Note: Fun fact about myself: I have never played RWBY: Arrowfell. But I love Team BRIR's character designs, so I stole them for this. Are their characters accurate to that game? Ehhh. Maybe a bit. But when you have Fables Blake, who needs lore accuracy? Enjoy.
Bianca Prisma.
Roane Ashwood.
Ivy Thickety.
Ruda Tilleroot.
Team BRIR—the greatest Haven Academy had ever known.
Ruby stood there, starstruck, not saying a word. Bianca waited patiently for her to answer, though Ivy tapped her foot behind her. A few seconds later, Ruby was finally able to summon an answer.
"Uh, y-yes! Of course, you can come in!" Ruby stepped out of the way, and the four Huntresses of Team BRIR stepped into her cabin. Roane, Ivy, and Ruda shook her hand as they passed. She called out to the others. "Hey, everyone! We have guests!"
There was a small commotion upstairs as Weiss, Blake, and Yang hurried to look presentable, though no one from Team BRIR seemed to notice. Well, they did, but they had the courtesy not to say anything. Bianca sauntered over to the kitchen table, gently placing down her gift basket before removing her cape and pauldrons and resting them over the back of one of the chairs. Her white tank top left her arms exposed, and Ruby could see taught muscles under her porcelain skin. Roane, who was somehow even more jacked than her team leader, sat on the couch and kicked her bare legs up on the coffee table, black leather boots brushing aside the décor. Ivy didn't take her jacket off, opting instead to stand close to the door as if she was ready to leave at any moment. Ruda joined Roane on the couch, awkwardly sitting next to her. Her ginger hair was up in a loose, held in place with a pair of oversized spiky goggles, and she fiddled with it relentlessly as she waited for the others to come down the stairs.
Ruby closed the door and tried to steady her breath. She was better than this. So much had changed that she knew she shouldn't be fangirling. It was beneath her. It was just holy shit Team BRIR was hanging out with her.
"I would have brought wine, but my understanding is most of you are underage," Bianca explained casually. "I hope the snacks will suffice."
"Oh, it's no problem at all—I mean of course they will," Ruby insisted. Bianca grinned at her—it could melt all of Atlas.
The rest of Team RWBY hurried down the stairs, and they too were surprised to see the members of Team BRIR in their presence. Compared to someone like Ozpin, they couldn't complain, though why the most prestigious team in Haven was in their cabin was beyond them. Of course, only Weiss and Yang recognized them. Blake just looked at all of their spiky accessories and matching thorn tattoos and thought they were weirdos.
"Ah, it's nice to meet you all," Bianca said as they flooded into the living area. "I'm Bianca, that's Roane, Ruda, and Ivy."
"Sup," Roane saluted.
"Hi," Ruda muttered.
Ivy said nothing.
"We weren't expecting guests," Blake stated. "What brings you by?"
"Well, we arrived earlier this morning," Bianca explained. She refused to take a seat until it was explicitly offered to her. "We thought it would be kind to stop by and introduce ourselves, given that we are all competing together. And to say how much we admire everything you do."
Weiss and Yang looked at each other. Blake kept her gaze firmly planted on the foreign team leader. Ruby felt her knees buckle.
"Admire us?" Weiss asked.
"You are the Heroes of Vale," Bianca stated. "As Huntresses, we aspire to help others. In your first year, you were able to save more lives than we have in our entire careers. You then turned that fame into a tool to help the less fortunate with your charity fund. It's hard to look at that and find not find something to appreciate."
Ruby's brain broke. They admired her? Team BRIR admired them? She didn't care how many people followed her on social media. That was the biggest validation she had ever—wait, did they say they were competing against them this year?
Shit.
Shit.
Of course, the timing lined up perfectly. She should have realized. Hell, she may have already known but the chaos of the Vault had caused it to slip from her mind. If they were going to win, they would have to beat the nearly undefeated. That… could be problematic.
Blake crossed her arms. "Oh, so you're staking out the competition?"
Snark. Dammit, Blake."
"Blake—" Ruby tried to speak but she was interrupted by Ivy from the corner.
"We're just trying to be polite. You have a problem with that?"
"Well, I mean, I don't know any of you. And we're not very trusting of strangers."
"They aren't strangers! They're very respected Huntresses!" Ruby insisted. "They won the Mistral Team Carnival four years in a row!" She covered one side of her mouth and leaned toward Bianca. "By the way, can I please get a selfie with you before you leave?"
Bianca nodded discreetly.
