Team RWBY silently entered the dorm that night.
There was a rather awkward silence; glances were exchanged, but nothing else. In fact, they were still fresh from the pier incident where they'd almost been crushed by a Bullhead engine. On top of that, Blake and Sun (whose name they learned from Blake) were about to disappear right before them. They didn't even try to joke or remark about what was happening; they were that close to death.
"Yang..." Everyone looked at Ruby, who was heavily breathing as she walked up to her sister, wide-eyed and afraid. "What. Was that?"
Yang was taken aback. It was the first time in a while that she'd seen Ruby get this scared. The last time was back in Signal when Crescent Rose broke down for the first time. Crescent Rose, even in its heyday, had always looked so bulky, but Ruby had apparently built it well enough that it was only the first time. Yang realized right then and there that whenever it happened, something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
"We could have died. Are you sure she's... she's who we thought she was?"
"Ruby," Yang explained, "that was an accident, and you–"
"Was it-"
"Yeah, she stopped before she could do any more damage. You noticed too, didn't you?"
Ruby and Yang stared at each other. Yang didn't want to say the wrong thing to her sister, but she could tell that neither did Ruby. Soon, Weiss joined Ruby and stood by her, arms crossed.
"Yang," Weiss began, "before you say anything, let me be clear. Your friend Penny leveled the pier as we retreated. Say what you will about what she wanted to do, but she is still a danger to you and to us."
Ruby paused, eyes on Weiss. Yang could see the hesitation crystal clear, knowing Ruby knew that she and Penny were becoming good friends before. She swallowed. Two of her teammates, one of them her sister, made themselves clear, and they weren't wrong: Penny was reckless. She destroyed part of the city, and to what, stop Roman from escaping? Still, she still couldn't ignore the fact that Penny realized what she was doing.
After all, if she hadn't, what else would have stopped her rampage?
"Look, I know you've been getting along with Penny more and more, but..." Ruby gulped. "You have to do something."
"Either teach her a lesson, or tell her to stay away," Weiss explained. "Or accept her the way she is, and we face the consequences."
Yang saw those words from a mile away, but they still hit. She didn't want to leave Penny friendless after probably becoming her first ever friend, which would have broken her heart, but she also didn't want her teammates to lose faith in her. Now she was at a fork in the road. She wanted to keep everyone happy, but how? Could she take her time and let things cool, or can she only wait so long before the powder kegs exploded on her?
She didn't know.
"Can I just," Yang asked, "think for a day? Please?" Ruby and Weiss looked at each other, worried. Ruby whispered something to Weiss, who nodded back, then the two looked back at Yang.
"Sure," Weiss said. "But we expect an answer by tomorrow."
"We're not here to say you're not allowed to be with Penny anymore," Ruby explained. "We just want to make sure you're okay."
. . .
Team RWBY went through the night as usual. They showered, brushed their teeth, and put on their pajamas, but only Ruby and Weiss slept.
Not Yang. She stayed up staring at her painted fingernails.
And not Blake, who was waiting by the door, wearing a simple black-and-white kimono with a purple undergarment, a pencil miniskirt with an overlapping fold at the front, and a pair of traditional Mistral geta. In addition, she wore her bow that, now that she realizes, hid her cat ears. Yang tilted her head as Blake beckoned her to come over. Nodding, she slowly climbed down from her bed and walked over to her.
"Follow," Blake whispered before gently turning the doorknob and pushing open the door. "Don't panic; I have my Scroll."
Yang followed her out the door on tiptoe while checking that her teammates were still asleep. After Blake shut the door, Yang sighed. "Yeah?" she whispered. "S'up?"
"You want to talk about her?" Blake whispered back.
She frowned. "So? What about her?" She braced herself for words that would come out of Blake's mouth. "You think I should be better off without that Penny girl, whoever she even is anymore?"
Blake smiled. "You know better than to think that," she began. "She's a person who didn't know."
"Wait, what do you mean?" Almost too late, Yang realized that her voice had risen before Blake raised her finger to her lips.
"She tried to do the right thing. I was out, you and Weiss were busy, and Ruby was in trouble. But, she had the ability to destroy airships with lasers..." Blake hesitated, her smile fading. "She just didn't realize how much damage she could do."
