zecorezecron
Verified Asshole
- Location
- Washington
Well, nobody's died yet. You should probably fix that.
Lets Get To It! Rwby Ideas/discussion Thread
- Thread starter GeneralScrage
- Start date
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- rwby ideas thread
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
So, a bit of an odd thing I've thought of, originally in the context of an SI(not going into that mess here), is Weiss looking into the situation with Faunus. Basically, she finds out about budgeting and profit margins and such, and looks into the wages offered to various workers for the Schnee Dust Company, as well as the cost of living for them. She also looks into the actual details of the expense reports, seeing that the profits are extreme and not being put back into the company.
Due to all this money-checking, she understands that the SDC can easily afford to raise the wages for it's lower-end workers and the wages they currently have are highly inadequate. Being a preteen girl, she can't change this, but looks into all the effects she can of doing so. Which, given that she's also the Schnee heiress, means an already rather extensive economic education gets more extensive on the practical side of things.
All of this leads up to a single scene: Weiss runs into White Fang who say she can never understand what they've been through, and she agrees. But she can understand the causes. She makes it clear that all she's seen is numbers, and she doesn't like the picture they paint because she's fully aware that the things the typical Faunus SDC employee . She can understand much of how to fix it, and actively wants to fix it. And then points out all the ways the White Fang are making things worse, using political and economic knowledge to make it clear that the White Fang are being extremely counterproductive. Taking down a major Kingdom will just result in the entire world going after them and a surge in Faunus oppression because you can't be sure who's a White Fang member and some psychotic Faunus just got thousands/millions of people killed.
Basically, Weiss gives some White Fang members a "Reason you Suck" speech and points out that she's in a basically perfect position to solve all of their problems within the next decade and actually plans on doing so.
Due to all this money-checking, she understands that the SDC can easily afford to raise the wages for it's lower-end workers and the wages they currently have are highly inadequate. Being a preteen girl, she can't change this, but looks into all the effects she can of doing so. Which, given that she's also the Schnee heiress, means an already rather extensive economic education gets more extensive on the practical side of things.
All of this leads up to a single scene: Weiss runs into White Fang who say she can never understand what they've been through, and she agrees. But she can understand the causes. She makes it clear that all she's seen is numbers, and she doesn't like the picture they paint because she's fully aware that the things the typical Faunus SDC employee . She can understand much of how to fix it, and actively wants to fix it. And then points out all the ways the White Fang are making things worse, using political and economic knowledge to make it clear that the White Fang are being extremely counterproductive. Taking down a major Kingdom will just result in the entire world going after them and a surge in Faunus oppression because you can't be sure who's a White Fang member and some psychotic Faunus just got thousands/millions of people killed.
Basically, Weiss gives some White Fang members a "Reason you Suck" speech and points out that she's in a basically perfect position to solve all of their problems within the next decade and actually plans on doing so.
There's a lot to cover here, I feel.
First and foremost, the thing that motivates the White Fang is not the SDC treating their Faunus workers poorly, that's a great additional motive, it makes the SDC a tempting target because they are a big, corrupt mega corporation that's hard to feel sympathy for, but the SDC is not responsible for the shift to violence in the White Fang & them changing policy X number of years down the track would, at best I feel, only slow down some recruitment in some sectors. Plus that relies on Weiss being able to do so, when there are often checks and balances and shareholders who hold great influence. But in the end, people like Cardin and the societal ills that let them get away with their treatment of Faunus are the kind of things that motivate the White Fang, the SDC is just a good target for their anger and resource gathering.
Additionally, I'm rather shocked a preteen Weiss owuld be able to access this kind of thing, let alone escape her gilded cage long enough to run into a White Fang member, especially one inclined to talk over take a hostage. Beyond that though, if I recall the White Fang went violent 5 years before canon, making Weiss somewhere around 12/13 so I'm not sure the timeline works too well either.
Beyond that, I doubt a "Reason you Suck" speech on economics from someone born with a silver spoon in her mouth, regardless of how factual, is going to go down well with any in the White Fang. Additionally, all they'd have is Weiss's word, that of a child, that things will change in X number of years which is extremely unreliable at best.
Beyond that we know from Blake that the White Fang's methods were working, she left because of her guilt, not because it was failing.
The White Fang, until Cinder, didn't seem to want to destroy the kingdom, Adam is likely an example of their most extreme member at the time who is definitely bad, but who couldn't destroy a kingdom.
Additionally, terrorist know that doing damage to innocent people will cause others to oppress those who share traits with them, that's part of the recruitment strategy, the unfairness of the discrimination and the desperation it creates in those oppressed for the crimes of a few, leaves the terrorists as the only option for them to try and escape. Though as I said, what the White Fang was doing was apparently working so the "You're hurting yourselves" argument isn't likely to hold much water I feel.
- Location
- Singapore
Is that it?
To be fair, it is traditional for the prologue POV in an ASOIAF book to die for one reason or another.
If I'm remembering right, Will got Othered, Cressen was Melisandre-d, Chett got Othered, Pate was Faceless Manned, and Varamyr Sixskins was sort of both Othered and Melisandre-d.
- Location
- Singapore
....yeah, way too grimdark.
It's a series about a continent-spanning civil war coinciding with the return of at least one apocalyptic force - what were people expecting?
Grimdark is more like, say, Bakker's Second Apocalypse series.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
And then her father comes in and mucks that all up because she stood up for a dead friend that some bitch indirectly laughed at.
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
The scene mentioned would actually be during canon's timeframe, with Weiss doing this after running into them during the canon events, or after the gilded chains get loosened enough for her to head out like she did in canon, with the other stuff being, essentially, Weiss going and doing a bit of sidetracking on the stuff she's expected to go through. She's the heiress to a family a megacorp is named after, it stands to reason that she gets access to economic and political education quite early on in life. It'd be harshly incompetent for the situation to be otherwise.
As for stockholders... Very, very few companies have setups to hold back a majority shareholder, which is implied to be the case with the SDC. And shareholders aren't needed for a company that's already off the ground to function. They can take away their money, it won't screw the company over because it's getting all its needed money from business it carries out. Angry shareholders can't do shit to a majority shareholder that wants to cut down on profits to improve standards of living for employees. The stock market can't kill businesses that are already off the ground, and a majority shareholder, basically by definition, can tell all the other shareholders to go fuck themselves.
Pointing out a lot of it clearly and logically is liable to wreck the grunt's willingness to go along with the things. The leadership might be considering such things, but the grunts... Won't. The grunts are actual believers in the cause, and if it's pointed out logically and clearly that what they are doing is harshly counterproductive to said cause, they will likely shift gears. Provided you have a strong boot to shove up the ass of peer pressure, that greatest of tools of Moloch. Which Weiss, as a Huntress, does have. Or Winter can provide for her, if it goes down the route of hostage situation due to Weiss deciding to focus on economics and politics to solve as many of the problems as possible and thus doesn't do the whole Huntress training thing.
Like, it's more a scene for an AU where Weiss either focuses on being the Schnee Heiress or goes Huntress but is still properly trained in economics and politics as a competent political dynasty should be doing for its heirs and side-tracks a bit to cover more low-level and practical economic and political things, like the White Fang, which is actually a source of significant problems for the SDC, and thus a relevant thing to look into solving on as many levels as possible.
One really wonders how someone so obsessed with petty politics manages to hold onto such massive financial power... It's not like he needs to give a shit about the general asshole population of the upper class. As a matter of fact, he's much better served by preparing to ruin their public by means of exposing how they are being horrible assholes.
And Weiss can just do that to him to wreck his public standing, and said bitch's, by making the public understand that these two people give no shits about the fact that one of the major kingdoms just fell. Like, do the writers understand succession or politics at all? Because that scene is... Bullshit. Like, you don't get away with disowning your heir twice, with the second time being over them calling out someone disrespecting an entire bloody kingdom that was butchered because of some deeply psychotic Faunus/the Grimm. By all real political sense, the bitch should have been the target of so much hate.
Unless there's some disgusting hidden plot with the asshole father trying to hold onto power personally for as long as possible, in which case, you don't need to pull this shit, you asshole. Because Heirs only get the inheritance once the previous person dies. Just... What the hell? Either these people are some French nobility level batshit insane and isolated from the common folk, or there's massive idiot and drama balls being beating into people's heads to drive the plot forward.
In that context I am pretty sure Weiss owuld not count as a preteen. As to the information, Jac is an abusive and controlling bully, how much he lets hear learn of access is going to be heavily dominated by what Jac wants and what Weiss can trick out of other people without raising suspicion.
Possible, but Jac is still the one in charge of the company and he isn't exactly on deaths door or easy to remove and that doesn't mean there aren't elements at play outside of Weiss's control that would limit her ability to bring about change.
Why would a grunt trust a spoiled rich child who has benefited from their people's suffering, let alone bother to listen to them? Plus, as I said, Blake said what the WF did 'was' working, if stopping people from being terrorists was as simple as saying "People will hate you and your people more" there wouldn't be terrorists. I don't understand the Moloch thing.
Again, the SDC aren't responsible for the White Fang, they are just a juicy target, and most would see "Improving the standard of living for Faunus to undercut the White Fang" as being the same as "negotiating/giving in to terrorists" which would not go down well and would, as I said, be borderline impossible for Weiss to bring about as an heiress with little power, living under an abusive control freak.
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
I thought the context would be making it clear that the learning phase would be preteen. I... really need to get better at wording. It keeps coming out vague and clunky...
...People are not that stupid, generally. Like, improving quality of living to undercut the White Fang is making them irrelevant. It's destroying the terrorists by breaking their recruitment strategy. The only people who'd think that are unrepentant racists who'd get on many political shitlists for trying to pull that off. Because they'd be saying that giving workers an actual livable wage and working to drag a significant demographic out of poverty is a bad thing.
Heiress, emphasized. As in "In line to have what the control freak has." I'm not saying pulling it off as a Huntress/Heiress-in-training, I'm saying taking her time before she has that power to work out how to use it to make things better without screwing over anyone, with an education that actually makes this a reasonable thing to get somewhere with.
As for the SDC not being responsible for the White Fang, it's certainly one of the things contributing to their "success" by being the wage-slavers of so many Faunus.
Edit: I think the headcanoning of your fic is making you think that the racism in RWBY is absolutely commonplace, but canon makes the actual degree unclear. Like, you can have it be anywhere from Reconstruction era Southern US to Civil Rights bill just passed. You can even have it vary from place to place.
All canon says is that it's a notable issue. It's notable enough that the Black Panthers(actually the name of the group Magneto's is based on) expy is a serious terrorist organization, but it also gives a pretty good excuse for having very different levels of racism present throughout the world. There's more than one nation, so there's more than one culture. To assume that all of them are racist enough for the White Fang being what it is is justified in all of them in isolation is unreasonable.
You have a genuine megacorp exploiting a minority to profit off of a basic resource for running a lot of necessities in one nation, for instance. Other nations don't have that.
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It was probably my mistake.
I think you drastically underestimate the stupidity and hatred inherent to people, especially bigots and hard line military/police types. That's not even getting into the class issues at play.
Essentially, if it were this easy to stop terrorism and bigotry, people would have done it by now out of pragmatism if nothing else.
Again though, Jac is a control freak and not exactly old, why should the White Fang trust a teenager born to a bigot and raised in opulence that one day she will take over and make everything better.
Never said it wasn't, but at best that might undercut recruitment a bit, it won't stop the White Fang from being relevant or popular because the issues go way beyond one company treating Faunus like garbage.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I wanna see a fanfic where someone leaks footage from that charity ball over to people in Vale and see how the shitstorm goes.
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
But the odd thing is that this sort of situation never happened IRL. There's never been a grassroots terrorist organization born of oppression by their own national powers with a major part of their reason for existing being that a family-owned megacorp is exploiting cheap labor. The big part is "terrorist organization." The closest you get are slave revolts, but those usually are one big surge of activity and done. They don't really stick around as organizations.
Among other things, they have nothing to loose by giving a try at making her carry out on her word early. You know, by murdering the control freak. Kinda the sort of thing that's an obvious goal for them, if they can get close enough to pull it off. And it can be interesting what someone trained in politics for years can pull off when they've been studying how to deal with a group for almost as long as they've been being trained in politics. And have ready access to a person who was a part of that group for insider info on their goals, rhetoric and methodology.
