The ride back to Traverse Town was silent. Though whether it was due to tension, sorrow, resignation, acceptance, or perhaps all of the above, was up in the air. The young huntsman who stole the gummi ship, while he did find forgiveness from his three friends, only just realized how foolish and selfish he had been. And had they not had the means to track and follow him after he left Traverse Town, Jaune might have doomed all the worlds to be consumed by the Heartless.
Yet at the same time, Sora, Donald, and Goofy couldn't stay angry at him. After all...if they'd been as close to Pyrrha as he, Ruby, and everyone else among their group was, they might have tried to do something similar. But it was no use reflecting on what might have been or regrets toward what was. Jaune was in no condition to keep going as he was. All four of them knew it. So it was better he stay with his team and prepare for their return to Remnant
They could only hope everyone would be alright in the end.
The numbness of unconsciousness faded ever so slowly from Ruby's mind. The world was a blur as her silver eyes opened wearily, her head throbbing as she groggily looked around. Ruby could barely remember what happened before everything went...Light? Dark? She didn't know. As she tried to collect herself, the first thing she saw when she woke up was...a familiar, tired looking red haired girl, sitting in a chair across from her bed. "...Kairi?"
The girl snapped to attention hearing her name, and her deep blue eyes immediately fixed upon the rousing huntress with a gasp of relief. "Oh, Ruby! You're awake!" she said with a relieved smile. Ruby pushed herself up weakly, looking around as she struggled to remember what happened. "You've been out for a while, Ruby. Sora asked me to watch over you until he comes back." she explained, happy to finally sit down and speak with the huntress who stuck with Sora through thick and thin. She only wished that the circumstances could have been...better.
She wasn't the only one, of course. Ruby looked back at Kairi, wishing that she could feel some joy at finally getting to speak with the girl Sora risked everything for. But the circumstances...were sadly not ideal for bonding. "N...No problem." Ruby responded wearily, rubbing her forehead, wincing as she tried to remember what happened.
Kairi immediately stood up and lay a hand on Ruby's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Take it easy." she said with a gently urging tone. "Whatever happened at Hollow Bastion, it put you in this state. And I promised him I would take care of you."
Ruby looked over at Kairi with a confused grimace. "You...promised Sora?" she asked with a tone of weary surprise.
Kairi gave a nod and a smile in response. "Yeah. But I didn't just promise him. Someone else came to visit too. I...think he'll be the most happy to see you awake." she said, looking toward the door. The instant she did, Ruby's confusion vanished as the door burst open.
Standing in the doorway...was someone she didn't think she would see again. Immediately, her eyes widened and began to water. As did the eyes of the familiar man looking right back at her. She recognized the lightly tanned, scruffy, soul patch bearing blonde middle aged man looking at her anywhere. Those familiar brown cargo shorts held by a dark brown belt, black shoes, a red bandana on his left arm and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off...the metal spaulder, leather vambrace and a brown fingerless glove all on his right arm. And lastly, the tattoo resembling a heart on that same arm. She...had tried to hide her worry toward whether he had survived the destruction of their world or not, but...now, seeing him here, alive and well...Ruby's heart felt like it was about to burst from relief as she finally found her words. Or in this case, 'word'.
"D...Dad?"
Taiyang Xiao Long's look of shock turned to a smile of pure, teary-eyed relief as he ran to kneel at his daughter's side at the edge of the bed. "Ruby! Oh, I'm so glad you're awake!" he said, his voice brimming with equal parts relief and joy. His little girl was okay. Taking a moment to compose himself, he turned toward Kairi, that smile still brimming on his face. "Thanks for watching over her while I went to speak with Winter." he said gratefully.
"No problem, Mr. Xiao Long. Like I said, it's the least I can do for her after what she did for me and Sora." Kairi said with a smile and a small nod.
To which Ruby's father chuckled cheerfully. "Just call me Tai. You make me sound like an old man by being so formal." he said, trying to keep the positive atmosphere up. Something which Kairi could tell both Yang and Ruby must have learned from him.
