Howdy folks, how's it going?
Here we are again, for another chapter of Of Red Petals and Black Feathers.
Imma be honest here. I had intended for this to be a BIG chapter that would wrap up the end of Volume 1. I had been envisioning it for years and believe me, I tried… But sadly, real life got in the way and cut into my writing time massively, and that forced me to pretty much cut the chapter in half.
Essentially, you're all getting the action and big fighting on the next one, and most of the world building on this one.
Best I could do guys, for what is worth I hope you'll enjoy it.
As always, shout out to Chaos Productions for his help and general bro-ness, be sure to check the tvtropes page for Strength of an Honest Soul when ya can.
And as always, I own neither RWBY nor League of Legends. If I did, Sienna wouldn't have died in the former and Qyiana wouldn't be a thing in the later.
Now, as always, please enjoy.
/
As she walked by herself through the halls of the Academy, Ruby couldn't help but let out a rare show of emotion in the form of a faint sigh, a gesture that was mirrored by Merle.
The day started out awkward to say the least, and it didn't get much better from there. Team RWBY had never been a particularly talkative group, but it had been a fairly cohesive one, if for no other reason that none of its members had the heart to do anything to threaten said cohesion in the face of Ruby's presence, not that the red-cloaked girl was happy about that, she had never wanted to be that kind of leader.
Now, however, due to the revelations of the previous night, even that was not enough to mitigate the wedge that had very clearly been driven between them. From the moment she woke up in the morning, Weiss didn't so much as deign to acknowledge Blake's existence, going out of her way to be as far apart from the black-haired girl as possible, and after a quick and quiet breakfast she was quick to come up with an excuse to not stick around the rest of the team, opting to instead sequester herself on the school's library under the pretense of a studying session.
The newly revealed faunus, on the other hand, looked positively miserable at these developments, if Ruby had to guess she was probably, and maybe even not entirely unreasonably, blaming herself for this whole situation, something that the younger girl couldn't help but find confusing. Sure, Blake could have worded things better, but the source of Weiss' anger was ultimately unrelated to and out of the girl's control, so why stew over it like it actually wasn't?
She did not voice her thoughts on the matter however, having the sneaking suspicion that it would not help matters. But still, there was at least a silver lining in the form of Yang, who, as uncertain of what to make of the situation as she was, at least seemed willing to stay by her partner for the time being, and Ruby had left the two behind in the cafeteria to properly vent things out, partly because she felt it might go better without her around to make them nervous, and partly because quite frankly those not-as-subtle-as-they-though glances the three older girls kept throwing in her direction were beginning to rankle a bit for some reason.
And so it was, that the young team leader found herself alone and with nothing to do, save for pondering the current situation of the team, and what she should do about it.
Even going under the assumption that she had any idea on how to deal with this, should she try to intervene between Weiss and Blake any more than she already had? Or should she just leave it be and hope that things would sort themselves out with time? Where should she draw the line between trying to be a team leader and meddling in things that weren't really her business?
"This hard…" She eventually voiced out, earning her a commiserating caw of agreement from the crow on her shoulder.
"What is, Miss Rose?" A calm, patient voice inquired from a bit further ahead, prompting the red-cloaked girl to look up and see none other than Ozpin standing before her, a mug of coffee in one hand as he stared at her curiously.
"…Headmaster." She said in a way of greeting, faintly nodding in his direction.
"Hello, Miss Rose." The man replied with a nod of his own, before his face settled into a pondering expression. "It would seem that something is worrying you on this fine morning, am I correct?"
Ruby merely nodded once again in response.
"Is it anything that you'd be willing to share?" He inquired, not at all off put by her lack of a spoken reply. "Perhaps a fresh perspective will help you come to a conclusion."
The red-cloaked girl considered the offer for a few moments, and with a little mental shrug decided, what the heck, she didn't really have anything to lose.
"…Team troubles."
"Ah, I see." The Headmaster said as understanding flashed across his features. "Have things not been going well with your team?"
"Fine'till yesterday." Was her mumbled reply. "Things tense. Big argument, team almost fall apart. I stepped in, but not sure what now."
"Hhhmm, I see." Ozpin replied neutrally. "Well, I am afraid to say that this is a fairly common occurrence. When people, children even in this case, are expected to live together, learn together and fight together, for such an extended period, it is only natural that sometimes, friction would occur. If I may ask, was there any particular reason for this argument?"
