Chapter 15
The void was warm, comforting, like she was wrapped tightly in a blanket. Ruby smiled, she felt at home, peaceful.
The nothingness was gone, replaced by a familiar room. Red walls, a poster of a boy band, a window with red curtains and four beds. Bunk beds that they had made with books and rope and dust. Ruby sat on her bed, within her little fort, and watched the others before her.
Weiss wanted them to do extra schoolwork while Yang insisted they went on the town for the weekend. Blake sat, quietly reading, yet following the conversation perfectly. It felt like home.
And then it shifted. The same kind of room but gone were the bunk beds and the poster and the books. Instead, she sat on a fifth bed, watching as Pyrrha cleaned and maintained her sword. Nora bounced up and down, she giggled like a madwoman with Ren trying, in vain, to get her to sit down. Jaune laughed to himself as he read the latest X-ray and Vav comic.
Ruby smiled again. This wasn't the same, but maybe it could be home too?
She had been slowly heating up and now it had grown uncomfortable. Ruby's eyes widened.
Flames tore through the world and cast her out into the void once more. The void was unbearable, she was burning. She screamed in pain.
And then a laugh came. Cold and cruel. Without a hint of humanity. The laugh of a monster. Flames spread from beneath her and sprung up to encompass the void in its entirety. Their light was blinding...
A figure emerged, made of flame herself, but instead of the blinding white, she was a cooler, though no less frightening orange. It took the shape of the being Ruby hated. An ember, a cinder, a roaring flame. It was all at once. The laughter spread like a wildfire.
Ruby pulled herself forward, she slowly inched forward across bloodstained grass. She heard the cracking and falling of rocks and the ground fell from beneath her.
And there was Weiss, she stood there like a beacon in the dark. Ruby reached out for her, she latched onto the other girl's arm. Ruby pulled back in shock, her hand covered in red.
Where once Weiss stood as a radiant beacon she was now a bloody body on the ground. Ruby screamed and clutched her aching heart.
Arms pulled her into a tight hug. Ruby melted into the familiar hold of her sister. Tears poured from her eyes as she held her sister tight, even as she turned to ash in her arms and drifted away on a gentle breeze.
Ruby let out a wail, and desperately tried to gather the ashes together, but her attempts did little more than scatter them.
And then she was falling once again, Blake became a pincushion. Despair settled as Ruby's voice became hoarse.
Everything was so hot. Everything she touched, even the air she breathed, burned her body. She relished the cool breeze that appeared, perhaps because of how fleeting it was.
Ruby felt herself pulled up from the abyss, once more on solid land. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe but her eyes remained open, she watched as Nora and Ren passed in front of her, they collapsed to the ground with smiles on their faces and great big red wounds on their necks.
She ran, in an attempt to escape the horrors around her. But it was no use. No matter how fast she ran no progress was made. They still smiled at her. She had no more tears to give. Or so she thought until she ran headfirst into a set of bronze armour.
She looked up in hope only for it to be shattered instantly, for Pyrrha was only a statue of bronze. She backed up in shock and looked down to a plaque.
"Here lies Pyrrha Nikos, she died for a power she never wanted."
Tears flowed down her face. Ruby turned, trying to run once more. The world around her twisted and brought her face to face with Jaune.
Eyes blank, face pale, blood pouring from his mouth and chest. He stood there and stared at her.
Ruby collapsed, she screamed. She let out everything she had. The laughter returned stronger than ever before, echoed by Jaune.
And then Pyrrha, still a statue of metal.
Ren and then Nora, who laughed.
Penny, who held her own head aloft.
Blake, who carried a dozen feathers in her back.
Weiss, stained and soaked in blood.
Yang, who was little more than a collection of ash.
And then more. Sun and his team, torn apart. Coco and Velvet and Fox and Yatsuhashi, each having lost their heads and been torched.
Her Uncle Qrow, cut in two.
