Weiss Schnee
Where did she even begin describing it?
Ruby was back, her Ruby was back home in her arms. She was alive, she was back. It didn't stop repeating in Weiss' head, the amazement, the joy, the overwhelming love that her heart surged with. "Ozma was right...!" Give or take a few months; He told her 'Fifty years'. Still, all this time she had waited, all this time she had begged and pleaded every night for Ruby to be back in her arms. Now, now she didn't have to anymore. Turning her head, Weiss' eyes gleamed as she saw Ruby enter the party again, walking with Summer. They seemed to be talking about something... They were both smiling.
"It won't take Summer long to come around... Ruby has her ways of worming into people's hearts." Placing a hand on her chest, Weiss took careful breaths, trying to calm her heart thumping with pressure. This feeling... She was overwhelmed with emotion; it was taking all of her willpower to keep it locked inside of her. How long had it been since she'd been able to breath? The love of her life, her saviour, Ruby, was back in her life. Every piece was in place, they just had to set and lock together.
"Ruby-" Before she got the chance to speak, another roar surged through the castle. "... For fuck's sake, Yang..." Walking over to the balcony door, Weiss casually flared her Mana to signal to the Dragons flying overhead. It only took a few seconds for a sudden heat to flow from the balcony as Yang landed in her base form, Blake following shortly after. The both of them burst through the doors, their eyes wild as they looked around.
"Where's-" She barely got to speak; Yang's eyes found Ruby before anything else could leave her lips. There was only a second of pause, a frozen moment as Blake and Yang stared at Ruby. Feeling heavy under their stares, Ruby casually raised one hand in a wave as she gently pushed Summer aside with her other hand. Before Summer could question it, Yang and Blake were across the room and tackling Ruby in a hug. "RUBY!" They both cried at the same time. Weiss watched from a distance, smiling as the two women squashed Ruby in a death grip.
"They've easily had the best reaction..." A slurred voice came from Weiss' right. Turning, she frowned at the source of the voice.
Folding her arms, she said, "My reaction was plenty good enough; your own was just disappointing, Qrow."
"Nah," He casually disagreed, "Ruby got it." Rolling her eyes, Weiss turned to look at Yang and Blake again. Both of them were ugly crying, doing their best to keep Ruby as close as possible in the 'hug'. While it did make Weiss smile, she also had to admit that Qrow was right; they were being more emotional than she had been.
"If it were Argus or Summer that was gone for fifty years, I would be reacting worse than them." Picturing herself bawling her eyes out and getting snot all over one of her children - while entertaining - was inelegant to put it lightly. Weiss had missed Ruby for fifty years, and now that she was back, she refused to waste time being sad about what had passed. Instead, she would make every second count. "Ruby needs me now more than ever." The things she had gone through, it was worse than what any of them had, surely.
Still, as she watched them hug and cry... Weiss couldn't help but feel her guilt bubble up once again. It was a common feeling, an itch that never went away. The self-hate, the despair, the guilt... All this time she had known Ruby would return, and yet she was unable to tell anyone. She had let and even encouraged them all to move on in order to keep them from destroying themselves with grief; including Yang and Blake... Including her own children. The day that Ozpin died, the day he told her when Ruby would be back... Weiss could still recall how her heart broke yet simultaneously filled with hope. Ruby would return, but it would take that long?
The choices she made weren't ones she regrets. If she had to do it over, she would make the same decisions. But Weiss hated that those decisions had to be made in the first place. Why couldn't there have been a better option?
Shaking her head, Weiss sighed gently. "I'm losing myself to it again." These thoughts were common, but not needed anymore. Ruby was back, there was no point in dwelling on the past. Yet, still, there was a thought that refused to leave her mind. "Now that Ruby is back... Is the bargain over...? Can I tell them all that I knew?" Did she even want to? What would that do except turn them against her?
