Metal like Roses
Written by ReaderWarrior
Beta'd/edited by Icarus720
Don't be afraid to comment on this chapter! It makes my day reading your thoughts and opinions on my work :). And tell your friends! I'm still trying to be the #1 Mistborn writer on Fanfiction.
I do not own Mistborn or RWBY
Cyan-Snake: I warned you once already. I accept criticism, not hate. If you have a problem with team RWBY suffering after the Fall, I doubt you watched much of Volume 4. Perhaps you should spend your time hating on the original instead of attacking fan works that are expanding upon what was already there.
Friends
I ignored him. I tried to, I really did. I thought I could convince myself that he was not real.
But there was something in his voice that made me believe him when he said the world was at stake and that we needed to leave. Perhaps it's because he's had centuries to practice that tone and those words.
A single bead of metal falls past the outstretched arms of different Grimm beasts. Then, from the darkness, a beowolf jumps up and swallows it. A light explodes from its maw and, when it opens once more, five lights explode outward. The beautiful colors of crimson, frost, silver, shadow, and gold swirl together. Then, from a window at Beacon Academy, they fly out and up past the shattering glass into the shattered sky - each going their own separate way.
One heads to the island of Patch in the North-West. Two to Atlas, though the twin shades of white split off when they reach it. One towards an island in the South-East. And the final one towards Mistral.
"It used to feel like a fairytale, now it seems like we were just pretending."
Ruby sits in her bed, staring at the closed door and her hood hanging off of it. She turns to the left, to the window, and sees her rifle now covered in a thin layer of dust. With tears in her eyes, she turns away.
Through a crack in the door, Tai turns around and grabs a photo off a shelf. and holds it to his chest, staring at a bottle hidden behind it. Pyrrha places a hand on his shoulder and steps towards Ruby's door.
"We'd fix our world, then on our way to our happy ending."
Weiss turns around, hiding her injury. A figure lurks over her shoulder with a lab coat as she turns to see her family. Her butler, Klein, holds coffee at the ready (and glares with red eyes to the figure behind Weiss). A young boy stands in front of a mural of a family of five with near-matching outfits, giving a small smile. A woman's shadow raises a bottom to her lips in the corner of the room and everything goes dark as it encompasses the room.
"Then it turned out life was far less like a bedtime story."
Then, to give light, an older man sits behind a desk with a lamp and frowns. He throws down papers and a vial of dust at Ironwood, who is one foot in and out the door. The man spins around and smiles without any joy, placing his hands together, as he stares at a picture of Weiss on stage.
The Weiss in the photo clutches her head. Tears appear in the portrait, forming the Schnee's emblem and Glyph as Weiss tries to steady herself.
"Than a tragedy, with no big reveal of the hero's glory."
Ironwood closes the door behind him, where Vin stands waiting. They nod and step forward, turning to face a group of men and women with different hairstyles but all wearing the Atlas military uniform. To his left, Winter pulls out a clipboard and calls some names. Penny stands behind her, biting her nails
A group of people step forward and brandish their weapons as Vin unfurls her snow-white mistcloak and jumps at them. Her shadow forms an allomantic symbol, a crooked curve reaching for a dot, two spikes trailing each other, and another two stabbed from within the sphere. As she lands, she sends the people flying, as well as hundreds of letters with the SDC logo on them.
"And it seems we weren't prepared for a game that wasn't fair."
The letters fall down and morph into waves. Blake stands alone atop a ship's bowsprit. As she steps back, a robed figure spins her onto the bow and smiles. Another figure in robes stands behind them near the captain. Suddenly, a large man grabs the figure and throws him aside before wrapping Blake in a giant hug. A woman, a faunus with cat ears and a tail, hugs Blake from behind. The three all smile at each other.
But Blake notices the sun reflecting in the water and looks away with tears in her eyes.
"Do we just go home? Can we follow through?"
A puddle reflects Blake as Yang steps through it, distorting the image. Yang runs towards a pack of Grimm, her eyes red, and uses her fists to turn them to ash. After day turns to night, Yang looks up from the pile of monsters and turns to see Jaune, Ren, and Nora staring. She gives them a thumbs up but their worry is still visible.
Above them, Qrow looks down with scythe in hand. He watches concerned but his face sours even more as a raven flies by and overshadows everything.
"When all hope is gone, there is one thing we can do!"
The red markings of Adam Taurus' mask split the darkness. As the red light grows, two Faunus in robes appear with knives before fading, quickly replaced by figures on a mountain. Hazel slams his fists together. The second, Cinder, smirks as Emerald and Mercury stand behind her. Tyrian smiles evilly and crouches. Watts bows like a nobleman.
Then, above them all, glares and the world shakes. The mountain they stand upon has an explosion at its spire, sending ash everywhere. As it falls down, Grimm beasts run up and cover everything, leaving only darkness.
"Let's just live!"
Ruby, with Pyrrha's help, fires a shot through and hits the rim of a target. She wipes away some sweat and smiles, her dull eyes now containing a flicker of light. Pyrrha smiles back and closes her eyes, holding onto a scroll. She turns to look at a scarecrow in the field next to the target.
"Day by day, not be conquered by our sorrows."
The scarecrow morphs into Jaune who, alongside Ren and Nora, protects Yang as she sleeps. They each take down a few Grimm and clear the area. Yang doesn't show the slightest sign of awakening as they all sit down and throw more wood onto a fire.
"The past can't hold us down."
Weiss stabs her rapier upward, its metal matching that of her new arm. White energy runs from her shoulder to its tip as she spins it in a circle. Then, in front of her, the entire ballroom fills with a gigantic Summoning Glyph.
