Yang rushed towards the Older Ruby the minute Shez stepped out from between them with a resigned look on her face, Ruby's cloak in hand. Seconds before the haymaker hit, Ruby's hand snapped up and caught it, pushing it up so it sailed over her head harmlessly. Yang growled, pulling her hand from the grip while launching a quick punch with her other hand. Ruby dropped, the punch flying over her head harmlessly, and Yang launched a knee at her jaw, only for Ruby to roll out of the way.
"Stay still and fight me!" Yang barked, to Ruby shaking her head.
"This fight ends when you land a clean hit on me," Ruby said, "not a second sooner, and I won't be making this easy for yo-"
"Shut up!" Yang rushed forwards, throwing another punch at Ruby, only for it to be batted aside. The next punch was dodged just as easily, and the next, and the next, and the next.
Uppercut was caught and thrown wide, haymaker was ducked under with ease, rabbit punch was dodged by seemingly turning into flower petals and letting Yang fly through her before reforming.
Guess Ruby had practiced with her Semblance while she was gone. That was gonna make landing a punch harder.
"Why!?" Yang demanded, "Why would you… I'm your sister! Why would you leave me!?"
"Would it make you feel better if I had a good reason?" Ruby asked, voice not holding any heat, "Or would it make you feel worse about yourself?"
"I-" Yang went silent, trying to think. Would she feel better about Ruby leaving if there was a good reason? What would a good reason even look like? "I deserve to know. If it isn't, I… I can't forgive it, but if there is a good reason, I'll know it when I hear it! And that way, I can keep it from happening to us!"
Ruby curled her lips upwards, and at that exact moment, Yang decked her flat across the face, sending her flying back through the air. Shez was immediately between them while Fjorm rushed over to help Ruby up. That was… it had been too easy, Ruby had practically stood there and taken the punch, "You let me hit you!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ruby waved, "You nearly took off my jaw there. Feel better?"
Ohhhh, "So what happened, why'd you leave me?"
"You lost an arm," Ruby said, and Yang immediately locked up, "trying to protect Blake from some White Fang thug. You were, you weren't getting out of bed, you had… you had a thing for Blake, I think, and her running off after you lost an arm to protect her kinda just… it broke you. You said you didn't care what I did, you were just going to lie in bed! That was it, that was how you acted from then. You just wanted to stay in bed feeling bad about what we had lost, but I wouldn't, I couldn't let that be the end. I had to protect Remnant, so I left. If you think that's a bad reason for leaving you, I'm sorry but I don't think a good reason exists to you!"
"I lose an arm?" Yang said weakly, and Ruby immediately locked up in turn, before pushing off Fjorm and past Shez so she could grab Yang gently by the arms.
"Hey, no, listen to me. My Yang lost an arm, if we go into this thinking that what happened in my timeline will happen in this one, we've lost. I know the future can be changed, and we will change it. I promise."
"You sound… you sound so sure," Yang said.
"I've seen it happen before. My… other, significant other, Alfonse. We met a version of him from another timeline where things went wrong in a way that makes what happened with me look hilariously minor and petty. If we could keep what happened in his timeline from happening, we can stop my timeline from happening. There are parts that should, you and little Ruby should go to Beacon together, you should meet Blake and Weiss and become friends with them… more, if you want. But the bad parts won't happen, not if I have anything to say about it."
"Feh!" Fjorm called, and suddenly a fluffy owl dropped from the sky and landed on her shoulder, "I suppose that Commander Anna noticed we're gone and sent you with our reproach?"
The owl's head bobbed, and it held out a leg with a note on it. Fjorm took the letter, reading it.
"She says she isn't angry at us," Fjorm said, "but we need to head back. Your Uncle Qrow was found snooping around the Keep."
"Well," Ruby shot a grin at Yang, Dad and little Ruby, "How do you want to see a castle in the sky?"
— X Qrow X—
Qrow landed on the balcony leading to an open door, hopping inside and looking around carefully. Once he was sure nobody was in it, he changed shape and began to seriously look around.
Question, was this castle in use? Answer, oh, hell yes. Qrow had been almost caught, or at least noticed, five times trying to find a room to transform in. Most of the castle, it seemed, was barracks for soldiers, with the highest rooms being reserved for officers, if he had to guess from the less uniform nature of them. And this was one of the highest rooms in the castle. Not the highest, but one of them.
Against one wall was a carefully made king-sized bed with alternating blood red and black sheets, the curtains pulled tight over the windows were the same shade of red, and against another wall sat a desk full of scrolls of parchment, flanked on either side by a pair of bookshelves. One full to the seams, while the other was more sparsely filled. Strategist, maybe?
Before Qrow could do anything, the door slammed open and he whipped around. Shit.
Into the room walked a young boy wearing white, scaled robes. Hanging above his white marked face was a red circlet seemingly made of crystal, a red neck brace of the same material hanging around his neck. Qrow immediately turned, transforming into his crow form as he went and flying for the exit. Before he could reach it, a red, diamond shaped barrier formed around him and locked him in. He was dragged back towards the boy, who stared at him with a curious look on his face.
"I had wondered why I sensed a human passing through my barrier," he said, "Ruby never said there were beings capable of turning into animals here."
The boy turned with Qrow's prison floating above his hand, making his way through the halls of the castle, unintentionally, or maybe uncaringly, giving Qrow a plain view of the inside he had hoped to scope out.
