Chapter Text
Team RWBY finished their last year of training with flying colors, passing every test with the best grades of their classes, and celebrating soon after the end of the semester with Blake and Yang’s wedding, that they decided to do in Mistral. They decided to have a more private ceremony, with only family members and close friends, Baxter so handsome in his suit, and as promised, he was the ring bearer, something the boy was really proud of. In the other hand, Ruby was effectively wearing a dress, but Weiss had successfully convinced her to not wear her combat boots, trading it instead with matching flat shoes.
The team had bought a small house in Mistral, someplace to come back to at the end of missions, nothing extravagant but large enough for the four of them, all their supplies and a few spare rooms. And as Ruby and Weiss stayed in their new home, Blake and Yang flew to Menagerie for their honeymoon, in a human-friendly (Thanks to Ghira), five-star hotel just by the beach, entirely paid by none other than Weiss Schnee herself, since, to her surprise, she was still the heir of the SDC, with all the money that came with it.
Unfortunately, Blake and Yang’s honeymoon was cut short by the sudden call of Ozpin himself; the sudden and massive attack of Grimm on towns and villages in Vale’s borders was the first of many signs that the war they all dreaded was finally starting. The former headmaster of Beacon deployed as many teams of Hunters in the widest area as he could, trying to contain Salem’s advancing.
Team RWBY was sent into a town a little deeper in the land, where they thought would be Salem’s next target along with team JNR and another team of Hunters that graduated a few years before them. They thought they would make it in time to stop the Grimm at the gates of the town, but when they arrived, they were already flooding through and into the town, chasing civilians through the roads.
They didn’t wait for the airship to land. They jumped off it, the wind screaming in their ears, using their own landing strategies to get down safely, with a strange sense of déja-vue.
Ruby landed heavily on the ground, between the few holes her bullets created when she had tried to slow her drop, raising a cloud of dust around her. She stood, chambering a round as her weapon unfolded to its full length, glancing around quickly.
They were too late, she thought. It was a slaughterhouse. Dead civilians were littering the streets, blood splashed everywhere, and in her ears, she only could hear the roars of the Grimm and the screams of terrified townsfolks. The dust settled around her, and she jerked her head towards a scream that was nearby, seeing two kids running from a house into the street, soon followed by a growling beowolf, and Ruby jumped into action.
Launching herself forward, she used a bit of her semblance just in time to reach the dark beast just as it was about to claw at the smallest kid, and in one swift movement she sliced off its limb, the beast roaring in fury. Grounding her heel in the dirt in front of the children, she whirled her scythe around and quickly sliced the beowolf in half, her cloak clapping behind her.
As the beast started dissolving, she looked over her shoulder, the two kids looking up at her with frightened eyes, the tallest and probably older of them holding on the other. The unmistakable chime of Weiss’s glyph sounded beside her and she looked up just in time to see Weiss throw ice shards to two coming Grimm as she stepped closer.
“The evacuation airship landed on the other side of town,” the smaller woman told her, loud enough to be heard above the noises around them. “I can protect them with my glyphs.”
The leader nodded, leaving the kids to her as she glanced around, Weiss crouching in front of the terrified children.
“Blake and Yang?” Ruby asked, frowning when she realised that she couldn’t see them.
“They went deeper into town, along with JNR,” the smaller woman reported, guiding the oldest kid by the shoulder.
“Okay,” the leader nodded, keeping her attention on their surroundings. “Our top priority is to evacuate civilians. Tell the others if you see them.”
“Will do.”
Gunfire in a nearby house made them raise their eyes up to the second floor, soon followed by shouting, and after a quick nod to Weiss she ran to the front door, quickly kicking it open.
The ground floor was empty, and panicked shouting and more gunfire came from up the stairs, and she climbed them two by two, seeing what was going on. Another beowolf was inside, clawing at a door and passing its large head through the hole it had made, growling and roaring.
Ruby shot it twice on its side, the powerful rounds enough to make it reeling and whine, and its attention turned to her, growling. It raised to its full height, pulling its lips up to show its teeth threateningly, but the leader, spinning on her heels to add momentum, slammed the back of her scythe on the side of its head, hearing the satisfying crack of the mask, the beast’s massive body tumbling heavily on the floor, and it took a second for it to move on its front legs, shaking its head.
But it was already too late. Ruby placed her blade on the other side of its neck, and squeezed the trigger, using the power of the shot to cut its head clean.
She glanced around, listening to more sounds that could indicate another Grimm’s presence, but she didn’t hear anything suspicious, and so, she made her way to the busted door, seeing a family through the hole in it. She opened the door, nodding to the man who held a gun in a very shaky hand, and she could see a woman with a small child in her arms.
“I’ll get you out of here,” she said with a reassuring smile. “Follow me.”
“You a Huntress?” the man asked, already pushing his wife in front of him as they followed Ruby outside the room.
“Yeah,” she said simply, focused on their surroundings as they made their way down the stairs.
“You’re too late,” the woman whispered behind her, holding the baby closer behind her. “More than half of the people are dead.”
Ruby gritted her teeth, shooting three successive rounds to a coming Creep, falling face first in the dirt as it dissolved.
“We came as fast as we could,” she replied in a low voice.
