Reclaiming in Black
Chapter 11: Bitterness, and Reveals
Yang was having a shitty week. Her shittiest week at Beacon yet, in fact, despite that they were only a few days in. Why was she having a shitty week? Because everyone she cared for had decided that they were going to go wack at the same time.
Everyone besides Ruby, the little sister and not her time-traveling counterpart, that is. They all seemed to be in some collective, major-ass funk. Dad was way too quiet, acting downright mopey at times, something Yang hadn't seen since he had been recovering from Summer's death. It was worrying her. And Qrow! Qrow was a bundle of angsty rage if Yang didn't know the man was nearing his forties she'd assume him some hormonal teenage boy. He could be seen stomping down the halls – still eerily silent in spite of his violent movement – and had developed quite the reputation with the student body. More than a few were already intimidated by soon to be teacher of the newly created 'Stealth and Intelligence' course, despite that it wouldn't be starting till next week.
Obsidians seemed almost terrified. He could barely look at any of them, he flinched away from almost all conversation. He still projected a silent strength he had always had, but his stature had become closed off, and twitchy. He spent lots of time training, having had Rose amp up the simulator for her level, and from the data coming out, destroying record after record, and wiping them the moment they come out. He spends almost as much time pouring over his scroll as Weiss, and...
Weiss was… well honestly, she was a ticking time bomb of furious racism, willful ignorance, and growing depressive instability. Both everyone but Blake had seen some of what Rose had intended to show Weiss, and plainly put it was horrifying. The videos, pictures, statistics; the sheer volume of incontrovertible proof arrayed against the image Weiss had built of her father was staggering. Staggering and beyond any evil Yang had seen before.
If she didn't know that the White Fang was being manipulated, Yang wasn't sure she wouldn't have dropped out of Beacon to join immediately, the fact that she was a human be damned. The Faunus at the Schnee Dust mines were nothing more than legal slaves. The S.D.C records actually referred to them as livestock. They were starved, beaten, murdered, raped, and a number of other of incomprehensible crimes were inflicted upon them. Their humanity was degraded until they were either dead, hollow shells of the people they used to be, or damaged so severely they become little better than the beasts the S.D.C sees them as.
Weiss was not taking what she had seen well. All her life she'd been fed shovel after shovel of bullshit about the Faunus being less than human, but after seeing the horrors her own father inflicted upon those people she saw much more humanity in them than he. And this shook her to the core. In public she was perfectly alright, composed and stoic, the very image of the dedicated, hardworking heiress she strove to be. Behind closed doors, the courtesy fled like birds from a thunderstorm.
She pored over the records, doing her best to disprove the equality of the Faunus, trying her utmost to justify her father's crimes. Every piece of vitriolic filth she'd ever heard was parroted and cited as she tried to excuse each charge, image, and video. And this is where her beautiful, patient, caring little sister came in. Like water off a duck's back, Ruby ignored every hateful word Weiss directed at the Faunus, debating every single point the shaken heiress would bring up.
The Faunus were lesser beings?
'Prove it, tell me why.'
'They aren't as intelligent, mere beasts compared to us, humans.'
'Your proof?'
'It's common knowledge that the Faunus are little more than animals!'
'Ok, my turn. Here's a dissertation on the intelligence levels of Faunus vs humans, backed by a series of studies, and numerous well renowned, neutral scientists.'
And just like that, Weiss learned. The icy girl prided herself on her knowledge, and when something was proven so brutally and then actually informed her of the facts, backed by thousands of man-hours and years of intense study? She couldn't disregard it. She couldn't ignore that truth. And it hurt, god Yang could see how much it hurt her to accept that. That every step she took on the road to seeing the Faunus as equals was taking a step toward the fact that her father was a monster.
Yang couldn't express how glad she was that Ruby was doing this for Weiss. She knew she wouldn't be able to. After just half an hour of Weiss tearing into the Faunus as 'disgusting half-breed wretches that should have been drowned at birth' she was ready to punch the girl's lights out. She would have if she hadn't left to visit Rose.
And it hurt to see Weiss like this, she admitted. She cared for the girl on more than a platonic level, so to see her act out in this manner was incredibly off-putting to Yang. How could she be falling for someone so awful? But no, Rose explained that it would pass, that Weiss was still the caring, shy girl she had always been on the inside. She was just going through an incredibly hard time, and Yang should understand that throwing off the yoke of years of conditioning was no simple thing.
Yang didn't leave Rose's side feeling much better. Yes, what she had said to her had helped her come to terms with Weiss' situation, but now she was worried about Rose. Her newfound big sis looked so tired and defeated, so lost… Yang worried. She'd thought that once Rose had shown that she was actually ok, perfectly able to function despite her unbelievable trip through time she wouldn't need to watch out for her. Except Rose wasn't ok, and Yang saw it.
She suspected that the older Ruby was coming to terms with her situation, with the loss of her old life. She'd hoped that the battle-scarred woman had already accepted it in the time she'd spent by herself in the past fortnight, but it seemed that was wishful thinking. Rose was doing exactly what Ruby did when she was going through a hard time; she was bottling everything up and putting on a mask of happiness. Yang could smack herself for not seeing it earlier, but even now that she knew it was happening there was not much she could do.
Could she just say 'Sorry I was horribly murdered in front of you in the future, Rose, but it's ok cause I'm perfectly fine now!' or something? God, Yang really didn't know. She was still coming to terms with everything herself! Being a Huntress in training, she accepted that she was liable to injury and death. As a warrior, it came in the job description. But actually hearing a true story of your own demise? Well shit, it wasn't exactly heartening.
