Miracles of Ancient Wonder
~
Chapter 8.5
~~~
"You don't need to worry about Blake and Yang." Ruby stared at Weiss, the sparkles in her eyes seeming to move erratically.
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked very carefully.
"I'm going after them."
Weiss felt her heart beat much faster. Considering what Mars had said, there were a number of different ways she could take that. "What are you going to do to them?"
"I don't know." She laid a hand on Crescent Rose. "If they're still the Blake and Yang that I knew, then… they're good. If not…"
Weiss gulped. Yang had better not get herself cursed or taken over by a ghost when that happened. "They're going to be hunted."
"No, they won't," Ruby said without any inflection.
Weiss took a deep breath. Blake might be incredibly good at sneaking, but Yang wasn't. "Ruby, they're going to be hunted as Anathema until someone confirms the kill."
"No. They. Won't!" Ruby said again, talking down to Weiss as if she was a child. "I've made sure of it."
"Ruby." A chill ran up Weiss' spine. "What did you do?"
"I ended them," she said with a hint of happiness. "I made sure that there won't be any more investigations."
There were worse possibilities that Weiss had thought of, but not many. "How?"
~~~
"There is something else that you need to know before you set off." Mars pulled Ruby's chin up so that they were looking eye to eye. "A technique that would never occur to you without additional training."
"Are you going to almost kill me again?"
She chuckled. "Were I trying to kill you, you would be dead. Now that you have experienced such an attack, you will be forewarned of the sensation for the next time you are in such danger."
~~~
"I placed a curse that Mars taught me on them." Ruby turned to the window as the lights flickered. "As long as I maintain it, they won't be able to do their jobs."
"No." Weiss shook her head slightly. "Ruby, you can't do that."
"Yes, I can. I did."
"No, you need to stop it." Weiss stepped forward; Ruby didn't react. "I don't know how many people are going to die if you don't, but-"
"No. It's horrible and wrong and I'm ending it."
"Ruby! You're going to kill people!"
"People are dying anyway, because of the investigations and because I came back." Ruby let her head fall to the side and walked over to the broken window. "You know how everyone's always wondered if the gods have abandoned us?"
"It's a common sentiment."
"Well they have." Ruby growled with more venom than Weiss had ever heard from her. "We're not worth the resources to save."
From a cold, mathematical perspective, Weiss could understand that. If there really were other worlds with millions of people out there, then the return on investment for any given resource would be higher on a high population world that either didn't have the Grimm plaguing it, since Mars implied they weren't everywhere, or had them more under control.
There were other options someone could work towards which would be better for them, like minimizing suffering, but if they cared about getting something back, then it made sense. Just like the old SDC policy of only opening a new market when they could afford to undercut the competition until they were all driven out of business. It didn't matter to her father how many lives were ruined when he could raise the profit margin even higher. The only way to make that practice stop had been taking matters into her own hands.
Weiss forced a small smile onto her face. There had to be gods who were more compassionate than father was. "I'm sure there are ways that we could convince them we're worth investing in."
Ruby stared at her with a look of utter disbelief.
~~~
"There exists a deep corruption, a gambit of ancient enemies who have lost their grasp on what was once theirs, which may only be purged from without."
"From without?" Ruby sort of got what Mars meant, but not entirely. "Aren't I supposed to belong here?"
"While your soul may belong, your current mind does not. And, there are still others who could prove useful." Mars smiled in a way that made Ruby shiver. "You are unique in your position to turn those who would be our enemies from their masters."
~~~
"They shouldn't need to be convinced. They're supposed to be taking care of our world and instead they abandoned us!"
"Not everyone see things the same way you do!"
"Well maybe they should," Ruby sighed and turned away. "I thought you would be happy about this."
"Why would I be happy? You're wreaking havoc!" The lights flickered again, then died, as if to punctuate Weiss' statement.
"Because now you can take over," Ruby whispered, her face obscured by her bangs. "Isn't that what you've wanted all this time?"
Weiss grit her teeth. Taking over Beacon or the investigation committees had only crossed her mind a couple of times. It was such a crazy idea she hadn't even made plans for it. "No."
"Liar," she said in the same, even tone.
"I'm not lying."
"You're always lying."
"Ruby, I swear on whatever god or goddess you want, I don't want to do that."Weiss weighed her options for resolving this without hurting Ruby in some way; they felt nonexistent. If Ruby had been her normal self, then maybe there would be a chance. "But if you're going to make me do something I don't want to, then I'll begin with stopping this."
