Tumgik
#past ozpin is rolling in the floor
howlingday · 4 months
Note
Sorry to bother you with this but I have no writing skill and you're the first one I thought of when I had this idea so
Have you played or watched the ending for God of War Valhalla? If so do you think you could do the ending with Jaune?
No need to apologize. It's not bother at all. And the best advice I can give you about writing is to keep doing it and to draw inspiration from other works. That said, I hope you enjoy this work I am about to present. Now, that said, I did, in fact, see God of War: Ragnarök: Valhalla. And it was probably the most perfect DLC we could get for God of War story-wise, since it covered pretty much what was missing from the story, which is Kratos becoming the better man he should have been shown to be. And now, here we have it. Kratos becoming who he was meant to be. And now, I present to you,
--------------------------------------------
JAUNE ARC, THE NEW GOD OF WAR
This battle, like all others before, had come to an end. Jaune Arc, the God of War from the Kingdom of Vale, lifted Winter, the War Maiden of Atlas, over his head and threw her to the ground. As she rolled across the floor, she found her way to her knees. Jaune closed in with his fist held high, ready to strike her down. However, her hand caught his. There was a bit of struggle on her end, and with heavy pants, she spoke.
"Enough, Jaune." She said. "I yield."
Jaune took a step back, then reached forward with his hand. Taking his hand, she was pulled to her feet. With a smile, he nodded.
"Well-fought."
"Let's see what the relic has to say about you." Winter brought forth the relic she was charged to protect, and it's blue mist began to swirl around the two. Once more, Jaune's past was revealed, beginning where it ended with Jaune's victory over the maddened Ozpin. "After you slew Ozpin, Beacon had fallen. The Maiden of Vale was dead by your hand, both of them, and yet you survived."
"Not without my own attempt on my life."
"No, but the question remains why you continued to fight." The image changed from the fallen Beacon to Jaune falling from the highest point of the tower. "Why did you continue to live, even when you were so committed to ending it all?"
"I had lost everything, but..." Jaune swallowed. "But there was something else for me. It was little, and it seemed useless, but it was all I had left."
"And what was it?"
"Hope."
"Mm, hope." Ozpin said, standing by Jaune's side. "Hope, however fleeting it may seem, can prove to be more powerful than any weapon on Remnant. It was all left within you, and you chose to bring hope back to Vale. To all of Remnant."
"And you have brought hope to Atlas, too." Winter gave a small smile.
"I should have died." Jaune said. "It would have been fitting. But it didn't happen."
"Because you still had hope, and that hope lived on through you. Since your attempt in Vale to your triumph in Atlas, you have brought hope to us all. Regardless of any relic, whatever magical power it may hold, anger and hatred and love and joy and hope all live in each and every one of us, whether we are meek and mortal or mighty and monstrous. And yet there is one last question you must ask; which will you choose to let guide your actions?" The mist fell, leaving Jaune face-to-face with the Winter Maiden. "Every decision we make shapes our world."
Jaune gave a grunt. All this time, all this struggle and pain and near endless pain had led to this moment, just as this moment would lead to the next one. Jaune Arc held onto his hope and had grown since his time as a God of War in Vale. Since his attempt to end his life. Since the beginning of his new life here, in Atlas.
"I understand now."
"And?" Winter asked.
"And I'm ready go inside."
Winter smiled. "Excellent."
Jaune walked up to the massive door, the same as he had before. Except it wouldn't be the same, would it? He had changed since the first time he entered, and he changed the last time he entered as well. As he pushed, the doors that once felt heavy suddenly became light and easy to push. Entering the dark room behind the doors, the world fell away, leaving only himself inside the darkness.
As he continued to walk forward, a little began to glow from above onto himself. Except, it wasn't himself. No, Jaune was staring at his younger self, who was sitting on an empty throne, clutching the same red bandana tied to his hip. Jaune stopped, expecting anything and everything he could, except for this.
"What... can I say to you?" Jaune began, speaking to the seated Jaune. "I remember the day I first took that throne. All that it meant. And all that it didn't. I... was the God of War. The God of Pain. Of Suffering. Of Destruction." He looked away. "Jinn said I would always chase a redemption I know I will never deserve. But what does that make me?" He glanced to his younger self. "A God of Fools. A God of...."
Suddenly, he found Pyrrha's sash in his hands. He turned it over, once more remembering how soft her hands felt in his. How sweet her breath smelled to him. How warm her blood felt as it fell from her cold body. Her final words to him were for him to trust destiny and to have...
"...Hope. When all else is lost..." He turned to his doppelganger once more. "You... lost everything. And everyone." He felt his body tense as his anger built the closer he got to the throne. "And you became..."
The younger Jaune shifted in his seat, blue eyes glaring at blue eyes. No... No, Jaune stared at Jaune. It didn't matter what kind of Jaune he was speaking to, whether they were younger, older, seated, standing- It didn't matter because he was still Jaune. Anger filled him at the realization.
"There is no excusing you and what you've done!" He shouted. "You became-!" Finally, Jaune's remaining words died in his throat. "I became." He turned away, realizing who he had been shouting at, who he had been fighting against since his ascension to godhood.
"What now?" He whispered. "Should I, the same Jaune Arc, sit down on this throne? Should I take? Yell out? Lead? Submit myself to service?" The final words danced on his tongue. "Service. In service." He looked once more to the sash in his hand. "If... If I lose everything and everyone, will there still be enough of me left so that I don't become you?" He shook his head. "I don't know." He nodded. "But I have hope."
"You..." He turned once more to the throne. "You are cruel, and arrogant, and selfish." His fury subsided. "But you are more than that. There was always more to you than what others saw. You are more than that."
With a deep breath, Jaune stepped forward once more. The once glorious throne of Vale had long withered away to it's barest stones. Seated upon the throne was a red sash, and taking it in hand, he touched the throne. He then turned and lowered himself to sit on the throne. With a shaky breath, he knew this was where he belonged.
Holding onto hope, he had become the new Atlas God of War... and of Hope.
41 notes · View notes
novankenn · 11 months
Text
"Ozpin's Fault AU"
Headmaster has Headache (1/1) (770 Words)
(Tumblr exclusive "Remake" of Oops My Bad posted on AO3)
Ozpin groaned, as he felt as if Ms Xiao Long and Ms Valkyrie were having a wack-a-grimm contest in his head. With his eyes still closed, he forced his aching and oddly cold body to roll over on to his back. Once flat on his back, he slowly opened his eyes and quickly shut them again as the morning light flooded in, not to mention that everything in his vision seemed to be swimming.
"That's it." he moaned, as he rolled onto his side. "No more Vacuoing my coffee... damn you Ironwood."
Ozpin knew it wasn't right to really blame the General for his choice of stress relieving activity, but still it felt good to blame someone, other than himself. With another groan, he rose to his knees and finally opened his eyes fully. Everything still swam, but was also completely out of focus.
"Glasses... need my glasses..." he muttered to himself as he set about searching the floor about him for the necessary accessory. "There they are."
With his eyewear firmly back where they belonged, he looked about. He was still in his office, and from the pretty much empty bottle of Mistralian whisky nearby, he knew he had over indulged.
"I can't let Qrow..." Ozpin paused, his thought processes slowly kicking into gear. "No, it's Glynda that I have to avoid finding out about this, not Qrow. He wouldn't care."
Ozpin leaned back, arching his spine and getting a satisfying pop, that instantly made him feel much less stiff. Rolling his shoulders, he placed his hands against his thighs and started to rise to his feet, only to stop when he realized that his hands were touching his bare thighs.
"Am I seriously only in my underwear?" he asked himself, "Wait! Nope, because they are over by my bookcase."
Sighing, he rose and just ignored the breeze on his nether area as he began to move about his office, picking up and putting on his various pieces of discarded clothing. Once clothed, he located his cane, and turned on his coffee maker. While it brewed, he made a quick trip to his attached bathroom to relieve his aching bladder, and freshen up.
Returning a few minutes later, he picked up the bottle, and a discarded book near the window that overlooked the garden. Depositing the bottle in the recycling bin, he placed the book on his desk and went to pour himself a mug of coffee. With the proper additions of creamer, and sugar, he took his first sip and nearly moaned.
"Libations of the Gods." he whispered to himself, before taking a second sip and letting the warm caffeinated goodness flow through him.
Carefully setting his mug on his desk, he took the next few minutes digging about his desk drawers until he located a small bottle of painkillers. Popping two into his mouth, he swallowed the capsules before taking a seat, and sighing for like the umpteenth time that morning.
Ignoring the book, he took several more sips of coffee, before powering up his holographic terminal.
"No word from Glynda, so maybe nothing out of the ordinary happened last night... lucky me."
Checking through his messages, and alerts, he saw everything was clear, and after a few more sips, he prepared to suffer through the rest of his day. As he began to sift through the messages from council about the Vytal festival preparations; his eyes drifted to the book he had picked up from the floor.
Deciding the council could wait for another five minutes, he reached over and pulled the well-worn leather-bound tome before him. As he looked at the very plain look manuscript, something in the back of his mind began to fight to see the light of day. Ozpin's eyes narrowed, as possible memories floated past his still hungover mind.
Picking the book up, he turned it about in his hands. It was definitely a Pre-Great War artifact, which wasn't unusual. He had several similar looking and aged books in his private collection. See as there was no title on the cover, he set it down and opened it. His eyes grew wide when he saw the title.
“TRANSMUTATION! THE GAG OF A LIFETIME!”
"Fucking shitcakes" he groaned as his shoulders drooped, and his eyes closed, trying to shut out the title of the book. Somehow, at some point, he knew he was going to hear about something having happened. Slamming the cover closed, he pulled open the large bottom drawer of his desk and dumped the book into it.
"I never saw that book, it does not exist. I did nothing."
14 notes · View notes
tangent101 · 2 years
Text
A Strange Life: Chapter 7
Warning: This chapter includes a suicide attempt, along with a character falsely accused of committing crimes. Reader discretion is advised.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter 7 
Things Fall Apart  
Yang screamed for help as the train bore down on her. I desperately pulled at the switch which would free her, to no avail. I raised my hand but all that happened was the grating beep of the train’s horn over and over and...   
I opened my eyes, my hands tangled in my sheets. I panted as the nightmare faded. Fuck. I hit the snooze on my phone and fell back onto my pillow with a hard thud which did more to wake me than the alarm had. It had not been a good night. My dreams had been filled with one horror after another. Penny crying over her fish that turned into a limp dead bunny and then a wilted houseplant. Yang shot herself with an accidental ricochet while trains ran us over time and time again. In one dream the damn boat fell off its trailer and started barreling down the halls of Blackwell chasing Yang and myself. I was even more tired upon waking than I’d been before bed. 
What I need is a cold shower to help wake up. I wouldn’t tell Yang. I didn’t need to be shower-shamed by the blonde goddess, especially after the teasing I got at lunch yesterday. It had been fun reconnecting with Ruby and Taiyang, and Ilia fit in like she’d always been a part of their family but she had a lot of ammunition on me. Like talking about Kate, who in my defense I had no idea was straight! Or my ex, Zach, who just couldn’t take “no” for an answer, even after Ilia had... words with him. 
Ilia had fun, though. I’d been so worried that when Taiyang trotted out the dad jokes and the like that she would flee for the hills or disown me but... she rolled with them and charmed her way into his good graces. Hell, if Ilia had been interested in dating Yang, she’d have easily gotten his blessings. Not like when I managed to put my foot in my mouth by mentioning Neo... Yang had mentioned that Ruby didn’t get along with her but I was not expecting that glare. The only reason I didn’t Rewind was Yang snagged my hand in anticipation.  
I pulled on my long t-shirt and pulled out a purple t-shirt with a stylized cat peeking out of a pocket, and a pair of jeans and laid them on my bed and resisted the urge to just crawl back in and to hell with Taurus’ class. “I thought weekends were supposed to be times to relax and recharge,” I muttered and snagged a clean towel and my showering supplies.  
Penny’s whiteboard was clean for once. I knocked on the door, but there was no response. Maybe she’s in the bathroom? I continued toward the showers, walking past a couple girls chatting in the hall. 
“Blake!” I turned to see Nora hurrying toward me.  
“Hey Nora, what’s up?” I asked, pausing by the shower door. 
Nora stepped close, squinting at me. “You okay? You look pretty beat.” 
I shrugged and shifted my shower bag to the other hand and shook out my fingers. “Just tired. I didn’t sleep well.” 
“Ah. Yeah, last night sucked, didn’t it?” Nora grimaced and shook her head. “Fucking Cinder. They should throw her out. But hey, money buys everything, doesn’t it?”  
“Guess so,” I said, rubbing my eyes while suppressing a yawn. “Knocked on Penny’s door but she didn’t respond. You see her today?” 
Nora grimaced and looked at the floor. “No. I’m... worried, Blake. Cinder’s really been going after her lately and Penny’s not taking it well.” 
I paused and then leaned closer to Nora. “I think Angel’s right about this. One of Cinder’s lackeys probably did this without telling Cinder, she seemed pretty shocked about it. And... yesterday I overheard her saying Penny was getting boring so she was going to go after me instead.  
“That bitch... I wish we could do something about her,” Nora muttered. I nodded in agreement. 
“She threw a cup of coffee on me yesterday outside of Taurus’ office and Ironwood immediately took her side. Even after Ozpin came to my defense, he seemed more intent on blaming me than Cinder.”  
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Nora said and rolled her eyes. “He’s on the take. You know that fancy gun he always carries? Salem Fall gave it to him. He doesn’t even hide being on the take. Look... you know Penny more than I. Could you check on her? Please?”  
I sighed and rubbed my eyes again. “I’ll check on her after a quick shower. I need to wake up.” 
Nora shook her head. “Blake, classes aren’t that important. You should go back to bed and grab notes from someone else. Your health is far more important.” 
“That’s easy for you to say. I’m struggling to pass my classes. I can’t afford to miss anything.”  
“I’m just saying. You’ll miss more classes if you end up sick.” Nora looked up at me, putting her hand on my arm.
“Thank you but... I can’t.” I sighed and 0shook my head. “I need to jump in the shower. See you around, Nora.” 
Nora’s shoulders drooped and she turned away. I felt like such a heel but I couldn’t miss any classes. “Nora? I’ll catch a nap between classes. Thank you.” 
She looked over her shoulder and gave me a hesitant smile before continuing toward her room and I continued to the showers. 
Most of the stalls were occupied, forcing me to take the one in the middle. Normally I hated that as it it ran cooler than the other stalls and I always felt exposed when in it, but I was just too tired to care at this point. I pulled my shirt off and turned the cold water on full, bracing myself for the cold deluge... and nothing. 
“What?” I tapped the spigot but nothing happened. “Shit!” 
“Yeah, it’s broken!” a girl called over from the next stall. “Sorry, you’ll have to wait!”  
