The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 18: Heart of Pain
Beacon Courtyard
January 5
11:37 AM
Eleven days.
Eleven days since the Battle of Beacon.
Eleven days since Ruby and Weiss personally faced one of Vales greatest evils, and managed to survive.
Eleven days since the second and third firings of The Rune, both with no drawbacks or issues with Headmaster Ozpin.
Eleven days since the destruction of Saturn's Flagship and his army of drones.
Eleven days... Sounds so insignificant that way.
Weiss stood alone at the construction site of Beacon, where workers would no doubt be arriving soon to continue their job: rebuilding Beacon Academy.
The heiress took a deep breath as she examined the landscape; previously crushed statues now back to their normal locations, waterfalls fixed and flowing, trees replanted and growing. Wreckage had been removed from the grounds, and the bodies of the fallen had been properly buried or sent to their families. Teams had been killed, along with leaders, friends, lovers, and families.
And all for what?
Just for the death of one team.
One team that made it out 100% intact.
Almost.
Weiss leaned against her crutches, the metal medical devices allowing her to stand, which was better than the wheel chair that she was assigned. More comfortable as well.
Weiss maneuvered herself over to newest statue at Beacon, one of a group of students, a team in fact, that defended Beacon with all their strength.
Under the statue was a plaque, listing four names of a year one team.
Team RWBY
Members:
Ruby Rose
Weiss Schnee
Blake Belladonna
Yang Xiao Long
We honor your sacrifices for protecting our home
The statue captured her likeness, Yang's seemed to be... over dramatic, mostly in the chest region of the stone. Leave it to the workers to make boys fall in love with a statue.
Weiss chuckled slightly as she thought about it, the disappointment in their eyes when Yang turns them down for Blake. Would most likely ruin someone's day.
Weiss stumbled over to a large oak tree, allowing the crutches to fall to the ground with a thud, the heiress sliding down the oak before lying on the grass. The white haired girl looked over the clouds as they passed by, taking shapes of animals and structures, weapons and foods. It would seem that Ruby's child-like tendencies had transferred over to Weiss during their relationship.
Weiss let her eyes droop a tad before a voice drew her attention.
"Hey kiddo, enjoying your rest?" A familiar voice asked the heiress, one she hadn't heard in quite some time.
A man sat down next to Weiss in a large trench coat, a thin layer of stubble adorning his face with black sunglasses.
"Hey Orion." Weiss said simply, looking at the man before looking back at the clouds, crossing her arms behind her head as a pillow. "Thought you said you couldn't come talk to us again?"
"Huh, most people would be amazed to speak to a God. But I guess you have plenty of experience with the Gods as of late." He said simply, relaxing under the tree. "Not going by Orion, call me Max."
"A God named Max?" Weiss giggled slightly before collecting herself again. "Seems pretty generic."
"Well, Father doesn't like me down here. And I've paid off my brothers and sisters to keep me hidden for now."
"Paid them off?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow at the man.
"Let them mess with Fate for a few days. Give this person a winning lottery ticket, prevent an accident, all that good stuff."
"Huh." Weiss said, looking up at the sky, a giraffe cloud floated by.
"How's the team?"
"Well..." Weiss began, looking back at the God. "Yang could be better, but has been a lot more calm and collected about everything. Helping other teams rebuild is keeping her busy and happy. Blake has been more open with others; she even made peace with Cardin and his bullying of Faunus. I'm pretty good too, learning to walk with these crutches for now. Father said he would be arriving shortly, maybe a few days to see how I am." She said, lowering her look at the God down to the grass.
"I'm sorry about Ruby." He said in a soft and gentle tone, careful in his delivery.
Weiss let her head touch the soft grass, sighing slightly. "She's in a better place, right? At some land with giant cookies as homes?" Weiss asked, looking up at the clouds.
"I suppose so. She did deserve it after all." He said simply, looking up at the clouds as well. "She shouldn't have gone out like that. Instead of dying in some massive battle, it just had to be in a doctor's office. I guess I used up my Fate changing abilities for that time period. But I must say, I truly didn't see that coming." Orion added, sighing as well. "Been a long time since I've felt so useless."
"Decades?" Weiss asked, a cookie cloud floated by.
"More like a couple millennia, three at most." He said, laughing a tad. "You remind me of another person, nice person too."
"Do tell." Weiss said simply, curiosity flowing in her voice.
