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rohad93 · 3 years

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RWBY - Driftwood

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Post Volume 8 finale

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Her whole body hurt.

Not that Ruby expected much else when she and Blake fell from the golden bridge to the inky blackness below; their aura broken.

Actually, she really expected to not even be alive. Ambrosius’s warning not to fall had echoed in her head as the pathways grew more and more distant before all light vanished, swallowed up by the inky blackness.

She could hear Blake yelling and then nothing, like being smothered with a thick blanket. There was no sound, only a dull static buzzing in her ears along with the heavy thumping of her own heartbeat. The all-encompassing darkness had been suffocating. She couldn’t breathe, but she must have somehow.

She and Blake had separated at some point and the next thing she knew, she had hit the water with all the force of a rampaging Ursa, the back of her head slamming against the water and it may as well have been cement for all the force with which she landed. She thought that she may even have blacked out for a moment before the cold water and the need for air made her eyes pop back open. It took a long second for her to orient herself, swimming up toward the light.

The swelling ocean waves and an island laid out in front of her, a towering tree reaching up toward a ruddy pink sky. She didn’t spare it more than a glance before making her way to shore.

She coughed as she crawled onto the beach, sand squelching under her fingers and knees.

The sun was warm on her back but she was numb to it as she stared blankly down at the sand, watching the rivulets of water drip from her hair and face, leaving dark splotches in the granules.

Her head pounded in time with her heavy heart and her lungs burned with fire as she gasped for air. Her limbs weighed down every movement and all Ruby wanted to do was collapse on the dark sand and never move again. The dull throb piercing every inch of her body pulled her deeper into the miasma of despair.

She forced her head up and looked around at the expanse of beach that seemed to stretch to the horizon on either side of her, blank and unchanging.

With a pained grunt, she pushed herself up off her knees, stumbling a little as she climbed to her feet.

Where even was... this?

The trees stretching out in front of her were like nothing she had ever seen before, twisted and bent in looping knots toward the ground before their leafy tops stretched back up toward the sky.

She pushed her soaking wet hair out of her face and took a tentative step toward the trees. She was bone-weary but she forced her aching body to move just the same.

When the spirit of the staff had warned them not to fall, she had expected something else.

A bottomless abyss…

Death…

Not a tropical island.

She moved, without purpose or sense of direction through the jungle landscape. The sounds of birds cawing echoed off the trees. The foliage was thick and wild and the air was heavy and humid.

She was slowly coming back to herself the longer she moved. Feeling returned to her limbs and the haziness in her head parted some. The oppressive heat and humidity was starting to get to her and she stopped long enough to pull off the insulated shirt, letting the air finally get to her skin. Her aura was broken, so she had no way to regulate her body temperature until it regenerated. While the fall didn’t kill her, she may very well sweat to death in the thickly insulated gear now that she had left behind the bitter cold of Solitas. She threw it down in the dirt and left it there as she moved.

The water beading up on her skin was as much sweat now as it was seawater.

If she had survived the fall, then surely Yang and Blake had to be here somewhere too.

Unless…

She stopped and turned to look back in the direction of the ocean that she could no longer see through the trees and the weight of everything began to settle on her.

What if they had drowned? What if instead of landing in the water they had hit the ground?

What about Weiss? Her aura had been broken when she shoved her out of the way of Cinder’s attack. Had she fallen? Had she gotten through to Vacuo?

Or had Cinder...

Water began to gather in the corners of her eyes and her fists clenched, the leather of her gloves squeaking in her grip as a sob ripped out of her throat.

Her partner, her sister, her closest friend… was her whole team just gone… was she the only one left? What about Jaune and Penny? Were they still fighting or had they fallen too?

She choked on another sob and sank to her knees in the dirt as her sorrow wracked her body.

All she had wanted to do her entire life was help people, keep them safe from the monsters that surrounded them. Make life better, like her mother…

Her mother, who had probably been turned into a creature of grimm by Salem for her eyes. Taken every good intention and warped it into something black, ugly, and malicious.

How had everything crumbled to ruin around them, again!?

Cinder.

It was always Cinder. Ruby clenched her teeth as her body trembled.

She understood now, why her eyes reacted to the woman. Her grimm arm stuck out in Ruby’s mind.

She was a monster, in every sense of the word.

“Argh!” Ruby slammed her fist into the dirt, over and over until it throbbed and she’d spent what little energy she had left pounding a divot into the ground. Something dark and ugly had pooled in her stomach, spreading through her veins like wildfire.

Hate

Hatred so bright and hot it set her aflame from the inside out.

Salem might have been behind it all but it was Cinder who had continued to take and destroy everything she had ever fought for, ever cared about.

The fall of Beacon, Pyrrha, Haven, her sister, her teammates!

She tasted salt as tears dripped down her face, splattering in little dark spots on the ground.

Why… Why did she keep trying?

Now they had lost two relics and everything in between.

Maybe Ironwood had been wrong but how had her plan turned out any better? What good did saving the people of Mantle and Atlas do if Salem got the relics anyway and destroyed all of Remnant?

She sat there and cried. The burning hatred ebbing away to make way for something else.