"Different opinions." The young team leader chose to reply, guessing it shouldn't really be her place to reveal the specifics. Plus, he was the Headmaster of the Academy. Ruby may not understand a lot of things, but she found it hard to believe he wasn't at least partly aware of the circumstances of her two teammates…
"Aren't they always?" The man replied in amused rhetoric, taking the vague answer in stride. "I won't pry for details, but I take it that things weren't solved yet?"
"No…" Ruby admitted, Merle sighing dejectedly at her shoulder. "Discussions done, facts out, but everyone still angry or sad. Team feels… not team."
"Do you blame yourself for things getting to that point?" Ozpin inquired, studying her with an unreadable expression.
"No." Was the near instant reply, accompanied by a shake of the head. "Nobody's fault in end. Just… not sure how to better. Not sure should try."
"You feel as if it might not be your place to get further involved in your teammates issues?" The man sought to clarify, and eyebrow raised at her statement.
"Not sure if appreciated." She said simply, heterochromatic eyes locking on to the Headmaster searchingly. "What I do?"
"Hhhhhhmmmmmm…" Ozpin seemed to consider, his gaze seemingly staring beyond her and into a point in infinity for a few moments, before he replied. "In my time, Miss Rose, I have seen much conflict, and in many, many forms. In this particular case, speaking from my experience as a headmaster, if your teammates have found reason to disagree so strongly on something, why not try to find something they can establish common ground in?"
"…Just like that?" Ruby couldn't help but inquire, head tilting slightly at the sheer simplicity of the answer.
"You may say that now, Miss Rose," The headmaster replied, the corners of his mouth quirking slightly upwards. "But how easy or difficult the task is will depend entirely on how well you understand your teammates. And more than that, I am afraid, I cannot say. My job is to guide and educate the younger generations, but it is not my place to make your decisions for you."
"…Fair." The red-cloaked girl replied at length, the crow upon her shoulder staring at the man before them with something like confusion.
"Now, then, I am afraid I have some paperwork to fill, so I won't be keeping you any longer." Ozpin made to move past her, stopping briefly only to throw her a glance. "Best of luck in your endeavours Miss Rose. I have faith that you'll find a solution and in time, your team will be able to look back at this little setback with amusement."
With that he was off, leaving the young teen alone once more in the hallways, pondering about what she was told.
Find a way to establish common ground… How?
What could Weiss, the heiress of the Schnee family, who despised the White Fang, and Blake, daughter of the White Fang's founder and long-time member, possibly have in common that they could both agree on?
… She was starting to see why the Headmaster warned her it might not be so simple.
As Ruby mulled over things, movement from the end of the hallway behind her seemed to draw Merle's attention.
"Caw." He squawked once in way of a head's up.
"Hey, Ruby!" A voice called out, causing the girl to turn, to find team JNPR approaching her, with Jaune at the lead.
"Hi, guys…" She mumbled out as they got within range. "How doing?"
"Pretty fine, thank you." Pyrrha surprised the younger girl by replying first. "We've just finished some light team exercises."
"Which is basically just another way of saying she was looking for excuses to try to kick our asses 3vs1." Her fellow team leader threw in with a deadpan expression, causing a slight flush to bloom on the redhead's cheeks. "Now we were thinking of taking the free day to head down to Vale, see the sights and what not."
"I see…" She replied, not sure of what else to say, although she was quite glad to see Jaune's interactions with his own team seemed to be going better. For his part, the blond leader gave her a considering look.
"So, are you busy, Ruby?" He asked, causing the red-cloaked girl to blink owlishly before shaking her head. "Ok, why don't you come with us, then? You look like you could use a break from just walking around doing nothing." He turned to his teammates. "If that's alright with you guys?"
"I don't see why not."
"Sure."
"It's fine."
As Merle tilted his head in confusion, Ruby considered her options. Walking around Beacon wasn't really getting her any closer to a solution for her team's situation… Maybe Jaune was right, and she should try to clear her head a bit? Moreover, unlike her, Jaune and his team seemed to be doing pretty well now on the whole interaction thing. Maybe she could learn by observation?
"…Ok." She nodded.
"Sweet." Jaune replied with a grin. "Let's get going then."
