"Ruby?" Her team, led by Yang, creaked open the door to their dorm room.
Despite everything going on, and the fact that the rest of the school had been repurposed into a temporary shelter while construction was under way in the Emerald Forest, Ozpin explicitly - with the backing of General Ironwood - ensured that their particular room would remain available to them.
She'd wanted to give it up before, worried about people having to remain uncomfortable because of her own greed, but it was secretly revealing itself as a blessing in disguise. The first thing Ruby set herself on, after escaping the vault and sorting the Crown Of Choice away, was clearing her aching head. This took her back to their old dorm, where she hoped to find some semblance of familiarity in the nostalgic location.
The sight of so many uncertain families lingering in the halls eradicated the peace she might have felt.
And so she dipped into their room, sat on her old bed which somehow throughout everything remained hovering precariously above Weiss's, and let it all sink in. The impossibility of time travel, the other incarnations of herself who - if she had it down now - mimicked her life to a T, the "you can't go back in time, but you can return to scenarios" statement which still didn't make sense; it was all just so much for her loopy brain to handle.
"Can we...?" Yang cracked the entrance a little more, letting some of the excess noise outside creep in. "Can we come in?"
"Mhmm." She gave her best nod, and soon her team were all beside her - on the floor below, as her bed would probably drop with more than one person on it. From up high she probably looked like a leader dishing out commands to her squad, but Ruby was just a sorry young woman unsure of where she even belonged in the world.
Yang, ever the diligent sister, did her best to break things in.
"So..." whipping a hand behind her head, she leaned back, appearing unsure of what she herself was even up to. "There isn't really an easy way to get into this, so I'm just going to charge in: do you wanna just... lay it all on us?"
Did she? Ruby wasn't sure. But at the same time, Ruby hadn't been sure about anything for quite a while now. There was no harm in sharing anymore, not when Ambrosius practically spat out everything he could. Yes, he held back a decent bit, but apparently that was by her own design... or simply for her benefit; it didn't matter.
"I think I finally understand how Pyrrha was feeling." A hard thing to start off with, but there was no avoiding it. "She talked about her dreams feeling so real..."
"Yeah..." Yang, without a hint of irony or bravado, genuinely looked upset. Her older sister always was more the bleeding heart than she liked to show; even a sturdy shield could break away with enough force, it seemed. "I remember hearing some of that back at Haven."
But they'd brushed most of it off, instead focused on the then-and-there of things, hoping that by transferring the relic they could return to their old lives. But that didn't happen, and now they were trapped in a seemingly endless war fighting an immortal enemy who's only wish, ironically, was to die.
Nothing made sense anymore, and it never would, and as that settled in: that cruel, irrational line of thought... Something new, in her heart and soul, rose from the ashes of sizzling, dying flames.
The others had to step aside when she hopped down, giving her the space she needed as she readied to speak. But she didn't; no, Ruby paused for some time, going over what it was she wanted to say. What it was she wanted to tell couldn't be explained easily, and that was it: want. She wanted, and that desire alone stood as justification for her to finally let everything culminate into the birth of a brand new, incomparable spite.
"I'm just..." Lifting up her useless hands, who couldn't save anyone but her own wasted life, Ruby clenched them into shaking fists. "I'm tired of losing all the time." So much anger, so many losses, and for what? Just to lose again? "I'm tired of things not making sense."
"Ruby?" Weiss attempted... something, but stopped; probably on the account that she cut her partner off.
"I hate that we have to just roll with the punches, over, and over, and over again!" Shooting her glare up, Ruby didn't care if she looked a little crazy; she wanted to shout it out, how she was really feeling. How she'd been feeling for so long. "I never wanted to lose Pyrrha, or Jaune, or Nora or Ren. Or Atlas, or Haven, or anywhere!" Desperately, she pleaded to their already unsure, pitiful eyes, as her own burned with fury. "I want them back!" She shouted, collapsing into herself. "I want everyone back!"
"R-ruby!" Their panicked shouts accompanied the cascade of footsteps, but she could barely hear them dash for her; not amidst her own unquenchable, tear-stricken rage.