Yang could only imagine what must have gone through Penny's mind during the pier incident. She was sure that Penny was reacting to what was going on around her; Ruby was on the verge of losing to Roman, whom she encountered that same night. Blake was being wheeled into the Bullhead unconscious. She and Weiss had just entered and were dealing with a dozen or so White Fang henchmen.
Waiting wasn't an option.
"I know this because..." Blake shook her head. "Because I knew someone almost as powerful."
Someone with Penny's capability for destruction? So her casual tearing of places was not so unusual after all...
Yang nodded. "Go on?"
"Just like her, he could tear down a whole place if he wanted to, and he did, a few times..." Blake sighed. "And every time he did it, it was no accident. Sometimes it was because people got in his way, sometimes it was what his missions demanded.
"All of this was after he... changed."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing; someone like Penny using her powers for evil? It was so inconceivable, yet so unfortunately... plausible. She had heard the phrase 'power corrupts' from time to time, and never had that particular phrase rung truer than it did tonight. To think what Penny would have done to Team RWBY if they had been four of her enemies?
Terrified, she couldn't wait to push that thought to the side.
"Oh."
"It's fine, he's nothing to worry about anymore... right now, that is." Blake frowned.
"So..." Yang clasped her hands together. "I'm glad you see where I'm coming from, but... I don't know if I can get that across to Ruby and Weiss."
"Let them rest, then we'll talk with them. Okay?"
"'Kay."
"Good."
Yang was about to walk back inside when Blake spoke up one more time. "One more thing," she said. "If you tell her to be careful next time and she doesn't listen, that's when I'd start worrying."
. . .
"Hey sis, Blake and I are having a meeting with you and Weiss."
"Weiss, can you come with me and Yang?"
Ruby and Weiss took seats in chairs opposite Blake and Yang, who stood in front of them. They suspected that the discussion would revolve around Penny, and they couldn't have been more right.
"So," Yang said, "I'm sure you're thinking about me being friends with Penny."
"That would be correct," Weiss replied.
"Okay..." Yang took a deep breath. "I've known Penny since we met near a dock and became friends."
Weiss nodded. "The same place I ran into her?"
"Oh yeah–" Yang chuckled. "Well, she's friendly, very enthusiastic, and... not very knowledgeable about the world. I mean, she hardly knows what's right or wrong."
"Like destroying the... shipping dock?" Ruby inquired.
"Worse than that." Yang said, turning to Blake. "Blake?"
"Destroying the dock just to catch Roman."
"Exactly." Yang raised a finger. "But before you say anything, I'm going to say right now that she didn't mean it. You saw how much things went to hell, right? Well, I ran away with you, and when I stopped to see what was going on, I..." She gritted her teeth slightly. "I saw her staring at me. In shock. She stopped everything because she learned what happens when she pulls out those lasers."
Ruby and Weiss were stunned. Sure, they had run from her, but they hadn't expected Yang to reveal that she had seen them in the heat of the moment, speechless with remorse. Suddenly, she seemed less like a crazed student hunter and more like a naive one, unaware of the implications of her own abilities.
"If she'd kept going," Blake said as she stepped forward, "it would have been a different story. There's a reason she stopped."
The four stopped. Yang looked at her two teammates, Ruby and Weiss, and noticed that their bodies seemed more relaxed than before.
"Hey," Ruby spoke up, noticing a hint of guilt in their expressions. "I trust you."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She stood up. "She was trying to help out—" She turned towards Weiss with a bittersweet smile. "—right, Weiss?"
Weiss hesitated, then made a small nod. "Perhaps."
Ruby sighed, then turned to face Yang. "Yang, uh... I... take back what I said about Penny earlier."
"Good, glad you understand—"
"But..." Her sister gulped. "I don't know why, but I still get scared when I think of her."
Yang went up to Ruby and put her hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. I'm afraid of her as well. But, trust me when I say this: she's not that bad."
"Uh huh..."
"I can even show you Penny if you'd like. You want to?"
"Uhhh..." Ruby stepped away, thinking to herself as her eyes and hands trembled. Yang couldn't blame her for what had happened last night; after all, what kind of person wouldn't flinch even a little in the face of someone who had just shown how capable they really were? On the other hand, there was a reason why this whole meeting had happened in the first place.
"...Sure... thing..?"
"Alright. Today?"
"Yeah!" Ruby laughed, although it was an uncomfortable one. "Today, totally!"