"We must break free!"
Blake runs into the darkness as glowing red eyes chase her. She tries to use her semblance but wolves pounce on it, dissipating the shadow. When Blake turns around and falls down, she sees Adam with his blade staring down at her. He raises it and slices it down as she screams.
"Inside we're torn apart, but time will mend our hearts."
As she lay in bed, Vin saw faces of her past appear in front of her. She stands in her original outfit, trying to grab them but is held back by mist. Then, as she breaks free, Grimm-like arms grab her and hold her back as Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all walk past.
With a scream she breaks free again, her gear now the one Ruby made for her, but as she reaches to touch them, she freezes - her robotic eye the only thing able to move.
"Move onward! Not there yet?
"So let's just live!"
The letters RWVBY fill the screen, each one overlapping with aspects of the team's members. Ruby's dull stare. Weiss' metal arm. Vin's white-cloaked back. Blake's mid-scream panic. And Yang punching her open palm with red eyes.
Then, beneath them, a boy with freckles writes in a journal. He gives a ghostly familiar smile as his eyes flash green, the last thing visible before everything fades.
Created by Monty Oum
"I'm seeing more Grimm come down from the South."
"Are you kidding, we just built a new donut shop there!"
"The shop? I'm more worried about the people who are in the neighboring apartments. But sure, worry about where to get some quick snacks."
Pyrrha closed her eyes and rubbed her knows. "Please, both of you, just tell me where exactly the horde is coming in from."
The two men in front of her, each clothed in different, mismatched garb from abandoned stores and leftover cloth, straightened their backs. They were a part of the Valian Recoup Militia, a newly formed group of citizens who had elected to stay behind in the fallen city and try to reclaim it.
"Yes, Huntress," the first man nodded. His name was… Calder. His clothes consisted of blue, ocean camouflage. "A pack of beowolves has infiltrated the city from a crack in the southern wall, just between 34th and 35th Street."
Agni nodded. His outfit seemed to be taken from a store that specialized in desert warfare. Pyrrha would have wondered why such stores existed in Vale, but she was too thankful for their existence currently. "And radio reports say that Glynda and the other Huntsmen are still calming down the Northern and Western sanctions after the last breakthrough."
"Which means we are the closest ones to the Grimm," Pyrrha nodded. She picked up her shield, which had quite a few more dents in it since she started the semester, and her sword. "Please call for reinforcements. I will hold them off for as long as possible."
"Like you're going to need it, Huntress of Victory," one of them muttered.
She sighed. Since her decision to stay in Vale, and the recognition she already had, her presence had inspired a new image: 'The Huntress of Victory'. There were even some photos of her from the Fall when she had been covered in dust that made her look like some deity from mythology. For the past few weeks, Pyrrha had almost started to miss being called the Invincible Girl.
A lot else had changed since then too. Pyrrha's hair now fell freely, the crown she used to wear had been given to Jaune and she didn't like how her ponytail looked without it. Her armor no longer had its sheen. A lot of it was cracked and broken with large welding lines dancing across it like webbing. There were some additions, though, like shoulder guards and her breastplate had metal linings in it instead of just leather. Her sash was now worn around her body from shoulder to opposing side, like a toga, and her weapons hung off her back.
They were the only things she had left that were undamaged or broken.
Pyrrha grabbed her armor with her semblance and lifted herself to the nearest rooftop. From there, she turned south and pointed herself toward the parapet. Smoke was rising from that direction but there were fires everywhere these days.
As she flew, Pyrrha passed over hundreds of abandoned homes and polluted streets. They - she, the remaining Beaconites, and the VRM - had been focused on reclaiming city blocks that were defendable and livable. They had been slowly fixing shops and homes, as well as exterminating any Grimm or Knights that were found.
Her shadow flickered over a large pile of metal as she flew past. The weapons and dust were of use but the metal husks of Atlas' Knights were not, leaving dozens of stacks of destroyed machines in alleys and on sidewalks. Pyrrha had just read a report of someone attempting to re-code one of the units but it had gone poorly. For now, they dealt with them the simplest, and easiest, way they could. Destruction.
There was a scream and Pyrrha's mind snapped back into focus. An explosion hit her ears next as she saw a fresh plume of smoke burst from her destination.
They did say this area was under reconstruction.
Pyrrha closed her eyes and reached for the power of the Maiden inside of her. The passage of months meant her training as a Maiden had increased since the Fall. Professor Goodwitch, possibly the only person in the city to know about her secret, had her practice exercises to control the flame now burning in her. Meditation and the focus on fundamentals.
The power pulled away from her initially. But, like holding your fist to a dog and allowing it to sniff your scent, it quickly recognized her and they bonded. 'Bonded' wasn't the right word. It was like a heat, primordial and ancient, spreading throughout her body. Her muscles tightened, her senses felt more acute, and her mind became more aware. She wasn't becoming overwhelmed by the Maiden's power, it was accenting what she already had.
And there was a presence. Somehow Pyrrha could tell it was what remained of Amber Selhat, the former Fall Maiden. The process of Pyrrha taking this power bonded a bit of their souls together. She felt 'Amber' wave at her and Pyrrha opened her eyes, an emerald flame crowned around her vision as she landed on top of the building closest to the wall.
Grimm were swarming throughout the street, pouring in from a new fissure in the wall. Thankfully, there were no bodies on the ground but there were signs of recent life. Tools, luggage, and supplies had been thrown onto the ground like someone had dropped them in a panic. An ursa had its maw in a bag of wheat, munching hungrily.