Despair

The searing hatred bubbling beneath her skin fizzled out and bitter despair took its place.

Acrid and raw, burning up the back of her throat with a fresh wave of tears.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there in the dirt, lost to the world around her as despair reigned supreme and she didn’t know how long she might have, if a distant sound hadn’t finally broken through the haze of anguish.

Ruby looked up, sniffling as she strained her ears to listen for the far-off sound that didn’t fit the noises of the jungle.

A voice.

One she would know in her sleep.

“Ruby… Blake…. Yang!”

Was that…?

She scrambled to her feet and took off running in the direction of the voice calling her name as it grew louder and loud.

“Ruby!”

Ruby panted as she ripped through the thick jungle undergrowth, never slowing even as branches and plants whipped at her face. She was unconscious to it all; nothing penetrated except the sound of the voice growing ever closer and the furious pounding in her ears as she tore through the trees.

She burst through the tree line and skid to a stop the moment her eyes landed on the bright spot of blue and white in front of her that stood out like a beowulf at a dinner party among the dark greens of the jungle.

Weiss whipped around at the commotion she’d made and her eyes widened as they landed on her partner.

“Ruby!” She all but screamed before dashing forward and Ruby’s feet were moving without her even realizing until she crashed painfully into Weiss, arms wrapping around her in a near stranglehold. Ruby would take any pain in the world if it meant seeing her face again.

“Ruby... You’re okay…” She heard Weiss’s strained and desperate words against her ear and she squeezed her all the tighter as tears again started to gather in her eyes.

“Weiss…,” she choked, burying her face in the other woman’s neck. Her grip on Weiss remained air-tight but her knees were folding beneath her and the next thing she knew they were kneeling in the dirt, clinging desperately to each other. She could feel the cool drops of water dripping onto her shoulder where Weiss’s head was pressed against hers. They squeezed each other for a long, handful of minutes, relief washing over them.

Eventually, they pulled back but didn’t go far, still clinging tightly to each other.

“Are you okay?” Ruby asked, silver eyes darting across Weiss’s tear-stained face as she stared back at her, nodding.

“Yes… I…” She sniffled. “I was afraid that you…,” she trailed off and if possible, Ruby’s hold tightened.

Her mind was still foggy with everything that had happened but the sheer relief she felt now that Weiss was here, in front of her, was like a ray of sunlight piercing the dark clouds of her misery.

“I’m not hurt…,” she assured, pulling back to grip Weiss’s shoulders, her thumbs running soothingly back and forth over her shoulders. She couldn’t say she was okay. Okay was the last thing she was right now. She was alive, and for now, that would have to be enough.

“Have you seen Yang or Blake?” Weiss asked, releasing her hold on her partner and Ruby shook her head.

“What happened after I fell, Weiss?” she asked and Weiss’s lips pursed, tears continuing their slow trek down her cheeks.

“Cinder took the relic…,” Weiss said quietly and Ruby’s jaw tightened, teeth clicking together.

“Did Penny at least get to Vacuo?” she asked and Weiss froze, eyes flickering to her lap and fingers curling into tight fists against the top of her thighs.

If she closed her eyes, she could still see it.

Penny’s body, an hour into becoming a living girl of flesh and bone, lying lifeless on the ground and Jaune’s sword, stained with dark, crimson blood.

She looked up at Ruby’s questioning face and swallowed thickly. How badly she didn’t want to say the words sitting like rocks in her mouth; but she had to.

“Penny…” Her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. “Penny was injured… and we didn't have the time to heal her. She… asked Jaune to kill her, so Cinder wouldn’t get the maiden powers…,” she trailed off, voice growing lower with the words. She could feel Ruby’s grip on her shoulders tighten into a white-knuckle grip and winced at the nails biting into her skin.

“He did…,” she mumbled and Ruby’s grip on her tightened for a brief second before she ripped her hands away and shot to her feet, turning on her heel and walking a few feet away before she stopped as Weiss scrambled up to follow her.

The air around them was tense and quiet, the chirping of the birds and rustling of the trees in the breeze were the only sounds between them.

Weiss didn’t know what to say as she stared at her leader’s back, watching the growing trembling in her frame.

Ruby hunkered forward, body shaking, then suddenly, jerked back, headshot back as a scream filled the air.

Cold chills ran up Weiss’s spine as she watched, wide-eyed and lips parted in silent shock as Ruby wailed up at the coral-colored sky.

The howl faded, turning into choked sobs and that knocked Weiss’s feet loose as she rushed to close the distance between them.

“Ruby…” She lifted a hand but stopped short.

“Why… Why Penny… why again!?” Ruby choked on her choppy breaths in between sobs. Weiss frowned, stepping closer.

“She wanted to keep the power safe from Cinder at all costs… to do the right thing. What she thought was right, like you would have…” She jerked back, eyes wide as Ruby whipped around.

“When have I ever done the right thing!?” Ruby screamed, slapping a hand to her chest. “Everything I’ve done, every decision I’ve made has only made everything worse!” she choked as tears dripped down her cheeks. “We lost the lamp, we lost the staff, we lost Penny…. again! All I am is a failure!” she screamed before sobs rocked her body and she crumpled to the ground in a heap, hands pressed to her face.

