I'm back to uploading chapters now. There's a question at the end of the chapter. Before we begin, I'd like to point out something that a few people have asked about in the last few days. Aurelius and Adrienne can have kids, but at the moment neither of them are willing to do so for various reason. In Adrienne's case, her status as an Orange Rose means she can't abandon her duties, even briefly. If she were to start a family, she'd have to split her time between helping to defeat Salem and both finding love and having a child. Simply put, she won't consider having children right now because it'd prevent her from providing direct assistance for a decent amount of time when every day counts.
Aurelius, meanwhile, is unwilling to start another family both because of his sense of duty and his responsibilities. For starters, he currently can't spend more than a few days outside the Bastion or Beacon, and naturally can't search for love outside Vale, without the risk of Bastion running out of power and simply falling out of the sky. This also happens to limit his ability to fight since a large amount of his power goes toward keeping the monstrosity airborne. After the Battle of Beacon, Bastion will be in a better position to recharge from the positive energy released by the citizens of Vale (if they're happy that they survived anyways) and eventually enough people will be living in it for it to remain in the air on its own.
These are practical reasons for why, but there's a few personal reasons. Specifically, I don't know who I'd pair the two of them up with. Adrienne's values as an Orange Rose mean someone like Neptune would be out of the question immediately since she despises cowardice in all its forms, for instance. Aurelius is a bit of a peculiar one since he respects both knowledge and a strong moral code. I'll leave the rest for the end of the chapter.
Chapter 26: Frustrations and Learning
Beacon Academy, Ozpin's Office, with Team RWBY, the Roses, and Ironwood
Ruby let out a whimper, holding Crescent Rose against her chest. "P-professor Ozpin, you can't be serious…"
Ozpin let out a frustrated sigh as he subtly glanced over his shoulder at Ironwood. "I'm sorry, Ruby, but the results of the reports and Ironwood's… evaluation of the situation have led the Vale Council to believe that you may be unstable enough to pose a risk to the population of Vale. By Ironwood's suggestion, it has been decided that you shouldn't be allowed to wander without escort, and they're adamant that they don't want you to have any weapons or Dust on you outside of combat classes, the Vytal Festival Tournament, or any practice sessions approved by Ironwood."
Yang glared at the general with red eyes while Weiss let out a deep breath, frost coating the desk in front of her. Before they could respond, Aurelius spoke up. "So, is this your game, general? You can't handle the thought that four girls could do what your military could not?"
Ironwood stepped forward. "I can't sit back and let a group of children risk their lives to deal with this!"
Aurelius waved his hand across the room, eyes glowing slightly. "You are all children to me, general! Your argument is meaningless."
Ironwood quickly crossed his arms. "You've always been nothing more than a harmless eccentric, Bisman. This is no different."
Aurelius stepped around the desk, cloak dissolving into rose petals as he did so. "A harmless eccentric you say? Very well, if you think I'm not a threat then come!" He threw his arms wide, eyes glowing brightly. "Embrace the Tempest and prove just how arrogant you truly are!" A hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to blink before his cloak reformed, taking a deep breath.
"Grandpa Auri, you need to save your strength. We'll need every advantage we can get if we're going to have a chance against whatever's coming," Adrienne said as the Blue Rose stepped back.
"He's still heartless and insensitive to be doing this to someone…"
"Actually…" Ironwood took a deep breath. "The Council was insistent that Ruby be confined to a high-security holding cell on the Aurora until her mental state could be examined and her team be removed from the tournament." The other occupants of the room glanced at the general in disbelief.
"Are you telling me that you convinced the Council to give her a bit of freedom after forcing all this on her?" Aurelius asked in dismay. When Ironwood nodded, he hummed before continuing, glancing at Ruby. "If this is the only way, I have two conditions." Ruby looked on in shock, but as the Blue Rose continued, she quickly understood what was going on. "First, if she's learning anything from me related to our family, your soldiers must remain outside the room. The Rose family's secrets are ours and ours alone. Second, as Ruby wished to visit her mother's grave before the tournament, I would like you to approve that request before the end of the day and give the soldiers who you have escort her give her the proper space for the visit."
