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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Witch”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Well, it's perhaps happier provided you didn't watch today’s episode lol. Getting through these 18 minutes felt like watching an extended version of a CinemaSins vid. I heard a little 'ding!' every time something nonsensical, contradictory, or just downright stupid happened. My mind became a pinball machine.

Which, in the interest of being fair as opposed to just snarky, only matters if you're looking for something resembling emotional depth in this show. RWBY, for all its faults, is enjoyable as a mindless spectacle. It's when you expect — or simply hope — for anything more that this very fragile house of cards comes tumbling down.

If it’s not clear already, today’s recap contains copious amounts of salt. Fair warning.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s dive in. Episode nine is titled "Witch," which is fitting since many members of our group go toe-to-toe against Salem herself. The narrative issues inherent in having your heroes fighting their final boss years before the series is meant to end might have been avoided if it weren't for Oscar's ridiculous, sacrificial attack... but we'll get to that.

We open with a sweeping shot of the Atlas battle, as hundreds of dead soldiers segue into endless grimm. Hold onto that image for a bit. At the end of this carnage is, of course, the mouth of the whale. We cut to Jaune, Ren, and Yang already safely inside.

"Well," says Yang, "that was harrowing."

I'm on the fence about this choice. On the one hand, yes, it's good that RWBY knows it can skip over extraneous scenes. We have NINE characters to keep track of and develop, fourteen if you count Ozpin, Maria, Winter, Ironwood, and now Whitley. Plus villains. There simply isn't time to show every insignificant moment... but was this insignificant? Obviously finding Oscar and escaping Salem's clutches is the true hurdle of this mission, but that doesn't mean getting through an entire army of grimm is in any way a cake walk. I'd be more willing to ignore this time skip if it weren't likewise presented as such a challenge for Winter's team. They have to "clear a path" to the whale, but our trio got there unscathed and unnoticed? The obvious implication here is that Ren just masked them the whole way — supported by his aura breaking later in the episode — but it still feels like we missed an important chunk of this task.

I'm nit-picking though. As said, I’m straddling the fence on this one and, given that, I'm inclined to settle on a, "Good job, RWBY. You're keeping the writing tight," if only because I don't have much else to praise about this episode. Throw the poor, struggling show a bone lol.

Now that they're inside, they realize they haven't the slightest idea how they'll find Oscar. “Like finding a needle in a giant…whale… why did we think this was a good idea?!” Because you and your friends are idiots who no longer bother to think about a situation before throwing yourself straight into it? This isn't me being mean to Yang, she literally says as much later on. Our heroes no longer get by on intellect, strategy, and skill, but rather plot armor and a staggering number of coincidences. For example, Ren.

Yang: Wow, it sure is lucky for us that on our way to this incredibly dangerous mission Ren inexplicably developed a new part of his semblance. Now he can not only mask peoples' emotions, see the true emotions that someone is feeling, pull thoughts out of their head about what they believe about a situation, but can also track someone across long distances through their emotions alone. Even that doesn't actually help us find Oscar, we just got lucky again when, in this maze of a whale, he ran right into us!

Me: So what were you going to do if this meta-world stopped giving you the most contrived solutions in Remnant history?

Yang: Die gloriously, I guess.

What Yang actually says is, "Okay. That's new!" and they enter the literal belly of the beast wielding a shield of convenience.

Jaune is also being awkward again because remember, RWBY doesn't know when to incorporate humor and when to treat a situation seriously. He reminds Ren not to "drain [himself]," he'll help him, and it's clear the scene is hinting at their earlier fight. There's a lot to unpack there, but I want to save it for the second conversation.

For now, we cut to Oscar, curled up in his cell, repeating stories to comfort himself. Yeah that's fine. I could use a broken heart right before Valentine's Day.

“She brushed off her bumps and bruises, for nothing hurt worse than the loneliness in her chest." It's a line from The Girl Who Fell Through the World, which Ozpin recognizes given that he's "lived through" a fair number of fairy tales. He immediately asks how Oscar is holding up — because he's a caring person! — and Oscar admits that he never understood why the girl of the tale was sad upon reaching home again. Now he does: she wasn't the same person anymore. I don't think the fact that Oscar has had both a metaphorical fall — leaving his farm to 'fall' into this war — and a literal one — falling through Atlas to unlock his magic — is lost on anyone. This is a nice allusion to our themes. Yang's speech to Salem later on? That’s something else entirely.

Storytelling done, Ozpin says he thinks "this plan to divide might have run its course” and it's time to try and find a way to leave. I'm sorry, I love my farm boy, but what plan? He didn't do anything. At least nothing that could remotely be termed an intellectual plot. Oscar convinced Ozpin to try and turn Hazel by telling him the world would end under Salem's rule and the only reason that worked is because the story decided to chuck out Hazel's entire character. You know, the one that hates Ozpin above all others, wants the world remade into a non-Academy horror show, can't understand that people make their own choices, is terrified of Salem, and has no reason to trust a prisoner he's currently torturing. Oscar's "plan" hinged on his writers erasing a great deal of work to build a new story that fits said “plan.” He didn't even get Emerald involved, she just — again, conveniently — eavesdropped outside their door at just the right moment.

To be clear, I'm not against a story being written to work in the hero's favor. Of course things are going to be convenient in a happy-ending tale. Someone manages to hold out just as long as they need to, a sword is lying just within reach, you, yes, happen to run into the one person you're desperate to find. This kind of stuff is reassuring, telling its audiences that sometimes things do work out for the best. It's enjoyable... but only provided the hero's entire success doesn't hinge on fate being shockingly kind to them. That's what RWBY has become. A world where Salem doesn't attack Mantle, Amity Tower is suddenly finished, the group can charge into any deadly situation they want to and bank on destiny twisting around itself to ensure they come out of it safely. A hero finding a convenient weapon nearby to defeat their enemy with is only reassuring after we've seen them implement a brilliant attack, struggle, nearly win, but then suddenly be faced with failure, necessitating that little push from coincidence. They earned it. The hero doesn't get to run in blindly and find a Defeat Bad Guy plot point gift wrapped for them at the first sign of trouble. They just die.

RWBY used to be a better written show because that's precisely Pyrrha's story. She charged a Maiden unprepared, without a single plan or hope for success, and she died. That's what happens in a dangerous, internally consistent world, but RWBY has since lost the second half of that formula.

I'm harping on this because this entire episode is built on that foundation of coincidence, something that shouldn't be happening at all, but especially not when you're pitting the heroes against Salem herself.

So yeah, it just gets worse from here.

Back to Oscar. Without the cane magic is the only weapon they have at their disposal, but he's reluctant to use it because every time he does, they merge more quickly.

They... do?

Okay, there are three major problems with this announcement:

I'm pretty sure we've only seen Oscar use magic once: creating that barrier to survive the fall through Atlas. That was the point of his near death experience, to unlock something that had previously been unavailable to him. Yet if he's only used it once, why is he so sure that it hurries the merge along? What's this "every time" business? This confusion could have easily been avoided if the show had just let Oscar use his magic this volume, tackling some other questions and gaps in the process. Let him use it to fight off the grimm in Mantle, giving him the opportunity to admit to at least Jaune, Ren, and Yang that Ozpin is back. He could have used some magic against the Hound with Ozpin's encouragement, answering the question of why he was entirely silent while the two of them got their ass beat. Give us a moment where Oscar uses his magic against Hazel, nearly escaping in the process, but is captured again at the last moment. Basically, his line makes it sound like magic has been this ongoing resource with an established downside when... it hasn’t.

Coinciding with all of the above, how is it that Oscar can suddenly use magic at will? Yeah, yeah, he unlocked it during the fall, but really? You open up the magic gates and from then on out it's as natural as breathing? This is the same issue with Ruby's silver eyes. The story gives these characters incredible powers, but never has them talking about how they work, let alone training them. They just exist, perfect in execution, as soon as the plot needs them. (See: the final shot of this episode.) At least Weiss had to practice her summoning for multiple volumes.

