Ruby Rose remained very still as the truck trundled along the bumpy dirt road, cutting through the early morning fog. No one had said much as the group crossed the border into Vale, and the periods of intermittent silence had grown longer as they entered Patch. Eventually, Ruby had stopped talking entirely, letting Ren confirm directions as she kept her eyes straight ahead on Sage's hair.
A sudden vibration within her pocket caused Ruby to jump and gasp before clamping her hand down heavily upon the side of her skirt. Oscar stirred slightly and groaned, still asleep against her side as she carefully pulled out her scroll and looked at the screen.
Nora- 7:46 AM
Are you okay?
Ruby looked across her snoozing companion to find Nora staring directly at her with eyes full of concern. A moment passed as Ruby bit her lip and merely returned the gesture, before looking down and quietly tapping away at her scroll.
No.
Nora nodded, and took a deep breath as she replied.
We never did talk about what's on your mind. Soon? Please?
Ruby merely stared at the message, before clicking her scroll shut and turning away from her friend. She leaned her elbow against the windowsill and busied herself with staring out the glass to watch the trees go by in silence. After another minute, her scroll vibrated once again, though she ignored it. Like a steadily spreading itch, though, she soon found the notion of reading the message impossible to ignore and relented.
No matter what we find out here, we've got your back, and it's going to warrant us talking tonight. You're not getting out of this one.
Ruby primed her thumb to begin composing a reply, only for the truck to roll to a sudden stop.
"Well… we're here, assuming you got the directions right," Sage said with a tired drawl while cracking his neck from side to side. "We sticking to the plan?"
"To deviate would be foolish," Ren offered as he unbuckled his seatbelt and popped open the door of the truck. "We do this safely, and hope for the best."
"Oscar, wake up," Nora whispered into the boy's ear before jabbing him in the side with her elbow. "We're at Ruby's house."
"Mmn?" the boy questioned before raising his arms into an overhead stretch and blinking away the sleep from his eyes.
"We're… going to need the professor," Ruby said quietly as she joined the rest of the teens exiting the truck. By the time her boots had touched the dirt, Oscar was speaking in a very different tone and moving to follow her.
"Of course, Miss Rose," Oscar replied as he settled the point of his cane into the dirt. "Are you ready to do this?"
"…yeah," Ruby said flatly as she gave Nora a blank look. "Yeah, I'll be fine. We're just… talking to my dad and confronting Raven, right? What's the worst that could happen?"
"We find out that the bet upon which we gambled our entire plan was made in error, and neither of them are here," Oscar answered. "In which case… we… improvise."
"In which case, we go to Beacon, and seek help," Nora said firmly.
Oscar closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his nose before shaking his head.
"…now is not the time, Miss Valkyrie. Secure the perimeter with the boys, while we enter and deal with Raven. If all goes well, we'll be in Kuo Kuana before the hour is up."
"Has any of this trip gone well thus far?" Sage asked rhetorically as he set about walking around the garage with his sword slung over one shoulder.
"We're still breathing," Ren said coolly as he drew his guns and began to circle the structure in the opposite direction. "Therefore, we have not lost. We have hope."
"And each other," Nora added as she converted Magnhild into its war hammer form, before taking up position near the front door. "If we let ourselves."
Ruby merely drew Crescent Rose from her belt and held the gun in both hands, her attention fixated upon the door itself as she approached.
"I'll take point. Os… Professor Ozpin? Watch my back."
"Of course, Miss Rose," the boy replied.
With a shaking hand, Ruby turned the doorknob and stepped inside of her familiar former home. Everything in the entranceway was almost as she had remembered it, save for the placement of some small, everyday items. The kitchen to her right was immaculate, yet barren of food, as though no one had been living there for an extended period. In stark contrast, the ceiling fan above the kitchen island was lazily rotating, and she could smell the fireplace roaring from the adjacent living room. The combination of mundane factors caused her chest to swell with hope, and she took another step inside.
"Dad...?" Ruby called out as she made her way into the kitchen before pausing to await a response.
"…Ruby?" came Taiyang's from elsewhere within the home.
"Dad!" Ruby replied, moving quickly toward the source of the noise. "Dad, I'm home!"
"In here," came Taiyang's reply from down the hall.
Ruby paused, a chill running down her spine. Something about the tone of her father's reply seemed off.
"…Miss Rose…?" Oscar asked from his position just behind Ruby.