Yang was confused, worried, frustrated, anxious, angry, and just so Dust damned tired of this mess of a week. One positive she could see was that Blake herself didn't seem to afflicted with the drama-bug that had been traveling around. Her ravenette partner had been disappearing frequently in the last few days, ostensibly to avoid the volatile Weiss. Yang couldn't really blame her, either. She and Weiss weren't particularly close yet, and Yang had her own suspicions about Blake.
No, Blake was probably doing the right thing by staying far, far away from the imminent eruption of Mt. Schnee.
And what was Yang doing in the middle of this huge mess? She was once again picking up the mantle of big sister, extending the encompassing of her protection to Weiss. She could see the growing exhaustion, the mounting trepidation in Weiss' dulling eyes. Every day, as time progressed, and more of what she thought she knew was proved wrong, she seemed to shrink in on herself. Ruby had the unenviable, hurtful job of tearing apart Weiss' world piece by piece, and Yang was responsible for Weiss' wellbeing. She was the pillar of support for the struggling heiress. Food, homework, and even making sure the girl stuck to her hygiene schedule, Yang made sure of all these things.
Weiss eventually wouldn't say a word about the Faunus in Yang's presence, and the tall blonde would reciprocate. No talk of fathers, or slaves, Yang stuck by Weiss, a shoulder to lean on. Weiss didn't speak a word of thanks, but then again she didn't speak much at all. But seeing as she sought out the simple comforting presence Yang provided said everything she needed in volumes.
Ruby sometimes did as well, seeking reassurances that what she was doing was the right thing from Yang like she had done for as long as she could remember. Yang did her best to quell the feelings of sadness when she realized that as often as Ruby came to her for a moment of comfort, she just as often went to Rose. In fact, seeing as Yang hadn't really provided any advice for the last while, she could only assume that Ruby was seeking guidance from her older counterpart more than she was from Yang. Yes, Ruby came to her for comfort, but the guiding hand that she had so often lent in the past was now proffered by Rose.
Yang wasn't completely sure how she felt about that.
To top it all off, after nearly four days of worrying, Weiss had looked dramatically worse today, and Yang couldn't quite shake off the feeling that things were coming to a head…
Yang's feeling had been right, and she wasn't sure if she was happy about it. For that matter, neither was Ruby. Both were sitting next to Weiss, who had gone into near catatonia as soon as they had reached the dorm that night. The room was dark and quiet, lit only by the scroll in Weiss' hands. All three of the girls were sitting on Rose's old bed, still stuffed in the corner of the room on the floor. Yang sat to the right of Weiss, Ruby to the left, all leaning against the wall.
Ruby flinched at the sight of a bruised, dirty Faunus woman with dark hair. Yang stiffened also; the likeliness to Summer Rose was discomfiting to the extreme, and it brought up a bubbling rush of pain, anger, and horror to see the mirror image of their beloved mother so abused and defeated. Her gaunt features stared out of the slate of the scroll, every sharp line of her haunted face a damning accusation that cut to the bone.
"Do you know her?" Weiss asked unemotionally, not a trace of the exhaustion written all over her features creeping into her voice.
"No." Ruby and Yang said in unison.
"Out of everyone we have seen, why did she startle you?" Weiss questioned, tracing the woman's face with an idle feature.
"She looks like Summer." Yang murmured, ignoring the look Ruby shot her. She'd never been comfortable calling her mom in front of anyone except her little sister and father. Yang didn't want to tell them that she did it because when she had been younger, she was afraid that her birth mother would somehow hear her and leave her forever. She'd outgrown that fear, of course, but the habit had never left her.
"Who was she?" Weiss asked, and both sisters look at her askance. "You've referred to her in past tense in my presence in the past, but I don't actually know who she is, beyond the fact that she is important to both of you."
"She was Ruby's mother." Yang informed her softly.
"And yours." Ruby insisted, and her older sister bowed her head in acknowledgment, accepting the subtle reprimand in her sister's tone.
"And mine."
"What was she like?"
Ruby took in a slow breath, stretching herself out on the mattress, her calves now resting on the cool, smooth wooden floor instead of the soft bedding. "She was… she was amazing. And not just because she was my mom, you know? She was kind, and most of the time she was pretty soft-spoken, but she could be really stern. If it had been anyone else, I would say she would sound like a fairly average woman, but she wasn't. She was the kind of person that people found themselves drawn to her because as soon as they met her, it was like she was a missing part of their lives, they just couldn't imagine living without her."
"Dad said the same thing." Yang murmured, allowing Weiss to lean into her, taking the scroll from her hands. "He always mentioned how she was 'a soft song in this noisy world, rounding the edges of the sadness, the cruelty, and making everything good she touched all the brighter'."
"Dad said that?" Ruby asked softly, staring at the ceiling. "I can't imagine…"
"You were pretty young when she passed," Yang told her gently. "And dad was… he was pretty messed up. He said a lot of things about her, told me how he really felt about her after she died."
"Yeah?"
"He really loved her." Yang said with a melancholy smile, meeting Ruby's upturned gaze with her own downturned eyes. "It's sad, but it made me realize something sappy like true love really does exist."
"I've always felt like I was lucky for having such an amazing mom." Ruby admitted with a little hiccup.
"She was something else." Yang agreed. "Super-mom; slayer of monsters, baker of cookies, and hair-stylist extraordinaire."
"She sounds a lot like Rose." Weiss said to them.
'Ruby Rose, sister, Hunter, and baker extraordinaire, at your service.'
"Yeah." Yang sighed. "More than you think."
"She is, isn't she?" Ruby whispered slowly, clenching her fists in the sheets. "How? Why?"
"Maybe you should ask Rose." Yang suggested, fighting down a blush as Weiss leaned into a one-armed embrace whilst worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.
"Maybe…" Ruby allowed, closing her eyes and sinking into the feeling of the soft bedding beneath her.
"Thank you." Weiss said to them both.
