Chapter 51: Epilogue
Well, this story has been quite the journey. I'm The Draigg, and I'm here to show you the end of the line. The final act. The last chapter. Before we wrap this story up, I should remind you that I don't own RWBY. Now that I've said that, let's go back to this story to see the ending!
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Tuesday. Nobody on Task Force Musical was looking forward to Tuesday. They were standing out in the field after their classes for the day ended. All of them had pointy sticks and trash bags. All of them were pulling garbage clean up duty for their first day of detention.
Annoyed, Weiss speared an empty can of soda and tossed it into the bag. "I can't believe this! Picking up trash like this is way below us!", she complained.
Blake and Yang were inclined to agree with the silver-haired heiress.
"I know… As if getting rid of the stage wasn't enough.", Yang bitterly noted.
"We could have at least gotten some credits for this.", Blake chimed in, sounding tired. They had tried to haggle with Professor Goodwitch to get credits, but she pointed out that nobody ever got points for detention. Since that small fire happened on their watch, they were held responsible.
When Ren got word of that, he decided to keep his involvement quiet. It was just easier to let his friends believe Cardin did it. When he got his leg casts off, he sure was going to get it from Nora. He could tell form her gaze while she was cleaning the field that brutalizing Cardin was still on her mind.
Well, at least Pyrrha and Jaune were taking it well. Pyrrha was just using her polarity to float the empty soda cans into her bag, which Jane was holding open. They weren't stressing out in the slightest.
Speaking of stress, Velvet was having a minor internal breakdown. Detention!? She had never gotten detention! She was a normal, B-average student! Not some… degenerate!
"What happens when I have study-hall detention tomorrow?! Oh gods, is it like prison?! I have to make a shank! No, that won't do! I either have to act crazy, or just bend over and be the prisoner's toy!", she frantically thought. The only real knowledge she had of prison was from movies and television she watched. So, she was considering wearing a bandana and getting tattoos. How would she fit the bandana over her rabbit ears? She began to wrack her brain for solutions.
Ruby, however, was taking her detention in stride. Walking over to the rest of her team, she tried to get their spirits up.
"Come on, you guys! This isn't all that bad!", she pointed out. But, just as she said that, Weiss speared a can of soda that wasn't opened. The cola sprayed out in a jet that drenched Weiss' combat skirt.
Her eye furiously twitching, Weiss growled between her gritted teeth, "Ruby… NEVER say that again.". For some reason, the universe saw fit to punish somebody random after someone else dared to think that it had generosity and mercy.
Ruby frantically tried to clean the warm soda off of Weiss' skirt, while Blake and Yang tried to suppress their laughter. They had to admit, it was pretty funny. Food related messes were always the best.
"It's NOT funny!", Weiss complained as she noticed Blake and Yang covering their smiles. Since their laughter was unleashed when they saw Weiss' completely unthreatening pouty face, Weiss grew even angrier.
Moving away from Ruby, Weiss grabbed her garbage bag and threw it at Blake and Yang. Their laughter stopped immediately as they were covered in ice cream wrappers, stale soda, and partially melted candy.
"HEY!", the pair cried as she tried to shake off the trash. In retaliation, Yang began to throw garbage from her own trash bag. However, her aim was off, and she hit Ruby square in the face with a melted snow cone.
"ACKpthpthpth!", Ruby cried as she brushed the sticky liquid off her face. Oh, now it was ON.
Ruby, acting deadly calm, took a half-eaten burger out of her bag, walked over to her sister, and slammed the trash down her shirt. Yang got an absolutely flabbergasted look on her face. Did her sister really just do that?
Blake, now deciding to join the fray, threw an apple core at Ruby's back. Then, in her girlfriend's defense, Weiss picked up a partially finished cup of cola and dumped it on Blake.
