Metal like Roses
By ReaderWarrior
I do not own Mistborn or RWBY.
Coppermind-full
Beta'd by: Icarus720
As always, please comment! It honestly makes my day to read your thoughts and opinions.
Tell your friends!
"Sun has been eliminated! Team RWVBY is victorious!"
Next to Vin, Yang lifted her arms in victory, her hair slowly changing from its fire-like features and back into the yellow hair she usually sports. As she smiles and basks in the glory of yet another victory, Vin tries her best to sink back into her mistcloak. While she has greatly opened up during her time on Remnant, the young Mistborn still finds it hard to be as extroverted as some of her teammates.
Yang notices her friend hiding herself and walks over to Vin. Before she could protest, Vin feels Yang grab her arm and lift it into the air in joint celebration. The crowd's cheers grow ever higher at this sight and Vin cannot help but blush slightly. As the stage begins to sink back into the locker rooms below, she finds herself not wanting to leave just quite yet.
Is there any harm in this? Vin ponders as Yang lets go of her arm.
"That went about as well as it could," Yang chuckled.
Vin nods, "I wasn't expecting Neptune to be defeated that easily, I don't know what happened there."
"I think he's afraid of water," Yang explains. "Blake mentioned at some point. I thought it was hilarious, I mean seriously! Water?! Kinda ridiculous."
Vin once again nods in agreement, to be defeated with just a few drops of water did seem ridiculous in her eyes. Back in the Final Empire, the best form of travel was via canal boats and she never heard of anyone, skaa or noble, who was afraid of the liquid. "But I didn't think you'd have that big of a problem with Sun," she adds, "it seemed like you were unable to land a single blow."
"Hey!" Yang exclaims, "he's faster than he looks! I couldn't get a good punch on him." As Yang lists a few more reasons why Sun wasn't as easy of a fight as she thought he would be, the floor stopped and the doors connecting them to the locker room flew open.
Ruby, squealing, quickly gave Yang a big hug. "That was so cool! You guys did great!"
Weiss, a small smile on her face walks in next. "It was adequate. However, good on you both for taking us to the singles round."
Yang smirks, "aww, thanks, Weiss. I'm so glad you get to enjoy that from the bleachers."
The heiress' left eye twitches for a moment before a smirk of her own forms. "The same can be said to you, after all, Vin'll be the one to fight in that round."
Once again, Vin attempts to sink back into her mistcloak, only to have Ruby jump on her and wrap her in a hug as well.
"That's because Vin is so awesome!" The small red-hooded girl smiles, earning a blush and a pat on the head by Vin.
Blake, who had followed Weiss and Ruby inside but remained silent, raises a small eyebrow. "That fight did seem to be over very quickly but it feels as if Yang took a while on the platform to celebrate."
"Yeah!" Ruby adds, "it feels like we've been waiting for weeks. We kept waiting and waiting, but it just felt like forever."
"Hey, I was busy, alright," Yang laughs, "I needed to leave that stage with a Yang!"
Her teammates, all except for Vin, all groan and shake their heads. The Mistborn just cocks her head to the side, confused about her choice of words.
"A Yang?" she asks, confused.
Blake shakes her head in Vin's direction, "don't get her started. The only thing worse than her fighting style are her puns."
Yang pouts and takes off her gauntlets, putting them into one of the lockers next to them, "But Blakey, I thought you liked my puns!" The blonde wipes away a fake tear before sniffing comically, "I guess you'll never get those tuna-bites I was saving for you."
"Tuna… bites…" Blake mumbles, a small dribble of drool running down her face.
Vin shakes her head with a small smile. She hadn't noticed it earlier, but the constant arguing and jokes reminded her of when Hammond and Breeze argued.
It's almost like home, she thought, but only the good parts.
Yang pulls out her scroll and checks something, "so what else are we doing today?"
"Actually," Ruby interjects, her smile wavering into something more placid, "I wanted to talk to Vin about something."
Vin raises an eyebrow as she places her daggers in her designated locker. "What about?" She asks, not expecting such seriousness from her team leader.
"Yeah, Rubes," Yang smiles, "you got a crush or something?"
Crush? Vin frowns, once again confused by the blonde's words.
However, Ruby's face turns red and she stammers for a moment, "n-n-no! I just had a question for her."
"You mean like-" Yang starts, only to be cut off by a smack to the back of the head by Weiss.
"Oh, quiet you dolt," the heiress snaps. "Blake and I are going to get some lunch and we can use some help."
"Help with what?" Yang asks as the heiress and Blake grab her by the arms and escort her out.
"We'll see you both back in the room," Blake turns to tell Ruby and Vin as she leads Yang out of the room.
Vin faces her team leader. Before her eyes, the young girl seems to visibly deflate. Her shoulders haunched, her eyes start watering, and the happy and proud demeanor she usually displays almost vanishes.
"I-I-I need your help," Ruby stutters, leaning against the wall, "that guy who kidnapped you-"
"He didn't kidnap me," Vin interrupts. If anything, we broke into his property and he detained us. That was if you looked at this legally from this world's point of view. Any good thief in the Final Empire knew if you got caught, that was it. You either got sent to the Pits or were lucky enough to get an immediate execution. Even compared to the cruelest of executions, the Pits were much worse.
