Patriot-112: Here we are, the next chapter. In this modified chapter I've been editing and tweaking for a LONG time, we get the other messages that canon older Ruby gave to her loved ones, as well her past self. So without further ado, let's begin!
Chapter 6:
Messages, Backup, and Thieves
Team RWBY Dorm
Ruby was looking through the scroll of her older self. Her memory of what happened earlier today still fresh in her mind. Especially the part concerning her partner, and BFF's, counterpart, and her rather ...extreme hostility toward Ozpin.
Flashback
The Vault
The Present JNPR and RWBY looked on at their counterparts as E-Weiss continued to embrace the unconscious Elder Ruby, after her panic attack nearly caused the 'Strangler' to almost kill her. The worry was clearly present in all the older versions of themselves.
But then that changed when Ozpin spoke up.
"I know the situation is dire, but rest assured that the Dust is on it's way, and with your help-," he began to say until...
"Shut up...," E-Weiss growled, causing everyone to recoil at the more than usual ice cold growl.
"Miss Schnee I believe-," Glynda attempted to scold but E-Weiss was not having any of it.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" she screeched, and now everyone, including the Present Weiss were now more than shocked, "This is your fault in the first place you foolish old man!"
Ozpin looked like he wanted to counter it, but E-Weiss didn't let him, as the other Elder RWBY members, along with JNPR glared at him.
"If you hadn't gotten us involved in your damn war with Salem, she wouldn't be in this mess! If you had just told the truth to everyone, instead of hiding it out of fear of people betraying you, she wouldn't have to bear this burden on her own!" The future Weiss clenched her hands as she continued, "And thanks your blind devotion on fighting defensive, and your damn cowardice, you cocked up royal! First with your children! The Maidens! Then Rainart's sister! Ruby's mother! Then Pyrrha! And then the rest of us! WHEN DOES IT STOP!?"
Everyone else were just stunned into silence at the Older Weiss' rant, but Ruby, having been listening to what the future alternate version of her partner said, caught on to something.
"Wait...what do you mean his children?" she asked, and the older Weiss looked to her, and her gaze softened considerably at seeing the younger version of her partner.
However, it was Blake who answered for Weiss.
"There's a message on Ruby's scroll to Ozpin..." she said, making everyone blink, and Ozpin nervous, "It will explain everything,"
The others blinked before Ruby, surprisingly to everyone else, brought out the said device.
"I picked it up before we left Ozpin's office, I wanted to see later what messages she had for the rest of us," she said, and her team sighed, as she gave a sheepish chuckle.
E-Weiss only smiled at the younger counterpart of her partner.
"Then be sure that you and the others watch them all," the silverette said softly, making Ruby blink before she nodded.
Flashback End
She'd seen most of the vids regarding the others, including a message to herself.
Which was quite the mindfuck, to say the least. And of course, her counterpart thought so as well.
Ruby Message
Ruby could only gulp as she looked at the image of her future self looking back at her, clearly nervous.
"Well...I'm probably just gonna label myself insane after this," E-Ruby said as she chuckled nervously, while Y-Ruby could only feel the same way, before the elder took a deep breath.
"Right, well, first things first I guess. And that is about our silver eyes," she said, making the Present Ruby blink, "If you watched my...introductory video, you're probably still wondering what these eyes actually do. Well, they can either blind, vaporize, or turn any Grimm, from the lowest to the highest classes, to stone."
The young Rose's eyes actually widened at that.
"Yeah I know. Awesome isn't it?" she rhetorically, though jokingly asked, before stiffening and looking around in fear, before looking back at the camera and whispering just low enough for the younger Ruby to hear, "Don't tell Maria I said that, or she'll hit you over the head with her staff... In fact, there other things you should also watch what you say. I made a list so you'll remember."
Ruby, though confused by what her older counterpart said, felt a chill of foreboding down her spine, and decided to just take her Future-self's words to heart.
"Right, now then...let's get to the more important details about our eyes, shall we?"