Finally, the question of how Oscar instinctively knows how to use magic could easily be answered with, "Well, he's kind of Ozpin now," but that would require the story to actually explain what the merge is. "We merge faster," Oscar says, but what does that mean? The Ozpin and Oscar we see in this scene are fundamentally indistinguishable from the Ozpin and Oscar who existed at his aunt's house, four whole years ago. They're still separate people, with one controlling the body and the other existing as a consciousness he can talk to. Nothing has changed. The show keeps insisting that Oscar is going through this deep and painful arc of losing himself to Ozpin... despite the fact that he has yet to lose a single bit of Oscar-ness. Has he changed? Well of course, but anyone going through these experiences is going to change. Remove the "merge" aspect and Oscar's confidence or power up is likewise indistinguishable from any of the other characters' developments. Nora is becoming more of an individual this volume. Ren is becoming more powerful in his semblance. Neither have an Ozpin to force that change, it just happens on its own. So what separates Oscar from every other character going through a formative experience? When is “I’m not the same person anymore” due to unnatural magic vs. just growing up?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy our boy is getting more screen time — and that the cast is actually being kind to him now — but overall his arc is objectively terrible. He bought some clothes, told Ironwood he was as bad as Salem, told Hazel how to access the Relic, and then asked him not to be a villain anymore. Somehow these things are presented as significant moments of growth while the real questions surrounding his merge go unanswered.

“Honestly, I think you’re doing just fine on your own," Ozpin tells him, but he's not. God knows our boy is trying, but this is a moment where Ozpin's self-hatred (and the story's insistence that the younger generation is intrinsically better than the older) is blinding him to the situation. Oscar has made terrible decisions lately, in as much as he's been able to decide anything at all, and now he's rejecting escaping captivity because he's terrified of a concept he doesn't even understand yet. None of that is fine. Reassurance is one thing, but painting this situation as Oscar making better choices than he would with Ozpin's input is insane. He literally just decided to keep them in Salem's clutches indefinitely because something something magic is scary, I guess. Oscar doesn't need a, 'You're better than me' speech, he needs a reality check so they don't both die. Remember back in Volume 5 when Oscar, a brave but idiotic 14 year old, insisted on fighting someone entirely out of his league and Ozpin was like,

then saved him from getting his head crushed in like a cantaloupe? We need more of that. Our teenage heroes need guidance, but because RWBY keeps insisting that every adult they encounter is corrupt or incompetent, that hasn't happened in three volumes. They're just aloud to decide things like, “Let's tell our captor the Relic's password because UwU ~trust~” and then the story bends over backwards to make that work. Instead we could, you know, let characters learn that they can be wrong.

The snow scene was the beginning, but RWBY really went off the rails the day it let Qrow warn the group against stealing from and attacking an allied city, only for them to call him an idiot for doubting them. Now, Ozpin doesn't even get to warn Oscar about stupid decisions, he just agrees with them, reassuring and passive. Never mind the complication of whether Ozpin is even emotionally capable of providing guidance after they labeled him the worst thing to ever happen to them.

Why does RWBY keep ruining my faves 😔

Anyway, we’ve got to stay on track. Oscar has decided to just lie there but, luckily for him, Hazel's redemption — I use that term so loosely — has begun. He drags Oscar out of his cell before we cut to Winter.

She's leading a portion of Ironwood's army, trying to get things ready for when the bomb arrives. Neon and Flynt are a part of her team, sharing scared glances and trying to remain optimistic. It's a legitimately hard-hitting moment, striking that balance between horror and hope. Funny though, I wonder that RWBYJNOR would think of their friends fighting for evil Ironwood...

Marrow, continuing the tradition of insisting that our heroes be both adults and kids simultaneously, looks sadly at the soldiers heading into battle and goes, "But... they're just kids." I would like to remind everyone reading that Ruby is younger than them. Anyone who thinks that these teenagers shouldn't be fighting grimm — the thing they have been training to do as their professional career, during an unprecedented attack on their home — should not simultaneously be looking to the girl who is two years younger as his savior. (Something that, while not overt yet, is very much where Marrow is heading as he continually doubts the Ace Ops and looks to RWBY's group as his new, moral leaders.) I'm glad that, for once, this perspective is firmly called out. Elm arrives to tell him point blank that he needs to figure out his personal ethics later. It doesn't matter because there's an army of grimm out there and monsters aren't going to spare anyone, adult or child. Quit philosophizing and kill some already.

Back to Hazel where we get the doorway shot from our trailer. He's taken Oscar to the Relic, because of course he has. Do I really need to list how convenient this is too? Apparently, "the moment we move that thing, this place goes on high alert," but there’s no alarm for when Oscar is taken from his cell, they enter the Relic's room, or when they use it. What does a movement alert matter if someone can just waltz in and waste the last question themselves? Put some of those endless grimm in the room to guard it, Salem!

Just assume that I am, at any given point in this episode, letting out the longest sigh my lungs are physically capable of.

Emerald shows up, demonstrating both the convenience of everyone arriving when they need to, and the very real danger that Salem herself could come in and discover what they're up to. Hazel has Oscar summon Jinn, only to immediately say that “Actually, I think all my questions are answered now.”

I'm sorry, how does this answer any of Hazel's questions? His driving question was not, "Is the Relic actually a magical object capable of doing magical things?" but rather "Are you telling me the truth about Salem's plans to summon the Gods and destroy all of Remnant in her quest to finally die, thereby changing who I'm going to support in this war?" Seeing a naked, blue djinn does not answer that question.

Hazel's "redemption" is non-existent. He — we — learned about Salem's death wish despite how that contradicts previous lore, then he trusted Ozpin despite that contradicting his entire character, now he joins the heroes because, literally, he sees Jinn floating there. It’s bad enough that Hazel goes from clear villain to sacrificial hero in a matter of in-world hours, but we don’t even get a reason for why that change occurred.

Oh, there's also this:

So Jinn doesn't come out of her lamp unless someone intends to ask a question, but does it for Ruby because she's special, yet still reiterates that this won't happen again. Then Oscar summons her without intending to ask a question, she comes out anyway, confirms that none of them seek knowledge from her, and happily pops back inside her lamp because eh, it’s whatever.

If RWBY had any courage the three of them would be cursed now for toying with a powerful, magical object. Remember the days when Jinn was a little terrifying because it felt like she was warping her answers and we had no idea what she might do to someone who used her carelessly? When she felt like a djinn? Good times.

Or better times, at least.

So Good Guy Hazel and Good Gal Emerald promise to get Oscar out. Never mind all the horror they caused, the people they killed, and that for Hazel, at least, this defection is coming out of nowhere.

Anyone remember that Emerald orchestrated Penny's death? No? Just me?

As they leave it turns out Neo was camouflaged against the wall, because she was also precisely where she needed to be. Does everyone just periodically pop into the Relic room to see what’s going on? At least this time it's not working in the heroes' favor. Remember when I said it's beyond idiotic for Oscar to just hand out the Relic information to known enemies currently holding him captive and torturing him?

Yeeeeaah.

So Neo's got the Lamp. Funny how all of this could have been avoided if Ruby had just put it in the vault like she came to Atlas to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We return to our trio where Jaune and Ren need to rest because their aura is giving out. Good! These guys fought a battle, fought Neo, fought more grimm, fought the Hound, traipsed through the tundra, presumably fought through more grimm to get to the whale, and have been using both their semblances to look for Oscar. It's about time their reserves started to falter.

Jaune decides to scout ahead a bit, leaving Yang and Ren to talk about nothing of importance. I mean that seriously. Remember a few days ago when I spoke about how, if the snow conversation does come back up, Ren's points would be entirely ignored for a nonsensical “I’m glad we’re friends” speech? Remember how I also spoke about how every emotional beat now is entirely generic and you could replace any character with another and not a single thing would change? Yeah. This is both those arguments in one. Nothing is said about the points Ren made. His problems with how the group has been acting lately and the very real, very deadly consequences it has had are flat out ignored. We went from

"But these aren't the kinds of decisions we should be making because we have no idea what we're doing!"

