Chapter 11: To Be Forgiven
Winter Schnee's Personal Airship
1am
Blake had awoken after taking a blow from a Beowolf that had knocked her unconscious during the fight. After the fight, she ordered Yang and Blake to be sent aboard her personal airship while Duncan and his team were to ride with Dante, Alexis, and Blaze. Blake had a bandage wrapped around her head, and Yang sat in the seat next to her, with her Motorcycle resting in the cargo hold of the ship. Winter walked in from the cockpit of the airship and she did not look happy...
" You're awake, good." Yang said in a relieved tone.
" Where's Duncan and the others?" Blake asked.
" Mr. Wolfe and his team are riding with Field Marshall Perez and his associates." Winter explained.
" Thanks for getting us out of there." Yang said.
" Good, because you're both going back to Beacon." Winter said.
" What?" Blake said with an alarmed tone.
" Both of you abandoned your teammates when your leader needed you most." Winter said in an angry tone.
" That's why I went after her, she didn't have to run, we understood she had no control over her actions." Yang said.
" So you abandoned your sister who was helpless and vulnerable, just to pursue your partner?!" Winter said even more angrily.
" ENOUGH!" Blake exclaimed.
" Ruby and your teammates had already forgiven you Blake, they understood that your actions weren't your own." Winter said in a calmer tone.
" But I couldn't forgive myself." Blake said.
" Huh?" Yang said.
" Ruby may never get the chance to become a Huntress because of me. She's going to miss out so many experiences, moments in her life, all taken away from her at that moment I drove my blade into her torso. I basically killed Ruby's chances at becoming a huntress." Blake said, before falling into Yang's lap crying.
" Well, she's alive. That has to count for something." Winter said.
" She made it?" Blake asked.
" Yes, she awoke from her coma almost three weeks ago, and she and Weiss are back at Beacon." Winter explained.
" She's back at school?" Yang asked.
" Yes, though she has been confined to bed rest for a while at the request of her doctors." Winter said.
" How does she get up to the top bunk?" Yang asked.
" She doesn't, she's been sleeping on Weiss's bed while Weiss has been sleeping on yours." Winter said, talking to Blake.
" Really?" Blake said.
" Yes, and they are currently in a relationship." Winter said.
Yang and Blake's jaws dropped when Winter had said that to them: Weiss and Ruby were dating. The airship pilot radioed, saying that they were just five minutes out of Beacon, in which Yang and Blake were bracing themselves for their most toughest return to school life after everything they had done. They went through a gauntlet of people giving them angry glares, and when they approached the dorms, they were approached by an angry Qrow.
" Thanks Ice Queen, I'll take it from here." Qrow said.
" Uncle Qrow?" Yang said as Winter walked away.
" You're lucky your father is not here right now, otherwise you'll be getting an earful of what he has to say." Qrow said, taking a sip of his flask.
" So I'm getting an earful from you?" Yang remarked.
" Yes, you are." Qrow said.
" Okay, let's hear it." Yang said.
" That was the most stupid thing you had ever done, leaving your sister by herself while she was injured." Qrow said.
" Well, I'm glad she's still alive." Blake said.
" You're lucky your friends, Weiss, and myself pitched into help her." Qrow said.
" Really?" Yang said.
" Well, come on, time to reunite." Qrow said, leading them into the building, before telling Yang that her father says she's grounded.
He led them to the dorm room, where Team JNPR was standing outside and they too, had angered looks on their faces. Ren walked over to the door and knocked, telling somebody inside that Yang and Blake had arrived. Weiss had exited, wearing a completely new uniform that looked like a combination of a formal suit and warrior armor, with Myrtenaster at her side, and she turned to see Blake and Yang, and approached them both.
" Blake, Ruby wants to talk to you, alone." Weiss said.
" Okay." Blake said, walking towards the door.
" Weiss, before..." Yang said.
" If you ever run again, it won't just be Winter tracking you down." Weiss said angrily.
" Alright, I'm sorry." Yang said.
" I'm guessing Winter has told you." Weiss said.
" Yes, she told me that you guys are dating." Yang responded.
" You'll probably want to express your opinion now." Weiss stated.
" Just one: You break her heart, I'll break your legs." Yang said.
While the girls were talking, Blake had entered the room and saw Ruby sitting up on the bed, her bare feet resting firmly on the floor. She looked up at Blake with a Leader's concern, in which Blake had been choking back tears that were slowly starting to build.
" Hey, Blake." Ruby said.
" Hey, Ruby, glad to see you're still breathing." Blake said.
" Yeah, you've got separate the good from the bad." Ruby said.
" Listen I...I...(voice breaking)" Blake said.
" Yes?" Ruby said.
" I'M SO SORRY." Blake said, slumping to the floor in front of Ruby.
Ruby listened as Blake was in tears over what she had done on that fateful day, begging to be forgiven by Ruby for everything she had done. Blake thought it was hopeless as Ruby didn't respond to her at all, until she looked up and saw she had an outstretched hand to her. She took the hand, and Ruby pulled her close and hugged her teammate and held her close and spoke something to her...
" I forgive you. For all that you've done, I forgive you." Ruby said.
" (Voice broken) Thank you." Blake said.
