#I must always end with how much I hate ironwood just cause
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Jaune: Zero to Hero
Pyrrha: It's not about why; it's about knowing. Understanding dark and light helps us manifest our Aura. Everyone has some of both.
Knowledge, Creation and Destruction all lead up to Aura. This is just another way to say that they lead up to individuality, which is something Grimms lack:
Pyrrha: They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity.
Individuality is conveyed through Choice. This is why Choice is the most important and final gift. It is symbolic of self-actualization, which is what our characters are pursuing in their coming of age story.
Jaune’s personal arc comments the group’s collective journey and marks each stage very clearly.
In which way does it happen? And what do these stages mean for Jaune’s growth as an individual?
THE IGNORANT WARRIOR
Pyrrha: Jaune, do you... know what Aura is?
Jaune: Psch! Of course I do! Do you know what Aura is?
Jaune is introduced as inexperienced and ignorant. He lacks combat experience and knows nothing about key concepts like Aura, Landing Strategy or Semblances.
His journey starts because Pyrrha shares her knowledge with him:
She awakens his aura, his very soul and later on trains him, so she helps his body get stronger:
In other words, Pyrrha is the one who puts Jaune on the right path to become a true “hero” and a “warrior”.
This is Jaune’s objective since the beginning, but he initially pursues it in the wrong way:
Jaune: I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!
He is fixated on an idea of hero which is outdated and has its root in toxic masculinity:
Jaune: Cause this is always what I've wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough.
This is why symbolically Jaune wants to be like his male ancestors. He wants to grow into “a real man”:
Cardin: Let's see how much of a man you really are...
And this is conveyed also through his Weapon:
Jaune: It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war.
Jaune did not forge his own Weapon, but he inherited it. Crocea Mors initially represents the legacy he wants to live up to. However, this legacy, instead of driving him, slows him down because he can’t grow until he remains in his ancestors’ shadow. Jaune needs to develop his own individuality instead.
In order to do so, he needs to grow not only as a figther, but as a person too.
As a matter of fact, Jaune’s ignorance is not only limited to the world he has stepped into, but also to the people around him:
Jaune: That's easy for you to say. You've probably got guys clamoring over each other just to ask you out.
Pyrrha: You'd be surprised.
He is so self-focused that he does not notice others’ feelings and hurts them unintentionally.
However, Pyrrha teaches him once again:
Pyrrha:Tell her exactly what you said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines. Just... be honest.
It is thanks to her that Jaune manages to become a better man:
He is even able to call Neptune out the way Pyrrha did with him:
Jaune: Then just go talk to her. No pickup lines, no suave moves, just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go.
And as a result, even Jaune’s relationship with Weiss gets better:
Weiss: You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?
Neptune: You're looking at him. You got some good friends looking out for ya.
Because the girl realizes Jaune is not only after her money or her romantic attention:
Weiss: All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name.
But wants to genuinely be a good friend to her.
In short, Jaune starts the story as immature both as a fighter and as a person to the point that he is considered unfit and annoying by other characters:
Glynda: I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat.
However, thanks to Pyrrha, he is given the chance to mature.
Not only that, but while other characters see a weakness and a nuisance in Jaune’s ignorance and inexperience, Pyrrha sees it as a possibility:
Weiss: Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?
Jaune: Not in the slightest, snow angel.
Weiss: This is Pyrrha.
It is specifically because Jaune is new to Pyrrha’s world that he is free from bias:
Pyrrha: That's what I like about you. When we met, you didn't even know my name. You treated me just like anyone else. And thanks to you, I've made friendships that will last a lifetime. I guess, you're the kind of guy I wish I was here with. Someone who just saw me for me.
This is why Pyrrha feels she can forge a genuine bond with Jaune. What is more, the girl has faith in his potential:
Pyrrha: It's all right. I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own. You have a lot of it.
She sees in him what others do not and helps him develop both as a man and as a warrior.
This is well highlighted by the metal motif the two characters share.
As @hamliet explains here Rwby has several characters linked to the seven metals of alchemy.
The goal of alchemy is to create gold thanks to a process of refiniment that purifies the metal and has it go through several transformations.
The seven metals are nothing, but a scale that goes from the heaviest and most raw metal (lead) to the most purified (gold) passing through the others (tin, iron, copper, mercury, silver).
For a story, it simply means that a character goes through a process of change that leads to self-actualization.
In Rwby this idea is conveyed through specific characters embodying a metal (Ironwood, Penny, Mercury) or even thanks to metal motifs commenting a specific part of a character arc.
For example, Yang is associated with gold:
I am the golden one
Who burns just like the sun
But Adam takes her arm away and has her regress in the scale of metals to iron. This regression is not simply physical, but psychological as well:
However, Yang re-affirms herself and moves forward. The first step of this process is to symbolically make her new arm “gold” again:
When it comes to Jaune, I think that he may be the character associated with lead aka the “prima materia” that needs to be molded into gold. Even if this is not true, metal is at least definately still a motif in his arc, as it is in Pyrrha’s. This is why both characters wear metal armors, differently from others.
Pyrrha is already close to her self-actualization and she reaches it in the climax of the Vale arc, where she completes her (tragic) arc and dies a Maiden.
This is why her armor is gold, while Jaune’s is white and gray. Pyrrha is at the top of the metal scale and close to the end of her journey, while Jaune is respectively at the very bottom and at the very beginning.
He is the embodyment of the prima materia that has potential for greatness, but only if he is rightly guided and if he himself works hard.
Pyrrha takes over herself the duty to help Jaune mold himself.
This is underlined also by Pyrrha’s semblance:
Pyrrha: Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs. My Semblance is polarity.
Pyrrha can control and bend metals and she shows her power for the first time when she helps Jaune against the Ursa, so that he can overcome his self-issues.
So, Jaune starts the story as the lead and is going through a path of self-refinement which will lead him to become gold, so more similar to Pyrrha herself.
Pyrrha offers him the basic knowledge to start this journey, but unluckily leaves him too soon and now Jaune has to move forward on his own.
THE CREATIVE AVENGER
Pyrrha: I want you to know that I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune.
Even after Pyrrha’s death, this stays true:
Blacksmith: That was some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where'd you get it from?
Pyrrha has become a part of Jaune.
This is a recurring motif in Rwby:
Penny: I won’t be gone, I’ll be part of you.
It is the idea that grieving is a process that leads to acceptance, but also to integration with a lost one. It is a way to have the deceased keep on living through the survivors.
In Jaune and Pyrrha’s case, this is conveyed through Pyrrha’s metal being used to enrich Jaune’s Weapon.
As stated by Ruby:
Ruby: Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool.
Weapons are symbolic of the self, just like Semblances.
What is more, Weapons and Semblances are also a declination of the dychotomy of body and soul, presented by the series.
Weapons are wielded by bodies, while Semblances are a materialization of the soul.
In other words, Pyrrha’s gold becoming a part of Jaune’s Weapon is symbolic of Jaune’s first step in a painful process that will lead him to overcome his partner’s death and to inherit Pyrrha’s legacy.
Jaune must keep on learning from Pyrrha and become more like her. As noted by @hamliet, this is symbolized also by Jaune’s design aquiring more golden details as he goes on in his journey:
Jaune: Guess I was going to grow out of it eventually.
Ren: A sign of progress.
Jaune: Progress.
That said, grieving is not easy and Jaune must struggle with much pain and negative feelings.
This is why the changes he makes to Crocea Mors are finalized to increase its attack power:
It is because Jaune feels anger over Pyrrha’s death and wants revenge.
In the Battle of Haven he gives in to his fury and tries to kill Cinder. He is trying to superficially imitate Pyrrha’s sacrifice:
Jaune: If I die buying them time, then it's worth it. They're the ones that matter.
However, he is not doing it out of bravery or necessity, but out of recklessness and self-hate. This is why his actions lead to this:
Once again, Jaune risks to lose another loved one:
Jaune: No, no, no, no, not again! Weiss, c'mon, please!!
However, this time he is able to save Weiss thanks to his Semblance:
Jaune: My Semblance?
Nora: How else do you think you're healing her, dummy?
Jaune gives up on using his Weapon to fight and chooses to use his Semblance to cure. He chooses soul over body and Creation over Destruction.
At the same time, Jaune’s activation of his Semblance is meaningful on two levels:
Jaune: No. I don't think I'm healing her. Our Aura heals our bodies. It feels... it feels more like I'm using my Aura to amplify hers!
Nora: Wait, aren't you worried about running out?
Jaune: Pyrrha once told me I've got a lot of it. I still believe her.
First of all, Jaune’s Semblance is rooted in the idea that people heal themselves. His power is not to cure others, but to amplify others’ auras, so that they can become stronger and can heal. It is about bringing out the best in others. It is a power fit for a leader, but also an ability symbolic of Jaune’s own process of healing. He can heal himself through helping others to heal.
Secondly, Jaune’s Semblance is in itself a nod to Pyrrha. Pyrrha used her own aura to awake his and Aura Amp is simply an evolution of this idea. It is not about activating others’ auras, but it is a power that lets Jaune share his. It also makes good use of something Pyrrha noticed immediately aka Jaune’s huge quantity of aura.
In other words, Jaune ends up acting like Pyrrha in the Battle of Haven, but not because he fights Cinder, but because he shares his gift with others, just like Pyrrha did with hers.
Pyrrha is a part of Jaune both in body (Crocea Mors) and soul (Aura Amp), but Jaune must still truly understand what this means.
He makes progress in Lost:
Red-Haired Woman: She understood that she had a responsibility... to try. I don't think she would regret her choice, because a Huntress would understand that there really wasn't a choice to make. And a Huntress is what she always wanted to be.
This is the essence of Pyrrha’s sacrifice. Jaune comes to understand it and chooses to make a similar choice together with his team:
Jaune: I think... I think she knew she wasn't going to win. That she might not come out alive. But... she also knew she was the only one that could try.
Ren: So she did.
Nora: Maybe we should too.
Jaune: Yeah, we should.
In this way, it will be as if Pyrrha were fighting together with them:
Nora: Pyrrha may not be by our side anymore, but we can fight like she is.
Jaune: And in a way... she will be.
Jaune tries to overcome his anger and his sadness for Pyrrha’s death in order to keep fighting like she did.
So, once again he chooses this:
Ruby: I wanted to protect my friends.
Maria: Precisely! It is the desire to preserve life which fuels the light inside you. And to make no mistake, it is light. Preservation is an extension of creation, or, at the very least, an enemy of destruction. The Creatures of Grimm were made by the God of Darkness, but your light comes from his brother.
He chooses to protect life and this is the essence of Creation.
Once he confirms this choice, he is free to explore Creation’s potential and he does so in the land of Creation itself, Atlas.
He strengthens his shield instead of his sword:
And he trains his Semblance:
Oscar: Nice, your recovery is getting faster.
This all leads him to become stronger psychologically:
Ren: Him on the other hand... There's no fear at all. I can see it, he believes we're going to get this done.
That said, Jaune starts meeting limits to his new found strength rooted in Creation:
Jaune: Ah, sorry. No matter how much I boost you, they won’t go away.
Jaune: Did... I stop the virus?
Penny: No. It’s still there.
Jaune’s way to move forward is to heal himself through healing others. Still, what to do when this is not possible?
THE DESTRUCTIVE HEALER
Penny: No… there’s not enough time to heal me…
Penny: But there is something you can do…
What happens in Atlas is an inversion of Haven.
Penny pushes Jaune’s Semblance away and touches Crocea Mors.
Jaune is asked to give up on healing her and to speed up her death instead. He is asked to choose his Weapon (body) over his Semblance (soul) and Destruction over Creation.
This marks the characters entering the Destruction phase:
Leaving Creation (Penny) behind.
For Jaune, this means that his own self image that he has worked so much to build and to make his own:
And that has been enriched in Anima thanks to Pyrrha...is shattered:
At the same time, he is once again put in a similar spot as Pyrrha:
They both become unwilling agents of Penny’s death because of Cinder (and Emerald and Mercury in the first case):
Pyrrha: Ruby, I... I'm so sorry.
Ruby: Me too. But it wasn't your fault.
Jaune: She's right. Whoever was on that microphone... they're the ones that did this. And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else.
So Jaune’s journey to integrate with Pyrrha, to understand her and her struggle continues.
What now?
It is too soon to say because we have yet to properly start our journey through Destruction and what it is about.
That said, there are two things that are worth highlighting. The first is a motif Rwby is following, while the second is a general theme found in many stories.
1) As @hamliet has stated in many metas and as I have written here, Rwby is an alchemical story. Alchemical stories are usually marked by three important deaths. Each death is symbolically linked to a color. They are usually black, white and red. However, sometimes there can be yellow instead of the white or the red. This is the case here, where a resonant death is the yellow death aka Penny’s.
It is a death that happens while the characters are surrounded by yellow:
And it happens through a weapon called “Yellow Death” (Crocea Mors’s meaning). So, it is really not subtle. Penny’s death is meant to mark an important passage for our protagonists, just like Pyrrha’s one (the black death).
2) It is common in stories that deal with healers to explore the concept of death as well.
The basic idea is that a healer is a person meant to cure. That said, they will meet people impossible to cure and that will die on their watch. This is an unescapable truth a true healer must live with.
Let’s highlight this theme is found in works very different for genre and culture.
Let’s have two examples.
Scrubs aka an American comedy about doctors deals with this theme multiple times. In many episodes the characters must simply accept they can’t save a life, but must still not lose hope and keep on living themselves.
Yosano from the manga BSD says so:
Her backstory explores the link bewteen life and death further since it is shown that a power that cures fatal wounds can be used to cheapen life itself:
It is too soon to say if Rwby will explore a similar theme, but the fact that Jaune, (the healer) is the one that has to speed up Penny’s death might be a very powerful and poignant choice. This is true especially because Rwby does not refuse Destruction (and so does not refuse death), but presents it as a principle equal to Creation (so as a part of life).
THE CHOOSING HERO
Jaune’s arc is about living Pyrrha’s death over and over again with different scenarios and outcomes. This happens so that in the end he can finally overcome it.
So far, it has happened three times and each time has been in the climax of an important battle.
The Battle of Beacon has him witness powerlessly to Pyrrha’s death (lack of knowledge and passivity).
The Battle of Haven has him saving Weiss (creation).
The Battle of Atlas has him killing Penny (destruction).
What is more, every time Jaune becomes more proactive and conscious of what he is doing.
In Beacon he has no idea of what is happening. He works with little information and things happen to him without him being able to do anything.
In Haven his actions lead to Weiss being in danger, but he manages to save her. That said, he does not do it consciously. He unlocks his Semblance because of emotional stress. It is an unconscious choice and not a conscious one.
In Atlas he makes a specific conscious choice, but it is a choice that is forced on him because of external circumstances. It is also a choice that is meant to challenge and temporally break him.
In other words, he is slowly and painfully approaching Choice aka self-actualization. Right now, he has to face the consequences of Penny’s death, but this will probably lead him to finally enter the Choice stage and to complete his arc by becoming a “hero” aka gold (probably).
At the same time, this final choice will also be about healing and overcoming grief. It will be the final integration with Pyrrha and him being able to honor her legacy.
After all, we have been told from the beginning what Pyrrha’s fate would have been. We’ve just failed to notice:
Pyrrha: For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee.
June and Pyrrha’s bond is eternal and she is meant to be the key character in Jaune’s arc. It is only through confronting and finally overcoming her loss that Jaune can finally self actualize and become the person Pyrrha has always known he could be. Pyrrha will symbolically be with him in this struggle. Her memory will protect and inspire him.
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Penny being trans + autistic coded made me resonate with her as I am nonbinary and autistic myself. Her being a robot felt like me when I have to hide my neurodivergent traits. Her getting confirmation that she wasn't just a robot/machine but a real girl felt so validating. I don't have to look like everyone else to still be considered "real".
Ironwood's semblance being literal hyperfixiation, something I've dealt with since I have ADHD + autism would have made me feel better about myself. This is a man who, despite everything: his PTSD, being an amputee, still was a kind-hearted man. This is something rarely seen in media. I was happy.
Then they fucked up both Penny and Ironwood in ways that struck me. Penny is hacked into and forced to comply with basically forced suicide- she was to open the vault, then self-destruct.
Ironwood, oh dear god. They couldn't wait to fuck him over. He was so HAPPY to see team RWBYJNROQ. He told them everything about his plan, trusting them with literal GOVERNMENT secrets, giving them a place to stay, FREE weapon upgrades (Atlas is known for its advanced technology), hell even gave them their HUNTRESS LICENSES THREE-ISH YEARS EARLY (which Ruby later uses as a credibility source in her broadcast, which was eerily similar to Cinder's in Volume 3, when she says IRONWOOD CANNOT BE TRUSTED.)
Not to mention that she conveniently forgot she was calling for help from OTHER KINGDOMS. OF COURSE they wouldn't arrive soon enough. And no one had reason to trust her. She's a nobody. She was at the Vytal Festival and her team made it all the way to the singles? Cool. Ruby wasn't the final fighter, hell after the 4 vs 4 match she didn't compete further.
Blake would have obviously been a bad choice: she's a faunus and if anyone knows about the White Fang, they might recognize her.
Yang is more known than Ruby, but the world saw her kick an unarmed teen in the finals round. She doesn't have too good a reputation.
Weiss? She's well known as the Heiress, but also her singing. Having her give the speech is a mixed bag: on one hand, she's a recognizable face. On the other, that's a problem. Her father, the CEO of the SDC, is known for his cruelty. Blake said it herself way back in Volume 1: questionable business practices and partners.
So... How about no broadcast at all? What did her broadcast accomplish?
Nothing. Help didn't arrive and likely caused more panic. Plus, people still had a negative view of Atlas, as the last thing the world saw was Atlesian soldiers turning against civilians.
The last broadcast was before Beacon fell. So likely another hacker giving a message would be met with fear.
And what attracts Grimm? Negativity.
Ruby's broadcast could have been a DEATH SENTENCE to so many. But no, this is treated as the... Right course of action?
Ruby and co. hates Ironwood's plan, yet it's clear they don't have one. RWB spends a lot of time moping around the manor drinking tea. Team YOJR (Yang, Oscar, Jaune and Ren) actually DO SOMETHING. Oscar gets kidnapped and they chase after him. Ren rightfully points out that NONE OF THEM SHOULD BE DOING THIS. But that goes against the Hivemind™, so he must apologize and agree to whatever the fuck Ruby decides to do.
Which is NOTHING! RWBY didn't even take down the hound: WILLOW and WHITLEY did. A drunk woman and an unarmed teen defeated it.
Oscar is the one who blows up the whale (with his time bomb? huh??)
Ruby whines that it's all too much, cries on a staircase while her sister (remember that Ruby and Yang are related????) comforts her. The scene has no emotional depth because the two barely interact anymore.
OH GOD AND WHEN YANG TAKES A HIT FROM NEO THAT WAS MEANT FOR RUBY IT TAKES HER OUT COMPLETELY. AURA? GONE. HELL, SHE'S EVEN UNCONSCIOUS. I swear it's like the animation budget could only afford to have ONE character react, and it's Blake "sad kitty face" Belladonna. Not Ruby, who is her sister. WHO HAS A SPEED SEMBLANCE. But no, they just watch her fall, not knowing if she's alive.
Ruby has more of a reaction to CRESCENT ROSE, HER FUCKING WEAPON falling.
Which is retconned so hard in the Vol 9 trailer, where she tells Neo "I hope it was worth it" before falling into the void. Huh??
Anyways I'm rambling again but I am so angry!
-🎼
Never, ever, EVER apologize for rambling. I LOVE hearing peoples thoughts and sometimes it's a really nice feeling to let out your frustrations and anger towards something that has caused you harm and it really REALLY sounds like this caused you a lot of harm and so I do not blame you one bit for being hurt and angry. I should apologize for this taking so long. This was a lot and I needed to sort my thoughts and even so I probably missed some points so I also apologize for that.
Penny and Ironwoods biggest mistake was trusting and being kind to RWBY. They lied and betrayed James and treated him like garbage even though he showed them nothing but kindness and did whatever he could to help them and listened to them. Penny was told what to do and think far more so then James ever supposedly did. Ruby decided to give her a new body, decided she didn't like how James was treating her and that she thought James was a bad person, and decided that Penny was better off with them. Penny stopped being able to make her own decisions once she started hanging out with RWBY and co.
Really though what did they all think was going to happen when they sent out a message that matched beat to bear a lot of what Cinder said before Atlas fell? Did she think about the panic that would cause? Did she forget she was worried about Ironwood telling everyone back in Volume 7 because of the panic it would cause everyone??? Did that just conveniently slip her mind?
I honestly think Weiss would have been the best choice to give the broadcast of them all but I don't think they should have sent out the broadcast in the first place. It should realistically only cause panic and death but the narrative is gonna yadda yadda right past all of that.
Oh god yea RWBY and co complain and whine and scream that Ironwoods plan is bad whilst offering up no alternatives then just taking his plan and acting like it was theirs the whole time. They even did this in Volume 7 when in episode 2 they where worried about James telling Atlas about Salem and then turning around and acting all happy and shocked when James told everyone near the end of the season as if they wanted him to the whole time and not the other way around.
Man RWBY really did jack shit all volume huh? As you said all the major things side characters did:
Fight James TWICE: Winter, Emerald, and JNRO.
Try and rescue Oscar: JRY
Blow up the Whale: Oscar
"Redeem" Hazel and Emerald: Again Oscar
Defeat the hound: Whitley and Willow
Launch the tower: Penny
Help defend Mantel against the swarm of Grimm: FNKI and the soldiers that all died trying to buy Ruby time while she cries in a mansion.
Like what does this girl do to help any of the people SHE trapped???
Oh god Ren, poor Ren, he's finally seeing the light but he can't stray from the Hivemind so he needs to get back in, we can't question the pure and perfect Ruby her plans are always right even if it causes Salem to get two relics and destroys the only kingdom with an army or the technology to restore global communications in the process.
Yea you're right like CRWBY can make excuses all day for why Ruby didn't react to Yang falling and MAYBE I can buy her not using her Semblance because she's in shock but not crying or reacting at ALL to her supposed death?? Why does her weapon get a more emotional response then her SISTER? Why is only BLAKE allowed to be sad about Yang supposedly dying? Why does fucking WINTER have more of a reaction to her sister dying?
Why are all the people we are supposed to be rooting for so fucking unlikeable???
#RWDE#Pro Ironwood#James Ironwood#RWBY Bashing#Pro James Ironwood#ironwood Protection Squad#penny polendina#Sorry for MY rambling#and more rambling to come most likely
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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Fault”
Hello, everyone! We’re not even bothering with an introduction today, let’s just get straight to the only thing that matters.
HERE HE IS, THE MVP OF THIS EPISODE, OF THE WHOLE VOLUME, THE SERIES, THE ONLY ONE I CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW
I’m joking… but only a little. In all seriousness we will get to Ren, but you all want to hear a funny story first? I somehow got it into my head that there was no RWBY episode this week—the holiday and all—so I poured all my meta time and energy into a ridiculous Ironwood analysis as a placeholder, only to wake up this morning and find the strongest (and most complicated!) episode this year waiting for a recap. Like some sort of grimm nosing into my inbox.
Okay, so it’s not a funny story, but if RT would just do a better job with their website my life would be a whole lot easier.
So here we are, taking a look at the episode “Fault.” Quick question, is every episode this volume going to have a one-word title? It’s not a criticism, I’ve got nothing against a punchy name, I’m just curious since RWBY has never done that before. If anything, they’ve gone more for symbolically significant phrases like “A Brawl in the Family,” “Players and Pieces,” and “The Lady in the Shoe.” I wonder what sparked the change.
Anyway, we open on Robyn laughing about some story she’s told, something about Joanna losing a fair fight for the first time, presumably to her. This is what we’ve learned about Robyn since this volume started: she refuses to acknowledge that she had a hand in Clover’s death; she was asked by Blake and Yang to keep the Amity secret but, according to May, couldn’t keep her mouth shut about it; and she tries to cheer Qrow up by bragging about her own skill.
Alrighty then.
Obviously, this little story fails to land. “Tough crowd tonight.” Robyn looks to Jacques as well as Qrow when she says this and since she clearly doesn’t care about cheering him up, she must want to get a rise out of him. Create something, as she says at the end of the scene, that’s exciting. Robyn just really loves to start fights. Against Ironwood, Clover, bickering matches with Jacques—stories told about winning them! If she’s not fighting someone she’s not interested.
Qrow does eventually give the smallest smile though and Robyn cheers. “Did I win?” They both quickly grow serious again though and Robyn says she’s “sorry for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.” Her apology would mean more if she was apologizing for her actions, not providing a generic ‘Sorry for your loss’ like she had no hand in this.
Qrow then insists it was his fault… but, of course, not for the reasons why he’s actually responsible (also, didn’t we do this two weeks ago?). For starters, Qrow blames his semblance for everything that went down, despite the fact that his semblance is not responsible for him breaking Clover’s aura, or Tyrian stabbing him. The most we’ve seen his semblance do is cause minor mischief, which in and of itself is absurd considering we’re meant to believe that it has kept him from his family most of his life, and informs choices like whether he’ll travel with the group in Volume 4. Still, it’s not unexpected that he would blame his semblance and think that having friends is a “childish dream”—depression is one hell of a liar—but rather, it’s frustrating that no one is helping Qrow see the truth of the situation, both the good and the bad. He certainly doesn’t need Robyn providing generic platitudes that absolve them both of their choices.
You know what the worst part is? The two kind, level-headed adults with enough distance to help Qrow acknowledge his mistakes while also correcting him about his misconceptions… are Ozpin and Clover. The former is still ignored by the cast, the latter barely got to be a character before he was killed.
Qrow goes on to say that he “made a deal with the darkness and [Clover] paid the price.” I’m sorry, what does that mean?? Outside of referencing his team-up with Tyrian, that’s the most dramatic, nonsensical thing he could have said. Qrow doesn’t admit to the team-up though, rather he starts blaming Clover for his own death.
