A/N Some news. Due to a slight change in programming, there will be an Act 5. Enjoy a helping of character drama for the next few chapters, plus a teeny bit of setup, and a few fights. Act 4 has 6 chapters.
Act 4
The Return Pt. 1 – Burying the Hatchets
Reaper stood on the steps of Beacon for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. The last time she stepped on campus as a huntress-in-training was almost a year ago.
Holy shit, it's only been a year? Feels like a lot more shit happened than one could reasonably fit into a year.
"A lot can happen in a year, I suppose…" Reaper spoke aloud.
"It has been rather eventful." Blake agreed. "Come to think of it, how on earth did Torchwick get such a large organization in such a short time?"
Reaper shrugged. "He's good at what he does. And the files I took from Ozpin's office during my 'visit' helped us absorb the Palette Mafia."
"If he was so good, how did manage to lose all his money so he couldn't get a decent lawyer for his trial?" Blake joked.
Reaper realized she hadn't yet told her old friends about her 'acquisition'. "Uhh… Yeah, about that-"
"Let's get on with this." Weiss cut off their conversation as she blew past them. "We still have to get started on your studies for that test."
Reaper sighed heavily and Blake patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, Reaper. She can't give you the cold shoulder forever. She'll trust you, eventually."
"Even so, forgiving us for Winter may never happen." Reaper lamented. "We better get after her before she gets any angrier."
Despite pretty much knowing she would make it, the day of Reaper's sentencing was one of the most nerve-racking days of her life. But just as everyone anticipated, the judge passed Ozpin's proposal for Rehabilitative Custody at that precious moment of truth. Reaper was also prescribed anti-psychotics after she was forced to explain Ember, but everyone knew it was a technicality and she wouldn't actually take them.
Thank you for that, by the way.
It was a strange feeling to actually be back here, stepping through the door to RWBY dorm, and actually be here to stay. "We are getting you a bed this time, right?" Blake asked.
"Oh please, thank you, that couch has no lumbar support." Reaper told her. Blake smiled and Weiss just rolled her eyes.
They rearranged the den area to push Reaper's bed against the far wall. Reaper had a feeling Weiss wanted her as far away as possible from where she and Blake slept. She understood Weiss was uncomfortable with this whole situation, but frankly, it was starting to get ridiculous. Not that she could do anything about it, since Weiss was basically her warden.
At least she's not using her authority to completely discount us. If you really think about it, she is giving us a chance. Reluctantly.
Let's not make her aware of that fact.
Good idea.
"Alright," Weiss turned to Reaper, "a few things to get sorted. We don't know what your test will entail, so I'm going to go through my filed worksheets, and we're going to start by studying a bit of everything. Since Blake and I still have to attend classes, it only makes sense you should too."
Wait, does she seriously file away all her completed and graded worksheets?
"Yes, she does, I've actually seen the drawer before." Reaper answered.
Weiss stared at the scythe master. "Right, if you insist on refusing your medication and speaking to… Ember, was it? -Aloud, at least let us know her half of your conversation. Especially if it pertains to the matter at hand."
"Right, we'll try" Reaper nodded.
Oh! Oh! Ask her if she's this frigid in bed.
"That… does not 'pertain to the matter at hand' and in fact, I refuse to pass that question along."
Party-pooper.
Later that night it was dinner time for Beacon. Reaper was glad team CFVY was still on their mission, she still wasn't sure what she wanted to do about Velvet. As she stepped through the doors, Reaper immediately remembered there was one other group she still had to try and make amends to. The girls gathered their food and took their usual seats next to team JNPR and the scene quickly fell into an awkward silence.
To everyone's surprise, it was actually Jaune, the boy who had been terrified of the girl even before she was Reaper, who broke the silence. "So, we, uh… followed your trial closely. From our dorm TV."
Reaper quickly took the chance to end the awkward air, not just for the meal but between her and Jaune. "Yeah, I bet you were surprised when Ozpin pushed for custody."
"It was a bit out of the blue." Ren admitted. "But Ozpin seems to believe in you."
"Yes," Pyrrha picked up next, "if your return is true, then we are happy for you, Ruby."
Reaper and Ember groaned simultaneously. "That's still not my name…"
Pyrrha's eyes dropped to the table. "Oh. Right… you still go by Reaper."
