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itsclydebitches · 4 years

Text

Welcome back, everyone!

We’re now on Chapter Eight and once again the story is told from Velvet’s perspective. So our starting question is: why is she getting the most attention so far? If memory serves, the PoV order has been Coco, Velvet, Sun, Fox, Yatsu, Velvet, Scarlet, Velvet again — meaning that in a text balancing eight main characters, so far four of them have received a single chapter, two (Sage and Neptune) zero chapters, and one three chapters. That seems rather imbalanced. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense if we factor in RWBY viewers’ familiarity with Velvet, but I’d wager we’ve gotten far more screen time with Sun overall. My only point being, why Velvet? It’s not that you can’t make her a focal point of the narrative, I just haven’t seen anything to explain that choice in the first 100+ pages. Her perspective hasn’t brought anything unique to the story, something we couldn’t have gotten from the seven other characters involved in these events… but here we are, back with Velvet for the next six pages.

Yeah, this chapter is short. Silver lining?

We learn that Team NOVA is on their second mission — why bother showing us the first when they’re an entirely new, volatile team, right? That would be silly! — escorting a technician “through the Grimm-infested mountains just outside of Oscuro Combat School.” So Shade students regularly conduct real huntsmen work but throw a fit over having to spar with one another? Interesting. See, if I were a civilian who got even a glimpse of what goes on inside these schools, I would not trust these kids with my life.

Lo and behold, things go horribly! We learn right off the bat that “The technician had been knocked unconscious in a skirmish with a band of Dromedons.” For those of you with an iffy memory like mine, these are the camel-like creatures that spit acid and… that’s about all we know about them. That’s really all we need for this scene though because this grimm nailed the tech in his leg, a wound which now requires “serious medical attention.” Great. Gus Caspian, who I learn is a younger friend from the previous novel, is trying to treat the wound as best he can, clearly a little freaked out about being here, “but apparently Oscuro teachers didn’t coddle students any more than Theodore did.”

Do you expect them to? Despite Atlas being the only one who combines their academies with their military, we can’t pretend like these schools aren’t teaching teenagers to wield deadly weapons and kill things with them. There’s no institution on Earth (or Remnant) that should “coddle” those looking to take on that responsibility. I mean yeah, we had moments where Ozpin encouraged them to be kids, like after the food fight and during the dance, but he still took a hard stance whenever there was an actual lesson in the works: “No. You will be falling.” Based on the age of the students, the academies are akin to colleges. In real world college if you don’t do your work or don’t pay attention in class, well… nothing that bad happens. This is by no means a call to not do you work, merely an acknowledgement from a formerly grade obsessed student that individual test scores really don’t have the impact on your life that it feels like they will at the time. Trust me on this. So yeah, some leeway is great in the real world… but when the students are fighting monsters and defending others from death? Then the schools should absolutely discourage any slacker-esque attitude. The concept of any institution “coddling” huntsmen is horrifying.

Note though that the chapter starts after all the action has taken place. We skip the rest of reinitiation. We skip NOVA’s first mission. We skip the attack that landed Velvet in this predicament. It’s not automatically a bad technique provided you’re skipping over boring parts to get to the interesting bits… but this isn’t interesting. We learn almost nothing new from this scene: Velvet misses her old team, her new teammates don’t believe in her, Nebula is mean. Those are the emotional beats here — things we’ve known for at least three chapters now. The only thing that’s introduced is the advertisement on Gus’ scroll, which could have been been added to any other scene.

Let’s revise a bit:

We get to see the battle against the Dromedons wherein Velvet uses her camera, revealing her weapon to Team NOVA and earning more of their respect. Information about Gus’ improvement is shown through his combat abilities as he’s unexpectedly chucked into this battle (perhaps with him using his semblance to further his growth there too). While taking a hit he loses his scroll, slightly damaging it. In the aftermath Velvet retrieves it for him and finds this ad displayed, growing curious. Over the course of Gus’ explanations the rest of Team NOVA is clued into Velvet’s worry and suspicion. What’s wrong? It’s just an ad. But you’re clearly hiding something… Now, does she tell her new team about the Crown, or keep it silent and risk the tenuous trust they’ve just created?

Why is Myers skipping over all the action and potential growth?

Instead we get the boring stuff. Velvet admires Gus’ uniform because of how it’s built for the heat and recalls that “Coco had been messing around with new outfit designs for Team CFVY.” I swear though, 95% of my enjoyment with this novel comes from the throwaway details. I would actually like seeing how Coco combines her personal love of fashion with the necessity of designing combat gear appropriate for the environment. Maybe they frame it as merely a hobby outside of their huntsmen work, giving them an excuse to keep helping their former teammates. That could be cool!

Though of course, this is the series where Cinder, Neo, Hazel, and Emerald all walk into the ice Kingdom with skin bared, so...

(You all are going to freeze to death, have fun.)

“Velvet’s ears swiveled around, listening for danger.” That’s anything detail I like. At the very least Before the Dawn remembers that Velvet is a faunus and frequently incorporates that into her character. She’s on the lookout because other than Gus tending the unconscious technician, she’s alone “on the sidelines.” It’s framed simultaneously as the group rejecting her and as an unavoidable necessity: “it wasn’t like she didn’t have an important task of her own [repairing the relay], one that none of her teammates had the expertise to perform.”

Wait. Why does Velvet have this expertise?

