James was pacing, he finally had time to call Oz and ask what was going on and he wasn't picking up.
"Come on, Oz, pick up already!"
This was the problem with trying to contact someone on another continent, it was extremely hard to coordinate times they were both free.
It was, in his opinion, the main reason behind him and Glynda breaking up.
When the screen finally shifted to show his partner's face, though, James's irritation faded away, replaced with worry.
"Are you alright, Oz? You don't look so good."
The Headmaster's skin had a sickly sallow appearance, there were shadows under his eyes, his glasses were askew, and his normally impeccable suit coat was ruffled.
"Yes, I'm fine James I've just," here he stopped, yawning loudly," I've just been busy."
"What's wrong?"
"Several things. First, I'm searching for any information on the known members of the Knights of the Ebon Blade, which is why you are calling I'm sure. Don't look at me like that James, I'm not a fool. Second, there has been a rash of disappearances."
"Do you think-"
"That the Ebon Blade is behind them? No, there have been no sign of them near any of the locations. Best we can tell? The White Fang has taken another turn for the worse."
"Right, you said you had been looking for information on them?"
"Yes, but I haven't found anything."
"Do you mind giving me a quick run through, anyway? I want to know what we're dealing with here, Oz."
"Of course, I'm sending the files over now."
The first was of a girl, in both her hair was cut short, and her eyes were silver. That was where the similarities ended, in one, she had a cheerful grin on her face, in the other a scowl, in one she was short, the other tall. There was also a picture of an exposed arm, tattoos, glowing a sickly green, in some form of repeating pattern, went down it until they converged at the palm of the hand.
"This, is Ruby Rose, Qrow's niece, and the head of the Ebon Blade, though they use the title of Highlord."
"Qrow's niece? How'd he drop the ball this badly?"
"If she's telling the truth, I also dropped the ball."
"How?"
"The picture on the left was her two days before she disappeared from Beacon's campus, the picture on the right is when she reappeared six days later."
"Why was she at Beacon?"
"She's a student here."
"Right, what do we know about her?"
"Whatever else she is keeping from us, there is us no denying that she is dangerous, every time we've seen her fight, she is either playing with her foe, or tears them apart with brutal precision."
"Whats with the tattoos?"
"I don't know, I only discovered them yesterday, I'm not even sure how much of her body they cover."
"They remind me of Dust Tattoos."
Dust Tattoos were a much more archaic way of using Dust, while they allowed you to keep a weapon on hand at all time, and often afforded varying boons to the user, they had an unfortunate tendency to destroy the body over time. A Huntsman who used Dust Tattoos would tend to see their body give out in their forties, while one without could fight well into their sixties, if not later. Despite the drawbacks, some felt that it was worth the risk and used them anyways.
"I had thought something similar, but they don't correspond with any know dust types, and she isn't showing any discomfort wearing her armor. Also from what she has said the people she interacted with had different ways to power then Dust and Aura."
"We'll need to look into this."
"Of course."
"Who's next?"
The next was a man, once again, there was two pictures, but in this case, they were a lot more similar, the only difference being the clothing, one wearing a shirt and pants, allowing his red hair seem, and the other wearing a mass of heavy armor.
"Darion Mograine, he appears to be Ruby's second in command, holding down the fort at their base, Acherus. Comments from Ruby seem to imply that his father worked with Ruby."
"What has she said?"
"She has mentioned an 'Alexandros Mograine' on more than one occasion."
"Any idea what happened to him?"
"If I had to guess, I would say he is most likely dead."
"Why's that?"
"Ruby refers to Darion as having taken his father's place."
"So he's a no go?"
"Most likely, yes."
The third man was stout and stocky, with a massive black braided beard.
"Darmus Redbrand is the head of the team that I allowed onto Beacon's grounds, he is currently indisposed after an incident a week ago."
"Anything else?"
"No, he doesn't appear on any of the Kingdoms' registries."
"Damn."
"I'll warn you now, none of the known members outside of Ruby Rose appear on the registries."
"That shouldn't be possible, there is no way that many people could slip through the gap!"
"Unless they aren't from the Kingdoms."
"That makes no sense, it's unlikely people would be able to survive outside the Kingdoms!"
"Unlikely, yes, but not impossible, with the amount of unexplored land on Remnant it would be completely possible for them to survive without making contact with us, especially if they do not have a CCT."
"Good point, who's next?"
The picture switched to that of a miniscule old man, with balding grey hair and a mustache.
"This is Pitwick Blackneedle, he is in charge of the Ebon Blade's forges and building, the most contact I have had with him is when they order supplies for the wall they are building around the area we gifted them."
"He's tiny."
"Yes, apparently one of the mutations caused by his revival."
The next picture was of another woman, tall and willowy, her ears were extremely long, extending over her strawberry blond hair.
"I'm not sure what Velann Darkfall does, but I suspect that she got her position at least partially because she reminds Miss Rose of her sister. She is apparently Miss Rose's apprentice."
"A potential weak link?"
"I doubt it, the other members of Miss Rose's inner circle apparently have enough sway with her to stop her from doing that if they felt that Miss Darkfall would weaken them."
The next was also tall and willowy, but her skin was a bluish color.
"The newest member is Ilyanaria Burningsword, a name that is apparently," here Oz played a voice clip, it sounded less like a word and more like someone making a wet hacking noise, "whatever that was, She is building a town."