Nora watched on in glee. Man, she really wanted in on the action. So, deciding to get involved, Nora slammed her bag over an unsuspecting Ren's head. Ren immediately slumped to the ground, stunned. Clutching his head, he groaned loudly. Maybe this was karmic balance for the fire. Deciding that it indeed was karma in action, Ren didn't bother to get up. He didn't want to make his punishment worse. Nora, however, then rushed over to Team RWBY, wanting to fight some more.
Jaune and Pyrrha stood by the sidelines, confused. How the hell did a fight start this quickly? However, they didn't ponder that question for long, as some trash started to fly in their direction.
"Pyrrha! Code C!", Jaune cried, dumping out several soda cans out of his bag. Following Jaune's orders, Pyrrha used her semblance to levitate the cans and launch them at the nearby ball of violence. Ever since food fights in the cafeteria grew more and more common, Team JNPR came up with several plans to fight with food in the most destructive ways possible.
Nobody in the fray noticed the large cloud of cans about to dump old soda on their heads until it was too late. When the rain of soft drink ended, everyone collectively set their sights on Pyrrha and Jaune. Noticing the looks in their friend's eyes, Jaune and Pyrrha tried to make use of the oldest trick in the book: run the hell away. They were chased around the field by a group of soda-soaked warriors.
Velvet now was completely freaking out. This was just like a prison riot! It was happening! She needed a shiv or something! But, instead of trying to fight her friends, Velvet's instincts defaulted to their usual response when people fought around her.
Curling into a tight ball on the ground, Velvet covered her head and yelled, "Don't hurt me! For the love of everything, please don't hurt me!".
If someone was to look upon the field at that moment, they would probably leave the minute they saw what was happening. But, if they bothered to stay around, they would have seen two people lying on the ground, one of which was screaming, and then an angry mob covered in soda chase around two students desperately trying to flee.
Such was life at Beacon Academy.
Meanwhile, a whole kingdom away…
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A stern man was sitting in his dimly lit office. He was currently displeased with what he was seeing. In front of him, on his desk, his computer was currently opened on a video that one of his administrative assistants brought to his attention.
The video was showing a girl with silver hair in a frilly dress, singing to a loud and cheering crowd. As she finished the song, the crowd grew even louder with claps and whistles. Before the man could watch more of the video, he was interrupted by a call on his desk phone. Pausing the video, he answered it.
"Sir, Mister Brass is here to see you, just as you asked. Should I send him up?", the person on the other end asked.
"Of course. Send him in.", the man said. Hanging up the phone, the man behind the desk turned on the lights on his office remotely. He smoothed out the lapels of his icy-blue and white suit jacket.
Watching the video link, the man waited for Mr. Brass to walk into his office. Hearing the door open, the man paused the video and then stood up.
"Mr. Brass. I'm glad you could make it here in time", the well-dressed man said, gesturing to a plush chair in front of his desk.
Mr. Brass was trying his best to hide his nervousness. In his tan pants pockets, he began to feel for his lighter and smokes, subconsciously craving a calming cigarette. He could really use something, anything to calm his nerves. His actions didn't go unnoticed by the man in front of him.
As Mr. Brass began to walk forward, the stern faced man said in an almost patronizing tone, "Please, it's okay to smoke in here. Go ahead, have a cigarette.".
Accepting the man's offer, Mr. Brass pulled out a smoke and placed it in his mouth. Sitting in the chair the man offered, he gave his cigarette a light.
"Y-you wanted to see me, sir?", Mr. Brass said, taking a heavy drag and blowing out smoke.
The man behind the desk sat down, and turned the computer monitor to face Mr. Brass. He noticed the quick look of recognition in Mr. Brass' eyes.
"Now, what exactly could you tell me about this?", the man said, any trace of warmth or false comfort completely gone from his voice.
Mr. Brass shifted uncomfortably in his chair, then replied, "It looks like some kind of concert, sir.".
The man rolled his eyes, and then dryly remarked, "I'm glad that you have a grasp on the obvious. Now, I urge you to look again, Mr. Brass.". The glare that he shot at his underling made it clear that what he said wasn't a suggestion.