The justification is that she’s “handy with electronics” and “Anesidora was incredibly complicated, and she’d designed it herself,” but that’s like saying “I built a computer so I’ll come fix your refrigerator. That’s easier.” I don’t know, maybe someone with the ability to build a computer from the ground up could figure out a refrigerator on the fly, but they feel like different skill-sets to me. All electronics are not built the same and claiming that because you understand one you automatically understand all others — even supposedly simpler pieces of tech — seems a little suspect. If that were the case, we’d have no need for experts who fix your phone, your television, your toaster, and your watch. Surely if you understand one you understand the others, right? It’s the same assumption here: If Velvet can understand building a hard light weapon, then she must understand relay communications too!

…right.

She even goes so far as to say that they “probably should have left the technician at Oscuro—she could have done this on her own” yet just a few minutes later it’s, “Velvet double-checked everything. She didn’t know what was wrong. She glanced back at the technician, Gus still at his side. The guy was out cold. He’d taken a pretty hard knock to the head. Well, she had tried.” So she’s confident enough to think that the technician is unnecessary one moment and then looking to him for help the next? Which of course isn’t followed by any sort of revelation. Velvet doesn’t acknowledge that her knowledge isn’t as specialized as she had assumed it was, or that huntsmen rely on non-combat experts for other things. She just shrugs and…

…kicks it.

Yeah. Velvet’s skill amounts to kicking the box until it works. Which, of course, it does.

I can’t with this novel.

More seriously though, that’s terrible characterization. Not only does it undermine Velvet’s actual skill to reduce it to being “handy with electronics” — isn’t every huntsmen “handy with electronics” then, considering they all build their gun/energy/dust weaponry in school? — but it adds another layer of supposed uselessness to the adult professionals around her. Theodore doesn’t teach them anything because, as their headmaster, he’s removed from everyday interactions. Rumpole can’t be trusted now and every lesson she tries to impart is rejected. The unnamed technician who is referred to only by his professional title is deemed unnecessary, knocked out, and then indeed proves useless when Velvet magically does his job for him. So why are any of them in school? Why aren’t they just running the world with their superior knowledge and skill-sets? Every time the RWBY franchise puts its characters in a position where they might actually learn something through failure, it pulls back at the last second. ‘Never mind, they actually knew this all along!’ Or, ‘Never mind, the things they’ve been taught are stupid, so best to forget them!’ I struggle to understand what kind of story I’m reading — or watching — when the characters are already framed as perfect. Or rather, flaws absolutely exist (as these recaps attest), but the story pretends they’re not there.

I hesitate to use the term “Mary Sue” here due to its origins and history. Meaning, the Mary Sue was conceived of as a parody, a deliberate exaggeration to comment on the types of characters written in the Star Trek fandom. Then people began using “Mary Sue” as a catch-all term for any female character that people deemed too talented (regardless of how talented their male counterparts might be), we started acknowledging the sexist undertones of that, then started reclaiming the term as something to celebrate and embrace… but we haven’t quite gotten there yet. “Mary Sue” is still a pretty loaded name to force on a character and it carries a lot of implications that I absolutely do not want to attach to Velvet. Yet it’s also the closest term I know to describe the act of an author giving a character what feels like a badly justified skillset. Such as “handy with technology” actually meaning “can fix anything powered by electricity or Dust as the plot needs.”

Velvet is the action movie hacker going, “I’m in” is what I’m getting at. It’s not a compliment lol.

During all this grimm watching and relay fixing, Gus wants to know why they don’t just high-tail it out of there. Especially since the person they brought to do a specific job can no longer do that job. Mission’s a bust. Velvet gives what sounds like a decent explanation: “Retreating from Grimm isn’t an option when you’re fighting this close to a settlement. If we leave without destroying them, the Grimm will just look for another target.” AKA the settlement itself.

Thing is, by this logic any grimm that are currently close enough to attack them are already close enough to the settlement to latch onto those people as the next target. They’d pick up on the civilians whether Velvet’s group was there to kill them or not. The group is there though, so they feel responsible, but why not just head to the settlement anyway? If the grimm follow you, fine. You can still fight them AND you now get the additional benefit of any other huntsmen/students who might be there. If they don’t follow you, great. If they were close enough to the settlement all along… again, this was always going to happen.

Which, to be clear, isn’t the worst stance to take. I understand them wanting to avoid any potential risk by leaving/leading the grimm towards anyone else. I only want to point out the additional stupidity of fighting them when you’ve already got an unconscious civilian in your care, a barely trained student, and the whole reason you came out here might now be for naught. Yeah, Velvet gets the relay working with her magic kick and yeah, the rest of the team handles the grimm just fine, but none of them are able to see into the future and know that both these events will occur. Gus’ ‘Why are we staying here? It’s dangerous and pointless’ question has merit.

But of course, no one in RWBY would ever consider retreat. It’s a very iffy characteristic at this point.

We learn — or at least I learn now — that Gus’ semblance is the ability to enhance others’ emotions, so basically the opposite of Ren’s. That would indeed be incredibly handy provided he has good control over it. We get another reference to Yatsuhashi’s “meditation exercises” that helped Gus’ grandfather in the last novel. Velvet theorizes that his improved memory has more to do with Yatsuhashi’s semblance than any generic meditation: “No one knew for sure what Yatsuhashi had done with his Semblance when he’d tried to heal Edward’s mind … even Yatsuhashi wasn’t sure. His ability was to erase memories, but it was possible that there was more to Yatsu’s Semblance than that.” Um… subtle yikes? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad things have turned out well for the guy, but if I were the grandfather—or a family member of his—I wouldn’t really want a student messing around with my mind when he “wasn’t sure” what he was doing. Especially when the base skill is to erase memories, not recover or strengthen them. Honestly, I love taking a good look at fantasy series because half the time you realize how horrifying things actually are, once you strip away the common place aspects of these skills. An equivalent third year college student is running around experimenting with peoples’ memories to see if he can achieve something other than erasing them. Great!