"Forward, no matter what!"

in a matter of hours, with precisely zero insight into how Ren went from one perspective to the exact opposite. Kind of like Hazel. Because see, RWBY doesn't write arcs, it just writes one thing until it decides to switch it up for something else, with the opposite idea presented as a “resolution” or a “twist.” Our creators writes scenes they know the fandom is begging for without considering how to get a character to that place, let alone how to get them out of it. That's all Ren's speech was, the equivalent of moral fan service. Here's a glimpse of actual character depth and a morally gray situation... now forget it ever happened because we're back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Instead of working through the laundry list of issues Ren raised, Ren instead accepts Jaune's aura help — something they've been doing since Argus — and tells Yang it's okay to be scared. These moments are meaningless and, as said, could have been between anyone in our cast. Ren could have told Nora she doesn't have to use jokes to cover up that she's scared. Jaune could have reminded Ruby that she can depend on him. Yang could have tried to keep Blake and Weiss' hopes up. This scenes ignores the individuality of the characters, like the fact that they just fought over very different world views, to instead favor any dime-a-dozen moment of support. The number of times this volume has rejected the conflict and resolution the group needs for bland, generic reassurances staggering.

Also, apparently Jaune isn't scared at all? I don't think that's as good a thing as Ren seems to think...

Then Jaune immediately rounds the corner, terrified lol.

One of the seer grimm is on its way and he tells Ren to mask them. Apparently he had been masking them before — one of the reasons he's so tired now, trying to do two things at once — but it's only here that they go black and white again. Ren manages to keep it up for a little while, but his aura breaks before the seer passes and they're spotted.

Hark! A consequence!

That was well done. It makes sense and it adds to the stakes. We've seen the insane amount of fighting the group has done since Volume 7, we just established that they're at their breaking point, and then Ren's aura fails him right when he needs it the most. Add this to the miniscule pile of things that were well done this episode.

Salem runs into Emerald and Hazel, the former of which is acting very suspicious when asked if he's made any headway with Oscar. The seer's alarm interrupts them though and... okay. Was I the only one who cackled during this moment? Between Salem's voice acting and the fact that she just yeets herself down the hallway, it came across as really funny to me.

Either way, it is a bad situation. Our trio is trying to figure out what to do, to which Yang responds, "Do what we do best… charge blindly into danger!!”

Ren's aura is broken. Jaune barely has any left and it’s unlikely he could heal right now even if Ren had any aura to amplify. If Ren takes a single hit anywhere important he is dead.

Me, on my knees, surrounded by the ashes of the Hound, the last bit of serious storytelling we had: "For the love of God, the kingdom is on fire and simultaneously dying of cold. There's a grimm army decimating hundreds outside. Half their group is missing and they're wandering lost inside a devil whale, about to have the most powerful being Remnant has ever known personally try to kill them — can we please have their attitudes reflect that?"

The answer, in case you were wondering, is no.

Back to the bomb. Whatever scientists were given this task have completed it and Marrow watches as it's flown out towards the whale. "Come on, Juan" he whispers and I'm all, "Juan?" Apparently it's a callback to last volume when Marrow couldn't remember Jaune's actual name, but it took me hopping onto the RWBY wiki to remember that.

As death via explosion inches closer, the trio runs into Hazel and Emerald. Turns out though that Hazel is really Oscar, disguised through Emerald's semblance. Nice trick! Jaune immediately drops both weapons to hug Oscar and, while that's nice and all, it's also the stupidest thing he could possible do in enemy territory. Also, Oscar has been beaten up by the Hound, tortured with magic, and likewise beaten bloody by Hazel. I was hoping for a tender hug like the one Nora gave him, not a giant squeeze for more comedy purposes. It just feels like RWBY has no idea how to manage the tone of this volume, let alone the torture of a child...

There's the obligatory, "Why should we trust you?" from Yang regarding Emerald joining the team, to which Ren responds, "Because she's scared, just like us."

That doesn't prove anything. Literally everyone is scared right now. There is a war going on. I really cannot emphasize enough how RWBY throws out Deep™ sounding lines that are, upon inspection, absolutely nonsensical. Nora reminding Penny that there are different parts to her personhood, Hazel saying that all his questions have been answered, Ren announcing that Emerald is scared... it's all worthless chatter that has no bearing on their problems: How do I keep from being hacked? How do I know you're telling the truth? How do we know you're trustworthy after you spent years trying to kill us? But of course, because it's RWBY, Ren's announcement is treated as some sort of secret truth that everyone accepts. Emerald joins up.

As they head for an exit we return to Marrow who, frankly, is getting on my last nerve. I know the fandom loves him because he's clearly leaning towards Team RWBY, but does anyone actually listen to what he says? He starts yelling at Winter for sending in the bomb because the trio might still be alive in there, despite:

Seeing for himself the hundreds of soldiers that have fallen trying to keep Atlas safe

Knowing and hearing again from Winter that the only way to stop this carnage is to take out the whale. Given more time, the whole city falls

Sadly announcing to the world that children shouldn't have to fight in a battle, rather than just joining the fray and helping to keep those kids safe

How does Marrow think those kids are going to be able to stop fighting? How does he think he'll get a city to return to? It's no wonder that he's drawn to Ruby because both characters stand around twiddling their thumbs, mourning that things are bad, and blaming others for imperfect solutions rather than doing something to make the situation better. Marrow's disgust at Winter over the bomb is precisely the same as Ruby's disgust at Ironwood over Mantle: how dare you not have a plan that results in both victory for us and zero sacrifices? They want perfection which, yes, is an admirable trait, but their problem is they refuse to do anything until that perfection appears. They’re paralyzed, a trait that’s particularly dangerous when your story insists that perfection will never appear: it’s not a fairy tale. So they just continue to get mad at others for the fact that they live in an unfair world. You want that perfect solution? Think it up yourself. Otherwise, stand aside and let those coming up with something do what they can to make things better.

Marrow goes so far as to drag Weiss into things, trying to guilt Winter with the knowledge that she'll have to relate the death of her sister's friends back to her. Winter, because she's a badass who isn't in denial over the situation, tells him that yes, she will shoulder that responsibility. To Marrow's credit he backs off then, but man. RWBY has legitimate moral questions here — when is holding out for a few worth risking the many? — but they go about exploring it in the most frustrating way possible. I personally have no respect for the guy who wants to announce that Children In War Is Bad instead of, you know, using the power he currently has to protect those kids already neck deep in a battle.

Because John Mulaney remains relevant:

"There shouldn't be a horse in the hospital :( "

"We're WELL PAST THAT."

Marrow is the one going, "There shouldn't be kids in a war :( We shouldn't have to kill a few to save the whole kingdom :( " and everyone around him is like, "No shit, dude! But this is the hand we were dealt! You going to help us, or what?"

Literally all of these characters could have been so much more than what they currently are.

Except Winter. She's doing great.

Now for the final scene. Our group nearly manages to escape the whale, but is incapacitated by some sort of screechy power that Salem employs.

She contorts her body, stretching out her arms to snag Emerald, and the others have a brief, but intense skirmish. Jaune manages to block a blast of magic aimed at Ren with his shield — nice — and Yang dots Salem's face with a bunch of bombs before blowing her sky-high — double nice. Oscar shoots out some magic of his own because, yeah, I guess he can just do that now? It really feels like it came out of nowhere after eight episodes of being the punching bag.

Of course, Salem immediately reforms. She traps the group with grimm arms that come out of the whale, interrogating Ozpin about why he bothers to keep coming back. There's a very sad answer there of, "I don't," referring to his lack of choice in reincarnating to fight her.

Yang interrupts their little tet-a-tet to throw the question back in Salem's face, calling her out on her choices. A great idea but, as always, execution: "because something bad happened to you once upon a time? No one gets a fairy tale ending."