"I want everything to go the way it was supposed to! I want us to graduate together! As friends! And be the heroes we were supposed to be!" Her throat, hoarse from the screeching which surely pierced the surrounding walls and frightened the bunking families, ached from the pain. And so, with a barely audible whisper, Ruby relented. "I just want it to end..." Yang's arms were around her head, guiding her into the team embrace which she barely noticed. "I'm tired of losing."
"It's okay, Ruby." Yang whispered, soft as she was back when they were kids. "It's going to-"
"Be okay." She whispered to the little boy below, wrapped in blankets and soundly asleep with her pinky in his little, outstretched hand. Gently, she leaned in, and whispered before his little face. "You'll grow up strong, stronger than anyone else, the strongest in the world. And when you do, I know you'll find a way to save them all, to save everyone; the friends you make, and your family."
With her vision growing blurry, she leaned in, planting a tiny kiss atop his forehead and lowering him down. Ever so careful, she pulled her pinky free, and as she did so his face began to stir with discomfort. With his cries beginning, sure to pry the attention of both Roses alike, she granted him one final gift of what would surely be forgotten encouragement: a last blessing.
"I believe in you, and I'll always be by your side, and within your soul; you'll never be alone. Even in your darkest hours, I'll always be by your side~" As she said so, her right hand which had previously held the little boy wreathed with black fire, and passing the shadows down, they blew off to reveal a simple silver rose. The emblem, oversized for his little body, was lodged carefully before his feet, nearly covering the child whole.
When the frantic scampering of the manor's residents started to pick up, she took off into the skies, and everything washed over until color faded in. Before her was the infamous Queen Salem, dark ruler of Mobius, innocently sitting before the fireplace of her own personal lounge. With a curious eye cast her way, she bowed before the woman, and spoke.
"Your highness, might I have a word?"
"Yours is certainly an unorthodox introduction." Carefully, sounds echoed around her, and her head was lifted by the chin, with her soon being guided back to her feet by the ancient queen. "Very well; seeing as you've gone through the trouble of not alerting my guard, I suppose I can spare a few words. But know this: if you seek to slay me for the powers of selfish kings and queens, you'll not succeed this hour."
"Perish the thought," she said, in a matter teasing jest. "Rather, I've come to notify you of something that might be of interest."
"Oh?" Salem bore a simple, curious expression, crossing her arms patiently and adding, "Then by all means: if you believe something might intrigue a god who has it all, then enlighten me."
"I will, and to prove my sincerity..." Pushing her palms together, grand lightless flames condensed into a blade. Dark as the moonless night, sprouting from a pale albino rose, it looked to drink in all light that graced the surface of its edge. "I offer you this gift: for him, on the day you decide he's shown his true potential."
"He, you say?" Salem's skeptical eye soon swam over the sword. Taking the blade in hand, she admired it momentarily. "Regardless of the suspicions you clearly raise, I must admit... This is quite the beautiful gift. But I can't help but notice the hair-standing aura it expels. This is destruction magic, at its very core; pure, and unaltered." Salem's eyes leered towards her. "Where did you truly find this sword?"
She winked at the queen, raising a finger to her lips.
"That's a secret for later." Lowering her hand, she carried on caringly. "But as for "him," he is someone I know you'll grow to love."
"Oh really?" Scoffing dismissively, Salem rolled her eyes. "For as irritating as my husband can be at times, I'll have you know my loyalties lie only with him. I have no interest in mortal men."
"My, have you no love for a grandson?" That earned Salem's eye, however she didn't end it there. "I was certain you'd be happy to know that Thorn and Veronica Rose are currently tending to a newborn."
"She was with child?" Salem blinked, scowling a little. "They never mentioned this to me… I've never seen her showing signs."
"Because he is an adopted boy." Calmly, she offered a hand to the primeval maiden. "Would you allow me your support in raising the child? As much as I trust in the pair he is left in the hands of, I wish to be a part of his life."
Salem, uncertain of what she was witness to, asked curtly, "And why should I trust in him, and in you?"
"Because he is the key to reuniting with the touch of death," Salem's eyes shot stark wide, "And should he succeed, you'll finally be granted the rest you seek."
"How... how do you know this?"
"Because I've read the ancient stones; sifted through the library of forgotten histories. And, perhaps most of all: I sympathize with your plight."
