章 683: 26
Chapter 26:
Yang stumbled around a corner and slumped, crying openly. At the moment, she wasn't worried about someone seeing her during her moment of vulnerability. Her reputation didn't matter. Hang her reputation! Ruby had made it clear, she wanted nothing to do with Yang. Ruby hates me! Those three words made it so that nothing else mattered in the slightest.
"There you are."
The words made her jump, and Yang whirled around, her tear-blurred gaze barely enabling her to make out the shape of Sasame as the shorter girl stood before her, tail swaying slowly behind her as she folded her arms behind her back, seeming to inspect Yang carefully.
It's her, thought Yang, her thoughts of shame and sorrow being replaced by a sense of rage. This was the girl Ruby considered her new sister. This was the girl that Ruby had chosen over her, the girl...that had replaced her.
The next second, Yang's vision was dyed red. She whirled on the shorter girl, her gauntlets unfolding, her entire body filling with the power of her rage, her hair beginning to shine.
Sasame's startled gasp reached Yang's ears, but she didn't notice or care. Instead, she slammed Ember Celica home into the girl's chest with all her might, the guns built into her gauntlet discharging with a crack...and the sound of ripping flesh, as the bolt tore through Sasame's torso and burst out the other side.
Now it was Yang's turn to gasp as she realized she hadn't felt the resistance that typically accompanied her attack meeting a person's Aura. Then it hit her. Sasame hadn't guarded herself with her Aura. She'd left herself completely vulnerable to attack and now...
Yang looked down to see her arm embedded past her wrist into Sasame's chest, smoke exiting from behind the girl. Yang's attack had blown a hole clean through her.
Sasame looked down at Yang's arm, then back up at her face.
"I...I..." Yang suddenly felt sick. Yet again, she'd allowed her anger to dictate her actions and lashed out. This time, she'd gone the extra distance and actually killed a person. Ruby would absolutely never forgive her now.
Then Sasame spoke. "Well…normally, I would say that was uncalled for...but I can understand you having a great deal of frustration that you need to work through." Her face became stern. "Still...your temper is clearly one of your weak points. You should have better control. If it had been anyone other than me, this would not have ended well."
"I...Huh?" Yang blinked, her grief and guilt disappearing in a fraction of a second, completely dispelled by Sasame's nonchalance. "What the...?"
Sasame beamed, and began to step backwards, pulling herself off Yang's fist with a wet, sucking noise. Yang expected her arm to be coated with blood and gore, with bone fragments lodged in Ember Celica's joints. But the limb was clean and pristine, as though she'd never used it, certainly not as though she'd just punched it clean through another person's torso. Then, before her eyes, the hole in Sasame's body closed up, flesh running and flowing like water to fill in the gap, skin reforming above it. Finally, Sasame's clothes repaired themselves as well, leaving her looking as though she'd never been touched.
"How-?" gasped Yang.
Sasame raised a hand. "It's an acquired skill," she said. "For a master of the Mumyo Kodama Ryu, that level of damage is nothing. Do you still feel the need to run out your anger a little more, Yang-san?"
"I...uh..." Yang had to admit that her anger had been pretty much snuffed out by what she'd just seen.
"I see," said Sasame. "Then perhaps we can talk a little now." She took a deep breath. "For starters, I owe you an apology for Ruby-chan's behavior."
"Huh?" Yang blinked and found herself staring. Of all the things she'd expected to hear from this girl, an apology had not been one of them.
Sasame sighed. "As one of the people responsible for her upbringing over the past six years, I feel that I should have done more to encourage her to reconcile with you. We advised her as much, every time the topic came up, but I'm afraid we did not press her as hard as we should have on the topic."
"Why?" asked Yang.
"When I first took Ruby-chan with me, I made a promise to her," said Sasame. "I promised her that we would never force her into anything she didn't want to do. We could advise, we could instruct, we can express disappointment over certain decisions, but we could not make her do anything, if she did not wish to do it herself."
"No! Not that!" said Yang. "Why would you push her to make up with me."
Sasame smiled warmly at Yang. "When Ruby-chan asked me to be her sister, I was overjoyed. I'd grown to love and cherish her dearly. However, it was never my desire to replace you. I always told her as much, at every opportunity. I am her sister, yes. But that does not change the fact that you are her sister as well."
"But I..." Yang looked away, thinking back on all the times she'd sided with their father, helped him to isolate Ruby from the world and block her off from her dreams, all with the intent of making her safe, but at the cost of making her miserable.