She could hear the rumbling of an airship and she followed that noise, trying to kill as many Grimm she could see with bullets, trying to keep them away as she escorted the civilians to the waiting airship. But as she got closer, the sound of combat, gunfire and shouting, grew louder and louder, and when they came out of a small alley between two ruined buildings, she could see why.
The Grimm were surrounding the two large airships that were meant to evacuate the civilians, and the Hunters had a hard time to contain them. Even the pilots were out, gunning down as much as they could to help them. Ruby waved for the civilians following her to run to the airship when they were close enough, making sure they were clear of any Grimm, and one of the pilots quickly made them climb inside.
The leader glanced to the side, hearing the familiar sound of Yang’s explosive rounds, and the blonde was at the gates of town, trying to slow the flow of Grimm that entered along with Nora. She saw Blake swing by, planting her blade in the back of an Ursa and killing it before quickly changing targets, the team that she didn’t know working in pairs and making short work of any beasts that came too close.
But they were outnumbered too quickly, losing more and more ground as time went on, and Ruby went back deeper in town, killing every black furred or scaled beast in sight. She brought as many civilians as she could, knowing that they were all doing the same, Yang and Nora doing wonderful work at slowing the flood of Grimm down.
She spun on her heel, firing her weapon to give it the kick she needed to slice three Grimm that surrounded her before they could jump on her, and quickly shouldered her weapon to fire at a Grimm that ran by, but as she squeezed the trigger it clicked empty, and cursing, she reached to her belt, keeping her eyes on the beast as she quickly reloaded her weapon.
If she counted right, this was her last cartridge, and she took a moment to listen, the lack of gunfire telling her that the others were probably running low like her, if they weren’t already empty. She dashed to the Creep that ran away, slicing it in half easily before using her semblance to quickly go around town, checking every road to make sure they weren’t forgetting anyone.
She was about to head back when one of the airships, probably full, took off, its engines rumbling loudly and rising a cloud of dust that made it difficult to see through. She quickly made her way back, meaning to talk to the others to see if they had everyone, until she heard screams, and her heart stopped.
The civilians.
She dashed to the last airship, arriving just in time to see an Ursa chewing off the pilot’s arm and another stomping closer to the open doors, making the civilians inside gather in the back.
“Blake!” she called, shouting the name loud enough so she knew the faunus could hear her before launching herself at the large beast that poked its head through the doors.
Planting her scythe in its side and making it whine, she pulled as hard as she could, making it step back from the airship and gaining its attention. She fired, her blade cutting free from the thick hide as it turned around, and the large Grimm settled its red hot eyes on her, raising to its full height and roaring.
She could see in the corner of her eye the other Grimm dropping the dead pilot and stomping closer to her, and the Ursa in front of her clawed at her, but she raised her scythe to block it, straining from the sheer force of the blow, and with the tip of her weapon pointing to the other, she pulled the trigger.
It hit the Ursa right in its face, bouncing off painfully against its mask as it reeled back and making her spin, bringing the curved blade with the momentum to slice off one of the front limbs from the large beast in front of her. Both Grimm roared in pain and anger, and they both stood on their back legs, towering her menacingly, but she kept a firm hold on her weapon. She heard a swishing sound, and her head jerked to the side, feeling just a hair from her nose Blake’s weapon passing her, the dark blade sinking in the side of the second Ursa’s head, the long, silken ribbon that followed going taut as its owner pulled on it harshly, making the dark beast whine and trip as it was pulled to the side.
Blake landed beside her as she pulled on her ribbon again, dislodging the blade and firing in the beast’s face as it flew back to her hand.
“Good timing,” Ruby commented, keeping her attention on the Ursa in front of her.
“Well, I was a bit far when you called,” the faunus reported, readying her weapon.
“How many rounds do you have?”
“Not much. Everyone is running low, and… from what I’ve seen, we won’t be able to kill them all. There’s just too many of them.”
The Ursa in front of Blake, furious, clawed at her, throwing a paw larger than her head at her, and Ruby jumped to the side as the faunus somersaulted back, quickly slicing in front of her, making a deep gash in the beast’s limb.
“We need to evacuate,” Blake insisted.
The leader quickly glanced over her teammate to look towards the gates, seeing all of the Hunters there, trying to hold the dark beasts there, too many slipping through but quickly killed by the ones that were slightly back.
There were a constant flow, no time to breathe, all of them slowly but surely stepping back and giving more ground to the Grimm, and she gritted her teeth.
“Okay,” she nodded. “After we finish here, we’ll get the word around.”
“Understood,” Blake nodded sharply.
The faunus launched forward, throwing her weapon, and Ruby settled her large blade back, chambering a round. The beast in front of her seemed mad to have lost its limb, and it wasn’t paying her much attention as it was whining and growling, and she fired to spin around, using the power it gave her to sink the blade in the deep cut she made earlier in its side, but it stopped as it was about to cut it in half, stuck in a piece of its bone armor.
The Grimm bucked, stumbling on its feet, growling weakly, and she pulled on her weapon, her tired muscles trembling slightly as the blade finally cut through, the beast falling down and dissolving. She hadn’t realised she was panting, her mouth dry and feeling like it was filled with dirt and dust, and she looked over to see that Blake was finished with hers, too.