Your damn bad luck strikes again, Blake. I tried squashing the small voice. 
“Shut up,” I muttered, pulling my long t-shirt back on and grabbing my towel and shower supplies. Several girls were waiting now for the showers, and as one walked toward the stall, I put up a hand. “It’s broken. No water.” 
“Oh, thanks for the warning!” she said and as another shower turned off added “why don’t you take that one, then? It’s not fair for you to wait longer.” The other two girls scowled but no one said anything.  
“You sure?” I asked and she nodded. So much for bad luck! I thought and turned toward the stall as another girl pulled the curtain open. The door opened again behind me as I started toward the stall. 
“That’s my shower, stray. You owe me for spilling my coffee yesterday.” I paused and looked over my shoulder to see Cinder sneering at me. “You get in there before me, and I don’t know what will happen to you.” 
“Really, Cinder? After what you did last night?” I asked.  
She sneered back at me and walked into the shower without a word. I sighed and walked to the back of the line, the other girls giving me sympathetic looks. We’d all come up on the short end of Cinder’s imperiousness at one time or another.  
I leaned against the tile wall, closing my eyes. It was tempting to just slide down and sit on the floor, so I forced myself against one of the sinks, letting it help prop me up. Things started to grow dark... I jerked awake at the caterwaul from the showers, panting hard as I looked around. Wha—?   
“Cold!” 
“What happened to the hot water?!?” 
“Fuck this place! I want my money back!”  
“This sucks!” 
The curtain for the shower Cinder went into was thrown open and Cinder strode out with a towel wrapped around her, shampoo in her hair, glaring at me. “You did this, Belladonna! I know it! You will regret your fucking pranks and backtalk!” 
I smacked my head against the wall, wincing, and raised my hand as Cinder continued to bear down on me, and grabbed something again as the Rewind kicked in. Cinder went marching backward back into her shower and I waited until I saw steam rising from the stalls again before I let go and fled out of the bathroom before Cinder could accuse me once again. Fuck this day!  
My head was throbbing as I fled toward my room, but I paused just shy of my room. Cinder would look for me there next and I probably didn’t have enough time to get dressed and flee. I closed my eyes for a moment and then rushed in my room, grabbing my backpack, camera bag, and my change of clothes and took one last moment to turn on the video capture Emerald had set up, just in case Cinder decided to trash my room.  
“Belladonna!” I flinched, wondering where I could find sanctuary. Penny! Cinder wasn’t going to go racing into the halls in a towel. I locked my door and rushed to Penny’s door. Locked. Fuck. Sorry Penny, I know this is intrusive... I pulled out my lockpicks and managed a new speed record in picking Blackwell’s locks, sliding in before anyone noticed me. I shut the door behind me and turned to apologize to Penny for barging in on her.... 
2 notes · View notes
whatissleepeven · 4 years
Text
Summer, dancing and singing: Hit or miss -
Qrow: Depression is a bitch huh
Taiyang: You hate yourself and there's nothing you can do ya
Raven: Then you find out that no one would really miss ya
Qrow: "You'll be fine" yeah right that's how they always get ya
Summer, in tears: Guys please stop, this has been going on for weeks -
83 notes · View notes
secret-engima · 3 years
Note
I got my second covid shot yesterday, and the side effects are happening. Got anything in any of your RWBY AUs that'll makr me feel less Generally Bad?
Awww, sorry the side effects are happening, anon. :( Lemme see what I can find that isn't horribly angsty.
...
Team Gremlin verse:
Hei Xiong —Junior to literally everyone because apparently Mistralen names were too much for Vale tongues to handle— knew his boys weren’t … the brightest or the best. That was fine. His father wouldn’t have given him the brightest and the best even if he hadn’t been the family disappointment. But he had expected his boys to at least know the basic rule of, say, not bringing children into a criminal operation. Semi-criminal. Far less criminal than his father wanted it to be.
It was an abandoned warehouse full of guys with guns. Not a child suitable environment.
“Boys,” he ground out past the budding headache he got just looking at the tiny child sitting politely on a random box —the kid was tiny, how old was he, four?—, “I’m pretty sure I said to ‘go get us some cash’. Not ‘steal a random child’. And if one of you bozos did this thinking about holding a toddler for ransom-.”
“I’m not a toddler!” Piped up the child in the indignant tone of the young.
Junior ignored that outburst for the moment, “Then I’m going to throw all of you in the river. I told you, we’re not resorting to kidnapping to get the funds for this! If I wanted to do that I’d just go back to the old man and lick his boots for more money.”
His men cringed, and the biggest of them —Tiny, and why his men all gave themselves the stupidest, least relevant nicknames was still a mystery to him— held up his hands defensively, “We didn’t kidnap him! … Not … intentionally?”
Junior pinched the bridge of his nose, “Did he wander inside on his own?”
“Well, no-.”
“Are any of you related to him?”
“Well, no, but-.”
“Do his parents or guardians know where he is right this second?”
“Uh- I don’t think so-.”
“Then it’s kidnapping, you idiots! I oughta-!”
A light but firm whap to his knee cut Junior off and he stared at the toddler in shock, because since when did toddlers have canes to whack people with? “Excuse me,” said the boy in a tone that was far too prim for this part of town, “Please stop yelling at your men.” The boy ducked his head a little, looking almost embarrassed, “They were just trying to help me. I got separated from my friends and I don’t … my leg isn’t very good. They let me come inside to catch my breath.”
…This kid was very articulate for a four year old, maybe he really was a bit older than he looked. Still, Junior felt another sigh building in his chest that he squashed down with effort —he was twenty two years old and sometimes he already felt like he was his old man’s age—, “What are you doing out here, kid? The docks is no place for a kid, especially one who needs a cane.”
The boy scowled at him, cheeks puffing and oh no, he was adorable, “I can handle myself! Besides, one of my friends works here. I was with her before I got. Um.” The boy blushed and looked down at the ground, “A little turned around.”
Hummer, the quietest and arguably most observant of his boys, leaned over to whisper in his ear, “He was having a panic attack on the sidewalk about a block from here. We think he lost track of his caretaker at one of the intersections. He’s definitely from out of the kingdoms, he was terrified of the cars. He probably panicked at the sight of so many of them and bolt- ow.”
The boy pointed his cane warningly at Hum as the man held his knee in pain, “I can hear you. I wasn’t scared of cars, I just- got startled. That’s all.”
“Sure kid,” muttered one of Junior’s boys and Junior grunted loudly, because they were getting off topic.
...
One in a Hundred verse
The familiar jolt of rising, of sliding into place, and the body snapped awake with a startled gasp. Ozpin flailed, accidentally rolling right out of bed and landing on the floor in a tangled, confused lump of limbs and blankets. His head ached with the remnants of tears and when he waggled his fingers, they were gloved. He was … in control? No. No-no-no-no that wasn’t right, he only took control when it was necessary. “Oscar,” he rasped hoarsely in a voice that wasn’t his —was far too young and soft to be his—, “Oscar, where are you?” He sat up, groping frantically for the sense of Oscar under the dangerous thrum of Old Kings. He finally found a sense of him, a glimmer of Oscar under the flow, but when he reached to pull it out, the boy just batted his mental hand away like a tired, cranky cat, sliding deeper under the flow instead. Ozpin tried four more times before a spiking headache and repeated flairs of exhausted-agitated magic made him stop for fear of injuring either himself or the boy.
It would seem that … whatever had happened, Ozpin was temporarily in control.
…He hoped it was temporary.
Well. Lying in this position wasn’t good for either of them, so Ozpin careful set about untangling the body and … taking care of things he supposed. He debated the merits of a shower, and normally wouldn’t have dared, but Oscar’s frame was shivering slightly and felt clammy from sweat —from the nightmares of reliving a past life as Ozpin walked through it, just as he had relived his past when Oscar walked through his—. He grimaced, but so long as he was in control he had to take responsibility and care, so he hastily stripped down and hurried his way through a cold shower.
He froze up briefly in front of the mirror, because Oscar —by habit it seemed— rarely looked in a mirror or down at his hands, and never without his gloves and bandages on. Ozpin swallowed hard and saw the thick, ugly scarring on a too-young neck ripple with the motion and felt queasy. Grimm attack. He knew the signs. He just- hadn’t expected to —had hoped never to— see them on a boy this young. Then he shook it off and rummaged around for clean bandages and gloves and clothes. Finding a proper brush was a little trickier, because just a hair brush wouldn’t suffice, at least if his foggy memories of past lives were to be believed.
He took his time getting himself sorted, meticulously brushing out all the kinks and trying not to twinge anything sensitive —he was out of practice with that—, before putting on clothes. A few failed tries at tucking everything away without pinching and he gave up —he was very out of practice, not that it could be helped—. If Oscar’s aunt was accepting of multiple personalities and body-hopping cursed wizards, she would no doubt have long ago accepted this part of Oscar’s own body.
Ozpin made his way downstairs carefully, grimacing past the phantom ache in a leg he knew was just fine but would never feel fine to him, hanging onto the stair railing and repeatedly reaching out to Oscar in the hopes the boy would wake up from whatever strange trance he seemed to be in and take back his rightful control.
Miss Pine looked up in open surprise when he skirted carefully into the kitchen, “Oscar? I thought you said you were going to have a Quiet Day. I was just about to come check on you.”
Ah. This was likely going to go poorly, “My apologies, Miss Pine,” Ozpin murmured and refused to flinch when she stiffened in realization, “I … I do not know what is going on. I woke up in control through no action or intent of my own. I have tried waking up Oscar multiple times but he- he doesn’t respond.”
For a moment, he thought she would accuse him of lying, of stealing control. She would hardly be the first. But after a moment of hard staring, the fight left her shoulders and she sighed heavily, “No, I don’t suppose he would. I should have realized a Quiet Day with … another person … in his head would lead to something like this. Sit down, you might as well eat. Oscar won’t otherwise.”
Ozpin tentatively sat down, careful of how he moved so nothing pinched or was pinned, “You and Oscar mentioned those before. Quiet … days?”
“That’s what we call it when Oscar loses control of the voices. He usually spends the day sleeping or drifting around the house in a daze, unresponsive, barely eating.” She looked pained, worried for a moment, then shook her head, “At least they don’t make him sick and feverish anymore.”
59 notes · View notes
tanakavox · 3 years
Text
A look into the multiverse chapter 9. Reacts by @bssaz97
The members of the audience began reconvening to their seats as the next viewing was about to begin. With the many different worlds they had seen, there was no telling what they would be seeing next.
"Wonder what kind of world we'll see today," Yang states.
"I have a good feeling about this one. Maybe it'll show us as expert huntresses on a mission to save the world!" Ruby enthusiastically told her team.
"...Ruby that's what we're currently doing in our world." Weiss replies with an unimpressed look.
"Ohhh yeah… Well maybe it'll be different!" Ruby adds, causing her teammates and sister to roll their eyes.
The screen rolls and shows Taiyang at home on Patch, making steaks on a grill with a huge smile on his face.
"Finally, the girls are coming home after so long." Taiyang mutters to him "Better to start cooking now before the girls come. Tai's face falls into a frown.
"Hey look Yang it's Dad!" Ruby points out, excited to see her father once again. Even if it was on the screen.
"Yeah. Actually, this looks exactly like our house back in Patch." Yang was a bit confused why the setting of this world was so similar to their own.
Most of the world's they've seen thus far were much different from their own. Which made her think of what could possibly be different about this world compared to theirs.
"Oh yeah. That's right. Ruby's bringing her boyfriend here. Tai sighs and adds another steak to the grill and turns to yell into the house.
"Say WHAAAT?!" Ruby's eyes grew nearly twice their size and a look of shock had grown on her face.
"Ruby… has a boyfriend?" Blake questioned.
Nearly in her peer group turned their eyes from the screen and looked to the crimsonette in shock. Ruby notices their stares and quickly grabs her hood and covers her face in embarrassment.
"Red has a boyfriend in this one? Now that's something I never expected to see today," Coco stated before turning back around to face the screen. Her team followed as well.
Ruby whimpered to herself, while she was slightly embarrassed about the revelation of her alternate having a boyfriend she was curious as to see who this said boyfriend was.
"ZWEI! DON'T EAT THIS EXTRA STEAK, IT'S FOR RUBY'S BOYFRIEND!" He didn't get a response. Taiyang sighed again. "Guess he's asleep. He mutters to himself. He took the steaks off the grill and as he walked back into the house he heard the door open and heard his daughters yell into the house.
"WE'RE HOMEEEEEEEE!" Taiyang rushed up to his girls and hugged them tightly. Yang and Ruby hugging him back just as tightly.
"Whoa you two look the same as you did back in Beacon!" Nora stated. Her expression started falling as soon as she mentioned the last part.
Ruby had removed her hood and she began recalling past events. If she was right then this was taking place at the time when her and Yang went back to Patch to visit their Dad shortly before the Vytal Festival.
Hopefully they wouldn't have to revisit those memories during this viewing.
"Hey Dad!" Yang cooed looking at her father with a smile.
"Did ya miss us?" Ruby asks,smiling as well.
Taiyang pretends to ponder on it for a while before grinning at them.
"Nope." He said jokingly to both, laughing when Ruby and Yang punch him in the arm lightly. Taiyang looks around a bit. "Uh. Where is this boyfriend of yours Ruby?"
Ruby's eyes light up. "Oh he's coming with our bags. Trust me daddy. You'll love him!"
Taiyang lets out a snort. "We'll see."
Yang began to look around the house as well. "Where Zwei? I thought he would be down here to greet us?"
Taiyang saw that Zwei was indeed not there and grumbled to himself. "That boy. ZWEI! YOUR SISTERS ARE HOME!"
"Sisters?" Both Ruby, Yang, and Qrow said at the same time, leaving all of them very confused. Zwei was indeed a part of the family, but he was still Corgi after all. So why did Taiyang refer to him as though he wasn't such?
Their question was answered very quickly.
Zwei's ears twitch at the sound of that, and a thumping comes from up stairs aside the noise of something falling down the stairs, before Yang and Ruby could react a black blur launch itself at them. A Ten year old dog faunus boy with curly unkempt hair color that matched Ruby's and little corgi ears was hugging the two tightly raising his head to show silver eyes beaming with joy.
"Ruby! Yang! I missed, I missed you, I missed you! He cried out hugging them tighter. The girls laugh and hug him back.
Ruby's, Yang's, and Qrow's eyes reached the size of dinner plates and they couldn't believe what they were seeing was real.
Ruby was the first to speak and began visibly shaking, "Oh my gods...Zwei- he's...he's..."
"Sooo Adorable!~" Ruby/Weiss/Yang/Nora cooed as the good little boy she remembered from Beacon was now literally an adorable little boy.
Blake, the rest of ALP(N), Qrow and Ozpin were shocked beyond words. This certainly was not what they were expecting at all today.