Again, the White Fang was nos started in response to the SDC, the only one who thinks it was a war against them was Weiss and she seemed to be projecting her issues with her father on an external enemy rather than admitting the fact he's just an abusive parent who has no excuse for his behavior. When Roman gave his speech he didn't cite the SDC as their biggest foe, he talked about the government, the schools and police.
If they could kill Jac so easily why didn't they do so sooner? And I owuld say they have a lot to loose, if they did kill him Weiss could claim power, theoretically, and then use her fathers death as justification for an increase in anti Faunus ideology, turning herself into a tragic victim and enraging the populace.
Weiss isn't the only one with years of political training, assuming Jac gave it to her & she wasn't corrupted by it, everyone around her would have that as well, and if she's very young, potentially very heavy legal authority, connections, back room deals ETC.
Are you saying Weiss would still have access to Blake?
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
Given what the SDC is, they have a pretty high capacity to blackmail the government. And Roman was talking to the White Fang in Vale, not Atlas. Not the group actively being screwed over by cost-cutting of the SDC. He was playing the crowd in front of him, plain and simple. That was a recruitment meeting, first and foremost. People already in the White Fang would probably be exposed to as much propaganda and negative truths as possible to keep them in and rile them up for the cause.
Again, we don't know the actual detailed politics of the White Fang's supporting social circumstances. Roman might well be doing the equivalent of race-baiting, using the same sort of events that happen with blacks IRL to drum up White Fang support. Vale might be borderline Amarican in social standards, with the government and schooling issues being due to poverty rather than race, with demographic coincidence being used for political exploitation. The discrimination could be classist or a matter of cost-cutting, rather than racist, with the same disproportionate racial breakdown as real life due to previous racism that isn't actually there anymore. Similarly, police brutality being more common against minorities can be logical due to the same demographic breakdown.
A lot of your complaints are actually outside the scope of canon, so worldbuilding around them is an entirely valid response. After all, your reasons it can't work are just as non-canon as the counters for them, because canon doesn't cover it.
Well, you mentioned one possible reason yourself. Public backlash leading to increased anti-Faunus sentiments. But there's also the fact that they might not have considered themselves able to do so earlier. Thing is, they now have outright military hardware and a massive quantity of Dust in Vale. Military hardware from Atlas. Meaning that they can be talked into using said hardware in the place they are ordering it from.
If she goes Huntress, it would hardly be more contrived than canon for her to still be on Team RWBY. I'm... getting a lot of description skipped because of basically describing two situations at the same time without clearly differentiating between them.
At any rate, many of your complaints are weirdly easy to refute with "canon doesn't cover it." Your complaints don't have direct canon backing beyond Jac being a control freak and there being racism against Faunus. And we don't get extrapolation of how severe or what kind of racism it is. Is it outright institutionalized racism, or is it simply exploiting cheap labor that happens to be overwhelmingly of one ethnicity/race? Is it just the government ignoring poverty in general, or are they specifically avoiding helping Faunus areas? Are the police actually disproportionately going after Faunus, or is it again just demographics? Racial profiling is a thing that's had actual logical arguments in favor of it, after all, specifically because some demographics are factually disproportionately criminal.
And the most important thing is that there's multiple Kingdoms, each with a different culture that can be dealing with the racial tensions differently. The White Fang might be completely justified in Atlas while being race-baiting madmen for Vale's situation. It could be that the situation in Atlas is simply corporate exploitation of minorities while Vale has Jim Crow level racism in legislation. We don't know because it's not brought up, so both of those situations could be the case with equal validity.
White Fang is international, so it has holdouts in nations with good reasons for White Fang presence and an ideology shift that supports going into places where it isn't needed and race-baiting and drumming up tension where it doesn't have logical reason to exist. Well, unless you consider historic racism and tension to be a logical reason for it to continue existing, which is a perfectly valid way of looking at social development.
The SDC has branches all over the world. I am unsure what you mean in regards to the blackmail. If people within the WF have already been exposed to "as much propaganda and negative truths as possible to keep them in and rile them up for the cause." why would Weiss sudden;y be able to make them shift gears?
OK, there's... a lot to unpack in regard to bringing up real world issues, but suffice to say I feel you are misinformed on why people note issues like poverty or violence done by police are tied to bigotry.
I don't really see how.
I feel you may be conflating several different White Fan groups and timelines which makes this discussion very difficult.
They only got Atlas tier equipment when Cinder took over & that one just one faction, if they could get out from under her, chances are they would have given how she took over and her plans were hilariously bad for them.
Adding onto that according to Weiss they'd killed people of high rank before, not quite at Jac's level but still.
We know the bigotry is bad enough that people can be convinced into joining a terrorist organisation and that its legal to deny Faunus service. We also know that there have been constant genocide and enslavement campaigns against the Faunus until very recently, IE, about 80 years ago and that even following that there was an attempted forced deportation. Plus we know CDRL can get away with being horrendous to Velvet in public and barely anyone save the heroes even raise an eyebrow, the teachers do nothing and when Cardin dismisses Faunus as animals in class he doesn't get called out on it by probably the most progressive teacher in the school. Oh and Blake feels its easier/safer to pass as human than face being a Faunus and the discrimination she'd have to deal with and she's been an activist.
You're defending... racial profiling? Seriously!?
Morphic Tide
Crazy Brainstormer, Munchkin and Wannabe Min-Maxer
- Location
- MI, USA
Atlas, being the largest consumer of Dust and the place the SDC is housed in, probably has the bulk of Dust mining in the world happening within it's borders. And when I said blackmail, I really meant extortion, I just forgot the word. The SDC has a practical, if not literal, international monopoly on Dust supply. Atlas, being the largest consumer of Dust, would be able to be thoroughly screwed over militarily by a targeted price hike from the SDC. And the Atlas military seems to be fairly clearly oversized for the needs of protecting from Grimm, so doing so wouldn't be a suicidal action. Whereas the Atlas government trying to seize the SDC's assets would be, as the SDC is an international megacorp that can make doing so basically impossible for a national government.
By making it clear that they are actually being counterproductive to said cause. If you force an extremist to confront the fact that the actions they are taking are counterproductive to their goals, they will either completely deny any facts contrary to their worldview, in which case they rapidly become unable to function upon such an attitude being common throughout a group, or they will revise their actions to better serve their goals.
Rational actors, and exhausted people who just got their ass kicked, will tend towards revising their actions to better serve their goals.
Generally, it's because of statistics. A disproportionate amount of police brutality and poverty effects blacks and hispanics, but crime rates among such groups are also disproportionate. Not quite as much, but enough that it's a realistic part of the causes.
The situation gets pretty complicated, but in general, the reason blacks in the US have a disproportionate poverty rate is due to relatively recent denial of opportunity, and the loss of opportunity carries over due to smaller and rarer inheritances and less ability to get higher education. Poverty leads to crime, as crime offers a more reliable source of income than legal work in impoverished communities that largely lack such work. And the crime leads to race coming with a justified reputation for being criminal, so otherwise non-racist cops can end up brutalizing perpetrators of particular races due to said justified reputation.
Generally, it's a pile of self-reinforcing nastiness making it all horrible longer term than the initial causes were.
Isn't it directly, clearly, canon that the White Fang has an international leadership? Like, Adam is pretty clearly the head of the operation in Vale, but has a boss above him. Given this, it's probably less cell-based and more an actual international organization that edges into rogue state territory given size and the fact they have people raised in the group, with Blake as a decent example.
Interestingly enough, borderline terrorist groups in the US often involve drumming up tension from imagined bigotry that's long since stopped being institutionalized anywhere in the country. They tend to be called protesters, but burning taxis and shattering store windows while screaming hate for the government and society's general rules is rather horrible and seditious.
I mean, the modern feminism movement does everything it can to suppress the existence of men having severe issues of their own that women don't have. They slander everyone that tries to use logic to disprove sexism against women in the West and care nothing about sexism in the places that actually have severely sexist laws. They routinely get enraged and make threats against perceived sexists, regardless of evidence. There have been violent protests started up by them over these things, many times over baseless accusations that they refuse to listen to contrary evidence to. A lot of significant hate groups these days are formed from propaganda and a refusal to accept the facts of peace and equality where they are and where the two aren't.
As for being legal to deny Faunus service, it might be a case of extremely open ended freedom of association. The businesses might well have the freedom to refuse service to anyone they want and disproportionately choose to do so for Faunus due to a high concentration of bigots. It can very well be that there's not a single law in Vale discriminating against Faunus and instead a total lack of laws against it, having everyone be equal in the eyes of the law but doing nothing to stop bigoted use of legal powers that are available. Thus the bigotry would be a societal issue rather than a legal issue, much like most bigotry in the West is today.
You can do a lot with worldbuilding to make things more or less horrible than any given real situation.
Risk-profiling in general, not just racial. Race is a notable datapoint for risk of being responsible for crimes, as in it has a heavy correlation. As are income, education level and religion. It's not the causes, not directly, but it's things known to be correlated with crimes of particular types. There's factual evidence of the correlation, and while correlation isn't causation, it is an important part of how risk factors are worked in most fields.
As an example, a hispanic is factually more likely to be involved in drug crime, relative to proportion of the overall population, than any other race in the United States except maybe blacks, due to the Mexican cartels having mostly hispanic members, who tend to be involved with immigrants as a means of funding or providing "services" of several illegal kinds, mainly involving drugs both ways, as well as being more poverty prone due to frequently taking extremely low-paying jobs in the places they immigrate to. Ignoring this makes getting a reliable list of potential perpetrators for drug crimes harder because you are ignoring a significant data point of correlations between a property of the people and the crime that was committed.
Why would that be the case when it could just as easily be because it started there? Heck we know other places have more Dust, that's why Vacuo got torn to pieces.
There are other companies in the world the SDC is just the largest. Additionally, while that is a possibility I am unsure how it relates to this situation, plus someone like Ironwood may well take exception to a pencil pusher trying to bully his military and we've seen him casually overrule Jac to the point of cutting Atlas off and by extension Jac off, from his giant international megacorp.
Again, as I have noted, Blake explained that what the WF did was working, she left for morale reasons not pragmatic ones.
Also if you think that's hwo a terrorist would respond to being beaten up and lectured by one of the people profiting from their oppression then... I feel like you don't know anything about terrorists.
'Recent denial of opportunities'? There is nothing recent about it and that's not even getting into all the other stuff that is, at best, misinformed or racism-justifying (Which is what I feel the "justified" is) but this is not the thread for that discussion.
Adam was just visiting the Vale base when Cinder came and took over, the Vale base then, as far as we know, vanished to the rest of the White Fang because Adam and Salem are only just not trying to approach the leader (Sienna Khan) and the council of the White Fang for an alliance, meaning Vale was operating on its own.
Right so all off that is lies, should I assume to are a breitbart fan?
Though as an aside, that's not what feminism doe sin regards to men, though the mistake is easy to make if one doesn't pay attention. The thing is, the issues that men suffer are twofold, one they are created and perpetuated by men more than anyone else, and two, they are all tied to treating men poorly for things associated with the feminine, IE, showing emotional vulnerability, crying, ETC, these things have become associated with women, thus it is "Unmanly" to do them, and thus "bad" thus men don't do them and suffer for it. Feminism, by virtue of removing the stigma of these actions in general, inherently makes the world a less shitty place for everyone. Also Feminism is a massive diverse group of thought that exists all over the world so going "They don't care about X" is nonsense talk, though there are issues of racism and classism within certain feminist movements or groups.
You do realize that is ultimately a meaningless distinction because the end result is still tons of permissibly, legal, discrimination against Faunus right?
Do not change the word now to pretend like you said something different:
You said racial profiling, you defended it and spoke in favor of it, own that or admit to being wrong, don't pretend you were saying something else.
- Location
- Singapore
Hmm...
Am I the only one who doesn't like how Adam was portrayed in volume 3? I mean, I don't want 'abusive boyfriend' and 'creep'. I want 'well intentioned extremist', 'slippery slope', and 'I'm going to make things better, even over a mountain of corpses'.
Am I the only one who doesn't like how Adam was portrayed in volume 3? I mean, I don't want 'abusive boyfriend' and 'creep'. I want 'well intentioned extremist', 'slippery slope', and 'I'm going to make things better, even over a mountain of corpses'.
I'm personally fine with it, as I feel it was relatively well set up.