She noticed, above the faunus’s head, the two distinctive paws of a Beowolf, clawing into the wood of the walls surrounding the town, and soon, its head appeared above the top of it, snarling.
“Shit,” she let out, turning towards it.
Blake quickly followed her line of sight, soon followed by a curse of her own when they realised that the Grimm was climbing the walls, since the gates were a no-go. The faunus glanced to the airship, then to the leader, her grip tightening on her weapon.
Gold and silver locked together. They had to leave. Now.
Ruby gave her a short nod, and with a shot of semblance, the leader appeared near the gates in a flurry of petals, turning on herself to swing her scythe and kill two Grimm that slipped past her sister.
“Fall back!” Ruby shouted, her voice loud and clear for everyone within earshot. “They’re climbing over the walls; we have to go!”
The leader of the older team glanced back to the airship and he saw Blake shooting at the heads poking over the tall wooden walls, trying to make the Grimm fall from it, and he looked back at the gates to the snarling and growling flood of Grimm still coming through, gritting his teeth.
“Fall back!” he ordered to his team.
Jaune didn’t have to call it for Nora and Ren; he spent enough time with Ruby to trust her calls. As quickly as they could the Hunters stepped back, still working to keep the Grimm from the airship, but soon, too soon to Ruby’s liking, Blake called for help. Ruby glanced over her shoulder to Weiss, and without a word when their eyes locked, she pointed at Blake with her chin, and the smaller woman nodded in understanding, setting a glyph under her feet and quickly gliding over to their teammate.
One by one they climbed in the airship, starting to get overwhelmed as the Grimm spilled from the gates, and despite Blake and Weiss’s effort, over the walls too.
“Wait,” Weiss said, her eyes on the dead pilot. “Who’s going to fly this thing?”
“We have a pilot!” Ruby said back, squeezing the trigger of her weapon, and gritted her teeth as she heard it clicking empty.
Before Weiss could say something, Yang climbed inside after one last punch into a Creep, making it fly into the mass behind it, and went to the front of the airship, quickly flipping up switches as she sat in the seat.
The engines roared alive, and Nora fired her last grenade in front of the wall of Grimm, creating a large blast that sent them flying, giving them time to climb on board, and before Ruby could order it, a wall of ice circled the airship, tall enough to hold them off while they had enough power to take off.
But the Beowolf had learned their lesson with the walls of the town, and they could see them start climbing the cold surface, more quickly than everyone liked.
“Yang?” Ruby called over her shoulder, keeping her eyes on the dark silhouettes she could see through the ice. “Now would be a great time.”
“We’re not good yet,” the blonde answered, out of sight. “Hold on a little longer!”
The leader looked around her, seeing the other Hunters starting to get nervous, and her gaze turning to the civilians, pressed together in the back, some crying as they thought they would die so close to safety.
“Yang!” she insisted, returning her attention to the Grimm.
They were nearing the top. They had to take off. Now.
“Look, I can’t go faster than the airsh-” Yang started, and she must have looked up from the board in front of her, because it was followed by a very loud, “Shit! Taking off; hold on to your belts, guys!”
They heard the engines rumbling louder; forced to function earlier than they should, it made the entire frame shake, but still, they could feel when it wasn’t touching ground, and some of the Beowolf had reached the top of the iced wall. A few of them seemed to have the same idea as they crouched, preparing to jump on the vehicle, but before they could do it, Weiss flicked her wrist, and the iced walls exploded, sending shards of ice through the mass of Grimm gathered around it, killing a large porting of them in one blow.
It also gave them enough time to get some altitude, safety in the air, and they could see the extent of the Grimm’s presence; the entire town was surrounded by dark bodies, and just as they were going away, they could see, coming out of the nearby forest, six Deathstalker and a bunch of larger Ursa, taller, bigger, with large spiky ends to their armor.
“We never could have defeated all of this,” the leader of the older team, Ruby remembered his name as Jade, whispered, baffled. “They’re far too many. This is insane!”
Jaune stepped closer, taking a firm grip on the nearby handlebar to look down, nodding after a short moment.
“We have to report this. We can’t hold them off with just three teams if they’re that many.”
“Yeah,” Ruby sighed, keeping her eyes on the overrun town, seeing that the Grimm had started back into the forest.
“Guys!” Yang called from the front of the airship, gaining everyone’s attention. “We have company!”
Blake was the first to move, bolting to the pilot’s side, soon followed by Ruby and Jade, and, in the distance, they could see a Lancer swarm approaching.
“Great,” Jade groaned. “Just to make our day better.”
“Tell the civilians to hang on to something,” Yang told them. “It’s going to move a lot, back there.”
Blake nodded, quickly exiting the cockpit and Ruby could hear her talking in the background as she focused on the coming fight, thinking fast.
“We don’t have any bullets left,” Jade muttered, keeping his attention there, too. “Does this thing have a gun?” he asked to the pilot.
“No,” Yang was quick to answer.
“Dammit,” the older leader muttered.
“Weiss!” Ruby called, returning to the back of the airship and seeing her partner waiting for a command. “We could use your magic right about now.”
Pale eyebrows furrowed, and before she could ask for more details, Jade came back from the cockpit, sighing deeply.
“A Lancer swarm.”
