Bloody Sakura Rose: Nothing is the Same

Telling the truth to someone is hard, having someone tell you the truth can be harder.

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The next day, Ruby was in her team’s dorm, sitting on her bed, wringing her hands together again, staring at the book in her lap, as she waited for her team to return. She had purposely ditched classes today, though the fact that none of her teachers had come to find her, she could only guess that Professor Ozpin had told the faculty that she might not be in classes. In that time she had prepared and rehearsed over and over the excuse she would give to her team so that she could ask Blake the burning questions in her mind, alone, without Weiss or Yang there to worry and pester.

The practice however proved to be almost futile, as the moment that WBY walked into the dorm room, Yang quickly ran over and started to shower the young reaper with concern.

“Yang, really, I’m okay now,” Ruby said with a smile she hoped was convincing. “I felt a bit dizzy in the library this morning and I went to the infirmary. The nurse told me to rest and I would be fine.”

That was a bad lie, so easily disproven. Internally Ruby cringed, Qrow had taught her how to lie so she could get out of some situations that might arise as a huntress, and he would be so disappointed in that lie. But she could only work with it now. Yang deflated a bit.

“You should really message us sis,” she chided gently, making Ruby cringe slightly as she was once again faced with her mother’s lie. She covered it with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, sorry, it slipped my mind,” she said, then she perked up as if just remembering something and not playing to the script she was playing in her head. “Actually, I need to talk to Blake about something I found in the library. It’s about the White Fang. I… want Blake to confirm what I read.”

“What is it?” Blake asked, tilting her head the young reaper. Ruby stuttered a moment, not expecting the question. She sighed and held the book, her mother’s journal, closer to herself.

“Just you and me please Blake?” she asked quietly. “I’m not trying to hide this from anyone, but you really should be the first to look at this.”

Ruby felt horrible, lying to her team, but she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t prepared to admit the truth to anyone yet. She hadn’t even accepted the truth yet, the young reaper’s mind was still reeling. Ruby hoped that talking to Blake would help her feel less confused. Her teammates looked at her with softening expressions, and they looked at each other before nodding.

“Alright Ruby,” Weiss agreed. “But you both need to tell us what you found. Yang and I will put notes together of today’s classes and what homework we received for you while you do that.”

Yang saluted and then ushered Ruby and Blake out the door. Weakly, Ruby gestured away from the door, further down the hallway. Blake opened her mouth, concern on her face, but the pleading look from Ruby had her following her leader down and outside the dorm building. The moment they had left the building, Ruby grabbed Blake’s hand and ran to a wall that was secluded from view, where she promptly broke down.

“Ruby?!” Blake gasped with concern, pulling the sobbing girl into her arms. This wasn’t normal for Ruby, not in the slightest. Where was the cheerful, happy-go-lucky teen? Why was she so upset? A thought occurred to Blake, horrible in its conception and almost terrifying to consider.

“You didn’t really have anything relating to the White Fang to show me, did you?” the cat faunas asked quietly, running her fingers comfortingly through Ruby’s hair, hoping that the action would calm the poor girl. Ruby shook her head and pulled the book from where she was gripping it tightly to her chest. She opened the book to the last entries and offered it up to her friend.

“I don’t know what to do….” She murmured quietly as her black haired friend took the journal from her hands and began reading the entries. Blake read quickly, but her eyes widened and when she finished, the faunas teen quickly flipped back to the first entry she read and reread them all again. Blake was starting to get a faint idea of why Ruby wanted to talk to her, and not Yang or Wiess. With a sigh, she sat against the wall and gently pat the ground next to her, offering her arms for an embrace. The invitation was clear and Ruby, and the young reaper quickly found herself sitting next to Blake, trembling with the faunas’ arms pulling her close.

“I think my first question is how do you feel about this information, Ruby?” Blake asked. She wasn’t normally affectionate, but with the young reaper as rattled as she was, today Blake decided she would make an exception. Ruby needed it. It took the black-red haired girl a few moments to articulate a response, but the faunas waited.

“I…. I don’t….. Why did I have to find out from a book of all places?” Ruby finally asked, her eyes looking down. “A book! My dad isn’t my dad, and he was content to keep this a secret, leave this book and forget about it. And all I know about my real dad is now only descriptions of him from brief journal entries, and then pictures of him drawn by my mum. What do I….? How do I…?”

