Chapter IV: Together
The Academy grounds felt almost completely deserted as Weiss, Blake and Yang were making their way through the campus, seeing no one but an occasional worker, or a lone Huntsman on guard duty.
"Kind of impressive how far along they are with the repairs, even with Glynda's help," Yang pondered aloud.
"True," Weiss agreed somberly. "And yet it seems that the work isn't even halfway done."
"Yeaaah… reminds you how much of a ruin Beacon was when we took it back, doesn't it."
Even though they would all like to say that 'ruin' was nothing more than a poetic exaggeration, they were unable to — such was simply the truth. Once the Wyvern — or Kevin, as Yang, Ruby and Nora had unanimously dubbed it — had been destroyed and the other Grimm had fallen back, they were all to witness the full scale of destruction caused while the Academy had been in the enemy's hands.
No classroom had been spared, and no corridor remained unmarred. It was as if the Grimm had been intent on not only finding the Relic, but also desecrating that beacon of hope as much as they possibly could, just to stain the good memories. Even when looking at the now kind-of-presentable buildings around them, the three members of team RWBY couldn't help but recall the toppled walls and collapsed rooftops they'd seen not so long ago.
It was the sight of an elegant, blond-haired professor heading in their direction at a brisk pace that roused them from their gloomy reverie.
"Good day, professor Goodwitch," said three different voices.
"Good day to you, girls," the Professor replied, bowing her head politely in a greeting.
Initially, it seemed that she was going to simply bass by, minding her own business, but then she stopped suddenly and turned as if to address them, and Yang could have sworn that, for a split second, she had seen Glynda Goodwitch actually smirking.
"How was your last night, miss Schnee? Restful, I hope?"
"Oh." Sparks of understanding flashed in Weiss' eyes as they widened, her usually pale face flushing bright red in embarrassment. "Oh. Yes. Yes, it was. Thank you, Professor. And my apologies."
Even though professor Goodwitch managed to keep a straight face, she was still unable to hide the soft gleam of amusement behind her glasses. She nodded, accepting Weiss' words and bidding the three of them goodbye, then fixed the eyeglasses on her nose and moved past the group, resuming her walk towards the CCT Tower.
Once the silhouette of their teacher waned in distance, Yang looked at Weiss, feeling a tad bit confused. "What was that about? Coz' it felt like there was a joke in there that just whooshed over my head."
"You talked to professor Goodwitch yesterday?"
"Yes, I did. Ozpin sent her to check up on me. She brought me painkillers and something to eat, then we talked for a while..." Her blush deepened, and she mumbled something so fast and so quietly that Yang couldn't even catch a single word.
Blake, however, could, and snorted loudly in a mostly unsuccessful attempt to suppress her laughter, causing Weiss to glare daggers at her.
"What did ya say? Couldn't hear you," Yang asked, but after seeing that Weiss wasn't keen on repeating herself, the lilac eyes turned to Blake in hope that she would save the day.
Blake glanced at Weiss, smiling in a cheeky, very cat-like way. "Quoting: 'and I might have dozed off on her'."
For a while, Yang just stared blankly at Weiss, as if she was not ready to take even Blake on her word without some sort of confirmation on Weiss' part.
The girl in question soon cracked under the pressure of that stare. "It's the meds!" Weiss exclaimed angrily in a hopeless effort to defend her dignity, only to give Yang all the proof she needed to start cackling.
"You fell asleep on Glynda. Oh dear," Yang muttered. "You got a death wish, Weiss?"
Weiss huffed at that and, adamant about not dignifying Yang's comment with a response, pressed forward, leaving the other two behind.
"Hey, wait!" Yang called, laughter still coloring her voice. "I'm sorry, okay?"
Weiss halted her stride and glanced in Yang's direction, giving her an unimpressed look. "It would've worked better if you weren't still laughing."
Yang raised her hands above her head in surrender. "Alright, alright, you've got me, I'm not." She admitted, coming a few steps closer. "But I didn't want to piss you off, either."
Weiss' expression softened a bit. She wasn't really angry, just embarrassed; not willing to admit it aloud, she simply rolled her eyes in a gesture of ceasefire and turned away, resuming her walk at a much slower pace, letting the other two catch up with her.
It didn't take them much time to reach the statue in front of the main entrance to the Academy. There, they sat on the pedestal and made themselves relatively comfortable, enjoying the pleasant silence between friends while they waited for half an hour or so.
Eventually one of Blake's cat ears twitched a bit and she stirred, her eyelids fluttering open as she raised her head from its resting place atop Yang's shoulder. "I think she's coming."
Yang glanced in the direction of the school. "Took her long enough."
"Might be because she had company," said Blake, causing the other two to give her a look both curious and confused. Before any of them could even begin to question her, however, the main gate of the Academy was opened and Ruby came through the doorway, accompanied by the familiar silhouette of the old Headmaster.
