The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 19
Only a few weeks have passed since the attack in Central Vale, but changes immediately transpired within Beacon, especially around team RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, even Sun and Neptune. It was business as usual for them, too usual, it was JUST team RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, Sun and Neptune on their own, without their friend Link...
Where is he?
Where has he been?
Why isn't he interacting with anybody?
Beacon Academy: Cafeteria
"How is everyone doing on this beautiful day?" Pyrrha asked as she was the last to sit down at the large table, she sat right across from team RWBY, specifically, Weiss.
"Could be better." Ruby mumbled as she yawned and dramatically stretched "But it's OK."
"WELL! I'm doing great!" Yang gave a thumbs up "I'm all ready for the tournament."
"I'm sure we all are." Weiss nods
"Speak for yourself." Jaune yawned and slammed his head on the table "I'm just hoping we get easy opponents."
"The only non optimistic ones are the leaders, go figure." Weiss shrugs
"Hold on." Blake squinted her eyes at everybody "Are we really still not going to ask?"
"We can't cram motivation into them Blake." Weiss shook her head
"That's not what I meant." Blake sighed
"Yes Blake I know I need more training." Jaune mumbled "You don't need to rub it in."
"Not that either." Blake shook her head
"What? Yang asked "Do you think we still need work? I get it the mission could've gone better."
"There was nothing we could do than what we already did." Blake continued to shake her head until letting out a soft growl "Is anybody going to say it?"
"Say what?" Weiss frowned
"Why won't Link hang out with us anymore?" It was Nora who finally spoke up, and very bluntly asked
Awkward silence
"You know how he is, very reserved and to himself." Yang shrugs "Besides, he's probably with team CFVY as we speak."
"Nope!" Ruby shook her head "I asked Velvet earlier if she's heard from him, nothing, she hasn't spoken or seen him since the attack on Vale."
"Really?" Ren lowly spoke "Interestingly enough, that has been the last time...any of us have seen him."
"Guys." Yang shook her head "It's only been a few weeks, maybe he's busy, Link doesn't have to be with us every day, right?"
"You're right." Pyrrha nods "Although he used to be with us every day until the attack on Vale."
"That's right." Ren looks up "Regardless of that, Yang is right, he is probably busy thinking about the tournament."
"Yeah. Ren's right." Nora smiles "He's always right..."
"Uhh..." Ren shrugs "Not always Nora, not always."
"Wait a minute!" Ruby picked her head up and pointed right at Ren "Yang didn't say anything about the tournament! AND! Link's only told me that he is entering the tournament...well, not Link himself, but still!"
"She's right..." Jaune picked up his head from the table "You did respond really quick as well. Ren, what's up?"
All eyes were on Ren now, he continued to eat his food while keeping his head down
"Ren." Nora looked right at him "Have you been in contact with Link?"
"..." Ren said nothing as he finished the last bite
"Well then pretty boy, spill it." Coco's voice was heard as she and Velvet approached team RWBY and JNPR, with Coco dropping her handbag on the table
"Oh hey guys." Yang waved "Concerned about Link too?"
"We were just about to ask you guys the same thing." Coco smiled as she sat next to Ren while Velvet sat beside Blake
"Hmph!" Nora frowned and turned her head
"He asked me for help on his kicking, leg offense more or less." Ren mumbled "In return he is helping me with hand to hand."
"How long has this been going on?" Blake asked
"A week." Ren nods "Twice everyday, at dawn and nighttime, when everybody is still asleep."
"Aha!" Nora points at Ren with her finger "I knew I heard the door open and close at night!"
"Wait wait...you're getting hand to hand training from Link?" Yang scoffs "He's good don't get me wrong, but he's not the best either."
"Um..." Blake looked at Yang "Didn't he stand toe to toe with you the morning after the dance, in his dorm too?"
"What?! Nah!" Yang shakes her head
"No no, he definitely did." Weiss nods "You even had Blake take away his weapons as a precaution."
"Grr..." Yang's eyes go red briefly "I was going easy on him, OK?!"
