It was hard to maintain a positive outlook over the next few weeks. There was a lot to catch up on and it seemed like everything she learned added another brick to the growing wall between her and hope.
Ozpin had built a formidable empire over the years. The vast majority of the faunus were on his side since they were now treated not only as equals but were even granted special considerations. He had started small with the seemingly disorganized gangs taking over sections of the cities around Vale. Once an area was secured he determined who lived and worked there using people like Torchwick as his mouthpiece. Those who resisted 'disappeared'. Faunus were always given first choice of new homes in each area and inevitably ended up with better housing than the humans. Thugs and police both worked under his command, though neither knew it at first. Both were ordered to punish humans who resisted the new way.
Within a few years he controlled Vale and had similar movements beginning quietly in other places. He blackmailed, bribed and connived his way around using various people to prevent anyone from noticing everything was being controlled by one insane puppetmaster. According to Ms. Goodwitch, he genuinely believed what he was doing was for the greater good and that scared her more than anything. It made him far more dangerous.
When she made it known that he was the one pulling all the strings there was a violent confrontation throughout all the kingdoms but it was too late. He had more control than most realized. In the few places he did not control those in command, he had the loyalty of most of their followers. The revolt lasted less than two weeks. That was when the implants began. Those not willing to bow to a madman quickly rallied behind the only ones left who spoke against Overlord Ozpin. The Schnee company retained its voice, though all those remaining were in hiding. They had enough knowledge to use the media to their advantage, hacking into anything with a monitor or speaker to encourage people to fight back, to keep hoping, keep trying, keep fighting.
Most of those who didn't give up were taken to one of the small 'bases' to have their implants removed and make sure they weren't spies. There were such bases but few people had made it this far. It was only those they were absolutely sure they could trust they brought to this compound. There were less than three hundred people in this massive place. At one time that would have been considered a skeleton crew by the Schnee company.
Ruby sighed as she skimmed the directory. So few people she knew… and she didn't see her uncle's name. Her heart sank and she debated whether to ask Yang about him, scared of what she might say.
It took almost a month for her to get back to a useful state. During the early weeks her free time was spent aching so badly she could barely move as the surviving teachers gave her three years worth of lessons compacted down to what mattered now. That was determined mostly by what Grimm Ozpin had 'tamed' and was using against the resistance.
He had a number of hunters now trained as their handlers, herding them toward known enemies of the empire. They roamed freely in the no man's land outside the walled cities. Anyone caught harming them would be subject to a slow public death. However much that may rankle older hunters, they obeyed.
Yang didn't. One of her favorite methods of blowing off steam became killing Ozpin's pet Grimm. It was dangerous, though, and the others had to step in numerous times to get her away from the huntsmen loyal to the Overlord.
She cheerfully told Ruby all about it as she recounted the origins of the many scars over meals. While Ruby was proud of her sister, she was worried, too. There was an almost desperate wildness in her eyes, the kind that spoke of the likelihood of her taking unnecessary risks and dying young.
Once she was getting around easily Dove and Mezza brought Rose to meet her. She instantly loved the little girl. Ruby had flashbacks to her own youth just watching her bounce around asking rapid fire questions while telling her everything that she could think to say in as few breaths as possible.
Her mother only got her to sort of calm down by suggesting she show Ruby what she had learned. She finally loosened the surprisingly strong grip that had her firmly attached to Ruby's back and dashed toward her father. She stopped just out of reach as he drew his sword.
The little girl was suddenly still as he took a sparring stance. She reached up to brush her long, bright blue hair away from her face and with an almost unnatural speed the little bracelet around one wrist was holding her hair in a ponytail and twin daggers appeared in her hands. Ruby glanced at Mezza to see the proud smile. It was a good, unnerving trick.
Her jaw dropped as Dove took a step and Rose disappeared. She was wondering whether the girl had somehow inherited her semblance along with the name when she started to pick up on what was happening. Rose had been training all her life and had unusually strong muscles. She was moving fast and incorporating acrobatic movements to remain unpredictable. Even Dove was having trouble and he knew what to expect!
Both of them were holding training weapons, they were blunt and left streaks of color to show strikes. By the time Mezza called an end, Dove was covered in streaks of blue while Rose had only three streaks of red on her arms. From past fights with Dove she was sure he hadn't thrown the match.
"That was amazing!" Ruby exclaimed as the little girl beamed under the praise.
"Let's go get cleaned up, huh?" Dove smiled proudly at his daughter.
"Race you!" She shouted and took off running. He sprinted after her but Ruby doubted he'd catch up.