/
One bullhead ride later, and team JNPR plus one and her bird found themselves in the city proper. Having just been there the previous day, Ruby had, to her great surprise, found herself in the position of a guide, showing her friends some of the preparations for the Vytal festival she'd witnessed already. After that they had taken some time to grab a bite to eat. All in all, it was all just a bunch of mundane activities of the sort Ruby had never really done before going to Beacon, which just went to show that perhaps accepting Ozpin's offer had been a better choice than she had first expected…
"Allright, guys." Jaune's voice interrupted her musings as they left the snack bar. "Now comes DYOT time. What's on your minds?"
"I actually need to go to the CCT." Pyrrha replied. "Need to contact my blacksmith back in Mystral."
"…I said I was sorry." The blonde grumbled.
"And I accepted your apology." The redhead smiled a smile that had a bit too much of an edge to be entirely friendly. "Doesn't change the fact Miló needs some maintenance after all the knicks and scratches your blades put into it."
"Why are you acting like a sore loser when you pretty much won…?" Jaune mumbled, more to himself than anything, before turning to the other half of his team. "How about you guys?"
"Oh, me and Renny here are gonna see if some of the stalls have already finished setting up!" Nora stated excitedly. Jaune for his part, threw her a deadpan look, which then moved towards his fellow male teammate.
"Just keep her away from the sugary treats."
"No promises…" The beleaguered young man answered with a weary sigh.
"…Yeah, fair enough." The blond conceded with a commiserating nod, before regarding all of them. "Allright then, me and Ruby here will probably hit a library nearby. See you all by the transport station in… an hour or so?"
None of the members of team JNPR seemed to have anything to say against it, and so they split up, going their separate ways. Leaving their leader with an owlishly blinking and thoroughly mystified Ruby.
"Something the matter, Rubes?" Jaune inquired, apparently noticing her confusion.
"…Team still trouble?" She eventually voiced out.
"What-Oh. Oh." Her fellow team leader seemingly realized her thoughts and let out a small amused chuckle. "Nah, it's nothing like that. We've actually been doing better than ever. This is just DYOT, do your own thing time, something we've all agreed to and set up together. Every few days we all take time to split up and chill or do whatever on our own. A team should be united, yeah, but that doesn't mean we don't all need a little time to ourselves every now and then."
"…I see." The red-cloaked girl said at length, for lack of anything better to say. So teammates could split apart without there being big problems between them?
This was hard…
"Does your confusion have something to do with whatever's been eating at you?" The boy inquired, causing her to turn to him with a look, a dainty eyebrow raised ever so slightly. "Sorry if I'm being nosy, it's just… well, you seemed quieter than you usually are, which, let's face it, is kinda saying something. I guess I just got kinda worried."
For a long while, Ruby said nothing, staring at her friend with her usual blank expression. Then her shoulders slumped ever so slightly, her head lowering until her mouth was hidden beneath the orange rag she used as a scarf.
"Had trouble…" She admitted.
"You wanna talk about it?" Jaune offered with an encouraging smile. "Might help if you can vent a bit."
…
Eh, why not? Again, it was not like she had anything to lose.
And so, in her own stilted, mumbling way, Ruby gave her fellow team leader a short recounting of the previous day's events, always careful not to reveal Weiss' nor Blake's pasts, because she wasn't that clueless. Jaune, for his part, patiently listened, and when she was done, let off a low whistle.
"So, Weiss is pissed at Blake after the two had a big disagreement that resulted in a big argument you had to step in on to stop it from going really badly." He summarized. "Damn, I pity you for being caught in that crossfire."
"Tried best." She mumbled. "Not sure what can do more…"
"Ah, don't worry too much about it." The blond boy said reassuringly, waving his hand dismissively. "From what I'm hearing, you did the best you could, given the circumstances. Maybe all you guys need right now is some time to cool off. You'll see, they'll be sniping at each other and fidgeting nervously under your stare again before you know it."
Despite herself, Ruby couldn't help the faint upward curl of her lips at his attempted words of encouragement.
"Suppose…" She relented.
"There we go." Jaune said with a grin. "So, like I told the others, I was thinking on going to check in on Tukson. He's been asking for my help to move some things around lately. Unless you have something else you want to do?"
The red-cloaked girl considered the words. Nothing immediately came to mind far as she-oh.
"Jaune." She began, her voice a little louder than her usual mumbling. "Found-"
"BbbbbBBBeeEEEEeeeeEEpppPPPPP!"
