Well... the time has come, and your patience has been reward. Truths will be revealed soon, so let's get started!
The biggest problem with the past few chapters is balancing in a Jaune Arc (pun totally intended) to Ruby's storyline from canonical episodes. So sorry the last chapter was so short. Hopefully this will compensate... at least a little bit.
Disclaimer: RDF1 doesn't own RWBY, WATCH THE SHOW!
(Chapter Begin)
(Recap)
Cardin took a moment to look at the offered hand and walked back to Jaune. A subtle, but significant, shift in Cardin's eyes told Ruby everything she needed to know as he took Jaune's hand, shook it, and gave a meaningful nod. Cardin let go and walked over to Ruby. Closing his eyes, he nodded an apology, before walking off to find his team. They still needed to make sure to get the assignment done after all.
Ruby smiled. Cardin may be a jerk, but that never meant that he was actually stupid. Ruby couldn't help but wonder what this would mean for the bully in the future.
"Thanks for the assist, JNPR," grinned Ruby, "I better get back to my team now."
"Any time, Ruby," smiled Pyrrha.
"Yeah, we'll break legs together sometime," laughed Nora.
"It was an honor to fight alongside you," added Ren.
"What are friends for?" chuckled Jaune, getting a return chuckle out of Ruby before she headed off to find her team.
(Recap End)
Ruby couldn't believe how time flew this semester. It felt like yesterday she was in the Dust Shop when Roman came barging in, and now... she was at Beacon, she was on a Team, a leader of said Team at that, and they had closed out their first Semester with decent scores all around, except for Weiss who pushed for excellency in ALL her classes. Since the end of classes, students were given a few extra days to arrange transport as they saw fit to visit home while the Vytal Festival was setting up for the following weeks, which would coincide with the next semester, along with the Vytal Tournament during the second week of the Semester.
Right now though, she was at the docks with her team, at Weiss's behest, so she doing her best to ignore the smell.
"I heard that the students from Vacuo would be arriving today, trying to settle in before the new semester and the Tournament," informed Weiss, "And as a representative of Beacon, it is my duty to welcome them."
"Translation: she wants know who we'll be facing in the tournament," deadpanned Blake, but with a wry smile.
"You can't prove that!" denied Weiss immediately.
"You can't disprove that either, Weiss," replied Ruby, getting her flustered, before Ruby noticed something else, "Uh-oh, Dust Shop break in, three o'clock."
The other three looked over to where the police tape was setup. As students of Beacon, they were Huntsman in training, and though civilian, the officers in charge of the investigation... weren't professional.
(AN1)
"They left all the Lien again," said the second officer.
"I just don't get it," replied the first, "Who needs that much Dust?"
"I don't know, know what I mean?"
"You thinking the, uh... White Fang?"
Blake's eye and bow twitched, though only Ruby noticed the bow... again.
'Blake's not THAT good at hiding her Faunus Ears,' thought Ruby, still keeping an ear on the conversation.
"Yeah, I'm thinking we're not paid enough," finished the second officer.
"The White Fang, huh," started Weiss, "What an awful bunch of degenerates."
"What's your problem?" asked Blake, trying to keep herself calm.
"I simply don't care for the Criminally Insane," replied Weiss, as if it was a simple fact.
"The White Fang are hardly a group of psychopaths," defended Blake.
"To be fair, some are, if some of the reports about a few of them are correct that certain members took pleasure in killing innocent people," interjected Ruby, while trying to (not so) subtly, move Weiss and Blake away from the crime scene, while Yang eventually tried to help Ruby.
"The propaganda against the White Fang is blown out of proportion. Those 'innocent people' most likely shot first without even a word," pressed Blake, who was grudgingly walking where Ruby wanted them too, which is back towards their Dorm as to not create a scene, "The White Fang are nothing more than misguided Faunus."
"They want to wipe Humanity off of Remnant!" pointed out Weiss.
"So, then their VERY Misguided!" retorted Blake, "Besides, neither explanation translates to them robbing Dust Shops in Downtown Vale."