Ruby gives a shaky breath, "well, after I chased him, he tossed a coin at me. When I touched it I-I-I saw something."
A coppermind? Vin wonders, remembering the ability Sazed once explained to her and how it allowed a feruchemist to store memories inside of a ring and call upon it later. This gift helped hide and preserve hundreds of thousands of dead religions the Lord Ruler had stomped out. "May I see it?"
Nodding slowly, Ruby pulls out a small copper coin and holds it up. "Please don't tell Yang about this. It would break her."
Vin nods and reaches forward, touching the cool metal. She flips it around in her hands, using steel-sight to inspect it. For some reason, the line that she usually sees connecting her to the metals didn't appear as she looked at the coin. Mentally grabbing ahold of the magic inside of it, very similar to burning metals, Vin feels something intrude upon her mind and she watches as the vision unfolds.
For a brief moment, all Vin could see was darkness. Blinking quickly, she jumps down from her perch on a tree limb, landing in between a small pack of Grimm. In the darkness she could recognize the glaring red eyes and claws of beowolves as they all turned to face her.
Smiling softly, Vin felt her hands reach to her side and grip the handle of her weapon. As her white cloak billows, the red linings flashing murderously in the moon's glow and the Grimm's eyes, revealing her blade as it extends with a squeeze of a handle.
Instantly, the handle's length extends rapidly, growing larger than her. At its tip ejects a sharp metallic blade, which decorates the length of the spear as well as the point, finishing its transformation into a halberd.
Vin recognized this weapon from some of the ones that decorated the armor stands at Keep Venture. It was a simple enough weapon, requiring quick reflexes and mobility to move the long shaft as well as the dexterity to be able to cut and/or stab opponents at length. The riskiest part was getting the blade stuck, either in someone's chest or surrounding terrain, and having to get closer to the point in order to pull it out. This increased the danger as the entire point of the spear was to create space between you and the one you are fighting.
But she didn't seem to have that problem now. Twirling the glave around her body, the pole smack a beowolf across the chest, knocking him back a few yards and into another before crashing into a tree. Pulling her blade the opposite way, her next movement sliced across another beowof's chest. It quickly fell to the ground in two pieces, both of which already began to smoke.
The other four beowolves, two of which were still recovering from being smashed into the tree, howled loudly in anger. One of the unharmed creatures raises its paw and swipes downward with its claws.
Vin holds up her glave and catches the monster's claws, redirecting the strike into the ground next to her. Smirking, Vin spun the handle around and sliced the beowolf's hand off with a quick strike. As it roared in anger, the blade continued its momentum and Vin tossed the spinning blade into the air. She leapt upwards, kicking off of the beast's chest and jumping into the air.
The glave was quickly caught in her hand. Vin twirled in the air and landed on the back of the other beowolf. With her blade held high, she quickly jammed it between its shoulder blades.
It dropped immediately, the blade piercing the Grimm's heart, or where it would be if it had one. As she steps off the creature's back, Vin pulls out her glave and points it at the unarmed Grimm.
"Want some more?" she asked, smiling.
My voice, Vin thought, it sounds familiar.
The beowolf seemed to question itself, as if it was unsure about whether or not attacking Vin was smart. But, be it instinct or something else, the monster howled again and rushed forward. It's one good arm raised and its teeth bared at the huntress as Vin dropped into a stance, her glave held in front of her.
Before it could reach her, another figure jumped out from the shadows and grabbed the Grimm's arm. The figure spun in a circle, pulling the beowolf with him, and slammed it had first into another tree.
The figure dusted off his hands as Vin collapsed her glave. "What took you so long?" Vin asked.
"Hey, you're the one who wanted to 'handle' this on your own," the figure smiled, bringing his hands up to do air-quotes.
Vin crosses her arms, "and when did you ever not have my back?"
"Actually," the man smiled, "I think Qrow had your back this time." He points behind them to where Vin tossed the two beowolves into the tree. Leaning against it was definitely the man Vin met earlier that week, albeit younger. The two Grimm were already dissolving.
Much younger, Vin thought as she turned around completely to face the dark-haired swordsman.
"Hey, I'm never one to turn down looking at you from behind," the swordsman remarked.
Normally, Vin would have punched him for such a crude remark. However, she felt herself laugh instead.
"Sorry, but you're not my type, Qrow," she responds with a smile.
Vin mentally frowns, Qrow and Taiyang, Ruby's father and uncle. That means I'm-
"Summer," Qrow smirked, "what exactly is your type?"
Vin- no- Summer giggled, "a faraway prince with a castle. Where's Raven?"
"She stayed behind at the village," Qrow explained, "I think she already has everyone at the village gathered."
Summer's mouth changes from a smile to a dark frown. "Did you find it?"
Tai nods slowly, earning a long sigh from the hooded-huntress.
"How many?" She asks.
Before Tai could answer, Qrow cuts him off. "Twelve that we found."
Summer's frown deepens as she crosses her arms, "so isolating them hasn't helped since last time."
"No," Tai responds. "They just keep coming. Why wouldn't they?"
Nodding, Summer turns to Qrow. "Call it in. Ask for an N.R."
Qrow nods and pulls out his scroll. Before Vin could think about this more, the entire world snapped and she found herself in the middle of a village square, most likely the one they referred to a moment before. Around them circled a small crowd of people, and standing in front of them were three people she didn't recognize.