Her dad, blackened and cracked from the fires that surrounded them.
Professor Ozpin, a hole in his head.
Professor Goodwitch, cut thousands of times.
More and more and more joined. Everyone she had ever known and ever cared for, ripped and torn and burned and crushed and slaughtered.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Ruby was awake. She was alive. She was crying and screaming and being held? Firm and comforting arms kept her close as a cool tongue lapped at her face.
Her voice faltered. Her shaking arms pulled the soft, furry form of Zwei close.
She was home.
A half-hour later and she had barely recovered, her mind still turned the events of her nightmare over in her head. She laid in bed, Zwei pulled in a tight embrace. Her father had gone to make some food.
Ruby glanced around the room once again, she took in her old bedroom. The last time she was here she had been with Yang, but her bed laid empty. Ruby looked away.
She couldn't bear it.
Soon enough Taiyang returned and helped her sit up. She was weak and as much as she hated it she needed the help. Thankfully she could eat the soup he had brought without much aid.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, hand touching her forehead.
"Rough… like I've been training for hours without rest… I guess that's the best way to describe it. What happened?" She looked her father in the eyes. He looked away first.
"Don't worry about that just yet. You need to rest and-"
"Come on Tai. She'll be restless if we leave her in the dark." A voice said from the door, firm and yet tired.
"Qrow, she isn't ready to hear it yet."
"And will she ever be ready?" Qrow walked into the room, grabbed her father and pulled him up. "Tell her, before someone else does."
"Damn it Qrow!" Tai pulled his arm free and sighed. "Fine. Fine." He rubbed his face and took a deep breath.
"Dad. I want to know." Ruby didn't take her eyes off of her father.
"The battle is over. Atlas and Vale all retreated from Beacon. You've been asleep for about four days. We fell back three days ago."
"So quickly? Wait four days!?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Too many Huntsmen were injured and without Ozpin or Glynda the remaining teachers decided it was better for everyone to retreat. Beacon belongs entirely to the Grimm now."
"Without Glynda? Is she-" He held up a hand.
"She's alive. Barely. Nobody knows when she will be fully recovered, however. Without her, the rest of the teachers are scrambling to figure out what to do. Many Beacon students have already transferred to the other schools and the kids here for the Festival have all gone back."
"What about Sun and his team?"
Qrow was the one who spoke this time. "Your friend was injured and unconscious. His teammates decided they would return to Haven once their wounded teammate had stabilized. They're already back in Mistral."
"I didn't get to see them off or thank them… what about everyone else?" Ruby's eyes pleaded with her father and uncle.
"Ruby…" Tai started and stopped. Qrow sighed.
"Your older friends weren't injured. They've rested up and rejoined the fight. They're currently helping soldiers establish bases in the Emerald Forest, they're working towards retaking Beacon."
Ruby let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Her father took over. "Team JNPR ran into some trouble, however." Ruby's eyes darted to his in worry. "Nora is fine. She had a concussion and some minor injuries but has recovered. Lie Ren lost a lot of blood but he'll be fine." He seemed to stall for a moment.
"Dad!" Ruby clenched her fists, tightening around her bedding. Zwei whined in concern.
"The other two are still in a bit of trouble." He said after what felt like minutes. "Jaune lost a lot of blood and a lot of internal bleeding and damage to some of his organs in addition to cuts and bruises. Pyrrha was similar. Injuries from a long fight but she also had a pierced lung and blood had begun to fill it up."
Ruby felt like her strings had been cut as she collapsed back into her pillows. Tai held her hand. "They are both alive. They both went into surgery and it went fine. They need time to recover. It's just…"
"The doctors fear the damage may have been too much. Their bodies may not be able to recover. It's a possibility." Qrow interrupted. "They haven't mentioned the chances of them dying, but they want to make sure we were ready for it. They have a lot of people to save right now."
"I… I see… and what about Cinder? The White Fang?"