Ruby wiped the tears from her eyes, feeling the grogginess from waking up still take effect even more. The ever lingering discomfort from what little she could recall before everything went blank was hovering over her like a persistent rain cloud. "What happened?" she wondered aloud.
Tai turned his attention to Ruby, taking the initiative to explain everything to her. "Your friends, Sora, Donald and Goofy, found you unconscious. After Weiss joined up with them and brought you to the others, they brought you back to Traverse Town. Not long after, one of your other friends, Jaune...took the gummi ship without telling anyone else." He wasn't sure how else to break that troubling bit of news to her.
The mention of Jaune stealing the gummi ship helped Ruby come out of her grogginess out of sheer shock. At least a little bit. "Wh...What? Oh no, why?" Ruby asked, confused and worried. What could have possessed Jaune to do something so reckless?
"We don't know," Kairi said, joining in with a shake of her head. "But Sora, Donald and Goofy went to get him, so I'm sure they're on their way back, right now."
As if on cue, the gummi ship arrived at Traverse Town. Jaune was still as despondent and guilty looking as when they found him. Despite everything that Phil, Hercules, and the friends who saved him told him, he still felt so...horrible about how selfish and reckless he'd been. He ought to have known that Pyrrha would never have wanted him to do something like that.
And yet, before he could even think of beating himself up over it, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning to his left, he saw it was Sora, looking at him with such gentle, sympathetic eyes. "Jaune...are you going to be okay?" Donald asked gently. Given everything that happened, one might think that wasn't the best thing to ask
He wasn't sure he deserved such...but he was grateful to have such wonderful friends as them. If anyone could put this right...it was Sora, Donald, and Goofy. So he settled instead for answering them honestly. "No...I don't think I will be...Not yet, at least." Sora, Donald, and Goofy's faces fell at his admittance. None of them had known Pyrrha half as long or as well as he did. "But maybe..." The trio immediately looked back at Jaune when he spoke up again. "...When I've had time to think...to sort everything out with Nora and Ren, maybe...I'll at least know what to do when we finally get back home." he finished, turning back to look at the trio with a heartfelt attempt at a smile. "Sora, Donald, Goofy...Thank you again."
The trio softly smiled back at Jaune with Goofy and Sora both clapping Jaune on the shoulder. If he had this much faith in them, then they were all the more motivated to make their way to wherever Ansem went, and finish this once and for all. Once they took care of other affairs first, of course.
"Sora! Jaune!"
The sound of Weiss's voice caught their attention as they looked to see the Schnee heiress running to meet them. "I heard about what happened! Thank goodness you got the gummi ship back." It wasn't hard to guess that was the result, considering a certain reckless blonde was standing beside them. They half expected Jaune to be on the receiving end of a harsh, brutal Schnee-brand lecture, given the recklessness of the stunt he pulled.
"Jaune...Nora and Ren have been worried sick about you. Come on. Let's go back to them."
But to everyone's surprise...Weiss simply lay a hand on his shoulder as she said those comforting words. But perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise given what happened. As much as Jaune could annoy her, Weiss knew there was more to Jaune than the annoying blonde boy who constantly tried and failed to impress her at Beacon. Now however was the time for healing, however slow or painful it would be.
Jaune gave a small nod and followed Weiss's lead, both of them passing a final look at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who nodded gratefully, silently thanking them for everything. While they wished they could all go together to finish this, they'd all done more than enough. They deserved to rest.
As Sora departed with Donald and Goofy, Weiss found herself thinking...wondering what WOULD happen if their world was restored. Particularly...what her father would want from her. And the sacrifices he would demand her and her sister to make...She almost wished she could stay with Sora just to not be around him...but perhaps that was the first sacrifice she would have to make. At least Sora would be spared the curse of meeting him.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy made their way to the hotel, nearly bumping right into Kairi as she walked out of the door to the room Ruby was staying in. "Sora! You're back!" she exclaimed with soft yet immense relief.
Sora gave her a small nod and a rather unconvincing half-smile. "We all got back safely. So...how's Ruby?" he asked.