Pyrrha then heard the same scream once more. She looked across and saw a beowolf slamming against a wooden door. A small pulse of her semblance and Pyrrha could sense, for a moment, that there were about six people inside. She couldn't sense the people, but the metals on them. Since she started using her semblance more and more, she found it had many different applications that simply moving swords to take wider swings.
The beowolf howled, summoning more of its kind, and slammed against the door again. Pyrrha could hear the wood cracking, even from here, as well as a few choice words about the Grimm's lineage from the one holding it closed.
Pyrrha breathed in and fell off the building. Her sword rose to her hand and she rammed it into the wall. Stone, brick, and cement crashed and fell around her, drawing the beasts attention to her. She hit the ground and saw six Grimm, one ursa and the others being beowolves, charging at her.
The ground had a slight shake as they moved, the air smelled like oil, and there was a bit of smoke in Pyrrha's eyes. But she had never felt so alive.
Pulling Miló from the wall, Pyrrha spun on her heel and flung her blade at the ursa. Normally, she would need to press a button on the hilt to change it into a spear. But with her newfound skills, she pressed on the button with her semblance as it flew in the air. The final segments of metal slid into place just as the spear hit the ursa's eye.
It reared back and roared in pain. Pyrrha was continuing her spin, now throwing Akoúo like a discus, and aimed at where the ursa's neck would be. It flew like a saw-blade and cut the Grimm's head clean from its body.
If the Grimm cared about their fallen comrade, they didn't express it. The beowolves howled as Pyrrha pulled her hands back. She mentally grabbed her weapons and pulled them back towards her. But with her hands still free, she extended her palms to the ground in front of her and fire, red like her hair, poured from her hand. It burned the air and hit the ground, causing it to boil. The creatures ran into the bubbling asphalt and slowed. They continued to pull their limbs upward, their black fur matching the liquid perfectly.
Pyrrha released the fire and focused on the wind. A breeze, already blowing through the streets, turned into a harsh gale. She focused it on the ground, ignoring the leaves, trash, and pebbles that flew around her. Soon, the asphalt returned to a hardened state and the creatures were trapped. Yes, she could have killed them all easily with her weapons. But she needed to train - focus - on her other gifts.
Her powers.
Surrounded by a spinning wind tunnel, Pyrrha turned her attention to the one beowolf that had yet to be taken care of. It must have felt Pyrrha's gaze because it slowly turned away from the wooden door.
The beowolf growled at her and then-
Bang!
A hole suddenly appeared in its chest. Pyrrha looked up, back at the rooftop, and saw a familiar, large man with a mustache put down his gun.
"Oho!" Professor Port said as he leaned Blowhard onto the ledge. "I thought I told you, Ms. Nikos, to aim for the body, not the face. Otherwise, the portrait of your success will be too gruesome to display for the students!"
Pyrrha smiled and saw more people, members of the VRM, fill the streets. They executed the Grimm that Pyrrha had trapped and began helping citizens out of the building. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'll try to remember next time."
The house was quiet. Not too quiet but just the right kind. Ruby couldn't hear her dad in the house (she thought he left earlier today) but she could hear the windchimes singing in the wind. Some birds coo'd and whistled on the patio. A clock, one that supposedly was a gift from Mom's grandfather, ticked and tocked softly.
But Ruby needed to break the silence. She winced, working up the courage and pulling her blanket around her body, before lifting the remote.
"- with no end in sight. Try as they might, the local Huntsmen and Huntresses can't seem to get a hold of the situation at Beacon Academy."
Ruby shuddered and changed the channel.
"- though the failsafes have supported wireless communication within the kingdom, the shutdown of the CCTV towers continues to prevent contact with the outside world."
There had been no word from Yang or the other members of JNPR that had left months ago. Ruby, Dad, and Pyrrha had all watched the last video together with the latter two laughing. Ruby, however, was too busy thinking about all the things that might happen to them. She used to be called a prodigy in terms of strategy and weapon design. But that 'gift' also meant she could think of all the things that could go wrong.
They could have run out of dust. Eaten bad foods. There's no medicine or hospitals in the middle of Anima. What if a Grimm snuck up on them in the middle of the night? Maybe they stumbled into a tribe of dangerous thieves and got sold into slavery.
An active imagination was just as much of a curse as it was helpful.
"Talks with Atlas officials regarding reinstatement have so far-"
Click!
"Vale's council voted this week to continue to ban any air traffic that does not have a direct correlation with evacuation. The Council has made it clear that-"
Click!
"Multiple rumors continue to circulate as to who was behind the attack during the Vytal Festival." This is what Ruby had been trying to find. She leaned back and pulled her blanket tighter.
I have to face this, she thought.
The screen showed a reporter standing in front of the White Fang emblem. "While no one knows for sure, officials have confirmed that high-ranking, White Fang member Adam Taurus was present for the attack." The image changed from the emblem to a grainy photo of a figure in black with a white mask. "Any and all attempts to bring him into custody have been met with brutal force."
Ruby's silver eyes widened when the photo changed again, this time one of him with his sword raised. It was red. It was covered in blood. Weiss'-
She pressed the remote and covered her head. Here, in the darkness, she couldn't see the red. There was no color. She wouldn't be able to look down and see the red stain, the red ocean surrounding her.
Since she had started to leave her room, Dad had done his best to remove anything that had a color matching her namesake. Clothes, photos, pillows, and even Crescent Rose had been hidden away after they figured out that the color red - even just imagining it - could send her falling into a nightmare of memories.