"Wait who's Zwei?" Oscar turned to ask Qrow.
"Well...in our world, he's the family dog. But in this world it seems like he's the youngest child?" Qrow said but still seemed unsure of himself.
As he remembers, Summer only had one child in the form of Ruby. But this world's version of Zwei shares many of the same traits that Summer and Ruby have/had….but why was he a faunus? Was this world's version of Summer a faunus? These questions were beginning to cause Qrow a headache so he resigned himself to just watch the viewing. Hopefully some of his questions could be answered.
"Hey Zwei!" Yang greeted ruffling his hair.
"How's my baby brother doing?" Ruby asked lightly, pinching his cheeks letting go when he tried to swat her hand away.
"Oh!~ Look at his hair, his lil ears and his lil cheeks. I just wanna pinch them all day!" Ruby cooed. She never had the privilege of having a younger sibling, so seeing that her alternate had one left her somewhat envious.
However, she still loved her family after all and wouldn't trade them for anything. But she could at least relish in the moment for as long as she was allowed to.
Zwei kept smiling and went to babble on about what he did while they were gone, about the games he wanted to play with them when he was interrupted by the sound of bags hitting the floor and looked behind Yang and Ruby to see a very tall Blonde.
"Jeez girls. You had to make me carry all of those? Jaune said while giving Ruby and Yang a halfhearted glare.
Suddenly the room became silent once more, a very recurring theme happening in this viewing as the reveal of Ruby Rose's mystery boyfriend was revealed.
The two team leaders both looked towards each other if only for a brief moment before turning away and blushing up a storm. The members of their teams, minus Weiss as she was too engrossed in looking at tiny Faunus Zwei, observed both reactions of Ruby and Jaune before turning back towards the screen. They could discuss this matter another time, as they still had a viewing to see.
Qrow, however, saw the short display between the two and his eyes narrowed. He had a feeling he was going to have to keep a close eye on those two. Particularly Jaune.
Ruby grinned and walked up to Jaune and began to slowly rub his arm. "Aww was it too much for my big tough guy hm?" She cooed snuggling up to and turning to her father and brother. "This is my boyfriend Jaune!" She shoved him in front of them. Jaune nervously looked toward Taiyang and reached his hand out.
"Hello sir. I'm Jaune Arc." He said keeping a stutter out of his voice and his hand steady
Taiyang raised an eyebrow at that. "Arc? …...What is your mother's name?"
"Uh Jeanne?" He still had his hand outstretched. Taiyang let out a large groan and grabbed Jaune's hand firmly shaking it.
"Nice to meet you Jaune." Tai said, with a forced smile leaving Jaune and Ruby confused.
Yang's eyebrow quirked, "What the heck was that about?"
"Is this not normally how your Dad reacts when either of you bring a boy home?" Blake asks her partner.
"Actually, Ruby and I never brought any boys home. At least I never did, too risky and I knew he would overreact. Ruby on the other hand hasn't dated anyone in… ever. But that's not what I was talking about."
"What did you mean then?" Blake looked confused.
"It's more with how he reacted when Jaune told him his mom's name. It's just weird I guess, Dad didn't talk too much about his days as a student in Beacon so maybe he's got some form of beef with Mama Arc." Yang theorized. She leaned towards where Jaune was seated and nudged him, "Hey VB."
"Hm What? I'm sorry Yang did you want something?" Jaune asked, looking very tense.
"You know about any beef between your mom and a guy named Taiyang?" Yang inquired.
"Oh. Uhhh, no I don't remember her mentioning anybody by that name. At least to my knowledge. Wait, isn't that your Dad's name?"
"Yeah I just wanted to ask you since I don't know anything about any beef between our parents. Oh well, question for later. Thanks anyway." Yang patted his shoulder with her prosthetic hand before leaning back towards her seat.
Ruby turned to Zwei who looked at Jaune oddly. "Say hi to Jaune Zwei." Zwei latched himself to Ruby's leg and shot a glare at Jaune.
"Hello." He said quietly, clutching her tightly which caused Ruby and Yang to till her head at their baby brother's odd behavior. But a knowing look came across Jaune's face Immediately. But he said nothing for the moment. Taiyang claps his hand to get everyone attention.
"I'm sure you guys are hungry so let's eat!"
A knowing look also appeared on Jaune's face as he sat in the audience. While he may not be… dating his best friend in this world, he recognized all to well the signs of a threatened sibling. He himself had acted the same way when he himself was around Faunus Zwei's age. While he may not know exactly what the young boys feelings were, Jaune knew where they were coming from.
Zwei had sat close to Ruby the entire time and tried to keep her attention on him and not Jaune. After the dinner when Jaune stood, Zwei smiled brightly.
"Leaving already? Oh noooo" He said faking sadness. I guess you're going home now….."
Many in the audience soon were beginning to now understand what exactly was going on now.
"Aww~ Looks like the little brother is threatened by Jaune-Jaune over here." Nora nodged her fearless leader.
"Nora, please…" Jaune practicality begged his energetic teammates/surrogate sister.
Ruby giggles and pats Zwei's head.
"No silly. Jaune's gonna be staying with us for the next months before we hit the road again!'
Zwei's eyes widen and he tears up
"Oh no, poor baby." Weiss almost wept at the broken-hearted expression on the poor boy's face. Many of the other members of the audience also felt sympathetic.
"You're leaving? But you just got back!" he whimpered. Yang sighed a bit.
"No Zwei. We're leaving in a month." She replied, still finishing off her steak and turning to look at Tai. "This really good dad." Taiyang thanks her while Zwei glares at Jaune.
"But why is he staying here?"
Ruby tilts her head. "Cause he's got nowhere else to go?"
"Why doesn't he go home?"
"He lives in Mistral Zwei. It's pretty far and it's easier for him to stay here."
Zwei growled and crossed his arms and turned away from them. "I'm not sharing my room with him." He says looking at the floor. Ruby laughs a little.
"Course not. He's sleeping in my room." Taiyang raises a finger to complain but Yang stops him and shakes her head with a look that says "Don't even bother." To which Tai reluctantly complies with. Ruby could be really stubborn.
"Wow, your Dad is not how I was expecting him to be," Blake states.
"Yeah Dad doesn't get angry as much as Yang does." Ruby replies.
"Yeah...Hey wait a minute!" Yang's eyes narrowed.
The members of RWB(Y) and ALPN laughed at her expense. Yang sighed.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."
"Fine." Zwei begans to stomp up upstairs into his room and slams it shut. Ruby looked a bit annoyed and worried.
"What's his problem?" Ruby asks turning the others? Yang and Taiyang shrugged and Jaune remained silent. They all talk for a while before heading to bed.
The next day had come and Jaune had gotten up and ate breakfast with the family. Zwei never looked at him and ran up into his room when he was done. Ruby taps him on the shoulder.
"Maybe try playing with him? He just met you and I'm sure he's just being shy." Ruby said smiling. Jaune sighed a bit.
Jaune shook his head at what Ruby's alternate self was presuming to be the issue at hand.
"It's not that he's shy. He thinks I'm gonna steal you away." He thought to himself. But he nodded and started to walk up to Zwei's room knocking before walking in. the ten year old faunus glaring at him immediately.
"What?" He said quite rudely.
"Whoa shit. He may look like Red but he certainly doesn't act like her." Mercury said honestly surprised.
"Be quiet Black! Zwei is a good boy and he shall remain that way!" Weiss threw this way.
The villains in the room only rolled their eyes at the former heiress's retort.
Jaune looked around the room and saw it was a Ten year boy's dream. Poster of plenty of shows, A xbox and a ps4 the works. He looks at Zwei to see a bunch of toys around him and he walks up and picks up a toy that looks like a ghost kneeing to Zwei's eye level and smiles at him.
"Hey I was hoping I could play with you, maybe I can be… Ghostface? Zwei looked at Jaune like he was stupid.
"His name is Ghostfreak." Zwei states turning his gaze from Jaune to play with his other toys. "And I ain't playing with him. I'm not crossovering over Ben 10 with Transformers."
"Hey Merc, wake me whenever this snooze fest is over. I'm gonna take a nap." Emerald whispers to Mercury.
"No promises."
"Well why not?"
"Because they don't take place in the universe."
"Well maybe ghost freak can use is ghostfreak can use his powers to end up in the Transformers Universe with Optuis prines." Jaune had clearly said the worst thing possible because Zwei's face went red and he started screaming at him.
"IT'S OPTIMUS PRIME AND GHOSTFREAK POWERS DON'T WORK LIKE THAT! GET OUT! GET OUT OFF MY ROOM!" Jaune hopped up and speed walk out Zwei's room into Ruby, looking a bit assumed.
"Didn't go well? Ah wait don't tell me… you say Optimus Prime name wrong."
Jaune glares at his girlfriend as she laughs at him.
"You knew that was gonna happen."
Ruby stops laughing to give Jaune a smirk.
"I didn't. But it was still funny."
"Well… that went as well as I expected." Jaune stated.
25 notes · View notes
Text
Life is Dream: A Rosegarden story
Chapter 1- Once Upon A Time
Ruby’s eyes watered as the crisp air breezed in front of her face as she fell.
She had watched as her two teammates swooped down the void, only to be swallowed by a golden glimmer. By then, time had slowed down, and she thought about what could happen. Only to be eclipsed by the thought of her sister alone, wherever she might have ended up, waiting for her.
The battle had been arduous, and she had had a hard time tracking down her friends’ whereabouts during most of it, but when it had all quieted down, when Nora had placed a hand on her shoulder with a million questions in her blue eyes, the roar of the answer thumped in her ears.
Penny had understood right there and then, hugging her friends one by one- ‘do what you have to do.’
Jaune nodded gravely, thinking that if he were in their position, he’d do anything to bring his teammates back. ‘We’ll take it from here on out.’
There was no guidance, no certainty of what could happen, of what laid beyond the darkness. But Blake was trembling, her grasp on Gambol Shroud whitening her knuckles. Weiss held on Blake, afraid she might jump alone.
The decision had been made.
A tingling sensation distracted her thoughts, and with a rueful wonder she realized golden shimmers began to dance on her skin.
‘This is it, then.’ She barely had the ability to think before lighting gold consumed her. She felt herself fall asleep and tiredly closed her eyes.
Oscar opened his eyes at the insistence of Emerald. She had probably been trying to shake him awake for a while now judging by the tender expression she tried to conceal with fake annoyance.
Sitting up on his bed, he noticed that the quarters he shared with the rest of his team was empty.
The sunlight streamed harshly through the willowing blinds, telling him that it was way too late to be sleeping.
“Should have woken you up earlier but you nearly fell asleep on your dinner last night, so we thought it would be better to let you sleep in a bit more.” She explained as she slid open her Scroll, checking the itinerary for the day.
Mind still heavy with sleep, Oscar placed his bare feet on the cold floor. The frigid clay under his soles roused him enough so he began mentally preparing for the day.
“What have we got today on the agenda?”
Emerald rolled her eyes and thrusted a paper bag into the teen’s hands.
“Breakfast rolls with honey. Seriously Oscar, you barely ate last night and now you’re insisting on intermittent fasting? This is why even Little Red’s taller than you!” She jeered at his sudden bouts of sleepiness over the past month.
Oscar smiled, pained. Everyone up until now had been walking on eggshells regarding team RWBY, hushing down when they mentioned them, fearing guilt and sadness. But Emerald, who in her pragmatism did what had to be done, and said what needed to be said, did not care too much about being gentle with expectations.
It was weird. A month had passed since the exodus from Mantle and Atlas, and the remaining members of team JNPR were crestfallen, yet tried to ignore the growing negativity stemming in their hearts. They treated Oscar with care, trying to ignore the four missing links in their lives.
Surprisingly, Emerald and Penny were the only ones keeping hope.
Penny was hopeful and reverent. She had been made of alloy, bolts and dolts. But now she wore shoes, sand was annoying, and she could taste food. Anything was possible in this wide world of theirs.
For Emerald, it was more about seeing impossible feats of ancient wonder, something in her ears whispering that there were more incredible feats of magic to be revealed in her time alive. She felt that third chances in life were rare, and thus, grasped at its stray hairs strongly.
So they stuck by Oscar as the task of repatriation began at dawn and ended at dusk.
It had been a grueling month at Vacuo, nobody was happy to have the Atlesians in their land. The citizens of Mantle fared better, they had been humbled when they huddled close together back at the crater in the Motherland. But the Atlas elite? They could not wait for Mistrali ships to come in hoards to get them to colder ground. They revolted, nothing was up to their elevated standards.
But Theodore was nothing but pragmatic, as all Vacuans were, and a night off in the deserts shut the bunch of them up. The ones who made it back that is.
“Alright, I’ll stuff my face with honeyed bread rolls and spiced tea if it makes you happy.” Conceded Oscar after he tied up his boots and threw on the airy cotton cape on his shoulders. He had decided on a lighter fabric for his stay in Vacuo, the gauzy green tunic emboldened with red and white trimmings, and his loose cotton pants were good enough for the mighty sun that beat on the roofs of the deserts.
Emerald smiled despite herself. She and Penny had taken on the big sister role whenever Nora wasn’t there to mother Oscar to hell and back. It had taken some time to get used to, but for anyone that was not privy to the Fall of Beacon, Emerald was just Oscar’s older sister, who emerged at the Fall of Atlas.
Over the course of the weeks she proved herself, as a true Vacuan, and as a true ally.
“C´mon then. There’s a bunch of convoy ships from Argus and Vale willing to take in some snooty idiots in exchange of supplies. Don’t make Nora wait for you more, she’s missed on her hugging quota for the morning.” With a pat on his head, Emerald walked Oscar to the door, and off they were.
The day blurred by Oscar’s eyes, now and again stifling an inconvenient yawn, but nevertheless, persisted during the course of his workday.
Every day there were less Atlesians to send off, and less Mantle citizens who wanted to leave. Like May tended to say, Mantle knows how to show their teeth.
The migratory system they had built recorded every single citizen that wanted to leave or stay under Theodore’s watchful eye. The controls were harsh since there was no way to know if Neopolitan had blended into the crowd at all. Given that Emerald told Theodore and every staff member in Shade that they were to expect Tyrian and Mercury sooner rather than later, security had been the top priority these days.
In between tending to the wounded and sick, delivering supply packets to the tents of refugees, and breaking up fights, Oscar was beat by dusk.
By that time, Theodore insisted Oscar to keep their sparring sessions until he felt that Oscar moved and fought with more fluidity than the day before.
“Squirt,” Theodore would say, “I know Oz has taught you some things, but he was a dandy and thought that battle was graceful matter.” The rippled headmaster would flex and show him how merciless battle was.
Under the strongman’s tutelage, Oscar’s body ached and grew. With Ozpin’s mentoring in his head, his magic grew and he felt something inside of his soul bubble to the surface.
