The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 15
"Hey." Link leaned towards Ruby
"Hi." She smiled back
"So what's it's name?" Link asked
"Huh?" Ruby began to chuckle and shake
"..." Link shrugged and rolled his eyes "It's alright, you can say it later." Link chuckled as the airship lowered closer to the ground, all 6 huntsman/huntresses landed safely on the ground, with team RWBY getting in battle stances, while Link simply look around, and Oobleck continue to sip his coffee.
"Ladies!" Oobleck shouts before looking at Link "And Gentleman. You may still be classified as students but as of today your first mission begins. From this point forward, you listen to me, are we clear?"
The five 'students' nods in approval. But oobleck instantly looked at ruby, who still had her bag with her.
"RUBY!" Oobleck shouted
"Huh?!" Ruby jumped
"I told you to leave all your bags back at school"
"But!" Ruby raised her hand, with her index finger in the air "You hadn't told us to listen to you yet...So I didn't."
Weiss sighs and looks down at the cracked cement
"You're not wrong." Oobleck jumped "Very well then ruby leave your bag right here we can pick it up when we return."
"But I...um..well-!"
"What in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important for you to bring it with-!"
Link sneaked behind Ruby and snatched the bag off her back, and within a second, Zwei's head popped out
"Wow..." Link mumbled
Zwei continue to pant as it looked around
"..." Ruby leaned towards Link and looked right at Zwei "Get back in the bag." She whispered
Zwei barked at the sight of Link before continuing to turn it's head, viewing the entire area
"I'm not even happy that I'm right." Link slowly gives Ruby's bag back to her and walked away, completely missing out of whatever Oobleck had to say.
(Not interested in listening to the psychopath?)
(Not right now at least...)
(Well you might want to turn around)
Link did so and saw a single grimm staring the six...technically 7 including zwei
"...What now?" Ruby looked at Oobleck
"We wait...and track, if the specimen leads us to it's pack, that pack may lead us to our prey."
"Well..." Blake spoke up "How long do you think we'll be waiting?"
"It's uncertain."
"Hours...maybe even days." Link mumbled, catching everyone's attention "Lone grimm have been known to stay isolated for months-!"
Link stopped when he noticed an entire pack of grimm now
"And there's the whole pack." Oobleck said, taking another swig of coffee.
"What?!" Weiss jumped
"And now they've seen us." Oobleck said calmly
"WHAT?!"
"AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!" Oobleck shouted
"So no more tracking?"
"Accurate observation Miss Rose."
"So what's the plan?" Yang looked at Oobleck, who just stared at the incoming grimm
Oobleck looked at team Rwby before pulling Link to the side
"You four...show me what you're capable of."
"What about-!"
"Do not worry Link, you will get your chance at a later time, and besides, I thought you wanted to see less of the action seeing as how you tried to skip?" Oobleck grinned and stood back
"Whatever..." Link rolled his eyes
"Link." Ruby looked at him "Cover Zwei's ears."
"Got it." Link nodded and looked at Zwei, who growled "...Nevermind."
Link looked on as Oobleck scouted the area while team RWBY took out all the grimm with no issues
"Hehe..." Ruby held her scythe in the air "Piece of cake!"
"Do not celebrate just yet, for I am sure this is the first bout of many." Oobleck coldly shut down her cheering and lead the way.
"..." Link glanced at Oobleck
"Not yet." Oobleck said
"Hmph!" Link growled and turned his head away
The following moments was Team RWBY taking out many more Grimm, getting more fatigued and slower as the minutes...even hours pass by.
Watching Ruby slice grimm in half, yang punching blood out of them, blake firing young nevermore out of the sky, even weiss killing grimm with her sharp speed and finesse got link jealous, but his job was to cover Oobleck, who was picking through grass.
Oobleck rose and stood tall, still drinking his coffee "Excellent work girls."
Team RWBY had no chance to thank Oobleck for the compliment as they were all excited
"Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this area." Oobleck looked around briefly "OH WELL! Moving on!"