"Given that Torchwick guy who hired the henchmen I knocked around two days before the start of the year," interjected Ruby, "Odds are that it's him. I do remember him saying he didn't want Lien, just Dust, crystal and powder."
"Doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are trash," stated Weiss, "They only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."
"That's not actually true. Once upon a time, they were pacifists. Only standing up for their rights through Protest," countered Yang.
Blake looked every so slightly visibly relieved at that. She was glad Ruby and Yang didn't share Weiss's viewpoint.
"HEY! STOP THAT FAUNUS!" shouted someone from the boat.
RWBY looked over to see a Monkey Faunus running from two shipmates, who couldn't follow him after he jumped ship to the dock.
"Thanks for the ride guys!" called out the Monkey Faunus.
"YOU NO-GOOD STOWAWAY!" shouted the other boatman.
"I take offense to that!" countered the Monkey Faunus, "I'm a GREAT stowaway! A no-good stowaway would have been caught before reaching port!"
'Excellent point,' though Ruby, who hadn't really thought of it that way. There was something familiar about that voice though, as if she's heard it before...
(AN2)
The officers from earlier overheard the commotion and confronted the Monkey Faunus, only to get a banana peel in the face. The Monkey Faunus ran towards the stairs and eventually right past RWBY.
To Blake, it seemed as though time was slowing down as the Monkey Faunus crossed her path. She could clearly see every detail in his face from his gorgeous eyes to his chiseled jaw, framing his perfect smile as he winked at her before time resumed to normal and he sped off down the road.
(AN3)
"Weiss, we came here because you wanted to see the competition... and I think he just left," spoke up Yang, getting Weiss's attention.
"QUICKLY! WE MUST OBSERVE HIM!" called out Weiss, who led the chase after him, though the officers were ahead of them.
The Monkey Faunus turned a corner, quickly followed by the officers, then WYRB, in that order. Suddenly, Weiss collided with someone, stopping YRB in their tracks. RWBY looked up just in time to see the Monkey Faunus Parkour his way to safety away from the officers. RBY looked back at Weiss, to see who she had run into.
"Uh... Weiss," spoke up Yang, reminding Weiss what happened.
"Oh my Oum! I'm so sorry!" yelped Weiss, getting up immediately, noticing who she ran into didn't move, not even a muscle, but held a smile all the same.
"Salutations," said the now identified girl, waving her hand from her position, never once losing that charming and endearing smile.
"Hello there," greeted Ruby, albeit a bit cautiously.
"Are you... okay?" asked Yang.
"I am fine," replied the girl, "thank you for asking."
An... awkward pause ensued, causing RWBY to look at each other in confusion, before Yang added, "Do you... want to get up?"
The girl seemed to contemplate that question before nodding and jumping up, in a rather stiff but still athletic way.
"Greetings, I am Penny Polendina," said Penny, "It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Ruby."
"My name's Weiss."
"I'm Blake.
"Did you hit your head? (Blake elbowed her) Ow. I mean, I'm Yang."
"It's nice to meet you."
"I think you said that already," said Weiss.
"... So I did," agreed Penny.
"Sorry for bumping into you," apologized Weiss, after several minutes of the roundabout conversation that resulted from the initial collision.
"See you around, Friend," waved Ruby before they headed off, back around the corner.
"She was... different," commented Yang.
"Anyways, back to business. Where'd that Riffraff get to?" asked Weiss, only for all four of them to notice Penny suddenly in front of them again.
"What did you call me?" inquisited Penny.
"Oh, I didn't think you heard me," apologized Yang, realizing she said that out loud.
"Not you," clarified Penny, walking up to Ruby, "You. You called me friend. Am I really your friend?"
Ruby realized just what she was saying. Ruby remembered Penny's file from the office, something the big man gave her with a note saying she was very important, more so than Ruby would realize soon enough.
"Yes, I would love to be your friend, Penny," answered Ruby with a calm, yet confident, smiled on her face, much to Weiss and Blake's shock, as well as the curiosity of Yang.