Mr. Brass made a show of moving his face closer to the computer screen. Then, taking another puff and leaning back, he said, "It's your daughter singing on stage, Mr. Schnee.".
Mr. Schnee leaned back in his chair, and folded his hands. "Your observation skills are uncanny, Mr. Brass.". He lowered his gaze and continued, "Now, as I understand it, your job was to observe Weiss' education AND lifestyle at Beacon Academy. Correct?".
Mr. Brass gave a small nod in response. Mr. Schnee gave off an aura as icy as his family name.
"So, would you mind telling me how THIS didn't come up in your inspection?", Mr. Schnee said, turning the monitor back around.
Mr. Brass sat there quietly, letting his cigarette burn down the filter in his fingers. When he felt the hot ashes reach his fingers, he put out the butt on a nearby ash tray. Mr. Schnee didn't move an inch. He was waiting for an answer.
"W-well… sir… I simply wasn't aware that your daughter was putting on a show. They must have hidden that fact well.", Mr. Brass lied.
"They?", simply asked Mr. Schnee, leaning forward on his desk. The lower half of his face was hidden behind his clasped hands.
"Your daughter's team at Beacon, sir. Team RWBY. Spelled R, W, B, Y.", Mr. Brass clarified.
"Interesting.", Mr. Schnee noted. He didn't move an inch, and his gaze remained firmly on Mr. Brass.
"I-is there anything else, sir?', Mr. Brass asked, desperately looking for a way out of this terrifying situation.
"No. You're dismissed.", ordered Mr. Schnee, gesturing his head to his office door. Mr. Brass took this as an opportunity to flee from the office.
As the door closed behind the underling, Mr. Schnee turned his attention to his computer. Closing the video, Mr. Schnee searched for the Beacon Academy website. Finding it, he ignored the mission statement and other resources. He wasn't interested in their education pedigree.
Finding the tab for Team Listings, he searched for a 'Team RWBY'. The search results showed the members of the team.
Apparently, the team was let by a young girl. Hmm, that was odd indeed. Scrolling down, he also saw that a liberally dressed young lady and a mysterious looking girl with a suspiciously short biography were also on the team, along with his daughter. That wasn't a good start. He would have to dig deeper to get some answers.
Picking up his phone, he called his secretary and said, "Ms. Bow, send this order to the estate office: gather insight to the members of Team RWBY.".
"And the member's names sir?", Ms. Bow asked from the other end of the line.
"Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna, and Ruby Rose.", Mr. Schnee said, before abruptly hanging up the phone.
Leaning back into his desk chair, Mr. Schnee stared at the profile pictures of Team RWBY. He didn't have a good first impression of the girls on his daughter's team.
It was one thing to see a concert with his daughter in it on the internet, but what he saw in Weiss' teammates troubled him even more. They were either too young, too loose, or too mysterious to be trusted.
Overall, he felt that this… 'Team' was not only a possible bad influence on his daughter (if they roped her into singing in a concert), but could pose an active threat to the safety of the entire Schnee estate as well.
He would have to deal with decisively. All he needed to do was bide his time.
But, once he had the necessary information, he could deal with those girls.
xxx
The end.
Aww, who am I kidding? This couldn't possibly be the end of this story. In fact, this is only the beginning… for now. But, the next part will have to wait, until it's ready to be shown to you all. So, if I may before I leave, I would like to thank a few people. Firstly, thanks to JimboYokimbo for being a great editor for this story. If it wasn't for his input, the quality of this story would surely suffer. So, give him a look or say hello, he deserves it. Also, I would like to thank all the people who left reviews. I really appreciate all the feedback I got from you guys, both critically and positively. Really, it's you guys, the readers, that I write for. Now, I should really get going. My work isn't done, not in the slightest.
This is The Draigg, fading away… for now.