"You made mistakes," said Sasame, taking Yang's hand in hers. Yang retracted her gauntlets almost automatically as Sasame gently patted the back of her hand. "That's true. However, even if they were grave mistakes, you made them out of love for her."
"If I really loved her, I wouldn't have made those mistakes though," said Yang, looking down.
Sasame exhaled loudly. "No. If you understood her, you wouldn't have made those mistakes."
"I don't get it," said Yang.
Sasame giggled. "Yang-san, love is a wonderful, amazing thing. Love is wonderful, yes…but not infallible. Loving someone does not mean you truly understand them. Love can be informed by understanding, enhance and be enhanced by understanding...but it cannot replace understanding. You made mistakes, not out of a lack of love for Ruby-chan, but a lack of understanding for how deep her dreams and convictions ran.
"You convinced yourself that her desire to become a Huntress was a child's wish, born of fairy tales and adventure stories. You figured that she could be made to give up on it easily enough, that she'd move on and find something safer to do."
"Yeah..." said Yang, lowering her head.
"That was the source of your mistake," said Sasame. "Also, because of your lack of understanding, you failed to understand how such logic was hurting Ruby-chan, instead of helping her."
Yang sniffled. Suddenly, Sasame tugged her arm and pulled Yang into a tight, warm hug. Something warm and soft wrapped around her, seeming to encompass her entire body. Unable to contain herself anymore, Yang broke down crying as Sasame gently rubbed her back.
"It's all right," Sasame whispered softly, tilting her head up and planting a kiss on Yang's forehead.
"I don't know what to do," said Yang. "I know it was wrong. I want to be able to tell Ruby that. I want to apologize. I want to be able to hug her again, but...but she won't talk to me! She won't even look at me if she can help it. How do I get through to her?"
"That is the question," admitted Sasame. "Unfortunately, the answer is that you cannot get through to her alone. On some level, Ruby-chan has to be willing to accept you. Even if I hadn't made my promise to not force her to do anything she doesn't want to, I couldn't make her want to connect with you again."
"What do I do?" asked Yang. "What can I do?"
Sasame pulled back and that warm, soft feeling withdrew as well. "That's a tricky question to answer," she said. "My best advice would be, if Ruby-chan isn't willing to deal with you as her sister right now, then perhaps you should give up approaching her as one."
"Huh?" grunted Yang.
"Instead of always trying to connect with her as her sister, connect with her as a peer," said Sasame.
"What do you mean?" asked Yang.
"It's strange to think this, but you have a rare opportunity here," said Sasame. "After all, it's rare that a loving older sister, like yourself, gets the chance to attend school in the same year as your younger sister. Instead of worrying about your familial ties, build up the ties of those who are walking the same path in life at the same time."
"You mean...?"
Sasame nodded. "Approach her, not as her sister, but as a fellow Huntress-in-training. Engage with her in the subjects she loves. Help her train. Cheer her on during her sparring matches. It might even be to your benefit to challenge her to a match or two yourself."
"I...I'm not sure I could," said Yang.
"I didn't say it would be easy," chided Sasame. "If you want Ruby-chan to acknowledge you as a sister, the best way for you, right now, is to acknowledge her as an equal. Deal with her as a fellow student and I guarantee that you will make much more progress than you would have, if you simply kept trying to reconnect with her over your blood-relation."
Yang blinked, keeping silent for a moment. "That makes sense, I guess."
"That would be my advice for a start," said Sasame.
Yang looked down. "Thank you," she said softly. "You're doing so much to help me, even though I..."
"It's understandable for you to lash out," said Sasame. "For all that you are two years older than Ruby-chan, it's easy to forget that, actually, it's only two years. Ruby-chan told me how, back when your mother died, you stepped up and took care of her."
"Yeah," said Yang. "But then I went and pulled that stupid stunt."
Sasame gently brushed her fingers up and down Yang's arm, the contact comforting to Yang. "It wasn't stupid," said Sasame. "At the time, it was a perfectly logical course of action for you."
"For me to go out looking for my biological mother...looking up an old abandoned cabin on the other side of the island...and dragging my vulnerable little sister along for the ride?" asked Yang. "That's logical?"
"From a child's point of view, yes," said Sasame. "It was a childish decision, informed by childish logic. However, at the time, you were a child. Children do not perceive and understand the world in the same manner adults do. They can't process all the nuances of reality to the same extent a fully mature mind can. That kind of decision was the best you were capable of, absent any guidance from one more mature and experienced than you.