Ironwood nodded, letting out a sigh. "I suppose accepting those terms is a small enough security risk to allow."
Ozpin let out a sigh. "That's a major disaster averted. I'm not sure what kind of damage Aurelius could do in his current state since I'm not sure how much he's adapted his body to his old powers." Ozpin glanced at the students in front of him, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. "Now then, since that's all taken care of, how about the four of you go get some rest. The tournament is in two days and I'm sure you all would prefer to be in peak condition for it." They all nodded quietly before Aurelius led the group into the elevator, letting out a sigh as the door closed.
Weiss spun around and glared at the man. "Why did you let him do that?! Don't you know how important all this is to Ruby?" The wolf pulled her hood over her head to hide her smile and blush. She might be used to Weiss' small praise from time to time, but having the white-haired girl outright defending her was something much rarer and more precious to her.
Aurelius hummed for a moment before responding. "I know what it means to her. That's why I gave those conditions. Ironwood might think he's smart, but I disagree with his solution and the Council's decision." He glanced at the heiress with a grin. "In case you forgot, neither the Council nor Ironwood can do anything to truly enforce their terms on Ruby so long as I'm around." As they stepped out of the elevator, an Atlesian soldier walked in front of them, causing Ruby to let out a whimper.
"I'm sorry, I can't allow you to leave the tower until the wolf hands over her weapons and ammo," he said, ignoring the glares sent his way.
Ruby let out a small whine before she hesitantly handed over her knife and ammo belt, giving Crescent Rose a hug before sadly handing it to the soldier as well. "I want Crescent Rose back in perfect condition when this is over, got it?" The soldier nodded, rolling his eyes under his helmet as he walked away to the nearby armory. Ruby's ears drooped as she walked out of the building, tail low to the ground as a pair of soldiers went to follow the group. "I'm not sure how you plan to stop them from doing that…"
Aurelius smiled as he glanced at the soldier. As soon as the soldier had entered the armory, he spoke up. "It's already taken care of…" Inside the armory, the soldier didn't notice as Crescent Rose vanished from the shelf he'd placed it on before a near-perfect copy appeared in its place.
Aurelius' Office
The group let out a sigh as they reached their destination, with Ruby and Weiss glancing around at the room while the soldiers stood awkwardly out in the hall. Unlike the last time the heiress had been in there, the scrolls and books were arranged neatly on the shelves, carefully organized. As they stepped in, they saw Loki sitting at the desk by the wall on the right-hand side, feet resting on it with Janus calmly walking around the shelves, occasionally picking up a text and glancing over it. As soon as Loki noticed the group, he jumped up. "Oh, finally you're here! Do you know how boring it is with only Janus around? He never gets angry or annoyed! He doesn't even do small talk if he can get away with it!" Aurelius took a deep breath before speaking up.
"Loki, I need you to make it seem like we're in here when we leave, understood?" The Prefect let out a frustrated sigh before dropping back into the chair, suddenly turning into an exact replica of Aurelius before copies of Team RWBY and Adrienne appeared, causing the unprepared girls to jump.
Yang walked up to her duplicate, eyes wandering it carefully to see if there were any differences before she grinned. "Wow, not bad, it's like looking in a mirror!" Much to her surprise, the copy responded.
"Thanks, I can't copy a person's semblance though, but as long as nobody makes me Yangry nobody'll tell the difference." The copy and original grinned at each other before sharing a high five.
Weiss glanced at the two with a sigh before her copy spoke up. "You know, you were the hardest to figure out. You've changed so much in such a short amount of time that I had to do more than just study the reports. I'm sure you'd appreciate how much time and effort I put into this."
Weiss blinked before nodding. "I hope you did use every effort to get it right, otherwise we'll have a problem."
Ruby sighed as she looked over at her own copy, trying to hide her frustration at the reminder that she didn't have her scythe with her before Aurelius put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, you won't have to go without it for long." He glanced at Janus, who quickly snapped his fingers to create a rift in front of himself. As the group moved through, Aurelius cast a glance at the copy of himself sitting at the desk. "Remember Loki, none of your normal antics, you'll get to have your fun if things go wrong."