Something moved at her left, a speeding blur swiftly approaching. Reacting on instinct, the young girl turned to face it, scythe manifesting in her hand… And the thing stopped inches before her face.
Ruby blinked. Merle blinked. Jaune blinked.
"What the…?"
It was, for lack of a better word, a ball.
A floating sphere of dark green metal, two crossing silvery bands with brass outlines adorning its frame, bright neon green lines travelling along the edges, and at their cross section an equally bright green lens, which seemed to be fixed entirely on her as the thing hovered, in place, whirring as it twitched and trembled in what almost looked like… excitement?
"BbeePPpbbBooOPPp, BeEPp!"
"Caw!" Merle squawked, annoyed at the thing's proximity, which unfortunately only had the effect of making its attention focus on him, the sphere approaching the incensed bird with little regard for personal space, whirring and beeping as it failed to react to the crow's retaliatory pecks.
"Ruby?" Jaune voiced the confusion he was no doubt feeling. "You got any idea what this thing is?"
"Yes, it-"
"Ball!" A voice called out. "What are you doing? You know you can't just run away from me like that-gasp!"
…Oh no.
"Old friend!"
The next thing Ruby knew, her feet had stopped touching the ground, as she was lifted in a bear hug by the newly arrived Penny, rubbing cheeks with the cheery redhead even as she tried and struggled and futilely kicked to escape.
"Ooohh it's so nice to see you again, Friend Rubysticks!" The girl gushed, cause Ruby's silver eye to twitch once. "I've been wondering how to get a hold of you. Lucky me!"
"Let go, Let go…"
"Cawcaw!"
Seemingly forgotten during this affectionate display, Jaune could only watch his friend, his incredibly powerful and unbelievably terrifying friend, getting man handled like the young girl she actually was with a bemused expression on his face.
"Sooooooo…" He voiced, drawing the redhead's attention away from her gushing. "You gonna introduce me to your friend, Rubes?"
The young girl responded to the teasing comment with a withering, blank-faced glare, making her fellow team leader take a step back while raising his arms placatingly.
"Oh," The girl, still not letting go of Ruby, said as she gave the boy an assessing stare. "Is this your boyfriend, Rubysticks? Am I interrupting a date?"
…
…
There were a few moments of silence as the duo processed the question. And then that silence was shattered by Jaune breaking out in laughter at the notion. Ruby, on the other hand, was far from amused.
"Enough." She said sharply, finally prying herself off her captor and fixing her with a rather intense stare. "Answers." She demanded, her left eye flashing for a split second.
At the word, Penny blinked… And then her entire mood shifted with a suddenness that had Jaune almost gaping in confusion. Joyful and cheerily affectionate one minute, she looked weary and morose the next.
"Yes." The redhead agreed, smiling ruefully. "I suppose we could all use answers."
/
At the redhead's suggestion, the trio relocated to a small booth at a quaint little coffee shop, seeking a little privacy for the ensuing conversation. There, once they had gotten their orders (a big slice of strawberry cheesecake for Ruby and Merle, because you could never have too much of either strawberries or cakes, some lemonade for Jaune, just for the sake of having something, and perhaps oddest of all, some coffee for Penny), and the waiter left them, pointedly ignoring the floating sphere that hovered near the redhead, an odd silence fell between the trio, as both team leaders of Beacon stared at their current companion, both thoroughly confused, although for entirely different reasons, as the redhead blew softly at the steam wafting from her beverage and took a sip, followed by a small, content sigh.
"Ok, so," Jaune eventually voiced out his growing confusion. "This is nice and all, but is somebody going to explain to me what is going on here?"
"Well, I'm afraid that's kind of a very long story." Penny replied, that rueful smile still plastered across her face as she stared at him uncertainly. "I am honestly not sure where to start…"
"Jaune." Ruby cut in, calling for her fellow team leader's attention, and nodded towards the girl sitting before them. "Champion."
"Really, now?" The boy questioned, suddenly a lot more focused on the proceedings as he considered the redhead with a raised eyebrow. "You mean she's one of us?"
"No." The red-cloaked girl denied with a shake of her head, unflinching gaze firmly on the subject of their conversation as she insisted. "Champion."
For a brief moment, the blond blinked in confusion. Then, as the meaning behind the word finally registered, his face grew slack with shock as he once more looked at the still smiling girl.
"…You're joking." He eventually breathed out in disbelief.