"To make matters worse, you were a child who had shouldered an adult's burden, the burden of caring for another child, one younger than you, and dependent on you. It's only natural that that dependence would be overwhelming to you, that you would turn and seek some way of alleviating it."
Sasame squeezed Yang's arm gently. "And, above all else, that mistake is in the past. You learned from it, grew from it, and gained wisdom because of it. It was not solely your responsibility, nor is Ruby-chan's wellbeing solely your responsibility anymore. If you truly want to win her back, then you should do so by helping her move forward."
Yang nodded slowly. "Okay." Then she smiled. "Actually, if things work out, I might have already gotten a start on it."
"Oh?" Sasame raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," said Yang. "The others were talking with me about how to reconnect with Ruby, and I came up with something. Maybe it'll help Ruby start to forgive me."
Ruby looked around as she followed her friends through Vale. Ren, Blake, and Nora were leading the way, while RASP followed in their wake. Ruby was still feeling numb and depressed from Sasame's clear reprimand and disapproval. Ruby had never seen her adopted big sister so angry with her. Part of her was angry back. After everything Yang had done, had helped their father do to her, didn't she have a right to be angry at Yang, to not forgive her right off the bat?
"We're here."
Ruby's simmering negative emotions dissipated at the sound of Ren's words, not so much because of what he'd said, but because of the familiar presence that brushed against her senses. Her eyes widened as she found herself looking at the patio section of a small diner. At this time of day, there weren't too many patrons. However, one of them caught her attention immediately.
There was no mistaking that lanky form, lounging in a chair, sitting back and sipping from a glass of some liquor, evidently poured from the bottle resting on the table in front of him. She knew that red cape, that disheveled brown hair, the faint stubble on his chin, and the massive sword that leaned against the side of his chair.
The man looked up from his drink, and his pale-red eyes met hers.
"UNCLE QROW!" exclaimed Ruby, practically vanishing, leaving a cloud of scattering petals in her wake as she dashed over the patio railing and rushed the man who had gotten out of his seat and spread his arms in anticipation of her approach.
Qrow rocked back, knocked down into his seat by Ruby's impact. Still, he hugged her tightly, chuckling as Ruby pressed her face into his shoulder. "Hey there, Kiddo," he said, leaning down and, in a move rather uncharacteristic of him, kissing the top of her head. "Missed ya."
"I can't believe you're here!" exclaimed Ruby.
"You can thank your sister for that," said Qrow, ruffling her hair.
Ruby's first thought was Sasame, but that didn't make sense. Sasame didn't have a scroll, and wouldn't have any other means of getting in touch with Qrow, unless she chanced on him. The only other "sister" who could have arranged this was... "Yang?"
"Yep," said Qrow. "Called me up and asked if I could come see you. I was on a job, but it's nothing I can't put off for the niece I haven't seen in the better part of six years."
"Yang asked you to come?" Ruby blinked, her eyes tearing over again. But I...but she...
Qrow sighed and rubbed his hand through her hair. "Yeah, Yang told me the two of you were on the outs with each other. That's part of why she called me. Take a seat. Let's have something to eat."
"But my friends-"
"Have already taken off," said Qrow, pointing behind her.
Ruby looked and, to her surprise, her friends had all gone.
"They're giving us a little time. You can hook up with them later," said Qrow. "Now have a seat, and let's get us some food. You can tell me about how things are going at Beacon."
"All right," said Ruby, shifting to the seat across from Qrow.
"Unbelievable!" huffed Weiss, stalking out of the Dust shop. "I can't believe the nerve of those fools!"
"What's the matter?" asked Pyrrha. She and Jaune had been browsing while Weiss bought the Dust she needed to supply her weapon. Myrtenaster, when Weiss used it fully, could go through Dust rather quickly. Fortunately, one of the advantages of being a Schnee was that she was able to obtain Dust from any shop that carried her family's product practically for free. The cost was credited to her family, with the company picking up the tab.
"The price has gone up again," said Weiss. "First, the main railway for Dust transport was destroyed. Now our freighters are getting hit too."
"Well, it's natural for the price to go up, if that sort of thing happens," said Jaune. "I wouldn't hold it against the shopkeepers."
"I wasn't!" protested Weiss. "I was talking about the White Fang."
"The White Fang?" Pyrrha frowned. "What about them?"
"They're the ones behind these attacks," growled Weiss. "They've had it out for my family's company for years now."
