Howdy folks, how's it going?

Sorry if this is coming a bit later than usual, took a bit longer for Chaos to be available to give it a look. Still, for once, I didn't have anything happening during the weekend that complicated my ability to get a chapter done. Feels nice.

Also, in regards to the ending of the last chapter, I have to say that, so far, nobody got it right. But then, I did leave it deliberately vague.

Anyway, as usual, huge shout out to Chaos Productions for his assistance with my stories.

And as always, I own neither RWBY nor MTG.

Now, enjoy.

/

It was a very quiet group that finally made its way back to their room, a short while later, but Ruby couldn't really fault them for it. It might have been to varying degrees depending on the girl, but all of them had learned some pretty worldview shattering things today.

Even their emotions had taken a toll. After so many spikes of shock and confusion, the room around her felt muted, its occupants spent.

Case in point as soon as the door closed behind them, Weiss, Blake and Yang all just walked to their respective beds and plopped down without a word, while Ruby herself went to her little corner and sat down cross-legged.

The silence stretched out for a good long while, although everyone was still clearly awake, their eyes wide open. Ruby was content to let it remain that way as long as necessary, knowing full well that saying the evening's revelations were a lot to process would be an understatement.

Sure enough, about roughly half an hour, someone finally took the initiative.

"So…" Weiss started uncertainly, lying straight on her back, arms neatly folded over her torso, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, before she stopped herself, blinking. "Actually, should we even be talking here? A dorm room… really doesn't feel discrete enough for any of this…"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I have set up some wards in this room, for the sake of privacy. Nothing said or done in here will be heard outside." Ruby reassured, exemplifying by thumping her fist loudly against the wall a few times, to no reaction from the neighboring team. "It's also warded against unwelcome intrusions, physical or otherwise. You two only caught us off-guard because I keyed you in as belonging here."

"…Right, of course, makes sense." The heiress eventually replied blankly, after letting out a long breath through her nose. "So then, I'm sorry if I sound redundant, but I really would like to check if I am understanding… all of this correctly. To start with, magic is a real thing."

"It is." The young planeswalker confirmed with a patient nod.

"And not only is magic real, some old stories and legends about four girls with the powers of the seasons are actually true, and are actually about four girls capable of using magic. One of those girls is currently at Beacon, working as an assistant professor."

"That's Amber, alright."

"A position that turns out to be a cover to a conspiracy centered around these fairy tale figures, because it turns out the mindless monsters that we are being trained to fight and have been threatening humanity for as long as anyone can recall actually have some form of organized leadership, and this… Salem, whatever she is, wants the Maidens and their power for nefarious purposes."

"Seems it."

"And as if this, which would probably rock the very foundations of Remnant as we know it by itself, wasn't enough, turns out that there's infinite different realities out there, and that there a select few people can travel between them, of which you are one, and another is currently working for the one controlling the Grimm, and both of you can not only use magic, but are also apparently more proficient at it than the select few that can do it here."

"Alternate realities is not quite the correct thing, but for the purposes of this conversation, it's close enough." Ruby clarified with a slight shrug. "As for the rest, that's about the size of it, yes."

…

…

…

"…Wow." Weiss commented in an oddly casual tone, as if she had gone so far past shock and incredulity that she had looped back around to calm acceptance. "This kinda makes our own issues feel small and insignificant by comparison, doesn't it, Blake?"

"You're telling me." The black-haired girl drawled, slumped haphazardly in her own bed, voice slightly muffled on account of how she was face down on the pillow. "Why do you think I was so open to dialogue?"

"Well, I had found it odd that you suddenly seemed a lot less snappy these last few days," The heiress conceded to point. "But now, I can hardly blame you."

Ruby blinked at that, glancing over towards her sister, who blinked back, clearly not having any more idea what was going on that she did.

"Something you girls want to share, or…?" She prompted, to which the two girls turned slightly, glancing at each other, before both shrugged in oddly well time unison.

"Eh, why not? We kind of were coming in to talk about it before… everything that just happened anyway, might as well get it all over with tonight." Weiss replied carelessly, making Ruby blink, seemed like this whole thing really had done a number on the Heiress' ability to keep a prim and proper demeanour. "So, Professor Herbs mentioned something about you having empathy. I take this to mean that you can feel others' emotions?"

"Among other things, yeah." Ruby confirmed, to which the white-haired girl all but snorted.

"Among other things indeed…" She muttered to herself bemusedly. "Anyway, then it is no secret to you that things between me and Blake have been rather tense from the very start, correct?"

"I did notice that, yes, though I hardly needed magic for that, pretty sure Yang could tell too, right?" The young planeswalker said, not seeing much point in denying it now, before glancing towards her sister, who answered the question with a slight nod. "Didn't think much of it, but I take it there was more at play there than an attitude problem?"

"…You could say that, I suppose." Weiss replied with resigned annoyance, while Blake snorted. "Simply put, the problem wasn't between the two of us specifically. It's more about… complicated history that precedes us."

"Oh?" Ruby prompted politely, but the heiress seemed to hesitate, once again turning to look to her partner.

"Would you like to take it from here?"

"…Why not, it's not like it's gonna be the biggest revelation of the evening." The black-haired girl conceded, shifting and rising into a seated position. Then, with only a slight hesitation as she glanced between the siblings, Blake reached up to her head and pulled at her bow, revealing a pair of feline ears.