Precisely like a good chunk of the fandom has done 🙃
He says that Clover just “wouldn’t let up” (translation: he wouldn’t agree to let me go when I was under arrest) and that they could have “worked together against Tyrian if Clover had just—”
There’s a lot to cover this episode, so I’m not going to dive into another explanation of all the justified reasons why Clover didn’t trust Qrow in that moment and why Qrow was the one who “wouldn’t let up.” If you’re interested in that rundown, head here.
Side note: can RWBY please stop with the weird mouth closeups? I’m begging the animators. Especially when so much else in this episode is gorgeous.
Yes:
No:
Robyn’s response is to make it all about her. I say, as a hypocrite, because my instinctual response in comforting someone is to also bring up a way that I might, sort of, know what they’re going through. It’s something to work on and, as always, I’d be more receptive to Robyn’s attempts if she weren’t failing so spectacularly in every other aspect of her characterization. Case in point: she says that having a truth semblance tends to make people push her away, but we’ve never once seen that. We’re introduced to Robyn as she’s adored by Fiona. The people celebrate her. Yang and Blake trust her immediately, for no reason, and comment on how useful her semblance is—they’re not concerned with it. Ironwood likewise works with her and allows her to use her semblance on him in public, at least for a time. May spoke fondly of Robyn last episode. She just finished a story about Joanna… where is this pushing away you speak of, Robyn? I really wish RWBY would consider things ahead of time and actually show them to us, rather than just having characters announce that they’re (supposedly) there.
Nice symbolism though with Robyn touching the electric bars and pulling her hand back. You reach out, you get hurt, curl in on yourself, blah, blah, blah. Too bad it’s not a moment attached to an actual struggle of hers.
Qrow buys it though, saying he’s never thought about it that way before.
You know, I get why a lot of people in the fandom hate Clover. I can’t even claim I’m much interested in him as an individual. I’m sick of straight, white, able-bodied men getting the spotlight, which is one of the things that drew me to RWBY in the first place… so theoretically Robyn should be the better choice for Qrow’s BFF, right? Especially in a world where FairGame only existed in RT’s social media queerbaiting. Give us the badass gender-bent Robin Hood instead of the boring military man!
On paper it sounds great… which is why it’s astounding that RT bungled that so badly.
Qrow never finishes his thought about Clover because the Ace Ops come in to return Watts to his cell. Interesting. The writing has definitely made Ironwood stupid, but perhaps not as stupid as he could have been? If he got Watts to hack Penny (we don’t yet know what’s going on with her during all this) and then promptly shut him away again, that’s just about the best way you can follow up on your worst decision.
Harriet spots Clover’s pin and tells Qrow “You don’t get to keep that,” but then doesn’t take it from him. See, that right there is a better motivation for potentially opening the cell. Qrow says he didn’t kill Clover, Harriet shoots back that his blood was on Qrow’s blade (again, focusing on the wrong way that he’s guilty), Robyn challenges her to get the truth via her semblance… and Harriet considers it? Why? She’s not the one struggling with her loyalty here, that’s Marrow, yet he’s the one who has to pull Harriet back with “What are you doing?” when she looks at the keypad. Have Marrow almost be swayed by Robyn’s taunting, or have Harriet almost open the door because she’s furious and desperate to get Clover’s pin back. Either one of those would make more sense than this.
Also, no one checked Qrow during his arrest/before he was thrown into his cell?
Also, note that Marrow uses a nickname here—“Hare”—so I’m continually unpersuaded by the ‘They’re not friends’ claim. Yes, Harriet hits his shoulder on her way out… and Ren will later scream at Jaune about cheating. Harriet being in a bad mood because their leader was just murdered isn’t evidence that they’re not close, no more than Ren responding to Everything Traumatic Ever is evidence that he doesn’t care for his friends.
Also (x3), Robyn calls Harriet “mohawk”?? Can’t this woman come up with a single good insult?
As the Ace Ops leave Robyn lays back down on her bunk, exactly as she was before, and says, “Well, that was almost exciting.” Kind of like this scene! Luckily, the episode is about to get a whole lot better.
The music immediately picks up as we segue to Ren, Jaune, and Yang chasing after Oscar. On the whole I really enjoyed this scene, largely because it shows the group doing their best—in a way that feels persuasive. I’ll admit that others have a point about them just standing around while the Hound changes form—yet still failing because, you know, our villain is actually powerful! However, there are, as always, some nitpicks.
One of the first bits of dialogue we get is Ren noticing that the bikes can’t stand being in the cold for very long. It bugs me that bikes suffer more from the cold than the civilians do. To say nothing of the fact that it once again doesn’t amount to anything. Their bikes carry them through the whole battle and Jaune looses his because of a grimm. Then Yang manages to fix the totaled bike with a single part, despite the continued cold. Why bother introducing this as a problem when it’s meaningless each and every time?
The three do demonstrate some great teamwork though. When Yang yells that she wishes one of them could fly, Jaune uses his shield to launch Ren at the Hound… so that he can get dragged through the air, hitting rocks. This poor guy. I like that though because no, these teens shouldn’t be perfect, strategic masterminds and yes, they’re in the kind of situation where they just have to try something and see if it works. Jaune can’t think ahead to what Ren will do once he grabs the Hound, they just have to get him to that point and go from there. Which they do. Ren snags a boulder to slow them down further (that’s smart) and Yang goes higher to fire at the Hound’s face (don’t hit Oscar he doesn’t have aura!!). They’re at a crazy disadvantage here and still trying their best to get our boy back.
The overall tone is… fine? Again, love supportive Yang—that high five with Jaune was wholesome—but it continually feels weird to get that when Oscar is in the literal jaws of death here. On the whole though the scene keeps to the action and seriousness of the situation, which I appreciate. We’ll talk more about tone during the outpost scene.
It's looking like they might be making some sort of headway when the Hound lets out a roar that, as Yang puts it, calls for backup. 1. Yay giving this grimm even more power to mess with the cast, 2. Holy shit there are so many grimm around. See, scenes like this is why I’m side-eyeing the anti-army rhetoric in the show (a stance I’d otherwise agree with 100%). Because do you see how many there are? That’s not Salem’s army, that’s just the normal grimm hanging out around Atlas. The cast is screwed if anyone were to, say, order them to attack the kingdom…
Kudos to RT for bringing back the centipede grimm though. I honestly thought they’d just be a one-off action sequence in Volume 7.
While everything is falling apart Ren catches a glimpse of Oscar, complete with rosy cheeks to make him look super young, and the sight fills him with
He starts climbing towards the Hound and we cut away.
Meanwhile, Jaune’s bike is hit with some of the centinel’s acid (again, not the cold causing problems) and he takes a tumble, managing to keep his feet before Yang snags him. Moments like that really do show how far he’s come and I’m glad we got to see such a moment in an episode where his cheating was brought up. Jaune then uses his shield to fly over one of the dragon-y grim, but... wait. The shield is flexible?
Literally what is the point of that? As a shield, I mean (it clearly works fine as a ramp). If you can just tip it over like that then so can the grimm or another fighter. Forget how tiny the shield is, all a monster would have to do is boop it and it would fall over. In fact, it probably should have with the grimm scratching at it before. Seems rather useless, unless you’ve got writers crafting convenient situations. Also, does Jaune have multiples of this thing? He picked it up before, but there’s no way he found that one again. Idk, I’m really not feeling this addition to Jaune’s arsenal. Better to give him a range option so he’s more versatile.
Still, they fly over the grimm and the two let out a sigh in synch. Whatever else we might have to say about this volume, RT is definitely giving us different interactions and team-ups. Well done there. Why, Jaune and Yang have managed to survive all that together!
Oh wait, never mind. They’ve gone off a cliff.
Honestly, I’m shocked they actually went over. I thought Yang would stop in time, or we’d have a classic moment of them tumbling off the bike and ending an inch from the edge, maybe going off slow with time for one to hang on. But nope, they plummet and it was done with such confidence by the camera that for a split second (the illogic of killing them both off aside) I thought that was it. They’re done for. Lucky for them, Ren catches them at the last second, managing to snag Jaune’s sword and them and immediately use his semblance so the grimm doesn’t eat them. That’s skill, baby!!
But you can see why he’s pissed, beyond just the fact that his semblance is holding this group together. It’s not Jaune and Yang’s fault that there was suddenly a cliff, but last we saw Ren he was heading towards Oscar. He had a plan. Granted, not one that was likely to lead anywhere given the Hound’s power (and the plot needing Oscar to reach Salem), but that’s not the point. He was pulling himself towards their kidnapped friend and then at the last second had to cut himself loose to save two others. This moment wasn’t anyone’s fault, but it would take someone with no emotions at all not to be frustrated by it.
So we leave the trio literally hanging out and return to Ruby’s group who is threatening kids!
Seriously though WTF, Weiss? Look, I haven’t always been kind to Whitley. In fact, I think there’s a Volume 7 recap where I really laid into him for his attitude and for supporting Jacques. But then—with the help of some friends and other anon perspectives—I thought about it for a hot second and considered how little power this child has. I was wrong to blame him for so much given the various circumstances here. It took, like… five minutes of thinking, and that’s for a fictional character, not a real life brother. Weiss clearly hasn’t given her brother five seconds of thought. He’s in the same abusive household that she was. He wasn’t blessed with combat abilities and a semblance to easily escape. He didn’t have Weiss there to guide him like Winter guided her. He had to watch BOTH his sisters abandon him to Jacques… so when exactly was he supposed to learn to be better? Why would he be inclined to? Weiss was an entitled racist when she got to school and needed new friends to show her a new path. She admitted as much last volume! Yet the fact that Whitley is completely alone in this house while their mom locks herself in her room to drink doesn’t register at all? This woman, an adult out to save the world as we’re frequently told, never once considered what it took to get her here and realize that Whitley has had none of the resources she did?
I want to emphasize that Weiss threatens him with her weapon. It’s not just that she’s dismissive of him and his plight, she’s also happy to use violence if Whitley doesn’t do exactly as he’s told. Violence… against her brother… who is a child… without any training. Again: WTF, Weiss? You know how I was praising RWBY last episode for not having the group beat up the Atlas personnel? Yeah, we get this instead.
Then she tells him to go to his room??
Speculation is that Whitley is about 2-3 years younger than Weiss. Or, to put it another way, roughly the same age as Weiss’ leader, Ruby. She’ll follow Ruby unquestioningly into world-changing decisions, but sends her brother to his room like a toddler? Which is it, RWBY? Are 17 year-olds leaders you should listen to, or babies who must leave the room while the grownups talk? He certainly can’t be any younger than Oscar, so again, she’ll fight beside him, but treat Whitley like this? Whitley isn’t exactly going to offer help in a respectful, eager manner, but that “Fine. What do you expect me to do?” was incredibly open given his situation. He was willing to help and that was the perfect opportunity to have him, you know, do something. Something small and innocuous that wouldn’t threaten the team if he betrayed them, but kept him around so he could talk to someone. But nope. Weiss just sends him to his room after criticizing him for not understanding that they’re “busy trying to save Atlas.” Weiss, what does Whitley know about all that? He’s locked up in this manor after your father was arrested and the one news clip we’ve seen said that no one knows why Ironwood recalled his forces, or what’s up with those grimm overhead. She’s acting like he should have any idea what’s happening right now.
Also, all of this is coming on the heels of Willow begging Weiss not to forget her brother, so that’s just great. RWBY has the rest of their time in the manor to fix this, because if Weiss comes out of that scene having only been handed the means of arresting Jacques… that’s just bad all around.
Finally, should we talk about how strange this choice is? Last episode we saw the group flying away and I assumed it was them leaving Atlas to go back to Mantle. It certainly looked that way, but now they’ve decided to stay until Nora is awake. Why? Isn’t it more dangerous here? I mean, they didn’t know the staff was gone and there are still arrest warrants out. Was Weiss just going to threaten anyone who dared report her? Where are these shields Ironwood spoke of? Have they gotten through them somehow, or are they currently trapped in Atlas?
This is “Oscar is in the slums, leaves the slums, learns they’re going to the crater, but the slums are actually the crater, so we’re heading back now” all over again.
The one good thing about this scene is that Blake and Ruby talk! …for about two seconds lol. Eh, better than nothing. Blake says that if Ruby is worried about Yang she could try calling her. Ruby has, and Yang isn’t picking up.
Does Ruby think she’s in danger or ignoring her? Unclear. We, however, know that Yang is now lost in the middle of nowhere with no reception and no transportation back to Mantle. The three of them start trudging towards an outpost Ren spotted, needing to find shelter “before this weather drops our aura levels completely.” So what about everyone without aura?? I wish that I could check off the bingo space again because this is ridiculous.
Ren, once again, isn’t in the mood to talk, but unlike Jaune, Yang can’t leave something alone. So she coaxes him to tell him what’s wrong and you know what? She does a real good job at first. She’s encouraging, but her voice is level and she doesn’t come across as accusing. Well done, Yang.
Things quickly fall apart though as Ren says EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED TO SAY TO THIS GROUP. Holy shit, everyone, let’s count ‘em up:
Nothing is going smoothly so let’s stop pretending it’s all fine
Oscar has been horrifically kidnapped that’s #bad
This is not a normal part of being a huntsmen
We don’t know the first thing about being huntsmen!
Every time we’ve had to make real decisions we got them all wrong, yay us
We’re trapping a city here for Salem to destroy whenever she feels like it, yay us x2
Our leader is barely more than a kid and one of us cheated our way here
People are going to die because of us
“I’m just saying what nobody else wants to”
Yang’s response? Incredibly weak imo. Just as weak as the fandom’s has been since this conflict started in Volume 7. Her argument against letting Atlas go is that Salem won’t just let it fly away with her whale… but no one knows that. She’s certainly just letting it sit right now! Assuming that something won’t work because you expect the worst is not a compelling reason not to try.
Her argument against their ineptitude? They saved Haven, took down a leviathan, and got the lamp to Atlas. Let’s break that down a little more.
Did they fight well at Haven? Yes… overlooking that Weiss would have died if not for a timely semblance reveal. But the real point here is that they “saved” the school by getting the Relic. Problem is, they never won the relic, it was handed to them. Literally. They retrieved it not because they were capable of overpowering Salem’s forces and a Maiden, but because Raven decided she’d rather her daughter be a target than her. That doesn’t tell us anything about the group’s skill, only about Raven’s flaws.
They took down a leviathan… after drawing it to Argus in the first place. That’s kind of an important detail when Ren is trying to make the point that their decisions suck. Also, how did they take it down? Using Ruby’s silver eyes, which only worked because Jinn randomly decided to let her stop time. Oh, and also using the rest of Cordovin’s mech that they hadn’t yet destroyed. Again, nothing about that fight demonstrates their skill, only others’ abilities, resources, and the strange favoritism they benefit from.
Getting the lamp to Atlas. Well, you drove Ozpin away who was your ticket across the border. Then Maria told Ruby how to save you all from the Apathy (and Ruby herself was the only one able to resist long enough to demand you get the Relic back in the first place). You started that leviathan fight and ended it surrounded by Cordovin’s fleet. So how did you get to Atlas? Because she let you cross. How did you reach Ironwood? Because he dropped your arrest. Yang stopped Adam, yes, but that was its own, separate fight. Regarding the “getting to Atlas” point they botched that up completely.
Basically, this resume of victories is unpersuasive, to say the least. Yang highlights the end goal rather than acknowledging Ren’s point: have we, as individuals, actually made things better lately?
They absolutely have not.
Note how, in contrast, Ren includes himself in this criticism. He doesn’t just lay responsibility at Ruby and Jaune’s feet, he’s second on the list for being underprepared. For messing up. He’s just an “orphan from nowhere” and this tells us that, unlike Qrow, Ren is actually concerned with this problem and his own place in it. He’s not just blowing off steam and running from his responsibility. Rather, he’s making important points here yet, as he says, no one else wants to listen.
And that’s why the scene ultimately sucks. “But, Clyde! It’s a speech straight out of your metas!” Yes it was and it was beautiful to witness, but the problem is that Ren’s supposed to be wrong. Jaune glares at him before leaving. Yang clenches her fists and asks if he just wants to push everyone away. He’s left hanging his head. Then later they talk about how “broody” he is and provide advice about how to stop doing that. The takeaway here is not, ‘Holy shit, Ren is right and we should rethink our choices,’ but rather that Ren is wrong and needs to come over to their ‘correct’ perspective.
I love that this was laid out. I love that the group is actually fighting for once (way better than Ruby and Yang’s ‘fight’). I also love that we finally see what’s bothering Ren… but we all know this isn’t leading anywhere. The scene ends with Jaune dismissing everything by stating that if Ren doesn’t want to be a huntsmen, fine, but he has a job to do. Ren is supposed to feel guilty here for… telling the truth? Jaune is supposed to look like the hero for soldiering on with his responsibility while moody Ren drags behind. The scene is great, but the purpose of the scene sucks.
Actually, I’d like to talk about a portion of the outpost scene real quick. Skipping ahead, because we really see here how little RT believes the words that they’ve put in Ren’s mouth. Jaune admits that he’s right about cheating into Beacon… but nothing else. Indeed, that “mistake” is swept away because he’s earned his right to be here now. You shouldn’t care about that anymore! Ignoring the point Ren was making about how much they’re in over their heads. Yang apologizes to Jaune on Ren’s behalf, making it clear that she cares more about his potentially hurt feelings than any of the points Ren made. Remind you of anything? Like oh, say, that time Yang cared more about Jaune’s feelings than whether he’d hurt Oscar after slamming him against a wall? All of this despite the fact that Yang JUST accused Ruby of the horrible situation they’re in. Now Ren acknowledges that they’re in a horrible situation and Yang… doesn’t care?? Again, RT is good at giving us the pieces we want, the surface level stuff, but is rarely able to combine it into something fulfilling. If anyone actually takes Ren’s stance seriously, changing their ways rather than talking him out of it, I’ll be shocked.
Especially since the real nail in the coffin of this scene is Jaune telling him that “The more you hide from what you’re feeling, the more alone you’re going to feel.”
Jaune………..buddy……….pal…………were you asleep during that scene? Ren DID tell you what he was feeling. For the first time he did come clean about everything he was experiencing and you both rejected him for it! He’s not pulling away because he’s hiding from what he’s feeling, he’s pulling away because he did show it and both his friends reduced it to “pushing [them] away.” Which is it, Jaune? Should Ren be more open, or should he stop saying things you don’t want to hear? It’s a more complicated version of telling your parents about your interests, them mocking those interests, and then they’re surprised when you don’t share things with them again. I mean, the gall of Jaune to reject everything Ren said in the moment, ignore it after he’s calmed down, and then lecture him about being hiding his emotions.
Jaune and Yang (and the story) don’t want Ren to say what he really thinks, they want him to say what they think. Ren should speak up, but only if he’s going to agree with them.
So Ren sits out in the snow because potentially dying from cold is better than staying in a room with Yang and Jaune. I can’t really blame him lol.
One last thing about the fight scene. Remember how May was put in her place last episode for not using Penny’s name? Well, Yang doesn’t either. Granted, “the Maiden” isn’t as overtly insulting as “tin can” (or whatever it is May said), but it amounts to the same thing: both are replacing Penny’s individual identity with her status as a tool they can use. May sees Penny as the cool tech girl who can get them into the military base. Yang sees Penny as the cool magic girl who is the answer to all their ‘How do we win this?’ problems. Everyone is using Penny. Ruby to launch Amity, Ironwood to open the vault, but you know RWBY will never have a scene where Penny corrects Yang about her name and Ruby looks on, smug. Because the group can continually make the same mistakes as the adults/antagonists around them, but aren’t called out on it in the same way. Ren calls them out and he’s told he’s wrong.
Anyway, the tl;dr of this scene is that Ren is the best. Too bad the story doesn’t realize that.
We then move to my poor Oscar who wakes up looking at his own feet, Ozpin’s voice is as reassuring as it can be under the circumstances. “Oscar? Don’t panic. We’re going to be okay.” I mentioned two weeks back that I hoped the show would explain why we didn’t see Ozpin try to take control during the Hound fight and we still don’t have an explanation, so that’s disappointing. This line is all we get from Ozpin because that’s the norm now. We moved from him being written out of the story entirely to having one or two lines an episode (excluding a speech meant more for the audience than the characters). So, improvement? But a lackluster one, I think. Especially given that he is the focal point of this entire situation with Salem.
I’m avoiding the elephant in the room though. Oscar’s torture is horrifying. In the sense that it should be horrifying. Salem might still inexplicably not be attacking Atlas—and what she’s after at any given time might be getting more and more muddled—but she’s absolutely terrifying here, which is what we needed. The mix of assault with that nurturing tone is just skin crawling. “My long lost Ozma. Found at last” while she (I think?) shows images of their daughters. Honestly, I only heard that from friends, didn’t catch it myself, but then my eyes are shit to begin with. I couldn’t see a thing in this shadowed shot.
(It’s like watching Game of Thrones all over again.)
Oscar tries to pretend to be Ozpin and he does a damn good job with “I’m sorry the reunion isn’t living up to your expectations.” It’s not enough to fool Salem though. She says he’s “not him” yet and I’m again reminded that the show continually references this merge without showing us any change. They’re apparently closer to one person now, but they still speak as individuals. Oscar has Ozpin’s magic, but hasn’t used it, even when his life was on the line. The closest we get to evidence that the merge is underway is that Oscar attempts to lie about knowing Jinn’s name… but what the hell else is he supposed to do here? I suppose he could go the action hero route and shout that she’ll never get the answer out of him, but trying to lie is by far the safer option. That doesn’t tell us that he’s becoming like Ozpin, or even that they’re truly “like-minded souls” as Salem claims. It just tells us that Oscar has two braincells to rub together and can say a short sentence without totally giving himself away. Maybe the kid played a few rounds of Remnant’s Among Us.
This moment highlights another justification for Ozpin’s secrets though. He lives an existence where he is not in control of his own (“own”) body. At any point the host he’s with could falter, fail, turn on him, and in doing so give crucial, world ending information to the enemy. It’s already happened on a small scale, with Oscar successfully taking control, stealing the Jinn information, and giving it to the group. Now here he’s being tortured. How long can he last? Will Oscar give up Jinn’s name? If Ozpin didn’t have the location of the Relic locked up tight in his own consciousness, would that information be lost too? I’m not looking to blame Oscar for anything here—I don’t want to imply that this situation is karma for him taking Jinn’s name, or some such nonsense—I just want to acknowledge that this is the sort of stuff Ozpin has to worry about. If he shares these secrets then that’s more fallible people who are capable of giving that information to Salem. If he keeps them…well, he’s the only one who has to keep his mouth shut during a torture session. His host might want information about the Relics, there’s an argument to be made that they’re entitled to them, but if I were Ozpin I wouldn’t want to take that risk either. The question has essentially become, “Would I trust a 14 year old to keep quiet while tortured by a witch?” Maybe Oscar will! He’s enough of a BAMF to manage it… but that’s still not something I’d want to bet on. Better that Oscar simply doesn’t have that information to give Salem, period.
So obviously this “working relationship” that Salem wants isn’t going well. When Oscar lies she jumps straight to torturing him.
This was legitimately hard to watch and I’m torn about that. On the one hand it’s what I wanted: a scary, powerful Salem who uses the tools at her disposal to get what she’s after. That’s great! Yet I’m still reminded of how far this show has gone to literally beat up the child of the group. Oscar is the one punched into a tree, attacked by a friend, shot by an ally, the star of the show’s most horrifying kidnapping, now the first to be outright tortured by Salem. I don’t really have a point here, I’m not looking to level any specific accusations at RT, I’m just commenting on the pattern and acknowledging that it makes me uncomfortable. There are parts of a story where you’re supposed to be uncomfortable—like the villain torturing a hero—and then there are parts where you’re uncomfortable because the writers seem overly focused on showing images of a specific kid suffering and that’s… weird.
I’m not sure what to make of that just yet.
Anyway, Salem’s magic here is surprisingly pretty. Pretty and painful, but I expected more red and blacks, perhaps some spikey imagery, so the rainbow was an interesting surprise. Given the amount of pain Oscar is in, I suspect too much of that would kill him, so Salem calls in Hazel to continue the interrogation. The first few hits he deals are for Haven, the others for his sister.
See, this is why RWBY needs to actually embrace its “life isn’t a fairy tale” theme. You cannot show me child torture in one week and then move to Ruby “We’ll win because we’re the good guys ^_^” Rose the next. The whole reason why Ironwood (and Ren now) was right is because this is the shit reality they’re dealing with. You didn’t run when you had the chance and now Oscar (and Ozpin) is being tortured. You keep talking about saving Mantle, but the only reason why they’re not already dead is because the writing randomly turns the cold danger on and off. This mix of horrific, real world danger and unjustified confidence doesn’t work.
…also, I officially don’t want any redemption arc for Hazel. This guy is beating on a child because he’s convinced that he’s Ozpin, blaming Ozpin for his sister’s decision, all while forwarding a genocidal maniac’s plans. Hazel and his ridiculous shirts can just get on out of here, thanks.
Finally, I just want to say... this is the woman a lot of the fandom defended. This is the woman you wanted raising those girls and blamed Ozpin for trying to escape with them.
This is how Salem treats children.
Oh, and all of this is without his aura because it just broke. So Oscar is in serious, non-fantasy trouble here.
Someone please rescue him soon 😭
We finish up with some frankly boring stuff with the rest of the villain cast. We learn that the Hound is an “experiment” and a new one given that Cinder has never seen it before. Salem’s dialogue is admittedly great—“Do you hear that, my pet? She thinks. She wants.”—but Cinder just rehashes everything we’ve heard from her before. She wants the Winter Maiden power. She has trouble remembering that she’s playing at Salem’s slave. She even rehashes the exact same line, “Without you, I am nothing.” Why are we wasting time on this when we had that tantalizing backstory before?
Bleh.
Salem tells her in no uncertain terms to stay put.
So Cinder immediately leaves LOL.
She just wants to “check on” Amity tower because she “knows those kids” in ways Salem doesn’t. I’m admittedly slightly confused as to how Cinder knows to go there? Did she believe Ironwood’s lie that it was finished even though it apparently IS finished now? Has she overheard something? I’m not sure. Frankly, keeping track of that stuff in RWBY is headache inducing, so let’s just roll with it.
