29

Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_Jolyne

Chapter 29

Chapter Text

Cardin Winchester, if Team RWBY knew anything, was a bully, a racist, a thug, an entitled jerk, and an all around piece of shit who only came to Beacon because daddy's money opened the door and he wanted carte blanche to be able to exploit the poor and beat the shit out of people that disagreed with him.

Weiss hated him, partly because she couldn't stand men like him, partly because she was trying to be a better person because her team leader had somehow managed to turn all her misgivings about faunus on their heads within the first week of school, and partly because she hated the idea of sharing a school with someone so… utterly terrible as a person.

Blake hated him, entirely because of his stated character traits and the fact that he disproportionally picked on the faunus students at Beacon despite- or indeed, because of- the fact that they only made up about thirty percent of the school's entire student body (and only about ten percent of the first year population). 

Yang hated him because of all of the reasons above, but also because he was a dick who had tried picking on Ruby and, even now, continued muttering hateful things about her little sister when he thought none of them could hear- the amount of vitriol and vile invectives he spewed honestly made her want to compare the bastard to a backed up toilet flooding the entire bathroom. He certainly stank enough for it, even if it was only metaphorically. He was also a transphobic dickwaffle and that, otherwise, was enough for her to want to rip his spine out through his penis.

Ruby… Ruby didn't hate anyone. 

She did, however, occasionally fantasize about transforming into her full grimm form and- RIPPING CARDIN'S FUCKING LEGS OFF AND EATING HIM FROM THE TORSO UP WHILE HE WAS STILL ALIVE AND SCREAMING- doing an unkindness upon the rich bastard who seemed to believe he was above the rules.

Team JNPR was of a similar mind- though it seemed that they hated Cardin and his team even more than Team RWBY did, probably because Ruby could just tell that Cardin pushed Jaune around and went out of his way to make her friend's life at Beacon as hellish as possible without raising any alarms- not that it would happen anyway. Beacon's policy about inter-student violence was strangely lax , given that it almost encouraged students to… take matters into their own hands . As long as there were no permanent injuries, of course. 

That still meant that Ruby was allowed to-

"- BREAK HIS LEGS!" Nora interjected, standing and grinning as she flexed her frankly terrifying looking biceps and glared off vaguely in the direction of Cardin's team where they were walking around the lunch room as if they owned it, occasionally reaching out to go pull on some faunus' ears or step on an outstretched tail while his teammates- Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark- snickered and laughed and joined in on the "fun".

Ruby twitched, her cloak rippling and waving in an invisible breeze as the edges became ragged and blackened, her mask taking on a more animalistic, rough hewn look as her eyes flared with orange like burning coals, the silver of her irises shrinking as she felt herself become more and more feral with the urge to-

[Angy Ruby]

No.

Calm. Cool. Collected.

Nobody needed to see that side of her. Nobody needed to know .

Ruby sighed, leaning against her table and pursing her lips as she looked over from Cardin to where everyone else in their two teams were talking about how much they disliked the bully- Nora advocating violence, Ren just sending chilling glares and quiet condemnations in Cardin's direction, Blake getting pissed on behalf of the faunus who almost didn't bother fighting back- save for one snake faunus sitting near the windows who actively tail whipped Cardin right in the balls- Yang also advocating violence, Pyrrha… also advocating violence… Weiss being a voice of reason and simply calling Cardin a boorish thug who didn't deserve to be at Beacon. Jaune, meanwhile… Ruby frowned, feeling Jaune's roiling storm of emotions as he awkwardly left the table without another word- guilt and fear and shame and anxiety all swirling around each other amid a mix of all of those other ugly black emotions that made her grimm side go wild with the horrific urge to hunt and kill .

She sighed, biting her lip and checking her scroll.

"I'm… gonna go after Jaune," she muttered, just loud enough for the rest of the table to hear. "Maybe he'll talk to me, team leader to team leader? Something's clearly bothering him about this whole Cardin situation- more than the bullying, I mean…"

She paused, listening to her team's reactions- Weiss didn't particularly care, Blake just nodded, Yang gave her a thumbs up and tried not to wax poetic about how cool her baby sister was (and failed)- as well as those of Team JNPR's- all of whom seemed supportive, with Nora even cheering her on with a whoop of excitement.