I’m sorry, but that dialogue had me cringing. Like I said before, way too on the nose. There's keeping with the fairy tale theme, and then there's shoving the viewer's face in it. More of Oscar's musings on how he relates to the protagonists of fairy tales, blurring the lines between storytelling and reality, which in turn encourages the viewer to consider how they see themselves in the RWBY cast. Less... whatever this is.

Yang goes on to talk about how many people Salem has taken from her, which upon reflection makes a certain amount of sense if you toss in all the people who are here, but changed somehow due to Salem's influence, as well as acquaintances who died as a result of her meddling: Raven is scared off, Tai suffers as a result, Pyrrha dies, Penny dies, Yang loses her arm and her school. I think the dialogue could have been revised to reflect that better though because what Yang implies is that Salem has killed countless of her loved ones, yet what she says is, "Summer Rose. My mom." Honestly, for the few seconds this exchange was happening my thoughts weren't even on Summer. Yang calls Salem out for killing loved ones and my brain went, "Pyrrha??"

That's how little they've done with Yang and Summer. I know in the past I've argued that RWBY has a "better late than never" situation going on, that I would praise them for making the right writing choices even if they arrive years too late... but now that we're here, I find that it's a hard problem to overlook. Summer is Yang's mom? When's the last time we heard that? Volume 2? Whenever the conversation with Blake was. Since then Yang has called Raven "Mom," focused on that emotional connection (or lack thereof), was excluded from the conversation with Qrow, comforted Ruby after she was blindsided by Salem's taunt, and otherwise hasn't mentioned Summer at all. There is no foundation for this accusation except a few lines about getting cookies as a child and the fact that we're tossing references in now makes me worried that we'll indeed get a grimm!Summer reveal. Better remind the audience that she exists before the twist arrives! Honestly, as much as a part of me wants to praise RWBY for trying to get things back on track, moments like this just ring hollow now. They waited years and now it’s too late. It doesn't help that this is the episode where we shrug off Ren's speech. What will Yang's cutting admission amount to based on this trend? Probably nothing. Summer will become Yang’s mom again in another six seasons.

Salem, obviously, doesn't care. The real Hazel arrives and she orders him to take Oscar back to his cell. Instead, he gives him his cane with a whispered, "No more Gretchens, boy."

Behold, another meaningless line. Hazel hates Ozpin for "forcing" Gretchen on a mission and "getting" her killed. The whole point of his villainy is that he doesn't understand the concept of choice and that bad things can happen to good people with no one able to prevent it. Not every loss has a responsible party attached (outside of, you know, Salem/the grimm). So what is he even demanding here? No more huntsmen schools? That's what you wanted Salem for. No more "forcing" people to fight for you? Ozpin never did that in the first place. Or is it just a strange promise that no one else will die here? RWBY seems to be under the impression that they can just name drop dead family members — Summer, Gretchen — and that's that. Emotional depth created, never mind a lack of buildup or clarity.

Then Hazel punches Salem across the room and she releases every single hero from their bonds. See the theme of this episode: convenience. Hazel shoves a whole bunch of dust crystals into his shoulders and yells that he's doing what Gretchen would have wanted, clearly sacrificing himself so that the others can escape. The battle between him and Salem is pretty decent. I enjoyed the dust vs. magic creativity and the sheer damage Salem can take before reforming. This fight really showcases how not human she is.

It does, however, bring into question Hazel's reveal about her needing an hour to heal at the longest. I mentioned how unlikely it would be that our heroes would get the chance to "kill" her multiple times, yet here we are, just a few episodes later. They got that opportunity and... does it matter? Salem's reforming doesn't appear to slow down at all, despite her head getting obliterated at least three times, so at what point does she need longer than a few seconds to heal? If this was meant to be a potential weakness the group would eventually exploit, we needed to see it here, both for that setup and to keep it consistent with Hazel's story.

Regardless, they fight and at first it looks like a pretty straight-forward sacrifice on Hazel's part, giving the group their chance to escape. Except... Oscar.

"She'll just come after us," he tells Jaune, turning away from him to fight.

I need a list for this:

Of course she's going to come after you. This is not some shocking revelation. At no point has anyone thought that escaping the whale is the answer to all their problems, it just creates one less problem to deal with. Namely, the problem of "Our ally is captured, being tortured, and may give up important intel to the enemy. Oh, also he's about to be blown up with a bomb." Salem coming after them doesn’t matter. What matters is making her plans as difficult as possible as you work to come up with more solutions of your own. This is just a smaller version of the Ironwood conflict: “Well, Salem will just follow Atlas into the sky so it’s useless to attempt escape, or to buy ourselves time.” It’s really not. I know I’ve used this ridiculous comparison before, but if you’re ever chased by a horror movie serial killer hell-bent on your destruction and your reaction to this problem is, “Why run? He’ll just chase us. The only possible choice is to fight him with a 99% chance of our death,” then I beg you to re-evaluate things.

What was the point of coming to rescue Oscar if he was just going to stay behind? The whale is about to be blown up by a bomb and the trio risked their lives ten times over to get to him. If I were them I would be pissed. We went through all that to get you out and now you’re refusing to leave when we have a chance? Thanks for that.

Same with Hazel. Not that I care about the guy, but if I was sacrificing myself for others to escape I'd be pretty annoyed at them randomly deciding not to do that.

What does Oscar even think he's going to do? Kill the immortal witch? The entire point of our series is that they can’t do that (yet).

However, if he is able to do something significant via Ozpin's magic, why didn't Ozpin do that generations ago? Somehow I don't think a younger Ozma closer to the height of his power was in a worse position to attack Salem than a tortured, aura-less kid who unlocked his magic yesterday. The more RWBY reveals about Salem, the more I go, “Okay, but why didn’t his happen [insert any number of years] ago?”

Did Jaune actually leave? I assume he's just grabbing an airship or something before coming back to drag Oscar away, but seriously where did he go?

There's no way I can approach this scene without throwing up my hands and going, "What? WHY?" Which is a real shame because we finally get to see a bit of what the cane does and it’s... precisely what Ozpin's magic has always done? I mean, we saw that green shield five years ago and now there's a giant white beam. Okay.

If the beam just hits Salem with Generic Magic Power then there was never anything secret about the cane, it’s just, you know, Ozpin’s weapon. If the cane does something significant to hurt her we're left with the question of why it took literal generations to use it. Nothing is making sense to me and the only way I can think to salvage this scene is if Jaune runs back in, snags Oscar like a sack of potatoes, and runs out yelling about how he's clearly suffering from a concussion because what are you trying to accomplish here?

It doesn't help that this moment feels... final. Hazel has managed to hold Salem in place. Oscar has unlocked his cane and lands some mega hit right before Hazel passes out and looses his hold. Not only does this feel like a scene that should be at the end of the volume (we've still got five episodes), but also the end of the series. RWBY is building Salem into an unbeatable enemy by giving her more and more powers, and simultaneously eliminating the stakes by having our currently weakest character (in terms of exhaustion/injuries/aura/training) landing a shot like that. Why would you nerf Salem's threat level like that in the middle of a volume? Especially with a tool our group has had available from the start? If the cane does damage, maybe lead with that in the, “Here’s why we should stay and fight” office conversation.

I assume that Oscar's hit will obliterate Salem to the point where both he and Hazel have time to escape, or he obliterates both of them (“Do it”) and that's somehow presented as a better choice than just running while Salem is captured, or the bomb will interrupt things somehow... but it's just so shoddily done. At the very least, if they were going to have Oscar refuse to let someone fight alone, have it be an actual friend he's staying to assist. Having Oscar refuse his own rescue to help Hazel has more than one problem attached to it. We can say what we want about RWBY's themes of forgiveness, but this guy was torturing him just a few hours ago while serving Remnant's version of the devil. Just let him sacrifice himself and move on.

And that's where we end. Oscar powering up, the cane getting all magic-y, and him shooting a crazy big blast that engulfs both Salem and Hazel. I can't believe how not excited I am about my farm boy doing something badass, but here we are.

