Chapter Text
The Poison of Affection (RWBY AU x Azur Lane)
Chapter 1
Sea of Patch
50 Nautical Miles from Vale
0500 Hours
"Come on, put your back into it lad!"
Heaving up a large fishing net, the bounty that was being hefted upon the decks of a plain-looking fishing boat was the lifeblood of how fishermen like Henry provided for his family. The strait between Vale and the island of Patch had been used for millennia for reasons that weren't just limited to providing an abundance of seafood for the nearby cities and towns. The strait had been the site of many wars, from the formation of Vale all the way to the most recent Faunus conflicts, the stretch of open sea that they fished in was considered hallowed ground by many who sailed frequently on it.
"That's it! Easy on the bloody nets, don't want it to break again or anything!"
Despite being a fisherman for a decade at this point, he never got used to the early nature of the job, but no one was going to buy seafood in the afternoon, so here he was, toiling away what remained of his youth hauling lobsters up onto his humble boat. The cold winds that made the strait often treacherous to cross during certain seasons blew onto his face with unrelenting force, and he was forced to turn away for a moment. At that moment, he chose to turn towards a certain direction, his gaze landing on the island of Patch itself, or rather, its sides.
"What? Still, think that old bastard Gregor was telling the truth?"
He sighed and turned back to look at his boss, whose hair had turned into a gleaming white from the brown when Henry first met him.
"Dunno, Gregor can be surprisingly correct about things. You never know in these straits."
"Pah! He's spent too much time drinking alone on the pier that's what, he probably saw a Feilong or somethin' similar. Don't let his ramblings get to ya, now help me prep for the journey back."
Old Gregor was a regular in the Fisherman's bar. He had long years of service both as a regular fisherman, and in the former Royal Valean Navy, back when it was still existent of course, these days it's been rebranded to the Coast Guard, and it was a shadow of its former self. No need for large beasts made of steel sailing on the treacherous seas when airships did the same thing. Didn't have to scrub the barnacles off of them every so often too, so that was probably an advantage. Those sleek designs didn't have the same sort of soul that ships of old had however, something about them felt…uninspiring to him.
"Could be an abandoned ship, Oum knows how many of those bloody things were lost during the Faunus Wars."
"Still afloat for that long? Don't be daft, now sit your arse down or you'll be knocked off."
Sighing, he went back below decks and took out a collection of photos very dear to him. Opening the leather-bound, and plastic-sealed booklet, he turned to a specific page and inspected it once more. It was a picture of him, and his late father. Taken in a time that were only flashes in his mind now, but the one thing he always remembered was when he was taken aboard his ship in the Valean Navy and shown around. These days, large bore guns were becoming a rarity, new-fangled missiles and the like replaced them completely, for more 'economical' methods to deal with Grimm, they said. The fact that they could easily be turned around to be used on people was not something mentioned, but he knew better. He had the scars from the Faunus Wars to prove it.
"Henry! Get your bloody arse up here!"
Snapping out of his thoughts, he quickly put away his booklet and rushed back up the stairs to see what was going on-
"...Gods be damned…"
From the mist in front of them, a boundless shape-no, a ship was taking form close to them. The silent waves that rocked their boat were no longer gentle, as the beast of a ship before them drifted waves onto their boat like a storm. He recognized what it was, it was the might of any nation that had any salt in their seafaring capabilities, a sign of power and show of force once unparalleled by anything else in Remnant.
"Fuck me, it's plotting a course next to us, help me raise the bloody anchor out of the water!"
Despite running over to help him, the process took minutes to fully complete, and hand-cranking their anchor back up was not going to make it any faster. Suddenly having an idea to save themselves, he ran back into the bridge and got on the radio.
"Hailing the Battleship in front of us! We are a humble fishing vessel directly in your course, please adjust!"
No response. Five seconds turned to ten, and ten turned to fifteen, just as he was about to hail it again, searchlights from its superstructure suddenly turned on, all of them shining directly onto his vessel. He instinctively brought a hand to cover the piercing beams, but in between the flashes, he was able to make out more features of the behemoth sailing right in front of their vessel now. Luckily, it had changed course so that it was no longer going to impact them, and its full glory was able to be seen. Eight massive main guns, a length that was longer than most vessels in Vale's port and flying a flag that was unrecognizable to him. It wasn't Atlesian, Mistralian or even Vacuoan, thought that last one wasn't really much of a thought anyways.
"What the hell…"
"Apologies for the close call. Readjusting my course, fair winds and following seas."
The voice that appeared on the other end sounded young, and it belonged to a girl, something that he definitely did not expect. As soon as the radio call went through, however, the searchlights were turned off, and the ship in front of him appeared to be speeding up. His curiosity overtook him as he reached for the radio again, he asked a question over it.
"Who are you?"
Like before, there was no response for at least a couple dozen seconds. Just as the ship finally completely passed his fishing boat, a reply was given.
"Hutten."
The waves started calming down as soon as the battleship in front of him cleared out, and his eyes remained locked at the ship's stern going ever further away. Damn, he really wished that he brought along his camera now…
As his boss staggered in, his eyes also locked on the ship heading far off away from them, he gulped and turned to Henry. "I...think we should pay old Gregor a visit when we get back."
For once while working in this boat, he agreed wholeheartedly.
Walking to her stern after passing the fishing boat, Ruby sighed at what was probably the closest call she's ever had while on her outings. Normally during her sailing trips, she usually only sailed while in rigging form, having her actual hull out was a rarity. As the fishing boat became ever farther, she decided that sailing through the straits in hull form was no longer a viable thing to continue doing. A shame, since she was now going to have to sail further out instead if she wanted to relax with her hull out.
Checking the time on her watch, her eyes narrowed in frustration as she read it.
"It's time already…how disappointing."
She really thought there was more time until she had to go back, lest Yang wake up and find her missing, again. Hiding what she did at night from her dear schwester was already a pain, she already found out about her job in Vale by pure chance, and damned if she was going to reveal her rigging and hull to her anytime soon. Willing her hull to turn back to Patch, she hoped that her drunk uncle came back home with a pack of beer again. Her father was going to have a stroke if he ever found out what's been happening to the cans that Qrow didn't drink, but what he doesn't know, won't hurt him.
"Apfelpfannkuchen it is."
She wondered if Yang was going to be able to take care of herself at Beacon, perhaps her family had relied on her too much for their meals. Not that her father's meals were bad, but with a better alternative they decided to offload that duty onto her instead. With a breakfast item decided on, she turned towards her portside, and began heading back to patch. Today was a weekday, meaning that her classes as Signal began soon, the ordinary high school that is, not the preparatory academy.
AN:
Will contain AU characters, so beware if not your thing.
This came to me as I was checking out art for Ulrich on Pixiv, and I noticed that she and Ruby shared a lot of physical similarities. Short, black hair, carries a scythe, and both have 'gothic' aesthetics to their outfits. Though the biggest difference is obviously their personalities. Ruby, being the ever-excitable person she is, is not Ulrich, who is almost the polar opposite of how she acts. One thought led to another and this was the result, no guarantees of consistent updates.
Be civil in the reviews.
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Chapter Text
Chapter 2
When the Faunus Wars began thirty years ago, Remnant had barely recovered when the first shots and skirmishes of the conflict rang throughout all four of its major kingdoms. Though General Laugne's failure was what the general population widely remembered today, the one battle was only a small part of the overall war efforts around Remnant. Vale, for example, did not see direct fighting for much of it, most of the major land battles were fought in the fields of Anima. However, everyone who has lived through that era will tell you of the Varsovian uprising, beginning where the Faunus quarters were located right in the center of Vale.
Despite the Valean army's best attempts, they held out until the final peace treaty ended the war, albeit at great cost to its denizens and buildings. Today, the quarter has been largely rebuilt, though the area has seen a lot more human residents living there now compared to prior decades. Still, if not for their uprising in the first place, Ruby may have never met Molly, the owner of Sid's Vicious Cafe, where she currently works as a waitress and part-time barista. After all, the former Faunus quarter was now the largest collection of everything from punk movements to new-age beliefs and beyond in Vale, if not all of Remnant.
"Ruby, love, once you're done with that start preppin' on the tumbler."
Nodding at Molly, the middle-aged woman was involved with the peace movements when fighting began, and quite viciously if she had to guess. Even thirty years after the war ended, she still sported the spiked leather jackets that seemed right out of the era her father grew up in. Finishing up by wiping down table number four, she prepared to head into the pantry, only to hear the familiar ding of the front door. A new customer, and being the only waitress on hand right now, she had to take it.
"Welcome-"
Ruby cut herself off upon seeing who actually walked in. With a shit-eating grin on his face, she saw that it was her dear uncle, and if she had to guess, right after coming back from another huntsman mission.
"It'll be a table for one-"
"This cafe is closed, please leave the premises."
"Ugh!"
Qrow faked a heartache by placing his hand dramatically on his chest, it was bad enough seeing Yang come in with her father last week, she had no desire to relive a similar experience, even with the cafe as empty as it was now.
"What kinda service is this?! I am just a poor, dusty, old huntsman who just wants a drink, are you really that cold?"
She was, and in fact, Ruby began looking for a broom so that she could shoo him-
"Qrow, you bastard! Don't you bloody leave just yet, you still haven't paid your tab!"
Molly suddenly called out from the bar counter, evidently her exchange was a bit too loud to keep it quiet.
"Yeah, and I'm here to pay it."
Walking up to the bar counter, he took out a small stack of Lien and handed it over to Molly. Counting it carefully, the last time this happened she threatened to wring his neck over trying to short her, though judging by her calm expression this time, he was smart enough to not pull the same trick again.
"Two decades I've known ye, and you're still the same arse from Beacon. Still living the life of the big hero? Saving villages n' all?"
"I do other stuff too, but I'm also here to see my niece, you mind?"
Holding her hand up, she poured out a glass of water for him before retreating into the pantry. "Water, it'll help wash that booze off ya."
Ruby had a guess as to why her uncle came here today, and it was probably for the same reason why her father awkwardly kept trying to strike up conversations at breakfast today. Knowing him, however, whenever a topic with any degree of difficulty came up, he always tried to ease into it as a means of shielding himself from potential arguments breaking out. Qrow was probably here on his request.
"So, how you doing here kiddo? Like the place? Molly is the same as ever, but she's as good as ever-"
"This is about my career quiz, isn't it?"
Two days ago her entire year was given a career quiz to do. Signal Academy was divided into two parts, the regular teaching component and the latter regular school component for non-aspiring huntsmen or other related career paths. Because she was in the regular school component, she was given this quiz, unlike her sister who was in the preparatory programme and obviously had her career path well in mind already. Classes were mixed, and they were essentially taught the same things, only that the preparatory classes included combat and other skills to deal with the Grimm.
"Couldn't even get that past you, huh? Alright, yeah, Tai freaked out this morning and asked me to talk to you about it."
"Ask or beg?"
"Beg, he owes me one hell of a favour now, don't let him know I told you."
His scroll was taken out, and after pressing on it a couple of times, a picture showing her own quiz was displayed. Ruby crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Qrow.
"I thought these were only given to Mister Simmons, why do you have it?" Mister Simmons of course, was her homeroom teacher.
"You know I am a teacher at Signal right? Just not for any of your classes. Anyways, do you see why Tai freaked out yet? Honestly, did you write it just to mess with him?"
To be completely honest, she didn't think much of it when she wrote down her top three career options then and there. From top choice to bottom, she listed only three things:
Maritime officer
Singer
Maid Cafe Waitress
"The third choice is something I just wrote in."
Qrow let out a chuckle before speaking again. "Funny, but Tai probably prefers you doing that than your first choice. Honestly? I should have recorded the call from him this morning, at least it would make for some great blackmail."
Ruby stood her ground, she didn't put a lot of thought into it but that particular career path of being a maritime officer was something she had an inkling of interest in. Yes, airships were the new method of transportation but it didn't mean shipping was over, far from it in fact. So why were her father and Qrow so worried about her picking that?
"I don't see anything wrong with it."
He took a sip of water before responding. "Ruby, I think the fact that they have as high of a mortality rate as some huntsmen made Tai practically beg me to make you reconsider. I mean, I know the numbers myself, and lemme tell ya, they are not…"
"Tch. So what? Are you going to recommend that I become a huntress again?"
"Honestly? Yeah, at this point I'd say it's a better career path since you'll at least get paid more for the same chance of dying."
Unlike her father, Qrow usually did not mince words when saying something. That has led to some awkward statements said during dinners together, especially when anything regarding politics came up, but she did appreciate his candidness at times. Now though, she wasn't so sure.
"Look, I know you like ships and sailing and all of that, by the way, never got why you liked those things, but at the very least, just make up some vague thing about wanting to become a singer or something during tonight's dinner. At least Tai won't be wide awake at night thinking about your potential watery grave."
That part about Maritime Officers having the same mortality rate as huntsmen was true, the seas were infested by Grimm and sailing through them was a very arduous journey. The chance of death came usually because the industry was declining, and automated airships like the ones made by Atlas often took over shipping roles. With the industry being replaced by airships, it led to fewer sea-going ships, and fewer ships meant that costs were cut. Unfortunately, that resulted in the ships being maintained in less-than-ideal states, which then led to its defences being subpar, finally resulting in a higher mortality rate.
"So everything comes back to huntsman and huntresses after all…"
In Signal, she often got questions from curious and brave classmates regarding her programme choice, after all, she was from a huntsman family, the expectation was that she should follow the same career path, right? Yang was going on the same career path, so what made her choose to be different?
"I know we've had this talk before, but it's honestly not that bad, heck, Summer even-"
Qrow shut himself before he continued on, clearly seeing Ruby's glare searing itself onto him. The last time they had a similar conversation was when she had to decide on whether or not she would enroll in the preparatory academy or not, it ended in a lot of shouts and a silent agreement to not pursue it any further.
"Mutter-" Ruby clamped her mouth shut before speaking again. "Mom didn't want me pressured into it, and you are definitely not helping your case by mentioning her."
Hands were raised in faux surrender, Qrow had a resigned look on his face as he finished the rest of his water.
"Okay, I get it. Just think about it for a bit okay? And don't forget to mention that during dinner, I'll head back to Patch myself."
With another whimsical wave, Qrow secured his sword before leaving the cafe. Looking at the clock, there was only an hour left until closing time-
"Ruby! You're not leaving until you help me finish peelin' the tatty croquettes for tomorrow! Don't you dare think of hanging up your apron just yet!"
Of course, she expected this. Calling back out to her, Ruby got back into the pantry to help with tomorrow's service. Just as she was about to head inside, a pang of deja vu hit her all of a sudden, causing her to take in the antique decor of the cafe mixed in with what were very clearly punk icons of Vale's music scene from decades past. A familiar scene played in her head, of boundless horizons mixed in with the smell of gunpowder and soot. At the forefront, were flashes of a distant naval base that she felt an odd melancholic desire for; a similarly run cafe was present as well, only this time there were other Kansen running it with her.
Shaking her head out of those thoughts, she got back to the task at hand, those scenes remaining as they always were, memories.
With that potential disaster averted, Qrow began making his way toward the piers of Vale. These days, the airship ports saw much more action, and more passengers than the ferries. Not that they still weren't useful, but people preferred airships because they were much faster than a regular ferry, and he guessed that the chances of coming across a giant Feilong or something similar was much lower when high up in the sky. Walking to a pre-determined meeting point, he found Ozpin looking at the setting sun. Glynda, who in his mind was the one who actually ran Beacon nowhere to be seen, it appeared that he wanted this kept to the two of them only.
Transforming from back into his human form behind a true, he was immediately greeted by him.
"Ah, there you are. I trust everything regarding your niece is in good order?"
"Yeah, you want the update or what? I told Tai I'd be making my way back there for dinner today, so probably can't stay for too long."
Sure, he told Tai that, but Ruby was the one who made dinner…and breakfast most of the time now. Not to say he was a bad cook, actually no, he was, that soggy noodles incident made him prefer Ruby's cooking permanently. She acted sorta like Summer actually, just with the whole emo-goth phase going on right now.
"By all means, I won't stop you from taking a well-deserved rest."
Then why did you want the update?!
Grumbling aside, Qrow began telling him what he found. "That crater on that island you mentioned? It's recent, and probably aimed at something."
"My suspicions were correct then?"
"Not exactly…"
Two months ago, a large explosion was reported some nautical miles in the seas surrounding the island of Patch. By the time the Valean coast guard was dispatched to investigate, all they found was an empty, and quiet patch of ocean. The explosion was heard by many in the settlements on the island, but despite days of searching, no source or origin of the explosion was found. Qrow however, was notified by Ozpin of a large crater a dozen kilometres away on an island where previously there was none.
"It's recent, and not a dust bomb. It looks more like a crater caused by one of Atlas's artillery than anything. You sure Jimmy isn't doing some exercises off the coast of Vale that we don't know about?"
"Preposterous, there are more than enough training fields in Solitas than to do it in Vale's backyard. And what of the ghost ship I've been hearing so much about?"
Right, the supposed 'ghost battleship' sailing around the seas. Qrow chalked it up to an urban legend from old and drunk fishermen. "Nothing, are you seriously asking me to investigate that?"
Ozpin didn't even turn around as he replied, what a bastard. "I wouldn't ask you about it if I didn't intend to. You may want to hang around some old sailor bars in the next few days, I'm sure you and your semblance will make sure loose lips give you all the leads you need."
A mission where he could actually head to a bar? It suddenly didn't seem so bad after all. "Well then, see ya Oz. I'm gonna need a bit more funds if I'm going pub crawling."
Sighing, Ozpin waved him goodbye as he transformed back into a crow. On the way back to Vale, he wondered if Ruby may know something about it. Seemingly out of nowhere, she had developed a strange fascination with all things to do with sailing and ships a couple of years back. The only people that Qrow knew were into these things as well was Port, and Ruby was most definitely not him. She was the last person he expected to ever develop an interest in that particular hobby, but at least it gave her something to talk about. He much preferred this Ruby to the one right after Summer's… disappearance, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all.
The sun had fully set by now, and his destination was within sight, an odd, nondescript-looking cabin in the middle of the woods. Judging by the wonderful aroma he smelled, Ruby had made his favourite cream stew again.
Yeah, she's going to be alright, what's the big deal about worrying over her?
AN:
Be civil in the reviews.
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter Text
Chapter 3
"Miss Rose? Miss ROSE!"
Ruby looked up from doodling in her notebook, only to see a very irate Mister Simmons, her teacher and tutor group instructor glaring at her. Was she supposed to be paying attention in class? Yes, and she had been chewed out by her father by it, well, he attempted to anyways. She was keenly aware of her reputation in Signal as a delinquent, the only difference being that she had actually good or very good grades, so every attempt to chew her out during parent-teacher conferences was only a comment on her attitude and behaviour. Qrow always found it funny, her father did not, and yes, Qrow subbed in for Summer ever since she disappeared.
"It seems that you prefer to be scribbling on your notebook over paying attention in class, so then can you explain to me what happened to the Emperor of Mantle after the Great War?"
Part of the reason for her disinterest in the first place was because he was going over a topic she knew already. If he wanted to make an example out of her, then she may as well respond in kind. In the same monotone and disinterested voice, she gave her answer.
"The Kaiser of Mantle." She made sure to use the actual name in Mantellian to emphasize her point. "Captured by the King of Vale, was ousted by the Landesvertretung by a vote. He spent his remaining days in exile, near a small, isolated community on Anima. The Imperial system was dissolved, and the council system was adopted, as per the King of Vale's own demands."
If Mister Simmons had any reaction to that, he didn't show it. Instead, the school bell rang soon after Ruby's answer, causing everyone to begin packing up.
"We'll continue this another time! Miss Rose, please stay behind."
As her fellow classmates cleared out one by one, Ruby slowly made her way up to his desk, clearly thinking that she was to be reprimanded for her attitude, as it had happened so many times before. Instead, however, this time he had a slight grin on his face.
"So I was right after all… You do know your history."
Ruby raised an eyebrow at him, despite his old age, he was sharp in certain matters whenever she talked to him outside of teaching. With her father and uncle both being teachers, she personally interacted with a lot of them during social events at her house and whatnot. Mister Simmons was probably the oldest teacher at Signal, and he supposedly knew her parents for a long time now.
"Come now, I know you feign ignorance during classes, but you don't usually get distracted unless I'm teaching something you already know."
So he knew all this time? Ruby was a bit dismayed at being found out, but he didn't call her out on it in class, so why did he want to talk with her about it?
"How did I know? Miss Rose, I met your mother back when she still went by Summer Rosen. A very Mantellian last name I believe, or is it Atlesian now? I can't keep up with all these name changes at my age…"
Ruby knew this, her mother's family was from Mantle, but at some point Summer herself travelled to Vale, alone. Which was why she only knew of her grandparents from Tai's side, but from her own mother's side. According to Qrow when she asked him about it, Summer didn't speak much of it either, only that she left on bad terms. Regardless, that didn't matter now, Ruby knew her mother as Summer Rose, and her past didn't really interest her.
"Anyways, the point I was trying to make was that you have a knack for things that you are clearly passionate about. The cooking club's instructor told me of a wonderful dish you made last week, so that tells me that you have the ability to do great things in your own right."
"Is this about my career quiz?"
"Of course, unlike your father, I don't lie to my students."
Ruby blinked at him, clearly not expecting him to come clean to quickly.
"As your tutor and instructor, I see it as my duty to help any wayward students figure out a path that they should work towards. And right now, you are lost, am I wrong?"
Thinning her lips, she didn't want to respond to him, but unfortunately, the silence was also very easily taken as an affirmation.
"Oh don't be like that Miss Rose, society expects you to know your entire life goals when you're only in your teens. I personally disagree, and I believe that experimenting now and thinking more about it is what you should do instead. Don't put too much stock on the career quiz, it's only something that the school mandated us teachers to do. Tell me, have you ever heard of the saying, who are you, who do not know your history?"
Ruby shook her head, it wasn't something she encountered before. Mister Simmons just nodded his head, expecting that response as well.
"Well, then I recommend you ask your father about where your mother truly came from. It may give you a much-needed perspective on things."
Where she truly came from?
As Ruby was dismissed and walked down the halls of Signal, all she thought about was what Mister Simmons said. She knew her mother came from Mantle, but that was all she really knew, and until now, she was content with not knowing. Looking at the clock, her father should still be overseeing the combat classes for Yang's year. Clicking her boots, she turned around in one swift motion and began heading for the combat gyms across campus.
If you asked a student from the regular programme and contrasted it against one from the preparatory programme, they will say that those in the latter had an…elitist mindset most of the time. Signal was created very early on after the Great War as an institution to help prepare students going into Beacon, while the regular school component was made only during the Faunus Wars. Despite the regular school component outnumbering the preparatory component most of the time, there were still points of contention between the two student bodies.
For Ruby to walk into the preparatory part of campus, and especially the combat gym, needless to say, there were raised eyebrows at her.
"Victor, Yang Xiao Long! Alright, that's the last spar of the day, remember to take in what I said. Your opponent will usually not wait for you to recover before going in to take you out, dismissed!"
From what she missed, her sister had just won against an opponent in a spar. An opportune moment to turn up she supposed, as her father had also wrapped up with teaching and was now free. Unfortunately, her sister managed to spot her first.
"Ruby! Ain't it good to see ya-"
Shooting out of the arena like an artillery shell, Yang made a beeline right for her. Thankfully, Ruby was used to this and managed to sidestep away at the last second, causing her to instead skid onto the floor.
"Why do you do this all the time?"
Patting the dust off of her body, she didn't respond to her before wrapping her sweaty arms around Ruby herself.
"You reek of sweat, get off me."
"Aw, but I never see you here in this part of Signal! You always keep to the boring part even when dad and Qrow say you can-"
"Ruby? What are you doing here?" The voice of their father cut Yang off from saying any more, releasing her from the 'hug' in the process. As the other students began clearing out, her father walked over with a surprised expression. As her sister had said, she never thought of checking out what the other amenities Signal had to offer were like.
"Dad…I need to talk to you."
"Sure…? What's it about?"
"Ooooh, something serious? Can your big sis be a part of this as well?"
"This is about mom."
'Mom' of course, referring to Summer, and not the other person Yang has been chasing after for a while now. Tai and Yang both shared a look, as they clearly remembered the last time Ruby had asked anything regarding her was years ago now, so the sudden raising of that topic caused the two of them some concern.
"I want to know her past, who she really is."
Her father raised his eyebrows at Ruby before it quickly died down in apparent understanding. Ruby had dubbed the nodding he did whenever something he expected to occur the 'sage nod', and indeed, he was doing it again.
"Mister Simmons told you about it huh? Well, I guess it's time anyways, you two are old enough…"
"Old enough for what?" Yang asked suddenly, clearly out of the loop of whatever just happened.
"Okay fine, I'll tell the both of you after we get back home. There is something about Summer you two should know. Qrow and I have been holding off on telling it for a long time…"
"So, what do the two of you know about Mantle's history?"
Now in the comfort of their own home, her father had brought out the Xiao Long family tea set for this special occasion. Normally it was too expensive and fragile to be anywhere out in the open, so her father taking it out meant that it was important. Yang simply took a sip from her teacup, while Ruby answered dismissively.
"Enough."
Not that her knowledge was lacking, but there was simply a lot to cover with a question as vague as that. What part of it Mantle's history could he even be talking about? Pre-history? Modern history? History of its near non-existant cuisine?
"Good, so when I mention the Empire of Mantle you know what I'm talking about, right?"
It was an old name to describe the ancien regime, as the current Atlesian government called it. Though they of course, tried their hardest to make people forget about it and 'move on'. Ruby had mixed feelings on the matter, but she wasn't Atlesian so what they did mattered little to her personally.
"To put it simply…uh…oh Oum this is hard to put it into words."
"Oh come on, what's so earth-shattering about it?" Yang took the inopportune moment to take another sip, as her father's next answer caused her to choke heavily on the warm tea, spilling it all over the couch she sat on.
"I'm just going to say it. Your mother, Summer Rose, used to go by Summer Von Rosen, from a Mantellian Ducal family."
"Pfffttttttttttt-ACK!" Yang spilled her drink completely over her body, but she didn't react to it whatsoever, as her faze remained frozen at that revelation.
Ruby remained still, a lifetime of memories in a distant Navy gave her the fortitude to weather any shock or unexpected news without reacting in a manner unbefitting one of her presence. Though she outwardly looked calm, her mind inward could only be described as a veritable sea of white noise. Thoughts clashed against each other as they failed to form into coherent ideas.
Though indignant of her, she only had one thing to say in response. "Was?"
"It's true. She…never really talked about it, even back when team STRQ was still a thing! I still don't know the full story, your mom only ever gave out snippets at a time, but all me and Qrow really know was that she left her family in her teens and hitched a ride to Vale."
Tai's expression morphed into something resembling nostalgia mixed in with melancholy. He slapped his arm onto his thigh before speaking again. "I mean, there was this one time she got into an argument with a history professor at Beacon about her own family's history-but that's a story for another time. We talked about this for a while, and she said that we would let you know when you got older, but then…y'know."
"She was actually very similar to you, Ruby. Not the…style, but more like the personality."
"Wait, wait, wait. Mom, super-mom who baked us cookies and read bedtime stories to us was like Ruby right now?!"
The tone of Yang's voice made Ruby feel like she was insulting her somehow, but she let it go for now.
"Yeah, I know right?! The amount of stories I could tell… But back on topic, she didn't say much about her family in Mantle, only that she was an only child. Everytime we had a mission near Mantle, she went out of her way to avoid the district where the old nobility lived, guess she didn't want to run into anyone accidentally. Oh! Speaking of, there is something for you, Ruby."
Seemingly out of nowhere, he took out a box from behind his back. A wooden box, aged and probably seen much better days, decades prior that is.
"Summer really wanted to give this to you personally when you were old enough. Though she didn't say how old, I believe now is as good a time as any."
Sliding it across their living room coffee table, Ruby gingerly held it in her arms and inspected it. "What is…"
"I don't know, she never told me either, only that you should have it."
Unbuckling the flimsy latch that held it together, Ruby gently opened it, as if any amount of force exerted on it will have broken it completely. A few seconds later, the top part was completely flipped open, only to reveal…
"Is that a medal?" Yang, who had leaned in very close to Ruby commented out loud.
The ornately decorated cross-shaped medal was carefully maintained and preserved, and if Ruby read the years on it correctly, it was given during the Great War era. Taking it out, she noticed that it bore a resemblance to old Imperial medals from Mantle, and indeed, once she flipped it around, the seal of the old empire was on full display.
"Woah, for a place that banned art and all that during the Great War, they sure did make their medals real nice looking."
"So it was a medal after all…I thought I saw her fiddling with that every once in a while, never could confirm it. Well, what do you think? Anything special about it calling out to you?"
In Mistral, there was a concept of objects that held importance gaining an almost spiritual role for those who possessed them. It was the belief that the spirits could be channelled through them, as such that was the reason why her home had an altar to worship their ancestors. She didn't feel anything like that for the medal, instead, those same memories that surfaced within her yesterday came to the forefront once more.
"...Hail Ironblood…"
"Hm? What was that?" Yang asked with some confusion, evidently having heard her speak.
"Nothing. What…other stories were there about her?"
Ruby quickly changed the subject, lest Yang get any more ideas and ask her further. She had to remember that those were just memories, of a nation that she was not part of anymore, let alone exist in this world, it was best to let it remain so, as simple memories.
AN:
I'm assuming that she's an H39 variant, the same as Friedrich. See the WOWS model for a visual reference to her actual vessel.
Be civil in the comments.
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Chapter Text
Chapter 4
Sea of Patch
60 Nautical Miles from Vale
0500 Hours
On another one of her early morning 'walks', Ruby decided that some sailing was required in order to break her current state of thoughts. The conversation she had with her father was enlightening, and yet there still remained questions that could not be answered. Not for a lack of trying of course, but rather because Tai simply did not know the answers to them. Summer was famously quiet to a fault about her past, and he saw no reason to bug her about it, unfortunately, that didn't help Ruby's thoughts about her right now.
In truth, she was conflicted. The image that her mother had in her mind of a kind and caring person that held no faults or lies showed signs of cracking. In other words, she also had her own faults, just like a regular person, and Ruby didn't know how to feel about it. So, she took the chance after verifying that Yang was also asleep to sneak out towards the sea.
Now on her front deck, she visually inspected the medal carefully once more, as if staring at it could enable her to glean long-forgotten secrets. Nothing happened, much to her disappointment.
"Von…Rosen…"
In Ironblood lands, those of aristocratic descent had a 'Von' added to it, similar to how the Iris Libre and Vichiya Dominion sometimes had 'De' added to some of their aristocrats' names. It symbolized the status that they held in those societies, even if most of their 'power' was just for show at that point. Remnant seemed to have a similar situation, the aristocracy of old still existed, but their powers have been relegated to being mere figureheads at best, most lost their stations of power entirely such as the Kaiser of Mantle. Of course, the Nobles still remained in government most of the time; and still held varying levels of power if what Molly ranted on regarding Atlas was correct.
"Ruby…Von Rosen?"
If going by traditional laws of descent, Ruby could have been known as that instead. However, after thinking about it for a bit more, she sighed and put the medal back into her pocket.
"Hmph. I'm not fit for something like that, best to forget about it."
Checking the time on her watch, sunrise was in an hour or so, and she wanted to make her way back before the light made it easier to spot her-
PING
Her radar returned a contact at that moment. Ever since the close call with the fishing boat, she kept her own surface radar set turned on just in case small boats were in her way. Normally she was able to see everything around her quite well, but the insistence on only sailing during the early morning didn't help at all. Running over a small boat only a couple dozen tons heavy with her near sixty-thousand-ton displacement was not on the list of things she wanted to do. Making preparations to set sail again, her speed may not be as fast as some destroyers were capable of, but she was capable of keeping up with the latest fast battleships from any faction.
As she began turning around, however, she noticed that the radar ping multiplied, and kept multiplying, until nearly two dozen contacts were shown to be making a beeline right towards her position. Using her rangefinder and optics, a swarm of Blackjaws, or 'Shark Grimm' was seen moving as a hunting pack toward her, their bone-white casings reflecting off of the full moon's light. Their sizes were sometimes on par with some torpedo boats or escort destroyers, thus being big enough to return a ping on her radar.
Ruby considered her options, she could definitely outrun them without any issue, but that may mean leading them back into the strait of Patch, where many early-morning fishermen were harvesting for the day. A decision had to be made quickly, and after some more consideration, she decided to load HE shells into her main batteries.
Twenty-two kilometres out, twenty-two seconds of travel time. All four main batteries traversed into position, at this angle she was able to shoot a full broadside at the incoming swarm. Aiming slightly ahead of the pack, Ruby realized that ever since manifesting her rigging right after her mother's funeral, she had never fired her cannons in anger. That was going to change right now.
"Feuer."
KA-BOOM
"...and in other news, officials say that the loud noise heard in the small hours of this morning is still being investigated. Currently, the VPD has issued a statement that they do not believe it originated in Vale itself. That's all the time we have for today, I'm Lisa Lavender…"
As the newscaster droned on aimlessly, Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck continued grading the final essays of his outgoing students. Despite it only being a month before the new term at Beacon began, the grading policy at Beacon meant that he could technically get away with submitting everything at the last minute. The registrar and Glynda were probably going to be mad at him for it, but he had other more pressing matters such as documenting first-hand accounts of those in the former faunus quarter. His new book wasn't going to write itself, and he as any self-respecting historian should, had to find his own primary sources!
Besides, where else was he going to visit an old friend in the process? Downing his sixth cup of Vacuoan espresso, Molly finally decided to cut him off.
"Alright Barty, I know you're a fiend for this stuff but I worry about yer heart sometimes. I'm cuttin ya off."
"NONSENSE! I am perfectly fine consuming more!"
"Of course you are. If you drop dead one day after drinking your tenth cup don't bloody blame me yea?"
Ever since he knew her back at the Royal Valean University, she's always remained the same person. Crass, but she knew how to get her point across.
"Ruby! Order's up!"
"Coming."
Oobleck had noticed Molly's newest waitress with some familiarity. It didn't occur to him at first, but he eventually realized that she was probably Tai and Summer's daughter. A faint memory surfaced, about meeting a girl who had eyes devoid of meaning and purpose during the funeral…
Someone that young shouldn't have those eyes.
Regardless, he was glad that she appeared to be doing much better now, actually, he remembered Tai mentioning that his daughter had found employment some months ago during a class reunion-
"Pfffft! MY WORD WHAT IS THAT?!"
A tiny glint from her hands caught his attention. A split second later, the familiar shape of the medal clued him into a very interesting item that she currently held, and he was at her side instantly.
SHING
Despite the girl in question holding a table knife up to his throat, he still glued his gaze onto the medal that she gripped tightly.
"Back. Away."
He pretended to not hear her whatsoever, instead he just pointed toward her balled-up hand. "My dear, may I see that medal in your hands?! I believe it is of much historical importance!"
Evidently, the waitress didn't believe him, as he felt the blade of the table knife pressing further onto his neck, luckily he had the foresight to activate his aura in time so that didn't bother him whatsoever. What was the threat of death overseeing something this rare?
Slowly, with the knife still pressed on his neck, she unfurled her hands only to reveal-
"I was right! It is a Pour le Merite! I have never seen one in person, you must let me examine it-"
He was cut off by the knife digging further into his aura, and he suddenly remembered that his overbearing attitude sometimes caused some people to be unnerved. Something as delicate as this needed to be handled carefully, lest this chance of study was lost to him, maybe forever!
"Ah, where are my manners? My name is Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, Head of History at Beacon Academy. Your medal is something very few have ever held, let alone possess, so please, may I inspect it?"
He didn't remember how long she kept up the stare, but as his archaeologist friends said, if you aren't in danger while researching, are you really doing your job correctly? Indeed, now was a great time to put that saying to the test…
"Oh…I see…so the design is like that…but wait…why…?"
Ruby kept a watchful gaze over this…professor who had appeared right next to her in a near instant. More out of reflex than anything, the fact that she managed to grab a nearby table knife in time was commendable. Still, now she had to watch as her mother's possession was being drooled over by some quack historian.
"…Professor Ooble-"
"Doctor!"
"...Doctor Oobleck, are you done with it? I would like it back soon."
A part of her felt reassured that the medal was indeed authentic, judging by his reactions. But she still wanted the damn thing back from his clutches, as right now he seemed to not want to let it go.
"Yes, yes…it's just that reading about it and seeing a picture is much different from holding one in person…"
The fact that he even had plastic gloves on while inspecting made Ruby feel a bit off-put. Should she also have used plastic gloves when holding it? Metal had an annoying tendency to rust after all, and her abilities as a Kansen made things extra fragile with all of the engine power she could call upon.
"Well, from what I can tell it was definitely issued during the Great War. To a very high-ranking officer if I may add…but unfortunately it seems that the recipient's name was scratched off. Still, a fascinating thing, and even more so considering that it was in your mother's possession. I never knew she was actually from a Mantellian Ducal family back when I was at Beacon."
Now that he mentioned it, Ruby did remember seeing a similar man with green hair some years ago, the fact that he knew Summer was a surprise as well.
"It does make sense how she would possess this medal, however. Shame that she is…no longer with us, she may have shed some light into why the Von Rosen family disappeared after the Faunus Wars."
Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "They… disappeared?"
"Ah, right. I realize that you may not know this, but at the height of the Faunus Wars, nearly the entire Von Rosen family disappeared, though they only had a few living members left regardless. It was a huge story at the time, and my colleagues in Atlas still scratch their heads over their disappearance. A great mystery of that age if you will, one that is still nowhere near solved to this day."
"Then why have I not found anything about it online?"
If it was such a mystery, then Ruby should have found something about their disappearance on the internet regarding them. With her mother's family being important nobles apparently, they should have had information freely available regarding them. And yet, all she found was that they were a ducal family, and nothing more. Oobleck paused from inspecting the medal and looked at Ruby dead on.
"Hm. Miss Rose, do you know of the phrase, history is written by the victors?"
"I do, and I don't believe in it."
History was written by whoever writes it, there were no 'victors'. Or rather, if you wanted to be more cynical, it was written by whoever survived, and their words were compiled into this modern age by historians.
"You are right to believe in that, but there is some truth to that statement, not in the way you think, however. What is the difference between a Mistralian history book versus one from Vacuo about the Great War?"
Ruby had a guess as to what he was getting at. "They are centric on their own experiences. Mistral focuses on their alliance with Mantle, and Vacuo focuses on their alliance with Vale."
"Exactly! And in doing so, can you think of any ways in which some of that information…may be interpreted differently?"
"Mistral downplays its role in helping Mantle, while Vacuo emphasizes its own role in helping Vale?"
A smile appeared on Oobleck's face as he nodded in affirmation. "That is certainly an acceptable answer, and indeed, you will see it in many history books from those two regions. If only my students could arrive at the same conclusions as you do in their papers… Regardless, the point I am trying to get to is that history is written by the victors, but then you have to ask whose history is being written."
Oobleck went on to further explain, seeing as how Ruby just blinked at his answer. "A history of the Great War from the perspective of Mantle is as true as one perspective from Vale, neither is wholly correct and neither is wrong either. There is this tendency to think of History as this unchanging monolith as if every piece of recorded information and narrative inside it was the only way in which the past occurred. The Faunus Wars were no different, only that I would argue it caused even more misinformation and falsehoods to arise as a result of wartime propaganda."
That made sense, even in Ironblood lands there were countless forms of propaganda created to help further the war effort, first against the Sirens, and later against Azur Lane. She had an inkling as to how it related to the Rosen family's lack of information, but she let Oobleck continue.
"Now, apply that knowledge to your lack of information. It was the height of the Faunus Wars, and Mantle along with Atlas were seen as the main adversaries in this conflict, how would an entire influential family's disappearance look like to other kingdoms? Let alone their own populace?"
"They suppressed information about it…"
Oobleck downed another cup of espresso before responding. "Indeed. My colleagues in Atlas today still encounter significant interference from the council when researching this topic. Add to that the many decades since the wars, and it is no wonder information regarding them is scarce and only known to those researching them specifically."
It was well known that Atlas retained many of its Great War characteristics even today. If she had to describe the feeling, it was the militarism and technological acumen with none of the arts that Ironblood developed as well.
"So, there is no way to know who this medal belonged to?"
"Not quite, but it will take some time, especially with how the Atlesian council gets sensitive about these topics. I can ask my colleagues about it, but I'm afraid even they will need some time."
Ruby sighed, nothing was ever quite so simple was it? Still, she at least knew more about her mother's side of the family, even if more questions than answers were present now.
"Can you…"
"No need to ask, I am also interested in how your mother relates to them! It's the least I could do anyways. Think of it as a favour to a dear old friend of mine, Miss Rose."
"...Thank you."
History was written by the victors, but who even are the victors anymore?
AN:
Be civil in the comments.
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Chapter Text
Chapter 5
Vale's underground was interesting compared to other kingdoms. Sure, most people today knew of the triads and clans in Mistral or the Corsairs that were once all around Vacuo's coastline, but few truly knew of the Cosa Nostra that existed in Vale for centuries. Not that they weren't present, but the issue was that they tended to be integrated into regular society well, as in, they did not have any significant ways to distinguish themselves from ordinary people. Only those in the various famiglia knew how to distinguish one another through various means, and all of that resulted in an air of mystery regarding them. Needless to say, the media regarding them tended to be on the more…fantastical side of what was actually true.
Today, however, the era in which they warred against each other on the streets of Vale openly was over, and instead their troubles and disputes truly went underground. The idea was that if they took their disputes underground and didn't disturb the civilian populace, then the council and other authorities may find that going after them was a waste of time. They owned casinos, brothels, legitimate businesses, restaurants and so much more. Chances were that if someone lived in Vale long enough, they were eventually going to go into an establishment owned by a famiglia without realising it. Pizza was popular after all.
Ruby was currently walking toward one such place right now. Hei Xiong was an interesting case, as he was descended from the Black Bear triad in Mistral, but somehow made his way to Vale and took over an existing famiglia. That was all she knew, however, and his past did not interest her whatsoever. A line had already formed right outside the entrance to his nightclub, but that didn't matter to her.
Walking up to the bouncer, she was noticed by him very quickly. Nodding at her, he opened the door for her to enter. "Good to see ya kid, you looking for the twins?"
"Just Junior."
"Alright, he's at the bar, as usual."
Despite the cries of those still in the line, Ruby was allowed in without any hassle. This wasn't the first time she went to Junior's nightclub, and if her family found out she guaranteed that they were going to flip. They meant well, but when she mentioned that she wanted to get a tongue piercing some months back her father gave her a one-hour lecture on the potential 'dangers' that could happen to her. Really, if they didn't want her to get they should have just said so directly.
Walking further into the club, the corridors were empty save for the occasional staff member clearing up for the opening. At this point, she was somewhat of a regular there, usually appearing well before opening time. A few of them even gave casual waves, and Ruby acknowledged it by waving back.
Now in the main area, Junior's muscle and other staff were making final preparations for opening tonight. Despite him being the 'boss', Junior oddly remained manning the bar, she thought that he may have been better suited in the backrooms instead, but apparently, it was 'boring' doing that; according to him anyways. From the club's large bar, Junior paused from wiping down a beer mug when he noticed her.
"Well, if it ain't my most inconsistent smuggler, don't have any work for you if that's what you're here for, not that you'd take it anyways."
"If you actually smuggled things that wouldn't land me in juvenile, then perhaps I may take more of your jobs."
Their relationship actually started before Ruby got her job at Molly's cafe, a poster asking for a courier was on the town board on Patch, then one thing led to another and she found herself unwittingly responsible for smuggling a shipment of counterfeit microwaves into Vale. The smuggler was under the impression that she was actually a smuggling crew, with a whole ship and everything. That latter part was correct, not the former, and so from the entire time from pickup all the way to delivery at one of Junior's warehouses, the original smuggler did not know that his product was actually smuggled by a fifteen-year-old girl in high school.
The odd thing about Kansen was that they could 'shrink' cargo as long as they were packed into maritime shipping containers, which were then stored in their hull's storage areas. Usually that was used for fast resupply during combat situations or by dedicated transport Kansen. She didn't know how it worked, but the entire container was shrunk to the size of her palm and delivered that way. Once in the warehouse, she resized it without anyone noticing. Truly, the skill violated the laws of physics to the extreme, many a physicist were to go insane trying to figure out how Kansen did it back in Ironblood lands.
Not that Ruby complained, the proceeds went nicely towards her secret funds to buy a car or something, she couldn't decide between that or a new reconnaissance plane for her ship. Unlike her various shells and the like, planes did not regenerate over time, and so she was stuck with only one plane, for now, that is.
"Yeah, and that's the least profitable part of smuggling. All the risks, and with the least reward compared to the other stuff. I still don't know how you do it with that weird semblance of yours, but I ain't-"
"I am here to use my favour."
Junior perked up from sorting out various liquors he needed for tonight. "Really?"
"I wouldn't be asking you otherwise."
Junior looked Ruby dead in the eyes, trying to find any falsehood in those silver eyes of hers, he didn't find any.
"Fine, I still owe you for saving my boys at that pier. No promises, but I'll hear you out first-"
"Hey, hey!"
"Coming here without telling us? For shame, Ruby."
Melanie and Miltiades, the Malachite twins worked under Junior. Appearing behind Ruby, she was too engrossed in her conversation with him to notice them sneaking up behind her. A blunder, but thankfully not one that resulted in deadly consequences. Truth be told, she still had trouble telling them apart just based on looks, so she separated them by their personalities. The smarter and smugger one was Melanie, while the more easy-going one was Miltiades. That made it much easier for her to separate than anything else.
"Whatcha talkin' with Junior for?"
"Oh! Come here for another job? What do you even save all that money for anyways? You have more than enough-"
"Girls, please. Ruby here is cashing in her favour."
"Little red finally cashing in her favour?"
"Care to let us in on that secret? Promise we'll keep it a secret!"
Ruby slowly unbound their arms from wrapping around her neck, not that she disliked them, but right now she needed to talk with Junior. Ruby actually got along pretty well with them, where else could you find someone to wander Vale at night with while also able to kick the ass of anyone that may bother them? At times, Ruby felt like they were treating her like a little sister of sorts, probably because of her smaller stature. She was fifteen, not exactly her original height or size yet.
Using her free hand, she held it up and summoned her rigging. When it came to riggings, they were often as varied as the Kansen themselves. Different styles to even function could be seen depending on the Kansen. The 'traditional' kind was usually attached to the Kansen's actual body, these are the ones that are likely on Royal Navy or Eagle Union ships but even they sometimes have 'special' riggings. Ironblood however, tended to have 'autonomous' riggings that were not necessarily attached to their bodies. Case in point, a flash of blue light behind Ruby died down, revealing…
"Hey there, who's a good girl? You, yes, you!"
Miltiades patted the serpent-like rigging that Ruby summoned gleefully. For some reason, she showed no hostility to it, and the action was reciprocated as well. Junior, however, always felt unnerved by the massive metal serpent suddenly appearing before him.
"Goddamn-what did I say about using your semblance in here? Get him out-"
HISSS
As her rigging suddenly turned towards Junior with a low hiss coming from its metal jaws, his words suddenly got stuck in his throat. Melanie quickly rubbed the top part of her rigging's head, calming it down. "See Junior? We told you it was a girl, aren't ya?" It did seem to calm down after that, causing the crime family boss to loosen up his collar before talking again.
"Yeah, uh sorry. Do you mind taking her backstage? A lot of people are gonna get unnerved seeing… "
Ruby got what he meant, and gestured for her rigging to follow the twins.
"Hey wait a minute, you still haven't named her yet!"
"Didn't we tell you to do that already? No wait, we're gonna name her now, no backsies!"
She remembered that some Ironblood Kansen had named their riggings, a certain…Prinz Heinrich if memory serves named hers 'Eisen'. Her rigging didn't seem to mind it, however, as it floated along with them toward the backrooms of the club. Despite it being roughly the length of her nearly three times over, it still managed to avoid hitting anything on its way there.
"No offence, but seeing…it still gives me the creeps. Never heard of someone with a familiar semblance summoning anything that unnerving before though, you're probably a first."
Due to her not being enrolled into the preparatory academy, she had no weapon to call her own, if you didn't count her rigging that was. So, the one time she defended Junior's warehouse was also the time when her rigging was revealed to anyone. A quick, hasty explanation that it was her semblance seemed to cause them to understand and not suspect anything. She didn't even use the guns or energy blasts on her rigging, just simply the raw force and impact of it crashing into other gangsters did the trick. Semblances were as varied as weapons, so having a familiar-type semblance caused some attention on her, but not too much. Not even her own family knew about it, all they knew was that she had Aura, but nothing more.
"My favour?"
"Right, yeah. I'm mainly an information dealer, so if that's the kind of favour you want to trade in then go right ahead, just letting you know."
Ruby nodded. "I do need information. I need everything you have on the Von Rosen Ducal family of Mantle."
Junior raised an eyebrow at her. "Von Rosen, huh? Haven't heard that name in decades. Not sure why you want to find out about them, but just know it's not gonna be easy."
"...why?" She was surprised by his answer, but Ruby didn't show it on her face. The only reason why she came to Junior was because of his ability to find information that no one else could, so when he said that it was not going to be easy, it actually meant next to impossible.
"You're asking me? The better question would be to ask the Atlas Council. I've never seriously tried prodding into it, but the council keeps any information about them and a whole lot of other things under wraps tightly. That, coupled with their never-ending crusade against organized crime in Atlas itself means that finding anything from the council archives is gonna be next to impossible. I have next to no favours or contacts there, believe me, I've tried and I don't like it either."
Just as Ruby opened her mouth to ask a question, Junior gestured for her to stop. "Let me finish, it won't be impossible. You know how Mantle is transitioning to Atlas being its sole authority?"
"I do, they've been doing that for the past few years." Though Atlas was where all the power was now, it was officially still known as the Kingdom of Mantle. Recently however, there were talks of just renaming it entirely to the Kingdom of Atlas, needless to say, that itself caused a riot to break out in Mantle, thus putting that entire plan on hold, for now.
"Yeah, luckily for you the Von Rosen family's residence was in Mantle so I have a chance at finding something about them. I'm willing to bet someone in the local government has a whole file on them, just not transferred into the council archives yet."
"Will it be enough?"
Junior shrugged. "Who knows? Most of my influence is in Vale and Mistral, Atlas became one tough son of a bitch to get any business in ever since Ironwood took over the academy, but I guarantee we'll find something. But before I go any further, humour me a bit. Is this personal?"
She took a deep breath before replying. "What is it to you?"
"Familial?"
Ruby didn't answer, but her silence was taken as an affirmative. "If you are going to say something about personal matters, save your words for someone else."
" 家家有本难念的经。"
'Every family has its own issues.' was what Junior basically said. That caused Ruby to narrow her eyes at him in response.
"You have no right to question it. Will you help me, or not?"
Junior raised his hands up in faux surrender. "Never said I wouldn't, just make sure you don't get too mixed up in it you hear? There's a lot of skeletons in those Atlas council archives, make sure you don't join em' yourself."
"冇问题..." Ruby began walking away after her parting words, headed to the backrooms where her rigging was with the Malachite twins.
I know my family better than anyone.
Junior's advice, she thought, was wasted on someone like her.
"Serpy?"
"Ugh, what? That's so lame, even she agrees!"
Ruby walked into the backrooms of the club only to find her rigging curled up next to the twins. She didn't get a lot of chances to simply have her rigging out like this, so she made sure to savour it with what little time she had. The metal jaws of her rigging lifted slightly upon seeing her approach, causing Melanie to look at Ruby with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"So, we have a couple of names for you to try, wanna hear 'em?"
"Your names all suck."
"Didn't you just-"
Walking up to where they were, Ruby plopped down onto the empty area next to where their couch lay. Despite her rigging being huge by regular people's standards, the couch was even bigger which caused her to wonder how much it cost, and whether or not she could fit one into her room back at Patch. Or if that failed, install it onto the officer's lounge inside of her actual vessel. Her rigging fit almost perfectly right at the centre of the couch, and indeed, an opportunity like this usually didn't come very often.
"Alright! We've got our top three picks, first, we have Gorgone-"
"Rejected, a subspecies of snake Faunus go by that name." Ruby didn't want any awkward encounters, such as saying 'I own Gorgone' being taken out of context.
"Psssh, who cares? Anyways, how about Vritra? It sounds cool-"
"A species of Grimm in Vacuo. I don't want to cause any panic." They were aquatic snake-like Grimm that inhabited some of the shallower waters around Vacuo, often called the bane of any sailor as they usually struck quickly and without mercy as they neared port.
"Well, it doesn't sound like a girl's name…"
"Yeah? And Serpy is?"
"You bitch!"
"The last one, please?" Ruby was getting tired of it, and at this point, she just wanted to go home. Any later and she may have to sail back to Patch herself.
"Ehhhh, we didn't like this one, but we feel like Schwarz could also work. It's high Mantellian for black, right?"
Her rigging perked up when Miltiades said 'Schwarz', Ruby noticed this as well. Placing her hand onto her rigging's forehead, she asked her a question. "Well, how do you like Schwarz? A good, strong name?" Judging by her bladed tail rattling at the question, Ruby took it as a sign that she liked it. "Sehr gut. From now on, you are Schwarz."
HISS
Schwarz hissed again, but this time it was one of joy. To those unfamiliar, the hisses were a sign of danger, but to Ruby, it was a sign of happiness.
"Aw, come on! It doesn't even fit…"
"I dunno, Schwarz kinda works…"
"Course you'd say that, you mentioned it first."
"That's cause I'm smarter than you."
With a name established, the topic moved on to various things. Junior's latest power plays in Vale's underworld, the newest catalogue for Gothic World United and the like. Not a lot of people shared Ruby's taste in fashion, after all, the style was 'out of date' or whatever that meant, normies basically if you will. During this time, faint, rumbling music emanated from outside the lounge room they were in right now, indicating that Junior had finally opened the club.
"Hah! Never heard of anyone being chewed out by their Dad for a career quiz before. You're full of firsts, aren't ya?"
"Yep." Ruby opened an energy drink and began downing it. Thanks to her physiology, the extra caffeine didn't really do much for her, not that she was ever quite human now. A poor infant Beowulf found that out the hard way two weeks ago when she left for work in the morning. She gave it some credit, it was a good ambush that could have taken someone out if they were unprepared, unfortunately, when it bit onto her arm, it only served to shatter its teeth completely. Needless to say, what happened next was not very nice. Still, she wasn't going to fight against some of the more powerful Grimm just because she could, Kansen were strong, but they weren't invincible, and she had no reason to test those limits.
Anyways, looking up at the clock, it was time to leave. She promised her father she'd be back sometime around ten, and the last time she missed that deadline-
Crash
"Woah, you hear that?"
"It came from outside, someone's messing with the club!"
The twins got up and began walking outside, back into the main area with Ruby calling out after them. "In that case, I shall take my leave."
They didn't respond, instead waving goodbye to her with a hand wave, backs still facing her. She didn't think much of it, probably some unruly patron or guest throwing punches, as these establishments often see regardless. Patting Schwarz on her head once more, she let her rigging fade back into blue motes of light before making her way out in the back exit. While waiting for the ferry back to Patch, she ran into her sister, Yang with her motorcycle, an odd coincidence, but one that she didn't really care about.
AN:
Ammunition transport ships in the game presumably can do the same thing Ruby did with the cargo, just on a larger scale. Kashino for example, carries around a disassembled Yamato-class turret with her in miniature form, so by extending that same logic, small cargo can definitely be carried around as well. There's also Ting An who carries a food basket which I guess is how she transports goods. Most battleships, or just warships in general have a crane they can use to lift things onto their vessel for resupply. Or in other words, don't think too hard about it.
Note about the Chinese spoken by Junior and Ruby:
They are speaking in Cantonese, or well, Remnant's version of it. Other languages in Remnant do exist based on the Chinese and Japanese names of people from Mistral, as do German and French names for those from Atlas/Mantle. The idiom I used that Junior says isn't quite accurate to what Ruby explains but is deliberately simplified.
I don't get where people get this from, but even without rigging summoned, Kansen still have superhuman abilities. San Diego resisted the jaws of a very large shark in the anime, and North Carolina sent a golf cart flying without her rigging as well in an official comic. Maybe if they somehow lose their ship and are left with themselves then they'll be regular human girls, but until then, just because their rigging isn't summoned, it doesn't mean you'll be able to 'easily kill them'. I get this comment sometimes in my fics so I wanna address that here.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Chapter Text
Chapter 6
What makes a kingdom a Kingdom? Not just due to the capitalization, but rather, what makes a state call itself a Kingdom, even when it was an age where kings no longer reign in all corners of Remnant? The grand palaces and castles that once held the seats of power were now little more than tourist attractions or heavily secluded areas that guarded what scant few royalties still remained. Mistral was famous for technically having an Emperor still in an official ruling capacity, but everyone knew he was just a figurehead.
And yet, whenever anyone referred to Vale, Atlas, Mistral or Vacuo, they always referred to it as a 'Kingdom'. An appeal to tradition? No new names for what their nations should be called? Were republics not in the vocabulary of most people? Citizens directly voted for their council members in all of the four kingdoms, and three out of four of them did not have any form of monarchy in place for their system of government, so why did they still cling to those past notions? The answer was complicated, as Ruby learned, not one person could give her a singular response, so she dropped the topic entirely.
Looking at the Château de Valois, the King of Vale's former residence, Ruby wondered if her own mother once lived in a similar place. She remembered that her own primary school had organized a trip there once, and while her other classmates giggled at the weirdly proportioned portraits of the former monarchs of Vale, waves of nostalgia washed over her when walking through the lavishly decorated halls. Ironblood lands were dotted with places like these, with everyone from minor counts to kings of the constituent kingdoms that made up its core provinces. Of course, it was closed now, being so late into the night. The few ceremonial guards that still remained, decked out in clothing a century out of date continued keeping their silent vigil, still protecting the residence of a long-past monarch.
Ruby downed the rest of her energy drink and chucked the can far away right into a recycling bin. Normally, drinking an entire pack of them in one sitting was cause for concern and a potential medical emergency, but this was not the first time she did something like this, nor would it be the last. Sighing, she got up from the bench overlooking the palace, taking one last look at the decadently preserved building. It was a good sight to behold, but when it directly faced one of the poorest districts of Vale across the river, she felt that it was more of an insult than anything 'grand'. The Councilmembers bicker over their cultural heritage not being preserved, and that the new generation were losing what it meant to be Valean, all the while children in poverty go to sleep hungry. They didn't matter, however, after all, they didn't vote, so what was the point of helping them?
Making her way down to the streets, she noticed many of the stores were closing earlier. Molly had told her of this, a recent crimewave made many store owners jittery about opening this late at night, but unsurprisingly it only targeted the well-off stores in wealthier districts. Dust stores apparently were the most targeted of them all, but stores that purely sold Dust were a rarity nowadays, most also sold other things. Convenience stores were a much better name for what they sold, and stores that only sold Dust were usually considered 'higher-class', as they peddled higher-grade Dust not found in common stores.
Walking into one, nodded at the old man behind the counter before moving on to browsing the latest collection of Dust Engines Weekly, a weekly series that had the latest releases and developments of vehicles, both in land, air and sea. She had been eyeing a floatplane model for some time, but now she faced the hurdle of purchasing one as a fifteen-year-old. It was perfect to replace the Arado seaplanes that were missing from her vessel, but again, not many high school girls could just walk into a dealership-
RING
The doorbell into the store rang, but she paid it no heed. It was only when she heard a man's voice that she realized something was wrong.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?"
Ruby recognized that voice, she sometimes heard it in Junior's club while there to take payment or take a new job. She has even met the man whose voice it belonged to, and she much preferred dealing with his partner instead.
Peeking out of a shelf, she saw the annoyance that was Roman Torchwick and some of Junior's muscle taking Dust from the store, a gun pointed at the old man. Unfortunate, but she had no reason to be involved, so if she was quiet enough, maybe she could-
"Hey! Alright kid, put your hands-wait a minute…"
Stealth was ruined before it could even begin. Turning around, she saw one of Junior's goons looking at her with recognition on his face. Quickly, she put a finger to where her lips were, but the goon still spoke out loud, enough for the entire store to hear, they weren't hired for their tact, were they?
"Hey…you're that kid who goes to Junior's every so often!"
This was the first time her association with Junior backfired, and it was not a pleasant sensation whatsoever. Ruby was now desperately doing a cutoff motion to her throat with her hand, too little too late, however, as by the time the goon got the message, Roman came over to investigate.
"Alright, what's all the commotion-oh hey now, who do we have here?"
There was no easy escape now, Ruby had to deal with bowler hat menace one way or another, though the prospect of just decking him in the face and running crossed her mind several times. Alas, that was not the best move to do right now. Fortunately, Roman did have a bit more tact compared to those goons, and he knew to keep his voice low when approaching her, shit-eating grin on his face and all.
"Well, never expected to see you here tonight, unlucky accident?"
"Very unlucky." Ruby replied quickly, she didn't want to stay there any longer than need be.
"Eh, I expected something like this to happen anyways. We'll get outta here as soon as we finish, and both of us walk away afterwords, thief's honour." Roman flicked a thumb to his grinning face as he finished, but she didn't buy any of it easily.
"That amounts to something?"
"Psssh, oh yeah? What do you have? Smuggler's honour?"
"I have the honour of wanting to go home, so will we have a problem?" Ruby partially summoned Schwarz's face behind her to prove a point, which made Roman hesitate for a moment.
"Pah, you're no fun. I do not know why she gets along with you so well, just don't see it…not one bit."
Of course, he referred to Neo and how the two sometimes ran into each other at night. Despite her…questionable tendencies that is. That didn't matter to her, Ruby was no saint after all, nor did she have any illusions of being a 'hero'. She did not have the same hero-worshipping tendencies as some of her peers, that was a good way to get yourself killed early after all. Still, Neo was a good partner for night jaunts if you knew how to deal with her, it was bound to be exciting at least.
"I didn't know you were behind the recent…"
"Hm? Oh yea, believe me, because robbing Dust is sooooo profitable and definitely not without major drawbacks."
Interesting, so he didn't want to be doing this?
"Whatever, you don't need to know this. We're nearly done anyways, here's a tip, stay here and give a testimony that one of Junior's goons held you or something, at least that'll keep you off any suspect list for a while-oh! Better yet, give me your wallet so-"
"Take it and I take your head."
"Okay never mind, keep it. But really, do at least stay to give the cops something, have you ever watched one of those crime shows-"
"Shit, Roman! Goodwitch is coming here, and fast!" One of Junior's goons called out suddenly, and several explosions right outside the store followed immediately.
"It seems that I will be giving my testimony to this 'Goodwitch' instead. Have a good night, Roman." Goodwitch sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't quite remember where she heard it before…
"Come on! We were having such a good night, alright Neo, do your thing-oh wait right she's not here. Fuck."
His two-tone murder machine wasn't here? Rare, but considering that she sometimes found her alone meant that she also had her own things to do at times. Getting up from leaning on a shelf, she prepared to exit out of the backdoor, only to be stopped by Roman.
"Let go of my shoulder."
"Woah, Red. Let's talk a little bit about criminal solidarity here, people in the same biz help each other out, so how about-"
Was that the best he could come up with?
Ruby had a thoroughly unimpressed look as she gently removed Roman's grip, causing him to yelp. "You said it earlier, I am a smuggler, we have very little in common. Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Torchwick. I believe if you run now, you may still make it-"
"True, but I really need this dust to make the quota-I mean my client needs this. So, I will owe you one hell of a favour if you can distract her long enough to get us safely away with the goods-"
"You have nothing to offer me. Goodbye-"
"For the love of-FINE! You forced me to use this, but if I get arrested, I will sing like a songbird. Which may or may contain some verses about a particular crimson smuggler who frequents the bar I used to get my muscle-"
Crash
At this point, Ruby did not let him finish as she grabbed the collar of his white jacket and pushed him violently to a nearby store shelf, sending its products down onto the floor. With a slight glow in her eyes, she stared intensely into Roman's own.
"You dare?"
Credit where it was due, even with Schwarz now fully summoned and its jaw fully extended open, ready to bite his head clean off, he still adamantly held his ground.
"Yeah, try me, Red. I know you don't have the stomach to do it."
"..."
Ruby hated when he was right, and her annoyance showed clearly to the world, causing Roman to grin in victory. Dropping his collar, she spoke one last time to the bowler-hat thief before heading outside.
"You owe me one giant favour, I'll be coming to collect it soon. Remember…I can find you even across all of Remnant's seas, do not run from me."
This time, he quickly nodded, as a bead of sweat travelled down from his hair down to his cheek. Ruby's spiked finger accessory caught it, poking into his cheek as it did so.
"I'd hate for Schwarz to ruin that immaculate face of yours, test my abilities at your own peril"
With final warnings said, she made her way out of the store, and into the dark, empty street, where a good witch was about to arrive. All she had to do was buy time, anything afterwards, was not her problem. Taking a sword from a random goon in front of her, she jumped out of the window, and up high for a vantage point.
Glynda moved quickly, dashing across rooftops as she neared her destination. She was Beacon's chief administrator, not a regular patrolling officer, so why was she handling these robbery attempts? Because Ozpin said so, or rather, he 'convinced' her that they were of paramount importance, enough to take time away from her busy schedule to act as a rapid response to these robberies. Some of these days, she should cash in her vacation time just to see what he'd do without her.
