Nightfall of Expressing One's Inner Feelings
After Wolverine gave his honest feelings about the reason, he wanted to become a Huntsman, Ruby decided to ask Doctor Oobleck a question.
"Profes-I mean Doctor Oobleck, why did you want to become a Huntsman?" Ruby asked. Oobleck thought something like this would happen and decided to give his answer.
"Look around and tell me what you see." Oobleck gestured to their surroundings.
"Lots of old buildings, uh, empty streets..." Ruby confused of what is she supposed to be seeing.
"I see lives that could have been saved." Oobleck said continue walking with Ruby and Zwei beside him to listen to what he meant.
"As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people, and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger." Oobleck expressed how he feels that the mind can be just as powerful as using brute force.
Oobleck stops for a moment if the lives of the people who lived here could've been saved before turning to Ruby.
"I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be." Oobleck said before walking away.
Unknown to them, Wolver happen to listen to that entire talk getting him to think his teacher is stronger than he thought.
(Nighttime)
The night has taken over the sky with WBY having just made the fire and some sleeping spots for the others, but they are also feeling tired with having to fight lots of Grimms along the way.
"I can't believe we didn't find anything..." Yang exclaimed as she sat on her sleeping bag.
"We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side." Blake sighed.
However, Weiss' mind was on something else than finding Roman or the White Fang.
"That's not what I meant." Weiss said, off topic of what Blake and Yang were talking about.
"Huh?" Blake asked.
"Earlier, about... upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that." Weiss stated, laying on her sleeping bag.
"Yeah... No, me too. I mean... I don't know." Yang confused even her own words.
"I don't know, either. I know what I want to do, but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time." Blake said but feels like that's not always going to be the case.
"Well, it doesn't matter. We know why we're here. Right?" Yang asked.
But none of them said a single word to respond to that question as they are feeling conflicted with the question of why they're here in the first please, and what's the reason behind them.
Then Oobleck, Ruby, and Wolverine enter the small old building.
"Ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!" Oobleck smiled.
"Fire!" Ruby zoomed over the fire, holding her hands close to the fire to feel the warmth with Zwei also feeling the warmth. "So… warm…" She smiled.
"Very good! Eat your dinner and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow, and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?" Oobleck asked.
"Yo." Ruby raised her hand.
With that, Oobleck rush over to his spot to eat his dinner and Ruby went over to her lookout point though was stop by Yang for a moment.
"Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean... what did you tell him?" Yang asked.
"Hmm... No, he didn't. Weird. Oh, well; good night, guys!" Ruby smiled before starting her lookout job.
Yang was disappointed for the lack of answer and puzzle that Oobleck didn't ask Ruby the question of why she wanted to be a Huntress, it felt kind of weird that Ruby was the only one left out on the question even though she knew the answer her little sister has.
"Don't worry, I'll ask her." Wolverine placed a hand on Yang's shoulder.
"Are you sure?" Yang asked.
"Yeah, no fun if the entire team isn't in on this." Wolverine said before walking off to Ruby.
"Don't worry. Things will be better tomorrow." Ruby hoped she's right after a howling of a Beowulf went off, making Zwei a bit scared.
"We can only hope so with the drive and heart to keep moving forward." Wolverine said sitting next to her.
"I bet this is nothing new to you, with all the traveling and fighting lots of monsters and saving people." Ruby smiled at her sole male teammate.
"To be honest, I didn't really care about saving their lives. You could say I wanted to leave them be since it wasn't any of my business, but I always felt this urge telling me to go help them." Wolverine explained those lonesome days.
"Guess that shows you're really a nice guy deep down." Ruby commented.
"Even if what I do isn't very nice?" Wolverine popped out his claws, looking at his reflection.
"You had your reason, and I'll be there to help you. So does Yang, and our team and all of our friends back at Beacon." Ruby believed, gently touching his claws.
Wolverine smiles wondering how this innocent little girl is out here as a strong fighter, and that's what he's gonna ask her now.
