"Our next combatants will be… Ruby and Russet Rose!" Mr. Burnside said suddenly, hurried muttering whispers erupting from the crowd at the proclamation. The room Signal did combat training in was quite different from the one I remembered on the show inside Beacon, instead of a large stadium the school really only had room for a sort of elevated stage. It served it's purpose well enough though and as I made my way over to the boys locker room I couldn't help but spy an excitedly bouncing Ruby making her way to the girls locker room.
In the locker room my thoughts began to drift as I ensured all my armor and weapons were prepared correctly.
I couldn't be more happy for her really, when I first arrived I had always known intellectually that Ruby wanted to be a Huntress more than anything else. Yet it was only after living with her for more than nine years that I actually started to understand just how much this dream meant to her. It was something she desired from the bottom of her heart, and the fact that for a good long while now, she… wasn't all that great at it. Despite the sheer amount of effort she put into her training.
I could see it was breaking her heart. I tried my best to help her along, and there had definitely been some progress…
Well, even only a few days of watching her practice with a scythe showed me just how much natural talent she had hidden if given the right resources.
Tightening the last strap on my segmented breastplate as I headed out of the locker room and out to the arena, Ruby already excitedly waiting there for me. My face curled up into a grin as I saw her but my attention was immediately stolen away by the dour voice of Mr. Burnside.
"Both of you remember the rules?" The surly man asked, ignoring my nod of assent, his eyes drifted towards Ruby and her training scythe. Honestly, I was actually a little surprised Signal even had a training scythe that she could use and that we didn't have to borrow one from home.
"Miss Rose, trying out yet another weapon I see? At the very least I can commend you on your determination." Burnside said, making a frown form on my face, especially since I could see Ruby's enthusiasm dampen somewhat at his words.
Words spilled from my mouth, annoyance and a bit of anger leaking into my tone.
"At least she's determined to do something important with her life." I said with a mild glare towards the man, one that he returned yet left without adding any sort of return remark about my words. The man never continued his tirade once someone bothered to call him out on it, and I honestly just chalked that up to cowardice. I don't know why he never bothered to get more of the staff involved in these little disputes. But it's definitely not because he thinks Dad would have gotten involved, everyone knows he hasn't been aware enough to do much of anything beyond busy work for the past couple of years. The fact that he's been doing better recently wasn't going to be enough to change the reputation he's built.
My eyes snapped back towards my opponent, my sister giving me a small thankful smile before her face set into one of determination. An unspoken agreement was understood between the two of us in that brief moment before the spar began, no mercy, no holding back. Ruby wanted to test herself now that she had finally found her niche, and she would not accept anything less than my best.
The electronic countdown sounded off in the distance, its voice muted as my focus lasered in on my sister. There were many variables in a fight in Remnant. Especially one that was between people who had their Aura awakened. Thanks to the outward expression of one's soul, it afforded combatants far more options at any given moment: the enhancement of one's physique, reflexes, and the wildcard that is the addition of a Semblance if discovered.
But to put it in far more simple terms, the hellish pace a clash between two aura users could occur at was exhilarating in a way I had difficulty putting words to. My muscles tensed, knowing that Ruby's favorite starting tactic was always a quick first strike no matter the weapon, a tactic she quickly adopted after she unlocked her own Semblance.
Warmth coated my body as I readied my Aura just in time for Ruby to do exactly as I expected, dashing forward with impossible speed to land a bone-shuddering strike with the blunted metal of her practice scythe; the tell-tale sign of the use of her Semblance scattering around us in a whimsical wave of fluttering petals that I couldn't afford to be distracted by.
I grit my teeth, having blocked her with the bearded part of my axe, and with a surge of strength, I broke the lock by pushing her weapon into the air and following it up with a kick aimed at her stomach. She dodged, a quick burst of her Semblance bringing her to my right where she whirled and swung her scythe around her body like a hoop, coming right back around to try and cleave me in half as it picked up speed.
A brief flick of my hand sends a surge of red, crystalline petals swirling in a tight circular pattern over my shoulder and crashing against the head of her weapon, the razor-sharp Aura fragments drilling a notable grove into the metal from their speed. One of the many little tricks I had found to increase the effective power behind my swarm, arguably the strongest aspect of my multi-purpose Semblance and the aspect that I'm best with.