He got his answer when a soft, "Sora?" rang out from within the room. Kairi stepped aside, still smiling, allowing the trio to clamber into the room with widening expressions of relief. Sure enough, there she was, awake again.
"Ruby!" Sora, Donald,and Goofy exclaimed as they saw the young huntress.
It was then they noticed Taiyang sitting at the foot of Ruby's bed, greeting them with a fond smile. "So I finally get to meet the three colorful characters who became such good friends to my little girls." he said, attempting to be cheerful, but even for him...the circumstances made that a little difficult.
Something everyone was feeling despite their initial relief. "Hey!" "Wak!" "Huh?" All three of them suddenly exclaimed with realization. "Wait a minute!" "Did you say-" "-your little girls?"
Ruby and Kairi couldn't help giggling at their silliness. Ruby's dad rubbed the back of his neck, realizing that he hadn't introduced himself to them yet. "Oh, right. I guess you guys weren't told about me, huh? I'm Taiyang Xiao Long. Ruby and Yang are my daughters."
Sora, Donald, and Goofy were stunned at the revelation. THIS was Ruby and Yang's father?! Thankfully their stunned state of affairs did not last that long for the sake of first impressions. When they composed themselves, they introduced themselves. "I'm Sora." "Donald!" "Goofy!" they said consecutively to Ruby's father.
Taiyang gave a small chuckle at the trio's introduction. "Nice to meet you all. I'm glad to know Ruby has made so many great friends. Not just from Beacon but from different worlds too. Honestly, I was a little worried since she initially was never very into idea of meeting other people." he said, chuckling at how antisocial Ruby was before she went to Beacon.
Under normal circumstances, Ruby would have asked why her father why he never mentioned that she would actually be working with other people back when she first attended Beacon. But right now, regardless of how she grew out of that social awkwardness...mostly, anyway, there were more important questions to ask. One came to her mind when she realized that the other most important person in her life was not here in this room. "Yang! Is she alright?!"
The atmosphere of the room grew far more somber as the smile on Taiyang's face dropped along with his head as he reluctantly answered. "She's, uh... she's gonna be alright. I just think she... I think it's just gonna take some time for her to get used to things. She's too strong to let this stop her." While it wasn't awful news, Ruby was still quite sad about what happened. Seeing her dear sibling in such a state was heart-wrenching. A brief sniffle from Taiyang broke her from the sad thoughts as her father smiled at her again. "I'm just glad that both my girls are here with me." he said, choosing to focus on the relieving part of these mournful developments.
With one question answered, Ruby turned to the others with an absolute flurry spilling from her lips. "You guys, what exactly happened? How long was I out? Why did Jaune leave? What happened to Pyrrha? And Cinder? Or that giant Grimm?"
"W-Whoa, whoa. One question at a time, Ruby, please." Sora said, feeling a little overwhelmed by the rosy inquisition. Not that he could blame her, of course.
Goofy cleared his throat as he took the initiative to answer, listing the answers off his fingers one by one. "Well, Cinder and that Grimm are gone. Some fellah in a black hooded cloak fought us after you were knocked out. Then took Cinder. The Grimm was destroyed a little after he showed up."
The mention of a 'fellah in a black hooded cloak' caught Kairi's attention. "A man in a hooded cloak? Who?" she asked. She thought that nobody else was at Hollow Bastion except Maleficent's cronies, Leon and his group, themselves, the Beast, and the princesses. Who else could have been there?
Donald shook his head as he answered her. "We don't know. He never said his name and we didn't see his face," He paused, tapping his webbed left foot and stroking his beak thoughtfully. "But he was really strong. More than that, something about him felt...really off." Donald wasn't even sure how to explain it. Neither did Sora or Goofy, who exchanged unnerved looks with Donald. There were so many unanswered questions already, yet now they just had more.
Taiyang was unnervingly quiet at the mention of this hooded man. The look of shock on his face was even more unnerving. As if the mention of this black cloaked figure reminded him of something. Something...not good at all.