Jumping down onto the quiet street, she was not surprised that it was near-silent, save for some bystanders running away from the scene. Good, at least this time she didn't have to deal with civilians close by-
"What-"
Dodging at the last moment, she used her semblance to propel herself backwards, away from something that tried to swipe at her. A dozen meters back now, she got a much better look at what attacked her.
"A Grimm?! Wait, no, it's…what are you?"
The…creature before her couldn't really be called a Grimm. What she saw couldn't really even be called an animal, rather, it was a creature made entirely of metal, sharp claws and joints protruding out of its serpent-like body. Its jaws hissed menacingly at her as she inspected it visually, overall, she guessed it was roughly three times her height. The colours were entirely black and red, a symbol of some kind placed atop its flat head.
Pushing her glasses up, she readied herself for battle, only for a presence behind her to make itself known. A hooded figure, also dressed in similar black and white jumped down from a building behind her, a machete-like sword pointed at her. Glynda couldn't make out any distinguishing features, as the figure had a hood and surgical mask covering the face. For a moment, she thought the figure had silver eyes flashing towards her, but upon closer inspection, they were yellow instead.
Years of combat experience told her that she was facing someone who had a summoning semblance, similar to Winter Schnee, having met her a few times whenever James brought her along. Sighing, she tried the diplomatic' option first, even if it rarely ever worked out.
"I do not know why you are fighting me, but I assure you-"
"Feuer."
Despite the voice from the figure coming out like a whisper, the serpent-like creature understood the command. The order was given in low Mantellian if she remembered correctly, and looking back at the creature, its jaws opened, only to reveal a barrel-like object protruding from its mouth-
BOOM
Dodging on instinct, a yellow ball-like projectile zipped past her and smashed into the asphalt just behind her, causing a small explosion. Due to her Aura, Glynda was unharmed, and she knew that was the point of the whole thing.
"Fine, have it your way. You'll tell me everything once I have you in custody."
The explosion caused pieces of asphalt to scatter around the street, a big mistake. Flicking her riding crop, debris pooled around her, forming into various shapes and sizes. Normally most criminals became uneasy at the sight of her semblance, but the figure who attacked her didn't flinch whatsoever. Commendable, but ultimately futile. All the figure did in response was to point her sword at Glynda, and the fight began in earnest.
AN:
Be civil in the comments.
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Chapter Text
Chapter 7
Glynda swiped forward, then retreated before a bladed tail could strike where she stood, only for the hooded figure to attack her from behind. The problem about fighting summons was that they tended to be in perfect sync with their summoners. Case in point, the combo attack she just had to fend off was a perfect example of it. If the assailant was in her combat class, she may have nodded in approval, being on the other end of it however was less than amusing.
Aside from the ruined road, she grit her teeth at the stalemate both of them were in. Her assailant was buying for time, and she knew this very well. She couldn't exactly just go and take her out however, every time she got either her summon immobilized, one came to bail the other out. It didn't help both of them liked to fight at range instead of being up close and personal, though she had ways of reaching them.
Just as she was about to launch another flurry of rocks at the summoner, she suddenly paused, before shouting at her summon.
"Illuminate!"
The random word caught her off guard, and unfortunately, it seemed to have actual meaning for her summon. Its mouth opened again, but this time a yellow ball didn't come out of it, rather, a shell-like projectile did. With a boom, it flew out of its mouth, with the shell landing directly next to her on the ground. For a moment, she thought it missed, only for the shell to explode in a flash of brilliant white light.
"Argh!" Her ears rang, and her vision was completely white, she formed a defensive circle around her with the debris held up in the air, fully expecting an attack to come her way at any moment. Seconds turned into a minute, and as her vision gradually came back, she realized that her assailant took the time to escape, leaving the street empty once more. Rubbing her eyes, all that remained as proof of their existence were fragments of a shell close to her.
"Tch." A bitter taste was left in her mouth, probably from the asphalt dust she just inhaled. As the distant sirens got ever closer, she bent down to inspect the one thing responsible for her 'loss'. The shell was mangled, in some parts, and was still glowing red from releasing its white light. She was no forensics expert, but she was one on semblances. Usually, they didn't produce anything resembling artillery shells, and yet, here she was, looking at one directly in front of her. Deciding to leave it for the experts, she did notice some writing on it, what little remained of it that was.
"15cm...Lg L/4,3...?" A seemingly random string of words and numbers, perhaps it may mean something else? Regardless, today was a loss, but at least she now knew that Torchwick had another accomplice helping him, one that proved to be competent at the minimum.
Back at Beacon, the moment she stepped off the bullhead she was greeted by Ozpin, coffee mug in his hands as usual.
"Glynda, good night I presume?" One of these days, she should really hide Beacon's entire coffee supply and watch how the millennia-old wizard will function without any of it. Seeing her glare, Ozpin tactfully decided to drop his usual cryptid dialogue for now and focus on what they just learned. Walking along Beacon's quiet halls, Glynda shared what she found out regarding Torchwick and his new accomplice.
"She stalled you of all people? Impressive, and with such a unique semblance as well…"
Again, those who had summoning semblances were rare, and they usually kept to themselves, like the Schnee family with their own hereditary semblance.
"I checked our databases on the way back, there is no one that matches her description or semblance on all four kingdom's records. Mercenary, perhaps?"
Ozpin shook his head. "Unlikely, they don't operate in Vale itself anymore. I believe it was someone with close ties to the criminal underworld."
"Hired muscle?"
"Likely, but let's not discount any possibilities. Now, you said that her familiar shot an shell of all things at you?" Based on the voice of her assailant, Glynda guessed that her assailant was a woman, young, maybe early twenties based on her deep voice. Though her short stature made her initially think she was a teenager, that notion was quickly dispelled soon after.
Glynda opened an image on her datapad, showing the shell embedded into the ground to him. Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the image, years of dealing with him told her that he knew something.
"I assume you know something?"
"Hm? No, maybe, maybe not. I cannot be certain nor can I be sure." Glynda wanted to strangle his neck- "Has Qrow returned from his sojourn into Vale's fishermen's bars yet?"
That particular question caused her to frown, the amount of Lien that the drunk bastard requested as 'mission expenses' made her want to strap him to a chair and make him drink nothing but tea for a month. How that man still had a functioning liver was anyone's guess, but she couldn't deny that he was reliable in getting information. When he bothered to respond that is.
"He has…not."
"Hm. No matter, I've received a report from him that may link tonight's incident with something else. Do you remember the explosion from a few days ago?"
The one that woke up a large portion of Vale, yes. Glynda's precious few hours of sleep were cut short by that, she thought it was another dust robbery gone loud, only to hear that it was a false alarm.
"The Coast Guard has not made this public, but they suspect that the source came from naval artillery."
Glynda's eyes widened slightly, this was the first time she heard of this, and naval artillery was the last thing she suspected to be the cause. A number of vessels still used dust cannons for protection, but they were usually small in size, unable to produce an explosion heard all the way in Vale. "Are they sure?"
Ozpin nodded. "A retired admiral swore on it, so I am inclined to believe him. His last commanding role was an old battleship after all. Anyways, I believe tonight's incident and the one from a few days ago are linked. Qrow's report further gives me cause for suspicion."
"Suspicion of what?"
Ozpin did his usual dramatic look out of the window before responding. Glynda saw the same action way too many times in her career with him, these were usually reserved for some groundbreaking revelations, it was how she learned that the Brother Gods were real from him.
"An old Battleship may be prowling Vale's waters in this day and age. And I am inclined to meet her."
"Her?" Glynda's voice beggared in disbelief, what was Ozpin saying now?
"Don't you know? Sailors are a superstitious bunch. I believe you can designate our mystery accomplice as 'Hutten' for now. Get some sleep, Glynda, you've more than earned it."
Ozpin then turned around, casually making his way back to his office and residence at the top of his tower. Glynda had little to no idea what just happened, and like most of her dealings with him, answers tended to be revealed much later. Sighing, she dutifully entered the name into the file for 'Hutten', before making her own way back to her room. A Battleship sailing in this day and age? Where did its crew come from? How was it still sailing? Fuel, ammunition and pay apparently not a concern.
"Whatever, a problem for me to deal with tomorrow…"
It was a good way to deal with things, especially when one had to balance being a university administrator and saving the world from an evil witch queen.
AN:
Originally this was supposed to be in the last chapter, but it felt better to separate them instead. From the original outline I removed a long fight scene as it just felt like filler, the last part of the fight was kept instead.
Be civil in the comments.
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Chapter Text
Chapter 8
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in, and hold it.
Kansen had access to all of their vessel’s weaponry, whether it be their largest main guns or their small Anti-Aircraft guns, they were truly masters of their own self in a manner of speaking. However, a less known fact about them were that they also held everything else that a ship needed to function. From large kitchens stocked with food to radio and navigation equipment, they manifested those things as well, though their use was somewhat stunted on account of not needing to use them. Ruby could send a message out by using her mind alone, so why did she have to go into the communications room to do the same thing? The latter required her actual vessel out, and it took much more time to do so.
Holding steady a rifle she pilfered from her onboard armoury, it was one of the hundreds of small arms she carried on her, enough to probably arm a small army if they shared neatly amongst each other. Last night’s fight against a veteran huntress told her two things. One, she was rusty, really rusty. Nearly fifteen years of next to no combat experience did that to someone, and she found herself often getting hit by attacks that she could have dodged.
Two, she was tough, but not completely invulnerable to regular huntsmen and huntresses. A deep cut on her leg and Schwarz’s multiple injuries were proof of this. Against a single huntress like Goodwitch? She was confident in her ability to win, collateral damage not a factor of course, but against several?
Her odds were too close for comfort, therefore she had to rectify that issue. Namely, by training her skills once more. Right now, she was practising with target training in order to ensure that her marksmen skills were up to par again, she noticed several of her attacks losing accuracy or Schwarz misjudging how much of a lead he needed to place a shot. Riggings were a reflection of their owner, and Schwarz’s poor performance was an indication of skills atrophied.
Zeroing in on her target, a small rock some five-hundred meters away, her optics confirmed the distance, and the weather was in… favourable conditions. In theory, all she had to do was squeeze the trigger, and the rock would fall.
BANG
A trigger was pulled, but the rock still remained intact and standing. Her shot had missed. Grunting in frustration, she racked the bolt back on her rifle, and chambered another round to be fired.
BANG
Again, a miss. She had probably run through several clips by now, yet the rock still stood defiantly, as if it was mocking her. She was tempted to blow it away using her rigging, but with her close proximity to her house on Patch, unless she wanted her father to run out and investigate, that was a bad idea. In all honesty, she should have realized something was wrong when her broadside at the horde of Blackjaws missed by half a kilometre. It had the intended effect of driving them off, sure, but the fact that it had landed that far off of the predicted point of impact was unsettling. Half a kilometre meant an enemy missed, and a friendly unit being annihilated if she was conducting shore bombardment.
Ruby had to start somewhere before moving onto her Scythe, even if it was her main weapon. The two turrets on it were powerful, but with how much her marksmanship had regressed, practising with it may instead be a very dangerous affair. What if one of her stray shells landed on the town that Patch had? Or worse, her house? No, the safer thing to do was to practise on small arms for now and then move up in size gradually.
Bzzzt
Her scroll suddenly buzzed in her pocket, causing her to frown. It was in the early hours of the morning, and usually, only one person contacted her this early. Flipping her scroll open, it was indeed as she suspected, Junior had another job for her. It seemed that after she left his bar the other day, it got completely trashed by some no-name huntress. There was no bad blood between them however, it was not her business to meddle, and he respected her decision. Though he was definitely annoyed that she didn’t at least offer to help out. Junior was short on cash right now, repair costs and disruption to his business and all, so it seemed that he needed to use all the avenues of potential revenue he could.
The message he sent was simple, as were all of his job requests so far.
‘Shipment from Northern Vale to Southern Vale. Urgent, needs to be done by tonight. Game?’
An urgent job? Ruby knew how those usually went, so she needed to know more before deciding. She texted back her response.
‘Fees charged?’ She didn’t do these out of charity, and with it being an urgent job, it was bound to pay much more than usual.
‘Thrice your previous. No middleman needed.’
Now that got her attention. This meant that it was a pickup and dropoff job, with no weird requirements needed in order to get past customs and the like. One of her last jobs required transporting livestock in order to get illegal car modifications into Vale, needless to say, it was one of her most interesting, and most-foul smelling jobs so far. She hated having to deal with middlemen, so this situation was ideal, but it also sounded too good to be true.
‘Cargo?’ She always asked this question, just in case Junior tried to trick her into transporting something illegal, like guns, never mind the fact she was a walking armoury already. It wasn’t hypocritical if no one knew about it, so was she really in the wrong?
‘Atlesian Army surplus. No weapons.’ Junior’s reply caused her to raise an eyebrow, that certainly made sense at least. Atlas was famously stringent about anyone getting access to its technology, which included a lot of its military equipment naturally. Hell, a Vacuoan man was arrested in Atlas a few months ago for trying to purchase surplus gear from a low-rank officer. It made sense that the client wanted it to be smuggled, as Vale had strong links with the Atlas council if Uncle Qrow’s drunken political ramblings at the dinner table were to be believed. This much surplus equipment moving around was bound to raise suspicion, even if it wasn’t illegal in Vale. So, this was where people like her came in, she assumed that it was the last leg of the journey before it ended up in the hands of whoever wanted it. Of course, she was going to have to check if Junior was telling the truth, but he had not tricked her yet.
‘Game. Port of call?’
‘The usual up North. location for delivery will be confirmed once you have received the cargo.’
Great, one of those types. Usually, they were reserved for extra paranoid clients who thought every smuggler was a potential customs spy or informant. Regardless, the terms were acceptable to her. Texting an affirmative back to Junior, she prepared to head back home, a new job needed to be prepared for, routes planned and other things needed to be done. She could just use the same excuse of missing the last ferry again and needing to stay at Molly’s until morning this time, but she began suspecting that Qrow was onto her. That was something to be dealt with later, however, and she turned towards a gravestone nearby her, overlooking a cliff with a clear view of the ocean.
She didn’t know why the gravestone was built there, but her father said something along the lines of a ‘calming ocean’ that appealed to her mother once. Sighing, she put her rifle back into her armoury, and walked to the gravestone, crouching down as she neared right in front of it. Her lips felt dryer than ever before, but she still managed to force out her words.
“Hello, Mother…”
Sea of Vytal
0200 Hours
VNS Sovereign
Owing to Vale’s strategic location as the ‘center’ of Remnant, the kingdom enjoys much more maritime trade than others. Though that also came with drawbacks, as Vale’s smuggling network in its criminal underbelly used their ports as a halfway point for any shipment of illicit goods. A Vacuoan drugs shipment for example may stop in a port in Vale, which then gets handed off to another smuggler for its final journey into Mistral. These days, more and more goods were being transported by airship, and that resulted in a higher uptick of airships being used instead for smuggling. Though the maritime route remained as popular as ever, primarily owing to the fact that smuggling by sea was actually quieter than doing it by air. At least, that’s what Sovereign heard from her Captain’s reports.
Standing upright on the bridge of her ship, Sovereign overlooked her early morning patrol once more. Yes, she may have been one of the oldest ships in the Valean coast guard, hell, she even served in the Faunus Wars back when there was still a Royal Valean Navy, but she liked to think that her age made her unique. Though her juniors often teased her for now knowing how modern technology worked, Scrolls were fine and dandy, but they could never replace a good old-fashioned telegram in terms of reliability.
Brushing aside her green hair, she wondered if the airships high up in the sky also had their own spirits, they were sufficiently large enough, and some of them could traverse through water, so they should technically qualify, right? Regardless, her duty right now was to patrol Northern Vale for any signs of smugglers, their activities were increasing heavily as of late, and this route she patrolled was one of their most popular.
Ping
“Captain, radar contact off of our portside, you may want to see this.” A radar officer called out behind her, and she felt it too. She wasn’t originally built with radar, that was an addition added during one of her many retrofits over the years.
Though she couldn’t interact with her crew, she could still ‘feel’ everything her hull does, from shifting rudders to rotating her turrets, all of it was felt by her.
“Bloody hell, it’s massive…” Her Captain, an old man by the standards of most other officers called out while his eyes remained glued to the radar.
The radar contact that came back showed an absolutely massive vessel south of their position. If she had to make a rough estimate, it was at least two hundred and eighty meters in length. She didn’t even know what its total displacement was, but such a large vessel could only be a cargo ship of some sort, but most of them had been retired for a few years already, air cargo had overtaken them by that time. A refitted cargo ship used for smuggling? Impossible, most smuggling ships were small, low profile tugboats and fishing boats, not massive capital ship-size vessels.
Tensely, her captain went to the communications officer and picked up the radio, intent on hailing the large vessel before any action was taken. Maybe it was a Vacuoan cargo ship? Saved at the last minute from the breakers yard by an enterprising small company perhaps?
“Unknown Vessel, Unknown Vessel, this is VNS Sovereign of the Valean Coast Guard, you are in Valean national waters. State your name, class of ship, and purpose.”
A reply came almost immediately, and to her surprise, the voice on the other end belonged to a girl, probably teens to early twenties if she had to guess.
“VNS Sovereign, this is…Schwarzbraun, a humble fishing trawler. I am currently returning to Vale with a full catch.”
Her captain looked around, disbelieving looks on all of the faces around him. “You sound awfully young for a fisherwoman, Schwarzbraun.”
Nothing was heard on the other end for a while until her voice came back on again suddenly. “I am helping my family, we are a family business. My father is manning the fishing nets.”
Hogwash, and her captain knew it as well, judging by the small smirk forming on his face. “If that’s the case, you must have one large family. Considering that your vessel is larger than mine. We’re requesting to come aboard, how copy?”
Silence. No reply was heard for a dozen seconds, until the radio operator shouted again from his station. “Sir! She’s increasing speed, twenty knots and counting!”
“Course it is, all engines ahead flank! We’re running her down if we have to!”
“Aye sir!” The helmsman nodded, as an enthusiastic grin plastered itself on her face. Being in the coast guard meant that she saw less action sure, but it also meant some exciting chases every once in a while, and it seemed that they were about to experience another one. She had never chased a large cargo container before, but then again, there were firsts for everything.
“Do we really need to sail that fast, sir? It’s a cargo container, can’t sail for more than twenty-five knots on a good day.” A commander asked her captain off to the side, causing him to sigh in response.
“Might as well get it over with, we’ve been patrolling for days now. Besides, I don’t think we’ve ever captured a cargo ship before, it’ll give us something to brag about back at base.”
True, that was always worth more than any small ships they intercepted. It was a cargo ship, and she was a gun cruiser, despite the difference in size, it didn’t even come close to a fair fight. She was looking forward to hearing that ship’s story when they escorted it back.
AN:
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Chapter Text
Chapter 9
“I don’t understand, did our radar get spoofed?”
“Erm…”
An hour since their pursuit began, they tracked the smuggling ship to a nearby archipelago, what a cargo vessel nearly twice the size of Sovereign herself did there initially confused them. A vessel of that size could not manoeuvre, or hide very well after all. However, as if they were chasing a ghost all this time, an hour of searching bore nothing for them, and they had to consider other options.
“There is tech that can do it…maybe they smuggled it from Atlas?”
“You know Atlas keeps their toys locked up tight, no, I believe we got tricked by a semblance. This has happened before, so I’m really not surprised. Damn semblances, they make everything complicated for no reason…”
Indeed, Sovereign shared in her captain’s frustrations. You didn’t get this far in the Valean Nav-Coast Guard without at least having a bit of pride, and losing a cargo ship twice her size of all things stung it like a hornet. Though she was not to stew in her own thoughts for long, however, as she felt someone board her ship. Looking around quickly, no one had noticed the presence on the bridge, and never had she ever thought that she would be the subject of a boarding action. She cursed her ability, or lack thereof, to interact with her crew members.
With frantic speed, she reappeared directly at where she felt the new ‘addition’ to her ship was, only to see something that stupefied her. In one of her electrical rooms, stood what appeared to be a black-haired teenage girl in an…eccentric outfit. But more importantly, she was messing with the fuses on her vessel; and worst of all, she knew exactly what to mess up. She tried to grab the girl on instinct, but alas, she simply phased through her like nothing. Faced with such a thing, she did the only thing she could do, curse at her.
“OY! Get your bloody hands off of those fuses you spineless brat-”
“Shut it.”
“How dare you! I am going to give you a piece of my mind-”
“Sure, Aunty.”
“AUNTY!? I’ll have you know that-wait, you can bloody talk to me?!” Sovereign did not realize that the girl actually responded to her until now, and her jaw was left hanging at her, all the while her fuses continued to be messed with.
“I wonder what this does…?”
Her hands went over the fuse box responsible for her four turrets, and as she pushed a lever next to it down, Sovereign felt her four turrets immediately lose power, unable to be used.
“Ack! You listen here, young lady! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, or how you can talk to me, but what you’re doing here is illegal-”
“You know I’m the smuggler you’ve been trying to catch, right?”
Why was the Electrical Room unattended?! Where were all of the engineers-oh right, a lot of the functions got turned over to a computer after her refit…meaning that she had less crew compared to previous years…
“You?! But you aren’t a cargo ship, you’re…you’re…” The more Sovereign looked at the girl, the more of a familiar feeling she got with her. It was a sixth sense that told her where the spirits of other ships were if they had one, and this girl most definitely felt like a ‘ship’ to her. But that was not possible, because she was currently physically interacting with her ship.
“Hutten. And I am not a ‘cargo ship’.”
This teenage-looking brat actually had to audacity to use air quotes in front of her, the other younger ships in the Valean Coast Guard feared her! Who was she to give her such disrespect?!
“Ah, there you are. Ship propulsion. Dust Engines, effective, but easily disabled.”
Hutten pulled another plug, and flipped another lever, this time taking her propulsion out. At this point, Sovereign was beet red with anger and shame. Shame for letting someone like her sneak onto her ship easily, and take out a good portion of her vessel’s capabilities. She was no longer ‘operational’ at this point.
“And just for good measure…” She crushed the fuse in her hands, ensuring that a replacement would have to be brought up and reconfigured before it could be used again. A process which unfortunately took some time…
“See ya around, I’ll make sure to tell Valean about this.” Valean?! Pride of the fleet, and last Battleship of Vale, Valean?! This brat knew her personally?! Sovereign saw a smug, victorious smirk coming from her as she exited the electrical room, the other fuses were untouched, thus arising no suspicion from her crew members. Continuing to curse her guts all the way back out onto the deck, she let out a tirade of truly impressive swearing too graphic for any of her juniors to hear. Some of it was even in the old Valean language, which was still in fashion when she got commissioned.
“ ENCULER! SALOPE! CONNARD! Sac à Merde! I CURSE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY! A THOUSAND LIFETIMES OF SUFFERING-”
“All this anger isn’t going to make you any younger, Aunty. Au revoir.”
“I AM NOT AN AUNTY!” As soon as she got out her last insult, Hutten simply fell over the sides of her ship. Running over to see where she landed, there must have been a rowboat of some kind that took her here, and there was a chance for her crew to spot it-
“What…” Hutten simply floated above the water. No, she did not walk, but it was honest to the divines floating. The water rippled along the path she sailed away towards, and she soon lost track of her in the dark ocean. Stomping her foot on the ground, she had not felt this way since finding out that Faunus blockade runners had slipped past her task force all the way back during the Faunus Wars. Well, the next time that she moored in Vale for whatever reason, she had something to ask Valean about-
FWOOOOOOM
Jumping into the air in surprise, a loud and massive ship horn sounded off very close to her. She knew it wasn’t from her own ship, so it had to be from someone else-
“Sacré bleu…”
Her searchlights flared to life, manned by her human crew. All of them were pointed at the source of the sounds, and eventually, they all triangulated on it. She saw no cargo ship, as she initially expected, but instead, a massive, floating block of steel. The secondary turrets alone that she saw on the ship rivalled her entire main armament, and that was only one side. Four massive turrets were then shone on by the searchlights, each of the guns on them probably twice the size of her own main guns. There was no mistaking it, what she and her crew were seeing right now, was a Battleship.
She felt her bridge explode into a flurry of activity, and she reappeared on it a second later.
“Captain! Propulsion systems not working, Engine Room reports an electrical fault-”
“All four main turrets offline! Gun crews report an electrical fault-”
Just as she expected, everything that the brat touched, stopped working. The room was then silenced by another shout.
“Sir! The…ship, it’s sending a signal in flash…” Or Morse, as the old way of saying it was called. As they watched the battleship sail off into the distance, a signal was being relayed to them through that ancient, but tried and tested method of communication. Sovereign read the message, and deciphered it instantly, her face darkening as a result.
“See…you…around…Aunty? The hell does that mean?” Her Captain asked no one in particular, but there was only one person, or spirit, that knew what it really meant. All she could do right now was watch Hutten sail off, which filled her all the more with rage .
“YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-”
With that distraction out of the way, Ruby made good time in her remaining journey. Sure, she could have just hidden from it using her rigging form, but it had the annoying habit of producing a much larger radar signature than what was actually there. So even though her rigging form was barely larger than a medium-sized rowboat, it showed on radars as a full-sized battleship. She chalked it up to Wisdom Cube functions and accepted it. So even if she did successfully get away, the radars could eventually pick her up again, thus leading them to where she had to drop her cargo off. Considering that her client probably preferred to not have the Coast Guard arrive at the same time she delivered her cargo, disabling Sovereign temporarily was probably the best idea. She could cry all she wanted, Ruby was the one who had a rigging, not her.
Sailing right up to an abandoned pier, the Seatown she was specified to drop her cargo off at was overrun by Grimm some years ago. Though the infrastructure had rotted slightly, it was an ideal place to conduct illicit transactions, without the use of a major port that is. Still in rigging form, she checked the time.
“I’m early…”
Even with the hour-and-a-half detour in her journey, she still made it according to her plans by sailing at maximum speed instead of her cruising speed. It made more ‘noise’ sure, but it was useful to do in a pinch. Finding a suitably sturdy pier, she summoned her rigging and let Schwarz take out her cargo.
“Just right here, be careful-”
WHAM
“...What did I say?”
Schwarz whimpered a bit. The ‘resizing’ process was something that baffled many observers at first, a full-sized cargo container could be shrunk into a miniature version, then re-enlarged. Technically there were counted as speciality Kansen equipment as they functioned on the same principles. Aircraft Carriers for example had planes on their riggings that were the size of toys, yet they functioned exactly like the full-sized real thing. Tech boxes also held things like torpedoes or entire battleship turrets in miniature form, so the possibilities were truly endless. Shame it never got past being used for Kansen only, however.
With the delivery complete, she sent a message off to Junior and took a picture as proof of another ‘job well done’. What happened to the cargo container next was not her issue, and she could now begin the long journey back home-
“So, the rumours were true.”
Schwarz instantly turned towards the new voice with a loud growl. Ruby calmed her down by patting it on the head, but her eyes were still locked onto the red-headed man that just appeared on the pier. Ruby did not notice him, which was another blunder, she should have at least scouted the place out first.
“Who are you?” She asked with some hostility, though she was prepared for a fight, she honestly preferred not to. The last time one of her delivery jobs ended in a fight, it resulted in her client ‘haggling’ over damaged goods, and she did not want a repeat of that.
“Hm. I thought my face was recognizable across all of Vale by now.” Now that Ruby had a better look at him, she saw that aside from his red hair and Grimm mask, he also had bull horns, the signs of a Faunus. Apart from wearing a gaudy red and black Mistralian robe, he also had a sword strapped next to him, she did not doubt that he was proficient in its use.
“My name is Adam Taurus. And the White Fang would like to retain your services.”
Somehow, she was sure this was payback from Junior, she just knew it…
AN:
Man, I’ve been thinking about making a Honkai Impact 3rd fic, but I have no idea what to cross it with. Oh well, time to think about it some more. Bianka is my favourite.
Compared to previous naval vessels, the amount of crew needed in each one has reduced drastically. USS Cleveland (the WW2 version) for example, had roughly 1200 crew. The Ticonderoga class meanwhile, which is roughly similar, only needs 330 crew to run. Technology changes, and we are all going to be replaced by machines one day or something. Penny may dispute that claim, however.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Chapter Text
Chapter 10
Whenever the Faunus wars were talked about, there were those who objected to the various terms used to describe those who fought in them.
Of course, Atlas, who took a leading role in the human side of the conflict, tended to label the Faunus armies as rebels. While other sources, primarily those from unaffiliated writers,a wider range of other terms were used to describe them, a popular one was ‘freedom fighter’. It may seem like a small difference, but depending on which kingdom you were in, that term had negative connotations to them.
Atlas, who tended to lean towards authority had a much more negative reaction to ‘rebel’. While in Vacuo, the term was often used in pride, and more recently, the term rebel has been used by some Faunus as a sort of defiance against the state. Either way, the saying that ‘One man’s terrorist, is another’s freedom fighter.’ held true to most rebellions and civil conflicts in history. Both in Ruby’s old world and in Remnant. Now, however, she was face to face with the leader of one such ‘rebellious’ group. Or at least, the Valean branch of it anyways.
Seeing that a pier was no place for a discussion, she and Adam decided to head towards a ruined beachside cafe instead. The decor was faded, torn apart by years of neglect and storms, though its wooden chairs still stood in place as if waiting for its owners to one day return. The weather was great, and if she were alone, she may have decided to stay a while longer before returning. Patch had beaches sure, but they were usually populated by tourists from Vale, and she preferred not to deal with them. If anything, it was similar to some places on the Adriatic Sea, the Sardegna Empire did pride itself on its tourism industry after all.
“I’ve heard you do not smuggle weapons. Why?” Adam Taurus was quick to the point, he preferred to waste no time. Ruby had a similar feeling, though groups like the White Fang invited more trouble than they were worth, but she had a feeling that just leaving was not an option either. At least, not without a fight.
“...personal reasons.”
The bull Faunus had come with only a small entourage, who were busy securing all of the surplus equipment Ruby had brought. She did have mixed feelings about who her equipment went to, the fact that it went to an armed and militant group did not sit right with her. It felt ‘borderline’, if there was a line to be crossed if you will. Counterfeit products and other things were fine, Dust and weapons crossed it. Handing off military equipment, even if it was non-lethal, enabled the White Fang to conduct more of their operations.
Adam did not seem impressed with her answer, seeing as how his lips thinned. “And do your personal reasons interfere with the liberation of our people?”
“Our?”
“All Faunus share in the struggle, many don’t realize it at first. Those in the kingdoms follow the same old lie taught to them since birth, that the Faunus were traitors and rebels. Undesirables. Some Kingdoms, I will admit, are better than others. But all eventually stand in our way, and I believe your skills and semblance will help us achieve our goal of liberation.”
Ruby let him drone on, it seemed that Adam enjoyed hearing himself talk because he did not react to her look of confusion. It then hit Ruby, while in rigging form, she had red horns that protruded out of her head. Adam was currently mistaking her for a Faunus. Technically those horns weren’t even natural, many Ironblood Kansen had them for some reason, similar to the elf ears in the Royal Navy or basically all of the Sakura Empire.
“I believe you are mistaken. We are not allies, and I am not of your people-”
“Then what? Are you human?”
That was…a good question. Were Kansen human? Was she human? They, who were born by the grace of the Wisdom Cubes wielded their own vessels as weapons. Try as they might, their bodies were never truly ‘human’ in a sense. Ruby was similar, as no one else on Remnant could shrug off gunfire and even small-calibre artillery without the use of Aura or a semblance. She always felt distant towards other people not in her immediate family. A difference in nature or otherwise, Ruby often found herself struggling to understand why people did things. At some point, she just accepted that things happened because it was the way it was, and went on with her existence.
“The fact you do not answer is telling. You may be able to hide it among the humans, but eventually, they will turn on you. They will come to think that your existence is an affront to theirs, and eventually, seek to remove you as a threat. The White Fang fights so that this future never comes to pass.”
There were some in Ironblood and beyond, that feared the existence of the Kansen. Everything from them being the result of Siren technology to their supposed might was something that was attached to them arbitrarily, as if they could go ‘rogue’ and level a city at any moment.
“...I am not human, but neither am I friend to your methods.”
Ruby stood up, looking at Adam’s eye visor directly with her own. “I do not oppose your ideals, but I am not one to throw myself in pursuit of them either. Take care to not lose yourself, Adam Taurus. Affection is a poison, and you may find yourself poisoned by your affection for the ideals you long for.”
“Disappointing.” Adam huffed in response. “A fence-sitter, like so many others.”
She had no response to that. Instead, she and Schwarz began walking away from the ruined cafe, only to turn back at Adam one last time. “Before I leave, how did you convince Junior to hire me specifically?”
It was good to know, as the next time something like this happened Ruby could see if Junior was bullshitting. Was she happy that she was tricked? No, and the next time she went to the bar, she was going to dangle him over his ice-making machine. Those crushers inside weren’t for show, and she knew where to threaten him for maximum effect.
“Junior? Ah, Hei Xiong. It was simple, he was the only Faunus underworld contact of Vale, so he made the prime candidate. He seemed oddly eager to take any job, though I’m certain you know more about him.”
“...Faunus…?” Ruby’s voice was barely above a whisper, but Adam still heard it regardless.
“Yes, he is a black bear Faunus, you of all people should know. It’s why you work with him, no? A Shame he refused all of our other offers, though I have yet to actually meet in person.”
Seeing how confident Adam was in his answer, Ruby decided that not correcting him was the correct move. Passing by the uniformed White Fang members, most of them parted ways immediately upon seeing her. She chalked half of it up to Adam meeting with her personally, and the other half to Schwarz menacingly floating right next to her. Either way, she got back onto the water and proceeded to make her way back home. Upon checking her scroll, she found a dozen missed calls, all from her father.
“Here we go again…”
It wasn’t the first time a delivery ran over schedule, and each time Taiyang made sure to spam her scroll incessantly. Annoying perhaps, but it was just his way of showing affection, his poison if you will.
AN:
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 11: Chapter 11
Chapter Text
Chapter 11
In the docks of Vale, dozens upon dozens of abandoned warehouses lined up neatly in rows adjacent to the non-functioning cranes that once were the lifelines of trade in Remnant. In those abandoned warehouses, everything from squatters to the homeless could often be found in them. With the city lacking in anything resembling affordable housing for its poorest, they were bound to flock towards the only ‘free’ shelters in town. Unfortunately, that also meant that criminal enterprises found it exceedingly attractive to set up. Whis was why Schwarz was currently dangling Roman over a pier directly outside a half-wrecked warehouse, with his goons watching close by, not daring to involve themselves.
“Shake him a few more times, then I may be satisfied.” Ruby instructed Schwartz to start bouncing up and down again, making the master thief hold onto his bowler hat even tighter.
“Y-you’re a menace red! A godsdamned m-menace! This ain’t professional at all!”
“Blackmailing me back at the dust store was not professional either.” Plus, she wasn’t the one dangling from her rigging right now, so he had little to no say in the matter.
“NEO! Stop recording and help me!” Off to her side was Roman’s partner, Neopolitan, or just Neo as she preferred, who simply recorded the entire thing on her scroll. A huge grin on her face as Roman kept shouting (begging) for help.
“Don’t bother, I’ve already bribed her.” With one large ice cream sandwich and allowing her to pet Schwarz for an hour. Neo was just that sort of person, and her rigging was right up her alley.
“Yeeeaaargh! I know a couple of people! Really powerful people! They’ll come get ya if you don’t let me go right now!” Roman added another demand quickly after a quick look directly under him. “ON THE PIER!”
“Oh? Where are they then? If they were here, I would notice by now.”
“Oh for fuc-” Ruby had called his bluff easily, with Roman’s latest heists no one powerful was dumb enough to associate himself with him, too much attention, as Junior had said. Speaking of, the reason why Ruby found where his hideout was due to him, as a sort of ‘apology’ for springing that White Fang job on her. Though she did get paid handsomely, and with a bonus. Junior really did not know they were the White Fang, so she could forgive him for that, Roman however, was another matter entirely.
After a couple more seconds, Ruby felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning her head slightly to the left, Neo had stopped recording, and was now instead looking at her with a smile. On her right hand, she displayed the screen of her scroll to Ruby, a line of text displayed on it.
‘Okay, I think he’s learned his lesson. There’s also something that he can pay you back with, ask him about his new baby.’
Sighing, Ruby still had something she wanted to do tonight as well, so she decided to wrap up everything now. Commanding Schwarz to stop, she dangled Roman by his legs just in front of her, coming face to face with the thief now. His hair frazzled and completely ‘messed up’ as he often complained about. With one of her finger claws on his forehead, she brought it up (downwards?) to directly make eye contact.
“Neo here says that you have a new ‘baby’ that I can take as compensation. What is it?”
Immediately, Roman scrunched his face up in reaction. “No! Anything but that! I waited a couple of months for it, I need it for my operations here-” He cut himself off before he could say anything, but Ruby got the gist of it.
“A vehicle? Tell me, now. ” She dug her finger deeper into his head for good measure, causing him to yelp.
“Yeow! Okay, fine! God, you’re like a loan shark. It’s a floating bullhead we got for my operations, but can you take it after we’re nearly wrapped up here-”
“Where.”
Snapping his head to Neo again, he gave her an incredulous look. “Neo! Are you really going to let her take something we worked that hard for?!”
Neo had anticipated he might ask a question like that, and so she had something on her scroll ready for him to read in response.
‘ You liked it, I didn’t. Besides, I told you involving her was a bad idea, you reap what you sow.’
Groaning, Roman knew he was fresh out of options, and under Ruby’s intense gaze, relented. “Kids these days and their semblances I swear…Fine! It’s not with us right now, it’ll come back in a week or two, come back in three and it will be here waiting for ya. Now, let me go!”
Ruby looked to Neo for confirmation, and she nodded her head. It was probably humorous that she trusted someone like Neo, cruel and sadistic as she was to keep her word over someone like Roman. Or actually, it made perfect sense now that she thought about it. However, there was one last thing she could do…
“Tell me, can you swim?”
“Pshhh, yeah, of course, what kinda thief can’t-oh no. DON’T YOU DARE-”
Splash
Roman was unceremoniously released into the waters below him, with how shallow it was Ruby was not concerned about him injuring himself. With a sigh, she patted herself off and turned in the other direction, back to Vale itself. Neo however, gave her another expectant look, it was one Ruby was accustomed to by now.
“Sorry, Neo. Not tonight, I have some other things to do.” Sometimes, she and Neo went out on ‘enthusiastic walks’ that were more or less peaceful. Not for some unfortunate thugs and gangs that they often ran into but at that point it was their fault for challenging them in the first place. Preying on two girls at night was something that apparently came with being a thug in Vale apparently.
Neo frowned, but still nodded in understanding, Ruby thought it was anyways. She displayed some new text on her scroll instead.
‘Alright, how was your meeting with the legendary Taurus then? He live up to the hype?’
How did she know about that? Ruby hadn’t told anyone aside from Junior and the Malachite twins, perhaps gossip went far even in the criminal underworld.
“Not…exactly. Too stuck in his own beliefs, and not enough in living.” At least, that was how Ruby thought he was. She knew of those too consumed by their ideas, or their alliegances and whatnot. Like the cardinal of the Iris Libre, the idea she dedicated herself to was her faith, and yet her nation was the one that split into two. Where were her beliefs when her sister rebelled? Where was the god that she had faith in then?
Neo raised an eyebrow at her, Ruby didn’t really expect her to understand all too well, and she was fine that. Instead, she tried to pat Schwarz, who hid behind Ruby. Her massive size that was nearly twice her own height did not help matters, and made the scene quite comical. Ruby would never admit this to her, but she found it easy to be with the short and probably psychopathic criminal because she was short as well. Everyone in her household may as well have been a giant, so finding someone around the same height as her, let alone get along was a hard thing to do.
“Next time, I promise. Besides, you may want to fish Roman out soon.”
The entire time in the background, Roman was hurling insults and whining about his current state. “-and my clothes! These clothes are designer brands, they don’t take in seawater very well! You mark my words, little red, one day, you’ll know how it feels to have your clothes smell like seaweed-”
Ruby left soon after, for she didn’t need to hear the rest of it. It wasn’t all bad, however, in a week’s time, she was going to get something she had long saved up for, for free, even.
As she made her way out of the docks district, Ruby stretched her back. It had been a while since she went to Vale’s waterfront, and with her already at the docks, it was just a stone’s throw away from visiting her. Might as well do it today, especially before that Sovereign had a chance to talk to…her. Turning in the direction of where the Royal Palace was, Ruby began walking forwards, her destination being Vale’s only remaining Battleship.
The process in which museum ships were saved often depended on two things. Luck, and how historically valued it was by those who remembered it, so basically, even more luck. Some ships that served in all of the battles were often too damaged or unsuited to become museum ships due to their long service, while others simply could not find the funds to convert them into one. Most ships ended up in the scrapyard after their time of service, it was a fate that most understood, lamentable as it was.
Valéan, however, escaped that fate. Launched in the midst of the Great War, it could be said that she saw through three distinct eras. She was there when the King of Vale fought the Mistralian and Mantellian armies on the deserts of Vacuo, when the King of Vale stepped down and formed the first council and finally, when the Faunus gained their (limited) rights as citizens. All of this was seen by her, and that was it, only witnessed by her form, her spirit.
In the small hours of the morning, Valéan watched over the calm waterfront in front of her again. Since becoming a museum ship at the end of the Faunus Rights Wars she had found her biggest foe yet, boredom. Fixing her auburn hair, all Valéan really could do when there were no visitors was to make sure her dress was impeccable. She may not have been active in the Navy anymore, but she still kept to the standards that it once held. Shame the newer ships didn’t seem to share in her views, however. All they called her these days was ‘Grandma’, like the brats they were…
“Bonjour, Grand-mère…ça faisait longtemps…”
And there was this new brat as well. The most recent ship Valéan knew of, yet was the most similar to. All of the new ships she knew of were those that no longer had naval artillery as their main weapons, but instead used new fangled things such as missiles and other fancy Atlesian weaponry. Instead, the ship that was currently behind her was exactly like her, only far larger, and had main guns a couple of inches larger than her own. Twelve-inch guns versus sixteen-inch weren’t exactly equal after all.
“And has no one beat into you the phrase ‘respect your elders’, Miss Rose?”
Valéan looked at her guest on her decks, she still had that ridiculous outfit on. What happened to dressing primly and properly? Those youngsters these days had no idea what style was if modern fashion was like that.
“My father has. But everyone calls you that, so I am just following the norms of these lands.”
They most certainly do not call her Grandma all the time- “Ahem.” With a twitch on her left eye, Valéan calmed herself as her guest continued on.
“But I do need some…guidance.”
“Oh? Are you, coming here for guidance? A rare sight, but perhaps I can help you in these matters. Come, let me impart upon thee my wisdom…” Ruby Rose coming to her for guidance was rare, which meant she got into something she could not handle. At times like these, it was up to the seniors to steer their juniors back to the correct path, and was also her way of not going insane with boredom.
She went deeper inside her vessel, and Ruby followed her in soon after. Whatever it was, it was bound to be a story worth remembering…
AN:
Hello, been a while since the last update but here we are. Got busy with my Blue Archive fics but hey I've finally remembered this fic existed. I’ve seen some comments regarding the Valean Navy and its Royal Navy influence. That is true to an extent, but I’m basing it more on the Marine Nationale more than anything else, as you may have guessed from the French. Weirdly enough, they aren’t represented too much in fiction so here’s my small contribution to it. Also, stop telling me to update quickly, it’s not gonna make me write faster if you put a review asking me to do it.
Translation for “Bonjour, Grand-mère…ça faisait longtemps…”: “Hello, Grandma…long time no see…”
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Chapter Text
Chapter 12
Ruby remembered the first time she met Valéan. Still fresh from news of her mother’s disappearance, her father sought to distract the family from it by taking them to Vale. By that point, she had been entirely raised in Patch, only very rarely venturing out. However it was also after she had just ‘awakened’, meaning that Ruby was still adjusting to her new rigging and memories. Shoving an entire Kansen’s worth of memories and powers apparently could actually induce an existential crisis in a five-year-old.
Though her father never brought it up afterwards, at the time he was seriously considering taking Ruby to see a therapist or a psychiatrist due to her sudden 180 change in mood. As per an eavesdropped conversation, she heard while he was on the scroll with Uncle Qrow. Instead, the trip to Vale was meant to see if it could make Ruby revert herself back to her prior, much more ‘cheery’ self.
Obviously, that didn’t work, as evidenced by her current personality. However, that trip wasn’t completely worthless, for one of the attractions that her father brought her and Yang to was Valéan, which was a popular tourist attraction. Truth be told, it worked somewhat in distracting her, as she was at least seeing something familiar to her, in some weird feeling of Deja Vu.
As young Ruby walked up the steps to Valéan’s deck, that was when the two first met. The Battleship stood on top of the steps, looking down in naked confusion at the five-year-old she felt was a ship as well, and Ruby returned a wide-eyed stare.
Since then, as they say, was history.
“...and that’s it.” Ruby leaned back on a sofa in the officer’s lounge exhibit.
“I must say, you seem to find yourself in extraordinary situations all the time these days. Have you ever considered just being a normal girl?” Valéan had an uncharacteristic unimpressed expression on her face as she finished hearing Ruby’s explanation of what had happened so far. She knew of her exploits as a smuggler, but now that she involved herself in things far beyond, a new perspective on things was welcome.
“You know that isn’t possible, not for someone like me.” She wasn’t exactly human, besides, what even counted as ‘normal’ for Kansen?
“Hm. And the ‘Kansen’ in the world where you say your powers were inherited from? Did they not have the same hopes and dreams as any other? What of Ulrich, the Ironblood Kansen you have memories of?” There was that question again. For a while, especially after the awakening, she thought of herself as Ulrich von Hutten over being Ruby Rose. Perhaps it was simply a way for her to handle those memories at the time, and she eventually moved on from it. Though the question she avoided for most of her life since then remained.
Why did she gain the memories of Ulrich von Hutten? Reincarnation? Impossible, as she did not believe the divines existed, unlike the Iris Orthodoxy or the Sakura Empire.
Siren manipulation? In a world where there was no trace of them or any existence of Kansen along with Wisdom Cubes, that was highly unlikely. Though the two were common in that Humanity was under siege, only that the Grimm were thankfully not technologically adept.
Years of thinking and exploring Ulrich’s memories revealed nothing. At some point, it simply faded into the background, not really affecting her life, until now that was.
“Fine, it seems that you need more time to give me an answer. Moving on, I am not surprised about your Mantellian links, though I did not expect you to be a noble.” Ruby chuckled mirthfully upon hearing her finish.
“Nobles don’t exist anymore.”
“Do they not? I get visits from those who express a very different sentiment all the time.” She was referring to the monarchists that many kingdoms still had. They were the kind of people who blamed modern problems on the new, and wished to revert back to some nostalgic ideal of the past. When Vale was a true kingdom and whatnot.
“A prodigal daughter, the last heir of a noble house once great, but has now mysteriously fallen.” The tone that Valéan used to describe her situation caused a shiver to run down Ruby’s back. When she was younger Ruby used to sneak out and sail to see Valéan at night, who would often tell her stories from her glory days. That was probably when she started calling her grandmother, and kept it even now for the sentimentality. And also to mess with her of course.
“You make it sound like I’m a fairy tale princess.”
“Who is to say you are not? You said it yourself, the Von Rosen family was once the most influential in all of Mantle. But you do not care for such things, do you?”
“All I care for, is to find out who my mother was.” That was the goal, and Ruby had not ever lost sight of it. Valéan did not seem at all pleased with that answer, but she did not pursue it any more. Instead, the topic shifted once more, and to the main reason why Ruby sought her out tonight.
“And this…Faunus, Adam Taurus, he wanted to enlist your services?”
Ruby shifted on her sofa, remembering Valéan’s admittedly complicated relationship with the Faunus. She did conduct shore bombardment on many Faunus forts during the war, but she knew there was no lingering animosity, so taking her advice on dealing with something like Taurus if he ever showed up again was something she wanted.
“I am not opposed to the White Fang’s ideals, but we both know ideals are different from reality.” The largest thing she and Valéan could relate to was serving a nation, no matter in what form. Ulrich served Ironblood, and by proxy to their Kaiser, while Valéan served the King of Vale. Both held ideals unique to them, but at the same time, both also knew that holding them up did not mesh well with the circumstances of reality.
“Be that as it may, a part of me cannot help but think we are the ones responsible for those such as Taurus existing. The Great War ended, but it laid the foundation for the Faunus Rights Revolution, and all that came after…. But I digress, you did not come here for politics, you came here for practical solutions.”
“If you are going to suggest I bombard their camp, please don’t.”
“Har har.” It was half a joke, Valéan had some tendencies to suggest solutions that were wholly out of date. Such as suggesting that she challenge a bully at her school to a duel to resolve their ‘differences’ a few years ago.
“Joking aside, I do not see any need for you to take action as of now. See no evil, speak no evil, as long as you do not seek him out, I do not believe he will bother you again.”
Ruby raised an eyebrow, it seemed to good to be true, causing Valéan to elaborate further.
“From what you have described of him, he is a man who takes things to the extreme, sure, but he is not a wild animal-sorry, person either. He is calculative, and you have made it very clear you have no desire to join him in his crusade.”
“Just like that? I do nothing and continue on with my business?”
“Just so. Of course, I do recommend you do other things instead and lay low for a while. He only found you out because of the…illicit services you do, so perhaps not doing as many of them will eventually have your name fade from their memory.”
In other words, he only found Ruby out because of her reputation, her smuggling reputation that was. What Valéan meant was that if she laid low for a while, the extra attention on her could fade away, leaving her free to continue on at a later time without getting into similar situations. It was…not a bad idea, part of her felt indignant at not having thought of it herself.
“So, I just do something else while I lay low?”
“Well, I would recommend you do things such as seeing friends from school, or other things a fifteen-year-old does in this era. Don’t you like to post images of yourself into the air?”
What?
“...Do you mean the scroll-network?”
“Is that what it is called? You use your scroll to send images, and it sends it through the air to other scrolls, right?” Ruby wanted to say something, but she just remembered the Valéan had not received any retrofit or was even in service for many decades now. Best to just nod for now.
“Besides, you have friends at school, yes? I am sure you can spend the time used for smuggling at night to ‘hang out’, as they say, into the early hours. Is that not something to look forward to?”
Again, Ruby did not say anything, this time unconsciously fidgeting with the sofa while looking away from the older Battleship. Unfortunately for her, Valéan instantly realized why she looked away based on previous conversations.
“...I see. Still having trouble finding friends at school?” Ruby wanted to retort, but the fact that it was true caused any words to die in her throat.
“I have some friends…”
“Two harlot twins at the club you frequent and a midget sociopath criminal are not ‘normal’ friends, Miss Rose.” Okay, it wasn’t that bad, Neapolitan wasn’t murderous most of the time. At least, not when they took walks at night, the enthusiastic ones.
“We are going to talk about this, and you won’t be leaving until you understand why.”
Cringing, Ruby had dug herself into the one thing she didn’t like about Valéan. She tended to lecture those who did wrong, and the worst part was, every word, sentence or point she made was correct in some way.
It was going to be a while before she could get back to Patch…
As far as nights went in Beacon, Glynda could honestly say there have been worse ones. Sure, the rowdy nature of the academy being one where future Huntsmen and Huntresses were trained caused her hair to fray much earlier than her peers, but that part was nothing compared to the amount of crap she had to deal with in just being an administrator. Though what kind of administrator also had to be a part-time security guard as well?!
One of these days, she should demand a raise and more vacation days from Ozpin, secret magical group be damned.
As she prepared to head back into her own quarters, she noticed that Ozpin’s office still had its lights on even this late into the night. Odd, for he almost never worked this late, and even if he was around, he would not be in his office. Deciding to sate her curiosity, Glynda made her way to the office.
Stepping out of the elevator as it reached the top floor, she saw that Ozpin was not at his desk, but instead overlooking the academy grounds below, two hands gripping his signature cane behind his back. This meant only one thing, he was concerned.
“Glynda, working late I presume?”
“I was just about to retire, but I saw your office lights were still on. Anything I should know?”
Ozpin had many secrets, some not even Glynda was privy to for the sake of safety. There was a good chance asking him would result in vague, cryptic answers, but this time he gave simple answers, much to her relief. It saved her the headaches of figuring out what he meant at least.
“I have just gotten off a meeting with Admiral Louverture. I wager we have another lead to our mysterious Hutten. This image is from a Coast Guard patrol some time ago…”
Walking back to his desk, Ozpin tapped a few buttons on his desk, bringing up a holographic image for her to see. As she got closer, the dark, blurry image became ever clearer. Despite the background being pitch black, what she presumed were searchlights illuminated an enormous steel structure, the closest thing she could describe it as being similar to Valéan, the museum ship in central Vale’s waterfront. She could hazard a guess that it was similar, being a Battleship as well, only that the one in the image seemed larger, much larger than Valéan.
“It appears that rumours of a Ghost Battleship are much more substantiated than initially thought.” Ozpin quipped, causing Glynda to rub her head in an attempt to make sense of it.
“What…but…how…? I don’t even…”
“What is even more interesting is that the Coast Guard has poured over all Battleships that were built in Remnant’s history, and it resembles none of them.”
Grasping at straws, Glynda proposed an idea randomly, though it was the only one that made any sense to her. “Do you think she is responsible?”
Ozpin shook his head immediately, clearly having considered the possibility already. “No, this does not fit with her methods, nor does it benefit her in any meaningful capacity. Unless the Grimm have suddenly become adept with naval technology and shipbuilding.”
The thought of Grimm manning ships and acting like pirates in the seas of Remnant aside meant that there was an unknown third party with enough resources to build and maintain a Battleship like that, with the possibility for more.
“I believe it is time we included James in this investigation. Despite what you think of him, he is the most familiar with these matters, and his resources may be needed if we ever want to solve this mystery.”
Truth be told, Glynda wanted to object. While James could bring to bear the resources of the Atlas military into their investigation, there was also the fact he was James Ironwood. Discreet was something he did not believe in, or at the very least, did not like to practice. Of course, he was not always like that, but that was so long ago now…
“I thought you wanted to talk with whoever this ‘Hutten’ is, bringing James into this may-”
“I understand, Glynda. I will make sure he knows that we need allies, not enemies.”
What was left unsaid was how they could convince Hutten to be an ally in the first place. With James involved, however, the only thing she was certain of was that it could either end amicably or in a naval battle not seen since the Great War.
AN:
Heyo, kept you waiting, huh?
So I’ve been busy for the past month or so, went home and spent some time with my family and all so that killed my writing mood for a while. Though here we are, and boy the new Sakura Empire ships look damn neat. Unzen and Owari are my top picks from that roster, since I love Asuna from BA I think Owari will be my secretary for quite some time when they release.
Anyhow, I’ve been getting requests to do a Kancolle fic from a particularly insistent fellow. I’m just gonna state here that I will not do any Kancolle fics solely because I prefer AL. I don’t have malice toward it, I just prefer AL overall, and also because I am not too familiar with Kancolle. End of story, stop dming me, I don’t like to block people but I will exercise that right if you continue.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 13: Chapter 13
Chapter Text
Chapter 13
This was easy.
Yang was family, her elder sister, meaning that they should be close. However, the deep, foreboding feeling swelling up from her gut refused to go away. It was the weekend, meaning that neither of them had school today. The blonde-haired brawler was just sitting on their couch, watching television lazily. All Ruby had to do was casually approach, and ask .
Simple, right? There was a very high chance Yang would accept, but what Ruby dreaded wasn’t that, but what came after .
Clearing her throat from the kitchen, Ruby began her approach, keeping a steady speed throughout the minuscule journey from there to their living room couch. Valéan had indeed given her a long lecture, long enough that by the end of it, she hobbled back to Patch and blacked out on her bed. She made some promises to the old battleship that got her out of more lecturing, but unfortunately, that meant she had to follow up on them. Namely, actually doing things that regular people did, what it was specifically didn’t matter, but the next time they met Ruby had to tell her what she did.
Lying to her was a no-go, since she was a bad liar and Valéan was experienced enough to see one a nautical mile away. So, that resulted in Ruby having to actually make an effort to do ‘normal’ things. Hovering just behind Yang, her lips slowly parted, and a voice in between reserved and strangled came out of them.
“H-Hey Yang…”
Her sister looked up from the TV, a confused expression plastered over her face.
“Yeah? What’s up, Rubes?”
She was crossing the ‘T’ now, there was no going back. Taking a deep breath, she spoke, stuttering slightly as she did. “Do…do you want to h-hang out today? It’s the weekend and-”
Faster than she could dodge, Yang had brought a hand directly touching Ruby’s forehead, while her other free hand touched her own. “I don’t feel a fever…are you feeling alright?!”
Ruby was speechless, which was then followed by a feeling of indignance. She wasn’t that bad normally, right?
“I’m fine! Mein Gott, look, do you want to hang out today or not? We could go s-shopping or whatever.”
Right after Ruby said that Yang’s previously concerned face slowly started morphing, and by the end of it, she had the biggest shit-eating grin she had ever seen from her. The foreboding feeling from earlier intensified, and Ruby began feeling beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Patting Ruby’s shoulder a few times, she let go and began walking up the stairs.
“Sure! Let me get dressed and I’ll meet you outside, won’t be long!” Despite Yang’s sing-song tone, Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. The last few times Yang had tried to do something similar she had always blown her off. So the fact that this time was successful-
“DAD! QROW! RUBY WANTS TO HANG OUT WITH US, GET UP!”
“Wha-you serious?!”
“She’s actually asking us?! I gotta see this, gimme five and I’ll be ready!” The last one was Uncle Qrow, who had just returned from another mission last night. Ruby’s original plan was to just hang out with Yang today, needless to say, that has since been torpedoed spectacularly. Standing completely still in the living room, save for her trembling hands balled into fists, the feeling that she may have gotten way more than she asked for lingered on.
Just a little.
High above in the skies over Vytal, Atlesian transport ship #58 was carrying an unusual collection of military personnel. Aside from the technicians and engineers that made up the majority of them, the one who led the entire odd collection was a specialist. Winter Schnee, of the Schnee family, leading them meant two things. One, the operation was important, and two, it was personally overseen by General Ironwood.
The odd thing about it was not the roles that each member had, but rather it was made up of people from entirely separate branches. Despite the rivalry that the Atlesian Navy had with the Army, General Ironwood had somehow managed to wrangle a few personnel from the Atlesian home fleet to ‘join and support’ Winter on this operation.
To say that not everyone in the group liked it was an understatement, as the naval personnel sat in their own corner of the transport, far away from the Army personnel, the feeling was mutual. Despite the potential headache that she expected from this odd makeup, Winter was determined to see her mission through. It was the first time she was given command of a group as large as this, and she would not fail.
“Excuse me, Specialist Schnee?”
Looking to her side, she saw an Ensign standing right next to her seat, the face of the young officer anxious as she stood at attention. Squinting her eyes, Winter looked at her uniform for any nametag, before finding that there was none. Unfortunately, with how fast the group was formed, she was not able to familiarize herself with everyone under her command.
“Ah, I’m sorry Ensign…?”
“ Anikanov, I was sent from the Design Ministry?”
Anikanov, Winter remembered seeing that name on the list. Her last name was from Solitas’s eastern regions, where shipbuilding was historically a large portion of its industry in lieu of mining operations. The Design Ministry was responsible for most of the Atlesian military equipment, usually deciding on which designs to move forward with after they were submitted by various arms companies. There were unscrupulous ways that arms companies often bypassed the Ministry entirely but that was beside the point. Winter was now in command, and as such, had to look and act the part.
“Right, Ensign Anikanov, is there something you wish to talk about?”
“Um, yeah-I mean yes. I wasn’t really given a briefing before I got stuffed onto a flight to Atlas and everything…so may I know why I was suddenly assigned to this operation?”
Winter sighed internally, this operation was formed ad-hoc in just a few days, meaning that there were very short notices for most of the personnel with her right now. Still, the fact that the General managed to snag someone from the Design Ministry meant that their target for this operation must have been genuine enough for the Admirals there to acquiesce to his demands. Winter could still scarcely believe the ‘target’ for this operation, it felt like she and everyone there were chasing ghosts, quite literally.
“Sit, I am aware of the…short notice, but this should clear up why you are here, Ensign Anikanov.”
Turning on her datapad, Winter opened the latest intelligence report obtained from the Valean coast guard, stopping specifically at a photo that was taken of their target. Winter remembered her eyes nearly bulging out when she was first given the report, in fact, she could still scarcely believe it. Still, she trusted in General Ironwood, and that alone was worth more to her than any rumour.
“Here, what do you make of this?”
Handing it over to Anikanov, the brunette took it in her hands gently and began looking at the report.
“What…? Is that…?”
“It is, believe me, I am just as surprised as you are.”
Of all the targets Winter initially expected, a giant ‘ghost’ battleship was not on her list at all. Regardless, the goal of the operation was to ascertain and make contact with it, then the next steps were to be decided once those two initial goals were fulfilled. All in all, a very simple-sounding mission.
“That’s a superstructure…archaic, but functional…are those main batteries?! Must be fourteen-fifteen-no, sixteen inches at least…”
Anikanov was engrossed with the picture, zooming in and out quickly at every part of it that showed the battleship. It was bigger than anything Atlas or even Remnant had made before in terms of sea-faring warships, so the fact that it was real and not some well-made hoax made Winter feel uneasy. If that thing was functional and operational, what else was hiding in Remnant’s oceans?
“Ensign? Your initial thoughts?”
“Oh! Uh…” Anikanov handed the tablet back to Winter, her gloved hand scratched the back of her head as she replied. “Archaic, at least sixty, seventy years out of date. But, you won’t find anything else on Remnant that shoots as many shells down range, even our airships probably can’t match that thing.”
While most of the Atlesian Navy had switched to airships, the drawback was that they had to split their gravity dust output on not only propulsion but also levitating in place to prevent it from falling. As a result, armament had to be kept as lightweight as possible, hence the use of laser batteries as opposed to traditional shell-based artillery. It had a similar level of firepower, but less range and reliability due to the nature of lasers and the technology used. You couldn’t ‘arc’ lasers to hit a target beyond visual range after all.
“And what about finding it? Surely something that big is easy to find?” Winter did not understand how the Valean Coast Guard could lose a battleship, but apparently, that was what happened in the report.
“Um, I wouldn’t be so sure about that…” Upon focusing her eyes on Anikanov, the Ensign made an ‘eep’ sound.
“Explain.”
“Well…the ocean is pretty big, something as big as that can hide very well if it’s well concealed…” Anikanov began talking, but the more Winter narrowed her eyes, the less confident she became.
“B-but! It’s not like the thing can just disappear! So there has to be docks or a base that it uses, and if we find that…”
Then they could find the battleship. Winter hummed, it was as good a plan as any for now.
“May I ask a question? Ma’am?”
“Ask.”
“What are we going to do once we contact it? It hasn’t attacked anything, so maybe it’s friendly?”
Winter huffed in response, assuming that something like that was ‘friendly’ could end in disaster. However, she was under strict orders by General Ironwood to make a ‘good first impression’ if they did find it, but she was also to ensure the ‘safety of Vale’s oceans’ by any means necessary. The Atlesian Home Fleet was under a heightened state of readiness, and if anything did happen…
Winter turned back to Anikanov. “Get some rest, Ensign. We won’t be in Vale for another few hours. Check that your gear is functional-”
“Oh, um, the only things I have are my uniform and personal items…they didn’t let me go back to my house and pack…”
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she knew it was going to take a couple of days for them to be fully operational once they landed. “We’ll authorise you a lien card, get everything you need once you land in Vale.”
As Anikanov went back to her own seat in the Naval personnel corner, Winter looked outside of her window. Right below her was the island of Vytal, where some of the largest naval actions of the Great War took place. The island was still scarred by large craters of dust shells from the fighting, and yet, it was where the treaty that ended the war was signed. The peace that followed lasted for a long time, until the Faunus Wars. Aside from that, peace reigned, and humanity as a whole enjoyed the peace that came after.
Was it a false peace? One built upon flimsy promises and agreements, destined to plunge Remnant back into violent war? Time would tell, and Winter would do anything to prevent it from happening once more.
If this ‘Hutten’ was a threat to Remnant’s safety, then there would be no hesitation from her end.
AN:
Hello, been a month since the last chapter, so hope you all enjoyed it as we see the Atlesians make their first move.
Anikanov is taken from Oleg Anikanov, a prominent Soviet Naval engineer.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 14: Chapter 14
Chapter Text
Chapter 14
In the centre of Vale, in its main square, stood a Cenotaph. Inscribed upon its sides were the most important battles in the Great War, from foreign rice fields in Anima to the frozen arctic seas of Solitas, nearly every important battle was there. On its base, a simple sentence was inscribed as its main centrepiece, beckoning all who viewed the monument to know one thing in particular.
Their name liveth for evermore.
It was for remembrance. Of the thousands lost in the fighting, from settlements swallowed up by the Grimm, in the battlefields where the greatest of armies on Remnant clashed. And of course, are also the ones lost at sea, never to return back to shore. Ruby always wondered who that monument was for, was it for the soldiers who survived the war? The widowers and children of the soldiers who did not come home? Or even now, for future generations to continue its memory, ensuring that the conflict is baked into Vale’s many traditions?