The force behind them managed to force her weapon down onto the floor. Taking the opportunity for what it's worth, I dropped my axe in a downward swing onto her as hard as I could, she tried to dodge but still took a nasty slash against her side with a violent red flair of her Aura as she backpedaled in panic, I took no mercy on the poor budding huntress and stomped forward to deal another heavy axe strike just as she dashed behind me in a flurry of rose petals with no hesitation.
It was at this point, my sister took no chances with head on clashes with me and leaned on her absurd speed far harder than she ought to. With every deflection I made with my weapon against her own, she left petals behind as she sped around me. Soon, the air was thick with her flitting red petals that swayed and twirled as Ruby tried her level best to rain slashes on me to keep the pressure up.
She was actually doing way better than she ever had with any of the weapons she tried before. The improvement she had in such a short span of time with our Uncle was unreal. Despite my own rising pride in her showing in front of the class, I almost couldn't believe it. All the awkwardness that came with using a sword or any other weapon simply wasn't there.
Almost like she was simply meant to use a scythe. Even if I was exceedingly happy for her, that didn't necessarily mean I'd just let her win. Her speed was shoring up a lot of her shortcomings, and if I could just get her off balance…
With a sense of practiced precision, along with a healthy amount of adrenaline surging down my spine, I quickly spun and knocked Ruby's newly minted weapon away with the flat of my axehead just before she managed to land her heavy-handed swing. The sudden disruption to her momentum caused her to wheel back in a stumble, trying vainly to catch her breath with heavy inhales. I quickly assessed her with a glance, she didn't have much left to give energy-wise with the constant reliance on her Semblance. Which, while not nearly as much of an Aura drain as my own, she still shouldn't have overused hers to such an extent in this simple match.
Even so, the one thing that was plain as day was the grin that split her cheeks wide as she huffed. My own lips parted upward at her remarkable progress, it was something she could work on later but for now…
Crystalline petals swirled to Ruby's side, weaving their way through her own flowery remnants, piling on each other until it half resembled the vague outline of a body. The reaper's eyes widened and her body shifted as she attempted to face the threat, and thus was left flat-footed when the teleport clone collapsed prematurely and I used my bearded axe to pull one of her legs from under her.
She went down, hitting the floor with a gasp and a small yelp. I made sure to press the axe's blunted edge against her neck so she wouldn't get any funny ideas. If there was one thing Ruby liked doing then it was being a little cheater during our spars, little bloody minx.
A second of silence passed in the classroom before excited murmuring broke out and old Burnside seemed to break out of the stunned gobsmacked gaze he was in.
"Winner… Russet Rose!" He shouted out, and once he did I pulled the axe back to give Ruby a hand up. The girl looked to be a strange mixture of happy and upset, something she made sure I thoroughly understood as she gave me the cutest puppy glare.
"You and your stupid teleportation thingy! That was a mean trick Russet!" She said, and I chuckled at her futilely adorable efforts.
"Maybe, but I remember the last time I went 'easy' on you. I think I'd rather keep my shampoo dye-free, thank you very much." All I needed were a set of violet contacts and I would have looked like a miniature Yang, a fact that caused said older sister to relentlessly plead with me to keep that horrid dye job.
I did not.
Not that it stopped her from gifting me a set of purple contact lenses with a bottle of blonde hair dye for my next birthday. I kept those in reserve in the back of my side of the closet, just some break-in-case-of-emergency prank supplies I wanted to keep on hand in case one of my sisters decided they thought they could beat me in a prank war.
A harsh coughing sound echoed from behind us and the both of us turned to see Old Burnside trying to gather our attention. His face was partially locked into that of surprise, but more subtly there was a gleam of pride in his eyes as he looked at Ruby. It was… surprising to me when I finally noticed, considering the length of time the old geezer had given poor Ruby shit about her combat skills it had almost shocked me to see something like acknowledgment in the man.
