The growling was loud, even through the ringing in Weiss’ ears. She reached out and gripped the hilt of Myrtenaster, frowning through the haze as she realized the blade had been snapped apart. About a good third of the weapon was still sticking out of the chest of the Beowulf that hadn’t been decent and died yet. Her ears flicked in annoyance.
Salem had fallen, but that only served to release the Grimm from her control and sent them into a frenzy. The various teams that had convened to help were now fighting just to get out alive.
She struggled to her knees, spinning the chamber to fire dust, hoping there was enough left to finish this beast. As her head cleared, she could hear the sounds of her friend’s weapons going off, the loud roar of Crescent Rose echoing across the field. She felt a momentary flash of fear for her wife, but she knew that she could handle herself, and there was a looming issue in front of her. The Beowulf roared, ripping the end of her beloved weapon from it’s chest and glared at her.
“Oh, just piss off, already!” she growled back, tail flicking behind her.
She sent a pulse of aura through her arm to the hilt of Myrtenaster, triggering the fire dust as she set a glyph under the Grimm’s feet. It went up quickly, but Weiss sagged, setting the blunt end of her blade down to support her. She was running low on dust and aura.
A clattering sound drew her attention as the large form of Crescent Rose landed near her. Her eyes flew to her left where Ruby was climbing back to her feet, staring defiantly up at an Sphinx. The Grimm’s snake tail hissed as it closed, but Ruby just closed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking a stance Weiss recognized. She was going to try and unleash her eyes again.
But Weiss also recognized the droop in her shoulders as a sign of the woman’s massive aura fatigue. Would Ruby have enough energy to even trigger it? There was still so much they didn’t know about her powers. She struggled to her feet, trying to get a glyph set before the beast lunged.
The Sphinx’s head jerked back as a hole appeared in it a fraction of a second before the roar of a large bore rifle was heard. For a second, Weiss thought it was Crescent Rose before she remembered that Ruby had been disarmed.
As the Sphinx set it’s feet, a bubbling growl rose from its chest. Ruby’s eyes were still closed, her hands closing into fists, before she danced back, looking around for her weapon.
Weiss grabbed it and was surprised again at the heft of the scythe. Lifting it, she screamed out her love’s name.
But before the silver-eyed girl could move, the Sphinx raised a paw to swipe down. Weiss watched as it descended, her wife too exhausted to trigger her semblance.
But it stopped mid-swipe as a figure in a tattered cloak appeared, a long staff held in it’s grimy hands, the soft curve of the spear-like tips giving it a flowing look. A thrust sent the paw back and the staff folded in on itself before a loud gunshot was heard. The report of the weapon caused the cloak to billow slightly, revealing a faded red interior.
Then the figure was gone, reappearing in a burst of dust or smoke above and behind the Sphinx, dropping down to drive the point of its spear through the Grimm’s skull. Another burst of dust and the figure appeared next to Weiss, grabbing the scythe from her before disappearing again. Weiss saw it was a woman as she caught a glimpse of her shadowed face, but as she stared at the spot the mysterious figure had vanished from, she realized it wasn’t dust or smoke she was leaving behind.
It was white rose petals.
The woman appeared next to Ruby, handing Crescent Rose over to the stunned woman. The sudden stop to her motions made a small breeze rise, blowing her hood down and Weiss gasped at the similarity between the two.
Ruby gaped.
“Mom?”
The woman reached out and gave the stunned girl a caress on the cheek.
“My little Ruby.”
Weiss made her way over, picking up the broken portion of her blade on the way. It should be able to be repaired, but the sudden appearance of Ruby’s mother was foremost on her mind. It was almost as if the Grimm stayed away from this moment, even as other weapons were still going off around them. She faintly heard a trumpet sing, signaling that Flynt was still standing somewhere.
Summer reached out and handed a small vial of rainbow colored dust to her daughter. “Use this, it’ll temporarily replace your aura.”
“How…” Ruby stammered.
“Time enough for that later,” Summer Rose said, turning and raising her spear. “Think you can keep up with an old woman?”
Ruby took Crescent Rose into her hands and smiled, slipping the vial into her belt after loosening the cap.
“If I can’t, I’ll make the cookies.”
The two dove into the fray again, Weiss enraptured by the strange duality of them. Despite having been separated for most of Ruby’s life, they worked together as though one person.
Bursts of red an white petals would surround Grimm as Summer would blink around, her spear now separated into a pair of shorter versions, letting her fight at close range, though she would also fire off a round from her odd weapon.
Ruby still showed signs of fatigue, but she gave everything like she always did. Riding Crescent Rose for speed boosts, alternating between slashing and firing rounds. Weiss looked at the cylinder of her weapon, and saw that she still had a decent amount of Lightning dust and brought up a time dilation glyph, the red and white bursts of color across the way blurring even further.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Yang standing next to her, holding her prosthetic hand to her hip where some blood was leaking through a rough bandage. Looking around, she saw a few Bullheads had landed and huntsmen and huntresses were slowly taking wounded aboard. She saw Qrow directing the flow for one, Winter another.
