A beast of steel. Remnant of a bygone era in warfare. However, just as Elder Grimm were the most dangerous foes a huntsman could face, Qrow was under no delusions that the Battleship he was slowly, yet calmly approaching was still dangerous.
What was that saying? Fear an old huntsman more than a fresh academy graduate?
Yeah, the feeling he had right now was similar, probably even more considering the boat he, Tai and Yang got on was piloted by a ghost, steering and controlling the motor all on its own. It didn't look sophisticated enough to be one of Atlas's self-piloting vehicles anyway. If it weren't for Ruby herself on the deck of that ship, Qrow would never have gone onto such a freaky thing, ancient unkillable immortals. Alright. A ghost ship that turned out to be maybe true? Hell to the fuck no.
Slowly, their small boat parked up onto the side of the ship, stairs extended down the side of its massive hull. Anyone could guess it was meant for them, Tai and Qrow shared a look first, before the latter said a mental 'fuck it' and took the first step. It felt real, the steps below him were not the result of any illusionary semblance or even a dust projection common in Atlas, it was pure steel, and even smelled like it too.
As Qrow got to the top, he was greeted by none other than Ruby, arms crossed behind her back, silver eyes analyzing him.
"Welcome to my ship, there are a few rules I must ask you to follow before we continue further. This is more for your safety than mine."
They were somewhere at the stern of her ship, right next to one of the massive main guns, and Qrow counted at least eight of them. There were enough guns here to cover a good portion of Vale's defence on this ship alone, never mind the other implications of it appearing and disappearing at will.
"But before that, please give me your flask, Uncle Qrow." Ruby held one hand out in front of him, waiting for Qrow to do as she asked.
Though confused, Qrow wasn't about to argue with Ruby right now. Taking the refilled flask out of his jacket, he deposited it into her hands, a satisfied look on her face.
"Okay, why do you-no, no! WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING-"
Ruby promptly opened the flask and poured out its alcoholic content into the waters below them, even shaking it a few times at the end for good measure. He was handed back a much lighter flask, the whiskey he had refilled it with earlier completely gone.
"Ironblood is not a dry Navy, but for the sake of your liver, I'm making a special exception for you today. Alright, the first rule, you are only allowed to access areas that are open, any sections that are closed will be off-limits…"
Qrow was barely listening to Ruby right now, that alcohol she just poured out was the last of his premium stash, reserved for when he really needed it. And now it was gone, becoming the equivalent of alcohol for fishes. The only thought running through his mind then and there was asking the universe what he did to deserve this and whether or not Glynda would agree to give him a raise for this bullshit.
Unfortunately, the answer to the second question was one he didn't need to think about for long. Resigned, he followed Ruby below decks, still sober, and would continue to be for the next few hours.
"Wait, so, instead of uniting into one big kingdom, you have a bunch of smaller ones that constantly fight against each other?"
"Countries, but yes, I suppose that is…correct."
"Well, it makes me feel better about our Great War at least, even without the Grimm we're still fighting each other. Not sure how I feel about that actually."
Ruby was keeping time, she explained a few things in detail so far. Her 'powers', where they came from, Ironblood and the like. However, there were a few things she still kept close to herself for now, such as the Wisdom Cubes and the Sirens. She wasn't lying by any means, just leaving things unsaid, for now.
"I believe now would be a good time to take a break, we've been here for nearly three hours."
The entire time Ruby had her radar switched on, ready to bolt at the first sign of any ship or aircraft nearby. Doing so would have meant everyone on her hull would suddenly lose their ground, but her family were huntsmen so it was probably fine. So far, Yang was actually the one who took all that information the best, while her father, understandably, was mostly concerned about her safety. Despite Ruby reassuring him that few things could get past her armour, being reminded that his daughter was now a walking Battleship did not seem to calm his nerves in any meaningful way. Qrow was somewhere in the middle, having been exposed to a bit of it already.
Ruby was the first to leave the officer's lounge, or rather, the beer garden designated as the officer's lounge. She had not quite cleaned up the mess hall yet from last night's guests so she led them away from areas that would make them ask uncomfortable questions, like why she had crates of SDC-marked dust with her right now. Making her way back out onto her deck, it was nearing noon now, the sun directly over them.
Loud bootsteps behind Ruby alerted her of someone approaching, not that she needed to hear it anyways. Leaning on the railing, Ruby waited for Yang to do the same.
"Hey Rubes."
"Hey Yang."
The entire time Ruby knew Yang had something to say, now that they were alone though…
"Was…was it because of me that you-"
"Stop." Ruby stopped that train of thought before it went anywhere. She told them that it started right after the 'trolley incident' that she herself had few memories of, probably owing to her age, Yang however, remembered it very well. She held no grudges about it, just two children being stupid and wandering into a Grimm-infested forest to search for lost mothers, she couldn't exactly fault Yang for it.
"No, Ruby, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have had…well…all this!" Yang gestured towards her superstructure, her anti-aircraft batteries reflecting sunlight from their barrels. Sighing, Ruby turned towards her sister, a guilt-ridden expression clearly seen.
"Yang, I've had ten years to think about it. Yes, you may have been the reason why Ulrich's memories and…abilities manifested in me, but you are not the cause for them in the first place." She was still unsure of where they came from, a part of her suspected her lineage may have something to do with it but Doctor Oobleck had not found anything substantial yet. Better to stick to what she knew than to go with wild theories.
"Who am I now? Ulrich von Hutten, or Ruby Rose? I can't deny that her memories have influenced me, and indeed, maybe they have taken away who 'Ruby Rose' was meant to be, what do you think? Am I still your little sister?"
Unexpectedly, Ruby turned around to look at Yang again, only to get flicked in the forehead by her right hand.
