"So..." Thorn leaned in a little closer. "Which one is it?"
"Which what?" Ruby wasn't quite sure what he meant, but even so, she wasn't all too keen on answering any direct questions right now, especially when they were being pulled along by the tender.
The plan had, much less to her shock and more expectation this time - these groups were getting rather predictable - gone off without so much as a hitch. It was as Thorn said, agreement led to them being brought along to wherever they were headed, and based on the fact that Thorn pointed out the directions to the nearest shrine beforehand to her, Ruby could confirm said place was most certainly not the destination. The Bounded had grown beyond suspicion in her eyes because of this alone, but whether it was good or bad was still anyone's guess.
"Gem, or Ruby?" Thorn cocked a brow, and Ruby refrained from immediate reaction. "Or perhaps both are aliases for a greater need, hmm?"
"Why the sudden interest now?" He'd called her by Ruby previously, meaning he'd learned something about her before their meeting again, and yet still used the moniker Scarlet, confirming he hadn't gotten all the information available. Honestly, it didn't matter, Ruby had about twenty different names depending on where she was and what she'd been doing, so she'd paid it no mind initially.
"Well-" He was cut off by a short cough, not so much rough or violent sounding, but quaint. Despite this, it wasn't a false cough, nor a forced one; he probably had a tickle in his throat. "Sorry. As I was about to say: I'm curious."
"Curious huh?" Ruby wanted to roll her eyes, but they had an appearance to keep, which was constantly in jeopardy with him whispering into her ear like this - couldn't he choose a more appropriate time to make his inquiries?
"A little." He stuck close, but straightened his posture, slowing ever so slightly. Ruby did the same, until they were just far enough away to lag out of earshot of their 'guide'. At this distance the tender was still in sight, but far enough away that they could speak a little less lowly. "A maid with combat experience might not be the most irregular thing to witness, but one with a weapon as unique as yours does make a damning case when the same description is paired with so many different names."
"Oh, really, and how did you come across such an assumption?" Ruby narrowed her eyes, tightening her guard with each passing second. Thorn appeared to see her less than stellar reaction, and sighed, relaxing his shoulders, and yet still leaving his arms crossed behind his back.
"I'm not making any accusations here, I just find it interesting that after leaving our service, a woman matching your appearance is spotted from time to time in so many seemingly random places across the world; sometimes witnessed in combat. Yet, there are always a few who overhear things, and for every greeting spoken, a different name is presented. Gem, Ivory, Garnet, and most recently it seems, Ruby."
"You must have quite the attentive spies." Spies, it seemed, she would need to keep a better eye out for - she was getting sloppy.
"Not so much spies as acquaintances and friends." His face didn't appear all that alarmed, nor forceful in any way, and while that should have been comforting, it only served to make the experienced warrior stiff with tension.
"And why does it matter so much to you? If you're bringing it up here of all times, there must be something you want?"
"The truth, and I suppose, some reassurance." The sentence tumbled out piece by piece, as if he were having trouble articulating it. His tone smoothed out afterwards, and with it came honesty. "You always doted over our boy, spending even a few hours of your off days with him casually. Sometimes I wondered if you were simply seeking to take advantage of his ignorance, but you never made to feel him the way a more rambunctious woman would. You appeared to genuinely care for him, and I suppose that had to do with your own child, did it not?"
"It did." Ruby nodded, speaking the half-truth effortlessly. "But you didn't know that back then, did you?"
"I was ignorant to that fact until now." He paused for a second, and both silenced themselves as they passed out under the northern gateway of the city, starting up a cliffside path nearing the oceans, which were an amazing distance downwards with nothing but a small bit of wooden railing to prevent such drops.
After a bit they'd come across a split in the road, and their guide trailed to the right, towards the more inner sections of the mountainous area, forcing them on a bit of an incline. Under the camouflage of crumbling stones and kicked chunks of rock Thorn saw fit to open up again.
"I never minded the secrecy before; your care for my son made you more than acceptable in my eyes. And yet despite this, you left us without so much as a farewell."
"I left my letter of resignation, did you not get it?"
