"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know." ― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish
Chapter 22-
Just as the first Grimm jumped up to attack Neo saw the creature fly backwards seconds before she heard the rifle shot echo in her ears.
Turning in the direction of the rifle shot Neo saw the girl with a large scythe and sniper rifle built into the weapon alongside the girl with her hair flowing in the wind as she moved next to Neo, firing another bullet into the next closest Grimm.
Neo watched until she heard a low roar come from behind her and without even realising it she had drawn a short, thin sword that sat on the girl's waist and turned to face the Grimm, quickly decapitating the creature.
No words were spoken between the two of them as they fought in unison against the Grimm, being able to work together seamlessly although having never done so before.
Once the fight was over and all the Beowolves laid on the ground dissolving into the air, which at last meant Neo was able to talk to this girl.
"Who are you?" Neo asked, rounding on the girl. Noticing a pair of red headphones atop her head now but she was dressed the same as before.
"That's my cloak." The girl said coldly.
"You're Qrow's niece?" Neo asked, attempting to find out who she was.
"Not by blood. I'd like my cloak back." She stated again.
"Tell me who you are and I might give you your cloak back." Neo said trying a different tactic.
"I am no one." The girl stated.
"Everyone's someone, and clearly you aren't a figment of my imagination. So who are you?" Neo asked, slowly getting more annoyed.
The girl signed, showing the first real emotion since she appeared in front of Neo, "You're not going to give back my cloak unless I say will you?" The girl asked.
"Nope, and I only said maybe I'll give it back." Neo said teasingly.
"My name's Ruby." The girl, Ruby told her.
"It's nice to meet you Ruby, my name's Neo." Neo said with a large smile.
Ruby just sighed out once more, realising she wouldn't be getting her cloak back anytime soon so instead told her, "I'll take you back to the school. Keep the sword, you're unarmed constantly so it's better you are armed." Ruby said, taking the lead to take her away from the forest.
Neo followed behind as she held the sword in her hand but asked, "Um but where do I put it? And I don't know how to use a sword." Neo stated.
"You seemed good enough with one there, maybe not the best but good enough to get by. And I'm sure you'll think of something to use." Ruby stated.
"I don't know, I was just doing swish, swish, and stab. Is that right?" Neo asked.
Ruby sighed once more as she heard Neo, "I really hope you're joking." Ruby said tiredly.
"Nope. Wait, I have an idea. Why don't you train me? You clearly know how to use one." Neo suggested.
"No." Ruby stated bluntly.
"Why not? I promise I'll be a good student, ask my teachers I constantly pay attention and put in the work." Neo said, attempting to convince Ruby.
"You wouldn't like my training, it'd be much too hard." Ruby said easily.
"Fine than, if you won't train me I'll keep the cloak, it's rather warm and cosy." Neo said, wrapping herself in the cloak.
Sighing once more at Neo's actions, "If I train you do I get my cloak back? Even if you drop out?" Ruby asked.
"Of course, but I won't drop out. I swear it." Neo said, holding a hand up.
"Be careful with that, if you're swearing vows someone may take advantage." Ruby replied as they came to the clearing just in front of the school.
"Off you go then." Ruby said, waving in the direction of the school.
"But what about training?" Neo asked.
"I need to speak to Qrow and then maybe we'll look at something for training." Ruby said as she almost vanished from sight but Neo could just see her walking towards the school.
"The next day I spoke to Qrow and he's telling me all about how they have a private hall set up for Ruby and I to train inside and it was hell, she was rather brutal in her training and very intense but she taught me how to use a sword and some." Neo told them.
"So like the training we're doing?" Weiss asked.
"A little but Ruby was a little bit more intense with it, I was able to get her to tone it down a little after I'd gotten better." Neo told them.
"You said Ruby vanished from sight a few times was that her super speed?" Yang asked.
"Yes and no, I can't go into specifics because, well I don't really understand it myself so I can't really explain it well." Neo answered.
"You can explain it well, you just don't want to." Ruby said weakly from her spot on the bed, a teasing smile appearing on her face.
"Ruby!" Neo cried out, immediately hugging Ruby tightly while the rest of the team were a little more reserved.
"Hello Cheri." Ruby replied softly, the weakness clear in her voice
Once Neo broke the hug the other girls in the room bar Mizu leaned in to hug Ruby and say a little something each before giving Ruby some space to talk.
"Are you alright?" Yang asked.