"No worries, Ice-Princess." Yang said cheekily, jostling the somber looking girl slightly.
"That's okay, Weiss." Ruby told her, turning her head to give her a small smile.
"My mother and father don't love each other." Weiss said bluntly, getting twin startled looks from the sister duo. "At least, not anymore. When I was younger, I think they really loved each other. I remember them smiling a lot more, at me, at our workers, at one another… but it started changing after my little sister was born. I remember how overjoyed my parents were to have another child," Weiss said with a small smile. "A real blessing. And I too was happy; I'd always yearned for a brother or sister. The problem with growing up wealthy is that childhood friends are notoriously hard to come across, and fickle at best."
Weiss sighed, and brought her hands together, interlacing them together as she had oft practiced. "And then it came to light that my mother would be unable to have any more children." She clenched her hands together tighter. "Father was absolutely furious. And my mother… she seemed so anguished. She started spending a lot of time with Winter, looking after her by her own hand rather than leaving much of it to the serving staff."
"I always thought they were upset because they wanted more children." She finished with a low, bitter chuckle. "And it was true, but it was not because they wanted to raise another child, it was because they wanted a son. A strong, male heir to carry on the 'noble' Schnee legacy." Weiss spat the word noble out acidly, viciously gesturing toward the now abandoned scroll.
"Father was furious." Weiss said again. "Winter was too young to remember, but I do. I know how much he changed, much as my mother did. Father wished for a male heir, but he was not so dishonorable that he would abandon the woman he barrened, he would not lay with another out of wedlock."
"He wished for a son but all he had was me." She uttered scornfully. "No longer was I Weiss Schnee, beloved daughter of mom and dad. No, I was now the Schnee heir, noble offspring of my mother and father. 'Yes, lord-father. No, lord-father. No, lady-mother. Yes, lady-mother.' And so on, every day, from then on."
"I was no longer their child, I was their heir." Weiss emphasized the word hatefully. "They raised me to be the perfect legacy. Educated, polite, commanding, cunning, perceptive, and shrewd but never happy, or loved. I was not their daughter anymore. And it became quite clear that whereas my father was invested in my wellbeing, he could care less about Winter, my own little sister."
"She was - and truthfully still is - the brightest part of my youth. I love her dearly." Weiss told them, her voice turning warm before it lost all tone once more. "And so did our mother. I don't know if it was in response to all the attention my father paid to me and not to Winter, but my mother doted on her. She spent more time with her in those first few years than I have ever experienced, even now, after all these years. Whereas I was raised without the love of either of my parents, she at least was brought up with the love of our mother."
"Father was… father is cruel and demanding. He accepted nothing less than the best, in everything. And mother did nothing to stop it, to my knowledge she did not once protest at my handling. She simply gave up." Weiss told them matter-of-factly, her even tone belying the deep pain she held at saying those few simple words. "I think Winter was jealous, at one stage. Jealous when she realized that the reason father never paid her any mind was because of me. One day, when my mother was busy organizing some function or another, she escaped to follow me in a day of instruction."
"I noticed, of course. I do not think my father did, nor my other teachers, but I did. How could I not? She was my little sister, and you two of all people should realize that there is a certain sense you develop with your sister, some level of bond beyond the norm." She said, getting two soft acknowledgments of her statement. "She came into my room crying that night. She wanted to know why 'dad hated big-sister Weiss so much'. Imagine that. After a single day of watching my lessons, she was convinced our father hated me. And I had lessons all day, every day, all week, every week."
"And in a way it was true, he was not gentle in his teaching or his reprimands. His displeasure was never a subtle thing." Weiss murmured, lifting a hand to stare at slightly scarred knuckles. "She wanted to know why he was punishing me so much, every day. I told her it was because I wasn't perfect. She told me that even she knew that no one was perfect. And I told her that our sire would expect nothing less of me, that it hurt too much to be anything but perfect."
"It was around then that she told my mother, I suspect." Weiss sighed. "But it was too late, my mother had already distanced herself, had already abandoned me to my fate, as it were. Winter saw how my parents treated me, my mother, especially because she knew just how loving the woman could be, and she hated her for it. I wish it could have been otherwise, for Winter's sake and nothing else, because I did not want to damage what she had with our mother. I didn't want to hurt her."
"But… it didn't work out that way." Weiss said slightly mournfully. "I was thirteen, and Winter ten when we realized we both, on some level, despised our parents. I despised my father for tearing my childhood and my mother away, whom I also disdained for her abandonment of me. Winter became vicious when it came to supporting me; to the point where she made it quite clear to my mother that she would not abide being treated like an only child. Our mother never recovered from that blow, I think, and she became even meeker, more reserved as the days went by, obsessed with her self-loathing. And Winter barely knew my father outside of the fact that he was a violent, totalitarian bigot."
"Time came and went, and I was still under the tutelage of my lord-father. Until I told him I planned to become a Huntress, that is." Weiss smiled wryly at the memory. "He was not much pleased, I remember. Of course, there wasn't much he could say to protest, seeing as he'd always espoused the strength and honor of the history of warriors in our family. He was convinced it was too dangerous for his heir to become a Hunter. And I realized something; if I wasn't available, if I was to pursue my career as a Hunter he would name Winter the heir."
Weiss clenched her fists in her lap, blinking away furious tears. "I would not – could not abandon her to endure what I had all those years. I wouldn't let that man so much as touch her." She spat out the words, but then, unexpectedly, a broad smile crept onto her face and she laughed in delight at the memories. "But it seems Winter was too smart by half. She, like I, wishes to be a hunter. Do you know what she did?" Weiss asked rhetorically.
"No." Ruby replied dutifully, fully absorbed in Weiss' emotional tale.