Neo, the only one with a brain around here, makes it clear she thinks Cinder is an idiot for going. Emerald, always the Cinder fan, offers to go in her stead. She’s been working on her semblance, so I expect we’ll see something cool with that soon. They head off, apparently not worried about what Salem will do to them when they get back.
Which is when we move to the outpost for our final scene, most of which I’ve covered. I only have two more things I want to bring up here.
The first is the tone. As said earlier, the tone of the Hound chase wasn’t horrible, but I find myself disappointed in the overall attitude of Jaune and Yang. Yang is making jokes about how they can’t fly, high-fiving Jaune, and they’re both shrugging off Ren’s concerns. Jaune says he won’t be able to sleep due to worrying about Oscar, but neither of them act particularly worried. Which isn’t to say they need to be sobbing the whole time or whatever, just that Ren is the only one who feels real here. They may not agree with his stance about everything else, but they’ve all experienced the same event: watching a grimm that can morph, talk, and think horrifically kidnap a teammate. Shouldn’t there be more emotion attached to that? Things have gotten better with Oscar than they’ve been in the past, largely due to details like Nora’s hug at the beginning of the volume, but let’s be real, they’re still not perfect. Do we think Jaune and Yang would be this nonchalant if Ruby were kidnapped that way? Say all you want about Ruby being her sister, or others being teammates for longer, but the fact remains that Oscar has been taken to Salem herself and the only one reacting to that in any meaningful way is Ren.
Who they say will “brood himself to death.” That right there. The one guy freaking out about your kidnapped friend should not be described as “brooding.”
All of which segues into my second point, namely that Yang doesn’t seem to care about Ruby anymore either! She asks Jaune, “Do you think she thinks less of me?” for not going to Amity and when Jaune reassures her that Ruby will always love her, Yang’s response is, “Yeah… Ruby.”
She was thinking about Blake.
The kicker? I thought she was talking about Ruby too. Because Ruby is her sister. Because she and Ruby had the fight (“fight”). Because Ruby was trying to call her to check in. Because Blake and Yang didn’t even acknowledge that they went on different missions here. I thought Blake was like Jaune, not really taking a side and just heading with Ruby because the team is splitting down the middle. Where did this worry come from?
And I want to praise RT here (I really do) because I can see the effort. I said Blake and Yang needed to spend time apart, they have. I said they needed to work through their co-dependent identities, now Blake is reminding Nora (and theoretically herself too) that someone you love is just a part of you. I said that the group couldn’t be a hive-mind, now there’s disagreement. I said the show needs to make Blake/Yang canon at some point and you can’t do that if they don’t talk about and to each other. So I fully admit that this is everything I asked for… so why does it feel so badly done? No matter how many boxes it checks off, it’s still a moment where we thought Yang was finally worrying about her sister again—like she used—and then it’s ‘Sike! It was really just about Blake! Again. Yang is worried about a problem that was never even introduced.’
I suppose that’s why it doesn’t work for me. Yang and Ruby had the falling out, but Yang and Blake, somehow, become the focus. Is it really so hard to write Yang as a sister and a potential love interest? Yang apparently can’t care for Ruby and Blake, Weiss can’t care for her team and her brother, Ruby can’t care for Mantle and Ironwood… it’s like each character gets one (1) thing to put their emotional energy towards at any given time and that’s it. That’s all they get.
On the flip side, this is why Ren feels like a person this episode. He cares about Mantle, and the future fight, and their past mistakes, and his place here, and the problems within the team, and Nora… He feels like a well-rounded person! vs. Yang and Jaune who don’t even consider his perspective, vs. Yang having a fight with her sister but only cares about Blake. They’re one-dimensional in comparison.
It is, as always, disappointing.
As the group “broods” then the camera shows us a piece of the ice nearby, slowly cracking as Jaune says that “Things always seem to get worse before they get better.” Well, that’s unexpected. I didn’t think our opening would be literal. I’ve been worried about Atlas falling on everyone, not everyone falling… to whatever is underneath the kingdom as a whole. Is the kingdom falling apart? Or is something waking up and moving towards the surface? If RWBY can reproduce the characterization we got with the Hound, I wouldn’t be opposed to another leviathan grimm rising from the snowy deep to assist Salem…
Though how the fuck group will survive everything and that, who knows lol.
And that’s our episode! Issues aside—most of which have been ongoing issues. We knew they were there—I think this was our strongest episode so far this volume. Well done! There are still problems, no doubt, but at least I was only bored for a small portion of that 20 minutes. Let’s just keep heading in that direction.
Exciting Saturday, huh?
Regarding bingo updates:
RWBY actually re-used a grimm I thought they’d abandoned, so well done there.
No civilians around for the giant grimm army to attack, so that was fine. Kind of strange though that they completely disappeared after the Hound left.
The timeline is starting to get wonky. For example, what kind of stakes am I supposed to expect when Cinder decides to head to Amity? Is it currently empty? Is Pietro there? Has Penny made it yet? I said weeks ago that RWBY would need to follow multiple groups to fill out fourteen episodes in just two days—and they’re definitely doing that—but that means we don’t have a clear sense of what events are happening simultaneously and what are meant to be linear.
No Winter or Ironwood this episode.
Watts is back with Jacques! Potential for team-up 2.0? That will admittedly be hard with Qrow and Robyn there, unless those two escape.
(Oh yeah, I thought Qrow and the others would be held in the military base and Ruby would find him during her heist… but she doesn’t even care that Qrow is in jail.)
Maria is still a ghost. If we hit the halfway mark with her not doing anything I’m calling the space.
I definitely wouldn’t call this cliffhanger needless. That’s actually a cool way to end things, even if Jaune’s line was pretty on the nose.
Neo may be getting closer to backstabbing Cinder if those expressions are anything to go by.
Still waiting to see if Amity works.
And finally, drumroll please! …
“More obvious Blake/Yang implications without confirming a relationship.” Yup, I’m marking that this week. After Blake’s ‘just a part of you’ comment and now Yang only being worried about her reaction? Definitely calling it. If RWBY confirms a relationship this volume I’ll eat my words—and some celebratory cake — but until then salt prevails. Especially after the fiasco that was Supernatural.
Still no bingo. Ah well, maybe next week lol.
Until then! 💜
[Ko-fi]
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So anyway I think that the heroes are going to snatch control of Atlas right out from under Salem and Ironwood’s noses. It’ll take a few episodes, but it’ll happen by V8′s end. Here’s the probably inaccurate spiffy:
Ironwood and Salem are busily playing army and being absolutely ignorant to their own and each other’s underlings thinking maybe they’re in the wrong. So while they think they are controlling the Battle For Atlas (TM), everybody else is going to be trying to save people. Emerald’s going to get to the lamp first(ish).
Emerald: JINN! I must ask you something!
Jinn: For reasons related to metaknowledge I like you a lot kid, so I’ll warn you to word your question very carefully.
Emerald: Well... shit, give me a minute.
Jinn: Time’s frozen, I’m magic like that. Take as long as you need.
Exactly what Emerald asks is up in the air, but it’s probably either ‘what is Salem hiding’ or ‘how can Cinder be freed from Salem’ and either way Jinn will make it clear Emerald needs to get to Ruby, so Emerald shrugs cause she was totally going to jump ship from Salem anyway (woman is dancing murder, literally) and so she waltzes out to pick up Oscar and then they run into JYR.
Yang: You framed me!
Emerald: Yeah but I’m good now. See? Saving kids, got the relic--
Ren: I HATH SEEN HER VIBES, AND SHE DOTH BE GOOD NOW.
Yang: Wait but how do you know it’s not an illusion?
Ren: YOUR VIBES DOTH PROCLAIM AFFECTION FOR THINE PARTNER, OF DEEP AND INTENSE KIND, YET YOU DOUBT YOUR VALUE TO HER--
Yang: Okay okay I believe you!
Oscar: Hey I’m kinda bleeding to death can we escape already?
And as they rush out of the whale, there is DRAMA in the Schnee mansion. Ruby’s panicking over Penny, and because Penny came in hot she can’t touch her with her bare hands so she’s getting Weiss to summon up some remote gloves for Emergency Robot Surgery and totally ignoring that pain in her heart. Meanwhile Klein’s patching up Nora--
Nora’s Past: Excuse me, sir, I need to reveal myself now. You don’t mind do you?
Klein: This girl is pretty badly hurt, so I do rather mind--
Nora’s Past: Not to worry, I won’t interfere in your healing and you can have a conversation that sets up a future plot point.
And Blake and May are talking about how they robbed people to save people and Blake’s kinda trying to hint maybe that the situation’s pretty bad up here without offending May who is really just this close to exploding.
May: If you can’t give me one good reason to stay I’m taking the jet down to Mantle!
Whitley: Jacques has a work computer in his office, maybe you can reactivate Mantle’s heat from there?
May: ...fuck it get me some cocoa.
And indeedily, it turns out that there are programs to reactivate the heating grid! And switches to flip the direction of the Mantle/Atlas chute system! And a bunch of other stuff that’ll help Mantle, and May’s getting into it when she hits THE JACKPOT. You know how Jacques got elected a councilman? And how he got some key codes for that? Well, being the brilliant genius that he is, he put those key codes on his home computer and nobody’s thought to erase them since his arrest. Which means May can spoof Atlas systems to think ONE council member is doing things!
[Interlude with Cinder going aircar shopping, surprisingly easy when the city stores are abandoned. She has a run-in with the Glass Unicorn, which does not survive. We get a close-up of her face, and she’s frustrated that this isn’t satisfying her.]
But only having one councilmember’s codes isn’t enough to do more than move some people around the subways to safer places--great and all, but won’t solve the problem. If they had more control of Atlas’s automated systems, they could maybe do something, but the only way to do that is get more councilmember control codes. Like a majority. That’s two codes, and there’s no way to--
Blake: Wait doesn’t Ironwood have two seats?
May: Yeah but he’s not going to work with us.
Blake: We’re already spoofing Jacques’ codes, we can spoof Ironwood’s.
May: We’d have to get to the terminal in the military compound!
Blake: ...or the one in Atlas Academy. I need to make a call.
Cut to team FNKI, not at all chillin’ in their dorm. They’re ticked for so many reasons, they’re antsy, Neon gets a call from Blake and listens for a bit before saying ‘hey everyone wanna go infiltrate the Headmaster’s office and save Atlas?’ And Flynt’s like ‘You know what, sure.’ And four teenagers with attitude Power Ranger their way through some very confused soldiers and then Ivori puts on his hacker glasses and says--
Ivori: Oh crap guys. Ironwood only put the Headmaster codes on this terminal. Not the military council codes.
Neon: Paranoid bitch.
Ivori: Also he knows we’re here now.
Meanwhile JYR and their new pals (who may or may not include Hazel and Neo, depending on how effective Oscar is at handing out redemption arcs) have a bit of a tiff over the whole ‘recruiting bad guys’ thing and Emerald’s like ‘Guys fine arrest me but I literally have all the knowledge you need and for plot reasons we need to go to the Schnee mansion now’ so Winter’s like ‘Oh shit! I hate plot in my house!’ and she checks the clock and yeah, there’s PLENTY of time to hop over before the bomb arrives and, hey, probably fugitives, so dad Ironwood can’t yell at her for this!
[Interlude with Fiona and Joanna, who start characterizing each other and mention Important Plot Details that will probably come into play in the next volume but the fandom’s all going to speculate about how it’ll come into play this volume because we’re like that.]
So back with Ruby, she’s managed to juryrig Penny back to life and there’s this big emotional moment and Ruby has a breakdown and Weiss is all ‘I’m not equipped to handle this shit but I’ll try anyway’ and Penny has a breakdown and Weiss is like ‘yeah okay, cuddles and comfort time, come here you crazy girls’ and THEN Whitley bursts through the door and shouts ‘GUYS GUYS TEAM FNKI’S ON TV AND THEY’RE SAYING SWEAR WORDS!’
Neon: I’ve come to make an announcement: James Ironwood is a bitch-ass motherfu--
Ironwood: Okay this teenage rebellion is stupid. Luckily it’ll be easy to take back control of Atlas Academy because I am always right and never miss anything.
Random Intern: But Sir! Aren’t You Worried They Will Hack Atlas’s Systems?
Ironwood: Allow me to exposit on how impossible that is and how they would need three council codes to make a majority that could let that happen.
Camilla, in her office: YO BITCH! REMEMBER ME?!
That’s right, Camilla’s noticed this TV broadcast, put together the pieces, and as scared as she is of Ironwood she’s noticing that he’s not really doing so hot fighting Salem so, what the heck, she’s going to tell everyone that Ironwood killed Sleet and he’s a treasonous traitor and soldiers should totally turn to Robyn Hill. Because she just sent her own council codes to ALL FOUR OF THE HAPPY HUNTRESSES. Also she says this is a pre-recorded message and she probably got killed by her doorguards.
[Meanwhile, the Hound gets a smoothie. It’s plot-detail flavored.]
Ironwood rages, but it’s okay! He’s got Robyn’s scroll! So he’s got the codes, he’s still in control aaaaaand Fiona’s already changed the password. But you know this plan is totally going to fall apart without Robyn, who’s trapped in her cell, so he marches down there to kill her before she can become a problem and comes face to face with Cinder God Damn Fall.
Ironwood: Get out of the way, I need to kill that woman.
Cinder, flipping him off: Fuck you, Atlas scum, I do what I want!
Hardlight generator: Hey why are you reaching for me scary lady OH GOD THE PAIN I AM DEAD THE PRISONERS ARE FREE BLEGH--
Watts: Let’s get out of here while they’re fighting each other!
Cinder: ...yeah, that, that was totally my plan, yeah.
So Cinder and Watts skedaddle and the soldiers are like ‘uh should we catch them’ and Ironwood’s all ‘WE MUST KILL ROBYN’ and Robyn has no idea why but she’s not going down easy and Qrow’s screaming how Ironwood’s just the worst and Jacques is cowering in a corner because everybody has guns. Realistically a whole bunch of soldiers are able to easily subdue Qrow and Robyn and Ironwood gets ready to kill them when suddenly--
Raven: Looks like I need to save your weak ass, bro.
Robyn: Who’s the hottie?
Qrow: A fucking bitch.
Raven: Yeah, okay, but I brought Tai along so...
Taiyang: Anybody want a brownie? No? Fine. Sic’ em Zwei.
Obviously the might of the War Corgi (and yeah, the Spring Maiden, sure) is enough to get Robyn and Qrow to safety, and they also snag Robyn’s scroll on the way out, and Robyn gets informed of basically everything in one long ‘thank god you’re back’ speech by May who is REALLY tired of wrangling all these teenagers and their drama, but she’s interrupted when the Ace Ops land at the Schnee mansion and bring in their drama and should they turn on Ironwood like Camilla says and Blake says some stuff about ‘did you promise the man he is or who he pretends to be’ and Penny also has lines and there’s so much yelling--
Watts: According to my notes, Penny’s at the Schnee mansion.
Cinder: My orders are to deliver you to Salem.
Watts: But Cinder, there’s a lot of plot at the Schnee mansion right now! I know you looove ploooooooot!
Cinder: Are you trying to tempt me to do a dumb?
Watts: What can I say, I’m mischievous.
Cinder: ...okay, you can drive yourself right back to Salem--I mean it! Drive STRAIGHT BACK, don’t get yourself CAUGHT AGAIN, and you tell her that you ordered me out.
Watts: You have my word!
Watts tells Salem Cinder totally abandoned him of her own free will.
So Cinder Fall strides into the conflict and she’s all smug--right up until she sees EMERALD IS WITH RUBY and she just flips out like ‘what the shit! What the shit girl what are you doing?!’ And Emerald says ‘I’m doing this for you! Allow me to begin my melodramatic speech about--’ Cue the Hound smashing through the window with a horde of Grimm and suddenly everything is chaos nobody knows who’s on anybody’s side Penny’s being fought over by everyone and--
Penny, eyes red: THE VAULT--Aaaaargh!
Ruby, watching her fly out: Oh yeah, she was hacked, right, forgot.
Cinder:
The Hound:
The Ace Ops:
JNOR:
RWBY:
TRQ:
May:
Robyn: Kids, go after her, we’ll clean up here.
Everyone RUNS OUT OF THE SCHNEE MANSION and it’s a race to get to the Vault using every method they can and Cinder’s melting the ground and getting into fights left and right and the Ace Ops are showing their true colors by getting random citizens out of the way and meanwhile the Happy Huntresses are coordinating everything in Atlas AND Mantle and it’s all chaos but it’s clear that Ironwood’s not in control and then--
in the vault--
there he is, holding Penny’s sword. And he’s picked her up and started literally banging her against the door because the vault won’t open--
Cinder: Yo, moron, you need to do it right.
Cinder: *Whips out a frying pan and conks out Ruby*
Cinder, sweetly: Penny, if you don’t open that door I’ll melt her booooones~!
Welp, there’s no way to solve that hostage situation, so Penny reluctantly opens the Vault of the Winter Maiden and it looks like, oh no, somebody bad is going to get the staff, when all of the sudden--
Nora: THIS is what I’m good for!
Nora’s Past: Go get ‘em girl!
Nora just catapults herself into the vault, grabs the staff and--before anybody can react--gets it to land next to Mantle. And THEN the Ace Ops come in and say ‘yeah, uh, Ironwood, totally under arrest for being stupid’ and turn off the hackersword which lets Penny get Ruby away from Cinder. Cinder’s right ticked so she reaches for the staff with her Grimm hand but, in a fit of realization, Nora decides to use the staff to regenerate Cinder’s lost arm (which destroys the Grimm Arm entirely).
Cinder: Wait... what the fuck? Why’d you do THAT?!
Nora: I have complicated in-character reasons but the truth is I’m setting up a plotline for you to doubt the path you’ve chosen so you’ll turn on Salem down the line.
Cinder: Well now I’m feeling existential. I think I’ll go back to Salem and whine about this whole crazy day.
So anyway the volume ends with reinforcements arriving, Robyn the new leader of the Kingdom of Mantle, Ironwood locked up for being a moron, Salem just totally blindsided by the complete upset of the board, and Nora offering to regenerate Yang’s arm. Yang says no because she gave up her arm for something precious and her new arm was a gift plus it’s awesome plus her sister’s dating a robot so saying ‘I don’t like metal arms’ is kinda hypocritical.
....
And then in the stinger Cinder’s staring in a mirror and Pyrrha says ‘Hello again.’
#RWBY#V8#Spoilers#V8 Spoilers#Speculation#Ruby Rose#Weiss Schnee#Blake Belladonna#Yang Xiao Long#Actually a whole bunch of characters#This is probably going to be wildly inaccurate#No mention of Willow's secret elf powers#But let's see how badly I can guess
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I've seen some people apply the term "well intentioned extremist" to adam, but I really don't see how it applies to him, as the name suggests, the extremist must be well intentioned, maybe that applies early on when adam only speaks in vague terms of justice or revolution, but that's more because of lack of information, once we know what adam is after: murder, slavery, and genocide, it becomes very clear that adam was not well intentioned, what do you think?
The “Well-Intentioned Extremist” is a character trope where a character has good intentions, intentions your hero can agree with. But something about what they’re doing is flawed: the methods, the end goal, the consequences, or a complete misdiagnosis of the problem.
RWBY has two fantastic examples of this trope. Sienna Khan is a mix of method and end goal types: she wants to achieve Faunus Equality. Fantastic intention. But she goes about it through extreme violence: you can forgive theft or destruction of property or rioting, but included in Sienna’s playbook is assassination. Her end-goal is also suspect: she wants to achieve equality not through respect, but by making humanity fear the Faunus enough not to show them disrespect. Respect and a lack of disrespect aren’t truly the same thing.
Ironwood is also an Well-Intentioned Extremist, but he’s of the Consequences variety. His end-goal is sound, re-uniting Remnant is a fantastic idea. His method is solid: using an already-existing platform, known the world over as a symbol of unity, to recreate the communication network.
(Not to say his methods elsewhere aren’t suspect, just that this specific plan is solid.)
Where Ironwood goes wrong is the Consequences portion. He sees Mantle not as something to be protected, but as acceptable casualties. He diverts resources away from an already resource-starved area of his kingdom, not realizing the problems this is going to cause. His vision of Mantle as acceptable casualties comes to a head when he decides to move Atlas: his goal is to protect people, the method is dubious but is more morally grey than black (one life for tens of thousands, maybe millions), but his decision to do this immediately, not holding out to evacuate the rest of Mantle is what seals it an evil act. He sees the consequences of his actions as an acceptable loss.
Adam Taurus is not a Well-Intentioned Extremist. His intention is to gain power. That’s it. He doesn’t want Faunus Equality, he wants Faunus Superiority, and he doesn’t want that in a general sense, he wants to lead the Faunus as they subjugate the Human Race.
Although he never says it out loud, the end result of Adam Taurus’ intentions is to rule the world.
And all his actions are in service of this intention: he grooms and abuses Blake because she’s the daughter of the Chieftain of Menagerie. He’s trying to play Jacques Schnee, with Blake as his Willow: she is a method to gain power and prestige in their community. His actions in the White Fang are a way to set up the idea of Human Subjugation, and to convert the White Fang to that cause. He doesn’t refuse the first deal with Cinder because he hates humanity that much: it’s a risk to feed your followers a diet of “all humans are awful” and then accept the help of a human. He only accepts it when the power she displays and offers him outweighs that risk.
The reason why people think he is one is because the show accurately portrays the though processes of an abuse survivor. Even after leaving their abuser, it often takes time for a survivor to stop making excuses for their abuser, to stop weighing the “good times” against the bad times. It’s such an ingrained idea that it can take years to shake off. It’s why a lot of people who escape abuse may return to their abuser. Because abusers try and make their abuse look “exceptional”, a sometimes thing, when most of the time they’re a “great person”. Manipulating their victim into thinking that the good outweighs the bad.
The language Blake uses is absolutely typical of abuse survivors. “He was nice at first, but he changed”.
And that’s why people expected a Well-Intentioned Extremist, because that’s the typical character arc: a good person who slips into evil.
The intention was the actual reveal of Adam would make it clear that we was always an abusive bastard. But because this fandom has dual problem with recognizing unreliable narrators and letting go of disproven headcanons, we get the Adam situation we’ve had for four years now.
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Hey, I don't mean to bother you again, but if you're still feeling up to it, I'd still like to see your opinions on each member of the Schnee family. No pressure if you don't want to do it though; I still appreciate seeing whatever you do post.
Hey!
You’re not bothering me, trust me. My motivation for... well, everything, but this blog in particular fluctuates pretty wildly, and that means that asks can sit in my inbox for months. The world going to hell hasn’t helped much. Also, every single time I’ve tried to write this, I’ve ended losing chunks of it cause I was too dumb to just type this in a word doc and copy-paste, so that’s been frustrating, to say the least.
Now that I’ve gotten smarter, though, let’s get into the Schnees!
Jacques
I have mixed feelings about how he was (potentially) written out of the show (and I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot in this reply). I said in this post awhile back that I didn’t want Jacques to become an agent of Salem because something like that would most likely become the focal point of his asshole-ness and shove everything else to the side. That feeling holds true, but not really in the way I had been expecting.
How he ended up benefiting Salem, I’m perfectly good with. Him not knowing about Salem or Watts’ motives for making the deal with him, making the deal because it of how it would benefit him and not to serve Salem/kill people - that I’m good with. He was an unknowing pawn Watts/Salem manipulated around the board, but not a mustache-twirling villain all on board with working with the genocidal maniac/serving on her council of villains, and that’s all I really wanted - for him to not be a knowing member of Salem’s board of evil. Being part of a group that desires global destruction just doesn’t fit his motives – can’t make money off people if they’re all dead.
However, the fact that that’s why he was arrested - that his downfall was due to and focused solely on being involved in a Salem plot that just popped up this volume rather than anything to do with his treatment of the Schnees or the Faunus - that kinda rankles. This goes back to the ask I answered a while back - the focus on all the new plots and characters that meant a lot of the old stuff that’s been built up was shoved aside. Jacques being taken down feels like it should have been this huge emotional climax, tensions running high with all of the Schnees there and a huge release of all of those tensions as Jacques gets taken down for the crimes that we as the audiences most revile him for – his treatment of the Schnees. Instead it was… none of that. Jacques is arrested by Weiss for his aid to Watts… and she promptly cracks a joke about it to kill the tension. Winter is able to get in a decent snap at him, but that’s it from her. The entirety of Jacques’ arrest is focused on the heating crisis. He’s dragged off, and only Willow and Whitley get to witness and react to it, and even that’s just a look from Willow and Whitley running off looking completely done with everything – they don’t even react with each other. There’s nothing in Jacques’ downfall about his abuse to his wife and children or even the Faunus, it’s all the election and Watts – plot points that don’t hold nearly as much weight to the audience as ones that have been set up for years.
So, TLDR for Jacques: I actually hope this isn’t the last we see of him, because that would be a disappointing way to end the Schnee’s arc as a family. At the very least, I hope we get to see him talked about between Winter, Willow, and Whitley if/when they actually get to talk to each other.
Willow
Mixed Feelings: Round Two.
Her design? Love it. Her conversation with Weiss? Gold. Willow as a character? A bit more involved than I would’ve thought from how very non-existent she’s been up until now and implied to have been in Weiss’s life, but I can roll with her being a bit more aware than I would’ve gone with. Willow’s role in this volume? Ehhhhhhhh….
I hate that she literally just has a camera hidden in Jacques’ office and recorded the entire thing. It seems like such a cheap way of Weiss getting the information she needed, and comes out of nowhere after there was already a way for her to get the information set up in Whitley. Seriously – we already had Whitley established as having seen Watts, seen Jacques’ reaction to him, look suspicious at Watts, and hear at least the man’s first name. Whitley absolutely had the information Weiss needed – so why the hell pull “Willow actually has cameras set up everywhere” out of thin air? And actually – wouldn’t Jacques have his office swept for cameras and bugs on the regular? You know, like the head of an extremely powerful organization and high-profile target of at least one major terrorist group probably would? To prevent something like this exact situation from happening? I just find it hard to believe that she could’ve set them up for long without being found, and setting them up just before something important to the plot happened in that room is just very convenient.