But at the end of the day, when Jaune was sitting right by his side, and Nora was babbling a ten miles per second into his hearing canal, he felt his shoulders drop their tension. He shot a thankful glance at Ren, who was casually conversing with Emerald, but still kept an eye on the youngest of their group. Penny and Nora, two ginger parakeets with insurmountable force and joy lulled his thoughts, until he sagged forward and faceplanted in his tomato soup.
The resounding splash alerted Jaune who quickly pulled Oscar’s face from the cold soup by grabbing him by the collar of his tunic. Oscar’s lack of reaction, and his fluttering eyelids greeted the blond huntsman, flooding him with worry.
The chatter died.
Nora leaned the boy to her side and grabbed his tanned cheeks, wet with stock, and panicked at his quivering eyelids.
Semi-conscious as he were, Oscar saw the motions at the table like photographs forming a standstill gallery inside his mind, the sounds dull and his feeling numb.
Nora and Emerald crowding over him, worried expressions marring his face.
Penny and her cold hands framing his cheeks, her confused expression.
Jaune’s golden aura around his vision as it tunneled.
Lastly, Theodore’s frown before he closed his eyes and tumbled into sleep.
__________________________________________
Ruby tumbled out of bed confused.
Her heartbeat alert and scared, her eyes darted to the four walls surrounding her. Sweet and spices reached her nose, the colourful walls held handmade tapestries and idyllic paintings. The rug that had cushioned her fall was fluffy, and the blanket tangling in her legs felt like a familiar hug.
“Where am I?”
Ruby struggled to stand up, and once she did, she gasped at herself.
In front of her, a mirror held her image. But it was all wrong. She wore a frilly white dress, with white stockings, red lace and ribbons, and her hair was tied in two tiny pigtails. She looked adorable.
And she hated it.
“Where’s-“ she looked at the nearest wardrove, and opened its doors as fast as she could. Rifling through the cutesy dresses, she was taken aback by a familiar skirt.
Holding the black dress with the black combat skirt, she wondered how her Beacon outfit appeared in the room she was in.
She stopped dead on her tracks.
“I’m not in Atlas anymore, am I?”
Clutching the dress to her chest, she slid down to the carpeted floor. She felt a bubble of panic come over her as she remembered the last events of her life.
“Right, Neo struck Yang, and Yang… She fell. We fought Cinder. And she died. I think. Then we…jumped.”
Ruby looked her hands over, turning them this way and that, as if they were given to change at any moment now.
“And-“ Ruby wheezed, close to hyperventilation. She trembled as she remembered flashes of the fight against Cinder, how Blake evolved her Semblance and fought as three copies of herself, about Neo striking the wrong Blake, and being fallen by the original one. Cinder taunting how she used Jinn, revealing their plans. Penny fell to the golden plateau, and then in a fit of rage, silver.
No more Cinder. Probably.
Her heart running like a wild animal under her chest, she took deep breaths as she tried to calm down. She rubbed the black fabric between her thumb and pointer finger, the texture was light to the touch. In the bottom frill, she found her name embroidered by her own hand. It was supposed to be comforting, but it only fueled her confusion.
A few tears threatened to spill, but then several knocks on the door startled her.
“Darling! Breakfast is ready!” a familiar voice called out to her outside the door.
In a haze, Ruby stood up and let the dress fall from her hands. She marched to the door and opened it in a swift motion, scaring the poor woman in front of it.
“Little Red! What sort of behaviour is this!?” An old woman that looked and sounded like María Calavera chided her, hands on her hips as she glowered annoyed at the teen.
“María! It’s you!” Elated, Ruby swooped in to hug the woman, who patted her back confusedly.
“Oh dear, now you’re calling your grandma by her first name too! Did you hit your head when you woke up this morning? What’s wrong with you?” Not-María held Ruby at arms length, checking her head for any injuries.
“Huh?”
Not-quite-María tutted, before guiding Ruby by the hand to the kitchen area of the cottage they seemed to be in.
“Little Red, you seldom ever visit me, and now you’re calling me by my name! Your mother hasn’t been disciplining you as she should!”
More confused than ever, Ruby sat on the stool offered by Not-Really-María.
The old woman sighed before plopping a plate of sausages, beans with crema and tortillas in front of her.
“Repeat after me, Little Red: Abuela María. Ah..Boo-Eh-Lah. Abuela.” Ruby looked at Abuela María in mild shock.
“Abuela?”
The Abuela María nodded satisfied and patted her hand.
“Now, after we finish mending that cape of yours, please give this basket of goodies to your mother for me. Oh! And thank her for the nice fabrics she sent with you, will you?”
Still starstruck, Ruby stared at Abuela María, not yet understanding anything that was happening in front of her.
“My…mother?”
Abuela María nodded, quite exasperatedly at her not-quite-granddaughter. She flipped her gray-haired braid over her shoulder and began repairing the red cape as she mumbled about ‘youth these days’.
“Yes, dear. Summer Rose. My daughter, your mother.”
More confused than anything, Ruby brought her hand up and mercilessly slapped her cheek. Abuela María looked at Ruby curiously, halting her sewing for a moment before resuming.
“But-but!” Ruby stuttered, holding her stinging cheek under her palm. “We don’t look anything alike!”
“My dear!” began Abuela María. “Silver eyes run in our family! Look!”
Abuela María removed her thick rimmed glasses and pointed at her eyes.
But all Ruby could see was a puckered red bruise, swollen and hurt. It slashed from her right temple to her left, there was not much to be said about eyes, as there were none.
Feeling not quite in a dream, but more in a bizarre nightmare, she stood up, the wooden stool clattering behind her.
Abuela María, with her glasses still removed and acting normally, bit off the last thread on the eye of her needle and folded the red cape neatly, offering it to Ruby.
Smiling sweetly, but with her disturbing red scarring across her visage, she gifted Ruby a basket filled with fruits, cheeses and breads, and pushed her through the cabin’s threshold.
Ruby looked petrified at the old lady that looked like her mentor but was nothing like her.
“Take this basket to your mother, will you? Be careful of the Big Bad Wolf, don’t let it bite you!”
Laughing merrily, the old woman closed the door on Ruby, leaving her alone in the cabin’s porch.
Jarred and perturbed, Ruby walked away from the cabin thoughtlessly, and into the winding roads that crossed the forest.
Only once she reached a small ravine, did she sit on the forest floor and pushed to her face the cape that smelled like home, like Yang and Qrow and Weiss and Blake and everyone she knew, did she weep.
For the longest time she cried, but after a while she felt her tears dry up, her shoulders stopped their heaving, and her heart dulled to a somber beat.
Ruby wiped her tears with the cape and splashed her face with the cool water from the ravine. She looked at her reflection, and disliking the pigtails pulling the hair at her nape, she tugged at the elastics and ruffled her hair. She bunched the skirt in her fists.
Annoyed at her dress, she looked down to it expecting to see white ruffles on white lace, she was caught off guard when she found herself wearing a black version of the dress she had woken up into.
As much as she marveled at this feat of reality writing itself, she feared it.
Taking one last look at her reflection, and tugging on the hood on her cape, she trudged into the deep forest, following the map she was given and hoped for the best.
44 notes · View notes
kingangelrose · 3 years
Text
RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 6 Recap
“Midnight”
-------------
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Reflecting back to her past, Cinder sees visions of her scrubbing the floorboards of an old worn out barn, being bullied by two boys, too weak to fight back strongly and being alone while other children play. 
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Cinder also remembers applying for a job as a waitress at a fancy mansion, where she met the lady in charge as well as two other women there. The lady in charges says to a young Cinder that she is to fold the laundry, clean the dishes and wax the floors enough for them to be eaten off of, as the lady leaving, Cinder weakly asked her for food, which the two women laughed at, the lady turned around and threw a bread roll to the floor at Cinder, then telling her to get started with the chores, when she turned around to leave, Cinder quickly ate the bread roll from off the dirty floor, as the two women laughed at her and left as well.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Throughout her life in the mansion, Cinder served food to the patrons there, even preparing food for them, she tries to sneak on strawberry from the cake she prepared, but one of the twins slapped Cinder’s hand before she could and took the cake away from her, then the other twin ate the strawberry off the cake. Cinder was left with little bread crust scraps and unfinished drinks after patrons finished the dishes. Cinder had many things to do at the mansion, dusting statues, unclogging toilets, and folding toilets, carrying them, even dropping plates, breaking them, with no assistance to speak of. 
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
While Cinder was scrubbing the floors of a hallway, she noticed a huntsman in the lobby, holding a sword, which peaked her interested, but then she heard a squishing sound, and the twins tracked and stomped mud on the floor that Cinder was scrubbing, one of them says that she missed a spot and they both started laughing at her, it only made Cinder mad as she grips the brushed with a heated up hand and threw at the twins, causing a dust cloud to appear, this caught the lady’s attention and afterwards, she punished Cinder by shocking her by the neck wearing a necklace using a device, saying that she needs to learn her place, forcing Cinder to say without her, she is nothing.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Later that night, through the vents to the basement, Cinder stole the huntsman’s sword from before, while Cinder unwrapped the cloth, holding the sword, the huntsman found Cinder, saying that the sword wasn’t hers, Cinder then threw sword at him, but he deflected it with two steel weapons, causing the sword to stick to the wall, the huntsman then said that he wasn’t going to hurt Cinder, and then he rolls one of the steel weapons on the floor for Cinder to take, as Cinder charges at him with it, but the huntsman grabbed the weapon by hand and says to her that he has seen her around, saying that she’s hasn’t been given any fair treatment, but hurting those women wouldn’t make her life any better, saying that she can either run for the rest of her life or she could find another way to handle it, Cinder then says to him that he can do and go wherever he wants to, the huntsman asks her if she wants to be like him, if she wants to be a huntress, and Cinder shakes her head yes, he asked how old she was, Cinder says that she was 10, the huntsman then took the sword out of the wall and threw it to Cinder to catch and says that they have seven years to prepare her for the huntsman exam.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Since then, Cinder had the motivation to keep on going throughout the chores and abuse, as the huntsman would trained her every day in secret, as time passed on, the huntsman gave Cinder her very own sword like his and tells her in a few years, she’ll be free, which made Cinder very happy, 
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
However, that happiness didn’t last long.  The twins told their mother, who was the lady in charge, that they found Cinder’s weapon, which the lady was ready to take. When the huntsman arrived, no one was at the front desk, but then he heard a loud noise from the basement, he ran then saw the twins laid out and Cinder choking the lady, telling her that without her, she is nothing, but because of her, she is everything, the lady shocked her with all the power in the device, but she was choked out by Cinder so much that it made her dropped the device, the huntsman called out her name, and when Cinder saw him, she said that she won’t have to run anymore, but the huntsman with a sad expression then says that running is all she will do now, Cinder’s happy expression turned to anger as she was now in combat with her former mentor, as both their auras were depleted, the huntsman walked towards Cinder, but out of nowhere, Cinder used her swords to stab him through the abdomen, with one final head pat, the huntsman had died, and Cinder could only look to the broken moon with a tear in eye.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Now in the present, Cinder awakens with Emerald, bedside. Emerald then says that she was very worried about her, when she asked Cinder if she was okay, Cinder says that they failed, Emerald tells Cinder that she was hurt and that she was just trying to help. Mercury then arrives in the room and says to Emerald that Cinder has had enough help, saying that she went against Salem’s orders, Emerald then says that Cinder’s hunch was right, but Mercury cuts her off and tells her to stop protecting Cinder, saying that she doesn’t care about her, Cinder, with flare in the eye told both of them to leave and she’ll let her know when they are needed next, but Mercury says that he doesn’t have to listen to her anymore because Salem has a new role for him, and Salem wants them to the bridge where something big is about to happen, with that, Emerald follows Mercury to go where Salem needs them, while Cinder sat alone for a while.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Meanwhile, Oscar, was a bruised and battered listened to Opzin in his head, saying that it wasn’t Oscar burden for what happened to Hazel’s sister, it was his alone and Hazel’s grudge is with him alone, Oscar then says that it’d be worse if Ozpin took control and he can tell he’s holding back with him, Ozpin then says that Oscar has done so much already, and the least he can do is give him a break and get them out of there, Oscar then tells Ozpin that Salem knows she can’t take on the world all at once, so she has her followers work their way in to do it, sabotaging the heroes from the inside out, and that maybe they should do the same, Ozpin had the same idea, saying that Oscar is getting more like him and maybe they have been granted an opportunity. 
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Just then, Hazel arrives and grabs Oscar, pinning him against the wall, telling him that he doesn’t have the fight this war and if he tells him what he needs to know, he will be done, but suddenly, Oscar says hello to Hazel, not as himself, but as Ozpin, Hazel gets angry and calls him a coward, saying that all that time it could’ve been him that Hazel was torturing, but Ozpin let him suffer, Hazel throws Ozpin across the room and demands him to tell him how to activate the lamp, Ozpin then asks Hazel why he follows Salem all while Hazel kicks him down, Ozpins says that he knows how Hazel sees him as, but he knows what Salem has done, asking how she is the answer and why not stop her, Hazel then says that Salem cannot be stopped, saying that she is a force of nature, he has seen it first hand, Hazel then breaks off a piece of the Grimm Whale’s tooth and tells Ozpin that he sends children to their death for a cause that has no victory nor end, Ozpins then says to him that someone has to try, saying Salem is not a force of nature and that she can be fought, but before he could say anymore, Salem herself appeared, saying that Ozpin’s timing is wonderful and the “show” was about to begin.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
While sitting on her throne, Salem looks upon her follows, who all bow to her, including Ozpin, who was being forced to by Hazel, Salem stands and walks across to Tyrian telling her followers that Tyrian had came in contact with Watts, saying that he has worked with Ironwood to control Penny, calling her a puppet masquerading as the winter maiden. Salem then looks at Cinder, and using her power to control the Grimm to torture Cinder’s Grimm arm, the pain and the shock reminded her about the pain she went through back then, Salem goes on to say that she chose to disobey her just to fail again, but she realizes that it was her own fault, Salem says that Cinder has fought her whole life to achieve her goal and she is holding her back instead of lifting her up, Salem extends her hand to Cinder, only for Cinder to weakly reach her Grimm hand to her, accepting her grasp, saying that she deserves so much more than she has given her.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Salem gives Cinder a mission to go to Atlas and break Watts out, she says that he can lead Cinder to Penny so she can get the maidens power and the staff relic, Ozpin then yells and says to Cinder that she’ll alone help Salem bring about the end for all of them, Hazel slams him down to the ground and lifts him up to Salem’s eye sight, only for Salem to tell Ozpin that he is already too late.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Meanwhile, Winter and Ace Ops, who were in an airship in search for Penny, get a transmission from Jaune, warning them about the massive horde of Grimm headed for Mantle, Marrow lands the airship to where Team Yang is, on the hoverbike, Jaune then asks Harriett and Winter did they get the message about the Grimm, but Harriett answered his question with a question, asking where Penny is, Jaune then says there are people in danger, and Harriett replies by saying it’s because Team Yang was selfish. Suddenly, there was a huge earthquake under Mantle and before anyone knew it there was a geyser of Grimm goo, attacking Atlas from above, the goo helped the Grimm inside of it crawl on the outer walls, and worse yet, the Grimm crawled from under Atlas and cut off the power supply to the shields, leaving Atlas vulnerable and leaving the heroes, including Ironwood shocked. Salem, with a devious smile on her face says.... “It’s time....” - Salem. The Grimm Whale then landed onto Atlas, and opened it’s mouth, letting out tons of Grimm goo, releasing all kinds of different Grimm about to reek havoc onto Atlas.
