Another chapter. I am slowly implementing some changes into canon, some which you will see in this chapter.
Anyways, I'm almost done with Volume 4, though nothing has surprised me so far. Except the Sun treatment so far. Like, ok, I get it, he kind of came in uninvited and sort of eavesdropped on the conversation, but do you really have to SLAP the guy? On multiple occasions!? It's like they are trying to make him the bad guy for no reason. I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting because he's one of my favourites. Anyone else share these thoughts?
Also, UGGGGH! Fanfiction is having a problem where I can't see any views! It looks like nobody has read this story, which I know is impossible due to the reviews, favourite and follows!
Ruby ran up the CCT, thanks to Weiss glyphs, where Pyrrha was fighting Cinder at the top. She couldn't use her semblance as she needed to connect her feet with the glyph in order to keep moving, so she ran like her life depended on it, worried for her friend. Pyrrha may have been one of the strongest fighters she knew, but even she would have trouble if one of her opponents was a giant Grimm dragon.
Thankfully she managed to reach the top without interference. She looked at the destroyed room… just as Cinder shoots an arrow through Pyrrha's chest.
Ruby couldn't move due to shock, but luckily, Cinder didn't notice her.
Suddenly, Pyrrha looked at her, a sickening crack echoing through the silence. "What are you doing, Ruby?" She asked in a cold tone.
"Huh?" Ruby was surprised by the sudden action.
"Why are you just standing there? If you tackled her out of the way or shot her, you could have saved me." Pyrrha said, looking at her with so much hatred in her eyes, something Ruby thought Pyrrha was incapable of.
"I…"
Pyrrha suddenly got up, walking towards her as she ignored Cinder, who didn't seem to acknowledge the situation. Cracks began to sprout from her chest and pieces of her body began falling off, turning to ash. "If you did that, I might have lived."
"I… couldn't…" Ruby tried to speak, but was interrupted.
"Jaune asked you to help me and you just stood there!?" Pyrrha yelled as more pieces of her fell, the ash beginning to cover the air, making it hard to breathe.
"Pyrrha…I…" Ruby tried to talk once again, but she began coughing, the ash entering her lungs.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO ME! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" She yelled as she turned to ash and completely covered Ruby.
She couldn't even scream, as she was surrounded by a tornado of ash. She felt the ash slowly filling her lungs, making it impossible to breathe as the ash slowly consumed her…
Ruby woke up with a gasp, nearly coughing out of reflex. Once she calmed down, she placed her face on her hands. "Not again…" She muttered.
She keeps having this recurring nightmare, the same theme.
Sometimes it's about Pyrrha's death. Other times it's about Penny or other people. The nightmare keeps changing, but they all come from the same event. Of Beacon falling.
An event that she should have stopped.
My teammates are scattered throughout Remnant, either stuck at home, missing, or injured. Now I'm here with another team who just lost a teammate, took over leadership with the intent to get revenge. Some leader I am. I'm too weak…
"Ruby?"
She looked up at the voice, seeing Jaune coming walking towards her. "Hey Jaune." She said quietly not to wake up the others. "What are you doing being up so early?"
"I was… looking around, making sure there aren't any Grimm around." Jaune stated. "What are you doing being up so early?"
"Bug crawled up my nose and it woke me up." Ruby lied, making a face of disgust to convince him. "It was not pleasant."
"I can bet." Jaune said, chuckling. "Let's wake up the rest and move to Shion, alright? Dibs on Ren!"
"Oh come on~~" Ruby whined. "Why does Nora even sleep with her hammer…"
Jaune chuckled at her expression, which made her smile a bit.
Yes I am weak. But not anymore. I'm getting stronger every day. And soon… She thought, slowly trying to wake up Nora, not noticing the pair of eyes staring at her.
All four members of Team RNJR walk down a sunny road. Ruby is in front, looking at a map.
"So the next town is... uh-huh... uh-huh... I'm lost..." She said, not being able to read the map.
Jaune chuckled. "The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time." Jaune explained.
"Oh yeah. Don't you have, like, four sisters?" Ruby asked
"Uh, seven, actually."
Ruby giggles. "I guess your parents really wanted a boy." She said.
"You know, that actually explains a lot." Nora said, giggling as well.
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow.
"So, what did you guys do there?" Ruby asked Jaune.
"Oh, all sorts of stuff! Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time. I got my own tent because I was special. Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair." He added the last part embarrassed.
"Didn't like the look?" Ruby asked with a teasing grin
Jaune shrugged. "Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally, I think I'm more of a 'warrior's wolftail' kind of guy." He said, tossing his hair as a response
Ruby giggled. "That's just a ponytail." She said.
"I stand by what I said."
Nora stops short, raising her hands to her lips as her eyes widen. Soon after, Ren stops, visibly tense.
"Uh, guys?" Nora asked the two in front of them.
"Huh?"
"What?"
Jaune and Ruby look up from the map. Their eyes widen and jaws drop. In front of them is a desolated village. The sky is gray and two columns of smoke rise in the air. A gazebo has a broken tower and lampposts are askew from the ground. At least one dead body can be seen on the side of the road approaching the town.
All four rush forward, not knowing they dropped the map. They briskly move into the town, looking around. Ren tosses his backpack on the ground and moves ahead while the other three gather in the middle of a road.
"There could be survivors!" Ruby shouted.