Ilyanaria was swapped out for a extremely tall woman, with dark blue skin and fangs bursting from her lower lip.
"This is one of the members of the team at Beacon, Zaala, she didn't give a last name, and I doubt anyone would recognize her even if she did."
She was replaced with a pair of pictures, one was of a man, wearing heavy armor and an all encompassing mantle, the other was a massive bipedal wolf, wearing the same clothing.
"York Carmine has the ability to shift into a giant wolf. He apparently owes Miss Rose for saving his mother."
"So we can't use him?"
"No."
"Damn."
Finally there was a giant man, another blue colored skin, with hooves and a beard of tentacles.
"Finally we have Malag, seeing as he appears to be Darmus's apprentice, he also will not be any help."
James ran his hands through his hair in frustration, "Do we have any way to infiltrate them?"
"Yes, Miss Rose made friends with one of your students before her disappearance, one Penny Polendina, we were hoping to use her to keep an eye on them."
James went silent, as much as he didn't want to risk Penny, this was too important to do otherwise.
"You go get some rest, I'll call her."
"Thank you James, I'll see you in a week."
As the two Headmasters hung up, James pulled up another number.
"Penny? I need you to do something for me."
X Line Break X
Blake watched the spar going on in the arena with a critical eye. Combat, especially Huntsman to Huntsman combat, was something she had learned to specialize in during her time with the White Fang. As usual since Ruby's return she was fighting with the glaive that she had brought back with her, instead of her beloved scythe. But something about the way that Ruby was fighting bugging her.
Finally she realized what it was, "There should be two of them."
Velvet and the girl that came with her turned towards Blake, alongside the rest of Team RWBY, JNPR and STQ, the sunglasses wearing girl nodded, "You caught it too?"
"Yeah, that weapon is part of a pair."
It was hard to catch, but the way the weapon was designed gave it away, there was no easy way to defend the half of the body that it was on, implying that it was designed with the intention of being used with something else to protect it.
But where was the other half?
"Do any of you know where she got that?"
They all shook their heads, and Blake stood up, walking down towards the arena.
The match was going to end soon, she could see the exhaustion slip into the Invincible Girl's form. The title made her want to roll her eyes. It was something that the media loved to do, writing people as unstoppable. It was one of those things that threw the difference between Huntsmen and the world they protected into a sharp contrast. Good Huntsmen were aware, to some degree, that every mission could be "the mission", that there was no such thing as "Invincible."
The sad thing was, when that many people started to say something about you, there was a very good chance that you started to believe that. Blake remembered what happened to the last media darling, Sorrel the Unbreakable. He was a Bull Faunus famous for winning the Huntsman trainee bracket without any training for two years in a row, he had attacked a pack of Grimm that raided his town, only then had the flaw in his style become glaring.
Sorrel didn't know how to fight, he mostly relied on his prodigious amount of Aura to soak up blows while his enemy tired themselves out. While that was fine for fighting a human, against the creatures of Grimm, it just didn't work.
The group of White Fang sent to the village to recruit him, instead found him thoroughly broken, his body torn to pieces, with only the massive tattoo of an Oxen he had on his back allowing the identification of his corpse.
It was something many people forgot about Aura, it wasn't a catch all. Attacks of enough strength could leak through, and there was often a trade off, somebody who's Aura made them insanely strong, might not be able to move as quickly as other Huntsman, or someone who specializes in using Dust might not be able to take a hit. The legends and prodigies, like Ozpin or Goodwitch as a modern example, had been famous not for their semblances or aura capacity but for their skill.
This lesson seemed to built around destroying any notion that Pyrrha had that her title actually meant anything. Neither side was wearing armor, instead wearing light clothing. Pyrrha was left desperately trying to dodge the blows from her faster opponent. To Pyrrha's credit, she was doing much better than anyone else had done while facing Ruby, having only been nicked a couple of times.
The tattoos on Ruby's right arm flared to life, and she threw out a cloud of green smog that struck Pyrrha in the face, causing the redhead to drop to her knees, hacking up a lung.
As the match ended, Blake locked eyes with her team leader.
"What?"
Blake gestured to the glaive, "Where'd you get that?"
The change in the silver eyed girl was immediate, and obvious, a strange look came over her face, a combination of sadness and fondness.
"It was Illidan's…"
Blake grew quiet, the subject of Ruby's mysterious boyfriend had been danced around ever since she apparently blew up at her mother.
"If you have a question, Blake, ask it."
"I don't want to-"
"Blake, you're pitying me, I hate being pitied, so get on with it already."
"Who was Illidan?"
Ruby was quiet for a moment, and Blake was worried that she had offended her friend, before she spoke, "Sorry, I'm just trying to think of a way to describe Illidan without…"
She trailed off, gesturing slightly, only for Velann, who had been refereeing the match to speak up, "Without admitting that he was kinda a raging narcissist?"
Ruby threw a glare at the other woman, "What, it's true! Illidan's priorities were, his ego, you, and Tyrande and not necessarily in that order. As far as he was concerned the rest of the world existed for the sole purpose of validating his ego, or making sure you two were safe. I'm almost certain that he only sacrificed himself because it would leave the world no choice but to admit that something he did was worthwhile, and because if he didn't do it, you would have."
"Shut up!"