Ruby had traded her pajama top for a beige high-neck décolletage blouse with a scarlet hem and cuffs, one that accentuated her waistline quite nicely. Its long, puffed sleeves were tied right under her armpits with red ribbons, creating small bulges of excess material around her shoulders. That particular blouse was not too dissimilar to the one Ruby often wore during their stay in Mistral, with one key difference: it was slightly shorter, and, without a corset or a waist cincher, it showed just enough of Ruby's stomach to usually make a certain someone acutely aware of all the blood suddenly rushing to their head.
Ruby's cape, rather than draped around her shoulders, was neatly folded and tucked behind her belt, flowing freely down the back of her left thigh; along with her blouse, a pair of dark gray leggings and her combat boots, it all made up an outfit that was in Weiss' admittedly biased opinion both sexy and dangerously cute.
Ruby and Ozpin quickly noticed the waiting trio and slowed their pace a bit, exchanging a few last words within the girls' earshot.
"…I don't think that just stepping away and pretending that the problem isn't there would help me sleep any better at night, you know? Raven tried it, and it kinda sorta bit her in the butt," Ruby said with a small laugh, then rubbed the back of her neck in thought. "I dunno. I get what you're getting at, but I think I'd rather keep my hand on the pulse and run interference as soon as I can, over the risk of getting sucker-punched again. Call it sunk cost fallacy, but if a repeat of the Fall happened while I was just sitting on my hands…" Rather than finish that thought, she just shook her head.
"I understand." By that point, they were maybe fifteen feet away from the statue. Ozpin glanced at the three girls sitting beside it, before briefly turning to address Ruby. "Well, I think I have taken enough of your time for now. Have a good day, girls."
He bowed his head to bid them farewell and turned back, soon disappearing from their sight. With the Headmaster gone, Ruby was quick to close the remaining few steps between her and her friends.
"So, where we headed?" Yang asked, getting off the pedestal.
"Anywhere specific you'd like to go?"
Weiss thought for a while, but drew a blank. "No, I don't think so." She glanced at Yang and Blake, who both simply shrugged.
Ruby crossed her arms and pressed a fist to her mouth, pondering. After a few moments of soft humming, an idea sparked in her mind and she smirked; without a single word, she turned around and started marching in the direction of the landing platforms, gesturing for her teammates to stand up and follow her.
"So, what were you two talking about? I mean, unless it's something you'd rather keep between you two," Yang asked after a while had passed.
"No, guess it's not. Not like I'd keep any important intel from you," Ruby assured, giving her teammates a serious look.
It was then that Weiss, who was walking closest to her, noticed that Ruby's eyes seemed to be slightly bloodshot. Before Weiss could be sure, however, Ruby had taken notice of her stare and averted her gaze.
"It probably wasn't that different from the talks you've had with him before me. He asked how I'm feeling, how the three of you are faring, stuff like that. Then I asked him a few questions of my own."
Weiss shot Ruby a look that was part-worried and part-suspicious, making a mental note to interrogate the girl once the two of them would be alone.
"Learned anything new?" Blake questioned.
"A thing or two, yeah, but nothing really worth mentioning. I was just curious about what happened after I've passed out."
Then, she glanced at her teammates and the air about her changed, her expression growing serious; tense, almost. "Aaaanyway, heh… he also wanted me to speak with you about, well, our future at Beacon. Whether we want to enroll again… and, um, whether we still want to continue on as Huntresses, at all."
Weiss, Blake and Yang stopped dead in their tracks, staying a bit behind Ruby.
"I told him we haven't really discussed what to do after the war is over, but that I'll bring it up with you," she said and slowed down to a standstill before turning to face her team. Having huffed a small sigh, she forced a tiny smile and gave them a look that was both sincere and anxious. "So, um, think about it, alright? Not gonna hold it against you if you say no."
Blake was quick to nip that conversation in the bud. "Already done; answer is yes."
"But—"
"Ruby, shut up," Weiss snapped at Ruby, then pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "I know you mean well, but you're just being a dummy. And a bit offensive, to boot."
Blake smirked, pointing at Weiss with her thumb. "She's got the right idea. You know us better than that."
Weiss began to slowly draw closer to Ruby. "Being on this team was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have great teammates and the best leader I could have ever asked for. True, we may have faced some waking nightmares along the way, and had more close calls than I care to count, but we all would've been worse off if not for each other."
Having already closed the distance between them, Weiss placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "How I feel about being a Huntress hasn't changed. It's the right thing to do, and I'm willing to pay the price that comes with it, as long as I have the three of you by my side. And in case that alone wasn't reason enough…"
She wrapped her arms around Ruby's neck and pulled the unsuspecting girl into a hug.