Needless to say, she learned a great deal from the message to her. And though Maria was kind and helpful to her, Elder Ruby's warnings reminded her of the infamous smacks to the head, and thus restrained herself from saying anything childish.
Then, there was the message she and her sister watched, more for the latter than anything.
Yang Message
Both sisters watched as E-Ruby began to speak.
"Hey sis...no doubt you're more than confused right now, and quite possibly being an even bigger mother hen after finding out how my future will be," she attempted to joke, but just chuckled nervously, "...Uhhhh, yeah, that wasn't funny at all,"
Yang could only give a deadpan look at that.
"You're damn right it wasn't," she said only to receive an elbow from her sibling.
"Anyway, first and foremost, a warning, if you ever run into Adam Taurus and have no choice but to fight him, make sure you're not alone...have Dad, or Blake, heck even Team CRDL with you...on second thought, don't bring in CRDL," she muttered the last part, but Yang managed to snicker, while Ruby giggled, knowing that it was true...especially considering today.
"Secondly...I just want to say that...I'm sorry," she said, making the two girls blink in confusion, while Yang was greatly worried, "I'm sorry I left you behind in Patch, and went across all of Anima to Mistral in order to find answers and take down Cinder. And then...the day that you..."
Yang could only look on, as her concern got worse, as the...her sister just began to shed tears.
"I...I have no right of being called your little sister...especially since I left you behind, not just once...but twice," she said, and the reaction was expected as the blonde brawler stood straight up, her eyes red, and her hair glowing.
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Yang shouted, mortified and angry at how her sister, her own sister, had downplayed herself. She then went on to rant and scream, repeating how untrue it was. She would've continued had Ruby not grabbed her into a hug, in which the Sunny Dragon quickly returned it.
"Promise me Ruby...," Yang whispered into Ruby's ear, "Promise me that you'll never speak of yourself like that! Do you understand me?"
Ruby only nodded into her shoulder, as she snuggled into her big sister's embrace.
Then, came the message for Blake. And to say said hidden Faunus was a nervous wreck was an understatement.
Blake Message
Blake gulped as the message began to play.
"Hey Blake!" E-Ruby said, "I hope you're not too nervous about this message as I am about recording them...but, I have nothing better else so I'll get straight to the point. If you had watched the first message then you figured out that I know about you and Adam,"
The Cat Faunus winced as her ears flattened against her head.
"I know you're scared about him finding you, and possibly killing us in order to get back at you for leaving him." she continued, "But please know, that everything he did...it was NOT. YOUR. FAULT. All the people he's victimized, the graveyards he's filled, the friends he will cripple...that was all him. Remember that."
Blake blinked owlishly as Ruby enforced her statement that it wasn't her fault.
"Also, you have us...Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Sun, your parents, and all of our friends right beside you to help you out if he shows his masked delusional mug in front of you." E-Ruby said, which touched the cat faunus as she made a kitty cat smile, but then she saw Ruby give a mischievous grin. "So, trust in us Kitty Kat! Or I will spoil the future volumes of those books you read,"
The blush that followed would rival Pyrrha's hair, all the while thinking.
'NOOOOO! No spoilers!'
Later, after watching the rest of her message, Blake went to visit the elder Ruby, and while she was still asleep, and gave the older Rose Reaper a sisterly kiss on the forehead, before thanking her.
She then left for the CCT in order to make a call...to her family.
After Blake had finished it was Weiss' turn.
Weiss Message
Said Ice Queen gulped silently as she looked at her younger partner's older counterpart.
"Weiss...*sigh* I don't know where to start to be honest...except that our...relationship, began with a ...rocky start" The elder Rose chuckled nervously at that, while Weiss gave a deadpan glare at that.
"Rocky my-ow!" the Schnee yelped, as she was flicked in the ear by her own older counterpart, whom she gave a glare to for a moment before returning to watch the video.