"Hey, if you want us gone, we'll just bail. We have other things to do than play nice," said Ivy. Before the mood could be soured further, Bianca turned to her teammate and cast her an icy glare.
"Ivy, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it."
"Can we just eat our snacks and go?"
"I just said—"
Roane suddenly stood up, waving her arms frantically. "Whoa, whoa, ladies, please." She took some quick steps to Bianca and put her hand on her shoulder. "Deep breaths, Bi. Deep breaths." She wandered to Ivy as she laughed to the others. "Apologies for our prickly friend. She's just not good around strangers. Aint ya? Aint ya, Ive?" Roane pinched Ivy's cheek like she were some adorable child, and Ivy rolled her eyes, swatting away her hand. "You wouldn't believe it, but she has an amazing singing voice. The best in Haven, I swear to God."
"S-Shut up," Ivy groaned.
"Hey, ya know what?" Roane said loudly. "Why don't we crack open some of this non-alcoholic grape beverage, get some cups, and kick off the Vytal Festival right? Because if I end up setting any of you on fire…" Roane ripped a bottle from one of the gift baskets and thrust it into the air. "I'm taking y'all out to dinner first."
"Forty people?" Roane said with disbelief.
"Yeah," said Yang casually.
"With your fists."
"And my shotgun gauntlets."
"Goddamn."
"It was nothing."
"Wow, I would have just burned down the entire building. But beating up everyone with your fists, that's pretty metal too."
"I wouldn't really call it metal. More like… traumatizing?"
"Huh."
The eight Huntresses had pulled together some chairs and were seated around the coffee table, sipping from their fancy, non-alcoholic grape juice. They were deep in conversation—and by that, what actually happened was that Roane and Yang did ninety percent of the talking, with Ruby speaking only to ask a question about Team BRIR's many exploits and Bianca chipping in occasionally to correct her teammate's exaggerated detail. Yang and Roane had already shared details of their workout routine, and they compared bicep sizes—Yang's was bigger by two-thirds of an inch. They discussed Team BRIR's matching team tattoos, and Yang suggested getting matching tattoos for Team RWBY. The idea was immediately shot down.
There were a few subjects kept off limits. Team RWBY rightfully excluded any mention of Fables, Ozpin drama, or the Holy Grail. They avoided more grisly details of kidnapping and terrorism and especially any of Blake's illicit activities. They were also keenly aware to avoid talking about that aspect of Team BRIR; except Blake, who did not know and had no innate curiosity to find out.
"I gotta tell you though… when I found out that you had taken out an evil CEO billionaire, I couldn't believe my eyes," Roane stated. "That took it all to another level for me."
"Well, Winter did most of the work," Weiss claimed. "We just… helped her get some information."
"I appreciate it anyway. My dad worked for the SDC for a little while," said Roane.
"No kidding," Yang whistled. "Like a miner or an executive?"
"Oversaw a mine. The shit he saw down there you wouldn't believe," Roane took a long sip of grape juice. "I swear, it makes you want to burn it all down."
"You love talking about fire, don't you?" Weiss said suspiciously.
"Oh. That one was accidental," Roane confessed, though she leaned across the table to get close to Weiss. "Though considering you're an ice princess, maybe you could use a bit more heat in your life." She winked and flipped down a pair of shades she kept on her forehead, and Weiss felt a shudder run through her abdomen. She turned away as her cheeks turned red.
"B-Bianca! You have a copying Semblance. That's quite unique. How does that work?"
Ruby gasped excitedly, scooting closer to the eldest Huntress. "Yes, please. Huntress details. Gimme gimme gimme."
Bianca chuckled. She could have dismissed the question as RWBY's attempt at reconnaissance, but one: everyone already knew her Semblance, and two: Ruby's puppy-dog innocence sent her walls tumbling down like old castle walls.
"Well, its quite simple. The target has to be within a hundred meters, and I have to look directly at them—and of course, they must have a Semblance for me to copy. But once I concentrate, I'm able to create a perfect replica of their Semblance's strengths."
"What if you don't know what they do?" Ruby asked. "What then? Do you have to learn how to make every Semblance work? How long does it take?"
Bianca thought for a moment how to answer the question best. "It usually just comes to me. I can almost sort of taste how their powers work, if that makes sense. Like a strange tingle in the back of your throat. Of course, I usually know what everyone's Semblances are before I fight them. I am a firm believer that most battles are won through prep and strategy rather than brute force or talent."
"Same!" Ruby gushed. She resisted the urge to leap into Bianca's arms, mostly because it was inappropriate, but also a little because Weiss was watching and she didn't want her girlfriend to get jealous. Of course, she was blissfully unaware that her lovely heiress was hungering after every member of Team BRIR like they were freshly grilled sirloin. But, like, still.