"Adam Taurus and a few dozen White Fang escaped, however, the majority either died in the attack or have been captured. Interrogation is meant to start in a couple days." Qrow said, leaning back against the door frame.
He continued. "Cinder Fall and her accomplices escaped as well. Though there's something interesting about that as well."
"No! She's too young to know about all of that! Damn it Qrow!" Her father stood and faced her uncle, anger in his eyes.
"Tai. She needs to know."
There was silence for several moments before Taiyang cursed and left the room. Qrow walked over with a sigh and pulled a seat up next to the bed.
"Uncle Qrow?"
"Don't worry." He took a swig of his canteen. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"The dragon, Cinder and a white light? I'd injured her and she had done the same to me…" Ruby reached up and felt her face, wincing at the new scar that went from the bridge of her nose and travelled up and over her left eye.
Qrow hummed. "Ozpin once told me about a group of people. They had Silver Eyes. Their legend says that they are destined to be true warriors without equal, and that they could destroy Grimm with but a look." He leaned forward. "They're the only thing The Grimm fear."
"Silver Eyes?"
"Yup. You let off a light show on that tower kiddo, and as a result that wyvern is frozen. You turned it to stone."
Ruby gulped. She'd done that? How? Her eyes? "I don't understand…"
"That's all Oz told me, and with him gone I can't find out more. But, you hurt Cinder, really bad. She isn't dead though." He stood. "I'm going to be heading off soon. I need to head east."
"East?"
"Cinder mentioned she was from Mistral. She and her allies snuck in with Haven's students. I'm going to look into it. See you later, Ruby."
And he was gone. Which left Ruby alone with Zwei.
A couple of weeks passed and Ruby had recovered enough to return to Vale once more. A library and its surrounding area had been turned into a shelter for the displaced students and faculty of Beacon. Ruby passed through the camp, it was pretty much empty at this point with the exception of a few scattered teams. Most had moved schools by now or quit altogether.
The few that remained were waiting on injured friends or wanted to keep fighting for Beacon. At one point she passed by CRDL. They all sported scars and new attitudes. They gave her a respectful nod and passed on. They kept fighting to retake Beacon, so she gave them her respect as well with a nod in return.
The library was mainly used for the faculty to organise things or do a few of their classes to those that remained. Ruby passed Port giving a lecture that didn't sound as boring as it used to. Maybe he changed the material or she had changed herself.
Oobleck raced by with a hurried greeting and a clang of his metal leg.
Soon she came to the room Glynda Goodwitch had commandeered as her office. She knocked and the door opened. Goodwitch sat there, still bandaged and weak from her wounds but continuing on as best she could.
"Ah Ms Rose! To what do I owe this visit? Your father had said you wouldn't be returning to us." The professor gave her a warm but tired smile.
"I won't be, but not for the reason he thinks. I just… wanted to thank you. You helped me a lot during the Battle of Beacon. Without you, most of my friends and I would be dead right now."
"It's no worry, Ms Rose. I did what I thought was right. I became a teacher to help students and that's all I did."
"Still, thank you. But I did have another thing I wanted to ask. Or two I suppose."
"Of course. Ask away."
"Did you manage to recover the remains of Pyrrha's weapon? And did you recover any of my team's?"
"We did actually. We were planning to return the weapons to Ms Nikos for her to decide on. For your team… we never found your sister, so hers remain lost. We tried to return Ms Schnee's weapon to her family but they didn't accept it and Ms Belladonna never informed us of her next of kin."
"Any family?"
"None at all. We could pass it to whoever has the same last name, but they may not be related. We don't know what town she called home either, so we have little to go on. Why do you ask?"
"Can I have them? Weiss and Blake's that is. Pyrrha should get hers back but I don't want those two to go to waste…"
Glynda Goodwitch smiled. "Of course. I'm sure your friends would have wanted them to pass to you rather than sit in a vault gathering dust. I'll have them delivered to you."