Overall I think this episode was way worse than last week's. We absolutely had problems in "Dark," particularly when it came to the Hound and the group's blind devotion to Ruby, but at least those moments were cushioned by an otherwise decent episode. "Witch" felt like I was watching something closer to a parody of RWBY, one deliberately poking fun at the fandom's desires: erase all conflict for awkward silly times, your favorite villains are instantly good now, the heroes go toe-to-toe with the main antagonist because why not, throw a bunch of magic in there for good measure, and wrap it all up in some over the top "this isn't a fairy tale" lines. I can see the pieces of a much better episode here — Emerald sneaking Oscar out with her semblance, Neo snagging the relic, Flint and Neon, Hazel attacking Salem — but it simply didn't come together.

I know I said this last time, but I have no idea what we're going to do for another five episodes. Salem slowly reforming from bomb damage as the group tries to keep Penny from opening the vault? The grimm attack halted with the whale gone so Qrow can go after Ironwood? The longer this volume runs, the more I think it was a mistake for them to introduce Salem as a fightable antagonist now. RWBY doesn't know what to do with her besides have her inevitably fall in the final season, so until then she's left being stupid (Relic), passive (Mantle), or, likely, written out of the story temporarily so the heroes can turn their attention towards smaller conflicts and weaker foes. They literally can’t beat Salem yet, but they can’t focus on other problems when she’s around without coming across as negligent, so if you have to find ways to erase her to make room for that... what was the point of bringing her here in the first place? We could have established that Salem is bound to her realm and had her send the Hound and whale to attack Atlas. There, all the fun parts of the volume without her complicated presence.

Well, the next five weeks will certainly be interesting, at the very least...

Until next time 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby witch #mymetas #rwby recaps

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wolfandsheep200 · 3 years

Text

This idea struck me. Mostly because I'm tired of all the heroes winning and just want to see the Villain's doing horrible villian things.

Villain's from all sides.

By wolf and sheep two hundred

Yang Shalong had her red eyed adversarie cornered. The green haired girl standing before her. Deserved everthing she was about to get coming to her and so much more. Yang had spent many an evening dreaming of the moment she would get her hands on any member of the trio. Who had worked so fervently to tear life apart.

The tired and beaten girl before Yang had no place left to run. Ren, Nora, and Juan. Had spear headed the attack ferociously throwing themselves at Cinder Fall in an attack so voracious that they had managed to push the Madien back. Away from her allies. How long they could manage to hold Cinder there? Yang had no idea. Cinder wasn't her assignment at the moment. Infact the girl before her. Wasn't her assignment either. No her assignment had been Mercury Black. The silver haired your man who had attempted to come to Cinders aid. Yangs group fortunately had the for-site to expect such a reaction. From Cinders allies. All it had cost them was a bit of planning, timing which bordered on perfection, and a bit of good luck which she would have never obtained if her Uncle had been near. Yangs very own sister Ruby along with her two closet friends in the world, and two huntress from Robyn's elite team. Had inserted themselves between Cinder fall and Mercury Black. None of them had thought it would take much to subdued Mercury Black. And from what she could tell her team had been winning that fight. Yang had originally been part of the group that was going to take him down. Then herself and the others were supposed to join Team JNR to finally finish off Cinder Fall. The plan had went sideways when Yang caught site of the Green haired red eyed girl known as Emerald. Emerald had been attempting to sneak her way into a compromising position which would have allowed Cinder Fall to get free of them. Yang had cut from her teammates. Racing up a fire escape ladder and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Then droping downwards on top of Emerald. She connected with the full weight of her body smashing brutality into the unawares girl. Emerald screamed out from the pain and surprise of the attack. Yang hadn't given Emerald time to bounce back. Hadn't offered her the opportunity for a fair fight. Afterall Yangs team needed her. In the blink of an eye she started tearing into her opponent. Each time Yangs fist connected she could feel the other girls bones through the skin. If she kept up her assault the girls bones might start to snap like kindling. "Good." She thought as she hit Emerald again and again. The people of Vale never had a chance to have their bones snapped. They were never even offered a fair fight. The lucky ones were just swallowed whole. And the unlucky ones. Well they ended up just like this girl was about to end up dead and in pieces on the floor. Emerald head smacked off the brick wall. Her body collapse to the floor. She could barely see out of either eye both were swelling shut quickly. When she sucked air it was a new experience in pain many of her teeth were missing. She couldn't raise one arm something white protruded from her arm at a weird angle and blood gushed everywhere. The blonde was walking towards her her knuckles cracking. Words spewing fourth in a torrent which couldn't be coherently understood.

"So this is how I die." Emerald thought. In a back alley. I never really did make it off the streets." She closed her eyes. Waiting on the blow to come. For one horrifying second she wondered if anyone would care. Hazle might be annoyed yet she didn't know him well enough to confidently say he would care. Tryian would probably take some delight in her demise. Tormenting Mercury about it. If Mercury survived until the two faced off in private combat. Watts would just say her defeat was a hazard of the game that they all played and as far as Neo was concerned. Emerald could never tell what was on Neo's mind. That forever changing eyed Female, was a mystery of all sorts. So that just left Cinder and Mercury. For Salem, saw them all as pieces on a chess board. The exact same way Ozpin saw the girl that was ending her life. "Cinder would miss me." She thought. Then she heard Mercury's voice in her head. "No! He shouted. "Cinder would only miss what you could do for her." She wouldn't miss you. What about you Mercury? Emerald was afraid to voice the question. She was afraid to hear the answer. She wondered where the blow was. That was supposed to end her life. She was expecting it and yet it did not come. Somehow that filled her with rage. How dare Blonde toy with her like this. Emerald struggled to open her red eyes. She had expected to see. Yang Shalong's leved Shotgun gauntlet pointed directly at her head. Calm waiting for Emerald to open her eyes so the blonde could blow her brains out. Instead what she saw was her salvation. In a true a standoff which would have played on any cops show. Mercury Black stood like like a solid stone statue. Presenting himself as a human barrier. Planted directly between herself and the rest of the world. The blonde who had been assaulting her. Lay on the floor. Her artifical hand gripping at her throat as blood course between her metallic fingers. Three people faced him down. All of them with guns bared. On her knees infront of Mercury was a woman Emerald didn't recognize. The blade of the Belladonna girls gun held to her throat. Mercury had one foot planted on her back leg and appeared to be screaming. At them. Raving.

Ruby Rose appeared to be staring at her sister. Her body was shaking wildly. Her eyes flickering back and forth. To her left was Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. Infront of her on the ground was her dying sister. And ahead of her on her knees with a blade to her throat was one of Robyn's Happy Huntressess. Holding that blade was a Mercury Black. She had never been introduced too. Part of her was still trying to figure out how this had all happened. Her team and the other two Huntressess had this man beaten. Until the other one of the happy huntress started running her mouth. The insult had been plain. Mercury had been downed. Then She had spit on him, and called him pathetic, adding that he lacked skill. Mercury had looked up started to smart off to her when Emerald cried out for help. The huntress sensing danger had slapped Mercury to the floor. Then had the guall to tell him to his face that he was trash. Saying trash like him wasn't welcomed in her kingdom. And he was going to be imprisoned or worse. For his crimes. Then the unthinkable had happened Mercury started laughing.

And what does Trash like you think is so funny? The happy huntress asked so confidently.

"That You." The word You washed fourth from his mouth like acid. "A fully trained huntress. With others to back you up. Are incapable of realizing I've been fighting defensively this entire time."

Mercury didn't have a lot of things. He didn't have legs made of flesh and bone. He didn't have a place he could go back to if he failed. He didn't have the respect of his client. And he didn't have the numbers to win this engagement. Two fully trained Huntressess three in training. Against one man and they dared to talk down to him. Well she was in for a surprise infact they all were. For Mercury had been talked back too his entire life. And as for being beaten. He had been beaten more times than he could count. Yet those beatings had took a toll on him both mentally and physically. Physically he had one advantage gifted from his father that they did not. He had endurance. He had endurance like nothing they had ever seen. This week willed soft lived woman. She was running her mouth because she believed Mercury was handicapped in this fight. She was running her mouth because she had the numbers and that made her fell safe. Well he would show her that when one plays for lives. Safety is an illusion. Mercury came off the floor a new man they had sired a demon within him. The same demon which had killed his father. And now they much like his Father would learn. For Mercury would show them what he brought to the table. He would show them all. Starting with the one hurting Emerald.