Velann raised her hands and sighed, a universal gesture for surrender.
Blake watched the two friends bicker, before speaking up, "You really cared about him, didn't you?"
Ruby shrugged, "I miss him more now."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't think either of us entered that relationship expecting an emotional piece. It just sort of grew into that. We were in the middle of a war where we knew that there was a very real chance of we could end up fighting each other."
Blake could feel her cheeks tingling as she blushed, "So, it was, uh-"
Dust, this had gotten embarrassing rather quickly.
"You're a smart girl Blake, I'm sure you know what it means."
Blake knew exactly what it meant, her more… adult literature often used similar plots.
"So, it was mostly about the sex?"
She heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like someone spitting out a mouthful of alcohol. Fire also seemed to be igniting rapidly, with the sound of steel leaving a sheath not far behind it. She was also sure that she had just heard the sound of her partner arming her gauntlets.
"WHAT!?"
Several voices cried out at once.
Ruby glanced up, apparently remembering that her family was there, before pulling out her scroll.
"Uh, I just remembered Darion wanted to talk to me," she clapped Velann on the shoulder, "Velann, you deal with this, ok? Ok!"
"Ruby don't you-! And she's gone."
Blake looked over at the stands, where most of the gathered group were looking in anger, and Velvet and her friend slipped out of the room.
This was going to be one of those days wasn't it?
X Line Break X
"What did you need to see me about Darion?"
That, at least, hadn't been a lie, Darion had wanted to speak with her.
"A man came to us earlier, he said he wanted to make a deal with us."
"A deal?"
"Information, for protection."
Ruby hiked up an eyebrow, "You do know you could have done this yourself?"
"I did, I wanted to talk to you about what he gave us."
Darion handed Ruby an envelope, that when she turned over, released a spill of photos.
As she looked through the pictures, her face became more and more stone-like.
"Is he still here?"
"Yes, I thought you would like to talk to him."
He opened the door, allowing in a man with dark hair and sideburns.
"Hello, Mr-?"
"Tukson."
"Mr. Tukson. You came to us for protection in return for this information correct?"
"Yes."
"And Darion has given it to you, correct?"
"Yes."
Ruby leaned in close, staring the man in the eye, "I would like to sweeten the deal, you tell us exactly where these photos came from, and in return, I will not only let you stay on our property, but I will personally assign one of my Knights to guard you. If not, I completely understand, the original deal will stand, you will be allowed to remain here, or in the village below."
"The White Fang."
"Which location Mr. Tukson, please this is very important. More important than I can probably ever convey."
"I can't."
Ruby held the man's gaze for a bit longer, before nodding, "Very well, thank you for this information Mr. Tukson, even this is a great help to us. Please, feel free to look around, I would personally suggest staying in the village, but if you would prefer to stay in Acherus itself, that can be easily arranged. If you would excuse us, I need to speak to Darion alone for a moment."
They both left the room, heading for the center of Acherus.
"They're using Necromancy."
"I know Darion."
"We need to stop them."
"I know Darion"
"What should we do?"
"I want you and the Four out in Vale looking for White Fang bases, the minute you find one, call me."
"You think we'll be lucky enough to find it?"
"No, but whoever is in charge might know the place we are looking for."
Darion stared at her for a moment. He then said "Are you sure that you want them to be released?"
Ruby didn't look at him but did answer "We might not have any other choice."
The hidden chamber in Acherus burst open, revealing Ruby's greatest sins. The Highlord grasped the nearest person's forearm, the highest she could reach.
"Wake up!"
Eyes flickered open and a deep booming voice spoke, "Hello, Deathlord, what can I do for you?"
"Don't call me that!"
"Oh? Have you come to claim your crown then?"
Ruby's eyes looked to the center of the room, where a helmet and armor sat, frozen in ice. Only the people in the room knew what sat as a mockery of a heart within the chest of the armor, or that the armor acted as a mockery to the heart of Acherus, well, there was one other person, but he was on a different planet with his sister.
YOU DON'T NEED IT, NOT YET.
"No, I have a job for you four."
"And what," spoke another voice, deep and guttural, "could that be?"
"I need you four, alongside Darion, to go into Vale-"
A third voice cut in, "A job with Darion? Did I ever tell you I was good friends-"
"With his brother? Yes. A thousand times, you've told us all about your damn parody of Uther's order."
"Let the girl speak, Trol'kalar, there is little else to do in this room."
"Yes, listen to the General! I-"
A fourth voice roared out, sending a dagger of shame through Ruby's heart, because he was the last person who deserved the role she had made him play, "SILENCE!"
Everyone else grew quite, "Good, now, Ruby was detailing our mission."
She breathed in, thrusting the shame down until she was out of the room, "Your mission is to go into Vale and track down a White Fang base, once you find it, you are to alert me, and we shall attack it, and hopefully capture the leader of the base, from there we will bring him here and I interrogate them."
"Very well, if those are your orders, Deathlord."
A Death Gate was opened, and they all shuffled through, as Ruby entered it, she desperately hoped Velann had dealt with the bombshell she had accidently set off.
X Line Break X
Ruby was so going to be paying for the next few visits to the bar.
It was a long standing tradition between Velann and her friend, whenever one of them screwed the other over, they were responsible for paying for the booze need to forget it.