"So, you know our Semblances?" Yang asked.
"Yes. I learned yours the moment I found out you would be competing," Bianca explained. "I think they are interesting."
"Can you do mine?" Ruby asked eagerly.
Bianca shook her head. "I usually don't copy someone's Semblance outside of a battle. It's rather rude."
"Pleeeeeeaaaaaaasssseeee?"
Ruby's toothy grin was too much to ignore. Bianca let out a light sigh. "But… I guess I can make an exception for the Heroes of Vale."
Ruby gasped in wonder. She was about to have her Semblance copied by Bianca Prisma. It was a Huntress nerd's dream come true. She never had her Semblance imitated by anyone before. What did it look like in the third person? Did it look cool? Please let it look cool.
Wait, if she copied her Semblance, would that hurt?
Wait, did her Semblance include Rosaline? That'd be really bad if it included Rosaline.
Would it duplicate Rosaline? Would she resist? Wait, maybe it wasn't a great idea to try—
"And… done." Bianca snapped her fingers, and then she was gone in a flurry of rose petals. Ruby blinked once, and suddenly, Bianca was standing in the kitchen, petals fluttering to the ground around her as she sipped from her drink. No Rosalines were disturbed in the making of her demonstration.
Ruby could barely summon the words to describe the feeling. "That… was… so… cool…"
Yang, Weiss, and Roane applauded, the latter eventually getting Ivy to join in on the appreciation. Bianca raised her glass and nodded at her admirers.
"Thank you, thank you. You're all too kind."
"Do me next!" Yang said eagerly, though Blake—who hadn't been impressed by anything—shot her down.
"Your Semblance requires you to get beat up to show it off," she pointed out. "And we're not trashing this cabin like two seconds after we arrived."
Yang groaned. "Fine, mom. Bianca, if we get to fight in the tournament, I give you full permission to copy my Semblance as much as you want."
Bianca laughed to herself. "Don't worry… I will."
Blake sighed. "Cool. So, uh, you got any other cool tricks you want to show off to us, or are we good now?"
"What's stuck in your craw, Blake?" Roane teased. "You've been grumpy all day."
"She's always grumpy," Weiss clarified. "That's just Blake being Blake. Don't get bothered by it."
"I won't. We got one of those," Roane laughed. Ivy huffed and crossed her arms in response.
Yang, sitting on the floor in front of Blake, leaned back her head and pressed it against her girlfriend's knees. "You could be a little more open, Blake."
"You're all very willing to host our biggest competition," Blake retorted.
"We're off-duty," Bianca claimed. "We're not doing anything to gain an advantage in the competition. You have our word."
"Forgive me if I don't find value in that," Blake countered. "Like, you all seem very polite, we have kind of spent the last eight months getting betrayed by people who seem really polite on the surface and then turn out to be total douchebags. I don't buy this whole, we're just good people and we want to be friendly all the time schtick. Everyone has skeletons in their closets. I'm just waiting to see which of yours pops out first."
Her teammates non-verbally chastised her, even though they knew she likely had a point. Bianca pursed her lips. Roane, however, was unaffected, shrugging off the complaint.
"I got a felony conviction," she admitted casually. "Assault."
"Really? Surprised it wasn't arson," said Yang.
"He was lucky I didn't have a match on me."
"Well, that's one of the skeletons," Blake said dryly. "Anyone else got any they want to add? I'm sure they will all come out eventually. How about you?" Blake suddenly turned her attention to Ruda, who was sitting on the couch next to her. "You haven't said a single word since you sat down, and you keep staring at me, and it's kind of weirding me out."
Ruda had been obsessively quiet, and Blake's words were true. She couldn't help that her eyes kept wandering, and the redheaded tunneller tucked her hands into her lap and looked down at the floor. Her face turned as red as her hair and she had to bite her lip to keep herself from exploding. Blake's glare cut through her like a razor. Bianca eventually spoke up on her behalf.
"Ruda, do you want to say anything?"
Ruda very quickly shook her head. She squeaked out a denial. "No… n-no, thank you."
Bianca accepted the answer, unwilling to push her teammate over the edge. She was the only one.
"Oh, come on, Ruda. Tell her," Roane said encouragingly.
Ruda's eyes went wide. She shrunk away from Blake's eyes.
"I'm good."
"Tell me what?" Blake said angrily.
"Ruda is your biggest fan," Roane said proudly.
"No, I'm not!"