Ruby put away Crescent Rose and signal Zwei to follow as they walked beside Link, while Yang, Weiss and Blake stayed back, with a look of disgust
"Hey doc, I was wondering when we'd see the pro huntsman in action, you know, fighting or at least helping us fight." Yang said
Oobleck kept his smile and turned back "Ah but I am in action! Scouring the ruins of this once great city for any signs of irregularity"
Oobleck then turned back to face Yank, with a serious look "Not every mission is filled with terror and heroism. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination. Remember this is a job that you all signed up for...I DO hope you understand that."
Yang just stood there, dumbfounded "Well yeah...O-of course!"
"Hmm..." Oobleck turned away and continued to walk
Oobleck motions Link to lean forward
"Find us a place to set up camp..."
"Are you kiddi-!" Link sighed and stopped himself "Fine!"
Link stormed off away from the group of 5, with Zwei following him, to everyone's surprise
"Hey doc...Why aren't you letting Link fight?" Yang asked
"It's quite simple, it's not his time, I feel that we're going to run into bigger enemies, and when the time is right, we'll need all of Link's power and skill to win. And because Professor Ozpin needed him to be punished in some way, and it seems to be working." Oobleck took yet another sip of his coffee, not seeming to run out anytime soon clearly. "I am simply pushing Link's anger."
Moments later
"Brilliant!" Oobleck said as he approached Link, who was sitting in front of a stone building "The perfect place to set up camp!"
"Good, now go clear it out of grimm." Link said coldly while Zwei barked at Oobleck
"..." Oobleck simply chuckled "Fair enough, I did tell you not to fight any grimm. You three!" Oobleck pointed at Yang, Blake and Weiss "Clear the building of it's grimm and set up camp your leader and I will go secure the perimeter, come ruby!" Oobleck walked away, with this time Zwei following him
"..." Link sighed and watched them walk away
"Come on." Yang patted Link on the head "Back us up." Yang smirked as she, Blake and Weiss walked inside.
"I lied. There was no grimm to begin with." Link shrugged and followed them
"Of course." Blake shook her head "You knew Oobleck would send us it so you said that to make him go ahead."
About an hour later, it went from bright daylight to pitch black darkness, Yang and Weiss managed to start a fire as they slowly awaited the return of Ruby, Oobleck and Zwei.
"..." Link lied down, the conversations of Yang, Blake and Weiss flew by, with him not listening to anything, despite being ask questions, which were also ignored
"Hey!" Yang kicked Link in the arm
"Yeah?" Link opened his eyes, still wide awake
"What's wrong, I know your grumpy in the morning, but it's nighttime and you're still down."
"It's nothing, I promise." Link shook his head "If anything, I'm doing better than I ever have."
"Really? How so?" Weiss asked
"Don't tell me..." Blake said with a weak smile
"It had nothing to do with Ruby if that's what your implying...but now that you mention it, that helps too." Link chuckled and sat up
"Well now we get happy Link." Yang rolled her eyes "Well I hope he sticks around."
"I'm always happy." Link shrugs
"AH WONDERFUL!" Oobleck sprinted inside "A textbook fire!"
"Fire!" Ruby and Zwei sprinted in as well, both embracing the warm flames
"Sssooooo...warm..." Ruby said, cheerfully
"Took me a while, but it turned it okay didn't it?" Link asked
"Oh um...yeah it's great." Ruby said, not looking at Link now, sounding completely off
(Oooh...someone's in trouble, the girl has a problem with you...hehehe.)
(Shut up...) Link growled as his inner demon
"Very good, eat your dinners and hurry to bed"
"Dinners?" Link and Weiss said with eyebrows raised
"Yes!" Oobleck raised a fist "We still a lot of ground to cover so we'll you to take turns to keep watch. Any volunteers?!"
"YO!" Link and Ruby raised their hands
"Brilliant! Night!" Oobleck said and stormed off to find his own place to rest, still nearby the students he's looking over
"Come on Link." Ruby said, brushing past Link, not even acknowledging him
"Sure thing." Link weakly smiled and walked over to their lookout spot, noticing Ruby was held back by Yang, who spoke to her. But Link continued and set up watch, turning his bow into the semi-automatic rifle.
