AN:
Two and a half years, fifty six chapters and a prologue, and we finally got the fight I've been promising.
God damn I'm glad you all liked it so much.
So, that's about... A third of the story done, if I had to predict.
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe two. Maybe.
Regardless, let's go on, shall we?
Chapter 57
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The first thing Ruby Rose felt as she slowly roused herself to consciousness was the familiar feeling of a warm bed beneath her back.
She opened her eyes and found herself in her room - her room, she realized belatedly. Not her dorm or the hospital, but her room back in Patch.
But what was strange was that, when she turned her head, she could see bars on the window.
Ruby blinked, frowning as she slowly lifted herself up.
Then, as she ran her hand through her hair, she heard a familiar voice gasp, and she was soon wrapped up in a pair of powerful arms. "Ruby!" Her father cooed, the smile as evident in his voice as it was in the strength with which he hugged his daughter.
Ruby was able to slide her hands out from between her and her father's chests and reciprocated the embrace, "hi, Dad!" She gasped, voice muffled by his chest, his warmth spreading into her body and leaving a feeling of comfort behind.
"Wait, Dad -" He let go of her, the expression on his face making it clear to her that he knew what she was going to ask. "Dad, what happened?" She asked, silver eyes wide, beseeching him to give her the answer she wanted to hear, and he wanted to give. "Everything's... Fuzzy."
But he looked away, slowly sinking back into his seat, frowning in pain. "Ah... Uncle Qrow found you, unconscious." He said, slowly. "He got you out of Beacon and brought you here... They've got a safe zone set up in Vale, but they've been evacuating most of the wounded and non-combatants here." He explained.
This jogged her memory a bit, and she asked, "what about the school? And the Grimm?" She asked, earnestly, hands clenching into fists and bundling her blanket underneath her.
Taiyang sighed, "things in Vale are under control." He said, "the White Fang really saved our bacon, there. With them and the other kingdoms' help we managed to contain most of the damage. The school, though..." He shook his head. "The dragon is really messing things up. You did a hell of a job, but as best we can tell it isn't... Dead, just frozen. And it's still attracting Grimm. We won't be able to take Beacon without an army, and the other kingdoms aren't committing, not after what we heard about Earth."
Ruby blinked, naively.
And Taiyang acquiesced, "we don't know who it was, but a bunch of huntsmen snuck through the borders and got to Earth. They killed a lot of their leaders, and Earth shut down their embassies here. Pulled their armies back to Earth, refused to help Vale at first, and have been real quiet ever since. They're expecting the worst -"
"Wait..." Ruby interjected. "Wait, what did I do?"
Taiyang blinked, turning to make eye contact with his daughter. "Huh?"
"You said I did a good job... On the dragon?" Ruby tilted her head innocently.
"Oh... Uh..." Taiyang leaned back, brushing one of his callused hands through his unkempt hair. "Well... Look -" He shook his head. "That doesn't matter right now... What matters is you and Yang are safe. Your friends are holed up here, too. Things might be a mess, but - "
"Things are always a mess." The two heard a deep, raspy voice speak.
Ruby blinked, and both she and Taiyang turned to see Qrow standing in the doorway, finishing off the golden liquid in his ever-present flask.
"Mind if I have a minute?" He asked, screwing the cap back on and stowing the flask on his hip.
Taiyang looked indignant, "what, I can't be here?"
Qrow beseeched Tai with a sigh and pursed lips. "Tai." Was all he said.
Taiyang and Qrow stared off, before the former shook his head and got to his feet. He leaned in to give Ruby a kiss, and she leaned into it, glad to be home with her dad. He said as much to her, before leaving to make a pot of tea, wondering aloud if Yang hadn't already finished the last one off. Qrow stepped aside to allow Taiyang to leave, and once they were alone, he stepped inside, shut the door, and sat in the seat Taiyang had been occupying.
"So." He rasped, crossing his arms. "How're you feelin' kiddo?"
Ruby mentally checked herself over, and came up with one word: "Achy." She said, "I kind of... Hurt all over." It reminded her of the first day she'd woken up her semblance, how sore she'd been after she'd spent three hours doing nothing but running.
Qrow nodded, chuckling. "Well after what you pulled off, I'm not surprised." But her silence prompted him to say, "looks like you don't remember."