"Maybe if your company treated their faunus workers with an iota of respect, the White Fang wouldn't have an issue with them."
Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune, turned to see Blake, Ren, and Nora standing in the street, Nora having spotted something and dragged Ren off to see it, and Blake visiting the bookstore right next to the Dust shop. Blake had finished her own shopping and had been waiting near the entrance of the Dust shop for the rest of them.
Weiss' entire body tensed, her hands clenching in response to Blake's barb, her cheeks coloring a furious pink. "Even so..." she said, making Jaune and Pyrrha exchange surprised glances. As far as Weiss had come it was still amazing to hear her even remotely concede something when it came to someone disparaging her family's company. "...that doesn't change the fact that they aren't going to accomplish anything with violence. If anything, they're doing more harm to the people they claim to be fighting for than anything else."
Blake apparently had nothing to say to that, the tension in her lips as she pressed them together keeping her from making a biting remark. Instead, she closed her eyes and lowered her head in silent acknowledgment.
"I'll admit that having our railway and freighters being hit is cutting into company profits," continued Weiss, "but the ones really suffering from these attacks are shopkeepers like this one, who are forced to raise prices, which then drives off business."
"At least it's not as though they're losing out to competition," noted Ren, trying to find a way to work around this conversation that wouldn't lead to further confrontation between Blake and Weiss. "Pretty much every Dust shop in the city is going to be primarily stocking SDC Dust, so they're all going through the same price hike."
"There's a bit more nuance to it," said Weiss. "But you're not completely wrong." She sighed. "This is just frustrating to watch."
Pyrrha gently patted Weiss' shoulder. "Well, you've got your Dust anyway," she said. "There's nothing we can do for the time being, so let's find something else to do for now."
"Good idea," said Jaune, before rolling his eyes up thoughtfully. "I wonder how things are going for Ruby and her uncle right now."
"Sounds like a rough gig," said Qrow idly, sitting back and sipping another glass of liquor after their meal.
"It's not so bad," said Ruby. "Jaune's really improving."
"So you don't mind giving up your free time and off-periods to help the guy train up?" asked Qrow skeptically.
"Not really," said Ruby. "I wasn't sure what I'd do with my free time, if I didn't need to help Jaune. Besides, it's really helped bring the team together."
"Well, a team only is as good as its weakest member overall," mused Qrow. "So it's definitely not a bad thing that you're all working to improve Arc's skill."
Ruby nodded slowly. She'd been reluctant, at first, to divulge the truth of Jaune's circumstances to her uncle. However, there had been little option, seeing as much of her and her team's time at Beacon, right now, revolved around helping Jaune improve and reach a level of competence they were all right with. Once he'd learned about it, Qrow hadn't seemed overly surprised to find out there was someone who'd lied about his transcripts in Beacon.
"You don't mind?" asked Ruby.
"Not really," said Qrow with a chuckle. "Your Ice Queen friend is right about Oz. He knew about Arc's transcripts before even giving his stamp of approval. Oz can't be fooled that easily."
"But why?" asked Ruby. "He knew that Jaune wasn't remotely qualified for Beacon, why would he accept Jaune?"
"It's a bit tricky," said Qrow. "Even for as long as I've worked for and with him, I've come to accept that you can't understand what's going on in Oz's head one-hundred-percent of the time...or even more than fifty-percent. He's a guy who can play the long game-and, by long, I mean decades."
"What does that mean?" asked Ruby.
"Don't worry too much about it," said Qrow, reaching over to pat Ruby's arm. "Having said that, I know that Oz leaves the language of admissions open to interpretation, just in the event of things like this."
"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head slightly.
"There're people out there who have the potential to be first-rate Huntsmen," said Qrow. "But, through circumstances or whatever, they aren't eligible through what you might consider normal channels. They don't get to go through Combat School. Some of them can't even find training. Whatever the reason, if they've still got the drive to seriously try to be Huntsmen, Ozpin wants to have that loophole in place to give them a chance.
"Otherwise, there are other sorts of people, people who come from backgrounds that you might consider less than legitimate. Some of them want to turn their life around, and do good instead of living by taking advantage of others. That loophole's there for them too."
"Oh," said Ruby, her eyes going wide.
"Granted, it doesn't always turn out as well as it did for your boy," said Qrow with a sigh. "Damn kids always get worked up about attending such a big-name school they forget why they're there in the first place. They forget what's important, and get all hopped up about prestige and saving the school's face and whatever." He snorted. "Not every team winds up committing itself to helping an undertrained weakling, like your boy...and it doesn't always turn out well for them. But, for the sake of finding those hidden gems that might otherwise go unnoticed, Oz tries to give people like that a chance."
