[RWBY] RWBY Shorts

[Sliverhero]

What I am hearing is that Jaune can pull a Goku and make Cinder choke on his big, strong, plentiful Aura, and as she is brought to her knees by the sheer mass of the Aura, Ruby, actually disables her powers using her Silver Eyes (making all that absorbed Aura from Jaune blow up as there is no container to hold it any more), and then Snipes her goddamn Cerebellum off.

. . .

Nahhhh that is too smart and makes too much sense as a strategy for CRWBY to implement.

Click to shrink...

What CRWBY probably would have done is cinder betrays Salem and using her GRIMM ARM GIVING TO HER BY SALEM to somehow drain Salem powers and forcing the summoning of the Brother gods where only because Team Rwby is together that they save the day and not wipe out everything and start again

 

[AndrewJTalon]

The late afternoon sun filtered through the tall windows of Ozpin's office, casting a warm, golden light across the room. Professor Oobleck had handed Mia off with his usual whirlwind energy, leaving the little girl standing in the middle of the grand space, ears twitching as she looked around curiously.

Ozpin sat behind his large desk, a gentle smile on his face as he regarded the small visitor.

"Ah, Miss Mia Arc," he said warmly, gesturing to the comfortable chair across from him. "It seems I have the honor of looking after you this afternoon. Would you like some cookies and milk while we wait for your father?"

Mia nodded shyly and climbed into the chair, her legs dangling. Ozpin poured her a small glass of milk and offered a plate of sugar cookies. Once she was settled with her snack, he leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled.

"Would you like to hear a story, Mia?"

Her ears perked up immediately. "Yes please!"

Ozpin's voice took on a soft, storytelling cadence as he began.

"Once upon a time, there was a Foolish Knight and a Girl who lived in a Tower…"

He told the tale with quiet gravity. How the Foolish Knight climbed the tower and saved the lonely Girl. How they fell in love, married, and together mastered powerful magic. How the Knight eventually fell ill and died, leaving the Girl heartbroken. How, in her grief, she delved into forbidden arts and brought him back — making them both immortal.

"But the magic she used came from a dark place," Ozpin continued, voice growing heavier. "It consumed her from within. She tried to hide the darkness from the Knight, but it grew stronger and stronger until it took her completely. The Knight was forced to fight the woman he loved. Their battle became a terrible war that scarred the entire world… and even shattered the moon into pieces."

Mia's eyes were wide, her half-eaten cookie forgotten in her hand.

"The Knight eventually sealed the Girl away in a new Dark Tower so she could not hurt anyone else," Ozpin finished softly. "And ever since, he has continued to fight her… hoping, perhaps, that one day she might be saved."

The room fell quiet.

Mia looked up at him with big, earnest blue eyes.

"Does the story have a happy ending?" she asked. "Even if it's really hard… if the Foolish Knight loves the Girl, then there has to be a happy ending! Right?"

Ozpin smiled, but it was a small, sad smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"That remains to be seen, little one," he said gently. "Not every story has a happy ending."

Mia's ears drooped. She frowned deeply, crossing her arms. "That's stupid."

Ozpin let out a quiet chuckle, the sound warm despite the melancholy in his gaze.

"Yes," he agreed softly. "It is rather stupid, isn't it?"

He reached across the desk and gently patted her hand.

"But sometimes… the foolish ones keep hoping anyway."

Mia thought about that for a long moment, then picked up her cookie again with renewed determination.

"When I grow up," she declared, "I'm gonna find the Girl in the Tower and give her a big hug. Then she won't be dark and scary anymore."

Ozpin's expression softened even further.

"I have no doubt you would try," he murmured. "And perhaps… that is exactly the kind of foolish hope the world needs."

They sat together in comfortable silence after that, Mia munching on cookies while Ozpin watched her with an ancient, weary fondness in his eyes.

 

[Orion Scimatarii]

Salem goes on a jaunt to see the world incognito and comes across Mia and gives her a hug. Please.

 

[Sliverhero]

The Ancient Way

The throne room of Evernight Castle was supposed to be the site of humanity's last stand. The air was thick with Grimm essence, Salem stood tall at the top of her stairs, and Cinder flanked her with that insufferable smirk.

Team RWBY had formed up. Oscar's hands were trembling. Even Ozpin's ancient consciousness was running through scenarios, finding none with a victory condition above twelve percent. "This is it," Ruby whispered, Crescent Rose drawn. "Everyone, together..."

"Wait."