The denial was as weak as her knees. Blake's anger softened.
"A fan?"
"She has five of your t-shirts and three of your mugs," Roane confessed. "They were sold out of the Ruby one. She's basically obsessed with you."
Ruda squealed like a loose tire. Her anxiety made her feel like her head was about to explode. Blake just kept staring at her, firmly unimpressed with her fandom and probably thinking she was some kind of absolute freak. And of course, Roane was right there to cross the boundary even further.
"You're her favorite, Blake," she admitted casually. "Four of those t-shirts are yours."
Blake wasn't entirely sure what the point of any of this was. To gain her trust? Maybe, though it was possible Roane just loved fucking with her teammates. Even so, while it lowered her guard, it didn't exactly alleviate any tension in the room. Poor Ruda looked like she was about to explode from embarrassment, and that wasn't really what Blake was here for. It wasn't like she was unfamiliar with obsessed fans. Over the past few months, she had grown accustomed to weird comments on social media, ranging from people dressing up as her to others asking to see images of her feet. Such was the burden of being the most beloved Team RWBY member. While it was good knowing that Ruda probably wasn't going to stab her outside of the arena, it didn't do much to endear any of Team BRIR to her.
And then, Ruda finally mustered the courage to choke out a few words.
"I really liked your talk at the Pelts, Skin, and Scales Society."
All of Blake's annoyance was supplanted by shock.
"My what?"
She must have misheard her. No one actually watched the thing she did with PSSS—good thing too, considering Sienna made her bomb at the very end.
"It was really informative and you made good points," Ruda confessed. She didn't look at Blake directly. She couldn't, or the pit in her stomach would turn into a black hole and swallow her up. "I… I liked learning about those, um, issues… and then it inspired me to read some books you recommended on your feed… and th-those were pretty good. I, uh, liked them. A lot. And I think you are a really smart person and I like how you stand up for people less privileged than you. And you aren't afraid to speak your mind when you say something unpopular. And purple and black are really good colors."
Blake couldn't believe it. Did… did someone actually learn something from her? It wasn't all just dumb bluster for the internet? She was almost about to ask Ruda to explain herself, to probe her as if she was some kind of alien from another world who didn't understand that you weren't supposed to learn something beneficial from influencers. Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance, because Ruda immediately stood up from the couch, closed her eyes, and blurted out her intentions.
"Okay, I'm going to sink into the floor now! Bye!"
Before they could speak, Ruda triggered her Semblance and phased through the wood floor beneath them, falling like a stone. Within a second, she was entirely gone from view, with only a bright red bun sticking out of the earth. Team RWBY stared awkwardly at the tuft, and then Bianca cleared her throat.
"Uh, Ruda," she said loudly. "We can still see your hair."
There was a terrified, primordial scream from beneath them, and then the red ball of hair too vanished from view. It was a fascinating display of a power to phase through solid objects, yet no one really cared about that, because they could still hear the screaming.
Ivy smacked her palm against her face. "I swear with this girl."
As Blake still processed having someone actually listen to her for once, Ruby tried to change the topic, at least to drown out the noise from beneath. "So… are the other students from Haven here?"
"They arrive later today," Bianca stated. "I know Team MNSS and Team FNKI tend to arrive in 'style', so I expect them to be late."
"Oh yeah, I forgot that Team FNKI made it into Vytal," Yang said. "How the hell did a pop star make it into a prestigious fighting tournament?"
"Hey, you're also celebrities," Roane reminded them.
"Who got famous by fighting people," Yang objected. "Ne0N just makes music. I mean, it's okay music… sometimes…"
"Who's the last team?" Ruby asked curiously.
"Team CSVR," said Bianca. "I don't know when they'll arrive. We don't speak with them often.
Ruby tilted her head. Crossover? "I never heard of them before."
"Me neither," said Weiss. "Have they done anything?"
Bianca looked at them suspiciously. "They came in second place in the Mistral Team Carnival last year. We beat them in the finals. I thought you watched that."
Ruby scratched her chin. "I did, but I thought—"
She was knocked out of her train of thought by another loud knocking on the door. Ruda, perhaps, trying to get back into the cabin? Ruby scrambled to her feet and hurried to answer it.
"I got it, I got it!"
She opened the door a crack and was pleasantly surprised to see a different redhead standing in front of her. "Oh, hey. What's up?"
Pyrrha smiled uncomfortably, shifting on the balls of her feet. "Hello, Ruby. I… well, this is a bit embarrassing, but I think I left my Scroll in your cabin."