"Found one! Over here!" Ren shouted
The other three rush to where Ren is leading them. On the ground, sitting propped against a broken building wall is a young man in armor. He breathes heavily and holds his hand against a bleeding wound in his abdomen. Ren drops by his side and puts his hand on his shoulder.
"A Huntsman!" Ruby stated.
"What happened? Who killed all these people?" Nora asked.
The Huntsman coughed. "Bandits. The whole tribe... Then, with all the panic…" Before he could finish, he started coughing repeatedly.
"Grimm." Ren finished.
Ren stands and walks a few paces away, placing his hands atop his head. Ruby, Jaune, and Nora step away to confer, the last of the trio glancing at Ren with a worried expression.
"Alright, we can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there!" Ruby started.
"Yeah. Ren and I can take turns carrying him there." Jaune offered.
Ren turns back and walks over to the Huntsman.
"Guys, I don't know if he'll make it." Nora said, uncharacteristically quiet.
"He will… He has to." Jaune said, either trying to convince Nora or himself.
"If we get going now, our chances will be better. I can run ahead and look for help!" Ruby added. She won't allow anyone else to die while she just watches. She can save someone this time. She can-
"Guys."
As they heard Ren's voice, the other three turn and discover that the Huntsman has already died.
They were quiet for a moment.
"...Should we bury him?" Nora offered.
Ren walks right past them without a backward glance.
"We should go. It's not safe here." He added.
"Ren..." Nora turns and follows him. Ruby puts her hand on Jaune's arm. He is looking stressed and sad.
"It'll be okay." She comforted him.
"I'm just tired of losing everything." Jaune said, dejected.
"Me too…" Ruby said as well, both of them staring at the corpse of the Hunstman.
Ren stops and looks at something on the ground, his eyes widening. A cloven hoof print is impressed into the ground. Nora comes up to his side. She sees the same mark and her eyes also widen in recognition. The two of them silently make eye contact. "Ren, if it was here, we would have noticed it." Nora said.
"I know, but I don't want to risk it." He said. "We'll move quickly and I'll activate my semblance just in case-"
Ruby suddenly gasped, taking a step back, gaining the attention of the rest. "Ruby, what's wrong!?" Jaune asked, concerned at the sudden action.
"Nothing! It's…" She gulped, swallowing whatever bile was about to rise. For a second there, she saw Penny's corpse, all destroyed and staring at her with a vacant look. "...nothing."
Nora looked at Ren, who was staring at Ruby with a hardened expression. "Ren, what do you see in Ruby?" She asked quietly.
Out of context, that question would sound like he was interested in Ruby romantically, but you could not be more wrong.
Ren's semblance, Tranquility, allows him to mask negative emotions, making him undetected to the Grimm. He can also extend this effect to other people, though he doesn't know how many because he only used it with Nora, but he's sure he can affect more. The rest of Team JNPR obviously knew about his semblance, but they didn't know its full extent.
See, Ren can see emotions, or more specifically, the emotional state of other people. Every single person was unique and he suspects it has to do with their semblance.
Nora looks like a lightning rod, covered from head to toe in lightning, Jaune literally glows and...Pyrrha was covered in a black fog, with small pieces of metal floating around her.
Depending on their emotional state, these forms can change, showcasing different effects. For example, Jaune's glow has dimmed significantly, no doubt still mourning over Pyrrha's death.
Nora is the only one to know of the full extent of his semblance. He never revealed it to the rest of his team or others due to fear of them behaving differently around him. He can't blame anyone since it makes sense.
How can you be around someone that can read you like an open book? No matter how much you trust someone, you always want some sense of privacy. Nora was the exception, but that's because they spent years glued at the hip. Even without his semblance, they know what the other is thinking.
So of course Ren couldn't hide this from her. He sighed and began explaining. "Ruby was always a tornado of rose petals. Most likely the storm was a symbolism for her hyper activity, similar to yours, while the rose petals were so bright that they were referring to her purity and kindness. Now, the storm is a mild breeze, the petals are now dark red with something dripping, as if they were drenched in something."
"Can you blame her?" Nora asked. "Her sister lost a limb and two of her teammates are scattered around the world. If she didn't change, I would be surprised."
"You're right and I don't. But that's not everything." Ren said, taking a breath. "Ever since we set off on this journey, I've been seeing this white glow around her. It started out small, almost unrecognizable, with sometimes glowing a bit too brightly before returning to normal, but i have noticed that it's slowly getting brighter and violent, like something wanting to get out. When we look at each other, her eyes seem to glow an unnatural light that stares deep into my soul. S-Sometimes I see a faint of a sinister smile forming and have to l-look away immediately because if I don't, I-I…"
Nora looked at Ren, seeing him trembling and refusing to look at Ruby now.
"Ren…are…" Nora started, surprised that she would ever phrase this question. "Are you… scared of Ruby?"
Ren was silent for a moment, before answering with a simple "Yes."
Dun, Dun, Duuuuuuuuuun! *dramatic sound effect*
Didn't expect that, huh? Here is one major change from the canon where Ren's semblance evolution is much early!
And the other major change, or maybe addition in this case, are Ruby's nightmares and some insight into her thoughts regarding Beacon. Honestly, Ruby does seem the type of character to blame herself for everything and considering what happened to her team, it would be pretty obvious she would take the blame because 'she's the leader of Team RWBY'. But if you think this it, oh boy, you're in for a treat! Or maybe not depending on your preferences...
Anyways, hope you enjoy
P.S: In case people don't know, I have made a KH x RWBY story, so if you're interested, check it out!