"And then, our first semester was...at least tolerable, considering the fact that you were...not a very nice person at the time, especially the many shoot-downs of Jaune's multiple date requests," Weiss winced at that, and looked back on how she acted toward the blonde Paladin.
"But the important thing is that you grew out of it. And I know it wasn't your fault...but because of your, sorry not sorry for saying this, your bastard of a father," the Elder said, causing Weiss to sigh irritably, knowing that was true.
"Thankfully, as time went on, you got better!," E-Ruby said cheerfully as she gave a smile, "All thanks to me and the others! Not bad for your BFF, eh?"
Weiss could only facepalm at that.
"...Gods why...?,"
Weiss refused to talk about it after that, a look of embarrassment and frustration on her face. But Ruby did manage to catch a glimpse of a small smile. She wanted to call her out on it, but...decided not to.
After Team RWBY finished watching their videos, it was Team JNPR's turn to their's, sans Pyrrha since she already watched hers.
And of course, the first to go up was Jaune.
Jaune's Message
The Paladin held the scroll in his hand, while Pyrrha stood next to him. He was still shaken up after watching the first video...and was still reeling from the fact that his partner, who was the first person to actually give a damn about him, would end up murdered in a few months...just the thought of that, didn't sit well with him.
Trying to shake the foreboding thoughts away, he pressed the play button for his message.
"...Hey Jaune...," E-Ruby said, smiling slightly, while her eyes looked ready to burst in tears, "...I bet you're still reeling from all the info in my first video. I would be too, after learning of my possible future."
Jaune looked ready to flinch when Pyrrha placed his hand on his shoulder to keep him calm, causing him to look at her and give a grateful smile. He then turned back to the scroll and the elder Ruby continued.
"But hopefully, I'll be able to change that." she said, "Not just for Remnant...but for you and Pyrrha."
Jaune blinked at that, before remembering that the redheaded beauty will kiss him made him blush at that.
"...When...Pyrrha died...you were just...shattered." E-Ruby said, who was finding it difficult to lay out the bad memories, "Though you managed to hide it well from Ren and Nora...I saw it through it...especially when I saw you one night training, with help from a recording Pyrrha made for you, before she was...taken from us."
Behind him Pyrrha closed her eyes in anguish, unable to imagine the grief that Jaune went through.
"And then...there was the outburst you made at Haven, when Cinder...with no sense of remorse or regret, gloated about the numerous Huntsmen and Huntresses that Leo had betrayed. I had never seen so...furious. I...we, almost lost you that day if I hadn't unconsciously used my silver eyes to stop Cinder...please note, if you ever do that again, I WILL hurt you,"
Jaune gulped in fear at the glare he was receiving from the Rose Reaper, before she continued.
"Then, there was the...incident at Argus, when we gave you the bad news concerning Salem. You... attacked Oscar, an...apprentice to Ozpin, and a friend we picked up in Mistral," the moment she said that, made Jaune greatly worry for his mental health, but a gentle squeeze from Pyrrha managed to distract him from those thoughts. "Afterwards, he ran away and we all went looking for him. It was...around that time when you ended up in the park and found Pyrrha's statue...and met Pyrrha's mom. You were able to move on, but, you told me that you won't enter into another relationship again. I guess, you didn't want to fully forget about Pyrrha"*
Jaune looked at his partner, and the champion only gave a sad smile, which he halfheartedly returned.
"I wish I could tell you more Jaune, but...right now, the battery to my scroll is almost used up and I still need to make the other messages," The elder Rose stated, "So, here's some advice...get a clue and see that the girl who is your partner is head over heels for you, Vomit Boy,"
Both future Lovebirds blushed heavily at that. But then Jaune realized what the Elder Ruby said last.
"HEY!"
After that, the two had been looking at each other weirdly all day, with both of them unable to say anything for a while.
It was then Ren & Nora's turn, since their respective messages were combined into one.
Renora Message
"Hey you two lovebirds!" Both Ren and Nora heard which caused them to blink to confusion before blushing, Nora's more prominent than Ren's. The two attempted to deny the claim, but the red hooded rose beat them to it, "Don't deny it...I know you two have the hots for each other. You just won't admit it."
