Chapter Text
Journey to Atlas
Ruby could feel the strain and ache in her muscles before she even fully registered being awake. Her mind was foggy as she became slowly more aware of the morning breaking around her. A wave of pain swept across the front of her skull, leaving as quickly as it came.
Well, that’s familiar.
Ruby dimly remembered the ongoing headaches she’d had after Beacon’s fall; brief bolts of pain that had flashed memories of that night into her mind. Fortunately, the memories of the previous night that were slowly swimming back were significantly more triumphant than a year ago.
Voices echoed up the stairs, along with a rhythmic thumping that meant definitely someone was pacing. Probably Qrow.
Ruby tried to open her eyes, but they felt decidedly stuck this morning. She vaguely wondered if Weiss had finally had enough and glued her eyelids together. I’d be so proud if she pulled off a prank like that . But no, she was just exhausted, and her eyes eventually pried themselves apart enough to bring the dusty ceiling into view, the orange early morning light streaming into the room through heavy curtains. Ruby dragged herself upright slowly, cradling her forehead in her palm.
Weiss was still asleep in the bed across the room, her arms draped a little more carelessly across the bed than usual. She hadn’t even bothered to change out of her bloodstained dress, and Ruby felt a pang in her chest when she remembered seeing Weiss lying deathly still in Haven’s hall. Suddenly motivated, Ruby pushed herself forward and fell noisily to her knees beside Weiss’ bed, the impact just loud enough to startle Weiss awake.
‘Ruby, what-?’
She pulled Weiss into a long, tight hug, and after a brief moment of surprise, it was reciprocated. Ruby could just make out muffled words spoken into her shoulder.
‘I’m not dead, you know.’
Pulling away, Ruby laughed. ‘You nearly were though, and that’s enough to warrant a special best-friend “we-all-survived” hug!’
Weiss rolled her eyes, but the expression had lost its malice back in Beacon and could only convey exasperated affection now. Her mood became a little more sombre, and in her teammate’s eyes Ruby could see last night come flooding back. Weiss’ brow furrowed and Ruby bit her lip, mirroring the same unease about their situation.
Weiss broke the silence first. ‘So… what now? Blake is back?’
Ruby nodded slowly, toying with the blankets on the bed. ‘Yeah, I guess so. She definitely made it sound like she wanted to stay.’
‘She may want to re-evaluate,’ Weiss scoffed as she sat up, ‘After we drop the Salem bomb on her today.’
Ruby propped her head on her palm, watching Weiss stretch out. ‘To be fair, I don’t think any of us have come to terms with it. I mean, we’ve known for a few weeks now, but there always seems to be some other fun new surprise that comes up.’
Weiss raised an eyebrow. ‘If by fun new surprise you mean dauntingly disadvantageous complication, then sure.’ She looked back down at her dress, ‘Shoot, this is ruined. Blood is supposed to be very difficult to get out.’
Ruby snorted and got up, looking down at her own clothing. They had each brought only a couple of spare items. Life on the road left little room for the luxuries of a change of clothes. ‘Maybe we go to a dry cleaner today? I mean, are we doing anything else?’
‘How should I know?’ Weiss rummaged through her bag for a second combat skirt. ‘I only just woke up as well.’
Ruby rubbed her eyes; the chirping birds outside their window were just a little too shrill for her headache. ‘Right, yeah. It sounds like uncle Qrow is up. I’m sure he’ll have something to say about the whole thing.’
‘I could use a break.’
Ruby looked up. Weiss was gazing out into space, lost in her thoughts. ‘Yeah, me too. But… We have the relic now and I think that means we need to keep going. Salem will…’ She trailed off. Do what? I feel like there’s so much we don’t know.
Weiss shook herself out of her stupor and started to change with a little more purpose. ‘Then we’ll just have to get this over with then.’ And Ruby once again couldn’t help but feel grateful that someone with as much resolve as Weiss was around.