"Ugh! You put Aura in that!" The Kansen cried out incredulously, the previous times Yang did something similar Ruby had to fake the reaction, but this time it was genuine.
"Of course I did, now that you've told us you're literally as strong as steel, I've gotta make sure you actually feel it now. Can't believe you fooled me for that long…"
While Ruby rubbed her forehead, Yang managed to get in close for a bear hug. Normally she would have been squirming under the hug, but this time Ruby allowed herself to be still.
"Somewhere…out there I guess there would have been another Ruby Rose, who isn't able to spawn a giant warship out of nowhere." Yang began talking, letting herself take pauses in between sentences.
"Buuuuuut…you're the only Ruby I know. You're the little sister of mine stuck in the emo phase for far too long…and I wouldn't change any of that. So don't give me any of that 'are we still family' bullshit, and besides, guess we won't have to pay for cruise tickets in the future now."
Ruby did not yet mention that she could 'talk' to other ships, best not to let them know of that just yet. The few family cruises they took resulted in her being doted on by the cruise ship themselves, which was why she always insisted on land-based vacations.
"Hah…I was worrying over nothing. Now, skin of steel or not, I am still feeling the pressure so please stop the hug." In reality, she just didn't like prolonged hugs, they gave ample time for Uncle Qrow to snap a scroll image for future blackmail.
"Nah, just a bit longer. You're not gonna cast me away this easily now."
"Ugh…"
"Oh come on, that was good. So, what else can you do besides blow up all of Patch? You got a Sauna in there or…is that an Atlesian bullhead?"
"..."
Now, how was she going to explainthat?
Qrow's experiences with ships in general were one he was familiar with, having to travel constantly for his assignments, he thought that he'd seen every ship remnant had to offer by now. Clearly, he was wrong.
Navigating the ship that Ruby summoned (he refused to call it Ruby's hull as she called it) was akin to being trapped in an endless maze, where if not for Ruby herself guiding him he would have taken a while just to get back to the top deck. It didn't help that the ship was probably one of Remnant's biggest seafaring vessels right now. Interestingly, Tai and Yang were left behind, with them being distracted by the cinema room playing a film from the 'Earth' Ruby had her memories from; something called Citizen Jane which was apparently a cult classic. Leading through a series of winding hallways, they ended up in a storage area behind the mess hall, appearing to be recently used.
"Alright Ruby, what do you wanna show…me…"
Dust. Crates of Dust.
Everything from regular mixed, low-grade dust to high-grade Ice Dust crystals was in the storage area Ruby had taken him to. It didn't exactly take Qrow a long time to piece two and two together, he slowly turned to his niece, being careful with his words. There was enough dust in here to let a mom-and-pop dust shop run for at least a year just by seeing these crates alone.
"Let me guess, Torchwick's haul?"
She nodded, and Qrow nodded as well, coming to an understanding.
"So, what do you want to do with this? I imagine Torchwick is going to want this back, whatever he's going to do with it, I guarantee you it won't be for anything good-"
"It's not so simple."
Oh for the love of-
"Okay, I know I haven't been the most truthful when it comes to my work, but a good chunk of it involves not letting Torchwick or any other dangerous people their hands on stuff like this. This isn't a game, Ruby, a lot of people could get hurt if I don't stop whatever he's planning."
Qrow had no intention of ratting Ruby out to Ozpin, at least not until he couldn't manage it alone. He was already thinking of certain ways to ensure none of this traced back to her, controlled detonation off the coast to get rid of this stuff, 'finding' it in an abandoned warehouse or even getting Ruby to shoot it with her guns-
"Torchwick is not the mastermind."
Qrow paused, this was something he already suspected along with Glynda, but Ruby saying that meant she knew something they didn't. He slowly crossed his arms, before gesturing for her to continue.
"I have conditions for my help, mainly, protection for a…few people who are close to me. Personally."
She was probably referring to the Malachite twins, right? If so, Qrow could probably work something out with Ozpin. Nodding in affirmation, Ruby continued speaking, her eyes narrowing slightly in the process, now that he saw it up close, almost like those belonging to Faunus, remembering Winter's description of it much to his unease.
"Does a woman named Cinder Fall mean anything to you?"
No, no it did not. Though he sure was very interested now.
Canon Omake:
"Hey Ruby!" As Ruby was leading her family onto a tender and back to shore, Yang suddenly called out behind her.
"Did you leave something?"
"What? No, I don't think so…anyways, I wanted to ask, what are you wearing underneath that coat? You've been wearing it ever since you…transformed?"
Ruby paused, she did not expect this question out of nowhere. However, that did not stop her ears from reddening at a rapid pace.
"N-nothing you should concern yourself with."
"Wait, you stuttered! You never stutter, c'mon, what are you wearing underneath it, something cute?"
It was most definitely not something 'cute'.
"My radar has found a fishing vessel near us, we should hurry. No time for talking."
Walking faster, Ruby's boots were the only thing she heard, ignoring Yang's continued calls from behind. The reason why she always had her coat buttoned up was because of Ulrich's…unique Ironblood fashion sense that would most definitely get her grounded by her father, then by Uncle Qrow and finally by Yang. Seriously, Ironblood was known for being eccentric, but those 'clothes' were even pushing it by their Kansen standards.
Needless to say, she'd rather fight through a fleet of Arbiters than be called an exhibitionist anytime soon.
AN:
For what I'm referring to in the Omake, please see Ulrich's character sheet.
A bit of a shorter chapter, I'm in the process of moving but I still wanted to get this out before my flight. Also, yay, I graduated my undergrad, so I will have more time to write in the future.
Be civil in the comments below.