"I had, but it made little sense. You never spoke of family before, and despite how much you looked after the boy, you never ever came back to visit him. It was as if you... disappeared." His face fell, and Ruby felt a tiny stab of guilt as he kept going. "And then, once our son was taken from us, Veronica began to collect upon rumors of a woman matching your description, but with the wrong name."
"How many names did you come across?" Ruby posed the question not out of curiosity, but rather to know where said rumors originated. Despite having used many names, she liked to keep track of where she used them; consistency obscures those seeking, and when it came to herself, obscurity was her greatest tool.
"Just the four, but from that question alone there must be more, correct."
"Yes."
"Are you willing to tell me of them?"
"No."
"Then will you at least answer this: what was my son to you, truly?"
"Why does it matter?" Ruby countered, fighting off that icky feeling in her stomach. "Look, can we save this for later? We're in the middle of something here: this was your idea, remember?"
"Yes, alright." He looked at her funny, and Ruby wasn't sure what to make of it. Whatever it meant though, their positions as close allies and friends was essentially ripped to shreds, now hanging on by a spider's thread.
Why did he have to ask that question now of all times, at the moment their trust in one another was essential. Yes, she swapped names on the regular, but what did her true name matter to him? He was fine with her being Gem Scarlet before, so what changed. He knew she was Ruby, or in this case, Ruby Scarlet, unless he assumed her last name was also fake. Heck, he didn't even know if 'Ruby' was real either, but why did he even care? Her naming and choices were none of his business, and what did his son have to do with it?
It wasn't like she spied on them, no, she'd played her part as a maid flawlessly, not because it was essential to her goals directly, but because it was what she'd signed up for: to be a maid to the Rose family - ironic as it was. Ruby had been younger back then, maybe in her early to mid thirties or so, and all she'd been concerned about was doing her job. The mission couldn't start until Vermillion was of the correct age, and before then she was just a regular woman.
She'd become friends with Thorn, earned Veronica's respect, and Vermillion's adoration. She was Gem Scarlet, maid and caretaker of the Rose clan; a simple woman living a peaceful life. Yes, she'd sowed the seeds for Vermillion's future, and her choice of career wasn't entirely pure either, but she never went out to cause any major trouble for anyone.
Why was he looking at her like that; his face askew, but with sadness as opposed to distrust. Did he trust her, was he assuming something in the back of his head about her? She never betrayed them in any way: she never sought to back then, and she wasn't going to start any time soon, so why did he seem so downtrodden?
Even his coughs sounded accusatory.
These thoughts went unanswered as they passed into the deeper foliage, with grasses, shrubs, and vines of autumn colors needing to be pushed aside as they walked. The tender head slowed his pace, and so too did they as the group wandered into a clearing. Looking up they could see the ever-climbing mountain reaching upwards towards the heavens, and Ruby almost saw flashes of the Mistral-to-be scatter themselves across the landscape above.
For now though, she needed to be content with the small cavern ahead, digging itself into the stony wall.
"Another cave... lovely." Ruby tried to keep her grumbling complaints low, but Thorn picked up on it anyway.
"I take it you've had some poor experiences in tunnels before?" He'd lost some of the concerning air around him from before, but Ruby chose to keep her guard up.
"I've spent more than my fair share of time spelunking, both willingly and not."
"I'm sorry, I hadn't considered the thought."
"Don't be; you don't even know what I mean by it." She fought off the irritation building up as best she could, all the while the tender led them inside - where he got the torch from, she couldn't say. "So long as I've aura, no chains may ever hold me. Besides, I'm an old granny at this point, no one would desire me strongly enough to see me traded, and even then, it would be more merciful than what the Faunus suffer."
"Still with them in mind..." The man sighed, and Ruby bit back a scowl.
"The less noble of nobility seek fellow Humans for political and domestic desires; they trade Faunus for intensive labor and at points to fulfill twisted fantasies, with some even going so far as to prepare them in the manner they would an evening feast - they don't even recognise how cannibal they've become. What might befall me in that instance would be evil, there's no denying that, but some evils are more forgivable than others."
