It was during our arithmetic lecture where I asked Cinder if she would be willing to help me steal from Ozpin.
"You can't be serious," she whispered, "He'll kill us,"
"Only if we get caught. I saw what you could do back at the library on the night The Brothers attacked. With you on our side there's no doubt we'll walk away with the star in hand,"
"Ruby, dear, I can't just do that again. I have no idea what came over me. Gods be good, I can barely remember the whole thing. Even after all this time what I did still feels unreal,"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean my semblance isn't usually that potent. I can control glass, but the degree to which I can do that is slim at best. As best I recall, the most I've ever been able to do is make little glass knives and fling them,"
"As best you recall, huh? Well what about all the time before that. Do bear in mind you're suffering from amnesia. Perhaps what we witnessed then was a glimpse of your true power,"
"Perhaps, but, even still, I can't bring it out on command. I hardly remember that night, save for the sight of you bleeding in Jaune's arms. That image shocked me to my core, I don't think I'll ever forget it, or how it made me feel,"
"That bad, huh?"
"Yes! It was 'that bad' you looked like you were dying,"
"I mean, I was, wasn't I? Don't let it bother you too much. I'm here now, that's what matters,"
"Right. I should get around to giving Jaune my thanks at some point. Without him you wouldn't be here, he healed you with that lovely little semblance of his, didn't he?"
"Indeed he did," I groaned.
"Have you spoken to him since Yang fell out of his favor?"
"No, why would I? Whether he saved my life or not he's still a louse and on top of that he broke my sister's heart. What could I possibly have to say to him?"
"I just thought that you might want to thank him for what he did."
"We can talk after he rights the wrongs he inflicted upon my sister. Only after every single one of her tears has been accounted for, and the debts associated with them paid, will I consider speaking with that towheaded lackwit!"
"Is something going on back there, girls?" Lady Glynda Goodwitch noticed our conversation and was displeased with us for ignoring the material.
"No, my Lady," I said, minding my manners as best I could.
"Is my lecture boring you?"
"Not at all, my Lady. In fact, I find the course's material rather stimulating,"
"Recent test results say otherwise," Everyone snickered at that, Except Yang. She seemed like she was stuck in her own little world, oblivious to what was happening around her. Seeing her so out of sorts boiled my blood. Nothing steeped nor stewed in the bubbling cauldron in my chest, save for the bits and pieces of my sister's heart that had been torn from hers.
"I'll do better on the next one, you have my word,"
"I trust you will. There aren't many other options besides simply doing better, that and the extra credit hunt, but I wouldn't recommend it." She returned the class's attention to the lecture. I wasn't sure how much more ribbing I could take. The last four months of my life felt like a constant series of losses and here I was prepared to risk my life for a passing grade.
"So you won't help me?" I whispered to Cinder.
"No, I'm sorry, I can't," Things were silent for a while. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of pens scratching paper. "Have you thought about Mercury's offer by the way? We could really use you as the fourth member of our team on the expedition,"
"I can't. With how things are, team RWBY needs me,"
"Just leave Weiss to fend for herself, you don't owe her anything. Your forgiveness alone should be enough,"
"Look, Cinder, things aren't that simple. The stability of my team has been in question for months and now I finally have a chance to pull them all together. This, for us, is a decisive moment and as their leader it falls on me to make a decision. I've made my choice. There's no other way,"
"But there is, if only you would forget about that frigid woman and all her lies,"
"Like I said, it's not that simple. I guess I'm about as useful to you as you are to me," I don't know why I said that, to hurt her maybe? Either way our conversation ended there and neither of us exchanged further words. Indeed, we didn't say a word to each other for the next few days either.
I was walking with Weiss to the ruined library while I pondered the situation. The smell of soot was still in the air. The library was nothing but rubble and blackened timber. I could hardly believe that this was the spot where I almost died.
Weiss was babbling about some obscure piece of Spriggan history which I didn't care to listen to, when suddenly a familiar face appeared. It was The Emerald Lord himself, Professor Ozpin, standing in the wreckage as men worked feverishly to repair the damage that was done. He held a book in his hand for a moment, thumbed the pages, and then passed it to a man standing beside him. The tome was charred from the fire so perhaps he was asking the man if he could still make out any of the words.
The figure beside him was familiar as well. Even from a distance I knew it was Cardin. I glared at Weiss, but she just shrugged. As if she didn't know he would be here. After all, he was one of her goons for quite some time. How could she not have knowledge of his every move? She seemed to keep track of me just fine so why not him?
I still approached them anyway, as I had business in the library, but Weiss grabbed my arm.
"Shouldn't we leave? You and Cardin aren't on the best of terms, hell, even the dean isn't too fond of you. If the two of them are both here, well, let's just say I don't see this ending well for you,"
"I'm not scared of Cardin. I've gotten a lot stronger, 'Dollie', so if he wants to mete this out, steel on steel, I'll be more than happy to show him how much I've learned!" I snatched my arm free of her grip.