The good thing is that Yatsuhashi is just as suspicious of this power as I am. Velvet things that he “hated messing with people’s minds.” Understandable, bud. I’d hate the ability too.

While they’ve got this time alone, Gus mentions that he had planned to contact Velvet soon anyway. Two of his classmates have gone missing and though his school has told Shade about it—there’s at least some of that additional info that Rumpole mentioned—he wanted to let her know too because remember, no one in this franchise trusts the professionals to fix problems. It’s a mindset I’d better understand if the professionals were actually inept. Or the protagonists weren’t training to be those professionals. It’s still exceedingly weird to me that there’s so little respect and trust for huntsmen while they desperately try to become huntsmen…

Something something broken systems, but RWBY isn’t interested in exploring that.

So yeah, Gus ropes Velvet in with the hope that she can help. He says that they were last seen attending a new club called Mirage that hosts one-on-one fights for a championship title. So… it’s not really a club, right? Sure, sure, we’ve all seen Fight Club, but generally that’s used to describe dancing, not fighting. It’s a rather misleading term for what they were actually looking for. No one else finds this odd though. Nor that the information was sent out to select, powerful individuals. Nothing shady about this, folks! Velvet obviously recognizes all these details—a club, powerful semblances, a crown in the advertisement—and asks Gus to pass it along to her.

Our plot forwarded ever so slightly, their conversation ends as Arslan calls Velvet on the now fixed connection. One of the first thing she says is that Octavia used the other students as bait for the grimm.

At least Velvet shares my reaction: “What?!”

Octavia then takes an already bad situation and makes it that much worse. Listening in, she defiantly says, “That’s right. And it worked. It’s called strategy.” She confirms that the students are “mostly” okay and taunts Velvet about inviting them to her “Baby Brigade and you can all cry about it!” I hope I don’t need to take up precious document space by explaining how awful this is. Overlooking the fact that these would-be huntsmen are willing to put their younger peers’ lives in danger like that—and then mock them for needing mental health resources after the fact—why is Octavia the one pulling the murderous Mean Girl act? Yeah, she was an asshole during reinitiation, but wasn’t the whole point of that to demonstrate that she and Velvet got a little closer? Even if she won’t admit it? She saved Velvet from flying down that hole, but now she risks the lives of students at least three years her junior? If anyone should be this violent and antagonistic towards Velvet, it’s Nebula. The most she’s done for Velvet is offer a hand up, otherwise we just watched her express glee in getting to fight her and mock her for not abandoning Beacon… the same sort of behavior we’re seeing from Octavia now. Does Myers think that these two characters are interchangeable? That he can just pick one willy-nilly per chapter and let her play at being Velvet’s Mean Girl?

As a lovely anon reminded me recently, these are also the girls that were created and backed by fans. If I had put money and creative energy into these OCs, I’d be pretty frustrated with how the RT team has been treating them.

Arslan at least is complimentary towards Velvet for fixing the relay—“Truly, great work today”— and Velvet herself is appropriately shocked at Octavia’s behavior. That’s more emotional consistency than I’ve come to expect of this book, so I’ll take whatever little bits I can get.

Arslan signs off with plans to meet back up soon and Velvet thinks about how “everyone was safe after the mission, which was no small thing.” I’d agree… except for Velvet’s early thoughts about how easy this mission supposedly was and Octavia’s decision to put her teammates in danger. It sounds like if anything did go sideways, it’s in part because you chose to enter this overconfidently and then actively made it more dangerous.

Finally, the chapter ends with Velvet believing that she might be able to make her new team work with time. Our final line, in its own paragraph is: “If they had time.”

Am I the only one who finds this weird? The line reads like an omniscient bit of foreboding. Velvet thinks about how she just needs time and we, the reader, hear that this won’t be possible. Except this chapter is told from Velvet’s perspective. So why does she think they might not have time? Because of the Crown? I assume there will be an attack towards the end of the novel—can’t have a RWBY story without the final, epic battle—but right now Velvet has no reason to believe that an attack is imminent, or that the teams will change back, or anything else that would interfere with her hopes of strengthening this relationship… so why the rather confident sounding pessimism? I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know anymore lol.

At least this chapter was short? As said, silver linings. We’re still treading water though: Velvet’s bond with her new team seems to have regressed after two missions, rather than improved, and Gus didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know, just further confirmed it. I assume that next chapter Velvet and the others will visit Mirage. Let’s hope something actually happens then.

See you! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #mymetas #Before the Dawn #BTD Recaps

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darksaiyangoku · 5 years

Note

For christmas, one of rubys gifts to jaune is a positive pregnancy test

Lancaster Christmas??? SIGN ME UP!!!!! Episode 2 of the RWBY Christmas Special begins now!!!!

Lancaster: A Stollen in the Oven

In the Arc-Rose household, the party was in full swing. Ruby and Jaune huddled up together alongside Ren and Nora, watching amusingly as Yang and Sage sang along. Every year, Jaune and Ruby would host a Christmas Carol Contest, where each of the couples would take part in a duet against each other. The prizes would vary from weapons upgrades, all expenses paid vacation and even simple like a bottle of Valean wine. Jaune held Ruby closer and she in turn nuzzled into his neck.