She did not know the answer to that question, truthfully it could have been a little bit of everything, and nothing at all. It was not a conflict she had a lot of stake in, aside from her Mother’s mysterious history of course, but still, wasn’t the emotion of it a grand, intoxicating feeling? She remembered an old poem from the Royal Isles, the last line, in particular, standing out to her as she saw lilies laid next to the Cenotaph in remembrance.
Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.
It was sweet and fitting, to die for one’s country, and the grand prize all of those lost souls received? Monuments to their glory, never mind the amount of lives paid to have them erected.
“Ruby! Where you at?! There’s a place we want you to check out!” Yang suddenly called out while the Kansen was hidden behind a pillar. Taking that as a queue to duck further behind it, she peered out onto the main square, finding that her family was looking around all over for her. Instead of her…conventional clothing, she had been forced into a light-coloured sundress. She had never worn something like this before, and all of that was due to Yang’s insistence, with her father relenting to her enthusiastic demands.
“You know, she’s kinda right, you could use some brighter looking clothes…” …betrayal came from those you least expected, at least she wasn’t footing the bill for this at all. Not that Ruby hated these clothes, but rather they clashed with her style, her emulation of Ulrich’s appearance to the best of her ability meant that she currently had two distinct styles clashing together. Her hairstyle screamed punk, while everything else was straight out of some old movie where the main heroine danced around in a field of flowers while singing. She didn’t remember the name, but it was set in old Mantle so that was why she liked it.
Making sure she was hidden from view, Ruby decided that she could stay for a bit longer. Interacting with family was exhausting, and she was beginning to regret-
Feeling a shudder come from her partially exposed back, she looked behind and saw Valéan on the opposite side of the waterfront. Though too far for normal human eyes to see, her Kansen eyes allowed her to perfectly see her deck, filled with tourists, and Valéan herself glaring at her. Did she mention that her family decided to head to downtown for their shopping? It was where the old shopping districts were from the Belle Époque era, so it was a natural choice. The old battleship’s expression was something in between a disappointed elderly woman, and also a youthful face promising scorn if she didn’t get back to her family immediately.
Sighing despondently, she slowly got up from her bench behind the pillar, only to run into someone.
“Oof! S-sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going-” Oddly enough, the person that ran into Ruby was someone in a white coloured uniform, a naval one if she had to guess. Though just looking at her you wouldn’t have guessed she was part of any armed services, light brown hair tied up into a ponytail, a short height just slightly taller than Ruby, and also her general disposition was nothing like what an officer should have been.
“ Yeow …it felt like I was hitting a brick wall, what do they feed kids these days?” Upon closer inspection, Ruby noticed that she was wearing an Atlesian naval uniform, which explained her accent. From the eastern regions of Solitas if she was correct.
“Apologies, I was not aware you were in my way…” It was technically Ruby’s fault as well, both for not looking and for her ‘hitting a brick wall’, there was a reason why personnel working with Kansen were reminded that they could crush steel beams like a candy bar casually. No one really harassed or bothered Kansen on base that way, one’s precious family jewels could easily be subject to the force that could power an entire battleship as some unfortunate few found out the hard way.
“ Ah pizdets… no, it was also my fault for not looking correctly. I will be on my way now…wait, where am I?” Looking around, the young naval officer became agitated as it was evident she was lost. It wasn’t surprising, Vale’s old districts were built before various highways and the like covered the newer areas, thus making navigation particularly tedious and confusing. A medieval town, updated for modern society, albeit just barely. Good luck finding your way out of the old stone streets, even Ruby gave up several times before and just used her rigging to jump across the roof during her smuggling deliveries.
“You’re in the old shopping district, in Vale’s historic old town. I can point you towards where you need to go-”
“Huh? This is the old shopping district?”
“...yes. Were you expecting something different?”
“Oh, uh, it’s just that there aren’t any signs telling me where the shops are, I’m not used to areas like this. Too old-fashioned, I guess? Atlas has these giant neon signs everywhere that tell me where things are, so…”
Even though Ruby couldn’t care less about her Valean pride or whatever, she felt like she had to tell the difference between Vale and Atlas to this ‘tourist’.
“Old fashioned, maybe, but in Vale things are done more subtly. We are not so crass as to have advertisements dot every corner of our city.” Atlas itself was more like a giant floating island of advertisements than an actual liveable city, how did its citizens even get a good night’s sleep?
“I…guess you’re right? Reminds me of old Mantle…”
There it was again, Mantle. Her supposed ancestral home, Doctor Oobleck had not gotten back to her yet, so she was spending her days twiddling her thumbs with nothing better to do. Deciding that waiting any longer meant another potentially devastating lecture by Valéan, Ruby excused herself.
“In any case, enjoy all that Vale has to offer, officer…”
“Oh, I’m Roza-uh I mean-Ensign Roza Anikanov! Atlesian Federal Navy.” She instinctively raised her hand for what Ruby assumed to be a salute, but quickly stopped herself as her expression morphed into a cringe. “Sorry for that, I’m trying to remember to properly greet people as an ensign, I’m not used to public appearances, yet, hopefully, I think. Oum imagine Specialist Winter saw me do that…” Roza mumbled the last part, but not quite enough for Ruby to not hear it.
Ruby didn’t really care. Even in her memories of Ironblood when Ulrich interacted with officers she usually dismissed the formalities.
“I’m not your commanding officer. I hope you enjoy your time here, Ensign.” Just as she was about to leave however, Roza stopped her again.
“Wait, you wouldn’t happen to know where the good stores are at, right?”
“Mayhaps…” Ruby didn’t like where this was going, it felt like the situation with Roman all over again. This time, however, she was going to be entangled with someone she didn’t like the affiliations of whatsoever. Unfortunately, the mischievous glint on Roza’s eyes said otherwise.
“So, I got handed this lien card by my superiors and was told to go buy everything I need. Now, since it’s not really my money, I can get the nice things that I want which Atlas does not have. Since we’re about the same size if something that I get happens to end up in your possession…I may just look the other way.”
Due to Atlas’s history, most of its artisans and artists fled the continent before the Great War even broke out. This resulted in their sub-par artisanal industries today, which wasn’t a big issue due to their massive industrial base. However, that meant that high-quality goods that weren’t science-based such as clothing and artisanal goods, were usually imported.
“...no budget?” Ruby asked, already, this was a better-sounding deal than what Roman offered her before. The floating bullhead was still weeks off from the agreed-upon pickup date.
“None, they’re sparing no expense for my time here. Just don’t buy out the store or anything. So, how about it?” Roza held her right hand out, waiting for Ruby to shake it. Well…one of Valéan’s wishes was for her to meet new people…and she could potentially get that new Vacuoan crocodile leather choker today…
Deciding that today was a time to try new things and meet new people, she tentatively shook her hand.
“Excellent, wait, don’t think I caught your name yet…?”
“Ruby Rose. Are you not concerned about being seen with a teenage girl leading you around? Harming the great Atlesian image?”
To her credit, Roza waved her off completely, clearly, it wasn’t a concern for her at all. “Sure, as long as my superiors don’t see me with you I don’t really care. Come on, I don’t have all day, it’s the least I get for sending me here on short notice…”
Ignoring that last part deliberately, Ruby began leading Roza away from the main square. She took one last quick peek at the main square, finding that her family was nowhere to be seen. Relieved, she made a note to send a text to them later.
On a nearby tree, however, she did not notice an old-looking crow perched on top of its branches, peering down upon them with an inhuman grin.
In Vale’s diplomatic quarter, Glynda was currently making her way towards the Atlesian consulate. Consulate, not embassy, because Mantle still technically held the title of embassy, even if it wasn’t for long, she was there because the Atlesian contingent sent by General Ironwood had their base of operations there. As she was the only other person who had encountered this ‘Hutten’, Glynda was immediately volunteered by Ozpin to act as a liaison between them and Vale. It wasn’t a terrible deal, her duties at Beacon were halted temporarily while she was on this assignment, but then again anyone would have been worried if Peter Port of all people became the academy’s (temporary) custodian. She hoped it would remain standing by the time she got back.
In stark contrast to the Mantellian building, which was designed in line with Mantle’s local architecture in mind, the newly constructed Atlesian consulate dwarfed the older embassy’s size by quite a bit. It sported the usual monotone and high-tech architectural style that Atlas was known for, and in a district where most of the buildings were historic, stood out like a sore thumb.
Walking into the section reserved for their use, Glynda managed to get through security without much hassle. Unfortunately, however, that was only the first big hurdle today, the second one was meeting with the contingent’s leader. Her words had to be chosen carefully, for Winter Schnee was not in their inner circle and thus not privy to their more important secrets. As the guard who escorted her stopped in front of her, she looked inside the office area reserved for their mission.
Of all the chaos happening inside, with what appeared to be two distinct groups of military officers setting up on different sides, was Winter directing the flow of personnel and equipment. Not that Glynda disliked her, but it was her personality conflicting with some of the close colleagues she worked with. It was the stereotypical Atlesian pride and coldness if she had to give an honest description, one that did not win them many favours abroad.
Still, she was here now, and they had a job to do. Walking up to Winter, Glynda cleared her throat behind her as the former was still engrossed in work.
“What? Who-Ah, apologies Miss Goodwitch, as you can see you have caught us in an inopportune time.”
Glynda nodded, apparently, they had some trouble with getting all of their equipment and personnel ready due to how sudden it was. “Don’t worry too much, I’ve seen much worse during my time as Beacon’s administrator.”
Winter frowned, an expression Glynda expected to be seeing a lot in the next few weeks. “I do not dispute that, but comparing the Atlesian armed forces to huntsmen and huntresses in training is not what I would describe as flattering. In any case, I’m afraid today will just be spent on setting things up, I would have preferred it if you arrived tomorrow actually.”
It was the polite way of saying ‘scram and come back tomorrow!’. This was why she found most Atlesian military personnel hard to deal with, they had one of the best militaries on Remnant, sure, but that also came with an unhealthy dosage of pride. Pride came before the fall, as they say.
“In any case, I trust you have read the report from Qrow?”
Her frown morphed into a scathing glare for even daring to mention his name. While Glynda did agree with her on some of Qrow’s…less flattering parts of his personality, he was still nonetheless highly capable at his duties. When he wasn’t piss drunk of course.
“Do keep in mind, Specialist, that he will be a part of this investigation, General Ironwood briefed you on this, no?”
“Yes…he has…”
“Then, whatever your personal reservations are about him, please cooperate for the sake of our goal.”
After being chastised, Winter’s glare softened as she looked around with weary eyes. “I do not see him with you, is he…”
“He’s taking a vacation day today, something about spending time with his nieces. He will be joining us on a later date, I’m sure he’s just as thrilled to be seeing you.” It was no secret they got along like hot oil and water. Glynda just had to make sure to not be in the splash zone.
“Ugh…”
Changing the topic, Glynda was asked if she had a plan for luring out ‘Hutten’, who had remained quiet after that incident. Not a single report or sighting from the Coast Guard and police was heard from them, leading Gylnda to suspect that she was currently in hiding.
“Simple. We need to draw her out.” Winter declared.
Glynda however, scoffed at the notion. “Draw her out? With what? All we know is that she is a suspected smuggler, and those types always go into hiding when they catch a whiff of trouble. Vale’s underworld is much trickier than Atlas’s own, I assure you.”
Most criminal activity was concentrated on Mantle instead of Atlas, meaning that Winter would not have had a lot of experience in dealing with them. The issue was that she saw them as some enemy, a military force to lure out and defeat with overwhelming firepower. Atlas had that in spades, sure, but what if their enemy was never going to take the bait in the first place? Someone like Hutten had no reason to fight, or even take on the Atlesian military even with a supposed Battleship. This was exactly the reason why Glynda did not approve of Ozpin requesting Ironwood’s help.
“I do not need to remind you that you are in Vale. Despite the council allowing Atlas to conduct this operation, you are still beholden to Vale’s laws and sovereignty. For the sake of us both, do not be rash, for I would not like to find out if my semblance can block naval artillery.”
Glynda was fairly confident in her ability to block the smaller guns, the main guns however…
“I…will keep that in mind. In that case, I don’t suppose that you have a suggestion? At least something that we can begin working towards?”
Truthfully, there were few options. Ozpin’s connections did not have as much detail on Vale’s underworld as they would have liked, so there were few true options. Aside from Hutten’s connection with Torchwick that they have confirmed, there wasn’t much else they could pin her with. There were some minor gang fights that they suspected Hutten to be a part of, but again, those were just rumours. Finding Torchwick was not an option, so that left…
“...there is one link we can try. We suspect that Hutten has a ‘handler’ of sorts for her operations, there aren’t that many in Vale’s underworld that include smuggling. His name is Hei Xiong, otherwise known as Junior for the Xiong family.” Among the various crime families in Vale that dealt with smuggling, the ones that came to mind were the Xiong family. Unfortunately, that was also one Glynda had very little information on due to how compartmentalized his operations were. They knew he was running a smuggling ring in that nightclub of his, but they could never gather enough evidence to pin it on him.
“Whatever he may be, we’ll get the answers we need out of him, one way or another-”
“Specialist, again, you are in Vale.” Glynda deadpanned at her, causing Winter to shut up and look away. Maybe Qrow actually had a point regarding Winter, after all, she’d only admit it over her dead body, however.
Omake:
ObserverNull: Argus sequence proposed…
ObserverNull: Receiving confirmation…
ObserverNull: Parallel timeline designation ‘Remnant’ under experiment…
ObserverNull: Beginning playback to selected target…
ObserverNull: Loading complete. ‘Popcorn’ requested from main server.
Ruby woke up in her bed, startled by a dream of iron and fire on the high seas. It was the most glorious thing she had ever witnessed, and she had to know more.
“Finally woke up? Come on, we’re gonna be late for Oobleck’s lecture!” Weiss was already in her uniform, looking at Ruby with a disapproving look. Actually, now that she thought about it, all of Team RWBY save for her was already up and ready for the day.
“I just had a crazy dream, there were guns! Big guns, explosions and…and…I was on the ocean or something?!”
Yang, however, did not share the same enthusiasm her sister did. “Alright Rubes, that’s great and all but you have around five minutes before we ditch you for Oobleck’s class.”
Deciding that not getting another detention from him was higher on her priority list, Ruby dashed into the bathroom with her semblance to get ready for the day. The dream of a weird battle at sea, with someone who looked a lot like her, wielding a scythe and all, left for another day.
AN:
Yeah, I know, been a while since it updated. In any case, we see Ruby getting to know more people, as ‘advised’ by her battleship grandmother, Glynda greeting the Atlesian contingent with some difficulty, and a new Omake series. It’s not going to be a react fic or anything like that, but the concept is somewhat similar. You’ll understand more about it in later chapters.
As always, be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 15: Chapter 15
Chapter Text
Chapter 15
Dark, dingy and damp alleyways filled with seldom-collected trash. It was the place where no self-respecting Valean local would venture at night, lest they met some unsavoury folk. For Qrow however, such a sight was normal, comforting even. Spend enough time in some of them, however, and any place, no matter how undesirable at first glance could feel familiar. It was similar to how he originally felt about the Branwen camps, roaming from place to place like nomads. Only that they weren’t just nomads similar to how some Vacuoan tribes and clans acted, roaming warlords was probably a more accurate description.
Even so, while he felt at ease in them, his unwanted companion, however, did not .
“Disgusting…”
Winter, based on the few glances he gave her, did her best to prevent her uniform from smudging on the soot and grime-covered brick walls, which were probably over a century old by now. He did warn her before leaving that she should have worn something else, darker, less bright and most importantly, not attention-grabbing. Going to the crime-ridden part of Vale in an Atlesian uniform? That was basically asking to get thrown into the sea with a cinder block attached to their ankles, but the bullheaded-
“What are we even waiting for? If that criminal has information we need, then we should-”
“Shush. The expert is working right now, try not to disturb him, alright?”
“You-”
Ignoring whatever outburst she was about to have, Qrow noticed a black car pull up behind the main entrance, entering its alleyway. Their target was here, and by the looks of it, not too protected today. Good, if things went poorly they could always just fight their way out, though he was relying on Junior to make good on his promise.
“C’mon, he’s here.” Getting up from leaning on the wall, Winter looked at him with confusion.
“Are we not calling for reinforcements? You make it sound like we are just going to waltz in.”
“That’s exactly what we’re gonna do Ice Queen, don’t know what you were thinking when I called you out here. Dunno if you’ve noticed, but that shining robot army of yours isn’t exactly in Vale, we’re doing this quietly. ”
With the council wanting to keep this whole cooperation aspect out of the public eye for now, at least until the Vytal festival was just around the corner, this meant that their little ‘investigation’ had to be kept off the books, so to speak. To him, it felt more like a full-on manhunt, he still didn’t know why Ozpin decided now was a good time to bring in Jimmy, what unsettled him even more however was how quickly he managed to bring together a task force from Atlas. It was no secret among officials that the various branches of Atlas’s armed forces did not get along, having to balance a mixture of government funding, politics and financial incentives turned out to not be a great idea for having a unified military as it turned out.
Ruby, Yang and Tai probably got sick of hearing him ramble on about it at the dinner table by now, but it was a problem. One that threatened to blow up in the face of the four kingdoms, as the economies of all four were inextricably linked together in some way. Atlas imported food from Mistral primarily, Vacuo bought Atlesian heavy industry equipment, Vale exported luxury goods and so on. Of course, Vale being the financial hub of Remnant was also not great for the kingdom as a whole, if one crisis goes on, then they were probably going to be the first to be crushed under that system.
And yet, Ozpin refused to do anything about it, citing its necessity for the continued stability and growth of the four kingdoms to combat the Grimm. Humanity was at its highest peak in Remnant’s history, but the question in his mind was for how long.
“I do not think that is wise , Qrow.”
He shrugged, to her it probably wasn’t. “Heard that one before, it worked out fine the last time.”
Ignoring her further protests, he ventured out from the alleyway and into the dimly lit streets. Junior’s club had suffered a lot of damage recently, some prospective huntress trashed the place thus leading to its closure while repairs were underway. This was good for him, that meant he didn’t have to worry about any civilians getting caught in the crossfire.
Walking up to the main door, instead of the usual guards outside, there was only one bouncer guarding it. He noticed him and Winter, and Qrow knew who he was as well.
“Evenin’ Jimmy. Working late?” The middle-aged bouncer did not look at him, but instead at the specialist behind him.
“Qrow, haven’t seen ya in a while. Will your guest be making a scene inside?”
Winter scoffed, Qrow quickly spoke up before she could make a scene. “She’ll behave, my word.”
Though he was still given a suspicious look, the bouncer stepped aside and unlocked the door for them to enter. Qrow felt an elbow dig into his sides soon after going in, his aura failing to react in time to take the hit.
“I am not so crass as to not behave myself you drunkard. I would be more concerned about how you intend to acquire what we need from this…Hei Xiong.”
“Trust me, I got this. No matter what he says, do not draw your sword.” Though it has been half a decade since they last met, Qrow was hoping that the man would be a bit more receptive to his request. The only thing he was concerned about was Winter, Hei Xiong probably was not going to like her very much, with the whole crusade Jimmy went on about organized crime in Atlas a few years back. However, he was unfortunately forced to bring her along by threat of Glynda’s riding crop. Though the feelings were mutual, Winter was unable to swallow her pride and just wait for him to bring back the info-
“He’s there. Listen, he’s going to try and rile you up, I’ll do the talking while you just…I dunno, stand back there or something.”
Atlas had a problem of having too many hammers. And when all they had were hammers, then everything appeared to be a nail, needing to be hammered down. Regardless if the nail was on top of porcelain or not. Going up to the bar, they found Junior talking with one of his goons before their loud footsteps alerted him of their presence.
“Well, shit, if it ain’t fuckin’ Qrow of all people. I’d almost tell you to get lost, but I see you have a special guest with you today, and that tells me you have something you need from me.”
Twins, in white and dark red, appeared from behind Junior, flanking his sides as he stared Qrow down. For some reason, he felt like they were Ruby’s friends that she described to him a while ago, but that couldn’t be them, they were part of Junior’s goons here.
“Junior, nice to see you again. How’s the business?” Qrow tried the nicer method first, the expression on Junior’s face did not mean he liked them in his club right now.
“Could be better, especially when a huntsman and huntress are standing in front of where I do conduct it. Better yet, why is Winter Schnee of all people here? I know she’s a specialist and all the fancy crap that comes with it, but you wouldn’t be bringing her here unless you needed something from me. I’m not feeling very generous with my time, so I’d appreciate it if you hurried the fuck up.”
“Okay, okay, no need for guns to get drawn, we’re all friends here…” Aside from Winter of course. Leaning in, the Atlesian specialist placed a hand on the hilt of her sabre before giving him a warning.
“Qrow…” The two of them were being increasingly surrounded by goons from all sides, he needed to get to the point.
“I’m calling in that favour Junior, c’mon, you know it had to come someday.”
Junior relaxed his stance, before sighing with his head down. “Crap. I guess I do owe ya for Luciano, huh?”
“I’m remembering a lot more than just Luciano but sure, let’s say I’m calling that in.” Those were from his Team STRQ days, back when things seemed a hell of a lot simpler than they currently are. Junior wasn’t the top dog of his territory back then, his and Raven’s contributions to that rise were not minuscule either.
“Fine, you get one piece of info. I get to decide how much you get.”
It was better than nothing, and at this point, he wasn’t sure if Glynda was going to approve of giving him more money to eavesdrop at fishermen’s bars.
“ Hutten , she one of yours?”
Though Junior did not react, the twins and goons around them shifted slightly. He leaned in close to Winter this time.
“See? What did I say?”
“Ugh…”
“Before we continue.” Junior began talking slowly. “What do you want with her?”
“Easy, just wanted to talk. You know, get to know each other, like how you tried to with the Yamaguchi in Mistral. We’re not aiming to bring her in, just get to an understanding, you get me?”
Unlike Winter or Jimmy, he had no desire to immediately make Hutten an enemy. Ozpin had the right idea and thus gave him very specific instructions to not antagonise her at all. With the chessboard being as fragile as it was, it seemed they needed all the pieces they could potentially muster. Battleship or not, someone operating such a thing under their radar for years, if not decades? That was something that Ozpin knew he needed on his side, and Qrow couldn’t exactly disagree.
“...no. Your favour’s still there, I don’t sell out one of my own.” Junior firmly declared, much to Winter’s annoyance.
“You do not have the right-”
“Easy. Can I get a reason why? You wouldn’t do it unless you owed her something.”
Junior was the type of person who wouldn’t give things out for free, especially information about associates. But even with the favour Qrow was calling in, he still did not budge from revealing anything about her. This meant a few things, but the most important of which was that Hutten was either important to his business, or like him, he owed a favour to her as well.
“I have my reasons. Anything else is fair game. Don’t you want to know what Torchwick is doing nowadays? I heard he was supposed to have a minor scuffle with that Beacon administrator you know.”
Qrow waved him off, they had a good idea of what Torchwick was doing, but Hutten was the immediate priority right now. “Nah, at least send a message or something, can’t really go back empty tonight.”
Junior muttered something under his breath, pacing around behind his bar before turning back to face them. “Fine. Anything specific?”
“Just…a concerned citizen wants to meet with her, at the top of Beacon’s clock tower.”
“Damn, that high?” Qrow could understand Junior’s surprise, it was rare for Ozpin to act, much less in such a direct manner. Though their inner circle did lack underworld contacts for most of Remnant’s kingdoms, the thing that really mattered was knowing those in councils who did. It was a weakness that he complained all the time about in their secret meetings, they were too high up in their towers to realize what the hell was actually going on.
“No guarantees she’ll take it. I don’t own her, she’s as freelance as they get. Now, get the fuck out of my club.”
Doing as instructed, he had to nudge Winter a bit more before she too relented, the entire time she spent before glaring at Junior. Before they were halfway through however, he said one more thing at them, or rather, to him specifically.
“Wait. Had someone ask for a certain Branwen in my club some time ago, blondie, probably going to Beacon.”
Qrow immediately realised what he meant, he debated between telling Tai about it immediately but ended up pushing it aside for later.
“Thanks.”
“Consider it a professional courtesy.” Junior replied.
Once they were out of the doors and back onto the streets, Qrow could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“I still fail to see how this will help us. There is no guarantee Hutten will take the very obvious bait, you do realize that, yes?”
Qrow shrugged and took out his flask for a quick top-up. “Ah. Much better. I dunno about that, seems to me she’s gonna take it. Anyways, your boots are untied.”
“Wha-” Winter looked down for a split second, coming to the quick conclusion that they were, in fact, tied up together nicely. “No, they’re not-DAMNIT!”
By the time she looked up, Qrow was nowhere to be seen. Perched up on top of a nearby tree, was a crow looking down at Winter’s truly impressive swearing. Shame, she would have been more likeable if she wasn’t trying to maintain an image all the time. That was not why he transformed, however, Qrow flew back to Junior’s club, perching on top of a nearby window.
With a little bit of patience, he got a lead. The two twins from earlier, the ones dressed in white and red came outside to the alleyway beside Junior’s club. Perched above them silently, he hoped that his semblance was going to do all the hard work now.
“Ugh, they’re smoking inside again, didn’t we tell Junior that we hate that?”
“Fuck knows, Junior hired like, the cheapest guys to repair his club since that blondie wrecked it.”
He was probably going to have to talk to Yang soon, wasn’t he?
“The hell did that old guy want with her? Damn weirdo.”
“Don’t you know? That’s Qrow fucking Branwen, he’s like, Ozpin’s personal huntsman or something I dunno. Dude gives me bad vibes, don’t think we can take him or anything.”
“Fuck. Did you see how that Schnee bitch acted though? The fuck were they trying to do, good cop bad cop? Yikes. Are we still meeting her for that thing tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? Wasn’t it like, two days from now? Torchwick was giving up that bullhead for her or something, she said we could go on a spin on it with her.”
Torchwick? Bullhead?
“Oh yeah, didn’t know she could fly one of those things. Serves him right though, I sure as shit ain’t crying for him about that. He dug his hole when he tried to force Ru-”
BANG
A nearby fuse box literally exploded by him, causing the red one to cut off. Damn semblance, it caused as much misfortune to him as it did to them at times.
“Oum knows that thing was about to blow. Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah, Torchwick deserved it, he tried to force her into fighting Glynda Goodwitch of all people? Shit, I’d hold a grudge too.”
“Hey, if it gets us a free bullhead joyride I’m game. Fuck me it’s cold, let’s get back in there, I’d rather smell cig smoke than be out here.”
With the twins moving back in, there wasn’t anything else for Qrow to eavesdrop on. Flying up into the air, he saw Winter still at the exact same spot he left her in, furiously talking into her scroll. He assumed it was definitely about him, and thus decided to just leave her. What? She was one of those new-fangled Atlesian specialists, what kinda specialist would she be if she couldn’t find her way back downtown? Satisfied, he turned around back east, in the direction of Patch for a well-deserved rest. The report could wait until tomorrow.
Mantellian University of Arts - Archival Vault
Mantle
Solitas
“By Oum Barty, the kinda crap you ask me for isn’t easy…”
Archival work was something that Tatyana normally did not do. This kind of thing was best left to the archivists. However, considering that the Mantellian University of Arts was increasingly underfunded, most trained archivists had already moved to Atlas or abroad to other universities. Despite being an associate professor, she was one of the last few still standing in the historical records department. That said, she was there not for her own research, but for her colleague in Vale instead.
“Von Rosen…Von Rosen…nope, this doesn’t have any mention of them.” Closing another document folder; the records of Imperial banquet guests did not have the things she was looking for.
She questioned his desire to find details about the Von Rosen family, but his insistence was enough for her to help him with it. He too helped Tatyana with a similar research project before, so it was only right for her to help him now. The old Mantellian Imperial families weren’t even a popular research topic in Solitas itself, so why was he so insistent on it? She didn’t know, but whatever he was planning on doing, she hoped it was something important.
“Ugh, guess heating isn’t in the budget for this term, huh?” Wrapping a scarf tighter around her neck, she brushed aside her silver hair and began checking another document. Noticing that the file was in worse shape than the others, she gingerly opened the cover, only to find that the contents inside seemed to have been water-damaged quite extensively.
“What even is this…?” The few things she could make out of it, which seemed to be schematics and technical data from some Imperial science ministry did not make sense to her. Why was something like this bundled up with their archival collection of noble families? She did notice a recurring name within most of these pages however, between the scribblings that were long since faded, she could barely make out some words.
“Doctor Anzeel? Cube…compatability? More testing needed…?”
Flipping past pages she couldn’t make out, she reached a part which was printed in big, bold letters. Squinting her eyes, those words made no sense at all to her, and yet, she could not pry her eyes from the stamp that it had. Among the old Imperial nobility, family stamps were an important part of how official documents were signed, and in this regard, it was no different. At the bottom was a near-perfect stamp of the Von Rosen ducal family, meaning that it was officially approved and sanctioned using their name.
Checking the page it was used on again, she read aloud what she assumed was the project title.
“Antiochus?”
AN:
Hey guess what guys I’m back with another new chapter
I am somewhat disappointed that more Azur Lane fics don’t include the actual lore behind the Wisdom Cubes and Sirens. Perhaps it’s because most of the popular fics come from a time before it was revealed, so I hope more of that gets included in newer fics.
Got Guam with like 50 pulls, and also got Laffey II without too much grinding, I’m happy. I really like Guam’s design, as is the same with all of Dishwasher’s art. Interestingly enough I see some people complaining about ship riggings no longer resembling ‘riggings’ anymore and that is inherently bad. It’s a gacha game about sentient warships, complaining about historical authenticity because the rigging is a mecha doesn’t make a lot of sense. That reminded me why I switched to Pixiv for viewing art, don’t go on the subreddit for anything other than guides, it’s not worth it.
Be civil in the comments below, and have a happy new year
Chapter 16: Chapter 16
Chapter Text
Chapter 16
If you counted the roles and positions Ruby had in her past life, it made for quite an impressive resume of sorts. Aside from her existing position working at a cafe, she could technically also list being a secretary, race queen, fleet commander, maid cafe waitress, rock band singer and much more. Though of course, the biggest issue in listing them in her resume was that she never experienced it in this world.
How were you going to explain that in an interview? That you experienced all those in your previous life? Aside from the most religious of people who may or may not believe her, that was an easy way to get asked to leave. It was easier to just keep her mouth shut, and besides, working in the illicit transport of goods didn’t exactly require interviews most of the time. Junior didn’t give her one, she just showed up one day loitering around the docks, she ran into him and his crew, and the rest was history. Of course, he didn’t know how she transported goods, no one other than Valéan herself knew.
Regardless, something she didn’t want to acknowledge was that however her rigging was summoned or acquired in this world, it was somewhat of a botched job. Say for example, a ship was getting ready to leave port for exercises or sorties. Under normal circumstances where there was a well-stocked naval base, supplies and repairs were not an issue. However, Ruby’s issue was that she was missing a fair number of gear and systems found in most Kansen.
Aside from her missing floatplane, she was also missing specific subsystems such as specialised AP shells or radar sets beyond the absolute basic bare minimum. Normally this would be rectified simply by going to the supply depot and taking what you needed from gear boxes, though memories of them did not reveal anything pleasant. She got the need to make sure the boxes didn’t fall into Siren hands and whatnot, but did they really have to mix up all of the gear? The number of times she opened a T4 box only to find a T3 piece of gear…
Maybe it was that war profiteering that was such an issue in the Eagle Union, but that wasn’t relevant now. In a world without any Kansen-friendly support facilities, she had to make do with local technologies instead. Getting her hands on an Atlesian airship radar set was impossible for someone like her, but getting a simple floating bullhead? That was possible. Hence, why she was currently walking through the dilapidated docks of Vale once more, keeping to the shadows despite the company she kept.
“This place looks sketch as hell, you sure we’re going to the right place?”
“Hey, it looks the part at least. Can’t say Torchwick would have set up anywhere else.”
She promised Melanie and Militia a free ride after essentially ‘ditching’ them on the day when Junior’s club got wrecked. Supposedly they got wrecked by some ‘blonde bimbo bitch’ who trashed the club after Junior refused to help her find someone. From their description, the person who managed to beat Junior, his goons and the twins seemed to be a lot like Yang. Though that was just a coincidence, there was no shortage of blondes in Vale after all, probably some strung-out mercenary that tried her luck.
However that wasn’t all that occurred since her visit to Junior’s club back then. Apparently, she had gotten some unfortunate attention from those high above, namely a certain Beacon headmaster. Junior had passed on the message to her through the Malachite twins, in which he added that it was obviously a trap of some sort. What did he think she was, stupid? Even if there was the promise of seeing Friedrich or someone from Ironblood again she still wouldn’t have taken it without doing her own reconnaissance. Still, the fact that they managed to trace her back to Junior’s meant that laying low was the right decision to make, perhaps she should bring a gift to the old battleship the next time they met.
“Movement up ahead.” Ruby said quietly. Just a few dozen metres in front of them was the section where Roman had told them he would be at. Again, all she really knew of what he wa doing nowadays was that he ran a Dust-smuggling operation of some kind, sort of like what she did but on a larger scale and only for one particular item. Smuggling operations were never easy and simple, the only reason she managed to gain such a reputation as one was due to her rigging, everyone else did not have that same luxury. Just like any other large-scale operation, whether legitimate or illegitimate, more bodies will inevitably be needed to ensure its smooth sailing. That was the reason why Ruby only took one-time jobs, too much of a hassle for a fifteen-year-old to handle.
“Plain clothes…all Faunus of some kind…” Ruby crouched behind a corner while looking at the ‘guards’ that were posted at the entrance to a walled-off section. They wore civilian clothing, indistinguishable from your average Valean citizen. Normally them being here was enough to arouse suspicion, but it was the fact that they were all Faunus that clued her into who they really were. The last time Roman only had Junior’s goons with him, this time he seemed to have an entirely new organization to work with, one that she wasn’t expecting at all.
“White Fang? I’m guessing we’ll see more of them inside…” Militia came to the same conclusion as well
“Torchwick working with the Fang of all people? Not really his style, what’s he really up to?” Melanie also said what Ruby was thinking. Torchwick was known as a small-time crook, petty robberies, fraud and other crimes that were small-scale operations. Evidently, however, he seemed to have switched. Based on their earlier…meeting at the Dust store he was robbing, he was actually conducting large-scale smuggling operations, and probably not too enthusiastic about it if she remembered correctly.
'Hm? Oh yea, believe me, because robbing Dust is sooooo profitable and definitely not without major drawbacks.'
Roman’s words from back then echoed in her mind, making her wonder what exactly his plan was, or if it was even his plan. Conjectures aside, she did not care too much about his operations. He smuggled things in a completely different ballgame than she did, and besides, she was supposed to be laying low right now.
Getting up, Ruby turned to the two Malachite twins with a calm expression. “Come on, Roman knows we’re coming anyway. We’ll approach the gate, slowly.”
The Malachite twins shot her a weird look, clearly apprehensive about that plan. Ruby didn’t blame them, the White Fang, at least based on what she heard through underworld rumours, did not work with criminal elements with any degree of regularity. Their so-called ‘relationship’ was one of necessity. None of the kingdoms aside from Vacuo probably, were willing to deal with them legitimately. In places like Mantle, where the charity was constantly on the verge of being labelled as a terrorist organisation and banned, there was no chance for the organisation as a whole to survive without underworld connections. Though whether because of pride or a sense of ‘justice’, any dealings with the underworld were, to put it mildly, extremely tense and infrequent.
That did not stop them from leaving their corner and approach the gate, however. In these scenarios, it was better to establish their relationship up front, and show no weakness lest they decide to turn them away. The guards noticed them, and Ruby could feel the Malachite twins lock their gazes on the number of plainclothes White Fang guards coming from the gate. By the time the three of them got there, their path into the warehouse was being blocked by around a dozen or so Faunus, clearly not expecting visitors at this time of the day.
“HALT! Who goes there!?” A burly middle-aged man, Ruby assuming him to be their squad leader, called out. A submachine gun was held in his hands, though it wasn’t being aimed at them, at least not yet.
Stopping at a fair distance away, far enough to barely make out their faces, while close enough to hear them well enough, Ruby slowly raised both of her hands up.
“Fuckin’ really?” Militia whispered next to Ruby, while half-heartedly raising her own hands up.
“We’re here to get my bullhead, not fight. I like our odds, but do you want to cause more trouble for Junior?” Ruby whispered back, shutting up the glares she received from the twins. Turning instead to the squad leader, who looked more incensed as the seconds ticked by, she told them who they were looking for.
“We’re here to see Torchwick.” Whatever hopes Ruby had that it would calm them down were dashed as his submachine gun was now cocked and aiming directly at them. The other White Fang grunts beside him pulling out their own firearms and swords, ready to act on his orders as well.
“Torchwick didn’t say any damn thing about the three of you, who the hell are you really?! I’m gonna count to three-”
“Fucking hell Gibson lower your bloody gun! That’s the same one who met with Taurus that day!”
A shout from behind the gate made Ruby hesitate on summoning Schwarz out. Though she couldn’t get a full picture, the voice that shouted out the order to halt came from a somewhat short woman, a full head and a half shorter than the burly man. She wore what was recognized to be a White Fang uniform, with the distinction of a more ornate mask than their usual depictions on television. Ruby could tell a pair of rabbit, or maybe hare ears protruding from the hoodie that she wore as well. All of the guards at the gate immediately lowered or stowed their weapons at her arrival, clearing a large path for her to directly look at Ruby.
“Lieutenant? Are you-”
“Don’t be a daft cunt, look at her, no one else has had the balls to stand up to Taurus like that. You remember how pissed the arse was don’t you?”
Murmurs then came from the assembled White Fang, much to Ruby’s suspicion. What was that about Taurus?
“They sure as hell know who you are, Rubes.” Melanie leaned in to whisper with a hint of smugness, resulting in her being elbowed by the somewhat confused Kansen. Seeing as how the situation changed from immediate combat to confused recognition, Ruby decided to take her chances and move closer, this time no guns were raised at them.
Upon reaching the gate, she was greeted by the Lieutenant, she didn’t even know the White Fang used military ranks. “Sorry for that spot of trouble, around these parts we’re all a bit too paranoid, you get me?”
“No hard feelings.” Ruby decided to answer for the three of them, she just wanted to get this over with and take out her bullhead for a spin.
“Right on. I don’t like formal greetings n’all, and besides, we’ve technically seen each other before.” Ruby did hear her saying something about Taurus, so maybe…
“The ruined town?”
“Exactly, I led the grunts while Adam talked to ya. Though I guess you two didn’t exactly come to an agreement judging by how pissed he looked when we went back.”
That was probably an understatement, but Ruby just simply nodded as she led the three of them through the gate, and further into the compound. “So, you here to smuggle our Dust out as well or…?”
“Torchwick has something I need.”
“Oh, you did mention that didn’t you? Shame, coulda used your semblance or whatever instead, probably done a better job than we are right now. Come on, Torchwick’s unloading a shipment on the edge, I’ll take you to him-fecking Oum!”
Before she could get out another word, the air in front of them seemed to phase for a second before cracks in the sight revealed someone Ruby was expecting to see tonight as well.
“Neo.” Ruby nodded to her once, unphased by the sudden appearance as she had gotten used to them by now. The Malachite twins were somewhat on edge, they apparently had some encounters with her in the past that went unresolved, something that Neo blew off whenever she asked her about it. The Lieutenant, however, was not so reposed, having jumped back a few steps, brandishing a harp-like weapon at Neo before quickly breathing a sigh of relief.
“Fecking hell I hate it when you do that…”
Neo, on her part, simply shrugged with a grin. Turning to Ruby, she held up her scroll with pre-written text on it.
‘Heyyyy you met Rory already! She’s fun to play with, you should try it yourself.’
“Rory?” Ruby looked at the Lieutenant, who was the only one there whom she didn’t know the name of.
“Shite, forgot to introduce myself didn’t I? Name’s Rory, Rory Moloney, I lead this merry band of fighters, at least when Adam’s fucked off. Don’t worry about meeting him, he’s off to see Sienna or some important crap I think.” At least that was one worry ticked off the proverbial box. Ruby was concerned about running into him again so quickly after their last meeting, but it seemed like that was not going to be an issue right now, it would have been awkward to say the least.
Neo held up another message on her scroll, this time thumbing behind her as well, at a very irate-looking Roman trying to unload boxes off of a floating bullhead.
‘Roman’s getting his panties twisted getting cargo off of the bullhead. Once it’s done it’ll be yours, just wait a sec. You’re gonna give me a ride on that thing as well, won’t you?’
With an impressive impression of puppy dog eyes, Neo looked to Ruby with an expectant gaze. What, was she giving everyone joy rides now? It was like she was a teenager who got their first car and license, with every one of their friends suddenly asking for a ride. The biggest difference here was that she wasn't exactly getting a car like Zippy, the Xiao-Long family car, but a floating bullhead. Did she mention that she didn’t have a license to fly either? Well, she didn’t have a license to drive either, but that didn’t stop her from driving trucks during smuggling jobs before. If she could steer an entire battleship, piloting a bullhead like one of her floatplanes was not going to be difficult at all.
Sighing for her answer, Neo took it as an affirmative and vanished a second later with another smug grin. Taking another good luck at the sight of Roman trying to deal with something way over his head, Ruby turned to the Malachite twins, who appeared to be less than pleased at their current situation.
“Get comfy, he’s going to take a while.”
Nostalgia was something Ruby often felt. However, quantifying it in any regard that matters was an exercise in futility. Nostalgia meant different things, and at different times could mean something entirely different depending on the person. To Ruby, however, who had spent her entire life on the ‘civilian’ side of life, watching the White Fang working as a unit to unload, load and move boxes scratched a long-forgotten memory in her.
She could just as easily imagine that she was back in Kiel, watching as the dockworkers unloaded merchant ships and restocked Ironblood vessels, bound for mirror seas or simple patrols. In that regard, nostalgia was also similar to affection. Too much of it, and it could be just as much of a poison as affection, and she would spend her life chasing after that romanticised ideal. True, some parts of her missed those sights, but she never forgot that Ironblood, and all the major nations of her old world were stuck in a vicious war. For every peaceful day that Kiel may have had, it also had days where it had to defend itself from Siren raids or watch as ships limped back to port after narrowly escaping an attack.
That was the dual nature of nostalgia, where those who followed it often tried their damned hardest to forget the other, uglier side of things.
“Lien for your thoughts?”
The Malachite twins were off somewhere on their scrolls the last time Ruby saw them, leaving her alone on one of the piers watching the White Fang operation. That voice belonged to only one other person who dared approach her, Lieutenant Rory.
“They remind you of something? You’ve probably seen them before, some of them wearing that gear you smuggled in.” Rory gestured to her boots, clearly painted over with more White Fang colours.
“That gear you brought in saved some of us during a raid some days ago, so thanks for that. Those vests caught rounds that would have gone straight through our regular uniforms.”
Ruby nodded, before turning her attention back to the docks. Despite showing not a lot of interest in her, Rory simply stood next to her, silent as well. This continued for some time, hearing the calm waves swish by below them, the quiet thumps of boxes being moved into the distance and an angry bowler hat thief shouting obscenities bordering on racial pejoratives. It was a miracle that the grunts didn’t shoot him, Ruby knew she would have.
“...What did you mean by Taurus being pissed?” Deciding to kill time by sating her curiosity, she directed that question to Rory. The last time they met he just seemed disappointed rather than angry, so that mood swing seemed to be entirely off-character.
“He doesn’t show it, eh? Taurus is the sorta arse to be the silent, broody type than actually showing any real anger, at least towards his own. Believe me, I’ve been under the bastard long enough to know his tells, bloody useful his leadership has been…”
“His?” Ruby was under the impression that Adam always led the Valean White Fang judging by all the coverage he has had in the media.
“He’s our latest one. I have been here since we were called the Fenians all those years ago. Vale’s bloody own we were called, joined up soon after the Faunus Wars when I was still a wee lass. Before you ask, no, we did not choose him, some higher-ups decided he could fill the post after our previous leader, Old Wellers got himself locked up.”
Ruby remembered something like this. The White Fang was originally a unification of various Faunus rights groups scattered across Remnant, with the original groups losing their distinction to become part of a unified movement instead. The Fenians were Vale’s largest Faunus organization and were responsible for much of the fighting during the war decades ago. If she remembered correctly, that group favoured ambush tactics and car bombings in Vale, old timers remembered it as ‘ Le Fracases’ in old Valean.
“Should I be wary of parked cars now then?”
Rory stifled a laugh, before waving off her joke. “Nah, we don’t do that anymore, can’t do anything these days without explicit approval from Menagerie.”
If that was true, then the White Fang was a lot more centralized than she originally thought. However that begged another question, why was Rory being so forthright with spilling internal secrets?
“Why are you telling me all this?”
Rory shifted her feet as if her intentions were just exposed. “...sharper than you look, no offence. Fine, you got me, I overheard a bit of what you and Adam talked about.” She pointed to her ears protruding underneath her hood.
“You don’t know it, but I’ve been waiting for someone to say those words to him, guess it took an outside smuggler half my bloody age to say it, huh?”
Huffing in response, back then Ruby simply said what she thought about him, nothing too impressive.
“You give me too much credit.”
She shrugged in response. “Aye, I don’t deny it. But I do agree with him on one thing though, we really could use someone like you.”
There it was, what she really approached Ruby for. Turning to Rory with a glare, Ruby’s silver eyes glowed a bit brighter, perhaps under the effect of the full moon that made for an intimidating sight. Though it was probably Schwarz suddenly appearing next to her with a deep, rumbling growl that made Rory flinch.
“And I will tell you what I told Adam. I do not oppose your ideals, but neither am I friend to your methods-”
“And what if you could change those methods?” Rory interjected, making Ruby raise an eyebrow.
“You can’t honestly believe the White Fang all agree with whatever shite Menagerie says we do, right? What are we, disposable soldiers? No, the old guard in Vale have had their own ideas for a while, and we aren’t all happy with that bull-headed arse telling us what to do in Vale. The bastard isn’t even from here, us though? We’ve spent our entire lives living here, Adam swoops in because Sienna says so, and suddenly we’re supposed to give our lives for whatever he wants us to do? I’d be insulted if you actually thought that way, Hutten.”
Ruby remained silent, giving her the signal to continue. “Supposedly he wants our people to have the freedom and equality we so deserve. Great, and some heads are inevitably going to have to roll because of that. We don’t disagree on this, but there is that, and then there is going above and beyond without any plan. We got what we wanted in Vale during the revolution long before the White Fang consolidated with our own tactics, and now? We’re hunted more than ever before, random stops by the green and tans, actual huntsmen raids and even our safehouses in the city are being targeted. Our headquarters are out in the woods for fuck’s sake. I haven’t been able to use an actual toilet instead of an outhouse for a bloody month now.”
That image was not a pretty one, but probably par for the course for an insurgent group. She had heard of insurgencies being fought in far-off corners in her old world, primarily involving the Royals and their dominions. Though Ironblood also had ventures in foreign lands as well, with reports painting a similar amount of bloodshed committed by their own.
“Look, I’m saying that for a movement like ours to succeed? We need to have a plan beyond making Vale hurt. Right now, we seem like a pack of angry Grimm, clawing at anyone we deem to be ‘enemies’. Give them an alternative, more moderate or even bring back the charity or whatever, what we need is an actual strategy beyond raids and acting like some boogeyman. Hell, Faunus children are being looked at by police like they’re about to commit a bombing or raid at any time, I don’t need to tell you how that affects the wider population, right?”
‘Random’ searches by police, stopping you in your car just because you had deer antlers or cat ears sticking out of your head and even being barred from establishments for an arbitrary reason were all things Ruby had noticed just by walking around in Vale’s less desired neighbourhoods. They were things that the established media seldom discussed or talked about, doing so went against the narrative, that Faunus discrimination had ended in Vale. The only bright spark was that they weren’t worse than Atlas, though not many places on Remnant were worse than Atlas in that regard.
Patting Schwarz on the head gently, she considered Rory’s words and came to another conclusion. “You are…not entirely wrong. But again, what use will I have? I am simply one person, even a smuggler by your own admission and belonging to the underworld.”
Underneath Rory’s mask, Ruby could see that her uncovered lips tugged upwards. “But you are one of us, those horns do not lie. I don’t know if you hide them in your everyday life like some of us do, but that means you do have a stake in this. It might not be a very big one, but just like the Fenians before, the Fang does fight for every Faunus no matter their background.”
Again with those horns, being mistaken for a Faunus. It was probably why Rory felt comfortable enough to share and approach her, misguided as it may have been. Like her ancestry, family, and mystery of her own mother, it all came back to why she was given a rigging, merged with the life of one Ulrich von Hutten, Battleship of Ironblood.
“Hey, we didn’t get to where we were originally by making, big, grand claims of freedom until we were ready to do so. We started small, just talking to others, letting them know there was an alternative. Might seem insignificant and even dumb, but it worked before, and it’ll work again here. Give it a thought, yeah?” The ‘truth’ of the matter that Ruby could agree on, was probably that. The White Fang started just like that, but eventually grew into something bigger, perhaps beyond its control.
“You make a much more interesting case than Taurus did.”
“Hah! What did he say? Just because you’re a Faunus you should join him or something like that?”
“Roughly.” It was accompanied by a ‘so-so’ gesture from Ruby.
“Feckin knew it. Honestly surprised you walked away from that unscathed, Oum knows he would done something to-”
*LIEUTENANT! THE GREEN AND TANS ARE APPROACHING!*
A loud voice on the radio, stuck to Rory’s chest blared to life, giving out a warning that made both of them freeze. Whipping her head around, she saw that the bridge above them connecting the docks area to the other districts were filled with blaring sirens and flashing police cruiser lights. Unless there was another smuggling operation in the area they were planning to hit, they were coming directly straight at them.
“They’re coming for us.”
“You don’t bloody say now?!” In between frantic orders given through the radio, Rory was running with Ruby back to the main area of their operations, only to find equally frantic movement.
“I need to find the twins and get out, this is where we’re parting ways, no offence.”
Rory just waved her off, probably expecting such an answer. “Aye, no hard feelings, don’t get yourself taken in, they don’t treat us too well in those jails!”
Getting on top of Schwarz, they sped ahead to find the Malachite twins. In hindsight, she didn’t have to look too far, for they stood out like a sore thumb even more than usual in the dimly lit warehouse area. Approaching them, they too looked as frazzled as the White Fang grunts around them.
“We’re leaving, get on-” Ruby was cut off quickly by Melanie, who pointed in the direction of the gates.
“Yeah uh, a bit too late for that Rubes! They’re at the gates already, and unless you want to fight through the police lines, I’d say we get out another way!” She pointed at the bullheads quickly being loaded up with whatever cargo they could carry, along with unarmed White Fang members. Suddenly remembering the main reason why they came here, she zeroed in on the one floating bullhead that was promised to her.
“We’re getting what we came here for, let’s go!” With all three of them on Schwarz, they sped through SDC-marked boxes and surprised White Fang grunts running to and fro. Eventually reaching the pier where the bullhead was, they found Torchwick along with Neo, loading the last crates of Dust containers by themselves onto the vehicle themselves.
“Come on Neo! Put your backs into it! Those animals just abandoned us-by Oum aren’t you three a sight for sore eyes!” Noticing Ruby and the twins at the end, Roman’s eyes lit up like the festival fireworks on the Eagle Union’s independence day.
“Okay Red, new offer! You help me get all of this in, and we all go away without spending a decade in prison with you three getting a fifth-a third of all this Dust here, whatdya say? C’mon, better decide quickly, those coppers aren’t going to stop just because we ask nicely!” Gunfire rattled behind them, signalling that the enemy was literally at the gates.
Growling in frustration, she pushed Roman aside, his bowler hat nearly falling off in the process. Turning to Schwarz, she pointed at the collection of Dust containers, around a dozen boxes all stacked up tightly. “Do it.”
To outside observers, what then happened was that the desk-sized crates shrank to impossibly small sizes, enough so that it could be put into a regular pocket, which was then literally ‘devoured’ by Schwarz through its mechanical mouth. It proceeded to do this until the pier was entirely clear, even taking along crates that weren’t close to the floating bullhead. Ruby felt her cargo holds filling up, meaning that the boxes were successfully stored and deposited.
Turning to Roman and Neo, their stunned expressions were something she did not expect to see. Was it really that impressive? The Malachite twins also had a similar, jaw-dropping expression, as if they just saw an act that violated the natural laws of this world.
“Wha-” Roman began stuttering, but couldn’t get anything out beyond staring frantically for the boxes that were just there moments ago.
“You’ll get them back later, can we please leave?” Ruby blew past him, who had dropped the container he was holding, leaving Neo to hold onto it by her lone short stature.
“So that’s how you smuggle all of that crap…” Militia followed soon after, followed by Melanie to board the bullhead. They were sort of right, but again, the fewer people knew about her abilities, the better it was for her prospects of living a relatively quiet life-
“HALT! In the name of Atlas!”
A sleek, unconventional airship blew past the warehouse, stopping just above them for a brief moment, several brightly dressed figures jumping out of it. Landing with all the grace afforded to an athlete with the practicality of a parachutist, Ruby was surrounded on all sides. Roman, Neo and the Malachite twins quickly formed a defensive circle, instincts overriding the desire to figure out what the hell was going on around them.
Automatons, sleek white and carrying standard Atlesian pattern Dust carbines aimed their weapons at the five of them. Numbering two dozen in all were deposited around them to ensure that there was no escape. One more figure, also similarly dressed in white, but unmistakably human also jumped out of the airship, landing directly in front of Ruby. She recognized her, the snow-white hair in a ponytail and Atlesian uniform was printed on tabloid magazines depicting the gossip and lives of the super-rich on Remnant for years.
“I, Winter Schnee, hereby place you under arrest for conspiracy and treason against Vale and Atlas, submit or be forcefully taken in. Please, I would love to see scum like you try.”
Her sabre was drawn, and pointed directly at Ruby, only a metre away from where she stood. Normally, any sane person, criminal or insurgent, would see that their best option was to surrender. Roman for example, was discreetly and slowly beginning to raise his hand, cane still held on it. Ruby took a deep breath through her nose and only said two words in response.
“Star shell.”
BOOM
One shot came from Schwarz, and the entire area was engulfed in a bright, searing light.
AN:
I’ve always maintained the idea that the White Fang was always written from an America-centric view of Civil Rights movements, and one that was only pushed by pop history. I won’t get into the gritty details about why I think that was one of the worst parts of it, but needless to say, I dislike how they handled them in the show heavily. So, in line with how I’m ‘changing’ the various parts of Remnant’s lore such as adding in a Valean coast guard modelled after the Marine nationale, so too am I changing how some groups are portrayed.
First chapter of this year, yay. I’ve been super busy with school and my graduate applications so I just haven’t found the time to actually go ahead with writing. Things have calmed down slightly, so maybe I’ll find more time to continue writing.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 17: Chapter 17
Chapter Text
Chapter 17
All warfare was based on deception.
At least, that was what some old Mistralian book he read while drunk claimed, or was it a random poster he was hallucinating as a book? He didn’t exactly remember the fuzzy details all too well, but it sounded wise, so there had to be a kernel of truth to it. If so, however, why the hell was Qrow snooping around the Vale dockyards, alone and quite a ways away from where his target was? A great question, if he also knew the answer. Well, he sort of knew.
You see, he had the brilliant idea of ditching Winter in the middle of the street to go off and investigate something on his own. That worked out perfectly, he got the location of who he assumed was Hutten, meeting with Torchwick for a Bullhead or something. Under normal circumstances, he would have pat himself on the back and treated himself to a high quality whisky for being such a fine field operative. Unfortunately however, Winter reported his ‘betrayal’ to Ironwood, and thus subsequently made Goodwitch come at him like some first-year Beacon student caught cheating in a test. She did compare the two of them like ‘petulant children’ and the face on Winter as she heard that was well worth any chewing out he had to endure from her.
It wasn’t his fault that no one impressed on him the ‘cooperative’ nature of this assignment, nor was he particularly sorry about ‘ditching his partner in the middle of a mission’ according to Jimmy. What was he even going to do? Have him shot? If he worked under that asshole in the future, he would have shot himself.
Lazily walking through the empty and near-wrecked rows of shelves, he knew the area he was in had no activity, save for the rats and other small animals that have since made the area their home. No, while Winter got to ‘monitor’ the situation from above in her fancy ‘stealth’ airship, Qrow got the duty of checking out other areas in the docks for ‘suspicious activity’. He’d bet his left nut that Winter was doing mental quotation marks when she told him about it. So much for being partners, huh?
Anyways, that didn’t mean he couldn’t keep tabs on the operation his own way. Taking another swig from his flask, he found a sturdy enough tower of sorts and made that his observation point. He couldn’t clearly see his targets, either the twins or Hutten, but he was in Winter’s comms network, hearing everything that she was saying from her end. Based on what he had heard over the past half an hour, however, Winter’s efforts ran into some…bad luck.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN’T GET A CLEAR IMAGE?! SHE’S WALKING OUT RIGHT IN THE OPEN!”
“Uh, ma’am, she’s walking in pitch black darkness, the only reason we’re able to even know she’s there is because of our thermals-”
“Then why aren’t you using it for a picture?! Don’t we have night vision?!”
“T-There’s some sort of i-interference I don’t know what’s going on but-we can’t get a clear image on that either…”
“This is Atlas’s top-of-the-line surveillance technology, are you telling me that we used all that money just to get results like this-”
Qrow poured one out for the poor technician who had to deal with Winter right now. Or rather, he poured it straight into his mouth, but it was the thought that counted, right?
In any case, Qrow was perfectly content letting Winter ‘handle’ this operation. He did steal her thunder and leave her alone the last time, so he could let her have this one. With that said however, based on what few images they did have of Hutten, all they knew was that she had short hair, black with red streaks and was roughly around his niece Ruby’s height. Actually, based on what few descriptions they did manage to get, it sounded exactly like Ruby, but she was currently on Patch, having had dinner with Tai and Yang just a couple of hours ago based on their family group chat. How could she even get there, with her non-existent boat?
Chuckling to himself at their similarities, he put those thoughts away, funny as they were. Ruby, being a smuggler who was working with Torchwick? Even if Ozpin himself came to him saying those words, the first thing he’d do was call Glynda because then the old immortal had finally lost his marbles.
Though his vision started to get somewhat hazy from emptying half of his flask, he could still very clearly make out two figures out on the edge of a long pier. Using his gut instinct, he guessed that one of them was probably Hutten, and the other one…a White Fang lieutenant?
Wait, no, his eyes were not deceiving him, that was a White Fang lieutenant next to Hutten. Holy shit, was Hutten working with the White Fang-
“All units, this is Winter Schnee, White Fang presence verified, move in and apprehend.”
Nearly fumbling his shitty Atlas-issued communicator out, Qrow immediately shouted a negative back into it, but despite hearing the click and red light indicating that he was getting through, the flurry of voices coming back on it drowned out his protests. Not even a few seconds later, he heard the veritable armada of police cruisers on standby begin whirring their sirens, already making a beeline towards their targetted dockyards.
Deciding that wasn’t going to work, he took out his scroll and dialed Winter’s number, how he got it was something he didn’t like remembering, but having it was better than the wound to his pride Glynda inflicted on him. Pacing back and forth with agitation, his eyes trained on the docks the entire time, the other end eventually picked up to Winter’s annoyed voice.
“What is it, Qrow? I’m about to drop in-”
“I should be asking you that fucking question! That is not what we agreed on!”
It was bad enough that she insisted on dragging out a good quarter of Vale PD for their ‘stakeout’, owing to the fact that she didn’t actually have any troops she could call on. Her entire team essentially only had herself combat-capable, the rest were non-combatants like that poor technician she was wringing just now.
“The situation has changed, the White Fang are confirmed to be in conspiracy with Hutten, the General has given me explicit orders on what to do if such a thing came to reality.” Winter replied coolly, meaning that that paranoid bastard Jimmy had such a thing thought up just in case. They didn’t even suspect her to be involved with the Fang before, and now they couldn’t even confirm the exact nature of their relationship because Winter had jumped the gun. Everyone knew that the White Fang worked with the underworld, it was an open secret to anyone remotely involved in the dark underbellies of the kingdoms. Everyone except the Atlesians apparently, who had banished their underworld into the ever more irrelevant Mantle.
Even if Winter knew, would she have cared however? The answer to that question, at least to Qrow, came back quickly as a resounding most likely not.
“You and what goddamn army?! Those police aren’t going to be able to break through the White Fang, and you don’t have your shiny chrome army here-”
Underworld goons like Junior’s gang? Sure, they could handle them, trained insurgents however? Qrow didn’t like their odds, but Winter cut him off before he could tell her to pull them back before they all got killed.
“Funny you should say that, but we do indeed have our Army here, part of it anyways. Look, there they go now, we were saving them for an occasion exactly like this.”
What he assumed was Winter’s fancy airship swooped down seemingly from nowhere, hovering just slightly above a pier with a floating Bullhead parked next to it. From his distance, he could make out small white figures dropping out of it and landing, Atlesian knights, the newest kinds that were just announced. Two dozen roughly fell out of the airship, all surrounding one specific area in the docks, completely ignoring the White Fang behind them for some reason.
“This is my call to arms, Qrow. Try not to miss too much of the action from where you are.”
Winter hung up after that, he swore he could have heard her sneer all the way from his tower on the other side of the docks district. Bastard Schnee probably made her way out of the craft as well, meaning that…
“Not enough booze for this shit tonight…” Taking one last swig, he tucked his flask tightly into his shirt pocket, before leaping off, in its place replaced by a frantically speeding crow. Flapping its wings to the best of its ability, a crow was not as fast as a falcon, or as strong as an eagle, but against the backdrop of the night sky, they were virtually invisible. Still, managing to cover a fair distance, he could begin making out the ones that Winter had surrounded, with Hutten being the particular target of her ire. Planning to swoop down in between to ‘diffuse’ the situation, Qrow began descending rapidly, hoping to make it in time before Winter swung or-
BOOM
“KWAK?!” In what was definitely not his proudest moment, Qrow unconsciously brought one of his wings to cover his avian eyes from the bright flash, being much more sensitive than his own human ones. Unfortunately, it also meant that he was no longer flying downwards, so much as he was now falling rapidly from the air.
“KWAAAAK?!” Translating that from whatever bird language was would have made even the saltiest old tar nod in approval at its creativity. Loathe as he may have been to admit, maybe Winter was having a much better time than he was right now?
“YEARGH!”
Winter stumbled back heavily, her senses all overloaded and blaring inside her mind like a foghorn. She was blinded, deafened, and her nose smelled some chemical being burned off, overpowering everything else, not that she could have smelled anything else aside from the sea beforehand. Her three main senses, sight, sound and smell were blocked, so touch was the only thing she could feel right now. Aside from her grip on her sabre intensifying, she didn’t know anything else, being just as blind as-
“Pathetic. If this is what Atlas’s vaunted specialists are capable of, perhaps Mantle should never have agreed to build the floating city at all.”
Though her ears still rang loudly, Winter could hear that cold, distant and unforgiving voice quite clearly. Despite Hutten sounding no older than her own little sister, it nonetheless made her flinch in response. Gritting her teeth, she attempted to get a clearer picture of her enemy, though all she got in return was a vague, black blob illuminated by a fiery orb between them.
“Y-You think this is enough to defeat me?!”
Training kicking in, she summoned a glyph behind her, right now she needed distance, and thus summoned a flock of pigeons to push her back. Winter did not know how long she kept that up, but it was long enough for her vision to gradually return, and what she saw-realized made her breath hitch.
Hutten simply walked towards her, ignoring her summons crashing into her as if they were harmless. She saw them go through a veteran Beowolf like they were artillery rounds, how were they pinging off of Hutten like they were peas?!
“You would need a lot more firepower to get through my armor.” What armour?! She was wearing a black…coat of some kind! If anything, Winter was the one who had more ‘armour’ and was better dressed than her!
“Alas, thy futile efforts…end here.”
Dashing in faster than she could react, Winter was literally held up in the air, one hand gripped tightly on her throat. As Hutten was literally quite a few heads shorter than herself, the sight was bizarre to see, but for Winter, she was currently struggling for her life right now to worry about such trivialities. After a brief moment of struggle and wyrming in her grip, she suddenly remembered that she had her shorter sword as well. Popping it out of her sabre, in one swift motion she caught it with her left hand, and plunged it into Hutten’s exposed sides.
“Cute.” Hutten’s amused silver eyes were not at all the reaction she was expecting. Normally, when you were stabbed in your sides, the reaction should be one of excruciating pain, not amusement. Jerking her head to see her left hand, the slinking feeling she got was not of her parrying sword going into Hutten’s vital organs, but rather, into her clothes. Pulling it out, her eyes snapped wide open as she started at the tip of her weapon, completely bent and out of shape, as if she had tried to stab a solid chunk of steel.
Gasping for air, she felt Hutten’s grip on her throat begin to tighten, before lowering her slightly, so that they were staring at each other directly. Remembering one last thing she could use, she commanded her knights to open fire with her earpiece, only to be met with complete silence, an absence of the familiar cracks in gunfire from them.
“Good girl.”