And Ruby had just fucked Velann over, fucked her over hard.
The Quel'dorei didn't get what all the fuss was about, Ruby had sex, so what? She knew that Quel'Thalas certainly had a hedonistic edge (that only because worse after the destruction of the Sunwell) but it wasn't that different from everywhere else… right?
"Would you all calm down?"
She was ignored as most of the gathered group (all except Blake and Ren) planned elaborate, and in some cases impossible, ways to track down Illidan's corpse and mutilate it.
"Why aren't you two joining in?"
Ren shook his head, "It's not my place to tell Ruby what to do with her life. Also while I'm her friend, I'm not quite as close as they are to her." He motioned to the crowd currently angrily discussion how to train Zwei (who was that?) to hunt for Illidan and bring them to his corpse. It was angrily because they all had a different method of doing it.
Blake, on the other hand, bit her lip, "I understand where Ruby's coming from." She met Velann's eyes, "You knew Illidan, right?"
"Knew is a bit of a strong word."
It was true, despite how often the Demon Hunter went to Acherus, or the Highlord to the Fel Hammer, they rarely spoke to anyone other than each other during those trips.
"He never… He never hurt her, did he?"
Velann blinked, catching the apprehension in the Faunus's voice. Filing it away for later, she thought about the question.
Velann doubted it. Ruby, despite her questionable self worth at times, tended to jump to violence anytime something that could remind her of Naxxramas showed up, and something like that would definitely remind her of Naxxramas.
Plus there was Illidan's tendency to wear shirts after one of their 'sessions', and the… interesting contents of the box Ruby had placed in storage shortly after Illidan's death.
"I think the worst thing Illidan ever did to Ruby was die."
"Then I don't see any reason to go destroy his body."
Velann looked back over as Yang made some rather explicit gestures of what she would do to Illidan's body when they got their hands on it.
Velann was so happy it was Ruby's birthday tomorrow, she really needed something to drink right now.
Plus, any excuse to party (and the there would be a party, her, Pitwick, and Yang had already finished planning it) was a good excuse to party in Velann's book.
But first…
"ALRIGHT CALM DOWN ALREADY!"
... she needed to deal with this.
X Line Break X
The Fourth Horseman slipped into the room, hiking an eyebrow at the unconventional way it was set up. He walked over to one of the beds, looking at the inhabitant. Taking off one gauntlet and reaching over, he gently ran his hand over the set of raised set of bumps on her eyelid, remnants of her punishment for her greatest moment of defiance to Arthas before the battle of Light's Hope.
"Why didn't you wait?"
It was a question that had haunted the old Death Knight's dreams for years, ever since he had burst into the house that night, intent to follow Uther's last request, only to learn she had snuck out the the night before.
She shifted, reaching out for a weapon to save her from whatever terrors haunted her dreams.
He stroked her hair, the way Uther and Lady Proudmoore would, back when everything had been easier. A lullaby, one that he had sung to his son, slipped forth.
She slowly began to settle down, and the grey haired man couldn't help but think how young she looked. It was easy to forget that Ruby had been seventeen when she died, she held herself in a way that always made her look several years older.
Slipping out of the room, he started to walk down the hall, intent to carry out his mission, only to whirl around, reaching for Ash- his sword when a voice spoke out.
"She blames herself, you know?"
"Darion! Don't do that!"
"Of course. Walk with me?"
They walked out onto the balcony, staring up at the shattered moon.
"What did you mean, she blames herself?"
"For running off. And for raising you."
"She was young, and she had just lost someone important to her." At that point the second part of what Darion said registered, "Why? It was Bolvar's idea."
"But we probably wouldn't have succeeded if it hadn't been for her."
"Really?"
"Yes, I had intended to attack the base, but she went in, and traded Terenas's urn, and Uther's hammer for your body."
"I thought Ruby had Uther's Hammer in her vault?"
"They gave it back, after we stopped Sylvanas."
"Why?"
"Do you remember when I tried to use Ashbringer at Light's Hope, and it refused to listen to me?"
"Of course."
"Something similar happened there, it refused to work for anyone other than her."
"Ah."
It made sense, Uther's hammer had been forged in Light, and used with it for over forty years. If any weapon would gain a mind of its own, it would be that weapon.
"I have a favor to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"When this job is over, don't go back into that vault, I have the feeling we will need you soon enough."
"The Lich-"
"-King is dead, and his chosen successor has no intention of putting on the Helm at this point."
"A man can hope for his queen to take their role."
"I still don't know why Azeroth let there be another one after Bolvar died."
The Fourth knew, he had been informed of Azeroth's plan before hand, but he had sworn to keep it a secret to all but the wearer of the Helm.
"A good question, very well, we will stay out."
Despite Ruby's guilt over what she did, he was fine with it.
If Tirion Fordring couldn't save her in life, he would serve her in death.
X Line Break X
Yang looked around, watching as her fool-proof plan to separate Ruby from the Ebon Blade collapsed around her.
She knew it was underhanded to use Ruby's birthday party for something like this, but the more she learned about the order, the more she became convinced that it was extremely unhealthy for Ruby to stay around them.
The plan was simple, invite some of Ruby's friends from Signal over (both schools were on break) for the party, and hopefully it would remind Ruby that there were things in life other than the Ebon Blade. She had said that was the first step that she had taken that ended up freeing her from Arthas, right?