In the Black Trailer he'd either lied to Blake or simply refused to give her details on their mission which she thought was just theft, or at least wouldn't involve murder. Adam on the other hand wanted to blow up the trains seemingly rather than rob them and massacre the civilian crew.
His response to her shock and concern at this was total indifference.
While he does help Blake when she's in danger he also, very shoutily, sends her back into it in a way that conveys someone who is not exactly the most controlled or whose relationship with Blake is very equal.
That is to say rather than saying "Trust me!" or something when Blake is unsure of sending her against a foe that already kicked her ass, he just shouts "Do it!" Plus with what we know of Semblances his could be read as being something of a coward, IE, someone who only wants to enter a fight when he's jacked up and set to win.
Beyond that, in V2, after a, considering what they do, light shove from Yang in a desperate bid to communicate to Blake how much danger she was putting herself in, Blake shrunk in on herself in fear when Yang approached her next, which hints she expected Yang to lash out at her and was seemingly used to that kind of treatment.
So essentially I feel it was done well and it seem Illia will be getting the potential redemption arc and depth.
I can sympathize with wanting a well itnentioned extremist, assuming Salem isn't one, my hope is that, that is Sienna, as the one who led the White Fang into violence I feel they'd be the ideal one for that kind of narrative.
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I don't mind it.
I mean, Adam is still well intentioned and mountain of corpses, it's just that he's also a creep and an abusive boyfriend.
I sort of wanted Adam to be a little more nobler, but I'm cool with what I got.
- Location
- Singapore
....I wish for a well intentioned Adam, who only wishes to end the persecution, and for faunus be treated as people.
He will do it over a mountain of corpses, if he has to.
- Location
- Singapore
Many thanks. It has been a long time since I've had good reviews and criticism like this.
Thank you. I will try to improve it.
ThatOnePsycho
Tilting his Vanes and Ennobling His Spires
Figured I'd post this here, see if I couldn't get some constructive criticism
---
"Ruby?"
Sun looked down the alley of the smog choked city. He was in the remains of the city's industrial district, looking for his new friend.
His grandfather said that when he was a kid Sun's age, the city had been renowned for its metallurgy. Sun wasn't sure what that was, but he could tell that it wasn't happening now. The few jobs left in the city were tied to the CCT and Shade. Fresh water had to be flown in, and vegetables were grown in greenhouses, hiking up the price.
Which is why his mom would kill him if she found out he was doing this.
Sun walked further down the alley, looking at one of the doors. Drawn on it was a twelve pointed star, created from a red diamond and a pair of blue and white triangles.
Sun pressed his hand against it, and the star flared to life, before the door swung open.
Ruby's 'home' was a repurposed warehouse, the bedroll they had pinched a month back was rolled up in one corner, several coils of chain were on one of the tables around the place, with two sitting below it, and Ruby's 'inventions' dominated the rest.
"Ruby~! Ya here?"
He wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't, the younger girl tended to wander off at the drop of a hat, normally to ransack one of the other buildings for some part or another.
Dropping the water bottle and bag onto one of the tables (he still wasn't sure how Ruby had moved them) Sun walked over to another.
On it was Ruby's newest creation. Sun reached down, picking up the nunchaku.
Like everything else Sun had seen Ruby make, they were roughly made, with a chain clearly taken from some forgotten project. Unlike most things Ruby made, however, the symbols on it were a uniform red.
Huh.
Sun examined the weapon, passing it from hand to hand. It was… interesting, for lack of a better word.
"-Can't believe we're doing this."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Leave her alone? She's a little girl."
"We need an Artificer. If I knew where Dack was, I'd ask him. But I don't, so we have no choice. Plus, we'll also have a Warder on our side."
"She's a little girl who still hasn't gotten home after flaring."
"She's also primarily Red and Blue. If anything, we're doing the right thing by picking her up. Once we're done with this, we can bring her home, she would never get there otherwise."
Sun took a step back as the two came closer to the bay door.
*Clang*
*Clang*
"Ruby! It's Gideon, are you there?"
Sun backed up, climbing up onto the second floor and hiding behind one of the empty crates.
"We're going to come in!"
The door was pushed up, allowing the weak sunlight in. Sun watched as the three people walked in.
One was a man with light brown skin and sideburns; the other two were women, one with bright red hair and eyes, the other with pointed ears.
Three.
Two.
One…
The coils of chain glowed with white and blue symbols, before firing across the room, the ones on the ground reaching them first.
All three cried out in shock as their legs were suddenly bound together, followed swiftly by their hands. The red haired woman started to say something before a blue chain impacted into her mouth, wrapping around her head and silencing her. Another preemptively did the same to the man and long eared woman.
Sun tried to keep from laughing as they fell over, the red haired woman glaring at the chain around her hands. He remembered when he had triggered Ruby's defences.
The door swung open, Ruby walked in, fidgeting with a set of scrap. Behind her floated a staff made from a rod of metal, three sets of sigils glowing on it.
"Maybe if I-? No, that would blow up."
Ruby walked towards the back of the warehouse, where the manager's office sat normally. The red haired woman jangled her chains, only for the ten year old to ignore her.
Or, more likely, fail to notice her in the first place.
Sun snickered for a moment, stopping as a wave of heat rolled over him.
There seened to be a shimmer of heat around the woman, the chains glowing brighter, before her hair lit on fire.
Sun kept from yelping, barely.
Gouts of fire burst from her hands and mouth, causing the symbols on the chains to blaze for a moment before winking out. She forced her arms apart, tearing out her gag and directing her hands at her legs.
She quickly untied her friend, at the same time Ruby walked out, no doubt drawn by the blistering wave of heat.
Her eyes briefly flickered to the bag and water, then up to where he was, before locking onto the trio. The minute she did, a large smile grew on her face as she broke into a jog, weaving in between the tables to launch herself at the man.
"Gideon! Nissa!" the second name was punctuated by Ruby launching herself from her spot around Gideon's neck and at the long eared woman, who looked uncomfortable, "What are you two doing here?!"
"We need you to make something for us."
"Ohhhh. What?"
"We'll explain in a few, were you about to eat?"
Ruby looked back at the food, "I guess? My friend brought it over, Sun?"
Sun peered over the edge, cover blown, "Yeah?"
"We're going to eat?"
"Yeah?"
Was it just him, or was Gideon doing his best to burn a hole through his head?
---
Kytheon Iora, or Gideon Jura, continued to watch the monkey-boy who had been hiding on the second floor. To his credit, Sun didn't flinch.
The Hieromancer looked over as Chandra nudged him.
"What?"
"Stop looking like you're going to kill the kid," Chandra said out of the corner of her mouth, "What's wrong?"
"Just… who is he? Look at them," Gideon pointed at the two kids. Sun was balancing a small red fruit(?) from the meal on his nose, causing Ruby to giggle around the sandwich in her mouth.
"What? they're kids playing."
"It's just… messy. All of it."
Gideon didn't just mean the pair playing with their food. The entire building was messy.
He was sure that to Ruby the mess had some sort of order, but for the life of him, he couldn't see it.
There were tables all over, some pushed against the wall and some sitting in middle of the room, with Artifacts on them. Clubs, shields, staves, gauntlets and orbs. The air was thick with mana, and Gideon could see Dominarian numbers and letters placed in strategic places around the warehouse, the only order in the chaos.
"Giddy?"
Gideon looked back at Ruby, who had finished eating.
"Yes?"
"What was it you needed?"
"We need you to create something that could keep someone alive when tapping into a massive mana supply."
"Huh?" Sun looked between the two of them, "Mana?"
"I'll explain later, Sun. How much?"
And here's where it became a shot in the dark.
"Ley Lines."
"A Ley Line? I might be able to-"
"No. Ley Lines," Gideon stressed, "as in all the ones on a plane at once."
Ruby's eyes bugged out.
Gideon didn't blame her. Something like this hadn't been done for decades. Since the disappearance of most of the Old Planeswalkers, and weakening of those who remained.
"What are you doing-"
"Things have gotten worse on Zendikar. This is our only plan."
They could do it without one, but it ran the risk of killing both Chandra and Nissa.
"Can you do it?"
"I… I can try," Ruby pushed herself up, pacing, "Something like that... maybe by dispensing the mana into the atmosphere and manipulating it there? No. Too uncontrollable," Ruby picked up an orb on one of the desks, rotating it in her hands as she looked into the water.
Chandra jumped down from the desk, reaching out for Ruby, "If you can't-"
"I can try," Ruby repeated, ducked under Chandra's arm and ran into the back room.
Gideon caught the orb, catching a flash of yellow before the water settled.
---
Nissa walked back into the cramped space, ducking under the half open bay door.
Sun was on the second floor, throwing a ball into the air and catching it. Chandra was playing with one of the orbs, shifting panels and chuckling as gouts of fire burst from it.
"Where's Gideon?"
"Went outside," Sun said, continuing to throw the ball.
Nissa sighed, before turning around and heading back into the hot sun. The Animist looked around, before heading back towards the populated part of the city.
Following the beacon of White mana that was Gideon's spark, Nissa slipped through a curtain of plastic strips… and was promptly hit with a wall of cool air.
Nissa's breath hitched, before she let slip an involuntary sigh of relief. After spending hours in the heat, the artificially cooled air was exquisite.
As little as two years ago, every instinct in Nissa's body would have rebelled from the technology. She was a Joraga elf, they knew better than to destroy the world through uncontrolled technology!
Or they had, before her bias had gotten them wiped out and caused more damage to Zendikar in two years than the other races had in millenia. Combined.
"Nissa!" Nissa directed her gaze at Gideon; the Hieromancer was standing at one of the stands, a group of large red fruits with a small bulge at the top sat on it.
He handed a golden coin over to the shopkeeper; taking some sort of thin plastic rectangles in several colors and the bag with several fruit and bottles of water. Gideon looked at the plastic in confusion, before adding them to the bag. The shopkeeper waved him off, a large smile on his face as he looked at the coin.
Gideon walked over, gesturing for Nissa to follow him. They weaved through the street, heading to a glass pyramid. As they walked in, Nissa couldn't help but gawk at the garden on either sides of the walkway.
"How'd you find out about this place?"
"I asked where they grew these," Gideon held up the bag, "apparently they grow most of the food here."
The Planeswalkers sat on a bench. Gideon placed the bag on the floor, taking one of the fruits from the bag.
"What is that?"
"A pomegranate. We had them on Theros," Gideon explained, driving his thumb through the rhine, "I haven't had one in a long time."
Gideon pulled the pomegranate in two, ignoring the juice leaking onto his hands. He handed one half to her, before picking out one of the seeds and eating it; Nissa did the same, wrinkling her nose as the tart juice spilled out.
"Are you alright?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've seemed a bit agitated since we got here; you didn't wait for Ruby to be done eating before you left."
Nissa looked around, checking to see if anyone else was there. She didn't see anyone, but lowered her voice just in case.
"There's almost no mana here."
Gideon frowned, closing his eyes. Nissa could feel him reach out, grasping for the mana lines that should have attached to a city like this. There were a few, but they were sluggish and weak. Not nearly as many as there should be. The few that were strong were clearly from Ruby drawing mana from another plane. Zendikar, in all likelihood.
Gideon's eyebrows scrunched together and he snapped open his eyes; looking to Nissa he murmured a question.
"Is the whole plane like that?"
Nissa shook her head. She could feel the lifeblood of the plane far away, ready to be tapped at a moment's notice.
"I wonder why-"
"Yo!" Both Planeswalkers stopped their conversation as Sun walked towards them, "I told Ruby I could find you," that comment seemed to be aimed less at them and more to himself, "Listen, Ruby was asking for you, said something about Black and Green."
Nissa and Gideon shared a look; rising to follow, they trailed behind the boy with a monkey tail. Halfway to the place Ruby was hiding out, Sun's eyes widened and he ducked into an alley. Nissa followed, looking behind her in time to see a long haired woman with a tail walk by.
"You know her?"
"Mom," Sun said, looking like he had swallowed a lemon, "come on. Let's get back to Ruby."
Nissa and Gideon bowed their heads; Nissa hadn't been on speaking terms with her mother before her death, and Gideon's father had died before he was born.
Once they entered the building, Ruby looked up from where she was working with one of the rods; this one was shorter than the others and ended in a sharp tip, blue and red runes sat on it.
"You're here!" Ruby cheered, walking towards the back room, "Nissa, I need your help."
Nissa followed the young girl, glancing around the smaller room. The most obvious thing was the map on one wall, an X sitting over a spot near the middle and an O around a spot in the desert.