"This one person, named Socrates. He was once like you in a way, somewhat ignorant but overcame it, and sought to change the world around him. He helped others, followed in his father's footsteps, and strayed off to better the world. He was a good fellow, one of the most pure people that I have ever met. Him and Gandhi, Martin, and a few others are nice as well." He said, smiling at Weiss. "You have achieved a spot on my list, Weiss. Be proud."
"Thanks you, but I've never heard of those people before." Weiss replied, raising an eyebrow. "When were they alive?"
"Well, let's just say this isn't the only planet with life on it." He said with a wink.
Weiss smiled a little before turning her attention to the sky. "Want to visit Ruby's grave later on?" She asked, spotting another cookie cloud.
"Sure, it's the right thing to do after all. You feeling okay about it?"
"Somewhat." She said, a lone tear streaking down her face. "I've learned to repress my emotions when needed, and I usually let loose at her grave or in my pillow when I'm alone. But I know deep down that she's better now, and one day, maybe I'll be able to see her again." Weiss said calmly. "I'm sort of at peace with it."
The sound of gravel being crunched came from nearby; Weiss decided that it was probably just the workers arriving to fix some walls in the east wing, not bothering to look at the location of the sound. A few birds flew by the pair.
"Sounds fair. Wish I wasn't so blinded right now, Fates been acting odd or off balance as of late. Can't figure out why. If I had foreseen her death... I swear I would have warned you, in the least protected you both from Saturn."
"Sounds good, but this is fair. I guess I deserve this for being so rude to her in the start. I don't really deserve her after all. Dagonus made that very clear. But if she was still here, I would treat her like she was a heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and do anything she ever said." Weiss decided, looking back at the clouds. "It's what she deserves."
"Huh." Was all Orion could say. "You are a very interesting individual." He added, looking at the clouds as well. "What do you see?"
"Huh?"
"In the clouds, everyone sees something different. What do you see? And why?" The God asked. "Here, I'll start."
He looked up for a moment and smiled. "I see a large family, brothers and sisters along with their mother and father. All getting along. A complete family. Do you know why I see that?"
"No. Why?"
"Because it's something, even as a God, that I can never achieve. No one can. My family is more torn than that of any Mortals. And that's adding the fact that in arguments, planets are sometimes destroyed out of anger."
"That's a... pleasant thought." Weiss said simply, looking at the God.
"Eh, it is what it is." He said, shrugging. "Now what do you see?"
Weiss looked up at the sky, the clouds moving around as the winds changed speeds, forming shapes and objects.
"I see... Two women, one a Faunus... Holding hands?" She said, raising an eyebrow. "And... Two others, one with Faunus ears and one with a very large chest. The Schnee Crest and kids..."
"And why is that?"
"Well, I'm lacking Ruby so that's the obvious one there... And kids are not possible in same sex relationships due to... Well, you know."
"And that showed up in the clouds because?"
"Like you said, I don't have those things, besides Yang and Blake in the clouds that is." Weiss said calmly, smiling at the thought of the dunce running around in the clouds, chasing the cloud cookies.
"You're a fast learner, very wise too." Orion said with a smile, generating two water bottles. "Here." He said, handing her one.
"Thanks." She said, smiling back at the God.
"I see a lot of cookies." Ruby said next to the two, reclining in a wheel chair. "Cause I don't have those right now."
"Yeah, cookies sound great right now, Ruby." Weiss said simply, taking a gulp of water.
"You said it." Orion agreed, drinking the water as well.
Ten seconds passed.
Weiss's eyes twitched as her head spun to the voice by the two, spotting the red head sitting in a wheelchair, her ears at attention as she looked at the sky.
Orion looked over and his own eyes widened, not understanding what was happening.
At that exact moment, the serious and heartwarming conversation was shattered and replaced with the sounds of Weiss and Orion shooting water out of their mouths in confusion.
"RUBY?!" The pair exclaimed in utter confusion, the Faunus girl cupping her ears in pain.
"No yelling!" Ruby cried out, holding her ears tightly. "What are we even yelling about?!"
Orion flew up in the air, nearly falling flat on his face in the process. The Gods jaw might as well have been touching the pavement. His mind couldn't comprehend what was happening. She had to be dead; he felt her pass into the other side of mortality days ago. This wasn't possible.
Weiss hastily gathered her crutches up in her hands, managing to stand up with little pain to her knees. The heiress took a few slow steps towards Ruby, her heart beating quickly.