"Oh, you're aware?" Penny asked, sounding pleasantly surprised at the notion. "Good, that saves us some time, I was honestly not sure what was safe to say around you… Actually, we haven't been introduced yet, have we? I'm Penny O.R. Polendina."
"Jaune Arc." The gobsmacked young man replied, before shaking his head as if to clear the haze of shock. "Wait, wait, wait, back up… You're a champion? Like, a legit, old time, before our recorded history champion?"
"It's not very polite to comment on a girl's age, you know." The girl replied, obviously much more amused than offended. "I'd think Rubysticks would have told you as much."
The boy could only blink at the chiding tease, turning to his fellow team leader to mouth the words 'what the fuck…?'. Ruby, for her part, found herself more annoyed than confused.
"I'm. Fifteen." She stressed out. And she was! And also, they had more pressing matters to address, like: "What doing here, Orianna?"
"…Now there is a name I hadn't heard in a fair while." The girl replied softly, gaze growing distant as it turned to the Ball, the construct whirring in what almost seemed like a sad manner. "But it was mine, once upon a time, yes. Orianna Reveck, that's who I used to be."
"I…" Jaune hesitated, struggling to both wrap his mind around these revelations and find the proper words to say. "I agree with Ruby. How are you even alive?"
"How indeed…?" The revealed champion replied, more to herself than anything. "Tell me, do you think when a moth emerges from its chrysalis, it remembers its life as a caterpillar?"
"What?" Jaune replied, understandably confused at the odd question.
"The easiest way to explain it, is that that is pretty much what happened to me. On two separate occasions, no less." Penny (Orianna?) explained, proceeding to elaborate. "Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was a curious young thing, eager to see the world around her and all its mysteries, while helping the people on the way. Her father, however, thought the world to be too dangerous a place, and forbade her from straying too far from home, where she spent her time learning the craft of engineering with him, and growing very good at building dolls, simple dancing figurines, as a result." Her distant gaze grew forlorn, then. "Those were good times, I like to think."
Neither Jaune nor Ruby were quite sure how to respond to that, and so they said nothing.
"Eventually, the girl heard of a great disaster that happened near her home. Immediately she wanted to go there, to help the people recover and rebuild. Her father forbade it of course, but the girl did not listen, and snuck out of the house to help. Which she did, with little to no regard for her own safety." A soft smile flashed briefly across her face, but it swiftly vanished. "Sometimes I wonder, what would have been different, if she had listened. The disaster ultimately sealed her doom. She was left severely poisoned, her lungs failing her. And her father, desperate to save her, worked day and night to create a marvel of engineering, a fully working set of artificial lungs, which he implanted on his daughter. It worked, and she was saved. At least, for a few months, before the poisoning spread and her organs started failing one by one. And one by one, her father replaced them with machines, and for each replacement, the girl found her emotions growing more and more muted. Eventually, only her heart was still her own."
She placed a hand on the Ball, the sphere seeming to snuggle comfortingly into the touch.
"By that time, all the effort and struggles had taken their toll on the father, his heart unable to bear the strain any longer. The girl scrambled for a solution, and ultimately only found one. He needed a heart… so she gave him hers. In doing so she saved his life, but lost the last lingering piece of her humanity in the process. That was my first rebirth, from a well-meaning girl, into an unfeeling machine. Nothing more kept me there, so knowing my father, Corin Reveck, was safe, I left, to explore the world as I'd always wanted. Eventually I sought out the League, out of curiosity or boredom I really cannot say, and soon after that I was a champion, fighting out in the fields of justice. Those too, were good times, I like to think."
Silence followed the ancient android's words, as both the blond and the red-cloaked girl processed the tale, a tale that even Ruby wasn't really aware of. She remembered Orianna, but he had never really cared to know, and no one had bothered telling him anyway…
"Ok, so…" Jaune ventured, trying to make sense of all that. "You used to be a girl… that got turned into a robot?"
"Essentially, yes." The android confirmed, taking another sip of her drink.
"You're drinking coffee…" The boy pointed out the obvious.
"I derive no sustenance from it and will need to empty out my stomach container later." The mechanical girl shrugged. "But I have artificial taste buds and I enjoy the flavour. Plus it helps me to blend in."
"That's… beyond anything modern technology could achieve."
"A lot of things are different today, and not all of it for the better. Modern technology is severely lacking in the magical component hextech used to boast." She explained plainly.