Salem peered at her open hand, looked to contemplate whether to annihilate her on the spot, or to accept the bargain. Uncertainly, she laid hers atop it, and their agreement locked them together.
"Very well, I'll take this chance with my uncertain fate with you and this boy. If you will, who is it who I've sold my future into?"
"Ruby, Ruby please..." Darkness shielded her eyes, but not her ears, and as Yang muttered, Weiss entered the fray.
"She's doing fine; you know what the physician said."
"I know... I-I... I know, but still," Yang tarried off, and Ruby fought sluggishly to erase the black binding her sight. "I don't think I can take any more of this."
"She'll be fine," Blake swooped in, carefully observant from the sounds of it. "She's been experiencing those dreams Pyrrha had, so maybe she accidentally brought one on from all the stress?"
The battle, if one could call it that, broke its stalemate, and Ruby finally found the energy to peer out at the world again, catching the attention of her team who surrounded her bed. No, that wasn't right: this wasn't her bed. This looked to be Beacon's infirmary. The answer as to how she ended up here may as well have been printed across her forehead, because if anything should be concluded from her little dream, it would be the familiarity of it.
"Ruby!" Yang dropped upon her like a sack of bricks, squeezing tightly, but not enough to hurt.
"Yang!" Weiss shouted, working to dislodge her older sister. "Get off her! What if you make it worse?!"
"I'm okay," Ruby fought out, breaking beyond the borders of her temporarily groggy state. "I just had another one of those dreams."
This confirmation prompted Weiss to act, before anyone else could.
"Then... does this mean they're getting worse."
"Maybe... but, I don't really know."
Empty silence befell them, until Blake opened up, taking a page from Yang's book.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I think I do."
The least she could do was tell them the truth; lies were another bad habit she'd grown tired of too. And so she spilled the short scene before them, allowing the mixed disbelief to fill in the blanks of their understanding. Ruby couldn't even call the dream cryptic anymore: it was, rather blatantly, a past incarnation's introduction to Salem... and how V came into her service.
"Shit..." Yang slipping out that little cuss felt eerily comforting; she wasn't the only one railing from the implications. "And that really was him? You're sure?"
Ruby nodded, and Weiss made a go at expressing her boggled mind.
"Gods... That means he's been groomed for this from birth..." For as sickening as that sounded, it remained no less true.
"He wasn't born into his family..." Blake's statement quickly flipped into pondering. "Then... where did he come from? And how did your past incarnation get a hold of him?"
"I promised I'd always be with him," Ruby muttered, already knowing the answer. It went unsaid in the dream, but the love of which her incarnation told him said everything clearly. "Even when I was gone. I told him I'd forever be by his side, in heart and soul..."
"R-Ruby?" Yang tried grabbing her attention, but Ruby had finally, for the first time in forever since everything began tumbling down hill, come to a positive, arguably lovely realization.
"He was my baby boy..." Everything slowly came to a stop; no ramblings, questions, or comments of a sort. Just short, complementary silence. "I'm... I'm his mom."
Stunned into their silence, her team had to pick themselves up from their daze. But after that unspoken command for complete and utter calm left them, they still remained quiet and, surprisingly steady. Proving her strength, Yang became the first - again - to present her piece, shakily.
"Um... I-I uh..." Warily, she raised her hands, shaking them with a broken, but no less attempted, smile. "Congratulations?"
Shoving away her instant 'are you serious' flat expression aimed squarely at the blonde, Weiss passed along concern.
"In the wake of that, how are you feeling?"
"Not... Not too bad." Honestly, despite how out of place and extremely insane her life became, this one little tidbit of information felt... good. "It's weird like everything else, but... It's nice to finally get an answer to something."
Sure, it was a storybook plot-twist of an answer, but an answer nonetheless. Plus, it also acted as a medicine to her previously unexplainable feelings for V. Her love for him had always been kind of weird: stronger than that of a sister, but not so much of a partner and lover. But knowing it stood on the pedestal of motherly... made her happy. The news to one of the mysteries tearing her brain apart was genuinely good for once. This didn't explain what her past incarnation was up to, but it meant that her feelings weren't entirely weird of invalid; she was just, by her own words, keeping up her promise to her son.
