Disclaimer: I (still) don't own RWBY. And if I did, and RWBY were like this, it'd be rated M for gore alone.
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The Grace of Angels
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"Wheeeeee! This is awesome!" Ruby Rose was saying. Or probably saying. The wind made it hard to hear, almost as hard as the sound of Weiss's heart as blood pumped through her ears, but the maniac grin on the little girl's face was a good hint as she whooped again with glee.
Why was she whooping? Weiss knew why she was whooping. It was the reason that Weiss's heart was racing at a rate of 'absurd,' having finally calmed down from the point of 'what the –explicitive-?'
It was because, of course, they were riding on a giant nevermore. It didn't look terribly happy, but that's what happens when you get hitchhikers who turn out to be trained murderers of your kind.
"Geeze, Weiss, I take back all the mean things I thought about you!" Ruby shouted, ignoring the squawking bird of murder. "Your idea is awesome!"
"Of course it's amazing!" Weiss retorted, choosing not to dwell on the admission that Ruby thought nasty things of her. "I came up with it! And it's better than the alternative!"
Now, Weiss knows what you might be thinking. Dust, Weiss knows what she'd be thinking, even if she wasn't thinking in the third person- that this is a no good, really bad, utterly absurd, downright rotten idea.
But you know what's even more rotten? Hanging out with dead bodies that move. Oh, they may seem nice at first. Clean, even. But one day… one day… one day the come stumbling in, all disheveled and tracking mud everywhere, and trying to eat your brains.
Weiss liked her brains where they were, thank you very much, just as she liked cleat carpets. Putting space between her and that… cadaver (because she was a high class lady and cadaver sounds almost as classy as caviar) was the only appropriate response.
And what better way to put distance to a ground-bound, tree-pinned, zombie than to catch a ride on a giant murder bird?
Plus, it beat walking north to the relics. Ruby thought it was a stroke of genius, and Weiss was willing to take credit for the idea now that she'd calmed down a bit. It never hurt for people to have a good opinion of you, afterwards. Ruby might be a little crazy, but Weiss had a bit optimism, and preferred to think of the little girl as a fixer-upper. An investment opportunity, even.
Yes, they were going places. All three of them- her, Ruby, the blonde tumbling in the air beside them…
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"Weiss is in trouble!" Yang froze, skin puckering and ears flattening in instinctual terror at the sound. "Again!"
"She really needs to stop doing that," Blake groused, finger in her ear. "I feel bad for whoever's stuck as her partner."
"Yeah," Yang nodded, glad to have someone as cool and composed as Blake. It would really stink to have a fraidy-cat for a partner. "Still… don't you think we should go and look for her?" she wondered. "Rather than just staying here, waiting for someone to come for these relics?"
Blake considered… and shook her head. "It'd be better to wait for allies to come to us," she said.
"But- that blood-curdling, soul-chilling scream," Yang worried. "What if whatever's out there finds Ruby?"
Ah, right- the little sister. "I'm sure she'll be fine- whatever is out there hasn't killed Weiss yet, after all. You said your sister's a brave girl, right?" Blake asked.
"Ruby's not afraid of anything," Yang boasted.
"Not even ghosts."
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"Oh! Hey Jaune!" Ruby waved at the cadaver cartwheeling in the sky beside them. "Come here often?"
Weiss considered the circumstances in something close to catatonia as the crimson-caped child cheerily chatted with cartwheeling cadaver coasting through the clouds contiguous to the cruel but captive crow they had compelled to carry them closer to check the certain constructs which they had calculated were certainly the objective of Ozpin's cryptic clues to conclude this capricious culminating induction of-
Crap, she couldn't consider continue with this charade, or any other cognition contingency, when the dead body was back!
Jaune waved back. Maybe. The cartwheeling made it hard to tell what was natural and what was… well, unnatural.
"Are you going to be alright?" Ruby asked. "You aren't going to be airsick up here or something, are you?"
If there was a response, Weiss couldn't hear it over the wind, but Ruby nodded as if there was one
"I think that's the least of his problems, Ruby," Weiss shakily managed.