"Oh no, the poor girl has nothing on her mind but swords. Don't you ever think about anything other than fighting?"
"Sadly, no,"
"Then I'll just say this: you have more things to worry about then a fight breaking out. Think about it for a second. Why would Cardin be in the same room as Ozpin, having a conversation, when last we saw he was just as mad at him as he was at you?"
"I don't know,"
"Get used to that phrase, Dearie. You'll be using it a lot in life,"
"Excuse me?"
"It's nothing. Why don't we go about our business. You had old books you were looking to salvage, yes?"
"Aye, that's what I was gonna do before you said that. What did you mean by that?"
"Like I said, let's just go and see," like always, Weiss managed to confuse and annoy me. At any rate, all I had to do was keep a low profile and it would all be fine. I raised my hood and milled about in a casual fashion, blending in with the workers.
I sifted through charred rubble, which turned my hands black as night. The heat of the fire had reduced much of the library's contents to naught but ash. However, underneath all of that one could find a few salvageable pieces. And believe me, what little could be salvaged was worth its weight in gold. Beacon had the most extensive library of all the College's of Hunters. I would learn whatever I could from the books I salvaged and then sell them for coin.
"Looting at the site of a catastrophe? I expected more of you, Madame," Ozpin was standing directly behind me and had ostensibly been watching me for god knows how long. Dammit all! How did he see me?
"Good morning, my Lord, it seems there's been a bit of confusion, a mix up, if you will. I didn't come here to steal, I came only to assist in the clean up. Beacon's libraries are second to none. It would be a shame if any their content were lost, especially if there was a chance of recovering that precious lost knowledge,"
"Save the buttering for the bread that breaks your fast. I know you're here to take the books that survived, it's alright. Other students have come to do the same thing," I looked around and upon closer inspection what he said made sense. The people who I at first thought were part of the clean up crew were actually students in disguise. Some appeared to be working, sure, in order to keep up the facade, but if one looked closely they'd notice the throngs of fakers who were searching for books.
"I guess my red cloak gave it away, didn't it?"
"That plus a few other things, you're simply unmistakable, Madame. It would take a fool to miss you," after he said that Cardin came stomping in.
"My Lord! My Lord! I think I've found a rat," he sang.
"I've already got it under control, Cardin. Though since you're here, I'll leave this to you," Oz walked away and I was left alone with the idiot who made it his duty to make my life a living hell. Perhaps this whole thing was just a test set up by Oz to see which students could steal the best, surveying the student body to see who would be the most likely culprits in making a move on the rock. No, that can't be. How could he know someone was looking to take the stone?
"Well, no quarter for traitors, or thieves, come with me, Dearie," Cardin grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
"Don't grab me!" I shouted
"It's nothing personal. I have orders and I have to follow them,"
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"To escort fools like you off the premises, that's what!"
"Let go of me!" I struggled, but to no avail. He was simply stronger than me. The man was practically dragging me in spite of my best efforts. I used my semblance to break free of his grasp and disorient him, leaving cardin lost in a cloud of rose petals.
I flew behind a mound of rubble and hid. Once I was confident that I had lost him, I threw off my cloak and packed it away. With the space it took up in my bag I would only be able to take one or two books with me. Slinking away unnoticed, I rose up from my hiding spot.
A young man moved an overturned table and struck gold. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed it. The books underneath it were unburnt, practically brand new. So, naturally, I went up to him and asked:
"Find anything good?"
"Ruby?" Jaune jumped, shocked, he was just as surprised to see me as I was him.
"Juane? What are you doing here?"
"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not much of a reader. I can read, but, you know, it's about Pyrrha. She said the books here are really valuable and that we should try to take whatever we can find with us. We could split these ones between us if you want," Jaune said. I couldn't believe how casual he was being. It was like he didn't care about what he had done to my sister.
"No, in fact I was just about to leave," I walked away from him, at first, but I couldn't help myself from asking him another question, "Jaune, why did you abandon my sister?"
"I had no choice, there was nothing I could do," He said, "What does it matter to you? You didn't speak to her for months. Besides, these things happen all the time,"
"No they don't! I've never seen her more distraught and it's all because of you,"
"I'm sorry, but it's just as I said, I had to do it,"
"No, no you didn't. If all you were going to do is hurt her then you should've never begun your courtship, why couldn't you just leave her alone? Why couldn't you have heeded your better nature and let her be? She was fine without you! She could have lived her entire life having never made your terrible acquaintance. You could have been just some nobody, someone whose name she would barely be able to remember years after all of this, but no. You put your skinny, weasley little hands all over her, and made her just like you: directionless, dim, and weak,"
"And what would you have me do?"