Jaune: You okay, Rubes?

Ruby: *sighs* Yeah, I’m just feeling tired. Also, I kinda wish Weiss, Blake, Sun and Neptune were here. It’s not the same without them.

Jaune: *kisses her forehead* I know. I’m sure they’ll be here next year.

As if on cue, everyone heard a loud knocking on the front door. Ruby left her seat to open the it, revealing the beaming faces of Weiss, Neptune, Blake and Sun.

Ruby: *smiling widely* No way!!! You guys all made it!!!! *furiously hugs them*

Weiss: You didn’t think we’d miss the Christmas Carol Contest, did you?

Neptune: Merry Christmas Ruby. Me and Weiss got you a little something. *hands gift over to Ruby*

Blake: It’s so good to see you. *hugs Ruby*

Ruby: You too, Blake! *hugs her back*

Sun: *chuckles* So are you gonna invite us in or are we just gonna stand out in the snow all night?

Ruby: Oh right, come on in!

After inviting them inside, and with all the greetings out of the way, Nora rose up from her seat to announce the next contestants; Weiss and Neptune followed by Sun and Blake. Weiss and Neptune sang Mistletoe and Wine, Sun and Blake sang All I Want for Christmas is You and Nora and Ren sang Last Christmas. Jaune was bouncing with anticipation for his turn next, causing Ruby to giggle.

Nora: Alrighy everyone, the final act is our two favourite dorks: Jaune and Ruby!

Everyone applauded as the two stood up and faced their excited audience. Fishing out for her scroll, Ruby selected her and Jaune’s favourite Christmas song; Baby It’s Cold Outside.

Ruby: You ready, darling knight?

Jaune: Lead the way, beautiful rose.

Sage: *rolls his eyes* Those two and their nicknames.

Yang: *huddling towards Sage* You love it really.

Sage: *chuckles* That I do.

Ruby: I really can't stay

Jaune: Baby it's cold outside

Ruby: I gotta go away

Jaune: Baby it's cold outside

Ruby: This evening has been-

Jaune: Been hoping that you'd dropped in

Ruby: -so very nice

Jaune: *takes Ruby’s hand* I'll hold your hands they're just like ice

Ruby: *shakes her head smiling* My sister will start to worry

Jaune: *smirking* Beautiful what's your hurry?

Ruby: My father will be pacing the floor

Jaune: Listen to the fireplace roar

Ruby: *turns aways* So really I'd better scurry

Jaune: *takes her hand* Beautiful please don't hurry

Ruby: *shrugs* Well maybe just a half a drink more

Jaune: *grabs bottle* I'll put some records on while I pour

Ruby: The neighbors might think

Jaune: *hands her the glass* Baby it's bad out there

Ruby: *nervously puts down glass* Say what's in this drink?

Jaune: *raises eyebrow* No cabs to be had out there

Ruby: *wraps arms around the back of Jaune’s neck* I wish I knew how-

Jaune: *wraps arms around her waist* Your eyes are like starlight now

Ruby: *breaks aways from him* to break this spell

Jaune: *chuckles* I'll take your hood, your hair looks swell

Ruby: *sways finger* I ought to say no, no, no sir

Jaune: *smirking* Mind if move in closer?

Ruby: At least I'm gonna say that I tried

Jaune: What's the sense of hurtin' my pride?

Ruby: I really can't stay

Jaune: Baby don't hold out

Ruby/Jaune: Baby it's cold outside!

Weiss: *whispering* Wow, they’re pretty good.

Neptune: *whispering* Not as good as you, babe.

Weiss: *whispers and smiles* Why thank you, dear.

Sun: *whispers* Keep it down, you two.

Blake: *whispers* You’re gonna miss the best part.

Weiss: *rolls her eyes* Alright, sorry.

Neptune: *facepalms* They’ve been like this since we were kids.

Sun and Blake’s eyes sparkled with delight as they watched the couple continue their performance.

Ruby: *gestures to the door* I simply must go

Jaune: Baby it's cold outside

Ruby: *rolls her eyes* The answer is no

Jaune: But baby it's cold outside

Ruby: The welcome has been-

Jaune: How lucky that you dropped in

Ruby: -so nice and warm

Jaune: *gestures to the window*Look out the window at that storm

Ruby: *gestures Jaune to move in closer* My uncle will be suspicious

Jaune: *moves towards Ruby* Gosh your lips look delicious

Ruby: My best friend will be there at the door

Jaune: Waves upon a tropical shore

Ruby: *cups his face* My crazy aunt's mind is vicious

Jaune: *cups her chin* Gosh your lips are delicious

Ruby: *playfully pushes him away* Well maybe just a cinnamon stick more

Jaune: *rolls his eyes* Never such a blizzard before

Ruby: I've got to get home

Jaune: Baby you'll freeze out there

Ruby: *points to his Pumpkin Pete hoodie* Say lend me your coat?

Jaune: *shakes his head* It's up to your knees out there!

Ruby: You've really been grand-

Jaune: *holds her hands* I feel when I touch your hand

Ruby: But don't you see?

Jaune: How can you do this thing to me?

Ruby: *smiling* There's bound to be talk tomorrow

Jaune: *twirls her* Think of my life long sorrow!

Ruby: *laughs* At least there will be plenty implied

Jaune: If you caught pneumonia and died!

Ruby: I really can't stay

Jaune: Get over that old out

Ruby/Jaune: Baby it's cold, baby it's cold outside!!!!