Blake pressed a finger to Ruby’s lips, making the young girl gasp and look up into the gold-amber eyes of her friend.

“You feel betrayed,” she told the reaper, and she pressed her finger slightly harder against Ruby’s lips when the girl went to protest. “No Ruby, you do, this is why you don’t want to talk to Yang. Why you feel so confused. You feel betrayed, but you want to deny that feeling because you can’t reconcile the image of the man who raised you doing it intentionally. At the same time you know that he did, and you are trying to work out some plausible explanation.”

“But I can’t find any…..” Ruby admitted, curling closer to Blake as she slowly started to accept the feeling of betrayal that was there, had been there since yesterday. It was as if puzzle pieces had slotted into space as Blake spoke.

“No, you can’t,” the cat faunas murmured with a sigh. “You want your ignorance back, but can’t have that.”

Ruby was silent for a few moments before she looked up at Blake.

“What do I call him now?”

It was unclear if she was asking about Taiyang or Marluxia or perhaps even both, as Blake suspected, but that didn’t change the answer that Blake gave.

“Whatever feels right to you. If that is his name, then call him by name. If it is by title, then call him your father. What do you want to call him?”

Ruby looked down and shrugged helplessly. With a small smile, Blake stood up, pulling Ruby with her. She straightened the young girl’s black and red dress and neatened her hair, before offering the reaper her handkerchief.

“While you work it out, I’ll be here to help you if you need to,” she said. “Now what are you going to tell Yang?”

Ruby’s eyes widened, before she looked down.

“Don’t do the same thing that your parents did,” Blake murmured, petting the head of her team leader. “Yang would want to find out from you, not a book like you did. You know she’ll help you. Come on, we need to talk to Weiss and Yang.”

Slowly, because Ruby had taken to clinging to Blake’s arm, the pair returned to their dorm, where Yang and Weiss were waiting, the former of which tried to shower attention and concern on Ruby, only to be stopped by the cat faunas. Blake quietly pressed Ruby forward. The young reaper took a deep breath, pulling her hood up.

“Ruby?” Yang asked, concerned.

“I’m….” Ruby started before cutting off and starting again. “Yesterday… I found mum’s diary, and I started reading through it hoping to discover more about her life….. but I also…. I discovered…..”

Her voice trailed off as she looked down at the ground. Yang took a step forward to try and comfort her, but stopped when Ruby held up her hand.

“I’m not really your sister, Yang,” she whispered. Silence fell upon team RWBY. It extended out for a few moments, a pin drop silence. Ruby shifted uncomfortably, relaxing slightly when Blake’s calming hand found its way to her shoulder.

“What?” Yang finally asked. “What do you mean? I know Summer wasn’t my birth mum, but dad is_”

“No Yang,” Ruby interrupted with a wavering voice. “You aren’t my full sister, you aren’t my half-sister. By birth, your dad isn’t my dad. And…. He didn’t tell me, wasn’t going to tell me…”

She held out the diary of Summer Rose to Yang, open once again at the last entries that had been written in it, about Marluxia. Yang read them. And again. And once more to ensure that her eyes weren’t deceiving her. And then without a word she handed she handed the diary back to Ruby, her eyes turning red, and she pulled her scroll from her pocket.

“No Yang!” Ruby gasped, leaping forward and grabbing the brawler’s hand. “Don’t… don’t call home. Please.”

“He’s been lying to us Ruby!” Yang exclaimed. “He_ he knew and wasn’t going to say anything! Like he didn’t say anything about my mum!”

“I know, but…. I’m not ready to confront him about it yet!”

“Yang.”

Everyone stopped as Weiss spoke for the first time since Ruby had returned. Gold, red and silver eyes all turned to look at the heiress. Weiss took a breath and began to talk.

“I think that this is Ruby’s choice, since it is her parents we are discussing here,” she said calmly, being the voice of reason. “Yes, you are angry, Yang, but your anger isn’t helping Ruby. What we need to do, before getting answers from your father, is help Ruby. Because while you are angry, it is clear that Ruby is confused and you are only causing her distress.”

With that out of the way, Weiss turned to Ruby, not letting anyone speak yet as she continued.

“Now,” she tutted concisely, “Ruby, tomorrow, you are coming to class with us, but if you don’t feel like answering the Professors questions then we shall answer for you. I, for one, want to know that you are okay, instead of letting all this bubble up inside you. It’s not healthy.”

