Last time, RWBY's Bizarre Adventure:
"She did what?"
"Wh, what... happened here?" asked the police chief.
"She's crazy, she's actually got an evil spirit!"
"Look, dad, it's nothing like that," she said. "I'm not in here because I want to be."
"Ruby, meet my old f... eh, a "buddy" of mine from Atlas."
"That does it." Winter faced her, leveling their eyes. "Mister Xiao Long, I'm afraid this might get a little rough. I'm going to put this girl through so much pain she'll beg me to let her out of that cell."
"...we call these evil spirits Stands."
"I think we've all seen enough of Miss Rose's peculiar, and admittedly impressive, talent for violence this evening."
2
–
Her breath stabbed the air in a little white cloud. Thanks to her Semblance, the Vale Police Station's holding areas had become a giant icebox of frosted cameras and hostility.
Any attempt to walk on her own two feet, her body argued into submission.
She called on her Stand and nothing happened. Armor that could block a missile, several dust rounds, protect her from huge falls - she'd tested it, repeatedly. Ice that could restrain a Nevermore or freeze a lake solid in seconds, even create glyphs for her.
And that teenage girl had punched it so hard it shattered, and the psychic feedback resonated through nearly every bone in her body.
She glanced deeper into the cell the girl had taken over. Boxes of Chips Ahoy and Oreos, double-stuffed and that lifeless, chocolate-less brand. Juice boxes squeezed dry, some with holes in the bottoms like someone had punctured them with a pen and drank from the hole. Magazines that one would find in a local dust shop or parts store, advertising new weapon models and ammunition types, the latest scientific breakthroughs from Atlas and such.
If she'd had the chance, she'd have gone back in time, kicked Qrow the legs then refused to go on this idiot venture to "help his poor, knuckle-headed niece."
"Who the hell are you?" asked Ruby, aura glowing around her.
Ozpin blinked, and then rested his hands on top of his cane. "You don't know who I am?"
Ruby squinted. "Your face is familiar. Tell me anyway."
"My name," said Ozpin, with a cough, "is Professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon Academy. Since you have an impressive talent for violence Miss Rose, I would like to invite you to Beacon."
Taiyang looked positively alarmed. Winter, too, almost didn't believe what she'd heard.
"Tch." Ruby brushed her nose then rubbed a cut on her lip. "What, you think this is some kind of fanfiction dream of mine?"
She pirouetted. An actual pirouette. And she raised her arms and quirked one of her legs in false joy. If not for the past five minutes, she might have passed for an ordinary, adorable girl.
In some crazy, bizarre alternate universe where this wretched girl could be called "adorable."
"Oh my, a gifted hoodlum like me getting the chance to go to the biggest, most wonderful, most stupendous huntsmen academy in the world! What were the chances!?"
"This is no laughing matter Miss Rose," Ozpin warned. "Firstly, as headmaster, I am entitled to select anyone who I feel might be a promising student. Second, these Stands, as Qrow and Miss Schnee have wonderfully demonstrated, are dangerous manifestations of psychic energy. They will eventually run rampant if their abilities aren't honed. If you wish to truly understand and control them, you require special training only an institution can provide."
"And what," Ruby scoffed, "I have to learn the name of this... Stand... so I can access its full power or something. Is that what you're going to say?"
"Please Miss Rose, I'm only trying to spell out what might be in your best interest. You wouldn't want your Stand to go out of control and attack everyone around you, or even turn on you?"
Ruby held out her palm, slowly flexing it. "Is that why?" she muttered, eyes lowering. "I've already seen what sort of damage my Stand can cause, close-up. I had a front-row seat to it this morning. I'm glad my Stand isn't weak, but sometimes it feels like it can get even more savage than I am."
Ozpin lifted his palm. "Please, I wouldn't call it savage, more like untrained, undisciplined."
"Semantics." Taiyang and Qrow stared at her. "What? You know some of the times I said went to class, I actually did go to class."
"So you understand then," Ozpin said, grinning. "You already sentenced yourself to life in prison so that you would have a better chance of controlling it without risking other people's lives. Why not do so in a more comfortable, school setting?"
