Ruby XIX
I was sitting on the roof of Beelz Hall when Mercury found me. The last exam of the semester had just concluded and I passed with flying colors. Even still, passing one class wouldn't be enough to save me. My other grades were mediocre. In spite of our last minute study session, it looked like my participation in the extra credit hunt was inevitable.
"I wanted to say thanks," he started, "hitting the books with you and the rest of team RWBY really helped. I passed the test, and so did Emerald,"
"And Cinder?" I asked.
"She didn't do so great, but the three of us all agreed that we'd take part in the hunt to help each other out, regardless of how well we individually did. If books are a problem for one of us then it's a problem for all of us I suppose. You know, our offer still stands. You can still join us for the hunt if you want,"
"I can't, I have a duty to my team, but I'm sure Cinder already told you that," although the snow was falling lightly the roofs were already completely covered and the sound of ice could be heard in the wind. Its chilly howl pervaded our conversation.
"That she did! Doesn't mean I can't ask again though," The boy with the silver tongue slipped and nearly fell off the roof as he tried to walk towards me, "Gods be good, why are you even up here?"
"Because I can fly, and when you can fly you're never afraid of falling," I walked over to him, balancing on the steeple of the roof, and helped him find his footing. Mercury thanked me and kept on trying to convince me to join him, but I was steadfast in my refusal.
"Have you convinced her yet?" A familiar voice shouted from the streets below. Peering over the edge of the roof I saw Emerald, standing in the snow, calling up to Mercury.
"Nope! She won't budge," he shouted back.
"What are you doing here, Emerald?" I said, "Hold on, I'll be right down!" I carried both of us down to her with my semblance. I used it without giving Mercury any warning, so he was more than a little surprised by the sensation and his face showed it.
"We're here to get you back, back to team CRME," she said.
"Team crime?"
"Mhmm, Cinder, Ruby, Mercury, and Emerald. C-R-M-E, pronounced 'crime'" Emerald beamed with pride. A quick look at Mercury told me that she came up with the name herself.
"Look, my friends, I'm flattered, but there is a duty I must uphold. I swore an oath to my teammates during the entrance ceremony. A hunter who breaks their vows is hardly better than a grimm. So, for better or worse, I have to stick with them. Please, you have to understand,"
"I don't think you believe that, you're just saying what you think a hunter should say. Or I guess it would be more apt to say you're doing what you think Summer Rose would do," honestly her words shocked me. My mother was my whole world, I idolized her. She was the perfect example of what a hunter should be. Hunters always kept their word, Hunters were brave where regular men were meek. Some men struggled to live, but Hunters lived for the sake of struggle. Summer was the ideal made flesh. And though I detected no disrespect in Emerald's words, they hurt. It hurt to think that she thought of me as a cheap copy of my mother.
"Why are we talking about her? You don't know anything about my mom,"
"That's not true, I know a lot about her, more than you've told us in fact. She was the greatest there ever was: gallant, brave, and honest; a peerless fighter who stood at the pinnacle of strength. Everyone knows about Summer, but there's nobody who knows her better than you,"
"I never really knew her, she died when I was little. Truth be told I only know her face from the paintings and statues," That made Emerald pause her diatribe for a bit.
"The bond between mother and child is stronger than that, the heart remembers even when the mind forgets. You may not remember her, but deep down you know that she didn't want this for you,"
"She always wanted me to be a hunter!"
"Yes, your own kind of hunter. She didn't want you to try and become her. I wanna have a few kids some day and I'd die if they turned out like me. When the time comes, they should just be themselves,"
"I don't know if I can do that anymore. I've walked so far down this well trodden path that I can hardly remember when I first embarked. Ruby Rose may no longer exist. Even if she's somehow still around, I have no idea how to be her," Emerald put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
"When the time comes, you'll know," She pulled me in for a hug and the two of them departed.
"Good grief," though I appreciated them coming to see me, their words didn't make my choice any easier. After that I went to Tyrian's hideout to see if he had skipped town yet. He said he wouldn't leave until he had the stone, but with the way things were going I wouldn't put it past him to simply flee, bleeding star or no. I saw children playing in the streets, having snowball fights and building little men out of snow. They decorated the snowmen with buttons and rocks. One girl even put her little hat on the snowman's head. It was red, to go with the cloak she wore. An elderly couple called the girl over and she ran to embrace them, her grandparents perhaps? Then she waved goodbye to her friends and headed off with them.