Ruby nodded, thinking back to Jaune and his incredible inborn Aura-level. In that respect, Jaune was truly a diamond in the rough. Ruby sometimes found herself musing that it was disappointing that Jaune had never received any real training before coming to Beacon, otherwise, he would have probably been a true ace that nearly everyone would be fighting to have on their team. Still, she saw that potential in him now.
"It's also that loophole that allowed for him to arrange bringing you here, now," said Qrow with a smirk, looking at Ruby. "A fifteen-year-old generally can't get in through regular admission, but now that you've made it through the Initiation, no one can contest your right to be here."
"Thanks," Ruby beamed.
"Still, to think you got so good so fast..." Qrow frowned contemplatively. "I gotta admit, it looks like these Mibu folks know their business."
"Um...Well...I don't think they were expecting this to happen to me this fast either," conceded Ruby. It didn't feel right to admit that her teachers had been both shocked and pleased by her, frankly, meteoric progress. Sometimes she wondered if she was advancing too quickly. She definitely felt she could spend more time refining techniques she'd already learned, before advancing on to new ones.
"It certainly is quite the bit of luck that you're attending at the same time as Yang," noted Qrow, finally bringing the conversation around full-circle.
"...Yeah..." Ruby looked down at the table, frowning darkly, a maelstrom of mixed emotions swirling through her at the thought of her sister.
"I told you before, Yang is the one who set this up," said Qrow with a sigh. "Could you at least consider talking to her?"
"I...I'm not sure I can," said Ruby. "What she did...it still hurts."
"Ruby, you're not the only one who was suffering in that house," said Qrow. "Yeah, looking back on it, letting you go with those people was the best choice, compared to what Tai was doing to you. But Yang went through a lot too."
"But she got to train! She got to go to Signal! She got to go to Beacon!" Ruby shot upright, glaring at Qrow. "Dad trained her, while he kept me at home. He was even gonna cut me off from my friends at school."
"Yeah, well..." Qrow sighed. "Yang once told me that you said that maybe Tai didn't care as much, if Yang went off and got herself killed as a Huntress."
Ruby winced at that.
"The problem is that that view may not be wide of the mark," finished Qrow with a dark frown.
"Wha-what?" gasped Ruby, horrified at the prospect. It was something she'd shouted in the heat of anger, a long time ago. To learn she might have been right...This was not something she'd wanted to be right about.
"Look, it's not that Tai hates Yang or anything," said Qrow. "Yang's mom, my sister, ran out on them when Yang was just a baby. I won't mince words. My sister is a selfish, self-serving bitch, plain and simple."
Ruby winced to hear Qrow speak of anyone, particularly Yang's mother, with such intense dislike, not to mention the profanity.
"We weren't given the best of upbringings," said Qrow. "We didn't exactly enter Beacon for the best reasons either. Oz knew plenty about that, even before we arrived, but he gave us a chance all the same. He gave us our team, Team Stark. We got Tai and Summer, two of the best teammates we could've asked for. We were close, like family. It wasn't all that big a surprise when Tai and Raven hooked up, even less of a surprise when Yang was on the way.
"I'd thought that, maybe, my sister and I could be something better than what we'd been born into. But I was wrong about her. As soon as Yang was born, she ran off, back to our old life, without a second thought. That scarred Tai deep. Fortunately, Summer was still there. She stepped in, becoming the mother Yang needed, the woman Tai fell in love with. Then, just two years later, there you were.
"Then Summer died, and Tai went into his slump. Then Yang took the two of you on that jaunt and he finally snapped out of it. The thing is, Ruby, you look like Summer, almost the spitting image of her. For Tai, the prospect of losing the last remnant of the woman he loved more than anything was too scary to handle.
"But Yang...for all that her hair's a different color, she takes after her mother something fierce. She doesn't have Raven's worst points, that's for sure. But the resemblance is strong enough that I can imagine it sticking in Tai's mind. Because of that, he isn't as attached to her as he is you."
Ruby swallowed, the implications of her harsh remark six years ago hitting home hard.
"And the worst of it is that, however much Yang wanted to help you, Tai wouldn't let her," continued Qrow. "That incident, Yang taking you out into the woods and nearly getting both of you killed, it became the thing Tai would always come back to, always remind her of, the time Yang nearly got you killed. For all these years, he's been guilting her with that, holding it over her head, using it to force her to take his side."