"Whew! I'd feel bad for anyone below," the girl said, ignorring Weiss. "Sorry we left you in the tree, Jaune. How've you been hanging since?"
This time Weiss did hear a whistling noise over the wind- as the body slowed its cartwheeling and seemed to straighten into the wind, a whistling sound picked up. Cloth flapping in the wind over the exposed airhole in the upper chest.
Ruby laughed. "I thought I saw Pyrrha approaching as Weiss dragged me off!" she crowed.
Weiss paled. "You saw Pyrrha?" she demanded of Ruby. "And you didn't tell me?" That meant- that meant Pyrrha might have heard her undignified shriek! Pyrrha- brave, fearless, potential partner Pyrrha, who could have been hers had she not fled, but offered to trade one brain-dead partner for another…
No, wait, she messed that one up. Trade one brain-dead partner for Pyrrha. Or herself. Either way, really.
Ruby had an amused look on her face as she turned away from Jaune. "Well, you weren't exactly listening to anything I was saying at the time," she reminded.
"Well, excuse me for trying to save what's left of your brains!" Weiss retorted.
Ruby turned back towards Jaune. "Don't ask," she told the corpse.
One of Jaune's arms caught in the wind, sending him tumbling like a washer-machine. Somehow he tumbled over the axis of his own extended arm- and the upraised thumb.
"Ruby," Weiss began.
Ruby laughed over her. "No, it's good. Weiss is a lot less uptight than I thought. This Nevermore idea of hers was great!"
"Hey!"
"She's the one who insisted we jump on this nevermore," Ruby shared. "It's really saving us time walking."
"Ruby! Listen to me!"
"No, it was kinda considerate of her, really. I think it's working out."
Weiss crawled forward on the Nevermore to reach over and shake Ruby. "Ruby! Pay attention!"
The reaper shot the heiress an annoyed glance. "Weiss, can it wait? I'm in the middle of a conversation here."
"You're not- you're talking to no one!" Weiss shouted.
Ruby looked irritated. "There's no need to be rude, you know," the younger girl pointed out. "Just because you wanted to leave Jaune up a tree-"
"Because he was impaled to it!"
"-doesn't mean he's not my friend."
"He's dead!" Weiss shouted.
"So?" Ruby asked. "All my friends are dead."
"Somehow, that explains so much about you," Weiss threw at the girl in the gothic black dress.
And it did. Really. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise, as if she'd been slapped. Then a familiar hurt came across her face. And then she- Ruby Rose wilted is the only way Weiss could put it, withdrawing into herself and her cloak with a tuck of the chin and a role of the shoulders.
Weiss felt guilt, even before the sudden and unearthly chill came across her face, one cheek and then the other even though she hadn't turned her face against the wind. Beside her, Jaune's body tumbled in the wind- utterly uncontrolled- but she didn't notice as a sensation of ice filled her.
"I'm sorry," Weiss managed. The feeling of ice vanished- the same sunlight as before warming her- but her apology was lost to the wind. "That was uncalled for. I'm sorry," Weiss apologized, again, louder.
It still wasn't enough- or shouldn't have been- but perhaps the wind carried it for her. Ruby looked up- a sniffle carried itself downwind- and the two girls shared shakey but sincere smiles- Weiss contrite, Ruby daring to hope.
"Okay," Ruby accepted and forgave, rubbing what she'd later swear was wind out of her eye. Her earlier cheer returned, perhaps a bit forced, but genuine. "You're lucky Jaune likes you," Ruby claimed.
"Ugh. Don't remind me," Weiss griped, thinking back to the locker room flirtations. She looked away- and unfortunately back at the body, which was once again tumbling in the air facing towards the bird and its passengers.
"What are you looking at?" she snapped, annoyed at the mannequin-like grin stretching across its lips.
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Far, far below- but somehow not so far behind- there was gunfire and explosions and excitement. But mostly heavy, heavy breathing as three teenagers played a game of 'keep-away' with a giant scorpion.
"How long- has this thing- been following us?" Ren panted, even as a few feet in front of them Nora jumped and spun in mid-air, sending grenades behind them. The Nightstalker gave a ferocious scream, and they had a bit more space as they continued, but they couldn't stop running.