"What then?" Ruby asked, thinking they should probably get back on track before Jaune could go on a tangent asking what hextech was.
"Then?" Penny repeated ponderingly… then shrugged. "I have no idea."
"…What?" The red-cloaked girl surprised herself by being the one to question.
"I honestly do not know how much time has passed since then and now. But however long it was, it took its toll on me too." She tapped the side of her head for emphasis. "My memory banks were severely damaged. What I can access about my past feels… disjointed. It's almost like watching a movie from someone else's perspective."
"So, you don't actually know what happened? What made it all fall apart?"
"Can't say I do." The redhead shook her head demurely. "Last thing I remember is walking the street of a freljordian city, and a loud roar… And next thing I knew I woke up in an Atlesian lab."
"Atlas?" Jaune repeated with a contemplating look. "They are known for their technological advancements. So, they're the ones who fixed you up…"
"Oh, they did so much more than that." The android chuckled. "As I later learned, my severely damaged body was retrieved from the northern Atlesian wastes by an expedition of the military, led by one Dr. Polendina. A brilliant man, with some novel theories in the fields of engineering and aura research. He found me, and thought I was the solution to all of them. He used me as a base, rebuilt me from the ground up for the project he dedicated his life to, what he hoped would be his greatest achievement and discovery: The creation of a fully artificial, aura generating soul."
…
…
…
"…Didn't work." Ruby mumbled plainly, quickly connecting the dots.
"Not in the way he had intended, no." The android confirmed, that rueful smile back on her face. "He couldn't have known then, that I'd been more than a machine once. The experiment didn't create a new soul…"
"…It just awakened what was already there." Jaune finished the thought for her, breathing it out in perplexed realization. "That's insane…"
"That was my second rebirth." Penny confirmed, her bright green eyes turning to stare at the clear skies through the window. "It felt like waking up from a long sleep, with the hazy memories almost like a distant dream… And all the emotions I had long since stopped feeling and bare remembered, crashing into me at full force. I was confused, lonely, afraid… Until Dr. Polendina stepped in to explain, to try to soothe his "daughter". The poor man was rather sad when he realized his experiment was technically a failure, but he quickly got over it when he noticed how much more distraught I was."
The ball whirred softly at that, hovering closer to the android and bumping lightly into her head as if seeking to offer comfort, to which she smiled gratefully before turning back to her audience.
"In the end, we reached an agreement, and I took on a new name, this name he wanted to give me. Now I work for Atlas. All in all, it's not all bad. I may be a relic of a time long past, but now I am free in ways I haven't been since I was flesh and bone. The world feels… so much more vivid, so much more brand new, than those memories of my unfeeling self could ever convey, and I got the opportunity to experience it all over again." She turned to Ruby then, and her smile turned slightly apologetic. "And by the way, I am sorry if I was… a little over-enthusiastic when we met. I was just… so happy at the thought of finding something familiar. That I wasn't alone in an era I didn't belong in."
… Despite the annoyance at the time, Ruby couldn't really fault the mechanical girl after hearing all that, so she merely nodded in acceptance of the words.
"You called her an old friend…" Jaune then said, seemingly pondering something. "How does that work? From what Ruby told me the… thing whose powers she inherited wasn't exactly sociable."
"I wasn't either, to be honest, though not for lack of trying." Penny answered with a shrug. "Fact of the matter is, many people were unnerved by my unfeeling self, and treated me poorly because of that. Even our fellow champions. Take, for instance, Qyiana, who was, excuse the language, an utter bitch to me. Then again, she was like that with everyone… but I digress. I often found, if not acceptance, tolerance amongst the less human of us. When we fought together, Fiddlesticks never disparaged or treated me like thrash. Call it low standards, but that was grounds for friendship to me."
"Fiddlesticks…?" The boy chortled in surprise, turning to his fellow team leader while making a mighty effort to supress laughter. "You got your powers from a monstrous entity of terror… called Fiddlesticks?"
"…Shaddup." The young teen mumbled petulantly, the crow on her shoulder glaring annoyedly at the sniggering blond, while Penny's gaze once again fell on the red-cloaked girl, contemplating, wondering.
"But you are not actually him, are you?" She asked, somewhat rhetorically. "You've all but said as much. If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did that happen?"
"…In danger when younger." Ruby mumbled. "Found him. Asked for help. He gave it."