Irony was a son of a bitch.
Stuck turning with the cage, Qrow noticed that the boy's feet never once touched the ground.
Finally, after about ten minutes of walking down flights of stairs and guarded hallways, they reached where they were going. The first thing he noticed, just because of how differently they were dressed from the others, were two women and a man.
The first was a woman with long, light green hair wearing a blue qipao with yellow accents along the edge, a orange-red belt along her waist with a O-katana sheathed there, and some sort of animal pelt over her shoulder alongside a bow and quiver.
The second was a grey haired, though by no means old, woman wearing a white and yellow dress that opened in the front to expose her long legs. Light seemed to shine out from her skin, gentle and soothing.
The third, the only male of the trio, had traditionally "noble" features, wore a black coat under a black half cape with a white sash around his waist and a white cravat around his neck.
Then his eyes focused on the three wearing clear uniforms. Long white shirts that trailed passed the waist and ended with pteruges at the mid hip. Over that, they wore a golden shirt of scalemail, white and blue capes of various lengths pinned in place by a single large pauldron on their left shoulder. There were slight customizations, pants for the blue haired man, a tabard for the red haired woman.
As one, all six of them stopped focusing on the table in front of them to focus on the boy and Qrow, "Epimenides, what do you have there?"
That was a name…
—X Alfonse X—
Alfonse pushed off the table enchanted to look like a copy of Vale, following Anna towards the Agarthan mage. Epimenides raised the barrier, showing a slowly revolving blackbird captured within it, "I found him snooping about Ruby's room. Don't mistake him for a crow, Commander Anna, Lord Alfonse, Lady Sharena. He is a shapeshifter, I found him in the form of a human."
All three Askrans shared a look at the declaration, Ruby had never mentioned someone with that ability, even in passing. Was it rare here, so rare that she hadn't heard of it?
"Reinhardt," Anna called, and the Friege Mage Knight stepped forwards, "if he tries to fly away, shock him. Nothing lethal, just enough to stun them. I hope you understand that, we're gonna assume you're a threat until we have a conversation. Let him out."
Epimenides let go of the barrier, freeing the crow to land on the ground and stare up at them. Alfonse and the others stared at it, Lyn approached behind them, drawing the bow Mulagar off her back and nocking an arrow. Meanwhile Eir ghosted behind Sharena, the feet of the princess of Ymir and Hel not touching the ground for more of a second as she drew the daggers Ymir and Lyfjaberg sliding into her hands without a noise.
"We don't know they're a threat," Alfonse said quietly to Lyn.
"Which is why I'm ready, not hoping for it," she said, smiling at the blue haired Askr prince, "Ruby believes in my ability to help keep you safe. I'd hate to prove her wrong."
"Our bed is always open," Alfonse offered, and Lyn gave a hum.
"I must admit, I'm surprised at how well you embraced an open relationship," Lyn said.
"I just hid the growing pains from everyone but Ruby, trust me," Alfonse said, "Marrying Fjorm was a formality at first. But I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy it. And Askr's blessing helps put my mind at ease."
"I'll give it a thought," Lyn said as Anna crouched down in front of the black bird.
"Epimenides isn't one for lying," Anna said, "or jokes. If he says you're a shapeshifter, we have every reason to think you are one. Please transform back so we can have a conversation about this, we aren't angry, but we would like to talk to a representative of Vale. That is where we are, right?"
The black bird blinked for a second, before suddenly shifting into a tall man with slicked back graying hair and five o'clock shadow, as Ruby called it. He was wearing a scruffy shirt with a torn red cape over one shoulder, "You don't know where you are? Ehh, you're right by the way, but you didn't know for sure?"
"We didn't know for certain," Anna agreed, "We were teleported here quite unexpectedly. We're sorry for closing ourselves off, but we wanted to figure out how to put our best foot forwards. Where would be a good place to move towards to make us look less aggressive, which members to act as envoys, stuff like that. Anyways, I am Commander Anna of Askr's Order of Heroes. It's a pleasure to meet you…?"
"Modest group name, don't you think?" The man snorted, "I'm Qrow Branwen-"
"Former teacher at Signal combat academy?" Alfonse immediately said, talking a look at the man again. Yes, he looked like he could be Qrow, now that he had thought about it. Immediately, it felt like the room had taken a deep breath, Lyn's grip on her arrow became softer, Eir stoed away her daggers, even Reinhardt lowered his hands slightly as Sharena and Anna took another look over Qrow.
"Uh not former but… yeah, I teach at Signal. How'd you know that?"
"We're friends with your neice, Ruby," Alfonse said, "She likes to talk about her Uncle Qrow sometimes. The "awesome one who taught her to fight"."
"Ruby hasn't mentioned meeting any of you on the CCT," Qrow said in confusion, causing every member of the Order of Heroes to pause. The CCT, Ruby had mentioned that going down as one of the after effects of the Fall.
"Alfonse," Anna said, turning away from Qrow and walking to him, "Go get Ruby."
"I can't," Alfonse said, "She left with Fjorm and Shez an hour ago."
The look Anna gave Alfonse was less betrayal and more bewildered disappointment, "Really?"
"I didn't think it was gonna hurt anyone," Alfonse said, "Send Feh, they'll be back in an hour. Qrow, can I show you to the tavern in town while we wait for Commander Anna to send a letter to Ruby? She said you were a man fond of the bottle."
— X AN X—
Thoughts, questions, opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?