Ruby picked up the clip off a desk, holding it up, "This is what I'm using. I'm planning to ward it against all types of mana. Hopefully that will keep you alive."
It was better than nothing. As Nissa started to reach for it, however, Ruby pulled back, a serious look on her face.
"I want something in return."
"What?" Nissa asked as her stomach plummeted.
Deals between Planeswalkers rarely ended well. Even if they no longer were nigh-omnipotent, capable of tearing planes apart, most Planeswalkers could bring enough mana to bear to level a city.
"I want help getting home," Ruby looked tired as she said that, looking longingly at the map, "It's my birthday in a couple weeks. I want to be home for it."
"...Ok?" That was all? They had planned to do that anyways.
Ruby smiled, handing the pin over, "I need you to channel Black and Green mana into that. Then it will be done."
Nissa reached out, feeling four sparks nudging at the corner of her senses, she ignored them as she grabbed tightly onto mana lines from Zendikar and forging a bond.
After a moment, five sigils lit up, one for each mana type. Red, green, blue, white, and what could only be described as light that wasn't for Black.
Clipping the ward to her collar, she walked out, looking at Gideon and Chandra.
"We good?"
"Yes."
The three Planeswalkers stepped out of the building, into the alley, and into the Blind Eternities.
---
Sun watched as the adults left. Turning towards Ruby, he followed her as she ran into the back room, grabbing the rucksack he had bought with money he had pinched from his mom, and thrown it on the table.
Ruby weaved through the tables, picking up some of the items seemingly at random, and threw them next to the rucksack.
"What are you doing?"
"Packing," Ruby said, weighing two orbs in her hands, before throwing one back and dropping the other on the table.
"Why?"
"I want to make sure they keep their promise to bring me home," Ruby explained, now examining a rail spike, before turning around and haphazardly throwing it over her shoulder.
Sun froze, "You're leaving?"
"Yeah," This time Ruby picked up the pointed rod, throwing it next to the rucksack without stopping to examine it.
Sun had known Ruby was looking for a way home, he'd watched her make plans and throw them out, but he hadn't expected it to be so sudden.
He didn't want to be stuck alone with his mom, even if he was supposed to pick a Huntsmen academy at the end of the year.
Ruby stopped from where she was picking up a pair of small steel rods, "What's wrong?"
He didn't want to lose his only friend, to be stuck in a dying city in the middle of a desert, with no-one but his mom.
"I'm just going to miss you," Sun muttered, watching as Ruby cast aside the rods for another pair, adding them to the rucksack.
Sun focused on the same spot, even as Ruby walked behind him.
A hand planted on his shoulder, and Ruby turned him around and placed something into his hand. Looking down at it, Sun realized it was a washer with Ruby's twelve point star.
"What's this?"
"It's like a beacon. So long as you hold onto this, I'll be able to find you and visit," Ruby smiled, grabbing a pair of gauntlets and adding them to the growing pile.
Finally, Ruby stopped by the shields, picking up one and studying it, before nodding and carrying it over, grabbing the bedroll as she went.
Sun watched Ruby start to pack, the shield going in first, followed by the rod and gauntlets, the pointer rod was relegated to a side pouch, with the orb in the other. Finally, the bedroll was clipped to the front.
Ruby put the rucksack on her back, grabbing her floating staff, and started to walk to the door. Halfway there, she turned around, and walked into the back room. When she emerged, she had her map shoved next to the rod. She grabbed the nunchaku as she passed and walked over.
"I made these for you," Ruby lifted them up, "you had said you wanted to learn how to use them."
Sun took them, "Thanks."
"Come on," Ruby said, "We need to get out of here."
Sun followed, "Why?"
"I can't take everything, but I can't leave it."
"Then what are you doing?"
"I'm going to demolish it."
…
"What!?"
Ruby snapped her fingers, and Sun whipped around as the sigils on the building flared and it crumbled in on itself.
"What was that about!?"
"I'll be able to make better stuff when I get home," Ruby turned, petals flaking off her body, "I'll see you later, Sun."
"Wait!" Sun lurched forward, grabbing Ruby's wrist.
He had just enough time to hear Ruby start to say his name, before it was drowned out by a rush of color and a roar of energy. Sun felt something tear away at him, only for something to burn to life in some deep part of him.
When Sun came to, the first thing he noticed was that his whole body ached. The second thing he noticed was the weight on his chest and the wetness that accompanied it; the third was muffled sobs.
Sun looked down, squinting through the pain; Ruby's head was buried there, her long hair covering his vision.
"Ruby? Can you get off? You're kind of hurting me."
Ruby's head sprang up, staring at him through her unkempt hair, her eyes puffy and red, with snot trickling down her face. The tear tracks were the only part of her face that wasn't dirty. Sun could see that one of the whites of her eyes wasn't, instead red mixed with it, slowly spreading.
"What happened to your ey-"
Sun never got to finish that question, groaning in protest as Ruby launched herself across the gap and threw her arms around his neck, her sobs renewed.
"H-hey! What's wrong!?"
"You could of died! Normal people aren't supposed to survive going through the Blind Eternities!"
What the heck was a "Blind Eternity"?
That was what Sun wanted to ask, but he currently had a hysterical friend holding him in a death grip, "I guess I'm not normal then?"
Ruby gave a wet laugh, pushing herself off him and trying to stand. Instead, she gave a yelp of pain and grabbed at her leg. Sun looked down at it, wincing.
Legs weren't supposed to turn that way. Ruby's rail thin body made it abundantly clear that it was broken.
Ruby grabbed her staff, pushing herself up and leaning on it. Sun stood, groaning as his body sent another wave of agony. As he looked around, though, it quickly left his mind.
They were on a cliff, a grassy field stretching out in front of them, with a forest at their back. Giant diamond shaped stones hovered in defiance of gravity. Further away, Sun could see the grass turn to sand, and them give way to an ocean.
"Where are we?" Sun breathed staring out over the expanse.
"Zendikar," Ruby said, limping over to him, "Help me walk, we need to find Gideon and Nissa before the Eldrazi find us."
"Eldrazi?"
"I'll explain everything on the way, now, come on; leaving the Blind Eternities will have drawn their attention and we've been here too long."
---
Sun grunted as he helped Ruby along, following her instructions. He wasn't sure how she knew where to go, but she apparently did.
"You said you would explain this?"
Ruby nodded, limping along, "Where do you want me to start?"
"How about where we are?"
"We're on Zendikar."
Sun rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but where is Zendikar? We can't be close to Vacuo, there's nothing like this for miles."
It was awesome.
Ruby giggled, but winced as her lame foot caught on a root.
"You could say that. We're on a different Plane," Sun could practically hear the capital P.
"What's that mean?"
Ruby stopped, looking behind them with faintly glowing eyes.
"We need to hurry up, they're still on our trail."
Sun looked behind them, trying to figure out what was giving that away.
"Come on, Sun," Ruby pushed on him slightly, "Me explaining all this will be pointless if we're dead."
"That's cheery," Sun grunted, helping Ruby along.
"So. Planes. Imagine a bubble encasing the entirety of Remnant. Can you do that?"
"Yeah?"
"Right, now imagine an infinite number of those bubbles, all containing their own world. All these bubbles float in the Blind Eternities. We, you, me, Gideon, Chandra, and Nissa, are Planeswalkers. We can survive the pure energy of the Blind Eternities and travel through it between Planes."
Sun stopped. Looking at Ruby in shock, "We're on a different world?"
"Yeah," Ruby said, "And we need to keep-"
A chittering noise from above cut Ruby off, causing both kids to look up.
"Oh boy," Ruby muttered, grabbing the rod on her back.
Clinging to the trees were four legged creatures. Each one had a bony plate covering their midsection, with tentacles coming from one end and a thick blue tail on the other. The trees were turning ash white, parts crumbling off.
"What are those things?"
"Eldrazi," Ruby said, turning on her good foot so she was back to back with Sun, "I need you to grab the shield and gauntlets from my backpack."
"Really?" Sun asked trying to keep the Eldrazi in his sights, "is this the time?"
"Yes."
"Ok," Sun reached behind him, opening the bag and groping blindly. First he handed the gauntlets to Ruby, and he heard him struggle to get them on without letting go of the rod or her staff. By the time she had, Sun had long found the shield, and Ruby snagged the buckler.
"Why haven't they moved?"
"They haven't noticed us yet," Ruby said, looping her arm around her staff so she could keep both hands free.
"Then why don't we leave?"
"They'll notice us," Ruby said, "We can't go out the way we came in, we're still being chased. But if we get too close? They won't ignore a couple of Planeswalkers that just traveled through the Blind Eternities."
"Then what do we do?" Sun asked, pulling the nunchaku out of his pocket.
"Cover your ears."
"Huh?" Sun felt Ruby shift, her arm coming up to hold the rod next to his head. The sigils started to glow, and oddly enough, spin around the rod.
"Cover your ears, now."
Sun did so, and Ruby threw the rod, switching the staff to her newly emptied had and throwing the shield into the air. A golden barrier came down around them, projecting from the shield.
Sun had just enough time to see the Eldrazi start to move, before a second sun burst into existence behind him.
The hexagonal bubble shook as the wave of force washed over it, followed by a wave of heat, and Sun barely caught the flash of light jumping from Eldrazi to Eldrazi before the rumble of thunder came.
Half of the thirty Eldrazi fell dead, smouldering holes having appeared through them. Sun stared as the rod sat in one of the trees.
Ruby clicked her tongue, "I'll need more mana next time."
Next time?
"You think there will be a next time?"
"Maybe not here," Ruby said, and Sun heard her shift, "But if we make it out of this, it will be good to know when we're Huntsmen, eh?"
Sun laughed, moving with Ruby so they could keep the remaining Eldrazi in their sights. They had definitely noticed the pair now, and were skittering around the bubble. One lunged at it, the tentacles laying across and revealing a proboscis that dug into the barrier. That caused Sun to stop laughing, watching as the small hole grew in size.
"Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"It's breaking through."
Ruby didn't verbally respond, grabbing him by the shoulder and using it to keep herself standing as she pushed the staff up and knocked the shield out of place.
As it fell the hexagons flashed, before exploding out and sending the Eldrazi flipping onto its back.
Sun swung down, crashing the nunchaku onto the chink in the Eldrazi's armor. It shrieked, kicking its legs wildly as Sun brought it down again and again.
"Sun!"
Sun looked up as another Eldrazi lunged at him, only for it to be blasted back when a bolt of yellow light that tore through it.
Spinning, Sun stared.
Ruby was pointing one of her hands in his direction, smoke rising from red circle on the palm of her. Two other Eldrazi lay dead next to her.
"Don't stop fighting! I'm tapped!"
"What's that mean?"
"It means I can't use anything for a minute! Keep them off me."
Sun stepped between the Eldrazi and Ruby, putting away the nunchaku and taking a basic boxing stance.
Sun dodged to the side, kicking the Eldrazi onto it's back and stomping on it. The carapace crumbled almost confusingly easily.
Sun caught one as it lunged at him, flinching back as the Eldrazi's tentacles tried to grab him, and threw it at the others.
"Ruby?"
"I just need to- got it!"
A twisting cloud of energy appeared and shifted, after a moment, it turned into a man with black hair, red eyes, a torn red cape, and a huge sword.
Sun stopped, staring as the man went to town in the Eldrazi.
"What the-?"
"Aether construct," Ruby said, pointing her hand at one of the other Eldrazi, and blasting it, "I'll teach you how to do it at some point. I've got a lot to teach you now."
Between the three of them, the rest of the Eldrazi were dealt with quickly, before the 'Aether construct' ran off the way they had come.
"It will distract the horde, come on, we need to go."
Sun continued to help Ruby along, pausing to grab the sharp rod and the shield, "How long have you been a Planeswalker?"
"I flared six months ago," Ruby said, "spent a couple of months trying to find my way back to Remnant, met a few Planeswalkers."
"It took you a couple of months to get back to Remnant?"
"I got lucky. It can take much longer. Planeswalking has never been an exact science."
"So I'm stuck here?"
"Nah. You can follow me. We'll have to teach you to follow lines and look for Sparks."
"Spark?"
Ruby nodded, screwing up her face in determination as they started to climb higher. Sun could catch people talking in the distance. Something about "never again"? Ruby's face grew even more serious, pushing Sun onwards, one ear cocked towards the group.