The smaller woman raised her eyebrows as she nodded before looking down at her weapon, rolling her dust barrel to see what she had left.
“I don’t have much left, but I’ll make do,” she reported.
“You mind having a little company?” Ruby asked, and Weiss raised her head, waiting for her partner to tell her what she had in mind. “Blake! I want Monochrome on the top of the airship!”
The faunus turned her attention around as she was dealing with the civilians with the rest of the Hunters, and she stalked closer, a small smile pulling her lips when she looked over at Weiss.
“Want to make a part two of the stunt we did with the White Fang’s paladin?” the smaller woman asked her teammate, and Blake’s smile widened.
“Just be careful,” Ruby reminded them, and before they climbed on top of the airship, she added, confident, “And give them hell!”
“You got it,” Weiss smiled.
Then, the smaller woman casted a glyph, both of them stepping on it and they were lifted outside the opened doors, disappearing quickly. When she looked back, Ruby noticed that Jaune had already asked the few of them with still a few rounds left in their weapons near the doors, and be the back-up plan, or support if Blake and Weiss needed it.
Ruby went back to the cockpit, watching the swarm getting closer and not liking one bit the number of flying Grimm she was seeing.
“Who’s on the roof?” Yang asked.
“Blake and Weiss. The others are guarding the doors.”
The blonde nodded, her hands tightening on the controls of the airship.
“Ruby…” Yang let out, low enough to make sure that nobody else heard what she was about to say. “This doesn’t look good.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean, we were nearly wiped out, back there. We had years to prepare for this,” the blonde insisted, quickly glancing up at her before returning her attention outside.
Ruby gritted her teeth, curling her hands into fists.
“I know,” was all she could say.
Then, they saw large, purple arcs of energy coming from Blake’s weapon, powered with one of Weiss’s glyphs, meeting with the nearest Grimm, a number of them slices or hurt enough to fall, and it was soon followed by numerous shards of ice.
A couple hit home, sending the Grimm down, but still, many kept buzzing closer, and Blake and Weiss worked quickly, trying to kill as many as they could before the swarm got too close.
Yang tried to fly past the Grimm, but the Lancer followed right away, and instead, the blonde accelerated, deciding to ram her way through it, and if she could get a couple of bugs on the bumper, then it was already that.
The airship bucked and shook when they entered the swarm, ramming on a couple and effectively injuring them enough to fall down, and sooner than they expected, they were out of it. Yang started cheering until they heard a shout, and before they could ask what was going on outside, they felt the airship drop, alarms starting blaring and red lights flashing in the cockpit.
“What’s going on?” Jaune yelled, holding on for dear life onto the nearest bar.
“They attacked the engines!” Yang reported, pulling on the steering wheel as it was shaking hard. “Left rear is busted!”
“Ren, Nora!” Jaune ordered, and the two nodded without a word before going to the back of the airship and using the trap door on the ceiling to get to the top.
“I’ll go, too,” Jade reported, readying his war axes and disappearing soon after Ren and Nora.
Ruby turned to Jaune, the other leader looking greener and greener as the seconds went by, each bumps making it worst.
“Are you okay?” Ruby still wondered, stepping closer and touching his shoulder.
He nodded, trying his best to fight off the nausea as he straightened his back.
“Okay. Can you stay with the civilians? I’ll help Yang.”
He made a thumb up without a word, and stumbled deeper in the back, and Ruby watched him go before returning with her sister, seeing the blonde straining to keep them flying straight.
“You okay?” she asked Yang, worry starting to settle in.
“If another engine goes out, we’re going to crash,” the blonde panted. “If they clear out the swarm quickly, though, I’ll be able to make the trip, but the landing might be a little tricky.”
The leader smiled, her hand falling on her sister’s shoulder.
“You got this,” she told her.
“‘Course I do,” Yang muttered. “I’m awesome.”
“Is there something I can do?”
“Not really, but you could be my cheerleader,” the blonde huffed, one side of her lips pulled up in a smile.
And so, Ruby waited anxiously with her sister, seeing on the board the damage report that was up, and that the right rear engine was taking more and more damage, and the leader had the increasing feeling that they were fighting inside a tin can, and that didn’t help matters. But still, before the engine broke down, the Hunters that went out came back, tired but satisfied.
Ruby sighed in relief along with her sister. They were still a long way from Vytal, the fortified city their point of rally in Vale’s kingdom, but for now, they were safe.
****
They finally landed after a few bumps, and as soon as Yang had turned off every switches and pulled back the lever, she sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, sighing deeply. Ruby patted her sister’s shoulder, squeezing it shortly.
“Good job, Sis,” she told her gently.
The blonde huffed, but still, a smile pulled her lips.
“Hey, I had to leave my honeymoon for this. Might as well save people.”
The leader huffed quietly, squeezing one last time before exiting the cockpit and helping the civilians off the airship, careful and gentle, and she could see how exhausted everyone was. She could see, outside, some people of the Vale’s military guiding the civilians to a building, distributing blankets and paramedics looking over them quickly, and as she climbed down, one man stepped closer, his hands behind his back, the numerus medals pinned to the front of his jacket indicating he was one of the high ups in the military.
Of course, in a crisis like this, they had to work with the military. Ruby just wished they didn’t have to be so… As Yang put it, so ‘stick-up-the-butt’.
