Just A Shadow (RWBY male reader insert)

V4 Ch3: Buried In The Ashes

She couldn't sleep with it on anymore. The memories it fed her were only a reminder of how things used to be, and in a twisted way, it was worse to remember those glory days, than to relive the same nightmare every night. She stared at it for a while.

Eventually, with a sigh, she slung the memento around her neck, and pulled herself to her feet, stepping over clothes and trash as she went about her business, getting ready for the day as fast as she could, limited as she was. She hated having to get dressed, but she couldn't stand to sit still. She passes an idle glance at a large box, a gift, delivered to her a week ago now, and thinks for a moment before looking away again.

It takes her almost half an hour before she finally emerges from her room into the hall, trapsing downstairs, unsure as to whether or not she is alone in the house.

She is surprised as she hears a few familiar voices, laughing as they share stories and catch up. Finally exiting the stairway into the main room of the house, she finds her old teachers, Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck, and Professor Peter Port, engaging in jolly reminiscence with her father, Tai Xiao Long.

Dr. Oobleck, ever the vigilant, is first to notice her arrival downstairs. Thrusting his arms out in her direction as if presenting her to those present

Dr. Oobleck: "Mrs. Xiao Long herself! My dear girl its been an age!"

Turning in his chair, Professor Port greets her as well, a warm smile peeking out from under his mustache.

Prof. Port: "Its wonderful to see you safe and walking around dear girl"

Yang shuffled uneasily where she stood, she felt she should be happy to see her two former educators, after all they were good people, almost friends even, but she just didn't have the words.

A small wave was all she managed before she slid past the living room and towards the kitchen, feeling their eyes on the back of her head, and on her missing arm, she clutched the stump in front of her to hide it from them as she walked, almost as if they would forget what they couldn't see.

Most days were like this. Dragging on, games of cat and mouse where she did all she could to avoid the outside world, and the people in it.

A few hours passed and the professors were bidding their farewells to Tai. She watches them leave from around the corner, and for a moment, thinks she should say something.

But they are already gone.

Tai walks back into the dining room and sits at the table with a sigh, letting his head rest in his hands as he glumly listens to the house settle back into a familiar silence. Yang stands awkwardly for a moment before with a sigh, she walks over and takes a seat next to him at the table.

Silence hangs for a moment, then a moment longer before she finally says something.

Yang: "I'm sorry..."

Tai furrows his brow as he takes his head from his hands to look at her. He looks tired. More tired than she's seen him in a very, very long time. He gazes at her for a moment with an unreadable expression before his facial features soften, and a light smile spreads across his face.

He opens his mouth to speak.

He is interrupted when a crashing sound like thunder rocks the house. The whole building shakes and the windows rattle as if rocked by an earthquake

Yang: "Whats happening?!?"

Tai: "I don't-!"

The front door flies open off of its lock from the force of the wind outside, the rushing air deafening them both. Tai struggles to shove the door closed again, only managing it when Yang stumbles her way to him to help shoulder it closed.

Yang: "what the hell is it, a hurricane?!"

Tai: "Patch hasn't seen a hurricane in hundreds of years!"

They both struggle to hold the door closed for a moment, before finally the shaking subsides, and the wind, while still blowing slows enough that they can let go of the door, panting and shaken, they take a moment to pick up broken glasses from the floor, and shove furniture back into place from the shaking.

Tai grumbles as he stalks off into other rooms to do the same, while Yang trots back upstairs to her room to assess the damage. Her door creaks open as she sees that her room is a disaster, but she realizes that most of that is her doing. A few things have been flung around, which she picks up and places them back into their proper homes.

She stops for a moment as she notices the box, flung off od the desk where it was sitting and its top having been thrown off, exposing the gun metal grey prosthetic robot arm it was hiding. She kneels down next to it, and pulls the box closer to herself, staring at the arm.

An almost painful throb echoes from where her arm used to be as her fingers brush over the stainless steel of the arm, not a sock of dust covering its surface that shines slightly in the dim grey light from the window. She stares at it.

And after a few moments, she places the lid back onto the box, and returns it to its previous resting place on the desk. She wasn't ready. She isn't sure if she ever will be. She cleans a little more, before she wanders downstairs again.

She notices the front door hanging open, a cool but not weak wind blowing inside, and sees Tai standing outside on their front path, staring at the sky.

She walks outside and stands next to him, he fails to notice her.

Confused, she follows his gaze, and her eyes go wide at what she sees.

A roiling maelstrom hangs over the forest, lightning crackles through the clouds in distant rumbles of sound and flashes of silver light, but occasionally a streak of deep, crimson red lightning flashes across instead. The clouds roil, as if stirred like a broth.

Moments before she can speak, a single point of light appears in the center, and flashes briefly, bright as the sun, causing her to cover her eyes. When she looks back, her jaw hangs open, as a single point of bright silver light begins to fall from of the eye of the storm.

_________________________________________

(Good God i am sorry for how long im taking)

(Until next time)