Weiss quickly crossed the remaining distance between them to kneel in front of the sobbing young woman. Her body shook and her head hung, refusing to meet Weiss’s eyes.

“Ruby, no… You’re not a failure…,” she said quietly but there was steel in her voice. “You are the bravest and kindest person I’ve ever known, Ruby. You always try to do the right thing and you’ve made some mistakes, we all have! You can’t know everything… you can’t be perfect!”

“I can’t do anything right, why do I keep trying? Everything just blows up in my face!” Ruby finally looked up at her, eyes rimmed with red and lips pulled back over her teeth. The fury and desolation flickering in her eyes struck at Weiss’s very core.

It broke Weiss’s heart to watch Ruby crack and fracture under all the pressure that had been building for months. She’d always been amazed at how strong Ruby had remained through everything but even her fearless and intrepid partner had finally reached her breaking point. The weight of their world having finally settled on her young shoulders.

Weiss bit her lip, feeling helpless just sitting there as Ruby continued to cry.

“You try… because that’s who you are, Ruby,” she said quietly. Reaching out to lay a gentle hand on Ruby’s forearm. “You want to make things better, you want everyone to be better and you actually work toward it, every day. You don’t just say it, you do.” Weiss squeezed. “Yang and Blake… you’ve helped them so much… you’ve helped me, more than I know how to say,” she mumbled. “You help everyone.”

Ruby’s cries quieted but they didn’t stop.

“I haven’t helped anyone lately… every decision I made was wrong,” was the gravelly answer and Weiss frowned, tears pricking her eyes as she watched her partner unravel before her eyes.

“I know that things have gone wrong… but you can’t do everything, you can’t fix it all. All we can do is try and you do. More than anyone I've ever known.” Weiss gave another squeeze as Ruby sniffled. “You’re…”

She hesitated, words stalled on her tongue. Words that had been sitting in her mouth, unsaid for some months now but there had just never been a good or right time for them to be said. Weiss was starting to think that maybe there never would be a good time.

“You’re amazing, Ruby. You make me want to do better and be better and that’s… that’s one of the things I… I love about you…,” she murmured, eyes trained on the ground between them. Ruby looked up at her, silver eyes glossy and red as tears continued their trek down her flushed cheeks.

“There’s no one else like you in all of Remnant and I don’t know what I would do without you to lead us, to remind us why we're doing this, why we have to do this. You inspire us… you inspire me .” She finally looked up and blue met silver for a long, silent moment. The buzz of cicadas and murmur of the birds in the distance being the only sounds between them for a long few moments.

Ruby leaned forward and buried her face into Weiss’s shoulder and continued to cry. Not the earth-shaking sobs from before, just quiet, grieving tears.

Weiss wrapped her arms around her as tears fell from her own eyes, quietly carding a hand through the black and red strands of hair.

They sat there a long while, long enough that the sun had started to dip below the horizon, casting warm rays of orange light and the long, twisted shadows of the trees overhead.

Finally, Ruby pulled back and scrubbed at her raw cheeks with the back of her gloved hands.

“I don’t know what to do…,” she admitted sullenly.

“We’ll figure it out… like we always do,” Weiss said, giving another assuring squeeze and Ruby nodded. “It’s going to be dark soon, we should find some shelter,” She glanced at the sun sitting just over the horizon.

“Right…” Ruby climbed up on her numb legs, Weiss helping her as she pulled her to stand.

She went to pull her hand away but Ruby’s fingers wrapped around hers only tightened and Weiss looked at her, curiously.

Silver eyes were gazing back at her with an unreadable expression.

“Weiss…” She seemed to hesitate. “When... when you said you… loved me…,” her voice petered out and Weiss felt the embarrassment crawling up her throat. “Did… how did you… mean that?” she asked at last.

Weiss’s first instinct was to lie. To save face and not admit to this thing that had kept her up at night for a while now, right along with thoughts of Salem.

She wasn’t sure which she preferred to be the thing keeping her up at night.

Something about the barely held together look in her partner’s face though brushed away that instinct.

“I meant… I love you, Ruby. I’m… in love with you,” she finally said and watched the expression on Ruby’s face shift to total shock as her own face warmed.

“You… I…,” Ruby stuttered, unsure what to say.

“We don’t need to talk about this right now, Ruby…” Weiss cut her off before she could say anything else and Ruby’s jaw snapped shut from where it had been hanging open. They stared at each other for a long moment before she nodded.

“Right… later,” It was a promise.

Weiss nodded but felt Ruby give her hand another squeeze before finally letting it go. “We need to find shelter and we can look for Blake and Yang in the morning… there should be more people than just us that fell from the pathways,” she said and moved toward the trees with Weiss in tow. She was relieved to see a little life breathed back into her leader, even if she still looked broken.

That was okay. One step at a time and even if Ruby fell apart, Weiss would be there, to help her pick up the pieces.

#RWBY #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #post V8 finale #oneshot #fanfic #WhiteRose #sorta #It's a Mental Breakdoooown!#Ruby finally cracks #but shes never alone

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