"It's nice to see that you do in fact have some talent hidden within you Miss Rose, though I do find it odd to see such a sudden and dramatic shift in your improvement. Tell me, have you been finally taking up extra lessons outside the classroom like I suggested?"
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If I had gained any sliver of respect for the man in that short period where he finally acknowledged Ruby, then it was almost immediately ripped away with those words. Ruby's eyes tightened slightly at his proclamation, at the very implication that her talent was in any way because of his 'suggestion' rather than her own efforts to improve.
I couldn't hold in the urge to speak up, "Don't worry, she had far better training at home than she does anywhere else."
The man looked at you with a cold glare, "You did well yourself Russet, managing to balance powerful strikes without wasting too much movement or energy is a difficult thing. But as usual, you are a natural at doing so."
Before you could speak his eyes snapped to Ruby, and ignoring her frightened jump he began to speak.
"Miss Rose, Your movements, while still rough in many areas, can offer a stiff challenge for those unused to high-speed combat, not to mention you finally used your Semblance in a way that with some more practice and training could be used to thoroughly unbalance an aggressive opponent. Sometimes the best offense is an exceedingly better offense, nonetheless, you must be prepared for the moment when you face an opponent capable of reacting to your Semblance. Most Grimm you fight will be unable to do this, but Huntsmen do not only fight Grimm…"
Old Burnside trailed off, and once he did I tried to think of some kind of retort to defend Ruby. Except while he was clearly being insulting about it he was still giving her advice, good advice as much as I could tell, too. There wasn't anything I could really say and Ruby seemed to agree since she just nodded in awkward silence, a moment passed between the three of us where Old Burnside almost seemed to be waiting for someone to say something. No one did and eventually, the man snorted and waved us back down to the bleachers, where the stunned crowd was still animatedly whispering among each other.
At the very least some people knew to admire my sister's talent.
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Watching my classmate's sloppy, half-hearted-looking chops with his own axe made me hurt deep on the inside. What made me angry, however, as it always did, was Old Burnside's response to Perri's quite frankly lackluster motivation in the fight against Lilac. I would swear to the Brothers up above that I saw him walking at some point during the fight, walking!
What did Burnside have to say to all of this?
"Adequate match Mister Docks, Miss Fury. However Mister Docks, I'd advise you to start investing more effort and energy into this class. You might find yourself receiving some failing grades otherwise."
The man just threatened some bad grades at the guy. While I personally knew that Perri wasn't even the slightest bit interested in a combat career, that wasn't really common information that Burnside would have found out. Sure, the man was trying to get the guy motivated but I couldn't help but notice the contrast to the amount of effort the man went through to degrade Ruby or praise me for the half-hearted words he gave to the kids without Huntsmen in the family.
It irked me something rather fierce but since he was faculty there wasn't really much I could do but support Ruby. Not even having my own dad as a part of the faculty really gave me another avenue to work with.
Unfortunately, the class passed in almost this exact manner for the next thirty or so minutes, a frustrating mix between abject boredom and showcasing proficiency far exceeding our own as Burnside attempted to unenthusiastically demonstrate the finer points of combat. The ringing of the bell was a soothing balm to my soul, allowing Ruby and I to jump from our seats and try to escape from this hell dimension as soon as we could.
Alas, foul forces impeded our escape in the form of Old Burnside calling out for Ruby to stay behind.
I gave her a small smile to reassure her, "Don't worry Rubes, I'll be just outside waiting for you."
She gave me a tired-looking smile as she walked back into the classroom, and in the meantime, I hooked up my music to pass the time. The music in Remnant was odd to me, some of it I could liken to old earth music that I sometimes barely remembered. Other times however it was so different from anything I had ever heard before that I wasn't even sure whether I liked it or not. A good example was what I was listening to right now, a genre called 'Huntswave' which was a bit like synthwave but more geared towards action if that made any sense.
I wasn't sure I liked it, unfortunately trying out new genres was a now regular occurrence because Remnant, the primitive society that it was, hadn't yet developed some kind of automatic music selection program like YouTube or Apple music. I sighed and shook my head as such thoughts blundered about in my mind, the woes of a man in a world without a properly cultivated internet culture.