The first was a young woman in a shallow cut black and red dress with black shorts underneath, with a series of beaded necklaces and a belt that wrapped around her waist and carried her weapon's sheath. Attached also is a long black object that is either fur or feathers, with a red and white bandana material like hanging from behind her. Her forearms bear red armored gauntlets that protrude outwards and black fingerless gloves. She wore black mid-thigh high leggings with red splatter patterns and black heels. She had long black hair and bright red eyes.
In her hand was a long red blade, held towards the throat of a young boy and his mother. The mother wore a loose grey dress, with patches of other threads stitched all over as if the woman had put this together with whatever she could find. The boy, most likely her son, wore a shirt with ripped pants that were barely being held together with thread and yarn. Both were covered in ash, soot, and hay, something Vin recognized as marks of sleeping wherever you could.
"These are the ones," the woman said as Summer, Qrow, and Tai stepped forward.
Summer nodded to the woman and she sheathed her blade, "thanks, Raven."
The woman stepped back as Summer turned around and faced the crowd. "People of Muscola! You requested from us that we handle your Grimm problem and located the ones responsible for attracting them…" Summer pauses and pulls out her glave, holding it upward and resting the butt of the handle on the ground.
"We have killed the Grimm and now we ask what you wish we do with these two, whose lives of strife incidentally called the Grimm to your home."
"Kill them!" Some yelled, raising their fists. "We don't need 'em!" "It's thanks to them the Grimm came!"
Sadly, Vin was used to this sort of hatred. Her life as a skaa made her familiar with segregation and disgust just for being born.
"However!" Summer interrupted the jeering crowd as some began picking up stones to throw. "We were warned when we came here to this village, how cruel it is to those who do not fit your 'social norms'." Summer waves a hand towards the dark haired woman, "While we exterminated the beowolves, Raven stayed behind to study your town. What she discovered was nothing less than what everyone knew.
"While this woman and her son have displayed negative feelings, the greater hate and disgust you all have shown these two is what had most likely been calling the Grimm here. This has led to you all killing at least twelve other men, women, and children due to your segregation!"
Around them, the crowd began shuffling their feet, and looking down at the ground.
"Those two are the ones at fault, not us!" a man yelled from the front.
Another raises a fist in the air, "if they don't like it, they could just leave!"
"Yeah!" A few other villagers yelled, picking up rocks and stones from the ground at tossing it at the mother and son. Qrow quickly jumped forward and spun his sword in a circle, blocking the projectiles.
Summer turned to Tai and Qrow, "did we get the order?"
Qrow nods and checks his scroll, "council just sent it in. Necessity Redlight has been given."
"Sixth one this month," the woman, Raven, muttered.
Summer sighs. Around the team of huntsmen and huntresses, each member prepares their weapons. Qrow holds his sword in front of him, as does Raven who pulls out a long black blade from her sheath. Taiyang slides on a set of gloves with barrels on the knuckles and Summer lifts her glave.
"Make it painless," Summer said with a slight wetness in her eyes.
One by one, each of her teammates nod. Some hesitantly, Tai, while Raven gave one quickly. Tai wiped his eyes with his arm and Qrow took a quick swig from his flask, something Vin didn't see him touch at all in the previous memory. In fact, she would even say he looked sober until now.
Vin watched as each member of the team walked forward slowly and attacked the villagers.
Then all went red with the blood and screams of the villagers.
Vin gasped for what felt like the first time in minutes as the coin fell out of her hand.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked, rushing forward to help her teammate, only to have Vin hold up a hand.
"I'm fine." By the Lord Ruler, what happened? Vin was used to seeing many dark things, but the brutal savagery that Summer and her team displayed was something else.
"Did you see it?" Ruby asks as she picks up the coin from the ground gingerly.
Nodding her head, Vin turns to her team leader. How could I not notice it before? The way Ruby stood, the way she held the coin in her hands, it all looked… sad. As if there was this new weight added to the hooded girl's shoulders.
And what a tremendous weight there was.
Holding the coin softly she looks up at Vin and asks, "w-w-what is it?"
"That is a coppermind," Vin explains. "It's a Feruchemical ability."
"A… what?"
Vin sighs, trying to remember the few things Sazed told her about his kind's ability. "Feruchemy is like Allomancy. But instead of getting power from a metal, they can store them instead. I think he called it 'end-neutral' investiture. Copper, the metal most commonly used by Terrismen, stores memories."
Ruby's fingers shake as she stares at Vin. "So what I saw… It was real?"
"... Yes," Vin says after a long pause, earning a soft, guttural sound from Rub. "Was that… your mother?" Vin asked softly.
Ruby looked down at the coin for a moment, then clutched it against her chest. "Y-y-yes," she answered with tears forming in her eyes. "But she wouldn't do that! Mom was kind and and and-"
"She was a huntress," Vin realized. She never thought about how similar hunstmen and huntresses were to soldiers, but that is what they were. "And she was probably under orders to stop the villagers."
"But why?! She could have just told them not to be mean! Or-or-or taken that family back to Vale!"
Vin shakes her head, "the villagers would always be a threat to themselves or anyone else. Imagine if other people came to the village, the cycle would repeat."