Winter had always thought the headmaster of Beacon crazy and senile, and now she had her proof. Stand users weren't unheard of, but in Atlas, the girl, this brat would be put in her place if she didn't behave. She'd be studied in a laboratory and kept from the public until the limits of her powers were properly understood, harnessed.
That was what they did in Atlas. Here, in Vale, little girls who manifested violent avatars of psychic power that were obvious threats to public safety got free scholarships.
"Let me ask this first, professor," said Ruby. She jerked one finger in his direction. "You know about these Stands like my uncle does. But my uncle is a creep who goes around the world doing all sorts of weird stuff, so I'm not surprised he knows about them. But what about you?"
The professor flashed his winning smile. "Well I guess you could say I'm also a creep who goes around the world doing all sorts of weird things. Indeed, like Qrow."
Qrow huffed. "Oh come on Oz, that's harsh."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Ruby said, gripping the edge of her rose-decorated hat. "I don't know why, but when I look at you, I get the feeling like I'm not looking at you directly. It's like you're not giving me the whole story."
The headmaster took his hands off of his cane. The cane remained in place, standing off the ground without support. "Well Miss Rose, as seems to be your custom, why don't you throw a few jabs my way and figure out what that might be." Ozpin laced his fingers in front of his lap patiently. "I won't move from this spot."
Ruby's expression became feral, a wounded animal challenged to fight its prey to death. Her eyes went alive, hot and white as if her very self had recharged and she'd just been sleepwalking the entire time.
"Ruby, don't do it!" cried Taiyang, arms still keeping Winter on her feet. Winter wanted to scream something too, only for her jaw to remind her just how badly she was injured.
The little girl's aura flared, and Winter saw it, the Stand's true form. It was different somehow. She supposed that was due to not being the one it was assaulting. Seeing it from afar, out of its crosshairs, she saw the muscular, short-haired barbarian materialize from thin air. The spiritual avatar corkscrewed in mid-charge as it wound up for another colossal hit.
No one dared to get in its way, not even to protect Beacon's finest.
Right there, in that instant, Winter realized what was different about Ruby's Stand. It wasn't just that she could see it, but when it corkscrewed, it did so in slow motion.
She might have thought the girl was showing off, if the anger on Ruby's face hadn't switched to confusion.
"What on earth?" Taiyang almost dropped her. "Ruby, stop before you-"
"Professor Ozpin," another voice entered, this one female. "Please, we can't waste time here. There's been two dust shop robberies in the past half hour."
A blonde woman appeared from the corner of Winter's vision, black skirt, a white blouse, and some kind of baton or switch in her hand. Winter didn't get a good look at her face, but she sounded impatient.
"Glyndy-poo?" Qrow chirped in surprise.
"Goodwitch," the woman answered. She peered at Ruby, her Stand only partially manifested, still stuck in mid-corkscrew. "Ozpin, please hurry this up so we can move along."
Ozpin glowed with mischief. "Now," he corrected her, "speeding things up might not be the wisest move in this situation, Glynda." The blonde glanced back at the Stand and its user acknowledgingly.
"Oz," said Tai, "will somebody please tell me what's going on?"
Glynda sighed. Then, wordlessly, she paced behind Ruby, who seemed to be opening her mouth to shout. In mid-roar, her Stand dissipated into nothingness as Glynda swatted the back of her head. She collapsed, and when she did, Taiyang actually dropped Winter and ran over to help her.
"I don't understand why you didn't do that immediately," said Glynda, annoyed.
"I just wanted to get a look at this Stand of hers. Really Glynda, you act as if I never think these things out. I don't go looking for trouble."
She wouldn't black out, no. She swore on her honor as a member of the Atlesian military-
"Then explain why we're in a police station in the middle of the night surrounded by -"
On the bright side, the annoying girl passed out first.
–
A yellow top underneath a brown jacket with accentuated, puffy shoulders; black shorts that fit fabulously, and just for a walk on the bizarre, orange socks that, in truth, she didn't care much about, so she pulled one up and left the other right where it was. Her hair curtained down her back, gold and beautiful as always.
Nevermind that, solid gold would melt next to her. Hotter than the sun as always. Pose-worthy.