-
Yang had been awake for a while now. She’d probably only had three or four hours’ sleep, but she’d always been an early riser and it was a hard habit for her internal clock to kick, even after a difficult night like the last.
She usually woke up with an excess of energy and struggled to laze around in bed, often to the annoyance of her roommates. But this morning, she didn’t quite know what to do, because Blake was lying in the bed opposite her, fast asleep. Yang didn’t fully know how to process that piece of information, and her usual morning energy had transformed into a sort of nervous buzz.
She guessed that she’d been awake for an hour, since the sun had first begun to break, trying to get a handle on how she felt about this unprecedented turn of events.
She came back.
But she also left.
Yang’s face flushed and she rolled onto her back. The sound of quiet, even breathing permeated her consciousness as she stared determinedly up at the ceiling, chewing on her lip.
And then there was her mother.
Yang shook her head and forced herself out of bed, quietly clicking her arm into place as she stood. There was no way she was going to allow herself to dwell on Raven. Having spent the last year sitting at home and coming to terms with her own feelings, Yang could very easily recognise the well of hurt lying just below the surface; ready to plunge her into its depths with a misplaced thought.
It would be easier not to think about either of them just yet. She grabbed a towel and a change of clothes and headed downstairs to find somewhere to burn out the anxious hum under her skin.
-
Ruby and Weiss were some of the last to come down, followed shortly by Nora and Jaune. Ren sat in what appeared to be amicable silence with Oscar, who, while tired, seemed to have recovered from his fight the night before. Qrow continued to stalk back and forth in the middle of the room, deep in thought.
Nora and Jaune joined Ren where they began a hushed conversation, trying to not disturb the revolving brainstorm that was wearing tracks into the carpet. Blake was perched on the edge of a lounge with her scroll open, supposedly absorbed in her reading, but her anxious glances around the room betrayed her. Ruby sat down next to her and put on a trademark grin. Blake’s tension seemed to lessen as she hesitantly smiled back. Weiss joined them, swung a leg over her knee and sat perfectly upright in anticipation.
Ruby glanced over to where Yang was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, dressed in her training gear and covered in a sheen of sweat. She was absentmindedly fiddling with the cap on her water bottle, staring into space. Something seemed a little off about her, and Ruby resolved to determine the cause when they had some time alone. But first, Blake.
‘So… Blake,’ Blake started at her name and turned to Ruby, ‘uh, how did you sleep?’
‘Well enough, I guess?’ she shrugged uncertainly, ‘It’s not too hard to fall asleep after a night like that.' She glanced at Qrow who had started muttering to himself. ‘Are we going to talk about what happened? With the giant… Grimm… thing? Or, um... whatever that is?’
Ruby followed Blake’s gaze to an awkwardly shaped rucksack resting at the foot of the couch, emitting a faint blue glow. She bit her lip and looked back to Qrow, who showed no real signs of stopping any time soon. ‘Yeah, yeah we will. I just… Uncle Qrow?’ she tried to get his attention. He paused and looked over, seemingly surprised that other people had arrived. ‘Are we going to talk about our plan?’
Qrow let out a long breath, and his shoulders seemed to sag even further. ‘Well kid, I don’t know that we really have much of a plan.’ He looked at Oscar. ‘Oz isn’t really in a position to contribute right now.’
Everyone’s attention had been drawn to the conversation, and they turned to face Oscar who started to flush under their scrutiny. ‘He, uh… he’s kind of out?’
‘Out?’ Weiss asked incredulously, ‘What do you mean out? As in, he’s out of you ?’
Oscar shook his head furiously. ‘No, no, I mean more that he’s out for the count, you know? That last battle took a bit of a toll, and I don’t think he intended to take control for so long. He seems… like he’s dormant, I guess?’