Thankfully Ruby took that moment of nostalgic remembrance to burst out from the classroom, a small frown on her face. I quickly revised my opinion of the situation though when she grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the classroom at… considerable speeds.
"Uh, Rubes? You okay? Did that asshole say something?" I asked, the worry clear in my tone as Ruby huffed and continued to pull me along.
"Yes- No…" The words quickly slipped from her mouth without her thinking and she stopped, taking a breath, then turned back to face me. I could see the anger on her face flash over her features, her eyes glaring at me before immediately softening in regret.
"He… said I had to be failing on purpose, on purpose!" She exhaled sharply, her eyes locked on my own, "That no good, piece of… piece of-" She cut herself off, even while so furious, it was remarkable she deliberately withheld from swearing.
I know I wouldn't have, the guy was an asshole to the core. Already a certain list of words were filling my mind alongside the bubbling feeling of anger and hatred for the man, but Ruby wasn't all that crass of a person.
Instead of continuing on, she just closed her eyes. She shifted to the side and let her body weight fall on the line of lockers behind us that ubiquitously covered the walls in most of the hallways. The crestfallen girl let herself slowly slide down to the floor and she started sniffling, hugging the red cloak left to her by our mother like a lifeline. My heart ached at the sight, even with all the harassment Ruby had gotten from Burnside, it had never gotten to the point where she… the only thing I was thankful about in this situation, was that there was no one else in this hallway right now, giving us at least some measure of privacy.
"Every time I think I'm making some kind of progress… it's like it doesn't even matter. I got better, I know I did… but it's not good enough."
She hiccuped, glistening silver eyes staring up at me, despair edging into her voice the longer my sister spoke, "Russ, I'm just not good enough."
My heart bubbled with a mix of sorrow and potent rage seeing Ruby like this, and I did not hesitate to lower myself to a knee and embrace her. She started to silently tear up into my shoulder and shuddered periodically in my arms. Burnside permanently hit the top of my shit list, it was difficult to make Ruby cry when she was always doing her best to keep a smile on her face.
"Hey," I started quietly, hugging her tightly, "You shouldn't let that ass get to you, Ruby. The man's life flamed out and now he's just bitter that he's stuck teaching brats like us. He's just some washed up asshole who's well past his prime and jealous of how much natural talent you have. Believe me, you shouldn't take anything he says to heart."
I heard her giggle through her tears at my denigration of the old bastard, "Russ!"
I just laughed back before asking, "Got it?"
She pulled her head back and nodded, using a sleeve to wipe her eyes. I offered her a crooked smile, brushing a few strands of red-tinted hair away from her eyes, "You know that old bastard doesn't know what he's talking about, don't you? You've been working yourself to the bone these past few months, pushing yourself to the limit. And honestly, I've been starting to worry about how far you've been pushing yourself lately, but I didn't have the heart to stop you."
Ruby sniffled, giving a tiny nod as she leaned into my embrace. I rested my cheek against the top of her head, holding her close. We stayed like that for several long moments in the empty hallway, her muffled sniffles being the only sound echoing off the metal lockers.
Ruby tried holding back a sniffle and pulled back to look at me with silver eyes, now reddened by crying. "B-But what if he's right, Russ? What if I'm just… not good enough."
"You're going to be an incredible Huntress, Ruby. Way better than me." I murmured, my voice thick with conviction. And I genuinely believed she would surpass me after she got her footing with her new scythe. She's a genuine prodigy, whereas I most certainly am not. All I really had going for me was perspective when it came down to the brass tacks, I wasn't some kid who didn't yet understand how important these early years were. Since the moment I had gotten things in order, I had been working my ass off, improving myself day by day with a level of focus that I honestly didn't think I was capable of.
Ruby on the other hand was a genuine prodigy, even leaving out her newfound talent for scythes she had an instinctive intuition for weapon crafting that surpassed everyone in the school bar none.
"I believe in you. Yang believes in you. Dad and Uncle Qrow believe in you. We all see how hard you work, and how badly you want this. That dick Burnside is the one failing you, not the other way around." Pulling back, I gently raised her head with a single finger and forced her to look me in the eye. As her tears fall away I think I can almost see a hint of mischievousness replacing them.