------------
What will Cinder do? What will Hazel do? Will Ozpin’s words help either one of them have a change of heart? Will Winter and Ace Ops put aside orders to help the heroes stop this crisis? Where is Penny? Will the world of Remnant come to aid Atlas before it’s too late?
71 notes · View notes
good-rwbyaus · 3 years
Note
AU where the entire war between Ozma and Salem is just one big chess game with the Huntsmen and the Grimm/Inner Circle as pieces. Bonus points if this is a RWBY Chibi skit. Even more bonus points if there are 20-sided dice rolls to simulate unpredictable elements.
#The Vytal Campaign - RWBY as a DnD Campaign - mod lilac [ Beginning: Ruby Rose]  [ Spot Check: Jaune ] [ Critifail ] [ Reveal of the Mysterious Narrator ]
Salem and Ozpin play out an abbreviated version of the Lost Fable. 
Salem and the Gods - Before the Vytal Campaign
An Ultraman figure, covered in a blanket, laid in a makeshift bed. Beside it, a blonde barbie doll knelt beside him, hands tied together in prayer. On the edges of the table are multiple chess pieces, mostly pawns and bishops, and some other dolls and action figures.
Salem: Oh gods. I pray to thee for Divine Intervention to save my Ozma.
Ozpin, amused: I’m pretty sure you don’t ask for Divine Intervention like that.
Salem, snappily: Hey. I wasn’t the one who wanted to spice things up by getting sick and ended up rolling two 1′s in a row when he tried to get better. Only you can make your character die in the epilogue of all things: now do you want Ozma to survive or not?
Ozpin held up his hands in surrender.
Ozpin: Yeesh, alright, you’re more invested in my characters than I am. Okay so Salem - also still don’t get why you insist on using real names or variants of.- beseeches the gods. Which of the gods do you want to ask? 
Salem, pursing her lips:  Guess God of Light first, I mean Ozma was a Paladin, right? He’s gotta favor you.
Ozpin: Let’s see what the dice say.
Salem tosses the dice. Clatter clatter.
Salem: ...
Ozpin: ...You rolle-
Salem, growling: Shut it.  
The twenty-sided die Salem rolled proudly displayed a 1.
Ozpin: The God of Light doesn’t even bother descending in person. His voice just apologetically echoes. “I understand your pain, but you demand of me that which I cannot make so. Life and death are part of a delicate bal-”
Salem: Screw it. I pray to the God of Fucking Darkness. -tosses the die.-
Ozpin: I’m pretty sure you don’t want to do th-
Clatter clatter.
Salem: Ha. I rolled a sixteen! 
Ozpin eyes the poor Ultraman figure on the table before dismantling it joint from joint. He then starts putting the legs where the shoulders go.
Salem: What are you doing?! 
Ozpin, sardonically: You prayed to the god of destruction for my revival. Of course I come back wrong. 
Salem, flustered. : Well. Well. I-I TELL HIM TO STOP. In fact, I insist! I roll to cast Greater Suggestion.
Salem tosses the dice. Her eyes bug out at the result.
Salem: Are these dice rigged or something? This is the fourth 1 we’ve rolled this session.
Ozpin: No rigged dice here. That’s just how they fall. -sigh.- Well, I guess the God of Darkness gets pissed o- No, you know what. Just to celebrate our 4th critical failure in the past thirty minutes. 
Salem: Oz. No.
Ozpin, grandly: The God of Light is affronted by your attempt to influence his brother. He too appears in person. As his brother shakes off your Suggestion, he helpfully tells his brother that Salem went to him first. Cause he’s helpful like that. Out of jealousy, the God of Darkness roars and waves a hand at the poor, sad abomination he created. Salem catches a glimpse of Ozma turning his head 360 degrees to her, eyes wide and saying “My wi-” before disintegrating into nothingness.
....
Salem, glaring: Why do you insist on your characters dying pathetically sad deaths?
Ozpin shrugs and sips his hot cocoa.
Salem: You know what. This game’s gone FUBAR at this point. 
Salem, dramatically: I swear vengeance against the gods. I swear to drag you all out of your stupid little pedestals and make you taste the cold hard ground.
Ozpin, affronted: Are you seriously pulling a Raven? 
Salem, yelling: - smacks the table.- I tell the God of Light he fights like a dairy farmer and the God of Darkness that he fights like a cow! 
Ozpin, amused: They’re gods. They’re perturbed by your insults but overall they don’t think much about your angry rant.
Salem: Uh huh, so you’re really saying that you made the god of Darkness go out of character then.
Ozpin: Well no. He’s just a bit of a special case. In the lore, he has an inferiority complex when it comes to his brother.
Salem, smiling: ...Really now?
Ozpin opens his mouth to speak.
Salem: Hey! God of Darkness, how does it feel being second best to your brother all the time? I mean, he created all the humans and animals and stuff, and what do you make? Some shitty ass Grimm. I guess it’s kinda fitting, given the rest of humanity thinks of you as a pathetic shadow of your brother. 
Salem, whiningly: Oh look at me. I’m God of Darkness. Even my name makes me feel like I’M CRAWLING IN MY SKIN. I’m so hideous that my own brother locks me in a tiny little continent inside Remnant. At least I have a tiny pool of death and destruction where I can do unspeakable things to the bestial creatures I make.  
Ozpin pauses in shock. 
Oscar: ...Was that really neces-
Salem: You know what the rest of humanity thinks of you as? Your brother’s whipping boy. Always second best. The Luigi to a Mario. A Shadow the Hedgehog to a Sonic. A limp dick who can’t put one foot out of line in fear of his older brother. Because you don’t have the guts. For a God of Destruction, you sure are pathetically meek. When humanity finally rises up, your ass will be the first to get beat. 
Salem tosses the dice.
Salem: HA! I rolled a 20! 
Ozpin: ...Epic levels in Speechcraft, right?
Salem, proudly: Yeah. You know, the same epic skill that made my father, the King, trap me in that stupid fairytale tower - and I still managed to get all those heroes to kill themselves trying to save me. 
Ozpin sighs before folding up his world-building notes. He then dramatically sweeps all the toys and chess pieces onto the floor. 
Salem, confused: Oz! What are y-
Ozpin, loudly: The God of Light, seeing his brother quiver in anger, only has a chance to give out a dismayed yell before the God of Darkness screams in rage.
Ozpin, suddenly: ARGGGGGGGH!
Salem jumps at Ozpin’s sudden scream before glaring.
Ozpin: A shockwave of purple magic detonates around the God of Darkness. The hut they were in collapses. The pulse of magic extends past the forests, past the mountains, past the seas, and into the cities. It spares the stone and mortar but for the men and women it touched, it renders them into dust. 
Salem stiffens, eyes wide.
Ozpin: The forest critters, dust. The sea creatures, dust. All that lives which touch the Cursed Wave, dust. Before long, the only living things on Remnant are two Gods and a human named Salem. 
Salem, jaw slackening: Did I just cau- Wait, isn’t that a bit extre-
Ozpin, smirking: Nope. The God of Darkness has always been able to casually wipe out life on Remnant. Congratulations, you’ve pissed off a god so much that he wiped out Humanity and everything else.
....
Salem: ...We never tell Raven about this. 
65 notes · View notes
wu-sisyphus-gang · 3 years
Text
Motion Sickness Chapter 89
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
I watched Weiss focus on a needle, a glyph spun to life beneath it and it soon hovered into the air. But then it did nothing while she sat with an arm outstretched and her eyes closed. It made no move to transform instead it just floated, suspended in the Schnee logo.
Ruby watched with me. Examining the floating needle, she rested with my arms down around her waist and her body pulled close to me.
"What do you think will happen if she does it? What will it mean?" Ruby asked.
"It'll mean semblances and magic are the same thing. That there's no difference between them," I muttered.
Weiss sighed and released the needle. It clacked back to the desk. "I don't think this will work," she murmured.
"You have to believe," I encouraged her. "Or else it definitely won't."
"I just don't think I have magic the way that you and Ozpin do. I don't think that's how this works."
"Maybe not but we'll never know unless you give it your best try," I returned. "Out of everyone you and your spells have the best chance of being like our magic. Of having this avenue open to you. That's why I asked you and not Ruby or somebody else. Yours and Ruby's powers are most like mine."
"I always thought your powers were like Yang's semblance," Ruby mumbled.
"Only superficially, I feel like, at least," I defended my position. "It also lets me change states. A bit like yours does Ruby."
"I-I guess," she settled. "I still think it's like Yang's a little."
"And really? You think it's like mine?" Weiss asked.
"My spells. They're a bit like yours. The way I spend the charge on things reminds me of your powers," I defended again. They were putting me in a bit of a tight spot.
My scroll buzzed a little and flipped it out of my pocket.
"Strife speaking," I introduced.
"Hey Cloud it's Bisque. We know where Adam is."
"That's fantastic news. So where is he?"
Bisque gave me an address. "You think you'll be able to beat him this time?" He asked.
"For sure. He got lucky last time. I'm going to end him."
"Well best of luck to you. It would certainly be one fewer problem for me to worry about. Think of it as a load off both of our minds."
"Keep me in the know on my other names, too," I requested. "These are dangerous people."
"You got it. We certainly owe you back here."
"Good of you to remember that."
"We'll see you around, Cloud."
"You too, Bisque."
I hung up the scroll.
"Good call?" Weiss asked.
"I got a hit on Taurus. I'm going to go kill him."
"We're coming too," Ruby said it like an order. She demanded and I didn't argue with her.
"We'd better grab Yang and Blake. Blake especially will want in on this if it's Adam related," Weiss murmured. "I know Yang also wants to avenge her arm. We had better let the General know too."
"Times ticking," I gestured at an invisible watch on my wrist.
"You're not going solo anymore. That means working with us and the General," Weiss countered. She crossed her arms with some heat.
"Guys…" Ruby mumbled. That seemed to settle it. We both shut up mid argument.
I shook my head. "Fine. Whatever. Grab the rest of your team and have them meet me in the garage by my bike and Yang's. We'll roll up on him together."
I grabbed my sword harness and put it on my back. Ruby and Weiss both dashed out of the room to go find Blake and Yang and get their own gear ready.
I checked my pockets and counted my dust crystals. I wasn't sure I'd be eating any of them today but I'd like the extra firepower that they gave me.
Once my gear was set I briskly walked to the academy garage and set about waiting impatiently for team RWBY to join me by the entrance.
When they finally did it was Blake leading with, "you know where Adam is? And the information is good?"
"As good as I can reasonably expect it to be. Got it from these faunus union workers," I told her.
"I've been itching for some payback." Yang rubbed her prosthesis with her real arm. "He won't stand a chance against all of us. Blake and I will take Bumblebee. The rest of you will get on… what is your bike's name, Cloud?"
"Doesn't have one," I replied in gruff monotone.
"Boo," she booed me.
"It was supposed to be temporary anyways," I muttered, crossing my arms as I did. "Why bother with something like that?"
"Whatever. Just send me the address," Yang followed up. I pulled out my scroll and did as she told me to do.
I sat down on my bike and gestured to Ruby and Weiss to join me. Ruby hoped on just behind me this time and put her arms around my waist. She snuggled in tight, rubbing her cheeks into my back adorably. I reached around and patted her hair.
Gods I loved her. She literally had my back.
Weiss plopped down behind her and wrapped herself up in Ruby to keep secure.
"Just so long as this isn't like last time we rode this thing," Weiss muttered.
"Dodging my sisters in the middle of a highway wasn't fun for you?" I asked.
She rolled her eyes at me in reply. "Believe it or not but no. Fighting while riding passenger at sixty kilometers an hour doesn't make me feel comfortable." The sass with this one… I could learn to live with it. Maybe it could even grow on me.
"What if I let you drive next time?" I asked teasingly.
"Still no," she bit back. "Not actually the part of that which had been grinding up my gears."
I pulled my foot up off the ground and kicked back the stand. Then together we took off on the bike into the mid-afternoon sun.
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
I felt… something as we approached the target destination. It was at once familiar and disparate to me. I'd… I'd felt it before somewhere like in a half baked dream. It made my hair rise and it set my teeth on edge.
"Taurus is here?" Weiss asked. It was a run down warehouse on the edge of Mantle. It reminded me a little of the place Dyne had made his final stand at but it was a different location. It was barely in the city.
Outside of the place were parked three familiar motorbikes. The same ones that had run me down on the road. I knew then what it was I was feeling. My sisters. They were here with Adam. That could only be bad news for me.
I kicked the stand out and slung my legs off the bike.  
The building was tall with grey brick and red cross beams to help hold it up. Some fucking offense meant but it looked like the kind of place my sisters and Adam Taurus would have a meeting.
"My sisters are here," I told the others low and slow. Yang's bike came stuttering up next time mine and she shut it off. Blake slid off the back, her weapon already drawn and at the ready.
"You sure?" Blake asked.
"Those are their bikes from when they rode us down," Ruby pointed. "What would your sisters want with Adam Taurus though?"
"Evil begets evil? I don't know," I ran a frustrated hand through my hair.
"Bet you're glad you brought all of us now. Or do you think you can take them all on by yourself?" Weiss asked.
I couldn't. Taurus would have been plenty for me to deal with without my sisters being involved in the fight. Saphron, Lavender, and Violet were really strong. They weren't bad batches like I was. They had some real power behind them and they worked well as a team. They were dangerous.
But why? What did my sisters want with Taurus? Or perhaps just as importantly what did Taurus have to gain by dealing with Salem's agents? Was he already involved with Salem? Maybe.
"Don't…" I exhaled hard. "Don't kill my sisters if you can help it. I want to try and save them. It's not their fault that they're what my Mother wants them to be."
"Cloud… we'll do our best," Ruby promised. It was good enough.
"You three deal with the girls," Blake mumbled. "Yang and I will take Adam."
"Together?" Yang asked Blake. She loaded her shot gauntlets with a ca-chink .
"Together," Blake agreed.
"Very well." Weiss nodded along with Blake's plan.
"How do we wanna assault this place?" I asked. "Or do we just want to wait for them to come out and greet us?"