Nora gave a pout, before she made a huff noise and crossed her arms. Meanwhile, Ren looked a little irritated, but otherwise retained his cool expression, though the blushes on their faces were still prominent.
"Anyway, just wanted you two to know. You guys have been a great help to me and & Jaune during our journey through Anima. Especially when helping with Jaune during his grief." she said, which was enough to make the not-so-secret couple to lose their blushes, and adopt more somber ones. They remembered what they learned from the first message...the Fall of Beacon...and the future unmending breaking of their team with the death of Pyrrha, whom in the past few months, have already began to form a sibling bond with.
"But, right now, I don't want to talk about the bad things. Just to give you advice and warnings. For one, if the Fall does occur, stay with Jaune and Pyrrha for as long as possible..." her face then turned stony and the two felt she looking straight at them wither her silver gaze, "...But if you have to face Cinder, don't try to fight her in order to beat her...just delay her until help arrives. That goes double for you Nora!"
Said Valkyrie pouted, as she really wanted to use Magnhild to break Cinder's legs.
"If you're miffed about not getting a shot in, I'll compensate you..." The Elder Rose said, making the two blink in curiosity, "...I left a file for my special chocolate chip, brown sugar pancakes for Ren to make you...sorry Ren but you know that the one thing that'll persuade Nora is Pancakes,"
Nora's eyes glittered like stars, as drool began to drip from her mouth at the thought of such delicious-chocolaty-brown sugary-pancake goodness. Meanwhile Ren sighed tiredly at the thought.
'Ruby...what have you done?'
That brought out a few good laughs. And they certainly needed them after watching the depressing videos of her counterpart.
However, there was ONE message she had yet to watch. She then reached up to press the play button before she was stopped
"You sure you want to look at that one, little Rose?" said Leaf who appeared in her hologram form, not actually cursing for once "I don't want to see that one again. When my Ruby recorded that one I...I actually cried."
Ruby was surprised by that, before turning back to the screen, which showed a text screen that said 'Play - Yes or No?'. The vid file itself was labeled as 'Final Farewell'. That alone made Ruby feel dread go down her spine. However, after much thinking about the day's events, she decided she had to know everything about what the Elder Ruby went through, including this. She then turned to Leaf, a determined expression on her face.
"I need to know everything that Ru went through, and that means watching this. If I don't know everything, how am I supposed to help her?" she said with determination, while Leaf sighed.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," the A.I. warned, but then blinked, "Wait...Ru?"
Ruby smiled sheepishly, "I can't call her Ruby, or Elder Ruby, that would make it look too weird."
Leaf only blinked before accepting it and Ruby played the last message.
"Hey everyone. If you guys are watching this, that means you did it. You won. You kicked Cinder and Salem's collective asses, and sent the Grimm and White Fang packing. I knew you could do it. But...this is my last stop. I've seen so much, lost so much... Failed so much. The pain is just... too unbearable. I can't live another day, seeing you all in my nightmares. Judging me for my failures."
Ruby did not like how that sound.
"There are no heroes alive where I'm at, since they're all dead. Team JNPR, Team CFVY, Team SSSN, they're all the heroes, while I am not." Ru then chuckled, "I actually heard from Jaune before he died, that the Hero, in most stories he heard or read about, sacrifices his or herself for others, and destroys the bad guys. The survivors all cheer, everybody lives happily ever after. But...the hero, never gets to see that ending. They'll never know, if their sacrifice had paid off, or if it had been in vain. They just hope for the best. Like I am."
"I know that stopping Cinder at just Beacon will only just delay the inevitable. But, if what I leave behind helps in anyway. Maybe, just maybe, you might have a chance."
Ru then sighed, "Ain't that a bitch... Oh, and by the way... Don't kill Torchwick. He might be a bastard, but he's actually better than most criminals. Keeps the rest in line. P.S. here's a bonus file for you to hear. After a few years of practice, I finally got it. Now as great as Weiss' singing but... it works. Until then..."