Ruby holds her hands to her face, desperately trying to wipe away her tears. "But…"
Vin sighs and places a hand on Ruby's shoulder and pulls her close. For a moment, Ruby is still, probably shocked by the level of comfort Vin is offering, but with the realization of that comfort, Ruby's tears turn to sobs.
They stay like this for a long time, Vin holding the young girl close and stroking her head as Ruby cries into the Mistborn's shoulder.
About five minutes later, Ruby stops crying. She slowly wipes her puffy, red eyes and steps back from Vin.
Sniffling, she looks at the Mistborn, "thank you."
Vin nods, not knowing what to say after the strange scene. This level of intimacy wasn't exactly common for her. Comfort on this level was practically unheard of in the Final Empire.
Ruby glances to the door. "Well, um, you think Weiss got lunch ready for us?"
Probably, Vin thinks.
Ruby giggles, "yeah. I bet she does."
"But I didn't say anything," Vin frowns.
"You didn't have to," the red-hooded huntress responds. "I can see it in your eyes." The small girl smiles at Vin.
Somewhere deep inside, Vin realizes how warm and kind Ruby is. This little girl, even knowing the atrocities her mother committed, still finds a way to smile.
Almost like Kelsier, she thinks, reminding herself of all the times her old teacher would smile her way whenever he could.
'Why do you do that?' She remembers asking.
Smiling, Kelsier turns to Vin and says, 'because it's the one thing they can't stop us from doing. The Lord Ruler tries to claim happiness for his own, and it doesn't take much to fight this battle.'
But that wasn't Ruby's smile. While Kelsier's was one of forced commitment, her's was true and heartful. It was as if she smiled with everything she was and not just doing it for show. And if Vin was being honest, it made her want to smile too.
"Thank you," Vin whispered.
Ruby's smile falters, turning into a worried frown. "What for?"
Looking up into her team leader's eyes, Vin gives a small smile, "for being our leader. Thank you for being my leader."
Realizing what Vin was trying to say, Ruby's smile returns once more. "Of course! I'm glad you joined our team."
Vin smiles softly, never realizing how much joy this small little girl brought to her.
"There is one thing I don't get," Ruby interjects, holding the coin in front of her, peering at it. "I'm not a Feruchemical-thing. So how was I able to see the memory. Or you?"
Frowning, Vin holds out her hand, silently asking to inspect it. Gingerly, Ruby drops it into her palm. Using her steel-sight once more, she continues to struggle to see a steel line. Flaring duralumin, her steel is boosted and she notices two different lines on each side of the coin.
Pulling out her last flask, she drinks it and burns tin and duralumin. The enhanced vision she gets from this allows her to notice the two overlapping metals making up the coin. The one was tinted reddish-orange with some green specks of rust. On the other side was a dark silver-ish color, similar to iron.
"I think…" Vin starts, "this is copper." The Mistborn points at the one side of the coin, then flips it to the other. "While this is… Nicrosil?" While it may have looked iron-like, Vin could easily tell it wasn't, as she had spent many hours and days filing iron for shavings in her flasks.
"Nicrosil? Isn't that what allowed you to boost Weiss' semblance earlier?" Ruby asks, peering over her shoulder.
Vin nods, "yes. But Allomancy and Feruchemy are different. Maybe… Maybe nicrosil can store a small amount of investiture, Feruchemy in this case."
Grabbing the coin and holding it up, Ruby squints at the coin. "So, it makes you a feru-whatsit?"
"Feruchemist. And yes. Maybe… I don't know."
Ruby giggles and pockets the coin. "Oooh, the great Vin Venture finally doesn't know something? Perhaps she isn't as smart as she seems!"
Vin blushes but smirks at the jab. Ruby giggles and starts heading for the door, quickly opening it and turning back to Vin. "Are you coming?"
She nods, "I want to make a quick trip to the room. I need to restock my metals."
"Okay!" Ruby grins, "we'll meet you at the picnic area?"
Vin gives a quick nod before standing up. "I'll be right back."
Ruby whistled a merry tune as she skipped/walked over to where Weiss, Yang, and Blake had set up lunch. Well, considering it was the mid-afternoon, that would make it an earlier dinner.
Brunch is an earlier lunch or late breakfast, she thinks as she waves at her teammates, but what is a late lunch called? Dunch? Linner?
Yang holds up a cool glass of lemonade as her sister sits down, "what took you so long, Rubes?"
"Nothing," Ruby responds quickly, "just needed to get something off my chest."
"Ooh, sounds like the beginning of one of Blake's books."
Blake's ears twitch as she takes a small bite out of a tuna sandwich. "I… don't know what you're talking about," she mumbles, hiding her blush behind the sandwich.
Weiss, cutting her own sandwich with a knife, rolls her eyes. "Really, Yang? You are deplorable."
"Aw, thanks Weiss," the blonde's jokes, "I always knew you thought I was adorable."
With a quick flick of her wrist, the knife she was holding quickly blossoms into the tree next to Yang, barely a few inches from her face. Yang looks at her reflection in the blade and gulps.
"And by adorable, I mean deplorable and incorrigible," the blonde corrects herself with a slight stutter.
"Hmph," the heiress smirks before using her fork to pierce the pieces she already cut.
Ruby giggles, "I can't believe this is where we are now."
"What do you mean?" Blake asks, turning towards her leader, as do her other teammates.