Someone had kept the windows of the airship to Beacon especially clean, that or they were self-cleaning, if the Atlas technology magazines were true. She looked right at her own reflection in the window, standing there looking as sexy and awesome as ever. Who would have thought she'd be here, going to Beacon for her first year already?
Stealing a quick glance around her, there wasn't anyone else in that cabin of the airship with her. She was all alone. Her scroll found her way into her hand, holding it up so that she could take a selfie, her other hand posed over her face. She already had a caption in mind.
"Hey sis," a voice called her.
Yang's head spun, eyes red as playing cards, darting to the other side of the cabin. And there she was, slouching on the doorframe.
Blue eyes met silver ones.
"Ruby?" she said with honest surprise. "How did... what are...?"
"I've been asking myself the same thing." Ruby straightened. "To cut a long story short, I beat some people up and the headmaster thought I should come to his school, try and reign in some of that anger."
Yang's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious."
Her adorable baby sister, in the sense that "baby" defined foul, spiky objects with bad attitudes, was going to school with her.
"I mean, that's great and all, but... I mean, why didn't Dad say anything?"
Briefly, they just seemed to glare at each other, until Ruby started her approach, never breaking eye contact. Challenge glimmered in her eyes. Good to know some things never changed. Even when someone handed her a ticket to success, Ruby still acted like a thug.
"What's that look for?" she asked as Ruby stopped dead in front of her. "And what's with that the wallk, and why do you like you want hit me?"
Yang had Ember Celica at the ready, just in case. Ruby could be spry, but she didn't have any formal hand-to-hand training, or a weapon. The disadvantage was hers. If Ruby tried anything, she'd sorely regret it.
Ruby didn't say anything, just gazed at her. Hands clamped down on Yang's throat, invisible fingers attached to powerful muscles.
"What-"
Yang's eyes shot open as the wind ripped out of her lungs. She seized up and tumbled, clutching her stomach from the blow. The little brat actually-
Every breath afterward came slowly, painfully and carefully. She drew her knees in as she mewled on the floor. They'd fought before, but Ruby had never hit her that hard-
Yang had the better aura, she'd trained, and she'd mastered it. Ruby hadn't, she'd refused to.
Inside, beneath her shuddering arms, someone had taken a sledgehammer to her gut. No way, not in a thousand years, could her cunt-rag excuse for a sibling break through her aura that easily, let alone catch her off guard.
More importantly, Ruby hadn't even moved, had she? Yang tried to think, tried to visualize what had happened. No, Ruby's hands were in her pockets the whole time. She probably hadn't even blinked before the blow struck, and there she was, in the same position as she was before Yang fell.
"Y, you little," Yang fought to get words out, a whole volley of curses directed at the stone-faced, steel-eyed girl looking down at her.
"I guess there's another reason they invited me here," Ruby said matter-of-factly. Turning her back, she said, "I'll see you in class. They told me there's sparring classes in case you want to go again."
She left the cabin, leaving Yang there, clutching her stomach.
–
That was how Ruby started her first year at school with her big sister. Things were already going beautifully, just as their uncle predicted.
Before they got put into dorms, they had to take an extra exam, consisting of a catapult-assisted flight deep into a forest, accompanied by a thousand-foot drop through the sky, and concluded with a treasure hunt through the woods and a long walk back to the cliff they'd started on. She'd been wary at the start. For the first time, she regretted not taking her dad's talks about mastering her Aura seriously. But once she was skyward, she tucked her hands into her pockets, shining with mute confidence.
For some reason, she didn't feel the least bit afraid. If her "guardian spirit" was doing its job, it would save her before the fall. That was the only logic she needed to think about and it worked. A grayish-red arm stuck out and reversed her momentum by swinging her along a tree. She kicked off the stump and landed, annoyed at the leaves that were stuck to her favorite, expensive pair of pants.
With her evil... with her Stand backing her up, did she even need Aura? No, she didn't. She'd skipped that lesson and all the stupid kegel exercises that came with it.
She hadn't meant to hit her that hard. She'd need to make a note not to hit anyone who didn't' deserve it. The angry mop of yellow hair she saw during the student orientation told her Yang had recovered, enough to spend the rest of the night tactically avoiding her.