This chapter has been a Would and sheep 200 production. It is fiction written by a fan of Rwby. This chapter was cut a little short for time and I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it for you.

The chapters name is: Villain's from all sides.

#mercury black #emerald sustrai

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polandspringz · 4 years

Text

Nothing Will Stop Me (So I Must Stop You)

All of his screws and bolts were flying up and away, wrenched out of him as his flesh was pulled down. He could feel his chest tears open at the seam and if he looked up he was certain his neck would snap and fall back and he would see his heart float away, unbeating and stone cold like the rest of his robotic form.

But then, the kingdom crashed down, and the world was silent.

Ironwood fails to recognize Ozpin and Oscar as different people. Even with a destroyed body, he shows no willingness to give up the fight. A harsh decision is made, mercy is granted.

A what-if scenario written after V7E11 and before E12 about Ironwood refusing to give up even when his body, mind, and heart can take no more. There is no better plan of action right now, but Ozpin and Oscar alike know that this cannot go on. (Read below! AO3 link will be in reblogs/replies!)

Before the lift even landed, he was leaping off of it, stumbling onto the narrow walkway towards the open vault. He pushed past figures shorter than him, shoving his way through the crowd lined up with weapons drawn. Some of them faltered when they saw the state of him, others nearly lost their stance when he knocked them over the side, the yelps and gasps all blended into the rush of the wind as he continued forward. A hand reached for his left arm, something sounding like a bird crying out in alarm. A growl of pain erupted from his chest and the hand easily flew back and let him pass. Hands kept flying back, to catch their comrades from falling, from touching the cold, artificial demon rushing towards them, but as he reached the edge of the path, no matter how hard he yearned, he could not will his hands to reach up towards the stoop of the vault.

He could not will his left hand, burned to muscle and nerves fried because it had been weak, vulnerable flesh. He could not will his right hand because it had been blown away, ripped apart into nothing more than wires and shrapnel that now hung dead at his side.

He could only look with his eyes, his mouth open as he gasped out a plea to the girl and boy standing at the top. The boy stood guard against the post of the door, the girl stood just inside of it, her hands at her sides even as she stood so close to the relic of creation.

“No! Stop! Please! Ruby!”

His vision wavered with the sting of hot, bitter water as he saw the silver eyes glance down at him, her round and childish face pressed into a frown with a furrowed brow as she stared at him. She was looking at him with pity. She was sad seeing him, but it was obvious by the flame within them that it was not for the mistake she was making.

His heart became ablaze and he looked to the boy, desperation beading down his face alongside the tears.

“Oz! You can’t do this!”

The boy’s face was blank. He turned away. His eyes were drawn back to the girl, darting towards her hand as it began raising, her fingers crawling towards the staff as she stared him down.

“General Ironwood, I’m sorry it had to come to this.”

Her voice did not echo, as she spoke it softly. There was no screech, nothing more than a small scratch as the staff was twisted and lifted from its seat on the throne. And then, all at once, the world collapsed.

The hum of the vault rose to a scream as the ground was yanked out from under him. Brought to his knees, gravity was dragging him back down, yanking on the metal sockets of his joints and tearing them apart and he could not even roar in pain as he wished. He was too stunned, too shell shocked by the sight of the abyss expanding before him. Around the narrow platform, he could feel himself and the entire city being yanked into its grasp. Soon they would be swallowed whole, crashing into the water and tundra before they were drowned and dragged deeper into the earth. All of his screws and bolts were flying up and away, wrenched out of him as his flesh was pulled down. He could feel his chest tears open at the seam and if he looked up he was certain his neck would snap and fall back and he would see his heart float away, unbeating and stone cold like the rest of his robotic form.

But then, the kingdom crashed down, and the world was silent.

And Ironwood realized that he had not moved- that there was still a safe ground beneath him.

There was the tinkling of glass almost, like a bell’s chime before a new steady hum began to rumble in the room. Underneath him, there was blackness, but not an abyss. Instead one of the Schnee’s glyphs rotated up from the darkness and spun to a stop like a gear frozen in place. He watched it as it was stained from white to a dark gray, and was stretching out like a netting over the abyss.

When his world stopped spinning, he twisted around. And he saw her with the rapier plunged into the ground, hair exploding behind her back in a big braid, a mess of blues and reds instead of the neat and stiff pressed white he had grown accustomed to seeing.

Her eyes burned bright, they weren’t dulled by shame or fear like when he had last seen her. When he had given his orders to arrest her and her team and to send her sister to slaughter.

He blinked in shock when she raised her head and smiled at him. Wait, no, not him, he realized sadly. Her smile started when she started to stand from her kneel, blossoming into a genuine, happy grin when she looked to the blonde huntsman who they had traveled with. His hand was on her shoulder, there was a bright glow of aura passing over the two of them. She was smiling at the rest of her teammates, the ones he had nearly tossed into the depths when he entered. They were smiling back. They were all so happy. He couldn’t understand why.

The glyph beneath his feet was enormous. It was then he realized it stretching out far, far beyond his collapsed form and far beyond the reaches of the vault, vanishing under the walls and likely far across the grounds of the academy. There was the beep of a scroll, and then someone talking. Their expressions grew impossibly wider. The girl leapt towards her teammates and hugged them, and they laughed. It was then it finally dawned on him. They were smiling because she had done the impossible. She had stopped them from crashing into the icy sea, drowning themselves and Mantle in the impact and instead lowered them down like a feather, placing them gently into the sea so that some waves would surface, but nothing as grand and as fearsome as it would have been.

There were footsteps, and then he heard something else fall. It was only two soft impacts though, steel toe boots clinking as rose petals receded back to take the shape of the girl and the heavier sound of the boy stumbling as he landed on the walkway beside her. The lamp glowed on his hip, and the staff glowed in her fist. They stood hand in hand, the girl having gently rested hers in what the boy had offered, and for a moment, it was like Ironwood was looking at a crowning ceremony, a royal portrait. A king was passing his title over to a new ruler. A new queen.

The girl’s hand slipped away from the boy’s, and she strode towards him. Her eyes narrowed as she still stood above him, glaring down at him. He felt pathetic, weak. He had been ripped to shreds already in an effort to get here, to get to this stage. What else could she possibly hope to take from him?

“We will be leaving Atlas. We will be taking both the lamp and the staff with us. You will not get in our way.”

She walked passed, rejoined her teammates. He did not look back. She had been merciful, and he merely bowed his head as she did.

A pair of red boots stopped in front of him. He had been wrong. He looked up with hope, shoulders rolling forward as he longed to reach up towards the man who would offer him salvation.

He looked into the pained eyes of a boy, and the hope in his chest bloomed. Yes, that’s right. He’s just a boy! He will forgive! He will understand!

“James…” The voice that came out was Oscar’s, but the echo of the room did something to it. It twisted it, making it sound more aged, tinny and wiser beyond his years, “What...happened to you?”

It sounded wrong.

He shut down. His heart was gone, yet he still felt it fluttering with panic. He continued to try and reach out, the broken wires of his metal arm dragging along the floor with a groan. The boy’s eyes were glowing, that had to mean something!

“Ozpin… I can explain… You haven’t seen… You don’t understand, you haven’t been here, you haven’t-”

“General, I’m truly disappointed,” the boy said, his voice still sounding older and wiser, but Oz would never say that to- “Ruby’s right. This has to stop now.”

He walked past him, the lamp swinging on the belt of his hip as he passed. Ironwood twisted around, trying to grab onto him. Screw the lamp, he thought, trying to crawl towards the boy’s shoe, his mangled arm falling to move. I can’t let him go again!