Loki waited until the rift sealed before sighing. "Oh joy, now I get to sit here and talk to myself for the rest of the day. I can't wait…"
Bastion, Citadel Grounds
Team RWBY glanced around at the scenery surrounding them. The massive Spire that made up the center of the Citadel was ahead of them, with a few walled-off areas for training and gardens. Before anyone could say anything, Artemis shimmered into existence in front of them, bowing slightly to Aurelius. "I trust you didn't have too much trouble, Artemis?" he asked calmly as she stood back up.
"Sadly, I doubt they would have noticed my presence even if I knocked them over. I'm not sure how a group so complacent could claim to be the most powerful and skilled military force in all of Remnant…" She turned to face Ruby before pulling an object out from behind her, holding it out to the wide-eyed girl. "I believe I have something that belongs to you?" Artemis said smugly before Ruby snatched Crescent Rose out of her hand, hugging it to her chest.
Weiss blinked as she looked between the two. "H-how-"
"There's a reason I'm called the Queen of the Hunt," Artemis said. "If I couldn't retrieve a single object from the armory I wouldn't be worthy of the title anymore."
Weiss sighed before she glanced at Adrienne, a thought crossing her mind. "Aurelius, you never said how you brought Adrienne back." The group looked at Weiss for a moment before all eyes went to the two Roses in question.
Aurelius let out a sigh as he sat down, the rest of the group finding a spot on the ground to join him. "If I tell you, you each have to promise to never tell anyone outside this group or, in Ruby's case, Qrow. Do you understand?" Once the group nodded he continued. "Within the years leading up to the War of Roses, I began experimenting with the idea of binding a soul to an automaton. As time went on, it went from something as simple as a Sentinel with the memories and personality of the soul bound to it to the Avatar, a unique construct that would become a flesh and blood copy of the person whose soul is bound to it on its activation. This allows them to not only return to the living, but actually do everything they could do in life."
Yang blinked. "Sooo, Adrienne could have kids if she wanted?" The Orange Rose let out a squeak in embarrassment before responding.
"I-I could, but as a Rose I have something more important to deal with in the current situation."
Aurelius nodded. "The survival of the Rose family through natural means is a secondary concern to making sure there's even a world for future generations to grow up in."
Blake's ear twitched under the bow. "So, what, you could bring your entire family back? Does death even matter then?"
Aurelius and Adrienne let out a sigh before the Blue Rose answered. "There are specific requirements that need to be met in order for me to bring someone back. For one, I need to either have a strong connection to the person I'm trying to revive, be at their grave, or be near their body with the Avatar ready shortly after they died. Secondly, they need to be willing to return. If I try to bring back someone who had nothing to live for or turned their back on the world, I wouldn't succeed no matter what I tried. Third, the soul needs to be whole." Weiss quickly raised her hand before speaking.
"What does that even mean? How can a soul not meet that condition?" Yang and Blake nodded, while Weiss noticed Ruby shudder silently.
Aurelius took a deep breath. "As terrifying as the thought is, there's actually methods to fracture and repair a person's soul, with some people being vulnerable to methods that simply don't work on others, or having an immunity to a common one. If you combine this with the fact that most of the Roses I'm aware of are buried on Draconys, it's entirely possible that the person controlling the White Fang, or at least their leader, could simply go into the Rose Garden and use one of those methods to shatter their souls before scattering their bodies so it would take too much time or too many Sentinels to undo the damage for me to be able to bring them back. It'd take a few years, but right now we don't know if we have that long, which brings us to the fourth issue."
"An Avatar is much more complex than any of the other automatons, but it's also the only one that will work for the process we're talking about. It requires a steady hand and good eye to carve the Dust matrix capable of holding a soul, let alone convert metal to flesh and bone. There can be no mistakes, even the smallest error means the entire piece you're working on needs to be scrapped and redone. If you're lucky, the process will only take about a month to do, but sometimes it can take up to a year if you can't find enough of the right materials or make a number of mistakes. In the entire time I spent working on them, I was only able to finish two Avatars."
