21
"So…." Ruby asked as she ducked a branch, "Why are we out here again?"
The small team leader trekked through the Emerald Forest, following close behind her future self. The extra training had been somewhat forced on her with the older woman slamming open their dorm room and volunteered Ruby for additional training. The entire team looked at each other and shrugged. Yang and Weiss had been deep into planning the upcoming Beacon dance and Blake had been far too eager to pretend that nothing but her book existed.
"Training." Was the very short and unsatisfying answer she got.
"No, I got that but training what?" Ruby rolled her eyes, "Like what are we training in that we need to come all the way out here?"
"Well this training can't be done in an arena." Carmine smirked back at her, "This one requires live testing."
"Live testing?" She thought for a moment. They would never fight people and even if they did they wouldn't come out to the Emerald Forest for it, the only other thing out in the forest were Grimm.
"Yeah." They came out into a familiar clearing. It was in that spot, months ago now, that they had found the relics, the ones that had formed their teams. The stone semicircle lay the same as when they had left it, plinths lining the inner edge where the relics had once rested. Looking around, Ruby could see the remains of the battle they had fought there, starting to be reclaimed by the forest, "We're here."
Carmine set her pack down by the ruins and motioned to her to do the same. The one eyed woman sat down with a sigh and patted the ground next to her, awkwardly Ruby followed suit. She crossed her legs and smoothed out her tulle, waiting for Carmine to speak up and explain more. In the silence that stretched on she heard the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees around her and the distant chirping of various birds. Her teacher, and that was strange to say about herself, was tightlipped about the training they wanted or why it was only her.
"What now?" She asked, having gotten fed up with waiting, her fingers drumming on her legs.
"We'll start with a story, I guess." Carmine closed her eye and tilted her head up towards the sky, "We have silver eyes, like mom and at least one of her parents and so forth. Never did find out which side of the family it came from."
"But that's not the point." She continued and Ruby found herself staring at the profile of her future self, "The fact is people like us have a special power, a special bloodline, that lets us fight Grimm like no one else."
Ruby tilted her head, confused but thinking, her thoughts churning through her memories of both Carmine and her mother. One specific memory came to mind, something that stuck out but had made no sense, though without an answer or an explanation she had pushed it to the side. After all, Carmine had never seemed enthusiastic about talking to her.
"Wait, does it have something to do with when you first showed up?" Ruby asked, slowly gaining some confidence, "There was that flash and then those Grimm were gone, you saved Jaune."
Carmine nodded, "That's exactly it."
"I can shoot lasers out of my eyes?!" The young woman scrambled to her feet too excited to bother with personal space as she crowded in on her future self.
The one-eyed woman burst out laughing and caused her to pout, which only made her laugh harder. It took a moment for her to calm down enough to speak, relapsing into giggles whenever she looked at Ruby's face, "I'm afraid it's not that cool." She smirked at her younger self, "But it's still pretty cool. Useful too. It vaporizes Grimm, or rather the stuff they are made of. More powerful Grimm are petrified."
"That. Is. So. COOL!" Ruby squealed, "Teach me! Teach me! Teach me!"
"Relax." Carmine placed a hand on her face and pushed her a healthier distance away, "That was the idea of coming out here. The power of the Silver Eyes only comes out under certain circumstances."
"Like what?" The small woman splayed out her fingers at the edges of her eyes, "Is it some kind of pose? Maybe I have to concentrate really hard!" She turned towards the forest, pursing her lips and concentrating, willing her eyes to make the same kind of light that Carmine's had.
"Nah." The professor shook her head and stood up, stretching her arms across her body, "You need to have the intense desire to protect a life."
"What?"
"Yeah sounds weird, doesn't it?" She shrugged at the younger girl, "There's a reason for it, but I don't want to lay the whole thing on you now. Basically, our power is made for protecting people and will only respond to that. That makes it pretty hard to train for it."
"So that's why you need Grimm for it?" Ruby asked/
"Yeah." Carmine raised Bloom into the air and fired a shot upwards, the crack of the discharge echoing across the forest. In the distance Ruby could hear the howling of a pack of Beowolves, "The trigger is usually danger, but not to yourself, not the first time. All life must be protected, remember that."
Ruby watched in confusion as Carmine closed her eye and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her mouth. The howling was growing near and it was punctuated by snarls. The bushes rattled as the dark shapes burst out of the treeline, making a straight line to the two of them. It was a smaller pack, seven Beowolves, and Ruby wasn't concerned. Her hand drifted back to Crescent Rose but she didn't draw it. Carmine had attracted them for a reason and she was eager to see what she did.
The Beowolves grained ground, snarling and heading straight for the both of them. Ruby waited with bated breath for the moment to come but it never did. There was no flash, Carmine just continued to stand there as they bared down on her teacher. She grew more concerned as the distance shrank, finally deciding to pull Crescent Rose out when the leading Beowolf leapt for Carmine's throat.
