RWBY: Avenge Me
Chapter 8: Drive
"You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time to think about how you will uphold it." Ozpin
Protecting lives of others can be a major source of strength or burden for a Huntsmans heart, in and out of battle. Will losing one such life be our hero's inner fire or a shackle of guilt that impedes them?
WBY, Sun, and JNPR stood in absolute shock at the impossibility before them. Their headmaster, Ozpin, in the form of this once meek little dark skinned boy with green eyes sitting on the couch with his legs folded with care and calm. It was as unfitting as it was baffling. Qrow had informed them he had found Ozpin's charred corpse in the basement under Beacon tower the night they lost the school…and another they cherished that was burned by the witch. The dread however, was overlapped by the confusion and shock from this discovery.
"I-I thought you were dead." Blake whispered in stunned fright.
"Yeah…that's what Qrow told us at least." Yang said slowly, the others feeling the anger from her near growl as she eyed her Uncle wearily. His nonchalant shrug only infuriated her further, her eyes briefly flickering a bit red before she took a deep breath to calm herself. She wanted answers, and fighting wasn't going to giver her them…yet.
Ozpin felt her anger rising and knew the notion of secrecy was a poor topic for the Xiao Long, not that he blamed her considering who her mother was. He decided to get this over with.
"Your Uncle did not lie you Miss Xiao Long. I indeed perished at the hands of Cinder Fall last year at Beacon." Ozpin clarified. But the more he spoke in Oscar's body, the more JNPR shivered, completely unnerved.
"THEN HOW ARE YOU HERE RIGHT NOW!? ARE YOU A GHOST!?" Nora screamed in shock. Ren even nodded a bit, unsure if Nora's theory could actually be accurate, a ghost possessing someone like a litch.
"Hmph. In a way you could call me that Miss Valkyrie. I am a lost soul cursed to possess the bodies of like-minded people for so many millennia. The professor Ozpin you met was just one of such people." Ozpin chuckled a bit, but the kids could sense the sadness in his tone, showing them this wasn't some weird joke. It made them freeze in shocked silence.
From there Ozpin went onto explain his role in the war against a witch known as Salem. Apparently she was the master of Cinder who orchestrated the fall of Beacon, and worse had absolute dominion over the Grimm as well. Ozpin had been fighting her and her forces for eons, only barely able to keep her at bay a few times. Countless tragedies within their history textbooks at the hands of Grimm, or at humanities hands through wars and dictatorships that beset the Grimm attacks were actually done from the shadows by this manipulative woman. As to why she wanted this, he described her as a half Grimm half human but all demon woman who loathed life and peace. Ozpin claimed he was once loyal to her, but was cursed by the Gods for failing to stopping to reign her in and so had to reincarnate till the day he could end her reign of terror on Remnant, yet had failed countless times to do so, as she had access not just to the powers of Grimm, but to ancient magic long since lost to humanity as she killed almost all humanity once, and with it the art.
WBY and JNPR sat in shock as they struggled to process this revelation. It suddenly felt like their goal to avenge Ruby became all the more impossible. They didn't have to just fight a maiden with god-like power, they had to face an almighty witch who could control all Grimm and killed all humanity once? What chance did they have. The sense of powerlessness soon brought forth a different feeling in one of them, who slowly got to her feet and walked over, kneeling before the former headmaster and eyeing them bitterly.
"So then, Beacon was targeted…because of your feud with Salem?" Pyrrha asked with soft anger in her tone. Ozpin sighed as he nodded sadly.
"Indeed. Miss Nikos. I thought that by hiding her existence from as many as possible it would put less targets on peoples backs for her to attack, that I and a select few such as Qrow would bare such a burden. But as I told Miss Rose once, I made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child on this planet, that being one of them. And you all paid dearly for it. I am so sorry." Ozpin said with deep regret in his raspy voice as he hung his head in shame.
Pyrrha averted her once scornful gaze with mixed feelings. Much like the others she was unsure what to make of this. On one hand they were angry he lied to them and didn't prepare them for such a risk, but then again they knew what terror just Cinder was capable of. If he did tell them sooner, they might have brought a horde of Grimm running towards the school sooner with panic and shock like they were feeling right now. Only one of them, however, was certain of which feeling they were having right now and was going to make it known.
"So my sister was murdered because of you? Because you couldn't trust us?" Yang asked bitterly.
Her wrathful tone made her friends skin pale as they sheepishly scooted away from her on the couch. Her eyes were red but her hair was normal, regardless even without her semblance on they could sense the danger. Even Ozpin gulped a bit as he winced hearing this, sighing sadly.