"We managed to beat him...barely." Donald continued, rubbing the back of his neck. Even now, he felt sore from those strange red blade...things striking him. As did Goofy and Sora. Whoever that guy was, it was clear he was even more powerful than his supposed test had implied. They were hoping they wouldn't have to fight him ever again.
A sentiment Sora shared as he gave a nod. "Yeah. If Ruby hadn't gotten that big Grimm out of the fight, things might have gotten worse."
Sora's statement made Ruby perk up with surprise and confusion. Even more so as Goofy stated in agreement, "Yeah. She really did a number on it."
"I did...what?" Taiyang and Sora looked at her when she asked that, causing Ruby to shift in the bed as she looked between her father and friends. "You said I 'did a number on it'. What do you mean?" Feeling rather...on the spot now, Sora, Donald, and Goofy weren't sure how to describe it.
"I...Look that's not important right now. We can talk about it later. Things are...kind of a mess." Taiyang interjected. Ruby however knew that whatever this was, it was important. Especially if it managed to save the lives of Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
"It's BEEN a mess." The familiar, gruff voice of Ruby's uncle Qrow caught everyone's attention. He took a chug of his flask, the contents of which Sora was probably better off not knowing as he stepped inside. "Mind if we have a minute?" he asked his brother-in-law.
The inquiry earned an indignant response from the blonde man. "What, I can't stay here?!"
"Tai. Please." Qrow's response was completely serious. Something that Tai rarely heard from his brother-in-law. But whenever he did use such a tone, it was ALWAYS important.
Understanding, Taiyang stood up and turned to Ruby, giving his precious daughter a kiss on the forehead and departing with a gentle whisper of "I'm glad you're alright." Of course, he made sure to glare at Qrow on the way out all the same. Getting between him and his time with his daughter. The nerve.
Kairi decided to leave as well, followed by Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Just as they were about to leave the room, Qrow reached out and grabbed Sora's shoulder, stopping them all in their tracks. "Hang on. You should hear this too."
A little surprised that they were allowed to stay and listen, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi stepped back from the door. The four of them shifted to different parts of the room as Qrow pulled up a seat to sit across Ruby's bed. "So. How you feeling?" he asked his addled niece.
"Um... I kind of hurt all over?" she answered weakly, unsure how to describe it. She was still trying to make sense of everything else that happened...not to mention the puzzling things that her friends said.
Donald and Goofy exchanged concerned looks before stepping up to the bed. "You want me to use some healing magic?" Donald said, reaching for his staff.
"Or maybe you want one of the potions I got?" Goofy offered, reaching into his deep pockets.
Ruby smiled gratefully to her friends with a soft shake of her head, "No, it's not that bad. It's just...soreness more than pain." she assured them.
Qrow chuckled, both from the two offering to help his niece, as well as her response to their offers. Seeing how far she'd come in terms of making friends made him proud beyond words, like Taiyang. Though that sadly was not the focus of this conversation. "That makes sense, after what you did."
The smile on Ruby's face faded as she turned to her uncle. There it was again. A mention of her doing...something. Doing a number on a Grimm. All she wanted right now was a straight answer. "You guys keep saying that. That I did something. What are you talking about?" she asked, a vaguely demanding tone slipping into her voice.
Noting how serious she was being, Qrow leaned towards Ruby in his seat, looking her in the eyes with a look of utmost seriousness. "What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.
Ruby paused, doing her best to recall the last thing that happened before that blur of nothingness that was confounding her. "I ran up the side of the tower and when I got to the top, I..." The next instant, Ruby's eyes widened with a small gasp as she remembered WHY she was rushing to the top tower of Hollow Bastion. "Pyrrha! Is she-?!"
Silence filled the room as everyone else's heads mournfully lowered. It was Qrow who had to break it to her, though he wished it didn't have to be so. "She's gone..."
A wave of sadness struck Ruby as in that moment, the memories started flooding back. Tears of anger and sorrow mixed in her eyes as she tried to recount everything. "I... I got to the top. And I saw Pyrrha. And Cinder. And then everything went white..." Ruby clenched her bed sheet tightly in her fists as she finished recalling everything...Recalling the death of her dear friend.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at one another with expressions filled to the brim with regret, before turning back to the mourning huntress. "I'm...so sorry we couldn't save her, Ruby..." Sora said, his eyes beginning to water all over again.