Once again, she let it drift to the back of her mind. Weiss walked over to the crying women on the floor and looked up at Summer. "How are you feeling?" Despite knowing that Summer wouldn't take too long to come around, she was still concerned with how her daughter might be handling all of this.
"... Confused. It's... It's just a lot to take in." Glancing at the others, Summer frowned gently. "If I'm being honest... I don't get it, why her over anyone else in Remnant?" When she spoke this time, she used telepathy. Summer didn't have anything against Ruby, it was just genuine confusion.
Weiss understood, after all, Summer had never been in love with someone before. "I've already vowed to share my life with her; I've taught you the value of honesty." Responding too with telepathy, Weiss answered in a way that satisfied Summer... Even if it was far more complicated than that. Weiss had wondered many times over the years; why even wait for Ruby? Was their love that strong? Was their connection that secure? The answer might have been no... But, did it matter? "Who to be with is my decision... Even if I can't say why exactly I love her so, I think it's less important than the fact that I do."
Taking a minute to think, Summer watched with Weiss as the three women on the floor slowly got up. "I still don't get it." Weiss couldn't help but smile at that response. Summer was often a very straightforward person. "But... You're right. I don't have to get it; I just have to accept that she makes you and Argus happy." Even with what little she had seen; Summer knew that her brother loved Ruby too. "... I'm just not sure if she can make me happy like that." Turning to her daughter, Weiss gave her a gentle smile. She could tell what this was. Summer had idolised her mum, she had loved the legend, the idea of Ruby... Her biggest fear was being disappointed.
"Just don't be so hesitant that you don't give her the chance she needs." As per Ruby's wishes, Weiss wouldn't push Summer to connect with her. But she would keep her from running.
The party had progressed well. Everyone had gotten their chances to say hello to Ruby, and even though some of them were still desperate to talk more personally with her, they all knew it could wait. For now, they were all sitting together, lounging about with drinks, and ready to discuss the unfortunate state of reality even with Ruby still here.
Taking a swig of his drink, Qrow began the discussion. "I filled them in already with what you told me last time we met-"
"That wasn't me." Ruby suddenly cut in. "I remember everything she did with my body, but that was not me." Weiss was sitting right next to Ruby, and she gently leaned against her to offer some comfort. The situation felt almost confrontational, everyone was sitting across or to the sides of Ruby save for Weiss.
Nodding, Qrow continued, "I told them that Rose killed Tock. Combined with Carmine, that's our only two kills against Salem's forces." If nothing else, that was the proof of the power Ruby had gained from her sacrifice. Neo rapidly shot her hand up and eagerly caught the room's attention. Once she had it, she pointed a finger at herself with a smirk. "... You too, I guess." She was oddly comfortable referencing what she had once been, which was in stark contrast to how the rest of them felt about it.
"Who does that leave?" Blake asked, barely managing to tear her eyes off of Ruby long enough to speak to the group.
"Hazel, Cinder, Adam, The Silver Wizard, Mercury, and Emerald." Glynda answered. "Though, Emerald is still locked up in Beacon."
"That's all we know of, anyway. I reckon there's at least one more." Qrow spoke up again. "They aren't a threat anymore, that's why they've been hiding so much." Turning to Ruby, he singled her out. "You've left them shitting themselves. It's given us time to get stronger, but I also think that means they've been planning something big."
Speaking finally, Ruby asked gently, "And have you all? Gotten stronger, I mean." It was a strange question to hear from her, there was a clear doubt in her voice, a slight twinge of annoyance even. Though, none of them were about to judge her for it. If tiny outbursts were all that came from her time spent as Rose, it was a clear victory.
"Not as strong as you," Pyrrha began; Weiss felt Ruby's hand twitch slightly as she spoke. "But we've all improved. Yang and Blake especially."
Despite Pyrrha's smile, Ruby asked her, "Have you gotten any new Affinities?" Her question left Conquest unable to respond for a moment, before Ruby moved on and spoke to Argus and Summer with a much gentler voice. "I know you're both really strong, but I don't know exactly what you can do yet."