“You OK, Weiss?”
Weiss nodded, holding up the remains of her weapon. “Mostly.”
Yang winced.
“Where’s Ruby?’
Weiss pointed as the glyph expended the dust and revealed the two women standing in a collection of slowly disintegrating Grimm.
Yang stared as Ruby sheathed her weapon and hugged the other woman. “Is that…”
“Yang!” Ruby cried, racing over to hug her sister. “You’re OK!” She had tears in her eyes and a small cut bleeding from over her right eye. After a moment, she swept Weiss up in a hug and kissed her deeply.
Summer walked up and Weiss got a good look at her. She was slightly built, like Ruby, but she was also extremely gaunt, as though she hadn’t had a good meal in months. She also sported several scars around her wrists and her cloak was so tattered and dirty the white was now a dusty gray, the red muted and had a few dark brown spots that Weiss knew was dried blood. Now that she wasn’t fighting, Weiss saw she had a slight limp, using her staff as a crutch.
“Is that Yang?” Summer asked, her voice a bright alto. She reached out and hugged the brawler.
“Time to go ladies,” Qrow rumbled. If he was shocked to see Summer, he didn’t show it. “Reinforcements are coming from the pools so it’s best to get away while we can.”
As soon as the group had climbed aboard, the Bullheads lifted off, the boarding doors sliding shut. Blake rushed over and hugged Yang, tangling her hands in the yellow locks. Weiss smiled as she felt Ruby sag against her, curling her tail around her wife’s waist.
“Summer,” Qrow grated over the sound of the ship’s engines. “We need to talk.”
“Later, Qrow,” Summer said, leaning back against the hull. “After we get back to wherever we’re going and I’ve had a bath. I promise I’ll tell you everything though.”
*******
“It isn’t too bad,” Weiss said as Ruby picked at the bandage on her forehead as they walked towards the ICU. “Certainly no worse than mine was.”
“But your scar is cool,” Ruby whined. “This is just some stupid line that’ll be hidden by my hair.”
Weiss had to force her tail not to wag and she smiled at her wife. Even exhausted, aura drained, and starving, Ruby was adorable, like a little pup.
As they neared the door to the ICU ward, Ruby slowed, gripping her arm near the elbow.
“You OK, Ruby?”
“I don’t know, Weiss,” she whispered. “I thought she was dead. We all thought she was dead. I’ve taken you to her gravestone. How am I going to explain this to Dad?”
Weiss rubbed her wife’s back gently. “The answers aren’t going to get answered staring at the door, sweetie.”
Ruby sighed. “I know. But what do I say?”
Weiss kissed her on the temple.
“You could start introducing us,” she suggested.
Ruby smiled wanly before they entered the ward and checked in with the nurses station before being guided to Summer’s room. The older woman had been admitted for extreme malnutrition and aura depletion. She was clean, and a few monitors showed various vitals. Summer smiled as she saw Ruby.
“Come to visit me?”
Ruby nodded. “I still can’t believe you’re alive, Mom.” Ruby shook her head. “Where were you?”
Summer frowned, seeming to shrink into the bed. “It’s a long story. Salem caught me when I went on a recon mission for Ozpin. She kept me in a near constant state of aura depletion and kept pulling me aside to ‘examine’ my eyes.”
“But why didn’t you try to get away?” Ruby asked, her voice growing hard. Weiss’ ears perked up. She knew what that meant.
“I tried, sweetheart,” Summer said. “But without my aura, I can’t quickstep. She had these shackles that would just drain the life right out of me.” She rubbed the scarring on her wrists, marks that looked like burns.
“You managed to do fine at the fight,” Ruby fired back. “And recharged my aura too.”
“Salem had a way to condense aura,” Summer said. “She would give me a tiny amount when it was time for another ‘test’, but not enough to survive an escape. I don’t know if your father told you, but Quickstep can only carry me someplace I can see. I knew that if I just held on, I’d get to see you again.”
“Twenty years!” Ruby exploded. “You couldn’t find a way out for twenty years? Do you have any idea what we went through? I was there when Uncle Qrow came to tell Dad. I would sure that I’d wake up and you’d be stroking my hair like you did.”
“Ruby,” Weiss said, her ears folding back.
Ignoring her, Ruby shot to her feet. Her temper had been lit, and while it wasn’t as violent as Yang’s could be, Ruby couldn’t hold her emotions in check.
“I know you didn’t plan to get caught, Mom,” Ruby growled “You were just doing what you thought was right. But you left me and my friends to finish this fight, and it’s cost us so much. Yang lost her arm, and we’ve lost friends along the way. We needed you, Mom!”