"Wait a minute! Why were you guys bothering Link the day after the dance?!" Ruby frowns
"To be honest...We don't know, we kind of just went there." Blake shrugs her shoulders "But let's get back on track." Blake says as all eyes go back on Ren
"Hm..." Ren looks up at the ceiling before looking back down at his friends. "We spend an hour training on hand to hand and footwork, then for about ten minutes we talk."
"Anything major?" Jaune mumbles
"Nothing really." Ren tried to get up and leave, but was immediately grabbed by Nora and Coco, one on each arm, forcing him to sit back down
"You and Link are the worst at casual talk." Nora shakes her head "Come on Ren, what did he really say?"
"I'm being honest, right now they are just small talks, he's dropped hints here and there, but even those wouldn't help."
"Hm so he's really being careful about what he says, even to someone like you." Pyrrha thinks
"Perhaps maybe he's really focused on the tournament, but if that were the case he'd ask to train with us, so it really doesn't make much sense." Yang sighed "Besides it's not like he has motivation for many things, especially the tournament."
"She's right, Ruby was there any reason he joined the tournament despite showing little to no interest earlier in the semester?" Coco asked
"Not really no." Ruby shakes her head
"What if it had to do with the Grimm attack on Vale?" Blake suggested and continued "Remember how we thought he felt guilty because of, you know, what happened to Ruby?"
"Why would he blame himself of that powerful Grimm that took Ruby to her limit?" Yang shook her head "We all eventually come up against opponents we cannot defeat."
"Y-yeah of course." Ruby chuckled nervously as she munched on a apple
"Grimm?" Coco asked
"Yeah, Grimm." Yang nods "One that even Ruby couldn't handle, it's crazy and Ruby is STILL reluctant on telling us about it."
"She hasn't told them yet..." Coco frowns
"Why hasn't she-!" Velvet stopped and sighed
"It's probably Link's protective nature that's dawned these hurt feelings on him." Blake speaks once again
"Precisely." Pyrrha nods
"What do you mean by that?" Jaune asks
"Link puts others over himself first, and he's done it multiple times, like when he used that cloak of protective aura to protect me from just soda cans launched by Pyrrha."
"Hehehe..." Pyrrha chuckles "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, but my point is, maybe Link was there and couldn't do anything to stop that Grimm from hurting Ruby, hence what happened to her next and why Link is blaming himself." Blake nods
"There's a lot of maybe's in there..." Weiss looks around "But if an issue like this is troubling all of us, then perhaps we should do something, like confront Link so that-!"
"So what?" The voice of Sun was heard as he entered the cafeteria, with Neptune following closely behind him "Look Ice queen we all know you hated Link the most anyway. So instead of me asking you, I'll ask...Link's friends!" Sun chuckles as he points at everyone else BUT Weiss "What's going on?"
"H-HEY!" Weiss frowned
"Well Sun we-!" Blake began but was quickly cut off by Weiss
"HEY!"
"SOMETHING is wrong with Link." Blake spoke to Sun regardless of Weiss' petty shouting "He has not spoken to any of us except minor talks with Ren, but that's due to them training together, we have some speculation on what's wrong him but are not sure what to do or go with."
"Haha!" Sun laughs "That's too simple for me Blake, I'm gonna go drop by Link's dorm and say what's up." Sun quickly passes by the table and heads out
"Wait!" Yang shouts
"Hm?" Sun turns around and heads back
"Why would you do that?"
"One reason and one reason only." Sun says with a smile on his face "Sitting around and coming up with countless amount of theories won't change a thing, so why not go and confront him now?" Sun chuckles and jumps on the table and sits down Indian style "If he opens up then great and if not then let's give him some time."
"You know what?!" Yang stands up and grins "I agree with Sun. Let's go and talk to Link right now, find out why he's been ignoring us and hopefully put an end to all of this, and if we can't help him with out words, then we'll just have punch it into him." Yang's grin turns into a full smile as she pounds her fists together
"Or we can just go talk to him sis." Ruby sighs as she rises from her seat
"Not sure if you could do that anyway." Coco chuckles
"Grr..." Yang looks at team CFVY leader with anger
"What? Sure you may be stronger than Link but he's a much superior fighter than you." Coco smirks as she gets up as well "So who's joining us?"