Jaune Arc stepped forward. His shield was on his back. His sword was sheathed. His hands were empty. "Jaune, what are you doing?" Weiss hissed. He held up a single finger.

Salem raised an eyebrow. Even she, immortal queen of darkness, had to admit this was unusual. "Jaune, please," Oscar said nervously, hands raised. "We planned this for weeks..."

"Oscar. Oz. Everyone." Jaune took a deep breath. He rolled his shoulders. He cracked his neck. He looked Salem dead in her red eyes with the confidence of a man who had already won. "I'm using the Ancient Way."

Silence.

Complete and utter silence. Cinder's smirk faltered. "The what?" Yang blinked. "Is that a fighting style?" Blake's ears twitched. "I've read every combat manual in the White Fang library. I've never heard of..."

"It's not a fighting style," Jaune said, voice low and reverent. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a single d20 die. It was old. Chipped. The numbers were barely visible. Ruby gasped. "Is that Crocea Mors's hilt pommel?"

"No. This is older." Jaune held it up to the light. "This was my great-great-grandfather's. Passed down through the Arc line. Not the sword. This very thing.

Salem, for the first time in centuries, leaned forward slightly. "I declare..." Jaune pointed the die directly at Salem. "...a Seduction Roll." The room exploded. "JAUNE WHAT THE HELL.." Yang roared her hair blazing. "ARE YOU INSANE..." Weiss shouted "Is this legal?" Blake. "Jaune, buddy, I say this with love, that is Salem.." Ruby said concerned. Cinder looked like someone had just told her the moon was made of cheese. "You're WHAT?"

Even the Grimm in the corners seemed confused. One Seer literally just deflated a little.
Salem stared at him. Jaune stared back. He rolled. The die tumbled through the air with almost cinematic slowness. It hit the black stone floor, bounced once, twice, three times, and...

Clatter....Natural twenty. The number faced up like a glowing beacon of absolute bullshit. Nobody breathed. Oscar felt something shift deep in his consciousness. Ozpin, the ancient wizard, the man who had fought Salem across millennia, sat up straight in the back of Oscar's mind like he'd been electrocuted.

"No," Ozpin whispered in Oscar's head. Jaune pocketed the die with the energy of a man who just won the lottery and knew it. Salem looked at the die. Then she looked at Jaune. Then back at the die.

Her immortal, ancient, darkness-woven face did something none of them had ever seen before.
She blushed. "There's..." Salem cleared her throat. The Queen of the Grimm, the immortal scourge of Remnant, cleared her throat. "There is nothing I can do. The Ancient Way is... absolute." "WHAT?" Cinder shrieked.

"It's tradition," Salem said, as if this explained anything. "The roll was clean. Natural twenty. I am... bound." "YOU'RE BOUND BY A DICE ROLL?"
"Cinder, do not make me strip your Maiden powers again." Cinder shut up.

Salem descended the stairs with an eerie grace. She took Jaune's arm like they were attending a ball. "We will retire to the east wing. Do not disturb us." She paused, looked back at Team RWBY, and added with complete seriousness: "For any reason." And then the Queen of the Grimm walked off with Jaune Arc, who gave his friends a double thumbs up as he was led away.

The east wing door closed with a sound that would haunt them forever....Click.

Team RWBY, Oscar, and Cinder stood in the throne room in absolute silence for forty-five seconds. "...Did that just happen?" Ruby asked weakly. "No," Weiss said firmly. "It didn't."
"Then where's Jaune?" Yang said, pointing at the empty space where their friend used to be.

Nobody had an answer. They set up camp in the throne room because none of them could process leaving. Ruby sat on the stairs hugging her knees. Yang kept opening and closing her mouth. Weiss had started furiously writing in a notebook, possibly trying to logic her way out of what she'd witnessed. Blake was reading through every book she'd brought and what she found in the library after seeing it when they were looking for the throne room. She then started to look for any reference to "the Ancient Way."

Cinder was just standing in the corner, arms crossed, staring at the east wing door like it had personally insulted her. "I trained for years," Cinder muttered. "YEARS. I killed, I schemed, I sacrificed everything to get close to her power. And this... this *blond idiot* just...." She made a sound like a teakettle reaching boiling point.
"You're not taking this well," Blake observed.

"SHUT UP."

Oscar was sitting against a pillar, quietly having the most surreal conversation of his life.
"Ozpin?" "Yes?" "What is the Ancient Way?"
A very long pause.

"It is... exactly what it sounds like."

"And that's... a real thing? People just roll dice to...to..."