"I'm awake and alive, but my disease is accelerating." Ruby said, having confirmed they know from Neo.
"Accelerating how?" Weiss asked.
"Over time the disease will slowly shut down parts of my body, with the amount of Aura I used stopping the Grimm accelerated it to the point that now I can't use my legs, over the next few days it'll work its way through the other systems in my body shutting them down." Ruby told them, her voice emotionless as was her face with Neo's.
Once the shock had died down Neo turned to look at Mizu giving her a look to tell Ruby the truth while she was here and rather quickly.
"Could I speak to Ruby alone please?" Mizu asked the room.
"Of course." Blake said, understanding what was about to happen and quickly ushered people out of the room while Winter remained behind with her mother in an attempt to offer support.
"Ruby, what do you know about your mothers time at Beacon?" Mizu asked.
"Not a lot, she said she was on a team with Qrow, Raven and herself but she never mentioned anyone else." Ruby answered, confused but slightly scared with the way Neo was holding her tighter when Mizu started talking.
"That's not strictly true, there were four of us. Qrow, your mother, a woman called Raven and myself. Ozpin was our teacher while at the school and acted as a mentor for all of us." Mizu informed them.
Ruby remained quiet, allowing Mizu to speak but also to not reveal certain aspects she already knew.
"We were all close, Qrow acted like a brother to each of us although we had no blood relations to him. But this isn't what I'm talking about, your mother, Summer and I were close. We were partners but we became more. About a year into school she revealed she was a Faunus to us all, however oddly enough Raven wasn't one." Mizu said, almost thoughtful.
"After she revealed she was a Faunus we accepted her, which surprised her as I was meant to be a Schnee and hate them but that was my father's legacy. We started dating, or rather we started dating in secret so my father wouldn't find out. He hated Faunus but he also hated same sex relationships but luckily the world itself had moved on. We were able to get through a lot of it by being partners but the more romantic side we couldn't." Mizu explained.
"We managed to discover a few spots where we could hide away from everyone and just be together, after graduation this became the snowy forests of Patch. But my father was calculating and had everything planned out for me. He allowed me a couple years to tame my wild side as he called it before he told me I was to marry a man so he could take over the company as a Schnee." Mizu informed her.
"So you chose him over my mother." Ruby stated, already knowing the answer.
"I was scared, I knew I'd be disowned and I was scared of what would happen if I did. Your mother didn't agree with me, saying we could easily live together but I ran scared. When she realised I wasn't going to change my mind she asked for something else, something that only I could really give her." Mizu said.
"A child." Neo said softly, speaking for the first time.
"Yes, using dust I was able to artificially impregnate Summer using both of our DNA's as a base. I never found out if it worked or not, until I found you in that forest and you showed me you were a wolf Faunus alongside asking Ozpin and Qrow did I discover that you were Summer's child." Mizu said awkwardly, unsure how to come out and say it.
"You're my father?" Ruby asked, her voice was quiet and weak but also unbelieving at the same time.
"Yes." Mizu replied, her voice tight and restrained with emotion.
Ruby just sat still, her face betraying nothing of what was going on in her mind as she seemed to process all the information but she could only ask one thing, "Why did you leave?" Ruby asked, her voice sounding weaker than before and cracking.
Mizu let out a haggard sob as she heard the question and with tears running down her face she explained what she had told Neo about why she left and her father.
"You planned on taking over the company and find my mother weren't you? But you realised it would take a long time to do so you attempted to search for her but couldn't find her." Ruby stated after Mizu had finished explaining.
"Yes that's correct, I tried but couldn't find her anywhere in that forest. And well as you know I ended up finding you and learning about everything." Mizu answered her.
"I um, I don't know what to say, or really do." Ruby answered honestly.
Mizu remained silent as well, unsure what to say in reply as she had thought about this moment being a tearful reunion with Summer and introducing herself to her daughter but it clearly wasn't like that.
Ruby let out a loud yawn, blushing as she caught herself yawning with her mouth wide open and looked away from the group.
"I think Ruby's tired, would you mind?" Neo asked gently, the two Schnee women leaving the room.
"I think I should explain to my other daughter about all of this as well." Mizu replied as she left the room.
Once the two women had left the room it allowed Neo and Ruby some time together, it was quiet as they simply shared an embrace with Neo asking, "What's going on in your mind?" Neo asked.