The black serpent monster that she read was Hutten’s semblance slinked up next to its master. As Hutten ribbed what she assumed was its nose, the overgrown metal monstrosity held the head of a prototype 200-series knight in its ravenous jaws. Darting her eyes around her, though her vision was limited, she could very clearly make out the knights she brought with her all laid out on the ground. Some, mangled beyond recognition or even sliced into pieces, she looked back at the beast that was currently nudging its head towards Hutten like a puppy. Two dozen of Atlas’s premier knights, all gone in that brief span of time, if Winter could whimper, she would have definitely done so.
Despite that however, either because of pride, ego or a simple desire to defy her enemy, she croaked out a simple insult. “D-Damn you…if you think you can get away…”
“Prideful, aren’t you? You come here, flaunt your authority and hope that all would bend to your desires? Incompetent at best, foolish at worst. I wonder how an Offizier like you even made it past your academy, though that may be more indicative of its quality in the first place.”
Now both of her hands were trying to pry Hutten’s steel-like grip off of her throat, but to no avail. Despite pushing her Aura to the maximum towards her hands, Hutten’s own did not move a single inch. A spotlight then shined seemingly out of nowhere, blinding Winter even more, looking up at its source, she found it to be her stealth dropship, newly developed and urgently sent to her by orders from the General. The whole ship arrived in Vale just this morning along with the knights, it was as much as a prototype test as it was for actual, practical concerns.
“Disable it.”
Disable? Winter thought, though it didn’t last long before another boom, this time smaller than the last one, but still coming from the metal serpent. A small, orange ball of light formed from the beast’s mouth, similar to what some of her summons were capable of. Somehow using the knight head it held in its jaws, it launched the severed part into the air, causing a shockwave to ebb throughout the pier. Daring to open her eyes again, she caught it just as the head arced across the docks, before ultimately impacting the body of the airship with a loud bang.
“MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! We took a hit! It’s messing with our systems, we’re gonna have to set her down!” A voice that she recognized as the airship’s pilot blared in her earpiece, and indeed, she watched as the airship began jerking in the air, before descending erratically.
Slowly, Winter turned back to look at Hutten, who had remained the same. Expressionless, unmoving. She could have been mistaken, but perhaps the illuminating fires behind her, coupled with the horns on her head made her seem demonic, as if she had come from the pits of hell, with her serpentine familiar to collect on all of her sins. Though it was probably her silver, glowing eyes, where instead of a regular human eye, there was a dark slit in their centre, boring a hole deep into her very being. Inhuman in nature, exactly like the White Fang fanatics she had faced in the past.
“What are you?!”
Hutten did not answer. The last thing Winter saw was her rearing back a fist, and her own Aura shattering.
Unceremoniously plopping Winter Schnee down onto the floor, Ruby was less than impressed at her showing. Both of Atlas’s supposed technological prowess, and the strength of their advertised specialists. She read that some online called them Atlas’s own answer to ‘ineffective’ huntsmen and huntresses, load of shite that turned out to be if that was the best she could do. Hell, even Goodwitch managed to get some good cuts into her, those bird things she summoned barely managed to even make a dent in her. A difference in semblance strength perhaps? Making sure that the airship she came in was no longer up in the air, she turned around to face her ‘compatriots’ (she wasn’t sure what to call Torchwick at that moment).
“She’s dealt with, we can leave-”
“WHAT?!” Militia’s shout made Ruby wince. As it turned out, firing a star shell, even if they weren’t from her main batteries still resulted in deafness. Though she should be glad that she fired it in the vicinity of those who had Aura, who knew what would have happened if they didn’t? From simple deafness to ruptured eardrums probably.
“Okay, wait it’s slowly coming back…Oum be damned Red! What the hell did you do?!” Torchwick was the next one to recover, and he was greeted by the absolute carnage Ruby and Schwarz had done in the short time frame between being surrounded, and being blinded.
“I took care of it?” Ruby asked/responded, it was more of a double answer really.
“Yeah, I’m just reading your lips right now, but holy hell, nice work! Worth every penny I’ll be paying you later! Let’s get outta here before more weirdos show up-”
Just as Roman strode forward, a stray shot came from nowhere, piercing the cockpit window of the floating bullhead. For a moment there, nothing seemed to happen and everything was fine. Ruby, who froze when the shot landed, took a tentative step towards the still bullhead, which then burst into flames.
“Oh, so it did hit the fire Dust…didn’t get to unloading those yet, damn those civilian bullheads don’t have good bulletproof windows, huh?” Ruby ignored Roman, for she was currently busy watching the very thing she came here for becoming a flaming wreck. Not even a dozen seconds later, a hole had burned through it, causing the whole thing to be submerged.
She didn’t even get the chance to touch it, let alone see it up close…
No, she was not pouting, she was enraged, though if Yang had been here she may have offered an alternative opinion.
“Okay, never had that happen to me before…actually, never had the coppers come at me like today either, you sure you aren’t spreading bad luck around?” Ruby rounded on him faster than he could blink, making Torchwick gulp at the sheer intensity of her glare. Though he didn’t know it, saying that a particular Kansen was spreading bad luck was a huge taboo, no one wanted to have the reputation of Kamchatka from the Northern Parliament after all. Though how much of that was caused by her, and actually bad luck was debatable.
“Well, um, anyways we just have to take one of those White Fang bullheads instead then, come on! I’m sure we can just make room for the five of us-oh come on!” The roar of bullhead engines above them made Roman cry out in anguish, and they could all see a squadron of them take to the skies. They even had a special White Fang-inspired roundel painted on their engines, something she wasn’t aware they even had until now.
“One…three…five…seven-okay that’s all of them. Fuck. I can’t believe it, those animals actually left us?! What have I ever done to them?!” Neo had a deadpan expression at him as he cursed them out loud, but otherwise did not raise a sign about it.
“Shit, we’re gonna have to go through the VPD, aren’t we?” Melanie said what they all thought out loud. Generally speaking, their goals were to avoid combat right now, not get dragged into a giant firefight with what seemed to be half of Vale’s police force.
Torchwick checked the chamber inside his cane, loading in a dust round of sorts. “Well, unless you have any good ideas, we’re gonna have to prepare for it. Neo could probably take us through the damn thing, but with that amount of gunfire, any stray round could shatter the illusion. Not to mention, all five of us, no offence.”
Neapolitan’s semblance was strong, and under the right circumstances a nightmare to deal with by her enemies. That much Ruby knew based on their scuffles with local gangs every so often. Unfortunately, however, it was less useful in a battlefield situation, where the odds of you catching a stray round tended to be as high as you peeking out. Besides, Neo could easily wrap an illusion around two people, but five were pushing it, and they didn’t want any awkward encounters of them suddenly appearing in front of an army of police.
No, they needed another solution, and there was one she could bring to the table right now. Summoning her rigging, and then her actual ship self out for a getaway. But that was the absolute last thing she wanted to do, only for truly desperate situations. She didn’t want to have anyone, most certainly not Torchwick of all people to find out about her ‘true’ nature by any means. But, the situation was fast spiralling out of control, any longer they waited was a higher risk of being discovered-
“No, we take the airship out.” Ruby declared, causing Torchwick to rub his temples at her.
“Red, again, there are no more bullheads for us to take-”
“Not those, the one I shot down.”
“The one you WHAT?! ”
After a quick recanting of events, and Roman being surprised that Winter Schnee of all people had come to arrest them and failed, Ruby led the five of them discreetly through various shipping containers towards where she last spotted the Atlesian airship. The White Fang had some sort of guard that fell behind, allowing most of their compatriots to escape, but that seemed to be falling apart by the second. Not only was the area being swarmed by heavily armed police, but also by huntsmen who were called in as reinforcements.
“Where the hell is it?!” Occasionally those sounds of distant gunfire were interrupted by Roman’s complaining.
“Quiet, it should be…there.” Coming into full view, the Atlesian airship was not a model she recognized at all. Walking up the stairs to a bricked building’s roof, she had a better look at the craft Schwarz had ‘disabled’. Sleeker than a traditional bullhead or one of their dropships, it was similar to Siren aircraft from her memories. One built for sleek, and fast flying if she had to guess. She was pretty sure that automaton head that Schwarz bit off was stuck in one of its wings, she expected it to have punched clean through, so tougher than conventional airships as well.
Just as she guessed, there were a few Atlesian personnel all strewn around outside of the landed airship seemingly no worse for wear. They had no weapons, were wearing technician uniforms and were very lax even though they were essentially right next to an active firefight. Emerging from the shadows, Ruby didn’t even have to say a word before they locked onto her with recognition, and more importantly, fear.
“It’s her!”
“Oh fuck, she’s the one who took out the specialist-”
“Run! Fuck the ship we gotta go!”
So much for Atlesian pride, seeing as how they abandoned their vehicle almost immediately. The rest of them weren’t even acknowledged, and Roman should have been much more well known than she or the Malachite twins were.
“...What did you exactly do back there, Red?”
“What was needed.” Ruby walked ahead before he could get out another word. Unsurprisingly, they had left the doors to their dropship wide open, and even the engines on standby. In comparison to her floatplanes, it was roughly one and a half times its base length, and with a wingspan almost twice the original. She wasn’t even sure it could fit into her rigging well, but that wasn’t the point now, they just had to leave the damn area like the White Fang had presumably done already.
Walking in, there were a bunch of papers, personal effects and even gadgets of some sort lying on the floor haphazardly. Taking a good look at it, she saw areas of the medium-sized dropship reserved for console use, probably what those technicians were working on before. Walking up to one of them, she noticed an open file on a console desk, a picture of her superstructure printed on it.
“Person of Interest…Hutten…”
Flipping through the rest of those pages revealed similar information, it was essentially a past record of all of her activities whether illegal or legal. From her earliest mentions and rumours all the way to the most recent encounters with the Valean coast guard. She came to the very obvious conclusion that Atlas was hunting her, and by that encounter she had just now, was their attempt at apprehending her. Perhaps that was why the Headmaster of Beacon was so keen to meet with her, to prevent a scenario like this from occurring.
“Hey, what’s that?” Militia called out next to her, making Ruby close the file with a click. Taking a deep breath, she made sure that Torchwick and Neo were at the cockpit before turning to face Militia again.
“Were you followed here?”
That was a rude question, since asking it to a professional was akin to asking if their skills were subpar. Militia narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms before responding.
“No, we made sure of that. Why?”
Showing was better than telling, opening the file, she turned it to one of the later pages, stopping when it showed a picture of the Malachite twins leaving Junior’s club.
“This morning?” Ruby asked the wide-eyed Militia, who simply nodded once.
“We were being followed, or rather, I was. They followed you, that led them to me, and then…” They led them to Torchwick’s operation.
“Aren’t you just a smuggler, Ruby? Why are they going after you like the White Fang?”
That was a great question to ask, and one that did not immediately get an answer from her. The closing of the dropship doors signalled that Roman finally had an idea of how to handle the damn thing, and indeed, they felt a jerk of thrust before the entire ship turned around and flew up into the air.
“Tell your sister, but don’t tell Torchwick or Neo. I need to go through these files myself first.” Militia could clearly tell that Ruby wasn’t giving her the full story, but just as how personal business in the underworld was usually a private affair, she simply thinned her lips and gave an affirmative.
Settling into a corner of the dropship that was open, she opened the file and began pursuing it again while checking it for any details she may have missed. So far, they had not found who she really was, only sticking with the alias that she gave out that one time during a near-miss with a fishing boat. It was somewhat humorous actually, they assumed she was working with or for an organization that still operated archaic battleships. It wasn’t a bad guess, considering that warships turned sentient and in ‘human’ form was an even more ridiculous proposition. What Atlas really knew was limited, and were even going down the wrong line of thought in certain areas.
Closing the file again, she tucked it away into her coat for later reading. By her own internal clock from her rigging, they had been in the air for roughly fifteen minutes since take-off, well beyond Vale’s airspace by now. Stretching, she was about to inspect her clothing for any damage before realising that there was a latrine onboard the dropship. It wasn’t unheard of for them to have one, beyond a certain size it was better for crews to have a dedicated latrine than use bags or other creative containment objects to relieve themselves.
Walking up to it, she saw that Torchwick and Neo were trying their best to work out the wall of switches and buttons that was their dashboard. They were still in the air right now, so they were doing something right with it, probably. Tugging on the handle, she saw that it was locked, did one of the Malachite twins get in before her? Looking behind her, that was not the case as the twins were messing around with some of the gadgets thrown onto the floor. The cockpit already had two pilots inside…thus leaving Ruby as the only one who could have potentially been using it.
Knocking twice on the latrine door, she heard nothing. Knocking again had the same result, it seemed that no one was inside it. Maybe the door locked itself when it took a hit or some other-
“Alright! I’m done, by Oum could you have at least told me when we were taking…off…” The door suddenly opened, revealing a somewhat familiar face, which was now staring face to face with Ruby. She met this person before somewhere…where did she…
“Y-You’re the g-girl I met in t-the shopping district!” Oh right, something beginning with an A…
“Ensign Anikanov, good to see you again.” Melanie and Militia by now had appeared right behind Ruby, their smiles showing fangs at the left-behind Ensign.
“Well, we have a stowaway on board!”
“Got left behind, huh? So much for military camaraderie, am I right?”
“Come out, slowly, take out any weapons you have and give them to me.” Ruby instructed, with the frightened and wide-eyed officer nodding and following them moments later. She handed over a pen and her scroll to Ruby, and nothing else.
“No firearm?” She asked with an eyebrow raised.
“They, uh, didn’t exactly trust me with it…” Placing a hand on her shoulder, Anikanov yelped as Ruby brought her to the cockpit, where the saw that they were currently flying over the forests of Sanus, somewhere above Forever Fall by the map indication.
“Caught a stowaway, huh Red?” Torchwick grinned as he inspected their guest. What was seldom discussed in military service was that there was a very big difference between soldiers who had frontline roles such as infrantry or armoured crew. However, those generally only constituted a small number of the actual army, with the rest working in backline duties that were equally as important if not greater such as logistics, administration and repair. Anikanov, who Ruby remembered being in the design ministry fell into the latter category, meaning that she was essentially a civilian who had a couple weeks of basic training at best, none of the frontline specific courses were ever given to someone like her.
“I’m a year from being discharged! I don’t give a shit about all this crap, just don’t throw me out of this ship!” Anikanov blurted out before anyone else could get a word in. Anyone could see that her knees were weak, and sweat dripped down from her head. Now she made Ruby feel bad, was she the one in wrong here?
“Red? Your call, you did get us out of there, so…”
Did he even need to ask? She shook her head at his suggestion before turning to look at the map. “We’ll drop her off at a nearby settlement, there should be a few up ahead of Forever Fall. She can get a train back to Vale that way.”
Neo stuck her tongue out at her, Ruby guessed she was saying something like ‘bah, you’re no fun’ before going back to tapping away at some console she had found. Anikanov however, breathed a sigh of relief she never thought she had to make. Before Ruby could bring her out of the cockpit, however, she pointed at the console Neo was tapping away on.
“You did disable the IFF system, right?”
“IFF system?”
“Yeah, this is sort of like a stealth ship or whatever, it’s an army thing they brought along. The IFF system is there so that friendly airships can identify it even when it’s cloaked or something, j-just thought you might want to know.”
No one said a word in the cockpit, the implications of that sinking in. Before Neo could tap on her console again however, the ship received a transmission blaring out of their onboard radio, one that was anything but friendly.
“This is Vice Admiral Gelè of the AFS Edelweiss, surrender your dropship or be blown out of the sky.”
“Oh…they brought out our flagship…” Anikanov lamented, and indeed, the massive silhouette of an Atlesian aerial battleship broke cloud cover to show itself directly in front of them. Like an angry god that had come to take its offerings, Ruby could be forgiven for being a bit more dramatic in this scenario.
In an act that violated all known laws of aviation safety, Torchwick took out a cigar and lit it, as if he was taking his last puff.
“Red? Your ideas suck.”
Ruby whacked him on the head, this whole thing was actually his fault, wasn’t it?
Omake:
As Winter’s pigeons continued to harmless ping off of Hutten, she could see an unimpressed look on her enemy’s face.
“Really? Trying to citadel me when I have turtleback armour? What is this, Tier IV matchmaking?”
Winter let out a confused ‘huh’ at the random assortment of words Hutten threw at her. Turtleback? Tier V matchmaking? What the hell was she on about!?
“Uninstall, scrub.”
KA-BOOM
(x1 Destroyed)
(x1 Hits to Citadel)
AN:
Wow, another long chapter and update?! Enjoy it, gonna be the last ones for a while-
Just to hammer in the point that Azur Lane Kansen are so much more than their counterparts in Kancolle for example, remember that scene in that anime where Sheffield faced off against Takao? She launched a ball of energy at her, call it lasers or whatnot. That didn’t come from her riggings at all, presumably being from her Wisdom Cube to achieve that. Anyways, anything a Battleship can do, so can Ruby, and if we’re being honest, so much more. Also in case it wasn’t clear, Ruby’s outfit is similar to Ulrich’s own, with minor modifications, but it keeps the overall ‘theme’ similar to one another.
Hope you all got Ulrich during her rerun, I had to hit pity. Honestly, first time experiencing it in Azur Lane, left a damn sour taste in my mouth cause of it. At least I can get New Jersey/Shinano in the regular pool now.
Be civil in the comments below.
EDIT NOTICE 01/21/2024: Vice Admiral Julet changed to Vice Admiral Gelè
Chapter 18: Interlude 1
Chapter Text
Interlude 1: Unbound Eagle
One day before deployment to Vale
Schnee Estate
Atlas
In the last days of the Empire, when Kaiser Zolorin had his armies shattered in the deserts of Vacuo, Mantle was undergoing a battle itself. With the majority of the Imperial army away fighting in another continent, the capitol, though initially orderly and without trouble, found itself under increasing disorder as the ten long years of the Great War dragged on. Organised criminal elements, young revolutionary movements and even opportunistic military officers saw the writing on the wall.
For a week, Mantle became a battlefield between all of those different groups, each having their own specific goals and agendas, though in what was perhaps an ironic ending, they had each weakened the other so much that when the Imperial army remnants crawled back to the city, order was restored under their banner. Of course, the changes in government agreed upon on the island of Vytal eventually made their way back to the continent, but the existing power dynamics had shifted so much that a revolution may as well have happened.
Popular imaginations of revolutions, such as those seen in the Faunus Rights Revolution gave the inhabitants of Remnant a somewhat skewed image of them. The idea of revolutionaries with brand new ideas for how society should be changed and run was novel and even inspiring, but seldom discussed was how revolutions often went the other way.
Revolutions often happened to keep existing power, rather than upend it completely. In the case of Mantle immediately after the Great War, that was exactly what happened.
The old aristocracy, though thoroughly weakened, still remained as the elites of Mantle, and now Atlesian society by virtue of their immense wealth. The only meaningful changes, at least to outside observers, were the relative strength of the various noble houses. The Rosen family for example, disgraced due to their repeated Naval defeats from Vale and their mishandling of projects, fell out of favour, and eventually disappeared outright during the Faunus wars. To this day, their once great estate remained empty, save for trusted keepers that sometimes included the Schnee family through a friendship with the late Nicholas Schnee.
Winter knew all of that, because she too was part of the Schnee family, despite being away from the estate more often than not these days. Walking through the large, empty halls of the estate where she grew up in, she couldn’t help but feel the same feelings of regret she once had when first joining the Atlesian armed forces. Those days were long past, but still, there wasn’t a month where a senior officer would ask if she ever regretted leaving behind the Schnee Dust Company; her answer was always the same.
Military duties aside, she was here for a reason, not to lose herself in old memories. Turning to Klein, who had let her in and was now leading her along, she asked him a question.
“Anything…happen while I was away? I remember it has been quite some time…”
“Hm? Oh yes, I believe it has been more than a month since you last decided to visit.” Klein responded in his jovial persona, Winter half expected him to reply in his other one instead based on her visit today. He did often ‘remind’ her to visit more often, subtly and not so subtly at times through angry messages on her scroll. Being practically the one who raised them for all these years, Winter had a certain weakness toward him whenever he called or messaged.
This time, however, she was not here because he finally guilted her enough into visiting, but to say goodbyes for a potential long deployment under orders of General Ironwood. “I see. And what of my Mother? Has she been in good health lately?”
Asking that was redundant, for she knew the answer already. Klein did not answer her, instead gesturing out of the window and into the estate garden where her Mother usually spent her days, with a glass of wine held in hand. Indeed, she was there again today, another glass of what she assumed were equally strong spirits being sipped away. Her Mother didn’t always have that image, Winter remembered a brief period of time in her childhood of happier days and moments, when her Mother and Father still at least pretended to love each other.
“There is a silver lining to that however, Weiss has made good progress on getting her to drink less if I may say. Roughly half her usual compared to before.” Klein added hastily. Winter was surprised, she did not know her little sister’s attempts had born any fruit until now, even though she thought it was to be a hopeless affair.
“Shall I take you to her?”
Winter shook her head, she wanted to save meeting her Mother for last. “Weiss first, I assume Whitley is with her?”
While she and Whitley were never particularly close, with her leaving for the military doing nothing but widen that rift, Weiss still made attempts to get the two to bond whenever Winter visited. The action had its ups and downs, but she could say that the two were amicable on good days, usually when Weiss was there with them.
“Actually, not today, Whitley is off attending a bloody board room meeting with your Father, just Weiss ere’ today.” There it was, Klein shifted personas. Leading her out to the greenhouse area, when Klein swung open the doors she was blasted by its warm air, a welcome refuge from the cold air outside.
“She’s here, tending to those flowers like she always does. Better a hobby than what your Mother does I’ll say.” In that sense, Weiss took more after their grandfather than her Mother, this greenhouse was built by Nicholas Schnee with plants he had found all over Remnant during his travels. It was a reminder of what once was, the prior era perhaps, complete with the old Imperial Mantellian architecture before art itself was ‘banned’.
Loathe as she may admit, Weiss was much better at being…a person? No, in terms of everyone in the Schnee family, she was the closest to functioning like a ‘regular’ person out of any of them. It was as if the Schnee name meant nothing to her, that part did not in any form dictate who she was, unlike everyone else in the family apparently. Joining the military was a way out of that gilded cage, and yet she found herself acting under the Schnee name more often than not.
“Klein, before we move any further, has she changed her mind at all?”
Winter still remembered the fallout from her Father when Weiss told them of what she wanted to do in the future over dinner. Though it was not even a year since that day, Winter still could not really move beyond it. What were the words Weiss had said at the dinner table? She had managed to get the five of them together for a dinner in Oum knows how long, only to drop that revelation in front of them.
“Hah! The young lady is iron-willed is what she is. Believe me, Sir has spared no expense in trying to get her to reconsider, but he’d have better odds training a boarbatusk in doing acrobatics than get her to change her mind by now I reckon.”
Yes, Winter could imagine, after all, finding out that your youngest daughter suddenly declined to become the heir to your massive corporation would be a shock if you were in her father’s shoes. To this day, Winter could not understand where it came from, Weiss didn’t show too much interest in being heir, but to suddenly have that come out of nowhere? And to suggest different paths for her to take. Bizarre, and downright terrifying for them at the time, though Atlas’s best psychiatrists swore that she was completely fine and not clinically insane.
Declining to become heir to the SDC was not the important part, she was fine with her choosing an alternative since that was what Winter herself did, but rather it was everything that came after. All of those weird career paths she suggested filled her with dread, and every visit seemed to have a brand new idea for Winter to cringe at.
“SCREE!”
“Oh my!” Klein was surprised by the sudden call of an eagle, reverting to his other persona. It seemed that despite years of living with Weiss’s pet, he was still surprised whenever it appeared.
Winter by now knew what was going to happen, and as such, let her arm out for the eagle to land. With a whoosh of its wings, she was now facing a Solitan Bald Eagle directly, one that she knew with familiarity.
“Grim, I trust your master is well?” Of course, eagles could not talk, but Winter liked to think that he still understood her words. All she got as a response was instead a tilted head, causing her to sigh. Weiss said that it showed up out of nowhere a few years ago, since then it had become an inseparable part of her, taking him along wherever she went. If she didn’t know better, she would have said Weiss was a secret eagle trainer because there was no way Grim would have been that loyal to her from the beginning.
“I do wonder why he only chooses to greet you, whenever I arrive he ignores me like I am invisible! What did I ever do to him?” Grim only greeted Winter and Whitley that way as well, and to their Mother to some extent, but downright hostility towards Jacques most of the time. Rubbing her free left hand against his beak, she asked him where Weiss was. Again, as if he understood her completely, he lifted his left wing in the direction of the Rose Pavilion, where the garden’s collection of roses lay.
“I’ll get some refreshments while you make your way in, I’m sure you two will need some privacy. Excuse me.” Now alone, Winter and Grim made their way further in, looking at the careful cultivation of various flowers that were managed in there. The rows of shrubbery and hedges, occasionally interrupted by beds of flowers were organized by someone who cared about them deeply. Weiss was one such person, often reminding Winter of stories their Mother used to tell of their Grandfather.
Walking up to the blue-tinted pavilion, Winter did not see Weiss at all. It was only when Grim nudged her using his beak in a certain direction did Winter see her; toiling away at a bed of blue roses. She was fond of those flowers in particular, having worn one on her shirt for as long as she could remember.
As Winter neared her, she saw that she was wearing a simple plain white dress again. If her Father saw her he would definitely have had something to say about it along the lines of ‘shaming’ their house by wearing something not befitting their status. At that moment Grim suddenly took off from Winter’s arm, and landed right next to Weiss.
“Ah, I see Grim found you first!” In her usual cheery and soft tone, Weiss put down a small shovel and rose, greeting Winter with her usual calming smile. Unlike her and their Mother, Weiss wore her hair down, preferring to have it loose than in a ponytail.
“Weiss, it is good-”
Before Winter could get another word in, she was brought into an embrace with her younger sister. Even after all this time, Winter still felt somewhat awkward with her doing them for some reason, but she never once moved to stop her doing it.
“When was the last time you visited? A month, maybe more?”
“A month…and a few days I believe.”
“Hmm. Quite a long time since then, I believe I specifically asked you to come back more often…?”
“Hrk.” Now that she mentioned it, Winter did promise to do something like that the last time she was here…
“Honestly, I wonder at times if I am the elder sister, always having to ensure my other siblings are well and getting along…”
Winter looked away further in shame, and though unfortunate to admit, there were moments where Weiss acted more like an elder sister than she did. Especially when it came to interacting with Whitley, it was no secret that she and her younger brother got along very well. Much more than she ever could, perhaps because of her own fault as well.
“Come now, I’m just teasing. What do you think? These I had just gotten the gardener to help me plant, I believe they give the garden a much-needed variety.”
The blue roses were planted all over the pavilion, organized into star shapes of some kind. Though a somewhat odd approach as far as flower beds were organized, she had to say it was certainly unique. That uniqueness gave Winter an idea, and she tentatively asked a question with some caution.
“Are…you planning to become a botanist? It’s just that your hobby is all I ever see you really-”
“I’d much rather you ask me directly, Winter.”
Again, Winter's subtle attempts were completely seen through by her younger sister. Seriously, she was sharper than a lot of other officers she knew, one that someone her age should not have been able to have. Perhaps that was why Father wanted her to become heiress after she left for the military and not Whitley, that sharpness would have helped the SDC continue on in either case.
“Have you not changed your mind, truly?”
“If I did, you would have known about it by now, Winter. My mind was made up a long time ago, Whitley has all but been decided as the next heir, hence why he has followed along with Father to a board meeting today.”
Probably to introduce him as the next heir as well, even if in an indirect manner. Regardless, that was not the only thing Winter wanted to talk with her about. Before she said anything, however, she noticed a magazine depicting the makes and models of various airships, civilian and otherwise in Weiss’s gardening toolkit. Crouching down to pick it up, a smile crept up on her face as she remembered playing together as children on their family’s personal airships.
“Still interested in them? I admit they have always fascinated me, but you were positively obsessed with them if I recall.”
Even very young, Winter had memories of Weiss spending hours upon hours looking outside of their window during flights, each time she wondered what her younger sister could possibly be thinking about. It was just flying up in the sky, wasn’t it?
“Oh, but it is so much more than that, is it not? Flying, whether on wings or not, is the ultimate expression of freedom. There is no other action in the world that is as free as going where the horizon stops, and beyond. It makes me want to take up aviation every time I think about it, though I’m sure Father will have some things to say about that.”
She nodded, Father definitely would have had some choice words to say about doing such a lowly job. However, an idea crept up Winter’s mind upon thinking about it, and she turned to Weiss again, who had turned away to look at the clouds pass by them.
“You know, the good General I am under could write you a letter of recommendation. The Atlesian Army Air Service is always in need of talented and interested-”
“And be under some cage, never to be sent to anything remotely dangerous or even beyond Atlas because of my status and identity? I’m not so naive, Winter, I know how the Atlesian military works. Even if you personally vouch for it, I am sure that whatever commanding officer I will be under would disagree.”
“It wouldn’t happen-”
Any further comment from Winter was shot down by Weiss, who simply gave her the ‘look’. Piercing blue eyes stared back at her own, and she was forced to back down from any further attempt.
“I have a life, therefore I have liberty, and with that I can use it for the pursuit of happiness. You used yours to pursue a career as a Specialist, could I not use mine for my own desires?”
…Weiss unfortunately had a point. Winter had her own selfish desires back then, so why couldn’t Weiss also have her own? Sighing, she brushed aside some loose strands of her hair before replying to her.
“I didn’t know you were reading the posts of an extremist.” The quote that Weiss said just now came from a well-known infamous Atlesian poster on the internet, though his or her identity was unknown, most knew them simply as FightingLady-10. That account garnered a lot of attention for the things espoused there, though not all were particularly welcome, especially regarding what was said about Faunus treatment in Atlas. She found herself sometimes agreeing with the things that were said, but again, with the White Fang’s increase of terrorist activities, any form of ‘extremism’ was under current extreme scrutiny. It didn’t help that many impoverished, especially Faunus in Mantle often agreed with the sentiments publically.
Weiss shrugged lightly in response. “I need something to do here after all, can’t spend all my time gardening.”
Fair enough, but Winter still wanted to give her some words or warning. “Just don’t let Father hear you say anything like that, you know how he feels about…those kinds of things.”
Having finished packing up the rest of her tools, she turned to Winter with a blue rose covering her lips, before letting out a wry smile. “No promises.”
Toolkit in hand, along with Grim perched up on top of Weiss’s shoulder, they set off back for the entrance to the greenhouse, hoping to catch Klein before he wandered in. Of course, she wondered how Grim’s talons were secured on Weiss’s shoulder without her crying in pain about it. Winter had an unfortunate incident before where she let Grim land on her shoulder, the resulting holes in her uniform had to be fixed by a professional. She chalked it up to Aura channelling to the shoulder area, which was probably the only time Weiss used her Aura for anything outside of the Schnee Glyph summoning exercises.
Wait, did she even do those anymore? After she had declined to go to a preparatory school, those exercises gradually stopped happening if she remembered correctly. Before she could think more about it, however, Weiss held out a brochure of some kind in front of Winter.
“What is this?”
“Something I’m planning to do, you asked me what I planned to do in the future…this should be one that even Father can’t disapprove of.”
Upon closer inspection, Winter did not hide the surprise in her voice as she read it aloud. “Politics and Business at the Royal Valean University?”
The bewildered Atlesian specialist stared at Weiss, her hanging mouth open and liable for insects to fly inside.
“Vale is far, true. However, my graduation at school is fast approaching, and I will need to apply for something soon. I saw that they were handing out these flyers, and I grabbed one just out of curiosity.”
“You know Atlas also has multiple universities you can go to as well, right? Why go as far as Vale?” Not that Vale was bad by any means, but Winter couldn’t help but feel a tinge worried about her safety. If she was anyone else, she would not have cared all too much, but she was Weiss Schnee, a target for anyone, including the White Fang. Vale was not as secure as Atlas was in that regard, so saying that Winter was more worried than before was an understatement.
For a moment, seeing Weiss nod her head in agreement relieved her, which was immediately taken away by her next words. “Also true, but to…spread my own wings as you have said before, staying in Atlas will not be beneficial to that goal. What matters is not to know the world, but to change it, and to do that, I need to at least know a bit about the world first.”
All of those talks Winter had with Weiss about ‘finding herself’ in the past suddenly backfired on her spectacularly, and she was left speechless. Her mind flopping between kicking herself mentally for it and preparing dozens of reasons why she should not go abroad. If she was going to something like Beacon she wouldn’t have minded, since she would have been studying to become a huntress then. However, Weiss had next to no formal combat training outside of some fencing lessons, she was most certainly no aspiring huntress, capable of defending herself.
“I…I…but…you shouldn’t have…listened to…me?”
“Aunt Gelè seemed to like the idea, besides, I’ve already applied.”
Aunt Gelè?! She asked her before me?! Winter mentally screamed, not that their Aunt was unreliable, she too was in the Atlesian armed forces but as a Vice Admiral. She and Father did not get along too well however, with the latter preferring that his children did not meet with her regularly.
“Vale is also located right next to the sea, something that Atlas…lacks.” Winter detected an odd sense of melancholy and nostalgia when Weiss said that. Which was odd, considering the only time they had ever spent near an ocean was during vacations and other big events abroad, Solitas was too cold to have any beaches after all.
“But…”
“Oh my, would you look at that? Klein is just over there, and with the apple pie I baked! Come, you must have some, it has been a while since you last had any, correct?”
With that, Weiss hopped along, leaving Winter behind in the dust. Staring at the brochure, she realized that she hadn’t even gotten the chance to say that she was being sent to Vale this entire meeting yet. Quickly shoving it in her coat, she raced ahead to catch up with her younger sister.
Future troubles aside, however, Winter cherished moments like this, and for once, allowed a small, genuine smile to appear on her face.
As Winter's personal airship blasted off from the launchpad, Weiss waved goodbye at it, knowing that she was watching her from above. Bringing Grim up to face level, she asked him a question out loud after ensuring that there were none around to eavesdrop.
"Even now, we're dealing with troublesome siblings, aren't we?"
Grim did not respond, instead doing a motion that vaguely resembled huffing. Stifling a chuckle from his actions, Weiss was about to head back inside when she noticed the sky above her brighter than usual. There were clear skies tonight, revealing the full bounty of the heavens to her. She could, for a moment, imagine those stars arranged neatly, into stars and stripes that made up the Eagle Union. Those days were long past, but she still dared to hope.
"Enterprise...Hornet...I hope you're doing alright..."
Wherever they were.
AN:
I’m looking for a beta reader! For either this fic or my other fics in general, if you are interested please shoot a DM over to me on FF net with a short 150-word paragraph explaining what genres you like to read and any relevant writing/reading experience you may have.
This was planned from the early stages, though not in this form. I’ve been working on this interlude for a while now, even before the last two chapters but never found the right place to release it. Ruby was never going to be the ‘only’ Kansen in Remnant, I just had a lot of trouble figuring out where to introduce it. With the fic coming up upon 50k words, I knew I needed to do it soon.
Be civil in the comments below
Chapter 19: Chapter 18
Chapter Text
Chapter 18
Edelweiss, Edelweiss, every morning you greet me.
Small and white, clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Humming along to the melody of a lullaby, Atlesian Federal Ship Edelweiss did not do such a thing often. The song itself, a traditional Mantellian piece, had somewhat of a troubled legacy. Of course, with all forms of artful expression banned during the Great War, it meant that even simple acts such as singing were often barred entirely. This song survived those days when books and other priceless pieces of art were burned, only existing today in memory of those who defied the Kaiser and kept those traditions. It was still popular in Mantle, particularly among Faunus residents living in its slums, singing it to their children for better tomorrows.
Edelweiss knew this, for she had Faunus crew from Mantle who did something similar every so often.
“Vice Admiral, we’re approaching the stolen craft, your orders?”
Shifting her azure eyes from the ground to her Captain, she allowed a frown to appear on her face. Edelweiss was the lead ship of her class, meant to bridge the gap between firepower, and the new concept of fighting wars without the use of human lives being wasted. She and her sisters were a joint venture between Atlas and the SDC, with no small amount of lobbying and other backroom deals later, the Edelweiss-class Battlecarriers were the result of that arrangement.
They were Atlas’s symbol of might, showcasing their technological, military and even national prowess born from their lacklustre performance during the Faunus Wars. Similarly to herself, the other ships in her class, her sisters, were all named after flowers as well. It was to make their presence seem peaceful, ‘un-aggressive’ if that even could be applied to them. Carrying enough dust batteries to level any small town in minutes and a small robot army onboard each one of them was not exactly the height of peaceful intentions by her own standards.
Appearances had to be kept however, since the Atlesian Federal Navy was still technically a ‘defensive’ fleet in its organizational mission, though it seemed the definition of ‘defence’ stretched ever long these days, seeing as how she was literally next to Vale conducting police actions. Allied kingdom or not, having mixed feelings about it should have been an understatement, but who could she have complained about it to? Edelweiss, like every other ship spirit on Remnant could not interact with their crew, it had been that way since the beginning, and would remain so until either she was destroyed, or her hull scrapped.
“Get us closer, once they’re within our killzone then we’ll break cloud cover. Damn it, what the hell was Ironwood thinking…?”
Her Captain was not the highest ranking officer aboard her right now, it was actually Vice Admiral Gelè, accompanying them for the duration of this deployment. Wearing a white overcoat on top of her dress uniform, one could mistake her for a Schnee at a distance, though she may be one of her in-laws, her appearance was just coincidental. Despite being in her 40s, and one of the youngest Vice Admirals in the Navy, her reputation meant that there were few of her crew who didn’t at least know who she was. Those who did, even for those who despised her background, had to give her a begrudging amount of respect.
The official reason given to her crew was that they were here for practice, both for foreign deployments and the eventual one by Atlas when the Vytal Festival was about to begin. Whether politics or some other reason, Atlas was going to have a presence in Vale for the duration of the festival, and she was here to ensure that they knew of any potential hiccups beforehand by doing what was essentially a ‘test run’.
The real reason, of course, known only to the highest ranking officers on her was because they were the unofficial reinforcements in case an Atlesian operation in Vale needed it. Judging by the sudden change they did only half an hour ago, however, it seemed that they were needed.
“Happens all the time, The Army goes and does something, we have to clean up their mess left behind. We didn’t even get the IFF data until Ironwood got involved, waste of the budget honestly.”
With that, Edelweiss had to agree with her Captain. They didn’t even get all the details of this assignment, something about a failed arrest and subsequent hijacking of a prototype Army airship? It sounded like something out of a military action movie, and even the Vice Admiral was about to disregard it until the call came from her Niece, who from the scroll video call to them, looked as if she was just put through the metaphorical dust cannon and shot out of it.
“ Eugh ...I’m going to wring Ironwood’s neck when we get back to Atlas, with his prototype in our hangars. What do you think, should we let our own engineers examine it before giving it back to him?”
Her Captain shot her a sly grin, despite being nearly at the age of retirement, he still found the humour for most things in life easily. “He never specified we needed to return it in one piece, Vice Admiral.”
It was an open secret neither branch particularly liked each other, and to be completely honest, Edelweiss shared that sentiment most of the time, as did all other ships in the Atlesian Navy. Oh well, perhaps this incident would knock them down a peg or two, they were getting a bit too vocal during the latest budget allocations after all.
“Ma’am, they’re about to be within range of main batteries.”
A bridge officer called out from his console, Edelweiss could see that he was correct. The target was within range, right in their killzone. Even if it tried to change course immediately, they would not be able to outrun the first salvo regardless.
“Alright, let’s clean up Ironwood’s mess. Get me a line of contact with it.”
Edelweiss’s gravity dust engines whirred to life, as output from it went towards her back thrusters. Feeling a slight shake from the bridge, she was moving ahead, her bow, or at least what she considered one, pierced the cloud cover they were in. Moments later, most of her hull was through it, directly above their target with all her main forward batteries locked onto its hull. In other circumstances, she would have stopped to look at the crimson Forever Fall below, this kind of greenery was something not so easily seen in Solitas.
“This is Vice Admiral Gelè of the AFS Edelweiss, surrender your dropship or be blown out of the sky.”
As far as threats went, it was up there in the believability category. Just for show, her main batteries glowed brightly with fire dust lining its laser barrels, showing the commandeered airship that they meant it. As expected, the stolen airship stopped mid air, hovering in place after the Vice Admiral had made their presence known.
For a couple dozen seconds, they didn’t receive any communication back, and the growing sense of unease began permeating across the bridge. Stolen airship or not, Edelweiss and her crew probably didn’t want to blow the damn thing up if they could help it, capture was preferred over the alternative, and nor were they the trigger-happy Army.
“Damn it! Is this thing on? Hello?”
A voice then came back through the other end, in a somewhat frantic, yet still cocky and arrogant tone. Her Captain and the Vice Admiral immediately frowned, who was this jokester piloting that thing?
“Identify yourself, now!”
“Woah there, easy does it, I’m Roman Torchwick, might have heard of me, notorious criminal in Vale, master heister and an all round gentleman-”
The scowl on Vice Admiral Gelè turned into a glare as she heard this ‘Torchwick’ ramble on. With a snarl, she replied back, shutting the other end up immediately.
“I do not care, you will surrender your ship by landing in our hangar, or else we will annihilate you and everyone else on board. Do you understand?”
If looks could kill, the glare from the Vice Admiral would have turned the stolen airship into molten metal by now. Actually, there was a chance it would end up like that, courtesy of her main batteries anyways.
“Ah, you might not want to do that actually. Say hello to your CO, Ensign!”
“DON’T SHOOT! I’M ENSIGN ROZA ANIKANOV OF THE DESIGN MINISTRY! I WAS PART OF THE INVESTIGATION TEAM!”
The other voice that came through, belonging to a young woman was much more panicked and frightened, and evidently, her Captain and the Vice Admiral recognized who she was.
“Roza? Shit, isn’t she…” Her Captain began asking, but trailed off, allowing Gelè to finish for him.
“Admiral Anikanov’s daughter…fuck this just got complicated…”
Admiral Anikanov…if she remembered correctly, the old Admiral, who served during the Faunus Wars was retired now. Edelweiss didn’t even know she had a daughter, much less the one being kidnapped on that stolen airship. Neither of them had the chance to respond before they got another message.
“Well, we were just going to let her down at a settlement nearby…but since you’re so graciously offering to blow us up, I don’t think we’re going to do that anymore, isn’t that right?”
“GET IT AWAY FROM ME! GET ME OUTTA HERE, I DON’T WANT MY FACE EATEN OFF! С ука, блять!”
Wait, did she say ‘I don’t want my face eaten off’?! What did she mean by that?!
“Ma’am! We’re detecting…a large ship, nearly our size in the target!” The same bridge officer from earlier called out again, this time confusing everyone there. Squinting hey eyes at it, Edelweiss found that he was correct, her radar was showing a target nearly her length where the dropship was. However, a quick visual analysis confirmed the opposite was true, there was no battleship there, so what exactly was her radar picking up?
“Damn it, must be from the prototype, guess they did figure out how to use it after all…” Her Captain cursed, the Army was fielding all sorts of new equipment these days, they were just made aware of a new line of Knight androids when they were loaded onto Edelweiss. In hindsight, she shouldn’t have been surprised at something as mundane as radar spoofing technology, though why did they make themselves have an even larger signature?
“Doesn’t matter, they haven’t left yet so that means they’re still planning to do something.”
“Vice Admiral? Do we open fire?”
To Edelweiss’s surprise, she immediately shook her head. “I’d rather save one of our own than save Ironwood’s precious prototype. Bastards must have been gunning for it in the first place…why the hell is the army losing so much equipment these days?”
Though the last part was muttered out, barely larger than a whisper, Edelweiss knew she was referring to the theft of another prototype, this time land-based. A ‘Paladin’, or one of its prototypes at least, had been lost somehow during transportation; she overheard the Vice Admiral and her Captain discussing it earlier. As usual, the Navy was not notified until a week had passed, in vain hopes of somehow intercepting it before it left Solitas. They never found it again, and it was made even worse by the Army sharing scant few details about what it actually was. Though to be fair, it wasn’t as if the Navy told them their top-secret new technologies either, mutual distrust, essentially.
“We’re not going to let them leave. We have already notified other escort cruisers in the area, we’ll stall until they arrive, then we’ll see if they want to negotiate again.”
A wait-and-see approach then, not an entirely bad idea considering they had a hostage.
“Ma’am! A dozen signatures directly above us!” Again, the radar officer called out from his post, this time showing a dozen, much smaller signatures, around the size of standard Atlesian airships for only a couple of soldiers. Vice Admiral Gelè had an unamused look on her face as she responded.
“More radar spoofing, if that’s the best an Army prototype can do-”
“VISIBLE CONTACT!”
A shout from the Starboard Lookout tore through the bridge, causing many officers to snap to where the young lookout was pointing. Above them, slowly, but surely, several shapes under the light of the moon began approaching closer…and closer…
“Dive bombers!” The Quartermaster called out from his station, having used his own binoculars to get a clearer image. A moment later, as they got within a few kilometres of herself, Edelweiss could see it as well. Airships-no, aircraft, with a propeller weirdly stuck to its front, in a blue color scheme with a star-themed roundel. Though the most important part she noticed, was the bombs they were carrying underneath their fuselage.
Her Captain leapt into action, the shout from him refocusing the bridge from the shock. “Evasive manoeuvres! Hard left thrusters, activate point defence, concentrate fire above! We need to make ourselves as small of a target!”
It was the Naval Academy answer. Though it was seldom taught these days, Edelweiss knew it was the textbook method to defend against a dive bombing attack. She just never thought it would apply to her, until now. The entire bridge, and subsequently ship jerked, as the helmsman gripped the thruster throttle with his dear life, Edelweiss continuing to see the dots on the radar approach ever closer…
She began hearing her limited point defence cannons fire directly above them, hundreds of high calibre explosive rounds shot directly into the night sky.
“Sir! They’re too fast, these guns are still programmed for Grimm!” The gunnery officer shouted from her post. Automated cannons still saw them as flying Nevermores or some other aerial Grimm, who were usually a lot slower than a dive bomber. Rounds were flying past the dive bombers, and the speed did not help with the automated leading that was shooting where they were .
“Reset them then!” Her Captain ordered, but Edelweiss knew better.
“We’re going to have to bring them offline to do it!” Came the inevitable response, which was an issue of having a lot of things automated, when it worked it was flawless, in other circumstances, however…
“Why did we let my Brother’s company design our ships again…?” The Vice Admiral swore under her breath, cursing Jacque Schnee for a myriad of things that would have made the front page of celebrity gossip magazines for weeks.
“Shit, too late! Everyone brace for impact!” Her Captain ordered, and everyone immediately grabbed onto something sturdy, whether it was their console or a handrail, they expected to be hit by a near-dozen bombs directly on them. Edelweiss froze, a lump in her throat, all she could do was stare at the dive bombers now just on top of them. Wondering if this was how she was going to die, due to archaic aircraft that still used propellers, her breath hitched as she closed her eyes for the inevitable explosions.
…
…
…
I’m still alive?
Tentatively, she opened her eyes, only to be greeted by an intact bridge, moreso, her entire hull was intact. There was not a single point of damage to be found anywhere on her. She was not the only one bewildered, as even her Captain and the Vice Admiral were under a similar amount of confusion.
“They…missed?” Gelè asked, to which her Captain responded by shaking his head.
“No, that was a perfect attack, they didn’t drop their bombs.” From out their window, they saw the aircraft, now flying all around them, while still dodging their point-defence cannon fire with extreme acrobatics. Just looking at it made Edelweiss numb from thinking about how many G forces were being subjected to the poor pilots.
“What the Oum’s good name are they doing?!” Edelweiss wanted to shout the same thing as well, if anything, it seemed like they were distracting them, simply just trying to buy them time-
“Ma’am! The target has moved! It’s flying past us into cloud cover!” As soon as he finished saying that, the stolen prototype flew past their bridge and into the very same clouds they used as cover.
“Damnit! Lock with missiles, fire on my command!” The order came from the Vice Admiral, who looked like she was kicking herself for forgetting about their main target.
“Arming! Searching for target…n-no signature found! We’ve lost them!” Her missile officer called out from his station, which was then added on by her radar officer.
“Radar signature is gone too, ma’am! I think they activated stealth-”
“IFF tracking!”
“We’re the only friendlies in the area, the closest allied ship is all the way in Vale, ma’am.”
“Turn this ship around! Vector an intercept course-”
“Stop, we can’t catch up with one of those things if James wasn’t bullshitting about its capabilities. Less so if they actually managed to activate stealth.” The orders her Captain were about to give were cut off, leaving a stern faced Vice Admiral Gelè to sigh loudly. Those dive bombers that had ‘attacked’ them earlier have also disappeared, though with her radar still being able to track them, they seemed to be dispersing into a dozen different directions. They were just one ship, and were definitely not able to keep up with them at that speed.
“Contact the other cruisers in the area, order them to cancel their tours, and have them scour the area behind us just in case. We’re going to maintain course for Vale.”
“Vice Admiral?”
“That’s an order, Captain. It’s no use chasing after them now, we have better things to do. I will contact Specialist Schnee about this myself. No one is to update command until we get to Vale, understood?”
She left before her Captain could get another word in, making her way out of the bridge and into the hallway leading up to it. Harrowing near-death experience aside, something about those dive bombers was oddly familiar, for some reason she felt a vague sense of Deja Vu when seeing them. Suddenly remembering where she thought she’d seen them, not everyone aboard her right now was a member of her crew, she had one civilian onboard her right now.
Vice Admiral Gelè had brought along her younger Niece on board as well, something about her seeing Vale for higher education? She didn’t understand, but something odd about her made Edelweiss intrigued. What was her name again? Weiss Schnee, if she remembered correctly, for some reason, felt like one of her sisters. But that was impossible, she was a human, the Vice Admiral’s Niece, so she put aside that thought, treating it as a symptom of her not talking to anyone else for an extended period. She had a pet eagle of sorts with her as well, though that bird felt like she was looking at an entire squadron. Still, like Weiss herself, she dismissed it as delusions.
Realizing that what just happened on the ship must have been a traumatic experience for a civilian like her, suddenly being jerked in a certain direction and with shells exploding everywhere could not have been anything peaceful or relaxing. Manifesting herself in the officer’s quarters area, she decided to just peek at the poor thing, not that she could have done anything if she was under duress-
“Yes, yes, I know, you had to crawl through the vents, but think about what you accomplished! Wasn’t it exciting, being able to deploy an entire squadron against someone shooting back at you this time?”
What greeted her was not the sight of a scared civilian, but an angel. No, literally, unlike the Weiss Schnee she had seen a day ago when she first boarded, she was wearing an entirely different dress, though still white, it was now much more eccentric, almost like her own clothing actually. Though the most striking part of her was probably the two literal angel wings sticking out of her back, she met a Mistralian airship once that had similar animal features, but this was…
“You’re a Faunus?!” For the first time in a while, Edelweiss had said something out loud. She didn’t think too much about it, after all, the only people who could hear her were-
“Hm? Oh, you’re here! Finally decided to visit me, have you?” Dumbfounded, Edelweiss could only continue staring at the young girl turning around, petting her pet eagle while she looked directly at the Battlecarrier, almost as if she could see her-
“Well, aren’t you going to say something, Edelweiss? I’ve been waiting for you to come talk to me! You know, Solitude has told me great things about you-”
Solitude?! The museum ship Solitude?!
“You’re…You’re…”
She smiled, it was a warm, radiant smile that befitted her appearance. “Just like…you? Well, I suppose introductions are in order. I am Weiss Schnee, or Yorktown, whichever you prefer, of the Yor-Essex class aircraft carriers, may the most resplendent dawn rise over the darkest night. So…”
Tapping the tip of her two index fingers together sheepishly, she gave her an awkward smile as she rubbed the back of her head, like Rosen , her sister, when she had done something wrong.
“I…might have caused you to…oh how do I put this nicely…? Let them…escape…?”
“What.”
“I see, I will let the General know of this development-”
“N-no, Aunt Gelè, he has not sunk his claws deep into me-I’m not joining the Navy! I like it as a Specialist! Look, I need to report back to him now, see you in Vale soon.”
Qrow, though still blinking at the searing his avian eyes took from earlier still had his hearing working correctly. Shuffling over to where Winter was being treated at on an ambulance door, he couldn’t help but form a shit eating grin on his face, one that screamed ‘I told you so’. Honed from years of doing that to Raven while they were still on Team STRQ.
Winter, though bruised and much worse looking for wear, still managed to get an insult out while acknowledging his presence. “Shut it, I don’t want to hear it from someone who didn’t even make it to the fight.”
Qrow snorted, based on Winter’s conversation just now however, it seemed like they really did get away. So the Navy was just as useless as the Army was, somehow that made him feel a lot better.
“Oh, so we’re treating that like my fault now? Who was the one who told me to go across the damn docks? I ain’t seeing anyone else who said that, but you.”
“Eugh…”
Winter couldn’t even be bothered to give him a proper response, probably cause he was at least partially right about the whole thing. Sitting down next to her, he offered her his flask, which was firmly rejected with a look of disgust from her.
“It doesn’t have STDs.”
“I’d rather not take my chances.”
Qrow didn’t respond either, instead downing the rest of it in one go.
“What a shitshow, how many did we even get?” He referred to how many White Fang they actually arrested, out of what seemed to be dozens of them in this operation, they only managed to arrest a handful, the rest having scattered to the wind. It was a lot of effort on their part, but the actual results? Nothing substantial, all they did was make the Fang relocate the operation to somewhere else, most of the Dust they smuggled in still under their possession.
“Not enough, where even were you?! I imagined you would have caught them as they were escaping, not find me after the battle was over.”
“I got pre-occupied, only saw the ship take off when I was done. Too late by then, rotten luck I guess.” It was an excuse, but one that probably made sense when factoring in his semblance.
“Rotten luck…who would believe such a thing? Argh!” In a moment of heated anger, Winter craned her neck a bit too high, before the wound forced her to return to normal. When Qrow initially found her, she really was in a sorry state, her Knights mangled and broken beyond repair, a burning, partially submerged Bullhead on the pier she dropped on. Though it didn’t compare to Winter herself, Qrow saw huntsmen being run over by Boarbatusks coming out looking better than she did.
“Take it easy, let your Aura do the work for you.”
“ Tch, easy for you to say-wait, Hutten, she didn’t have Aura.”
If Qrow was drinking something, he might have choked on it. What did she mean by Hutten having no Aura? She had a semblance, which meant she had an Aura, did Winter hit her head on the ground too hard?
“Stop looking at me like I’m insane! I’m positive, she didn’t have Aura at all.”
“...Yeah, sure. Maybe your eyes weren’t working straight then-”
“My eyes were fine then! I stabbed her in the gut with my side sword-”
She what?!
“And she came out of it having bent my tip, it was like stabbing into solid steel. Or at least, trying to.”
Qrow still looked at her sceptically, which made her eject her side sword from her sabre, and much to his surprise, it was indeed, bent at the tip. A pretty big bend too, exactly like stabbing into a solid chunk of steel-
“She didn’t activate her Aura once during the fight, I’m sure of it.”
Then where did her serpent summon come from then?
Deciding that dealing with this shit could be for another day, he simply sighed and nodded. “Sure, whatever you say. Anyways, you’ve seen her up close, anything else we can add about her appearance?”
Though he only got a few details from her about the fight so far, it seemed that Hutten had the strength to completely overpower Winter, even going so far as to choke and lift her with one hand. Wasn’t she shorter than either them by a significant margin?
“Nothing that isn’t already in the few images we have-wait, no, she had horns and-HER EYES!”
He raised an eyebrow at her, what was so special about them? It was welcome to be sure, but not exactly a huge deal.
“They were silver! It glowed when she was fighting me-”
Qrow coughed violently, he choked on his saliva as he rounded on Winter with wide and wild eyes. “Y-You sure?”
“I would not joke about something like this, Qrow. That was a distinctive feature she had, they glowed as she stared at me…like…damn it. We should probably mark her age down as well, she looked much younger than we had initially guessed.”
No, that was too much of a coincidence, but there was absolutely no way in hell-
Summer?
No, that couldn’t…then what was the other option?
“Excuse me, gotta make a few calls. Make sure Jimmy knows of what happened today, like it’s gonna change anything…”
“Wait, Qrow, we aren’t done here-QROW!” He ignored Winter’s shouting behind his back. Quickly moving to an area where there could be no eavesdroppers, bad luck or not, he dialled a saved number on his phone, every moment the ringtone rang, the more anxious he became.
Calm down, she ate dinner with those two just now, it was probably a coincidence, a big, fat coincidence…
Despite telling that to himself over and over again, however, he still could not feel at ease unless he had actual confirmation. When it came to something as important as Silver Eyes, it paid to be careful.
Finally, the number on the other side connected, and he was treated to a very groggy-sounding Yang.
“H-Hello? Uncle Qrow? It’s like two in the morning, why are you calling me right now? Are you drunk dialling again?”
He ignored that baseless accusation, there were more pressing matters right now. “Hey Firecracker, could you do me a solid right now?”
“If this is about a date gone wrong, I swear I’m gonna make Ruby give you Natto on rice for breakfast…”
“Actually, it’s about Ruby. Could you go and check if she’s still asleep? Carefully, don’t want to wake her up.”
He was covering his bases, so that only Yang was the one mad at him later on.
“Ugh, I still think you’re drunk but okay…you know tomorrow’s Saturday, right? I wanted to sleep in…”
Qrow didn’t respond. Instead, he waited for Yang to get up and check on Ruby. Pacing back and forth in anticipation, he heard the creak of a door from the other end of the call.
“Uh…that doesn’t look right. R-Ruby? Y-you in here?” Yang was whispering, but Qrow felt his heart drop as he stood still.
“U-Uncle Qrow? Ruby isn’t on her bed…and her window’s open…oh Oum…the trolley…”
“Yang? Yang?! Snap out of it, this isn’t like that, Ruby’s not gone, she’s-” Qrow tried to get Yang’s attention again before she could remember that incident. No matter how long it had passed, whenever Yang saw anything resembling the ‘trolley’ of some sort, the results were not so great, so much so that Qrow and Tai had to physically bury the damn thing just so Yang was ‘sure’ it was gone. Now however, with Yang’s tendency to be protective of her…
“It’s…It’s happening again! DAD! DAD! WAKE UP! Ruby’s gone!” Yang was shouting now, Tai undoubtedly waking up to it. This kind of scenario was one the three of them secretly dreaded. Ruby staying out late at Vale or Patch was something they didn't mind too much as long as she kept in contact with them, letting them know when she came back so they could escort her from the port. However, this was different, because Ruby was by herself, out of the house in the part of Patch where Grimm were known to roam at night. Needless to say, Yang’s imagination was probably running wild right now.
“Yang! Calm down-Hello?!” The call was ended. Knowing them, they were going to be racing out of the house to flip every square inch of Patch until they found her, and if that didn’t work, they were going to go beyond.
Qrow however, realized how much deeper this rabbit hole just got. “I fucking hate my semblance.”
AN:
I’m looking for a beta reader! For either this fic or my other fics in general, if you are interested please shoot a DM over to me on FF net with a short 150 word paragraph explaining what genres you like to read and any relevant writing/reading experience you may have.
A reviewer called this a ‘crack fic’ recently on FFnet. Honestly not sure how to feel about that. There’s definitely a humorous element to it sure, but a crack fic? It’s not that far gone, and compared to other crack fics, this barely qualifies, if at all. Anyways, no Ruby POV this chapter, tried to make her the primary one, but it didn’t feel right. Generally speaking, the pace of the fic is now picking up as most of the background has been established, so expect the throttle to be turned up as we head into what Ruby and her gang does next.
Heh. Her ‘gang’.
Happy Chinese New Year everyone, hope the red packets you get in the latest event gives you lots of gems this year.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 20: Chapter 19
Chapter Text
Chapter 19
Contrary to popular belief, ‘Kansen’ was not a Sakuran loan word, though that was how the Sakura Empire called its ‘shipgirls’ simply due to coincidence. The official name by scientists around Ruby’s old world called them "Kinetics Artifactual Navy-Self-regulative En-lore Nodes”, otherwise abbreviated as KAN-SEN. Of course, even the scientists themselves realised that calling them by their full names was a fool’s errand, so the abbreviation was quickly adopted by all parties, except for the Sakura Empire for the reasons mentioned above.
True to description, though Kansen looked, sounded and even ate like regular human females, they were anything but. They did not age, change appearance or get ‘hurt’ in the same way as humans did, they, who were born from warships, were in many ways, closer to them than their appearance ever suggested. Some in the old Ironblood science ministries simply said that they were nothing but extremely advanced AI, only made possible due to advances in Wisdom Cube manipulation, while others, primarily in the Navy who were much more conservative, went with a more supernatural approach.
Wisdom cubes were the miracles of their world, neither science nor faith in their gods could explain their properties with any accurate degree the last she remembered. Óðinn the all-father certainly never mentioned their existence, nor was it ever in the texts about the Æsir or Vanir. Perhaps it was a question only left for those already in Valhalla, who could speak to the all-father directly and ask for his wisdom on the matter.
However that still left two big questions which didn’t add up. If the more scientifically accepted version of events were true, then how could Kansen such as Valéan and others exist? Mass-produced ships in her world did not have such ‘spirits’, instead relying on computing power to control their functions, yet she could feel that the old battleship in Vale was just like her. Any materialisation of a ship had to be done through Wisdom Cubes, there was no other way possible. It was an inherent contradiction in what she knew about Kansen, which was far more than what the public of her world should have known.
Then, there was herself. She had grown, changed, and even had gotten sick once from human diseases, a cold, which should not have been possible for her. And yet, as the fight with Winter Schnee had shown, she was not entirely human either, something in between? A hybrid between Kansen and humans?
“Um, excuse m-me?”
Ruby peeled her eyes away from the waves calmly swishing themselves on the beach in front of her. Though it was night, the clear sky meant that the moonlight was enough for her to see everything around her clearly. A frazzled and distraught-looking Anikanov was the one who had approached her, she had ditched the gaudy-looking officer’s cap by then.
“H-hey, I don’t know how you’re so calm about this, but shouldn’t you be stopping them?”
Ruby looked past her, and at Torchwick arguing with the Malachite twins next to their partially submerged stolen dropship on the beach.
“You’re the asshole who said I know the route! Look where we are now, crashed on an island in the middle of Oum-knows where-”
“I WAS EVADING ATLESIAN CRUISERS! YOU CAN’T REALLY EXPECT ME TO HAVE KEPT AN EYE ON OUR FUEL RESERVES RIGHT?! HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THEY DIDN’T FILL IT UP COMPLETELY?! I BARELY KNEW HOW TO FLY THE DAMN THING!”
“Yeah sure, whatever. We’re eating you first by the way, they don’t have much food on the dropship. Do you want us to make it quick or slow and steady?”
“Oh no, don’t you even dare think about it-”
Right, their escape. Which resulted in them crash-landing on an island somewhere approximately south of Forever Fall, and by the look of it, quite the distance away from Vale. Ruby knew where they probably were, she had seen similar stars above her when she took Vale-bound smuggling routes from Vacuo before, meaning that they had landed in one of the many island chains which dotted those lanes. Similar to the Mediterranean Sea in her old world, a popular tourist destination as well for wealthy Valeans. She remembered meeting a cruise liner during a family vacation also around the area, very different from meeting a cargo ship or retired military vessel.
“I’ll let them continue for a while longer. Apologies for threatening you back there.”
Torchwick wanted to elicit a response from Anikanov to make his threat credible, Ruby followed along reluctantly in the best way she knew, summoning Schwartz. Though they didn’t escape because of that, no, using the Ensign was just to buy more time for a desperate situation, their real saviour was due to…
“It’s…fine…so uh, I’m guessing you’re just going to summon planes to pick us up, right? Right?”
Ruby sighed at her. Despite explaining to everyone for what felt like the 100th time that she was not the one who ‘summoned’ those dive bombers, her words were still treated with a giant scoop of salt. Sure, just because she had a ‘summoning’ semblance, that meant she also summoned an entire squadron of Eagle Union dive bombers. Yes, she knew they were Eagle Union dive bombers because of their roundels, no other aircraft on Remnant had anything vaguely star-shaped for theirs.
As they were leaving Forever Fall airspace, she had also received a ping back on her radar which wasn’t of the Edelweiss. No, it was definitely from another Kansen, presumably on the Atlesian craft itself. But who could it have been? Unlike her Sakura Empire allies, she was not all that familiar with the Eagle Union Kansen, her primary opponents aside from the Sirens were the Royal Navy and Iris Libre, leading her to draw a blank on whoever that mystery Kansen was. Eagle Union for sure, but they had so many damn Aircraft Carriers that there were literally dozens of options to choose from.
From light carriers to fleet carriers, it could have even been the legendary Grey Ghost herself. And depending on what the other Kansen remembered, could also potentially be hostile towards her. Azur Lane and Crimson Axis were not on the best of terms exactly the last she remembered, with wounds in particular still going strong despite their tenuous alliance. Did she perhaps mistake her as a friendly Battleship? If so, it would have at least explained why she chose to help a Kansen from the Crimson Axis, even if it was not intentional.