"M-me!" Ruby exclaims as she finishes her crunchy red apple.
"I'm in." Sun nods as he bounces his feet off the table and backflips off of it to land on his feet perfectly.
"Velvet?" Coco asks
"S-sure." Velvet nods
"Pass." Nora shook her head "Ooooh but please do tell all the juicy details when you get back."
"Pass." Ren nods
"Pass." Jaune said with a low tone "Right now I just want some sleep."
"I'll go." Blake nods
"Me too." Pyrrha stands up while nodding to her friends
"Hmph! Fine." Weiss reluctantly stands and follows
"Sure I guess." Neptune follows in Weiss' footsteps aka hesitation but slow reassurance
"Cool! Follow me then! I'll lead the way!" Sun gave a thumbs up as the led the group to Link's dorm with normal walking before it quickly turned into Sun taking off.
"S-sun!" Blake frowned and ran after him, along with the rest of team RWBY, the lone team JNPR member in Pyrrha, one half of team CFVY and Neptune.
Fifteen minutes later: Near Link's dorm
"UGH!" Yang said as she came to a stop to catch her breath "You're the worst Sun! Why did we let you lead the way? You got us completely lost, not to mention it took us double the time to get here."
"Here's a better question." Ruby pants and looks at everyone "Why did we follow Sun when we knew the correct direction?"
No response.
"Fair enough." Yang nods
"That doesn't matter, what does mmatters now is that we're here." Coco approached the door and knocked
"LINK! OPEN UP!" Yang shouts
No response
"Link!" Coco began to pound on the door with her fist
"What if he's asleep?" Velvet asks
"Nope! Link HATES it when he is interrupted during a nap." Ruby chuckles
"We would know all about it too." Weiss nods
"These doors only open with scrolls too, hmm..." Neptune paced around as everyone except Pyrrha thought of ways to get inside.
"There we go." Pyrrha approached the door and executed one simple action, she turned the door knob, and boom, the door opened.
"O-oh..." Velvet blushed with embarrassment
"Well then, that was easy." Coco chuckled as she and Yang barged in
"Did she use her polarity or did Link not lock his door?" Weiss thought carefully but had to cut her thought short as everyone except Velvet entered Link's very dark room, with no signs of light even available.
"I can see why you would think he's depressed or something." Coco walked around Link's dorm
"Guys, we really shouldn't be in here." Velvet nervously looked both ways, basically acting as a look out "We're invading his privacy."
"Yeah well I can't stand around and watch my friends continue to feel hurt or guilty when they won't even say what's wrong." Yang continued to inspect the room "You in or out Velvet?"
"O-OK." Velvet sighed and walked in
"We came here to find and talk to him not snoop through all his stuff." Blake shook her head, casually laying her sight on Link's bookshelf "I'm going to just wait outside until he gets back."
"She's got a point you know." Sun chuckles and follows Blake outside
"Wha-! It was your idea!" Yang face palms
"Was it? Never noticed!" Sun laughs
"She is right we aren't getting anywhere here." Weiss puts down one of Link's framed pictures, it included himself and Ruby fist bumping while posing in front of Beacon
"Perhaps we should listen to Blake." Pyrrha nods "After all it could anything, the tournament, the attack on vale, or link's personal issues that he wants to handle on his own."
"You know we really should be focusing on the tournament." Yang shakes her head "Of all the times for Link to get mad at us it has to be when the tournament is around the corner, when we could be doing extra training to avoid getting creamed like before."
"Hey who said Link was mad at us specifically?" Ruby said with disgust
"Almost everyone." Neptune scoffs "If he's avoiding all of us then it's clearly something with him, maybe he's got something hidden from us, or maybe he does feel guilty."
"Again!" Weiss frowns "Why would he blame himself over not being able to take down a Grimm?"
"Just hearing about this Grimm makes me want to see it!" Yang said with excitement "Come on Ruby it's time you tell us about it, was it a giant Ursa? Or a Beowolf? OR! Was it a king taijitu?"
"O-oh..." Ruby looks around awkwardly "It was a um..."