"Thank you!" Ruby smiled. It was harder than it used to be, but she managed it.
"Was there anything else?"
"Actually, there is one thing…"
The Vale police had been very busy since the Fall of Beacon. Taking care of the White Fang and supporting the Huntsmen and military. But Ruby wasn't here for either of those reasons.
She passed through without much difficulty, she was recognised by some for her efforts. Ruby had to give Roman that at least. He had predicted how people would feel about her and was spot on. Most didn't know, but Huntsmen and the Council did.
The station was filled with Police, all on guard. It held every prisoner taken during the Fall. She passed by cell after cell of Faunus until she arrived at one she was looking for.
"Well well well. Been a while Red. Come to free your favourite associate?" Roman asked with a large grin. Junior, the Malachite Twins and Neo all looked over to her. All stuck in the same cell.
"Something like that. You could have all broken out by now but you waited patiently."
"I did know you were coming after all!"
Ruby sighed. "I just have one question. What are all of you going to do if you are released?"
"'If'? Red we had a deal."
"Answer me, Roman." The man sighed and sat back.
"Go back to my usual of course. Neo will join me and Junior will start his club again. Happy?"
"How about another deal?" Ruby folded her arms.
"Oh? Do tell!" Roman grinned and stood up.
"Take over the underworld. Make sure Cinder and her friends will never be able to take it back. Support the Huntsmen in taking back Beacon. In exchange, I set you all free with full pardons."
"Now Red, I already got a full pardon from you!"
"You got my word before, but not a full pardon. They are still busy with everything else but I can push for it to happen sooner."
Roman started laughing. "My my Red! You've grown, haven't you! You want to do what your enemy did! We get full pardons and control of the underworld for support in retaking Beacon and keeping people like Cinder out."
"Correct."
Roman pushed up to the bars with a massive grin on his face. "Then you've got a deal! We will help keep this city safe, you have my word."
"Good. Thank you, Roman." She turned and left.
It took her a couple days, but with her role in the Battle of Beacon and aided by Professor Goodwitch, who had taken Ozpin's seat on the Council, Roman Torchwick and his accomplices were released.
Within a week stolen money, Dust and barely legal weapons were beginning to arrive to aid in the retaking of Beacon. While many didn't like it, they weren't in a position to turn down help.
Beacon would be retaken, even if it meant allying with criminals.
"I'm so glad you guys made it!" Ruby said as she jumped up to hug Velvet.
"It's good to see you!" The Faunus exclaimed with a laugh.
"We had some trouble, but we managed!" Coco said with a grin.
"I wanted to say thank you. You guys did a great job out there." Ruby pulled away from her hug and looked them each in the eyes. "And I wanted to ask, what do you guys plan to do now?"
They looked between each other and shuffled a bit. Coco was the first to speak. "We thought about it, and as much as we want to get Cinder for everything we don't think we can go chasing after her."
"Mistral is not a place where all of us are welcome. We would not force anyone to endure such things." Yatsuhashi said with a solemn nod.
"We decided to go to Vacuo." Coco continued. "Fox knows the terrain already and they don't care about anything except survival. We'll all be welcome there. Plus, if you're going to go after Cinder you might need to know where the other Maidens are."
"You guys think you can find the one hiding in Vacuo?"
"'Course. We'll have the time to do it too. If an attack ever comes round to Vacuo we'll have her ready and waiting! We won't let them be caught off guard like Vale and Beacon." Coco gave a confident smile.
Ruby nodded and smiled back. "Alright. I believe in you guys. Make sure Vacuo is ready for war. I'm counting on you guys!"
Team CFVY left a week later, they took a boat to Vacuo. Ruby didn't know if she would ever see them again, but she hoped she would.
She may need their help again one day.
Winter had set in by the time Ruby was allowed in to visit Pyrrha and Jaune. The two had recovered well but would carry the scars of the Battle of Beacon for the rest of their lives.