“Leaders!” the man called with a booming voice as he stopped in front of their damaged airship.
“Team RWBY, reporting in,” Ruby answered, her voice clear as she mimicked the man’s position.
“Team JODY, reporting in,” Jade called in the same way.
“Team JNR…” Jaune’s voice was wavering, the bumpy landing had messed up his stomach.
“Speak up so I can hear you, boy,” the military man barked, and Ruby had to fight not to roll her eyes, instead reaching over and patting Jaune’s back until he straightened his back.
“Team JNR, reporting in,” he finally let out, his voice clearer.
The man nodded promptly.
“Any casualties?”
“No sir,” this time Jade took the initiative as he stepped forward. “But we met a swarm of Lancer on the way, and the airship needs repairs.”
“You didn’t bring back as many civilians as the other airship we had sent at your location,” the man started.
“The Grimm were already there by the time we arrived,” Jade explained.
The military man sighed deeply, nodding, before turning on his heels, talking over his shoulder.
“Leaders meeting in fifteen minutes, war room.”
And he walked away, keeping his hands on the small of his back, and Ruby sighed deeply as she heard someone climb off the airship, and she looked over her shoulder.
“Geez,” Yang muttered, placing her hands on her hips as she stared at the man that was walking away. “Can’t he at least welcome us back?”
“We should get some rest,” Weiss proposed, appearing with Blake in tow. “As far as I understand it, we won’t stay here for long.”
“Yeah, you do that,” Ruby approved. “I’ll debrief you when I come back.”
“Sounds good,” Blake answered, already taking Yang’s hand and dragging her towards the tents that were put up, deeper into the place.
Ruby watched them go with a small, sympathetic grimace. They just had been married, and they went from California king sized bed that felt like a cloud on a beach side to a small cot that they couldn’t fit together, in a tent that they had to share with their teammates in the middle on a Vytal compound.
“Are you alright?”
Her attention was brought back by her partner, Weiss still by her side and brushing her hand against Ruby’s discreetly.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” the leader smiled reassuringly. “You did awesome work, today, Weiss. Go get some rest. I’ll be back in a bit.”
The smaller woman responded to her smile with one of her own, squeezing her fingers before jogging away to catch up with the other half of the team, and she looked at them go for a moment. She could see Blake and Yang holding hands as they talked, the blonde dragging her feet and probably complaining about how tired she was, and Weiss soon catching up on them with a remark of some kind that only caused Yang to laugh, before she wrapped her prosthetic arm around her frail shoulders. Weiss elbowed her sharply but didn’t pull away, and it was like that that Ruby lost sight of them as she was blocked by another tent.
Ruby sighed, coming back to reality as the noises around her came back to her ears, and she was about to enter the building when she noticed that Jade was staring at her with a strange expression, and she raised her eyebrows questioningly.
“Your team,” he said, stepping closer to her. “You all look like you’re closely-knit, as they say.”
She shrugged, a small smile on her lips.
“Yeah, well, we went through some things, you know? Also, Blake and Yang just got married, and Weiss is my girlfriend, so I guess it’s another reason why.”
“Oh… I see.”
“Okay,” Jaune appeared beside her, clapping a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go to this meeting.”
Ruby nodded and they both started to the building, and she noticed Jade in the corner of her eyes, rubbing the back of his neck with a sigh, before quickly catching up with them.
****
The meeting had been long, every team leader reporting what they saw, and the conclusion was the same to everyone: too many Grimm. There were also other reports saying that the Grimm seemed organized; not just attacking in packs like in the wilds, but in waves, and that concerned everyone.
The general called the end of the meeting after designing the next location to each team, and Ruby and Jaune were about to leave with the mass of other Hunters and Huntresses, until a voice they recognised spoke.
“Ruby?” Oscar Pine called, and even after all those years, he still seemed hesitant to talk to her.
She raised her eyebrows when she heard her name, and she stepped aside from the flow of people to try and meet his eyes, and she could see a shudder run over him, and when he looked at her again, she recognised the amber shine in his eyes.
“A word, please,” he said, his voice far more confident this time, before turning his back and starting in a hallway.
It made her grunt eternally; the only thing she wanted right now was her cot. But still, she waved at Jaune and started after Oscar, knowing that he was waiting for her.
And he was.
“Miss Rose,” Ozpin said through Oscar, bowing his head slightly. “How are you?”
“Will this be long? We’re going to be deployed again tomorrow, and I want to get as much rest as I can, so… Oh, I’m fine.”
Ozpin smiled slightly, huffing, and he started walking deeper in the hallway.
“I’ll try to keep this brief.”
They reached the end of the hallway and he opened the door for her, and Ruby sat in one of the padded chairs in front of the desk, finding it comfy against her tired body, and Ozpin silently sat in his chair, leaning on the back of it.
“You know you will have a different path than the rest of the Hunters and Huntresses,” he said bluntly, and it wasn’t a question.
He knew that she knew. And so, Ruby nodded without a word.
He nodded too, bringing the handle of his cane in front of him so he could hold it with both his hands.
“Good. Then you know that, when we will know Salem’s location, you and your team will be pulled back to find her. Correct?”