"So what's the deal with your crazy voice? Ember?" Nora asked, blunt as ever and likely not realizing it.
I like her. She takes everything in stride.
"Well, she says she likes you because of how easily you go with the flow."
Nora's face lit with excitement. "Awesome! It's like having two new friends! I've never been friends with someone else's crazy voice! We should totally hang out!"
Is… is this girl insane too?
"That's under debate, Ember. And Nora, I'd love to hang out. I'm still in custody, so I'm confined to Beacon grounds unless Weiss agrees to go with to watch me. Sorry, no Vale trips."
"I could break you out." Nora shrugged.
"NO!" Weiss scolded her.
I really like Nora.
"Maybe we can all take Reaper into Vale one day. Our docket's a bit full for now, but I'm sure she would need a break from Beacon at some point." Blake suggested, looking to Weiss.
Weiss sighed. "We'll see."
Reaper gave Blake a silent thank you and the faunus smiled. Reaper appreciated Blake's effort to help bridge the gap she had created between herself and all her old friends.
As dinner finished and the two teams walked back to their dorms, many of the questions asked to Reaper were about Ember. The fact the Ember fights for her found its way into one of the answers as they got closer to the dorms.
"How exactly?" Ren asked.
"You remember how I used to lose control? I started calling it the Red Haze. I think, for some reason or another, Ember is tied to Yang's semblance. As she grew, she could eventually take over when I entered a Red Haze." Reaper explained.
"And she can control it? Keep you calm?" Jaune asked next. Reaper nodded. "So, wait, can she speak through you when this happens? Would it actually be possible for us to speak to her directly?"
"Actually, yes." The answer caught Weiss's attention.
"So if we wanted to, theoretically, induce a 'Red Haze' if you needed to fight, or if we wanted to speak to Ember, how angry do you need to get?" Weiss asked.
"Actually, pain can do it too. We have this knife." Reaper pulled the blade out the back of her belt. "I can stick myself in the shoulder if we need to get things done. Speaking of which, we still need to repair Brutal Thorn…"
"You've had a knife on you this whole time and didn't tell us!?" Weiss shouted.
"Yes, Weiss, we could have stabbed you in the back whenever we wanted…" Reaper told her dryly. "But we haven't yet! Surprise!" Sigh "I honestly forgot about it until now. Sorry."
"Anything else we might need to know you have just 'forgotten to tell us'?" Weiss interrogated.
"Well… I may have… 'forcibly acquired' all of Torchwick's legitimate money when I went back for his files to give to Ozpin." Reaper confessed. "I mean, he couldn't afford a high end lawyer, so it was a good thing… in a way."
"Seriously!?" Jaune was stunned. "How much?"
"Umm…" Reaper pulled out her Beacon scroll, the one she left behind before, (her black one had been confiscated and never returned) and looked up the account she built. Everyone around her looked over her shoulder at the screen.
"Holy… that's more than I have in my trust fund…" Weiss commented. Jaune whistled.
"It's all legit funds, and I'm the only one that knows the password to the account. As far as the law in concerned, it's all mine." Reaper explained.
"So, just to be clear," Pyrrha started, "you were planning on returning to Beacon, doing a mission for Ozpin, and you still stole an entire fortune."
"From a criminal!" the scythe girl defended. "Hey, at least some of that was my own money I worked hard for."
"I like your style." Nora nodded.
"Please don't encourage her…" Weiss sighed.
Too late.
Reaper had a hard time falling asleep that night for some reason. As Weiss as Blake slumbered away, Reaper took a look at Brutal Thorn.
It looks like Adam missed any important moving parts.
"Yeah, he just hit the barrel. We still need to get into the weapon forge and make a new one."
Still far easier than if he had hit it anywhere else. We would practically have to rebuild it at that point.
"We gotta wait till after classes, since we're apparently attending those."
Oh god… Port… it's going to be soooo boring… hey, since they know about me now, we can talk in class, right?
Sigh… "We'll see, okay?"
Reaper set her weapon aside and sat back on her bed, trying to get back to sleep, or at least pinpoint her unease. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't quiet her mind. Or Ember.
So JNPR took everything a lot better than we thought.