Pyrrha, though, also pursed her lips as she stood up, seemingly indecisive about something as she turned to face Ruby. "Maybe… I can come with you? I… Jaune is my partner. If something is bothering him, then I should be there too."

"Right… yeah. Maybe- um… okay," Ruby sort of shrugged, forcing her appearance back to its normal state before anyone could notice her slight changes in agitation- Cardin's bullying campaign had been really nettling at her, and the fact that most people seemed content to ignore him when he even went after the more meek and seemingly weaker second years was… ugh. It made her want to do things that really were not legally advisable.

And so, the two of them left the dining hall and started after Jaune, making their way through the crowd in the vague direction of where he'd been walking prior.

"Do you think he's okay?" Pyrrha asked quietly, tilting her head as she walked beside Ruby and pushed her way through the throngs of students getting their food and eating, Jaune's mop of shaggy blond hair barely visible as he pushed through the doors and vanished behind the ornate carved wood- not that it would stop Ruby from finding him, considering she knew what his scent was and could keep track of his emotions pretty well. "He seemed… upset. Do you think it's because-?"

"... It's probably because he doesn't feel… good enough… for not being able to stop Cardin from bullying him on his own," Ruby muttered, drawing her cloak around herself and flipping her hood up, rose petals trailing in her wake as they exited the dining hall in pursuit of Jaune- moving slowly and at a slightly faster walk so they could catch up to Jaune- though, it seemed like he'd gone running the moment he'd left the hall so… hm. She sniffed the air delicately, ears pivoting as she swirled a pair of holes into her hood so they could stick out freely, rose petals continuously shedding from her form and drifting away as she kept track of where her friend had gone. "It's… I don't get it, personally, but I understand. That shame… that fear… those feelings of self doubt and worthlessness… Jaune and I shared a few conversations, those first couple of days…"

Ruby paused, shaking her head. "Neither of us felt ready to be team leaders… I feel like I'm too young, Jaune felt like he was… dead weight."

"But he's not! He's a valued member of Team JNPR- he's by far the most strategic one out of all of us and his battlefield tactics are superb for someone who has as little combat training as he-" Pyrrha paused, biting her lip and trailing off as she realized… maybe the fact that he couldn't quite keep up academically or physically was grinding on him more than she'd thought. 

"Yeah. That's… probably why he's so agitated. Lots of smaller things building up all at once," Ruby murmured, leading Pyrrha along the same path that Jaune went- back to their dorm building, where she could faintly see Jaune already at the doors, unlocking them and heading inside. From this far away, his emotions were more muted- calmer now, but still agitated. Not intense enough to spike in her awareness… but still worrying all the same. "Sorry… didn't mean to… talk over you. I have a lot of… experience… with… this kind of thing."

"It's alright- honestly. I'm just… I'm sorry I didn't catch on sooner. I'd have liked to help him through his troubles but I've been having… issues… trying to figure out how to word it without coming across as condescending," Pyrrha answered, resting her hand on Ruby's shoulder (and suppressing an odd shudder as her hand touched the decorative grimm styled clasp that pinned Ruby's cape to her top, the bone and glowing eye almost feeling alive as the skin of her finger scraped slightly against it. "Um- how did you know, anyway?"

"My Semblance is complicated and weird. Part of it is that I can sense emotions from a distance- negative ones, mostly, but positive ones stick out too," Ruby explained, shrugging lightly and trying not to unconsciously lean into Pyrrha's touch too much- shut up Yang! Ruby was definitely not touch starved! Absolutely not! She just… really liked… pets… because she was a wolf at heart.

Okay, maybe more of a corgi.

"Ah. That explains it."

"Mm… my big sister, Cinder. She and… honestly, everyone in my family's felt it at some point or another," Ruby continued, ears twitching as her hood lowered of its own accord in a swirl of rose petals, very visibly leaving a scattered trail on the concrete as their steps started to echo ever so slightly from the acoustic design of the residential area of Beacon. "I recognized it in Jaune cuz I've felt it a lot growing up. Hopefully we can help him feel better…"

Pyrrha nodded, hand settling on the door to their dormitory as she paused there for a moment.

"Yeah, I hope so too."

[Ruby in her Beacon "Uniform" that she totally bought on her own and didn't just shapeshift into. Yeah.]