Again, she nodded without a word, and now more than ever did she just wanted to leave. To just stand up, and run as far as she could, hoping that nobody would find her again. But the thought of how much pain it would cause her sister and friends was enough to hold her back. That, and the thought of one very angry heiress that would stop at nothing to find her again, only to yell at her about how irresponsible it was of her to run away like that.
She had to bite her lips to not smile.
“Did I say something funny?” Ozpin asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.
“No, I was just… thinking of something else.”
“I don’t think you can afford to be distracted, Miss Rose,” he furrowed his brows, considering her solemnly. “The fate of the world rest on your shoulders.”
She didn’t say anything at that, and so the former headmaster cleared his throat, straightening his back.
“Your team will be deployed with the others for the time being, and I'll have my best tracker trying to find her. If we can eliminate Salem quickly, the Grimm will be at a loss, and it will be the best time for us to wipe them out. For good.”
He paused, turning the cane in his hands.
“In the meantime, we have to do our best, and save as many people as we can.”
Images of the bodies lying scattered in the dirt from earlier this day flashed in Ruby’s mind, and she closed her eyes, swallowing thickly. The words of the woman resonated in her ears as if she was in the room with them.
You’re too late.
“Will the Grimm stop existing if Salem is eliminated?” she asked, opening her eyes to look up at Ozpin.
Well, Oscar. Anyway.
“It’s a theory,” the man nodded.
Ruby nodded, lowering her eyes for a second.
“So, for now we wait?”
“Like I said, I have my best people on this.”
“Where’s uncle Qrow? Is he one of the trackers?”
Ozpin laughed quietly, shaking his head.
“Your uncle is good at spying and following people without them knowing; but he’s not so good at actually finding someone that has disappeared for years. No, I gave him the task of finding the man who will find Salem.”
“You just said Qrow wasn’t good at finding people,” Ruby huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.
“The man he is searching hasn’t disappeared for years. He just… prefers to be alone.”
She hummed and took a sharp breath in, straightening her back.
“So you brought me here today to tell me things I already knew… or is there new information you wanted to tell me?” she added, raising her eyebrows with a smile.
Ozpin pinched his lips in empathy, lowering his head.
“Unfortunately, no. But the point of this meeting, Miss Rose, is to insist on the importance of your role in this war. One that you mustn’t forget.”
“Don’t worry, Professor Ozpin,” she said as she stood, locking her eyes with him. “I’m not forgetting.”
“Good,” he bowed his head slightly. “Then you may go back to you team, and I will meet you again with new information. Have a good night.”
Ruby thanked him quickly before exiting the office, and she walked around the building on autopilot, Ozpin’s words echoing in her ears, along with the woman’s.
Today was really not a great day.
****
She finally was laying in her cot, on her back with her hands under her head, listening but not understanding to the far away conversations, the noises of wheels rolling on concrete, the wind making the flaps of the tent clap… It was night, the sun had set for a few hours now, but still the place buzzed with activity, and she had found the tent empty of her team. Not that she really minded right now. Letting herself appreciate this moment of peace.
She was sighing when she felt a light hand on her knee, and she jumped, startled, opening her eyes wide only to see Weiss, smiling at her, illuminated by the weak light coming from the Dust-powered lantern that hung from the central beam.
“Sorry,” she said quietly, her smile turning in a small grimace for a short second. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“It’s okay, I just didn’t hear you coming.”
She reached out, her arms open, opening and closing her hands in a manner that was nothing but insistent and needy, and Weiss raised a single eyebrow at that before giving in with a sigh, climbing on top of Ruby.
“Is it sturdy enough to hold both our weight?” the smaller woman wondered quietly as she settled between the leader’s legs, tucking her head under Ruby’s chin and slipping one of her hands under the leader’s back, keeping the other close to her.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Ruby muttered under her breath, closing her eyes again. “I just want you close.”
Weiss straightened her head, leaning her chin on the leader’s chest to look at her, her white eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, her voice gentle.
Ruby nodded, returning one of her hands under her head, keeping the other of Weiss’s back, her fingers drawing gentle patterns.
“Jaune came by earlier, said that Ozpin wanted to talk to you?”
The leader hummed positively, and the smaller woman sighed quietly.
“What did he say? You said you would debrief us, but you didn’t even come by the cafeteria. Have you already eaten?”
“No,” Ruby shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
Weiss propped herself on her elbows and it made the leader open her eyes, an amused smile pulling her lips when she saw the start of a scowl on the smaller woman’s face.
“You’re really not okay, because my Ruby would never pass up a chance to eat.”
It made her snort, smirking.
“‘Your Ruby’?” she repeated, playful.
Still, Weiss nodded solemnly, reaching her hand to push back a dark lock in front of her eyes. She had cut it, a few weeks ago, retrieving the short bob she had when she first started at Beacon. Weiss had been saddened by her decision, liking her long hair, but she liked her short hair, too.
“So tell me,” Weiss murmured, her fingers playing in dark hair. “What happened?”
She sighed deeply, staring at the ceiling of the tent, enjoying the feeling of Weiss’s touch.
She didn’t know why she always tried to memorise it. Why she wanted to memorise everything about her. She just had a feeling, a feeling that it wouldn’t last.
“Not much,” she finally answered. “Ozpin just reminded me how the faith of the world was resting on my shoulders.”