Ruby understood about the psychosis of it. She knew that her brain had linked the memories of the Fall to Weiss' injury and that anything that reminded her of her blood would… It would make her relive it. Every scent, audio, and sight would replay in her mind. But knowing it didn't mean that she could fix it. She had been trying to weaken the mental connection her brain had formed by turning on the news, but it hadn't worked yet.
Strangely, orange things didn't seem to hurt as much. It was like some part of her knew it was only something that reminded her of blood that would return her to that day.
She always ended up here, in the darkness. Where nothing could hurt her.
Although muffled, Ruby heard the door open and feet stomping on the welcome mat. "Ruby," Dad's voice said in a low whisper, "I'm home!"
Ruby scrambled to throw the blanket off her head and put it back into its basket. Then she rubbed her eyes and stood up. The living room was directly connected to the front entrance.
"Hey Dad," she said.
He looked up from placing a large pile of bags on the ground and smiled. "You're up."
"I thought I should get some exercise." Dad walked over and they hugged. When she pulled away, Ruby noticed his eyes drifting to the couch. Or, more exactly, the remote that she forgot to put away. Ruby looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry."
"Hey," he said, "don't be. You're doing your best and I'm proud. Take your time and I'm sure you'll make it. Besides, I've got a surprise for you."
"Surprise?"
He nodded and reopened the door. Three heads poked out from outside and smiled. "Ruby!" all three cried with large smiles.
Ruby's eyes widened. "Elva? Stanley? Gunnar? What are you doing here?"
The three, two boys and one girl, stepped inside.
"We heard you were back over the winter," Elva said. She wrapped Ruby in a hug. "But we didn't think it would be nice to visit so soon. Your dad ran into us at the store and asked if we wanted to come say hi."
Stanley was next. He entered and hugged Ruby. "We missed you, Rosette."
Ruby smiled slowly. "Even Ed?"
Gunnar laughed, something Ruby hadn't heard in what felt like decades. "Even Ed."
As the three stepped inside, with Dad already bringing in a plate of lemonade and cookies (the latter of which was always available these days), Ruby felt as if she were back in Beacon again. The good Beacon, before the Fall - before the White Fang.
And before Vin.
Her friends, the ones she had made here in Patch and at Signal Academy, all sat down at the front table. They looked back at Ruby and waved at her to join them.
And slowly, Ruby did.
Pyrrha released the power from her control and sighed. The Grimm, in this section, had all been exterminated and the crack in the wall resealed. Rescue services were already here and helping to assess the damage.
Of course, 'rescue services' meant nearly trained professionals who stayed here to help. Trainee nurses, former and discharged cops, and the Beacon Academy professors stood around Pyrrha, rushing to do what they could to help. Thankfully, she had gotten here before any Grimm could hurt anyone, but there were still cases of shock to treat as well as lesser injuries from the initial panic.
As Professor Port distracted the children with tall tales of his previous victories, and how today's events would be forever etched in future stories, Pyrrha turned her gaze back to the woman in front of her.
"How were you?" Professor - Headmistress now - Goodwitch asked. She, strangely, hadn't changed at all since the Fall. She was doing her best to convey that there was still some normalcy and that things could return to how they were.
"I was fine," she answered. "The Maiden's power comes easily now. It's like… a fire that recognizes me and shares its warmth."
Goodwitch nodded. "The exercises appear to be working."
"Yes."
"But you're still worried?"
"… Yes."
"Why?"
Pyrrha looked out at the people walking around. She saw a small girl clutching her father's hand. She was the one whose scream drew Pyrrha's attention and, when Pyrrha was helping them out of the building, hugged Pyrrha's leg.
"Because," Pyrrha whispered, "it's not enough. I cannot be everywhere at once. Even though I'm the student, and you are our seniors, I am the only one strong enough to fight the Grimm on this large a scale.
"I keep going to bed each night, counting how many people I saved that day. Not because it fills me with pride but because when I sleep, I see all the people I couldn't. This war needs me to be your strongest weapon and I fear that we will lose before I become strong enough."
Slowly, and sighing heavily, Goodwitch placed a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "I don't think I ever understood why Ozpin made this place a school. He insisted on the game-like activities and dances every year, despite my opposition. There was no persuading, no level of confidence, that I could use to convince him otherwise. I just couldn't understand.
"But now… I see what he did. The memories I cherish from my time as a student were- are special because I was a student. Somewhere, I forgot that you students are children."
"We choose-"
Goodwitch cut her off. "You choose to sacrifice your innocence to fight against the Grimm and gods-know who else when you graduate. But just because you will have to grow up doesn't mean we have to rush it. Ms. Nikos, you and the other students of your class were planned to have four years before having to assist in this sort of calamity. And now, with your unique situation, I feel that it's important to remind you this:
"Never let a child die. Especially the one in your heart. That's who we are trying to save."
Memories flashed through Pyrrha's eyes. She remembered the dance and how excited everyone was to go to it. She remembered when JNPR and RWBY destroyed the school's cafeteria in a food fight.
And, most importantly, Pyrrha remembered how happy everyone was back then.
Pyrrha smiled at her teacher. "Thank you."
"My pleasure," Goodwitch nodded. "Now-"
A large pile of bricks, that were meant to be used to cover the wall, fell suddenly. Pyrrha and Goodwitch noticed that one of the VRM soldiers had gotten into a heated fight with a worker in overalls and ended up pushing him against the stack, toppling it over. The two shared a glance and walked over.
"I told you," the man growled as he pointed his gun at the worker, "you need to keep your paws to yourself!"
The worker pressed her chest against the barrel. "I was helping you up, jackass!"
"Funny thing to call someone, coming from you."
Goodwitch lifted The Disciplinarian into the air. With her stroke, the gun flew up and then fell onto the street. "What is the issue here?"