And like, there’s actually no reason that it needed to be that way. Willow and Weiss could have had the same conversation, just swap out the lines about the cameras with “I don’t know, but I know who would – your brother”, and you can even have Weiss still say that he wants nothing to do with her and Willow agree with her “you left him here with us” line, prompting Weiss to seek him out to get the information she needs and maybe even have a heart-to-heart with him. Whitley wouldn’t even have to give up the information in that conversation – he could be incredibly stubborn about it and unwilling to help until Weiss is called into a meeting about the heating crisis, which Whitley would absolutely follow into to listen whether he’s invited or not, and hearing what’s going done, decide to step up and come clean, realizing if he doesn’t, thousands of people will die. I can actually picture it in my head, and it would be so much better than just “Oh, yeah, I got cameras that recorded the entire nefarious conversation.”
And I’ve spent this entire section not really talking about Willow. Uhh… again, I really like her design. I like that she’s wearing purple, a color no other Schnee wears (except… Whitley with that wine… hmmm) – a mixture of red and blue, her freedom being drowned in something else until it’s completely tainted. Her voice is good, and for the most part, I really do like her conversation with Weiss. I also love that she finally points out what me and other Whitley fans have been screaming for ages – that you can’t expect someone that you basically abandoned (in his eyes) to look favorably on you, and I like that she acknowledges her own role in that, that she’s been a poor parent as well, and actively a detriment to Whitley.
TLDR, I like Willow, I just hate the damn cameras that seem to only exist for this plot point (since if they existed before, shouldn’t Weiss being hit be what they were meant to capture?).
Winter
Best girl, hands down. Not kidding, Winter basically carried this volume for me – rational, yet having very human reactions to things while recognizing that the emotional response isn’t necessarily the right one, the star of a badass fight with Cinder in which her Aura breaks but she still goes on fighting and holding her own against a damn Maiden, an awesome new outfit, wonderful conversations with Penny and just a very interesting relationship with her overall, actually gets to fight back against Jacques to his face – is there any point where this woman doesn’t exceed all my expectations?
I wasn’t a huge Winter fan before this volume, but I’ve successfully been converted. Second favorite Schnee for sure.
Weiss
On thin ice. Still my favorite of the RWBY crew, but considering how much of a nose dive the other three (in particular Ruby) took in this volume, that’s not saying a lot. A lot of what irks me with Weiss are… little moments. Implying that Winter shouldn’t trust Ironwood because he “could” be keeping secrets when she’s the one lying while Ironwood has been nothing but honest, the implication that Winter isn’t capable of making her own choices in regards to the military and the Maiden and that Ironwood must have been grooming her (I really hate this implication, both for trying to tear Ironwood down and for trying to rob Winter of her own agency – like, joining the military was her choice, her escape from Jacques, and you want to turn that into some kind of long game manipulation on Ironwood’s part? You want to prove Jacques of all people right in that he “stole” Winter, rather than Winter making her own choices and Ironwood recognizing her abilities and offering her the Maiden’s powers? Really?), trying to brush aside Ironwood’s concerns about just how much RWBY has done behind his back, calling Mantle “her home” when it’s never been that in front of Marrow who is almost certainly from Mantle – just, a lot of little things that I really dislike, not to mention that this is probably the worst design she’s had. But there hasn’t been anything that’s just blatantly ruined her for me, and she remains the most interesting and well executed character of RWBY for me.
TLDR, a lot of bratty moments that push me away from her, but still holds promise.
Whitley
My poor boy! He finally got more screentime and some of our headcanons comfirmed, but made the butt of a joke that could’ve easily been replaced with character development and underutilized so much. I’d say mixed feelings, but no – love his character, hate how he was used would probably be the best summary. Of course, I’m very much biased, but let’s not let something like that stop me.
More screentime! And letting him talk to someone other than Weiss! His banter with Ironwood was good, seeing his reactions to Jacques, how afraid and timid he was, was heartbreaking, and even if it didn’t go anywhere, his suspicion of Watts was nice to see. It’s always sweet to see headcanons confirmed too – the painting of him playing the piano was nice, and even if I’d have rather had it come out of his own mouth, Willow’s confirmation of him feeling abandoned by Weiss was such a satisfying thing to hear.
On the other hand, I absolutely hate the wine prank. It was way too drawn out and petty – seeing so much joy on JNR’s face while setting it up over the course of a whole minute and using an stack of food half his size to toss onto him – it was way too over the top. If they had to go for the food thing, having Oscar (or someone else, but Oscar is the one without a huntsman license, so he’s more believably clumsy) just pretend to trip with a regular plate and get it on his shirt would’ve been just fine, and we could’ve gotten a nice interaction between Whitley and someone new and get some character development. But nope. We got to have RBYJNR take way too much glee in dumping a mountain of food on a boy they’ve never met before for… talking to his sister and unwittingly getting in their way. It just puts a bad taste in my mouth.
And of course, what I talked about in Willow’s section, the set up of him seeing Watts going absolutely nowhere. Seriously – you set up the perfect opportunity, and then took an out-of-nowhere cop out. It feels like such a squandered set-up, and really disappoints me.
At least we actually got him reacting to Jacques, and it was given an appropriate emotion and fitting cinematography. I love the shot of Whitley sitting all alone on the stairs, watching the only person that actually gives him attention being dragged away without explanation, and seeing the weariness and sadness in his expression as he looks up – I love it, I love it so much. The last bit of hope that they may actually treat my boy right in the end…
TLDR: My boy!
And there you have it! Months late, my thoughts on the Schnee after the most recent volume! How will these change after volume 8? Hopefully for the better, but we’ll have to wait and see!
Thank you for the ask, and once again, sorry for the wait. I may try and take a few more hits at my inbox, but that’ll have to wait for tomorrow, since I’ve got work in the morning.
Have a good night, and stay safe!
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Commentary on Netflix’s Cursed: Episode 2
Edited for language, because I have a few younger/more sensitive readers.
THE MONK SPEAKS. HOT DIGGITY DANG.
Well, DAYUM again.
The monk meeting Squirrel is delicious.
The LOOK in Daniel's eyes.
The staging and lighting.
A+
“Born in the dawn.”
“To pass in the twilight.”
I burst out laughing so hard.
The cheesiness.
But also.
When it's DANIEL SHARMAN SAYING THE FIRST LINE, I mean.
I M E A N.
Just watch, that’ll be the new 'may we meet again'.
Squirrel is a discount version of Blue from King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, but he's cute, so that makes up for a lot.
And he does have some decent lines so far.
“Do you hate them because they're so beautiful and you're so ugly.”
“Even your horse is ugly.”
“And I love horses.”
But, hang on, his line: “You're so ugly.”
*looks at Daniel Sharman*
*looks at Squirrel*
*looks at Daniel*
*blinks*
Ah, kids.
Dang, they really do give Nimue every single flippin YA teen girl trope in the world, from both fanfic and traditional fic.
Wow.
That's impressive, even by my standards.
Joss: “Get up you murdering pig...tie him up...I think we've caught the big killer.”
Me: You haven't caught anything, and if you think you have the upper hand with the MONK? Oh honey, you poor deluded fool.
Joss: “Ever been dragged by a horse with a hot coal up his bum?”
Monk: “Not that I can recall.”
Me: Dang, HIS VOICE.
Me: Secondly, there are better ways to motivate horses than that, excuse you.
Monk: “I've got no interest in the boy. He's bait.”
Joss: “Bait for what.”
Me: Oh yeah, here we go, awriiiiiight.
Monk: “For YOU.” *kicks Joss*
Who cares that Daniel is the bad guy, he's the only interesting one.
Hot DANG, that roll over the horse.
HE'S FIGHTING WITH HIS HANDS BOUND.
Gives a new meaning to 'hands tied'
Also dang.
And WHAT DID I SAY, JOSS. You got owned.
Monk: *kills five or six people with //his hands bound//*
Me: Now that's what I'm talkin’ about.
Me: Wait, he just killed innocent people.
Me: Eh, he’s still the best character so far.
How does Daniel manage to sound sexy saying “go.”
Every SINGLE time we come back to Nimue:
Me: okay, booooooring.
Obviously, they’re going with the traditional representation of Bors as a brash lout. Eh. Why.
Can I have Bors played by Tom Hopper, please. He was a good Percival, but I'd like to see him play a surprisingly FUNNY and GENTLE and SMART Bors. Twist the traditional representation.
Ah yes.
Cursed: LOOK AT US, WE'RE SO ENLIGHTENED AND SUBVERSIVE AND DIFFERENT that we're going to have the guy save the girl the same way 90% of all fantasy saves occur.
Much impressed.
I mean, TELL her, Arthur, yes please. She didn't think, that's the problem. She just reacted with the sword. I get she’s a teen, but come ON, why must every single teenager ever—male or female—react with impulsive emotion. Not every single teen in the world always reacts with emotion first.
Well, this heroine rant is like every other YA fantasy heroine guilt-trip rant I’ve ever seen. I get being sad and emotional and being guilt-stricken because of how events have fallen out, but really on the wording? Really.
Arthur: “And I'm not a cutthroat.”
And his head tilt. That's cute.
Arthur is genuinely likeable so far, which is /good/.
Also nice to see the guy taking care of the girl solicitously for once instead of the other way around. I do appreciate that.
And here we have the OH SO ORIGINAL trope where the heroine was bullied as a child and 'oh you made the village boys pay romantic attention to you with your magic' backstory.
REALLY.
REALLY NOW.
I'm absolutely positive I've got YA fantasy heroine bingo at least twice over by now.
Nimue’s mum: “When you were five years old, you faced a dark god alone in the ironwood and survived.”
Bingo again.
Let's play a game called: how many times can this show throw out a Game of Thrones reference/imitation?
IRONWOOD.
REALLY?
REALLY.
Here's the thing.
a) Game of Thrones did this already and called it the Godswood, and if you think people aren't going to see what you did there, you 100% have another think coming.
and
b) THE LAST TIME I CHECKED TRADITIONAL FAE LORE, iron KILLED and/or BURNED fae.
But THAT is what you unironically* called your SACRED WOOD THAT PROTECTS YOU????
*Only being 2 episodes in, maybe I'll find out later that it was/is an ironic name, but it suuuuuuure doesn't seem like it so far.
Nimue’s mum: “You are not some fragile maid, you are a warrior..."
Me: She's going to say 'and you are strong'.
Nimue's mum: "And you are strong."
Me: See, this isn't even fun. There's no challenge to this.
Also, YA fantasy trope bingo again.
Arthur: "It's a rare blade, I'm not sure I've seen its like."
AT LEAST THAT is a decent line. Normally, they say “I've never seen its like” with this awed tone, but he's just factually observing.
Cool, cool.
ARTHUR WITH THE SWORD.
I'm going to be an Arthurian geek for just a minute and revel in this.
I know there's more to this story. Much of it is dead boring. But I'm just going to enjoy this minute because //Arthur with the sword//.
I really did not expect to like this Arthur. He's nothing extraordinary yet, but he's fun. Without being a copycat of BBC's Merlin or King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. He's just a young knight (possibly a prince somewhere along the line??) who is genuinely caring, not super arrogant, and just a DECENT AND FUN GUY. So far.
Arthur: “I've seen a lot of lives wasted fulfilling the dreams of the dead.”
YES?
FINALLY?
SOMEONE SAID IT?
I'm here for this. Call out that fantasy trope that is all well and good in some doses but is basically THE FOUNDATION OF EVERY SINGLE YA FANTASY ARC EVER, and it's so annoying. Give us some VARIETY now and then.
Nimue to Arthur: “Spoken like a true mercenary.”
No, spoken like the only sensible person in the show so far, Nimue, you twit.
AW YEAH. YOU TELL HER, ARTHUR. She's shrugging off everything you say AFTER ASKING FOR YOUR HELP.
Geeeeez.
It’s so annoying when people do that.
Arthur: “Get an hour of sleep.”
Implied: Everything looks better after sleep + you’ll need your strength.
Me, who hates sleep: I feel so attacked right now.
...But he’s right.
Merlin is TOTALLY fantasy Haymitch.
Veiled Lady: “You told us the sword of the first kings was destroyed. You lied.”
Okay, so MAYBE Merlin's getting mildly interesting...but are they going to do a good job with it?
DOUBTFUL.
Veiled Lady: "This affects all of us, not just you. The fae are on the verge of extinction."
Um, THEN WHY EXACTLY ARE YOU DOING NOTHING ABOUT IT?
Is this another ‘we can’t bend the rules of heaven for mere earthlings’??
Veiled Lady: “If the church acquires the sword of power, then they will decide who wears the crown. Have you forgotten the words?”
Merlin: “Forgotten them? I WROTE THEM.”
Me: Okay, that's a good delivery.
Merlin: “Whosoever wields the sword of power shall be the one true king.”
Me: And a nice mocking accent on that, Oooh yeah, I like.
Merlin: “But I'm wiser now. There IS no one true king.”
Me: Huh. Now see, that's slightly interesting. Give me more of that.
Pretty sure they told Gustaf to model his Merlin on Starz Camelot's Merlin, “but make him fun and drunken.” He's got that whole Fiennes vibe going on, but also definitely fantasy Haymitch.
(Someone else on tumblr said Jack Sparrow, and I could see that one too, thought not as much yet. Where I am, Merlin doesn’t seem super keen on adventuring for the sake of adventuring. He has the bitter past and cynicism of Haymitch right now. Maybe he’ll get more Jack Sparrow-y as this goes on.)
MERLIN HAS NO MAGIC BECAUSE HE GAVE IT TO THE SWORD, okay, that right there is a GOOD element, and chock full of potential.
Especially his bitterness.
And his insistence that he won't touch the sword again.
Are they going to do a good job of using it?
Dollars to donuts, NO.
Ugh.
Veiled Lady: “I sense fear around the sword. But also great power.”
And here we have our Galadriel imitator.
Dang, I need TWO more bingo cards.
Veiled Lady: “The sword is finding its way to you, Merlin, but which end of the sword, the point or the pommel, is another question.”
Me: *snorts* Cute.
Merlin: "The sword was forged in the fae fires, and to the fae fires it shall return. I shall melt it back to its origins."
Let's play another game called: how many times can this show imitate LOTR?
Veiled Lady: "You are aware the fae forges burned out a thousand years ago?"
Yeah, cause Frodo and Sam destroyed Mount Doom, guys, go read your history.
Veiled Lady: “Oh dear.”
Veiled Lady: “Tell me you're not planning to steal from him. Without your magic.”
Merlin: “I still have my wits and my charm.”
Veiled Lady: “I fear you overestimate both.”
Ahem, the lady has a point.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
- Arthur is still interesting. That could change super quickly, but so far, I like him.
- The Monk is beautiful, and I'm so here for upcoming stuff I won't talk about, but also for his arc period and more interactions with Squirrel.
- Squirrel is cute, but nothing above the average so far. Still, better than almost anyone else on the show.
- Merlin has the potential to be intriguing, if only they use it.
- Obviously, I'm going to keep watching.
Footnote:
I saw spoilers today about the Monk’s arc, and I'm HERE FOR IT, so here, so beyond here for it, GIVE ME THAT RIGHT THE HECK NOW.
IT'S THE ONLY REASON I HAVE ANY EXCITEMENT FOR THIS SHOW RIGHT NOW.
THE WEEPING MONK
AS *SPOILER*
I.
CAN'T.
FREAKING.
WAIT.
#cursed netflix#this show is cursed all right#cursed with hideous writing#but Daniel is still bringing it#I'm here for the Monk and Arthur and Squirrel#yes this got longer than I intended#par for the course with my writing of any kind
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Ironwood Sucks as a General. You can’t change my mind. (Warning spoilers if you haven’t seen Vol 6 and Vol 7.)
Okay this has bothered me a lot and I don’t normally post but I felt this was needed. James Ironwood should not be a General. This isn’t just stemming from the sheer rage I feel for him as of the most recent episodes. This goes all the way to before Beacon fell. Right off the bat, Ironwood was way too dependant on one of his resources. Atlas Technology. He figured well nobody else has shown that they can keep up with him that must just mean that a threat doesn’t exist. Even a General in peacetime should prepare for what COULD happen. There should have been plans for WHEN somebody hacks the military not IF. (especially if all your systems are inner connected. That’s asking for trouble).
Then there’s his approach to the White Fang. He wanted to instantly make a show of his toys. Show everyone. (even the people of a foreign kingdom) Just what Atlas could do. he wanted to send his men (Yes I’m counting androids in his army.) in blind on enemy territory. You know what is often involved in wars? Maps. Even if you wanted a bomber run you still look at the area. Yes, it was Mountian Glenn and it was probably mapped out before. But if you say that an enemy has moved to a certain position you triple check EVERYTHING. A mountain is a big place. (Doesn’t do you any good to bomb the top of a mountain if your targets are living in caves at the base of it now does it?) Wars are won with two things. Resources and Information. You can have all the guns, dust, Megazords and nukes you want. But if you don’t know where your enemy is, or their basic command structure you won’t be able to put down an enemy for good. (How to win a war 101 dude come on)
Now that, that’s done let’s look at the Ace Ops. Five members of his inner sanctum. Each of them the “best” in Atlas. All of them loyal and filled in on what they are up against. Nothing wrong there. However, what were the criteria for how they were selected? Cause five soldiers that are best on their own don’t necessarily work the best on a team. Clover seemed to be a lurker. Watching the enemy and waiting for the right opening. Good thing for a leader to have. Harriet was the speedster. Her whole thing was hit fast and keep the opponent off their feet so they don’t get a chance to recover. Again nothing really wrong here, and if you pair her with just Clover they’d be the best for sure. Clover pointing out weak points for Harriet to hit would be a great strategy for those two to use. Next up is Marrow. His whole thing is freezing and essentially matrixing out of the way of his opponent’s attacks while also giving him time to land in his own blows. Pairing him with either Harriet or Clover would be an amazing idea. Then We have Vine and Elm. These two work well together on their own. Vine is a lot like Clover sits back and observes before making his move while Elm goes in and engages the enemy and exposes any weaknesses it may have that she couldn’t necessarily see/access on her own. However, there is a small problem with them. What happens if all five of this team aren’t present under ideal circumstances. Say for instance Vine and Clover where stuck working together on a mission that requires a hard hitter. I’m sure the two could take it down from a bit of strategizing and Clover’s Semblance working overtime, but that’s not a guarantee. Vine’s “reach” (for lack of a better term that I’ve seen for his semblance) and Clover’s weapon aren’t going to be effective against something like Cordovin's Mech, Same could be applied to Harriet and Elm in a situation that requires a softer touch. Harriet is impatient and figures if she can’t get touched she can't lose a fight. But what happens if she’s in a limiting area that doesn’t allow her area to run in. A tunnel with a dead-end perhaps, or the edge of a cliff where she can’t run anywhere, she doesn’t carry a weapon like a pistol or anything meaning she wouldn’t be much of a help to Elm, who is also more of a hazard. Elm’s weapon is meant to break things, add that with her semblance to make her nearly an immovable object. However, put her in a small confined space and she’s limited in what she can do. She could use her hammer to keep the enemy at bay but if it’s a close-range fight against someone like Neo who uses a bit of light footedness and a bit of mind games in a fight she doesn’t stand a chance. Marrow can work on his own solo, his semblance gives him the best chance to either take out his opponent or fall back and regroup after a few attacks don’t work. But add in multiple targets from multiple areas and he’s on his own. So Just because someone is loyal and good in one circumstance doesn’t mean that adding them to a group of four other strangers doesn’t mean that they’ll be the very best (like no one ever was) Cause guess what. As the mighty Qui Jon Jinn once said, “There’s always a bigger fish” which I think we can all agree. Salem is currently that said fish.
Next on the list is THE RELIC HE’S GUARDING! You know the one holding up Atlas. Seriously He had nothing guarding it. He just left the door completely exposed. HE EVEN HAD AN ELEVATOR BASICALLY TAKE YOU TOO IT! No identification needed. No security systems nearby to make sure that if somebody snuck in there like I don’t know Cinder (who snuck into your office) They could try and get the relic, or rig the place to blow so nobody could get access to its power and literally have Atlas crash into Mantle. Here’s an idea for you. HAVE ARMED GUARDS NEARBY AT ALL TIMES! Or better yet. Have your top of the class go and guard the thing the second you found out that Cinder is in Atlas. Cause A) you could have stalled for time for reinforcements to get there and just overwhelm her before she could even touch the door. B) it wouldn’t be easy to get to if you had a Winter Maiden go full Vader and Join Salem along with Cinder. C) you like showing the world your tech. Why not keep some of your best toys down there cause then no one would see it coming. D) It would stop anyone from getting access to it period. (you know like a farm boy you shot.) E) it makes a great hiding place for a particular Winter Maiden so you could move the relic if you had too. Plus you’d be in better control when it would come time for her to either give the powers willingly or rip them out and force them into your chosen warrior. (while also limiting her exposure to people in general).
Last but not least. His ideas of what he needs to do. He’s having issues dealing with the Grimm in Mantle. You want to know how you take care of that? Well, first you don’t arrest anyone that’s killing the Grimm that break into the cities. Then you send your resources to your defensive line. (You know like Robyn wanted you to do.)
Then you worry about contacting the other kingdoms. Yes, I liked the idea of a floating communications tower and using Amity was perfect considering all you had to do was some “basic” modifications, But it doesn’t do any good if everyone in the kingdom who is probably your workforce (Mantle) is dead or scared which are bringing in more Grimm.
Want to know what else would help limit the Grimm a bit... Not leaving the people who are technically your superiors and/or your equals in the total dark. People have questions genius. Give them what you can. This is not a situation where no news is good news. People are scared and want to know what you are doing to make them feel safe besides having a single robot flying around killing Grimm after they get past your shitty fortifications.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for coming to my TED talk/ Ironwood hate post. Here’s a picture I found that I hope you enjoy.
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The Actor vs The Colonel (A WKTC Story)
General Ironwood sat in his office, holding a chess piece and looked down at it, sighing and gently rubbing his head. He managed to get in contact with the ace ops along with team RWBY and JNR, but he’s, had no such luck getting in contact with William. Where was the colonel?
Meanwhile, William was down below, still helping with the evacuations and laughed loudly as he shot at Grimm and had peanut crush them with both his feet and trunk “BULLY! NOW, THIS IS A REAL BATTLE I HAVEN’T HAD THIS MUCH FUN IN YEARS! I am glad to finally have some action for once it’s so boring up in the city of atlas.”
As he was busy killing Grimm, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye the figure of a man running off without his shirt on he turned his head confused hopping off his goliath Peanut he whistled for Fluffy and jumped onto his back
“Peanut continue in killing other Grimm only come to find Fluffy and me if you need to be healed” the Goliath nodded, then rammed into an Ursa stabbing it and throwing it over it’s back.
“Fluffy climb onto the buildings and run across the tops of them, then jump down when I say ready.”
The beowolf alpha howled loudly before climbing up and running fast soon, getting ahead of the man William had seen once they were far enough forward. William shouted loudly, “DROP DOWN NOW!” And they dropped down in front of the stranger.
William looked at who it was in surprise and pulled out his pistol, holding it up and pointing it at his brother Mark.
“Well, well, isn’t this a horrible surprise the actor himself you're under arrest Mark, please come easily? I may hate you for what you’ve done in these recent years, but you are still my brother. I don’t want to hurt or kill you if I don’t need to.”
Mark laughed a bit and soon used some of the fresh blood from his still-healing wrists to create claws as his eyes flashed red “Oh if it isn’t atlas’s favourite colonel ah brother I would say it’s nice to see you, but it’s not nice to lie to your family” he sighed gently and looked away for a moment.
“That is one thing we still both have in common I hate being compared to you, but you are still my brother Will I don’t wish to hurt you if I have a choice, but you are standing in my way step aside, and we can both leave peacefully.”
he may have acted like he hated his brother, but in truth, despite the fact they are so different their still family, and he loved him dearly he honestly didn’t wanna hurt William the man was his own hero in some cases his eyes then turned to their natural blue
“please William I know we haven’t gotten along recently but honestly hurting you would hurt me” William sighed gently as he looked at Fluffy and lightly stroked his chin
“I am very sorry brother, but I must do what is best for atlas I’ve heard of what you’ve done, and I can not allow that to continue your coming with me one way or another ALSO WHY THE BLOODY HELL AREN’T YOU WEARING A SHIRT IT’S FREEZING YOU, STUPID BITCH!”
Mark laughed loudly, not an evil laugh a sincere laugh “IT MIGHT BE FREEZING, BUT THE WORLD DESERVES TO LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL BODY! Hmm, fine, I suppose we will need to fight, but may I have at least one request?”
William looked at fluffy and sent him off to go help Peanut but to also keep in eye on both him and his brother just incase whispering to him he then turned to face his brother and spun the barrel of his gun “and what would that request be Mark?”
Mark then got in a battle pose showing off his claws and smirked his eyes flashing back to the grey they almost always were “don’t ruin my pretty face” William chuckled “kinda hard since it’s the biggest target I’ve seen, but I’ll try” Mark smiled but then lunged forward slashing at him “thank you, Will.”
Soon after their fight began, William jumped back from Mark’s slash. He then fired his gun a few bullets hitting mark, causing him to groan in slight pain stomping his foot into the ground to stop himself from flying off because of the recoil his eyes then flashed red and spun himself around as fast as he could.
He then slashed at William, again and again, William trying to grab onto something as his aura caused his body to flash pink he soon punched forward, hitting him in the throat and then jumped up into the air and landed behind Mark. Jabbing him in the back with the handle of his gun, sending Mark to the ground, he quickly turned around. In contrast, on the ground kicking his brother roughly, William then did a summersault and landed back on his feet.
“JAZZ HANDS!” he waved his hands and laughed before loading his gun with a single diamond bullet and fired it right at his brother sending him into a brick wall of a building he then walked over slowly “you forget who I am Mark I’m not just your brother... MY NAME IS WILLIAM J. BARNUM OF ATLAS MILITARY!” he soon grabbed Mark by the neck and punched him in the gut over and over.