Still, weirder coincidences had happened before, and now she knew that her existence was not unique, there were others, not necessarily friendly maybe, but others in a similar situation. Regardless, however, she could speculate and seek them out later, right now, they had to get off this deserted island.
Making sure that every option was exhausted, Ruby turned to Anikanov with a question. “Is the radio truly not in operation? Are there no other options available?”
Her response was expected, Anikanov shook her head. “If it worked, I would have tried it already. I want to get off this island too, no offence, but I would prefer my youth being spent within civilization, not stranded on some tropical island surrounded by terr-criminals.”
Ruby did not take offence at almost being called a terrorist again. To be completely fair, being seen at a White Fang operation was going to create all sorts of assumptions, one that she made sure Anikanov knew were false. With Schwarz behind her when doing it obviously.
However, the Malachite Twins looked as if they were about to skewer Roman and roast him over a fire. As much as she would have liked to see it happen, it wasn’t strictly his fault, some of it did lie in herself as well. Though not much, since Torchwick was the one who got her under Beacon’s radar in the first place, so in the end, it was still mostly his fault. Getting up, Ruby stretched her legs, the impact from their somewhat hard landing gone by now.
“What are you doing?”
“Like you said, getting us back to civilization.” Ruby calmly walked to the edges of the beach, stopping just before the waves touched her boots. By then, the arguing criminals had stopped their bickering and began looking at her.
“Uh, Red, you okay there…?”
Neo had gotten off from sitting on the dropship’s wings, moving closer to Ruby with some concern in her eyes. This really was the worst case scenario, wasn’t it? She had heard stories of early planes being less reliable, thus causing them to fall from the sky mid-journey, with the surviving passengers washed up on an abandoned desert island. To a Kansen, the solution was simple, simply sail away. However, now she had others with her, and she was not so cold-hearted as to simply leave them there, no matter how much of a threat to her identity it may be. Kansen were created first and foremost for humanity’s protection, it was now time to make good on that oath.
With one leg out above the water, Schwarz had been summoned, her rigging out in full display for everyone to see. Unlike her previous partial summons, this time it was the full package, scythe and metal spider-like appendages sticking out from under her coat as well. Anikanov was taken aback by the sudden additions, and she could hear the gasps from the Malachite twins as well. She looked as demonic as Ulrich Von Hutten was, Ironblood ships were not as endearing to the public as Sakura Empire or Eagle Union ships were after all.
“...commencing deployment.”
She jumped, having to get far enough from the beach to have some amount of depth beneath her feet. Like regular ships, Kansen in rigging form could also get ‘beached’ due to a lack of depth when coming ashore, thus the act of jumping for distance was a necessary and standard procedure for any beach deployments. Ruby ignored the cries behind her as she made for the open waters, she first had to get far enough, and more importantly, find an area with a deep enough depth to handle her hull.
“Did she just ditch us?” Anikanov asked none in particular, seeing the form of who she thought was just a regular girl three days ago take off like she was ice-skating on water. No, after a couple of blinks, she confirmed that Ruby Rose, or at least someone who was introduced to her as Ruby Rose, was literally skating on top of the water. Upon further examination, she wasn’t hovering above it like a hovercraft, no, it was more like she was actually sailing on it, bobbing up and down according to the waves as well.
“Okay, her being a smuggler makes a lot more sense now…” One of the colorful twins who she was unfortunately the hostage of commented from the side, and Anikanov could begin to see a lot of the things said about Hutten in the report make sense.
“She’s coming back for us though, right? Neo? You two? C’mon, you know her a lot better than I do, please tell me she isn’t just leaving us here…” Roman said the thought she was keeping to herself, was she leaving them to go get help? It made sense, though she may have been able to sail on literal water because of what she assumed was her very versatile semblance, carrying the five of them was probably not going to pan out-
“Wait, weren’t those battleship guns on her scythe…?” She did notice those things pretty easily. Despite the metal-grimm-looking face that was on it, she noticed the very out-of-place miniature main batteries on top of her weapon pretty easily. Mecha-shift weapons included all manner of firearms in their designs sure, but an actual turret? An oversized one as well? Before she could get another word in, however, she was suddenly blinded by a bright, blue searing light.
“What in the?!”
Despite covering her eyes however, she could not see much else, with the darkness around them amplifying the blinding lights much more than in daytime. It came from the direction where Ruby had sailed off to, roughly half a kilometre out from where their island was. As it died down however, Anikanov immediately noticed her shoes getting wet, looking down, she was no longer standing on dry sand, but rather, her Atlesian standard-issue dress shoes were submerged under seawater. The entire beach was suddenly rushed by a large wave, though no higher than their ankles, it made her look up from covering her eyes.
She choked immediately, a result of reflex upon seeing something familiar, yet impossible in reality. Anikanov stared at a Battleship, the same one from the briefing she received on ‘Hutten’, same superstructure, same general shape, same number of main batteries…
Like a ghost ship that had come out of nowhere, its steel grey hull reflected in the moonlight, illuminating it like a phantom under the moon. It was surreal and terrifying to see, and yet, she could not deny a certain phantasmal influence at what she saw. Beauty in terrifying might, as she would have described Atlas’s old robotic projects, such as the one protecting Argus.
For a while, everyone on the beach was too stunned to speak, their gazes remained locked at the Battleship appearing out of nowhere. An odd thought came to her then, about Atlas hearing about an entire battleship appearing out of thin air, and how they would stop at nothing to acquire such a technology. It soon passed, as the battleship flipped on a searchlight, illuminating the beach entirely in another searing brightness.
A few minutes later, in the long moments between wondering if it would open fire or not, she heard the sounds of a small motorboat approaching them. It was a sound she heard quite often, as Naval yards no matter for Airships or for Seafaring vessels still used them for many purposes. Squinting her eyes, she saw that it was a small tender boat, used primarily for ferrying things and people from shore to ship if needed. In Great War era ships, all ships to a certain size carried them, virtually non-existent in Airships now however.
In hindsight later, Anikanov should not have been surprised at the person who was on the tender. It was Ruby, missing her scythe and familiar, but standing in front of the tender without anyone piloting the motor at its back. Gently beaching itself on the sand in front of them, she hopped off the tender, and gave everyone there a stern, cold look.
“I have terms if you want to sail on my hull. Accept, and I will take you back to Vale, do not, and I will leave you here.”
Her tone left no room for disagreements, not that there was ever going to be any with her words backed up by naval artillery.
“Good.”
Ruby took a few bags out of the tender, and threw them onto the beach.
“These are inflatable balloons, I’m taking the dropship with me.”
Just then, Anikanov realised that if she ever got out of this alive, she was going to have to explain to Specialist Schnee where the prototype dropship went…
AN:
I’m looking for a beta reader! For either this fic or my other fics in general, if you are interested please shoot a DM over to me on FF net with a short 150 word paragraph explaining what genres you like to read and any relevant writing/reading experience you may have.
One of the things that no one told me about being a Fanfic writer was that you will get weird-ass DMs. So much so that it almost made me delete my FF net profile this past weekend just to not have the possibility of that anymore. However, my rational mind won out, and I kept myself from doing anything drastic like that. Though if AO3 ever implements a DM system you bet those thoughts are going to resurface. FFnet users are…very interesting people, though I’m not sure if that’s because of the anonymity DMing has over AO3’s public comments.
Anyways, shorter chapter this time, I don’t have a lot of juice in my for this story right now, replaying Cyberpunk 2077 after 2.11 came out. On another note, playing that new raising TB mode for Azur Lane has told me that I’d be a terrible parent, so any plans of having children of my own are currently dashed. The next chapter will be a road trip one, or in this case, a sailing trip as they make their way back to Vale.
The next update should be A Man Like Him…Is a Teacher?!, if I can find the energy to write the damn thing. I’ve calculated that I probably average around 20k words per month across all my stories, with some outliers obviously. Do I want to get those numbers up? Not really, it’s just a hobby for me, not my living, so here’s another reminder that telling me to hurry up will do the opposite effect of whatever the intention was. Been getting a few of those lately again, so here’s a gentle reminder not to do that. Many a fanfic author have left writing that way, some forever.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 21: Chapter 20
Chapter Text
Chapter 20
An age-old question that any Kansen would have asked at least once in their existence was why their vessels had all the components necessary for keeping a crew. It was a redundant part of them, none of their core functions, mainly being either used for fighting or transporting goods, needed human hands to do their job.
Reloading her main batteries, and sending out signals to even navigation were all done by just the Kansen alone, thus making the need for things such as crew quarters and large mess halls entirely useless for the often sole occupant of the ship. And yet, ships designed entirely for Kansen, which deleted the need for crew areas were always soundly rejected by Wisdom Cubes, even for priority research ships. The core tenants of anyone designing one of those ‘blueprint’ ships as they were, had to include among other things, sufficient crew amenities as if they were designing a regular warship, crewed by human hands.
Thus, every single Kansen Ruby knew of could in theory, be entirely manned by a crew even if it was a complete waste of manpower and an active hindrance to the Kansen. They were better off being served in manned transports or even far away from the battlefield entirely, safe and secure in their fortified ports. She had heard of a few occasionally conducting transport duties, usually only when no other transport was available or it was a desperate situation. No one wanted to use them for something as mundane and unimportant as that, the frontlines needed them above all else most of the time.
Ruby, or even Ulrich for that matter, never had a crew. Some of the earliest Kansen who had converted hulls did remember having them, but they were few and far between. So, for the first time, the others on her hull weren’t fellow Kansen, but rather, people.
Humans, and by Oum, it was annoying.
“No, Neo, I will not let you ‘shoot’ the main guns, even if you ask nicely.”
Ruby ignored the loud stomp coming from the two-toned girl’s boots, instead focusing her attention entirely on the experimental bullhead being raised by crane onto her hull. Usually, the crane would have been operated by dozens of men, each making sure that the process went smoothly, from an outsider's perspective however, the crane and the various cranks were being automatically wound up. Not unlike the automated processes seen in Atlesian technology, but much less advanced in view, giving it a somewhat eerie sight. It was essentially seeing all the actions that should have been attributed to human motions, only with the human part entirely missing.
Neo, not giving up on her childish desire, shoved another message right in front of Ruby with her scroll.
‘I’ll aim it at the water! No one will even notice anything!’
“Everyone within dozens of kilometres of us will hear the blast, which will be the opposite of keeping quiet.”
‘You promised me a ride on the bullhead!’ Neo wasted no time in typing out a new message, still eager to get something out of this experience. One would think that after that ordeal she would have been awed into submission like the rest of them, but Neo was not anyone within the realms of normality so that point was moot for her.
“You got a ride, remember? It was your partner who crashed it, not mine.” Pointing that fact out only elicited a bigger pout from Neo, who was trying to glare her into giving in. Knowing her personality, if she wanted something, usually related to some amount of violence involved, Neo got it, no matter what she had to do. Sighing, Ruby arced her head to look at an Anti-Aircraft platform above her, containing a manned Flak gun.
“I’ll let you shoot one of the small Flak guns, only when we’re out on open seas.”
Neo took a look at the Anti-Aircraft gun she was talking about, and after a noticeable look of disappointment, nodded with less enthusiasm. She walked away after that, before shooting her an expectant look, telling Ruby to uphold that agreement. Just as Neo left the decks, the bullhead was completely secured, through some clever rope management and chains keeping it in place, they were ready to set off now.
Before firing up her propellers, however, she took stock of where the guests on her hull were. Neo was the last one to remain with her outside, having since gone into the superstructure, probably hoping to find Roman, currently wandering the seemingly endless halls of her lower deck, scratching his head at the surreal nature of his situation.
The Malachite twins, actually having had enough excitement for one day were guided to the mess halls by Ruby, using blinking lights to show them the way. They were currently sitting at a table, blinking at their surroundings and each other over what was currently happening.
Then her last guest, Ensign Anikanov, seemed to be the most well-adjusted one out of everyone else right now. She was currently making her way down the lower decks, clearly having experience with navigating ships, slowly but surely heading towards vital areas such as the machinery rooms. Curiosity perhaps? Or a desire to acquire information about Ruby herself?
Whatever it may be, the watertight doors leading to important bulkheads were sealed shut, not that she could have gone inside anyways. Or actually, should Ruby let her in? It would have made her even more confused, seeing as how it was literally just a regular engine room, albeit running on a foreign and alien power. Not that Anikanov would have guessed that, still, something to think about, especially regarding what she should do with her in the future.
Five souls on her hull right now, each wandering around with a mixture of curiosity, fear and uncanny awe. A scant few hours ago Ruby would have never guessed this was how her night would go, but, as more things changed, some things stayed the same. Because Neo was currently making a beeline towards one of her secondaries, probably trying to get inside of the turret.
Even if she did get in, the ammunition had to be fed up via the magazine, thus rendering her efforts useless. Ruby did briefly consider dissuading her from it, but she soon realized it was a great distraction, letting Neo wander around unaccompanied may be an ever bigger risk after all.
With every one of her ‘crew’ sufficiently accounted for, Ruby made her way up to the bridge, checking that there were no obstacles in her planned route. In lieu of modern navigation systems, or a connection to relays along popular routes, one had to use the oldest form of navigation to travel.
Any Navigation Officer knew how to travel by stars, looking up at the night sky with only an instrument, he could, in theory, know exactly where they were, or at least, know which direction to go. Modern equipment could fail, electronics could encounter interference, a catastrophic fire could damage them entirely, or even being stranded on a lifeboat were all situations in which celestial navigation was needed.
Today, she was blessed with a clear sky, no clouds, and very visible stars. Perhaps Þórr saw fit to give his blessings to her today, or it may even have been a simple case of clear weather. Regardless of the reasons, everything was ready for them to begin. Slowly, but surely, she felt the familiar thrum of her engines firing up, rotating the shaft of her propellers gradually. Keeping an eye on her speedometer, she knew by instinct what her speed was, but seeing it tick upwards with her sight made her more reassured.
One, to three, to five, to seven and then to nineteen knots. Just under regular cruising speed, it took a few minutes, manoeuvring such a large vessel was not the same as changing directions on a speedboat, careful care and precision had to be maintained, lest anything, or in this case, anyone broke.
Route planned and executed, she continued to keep an eye on her surroundings for any unwanted guests, as well as keeping her radar on so that no repeats of that fishing boat incident could happen again. Satisfied after another couple of minutes, she estimated that their arrival back to Vale would be sometime around Dawn, five or six hours if she didn’t have to evade patrols.
With any luck, Yang and her father would be sleeping in when she snuck back into her room, pretending to have had a good night’s rest. Speaking of home, she began thinking about what to make for breakfast tomorrow morning when she became aware of Melanie and Militia poking around her pantry, trying to find something to eat or drink. Realising that after that whole ordeal energy was spent, and stomachs probably asking for some kind of sustenance, Ruby made her way down to her lower decks, directly to the mess hall where the twins took up residence.
Though she usually didn’t keep a lot of food on hand, there were times when smuggling jobs took long routes, and thus some food was indeed needed. Taking stock of her inventory, the only things she had were frozen beef, onions, potatoes, carrots and rice…
Wait, there was also that Vacuoan spice mixture she received as a gift after a job well done by an importer in Vale who didn’t want to pay the exorbitant tariffs set by the council. If she remembered correctly, the Royal Navy, due to their Dominions and far-off lands they ‘owned’ had access to her world’s best and most varied spices. In particular, there was a dish that they served quite often to their sailors, even if it was a pale mockery of that dish from the land it originated from.
Well, considering all that, she could whip up that special dish quickly, and without too much hassle.
“Naval curry…naval curry…where did I learn that recipe from?”
Wait a minute, was it even from the Royal Navy? Where did that dish come from?! Ruby did not know, all she could vaguely remember was someone teaching it to her long ago at a naval base, not in Ironblood, but somewhere else she could not remember. She spent the rest of the journey trying to remember, but nothing came to mind.
Automation was nothing new to Roza, it having been present in the Atlesian armed forces since she joined. Though proponents of the system were opposed by figures in the armed forces, officers such as her father within the officer ranks for example, the alternative still won out, the reasons why that did dependent on personal opinion. Special interests? A desire to reduce manpower dependency? The perception that machines were more reliable than humans? All potentially playing a role, but the end result was that the Atlesian armed forces were well on their way to becoming entirely automated.
Ships were still manned, albeit with a fraction of the crew they once needed. Boilers using fire dust didn’t need to be manned by dozens of crew when only half a dozen were needed to supervise the automated process it underwent with occasional repairs. Not to say Atlas didn’t have seafaring warships, but those positions were not particularly sought after, the airships were where every new officer with any sense of climbing up the ranks went.
However, trade-offs notwithstanding, there were things that the ‘older’ ships had over the newer airships. Armour, firepower and the fact that they weren’t going to fall to the ground if their engines got taken out. Not that she would ever admit it, but it was a fear of heights that partially motivated her to take up a design ministry position. Besides, she grew up with seafaring ships all her life, not those airships.
Thus, she felt a weird sense of deja vu moving around the halls of…Hutten. She still didn’t know what to call her, Roza knew Hutten’s real name but did not say it due to a strong desire to not get on her bad side. Checking the map on the wall next to her, she was somewhere between bulkheads right now, having passed by what appeared to be storage and crew quarters. All were essentially empty of course, despite the bedding and other amenities appearing to be fully stocked.
She honestly expected to see some sort of crew when she first boarded the battleship, but as Hutten had said, she had no crew. Climbing up to the decks had revealed no one, not a single soul except for the kidnappers with her. It was a true ‘ghost ship’ if she had to describe it, though maybe not as eerie as some media depictions have made before. The ship was not dilapidated, haunted (hopefully) or even deserted, it was like the crew had simply disappeared, leaving everything in a neat state. She had seen ships that were mothballed before, left in a preserved state just in case they were needed again; Hutten was not a ship like that. It was active and ready for action.
Truthfully, she wondered why Hutten allowed her to roam around, she half expected to get escorted to the brig immediately upon boarding. The last she saw of her was on the decks, where the prototype bullhead was being-
“There you are.”
“AAAAAA-”
Yelping and jumping in surprise like a surprised house cat, Roza found herself ambushed by Hutten as she rounded a corner, having heard nothing of her approach at all.
“Come, I’ve made some food, everyone is at the mess hall already.”
“Whagh-I don’t, wait, shouldn’t you be steering the ship?!” Remembering that they were currently underway, Roza’s thoughts organized themselves into remembering that she was talking to Hutten, who she thought was on the bridge and steering the battleship, not down on the lower decks, where she couldn’t see anything.
“I am steering the ship, we just passed by a lighthouse.” Hutten’s reply did not make things any clearer for Roza, who just stared at her with a bigger intensity.
“But, we’re two levels below deck, how are you seeing outside-”
“Don’t worry about it, we’ll make it back to Vale. Come on, I don’t trust Roman to have waited for us.”
All Roza could really do was just follow her, not like she was in a position to demand answers anyway. It was similar to interacting with her superiors, only this time the power dynamics were of a different nature. After following her for a minute, Hutten suddenly stopped in front of her, having just gone into a larger open area, not far from the officer's quarters.
“Your shoes, are they wet?”
“Huh? I mean, yeah, kinda got flooded when you brought out your hull…” Since stepping foot onto the battleship, every step she took was punctuated by a slight squishing sound, between her wet socks and boots it was very much audible in the vast, empty hallways.
“Follow me.” Doing as she was told, again, no way to refuse, Roza followed Hutten. At the very least she didn’t seem to be leading her towards an early grave, for a moment back then she thought they were to be blown out of the sky when Torchwick ‘negotiated’.
Cutting through a crew area, they arrived at what appeared to be a corner shop, selling all sorts of old-style goods. Canned foods, chocolates, candies to even cigarettes were all neatly packed in unfamiliar packaging. They resembled styles seen right before the Great War in Mantle but with unfamiliar writing and text. The shelves were all neatly organized, and fully stocked, just like the well-kept crew quarters she saw on the way.
“What’s your size?” Hutten went behind the counter, and into what appeared to be a storage room filled with boxes.
“Oh, I’m uh…” Roza didn’t remember it, thus leaving her mouth hanging as Hutten fished out a cardboard box and placed it on the counter.
“Here, these should fit nicely.” Placing a pair of socks down as well, Hutten opened the box, revealing a crisp and brand-new pair of boots. Roza would describe them as vintage, entirely out of style today, but quite stylish, it even looked like real leather. Now that she had a better look, there were even uniforms in the storage closet behind her, ones she did not recognize at all.
Sitting down on a nearby bench, she removed her wet pair of shoes in favour of brand new ones, finding that they fit nicely, exactly as Hutten had said they would. No, she was not dreaming, she really did see a whole battleship appear from thin air, the hard leather boots she wore now were evidence of it. Taking a deep breath, she decided that her curiosity had to be sated before it burst out, the area they were in good as any to do so. This was actually similar to when they went shopping in Vale, the first time they met.
“What are you? I’ve worked with ships my entire life, nothing comes close to what I’ve seen so far. It’s like you’re…are you a spirit? The Battleship itself?”
Hutten found that question amusing, judging by how she let out an amused huff at Roza. “You’re not the first one to ask me this. Brave, too, considering you are my prisoner right now.”
“Shouldn’t I be in a brig, then? Didn’t you come to ask me to get food as well? I don’t know anyone who would treat a prisoner like that.”
“Maybe I’m a different kind of warden. Make no mistake, if I deemed you a threat to me you would have gone overboard already, the seas around these parts are infested with aquatic Grimm, especially during nightfall. I trust you would not want to find out?”
The image of being fed to a horde of Pirahstalkers was enough to make Roza instantly shut her mouth, being extra careful now with her next words.
“You’re familiar with warships, I know. Maybe for more modern ones, but judging by how you knew roughly which part of the ship you were in, I guess that you were trying to find more information about me, am I wrong?”
“Uh…it’s…more for my curiosity?” It was a weak response, but an accurate one. Not every day were you able to see a still functioning Battleship in Remnant up close and personal, even if it was acting as a prison for her right now.
“Hm. And? What is your conclusion? What am I in your eyes?” Hutten asked, crossing her arms as she waited for an answer.
“I…I don’t know, everything would have made sense if you had a crew, but it’s empty. We’re the only ones onboard right now. Did you once have one? If you have a slop chest, that means it once serviced a crew, right?”
Hutten did not answer, instead looking at Roza with a blank expression.
“...never had a crew…”
An odd, melancholic expression was then shown on Hutten’s face as if she was remembering something else entirely. It was only for a brief moment, however, as she turned to look back at Roza again. “We’re wasting time, the others are there already, let’s not have the curry go cold.”
Handing the box over to Roza, she stuffed her wet boots and socks inside of it, before following along behind Hutten. Passing by a dozen different paths she didn’t know were there before, they arrived at a large mess area, probably able to feed dozens, just one of many such mess halls on the ship. A ship of Hutten’s size probably held more than two thousand crew if in fighting condition, just thinking about the logistics alone made Roza’s head spin.
As she said, everyone else was already there, surprisingly waiting for them to come back. While Hutten went off to the kitchen, she took a seat at the big table the others were at, sitting a considerable distance away from the dangerous…fellow passengers. The two-toned one in particular called Neopolitan gave her an unsettling grin, making her spine shiver involuntarily.
“Behave, Neo, she a passenger just like you are.” That unsettling feeling was broken by none other than Hutten herself, coming back out with a large pot of curry and a pot of cooked rice. Feeling her stomach rumble, Roza had not actually eaten anything for quite some time, having been unceremoniously dragged to participate in the special reconnaissance mission under Specialist Schnee.
“Actually, why is she here instead of your brig? I know you have one, Red!” Roman pointed out, Roza having last seen him going deeper inside of the ship.
“Careful, Roman, I trust you have not forgotten the terms you agreed to. I can and will cast you adrift on a lifeboat, or dispense with that entirely and just throw you overboard. What I do with her is my business alone, you can sit somewhere else if you take offence.” Roman settled down with a grumble after that, clearly having the desire to ask more questions, but considering one of the terms she made them agree to was ‘no disputes’ with her command, Roza quietly kept her mouth shut. And also that no one was to question what she just did, under threat of being ditched, or be shelled by her main batteries if her existence was exposed later on.
“Pah, I’ll talk to you later…” The Bowler hat thief stood up, but not before grabbing a bowl of curry and rice along with him. He sat on another table, far away on the other side of the mess hall. Not long after, Roza was passed a bowl of curry herself, just smelling it made her stomach rumble again, and she didn't hesitate in spooning a perfect ratio of rice, curry sauce and beef into her mouth.
It tasted divine , the rich aroma, unique spice blend, and most importantly, the care taken to make it…reminded her of home. Of simpler days, when her mother made Solyanka for dinner, eating it together along with her father, coming home from a long deployment. Or it was the hunger talking, either way, she did not hesitate in wolfing it down, the others around her doing something similar.
“We’re five hours to Vale, until then, try not to make a mess. You can find a bed in the crew areas if you want it.” Hutten said, though how many heard her clearly was another matter. She left soon after, heading off in the direction of the bridge, leaving everyone in the mess hall to finish their meals.
“Heeey, aren’t those shoes new? Where’d you get them?” The two twins, Mela..Mala…something scooted right over next to Roza, both of their gazes at the new, real leather boots she had on.
“Oh…uh…I got it from h-her? There’s a store on the officer’s area with a bunch of-” Before she even stopped talking, the twins were gone, off in the direction that she had arrived in not long ago.
“Come on Neo! We’re not gonna let them beat us to free stuff!” Roman took off soon after, followed by Neo, hot on the twin’s heels. Wait a minute, was it free? Even on Atlesian airships those things were usually bought by deducting pay…
“But…they aren’t free…are they?”
There was no quartermaster present, so was it really not free? Besides, Hutten never mentioned anything about taking stuff from the ship, a few goodies for herself wouldn’t hurt either, especially after that whole ordeal she experienced. Fishing the last of her curry, she too stood up, making her way back to the slop chest she just left, hoping to snag an officer’s scarf she saw back there.
AN:
A slop chest, or ‘ship’s store’ is where crew usually bought personal amenities such as toothbrushes or snacks. Though sometimes it also does sell uniforms, such as the one on HMS Belfast, go visit it if you’re ever in London. Virtually every modern warship big enough has one, if particularly big, there may even be multiple stores to fulfil any needs of a crew. Also, definitely not free, so Ruby may have something to say about that.
Be civil in the comments below.
Shameless Advertising: Void Touched Throne (Warframe x F/GO)
Chapter 22: Chapter 21
Chapter Text
Chapter 21
Deep within Ruby’s hull, there were nearly endless amounts of sections used for a variety of purposes. From armoured sections housing her magazine to refrigerated areas for food, the limited space that made up her hull had to be used with great efficiency. She was not a cruise liner, with large, dedicated amounts of space for fun recreation, but a military vessel, where a single section that was built improperly or too weak could mean her sinking or winning an engagement. Of course, Kansen bucked that trend somewhat by being who they were, they still needed to ensure that their vessel was in running order, being quite their ‘secondary’ body in literal ways.
However, since she did not need her two-thousand-plus complement to function, that meant many areas were not used at all, thus allowing her to use them for other purposes, namely cargo transport. There were some restrictions, however, unlike dedicated transport Kansen who could carry large items, she was limited to whatever could fit below decks. Thankfully, most of the things she carried were that size, the largest thing she ever carried being smuggled disassembled vehicle chassis. There was one job that she was forced to abandon, the client assumed she had a trawler of some kind, and wanted her to carry an entire fleet of Mistralian Atlesian armoured cars. He was not happy with that arrangement of course, but Ruby held the advantage then, what was he going to do? Complain to Junior?
“Twenty eight…twenty nine…thirty…thirty-one…” Behind turret Augustus, the furthest aft facing main batteries was a storage area for spare machinery parts that went unused, Schwarz had packed all thirty-five boxes of dust crystals there. Normally it would have been spread out around her ship as it was technically volatile, and thus should have been in the magazine where in case of a detonation, damage would be limited. Though things were quite hectic back then, so Ruby didn’t mind too much, besides, it wouldn’t be on her ship for long.
“...and thirty-five! All accounted for, except for the ones we lost in the bullhead, but we can write it off, right, Neo?” From the sides, and atop on of the boxes, Neo gave an offhand wave, having been fiddling with a bayonet she…bought. What were they thinking, that they could just all crowd around the shop and Ruby wouldn’t notice? No, she made them pay for every single thing they touched, the good thing about Lien was that it was plastic, so the excuse of their money being waterlogged didn’t work then.
Roman reached for his pocket, pulling out a brand new La Habana cigar Ruby made him pay near triple the price for, justifying it by his poor piloting skills and also the fact that only she had them in Remnant. Though before he could light it, Ruby placed an iron grip on his other hand with the lighter.
“Hey! What’s the big idea-”
Ruby flung out her other free hand, right at the ‘no smoking’ symbol, consisting of a cigarette with a giant ‘X’ across it. Roman got the idea, despite being unable to read the Iron Blood words printed right below it, even across worlds, the ideas were pretty much universal.
“Oh come on! Even if a fire does start, can’t you just, I dunno, make it go away or something? It’s your ship, right Red?”
Ruby crossed her arms at him, glaring at the lighter before he finally put it back into his pocket. “It’s not that simple. You are here because I allow it, the fact that I even let you buy those cigars is bad enough. If you do want to smoke it, do it in the Officer’s lounge, they have ash trays there at least.”
“Can’t you bend it at least once? I’ve never seen this band before, nor have I heard of whatever ‘La Habana’ is, feels and smells damn good though. I have no idea how you got it, nor am I that interested in knowing, but the connoisseur in me is dying to have a puff right now, can’t you give a fella a chance?”
Roman held out the cigar in front of her, doing his best ‘poor, unlucky man’ expression, one that Ruby knew was fake from years of swindling.
“Smoke it elsewhere, or I throw you overboard.”
“Fine! Alright, you’re worse than some mafia bosses, you know that?”
If a mafia boss could call upon a salvo of eight sixteen-inch shells, then Ruby may as well have been running the Vale underworld by now. But she didn’t, so Roman was wrong.
Pssssh-clink
Behind her, Ruby heard the sound of a carbonated drink being opened, turning around, she saw that Neo had decided to try out the orange soda she found at the store. Interestingly, Ruby remembered it was originally an Eagle Union company that made it in Iron Blood, though with the war between them, it was replaced by a local one, instead switching to an orange flavour as that was in abundance with their Sardegnan trade partners. Though she first had to make sure Neo grabbed the one for human consumption, and not the one for Kansen specifically. The fact that the two were quite close in bottling resulted in a few incidents where Iron Blood sailors had their stomachs pumped. Maybe it was shortsighted to make Kansen-specific products so close to their human counterparts after all.
“So, everything’s still here, and the goods are fine. You said you were going to get these back to us, right? Any specific method you were thinking about or…”
“Just give me a drop-off point, and you’ll have all your dust back.”
“Alright, that sure works fine. Oum I love working with professionals again, if I had you from the beginning we wouldn’t be in this mess…say, you thinking about expanding your portfolio? I’ve got a really good idea that can benefit us both-”
“I have a crane that can slowly lower you into the water, say your next words carefully.”
“Let me finish, also, you should mix up your threats, the more you use them, the less effective they are. Anyways, you don’t want to smuggle anything too illegal, I respect the caution and risk-aversion, but, all I’m saying is that you’re already smuggling Dust, what’s a job or two more?”
Roman noticed Ruby narrowing her eyes at him, at this point the two interacted enough for him to know she was at her breaking point so to speak.
“Red? This…ship, I’ve went around, and the numbers aren’t exact, but one run, maybe two, filled to the brim with Dust will be more than the amount Neo and I have amassed for the past six months combined, double or triple the amount we have. I know you’re not keen on getting arrested, but no one in the business is, and lemme ask, are you going to run small jobs for the rest of your life, or go retire on one big payday? Cause I promise you, whatever you’re getting right now, is peanuts compared to what the payday from Dust is gonna be.”
Roman was running a relatively small operation, Ruby realised from the docks. He was not using large cargo ships or even large aircraft to ferry his smuggled dust, but small, discrete vessels, small motor boats, trawlers, bullheads for each run. One didn’t need to be a logistics officer to see that was the most inefficient way to transport goods, but the very nature of his operation required him to do it that way. Large cargo ships were subject to inspection, and so were large aircraft, each potential loss was worth too much for the payoff to be worth it.
“You see, what I needed was a professional, the White Fang are…fanatics, dedicated, sure, but in the end of the day, they were civvies turned into terrorists. Not exactly great in the whole discreet smuggling operation thing I needed. Get them to smash up some human-owned dust stores? Great! Get them to move product without making a peep over two continents? Might as well throw the stuff overboard, cause the losses were staggering.”
Roman banged on the metal walls of the storage area twice, “Hear that? That’s what I need to finally get this thing over with, Neo and I have been stuck on this job forever, and with no end in sight. You help me out, one more time, and you’ll be set up for life, no need for smuggling counterfeit goods from Mistral anymore, you can buy all the damn floating bullheads you want, and I won’t give a damn anymore. Think of it like helping a friend out, Neo is in this boat exactly as I am-yeow!”
A bottle cap was flung at Roman’s forehead, a direct hit. Neo did not look too pleased at Roman, having so far been keeping to herself, sipping on her drink.
“You know we need her, Neo! We’ve been trying to get out of this damn job forever, now’s a Oum-damned golden opportunity. Also, you wouldn’t happen to have a huge stock of those things you sold, right? I’m sure we can make a killing on the re-sale market, trust me, I know a few people who would love to get their hands on this stuff.”
Ignoring the latter part, Ruby focused in on Roman complaining about his operation again, if he was so loathe to continue it, why did he do it in the first place?
“If you hate it so much, why did you get into it in the first place? You’re not the type to work with the Fang, so someone else is sponsoring you, am I wrong?” Roman and Neo were also small time. The capital required to even begin a large scale smuggling operation should have been something they didn’t have, which meant some other group was backing them, could have been the White Fang to begin with, but that didn’t seem to be the case when she talked with Rory. No, there was a third party involved, but that was just a hunch, for now.
Roman suddenly shot a glance over at Neo, a secret conversation silently taking place, but a few seconds later, the two-toned girl relented, giving Roman a ‘continue’ gesture.
“You’re not wrong, Red. Yeah, there’s someone else who’s providing the funding I guess. Stuck up pain in the ass is what she is, can’t believe we took that offer in the first place, worst blunder I’ve ever made in my career…”
The reactions were not something Ruby expected, whoever Roman was working with, both he and Neo seemed to regret, or even fear her a little if she was reading them correctly.
“I assume they are a large organization?” It could have been anyone, the Yamaguchi in Mistral, the Corsair clans in Vacuo or even the elusive Spider crime syndicate she only heard rumours of.
"I wish, would have at least been easier to deal with that way, no, it’s just one person, one woman actually.”
Roman and Neo were not the types to get intimidated by a single person, so either she had connections, or was strong enough to handle the two of them with absolute power.
“And…you can’t just tie her to a cinder block and throw her into the harbour?” They weren’t above doing those things, nor did Ruby care too much about it, she was not in any position to be an upstanding moral person either.
“Hah! Tying Cinder to a cinder block…gotta be some irony in that. No, Red, don’t think we’ll get the chance before Neo and I turn into human bacon, the crisp kind, not the one you get in farmer’s markets. She’s kinda a unique case, one we don’t wanna cross.”
Even Neo, usually carefree about most things had a serious and solemn expression, arguably more informative than anything Roman could say about this mysterious woman.
“So, this ‘Cinder’ is the one who wants you to move all this Dust? For what reason? There are easier ways to get Dust, she could have set up a company, even fake, the SDC would have sold it to them anyways. Why go so far?” It was a lot of work in acquiring what was essentially a common product, anyone with a liscense to sell Dust could purchase it from the auctions or re-sellers directly, it was why she didn’t get too many Dust smuggling offers.
“Damned if I know! I have some theories, none of it good for business, but I have no proof right now, all I know is that it goes through the Fang, some of it goes to running their operations, others to safehouses, but I am funneling it around the Mountain Glenn region. Probably some Fang bases there, it’d be where I would set up camp if I was a terrorist cell.”
She learned about the Mountain Glenn region before in class, tragedy as it was, the resulting decision suppress it was something she understood from a military perspective. Grimm were attracted to negativity, and announcing that tens of thousands of civilians were trapped there, those in Vale with relatives there would have attracted more to the cities, making evacuation even harder. Of course, it didn’t stop the ruling council from being voted out next election cycle. Before Roman could continue on, Neo saundered over to his side, showing her some text written on her scroll.
“...Neo wants me to inform you that there is a sliiight chance that…um…you might get dragged into our mess. Y’know, since you helped out in the battle, are currently smuggling our Dust, and with the whole White Fang seeing you there…”
“And why can’t I just say ‘no’ if she comes asking? I doubt this ‘Cinder’ would be able to do anything to me.” Ruby cut through what Roman was hiding, it wasn’t him who was going to drag her in, but whoever they were working with.
“I’d not be so confident, Red, she has some weird, but powerful semblance, kinda like yours-”
“Does her semblance allow her to shoot a broadside of eight sixteen-inch high explosive shells beyond visual range?”
“Well, no, but-”
“How about several inches of armor plate? No? Then I have naught to fear of this Cinder, if she does try anything, then I will fight. But until then, if she does not bother me, I will not bother her.”
The idea was non-interference, something Junior recommended her to do all the way back, and was something Ruby generally stuck with out of convenience. To be involved in things not related to her generally wasn’t worth it, various military engagements in Ironblood’s long martial history were because of entanglements that ended up being detrimental to them.
“Don’t think she’ll give you a choice, but I wouldn’t mind if you blew her up. Actually, if we lured her to a forest in the woods, how quickly could you blow up the entire area? I guarantee she can’t fly or anything, so it’ll probably be a direct hit-”
“I’m not killing anyone, let alone fire my guns in anger.”
“Yet you let Neo shoot that thing earlier?”
Neo went through two-hundred Anti-Aircraft rounds before Ruby finally stopped feeding it, the expression she had belonged to someone who should not be anywhere near military weapons.
“Would she have stopped bugging me if I didn’t?”
Roman did not speak, thus making Ruby right. Ignoring the kick to his shin that came from Neo, the recently unlucky thief tried to think of anything else to say, but the ship’s radio finally came into range of a nearby lighthouse she plotted a course for.
“We’ll talk about this another time. We’ve arrived at our destination.”
“Huh, didn’t you say we were an hour from Vale?”
Ruby nodded, she did say that. “We’re not in Vale, yet. I’m dropping Roza off, it’ll be quick.” Leaving the storage area, she made her way back to the mess hall, thinking about what she could say to the wayward officer. Well, she still had her scroll, and her wallet, one which contained her important personal details.
Once again, Roza heard the thrum of the small motor as waves rushed by. Though still dark, she could just faintly make out the earliest hints of morning. She was awake at a time no one else was supposed to be, though that was deliberate on Hutten’s part. Not that long after attempting to acquire a scarf (it proved to be unsuccessful, on account of prisoners not being able to purchase goods while captive), Roza was asked to follow Hutten to the decks.
For a brief moment, she thought Hutten was sending her overboard, finally tired of her presence. Instead of being walked the figurative plank, instead the two of them were lowered on that exact same tender boat which brought them away from the deserted island. Approaching a coastline, she could make out the faint lines of stone cottages and other Valean-style buildings. It was dark, but no doubt the town was still inhabited, its residents still fast asleep.
Approaching a nearby pier, it was just big enough for the tender boat to dock, obviously not big enough to handle Hutten’s full hull. After tying a secure rope to the pier, Hutten turned to Roza, gesturing for her to head up the steps and onto the pier.
“So…guess this is goodbye?” By then, she had worked out that Hutten really was going to let her go, she kept her word.
“Almost. This is the town of Domrémy. Quaint, with a population of only a thousand, and protected by strong walls,it is a historic Valean village. How did you get here?”
“What? I mean, I just took your motor-”
“Ahem.”
Hutten cleared her throat, it wasn’t the genuine kind, but rather, the kind you made when you needed to get a message across.
“Uh…I…was dropped off-let go, by my criminal kidnappers by the commandeered dropship? T-then I made my way to this town, and…”
“And does the name Ruby Rose mean anything to you? Other than a Valean local who helped you in the shopping district a few days ago.”
Roza forced down a gulp before responding. “N-no, other relation at all. Most definitely not a ‘Hutten’ of any kind…”
Hutten nodded, the tone she had right now was exactly like her academy instructor, usually adopted when she or someone else in the unit was about to say a wrong answer.
“At ease, Ensign Roza Anikanov, working at the Ministry of Design and living at Seelow Heights, block four, floor 21A, driving a black WMB model three-M. As a hypothetical question, since you are familiar with naval designs, what would happen if a salvo of eight sixteen-inch high explosive shells suddenly landed in Seelow Heights?”
Roza went still, though anyone would have had a similar reaction if their personal details were just nonchalantly said out loud. “...Seelow Heights would be annihilated, a-along with multiple other blocks nearby…?”
“I am glad we have an understanding.” Hutten nodded again, the tension in her voice disappearing entirely. Taking something out from her pocket, she handed Roza back her wallet and keys, but not her scroll.
“Oh, did you leave my scroll-”
CRUNCH
In one iron grip, Hutten crushed her scroll with ease on her right hand, before chucking the mangled piece of crushed metal into the sea behind them.
“What scroll?”
In hindsight, Roza should have guessed that would happen.
“The current time is 0523, at 0600 sharp there will be a train beginning service from here directly to the towns connecting to Vale. This village is right outside CCT coverage, contacting anyone before reaching the next closest town will be fruitless. I recommend you stay a bit longer and try out the local cafe before leaving, though of course, it is just a suggestion.”
Then why did you crush my scroll?!
As soon as Hutten finished talking, she pointed to the village behind her, at a Cafe with dim lights, probably about to open for the day. “Their pastries are among the best in Sanus, I recommend enjoying it with their kaffee as well.”
“Oh, uh, I’ll be sure to do…that?” She was acting like a tour guide now, just moments prior threatening Roza by high-explosive projectiles. Whiplash aside, she could guess that Hutten had been here many times before, any speculation on that part kept to herself.
“Be sure to. Now then, I am sure this ‘Hutten’ values her privacy very much, so do make sure she is not inconvenienced by your words in the future, especially to any superiors you may have. I will not wish to see you again, for both of our sakes.”
With her final words said, Roza watched as the floating anomaly in the world began making her way back down to her boat, but not before giving her some more parting words, this time focused on her new boots.
“Do take care of them, it comes directly from the craftsmen of my homeland.”
A minute later, Hutten and her tender boat were nowhere to be seen. Roza stood on the pier for a brief while longer, looking at the sky as it slowly turned into a warm amber. The only proof of all that she witnessed in the past nine or so hours, were the brand-new leather boots currently worn on her tired feet.
“Father was right, the Navy sucks.” Talking to herself in her native language, Roza sighed and began heading further into the town, hoping to at least catch a quick breakfast. If Hutten recommended it, that means it had to be good, right?
“Screw it, I’m going private as soon as I can get discharged! No amount of love for Atlas is gonna make me go through this again!”
That was the Atlesian officer corps nowadays, a way to climb to corporate ladder once they got out of it. She could leave the lamenting of it to traditionalists like her father, all Roza wanted was to make enough money to not have to worry about it. A squalid dream, but it was hers nonetheless, and no one was going to take it away from her, no one. Not even that damn Schnee…who got her into this mess by ordering her into the dropship in the first place.
Wait, wasn’t Vice-Admiral Gelè in Vale?
Specialist Schnee wouldn’t mind if she went back to her first, right?
After dropping off Neo and Roman at Vale, their Dust to be picked up at a later date when possible, Melanie and Militia went along with them to finally get some rest. By the end of it, the four criminals looked completely exhausted as if they had gone on a drunken bender. They did not, but their ‘hangover’ in that sense was real, just not alcohol induced.
Making it back to patch, now in her rigging form, Ruby made just five minutes after the sun rose. Since it was a weekend, her other family members should have still been fast asleep, the quiet and serene nature she found herself back in said as much. Avoiding the front door, Ruby leapt up onto her balcony, only to find something odd.
Her blankets were thrown to the ground, and her room’s door was open. She clearly remembered closing the door, maybe Zwei found his way in again-
“Tough night?”
“Scheisse!” Ruby immediately rounded on the somewhat familiar voice, instincts overpowering everything else, she was about to summon her rigging when she realised who was in her room as well.
“Uncle Qrow, why are you in my room?” Looking slightly more dishevelled than usual, instead of greeting Ruby in his usual carefree demeanour, he simply played a video on his scroll for her to see.
It was her, in the docks, from the perspective of what appeared to be a White Fang grunt recording the ‘fight’ against Winter Schnee. He let it play until the moment her hands were gripping the Specialist’s neck, ending the video then. Ruby remained in her poker face, showing a reaction, any at all, would have-
“Y’know, I like to think we’ve known each other long enough to know our ticks. When you know something but aren’t saying it, you go as still as a rock, you can thank your homeroom teacher for telling me.”
Playing dead was no longer an option. If Qrow was here, in her room, talking loudly, then that meant…
“Where is Dad and Yang?”
“In Vale, looking for you. Had to tell them something, sorry.”
WHAM
Her fist impacted the wall, she lost control for a moment there. Qrow was not staring at Ruby however, he was staring at the fist-shaped dent in it. Running through a dozen scenarios in her head, Ruby leaned on her desk as she looked at her uncle, a concerned expression on his face.
“How long were you following me?”
“When you appeared from out of nowhere near the house. Look, I-how about we make some coffee first?”
Some Kaffee would do wonders indeed, no doubt she would need it for the difficult conversation to come.
AN:
I got a PM recently complaining about long updates, I genuinely question what he was trying to get out of it. Like complaining would make me write it faster or something, absolute loon.
We don’t actually know why Roman worked with Cinder in the first place, the other side stories involving him never went into the reasons why, so we’re left with speculation. I assume it was a really lucrative deal, with Cinder altering it after she suckered Roman into it, though that’s just my theory.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 23: Chapter 22
Chapter Text
Chapter 22
The story of the humble coffee bean, though a common commodity today, reveals a much longer history behind it, spanning centuries worth of trade, interaction between peoples and the vastness that was the world. Whether it be from the coffee plantations of Southern Vacuo or Valpo, the result was still a beverage consumed over entire worlds.
Some say that it helped to bring about industrial change, as people who awoke in the morning could finally feel awake and refreshed, ready to start the day for work. Who is to say it was true, however, it could have been a way for coffee barons to sell more of their produce to entire nations. Regardless, however, the caffeine in it was of little use to Kansen. Sure, just like Oxy-cola there were Kansen-specific versions that did work, but those weren’t for human consumption, a regular cup of coffee for any regular person on Remnant was not going to do anything for Ruby. Judging by the way Uncle Qrow was gripping his mug, however, it was something he needed right this moment.
“So…nice fashion statement? Where’d ya get the coat?”
Ruby had not had the chance to slip back into her regular clothes, and thus was in her Kansen outfit.
“It’s not-I’ve had it for a while.”
“Never seen you wear it, though I’ve seen it appear in other places. Does a place in the shopping district called ‘From Dust Till Dawn’ mean anything to you?”
She put her own mug down on the kitchen table, it really did feel different with Yand and Dad gone. Zwei was also with them, having been recruited to be a ersatz search dog, desperate times called for desperate measures, Ruby supposed.
“It’s a good store, I pass by it on my way to work.” It did have a good collection of weapon magazines and other hobbyist content, though not as much as a dedicated store would have.
“Yeah…you see, I got a colleague from work who’s been there recently. Met some unsavoury people, under a guy named Junior’s employ actually. Though there was one in particular which gave her some trouble. Wanna fill me in about her?”
There was not much point in keeping up the charade, but Ruby would entertain him for a bit longer. “Did she carry a riding crop by any chance?”
“Yeah, actually, she does.”
“Gaudy.”
Qrow snorted, a small grin on his face as he rubbed his unshaven chin. “Hah! What would I give for you to say it to her face…I mean, if I tried I’d get crucified but you can get away with it. You’re not a Beacon student so…”
A brief moment of laughter aside, the two settled back into the awkward silence they had before, neither finding the right words to say. Ruby eyed Qrow’s flask as it emptied into his mug before its contents were emptied in one gulp.
“Ah screw it, Ruby, just come straight, what’s going on with you?”
“I…”
“Look, kiddo, I know you have your own secrets but-”
“You have no right to talk to me about secrets.”
“What-”
“The Von Rosen? My own mother’s lineage, the ‘secret’ mission she was supposedly sent on, what you do as a huntsman all the time. And those are just for my side, I do not know why you keep Yang from Raven Branwen, you know, my supposed mother-in-law and Yang’s birth mother, but it seems that this family keeps secrets from everybody.”
“How did you-”
“You had graduation books, and also, it wasn’t hard searching for Raven Branwen on Mistral’s most wanted list through the scroll network. Quite the impressive record from your tribe, Uncle Qrow.” The huntsman flinched a bit, clearly not expecting Ruby to bring up that piece of information.
In the information age, similar to her old world, finding info that were usually buried deep within archives and organizations was as easy as knowing where to look. However, having Junior give her some pointers didn’t hurt either. In regards to Raven Branwen, who she had never met before, Ruby kept quiet regarding her for the sake of Yang. It was a topic neither her father nor Yang brought up within Ruby’s presence, but she kept herself relatively knowledgeable about her, but again, it wasn’t her right to know.
“I don’t even know why Yang needed to go to Junior’s for information, if that was you at the club a few days ago, all she has to do was follow the trail of destruction in Anima-”
“Ruby! Enough, good Oum you’ve made your point. Kids these days and their scrolls…”
Ruby took a deep breath before asking the biggest question on her mind.
“So, are you going to arrest me?”
“What?! No, I mean, just no, I’m not arresting you, Ruby, wouldn’t even think of it.”
“Really? Even if duty states that you should? Would you go against the huntsman’s pledge? Are you not to deliver me to top of Beacon’s clocktower?”
“Ozpin can go suck it-”
So it was him, the file she grabbed from the dropship revealing much that was true. Using her uncle as confirmation may have been ethically questionable, but loyalties when duty was involved always came into question. Sometimes, the former overpowered the other, other times, the latter did, and Ruby was honestly not sure which one would win if push came to shove.
“At least tell me if you’re working with Torchwick and the White Fang?” Qrow almost pleaded, his eyes searching for any sign of refusal, which he got quickly.
Ruby immediately groaned, she should probably ask where he got that video from as well. “No, both incidents were…unfortunate timings. Torchwick threatened to reveal his criminal connections in case of capture, he just so happens to frequent Junior’s, where he and I have…met before. Though I assume the docks was because the Atlesians jumped the gun?”
“Oh yeah, Winter fuc-Schnee, ignored my warnings. Got a little messy there I’m not gonna lie, but you sure as hell did a number on her, not that I’m too mad about it. You didn’t kill her, or anyone else and that’s what matters.”
Qrow slapped both his hands on his laps before standing up, stretching his back in the process. “I’m not gonna ask about whatever semblance you got just yet, but I know a way to smooth everything over. Just need to make a few calls to the right people and-”
“Grrrrrrrrrr”
Qrow instinctively reached for his back only to find that he was grabbing air. His weapon was not on him right now, leaning on the table instead.
“Calm, Schwarz, Uncle Qrow was not going to harm me.” Ruby patted her rigging down, lately her temperament had been much harder to manage than usual. With Ironblood riggings there was a risk of them running amok, though not many incidents happened, it was still a possibility, usually when their Kansen were under some amount of ‘danger’. Troublesome, but it made them all the more ferocious when fighting.
“Okay…nice and easy…you wanna call your…”
“Schwarz.”
“Right, Schwarz, away from biting my head clean off?” Her metal jaws were within breathing distance of a very anxious Qrow, having seen what she could do from the docks. Willing her back, Schwarz stood behind Ruby, still radiating hostility to what she perceived as a threat. It was a miracle she didn’t appear earlier when Qrow surprised Ruby in her bedroom, not that she wouldn’t have been able to handle her.
Adjusting his shirt, Qrow moved a bit closer to his weapon before talking again. “I thought you’d get a Semblance like Summer’s, guess family traits only go for so much. Okay, you wanna keep your semblance a secret, it’s not anything too special so I don’t know why you want to do that. Unless there’s something you’re not telling me again.”
“You’re imagining things, Schwarz has always been the sole part of my semblance, as you have said.”
“Ruby, I’ve spent too many damn years with Raven to be gaslighted anymore.”
Damn, it was worth a try.
Sighing, Ruby originally planned for this day to come when she was of age. It wasn’t that she never planned to tell her family, but rather there wasn’t any good time to do it until she had a degree of independence. The best-laid plans could always be torn apart by things beyond her control, only this time it was nowhere within her expectations.
“Do you remember where the gravestone is?” She was pretty sure Qrow knew where it was by heart, but making sure didn’t hurt.
“Yeah, what about it?”
“The cove that it overlooks, tell Yang and Dad to meet me there.”
“Uh…what-”
“I will go there and prepare, make sure they get to the beach.”
Sometimes, when the moon was in full and visibility good enough, Ruby would anchor her hull right on the cove for several hours. It was a picturesque location rivalling even some of the vacation spots in the Adriatic sea owned by the Sardegna Empire. During daytime it was a risky thing to pull off, but the cove was not a place that fishermen or tourists frequented, it was Ruby’s own personal retreat, if she ever needed it.
Trust was a poison, and once it entered your body, it could destroy it. The only way Ruby could protect herself then, was to trust no one. How ironic, to Adam Taurus she said affection was a poison, and here she was, about to ingest poison herself.
“Tai, TAI watch the rock-”
Qrow’s words were ignored as he got thrown around in Zippy, Yang following closely behind them on her motorcycle. For all the times he gave him shit for driving recklessly, Tai was breaking at least half a dozen driving laws right now. He didn’t say anything, instead gripping tightly on the steering wheel, completely focused on the task ahead.
“And you’re sure she’s fine?! Like, no scratches, no wounds, no tattoos-”
Why are you worried about tattoos?!
“Tai, she’s fine, healthy, kinda pissed and me for telling you and Yang but otherwise completely normal.”
Still travelling way too fast for what should be back country roads, Taiyang at least visibly relaxed a little, the bags under his eyes betraying how wide they were.
“Okay…okay…it’s just…she’d never do something like this! And also, how did you even know she left the house? You didn’t tell me anything about that.”
“Coincidence while working, eyes on the road!”
Swerving just in time to miss a giant pothole, they were coming up onto the clearing where Summer’s grave was. Yang sped up ahjead first, screeching to a stop just before it. Getting out of the car, Qrow’s fears of Ruby skipping town again was abated as he saw Ruby standing next to the gravestone, waiting for them as promised. If he did bring them here and she was a no-show, Tai and Yang probably would have never forgiven him.
“Ruby!”
Shooting ahead like a firework, Yang wrapped around Ruby, so much so that Ruby was threatening to expel the coffee onto her back.
“Nǐ gè bèndàn! Do you know what you put me through?! I was out there for six hours, finding every nook and cranny…and…and…”
“Any more and you could crush my ribcage.”
Unfortunately for Ruby, Yang didn’t let go, her shoulders shaking as she continued to hug her. Qrow could see the relief on Tai’s face as he approached her as well, visually confirming that Ruby was fine, and not torn to pieces by Beowulves as he originally thought. Hell, even going to where Summer’s grave was he got a heart attack because of how the grounds were ripe for baby Beowulves to wander. Usually, when Ruby went there it was with one of them escorting her. But now, with everything he knew so far, did they really need to?
“Oh thank my ancestors you’re okay! Ruby Xiao-Long Rose, what were you thinking going out alone in the middle of the night?! Don’t you remember what we said about the Grimm when the sun went down?!”
And there it was, Tai’s rage now that Ruby was fine. Yang had to inherit her spirit from someone after all.
“Ugh…Yang…let me go…”
“No! I’m not leaving you alone in that house again…not anymore…”
A small amount of discomfort was actually being shown on Ruby’s face now, causing her to finally pry herself out of Yang’s grip. Despite her being somewhat reluctant to do so, she eventually did let go, though the teary eyes didn’t go away.
“Okay, we’re gonna have a talk about this, but, not here. Let’s all go home and get something to eat-”
“No, we’re talking here.”
Ruby interrupted Tai from continuing, this entire time she had not moved a single inch from where she stood.
“I…have been keeping secrets, for a long time.” A small bright flash of blue light, the same one Winter reported seeing from the dropship appeared right behind her, and Ruby’s serpentine familiar floated ominously behind her. Yang and Tai immediately drew their weapons, barely stopping in time to see Ruby pat Schwarz.
“Wha-Ruby! Get away from it!” Yang wanted to launch forward, but was again stopped by Qrow putting a hand on her shoulder. He knew better since he’d seen whatever that thing was before, Semblances that gave on a familiar were not that uncommon, but they usually weren’t that Grimmlike. Still, seeing it up close and personal was a hell of a lot different than seeing it in pictures and descriptions.
Turning around, Ruby spoke while edging ever closer to the end of the cliff. “For the past ten years, I have been…harbouring a change to myself, no one knows about this, you will be the first to know of my condition.”
“Uhuh, that’s great and all but why don’t you stand a bit closer back to us? You could fall if you aren’t careful.” Taiyang, though still very cautious of Schwarz was eyeing her ever closer steps towards the edge.
“Sight is better than words alone, however. I am placing my trust in all of you, can I count on any judgements to be withheld until I explain everything?” Ruby’s silver eyes flickered for just a second, giving both Qrow and Tai pause, Yang thankfully didn’t notice it in her tear-stained sight. If the report from last night was true…
“S-sure Ruby, if you ask, we’ll listen.”
“Hey, c’mon, you can tell your old man what’s wrong, right?”
“Uh, yeah, what Tai said.”
“I see, then I hope you will still hold those thoughts later.” Ruby spread her arms out while facing them, Qrow, Yang and Tai realised what she was about to do a bit too late.
“Let me tell you of the memories of those I have inherited, a world where the seas filled with the stench of gunpowder, and of Ulrich Von Hutten.”
Ruby let herself drop, or rather, launched herself off of the cliff. Pouring Aura into his legs, neither of the three managed to catch her in time.
“RUBY!”
Simultaneously, her name was called out thrice, but there was no response. Before they could reach the end, before Qrow could jump and transform into a crow, the three of them were blinded by a flash of blue light, making all of them freeze to cover their eyes.
“What’s going on?! Ugh, Ruby!”
Not long after, the intense light began to die down, all in all, it did not last for more than a few seconds. The first thing they heard was the intense rushing of waves impacting the cliff below them, fearing for the worst, Qrow forced his eyes open.
What greeted him however, was a Battleship.
“Here comes the bullhead~”
“Weiss, please, I beg of you, stop.”
Weiss did not stop. In fact, the slice of apple that was meticulously peeled by Winter’s younger sister was thrust ever closer to her face.
“You have a cast on your arm right now, meaning that you cannot eat things easily, I am helping you eat fruit, you know, for a faster recovery!”
Yes, the cast on Winter’s arm was somewhat debilitating, but that didn’t mean she had to be fed like a toddler! It was good that they were in a private hospital room at the Royal Valean Hospital or otherwise she would have jumped out of the window. Out of all the times Weiss had to arrive in Vale, it was the day right after the disastrous operation.
“I can eat on my own…”
“With your right arm in a plaster and your left bandaged, I think not. How did you even strain your left one? I thought your right hand was the one you held your sword in.”
Aura worked wonders, yes, but it didn’t mean basic medical practice was ignored because of it. The plaster was a recommendation from her attending physician, and she was not exactly in a state to refuse with Glynda Goodwitch with her. She understood then and there why even Qrow of all people feared her.
“Listen, Weiss, with all the commotion in Vale, I want you to-”
“If you are telling me to head back to Atlas, please save your breath. I did not come this far only to turn back at the slightest hint of trouble.”
“That’s not the point I was trying to make, you know I’m working in Vale for a military-”
“Operation, yes. I believe the viral video from last night has told me as much.”
Not long after Qrow took off for whatever reason, Winter was notified by one of her men that their encounter was posted onto the internet through White Fang-affiliated accounts. Of course, the original post was quickly deleted after what she assumed was Atlesian pressure, but the damage was done, and it circulated all across the CCT networks.
“ Winter Schnee destroyed by White Fang. Very original title I must say, though I’m not sure the inclusion of ‘Cops Called’ was a necessary thing to include in other uploads. I wonder how father is reacting to this?”
Probably something about ‘besmirching’ the Schnee name or whatever. Honestly, she expected to receive a call anytime now about how she lost to a bunch of animals or terrorists, but that ‘Hutten’ was most definitely nothing normal. She would not be forgetting those eyes anytime soon. The door to their private hospital room opened, revealing Aunt Gelè along with Glynda Goodwitch in tow. While she was informed of her exercises around Vale, she was not supposed to be in the city proper, however it appeared that there was a change of plans she was not aware of yet.
“Vice Admiral-”
“Winter, do I look like I am in uniform right now?”
No, no she was not. She was wearing civilian clothing, none of her usual uniform was being worn by her right now.
“Apologies, Aunt Gelè , I assumed you were here about the operation.”
“Oh, I am, just not in an official capacity. I am letting you know that there will be some…changes to it.”
Winter blinked, she was not aware of anything like that, not at all. Miss Goodwitch, looking sleep-deprived and rubbing a hand on her temple spoke next, irritated.
“After that ‘incident’ which I want to put behind us, the council of Vale has demanded a new change in leadership for the investigation. Aside from the fact that it was supposed to be a discreet and quiet one, to say that the public is concerned about Atlesian soldiers operating freely in Vale is an understatement.” Each word of that was directed straight at Winter. Realizing that Weiss was still here, and that she was a civilian, she moved to ask her to leave but their Aunt stopped her from doing so.
“She won’t need to leave, I only have one more message for you, Winter. General Ironwood is no longer in charge of the operation in Vale, the Navy will be taking over.”
Winter was flabbergasted, in matters like these the General would not go down without significant pressure, so why-
“Henceforth, you will be under my command for the remainder of the operation, or until the Vytal festival begins which will see Ironwood’s presence in Vale. Until then, rest until the doctor clears you again for active duty.”
Aunt Gelè’s tone gave her no wiggle room to refuse or say no, being presented like an order if anything.
“Why don’t you spend some time in Vale with Weiss? With the city as it is right now, I’m sure the two of you can spend some time catching up, I know duty has been keeping you from visiting family lately. Now is a perfect time I say.”
She then leaned closely to Winter’s ear, whispering into it. “Besides, aren’t you concerned about protecting Weiss in Vale? If so, this is your perfect chance.”
“Wha…”
“Oh dear me, look at the time! If I stayed any longer we would be here for hours. I’ll let my nieces be, come now, Miss Goodwitch, there is much to discuss and work on.”
“What fun indeed…”
As Winter continued looking at her aunt, dazed, she stopped right before the door to say one final thing. “Oh, and by the way, one of your officers, Ensign Anikanov has somehow made her way back to Vale. She will be under my command for the foreseeable future, just letting you know. Get well soon, Winter!”
“Wait! What did you mean by-”
SLAM
The door slammed shut before she could ask either of them for an answer. Retreating further into her hospital bed, the damage to her pride was about the same as the damage to the trust Ironwood placed on her. She could hear it now, the gossips within the officer corps about how she couldn’t even conduct a simple investigation correctly…
Noticing a shifting of white hair to her side, Winter turned around, only to see Weiss positively beaming.
“Well…you heard Aunt Gelè’s advice…and I have some time before the term starts at the university so…”
Against the expecting stare that Weiss was giving her, and the lack of excuses Winter now had to reject her…she surrendered.
“F-fine, but nothing that would distract me from my duties if need be-”
“Yay~” Her younger sister leapt off of her chair, embracing her in a very tight hug, was she using her Aura right now?!
“Ack! Weiss! Weiss! My neck! It’s not healed yet!”
AN:
Been trying to get back into Honkai Impact 3rd for Part 2, but man the later chapters are tedious af.
Anyways when Raven eventually makes an appearance I hope to handle her better than the show did lol. In line with making Remnant feel more diverse I made it so that culturally Yang and Tai are a bit more Mistralian, judging by their last names I based them on Cantonese culture. Would give my kidney for a Cantonese dub of RWBY where Yang swears like my grandmother.
In sorta unrelated news, with RT officially dead and the RWBY IP up for grabs, I don’t have to worry about canon anytime soon. It’s every fanfic author for themselves now, has been for quite a while but now I can go full throttle. Honestly speaking, I’m in the boat where the show was ‘good’ for Vol 1-3 then everything after that was kinda meh to bad at worst. The latest volume was the best after Vol 3 imo, I was and am still not a huge fan of RWBY, I’m just using it as a setting for this fic.
Just because I got a DM last week asking me about shipping in this fic, I will, once again, state that I don’t care about shipping for this fic. If I wanted to do a shipping fic, I’d make one specifically about that rather than attach it arbitrarily here. Not all fics need it, if you do want it, read one of many thousands specifically for that purpose. I’m not saying nothing about it will happen, but it’s just that my priorities for this fic in regards to shipping is near non-existent. This is the fourth PM I’ve gotten about it so hopefully this will dissuade similar ones in the future.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 24: Chapter 23
Chapter Text
Chapter 23
A beast of steel. Remnant of a bygone era in warfare. However, just as Elder Grimm were the most dangerous foes a huntsman could face, Qrow was under no delusions that the Battleship he was slowly, yet calmly approaching was still dangerous.