She shook her head, "Dad said I did something to the dragon... But the last thing I remember I was in this big... Place, under Beacon, and -" She gasped, head shooting up. "Ash! Uncle Qrow, is Ash okay?!" She begged.
Qrow let out a long sigh, and in response, he pulled out his scroll. "Don't think I'm... Gentle enough to explain that bit." He said, typing out a message. "Don't know what we'd do if the short-range comms weren't working." He said, leaning back.
Ruby was about to ask him what was going on, but before she could, someone else came and knocked on her door. She turned to it, and Qrow beckoned the new entrant to come in.
Then, standing in the slowly opening door, was Pyrrha, her eyes puffy and red, hair disheveled and in clumps, her normal armor covered up by thin, baggy casual clothes, and something big and round hanging from her back.
Confused, but her heart fluttering as she began to consider the implications, Ruby tilted her head, "Pyrrha?" She asked, "why would -" She looked to Qrow, who was forlornly eying his empty flask, then back to Pyrrha. "Pyrrha, why are you here?"
Pyrrha stepped inside, and, silently, reached behind her back. Ruby watched her do this, and her eyes grew as wide as saucers as she watched her slide the round object from the weapon mount on her back, and saw what exactly it was that was hanging from her back. Loosely held in one of her hands was Ash's shield, covered in black scorch marks, them running over its two sides like blood, the star on its center blacked out completely, and running along the shield's center, length-wise, a thin line of sterling silver and curdled metal, the paint having been burned away entirely and some of the metal having been partially molten.
It was as close to broken as Ruby had ever seen the indomitable disc, and looking at it, she felt as though someone had shoved a stake in her chest.
Ruby's hand slowly came up to cover her face, and tears began to well as she realized what this meant.
"The vault was coming down, and your friend made a choice." Qrow explained, as he nodded at Pyrrha, and she found herself a seat. "I know this hurts, but do you remember anything else?" He asked, placing the shield back on the carpet.
Ruby, feeling short of breath, shook her head. "He was... That girl, the leader of that team that hurt all the terrans..." She paused, face contorting in both pain and concentration as she tried to bring her name to mind. "Cinder..." She opened her eyes again. "They were fighting. I tried to help, but I..." Her voice shook, "I was too slow. She stabbed him and... And..." Lip quivering, she shrugged, sheepishly. "Everything went white, and my head hurt, and it still hurts, then I was here."
She noticed Qrow nod, and spare a glance Pyrrha's way, but Pyrrha's eyes were halfway between Ash's shield and the foot of Ruby's bed. With a deep sigh, he spoke up, "tell me, kiddo. Ever wonder why the Oz let you and your friends get away with all you did?" He asked, waving one of his hands in a circle. "Gigantic fight in the cafeteria, practical war against one of the world's biggest crime bosses, gathering up a bunch of students and going AWOL to launch a rescue mission?" He listed off.
Ruby frowned, "I mean..." Through the fog in her head she realized she'd never really spared it much thought.
Qrow understood, "you remember what he said to you, first night you met?" He let Ruby think a moment, and when she didn't respond, he said, "something about your eyes, right?" A beat, "silver eyes." He indicated her. "An extremely rare trait."
Ruby blinked, brow furrowing as she looked up to Qrow. "Yeah?" She tilted her head. "What's so important about that?"
Qrow leaned back in his chair, briefly breaking eye contact with Ruby as he looked up to the ceiling, "the things they don't teach these days." He chuckled, "reason they never let me pick my own curriculum." He shook his head and looked back down to her. "To make a long story short, for a very long time there's been a legend passed down about warriors with silver eyes. That they're destined to lead the life of a warrior, as they're among the strongest fighters ever to live." He gave Pyrrha a nod, "only out-and-out prodigies can, at their best, match one of them at their basest." A beat, "if you believe the legends, at least." He huffed.
Ruby blinked, "but, Ash and Pyrrha -"
"Are those prodigies." Qrow shook his head, "but they're not silver-eyed-warriors. They lack something that people like you have... You believe the legends, your kind of warriors can strike Grimm down with just a look. Can take on entire armies on your own. Can do things..." He shook his head. "Hell, can do things that once I wouldn't have believed."
Ruby frowned, "once?"