"Is that a good idea?" Weiss asked.
"It worked when I killed Tyrian. I just waited," I told her. "Then we duked it out in the streets. Lots of room to move that way. I need the space, too. I hate getting corralled in."
"Better to move in, I think," Blake disagreed. She shifted her weapon out of it's plain gun mode, a blade in either hand.
I drew my longsword from my back rather than the broadsword. I left the shield there too, preferring to grip my weapon with both hands by the long handle.
I strode forward past my sisters' bikes. I pressed on the double doors to the place and one of them creaked open. I gestured and the others came through under my outstretched arm.
We crept along up a catwalk steps into the rafters of the warehouse. I could hear my sisters talking, Saphron's voice, but I couldn't make the words out. It was followed by Adam's gruff and low tone. Then it went back to my sister's voice. There was this sort of box like office room built into the catwalk above the lower floor of the warehouse. Their voices were coming from inside that little room.
"-Maybe I don't care what she wants. Salem has never been good for the faunus. We might just be better off without her at all."
"A bad attitude to have," I heard Saphron counter. "The White Fang needs us. You'll never be able to muscle a kingdom like Atlas around without help from my Mother."
"The old White Fang managed it. They didn't have the help of your mommy."
"You're not the old White Fang. Let's be honest you're a shadow of your former selves. You can't even run the unions in this town. You need our help."
Adam snorted. "I'm tired of humans telling me what to do."
"You'll find that I'm barely human. I'm…" Saphron trailed off.
"Do you feel that?" Lavender asked.
"Big brother…" Violet's voice came through. "Is he here? Or just nearby?"
"He is here," Saphron hissed. Her voice came out low. "He must be."
"We've been made out," I muttered to my friends. We'd been gaining up on the doors to the little office room. The door to it burst open and revealed us, just standing there and them on the other side gathering their weapons.
"You can feel each other?" Blake asked, her voice low.
Inside was a small place with a little bedroll and some bottles of water. This was where Adam had been sleeping. He must have had few allies in the city.
Violet drew her double blade and Saphron raised her gun. They were all three of them in these long coats that nearly looked like capes. Saphron was in a deep red, Violet was in purple, and Lavender was in a deep blue.
"Big brother. So nice of you to join us," Saphron murmured.  
"Have you given any thought to the reunion?" Violet asked.
"You!" Adam snarled. "And Blake?! My love…"
"Don't be shy, Jaune. Introduce your friends to your family," Lavender grinned up at me. She pulled her gauntlet free and readied it. It pistoned slightly.
I activated my semblance with a thought and hovered the rest of the way over the catwalk. I sliced at the hanging supports for the catwalk as I approached. Saphron did this long side-flip that held her in the air for way too long and met me in the middle with a short dagger.
Then we, and my other sisters, fell down as the damage I did to the catwalk meant that it couldn't take our weight. Adam flew like a bullet out of the room with his katana in a wide slash. He met an 'x' formed by the two blades of Gambol Shroud. He went straight for her, Blake that is, his hatred for me was apparently vastly second to whatever he felt for her. I watched Blake get shoved back on the catwalk with Yang while Ruby and Weiss jumped down to join me and my sisters.
I could hear Blake and Adam and Yang fighting above me and cutting up the catwalk while I hovered down to the first floor where my sisters had crashed to.
"Rude, Jaune." Saphron clicked her tongue at me. She shot at me twice. The first bullet sort of held her in mid-air and she fell and shot the second one.
I deflected them off my weapon rather than start being shot this early.
"Yeah, play nice, big brother," Lavender followed her up. She thrust her gauntlet up at my face and I shoved it to the side.
Then I blocked a third cut from Violet before my girlfriends joined me on the floor of the warehouse. "Who are they Jaune? Are you dating one of them, I wonder? Mother won't like that. She's awfully strict about dating, but of course you should know that."
"You don't have to do what she says. You don't have to obey her." I grunted and pushed Violet back.
"You know that's not true, Jaune," Lavender giggled. "We have to do what she says. We're a part of her. She's a part of us."
"Undying," Violet whispered.
"You can fight back!" I howled. I did a side-flip to back up a bit but I found Saphron to be all over me with a short stab of her dagger as she jumped. She slashed at me and I hopped back.
"How much does that cost you? I wonder? Day by day you become a little weaker while she holds all the cards," Saphron purred. She grinned and she slashed at me in this long drawn out backflip that I couldn't quite manage to block. "Your suffering must be terrible, Jaune."
"Oh it's not so bad," I grunted. I met her weapon at the long range of my own. She twisted and pulled her gun on me and shot three times right in my face. I flinched away from the bullets and she cut me with two quick jabs. "And I'm not Jaune Arc. Not anymore," I finished. I warded her off with my weapon.
"Do you really think changing your name will matter at all to her? Besides, you're an Arc. Like the rest of us. You can't run from that. No escaping fate."
"No! She can be beaten. She's not invincible," I protested. "I'll save you from this, Saphron. Even if it kills me."
"'Save,'" she mocked as Ruby and Weiss engaged Violet and Lavender. "Save yourself if you truly can. Leave me out of it. I want Mother to be around. I love her."
I slashed into her aura and though it bit deep she took it with an strange twist of blue and red flames that once more left her hovering in the air oddly.
It was like… it was like she was storing the attack for later. Taking it where she wanted so she could dish it back at another point.
"She's twisted your mind!" I shouted. Our weapons clashed. Then again she blocked to the side as I tried to cut at her again. Then she blocked in a roof like motion as I brought my weapon down on her. "What you feel for her is just her manipulations. You have to fight back!"
"No, Jaune. My emotions about it are the only things that are true. Nothing else presses so much."
"You're living a half life," I shot back. "You're a slave."
"And you're not?" She wondered right back at me.
I slashed at her twice horizontally and I hovered right into her range. I kicked at her twice and she blocked both. Then I drew back and brought my sword down diagonally on her.
"I'm more free than you are," I spat. "I'm nobody's puppet. Never again."
"Say that to her face," Saphron whispered. "I bet you won't. I bet you can't . Give in, Jaune. It feels so good." Our blades struck again. She reversed her grip on her knife and stabbed it back into my face. I back-flipped in place and brought my weapon around and down on her. She caught it on her aura once again and a red and blue flashed around her as something coalesced behind her and in her space. Her semblance must be charged. Just like mine was.
"Where would it end? I can help you, Saphron! I can show you how to fight back." I swung forward in a wide slash. She blocked it, then she moved in tandem with the specter behind her. It clashed with long claws right behind her knife's motion. I struggled to meet it, even with my semblance active. She was very strong in this state.
I back-flipped and flicked my blade up behind me in a vertical fashion. It caught her in the chest and knocked her off her feet. She grunted with it. Then she side-flipped at me drawing her blade around her and the specter imitated her and slashed with her. It drilled into my aura.
Then she landed and stabbed forward three times now that she was inside my guard. The three attacks were strong enough to lift me off my feet and send me crashing to the ground.
"You've never even met her face to face. How would you know what you can and can't do for me? You have no idea what she's really like. You have no idea what she can really do to us."
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
-WG
9 notes · View notes
bowl-of-shortness · 3 years
Text
Ozqrow week, Day 1
Daydreams/Nightmares
@ozqrowweek
Salt. Something, well, somewhere, smelled like salt. Under his feet he felt wood, against his hands he felt metal. He was here, but where was here? Why was he so disoriented? Surely he had to have recognized where he was, he seemingly knew where he was going. Panic shot through him, why? Why was he panicking? “Find them. Any necromancers that are found are to be thrown back into the prison and put on max security.” Oh. That’s why. He tried to run, he tried to something, anything, but his legs wouldn’t move. He didn’t even feel like he was breathing, maybe he wasn’t.
His arm was yanked and water rushed in.
Ozpin shot up in his bed, breathing heavily. But he wasn’t breathing out of panic, he didn’t even wake up because of the nightmare. His lungs soon screamed violently at him from the lack of oxygen, it seems he hadn’t been breathing after all. With a few shaky breaths Ozpin tried to steady himself.
He ran a dark green hand through his silver hair. What had he been expecting, falling asleep always meant nightmares, it’s why he didn’t sleep in the first place. What a fool he had been to think this night would be different from the others. Taking another deep breath, he turned and got out of bed, turned on a lamp and looked around. “Remember where you are.” He repeated mentally, he wasn’t back there, he was here now.
His seemingly empty gaze fell onto a cigar box. Gods he could use one right now, but Oscar hates the smell of smoke and to hell if Qrow will leave him alone about it. “Qrow...” the silverett thought, he hadn’t seen him for a week now, work does that to their time together. Although, it was his own fault for not checking on him. Perhaps Ozpin didn’t because he felt like he didn’t need to, perhaps he didn’t because he didn’t want to feel the rush of emotions everytime he heard his gravely voice, perhaps it was something else that he couldn’t quite place at the moment in his foggy mind.
Shaking his head he grabbed his Trenchcoat, threw it on, and headed outside. “Air, that’s what I need. Not smoke.” Ozpin tried to reassure to himself. Stepping out onto the leaf littered porch he soon realized he did not have shoes on, a minor inconvenience, but not a big deal. He stayed out there for a while, closing his eyes and listening to the colorful leaves rustle in the night time autumn breeze, imagining their vibrant oranges, yellows, purples and reds.
Ozpin smiled gently, this truly was his favorite time of year. It brings with it good memories, his first festival of spirits, his first autumn, and his first date with Qrow. The silveretts eyes shot open at the thought, before he chuckled to himself. It seems Someone in particular was infecting his thoughts tonight, although the Necromancer wasn’t complaining in the slightest.
Ozpin closed his eyes once more. Anything was better than thinking about the past, especially better if what he was thinking about was the people he loved. He gently chuckled again.
“What’s funny Ozzy?” A familiar gravelly voice called. Without opening his eyes, the silveretts smile grew “Well, you’re home quite late, aren’t you love?” Ozpin spoke quietly. Heavy footsteps approached him and caused the old wooden steps of the porch to creak.
Qrow looked him up and down, and then spoke, concerned “Yeah, and you shouldn’t be up this late.” Ozpin could practically see the concern in the shorter man’s face despite having his eyes closed. The silverett opened his eyes to find the noirett looking at him, Ozpin correctly guessing his expression.
He sighed and shook his head, “Same old, same old.” He didn’t make eye contact with Qrow, finding the porch floor more interesting at the moment. Qrow rolled his eyes, “Doesn’t mean I have to like it” “Never said you had to, love.” The taller man gave a tired smile.
The noirett smiled back, “Aight big fella, let’s get you to bed before you go all loopy on my ass.” Ozpin couldn’t help but laugh and he offered a hand to the shorter man. They re-entered the house and headed upstairs to their now shared bedroom.
Qrow, finally being able to get comfortable after being out in the field for so long, changed clothes and joined the silverett in bed. He sighed a sigh of relief as he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, happy to finally be home. Soon, he felt the familiar presence of someone looking at him. Cracking an eye open he peered over to see Ozpin lying there.
Ozpin gave a low, tired laugh “You know birdie, your neck and arms will be killing you in the morning if you fall asleep like that.” Qrow scoffed “Says the man who sleeps on his stomach!” “It is quite comfortable excuse you!” The silverett responded matter-of-factly.
The noirett arched an eyebrow and cracked a smirk, “Whatever you say Ozzy, just don’t come complaining to me when your neck hurts.” “Oh I will, because you wouldn’t dare deny me a massage. Especially if it means you get to touch my abs~” Ozpin returned with a smirk of his own.
Qrow tried to sputter out a response to that, he wasn’t wrong, gods he wasn’t wrong by any means. But he didn’t need to be so open about knowing about how Qrow felt. The shorter man resulted to smacking the taller one on the face with a pillow “Go the fuck to sleep you gorgeous prick.” Ozpin laughed, muffled by the pillow being shoved in his face, “Only if you do so with me.”
“Gladly if it can get you to stop saying stuff like that for now.” Qrow grumbled, a blush tinting his cheeks as he turned the lamp off. They laid there in the dark, silent for a while.
“Ozzy?”
“Yes, love?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Nah I mean I really love you. Like you are the sexiest man out there, I genuinely do not believe I scored you. Top tier—“
“Qrow, go to sleep.”
“Haha, yes sir.”
13 notes · View notes
theladypeace · 3 years
Text
The Predecessors
Since Ozpin and Oscar don’t actually share a body in the Evil Oz AU, what if Ozpin is still able to speak to his predecessor, the King of Vale?
(Note; Ozpin is the only one who can see the King of Vale. I like the idea that every host can see the Oz in their head, like a ghost almost.)
Ozpin found himself in a dark hallway. He leaned against the wall, his back slightly aching from the way he was slouching. His legs were up to his chest, his arms keeping them there by hugging himself.
His mind was all over the place. While his head was throbbing with pain, thoughts rushed in and out of his mind at the same time. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Oscar had told him earlier that day.
“I’m not you, Oz. I never will be. I’m my own person, and so are you. At one point, you were in my exact position; scared and pressured by this destiny you never wanted any part of.”
Gods, Ozpin thought, the boy has grown all too much these past months. He couldn’t help but ponder the idea. Could he truly change?
“Ozpin.”
The former headmaster jumped, his body going stiff and tense. He stared up at the green-glowing figure hovering above him. The person wore a crown atop their head. Their body was mostly hidden by a cloak. Their eyes were cold and dead— no pun intended.
“Oh,” Ozpin sighed, “it’s just you, Ozymandias.”
“Hello, Ozpin. It’s been some time since we last spoke,” the King of Vale greeted with his low voice.
“Yes, it has. What’s up with that?”
“Well, you’re the one who let half your soul enter a new host when you weren’t even dead yet—” Ozpin rolled his eyes at that, and Ozymandias chose to ignore it— “so, you can imagine that creates a few issues with your connection to our past incarnations.”
Ozymandias narrowed his eyes down at Ozpin. “Speaking of almost dying, how the hell did you lose to that Cinder girl?”
“Is this really the time?” Ozpin hissed. He let his arms tighten around himself. He stared down at the ground, only seeing the bright green glow from the King’s ghost-like body.
“Yes, it is,” he insisted. “I raised you, I know you better than anyone. You’re not the type to lose like that. You’ve always been a fighter.”
Ozpin rolled his eyes again. “You don’t know me.”
The King of Vale kneeled and let himself lazily fall onto the floor next to Ozpin. He studied Ozpin in silence for a few moments.
He then asked. “You weren’t having second thoughts, were you?”
Ozpin’s head lifted up to make eye contact with the King. He raised a brow at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Your job.” Ozymandias leaned forward. “Were you having second thoughts about your job? What? Salem finally launches an attack against you, and you get scared? Decide to let yourself die instead?”
“That is not at all what happened!” Ozpin shouted back.
