Chapter 10: The Re-Coming
Weiss stared sadly at the gauntlet that Roman had brought to her. It was Yang's, of course, and with it came emotion and memory that Weiss couldn't help but experience. "Where's Ruby?" Weiss had asked Roman. He told her that she was in one of the workshops and that she didn't want to be disturbed. It didn't take them long to find out which workshop Ruby had locked herself in. The sound of tools and grinding echoed through the door and into the hall. The door was, of course, locked. That didn't stop Weiss from leaving food and drink for her leader, though. She would set a tray down next to the door, knock and tell Ruby that she had brought food, and she would leave. When she would return a few hours later the tray would be empty, and the red leader would still be locked within the room hard at work.
Weiss could only speculate what she was doing inside. The way Roman told her, it seemed as though Ruby had an idea of some sorts when she saw the gauntlet and she ran off. It had been two days since then, and no one but Roman had seen Ruby since they had returned from the failed recon mission. Then again, the more Weiss thought about it, wasn't it more successful than they were giving credit for? They discovered hundreds, if not thousands, of Grimm lying in wait. And then there was the Cerberus. Whatever it was, it would doubtless cause untold amounts of destruction and devastation when it left the forest. Weiss prayed that day would never come, but she knew it would be only a matter of time.
For now, all they could really do was to prepare for the inevitable battle. Sooner or later, an all out war would be in full effect against the Grimm. Weiss prayed that the world would be strong enough to fight back long enough for the comet to disappear. If Ruby's predictions about it were accurate, it should be passing through the solar system and out of sight in another month or so. When the comet and its aura were gone, it would be their time to strike back and eliminate the Grimm. Yes, Weiss thought. We must prepare. She left the dorm and locked the door before heading to the storage areas where all of their supplies were being held. It was high time she took inventory.
Blake swung wildly at the punching bag, trying to imitate Yang's fighting style. She didn't want to learn how to truly use it, but she felt that she needed to do this for a while. Tears stinging her eyes, Blake could barely see the bag in front of her as she punched it as hard as she could, making her own knuckles bleed. The pain had finally become too much, and Blake fell backwards into a sitting position on a nearby bench. She stared at the open gashes on her knuckles, panting heavily and winching from the pain.
It was just like when Cardin died. She had found Yang doing the exact same thing. Blake had to force Yang to calm down and stop before she damaged herself beyond repair. Yang, you're hurting yourself, she had said. She looked over Yang's wounds and patched them up. She smiled at the memory; it was one of the more intimate moments between herself and her reckless partner.
"Never forget," she whispered out loud. "Never forget those whom we've lost. Remember them always, carry them in our hearts, but don't let their memory distract us. Accept it. Put it away. Lock it deep inside your heart." They were the very same words she had told Yang that day. Blake nodded to herself and walked to the first aid station to grab some bandages to fix her hands up.
She took the bandages to the bathroom where she washed her hands before wrapping them. Taking a towel to dry off, she looked in the mirror and saw her own determination. A great warrior had fallen in battle, but from her ashes a new battle would be waged. Blake smiled at the thought of being on the winning side. There was going to be a return of strength and power. Most notably, Blake knew that Ruby wasn't locked in the workshop's sulking; she was up to something, and this gave Blake hope.
Ren was finally done. He had been working tirelessly to rebuilt the missing half of Storm Flower. He didn't have time to paint it green like the original, so one of his guns was still a mixture of metallic grays and silvers, but he didn't mind. The blade on the replacement wasn't as long, unfortunately, but he was in a hurry when we was building it. Hopefully, the modification that gave it a faster fire rate would make up for the lack of blade length. He smiled at his completed work before turning in his chair to show his team mates his final result. "It's done. I am whole again," he said.
He did most of the work in the workshops, but for the final stretch he had relocated all of the necessary supplies and tools to the dorm of team JNPR. Jaune and Nora nodded their approval, and Pyrrha smiled at him. "Just don't get into a situation where you need to replace them again. Last time we could have lost more than just a gun, you know," Jaune said.
"Yeah. Sorry about that."
"Don't be," Nora said sadly. "You were protecting me. If our roles were switched, I'd have done the same." She grew silent for a moment. "Jaune, Pyrrha, can me and Ren be alone for a bit?" The two nodded and left the room.
Ren stared at her. He had an idea about what this was about, but he didn't want to speak out of turn. He waited patiently for Nora to make the opening move. "Ren...I was so scared when we were on that mission. I slipped up and lost focus for a moment, and didn't realize just how bad it was until you saved me. I could have died. You could have died. Both of us could have been killed that day."