"Sen-SA-tional!" exclaimed Penny, "We can paint each other's nails, do each other's hair, and talk about cute boys and such!"
Ruby leaned a bit towards Weiss, "Be thankful I wasn't like that."
"Somehow, she actually seems more coordinated," countered Weiss, getting a deadpanned stare from Ruby, "I'm kidding."
"So... what are you doing in Vale?" asked Yang.
"I'm here to fight in the Tournament," responded Penny enthusiastically, "I'm Combat Ready!"
(AN4)
"Forgive me, but you hardly seem the type," observed Weiss.
"This coming from someone in a dress?" countered Blake.
"It's a combat Skirt!" refuted Weiss immediately, crossing her arms.
"Yeah!" agreed Ruby, who had the same basic concept of a combat skirt, sharing a quick high-five with Weiss.
"Wait a minute," continued Weiss, "If you're here for the Tournament, then you must know that Monkey-Tailed... rapscallion!"
"The... who now?" asked Penny, looking nonplussed.
"The filthy faunus from the boat?"
"Why are you keep calling him that?" demanded Blake, getting everyone's attention, "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate."
"Actually, 'degenerate' was a generalized slur against the White Fang, not the Monkey-Tailed guy," pointed out Ruby, trying to forestall another argument in front of her new friend. Penny was WAY too innocent to understand this level of politics and social verbal war.
"It doesn't matter, you need to stop insulting the Faunus. They are people, just like you and me!" pressed Blake.
"Oh, I'm sorry," retorted Weiss, unapologetically and metaphorically putting her foot in her mouth, "Would you like for me to stop referring the Trash Can as a Trash Can, or the Lamppost a Lamppost!"
"That's not the same thing and you know it!"
"He clearly broke the law!"
"He was never caught until the ship docked," commented Ruby, "You could argue he didn't get onboard until it docked here."
"That's a lame argument and you know it," growled Weiss.
Weiss and Blake's tempers were flaring, and a determination to prove themselves right, rather than the other one wrong. Ruby, recognizing the oncoming outburst, sighed.
"Yang, hold on," said Ruby quietly, "It was nice to meet you Penny. I've got to be a leader and reprimand my partner and my teammate now."
"What!?" exclaimed Weiss and Blake as one, echoing each other's confusion at Ruby's statement.
Yang placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders and used her aura to grip onto Ruby's. Ruby then used her semblance to move super fast, grabbing both Weiss and Blake and raced back to Beacon.
Back in their dorm, Ruby unceremoniously dropped both Weiss and Blake face forward on the ground. Yang let go of Ruby, only slightly wobbly. She wasn't used to such a long period of running.
"You two are acting like little brats, so you'll be treated like brats. Corners, NOW!" ordered Ruby, with a look that terrified both of them, getting them to comply rather easily. Ruby then took a breath, "Now, you both seem passionate in your beliefs, one that White Fang and Faunus are horrible, while the other believes in the potential of good inside them. Both of you happen to be right and wrong at the same time. Yes Blake, while not every single Faunus, there are those who have crossed a line, a line that can't be forgiven. You cannot deny some of things the White Fang has done. But the flip side of that is that not every Faunus is evil. What about Velvet? Is she evil? Is she a degenerate? Is she trash?"
Weiss couldn't answer, because of course she couldn't think that of Velvet, who was one of very few, if not the only, Faunus she ever saw not being guilty of anything that isn't attributed to her role as a Huntress in Training, and even then that's Grimm, which everyone is against. But there was still some part of her that saw all Faunus for the Animals they show a single trait of, rather than the People they actually are.
"Okay, Velvet is an exception. But you don't know what its like, growing up like I did. My Father couldn't go a week without coming home furious about something, where it's a Dust Train being taken, employees being abducted ("Freed," commented Blake, who was promptly elbowed by Yang, who gave her a 'stay quiet' look), to Board Members being executed. I may have grown up a Schnee, but that doesn't mean I had a happy childhood."