Ruby’s heart sank at the news. She glanced briefly at Blake, whose state of utter confusion was poorly masked by an attempt to match everyone else’s serious demeanours. ‘Ozpin was sort of killed by Cinder in the battle of Beacon and was kind of reincarnated into Oscar because he’s an immortal ageless being,’ she whispered, leaning over. Looking at Blake’s face and ever-rising eyebrows, she wished she hadn’t said anything. Weiss had been right. ‘Um, I’ll just leave the explanations until afterwards,’ she added hurriedly and turned back to Qrow.
Qrow pulled out his flask and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘So, with Ozpin taking a nap, we only really have the last thing he said to go on. “Get the relic to Atlas.” Which is, of course, extremely vague.’ He took a pensive sip. ‘And there are other complications with that particular plan.’
‘Atlas has closed its borders.’ Weiss nodded in understanding. ‘We would have to apply for permits, which, considering the current state of things, could take months.’
‘We don’t really have months,’ Yang finally spoke up, ‘The relic makes us a target for Salem, we can’t afford to sit still for that long.’ She’d crossed her arms and was frowning at the carpet, seeming to sink deeper into her thoughts. Ruby was puzzled. Is she worried about Salem?
Qrow snapped his fingers and pointed at Yang. ‘Bingo. We need to start coming up with plans for “alternative” entry.’ In her peripheral, Ruby saw Weiss raise her eyebrows at his finger quotes but said nothing.
‘The news this morning showed Mistral, and Haven in particular, are still surrounded by police looking into the White Fang and the attack,’ Jaune added, ‘So we might have a couple of days where Salem wouldn’t risk an assault.’
Ruby nodded, ‘Hazel, Mercury and Emerald ran off as soon as they realised Cinder was missing, and we don’t know where she or Raven are, but it doesn’t seem likely that they’d come straight back. They wouldn’t want to draw too much attention to themselves.’
‘No, they’re just more likely to wait patiently for us to walk into an ambush,’ Weiss retorted.
They all paused at the thought that Salem was just waiting and watching. The tension in the room rose a little. Qrow spoke up again.
‘I’m inclined to agree.’ They all looked up. ‘With all of you,’ he clarified. ‘They aren’t likely to attack us again immediately. They’re disorganised and there’s too much attention in this area. But they are likely to try again in future, and if Oz knows about something based in Atlas, it’s possible that Salem has the same information.’ He took a long gulp from his flask and paced over to the window, ‘We need to take our time and find a way to get to Atlas without Salem’s minions intervening.’
Ruby perked up at the hint of plan. ‘Team RWBY will investigate the airstrip! We’ll ask around about any airships headed towards Atlas.’ She was keen for any idea that allowed the team a chance to reconnect.
‘Actually,’ Blake began, cautiously joining the conversation, ‘Could we ask around the eastern entrance to the kingdom instead? Most ship-related trade comes through that way, so we might be able to ask about boats and ports outside Mistral.’
Ruby nodded enthusiastically, ‘Sure, sounds like a plan. Why there?’
‘Most of the faunus that came from Menagerie are in the industrial district nearby there, and I want to check that everyone is okay after last night. My dad might have an idea about getting to Atlas as well.’
Ruby grinned and gave her a thumbs up, making Blake smile in return. ‘Alright, team RWBY is going to meet Blake’s parents!’ Catching sight of Qrow’s raised eyebrows, she hastily added, ‘And ask around about ships sailing to Atlas!’
Qrow nodded in agreement. ‘Right, well kid,’ he turned to Jaune, ‘you can take your team to the airstrip. And I’ll get in touch with my network here in Mistral; find some of my old contacts. ’
‘I thought you said they were all gone?’ Yang asked, finally pushing off from the doorframe and moving further into the room. Ruby was glad to see she had shaken off some of the tension that she’d been holding.
‘The Huntsmen and Huntresses I’ve worked with are all gone, yes. But I wasn’t searching for the contacts that we’ve used to help get us transport and supplies, etcetera. I know there are still a couple who tried to help me when I was searching for allies, but honestly the numbers were pretty low. I don’t know if any of them are still active.’ Qrow scowled, and Ruby could tell he was thinking about Lionheart’s betrayal.