Okay, so she wasn't exactly a mom by blood, but she was in a past life, and that was reason enough to accept it.
"That's... good." Blake had no idea how to act, and so seemingly fell in between both Yang and Weiss's examples. "Are you okay with that, though? I mean, he isn't related to you in this life, but he was back then."
"I think I am," Ruby expressed, contemplating a little. "I'm kind of glad... or, maybe it's my soul that's the most happy. I can't remember it, because it wasn't me, but I think I'm supposed to be excited that my little boy grew up into a hero in the end."
"A hero... yeah," Blake teased a tiny smile too. "I guess he did."
"You're starting to sound a lot like Summer."
Drawn to the door, the group watched as Raven Branwen pushed it fully open, a dastardly smirk tearing apart any of the previous relaxed uncertainty with a stark and almost playful atmosphere.
"You!" Yang shot, perplexed to the point of a double-take. "You're here!"
"Well duh," the older woman added, leaning aside and revealing the short posse. "And so is my brother, and the general, and even old Oz himself."
"Were you... spying on us?" Blake questioned, with Raven rolling her eyes.
"Actually, we were on our way here the moment we got word of the collapse. Granted, I we had to fight to get Jimmy's soldier's to fuck off and let us go."
"They were trying to update us on news of the council." The man himself corrected. "So I'd ask that you pardon any harsh criticisms towards them; they were acting under my orders."
"Okay, never mind," Raven corrected, strolling in like she owned the place, and subsequently unclogging the door. "It's his fault we're late." General Ironwood merely rolled his eyes, letting the jab slide in favor of keeping things moving.
Qrow stepped up to her, worried yes, but not alone.
"How are you feeling, squirt?"
"F-fine..." Her eyes, however, were locked on the man next to him, who went unmentioned by Raven and kneeled down before her.
And thus, Taiyang Xiao Long, her father, laid a hand atop hers.
"So... you've been out saving the world all this time?"
"I-I, m-maybe." Blinking, Ruby couldn't tell if she was awake again or not. To rectify this confusion, she touched his arm, and upon noticing how solid and fleshy it felt, stuttered out her wonder. "H-how did you get here?"
Quickly he shot a look back at Raven, guiding her attention over to her aunt, who scoffed.
"Look, nobody knows what 'll happen when we shove off for Vacuo, and I'm not the heartless bitch Qrow would have you believe." Uncomfortable with all the eyes on her, Raven ignored them to the best of her abilities and carried on. "Seeing as this is the only break we'll probably get going forward, I wanted to pay Tai a little visit myself; he just asked to come back and see you two."
"You're allowed to be honest, you know." Her dad said, getting a flush of red to spread across her aunt's cheeks. Twisting back, he told her how he saw it. "Despite your aunt's weird way of showing it, she does love you, both of you." That... seemed a little hard to believe, but got easier as he spoke. "She's just afraid neither of you want that love."
"Why?" Ruby asked, at a loss for words from the dream playing out right in front of her.
"Because she left you both to Summer and I." Not a hard answer to take, but leading into more... personal matters. "Your aunt and uncle... They grew up in a family where weakness wasn't allowed. Before they even came to Beacon, and met your mother and I, your Aunt Raven was already in line to lead the tribe upon her return."
"My responsibilities were determined regardless of what I wanted," Raven interrupted, eyeing Qrow darkly. "And they were doubly difficult to attend to when one of us abandoned the tribe."
"We've gone over this a thousand times; there's nothing more to be said." Qrow made his place in things crystal clear, and Raven just breathed and let it fly.
"Yeah, you did."
Tai shook his head, dismissing the feud behind and setting his fatherly eyes back on her.
"Although it doesn't justify her disappearing from our lives completely, I feel it's important you know the circumstances behind our little dysfunctional house." Her dad held her hand a little harder. "This way, you can fully grasp how serious I am when I tell you just how proud of you I am to see my two little girls have grown into wonderful young women, and how unbelievably worried I was when Beacon got invaded." His eyes traveled along her. "Are you physically injured?"