As she spoke of it, reality slapped her once again across the face, a realization which had visited her time and time again over her many lifetimes: there was no greater evil than she, the woman who'd sinned not only so much as Ozma, but also beyond. Once more, Ruby Rose was reminded that she was a monster, one just barely holding fast to the last scraps of Humanity she contained, bound together with nothing but hypocrisy and an unquenchable thirst for a better tomorrow; greedily, in a world where all her loved ones survived.
"Yet repentance must come before forgiveness." Thorn stated as they came before a steeper drop, and he took Ruby's hand as they slowly and carefully continued downward. "Even then, the tortured must also seek to forgive themselves, lest they allow the hauntings of experience to forever chain them down in suffering."
"They must forgive themselves for circumstances beyond their control... Remnant is a cruel mother. Perhaps this cruelty is what crafted our home to be so evil, or our own villainous nature is what drove Remnant herself to hate us so."
"And yet, in a land seemingly drowned in darkness, we have heroes standing up for the weak: defending what they believe is just." The path evened out right as Thorn spoke, and he softened his voice, staring at her with what she'd previously assumed was pity, only now, it appeared more akin to hope.
"Heroes..." She bit back a chuckle, finding something just a little bit silly about that simple notion. "In a realm as dark as ours. Perhaps a hero equally shrouded in shadows might offer up a chance; one not so much as bound by justice, but by a belief in their own sense of right and wrong."
"Not quite what I had in mind." Thorn retained his smile, although now it settled down. "But at least you're catching on."
"Sorry, but I've seen too much in life to be able to fully commit to the notions of true heroism anymore."
"Well, it seems like it's my turn to inform you that you needn't apologize." The path curved up a little, and they slowed a bit as they came to a blockade in the distance. Both remained just a little back as the tender appeared to do something near the corner of the dead end. "I'll admit, I'm still an ignorant boy compared to your vast years of experience; I suppose I'm just a bit more overly hopeful because of it."
"That's probably the most roundabout way of calling me old somebody has ever come up with." Ruby giggled a little, allowing herself to relax a bit; he was right, he did carry with him a youthful optimism, one which she used to share a hundred-fold back in her younger years and lives.
Thorn staggered a little, just a tad even.
"I-I hadn't meant it like that; I apologize."
"Didn't I just tell you not to do that?" Ruby let him gaze upon her smirk, making it known she was merely teasing him. He looked to take it better now, and shook his head playfully a little.
"That you did; had I actually listened better, I wouldn't have made quite the fool of myself."
Ruby was about to respond, but a loud creaking snapped both from their chat. Ahead the tender backed away from the wall, and it shifted and rolled to the right, revealing a massively lit up interior. The man turned back and beckoned them forward as he turned and made his way inside. Thorn and her faced one another, offering quaint nods before chasing after at a steady pace; the time for chatter was over, and now the real test began.
Both made their way inside, and the boulder previously closing off the entrance was rolled back into place, cutting off any obvious point of escape. They were on their own now.
.
.
"And you're certain the next wish won't be available for three years specifically; you're absolutely sure?"
"She already said so!" Yang didn't exactly scream so much as she raised her voice. Ruby wanted to tell her sister to tone it down, however the previous scene delivered upon her mind still had her a bit tripped up. Ruby wouldn't lie, it spooked her like crazy, but she wasn't exactly in the mindset to tell anybody about that right yet: she needed time to process it.
"I know." The general responded quickly, taking in a breath. "I just want to make absolutely sure what you've claimed is certain. Sometimes we tend to forget details, or overlook phrases when listening. I just want you all to be absolutely certain that what you heard was correct."
"And we are." Yang let her volume fall a bit, cutting back a growl. "The spirit in the lamp directly stated we still had three years to go before one question was restored."
"And the others are all equally on separate timers." General Ironwood refrained from allowing any outwardly obvious emotions to show as he recounted. "With the latest now a crisp one hundred years, correct."
"Yeah, that's right." Yang still sounded uneasy, and who could blame her, they all were.
Telling the general about Ruby's little spat with the lamp, and her findings in the book hadn't been expected, however it was Ruby herself who'd done the talking, so nobody questioned it. Even V had stayed silent, and as she looked over, the red-hooded woman saw how he just stared blankly. His face was mostly void of emotion, but even so there was this sort of 'spark' she felt when looking into his eyes, one that she couldn't quite figure out.