"This is where I belong. Here, beside those few who see and accept me for who I really am, Weiss, and not for my family's name. I used to believe that I had no need for friends, but you've managed to change my mind. And now you're stuck with me, for better or worse, because I'm not going to just give that up. Take some accountability, hm?"
"We are not going to just give that up," Blake corrected her.
"That's right. We're way too cool for that," Yang agreed, only to roll her eyes when she noticed the somewhat unconvinced look Ruby sent her way. "Look… yes, I'm still salty about the way things panned out, but you said it yourself: Raven tried pretending the problem isn't there, and it didn't exactly work out for her, now did it? I think I can do better than my egg donor."
After she'd said that, a smug smirk appeared on Yang's face, giving the other three a moment to brace for what was to come.
"Besides, if I didn't back off after the situation got out of hand, then I'm sure as hell not going to do that now."
The trio just stared at her in silence, and Yang's grin grew ever larger with each passing second.
Eventually, Blake let out a long, loud groan. "You're impossible."
"Part of the reason you love me so much."
Ruby just facepalmed, seemingly not willing to give her sister the satisfaction of a verbal response.
Coming to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to simply ignore Yang's theatrics, Weiss turned to Ruby. "I guess that settles it, then. Did he tell you when he will be expecting our answer?"
"Nope," Ruby chirped, popping the 'p'. She started to slowly move away, and her friends soon followed. "He said that we can 'take our time and think about it'. But, seeing that there's apparently not much to discuss, I say we go and pay him a visit... tomorrow morning?" She suggested, glancing at her teammates in search of their approval; it was easy to tell that she felt much more at ease than she had moments before.
"And just how 'morning' is that morning of yours, exactly?" Yang questioned, eyeing her warily.
"Around 10 AM?"
Yang eased to that. "Then it's an idea I can get behind."
"Me too," Blake agreed.
"No objections. Ruby?" Weiss called, getting the girl to look at her. "Do you have any specific destination in mind, or are we just walking for the sake of walking?"
"I do, actually," Ruby replied with a playful smirk tugging at her lips, obviously not willing to let go of the suspense. "You'll see."
And so the girls had no other choice but to follow Ruby into the unknown, curious as to where she would lead them. Soon, they passed through the southernmost landing platform to get across the river and, before long, the four of them found themselves well off the beaten track, with Ruby guiding their small party along the edge of the Beacon cliff.
The walk was neither very long nor eventful, but none of them was complaining about boredom as they shuffled a few feet behind their guide, chatting among themselves and — especially in Weiss' case — enjoying the views.
Since the moment Ruby had started heading south, they all had a pretty good idea where she was leading them, but no one said a word, wondering how different that place was going to be after two whole years. Eventually, after reaching the top of a small hill, their destination appeared within the eyeshot.
"It's been a while," Blake hummed, looking into the distance and recollecting the memory that dated all the way back to their first — and so far the only — summer spent at Beacon.
There, right next to the edge of the precipice, stood a single, old tree, a vanguard of the nearby forest. One thing about it made it really unusual — instead of simply growing vertically, a part of its trunk was running almost horizontal to the ground, parallel to the cliffside, then suddenly sprouted upwards and backwards, developing into a sort of a "V" shape.
Despite its proximity to the Academy, not many people knew of that place, and even less bothered to ever come here; those few who did — team RWBY among them — liked to simply sit there and relax, enjoying the solitude and the shadow the tree provided.
As they came closer and walked into the shade beneath the branches, Ruby finally stopped, watching her teammates' reactions with a satisfied smirk dancing on her lips.
Birds chirped happily amidst the foliage of gold and red above their heads while the girls were looking around, taking in the views and comparing what they saw with their memories.
"I completely forgot about this place."
"Yeah, me too," Weiss admitted as she grazed the bark with her fingers, gazing up and admiring the play of light among the autumn leaves.
After a while, she moved a bit closer to the edge of the cliff and let her eyes wander freely, savoring the enchanting moment. Somewhere along the way, a smile had crept onto her lips, getting brighter as more time passed. At some point, she noticed that Ruby stood right beside her, watching her expectantly, as if waiting for her to say something.
Corners of Weiss' mouth twitched a bit. "A fine choice of scenery, if I do say so myself."
Ruby beamed at that.
"That's true," agreed Blake, who had already seated herself on the trunk. "It's feels even more beautiful than I remembered it to be."
"Yeah. Autumn does that to trees." Ruby settled next to Blake, then looked at Weiss and, patting the spot right beside her with her hand, prompted her to sit.
Seeing no reason not to, Weiss drove Myrtenaster into the ground and eagerly complied. In the meanwhile, Yang plopped on the ground behind them, leaning her back against Blake's.