When I looked around the hideout I didn't find anyone, not even Tyrian. There were a few chests in the basement that I decided to rummage through. When I opened them mice crawled out and scurried away into holes in the brick walls. It figures that their base would be in such a state of disrepair. Even still, why did Beacon have such a rat problem? Everywhere I go in this city I find rats, some running on all fours and others capering about on two.
In the chest there was black powder, fuses, and other things you would need to make a bomb. So, I started making one immediately. A smoke bomb, of course, not one that could actually hurt people. If I was going to steal the star then I would need some way to deal with the metal eyes which controlled the locks on campus. Every night they watched the sky. Once the constellation of sworn rivals showed clearly it triggered them to lock all the doors on campus. The mechanism wasn't anything special and neither was the constellation for that matter. The Rivals were an arrangement of ten stars that made two stick figures. They were made of the brightest stars in the sky and though they were known by many names throughout the world, here in Vale the two were called The Shadow and The Child. The Shadow was said to be the wickedness which man rejects, yet nevertheless finds roost in his heart; The Child was the exact opposite. Shadows cold and children kind, or so the saying goes.
As I put the bomb together I thought of Jaune. The boy I had known all this time was now gone. Even the look in his eyes was different. It wasn't Jaune I was dealing with anymore. No, now all that was left was Sir Arc, a man driven only by his warped sense of honor. It got me thinking. If he were in my shoes would he kill Tyrian?
All he did now was talk about his forebears and how best to bring honor to them. If he were me and he knew that Tryian was the one who killed his mother then there's no doubt he would try to take revenge. Would it be right of him to do that? I knew in my heart that Tyrian had slain Summer, but, according to Jaune, he knew in his heart that it was best for him to abandon Yang. By what measure could I say that I was less misguided than him?
One of the Brothers rushed into the basement and started shouting threats as I was working. I gathered my things and flew away with my semblance. Once back on the streets I made my way to the spot that Weiss and I had agreed upon. The heist would take place tonight
We agreed to meet on the roof of Ba'al hall, which overlooked the courtyard of Oz's Clocktower. Night had come and the moon was nowhere to be seen. The city's trademark sickly green glow was the only light to be seen. Our plan was to disable the eyes and then make our way to the top of the tower. That was where his office was, which is also where we assumed the star was hidden.
"You're late," Weiss pointed to her watch.
"I'm afraid I don't have one of those, keeping track of time is a bit hard without one,"
"This was your plan, you should be more mindful of people's time,"
"Right, next time we decide to steal an ancient relic I'll be sure not to waste your time. I made smoke bombs to distract the eyes. The smoke should be thick enough to obscure their view. Once that's done I'll use my semblance to carry us to the top floor where the office is. It'll be a messy entrance, but we'll only be there for a second. Once we're in we scour the room for the star and get out as soon as we find it. How does that sound?"
"All of the eyes are in this courtyard correct?"
"Aye, what of it?"
"Just sit back and watch. How was your day? Have you eaten?"
"Can't say I have. Weiss, what does this have to do with-" She interrupted me by putting a hand over my mouth. Weiss pulled an orange from her bag, which appeared to be filled with fruit.
"Want one?" I accepted the fruit, but I told her that I didn't see the connection between oranges and the heist, but all she did was tell me to wait. She said she had everything under control. After I finished the orange a horde of half a hundred men descended upon the courtyard and started pulling the metal eyes from the ground.
"What the hell is this?" I looked at Weiss but all she did was shrug.
"Some friends of mine. Those eyes are worth quite a bit of money you know. I suggest we make our move soon," had Weiss paid these men to steal the eyes? The ruckus they made attracted the attention of professor Port who happened to be on guard duty that night. The horde of men beat him savagely until his aura broke. Once he was defenseless they attacked him some more. They struck him until he lost consciousness, and god knows what else. "My oh my, they're doing a lot better than I expected. Ruby, if you would be so kind," Weiss extended me her hand, gesturing for me to fly us to the office. The level of violence she was willing to use to get her way was ghastly, it shocked even me. For a moment, however brief, I considered flying down to save Port. That was only for a moment though. Tonight was our only chance. If we failed Oz would up the security around the tower, making another heist impossible.