"I- don't- know," Pyrrha admitted, less out of breath but controlling her breathing to keep pace with her pace. "Half-mile? More?"
"Any sign of Jaune?" Nora asked, an excited grin on her face but a sincere concern in her voice. Unlike the rest, her energy was totally untapped.
Ren looked up, and shook his head. "Aura still- up there," he said, pointing.
Pyrrha nodded. "Keep- towards- him," she directed Ren. "Don't- lose- sight," she said, cadence bouncing her words (and other things- like her… ponytail) like so.
"What if- what if he doesn't come back down?" Nora asked, excited by the concept. "What if he's in heaven with two beautiful angels?"
"I don't- think- it works like- that, Nora," Ren gasped.
"But what if it did?" Nora asked. "I should ask Jaune next time I see him."
"But you- can't- see him," Pyrrha reminded.
Nora shrugged. "Eh- I'll be dead eventually," she cheerfully pointed out. "Just got to remember not to forget. I'll wait a lifetime for you, Jaune!" she shouted towards the sky.
"What I- want to know," Ren began. "Is-"
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"-just how is it-"
"He, Weiss. He."
"Just how is it he is staying up here so long?" Weiss demanded. "It must have been minutes already! How'd he even get up here in the first place?"
"That's- uh- that's a good question, Weiss. It was… a deathstalker, maybe?" Ruby asked, unsure.
"That's… not impossible, actually," Weiss admitted. "Deathstalkers have been known to throw the bodies of their victims long distances. If it-"
"He, Weiss. Jaune is a guy."
"I'm referring to the deathstalker."
"Oh. Never mind, then."
"Quite. Anyways, if it- the deathstalker!- threw him into a low parabolic trajectory-"
"A para-what now?"
"A para- an arc. Thrown into an arc."
"Jaune got thrown into his own family?"
"What? No, I mean- a curve. Like throwing a ball."
"Oooh. Why didn't you just say that?"
"I- you know what? Never mind. Deathstalker spears corpse from tree, throws it far, body stays in the air long time before it falls."
"Oooh. That makes sense."
"Really? I can throw in a few grunts and groans to make it simpler for you. Lower myself to your level of understanding. Oo, oo, ah, ah."
"Ughwaaaaaa."
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"We get it already, Weiss! You can stop now!" Yang shouted towards the sky.
"Is it me, or was that closer than last time?" Blake wondered.
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"I thought that was a good try, Jaune," Ruby said sympathetically. "Don't feel bad."
"He- he- he-"
"And hey! At least she acknowledges you as a man now!"
"He talked!" Weiss exclaimed, pointing a shaking finger at Jaune.
"Er… yes?" Ruby asked. "And this changed since… when?"
"Really talked! A real, audible, noise, and not just crazy-person babble!"
"Hey!"
"Uoogh!"
"And it moved! Just there! I saw him move!"
"Didn't we already go over this at the tree earlier?"
"I'd already suppressed that memory, but that's not important! Ruby! Listen to me- don't you realize what this means?"
"Uh… no, actually. I feel like I'm the one confused now."
"It means I'm not crazy! Neither of us are!"
"Are you sure?" Ruby asked. "Because-"
"Of course I'm sure, doofus! We're not crazy because he's not dead. He's alive, Ruby! He's alive! Mwahahaha!"
"Jaune? I think Weiss snapped…"
"Grahhh."
"You!" Weiss demanded, thrusting a finger over the still-flying Nevermore towards Jaune. "You're not actually dead, are you?"
Jaune's body tumbled once more.
"You're alive! Grievously injured, seriously harmed- but alive! Your semblance is keeping you alive, isn't it? It must be!" Weiss said. "Some variation of telekinesis? Something you could use to put your own body into stasis, even as it helps you move and stay in the air? That must be your semblance! It all makes sense now- beautiful, rational sense."
"Uh… Weiss? Are you alright?" Ruby asked, a tad concerned.
"Oh, never better Ruby," Weiss said, smiling brightly. "The world just makes sense again. Dust and semblances explain everything."
"That's… good?" Ruby guessed.