"Probably because of our trial, it did go well. Or maybe they're like Blake, letting hope direct their actions. I think the only reason we're having trouble with Weiss is because of Winter…"
One of the few things you regret. At least we didn't kill her.
"At least."
"Does Ember usually keep you up all night?" Weiss asked, making Reaper jump.
"Oh shit… sorry if we woke you…" Reaper told her.
"Maybe you should take your pills at night to fall asleep." Weiss scolded.
"I already tossed the bottle. Besides, it's not entirely her fault, she's just one part of my mind I can't quiet…"
Weiss sighed and walked over the den area, sitting on a seat facing Reaper. "Do you want to talk about it? To an actual person, I mean."
Reaper eyed the heiress with caution. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but… why do you care? I got the impression you hated us."
"I just don't want to get held back because you didn't get enough sleep to study properly." She replied quickly, though she stared at the wall rather than look the scythe master in the eyes.
Reaper smiled. "Well, the problem is I don't actually know. My brain is just in too much turmoil, and Ember not shutting up and letting me think is started to become a larger problem."
Oh, fine, I'll shut up already. I know when I'm not wanted.
"That's debatable… Okay, Ember is being quiet now, hopefully I can nab this thing down."
"Well…" Weiss continued. "Close your eyes. Clear your mind, and then say the first thing that settles on your tongue."
Reaper did as Weiss directed. It worked, and she found her answer. It wasn't the answer she told Weiss. "Velvet." The scythe girl said quickly. It wasn't entirely a lie; she was worried about what she would do about the rabbit girl.
"I thought as much." The heiress said smugly. "You don't have to worry. She was one of the few that always believed you would come back. I'm sure she will be more than happy." With that, she got up and returned to Blake's side in their own bed.
Reaper lay down to settle as her mind lingered on the true answer, the one she kept hidden. Against all belief, she was worried about how Neo was doing right now.
You did officially become friends, like, two seconds before the last time you saw her.
I do hope she's doing alright wherever she is…
Yatsuhashi pulled his massive blade from the fading corpse of a Grimm. The members of team CFVY let out a collective sigh of relief. Their mission had taken a little longer than anticipated, but they finally finished. It was still early, so they decided to call in the airship now. If they were lucky, they'd be back at Beacon before lunch. They didn't have to wait long, and were soon safely on-board and flying back to the school.
The rabbit girl pulled Ruby's cape around her and her thoughts drew back to her missing girlfriend. She was eager to return to Beacon and continue searching. Every time she saw her again, she grew more and more concerned for her mental stability. The very last time she had actually displayed a split personality. The memory also brought thoughts of that Neopolitan girl to her mind. She didn't like how Ruby interacted with Neo…
"You're thinking about her again, aren't you Velv?" Coco asked. "You always get that look on your face."
"Coco, I know you don't approve of my quest, but you're not going to change my mind." Velvet told her.
Coco shook her head. "You need to move on, Velv… Even if Ruby comes back, she won't be your Ruby. She's too far gone."
"You don't know that." Velvet defended. "All she needs is help. I'm sure of it."
"Does she even want help?" Coco rebutted. "It doesn't sound like it. I get that you loved Ruby, more than anything. But there has to be a point where you accept Ruby is really gone, might as well be buried. And I think it passed a long time ago."
Velvet gripped the edges of the red cloak. She finally considered, just for a moment, that Coco may be right. She shook those thoughts from her head. "It's because I loved her that I can't give up on her. I made a promise…"
Coco shook her head again. Velvet was having a hard time with her grief, and it was getting out of hand. It probably didn't help that the girl formerly known as Ruby was still alive. Velvet refused to let go of her hope that her Ruby could return. Coco was brought from her thoughts by Yatsuhashi's elbow. They had come within network range of the CCT tower and the big man had been looking over news from the last few days, as they were cut off from civilization.
Coco looked at the headline he pointed out and tore the scroll from his hand to look over the full article. Coco's eyes panned over her faunus team mate, who had returned to her thoughts and tuned out the world around her. Coco looked back to the device and read over the report detailing 'Reaper's' trial. The last thing she expected was for Ruby to willingly return to Beacon. Maybe Velvet wasn't wrong… this was going to turn into an interesting day…