Mark groaned in pain, struggling a bit his causing his aura to flash red he groaned. He didn’t have much aura left. He would die because of his wrist wounds of he didn’t act fast. His aura was the only thing keeping him alive currently, he then looked down and slashed at Williams's chest, making him stumble back. He then grunted and put one of his feet against the wall and ran forward.
He ended up ramming his head right into the middle of Williams's chest, causing him to throw up and his aura to fail William then got up. He looked at Mark, who was bandaging himself up. He did look slightly worried, seeing the wrist wounds all the scars and such “Mark why do you keep doing that do yourself? Don’t you know how dangerous that is? Just because your aura can heal you doesn't mean you should injure yourself like this,” Mark groaned as he soon shook his head, “it’s the only way for me to use my semblance.”
William sighed as he held up his gun and turned on the taser “I don’t wanna be the one to end your life, and I know you can’t take much more you need your aura to heal you and if it runs out it won’t be able to please come with me peacefully” he then looked confused at his scroll and heard Ruby scream sounding worried
“GENERAL IRONWOOD IS DECLARING MARTIAL LAW AND ABANDONING MANTEL SALEM IS COMING, AND HE’S GOING TO USE THE STAFF TO MOVE ATLAS IF WE DON’T STOP HIM MANTEL IS GONNA BE DESTR” the message was cut off. At the same time, William was looking worried about the message Mark used this chance to slash him across the chest he looked shocked as he felt himself cut across the chest screaming in pain but not deep enough to kill him just enough to wound him sufficient enough so Mark could getaway.
Mark ran off but as he was turned to William, who looked at him with anger and shock, and he sighed, “I am sorry, Will” William got onto his knees and got into his bag and wrapped himself up fluffy ran over about to chase after Mark and William sighed.
“No, just let him go. We’ve got more important things to worry about” he soon got on the beowolf’s back “let's go get Peanut and get back up to atlas quickly.”
he soon saw the wanted posters for team RWBY, JNPR and Qrow and held his hand to his mouth gently crying “... I am not gonna let him do that to you, kids. Don’t worry, William is on his way.”
William and Fluffy went to get Peanut. Meanwhile, Mark went to get to a place and hide and let himself heal up. He would wait for orders from Salem now.
#rwby#rwby au#rwby fandom#who killed markiplier#who killed markiplier au#markiplier fandom#who killed team cordium#who killed team cordium au#crossover au#rwby volume 7#rwby volume 7 spoilers#rwby v7#rwby v7 spoilers#rwby 7#rwby 7 spoilers#general ironwood#general james ironwood#william the colonel#wkm william#actor mark#dark mark#fluffy the beowolf#fluffy the beowolf alpha#peanut the goliath#ruby rose
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Qrowin week day 3 (give it up for day three)
so yeah I wrote this now, it’s almost 2am and I gotta wake up early, who even reads this part anyways haha, enjoy
Scarf
It had been an hour since Tai and the entirety of team RWBY and… JNR(?) had left Winter and Qrows small festive home in the woods, the small cabin was built by the pair only 3 months previous. Winter had been completely turned off at the idea of any kind of shows of wealth or grandeur by her father, and Qrow never had much to begin with and liked this kind of small cozy nest like home.
2 years ago Winter had confessed to Qrow her true feelings, feelings that she was always taught to suppress through her life, but that was just it. When she was around Qrow she could let it all out, and she knew he could take it and wanted more.
Qrow had planned on confessing to her on that exact same day, and after a heated but regulated duel overseen by Ironwood who labeled it as a “training exercise” (both Qrow and Winter had spoken to him about their true intentions previously but unknown from one another)
The entire second floor was their bedroom completed by its own fireplace to match the one downstairs, a extremely re-enforced bed which its supports already showed signs of wear and tear, and a few end tables with lamps and the like, there was one closet where they both kept around 37 copies of the exact same every day clothing and about 3 extra clothing items for special occasions, with one dresser at the far end of the room next to the stairs.
The ground floor was wider and was made up of three rooms, the living room, which had chairs and a small couch surrounding the fireplace where a hearty fire was softly crackling, leftover wrapping paper from the guests earlier were glistening in the flickering light.
The other room was the small kitchen that smelled strongly of hazelnut and gingerbread
And of course a workroom filled with all sorts of odds and ends for the two to repair and tinker with their weapons.
Winter sat on the couch resting her head on Qrows shoulder, the firelight dancing on her face, she had never been happier in her entire life, right now she had no worries, no responsibilities, and could simply be at peace.
She snuggled closer to Qrow and let out a content hum
Qrow was more relaxed then he had thought humanly (or avianly) possible, It would almost be concerning for him if it weren't for the love of his life cuddling close by his side. He had always assumed because of his semblance that he would live alone somewhere, but as luck would have it, Winter didn’t mind a slip up here or there, as she put it It kept life interesting.
I wonder if she'll like it, he thought to himself. Winter wasn't exactly the easiest person to buy for, she hated anything overly extravagant or intricate except when it came to weapons. She also somehow knew exactly what to buy for Qrow, not once had she failed to deliver something he didn’t cherish to this day. For her, nothing in the world was good enough. That's why he decided not to simply buy anything, but to attempt to make it. He already knew how to sew as his cape managed to get torn to shreds every time a grimm got near him, not to mention back in the tribe it was how they kept themselves together, in just about every sense.
Winter stirred next to him, lifting her loving beautiful face so that they locked eyes
I never knew this was all I wanted Qrow, she sighed in peace. Just you and me, some peace and quiet, and all the time in the world just for us.
Qrow leaned in and gently pressed on her lips with his so they were eye to eye. Everything I ever dreamed about is currently two inches from my face and aaalllll mine, I agree, this is the life he said with his playful smirk.
That look was something that drove Winter wild, after their duel at Atlas when she confessed to him her feelings, he had used that same look before laughing, but not a cold cruel laugh like she was expecting at the time, but a warm loving laugh that told her everything she needed to know.
She leaned in and kissed him gently, slowly getting more aggressive with each passing second.
Qrow pulled back gasping for air, dang Ice Queen, your gonna suck the life outa me before the fun begins haha
Winter Blushed a deep scarlet red and pulled back off of him, You know I can't help it she giggled, Oh! Qrow I almost forgot. She said reaching behind the couch, Please open mine first, og but open the small one first! She said obviously trying to hide her excitement
Two of em Ice Queen? Must be a pretty special occasi… Qrow had been gingerly unwrapping the smaller gift to find a stuffed crow wearing a small cable knit sweater with a snowflake on it.
Qrow just stared at it for a moment taking in the idea of wearing this around the kingdoms when in bird form… yeah maybe around the house for Winters sake, but no one else could know
Qrow sighed and quickly turned into bird form noseing his way into the snugly fitting sweater
Winter covered her mouth with both hands to keep her explosion of laughter contained, she went red faced from the pressure and burst out in the most beautiful laughter Qrow had ever heard.
As he turned back to human form she gave Winter a playful sideways look, Only for you Ice Queen hehe, only for you
Winter finally gasped for air from her laughter and threw her arms around Qrow, I knew you’d look cute in it haha, she stated triumphantly, OOO now open the other one she said practically jumping up and down in her seat.
Qrow started unwrapping the small box carefully. He hadn't seen her that happy since they finished the house hehe
Under the paper the box was black with a red bow, as Qrow moved the bow out of the way and opened the box, he found a single bronze gear at the bottom, Last month in a battle with an extremely oversized Grimm that looked like a nevermore but with bladed wings, Qrow’s Scythe Harbinger had taken a hard blow shattering one near irreplaceable gear (the craftsman who had made the gears had died during a horrible grimm attack on his remote village, no other craftsman had yet been able to replicate this delicate piece) vital to its transformation, just his luck eh? Qrow would have been utterly emotionally defeated if it weren't for Winter,he spent a vast majority of his time searching for a replacement but found he was now stuck with only one form, at least until after the holidays.
For the first time in a long time Qrow felt his eyes water up a little bit. Winter noticed this and wiped them away and looked him dead in the eyes. Now you better not have gotten rusty over this last month, she cooed, We can’t have a under practiced bird prot… OOF… before she could finish Qrow had rushed in and given her a long deep kiss.
How did you even, he started but was cut off by Winter placing a finger to his lips, It’s my secret, she said with a devilish smirk, and you'll have to try MUCH harder to get that out of me tonight, she said in a slow seductive tone.
Qrow felt his mouth water a bit at the thought but quickly brushed away the thought as he reached behind the couch and pulled out his seamingly meger gift for her, he knew it would pale in comparison to the lengths she had gone to, but he hoped with all his heart she would at least like it.
Winter slowly examined the long flat rectangular box, it almost seemed weightless.
Qrow watched nervously as she started pulling the lid off the box, her eyes widened as she looked inside.
Winter pulled out a long obviously handsewed Light and dark blue scarf with snowflake inlays almost identical to her glyphs, at the center of each glyph was a small image of a black crow, inlaid in the background of the scarf were beautiful depictions of small villages and at the opposite end of the scarf was a picture of the arena where she had confessed to him, At the center was a note.
You are all I am, my beautiful snowflake
The other side of the scarf was bland and seemed to fit the military dress code matching her uniform, It was carefully tailored to blend in with her Jacket without detracting from the uniformity of the military
Winter felt a large mass of tears well up in her eyes before she started full on crying, all manner of grace and order lost
Qrow gave her a huge hug, regret building up in his chest, He knew it was too much, he knew it would remind her of her childhood, all this dark thoughts building up in his mind caused him to start to shake, until winter placed her hands on his cheeks and looked at him through teary eyes,
Did you make this? She asked through tears
Yeah… Qrow said roughly, he couldn’t meet her eyes
Winter pulled him into a passionate kiss completely upending Qrow causing them to both fall over into the couch.
Qrow, Winter said, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen…. When did you learn to.. She was stopped by Qrow with that same playful look in his eye, all negative feelings gone in a flash, he placed one finger on her lips and seductively said, Well I guess you’ll have to try MUCH harder to get that out of me Ice Quee...nn… he trailed off, he was met with the most longing and starving look Winter eyes had ever betrayed, like a cat about to pounce
He was instantly tackled tackled by Winter
It would be a great night after all
-------------
OOF IT’S 1:45 NOW AND I HAVE TO WAKE UP EARLY
Hope you all enjoy, I just keep writing so I guess we'll see if it lets me post it all
This is my third ever fic, Just figured Id write it now just in case I lose motivation again
HAPPY QROWIN WEEK
#qrowin#qrowinweek#qrowinweek2018#qrow branwen#rwby qrow#qrowinfest#winter schnee#rwby#day three#give it up for day three#snowbird#snowbirds#Rubys uncle
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The Remnant Branches
CH. 6 - The Woe of the Wretched
Part 2: The Love of a Friend
With a proper weapon, Ironwood ventures into the the depths of the Junk heap with a father named Nier and the book he appears to be married to. He finds more than just mere automatons though...
AO3 Link
“What you see before you is The Iron Will.” explained Weiss.
“You know about that weapon?” James asked, surprised.
“It would be wise of you to think more highly of me.” suggested Weiss. “But yes, I do. Supposedly, it absorbs the flesh, blood, and bone of its victims. It can also allegedly absorb other metals as well. In that process, it gets heavier and stronger.”
“Hey, that’s kinda like you Weiss.” Nier told Weiss.
“I suppose, but no mere blade can compare to Grimoire Weiss!” he announced proudly. Ironwood started to think he should be thinking more highly of the book.
“So, what do you think?” Jakob asked him. James studied the weapon. Iron Will, he thought to himself. It was incredibly long, and incredibly sharp now. He figured it could slice through the toughest grimm with ease, in part thanks to its weight. Its old metal that was stained red seamlessly merged with the fresh silvery fix. It looked crude and was far too heavy to be practical to most, but it was worthy of any competent huntsman who was strong enough to wield it.
“You did a wonderful job. Keep up the work, and people from all over will come to you to upgrade their weapons.” James told him.
“You mean it?”
“I mean it.” and he did mean it. If only the kid knew who was really giving him such praise. With that, he made his way out the door, just as the younger brother, Gideon, made his way in.
“Ready?” asked Nier.
“As ready as I can be.” he replied. With a nod, they made their way to the entrance of the factory.
“Since you’ll be with us for the time being, would you care to tell us your name?” questioned Weiss as they walked.
“You can call me Ironwood.” he told them.
“Ironwood and Iron Will… What an odd coincidence, don’t you think?” asked Weiss.
“Odd indeed...” Iron Will . In retrospect, he thinks that The Iron Will would have been a good name for his semblance. His semblance was an ability to defy and surpass the logical way of the world. It was a semblance that was almost entirely passive, like Qrow’s Misfortune.
It was Willpower: the might to make one's vision a reality. This powerful ability to make the illogical, logical, came with a dire drawback. The more his Willpower was up against the odds that dictate reality, the more aura it would require. And if what he willed was so illogical, it would cost him aura that would never regenerate. He learned that the hard way once when he was young, and thankfully it was a minor loss. This might of the semblance and its drawback was tested and reaffirmed once more with his accident.
His semblance proved useful when he was younger, when what he wanted was a simple, better life. As he grew up, he desired to give others a better life as well. He didn't want people to suffer as he had. It was only human to want that, right?
He learned that a key to a better life was power, but power was more than just physical strength. Strength was just one variable in the equation that was power. He had no one to guide him, no one to show him just how to obtain the power to make his desire come true. All he had was his own will, and what a mighty will it was.
-
“So, where are you from?” Nier asked as he leaned on the kart as it slowly moved across the tracks.
“Hmm? Oh, I’m from a place far from here. It’s called Atlas.” he said. He was looking down into the depths below when Nier got his attention. It was so deep, it was pitch black. He just hoped the old cart and rails would hold the two of them.
“What’s it like over there?”
“It’s...” he hesitated, not wanting to reveal he was from a whole different universe. “Just like any other place, full of people and its own problems.”
“If it is anything like here, please don’t let this man go there. He insists on helping out every stanger we run into who has an issue that needs resolution, no matter how small.” Weiss complained.
“What? They need something done, I take care of it, and they pay me.”
“Hmph, you are too kind for your own good, stubborn man. No matter, we have company.” Weiss said as he noticed the machines manifesting. To Ironwood’s amazement, they began to pour from the walls, fully capable of fighting, and now equipped with projectiles. The projectiles were slow, large spheres of energy. It still amazed him how the automatons seemed to have unlimited energy. As Nier and Weiss took care of the front, he took care of the rear. The Iron Will made a good shield thanks to its sheer size, so with it, he blocked the projectiles and downed any machines that strayed too close.
Glancing back now and then, he could see the Grimoire at work once more. It was shooting out its seemingly limitless supply of dark energy as Nier struck anything that came close enough. They made a good duo, he thought. It had been so long since he worked with a partner, but James figured it was easier to be alone. Soon, the flying machines began to thin out and they neared the end of the tracks.
“So, I take it you’re the local hired hand. How long have you been doing that for?” Ironwood asked as they exited the kart.
“About five years, I think. Before that, I was a nomad traveling with my daughter, Yonah. But, her Black Scrawl became too much, and I was lucky enough to meet Devola and Popola. They helped us settle down in the village.”
“Black Scrawl?” Ironwood asked, curious.
“Perhaps it is known by a different name where you are from.” Weiss suggested.
“It’s the disease that causes some strange black letters to appear on your body. There isn’t any cure yet. ” Nier explained with a saddening expression.
“But, there is medicine that can help ease its effects.”
“Expensive medicine. … And speaking of Yonah, she said Weissy promised her a story.” he teased.
“Bah! As long as she doesn’t ask me to be her cookbook. Anything but a cookbook.” Weiss shuttered. “I hate cookbooks. But, if we find one, we should get it for her. I’ll be willing to be in the presence of one if it so helps her cooking skills.”
“If she’s anything like her mom, it won’t help unless its about bread.” he said, not looking forward to having to eat her food again.
“Sound rough being a father.” Ironwood commented.
“Yeah, but I love her, she’s my daughter. I’d do anything for her.” he said solemnly. James did not doubt him. Already, he had been nearly electrocuted at least a dozen times, almost blew himself up, and accidentally fell down one of the seemingly bottomless pitfalls, from which Weiss had to bring him back up.
James marveled at his tenacity. A parent’s love was indeed powerful. He could understand why that is so. Its only natural for a parent to want to do all they can for their child. He knew that. However, he knew that a parent’s love was something he would never end up giving. Working with children was an inspiration. They gave him tremendous hope. But, working with them made him learn that he did not want to be a parent. And as a man many said was married to his work, he’d be too old to raise a child by the time he retired. If he retired.
Eventually, they reached a large room, which they got locked into. Again. Here, they ran into more P-33 models. When James first saw them, he wondered how the factory was able to upkeep the production of them, and then just started to assume it was magic. It was the only logical answer, all things considered. They looked like the stereotypical robot toy a child would have: retangular, boxy body, glowing eyes, and lanky. The difference was that these were much larger, and very deadly.
He had wondered less about the energy source, and began to wonder more about how they worked. There was always another way to power something, but only a few ways, at best, something could work as desired. They seemed to be entirely automated, performing the same actions over and over. They were no advanced AI. They were predictable, but effective at keeping their enemies busy. They would be good for fighting grimm..
However, they were met with something they did not expect. Once the P-33s and other automatons were cleared out, the door did not unlock like it should have.
THREAT DETECTED. a speaker from somewhere announced. TO ENSURE THAT KALIL IS NOT HARMED, YOU MUST NEVER RETURN, OR YOU WILL BE TERMINATED.
“Who the hell is Kalil?!” Nier shouted.
KALIL IS MY FRIEND, AND YOU WILL NOT HARM HIM. THIS IS YOUR WARNING TO NEVER RETURN. stated the robotic voice.
“Grimoire Weiss will not be ordered around by some automaton! I will do as I please!”
“Yeah!” exclaimed Nier.
Ironwood was also not willing to comply, as he still had to find more information on the machines, but was too late to voice his opinions. The ground opened up beneath them, and fell to a platform below. Ironwood’s aura broke upon hitting the ground, and got up with a grunt. He looked around to see where Nier was, but did not find him until he looked up. He was hanging onto Weiss for dear life as they floated down. He let out a sigh of relief once he touched the ground.
“Thanks Weiss.” Nier said.
“I have accomplished more difficult tasks.” he replied, “And it appears as if we will have to accomplish one more.” In the round room, a pair of giant hands emerged.
“Intruders detected. Activating Defense System Geppetto.” stated a feminine automated voice. And then, a giant robotic head appeared, situated on the wall between the hands.
SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND! KALIL TAUGHT ME THAT LINE! Happily shouted the robotic voice. With that, the machine beamed to life.
“Shit.” Ironwood let out, very concerned.
From a finger on each hand came out a laser that began to track them. It followed in suit, but was fortunately, it was slow enough to where it would not touch them so long as they kept on moving. For a moment, it stopped its attack, and on the other side of the platform, he saw Nier and Weiss charge an attack. In mere seconds, an array of lances materialized, and were sent flying in quick succession at a hand, doing a decent amount of damage.
This time, the machine began to charge all of its lasers. Unsure of what would happen, Ironwood placed the Iron Will in front of him, hoping it would protect him from the onslaught. He was very grateful when it did. It swept across the area with incredible power and speed that put any Atlesian tech to shame. The lasers had knocked Ironwood back by at least a fourth of the platform. Nier, however, was not able to react quick enough and was sent flying off the platform, but thankfully managed to hang onto the ledge.
While he struggled to get himself up, Geppetto set forth another attack. It used a pair of lasers once more, but this time, it tracked only him. It was then Ironwood had an idea. He quickly ran towards the edge.
“Keep on hanging to the ledge! Don’t get up yet!” he shouted.
“Are you crazy!?” Nier yelled. “We’ll be sitting ducks!”
“Trust me!” As fast as he could, Ironwood dropped down, holding onto the edge. “I think we have to be on the platform for it to detect us.” he said just loud enough so Nier could hear him. For a moment, they waited, and did not hear the defense system charge up for another attack.
“Intruders not detected. Withdrawing Defense System Geppetto.” stated the voice as the deadly machine descended. Nearby, they could see a walkway emerging, connecting to the platform. Quickly, they got up, and ran to safety. Once in an empty, automaton-free hallway, Ironwood sank to ground, breathing heavily as he sat. Meanwhile, Nier was bent over, his hands on his knees, also catching his breath.
“Damn.” Nier huffed out, “Smart thinking back there.”
“Agreed. I would much rather have to face that monstrosity when you two are more prepared.” Weiss told them.
“So you do care.” Nier teased.
“Ugh.” Weiss said, lovingly annoyed. “Let us leave then, for the time being at least.”
“I’m right behind you Weiss. Damn it's been a long day.” he exhaled as he stretched his arms and legs.
“You two can go on without me. I’m going to stay down here to do some more research.” Ironwood told them.
“You think you could do us a favor then? Er, well, more for those kids.” Nier explained.
“What is it?” Ironwood asked.
“While you were waiting on the sword, Jakob’s brother asked us to see if his mom is down here.”
“Oh.” he said quietly. “Of course. I’ll do my best while I’m down here.”
“Good luck then, stay safe.”
“And to you too.” he said with a slight bow. With that, they went their separate ways.
-
Ironwood was very happy. He managed to find a control room, and in it, a computer with the information he so desired. He thought he would have to spend probably his whole week transferring the information manually, but it surprisingly was able to detect his scroll, thus allowing him to transfer the information on machines with relative ease.
Scanning through some of the files, he learned that his assumptions about the machines were true. They were mere automatons, following through a set of predetermined code. Nothing too special.
All sorts of information on the world prior to the apocalypse and magic was also found. Ironwood discovered that it was a world somewhat similar to Remnant in terms of technology. However, the lot of it looked different and ran on different sources of energy. It lacked semblances, dust, and faunus. And also unlike Remnant, it had seemingly countless cultures and languages. What it did share with Remnant was war and cruelty. It was all filled with so much hate. And yet, love still existed too.
But if information on machines made him happy, information on androids made him ecstatic. Some were once stationed around the world, along with magically enhanced humans, to eliminate a threat ominously known as The Legion. There were also other androids set to perform a variety of other duties.
Video footage showed some of them fighting eerily human looking figures. The main difference between it and a human was that it was entirely colored a grotesque white. Despite their human appearance, they were anything but. One unfortunate android was caught off guard, and was swiftly torn to shreds. The Legion fought with the force of a god, and Ironwood was glad his world did not have to deal with them. Although they had less variety than grimm, they made up for it in raw, sheer power. They were something that even Salem could perhaps come to fear.
As for the impressive and valiant androids, they wielded an array of weapons, from melee to ranged, large to small. They all wielded the weapons with ease and expertise that only the precision of a machine without technological parallel could achieve. Melee weapons could even be moved without being touched. A wave of the hand or an arm movement would result in a fallen enemy that was yards away.
They could also seemingly be summoned at will, but those special weapons always had a glowing circle of unknown script around their handle. To his delight, there was lots of information on these androids.
However, movement on a nearby camera feed caught his attention. The shadowy figure appeared to be small and humanoid. It sat down and pulled its knees to its chest. A shade. He had fought some earlier, and thought they were odd. Like grimm, they were shadowy beasts that were hellbent on destroying humanity.
However, unlike grimm, they could literally appear out of thin air, and bleed. Also unlike gimm, shades had an unnatural looking, neon yellow texture that would shimmer across their body from time to time in certain places. It was unsettling seeing the book devour their blood, and eerie that The Iron Will seemed to soak in the blood like a sponge, getting heavier just as Weiss stated.
This shade, however, seemed different. All it did was stare at a closed door. The screen showed that it detected sound and Ironwood tuned in onto it as fast as he could.
I REMEMBER THIS PLACE. The P-33 stated. James was surprised to hear it utter a phrase that didn’t involve a threat on his life. The shade replied to it, and even more surprisingly, subtitles for its garbled noises were displayed.
Mhmm. Its where we first met.
ELEVEN MONTHS, FOUR WEEKS, TWO DAYS, TWENTY-THREE HOURS, AND FIFTY-NINE MINUTES. … ONE YEAR AGO.
That’s also about the time when my mom was killed.
YOU WERE VERY SAD THEN. AND YOU ARE SAD RIGHT NOW TOO. The machine sat down too, holding a hand out for the small shade to climb into. Once in its palm, the shade resumed its position.
I am sad right now. Very sad. But, I’m not as sad thanks to you. Thanks for being there for me Beepy.
YOU’RE WELCOME KALIL. IT’S WHAT BEST FRIENDS ARE FOR. WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR HER?
Yeah.
Ironwood couldn’t believe it. Not only was this shade obviously not a monster, which had terrifying and murky implications, but this machine was no mere automaton. He was dumbfounded that the autonomous weapon could even make a friend. No one programs a weapon with friendship in mind. He thought.
He also then realized that this must be the machine that sent them to fight the defense system. How it gained control over it was unknown to him. The shade was a curiosity, but he knew his mission, and knew that Qrow and Glynda were covering the front on shades.
The shade had begun to cry, and Beepy brought the child-shade in closer to comfort it. And there, they stayed.
Thank you Beepy. I feel better now.
I THANK YOU TOO KALIL. I’M GLAD I MET YOU.
You’re welcome.
… I AM UNSURE IF THIS APPLIES, BUT AS MY BEST FRIEND, I WANT YOU TO KNOW I LOVE YOU.
Of course it applies silly! Best friends can love each other, and you’re my best friend, and I love you too! The shade jumped up and down in the robot’s palm, to which it lifted up so Kalil could embrace it at the side of its head.
The love of a friend… That was something James believed he could feel. It was lonely at the top, but he managed to find some hope of friendship. Glynda was a woman as stern as himself, but still very understanding and kind. They had nice chats now and then. Ozpin was a fellow headmaster, so they had lots to talk about with each other. While much of it was work related, it still felt personal enough. Winter, even if she was his subordinate, cared for him on a personal level. He cared for her in kind. Her personal matters with her family were usually a sore topic, but their work gave them enough to talk and chat about.