To which, Qrow nodded. "We live in a world with space aliens whose society revolves around setting their planet on fire, and to be honest, kiddo?" He shook his head, "that's not the strangest thing I've seen in my life. Just one of them." He leaned forward, "has it clicked for you yet that I shouldn't really know what Oz said to you when you met?" He asked, before nodding at Pyrrha again, who was now paying more active attention to the conversation, having finally torn her eyes away from the floor. "Or why I didn't make her leave after she dropped the news?"
"Well..." Ruby shrugged, having not wanted to say anything.
"All those missions I tell you about? The reasons I'm at school as often as I'm not? They're for Ozpin, kiddo." He explained, "he and I... Well, suffice to say his finger was firmly on the pulse of the world, back when he was kicking. I helped out when he needed me to, was and still am in on the loop." He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "The world's a big place, kiddo, and Earth getting added into the mix only made it bigger. It's a... A very long story, but the short version would be that this isn't the first time Ozpin's died." He gave Ruby a moment to digest that information, and as her eyes shone with confusion and her jaw slowly creaked open, he continued. "I know you've heard the story of the Maidens. It was one of those things Tai and I agreed he'd tell you when you were kids." She nodded, curiosity now shining in her silver eyes as she tried to understand his meaning. "Well, that fairy-tale isn't as fictitious as everyone thinks. The Wizard, the Maidens... They all exist. They're real -"
Ruby blinked, eyes shooting over to Pyrrha. "Is - Pyrrha are you -"
But Pyrrha shook her head, pressing her lips together. "I was... In the running." She said, with a hesitant nod. "Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood had learned how to transfer the aura of a person to another, and they needed that because Cinder had stolen half of the powers of the Fall Maiden... The entire attack on Beacon was subterfuge, such that she could steal the rest of them."
Qrow picked up with, "that 'big place' under Beacon was where we were keeping her on life support, while Atlas could finish the device." He held his finger and his thumb an inch apart, "we were this close to getting it, but then Cinder launched her attack and..." He trailed off, not needing to go there again.
Ruby felt light headed, from all of this information slamming into her. "But... Why?" She managed to bite out.
Qrow sighed, "that's the million lien question, ain't it, kid?" He straightened back up. "Much like the Maidens exist... So does the wizard. And to make that one a much shorter story, it's Ozpin, Ruby. Whenever he dies, his soul moves on, finds another host and they begin to bond. Share memories and experiences." He explained, "but he's like that because... A very long time ago, he failed to do something. The way he explains it, the Brother Gods themselves came down and cursed him to reincarnate. Whether or not that's true, it doesn't eliminate the fact that he comes back, and it implies that what he failed to do was bad.
"Ozpin had the chance to destroy the woman who led the Grimm forever, and he failed to do so."
Ruby leaned back in bed, back pressing into her pillows, as though the weight of all of this now had a physical drag against her. "So... Cinder works for that woman?" She asked, both to make sure she was understanding his implication correctly, and in the hopes that this would expedite the conversation and give her time to digest all of this.
Qrow nodded. "They've been at war a long time. Ever since they met, she's been after four relics of immense magical power. Stronger than him and the four Maidens combined. He barely kept them out of her hands last time, and made it such that they could only ever be obtained by the Maidens they were linked to, and ever since then she's been preparing to make another play for them." He explained, "bringing us to today. As best as we understand, she had long since learned that humans were too tenacious to be killed by the Grimm, but we excelled at killing ourselves. Her plan, therefore, was to force humanity to enter into a war so great and terrible that, once it was done, there would be nothing left to protect the Maidens and the Relics.
"So, she found Earth, and set things up such that war between our worlds was inevitable. Cinder and her team made Earth mad with their stunts, and we're pretty sure they were behind Earth's supposed cheating during their sports, as well. Then there was the guy who shot Etiolate, and a bunch of fallen huntsmen who tried to kill a lot of important people on Earth..." He shook his head. "It hasn't started yet, but pretty much all of Remnant has shut down and adopted a holding pattern, because Earth's been very quiet these last few days... And it's when they won't be so quiet that's worrying us."
Ruby nodded, remembering vividly how badly things had gone in Vale when the terrans had attacked, and the pictures from Atlas' battles against them. Now that the kingdoms knew how they fought and were more prepared for them, any war fought between them all would only go worse. She wondered if they would be lobbing any more sun-bombs over, and that scared her, especially if the prospect of the aftermath of such a war was all of the Grimm coming in to finish the job, and this woman getting her hands on these Relics.