While Argus beamed at the praise, Summer only slightly smiled. "Argus can make every documented type of Dust now; his output is incredible. The only drawback is it limits his ability to fight without destroying everything around him." Weiss began to explain. "Summer is incredibly strong. I think she'd only lose to you." Whipping around, Ruby looked at Weiss with wide eyes. "Her power is quite the boon."
"It's unfair." Qrow chimed in with a grumble. "Total bullshit..." His response left most of them smiling, while Yang simply nodded her agreement and Ruby looked at her daughter curiously.
Seeing Ruby staring at her, Summer explained. "I'm physically stronger than every other Dragon, even before my innate Spell." Ruby obviously needed elaboration, so she provided it. "Every other Dragon is around thirty metres long, for whatever reason, the Abyss Dragon is much bigger. I'm about sixty metres long when I fully transform." It had scared the shit out of Weiss the first time she saw it... Summer nearly put a hole in the castle. "In my Mastery form, all that power is packed into a body this size. Added onto that, my Innate Spell can boost my durability by-"
"A fuck-ton." Yang cut in. "Her body just doesn't give; it honestly hurts to hit." Out of all of them, Yang and Argus stood the best chance against Summer thanks to their Innate Spells. Yang's body burning like the sun could damage Summer thanks to the pure heat of it, but when Summer hit that much harder than Yang anyway it was a moot point. Argus on the other hand had no theoretical limit on how much damage he could deal with one attack, but the strength of his Dust was directly proportional to its area-of-effect. If he wanted to hurt Summer, it would create a blast that couldn't be used without destroying everything surrounding them.
Ruby turned to Weiss again, and she shook her head. "I haven't gotten any stronger. In fact, my Magic has probably gotten a little worse without practice. At the very least, I'm still just as good with a rapier." Weiss was confident that she could beat any of them if they fought without Magic, Magic items, or transformations. It's a shame she wasn't the Harbinger of Death. "I'm more interested in what you can do."
Both Blake and Qrow tensed up upon hearing Weiss' question to Ruby, and Ruby herself looked a little awkward before answering. "Crescent Rose is..." All of them leaned in, eager to hear about the Scythe after how vague both Qrow and Blake had been about it. "... It's strong, that's all that matters." Disappointment flooded the room when it was made clear that Ruby wouldn't say anything else about it. "I've got two new Magic items, Rose Sign and the Dragon's Bracelet. One of them makes me incredibly fast when I'm moving as rose petals, the other raises my strength and durability dramatically when I'm not using Crescent Rose."
"By how much?" Summer asked, she was strangely curious about this.
Ruby seemed eager to answer any questions Summer in particular asked her. "It tries to raise them to the point that I'm just as strong without Crescent Rose."
"Tries to?"
Nodding, Ruby elaborated. "It can't push my stats that high." The more she said, the more they all grew curious about the 'Scythe of Absolution' as Qrow had called it. It was only one of two Relic tear weapons on all of Remnant, the other being the Sword of Destruction. Well, that was what Weiss thought anyway. "I also made a dagger, Thorn. It's just a way of using the Abaddon Curse." No doubt everything Ruby made now would be a Relic, so Weiss had to wonder what about Thorn made it one. It was entirely possible however that it was something she wouldn't be able to understand; some trick in the efficiency that only Argus could get or something similar.
"Do you have plans for your last slot?" Argus asked. Out of all of them, he could tell the easiest that the cloak she wore wasn't up to par anymore.
"Yeah. I've always had a bad habit of not using the Rose Dragon's roar... Something that Rose did too..." She mumbled that last bit. "I'm gonna try to make an item that will change its activation method." From what Weiss knew of the disorientating roar, it required her to be in her full form in order to use it. That was a fair trade off, given its incredibly ability to stun opponents, but Ruby would no doubt rather be in her Mastery Form where she could use Crescent Rose.
"It sounds like you're only going to get stronger." Glynda's smile could be heard in her voice.
