "Would you like me to stop calling this trashcan a trashcan, or this lamppost a lamppost!" She exclaimed.
"Stop it!" Blake's voice got higher, more aggressive. Now it was time to put my foot down.
"That's enough! Both of you!" I shouted as I zipped between them. "This was a nice day, and since you both cant seem to enjoy it we're going back to beacon where you can talk this out. Peacefully!" I grit out through my teeth. I tried to reign in my temper with them, not wanting them to see such an ugly side. Yang looked ready to jump in and calm me down and Weiss and Blake seemed cowed into submission, temporarily if their glaring at each other a few seconds later was anything to go by.
Grabbing them by their collars I led them towards the airships where I pushed each of them into separate seats, Weiss being first with an indignant huff.
"You wanna argue and act like children, you'll be treated as such." I said lowly, a dangerous glint in my eyes when she got ready to say something. Putting Blake in a seat on the opposite side of the aisle, I went and sat where I could keep an eye on them, Yang sliding in next to me.
"You okay?" She asked quietly.
"No. I didn't start a war and end it just for this to keep happening." I whispered, watching Blake's bow to see if it would twitch. It didn't. "I should've done more." I whispered again, the guilt I felt coming out in spades.
"You couldn't have known this would happen. Especially after so many years." Yang whispered again, trying to be the supportive sister she had proclaimed herself to be.
"I should've. That kind of anger and bigotry doesn't just stop. It's a poison that runs deep and takes hold, sinking it's claws in wherever it can. It's a poison of the mind." There were so many societal poisons, but this one was the most dangerous since it could spread easier and form offshoots, perpetuating the cycle.
"You're not God Runes. You've seen the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms, run faster than sound, and fight like hell, but not once could you ever predict the future. Nobody can." Yang said comfortingly as she wrapped me in a side hug. She was right, I knew that, but it still sucked to think that I could've done more, but didn't.
"Besides, you cant change peoples minds instantly. You said it yourself, it's a poison. People have to learn in order to destroy it. And they are learning, just look at the laws and rights the faunus have for them." She said with hope, trying to pick me up.
"You're right." I said after a few seconds. "When did you become the wise one." I asked fondly. Yang looked at me softly.
"Ever since I got a great big sister to teach me how to be better." The fondness in her voice brought a tear to my eye as I hugged.
"What do I do about them?" I looked at Blake and Weiss, a sigh falling from my lips.
"I don't have the answer to that. Maybe just let this run it's course, or maybe you use that one technique on Weiss…" Yang trailed off. I knew what she was talking about.
"You know why I can't do that. I trust them, but they're not ready for that." I sighed again. Yang looked at me.
"Yeah, I know. Eventually you're going to have to trust them though. Blake especially."
"I do trust Blake, but she, more than anyone, isn't ready for the things I have to say."
"You're afraid." Yang said simply. I looked at her in confusion, I wasn't really afraid of much. "Afraid what Blake will think when she realizes just how much you can do, or that Blake might hate you for it all, or that she'll be angry with how involved you've been in her life without her even knowing." Yang was feeling particularly insightful today apparently. All I could do was nod. Yang was right.
Yang just held me tighter as we landed at Beacon. Yang took Blake off the airship first and I waited a few more seconds before pulling Weiss from her seat. She wouldn't even acknowledge me as she walked out. The sun had set by the time we got all the way back to our dorm, and it wasn't even five minutes later when the argument picked up again. Weiss saying she didn't understand and Blake saying that was the point.
It all came to a head when Weiss admitted only a small part of her childhood, something she kept under heavy lock and key. Weiss launched accusation after accusation, Calling the 'fang a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers.
"WELL MAYBE WE WERE TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!" Blake shouted, her fists curled tightly. Weiss backed away in shock and fear while Blake realized what she had said.
The truth was out and there was no way it could be taken back.
"I-" She hesitated, and then she was gone.
"Blake! Wait!" I said as I ran to the door. I stopped when I realized that she wouldn't want to be talked to just yet, not in any way. She was afraid. And when Blake was afraid, she had a tendency to run if she was able to. Mostly it allowed her to sort herself out, so I let her go. I lost it when Weiss spoke.
"Well good riddance." Her tone full of bitterness and anger. I screamed at her as I pushed her onto the bed.
"You don't know anything. You're a child looking through a keyhole at the world around you. You've allowed your fathers hate to blind you for years. You have a chance to do better, be better. And you throw it in the trash! For what!" I raved at her in anger. She opened her mouth for some retort but I wasn't having it. "NO! I don't want to hear it! Go the fuck to sleep! We're looking for her in the morning." I ordered. Yang didn't say anything, just picked Weiss up and guided her to the bathroom. I changed and hopped into bed. Immediately I knew it wouldn't be good night.
Yang's POV
I heard Ruby get into her bed as Weiss just stared at the door in shock.
"I've never seen her so angry." She said quietly. I nodded at her statement.
"Rubes rarely gets angry like that. But She's lived a rough life and it makes certain situations bring up painful memories. "We're gonna stay here for a little while, with Ruby in her state she's a bit volatile. Hopefully she'll go to sleep, though she's liable to have nightmare, but if she's awake she can cool off." I explained. Weiss nodded.
"I know that my father isn't a good man." Weiss said after a few minutes in silence. "I know the things he's done to the faunus. I came here to be better and I screwed that up, I know. I just let my fathers biases fall over me because it was easier to be angry than to try to understand." She admitted quietly. I nodded in understanding.
"I used to have a bad temper. Relied on my semblance a lot to finish fights. My semblance is anger based, no control but incredibly powerful. Ruby, ironically, taught me how to fight and win without it." I said with a smile, remembering the hours Ruby sparred with me.