"That still doesn't give you the right to judge every Faunus, not even every member of the White Fang like that. Your Grandfather was kind to the Faunus, he helped them when no one else would, and your father destroyed that. ("Well, he's my maternal grandfather," murmered Weiss, only to get the same elbow treatment from Ruby.) He's the latest frontrunner in a long line of Humans hating Faunus. A Majority of us have lived in Menagerie since the War! Do you even realize how insulting that is! We can barely fit on the 1/3 of the island that's inhabitable! Most Humans have hated Faunus for generations and we JUST GOT TIRED OF BEING BULLIED!" responded Blake, getting too emotional to realize the change from third person plural to first person plural until it was too late.
"We...?" asked Yang, realizing what Blake had just said.
Blake realized what she just said, she made a mistake, and she didn't want to hear their reactions, so she left a clone, which blurred out of existence a second later, and raced out of the room and down the hallway. Ruby looked at Yang, basically signaling her to forestall Weiss for a few moments, before racing after Blake using her semblance again.
Blake ran and ran until she got out to the courtyard, she couldn't hold the tears at what she just ruined. She had made friends, though mainly with quirky Ruby and good-natured Yang. Now they were going to hate her. She took off her bow, freeing her ears for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
"I knew you would look better without the bow," came a familiar voice.
Blake looked over to see the Monkey Faunus from before, she couldn't bring herself to smile at his compliment though, because she still felt terrible for what she said to her team.
"Blake," came Ruby's voice from her other side, slightly winded from all the running she did today, "You don't have to do this. You don't have to runaway. Yang and I don't hate you, no matter what your past may have been like. If you need time, then take it. But if you're not back in 36 hours, we're coming to look for you." She then turned to the Monkey Faunus, "If anything happens to her, I'm blaming you, okay."
The guy audibly gulped, actually terrified of what the kid could do, since she moves that fast. Not even HIS reflexes would keep him alive.
(AN5)
Ruby then turned around and walked back up to her Team's Room. Weiss needed a lecture, even if she being honest, that's no reason to tear into Blake's people like that. Taking another breath to keep herself from lashing out like she did in the forest, this weekend. She needed to tell them. It would be the only way she could keep RWBY together at this point.
"They're my friends. I need to trust them with the truth," Ruby muttered as she worked her way back to her dorm.
(Chapter End)
Okay, that was... heavier than normal. Ruby's character has changed, so she's not going to be so passive, and not being a... well whatever Penny was talking about (Not judging, just making a description of activities).
PENNY! And now we have my favorite character in all of RWBY finally introduced. She'll get to show how 'combat ready' she is next time.
Author Notes...
AN1: Extremely unprofessional. RWBY are civilians, and their just talking about the case like it's scuttlebutt.
AN2: A little fourth wall poke at the fact that these two VAs are married. LOLZ!
AN3: I will make it clear: I'm writing a description of Blake's vision of Sun in that timeframe, not my own. I am not gay, and I have nothing against gays. Just wanted to make that clear. Also, because V4 had his eyes blue, even though they're clearly dark gray here, I'm having them blue as an imperial decision on my part as writer of this fanfic.
AN4: Nobody made any remarks about by Chapter 5's attempt at a joke about Battle Savvy. For shame, for shame guys!
AN5: Yet another fourth wall poke at their VAs being married. LOLZ again!
Next time, V1 Finale. Torchwick is back (oh no, spoilers! (sarcasm btw)). Also, note that in my head, this episode feels like Friday excursion, while the next episode feels like a Sunday thing. If that feels weird, then I'm weird, but it would make sense that RWY didn't go looking for Blake right away, and gave her a full day to come back on her own. Also, when I watched this back in consolidated form on Netflix (Entire Volume in a single video-type thing), it always felt that that last 30 seconds or so opened the next episode, rather than end out this one. By that logic, because it's mine, it's how I'm working the chapters. Thanks for reading and sticking with me all this time!
Until then...
Later,
RDF1