"Every Planeswalker has a Spark, it's what lets us travel.
"-I'll keep watch. With you."
Ruby pushed off, limping forward.
"I'll meet you up ahead."
"What-?"
Ruby forced herself forward, raising a hand as she reached the group of four and adding it to the circle. White lightning sparked around it.
"Who's-" The brown haired man with blue clothes was cut off by Gideon.
"Ruby! What are you doing-"
"I ran away last time I was here," Ruby said, sounding much older than she was, "But other people couldn't. If we don't stop the Eldrazi here, Dust knows how many Planes they'll destroy before they stop. Never again. For everyone who can't run away, I'll keep watch."
"Rub-"
"You're not convincing me not to," Ruby snapped uncharacteristically, "I was born with this Spark, this power, for some reason. Even if all I do is make Artifacts for you, I'm going to help."
The four shared a look, before nodding in acceptance.
"I'll keep watch too," Sun said, finally joining the five, "I don't know much about all this, but I'll try."
Sun looked out, stopping as he saw something moving in the distance.
Two towering creatures were moving closer. Their legs were replaced with writhing masses of tentacles. Both were vaguely humanoid in shape, but were otherwise completely different.
Most of the smaller one's body was the color of flayed flesh, with a white head with no features, and a purple arms that split in two at the elbow. The larger was covered in what looked like armor and missing a head, with large void tipped plates hovering above its shoulders and off its elbows. At the base of the colossi writhed an army of Eldrazi, slowly making their way into the valley.
"What are those?"
"The Eldrazi titans," Ruby turned him away, "They're like super Eldrazi."
"They're the only Eldrazi," the blue robed man said, "the rest are just part of them. And we're going to kill them."
---
Ruby looked out over the sea, raising her staff up, and valiantly ignoring the bones of her broken leg grinding against each other, Ruby pointed her staff at Ulamog's head, launching a golden spike of energy at the Eldrazi.
It stuck dead on, but Ulamog showed no sign that it had felt it beyond turning in their direction.
Which is what they wanted. The armies of Zendikar, amassed in the valley below, started to move, swords clanging against shields, Gideon's sural flashed with white mana, and Chandra exploded into a rolling pillar of fire. The defenders of Zendikar were making themselves tantalizingly alive.
Slowly, Kozilek turned alongside his brother, and an army of Eldrazi appeared, moving towards the defenders.
Before they got too far, the sea rose up, forming into a structure that looked vaguely like a hand. The wave smashed down, dragging the Eldrazi into the sea. Finally, Ulamog and Kozilek reached the point where land and sea met, and the trap was sprung.
Across from them stood Noyan Dar, the merfolk reached out, coaxing Zendikar into action. Ruby could see the mana slowly trickling into the world, memorizing the feeling. For a long moment nothing happened and Ruby held her breath. If it didn't work, they had sent everyone to their dea-
She never finished that thought as Zendikar was roused from its sleep.
The ground and air warped, crashing into Ulamog and Kozilek and sending their brood flying into the air. The smaller Eldrazi were dashed against the rocks as Zendikar brought its rage against the intruders. The sea smashed into them from behind, trying to drag the titans back out to sea. In the distance, near where Ruby and Sun had arrived, the trees shook and the ground heaved as a giant Elemental rose. It leapt over the defenders heads, crashing down and stomping on the Eldrazi that had made it to the army as it moved to meet Ulamog and Kozilek.
The giant fist crashed into Ulamog's blank face. Once, twice, thrice. Ulamog grabbed its hands and-
Nissa! The Blue mage's, Jace's, voice reverberated through Ruby's mind as he telepathically connected the entire group, now!
Zendikar allowed itself to be shifted, the water receding miles in seconds, the newly revealed ground rising to create a giant circle with Ulamog and Kozilek to the side. Green vines of energy appeared, following the design Jace and Ruby had made.
The Titans realized what was happening seconds too late, rising to their full height as Ulamog let go of the hands of the Elemental. The Ley Lines finished the glyph and exploded into action, creating a lattice work cage above them. Ruby sucked in a breath as the Eldrazi pressed against the barrier, the slack quickly disappeared. The lines snapped taut, and forced the Eldrazi back down.
There was a long moment of silence, the Eldrazi hordes had stopped moving, and all eyes locked onto the two descending titans.
Then one of them shrieked.
Ruby threw up a hand to keep the shards of rocks from striking her eyes, hearing them ping off her gauntlet. The ground shook and shattered under the force of the inhuman shriek, and Ruby gritted her teeth as her leg shifted again.
Pull them! They need to be on the center of the glyph! Jace's voice echoed.
Sweat matted Nissa's hair as more vines came up and wrapped around the Eldrazi, now in both black and green. The clip Ruby had made was venting mana and shuddering.
I'm trying!
Every second, more Eldrazi were appearing the the valley below, attacking the army or tearing at the ground to get at what little remained of Zendikar's mana.
Slowly, achingly, Ulamog and Kozilek started to be dragged towards the center. But even as it happened, the world seemed to shift, Ulamog and Kozilek were growing until they consumed the sky and millions of smaller Eldrazi appeared from nowhere, all attached to the two Titans.
Ruby's ward gave out with a sputter and Nissa cried out, her eyes turned into green suns and green mana spiraled out from her.
And all through it the Titans continued to grow. Kozilek's crown blotted out the sun and Ulamog's hand reached for them, the other coming down and effortlessly destroying the Elemental.
Ruby lunged across the space between her and Nissa, siphoning off the extra mana and adding it to the spell.
White, red, and blue chains grabbed onto Ulamog's arm and looped around the still growing titans. Ruby felt her eyes burn as Zendikar started to come apart at the seams.
Ruby was aware of people landing around her, of a wall of blue and green mana rising up and being sent at her and the beacon of green mana, only to be cut in two by a thin line of pure blue, then a torrent of red mana was launched at the titans.
Ruby felt Nissa guide her hand to the Red mana well in front of her, allowing it to pour its fire through them and into the ley lines. The titans unleashed another world splitting shriek as the fire burned away their body and left nothing but a core of mana. The ley lines swallowed the mana, and everything was silent.
They had won.
"Holy crap!" Sun laughed, "You did it!"
The White mana walked over, breathing heavily.
"What do we do now?" asked Gideon.
"Let's head to Ravnica," Jace said, "We can use that as a base of operations."
Ruby looked in the direction of Remnant, weighing her thoughts.
"I'll meet you there. I want to go back to Remnant for a couple. Clear my head."
Gideon reached over, patting her on the shoulder, "You earned it."
One by one, the other Planeswalkers left, Gideon taking Sun with him.
Why was it so dark?
Ruby focused on the blue strand from Remnant, praying it lead to Patch, she went through the Blind Eternities.
As she landed, her leg shifted again and Ruby cried out in pain. Just before she passed out, she heard someone running towards her.
---
Ghira stopped as he heard the shout of pain, looking behind him at the alley he had just passed. He hasn't seen anyone there.
Walking back, Ghira picked up into a brisk jog as he saw the little girl slid against the wall, her right leg clearly broken.
"Are you alright?"
What was he saying? Of course she wasn't; She had a broken leg and looked like she hadn't eaten in awhile. The girl gave an inarticulate moan, as if in agreement that it was a dumb question.
Ghira scowled, trying to think what to do. Moving her could just make her injuries worse, but he couldn't just leave her here, even if it was just long enough to get home.
Uttering a hurried apology under his breath, Ghira moved the girl, grabbing the backpack from her back, adding the groceries he had been sent out for to it, throwing it on his own back, and picked her up, briefly considering trying to break her death grip on the rod of metal in her left hand.
Trying to keep her from getting jostled around too much, and aware that Kali and Sienna were going to yell at him for this, Ghira returned to his home as quickly as possible.
Pushing open the door with his foot, Ghira laid her on the kitchen table.
"Sienna! Kali!"
After a moment the tiger Faunus walked in, hands shoved in her pockets.
"What's wro- ah crap," It was testament to how many people ended up injured on Menagerie that Sienna's voice was slightly resigned.
Ghira allowed himself to be pushed aside as the medical student pulled a pen light out of her pocket.
Flipping one eyelid open, Sienna clicked the light on, shining it into the eye, before moving to the other.
"Pupils constrict like a human's," Sienna muttered to herself, running her hands through the girl's hair, "no ears," down the girl's face and neck, "no scales or gills," Sienna grabbed the girl's right hand and pressed down on two spots of each digit.
Kali walked in, before rushing to join Sienna.
"What have you-"
"No ears, scales, gills, or claws. Eyes are human."
Kali rolled back the girl's lips, "These are too."
Sinna reached down, grabbing the zipper on the girl's hoodie before pausing and looking back at Ghira, gesturing with her chin.
Ghira took the hint, walking into the living room where Blake was reading a book. Ghira slipped the backpack off his back as his daughter looked up.
"What's that?"
"I found a hurt girl on my way home; she was carrying this."
Blake's nose twitched as she walked over, flipping open the top.
"She was carrying food?" Blake asked dryly.
Ghira took the bags out, sighing. Why did Blake have to inherit her mother's sense of humor?
Blake reached into one of the side pouches, picking up a ball of metal. Hundreds of white and red symbols were scrawled across it.
Ghira looked into the bag.
There were several other pieces of what was seemingly junk. Looking up, Ghira started to say something, stopping as Blake turned to orb around with a fascinated look on her face.
"Blake! Ghira!"
Both of them snapped their head towards the kitchen where Kali had called from.
"Yes?"
"Go get the guest room ready. She'll be staying with us for a couple of weeks."
The two shared a look of confusion.
"Why?"
"Her leg is broken and she's malnourished. I'm not letting her out on the streets like this."
---
Qrow sat in the back of the Bullhead, watching the water pass by them. A long black shape sat just beneath the surface of of the ocean.
"You sure it's her, Oz?"
The headmaster of Beacon nodded, examining his scroll, where his itinerary was pulled up.
"She was asking for you and Tai-Yang. I'm surprised he isn't here."
"I didn't tell him."
Ozpin looked up, one eyebrow raised in a silent question. Glynda looked even more taken aback.
"I didn't want to get his hopes up," Qrow muttered defensively, "He was just starting to accept she was gone, I couldn't tell him and risk it not being her. It'd destroy him."
The last anyone had seen Ruby, she'd been running away from her class with a Beowolf on her tail. When they had gotten there, they had found the Beowolf fading away with a massive hole through its skull, but nothing of Ruby. Qrow really wanted to know what had happened in between then and now that ended with her on Menagerie.
"I think it's her, she looked exactly like you described her. Skinnier than you would probably like, but alive."
Qrow looked back out the window. He could see the Menagerie in the distance and feel the Bullhead slowing down.
"You said she was blind?"
"Was being the key word. She's been slowly regaining her vision over the last week. If it keeps up, she should regain complete use of her sight within two months."
"Do you think there's any chance of a relapse?"
"I don't think so, but it would be best to schedule an appointment with an optometrist to be safe."
Qrow nodded, discreetly pulling out his scroll and checking what that was. Even after twenty years of living in the Kingdoms, there were still large gaps in his knowledge.
Once the Bullhead landed, Qrow jumped out, looking for the person who was supposed to be meeting them. As he did, he tried to resist sucking his teeth.
He hated this place, hated what it represented. Hated that there was so much hatred between Humans and Faunus that many felt it was safer to live in one of the most dangerous places on Remnant than to try living together.
Finally a woman who looked like she was in her mid twenties pushed through the gathering crowd and gestured for them to follow. The three Huntsmen did so, rushing to keep her in sight.
Wasn't she cheerful?
Eventually the woman threw open a door, walking in without bothering to check if they had followed.
Sitting at the table was a bear of a man with black hair and yellow eyes, a smile grew on his face as they walked in.
"Oz," He pushed himself out of his chair and made his way around the table, "How long has it been?"
"Years," Ozpin took the man's hand, "have you met Glynda and Qrow before?"
The man shook his head, turning to the pair. He grabbed Glynda's hand, shaking it firmly.
"Ghira," He introduced himself.
"A pleasure."
He turned to Qrow, shaking his hand.
"Ruby's uncle?"
"Yeah," Qrow looked around, "Is she…?"
"Out," Ghira answered, "She was going with Kali and Blake to pick up some food."
"Will they be back soon?"
"Any minute now. You can wait outside for them if you want?"
"Yeah. I'll do that."