Qrow was an absolute drunk and very annoying, more often than not. However, he was more caring than he let on. They had shared a drink or two on a few occasions during some downtime, and James found that he could be tolerable. It was nice to have someone talk to him like he was a fellow human being, and not some terrifying, heartless work machine general, even if Qrow could be a little shit. But, that’s just how friends were sometimes.
Love for one’s friends. Ironwood believed he could perhaps feel that someday. He considered that he could already be feeling such a love.
-
We give the cry of life. Hot iron forms our body. Steel hammers temper our shape. The dim light of the forge and sparks of steel watch over us. We are the iron will. Born of the thundering roar.
For all life, there is death. The Iron Will is no exception. A baby is born crying. The Iron Will was born with a plea to live, a prayer to be strong. The gods answered his prayer, and he was given a mighty will unmatched. However, the gods are cruel.
Little does The Iron Will know the price he paid.
#James Ironwood#rwby#nier#the remnant branches#the woe of the wretched#3.5k words#some day i will write 15 essays#each about the stories of my favorite drakenier weapons#now that i think about it#rwby weapons need weapon stories#maybe i'll do that some day
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Taiyang Reacts To: RWBY Volume 2
Episode 1
Taiyang: Yeah HA! That’s my little Rosebud!
Episode 2
Taiyang: ... I don’t like that Cinder girl...at all...
Episode 3
Taiyang: That Jaune guy kind of reminds me of myself when I tried dating Raven...except he has been punched in the face yet.
*Narrows eyes*What kind of friend....?
You poor gir-robo-android-person...
Episode 4
Taiyang: *Growls* Yang is off limits, blue hair. Same goes for you, Juinor.
... Why did I never hear about this on the news?
Impressive teamwork...almost as good as STRQ was.
Episode 5
Taiyang: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a freshman that powerful before...Outside of daughters of course.
Ah yes the old dance. Never did go to many of those, not real good around a lot of people. Although I do remember one time I went with Summer: there was
some nice slow music playing, Raven just punched me again before ditching me so I was hiding out at the punch bowl drowning my sorrows with some tasty fruit punch when Summer came up next to me, was trying to get away from all the guys asking her out. I remember her being so stressed from all the attention she was getting: why wouldn’t she? Pretty, kind, smart, gentle. Anyway, I didn’t want both of us to be sad so I grabbed her hand and lead her onto the dance floor and began dancing with her. Even though that didn’t work, I tried every terrible pun I had, even pulling out a few of my patent “making Qrow eat crow” ones. She finally smiled, placed her head on me and we danced for the rest of the song before returning back to the dorm. You know, Summer was always really close to me afterwards...Oh my Oum...
Blake was it? Sometimes, you need to just stop, gather yourself and recover before acting. Take it from a guy who has taken so many hits in the past, you need to allow yourself to recover.
Episode 6
Taiyang: And I’ll be snapping those heads back.
... Seriously Yang, a lazer pointer? *Sigh* you’ve been around Qrow for too long.
Jaune, sometimes the girl you’re after...isn’t the one for you. Although I am glad to have been allowed to love Raven as long as I did...I can’t help but wonder if I gone after Summer instead...
*Wipes away tears* I am so proud of you Yang...
Oh rosebud, you look so beautiful....
Episode 7
Taiyang: Ah yes, the old “hiding at the punch bowl” tactic: Indeed a favorite of the socially awkward.
... Oum it’s like looking into the past.
I like Jaune
Man, fighting formal wear is hard! ... DOn’t ask how I know that.
Episode 8
Taiyang: I’m still proud of you Ruby...
Wow Ironwood, you really own up to your namesake.
Yeah, I’ve been stuffing things in places they don’t belong for years!
Qrow: I can vouch for that!
Please protect my children Bart....
Episode 9
Taiyang: Getting Ruby to get Brussel spourts was truly my greatest accomplishment.
It’s also ONE OF THE DEADLIEST PLACES IN REMNANT!
... Ruby, we are so having a talk about bringing pets into warzones
when you get home.
Fucking hate Goliaths. Me and everyone fought a baby one once: broke about half the bones in my body.
Episode 10
Taiyang: Yeah, doesn’t feel so nice being kept in the dark huh? Not knowing what is happening, what is causing it or why? Welcome to my life.
Blake. Let me tell you about Semblences. My Semblence is a lot like my daughters’: In order for it to work, I must take damage. And for each blow I take, that’s a blow I can either resist or dodge latter. For each attack I get, I can use that pain to move faster and take more. It means I can either stand my ground and protect my comrades...or that I can run away without worrying about being caught or harmed. A Semblence means what you let it mean: you can do so much more than run away. I know for a fact.
RUBY! (STarts hyperventilating) BART YOU BETTER SAVE HER!
Episode 11
Taiyang: OH THANK OUM ABOVE! I really thought Rubyw as in da-(Sees Torchwick and the White Fang shooting at Ruby) WHAT THE HELL?!
Yes, Head back to Vale and inform the authorities-WHY ARE YOU BOARDING A MOVING TRAIN?! Well, at least things can’t get wor-WHY ARE THERE GRIMM?!
Yang, when you are facing an agile opponent like that the best thing to do is aim for the legs, limit their mobility and rob them of their advantage. I know I have told you this so WHY ARE YOU STILL TRYING TO PUNCH HER?!
Oh Oum, please no. Please no, no no no no. Please in the sake of everything holy, PLEASE SPARE MY DAUGHTER!
... Raven?
Episode 12
Taiyang: Oh dear Oum, there’s so many Grimm.
Oh thank you JNPR! Thank you Ironwood! Thank you...team I have never seen before.
Believe me, I know stories don’t have neat endings...like why was Raven there? Why did she leave Yang behind? Why save her then abandon her? And why is my children always in the middle of danger?
Something bad is going to happen...I can feel it...I’m so scared...Please let my children be safe...
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The Remnant Branches
CH. 6 - The Woe of the Wretched
Part 1: The Iron Will Renewed
The first part of James' adventure into the world of NieR. At a mountain of junk, he befriends a young teen and helps him out. In return, he is given The Iron Will. The apt weapon is restored to its former glory with the help of a father who travels with a talking book.
AO3 Link
At first, Ironwood declined the invitation to join in on a mission to another world. As exciting as it sounded, he knew he had work to do in his own world. Besides, it was nothing truly urgent, and Qrow and Gynda were already going. They would see the mission through well enough. He knew that.
However, since the invitation, the council and his home kingdom had been frustrating him to seemingly no end. They all severely underestimated him. Though few even saw the full extent of the damage of his accident, many still viewed him as too weak to be the leader he must be. At every opportunity, someone was ready to question him.
He may have been seriously hurt, but it hadn’t stopped him for long, relatively speaking. He was back in his office taking care of paperwork as soon as the doctors let him. Hell, he had been filing through papers on his hospital bed as soon as he could think straight. Ironwood was not one to be held back so easily.
What bothered him the most was not his people doubting him, he would show them just how strong their leader was in time, but the tabloids. He was used to their slander and outlandish conspiracies, but hearing that they were saying that he was still mourning over Watts , and that that was the cause of his accident, infuriated him.
Anyone who knew either of them knew they absolutely hated each other ever since they broke up all those years ago in their academy days. Had it not been for their positions and professionalism, they would have been screaming back and forth at each other. Back then, it would have escalated into a fight, an absolute riot to any of the other students fortunate enough to see it. Who wouldn’t have wanted to see the top two students, who were also bitter exes, duke it out?
Despite all this, some people actually believed the tabloid, and it was only a matter of time before he snapped. It happened at a council meeting, away from the press, thankfully. A council member had dared to suggest he still needed time to recover, and implying that his accident and Watts’ death had taken a toll on him. On the outside, he kept his cool. On the inside, he was cussing this man out.
“You know what? You’re right. I do need some time off.” he said calmly and slowly as he got up from his seat. “You all know the protocol for when I use my vacation days. I’ll have Winter update you on my whereabouts.” he said curtly. With long strides, each step echoing through the room, he exited through the doors, quietly closing them behind him.
“Is everything alright sir?” Winter asked, surprised he was out so soon.
“Everything is just fine .” he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Ugh, arrange a flight to Vale Academy please.”
“Of course General.” she saluted and turned down a hall. Once she was gone, he brought out his scroll and messaged Ozpin.
Does your offer still stand?
Yes, but if I were you, I’d hurry. Magic is a fickle thing.
I can assure you, I’ll hurry.
-
“So why the change of heart, General Ironwood?” Ozpin asks once they settle into his office.
“Please, just call me James, or even Ironwood. We can drop the formalities here. But,” he began, first taking a swig from his flask, “I’m sure you can understand that running a kingdom involves a lot of stress.”
“Rest assured, I do James. But there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” he questioned. It was always difficult, near impossible, to get anything past the man.
“There’s always something more, but it isn’t anything that won’t come to pass.” It was a lot to unpack, so Ironwood just decided to throw away the whole suitcase. It was just much easier that way. “So, a mission to another world?” James was thankful Oz didn’t press any further.
“Yes, a world where the sun doesn’t set, or rise, where beasts of shadows that aren't grimm exist. Overall, it’s less advanced than our world.” Oz explained.
“Overall?”
“There exists technology that rivals, and even surpasses our advancements, but, it is rare, or has decayed. I believe it is what remains of a society that mysteriously vanished somehow. I wonder if… No. That’s irrelevant. Anyways,” Oz said with a dismissive wave, “if the portal is still open, I want you to see if you can find some of it.”
“Alright. Sounds easy enough, but I’m guessing it won’t be. Hardly anything is ever easy. Should we get going?”
“Yes, but I wouldn’t advise wearing white on this trip.” Ozpin told him
“Of course. White is a hard color to keep clean.”
“That, and you would severely stand out.”
-
James looked in the mirror as he stood in his boxers. He was bothered at what he saw. He saw a man of half metal, and half flesh. But that was not what bothered him. It never did. It was still his body, no matter what it was made of. It would serve the same purpose as the flesh that came before it, and perform better in some aspects at that. To James, the robotics and flesh that was his body, were both just mediums that ultimately fulfilled the same functions, both different means to the same end. There wasn’t any reason to get worked up about that, even if others sure thought otherwise.
What bothered him was something that always bothered him. What he saw was someone on the verge of being a machine, certainly not because he was a cyborg, but because a core of humanity was so foreign to him. Atlas was a shining example of society as a well oiled machine. However, its people used love to keep themselves from fully assimilating to machinery, used love to keep themselves human. Even the scum of society loved.
But Ironwood, Ironwood did not think he loved. He had never felt it, after all, even if he would have liked to. No one is perfect, so he’ll consider it one of his flaws. A human is supposed to love, after all. But, a human is also supposed to hate. He wasn’t sure he could hate either. Could that be considered a flaw? Yes, there are many things he disliked, but hated? Like how the grimm hated humanity? No. Hate and Love are one in the same, but also opposite of each other. This, he could tell you.
He could also tell you that love can be felt for more than just another person. It could be felt for a pet, a hobby, a plant, and even a concept. But, he could not understand those kinds of love anymore than he could any other type of love. He had a keen interest in astronomy, but it did not fall into the territory of love. At least, he didn’t think so.
He could also tell you that just once in his life, he wanted to feel love, to give it and receive it, and know that he is human, not a machine fulfilling a mere purpose as needed. But, he would never tell anyone that. At the very least he believed he was human, and that belief was good enough for him. It had to be good enough, so, it was.
He finished changing into the simple clothes Ozpin left for him. Of course, they weren’t tailored, of course, but fit as well as untailored clothing could. James was sure the sturdy but breathable clothing would do just fine. It’s not like Oz would give him clothing inappropriate for the mission. Then again, they both almost settled on a vacation button up and some shorts.
With that, he went to Oz who was waiting for him at the hangar for the last of the briefing. There, he learned that his best chance to find the advanced tech was at a place known as the Junk Heap.
“And if worst comes to worst James, there’s a nice beach side town to relax at nearby. I know you will do as you will, but take it easy, for yourself.”
“Naturally.” James responded. He was happy that someone seemed to understand him, even just a little. “Well, thanks Oz.” He waved awkwardly as he stepped onto the carrier.
“Thank you too James. Stay safe out there.” Ozpin nodded. And so, the carrier took off. James had hoped he wouldn’t need a weapon. He had yet to get a replacement. But, still he felt a twinge of excitement.
-
Ironwood went from the dilapidated ruin to being launched face first into a rusty chain link fence. He was grateful he had his tetanus shot earlier that year. He bounced back and wiped himself off. Peering through the fence, he wondered how a mountainous heap of junk could be the home to incredible technological advancements, but didn’t doubt Ozpin, at least when it came to stuff like this.
“Oh, hello.” said a child, somewhere in his early to mid teens, from the other side of the gate. “Sorry about that. I was just about to open it.” he said with a light laugh. “Name’s Jakob.”
He held out his hand for the general to shake.
“Ironwood.” he replied, giving a firm shake in return. The teen’s hand was surprisingly rough.
“Well, if you’re here for iron, you’ve come to the right place. I’m afraid you won’t find much wood here, though.” Jakob joked. Ironwood did laugh a little.
“I’m alright with that. I’ve just come to learn about the machines here.”
“No offense, but not like that you are! They’re dangerous, and you need a weapon.” Jakob exclaimed. “Here,” he motioned with his arm, “follow me.” James obliged, willing to humor him. In the small home, James waited at a counter while the teen went off to get something.
“Here.” Jakob grunted as he laid a weapon on the counter. “It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.” It was what remained of a once powerful sword. Once he picked it up, he found it to be rather light. “Bought it from some fancy lady, but never really used it as much as I thought I would.”
“Thank you. I’ll be sure to put it to good use.” Inspecting it, the weapon was colored a red hue, but not a red like copper, or rust. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it. “You seem like you know this place well, Jakob. Any tips?”
“Concussive maintenance is the best way to deal with anything, especially machines, at least that’s what the big dude that stops by once and a while says. He’s always with a floating book. It looks creepy, so I never ask him about it.” he said, visibly shaken at having to remember the creepy, floating book. Ironwood chalked it up to a kid’s imagination. Ozpin didn’t mention any floating books to him, and it was such an outlandish thing. “But if I were you, I’d stick to the first floor for now. The deeper you go, the more dangerous the machines get.”
“And more complex, I assume.”
“The way they act and the power they hold, I think they would be. Here, take this map. It should help you around.”
“Thanks.” James said, making his way to the door out.
“Oh, wait!” he said, grabbing James’ attention. “While you’re down there, do you think you could gather these things for me? It'd be a HUGE help.” He held out a list, with a small picture of the item next to its name.
“Sure. I don’t see why not.”
“Thanks mister. Good luck!” he waved as Ironwood left the small home.
Upon entering the heap, he saw that it was held up by rusted iron. However, it soon gave way to yellowed artificial lighting and mass-produced, but sturdy tiling. There, he encountered his first machine.
It was rather large and bulky, but obviously old. Its industrial yellow paint was especially worn down at its edges. Despite its apparent age, it seemed to be running smoothly. A rotating sensor on top of it seemed to have sensed him up, and the red alarms on it came to life as it charged towards him.
And despite its rather large size, it didn’t seem dangerous, until the fangs of electricity cackled out in front of it. Quickly, James dodged it and maneuvered behind it, slashing at its backside. However, that only dented it, chipping off the paint where he hit, revealing the metallic texture beneath. It turned surprisingly quick, and charged its taser, aiming at him with accuracy that surprised James. The machine seemed so rudimentary, like it should be inaccurate and inefficient, and yet, it wasn’t.
It charged towards him again, and this time, James only barely managed to dodge. He could feel the buzz static of the electricity in the surrounding air, and knew this thing could do some serious damage, especially to him.
Now knowing its reaction time, he quickly moved in and began to rapidly slash at it. He knew it was done for when he heard a whirring sound, and the machine began to act erratically. In an explosion of light, it sent scrap, oil, and other machine parts flying. James had shielded himself, only getting some oil on him.
He began to look at the scattered remains of the machine. If he were being honest with himself, he couldn’t get a grasp on what components went where, or how they worked. There was also no telling if something got destroyed in the small explosion.
However, he did find some of the things Jakob was looking for, and he also understood how the machines acted a little better. That would be useful for when he had to fight them again. And fight them again he did. He ran into about a dozen more by the time he reached the locked elevator.
The next step would be to go deeper, and hopefully find some blueprints or the like somewhere. Based on some of the piping and the appearance of what he could see of the building, it appeared to be a factory. If that were so, he figured that there must be a computer somewhere with information on how the machines were being built. In individual aspects, these automatons were inferior to Atlesian robots, but taken as a whole, these automatons were superior. Sometimes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This was such an instance, and James was determined to find out why.
As he walked back, he mentally took notes of his surroundings. Old, but still running somehow. He wondered just how long it had been running without human supervision, cause Jakob certainly wasn’t running the place.
Whatever it was, it was a miracle, considering none of the fresh machines that popped out of those tubes were defective, which meant the assembly process made no mistakes, or had a very good quality control system. How new materials were obtained were a complete mystery to him.
James also began to wonder more about Jakob. The kid was all alone here in this dangerous world. He could sympathize with that. Parentlessness was a life all too common in Remnant. It was one of many things he could hope to change
When he finally returned to the small home, he knocked on the door, but no one answered. So, he let himself in, muttering a hello as he entered. But, no one replied. He looked around, and saw nothing so he went past the counter to look around some more. He stumbled upon a room with a bed in it.
There was Jakob, lying down with another young boy beside him, probably a younger brother, maybe around seven or nine. He wondered why they were asleep when the sun was still up, but remembered that there was no day/night cycle in this world. The Kingdom of Day, a kingdom cast into eternal light, and The Kingdom of Night, a kingdom bathed in immortal darkness, according to Ozpin.
Tired as well, he quietly set the scrap down and grabbed a nearby chair. He felt bad for intruding, but he was too tired, and didn't really have another place to find some sleep. He hoped they wouldn’t mind. The chair was made of scrap, like most other things in the home, but at least the thing had a thin cushion on it. He slumped down, and got as comfortable as he could.
With half a metal body, comfort was less of an issue for him, even if it did have the latest sensory system. What mattered was that there was no menial paperwork, no sudden calls, and the calming hum of the Scrap Heap as it toiled at making machines. It was funny how he got some of the best sleep he had in a good while there in a cramped room on a chair made of scrap, in a world where the sun never set, and never rose.
-
Ironwood awoke to someone pounding on the door.
“See, I told you they would be asleep.” scolded a male voice. He sounded like he belonged at some stuffy party in high class Atlas, not here, surrounded by scrap and grime.
“Well forgive me for thinking otherwise, Weiss.” said another male voice. His voice was gruff, obviously belonging to an older man.
“How many times do I have to tell you? It is GRIMOIRE Weiss! Grimoire! Weiss! My name is to not be shortened.” corrected the voice. Ironwood could understand the sentiment. Weiss huh? Like Winter’s sister. Gently, he shook Jakob awake. He murmured as he rose up.
“I think you got some customers.” Jakob quickly shot up, and his little brother quickly followed in suit. Ironwood also made his way over, but was in no rush. He found it odd that he heard only one of the strangers enter.
He supposed it would be cramped with two of them in there, guessed the other must have been waiting outside, and thought nothing more of it. That was, until he saw the floating book. He could see firsthand that it did in fact look creepy. Its face only stared back, conveying no emotion but bored judgement. Aside from its alien-looking face, he found the book beautiful with its ornate metalwork and dark leather.
“How are you floating?” James asked in awe.
“Magic, of course!” he answered, looking James up and down, making him feel as if he offended the book.
“Yes, or course. How else would a book float.” he said sheepishly. Normally, he would stand his ground and remain firm. However, dealing with a floating book was very different than dealing with some pompous politician. And it seemed as if he struck a chord with the book, as it moved wildly and angrily as it yelled at him.
“BOOK!? I am no mere book you foolish mortal. I, the great Grimoire Weiss! I am an arcane text of incomparable magic! I—”
“Calm down Weiss,” said the man as he pulled Weiss back, “He meant no harm by it.” He had longish white hair that parted down the middle. What Ironwood found interesting about the man was that he wore no shirt. The only things protecting his torso were the leather straps that connected to a shoulder piece and some leather covering the lower half of his abdomen. His uncovered shoulder displayed a faded tattoo. Its design didn’t seem to be anything in particular.
“Hmph.” he said as he turned his back to them, as if annoyed by them.
“Wellll,” Jakob interjected, “what brings you here today anyways Nier?” Nier put the hulking weapon he was carrying onto the counter. A nice looking broadsword with a lion motif and a chain wrapped around an area above the handle and below the blade. Although, its edge seemed like it could use a sharpening, and it also needed a polish.
“Ahh, The Beastlord. I’m guessing you’re looking to upgrade it?”
“Yup.”
“Let me see here...” Jakob drawled out as he inspected it. “Okay, I’ll need three pieces of gold ore, a thing of amber, and two simple machines. That should bring out its full potential.” Ironwood wondered if the teen would really be able to improve upon the weapon. But, he knew the man wouldn’t have came if he didn’t trust the kid
“And let me guess, I’ve got to go deep down to get the simple machines huh?” Nier asked, to which Jakob replied by nodding his head. With a sigh, Nier made his way out.
-
After being gifted a memory alloy by Nier to upgrade the broken weapon, James could say he was impressed by the teen’s skill. If he were in Atlas, he would be a prodigy in making weaponry. Unlike when he first brought out the weapon, he was having some difficulty carrying it. He had to drag it around. From over the counter, James picked it up with his robotic hand. The prosthetic was able to pick it up easily, but it took more strength than anticipated.
-
This is the largest sword in the world, too heavy for any mere mortal to lift. It is believed that till now, no warrior has been able to wield it.
It was ordered forged by the warlord Vahk the Pitiless. Made from the melted armor of his vanquished enemies, the sword announced Vahk's might and grandeur to the world.
The sword grew heavier and heavier each time it took a life, and it gradually became more and more difficult to wield. At last, even its mighty owner could no longer swing it.
One morning, Vahk the Pitiless was found dead. Beside him, dripping with flesh and dyed scarlet with blood, lay the sword. Who had managed to raise the mighty weapon against him?
And so, The Iron Will is reborn! His will is returned! His strength has returned!
And now, he will seek eternal strife and endless blood once more!
He will seek the empirical in the theoretical, and the dream within reality once more!
If only this interloper knew what there is to know.
#james ironwood#RWBY#The remnant branches#The Woe of the Wretched#nier#back to this format b/c i spent a lot of time on this fic and really like it#Ive said it in the notes on ao3#but i never foresaw the ironwill being so pivotal to this fic when i first thought of ironwood in nier#also I really love the Iron Will and James#but not really post volume 7 james#pre volume 8 james i can work with#post v7 james i will not touch with a ten foot pole#not in my fics#3.7k words
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Exhausted Wings / Good Luck
Chapter 2: Thunderous Despair / Grandma
Qrow and Raven take on a large group of Nevermore at a Dust Mine. Things get intense.
Qrow always appreciated being able to turn into a crow and let any troubles from down below mostly melt away. His and Raven’s avian form dulled most of their ability to think like a human, leaving them only smarter than the average crow. It was enough to counteract the bird’s instincts. Qrow, strangely, did not feel the bird’s instincts kick in and override most of his human mind. Just my luck. Again. No bird brain to distract me. He resorted to looking at the sky and barren tundra. Boring and dull, but it’ll do. It had to be the most boring flight he had in a while. He liked to fondly reminisce on his most beautiful flight whenever resting in human form. Though, after a few more minutes staring at the mind-numbingly empty landscape, he noticed that Raven seemed a bit smaller. He also began to notice that he felt heavier, but still just as agile as before. Must be the pact. he reasoned.
Just then, he felt a small drop in his aura. His wings faltered, more from the surprise than anything else. Aura? Birds don’t have aura. The mountains where a dust mine lay were quickly approaching, so he began his descent. Why do I have an aura right now, and why- no. It’s fine. Just focus on the mission. They landed in human form, gazing into its wide entrance. Atlas outposts were visible, but abandoned. Closer inspection revealed that they left in a rush. He knew that Raven picked up on this too.
“They left because Ironwood declared martial law and was gonna fly Atlas into the sky and leave everyone else behind. Bastards didn’t wanna be stuck down here.” Pathetic soldiers only trying to save their own behinds just so they can serve their immaculate General Ironwood, only to end up dead… He was hoping Raven would have a reason to take him out soon. He’d gladly volunteer if she ever needed it done.
“Let’s go and scout first. Locate any dust deposits, and dispose of any grimm.” the sister said, stoic as ever.
“I doubt there’s any grimm. If they were here, that means it was cleared of grimm.”
“And how do you know?”
“I killed them myself.” With Clover. An image of a smiling face with vibrant green eyes flashed in his mind, but before he could fall into any more sadness, he heard a shrieking sound overhead.
“Do me a favor Qrow, and shut up.” she said as she readied her weapon, sounding exasperated. Damned luck. They both dodged a Nevermore as it tried to crush them. With little effort, Raven jumped to slash the bird in its face, turning it to ashes. The death of a comrade only summoned even more Nevermore. Qrow knew he would not be as skilled as Clover when he decided to take Kingfisher over the sword he could only assume was his, and was also the weapon that killed Clover. He at least has some idea of how to use the rod after seeing Clover use it so many times. Besides, he was a well-trained huntsman. He knew he would figure out how to use it well soon enough. He tried to remember how Clover would use the weapon in the situation. He could see Clover moving the rod in a circle, increasing the length and force of the line so he could use it to grapple to higher ground. He could also see taut muscles move as they flung the hooked blade to sink into a ledge above. The pants that seemed to fit all too well did not hide the solid calves and thighs that he used to launch himself off the wall to slash and kill a grimm below him. As he threw the line and hook to catch another ledge, he could see the signature smile and wink that really made his heart throb. Alright. Enough. He moved to begin the movement, letting the line gain length and power. He felt that he was doing well, all things considered. It was a miracle the other Nevermores hadn’t started attacking him. But suddenly, a voice came to him.
What did happen to you? To us? He faltered, letting the line weaken, and leaving himself open to an attack. He was certainly skilled enough to dodge the Nevermore as it flew past him, but the weapon’s hook lodged itself onto one of feathers on its underside that was frozen solid by the Solitas cold.