At the darkening look Weiss gave her, she raised her hands in defense.
“That’s literally the words he used!”
Now it was Weiss’s turn to sigh deeply, and she lowered her head, leaning her forehead on Ruby’s chin, the leader kissing it tenderly.
“Is there something else?” she asked after a moment, raising her head.
The leader shrugged, keeping her eyes on the white lock she was playing with.
“There’s also a lady who told me I was too late to save the town, today,” she let out very quietly.
The smaller woman almost stopped breathing at that, and after a few seconds, she tapped Ruby’s hip.
“Scoot.”
The leader shifted to lay on her side, giving Weiss enough room for her to lay on her side too, although they were pressed together, their legs a tangled mess, the smaller woman resting her head on Ruby’s folded arm. Weiss looked at her, her gorgeous sky-blue eyes seeming to be alight in the flickering light, and she reached up, caressing her face softly, making her close her eyes and lean into the touch.
“Ruby…” Weiss started, before trailing off, but the leader understood anyway.
“I know,” she breathed, moving to kiss her palm. “It wasn’t my fault.”
“And it’s really not,” the smaller woman gently insisted. “Technically, we were early. But, so were the Grimm, so…”
Ruby exhaled through her nose in a long breath, leaning over to press her forehead with Weiss’s, smiling when she bumped their noses together.
“Is there something I can do for you?” the smaller woman asked, blindly finding her hand and lacing their fingers together.
“Just stay with me, for tonight,” she murmured, closing her eyes. “You’re all I need right now.”
“Okay,” Weiss let out as quietly as Ruby. “Hey?”
The leader opened her eyes as she felt the smaller woman brush their lips together.
“I love you,” Weiss whispered on her lips.
Ruby took the time to let the words sink in before she leaned over, taking the smaller woman’s lips in a very soft and gentle kiss, one that felt so safe that she wondered if she ever wanted to get out of that feeling.
“I love you too,” she breathed back. “You have no idea.”
Ruby herself couldn’t even tell how much she loved Weiss. How far the length of her feelings for this one woman reached. Maybe it could englobe the entirety of Remnant. Maybe it went farther than that, going from one galaxy to another. She couldn’t say for sure, but she could say that it felt like it was infinite.
****
“Do you think Ruby’s back?” Blake asked, her head thrown back to look at the stars, guided by Yang’s arm around her waist.
She was pretty sure that usually, the stars would be as pretty as they were in Menagerie here, but because of the lights they had to put all around the compound, where all the tents were, they couldn’t see as many as she would like.
“I hope so,” the blonde sighed, her eyes to the stars, too.
“I think I’m going to buy a telescope for Bax’s birthday,” the faunus absentmindedly said, furrowing her eyebrows a little. “A good one. With recent star charts, and I’ll bring him to the grottos where we went on a date. I want to look at the stars there with him.”
Yang smiled. The stars always reminded them of him.
“That’s a good idea,” she softly said, squeezing her wife’s hand.
“We never get to stay with him for long,” Blake let out, lowering her head, her eyes on the grass. “We always have to leave in a couple of days or a week. When this is over,” she said, looking up at Yang, “When this war is over, I want to spend more time with our son.”
The blonde stared at her, stupefied for a moment, long enough for the faunus to start frowning.
“What?”
“No, it’s just…” Yang started, her voice tight, and she cleared her throat before it would break, feeling the rush of tears to her eyes. “I think it’s the first time you call him that. ‘Our son’. I’m…”
Her voice cracked and she cleared it again, trying her best to blink the tears away, and Blake pulled away slightly to better look at her, still keeping the blonde’s hand in hers.
“I’m very tired right now,” Yang chuckled, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt a tear roll down her cheek, sniffling.
“You know I love him,” Blake gently let out, catching the tear with her thumb when she cupped the blonde’s cheek.
“I know, but just hearing you say it makes it so real, and I’m- I’m a big softy, you know that,” Yang sniffled again, pulling the faunus closer to press their foreheads together. “I want to spend more time with our son too, when this is over. And God, I love you so very much.”
The faunus laughed, and Yang knew that Blake, too, was getting emotional, probably because of her, but she didn’t care. They were alone, out of sight behind the rows of tents and hidden in the shadows it created, two women embracing each other, enjoying their moment alone together.
“I want to see him grow up, you know?” the faunus murmured, sniffing. “I want to not realise it, actually. I’m tired of just, whenever we see him, we notice that he’s a couple of inches taller. I want to stay long enough for me to not notice it. I want to see him get up in the morning because he has to go to school. I want to be there when he comes back.”
“I want to see him grumpy when he wakes up, I want to see him complain that it’s too early. I want to have a routine that is ruled by five school days, not by five months of missions. Just for a while. As long as it’ll take me to be tired of doing nothing, I want to be there with him.”
Yang smiled, quickly rubbing her eyes to get rid of the tears, and she cleared her throat again.
“You know what I want to show him?” Yang asked her, circling her arms around her wife’s waist. “I want to show him how to ride my bike.”
Blake chocked a laugh, lightly slapping the blonde’s back.
“Absolutely not. I don’t want him to ride your bike at break-neck speed.”
“Still,” Yang smiled, closing her eyes, “This is a good idea. When this mess is over, let’s go home for a while.”