Weiss nodded before a look of confusion crossed her face. "Why did you think an automaton could hold someone's soul? I know they use Dust to function, but that's something totally different."
Aurelius sighed. "Not quite… There's a few things you need to know about Dust as you know it." Aurelius spent the next few minutes explaining the three types of Dust to the four girls. As the explanation started with Animus Dust, the four looked on in amazement, but their responses quickly changed when Essentia came up. Ruby looked on in disgust at the thought someone could exploit the death of others to create Dust in the first place. Yang and Blake both looked down awkwardly, trying to get their minds off the source of the world's power. Weiss on the other hand…
"O-oh god…" The heiress got up, hand covering her mouth as a look of horror crossed her face. "M-my family's been profiting off of…" She looked at her team before she ran off toward the gate leading out of the Citadel.
"Weiss! Wait!" Ruby quickly got up, running after the girl before Aurelius looked at the remaining two with a sigh.
"Artemis, how about you take them somewhere so they can think in peace?" The Prefect nodded, helping the two girls up as they walked towards the Spire.
Bastion Central Park, with Ruby and Weiss
"Weiss! Stop for a second!" Ruby said as she grabbed onto the heiress' arm, spinning her around and looking into her tear-filled eyes. "Weiss, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! My family has been mining Dust since before my grandfather was born! We've been digging up the remnants of a person's life Ruby!" Weiss suddenly sank to her knees, arms wrapped around her waist. "My father has been profiting off the misery and suffering of the faunus since he took over the Schnee Dust Company and I always thought I could fix it, that I could make things better when I took over from him. Now I have to deal with the fact that no matter what I do, my family has always profited off death without knowing it and there's nothing I can do about it." A quiet sob escaped the girl before Ruby kneeled down next to her, gently rubbing her back. "No matter what I do with my family's company, I can't salvage our reputation knowing that! I can't run it without turning into a monster…"
"That's not true Weiss," Ruby said. "You don't have to give up your morals just to fix your family's reputation. Aurelius is teaching me how to use Dust magic, which means I might be able to make Animus Dust someday, and I can use that to help you." Weiss looked up at her partner as the wolf fanus smiled. "You promised to stand by me no matter what happens, so I'm going to return the favor. I'll do everything in my power to help you run the SDC in a way you can be proud of… Even if it means I have to share some of my family's secrets with-" Ruby was interrupted as the white-haired girl wrapped her arms around her, crying slightly.
"T-thank you Ruby, you don't know what that means to me…" "You don't know what you mean to me…"
Ruby smiled as she wrapped her arms gently around the other girl. "It's no problem Wiess, I'm happy to help." Ruby opened her mouth to say something before she closed it again. "I want to tell her how I feel so bad, but this isn't the right time, not with her like this… Still, it's nice to have her in my arms like this, so I might as well enjoy it."
Bastion Central Arboretum, with Blake and Yang
"Well, that makes things a bit awkward, doesn't it?" Yang said, scratching the back of her neck. "I don't know how I feel about the fact our entire world runs on what was left over from Aurelius when he exploded the first time…"
"The entire world… Except for a few scattered items powered by Dust torn from relics… And one entire city…" Blake said, staring up at the artificial sky.
Yang nodded quietly before glancing over at Blake. "You know, you can take the bow off if you want." The cat glanced at her in surprise.
"Why would I do that?"
Yang rolled her eyes. "Because everyone here knows you're a faunus and nobody would judge you for it maybe? I mean, come on, there must've been at least one time you've wanted to take off your bow and just be who you are without hiding it." "…Besides, I've only seen your ears once and I thought they were cute."
Blake looked at the blonde hesitantly before she took the bow off, holding it in her hand. "There, are you happy now?"
Yang looked at her partner, biting her lip at the sight of the cat faunus' ear twitching in annoyance. "I-I know this is probably a bit much, but… Do you think I could feel them?"
Blake blinked, a slight blush on her face. "W-what?"
"Come on, please? Ruby doesn't like when people touch her ears, I just wanna know how they feel. I promise I won't pull on them or anything like Cardin did with Velvet."