But, a light of hope flickered up inside of Ruby, as her eyes briefly flickered over Ash's shield. It dawned on her that Qrow wouldn't be telling her this without a reason, and if Pyrrha was here and she was important to Ozpin, and Ruby herself apparently had some kind of value, perhaps there was a part of the plan Qrow hadn't mentioned yet?
She voiced this hope, "but... There's something we can do, right?" She asked, eyes wide.
To which, Qrow sighed. "Kind of." He said, "before the war really started, the Terrans sent some of their astronauts - the people whose job it is to go out into and study outer space - and some of their satellites to Remnant, through the wormholes she'd opened up." He explained, "they figured out just enough to know that there was more to the story than they knew... But not enough concrete evidence to call off their war. So once Remnant capitulated, they sent out some feelers to try and investigate more closely. Ozpin noticed and made contact, and to shorten that up a bit... We've got some allies on Earth that know about all this." But before Ruby could get too excited, he cut her down. "But their bureaucratic machine is... Well, it's designed to oversee an entire planet, not just four sections of one... So without any evidence, to avoid the war, there's not much we can do. Anything we have is hearsay from Ozpin's end, from a legal standpoint." He growled, "so without finding Salem and dragging a confession out of her..." He shrugged, "our plan at the moment is to track down the other Maidens. The terrans know about them, and will want them either under their control or just out of the war in general, and Salem's after them to get the relics. So with everyone looking to find them, for the moment, our best bet is to do the same.
"Our endgoal is to find Salem's associates and capture one in the course of their hunt for the Maidens. If we can drag out a location, alongside preexisting agreements from the four Kingdoms and a promise from Adam Taurus' White Fang, the Terrans have promised some amount of help for us in fighting her." He finally let out.
That bare flicker of hope inside Ruby's chest blossomed into a small flame, helping just barely to drive away the despair and hopelessness that had welled up inside of her. "And... That's why you're telling me all of this." She confirmed, with a nod. "Why Pyrrha's here... And our teams."
Qrow nodded. "Any other situation, I'd try the hands-off approach. Do the whole, let you know without saying it, thing." He explained, "but, this situation... We are honestly closer to oblivion than we have been in... Thousands of years. Oz was actually worried that Salem would win. That... It calls for more of a direct approach." He nodded to Pyrrha. "She's already agreed to help out, and we brought her team into the loop so they'd know what they'd be signing on for." He nodded to Ruby, "your team, they don't know yet. We were waiting to tell you before we told them... It's your choice, Ruby... But you need to understand what it is you're signing on for." He explained, "we're not necessarily going off the reservation here, but the four Kingdoms lost a lot of faith in Oz when Earth showed up, and suffice to say so few people on Earth are in the loop that it's easier to say that anyone from their neck of the woods is out for our blood. Functionally, we'll be alone. No help but what we can provide for ourselves. No support structure... And we may very well be fighting in two wars we won't and can't win. To say nothing of the fact that we're somewhat certain Salem has, on her side, people who have fought and killed Silver Eyed Warriors before, and take pride in doing so. Even moreso than just regular Huntress duty, your life will be in danger.
"There's no shame in saying no, Ruby. If you want to join us, we'll take you, but if you'd rather stay... Just fight the Grimm and try and keep the Terrans at bay... We'd understand."
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There were not words powerful enough to describe the pain Cinder Fall was in. It was, without a doubt, the worst, most intense, agonizing pain she had ever felt in her life. As though there was liquid fire, stuck to her body, constantly burning but never destroying her nerves and numbing the pain. Every movement, every breath, every thought just caused these fires to burn brighter and hotter, caused her more pain and more suffering. One would think the bone-dry atmosphere of the castle and its surroundings would help this, but it only made it worse, making it such that any shift in the air was instantly felt on her otherwise bare skin. Any change in the heat causing her to sweat adding more pain to her body.
No drugs, nor magic, nor even the power of will could free her from or even dulled this agony. She could hardly even sleep, only able to do so when she was so utterly exhausted that she would collapse into bed.
But, of course, the dreams didn't help.