Ruby hung her head and mumbled out an apology. Yang’s eyes faded back to violet, and she sighed, pulling the young reaper into a hug.

“Sorry Ruby,” she murmured. “But, even if dad lied, you’re still my sister okay? We have the families we were born into, and then we have our families of choice. And your family is also right here. Teams RWBY and JNPR. Kay?”

Blake got in on this with a smile. “Yeah, you have Weiss, Pyrrah, Ren and me as your wise older siblings, Yang and Nora as your crazy older sisters, and then Jaune, your goofy brother who makes us all laugh when we need it.”

This made Ruby perk up, a happy grin forming on her face as she thought about the words. “Right! You guys are the best!”

That night team RWBY and team JNPR decided to have a sleepover in JNPR’s room, they all dragged out their sleeping bags and laid them out on the floor. Team JNPR had also agreed with the conversation that had happened in their sister-team’s room when they were told. It was Nora’s idea for a sleepover which was quickly agreed to by both of the teams. When Professor Goodwitch went around the dorm rooms to check that all the students were asleep by curfew, she would discover both teams in JNPR’s room, Ruby in the middle of the group of sleeping bags, her mother’s diary under her hand, the rest of team RWBY and team JNPR sleeping around her like guardians. The Professor decided that she would leave them be and talk to the Headmaster about it.

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The next day they had History after breakfast, and both teams sat together, very purposely seating Ruby next to Ren and Blake, Nora and Yang on the outside of the group to glare at anyone who stared at Ruby. The lesson was about city expansion and currently the discussion was about Mountain Glenn. RWBY had only come back from that mission two weeks ago. Doctor Oobleck saw the seating that the two teams had taken, but also spotted Ruby, who was looking slightly zoned out and distracted.

“Ms Rose,” he started, making the girl squeak quietly in surprise. “Perhaps you can answer this question for us; what caused the Mountain Glenn project to collapse?”

Ruby shrunk down in her seat, an action which made the Professor raise his eyebrow. Yes, he decided that he would inform the rest of the teachers of this, his eyebrow rising further as Yang answered the question instead of Ruby. This was something to note. Keeping the Headmaster’s note that Ruby might be absent from classes in mind, he didn’t comment on the fact that it was a student he hadn’t called upon who had answered. As the lesson progressed, Ruby raised her hand twice throughout to answer his questions, but she never answered when he called upon her, and it was one of her teammates or someone from team JNPR who answered for her. She did become more attentive though as her friends showed that they were looking out for her.

When the class was dismissed, Dr. Oobleck sent out a quick message to all of the teachers about Ruby’s behaviour in class. For the rest of team RWBY’s lessons that day, the team was called on collectively, rather than singling out one of them, since they were answering for the young reaper.

That afternoon when the two teams were working on homework in the library, Ruby, who usually was the main motivator, usually speaking some kind of encouragement, was staring at one of the pictures of Marluxia drawn by her mother. She was grateful that the Headmaster had given her those images. Nora snuck up behind her and peered over her shoulder.

“Oooooh who’s that?” the hyperactive red head asked with a grin, her turquoise eyes noting the signature on the images. “Your mum drew these?? Wow! She’s so skilled, what gave her the inspiration?”

Yang also looked over and her eyes widened as she recognised the figure.

“Isn’t that the same guy who mum claimed was the guardian of your room?” she asked. “You still have that drawing up at home and all that too.”

“This is Marluxia,” Ruby said quietly. “Ozpin said that these pictures are ones that mum drew of Marluxia. Who is he? I mean…. I know about him from mum’s journal, but I don’t really know him. Why does he have a scythe? Why the black coat? Where is he from?”

What is a Nobody and why is he one? The question floated in her mind, but she didn’t voice it out loud. She fell silent, staring at the pictures with a thoughtful expression. She didn’t see her friends exchange glances. Pyrrah spoke up, interrupting the young reaper’s thoughts.

“Why don’t we go searching for him then?” she said with a smile. “Look for any clues to who he is. Maybe he encountered someone other than your mother while he was around. There has to be something.”

Ruby perked up at that, the thought of finding out more, of solving this mystery, learning about Marluxia. That is what she wanted. And so the two teams planned to head out on the weekend to the City of Vale to ask around; little knowing that there was a certain man in the city who was planning on doing the same.