Yang didn't have anything good to say to her, not in the locker rooms or during dorm assignments. Thankfully, Ozpin had ensured that Ruby wouldn't have to share a room. For fear of her Stand lashing out at anyone accidentally, if nothing else. Ruby nodded her head without argument.
"No teams yet, Miss Rose."
She would be a special exception to campus tradition, in accordance with her unconventional reason for acceptance. Because, according to the lady in white, having a Stand put her on a pedestal. It gave her new responsibilities.
Every day, she opened the journal they asked her to keep, logging anything new she'd discovered with or about her Stand's development, and promptly closed it. It was in a waist bin three days after she got it.
Ruby lied down on her bed, head rested on her bed while she stared at the wall.
At the end of the week, she took the elevator in the campus's main building, right under Ozpin's office. Even with a ghostly warrior protecting her from harm and roughing people up, the strangest part about coming to Beacon was how, on her first day, before the exam even, Ozpin had asked her to come with him to his office, taking her into a hidden vault.
–
"I'm sorry, just... run it by me again how you managed to assault one of the most influential names here at Beacon before classes have even started?" the headmaster asked, clicking the lowest button on the elevator panel. The door hummed shut. The floor bobbed before descending.
"I didn't," she began and paused, gazing at him. "Little miss mafia princess bumped into me, okay?"
The old man shook his head. "That's not what Miss Belladonna reported."
"She started it. I'd already apologized for bumping into her suitcases when she went off on me. I knocked her out because I didn't feel like waiting for a teacher. There were other people around, evidently somebody helped her."
"I'm quite aware. And that's the kind of decision-making I invited you here to correct."
"She should be glad I didn't put her in the hospital, the way she kept running her mouth off."
Ozpin chuckled. "Not aiming to make a lot of friends this year I see. You know, I might be headmaster, but it's not going to be easy for you if Miss Schnee's parents decide to press charges."
They reached the bottom and the elevator revealed a large, hidden chamber. Whatever button Ozpin had pressed, Ruby couldn't see what floor they were on. She stepped inside after Ozpin, footsteps traveling far ahead of them as they walked. Her skin tingled from the cold. They had to be underground.
On the other end of an enormous, polished floor, a throng of machines and tubes glittered and swished. Two cylinders, capsules, were laid side-by-side, slanted so that a person could rest inside of them. At least she figured a person might fit, noticing the dark-skinned girl that slept inside the capsule on the left. They reminded her of those mechanical relaxation chambers that were supposed to be all the rage in Atlas.
"What is all of this?"
"This, Miss Rose," said Ozpin, with a proud gesture, "is a morgue, as some would call it. I prefer to think of it as a new beginning."
"Tell me, Ruby, have you ever heard a story about four maidens that were said to cause the seasons? Your parents might have read it to you as a child."
–
Ruby adjusted herself so that instead of staring at the wall, she could stare at the ceiling. She liked her bed, and her room gave her more than enough space, but despite the brochures and the giant, hidden vault underneath the school, none of Beacon's considerable funding had gone to putting televisions into the student dorms. She hadn't packed much, just a few magazines, clothes she didn't want to risk leaving at home, money, and a passport.
But, having a ghost at her beck and call had its pros.
Since she had her own room, she could leave boxes of chocolate chips, open and emptied, strewn about the floor, at least three quarts of milk near her bed, two opened, one finished. She didn't unpack, more out of laziness than anything. Some small part of her expected to be kicked out of the school within the week, even if she'd grabbed one of those chess pieces and moseyed back to the cliff in record time.
It hadn't happened yet. She didn't want to settle in regardless. Unlike Yang, being a Huntress wasn't at the top of her priority list. As it stood now, there was an invisible guardian floating behind her at all times. Always there, willing to do anything she asked. Sometimes, it did things without her asking, sometimes before she'd even thought of it.
In minutes, she had issues of Shonen Leap she hadn't brought with her to school. Magazines from shops she hadn't had a chance to visit since arriving and sleeping in her room for the first time, not even leaving the campus like the other new students did. She had bags of coffee scooted next to her feet within the hour. Her eyes widened when she noticed the cash she had in her pockets, a few extra hundred liens than she'd had before, some cards that looked fancy and important. Ruby had never owned or even applied for a credit card before.