Only a minute later, Link was met with Ruby's company, both sitting next to each other, staring at the moon in the dark sky, hearing a grimm howling in the distance made Zwei run over towards Ruby and cower
"Don't worry." Ruby patted Zwei "Things will get better tomorrow."
One hour passed up, Link and Ruby, who were meant to be the one's on lookout, fell asleep, they completely missed more of Yang, Weiss and Blake's conversation.
...One
...Two
Two more hours passed until the two 'lovers' woke up
"Hey." Ruby placed her hand on Link's.
"...H-hey." Link's eyes widened, we was now wide awake.
"Listen, we need to talk."
"What's up?"
"I've thought about us...you know..." Ruby blushed but tried really hard to fight it off "After the talk I had with Doctor Oobleck, it made me think and realize that our world is really messed up, so much evil and destruction is spreading across this world, pretty soon it'll overtake Vale, it's almost like it's right under our noses..."
"..." Link said nothing and continued to listen
"Look, what I'm trying to get at is that this is a tough job, and we could even die doing this, but this is what we signed up for...we're ready to fall protecting one another, right?"
"Of course." Link nodded
"Good. That's why I don't want us to experience something short term..." Ruby spoke, catching Link's full attention, this time being met with Link's blue eyes to her silver eyes.
"...Go on" Link mumbled
"What happened that night...it was unique, something i'll never be able to experience again, but whatever THIS is..." She said, motioning to their locked together hands, which Ruby now pulled away her hand "It can't be a full time thing..."
...
...
Silence
Link remained silent, to him this was a brand new feeling of emotions, anger and sadness were culminating together, but all that came from Link's lips was silence.
"Link?" Ruby blinked, expecting a response, she too was feeling hurt, angry and sad, but she did not show it.
"..." Link's mouth opened, with the awkward silence finally being broken "Why? Why now of all times?"
Ruby shook her head and put one of her fingers up to Link's lips "...I like you too, but I feel that if we're...together together, it'll only slow us both down...And will only cause even more emotional pain...if one of us were to d-die...I'm sorry." Ruby felt her eyes begin to fill with tears, but she was able to push them back, this was the first time she's felt 'heartbreak,' which is something she thought would never occur to her. Seeing how she was seeking no relationship to begin with.
Link balled up his fists and turned away from Ruby, looking back out to the moon
"..." Ruby swallowed her own saliva and wanted to do more, say more, anything...she extended her hand out to Link "...This is wrong, I can't go through with this; I need to apologize...LIKE NOW!"
"Go. Away." Link coldly spoke
"W-what...?" Ruby said, with shock and fear now, just a few seconds ago she saw a sad and emotional Link, now it felt like Link only felt hatred towards her
"Go. I'll stay up and watch over the team. Just leave me alone." Link turned his back on Ruby completely now
"...Link..." Ruby whispered and put her head down, letting her tears out before quickly wiping them away, refusing to show fear and sadness.
"Ok then..." She walked away, wanting to say more...the words "I'm sorry" wanted to come out, but they were nowhere to be heard. Ruby sighed sadly before heading over to the available sleeping 'bag.'
"Sis...?" Yang sat up, as it was now her turn to keep watch.
"..." Ruby said nothing and lied down
"Sis what's wrong?" Yang looked over to the watch post, noticing Link with his back turned
"Nothing..." Ruby said before burying her face into the thin pillow "What did I just do? I just...damn it!"
"Alright then..." Yang said before walking towards Link and tapping him on the shoulder "You can go rest now along with Ruby."
"N-no thanks..." Link said, keeping his face away from Yang's view "Take an extra nap if you want, I'm not tired."
"...You sure?"
"Yes!" Link snapped back
"..." Yang raised her hands in the air like she was under arrest "Okay then calm down..." She said, backing away and heading back to her place of sleep
Link looked back up, his face was clear as day now, it was more of a sickening view.
...
Link's now bright golden eyes were revealed with tears flowing down his face.
(I warned you this would only end horribly, but you didn't listen to me, it was nothing but "Ruby this..." and "Ruby that...")
(...You're right.)
Link's inner demon didn't even reply, for he did not expect such a weak answer, he expected Link to snap back like usual