I wrapped Weiss in my semblance and as we flew the colors of the petals were a bright pink. We crashed through the window and landed behind Oz's desk. The room was silent, no one to be found save for the two of us; the grinding of the clock's gears the only sound to be heard.
We searched every shelf and drawer. There was nothing. The room seemed completely ordinary.
"This can't be. There's nothing here," I threw papers from his desk and paced the room, looking for any clues.
"Maybe this was a bad decision. Why would he keep the rock here?" Said Weiss.
"There's no safer place for it. This place is hundreds of feet in the air and constantly surrounded by hunters. When we came here it jogged Cinder's memory. The entire reason why she came here was to steal the star at the behest of Tyrian. It can't all just be coincidence," I went to the bookshelf and pulled out a piece on stars and constellations. It had an entire chapter on constellations that had been "lost". Apparently the brightest star in the sky suddenly disappeared one day, leaving The Twin Dragon Constellation incomplete. It said that the lost star always pointed north.
I pulled a compass from my pocket and saw that Oz's desk was placed in the northern part of the room. I shoved the desk aside and hacked at the floorboards with my ax. Sure enough, there it was. Hidden in the floor was a small rock, dappled with holes and glowing faintly. No doubt this was what we were looking for. The rock was about the size of my head and when I held it in my hands it glowed a bright and vibrant red, only then did it come to resemble the brilliance of the stars that decorated the night sky. It was so bright I had to close my eyes. I put it down and Weiss asked me,
"What do we do now?"
"I don't know. I never thought we'd get this far," I used the head of my ax to slide it over to her, "You said your people needed this, right? You take it,"
"Do you mean that? Would you really hand this relic over to me?"
"Yes, despite everything I said, I always trusted you. I know you'll do what's right. That's why I never gave up. I knew you'd see things my way sooner or later. Although, with the way things are going now, I'm not sure that my way is the right way to do things," I looked at Weiss expectantly. When she picked up the star it glowed a pale blue, not unlike the color it was when Tyrian showed me visions of The Prophecy of Three Kings. When the light grew too bright she put it down and looked at me.
"Is that doubt I see?" Weiss laughed, "You say you want me to take it, but your face betrays your words, my Lady,"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make such a sour face,"
"If you have anything to say, then please speak freely. You've given me everything and asked for nothing in exchange. It would be rude of me not to listen to what you have to say,"
"It's just, I've been having this weird feeling lately. You, me, and Tyrian have all been drawn here by forces that are not under our control. You seek the star for the sake of your people, though cold and cruel they might be, while Tyrian and I came looking for it because of prophecies and rumors spread by those long since passed. No matter how you look at it all of us are here because of someone else,"
"Would you prefer it if I came here for selfish reasons?"
"I don't know. Maybe? As of late I've grown tired of legacy, prophecy, and old things in general. Those are the kinds of things that motivate my rivals. If Tyrian, Cardin, or Jaune were here right now, if they were in my shoes, they would take the star without a second thought. They'd each give some stupid justification about how their crimes were done in the name of honor, as if that makes it right. A few months ago I was running around the streets of Beacon and climbing towers to try and beat Tyrian at his own game, and I'm still doing the same thing. Even now I'm caught in his web, struggling against my own naive fantasies of revenge!"
"I'm afraid I don't understand. Ruby, I can't just give this up. This is my people's only hope. Without the star I may become the last Spriggan to ever walk the earth,"
"I know, I know; I know how important this is to you. That's why I'm not asking you to give it up. I'll just say this: if the legends are true, then the stone will find its true owner on its own," I ran my fingers along its rocky surface, "and god help us when it does,"
Weiss paused, ran her fingers through her hair, and rested her face in her palms. I tried my best not to put too much pressure on her, but clearly I had blundered. She scratched her head so much that her ponytail came undone. The length of her hair was something to marvel at. It went all the way down to her ankles. She sighed, picked up the star, and put it back into the hole where I found it.