The entire room erupted in applause, the loudest coming from Nora, Ren, Sun and Blake.

Nora: I think we have our winners! Ruby and Jaune!!!!

Everyone: *loud applause*

Jaune: Thank you very much! *bows*

Ruby: *kisses Jaune’s cheek*

Ren: *leaves his seat* Congratulations you two, here is your prize. *hands them a bottle of Mistrialian wine*

Jaune: Wow! Thanks Ren!

Ruby: .....more wine?

Nora: Not just any wine! *holds onto Ren’s arm* Renny-bear here made it himself!

Sun: *eyes gleaming* Aw sweet!!!! You gotta let me have some, man!

Nora: Easy there, Sunny. Jaune and Ruby get the first taste.

Ruby: *scratches her head nervously* Actually, I’m gonna pass on the wine tonight. In fact, I won’t be drinking it for a while.

Nora: *sad face* Awww!!

Jaune: *worried face* Why not? Ruby, what’s going on?

Ruby: I have a surprise for you.

Heading over to the Christmas tree, Ruby took a small, rectangular box with white ribbon and handed to Jaune. The tag read: “To my wonderful husband, Jaune xoxo”. Jaune looked at the box with confusion and then back to Ruby, who sported a huge smile on her face.

Ruby: *beaming* Merry Christmas darling.

Wasting no time, Jaune tore off the ribbon and opened the box. The sight made his eyes widen, for inside was pregnancy test and it was positive.

Jaune: W-w-wait, are you-?

Ruby: *nods her head happily*

Jaune: Oh my god! *hugs Ruby tightly and skins her round*

Weiss: Wait a minute, what’s going on here?

Jaune: *puts Ruby down*

Ruby: *giggling* Well, I’m pregnant.

Everyone: WHAT?!

Jaune: Yeah! *wraps his arm around Ruby* We’re gonna be parents!

Blake: Oh my god, that’s so great!!!! *rushes to hug Ruby*

Yang: I’M GONNA BE AN AUNT!!!! *also hugs Ruby*

Weiss: *tearing up whilst hugging Ruby* I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!

Ruby: *turning blue* I-I lo-love y-you a-all t-too b-but I-I c-ca-an’t b-breathe.

Yang: Oh sorry. Come on girls, let’s give her room. *lets go of Ruby along with Blake and Weiss*

Ruby: *deep breathing* Air! Sweet, sweet air!

Sun: Congratulations man! *hugs Jaune*

Neptune: *hugs Jaune* Say hello to Daddy Arc!

Jaune: *sweatdrops* Please don’t call me that.

Sage: *pats Jaune’s shoulder* Too late, it’s a thing now and we’re sticking to it.

Jaune: *deadpans* Great.

Nora: Well let’s not just all stand around here, let’s get this party started! Ren!

Ren: You read my mind. *pulls cork of wine bottle*

The party was full swing and everyone was having a good time. Sun and Neptune had an arm wrestling competition, much to the amusement of Weiss and Blake, Ren was telling Sage about the secret to his wine, Yang and Nora were fawning on the different clothes they could get the baby and Jaune and Ruby cuddled together on the sofa, hot chocolates in their hands.

Jaune: I can’t believe we’re gonna be parents.

Ruby: I know. It’s gonna be tough though. I don’t know the first thing about being a mom.

Jaune: *strokes her hair* Well I’m up for the challenge and I’ll help you every step of the way.

Ruby: I love you Jaune.

Jaune: I love you too Ruby.

The two kissed and moved closer together. Sage and Yang watched the two lovingly, also huddled together.

Yang: I can’t believe my sister’s gonna become a mom.

Sage: I know, right? Everything’s changed so much now. One minute, we’re a bunch of students, the next we’re fighting against witches and now, here we are as one big family.

Yang: Speaking of which, *leans in and whispers* I was thinking you and I could get started on giving Ruby and Jaune a niece or nephew.

Sage: *not paying attention* Yeah. *suddenly realises* Wait, what?!

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bittersweetmelodie · 7 years

Text

home

Fandom: RWBY Pairing: Blake Belladonna/Sun Wukong Summary: Sometimes home isn’t four walls; it’s two eyes and a heartbeat. But oh, how easily all of that can come crumbling down. FF.net

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and places belong to Rooster Teeth

A/N: Have some blacksun word vomit, because I am trash and their interactions this volume are killing me. Half inspired by Blake’s “word for a person” thing. Although every blacksun shipper probably wants it to be “love”, I’d like to think Blake thinks of Sun as “home”.

Blake groaned sleepily as the familiar vibration of a scroll call pulled her from her dreams. She rolled over onto the other side of the bed, half expecting to snuggle into Sun’s warmth, only to find his side of the bed empty. Sighing as she remembered that Team SSSN was still away on a mission, she sat up and grabbed her scroll off the dresser. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was four in the morning.

She frowned – phone calls at this time of night usually didn’t amount to anything good, especially for a Huntress. “Hello?” she asked, her voice heavy with sleep.

“Hey Blake.” Sun’s voice carried through the scroll.

Had she been a little more alert, paid a little more attention, she would have noticed the slight tremble in his voice, the quiet, but sharp, intake of breath at the end of the greeting. But it was the middle of the night, and her sleep-addled brain let the small details slip under her radar.

“Sun?” she blearily tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. “Is something wrong? Do you know what time it is?”

“Yea, sorry. I woke you, didn’t I? Of course I did – it’s four in the morning. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. Being woken in the middle of the night kind of comes with being a Huntress. What’s wrong? Are you and your team okay?”