I never even thought of that, thought Ruby. She'd known that Yang had felt guilty about that, that the guilt had been a driving force for Yang always taking their father's side. But it had never occurred to her that her father was deliberately making Yang feel even guiltier, in order to force her to go along with him.
"Kinda puts a different spin on things, don't it?" asked Qrow idly. "Besides that, notice something interesting about what's happened at Beacon...or what hasn't happened?"
"Uh..." Ruby blinked, trying to figure out what her uncle was getting at.
"Like, maybe, even though you're here, and Yang knows it, a certain person still hasn't shown up?" prodded Qrow.
"Oh!" gasped Ruby.
"That's right," said Qrow. "You've been here all this time, but Yang hasn't told Tai yet. I can tell you his attitude probably hasn't changed all that much, despite not having seen you for six years. If he hears that you're here, he'd rush over at the first opportunity for sure. That Yang hasn't told him yet certainly is a good sign, don't you think."
Ruby's face fell and she stared down at the table, unsure of what to say.
"Look, I'm not saying that you instantly have to let bygones be bygones," said Qrow. "But do you think you could talk to her a little, maybe give her a little bit of a chance?"
"I...I'll try," said Ruby, sniffling.
"That's all I can ask at this point," said Qrow. "It ain't gonna be easy, but, for both your sakes, I think you owe it to your sister to give her a chance."
"I...I..." Ruby closed her eyes, once again feeling that bitter sensation well up within her at the thought of Yang. At this point, it was as much a reflex as anything else, and one that, Ruby realized, had been running her life for a while now. She couldn't let that bitterness control her anymore than she could her fear. She had to do this, not just for Yang's sake, but for her own as well. "All right," she said finally.
Qrow sighed and smiled. Reaching across the table, he fondly ruffled Ruby's hair. "Good to hear, kiddo. Now then, I've still got a little while before I have to scram, so tell me what you've been up to these past six years..."
"Scared?" asked Sasame, as she and Yang waited at the docks for the airship that would be carrying Ruby and the others back from Vale.
"Witless," admitted Yang ruefully, checking her scroll again. She'd only just received a notification from Blake that everyone was on their way back. Apparently, after wandering town for a while, the group had gone back to the cafe to pick up Ruby as she bade farewell to Qrow.
For her part, Yang had spent the afternoon with Sasame, talking and listening. Yang wasn't sure what she'd envisioned, when she'd learned that Ruby had picked up an adopted sister. But she certainly hadn't been expecting someone like this. Sasame was caring, nurturing, and loving. Yet she also had the capacity to be strict. What had truly amazed Yang was the way that Sasame had accepted Yang's anger and frustration. More amazing still was Sasame's commitment to helping Yang reconcile with Ruby.
"It's not in my nature to leave such suffering untended," said Sasame, when asked. "More to the point, healing wounds like this will help both you and Ruby-chan grow as people. The real trial will be whether or not such bridges can be mended with your father."
"Yeah...that'll take some doing," said Yang, frowning. "More because he'd have to give up on trying to lock Ruby in the house. I don't know if he'll actually see her any differently, despite Ruby having been gone all these years."
"One can only hope," said Sasame. "It all comes down to how much your father is ruled by his previous trauma. Both you and Ruby-chan have grown from it. If that is possible for you, then it should be for him as well."
"I won't rule anything out," said Yang. "But I won't get my hopes up there, either."
"We'll see," said Sasame. She smiled as she watched the airship descend towards the landing pad.
The doors opened and the students riding within filed off, including Ruby and her friends. Ruby spotted Yang and Sasame immediately and walked towards them. Normally, her first reflex was to throw herself at Sasame and hug her. However, seeing Sasame standing next to Yang slowed Ruby up and made her stiffen nervously. Ruby hesitated for a long set of seconds, hemming and hawing. Finally, it was Jaune who urged her forward with a gentle press of his hand against the small of her back.
"You can do it," he said with an encouraging smile.
Ruby looked back at him, and then smiled back, before turning and walking the rest of the way towards them.
"Uh...Sasame-nee..." Ruby looked at Sasame first, tapping her index fingers together nervously.
"Not me," said Sasame with a crooked smile. "You know who you need to talk to first."
"A-all right," said Ruby, finally forcing her gaze to Yang, who looked just as nervous as Ruby herself felt. For a second, the two of them stared at each other awkwardly, neither able to find the words that they wanted to say.