Qrow ended up hearing Ruby before he saw her, her voice carrying down the street.
"And then I said 'maybe another time Mr. Bolas, I'm trying to get home'."
Qrow leapt up, looking down the street.
Ruby was using a metal rod to keep herself up as she hobbled along. Her leg was wrapped in a cast and her eyes were unfocused.
"Ruby!"
Ruby stopped talking, a large smile splitting across her face.
"Uncle Qrow!"
Qrow ran over, bundling her into a hug, he pressed a kiss against her hair.
"Do you know how scared we were?"
Ruby wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed tight.
"I was scared too," Ruby's voice wavered, and Qrow felt something wet leak onto his waist, "can we go home soon? I want to see Dad and Yang again."
"How did you even get here?"
"It's, it's a really long story. Can it wait till we get home?"
Qrow sighed, picking Ruby up. She was distressingly light.
"Yeah. It will take a couple of days for us to get home.
---
"Ruby?"
Sun looked down the alley of the smog choked city. He was in the remains of the city's industrial district, looking for his new friend.
His grandfather said that when he was a kid Sun's age, the city had been renowned for its metallurgy. Sun wasn't sure what that was, but he could tell that it wasn't happening now. The few jobs left in the city were tied to the CCT and Shade. Fresh water had to be flown in, and vegetables were grown in greenhouses, hiking up the price.
Which is why his mom would kill him if she found out he was doing this.
Sun walked further down the alley, looking at one of the doors. Drawn on it was a twelve pointed star, created from a red diamond and a pair of blue and white triangles.
Sun pressed his hand against it, and the star flared to life, before the door swung open.
Ruby's 'home' was a repurposed warehouse, the bedroll they had pinched a month back was rolled up in one corner, several coils of chain were on one of the tables around the place, with two sitting below it, and Ruby's 'inventions' dominated the rest.
"Ruby~! Ya here?"
He wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't, the younger girl tended to wander off at the drop of a hat, normally to ransack one of the other buildings for some part or another.
Dropping the water bottle and bag onto one of the tables (he still wasn't sure how Ruby had moved them) Sun walked over to another.
On it was Ruby's newest creation. Sun reached down, picking up the nunchaku.
Like everything else Sun had seen Ruby make, they were roughly made, with a chain clearly taken from some forgotten project. Unlike most things Ruby made, however, the symbols on it were a uniform red.
Huh.
Sun examined the weapon, passing it from hand to hand. It was… interesting, for lack of a better word.
"-Can't believe we're doing this."
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Leave her alone? She's a little girl."
"We need an Artificer. If I knew where Dack was, I'd ask him. But I don't, so we have no choice. Plus, we'll also have a Warder on our side."
"She's a little girl who still hasn't gotten home after flaring."
"She's also primarily Red and Blue. If anything, we're doing the right thing by picking her up. Once we're done with this, we can bring her home, she would never get there otherwise."
Sun took a step back as the two came closer to the bay door.
*Clang*
*Clang*
"Ruby! It's Gideon, are you there?"
Sun backed up, climbing up onto the second floor and hiding behind one of the empty crates.
"We're going to come in!"
The door was pushed up, allowing the weak sunlight in. Sun watched as the three people walked in.
One was a man with light brown skin and sideburns; the other two were women, one with bright red hair and eyes, the other with pointed ears.
Three.
Two.
One…
The coils of chain glowed with white and blue symbols, before firing across the room, the ones on the ground reaching them first.
All three cried out in shock as their legs were suddenly bound together, followed swiftly by their hands. The red haired woman started to say something before a blue chain impacted into her mouth, wrapping around her head and silencing her. Another preemptively did the same to the man and long eared woman.
Sun tried to keep from laughing as they fell over, the red haired woman glaring at the chain around her hands. He remembered when he had triggered Ruby's defences.
The door swung open, Ruby walked in, fidgeting with a set of scrap. Behind her floated a staff made from a rod of metal, three sets of sigils glowing on it.
"Maybe if I-? No, that would blow up."
Ruby walked towards the back of the warehouse, where the manager's office sat normally. The red haired woman jangled her chains, only for the ten year old to ignore her.
Or, more likely, fail to notice her in the first place.
Sun snickered for a moment, stopping as a wave of heat rolled over him.
There seened to be a shimmer of heat around the woman, the chains glowing brighter, before her hair lit on fire.
Sun kept from yelping, barely.
Gouts of fire burst from her hands and mouth, causing the symbols on the chains to blaze for a moment before winking out. She forced her arms apart, tearing out her gag and directing her hands at her legs.
She quickly untied her friend, at the same time Ruby walked out, no doubt drawn by the blistering wave of heat.
Her eyes briefly flickered to the bag and water, then up to where he was, before locking onto the trio. The minute she did, a large smile grew on her face as she broke into a jog, weaving in between the tables to launch herself at the man.
"Gideon! Nissa!" the second name was punctuated by Ruby launching herself from her spot around Gideon's neck and at the long eared woman, who looked uncomfortable, "What are you two doing here?!"
"We need you to make something for us."
"Ohhhh. What?"
"We'll explain in a few, were you about to eat?"
Ruby looked back at the food, "I guess? My friend brought it over, Sun?"
Sun peered over the edge, cover blown, "Yeah?"
"We're going to eat?"
"Yeah?"
Was it just him, or was Gideon doing his best to burn a hole through his head?
---
Kytheon Iora, or Gideon Jura, continued to watch the monkey-boy who had been hiding on the second floor. To his credit, Sun didn't flinch.
The Hieromancer looked over as Chandra nudged him.
"What?"
"Stop looking like you're going to kill the kid," Chandra said out of the corner of her mouth, "What's wrong?"
"Just… who is he? Look at them," Gideon pointed at the two kids. Sun was balancing a small red fruit(?) from the meal on his nose, causing Ruby to giggle around the sandwich in her mouth.
"What? they're kids playing."
"It's just… messy. All of it."
Gideon didn't just mean the pair playing with their food. The entire building was messy.
He was sure that to Ruby the mess had some sort of order, but for the life of him, he couldn't see it.
There were tables all over, some pushed against the wall and some sitting in middle of the room, with Artifacts on them. Clubs, shields, staves, gauntlets and orbs. The air was thick with mana, and Gideon could see Dominarian numbers and letters placed in strategic places around the warehouse, the only order in the chaos.
"Giddy?"
Gideon looked back at Ruby, who had finished eating.
"Yes?"
"What was it you needed?"
"We need you to create something that could keep someone alive when tapping into a massive mana supply."
"Huh?" Sun looked between the two of them, "Mana?"
"I'll explain later, Sun. How much?"
And here's where it became a shot in the dark.
"Ley Lines."
"A Ley Line? I might be able to-"
"No. Ley Lines," Gideon stressed, "as in all the ones on a plane at once."
Ruby's eyes bugged out.
Gideon didn't blame her. Something like this hadn't been done for decades. Since the disappearance of most of the Old Planeswalkers, and weakening of those who remained.
"What are you doing-"
"Things have gotten worse on Zendikar. This is our only plan."
They could do it without one, but it ran the risk of killing both Chandra and Nissa.
"Can you do it?"
"I… I can try," Ruby pushed herself up, pacing, "Something like that... maybe by dispensing the mana into the atmosphere and manipulating it there? No. Too uncontrollable," Ruby picked up an orb on one of the desks, rotating it in her hands as she looked into the water.
Chandra jumped down from the desk, reaching out for Ruby, "If you can't-"
"I can try," Ruby repeated, ducked under Chandra's arm and ran into the back room.
Gideon caught the orb, catching a flash of yellow before the water settled.
---
Nissa walked back into the cramped space, ducking under the half open bay door.
Sun was on the second floor, throwing a ball into the air and catching it. Chandra was playing with one of the orbs, shifting panels and chuckling as gouts of fire burst from it.
"Where's Gideon?"
"Went outside," Sun said, continuing to throw the ball.
Nissa sighed, before turning around and heading back into the hot sun. The Animist looked around, before heading back towards the populated part of the city.
Following the beacon of White mana that was Gideon's spark, Nissa slipped through a curtain of plastic strips… and was promptly hit with a wall of cool air.
Nissa's breath hitched, before she let slip an involuntary sigh of relief. After spending hours in the heat, the artificially cooled air was exquisite.
As little as two years ago, every instinct in Nissa's body would have rebelled from the technology. She was a Joraga elf, they knew better than to destroy the world through uncontrolled technology!
Or they had, before her bias had gotten them wiped out and caused more damage to Zendikar in two years than the other races had in millenia. Combined.
"Nissa!" Nissa directed her gaze at Gideon; the Hieromancer was standing at one of the stands, a group of large red fruits with a small bulge at the top sat on it.
He handed a golden coin over to the shopkeeper; taking some sort of thin plastic rectangles in several colors and the bag with several fruit and bottles of water. Gideon looked at the plastic in confusion, before adding them to the bag. The shopkeeper waved him off, a large smile on his face as he looked at the coin.
Gideon walked over, gesturing for Nissa to follow him. They weaved through the street, heading to a glass pyramid. As they walked in, Nissa couldn't help but gawk at the garden on either sides of the walkway.
"How'd you find out about this place?"
"I asked where they grew these," Gideon held up the bag, "apparently they grow most of the food here."
The Planeswalkers sat on a bench. Gideon placed the bag on the floor, taking one of the fruits from the bag.
"What is that?"
"A pomegranate. We had them on Theros," Gideon explained, driving his thumb through the rhine, "I haven't had one in a long time."
Gideon pulled the pomegranate in two, ignoring the juice leaking onto his hands. He handed one half to her, before picking out one of the seeds and eating it; Nissa did the same, wrinkling her nose as the tart juice spilled out.
"Are you alright?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've seemed a bit agitated since we got here; you didn't wait for Ruby to be done eating before you left."
Nissa looked around, checking to see if anyone else was there. She didn't see anyone, but lowered her voice just in case.
"There's almost no mana here."
Gideon frowned, closing his eyes. Nissa could feel him reach out, grasping for the mana lines that should have attached to a city like this. There were a few, but they were sluggish and weak. Not nearly as many as there should be. The few that were strong were clearly from Ruby drawing mana from another plane. Zendikar, in all likelihood.
Gideon's eyebrows scrunched together and he snapped open his eyes; looking to Nissa he murmured a question.
"Is the whole plane like that?"
Nissa shook her head. She could feel the lifeblood of the plane far away, ready to be tapped at a moment's notice.
"I wonder why-"
"Yo!" Both Planeswalkers stopped their conversation as Sun walked towards them, "I told Ruby I could find you," that comment seemed to be aimed less at them and more to himself, "Listen, Ruby was asking for you, said something about Black and Green."
Nissa and Gideon shared a look; rising to follow, they trailed behind the boy with a monkey tail. Halfway to the place Ruby was hiding out, Sun's eyes widened and he ducked into an alley. Nissa followed, looking behind her in time to see a long haired woman with a tail walk by.
"You know her?"
"Mom," Sun said, looking like he had swallowed a lemon, "come on. Let's get back to Ruby."
Nissa and Gideon bowed their heads; Nissa hadn't been on speaking terms with her mother before her death, and Gideon's father had died before he was born.
Once they entered the building, Ruby looked up from where she was working with one of the rods; this one was shorter than the others and ended in a sharp tip, blue and red runes sat on it.
"You're here!" Ruby cheered, walking towards the back room, "Nissa, I need your help."
Nissa followed the young girl, glancing around the smaller room. The most obvious thing was the map on one wall, an X sitting over a spot near the middle and an O around a spot in the desert.
Ruby picked up the clip off a desk, holding it up, "This is what I'm using. I'm planning to ward it against all types of mana. Hopefully that will keep you alive."
It was better than nothing. As Nissa started to reach for it, however, Ruby pulled back, a serious look on her face.
"I want something in return."
"What?" Nissa asked as her stomach plummeted.
Deals between Planeswalkers rarely ended well. Even if they no longer were nigh-omnipotent, capable of tearing planes apart, most Planeswalkers could bring enough mana to bear to level a city.
"I want help getting home," Ruby looked tired as she said that, looking longingly at the map, "It's my birthday in a couple weeks. I want to be home for it."
"...Ok?" That was all? They had planned to do that anyways.
Ruby smiled, handing the pin over, "I need you to channel Black and Green mana into that. Then it will be done."