"He… helped you. Because you asked." The android repeated, blinking in confusion as the younger girl nodded. "That does not sound like the Harbinger of Doom I remember…"
"No idea." Ruby could only really reply, shrugging as she did. "Don't sound Lady of Clockwork either…"
"Fair enough, I suppose. And he always was one of the most mysterious of us…" The android conceded, before turning towards the other element of the conversation. "How about you Jaune, how were you aware of all of this?"
"Well," The boy answered, scratching the back of his head. "I am not secretly an ancient immortal or the inheritor of amazing powers or anything like that. I'm just a guy who was shown some old stuff and got an interest in archaeology and learning about the past. To be honest, I thought I had hit the jackpot when I met Ruby, but this… this is something else entirely."
"Has Irelia's blades." Ruby threw in, feeling that needed to be said, causing Penny to perk up in surprise.
"Really now?" The Android asked, staring at the blond with renewed interest. "That's another name I hadn't heard in a long time. One of the few that were also nice to me… I wonder if you're as good at dancing as she was…"
"Uh, I… I know a thing or two, I suppose." The boy replied awkwardly, before shaking his head. "But that's neither here nor there!" He then proceeded to take a pen and a notebook out from somewhere, and looked at Penny with an odd glint in his eyes. "Would you mind if I took some notes?"
"…I don't see the harm?"
"Super." That was all the prompting the boy needed before beginning to furiously scribble away, all but dead to the world around him and the bemused look the redhead was giving him.
"…Is he always like this?" She asked Ruby. "It's like I am looking at Ezreal again…"
"Jaune weird like that…" The young teen replied.
"Eh, I'll take your word for-" Suddenly, Penny stilled, becoming perfectly immobile as the green in her eyes almost seemed to blink on and off. As quickly as it happened, the moment passed, and the android shook her head. "Oh."
"What matter?" The red-cloaked girl asked, confused at the odd occurrence.
"Oh, sorry about that. It's just that I've received a communication from my handlers from Atlas." The android explained.
"…No scroll?"
"The scroll was given to me by my dad, it's for friends and family. I'd like your number later, by the by." She clarified further. "This was my work line, it's directly connected to my head."
"…Dad? Dr. Polendina?"
"Well, yeah? I mean, he was the reason I woke up in this era, fully capable of feeling again. Plus he really seemed to want to treat me like a daughter, so I just kinda let it happen." The android blinked then, as she seemed to consider something. "I suppose that is not what most people would mean when they say they have two dads…" She shook her head. "But I digress, I was called in to deal with a problem."
"A problem?" Jaune butted back into the conversation. "And is that anything we should know about?"
"I don't see why not." The android shrugged. "I am given a lot of freedom in my assignments. As long as I get the job done and don't reveal I'm mechanical to the world, they won't complain. Plus it seems like it's a fairly minor thing. We got word that the White Fang will try to raid the docks of Vale later tonight. I am to intercept and stop them."
"The White Fang…?" Ruby repeated, suddenly very interested.
"That's right. Shouldn't be something too difficult. Still," Penny stared at the two of them, seemingly considering something. "Would you care to join me?"
"…Is that even allowed?" Jaune asked uncertainly.
"Like I said, long as I get the job done, I can do as I want. That includes involving people I trust." She smiled then, a nervous, hopeful smile. "It's just… I thought it'd feel good to fight besides others like me again. A blast from the past and all that. So, what do you say?"
Jaune, not really sure what to say, turned questioningly to Ruby, who was in her own little world as she considered her options, the memory of her earlier predicaments quick to re-assert itself…
Weiss…
Blake…
Finding what they could agree on…
The White Fang…
…
…
"We're in." She replied simply, much to Penny's delight if the delighted grin was any indication.
/
Welp, that was a thing.
Perhaps I may have been laying it on a bit thick this chapter when it comes to exposition, but I really believe it was all necessary stuff. Now you guys know that not only fragmented pieces or ancient phenomenal powers from the distant past have endured to the modern times. Some other, more mundane elements remain… Well, as mundane as a magitek robot girl can be.
And I do hope you guys like what I've done with Penny, or at least appreciate the ironic contrast between her and Ruby.
Next chapter, provided life doesn't throw me a curve ball again, will FINALLY see the end of Volume 1, with all the revelations I have been anticipating for years. Hope you all are anticipating them with me.
Next up however, is Beneath a Broken Moon, so look forward to that.
Cya all on the next one.