Ruby looked behind her. Sure enough, on the countertop, there was a Scroll lying around that she didn't recognize. Even the best Beacon had to offer could be forgetful sometimes.
"Oh, yeah. Come on in." Ruby opened the door wide, ushering her friend inside. "Feel free to grab any of the snacks that you want—"
"Pyrrha."
The icy words caused the room to freeze. Pyrrha took a single step inside, just one, before she was turned rigid. Bianca was standing straight in front of her, her smile, her kindness… all gone. She didn't seem angry or indignant. She just sort of stood there, her expression blank. Her cold blue gaze judged the young Huntress's presence, and Pyrrha could only stare back, trembling slightly at all the attention.
And they stood there.
They stood there for a very long time.
A hush fell over the others.
Eventually, after she could hear something other than her own heartbeat, Pyrrha spoke back.
"Bianca." She sounded surprised. "It's… it's good to see you."
Bianca simply nodded. "Yeah. It's been too long."
"Two years, right?"
"Three," Bianca corrected her. "You… look good."
"Yeah," Pyrrha stuttered, arms limp by her side. "So do you."
"I didn't know you had arrived. I would have come say hello sooner," Bianca claimed.
"I arrived with, um… them." Pyrrha looked away to Team RWBY, but only for a moment. She feared what would happen if she turned away any longer.
"Your friends with RWBY," Bianca said matter-of-factly. "I thought you didn't make friends."
"Well, I… I do now," Pyrrha said with a breathless laugh.
Bianca nodded subtly. "That's nice. I'm happy for you."
"Thank you. So… you're in Vytal this year. I should have known you'd make it."
"It's been a long year."
"Yeah. The longest."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Another long silence between them. Another moment waiting for the dam to break.
Bianca forced through a smile. "We should have lunch together. Catch up. For old times' sake."
Pyrrha didn't even think through her answer. "That sounds great."
"Noon?"
"Um… sure."
"I'll text you the spot," Bianca's smile widened, but there was nothing behind it.
Pyrrha forgot that she had already made plans with Jaune. She forgot about her discussion with Team RWBY about the Grail. She even forgot why she entered the cabin. It wasn't until her eyes drifted away for half a second longer than they should have did they spot her Scroll on the counter.
"I… just came to grab this," Pyrrha said quickly. She practically lunged across the room and snatched her Scroll, playing off her clumsiness with another empty laugh. "I'm sorry for disturbing you."
"It's fine. We were just leaving," Bianca declared. Roane looked up in disappointment.
"We are? Damn."
"I think we've bothered Team RWBY enough. They probably have other plans for today."
Bianca was correct, though she didn't know it. Weiss checked the clock and noticed she was late to meet Velvet for their training. They also had the rest of Li Caccia to explore and needed to go over what to do for the Opening Ceremony that night. Bianca casually returned to the kitchen, retrieved her cape, and flung it over her shoulder. Pyrrha and all of Team RWBY remained rooted in place, suspecting—though not quite sure why—that they shouldn't disturb Bianca as she was gathering her belongings.
"About time," Ivy muttered to herself. She headed for the door with little more than a nod toward her hosts. Roane followed shortly behind, flashing finger guns to Team RWBY as she walked past them.
"It's been fun, ladies. I'll see you around."
Bianca nodded. "Yes, it was very nice meeting all of you. I hope that you fight well in the tournament. If we happen to fight, I want to see you give it your all." She took a step toward the door, toward Pyrrha, but she suddenly stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot. Ruby, I owe you a selfie."
Ruby stammered, the tension in the air still thick. "You really don't have to…"
"I insist," Bianca said gently. Her smile became warmer, and the softness returned to her eyes. Ruby's nerves didn't fade as she pulled out her Scroll, hurriedly flicking through the various apps until she found her camera. Bianca leaned down to eye level and rested her head over Ruby's shoulder as they both grinned into the lens.
"Say… Vytal!" Ruby summoned up some cheer, and one snap later, it was done. She checked the photo. They both seemed happy, like the famous, perfect Huntresses they should have been. "Thank you for that."
"You are very welcome," Bianca grinned. She gave one more cheerful smile to the rest of Team RWBY, and then to Pyrrha. She held it for too long before she turned to leave. "I'll be seeing you soon."
Bianca shut the door behind her, and they were left to stew in silence. Pyrrha released a deep breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. Blake brought up the obvious.
"So… what the hell was that all about?"
Pyrrha did not answer.
The silence continued further.
Then, Yang brought up a different obvious question.
"Wait, is Ruda still in the floorboards?"