Even with all of these nice things, Ruby stared at the ceiling, remembering what her uncle had told her about Stands, what they were, how they developed, how they helped and hindered.
Grunting, Ruby got up and headed out. It was two-fifty one. Morning classes were probably over.
She waited in the big courtyard in front of the school where all of the new arrivals had first stepped foot in Beacon, walking from the airship. Sitting down at a bench, she waited.
Surely enough, minutes later, she looked to see a pair of blood-hungry eyes nearing her, entering the courtyard. Still in her uniform, and probably on her way back from class. Her sister didn't look happy to see her, not as angry as she expected. They were alone, for now.
"Sis," Ruby said.
"Don't," Yang said. "I haven't forgotten you gut-punching me. I'm not picking fights with you today, so leave me alone."
She hadn't expected anything better, not after that first failed attempt. They hadn't talked since then, though they'd spied on each other down the hall, at the top of the stairs, on the way to the bathroom, in the cafeteria, sometimes. And every time: dirty looks, scowls, and glares.
Ruby didn't think they'd share anything beyond that for a long, long time.
But when Yang started in another direction, Ruby got up from the bench. "Yang."
Her sister kept walking, not bothering to look at her.
"Yang!"
No answer. They were more than a few meters apart now.
Yang let out a sharp cry, arms contorting and head rearing in pain. It stopped almost as soon as it turned, and she bent over, grabbing her behind. Her underwear seemed to hold taut except that now the orange straps limped around the waist of her skirt.
"Orange, really?" Ruby muttered.
Yang's face came alive with fresh rage. With just a few years, animosity had formed between them, and all of it bubbled to the surface. She picked herself up and screamed, "What is wrong with you!?"
Ruby didn't respond, her eyes narrowed, focused elsewhere.
"It's like you're, you're 90 percent bad attitudes and hostility. Like everybody around you is some kind of enemy! Well tough luck, I said I'm not-"
Yang's hands moved suddenly. Her eyes squeezed shut and she gripped her neck.
An invisible hand smacked Yang across the face. She stumbled back, spinning once, and caught herself without falling down. A bruise formed instantly on her right cheek. Her eyes had stretched and she remained alarmingly still.
Admittedly, Ruby hadn't meant to hit her that hard. Idly she wondered if her Stand might be rebelling from her, acting before she'd had any chance to determine the proper course of action. At the same time, enough was enough. If Yang didn't believe her now, she never would.
Ruby held out her hand as Yang stood there, paralyzed. "Did you see it?" she asked, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. "This thing behind me, you saw it right?"
Yang twitched with her face pointed at the ground.
"This is the reason I got accepted. It's called a Stand, a spirit that protects me and does what I ask it to. I don't know how or when it awakened. It's like having someone behind you all the time, bound to you, protecting you." She tucked her hat down. "My Stand is fast, faster than the eye can see. Now though, I've told it to sit still. If you want to look at it another way, you could call this my Semblance."
Yang didn't budge.
"I don't expect you to believe me, but how do you think I slapped you, standing all the way over here? I plucked a hair from you and you didn't even notice."
–
"You expect me to believe some old fairy tale?"
Ozpin closed his eyes, smirking. "Now you understand why Qrow had Winter force you to leave the jail, and, I imagine, why he asked you to-"
"I'm not some little kid who believes in the tooth fairy, tell me the real story."
"That is the real story."
They shared an uncomfortable silence. Ruby stared at the sleeping girl, hooked up to all the glowing tubes. A tremendous scar ruined an otherwise perfect face. Ruby wondered if the girl, this Amber, had smashed her face onto a stovetop. Explosions were ruled out, the scar only reached across her face, the rest of her untouched. It was almost hard to believe she was dying.
"What happened to her? These... maidens. They're supposed to be walking forces of nature, right? Couldn't she throw a tornado or summon a flood?"
"All that and more," Ozpin said, nodding grimly. "But I'm afraid her attackers had the upper hand. I won't go in detail now to save you the longer story, but the point is, her days are numbered. We've kept her down here for protection, but time is running out. We had a plan to ensure that her power, that is, the Maiden's power was transferred safely to another individual – the machines you see around her – but then I stumbled upon you, locked up in a police station at eleven-forty-six at night."