Nissa reached out, feeling four sparks nudging at the corner of her senses, she ignored them as she grabbed tightly onto mana lines from Zendikar and forging a bond.
After a moment, five sigils lit up, one for each mana type. Red, green, blue, white, and what could only be described as light that wasn't for Black.
Clipping the ward to her collar, she walked out, looking at Gideon and Chandra.
"We good?"
"Yes."
The three Planeswalkers stepped out of the building, into the alley, and into the Blind Eternities.
---
Sun watched as the adults left. Turning towards Ruby, he followed her as she ran into the back room, grabbing the rucksack he had bought with money he had pinched from his mom, and thrown it on the table.
Ruby weaved through the tables, picking up some of the items seemingly at random, and threw them next to the rucksack.
"What are you doing?"
"Packing," Ruby said, weighing two orbs in her hands, before throwing one back and dropping the other on the table.
"Why?"
"I want to make sure they keep their promise to bring me home," Ruby explained, now examining a rail spike, before turning around and haphazardly throwing it over her shoulder.
Sun froze, "You're leaving?"
"Yeah," This time Ruby picked up the pointed rod, throwing it next to the rucksack without stopping to examine it.
Sun had known Ruby was looking for a way home, he'd watched her make plans and throw them out, but he hadn't expected it to be so sudden.
He didn't want to be stuck alone with his mom, even if he was supposed to pick a Huntsmen academy at the end of the year.
Ruby stopped from where she was picking up a pair of small steel rods, "What's wrong?"
He didn't want to lose his only friend, to be stuck in a dying city in the middle of a desert, with no-one but his mom.
"I'm just going to miss you," Sun muttered, watching as Ruby cast aside the rods for another pair, adding them to the rucksack.
Sun focused on the same spot, even as Ruby walked behind him.
A hand planted on his shoulder, and Ruby turned him around and placed something into his hand. Looking down at it, Sun realized it was a washer with Ruby's twelve point star.
"What's this?"
"It's like a beacon. So long as you hold onto this, I'll be able to find you and visit," Ruby smiled, grabbing a pair of gauntlets and adding them to the growing pile.
Finally, Ruby stopped by the shields, picking up one and studying it, before nodding and carrying it over, grabbing the bedroll as she went.
Sun watched Ruby start to pack, the shield going in first, followed by the rod and gauntlets, the pointer rod was relegated to a side pouch, with the orb in the other. Finally, the bedroll was clipped to the front.
Ruby put the rucksack on her back, grabbing her floating staff, and started to walk to the door. Halfway there, she turned around, and walked into the back room. When she emerged, she had her map shoved next to the rod. She grabbed the nunchaku as she passed and walked over.
"I made these for you," Ruby lifted them up, "you had said you wanted to learn how to use them."
Sun took them, "Thanks."
"Come on," Ruby said, "We need to get out of here."
Sun followed, "Why?"
"I can't take everything, but I can't leave it."
"Then what are you doing?"
"I'm going to demolish it."
…
"What!?"
Ruby snapped her fingers, and Sun whipped around as the sigils on the building flared and it crumbled in on itself.
"What was that about!?"
"I'll be able to make better stuff when I get home," Ruby turned, petals flaking off her body, "I'll see you later, Sun."
"Wait!" Sun lurched forward, grabbing Ruby's wrist.
He had just enough time to hear Ruby start to say his name, before it was drowned out by a rush of color and a roar of energy. Sun felt something tear away at him, only for something to burn to life in some deep part of him.
When Sun came to, the first thing he noticed was that his whole body ached. The second thing he noticed was the weight on his chest and the wetness that accompanied it; the third was muffled sobs.
Sun looked down, squinting through the pain; Ruby's head was buried there, her long hair covering his vision.
"Ruby? Can you get off? You're kind of hurting me."
Ruby's head sprang up, staring at him through her unkempt hair, her eyes puffy and red, with snot trickling down her face. The tear tracks were the only part of her face that wasn't dirty. Sun could see that one of the whites of her eyes wasn't, instead red mixed with it, slowly spreading.
"What happened to your ey-"
Sun never got to finish that question, groaning in protest as Ruby launched herself across the gap and threw her arms around his neck, her sobs renewed.
"H-hey! What's wrong!?"
"You could of died! Normal people aren't supposed to survive going through the Blind Eternities!"
What the heck was a "Blind Eternity"?
That was what Sun wanted to ask, but he currently had a hysterical friend holding him in a death grip, "I guess I'm not normal then?"
Ruby gave a wet laugh, pushing herself off him and trying to stand. Instead, she gave a yelp of pain and grabbed at her leg. Sun looked down at it, wincing.
Legs weren't supposed to turn that way. Ruby's rail thin body made it abundantly clear that it was broken.
Ruby grabbed her staff, pushing herself up and leaning on it. Sun stood, groaning as his body sent another wave of agony. As he looked around, though, it quickly left his mind.
They were on a cliff, a grassy field stretching out in front of them, with a forest at their back. Giant diamond shaped stones hovered in defiance of gravity. Further away, Sun could see the grass turn to sand, and them give way to an ocean.
"Where are we?" Sun breathed staring out over the expanse.
"Zendikar," Ruby said, limping over to him, "Help me walk, we need to find Gideon and Nissa before the Eldrazi find us."
"Eldrazi?"
"I'll explain everything on the way, now, come on; leaving the Blind Eternities will have drawn their attention and we've been here too long."
---
Sun grunted as he helped Ruby along, following her instructions. He wasn't sure how she knew where to go, but she apparently did.
"You said you would explain this?"
Ruby nodded, limping along, "Where do you want me to start?"
"How about where we are?"
"We're on Zendikar."
Sun rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but where is Zendikar? We can't be close to Vacuo, there's nothing like this for miles."
It was awesome.
Ruby giggled, but winced as her lame foot caught on a root.
"You could say that. We're on a different Plane," Sun could practically hear the capital P.
"What's that mean?"
Ruby stopped, looking behind them with faintly glowing eyes.
"We need to hurry up, they're still on our trail."
Sun looked behind them, trying to figure out what was giving that away.
"Come on, Sun," Ruby pushed on him slightly, "Me explaining all this will be pointless if we're dead."
"That's cheery," Sun grunted, helping Ruby along.
"So. Planes. Imagine a bubble encasing the entirety of Remnant. Can you do that?"
"Yeah?"
"Right, now imagine an infinite number of those bubbles, all containing their own world. All these bubbles float in the Blind Eternities. We, you, me, Gideon, Chandra, and Nissa, are Planeswalkers. We can survive the pure energy of the Blind Eternities and travel through it between Planes."
Sun stopped. Looking at Ruby in shock, "We're on a different world?"
"Yeah," Ruby said, "And we need to keep-"
A chittering noise from above cut Ruby off, causing both kids to look up.
"Oh boy," Ruby muttered, grabbing the rod on her back.
Clinging to the trees were four legged creatures. Each one had a bony plate covering their midsection, with tentacles coming from one end and a thick blue tail on the other. The trees were turning ash white, parts crumbling off.
"What are those things?"
"Eldrazi," Ruby said, turning on her good foot so she was back to back with Sun, "I need you to grab the shield and gauntlets from my backpack."
"Really?" Sun asked trying to keep the Eldrazi in his sights, "is this the time?"
"Yes."
"Ok," Sun reached behind him, opening the bag and groping blindly. First he handed the gauntlets to Ruby, and he heard him struggle to get them on without letting go of the rod or her staff. By the time she had, Sun had long found the shield, and Ruby snagged the buckler.
"Why haven't they moved?"
"They haven't noticed us yet," Ruby said, looping her arm around her staff so she could keep both hands free.
"Then why don't we leave?"
"They'll notice us," Ruby said, "We can't go out the way we came in, we're still being chased. But if we get too close? They won't ignore a couple of Planeswalkers that just traveled through the Blind Eternities."
"Then what do we do?" Sun asked, pulling the nunchaku out of his pocket.
"Cover your ears."
"Huh?" Sun felt Ruby shift, her arm coming up to hold the rod next to his head. The sigils started to glow, and oddly enough, spin around the rod.
"Cover your ears, now."
Sun did so, and Ruby threw the rod, switching the staff to her newly emptied had and throwing the shield into the air. A golden barrier came down around them, projecting from the shield.
Sun had just enough time to see the Eldrazi start to move, before a second sun burst into existence behind him.
The hexagonal bubble shook as the wave of force washed over it, followed by a wave of heat, and Sun barely caught the flash of light jumping from Eldrazi to Eldrazi before the rumble of thunder came.
Half of the thirty Eldrazi fell dead, smouldering holes having appeared through them. Sun stared as the rod sat in one of the trees.
Ruby clicked her tongue, "I'll need more mana next time."
Next time?
"You think there will be a next time?"
"Maybe not here," Ruby said, and Sun heard her shift, "But if we make it out of this, it will be good to know when we're Huntsmen, eh?"
Sun laughed, moving with Ruby so they could keep the remaining Eldrazi in their sights. They had definitely noticed the pair now, and were skittering around the bubble. One lunged at it, the tentacles laying across and revealing a proboscis that dug into the barrier. That caused Sun to stop laughing, watching as the small hole grew in size.
"Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"It's breaking through."
Ruby didn't verbally respond, grabbing him by the shoulder and using it to keep herself standing as she pushed the staff up and knocked the shield out of place.
As it fell the hexagons flashed, before exploding out and sending the Eldrazi flipping onto its back.
Sun swung down, crashing the nunchaku onto the chink in the Eldrazi's armor. It shrieked, kicking its legs wildly as Sun brought it down again and again.
"Sun!"
Sun looked up as another Eldrazi lunged at him, only for it to be blasted back when a bolt of yellow light that tore through it.
Spinning, Sun stared.
Ruby was pointing one of her hands in his direction, smoke rising from red circle on the palm of her. Two other Eldrazi lay dead next to her.
"Don't stop fighting! I'm tapped!"
"What's that mean?"
"It means I can't use anything for a minute! Keep them off me."
Sun stepped between the Eldrazi and Ruby, putting away the nunchaku and taking a basic boxing stance.
Sun dodged to the side, kicking the Eldrazi onto it's back and stomping on it. The carapace crumbled almost confusingly easily.
Sun caught one as it lunged at him, flinching back as the Eldrazi's tentacles tried to grab him, and threw it at the others.
"Ruby?"
"I just need to- got it!"
A twisting cloud of energy appeared and shifted, after a moment, it turned into a man with black hair, red eyes, a torn red cape, and a huge sword.
Sun stopped, staring as the man went to town in the Eldrazi.
"What the-?"
"Aether construct," Ruby said, pointing her hand at one of the other Eldrazi, and blasting it, "I'll teach you how to do it at some point. I've got a lot to teach you now."
Between the three of them, the rest of the Eldrazi were dealt with quickly, before the 'Aether construct' ran off the way they had come.
"It will distract the horde, come on, we need to go."
Sun continued to help Ruby along, pausing to grab the sharp rod and the shield, "How long have you been a Planeswalker?"
"I flared six months ago," Ruby said, "spent a couple of months trying to find my way back to Remnant, met a few Planeswalkers."
"It took you a couple of months to get back to Remnant?"
"I got lucky. It can take much longer. Planeswalking has never been an exact science."
"So I'm stuck here?"
"Nah. You can follow me. We'll have to teach you to follow lines and look for Sparks."
"Spark?"
Ruby nodded, screwing up her face in determination as they started to climb higher. Sun could catch people talking in the distance. Something about "never again"? Ruby's face grew even more serious, pushing Sun onwards, one ear cocked towards the group.
"Every Planeswalker has a Spark, it's what lets us travel.
"-I'll keep watch. With you."
Ruby pushed off, limping forward.
"I'll meet you up ahead."
"What-?"
Ruby forced herself forward, raising a hand as she reached the group of four and adding it to the circle. White lightning sparked around it.
"Who's-" The brown haired man with blue clothes was cut off by Gideon.
"Ruby! What are you doing-"
"I ran away last time I was here," Ruby said, sounding much older than she was, "But other people couldn't. If we don't stop the Eldrazi here, Dust knows how many Planes they'll destroy before they stop. Never again. For everyone who can't run away, I'll keep watch."
"Rub-"
"You're not convincing me not to," Ruby snapped uncharacteristically, "I was born with this Spark, this power, for some reason. Even if all I do is make Artifacts for you, I'm going to help."
The four shared a look, before nodding in acceptance.