"Well," Ruby shrugs, "look at everything that's happened. We are huntresses! And we're competing in the Vytal Festival! Can you believe that?"
Weiss smirks, "I still can't believe we first met because you spilled my dust."
"Oh, yeah," Yang giggles, "didn't you literally explode?"
Ruby laughs and nods. "Yeah. But I'm glad we got past that. I mean, I did find my first BFF in you, Weiss."
It was impossible not to notice the small blush forming on the heiress' face. "Well… I'm glad I was able to find an admirable partner."
"And what about everything else?" Blake asked, "remember Torchwick's tunnel plan?"
"Yeah!" Ruby smiled, "we saved Vale!"
"And that was on our first mission," Yang adds.
Weiss sniffs, "I still think we could've done better."
Yang rolls her eyes, "Weiss, you would be upset if you got a perfect 100 on a test."
"Of course," Weiss smirks, "that means I missed the bonus question."
"There are bonus questions?" Ruby asks, thinking back to all the exams they had to take leading up to the Festival
"No," Blake smiles, "I think that was a joke."
Yang gasps comically and places her hands on her cheeks. "Weiss?! A joke!? No… It can't be!" The blonde bombshell slowly falls down onto her side next to Ruby. "This is it, the day has come. I leave this world happy, sis."
Ruby giggles and pushes her sister jovially. "Don't forget we also found Vin on one of our missions. I think that was our most important one yet."
Blake nods, "she sure has made a huge impact on our lives, hasn't she?"
"I'll say," Weiss agrees.
"Imagine if we weren't there," Yang adds, "she might have gotten eaten by one of the Ursai."
"I'd wager it would have had a tough time," Weiss smiles, "most likely Vin would have clawed her way out from its stomach."
"Ew!" Ruby moans. "I bet she would've choked it out before she got anywhere near its mouth."
Yang laughs and Blake smiles, imagining their newest member single-handedly defeating a bear-sized Grimm with her, well, bare fists.
"Why is it I can actually see that happening?" Blake asks as she finishes her dunch.
No, linner sounds cooler, Ruby thinks.
"Because she probably could," Weiss answers. "Do you remember what she said about her-" Weiss leans towards her teammates and whispers "-home world?"
Everyone nods, remembering the night they offered to make Vin armor. Shadows cross all of their faces, as if a dark cloud suddenly cut in front of the sun's light.
Ruby shakes her head, as well as the darkness, off. "She's had a tough life, but she's here now. She has us! And we won't let anything bad happen to her here."
"Aye!" Yang agrees, raising her fist into the air."
Blake nods as well, remembering the scars on Vin's back and how much of her own life could be compared to the young Mistborn.
"Agreed," Weiss adds. "Where is she?"
Ruby pulls out her scroll, "she said she was going to get some more of her metals, let me ask."
Vin was about to open the doors to her room when she felt her scroll buzz in her pocket. Sighing, she reaches into her pocket and pulls it out, reading a message from Ruby.
'Where are you?' it asks, a small icon of a scythe next to the text. Sighing, the young Mistborn struggles to respond but she accidentally opens a strange app instead.
I think Yang called this one… a camera? Trying to return to the messenger app, Vin presses a small red button on the side and the program beeps. Before she could try to fix this, the door swung open, revealing Ruby holding her own scroll.
Vin frowns, "I was just about to respond. What's wrong?"
Ruby holds up a finger across her lips, silencing her. She then holds up the scroll in her hand, showing the screen to Vin.
"'Playing Hide-N-Seek with Yang', really?" Vin sighs. This world just keeps getting stranger.
Ruby then swipes her finger across the screen, revealing a new set of text.
'Can you use your powers to find her?' it reads, with Vin giving a shake of her head.
"I'm all out. I came here to get some more metals." The Mistborn steps past Ruby and into her room. "Didn't I tell you tha-"
Vin couldn't finish her sentence, as Ruby smashes a long wooden club against the side of her head. Not hard enough to kill her, just knock her unconscious for a bit. With a final moment of clarity she looks up the girl who just attacked her.
As she does, she stares into two mismatched eyes. With a shaking hand, she tosses whatever was in her hand at that moment towards her assailant. 'Ruby' easily dodges and raises her club.
With another sharp crack, the young Mistborn's vision goes dark as her head smashes into the floor.
"Nothing," Ruby says after a few moments. Her text was read, as evidenced by the 'seen' notification now under her message, but no reply had come.
Yang groans and sits up," not again!"
"Are you sure she just doesn't know how to respond?" Weiss asks, standing up and brushing her skirt off.
Blake turns and faces the heiress, "she knows. And I would rather be safe than sorry. Especially with our history."
Weiss nods sharply, "where should we look?"
Scrolling through her scroll, Ruby quickly pulls up the tracking beacon, showing the positioning for Vin's scroll. "It says she's still in her bedroom, but she's not moving."
"Then let's get going," Yang orders before jogging off towards the closest dropship. Very quickly and efficiently, the original members of team RWVBY run after her and towards the loading area.
While it only took a few minutes to reach the station (even if Ruby used her semblance), time seemed to slow down around the four. Every second was a minute, and every minute was an hour.
The four girls run to one of the emergency bulkheads available to huntsmen and huntresses in need.