“Yea, no, no. We’re fine, everybody is fine.” A muffled grunt. “I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. I think I miss you too much.”

She smiled, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. “I miss you too, Sun.” Quietly, she slipped out of bed and padded, barefoot, across their apartment to the kitchen. She squished her scroll between her ear and shoulder, and started filling the kettle with water. “How much longer do you think you and your team will be out there for?”

“A couple more days at most,” he said, his voice sounding oddly tinny.

Blake frowned. Was it her imagination or did it sound like Sun was running out of breath? Or was it just bad connection? She opened her mouth to ask, again, if he was alright, but he spoke over her.

“There’s just a lot of Grimm here… More than we’d been expecting. We were hoping to get back last week. I think we’re all really excited to be coming back to see some familiar faces. Especially Neptune. He really wants to get back so he can tease Weiss and Yang.”

Blake let out a soft chuckle. “Who spilled? Weiss has been working up the courage to let him know when you guys got back.”

“Scarlet – you know how he loves to run his big mouth.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t you?” she teased. “You always were terrible at keeping a secret from Neptune.”

He let out a breathy laugh. “Yea. Yang made me promise not to say anything. Well, she threatened me, really, and I really don’t want her to break my legs. But I can see why they wanted to tell him themselves, Neptune being Weiss’s ex-boyfriend and all.”

“Hmm,” she hummed in agreement, and the conversation dropped off into a comfortable silence, punctuated only by Sun’s heavy breathing.

“Are you making tea?” he huffed out when the shrill shriek of the kettle pierced the silence.

“I’m tired,” she retorted as she poured the boiling water into her mug and watched the tea leaves float to the surface. “You did wake me up in the middle of the night, after all.”

“Coffee works wonders.”

She made a face, even though he couldn’t see her. “It’s also disgusting. I don’t know how you drink that stuff.” She wrapped her hands around the warm mug and headed back to the bedroom. “I will admit that I miss the smell of your coffee in the morning, though. It certainly smells better than it tastes.”

He chuckled, but it came out sounding a little watery.

She frowned. “Sun? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yea, m’fine,” he mumbled. “Just… miss you a lot. It feels really good to hear your voice.”

“You’ll be home soon; hopefully just a couple more days.”

Home, she mused. She wondered when she had started associating Sun with the word ‘home’ – with the way that he seemed to always know what she was thinking, and how to cheer her up; with the way that he would wake her up in the mornings by peppering kisses along her cheeks and jaw. Home was the way he would pull her away from her paperwork, and into his arms. It was the way he would twirl her around the living room while he hummed whatever cheesy song he’d heard on the radio that day. Home, she realized, was Sun’s smile that radiated warmth and happiness, bringing joy to everybody around him. He might have been the one on a mission thousands of miles away from their apartment, but she was the one who wouldn’t feel at home until he came back and wrapped her up in his warmth.

“Blake?” Sun’s voice pulled her from her reverie.

“Yea, sorry.” She put her mug down on the bedside table and pulled the blanket around her shoulders in an attempt to stay warm. “What was that?”

“You said ‘home’, and it made me think… I’ve never really had a home before. I mean, Vacuo was… just a place where I grew up. I was always moving, and never stayed in one place for long.”

“And Mistral?”

“Mistral and Haven Academy were always meant to be temp-temporary. Just a stepping stone to get stronger – to help me survive. Neptune, Sage and Scarlet – they’re a big part of my life, but… I still felt like something was always missing, and I would never be home until I found it. Maybe that’s why I never managed to stay put – because I was looking for something.”

“And? Did you find it?”

“Yea. Yea, I think I did. Have you ever been with somebody, and it just feels right? Like you could spend the rest of your life with them?”

She paused before answering. “Yes. You, Sun. You’ve always been there for me, despite how many times I pushed you out, despite my flaws and my broken past. You took those broken pieces and you glued them back together. I don’t tell you enough how grateful I am that you never gave up on me.”

“I would do it again, and again, and again, if it meant you would be happy, because I’m happy as long as you are. I’ve never felt like I ever belonged somewhere until I met you. You’re home, Blake, and I love you so much.”

“Sun…” she breathed out, touched by how earnest he sounded. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I love you, Blake,” he repeated. “I am always going to love you.”

She sighed, contentment and warmth washing over her. “I love you too, Sun.”

She could hear a rustle from his end of the call, before he said, “I have to go. I need to wake Nep so I can get a bit of rest.”

“Be careful on the rest of your mission, Sun. Good night.”

“Good night, Blake. Sweet dreams.” And then the line went dead.

“See you soon,” Blake whispered into the open air, even though she knew he’d already hung up. She set her scroll down next to her untouched cup of tea and snuggled deeper into the blankets. It didn’t take long for sleep to overcome her once again.

Having finally hung up the phone, Sun let out a pained gasp and coughed, blood spilling out from the corner of his mouth. He pressed his hand, already slick with his own blood, against his abdomen, where Wilt and Blush had pierced him – in the exact same spot where he had stabbed Blake all those years ago. He couldn’t help but think that Adam was trying to make a statement, and he knew exactly what it was – this is your fault.

And, hundreds of miles away from the nearest city, and miles away from where his team had set up base for the night, he knew he wasn’t going to make it out alive. Nothing his team had in their meager first aid kit could stop the amount of blood that was flowing out of his wound. So he’d called Blake – if only to hear her voice one last time, and to tell her that he loved her.