Ren and Nora had been released long before and Pyrrha and Jaune had long gotten tired of the hospital. Ruby understood their pain, her father hadn't let her out of his sight much in the past few months. Even coming to Vale took weeks of buttering him up.
The pair were healing well and would be released soon. Both were constantly under watch due to their battle with Cinder, or that was the official reason anyway. The truth was they were protected because of Pyrrha being half of a Maiden.
"Are you sure you want to do this Ruby? Your dad isn't going to be happy about it." Jaune asked in between eating an apple. She nodded.
"I'm sure. I want to take Cinder down and I still want to become a Huntress." Ruby sighed and looked down. "He wants to protect me and I love him for it but I don't want to be stuck sitting around while I could be out there doing something!"
"I get it. I do. I could go home. My parents would probably even congratulate me for getting as far as I did. But this whole thing is so much more important. And… I'd be lying if I said taking down someone like Cinder didn't appeal to my desire of being a hero." Jaune looked away. "My parents didn't think I could get anywhere and I may not be good at this, but I stuck it out through all of this. I nearly died for it. I can't just go home now."
"I guess it's settled then huh? We both can't sit around. We both want to be heroes."
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Jaune muttered. He looked back at her, eyes filled with worry.
"Huh?" Ruby looked at him in confusion.
"Don't worry about it. I'll be out of here soon, then we can leave."
Ruby nodded and bade him goodbye.
There were preparations to be made.
Ruby took a long look in the mirror. She had changed a lot over the year. A scar on her cheek, on her nose and above her eye and another just below her hairline. A Nevermore gave her the first, Cinder the second and Adam the last.
Not that she didn't have others. She had several across the rest of her body now. She sighed and washed her face.
It was about that time, after all.
Taiyang hummed softly as he cooked lunch. Ruby snuck back to her room and grabbed her pack. She was almost ready, she just needed two more things. She rummaged around under her sister's bed and brought out an old sketchbook.
Inside lay dozens of schematics. Every weapon Yang had ever come up with. Ruby flipped through and stopped at the last page. The last thing Yang had used this book for. She smiled and put the book in her pack and closed it.
The final piece lay outside. She snuck through the house, careful to avoid making the wood creak. Her father was too busy to pay attention. He'd gotten sloppy recently.
She was out the door and around the house quickly. The shed door opened easily. The Bumblebee shone in the midday sun but Ruby avoided it, she walked to the back of the shed and grabbed a pair of gloves.
They had been Yang's once. Back when she had first gotten her bike. She had outgrown them of course but they fit Ruby nicely.
It was the last thing she needed.
Snow crunched underfoot as Ruby walked the familiar path to her mother's grave. She sat down in front of it.
"Hey, mom… sorry I haven't been by in a while… a lot has happened." Tears welled up in her eyes but she continued.
She told the stone everything. Her acceptance into Beacon. Her team. Her friends. Her adventures. Her loses. Her fights. She told her of her year at Beacon.
"And I'm going to find her mom. I'm going to find Cinder and I'm going to make her pay for everything she's done. And then I'm going to find her boss and do the same to them. I'll go up the chain as many times as I have to. So please, watch over me."
She placed a bouquet of flowers and stood. The time had come. Ruby set out, joined by team JNPR.
This time Cinder wasn't going to escape.
A/N: Well this was a big boi chapter. So yeah, everyone we care about except Penny survived. Surprise! If you are wondering why the shortish version is that Cinder had to fight a lot more with less power. Fighting SSSN before killing Amber, JNPR + Ruby + Goodwitch before and after killing Amber then just Goodwitch then Pyrrha, Jaune and Nora. Jaune even drew blood. This essentially allowed the heroes enough time to not die painfully! The biggest foreshadowing moment was really the fact Glynda survived.
So from here on its team RNNJR! Team JNPRR! Team JNNRR! Hmmmm... needs workshopping. But I'm sure having 5 people instead of 4 won't impact future events at all!
I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!