Their anger turned briefly to Goodwitch but it dissipated when they realized who she was.
"He attacked me," the worker said, pulling off her cap to reveal horse ears. "All I did was help him back up."
"I didn't ask for your damn help! And I sure as Grimm never want it." He spat on the ground and turned away, marching back to his gun and leaving with it.
The worker took a step after him but Pyrrha grabbed her shoulder. "Don't," the Huntress warned.
She pulled away. "You're just going to let him walk away?"
Pyrrha looked over at Goodwitch, who closed her eyes and gave a small shake of her head. There was a reason that the people who were in the VRM were not members of the original Valian military. These were people. Some did want to do good and had the weapons to help. Others… dishonorable discharges. Felons. Even some criminals. But there was an understanding, currently. As long as they helped, and didn't hurt anyone, they were allowed to be free.
As free as anyone could be in a city full of Grimm.
Scowling, the worker stormed over to pick up a shovel and start picking up bricks. A few others with her joined in as Pyrrha stepped back.
"It's one thing to fix the walls," Pyrrha said. "But the issue won't be resolved."
Goodwitch sighed. "Fear. Anger. The city is full of it. And that will just attract more Grimm. For every hole we fix, someone else summons a beowulf to tear open another."
Pyrrha's scroll began to buzz and she quickly silenced it. She noticed Goodwitch raising an eyebrow and blushed. "Sorry."
"No. It's Thursday, isn't it? You have somewhere to be."
"It can wait."
"No." She rubbed her forehead, one of the only signs of exhaustion Pyrrha had ever seen the woman do. "This… This will stay standing. Ms. Rose needs your help more than we do at the moment. She and her father."
Pyrrha nodded slowly. The last time she had visited… There had been quite a lot of crying. "Thank you," she whispered.
Goodwitch smiled. "Save a child."
If there's one thing Ruby Rose is, it's not a child, Pyrrha thought as she flew off toward the bullhead docks.
"So Ed's just standing there, holding his rifle as these rubber bullets are flying about," Elva said, smiling. "His eyes are wide and it's like he's watching the universe crumble around him-"
Stanley jutted in. "We can see him mouthing 'I regret my decision!' over and over again."
"Right, and then he just starts running backward!"
Ruby giggled and leaned forward onto the table. She and her friends had moved there while was in the living room. "Back towards Mr. Whitehead?"
"Yeah!" Elva laughed. "That's not even the best part!"
"He finally reaches him, grabs his shirt, looks up into Mr. Whitehead's eyes and says-" Gunnar's voice dropped as he mimicked their former teacher "-'Sir, I think I need to go see the nurse'."
"And then Mr. Whitehead just shoots him in the chest!" all three cried, laughing hard.
Ruby joined in, her chest hurting as she envisioned Ed, this tiny blonde kid who used to help Ruby with her history homework, taking a surprise shotgun blast to center mass. Of course, he had his aura to save them. It was unlocked for everyone on their first day at Signal. "What happened next?" she asked.
Again, Gunnar with his impression said "'Now you can go'."
Their laughter reached all-new levels of volume. Ruby's face hurt from how large her smile was. She hadn't smiled, much less laughed, this much in a long, long time.
"It sounds like things have been as crazy as ever," Ruby said when the giggling died down.
"Not as crazy as they used to be," Stanley said. "Things haven't been the same since you left, Rosette."
Ruby blushed at that nickname. These were her friends from before she went to Beacon. They were her age and had known her far longer than anyone in RWBY ever did. Which meant they knew things about her, even stories that she didn't want Yang to know.
Elva nodded. "The Sothic Seven hasn't been the same since we became the Sothic Six."
Signal Academy wasn't a huge school. Instead of teams, students were grouped together by class. Ruby's class consisted of a group of seven. Elva, Gunnar, Stanley, Ed, Reginald, Sven, and herself. They were all planning on graduating together and transferring to Beacon.
But Ruby went to Vale to pick up some newly released comics and music and caught Ozpin's eye, changing everything.
"Where is everyone else?" Ruby asked. "Last I heard, Reg had won the wrestling tournament. Did he go to Vacuo for the championship?"
"They," Gunnar corrected, "actually decided not to go. Something about wanting to see Signal's prodigy kick Atlesian butt in the Amity Colosseum instead."
Her eyes widened. "Did they-?"
Elva quickly shook her head and grabbed Ruby's hand. "No, they weren't there. But we were all having a watch party at Sven's place." Her grip tightened. "We saw everything."
"I'm sorry," Ruby whispered. "If I hadn't gone to Beacon… If I had just stayed with you guys…"
"If you'd stayed with us?" Stanley asked. He waved around the room to the rest of their friends. "Ruby, if you had stayed with us then you would have been watching Yang fight instead. And we both know that if she had been hurt, you would have done anything to bring them to justice."
Gunnar nodded quickly. Since she had last seen him, he had tried to grow out some facial hair - meaning there was a small line of peach fuzz across his upper lip. "It's not like you planned the thing. You didn't let the White Fang in. We heard you were on the front lines keeping them out!"
The front lines. Stone and ice blockades. Screaming people running past.
Ruby flinched slightly and tried to change the subject. "Yang's fine, though. She was heading toward Mistral with some friends."
"Oh, I went there for a bit!" Elva smiled, pulling out her scroll to show some pictures. "It's beautiful. There's all these markets that sell fabrics you can't get over here without spending a fortune. We brought home like a dozen rolls when we came back."
"Are you still petitioning for Signal to let you design new uniforms?" Ruby asked. Elva had always been a bit of a fashionista. She'd even helped design Ruby's combat skirt.