“Qrow! Quit doing nothing and help!” Raven yelled as she slaughtered Nevermore after Nevermore, jumping off projectile feathers and stabbed grimm just before they turned to ash to ascend higher and higher.
“Well there go my evening plans!” He couldn’t see it, but he knew she was rolling her eyes at the comment.
Using the rod’s mechanisms, he swiftly reeled himself in so that he could propel himself forward to hold onto the black feathers that weren’t slippery with ice. The Nevermore began flying wildly as it felt Qrow latch on. With one hand grasping on, he used the other to launch the hook to wrap around the Nevermore’s neck, causing it to fly more frantically. His other hand let go and he used the momentum to swing himself to land on its neck. He had to admit, it was a very fun weapon to use. With the line wrapped around its neck, he wrangled with he grimm, managing to jump off as he sent it flying into a cliff face. As the grimm turned into nothingness, he retracted the line and at the right moment, shifted the mechanisms to propel the hook to its next target with greater force. Lodged in the shoulder of another Nevermore, he retracted the line to propel himself towards it at high speed, unhooking the line so that he could land square on its back. After stabbing the hook into it, he loosened the line and ran across its back. As the grimm began to ascend in attempts to knock him off, he jumped off and locked the line and yanked the rod down, causing the hook to tear through its icy back and kill the giant.
Qrow couldn’t help but smile. Now I’m getting the hang of it! He swung the line to latch it onto another Nevermore, swinging underneath it and releasing the hook as he was just above it to to a spin while retracting the line, causing hook to slash right through its neck. When I meet Clover again, I am so not giving this back. IF you meet him again, he reminded himself. He’s already been through enough because of me being around him. He moved his arms to toss the line to its next victim. Wherever you are, know that I love you. Good luck.
“What?” he whispered, almost afraid to hear that voice again. He could see the face of the man he loved, the man he would protect from his love. It held a rare somber look. He was distracted again, and moved the rod too late. Instead of piercing a neck, it ricocheted off a stone mask, leaving Qrow free falling with nothing in reach of Kingfisher. He hated to to this, but he had no choice. He transformed into a crow.
One would think that the Nevermore would feel some kind of kinship with the similar-looking black bird, but Qrow’s experience had taught him otherwise. It seemed like to a Nevermore, the black birds were an affront to their existence, a mockery even. They acted like the small black bird spit in their face and desecrated a statue of their goddess. In all fairness, Qrow would do those things if he could, but that didn't really explain the violent reaction they had to the much smaller black birds. Outmaneuvering a Nevermore in a place with obstacles was easy, and meant he could escape one in bird form. Outspeeding one in the open was not a possibility. Fortunately, the Nevermore were uncoordinated, driven by a frenzied rage and crashing into one another, allowing Qrow to weave amidst the frenzy, but not allowing enough space to transform and use Kingfisher. He could feel himself gaining speed, moving faster than he ever had before. He was soon able to out speed them, a feat he wasn’t sure how he was able to accomplish. Unfortunately, moving at such high speed left him unable to react to the Nevermore that flew in front of him. He tucked his wings in and braced for impact.
Instead of breaking half his bones and losing conscious, he felt himself pierce the grimm. He turned to see the hole in the grimm just before it vanished into thin air.
-
Raven climbed the mountain higher and higher, killing any grimm that dared challenge her, only using her magic to jump higher. The higher she got, the less and less grimm she faced. She expected this, but did not expect to be facing none until all were slaughtered. She stopped at a cliff-side when she realized none were following her, stabbing a sword into it to hold onto as she rested a foot on a small ledge. She had sensed Qrow shifting earlier, but thought nothing of it. She felt that there wasn’t much reason to think about it anyways. But now, she could sense him frequently shifting in and out of bird form.
“What is this dumbass doing now?” Ugh. Why couldn't I have been an only child. She turned to see something very interesting play out not too far below her. The rest of the Nevermore, were swarming Qrow, drawn in by the insulting avian form he took. At the moment, he was taking on at least ten. It would be a lot more very soon. In the near distance was another hoard of Nevermore. She could see him dodging their attacks, piercing them at high speeds, transforming back into a human when he could get a good slash of the strange weapon to connect and use the momentum to kill the Nevermore with its blade and pierce and kill another Nevermore. Why aren't you tired yet? The transformation took a bit of energy, though for her, it was hardly any with the maiden’s power. She tilted her head in wonder. How are you able to pierce them? And how hasn’t the bird’s instincts kicked in? … The pact! If it made him this strong, then I have much more to gain.
“QROW!” The sound echoed down below.
“BUSY!” he replied when he got the chance.
“JUST FLY UPWARD AND HAVE THEM CHASE YOU!” Apparently, he heard, as she saw him begin to rise at incredible speed, a column of grimm in pursuit. She waited until there was enough distance between him and the avain grimm, and that all the grimm were present. With the distance great enough, and the grimm present, she withdrew her sword out of the rock-side and jumped, slashing her sword beneath her to open a portal to Qrow. He was smart enough and skilled enough to get out of her way as she appeared before him and began to summoned a bolt of lightning. With a shout, glowing red eyes, and the sound of thunder rumbling, she sent the bolt straight through the grimm just before reaching the flying mass, taking the rest of Nevermore out in one fell swoop. She landed in a crouch on the ground below to soften her landing. She arose as black ash fell from the now cloudy sky. Qrow was at her side as he transformed back to a human.
“Fancy moves back there but what happened to your beloved Harbinger?” She turned to face him, noticing that his right eye was now a green color. “And when did your right eye turn green?”
He immediately perked up at the last question. “Green? What kind of green?”
“I don't know. Teal or sea green. What does it matter?”
“Hm. I’m sure its nothing.” She could tell it was far from nothing, but she found no reason to be concerned. Why is he so intent on hiding it? That green charm alone spells it out as plain as day. It stands out so much its like he’s not even trying to hide it. Dumbass. The missing ring was more subtle, but also as clear as day to anyone who had known Qrow long enough. They began their walk to the mine entrance in silence. Just as they were about to enter, they noticed that the ashe was no longer falling, but rising.They turned around to find it coalescing into a giant sphere, the ash swirling chaotically around. As it began to take form, they noticed what appeared to be long wings and a long tail. They readied their weapons, waiting to see how to react. Hmm. can’t retreat into the mines. It will just trap us there.
“What the hell is that?” he said. She noticed that his voice seemed less… rough, and that his flask was missing.
“It’s grandma.” she deadpanned, sill focusing on the mass and readying her weapon. The swirling stopped, and the beast unfurled itself. Eyes littered its body, some of them distorted, and as red markings also covered its body.. The texture on its back seemed off somehow. Ice. It’s covered in ice. It had three large eyes one on one side, and two on the other. It had three legs and a sharp, long beak that rode up its face to make its grimm mask. It opened its mouth to reveal sharp teeth, and a deafening screech blew that away the clouds summoned by Raven to reveal the sun behind it. The sun allowed the red markings in its body to refract through the ice, making it almost appear entirely red.
Raven launched herself upward and transformed. From her view, the beast was easily nine times the size of an average Nevermore. She also saw Qrow try to launch himself from a fence with the fishing rod and land face first into the snow when said fence broke from the force. He managed when he hooked onto a heavy dust transport machine and flew to meet her. The beast had yet to liftoff, so they flew in opposite directions to scout for any weaknesses. Its back was covered in ice at least ten feet thick. On its back, she could almost make out a symbol, though the refraction made it hard to make out, but with no other relatively noticeable features, she decided that the center of the unknown mark was the best place to attack.
“Qrow, keep it busy and throw in any attacks you can. I’ll go for the seal on its back” The colossus begun to rise now, almost ready to fly. Raven landed on its back, embedding in it a fire dust sword that quickly cooled. It let out a screech, though not nearly as loud as before. It began to pick up speed as it chased Qrow. So even this thing hates our bird forms. She began chipping away at the ice that protected the seal with another fire dust sword. As it turns out, the ice was more like 15 feet. She was about to switch to use magic when she found that the colossus was going for a loop, no longer following Qrow. This one’s smart. It’s trying to protect its mark. It must be a weak point! With a last bit of effort, she slammed a fist of flames into the ice, almost exposing the mark. She let go of the colossal grimm and flew just high enough above it, and transformed, summoning clouds for another lightning attack. With glowing eyes and a smile, she hit it dead center, revealing the seal. Salem’s emblem. Now this had to die. She landed on its back jabbing a sword in the ice and readying another sword to finish it off, but an eye opened from its center where the emblem was exposed. A shriek louder than the first tore through the sky and dispelled the clouds to summon the sun. The light seemed to refract through the ice more brilliantly now, despite the crater exposing the seal. Raven found herself losing her grip, and crashed on the ground below, costing her a good chunk of aura. Qrow was thrown out of his avian form by the shrill sound and landed on the ground below, losing some aura. Eyes glowing, she leaped to its back and pulled out a sword to finish it.
Raven? Said an old woman’s voice.
“Grandma?” She held the sword above the red and black eye, but could not bring herself to slam it down.
Oh Raven. Look at how much you've grown from the cowardly little girl you once were.
“Yes grandma. I have. I wanted to make you proud. I wanted to make my family proud.
Dear, you misunderstand. You've grown from a cowardly girl into an even more cowardly woman! You abandoned your own Daughter! Your family! You run from the problems you've encountered! And your brother? Where to begin? He leaves you AND the tribe, and he’s still alive? How pathetic of you. As his family, it is your duty to see that he is punished. Cowardly AND shameful. You DARE call yourself a Branwen?
“I’m doing what’s best! I’m keeping us safe! Its-”
Silence! You pathetic, weak, coward. I thought I raised you better than this. If even I, the most renowned Branwen cannot make you strong, no one can. Pfft “I’m gonna be just like you grandma!” Such a failure. I always despised you. And to top it all off, you couldn’t even be there for your *dear* friend Summer.
She lost her grip on the sword and tears began to form as she fell. As she hit the ground, her aura broke, and let out a wail as she broke down.
And you. Said the voice, shifting from the elderly woman’s voice to a man’s. Always such a nuisance. At least they expected such from you. Bringing misfortune to everyone around you, to everyone you love. Everyone you love had left you, and they’re much better off without you. Its a miracle anyone ever loved you. I thought I did, and look where it got me. Dead in the snow because you decided to side with the homicidal maniac. Stupid and filled to the brim with bad luck so bad, not even the person with the opposite semblance could withstand it. The only smart thing you've ever done is isolate yourself. Though I suppose you were also right to be so cynical and put yourself down so much. It was the truth after all. The world is a terrible place, and you are hardly worth anything. And now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever really did love you. I pity you. In fact, I-
The words were cut short as a black streak cut through they eye in the center. He walked over to where she lay weeping, hands in his pockets and slouching. He did not know what to do. He was never particularly good at comforting people, especially someone like Raven. Soon, her crying ceased and he rose to meet Qrow’s eyes. He had been crying too. And there, they sensed it again. She turned to find eight small spheres, identical to the first.
“DIIIIIE!”she screamed as she ran towards them, fire dust sword in hand and eyes glowing red in furious wrath.
“DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!DIE!”she slashed repeatedly and wildly at the eight miniature swirling orbs of pain. Even as they had turned to dust, she continued to slash, and she slashed into the air and snow until she fell to her knees and began to cry again. As he approached her again, she screamed and wailed. She had now words to convey her feelings. She continued slamming her fist into the snow. He knew there was a chance she would slash at him with a sword, a very good chance, but he still decided to go through with it. He knelt down, and hugged her. To his surprise, she leaned into it, and together, they cried. They remained on the ground like this for a few minutes. Eventually, she broke away and broke the silence.
“Why?” she sniffled as she wiped her tears, “Why didn’t you succumb to it?”
“I’ve told myself worse. And I know that I can be a better person. It was my choice to change my self. I didn’t do it alone though. At first, it was hard. I was only around the kids then, so I couldn't push any more problems onto them. All I had done then was stop drinking. Then I met someone who wanted to help me because I was me. I wasn't Qrow the drunk, uncle Qrow, or Qrow the harbinger of bad luck to him. I was just Qrow. With them, it was easier. Still hard, but easier. I learned a lot from him. He saw things in me even I couldn’t see. I started smiling more, laughing more, and made the girls more proud of me than ever. I started to accept myself a bit more. I realized that I was wrong about myself. There are people who do love me for who I am, and I’m not undeserving of that But none of that wouldn’t have mattered or been possible if I didn’t want to change though. You have to want to change. We can do it alone, but if we’re lucky, we’ll have people to help us.”
I love you too, Clover.
#Exhausted Wings / Good Luck#lol cringe fest part 2#I love my fun refrences though.#somebody get these adults a therapist though#raven especially.#3.6k words#rwby#fair game
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The Remnant Branches - Negative Chapters
Ch. -6: Fleeting Ark
James explores the washed up ship, and finds there a little girl and her caretaker. In her journey for atonement, they grow closer. At their journey's end, they make life-changing, world-changing, decisions.
AO3 Link
James was resting by the wrecked ship waiting to be magically whisked back to Oz. He stared out into the ocean, which was beautiful. He wondered what it would look like with an unbroken moon reflected off the waters. Probably beautiful.
He usually did not spend too much time at beaches, on the account of work and being cooped up in the sky above a frozen desert. That, and sand and salt water were things he tried to avoid as much as possible, half his body made of machinery after all.
Despite the beauty, James got up and stretched, gazing into the endless ocean one last time. He really couldn't just sit around and do nothing, so he made his way over to the ship. He could kill a few hours exploring it. Who knows, perhaps he could even find some astronomical records among the wreck. The possibility of that filled him with excitement.
Yet, as he drew closer and closer, the excitement gradually transmuted into dread. There was something deadly and powerful here, no doubt. James, not normally the reckless type, proceeded anyways. His research was complete, and he felt thoroughly satisfied with his impromptu vacation. Ridding the beautiful Seafront of a terrifying beast should be easy enough. Shades hardly compared to Grimm, and if things went south for him, then at least he'd be alright upon returning to Remnant.
The ship itself was a rather large one, in the early stages of decay but still sturdy enough to hold its weight. Warily, James entered through a large gap in the side, perhaps the main gash that caused the ship's life on the sea to shorten. Any number of things could have caused it, but probably not a shade. He had yet to hear of aquatic ones. One would think they would adapt to aquatic environments, but no.
The inside of the ship was cold, a stark difference from the warm ocean breeze outside. There was something here draining the surrounding heat. As he made his way up the floors of the ship, he noticed what appeared to be blood stains in some places. Yet, there were no bodies in sight.
Was there some bloodbath involved in the ship's demise? Or was thIs the home of a serial killer? James imagined it could be the latter. The blood would have been washed away or diluted if the former. A human, or possibly a shade of above average intellect lured victims here to devour them? There was no way of knowing yet.
Finally, Ironwood reached the top deck. He could feel the power's zenith nearby. The last place to check was a door that likely led to the captain's quarters. He could hear noises coming from behind it. He had thought he had heard some noises earlier, but largely attributed it to the outside and the state of the ship to avoid paranoia and fear. That habit that proved useful in the world of Grimm was less important in the world of Shades.
Carefully, he neared it, Iron Will drawn and poised to strike. He heard what sounded like a desperate cry, and rushed down the flight of stairs. He burst through the door at the bottom. He saw a man and a little girl there. It was the postman from before. And from what it looked like, he was laughing, not crying out in pain or something.
"Huh? Oh, hey! It's you! Funny seeing you here, but thanks for delivering that package for me. I really appreciate it. Ah, this is Louise. Louise, this is, uh, actually, I don't think I got your name. I guess you never got mine too. It's Triton."
"…James …Ironwood. But James will suffice." He slowly answered, focused on the little girl. She was someone powerful beyond comprehension. Yet, she hid behind the mailman, as if shy or scared. Her eyes, though, they held a fearless intensity. In them, he could see innocence as well.
"Wave hello, like this." he said to the girl, showing her the motion.
She followed his instruction, waving sheepishly with her tiny hand. For a moment, he forgot about the power she exuded, and only saw a simple little girl before him. She was an adorable little one. He waved back, giving a small smile to her in return. She clung a little less tightly to the mailman after.
"She doesn't really talk, but I've been trying to learn sign language and teach her it too. So far it's been going well. She's also such a loving little girl, aren't you Louise?"
She nodded her head at the man, giving him a bright smile. Her love for him was undeniable. His love for her was undeniable as well. James could see his heart warm with her smile. He envied him.
"Oh darn, it looks like I'm running a little late. Hey, I hate to ask something of you, but do you think you could watch her for a little bit? I've got to deliver something… uh, personal to Ursula. I hope she didn't try and bite your head off or something."
"I can see what you mean, but in all honesty, her company was quite enjoyable." Ironwood stated. The postman looked at him in shock.
"Are we talking about the same woman? Well, at least these past few days were happy for her." he said, and turned to Louise, putting a gentle arm on her shoulder. "Now, behave for Mister James, alright? He's a friend. And don't worry, I'll be back soon enough. And James, thanks again. I really do appreciate it." The postman thanked, and left the room, little Louise and Ironwood alone together.
"… So, your name is Louise?" James asked just to break the ice. He was a Headmaster, and thus used to children and teens alike. But, he was by no means a babysitter. Regardless, he would do his best.
She shook her head yes, and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Your… the postman said he was teaching you sign language. Was there anything else he was teaching you?" he inquired. He didn't know sign language, but there was perhaps something else he could help her with to kill time.
She walked over to a desk and opened a drawer, taking out a sheet of paper and a pen. Of course. Any little girl her age, whatever it was, should know how to write. This, he could help her with. He walked over to the desk where she now sat, and looked over her printing.
It could hardly be called writing. But, such would be expected. Her past was an enigma, and it seemed to be that way with the postman as well. Chances are though, she was never taught to write though. However, James noticed this piece of paper in particular had the same thing over and over again.
"What were you trying to write here?" he asked her. Louise turned to him, and then turned back to the paper and began to write. She held the pen correctly, but her hands were slower and not steady, unused to such fine movements. James noted that she did not lift the pen from the paper.
That meant she was writing in cursive, not in print. Of course the postman would teach her such a beautiful and refined writing technique. Of course, it was not beautiful yet, but knowing it was cursive helped make it a little easier to decipher. For once, he was grateful for the pomp of the non-military Atlesians, as they were the reason he had to practice his cursive.
Looking at the freshly dried ink, he could make out the letters h… a… k… o… u…
"'Thank you.' Is it the postman you want to thank?" James inquired, to which Louise nodded yes.
"I'm sure he would love that. I can help you write a more complete letter if you'd like." he offered. The little girl's eyes lit up with joy as she excitedly shook her head yes.
"Good. I'll be sure to teach you to the best of my ability." he assured her, and asked for a piece of paper to use as well.
As he grabbed it, and as he did so, their fingers grazed each other. It was as if a switch was flipped. All of a sudden, James remembered the crushing feeling he had felt earlier, and that she seemed to be its source. He could now confirm that she was.
"You… you're a shade." Ironwood gasped. He could sense something terrifying welling up in her. "But that's fine! That's fine! I've seen a friendly shade before! You're one too, right?"
"I'm human!" she screeched, James able to understand her this time. "I'm a human, just like him!"
"And I don't doubt you." James sighed. "Your confidence in your humanity is enviable." He was surprised at the revelation, and his newfound ability to understand a shade, but knew focusing on calming the angered little girl took priority. He could understand the desire to so desperately be seen as human though.
"You can understand me? How? Are you a shade who became human? Please! Show me how!"
"I don't know how I came to understand you. Perhaps it is just magic. But, I'm not a shade. I never was either. But you," James said, and knelt down, "you are already human. To be human is to love, and to be loved. At least, I'm starting to think that's it."
Ironwood's words seemed to pacify her. Her eyes dulled from a shining red to their previous appearance as she became less tense.
" How would you know? Are you human then? You're different from other people. "
"I… Sometimes, I wonder if I really am human. Maybe I always was human, and still am, even if I don't know. I'm not sure. But, I at least like to think I'm becoming more human, little by little, day by day."
"I think you're human. " she comforted. " You're nice. Even though you know I'm a shade, you're still nice to me. And there must be something you love. Before he came here, I fell in love with the sunlight, and what it shines on. I wanted to bathe in it without burning, and see the world I've never seen before. You have something like that, don't you? "
See the world I've never seen before… He did have something like that. In fact, it was something he loved.
"I do. In my world, the sun will set past the sky's horizon, leaving the sky dark. Beautiful lights will sometimes dance across it. But behind those lights, far behind them, is the light of stars and planets unimaginably far away. We call that place Outer Space. Suns alike and unlike our own, planets alike and unlike our own, a calmness in the beautiful, dark unknown. That's something I've always loved, I suppose. I think I have a lot more to love too."
He really did love the night sky and what lies beyond it, even if he was unsure of what lay there. He just never realized how much until now. Somehow, that made him feel more whole. Louise let out a laugh.
"We're funny. A shade who wants light, and a human who wants dark!" she giggled again. Ironwood chuckled a little too. That was funny, all things considered. Eventually, her lighter died down, and a solemn look was cast on her face. She was thinking about something.
"Mister James, you're smart, right?" she finally said.
"Well… Yes, I would certainly say so."
"Are you brave and strong too?"
"With confidence, I can say yes." he answered.
"Then, can you help me with something? I… I'm scared to do it alone."
"I'll be with you every step of the way, Louise. What is it, might I ask?"
"I'm sorry. It's something you have to see. But first, listen to my song."
"Of course." he replied. There was a severity in her tone that made him think this was more than just a little girl wishing to sing for a guest.
Hyyer naahm hor-yeh beh nehri
Hyej vyetzal fohr baaljoh
Hyaastee
Keej fohr mah hahm-yeer dorh hatznah…
…
…
…
-
When James awoke, he was not on the beach, nor in the ship, nor in Remnant. This was the Seafront. But next to him was Louise. The little mershade stood staring straight forward, water dripping from her hair and fingers, but not her clothing.
"Where are we?" he wondered. It was the Seafront, but not quite.
" I'm sorry… I'm not sure. I just knew to do this." Louise answered.
"That's alright. Whatever I can help you with, I will."
" Thank you."
Before them, in place of the lighthouse, were five triangular doors arranged in a circle, the entrances facing outward. Each was inscribed with text of a language unknown to either of them. Though, it seemed somewhat familiar to Louise.
They entered the door directly in front of them. Overheard, birds chattered as they flew. In the sky, dark clouds flew and blanketed every inch. James figured that it was just before dusk. It was dark, but enough light still managed to find its way through the clouds above.
" This is beautiful, isn't it? "
"It is." James agreed with a nod of his head. It made him wish to be outside in the world more, unburdened by the titles of general and headmaster.
Just ahead, they heard something cry out. They ran towards it, and found a child. She was sitting at a cliff, facing the horizon where sky met sea.
"Mama! Mamaaa! I want to see you again!" the little girl cried. Immediately, James rushed over to comfort her. This little girl couldn't have been more than seven.
"Hey now, shhh, you're going to be alright." he gently spoke. The child immediately turned and clung onto him, crying for her mother. "Don't worry, we're going to find your mother, right Louise?"
Just as the child's tears began to calm, she began to bawl hysterically, screaming for James to protect her from the monster. He forgot that she still resembles a shade, scourges of the kingdom of day.
"No, no, no it's alright, she's a good shade. She's not going to hurt us." James calmly spoke to the child. She kept on crying and speaking incoherently.
" I'm sorry ." Louise said, her tone full of regret. " I'll help you get back to your mama. I promise ."
"You will?" the child sniffed.
"I will. I know what it's like to be away from the parent you love. I'm sorry I took you away from you. "
"Louise…"
" Follow me ." she requested. Wary, but with no better alternative, James followed. He still did not doubt she was a good soul. His conversation with her felt very genuine. But, now there was the looming knowledge that she was hiding something, something terrible.
Keeping a few feet away, James could see she was carrying the weight of guilt and remorse on her shoulders. Even if she was a shade, she was still just a little girl at the end of the day, wasn't she?
The walk was quiet, the child tense, but eventually falling asleep. After what seemed like hours, they reached the door they came through. It was back at the cliff.
Once through, the child dissipated, quickly reforming at the base of the door, sleeping. At that point, the door fell slightly inward to rest at an acute angle.
"Louise." James began sternly. "What did you do?"
" I… I love Mr. Postman, you know? He's the only one to ever show me any kindness, any love. He taught me to sing, to write, and brought me food even though he was hungry. I thought… if I could be human like him, we could be a family, a real family. And we could really love each other. So, I thought to eat humans."
James' eyes widened in shock, and was left speechless.
" I thought it worked, so I kept on doing it. I never thought to think anything of them. They were just a way for me to become human, so he could love me as something he could love. As a shade, he could never love me. But speaking with you, I realized something. All the people I killed, they all loved something beautiful about the world too, like me, and like Mr. postman. I love the beauty in the world, and I don't wanna take that away. You helped me see that he could still love me, even as a shade ."
Ironwood could not be mad at her. At the end of the day, she was still just a little girl who did not know right from wrong. She still had much to learn about the world. But here she was, ready to atone once she understood the severity of her actions.
"Well…" James huffed. "Let's keep on going. You have more people to save."
" You- you're still going to help me? "
"Of course." James said, and knelt down to the little girl. "What you did was wrong, you know that now. And you decided to atone all on your own. Such an act is commendable." He praised, and stood back up.
"We're fortunate such an act can be reversed as well. So for their sakes too, I'll be here right beside you Louise."
The little mershade ran up to him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."
"… You're welcome." James said after overcoming the surprise of being hugged.
With that, they made their way to the next door. Words in the same foreign language were inscribed on it. This text was shorter in length, and still just as mysterious. Opening the door revealed a brilliant light. Passing through it onto the other side revealed a world of night.
It was a city. A large one, but it appeared to be abandoned, not by destructive catastrophe, but as if everyone had turned all the lights off and left in no hurry.
" Wow… This place is beautiful too. " Louise stated in awe as she looked all around. It was unlike anything she had ever seen or could even imagine.
"This is my home…" James quietly said. His first instinct was to wonder what was wrong. Atlas was never this quiet or empty or dark. He quickly remembered that this was a dream brought upon by magic, or something of the sort. This wasn't actually Atlas. But he still couldn't shake away the eerie feeling.