"Yes. Another in the long list of my failings over the millennia." The immortal whimpered.
"Oz don't put that on yourself. What happened was-" Qrow tried to assure him, but Yang wasn't having any of it and cut him off.
"Don't. Defend him Uncle." She said coldly and slowly making him shudder a bit. He expected a tantrum, but this cold fury she was showing was so much like Raven's. It was downright terrifying.
"If he had told us, if he hadn't let us play some fairy tail game and let us know what dangers we were heading towards we could have been stronger. Ruby might…" Yang groaned, a tear soon forming in the corner of each of her eyes as she choked on her words painfully, tugging at her friends and uncles heartstrings, knowing what she was feeling.
"*Sigh* Miss Xiao-…Yang. You make a good point, but please don't disparage your sisters choices. Ruby knew the huntress lifestyle came with risk." Ozpin sighed.
"Ozzy." Qrow said in warning, knowing he was trying to respect Ruby, but knowing this wasn't helping his case, something a bitter glare from Yang was proving.
"So she deserved to die? Is that it?" Yang asked bitterly, JNPR and Sun soon glaring as well at the absurd thought, but Ozpin immediately shook his head in quick defense.
"No! I didn't mean that. But regardless, our work is dangerous. The battle that consumed Beacon and so many innocents has happened several times over the years. Many pure hearted people sadly lost their lives like Ruby. You could all do so soon in this battle too if you choose to fight." Ozpin said wearily.
"Your saying you want us to quit?" Pyrrha asked indignantly.
"B-But we can't let her down. Those monsters need to pay for what they did." Sun argued. His lip burning as his scars radiated a phantom pain that made him quiver to Blake and Weiss's concern as they rubbed his back soothingly, but Blake winced as she saw Yang's robot arm shake, knowing she was also having a trauma flash.
Indeed, Yang was shaking with rage and fear as she heard this, unsure if she could contain herself much longer as the headmaster spoke more.
"And that's exactly what Ruby felt. She fought to protect others from evils wrath. But she knew such a drive was dangerous, that it had risks-" Ozpin warned. Yang couldn't hold it any longer as she smashed the coffee table with a single punch to everyone's shock.
"NO SHE DIDN'T! SHE DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE!" Yang roared, everyone's hearts sinking as they heard this, a wave of fear and powerlessness overtaking them. Even Ozpin shrunk into his shoulders as he faced her wrath. Yang remembered her father's teaching at the sight of their panic and took a deep breath, containing herself again through no small effort.
"She didn't have a clue. None of us did. You should have told us." Yang bitterly said as she slowly made her way to the staircase, her teammates slowly following at arms length wearily. She spared the immortal and Pyrrha and solemn stare before she left. "I don't care about you or this war, but I know Ruby would have. She would have run out and risked everything for what's right so I will too. But don't think that means I'll ever forgive you for costing me her. There's no chance in hell." She said coldly to them as she left, Weiss and Blake biting their lips nervously as they had mixed reactions to those words before leaving to check on their teammate.
"No surprise there." Pyrrha sighed as she processed those words, knowing they weren't just towards Ozpin. Yet, for all her anger at Yang's lashing, she still couldn't bring herself to deny those feelings. Apparently she wasn't alone.
"Goodnight then children. I'd say pleasant dreams, but we can all tell I never sleep soundly after what's happened." Ozpin groaned as Oscars eyes shined green flashes for a moment before he groaned, rubbing his head as it clearly ached.
"Man that's always nasty." Oscar whined with a huff in exhaustion. "I hate it when he takes over.
"Your not the only one." Jaune groaned, still weirded out by this ordeal.
"So….whose Ruby?" Oscar asked curiously, yet wearily. He could hear some of what Ozpin said and heard as he struggled every time to fight the dark void switching control of the body put him through.
JNPR and Qrow looked solemnly at the boy as he asked this, immediately making him reel back into the couch.
"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to offend anyone I-" He said panicked.
"No its okay. It would be good to talk about her. Bring back warm memories. I'm gonna check on firecracker, then you kids should hit the hay, we gotta lot of training tomorrow." Qrow said in his defense as he eyed the kids sternly before heading up the stairs, a loud thud upstairs making him wince a bit as he knew this wouldn't be pretty with the bad mood Yang had.
After Qrow left, JNPR and Sun sat back down as they met this boys eyes. They were filled with fear and confusion, yet intrigue at the same time.