“Ruby,” Weiss said a little firmer, but the crimson scythe wielder had built too much of a head of steam.
“For a while after that, every joy in life was pointless. I don’t remember a lot, but Dad shut down and Yang started to obsess over finding Aunt Raven. There were so many times I wished you were there.”
Ruby turned and saw that Weiss’ ears had flattened down and her tail had tucked slightly under her chair. Seeing that made her take a deep breath and reign in her temper.
“I know you’re hurt, Ruby.” Summer said, her voice a whisper. She stared at her hands. “I have so many things I want to say. I want to tell you that you’re all that ever mattered and every minute I couldn’t see you I felt like my soul was just shattered. What I did was to protect you and Yang, but in that I failed.
“But as much as I love you, you weren’t the only one that needed me. I think that as a huntress you’d understand that.”
Ruby sniffed.
“I know. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. But one thing that was drilled into us after Beacon fell was that you always keep your team apprised of where you are. I never go on a mission alone without telling Yang and Weiss what the story is. I owe them that.”
Summer just sat silently, still staring at her hands.
“But that’s all in the past.” Ruby turned back to face her mother. “You’re back, and while it’s going to take time, everything will be fine.” Her voice cracked. “I missed you so much, Mom!”
Summer caught her daughter as she threw herself into a hug. Weiss smiled at the scene.
“Now, I know there’s a lot for me to catch up on,” Summer said, a few tears in her eyes. “But how about you introduce me to this young lady?”
“Oh!” Ruby took Weiss’ hand and pulled her forward. “Mom, this is Weiss, my partner from Beacon and my wife!”
“Wife?”
Weiss held out her hand. “Weiss Rose. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Summer took her hand and eyed Weiss' ears. “Fox?”
Weiss shook her head and brought her tail into view. “Wolf.”
“Nice. How did you two meet?”
Before Ruby could speak, Weiss smiled and chuckled.
“She kind of blew us up on the first day at Beacon.”
“What?!”
“It wasn’t as bad as that!” Ruby protested. “And besides, you were the one waving the vial of fire dust around!”
“After you tripped over my suitcase and loosened the cap, sweetie.” Weiss said sweetly. “And it was your sneeze that triggered it.”
“And how did this lead to the two of you getting married?” Summer asked.
“A lot of years as partners and some disastrous dates.” Weiss said as Ruby nodded.
“We’ve been by each other’s sides for the last ten years and married for four of those.” Ruby said. “She’s a great woman and she can almost cook without setting off the fire alarm now.”
“I said I was sorry!”
Ruby just gave the wolf Faunus a peck on the cheek.
“And the fact that she’s a Faunus…”
“Total non-issue. Weiss is Weiss.” Ruby wrapped her arm around her wife’s waist, feeling the fluff of her tail starting to wave slightly. “She’s watched my back for a long time and there’s no one I trust more than her. Just like Yang dating Blake is more about who they are and not about Blake being a cat Faunus or the daughter of the chieftain of Menagerie.”
Summers eyebrows went up. “Sounds like I need to have a talk with my older daughter, too.”
“But one thing I want to know…” Ruby said, tapping her fingers together.
“Yes?”
Ruby continued to fiddle until Weiss sighed in frustration.
“Just ask her, you dolt!”
“Weiss!” Summer scolded.
“She just wants to ask about your weapon.” Weiss turned her icy stare at her wife. “I don’t know why she’s not gushing already.”
Summer smiled. “You want to know more about Thorn, then?”
“Please?”
Summer pointed to the corner of the room where her weapon was leaning. Ruby blurred over and brought it back. Up close - once the petals from Ruby’s semblance drifted to the floor and dissipated - the vine tracery along the entire length of the spear lent it a rose bush effect and the spear points at either end had a slight curve and taper, making them look very much like a thorn.
“She’s so light,” Ruby said. “Doesn’t that mess with the recoil?”
“She’s a sniper’s weapon, Ruby. If she’s too heavy, I can’t use my semblance to get in place.”
Ruby turned the weapon around in her hands, finding the lever that activated the mechano-shift. The forward end of the spear folded down, acting like a monopod while the back thorn hinged down to act as shoulder stock. A slot for a dust vial was revealed but the vial inside was dry.
Ruby shifted it back to staff form. “And it has a tertiary form too, right?”
“That was kind of our team thing,” Summer chuckled. “All of us had three forms on our weapon except Tai. Only so much you can do with fists. But tell me all about yours. I can tell that Qrow had a bit of an influence.”
Ruby beamed and pulled her baby from her sheath, expanding it to full size. Weiss sighed and excused herself. Something told her they’d be at this for a while and she wanted to stop by the forge to see how repairs to Myrtenaster were coming along.