"Was... what my semblance?" I stammer out. Did I do that thing again? Did I use Unbound Instinct on accident?
"You got all glowey, you were all silver and cool looking." Ruby says, gesturing toward my hair.
I guess I did.
I look away and take a second or two to gather my thoughts. How do I even explain this? I don't even know all about it, or if I should even tell her. Or anyone for that matter.
"Ugh. Shit," I mumble. Running my hands over my face. God, I'm so sore. After a moment or two I turn back toward her with a nod, "Yes. That was my semblance."
She looks at me bewildered for a second or two, "So... you have two?"
I shake my head, "I wish. No, that's the same one I've used the whole time."
"But you don't usually get all glowey? And super fast. Or put a dent in the stairway railings," Ruby responds. Nervously laughing. Very clearly off put by the sudden reveal.
"Well... it's just a bit complicated. What you see me usually do is something I've dubbed Full Moon. I force my aura into a specific part of my body and enhance it. Like picking and choosing a power up," I explain. Gesturing toward my arms and legs as a visual example.
"So, what happened this time?" Her shoulders relaxing a bit, now more curious than anything.
I let a long sigh escape my lips and slowly plop back onto my butt, "That is what my semblance really is. I think, anyway. When I get hit by strong emotions, sometimes my aura spikes up. It goes ballistic. I think it's something to do with how the aura affects my senses. I act on pure instinct alone. I don't think or judge a situation. I just... do."
She takes this in, a hand coming up to her chin as she ponders the information over. She slowly walks near me and sits across from me on the walkway. Facing me with curious eyes, "That's.... weird."
I let a half-hearted chuckle out and lean back, using my arms to keep me propped up, "Yea. Very. When it happens, it kinda turns the whole thing blurry. I don't remember what was going on during the semblance. All I remember is that I needed to stop her. To stop Blake."
Ruby pulls her legs to her chest and rests her chin on her arms, now a familiar look of worry draping her expression, "I'm sure she'll be back soon. If not tonight, maybe before the weekend is over. I hope, anyway."
I flinch a little at her unusual pessimism to the situation. She probably thinks she could've done something about the argument. We all let it play out for so long. Any of us should've stopped it. I get how she feels. Nothing I say will help that feeling.
"I'm sure she'll be back. She's a part of Team Rwby after all," I calmly say. Looking at Ruby with as genuine of a smile I can manage with this soreness in my entire body.
She takes in my smile for a moment before adopting a small grin herself, "Right!" She chirps. Getting up from her feet and assuming her usual optimistic self again. She brushes her combat skirt off and offers me a hand. Which I wave away and slowly rise from the ground myself.
"Let's head back up, Ruby. They're probably worried sick about us."
"Yea, let's not worry Yang anymore than we have to. She can go full momma bear mode if we leave her too long," Ruby jokes.
I laugh at that, remembering the stories of Yang's freakouts when Ruby went and wandered off into trouble when she was little, "Yeah, I bet!"
We walk back up to the dorm slowly, holding some smalltalk as we do. I find some trouble with the stairs, the incline just a bit too much for my weakened legs. Ruby had to help me a bit with those. We did stop and look at the dent I put in the railing.
Well...
Dent is putting it nicely. I bent the fuckin thing like crazy. The top bar twisted up and bent in odd angles in a 2 foot section. I'm assume this is where I slingshot myself down the steps. We take in the sight for a few lingering moments before heading back to our ascent.
"So... just how strong do you get?" Ruby chuckles a bit nervously.
I let a laugh escape through a grunt as we reach the top of the stairs, "I dunno yet. I haven't exactly learned how to remember what happens yet."
She seems unsatisfied with that answer but that's as honest as the truth can get. I really don't know. I mean, as far as I knew anger was the main trigger to Unbound Instinct, but clearly, other emotions work as well.
Fear is what worked this time.