“Isn’t it?” Ozymandias sneered. “You got scared,” he said again. “The least you could do is admit it; you’re not nearly as committed to your fate as you’ve always claimed to be.”
“I’m not you!” Ozpin bellowed. His eyes widened as he realized he had said exactly what Oscar told him.
Ozymandias stared at him. He scoffed. “What? I’m suddenly the big bad guy, and you’re not? You’ve killed people, hurt them without a single shred of empathy in you.”
“Because you forced me to!” Ozpin choked on the tears he was trying to desperately keep back. “You pressured me into thinking I had to be like you. And now I’m—” he gestured to himself, his hand shaking and trembling— “this thing.”
“Well, news flash, Oz; that’s what we all went through!” the King snapped. “None of us wanted it, but we were stuck with this curse, so we decided to embrace it!”
Ozpin stared at his former parental figure and mentor. He gasped out, “Oscar says I can be better.”
The King of Vale roared with laughter. “The next host, right? Is that what he’s telling you?”
“The poor child doesn’t want to end up like us,” Ozpin murmured.
“Too bad!” Ozymandias snarled. “This destiny is etched so deep into us that it can’t be stopped. The influence of the hundreds of souls manipulated by Ozma’s ideal that the world needs to be wiped out is all too strong to be fought.”
“But, what if—”
“How long has it been?”
“...What?”
“How long has the process been happening?”
“...Months.”
Ozymandias hummed. “Then it’s already too late. Within the next few months, he’ll be gone.”
“Exactly! The fuse hasn’t happened yet, and with only half my soul being in Oscar— Who knows how it could go? It’s still possible to stop now!”
“Then what?” Ozymandias shouted. “Go live in the mountains, build a little cottage, plant some gardens?” He growled, “What else? Make peace with Salem? Unite this cruel, corrupt world? That’s impossible, and you know it.”
“These children— The work they’ve accomplished— They are real proof that the world can be better!”
“Really now? Because from what I’ve been able to collect from your memories, these children you seem to think so greatly of are fighting amongst themselves.”
Shit. Ozpin forgot he could do that.
“How can they unite a whole world if they can’t even get along with each other?”
Ozpin swallowed down air as he felt Ozymandias’ terrifying glare on him.
“Think on that.”
With a blink of an eye, he was gone, and Ozpin was left alone in the dark hallway.
35 notes · View notes
howlingday · 3 years
Text
Ozpin: Greetings, travelers. You may know me, or you may not. That doesn't matter at the moment. What does matter is this tale I will tell you. It is filled with magic, adventure, and many memorable moments. If I may begin?
Long ago, and far away, in labyrinths of coral caves~,
A mystic crystal was forged in glass, with magic or something like that~.
It's powers had been used for good, and all had lived in brotherhood~,
Until the necromancer attacked, upon her Grimm of bone and black~.
Her black-red eyes with evil gleamed, She stole the crystal and she screamed~,
Now bow down men and all between, Or face the wrath of my magic beams~!
The knights and nobles of the land, Did all they could to stay her hand~,
But not a single blow was struck, For alas, she had the strongest luck~!
Yang: Hey, Professor Ozpin? No offense, but this story is kind of lame.
Nora: Yeah! This necromancer just shows up, and everyone just loses?!
Ozpin: It's called building tension.
Yang: Yeah, but everyone's gonna get bored of the story at this point, and not bother listening any further!
Nora: I bet Ruby could tell a better story!
Ruby: Huh?
Ozpin: Very well. (Tosses the book to Ruby) The story is yours, Miss Rose. (Leaves)
Ruby: B-But I-!
Yang: So, what happened next?
Ruby: Uh, um-!
Nora: It might help if you just read the book.
Ruby: But wasn't that what-?
Yang: C'mon, Rubes! Show us what you've got!
Ruby: Uh, okay then...
She grabbed the princess from her throne, Then trapped her in the crystal stone~.
The king called in his wizards four, And begged them and deeply implored~,
Search the forests, Search the seas, Search in all time and realities~,
Two champions are what I need, To bring my daughter back to me~!
Yes, my king, it shall be done! The wizards said, and so begun~,
A wondrous spell, that soon would find, The greatest men in space and time~!
And that's where our story begins, Our two heroes soon come in~,
There is no quest they can leave be, But only one of them can really speak~.
Meanwhile..
Jaune: I'm really glad you said yes to this meeting. I was kind of nervous you'd say no.
Neo: (Tilts her head)
Jaune: Well, it's just, I think you may have a problem with killing. Or should I say not killing, because-
Neo: (Waves at him, Points)
Jaune: Huh? (Looks behind him) Is that... a mystic space portal behind me? (Portal sucks them in) OH SHI-!
They awoke within a foreign land, Inside a castle oh so grand~,
There atop a throne of gold, Arose the king, so green and old~.
I've called you from the great beyond, To save my daughter with hair so blonde~,
You've sailed across the skies and stars, The Brothers brought you here without harm~!
Jaune: Actually, your majesty, you just sucked us through about sixteen different dimensions, and I have to be honest...
My arms are broken, And I don't know why my chest is smokin'~!
I will heal you with my staff, Tri-Hard works so long as you don't laugh~!
Now go! Ride toward the Sun! No, not to me! They may be our heroes now, But I fear their destiny~.
And so, they turned and rode past the castle walls, In shining codpiece armor that did cradle his chivalrous balls~!
Then skies grew dark, and the road grew narrow, But our heroes would never be lead astray~!
Neo brought her magic arrows, And she can use them to light their righteous way~!
Jaune: (Shot) ARGH! Neo, have you ever used a bow before? (THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!) OW! OKAY, I'M SORRY FOR ASKING! (Rips out the arrows, Throws them back to her) Alright then, LET'S RIDE!
Ruby: Am I doing good?
Yang: Great, Rubes! But did you really need to mention the "cradling his balls" thing?
Ruby: (Blushing) It's what the book says!
Nora: Is it just me, or does this hero sound vaguely familiar?
Yang: I'm sure it's nothing. So, what happened next?
The roads were twisted, and the air was thick, It was clear her domain was as evil as dick!
They passed through the gloom of the Forest of Fear, And the Pits of Disgust, and the Dark Swamp of Tears~!
Then off in the distance so clear, the cold, gray peak of Mt. Nasty appeared~!
Past the Fields of Annoyance, and Dragon Barf Junction, And the treacherous Cliffs of Erectile Dysfunction~!
Now Neo has erectile dysfunction! Only Neo, though~!
Jaune: I know; it's weird. (Neo shrugs)
They arrived at the Evil Queen's halls, and dismounted their trusty steeds with resolve~!
They hugged them goodbye and promised they'd never quit, Then they ran straight away, for they gave not a shit~!
The moonlight shined over the door, And over the gems and the skulls on the floor~.
They felt no terror at their end of the caves, For unless the Bells of Doom tolled, They knew they'd be saved~!
They knew they'd be saved~!
THEY KNEW THEY'D BE SA-~!
Jaune: (Bells of Doom toll, Surrounded by countless Grimm) Ah, fuck...
Yang: Well, they're boned. Unless they fought their way out.
Ruby: It says here the Silent Knight fought her way out and escaped.
Nora: But not the other one?
Ruby: He fought, but tripped on the first swing and knocked himself out.
Nora: Is he dead?
Ruby: Let's see...
Colored gemstones lit up the walls, and formed a rainbow trail up to a giant waterfall~.
There, the necromancer grinned, the Princess stood frozen, yet still so hot beside her~.
Jaune, Yang, Nora, Ruby: Damn...
Then he heard a voice inside his mind, It was the Princess, she said, Jaune Arc, your heart is kind~.
Only light can stop dark~. I know what she spoke of, That to defeat the necromancer, I need to use love~!
Jaune: Stand back, Neo! I'm going to hug her!
She immediately shattered both his legs, and threw him across the room, He probably should have brought some weapons, but now the fool is doomed!
But Neo picked him up, because they're such good friends, Then she used his body like a club to beat their enemy to death~!
He should be in more pain than could ever be spoken, But luckily he felt nothing because his back is totes broken~!
Oh, the necromancer was dead, and the crystal broke in three, They looked up into the light and saw the Princess was now free~!
Jaune: Neo, she's so beautiful! Roll me to her!
Neo: (Rolls her eyes, Throws Jaune at the Princess)
Nora: Hooray! The day is saved!
Yang: That fight could have been better. Gotta say, though, that Silent Knight dude kicked serious ass! Is he single?
Ruby: Well, there's still a few pages left to find out.
They journeyed back to the King, His lands now green with the life of Spring~,
He leapt up and wept at the sight, Of his girl as she carried our hero through the night~!
Heal this man, wizards~! He cried in delight, And they did! Brothers damned, they kept their magicing tight~!
Sadly it was time to leave, so the King said, Fix Neo's ED, and hooray for Neo's Best Team~!
Yang: Great story, Rubes! Nothing left to do but to put it on a shelf and never read it again.
Nora: I wonder what happened to those two after this? Maybe I should write a sequel.
Yang: What if there's already a sequel?
Nora: A sequel as good as good as what I write? Puh-lease! What do you think Ruby? (Ruby is silent) Ruby?
Ruby: (Points to a picture of Jaune walking around, as if it were a live video feed) Look...
Jaune: Neo, look! The portal back home is opening! (Turns to face everyone, Unknowingly facing RYN)
Now fare thee well, It seems that our journey is at an end. We will be here if you should ever need our help again~. (They walked away, but stopped to turn before they take their last step)
Neo: (Kills a guy, Smirks as she maintains her rep)
We all have our battles to fight, and a crystal cage to break through in our lives~.
But when hope is gone, We will be there to help and fight the fuck on~!
Yang: Whoa...
Nora: (Sniffs, Wipes away a tear) That's my leader...
Ruby: (Closes the book)
The End...
35 notes · View notes
pilot-boi · 3 years
Text
Blooming: Chapter Eleven
Fall
Fall is the time when all plants die, and flowers are no exception to the rule. Unless they allow themselves to be saved
AO3 LINK
Before, during, after Penny, the mere thought that that really happened terrified Jaune. The panic and confusion in Pyrrha’s eyes, the way she fought. Jaune had known she was hurting, but if he’d known it went this far... How could he not have seen this? How could he have gone back to being such an idiot now of all times?
His hands clutched at the railing, fingertips gone white.
He barely heard Ren talking to him, barely felt Nora holding him back, and he definitely didn’t understand what they were saying. The crowd was screaming and pointing at something in the ceiling, but he could only see Pyrrha standing frozen among the wreckage of… of a person.
Alone. Alone like she should never be. Not when Jaune was here, not with everything he’d promised himself and promised Her.
He jumped over the railing without a word and ran towards Pyrrha.
Then the ceiling exploded, and dark hell rained from above. Wings the size of cars with feathers to match, and a rush of wind like a hurricane blew Jaune tumbling head over heels away from his partner.
As soon as he could think, his hand fell to his waist where his sword was missing because of course it was. Why couldn’t things ever be easy? 
Jaune needed his weapon, because without that how could he possibly help Pyrrha? Plans rolled and clicked in his mind, like the numbers at a train station, clicking and changing until eventually they reached the only combination that made sense. Working together was the only way this would work.
His Scroll was in one hand, and he shot a message to everyone he knew, hoping beyond hope that they got it, and that they would choose to consider it if they managed to read it. Ren and Nora certainly did, for there they were at his side suddenly, and he nearly cried seeing how they were following his lead, Scrolls also in hand.
A blur of red shot past him as he punched in the coordinates for his locker. Ruby. he knew those petals anywhere, but she couldn’t do this alone and she wouldn’t dammit. Not if he had anything to say about it, and by the gods he hoped that he did.
Jaune heaved himself back up over the lip of the stage, Ren and Nora following much more coordinatedly beside him. Ruby was standing in front of Pyrrha, the only thing between his partner and the Nevermore. And the only thing standing between Ruby and certain death was the hauntingly familiar sword she held in one shaking hand.
Those swords would never fly unsuspended through the air again. Their owner lay in pieces on the ground, skewered by them.
Ruby was screaming at the Grimm, and her voice carried even over the pandemonium that the crowd was raising. The Nevermore let out an ear piercing shriek, and it charged at her. Jaune nearly collapsed with relief when it was skewered to the stage by his and his teammates' lockers.
He got a little choked up for reasons he couldn’t quite explain when they were followed not a split second later by Sun, Neptune, the rest of their team, Velvet’s whole team, and the rest of their opponents from the tournament. 
They’d gotten his message. They’d actually listened.
The rest of the fight was a blur. Fitting together like a well-oiled machine, Jaune was astounded how easily the coordination came to all of them even though they’d never fought together before.
Pyrrha was crying, and Ruby was comforting her. Jaune, sword secured at his waist and making him feel a lot less vulnerable, held her close to him. He wished he could promise her that they could do this, like he’d promised before, but he wasn’t so confident now.
All he could do was put her weapons in her hand. Jaune held her hands tight for a moment, and forced her to look him right in the eyes, hoping that everything he couldn’t verbalize would somehow be beamed straight into her mind. 
The concern he felt, and the fear, and the nausea, and the- And a bunch of other things, best to leave it at that. But mostly he tried to relay to her that he had received the message of overwhelming unrelenting love that she put into every single one of their interactions.
He didn’t know if she got the message in return, but a light that had been missing returned to her emerald eyes .
Gryphons flew in through the broken ceiling. Port and Oobleck insisted that they leave. They reluctantly followed their professors’ wishes, and then all decided en masse to defend the town that had been their home for as little as a few weeks for some of them.
They fought. Pyrrha stayed by his side the whole time, and Jaune couldn’t have been dragged from her side by the fiercest Beowulf. He could almost pretend that it was just a normal training day if it wasn’t for all the fire ruining the image.
And the smoke clogging the sky and blotting out the stars. The screaming of civilians in fear, and roaring of extremists in elation. The robots with glowing red lights, that were supposed to protect them and were now fighting tooth and synthetic nail to mow them down.
Pavement trembled beneath his feet, and only Pyrrha’s steadying arm kept him from pitching headfirst into the ground. Sun wasn’t so lucky, as Neptune was either too busy to catch his partner, or just wasn’t bothered. Jaune almost laughed at his indignant expression. The world was coming apart at the seams and he was laughing.
A Grimm the size of a small building burst out of a mountain that was too small to really hold it. Jaune’s mind couldn’t wrap its way around a flying Grimm that big that wasn’t a Nevermore. The red translucent wings that dripped death and more Grimm down all around them made it clear enough that this was no mockery of a bird.
Maybe it was a mockery of a mockery. Or a mockery of a mockery of a mockery. Twice the abomination, twice the fun.
The fighting became more desperate. Jaune began to lose sight of some of the more familiar faces. And then a new but surprising familiar face entered the edges of the fray in his periphery. Pyrrha froze at the sight of the Headmaster standing at the foot of the tower.