But Jaune put an end to that smile. "I bet The World thinks it was a fair trade..." His own voice was tainted by the scowl on his face, one that the others couldn't help but share. It left Ruby a bit confused however, so Jaune explained. "Ozpin... Or, Ozma I guess, he told Weiss some things before he died. A lot of which was-"
Weiss cut in, her heart pounding and her voice weak. "Speaking of which... I... I have something to confess about that." By now, the bargain would have shut her up usually. It seemed like it really was gone... But did she even want to tell them? What good would it even do...? "The truth is, Ozma told me something else... Something I couldn't tell the rest of you." All eyes were on her, but there was mostly curiosity in their expressions. Weiss had realised why she wanted to tell them, why she needed to tell them... It was her guilt. The guilt she felt for knowing all this time, the shame for letting them move on despite knowing Ruby would return. Taking a deep breath, Weiss said, "He told me that Ruby would return... That it would take fifty years."
A momentary silence fell over the room, no one dared move nor take their eyes off of her. They all waited, hoping and praying that Weiss was telling a bad joke or even just straight up lying. But that moment passed; Anger surged and a dreadful Mana filled the room, the stench of it making her nose itch. Weiss looked up just in time to see it; Yang had left her seat and had sailed across the room. She was in her Mastery Form, her fist burning with the light of a star and the majority of her body soaked in a pitch-black liquid. The amount of power surging through that punch was enough to kill Weiss if she didn't transform.
The guilt was too much, the loathing and hatred she held for herself bubbled up and over the edge. Weiss wanted to get hit; she needed Yang to hit her. Vengeance, her comeuppance, justice come to finally punish her, karma arriving to collect its debt. Weiss welcomed it with open arms, the fist that would more than likely spell her doom.
But it never arrived. A blast of force and a violent surge of Mana pulsed just in front of Weiss, her eyes closed from the momentary rushing wind. Slowly opening them, she found red in front of her. Looking up, she saw Ruby standing between her and Yang, horns sprouted from her head, and her arm outstretched; having caught Yang's fist with ease. "All of you... Let her explain." Ruby's voice soaked with confidence and demanded her command be met. Weiss glanced past her and saw that not only had Ruby stopped Yang, but there were red vines wrapped around Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Qrow, Glynda, and even Summer. All of them had barely gotten out of their seats before they'd been stopped.
"Ruby...!" Yang's fist trembled in Ruby's hand, the Solar Dragon was unable to push forward or pull back. "Let... Go...!" Rage didn't even begin to describe how Yang felt, but she was the only one still pushing. Everyone else had returned to their seats at Ruby's words, the red vines that had kept them restricted slithered back into Ruby.
The Rose Dragon didn't even answer with words, all she gave was a gentle shake of her head. Eventually, Yang let the Reaper Mana flood back inside of her; her transformation ending with it. Finally letting her go, Ruby returned to her seat next to Weiss, who was surprised that no one was looking at her anymore. Instead, everyone kept their gazes on Ruby for the moment. There was a nervous air to the room, a threatening aura that Ruby had let out for only a moment that told everyone to keep their cool. Despite everything Qrow and Blake had said, despite the evidence and the corpses Rose had left behind, even despite what Ruby herself had said... Only now did everyone know for a fact that they were right. Ruby was strong.
With the situation calm once again, Weiss began to explain. She was disappointed, both by the fact that she hadn't received her punishment, as well that she had even wanted it in the first place. Telling them all about the bargain, about the fact that she had to choose between knowing or not knowing... It was difficult, it was one of the most difficult things she had ever done. Included in her explanation, she also told Ruby everything else that Ozma had told her. By the time she was done, none of them seemed angry with her anymore... Well, too angry anyway.
"Ozma really is a dick..." Blake sighed gently. "... I guess that explains that game of charades..." Of course, Blake had to bring that up. That was only a few days after Weiss had made the bargain with Ozma, and she had been desperate to find a way to share what she had learned with the others. It had been incredibly embarrassing, spazzing around on the floor like that.