"We tried to stop it...but Cinder...she threw us out of the fight and trapped us before we could do anything to help." Donald spoke up sorrowfully.
Goofy gave a sorrowful sniffle as he wiped his tearful eyes. "If only we'd been quicker getting free..." he mused mournfully.
"Don't blame yourselves. You did what you could." Kairi said, hating to see Sora and his friends blame themselves for what happened...what Cinder did. They did more attempting to stop what happened than most would dare to try against such a powerful foe. As much as Sora, Donald, and Goofy wanted to believe that, it didn't fill the hole left by Pyrrha's loss. A hole that was greater in Jaune's heart than anyone else's.
But now sadly was not the time to mourn. There was more that they all needed to hear. "What else?" Qrow asked, getting back on subject.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Ruby tried to think back to anything else that might have happened. "I remember...my head hurting." She wasn't sure how to describe it, even with her already hazy memory. Apart from...well, the massive headache that she still must have been getting over.
By now, Qrow felt it was the right moment to bring up the most important part of what he had to say to her. Something he'd been waiting to tell her for a long time. "The night you met Ozpin, what was the first thing he said to you?"
Her uncle's question caught her off guard, and for a moment, Ruby wasn't sure how to respond. "I...I don't know. I think it was something about..."
"Silver eyes." Qrow finished for her.
His words drew Sora, Ruby, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy's attention. "Silver...eyes?" Sora asked. Donald and Goofy, and Ruby and Kairi looked at each other, wondering what he meant. Was he talking about Ruby's eyes?
"It's an extremely rare trait." Qrow's vague answer only left Ruby and her present friends more confused.
"So?" Ruby's understandable inquiry pushed Qrow to finally stop beating around the bush. This was something Ruby had earned the right to know after all that has happened.
"You're special, Ruby. And not in the 'Daddy loves his special angel' kind of way. You're special the same way your mom was." His mention of her mother immediately grabbed Ruby's attention. Special in the way that she was? Qrow continued his explanation, seeing the questions starting to form in her head already. "Remnant's full of legends and stories, some of them true, some made up. But there's one Oz told me from a very long time ago. Back before Huntsmen, before Kingdoms, it was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to lead the life of a warrior. You see, the creatures of Grimm, the most fearsome monsters mankind had ever encountered, were afraid of those silver-eyed warriors. They were the best of the best. It was said that even a single look from one of these fighters could strike a Grimm down. Heh. It's a ridiculous story."
Despite her uncle's flippancy, Ruby was stunned. She didn't know what to think of this revelation. Nor did Sora, Donald, Goofy or Kairi. All she could muster was a stunned, "And you think I might be..."
"Well, from what the rest of your friends told me, there was a giant monster frozen atop that tower. And you're here, safe in bed." Qrow said, giving certainty to Ruby's question as he got from his seat to stand by the hotel room window.
"After that, we met the hooded cloak guy," Sora said, recalling the event. "He tried to attack you, but I deflected it away from you before he could harm you. I...think I sent it at that frozen grimm because a bit later, it crumbled to pieces." He wasn't really paying attention to WHERE he deflected it, just so long as it was away from Ruby...who felt a bit of a flush on her cheeks at the mention of Sora rushing to protect her.
Donald spoke up with a tone of obvious relief. "Probably a good thing. Who knows if it was gonna be permanent or eventually 'unfreeze' after a while." He didn't want to think about what could have happened if they'd have to contend with something THAT big again. Jafar, Ursula, Oogie Boogie, and Maleficent were enough.
"Wait...Wait." Ruby said, realizing a particular detail that Qrow seemingly let slip. The mention of what Ozpin said the night Glynda took her in for 'questioning'. "How did you know what Ozpin said to me, the night we met?" she asked, frowning at her uncle.
"All those missions I go on," Qrow said, hanging his head again. There was no point hiding it from her now. "All those times I'm in some far off place. It's been for Ozpin. But he's missing now." His face and voice were full of concern and suspicion as he looked out the window. "Something's been set in motion. With Oz gone, I'll have to pick up where he left off."