"They've kept out recons to a minimum for the last few days," Ren commented. "To give us plenty of time to recover properly, and for me to replace Storm Flower's left twin." His gaze shifted to the table where he had lain both guns. The right one was somewhat scratched and scuffed, revealing some silver and gray beneath the layers of green. "But you were more important than my weapon, Nora."
"I know...I've been thinking about that. It's not even been a full week since then, but I've come to understand something in those few days that I should have understood a long time ago." She turned her eyes to meet Ren's. "I care more for you than I thought. You're more than just a friend to me, and I don't want to lose you either."
Ren stood and hugged Nora. He smiled, though she couldn't see it, and said, "I know."
Nora was in tears. "W-with Yang dying, and more Grimm coming...I...I didn't want to regret not telling you that I love you. I love you, Ren. I really, truly love you."
"I know," he said again. "You never had to say it. But I'm glad that you did."
Outside in the hall stood Jaune and Pyrrha, both listening to their team mates. In these days of darkness, they were happy that some light was shed on this night.
Weiss's face was scrunched in confusion. "This can't be right," she said out loud, reading from her clipboard. "Luna, come here for a moment."
The girl in question came. "What is it, Weiss?"
"Do these numbers match up to you?" She handed Luna the clipboard.
The blue clad girl stared at the pages and looked around to the crates that the paper mentioned. Back to the paper, her own face scrunched up. "Well that can't be right. How did we use this much dust?"
Weiss took the clipboard back and re-read it herself. "I don't know, but there's no mistaking it. We're going to have a shortage of dust in the coming days if something isn't done soon."
"You think it's the Bullheads? They aren't very fuel efficient, you know."
"That, and possibly our fellow huntsmen and huntresses are stocking up on ammunition and not reporting to us. That's not really that big of a deal, so I'm not going to press the matter, but we do need to find a solution to this problem. If we run out of dust, then we lose our ability to fight for the long haul. No ammo. No transport. No magic."
"That's not good," Luna chimed. "What can we do?"
Weiss nodded her head. "I don't know for sure. But I do have some ideas. I'll have to mull them over and consult with Ozpin on the matter." She looked up at the night sky. "It's getting late. You should get some rest. I've got what I needed."
Luna flashed Weiss a smile. "Don't work too hard. Get some rest. We don't need you collapsing on the job, after all." She began to walk away with a wave.
Weiss smiled as Luna left. Before she approached her, Weiss had no idea who Luna was. They had become fast friends, no doubt in part to Ruby inadvertently teaching Weiss how to be more social. Luna had begun assisting Weiss in all of their supply needs, even going as far as coming tonight on short notice to help Weiss take inventory. Weiss liked being in charge of the supplies as she was, though it was more self established rather than given to her.
Her appreciation of the job, however, was less than stellar in the face of this new issue. Their supply of dust was starting to run low, and Weiss needed to fix that problem. What could she do, though, to solve the issue?
If it were possible she'd contact her father and put in a requisition for a large quantity of dust, but there's no way that she could get a hold of him.
Was there? She knew then what she had to do. Time to get in touch with my family, she thought.
The next morning, Weiss and Blake were messaged on their scrolls to come to the workshops and wait outside. They tried to open the door, but it was still locked. The two girls decided it was best to obey the message and just wait it out; clearly Ruby wanted to talk to them or something. From within they could still hear the sound of machines and tools. Blake's faunus ears picked up the sound of a buffing wheel, or some similar instrument. "She must be exhausted," Blake commented. "From what I've been able to hear the last few days, she's barely slept. The longest time period that it was quiet in there was about four hours yesterday after noon."
"At least she's eating," Weiss added. "That, or we have a terrible rodent infestation that eats her food for her when I'm not looking." She stared intently at the door. "I really am worried about her, Blake. Just what is she working on in there?"
Blake sighed. "With any luck, she's preparing for revenge against the Grimm." She glanced at Weiss. "Realistically, that's not all that great either. Without at least four teams, we won't be able to take out Cerberus."
"I'd imagine even then it'd be difficult." Her attention was drawn away by the sound of footsteps. Weiss turned to see Roman strolling down the hallway with a somber look on his face. "Hello, Roman," she greeted.
"Hey, Princess," he returned. "I guess Red told you two to come as well?" The two girls nodded. "Any idea what this is?" He waved his hand in the door's general direction.
"No idea at all," Weiss replied.
Roman sighed before lighting up a cigar, ignoring a nearby No-Smoking sign. This is the beginning of the end of the world. Second hand smoke is the least of their worries, he thought. "I really wish we could help her. She's probably been in there sulking."
"While that's possible," Blake stated. "It's not likely. She's been busy. She is up to something."
"I wonder what it is."