He fell forward, the side of his face scraping against the metal ground. For a moment, he thought that this was it, and he felt the exhaustion creeping up into him as his eyes closed. They shot open when he felt hands on him, pulling him up.

“Don’t touch me!” He shouted, twisted away from the boy even as he was helped to his feet, “If all you’re going to do is scold me and run then I don’t want your filthy hands on me! I don’t need your pity. Just leave already!”

Oscar looked up at him with sternness, “We can’t leave you here to die.”

Ironwood jerked away, “Winter will find me. It won’t be long. She’ll know what happened and come find me and if not Penny and Pietro and-”

“Winter won’t be coming,” the Schnee girl said, crestfallen, “She’s not coming to save you ever again.”

Ironwood looked at her with awe. Then shame filled him.

“Penny and Pietro won’t be coming either,” Ruby said, holding the staff close as she ducked herself behind her sister and Blake, “The people of Mantle needs them more than Atlas or you do.”

Oscar was still hovering nearby. Ironwood violently wrenched himself away, walking towards the dead end beneath the vault. He would wait for them to leave, then figure this out himself.

“Go,” he hissed, not looking back. He listened to the beeping of the lift, someone tapping away on the screen as they selected one of the upper floors. He waited for the sound of it whirring up into the sky.

There was a loud rumble and then the ground was moving and James was flailing. An aftershock, the still coherent part of his brain reasoned. Or more appropriately, the water. They should have thought better than thinking once they had landed, the ocean would be gracious in letting them stay. It was too late though. Without his arms he had no balance and he had decided to walk this way. All too quickly he saw that abyss reaching for him again, his human body falling forward, heavy with defeat as it accepted it before his mind caught up with the decision. Still, the loose wires swung back and finally snapped off, and he was being dragged down, his humanity returning to the dust where it belonged.

Or it should have, had it not been for something yanking on the back of his sling, then another hand scrambling for his collar, and the harsh choking sensation that followed before he was successfully finding leverage under his feet again. He stumbled backwards and was caught by arms behind him before he was staring down at Oscar again. He saw the dark grays and reds he had come to associate with Qrow in his peripheral, but his gaze was currently stunned by the boy struggling through his tears as multiple voices echoed from his mouth.

“You’re so foolish-”

“-I can’t believe you would be so selfish, even now-”

“-I had faith in you-”

“-I was so scared this entire time you would be like Leo-”

“-But you were worse than Leo, because you weren’t him-”

“-I let another person get hurt again and I can’t-”

“-I didn’t want it to be like this and you know that!” He shouted, throwing his hands out in exasperation. All the noise blended into one, that strange glow slowly fading to none as the boy continued to sob over a man he hardly knew, “I didn’t want it to come to this, but it’s always the same! I didn’t want to tell everything because it always ends up like this!”

The boy raised his fist, and Ironwood prepared for a strike, but instead he pounded his own chest, right over is heart as the tears of a thousand lifetimes streamed down his cheeks.

“And the same goes for me too. I always make the same mistake. I am just lucky this time I’m learning to give up before it’s too late.”

On Salem?

“This can’t go on James. You can’t continue in this fight with us. We are leaving you here.”

On me, the General realized, and an empty feeling took root in his chest. The boy wiped more tears away.

“We are leaving you here,” he repeated when his voice was stronger, “in Atlas. You have no power, you will not be able to recover from this in time to rejoin us. But, it’s for the best. We will take you to the surface. We will find you safety, and then we will be leaving you behind.”

“Oz,” Ironwood still tried to move forward, but Qrow held him back, “Please, the people already know! They will be looking to me for answers, I will need to guide them-”

“James,” and this time Oscar glared up at him, and even though his eyes were glowing and aura was rushing over him and his voice still held that mature echo and he was holding the handle of the cane in his one hand the same way Oz had always done, “You seem to be the only one unable to tell who is who anymore.”

His gaze held more though. More words threatened to spill from his tongue, but the tears were eating them up again. His face was stained red and puffy like a child’s.

“I didn’t want it to come to this…”

You are not with me, was echoed as two more tears hit the floor, pooling with others against the metal floor.

He looked to Qrow, and then walked past, “I’m sorry,” his voice cracked, “I need to go join the others.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he gets up alright,” Qrow rasped, “We’ll be up in a little while.”

He watched over his shoulder as Oscar rushed towards the lift, one arm still raised as he sobbed into his sleeve. He hurriedly hopped onto the platform and hid away as he rose into the sky, disappearing overhead as the lift went sideways before ascending farther up.

“Poor kid,” Qrow sighed, “He probably doesn’t fully understand where those feelings are coming from.”

But he does, James wanted to say, wanted to shout. How could he choose them over me, when they still don’t realize, when the only other one who heard those words still doesn’t realize that it was Ozpin not-

“We’ll give him ten minutes,” Qrow said, pulling him over to the control panel before he sat the both of them down and pulled out his flask, “He’s gonna need time to hide.”

It certainly wasn’t an appropriate time, but Ironwood couldn’t resist his desire to get the last word in. He scoffed, “I thought you quit?”

Qrow took a swig of the flash before he sloshed it around in his hand. His red eyes lazily traced its movements before the shot towards him and pierced him like a bullet, “I did. But I need to dull myself before I go breaking my promise to the kid and go pushing you over the edge myself.”

#if youre going to comment please do on the ao3 post!!!#rwby #rwby volume 7 #rwby7 #rwby spoilers #oscar pine #ozpin #james ironwood #my writing #writing

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absolutelyxosmittenxo · 6 years

Text

Imagine: How miscellaneous RWBY characters express how much they love you.

RUBY ROSE: Little Red Riding Hood is flushed in the cheeks, incapable of containing her excitement to the extent you encourage herself to breathe before passing out. "You're just so cool, amazing, really cute, and I just really, really, really love you a whole lot! I can't believe you're dating me and oh my goodness I can't breathe-"

WEISS SCHNEE: Conveyed as the anime archetype 'tsundere', it simply depends on the circumstances. In your company, the heiress holds your gaze tenderly, delicately folding her hands together and speaking honestly. "I love you so much. Thank you for taking the time to know me, and letting me discover who I truly want to be."

BLAKE BELLADONNA: Distance has been asserted considering the past experiences shared with Adam Taurus - the Belladonna's daughter is mortified of what threat infatuation could pose. Yet you've seeped through those cracks; within, a timid, open minded and merciful girl desiring nothing but unity for everyone. She is smiling softly, ears exposed freely as they flick every which way. "I've been afraid for so long - but when you came into my life, I decided I didn't want to run away anymore. Now, I can fully admit I love you, and know you love me for me."

YANG XIAO LONG: "You actually stayed here with me," the bombshell blonde utters, implying abandonment was an emotional obstruction she faced more than desired. Her mechanical arm quivers under the pressure of her anxiety; but as she concludes you are there, you won't leave, she takes a moment to breathe. "I want to be there for you, like you always have been for me. You mean the world to me."

PENNY POLENDINA: Whether Professor Polendina invested in hardwiring the concept of romance or love into the robot's system, she was adapting to the idea. Little by little, she was learning more and more. Sometimes, Penny jumps to the opportunity to wrap her arms around your neck, squeezing the very life out of you. "I love you! I love you! You're the bestest friend I could have ever asked for."

JAUNE ARC: "I know most underestimate me - well, I'm sure pretty much all of Beacon did," Jaune laughs dryly, evidently wandering to the bitter moments of being seen as underwhelming, even by his own family. "But I know there's people who believe in me. Even then, I was so dumb, and ignored them, and once I realized they cared, they were gone. I won't make the same mistake twice. I love you so much, I can't bear to lose you like Pyrrha."

NORA VALKYRIE: Born a rambler, once her lightning strikes, there's no way out of it. "You're always just so adorable, strong, wonderful - mhm, Ren, more pancakes, please! - When you said you wanted to be together-together, I just couldn't pass the chance up!" Through a mouthful of ooey gooey, syrup soaked pancakes, she says, "I love yoooooooooooou!"