She didn't have time to switch her weapon into either rifle or scythe mode as Carmine opened her eyes. Ruby had to close her eyes against the bright, piercing silver light that emitted from her teacher. She had to blink it out of her vision, the stars in her eyes fading to a now empty clearing with only herself and Carmine standing next to the ruins. As the last motes of darkness disappeared she turned to her older self.
"I can't believe it." Ruby was stunned. It was just like what she had seen before, that silver light, and now she had a name for it.
"Yeah." Carmine rested her hands on her hips, "But seeing is believing."
"So I can do that, too?" She asked dumbly, only getting a raised eyebrow in return, "Right. Of course. So… where do we start?"
"That is the question, isn't it?" The older woman sighed and sat back down, grabbing some grass and letting it drift out of her fingers, "Honestly I have no idea what I'm doing."
"You don't?" Ruby knelt down next to her, feeling like it was strange for her older self to admit to something like that, "I mean you learned it somehow so why not teach me that?"
The teacher bitterly shook her head, "I learned in a trial by fire. My first time was when I saw a friend killed in front of me."
Ruby felt her balance give way and she fell on her rump in shock, "What?"
Carmine took a deep breath and looked at her there was a sad look in her eyes, one that reminded her of her father when he spoke of her mom, "The feeling of wanting to protect someone with all of your being is what is needed to activate it, without a situation that will push you into it, I don't know what to do."
She felt her head swim, one of her friends would die? Or did for Carmine? Ruby didn't like the sound of that, not at all. Her older self looked, for that one singular moment, broken. Moving without thought, she wrapped her arms around Carmine, hugging her from the side. To say the older person was stunned would have been an understatement.
"Hey now." Carmine complained, "Isn't this a little narcissistic?"
"Shut up." Ruby ordered, hugging her tighter, "You need this."
"I'm fine." It was an obvious lie, by the way Carmine's voice came out as a whisper.
"We both know that's not true. Stop lying to yourself." She retorted, feeling the wracking laugh come from the woman.
"You've been hanging around Yang too much." Despite her words, Carmine took a shaky breath and leaned into her younger self. She could feel the loneliness in the way her older self wrapped her arms around her, gripping tightly into her cloak.
"She's my sister." Ruby said before pulling away to arms length to look at her older self, making sure to meet her eye with her own, "And so are you. We can be twins."
Carmine slowly extricated herself from Ruby's grasp and stood up, "I'm nothing but an outsider. We should go find some more Grimm so you can at least get some practice in."
Ruby found herself frowning at her future self, worried about what the statement might mean. Words failed her as she stood up and nodded. She didn't know what Carmine felt, couldn't fathom it. All she really knew was that the woman was hurting and she wanted to help. Perhaps the others would know of a way.
For now she had to practice.
-SY-
"Ragh!" Three pairs of eyes turned as a frustrated Ruby Rose entered the team RWBY dorm. She wasted no time collapsing onto Weiss' bed, her partner protesting from the desk she was sitting at.
"Rough lesson, sis?" Yang asked from her bunk.
Kicking off her boots, Ruby flopped onto her back with a baleful look at her sister, "That's not the half of it."
"Oof." Yang whistled, "She push you that hard?"
"I couldn't do it!" Her arms flailed about above her.
"Do what?" Blake asked while marking her place in whatever newest piece of smut she was reading.
With a huff she sat up to explain, "So apparently my eyes are anti-Grimm weapons."
"What?" Her partner sounded like she hadn't heard her properly.
"Yeah. It's weird." She shrugged, "I saw her do it though and it's no semblance. Not dust. Just byoooom! No more Grimm."
"Okaaay." Yang said slowly, "And you said you couldn't do it?"
"That's…" She hesitated, sitting up and looking at her sister, "Yeah. I couldn't do it but that's not what's bothering me."
Even Weiss' pen stopped as she turned once again, curious as to what her partner was going to say, even Blake closed her book, setting it aside. Ruby really did love her team.
"So what is bothering you?" Yang asked.
"It's… Carmine." She admitted in a rush, "I'm worried about her."
"Worried?" Her sister chuckled, "Why, seems like she's got everything under control from that telling off she gave us."
Ruby didn't respond and simply kept Yang's gaze, the blond's eyes slowly widening, "Okay, I guess it's serious. Lay it on me."
"She's not okay." Ruby explained, "Like Dad after Mom…" Yang paled, "She puts on a brave face but I can tell, and I want to help her."
"Alright, how can we help?" That was the sister she loved so much, always dependable when she needed her.
"I'm not sure how to help." The small leader bit her lip.
"Alright. Let's ask Dad. I'm sure he'll know more." Yang suggested, "I think he's been hanging around her, too, so maybe he's heard something."
"I can ask Winter for information on treatment options." Weiss offered, "I'm sure she has had to deal with fellow soldiers suffering from traumatic events."
Ruby nodded gratefully and they all looked at Blake, whose ears flattened to her skull, the girl looking guilty, "I'm not sure what I can do to help. I want to, the White Fang had its share of members who struggled with issues but I don't think they dealt with it in a healthy way."
"Surely you can think of something," Yang prodded her partner.