He turned to Oscar. ‘You’ll be tagging along with me in case Ozpin wakes up.’ Oscar nodded, and stood. Everyone else took their cue and rose as well.
‘Oh, there’s one more thing.’ Qrow lifted the relic from the floor, tossing the bag aside.and handed it to Jaune, who looked stunned. ‘You and your team will be guarding this. Don’t break it.’
‘Uh, why us? We aren’t even a full team; wouldn’t it be better with you or RWBY?’ Jaune lifted the lantern for a closer look at the details bordering the light, its blue glow reflecting on his face.
Qrow sighed, ‘Usually I wouldn’t let something like that out of my sight, but unfortunately this situation isn’t usual.’ Ruby caught the glance he shared with Yang, who deflated a little in realisation. ‘My sister has decided she wants the relic. I don’t know if it’s for Salem and Cinder or for herself. And I’m not too sure what happened down in the vault, but Raven came for a reason and that reason is undoubtedly the relic.’
Ruby felt an elbow in her ribs and turned to Blake who was wearing a very troubled expression. ‘Yang’s mom?’ she mouthed, tilting her head towards the solemn figure in question. Ruby nodded, and Blake glanced towards Yang.
‘But she and Cinder disappeared, right?’ Nora asked, confused. ‘They would be long gone by now.’
‘We don’t know where or how they left,’ Weiss pointed out. ‘They were gone before Yang got there. They could be anywhere.’
Qrow shrugged his shoulders, ‘I think we can take a pretty good guess that Raven left through a portal, and she might’ve taken Cinder with her. Maybe they fought, or maybe the vault had some kind of defence mechanism that killed Vernal.’
Ruby followed Blake’s gaze towards Yang, who was deliberately not making eye contact with anyone else in the room. It must be really hard on her, hearing us talk about Raven like this.
‘And if Raven intended to take the relic, then there’s a good chance she’ll try again, which is where you come in.’ He turned back to Jaune, ‘Raven can use her semblance to travel to me or Yang in an instant. She may use that to catch us off guard and attack, or just grab the relic and disappear through another portal before we have a chance to react.’
Blake’s expression had grown darker, but she dropped her stare to the floor, idly fiddling with the loose threads in the couch arm while deep in thought. Glancing back over at Yang, Ruby could see that her sister was trying her hardest to keep a blank face. I guess that explains the weird mood she was in earlier.
Ruby ferociously nudged Weiss and tried to subtly gesture to their teammates with a pointed stare. Weiss scowled and rubbed her ribs, but she had also noticed Yang and Blake’s respective moods. Ruby gave her a helpless shrug, and Weiss bit her lip.
‘The point is, as long as the relic is near me or Yang, Raven can get to it easily. We’re liabilities.’
‘What about now then?’ Blake asked, clearly struggling to keep up, ‘You’re both near the relic now.’
‘We don’t really have a choice when we’re all together like this. Safety in numbers, I guess.’
Ruby looked around at the group; everyone was worn down and sombre when they needed to be positive and motivated. Time for some action . ‘Well there’s not really anything we can do about Raven, so we may as well get a start on finding a way to Atlas. Team RWBY, we’re meeting out front in ten.’
-
The path leading to the industrial district took them to the very base of the city along the edge of Lake Matsu, on a street lined with tightly packed market stalls and the cacophonous noise of a crowd. Despite their late night, it seemed that they’d woken up at a reasonable hour and it was still only mid-morning, though the sun remained hidden behind the peaks of the city’s upper levels.