"I'll keep watch too," Sun said, finally joining the five, "I don't know much about all this, but I'll try."
Sun looked out, stopping as he saw something moving in the distance.
Two towering creatures were moving closer. Their legs were replaced with writhing masses of tentacles. Both were vaguely humanoid in shape, but were otherwise completely different.
Most of the smaller one's body was the color of flayed flesh, with a white head with no features, and a purple arms that split in two at the elbow. The larger was covered in what looked like armor and missing a head, with large void tipped plates hovering above its shoulders and off its elbows. At the base of the colossi writhed an army of Eldrazi, slowly making their way into the valley.
"What are those?"
"The Eldrazi titans," Ruby turned him away, "They're like super Eldrazi."
"They're the only Eldrazi," the blue robed man said, "the rest are just part of them. And we're going to kill them."
---
Ruby looked out over the sea, raising her staff up, and valiantly ignoring the bones of her broken leg grinding against each other, Ruby pointed her staff at Ulamog's head, launching a golden spike of energy at the Eldrazi.
It stuck dead on, but Ulamog showed no sign that it had felt it beyond turning in their direction.
Which is what they wanted. The armies of Zendikar, amassed in the valley below, started to move, swords clanging against shields, Gideon's sural flashed with white mana, and Chandra exploded into a rolling pillar of fire. The defenders of Zendikar were making themselves tantalizingly alive.
Slowly, Kozilek turned alongside his brother, and an army of Eldrazi appeared, moving towards the defenders.
Before they got too far, the sea rose up, forming into a structure that looked vaguely like a hand. The wave smashed down, dragging the Eldrazi into the sea. Finally, Ulamog and Kozilek reached the point where land and sea met, and the trap was sprung.
Across from them stood Noyan Dar, the merfolk reached out, coaxing Zendikar into action. Ruby could see the mana slowly trickling into the world, memorizing the feeling. For a long moment nothing happened and Ruby held her breath. If it didn't work, they had sent everyone to their dea-
She never finished that thought as Zendikar was roused from its sleep.
The ground and air warped, crashing into Ulamog and Kozilek and sending their brood flying into the air. The smaller Eldrazi were dashed against the rocks as Zendikar brought its rage against the intruders. The sea smashed into them from behind, trying to drag the titans back out to sea. In the distance, near where Ruby and Sun had arrived, the trees shook and the ground heaved as a giant Elemental rose. It leapt over the defenders heads, crashing down and stomping on the Eldrazi that had made it to the army as it moved to meet Ulamog and Kozilek.
The giant fist crashed into Ulamog's blank face. Once, twice, thrice. Ulamog grabbed its hands and-
Nissa! The Blue mage's, Jace's, voice reverberated through Ruby's mind as he telepathically connected the entire group, now!
Zendikar allowed itself to be shifted, the water receding miles in seconds, the newly revealed ground rising to create a giant circle with Ulamog and Kozilek to the side. Green vines of energy appeared, following the design Jace and Ruby had made.
The Titans realized what was happening seconds too late, rising to their full height as Ulamog let go of the hands of the Elemental. The Ley Lines finished the glyph and exploded into action, creating a lattice work cage above them. Ruby sucked in a breath as the Eldrazi pressed against the barrier, the slack quickly disappeared. The lines snapped taut, and forced the Eldrazi back down.
There was a long moment of silence, the Eldrazi hordes had stopped moving, and all eyes locked onto the two descending titans.
Then one of them shrieked.
Ruby threw up a hand to keep the shards of rocks from striking her eyes, hearing them ping off her gauntlet. The ground shook and shattered under the force of the inhuman shriek, and Ruby gritted her teeth as her leg shifted again.
Pull them! They need to be on the center of the glyph! Jace's voice echoed.
Sweat matted Nissa's hair as more vines came up and wrapped around the Eldrazi, now in both black and green. The clip Ruby had made was venting mana and shuddering.
I'm trying!
Every second, more Eldrazi were appearing the the valley below, attacking the army or tearing at the ground to get at what little remained of Zendikar's mana.
Slowly, achingly, Ulamog and Kozilek started to be dragged towards the center. But even as it happened, the world seemed to shift, Ulamog and Kozilek were growing until they consumed the sky and millions of smaller Eldrazi appeared from nowhere, all attached to the two Titans.
Ruby's ward gave out with a sputter and Nissa cried out, her eyes turned into green suns and green mana spiraled out from her.
And all through it the Titans continued to grow. Kozilek's crown blotted out the sun and Ulamog's hand reached for them, the other coming down and effortlessly destroying the Elemental.
Ruby lunged across the space between her and Nissa, siphoning off the extra mana and adding it to the spell.
White, red, and blue chains grabbed onto Ulamog's arm and looped around the still growing titans. Ruby felt her eyes burn as Zendikar started to come apart at the seams.
Ruby was aware of people landing around her, of a wall of blue and green mana rising up and being sent at her and the beacon of green mana, only to be cut in two by a thin line of pure blue, then a torrent of red mana was launched at the titans.
Ruby felt Nissa guide her hand to the Red mana well in front of her, allowing it to pour its fire through them and into the ley lines. The titans unleashed another world splitting shriek as the fire burned away their body and left nothing but a core of mana. The ley lines swallowed the mana, and everything was silent.
They had won.
"Holy crap!" Sun laughed, "You did it!"
The White mana walked over, breathing heavily.
"What do we do now?" asked Gideon.
"Let's head to Ravnica," Jace said, "We can use that as a base of operations."
Ruby looked in the direction of Remnant, weighing her thoughts.
"I'll meet you there. I want to go back to Remnant for a couple. Clear my head."
Gideon reached over, patting her on the shoulder, "You earned it."
One by one, the other Planeswalkers left, Gideon taking Sun with him.
Why was it so dark?
Ruby focused on the blue strand from Remnant, praying it lead to Patch, she went through the Blind Eternities.
As she landed, her leg shifted again and Ruby cried out in pain. Just before she passed out, she heard someone running towards her.
---
Ghira stopped as he heard the shout of pain, looking behind him at the alley he had just passed. He hasn't seen anyone there.
Walking back, Ghira picked up into a brisk jog as he saw the little girl slid against the wall, her right leg clearly broken.
"Are you alright?"
What was he saying? Of course she wasn't; She had a broken leg and looked like she hadn't eaten in awhile. The girl gave an inarticulate moan, as if in agreement that it was a dumb question.
Ghira scowled, trying to think what to do. Moving her could just make her injuries worse, but he couldn't just leave her here, even if it was just long enough to get home.
Uttering a hurried apology under his breath, Ghira moved the girl, grabbing the backpack from her back, adding the groceries he had been sent out for to it, throwing it on his own back, and picked her up, briefly considering trying to break her death grip on the rod of metal in her left hand.
Trying to keep her from getting jostled around too much, and aware that Kali and Sienna were going to yell at him for this, Ghira returned to his home as quickly as possible.
Pushing open the door with his foot, Ghira laid her on the kitchen table.
"Sienna! Kali!"
After a moment the tiger Faunus walked in, hands shoved in her pockets.
"What's wro- ah crap," It was testament to how many people ended up injured on Menagerie that Sienna's voice was slightly resigned.
Ghira allowed himself to be pushed aside as the medical student pulled a pen light out of her pocket.
Flipping one eyelid open, Sienna clicked the light on, shining it into the eye, before moving to the other.
"Pupils constrict like a human's," Sienna muttered to herself, running her hands through the girl's hair, "no ears," down the girl's face and neck, "no scales or gills," Sienna grabbed the girl's right hand and pressed down on two spots of each digit.
Kali walked in, before rushing to join Sienna.
"What have you-"
"No ears, scales, gills, or claws. Eyes are human."
Kali rolled back the girl's lips, "These are too."
Sinna reached down, grabbing the zipper on the girl's hoodie before pausing and looking back at Ghira, gesturing with her chin.
Ghira took the hint, walking into the living room where Blake was reading a book. Ghira slipped the backpack off his back as his daughter looked up.
"What's that?"
"I found a hurt girl on my way home; she was carrying this."
Blake's nose twitched as she walked over, flipping open the top.
"She was carrying food?" Blake asked dryly.
Ghira took the bags out, sighing. Why did Blake have to inherit her mother's sense of humor?
Blake reached into one of the side pouches, picking up a ball of metal. Hundreds of white and red symbols were scrawled across it.
Ghira looked into the bag.
There were several other pieces of what was seemingly junk. Looking up, Ghira started to say something, stopping as Blake turned to orb around with a fascinated look on her face.
"Blake! Ghira!"
Both of them snapped their head towards the kitchen where Kali had called from.
"Yes?"
"Go get the guest room ready. She'll be staying with us for a couple of weeks."
The two shared a look of confusion.
"Why?"
"Her leg is broken and she's malnourished. I'm not letting her out on the streets like this."
---
Qrow sat in the back of the Bullhead, watching the water pass by them. A long black shape sat just beneath the surface of of the ocean.
"You sure it's her, Oz?"
The headmaster of Beacon nodded, examining his scroll, where his itinerary was pulled up.
"She was asking for you and Tai-Yang. I'm surprised he isn't here."
"I didn't tell him."
Ozpin looked up, one eyebrow raised in a silent question. Glynda looked even more taken aback.
"I didn't want to get his hopes up," Qrow muttered defensively, "He was just starting to accept she was gone, I couldn't tell him and risk it not being her. It'd destroy him."
The last anyone had seen Ruby, she'd been running away from her class with a Beowolf on her tail. When they had gotten there, they had found the Beowolf fading away with a massive hole through its skull, but nothing of Ruby. Qrow really wanted to know what had happened in between then and now that ended with her on Menagerie.
"I think it's her, she looked exactly like you described her. Skinnier than you would probably like, but alive."
Qrow looked back out the window. He could see the Menagerie in the distance and feel the Bullhead slowing down.
"You said she was blind?"
"Was being the key word. She's been slowly regaining her vision over the last week. If it keeps up, she should regain complete use of her sight within two months."
"Do you think there's any chance of a relapse?"
"I don't think so, but it would be best to schedule an appointment with an optometrist to be safe."
Qrow nodded, discreetly pulling out his scroll and checking what that was. Even after twenty years of living in the Kingdoms, there were still large gaps in his knowledge.
Once the Bullhead landed, Qrow jumped out, looking for the person who was supposed to be meeting them. As he did, he tried to resist sucking his teeth.
He hated this place, hated what it represented. Hated that there was so much hatred between Humans and Faunus that many felt it was safer to live in one of the most dangerous places on Remnant than to try living together.
Finally a woman who looked like she was in her mid twenties pushed through the gathering crowd and gestured for them to follow. The three Huntsmen did so, rushing to keep her in sight.
Wasn't she cheerful?
Eventually the woman threw open a door, walking in without bothering to check if they had followed.
Sitting at the table was a bear of a man with black hair and yellow eyes, a smile grew on his face as they walked in.
"Oz," He pushed himself out of his chair and made his way around the table, "How long has it been?"
"Years," Ozpin took the man's hand, "have you met Glynda and Qrow before?"
The man shook his head, turning to the pair. He grabbed Glynda's hand, shaking it firmly.
"Ghira," He introduced himself.
"A pleasure."
He turned to Qrow, shaking his hand.
"Ruby's uncle?"
"Yeah," Qrow looked around, "Is she…?"
"Out," Ghira answered, "She was going with Kali and Blake to pick up some food."
"Will they be back soon?"
"Any minute now. You can wait outside for them if you want?"
"Yeah. I'll do that."
Qrow ended up hearing Ruby before he saw her, her voice carrying down the street.
"And then I said 'maybe another time Mr. Bolas, I'm trying to get home'."
Qrow leapt up, looking down the street.
Ruby was using a metal rod to keep herself up as she hobbled along. Her leg was wrapped in a cast and her eyes were unfocused.
"Ruby!"
Ruby stopped talking, a large smile splitting across her face.
"Uncle Qrow!"
Qrow ran over, bundling her into a hug, he pressed a kiss against her hair.
"Do you know how scared we were?"
Ruby wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed tight.
"I was scared too," Ruby's voice wavered, and Qrow felt something wet leak onto his waist, "can we go home soon? I want to see Dad and Yang again."
"How did you even get here?"
"It's, it's a really long story. Can it wait till we get home?"
Qrow sighed, picking Ruby up. She was distressingly light.
"Yeah. It will take a couple of days for us to get home.
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