"Howdy girls," a voice calls out from the front as they run inside. Ruby quickly recognizes the voice and looks up to see the smiling face of Sunshine. "What's the big hurry?"
Yang runs up and leans over his seat, "get us to Beacon, as fast as possible."
The pilot's smile vanishes quickly, replaced with a curt nod. "Understood." With that he begins to power up the flying ship as his passengers take a quick breather.
Why? Ruby asks herself as the bulkhead begins flying upwards before heading towards the school. Why did I leave her?!
"It's not your fault," Weiss said. Ruby jumped slightly at the remark, not realizing she had begun to mumble under her breath.
"B-b-b-but, I could have stayed with her… I could have-".
"Don't do that Ruby," Blake interrupts. "Don't think about what you could have done. It only leads to sorry."
Yang nods as the ship begins its descent towards Beacon. "Yeah. We all could have stayed with her. But Vin's a grown up girl. She can handle herself."
"She's just one girl!" Ruby yelled. "Everyone keeps saying how 'oh, Vin's different' and all that. But she ISN'T. Vin's had a hard life, but she's still human! She can be surprised! Or-or-or scared. Or…" Ruby sighs and drops her head into her palms. "Or alone…"
Gods… Why do I keep leaving her alone?
Weiss places a hand on her team-leader's shoulder. "It'll be alright," she whispers before turning towards the pilot. "Can't this go any faster!?"
"Sorry miss!" Summer answers, turning his head around and looking back. "Atlas' guidelines dictate all air-craft must be kept at a similar speed and I'm even pushing that by a few knots. If I go any faster, I could be arrested. And so could you."
Yang's fingers clench around one of the support bars that hangs from the roof. Without realizing it, the metal begins to warp and bend around her hand as she glares outside.
Blake pulled out her scroll and stared at the clock, every digit changing adding another pound of stress to her shoulders.
4:36
4:37
4:38
Growling, Yang heads to the back of the bulkhead and smashes her hand into a button. A small alarm begins to beep near the console as the rear-doors open mid flight.
The pilot quickly turns around and flips a few levers, trying to stabilize with the dropping air-pressure. "Woah! Give me a few more seconds and I can have you on the ground."
"We're low enough now!" Yang yells over the wind howling into the cabin, ignoring Sunshine. Quickly, her teammates leap up and stand next to her.
Weiss turns to Yang, "we don't even have our weapons! We don't have a good landing strategy!"
"Which would you rather do?" Yang snaps. "Wait a bit more while Vin could be in danger, or help her now. It's up to you."
Without hesitation, Ruby leaps outward. Her cloak billowing and snapping as the air whistles around her.
"Good luck!" The pilot yells from the cockpit.
Blake gives a small nod to Sunshine. "Thank you!" The cat-faunus yells before falling backwards into the air, her bow barely keeping itself attached as she falls.
Weiss and Yang quickly follow suit, giving their own quick 'thanks' to the pilot as they begin to plummet towards the ground below.
Ruby, using her semblance, aims toward Beacon's dorm rooms. She quickly lands on the rooftop, tumbling slightly. She winces as her feet twist as she lands, her aura doing its best to keep her together. Lifting herself up, she runs down the stairs and into the building. Passing many doors and down many flights, she pushes by a small trio of students carrying a large bag as she turns a corner.
"Sorryaboutthat!" She yells, as one of them, a small girl in a red outfit similar to Ruby's falls on her behind. Ruby didn't even turn to check on them, only rushing towards her dorm and, hopefully, Vin.
Ruby turns one last corner before coming into view of the door. She stops and rushedly pulls out her scroll, swiping it across the interface. The door unlocks and Ruby rushes inside.
"Vin!?" she yells, looking around. Her eyes set on a lump on the misborn's bed. Stepping silently, she notices a large body-shaped figure tucked underneath the blankets.
CRUNCH!
Looking down, Ruby realizes she stepped on a scroll. Picking it up, it reveals a looping feed of a video recording. Silver-eyes go wide as she watches the camera get tossed, showing herself hitting Vin over the head with a bat.
But I didn't-
She quickly steps to the bed and pulls down the sheets, revealing a pile of pillows in the shape of a person.
And a small black box with a clock ticking down.
6
5
4
Weiss pointed her body downward in the air, hoping to grab a hold of Blake while keeping her decency from any stray eyes looking to the skies. Blake, who spread her arms and legs out like a kite, was a bit surprised when the ice-heiress grabbed her around the waist. But as a large black glyph appeared in front of them, she quickly understood.
Doing their best to keep aloft, Weiss used her glyphs to slow down the duo, while Blake did what she could to slow their descent the old-fashioned way.
"Hold on!" Weiss yelled as she mentally tipped her glyphs at an angle, shooting them towards one of the large glass windows. Blake grips her teeth and activates her semblance, summoning a body-double in front of them. The double smashes through the window, vanishing immediately, while Blake and Weiss fall through unharmed.
At least until they hit the corridor wall.
With a small thud, both girls rolled away and hit the wall adjacent to the window.
"Are you all right?" Blake asked as she stood up, gathering her bearings.
Weiss nods. "I hate not having Myrtenaster to focus my glyphs," she comments before turning to look down one of the hallways. "We're about two floors below."
Nodding softly, Blake begins to run towards the closest flight of stairs, with Weiss trailing close behind her.
