Chương 1783: 14
Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_JolyneChapter 14
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Signal was… nice. It was nice actually getting to attend the same combat school that Yang did- to attend the school her sister had spent so long complaining about because being in class and not at home meant that she wasn't there to keep an eye on Ruby. Well. Now Ruby was actually at Signal where Yang could keep an eye on her and… it was… kinda boring, honestly. Not the bad kind of boring, but… it was somehow more and less than she'd thought it'd be.
Her schedule was… special. Ruby didn't really have any combat training classes because she could already fight at a level more akin to Uncle Qrow than the fourth years that she was placed with, so she mostly spent that time hanging out in Yang's combat class- because the sixth years were stronger, faster, better , and Ruby often found herself struggling to keep up with the moves and flourishes- well, as long as she wasn't using Crescent Rose or Augury and was using one of her auxiliary weapons, like that set of Dust imbued throwing knives she'd collectively called Hattori , or the paired revolver daggers named Morpho Wings. Or some of the other smaller weapons.
… Or anything smaller than a nearly hundred pound mass of sharpened steel and mechashift components shaped like a farming tool, really. Ruby always felt so much more clumsy with a smaller weapon, so much less… coordinated. Though, that wasn't to say she was bad - it just meant that she was better with her huge scythes instead of some dinky lil sword that'd probably break if she had to try and cleave through the bone plate of anything bigger or stronger than a Creep or a smaller Ursa.
That wasn't to say that swords were bad of course! All weapons were special and cool in their own ways, and they worked so well as an extension of their users' personalities and ideals that it was genuinely easier for Ruby to tell what a person was like just through her empathy senses and looking at their weapons than it was for her to just… walk up to them and start talking.
She was still having trouble with that part, honestly, even with Yang trying to coach her on social interaction whenever they were together at school. Which… considering how many things she'd tested out of (weaponsmithing, weapon maintenance, Dust infusion basics, armed combat, unarmed combat, geography, a few others) was actually quite a lot of the school day come to think of it.
With so much free time and having tested out of so many subjects (because Uncle Qrow was somehow a really good teacher when he wasn't scraping by on a standardized curriculum) Ruby was allowed to sit in on Yang's classes, to which her older sister responded by basically trapping Ruby in her lap at all times and not letting go unless it was absolutely important.
She was pretty lost about the material sometimes, but that was fine- she'd have plenty of time to read ahead, right? It wasn't like Ruby was being graded on sitting in on Yang's classes, and the rest of the classes she was actually taking were fine…ish…?
Honestly, she was pretty average in most, which she was pretty thankful for since she already stood out enough by looking like a rare double-trait faunus with really wonky eyes. Ruby was pretty proud to say that she was doing about as good of an impression of a normal girl with normal knees as she could… except for maybe in modern literature, where Ruby knew she was… well…. Cinder always did say that Cs got degrees or something, so… eh???
Ruby figured it was fine to put her efforts into stuff she could actually use and care about as a Huntress instead of worrying about why the curtains were blue.
She understood why it was necessary because the teachers at Signal were teaching critical thinking and analysis skills but… gods, couldn't they have chosen less boring books? Ugh. Whatever.
Really, if Ruby actually had to judge the worst part of being at Signal was, it was probably modern literature classes under Professor Evergreen. The other worst part was that the school itself was more or less halfway across the entirety of Patch from the Rose/Xiao Long/Branwen home, sitting right near the coastline of the island while their house was further in- deep in the woods to the point that anyone who wanted to visit would have to drive a couple miles through the long and winding roads.
There was a reason why Dad's grocery trips always took several hours. Ruby often wondered why they lived so far from everyone else on Patch, but she had to admit that it was, at least, good for keeping her true nature a secret.
Fortunately, Yang had Bumblebee- her beloved flame patterned motorcycle that she'd been working on ever since she was fourteen and that also had enough room on it for two people plus their school bags. Unfortunately, it also meant she was beholden to Yang to actually provide said rides to school whenever the need arose.
Though, to be fair, it wasn't like Ruby had to ask . Yang was almost too enthusiastic about making sure that Ruby got to ride with her, honestly- probably because of the same reasons why she always seemed happier when Ruby was visibly nearby. Yang always did have a protective streak, and Ruby… well. Ruby wouldn't begrudge her that.