"Enough!" Coco raised her voice as she walked in between Ruby and Yang "When are you going to tell them the truth? At least tell your sister."
"Truth?" Yang raises an eyebrow "She was just about t-!"
"It wasn't a Grimm." Coco shook her head
"W-wha-!" Ruby panicked
"We were there Ruby." Velvet spoke up as she walked up to them "We just never told anyone because we thought that... you would've by now."
"So somebody tried to kill my baby sister on purpose?!" Yang went from excitement to pure anger
"I'm only two years younger than you!" Ruby snapped
"That doesn't matter right now!" Yang walked past Coco to grab Ruby by her shoulders and shake her relentlessly with no intention to stop "Who did it? Who tried to kill you?!"
"What's going on?" Blake's voice was heard again as she walked back in, all the screaming caught her and Sun's attention
"Turns out it wasn't a Grimm that almost killed Ruby." Weiss says as Yang is still trying to shake the answers out of her sister "It was a person."
"Torchwick?" Blake asked
"Doubt it." Sun shook his head "Torchwick isn't the kind of person who acts silently."
"Don't tell me..." Yang shakes her head "WAS IT LINK?! Is that why he's been ignoring us? Is that why he's been feeling guilty?"
"N-no!" Both Ruby and Velvet cried out at the same time
"Then who was it?" Yang asks again
"I um... I can't..." Ruby nervously spoke
"Why not?"
"W-well because... nobody would-!"
Ruby was cut short when a scroll began to ring and vibrate
"Who's is that?" Yang asked as everyone shook their heads, they all turned to face the desk, where two devices were placed conveniently across each other
"Link forgot his scroll." Pyrrha mumbled as they all got near it, they saw Ren's face as the incoming caller but let it go to voicemail
"Voicemail from Ren." Ruby hovered her head over the desk after breaking free from Yang's grip "He probably tried to tell Link we were onto him."
"How come we never got these?" Yang picked up the tablet from the desk
"Looks stolen." Weiss crossed her arms and turned her head
"Why would you assume that?" Blake frowned upon Weiss' continued prejudice
"No reason." Weiss shook her head
"Oooh, looks cool, turn it on Yang." Ruby continued to speak, trying harder to get the conversation to switch tone and pace into another direction
"Okay." Yang nods and turns on the table, no pass code and no type of restriction, it turned on was immediately on a video
"Oh no..." Ruby's eyes widen when realizing the video on the tablet was black and white, clear as day security camera footage
"That's Link." Blake looked closely as Link was limping while walking on an empty street
"Why is General Ironwood there?" Weiss got closer now
"Grr..." Ruby balled up her fist and quickly swiped the tablet out of Yang's hands before trying to take off
"Oh no you don't!" Yang luckily was able to grab onto Ruby's hood before she could fully use her semblance to escape
"UGH! L-let g-go!" Ruby continued to run, but remained in place
"Alright, but on one condition." Yang pulled Ruby back first then quickly took the tablet from her sisters hands "We hear it from you right now, or we watch this video and find out the truth ourselves."
"I... um... I c-can't, my words can't describe what happened." Ruby shook her head
"Alright then, gather around everybody." Yang nods her head at Pyrrha, who manipulates the doorknob, using only it's force to close the door shut.
Yang sat down on the chair while everyone else gathered around her except for Coco and Velvet, who had already seen everything. The scene was Link trying to fight off all of Ironwood's Atelsian Knights, despite being below fifty percent. Suddenly they all gasped when Ironwood's bullet was inches away from killing Link before Ruby jumped in the frame to deflect it with her scythe
(Preface: Important lines from chapter 17 taken to avoid using the entire scene.)
"Why are you after Link?!" Ruby cries out
"Does she know your past?" Ironwood shook his head at Link
"Your past?" Ruby looks at Link
"He was a mercenary for the White Fang and multiple criminal organizations." Ironwood spoke calmly
"What?!" Blake backed away, trying to think back during all her time within the White Fang and specifically, Adam. "The few mercenaries the white fang hired usually wore masks... but surely I would have recognized his hair, or his ears, or even his clothes in general."