Finally, Ruby took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Let's talk," she said firmly, walking past Yang and towards a more private spot, Yang quickly falling into step beside her.
Sasame watched them go, a neutral look on her face as she rested her fists on her hips.
"You're not going with them?" asked Jaune, coming to stand next to her.
Sasame smiled ruefully and shook her head. "No. It's best if they can manage to make amends without me having to look over their shoulders and mediate."
"That sounds about right," said Jaune. "Hopefully, things go better for them than it went for my dad."
"So Ruby-chan isn't the only one with family troubles, hmmm..." Sasame stared up at Jaune contemplatively. "It would seem the similarities are quite close."
"Y-yeah," admitted Jaune. "I'm not near as ready to make up with them, not when they don't even want to listen to the words that come out of my mouth."
"Well, you'll have to cross that bridge when you come to it," said Sasame. "But you'll have your friends by your side. Just remember that your family can always be supplemented...but never replaced. You owe it, both to them and yourself, to give them every chance to come around and make peace. If they do not take those chances, well..." She shrugged in resignation.
"All right," said Jaune.
"Now then...in the meantime, we should occupy ourselves while we wait for Ruby-chan and Yang-san," said Sasame. She turned to regard Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss. "So...why don't you show me what Ruby-chan has taught you thus far..."
"Here should be good," said Ruby, sitting on a bench that was facing outwards, allowing them to look over the edge of the cliff and out over the green expanse of the Emerald Forest.
Yang looked around. Ruby had chosen a far corner of Beacon's campus, relatively isolated from the rest of it. As far as places for them to hash out their differences went, it was probably a good choice. Whatever this conversation entailed, Yang wouldn't be surprised if voices were raised at some point.
Ruby sat down at one end of the bench, Yang at the other. Yang's first impulse was to scoot closer, but she knew that Ruby wouldn't like that. "So-"
"I'm sorry!" Ruby blurted, cutting Yang off. Her eyes were still focused outwards, almost as though she was afraid to look at Yang. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. That was cruel of me."
"Did you mean it, though?" asked Yang, watching Ruby closely, her stomach churning.
"Yes..." Yang gasped softly. "...No...I'm not sure." Ruby stared down at her knees. "I...I was happy...with just Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii. I loved them and they loved me."
"I love you," said Yang firmly.
"I...I know," said Ruby, her fingers bunching up the fabric of her skirt. "I didn't used to think that way. But Sasame-nee and Sora-sama...they kept telling me that-"
"Love is wonderful, but not infallible," said Yang, catching where Ruby was going. Seeing Ruby's eyes widen as she looked up at Yang in confusion, Yang couldn't help but giggle. "Sasame told me that earlier." She sighed. "I gotta admit...I had her completely wrong. She's amazing. I can see why you love her so much." Yang's expression became downcast and, now, she was the one staring at her knees. "With such an awesome big sister like her, no wonder you didn't want to bother making up with me."
That made Ruby cough out a halfhearted laugh. "I know..." she said, averting her eyes as well. "...But I guess part of that is why she was pushing for this, because she really wants what's best for me."
That made Yang flinch. "But that's what Dad and I wanted for you too," she protested.
"No!" exclaimed Ruby, turning her head sharply to glare at Yang, the force in that glance making Yang quail. "You only thought you wanted what was best for me. You didn't understand! Isn't that what Sasame-nee told you too?"
Yang gulped and nodded wordlessly.
"Kyo-nii and Sasame-nee wanted what was best for me," said Ruby. "They took the time to understand me, to understand what I needed, what would make me better for my own sake. You and Dad only wanted what was best for yourselves."
"That's not true!" protested Yang.
"Yes it is!" snarled Ruby. "You got all worried and scared whenever I was out of sight for more than a few hours, whether it was at school or over at a friend's house. That's why you and Dad, especially Dad, couldn't leave me alone, unless you knew I was home. It wasn't for my sake, it was so you two could feel better about yourselves. Dad was worse, but you were like that too. Even though you were the one who dragged me out into the woods in that wagon, I was the one really punished."
"That's not true!" Yang exclaimed. "Dad grounded me for months!"
"AND HE GROUNDED ME FOR LIFE!" yelled Ruby at the top of her lungs, angry tears leaking from her eyes, making her cheeks glisten. "I didn't do anything! But I was the one who got denied the future she wanted, while you got to go on and do exactly what you wanted in life. You'd go to Signal, then Beacon, then become a Huntress, all happy and guilt-free because you knew that, no matter what, I'd be safe at home...where I could be 'protected'!" Ruby spat out that last word like it was a curse.