" This is the darkness you love? " Louise asked, breaking him out of his worry. He looked up to the sky. Indeed, it was. The night sky and it's stars were so clear, clearer than he could remember. It's beauty ensnared him. In that moment, nothing else existed. He felt as if he could stay there forever.
As it turns out, that moment was more than just a moment. Louise had been pulling him along for about half an hour, and he didn't even notice. He only noticed when the sky was hidden from view as they entered a building.
"Huh? Where are we?" He anxiously questioned as he realized he was at the Academy's main entrance, and calmed down. "Oh. Umm, sorry about that." he apologized.
" It's okay. I get like that sometimes too. Hey, you said you came from this world. How? "
"Magic. Nothing I can replicate."
" What else can you tell me about your world then. What's the day like here? What's that thing in the sky? It's not the sun. "
James went on to explain that day is similar, except there is dusk and dawn, both beautiful in their own rights. He explained the moon and the two leading theories as to why it was shattered. As they ascended to the zenith of the building, Ironwood was happy to answer all of the girl's questions. They even shared a few laughs. Eventually, they fell into a comfortable silence as they ascended the stairs. There seemed to be no power, so no elevators.
" When I hugged you… your body isn't exactly human, kinda like me? " Louise asked, breaking the silence.
"… Louise. I want to tell you something." he said softly, kneeling down to her. "We have a soul. We're human. Our bodies, they are human, even if they're not flesh and bone. We must not forget that, alright? We are human."
" Right. I won't forget that. Thank you. "
James chuckled. "No need no thank me, but you're welcome."
They continued their trek. But, as the top came closer and closer, the air became heavier and heavier. Something terrible awaited them.
Eventually, they reached the door to the highest roof they could access. Cautiously, James opened it. Draped across the guard rail was a lone, moping woman. James knew who she was, and froze.
Louise quickly noticed and stepped in front of James to protect him, even though she has practically no power in this dream.
" Who are you!? " she shouted.
"… Salem… Queen of the Grimm. Killer of many." she lamented.
James unfroze, unsheathed Iron Will and put himself between her and Louise.
"I never wanted this, you know?" her voice of a deep sadness. "I only ever wanted to see the world, and to have a friend, be free."
This was the body of the Salem James knew. Yet, this was not Salem as he knew her. Cold, calculating, cruel, relentless, merciless, sadistic. The woman before him was only Salem in image.
"All I ever wanted… was a friend…"
"But," she began, voice shifting to one befitting of Salem, "that's not what happened." The voice was that of Salem, but the vessel was not. It was of a pale woman with blond hair and blue eyes. She slowly paced along the edge of the roof.
"The brother gods are infernal things. I had loved, had but a single friend. Foolish girl…" she berated.
" But you had a friend for at least a little bit, right? Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Hmph." she sneered with an amused smile. "No. In the end, he betrayed me, even though he loved me. Tell me, what use is love if it can't even sway the heart of a friend? It has no use."
"So, you'd destroy countless lives, all because a single friend betrayed you!?"
"Naturally." she replied and turned her back to him.
Rage consumed James. Whether or not it was true, it stirred him up. It seemed fitting of her to commit atrocity over a single betrayal. To be so compassionless and self-centered infuriated him.
" I'm sorry he didn't love you more. " Louise said. It took James off guard, and it seemed to have an effect on Salem as well.
"… I'm sorry too." Salem said, her voices overlapping.
The world dissolved before them, and Ironwood and Louise were suddenly before the third door. Laying in front of the second door were three children, resting soundly.
" Did you know her?"
"Salem, leader of the creatures of Grimm, things whose sole goal is to destroy humanity. Perhaps… she was once someone to feel sorry for. But what matters is what she has become, a monster who kills and kills, and wants to see the world turn to ash. She holds no regret for those actions, nor does she seek atonement. No matter who we were in the past, what matters is who we are in the present. However, the virtues of the present will not necessarily outweigh the sins of the past. Remember that, Louise."
" I will. " she nodded. She understood why he said that. She really hoped she could revive them, not for herself, but for those that loved them, for the love they held.
They entered the third door. This time, they were at a metal structure. It arose from the ocean in the clear night, the full moon bright. It was calm at first, but wind and rain soon kicked up into a storm.
" We're in night time again. But the moon is whole. " Louise noted as she followed James who sought cover.
"I think… we're in the Kingdom of Night, in your world." James responded once free from the threat of rain. The rain wasn't too much a threat to him, more a nuisance, but also imagined it would be bad for the Iron Will. "The moon has a face, just like the books said. And… there! You can see a constellation called the Orion's Belt."
It was distinct in the night sky, Those three bright stars. They were the first ones he noticed on a star chart he had picked up. Louise quickly found it, enamoured with how it did indeed form the shape of a belt.
For a moment, they appreciated a night sky once again. Ironwood wondered if Remnant's moon once bore the visage of man.
"I think humans made this place without magic. I don't sense any."
"Is that so? This is certainly an incredible feat then." James praised, and began to walk, Louise following. This place was in the middle of the ocean, still standing after gods know how many years. "The humans of the old world were quite impressive. They even traveled to the moon, the very one we see before us."
" Really!? I wonder what that was like."
"Like nothing else, apparently. In space, there is no gravity, so one would just float around. On the moon, the gravity was weaker than here, so one would gently float like a falling flower. I heard it was breathtaking, especially to see the sunrise from space." How James wished to see such a dream fulfilled.
James revealed more of what he knew about the old humans unto her as they traversed the floating structure. She listened and asked questions as she led him to the highest point on the hunk of metal in the ocean. On their way, they noticed flowers in bloom, and birds flying and singing despite the storm.
"These are lunar tears. To think they could grow here, and in such abundance!" James exclaimed as he plucked one of the glowing flowers and held it up to the moonlight. "They are very rare, and are said to be able to grant wishes."
With that information, she quickly grabbed one and made a wish. James supposed he should do the same, and made a wish just as she did.
" Do they really work? "
"Hmm…" As an adult, he didn't believe in such things, even if he knew about incredible magic. However, he said what any adult would say to a child. "So long as you believe and actively work towards your wish, they will."
At the highest point on the structure, a control room with the upper half of each wall a window, they found a man sitting in a seat. He was staring out to the sea as waves wildly rose and fell, only now affecting the metal structure. It threw Ironwood and Louise off balance, but they both grabbed onto something to keep from falling.
"I was the man who oversaw every inch of this place." he informed them. The birds still sung and flew by, lunar tears swaying with their gentle glow below.
"When word arrived that the world's end was near, chaos broke out. I tried to keep people calm, but I failed. Many men died in the coming days. Some left on a boat, taking a reckless voyage I knew would not succeed. The rest of us, we thought we would be safe from the scourge of that salt here. We were wrong. All the people I had grown close to and led in those precious months, died one by one. Into salt, they vanished, all the way until I was left. As their leader, they had grown to love me, and I had grown to love them."
The calm darkness of night was gone, replaced by the sun of the Seafront once more. Asleep at the foot of the door was a man obviously from the Seafront.
" I never thought love could exist like that. " Louise commented.
"Love exists in many forms. I don't think either of us will be able to see them all."
" That's what's nice about it, I think. "
"Huh. I had yet to think of that… You know Louise, you are a smart young girl."
" Really? I'm glad you think so. " she shyly replied. James happily hummed in acknowledgment
"Now, let's continue. Two more doors left."
The fourth door was the most chaotic this far. They were thrown into a city James recognized as something possibly from the old world. Then, they heard a song from the sky. Looking up, they saw a pale white creature singing a world ending tune. And fighting it was the red dragon, savior of the world and the source of maso, of magic.
"We need to hurry." James affirmed and picked Louise up, carrying her in his arms. "Tell me where to go."
"Right." she answered with a determined nod of her head. Quickly, she directed James as they wove through the frantic crowd. They did not notice the birds above that oddly flew the skies as if it were another day.
Eventually, they found who they were looking for. It was a woman, one who appeared to be unbothered by the chaos.
"Quite the song, huh? Mind if I get your measurements? Thanks." she said without pause.
"Hey! I believe- watch it! I believe an explanation is in order!" James demanded.
"Well, not really. The one you're looking for is actually on the next floor, by the way. But first, can I ask you a few questions? Great! First, what do you know of gods, James?" she asked, holding a recording device to him.
"I don't have time for this." James replied, and proceeded to seek out the stairs. He realized that she knew his name, but he couldn't afford to care. The sooner they were away from the grotesque thing singing in the sky, the better.
"Now, now, I can walk and listen. Just that question, and I'll be out of your hair, yeah?" she bargained as she skipped in an odd manner to keep up with his jog.
" What's a god? " Louise asked.
"Absolutely terrible things. That thing's one, for example." The woman responded. Louise held tighter to James. He supposed he could spare the time of day for Louise.
"In my world, there are the Brothers, one the god of light, and the other the god of the dark. They created my world and everything in it. But, I personally care little for them. They don't answer prayers. No god does. They only provide hope in times of desperation. But sometimes, that is all one needs."
"I see. Would they happen to have a sister? Another brother, a god of nothing, perhaps?"
"A sister? No, not that I know of. They've gone by many names and forms, so there could perhaps be another brother, but I've never heard of a sister. And they've never been a god of nothing, as far as I can recall."
"Hmm… interesting. Well, I thank you for your time. Oh, and visit the top floor. It has a once in a lifetime view!" she shared, and abruptly stopped and began to walk in the other direction.
"… She was weird ." Louise stated.
"Yeah. Let's just keep going."
They ascended floor after floor, only for Louise to sense that they were in the next floor. Eventually, they reached the top floor, where they found a young man holding a baby.
" Excuse us ." Louise said.
"Hmm? Oh. It's you." the man said, turning his head only slight to see who it was. He was obviously not happy. But then, the tone in his voice shifted.
"You know, I'm actually not that mad at you. I had the black scrawl. I was going to die soon anyways. As for my little sister, she would have been left all alone. I fear what she might have to do to survive, if she would survive all alone." he lamented.
" I remember this dream. I live here now. Day after day, we listen to this song. I've grown to love it. I think she has to." In his arms, a baby cooed as she rested. The climax of the song was playing, a chaotic cacophony of bells ringing. Black and white circles flew across the sky. James noticed the birds this time.
" Still. I'm sorry I killed you two. I shouldn't have done that. "
"… Yes. Perhaps she would have lived a happy life regardless, grown up with friends, married, settled down. Maybe she wouldn't. Well. There's no use now."
"Not exactly. We're going to revive the people Louise killed."
" At least, we're going to try ."
The man looked down to his sister, and sighed. He could remain in his paradise where a lullaby would be sung for his sister. Or return to reality, live the rest of his days with her, and wish her the best for her future, and leave her with whatever he could get with the short remainder of his life. He was happy here, and she seemed to be happy as well. Wasn't that all that mattered?
"She deserves a life of her own as well, doesn't she?" James said. He knew that this was the right thing to say, with him taking so long to answer.
"… She does."
A final, thunderous note rang out, and the queen beast crumbled to salt.
James and Louise awoke at the foot of the final door. At the fourth door, a baby rested, curled atop her brother's chest.
" They look so peaceful. " Louise commented.
"They do." Ironwood concurred. He envied the brother.
"Let's continue. We're almost done, and I don't know how much time I have left here." James said after a moment.
They entered the last door, the final stanza on it still just as mysterious. The moon was visible.
" I'm going to miss you. " Louise said, breaking the silence as they walked down a path, she to his right.
"I will miss you as well. It's not often I have someone I can talk to so freely with. And somehow, I feel a kindred spirit within you. But, at least we will have our time together to fondly remember."
" … Yeah. " she sighed, and reached for his hand. He gave it to her, and let her hold onto it tightly.
Hundred birds flew in the night sky as they made their way to the lighthouse. As they drew closer and closer, clouds rolled in. Yet, the birds still joyously sang.
When they reached the door of the lighthouse house, they heard someone whistling a tune.
" I know that song! Mr. Postman taught me! But, why would he be here…" she wondered with great concern.
"It's only a dream. I'm sure he's alright in reality." James assured her. He knocked on the door, and waited for a response. Soon a man opened it. James knew who he was instantly: Ursula's husband.
"You…"
"Ah, you're the one that brought my Uraula some comfort. I know that I can never repay your debt. But please, come in." He said, and ushered James and Louise in.
"I have another guest here, one I imagine you need to see. We were just talking about how we missed our wives."
" Mister, where did you learn that song? " Louise asked as they went up a set of stairs, the night sea air was cool and refreshing.
"Learn it? I made it! I had sung it to my Ursaula many a time."
" Oh. " she replied. That was an answer satisfactory to her. From the man to Ursula. The postman overheard it, got it stuck in his head, and then taught it to Louise. It was undoubtedly a song filled with love.
Meanwhile, James marveled at the man. He could see why Ursula was shocked to see him. If someone told him this was what his father looked like, he might be inclined to believe them.
The man thanked Ironwood endlessly, and thanked Louise for keeping the song alive. He left them to enter the second to last floor without him, and bid them farewell.
Behind the door was Louise's last victim. He screamed, then charged at her.
"You monster! I'll kill you for what you did! To me and my wife!"
"I know what she did was terrible, and so does she. But she wishes to tell you something." James said as he blocked his assault with a wooden chair with his mechanical arm.
"I don't care! She's a damned shade! She killed me! Do you know how much it hurt!? Do you know how I felt!? Do you know how much I wanted to live!?" he screamed. Many tears fell from his eyes.
" I'm sorry for what I did… This is yours. " She apologized, and handed the man his red bag from behind James. He stopped his assault and stared at the bag. Then quickly, he grabbed it, and backed away.
"This doesn't change anything, you monster!" the red-bag man shouted as he clutched his red bag.
" You're right. It doesn't. But I can do something that might be able to. I think I can bring you back to life. "
"… You can?" he asked, his body becoming less tense. "I… I can see her again… No! You're a shade! You're lying!"
" I am sorry for what I did to you. I only wanted to love and be loved. But now I know that killing and eating was wrong. You all loved someone, something, and had someone who loved you. It was wrong of me to take that from the world. So please, believe me. I want you to live. I want you to love and feel loved again. "
The man was shocked. He was unsure of what to think. This shade, who looked so human, acted so human, was still a monster. Wasn't she?
"I don't forgive you, shade… but I want to see my wife again. More than anything."
-
Back where the doors were, they were all leaning against one another, forming a conical shape. The sleeping people were absent.
Then, the doors fell outward, forming the shape of a five pointed star. From the center, a plant began to sprout, and then flower. As it flowered, a song began, one of an ancient language.
"Louise…" Ironwood said as he unsheathed Iron Will. "What is that?
" I- I don't know. I'm scared ." she said fearfully. " Really scared ."
"It's alright. I'll protect you." he assured her.
The flower was similar to a lunar tear. Once it finished flowering, an unnaturally deep black arm shot out. Then another. Then a head, a chest, a torso, legs, then feet.
The entity was before them in its entirety, so it seemed. It's skin was of a darkness akin to nothing, the absence of everything. White sclera, red eyes of a vibrancy incomparable. She also bore long, white hair, like that of pure salt. Littered on her skin was a number of lunar tears of varying sizes, the largest spouting from her right eye.
" Someone has summoned me ?"
"Who are you!? Answer me now!" James demanded.
"I am nobody." she said, her voice oddly deep. "I am nothing." she added, her voice transitioning into her feminine voice.
"That doesn't answer my question." James said as he gripped the sword tighter.
"Hmm? You… A human, yet not entirely destined for nothingness…" she noticed and leaned closer. James slashed at her.
There was no resistance as it slashed through her. It was like a hot knife through warm butter. Her body split into two masses. They reformed into a set of twins as birds swarmed down from the sky and to them. James recognized the form: Qrow, and likely his twin sister Raven. The black birds circled around their heads, covering their eyes.
"How odd… yet intriguing… My brothers created you, didn't they? Fools, thinking they could so easily change something of my image." Her voice alternated between a high feminine and a deep masculine. It seemed to emanate from both twins.
"No matter, humans are all the same. And you? A creation of a creation of my creation. You summoned me, for what?" The god asked Louise. Her bodies slowly merged back into one as she spoke.
A sudden bout of bravery surged through Louise. She stepped in front James and made her demands.
"I want those I killed to live again! I want them to be able to love in life again! "
"Consider it done." she nonchalantly replied. "Anything else?"
" Anything else? What kind of god are you!? Don't trust it Louise!" James advised. The god chuckled.
"I am no god. I am nothing. I am not kind, I am not cruel. I simply am not. What you see and hear before you is just the result of my brothers' meddling. I am nothing."
" I want to be able to keep this form without killing people or eating them, or anything. I just want Mr. Postman to not be scared of me. " Louise requested.
"Consider it done, Gestalt. … That, and more."
"What kind of god are you?" James demanded once more out of fear.
"I am not a god. I am nothing." she repeated. "You wonder why I answer her prayers . Humans are of my design. They are destined for nothing, no matter what happens. She has managed to summon me, so I will reward her. I suppose I could grant you some desires as well. It will be of no consequence, not to me."
It was a lot to take in. The Brothers had a sister, nothing. Of course, creation and destruction were everything, and she was nothing. Not only that, the Brothers copied humanity from their sister. Why?
Regardless, James did not trust this "god" a single bit. But, perhaps he had the chance to actually learn something. He knew there must be some price to pay though. He was willing to pay the price.
"Tell me what happened, with the Brothers, Salem, Ozpin. I must know." There was more to the story Oz was hiding. James had begun to suspect that recently. What he saw with Salem only made him more curious.
"Hmm…" nothing hummed as if gathering the information. "I see. Quite the story. It pleases me to know the outcome of those humans. Very well. It begins with a tower…"
-
James was dumbfounded. Ozpin had lied and hid so much from him, from them. How could he? Weren't they all friends, didn't he trust them?
"The truth's a bitch, huh? What else? Take your time. It is arbitrary here."
James thought for a moment. He would take advantage of this god, for the betterment of his world. He didn't believe they were destined for nothing, not on his watch.
"How can Salem be stopped?"
"The vessel is immortal because the soul is. Move her to a useless vessel."
"How can I do that?"
"You will have that information soon enough.'
"Fine. How can I protect humanity from you?"
"My brothers protect their domain well. I don't have the means to fell them anymore anyhow."
"How can I protect humanity from the Brothers?"
"Turn them against one another. Have them kill each other, or use the corpse of one to kill the other. … I implore you to turn to this option." It sounded as if she were begging for it. Kill them. Hasten your return to me. Her wide, intense eyes said.
"Alright… How can I unite humanity?"
"You must find a common goal, something to love more than anything, something to hate more than anything. It matters not which. Both are just as unlikely to happen."
"I see…" he replied.
He wondered… if he should ask for his body back to be just flesh and bone once more. Perhaps nothing would grant it. He was content with his body, had come to terms with it, grown used to it. Did he truly want it back? The metal that made up half his body was him now, just as the flesh and bone once was… He looked to Louise. He didn't know why. But, it gave him his answer.
"That will be all for me. Thank you."
Nothing laughed. No one had ever thanked her before. Then again, few had ever come into contact with her, and even fewer had something to be thankful about.
" I have one last thing to ask for ." Louise piped up. He felt bad that he mostly forgot about her. " I want a way to be able to visit Mr. James, and for Mr. Postman to be able to too ."
"Huh?"
"As you wish."
"Louise… I- I don't know what to say…"
" I like you too, like Mr. Postman. I don't want you to leave me…"
"I suppose our time together is over then. This has been… enlightening. I impart unto you one request: remember this song!" She exclaimed to Louise.
The birds unleashed their final, deafening cry, and swarmed upon the girl. James cried out for her, but the birds were too numerous to destroy. When they were gone, so was she. The song reached its end.
"She is fine, returned to the world." nothing assured. "I only wanted a moment alone with you. I have two requests. One: show me your soul. Don't fear. Nothing will happen to it." She said with a sickly sweet chuckle. Her smile was seeped in cruelty, cruelty that would be enjoyed.
"I see…" she then said. It happened in an instant. There was something different about nothing… He could sense it. Whatever it was, it was similar to aura, similar to a soul. It must have been immense if he could sense it.
"Their changes won't be enough. Good. Now, my second, final request: If you see my brothers," she said, leaning in close to one of James' ears, "tell them their beloved sisters send their regards."
It sent chills down his mostly synthetic spine. That really shouldn't have been possible. His vision began to fade. He heard her singing lightly. It was to the tune the lighthouse man was singing. Soon, the song faded as well.
-
When he awoke, he noticed he was on the cold hard floor of Ozpin's office, and he wasn't alone. Slowly, he got up. Oz was there, of course. As were Glynda and Qrow, he already more than half way down a bottle. They were all looking at him in shock. He soon realized why. He hadn't returned alone. Beside him, also awakening, was Louise and the postman, Triton, if he remembered his name correctly.
That sure made James wake up and come to his senses quickly.
"Brothers! Are you two alright?" he worried.
"Where… where am I? Louise's father wondered. "Louise!" he then frantically shouted as he looked around for her. He calmed a little once he saw her by his side. "Thank the gods you're alright…" he said as he knelt down and hugged her tightly.
"Uhh, General, I believe an explanation is in order." Oz requested.
"Yeah… I could kinda use one as well. Where are we? How did we even get here? Are we safe here?"
James was quick to put everyone at ease. Louise helped too, to the surprise and joy of her father. Her words were understandably human, but still held that slight metallic sound of a shade's voice.
James started from his time at the lighthouse, moving onto investigating the ship, meeting Louise and Triton.
Louise confirmed that she was a shade. The postman was shocked, but soon regained his composure. She then went on to explain that after coming to trust James, she asked for his help in atonement for her sins.
"You don't hate me, do you?" she fearfully asked him.
"Oh Louise… A father could never hate his daughter. So please, know that I'll always love you." He heart-warmingly assured her. "Just, uh, don't do that again, alright?"
"I won't. Mr. James helped me understand that after all. He's very nice."
Right on queue, Qrow looked at Ironwood with suspicious disbelief. James shot him back a look.
After that, she and James went on to explain the dream. At least, they thought it was a dream. Eventually, they got to the bombshell: nothing. Glynda looked at them with utter fear.
The sister of the Brothers, and true creator of humanity. Even Ozpin was shocked. James imagined that was a genuine reaction. Louise revealed her requests, which is how she was able to save herself and her father when a mob formed and Triton threw himself in front of her to protect her.
Glynda had her sing the song nothing told her to remember. It was a beautiful song, but not The Final Song. Still it was a song from her nothingness, and it would be wise to be wary of it.
"You seem to know quite a bit about this, Glynda." James noted.
"I went through a tree that stored a lot of memories and information. It also transported me to another world where I learned a lot more. … Don't look at me like I'm batshit crazy!" she told the men. "Anyways, I have an idea as to what she meant by 'and more.' and it's a long story. So just know that you both have a soul and are alright."
"I also asked how we could defeat Salem. She said we would need to separate her body from soul. But she didn't answer when I asked how, only that I would know soon enough." Ironwood sighed.
"Huh. Well, the answer to that is Project Gestalt." Glynda informed him.
"Well. That's one mystery solved. But before we go any further, how are you two holding up. It's getting late." James asked as he checked his scroll for the time.
"Well, I could go for some rest. It's been a long day for me. Really long." Triton sighed.
"Me too. I'm tired." Louise sleepily yawned.
"Right. I'll escort you two to a place to sleep." he told them. "I'll be back. I have one more major thing to share." he informed his work friends as he left.
James walked with them down the halls. He looked to Triton. He indeed looked tired. Eventually, Louise asked him to pick her up, and she fell asleep in his arms. A little bit after, they arrived at the doors of one of the rooms Oz reserved for special guests. This one was James' this time, but he didn't really care. He didn't have any intentions of getting much sleep anyways.
"I'm sorry this is all so sudden." Ironwood apologized as he opened the door. "It must be difficult for you."
"Don't be. And I mean, this isn't so bad. Me and Louise can be happy here together. That's honestly all I need." Triton said as he looked down at her peacefully resting form.
"Yes. Love is a powerful thing like that. Please, rest well. And don't stress about anything. I'll be here to help you with whatever you two with whatever you need." James said as he entered with them, turning on the lights.
Triton gently put Louise down on the bed. He sat down on the edge of it and looked around. "Huh. This place. It's a lot more…"
"Advanced? Yes. I can assure you though, it's nothing too difficult to understand. But that can wait for tomorrow."
"Yeah. Oh, and uhh, thank you." the former postman said as he got up from the bed and hugged Ironwood. "For being there for Louise. It means a lot to me."
"I- I'm glad I could be there for her too." James said, easing into the embrace. "She is a wonderful person." With one final squeeze, the father let James go. "I should probably let you get back to your… meeting. It seemed important."
James huffed. Exposing the truth to Glynda and Qrow was certainly going to be an ordeal, to say the least. "Yes. I should. Well, the light is connected to this switch. You can turn it off whenever you please." James instructed as he flipped it off and on. "Rest well, and good night."
"Good night to you too." Triton said instinctively, and the door was closed. "Night, huh…" He remembers stories about how the sun traveled across the sky, going below the horizon to create night. Supposedly, the other half of his... old planet, was covered in that darkness. All in the past now.
He took off his boots, coat, and hat, and turned off the light. It was strange to control the light with a switch. He noticed more light filtering through curtains that were being ruffled by some wind. He pushed them aside to reveal the night sky. The gentle, cool breeze could be felt as the stars shone and the moonlight filtered down onto the world. Below, numerous buildings shining with light could be seen stretching for a distance he could have never have imagined.
It was beautiful. He turned to wake up Louise to show her, but stopped once he saw some of the moonlight resting on her as she peacefully slept. The world is beautiful and full of love.
#rwby#nier#james ironwood#louise (nier)#fun fact: i plan on using this negative chapters to make another AU!#but that is a ways away#the remnant branches#negative chapters#also look @ the ao3 notes if you wanna make me happy especially the end notes#but basically the drakenier god(s) is/are the third god(s) in the rwbyverse since there is a third grimm brother#8.8 k words
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