I was so scared Blake would leave. Scared she won't come back. I still am. Mostly just tired now, though. That state sucks my energy so quickly. I gotta find a way to get that under control if I have any hope of making use of this in the future.
Ruby has to slow her own pace down to let me keep up, keeping herself ready in case I stumble as we slowly make our way through the hallway. There's a very comfortable silence between the two of us, I find her company reassuring, almost to a point of relaxing. Slowly but surely, we make our way to the dorm, and as we turn the corner I see Jnpr talking with Yang and Weiss, they explain what happened, but Weiss seems to be keeping it brief. Jaune spots me and Ruby coming around and jogs over to help me.
I try to wave him off and keep myself straight, but quickly struggle to stay upright, and he catches me, "Easy buddy. What happened to you?? Why're you so tired?"
I begrudgingly let him help me, and I spy Ruby giving me a curious look, not sure if she can say what happened. I grunt, and prop myself onto his shoulder, "I chased Blake. Overexerted myself."
He looks me over a bit and continues us down the hallway, "Well at least let me help get you to a bed. That's the least I can do."
I sigh in defeat. Truthfully I couldn't deny the help if I tried. I'm beat. We slowly hobble our way through the hallway, and as we get to the group I give Jaune a soft tap to signal for him to slow up a bit. He catches on, and I stop beside Weiss and Yang. I look at Weiss with a deep anger in my eyes, "I don't care if you hate The White Fang. I don't even care if you hate me. Do not hate all Faunus for their mistakes."
I hear a soft "Wha-?" From Jaune before I push off him and slowly hobble into the dorm. Plopping onto my air mattress and closing the door behind me. I huff a bit and rub my face with my hands, why'd I say that?
I hear a few quiet questions lobbed at Weiss from outside before she scoffs and announces she's heading to bed. The door swings open and slams shut, I turn to look at Weiss, and she has a very clouded look on her face. Whatever she's feeling, she's doing a fantastic job at hiding it. I start to say something, but quickly close my mouth and decide against it. No use in starting a fight of some kind. As much as her viewpoint is childish, it's understandable. She's spent her whole life with her family fighting the radical faunus of The White Fang. It's important for her to see they're not representing all of us.
I sigh, "Sorry." I break the silence.
"There's nothing to apologize for."
"I shouldn't have said that. In the hallway," I quietly admit. I should've kept that to myself.
There's a few long silent moments, then. Weiss seemingly pondering her next words carefully, "It's fine. I deserved that."
I start to say something at that. But as I do the door swings open again. Ruby and Yang both coming into the room and saying bye to Jnpr. The door clicks closed and Yang immediately finds her gaze falling onto me, "What was that???" She asks with pure childlike curiosity.
"The silver glowey thing?"
"Yea! The silver glowey thing!!"
I chuckle at her reaction, and half shrug, "It's something with my semblance I haven't learned how to use yet."
She nods, "Well it was awesome! We need to get that figured out pronto!"
I laugh a little and wave her away, "Yea yea, later! I'm beat."
She gives me a thumbs up and trots to her bed with a big stretch. Ruby does the same, gathering her pajamas and heading to the bathroom before anyone else can even think about it.
-------------------------------------------------
The weekend nearly finds itself at an end. Blake still hasn't come back. Ruby has gotten increasingly worried about her. Weiss seems to not drop her grudge, now completely convinced Blake is an active member of The White Fang, and Yang seems confident in Blake's eventual return. Though shes also getting tired of Weiss's clear displeasure of her teammate.
I'm more worried about the implications of her last sentence here.
'We' hangs above my head like an anvil on a glass floor.
I rise up early Sunday, before the other members of Rwby. I get dressed quickly and find myself in the desperate need to exercise. The soreness all but gone from my body.
I trot into the gym in my combat uniform and find an open treadmill. Granted, there aren't very many people in here. Besides me, I counted three other students in here. So I have mostly all of the equipment to myself.