"What're you going to do? Attack me?" Ruby's eyes lazily drifted towards Myrtenaster. She didn't care about it at all.
Weiss formed a vision in her mind's eye of Ruby's belief about the investigations and twisted it, inverted it. Her partner believed that they did far more harm than good. She needed to think that they were a necessary evil for the good of all.
As the image finished being shaped, Weiss tied it to her words.
"You're-"
Ruby was no more. Weiss' words were only heard by herself.
Something round and cold pressed into the back of Weiss' neck.
"Don't do that again," Ruby growled from right behind her.
"You're going to-"
"Stop trying to control me!" Ruby snapped. "It's the worst thing that the Anathema can do to someone!"
"So you're accusing me of being Anathema as well?"
"I know you are." Ruby pressed barrel of what Weiss assumed was Crescent Rose in harder. "And I am too."
It felt like the bottom had fallen out of Weiss' stomach. Ruby thought they were as evil as Yang had, if not more. Was that where this madness had come from?
"You can either agree to stop trying to take over my mind or that's the end of this conversation."
"Fine, I won't do anything else like that." There were other methods she could use that were less obvious, but that might push Ruby too far.
The barrel pulled back. Weiss slowly turned around. It hadn't been Crescent Rose, Ruby was just using her finger to threaten Weiss.
"That's a relief." Weiss sighed. "I thought you were really-"
Ruby pointed her finger at something behind Weiss. "Bang."
A rope snapped. Weiss jerked her head around to see Ruby's bed swaying violently. A small bullet hole had appeared in the wall behind where the severed rope was.
"A gun that can't be taken back once you give it to someone. A gun that can kill a thousand people with one pull of the trigger." Ruby laughed. "Would you trust me with a gun like that, Weiss?"
Not right now she wouldn't. If Ruby had been her normal self, that would be a different story. "Of course I would."
"Liar." Ruby practically spat out the word.
"I'm not lying. I haven't for this entire conversation!" Weiss knew people would distrust her, it came with being a Schnee and having to deceive so many about her nature, but this was ridiculous!
Ruby stared at her, not blinking. "Prove it. How do you know about what happened to me?"
"I was in the tree above Pyrrha, just like your Uncle." Weiss held a slight smile. Something was very wrong with Ruby if she was willing to actually shoot her and she couldn't risk Ruby having also learned to detect lies if she wanted to get anywhere.
Ruby squinted, then looked away. "I wish Blake was here."
"That would be nice." If nothing else, Blake would be able to subdue Ruby without causing too much harm. Actually… "Ruby, are you feeling alright?"
"Yes. Better than ever," she replied, back to the unnaturally calm tone. The strain around her eyes was barely visible.
"Ruby, you're not well. You're not acting like yourself." Weiss had helped both Blake and Yang avoid what they had thought of as curses. If they invoked some being's displeasure, then terrible things would happen.
"I'm doing what I've wanted to do for months. I even have the permission of someone more cosmically important than anyone on Remnant."
They knew who Ruby's patron was, but none of them knew if she could affect Ruby in the same way. At the end of the fight, Ruby made her angry.
Weiss needed to tell her.
"Ruby," Weiss kept repeating her name to keep her here, to her remind of the the person who she was. "When you left with Mars, what did she do to you?"
"She did enough."
~~~
"Isn't it your job to stop this from happening? To stop me?"
"No, my Shieldbearer. My duty is to ensure that all strife occurs as it ought to and a storm has been brewing for some time. A grand conflict that will sweep through the streets of Yu Shan with its ferocity."
~~~
"I think that some part of her might be controlling you." It was risky, but she had to do something.
Ruby glared at Weiss and kept her finger raised.
"Do you remember our second trip to Vale, where we first fought the Anathema woman?"
"If Blake and Yang had listened, we would have won."
"Right," Weiss nodded. "You also remember how when the fight began, Yang shut down."
Ruby continued staring.
"Yang can be affected by another being, through what makes her Anathema. It's what did that to her, not the Anathema woman."
"So you lied to me then too."
"I lied to you because there was no other choice."
"You've lied to me since the day we met. You could have just talked to me."
"No, we couldn't. Not about this."
"Yes, you-"
"You were going to shoot Yang," Weiss interrupted. "If I hadn't hit you as hard as I could, you were going to convince yourself it was necessary, either by your own thoughts or the spell."