"When the time is right, it will find me," she said.
"Brilliant," the two of us put the floorboards back together as best we could. All things considered I'd say we did a wonderful job. However, before we could put the rest of the office back in order, what with all the books and papers strewn about the floor, we heard the doors fly open and slam against the wall. The slam coincided with the deafening ring of the clocktower. It struck three times and my heart sank. The figure in the doorway was tall and had glowing eyes.
Neither of us waited to see what he wanted. Weiss conjured icy wings and lept from the window, I followed close behind with my semblance. We soared past the courtyard where Weiss' men had picked the place clean of everything of value, even some of the statues were gone. Landing in an alleyway outside of campus, we caught our breath. Through pants and panicked wheezes we discussed what just happened.
"Do you think Ozpin saw us?" Weiss gasped.
"That wasn't him, he was too short," I said.
"Then who was it?"
"I don't know, but we shouldn't stay to find out! Come on, let's go home," as I grabbed her hand and turned around, the man from the tower was right there behind us. I never even heard him give chase. Once I saw him up close I recognized him. It was Cardin. However, there was something different about him. His skin was pale and his eyes glowed with an eerie light.
Cardin wasn't himself, that much was obvious. He was huffing and snarling like a dog. He chased Weiss and I down the alleys of Beacon for a long time. Anything his fists touched was destroyed on impact. His rampage destroyed entire buildings and left some streets unrecognizable.
"It's just like last time, with The Brothers," I murmured, "I can see his aura,"
"Do you see anything that could help us?"
"His aura isn't normal. There's no pattern to it, it's just a constant explosion of power. He's overflowing,"
"Alright, how does that help us?" Weiss dodged a wagon thrown by Cardin. He threw a second one and it made direct contact with one of her wings. She fell to the ground. Cardin lept to deliver the final blow, but I picked her up with my semblance and the two of us flew away. I tried my best to conserve my strength. Speed wasn't the issue. No matter how much distance I put between us and Cardin he would find a way to close it. All of our attacks would probably fail as well. He would just dodge them. His newfound speed made him basically invincible.
"You okay?" I took us back to beacon and landed in the burnt out library. I brushed the hair from Weiss' face as I knelt in the cinders holding her.
"I'm fine, for now at least. That cretin seems dead set on putting us in the ground. Dammit all. After everything I've done for him this is the thanks I get?"
"He's not himself right now. There's more aura in that body than flesh," I helped her up and soon after Cardin crashed down in the library from above. It looked like he practically fell from the sky. Was he leaping from place to place? Was that how he was keeping up with us?
"Any bright ideas?" I couldn't help but smile when she asked.
"A vase can only hold so many flowers. Right now he's overflowing with aura so if I can give him a little bit of mine on top of that he won't be able to hold it all. He'll fall unconscious. I just need to touch him once," Weiss nodded her wordless agreement and the fight began in earnest.
She summoned her wyvern and the Gygas too. While she shot balls of fire at him her two monsters unleashed an onslaught of cold fury. Cardin dodged the wyvern's freezing breath and parried the slashes of the Gygas' sword with his bare hands. The sound it made was half a song and half a eulogy. After a volley of failed attacks from the giant's sword, Cardin grabbed it with both hands and crushed the blade. Then he started throwing the cold shards at the giant like knives. They exploded against its armor. Although the shards left no marks, the force with which they were launched staggered the Gygas. He threw shards at the creature's legs and it began to fall.
As the giant fell he ran underneath it and punched its chest. It bounced up a bit but soon started falling once more. Cardin punched it again, and again, and again, each time sending it a little higher in the air until eventually one of his blows thrust it dozens of feet in the air. The wyvern took flight and weiss hopped on its back. When the Gygas landed it hit the ground with tremendous force. Pieces of its armor began to break, revealing the hollow shell inside. Cardin took a shard that was roughly the size of a bookshelf and flung it, like a disk, at Weiss and her flying summon. It struck the summon's wing and it began to fall from the sky.