"Indeed. It really is fortunate that you have a telepathy semblance, Ruby," Weiss said. "Mr. Arc might never have been able to communicate with us otherwise."
"But I-"
"In fact, we should probably secure him post-haste. We wouldn't want any more damage to occur to his body," she reasoned.
"I'm not complaining," Ruby said, "but I thought you didn't like him?"
"Oh, I don't," Weiss assured.
"Uggggh," Jaune deflated. Or at least his lungs did.
"But I bear no ill will towards anyone who needs help," Weiss continued. "As future Huntresses, it's our duty to restore him to life!"
"Oh. Okay," Ruby agreed, cheered a bit. She reached out with her scythe to hook Jaune, but Weiss pulled her back.
"Let's not damage the body if we can avoid it. It's probably best if we re-unite on the ground," Weiss suggested. "I believe that is our destination," she said, pointing to approaching ruins. "No need to cut up his body just before we jump," she reasoned.
Ruby looked skeptical, even if she wasn't concerned. "Can your glyphs catch all three of us?" she asked.
"Oh, no need," Weiss laughed lightly. "Mr. Arc can float down on his own. He'll be fine," Weiss assured.
"But-" Ruby began once more.
"No time to argue. Ladies first, as he would say!" Weiss said, maniacally cheerful to the last as a glyph threw Ruby off the Nevermore.
"Jaune! Don't worry, Jaune, we'll save you!" Ruby promised.
Jaune's body tumbled once more as it began its descent.
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Yang could feel the tremors even before Blake heard the sounds.
"Someone's coming," Blake warned, getting to her feet. "Several someone's."
"'bout time," Yang said, blood starting to pump in anticipation. "I was dying of boredom over here. It was-"
There was a noise from above, and the girls looked up to see the screaming grimm… and the underside of two descending skirts.
"Ruby?" Yang recognized- somehow, considering all she could see were a pair of legs and the underside of a combat miniskirt.
"Did those two just ride in on a Nevermore?" Blake asked, taking a scroll photo from her own perspective.
(Someone in the not-so-distant future would be the proud owner of exclusive Schnee panty shot photos, with the proceeds going to a faunus rights charity… and a new copy of Ninja's of Love. The pages of her last volume were sticking together from all the frequent use, and Blake's revenge against the Schnees would make it feel all the better.)
The thought was chased from her mind with the crash of trees from the other side of the clearing, as three more people raced out of it followed by their own Grimm.
"Did those three run all the way here chased by a Nightstalker?" Blake asked as well, taking a picture of them for good measure.
The three were pointing in their direction- and shouting.
"Jaune!" they shouted.
"Pyrrha?" Yang shouted back in confusion, recognizing the amazon.
"Yang!" Ruby called from above.
"Ruby!" Yang called in return, even as Ruby managed her landing strategy onto a tree.
"Weiss?" Blake recognized, noting how the girl was unharmed.
"Pyrrha?" Weiss called from above, using a glyphs to slow her descent.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted back, pointing.
"Jaune?" Weiss echoed.
"Jaune!" Ruby remembered.
"Caw!" the Nevermore screamed from above- pathetically compared to the earlier screams.
Still, it was enough- a cauldron of confusion and chaos that set one of them over the edge.
"Grrr! I can't take it any more!" Yang exploded- literally, with fire and everything. "Could everyone chill out for five seconds? And shut up about Jaune?"
There was a beat. Five.
"ButYangIcan'twait-"
The three-incoming initiates were still pointing up.
Four
"Ireallyneedyourhelp-"
Blake looked up, and her eyes widened. "Shouldn't we-"
Three
"-tocatchJaunehe's-"
"It's fine," Weiss assured. "After all,-"
Two
"-kindofaghost-"
"-Mr. Arc has-"
One
"-butnotimaginary."
"-his semblance."
Zero
"See?" Weiss asked, as Jaune slammed into Remnant in front of her and splattered.
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"Damn it Weiss, we're right beside you!"
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End Week Three
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Author Note:
Another glorious chapter. Self-editing, no beta-ing, and all that. Next chapter will be a bit longer- I've got all weekend to write before a major road trip- and hopefully I'll finish the initiation arc.