Blake took a deep breath. "I knew I should've refused to take the bow off, now she's not going to stop until I cave…" She let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine, but only this once and only for five seconds max, got it?"
The blonde nodded and gently ran her finger along the back of Blake's ear, causing her eyes to close. Yang's curiosity got the better of her and she ran a finger along the base of Blake's ear, gently scratching it. Yang smiled as Blake let out a sigh at the ten second mark, stopping suddenly when she heard a sound from the other girl's throat. "U-Uh, Blake?"
"Hmm?"
"D-did you just purr?" The cat's eyes popped open and she jumped away, blushing deeply. "Hey, don't be embarrassed, I think it makes you cuter!" Yang's eyes went wide before she covered her mouth as Blake looked at her in shock.
"W-wait what? Yang, I thought you were into guys?!" Blake asked. "S-she thinks I'm cute? Really? I-I mean, I can't deny that she's attractive too, but…"
Yang scratched the back of her neck meekly. "What can I say? I bat for both teams." Yang quickly pretended to swing a baseball bat, trying to keep her mind off her own near confession. "Oh god, why is it that now's the time I can't keep my mouth shut?!"
Blake blinked for a moment before she spoke up. "…Remind me to never let you wash my clothes again."
Citadel Garden, With Ruby, Weiss, Aurelius, and Adrienne
Ruby and Weiss watched as Aurelius kneeled in front of a rose bush, carefully examining the flowers on it before Ruby spoke up. "So… What are we going to be doing today?"
Aurelius glanced up at her before continuing. "We will be working on trying to get you to the point you can manipulate small Dust crystals to use their power on their own, without any technology. Also, we will be working on upgrading your scythe."
Ruby wrapped her arms around her weapon. "But Crescent Rose is already perfect, why would I need to upgrade it?"
Aurelius smiled as he held out his hand, a small crystal forming in his palm as Weiss and Ruby watched in awe. "Because, you still rely on ammunition for the rifle component. With this, you'll never need to worry about reloading again…" Aurelius put the crystal on the ground as he touched a rose, causing it to turn a deep blue before he cut it off the bush, holding it up to Ruby, a knowing smile on her face. "But first, I think you have someone you wanted to talk to, right?"
And now we're back into the swing of things. Weiss has to come to grips with the truth of Dust with Ruby's help, Yang almost blurted out that she has a crush on Blake, and, for anyone who forgot what's so special about blue roses, Ruby's scene at her mother's grave is going to be different now.
Also, speaking of Summer, I'll be changing the color of her cloak in the present from white to green. This might seem odd, but if you pay attention you'll notice that, just like Aurelius and "the Blue Rose," Adrienne and "the Orange Rose" are interchangeable, as are Ruby and "the Red Rose." This is because, when only one living member of the Rose family has a cloak of a certain color, they're referred to as the rose of that color. This makes it potentially awkward that "White Rose" could refer to both Ruby's mom and the ship involving Ruby, potentially Ruby's daughter, or something else a bit more fitting depending on if I decide to take things a certain way. Green roses represent life, growth, renewal, rejuvenation of spirit, and cheerfulness, so green fits Summer's personality. She still had a white cloak before her death, which will be explained during Ruby's talk with her mother.
Now then, at the beginning of the chapter I pointed out that I've been considering pairings for Aurelius and Adrienne. While the Orange Rose is one I'm having difficulty with, Aurelius has one fairly good, if devious, option that's a bit obvious: Winter. This might seem odd, but if you stop to think about it, Winter would actually be a decent match if she ever managed to unwind and become a bit less strict since she seems willing to at least try to be a good sister to Weiss despite her sense of duty. On top of this, it'd be a nice, solid punch to the gut for Jacques if both his daughters fell in love with members of the Rose family, especially if Aurelius decided to become a faunus as well. Let me put it like this, after the ending I have planned for Volume 3, I'm sure most of you are going to want me to throw every bit of misery Jacques way that I can. Regardless, if you have a suggestion for who to pair with Adrienne or want to comment on the Aurelius/Winter pairing idea, don't be afraid to leave your input in a review.