"Do you think she'll be all right?" Weiss asks as they run upwards.
Blake thinks about Cinder and what happened only a few nights ago. "I'm sure she's fine," the dark haired faunus mutters, lying to both her teammate and herself.
As they reach their floor, they notice the door to their dorm room is already open. The duo slows their pace and lean down, hoping to surprise anyone who might be inside and unwanted.
With a sigh of relief, they realize it's only Ruby who is grabbing the blankets off Vin's bed and tossing them aside. Both Weiss and Blake notice the ticking explosive and jump into motion.
3
Ruby turns around, her semblance beginning to activate as Blake grabs her hand and pulls her backwards. A quick copy of them appears in front of them, shielding them as Weiss' gravity glyph pulls Ruby and Blake backwards.
2
Ruby and Blake are pulled harshly into JNPR's room, whose door Weiss opened thanks to the mutual key-card both teams gifted each other to their rooms.
1
Weiss slammed the door behind them and jumped to the side as her teammates covered their ears.
Yang couldn't care less about style points right now. All she knew was that her friend, no, her adopted sister might be in danger.
Aiming for the softest area she saw, Yang curled up into a ball and smashed into a large collection of bushes. With a small 'boom', Yang's body creates a semi-large crater around the blonde.
Quickly dusting herself off, Yang rushes toward the main entrance. It took more than a few seconds to reach the doors. Before she could open them, a loud explosion disrupts her tunnel-vision.
BOOM!
Yang looks upwards and sees a large billowing flame erupt from one of the windows.
No, she thought, MY window!
Frozen with terror and worry, she watches as glass rains down onto the ground and flames rise up to the heaven.
With a primal yell, Yang's eyes turn red and she smashes her fist into the large wooden doors. They rip free of their hinges, flying into down the hallway and smashing into the far wall.
Yang's eyes go wide as she sees Ruby running through a side door.
"Ruby!" Yang yells, "wait!" The blonde bombshell quickly rushes after her sister who didn't seem to hear her. As she rounds the corner, Yang barely has enough time to dodge a bladed lunge.
Ruby steps backwards, her umbrella's tip sporting a sharp blade at the end of it. After her attempted stab, Ruby takes a moment to smirk and wave at Yang.
Wait… Umbrella?
Yang's eyes turn red and a loud growl emits from her throat. "What did you do with HER?!" Yang yells as her hair begins to burn with brilliant yellow flame.
Neo, whom Yang remembered from the train accident months ago, places a hand above her mock in mock surprise. 'Me?' she seems to ask. With a smirk the mute begins walking towards Yang, her blade scratching against the wall.
Without enough time to summon her locker, Yang quickly drops into a tight stance that her father taught her. It would be hard to do this without Ember Celica to propel her around, but Yang didn't need to beat Neo.
Just get past her.
"Are you all right?!" Weiss asks, helping pull Ruby and Blake to their feet.
Blake shakes her head and nods to the heiress, "I'm fine. Ruby?"
Ignoring them, Ruby quickly runs back into their own room. The door was blown off its hinges and the walls were covered in black ash. Small sprinkles of flames still burned in some areas, pillow feathers and school papers for the most part. Even the bunk beds were in shambles, their wooden skeletons either burnt dust or shattered splinters.
Vin's metallurgy set was half-impaled into a wall. Its metal pipes and dials scattered across the room. What remained of her glass vials were glass shards sparkling on the floor. A few book covers still remained, which Blake gingerly picked up only to have it turn to ash in her hands.
Ruby's form collapsed as she saw the tattered and burning remains of Vin's mistcloak. Its cloth scorched around the edges of the grey and white edges.
Blake, watching Ruby fall to her knees, followed her eyes and gasped at the sight of Vin's iconic apparel. "Oh no. Was she…?"
Wiping her eyes, Ruby shakes her head. "I don't know… I mean… I don't think so?" She looks up at Blake, her eyes red and wet, "do you think?"
"No. Absolutely not," Weiss interjects, placing a hand on Blake while outstretching another for Ruby. "If I know Vin, she's probably already chasing down the culprits."
Blake nods and holds out her hand as well. "Yeah." Ruby slowly grabs both of her friend's hands and is pulled to her feet. Suddenly, her eyes go wide and she pulls out a half-shattered scroll from her skirt-pocket.
"Wait! I think Vin left this for us!" She pulls open the video she saw before and holds it up to her teammates. "I think someone took her!"
Weiss frowns as she studies the video. "Um, Ruby. I think that's you."
"No," Blake interrupts. She grabs the scroll from Ruby's hand and makes a few motions on the screen. The cat-faunus turns the scroll back around and holds it back up. "Does this look familiar?"
The screen shows a zoomed in shot of a frame from the video. It shows the Ruby-impersonator with her head facing the camera, with mismatched brown and pink eyes.
"Neo?" Ruby exclaims.
"Argh!" Yang yells.
Neo smirks as her blade bounced against Yang's leg, her aura defending the blonde from Neo's strike. Panting, Yang takes a step back and wipes the sweat off her brow.
"Just… Stand… Still!" She screams, raising another fist and rushing forward. With that almost-permanent smirk on her face, Neopolitan slides downward and uses the hook on her parasol to grab a hold of the blonde's arm. Pulling it down, Yang's arm is jerked towards the ground.