The four of them spent the next hour or so on talking between themselves, discussing matters both important and not important at all. The conversation flowed effortlessly, shifting smoothly from one topic to the other as the sun was making its way through the clear sky. It would have lasted even longer if not for the sake of Blake, who — after bravely fighting a hopeless battle against her own tiredness for quite some time — finally cracked and let out a long, stifled yawn of defeat, trying to hide it behind her hand.
Despite Blake's best effort to conceal her drowsiness, Ruby noticed the yawn immediately. "Sleepy?"
"A bit, yes." Blake nodded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Being concussed is not fun, let me tell you."
"Blake?" Yang called from behind. Then, once the girl turned to face her, she pulled the unsuspecting, squealing Blake off the impromptu bench and onto the grass. "Comfy?" Yang asked, grinning as she looked in the amber eyes of Blake lying in her lap.
"Now that was uncalled for," Blake muttered, glaring at Yang with faux outrage. Soon, however, she could feel her resolve melting away as a gentle hand landed on top of her head and began scratching behind one of her cat ears.
"Probably. But that's not what I asked about."
Unable to hold the facade any longer, Blake snickered and rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes, I'm comfy. Though a bit of a heads-up would've been appreciated. I could have kicked Ruby."
"Oh, you did kick me alright," laughed Ruby. "But don't worry about that."
Blake glanced in the direction of Ruby and Weiss, who both seemed to be thoroughly amused, and gave the former of the two an apologetic smile. "Hey, would it be okay with you two if I took a little nap?"
"Sure, nap away."
"Thanks."
With Ruby's blessing, Blake closed her eyelids and made herself more comfortable in the lap of her personal heater, embracing the siren's call of her dreamland. Between the soft whisper of the wind dancing amongst the leaves and the most pleasant touch of Yang's fingers, it didn't take her long to drift off to blissful sleep.
"You two want something to eat? I've got some snacks," Yang asked Ruby and Weiss after a longer while of silence, nudging with her elbow the bag she'd brought along.
"Not at the moment, thank you."
"Ditto. Eating too much after two days of not eating at all probably wouldn't be the wisest of ideas," Ruby said, then got up from her seat and arched her back, popping her spine with a small, satisfied moan. "Hey, Weiss, could you stand up for a moment?"
Weiss raised a brow at that request but obliged without a complaint, watching patiently as Ruby pulled her cloak from behind her belt, then unfolded it and began covering the grass in front of their make-do bench with the material. After a little while, apparently satisfied with the result, Ruby placed her folded weapon on the ground and then plopped on top of the makeshift blanket.
"Much better." Ruby let out a contented sigh as she leaned against the tree, placing her right elbow onto the trunk behind her. Weiss, not needing any invitation, sat right next to her. "For a moment I considered driving Crescent Rose into the ground behind us, so we could use the shaft to lean against." Ruby glanced at Weiss, who seemed to be trying really hard not to laugh. "It could have worked, y'know? Would be a pain in the ass to clean later, though."
Weiss just sighed hopelessly and snickered, then shifted on her spot a little and rested her head on top of Ruby's shoulder, finding it to be a very comfortable position. Not minding it in the slightest, Ruby simply smiled.
And so they remained for the next few hours, filling their time with chatter, playful banter and long moments of comfortable silence. Eventually, the shadows started to grow and the sun lowered over the western horizon, bathing the four friends and the world around them in golden light.
The city of Vale stood in the distance, glittering in the sunset. There was a strange similarity between the capital and the four of its defenders that were resting at the cliffs of Beacon Academy — they all were wounded and scarred, but their will remained unbroken; in time, they would heal and live on, even greater and stronger than they had been before.
At some point, Ruby let her head fall on top of Weiss'. Despite all doubts and worries, she found herself at peace, surrounded by her chosen family. She knew that whatever the tomorrow would bring, they could face it without fear — together.
Author's Note:
Alright, here it is — the second part of the monster I've written, along with the new cover for the story. And yes, the correlation between the content of this chapter and the scene depicted on the cover might or might not be related to the true reason why I decided to split this chapter into two parts.
I uploaded the cover image in full resolution on my DeviantArt page, should anyone want to take a better look. Just type terkontar dot deviantart dot com in your browser or google "terkontar deviantart" and you should be able to find me without a problem.
As for the chapter itself... it's a bit transitional, is it not? I'm really sorry for that and I hope that the lack of things happening didn't disappoint you too much. At this moment I'm planning to take a day or two of a break, then, once I regain my sanity, I'll immediately get back to writing. When am I going to post the next chapter? Well, I don't want to jinx myself this time, so all I'm gonna say is this: I'll try to get it finished as soon as I can.
If you liked this story so far and have a bit of time to spare then please, consider writing a review — they might not seem like much, but they truly make writing this story feel all the more worthwhile. Critique is also appreciated!
GrnDrgnzrd: Well, things would probably get pretty damn awkward should Weiss have stayed. But you were indeed right to assume that she'd find out eventually.
2017-03-09