It was still annoying having to drive halfway across the island just to get to school, then do it again to get home, then get up in the morning and do it all over again. Those roads were bumpy! Especially when they got past the main settlement on Patch and the roads stopped being paved entirely! Ugh. The amount of mud too… truly, winter and spring were the worst times to drive on Patch.
She'd run to school, but… eh. People didn't like getting hit by her wake, nor being buried in rose petals, so she tried not to use it too much unless it was necessary. So… whatever.
Ruby sighed, nuzzling against Yang's side a little deeper as she idly chewed a few handfuls of jerky from her packed lunch- entirely forgoing the cafeteria offerings because they were… not amazing and didn't have enough protein for her. They sat together there in Signal's open courtyard, simply enjoying the afternoon breeze and the sun.
It was nice, Ruby decided, being able to stick closer to her sister now that she was attending Signal. Just… sitting with Yang, feeling her presence and warmth and soul pulsating gently as she ate her lunch and conversed with some of her friends. The way that Yang had her arm wrapped protectively around Ruby's shoulders, the way that they sat just so for maximum contact, the way that Ruby could feel small and vulnerable and childish in the way she trusted Yang to keep her safe.
"Hey Rubes, y'mind looking this over for me? Been trying to workshop a mantra but the words ain't flowing right. The standard mantra is fine but… I dunno, it ain't clicking," Yang murmured idly once she'd made a few excuses to her friends and the group of them left at once to go… probably off campus or something? The end result was that she and Ruby were left alone, at least.
"Hmm? What's up?"
After a moment's breath, Yang passed over her notebook to her sister and flipped it open to the most recent page where there were several crossed out drafts of her spiritual mantra sitting amidst scrawled notes of math and Dust mechanics and map reading and survival skills and such. "You're a lot more in tune with your Aura than I am, I think. What do you think I should do with my mantra?"
"Yang, you know I can't help with that… It's your mantra, and even if the standard one doesn't click right it's not like you gotta use it all the time," Ruby huffed, sidling into Yang's lap without a care in the world as she took in the assorted drafts and pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at the text and looking back between the page and her sister. "... Also a lot of these sound like someone else's mantras. What's all this stuff about… free spirits and partying?"
"I uhhhhhh… Yeah don't look at those ones. Those are old and dumb and terrible and totally not mine," Yang shook her head, blushing a little and taking the notebook back after a few seconds, grumbling as she read over the drafts and flipped to a new page. "I mean, I know mantras are supposed to be about me- to show what I'm all about, but… how am I supposed to write mine? Do I just… feel it? Or something? Professor Blitz made it sound so easy when he talked about writing them out."
"That's what I did? I think? I dunno, Uncle Qrow covered mantra reading like four or five years ago and I don't remember it cuz I just scribbled something down when I was ten and then memorized it later," Ruby shrugged, curling up a little more in Yang's lap as the much taller and more muscular blond started writing again, sticking out her tongue as she tried to get a read on her own mindset. "Just… think of what makes you wanna keep going, I guess? I mean, mine was pretty simple."
Yang blinked, then turned to Ruby.
"Ugh, if it's so easy then what even is your mantra anyway? And why'd Uncle Qrow cover it early?" she asked, slightly peeved about being behind Ruby when it came to her mantra- not that it was a big deal, but she was the big sister dammit! She was supposed to be teaching her sister about cool shit!
"Dunno? Guess it was in case I needed to help someone who broke their leg in the woods or something?" Ruby shrugged again, her cloak billowing in a sudden breeze before she turned to Yang with a slightly more serious look in her eyes. "Do you… wanna hear it? I spent a little while refining it so it's probably about as good as it's getting."
Yang hummed, bobbing her head back and forth for a moment.
"... Yeah sure, lay it on me baby sis."
"Not a baby, but- here goes…" Ruby grumbled, taking a deep breath before speaking out the words that made her soul sing .
"Through violence and war are we made heroes. Paragons of combat and freedom clashing against ourselves, each other, and the darkness beyond; made immortal through our actions and legends. In this fleeting life, I release your soul- and by my shadowed heart, raise thee high."
!
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