"I-" Ruby hesitated. "I don't think-"
"Would you bet her life on that? You're almost as bad as Nora in regards to the Anathema," Weiss continued pressing. "A month ago, you would've called a Hunt as soon as you found out!"
"I- She's my sister!"
"And you didn't accept that fact until I forced you to." And family bonds weren't very strong at all. Ruby might love Yang like Weiss did Winter, but Weiss also knew that Winter would end her if she went too far. Father had said that family had priority over all others, but they both knew how much that had meant to him when he disowned Winter.
Ruby went quiet until the lights came back on. The backup generators must have kicked in.
"Attention students!" a man shouted over the campus' speakers. "We are in the midst of an incredibly important emergency. All students please move to the classroom four-oh-one for a vote on next week's lunch menu-."
"What are you doing with the microphone?" a woman interrupted as the sirens began sounding.
"We must determine the students' favorite lunches!"
"No, students, please report to classroom five-sixteen for a review on the showers!"
"Four-oh-one!"
"Five-sixteen!"
The continuing argument would have been hilarious in its absurdity, if it wasn't so terrifying.
"I need to go." Ruby tried to walk to the door.
"Ruby, you're not thinking straight." Weiss stepped in the way. If she was right, then she couldn't let Ruby pass. They needed to figure out what helped Ruby undo whatever happened to her and if she left, then none of them would be able to find her again. "You need to stay until we figure this out."
"I'm leaving, Weiss." Ruby continued to walk, running into Weiss. "Get out of the way."
"Ruby." Weiss needed another argument, something which would get to her and make her stick around long enough to ride this out and get help. "Are you just going to abandon your friends? Leave without saying goodbye?"
Ruby stopped pressing forward. "It doesn't matter, they won't remember me tomorrow."
"That's a lie. Jaune and Nora might, but I guarantee that Ren and Pyrrha will notice that you're missing."
"Shut up."
That got a reaction, it worked. "And your Uncle, what would he think? He wouldn't even know you came-"
"Weiss." Ruby stepped back, placing one hand on Crescent Rose.
"Ruby." Weiss grabbed Myrtenaster's handle. As soon as her hand touched it, something struck her fingers. It also hit her belt loop and her sword's pommel, sending it flying.
"Don't make me go through you." Ruby blinked several times, clearing moisture from her eyes, as she pulled her hand back from Crescent Rose. Her finger had been pointed to the side, but had hit Weiss via an impossible shot anyway. Now, it was pointed at her head.
Weiss clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. If Ruby was willing to go that far, there was nothing more she could do to stop her. She couldn't force Ruby out of the spiral of destruction, because Ruby would shoot her. She couldn't win in a fight and hold her here until whatever madness had taken her ended. And she couldn't even guilt her into staying long enough. Weiss was helpless, powerless. The only option remaining was going to the administration, if they could even do anything through Ruby's curse. And she wasn't going to do that. "You're probably going to be hunted too after this."
"I know. It's not just going to be Hunters too. Heaven isn't going to be happy about me coming back."
What the hell happened if that was true?
It didn't really matter.
"Ruby," Weiss stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Ruby. The best that she could do was try to mend the fissure she'd opened. "Please don't die. I know you don't trust me, but I'll do whatever I can to help."
"You could come with me. You could do something good and fight against this."
"I can't." No matter how much she wanted to, she had responsibilities. "There're too many people relying on me. And honestly, I'd only slow you down at this point."
She was the fifth best fighter in their class, easily within the top twenty at Beacon as a whole. That wouldn't be enough if Blake, Yang, and Ruby were going to be attacked by people who could challenge Pyrrha, let alone Ruby.
"Good bye, Weiss," Ruby said with an air of finality.
"No." Weiss shook her head. "I'll see you later, Ruby."
The words hung in the empty air. Ruby had disappeared from between Weiss's arms before a tear fell down her cheek.
Once more, she was alone...
~~~
"There exists within your world a being and a location of great importance. The being is the one who has created the creatures of your nightmares. The location is the gate to Yu Shan, by which you will return to us."
Ruby nodded, though there was no guarantee she was coming back.
"Both are familiar to some who are close to you."
Ruby grit her teeth, of course she wouldn't be told who those people were.
"Go forth, young Shieldbearer, for your family will be waiting for you when you return."
"What do you mean my family?"
Mars ignored her question, again. "Reach heaven through violence and you shall be enlightened."