"She managed to sneak her way into a spot at the Atlas Youth Hunting Academy." Weiss laughed lightly, wiping away tears from her eyes. "Father hardly paid mind to her requests, and mother was half drunk most days, so it was both surprising and unsurprising that my sister had managed to get them to sign the permissions without them realizing. The cheeky brat tricked them both!" She giggled, getting a chuckle from Yang and a similar giggle from Ruby, both of them glad that there was happiness in this so far somber story. "Oh, how absolutely livid father was when he found out. This was last year, some time. I was sixteen, Winter thirteen, and the both of us now inducted into the world of Hunters."
"As you should know, it is impossible to rescind permission for your child to become a Hunter once you give it. Too many parents getting cold feet. Even if our sire brought down the collective might of the Schnee Dust Company's legal teams, they wouldn't be able to crack a case to get us removed against our wishes. Despite his protests, we were, and are now possibly forever out of his reach."
Weiss' smile at this looked completely shattered, a bittersweet pain washing over her features. "I got into Beacon immediately. With my combat ability, scholastic records, and my family name I was what they called a 'shoe in'. I was sad to leave Winter, and she I, but I know that she's happy at her new school. She has friends, real friends, and she loves learning to fight." Weiss snorted at this, looking up at Yang, ice blues meeting her lilac eyes. "In this, she reminds of you. Battle nuts, the both you two." She said with an eye roll and a fond grin.
Yang's cheeks pinked, and she scratched her cheek sheepishly. It was true, and usually, she would not be so bashful about her fondness for violence, but the way in Weiss had said it… well, if she was to indulge her inner romantic, she'd say it made her heart flutter. If she was not so inclined, she'd just say that having a cute girl pressed up to your side, teasing and grinning at you with her perfect teeth and crystalline blue eyes was a turn on.
"So we escaped, in our own way. And here I am, training to be what I want to be, a Huntress." Weiss said happily, but the way her body shook against Yang's told her of repressed emotion. "But you want to know something?"
"A part of me was doing this for my father." Weiss admitted, tears burning in her eyes. "I thought that if he knew I was strong, maybe things could change. It would never be as it was when I was a child, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could get my dad back." She hiccupped, wrapping her arms around her chest. "I knew he wasn't a great person, but I didn't think he was bad, either. I knew he was worth my respect, and that if he could come to respect me in kind, it must surely mean something? It must mean I have some worth, being respected by the most powerful man on the planet. It must mean that he, on some level, cares for me."
Weiss bit back a sob, even as Yang rubbed her arms reassuringly and Ruby lay a comforting hand on her knee. "But that's a lie. Everything, absolutely everything he taught me is a lie! Our family legacy isn't proud, noble, or great! It's vicious, disgusting, inhumane, and capable of pure evil, wrought from the suffering of others. Everything I thought I would one day inherit, that I would one day proudly bear the burden of responsibility for under the mantle of Lady Schnee is fucking abominable. And my father! My father is not a great man or a good man, he is not even a bad man, he is the worst man. The most abhorrent, cruel, malicious, contemptible, materialistic, savage human being on the planet." She choked, sobbing softly.
"Oh god, those poor people. How could he do those things? How could someone I used to love so much be so utterly vile? I thought he was worth respect, but he's a sick, depraved, unrepentant monster. I didn't believe the Faunus were equal with humans, I didn't really care that they suffered because they were lesser beings." Weiss cried, chest heaving as she poured her heart out. "But I was wrong! Everything he said was lies! The Faunus are just people… just people and my father tortures them for profit!"
"How could he? Why? He was my father, my dad. I can't… I – ju- I can't-" Weiss sobbed harshly, and Yang ignored the sting of tears in her own eyes, tugging the distraught girl to her bit harder. She wrapped her arms tighter around Weiss, using her semblance to provide that extra bit of warmth, of comfort. Ruby herself had sat up, hugging Weiss from the front. Weiss was leaning on Ruby's shoulder, her body shaking as she wept in the embrace of her teammates. "Daddy." She cried softly, heartbroken.
The three of them were unsure how much time passed in their collective embrace. But eventually, Weiss quieted, her shivering stopped. Ruby moved back, and Yang eased up on her hug. The only sound in the room was of Weiss uneven breathing, and the soft sniffles of Ruby, whom - from the redness of her eyes - Yang could see had also been crying.
"Hey Weissy," Yang called out softly, jostling Weiss lightly to get her attention. Weiss turned up to look at her, face red, tear tracks running down her face. "You feeling better?" She asked, because what idiot would ask 'are you okay?' in the sort of situation.
"Don't call me Weissy." The white-haired girl bit out, wiping her face on the long sleeve of her coat.
Ruby huffed out a small laugh. "Seems like it." She answered for her, giving them both a small, cheeky, very Rose-like grin.
"Is this a bad time?" Blake's voice cut into the room suddenly. The three sitting occupants started lightly, looking at the now open door. They'd apparently been preoccupied enough not to notice the slice of light that had poured in from the hallway outside. Blake stood in the doorway, standing with Rose.
"What's up? Did something happen?" Rose asked worriedly, scanning each of the three sitting girls for injuries. Weiss, noticing Rose's sudden inspection, understood that the older woman might be panicking as the result of some long-ingrained habit like she half expected to come back to maimed friends.
"We're..." Weiss floundered for a second, before settling for, "fine." Rose didn't look convinced. "I was just coming to terms with who my father really is." She explained, voice slightly pained.
Realization flitted across Rose's features, and Weiss was comforted to see sorrowful regret as well. Apparently, her time traveling confidante hadn't relished the thought of doing this to her but seen that it was necessary. "You guys hungry?" Rose asked suddenly.
"Uh yeah, I am, kinda." Yang said, then she looked down at the other two on the bed. "You two?"
"Starving." Ruby moaned dramatically.