"And you, Oscar was it?" And he was another matter entirely. "Ozpin resides within you, correct?"
"Y-yeah." The boy was still quite a bit nervous, but that was more to do with Ruby once again mixing truth and lies; at this point she was feeling no different than Ozpin himself.
"And he hasn't said a word since you got the lamp, even now?"
"Okay." Yang stepped in again, raising her voice once more; being more of a leader than Ruby herself, which only served to sour her gut even worse. "Look, my sister already gave you a thorough breakdown of all the crazy adventures we've been up to already: what's the point of telling you anything if you'll just turn around and doubt us on it?"
General Ironwood remained silent for a bit, and then let his stance relax a bit, evening out his breathing as his jawline lost some of its sharp-cut edge.
"You are correct." Taking another deep breath, he allowed the exhale to come casually, and take with it the tension of his core. "Sorry. Things have been... rough, lately. It seems I've forgotten what it was like to have trust in someone."
Trust, he said. Funny, he was putting his trust in them, and yet she very clearly could not do the same. Ruby was scared, terrified even about how he'd react to the truth about Salem and Ozpin, about the warring immortals. Her friends and her hadn't taken it well at all, and now the previous headmaster had delved himself deep inside Oscar: a boy who shouldn't have had anything to do with all of this end of the world stuff - he'd just been unlucky enough to have a similar mindset to Ozpin, but what did that mean for him?
Ruby had simply stated that the headmaster had vanished once they got the lamp, but that he was still inside Oscar. She never mentioned their first wish with Jinn, only that they fought and defeated Adam and found a journal in his scroll which prompted her stupid idea, claiming that Oscar just so happened to absorb the memory of how the lamp worked from Ozpin by pure chance.
It was a stupid excuse, but the general had no reason to doubt it, even if he kept asking for reassurance that what they claimed was exactly what they remembered.
"I guess that's fine." Yang relaxed her own tense stance. "From what you've said, Atlas is pretty much in the dumps at the moment."
"As much as I don't like admitting it, yes, it very much is." The man straightened himself again. "I suppose I'll call this meeting here though, and give everyone some time to rest and process everything. I'll have Winter show you to your rooms. However, before you leave..." He looked down at her, and Ruby faced him carefully, refusing to let the brute of her panic show. "May I borrow the scroll you've liberated? You've mentioned it was what led to your ultimate decision of using the final wish, along with some strange dreams, correct?"
"Yes..." Ruby confirmed, and the general hummed with a nod, seemingly recognising her tension.
"I don't blame you for anything. With the truth of everything being dropped so suddenly on your shoulders, I'd be hard pressed to claim I'd be any different. I just want to give its contents a look for myself, even if it doesn't amount to too much." His expression seemed to warm, and for some reason, a spark of what she could only describe as guilt clinked in her chest. "You've all matured greatly from Beacon, and I have a gut feeling you didn't just use the wish purely on a whim: I have a feeling you came across something that brought up that idea, and perhaps just didn't recognise it."
Ruby didn't hesitate to hand the scroll over; so far, it was more haunting than helpful at this point. Besides, she had a new journal to read over: her mother's.
"Thank you." He wandered over to his desk, setting the scroll on top of it before turning back. "Now then, you are all dismissed; unless any of you have questions?"
Raven was the one to break the silence.
"I'll be staying here with you, actually." She stepped up, slipping off her mask and setting it in place on the belt around her hip. "I have some things to discuss with you."
Ironwood just nodded with a hum, shooting a look to Winter, who then started out with everyone else carefully beginning to trail behind her. There wasn't much chatter throughout the trip, and they'd arrived in a fairly sizable looking dorm room soon enough.
"This will be your lodging for the duration of your stay. Team RWBY will be taking room B14, and JNPR as well as Oscar will get B16." The specialist paused, turning to Qrow. "You however will be much further up; we have individual rooms set up for instructors and visiting hunters."
"So it's no different than Beacon; Jimmy's been taking notes." Qrow turned his sights back to the others. "Whelp, you heard her; off you go."