"I…" she began, only to trail off as she walked deeper into the home, her weapon raised. She glanced quickly into the living room, where the fire was indeed crackling, and a standing lamp was on.
"Ruby… I couldn't be more proud of you," Taiyang offered through the wall to the nearby dining room.
Ruby licked her lips as she reached out a hand and turned the doorknob. She raised her gun as she leapt inside, only to find her father standing on the other side of the room, facing away from her as he straightened a painting that was hanging upon the wall. Oscar moved to stand on the side of the long table opposite of Ruby and began a slow approach with his cane at the ready.
"…Dad?" Ruby questioned as she lowered her gun ever so slightly. "Where's Raven? Did she come here?"
Taiyang paused in his efforts to correct the placement of the painting.
"Raven… why?" the man asked, before turning to face Ruby. Upon seeing her, he appeared relieved, and spread his arms for a hug as he began to approach.
Ruby sighed heavily and began to jerk forward before stopping herself in mid-step. Without really knowing why, she looked her father over quickly before her eyes settled upon his feet.
"Dad… doesn't wear shoes in the house…" Ruby said softly before looking up to meet her father's eyes, her expression blank.
Taiyang stopped advancing and closed his eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose. The man shook his head and opened his eyes once again, the ocean blues replaced by mismatched hues of pink and brown. Oscar paused his advance around the table as he caught sight of the change, only for Ruby to speak in an uncharacteristic, low growl.
"What did you do with him?" Ruby asked, her hands trembling as she tightened her grip upon her weapon.
Slowly, Neopolitan raised her scroll, smirking all the while. The screen displayed some sort of audio mixing program, and she tapped gently upon one of the many digital buttons on display. Taiyang's voice began to play in a choppy, spliced-together message as Ruby continued to scowl.
"He was… like a father to me," the scroll played, before pausing briefly. "You took… mine… so I'm going… to… take… yours… too."
Ruby let out an impassioned cry as she opened fire, a high-powered slug tearing straight through Neopolitan's torso and causing her to shatter into brown and yellow shards. The round sank into a nearby cabinet full of dinnerware with a loud bang, and suddenly, Ruby felt a harsh blow against the back of her head. Just as fingers gripped into her hair and drove her face down into the table, Oscar leapt atop the wooden surface and slid across, his cane striking Neopolitan's arm with great force as he landed upon the other side of the furniture.
The diminutive girl took a few steps backward and shook out her arm, her body once again in its familiar form. With a snap, her umbrella appeared from seemingly nowhere, and she took off through the dining room door and ran into the hallway.
"Neo!" Ruby yelled as she pushed away from the table and began to give chase. The girl raised her voice as the front door opened, yelling as loudly as she could. "Neo's here! Ren, Nora, Sage, get in here!"
"Way ahead of you!" Nora replied from her place in the doorway. The subtle thunk of a grenade being fired from Magnhild echoed through the kitchen, and a spray of ceramic and wood scattered all about as the projectile exploded. "There you are! You're not getting away!"
Ruby held up her weapon to shield her face from flying debris as she slid onto the scene, where Neopolitan had taken cover behind the kitchen island with her hands over her head. Suddenly, the kitchen window shattered as glowing green bullets slammed through the glass and began to assail Neopolitan from above.
"I've got eyes on her!" Ren called from outside of the house.
Ruby fired off her own slug as Neopolitan deftly crouched out of the way and around the island, only to meet Nora, who swung hard and fast with her hammer. The smaller girl barely managed to dodge out of the way by pressing up against the kitchen counter, though she dropped her scroll upon the tile floor in the process. With catlike grace, Neopolitan stepped a heeled boot onto the shaft of Magnhild and soared up and over Nora's shoulder before making a beeline for the front door.
"Don't you dare!" Ruby screamed before breaking into a sprint and twisting, her entire body becoming engulfed within her cape. She spun through the air at high speed, a red streak spiraling furiously forward in pursuit of her pastel prey. Ruby curved as Neopolitan ran toward the nearby woods, only to crash straight through the girl and send her scattering as triangular shards.
"You're not getting away!" Ruby snarled as she skidded through the dirt, searching the immediate area as quickly as she could. The faintest hint of a black bodice disappearing behind a tree speared in her peripheral vision, and she extended Crescent Rose into its scythe form before firing a high-caliber round backward and rocketing forward as a swirling crimson lance once again.