Though I'd personally prefer a sparring partner.
I run the treadmill for around an hour before I hear someone clear their throat behind me. I nearly flop face down onto the treadmill and skid to a halt. I turn to see Yang behind me. A mischievous look in her eye, "Hey Y/n! Whatcha up to?"
I hop off the treadmill and wipe my forehead off with a towel I had draped over my neck, "Just getting a bit of a workout in. I'm not sore anymore, so I figured I'd try and get some meaningful work in."
She hums at that, and motions her head toward the sparring ring, "Then let's do something meaningful."
I feel a grin slowly plaster my face. I shrug, "Yea sure. Let's see what ya got, Yang."
We head to the ring and I toss the towel to my corner, we hop into the ring, and Yang starts to warm herself up. I stretch my arms a bit and start to focus myself.
"What rules?" She asks, stretching an arm over her torso.
I shrug, "First knocked down loses?"
She seems to love this condition. A huge smile now draping over her face, "Oh, you're on!"
I smile at that, and take my hand to hand stance. Much different than my normal. I keep wide, open legs, both hands positioned in front of me for parrying strikes. She gets caught of guard by this a bit, but seems to like her odds, she takes her usual stance.
"Whenever you're ready." I calmly say.
She shoots toward me and fires off rapid strikes, all aimed for my head or upper torso. I find myself surprised by her strength, but her speed isn't an issue. I manage to fight off all of her strikes with a small amount of effort.
She throws a big left hook, and I block it easily, but she sets up her next strike well. A solid shot to my side from her right connects, and sends a surge of pain through me. I grit my teeth and catch her right with my elbow, throwing a hard kick to her side. She can't quite block it in time, but softens the blow a bit, and skids back across the ring. Her smile unwavering.
I shake the strike off and dash toward her now, now pushing myself onto the offensive. I throw a few controlled strong strikes to her body, which she manages to block with decent efficiency. She tries to counter a body hook with a sharp jab, but I duck the strike and fire another jab into her stomach. She grunts, firing a viscous uppercut into my chest.
Was that stronger than before?? I find myself sputtering a bit and sliding back. Yang now surging toward me again. She fires off relentless strikes all aimed at my chest and above. I find my composure quickly and manage to only get glanced by a couple of the blows. She throws another hard hook to my head, and I parry it away. This seems to have been her plan, and she uses that momentum to launch a kick into my side. I brace the kick as best as I can, and catch her leg. She panics at this and tries to throw a punch to get free. Unfortunately, she can't manage it, her strike much to telegraphed. I smack her arm away and sweep her other leg, and with her other leg caught in my guard, she hits the ground with a thud.
She gives a dissapointed groan, "Man! I had you on the ropes there."
I let her go and take a step or two back, "Damn right you did. You pack one helluva punch. That uppercut nearly knocked my breath away."
She sits up and gathers herself to her feet, rolling her shoulder a bit, "Aww! Hopefully not the first time I nearly took your breath away!"
I scoff at that before I start to laugh. One positive about her playful, flirty comments is that I'm pretty much used to it by now, "Yea yea, whatever."
She laughs at my reaction, getting a towel of her own and wiping her face a little, her mischievous glare returning to her face.
The demeanor change catches me completely off guard. I stare blankly at her, "Wha? What's that face for?"
She shrugs, "Oh, nothing! Just thinking is all."
"Uh," I hesitate, "About what?"
"Oh, y'know, just looking out for my sister is all."
My heart skips a beat, Ruby? What about her? Did I do something? Is everything okay???
All these questions flood my mind, but all I can manage to get out is, "Huh?"
----------------------------------------------------
A/n:
Holy shit!!!! We hit 2k!!!!
Oh my goodness. Thank you all so much. I don't even know what to say honestly. It means the world to me that so many are reading this lil series I'm making.
Hopefully it continues to be readable! I'll keep doing my best to make this. I love you all.
~Fob