"Ruby, why did you decide on becoming a Huntress? What's your reason of being out here right now?" Wolverine asked.
"Oh, so now you're the one asking the question." Ruby chuckled.
"I thought it's only right for the leader to be in on the subject." Wolverine shrugged.
"Well, then you put it like that." Ruby nodded and looked up at the sky.
"I guess it kind of started when I was really little, back home on Patch with Yang and Dad and there was my mom. The best super mom a kid could ask for." Ruby smiled, remembering her mother.
"Yeah, I remember meeting your family when they were a team… When I tried to kill them to make my escape." Wolverine recalled that time.
"You did mention that." Ruby chuckled.
"Anyway, it was always us together until one day mom had to go out on a mission and… She never came back." Ruby said, her face looking sad of finding out Summer died back then.
"Yang mentioned that you were really bumped out about it, but didn't think you understood it fully." Wolverine mentioned.
"Maybe she's right, I was too young to understand everything back then." Ruby accepted that.
Ruby looks down at her silver rose belt buckle and takes it off to have a closer look moment, feeling a bit sadder as this buckle reminds her so much of her mom and remembering the final day, she saw Summer before she left for that mission she accepted.
"Your mom was the one who inspired you to become a Huntress, did she?" Wolverine asked.
"Yeah, as much as I can remember. Mom was the greatest Huntress in the world, slayer of monsters everywhere and baker of great cookies whenever she comes home, and the stories Yang used to tell me about heroes saving the day at the end made me think of mom." Ruby smiled of the memories.
"I wanted to become a Huntress just like her, to fight monsters and to protect the people Huntresses are sworn to protect with their very lives. To be the kind of hero who can give them hope when they feel all else is lost." Ruby declared her reason.
"And you plan to shoulder the burden by yourself, with no help like a lone cat lady?" Wolverine asked raising an eyebrow.
"What? No, I'm not a cat lady because Blake is one!" Ruby defended from this and pointed at Blake with her thumb.
"Ruby, I'm asking if you are willing to take on all the darkness and hatred alone." Wolverine rephrased the question.
"Oh, huh, it would be very hard…" Ruby suddenly got smacked on the head.
"Hey!" Ruby glared.
"Your answer should've been "No" because trying to do everything alone will get you killed, and you'll have no one to share some moments with… like I have." Wolverine stated, looking a little upset.
"Oh." Ruby realized what he was going with.
"I also know that just because a leader is supposed to do everything for others doesn't mean they can, they'll always need the help from others to keep him from falling." Wolverine lectured.
"Even the greatest and strongest aren't afraid to ask help from others." Wolverine believed.
"Don't ever forget that, Ruby. Promise me that you won't forget nor should you keep your emotions to yourself, one can only hold yourself back for so long until you snap in the head." Wolverine said.
"O-Okay, I promise." Ruby nodded, feeling a bit scared if something like that happens to her.
"Good, glad we got that worked out." Wolverine nodded as he stood up.
"One more thing. Don't ever think of yourself as someone else like your mom, you are your own person and you should be the one steering your wheel of life. If you try going on being someone else then you could lose sight of yourself." Wolverine advised before walking back to the others.
Ruby was a little puzzled on what Wolverine mean by that though she has kept those words to heart as she thinks back on her mom and on herself.
(Beacon, with James Ironwood)
James is seen standing at the dock of Beacon looking toward the city of Vale in the night with the look of someone having some deep thoughts in his mind.
"Trouble sleeping?" Glynda asked walking up to them.
"Arm was acting up." James claimed, though Glynda could see through that.
"Of course, so logically, you got out of bed, dressed yourself completely and decided to gaze menacingly out into the distance." Glynda pointed out and approached all the way next to him.
"What's wrong?" Glynda asked.
"I've trusted him for years. We both have. I just... I can't help but feel like he's keeping us in the dark." James decided to let out what he's been feeling about Ozpin.