"Wait," said Ruby, thrusting her finger to point at him. She could feel her Stand rising over her shoulder, raising its fists. "You said before the Maidens transfer their powers to another young girl after they bite it. You're saying that you think this power's going to me, is that right?"
Ozpin's face went raw. "Not exactly-"
"And," she continued, pulling the tip of her hat down. Her teeth clenched, "You said she was attacked and that she can't be brought back. But you're keeping her under a school, attached to a bunch of machines instead of in a hospital, with doctors. What if keeping her here, under your protection, is keeping her from getting real medical attention?"
The gray-haired man took one hand off of his cane, lifting it with the other, bringing it up as if it were a sword, pointed and sharp. The end of his cane nearly brushed her nose.
"Miss Rose, please, let's not do this again."
His voice emerged from behind her. Ruby spun around, alarmed. He stood there, a few more feet away than before. Doing that same trick from before, letting his cane stand off the ground on its own. His arms folded together, and his hand covered the bottom half of his face, two fingers extended as if he was trying to push up his glasses. His legs were crossed before and his body seemed to lean at an angle.
"How the hell do you keep doing that?" she asked, more as a reflex than an honest question.
"The situation isn't that simple. If you want the long version, we'll be standing here for hours. For now, take my word as an esteemed headmaster of one of Vale's most prolific academies that regular medicine will not be able to help her."
Ruby's Stand shrank down as she relaxed, understanding.
"You are not the Maiden that I or my partners would have chosen. But, due to your unique development of a Semblance without first unlocking your Aura, this guardian spirit of yours, we've come up with a theory." He snatched his cane and paced, until he stood in front of Amber's capsule. "There are very few huntsmen or huntresses in the world who manage to develop a Stand. We've had the fortune to know at least one person."
That woman from Atlas.
"We're not trying to ensure Amber's death so that we can create her successor. But we must ensure that her successor isn't the person who stole part of her power. With this technology," he said, placing his hand on the consoles that sat between the capsules, "we can transplant her Aura into someone else. There's a risk though. Winter refused, understandably."
"So you think that I won't?"
The amusement on the headmaster's face answered that question.
–
Steel eyes met red-hot ones. Literal fire, spawned by her Semblance, whipped and riposted around Yang.
A golden, muscled figure rushed from her as she turned. Gravity gave it no pause. It resisted even the thought of touching the ground, bringing itself to the mortal plane. Syllables thundered out of Yang while the golden figure detached itself and charged straight at Yang's enemy.
Ruby.
Yang zipped across the courtyard, her knuckles whitened with rage.
The first punch connected with a satisfying crunch. The golden and silver figures reared away then joined again in a hail of fists. Their Stands had gone to war.
–
Ruby was surprisingly docile when she woke up, a fact which Qrow Branwen was relieved at. He admired his niece's moxy, but how in the world, in that quaint little cabin in the woods, on that idyllic spell of an island, surrounded by trees and birds and little forest creatures, had Taiyang managed to raise a sweet, cookie-addicted little girl into the most temperamental, brutish, prone to violence preteen Qrow had ever seen?
He'd come home after seeing Winter at the hospital, happy camper that she was. She'd gone from a moderately attractive snowwoman to a bitter, soggy carrot stick. A melted puddle of what used to be a flawless, unflinching work of art.
"What was that for?" Ruby complained after he smacked the back of her head.
"For putting my friend in the hospital," he replied, sitting down in a chair. He crossed his arms. "I know she was a little hard on you, but you needed it."
"Tch." Ruby rested the back of her head on her arms. Moments later, she said, "These Stands, what are they?"
He needed to take it easy too. He let himself really sink into the chair and relaxed, throwing his feet up on Ruby's bed. "I already explained that."
"I mean, what are they really? Guardian spirits or whatever, these sorts of things don't just pop up anywhere, do they? You used to tell me and Yang about Semblances and weapons, but you never said a word about these Stands."