Blake helped Ruby up and they continued to hug as tears flooded their way down Blake's face, and then Weiss and Yang entered the room to see the tears flowing down Blake's face. Yang was amazed that her sister was still alive after everything that happened to her, and she too joined in the hug along with Weiss.
8:00 am
Ruby was now laying back down in bed and eating breakfast while talking to Blake, who was sitting at the foot of the bed. Yang and Weiss were talking about how things have been since the outbreak off to the side...
" You and Weiss are dating now?" Blake said.
" Yep, turns out she really loves me." Ruby said.
" Do you love her the same way?" Blake asked.
" Yeah, I do." Ruby said.
" Okay, so what have you two been up to?" Blake inquired.
" Everyone has been super nice to me, Cardin and his team actually respect me for surviving a blade through the chest." Ruby said.
" Cardin respects you?" Blake said with shock in her voice.
" Yeah, he says "I'm a badass for surviving a blade through the chest." Ruby said in a similar tone to Cardin's.
" Ha, that's almost sounds like Cardin himself." Blake said.
" Yeah, Sun and Neptune have been coming in to hang out with me in their free time, so does Velvet's team." Ruby said. " I've also gotten better at math." She added.
" You've gotten better at math?" Blake asked in disbelief.
" Yeah, I've had too much free time on my hands so I ended up doing math equations whenever I was bored." Ruby said.
" Well, everyone needs a hobby." Blake said.
" What have you been up to while on the move?" Ruby asked.
" I joined with some old friends and launched attacks against the White Fang while they are weakened right now." Blake explained.
" The White Fang's been weakened right now?" Ruby asked.
" Yeah, turns out the Grimm Rage Virus spread amongst their ranks and nearly caused them to collapse." Blake said.
" How did they handle that?" Ruby asked.
" Turns out, their leader ordered any infected executed." Blake said.
" That's a cold policy." Ruby said.
" Yeah, but my friends and I slowed their recovery process." Blake said.
" How?" Ruby inquired.
" We destroyed training centers, raided hideouts and safe houses, and even toppled their connections with a smuggling group in Vacuo." Blake said.
" Man, you must have needed an army for that." Ruby said.
" Actually, my friends were White Fang Defectors, so they knew about these places." Blake said.
" They defected?" Ruby said.
" Yeah, they abandoned the ranks after my mentor tried to have them drag me into the group." Blake said.
" That's actually a smart move." Ruby said.
Weiss came over and told Blake that Professor Ozpin wanted to speak with them both immediately. So the girls proceeded to the Headmaster's office, and were greeted by General Ironwood and Professor Ozpin, each wanting to speak their own opinions on their behavior.
" Good morning, ladies." Ozpin said.
" Hello, Professor." Both girls said.
" We've brought you both here to explain your actions in the following weeks." Ironwood said.
The girls told their story to the wizened teacher and the experienced military leader, and both individuals just listened to every word, every detail that was given to them by the two girls. They just sat there and listened to every word told to them, and after 13 long minutes of hearing their story, they began to speak...
" Well, that's quite a tale." Ozpin said.
" I know, right?" Yang said.
" I hadn't suspected that the virus would have damaged the White Fang's operations this bad." Ironwood said.
" Yeah, neither did we." Blake said.
" Well, what should be done about Mr. Wolfe and his team?" Ozpin asked.
" I think I might know something for them to do." Ironwood said.
" Really?" Blake said.
" They'll be a response team for when The White fang comes into play." Ironwood said.
" So, you want them to work for you?" Yang asked.
" I'll have them be independent, I'll have them work outside the boundaries of the military, but be there when we need them." Ironwood explained.
" I think Duncan would like that." Blake said.
After their conversation, Blake and Yang proceeded to their classes, and Ironwood returned his focus to rebuilding his forces that were currently present in Vale. But after he left, Ozpin pressed a concealed button underneath his desk, and a podium with an elegantly designed book rested on it. He walked over and opened the book, labeled Master and Student, and was enveloped in a bright light that had transported him to the one place nobody had expected that he would know existed: he was transported to Fortuna.
" Hello, Professor Ozpin." The Storyteller said.
" Hello, Old friend." Ozpin responded.
" What brings you to me?" The Storyteller asked.
" What do you know of a young man named Duncan Wolfe?" Ozpin inquired.
" He's a student of mine and keeper of Broken and Repaired, the sixth in the series while you guard the fourth." The Storyteller said.
" So he has the sixth?" Ozpin asked.
" Yes. He does." The Storyteller said.
" Good, we may need that volume when the time comes." Ozpin said.
" You are determined to find my volumes that bad, huh?" The Storyteller said.
" These volumes can train our Guardian when the time comes." Ozpin said.
This chapter ends with a hidden truth about Ozpin revealed: he seeks the 12 volumes of The Storyteller to train the Guardian he seeks when the times comes. The Storyteller's 12 volumes are ways to train warriors to be the best than what they are considered. But after the First Grimm Wars, all 12 volumes were lost, until the sixth in the series ended up in the possession of Duncan Wolfe, a White Fang Defector and student of The Storyteller, while the fourth ended up in the care of Professor Ozpin. The next chapter is when Duncan carries out a solo assignment for Professor Ozpin and they propose a partnership in the search for the 12 volumes, and Blake and Yang face a hardship when they come across a danger when end up in the possession of the Storyteller's third text, in which an old enemy of his past returns.
WAIT AND SEE.