Sharing a few unsure faces, they one by one settled off, all except Weiss, who just walked up to her sister. Winter appeared a little confused at first, however it was replaced with a startled look as Weiss wrapped her arms around the woman.
"I missed you." The admittance was low, but Ruby heard it all the same, and she was pretty sure everyone else did too. Yet, Winter appeared to be in the same boat, as a tiny tug of appreciation pulled just barely on the corners of her lips and the older sister returned the favor, offering a slight few pats with it as well.
"So have I. We'll talk later though; I have work to do, and I know you have stories you wish to tell."
"Alright." Weiss pulled away, and with what Ruby assumed was one last smile, turned and made off, leaving only Ruby herself as the last one standing at this point, with Weiss and Blake having filed in their room, and Oscar slipping in with JNPR last. The young woman took one last moment of looking around before making for the others, with a new thought occupying her mind as she stepped in the room and shut the door behind her.
This is it then, our new lives.
"Hey, are you feeling alright?" Weiss looked at her with blanketed concern, which Ruby herself supposed was brought upon by the meeting.
"I'm okay."
"You don't exactly trust him, do you?" Her partner was right on the money, but Ruby wasn't so sure that was a good thing.
"No, but he trusts us."
"And that's what scares you, doesn't it?"
Ruby remained quiet for a bit as Weiss looked at her, and biting back a steep breath she relented.
"I want to trust him, I really really do, but..." How was she supposed to explain it? Looking at the general just made her feel uneasy. He hadn't done anything particularly bad, and he seemed happy enough to see them, but for some reason her immediate response to looking at him was one of both fear and guilt - unprompted and unreasonable, but so undeniably potent. "I don't... it feels weird to see him."
"He's a general." Blake chimed in from behind, offering a sympathetic gaze. "A man of power. The funny thing about power is that no matter how trustworthy or noble its owner is, you'll always feel a little stressed being around them."
"So... like a cop?" Yang tossed out, prompting an eye roll from the kitten-eared woman.
"Yes: like a cop." Blake then shook her head, sending a more relaxed and understanding face Ruby's way. "But not just police either: it can be anyone with power. In the White Fang we had our own commanders, but no matter how much we liked them or how friendly they acted, there was always this sort of distance between them and the lower foot soldiers, a tension that was always present."
"That's true..." Weiss crossed her arms. "I won't lie, general Ironwood did give me goosebumps when he showed up, even if he did end up saving us from a fight."
Her friends seemed to believe it, but for Ruby, the idea didn't so much stick. She knew what they were talking about: she'd gotten the same feelings from her instructors before, back at both Beacon and Signal, however this was something else entirely. General Ironwood... There was something 'off' about him, about the way he spoke, and even his relief at seeing them and learning of the lamp's safety, it was all so... unnerving.
Had she chosen wrong?
That was another thing too: she intentionally left out the truth regarding Ozpin and Salem. Just the thought of it made her a little queasy even, but upon thinking it over, she figured it was a reasonable enough decision and plan: wait a bit and see how he reacts to the relics and their presence, and once she confirmed he wouldn't lose his cool like they themselves had, they'd tell him the truth and hope for the best.
Even this idea felt disastrous to her, and she didn't know why.
"Ruby." Weiss's voice was like a candle in the dark, lighting up the pitch black with a steady - if ultimately faint - warmth. "Are you certain you're okay? You can tell us if you're not, you know that right?"
"She's telling the truth, Rubes." Yang appeared just as worried as Weiss, and even Blake, however unlike the other two, Yang presented her smile like a helping hand, that is to say Ruby felt a little more inclined to open up to her older sister. "If you've got something beating at the back of your head, you might as well let it out; don't worry, we can probably beat it in a fight."
The blonde's smirk was just enough to give Ruby the confidence to relent.
"I..." Ruby paused, swallowing the tense pressure in her chest; it was hard to tell, but she so desperately wanted to voice the words and worries lining her thoughts. "I think I made the wrong call."
"With Ironwood?" Yang spoke, and Ruby gave her sister and the rest a solid nod, shadowing a look to her palm: it wasn't glowing, but it still tingled at the thought.
"I feel like I've just slapped him across the face."