"SHHHH!" Yang shushed Blake away as the group continued to watch
"Plus it's clear to me that you don't care about how much good I'm doing now, all you want to do is label me for who I WAS!" Link slowly made his way up
"I can't do that, I must bring you in at once."
"All you want it to take me down. So why don't you just...Do it?"
"Very Well!" Ironwood rushed in and charged at Link, reaching for him with his right hand
"No you don't!" Ruby appears in front of Ironwood and miraculously is able to send him back into his soldiers
Yang paused the video and all eyes were on Ruby now
"Call it cliche I know, but I couldn't just stand back and watch." Ruby chuckled
"You did what many would do." Pyrrha nods with a smile on her face "I am proud of you."
"I'm not." Ruby shakes her head "Just hit play."
Yang nods and waits for the short discussions to end before clicking play on the tablet.
"Link!" Ruby frowned as she pushed Link out of the way "Ah!" Ruby cried out as her left leg, in the calf area was shot, she dropped down to one knee and her aura was seen being broken and depleted.
"Ruby!" Link quickly turned, but as he did, he was shot as well.
The seven Knights continued to fire at them, and all Link could do was continue playing defense, continuing to take hits to the back, to the arm, etc. Until finally, the bullets stopped...Link's aura was visibly almost depleted as well
"C-crap!" Link looked up, he made a crucial mistake and overlooked the situation, he looked up and noticed Ironwood aiming his revolver right at him
The next portion of the footage was Ironwood firing off his revolver right at Link who had just passed out, only for Ruby to jump in the way and take the shot to the chest, her eyes went wide briefly before realizing what had just happened to her
Yang paused it again and this time put the tablet down
"Sis..." Yang backed up out of the chair and looked at Ruby
"Now can you see why I waited all this time to tell any of you." Ruby put a hand on her chest, directly where the wound once was
"So it was guilt that's been haunting Link after all." Blake mumbled
"Indeed." Weiss nods while sighing with relief "At least we know the root of his issues now."
"There's still more." Coco said as she picked up the tablet
"What more do we need to see?" Ruby asks
"How was Ironwood stopped?" Coco looked at her, clearly frowning "As much as I want to say Ironwood has a heart, well no, he was still adamant to capture or kill Link."
"S-so what happened?" Ruby asks
"Velvet." Coco nods
"Link almost killed General Ironwood." Velvet mumbles
"WHAT?!" Weiss, Blake, Sun, and Neptune all shout, meanwhile Yang wasn't shocked, she knew how much Link cared for Ruby, as for the others, Pyrrha was shocked but had no words, Ruby was lost for words as well while Velvet and Coco said nothing, they knew what had happened already.
"This is probably something Link doesn't want any of us to see, but it happened there on that day against General Ironwood, I say we watch it, we've already seen about seventy percent of it, might as well go all the way." Coco sits on the chair and turns on the tablet, her finger hovering over the play button.
"She's right." Ruby nods "Besides, I need to see what happened, all I remember was waking up after it was all over."
Nobody opposes, leading Coco to nod and click play on the footage once again
"You did it! Ruby g-!" Link stopped himself once realizing what had really happened, Ruby's arms were dangling motionlessly, and there was a small pool of blood right under her. Ruby stood in front of Link while he was on his back, barely sitting up.
"You protected me?!" Link said, with clear as day fright coming from his tone of voice "Why?!"
"I guess if I had to come up with a reason now, I hate you, but you're still my...f-friend."
"Why risk your life for me?!" Link balled up his fists when he got no answer "I never asked you to protect me!"
"I don't know why, there I said it. My body just moved on instinct...you dummy" Ruby's final two words were heard faintly as she fell back
"I wanted to end all crime in the whole world...that's been my dream and my goal ever since I became a Huntress, that is what I wanted, but it seems like..." Ruby's voice began to get weaker, her eyes began to shake as they got watery, she reached out with right hand and gripped Link's tunic "L-Link...don't die!"
The footage suddenly zoomed in on it's own, right into Link and Ruby
Hearing Ruby's last words while watching the hand that was just on him flop to the ground, along with seeing her eyes close, head turn, neck going stiff and body going motionless made the tears in Link's eyes trickle down his cheeks.