Wrong. Ruby hadn't even seemed to realize that her Signal friends were even there, and when she had, barely spoke to them, preferring to spend time with her friends from Beacon, or the Knights.
Despite this, the party itself was going well, drinks were drank, cake was eaten, songs were sung, and everyone was having a good time.
Eventually, it came time to open the presents, and that made quite an impression. While Ruby's friends from Signal (Yang felt slightly sheepish that she couldn't remember their names) gave her a couple of 'girly' things, a set of shampoo and conditioner that Yang knew that Ruby liked, most of it was a variety of guides and supplies for weapon engineering. Ruby smiled, thanked them and promised to read through them… if Pitwick didn't steal them before she could.
The old man just laughed, not even bothering to deny the accusation. From what Weiss had said about him it was probably close to the truth.
The next gift, from Ren and Nora, was a large set of ammo, in a vast variety of types. A very "safe" gift, but one Yang could tell Ruby appreciated.
Jaune's present was another look into how the Ebon Blade worked.
"Chivalry and Honor?" Ruby asked looking at the book. Jaune rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, Pyrrha recommended it to me, I thought you might like it, because you call yourselves knights, and-"
"Thank you, Jaune."
While Yang could tell she was being sincere, the other members of the Knights seemed to have vastly different reactions.
Velann had suddenly become very focused on her drink, a muscle jumped in Darion's jaw, like he was resisting the urge to laugh or scowl, and Pitwick's mutterings of "Fuck honor," under his breath made his opinion clear. Darmus however, seated in a wheelchair (apparently whatever he had done with the Light had really screwed him up) nodded, "Nothing wrong with honor, son."
Pyrrha's gift was a book on rule and regulations for arena fighting, something Ruby had been asking about, apparently trying to learn what she was allowed to do.
Penny, who had been invited along through unknown means, gave Ruby a book on robotics (Yang was almost certain she saw Pitwick slip that gift away the minute Ruby put it down.)
Blake gave Ruby a complex weapon cleaning kit, good for Crescent Rose, with its many moving parts, and an anthology of legends and fairy tales, that caused Ruby to look at Blake.
"You said that Yang used to read things like that to you. I wasn't sure if it was the real you or the fake you, but I decided to grab it anyway."
"It's great."
Pitwick spoke up then, "Did I tell you that Thassarian had started to write a book before we left?"
"He had?"
"Yeah, he wanted to put down his memories about the Ebon Blade."
Thassarian was one of 'those' names, mentioned in passing, and clearly still alive, but rarely brought up. Some of the Knights regarded him well, others spoke of him in envy, but with Ruby any mention of him cheered her up.
Weiss went next, and her gift was a supply of dust (predictably) and a ring.
It was large, obviously meant to be worn on the thumb, and was a black color, with a small red gem in the center.
"It's a dust crystal, I figured even a dolt like you couldn't cause too much damage with something that small, and seeing as you're not opposed to wearing jewelry," she gestured to the ring on Ruby's left index finger, a sword with writing in the same way as any of the Ebon Blade's weapons, "I thought you might find it useful, especially if you run off again."
Like hell that would happen on Yang's watch.
Ruby slipped it onto her finger, before testing the range of movement, "It'll take a bit of time to get used to, but I love it."
Uncle Qrow's gift would come later, he'd be helping her modify Crescent Rose, adding another form, putting it equal with Miló as one of the most advanced weapons on campus.
Yang breathed in, hoping that Ruby would like her, Tai, and Summer's gift, it was simple, but something she knew she liked.
Ruby stared at the box of cookies, quiet.
"They're from that bakery you like in Patch, you know, the one near the center of town?"
Ruby remained silent, and Yang started to worry.
"Rubes? If you don't like them, we can get-"
Ruby reached down, taking one of the cookies out and biting into it.
After she was finished with it, she reached out and pulled the three of them into a bone crushing hug.
"Thank you."
Yang couldn't help but notice how hoarse Ruby's voice was, like she was resisting crying.
"You're welcome?"
Why would Ruby be acting like this?
Next the Knights went.
Velann gave Ruby a bottle of alcohol. Summer scowled, supported by Tai. Qrow and Yang meanwhile smiled and gave a thumbs up.
Darmus and Pitwick gave Ruby a set of push knives, with the blades inscribed with the symbols all their blades had.
"For if you go somewhere where you aren't allowed to bring a weapon, we know how you feel about that."
Finally, Darion handed his gift over, when Ruby opened the box, she froze, before looking at Darion.
"How?"
Ruby's voice definitely cracked there, what was in the box?
"When we were raiding Lordaeron after we stopped Sylvanas, I stopped by your old room at the Silver Hand's base, considering how badly Arthas plagued the place, no animals were there, and nobody went in there."
"I-"
"You don't need to say anything, think of it as my apology for not stopping you all those years ago."
Yang, fed up with the delay, reached over and grabbed the box.
In it were three dresses, one was rather plain, and she quickly placed it to the side. The other two were beautifully made, one was blue with gold and white accents, and the other was a deep crimson, with black and gold accents.
"Where?"
"They were a gift," while no tears went down her face, there was no denying that Ruby was crying, "from two very important people."
"Who?"
"Alexandros Mograine, and Uther Lightbringer."
"You mentioned them a couple times, who were they?"