Such a plan they'd crafted. Fight, they'd decided - fight to their heart's content. Pull out all the stops, convince them beyond the shadow of a doubt that Goud Etiolate had died and would die a hero, such that, when he inevitably 'came back', the emotional blow to Ozpin's forces would devastate them. Take it to the ground floor, and then to the vault, where Nikos - the greatest fighter of them all and thus the one best suited to punch through the Dragon's Grimm - would inevitably follow, whereupon she could witness Goud's death and flee to tell about it. Then they would retreat to his 'Pelican', retrieve the relic, fly to Salem's domain, and during the flight he would administer some medicine he'd concocted, something he called a 'Senzu Bean'.
So well they had executed it, the two knowing eachother so well, having fought with eachother so long, that the battle they'd shared had managed to dwarf that of the one against his father. Cinder had actually felt him break her aura! A feat that a scant few years ago would have been absolutely impossible for him. She dared say she even had fun!
But all of it had been thrown away by that damned girl deciding to be the 'hero' and go herself, and now Aldric was dead, and Cinder was in the worst pain of her life, forced to lay her head down in this dreadful place, and stagnate such that she could recover.
She turned her heavily bandaged head down to her arm, equally as wrapped up in thick bandages. She could barely feel it in the first place, and she grappled every minute with just lopping it off, and not for no reason: As had been explained to her, this pain wasn't merely physical. If that were the case, there were any number of drugs on either world she could use to medicate herself and recover faster. No, this agony that filled her every waking moment was due in large part to what Ruby Rose had done to her - not merely content with burning her alive, the girl had damaged Cinder's very soul. Ruby Rose had been in such emotional pain at seeing her friend 'die' in front of her that she had unleashed her everything, and that had nearly killed Cinder, and it did kill Aldric. Cinder could count herself lucky in that regard, while painful and a long process, this was something she could heal from - whereas Aldric wouldn't have even have had the chance.
This damage to her soul, added onto the damage to her body, meant that both would require months before they would heal completely, and every minute, Cinder grappled with just cutting it off, as offered by Salem. Such a thing wouldn't expedite the process of her soul healing, but it would give her full control over her faculties again, and she wouldn't be lugging around dead damn weight.
But... She turned to her room, looking inside from the door leading out to the balcony upon which she stood, seeing the bag of beans Aldric had stashed in the Pelican. Those right there were her ticket back to physical health, but only when her soul had returned to full strength, and thus her dilemma: Was she so impatient as to take a short-term gain in the form of a Grimm's arm? Or could she wait, and return back to complete health?
She shook her head and turned back to face outside, looking out at the red-tinged sky and the scarred, blackened and purpled grounds surrounding the castle.
What would she do without him, she wondered? Lacking Emerald and Mercury, with Torchwick in prison and Adam Taurus having betrayed her, there were none she could trust anymore. Certainly, she had Salem, but that trust was less of the partnership she had with Aldric than it was her relying upon Salem as a ticket to power, but therein lay the problem. Aldric, merely through force of will, creativity, and intelligence, while he hadn't truly come close to killing her, had fought her to a standstill, and the only assistance he had ever needed was the push in the right direction, the spark that had lit up his aura. He, functionally, had had the same powers as her - albeit at a lesser mastery over them - and he'd come so far without having ever even met Salem.
And then, of course, were the other three Masters.
Well... Two, now. She thought, with a sense of bitter satisfaction.
Despite their age they each towered over Cinder in strength, and both spent so much time away from the castle that there was practically none at all to receive instructions from Salem. Then of course were the others, Hazel, Tyrian, and Arthur, none of whom ever even considered asking the woman for what Cinder did, making her the only one here who truly had to rely on anyone but herself to grow in power. Ironic, considering her goals.
She sighed again, gaze going to the horizon, seeing the sun dipping down in the sky. She'd been fond of him - she'd even go so far as to say she genuinely enjoyed his company, whenever he wasn't actively trying to get under her skin. Just one variable out of place had killed a man whose meteoric rise to power had affected even her. Why did he have to die? Why couldn't -
A knock on the door inside snapped her out of her reverie. Cinder frowned,and looked over to a small goblet of water. She picked it up in her good hand and strode inside, feeling the temperature drop several degrees as she crossed into its threshold. Her room was expansive, larger then the suite she frequented at the Vale Garden, which itself had been the size of some apartments. She crossed over its carpeted floor without much thought, and set the goblet down on a table near the door; she already knew who would be there - few here really wanted to ever seek her out.