"I could eat." Weiss said levelly.
"Perfect, Blake and I will go fetch dinner, one if you can find Obsidian." Rose said enthusiastically.
Rose sauntered away, "Let's go, woman, we've got people to feed!" She exclaimed, already hobbling away.
"So impatient." Blake muttered, walking out and closing the door behind her.
As they walked, "You should tell them." Rose said bluntly.
The halls they were walking were slightly busy, given that it was early evening and for many the end of hard day's work. Some students were going to their dorms, some to dinner, but all of them made for obstructions in Blake's path. It was sort of fun for her to make a game of it, as she often did, gliding in between the smallest gaps and timing her bursts of speed as finely as she could, all whilst trying to remain as innocuous as possible. And it seemed that Rose was aware of this little peculiarity of hers, as she was obviously doing her best to make it as difficult as possible to walk next to her, and thus reply in their so far slightly stilted conversation.
That, or Rose was trying to get Blake to bowl over some random passerby for fun. Either seemed as likely as the other, if the cat Faunus admitted, knowing Rose. Finally, sidling around a particularly rambunctious group of male students she leveled with Rose. The sidelong look she gave the older woman sparked a glimmer of humor in her silver eye, and she looked far too innocent to be convincing in the slightest.
"What do you mean?" Blake asked, handily ignoring their subtle – if brief – chase.
"Your secret." Rose supplied, making Blake snap to her with surprise. There was no point in telling her what secret she was likely to be talking about.
"Is now really the best time?" Blake answered unsurely, wary of telling the Schnee heiress about her true race so soon after Rose had put the girl (hopefully) on the right path.
"I don't know." Rose shrugged easily, now walking at a reasonable speed, and slapping a nearby male student on the back of the head as he leered at her. Blake snorted when he tripped slightly, bouncing his head off a door his teammate had been opening. Rose seemed completely oblivious to the slight injury she'd just caused a student on a whim, making good time on her march to the cafeteria. "Like I said, it's your choice, but I think Weiss just came to terms with what we've discussed over the last few days. She doesn't open up often, and I think it would mean a lot to her if you told her now, whilst she's still - for lack of a better word - susceptible."
"Isn't that sort of manipulative?" Blake questioned, furrowing her brow. Rose made a face at that, almost a grimace, seemingly torn.
"Is it a bad sort of manipulative is the question you want to ask." Rose stated, and then she sighed. "I'm trying to be level with you all, really I am. What I most want is for you all to be happy, and for things to be easier, better than it was for me the first time round." She pursed her lips and rolled her hand in the air. "So I suggest things, or I talk you through some stuff. Does that count as manipulation? It probably is, granted, but I can provide a level of guidance that no one else could, having lived these events once before." Blake took a moment to scrutinize Rose as she said this, noticing a solemn set to her friend's defined features she'd become all too familiar with in these last few days. It had been showing up more and more during Rose's brief stint in the infirmary. "But is it ethical, is it right to do so? Am I suborning someone else's free will? I don't even know, and this entire situation is so completely impossible that I'm tying myself in knots thinking about it." Rose admitted, her voice laced with stubborn sort of frustration.
"Are you trying to mold us into something else? Trying to have us go through a planned set of events?" Blake questioned, doing her best to piece together a picture of Rose's dilemma.
"No, not really. The two biggest problems we had – wartime not included - were the fight about your heritage, and Weiss' father and her company's legacy. The former was more or less a symptom of the latter, however. Other than that I just want you all safe. Well, safe as someone training to be a professional monster slayer can be." Rose granted with a small grin. Blake returned the smile slightly, before returning to the problem at hand.
"So all you're trying to do is offset the potential major problems, but otherwise leaving us to our own devices, unless we come to you specifically?" She asked in hopes of clarification.
"Well, mostly, yeah." Rose replied, bobbing her head. "I mean, I'm gonna help you, and I am going to talk and give advice and just… I dunno, support you? But that's less because I know things and more because I care about you all on a personal level, as my friends. Do you understand what I'm saying?" She implored.
"I believe so." Blake acknowledged with a warm smile. "As long as you aren't directing us toward a certain goal, just toward protecting and encouraging our health and happiness I believe isn't manipulative, per se. You want us to grow, succeed, and come together as a team and as friends." She said, and Rose gave her a relieved, affirmative grin. "I believe that falls under more benevolent terms; mentorship, maybe?" The amber-eyed trainee suggested.
Rose paused her hobbled stride halting. "Mentorship, huh?" She mused aloud, an odd look in her eye.
Blake ignored the strangely portentous feeling those two words had, and considering exactly whom it came from, mentally prepared herself for similar occurrences in the future. "You aren't making choices for us – except perhaps in your effort to shield us from harm, but considering the situation I can't find it in myself to complain – just providing us with guidance and the tools to make our own path. I believe a mentor is an appropriate label." Blake comforted as they stepped into the bustling cafeteria, and then walked into the long line for food.
Rose blew out a slow breath, before giving Blake a sidelong glance, ignoring the chatter and the inquisitive looks of the students around her. It seemed that, like Qrow, her own reputation at Beacon was making itself known. More than a few whispers drifted over with the line of 'the new combat instructor'. "Here I am, trying to give you advice, and you end up making me feel better."
"Mm." Blake hummed.
'My pleasure.'
"Anyway, like you said, I won't be making your choices for you." Rose told her seriously. "But I really do believe that you should tell them."
Blake closed her eyes contemplatively. She had expected to tell her team, it was inevitable that they would find out, but for it to happen so soon? Did she trust them? She wanted to, but past experience had made her wary. Humans were as a whole not nearly as benevolent as they believed themselves to be.
She was torn. Part of her knew already, and part of her was still indecisive, a part that feared that she would be shunned and abandoned to the cruel, desperate loneliness of the world once more.