The girl scoffed. "I gave up on that. I'm making merchandise instead."
"Merchandise?"
Gunnar and Stanley groaned. "You had to ask."
"I call it 'Beacon's Brightest'. Originally, I was just going to make some copies of your cape but then I thought 'Why stop at one?' and made some cute cosplays for everyone in your team!"
"She even roped Ed into making little dolls of everyone. I think he got as far as CFVY when the Fall happened," Stanley said.
"But the RWBY ones were the most popular," Gunnar added with a smile. "Especially Ruby Rose. I bet you everyone at Signal had one of those."
Stanley leaned over and winked. "And a few Yang ones too."
"She'll be happy to hear that," Ruby said.
"Hey. Are you okay?" Gunnar caught Ruby's eye and nodded to their friends. "It's us. You don't have to keep it bottled up."
She sighed. And then she looked around the room. These were her friends, long ago. It wasn't that she didn't trust Dad or Pyrrha… but they were almost too close to her heart. Ruby felt like she was tearing apart her heart and theirs whenever she was asked to talk to them. If it hurt this much for her, how would they feel knowing what she thought?
Worse yet, how would they think of her?
These were her friends. Past tense. They didn't know what she had gone through and as much as she loved them, she had grown past them since her attendance at Beacon. If she couldn't open up to them, then she might as well talk to some random person walking down the street. At least they would only think she was crazy for a moment, then forget all about her.
"I think that it's all my fault… Everything me and my team did seemed to fit into the White Fang's attack. Torchwick, Penny, Cinder, and Ozpin, it was all connected like a spiderweb. We were the flies, not knowing that we were caught up in it."
Ozpin pulled me into it because of my eyes. Why don't I hate him for that?
"When the Fall came," Ruby continued, small droplets of water sliding down her cheeks and onto the table, "I thought I could stop it. I tried to lead everyone against it. But all I did was lead everyone to their deaths."
Slowly, Gunnar, Elva, and Stanley stood up and walked over to her. They pulled her into a hug and held it until the tears stopped.
Ruby rubbed her eyes as they stood there, silent and watching. "My friends are all gone and it's because I was in charge."
"Ruby," Elva whispered, "this is not your fault. You were in charge of anything. It was Ozpin and Ironwood and the Council that did this."
Stanley nodded. "They failed us, not you."
"You're like us Ruby," Gunnar added. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Nobody could have seen what they were doing."
There was a pause as Ruby's sadness turned into confusion. "'What they were doing'?"
"You heard the announcement," Stanley said. "You saw the proof. Atlas has been planning for war again and Vale was arming itself too."
"I bet that's why they brought that robot girl," Gunnar said. "They wanted to show their new weapon. Like a fear tactic."
"Penny?" Ruby frowned. "No, she's-"
Elva cut her off. "I bet she let the White Fang in. She could've been hacked or this was all a part of Atlas' plan. That's why the Knights turned so quickly. If they were so top-of-the-line, how did they get turned so quickly?"
"That's not what-"
Gunnar pointed at Stanley and smiled like he just solved a mystery book midway through. "And that's why the Chimera showed up right before! Ozpin must have learned about it and pulled out his own weapon. I bet the games were going to be rigged in a way that would've put her against the robot to see who exactly would win."
Ruby frowned. "The what?"
"The Chimera." Elva rolled her eyes. "You know, that science project with all the semblances? Wasn't she on your team?"
"Vin? You actually believe that stuff they said about her?!"
"Well yeah," they said. "They showed off all the tests in the announcement. The cages, the other test subjects. And we checked, there was nothing about her before she began to play in the games."
Ruby shook her head and pushed back on her chair. "No. No, no, no. That was all fake! Vin was my friend. She wasn't a test subject and she wasn't a weapon made by Professor Ozpin. And Penny is real, just like you and me. She saved my life!"
"Or was that what she was programmed to do?" Gunnar shared a glance with his friends and held out his hand to Ruby. "Ruby, what are you so scared of? This was all their fault, not yours."
"It wasn't their fault!" Ruby snapped, pushing his hand away. "Cinder did it. Cinder was the spy and she was the one who attacked us. Vin wasn't some super-secret project made by the government! She was a girl just like me."
Ruby began to walk out of the room and back toward the stairs to her bedroom. "It's my fault she got hurt. I was her leader and she trusted me. If you want to blame someone, blame me. But don't say Vin is a monster." She glared at her hands. "I've seen monsters."
It was dark by the time Pyrrha landed in Patch. As comfortable and confident as she had gotten with her semblance, she didn't think it was strong enough to carry her all the way from Beacon to the small island that Ruby and her father lived on. She had taken a bullhead, one of the few that they could spare, and walked the path from the airstrip to the Xiao-Long household.
When she opened the door (it had been almost a month since she had been told to just enter), she found the living room empty and Ruby's father in the kitchen.
"Good evening," she greeted, closing the door behind her. He waved at her but said nothing. Pyrrha made her way toward him and saw that he was staring intently at a glass and a bottle of some off-brand whiskey next to it.
Pyrrha paused. He had never gotten this far before. Last week, he had the bottle in his hands. The week before, he had bought it. And before that, Pyrrha had noticed how he was rubbing the glass - the same one that was now filled.
"Her friends came over," Tai said. His hands were clenched together like he was in prayer. "I thought… I thought it would help her. Their families and ours used to have play dates when they were little. Sven had his first steps, right over there." He nodded at a corner of the room.