"That's because," he said, drawling. "That's because it wasn't something you two needed to know. Less than 10 percent of Vale's population has the ability to develop a Stand, and fewer have any inkling what they are. Most just develop Semblances. Semblances and Stands are like two sides of the same coin, if you have one, you might have the other. But most don't. Semblance masters can see the Stands people have when they're active. Yours is so fast though, I don't think anybody could see it if you didn't want them to.
"I met someone in Mistral once, said they knew about Stands and that they'd had one since as long as he could remember. When we had time, they told me everything they knew and we compared notes. Stands this, stand that, stand loud, stand proud, etcetera. That's how I learned about them. How when a Stand takes damage, you take it too. How Stands develop, how they fight, how we can see them."
"All of this is happening so fast," said Ruby. "You really expect me to just accept the fact that I have a ghost lurking behind me after every step, waiting to hurt people? That I have to keep some inner part of me restrained so it doesn't kill other people at random?"
"Is it really that surprising?"
The irritation on her face deserved some kind of award.
"The thing you have to worry about is making sure that Stand of yours knows who's boss. When a person with a Stand doesn't realize they have one, that Stand can choose to remain dormant. We think your sister and your dad have'em too. There's been more cases of Stand users in Atlas than in Vale and there might be some kind of familial link, the Schnee family for instance. Problem is, when that Stand remains dormant for too long, it starts to kill the user."
"I thought you said these Stands protect their owners?"
Qrow nodded. "They do, but they do the reverse in this case. It takes a lot of training, or emotional crisis to awaken and control a Stand, as you probably saw. Since you're prickly to begin with, even if your Stand tried to choke you, it'd probably recoil and go back to listening to you. Your sister, though, she might be a good fighter, but she's tender at heart. Fun-loving, thrill-seeking, laidback. She's a good enough fighter that she probably won't be in too much danger from an ordinary Grimm, so her Stand won't rally to her defense anytime soon. It'd probably take a near mental breakdown for a Stand to come to her defense."
He gave Ruby a serious look.
"I want you to keep an eye on Yang when you're at school. I'll be watching Taiyang while I'm here in Vale to make sure nothing bizarre happens to him."
–
Her jaw had to be broken. If not, it might as well have been.
She tasted copper and knew that had to be a bad sign. She didn't know how long she'd gone out, nor could she explain the feeling she'd just eaten three cabinets worth of pudding, and that all of it was just sloshing around inside her, agitating every sore muscle. Her left eye wouldn't open and it stung with every attempt.
The sun was still out. Someone would have found her and taken her to the nurse if she'd laid there unconscious for the whole day.
"Oh man, are, are you okay?"
Someone had found her. Blond hair and a face that didn't seem bruised or bleeding, she briefly thought it might be Yang, offering her a hand. Had Ruby lost that badly? When her vision focused, it was a blond boy standing over her, offering assistance.
She took his hand and forced herself up, thanking him. In the back of her mind, she saw that golden warrior that had come out of Yang, its fist slamming into Ruby's jaw, ignoring all of the little punches her own Stand landed, every one connecting with its face. She gritted her teeth, imagining a boxer punching the side of a tank. Beneath her, the courtyard had a huge hole in it, damaged cobblestone forming a web around where she'd fallen in some kind of mock snow angel shape.
"My name's Jaune," the boy said to her.
"Ruby," she replied, struggling to get off of his shoulder.
"So uh... so you like to sleep in courtyards? That's cool."
–
RWBY's Bizarre Adventure, next time:
"The name's Jaune - Arc! Put'her'dere, friend!"
"I didn't actually see what happened, just that girl walking away," said Blake. "I went to see if the other girl was okay and helped carry her to the nurse's office."
Ozpin gestured at the four students. "I'd like to introduce, Team..."
Yang's Semblance caused her eyes to turn red whenever she was about to hurt someone. When she looked in the mirror, red seemed to be the default color for her Stand's eyes.
"I've got this thing," Yang said, staring at him directly, clapping her hand into her fist. "This scary, golden god that comes out of me and pummels people on command. You picked a bad day for this, sport!"
"I lost a whole night of customers thanks to you blondy, and now six of my guys have split town. It's about time you ponied up." He grabbed the girl and pulled her close to him, the red axe pinned against her throat. "Let's start with any money you have on you."
To be continued...