"I don't know. I've searched for my father for so long, I didn't know what to expect. I thought that maybe I'd find out they had died or something but well I didn't expect to run into them by accident, I had a feeling my father was a woman by the way my mother spoke but well…" Ruby started to say.
"You didn't think your father would be a Schnee did you?" Neo asked jokingly.
Ruby couldn't help but laugh in response, "No I didn't think my father would be a Schnee." Ruby replied, "I don't really know how to react to it, how should I react?" Ruby asked.
"Well it's down to you I guess, I became angry at Mizu when she told me. We were arguing about you getting treatment but I said it was against your wishes." Neo explained.
"Thank you." Ruby added, thanking her for making sure her wishes were honoured.
"But as to how you should react, I don't know. How do you feel about it?" Neo asked.
"I don't know. I mean there's relief that I know but also a sort of numbness, I feel like there's so much on my mind that it's just not my main concern, but also I feel almost like a third wheel. She already has two daughters she raised and now I've come along and sort of upset all that." Ruby explained.
"I'm pretty sure she doesn't think that, she was scared for you when I explained what was wrong." Neo told Ruby.
Ruby just hummed in acknowledgement as she instead changed the topic saying softly, "Aria, are you there?"
"I am mother." Aria said, materializing herself in her semi-corporal form.
"Come here." Ruby said, holding out her other arm towards her. While Aria herself couldn't feel anything nor the other two women but it was more the act itself.
"How long do you have Ruby?" Neo asked softly as they were hugging.
"I don't know." Ruby replied quickly.
"That might work for the others but it won't work for me, how long do you have?" Neo asked once more, glaring lightly at Ruby as if daring her to lie again.
"Three days. She's given me three days to make my peace before she has to take me." Ruby replied honestly, but Neo still burst out crying at the news.
Ruby could only hold Neo tightly as she cried, knowing that she herself couldn't cry over it and she noticed Aria attempting to hold her mother's tighter.
"Why do you have to die?" Aria asked, not completely understanding the concept.
"Humans all die sometime sweetie, it's just that my time is up a little bit shorter than everyone else." Ruby explained gently, hoping Aria would understand.
"But why is it up so soon?" Aria asked.
"It just is, I have a disease. I told you about it before, it slowly breaks down my body and shuts it down." Ruby told her.
"I remember." Aria said immediately but her expression grew sad.
"It's alright sweetie, I'm just going to rest somewhere for a bit. You'll be strong for me and help mommy won't you?" Ruby asked.
"Of course. I'll help mommy." Aria said fast.
"Good girl." Ruby replied, smiling at Aria. "Could I speak to mommy alone for a few minutes sweetie?" Ruby asked.
Aria nodded her head as she vanished from corporal existence leaving the two women alone once more.
"I want us to get married, if we have three days I want us to get married before it's too late." Neo whispered to Ruby.
"Of course, we can keep it small. Get Ozpin to officiate for us, maybe have a couple people to witness it." Ruby replied back.
"I hope I get an invite." A female voice said from the corner of the room nearest the door.
The woman wore a shallow cut black dress with an assortment of necklaces of beads around her neck with a red girdle belt and matching gauntlets. She had some sort of material hanging on the right side of her skirt and she had black, thigh length boots with a red splatter pattern on them.
What freaked at least Neo out the most was the full face mask the woman was wearing which had four eye slits on it and resembled a Nevermore.
"Goddess! Raven would you stop scaring me with that fucking mask!" Neo said quickly which only caused Ruby and Raven to both laugh at her.
"I'm sorry Neo, it's just fun to scare you." Raven replied, removing her mask to store it next to her rather large weapon. Doing this she revealed her red eyes and almost scary similarities to Yang.
"You're just cruel." Neo replied, sticking her tongue out at Raven.
"How much did you hear?" Ruby asked first.
"Not even a hello first?" Raven teased.
Ruby was hesitant for a minute as she had some sort of internal debate before she replied, "Hello…auntie." Ruby said slowly.
A/N
So the new WoR was brilliant and quite interesting so I've got a few ideas from that though I'm quite happy that I've sort of followed it all, sort of.
Not too much to say, except what you think of the chapter? It's out of the bag now and everything plus a new character to see and relations.
I'm working on a couple things, mainly trying to finish Valetown Tales and Surfing Blues and possibly Singing to hide the suffering if I can, which will be shorter than first planned.
That's about it, again I'm still looking for prompts again, open to anything you throw at me so please please please throw away ^_^
Anyway until next time. ^_^