"I can't believe she's such a great fighter already..." Ruby said, sitting down. Just watching had left her exhausted.
"There is no other choice." Mezza said sadly. "We are safe here but we can't live in this place forever. We need to know that when the time comes she will be able to protect herself. For now it's just a game to her and we hope it always remains fun... but realistically I have to accept that someday she will be fighting for her life. Already she can face challenges we would fail. That offers some of the only comfort I have."
"I want to tell you not to worry but I don't think I can." Ruby sighed and hugged Mezza. "You guys are doing great, though. She's wonderful!"
"Thanks." She smiled, returning the hug.
After that Rose was never too far away. Ruby had to scold her to get the girl to attend classes without sneaking away but finally, after threatening not to spar anymore, the girl agreed to behave.
It took weeks of practice with the lighter training scythe before Yang would let her have a real weapon. Even so it wasn't the same. They had no idea where hers had been stored while she was comatose and getting her out was difficult enough without tracking down Crescent Rose. Yang assured her that Weiss would let her use the labs and dust to make a new weapon and while she was sure it was true the idea made her nervous. She had only seen the girl a couple times and she had never met anyone so intense. She was pretty sure the woman didn't like her.
With some experience and a better idea of what she was up against, she gladly set to designing her new weapon. It would be a lot like the old one but with a few modifications. It would be able to launch dust grenades as well as the more precise sniper shots. There were also special electrified net grenades made to be launched when dealing with multiple Grimm. It wouldn't stop them but it would buy time.
Her favorite addition was suggested by the very grumpy Schnee girl - a laser. It was a narrow beam that wouldn't chop people up like they did in movies but it could cause a lot of pain, start a fire and, with time, could remove extremities. It would cauterize as it went to prevent reattaching the parts later. She suggested ears and noses.
Once she finished building it she had to name it. That had been the hardest part of the whole process. She was still thinking while she spun the perfectly balanced weapon during practice. It was nice to have the heft of a real weapon again.
One of the things that bothered her the most was knowing that Beacon was gone. The school had been destroyed in the wars. The only way to get that quality of education now was to accept an implant and work for Ozpin. The rebellion lacked the resources for full classes but the younger folks were learning better combat skills than Ozpin would dare teach his people.
"Crescent Beacon." She decided. Whether she liked it or not, she was looked up to as the first student to risk everything to fight back. She gambled and lost but survived and came back ready to try again. Yang had told her that morale was improving and people were pushing to get better again.
She didn't see much herself since she mostly kept to herself in the labs. It wasn't that she wanted to avoid people, she had been advised by the others to minimize contact until she was back to her regular state of health. Again, it had to do with morale. Everyone knew she was back and recuperating but it would be better for them to see her go from the frail, scrawny victim to a strong, determined warrior without the steps between. It made sense but it was lonely.
She had a few of her friends and the medical staff to talk to, of course, but there were others out there. Of course that was where Sky stayed, too. He had avoided her part of the compound entirely and refused to answer any notes she sent.
Dove told her a bit about what had happened with Sky after she left. He had been more upset than the others because he had a bit of a crush on her at the time. He never said anything because he didn't want to cause tension or get in a fight with Cardin. His bitterness and anger grew as time passed and everything went wrong. He lost his family in the war and almost died, himself. Nora had saved him and the two became inseparable. Both had lost everyone that mattered to them and apparently she liked quiet men. He was glad she didn't push him to be more talkative and enjoyed her determined efforts to make people happy in the darkest of times.
He was sure Sky would forgive her eventually but for now his long-smoldering anger was resurfacing. He suggested she just not think about it but she couldn't just forget that one of her best friends hated her.
With Crescent Beacon compacted at her side she set off to find Sky. The task was more difficult than she expected since he didn't want to be found and there were a number of people who knew that. By the time she got wherever he was seen someone had sent him elsewhere. Finally Ruby changed tactics and tracked down Nora.
"I need to talk to him." She said bluntly to the stubborn girl with the blaze of orange hair.
"He's upset enough." Her customary smile was missing and there was no cheer visible in her turquoise eyes. Yang and Dove had both talked about how good she'd been for him because of her constant cheerful friendliness. They both told her how much she'd like Nora but right now it was like she was meeting someone else entirely. "He looked up to you as both his leader and his friend. You broke that promise after getting hurt so bad, you went after the same guy alone. The broken promise was bad and really hurt him but the part I don't think he will ever be able to get over, the one thing you can't make up for, is that you went alone to fight people who genuinely wanted to kill you knowing you wouldn't be coming back. No amount of apologies can make up for something like that. You didn't just get beat in a fight and trapped by the enemy that night. You failed a suicide attempt. You walked out on your team even though you knew they needed you. They needed your support as much as your strength."