What was that saying? Fear an old huntsman more than a fresh academy graduate?
Yeah, the feeling he had right now was similar, probably even more considering the boat he, Tai and Yang got on was piloted by a ghost, steering and controlling the motor all on its own. It didn’t look sophisticated enough to be one of Atlas’s self-piloting vehicles anyway. If it weren’t for Ruby herself on the deck of that ship, Qrow would never have gone onto such a freaky thing, ancient unkillable immortals. Alright. A ghost ship that turned out to be maybe true? Hell to the fuck no.
Slowly, their small boat parked up onto the side of the ship, stairs extended down the side of its massive hull. Anyone could guess it was meant for them, Tai and Qrow shared a look first, before the latter said a mental ‘fuck it’ and took the first step. It felt real, the steps below him were not the result of any illusionary semblance or even a dust projection common in Atlas, it was pure steel, and even smelled like it too.
As Qrow got to the top, he was greeted by none other than Ruby, arms crossed behind her back, silver eyes analyzing him.
“Welcome to my ship, there are a few rules I must ask you to follow before we continue further. This is more for your safety than mine.”
They were somewhere at the stern of her ship, right next to one of the massive main guns, and Qrow counted at least eight of them. There were enough guns here to cover a good portion of Vale’s defence on this ship alone, never mind the other implications of it appearing and disappearing at will.
“But before that, please give me your flask, Uncle Qrow.” Ruby held one hand out in front of him, waiting for Qrow to do as she asked.
Though confused, Qrow wasn’t about to argue with Ruby right now. Taking the refilled flask out of his jacket, he deposited it into her hands, a satisfied look on her face.
“Okay, why do you-no, no! WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING-”
Ruby promptly opened the flask and poured out its alcoholic content into the waters below them, even shaking it a few times at the end for good measure. He was handed back a much lighter flask, the whiskey he had refilled it with earlier completely gone.
“Ironblood is not a dry Navy, but for the sake of your liver, I’m making a special exception for you today. Alright, the first rule, you are only allowed to access areas that are open, any sections that are closed will be off-limits…”
Qrow was barely listening to Ruby right now, that alcohol she just poured out was the last of his premium stash, reserved for when he really needed it. And now it was gone, becoming the equivalent of alcohol for fishes. The only thought running through his mind then and there was asking the universe what he did to deserve this and whether or not Glynda would agree to give him a raise for this bullshit.
Unfortunately, the answer to the second question was one he didn’t need to think about for long. Resigned, he followed Ruby below decks, still sober, and would continue to be for the next few hours.
“Wait, so, instead of uniting into one big kingdom, you have a bunch of smaller ones that constantly fight against each other?”
“Countries, but yes, I suppose that is…correct.”
“Well, it makes me feel better about our Great War at least, even without the Grimm we’re still fighting each other. Not sure how I feel about that actually.”
Ruby was keeping time, she explained a few things in detail so far. Her ‘powers’, where they came from, Ironblood and the like. However, there were a few things she still kept close to herself for now, such as the Wisdom Cubes and the Sirens. She wasn’t lying by any means, just leaving things unsaid, for now.
“I believe now would be a good time to take a break, we’ve been here for nearly three hours.”
The entire time Ruby had her radar switched on, ready to bolt at the first sign of any ship or aircraft nearby. Doing so would have meant everyone on her hull would suddenly lose their ground, but her family were huntsmen so it was probably fine. So far, Yang was actually the one who took all that information the best, while her father, understandably, was mostly concerned about her safety. Despite Ruby reassuring him that few things could get past her armour, being reminded that his daughter was now a walking Battleship did not seem to calm his nerves in any meaningful way. Qrow was somewhere in the middle, having been exposed to a bit of it already.
Ruby was the first to leave the officer’s lounge, or rather, the beer garden designated as the officer’s lounge. She had not quite cleaned up the mess hall yet from last night’s guests so she led them away from areas that would make them ask uncomfortable questions, like why she had crates of SDC-marked dust with her right now. Making her way back out onto her deck, it was nearing noon now, the sun directly over them.
Loud bootsteps behind Ruby alerted her of someone approaching, not that she needed to hear it anyways. Leaning on the railing, Ruby waited for Yang to do the same.
“Hey Rubes.”
“Hey Yang.”
The entire time Ruby knew Yang had something to say, now that they were alone though…
“Was…was it because of me that you-”
“Stop.” Ruby stopped that train of thought before it went anywhere. She told them that it started right after the ‘trolley incident’ that she herself had few memories of, probably owing to her age, Yang however, remembered it very well. She held no grudges about it, just two children being stupid and wandering into a Grimm-infested forest to search for lost mothers, she couldn’t exactly fault Yang for it.
“No, Ruby, if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have had…well…all this!” Yang gestured towards her superstructure, her anti-aircraft batteries reflecting sunlight from their barrels. Sighing, Ruby turned towards her sister, a guilt-ridden expression clearly seen.
“Yang, I’ve had ten years to think about it. Yes, you may have been the reason why Ulrich’s memories and…abilities manifested in me, but you are not the cause for them in the first place.” She was still unsure of where they came from, a part of her suspected her lineage may have something to do with it but Doctor Oobleck had not found anything substantial yet. Better to stick to what she knew than to go with wild theories.
“Who am I now? Ulrich von Hutten, or Ruby Rose? I can’t deny that her memories have influenced me, and indeed, maybe they have taken away who ‘Ruby Rose’ was meant to be, what do you think? Am I still your little sister?”
Unexpectedly, Ruby turned around to look at Yang again, only to get flicked in the forehead by her right hand.
“Ugh! You put Aura in that!” The Kansen cried out incredulously, the previous times Yang did something similar Ruby had to fake the reaction, but this time it was genuine.
“Of course I did, now that you’ve told us you’re literally as strong as steel, I’ve gotta make sure you actually feel it now. Can’t believe you fooled me for that long…”
While Ruby rubbed her forehead, Yang managed to get in close for a bear hug. Normally she would have been squirming under the hug, but this time Ruby allowed herself to be still.
“Somewhere…out there I guess there would have been another Ruby Rose, who isn’t able to spawn a giant warship out of nowhere.” Yang began talking, letting herself take pauses in between sentences.
“Buuuuuut…you’re the only Ruby I know. You’re the little sister of mine stuck in the emo phase for far too long…and I wouldn’t change any of that. So don’t give me any of that ‘are we still family’ bullshit, and besides, guess we won’t have to pay for cruise tickets in the future now.”
Ruby did not yet mention that she could ‘talk’ to other ships, best not to let them know of that just yet. The few family cruises they took resulted in her being doted on by the cruise ship themselves, which was why she always insisted on land-based vacations.
“Hah…I was worrying over nothing. Now, skin of steel or not, I am still feeling the pressure so please stop the hug.” In reality, she just didn’t like prolonged hugs, they gave ample time for Uncle Qrow to snap a scroll image for future blackmail.
“Nah, just a bit longer. You’re not gonna cast me away this easily now.”
“Ugh…”
“Oh come on, that was good. So, what else can you do besides blow up all of Patch? You got a Sauna in there or…is that an Atlesian bullhead?”
“...”
Now, how was she going to explain that?
Qrow’s experiences with ships in general were one he was familiar with, having to travel constantly for his assignments, he thought that he’d seen every ship remnant had to offer by now. Clearly, he was wrong.
Navigating the ship that Ruby summoned (he refused to call it Ruby’s hull as she called it) was akin to being trapped in an endless maze, where if not for Ruby herself guiding him he would have taken a while just to get back to the top deck. It didn’t help that the ship was probably one of Remnant’s biggest seafaring vessels right now. Interestingly, Tai and Yang were left behind, with them being distracted by the cinema room playing a film from the ‘Earth’ Ruby had her memories from; something called Citizen Jane which was apparently a cult classic. Leading through a series of winding hallways, they ended up in a storage area behind the mess hall, appearing to be recently used.
“Alright Ruby, what do you wanna show…me…”
Dust. Crates of Dust.
Everything from regular mixed, low-grade dust to high-grade Ice Dust crystals was in the storage area Ruby had taken him to. It didn’t exactly take Qrow a long time to piece two and two together, he slowly turned to his niece, being careful with his words. There was enough dust in here to let a mom-and-pop dust shop run for at least a year just by seeing these crates alone.
“Let me guess, Torchwick’s haul?”
She nodded, and Qrow nodded as well, coming to an understanding.
“So, what do you want to do with this? I imagine Torchwick is going to want this back, whatever he’s going to do with it, I guarantee you it won’t be for anything good-”
“It’s not so simple.”
Oh for the love of-
“Okay, I know I haven’t been the most truthful when it comes to my work, but a good chunk of it involves not letting Torchwick or any other dangerous people their hands on stuff like this. This isn’t a game, Ruby, a lot of people could get hurt if I don’t stop whatever he’s planning.”
Qrow had no intention of ratting Ruby out to Ozpin, at least not until he couldn’t manage it alone. He was already thinking of certain ways to ensure none of this traced back to her, controlled detonation off the coast to get rid of this stuff, ‘finding’ it in an abandoned warehouse or even getting Ruby to shoot it with her guns-
“Torchwick is not the mastermind.”
Qrow paused, this was something he already suspected along with Glynda, but Ruby saying that meant she knew something they didn’t. He slowly crossed his arms, before gesturing for her to continue.
“I have conditions for my help, mainly, protection for a…few people who are close to me. Personally.”
She was probably referring to the Malachite twins, right? If so, Qrow could probably work something out with Ozpin. Nodding in affirmation, Ruby continued speaking, her eyes narrowing slightly in the process, now that he saw it up close, almost like those belonging to Faunus, remembering Winter’s description of it much to his unease.
“Does a woman named Cinder Fall mean anything to you?”
No, no it did not. Though he sure was very interested now.
Canon Omake:
“Hey Ruby!” As Ruby was leading her family onto a tender and back to shore, Yang suddenly called out behind her.
“Did you leave something?”
“What? No, I don’t think so…anyways, I wanted to ask, what are you wearing underneath that coat? You’ve been wearing it ever since you…transformed?”
Ruby paused, she did not expect this question out of nowhere. However, that did not stop her ears from reddening at a rapid pace.
“N-nothing you should concern yourself with.”
“Wait, you stuttered! You never stutter, c’mon, what are you wearing underneath it, something cute?”
It was most definitely not something ‘cute’.
“My radar has found a fishing vessel near us, we should hurry. No time for talking.”
Walking faster, Ruby’s boots were the only thing she heard, ignoring Yang’s continued calls from behind. The reason why she always had her coat buttoned up was because of Ulrich’s…unique Ironblood fashion sense that would most definitely get her grounded by her father, then by Uncle Qrow and finally by Yang. Seriously, Ironblood was known for being eccentric, but those ‘clothes’ were even pushing it by their Kansen standards.
Needless to say, she’d rather fight through a fleet of Arbiters than be called an exhibitionist anytime soon.
AN:
For what I’m referring to in the Omake, please see Ulrich’s character sheet.
A bit of a shorter chapter, I’m in the process of moving but I still wanted to get this out before my flight. Also, yay, I graduated my undergrad, so I will have more time to write in the future.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 25: Chapter 24
Chapter Text
Chapter 24
“You look terrible…”
“Try fighting Siren fleets non-stop for three weeks straight, see how it affects your complexion.”
“All this pouting doesn’t suit you, dear…”
“As if there’s any alternative right now.”
“I can’t help but worry, you and many others are my dearest children, after all…”
“Still keeping that up I see, even after the Commander-”
“Oh, have some faith, the plan will work, it is the least we can do.”
“Faith…is something I never had, don’t you know? I will get some rest now.”
“ Schlaf schön, dearest sister…”
“Hey Ruby! Wake up sis!”
Snapping her eyes open, the sight which greeted Ruby was not the wooden ceiling she was so accustomed to, but Yang’s face, locked into an expectant grin. There were a few times Ruby remembered Yang making that face, usually when on her birthdays right before the gift-giving part of it. If she remembered correctly, that exact expression was also seen a year ago, when she received her motorcycle after years of asking (begging).
“Why are you in my room?”
“ Cauuuuse’ I’m your older sister?”
For some reason, Ruby could imagine Friedrich giving that answer as well, though obviously in a different tone and voice. Yang and Friedrich were her older sisters, but both were not really comparable, not that Ruby had any other frame of reference like other Kansen who had literally dozens of sisters in some cases.
“That is not an answer. It is also six-thirty in the morning, you never wake up before eleven on the weekdays as well. You want something from me.” Ruby pointed out succinctly, the fact that this was right after the events of yesterday did not escape her thoughts.
“Well, you offer family discounts by any chance? Bumblebee needs to see some asphalt, and you know how expensive the ferries are on weekends, whaddya say?”
“Dad said I can’t go out with my rigging unless I’m being supervised by an adult.”
“I’m an adult!”
“You’re seventeen, and I’m pretty sure he was referring to himself and Uncle Qrow.”
“Ahhh! I’ll be eighteen in a few months, also I totally count as one, I’m the one who’s legally allowed to ride a bike here, not you.”
She was woken up at six-thirty in the morning for this? Ruby was not about to entertain whatever scheme Yang cooked up the night before and covered herself back up underneath her blanket.
“Enjoy the ferry ride.”
“Hahaha…I would apologize for roughing you up, but now that I know better…you’re coming out with me to get some sunlight. I’m so not sorry by the way.”
Unfortunately for Ruby, Yang was still faster, and her blanket was yanked away. She never did have a choice in the first place.
“Heave, ho! Heave, ho! Wait, don’t scratch the paint! I spent a fortune getting the exact shade of yellow for it!”
“You’re not even the one lifting it, shut up!”
Back at the cove, Ruby momentarily spawned her hull out for the purposes of getting a tender deployed, which she was going to use to get them to Vale. Did their father know? Probably not, she was pretty sure he was still fast asleep, he technically had nearly twenty-eight hours of uninterrupted consciousness due to the various events he was unwittingly a part of. With that said however, it was odd that Uncle Qrow was nowhere to be seen, she assumed he would have stayed with them for the duration of whatever he needed to do, but apparently not.
Under Yang’s anxious and incessant micro-managing, Ruby finally managed to lift her motorcycle onto the tender, securing it in place with a few ropes for good measure. While the tender was fairly large, the straits could also have unpredictable waves, which was why extra precautions had to be taken. Besides, under daylight Ruby usually never had her hull out, the risk of being spotted by a passing boat or just someone from the shoreline was too great. Yesterday was the exception of exceptions, which she was not going to repeat anytime soon.
“So we’re going to be crossing the strait in this thing? Don’t you have anything…bigger? Like, the cinema from yesterday was pretty cool, I didn’t even get to finish the other movie called uh…Dying Tough?”
Ruby thought for a moment, checking her internal film archives for what she was referring to, before finding it stored in the ‘foreign films’ section of her cinema. “Oh, that one. It was another Eagle import, too much shooting for it to be enjoyable for me, but I see that your taste in films hasn’t changed.”
“Dad liked it! Uncle Qrow did too, it’s not every day you see a film literally not from Remnant, hey were there scrolls in that world? Was there something like the CCTnet where Ulrich was from?”
While securing the remaining ropes, Ruby answered. It was akin to explaining something very common in her life but had since been replaced by something not quite the same, but still very similar. If she did have to compare Remnant and her old world, however, she could say that in some areas such as energy development and weaponry hers was the more advanced one, while for robotics and aerial vehicles it was the opposite. Still, oddly enough many things were still extremely similar despite being an entire world apart, every fixture of modern life that she knew from before was somehow replicated here as well.
“We called them ‘telephones’, and the CCTnet was called the ‘Internet’. I remember having an account, or rather, Ulrich had an account she posted on an application called Juustagram. Not to compare, but I prefer it over the CCTnet, there were way more people on it compared to Remnant.”
With Remnant’s smaller population, it was bound to be the case, and if she was being honest, the world even felt a lot smaller despite being the same size. Was it because of the Grimm stifling humanity? Perhaps, but then why did the cultures of Remnant bear great similarity to the ones in her old world? That, Ruby never got an answer for, even the languages Remnant used were not that different. She could understand old Mantellian without having ever studied it, and the language was only spoken by the older generations of Mantle by now.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, your old world was soooo big. Still, more than a billion people, like, woah. Don’t think Remnant will ever get to that point, not at least until after I’m gone.”
“We’ll see. Humanity is not so different across the two worlds, for better or worse. Now, find a seat, the waves may be a bit bumpy today.”
“Bumpy? The weather’s clear today, what are you taAAAAA-!”
Those tenders had powerful little engines for their size, didn’t they?
So, ever had that feeling when you did something at work without explicit permission from your boss and were now explaining exactly what you did? Well, Qrow was experiencing that firsthand, though in fairness he was used to pulling shit like this, if Ozpin didn’t like it he could suck it.
“Of all the things you’ve done over the years…this takes the top spot, Qrow. ”
The way Glynda said his name out loud did not speak of good things for Qrow in the very near future, but then again even back during his STRQ days they had a relationship like this so it wasn’t anything new. So in a sense, it was just him pushing the limits of Glynda’s blood pressure.
“Now, now, Glynda, I am sure Qrow had his reasons for keeping Ulrich anonymous, especially to us, and even after I specifically asked for an in-person meeting. But no, it is fine, it’s not like we’re dealing with an individual who has access to naval artillery on a whim, if what you’ve said about her semblance is true.”
Yikes, even Ozpin was being prickly today.
“Oh c’mon, I flew back to Vale overnight just to make it here, besides, Ulrich’s not the type to show up in person, this is the best we’re gonna get.”
Despite the idyllic backdrop of Vale’s gentrified dock district behind them, the Pastry shop they met at did not at all fit in with what they were talking about. Around them, Qrow could hear simple conversations, such as what kind of pets people were getting or whether or not they should pay the extra lien for a croissant on the menu.
“Yes, and you’re certain this Ulrich has a link to Torchwick, who will be able to get us closer to whoever is behind the recent string of incidents in Vale?”
Qrow would bet on it, family ties were something else after all, as Raven’s semblance was evidence of. He was pretty sure his bitch of a sister still had a portal linked to him, so much for total abandonment, right?
“It’s the best I could have done, Ulrich is…not very positive towards authority figures to say the least. Don’t take this with offence, but you’re not exactly the rebel-type, Oz.”
“Oh you’d be surprised, I incited more than a few rebellions before-”
“Ahem.” Glynda’s reminder stopped Ozpin from continuing further, every so often he’d get into weird boasts about the things he’d done in his past life. At this point Qrow suspected he only revealed the most outlandish things on purpose.
“Riiiiight. So, next topic, you wanna talk about Atlas or the Fall Maiden first?”
“The Fall Maiden, I do not want to have anything to do with them right now.” Answering for Ozpin, Qrow could see the bags under Gylnda’s eyes, probably from dealing with that Atlesian Vice-Admiral who arrived in Vale yesterday. He had to admit, her damage control speech that she gave regarding that viral dockyard video was impressively given; for someone who was Jacque Schnee’s sister. That was about the only good thing he was willing to say about her.
“Been a while since I last saw Amber, what’s up with her? Didn’t we agree on letting her go out and explore?”
“We did, however we are altering the terms of that agreement.” Ozpin said, all the while continuing to sip on his double expresso without any concern on his face.
“...you know Amber is going to flip, right? It’ll be worse than telling the Winter Maiden she had to retire a decade ago.”
Qrow still vividly remembered that mission, he refused to eat shaved ice to this day because of that.
“I know, but circumstances have changed, and I need all cards close to my chest, at least for now. Young Amber will take some persuading, I admit, but I am certain with the right words from you, she will come around to see the necessity of-”
“Amber blocked Ozpin’s number after he called too many times before, she also appears to be outside of CCT range for now, though we do have her last known scroll location.” Answering for Ozpin again, Glynda stated the actually important bits of info for Qrow.
“So you did install the tracker on her phone, she’ll be taking out that anger on me when we meet up, just saying.” Amber was quite adamant about not being tracked or followed when she left Beacon, obviously they weren’t just going to let her go into the wild without any sort of way to find her so they took Jimmy’s suggestion of covertly planting a tracking program into her scroll. She was definitely going to be asking questions on how they found her however, but one thing at a time.
“And that is why we give you hazard pay, Qrow. I’ll have you know Vale takes care of its Huntsmen quite well.” Their higher than average suicide rate compared to the rest of the population said otherwise, but that was more on the Council than on Ozpin himself. Protectors of Vale they lauded, but Oum forbid if they needed assistance after retiring.
“Lemme get this straight, the plan is for me to find Amber, tell her to come back, she comes back with me, and that’s it? Are we just ignoring the difficult part or was there somethin’ I wasn’t paying attention to?”
“Yes.”
“A man of your talents will surely accomplish it.”
This motherf-
“Please remember that you were the only one Amber even remotely liked, and I believe the parting words she had for me were ‘old fogey’. You out of everyone else here stands the highest chance of convincing her to return, at this point I’m starting to regret not taking James’s suggestion of just imprisoning her somewhere.”
“Ozpin!”
“What? I’m allowed to say my opinions am I not? I made sure to put that into Vale’s constitution after the Great War.”
“Keep your voice down!”
Qrow inwardly regretted scheduling the meeting for early in the morning, because he was definitely not awake enough for bullshit this early. Taking out his now refilled flask, he poured a few splashes of his favourite spirit into his coffee, before downing most of it in one go. While he was doing so however, he spotted a shade, no, two shades of white that were eerily familiar.
“Look Winter, they have those famous Valean pastries here, care for a Croque Monsieur?”
“Later, I just need to meet with Beacon’s leadership for a brief moment…”
“...and why is she here?” Glynda groaned into her mocha frappuccino, an expression Qrow was doing the same for his own drink. Both were also doing their best to not be seen by them, only for Ozpin to have other ideas.
“Miss Schnee…and the younger Miss Schnee…didn’t the papers state that the latter was attending Royal Valean in the coming semester? And here I was considering extending an invitation to Beacon for her, it would be a great boon for our academy to have someone such as her, particularly considering her semblance…”
No, stop it, don’t.
“You know, many students in higher education have multiple offers up until the semester starts, and it just so happens that Beacon has a late offer policy.”
That’s because you’re the one who put it there!
“Ozpin…for the love of Oum, we’re gonna end up with an odd number this year again, I will-” Despite the Headmistress’s best efforts, it was still not enough to deter the Headmaster’s eternal determination.
“Miss Schnee! Over here, I believe you are looking for us?”
Yeah, no, never had a chance there did I?
Grimacing, he shot a quick look of disdain behind her as Winter was the one who approached, leaving behind her younger sister. Qrow realized he had never actually seen the younger one in person, quite an enigma that one. Despite being the heir to the SDC after Winter’s acceptance into the Army, he expected her to be paraded as the next successor to that conglomerate. Instead, there were few, if any public appearances from her, rumours in Atlesian tabloids stating that she spent her time in the Schnee estate garden arranging flowers over anything else. Though if he was going to make a smart guess, the youngest brother was now going to succeed the SDC now, just a guess, however.
“Headmaster Ozpin! Headmistress Goodwitch…Qrow…”
“Nice to see you too, how’s the arm?” Qrow was staring directly at her arm, still under a sling, though the most annoying part was how she was still dressed in her Atlesian uniform, didn’t she have anything else to wear?
“...better by the day. Though it would have been avoided if someone was faster at his only job.”
That’s just called karma for sending me so far you uptight bootlick-
“So, what brings you to our humble little breakfast, aren’t you not in command anymore?”
Rubbing it in for good measure, her narrowed eyes at him were well worth whatever shit he’d be getting from Glynda later.
“I may not be in overall command now, that going over to Vice Admiral Gelè, however, I am still General Ironwood’s representative and the highest commanding officer for the Atlesian Army in Vale.”
“Meaning that you’re pissy the boat people got one over the Army and now Jimmy’s trying to save some face, am I right or am I right?”
“The Atlesian Army doesn’t resort to such measures, least of all, not against the Navy of all organisations.”
That was true on the surface, but to anyone remotely familiar with Atlesian budget meetings that happen every year it was an entirely different story.
“How did you even find us? Or better yet, what are you actually here for?”
Qrow just wanted her gone, and for those Atlesian types the best way to do that was to get to the bottom of whatever they were trying to do.
“For transparency, we did not use any spying equipment to find you, Headmistress Goodwitch’s secretary told me where you might be.”
“I’ll have a word with her later.” Judging by the glint on her glasses, it wasn’t going just to be having simple ‘words’.
“General Ironwood-”
“I was right!”
“Quiet, you. General Ironwood is reaffirming his support for the Special Operation in Vale, despite the potential setbacks it is currently facing, he is committed to sending in whatever forces necessary to ensure the safety of Vale.”
“If you mean safety by sending in a bunch of soldiers to provoke the White Fang into open hostilities then sure, you’ve accomplished that goal. Bravo. You want a lollipop for that as well?”
“While Qrow has put it crudely, he does have a point in this specific circumstance. We asked for support, not for Atlas to bring an entire Army, especially not when the situation has not called for it, Specialist Schnee.” Ozpin actively pushing against this as well? Hot damn, was this what vindication felt like?
“Be that as it may-”
“The council of Vale will be working with the Vice Admiral for now. This incident has been unpopular for many citizens just to put it mildly. As such, any support, especially from the Atlesian Army will not be needed as of now. James could have contacted us over the scroll instead of sending you, and I will be sure to contact him directly in the future.”
Winter looked like a puppy who was being scolded, and Qrow kept completely silent throughout the entire exchange.
“Y-yes, I understand, Headmaster. Will there be anything else I can help you with today?”
Ozpin shook his head, then turned his attention towards someone behind Winter, looking on with increasing curiosity.
“No, however, your younger sister has been looking at us with curiosity this entire time, mayhaps we should say a few words in greetings before you carry on with whatever you were doing before?”
“Oh, um, of course. I believe you two have met before in Atlas. Weiss! Come over here, there is someone who would like to speak with you.”
Watching the younger Schnee walk over, Qrow could see that she was dressed much more modestly. Nothing about her screamed ‘rich’, unlike what her name may have suggested. It was a simple dress, no patterns or anything discernable, her hair wasn’t even done at all, leaving it free flowing, and the only thing she held was a small plain linen bag. If she wasn’t with Winter, Qrow probably would not have been able to identify her as Weiss Schnee.
“Greetings, Headmaster Ozpin, Headmistress Goodwitch…and you are…?”
“Qrow Branwen, Huntsman.”
“A pleasure to meet you, I assume you are a skilled huntsman to be talking with the Headmaster of Beacon on this fine morning?” She placed a hand on her chest and did a small bow, definitely practiced from somewhere, not Atlesian custom however.
“Skilled…hah, if only you knew his conduct-”
“Don’t be rude, Winter. You are in front of guests right now.”
“O-of course, apologies, Weiss.”
Holy shit, Qrow liked the younger sister a lot more already. Was she the only normal one in the entire Schnee family? Hell, she even made Winter of all people apologize, what kinda power did she have over her?!
“You are indeed correct, Mister Branwen here is one of Vale’s most skilled Huntsmen, an excellent deduction. Skills like that are what any aspiring Hunter should have, wouldn’t you agree, Miss Schnee?”
“I do, Winter has told me stories about the training that goes on in the four major academies. Though I must ask if that is related to why you called me here, Headmaster.”
Sharp too, she picked up on Ozpin’s antics immediately. Qrow was now interested in where this was gonna go, leaning in closer to hear them better.
“It seems that my ruse has been uncovered, how interesting. The rumours about you being sharper than you appear are not unfounded after all. Then in that case, can you entertain my thoughts for a moment?”
“I shall strive to be an entertainer then, ask away.”
Qrow saw Ozpin’s expression turn into a smirk, the old immortal usually lured someone in that way with small talk, then getting to what he really wanted to talk about directly. It was how he and Raven were convinced into taking his magic, turning into birds on a whim.
“Why Royal Valean University? In conversation with the President of RVU, she expressed some amount of confusion at receiving your application. Someone of your status, not to mention the training you were given meant that you could have applied to any higher education institute, even the four academies and got in if you so desired. So I suppose my question should be, why Vale?”
And not Atlas.
That was a question the tabloids also asked, most certainly the Universities in Atlas were also scratching their heads as well, asking that very same question. He didn’t think Jacques Schnee would have let her even leave Atlas, not with all the White Fang attacks on the SDC happening all over Remnant.
Weiss closed her eyes for a brief moment, lips thinning, before turning around, looking at the wide open ocean down the hill from where their Cafe was located. Without turning back to look at them, she gave her answer.
“I wanted to spread my wings, and where better to do that then next to the sea?”
RVU had its campus located directly on the harbourfront, which was coincidentally where she was looking towards as well. But a gut feeling told Qrow she wasn’t looking at the campus, but rather, the ocean beyond it, the vast, endless expanse where you couldn’t see beyond the horizon. Ruby sometimes had that look now that he thought about it, looking at the ocean from her balcony on Patch, like she was longing for it.
“I see, forgive the pun, but I suppose you are locked into that choice? Even if I offered you an invitation to study at Beacon? I would offer a scholarship but you and I both know it would be better going to someone else who actually needed it.”
“No offence taken, I too wish for it to be given to an aspiring Hunter. However, I must decline your gracious offer.”
Huh, that was faster than Qrow expected. She barely gave it any thought before declining. Even Winter was looking at Weiss weirdly, though with an odd sense of relief mixed into it.
“Beacon is inland, no? Therefore, I must decline. Perhaps if the King of Vale decided to build it on the seaside I may have gone, but alas, we cannot change what has already been done.”
Wait, but didn’t that imply she would have applied if it was next to the sea? Of all the reasons to reject a University offer, the lack of a seaside view was a first for him.
Ozpin however, simply kept his smirk, nodding in confirmation, he got up, the bill for everything they drank in hand.
“In that case, I will keep that in mind for any future prospective students. A castle by the ocean…what an entertaining thought. Goodbye young Miss Schnee, may your efforts be rewarding, and Vale hospitable to you during your stay.”
Ozpin and Glynda got up, making their way back into the Cafe, presumably to pay for everything they bought. However, the old Headmaster stopped halfway, turning to Qrow with the look of a teacher who nearly forgot to assign homework.
“Just before I go, Qrow, do take them around Vale to see the sights. It is payment for the coffee you drank, and no, this isn’t negotiable.”
Damn, just when I was about to-
“Oh my, you must be a local of Vale, are you not Mister Branwen? For a veteran Huntsman to take us around, isn’t that grand, Winter?”
Qrow looked at Winter, she stared back, but both of them had the expression of someone who just ate a lemon.
AN:
Yeah I know took a while to update, was busy with moving back home and everything. I just got back from a week-long vacation to Japan, even managed to snag some Azur Lane and BA merchandise from a Yostar pop up store in Akihabara.
Don’t Alsace and Mogador have a fun design though? Seeing the giant billboards of them in Akiba was also trippy, felt oddly weird, but in a good way? Though I’m more interested at the lore implications, which will change how this story is going to go now that we know more confirmed lore. Also, I’m surprised we never got background info on who Amber was, though considering RWBY as a franchise I should not have been surprised, would have at least been nice to hear a bit about her before watching her get shot by Cinder.
Just because I got someone asking on PMs, currently the story is at the time after the robbery incident in the first episode, but way before the next scene where Yang hugs Ruby on the Beacon airship taking them to the campus. I’m assuming there are still a few weeks then before the start of the semester, maybe 2-3 months if we’re going by how real-life Universities work.
As always, be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 26: Chapter 25
Chapter Text
Chapter 25
A city with an ocean view.
That was what the tourism brochures adopted as a slogan for Vale. Ruby can’t say it wasn’t inaccurate, the city was built on the foundation of a historical port, countless kingdoms before the Valean dynasty was founded. She guessed it was similar to a city in the southern Iris, its architecture matched it quite closely. The weather was fair, not too sunny nor cloudy, not too windy nor entirely void of it, Ruby could call it idyllic, but such things were concepts she had rejected. Such concepts had no place in reality, as far more were hidden underneath such a splendid sight.
“What kinda emo things are you brooding about now?”
Ruby went for a swing at Yang’s head, but the brawler expertly dodged it before rounding back to face her.
“See? I was right!”
Throwing Yang’s spare helmet back at her, no matter how much Ruby scowled at her older sister her grin would not fade away. The two had braved the waves of the Sea of Patch, crossing all the way to a mostly secluded area in the docks Ruby was familiar with. From there, they boarded Bumblebee and made their way into the city, though because it was a weekend…
“Can you believe that? Damn parking meter wants me to pay ten lien an hour…assholes are preying on gullible tourists to pay that amount.”
The regular parking spaces were full, and street parking was their only option. Downtown Vale wasn’t a place for locals to go during holidays or weekends, like most touristy places these days. She could have had Schwarz come out and store it, but they would have gone against any notion of secrecy as she was quite visible.
“You’re the one who wanted to come out today, we’re not splitting that.”
“Boo, you suck. Wait, aren’t you loaded from all that smuggling?! Gimme some of that!”
Ruby gave an incredulous look at Yang. Sure, just let her grab some money from her wallet then, as if that was how it worked. No, money like that had to be handled meticulously, Junior may have been a dick at certain times but he was very respectable regarding his word on contracts. “Sure, let me just pull it out of my wallet. No, Yang, why would I be carrying that amount of Lien with me? Did you think I just stuffed thousands of unmarked Lien underneath my mattress?”
“Nah, I checked your mattress this morning already.”
You did?! Lien is plastic, how would I have even slept on it?!
“Not even two days have passed and you’re already demanding a cut of my operations, you’d make a great loan shark.”
As she was paying for the parking meter, Yang replied. “Yeah well, finding out you were a smuggler on the side weirded me out at first, but then I realized last night you were probably richer than me by a long shot. So, as your sister I claim tax-”
“That’s not how taxes work.”
“Think of it as Lai See to your close family, Dad gives me a hundred and fifty every year.”
“You know we don’t give those out until we’re married or are adults, right?” Despite pointing that out, Yang pretended to ignore that little tidbit about Mistralian culture.
“Oh they’re not really rules, just like guidelines…so are you rich or not?”
Who even asks a question like that? Usually in terms of smuggling the ‘fee’ that she charged, or rather Junior charged went a 30/70 split, with Junior taking the smaller portion. Was it high? Depends, some charged even more so her getting 70% of those fees was already a good thing. If she was a regular ship, there would have been crew pay, fuel, port fees, repairs and the like to think about, but because those didn’t apply, all of her profits went directly into a Vacuoan bank account under a fake name of ‘Ruben Red’. The fact that an account with that name was even created said some very interesting things about Vacuo, no questions were ever asked according to Junior.
Wait a minute, shouldn’t he have seen the video of the docks online by now? Why did he not say anything?
“I’m…comfortable.” Comfortable enough to have bought any floating bullhead that is.
“That’s what rich people say, Rubes.” Ruby ignored Yang’s accusatory look as they walked down the street, avoiding bustling crowds of tourists whenever possible.
“More tourists than usual, what gives?” Yang pondered aloud, causing Ruby to remember what bi-annual event was happening in their city this year.
“Vytal festival. Vale’s hosting it this time. Aren’t you able to fight in it this year?” With Yang being a first-year student at Beacon, she and her team would be able to apply for this year’s event, not that she particularly gave attention to it, but was still curious about what her sister may be doing in the near future.
“Yep, Dad talked about it in our sparring classes at Signal, and said something about taking a class there for an exhibition match sometime.” With her attending the non-combat side of Signal Academy, Ruby was hearing that for the first time. Though she did not exactly display a lot of enthusiasm for Huntsman/Huntress-related things all too often anyway, the only thing she had any remote interest in were their mecha-shift weapons. Being a Kansen, and thus intimately familiar with machinery and complex technology, she could appreciate its creativity, even if she often objected to the more outlandish and complex designs. Another quirk of Remnant’s individualistic look on life, a stark contrast to Iron Blood’s more conformist and militarized society.
“Hm. I’ll be sure to go with him then, may even see you get beaten in the first round.”
“Aren’t you supposed to cheer for me?!” Oh, she wished her sister the best, though moments like these were what she lived for. Allowing herself to smirk at Yang, Ruby noticed her expression morph from her usual happy-go-lucky expressions to a more sheepish one. She wanted to ask something awkward, Ruby could feel it in her Wisdom Cube.
“I’ve done some research-I know, not just for essays this time…” Yang pre-emptively blocked Ruby’s quip before she could even go for it.
“I read online that warships often come in classes, like, there are multiple ships that are basically identical to one another. D-did you have any uh… ’Sister Ships’ or anything like that? Did Ulrich have a sister as well?”
Ruby took in a large breath, of all the things she asked, she had to ask about that particular subject?
“I thought we were through this, Ulrich was Ulrich, and despite my inheritance of her memories and abilities, I am still Ruby Rose, your little sister.”
“I know! Not doubting that, just…curious, y’know?” Yang looked away to the side when she asked, not quite the adult she claimed to be in that instance. Ruby had two choices there. Lie, and hope her sister bought it. Or, tell the truth, and thus reveal a bit more about herself and the old world she once knew. It wasn’t too hard of a choice, she knew it was going to be asked sooner or later, just not this soon.
“I did.” Ruby said, quieter than usual.
“Oh.” Yang picked up on the use of past tense, and asked another question, this time with even more caution. “C-can you tell me a bit about her?”
Ruby nodded, to Yang’s relief. “You are correct, Kansen are not born like humans are. Most, including me, were built. In shipyards first, with the labour of thousands involved, some human, mostly in the design stage. But the actual building part was given to an animal we call the Manjuu.”
“Manjuu? I’ve never heard-”
Ruby cut her off, the tangent threatening to derail the entire conversation. “They don’t exist on Remnant. Anyway, I did have one sister ship, similar to many in Iron Blood. We were not as numerous as other factions, but we did make up the difference in individual strength and technology.”
Some of the first priority research ships for example, such as the infamous Roon came from Iron Blood R&D teams and their expertise. They were not a weak faction by any means, but compared to the industrial output of other factions, such as the Eagle Union, Iron Blood simply was not big enough to match them.
“For Kansen, our only family, if you can call it that, were our sister ships. Kansen of the same class were very similar, most often in appearance, though there were significant variations between each one, in a way, they were as unique as Huntsmen and Huntresses.” There were similarities of course, but no Kansen was an exact copy of their sister vessels, each were unique existences that could not be replicated, though that begged the question why. What made a mass-produced H-39 hull different from Ulrich when given a Wisdom Cube? What exactly made ‘Ulrich’ who she was?
“I suppose Iron Blood were famous for twin sister ships, such as Bismarck and Tirpitz , Gneisenau and Scharnhorst…” Those names meant nothing to Yang, but to Ruby, they were ghosts of a bygone world, the first time she probably said those names out loud.
“I was no different, I only had one sister ship. Though at first glance you would not have guessed we were related…” Not all Kansen in the same class had similar appearances, it was just a general rule of thumb, not a law. Admiral Hipper came to mind, compared to her other sisters who…were more well-endowed.
“Her name was Friedrich der Große, the first of the H-39 class battleships. Thus, making me her ‘little’ sister. However, judging by what you saw yesterday, ‘little’ may not be accurate.”
She was probably one of the largest ships afloat on Remnant right now, so ‘little’ was a very misleading title. Yang thought for a second, presumably back to the sudden battleship that appeared out of nowhere yesterday, and simply nodded a few times.
“Yeah…so, Friedrich-sorry, isn’t that a dude’s name?”
“Yes, so is Ulrich. Kansen were warships, so the naming conventions of vessels apply to us as well, it can sometimes result in some awkward names, we were named after Historical figures in Iron Blood.” Ulrich didn’t care what she was called, the most common being Ulrich and Hutten, Friedrich just stuck with being Friedrich despite her appearance. It wasn’t all too important for Kansen, who was primarily concerned with fighting a war rather than over trivial things like names. That didn’t stop many Kansen from having nicknames of their own choosing.
“So was she like me? I’d like to think we were pretty alike-”
“You two are probably the polar opposite.” One was blonde, long hair but with curls, the other had dark hair, straight and-no, going into the details wasn’t useful right now. But it was safe to say that Ruby could not see any similarity between them other than both being her older sisters, with one particularly being more maternal than the other. She distinctly remembered Iron Blood civilians mistaking Friedrich for being her mother one time, not helped at all by Friedrich all but confirming it to them. Ruby was not going to experience something like that if she could help it, not in this world, ever.
“However…we were still very close, fighting together side by side in our world’s toughest battles. If I had gone down the path of a Huntress, I suppose we would have been similar…” It was the closest analogy she could give, one that Yang hopefully understood. Evidently, however, judging by her furrowed eyes she wasn’t quite satisfied by that answer alone, so Ruby changed the topic as they neared the main square of old Vale.
“We’re in the old district near the palace. Where exactly are we going? You still haven’t told me what we’re doing here.”
“Oh, y’know, just seeing Vale n’all…didn’t get the chance before with my end-of-year exams and the Beacon prep. Hey, isn’t that the…the…old warship museum in Vale we went to when we were young?”
She was referring to Valèan just down the street, not far from the old royal palace. “So, I figured since you’re a…”
“Kansen. Half-Kansen.” There were no cases of half-Kansen in her old world, but this was all she had to go off on for now.
“Right, that. I figured we should go to a place you might like? I also remembered you being weird when we were there as kids so I thought…”
While done with good intentions, Ruby felt it was somewhat stereotypical, just because she was a Kansen it didn’t mean she was obsessed with Kansen-related things. However, it was probably more because she didn’t want to deal with Valèan right now, who would be dying for another chat if she had the chance.
“Let’s not.”
“What? Why?!”
“It’ll be crowded with tourists, you should have picked another day to come here.” That was probably true, but she just really didn’t want to run into her right now. Turning her heels around to a smaller side street, Vale’s old town being famous for them, Ruby walked ahead of Yang at a brisk pace.
“I don’t mind waiting! Hey, where are you going?!”
Somewhere, anywhere but there. In the corner of her eye, she noticed what appeared to be a bald eagle flying just above a small side street, usually those birds were native to Solitas, not Sanus. So, using that as an excuse to move forward, Ruby briskly walked towards it to get a better look-
“Oof!”
“Ugh!”
Only to crash into someone at a moderate speed when turning the corner, this wasn’t the first time Ruby crashed into someone or something, a splattered Boartusk in Patch was evidence of that. Therefore in those incidents, she was usually concerned about the well-being of the thing/person she crashed into. The sensation was similar to crashing into a brick wall walking briskly towards you, not something particularly welcoming for regular people. However, she let out a minor cry of pain this time, Ruby felt the impact of crashing into someone, thus sending her tumbling down to the ground as well. This was an entirely new feeling, and it took a few seconds to get her bearings correct. Though, whoever she crashed into, probably a huntress judging by how she felt the impact, responded first.
“Oh dear, are you alright? I’ve been told that I walk a bit too fast for my own good at times…”
“I’m fine, are you alrig-”
Silver eyes locked onto azure blue ones, Ruby stared at the person she crashed into, and the other person, also a girl, probably a year or two older than herself, did the same thing. She instantly felt a gut feeling swell within her as she had a good look at the girl, like a significant pang of Deja Vu. But, like all sensations of Deja Vu, Ruby couldn’t quite place where it came from, only that there was a sense of familiarity. Her thoughts were quickly dispelled, as she saw two familiar people approach her, one very familiar, and the other one not so much.
“Weiss! I told you not to skip ahead, look what happened!”
“I told ya, these streets have sharp corners, always give a wide berth-Ruby?! Yang?! The hell are you two doing here?”
She could hear Yang choke and stutter, clearly remembering what Dad said last night. Uncle Qrow was definitely going to be snitching on them though, good thing Yang verbally agreed to take any of the lecturing coming their way. Ruby was the innocent fifteen-year-old, led astray by her older sister, as if any fifteen-year-old on Remnant had access to artillery measured in inches.
“Uncle Qrow…” Ruby waved at him while getting up, the look on his face was anything but impressed.
“You know these two, Qrow?”
“Yeah, they’re my nieces. The blonde one is Yang, the squirt over there is-”
“H-Hutten!”
Ruby, Yang and Qrow tensed, Winter was looking directly at Ruby while she shouted those words. Thankfully the street they were on was relatively quiet, not too many people aside from a few looking their way. Ruby saw her reach for something on her sides, only to find nothing there. Immediately, she leapt right in front of who Ruby now knew as Weiss Schnee, the young heiress studying in Vale who was on the tabloids and news every so often. The sense of Deja Vu from before distracted Ruby long enough that she didn’t realize Winter Schnee had seen her face on the docks until it was too late.
In all honesty, Ruby did not expect to ever see her again, especially in a city as big as Vale, what were the odds of running into her again? No matter, Qrow said he was going to smooth it out with his superiors-wait, why was he shaking his head at her?
“A city with a seaside view indeed…”
Recalling Vale’s tourism logo, Weiss could see why that was their chosen motto. With Atlas suspended in mid-air, they weren’t exactly known for much natural beauty in the first place, aside from some spots where you could see the arctic lights. Those were monopolized by resorts, reserved for the wealthy and the aristocracy, the best someone living in Mantle would ever see were the television shows recording them. There was too much light pollution to see it from where they were anyway.
The warm weather, fair winds and such reminded her of the West Coast in the Eagle Union mainland. The port cities of Frisco, where she was stationed for a long time before to Port Honolulu in the pacific was similar to Vale, though the architecture and culture were much closer to Europa. She never really went there for operations, those were left to the East Coast fleets most of the time, she was caught up fighting against Sirens and the Sakura Empire all across Asia. Or rather, Yorktown was, in both incarnations.
“How strange, I should be feeling a sense of… Deja Vu talking with you, but this has already been familiar ground to me.”
Weiss turned around, making sure that no one else was with her on the observation deck on the museum ship Valèan. A soft smile graced her lips, this was the second warship she had met within three days, and with any luck, they would have many more meetings in the near future.
“Because of our mutual friend?”
Valèan, the Kansen, only seen by her, nodded. Weiss insisted on visiting the museum ship when they reached the old palace, and to Winter’s credit she had no qualms with it, even if she absolutely despised their impromptu ‘tour guide’. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see they got along as well as the Royal Navy and Iron Blood did after Hood was sunk, in other words meaning not at all.
“I’ve seen this view for decades upon decades, watching as the city changes with mine own eyes. I am quite sick of it, the only chance I have for a different view is when I get towed for repairs, and those only happen once every couple of decades. I was built as a ship, I should be sailing, not stuck here to act as an overpriced tourist trap!”
Weiss talked with the old battleship for quite some time, sneaking in a conversation whenever possible without making Winter think she was insane. “There, there, I am sure your successors don’t really mean that-”
“Hah, you never know with those brats now…speaking of, you’re much more respectful than that one you’re finding. Do visit every so often now that you’re studying in Vale, I can guarantee you will find more freedom here than in Mantle’s oppressive society.”
…it was Atlas now, Great War Era propaganda aside, Weiss nodded, it was better to have someone who was similar to her rather than be alone. An Ivory tower she may have been born in, but that didn’t mean she had everything she wanted in life. Status was as much of a deterrence as it was a magnet, and it was safe to say she knew no real friends.
“I…will keep that in mind. Though are you sure you cannot give me any clues? Vale is bigger than Mantle or Atlas combined…”
Ever since hearing about Vale experiencing a loud explosion out from sea, Weiss suspected it was not just a regular underwater Dust explosion as it was claimed. A little digging revealed rumours of a ‘Ghost ship’ prowling the waters of Vale by numerous sailors online, seeking to find if others also had a similar experience. Perhaps it was desperation, to find another kindred, or hoping to find one at least.
And yet, travelling on her Aunt’s flagship revealed that her suspicions were correct, how else would her radar ping another battleship in the middle of Forever Fall?
“I’m not making it that easy, the fact that I confirmed another such Kansen exists in Vale should be enough for you. Besides, it would be a breach of privacy if I did so. Though I am sure as someone of your abilities, finding her won’t be too difficult.”
Weiss’s expression was strained, that was easy for her to say! Already, she was drawing up plans to have regular aerial patrols, radar searches and everything else in between she could reasonably get away with. It was going to be a long-term search, especially now that ‘Hutten’ was a famously wanted terrorist, or hero, depending on where you swung on issues relating to the Fang.
“Yes, hopefully.”
Looking down from the observation deck, Weiss could see Winter and Mister Branwen about to get into another argument with the way Winter was pacing back and forth near him. She didn’t know what they were talking about, but Valèan had noted they were exchanging some very important info, especially about Hutten and whatever the White Fang was planning in Vale. Though the latter was especially bare on details, you would think with how much Atlas spends on Anti-Fang operations, they would know more about their international dealings.
“I believe you should get back down there, young Weiss. Their next round of arguing is bound to make the visitors go away.”
“I thought you didn’t want to be a ‘tourist trap’, why the sudden care for them?” Weiss quipped back, causing Valèan to sigh.
“Because more tourists, mean more revenue, and more revenue means I do not get pulled to the scrapyard, such is my way of life now…” Weiss winced, it was a sore enough topic for Valèan, if only they had a spare Wisdom Cube, but alas, Remnant was annoyingly void of anything like that. She couldn’t even bring back Enterprise or Hornet if she wished to.
“You should get going, but before you do, a word of warning.” Valèan dropped her sagely expression in favour of a more serious one, a face similar to the ones she saw on Enterprise countless times.
“I may be old, and not up to date with the politics of today, but I know when a conflict is brewing when I see one. Who will be fighting who I do not know, but these…things happening not just in Vale, but all over Remnant cannot bode well for the future. You can call it cyclical, but that is no favour to those living in this era now. Do believe my words, as someone who has fought through two of Remnant’s bloodiest conflicts.”
And I was fighting in my world’s bloodiest conflict.
“The calm before the storm?” Weiss asked, just before she stepped downstairs.
“Precisely, and the calm may not be there for much longer. Peace is not always guaranteed, the Faunus Wars proved it before, I fear another conflict will prove it again.”
With a final nod, she went down the metal staircase, back into the ship’s superstructure. Valèan did not follow her, and yet the things she said gave her mental pause, was it truly correct? Or just rampant speculation? This was the issue with predicting the future, you could not say with any certainty over what could happen, and just like humans, Kansen were also prone to being just as irrational at times. But then again, that irrationality was what made them more than just simple war machines.
Slipping her way through the narrow corridors, she was careful to not have her sundress caught up on the bits and pieces of metal before emerging out back on the deck. Just in time too, because Winter was seemingly about to lunge for Mister Branwen’s throat.
“Winter! I think we’ve been here long enough, how about we go visit the palace next?”
Like a pictogram, Winter paused with one foot off the ground before going back to her normal pose. “Weiss, me and Mister Branwen were just having a conversation, no need to worry.”
“You call lunging for my friggin’ neck normal? I just said it was above your paygrade, and that’s all you need to-”
Ugh, both of them were like petulant children, in some ways, Weiss really missed the ‘elder’ part of being a sister, because then Winter would more likely listen to her over whatever she learned in the army. An Enterprise she was not, but they were similarly stubborn, both in their own negative ways.
Quickly changing the topic before any actual punches could be thrown, Weiss literally stepped in between them. “Ah! How about we go and get lunch first? I’ll be paying for all of us, Mister Branwen, so is there anywhere you recommend?”
“Well, if you’re offerin'…there is a damn good pub from back in my Beacon days-”
“Ahem.” Winter glared at Qrow.
“You know she’s going to RVU, right? She’s bound to know of those things even if I didn’t say anything.”
“That’s not the point! You can’t just be telling those things to her, she’s still seventeen!”
Weiss, somewhat annoyed, innocently asked aloud: “Weren’t you only seventeen when you joined Atlas Academy? How is that any different?”
“I was trained-”
“And I’m just going to a regular university, I feel like we’ve had this conversation already.” If she was going to somewhere like Beacon that would be another matter. But even if the headmaster literally invited her to Beacon, like what happened this morning, she still would not be going.
“Come on, let’s not waste this beautiful sunlight, who knows what we might find in those little streets?”
Atlas was built on a grid pattern, just like most Eagle Union cities. While familiar to her, something about other cities that didn’t have that kind of building was better for walking and exploring. Every little small corner could reveal an entire market, and that was something she really wanted to see while here. Atlas was too...corporatized, every shop was either part of a chain or was being pushed out in favour of one. Such was the fate of many dust shops that weren't SDC owned or affiliated, courtesy of her father's business 'strategy'.
Who knows? She might even find that ‘Hutten’ here.
As if, there’s no such thing as coincidences here.
Whistling once, Weiss watched as Grim came into view, she had let him fly around by himself freely, and despite Winter’s concerns that he might just ‘fly away’ Grim did nothing like that. Holding her arm out, Grim perched back on Weiss’s bare arm, Mister Branwen behind her bewildered at where the eagle came from all of a sudden.
“Lead the way, little eagle! Find us something interesting!”
And something interesting Grim found.
AN:
Growing up with an older sister had a lot of moments where my shit was just gone one day. And I didn’t even realize until it was too late…
Kansen can’t seem to detect other Kansen right off the bat judging by how Sheffield was able to evade the Sakura Empire Kansen in the Anime. There was another part originally to this chapter but it was cut out after it got a bit too bloated, it’ll be used as the beginning for the next chapter instead.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 27: Chapter 26
Chapter Text
Chapter 26
Fuck.
That was the one word coursing through Qrow’s mind right now. In terms of worst-case scenarios, Winter meeting Ruby was just about at the top, just slightly below her meeting Salem. Still, the former in hindsight was much more likely to happen than the latter, and Qrow kicked himself in the balls mentally for not realising until Winter literally shouted 'Hutten!' in the middle of the street. In his defence, he was certain Ruby was still in Patch when he left, which should also have not been so certain with hindsight because of her transforming into a ship and everything. A little water wasn’t gonna stop her from reaching Vale.
Qrow, behind the two Schnee sisters, quietly, yet frantically used every signal he knew to convey a message to Ruby: Winter Schnee does not know about this, and should not know. For a few seconds, he felt beads of sweat race down the back of his neck as Ruby (hopefully) came to realize what he meant.
“Hutten? Who’s Hutten? Do you mean that terrorist who humiliated you in that video?”
Nooooooooooo!
“Aha! So you do admit it! Stay right there, criminal, the least I can guarantee you is a fair trial-” Winter fumbled out her scroll with one arm, only for Ruby to scoff at her.
“Admit what? That I and everyone else in Vale watched the video on the net? You have no right to do anything in Vale, Atlesian.” Qrow was about to point out Ruby was half Mantellian but there were much more pressing concerns right now.
“How dare-Qrow! What are you standing there for?! Arrest her!”
“Winter, you’re telling me to arrest my goddamn Niece right now, wait a minute, what am I saying?! She’s not even Hutten, you’re delusional!”
“Delusional?! She. Is. Right. THERE! Look at her! She’s the spitting image of her, a hardened terrorist-”
Ruby cut Winter off with a grunt. “I’m fifteen.”
Winter, to her credit, paused for a brief moment, before continuing. “A fifteen-year-old terrorist mastermind!”
“The hell you just say about Ruby?!” By this point Yang decided to tag in, with her lilac eyes turning to a blood red, and sparks of fire beginning to emerge from her long hair. Qrow realized this situation was rapidly spiralling out of control, and just as he was about to drag Winter away, Weiss Schnee beat him to the punch.
“Winter…”
“Stay behind me, Weiss! I’ll have this terrorist behind bars even if I have to use my teeth-”
“ WINTER! SHE is not Hutten!”
Weiss all but shouted it out, which was impressive, for someone that small to have the Lung space for that. Qrow was worried they were going to attract a crowd, but thankfully that wasn’t the case, back to Weiss however…
“Please stop embarrassing me in Vale, that girl over there is clearly not the ‘super-terrorist’ you claim her to be.”
“But-”
“Why would she, a terrorist wanted by the VPD who is also viral on the internet, be walking freely in public? And a fifteen-year-old no less? Who is also Mister Branwen’s niece? I find that hard to believe.”
“I was face to face with her, I swear, she’s the spitting image of Hutten!”
Weiss took one glance at Ruby, who still had that annoyed expression from earlier.
“They do resemble each other, in passing only. I’ve seen the video myself, didn’t you describe Hutten as a Faunus? With horns and slit eyes like those belonging to a reptile? If so, I see no Hutten here.”
Qrow wasn’t quite sure how Ruby’s powers worked, but it was safe to say that her horns and other parts of her Kansen self could be retracted, probably how she managed to evade being discovered for so long now that he thought about it. Her appearance as Hutten did indeed have similarities to Ruby’s regular form, but right now? She was as human as any other teenage girl in Vale.
“A Schnee mistaking someone for a Faunus? A White Fang Terrorist at that? Guess the stereotypes were true. Are you sure whatever happened in the docks didn’t mess with your thoughts as well? That punch certainly looked painful.” Ruby added in another insult, causing Winter to look even angrier than she already was, albeit with a little bit of doubt clearly shown.
“You-but, two nights ago-”
“She was eating dinner with her family, in our house on Patch, Uncle Qrow can vouch for us!” Yang added, standing just behind Ruby while crossing her arms. Winter looked towards Qrow for confirmation, and he quickly seized the opportunity.
“Yeah, got an image of them eating together in Patch on the day of the raid,” He even pulled out his scroll and opened the image for her to see, entirely hiding the other messages in their family group chat of course. “Unless you’re saying that she somehow went to Vale after dinner, beat your ass, escaped in your ship and evaded your Aunt, then made it back to Patch in time for breakfast yesterday?”
“Yes! Wait, no, that’s not…” Oum, Qrow felt like Raven right now, especially during the team STRQ days.
“Her eyes! They’re silver, no one else has silver eyes-”
“I could say the same about our hair, Winter.” With the last blow coming from Weiss, that finally shut Winter up, but like any good Huntsman, she went in to make sure whatever suspicions Winter had were well and truly shot. Damn, maybe Ozpin was right about recruiting her to Beacon.
“After all of the things you’ve heard, would you be comfortable writing a report to General Ironwood, or our dear Aunt about why you’ve decided to conduct a citizen’s arrest of a civilian in Vale, where the only evidence you have of her being Hutten are their vaguely similar appearances?”
“...”
Winter slouched, finally getting the message.
“I…no, you’re right, I should not have immediately jumped to conclusions.”
“I’m not the one you should be saying it to, it should be to Mister Branwen’s niece.”
Qrow rubbed his eyes, was he just about to witness Winter giving Ruby an apology? When he, despite having (reluctantly) worked with her for over half a decade, never received anything remotely similar? Good Oum, he was!
“I…apologize Miss…?”
“Rose, Ruby Rose.”
“I apologize, accusing you of being a terrorist was entirely uncalled for and unprofessional on my part, I hope this does not sour the perception of Atlesian specialists in Vale.”
“Don’t worry, it could not have been any worse than it was before I met you.”
“I can see how you are Qrow’s niece now…albeit with much more formality in speech.”
If anything, Ruby was more of a younger him these days than Qrow himself, age finally caught up with him somewhat. With that out of the way, Qrow could breathe a sigh of relief. While Winter was trustworthy, she was trustworthy in the sense that she would not babble about it to anyone else, besides Ironwood. He wasn’t sure if that was better, but if Ozpin did not feel it necessary to have his continued involvement in the matter, then that was a-okay in Qrow’s book.
“Well, now that the misunderstanding has been cleared, Brunch, anyone?” Weiss clasped her hands together and asked his nieces, only to be met by Ruby’s dismissal.
“With you? No offence, but we just met, and there’s the five of us-”
The youngest Schnee did one thing, reach into her wallet, and pull out a Golden Deluxe S+++ Schnee Banking Services card, it was a credit card that figuratively glowed as if it was made out of gold. It was, in fact, worth much more than that, not surprising, considering it came with having the biggest golden spoon on Remnant. Qrow could have sworn it was just the sun, but the blinding light coming out of it definitely made him cover his eyes.
“It’s my treat!”
“Rubes, can we…” Yang asked beside Ruby, with an answer said even before she finished her sentence.
“Fine.”
Within the upper echelons of the Ironblood, Ulrich was no stranger to the supposed ‘finer’ things in life, expensive spirits, Junker manors and even lavish receptions were all things she had experienced. Ruby, on the other hand, belonged to a middle-income family, smack dab in the middle by Vale’s standards. Even then, however, she had rarely stepped into anything that was considered as ‘high society’.
Here she was now however, in one of Vale’s numerous high-class restaurants that she would normally avoid, sitting with the heir of Remnant’s richest conglomerate. There wasn’t a person on this planet who didn’t at least hear of the Schnee name, with opinions varying wildly of course.
However, what those tabloids talking about her didn’t say was how…cheery she was.
“It’s a beef patty, cooked on a grill, then placed in between a bun cut in half, with cheese and other toppings like lettuce and bacon, I just wanted to know if you had a dish like that-”
“I…I will go and check, please, excuse me, young Miss!”
Ruby watched as the middle-aged man dressed in a Butler’s uniform scurried away before Weiss could even finish, either wholly ignoring or just so distracted that he ignored her cries.
“Wait, it’s fine if you don’t! I just wanted to know-”
The door to the terrace they were in was slammed shut, thankfully they were the only ones there, the restaurant having opened up their roof section for her their use alone. Despite feeling out of place, especially considering she was just wearing her hoodie and metalhead skirt, Ruby did not bat an eye at the antics surrounding her, instead wholly focusing on the heiress. There was a sense of Deja Vu that kept growing stronger by the minute, but she could not pin down exactly what.
“Y’know, I was totally fine with going to the food court, didn’t have to come to this place, isn’t there like a three month reservation needed here? I had a friend in Signal who wanted to have their graduation party here, got turned away pretty quickly.” Even Yang felt the awkwardness of their treatment here, and it was all because of the person paying for their meal. Status was something else after all.
“Sorry, I never thought it’d be like this here as well…we could call my Sister and head somewhere else.”
“We’re already here, leaving would be an even bigger problem for the restaurant. I don’t think they have a dish like that on the menu though.” Speaking of, Uncle Qrow and Winter Schnee were at separate tables due to some ‘work-related issues’ they needed to sort out.
“Oh, that! Don’t worry, it’s just something I hoped Vale would have…Atlas isn’t particularly known for its colourful variety of food after all. Have you heard of that dish in particular? I’ve only been in Vale for a day or two, so the local cuisines are still new to me.”
That sounded like an Eagle Union dish called a ‘burger’, something that Ruby had not encountered in Vale, not that there were many restaurants selling that particular dish in Ironblood. Despite being a completely different world with its own histories and the like, many things were strangely familiar to her, with foods such as Pizza or Ramen remaining a constant for some reason.
“We do have something called a Burrito, it’s minced beef wrapped inside of a flatbread with veggies, that what you were referring to?”
“You have burritos but not hamburg-”
Ruby’s enhanced hearing caught Weiss’s whisper before she cut herself off, it was hard to notice, but there was definitely a second of irritation shown on her face before it went back to the usual smiling and cheerful expression she had. With control like that, no wonder she was the heiress, but something about her still felt off, and not in the regular human way.
“Oh don’t worry, I’ll just…keep trying to find it on my own. Anyways! How’s it like being a family of huntsmen? Winter tells me of military families in Atlas, and with hunters more connected with the Army, there often isn’t much separation.”
They talked briefly before entering the restaurant, well, mostly it was just her and Yang who talked, while Ruby hung back trying to find out where the sense of Deja Vu came from.
“Aha…well, there’s Uncle Qrow, who you know, my Dad, a teacher at a preparatory academy, me, going into Beacon in like two months…Ruby isn’t training to become a Huntress.”
“Really?” The Schnee turned to look at Ruby, her full attention now on her.
“I’m also in Signal, just in the regular academy. I have no intentions of becoming a Huntress.” It was the same old song and dance, already done endlessly before.
“Fascinating, an odd one out?”
Ruby narrowed her eyes at her. “They respect it, though there have been…challenges.”
“Ah, you too? Seems as if we’re both running from destiny then…”
This felt increasingly like a meeting between two faction leaders in her old world, Ulrich was part of negotiations between the Ironblood and the Sakura Empire once, the feeling right now was not at all too different.
“Uhm, you two okay?”
Ruby realized she had been staring intently at Weiss, who was also doing the same thing to her. Breaking eye contact, she laughed off Yang’s concern before taking a sip of her water.
“Oh dear me, I do get absorbed into these conversations I have every so often…how about a change of topic? Ever heard of someone online called the FightingLady? ”
“Uh, yeah? Who hasn’t? You go online and her name gets referenced every so often, kinda hard to miss it. Isn’t she some extremist or whatever?” Yang was referring to FightingLady-10, a poster with an unnaturally large following on various forums and the like who posted ideas considered radical, by Remnant’s standards of course. To Ruby, it was just what was the Eagle Union’s ideology, but much more anti-corporation than the former. In short, it threatened Atlas’s current status quo, and that was enough for it to be labelled as such by the mainstream, another such thing that was a constant between worlds.
“Extremist? I suppose from their point of view, she is one. If the White Fang are extremists, then so are the Atlesians for creating the status quo in the first place.”
“Uhhhhh, Rubes? You know who you’re talking to, right?”
Ruby knew, she knew very well who she was talking to.
“And? This is Vale, I have the liberty to say what I desire, if she is going to stay here, may as well get used to people having a different opinion.”