"I wasn't guilt-free," said Yang. "I'll never forget what I did, what almost happened. I was a complete idiot! I had to make up for putting you in danger!"
"By locking me away from my own life?" asked Ruby. "...Just to make yourself feel better?"
"IT WAS MY FAULT!" screamed Yang, tears of her own leaking out. "I was the idiot who dragged you out into the forest and nearly got us both killed by Grimm! I couldn't live with myself if I let something like that happen to you again. I had to make sure you were safe."
"But you didn't care if I was happy," grumbled Ruby. "I could be as miserable as I liked, and it wouldn't matter, so long as I was safe."
Yang sniffed and looked away again, unable to say anything more.
"I never resented you for that," said Ruby, "for taking me out there."
"B-but you said-" Yang began.
"I resented that you got off light, compared to me, even though I didn't actually do anything except what you told me to do!" snapped Ruby, glaring at Yang. "But I never hated you for taking me out there in the first place. Yeah, it was a stupid idea, thinking that you could find your mom, and she would come back and replace my mom, and then we'd all be one big, happy family again. But I knew, even then, that was how you were trying to cope. Dad was just gonna keep acting like a drunken moron, and forget we existed, because he was too torn up about Mom dying to think about us. I was barely old enough to have any idea what was going on. You were only two years older than me, and trying to do your best, and it was all so much. Looking back on it, I'm not surprised that was the conclusion you came to.
"Back then, you and Mom were my heroes, Yang. Mom was the super-awesome Huntress I wanted to be, and you were the ultra-cool big sis. When Mom died and you stepped in like you did, that made me admire you even more."
Ruby choked back a sob. "But then...after what you did finally got Dad off his ass and back to paying attention to us, it was like you didn't care about that. You just washed your hands and went along with whatever Dad wanted."
Yang sniffed, then sobbed. She broke down, sobbing over her legs. "You're right," she admitted finally. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Ruby! I was a complete idiot!"
A slightly smaller hand covered Yang's own and she looked up, shocked that Ruby had actually come closer and was now willingly touching her. "I know..." she said. "I...I talked to Uncle Qrow, and he told me what Dad was doing to you. I never even thought about it like that."
"Can we ever go back to the way things were between us?" asked Yang hopefully.
"I don't think so," said Ruby. "I...I'd given up on seeing you as my hero a long time ago."
Yang almost jerked away from Ruby entirely with that admission. But Ruby's hand tightened its grip on her own, keeping Yang in place.
"But..." continued Ruby, "...I think I could see you as my friend, my fellow student. I think I could handle having a sister like that."
Yang choked out a laugh. "That's what Sasame suggested too," she said.
Ruby laughed ruefully. "It's scary how good she is at reading people, isn't it?"
"Yeah," agreed Yang. "But it sure worked for us, doesn't it?"
"I guess so," said Ruby. Abruptly, she leaned against Yang, resting her head on Yang's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Yang. I'm sorry for all those hurtful things I said. I'm sorry for blocking you out and ignoring you. It's going to be tough and...I still have a lot of reflexive feelings to curb, but I hope you'll be patient while I get over them."
"I'm sorry too," said Yang. "I'm sorry that the first thing I did when I saw you again was start treating you like a child, like no time had passed at all. I hadn't seen you for years. Dad and I had all but given you up for dead, and now I know Uncle Qrow covered for you. The first thing that came to mind for me was making things go back to the way they were."
"I know," said Ruby. "But we can't go back. We can't change what's been done."
"So...I guess the only thing we can do is keep moving forward," said Yang softly.
"Yep," said Ruby.
Yang raised her arm and wrapped it around Ruby's shoulders. A second later, the two of them were embracing tightly, resting their heads against each other's shoulders, their tears dampening the fabric of their outfits.
"I love you, Ruby," Yang whispered.
"I love you too, Yang," said Ruby. "I'm sorry for ever saying I didn't."
"I'm just glad to know you don't hate me anymore," said Yang, her voice heavy with relief.
"I'm not sure I ever did," admitted Ruby. "I was just so bitter and angry...I took it out on you."
"It's okay. I know what that's like." Yang was silent for a long moment. Then she spoke again. "I guess I owe Jaune an apology for how I treated him."
"...What?"
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