"I want you to tell me why," my question made him sigh and rub his face with his palm. Nervous as ever, he still managed to conjure an answer.
"I'm not the bravest man, even you think so. My romance with your sister could never have lasted because she coddled my cowardice. She didn't care if I was brave, or strong. Yang loved me, her love made me feel safe, and so her love had to go," Jaune nervously fiddled with a ring on his finger and avoided eye-contact. He rotated it around his ring finger countless times, the muscles in his neck stiff as stone.
For a moment there was silence. Jaune's regret was painted on his face, his neck and arms too; hell the boy's whole body was the color of grief. Were I a woman with a kinder heart perhaps that would have meant something to me, perhaps I would have offered him a handkerchief to wipe the tears that would no doubt fall before too long. Unfortunately for Jaune, I wasn't that kind of person, not that kind of girl.
"It must be so hard being loved. Having someone care about you as much as they care about themselves, spending long nights together exchanging pleasantries; oh, it must be awful. I had no idea how hard you had it,"
"No, no, you don't know. You don't know what it's like to be me, to be helpless. People like you never get it. You probably found someone who inspired you and then decided to simply become like them and then you grew stronger. Imagine if the gap between you and your idols never closed? What would you do then? Because that's what my life has been like ever since I first picked up a sword. House Arc has never, not in its entire history, produced a hunter as miserable and frail as me. And do you know what the worst part of it is? None of them resent me for it. 'You'll come into your own eventually!' 'There's more to a man than how he handles a sword' that's all they ever say! To hell with it. I don't want any more platitudes or coddling. That's why I had to leave your sister alone," Jaune looked desperate, more desperate than I had ever seen him, which was saying something.
"If it hurts so much then why do it? You don't need to be something you're not,"
"I have no other choice, I have to continue my family's legacy, but right now, as I am, I lack the strength. The power I need is still out of reach, but I can see it. My fingers can just barely touch the edges of it, but I can see it. Jaune could never grasp it, but an errant hunter of House Arc might. So that's what I'll become, whatever I have to do, I'll do it,"
"So that's what you broke my sister's heart for? Was this all for the sake of honor and tradition?"
"We live in a world where the only thing that matters is blood, Ruby. Of course this is about honor!"
"That's so-" my words were cut short by Cardin's arm as it wrapped around my neck. He forced me into a headlock and pulled me away from Jaune.
"I finally found you," He grinned. I tried to break free of his grasp by using my semblance, but he activated his at the same time. As he glowed red my powers were negated. All I could do was kick and flail helplessly as he dragged me back to the entrance, or, well, whatever was left of the charred entrance. Weiss was there when Cardin threw me at her feet. "And don't come back, you damn fop," he said.
I could have gotten up and tried to fight him, but the evolution of his semblance made me think twice. I didn't know that he could negate the effects of someone's semblance. That power of his must be new. His time would come soon enough. In fact I even chuckled to myself at the idea of taking his head. My hair hung from my head in short matted locks because of the soot. Though I still turned to him and leered at him knowingly, "Why are you even here? I thought you had better things to do than muck about with humans?" Cardin rolled his eyes.
"Lord Ozpin brought me on as his personal guardsmen. From now on I'll be by his lordship's side at all hours of the day, protecting him and his assets. So don't let me catch you lurking around him,"
"You must be awfully desperate to serve a human,"
"Power is power, wench," Cardin's fists shook with frustration. Moving up Beacon's social hierarchy did little to calm his temper it seems. I stood up and wiped the mud from my tights and, of course, Weiss had some wise crack at the ready, not even a minute after the altercation.
"So, how did it go?" She chimed, mocking me. All she ever did was poke fun at me and say dumb things that roused my temper.
"Juane has lost his mind. I saw him in the library and he started babbling about legacy and heritage and all manner of things. He broke things off with Yang so that he could get stronger and bring honor to his family name. That idiot is probably going to get himself killed in battle trying to prove himself. When the only warmth he feels is the pool of blood forming beneath him, that's when he'll understand how little his so called honor was worth,"
"Is that so?"
"Aye, it is. Let's go," I pulled my cloak from my bag and put it back on.
"He sounds a lot like you, you know, obsessed with honor and doing right by his forebears," When she said that I grabbed Weiss by the throat and held her against a wall.
"What did you just say? Say that again, just once more, only this time say it louder," The words practically hissed as they left my mouth and before I knew it one of her Grimm summons had its cold claws around my neck. Weiss gestured for me to let her go. I shifted into rose petals, releasing her and escaping the grasp of her summon as well.
"What is wrong with you? I was merely pointing out that you and your friend have a lot in common,"
"I'm nothing like him, don't ever say that again," I walked off and she followed, inspecting her neck for bruises.