“Ruby-”
“Ah, how have I missed this…”
Instead of being offended, the Schnee looked even more content, the smile she had earlier was still there, but it seemed softer, more relaxed if she had to describe it now. Akin to a stage actor having to adopt a persona, then once the drama was over, putting down the metaphorical mask. Ruby was not the best at the whole ‘meeting people’ thing, but she knew subtle changes when she saw it, a lifetime of battle honed her into the smallest of details.
“Don’t mind me, it’s just that those I’ve talked to in Atlas usually have a more…visceral reaction. You seem to have read her works, right Ruby? What do you think of her stance on liberty?”
Who the hell asked a question like that on their first meeting? All this talk of liberty and freedom from her reminded her greatly of the Eagle Union, and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind about the subject matter. Ruby wasn’t quite sure where it came from.
“Give me liberty, or give me death…”
“Kinda extreme there, don’t ya think? I mean, I’m all about living that life but don’t know if I wanna go ride or die like that-”
Clink
Yang was interrupted by the sound of a spoon hitting the teacup, causing Ruby to look back at Weiss. Her eyes were wide, the widest she had seen them in the short time frame they spent together, and they weren’t the ones belonging to someone who said something shocking, no, they were the eyes belonging to a fanatic; similar to the ones in various Ironblood temples to the Gods. It unnerved her, but those wide eyes went away as soon as she noticed Ruby was staring, reverting back to its original state.
“You…are you…”
The door to the balcony suddenly opened again, and whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by the same middle-aged butler assigned to them, beads of sweat on his forehead.
“E-excuse me, young Miss, but there seems to be an issue with-”
“Ah, uh, don’t worry about the dish, I’ll have the Salmon instead-”
“Erm, no, it is an issue with your sister and the…male guest, we are afraid they will fight each other in the main dining room.”
At that sudden, but not wholly unexpected turn of topics, both Ruby and Weiss stood up from their seats at the same time, and bowed their heads slightly downwards.
“I apologize for his actions.”
“I apologize for her actions.”
They then quickly followed the man to the main dining room, in hindsight, leaving them alone was not the greatest of ideas.
“Today was a splendid day, I do hope to see you again soon!”
Ruby awkwardly shook Weiss’s hands, the two having broken up a potential fight before it could have begun in the afternoon. With the sun setting however, Weiss and Winter had to return to their accommodations, and Ruby, the same applied with going back to Patch. Taiyang was not strictly happy with finding out Ruby snuck off with Yang, but Uncle Qrow somehow managed to smooth everything over, thus saving the two of from a potentially long lecture. She knew he was their uncle for a reason.
“If you’re actually staying in Vale, perhaps we will.” Ruby meant it, despite her eccentricities she didn’t find her bad to talk to at all, the celebrity gossip surrounding the young heiress did not give her a good initial impression after all. It just went to show that you couldn’t trust most things at face value.
“What joy~” Weiss held out her hand, waiting for Ruby to shake it, and upon doing so, her other remaining hand also grasped onto Ruby’s.
“Be seeing you tonight?” Weiss leaned in and whispered, making sure that Ruby was the only one who heard it. On the palm of her hands, she felt a crumpled paper be nestled into it tightly, a bit too much force applied. It was her Aura, it had to be.
Before she could get another word in, however, the heiress skipped backwards, rejoining her sister who hung further back and into their personal car, also of SDC-make. Weiss gave her one last wave before disappearing behind the car’s tinted windows, prompting Ruby to unrol the piece of paper given to her. She swore that if it was a number or something she was going to-
They were coordinates. In latitude and longitude, not in the style Remnant was used to, but in the style of her old world. They were for one of the islands off the coast of Patch, uninhabited and devoid of any towns, she herself had sailed past them many times. There was also a time written on it, midnight, presumably today judging by her last words.
Though what made Ruby’s breath hitch was the addition of a small drawing, of an eagle standing on an anchor, against the backdrop of a shield.
It was the symbol of the Eagle Union, unmistakable, even if it was hastily drawn on a napkin.
“Impossible…”
Weiss Schnee was the Kansen she was looking for.
Isle of Patch
0 Nautical Miles from the Xiao Long residence
2300 Hours
“It’s just a walk, I’ll be back within the hour.”
“Suuure, and I’m not going to find out that Patch has a brand new crater within the hour as well, right?”
Ruby’s conditions for bringing her rigging out were one, under adult supervision, it did not specify what exactly constituted as an ‘adult’, and two, if she was going to leave the general vicinity of Vale, she had to get prior approval. There was some grumbling from Tai about her smuggling ‘side job’ but the moment Ruby mentioned that the funds could now be used towards paying for college he quickly began considering the more financially abundant future he had. In other words, he could retire, very soon, or at least now have to worry about needing to pay for anything related to schooling for the next decade or so.
She was still going to live in Patch, they were a family with Mistralian roots after all, ‘why pay rent in the big city when you can live cheaply in Patch?’ was something their Dad always said when Yang wanted to move out to Vale after first year in Beacon. Then entirely unaware that Beacon had a dorm system for the entire four years.
“If you’re hearing explosions, then that means I’m fighting some big Grimm. I’ll be fine.”
What Grimm were actually a threat to her? Aside from the larger Sea varietals like a Feilong or something similar in size, few Grimm could actually harm her, in rigging form or with her hull out. There were those that could prove troublesome, but nothing she couldn’t handle with a few well-placed armour piercing shells, they were designed to punch through Siren battleships, and Grimm were considerably less armoured than they were.
“It’s just that Patch is dangerous at night, you know what those safety classes in Signal taught you right? I just don’t want to see you get into a potential fight.” Ruby remembered, considering Uncle Qrow taught that class, much to her embarrassment among other classmates.
“Are you more worried about me being hurt or for Patch being caught in the crossfire?”
“Pffffft-”
“Dayum…”
Yang and Uncle Qrow, sitting not far away from where she and Tai were talking in the kitchen, turned out to be eavesdropping after all. In hindsight, the fact that they were watching a golf show should have clued Ruby into that.
“Well…”
“I promise to not use my main cannons, unless absolutely necessary.”
“Aren’t those smaller ones also kinda big…?”
“...I’ll only use my anti-aircraft batteries, happy?” Of course, her anti-aircraft batteries included her secondaries, just with the shells swapped. Not that Tai would have known the difference.
“Just Patch?”
“Just Patch. Around the Island maybe.”
“Homework done?” She did it in five minutes, math was always laughably easy.
“Done, and I’ll be back by midnight.” Ruby held out her hand, pinky outstretched, this was something she used to do with her Dad as a kid, though these days she obviously didn’t do it too often, especially not in public.
“...my little Rose is becoming independent, huh? Guess having enough firepower to level Patch would do it…” She could probably level a good half of Vale, but she wasn’t going to mention that. Tai used his own pinky to shake hers, it was as good as a blood oath.
“Alright, keep your phone on, and tell me if the Grimm out there are too much to handle! I’ll have my weapon ready just in case, Qrow too. Haven’t seen you in action yet, might be a good idea for us to spar, but we’ll leave that for later.” Ruby did mention that she got into fights every so often, not of her own volition of course, but Qrow backed her up before Tai could blow a gasket by showing him the video of hear punching Winter Schnee.
Grabbing her coat on the way out, she waved at Tai on the front porch before making her way to the coastline. Usually, before her Kansen side was found out, she would be escorted by some of her family when it was dark, in their eyes then she was still a regular, non-Aura civilian.
Walking through the dark woods, with only the moonlight for any source of light, Ruby took the opportunity to summon Schwarz out, sort of like taking out a pet for a walk. If said pet was a metal serpent, then it was just like any nightly stroll, but the growling all around Ruby said otherwise. She counted a group of five Beowulves, all infants, she wouldn’t even bother getting into a stance.
“Kill.”
Schwarz did exactly that, and within a few seconds, the Beowulves that had circled around her met their end, sometimes in pieces. Though there was one more, a smarter one, didn’t Uncle Qrow say that smarter Grimm were the most dangerous? Evidently, however, it wasn’t smart enough, for it still lunged at Ruby, only to be caught in the neck by her steel grip.
“Ruhe in Frieden."
CRACK
The black-furred canine went limp, and began dissolving. She reached for the smoke that always came off of them, feeling a particular kind of energy, but never being able to identify or even manipulate it. Friedrich would have known something about it, or any other in Ironblood who dealt with technology. They were not here, and thus Ruby continued on.
With the brief distraction out of the way, she reached the coastline after a few more minutes of walking, summoning her full rigging and dropping onto the sea below. She made her way towards the coordinates, a confused set of emotions in her mind, the sort that would fall under the category of an existential crisis. If she was not the last Kansen, then what did that mean for her in this world?
Ruby needed answers, and she got them soon after, for right behind the second island in the Patch island chain, was a ship.
An Aircraft carrier, unmistakable with its flat top and size, it was roughly the same size as herself, giving her a clue as to who the mystery Kansen was. It had to be a fleet carrier, but again, the Eagle Union had dozens of them, it did not help her narrow which one down whatsoever. The only option was to board it, she was waiting for her after all.
Approaching it at a steady pace, Ruby did not notice any lights or movement on the ship, if she had not had her enhanced vision she wasn’t sure anyone could have spotted it without being right in its face. Using the anchor as a rope, she gently climbed up and onto the flight deck, at least, that was what she remembered as a flight deck. Ironblood did have carrier Kansen of their own, but not to the same extent as other factions.
Dozens of planes, propeller planes she was familiar with, were parked on the flight deck. Dive bombers, fighters and torpedo bombers were all neatly arranged in rows, most of them probably never having gone on a mission against the Siren fleets, just like Ruby herself.
Walking closer to the flight control tower, the door leading into the ship suddenly opened, she knew Ruby was here. Schwarz nudged her side in concern, and despite the grip on her scythe tightening, she eventually dismissed it and patted her rigging in reassurance.
Ruby and Schwarz walked down the steps, most naval ships had similar enough architecture, but the foreignness of it still gave her pause. Similar to when she guided the Atlesian Naval Officer they kidnapped, blinking lights on the hallways directed her on where to go. Deciding to follow along, the winded and long hallways filled with pipes and other machinery eventually led her to…a diner?
No, it was a diner, the Eagle Union kind she saw in movies. The neon lights, checkered floors and the tables filled with condiments all pointed to it being an authentic roadside diner, somehow fit into an Aircraft Carrier, but then again, she had a beer garden fitted into her hull so who was she to judge their odd design choices?
Walking through the doors, she was immediately hit by the music of a Jukebox, playing songs from the Eagle Union, and after a few seconds more, the sizzle of meat on a pan, and the smell of grease.
“Just a few seconds, and I’ll be right with you! Take a seat on any table you’d like.”
Ruby did exactly that, the voice was unmistakably from Weiss Schnee, albeit much more relaxed now compared to the afternoon. Taking a seat on the nearest table, she slid into the red velvet leather, careful to not rip anything with her clothing. Wait a minute, though she didn’t realize at first, Weiss spoke to her not in the common language, but in the Eagle Union dialect of the Royal Navy’s language, the first time she heard anyone speak it in Remnant.
“Alright, cheese is on the patty, just need to wait for it to melt…you want anything to drink?” Weiss appeared from the window peering into the kitchen, she still wore her sundress from this afternoon, with the addition of an apron and spatula in hand.
“I’ve got Oxy-cola, milkshakes, good old Tennessee whiskey…dub light even…though I guess you Ironblood folks hate that stuff, right?”
Ruby had no idea what she was talking about, especially when it came to the last drink she offered, but more importantly, Weiss knew she was from Ironblood already.
“I will have the Oxy-cola.” Her own use of the Royal Navy’s language was quite rusty, and even she was surprised by the accent that came out.
“The classic! Comin’ right up.”
Weiss pulled two bottles of the famous Eagle Union soft drink for Kansen out from a fridge, opened the cap, and slid it over to Ruby. She took a swig, and immediately felt any tiredness from today disappear, what did they even put in this stuff? No wonder it was banned for sale in Ironblood, the civilian version, not the Kansen one.
Weiss then took the seat across from Ruby, she poured the Oxy-cola into a cup, and then took out a huge bottle of whiskey from seemingly thin air.
“I like to have Jack and Cola whenever possible, believe me, it wasn’t easy sneaking off to drink this stuff in the Schnee manor.”
Ruby knew that cocktail, it was mixing a cola with whiskey together, though instead of it being one part whiskey and four parts cola, Weiss’s version was more like half and half. She watched her down half of the glass in one go, before turning to Ruby with a content smile. What the tabloids would pay for an image like that, Ruby didn’t even want to know.
“Don’t really get the chance to take my hull out y’know? With Atlas being in the sky and everythin’. Usually I get the opportunity whenever my family goes on vacation to a resort near the sea, and even then I’ve got to sneak past the guards assigned to protect us. Privileged, I know, but that was how it was for me, guessing you grew up differently, right?”
Very much so. Ruby just nodded, she couldn’t imagine guards watching her every move since birth, she would have rather shot through the walls than endure that.
“Must have been nice… excuse me, where are my manners? We’ve already introduced ourselves, but I feel like another introduction is in order.”
Two feathered wings sprouted out from behind her, and the eagle Ruby saw from earlier today, landed on Weiss’s outstretched arm. Her sundress was replaced in another flash, instead, a dress with a corset, arm cuffs and necktie appeared in its place; a blue rose adorned on the side of her hair.
“I’m Weiss Schnee, and in my past life…I was called EUS Yorktown, Essex-class Aircraft Carrier of the Eagle Union.”
Yorktown, named after the battle in the Eagle Union’s revolution against the Royal Isles, and the sister ship of the legendary Grey Ghost. The Eagle by her side was no mere eagle at all.
Ruby gave her own introduction next, the first to a fellow Kansen graced with a Wisdom Cube for the first time, in Remnant.
“Ruby Rose. In the memories I inherited, I was KMS Ulrich Von Hutten, H-39 Battleship of Ironblood.”
Before continuing on however, she had to confirm just one, small tiny detail. “Tell me then, before we continue, are we still enemies?”
Fair winds and following seas.
AN:
Something that really irks me in regards to ‘Fantasy’ worlds like Remnant is how many of them in a ‘modern’ setting just feel Americanized. Probably due to RT not really paying attention to the world-building, but I don’t get the sense that Vale is a ‘distinct’ Kingdom in RWBY unlike Atlas or Mistral for that matter, and the latter just mixes like all of East Asia into one.
Also, there is no way in hell Remnant only has one language, considering they fought a Great War over letting people have freedom of expression and all that, having just one universal language like the show suggests sends very mixed signals. You’d think with the lengths they go to show the different kingdoms, there’d be something, anything on there being language issues.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 28: Chapter 27
Chapter Text
Chapter 27
You could grill, pan fry, deep fry, bake, steam and so much more with the general idea. In all forty-eight states of the Union, each state had its unique method of preparing them, in a way, that was the best metaphor to describe the citizens who lived there. Though all were different in their own way, across the vast states from sea to shining sea, all were still proud citizens of the Eagle Union.
E pluribus unum.
Out of many, one.
Those were the principles in which the Union were founded by, and though there were significant ‘difficulties’ during their relatively short history, that old mantra of liberty for all was something Weiss remembered very fondly. And here, away from the frozen tundras of Solitas, where she was able to sneak away from her hotel and freely deploy her hull, for just a moment, she could imagine herself back in the Union. On the roadside on Route 66, having stopped by a local diner for a quick bite, the music definitely helped, and the ice-cold Oxy-cola. She’d make a slushie out of it, but Ruby came by a bit too quickly for her to do that.
“Something wrong with your burger?” Weiss took a large bite out of her cheeseburger, she had to substitute the regular burger bun with a brioche instead here, the supermarket she bought her ingredients from sadly did not have a ‘burger’ bun.
“It’s…greasy.” Ruby poked and prodded at her burger, exactly the same as Weiss’s.
“Yes, and? That’s flavour right there, come on, take a bite!”
Reluctantly, the Ironblood Kansen lifted up her burger, and took a conservative bite, her eyes widening slightly just a second later. Her homemade barbecue sauce probably kicked in, causing Weiss to nod in satisfaction.
“I can see why your people are number one in fat-related medical issues.”
Weiss fought the urge to roll her eyes, it wasn’t that bad…they had healthy food too.
“At least our food has flavour, can’t say the same about the Royal Navy. Did you know we used to cook for them during sorties? In turn, they’d share with us their alcohol rations, probably a myth, but I’d like to believe it’s true.”
The Eagle Union was a ‘dry’ navy, meaning that no alcohol could be issued to sailors on ships, the Royal Navy did not have that same rule. She distinctly remembered a destroyer named Laffey having to hide her stashes of booze, often labelling them as ‘Torpedo Juice’, fooling absolutely no one. But then again no Ensign was brave enough to tell off a Kansen for drinking, no matter how foolhardy or morally uptight they may have been. Come to think about it, what were they even thinking? Trying to ban alcohol for the entire nation? It was never going to have worked out.
“I can believe it, compliments to the chef.” Ruby took another bite, this time a much more liberal one.
“Glad you like it, I tried to source things as close as I could, thankfully Eagle Union cheese was one of the things that get replaced in my hull, is it the same for you?”
“Bier is, and so are other canned items, sausages and the like.”
Good to know that was at least consistent, she remembered chugging ten bottles of Oxy-cola the first time she managed to bring her hull out while on vacation in Vacuo, a young Weiss Schnee didn’t know when she’d get the chance to savour the taste again. It was stupid how her hull had to be out for her to retrieve them, a Tommy gun and a .50 calibre machine gun? A-okay, but a simple cola? Nope, too complex, better take your hull out.
“You still have not answered my question.”
Were all Ironblood Kansen like Ruby? Straight to the point and nothing else, it certainly didn’t help their stereotypes. Weiss sighed as she put her half-finished burger down on her plate, taking a sip of cola before answering. She initially avoided it by rushing back into the kitchen and assembling their burgers, but now she had no more excuses, the prior conversation failed to distract Ruby from bringing it up again.
“Even in another world, must we, somehow in different lives, ask each other if we are still enemies? Do you really wish to continue the bloodshed?”
To her relief, Ruby shook her head immediately. “No, but that is why I must ask. Azur Lane and Crimson Axis were not on the best of terms to put it mildly, I have no desire to continue a meaningless war in this life, unless I am given reason to.”
“And what would those reasons be?”
“I don’t know. But I know they exist.”
Weiss wanted to slam her head on the diner table, was she always this irritated? Maybe it was good that Hornet and Enterprise weren’t here, otherwise they’d be seeing their beloved older sister acting like this.
“Are there any…others like us?”
“None, you’re the first and only one I’ve met so far. Everyone else are been natives to this world, no signs of Wisdom Cubes either.” Nor Sirens for that matter, but Ruby must have known that as well by now.
“Then how-”
“Did we manifest? I’ve asked this question myself for a long time…I suppose you have as well. Short answer? I have no idea, one day I was near the ocean, it was the first time I ever saw it, and…it happened. I suddenly ‘knew’ I was Yorktown, imagine the shock that would give to a six-year-old.”
Weiss was no psychologist, but the implications of two sets of memories, who she was before knowing of Yorktown’s own, had to have been life-changing. Whoever Weiss Schnee was destined to be before ‘Yorktown’ surfaced was now gone, but the version of herself right here and now would never go back, back to being ignorant about ‘Yorktown’. Who knows? Maybe she would have aggressively pursued being the heir of the SDC, taken up a different life path, become a Huntress even, though that one was even less likely considering her family background. Most likely it would have been being prepared to take over the ‘family’ business like some corporate stooge.
“I was five when it happened. You had a much more…peaceful awakening than I. No matter, you really do not know anything? What is the last thing you remember from Yorktown’s memories?”
She narrowed her eyes at Ruby, that part of her memories was the haziest part. There were memories that were clear as day, and others were hazy, like being in a wheat field with no sense of direction.
“My last one was…being at Port Honolulu, at Pearl, we were preparing for a mission, a big one, then it gets too hazy. I can’t remember anything else.”
Specifically, it was the last memory she had of both Enterprise and Hornet, as well as a bunch of other Kansen such as Midway and Alaska. It was a major operation, she surmised as such, but any details about it could not be remembered.
“Hm. I am the same, my last memory was at Kiel, also in the midst of a mission. Could it be…the reason why we are here?”
Weiss made a shrugging motion, in the near dozen years she has had to come to terms with her situation, finding out the reason why was not her primary concern. Though it did nag her at times, she couldn’t afford to spend all of her time on it, could she?
“Maybe, maybe not. Chasing after ghosts of the past isn’t a good way to spend our time on Remnant, is it? Don’t you have your own mysteries in this life you want to uncover?”
Ruby made a motion to reach for the chain hanging from her neck, only to stop right before yanking the thing out.
“Nevermind. Though kin we may be, I still do not know you very well.”
Fine by Weiss, she didn’t expect Ruby to trust her right from the get-go. Hell, she didn’t even expect her to show up today, it was only when her radar picked up her approach did she turn on the grill. Make no mistake, however, now that she was in Vale for a four-year undergraduate program, there was going to be plenty of time to meet. She was going to melt that Ironblood exterior in no time, with some good old-fashioned Eagle Union charm.
“Don't kick yourself over it, but we Kansen should stick together, so, whaddya say about being friends for now? If you ever need someone to talk to about the old world, you know who to call.”
Holding up her scroll to emphasize the point, Ruby sighed once, before nodding to Weiss’s delight.
“Come to think about it…we should have a drink-”
“I’m a minor.” Well, technically Weiss Schnee was legally seventeen, but that didn’t stop her at all.
“You’re a Kansen, it doesn’t apply.”
“My family will find out. And also, you’re already tipsy.” Weiss didn’t understand what she was talking about, until she looked at her reflection on the table, her face was a bit red, though only slightly. A distant memory of Yorktown saying some very odd things after a few drinks began to surface, was this why Enterprise always made sure someone looked after her during parties?
“You’re craaazy, stop gaslighting me, you already fooled my sister Winter today…”
She went to pour more whiskey from her bottle, only to find that it was empty. When did it run out? Weiss swore there was more to it…
“I did not fool your sister, she chose to believe it, gullible as Specialists are…”
“Hey, didn’t I help you out? We could make a great team…did you know in Huntsman academies they make you partner up? In Beacon the rule is to partner with the first person you make eye contact with, when you ran into me, wouldn’t that mean we would be partners?”
Those were what former Beacon graduates said in various forums, she thought it was entirely a rumour until Winter confirmed it. At least it was more dramatic than how Atlas did it, some computerized algorithm to determine who would pair the best did not exactly endear her to the academy. No matter how many honeyed words the ‘good’ General gave to her older sister, it was the one thing she could never forgive.
Never.
“That is if I voluntarily joined Beacon in the first place. Though, eye contact? Really? I can see many issues arising from that alone, and they expect the same partners to remain the same for four years. Tradition it may be, but bad traditions should not be kept.” Ruby pointed out indifferently, this was going to be a work in progress, wasn’t it?
Feeling Grim nudge her sides, she suddenly remembered what she wanted to do at the end, the edges of her lips tugging upwards as she turned to look Ruby in the eyes.
“Hey…wanna go fly?”
Weiss didn’t even give the younger girl any time to process what she said before dragging her out of the booth and the diner entirely. Drowning out her complaints with happy thoughts of finally being able to take to the skies once again, the door leading to her flight deck was slammed open, revealing a singular plane materialized and already waiting to take off.
“One, you are drunk, two, isn’t that plane from the company infamously unreliable? I do not want the cockpit window to fly out suddenly while in the air.” Ruby pointed out, the cool ocean breeze blowing at them without much effect.
“Counterpoint one, I can fly a squadron with my eyes closed, counterpoint two, it’s only their civilian airliners, this is their Dauntless, if it’s good enough for Enterprise, it’s good enough for just the two of us! Come on, it fought bravely in the Pacific, I’ve never had anyone fly with me yet.”
“Kansen are not meant to fly.”
Weiss ignored Ruby’s statement and began walking closer towards the plane. “Kaga of the Sakura Empire thought the same thing too, until Enterprise proved her wrong. Onwards!”
She may not have had the same battle prowess that Enterprise often displayed, but Yorktown held considerable sway among the Eagle Union ranks by her will alone, and morale mattered just as much as battle prowess or technological advantage. In one small leap, Weiss managed to climb up onto the wing of the plane, opening the canopy for the pilot and the back gunner. Twirling around on her heels, she spread both her arms out and waited for Ruby to respond.
“Typical Yankee.”
“Stop being so sour, Kraut~” Two could play at that game. Despite the insult, however, Ruby finally budged from leaning on the control tower, making her way to the back gunner position.
“A quick flight only, I still have to go back home soon.”
Better than she hoped, and besides, she only said to have a quick flight, not to have a ‘pleasant’ one. It wasn’t every day that she got to make a Battleship experience what dive bombing felt like.
There was a glamorous idea of breaking the law, the romanticism of going against the strict rules that society was governed by, to maverick one’s own way regardless of any consequences. That was why there were so many films about crime and the people who committed them, moreso on organized groups which spread their own ideas about their illicit profession in an attempt to get more fresh recruits into joining up with their lifestyle.
Neo, was not one of those idiots, no, she chose to enter that world, despite knowing what it was really like. Back when she still went by ‘Trivia’ and not ‘Neopolitan’ there may have been a time when she could have gone down another path if her parents had shown her just an inkling more of love and affection.
But, they were dead, and good riddance to those assholes. Who knew keeping a massive stockpile of dust anywhere near you was actually detrimental to health and safety?
That was exactly why she was currently situated at least half a kilometer away from the nearest stockpile of dust in the makeshift White Fang base they were residing (hiding) in. After being unceremoniously dropped off by Neo’s second favourite person in the world, she and Roman realised they were in a tricky situation. They had no Dust, had their main safehouse raided by the coppers and were even more wanted than they originally were. As it turned out, stealing prototype military equipment was in fact, a very illegal thing to do, even more so than usual.
So they did what any good criminal knew, fall back to familiar lines. They eventually managed to get in contact with Tukson, some White Fang informant who was not too pleased to see them appear in his bookstore, but nonetheless directed them to a White Fang cell. That cell, somehow treating them as heroes by association with Hutten, took them in like war veterans returning home successfully. Apparently Hutten was now a legendary Hero in the Fang, with her successfully beating the Aura out of Winter Schnee and annihilating the Atlesian force sent after them being more than endearing to them. The fact that she had clearly visible horns and spider-like legs protruding out didn’t help things, even though Faunus could only have one animal part, some already began calling her the Messiah or whatever.
Gee, wonder why…knowing her however, Neo would bet a year’s supply of ice cream that Ruby had no idea she had that kind of status right now.
Anyways, one thing led to being smuggled out of Vale in a livestock truck, gross, and here they were, back in the arms of their ‘allies’, licking their wounds. Well, she had a great time until being dropped off, as she made liberal use of Ruby’s fully functional and classically decorated Spa in that ship of hers, which was also technically herself. Why couldn’t she reflect a spa or anything like that? Not all Semblances were created equal after all…
So here she was, in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, with no plumbing, indoor heating, good scroll service, Grimm basically patrolling everywhere and did she mention that she was underground? It was to avoid reconnaissance flights from Atlesian forces, eager to avenge their tarnished reputation. Oh well, things could be worse, at least she wasn’t on clean-up duty, when those tunnels were sealed they sure left behind a lot of mummified corpses in the trains.
Too many. Some she was sure were even childr-
*BZZT*
Desperate for anything to take her mind off that sight again, she immediately lunged for her scroll on a small crate beside her. If her hunch was correct…
Rubes: check this out
Rubes: [Image of her in a cockpit, high above the city of Vale]
Rubes: this could be us but you a wanted criminal
Neo blinked at the image that was sent to her, what was she even flying in? She may not have known about flying very much, but it didn’t look like any airship she knew of.
Neo-Neopolity: what is this
Neo-Neopolity: Where ru
Rubes: in the sky
Neo-Neopolity: how do you even have scroll service?
Rubes: secret
Rubes: where ru then
Rubes: you’re very wanted by the cops
Neo-Neopolity: secret~
When was she ever not wanted by the cops? Well, probably not to that extent but that was not relevant.
Rubes: is Roman with u?
Neo-Neopolity: Not rn. Why?
Rubes: Ask him when and where I can drop off the dust
Rubes: asshole left me on read when I asked
Neo was entirely unsurprised. They were in no state to be receiving new shipments of Dust, shit, barely even had enough space to hide their bullheads from aerial patrols. Roman was probably doing his best to stall Ruby, who he saw as their golden ticket out of this mess, even moreso now. Both in the sense of being able to complete their job and just straight up eliminating their employer. She was fine with either, but leaned a teensy bit more to the latter option.
Rubes: I can't hold this stuff forever
Rubes: Tell him go give me a reply soon or i dump the product into the sea
Rubes: Or I use it for target practice
Rubes: Either way I lose it so
Neo-Neopolity: he gonna be so mad
Rubes: I'll use him for target practice, I can see his stupid bowler hat from a mile away, literally
Neo-Neopolity: understandable, have a nice night
Rubes: Tell Roman to call me when he gets back
Rubes: hello
Rubes: I see that you’ve read my message
Before Neo could incriminate herself further, she quickly shut off her scroll. Just as she was about to lean back however, there was a small statured Fang grunt approaching her, walking so stiffly that he may as well have had a bat up his ass.
“M-Miss Neopolitan? Mister Torchwick has requested y-your presence.”
Already? He probably fucked some other thing up again. Getting up, she brushed past the grunt and made her way back deeper into the camp, which was an old underground metro station for the settlement. The timid little grunt quickly followed her, barely managing to keep pace.
“I-is it true you and Hutten the liberator bested the Schnee together?!”
Neo stopped right in her tracks, then turned to the grunt with the best expression of confusion she could muster. Also, did she hear right? Hutten the liberator? She fought the urge to let Ruby know right this moment, instead making a mental note to record the reaction for herself later on.
“It’s w-what we think high leader Taurus is visiting this camp for…”
Taurus? Neo looked ahead to the main area of their makeshift camp, noticing Roman and Adam Taurus arguing with each other next to shipments of Dust. Huh, Taurus himself was here? Come to think of it, they did meet each other before, albeit briefly as he was too busy preparing for another raid.
“A-are we right, ma’am?” Deciding to have a little fun before all the serious talk, Neo twirled around to face the Grunt directly, a perfect grin on her face. Pulling out her scroll, she typed out a simple message.
‘What’s your name?’
“T-Timothy ma’am!”
Little Timothy, then. He was not taller than Neo by much, which was an extreme rarity by Vale’s standards. However, people like him had…other uses.
‘Run along now, Timmy, report back to me and I’ll tell Hutten about what a good little soldier for the cause you are.’
“I’ll do anything for the liberator! Excuse me, ma’am!”
Before, the White Fang grunts barely tolerated her and Roman’s presence, y’know, being the human scum and all that. Neo could get used to this newfound respect, and all of it was due to piggybacking off of Hutten’s misunderstanding. The Fang Commanders weren’t even trying to fight those ideas, any cause needed heroes, and Hutten just so happened to be one, whether she knew it or not.
The brief fun time over, and she reflected her way to Roman’s side, appearing in a brief flash right behind him.
SHING
“Who?”
Only to find Taurus’s blade only an inch from her throat. So this was the skill of the infamous bull…she wanted to fight him.
“NEO! Gave me a heart attack there…also, you mind sheathing that razorblade of yours? Not so good for business, pointing that at your business partners.”
Roman had his own weapon ready to fire, the grunts around Taurus tensely standing around, but making no move to draw their own weapons. With a grunt, the infamous leader slowly sheathed his blade.
“I do not like surprises.”
“Yeah, I’d imagine, with your partner taking off with the front of the train and everything. Whoops, too soon?”
Evidently so, judging by him gripping his hilt even tighter.
“The Dust from that train will be added to the stockpile here. You do not need to worry about witnesses.” Goody, more work to do…
“But even that will not be enough to replenish the stocks of what we once had. Other safehouses have been targeted relentlessly, we will be undergoing a lockdown.”
“Ugh! Again?! Do you know how much that disrupted things the last time that happened?! Do you want me to get this done or not? I’m sure Cinder wouldn’t like your progress right now either, right? ”
The reminder that both had a metaphorical fire underneath their feet caused Taurus to grit his teeth. Clearly he was not an all too willing collaborator with her either.
“Irrelevant. Hutten is not with you.”
And there it was, the real reason he came here. Why else would Adam Taurus visit a random camp in the middle of nowhere? No, he’d seen the video as well, kind of difficult to not have seen it with all the news playing it these past few days.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Roman was not playing around either, not when his golden ticket was on the line. Whatever he’d choose, Neo would stick by him, as she always had.
Surprisingly, he huffed in response. Didn’t Ruby mention running into him before?
“The last time we met, she told me that she had no desire to fight in our cause. I called her a fence-sitter. What she did on the docks was not what a fence sitter would do.”
“Let’s just say she’s a temp worker, a really good temp worker. I’m gonna dash your dreams right now, she’s still a freelancer, we just happened to have business that day.”
“Business that included fighting Winter Schnee, and winning? Then evading an Atlesian cruiser, headed by a vice-admiral? Do not take me for a fool.”
But that was what happened-
“All a coincidence, you know how our line of work is, the chaos is an inevitable part of it.”
“Hm. Fine, play at your games. Tell her that I wish to meet.”
Neo couldn’t help but snicker, ask to meet her? Even if the four maidens from legend came together, Ruby still wouldn’t meet with them unless forced to.
“You serious? There is no way she’ll even accept meeting you-”
“Then I will find her.”
She instantly narrowed her eyes at him, daring him to start the fight, but alas, it never came. As he walked away, he gave off a few more cryptic words.
“She has involved herself with the Fang, and as such, it is only fitting for the leader to vet the new initiate. ”
A few moments later, after he walked deeper into the cave, and away from vision, she and Roman shared a look together.
“We should warn her, right?”
Neo gave him a deadpan stare with her heterochromatic eyes.
You think?!
AN:
The SBD Dauntless, from the Douglas Aircraft Company, which later merged with with McDonnel, which finally merged with Boeing was a famous U.S. Dive Bomber in the Pacific. This is for anyone who didn’t get the reliability joke.
Neapolitan’s real name is Trivia Vanille, and even has a whole backstory now…revealed in a spin-off prequel book. Yay, very fun, not at all annoying to comb through…
Just in case anyone asks, regarding the ‘personalities’ of Ruby and Weiss in this story, I am aiming for similarity, yet not a complete copy. While they do retain a large portion of their inherited Kansen’s personality, I have made it so that there are still significant enough differences in who they currently are. Otherwise why don’t I just literally put the same Kansen in Remnant? You may already notice this with Ruby, in comparison to Ulrich, she is a lot more ‘mellowed’ out, and for Weiss, anyone living in the Schnee manor for most of their life would have their personalities altered. Though that same Eagle Union spirit and bubbly Elder Sister energy is still there, albeit sometimes overshadowed by her current circumstances at the current stage of this fic.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 29: Chapter 28
Chapter Text
Chapter 28
Sparks flew, dirt launched into the air, and the once pristine patch of grass behind the Xiao Long residence was no more.
CLANG
The cause for such a disturbance? Two fighters, each with a similar background, both warriors of renown in their respective causes, with similar weapons to boot. Both were using Scythes, an impractical weapon to most at first glance, but these two wielded them with expert dexterity. It was a shame that Ruby couldn’t utilize her full abilities however, as the turrets on her scythe were meant to be used in conjunction.
“Stay still!”
“You’re gonna have to make me, kiddo!”
Ruby leapt forward and slashed at her uncle, who easily dodged her strike. In the brief time since she and Qrow began their duel, several things were clear. Ruby had more strength than Qrow did, that was a given, but unfortunately, she did not have the same speed or experience as he did. Thus leading to her current impasse.
“Are you just swinging it or are you trying to cut me?! It’s a scythe, Ruby, you have reach!”
Qrow went for a side slash, which Ruby was able to block by the slimmest margin. This was a great lesson in why Qrow was considered a top-tier huntsman.
“I’m not used to fighting humans!” Ruby retorted back, aside from the brief skirmish with Goodwitch, she had never fought another human before, even in her memories as Ulrich.
“Then don’t think of me as one!”
“If I did, you’d be a fine red mist by now.” For good measure, the turret on her scythe swivelled to aim at Qrow, causing him to duck on instinct.
“Hey! What did we say about guns?!”
That they weren’t going to use them, this was a pure test of skill so Qrow and her father got an idea of Ruby’s current skill level. She didn’t want to do this so early, especially after Weiss introduced her to ‘Dive-Bombing 101’ last night, she was still ignoring the heiress’s DMs because of that.
“I don’t see how you’re testing me by just swinging our scythes around.”
“That’s cause I’m not, I’m gauging you, there’s a difference, also, always watch out for your opponent’s legs.”
What-
It was too late, Qrow had closed the distance before she could even mentally process what he said. In one swift motion, Qrow delivered an aura-enhanced kick at Ruby’s legs, causing her to go down onto the dirt.
“Cheap trick!” Ruby lunged for her dropped scythe, only to stop right before her neck touched Harbinger’s scythe. She looked up, to a victorious and grinning Qrow, it was bad enough when he had that look when winning in fighting games, Ruby didn’t need to see him have one in actual combat now. Directed at her no less.
“Aaaaaand it’s over. In Beacon I called that move the Branwen special, usually had Rave-nevermind. Come on, up you get.” His scythe transformed back into the short broadblade he carried behind his back, while his other hand stretched out for Ruby to take. Having gotten up, Ruby dusted off whatever debris and dirt landed on her clothes, only to be bear-hugged again by a speeding Yang.
“That was fuc-freaking dope! Why did you go to the non-combat stream in Signal? You would have wiped the floor in your year!”
“I feel like everything I’ve said the past few days went in one ear, and out the other for you. You know why I didn’t.”
“Yeah, yeah, gotta keep your secret identity and all that, are you sure you’re not a comic book fan? I remember you used to really like X-ray and Vav before…the whole awakening thing…”
Despite her mood drooping down at the end, Ruby did not mind her too much. Though the idea was a little bit funny, show up to Signal’s combat class, and pull out a salvo of eight sixteen-inch shells for the first duel. She had a feeling her father wouldn’t have appreciated that very much however, speaking of…
“Here, Ruby. Always remember to stay hydrated, especially after duels, you won’t believe how many students at Signal forget to do that.” Taiyang handed Ruby a water bottle, causing her to just stare at it in her hands.
“Kansen don’t need water to survive, though it is a nice gesture.” She would have to fight for hours to even begin feeling fatigued, this simple five-minute duel was nothing.
“I…see? Wait, then why did you try and sneak in that keg of beer that one time when you were-”
“I thought it was juice, nothing more.” Ruby cut him off immediately, her past shame when she was ten years old did not have to be brought up today. Her father raised an eyebrow at her, but Qrow approaching got his attention quickly.
“So, Tai, whatdya think? Still worried about her staying out in Vale so late now?”
Qrow quipped, causing his old friend to sigh. “Okay, I’ll admit, she can probably fight and win against anything that could trouble her in Vale, Grimm included.”
“Hell yeah, where’s my lien? Cough it up at dinner tonight.” Taiyang grumbled in Southern Mistralian before turning his attention back to Ruby.
“How’d you feel about that, Ruby? I know Qrow is not exactly a beginner-friendly sparring partner, but you held your own pretty well, at some points I could see Qrow actually believed he was going to get-”
“Nuh uh, don’t you start with that. I had it all under control. What are we agreeing on though? Personally, she’s sloppy, and needs a ton of work to even think about touching me.”
Ruby glared at her uncle, causing him to hastily add to whatever point he was trying to make.
“Buuut, by Beacon standards you can probably take care of a first-year team solo, with your odds getting progressively worse as you fight teams of higher years. That’s just counting your scythe skills by the way, there’s also all your other…stuff we haven’t even begun scratching yet.” Taiyang placated next, while glaring a warning at Qrow.
She scoffed, “As if your winning blow was ever going to scratch me.”
Qrow shrugged. “Maybe, probably, Winter found out the hard way from what I hear. There’s always a bigger fish though, I don’t need to tell you about that now do I?”
Against the natives of Remnant that she could potentially fight? Other than the Atlesian Navy or otherwise, Ruby was pretty certain of her odds in winning, collateral damage not included. However, there was a reason Kansen were never deployed on land, and unfortunately for her, she was going to learn how to be a Battleship on land. A landship? No, that was stupid, but she could learn how to fight like a huntsman, without ever being one of course. There was one threat, however, but if they had not shown up for Remnant’s entire history, there was little chance they were going to show up now. Wait, she had to touch wood, better not jinx it.
Tapping the tree she was under for shade, Schwarz was summoned, finding a good spot right next to her for a nap. “Schwarz thinks I could beat them, don’t you?”
A quiet hiss was all she got for a response.
“That’s not fair, asking summons won’t get you very far. Look, training under me won’t be that bad, don’t think of it as huntsman training, think of it like…excercise, and I’m just your coach helping you get better at it.”
“And what exactly do I need to improve on?”
“Footwork, balance, your swings are too wide, you leave yourself way too open, you’re kinda slow-hell, I know part of it was probably due to your uh, memories, and fighting on the open sea and all that. But after a while I realized you’re used to fighting large enemies, right? Almost the size of a Feilong or something similar, cause I would be using those moves if I ever found myself fighting one.”
Replace Feilong with Siren ships, and Qrow was correct. Siren ships were bigger than a Feilong however, so not quite correct either.
“Try not fighting anything seriously for fifteen years, see what happens to your fighting prowess.”
“Shouldn’t it be ten? Since, y’know, you were five when-” Qrow was about to continue, only to be stopped by Taiyang who nudged him, which made him remember the other Xiao Long who was present.
“Oh come on, I’m over it! You don’t need to avoid it like I’m seven!” Yang grumpily responded, to which Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s fine, don’t blow up over it, literally.”
“What that supposed to-”
“Anyways, I guess we will be continuing these training sessions?”
“Don’t ignore me!”
Yang was ignored, at least for now. Qrow coughed into his fist, getting Ruby’s attention again.
“Yeah, when I’m here. Since you still have like, what? Two and a half years in Signal Tai will be following up with you, mostly cause he’s always here. He may be a brawler, but I’m willing to bet you know some hand-to-hand as well, or am I wrong?”
“I know the basics.” Generally speaking, when Kansen were deployed to fight, Destroyers went first, along with heavy and light Cruisers, followed by Battleships and Carriers in the backline. Despite being the most heavily armoured, Ulrich’s role often included being in the backline, sniping away from a distance, though if need be she could also engage in close quarters ‘brawling’ as the term went. Though his idea of brawling was probably markedly different from what she was used to.
“And that’s not going to cut it. In this household, we’re all going to be learning the Xiao-Long family martial arts, guarantee it’ll be better than any third-rate Mistralian dojo that scams their students in Vale.” Oh yes, something like that. Her father did tell her stories about his ancestors, some of which Ruby thought was bullshit, but nevertheless kept quiet on.
“But that’s for another time, we have years to whip you into shape now that you’re learning how to fight. Sure, you might not be going into one of the four academies, but just knowing how to fight is already a good skill to have anywhere in Remnant. Come on, I’ve made lunch already, we’re having hand-stretched noodles again!”
Qrow and Yang groaned.
“You mean the ones that are soggier than a sponge?”
“They’re supposed to be soggy! That’s how my grandmother made them, I’ve said this like a thousand times-”
As Qrow and Tai began the argument over noodles for the 50th time, Ruby began to follow them back to their house. Hanging back, Yang soon approached her with another one of those expressions. The kind that she’d make when she really wanted something from Ruby, like borrowing four hundred Lien for example, but something told her this was different.
“Sooo, I’ve heard you have a working relationship with Junior…”
Ruby mentally prepared herself.
“I do. But Dad told me to stop being there, what’s your point?” Her career as a smuggler may have been over by now, Taiyang was not exactly happy with Ruby’s exploits either way. Besides, she was not hungry for more Lien, Ruby was comfortable exactly where she was right now. Yang leaned in next to her ear to whisper.
“You think you can get some info about the Branwen tribe in Mistral?”
Ruby nearly tripped, she had been expecting something like this ever since opening up, but she didn’t expect it to come that quickly. Making sure that Qrow was still arguing with Tai, she turn to Yang with a scowl, intent on dissuading her from continuing any further.
“Information like that doesn’t come cheap-”
“I have enough-”
“Even if you had to sell Bumblebee?”
Yang looked pained for just a few seconds, before hardening once more.
“E-even if…”
Damn, she was entirely serious about it. With the way Yang was looking at her, there was no way Ruby could just shrug it off like her other requests, this required a more delicate handling.
“I’m not gonna make any promises.” Speaking of, she had not asked Junior about his progress on the Von Rosen yet either, might as well tick off both things at the same time.
“That’s good enough, Ruby. That’s good enough…” Yang seemed content with her answer, though Ruby knew her long enough to know that was not the case.
What troublesome sisters I have, in both lives.
Neither of the two said anything more, instead, they looked towards their soggy lunch, neither particularly finding that enjoyable as well.
“What do you mean I need to ‘keep it safe’ for now? I don’t like where this is going, Roman.”
The next morning, Ruby had left for Vale once more on the local ferry from Patch. With Summer officially starting in Signal, the Battleship turned high school student suddenly found herself with a lot more free time than usual. She did not quite know what to do with it, though finding activities that were suitable for Kansen and regular teenage girls were quite the difficult thing to do, especially if your name was Ruby Rose. So, she decided to go into Vale, for a visit to Junior’s club, at noon when it was closed. On her way there, however, she received a call from her least favourite person in the world right now. Or more accurately, most hated.
“Exactly what I said, you’re going to have to keep it for a few more days, maybe a week. Maybe more. Just keep it in that protective armoured ship of yours, okay?”
“That is not our deal. However, I could just dump it in the ocean-”
“...actually, that sounds tempting-yeow! Okay, no, don’t do that, we’ll get pointed questions if it’s gone. Look, we’re kinda screwed right now with our storage situation, and with those Atlesian patrols out there 24/7, it’s way too risky for you to come to us or vice-versa. That shipment of Dust you have is the most secure one we have, I’d almost ask for you to take the rest of our supply but I know what kinda heat you’re packing so I’ll refrain from it.”
Ruby wanted to punch the wall, actually, she did. Leaving a fist-sized dent in the brick wall next to her, thankfully few people walked into this part of Vale to notice her. The original plan was to meet with Roman, and then ‘convince’ him to give up whoever this Cinder Fall was, lure them into a trap and have Uncle Qrow take care of everything. Though everything hinged on getting Roman to accept, not too difficult, but only if they could meet face to face alone.
“How long then? A week? Maybe longer?”
Roman went silent, Ruby did not like how this was going.
“...more like a month, maybe a month and a half-”
“Roman.”
That was two weeks before her next school year started in the worst case.
“Oh no, the signal’s really bad, I can barely hear you! We’re underground, and kinda moving quickly, uh, talk to you later, see ya, Red! Remember, our bosses wouldn’t want our Dust to go missing!”
“Torchwick! I’m going to shove eight HE shells up your-hello?! Bastard…”
The line was dead, however, Ruby received one last message from the Bowler hat menace.
Bowler_Hats_Should_Return: Also, just so that you don’t come after me later, Adam Taurus is looking for you. Might want to lay low for a couple of weeks, he’ll have left Vale by then.
Bowler_Hats_Should_Return is offline.
She was duped once more, no, after this last job, she was going to retire for good. Junior could probably help her get the word out or fake the death of ‘Hutten the Smuggler’ if need be. Speaking of, she was right at the entrance to Junior’s club, right now it was closed, but if she remembered correctly, the doorman today should be…
“Jimmy.”
“Heya Kid, here to see the big boss?”
Ruby nodded, out of every one of his goons, she and Jimmy got along the best, even if it were just simple greetings every time.
“Alright, he’s working at the bar, as usual.”
“Thanks, tell Mary I liked her recipe.”
“Will do.”
Ruby was let in, and she began making her way to the bar again. With everything that had happened, Junior did not throw her any potential jobs, but then again the Malachite twins might have told him something he was not meant to know. Sitting on the counter, she waited until Junior finished wiping his glass mugs before getting his attention with a cough.
“I know it’s you, Jimmy only lets a few people in this time of day.”
She placed a few Lien down on the table. “Strawberry sunrise, mix it with Schnapps.”
“You know those are like, 40% alcohol right?”
“I’ll need it for the consultation.”
“Kids these days…the last time someone asked for one of those my club got wrecked.”
Junior whipped up the pink-coloured cocktail in no time, Yang had mentioned liking those once during dinner, only for Uncle Qrow and their father to ask her how she knew of such a drink. There were some very awkward answers then and there…
“Here ya go, one Strawberry Sunrise, can’t believe I’m willingly giving a cocktail to a minor, but from what the twins said, I think you deserve it.”
Ruby took a sip, it was a perfect blend, despite using a spirit not originally meant for it.
“What did they say?”
“Not enough. Tight-lipped as hell, though they did say you pulled them out of a tough situation, fighting VPD ain’t good for business, so thanks for that. They aren’t here today, got some errands to run if you’re looking for them.”
So, probably nothing about her hull then, good to know.
“You don’t need to know anything, we just evaded some authority figures, that’s all.”
Junior snorted. “If you call a chunk of the Atlesian fleet authority figures, I don’t wanna know who you consider a cop. Anyways, we’ll put that under us. What are you actually here for? I'm guessing this ain’t no simple request.”
Might as well not beat around the bush then, Ruby took another sip of her drink before responding. “First things first, any information on the Von Rosen?”
With all that had happened in the past few weeks, it felt like forever since she first asked Junior to look into them. Doctor Oobleck had also not gotten back to her either, but he assured her that he had someone in the Mantellian archives combing through their records. Junior rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed.
“I don’t how to tell ya kid, but the contact who’s helping me has found absolutely nothing. Aside from the publicly known stuff, everything about them has been systematically scrubbed from Mantle’s archives. Normally there’d be something, anything to go off on, but there’s not even breadcrumbs there. I know Atlas military secrets that are not as well covered up as this.”
Ruby stayed silent, thinking about what he just said. “Someone does not want people finding out about the Von Rosen.”
“More like a damn large group of people. One guy can’t do something like this, especially to a family as prominent as the Von Rosen. It had to have been through decades of hiding and scrubbing, with a lot of people involved to make sure no one blabbered. I can only dream of having something like that in my organization, but alas, I’m only human. Are you sure this is worth going down? Things like this…tend to result in people disappearing, you get what I mean?”
Six feet under, erased from existence, tied with a block of cinder, all very imaginative euphemisms. Ruby was not deterred, however, but that just meant the mystery went deeper than she initially thought. With that avenue being a dead end, she had to go back to the drawing board. The Von Rosen could wait until later, she did not expect immediate results anyway. Right now, she had another priority, one that she wasn’t particularly keen on pursuing, but had to nonetheless.
“I need everything you have on the Branwen tribe.”
Junior groaned, the most expressive she had seen of that man today. Raising an eyebrow at him, the crime boss reacted by giving her a pleading look. “You won’t destroy the bar as well, right?”
“I am not my sister.”
“Your sis-THAT WAS YOUR SISTER?!”
Junior stared at an indifferent Ruby, he was staring at her intensely, probably trying to find some sort of resemblance. “Wait, if that blonde was your sister, then that means…you wouldn’t happen to be related to a Qrow Bran-”
“He is my uncle.”
“...small world, huh? I’m guessing he knows about your…”
“He knows, and he knows I’ve been employed under you.”
Ruby could see the realization hit him with the subtlety of a delivery truck. “Don’t worry, he won’t come after you, I think.”
“I’d like a hell of a lot more than ‘I think’ personally… Qrow and I go way back, and he’s someone I don’t want to cross.”
“In that case…” Ruby brought out a thick sealed envelope, from her personal stash of Lien she kept inside an old red cloak she had. Once, it was a gift from her mother, but she did not need or have a desire to wear cloaks for a long time. Yang would never think to look inside of it, making that the perfect place to hide her funds.
“Depending on what you tell me of the Branwens, and specifically, Raven Branwen, I could convince my uncle to not do anything rash.”
“Are you seriously blackmailing me right now? With the threat of your uncle busting down my door?”
“No, Junior, I’m paying you. Take the cash.” It was the standard fee he charged for information, not before factoring in difficulty. But with someone like Raven Branwen, he was bound to have information on her already. Junior, defeated, snapped his fingers and directed one of his goons to retrieve the aforementioned information, he did have a file for her after all.
“While he gets that file you want, I should tell you about your uh, aunt?”
Ruby took in a deep breath. Yes, technically, by familial standards, Raven Branwen, due to Qrow being her uncle in all but blood, would mean she would be her honorary aunt as well. However, there was the whole thing of her marrying Taiyang before her own mother married him, so therefore, it could also be argued that she was her stepmother; Raven never divorced her father legally. This wall all to say it was very confusing, and the first time she thought about it resulted in her head spinning from all the technicalities. Why was her family like this? Sometimes she missed the simplicity of Friedrich being her only family member, no stupid drama like this would ever occur then. Seriously, was she in some Sardegnan soap drama she wasn’t aware of?
“I have never met her, just refer to her as Raven.”
“I sense some personal matters in there so I’ll refrain from asking. Anyways, Raven Branwen, a real piece of work that one.” Junior had a nostalgic expression on his face, as if he was remembering his long-lost youth. In the spirit of trying to get more information, Ruby refrained from commenting.
“Just like your uncle during his Team STRQ days, she did some odd jobs for me here and there back when we were still a small syndicate. That was like, what, twenty years ago? Been a long time since then. Not as many as Qrow, but definitely the more vicious fighter of the two, and I don’t mean that lightly. There was one job I remember involving the Yamaguchi who were trying to expand into Vale-”
“Please get to the point.”
“Right, was gonna begin rambling again wasn’t I? Anyways, we weren’t close, saw her a few times here and there during her stay in Vale. Always hung out with her team or with this girl in her team, Summer? I think we met one time-”
“Summer? Summer Rose? Red hair like mine, similar eye colour as well?” Ruby interrupted him, she had to make sure.
“Yeah, actually, wait, no, don’t tell me…is she your-” Junior put two and two together, and he seemed to have his own revelation.
“Wait, but then if that blondie is your sister who did she-oh. They both married the blonde guy, right?”
“Are we here to talk about my family, or are we here to talk about Raven Branwen? But first, Summer Rose, what do you know about her?”
“Nothing. Didn’t really get to know her that well, all I knew was that she was in Qrow and Raven’s team, though they were particularly close. Wait, hang on…did she…I’ll be right back…”
Junior disappeared behind the back door, into where his actual business was conducted. Ruby waited for around twenty minutes in the silent dance club. Eventually, he returned with two files. One that looked new, and another one that had a literal half a decade of dust stuck on it.
“Here.” Junior laid down the first file, it had ‘Branwen’ labelled on it in big bold letters. “This is the stuff you want on Raven Branwen, it has everything I’ve got on her. Activities, locations…raids even. I don’t need to mention that the Branwen tribe is a dangerous raiding clan in Mistral, but I’d like to see you return alive, kid.”
He then laid down the second file, much older and caked in dust. This file did not have a name, but rather, an emblem. It was a white, burning rose, her mother’s emblem, and later, hers.
“Around ten years ago, there was a strange request from one of my Mantellian contacts before Atlas finally got rid of his syndicate. I basically had to hand over an old collection of intelligence files to someone, they only gave me their emblem and had the initials of S.R.”
Ruby opened the file, spilling out dust and its contents everywhere. “I’m guessing that was meant to be Summer Rose, and that emblem is actually related to her, right?”
She did not answer, too engrossed in reading the contents of the file. It was a collection of reports, from underwater Atlesian naval intelligence probes all around Remnant’s vast oceans. Looking at the map, four distinct points were marked, one next to Menagerie, the eastern coast of Solitas, the Western sea of Anima and finally, the last one being just below the tip of the Grimmlands. They included coordinates, all four of them were marked to be deep under the sea.
“These are coordinates, to four locations all around Remnant…”
“Huh…guessing you’d need a boat for all four of 'em. You got one or do you need me to give you some recommendations?”
Hilarious, Ruby needing a boat for herself? No, Junior did not know, he was just trying to help. Closing the file, she quickly put it into her backpack for safekeeping. That would need closer analysis for a later time. “Is this everything on Raven Branwen?”
“Everything I have on her, which doesn’t amount to a whole lot. That’s the trouble with groups like the Branwen, they move around too much for anyone to get a detailed enough account of them. Though from what I’ve been hearing of them these past few years, they’ve been continuing their streak as if nothing ever happened.”
Ruby grimaced, was this really what Yang wanted to know? She debated between just leaving it with Junior or giving an excuse to her. At the same time, she also knew how long Yang had been searching for Raven, who was she to deny her? She would just have been like Qrow and her father, keeping the secrets of the family away from them for so long. Dilemmas…how she hated making decisions involving them. Give her a Siren fleet to obliterate any day, no need to think about its consequences at all.
She needed to think, but not here, there were better places to do so around Vale. Sliding the envelope full of Lien over to Junior, he raised a palm up at her. “Keep it, I feel bad for finding nothing in Atlas, didn’t cost me a lot to ask anyway. Besides, the twins won’t ever let me live it down if I accepted.”
She took back the envelope, giving a nod of thanks. Crime boss he may have been, but among the true scum who were in the profession, Junior was as honest as they got. As she began getting up to leave, Junior cleared his throat, having something to say before she left.
“By the way, do you know a Faunus named Rory? She was asking for you yesterday, and says she wants to meet. I don’t know why the Fang is interested in you all of a sudden, but you watch your back out there.”
Rory? The White Fang lieutenant she met at the docks? What did she want with her now? First it was Roman’s warning about Adam Taurus, and then it was Junior telling her about Rory. Call it a hunch, but she was guessing neither of the two were finding her for the same reasons. Or they were, just for entirely different goals she wanted no part of.
“I know her, did she say where to meet?”
“Tukson’s book store, Docks district. She just tells you to mention her name, the guy inside will take care of the rest.”
Tukson’s? That’s near where Valéan is located…
Maybe it was time to receive guidance from the old battleship once again, perhaps she could make sense of these documents, as some of them dated to the Pre-Great War era. Waving a final goodbye the Junior, Ruby left his club, taking a good, long walk to nowhere in particular.
She was given a lot of things to think about, and with her old training kicking in, she immediately prioritised them based on what was urgent from most to least.
- Branwen information
- Summer Rose’s mysterious file
- The White Fang (again)
The first one was what she could do immediately, theoretically needing to just give Yang the file, or not. The second one was something she needed further research and planning for, she couldn’t just drop everything and head off to find exactly what those four points were in Remnant, she had other things to do despite Summer vacation having just started. Last but not least, dealing with the White Fang again. Maybe she should have just let herself be arrested by Goodwitch back then, save herself the trouble she was facing now…
“I’m just a poor, wayfaring stranger~”
Ruby heard it, faint singing, but it was unmistakably in the Eagle Union language. The voice sounded very familiar, she looked around her, unknowingly, she had wandered into the old city by accident. But again, who was singing…?
“Traveling through this world below.
There is no sickness, no toil, no danger~”
Walking closer to the source of it, she heard what sounded like a banjo playing a simple melody as well. Coming upon a crowd of people on a side street, Ruby took a double-take, having identified who the singer was. It was Weiss Schnee, dressed in a disguise. Complete with glasses, a ponytail, sports cap, hoodie and jeans. In her hands was a worn-out banjo, which she played with warm familiarity. She did not recognize the song, but it sounded like an Eagle Union folk song, no one other than Ruby understood the lyrics there. Despite that, however, everyone there continued to stay and listen.
“I'm just going over Jordan,
I'm just going over home.”
The song ended, and a wave of clapping came over the area. Suddenly realising she was there, Ruby hastily began making her exit, intent not to disturb her personal moment.
Screee
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you saw it, Grim landed on Ruby’s shoulder, knowing full well who she was. Ruby stopped, it was too late to escape anyways. Turning around with a deadpan, she saw Weiss Schnee, a guitar case slung over her shoulder and looking at her with a wide, not at all unnatural smile. Were all Eagle Union Kansen this easy-going?
“Hey there, partner, fancy seeing you in these parts…Care to join me for a stroll?”
She did care, very much actually…
AN:
I get the show never addressed Ruby and Raven together, but imagine how awkward the meeting would have been. “Hi, I’m the mother of your half-sister who left soon after giving birth cause I was a coward, your mother and I were kinda chill until she died tho. Anyways, sup?” Like, how is Ruby supposed to react? Is there a correct reaction? Fanfics don’t usually show an interaction between Ruby and Raven so I’m personally looking forward to writing that out.
Xiao-Long family dynamics can rival the most insane of telenovelas. Anyways did you know the North American Bald Eagle doesn’t actually produce the iconic scream it’s known for? The scream actually comes from the Red-tailed Hawk, with its scream usually edited over the Bald Eagle, the more you know. I’ve probably just shattered their perception for a few readers lol. Grim can do it cause he’s a badass, and possibly a Kansen construct, so he gets a pass.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 30: Chapter 29
Chapter Text
Chapter 29
Despite airships being the now-dominant mode of transportation on Remnant, traditional shipping was still the economical choice for many medium-sized companies. Thus, despite the Port of Vale no longer as busy as it once was, ships of various sizes still sailed to and from the historic port. In contrast, Atlas only had airships, being a floating island meant that traditional ships would just fall to the ground, not very useful to anyone. Why did Atlas float in the first place? Aside from the astronomical amount used in gravity dust for national prestige or whatever the television programs liked to spew, the tactical considerations were that there was no danger of being overrun by Grimm.
Or foreign armies, Weiss believed the latter was actually the true reason why Atlas was elevated. That, or they simply wanted to differentiate themselves from the poorer residents in Mantle, but even classism had its limits, certainly not to the extent of making an entirely new city float.
“Doesn’t that make you nostalgic?”
“You mean the port?”
“Mhm, feels like I’m right back in NY Port, watching ships sail down the Hudson…”
In the few times she was allowed to go out of the Schnee estate with Klein in Weiss’s younger years, she explored Atlas, every nook and cranny of it. She was disappointed, glamorous from the outside, but in reality it was ‘hollow’ for lack of a better word. Compared to the sprawling skyscrapers of NY Port or even the Island city of Honolulu, Atlas felt more like a fancy military base than an actual city. Weiss knew what military bases were like very well after all.
“Weren’t you the one to tell me to let go? Here you are, reminiscing like some old Veteran.”
“But we are old Veterans, we fought in the bloodiest war of our world, don’t you remember?”
On one of those trips outside, however, she came across a music shop. It had the standard corporate flair, branded instruments, top one-hundred leaderboard song discs, but the second-hand section in particular caught her attention. An old man was trying to sell an old, beat-up Banjo to the clerk who was refusing him. Despite arguing for its sturdiness, the old man was not successful. As he was leaving, however, Weiss approached him with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I’m not sure about the ‘old’ part.”
“Hm, if counting the years since I was laid down, I should probably be older than Winter. You too, I believe.”
The old man was reluctant to sell it at first, citing that she wouldn’t take care of it. A quick demonstration of a famous folk song she learned from the Appalachian regions of the Eagle Union East Coast dispelled his concerns immediately, and thus she was left with a well-made, if worn banjo. Her parents were apprehensive at her bringing such an instrument back, instead of something respectable like a harp or a grand piano, but young Weiss stubbornly refused to let go of it. At that time, she latched onto anything that reminded her of ‘home’, having awakened not long ago.
“Hah…what I wouldn’t trade for a NY hotdog with relish right now…You would think a sausage on a bun was simple enough to be everywhere, I should have known better after not finding hamburgers anywhere…”
“I do miss eating currywurst in Ironblood…”
On a stretch of road overlooking the Port, Weiss and her coincidentally found companion were simply taking in the sights. She was in disguise, with clothes she bought randomly in a thrift store when Winter was preoccupied arguing with Mister Branwen the other day. Thankfully her sister was busy with other matters today, and thus left Weiss alone to do whatever she wanted. While she did take up the musical arts, such as Opera at her father’s insistence, she never liked playing for the crowds who usually attended her shows. Usually, they were business associates of the SDC, or others trying to use the event as a networking opportunity. They weren’t there for the music, like most events in Atlesian high society.
A street performance, however? The people who stopped to listen for her genuinely wanted to listen to the music, especially when no one knew who she was. Fake glasses, a cap, a change in hairstyle, and a completely different attitude went a long way in making oneself another person.
“So, was it a coincidence we met each other today?”
“You tell me. Your eagle was the one who spotted me leaving.” Ruby answered prickly, the coffee she bought for her didn’t seem to work as an apology…oh well, it wasn’t like Weiss was wrong in the first place. Ruby chose to walk past her, she really should have seen it coming.
“Don’t be so dour, tell your big sis what’s wrong~”
“By Kansen years, we are the same age.”
“By Remnant years, you are younger than me, so, tell me what’s wrong~”
Ruby and Enterprise made the same expression when they didn’t want to tell her what bothered them. In the end, however, she always got Enterprise to open up, and Weiss was not going to let Ruby go that easily. Leading on the stone railing, Ruby crossed her arms while humming in thought. Weiss could wait, if she could deal with Hornet’s antics, she could deal with Ruby.
“If you had…information that someone desperately wanted, but you know that you could potentially harm them by giving it, would you still do it?”
Weiss’s lips thinned, she was not ready for a moral dilemma this afternoon.