The market was in full swing. Each of the the narrow wooden stalls were draped with brightly coloured banners and tablecloths, and laden with eye-catching baubles and touristy kitsch; each table arranged to draw the gaze of passersby and grip their attention by the enormity of choice. Makeshift clothing racks were fashioned from tightly strung rope hung between the awnings of each stall, interspersed with glittering necklaces and strings of shells. Conniving shopkeeps coerced members of the crowd closer, while cawing gulls swooped at food stalls, prompting excessive swearing.
The cool sea air hit Blake’s face hard and tickled her ears, but it was a welcome and familiar change to the stuffiness of that room. Being outdoors in an environment similar to Kuo Kuana was helping clear her head. As much as she was grateful that she was back with her team, she was flying completely blind in what seemed to be a wholly insane situation. She knew she would have to speak up and disrupt their pleasant silence, but she wanted just for a moment to enjoy their company and pretend she was back in time, in their Beacon days.
So far, she knew that the White Fang and Adam had been working for some other group. That wasn’t new; she’d known that from their confrontations with Torchwick. This group, led by Cinder? , had been responsible for the attack on Beacon, and again on Haven. She already knew that too, but still had no idea why. Taking a sidelong look at her group, she wondered if they would be able to tell her.
Ruby seemed her usual upbeat self, and Blake had a feeling that that had something to do with the team being all together again. Weiss similarly seemed calm in her pace and posture, which, considering how agitated she could get when she felt lost, was a pretty big deal. Blake couldn’t help but smile inwardly at the thought of the reunited foursome too, though she had a feeling that things between the group weren’t quite so clear cut.
Her gaze moved along to Yang, who was standing the furthest away; almost as though she’d deliberately let the other two stand as a buffer between them. Is that too paranoid?
Blake bit her lip. Yang seemed normal. She had her arms tucked behind her head and was looking up at the sky, absorbing her surroundings and occasionally laughing at the unsuspecting stall owners fending off gulls. She might normally have been cracking a few more jokes, but they’d had an exhausting night. Still…
Was she angry? Blake couldn’t tell. Warm nights in Menagerie had been filled with the kind of dark, anxious ruminating that spawned from a sleep-deprived, idle mind; each new fear growing from seeds of doubt planted in her mind by another long ago. Her guilt had had her imagining all sorts of scenarios over the last year, where they shunned her, or berated her, or yelled and screamed and attacked. She closed her eyes and pulled herself out of the familiar spiral. That last one was pretty unlikely, but she had still expected a little more resistance.
Ruby and Weiss had just seemed happy to have her around again, but Yang she couldn’t read. Yang was the one she anticipated being the most hurt, given their closeness, and the circumstances, and Yang’s injury, and her abandonment issues, and… Stop.
Blake reined in her thoughts before she let herself get too carried away. There was a lot to deal with and she could try and gauge the group sentiment later. First things first.
‘So, Ozpin is reincarnated into Oscar?’
They were all startled at the sound of her voice and turned towards her.
‘Yeah, I want to say I explained it badly, but that’s pretty much the gist of it,’ Ruby said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. ‘Oscar is still himself but he can sometimes… I don’t know, switch? And then it’s Ozpin talking. But I guess he won’t be doing that for a while.’
‘Right, and Ozpin is immortal. Which definitely does not sound crazy.’
‘Oh boy, that’s just the tip of the crazy iceberg,’ Yang snorted, ‘He’s actually some kind of magical wizard giving out superpowers left, right, and centre.’
So she’s talking to me at least. After her disappearing act this morning, I thought I might be in for the silent treatment. She bit her lip tentatively, trying not to let herself read too much into it.
Weiss elbowed Yang in the ribs, hard enough to make her stumble to the side. ‘Your explanation is not helping, Yang.’
‘Well you try and do it better. It’s a little too nuts for me to make any sense of.’
‘Guys, let me do it. As team leader and official spokesperson, I will be happy to answer any and all of your questions, Blake.’ Ruby gave a little bow, and Blake could tell she was trying to make light of the situation. Blake gave her a smile for her efforts, and Ruby beamed back.