“Sun!” Neptune’s voice, filled with concern, reverberated through the night. “Sun!”

Sun let out another cough, blood spurting out. He could hear the familiar footsteps of his teammates rushing to his side.

Neptune landed next to him. “Sun!” His voice was panicked as he took in the sight of his best friend, lying in a pool of his own blood, an open, gaping wound in his abdomen, and blood dribbling down his chin. He had his scroll clutched in his right hand, Blake’s smiling face the only source of light illuminating the dark (Neptune can remember the shenanigans he and his teammates had gotten into to get her to smile like that). His other hand was clamped over the wound, trying futilely to staunch the blood flow. His face was contorted in pain and his breathing was heavy.

“Sage, Scarlet, call for help! Now! Yang and Weiss are on a mission near the outskirts of Vale – see if they have anything better than the first aid kit we have back at camp!” Neptune yanked his jacket off and pressed it against Sun’s wound, applying as much pressure as he could.

“You guys found me.” He let out a grunt of pain and let his eyes fall closed – he was starting to find it hard to concentrate, and his eyelids were starting to feel heavy.

“Sun, open your eyes!” Neptune said in a rush, his voice panicked. “I swear to dust, if you don’t open your eyes, I’m going to sic Blake on you when we get back to Vale. She’s going to let you have it for getting yourself so injured. Open your damned eyes!”

Sun struggled to pry his eyes open. “I’m okay,” he mumbled.

Sage jogged up to the pair. “We called for help – they’re sending in an emergency chopper from Vale, but it could be hours before they get here. Yang and Weiss are…” his voice trailed off when he saw Sun’s condition, and panic flashed across his usually calm façade. He swallowed loudly. “Keep him talking, Neptune. Don’t let him lose consciousness. I’m going to tell the girls to hurry.” His voice, usually calm and collected, was starting to take on tones of desperation.

Neptune nodded numbly as Sage took off towards Scarlet, who was giving the girls details about their location. He turned his attention back to Sun, whose breathing had started to turn shallow. “What happened? Why didn’t you wake us?” He asked, grasping for something – anything – to talk about in his panic-induced state.

“D-don’t know,” Sun sputtered, choking on his blood. “Was a noise – went to investigate. Caught me by surprise.”

“Who?” Neptune could feel fury building in his chest – he was going to find the monster who did this to his best friend, and make them pay. “Who was it?” he growled.

“A-Adam,” he slurred. “Don’t – don’t tell Blake. Promise – promise you won’t tell her.” He coughed again, spraying more blood everywhere.

Neptune wanted to scream. Even now, as he was laying there, his life slowly seeping out of him, Sun was thinking of Blake. He couldn’t promise that – he knew why Sun wanted him to, but he couldn’t. Blake would never forgive them if they kept something this big from her. But she would also never forgive herself for something that wasn’t her fault.

“Can’t – I can’t do that, Sun.”

“Please! You h-have to. She can’t know. She doesn’t – doesn’t deserve to…” his voice trailed off into a shallow exhale as his eyes started to close again.

“Sun! Stay with me! Open your eyes, Sun! Tell me about Blake – you always want to talk about Blake, right? Tell me about your first date, what your wedding will be like, anything!”

“S-sorry, Nep. I don’t think I can – tell Sage and Scarlet that –” he let out a pained breath. “You guys were the – best team I could’ve asked for.” He forced his eyes open and gave Neptune a weak smile. “Thanks for – putting up with all my crap.”

“You can tell them yourself when we get back into the city! Just a little longer, Sun! Yang and Weiss will be here soon with help!” Neptune looked around wildly, as if it would somehow make the two girls magically appear. “Sun!”

“Tell Blake I love…” his words trailed off as the light faded from his eyes.

Blake was pulled out of her slumber again, when she heard somebody loudly banging on her apartment door. She buried her face into her pillow and let out a muffled groan. Maybe if she ignored them, whoever it was at the door would go away. But the knocking didn’t cease and, with an irritated growl, she tossed the blankets aside and stormed across the apartment. She threw door open, forgetting that she was in nothing more than one of Sun’s old t-shirts (which she had donned because she missed him, and it smelled like him – not that she would ever admit that to anybody).

“What do you –” her words died in her throat when she took in Yang and Weiss’s disheveled state. “Yang? Weiss? What’s wrong? Aren’t you guys supposed to be on a mission? Are you guys okay?” She asked in alarm when she finally noticed the dried blood on their hands and sleeves.

Yang looked at her sadly. “Blake – I’m so sorry. Something’s happened and –” she broke off as a sob overcame her.

Weiss, whose eyes were uncharacteristically shiny with unshed tears, gave Yang’s hand a comforting squeeze.

Blake could feel dread pooling in the pit of her stomach. She had never seen Yang at a loss for words before, and Weiss had never been one to show intense emotions. Something was definitely off. She clutched the doorknob so tightly that her knuckles started turning white. “Guys?” she prompted, her voice cracking.

Weiss glanced at Yang and, seeing that her girlfriend was in no state to talk, turned back to Blake and mumbled something. But the only thing Blake managed to make out through the buzzing in her ears was the word Sun.

She could feel the strength leaving her legs, and she reached out blindly in front of her for support before she completely collapsed.

Yang and Weiss immediately leapt forward, each clasping one of her arms to hold her up.

“What – what happened to Sun? Is he okay?” How could something have happened to him in such a short time? She had spoken to him a mere few hours ago!

“Let’s go inside,” Weiss said, a slight tremble in her voice despite her attempts to remain calm and unemotional. She and Yang led her to the couch and sat her down. “We should have sent Neptune,” she grumbled under her breath.