"Sure, sis?" Yang raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to if you don't."
"Yeah, I'm sure!"
"Alright, get your stuff and come."
. . .
Ruby and Yang weren't finding Penny.
Yang got back Blake, but in the process, Penny wasn't showing up. Yang tried to text, then call her, but every time, she never heard back. She desperately wanted to shout at her for that and perhaps teach her a lesson; after all, the lasers and debris had real chances of crippling any of Team RWBY, or worse. Indeed, she was still a person. She was still relatively new to a whole host of things, let alone fighting crime, and was just someone who really, really needed to learn restraint.
Yet, she couldn't ignore that flash of shock on her face. In fact, it was the only thing that kept her from confronting Penny later that night.
Even then, nobody could ignore what happened.
"Where's she anyway?" Ruby asked.
"No idea," Yang answered. "Last time I saw her, she was getting inside that car while we were telling police and Huntsmen what happened." She sighed. "Guess she realized what she was doing."
"...Poor Penny." Ruby looked down. "I just hope she's okay."
"Yeah, same."
Yang looked at the Scroll in her hands and once again pulled up her contacts. Penny was there, as she'd seen before. She was about to try again when she thought: 'Will this work?' Then she remembered: she tried to reason with Weiss when they were still looking for Blake, and each time, she pushed back until she relented.
Maybe this time would be the charm.
"I'm gonna try one more time and see if she says anything. If not, we'll just go home."
"Alright, do what you will."
Yang nodded. Again, she called.
No response.
Again, she texted, [hey].
No response.
Again, she waited.
No response.
"Yup, this is hopeless," Yang said. "Let's just go home."
"Yeah..."
As they left to find her teammates, however, Yang's Scroll rumbled in her pocket, so she checked it, expecting something from one of her friends or teammates. However, as she checked, she saw that Penny had actually texted her back, and a notification made sure she knew. Hurriedly, she checked only to see the following message:
[Salutations.]
So Penny didn't outright cut her off after all. However, just a period in place of an exclamation mark told her what was going on: Penny didn't seem her usual mood.
"Wait, stop." Yang raised a hand in the form of a stop sign. Ruby acquiesced. "Penny just texted back."
"Then why don't you—"
"Text back?"
Ruby nodded. Yang tapped the virtual keyboard on her Scroll and hit the send button.
[u ok?]
[Yes.]
[why arnt u in vale?]
[I don't want to hurt you.]
Yang had expected it sooner or later, but this soon? She wondered if the destruction was too much even for Penny. She wondered if she realized she had come very close to hurting the people she wanted to protect. To be fair, she should have seen it coming; she saw a shocked face among the flames, then a sad one as she watched Penny get escorted into that car.
To be fair, her hypothesis was that Penny didn't realize what was in those freights last night. That was her most likely explanation for why the destruction had unfolded the way it had. That, combined with her and her teammates' close call, was what turned a fight into a near-death experience.
No wonder why she wasn't here.
But how was Yang going to get that message to her? She didn't want to make excuses, only explain what might have happened. She had no more nagging will to yell at Penny; if she gave in to that, it might end their newly-forged friendship right there.
At last, she knew what to say.
[penny youd jav 2 hurt me lik u mean it]
[What did you mean?]
Yang swallowed. 'Penny's definitely worrying too much,' she thought. 'Guess I'll have to try explaining.'
[th part where we almsot got hurt. you never pointed ur lasers at us, only that timepiece tangerine weirdo. u were only trying to take him down]
[When I aimed my laser at the approaching Bullheads, their debris ignited the Dust in the shipment containers. Hundreds of objects scattered in every direction. I believe a quarter of the debris came for you or your coworkers.]
Yang took a deep breath.
[u couldnt hav possibly predicted that. if youd known, what wouldu have done?]
Yang waited. What she had seen at the industrial dock had shaken her and her teammates, but not all of it was necessarily Penny's fault. After all, she was only trying to protect her and her friends. Roman and his new minions were the ones who were after them and were the reason why Blake and Sun, whose name she had just learned, were about to disappear that night.
Just as she was about to walk off to find the rest of her teammates, Penny replied.
[I would have gotten you all to safety first. I was only trying to protect you.]
Yang smiled, then texted back.
[ik]
Now was the chance to see if it'd worked after all.
[so u wanna see me the city tmmrw?]