As the Wyvern fell Weiss jumped from its back and threw an entire core of dust at Cardin. He tried to smack it away, but as his hand touched it he fell to his knees.
"Careful now, gravity dust can be a nasty thing to deal with," Weiss smirked. She blasted him with shots of lightning dust while he was on the ground. Meanwhile, the Gygas began to stand again. It threw a massive punch at Cardin, but he pulled himself off the ground, fighting against the force of the gravity dust, and dodged it. The Gygas kept going and so did Weiss. The two of them kept his attention occupied. While he was distracted I snuck behind him.
Sculpting aura to a specific shape was a rather advanced technique. If you were good at it you could easily envelope an entire house with just your own aura and still have some leftover to cover yourself. I was never good at it, but somehow everything felt right. All I needed was to push a small part of my own aura away from my body. I only needed enough to make a needle. With that I'd pierce him and flood Cardin with my essence.
A small red thorn no longer than a nail sprouted from my palm. As he backflipped over the Gygas' punch I lept to meet him in the air. With his back towards me I rammed the thorn into him.
At first his aura strained. It glowed a sickly purple color as I struck. It was so thick that I could smell it. It stunk of fennel and the fumes were strong. He roared, oh did he roar. Some of them sounded like screams. Then his aura cracked. Aura exploded off of his body and I couldn't see anything, the blast was too bright.
When my vision finally came back I saw Weiss' summons dissipating. She protected herself against the blast with a wall of ice. She emerged from behind it without even a single scratch on her. Then there was Cardin. He was lying facedown on the ground. I crawled over to him and flipped his body over.
He was unconscious and his eyes had been turned into leaky pools of blood. Would he ever see again? I wanted to stop him, but not like this. Only a few months prior I had challenged him to an Yssai, a duel to the death. There was certainly a time when I was prepared to kill him, but I don't know. Something had changed. Suddenly the idea of taking his life seemed wrong. I felt bad for him. It was hard not to have sympathy for anyone who had to serve Weiss.
"All in a day's work, huh?" Weiss patted me on the shoulder, "Suppose it's time we take our leave,"
"We can't just leave him here!"
"No, that's where you're wrong, Dollie. We absolutely can leave him here. He knew what he signed up for when he agreed to guard Ozpin's tower. Don't tell me you feel bad for him?"
"He didn't agree to guard the tower, he agreed to protect Oz. He wasn't supposed to be here! His eyes weren't supposed to explode like that either," I got up and hoisted Cardin onto my back. He was much, much heavier than I expected and I was completely out of aura, so my semblance wouldn't be of any use.
"What are you doing?" Shouted Weiss.
"I'm taking him back to our place so I can treat his eyes. His heart is still beating, Weiss there's still time fix this,"
"Put him down,"
"No, we can't just let him die. I won't stand by it. I'll fix him, you'll see," my words failed to move her. All she did was scowl at me, a look that was a mix of confusion and rage.
"Before he became loyal to The Emerald Lord, he swore his life to me while we were harvesting souls. It was the first demand I made of him before our accord began. Ever since that day every breath he took was at my mercy. He's my vassel, he swore an oath to my family, and, by his own words, his personhood is now under new ownership. Cardin lives or Cardin dies, either or. Neither one would bother me. Just leave him," Her words shocked me at first, but then I remembered who I was dealing with.
"You don't believe that. Saving him is important to me, so it's important to you too. You cared enough about me to put your pride aside and apologize to Blake. You followed me around Beacon for months. My words probably can't even scratch the surface of how much I matter to you. Therefore, if I want to do something you probably want to do it too,"
"You wish," Weiss laughed at what I said, but she followed me back nonetheless. She even helped me carry him. My heart had been beating with a strange rhythm for the longest time, but that night I felt alright.
Cardin and Tyrian were both the same. They did as they pleased and whenever someone got hurt they gave only flimsy justifications. Following a half baked prophecy isn't much different from looking down on people because of how they were born. Both are fundamentally about the past. Stealing a rock because someone who lived hundreds of years ago said it was important versus spitting on other races because some old person told you to. It makes no difference really. Either way your actions are controlled by the past. My choices that night were my own and, for once, it felt like I was doing the right thing.