But they wouldn't. Rose was proof of that, living, breathing, proof that the team had accepted her already, once before. Before in a time yet to take place, an impossible piece of now borne from a future yet unlived. Could she have faith that everything would once more be as it was? Wasn't it Rose's most fervently pursued goal to change the future?
Would it even be worth it?
She could be herself, with no reservations, if she came clean with her teammates, Obsidian, at least, already knew and had known since shortly after they met. But to be able to indulge those small, priceless freedoms she'd denied herself for months, ever since she'd left the White Fang. No lingering sense of guilt or responsibility, everything she did – for good or for ill – would be laid at the feet of the true Blake. No masks, no lies, and no little black bow.
Just Blake, flaws and all.
Rose waited patiently as Blake stood in pensive silence, absentmindedly collecting trays of food for her team. There was a weight to her stillness that indicated that she was in deep, serious thought. An air of almost tangible deliberation clung to the stealthy faunus. She remained quiet, even as they left the cafeteria. It was halfway to the dorm when Blake stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"What's up, Blake?" Rose prompted, keeping her eye out for any eavesdroppers, but satisfied when she couldn't detect anything obvious.
Blake turned and met eye-to-eye with Rose, looking thoughtful as ever. "If… if things don't work out, what will I do?"
Rose took a moment to consider that, tilting her head side to side. "Before or after I kick their asses?" Rose joked lightly, getting a brief thankful quirk to Blake's lips before she answered seriously. "If team RWBY can't abide something like this, they aren't worth my attention." She declared darkly. "I won't tolerate discrimination, from anyone, least of all from myself. If it really comes down to it, in this I'll always stick by you, Blake." She told her, laying a hand on Blake's shoulder, squeezing lightly.
Blake took a deep breath and straightened up, feeling much more at ease after Rose's reassurance. "I'm going to tell them." She said firmly, committed to this course of action that could, and probably would irrevocably alter the path her life took from here on out.
"Lead the way."
Weiss was barely paying a mind to her food, and considering what she was eating was vaguely shepherds pie, that was probably for the best. The rest of the team didn't seem to share her half-hearted concern, or self her self-preservation instinct, and were happily tucking into their meal. Blake had briefly put up a fuss about the quality of the food, but Rose had said she had eaten far worse in the field, and Blake too conceded that she had endured some horrific field rations in the past. On any other day, Weiss might have found such a conversation amusing, as she and her sister had snuck Hunter rations back at Schnee manor once upon a time.
Let it be known that children raised on five-star cuisine were rather fussy and that whoever had created the field rations first priority had most assuredly not been catering to a Schnee's delicate palette.
But as it was, she was mostly consumed by her thoughts. Her composure had broken earlier, not completely, but a far cry from the composed equilibrium that had been demanded from her all her life. In her lapse she had confided in the teammate sisters, telling them more about her past in one sitting than she had anyone else ever before - total.
And now she was confused, and she felt uncomfortably fragile like she was teetering on some pivotal precipice and one strong push would upend her into... into what?
She did not know, and that went onto a long list of what she didn't know, right now she felt as if she barely knew anything. Her entire world was changing so quickly. Her escape from the life of the Schnee heiress, her arrival at Beacon, her partnership with Ruby, her acceptance of said girl as her leader and friend, her acceptance of the fact that an older Ruby Rose traveled backward through time. And now, this. The complete upheaval of last roots of respect she had for her own father. Her world had changed.
Or perhaps, she mused, it was more accurate to say her perception of the world around her shifted immensely over the last few days, ever since Rose had supplied her with evidence of her father's crimes.
Of his lies.
In some ways the world was a far lighter place without the burden of honor the name Schnee rested on her soul. In some respects, it was far darker, in that the name Schnee is what has labeled the approval of atrocities too numerous to comprehend.
The honest support and overwhelming energy of both Ruby and Yang had helped heal some of the turmoil and isolative pain she'd struggled with since she was young. It had been merely a month but to her surprise, and if she was being honest to her immense relief and delight, she counted her team – even the immensely reserved Blake and the strange but kind Obsidian - as her friends.
True, honest-to-Oum friends.
And on that note, she considered her feelings when it came to Rose, Ruby's older self. She had hurt Weiss, and it was deep harsh wound, but the heiress could see it was the type of hurt that had to be inflicted to allow her to heal. She would equate it to old healing practice of bloodletting, but actually effective as opposed to medieval medical nuttery.
It was an unfamiliar feeling to understand just how much you can come to rely on a supportive, more experienced figure. On someone who cared. She couldn't deny she had come to rely on Rose already. The fact that Rose made no secret of the love she held for each and every member of team RWBY was a balm to her soul, and it helped to soothe the sting of the lesson Rose had delivered unto Weiss. Rose's unwavering support also helped to ease a long-held tension in Weiss. She was unsure just what she considered the older woman, but it was positive, and she knew she would come to understand it - and her - better in time.
What she most assuredly did not understand were her feelings for Yang. Weiss was not an overly emotional person, and not purely because of her stringent upbringing, but even she could discern that the scope of her feelings for the team's resident brawler was beyond her experience. Weiss craved her company, the first time she had truly wished for the company of person rather than people. She made Weiss feel... things, in the strangest, most pleasant of ways. It was confusing and it made her head hurt just as often as it sent her pulse racing. As time permitted she would endeavor to understand what… this was, as well...
Maybe she would ask Rose?
Then there was the youngest of their group. Ruby was simple. She infuriated Weiss, annoyed her to the ends of Vale and back again. She was childish, immature, loud, reckless, and utterly ill-mannered. But she was also immensely kind, honest, caring, prone to moments of startling insight, and wielded an odd wisdom that belied her fifteen years of age. She was excitable as a puppy, and just as affectionate. It was endearing and vexing in equal measure.