Weiss couldn't handle the moment of quiet afterwards, she spoke up gently. "... I really did try, I tried for a long time to tell you all... No matter what I did, it wouldn't work... Eventually, I had to choose between letting you keep holding on, or helping you let go." It was one thing to think all of this, another to say it... Especially with Ruby right next to her. "Fifty years was such a long time... I wanted you all to be ok." It was as simple as that, but if the others would take it that way or not was entirely up to them.
Though, one person's opinion mattered more than all the others to her. "You did the right thing." Ruby piped up. "... When I came back, when I felt myself alive as Ruby for the first time again... I was so scared that everyone had moved on. But... That's better than the alternative. If no one had, then... Had they just been suffering this whole time?" Sighing gently, she finished with a shrug. "Even if there wasn't a right answer, I agree with the decision you made."
Glancing over at Yang, Weiss winced gently when she leaned back with a sigh. "... Yeah." Her simple agreement spoke volumes. She was still angry, but it seemed like she thought that anger was unwarranted now. "You worded that poorly... You know." Weiss averted her eyes when Yang addressed her.
"... I know." She had done it on purpose after all.
It was quiet for a bit longer after that, everyone avoided looking at one another. This situation felt so strange, awkward didn't begin to describe it. All of them, every single one of them, they all blamed themselves for what happened to Ruby. But if everyone was to blame, did it even matter anymore? They all wanted things to go back to normal, but 'normal' was such a long time ago that they didn't even know how to go about regaining that. Eventually, the silence broke when Ruby spoke again.
"Yang, what was that black stuff?" For a moment they were all confused, but at almost the same time all of them realised that Ruby had never seen Reaper Mana before.
"Oh... Uh..." Turning to Blake, Yang let her wife explain.
And explain she did. It was confusing and convoluted, but it was also the best Blake could do. From what Weiss understood about Reaper Mana, it was incredibly difficult to use, and even harder still to put into words. "It's a feeling... I suppose. I don't know, it's like explaining colour to a blind person." Even still, Ruby was oddly silent throughout the whole explanation, she was hunched over, thinking deeply about the words Blake used.
When Blake finally finished, Ruby mumbled to herself, "That sounds like..." Before going quiet. All of them looked at her curiously for a moment as Ruby closed her eyes, like she was concentrating. After a few seconds of it, a black liquid bubbled up from her skin.
"... What!?" Yang suddenly yelled as the black liquid spread and covered Ruby entirely. Eventually, the liquid settled and vanished back into her skin, and when Ruby opened her eyes, Silver flames began to leak out the sides of her eyes. They didn't go far before disappearing, nor did they seem to produce any heat. "What the- How did you- What is-!?" Yang was equally jealous and confused, and judging from Blake's expression, so was she.
Blinking her eyes slowly, when they opened, the flames were gone. Ruby sighed gently and shrugged. "It comes easy to me... Really easy. I have an aptitude for it, a really strong one." Holding her hands out, Ruby waved her hands in odd motions that Yang and Blake followed with their eyes curiously. "You're doing it wrong. You're channelling it into your body, you should be channelling it inside your Soul and then into your body." It was a strange description, but it seemed to make some sense to the two of them.
"Ok... But... How did you know you could do that? How did you know you had an aptitude for it?" Like Yang, Blake was more concerned about how quickly Ruby had done it rather than the fact that they had been doing it wrong. Honestly, they seemed more than a bit jealous.
Ruby smirked gently, her confidence showing through. "Because I've used it before without even realising. I have been this whole time, from the very beginning." Holding her hand out, Ruby let a red vine extend out of her palm and form a circle in the air. Sprouting from the interior of the circle, more vines began to form rings and runes, a ritual circle. "Reaper Mana is the other side of Magic... It has a Technical side just like the kind we use normally." Weiss didn't recognise the circle, but Argus seemed to.