Yang bit her lip, awaiting her answer. 'Did it work?' she wondered. 'What if she didn't listen? What then?'
. . .
Penny stared at the message from Yang that said [hi].
Sure, Yang held no real ill towards her against all odds, or so it appeared. She wouldn't have been surprised if she did, but why was she insisting on reaching her anyway? Was it because she still wanted to be friends? Indeed, she did what she could but it ended in Roman getting away while her friend and friends-to-be ran from her. It was not a great feeling at all, and she certainly didn't want to feel it again.
She didn't want a repeat of that night, either. Not that she had control over that, anyway.
Ciel entered the room with all the composure she could muster, but it was clear she appeared exhausted. Penny was about to ask what happened when she heard distant arguing between Laurel and Alyssa.
"So why am I here anyways?" Alyssa shouted.
"Because—"
Before Laurel could say anything, Alyssa interrupted her. "Because Atlas wanted to say it's not racist?"
"Because you—"
"Because what?! Spill it already!"
Ciel shut the door behind her and cleared her throat. "Is there a concern, Penny?" she asked.
"Ciel," Penny began. "What is going on between Laurel and Alyssa?"
"Arguments. They are what happens when people do not get along with each other."
Penny blinked. "Oh."
She remembered what she had told Yang. The advice had been, "Change starts with a talk," and so badly did she want to bring about change. Problem was, she still didn't know where to start. She already knew where Laurel and Alyssa were coming from and why they were fighting. She did not want to say a single wrong thing to either of them.
Even if she wanted to say something, would she be sure she was saying the right thing? She had never tried to settle disputes herself. The most she's done was to give advice. One wrong move and the team would be history in a matter of hours.
She wanted to get out of here, fast. For the first time in days, she typed her reply to Yang.
[Salu]
Even typing in her usual greeting gave her pause. She motioned to shut her Scroll, already thinking to put it to the side, but stopped short of completely closing it. She didn't want to leave her hanging, so what was a good alternative to that? 'Good question,' she thought to herself.
Thus, she soldiered on, typing the rest of the one-word message before sending.
[Salutations.]
Ciel watched Penny frown after the message was sent. She and Laurel had taught her why she had to hold back sometimes; apparently Penny had only fought Grimm-shaped enemies, never humans, until last night. Besides, she was fighting Grimm in a controlled environment most of the time, being the first synthetic human with Aura in her metallic body. That, she felt, was an important part of why the pier incident happened the way it did.
In short, Penny hadn't learned to consider things in the background.
What followed was a series of messages between Penny and Yang. The former was afraid of somehow killing the latter, but the latter apparently realized how exaggerated that worry was. As much as she worried about her team leader's girlfriend, at least she seemed to be taking good care of her.
The real problem would be if Yang introduced her to swear words and/or uncomfortable world views she might have. The last thing she wanted was to see her destroying property with her friends.
Then came the following text message:
[so u wanna see me the city tmmrw?]
"Ciel." Penny looked up at Ciel. "I want to get away from here."
"I can try to arrange that." Ciel nodded.
"Are you sure you can arrange my outdoor hours?"
Ciel paused. Whenever Penny wanted to leave this "vacation" home, she faced many challenges. Often Ciel would abstain, but Alyssa would try to give Penny the go-ahead, while Laurel would insist otherwise. No matter how such an exchange would go, Penny would end up with the next best alternative: sneaking past her teammates. In truth, Ciel was quite ambivalent about the matter, especially since Ironwood and Pietro might not approve of what Penny wanted, but one particular thought had occurred to her:
'Shouldn't she be just as responsible for her own actions as every other Hunter-in-Training?'
The idea of Penny living the life of a teenager was not far-fetched. After all, she looked like one. Still, she and a few others were under orders to be her acting superiors. She understood why, given Penny's unique background, but she had to wonder why she was involved in the first place.
Suddenly, she had an epiphany: this was her chance to help Penny live the life she wanted.
"...Yes."
She saw a delighted surprise on Penny's face. Ciel had seen it coming a mile away as the one who usually refrained from doing so. From this, Penny probably got the idea that Ciel was neutral in this matter, which she had been until now.
"Thank you," she said before she turned back to her Scroll and typed in the only answer she knew she wanted to give with the brightest smile she had.
[Yes!]
As usual, thanks to Merion for proofreading this chapter!