"Well…" Blake fell into thought for a few moments, "I guess I can see if the library might have books on the topic. Maybe do some research."
Ruby felt her heart swell at the support of her team, "Thank's. Let's start Operation Feelgood!"
-SY-
The desert night was, in a world, beautiful. And cold. Salem shivered against the wind as she huddled a little closer to the warmth. The sun had set not long ago and the convoy had pulled into a circle, making an impromptu encampment. A fire dust heater sat in the middle as the members of the convoy set up small lean-tos off of the vehicles. She had been making her observations of the others, noting how some of the members were rather anti-social. Perhaps Salem might have discounted it as coincidence if it had not been consistent with the members wearing silver armbands.
She was content to let it go, as long as they left her alone as well, it was none of her business what these people got up to. Instead, Salem had more pressing issues in the form of what she was planning to do. Without info on exactly what was going on, she only knew that she was currently in the past. Impossible and yet it was her reality. The knowledge had been slow to sink in, but everything she saw confirmed it. The dates of the newspapers, on scrolls, or anywhere else she looked confirmed what Doctor Greene had told her.
A decade, or just over, was such a small amount of time and yet as she thought on it, so much had happened in that time period. She had been on the verge of winning, humanity pushed back to one single settlement. Her greatest and most hated foe had gotten desperate enough to bring her the very things she desired. If she had just succeeded in killing Rose and Arc, she would have gained control of three of the relics, leaving only Knowledge to pursue. But now? All that work was undone or rather had yet to be done. If she left things as they were, history would repeat itself without her interference.
After all, there was undoubtedly another version of herself, one still in control of the Grimm, still tainted. The thought gave her pause, surprised at the thought itself. Since when had she stopped and considered it a taint?
"Hungry?" Esclados smiled as she walked up to Salem, holding out a bowl of some kind of stew for her, "It's been a long day of travel."
"Yes, and it has." Salem answered as she accepted the bowl, taking a deep sniff of the aroma wafting from the food.
"Mind if I sit with you?" The young woman asked, and she was young despite being an adult. It was clear the girl was barely out of the Academy.
"Do as you please." Salem gestured, not caring to rebuff the woman. The stew was meaty, laden with potatoes, other vegetables, and some spices that seemed to be unique to Vacuo.
"So, Alba," Esclados sat down next to her in the sand, wiggling her hips back and forth to make a divet to sit in, "You got somebody back in Vale waiting for you?"
Salem looked at her from the side of her eye, taking her time and fully tasting the stew before speaking, "The only person I know in Vale right now is my ex-husband."
"And yet you're that determined to go back?" She asked, chewing on a piece of tender meat.
"My life is there." The immortal lied, "I will not let him dictate where or how I live my life."
"Ah." Esclados hummed, "Sounds controlling. Is that why you came to Vacuo? To get away?"
"In a fashion." Salem nodded her head, weighing how much the woman was interested and how much was simple 'small talk'.
"How did you find our fair city?" The woman asked with a coy smile, "Minus the robbery, of course."
"Yes." She slowly answered, "Vacuo is definitely a beautiful place." And Salem was surprised to find that she meant it.
"Ever consider moving out of Vale?" Salem blink at the following question, turning to Esclados who was doing a good job pretending not to be paying much mind to her.
Unfortunately for the girl, Salem had been versed in subterfuge long before the girls ancestors even lived. IT was quite obvious the girl's intent, now. Esclados wished to poach her. Apparently she had garnered quite the attention with that display against the Grimm. This woman was most likely involved in whatever illicit group the entire convoy seemed to been part of.
"Once or twice." Salem decided to be non-committal, "But no place has been very enticing, at least not enough to move."
"Hmmm." With the small sound from Esclados, they both fell into a silence, finishing their meals. It was clear that the woman had gotten the information she was after, for whatever purpose it would be. If the brunette thought that she could sway Salem, she was in for quite the rude awakening.
The minutes passed and Salem began to feel sleepy, far more than she thought she would among so many strangers. She stood up, excusing herself to make her way to the bedroll that had been donated to her.
"I'll wake you up when it's time for your watch. Get some rest." Came the call from the woman still sitting by the heater.
The next thing she remembered was the jostling, a rumble of engine as the convoy moved on. For a moment confusion reigned in her mind as she sat up and it was then that her eyes shot open and she looked down at her hands. They had been fully manacled as well as covered with some kind of metal hood that connected to the manacles, blocking her from using her hands in any way.
As her anger flared she felt the magic surge, the metal around her hands threatening to crumple before she regained control of herself. A thought occurred to her. These people were no danger to her, they thought they had her caged but she was only caged as long as she chose to be. They obviously wanted her for something and now she was of a mind to find out what it was. To find the faces of those pulling the strings of the puppets operating the convoy.
Salem sat back with a sigh, looking at her surroundings. It appeared they had put her with the goods, among the crates and barrels of supplies they were carrying. She didn't know where she was going, or who, exactly, had taken her.
But she also knew they had no idea who they had taken.