In Blake, she sensed something of a kindred soul. In some aspects, they were rather alike, and Blake was... well she right now she was staring at Weiss. Yes, Weiss' attention may have drifted a little as she ate, carried away by her thoughts, but there was something intense in the way Blake was looking at her that had got her attention and brought her back to the present. Glancing around it seemed both Yang and Ruby had noticed, going uncharacteristically quiet as they watched Blake's observe Weiss.
And Obsidian who had seemed unflappable, almost unstoppable, something she had been expected to be most of her life, so easily that he seemed like an idol. However since Rose showed up, he has been less confident, still seeming strong, but his stoicness was shattered leaving a painful fear she didn't understand until recently. Now she thought that he seems terrified of us, not physically, but of being alone again. Something she had almost succumbed to under the weight of guilt, and pain.
As she looked at her, Rose was simply sitting and drinking her hot chocolate. She too was observing… but also something else.
It was like she was waiting for something, perhaps?
"I have something important to tell you guys." Blake said nervously, muffled because of the way she was biting on her lower lip. It was an odd counterpoint to her usual enunciated, mellow patterns.
'Was this what Rose was waiting for?' Weiss thought quickly, suspiciously. It seemed entirely possible as the older woman outwardly seemed relaxed, but Weiss could tell just how attentive she was being, courtesy of her penetrative silver hued gaze.
"Wassup, Blakey?" Yang prompted easily, ostentatiously trying to ease her partner's nerves. "Everything ok?"
"Yeah…" Blake nodded, before easing some tension of her shoulders and releasing a pent-up breath. "Yeah." She repeated. "I think it's time I stopped hiding." She said decisively, her amber eyes glimmering with determination.
"Hiding what?" Ruby asked cautiously, watching with curiosity as Blake reached up to her ever-present bow. With a few deft movements of dexterous fingers, it came undone. The black lace fell loose, fluttering to the table in a slow, lazy spiral. The room was so silent you could almost hear the thin fabric as it made contact with the wood below it.
"I'm a Faunus." Blake declared boldly, her posture proud and defiant, as if daring someone to disparage her race.
Several moments of that same, intense silence passed.
"Those ears are fucking adorable." Yang stated bluntly with a wide grin and two thumbs up. Blake gave her a strange look, and Yang shrugged with an easy grace. "What? They are."
"Those are so CUTE!" Ruby yelled as she bolted upright when her shock had worn off, unconsciously agreeing with her sister. The smug smile Yang shot Blake practically screamed 'told you so'. "I can't believe you have little kitty ears, Blake! Oh, Dust! They're just so... so gah!" Rose reached up and snagged Ruby's cape before she could dash over to glomp Blake. The smaller Ruby looked up to the other with her infamous puppy eyes, but it seemed their fatal flaw was their ineffectiveness on your clone from the future. The eye Rose was giving Ruby said 'I know exactly what you were going to do. No.', leaving Ruby to pout in protest, staring longingly at Blake's ears and mumbling about 'cute kitties' under her breath.
Obsidian smirked leaning back, and laughed slightly, until he looked over to Rose to see her looking at him, mouthing 'You're next.' Then he was visibly less amused.
All this was white noise to Weiss, who was still frozen stock still at the sight of Blake's ears. The silence that had fled in the face of Yang's bold statement came flooding back, more oppressive and tense than ever. Both Blake and Weiss were staring at each other, their eyes locked across the low wooden table. Slowly, deliberately, Weiss stood, walking over to the newly ousted cat Faunus. Blake watched the heiress approach with apprehension, her eyes now flickering uncertainty to the inscrutable looking Rose, who maintained her firm grip on Ruby's hood.
Blake's attention swiveled back to Weiss as the smaller woman closed in. Her icy eyes were a veritable storm of emotions, her face flickering so quickly between a myriad of subtleties that Blake was completely unsure of how she was taking this new revelation. Weiss stopped but a few inches from Blake, whose every inch was staring up from her sitting position challengingly. Blake's eyes narrowed as Weiss lifted a trembling hand, her thoughts flashing back to those many occasions where abusers had amused themselves by tugging harshly on her sensitive ears.
As Weiss moved her hand, she noticed Blake's expression turn hostile. She licked her suddenly dry lips. "May I?" She asked quietly, her voice trembling much like her lifted hand. Blake's expression went from aggressive to surprise, before warming slightly, causing some of Weiss' anxiety to drop away. Blake nodded slowly in assent, however, she seemed to be still very much keeping a wary eye on Weiss.
Weiss moved slowly and brushed hesitant fingers against the smooth, dark fur of Blake's ears. She froze when they twitched slightly at her touch, but when Blake made no move to reprimand her she continued her ministrations. She stroked a line with the pad of her index finger from the tip of the left ear down to the base, reveling in this new, previously taboo experience. When Blake still made no noise of dissent, Weiss lightly rolled the top of an ear between her finger and thumb, before stroking both ears with more confidence.
"They feel almost like real cat's ears." Weiss mumbled, slightly awed.
"They are real cat's ears." Blake added with a raised brow. "That's sort of the problem."
"O-oh, I didn't- I mean of course they're real I ju- I," Weiss instantly began stuttering out an apology, completely off balance and wary of insulting Blake. She had no idea what to say to a Faunus! Did she do something wrong already?
"Shh, it's fine." Blake reassured with a small chuckle.
Weiss took in a deep breath to center herself, before looking back down at Blake. "Really?" She asked quietly, hesitantly.
"Yes." Blake assured her simply. Weiss took a few moments to continue petting Blake's ears, who was starting to rather enjoy the feeling.
"They're lovely." Weiss whispered with a shy smile.