Sora's face shifted to a frown as he felt he had an idea of who set this whole thing in motion. "It's Ansem," he said as he approached Qrow and Ruby. "He never got consumed by the darkness. From what the princesses told us, seemed to embrace it. But we know where he is now, so we've gotta find him and-"
"That's not what I'm talking about, kid," Qrow interrupted with a shake of his head. "Cinder was working with that witch, Maleficent, but now she and all her cronies have been dealt with. And from what I learned about him from Cid and your pal Leon, none of them were working for that Ansem guy. No...Cinder was always working with her own agenda in mind. This is something else. Something involving me, Ruby and everybody else from Remnant." Qrow only wished he had an idea of what it was that was pulling the strings. He had some suspicions...but even what he knew didn't quite match up to some particular details. "Once our world is restored though, I'll handle it. That's what Ozpin would want." he assured them. They had enough to worry about as it was.
A hopeful smile touched Goofy's face as he pounded his left onto his open palm cheerfully. "Then we gotta stop that Ansem guy. When we do that, everything will go back to the way it was." he said, earning a nod from Donald who actually agreed with his simple mindset for once.
"Then, what about me?" Ruby said, making everyone in the room turn to her once again. "If I'm so special, then I can help. Right?"
Qrow knew Ruby would try to ask how she could help. How could she not after everything he told her. But at the moment, there was only one thing she could do. "You really wanna help? Get some rest. You're in no condition to go anywhere right now." Her uncle's suggestion didn't sit well with Ruby, and Qrow knew that. "Besides, Ansem's trail may lead all the way to the end of the world for all we know. That'd be quite a trip for a pipsqueak like you." he said with a wink, hoping it eased the stress somewhat. But from what he could tell, it didn't do much. "Catch ya later kiddo."
As he opened the door, he first looked toward Sora and Kairi, whispering to the pair, "Hey...thanks for taking care of my niece." Sora blinked with surprise at first, while Kairi was the first to smile with appreciation. Eventually, Sora followed suit, albeit visibly more awkward. Especially as Qrow ruffled his spiky hair, much to his annoyance.
As Qrow left the room, a solemn silence fell over everyone remaining as they digested everything that was told to them. Donald let out a hefty sigh as he asked, "Ruby...I imagine you've got a lot on your mind, but...Are you going to be okay?"
The young huntress shifted her legs up to her chest, hugging her knees as she answered. "I don't know, Donald...I'm more worried about everyone else." Everything had become so...so...she didn't even know what to call it. All she knew was that everything was changing...and not necessarily for the better.
It was then that Goofy realized another member of Ruby's team was absent when they arrived. "Hey, ya know, when we came back, we didn't see Blake anywhere. Do you girls know where she is?"
Ruby looked up as well, realizing that sure enough..."No. I haven't seen her at all since I woke up." she said with a shake of her head. Surely Blake still had to be around here somewhere, didn't she?
The sudden sigh from Kairi drew Sora's attention. "Kairi? What's wrong?" he asked, looking at her with concern.
The regretful look on her face spoke volumes even before she shared what she had to tell them. "I think...Yang knows." Everyone's eyes shifted to Kairi who pointed to the other door. "She's in the next room. But...she hasn't said a word to anyone since..."
Everyone felt a pang of regret, realizing why Kairi was reluctant to finish that sentence. "Poor Yang..." Goofy mused sadly. None of them could begin to fathom what she was feeling after she'd lost her arm so suddenly and brutally.
Ruby of all people knew her sister likely was in the worst possible mood to have visitors, but...she needed to see her. Talk to her. Hear her voice. To do...something. So she pushed herself out of bed and walked toward the door. Sora, Donald, and Goofy parted from the door, giving her leave to go. If anyone deserved the chance to speak to Yang, it was her sister. They just hoped that Yang really would be able to recover from this, like Taiyang said.
Right now...it seemed like ALL of Ruby's friends would need time to heal in their own ways.