“This is about someone in your family, isn’t it?” She got right to the point, Ruby’s silence was taken as an affirmative.
Sighing, Weiss next to Ruby, a small tour bus passing by behind them. Switching back to the Union language, the Essex-class carrier gave the battleship the best advice she could give.
“I suppose it depends on how much risk you’re willing to shoulder.”
“Me?”
“Hm. Think of it from the perspective of a Commander, giving out commissions for Kansen to undergo.”
Commissions were not the same as regular missions, there was usually an objective unrelated to direct combat in them. Such as convoy escort, deep-sea mining or even Wisdom Cube salvage, all were considered lower-risk missions, though there was still a certain level of danger to them, hence why Kansen were still deployed.
“The Commander looks at the commission, the potential gains it could have-”
“Ulrich had secretarial duties in her past life, I know how commissions work.” Weiss blinked, she forgot that many Kansen also worked as secretaries in their spare time, Yorktown included. Though her memories of the Commander she was under… never mind, those weren’t important now.
“Oh, you too? Never mind, then you should know where I am going with this. You are weighing the risk and reward, the real challenge is in mitigating potential risk. If you cannot withhold this information to said person, then all you can do is mitigate the potential risk to them afterwards. Am I right in assuming you can’t simply brush it under the rug?”
Ruby sighed again, even harder this time. “I don’t know, but in my heart, I feel that it is inevitable, perhaps destiny, even. This is deeply personal to her, me? Not to the same degree.”
They stared at the port again silently, this went on for a few minutes. Weiss didn’t say anything, Ruby needed to think this through on her own.
“...I miss when our biggest problems were Siren fleets and mirror seas, those have tried and true methods of solving them, not whatever this soap opera drama is…”
“If it helps, Enterprise, you know her as the Grey Ghost, had a similar bad habit of keeping things to herself. In the end, it was our Commander who got through that thick shell she made. I guess the moral of the story there is that we have people who we can rely on. Is there anyone else who you can ask about it before bringing this information to your sister?”
“How did you-”
“And you just confirmed it, my intuition has not failed me yet!”
Despite the grumbling Ruby gave her, Weiss saw that her words gave the fifteen-year-old a lot of food for thought. She hit the stone railing, causing the brick she impacted to crack. “Damn, remind me to be careful around you.”
“Oh don’t be like that, I’m harmless! I helped raise two little sisters, a little brother and an elder sister by myself, don’t you know?” Deep in the captain’s cabin, which doubled as Weiss’s personal room in her hull, there was a hung picture of the three Yorktown-class ships together, smiling at Enterprise’s launch day. Even now, it was the most treasured part of her hull, though she didn’t know how that picture got there in particular. Perhaps Yorktown’s memories were strong enough to manifest it, she couldn’t deny that part of herself, could she?
“Isn’t Winter older than you?”
“Pffft, she wishes, did you know she can’t actually cook to save her life? There was one time…”
They continued passing the time, with each recounting stories from either this life, or their past life for hours on end. Eventually, the afternoon turned into dusk, and it was time for Ruby to head back home. Before leaving however, Weiss stopped her with a gift in hand.
“Here, I don’t know if this will help, but you can never go wrong with a Hellcat good luck charm!”
Weiss held out one of her Hellcat fighters, obviously in miniature form for Ruby to take. The battleship gingerly took it, slightly bigger than the palm of her hand to inspect. Some of the younger destroyers often used surplus Kansen planes as toys, and while they could be used that way, they always made sure to remove any fuel or ammunition from them just in case. While it was counter-intuitive to give battleships a carrier-based fighter, what mattered was the thought behind it, Hellcat fighters were the backbone of Eagle Union Fleet Carriers later in the war in the Pacific after all.
“A good luck charm, really?”
“Yes, this little Hellcat here will protect you, won’t ya?” The Hellcat on Ruby’s palm briefly rotated its propellers twice, signalling its willingness to do so.
“Obviously, it can also become full size again, useful if you find yourself stuck somewhere!”
“I have not heard of a good luck charm with machine guns before…”
“Six, actually. There are six .50 calibre machine guns in this Hellcat, four hundred rounds each. It’ll shred most Grimm you come across without breaking a sweat, though for anything that won’t die to them, you probably have to use your main guns anyway.”
To this day, the Atlesian Army Air Service was chasing reports of a ‘Ghost Squadron’ targeting Grimm in the frozen tundras of Solitas. Weiss had great fun in evading their interceptors if they found her in the first place.
“Cute, I will…keep the Hellcat safe. In that case, I have something for you as well.”
Ruby made the motion of scrounging around in her pocket, but Weiss knew she was just muting the flash from materializing something.
“Here, this is a charm to make things cease to exist.”
Weiss initially thought she heard her wrong, inspecting the ‘gift’, when she held the cone-shaped object, which fit snugly in the palm of her hand, the words printed on it were a little hard to make out. And also in a foreign language.
“What is this exactly?” Ruby’s Union was on the more literal side, probably due to the Ironblood influence, and as such, Weiss decided to just ask her directly.
“Exactly as I said, it can make things cease to exist. It is a HE Shell from one of my sixteen-inch main batteries.”
The aircraft carrier stared at the extremely dangerous explosive in her hand, the craters these shells would create were measured in the dozens of meters. There was a faint memory when Yorktown sortied with Wisconsin, a Siren-held fort bombarded them, the fort and the rock formation it was housed on ceased to exist soon afterwards.
“I-I can’t use this, you know that right?!” Ruby looked at Weiss in genuine confusion, aircraft carriers had naval artillery, sure, but they were not big enough to shoot a sixteen-inch shell! If only Kearsarge was here…wait, was she mistaking Weiss for her?!
“Nonsense, simply prime it with your thumb, and throw it vigorously at something. What was the sport you Eagle Union Kansen like to play…? Ah, yes, like a ‘baseball’ if you are familiar with it.” Ruby even made a crude pitcher throw to emphasise her point. As much as she wanted to talk about Eagle Union sports, this was nowhere near the right place and time to do so. Besides, there was one important point she left out.
“Baseballs do not explode upon impact!”
“Isn’t that what a ‘Home Run’ means? Apologies, I am not familiar with Eagle Union sports.”
Weiss attempted to make Ruby take her dangerous ‘gift’ back, but the younger girl was already walking away by the time she realised she was leaving. “Goodbye, Frau Schnee, I will take your advice to heart.”
I’d rather you take your dangerous shell back!
Either because of unfortunate, or planned timing, a bus just so happened to stop right in front of Ruby, thus losing the chance to chase after her. Weiss stood there, flabbergasted, and with a sixteen-inch shell held in her hands. One of these things could pulverise the entire lighthouse they were next to easily, let alone the ancient roads they were on right now, she kept a steady grip on the pointed cylinder, treating it exactly like how a live grenade should be handled.
“What in the sam hill am I going to do with this?!”
One ferry ride back to patch later…
Saying goodbye to Patch of Hope , one of four large ferries that ran from Patch to Vale, Ruby landed back in the main town. She was acquainted with all of her sisters, virtually having rode on them all of her life. Though she would never admit it, Hope was the sister she got along with the best, though their conversations had to be held with caution, otherwise the other passengers may think she was crazy for talking to nothing.
As the gate opened, and Ruby turned to the main road leading back to the Xiao Long residence, she spotted a familiar patch of short blonde hair.
“Hey, kiddo! Glad I caught ya, come on, let’s head back together.”
“Dad…”
Taiyang was waiting for Ruby next to Zippy, their family car, along with Zwei in the front seat. This was certainly no coincidence, and she briefly considered just ignoring him and walk back home herself. Though ultimately, this conversation was a long time coming.
Ruby gently picked Zwei up from the co-driver’s seat, and placed him in the back. Luckily he and Schwarz were getting along well now that she could freely summon her rigging in the residence, now that she thought about it, Zwei was the one who first found out about Ruby’s Kansen abilities. A careless eight-year old Ruby summoned Schwarz at the wrong moment in their shed, only for Zwei to pop out of a nearby stack of autumn leaves and bark at the construct. It wasn’t a big deal, since Zwei couldn’t exactly speak in human languages.
“Fun day today?” Her father asked as he wore the seatbelt, Ruby hummed in response. ‘Fun’ wouldn’t be the word she would describe today as.
“I guess…when are you going to let me try driving?”
Before all of that business regarding Summer’s past came up, Ruby kept bugging Taiyang to learn driving now that she was fifteen. Vale’s laws were that minors fifteen and above could start to learn driving if they lived in a designated ‘rural’ zone, which just so happened to include all of Patch. She didn’t want a car specifically, but rather just to get a feel for the wheel again, Ulrich did work as a ‘race queen’ among other things in Ruby’s memories after all. Zippy was no racecar, but it would suffice.
“Um, a-are you sure you don’t want to wait until you’re sixteen?!” Taiyang suddenly looked very nervous as he said that. Ruby narrowed her eyes at him.
“I can drive better than you can.”
“Oh, Ruby, just because you watch a bunch of videos on how to drive online-”
“Ulrich was a track racer in her spare time.”
“Memories do not count! We’ll just do it later…huh, it ain’t starting.”
“Your handbrake.”
Ruby noticed it was on immediately, Zippy’s model had a special safety feature where the car would not even cycle its Dust engine if the brake was on. Her father sheepishly unlocked the handbrake, and the two made their way back to their house slowly.
A few minutes into the journey, Ruby couldn’t handle the awkward silence anymore, and tapped on his shoulders.
“Stop at the road there.”
“Huh? We’re nowhere back at-”
“You wanted to talk, so let’s talk.”
Taiyang did as Ruby asked, and stopped next to the main road. Taking out the file she got from Junior, Ruby showed it to her father, not entirely surprised that she had it.
“Who told you I went to Junior’s again? Qrow?”
“Ahaha…he knows Junior a lot more than I do, I used to ask Qrow to get info on what his sister is doing. At some point…I just stopped, you probably know a lot more about the Branwen tribe than I do at this point.”
“Let me guess, Qrow just so happened to overhear Yang asking me to get information?”
“You know how his semblance works, he can’t really control it, I don’t think he meant to eavesdrop, Ruby.”
Ruby knew, just like how her uncle just so happened to call Yang when she was still outside, escaping on a stolen Atlesian shuttle.
“No matter, it’s done already. So, here to confiscate it before I give it to Yang?”
Tai sighed, Ruby did not know what he would do, but the fact that he waited outside the Ferry terminal for her to come back meant he wanted to do something. Just what exactly, remained a mystery.
“Ruby, listen to me, Yang isn’t ready-”
“When were you planning on telling her?”
“...Qrow and I agreed on after Yang graduated from Beacon-”
“That’s four years, do you think she can wait four years instead of leaving in the middle of Spring Break after her first year? Can you control her then?”
“I know, I know! Not the best plan, but it’s what Qrow and I could agree on…”
Ruby wanted to go on, but she couldn’t help but agree her uncle and father had a point. Yang was strong, strongest in Signal, and a very strong candidate for a prospective Beacon Huntress. But against a trained huntress and ruthless tribal raider such as Raven Branwen? No, Ruby would not send the only sister she had in this world to an early grave, if she could even make it that far to her.
“Here we are, deciding what is best for her, without any input from the person we are trying to protect. There is some irony in that somewhere, I believe there was a conference in Ironblood that was similar to this...” In which Ironblood, the Sardegnan Empire, the Royal Isles and the Iris Orthodoxy met together and decided the fate of a country in Europa, all without the delegation from said country. The conference was even held in the Southern Ironblood provinces, maybe Ruby inherited their politics much more than she would have liked after all.
“We’d just be sending her on a wild goose chase, or worse. The moment you give her that file, she will be planning for a journey to Mistral, can you live with that? I don’t think I can, and she’s not ready, we were hoping Beacon could give her more time to train and wisen up before telling her. Heck, we hoped you yourself would have been away in University by then, we weren’t sure how you’d take the news…”
So that was their grand plan? It was half-baked and relied entirely on optimism for the best-case scenario, neither of which was a solution she wanted. Ruby massaged her temples, literally raking her mind for any solution that could result in even a moderately happy ending, which she had no hope of achieving.
She felt the Hellcat in her bag begin moving around, and gently caressed it to make it calm, the last thing she wanted were six machine guns going off inside of Zippy. One thought led to another, and she was suddenly transported back to what she and Weiss talked about.
Damage mitigation, for battleships like her, it could be through damage control, superior armour or even ‘angling’ the ship so that shells would have a harder time of penetrating. Here however, if the goal was to mitigate all potential damage…then wasn’t the best solution to simply have more ‘allied units’ to ensure that a ‘negative’ outcome would never materialize? Ruby suddenly sat back up straight and turned to her father with a solemn expression.
“I know what we must do.”
In the Mistralian tradition, her name would have been Xiao-Long, Yang. But in Vale, where cultural practices dictated that first names came first, Yang Xiao-Long was her name to most people.
“Come on…she should be back any moment now…” Yang, literal meaning best translated as ‘Sun’, paced around her room like a headless chicken. Ruby just texted her that she was on her way back with the info from Junior in hand. In hindsight, her initial plan of simply beating the info out of him was something a musclehead idiot would have thought of. She wrecked a club, but in the end got absolutely nothing out of it other than a good fight. At that time, she was back at Square One, like many of her attempted leads over the years.
Some attempts at finding Raven were dumber than others, such as the time she made an altar for the legendary Spring Maiden to find her mother, though in her defence she was only nine at the time. Faced with the reality of finally having what she wanted, however, Yang felt an equal mixture of crippling fear and excitement for what was to come.
Then, she heard it. Three gentle knocks on her room’s door, only Ruby knocked on her door that way. Practically leaping over to it, Yang damn near ripped open her door in the rush.
“Y-you have it?” Yang asked Ruby, standing in front of her door with a neutral expression. In her right hand, she held up a file simply titled ‘BRANWEN’ up for the blonde girl to see. Yang immediately gestured for Ruby to come in, but her emo-phased little sister remained rooted in place. What was she-
“Yang, we’re going on a sailing trip.”
She was stunned, where did that come from?! “What?! Just the two of us?”
“No.” Uncle Qrow said that, now appearing behind Ruby on her left. Yang was mortified, she was betrayed! But before she could shout, her father came into view on Ruby’s right, crossing his arms as well.
“We’re all going on the trip, as a family.” Her father finished for them, but his face had an expression anything but pleasant. It was the kind of face he would make when about to ground her, not a pleasant memory to relive whatsoever.
Yang fell to her knees on her carpet, mind overloaded, and about to shut down.
What in the name of the Xiao-Long ancestors was happening?!
AN:
Chekhov’s Fighter Plane/16-inch shell
This is for everyone asking if I’ll be porting Legacy of the Beiyang fleet over or continuing it: I will no longer be updating that fic, nor will it be ported over onto either site. I won’t be deleting it, but I don’t have any plans to update/move it around right now. Please stop DMing me about that fic.
From what I can find, the ‘Temper, Temper’ story involving Wisconsin has some evidential basis, but the actual bit about taking out a mountaintop seems to be an exaggeration. It is a great lesson in how historical myths start, something is taken from a factual event, years pass, it is retold with embellishments as more people know about it, and eventually, only a sliver of truth remains in it. The important thing is to not simply repeat it at face value, I’d say a rule of thumb to always ask is: “Cool story, source?”
Or the more elegant way my History Department supervisor put it: ‘Ad Fontes’, meaning ‘to the sources’ in Latin.
Writing things from Yang’s pov is hard (insert Vin Diesel family joke in here), I feel like a lot of fanfics, especially in the crossover category tend to flanderize her a lot, thus leading to a lot of fanon ideas about what she’s like. Hope this portrayal was a little bit different from what you’re normally used to, hope the new boat trip they’re going on will be fun for the whole family, heh.
Happy 6th Anniversary to Azur Lane! Here’s to many more Shipgirls in the years to come!
Shameless advertising: Do you like Arknights? Do you like Minecraft? Well, here's the story for you!
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 31: Chapter 30
Chapter Text
Chapter 30
“That’s highway robbery!”
“Tai, you know how expensive tickets are on short notice. Trust me, this is the best we’re going to get. Normally I’d just put this on my mission expense list and send it off to Ozpin but-”
“Yeah, I know…you sure you can’t get away with it though? Even with a teacher’s salary, this is brutal-”
“Glynda is going to murder both of us for that. You know we’ll see her at the class reunion soon, right?”
Having enhanced senses was often a curse. While being able to react to the smallest of changes in sound, temperature and even movement was invaluable during combat, she also heard an unwanted number of unpleasant things. Back in third grade, she heard how her tutor was having an affair with his wife, and she had to keep that to herself for the entire year afterwards. Awkward did not begin to describe the various encounters she had over the years.
Regardless, here at Vale Central Station, she overheard her father and uncle buying tickets at the counter, and being horrified at the scalp prices. Similar to airship tickets, buying tickets before departure was always going to be more expensive, but for their purposes, they needed to be quick. As Qrow said last night, finding the Branwen tribe could potentially take up to a few weeks, and with Beacon starting relatively soon, they decided to leave now rather than later. Her father had vacation days stashed up over the years, and now was a perfectly good time to use them.
“Ruuuubes.”
Ruby ignored Yang, they sat at a nearby bench with all of their luggage while tickets were being procured. Thankfully, the bulk stuff was stored on her vessel before they departed Patch, including her motorcycle for some reason. Neither Qrow nor her father could convince her to leave it at home.
“I’m sooo bored…can’t you like take me inside to your ship so I can work on Bumblebee? There’s some tuning I forgot to do-”
“You know I can’t. Didn’t I tell you already?”
“You can’t take in things that are alive or whatever, yeah…so you can put food inside, but not anything alive? How does that work?”
“If you were a Kansen scientist, perhaps you could tell me. However, if you did try to stay on it, I suppose you would just fall into the water when the ship disappeared…think of it as a swimming lesson.”
“One that’ll come outta nowhere…hey, is this really the best way there? Not that I’m doubting your sailing skills or whatever you call it…”
Didn’t they discuss this last night? After a lengthy briefing and discussion, they planned their route for efficiency and comfort, while also heeding their father’s request to make it not so terrible on his savings. For their purposes, an airship route to Mistral City was considered, however, it would have taken them far from where the Branwen tribe was situated currently, not to mention availability and price on short notice. Airships to Mistral weren’t fast in comparison to the airliners in her world, and Atlesian propulsion technology had not been made widely available for all airships yet, it was Atlas's exclusive in house development. Though that wasn’t their most glaring issue, getting to Anima was relatively easy, finding the Branwen Tribe, however, was trickier. Junior’s report only listed probable locations, not an exact one.
Therefore, Ruby proposed to simply just take her hull out and sail to where they needed to go, they were attempting to find the camp in the area roughly between Argus and a quaint small town called Shion. The distance between those two settlements alone equalled the entire length of Ironblood lands from a horizontal view. Not to mention how deep it could go from an inland perspective, thankfully the area also wrapped around Lake Matsu, the largest lake on Remnant, allowing them to sail on both sides.
“It would be easier if Qrow knew where his former tribe hid. However, I do not blame him for cutting off all contact.” Again, the record the Branwen tribe racked up was extensive, Ruby could not bear for Yang to see how many settlements her mother destroyed. Instead of quipping back, however, she adopted a still expression, likely processing a few things their father talked to her about last night. Out of respect, Ruby put on her headphones and quietly went to chart their route from the edge of Sanus to Argus.
“Yeah…hey, they seem to have our tickets. I’ll go and freshen up in the bathroom, be back quick.”
Ruby nodded, and her older sister went to the nearest restroom. In the meantime, her uncle and father returned with four tickets in tow, life seemingly drained from the latter.
“There goes a chunk of my bonus…”
“Hey, it’s the best we could have done. Thank the brothers you didn’t have to buy first class, though it’s going to be a cramped ride to Port Royale. Where’d Yang go?”
“Restroom. When do we depart?”
“In around…half an hour, we’re taking the next train out…Qrow, could you get some drinks and snacks for us? If I remember correctly, they cost an arm and a leg if we buy them onboard.” Though Qrow hid it well, Ruby could tell when a secret message was being sent.
“Yeah, sure. We’ll be sailing afterwards, so I’ll get us some motion sickness pills for the trip. The waters between Sanus and Anima aren’t gentle, not one bit…” Her uncle then wandered off, probably to the nearest pharmacy. She was now alone with her father, in these situations, she felt like he had something to say, another ‘Dad lecture’ as Yang put it.
“I have braved the North Sea, I do not fear anything that Remnant has to offer.” Ruby stated first, Qrow and Yang had the audacity to doubt her ship being able to handle aquatic Grimm out there last night. Insult to her pride aside, she did study up on sea charts for the route, especially on how they could avoid being seen in the busy shipping lanes present in that stretch of water.
“I…don’t know where that is, but listen, Ruby, last night I had a talk with Yang about this impromptu family trip. After some discussion with Qrow…it’s best if we also had this talk.” Her father turned his whole body around, this was another one of those serious talks, reminiscent of when he taught her how reproduction worked using a rabbit analogy. That was an agonizing thirty minutes Ruby did not wish to repeat, however, this felt…different.
“When we get to Anima…it won’t be like our past trips there. We’re not going to the big cities where it’s relatively safe, yes, Mistral included…” She had been to Mistral before to visit her Grandmother on her father’s side, along with all the drama such a visit entailed. This trip wasn’t going anywhere near Mistral City, which was halfway across Anima.
“Look, this is kinda hard for me since you haven’t really trained for combat as Yang has. I know you can fight, and believe me, can fight very well…but neither of you know what’s out there. It’s the kind of thing that would keep a Veteran huntsman up at night, I almost wanted to leave you at home because of it…”
She wanted to scoff in response but refrained from doing so. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve handled the Grimm and gangsters before-”
Her father stared at her with a steely gaze. “No, Ruby. Listen to me. The kind of gangsters you fight in Vale can’t compare to the Branwen tribe or the bandits there. Nor can the types of Grimm out there in Anima, trust Qrow and me, we’ve seen nearly everything at this point. Now, I don’t know how tough you really are…or how much punishment you can take, but when we get out there, and find them? If things go bad, they won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Again, she wanted to scoff at the notion that something could kill her. Looking at the expression her father had, however, Ruby could see what his concerns were. Whether she was injured or killed, or if she did that to someone else. An uncomfortable truth in all armies, or for every soldier, was that ultimately their purpose was to be willing to take another human being’s life for their cause. Whether that be their nation or otherwise, they were expected to pick up a rifle and end another’s life when it came.
Kansen were no different.
“In…Ulrich’s memories, she fought in a war. An ever-present war. I suppose being a huntress is not so different from that after all…”
“Ruby…I didn’t mean it like that. While I’m still not quite used to your newfound…semblance, yes I know, just call it that while we’re in public. At the end of the day, you’re still a fifteen-year-old, my fifteen-year-old. And there are some things no one is ever ready for, I was going to give Yang the same talk the night before Beacon…but guess you two just keep surprising me, huh?” He smiled weakly at his own joke, not that humour was helping the atmosphere at all.
“I…” Ruby struggled to form words, and instead, her father finished for her.
“I just want you to promise that whatever happens when we get there…you’ll place safety first. Your memories might have fought in a war before, but you, Ruby Rose, have not. I want you to promise me, okay kiddo?”
Ruby sighed, of all conversations, she was being told this truth she knew from her memories. Though in truth, the idea still…unsettled her quite a bit. Kansen were meant to protect humanity, but all too often, it was the humanity to who they pledged allegiance who wanted to war against each other.
“I promise…to an extent. If my, or your safety is at any point in jeopardy, I will not hesitate to ensure we all make it back to Patch unscathed. That is what my promise will be, are they acceptable?”
It was her father’s turn to sigh, but ultimately, he nodded with acceptance. “I guess that’s the best I’ll get from you…better not jinx our luck when we get there. Tian might look at us and decide to sneeze at our fortune otherwise. Alright, but give me a heads-up if you do use your…more destructive attacks. I don’t want Anima to suddenly gain a few new craters without good reason.”
If Ruby found a target that warranted the use of her main batteries, something was seriously wrong with the continent as a whole. Leaning back, she looked at the station again. The style was reminiscent of many similar types of stations in Europa, though the one in Vale had a distinctly Iris feel to the overall aesthetic. Perhaps something closer to the stations in Paris, the closest frame of reference she had. Ruby did not need to take a lot of trains in Remnant, she was much more familiar with the happenings at sea.
“I…haven’t been in a station like this in a long time…”
“Hm? I guess you’re right, whenever we go on trips, it’s usually always by sea or to the airship terminals.”
“No, I mean I haven’t been in something like this beyond Ulrich’s memories. Sometimes when we transferred bases, we rode there through land due to its speed. There was an old bakery in Kiel’s station that sold some very good pastries…shame I have not found one equally as good on Remnant yet.”
“Is that right…it sounds like you miss that world a lot more than Remnant. Was it really that much more advanced?”
Ruby thinned her lips. Advanced was not the right term for it, while it was true that her world had more people and larger civilizations, there were a few things Remnant had over her own, namely political stability and the obvious, relative peace. This world had seen war of course, but not to the scale Ulrich’s one waged.
“In some ways…yes, and no. However, it is not healthy to dwell so much on the past. Keep doing so and you may start to have a rose-tinted view of the past that never was. We have all the time to talk about Ulrich’s old world later, someone is approaching us.”
“Huh? Oh, that’s the clerk at the ticket counter, ah crap, is something wrong with our tickets?”
Approaching them at a brisk pace, a uniformed ticket clerk had a calm expression on his face, but the way he walked was obviously showing how nervous he actually was. By the time he reached them, Ruby noticed the four extra tickets in his hands.
“Excuse me, sir, there is a slight issue with your train bound for Port Royale…”
“Oh boy, lemme guess, it got delayed or cancelled? I’ll have you know I can report you to the chamber of commerce for refusing to issue a refund-”
The clerk quickly shook his head, making her father pause in confusion.
“Non, sir! It is regarding your seating arrangements. Due to a…prior arrangement, your reserved seats have actually been booked for a larger group, and due to a different reservation system, our system was unable to see that they were unavailable…”
“O…kay, just put us somewhere else then?” To her father, it seemed to be a trivial issue, therefore, something else was the issue at play.
“That is not possible either, sir, this route is fully booked on the standard cabins.” Something about this stirred deep in her memories, about the Ironblood train service, despite the stereotype of that nation as being rigid and orderly…their passenger trains were somehow the exact opposite of that. With frequent delays and outright cancellations for the most trivial of reasons, something like that should have been given to another country such as the Sardegna with their flippant stereotype…
“Therefore, we have decided to offer you a free upgrade to First Class! However, due to a lack of available seating as well, I am afraid you will all have to sit apart from each other. Is this acceptable, or will you be requesting a full refund-”
“We’ll take it!” Before the tickets could be moved away, her father had ‘accepted’ the newly offered ones, verifying that they were indeed, for First Class.
“Ruby, you wouldn’t mind sitting apart from us, right? It’s only for a few hours!”
“No…I won’t…”
“Excellent, due to our meal service, please ensure that you are sitting at the seat listed on your ticket. Bon voyage, and thank you for riding SNCV.”
Their prior tickets were given back, and in replacement, they were all given real tickets for First Class. Upon further inspection, they were in fact real and not a fake copy as she had initially suspected. Not long afterwards, Qrow and Yang both returned together with their respective goods and rations for the journey.
“Why are you so happy? Something good happen while we were away?”
Instead of answering Qrow, her father simply held out his ticket for him to read. Judging by his wide-eyed expression, her uncle was similarly having a hard time believing it.
“Free upgrade, Qrow! I told you we weren’t skimping out by getting a train instead of an airship-”
“Ain’t no way good luck like that happens, this is weird as hell. SNCV is notorious for being stingy with their free upgrades, hang on, I’m going to go ask where this came-” Qrow was interrupted by the large speaker above them.
“Passengers bound for: Port Royale. Please board on Platform Four, thank you. Passengers bound for: Port Royale. Please-”
“Oh no, guess we’re outta time. Come on, I’ve never ridden First Class before, you can’t always have bad luck, Qrow.”
“You know why I take missions solo, Tai.” Her uncle said sternly, Ruby knew he only went alone on missions unlike other Huntsmen, though she never got a reason as to why.
“Maybe it might have been bad luck for the clerk, as you say, they’re normally that stingy. We already have them anyways, and if we want to get to Port Royale before dusk…” Her father’s point made Qrow sigh in response, before waving off his concerns.
“Fine. I do get a few freebies from bad luck every once in a while…let’s go. If anything happens on the ride there, both of us can handle it.”
Getting up from the bench, Ruby and Yang looked at each other in confusion, neither of them quite getting what they were talking about. Shrugging, they followed them to the boarding gate. Really, how many surprises could a train hold? It was one of the safest modes of transportation on Remnant, driving was statistically more dangerous if she remembered correctly.
Vale’s national rail service had kept its promise of grandeur it seemed. Ruby did not know much about its history, but she remembered hearing that when the King abdicated, and the nobles of Vale had much of their privileges rescinded, the rail service had kept a majority of the luxury cars for use. Instead of being reserved for nobility or official use only, anyone with enough money to buy a ticket could use those privileges for the duration of the journey.
The times may have changed, and the trains updated with them, but the same system remained in place albeit slightly altered. Heading into her train car, it turned out that their four tickets had them spread out on the first and second floors. On average, trains on Remnant were larger than their counterparts in Ironblood or anywhere else in her old world for that matter. Probably due to the Grimm if she was just guessing, trains legally had to be protected by defences of some kind, whether it be Huntsmen or automated turrets.
“Aaaand that’s my room…there doesn’t seem to be anyone else here. I’ll meet up with you after they scan our tickets, hopefully, there isn’t anyone in your room either.” Qrow said, Ruby peered into his cabin, the decoration was right out of the grandeur of past trains, kept on due to popular demand most likely. Nodding, Ruby went down the carriage and to the last room in her car. There weren’t that many First Class rooms available on this train overall, though she should be glad her journey would be comfortable.
Sliding open the door, she was greeted with a comfortable and luxurious room.
(Source: https://azurlane.netojuu.com/images/6/6d/Skin_BG_546.png )
Such things were normally reserved for higher-ranking officers, while the common enlisted or conscripted did not have anything near this level of luxury. There was even a complimentary bottle of Champagne ready for her…
Thinking nothing of it, Ruby went to place her luggage in the storage area above her seat, only for the sliding doors to open again. It was probably the other passenger in her cabin, unlike other First Classes, the system in this train ran on the old style where unless specified, rooms could be given to another person if available. With a desire to limit her social interactions, she decided to play it cool and only greeted the other person coming in with a simple nod.
In the brief moment she looked back, Ruby could not see past her Cattleman’s hat, and she wore clothing as if straight out of some Eagle Union ‘Western’ film. She expected someone who could afford First Class to dress similarly to a socialite, not a ranch worker complete with a jean jacket. Instead of responding, Ruby heard the other passenger put her luggage up on the opposite seat and sat down. If she didn’t want to talk, the Kansen was more than happy to return the-
“Howdy. Hope you don’t mind having company for this journey.”
“Not at all.”
Ruby said quickly and began to sit down herself…not before realising she just replied in the Royal Navy’s language. Because the person across from her asked in said language, albeit with a different accent.
There was only one person on Remnant who spoke it, and there was no way in Helheim she was here on coincidence.
The other person realised it too, and as it turned out, she was much more familiar with Ruby than initially thought. In fact, they were practically the same, the only difference being that Ruby was a battleship, while she was an aircraft carrier.
“Hey there, partner~beautiful day for a train ride across the continent, right?”
“Why…” Ruby strained her voice as she said that, more at disbelief over what she was seeing.
Ruby had half a mind to draw her scythe but remembered that she was in a somewhat cramped train car. Opposite her was Weiss Schnee, wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a jean jacket. All topped with a white Cattleman’s hat that made her resemble the stereotypical Eagle Union cowboy her country was so famous for. This was worse than a Grimm attack, or their train de-railing…and they hadn’t even left the station yet.
“Well…if you’re asking why I’m here…did you know that the SDC owns a 20% stake in SNCV, primarily for its freight capabilities? That is how Vale’s dust supplies get transported from the mines in Solitas to the humble shop in your home city. It wasn’t difficult for me to make a call or two, and arrange for five First Class tickets easily.”
“Five.” Uncle Qrow was right after all…
“Yes…I may have extreme privilege but don’t ever accuse me of being stingy. All that Lien should not be hogged if they can be used.” She shot her a grin with finger guns, her former free-flowing hairstyle had instead been tied to twin tails as a crude disguise. That prompted Ruby to ask another question, one she annoyingly also had an answer for.
“How did you find-”
“...a secret.” Weiss unfortunately looked at Ruby’s bag for a split second, but that was enough for her to realise what gave her away. Digging into her backpack, she found the cause and held it out like a lawyer would when presenting evidence to a court.
“So much for gifts.” She held the Hellcat that was supposed to be a ‘good luck’ charm out in a grip, with just the slightest application of strength, Ruby could have crushed it into scrap metal. Holding up both hands at her Weiss frantically signalled for her to stop.
“Wait, now hold on there! It ain’t the little fella’s fault! I just felt a signal in Vale, realised it was you back in the city…so I took a quick trip down from my hotel and was planning to surprise you…” How could Ruby forget? Eagle Union fighters had a built-in radio in them, their radar technology was the best in comparison to the other factions…
“One thing led to another and I saw you entering Vale Central Station…I’m actually surprised you didn’t see me before. Guess my disguise really did work, huh?”
“Don’t even begin…now then, what am I going to do with you?” There was a large window in their room and Ruby was willing to use it, not like a Kansen could be hurt by something as trivial as that. Battleships usually overpowered aircraft carriers in strength contests…
“We…could have a fun trip together? Of course, your family is outside but we can think of a suitable excuse.”
“We? There is no ‘we’ here. I am going to Port Royale for a personal matter, I do not need someone like you to come along. A single battleship is enough-” Ruby stopped herself, she had revealed too much already…unfortunately for her, Weiss was sharp enough to pick up on that.
“Ooh? That means you’re planning to take your hull out…are you sure you don’t need my help? I have dozens of planes at my beck and call, all of which can help you with…whatever you need to do. You aren’t seriously expecting to make do with just your floatplanes, are you?” To emphasise her point, the Hellcat on Ruby’s hands took off and hovered around her in a circle. Loathe as she was to admit…finding the Branwen tribe was definitely going to be easier with her around. The amount of ground a squadron could cover was more than ten mass-produced versions of her.
However, Ruby was not going to give in so easily, especially considering how there were other factors at play here. “...and you’re willing to just follow me, to Anima I might add, where we may be there for weeks. That isn’t even counting how this was supposed to be a personal matter…but don’t you have people in Vale who will miss you? Your annoyingly persistent sister for example.”
“Funny you should mention that…she got recalled to Atlas for a week or two…General Ironwood’s orders apparently. My Aunt is the only one in Vale, but she is busy working with the council…I could just mention I am taking sightseeing tours and will be away for a week or two. Unlike my sister, she does trust me to be alone, if anything does happen I do have my semblance and aura, as well as the entire arsenal of an Essex-class carrier but she doesn’t know that.”
“How convenient…” Ruby did not make any attempt to mask her suspicions.
“You know…if you really don’t want me to come, I won’t force the issue. I have been meaning to visit Port Royale anyways…” Left unsaid was that Ruby would lose her help in the search for the Branwen tribe. They probably would have been fine without it, but at the same time, there was Yang’s entry into Beacon to consider, so ideally they finished this as fast as possible.
The fact that Ruby was seriously considering it said a lot about her lack of resources. Gone were the days when she had a full fleet for backup if needed.
“Now, I don’t exactly know what you’re on Anima, but I am offering you my help, which comes with the resources of Remnant’s largest conglomerate. There are few things the SDC cannot reach, in some way, shape or form.” Weiss said it with conviction, and Ruby knew she was probably telling the truth. Dust was part of everyday life for everyone on Remnant, there were no exceptions.
Though it pained Ruby to say the next few words, she could suck up asking for help from a Yankee if it was for family. Taking a deep breath, Ruby levelled a steely glare at the innocent-appearing aircraft carrier, she was much craftier than she expected.
“I have conditions. First, you do not reveal yourself to my family. You will tail me when we are underway, at sea or the lake, however, your existence must be kept secret. I do not want them to realize there are more Kansen on Remnant.”
“Aw, didn’t I meet your uncle and sister already? What’s the big deal?”
Ruby hated that she was correct, but the issue was something else entirely. The problem with secrets was that the more people that knew them, the easier they ‘slipped out’. Taking secrets to the grave only worked if said person was the only one who knew it.
“I explained that I am the only Kansen on Remnant, and you make the truth I have told them… complicated. I also cannot bring you along as Weiss Schnee, because quite frankly that would be weird and irresponsible-”
“I have some blonde hair dye with me, and I can do a very good impression of Hornet, my little sister. If that makes you feel any better, I can also just meet you in Anima as some travelling farmhand-”
“Please don’t. Actually, the idea can be revisited, however, that is not the problem. The issue is…” How was Ruby going to describe it? She was visiting a family member? Technically, that was the case, not that calling a bandit tribe leader a family member was something she wanted to do, but she found herself quite unable to think of anything else so far.
“My family and I will be visiting a…relative. You should not be present when that happens, any other time however is fine.” Ruby thought of something else to add, and quickly remembered something very important. “I will be the flagship for this…operation, so you will accept any orders and fulfil them to the letter, understood?”
“Yes, Commander Rose!” Weiss gave her an Eagle Union salute, though her expression was anything but serious. Ruby had no guarantee she was going to accept, but the allure of having multiple squadrons of planes helping their search was too tempting to pass up. Just this once, perhaps in some nostalgic past that never was, she could sail alongside someone who was an enemy in the past. That was the original mission of Azur Lane, to be an organisation that could fight for the common good of humanity, regardless of their respective nations.
Hearing the horn outside blare, it signalled their train’s departure, and the start of their hopefully quick journey.
Now with an additional member…
“Which hair dye do you think is more Eagle-like? Honey blonde, or golden blonde?”
“Neither…do you need help? Dying hair alone is annoying.”
“Oh?! Are you offering to help?!”
“Yes, I want your disguise to be ready as soon as possible.”
Weiss smiled wryly as if knowing something she didn’t. “Suuuure …alright then, I’ve got some instructions here, we may need a bucket of water to do this…”
AN:
The Ironblood train joke comes from a friend’s experiences with Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national railway company. Long story short, experiences on it are horrible, with delays frequent alongside straight-up cancellations. You’d think Germany would have better rail, but apparently not.
Also, in Volume 6 there showed a direct train route from Mistral to Vale…but none of the maps ever show a bridge of any kind from Anima to Sanus. How the hell does that work then?
For FFnet users only: This is a notice that the version on Ao3 has images posted in the chapter itself and will have them moving forward. FFnet doesn’t allow me to do the same so you get a placeholder text instead. I am not bothered to fix this, I do most of my work on Ao3 anyway, and I consider the version on that site the superior one.
Be civil in the comments below.
Chapter 32: Chapter 31
Chapter Text
Chapter 31
“How do I get this blonde shit off of me?”
No matter how much Ruby rubbed, patches of the blonde hair dye Weiss used stuck to her palms. For the better part of this trip, Ruby had assisted Weiss, something that she later regretted. The issue with dyeing hair was that the longer the hair, the longer it took for the whole process to complete. A few times she had to excuse herself to eat dinner with her family, but thankfully they didn’t ask her about her new cabinmate.
“You have to wash it off, over time. Odd, the few times I dyed my hair before in Atlas didn’t seem to be this sticky, might be the humidity here.” A few more edits to her outfit, and face, along with a pair of fake glasses she had suspiciously ready, the only similarity to Weiss Schnee were now her eyes, but even that could be written off as a coincidence.
“You dyed your hair before in Atlas?” Ruby asked, allowing herself to be curious this time. It wasn’t every day that you talked to one of the richest people on Remnant.
“Yes, a few times but usually never blonde. If you found yourself cooped up in some estate the size of a city block or two, even you may begin to explore alternative ways to alleviate the cold and lonely atmosphere. Yours truly has even snuck out to Atlas itself, usually under the cover of night, don’t tell my sister, she would mandate a bodyguard to be with me if she ever found out.”
“Wouldn’t that be your father?”
Weiss smiled, it wasn’t natural. “Oh…he…doesn’t quite care. He has Whitley, my younger brother, as his true heir now. What I do is not his concern anymore.” Ruby got the message and didn’t ask any further. She had her own family matters to worry about.
“...right. We should be close to Port Royale. Do you need a copy of my charts or do you have your own-”
“I bought a miniature CTPS system a few days ago, it also has a function for small vessels. Obviously, neither of us are small, but for crossing the sea to Anima it should be sufficient. I was going to use it for sailing around Vale, however this is much more exciting! Wait, do you not use one?”
“No. I never needed one.” She relied on tried and true sea charts, instead of something that needed a constant connection to the CCT towers, though it was also partly due to paranoia that she could be tracked by it.
“They…don’t cost that much, roughly as much as a good utility speedboat-have you just been using charts this entire time?! We aren’t in the Great War anymore.”
“Which one?” Remnant had a Great War, but it was far from the Great War in her old world.
“You know. I would give you mine but I prefer to rely on something that is actually updated regularly. We seem to be arriving in Port Royale soon anyways, why don’t you try and get one there before we get underway?”
“I will pass. Stick to the plan, it will work.” The ‘plan’ was to set sail under the cover of darkness a fair distance away from Port Royale. She was sure the city and local authorities would be very surprised and annoyed at two capital warships appearing in their local harbour in broad daylight. This gave them exactly a few hours for her to stock up on provisions and get everything else ready before the crossing.
True to her word, they began pulling into Port Royale Central, the final destination on this route. Checking her watch, they still had roughly an hour or two until sunset, smaller towns like this closed their shops earlier, and thus they had to move quickly. Grabbing her luggage, she checked if the hallway was clear first, before turning to her…ally. “Just follow the plan. If all goes well, we will check in using our ship radio at midnight, using the same frequency I gave you.”
“You could also just send a message using the Hellcat I gave you if you’re that concerned about radio silence…”
“...only if needed. Enjoy Port Royale in the meantime, you wanted to explore more of Vale, no?”
“And I’m doing it alone again, yippee…” Unfortunately, circumstances dictated that it was necessary. Heading out of their cabin and splitting into opposite directions, Ruby headed out onto the platform to find her family. It seemed that she was the last one out, the others were already there and waiting.
“Heya Rubes! That was sweet, did you know First Class means that you have a dedicated butler or something? I had like three-I mean, I only had one strawberry sunrise-”
“I heard you order the three of them, Yang. Your quota for this trip has been used up as far as I’m concerned.” Her father plainly said, ignoring the look of despair on her sister’s face. “Anyways, we all had a pleasant trip here all things considered, I could get used to travelling like this…”
“Yeah…I half expected a flock of nevermores to show up, guess I do get some ‘good’ luck every once in a while. If only I could convince Glynda to let me take these every once in a while, it’d do wonders for morale. The complimentary booze in the bar was also welcome, how ‘bout you Ruby? I heard you talking to your cabinmate, make a friend that quickly?”
Resisting the urge to kick his knees, Ruby shook her head. “We were exchanging pleasantries, that was all. Besides, isn’t train travel one of the safest forms of it? You are statistically more likely to be ambushed by Grimm by driving than on a train.” The rankings for travel safety, from least to most likely to be attacked were somewhere around: rail, air, sea and finally, by road, with the rate for the last one higher the further you were from larger settlements.
“Never say never, kid. Did you see our Huntsmen defence team? They look like fresh grads, wouldn’t have done jack to an actual horde attack.”
“That’s why they’re probably here, Qrow. All the veterans are taking up the most dangerous routes, but I shouldn’t get into that now. So, Ruby, where to next?”
“Dinner and provisions, the journey will take roughly four days and three nights. Assuming we don’t run into any merchant vessels on the way, we will get to Argus without issue. I heard there was a Mistralian quarter in Port Royale, we should start there.” Mistralian cuisine was something they were all used to, even if her father’s grasp on the finer points of cooking was questionable sometimes. Vale itself often served some heavily altered version of it, catered to local Valean tastes, it was only during her trips to Mistral that Ruby got to taste the authentic stuff. Except for that one time they ordered a comically sized bowl of Ramen during their last visit, she was certain that wasn’t ‘authentic’ by any stretch of the word.
With no disagreements, they set off for the Mistralian quarter, a shame they had to leave so quickly considering the historic nature of this town, but they weren’t here for vacation. They had a bandit clan to find.
(Source: https://azurlane.koumakan.jp/wiki/Category:Skin_Backgrounds#/media/File:Skin_BG_703.png )
As it turned out, finding the Mistralian quarter was relatively simple. Port Royale was not a very ‘tall’ town by most standards, so they just had to follow the giant paifang that stood out from the skyline. It wasn’t too surprising, most trade between Vale and Mistral was conducted through here, with rail links leading to the rest of Sanus being the most important factor. Thus, even before the Great War began, this port was a focal point for contact between the two continents. However, times changed, and as airship transport became more common, the importance of Port Royale diminished, thus forcing them to turn towards other forms of revenue. Case in point…
“I think this is just a tourist attraction.”
“Oh gee, ya think? Whatever, Tai, let’s just get some food and go, the sooner we get to Mistral, the better quality food we’ll get.”
Walking further in, Qrow was indeed correct, this place had more Valean tourists than Mistralians. Just like the Mistralian quarter in Vale itself, by now it had turned into something which catered towards Valeans rather than Mistralians. Unfortunate, but they could try and get the ‘secret’ menu in those restaurants if they asked nicely in one of them. At the centre of the street, there was a stone monument erected in the middle, out of curiosity and its similarity to the one in Vale’s old town, Ruby went to take a closer look.
“What does this say…” She leaned in for a closer look and immediately frowned.
“Rubes? What are you looking at?” Her family caught up to her, and she decided reading the inscription aloud was sufficient enough of an answer.
“This monument is dedicated to the…Mistralian settlers killed during the Port Royale massacre at the start of the Great War….”
“Ah…”
“Woah, that got dark real fast…”
“Yeah, after the war started a lot of the towns on eastern Sanus which had Mistralian populations didn’t take to them very well.”
In Iron Blood’s possessions in the Far East, similar events happened in the Dragon Empery’s lands. Though it was before Ulrich was built, that event was enough for the minor faction to distance itself from Azur Lane for a few decades, giving Iron Blood ample opportunity to stretch its influence on the region. They were just one of many factions back then in the region, all seeking to stake their claim on the idea of ‘empire’.
“And now, it is a tourist attraction, how fun. We’re moving on, I do not know when the shops will close tonight.” Unlike the shops in many of Mistral’s towns where they opened into late at night, much of Vale’s establishments began to close after sundown. It was why they usually went back to Mistral during the New Years, when the festive atmosphere was keenly felt in comparison to Patch’s quietness.
“Hang on for a moment, let’s give a quick prayer for the deceased. We are going back to Anima soon, and we are a Mistralian family by blood, even if we live on Patch.” Her father clasped his hand in prayer, a traditional gesture to offer prayer for the deceased. Ruby followed along, in the family shrine back in Patch she had done this for the Xiao Long family’s ancestors, as well as her mother. Even in this age of technology, faith and belief were not in short supply by any means, it was the case here, as it was the case in her old world.
“May your bravest find themselves in Vallhalla’s warm halls.” Ruby gave an Iron Blood prayer of her own, traditionally said to honour the deceased who fell in battle.
“Hm? What did you say, Ruby?” Yang asked, from her perspective, she heard her little sister mutter in an unknown language.
“A simple Iron Blood prayer, for the deceased to find solace in Óðinn’s halls. Ah, sorry, he is the…chief deity in the Gods Iron Blood believes in, the majority anyways.” The southern part of Iron Blood followed the faith of the one true God, while the north followed the Old Gods; it was also what the Iris Libre and Sardegna Empire believed in. The Royal Navy and the Eagle Union also believed in the same God, however, their practices were different from theirs, they had no Pope to lead their faithful for example. Weiss had a necklace with a cross earlier, but neither of them talked about faith. In the eyes of those faithful, Ruby was probably a heathen.
Though it made for an odd dynamic in her nation’s armed forces. The Iron Blood Army primarily followed the One True God, however, the Navy primarily followed the Old Gods, one could imagine the tension the two organizations had sometimes.
“So…you still follow that religion or…” Qrow asked, somewhat awkwardly.
“You could say it is a cultural practice, not that I am one to say what people should believe in. But yes, if I do follow any religion…I follow the wisdom of the Old Gods. Even if I am the only one who knows of them on Remnant.” Perhaps the other Kansen she parted ways with earlier was in a similar boat, but that required asking her about it in a personal manner, which was not in Ruby’s plans anytime soon.
“Well…in that case, why don’t you make an offering before we go? Assuming that is a thing in what you believe, is it?” Her father suggested, and Ruby found the idea unnecessary. Before she could respond, however, she heard a pair of Ravens cawing at her from the paifang , anything she was about to say died instantly.
“...fine, we will do an offering. Making an offering to Aegir will bless the sea journey for us.” The Jotunn was the standard that most sailors prayed to for safe travels, not to be confused with the other Aegir who was a Kansen, though she did not have a lack of sailors praying to her either in Iron Blood; for entirely different reasons.
“Great! So, what do you need to do it? I’m not sure if this town has what you need but we can make do-”
“I require a live chicken, a bowl for blood, strong ale and an onion. As well as honey if they have it. Preferably natural, not industrially processed.”
Her father, uncle and sister all deadpanned at her, perhaps desperately hoping she was making a joke. The silence stretched on for a dozen seconds until she sought to clarify something.
“The onion can be substituted with other root vegetables if need be.”
“...yeah, we’re not concerned about the onion, Ruby.” Her uncle said plainly, taking a step back as she glared at him.
They asked about Iron Blood practices, and Ruby gave them exactly what they wanted, why were they looking at her weirdly?
(Source: https://azurlane.koumakan.jp/wiki/Category:Skin_Backgrounds#/media/File:Skin_BG_598.png )
In the end, they went with a modified ritual which required no animal sacrifice after much back and forth. Ruby didn’t know what they were complaining about, the chicken would have been used in their meal later that night, so all they did was leave the killing of the animal to the butcher instead. Perhaps it may have been a slight to the Gods, but so far their sailing seemed to be uneventful. They successfully boarded a tender, rode far out of Port Royale’s harbour, got on the main ship without being detected, and were now cruising parallel to the main shipping lanes.
Unfortunately, that didn’t solve Ruby’s new crew having their own opinions on what ‘activities’ were available for them on this journey.
“What do you mean these aren’t free? They’re sitting right here!”
The last time her family visited her vessel, she managed to steer them clear away from the slop chest. This time around, however, her uncle managed to spot the decorated part of the ship from the end of one hallway, thus forcing her to take them there. Just like Roman and the twins from a few days ago, she was not extending the ‘free’ privilege to anyone, including her family.
“These are not free. I will accept payment for them, only lien mind you.”
“What? Oh, I get it, is this stuff like, limited? If so, then I guess it makes sense for us to pay-”
“No, they…come back after a while.” The cigar Torchwick paid for also came back by now, Ruby didn’t know how it worked but the full thing was now present in the shop, as if no one had ever taken it.
“So…why can’t we just take a few? I mean, think of it as a chance for us to learn about your new cultural background.” Qrow said, Ruby did not ignore him leaning ever closer to the spirit cabinets.
“It is the principal of the slop chest, if I gave out for free, what is stopping you from just asking me for everything?”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad thing, Rubes, you know how much this stuff can cost in Patch?! Like these…chocolate thingies, why are they next to the medicine?” Yang held up a richly decorated package, the fact that it was written in Iron Blood meant that she couldn’t understand it did not just refer to chocolate. Quickly taking it from her hand, Ruby slotted it neatly back into the cupboard, ignoring her protests.
“For your information, that isn't just chocolate. How did that thing even get here? Shouldn’t it be in the Army’s possession?” Ruby muttered, but decided against No, listen, some of these things are not quite fit for human consumption, there are some Kansen-only products mixed in here, therefore if you do want anything, I will need to vet it first.”
“What do you mean by not fit for human consumption?” The case of an Eagle Union sailor mistaking Oxy-Cola for its civilian version came to mind, and she exaggerated the results for good measure.
“Probable death.” Despite the unsettled looks her family now had, the Eagle Union sailor in question did not pass away, however, he was hospitalized for a few months. It prompted Iron Blood to enact new laws mandating warning labels on products meant for Kansen use, so not a completely stupid scenario.
“Enough of that for now, it is getting late, and I need to settle you in. For simplicity’s sake, you are now my crew, and therefore are my responsibility. For now, however, we shall head to your rooms for the next few days. Come, you do not want to get lost in here.”
Along the way, they passed through multiple decks, including the area where the mess hall and other important areas such as the medical bay. That also came with the question of who was exactly sailing while they were down here, but Ruby had an answer ready for that this time. Passing by the enlisted bunk area, Yang peeked in and had a horrified expression.
“Don’t tell me we’re going to be sleeping here for the next three days…”
“You could choose to do that. However, I believe you would much rather prefer the rooms for senior officers instead. If I was a…normal vessel, there would normally be dozens of sailors all resting here at the same time.” A ship her size for four people was exorbitant, literally too big for all of them. The total space here was enough to fit their house a hundred times over. That wasn’t even counting the luxuries present, such as the sauna and cinema room, she debated opening up the beer garden as well for this journey, but such a thing could be saved for the return trip.
“A sausage fest then? Got it. So…your regular Navy guy slept here, while the officers got the nice beds? And they were often here for months at a time? Why would anyone willingly join the Navy?” For that, Ruby had no answer for her, but it seemed that her uncle did.
“That goes for the Army too, by the way, if you ever see Atlas’s headmaster, do me a favour and ask him that question. See what kinda crap about ‘doing your duty’ and ‘honour’ he spews out.”
“Are you and James still fighting? I thought you two made up years ago!” Her father asked, despite feigning interest, Ruby was very curious as to how he knew of the Atlesian General and headmaster. They certainly never mentioned this to them before…
“Yeah, we made up. Then he became General, that’s when we didn’t. That’s what you get for retiring from fieldwork, you miss out on all the juicy gossip.”
“If that’s the kind of gossip you get on without me, then I’ll consider it a blessing…Ruby, why are you looking at us like that?”
“How do you know the Headmaster of Atlas Academy? First, you know Ozpin, and then you know Ironwood as well-”
“We’re also friends with Headmaster Lionheart of Haven and Theodore in Shade, there’s a lot of stuff we haven’t told you two. Let’s just say that when you get to our level as Huntsmen, you sort of know all the big names in the industry. Though not all of them do get along all the time…” Her father muttered at the end, Ruby could infer some internal politics at play here, which was par for the course in running all of Remnant’s major academies.
“...so theoretically, you could have also gotten me into any of the four academies just by knowing-” Yang asked, only for her father to shut down that line of thought immediately.
“No, bad! Guānxì cannot be used that way! Besides, you still got into Beacon-”
“Yeah, after I spent frickin’ forever with my cover letter! Didn’t you hear my cries of pain?!”
“I helped you with those!”
Her uncle cleared his throat, deliberately. “Ahem, actually, Tai, I did. I had Glynda look them over, she instantly knew you helped to write them. Wouldn’t have gotten her into any academy with writing like that, just saying.”
“What the-you said you’d keep that a secret!”
“You got into Beacon, secret’s out. Look, as long as you don’t forge transcripts or anything, Beacon will probably accept anyone based on fighting ability alone. As well as a few good references by two former alumni and current Huntsmen. And you, firecracker? You have that in spades. Ruby too, if she ever wanted to change careers-”
“Say that again and I will throw you overboard. I thought we were over this by now.”
“Yeah, but now that I know you have all this.” Qrow knocked on the steel walls with his fist, “You could be the first Huntress to use artillery as their weapon. The big kind too, not the peashooter grenade launchers. Give it a thought, just another option for ya, we never did quite get over the career survey you did a few weeks ago.”
“And we shall continue to ignore it until I graduate Signal. Now, here are your quarters. Pick any that you want, just don’t open the windows when the seas are alive, you do not want to wake up by seawater flowing in.”
She allowed her family to get settled in. The sensation of having actual people inside her vessel was something quite odd, but in some sense, it was part of her original design. Why else would each Kansen have their crew quarters still intact? Logic dictated that the extra space should be used for more weaponry or storage for ammunition, but no, all the same amenities that manned vessels had, so did the Kansen. Otherwise, they were rejected as designs completely by their physics-defying Wisdom Cube.
While they did that, she excused herself by going back up to the bridge. The journey took another few minutes, such as the result of having such a large vessel. Once inside, she made her way to the radio, powering it on manually. If she was using her rigging, this would have been automatically done, inefficient, but necessary when transporting people. Tuning it to the right frequency, she opened the channel.
“Check. Yorktown. Check. Come in, over.” They had agreed to refer to their old names for these radio checks, and also in language of the Royal Isles. No one on Remnant spoke it, so it was just an added layer of security. She waited for a few moments longer, but there was still no response.
“Check. Come in. Scheduled updates, now.” Despite being more forceful this time, all she received was static. Ruby was about to call into it again, before feeling someone suddenly on the bridge with her. Powering off the long-range radio, she quickly turned around, only to find Uncle Qrow of all people now on her bridge, seeming very lost. It should have been impossible for him to sneak up here, even if he was a veteran Huntsman, so how did-
“Uh, hey. I was going to use the shower but I realised we didn’t get shampoo earlier, you wouldn’t happen to have any in that shop of yours for human use?”
“How did you…never mind, you should not be up here.” She moved to start ushering her uncle out, only for him to be slippier than anticipated.
“Oh hey, come on! I haven’t been to this part of you-never mind, not going there. I mean this part of your ship yet. What are you doing here anyway? Didn’t you say you could sail this thing in your sleep?”
“Yes, I was just checking on some navigational charts, we are on the right course if you want to know. Since you’re here, however, you can watch me finish doing my final checks…all that is left is a simple radar functionality test.” Ruby lied through her teeth, there was no need for a radar functionality test. She knew by heart if her radar was broken, no need for a functionality check. However, she pretended to go through the motions of flicking switches, just to seal the act. When leaving Port Royale she had hers switched off, this was standard practice just in case any scanners were looking for signals to trace back. She was supposed to turn it back on at sea, but dealing with her family took priority, and thus forgot about it until now.
“Help me watch the radar, if it does a full rotation normally a few times, that means it is working flawlessly.” Giving her uncle something to do, she went back into the radio room and haphazardly sent out a code using Morse, hoping the other Kansen would get the idea and not launch a fighter squadron to find her or anything drastic like that. As soon as she finished the message, however, she heard her uncle’s call from outside.
“Hey, Ruby? Is this thing supposed to have a dot on the side?”
Dropping everything, she rushed out of the radar room, and at the screen. Glueing her eyes to it, she felt the radar signature come back, as a positive. Bearing ninety degrees, she stared at it one more time and found that the dot was moving parallel to her. Even worse, it was big, about the size of a large warship.
“Alright kiddo, I might not be a radar expert, but that dot means something is probably close to us, right?”
Lying was not going to do her good here, and she nodded in affirmation. If this was Weiss’s idea of ‘shadowing’ her, then perhaps she needed a reminder to be out of artillery range. Her secondaries began to rotate. From the bridge, all they heard was a low hum, but it should have been felt all across her vessel. Again, she hoped Weiss got the message: She wasn’t going to fire those guns but instead use them to deceive.
“Probably a cargo ship. It doesn’t seem to have spotted us, but I’ll keep guns trained on it just in case. We’ll have to slip away, quietly. Damn it, I thought this lane was void of merchant vessels, so how did-”
“Ruby. I don’t think that’s a cargo ship.” Qrow a hand on her shoulders, his expression entirely serious.
“Could you do me a favour and use those searchlights on the dot?”
She frowned, such a thing would immediately expose Weiss to them. “And expose us to them? No, we will quietly slip away-”
“Just do it, kiddo. If I’m wrong, I’ll go sober for this entire trip.” Her uncle did not seem to be letting it go. Inhaling a deep breath, she pointed the searchlight deliberately downwards to not expose the flight deck. With luck, she could wave her off as a cargo ship or something similar from that distance. Only turning on one searchlight, instead of the steel grey hull Ruby was familiar with, she found something that appeared to be…
“Is that an iceberg?” From her point of view, the searchlights reflected large white spikes protruding out from the sea. Upon closer inspection, however, the white spikes were moving along the waves, cutting through the water similar to tuna. Only except, tuna were never that big.
Instincts kicked in, and all four of her main batteries began to rotate as well, this time the sound reached the bridge quite easily. All external doors immediately slammed shut, including the one into the bridge. Ruby had started general quarters without a crew, but it didn’t matter, for there was a Grimm the size of a warship just on her starboard-
“Wait, Ruby! Don’t shoot it!”
Her AP shells were already loaded, and now her uncle was telling her to hold? Turning around, she did not stop zeroing her main batteries as she looked at him fiercely, but he seemed to have an answer readily waiting for her. “Listen to me, I trust you to sail and operate this thing, however, now you need to trust me. That thing out there? It isn’t a regular Grimm, it’s what we Huntsmen call an Elder Grimm, they won’t attack without good reason, and you shooting it is giving that thing all the reason to turn around and sink us.”
Ruby did not falter, all of her training in Ulrich’s memories screamed to begin firing, however, her uncle’s desperate tone was enough for her to hesitate. “...what is that thing?”
“Most definitely a Leviathan, namesake of the Leviathan-class Grimm. Like how warships have classes, Grimm have their own. To put it in terms you understand, it is a super-duper-do not fuck with-battleship. There have only been a dozen sightings of the thing in the last few decades, and each time, there weren’t that many survivors left to tell the tale. I, preferably would like us to live and tell the tale over a drink many years from now. Can you do that for me, kiddo?”
“So what do you want me to do? Wait until it comes around to sink us?!”
“I want you to wait, and observe. If, and only if it decides that we are a nuisance, then you can start shooting. And believe me, you better shoot everything you’ve got at it. ”
Ruby held her fire, with one command, and an entire salvo of AP shells could rain down on the large beast. A minute passed, then two, and before the third minute ticked down, it began to swim away from them. The dot on their radar moved ever further away…just to be safe, however, she activated her sonar.
“Sonar also shows clear signs…we are clear…” The main turrets were still aimed at the Leviathan’s general direction, but it was increasingly clear that it did swim away.
“The last sighting was back when I was a fourth year in Beacon, somewhere near Argus by an old fisherman. We all thought he was insane, well, it turns out he was probably right after all.”
“Huh, then that was some bad luck we had, running into such a legendary creature…” Qrow choked as soon as she mentioned ‘bad luck’, but quickly recovered after a swig from his flask.
“Yeah, gonna need some more of that tonight. I always said they didn’t know what’s out there; I should’ve taken a picture to rub in Ozpin’s face. Ruby, get some sleep tonight, yeah? Like you said, it’s a one-in-a-million chance to run into that thing. Guess we lucked out this time.”
Qrow turned to leave, evidently having had enough excitement for a day. Before he could exit, however, Ruby had a question for him. “Why have I never learned of this in school or on television? A Grimm of that size should be a public concern at the very least.”
In truth, she had a probable answer to that question already, and her uncle just confirmed it. “Showing giant Grimm to everyone even Huntsmen don’t wanna mess with? That’ll do wonders to keep out negative emotions, I don’t agree with it, but hey, what’s an average Joe like me to do? I’m going to go tell the others what happened, don’t take too long up here.”
With that, Qrow left the bridge, Ruby made sure he was back on the lower decks before relaxing. Under normal circumstances, she could feel approximately where people were on her ship based on the things they interacted with. For example, Yang and her father were frantically trying to get upstairs to see what was going on, but navigating this ship proved to be a tougher challenge than initially thought.
“Hm? Is this…” Crouching down, she spotted a black object on the ground illuminated by the moonlight, upon further inspection, it was the feather of a bird. It was dark black, meaning it could belong to a bird such as crows or ravens, however, the question was how such a thing managed to get on board. Dumping it in the bin, she chalked it up to someone dragging it on, or the wind blew it here from a passing bird.
Powering on the radio again, this time she could hear another voice on the frequency, long after she was supposed to check-in.
“Ulrich?! Come in! There is a giant Leviathan-class Grimm-”
“It’s gone, Yorktown. You’re late.”
“Oh…I mean, at least I didn’t get discovered…?”
By the end of this trip, Weiss getting discovered was going to be the least of her concerns.
AN:
I don’t know where else to put this but remember back in Vol 5 when they all got back together (except Blake), they had some ‘Mistralian’ food? It was one giant bowl of Ramen, comically sized. I found that ridiculous and honestly kind of stereotyping. Of all the things they could have chosen to animate, that seemed to be a very odd choice. I guess they were trying to save on animating. Way to go, RT, your Texan heritage really does shine through here. Yes, I just needed to mention it, since no one else did online.
Anyways, the ‘Panzerschokolade’ is referenced here, but as a responsible Historian, I should mention there is no evidence such a thing ever existed. The Third Reich did use large amounts of Methamphetamine products such as Pervitin in civilian and military use, but no evidence suggests that it was ever distributed in the form of candy. Just an FYI.
Be civil in the comments below, and have a wonderful Spring Festival! Heaven knows I’ll be busy with my dozens of family members…
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