So, with a single, calming breath, Cinder opened the door and lowered her gaze, nodding at her guest.
Looming above her, her presence able to take up the entire doorframe, her master, Salem, gave her a smile of such warmth that it clashed with her ashen pallor. "I am glad to see you awake, Cinder." She said, her voice like velvet and washing over Cinder like warm water. "May I enter?" She asked, with a polite nod.
To which, Cinder nodded again, stepping aside to allow the lady of the castle entry. Salem walked past her, appearing to glide over the floor, her dress trailing behind her, its ends rolling like smoke above the ground. Cinder shut the door with a light click and retrieved her water, following Salem into the room and joining her when she sat down, the Grimm Lady on a luxurious couch, the Fall Maiden in a chair large enough that it had once made her feel strong, but now made her feel tiny, especially when compared to the woman to her front.
"Can you yet speak?" Salem asked, black and red eyes briefly locking onto the goblet held loosely in Cinder's good hand.
Cinder nodded, and indicated the goblet, the water inside necessary to wet her throat and get at least a few words out.
Salem hummed, appearing to have expected her answer. "And your abilities? I do not think Ruby Rose would have ruined them in their entirety."
Cinder shook her head at this, placing her finger on the side of the goblet, near its bottom, and then dragging it up to the top, and repeating it twice, indicating that it was through her own power that it was staying full.
Salem smiled, proudly. "Good. When I heard you were awake, I felt you may desire to know that I found Nebo Aldric's corpse."
Cinder pursed her lips, closing her one bare eye and nodding, bracing herself.
"I ensured he was given his due diligence, and had him buried where his plane touched down." Salem explained, smooth voice able to somehow calm Cinder's quivering heart. "From what you have told me about him, I feel he may have appreciated it... And for what he did for us, what he helped us to obtain... He deserved far more."
Cinder nodded, thanking the woman on her friend - no, her partner's - behalf.
Salem allowed a few moments silence, before she continued, "how is the pain?"
Cinder held her hand flat in front of her chest, and then raised it above her head, embarrassedly wondering how the hell Neopolitan lived like this.
"I figured." Salem said, sympathetically. "Unfortunately it will not be an easy or quick recovery."
Knowing what she was intending to prompt, Cinder took a drink of water and, after a moment, spoke with a rasping, hissing voice. "Maidens?"
Salem nodded, "Earth's nations have formally declared war. In days they will be crossing the borders to begin their attacks... Whereupon I've tasked Helmut and Arthur to find Summer, Ben and Hazel to find Winter, and Tyrian is hunting for Spring. With the information we retrieved from Earth, we believe we will locate them around the time your soul will have fully recovered, and long before Ozpin will return."
Cinder couldn't help but smile at this. They were close - so close. Her injuries were an anger-inducing setback, and Aldric's death was a heavy blow, but both were, in the long run, temporary, and both, in their own way, were why she only grappled with cutting her arm off, and never actually went through with it. Power was her goal, independence her drive, and replacing her arm with something that would introduce as much weakness as it would strength would only run counter to her goal.
"And in the meantime... We can acclimate you to your newfound power."
The grin turned into a sneer, and she nodded again, a fire both metaphorical and literal gleaming in her eye.
"When..." She croaked, "do we... Begin?"
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Word, it appeared, had been intercepted from a huntress brave and skilled enough to cross the border and make it to Earth, whereupon she learned of the multiple assassinations that had occurred, and the several Grimm attacks still ongoing according to 'Salem's' plan. The Earth's United Nations had, as a result, declared war on Remnant and were rallying their militaries for another invasion whilst simultaneously working to contain their Grimm outbreaks. With naught but days to prepare, Vale Armed Forces had set up a more fortified base in Patch, knowing that the Terrans would no-doubt deign it to be their beachhead for any attacks into Vale proper, and had brought with them multiple scores of huntsmen and huntresses, as well as a conscription order for any non-aura-users over seventeen to report for duty. Ruby spent days in bed, during which either her father or Qrow were at home, but never at the same time, with one or the other assisting in either the rapid training and arming of a militia, or the building of fortifications around the populated areas and coastlines of the island.