"Don't be ridiculous! You know very well that we are not the ones in the dark." Glynda reminded him of the group's purpose, which only made the Atlas general laugh humorously.
"That makes it worse! I refuse to believe that a man that I've trusted for so long would act so... passively." James sighed and Glynda placed an assuring hand on his shoulder.
"You're a good person, James. You've always done what you think is best for the people, even against strong protest. It's admirable. But it's high time you stopped talking about trust and started showing it." Glynda advised.
"Ozpin has experience that the rest of us lack. And I think that's something worth remembering." Glynda said while looking out at the city.
Unknown to them, Nick is standing quietly right behind them about fifty feet away and even heard the entire conversation about trust and Ozpin.
"If only you all know that Ozpin is more than what you already know." Nick sighed before turning around and walking away from the scene.
(With Team RWBY)
Everything seems to be quiet for the hunting group as most are sleeping peacefully with Ruby still on her lookout job, and Zwei sleeping next to her, but the silence broke when Yang open her eyes revealing that she's not really asleep.
"Blake, Wolverine, you two awake?" Yang asked.
"Yeah." Blake responded.
"Just wondering when you were going to speak." Wolverine said.
"Why do you think he asked us about being a Huntress? Like, what was he trying to say?" Yang asked, wondering about her history teacher.
"Maybe he was just curious." Blake guessed.
"He just wants to know if you girls are dead serious about becoming Huntresses in the future with the responsibility and duties that comes with it, knowing how deep your goals are." Wolverine stated.
"Guess we weren't deep enough then." Blake sighed.
"Weiss, are you awake?" Yang asked the Ice Queen.
"Of course, I'm awake! You three are talking." Weiss proclaimed, even though she wasn't really sleeping either.
"And I think he... When I said I wanted to honor my family's name, I meant it. But it's not what you think. I'm not stupid. I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Schnee Dust Company. Since he took control, our business has operated in a... moral gray area." Weiss admitted.
"That's putting it lightly." Blake commented.
"Which is why I feel the need to make things right. If I had taken a job in Atlas, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father was not the start of our name, and I refuse to let him be the end of it." Weiss clutched her fist.
Then it was Blake's turn to talk out her feelings.
"All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone. I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I - how can I undo so many years of hate?" Blake explained while staring at the ceiling and thought of her former partner.
"I'm sure you'd figure it out. You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake." Yang believed.
"But I am! I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!" Blake confessed of how she ran away from those kinds of situations.
"At least you two have something that drives you. I've just kinda of always, gone with the flow, y'know? And that's fine, I mean, that's who I am. But how long can I really do that for? I wanna be a Huntress, not really because I want to be a hero, but because I want the adventure. I want a life where I won't know what tomorrow will bring. And that'll be a good thing. Being a Huntress just happens to line up with that." Yang explained of why she wants to be a Huntress and looks over to Ruby.
"I'm not like Ruby, she's always wanted to be a Huntress. It's like she said, ever since she was a kid, she'd dreamt about being the heroes in the books. Helping people and saving the day, and never asking for anything else in return. Even when she couldn't fight, she knew that's what she wanted to do. That's why she trained so hard to get where she is today." Yang talked about her little sister and her love of Hunters.
"Well, she's still just a kid." Weiss said.
"She's two youngers than you three, meaning you're all kids." Wolverine pointed out.
"Well, not anymore. I mean, look where we are! In the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth!" Yang stated of the place they are in right now.
"It's the life we chose." Blake said.
"It's a job. We all had this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people! And whatever we want, will have to come second." Weiss said strongly as they all agree.
Unknown to them, Oobleck has actually been awake to listen to the entire conversation and smile proudly to know that his students have their resolves sorted out knowing what it means to be Hunters.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Some more talking about one's inner feelings and this time we got Ruby to share about why she wanted to become a Huntress and Wolverine lay out some heavy stuff for her to think about, but their peaceful moments will soon be interrupted by something under them.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!