…

…

…

"Well, that certainly explains a few things, but I'm afraid I don't see what the big deal is." Ruby said idly as she beheld the now revealed faunus, who seemed couldn't help but smile bemusedly, appreciative of the comment despite everything. The black-haired girl glanced towards Yang, who didn't seem particularly rattled by the revelation, simply staring back as if a few things had suddenly clicked into place.

"O-oh," She muttered timidly. "I get it… The Schnee heiress and a faunus in the same team…"

"Not just any faunus either." Blake continued after a light chuckle. "My father is Ghira Belladonna, the current chieftain of Menagerie. And besides that… He and my mother were founding members of the White Fang, and I was a member most of my life."

…

…

…

Wow, the feeling that she was feeling something incredibly poignant really had been a common thing over the last good while, hadn't it? At least this time, she wasn't completely ignorant. Qrow had taught her enough for her to be aware of what Menageries was, the simmering tensions between humans and faunus, and how the White Fang had been a product of those tensions. A picture was beginning to form, but a few components were missing…

"Ok," Ruby replied with a patient nod. "But why is that relevant?"

At the question, Blake outright chuckled, a sort of tired amusement about her.

"This is surprisingly refreshing. To see someone reacting to all of this as if it was no big deal, without any malice behind it."

"Again, given everything that just happened, it's hardly surprising." Weiss agreed with a knowing nod, before looking towards Ruby. "Long story short, Ruby, there's been basically an ongoing guerrilla war between my family's company and the movement her family started. And I do mean war, people have died on both sides."

Yang winced at the bluntness of the statement, but her unspoken agreement to what was being said just added credence to it.

"I see," Ruby replied neutrally, as all the pieces fell into place. "Wow, sounds like the academy's sorting system was going out of its way to screw us all over."

The comment actually drew a bout of full blown laughter from the heiress and a lopsided smirk from the faunus.

"Thank you for that extremely accurate summation on my thoughts." Weiss replied as her amusement died down. "Stuck in a team with a girl the entire world would have me see as my natural enemy, a disrespectful brute and her meek sister, no offense, Yang. I almost considered asking for a transfer to another academy."

"I wasn't particularly thrilled by the prospect either, though I had nothing against you two." Blake added in her two lien. "Especially when she realized who I was so quickly, I was half expecting having to flee the academy, but then that's on me. In hindsight, I could've done more to protect my identity than use a bow."

"I guess we got pretty lucky that things didn't escalate, then." Ruby couldn't help but comment, patiently taking in the entire situation. "Why didn't they, though?"

"Well for starters, we both just kinda reacted to the issue by ignoring it entirely. And then you happened." The heiress replied bluntly. "You were so unlike anything I was expecting to have to deal with in my time in this academy that you forced me to take a step back, seek advice, and ponder on my approach to things. From there, I kinda realized that living with this tension between us for the next four years was going to become unbearable, if something didn't snap first. So I tried to reach out, see if Blake and I could try to settle things through dialogue."

"And by the time she did, Ashiok had already happened." The black-haired girl replied, shivering even as the name passed her lips. "And I kinda realized that we had far bigger problems to deal with, so I was all for it."

"We reached an accord. I acknowledged that the SDC's reputation for poor treatment of its faunus employees is not unwarranted and that the Faunus' hatred of my father is not unjustified. She acknowledged that the White Fang's turn to violence and terrorism was too extreme, and that I had no say in anything my father did. We both acknowledged that we both don't want to be bogged down by prior history, and both came to Beacon to get a clean break away from it all, and to just take it from there and see how it goes." Weiss explained, before once again letting out a breath, and looking towards Ruby with a bemused expression. "I thought that had marked the end of our troubles. But as Blake said and I was the last to find out, turns out we have much bigger ones. Which makes the fact we buried the hatchet rather fortuitous, I suppose."

"…You both are showing a surprising willingness to maintain our secrets, which are taking remarkably well." Ruby commented, feeling appreciative despite everything.

"Yeah, well, it's not like anyone would believe us if we didn't. I understand when I have stepped into something much larger than myself." The heiress replied, a hint of her normal imperiousness breaking through her tiredness. "So much for a fresh start to something a bit more normal…"

"For what is worth, I do know what that feels like, since I kinda didn't intend for any of this to spill out." The young planeswalker replied apologetically, before her attention turned to her sister. "You doing alright, Yang? You've been rather quiet about all of this."

The blonde girl looked around the room, dull lilac eyes falling on each of her teammates, leaving her sister for last.

"…I-I just find it somewhat surprising." She stated, her expression a bit dumbfounded. "That I s-seem to be the most normal one here…"

…Well, she had them there.

"By the way, Yang," Weiss suddenly addressed the blonde, curiosity clear in her eyes. "Can I see those pictures? Not every day one gets a chance like that."

And with that, the remainder of the evening, before sleep claimed them all, was spent in pictures of another world and questions about it.

/

If Weiss and Blake sound a bit too casual about this whole thing, in their defense, at this current point they are both rather emotionally drained from all the secrets they've learned that are so much bigger than their own. This doesn't mean that their situation is being brushed aside, just that these unexpected outside factors made them both a bit more agreeable to talking things out without the tensions of canon, which frankly is not a resolution I see happening all that often.

At any rate, this marks the end to the fallout of Ruby's secret getting out and we are ready to move on to new things, such as the approaching visitor.

Before that though, next time we have the next update to Of Red Petals and Black Feathers, so look forward to that.

Cya all on the next one, stay safe and take care.