"Alexandros was like a uncle and teacher to me, and Uther like a father."
Yang was glad Ruby couldn't see the stricken looks of Qrow and Tai's faces then.
X Line Break X
Tai knocked back another glass of beer. He knew that he was being a hypocrite, seeing as he just gotten done agreeing with Summer about Ruby's drinking habit, but he really needed it.
Qrow poured another glass, they were in his room, and he was playing bartender, when he wasn't drinking himself.
"I'm starting to think Oz had a point."
"What do you mean?"
"That we don't know anything about Ruby."
"We know she cares about us."
"Are you sure? You heard what she said."
"Yeah, and it hurts, trust me, I want to go find those two- actually make it three, I don't care what that Velann chick said- and do unspeakable things to their bodies. But Ruby did something that proves she cares."
"What's that?"
"She came back, unlike Rae."
Tai went silent. She came back, what did that mean?
"Think about it, that big hunk of metal they call a base can fly, they could have done anything, gone anywhere in the world. Instead she brought them to Beacon, where Yang was."
"So?"
"So, no matter how important these "Alexandros" and "Uther" are to her, we're important enough that she came back to us."
"We don't know why-"
"We don't," Qrow agreed quietly, "But she has made no attempt to leave, and she brought Summer back to us."
"Yeah."
"Plus, there was her reaction to the cookies."
"What do you mean?"
"You couldn't see her face when she hugged you, but she looked like someone had told her Zwei had died."
"Why would she react like that?"
"I have a theory, but I really don't think you will like it."
"What is it?" A third voice called out.
Summer was standing in the doorway, the nightgown they had bought her hanging from her frame.
If it hadn't been for the glowing eyes, it would have been impossible to tell she had ever been dead in the first place. A result of Arthas's attempts to slowly make his servants more life like. Ruby, while having some of the enhancements added retroactively, was still an 'older model' (her words not his) and it showed, unlike Summer, who looked exactly as she did in life, Ruby had a eternally pallor to her.
Qrow looked at the two of them, "You're really not going to like this."
"Let's hear it Qrow."
"I don't think Ruby planned on coming back."
Tai stared at him, he had just said that Ruby coming back was proof that she cared about them.
"Qrow-"
"Sorry, let me rephrase that, I don't think Ruby planned on surviving to come back."
"You think that-"
Tai couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence, why would Qrow think something like that.
"It makes sense, the only thing she brought was Crescent Rose, she didn't even bring her scroll!"
"We could have tracked her through her scroll."
"That's what I thought, but then there was that comment that Velann made about Illidan, that he sacrificed himself because Ruby would have, and Port says he thinks Ruby might have PTSD."
"Dammit."
"What do we do?"
"We take care of her, better than we did before."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Tai knew exactly what Qrow meant, and was sweating bullets, because he had been avoiding admitting to Summer that he shut down again after her death.
"We… might not have been the best parents when you were gone."
Qrow was apparently trying to dance around how badly they screwed up, the girls had practically raised themselves, it was probably how Ruby met Arthas in the first place, looking for something to keep herself busy.
Summer reached over, grabbed their cheeks and pulled.
"Ow! Owowow!
"Summer! Please stop!"
"You are both in the dog house," she let go of them, "got it?"
They nodded, "Good, Tai, you're staying with Qrow tonight."
Then she left.
"I forgot how scary she can be…"
"Yeah."
X Line Break X
Ruby danced out of the way of the swinging blade, laughing with a sound like tinkling bells, "You'll have to do better than that, Darion!"
The ten year old glared at her, sweat dripping down his face.
He charged forward, only for Ruby to parry the blade.
Alexandros spoke from the edge of the arena, "Focus Darion, you'll never win fighting like an Orc, the greatest weapon you have is your mind. You need focus and speed to win against Orcs, not strength."
Ruby surged forward, bringing the training blade up rapping in to Darion's hand and causing him to drop the great sword with a yelp.
"How many times do we have to tell you? Never drop your weapon, if you do you're as good as dead! Take a five minute break."
Darion fell on his backside, groaning in pain.
Ruby looked up at the clock tower, "Actually, I need to go, I have a lesson with Jaina in a couple of minutes."
"Of course, give my regards to Lady Proudmoore. Renault! Your turn!"
Darion didn't pay attention as Renault walked into the arena, watching instead as Ruby walked from the area.
"Why do you always have her help us?"
"Because, my son, you need practice fighting while distracted."
"I wasn't distracted!"
"You can insist that all you like, but I saw where your eyes were focused on."
Darion whined, was everyone going to make fun of him for this?
X Line Break X
Ruby pushed open the door to Jaina's study, seeing a man she had never seen before. He was tall, wearing red armor, with a cloak covering his body. He had glowing eyes and long blond hair.
"-Just one chance?"
"No, Kael," Jaina sounded exhausted, like she had answered whatever question it was too many times. She looked behind him, "Hello Ruby, here for your lesson?"
"Yeah, but if you're busy with-"
"Kael'thas Sunstrider, prince of the High Elves, but please, call me Kael, any friend of Jaina is a friend of mine."
"Nice to meet you! Anyway, if you're too busy with Kael I can-"
"No, he was just leaving, but today we're heading out to the target range."
"I'm actually going to cast a spell!?"