Neo twists around Yang's leg and pulls again on the handle. With her arm still hooked on, Yang is flipped head onto her back from her arm being pulled between her legs.
"C'mon!" Yang yells. She feels the hook on her arm slide off as Neo flips over her body. Kicking her legs up, Yang hopes to land at least one hit but her strike only hits air. With her parasol opened, Neo gives a small bow as the weapon rests on her shoulder.
She's just… too fast… Yang thinks as she pulls herself back up into a standing position. "What's wrong?" The blonde taunts, "can't fight fair?"
The merc-with-no-mouth places her hands on her cheeks, displaying mock surprise. Her hands then rise to her eyes and she pretends to bawl her eyes out, making fun of Yang.
Yang's lips curl into a sharp snarl. Instead of rushing at Neo, she tries pulling out her scroll. Either to call in help or her weapons, she didn't know.
But it provided one hell of a distraction.
Neopolitan, realizing the threat of letting Yang use her scroll, leaps forward with her parasol raised. Yang tosses her scroll into the air and grabs the end of Neo's parasol. With a sharp pull, the multi-colored girl's eyes go wide as she is forced forward.
With Neo completely off-balance, Yang smashes her first into the girl's face. Her aura flashes from the hit, but Yang doesn't stop. Letting go off her grip on the parasol, Yang grabs Neo's hair and uses it to smash her head into the wall.
WHAM!
WHAM!
WHAM!
Pulling the small girl into the air, her aura barely blinking now, Yang rears back her fist to finish her. However, Neopolitan's face changed into that of Ruby's. Then Blake's. Weiss'.
Vin's.
"AAAAAAAAAARGH!" Yang yells with a beastial screech. Her fist sails straight into the girl's head, shattering her aura. Then again, as her nose starts to bleed. Again, as her eye begins to swell. Again, as a tooth is ripped free.
Then again. And again. And again.
Over and over until Yang shatters her own aura from the force of her fist connecting against Nora's skull. The blonde drops her fist, now covered in blood and spit. With a sob, she drops the unconscious girl, her face bruised, cut, and ruined.
"Fuck you," she whispers as she slowly looks down the hallway. With no aura, blood-stained hands, and red eyes, the blonde beast steps toward where she saw Neo heading and hopes to find her friend.
DING
Qrow stepped out of the elevator and into Ozpin's office, the setting sun visible behind the headmaster's desk and the glass windows. The dark-haired huntsman walks towards the silver-haired one with a flask in his hand.
"He's making you look like a fool, you know?" Qrow asks as Ozpin takes a look outside his window.
Ozpin nods, "his heart's in the right place." The headmaster sighs, "he's just misguided."
Smirking, Qrow swirls his flask before tossing some of the liquid down his throat. "Sometimes," he starts," I'm not even sure Ironwood has a heart." The huntsman pauses to take another drink before asking, "have you chosen your guardian yet?"
"I believe I have chosen the right candidate," Ozpin clarifies as his chair spins around, turning to face Qrow. "Ever since the day I met her, I had a feeling she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent -"
Qrow interrupts the headmaster's speech with a loud groan. "Oh gods. Please tell me you didn't pick Vin."
Ozpin gives a small chuckle, "heavens no. While she is a great fighter, she does not yet seem to have the heart to care for everyone as a Maiden should."
"And she keeps getting in trouble," Qrow adds. "Can't have the Fall Maiden keep running towards danger."
Nodding, Ozpin presses a button on his desk. "It would probably be best not. However, I do believe my candidate will possess all the qualities we seek."
The elevator slowly opens, causing both huntsmen to turn and greet the newcomer.
"Pyrrha Nikos," Ozpin begins. "Have-"
"We have a situation, Ironwood declares, cutting off the silver-haired headmaster.
Qrow groans and takes another swig. "Gods dammit. What now, James?"
The Atleasian general ignores Qrow's lack of sobriety. "It's Vin and her team. I think she has made her move."
Instantly, Ozpin gets up from his chair and grabs his cane, this time holding it like a blade. "Tell me everything."
I'm sorry. So, so, so, so, SO very sorry.
I didn't mean to be gone this long. Not for a couple of weeks and DEFINITELY not for a month. Work and school got too much so I put this off for a bit.
Me and my editor, bless him, have been working on this for the past few weeks. We wanted to make something that would make you forgive us for the long break. And I think we did pretty well. This is my lengthiest chapter, with (I think) the most amount of work put towards it.
I had a lot of fun writing it. I would check daily the views on this story and I am so happy to see we kept getting views even with me away. So, I guess, THANK YOU.
Thank you for sticking around.
We've almost reached 4.5k views and I really hope this update will bring us to 5.
I'm slightly upset that the last chapter didn't get any reviews, but I guess when you do a last-minute update it isn't as deserving of praise as some of the other chapters.
I really cannot wait to get back to doing this. But depending on how well this update does, I might just start doing 1 chapter a month (or half a month) because I felt this is a much better quality than before.
Again, I am sorry.
I normally do a part-by-part analysis here, but this chapter had so much I can't. If you want one, please pm me and I'll happily go over everything with you!
Please, feel free to follow and comment on predictions, thoughts, etc. I am always looking for new ways to improve my craft. Tell your friends!
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Pa tre on . co m
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readerwarrior