"... Intention based Magic?" His voice was curious, if a bit doubtful.
"I always knew it was different," The vines slipped back inside her hand. "Just not different like this." Turning to Blake, she said, "That explanation, though. It sounded familiar. So... I connected the dots."
If Ruby really did have an aptitude for Reaper Mana, that would make things much easier. Surely, she could teach Yang and Blake how to do it better. "But how can you even use it? Where does your Harbinger blood come from?" That was the requirement Glynda had guessed was needed. "And... That means that Argus and Summer can use it too." Weiss glanced at her children. Argus seemed indifferent to it, meanwhile Summer seemed eager to give it a go much to Yang's chagrin.
Qrow piped up. "No clue where she gets the blood from-" Instantly Weiss knew he was lying. "But it doesn't really matter, does it?"
Before Weiss could call him out on it, Ruby agreed with him. "No, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we can use this." Still, Weiss felt it was necessary to ask Qrow about it... Until Ruby said quietly to herself, "... I'm done dealing with my ancestor's shit..." All that had happened to her had spawned from what just Rory had done, it made sense to not want to go looking into another ancestor.
Sighing, Weiss kept her mouth shut about it. "So, what can you even do with Reaper Mana?" Ruby seemed to already be the expert.
Taking a moment to think, Ruby frowned gently. "Theoretically..." They all leaned in, curious of her wisdom. "... I have no clue." Most of them let out a simultaneous sigh, one that entertained Ruby greatly. "There's something else I needed to tell you all about. The Dragon Grimm." Her voice quickly turned serious, and they all focused in again. "There are two kinds, the lesser ones, and-"
"-The Greater ones, the ones that leave skeletons." Qrow finished her thought.
Nodding, Ruby continued. "They aren't just unique because they have skeletons. All of those Dragon Grimm, they're imbued with Souls that have been hit with the Dragon Formula." That had been their theory for a while, but it was distressing to have it confirmed. "The lesser ones, they're mindless, like normal Grimm. They can use a breath attack and healing Magic, that's about it... But the Greater ones, they have Soul's with enough willpower to retain themselves."
"You mean that they may as well just be people?" Glynda asked cautiously.
"Worse, they are Dragons. Full Dragons, all the Mana, all the Magic, all their ability that they could use before they died." Even still, Rose had been killing all of them this whole time with ease. "If Salem really does make an army of Grimm, it will be with those ones."
Weiss dreaded the thought. "A Dragon army... One big enough to easily overpower the Atlas fleet." It explained why they had wanted Neo so much. If what they had done to her had left her producing Souls that guaranteed a Greater Dragon Grimm, then their production of said army would be leagues faster. "... But that still begs the question, what are they after?"
Turning to Glynda, they all waited for her to answer. "... I'm... Not sure. Ozpin always kept it a secret, he never told me what exactly Salem wanted." Annoyingly, Weiss knew she was telling the truth.
"Whatever they could want an army of Dragons for can't be good... If Salem wants to kill The World, then does it have a heart of some kind?" After thinking for a minute about it, her thoughts wandered to the Grim Reaper. Blake had told her that according to the legends on Menagerie, the Grim Reaper had once tried to form on Remnant only to be stopped by The World... If that were the case, then maybe the body of the Grim Reaper was where The World's heart was. Before she could share that idea, another thought occurred to her.
"Ruby has an aptitude for Reaper Mana, apparently... And according to Blake, there's a good chance that she is the one Asbeel's prophecy is talking about..." 'The one who will wield the Reaper's power' Is how it went. That sounded an awful lot like Ruby... But that could just mean 'someone who can use Reaper Mana'. If that were the case, then there would be more people out there who could. Obviously, if Blake was the progenitor, then that limited it to Ruby and Celica... But...
Her eyes flicked to Summer... She looked so eager to try and learn it, even now she was closing her eyes and trying to do it like Ruby had done. " 'They will call the one who wields the Reaper's power daughter'..."
Did granddaughter count?
