138

Chapter 138

Notes:

Finally get to post a drawing I've had for a few months

"You should be going back, kid. A dreary place like this is no good for a young girl like you to stay."

Penny blinked slowly, looking oddly down at the woman currently sitting in her father's examination chair, her father working silently on her prosthetic eyes as the old woman stared resolutely forward. For a moment, she simply stayed quiet, not entirely sure what the old woman- Maria Calavera, apparently- was talking about. 

Maria took the silence as an invitation to continue, breathing out a quiet huff that transitioned into a tiny grunt as Pietro adjusted the settings on her, quite frankly immensely outdated eyepiece. "Watch it, Pietro-"

"Sorry, sorry. Just need to touch up some of these connection points…"

"Anyway. Point is, Atlas? Mantle? You've got more going on with you than you know, and you've got more ahead of you than you think. Staying here is bad for you, especially with how tight-assed the military's getting these days. Can't believe they're stealing more resources from Mantle to do gods know what with that colosseum they've got floating around… Whatever. Go. Leave. Find your way out of this snowy shithole of a place and go back to your girlfriend in Vale," Maria continued, turning ever so slightly to face Penny and fixing her with a stare that made Penny freeze up in the middle of putting away some of her father's supplies. Maria simply frowned, pointing at Penny with a clear and serious gaze. "You've been here, what, five months now? It's been over half a year since the Cataclysm down in Vale and you're clearly miserable."

"... How… did you even know about… about Ruby?" Penny murmured, furrowing her brow questioningly as she looked back at Maria, slowly putting down the box of tongue depressors and tilting her head to the side questioningly. "And… how did you know that I wish to go back?"

"It's written all over you, kid. Your posture, your attitude, your face… I might not be able to see colors other than blue and gray and white but I know damn well you're not happy being Ironwood's pawn. Hell, I know you like protecting people but… think about it, kid. Protector of Mantle? Yeah right. You're a glorified parade piece right now- ever since the CCT in Vale got fixed, there's really been no reason for you to keep patrolling. Go home. Your girl needs you," Maria snorted and shook her head the moment that Pietro backed off and closed up the panels of Maria's prosthetics. After a second, she shrugged and then looked back at Penny with freshly functioning eyes lit up with a comfortingly soft blue glow that Penny thought was… rather at odds with the cranky old woman's personality, but Maria had insisted on the color anyway. "As for how I know about Ruby Rose … come on. You didn't seriously think that Team RWBYP was only famous in Vale, did you? The Beacon Blitz gets read on campus, in Vale, and gets put on the CCT Network. Anyone who cares even slightly about up and coming Huntsmen and Huntresses keeps up with news from the Academies, and you five were listed as being among the shining stars… well. Up until your little girlfriend vanished and the rest of your team went off to gods know where."

"I… see. I was unaware that we were that popular…" Penny muttered, blushing green ever so faintly and looking to the side as she adjusted her skirt slightly before clearing her throat in a mostly unnecessary motion, mostly just using it to get her thoughts in order. "I… would like to go back. It's true. But the people of Mantle do need me. The walls are losing integrity and there is always the chance that a grimm incursion occurs while the military is unprepared for such a thing. And the Happy Huntresses can only do so much even with dad providing them with extra medical care and-"

"Darling, please don't say something that gets me arrested," Pietro chided gently, clearing his throat as he put a very conspicuously high end, disassembled Huntsman grade Dust Rifle away into a large case marked as being for medical supplies . 

"Of course. Deleting references now," Penny paused for a moment, then shook her head. "Regardless, I need to stay here- Crescent Rose is… not yet finished. I have been working so, so hard, but… I cannot return to my beloved wishing star until her weapon is fully repaired. Until it is perfect. It would be… I would be remiss in my responsibilities to my dearest love-"

"Oh stop it with the sappy bullshit," Maria groaned, rolling her eyes as best as she could with the limited expression available to her ProsTech G1 eyes that had gone out of date some nearly forty odd years or so ago. She waved her hand in Penny's direction as if telling her to shut up, while Penny just watched in confusion (and Pietro simply moved to the side and said more or less nothing because, really, as much as he disliked anyone taking any kind of harsh tone with his daughter… she really did need the kick in the metaphorical pants necessary to get her to just go back to her home ). "I don't care how bad the damn thing is broken- which, honestly, so far as I've seen of that damnable monster of a build you call a sniper scythe, it's better than new- you're just stalling. What if she wakes up and you're not there, huh? Are you just gonna let her sit and wait in Vale for you, twiddling her thumbs and weaponless while you stay away from her because you're too chicken shit to admit that you're just scared of some imaginary consequences that might befall you?"

"They are not imaginary! If I desert now, then- there are disastrous consequences, sanctions, frozen bank accounts- federal prison! I cannot leave until there is an opportune moment, during which I can mitigate any chance of-" Penny stopped as Maria's cane bonked her in the head, the old woman having hopped down and simply bopped her without hesitation. "Ouch!"

"If you left without permission Pietro'd be hit with all of those things anyway, and he can handle it- he's one of the top engineers in Atlas and they can't do a damn thing if he's not there to help and adjust shit that goes wrong. I'd know that for sure," Maria snorted and bopped Penny a few more times for good measure, then rolled her neck, stretched her back, and slipped her coat back on. "Anyway, I'm going back down again. Can't keep these old bones in Mantle too long- I'm a Mistrali girl at heart, y'know. You should make your choice soon, before it's too late. Right Pietro?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, darling… Maria is right," Pietro sighed as Maria walked out the door without another word, throwing a pile of lien bills onto the counter before sauntering away as though she wasn't a nearly seventy year old woman who was halfway blind and helpless despite the hidden guns within the folded up kama that served as her cane. "She's usually right about a lot of things… I digress. You need to go , Penny. You're miserable here and being the hero of the people only does so much for you- you need Ruby . So go. I'll be fine- hell, I'll even clear things up with Ironwood if need be. He's… stricter, now, than I think he should be, but he'll still see reason. So pack your things- I'll make sure Crescent Rose is travel ready for you, okay?"

"... Okay… I'm just… dad… I'm worried. What if… did I do something wrong? Ruby's Aura signature in Crescent Rose is so weak now, and… I don't know if I should attempt further repairs when everything I do seems to just replace it with my own," Penny sighed, clutching her arms and looking to the side as her Aura pulsed- still containing that ever so faint glow of red right over her heart. "What if she doesn't like it? What if she… doesn't like the upgrades I put in? What if I did something wrong, what if I overstepped?"

Pietro smiled softly, placing a gentle hand on Penny's shoulder as he drew his daughter into a soft, comforting hug. "Easy there, darling. Ruby's never done anything like that before, and she won't when she wakes up. She loves you just as much as you love her- that you've had the chance to work on Crescent Rose just as much as she's worked on Floating Array? Why, I figure that by the time you two reunite, she'll wrap you up in the biggest hug you've ever had in your life! I can promise you that, Penny. You haven't done anything wrong, and I'll move heaven and earth to make sure that Ironwood doesn't try to punish you for going back to your home."

"But… I am home…?" Penny muttered, blinking slowly as she pulled back and looked her father in the eyes. "This is our home here."

Pietro shook his head. "A person can have more than one home, and there's more than one kind of home. This is our home, sure, but… Vale, Beacon? That's where your heart has been ever since you left for Vale the first time. Home is where the heart is, darling. And your heart…"

"Is with Ruby."

"Mhmm. So go home, Penny. Go back to your home, and be there when she wakes up again, alright?"

Penny nodded and turned away. "I… of course. Thank you, daddy."

"Any time, dear."