The door clicked; the lock was undone, but it didn't open. Weiss, Blake, and Roman looked at each other before shrugging and stepping through the door. Inside the workshop was the aftermath of a category five hurricane. Scrap metal, spare parts, a few cartridges of dust, and broken tools littered the room. At the far end, clearly putting some final touches on something, was Ruby looking very messy and unkempt. Her hair looked wild, poking this way and that, and her cloak had stains and tears that were previously not there. Her pale skin was blacked by oil and dirt in large splotches, and she looked ready to pass out from exhaustion. Yet in her hands she held something as delicately as though it were a small child. She turned and smiled a weak smile to her team and friends. "It's done," she said after several minutes of silence. "It's finally done!"
The three others looked at each other. "What's done, Red?" Roman asked.
Her weak smile twisted menacingly, turning into a dark smile that none had ever seen Ruby wear before. "The instrument of the Grimm's extinction."
Weiss was caught off guard. "What do you mean, Ruby?"
Ruby held up the object; it looked just like Crescent Rose, only there appeared to be some thicker parts in places, and Weiss thought she could see a color discrepancy in the inner folds, but couldn't tell for sure in its current, folded state. "I would like to introduce you to Ember Rose," Ruby announced. In a single swift motion, she swung the block of metal violently, letting the deployment mechanism work its magic as the weapon unfolded quickly. The shape remained much the same in its newer, upgraded form, however the trigger assembly and several places on the blade were thicker. One such thicker place above the blade was painted yellow instead of red, and the curved blade itself featured a serrated edge instead of a single smooth, razor sharp edge.
"Ruby," Blake started. "What is that?"
Ruby's smile grew wider as she twisted her hand on the handle. A loud popping sound reverberated through the room, and the silver blade began to change to a warm orange color, slowly fading into a bright red; the blade was heating up. "My sister burned to keep us safe. It's only fitting that the Grimm burn as well while I tear them limb from limb." Ruby almost spat in disgust at the mention of the Grimm. "They have a special place in Hell waiting for them, and I'm going to be the one to send them there. Starting with Cerberus."
Ember Rose's color slowly faded until it returned to its silver color, leaving Weiss and Blake both impressed and dumbfounded. Blake finally smiled. "Yeah, Ruby. We're going to kill them all. We'll make them pay for taking our Yang."
Weiss nodded in agreement, and Roman simply smiled. Ruby glanced over at Roman. "Do you still have that cigar I never finished?" she asked.
"U-uh, yeah. Why?" he asked, caught off guard.
"I'm going to finish it. It will be my moment of remembering Yang before I move towards this re-coming." Roman nodded and reached into his pocket for the cigar. Producing it, he gave it to Ruby and lit it for her. She inhaled and exhaled the smoke. She looked at Weiss and Blake. "We need to meet with Ozpin. It's time we planned out counter attack. Our real counter attack."
Penny stood on top of the hill just outside of Beacon. The new master said that the time was perfect to visit Beacon. It'd be a surprise, and alot of people would die most likely, but Penny was happy that she'd get to see her friends again. She was ready to see Ruby's smile, to hear Weiss get angry, to see Blake get flustered and play it off like nothing happened, and she looked forward to hearing Yang crack jokes.
She was especially excited to finally see Ruby again. She was certain that her friends were all safe and sound. Sure, they were warriors, but they were also students; there's no way that Beacon would allow any harm to come to their students, right? That was Penny's thought process.
Penny looked to the sky; it was noon. She wasn't allowed to enter Beacon until nightfall, but Penny was a patient person. So, she stood and waited.
And while Penny waited for the green light to enter Beacon, Cerberus watched from the shadows of the Emerald Forest. In his eyes was an anticipation so strong that it made his mouths water with delight. Soon, he thought. So very soon.
Song: The Re-coming - Guilty Gear 2: Overture
Author's Note
I'm so, so sorry for taking so long on such a short chapter. You know how it is when you're employed. You get home, you're tired, you don't do a whole lot. And I've been going to alot of Magic: The Gathering tournaments lately. Trying to win some money. No luck yet. Fingers crossed!
Anyway, I didn't really like writing this chapter, but it is necessary as a setup for the coming chapters. Hopefully I won't take as long on the next one, but I'm not going to make any promises. Also, I've got a new story idea for my original stories, which as I've said many times before, they take precedence. Gotta try to make some money somehow, you know? Gotta pay them bills!
Fun fact: I hate Guilty Gear 2. That is the worst excuse of a Guilty Gear game ever. I'm so happy that Guilty Gear Xrd is going back to what GG is supposed to be. However, Guilty Gear 2 had a great story, and the music was amazing (as it should be for a Guilty Gear game). The game play was just shit though. There is no redeeming that. The Re-Coming is pretty much the theme song for the game, and its really bad ass. Look into it.
Till next time, when shit might go down!