Yang elbowed her sharply, and glared at her through the tears in her eyes. She sighed heavily. “Blake…Sun is – he went to investigate something during his night watch. Things…things didn’t – they didn’t go well.”

Blake felt herself seize with terror. “Sun – where is Sun?” she demanded frantically.

Yang and Weiss shared a look before Weiss spoke up. “Blake … he – Sun didn’t make it.”

“No…no, that’s impossible! I just spoke with him. He was fine!” She shook her head in denial.

“I’m sorry, Blake,” Yang whispered, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“They called us in the early hours of the morning, asking us to bring help. We got there as fast as we could, but… w-we were too late. He’d already –” Weiss cut herself off and took Blake’s other hand.

“He was… He was in really bad shape.” Yang swallowed the lump in her throat. “He didn’t go down without a fight, Blake. He did everything he could to make it back to you, but…”

Blake was stunned, frozen to the spot. “How? How did he –” she stopped, unable to bring herself to say the word ’die’, as if uttering the word would make it more real.

“We don’t know,” Weiss admitted. “Neptune was the last one to speak to him, but he refuses to say.”

“Blood loss,” Yang said. “He had a severe wound in his abdomen. On the left. I – Sage said it was probably from a sword.”

Blake felt like somebody had poured a bucket of ice over her. Unconsciously, she reached down to touch the scar on the left side of her stomach, a scar from a wound that haunted her even to this day, and would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. Her stomach rolled, and she struggled to keep herself from throwing up all over the rug. “No,” she whispered. “No.”

‘I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love,’ his words echoed through her mind and her heart clenched. Was he still trying to haunt her? After all these years, was he still trying to take away everything that she loved? Would her friends – her family – ever be safe?

“Blake?” Yang glanced worriedly over at Weiss who looked just as lost and miserable as she felt.

“Adam,” she managed to get out through clenched teeth. She felt like she was suffocating, like the world was closing in around her. “It was Adam.”

Yang stiffened, her eyes going instinctively to her robotic arm. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” she growled, her eyes flashing dangerously red.

“My fault,” Blake said as if Yang hadn’t said anything. “It’s my fault. I killed Sun.”

“No,” Weiss whispered. “It’s not. It’s nobody’s fault but whoever did it.”

“It was Adam! Why else would Neptune keep it a secret? That – his wound – was a message. He’s telling me it’s my fault.” She gestured wildly to Yang’s arm. “That’s my fault too. This is why I left! He won’t s-stop until you’re all dead.” She buried her face in her hands as she tried to keep the tears from falling.

Yang sighed. She took a seat next to Blake and wrapped her arm around her. “Nobody blames you, Blake. Sun – I know Sun wouldn’t blame you either, and he wouldn’t want you to blame yourself. It was out of your hands. Adam is – he says he’s doing it to hurt you, but if Sun had nothing to do with you, and he was on the same mission, and confronted Adam, do you think Adam would have just let him go? Just because he had no connection to you?”

“Yang is right, Blake. It doesn’t matter who it is or who they are to you, Adam will kill everybody who gets in his way. It is not your fault,” she emphasized. “So please, don’t run from us. You don’t have to do this alone, but we can’t be there for you if you don’t let us in.” She sat down on Blake’s other side and put a comforting hand on her back.

Blake looked up, a desperate look on her face. “But Sun –”

“Sun wouldn’t want you to do this alone,” Yang said firmly. “Please, Blake. Stop pushing us out. We want to help you.”

Blake’s breath hitched at the familiarity of the words – the very words that Sun had used to get her to stop running away, and to bring her back to the people she loved. “Okay,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “Thank you.”

“You’re our family, Blake. You know we’ll always be here for you, no matter what.”

She gave Weiss and Yang each a tight hug before bidding them goodbye. She shut the door and leaned against it, letting herself slide into an exhausted, defeated heap on the floor of their apartment. Her apartment now, she realized as the sinking feeling in her gut grew. It wasn’t theirs anymore; it would never be theirs again. Only hers.

She replayed their last conversation in her head, and she wondered how she could have missed all the signs. The watery laugh, the way he sounded like he was running out of breath, the fact that he hadn’t said ‘see you soon’ like he always did. He had known – when he’d called her, he must have already known then that he wouldn’t come back to her.

And if he had known, then his telling her that he loved her hadn’t been a spur of the moment thing. He had called her with the specific purpose of telling her that he loved her, that he would always love her (but, she thought bitterly, the ache in her chest growing more and more painful, always didn’t last very long), to make sure that she knew. And she was certain that Neptune refusing to tell them what happened had everything to do with Sun telling him not to. Even in his last moments, he had put her first. He always put her first, and for once, she wished that he had put himself first.

She buried her face in her hands and let out a broken, heart-wrenching sob, finally letting the tears fall. Sun was dead. How could Sun be dead? After so many years fighting extremists, Grimm, after defeating Salem, how could he be dead? After everything they had all been through, she supposed she had started thinking that they were invincible. But they weren’t. And now… now Sun was gone, and she would never see him again. She would never again see his smile that shone brighter than the sun; she would never get to walk down the aisle to see him in a suit; she would never again fall asleep to the sound of his beating heart or wake up to his warmth. She would never really, truly be home again.

A/N: Vaguely based on this prompt, because apparently, I really like killing off my favourite characters.

#rwby #blacksun #blake belladonna #sun wukong #otp: like morning follows night #word vomit

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