"She..."
Ironwood's voice was heard again as the footage zoomed out
"Plunged into what she knew was a trap, all to protect somebody dear to her heart..." Ironwood, picked his head up, opened his eyes and stood up straight "She's a Huntress worthy of respect." He turned his back on Link "Is this the first time you've seen a friend die in battle? This is the way of this cruel world that I am trying to fix."
The footage then immediately zoomed back in on Link
"Shut your mouth!" Link said with a weak tone as he painfully pulled Ruby away from himself, softly laying her down on the cold concrete, and within seconds, Link and Ruby were whirled with golden energy "I will not forgive you..." Link said with anger in his voice now as the golden energy went from being small and thin, circling around he and Ruby to a thick burst that began to spiral around them.
Link's entire body began to shake non-stop until he finally picked his head up, Link's eyes were golden, but he was not in control anymore, this was clear when the strange lining kicked in around his cheeks, his eyes looked like those of a possessed monster
The closest possible zoom in was made on Link's face as he raised his head
"I'm going to kill you!"
Hearing those words a second time sent chills down Velvet's spine and made her hit pause on the tablet
"..." Pyrrha stared at the screen in shock, and so did everyone else, even Velvet and Coco who saw it first hand were still shaken up
"D-do we have to finish watching it?" Velvet asks
"Like Coco said." Yang tapped on the play button, speaking over Link's long build up "We've already gone this far, may as get finish."
Nobody turned their head to look away, instead, they all looked more interested then ever before, watching Link's sudden surge of aura cause a huge difference in the 'fight' by blocking Ironwood's bullet, along with the wave of bullets from the twelve Atlesian Knights, and then wiping them out. Along with that, they saw Link's speed and power increase as he took out Knight's with just one kick before finally getting his hands on Ironwood, letting out a huge amount of aura on his fist before punching him right in his face and sending him crashing into the remaining Knight's that weren't destroyed.
Next thing they say was Link jumping up in the air and grabbing his sword, the gold on his clothing, sword sheath and on his left hand lit up as he dashed through the strong wind, pushing past the hard rain, ignoring the sounds of the loud thunder, his entire focus was on killing the man that just 'killed' his friend... but right as Link was about to make the killing slice, Velvet appeared in front of Ironwood, her back turned towards him while her front faced Link, she had her arms held out and her eyes closed, expecting Link to strike, but despite his incredible speed and Ironwood's imminent demise, Link was able to stop, put his head down, growl and grunt in pain, and suddenly, the evil killing intent was gone as well as the marking on his cheeks and the golden eyes
Suddenly... the footage cut out and turned into static. Yang hit the pause button and silence was heard throughout Link's room, and before anyone could say anything, the door was already open, they were too busy watching the footage on the table that they didn't notice 'someone' had opened the door. This 'someone' stood at the doorway, leaning against the wall, that someone... was Link, his shadow could be seen within the room as he kept leaning on the wall, arms crossed and a frown on his face
"Well well..." Link closed his eyes and let out a grunt of disgust "Seems like I wasn't invited to movie night, shame, I don't remember declaring MY dorm being the meet up spot." Link opened his eyes and stared down his 'friends'
"L-link I-I..." Velvet sighed
"Save it." Link shook his head
"You have a lot of explaining to do-!" Yang started but was quickly shut down
"I could say the same to ALL of you." Link started "Why are you in room uninvited? Why is my room a mess? Finally, why are you going through confidential stuff?"
No answer...
(Note - This was supposed to be released yesterday(Tuesday) but the day prior(Monday) everything deleted itself, what happened was I was editing it on my computer and reading it on my phone as I was about to go to bed. It was at 672 words when I turned off my phone, got on my PC and finished at about the halfway point (Team RWBY, Coco, Velvet, Pyrrha, Sun and Neptune entering Link's room), called it a night and went to bed. Then on my phone when I tried to re-sign in, it said 'Confirm re-submission' or something like that, so like a fool, I reloaded the page and it reset back from 2,500+ words to 672 and that just felt so disheartening lol.)