The faunus nodded, their foreheads still pressed together, and the blonde only had to slightly angle her head for Blake to meet her halfway, sharing a soft kiss under the stars.
They finally went back to their tent, seeing that there was still light inside, and when they entered, they could see Ruby and Weiss squished together to fit on the far-too-small cot, the two fast asleep as their limbs were tangled together.
Trying to be as discreet as possible, Blake tiptoed her way to her own cot, sitting on it with a sigh to pull off her boots before she noticed that Yang had stepped closer to their sleeping teammates, and she could see the blonde looking over them with a soft expression, and she could see her lilac eyes filled with tears again.
Blake stood up again and made her way to her wife, whispering in her ear to make sure she wouldn’t wake anyone.
“What is it? Are you okay?”
Yang nodded, sniffling, before sending her a mocking glare.
“This is because of you,” she playfully grumbled. “It’s hard to close the gate when it’s open. But I was looking at them and… I just realised how much they have grown, you know? I mean look at them.”
She gestured to their teammates, and the faunus looked at them, and as she did, Yang pointed at this and that, explaining.
“Look at Ruby; she has lost her chubby child cheeks, and see her chin? That’s Summer’s chin right there. The more years that pass, the more she looks like her mother. And look at Weiss. See her features? She doesn’t look like a teenager anymore. Her face is made straight out of a royalty mold, mold that is called adulthood. Twenty-one and twenty-three years old.”
The blonde sighed as she rested her hands on her hips, furrowing her brows deeply, and Blake looked at her again.
“Right under my nose, they-” her voice wavered and she stopped before it would break, swallowing before trying it again. “They grew up. They grew up so much, and I’m realising it just now. Damnit, Blake, I don’t think I could be prouder than I am right now.”
The faunus gently hugged her as her gaze stayed on their teammates, understanding the sentiment, while Yang rubbed her hand over her face to catch the tears that fell with a grunt.
“God, I really have to go to bed,” the blonde mumbled, making Blake chuckle. “I’ll tuck them in. Can’t leave them like that, Weiss is going to complain that she’s cold.”
“Okay,” the faunus kissed her cheek before returning to her cot, preparing to go to bed.
“I guess the debriefing will be in the morning,” Yang let out as she went in the back to fetch a blanket.
The blonde puffed it in the air before letting it fall gently over them, covered up to their shoulders, and she pulled on the blanket for it to fall evenly but the movement was enough to make Weiss stir in her sleep, being the light-sleeper that she is, and as Yang was about to shush her back to sleep, one eye opened, the blue seeming so clear against her pale skin.
“Yang?” the smaller woman asked, the name dragging in the sands of sleep.
“It’s okay, don’t mind me,” the blonde smiled, leaning over to gently pet her hair. “I’m just tucking you in.”
Weiss made a noise that was a mix of a hum and a soft grunt, blinking lazily.
Clearly, her mind was still sleeping.
“I can’t feel my hand,” she mumbled, her pale eyebrows drawing closer.
“You wanna turn around?”
The smaller woman nodded sleepily, and as much as Yang was careful to not make too much noise or to not touch Ruby to not wake her up, Weiss didn’t seem to mind one second.
“Easy there, you’ll wake Ruby.”
“She could sleep through a cannon firing at her,” the smaller woman grumbled as she wiggled in place to turn around, a scowl on her face. “Trust me. Sometimes, I have to jump on her to wake her up. This is nothing.”
The blonde raised an eyebrow, knowing that her sister could sleep like a log, but… As she looked over her, Ruby didn’t seem the least bit bothered by all the commotion, still deep in blissful sleep.
“Huh.” Was all Yang had to say, then she noticed that Weiss was about to lay her head on the side of her crown-jewelry-thing in her hair. “Want me to take that out?”
The smaller woman sighed, her eyes closed now, and just leaned her head towards Yang, waiting. The blonde, always cautious with hair, worked quickly but carefully, massaging her scalp after it was removed, making Weiss hum quietly.
“Thanks,” she mumbled before pulling away, settling down and pressing her back against Ruby’s chest, reaching over to take the leader’s hand and brought her arm around her, before sighing contentedly.
“Goodnight,” Yang whispered as she leaned over, dropping a soft kiss on the white head.
“You’re being quite motherly, tonight,” she heard Weiss playfully say, but still, the smaller woman didn’t move.
“Heh. Yeah, quite,” she confirmed, a soft smile on her lips. “I love you, princess. Sleep tight.”
She felt Weiss touch her arm in what was meant to be a playful slap but she missed.
“I love you too, you oaf.”
She huffed, leaning over again to kiss the top of the white head, before shifting to the side, brushing back dark locks as Ruby slept, oblivious.
“Goodnight, baby sister,” she murmured against her hair, staying there for a moment as she petted her hair. “I love you.”
Finally, she went to her cot, pulled close to Blake’s, and she turned the light off when she was settled, seeing the faunus’s eyes glow in the dark as she was looking at her.
“Goodnight, my beautiful wife that I love and adore,” she smiled, holding her hand out for Blake to take it, squeezing when she did. “I love you.”
“You are such a dork,” the faunus laughed softly in the dark. “Goodnight, Sunshine. I love you too.”