"S-Sorry I…never met hunstmen before this. I-I'm a little nervous." He stuttered with a blush.
"Well we never met an immortal with 2 souls before so join the freakout club." Sun chuckled nervously.
The others couldn't help but join him in laughter silently, wary of the fire dragon upstairs that could misinterpret it. They were especially glad she was gone as Pyrrha brought up what they were all thinking.
"So. You want to know who Ruby Rose was?" She asked painfully, making them all recoil a bit as Oscar nodded sheepishly.
"She…felt important to "him", she made him feel proud but sad. Why?" He asked about Ozpin.
"She was important. To all of us. She was a good friend of ours." Nora said softly with pain in her tone, despite her smile.
Soon others joined the talk.
"She was a huntress student at our school. She was a ball of sunshine." Ren said.
"And was a major badass with a giant scythe. We used to call her the red Reaper." Sun chuckled, remembering his shock when seeing it in action against Roman's mech last year, especially how big far his jaw dropped in awe.
"Yeah, she was powerful, but what really made her amazing was how she made others strong. How she drove them to get better, even when they thought they couldn't." Jaune said warmly as he gripped his sword, still remembering how she admired the relic the first day they met. It brought tears to his eyes as he could still hear her sweet words to him, the last he could recall from her now that she was gone. "But that didn't save her the night Beacon fell. She gave her life saving all of us." he said, his tone full of guilt that made the others slump their shoulders to Oscar's concern, shocked to hear such depressing news.
"How…how do you fight then without her? Knowing what your up against?" Oscar asked frightfully.
While the others sat in silence pondering the question that plagued them tonight, one person had her answer already.
"Ruby Rose…and Penny Polendina. Both girls fell in this war, but not by Salem's hands." Pyrrha said sadly.
"Pyrrha-" Jaune put a hand on his lovers shoulders, trying to alleviate her guilt but she shrugged him off with a sad smile and a slow shake of her head, making him back off.
"Both girls died that night because of me." Pyrrha said painfully, shocking Oscar, yet the boy remained silent, knowing it wasn't the time to talk. "I couldn't save them despite being called the "Invincible girl." Because I wasn't strong enough. I'm scared. Scared even with this new gun knee I still might not be. But Penny wasn't even fighting for what was right when this war took her away from us, Ruby….she did and it cost her life when she took a blow for an arrogant jerk who fought a witch she knew she couldn't beat." Pyrrha said guilt-ridden.
Her team and Sun watched in sadness and disgrace as they averted their gaze, Sun shaking as he could almost smell the fire and blood in Menagerie on a night as solemn as this one.
"Tell the Kitten I'm coming for her, or else you'll join them." Adams cold words as he lifted Neptunes limp corpse over the rest of his teams made Sun nearly hurl, but he kept it in as he saw Pyrrha shaking, barely keeping it all in.
"Your not invincible, but your damn stronger than me sister." He thought in amazement silently.
"I am scared I'm not strong, but if Ruby taught me anything its that there are some battles we can't win alone. We need to stick together to have that chance. Ruby gave her life to beat Cinder for me, and I know if the roles were reversed she'd be fighting with our friends right now to stop her again. I want to treasure the lives she gave all of us at the cost of her own, and we can only secure them now by ending that witch's. She and her master proved they don't care even if your not involved in this war with Ozpin, they'll kill everyone and ruin her sacrifices efforts, and we can't let that happen. I refuse to let my fear consume me, to be a coward and hide rather than fight for what's right like she did. That's what keeps me going." Pyrrha said firmly, her team and Sun nodding as well to Oscar's amazement.
"Wow. So this is what Huntsman are like. I bet Ruby was the best of them all then." Oscar thought. The thoughts triggered the headmasters soul within his subconscious.
"In some ways. She had her faults, her quirks, just like us all. But you can see it right? The spark she had that ignited everyone's fire to fight. That's what made her great my boy." Ozpin said with pride that filled the boy, making him smile.
As JNPR and sun waved to each other goodnight as they were content with this smile, it soon descended as the farmboy eyed a solemn Pyrrha hand her head as she entered her room wearily, remembering her painful words.
"She blames herself for their deaths." Oscar thought.
"Salem's forces tricked her into killing a girl named Penny by accident, and Ruby took a blow meant to kill her. Her guilt is something that drives her as much as her need for vengeance. It's drowning her really." Ozpin explained.
"That, and fighting a war with her teams lives on the line with hers? That must be very heavy for her to deal with." Oscar surmised.
"It most certainly is." Ozpin agreed.