"Come on, there's no need to be so dramatic." Yang said, leaning a hand on her hip. "Besides, everything came out of nowhere, and along with that, Salem and Ozpin's secrets are pretty wild to begin with, so who knows how the guy would react?"
"Probably better than we did." Right as Ruby said that, Weiss stepped back in.
"You mean how we reacted." She crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Last I recall, you didn't say much of anything to Ozpin; you just went to check on V."
"You cared more about how he felt about it all, rather than what you did." Blake slipped in from behind. "While we were busy throwing blame around, you did the responsible thing and tried to check up on the one person most affected by it all."
"And in the wake of your good deed, he cut you for it." Yang growled low, only for Blake to step closer. Before the girl could do anything, Yang stopped her with a hand, letting a breath escape as her voice twisted into a grumble. "Look, I get that he probably wasn't feeling too hot with what we saw, but I'm not about to just let that go: I'll play nice, but I'm going to make sure he apologizes properly. Nobody, not even close friends, can just up and attack my little sis like that."
That's right!
"You might need to wait for that." Ruby began, letting the worries of before slide for now. "I don't think it'll have much effect on him if you do it right now."
"And why's that?"
"He's not... 'himself' yet."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Yang asked, and Ruby did her best to explain.
"He's... I don't really know what he's going through right yet, but whatever it is, he's not acting normal. We talked back there, and, you heard it too, right? How he spoke... it sounded so..."
"Dead." Blake appeared to catch on, with probably the perfect descriptor as well. "Yes, I'm sure we all heard it: his voice just sounded so... empty."
"Hasn't he always sounded like that?" Yang questioned, only for Weiss to chime in.
"Usually he always sounds either concerned or curious, so I have to agree, the way he spoke back with Ruby was definitely new." Weiss narrowed her sights. "But it doesn't seem the same as before, like he was after Jinn's vision; this is different, lifeless, just as Blake put it."
"Well... we could just ask him what's on his mind, yeah?" Yang spoke up, watching as everyone eyed her. Instantly Yang looked like a deer in the headlights as her face went from 'meh' to 'hey' over the course of ten seconds. "What? Why are you all giving me those looks?"
"I thought you weren't going to forgive him so easily." Blake offered, only for Yang to pause, and then sigh.
"No, I won't, but I can't exactly punish him right if he isn't feeling it; there's no satisfaction in that. Besides, I never said I hated the guy; I just want him to face the consequences of hurting my sis, even if it's minor."
"But will asking him even work?" Weiss started up once more, her stance stiffening as she mulled it over. "I mean, let's recall how long it took to get Blake to open up; arguably, if what we assumed of him is true, his circumstances are even more wild."
"I mean, it hasn't failed before, has it?" Yang pointed out. "He's always answered us when we questioned him; why wouldn't he now?"
"Privacy; self consciousness; regrets; I can list a few more if you wish." Weiss went off, and Yang rolled her eyes, throwing out a hand to the side.
"We won't know if we don't give it a try; the worst he can do is refuse to speak, and at that point we'd just be right back here anyway. We have literally nothing to lose."
"I suppose." Weiss turned and faced Ruby. "What do you say?"
"I need to speak with him later anyways, so I can give it a try."
"Good choice sis." Yang piped up. "And don't worry, if he doesn't give, then it's whatever; we'll find another way to ring the answers from him."
Everyone else seemed content with the idea, even if Weiss was shaking her head and ultimately annoyed with the older sister's antics. Blake appeared more relaxed with the idea, but for Ruby, it was a double edged sword.
Ring the answers from him, just like we did Ozpin.
Author's note
...
Here we are again, albeit with a more reserved chapter. We got another section with future Ruby, and one that I felt was alright - making what amounts to a walking scene interesting is usually difficult anyway, but I've been tackling it so far this entire story, so hopefully it wasn't too boring for you.
Meanwhile young Ruby is dealing with some inner turmoil. Everyone else has had the majority of their development so far, and yeah, Ruby too had bits and pieces here and there, but now that we're nearing the end - in probably another eighty chapters at this point, but hopefully not that long - I feel it's best to give her the roundabout in terms of focus.
Enjoy the good times while they last.