"But all they did - all I did was make things worse. She's my little girl and all I have left of Summer. If she was Yang, we would be joking about it already. But I can't see her in that way. My baby girl is hurting and that's all I see."
"She's a strong, grown-up woman," Pyrrha whispered.
Tai shook his head. "If you ever have kids one day, and I hope you do, then you'll know that they never grow up to us. We see them get taller and smarter and change, but they never really grow up. I swear, I can hear her crying right now and it sounds just like when she fell off her bike."
There was no crying. Outside of the crickets chirping through the windows, there was no other noise in the house.
Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder. "Where's Ruby?"
"Upstairs."
There was nothing Pyrrha could do to help her friend's father. Perhaps if she had the time, she could have sat down and talked with him. It wasn't in her training, both as a Huntress or a Maiden, to help with the fallout of events. They were taught to stop them. This was something that needed professional help, which was likely something Tai already had.
She had to hope that he was strong enough because Pyrrha wasn't. The plates spinning around her were too numerous for her to add on another. Maidenhood. Restructuring Vale. Grimm attacks. Human-Faunus relations. Atlesian hate. It was all too much. But there was one focus that she would always have time for.
Pyrrha walked up the stairs, being careful to step on every creaking floorboard and letting her boots clank up the stairs. She reached Ruby's door and knocked.
A moment later it opened and Ruby, puffy-eyed and donning the same clothes and pajamas as last week, gave her a soft smile. "Hey, Pyrrha."
"Hello, Ruby." She nodded inside. "Want to talk? I heard you had a rough day."
The door opened wider and Ruby walked back toward her bed. A silent invitation. Pyrrha followed, sitting on a chair and watching as Ruby flopped down on her bed - her head face-first into a pillow.
"All everyone has are rough days," muffled Ruby.
"If that were true, then how can you tell which are the good ones and which are the rough ones?"
"They all suck in different ways."
Pyrrha leaned forward and tapped her shoulder. Ruby turned and looked back at her. "Then how did today suck?"
The young girl groaned and spun around onto her back. "Because… because when Dad brought my friends home I thought I could talk with them."
"And did you?"
"Yeah. For a bit. It was nice at first. They told me this funny story about Ed and how excited they were to see me and Yang in the Vytal Festival. It was always our dream to go there and be champions. But then they started talking about Vin and Penny and Atlas and everything they said was wrong!"
"Wrong?"
"They said it was all their fault!" Ruby had sat up but pulled her pillow around her front and clutched it tightly. "That Vin and Penny were some sort of showcase and that all of this is Atlas' fault."
One of Pyrrha's eyebrows rose. "That must have hurt, to know that what you did is now being tainted and seen helping the bad guys."
"Why can't they see through their lies? Why did Cinder's attack work this well?"
"Because they knew what to do." Pyrrha rubbed her hands and conjured a small fire in her palm. Somehow, the fires she summoned didn't seem to hurt her or her friends. "They had someone who planned out everything."
Ruby slammed her face into her pillow. "And we fell for it."
"No. We stopped it. You stopped it. Whatever their original plan was, you and your team destroyed it." Pyrrha held up the small flame, no bigger than a fingertip. "You led us into a righteous battle and saved hundreds."
She shook her head. "No. No, I got them killed. I got Weiss hurt and Vin in danger. That's where my leadership got me." She threw the pillow at the flower and glared at it. Then, a second later, she sighed and turned to face Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha," she whispered, "I keep thinking that if I hadn't brought Vin in, then none of this would have happened."
The flame died as Pyrrha closed her fist. "If you hadn't found Vin, she might have died in those woods."
"But if we hadn't, then Cinder wouldn't have been attacked. Maybe they were just trying to kill Amber but we forced them to bring the fight to us."
"So you would trade her life? Vin's?"
Tears were rolling down Ruby's face now. She reached for her pillow but realized she had thrown it away a second ago. "No! I don't want to trade anyone's life. I don't want anyone to die. But that just means we will die."
"We didn't die," Pyrrha said, instantly regretting it.
Ruby's hand clenched. "No. But Blake did. And I led her right to it."
Pyrrha wanted to reach out and pull Ruby into a hug. She wanted to tell her that Blake was simply hiding in one of Vale's underground tunnels. But they both heard it from Yang that Blake died. Yang wouldn't go into detail, but from how close the blonde and Faunus were, it was obviously something she might not have wanted to remember.
"Blake's death wasn't your fault. She chose-"
"She chose to follow me!" Ruby screamed. Her voice shocked Pyrrha and almost seemed to surprise Ruby herself. The poor girl panted hard and threw her blankets on. "I would have led Ed, Sven, Gunnar, and everyone else to die too. I don't want that to happen, Pyrrha. I don't want to be in charge anymore."
After a minute, Pyrrha rose to her feet and walked closer to the bed. Ruby, having turned away, flinched and pulled the blankets tighter. She sighed and turned back to the door.
"Not everyone leads a perfect victory," Pyrrha whispered. "Not everyone wins forever. You lost, yes, and it hurts. Everyone lost. But that's not your fault. Ozpin led us and we led others. We cannot be at fault for how others lead against us."
She then closed the door and headed downstairs. Pyrrha would usually leave immediately, she wanted to rush back to Vale and help where she could. But tonight, she lay down on the couch and sighed.
"I never wanted this life for her," Tai said. She looked up and saw him swirling the glass. The former Huntsman walked over and held out the drink for her. Pyrrha took it. "Hell, I didn't even want Yang in it. They're both so much like their mother."
"Summer?" Pyrrha asked. There wasn't much she knew about his deceased wife. Her death had hurt them hard. Almost, if not more so, than their current pain.