Ruby fought back the rising tears and shook her head. "And if I took them? Would you be happier if they had gotten killed in all that? I was barely able to keep myself alive… I only managed because Cardin died in my place. If they had been with me we would have had to fight in a less strategic place and they would have overwhelmed us. We would all be dead. Is that what would make you happy?"
"You would have survived with their help." She insisted.
"Just like everyone else survived the wars?" She snapped, her frustration getting the better of her. She knew instantly that it was the stupidest thing she could have said when Nora stepped back as if she'd been punched. A brief expression of agony seemed to flash across her features to be replaced by fury.
Her slight frame trembled in rage as she started to respond but never got more than one word out before changing her mind on what to say. Her hand moved to her weapon and Ruby tensed, resisting the instinct to grab her own.
"I'm sorry but you're looking at it the wrong way." She said, hoping to calm the furious girl or at least delay a fight. "You say I went to commit suicide and… I guess I did know that was one probable outcome. Ultimately I did the same thing Ms. Goodwitch did - when I realized there was no alternative, I fought back even knowing the odds. They had me against a wall, Nora. I couldn't do anything to stop them even if I saw them doing something bad. I had to let them go with a big van full of weapons once and they taunted me. Thanked me for helping them. Can you imagine what it would be like to help them just because you know fighting them would mean you and anyone with you would be badly outnumbered and killed? I only survived because my battleground was a narrow alley that allowed me the ability to kill anyone within my weapon's range. I didn't have to worry about hitting an ally by mistake. I was badly outnumbered and in any other location I wouldn't have had even a slim chance of living through that night. I cared too much about my team to get them killed because I couldn't stand helping the enemy anymore. I understand Sky's anger and don't think I'm proud of myself. All I have done is ask myself what I might have done differently that would have kept Cardin alive. We can't change the past but we do have a future and I don't want Sky to be angry with me forever. If you don't want me talking to him, that's fine… but let him know what I said."
Nora clenched her teeth, swung around and stormed off. Ruby sank to the floor, relieved it hadn't come to an actual fight but furious with herself for the low blow. Yang had warned her that the girl had lost her lifelong best friend in the wars. They were so close most people thought they were a couple and she was still hurting from the loss even though it happened years ago.
"Don't worry. He'll hear what you said."
She jumped and looked up at the new arrival, a stranger - and even more unexpected, a faunus. His tall, pointed doglike ears were impossible to miss, black around the edges and tan in the middle. The long tail was equally difficult to ignore, black on top with tan fur below. "You think she'll actually tell him?"
He shrugged and smiled, holding up a scroll between two fingers. "I did."
"You what?" She blinked, uncomprehending for a moment.
"Sent him a recording of the whole conversation. She may think she's doing him a favor by protecting him from the truth but I doubt he'd really appreciate that in the long run. He needs to make his own decisions based on facts." He closed the distance between them and held out a hand. "What's done is done and whatever the reasons were, we need to focus more on improving the future than complaining about the past. I'd like to believe he'll suck it up and make peace with everyone so we can all work together."
"Yeah…" She took his hand and let him pull her back to her feet. She may have kept growing while in that coma but she was still only shoulder high on him. "Thanks. I'd introduce myself but you probably already know who I am."
"Who doesn't?" He smiled. "I'm Book."
"I thought the faunus were on Ozpin's side…" She said, a bit puzzled.
"Most are. A few of us retained our sanity when it was announced that we were free from human discrimination. People of all races tend to react foolishly when they have been treated bad for a long time and discover the tables have turned. I was lucky in a way… I grew up around good people who didn't hate me for my extra features. All that cruelty most faunus experience stems from confusion and fear, not actual dislike. I couldn't quite get that message through to anyone, though. When the lines were drawn most of my friends came here and I gladly came with them."
"I would have thought you'd stay with the other faunus and try to talk sense into them." She said thoughtfully as he began walking with her back toward her usual section of the compound.
"They wouldn't have listened. It's too soon even now. They are still riding high on the excitement of being in control. No, I can do the most good here. While the old ways weren't exactly right they were less wrong than the current system and I need to be able to believe we will take them down. When that happens I will be here as a faunus representative to make sure things don't go back to the way they were."
"I'll do what I can to help." She assured him.
"Thank you." He said with a smile and it took all her effort not to giggle as she saw his tail wagging happily out of the corner of her eye.