"You say you're sisters but you don't look like each other. Why is that? If you don't mind me asking, that is." Weiss asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Ruby's sort of adopted." I said going with the story we came up with years ago. "We knew her mother who had been staying with us for a year while Ruby stayed with her dad in another town. Summer, her mom, went on a hunt since she was a huntress and came back all bloody and broken. She died from her wounds. Ruby came looking for her since she had been missing for a few months and wanted to find out what happened to her. Since her dad wasn't the greatest, and was never around, my dad kinda just…took her in." I said. Weiss looked at me wide eyed, since Ruby never spoke about her past around the team, or if she did, it was small details.
We stayed in the bathroom for another hour and a half, loosing track of time and just talking. It was pretty nice. I was about to tell a funny story that Ruby told me of when she first appeared on earth that could easily be told as Ruby when she first got her semblance when we heard a crash.
That wasn't good.
"Weiss stay here." Urgency was the only thing that could be heard, along with another crash. "No matter what happens, stay here." I got up and had my hand on the door. "Lock it behind me as I pushed the door open. I breathed in relief when I heard it lock once it was closed. Looking into the dark room I saw Ruby had already destroyed her bed and was on the way to destroying Weiss'.
"Where is she. Gotta find her so you tell me where she is." She spoke to a ghost.
She was trapped in a walking nightmare.
"Ruby?" I said hesitantly. Hopefully she wasn't to far in. When she looked at me with such hateful eyes I knew it was too late.
"Where is she! What did you do with her!?" She shouted as she charged at me. I braced myself for impact. "You tell me where Preto is or I'll tear you to pieces!" She screamed.
This was a bad dream for her to be stuck in, especially with Weiss so close.
I was slammed into the wall and hit multiple times at a quick speed with a flurry of punches. I felt my shoulder gripped and suddenly I was flying, landing on the pieces of a mattress and bed frame. Ruby screamed again as I got to my feet.
"Tell me where you've taken her right now!"
"Ruby it's me! Wake up!" I knew she wouldn't, not unless I could subdue her, but it was worth a try. I parried a few kicks and a fist until my legs were taken out from under me. I felt her straddle me as she rained down hit after hit on chest and face. I knew my aura wouldn't take much more but if I just let her beat me, Ruby would kill me in the state she was in.
Tapping into my anger, I felt the fire building and my strength growing as the damage she was dealing was being absorbed. I took a few more powerful hits before I made a fist and blasted her through the window, shattering it. I got and heard Ruby roaring into the night. If I didn't stop her, she'd destroy a lot more than just our dorm. Grabbing my scroll, I called my locker to the courtyard and watched it descend near the window. Jumping down when it landed, I quickly put on ember celica and got them ready. Ruby was still screaming, and she had lost control of her maiden powers, the orange flames shooting out of her eyes.
She through her head back and arms out, breathing fire and shooting it out of her fists.
"Bring her to me and I'll be merciful!" She shouted across the courtyard.
"Please Ruby! Snap out of it!" I said cocked a round into my gauntlets. A ball of fire came my way and I dodged it as it destroyed the locker behind me.
Running at her at full speed I jumped into the air to deliver a full power punch, but Ruby, even in her state, was still an elite combatant. She slid under and pushed up, kicking me in the stomach and sending me flying. Ruby jumped as I landed shakily on my feet, my aura fading. Suddenly Ruby was enveloped in a green a purple field of some sort, a thud each time she hit it. looking around I saw Ozpin and Goodwitch leveling their weapons at her.
Ruby kept punching it, screaming like a mad woman until Ozpin did…something. And Ruby was unconscious, the fire in her eyes fading as she slumped over and collapsed into the dirt.
"What took you so long?" I said with a smirk.
"The warning system you and Tai came up with was delayed for some reason." Ozpin said as he held up his scroll, Ruby's face on the screen along with several statistics of her vitals being shown.
"So the warning system sorta worked?" I asked. We had given the software for it to Ozpin and Glynda in case this happened. It hadn't happened in a while so we thought it was us just being more safe than sorry.
"Yes, though it appears to need tweaking." Ozpin said with a smile. "Right now though, I think you should take Ruby to bed. I think it be best if you find your missing teammate as fast as possible once she wakes up." He said. I nodded and picked her up, carrying her bridal style back towards the dorm. Thankfully nobody seemed to have seen anything besides us.
Laying her in my bed, I crawled around her cuddled up behind her as Weiss looked at her sadness and regret. I stroked her hair and raised my body temperature a bit and her body relaxed more.
"How often does THAT happen?" Weiss asked softly.
"a lot loess often then the nightmares. Used to happen when she was younger." I said, remembering the times it was me and dad trying to calm her down.
"Who was Preto? The person she was yelling about?" Weiss was prying a bit and I knew it but I hoped to help her understand when I answered.
"Preto was a girl she loved, a faunus, she never got around to telling her though. Preto was kidnapped by a few bitter kids after she won in a fight against them." A fight early in the war. "They snuck into the small town," Which was a war camp. "and took her, to where other than atlas Ruby never said, but they tortured her for days before she found them. It wasn't pretty is all Ruby will ever say if she'd asked and she in her anger, she snapped and massacred them all. She helped Preto get revenge a few months later." Which wasn't actually until the end of the war. "And killed the man who organized it all." I finished slowly.
"I-I had no idea." Weiss was openly crying.
"It's not a story Ruby would tell you, and I don't tell you to make you feel awful, I just want you to understand. Blake probably reminds Ruby of Preto in some way, and her being missing is dredging up terrible memories for her." I said quietly. Weiss nodded sadly.
"It's my fault, but I'm gonna fix this." Her determination was heartwarming.
"I know you will."