The vid ended with Ruby looking more shaken and disturbed than anything. Ru just confessed that she was actually planning on dying, either by the enemy's hands... or her own.
She played the file, since it contained a song. She heard a piano begin to play followed by Ru's voice.
(BGM: Contact Redux - Red vs Blue OST)
'We've been here so long... Still I remember The rainy September, Contact~ ...Two, four, one, ten, Two, four, one, ten... Am I transmitting? Is anyone listening? Contact~"
Ruby started tearing up.
'We are green and gray~ ...The longness of semper, Still I remember, Contact~ ...Two, four, one, ten. Two, four, one, ten. Am I still willing, To foot all this billing? Contact~'
A single tear impacted the ground. It wasn't alone for long.
'Riding on our shiny metal horses, Singing a rider's song... One of us will be forgotten, The other will be wrong~... Two, four, one, ten. Two, four, one, ten. Am I transmitting? Is anyone listening? Contact~'
The younger Rose began to sob, with Leaf joining in after a moment of hearing her partner's singing.
'When I think of you, Your name's in the sky, Ninety feet high Contact~... Riding on our shiny metal horses, Singing a rider's song... One of us will be forgotten, The other will be wrong~ ...Riding on our shiny metal horses, Singing a rider's song, One of us will be forgotten, The other will be wrong~'
'Two, four, one, ten. Two, four, one, ten. Am I still willing, To foot all this billing? Contact~'
Ruby soon wasn't the only one listening, as the rest of Team RWBY and Team JNPR were watching, they heard some of the last of the speech, and were greatly concerned. When the song began playing there were no shortages of sad faces or tear-less eyes.
They then heard Ruby's voice speak up.
"She's my sister now." he swore, her tone filled with conviction, "And she's going to be happy, no matter what. She's NOT going to die, not if I have anything to say about it."
She felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, before feeling the familiar gentle nudge of her sister's head on her own.
"You're not alone on that, Rubes." Yang said, "Delirious or not, she's not gonna die on us."
"Count me in," Blake said as she walked in, and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"Someone has to make sure you don't make a doltish mistake," Weiss spoke up, which caused her teammates to roll their eyes.
"Yeah, sure Ice Queen," Yang sarcastically teased, which caused a tic mark to appear on her head and glare at the blonde brawler.
"Hey! Don't leave us out!" Nora chirped as Team JNPR came in, "We're sister teams! If you think you're gonna save the future by yourselves, think again!
"Nora's right," Jaune concurred, "This involves all of us. And like Ru said in her scroll, we need to be together...as a team,"
Ren and Pyrrha nodded at that, which caused Ruby to smile at the sister team of RWBY.
"Where could I could get more friends like you guys?" she asked rhetorically, causing them to laugh.
After calming, Ruby turned back to the Scroll, before she blinked.
"Hey...what's this one?" she asked no one in particular, seeing the file tagged 'K-9 Three'.
Leaf, who had been quiet, and just watching the moment, smirked a bit before she spoke up.
"Press it...and be amazed, Little Rose," the A.I. said, causing everyone to blink.
Ruby, now more curious, did what Leaf said, and pressed the file, before a pop up screen appeared.
'BW-84i, designation Drei, ready for duty. Call? Yes/No'
"Drei?" Ruby asked.
"He's a android dog developed by Atlas," Leaf began to explain, "Part of a project called Blade Wolf, he's armed to the teeth, but has the mind of any ordinary dog. Ru found him after the cataclysm, and is her constant companion. Since I didn't see him around here, that must mean she had him wait somewhere until she can call him when she needed him,"
All of the teens were shocked at this, until Ruby, feeling giddy at possibly seeing her future dog, made her decision.
"Well then...let's not keep him waiting any longer," with that, she pressed 'Yes'.
Somewhere in Remnant, a pair of red robotic eyes blinked on, followed by a metallic growl.