A lot of what Ruby had done with Jaina over the last year had been studying, the number of times she had actually casted a spell could be counted on both hand. On the upside, if (when!) she got home, studying with Weiss would be easier.
"Oh, you're teaching her? I think I'll come along and watch."
Ruby watched as Jaina breathed through her nose, "Fine."
Once they were there, Ruby ran through what she had learned in her head, and started to chanel mana.
She unleashed a blast of fire waiting for it to reach the targets before allowing it to burst out, doubling in size.
She was left gasping for breath, while she was happy that she could do something related to magic, she wished it didn't take so much out of her.
"That was very good Ruby! But could I ask why you're using such an advanced spell when you're clearly not ready for it?"
"What- What do you mean?"
"Where did you learn how to do this?"
"I've mostly been learning from books, with some help with Jaina, she's been teaching me to add more mana before I cast them."
Kael looked over at Jaina, "Don't you use Frost magic?"
"Yes."
Kael, covered his face, groaning slightly, "Jaina, you do remember that Frost and Fire are opposing uses of Arcane, right?"
"Yes?"
"You don't "add" the mana you use for fire spells like you do frost, doing so is an advanced technique!"
"What do you mean?"
"Look, it's easier if I show you."
He held out a hand, and fire burst to life.
"A frost mage needs to add more Mana beforehand to reinforce their spell, a fire mage instead uses mana to control the spell."
"I don't get it."
"A frost mage needs to make sure their spell doesn't melt or shatter before it hits their target, a Fire mage doesn't need to worry about that, unless their launching it at a puddle of water it's not going to stop burning, instead we need to control the shape of the flames."
He released the spell, which took the form of a beautiful bird that flapped its wing as it flew towards the target.
"See?"
"I- I think so."
"Give it a try, it doesn't need to be anything fancy like I did."
Ruby gathered the ball of fire in her hand, trying to think of a shape, before swinging to the side.
A crescent of flames flew out, leaving a scorch mark on the targets.
Kael clapped, "Very good! Keep that up and you will be a master in no time."
Ruby beamed at him and Jaina.
X Line Break X
Weiss looked at the ghastly green flame in her partner's hand.
"What are you doing with that?"
"Practicing." Grunted out the silver eyed girl.
The heiress watched as the flame slithered up Ruby's arm.
"Why?"
"Haven't used it in a very long time, since before I broke free."
She watched as it shifted until it looked looked like a gryphon, which leapt off Ruby's shoulder and flew around the room.
"You seem to be able to use it fine."
"Used to be better, once burned ten men to death at once, ask Darion if you're curious."
That was probably the most disconcerting part of this to Weiss, the almost casual way Ruby mentioned some of the atrocities she performed.
"Ruby? Can I ask you a question?"
The gryphon flew back into Ruby's waiting hand, only to be crushed.
"Sure, What's up?"
"Why are you in charge of the Ebon Blade?"
Ruby shrugged, "I'm dangerous, I actually probably hurt Arthas worse than anyone else managed too for a long time back when we first fought. I'm experienced, I spent years leading teams or individual Necropolis. I'm talented at many forms of combat and I fit in well with the other leaders."
"Wasn't that when you were a kid?"
"Never underestimate the danger of a pissed off mage with nothing to lose. The bastard spent six months with a massive scar on the side of his face, it was great!"
"But what about any of the others? Pitwick, Darmus, or Darion couldn't have done it?"
"Neither Pitwick or Darmus wanted the role, and Darion is younger than me."
Weiss froze at that.
"Darion is younger than you?"
"Yep."
"How much younger?"
"A few years."
"Are you sure?"
"I would hope so, seeing as I knew him when he was a kid."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I knew his father so I saw him every once and awhile, it was cute, he had a crush on me that he thought I didn't know about."
Something about that just didn't seem right, Darion acted too mature for someone who couldn't be older than twelve.
"Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"What's really going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"Ruby, please, I can tell you're lying. Tell me what's going on? I promise to keep it a secret."
That was all it seemed to take for Ruby to crack, the story spilled from her lips, in between ragged sobs.
In the first minute she was dumbfounded.
In the second enraged.
By the fifth she settled in for the long haul.
About ten minutes into the story Weiss pulled out her scroll and messaged Blake and Yang to leave the two alone.
Fifteen minutes in, and she learned about how Ruby and Illidan met.
Twenty minutes in she was checking Ruby's eyelids for permanent damage.
By the twenty five minute mark, she had a new level of hatred, reserved for Kel'thuzad.
An hour in, and she realized just how deep Ruby's hatred for Arthas sat.
Two hours after the start, she was wondering just how strange Azeroth was (Talking pandas?)
By the fourth hour Weiss gave up all attempts at decorum, pulling the sobbing thirty year old into a hug as she explained the War of the Broken Shores, and subsequent battle against the the Old Gods.
Finally as the story ended, Weiss spoke, "Why didn't you just tell us?"
"I didn't want to leave Beacon."
"Why did you think you would have to leave?"
"Beacon is a place for young heroes, not an old killing machine like me."
"Don't say that."
Ruby laughed, it was a sharp noise, like the bark of a dog.
"It's true, I turned thirty six a couple days ago Weiss, I'm as old as my own parents, and as for being a killing machine? Killing is all I know how to do anymore, it's the entire reason I brought the Ebon Blade here, there's no end of things for us to kill."