"Hey, Russ? Do… you think we could go by Carmine's Exotic Weaponry?" She asked timidly, I could only chuckle at the blatant attempt to use her previous mood to acquire mechanical goodies.
"Yeah, sure thing Rubes. We've got a lot of work we have to do if we want to make both our weapons the best in all of Remnant."
Ruby blinked in a second, a brief moment of confusion clouding her mind as my word choice pricked something in her brain. Then almost a full ten seconds later I could almost literally see the sudden epiphany materialize behind her silver eyes.
"Our weapons… I can't believe I totally forgot about our weapon project." She dragged her palm down her face, and I could only chuckle as she started to literally smack her forehead against the lockers lining the walls. With some cajoling and promises of extra time dedicated to working out the plan for our two weapons, I managed to corral her back out the door and on the way to the Mechashift part shop.
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I chuckled lightly as Ruby power walked into the store and made a beeline straight for a particular sale on old outdated weapons. She didn't stick in one place for long, only after what seemed like moments of gazing at the old used up weapons like a stack of steaks did she move on to another section of the store entirely. Good ol' Carmine's elderly form sat peacefully at the counter with a patient smile as she watched the young redhead gingerly move around her store, growing just a little more energetic as time passed. The old weaponsmith has been a cornerstone of our lives for years now, ever since Ruby first discovered her love for all forms of weaponry. The more exotic, the better as far as she's concerned.
Carmine turned to me and her patient smile, her once black hair now a faded gray, motioning for me to go after my sister. "Go on ahead and help her, young man. I'll be right here if you need me."
With a grateful nod, I hurried to go track down Ruby, who was currently running her hands over what looked like some kind of silencer barrel in a way that was a little disturbing.
"Hey Rubes," I asked, stepping behind her shoulder as she continued to inspect the suppressor. An older model from what I could tell from a brief glance. "Want to tell me what's got you so worked up?"
Ruby startled at the sound of my voice, nearly dropping the part she was holding. She quickly composed herself and turned to look at me with a sheepish grin.
"RUSS-!" She squealed, before she was immediately interrupted by a loud cough from Carmine.
"Ruby sweetheart, you know the rules." The older woman said, her tone patient as ever. Ruby chuckled sheepishly as she blushed in embarrassment, before continuing on in a much more reasonable tone.
"Russ, do you know what this is?!" She queried, to which I responded quite simply.
"A suppressor?"
"Psh, not just any old suppressor silly, It's a Redger Mark Three V-Eight suppressor! They're super old, like one of the first interactions of suppressors ever, I mean sure they are really simple and kind of crude but the simplicity of it combined with just how effective it is just brilliant!"
Ruby continued on but I was lost only a couple of sentences later, mostly I was just thankful the weapon store successfully took her mind off all that happened earlier. I was more than happy to play a sounding board for Ruby if it meant she didn't have to think about old bastards like Burnside. Of course, it was soon I was drawn fully back into the conversation when Ruby asked about my own plans for my weapon.
"Well I don't have any exact schematics down yet, but I was thinking about using something familiar that I'm already well versed in, kinda like what mom had, a Mechashift axe. But I'm not exactly sure what kind of weapon I want built into it. I know Mom had a shotgun, but that's not something that would really suit me. Right?" I finish with a question. If there was anyone qualified to know what kind of gun would go well with my fighting style, it'd be my sister.
Ruby froze for a second at the mention of Mom, and I saw a smile filled with sadness briefly slip onto her face before she seemed to shake it off. It made me hesitate for a second, but I couldn't give it any more thought as Ruby proceeded to spend the next few hours in that shop interrogating me about various possible design choices I could make.
It was very much a back and forth thing I did manage to reign in her excitement to simply discuss stuff like what kind of potential gun modification I could include and what kind of color color scheme I'd be interested in. Two very equally very important decisions that couldn't be taken lightly, and that I was glad to have a professional's opinion on.
Mostly I was just happy that the conversation had finally put a smile back on Ruby's face, thoughts of jealous professors being thrown away in favor of building weapons with her brother.