Ruby and Qrow brought her team into the loop, as it were. Reactions were similar to Ruby's own - an abundance of shock - but also varied. Yang signed onto 'the good fight' the moment she could after realizing that this was what Ash had, intentionally or not, died for, Blake showed some hesitance before choosing to remain with her team and protect them as best she could, and Weiss' choice came in the form of her tearing a letter with the Schnee family seal on it in half and nodding once. In their own ways, they all chose to honor the ideal that Ash had striven for - that they had the power to protect people, and were here being given a higher purpose than just killing Grimm and making money.
So, Qrow gave them the rundown: Their goal was to find Maidens, and luckily for them, they at least had an advantage in that area: They had a shortlist of identities for Summer and Winter and general search areas for them both, and outright knew who Spring was, even if they didn't know where she was. With this information in hand, as Ruby recovered, her team and JNPR spent those days planning their journey. They knew the only Maiden in Vale would have been Fall, but she had died during the Grimm attack, and they knew that Summer and Winter would - or rather, should - be in Solitas and western Sanus, respectively. Spring's location was the wildcard, and the decision was made to focus on Summer and Winter, whose locations and identities they at least reliably guess at, as opposed to shooting in the dark to try and find Spring. In the end, their choice was to make for Vacuo, both because they were already on Sanus and it wouldn't take too terribly much effort to just make for its western end, and because Weiss seemed hesitant to return to her homeland.
Whenever they weren't planning or packing, Ruby was recovering in bed, and the others filled their time with their own activities. Sometimes they left to assist in the fortifications, but most often they were at Ruby's home, training and preparing. Pyrrha did her absolute best to repaint and repair Ash's shield, and when she was done Ruby could hardly even tell it had been damaged - its red and blue surface, and the white star on its center, shone brightly, vividly, and with pride. Seeing it cleaned and fixed like it was almost lessened the pain of having lost Ash in the first place, it almost feeling as though he were still here, still helping them, still ready to charge into battle at a moment's notice. Jaune spent most of his time outside, training with his sword and shield, sometimes with Nora and Ren, sometimes with Weiss, sometimes sparring with anyone around, or sometimes just alone, with a dummy her Dad had set up. Ruby saw him sometimes, and noticed a lot of Ash's mannerisms in the way Jaune threw himself into the fight, attacking with his shield just as often as he would defend with it.
Yang spent a good chunk of time working on her arm, modifying it and learning its inner workings, as well as refining her combat technique, quoting Ash in saying that as much as her rage helped in a fight, just as often it got her into bad spots she couldn't get out of. Weiss spent several days penning one single letter that she never let anyone read, but that Ruby noticed bore the same seal as the one she'd torn in two, days ago, and then the remainder of her time securing a more expeditious transport to Vacuo than their feet. Blake had several visitors from the White Fang, most of whom she sent away, but some who she at least gave some time to, and from whom Ruby would learn the state of goings-on in Vale. With the Fang's help and the four Kingdom's initial fleet presence, the Grimm attacks had been largely contained, and were now being pushed back wholesale, although Beacon remained lost. It was also from the Fang that Ruby discovered the fate of EMS - the lot of them having elected to throw themselves at the Grimm, and by all reports were collectively responsible for ten percent of confirmed Grimm kills.
Five days after she woke up, Ruby was able to reliably activate her aura again, and after a week, was up and at 'em as though she'd never burned herself out in the first place. It was then that things began moving at a much faster pace. Everyone finished packing all that they would need and finished readying themselves for the journey, and after eight days, on a humid Fall morning, RWBY, JNPR, Qrow, and Taiyang, were gathered in front of the house, the latter of whom had his girls gathered up in his strong, tan arms, trying his best to snap them in two.
"I want you two to stay safe, you got it?" He said into Yang's hair. "And if I hear from Uncle Qrow you've been giving him trouble... We'll go out for dinner when you get home." He moved over to kiss Ruby's head.
Ruby giggled and Yang scoffed, as the two broke away. The young Rose wished with all her heart that her father would join them, but he argued that as much as he wanted to, he had an obligation both to his students at Signal and the island of Patch to stay behind for when the Terrans would show up. After much protesting and much crying, his girls had agreed, and now, were bidding him farewell, none of them strong enough to bring up the fact that, with the state of the world - both of them - they may not see each other again.
And, once they finally broke apart, the two assembled teams and their de-facto chaperone-slash-leader gave eachother, and the house, one final look, before embarking on the road to Vacuo.
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