"You sounded like a hero to me."
"What part of that story made me sound like a hero?"
"You didn't need to fight Deathwing, or go look for Anduin, did you?"
"No, but-"
"Then what's wrong with admitting that you might be a hero."
"Because I'm not a hero, for every good thing I've done there is another hundred terrible things I've done."
"Ruby-"
"Whatever, I'll get packing."
"What are you talking about?"
"You're obviously going to tell everyone-
"Ruby Rose, sit down."
"What?"
"You're not going anywhere, you are my partner, and that doesn't change if you're a fifteen year old dolt with ADHD or a thirty six year old dolt with a guilt complex."
"Weiss-"
"No! I've lost to many people, I'm not losing you too."
"But-"
"I'll keep your secret for now, but you'll have to tell everyone else eventually."
"I know."
"Good, now come on, we need to work on that essay for Professor Oobleck."
Ruby laughed, "You don't know how long I've wanted to hear you say that again."
X Line Break X
Ruby sighed, "Why are we doing this again? Especially when there is a undead plague in the kingdom?"
"Because they will be looking to the royal family, to see how we react in these times."
"I'm not part of the royal family Cal!"
"You're not, but you spend enough time around us that their eyes will be on you, just as they are on Uther. Also don't call me Cal!"
"So we're going to an opera? That's how we're showing we aren't worried about it, not going out there helping or something?"
"Yes."
"That's dumb."
"You won't hear me argue, Father has a tendency to make rash decisions. Now would you please stop moving around so I can finish with the makeup? We're going to be late."
Ruby let Calia finish the applying the minor amount of makeup that Ruby had agreed to.
As they walked out into the courtyard, Ruby couldn't keep the smile off her face at Darion's reaction. His jaw dropped, and a blush lit up his cheeks.
She walked over to the carriage she would be taking with Uther, Alexandros, and his two kids.
She looked at the other three, "You're unhappy about this too?
All three nodded, looking extremely uncomfortable without a weapon in easy reach. It was a mutual agreement they all shared. They let the silence weigh for a moment.
Then she looked over at Darion, and sighed.
"Darion, my eyes are up here."
"I- I don't know what you mean!"
Alexandros hid his laugh behind his hand. Something Renault didn't even feel the need to do.
It was a sadly common thing since Darion started to go through puberty, to go talk to him only to find him looking at her chest.
"Anyway, how are your lessons going?"
"They're going well. I beat Renault the other day!"
"You got lucky!"
"Lucky is apparently silver haired, and obsessed with destroying the undead."
"What do you mean, Dad?"
"When Renault let up his guard, a young Miss Whitemane just happened to be walking by."
"Father!"
"Oh, I see how it is I get distracted by-" Darion paused, glancing at Ruby, "-stuff, and it's a lesson, you get distracted and luck!"
"I'm sorry I haven't been able to make it recently, but Kael has been a slave driver."
It was true, the High Elf had taken over for Jaina when she went out with Arthas, and spent the last month and a half drilling all the magical theory he could in her head.
"No! It's fine, don't worry about it!
Even Uther laughed at the younger son of the Ashbringer's reaction.
X Line Break X
"Damn it, Uther. As your future king, I order you to purge this city!"
"You are not my king yet, boy. Nor would I obey that command if you were!"
Ruby watched with mounting horror as the two paladins argued, what was Arthas talking about? Purging the city?
"Then I must consider this an act of treason."
"Treason? Have you lost your mind, Arthas?"
"Have I? Lord Uther, by my right of succession and sovereignty of my crown, I hereby relieve you from your command and suspend your paladins from service."
Ruby finally spoke through the horror
"Have you gone completely mad!?"
"Arthas, you can't just…"
"It's done! Those of you who have the will to save this land, follow me. The rest of you... get out of my sight."
Uther affixed Arthas with a look, one that made even Ruby shiver.
"You've just crossed a terrible threshold, Arthas."
He started to walk away.
Arthas turned towards Jaina, who was looking at him with horror.
"Jaina?"
"I'm sorry, Arthas. I can't watch you do this."
"Ruby?"
"Ruby come on already!"
Ruby just shook her head.
"How could you."
Then she rushed over to Steadfast, trying to block out the sound of children screaming, and the smell of fire as Arthas's men began their duty.
As they rode away from Stratholme, Ruby buried her head into Uther's mantle.
"How could he?"
"I don't think he could handle the stress of everything that has been happening."
"What do we do?"
"We return to Lordaeron city. I'll talk to Terenas."
"But Arthas-"
"Despite what Arthas thinks, he is not the ultimate power in this kingdom, and never will be if continues down this path."
X Line Break X
"Ruby!"
Ruby cursed slightly as the deer she had been hunting fled.
"What?" She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice as she turned towards Uther.
"I don't have time to explain, grab Crescent Rose and let's go!"
Ruby followed along, catching the sound of worry in Uther's voice.
"Where are we going?"
"I need you to stay with Alexandros for a while until Tirion comes to pick you up, I'm riding to Andorhal."
"I thought that you banished Tirion?"
"I did, but we have bigger problems than a Orc lover, and I need to get you out of here."
"Uther, what's going on?"
"Arthas came back."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"No! He… He killed Terenas."
"What? Uther, that isn't funny."
"I'm not joking, I need you to go away for a bit, until this blows over."