He smiled. "Yeah. She was just like Ruby. Always fighting for justice and peace, taking on the worst and hardest missions because she didn't want any other teams to get stuck with them. Rewards meant little to her. Even though Raven always took her share and kept it to herself, Summer always donated most of hers to some charity."
"I can see where Ruby gets her idealism from," Pyrrha said.
"Oh, yeah. I bet she thought she was a fairytale hero. Those stories were what got Ruby and Yang in bed and Summer's voice reading them would trance them to sleep. Maybe she thinks that by being that hero, she'll be able to hear her voice again."
Pyrrha gave a small laugh. It was pure and hopeful, emotional that felt unnatural leaving her mouth. "Perhaps at first. But she knew, even before this, that she had to be real and not a story. Ruby Rose was innocent but always enlightened."
"I wish she wasn't," he grumbled. His eyes lingered on the drink in her hand. "I wish she never joined Ozpin's school. As much as I hate this, hate seeing her like this… Some part of me is happy that she's here and not chasing more monsters."
Tai looked up at her and she saw his eyes were red too. "Does that make me a bad father?"
"I…" Pyrrha couldn't find her voice. Everyone kept looking for her to help when she had none to give. How was she supposed to answer?
Easy, a voice whispered. Truthfully.
Slowly, somehow, Pyrrha spoke words. "It does not. It means you are concerned for her well-being. You didn't stop her from joining Beacon. You let her chase her dreams and discover the reality on her own."
"I tried. I begged her not to go."
"But she wanted to go where she could help."
"Yes."
"After she helped you and Yang after Summer's death."
"Yes." Tai sighed and stumbled onto the floor. "Ruby didn't know it, but she did."
Pyrrha smiled. "How?"
"There was- There was this night, a week or so after the memorial. Yang had slept in and I was… indisposed. There was this loud noise in the kitchen and we both woke up. We both thought that maybe a raccoon got in, or worse, and rushed down. But when we turned the corner, Ruby was there on the ground with a tray lying next to her."
"She was making breakfast?" Pyrrha giggled.
"Oh no, she was making cookies. And we didn't get to her at the beginning of her baking. Flour was everywhere, so were the other ingredients, and she had eaten half of the bag of chocolate chips."
A smile spread across both of their faces. "What happened?"
"Apparently, she thought that making Summer's cookies would cheer us up. So she tried making them. Yang and I looked at each other, Ruby was inches away from crying because we spoiled her surprise, and we just started laughing. Then Ruby was laughing. And then everything was gone.
"For one brief moment, Ruby made our pain and sorrow disappear. She was our brightest star. And now… now she's gone dull." Tai sighed, glancing toward the kitchen as if he could still see the stains on the counter. "I would give anything to give her that moment."
Pyrrha nodded. Then she froze. What if… "What if we could?"
"... Have cookies? I tried that."
"No. That moment. That feeling. Ruby is stuck in her room, reliving the pain of the Fall over and over again. What if, for one moment, we can break her free?"
"And maybe," Tai continued, "that moment will allow her to push through everything else!"
"And I already have an idea of how," Pyrrha smiled, pulling out her scroll. They were going to save a child. And maybe help a few others too.
I'm going to try and ignore how late this is. But I am sorry for that. I updated in September, then did the other fics until December. January I was focused on exams. But every minute since I have spent devoting to this chapter. Which was hard. I had a lot of school stuff to do and… well, I think you guys saw how much I added into this chapter.
It's tough to write Ruby in such a way. It's tough to write Pyrrha with complete autonomy. And it's tough to flesh out the Fall as well as build up stuff that could only be touched on whenever (or if) the team ever gets back to Vale. I am splitting up this 'volume'/season into sets of 4 (kinda) with 3 chapters for each group. A basic beginning, middle, and end storyline. I didn't want this chapter (or the other 'first chapters' for each of team RWVBY) to go too far. So all of this, in the original RWBY episode, was born from 'Yang watches the news, sweeps, then sees Adam when she drops a glass'.
Talk about stretching and filler, huh?
But I loved a lot of the things I made in this chapter. The VRM is completely original. Pyrrha's new outfit has a more centurion style to it, which I kind of got from Shana's art blog with a mixture of Del994 from Reddit. I wanted to flush out life around Patch too. The tale of Red Riding Hood stems from an old Scandinavian story 'The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids'. Hence why Ruby and her friends were a group of seven (and why their names are Scandinavian-rooted). Enjoy that fun fact!
Be aware, I am NOT an expert on PTSD. This story, and Ruby's suffering, is a dramatized version that I will be delving into more later.
Last but not least, Tai. I wanted him to have some sort of character in this besides 'being dad'. And he would definitely react differently to Ruby being hurt than Yang. So, most likely, the next Ruby chapter won't have him joking about her trauma and her laughing back.
And that's it for team RP (Repair). Next up will be about Blake. Surprise! She's alive! (I wonder how that might affect Yang and how the others treat her in the future.) Mwahahahaha. But, be warned, that the next chapter will be pretty much what it is in canon.
I promise that the next chapter will not take as long as this one did. We, me and Icarus, have outlined every chapter to come this season. Or, half, since Volumes 4 and 5 are the same. I cannot wait to share with you what we have planned.
As always, I'd like to ask everyone to comment on this chapter (whether or not you are reading this as it updates or a year from then). It helps me improve and gives me even more drive to write!
My dream of being the number one Mistborn FanFic writer still has not been achieved! Slavok's Beautiful Destroyer still holds that record with a difference of 157 Favorites and 277 Follows. We are in third though! C'mon everyone, we can do this!
Read on, warriors and share with your friends.