"You'll never be faster than me!" Ruby insisted as she careened through the trees, the giant plants whizzing past in a blur of brown and green. "You'll never outlast us, and if you touch him, I'll make what happened to Torchwick look like he got off easy!"
Ruby made a hard swerve as she felt her aura begin to pulse in protest. She circled briefly back through the trees, scanning for movement as best she could before skidding once again through the dirt and grass. Her breathing was ragged and erratic as she whipped her head around in a desperate effort to find her foe.
"Neo!" Ruby yelled once again. "If you want to settle this, then settle it! I'm right here! Just you and me!"
Ruby's chest heaved as she remained tense, her scythe out to one side as the corners of her eyes began to sting.
"It wasn't even me! Cinder Fall is who you should be hunting!" the girl tried. "She got him involved in more than he could handle! Not me!"
Again, the only sounds that answered were rustling leaves and the gentle, creaky shifting of branches high above. Ruby closed her eyes as tears began to roll down her cheeks, and she slowly pulled herself up to stand properly.
"Just stop," Ruby called one last time while shaking her head. "We can't do this right now! Damn it!"
The girl thrust her fist into a nearby tree, accomplishing little more than making a few leaves lazily work their way toward the ground from an upper branch.
"Ruby!" Nora called as her footfalls crunched through the leaf litter. The girl in question looked up as her companion appeared from behind a tree, a scroll in her hand. Upon catching sight of Ruby, Nora looked around the area with disappointment. "She got away, didn't she?"
"What do you think?" Ruby snapped, causing Nora to take a step back.
"I think you need to calm down… and I think you need to look at this," Nora replied while holding out Neopolitan's abandoned scroll.
Ruby snatched the device from Nora's hand, only to find the screen still on the recording app. Without a word, Ruby began to work through the program, searching for the original recording within the mess of windows and files. Upon finding what she thought to be the untouched audio, she pressed 'Play', and her father's voice came through the device clearly.
"Ruby? Or Yang? Or… I hope, both of you. But to whoever happens to find this," Taiyang's compressed voice began, "I'm leaving you this chip to try to give you an idea of what's happening, and reassure you that I'm okay. Professor Ozpin, or… 'Oscar', as you're probably calling him now… if he's with you, he can't be trusted. Raven came to me, and filled me in on a lot of what's been going on- the Relics, the Maidens, Salem- I'm up to speed with the two of you, now. I might even know more. Ozpin has no idea how to fight Salem, or stop her from getting to the Relics. He's been lying to all of us, and flying blind while acting like he's got a plan. Why he did what he did… I can't really say, but I trust you two to be smart. I couldn't be more proud of the fine young women you've become, and I hope that wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you know that I couldn't be more proud of you.
This all might seem like a doomsday scenario, but Raven and I do have a plan. We're going to Beacon Academy to find some like-minded individuals before heading to Vacuo to warn the headmaster and try to secure the Relic of Destruction. When I was at Beacon, Professor Ozpin was almost like a father to me, but something's changed, so I'm going to take matters into my own hands. I wish I could tell you to come and help us out, but I can't. You took a huge risk standing together at Haven Academy, and I need you to take another one for me. Stick with your friends and work together to defend Atlas or Beacon. We'll hold down Shade, and we'll make it through this together… even if we're apart for a while. Yours is a capable group, and Raven and I aren't pushovers, either.
Yang… I hope all that training of mine was enough for you. Ruby… I know you're still young, but I believe in you, too. Hopefully it won't be long before we see each other again, and hopefully we'll have something to celebrate when it happens. I love you both. I hope you find what I left in here useful, but… you're both good at making the best of things, aren't you? Let's do what we need to in order to keep Remnant safe. That's what our family's always been good at, after all."
Ruby's eyes remained glued to the scroll as the recording clicked to a stop. She turned the device slightly and depressed a small chip embedded in the base before allowing it to pop out into her hand. Without a word, the girl pocketed the small rectangle just as Ren, Oscar, and Sage ran breathlessly into view among the trees.
"She escaped, didn't she?" Ren asked.
"Yeah," Ruby acknowledged before looking over to Nora. "But we have her scroll. We need to get inside… and we need to talk. All of us."
Nora merely nodded, before turning away. She took a long, scrutinizing look at Oscar before beginning to walk back toward the house, the rest of the team falling in behind her.
Author's Note:
Going to try my best to get Chapter 100 out this week. It's going to be ridiculous, and contain what you've all been waiting for.
Weapon upgrades and group sparring.
-RD