Blake's expression softened immensely at those softly spoken words. "Thank you, Weiss." She said, touched.
"OH MY GOSH, GUUUUUUUYYYYSSS!"
"Gah! Ruby?!"
"Ooph!"
Both Weiss and Blake went down in a flurry of limbs and rose petals as Ruby tackled them both down in a high-speed hug. The trio ended up on the floor, with Weiss on her side, Blake on her back, and Ruby sprawled over both of them, her arms tightening like a vice, displaying that she was, in fact, related by blood to Yang.
"OhmygoshtthatwassocuteandyoutwoweresolovelyandIthoughyouweregonnabemadbutthenyouwerentandthenyoutouchedherandshesmiledandyousaidthingsandshesaidthingsandthenyoutouchedhermoreandshesmiledandlaughedandyousmiledandthenyoucomplimentedherandImsohappyIcouldjustdieandteamRWBYisntevergoingtobreakapartandyoutwoaregoingtoloveeachotherandbefriendsandIcantbelievehowamazingblakeskittyearsare-" Ruby rambled insanely, muffled by her cloak and her intermittent sobs, but apparently not at all hampered by the need to breathe.
Weiss craned her head to look over the shoulder of hysterical Ruby, glowering accusingly at Rose, who in turn was waving at her with great cheer. Yang also seemed entertained by her teammate's predicament.
"It's weird not being on the other side of that." Yang commented with a chuckle.
As Blake lay on the wooden floor of her dorm next to her disgruntled ex-racist friend, staring at the ceiling and petting the hair of her questionably sane, undoubtedly emotionally unbalanced fifteen-year team leader, she couldn't quite stop the wide smile growing on her face.
Then Obsidian stood, "I am very glad that we are all in the know, however…"
Yang demanded, "How exactly did you know?"
"I caught her during the fight with the Nevermore, and it was difficult to miss with my powers." He smirked, then seemed to shrink slightly, "However, I haven't been upfront with you either. My semblance isn't exactly telekinetics. And it also explains why I've been so flaky the past couple weeks."
He paused, looking over the 5 women he had come to consider family over the short time he had known them, the fear and pain showing in his eyes shocking to all of them but the time traveler. "Rose knew my in her previous timeline."
"Cool." Ruby said as Yang paused, thinking. Weiss and Blake looked apprehensive, as Ruby continued, the situation not quite sinking in, "Who were you?"
"I went by a different name in her timeline, and yesterday, I finally finished looking over...seeing what I had done…" he paused, shaking, "I...I decided I can't lie to you four any longer. My name was Abyssal Fall."
The four of them pause. Horror, fear, anger, confusion, and disgust ring from each and every one of them.
Weiss is the first to ask, "We all saw the pictures of Abyssal Fall, he looked nothing like you."
"This isn't technically what I look like." Obsidian says, and he begins to shift. His hair turns a snow white, his skin coal-black, as the red tendrils form out of his eyes. As he opens them, a Grimm red eye greets them, with a piercing white center. White markings slowly fade into place on his arms, more opulent than any but Rose had ever seen. His form stabilized, and as quickly as it began, it was over. In nearly an instant, he was back in the human form they had come to know.
Blake looked struck. She looked at him with fear, and quickly that turned to understand. A secret kept to try and form lasting bonds with others, to not be seen as a monster. She understood the fear all too well.
Yang looked horrified, and for a moment looked angry, until she paused, knowing Rose had known, and knowing that she believed that they should know, stopped her from growing angrier, but curiously at what could make the confident, strong man she met in her entrance exam shake in his boots.
Weiss looked torn between fear and loathing, before seeing Rose sitting there, a look of not acceptance, but something closer to respect, before it turned to the girls, curious, but not judging, just observing, and she rationalized, if the women who lived through his atrocities first hand can forgive him acts he isn't going to commit, she can too.
Ruby demonstrates the least amount of emotion of her face, but for an instant, she looks almost like a two eyes Rose and draws Crescent Rose, "You hurt Yang." all she said, before pulling the trigger.
All four observers were equally shocked, but before she can fire again, Rose disarmed her, and the other three move over too look at Obsidian, who had taken a point-blank Anti-Material round to the chest. He groaned, and the three girls looking at him saw as he pick a crumpled round from the ridges between hit scales. They pause, as scales weren't what they expected.
"So, you're like a legit Grimm person?" Yang asks.
"Umm. Yes?" Obsidian answers confused.
"So you can do all Grimm things?" Yang asks again, slowly.
"Yes." Obsidian answers, growing more confused, "Why?"
"No reason." Yang says.
Weiss recovers next, ever logically, "How much of your past did she tell you."
"She gave me my wrap sheet." He says, ominously, "The greatest hits of my hellish rampage."
"Can we see it?" Weiss asks before she can stop herself.
He looks plainly to Rose, who turns from the seething Ruby, and says, "It's your sheet."
"Yes." Obsidian responds slowly. "I think you should know."
"I would ask why you kept it but…" Blake begins, trailing off.
Obsidian pauses, "You three are taking this exceptionally well."
"Do you intend to become the country killing monster you were?" Weiss asks.
"No but I…" Obsidian begins.
"No, an alternate version of you did done horrible things, when you were raised by a grade A crazy person. You were…well" Yang begins.
"Self-raised by a monster with trust issues." Obsidian snarks.
"In a town of…" Yang continues.
"Narcissistic monsters, with a power complex and a fetish for making children fight each other for there sick amusement." Obsidian continues.
Blake intervenes to this downward spiral, "You aren't the same person who committed all those atrocities. You probably never will be. That's kinda Rose's whole mission. That team RWBYO doesn't become the people we were in her timeline."
Obsidian looks up, eyes full of tears, "Thanks."
AN: I'll handle the Ruby meltdown next chapter, this one is a doozy.