"No." Ruby said, which then got her wrapped up in a hug tighter than Yang's. Unlike her sister, though, nobody dared tell him to ease up the pressure. And to be honest, she didn't want him too; she really needed to feel the love right now, just to keep her mind from shattering completely.
"I'm so, so relieved that you two are okay." The ultimate dad of a dad, though a display of sheer willpower alone, just barely kept the waterworks in. "I didn't know if I'd ever see you again."
Ruby gently patted his back, because she couldn't do much more while locked in place. To tell the truth, she was just as lost as he was, spilling her own disbelief.
"You... you're not mad at me?" Which had him whipping back out, aghast disbelief across his face, which fell into a calm, conflicted look.
"Of course not. Why would I be upset."
"B-because of all the trouble I dragged us into."
Tai's look of utter shock melted away, into an almost comical grin, followed by a curled brow.
"Really? That's the excuse you're caught up on?" Before she could contest, he stepped up his look and showed off a bright, prideful face filled with so much unabashed care it clogged her thought process. "Raven was right: you really are just like your mother."
"B-but-"
"Let me tell you something, before you finish that thought," her dad exclaimed, and Ruby swallowed back her words, nodding. "Good. Do you know what it is that defines a hero? Is it... say, saving the day? Is it always doing the right thing? Heck, is it even just being strong and looking cool? Well, while all of these things are aspects of what makes a hero so appealing, they're not the backbone that heroism derives from."
Ruby wasn't... she didn't know what he meant. Didn't being a hero mean doing the right thing, like he said? What more was there to it? Had she really been missing something all this time. While these subtle worries began to condense over the span of her ricocheting thoughts, her dad crushed those concerns into paste.
"Being a hero means pushing ahead no matter the circumstances. Good or bad, a hero's prime skill is learning and adapting to do what they believe is right. It's all of the above I've mentioned in some fashion or another, but the real Dust which keeps the family van moving forward is the willingness for a hero to learn and adapt; to never give up simply because they were wrong once before. To never give up on changing for the better." Patting her head, he kept going like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've heard what your Aunt Raven had to say, and your Uncle Qrow, and even both James and Oz. All of them agree with me that the four of you, your sister, team, and all the other friends who joined you along the way: all of you are heroes."
"D-dad..."
"You know, it's funny really," his eyes glazed over a bit, and his smile stretched into a grin. "I always dreamed of being there to see you all grown up, but you've done it so fast I don't really know what to do anymore."
She couldn't hold back: Ruby just had to squeeze up against him. So much fear of disappointing and failing everyone; washed away like a thin layer of mud. Yes, she'd failed plenty of times before, but just hearing someone say it's okay, even if not wholly true in her eyes, went a long way in getting her back on track.
Maybe she'd continue to make mistakes going forward, but there was one thing she could hold on to: a knowledge so certain that nothing ever again would tempt breaking it. Despite everything that happened, and would continue to happen: she would never, ever, be alone.
"There there." He gently pulled her off, his face now scheming as his hands clasped and his expression twisted into flat complacency. "Now then, I've come to learn, just now, that I have a grandson out and about... Tell me what he's like."
What was V like? Her dad, strangely, didn't seem super upset or defensive knowing she was a mother; then again, she was still single, so maybe that helped. The best way to describe the son she now knew was hers could be best put plainly and contradictory.
"Moody."
"Is that so," Her dad hummed, sagely whisking ancient parental knowledge upon her. "The classic edgy phase, I see. Well, that's a simple one to deal with; trust me, I have plenty of experience with your sister during her early years of high school."
It took Yang all of five seconds to completely grasp what was said. Rather delayed, the elder sister then sent a betrayed look all her own.
"Wait, hold on, what are we getting into?!"
Author's note
…
Here we go: a bit of a break chapter to cap off the Atlas arc.
It's finally happened, and now everyone knows just who V is… but not his purpose. I'm sure many of you have waited a long for this, and while it's sad that JNPR - minus the p - never got to know, it does feel nice when someone actually gets to the bottom of the truth. Congrats to those who've been so patient as to deal with all the chaos beforehand, and be ready going forward.
It's happening: they're figuring it out. Now then, just how much can they learn? Well, that remains to be seen.
Either way, that's all for now.
Until next time.