Just standing there. Looking calm, but desperately sad.
Pyrrha’s face fell, gaining back that dread that Jaune hadn’t been able to help with, and she left the fight to jog over to the waiting Headmaster. Jaune didn’t hesitate before running after her, shouting a hurried explanation over his shoulder to his teammates.
The main hall of the school was a nightmare. Bodies littered the floor, ripped to shreds by the Grimm melting into black smoke right beside them. These were the students not lucky enough to make it outside the building before the carnage started. As for the Grimm…
Well, at least it explained the slowly vanishing tar on the Headmaster’s cane.
And if the main hall was a nightmare, the vault was a nightmare wrapped in a horror story topped with everything designed to stab Jaune directly in the soul. He didn’t understand a lick of what was happening. Only that Pyrrha was involved for some reason, and that meant that of course he was on board with whatever was happening. As long as she was.
She got in the pod, and with his back to her, sword ready to defend the most important person in his life from whatever dared to try to hurt her, he didn’t see her wipe a tear from her eye. He also didn’t see her mouth a goodbye before she had to look away from him for fear of changing her mind.
Jaune did hear her start screaming bloody murder as soon as the machine behind him started glowing. The woman in the other pod was screaming right along with her, and Jaune didn’t even know her, but he knew that he wanted this to stop more than he’d ever wanted anything in the world. 
The Headmaster wouldn’t listen to him, and he clearly couldn’t hear Pyrrha, because if he could then why wasn’t he doing anything? No, all Ozpin was doing was watching Pyrrha writhe in that orange light.
Wearing that desperately sad expression.
The same one that he’d worn in their conversation a day and a half before. The same one Goodwitch had been wearing at the docks only a couple hours ago. The one that they’d had every time Jaune bent the rules to make Pyrrha even a little bit more happy than she was, to show her how much he cared.
The one that he realized far too late, with the sickeningly familiar feeling of figuring out the joke and realizing that it had been on him the whole time, meant that they’d known what was wrong with Pyrrha the whole time
Jaune wanted to rip that gods damned cane out of Ozpin’s hand and smash him over the head with it. 
Or maybe just the console of the contraption that was making the most important person in his life scream like her bones were on fire. All that stopped him was this nightmare being interrupted by another player. 
A player who halted whatever torturous horribleness was happening to Pyrrha by dropping down the elevator shaft and unceremoniously shooting the other woman in the chest.
The same orange light rushed out of the woman’s chest as blood filled her lungs and flooded the newcomer with fire. Jaune jumped forward to fight her, to throw himself in between this person and Pyrrha, who was already pounding weakly against the confines of her glass prison.
A blast of energy knocked him on his back before he made it two steps, and with a scream that barely reached him through the ringing of his ears, Pyrrha was there. She helped him to his feet, and on the order of the Headmaster, they both ran out of the room. 
A pit formed in Jaune’s stomach as he watched the woman float to the ground, eyes literally ablaze how the hell- Ozpin faced off against her, armed only with his cane and a determined expression. And then the elevator doors closed.
Pyrrha was trembling beside him.
The horrors of the hall seemed like nothing after what they’d seen beneath the school. The floor shook under their feet from the Headmaster and woman’s battle. Barely out the front doors, Pyrrha and Jaune’s eyes traced the out-of-sight noise of what sounded like a rocket ascending the elevator shaft.
The Headmaster was dead.
Pyrrha was watching where she’d gone. Jaune was watching her. Watching the scenarios roll over in her head, coming to the same conclusions, and thinking about what he could possibly do to stop the foregone conclusion they both would come to.
Jaune thought about the lilies he bought her all those months ago. He wondered if they’d make it back at all to water them after all this. Or maybe they’d just wilt on their own in an abandoned dorm room, never to be found again. 
She was talking now, about how there wasn’t enough time, and his stomach twisted. His chest hurt with pain and fear and grief, and a voice in his head was screaming, “You’re losing her, you’re losing her!”
He was blabbering, he knew he was, he always was, but words were all he had left now. And then his words were cut off by her lips on his. And she was crying, and he was crying, and they fit together and that hurt.
He thought about potted hyacinths on windowsills and lawn daisies in fire-red hair and sunflower seeds clutched in a pair of dirty palms. 
Pyrrha pulled away, and now she had the desperately sad expression. But Jaune knew what it meant now. So when she tried to launch him away, Semblance flickering black over her palms, Jaune wrapped his arms around her and took her with him.
She fell on top of him, added weight ruining her planned trajectory and sending them tumbling into the side of the locker. Tears were still streaming down his face, and they were mingling with hers as she begged him to let her go. Pyrrha struggled out of his grip, because even trembling he was no match for her.
Red hair flew like a rocket behind her as she sprinted away from him towards the dark inside of the school, and the death that waited for her there, and he screamed for her to wait.
And his heart skipped a beat when she stopped, turned around, and did.
Jaune had realised long ago that he’d followed Pyrrha anywhere. And after lilies smuggled in after hours, hyacinths from a school trip, daisies plucked out of the ground and woven into hair, and seeds planted into the earth to sprout new life. 
After all that, she was letting him follow her.
16 notes · View notes
niqhtlord01 · 4 years
Photo
Tumblr media
What’s that? The cameras are rolling again?  WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SO! Welcome back to the Rooster Teeth Fighting Championship! 
In case you haven’t heard the world’s having itself a bit of a plague party and that’s certainly put a damper on things here at the tournament. (Mainly because Nemesis refused to put on a mask and most of the contestants walked out as a result) 
But we were finally able to for him to put on a mask after many an unpaid intern died in the effort. Their sacrifices all have been made to bring you our continued broadcast of death, destruction, and witty banter! 
Today’s new contender is possibly one of the oldest contenders we have on file. Hailing from a time when gods walked amongst us and armor was the fashionable norm, let’s give it up for OZMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ozma: *Walks in with staff hitting the floor*  Salem: Well; aren’t you the spitting image of the past.  Ozma: Do I know you witch? Salem: *Spread arms menacingly* All to well.  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozma: *Walks in with staff hitting the floor*  Don: I must say you pull off teal rather nicely.  Ozma: Are we here to fight or talk fashion tips? Don: *Draws sword* Darling, the fact you can’t do both speaks of your skill already. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sarge: *Walks in loading shotgun*  Ozma: Turn back now, for my armor protects me from all evils of this world. Sarge: Son, there’s nothing more holy than the sound of a 12 gauge going through the armor of an idiot.  *Shouts from crowd*  Grif: Trust me, he’s done it enough times to me to know!  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozpin: *Walks in with cane* Ozma: And who are you supposed to be?  Ozpin: Give it a few centuries and you’ll know. Ozma: *hefts staff* Saddly I don’t have that long to wait. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozma: *Walks in with staff hitting floor* Cammie: Retro cosplay; there a con nearby?  Ozma: Does everyone in this land speak in tongues?  Cammie: *Picks up nugget* You RP’ing? Sorry, didn’t mean to break the meta. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yang: *Drives in on motorcycle and leaps off, landing hard.* Ozma: I have no desire to fight a maiden.  Yang: Then this will be a once sided beat down.  Ozma: *Hefts staff* I will defend myself however, if I must.  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nomad: *Walks in, cowboy boots clinking*  Ozma: Ah, so nice to see a kindred soul in these lands.  Nomad: *Tips hat*  Ozma: *Hefts staff* What say you to a friendly spar then? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozma: *Walks in with staff hitting floor*  Grif: You’re seriously going to fight me with a stick? Really?  Ozma: Did thou not fight the champion Tex once with a cone?  Grif: *Hefts rocket launcher* Well I’m not holding a cone now, am I? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nemesis: *Nano tech cloud swirls and forms body* Ozma: What manner of grimm are you?  Nemesis: Not grim-im-im-im; I’m human. Ozma: *Hefts staff* A curse has been placed upon you, I shall attempt to lift it. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toth: *Walks in, hurls knife at Ozma* Ozma: *Blocks with staff* Was that necessary?  Toth: If you couldn’t have blocked that then you would be a waste of time to fight.  Ozma: *Hefts staff* I can see why my silent friend is so scared of you now. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blake: *Swoops in ans splits weapon* Ozma: How strange, I have not met one of your kind before.  Blake: You’ve never seen a faunus before? Ozma: *Hefts staff* I have not and already I have so many questions. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozma: *Walks in with staff hitting floor* O’Malley: Tell me, do you know the definition of insanity? Ozma: I’m afraid I do not.  O’Malley: *Hefts rocket Launcher* Keep dating Salem and I’m sure you’ll find our *muahahahahah* -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oscar: *Walks in cradling cane* Ozma: I feel like I know you; have we met before?  Oscar: We will, in a couple hundred years. Ozma: *Hefts staff* It’s funny; I just met someone who said the exact same thing.  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozma: *Walks in with staff hitting floor* Skout: Well howdy mister! You from around these parts? Ozma: I am from a far off land in search of a maiden in distress. Skout: *Sets down backpack* Well shoot, ain’t that some fairytale wonder right there. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santa: *Hologram appears*  Ozma: *Takes defensive stance* What manner being are you?  Santa: I am the collection of my species knowledge and power, the creation of all that they achieved and desired.  Ozma: *Lowers staff slightly* Are you a god? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Valentina: *removes invisibility cloak* Ozma: Out of my way, there is evil that must be defeated. Valentina: Why the rush? There will always be evil in this world.  Ozma: *Hefts staff* Evil exists so long as the righteous do nothing.  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salem: *Grimm part to let her through* Ozma: No more games, who are you?! Salem: *Lets hair down* Do you recognize me now? Ozma: *Jaw drops open* It...can’t be..... -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
61 notes · View notes
blackhakumen · 4 years
Text
Mini Fanfic #526: Warning (RWBY)
Nora: (Glares at Qrow) Did you punched Oscar in the face when we were separated from one another?
Qrow: Kid, what are you-
Nora: (Shush Qrow and Glare at him Even Harder) Did you.....or did you not punched Oscar that day?
Qrow: ('Sighs in Defeat') Yeah.....I did....
Nora: Why?.....
Qrow: (Rubbing the Back of his Head Back and Forth) We.....found out some things..... involving Oz's past memories and everything.....It gotten to me to the point.....('Sigh') Actually punching him towards a nearby tree......
Nora: So.... basically.....(Begins Loosen up on the Glare and Begins to Frown a bit Sadly) All of this happened because you found out the truth about Ozpin?
Qrow: Pretty much.......
Nora: (Facepalms Slowly While Sighing a bit Heavily) Should've known......
Qrow: (Raised an Eyebrow in Confusion) What do you mean by that?
Nora: (Took a Deep Breath) Okay. So.....do you remember back when we were in Argus? When we were staying at Jaune's sister house and you walked out to some kind of bar or whatever?
Qrow: Yeah....
Nora: Well.....After Ruby told us almost everything that happened back in the train crash, we....didn't really take the news that well..... Jaune especially.....
Qrow: Did.... something really happened to you kids while I was gone?
Nora: ('Sigh') Jaune..... pinned Oscar against a wall....Which caused him to runaway.....
Qrow: Ah. (Remembered that Night in Argus Somewhat Clearly) So that's why you were looking for him that night?
Nora: Yeah....... B-B-But Jaune really did felt guilty throughout all of that and apologized. And now we're doing whatever we can to make things right with him.
Qrow: (Smiles a Little) That's good. I'm really glad you kids were able to work it out that day.
Nora: (Smiles Softly) Yeah.... I'm glad too.... I'm sure you and Oscar were able to work things out too, right?
Qrow: (Went Back to Frowning in Guilt Quickly While Looking Slightly Away)..............
Nora: (Raised an Eyebrow at Qrow) You were able to work things out with him, right?
Qrow: ('Sighs in Defeat') No.....We didn't.....In fact, I..... didn't even apologize to him.....
Nora: What?......I-I mean, I'm sure that.... maybe it's because you didn't have the chance to do so right?
Qrow: .......................
Nora: Right?!
Qrow: See.....The thing is...... I....was trying to avoid him and everything throughout Atlas.
Nora: You WHAT?! Why the hell would you do that to him?!
Qrow: ('Groans a Little') I never meant to do it, okay? It's just.....Every time I see him, I just..... can't help but to think of him as Oz, you know?
Nora: ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT- (Immediately Pauses and Took a Deep Breath to Calm Herself Down) Okay. Look.....I get it, okay? About learning the truth...... Having people we thought we can trust only to find out they were hiding something this entire time..... Everything.....
Qrow: Kid......
Nora: And look, if you're mad at Ozpin for all of that, then that's on you. (Glares Back at Qrow More Intensely and Passionate Than Before) But don't you DARE try blaming Oscar for all this too! That boy has done nothing but does whatever he can to help all of us since day ONE! He already been through enough with Ironwood, he doesn't need dealing with anyone else's crap right now! Especially YOURS!!!
'Silence'
Qrow: (Taken Back By Nora's Outburst) You..... really care about him, don't you?
Nora: (Frowns a Little) Of course I care about him, Qrow. He means so much to us. To me. We love him so much.
Qrow: ('Sigh') Yeah....I can see now.......Look, I promise I'll apologise to him. Not now...But definitely someday. You have my word.
Nora: ('Sigh') (Walks Away) I'll hold you to it.....(Stop Walking and Turn Back to Qrow) Oh and....One more thing.....
Qrow: Hm?
Nora: (Gives Qrow a Dead Serious Glare) If I ever see you lay your hands on my baby again, I will not hesitate to break your entire legs to million pieces. Do you understand me?
Qrow: (Eyes Widened in Shock and Surprise) Are you...... Threatening me?
Nora: Yeah.....I guess I am. I know you're Ruby and Yang's uncle and everything, but I don't take too kindly to anyone hurting the people I care about and Oscar is no exception.
Qrow: Yeah....I-I understand completely. I promise I'll never hurt him ever again. You have my word.
Nora: Again..... I'll hold you to it. (Walks Away) Thanks for the talk.
Qrow: Yeah......('Sighs Heavily') No problem......(Looks Down on the Floor) (Damnit, Qrow......Why do you always have to cause trouble for everything one?.... Especially those who suppose to be your allies.....)
Bonus
Oscar: Hey, Nora-
Nora: (Immediately Pulls Oscar into a Tight, Loving Hug) Ooooh I love you so so much.....
Oscar: Uhh, Nora....(Slowly but Surely Hugs Nora Back) Didn't you told me that already today?
Nora: I did....But I couldn't help it, you know? You're my baby boy, remember?
Oscar: (Smiles Sheepishly while Rolling his Eyes) I know, mom.....I love you too, by the way.
Nora: (Still Hugging Oscar) Thank youuuuu....
@keyenuta
@toriwest
@albion-93
@maripr
@ma-lemons
@rozanime
@miki-13
@oscarpineprotectionsquad
@italian-love-cake
24 notes · View notes