"Ruby?" Weiss asked, blinking a few times.
"Yes?" Ruby replied, ears flattening on her mop of red hair, tilting her head to the side.
Weiss couldn't believe it, she couldn't be alive. She saw the girl die on the operating table just moments after waking up, her body cold as ice. Now here she was, alive and breathing, full of the cuteness that she had before.
Weiss took a step back.
Ruby tilted her head further tithe side, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "You okay Weiss?"
"You're dead." Weiss said, a tear moving down her cheek. "I saw you die."
This had to be a trick, some Gods way to get cheap laughs at a torn girl. It probably was Dagonus, getting back at the Schnee for all the pain she put Ruby in.
"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked, tail flapping around in the wheel chair. "I didn't die." She said, poking herself in the chest. "I'm still alive."
Weiss looked at Ruby closely, still keeping her distance from the girl. Ruby seemed to be the same, tail fluffy as ever, ears looking soft as usual, with the exception of the burns. Same old Ruby Rose. But what really drew Weiss into questioning the situations truth from the deception were the new parts of Ruby.
The black gauntlet, from the failed surgery, was attached to Ruby's right arm and hand, the black mixture of tempered steel, leather, and Dust keeping the arm functioning. The girls right eye was clearly cut, a pink scar running down her eye.
Weiss slowly reached up to her own scar, her breath caught in her throat.
The scars were identical, regardless on the different locations. Hers, on her right eye, was a mirror image of Weiss own on her left.
Ruby's right eye seemed to be working as well, able to see with the orb rather than be blinded with it. Her knees downwards wrapped in bandages, reminding Weiss of the hospital incident weeks ago.
"Ruby..." Was all Weiss could manage out without breaking into tears.
The God beside the two placed a hand on Weiss's shoulder, leaning to her ear.
"I can't tell if she is the real deal." He spoke in a whisper, looking at Ruby. "Could be a trick."
"Ruby?" Weiss asked, she knew a sure fire way to tell if this was the real Ruby.
"Yeah Weiss?" The red wearing girl asked.
"What's twelve times three?" Weiss asked, causing Orion to raise an eyebrow.
"Uh..." Ruby hummed, eyebrows scrunched up even more as she counted her fingers. "47?"
Weiss took a few steps forward and dropped her crutches, hugging the wheel chair bound girl before her as tight as she could.
"I missed you so much." Weiss said, her voice cracking as the water works began to fail, the dam exploding. Her eyes began flowing with water, the liquid dripping on to the girl under her.
Ruby tilted her head further but complied, hugging the girl before her equally as tight.
"Why? I've only been gone a few hours. Just woke up an hour ago in the doctor's room." Ruby said, looking at Weiss with concern.
"What... What do you mean?" Weiss asked, confusion filling her voice. It had been eleven days, not hours.
"I just woke up an hour ago. Doctor Firefall said I was in a comb for a while." Ruby explained, looking concerned.
"A comb?" Orion asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do you mean a coma?"
"Yeah, that." Ruby said simply, smiling brightly. "So how long was I gone? A few hours?" Ruby asked looking around the court yard. "Wow, they cleaned up everything really quick."
"Ruby..." Weiss began, looking deep into Ruby's eyes. "You've been gone for... a really long time. Eleven days. We thought... we thought that you were dead."
Ruby's expression went from somewhat cheerful, to absolute sadness in just a few seconds. "I was... You all thought I was..."
"I know. It's okay Ruby." Weiss said, holding Ruby tightly. "We just missed you. It's all fine now." Weiss added, tears rolling down her face.
Orion gave a small smile, a bit of warmth filling his heart. Those two really do change ones point of view on the world.
The God suddenly felt a light pain in the back of his head, as if someone, or something, was calling out to him. His vision was replaced with an image of a man in all black clothing, limping down the streets of Vale with a cane in hand. A large group of thugs following in tow.
Orion knew this man all too well.
"Hey." He said, looking at the pair again. "I need to go take care of something, how's about you two go see your team and get together again. I'll be back in a while." He offered, hugging the pair gently.
"Sure, sounds fair. Take care now." Weiss said simply, smiling brightly at the God.
Orion gave a mock salute with a wicked grin. "Will do." He said, spinning around and walking past the tree before teleporting away in a flash of white.
"Come on Ruby, let's go." Weiss said, picking up her crutches before walking towards the west wing door, Ruby following in the wheel chair.