PYRRHA NIKOS: Destiny was debatable; was it predetermined, or was it belonging to you as you paved your own pathway along life? It was a definitive question the invincible girl pondered frequently. But the very fact you try your best to bring joy into her life, in spite of potential doubts of your worth? She is absolutely smitten. With a light stroke of your hair, and caressing your cheek, Pyrrha smiles warmly, "You are everything to me."

LIE REN: Ren relies on subtlety to depict his emotions. One could say his motto is "Actions speak louder than words." Indeed they do, considering whenever push comes to shove, his affection manifests itself in simple ways. Particularly holding your hand. You could be clinging to your very life line, hope fading as the world seems to be plummeting into oblivion. However, once the huntsman intertwines his fingers with yours, you realize everything will be okay on the end.

SUN WUKONG: His velvety smooth, cream yellow tail is embracing the branch haphazardly, as he awaits your presence. As soon as you stroll on around, the monkey faunus seizes the opportunity to execute his plan. Dropping down, Sun swoops in, kissing you square on the mouth as you emit a surprised squeak. "Love you, babe!"

NEPTUNE VASILIAS: It was gentle leaning, inspecting your features, admiring how lovely you were. He was a love sick fool - you had the flirty boy enraptured, head over heels, considering himself every term to describe how much he was falling deeper in love with you. Neptune adores you. "Gosh, you're cute," he smooches you on the cheek, How'd I get so lucky?"

COCO ADEL: Her expressions of love are never discreet; Fox, Velvet and Yatsuhashi are subjected to her attempts of showing it often. Before you awaken, the gunslinger equips an appealing color of her lipstick, and inscribes a few words upon the mirror. In the morning, as the time signifies you must rise to the occasion, you venture into the restroom, only to see what Coco had left behind. "I love you" written in lipstick, her signature emblem implying it was her.

VELVET SCARLATINA: Each picture was worth a thousand words - upon every photograph snapped, Velvet could sense the devotion, sweetness, heartfelt moments and even beyond emanating from the scenes captured. Thus, she compiles them to the best of her ability. The shy bunny is internally bouncing off the walls as she hands you the album she created, confessing with rosy cheeks, "Every moment we share reminds me of why I love you so much - so, I thought, why not show you all the moments we have had together?"

OZPIN: Millenniums were spent contemplating pensively, having people lose faith in him, watching everyone else perish as he was forced to wander the Earth. The academy's headmaster has suffered severely. The thought of having you cease to exist while his soul remains is ingrained his mind. But Ozpin concludes worrying for the future isn't going to be helpful. For now, he must cherish what he had. As he sees you sleeping soundly, and leans over, pecking your temple, he truly can say, "I love you to the moon and back."

GLYNDA GOODWITCH: Left to mend the broken pieces of a once content Vale, Glynda has suffered the hardships of immense, overwhelming grief. Ozpin was off to reincarnate wherever his soul wound up, students fled across the kingdom, majority barely seeing the light of day since the fall. But you didn't leave. As you raise Glynda up, explain how grateful you are for her efforts, how Ozpin and all the students are proud of her, she is reminded of why she fell in love with you. "Thank you for staying beside me in this time of hardships - you mean everything to me."

QROW BRANWEN: Alcohol flooding into his brain, the uncle of Ruby and Yang is spouting lyrical nonsense. You sigh in response to your beloved's irrational babbling, having his head rest in your lap. He is the equivalent of a toddler following a few or several alcoholic beverages. "I love you~" Qrow would confess constantly, trying to smother you sloppily in kisses, breath radiating the worst of odors before passing out. After waking up the next day with a hangover, the Branwen groans from the migraine, apologizing for his goofiness. "I don't know how you do it, but thanks for putting up with me."

WINTER SCHNEE: Family was a touchy subject to graze on in terms of a persuasive yet spiteful father neglecting his children unless they were needed to serve a purpose. All the soldier considered to be family, for the most part, was her younger sister, and butler, Klein. However, it's a rare sight to see as she disentangles her luscious white hair from its bun, and she is witnessed smiling so sweetly as she peppers you in brisk kisses. "It isn't often someone comes into my life and makes it more worthwhile - but you have helped me cherish it even more."

JAMES IRONWOOD: His body was composed not of flesh and blood; metal prosthetics filled the spaces of appendages deprived of him. Yet James was as handsome, wholesome, and endearing as he always has been. With the man's chest exposed, ebony bangs slightly out of place as you both had just woken up, you rest on the edge of your bed. He's breathing gingerly, as you stroke your thumb under the surface of his palm. Raising your hand to his lips, he kisses it, expressing, "I love you so dearly."

OSCAR PINE: He wouldn't be the kid he was prior to merging souls with a seemingly immortal man. No longer a farmer hand reduced to playing the role of feeding livestock and raking hay. Now, he was thrusted into the life of a new incarnation of the one meant to defeat an unstoppable force. Through it all, though, Oscar was falling in love. He plucked the loveliest flower he could find, stroking the back of his head nervously as it offered it to you. "I know there's so much going on right now, with there perhaps being a war, people trying to kill us constantly - it's just crazy. But you give me a chance to breathe. And, as silly as it might sound, I really love you for it."

CINDER FALL: Perhaps the wicked woman's upbringing was similar to Cinderella, yet she couldn't seek the happy fairytale ending her inspiration was fortunate enough to have. Or, at least, from what we have seen. To you, Cinder is an enigma, much to be explored as she is in pursuit for power. But you turn the tables as she stops the world to get off with you. Having you close your eyes, Miss Fall indulges you in her, lips touching yours endlessly, and you are on the verge of fainting from being so breathless. "Do not think - succumb to these urges to embrace me, and I shall never let you go. Maybe you and I can find that happy ending we desire, as we rise to the top, and all else fall."

ROMAN TORCHWICK: Smoke drawls from the cigar tucked in between his lips, the con artist grinning as you curled yourself around his waist. Being pummeled by fifteen year old girls weren't exactly confidence boosting, but at the end of the day, to have you be so loyal and endearing has his heart skip a beat. Roman parts the cylinder momentarily, "Dear, have I ever mentioned how much I adore you?"

MERCURY BLACK: One, two, three - the liplocks multiplied as the mechanical marvel covers your body in kisses. He doesn't hesitate to express his dedication, although preserves it for private settings, sprinkling playful banter here and there. The assassin's son swipes away any residue residing on your mouth, smirking, "Babe, you're my one and only - don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

EMERALD SUSTRAI: In your arms, the master of thieves believes she is finally at home, a safe haven where she can not worry about going hungry or being reduced to filth. She isn't manipulated to conduct misdeeds as she is by Cinder; you have compassion for her, saving the time to make her happier and make her feel loved. Really, Emmy never anticipated to receive such affection. But as the thief dissolves into your embrace, she whispers, "God, I love you."

NEOPOLITAN: As far as we are concerned, the killer queen waving around a lethal parasol cannot emit sound from her vocal chords. But verbal obstacles won't stand in the way of this tiny antagonist. Neo props herself up on her tip toes, fluttering her eyelashes innocently. No hidden intent, yet you have your worries. Of course, your expectations are evaded, as she stands on top of your feet, kisses your lips, and signs the typical romantic phrase for you.

SALEM: Externally, Salem appears monstrous, depravity consuming her as revenge drives her motives. Beneath the surface, however, the eternal being exposes gentleness, in which she nurtures you, raises you up, refusing to let you crumble. "I have lived as long as you can imagine. It's scarce, for someone to catch my interest as you have. Ozpin's dominion shall fall apart, so long as all is executed as it should. As I seize control, you will forever remain by my side. That much I can promise you, my love."

ILIA AMITOLA: "I always wanted Blake to look at me the way she did with Adam," the memory causes the chameleon's heart to throb undeniably, "I was hopelessly in love with her." Alternating accordingly to her emotions, Ilia's speckles changes to a pink resembling cherry blossoms. "But now that I've met you, I can forgive myself for my past mistakes. I don't need to blend in - you love me as I am. And I love you just the same."

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