Of course, Blake didn’t realise just how necessary it was to downplay the state of affairs with humour until after they’d explained it.
-
Blake gripped the barricade and let out a long, deep breath. Ruby and Yang had gone to get hot chocolate from a nearby café, but she expected it had been an excuse to give her space, once they realised she would need a minute to process the new information.
She looked out over the gentle to and fro of the ocean with bright kites flying overhead, amazed at how normal and familiar it looked considering just how unbelievable the rest of the world had just gotten.
Salem is the mastermind orchestrating the attacks, and she controls the Grimm. And Cinder, who put those plans into motion, is something called a Maiden with magical elemental powers provided by Ozpin. These Maidens are necessary to retrieve the relics stored in the academy vaults, which Salem wants to use for her own destructive purposes.
Phrasing it simply was helpful for comprehending the situation, but not so much for accepting it. She didn’t even know what to do with the information that Ruby had silver grimm-freezing eyes, or that Qrow and Raven could turn into birds. She tightened her grip; the metal handrail had grown warm under her fingers. Closing her eyes, she allowed her senses to be overwhelmed by the cawing of birds mingling with the quiet lapping of water against the wharf; a salty sea spray carrying the scent of fishy air, grounding herself in reality.
Blake felt eyes on her, and she turned to face Weiss, who, thankfully, had decided to give her a minute of silence.
‘This is crazy.’
‘Yes,’ Weiss agreed, leaning back against the rail and examining her nails.
‘You were impaled through the gut last night.’
‘Hm, yes. I think I went into shock so quickly I didn’t really register the pain.’
‘Thank god for Jaune’s semblance revealing itself.’ Blake leaned back against rail next to Weiss and stared out into the busy stalls across the road. Maybe someday she would come back to Mistral. It was so colourful, even if it was only to hide a grimy city underbelly.
‘My being stabbed is not exactly the hardest part of this story to believe.’
Blake sighed, ‘No, but I don’t quite know how to feel about the rest. So much has happened…’
‘While you were gone,’ Weiss finished simply. ‘But now you’re back to stay right? Because we could really use your help with this.’
Blake looked over at Weiss, who was assessing her with a critical expression on her face. Blake couldn’t help but smile. It was just so Weiss . ‘I’m here to stay. There seems to be a whole lot resting on this fight and it’s our job to prevent more people getting hurt.’ She turned her body to fully face Weiss and tried to layer as much sincerity into her voice as possible. ‘Besides, this is where I belong; with you guys. I feel more at home with team RWBY than anywhere else.’
Weiss narrowed her eyes and looked at her very closely, before snorting. ‘That was very dramatic. Not everything needs to be as grand as a novel, Blake.’
Blake grinned in response, ‘Hey, who knows? A story like this, maybe we’ll become another legendary fairytale to be passed down through generations.’
They watched a group of kids running between bunting flags, bumping into numerous adults. It was reminiscent of both picturesque joy and quick-fingered survival. Blake couldn’t work out which she was looking at.
‘Thank you. For having me back,’ Blake said softly. Weiss sighed in response.
‘I get it Blake; this team is my family too. And you don’t need to thank me. I’m just glad we’re back together.’ Weiss gestured to where Yang and Ruby were emerging from the crowd with their drinks, laughing as the kids nearly barrelled Ruby over. ‘But honestly, I’m not really the one you hurt.’
With that, Weiss pushed off the railing and met the others, only to immediately begin interrogating Ruby on what she’d ordered. Ruby, for her part, held up under questioning (if only just) and Weiss seemed satisfied enough with the response to accept the drink. Yang snickered at them, and for a brief second, her eyes met Blake’s.
Blake didn’t know what she was looking for in Yang’s expression; her violet eyes gave away no secrets. But then Yang’s face shifted into a cheeky smirk as she raised the extra drink in her hand and wiggled it.
Blake rolled her eyes and pushed off the rail to meet her team.