Roman Torchwick was trying not to die.
A crazy cat lady appeared, attacked him, and was now trying to stab him. And if he wasn't mistaken, she was just toying with him. Like most cats do with a mouse. Playing with it, until they finally get bored and kill it.
It all started on the docks: big dust shipment to take. Five minutes later, all the White Fang morons were out cold and he was running for his life.
'Shit, shit, shit, SHIIIIIITT!' the criminal cursed mentally, 'This is sooooo not my night!'
"Come on Torchwick, I just wanna talk," the Cat Lady's voice said sweetly, although it sounded TOO sweetly. "If you don't be a good boy, I'll do VERY unpleasant things to you,"
He was willing to do ANYTHING to get away from the crazy cat bitch. Even willing to swallow his pride as a daring thief.
"Uh...will you promise not to kill me?" He said worriedly.
"I'm considering it." the voice said again, "But first thing's first. The cane on the ground and your little partner-in-crime, in full view, now. And tell her not to use her little tricks. I'll know, and any deals are off."
Surrender and live or run and die. He could live with the former.
He threw the cane away, and signaled for Neo to come on out. Said girl appeared not a second later, her face scrunched in concern and slight fear. She saw Roman give her the look that said not to do anything funny, and like a good little girl, she obeyed.
"Okay, we did what you said." Roman said, "Now what?"
"Now, we talk. You're working with Cinder Fall." Roman attempted to raise a hand, the cat girl pointed her gun at him. "Shut up. Let me finish... You're going to stop what you're working on with her. Make an excuse: police trouble, mob trouble, whatever; point is, you're going to leave her hanging in the lurch. Or I'm going to leave you and Neo here hanging from a lamp post."
"Not very subtle, kitty." Roman deadpanned before hearing the gun load a round into the chamber.
"I'm not in the mood for subtle." she said with an edge to her tone, as her narrowed golden eyes glowed in the dark, "The only reason you're not dead is because a friend of mine wants you alive. Apparently, she thinks you're going to help. Personally, I'd rather gut you, leave on the pavement to bleed out like a stuck pig, and call it a night."
Roman gulped at that, he was thankful that whoever sent this crazy bitch wanted him more alive than a rotting corpse.
"And, uh~, who is your boss, may I ask?" the Thief asked nervously.
"Let's just say you met her many times before," the cat lady said, "Simple as that. Think on the deal, and if you even DARE go back on it, the last thing you'll ever see is your own head being removed from your body."
And as a human brain remains active for 30 seconds after decapitation, he would definitely see that.
The criminal nodded. "I'm, uh, stuck with her until whatever she's doing in Mountain Glenn is done."
"Then keep Neo here." the Faunus said, "If I see her there, deal's off, and both of you will end up in unmarked graves. Are we clear?"
The two hesitantly nodded their heads, with Neo actually grabbing onto Roman in fright.
"Y-Yeah...c-crystal," the Thief stuttered, and the Cat Faunus nodded.
"Good," she said flatly, "I'll be in touch. Don't forget, or it's both of your heads,"
With that, the cat lady vanished from sight, disappearing into the shadows.
"O-Okay...it's official, I'm scared of women with cat ears," Roman said, with Neo nodding in agreement.
The silent girl held up a hand, finger going up.
"Got an idea?" Roman asked, since he could understand what she's saying via hand gestures and facial expressions.
She nodded and pointed at Beacon in the distance.
"Screw with the kids there?" Roman said, and Neo nodded, "Yeah, good plan. Just... don't piss off the cat lady."
Patriot-112: And scene! Finally finished this chapter. As you all no doubt noticed, this is a cut-in-half from one chapter, since the new content would've made it too long.
I'm also sorry it took so long, but between my birthday, SVS, and my grandfather, it was just a little hectic.
*:Yes, I know what you're gonna about that, it looks lazy, I'm sorry. But if you guys got any suggestions, be sure to PM me, don't leave it in the Review.
Until next time my friends, later!