"It predates the kingdoms, actually. Before the formalization of Aura manipulation, before Semblance documentation, before Huntsmen academies... there were other traditions."

"Traditions where you just ROLL TO SEDUCE?"

"The die was sacred. The roll was absolute. Even Salem, in her youth, respected the tradition. We all did." Oscar stared at nothing. "You knew about this?"

"I did not expect young Mr. Arc to be aware of it. The Arc family... they were always an interesting line."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US? We could have just ROLLED on Salem!" "It doesn't work if the other party doesn't acknowledge the tradition. Salem acknowledged it. That's the only reason it..."

Oscar then relays the information to the others.
After that a sound starts to echo from the east wing. It was muffled. It was structural. It may have been furniture. Everyone froze. "That's... the wall," Blake said slowly. "La la la la la," Ruby said, pressing her hands over her ears.

"I'm going to kill him," Cinder said quietly. "I'm going to kill him and then I'm going to find whoever invented that die and kill them too."
"You can't kill the tradition, Cinder," Yang said hollowly. "It's older than kingdoms."
"I'LL FIND A WAY."

Day One

They tried to leave. The Grimm outside wouldn't let them. The castle was impenetrable. They were, effectively, trapped. The sounds from the east wing were... educational. "I didn't know Salem could make that sound," Ruby whispered, rocking back and forth. "She's immortal, Ruby. She's had millennia to practice," Yang said, staring blankly at a wall.

Weiss had torn up her notebook and was now staring at the ceiling. "I could have been a singer. I could have been anything. Why am I here." Blake gave up on research. The books didn't cover this. Nothing covered this.
Cinder tried to break down the east wing door. She bounced off it. There was some kind of barrier. "TRADITION PROTECTION, why does the barriersay that " she screamed. "TRADITION....BLOODY... PROTECTION."

Oscar sat in the corner. Ozpin had gone suspiciously quiet. "Ozpin?"
"I am meditating."
"You're hiding."
"...Oscar I am meditating."


Day Two:

They found food in the castle kitchens. None of them could eat much at the moment. The structural sounds had shifted to a rhythm. A terrible, immortal rhythm that none of them could unhear. "He's been going for... what, thirty hours straight?" Yang said. "Aura," Blake said.
"Aura doesn't work like that.?" Yang questioned
"His Semblance is literally about amplifying. Maybe he's... amplifying." Blake wondered.
Weiss threw a plate. "I want to go home," Weiss said, with the vulnerability of a woman who had seen too much.

Ruby had stopped talking entirely. She just communicated through aggressive thumb-up gestures that felt more threatening than encouraging. Cinder had sat down next to them at some point. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, apparently, when the enemy is the sound of Jaune Arc satisfying the Queen of the Grimm through load-bearing walls.

"I hate this," Cinder said. "We know," everyone replied. "I hate this SO MUCH." "We KNOW." Team rwby shouted back

Day Three:

The sounds stopped at dawn. The silence was somehow worse. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. They sat in the throne room like soldiers waiting for an all-clear siren. The east wing door opened.

Jaune walked out first. He was... fine. Completely fine. Whistling. His hair was a little messy but he had the energy of a man who had just had the best weekend of his entire life and then some.

Behind him, Salem emerged. The Queen of the Grimm was... Her hair was down. She was wearing what appeared to be one of Jaune's spare shirts. She was standing slightly behind him. They looked again and she is slightly behind him and blushing. The most powerful being on Remnant was standing behind Jaune Arc like a shy prom date.

Team RWBY's collective sanity left the building.
"I have an announcement," Salem said.
Nobody responded. Ruby's eye twitched.
Salem cleared her throat. "In accordance with the Ancient Way and the sacred bond of the natural twenty, I hereby declare a truce between myself and the forces of humanity. This truce shall persist for the duration of Jaune Arc's natural life, and shall extend to all of his direct descendants in perpetuity."

Cinder's eye developed a tic. "Furthermore," Salem continued, and her voice wavered in a way that none of them had ever heard, "I will be... stepping back from my campaign. The Grimm will withdraw from active aggression. I will be... relocating. To Patch." "TO PATCH?" Yang shrieked. "Jaune has suggested it has a lovely climate."

"HE SUGGESTED...." Salem held up a hand. Yang stopped. Even she wasn't immune to the aura of a woman who had just experienced whatever the last three days had been. "There is, however..." Salem paused. Her immortal composure cracked just slightly. Her cheeks darkened. "I require... assistance." "Assistance with what?" Oscar asked carefully.
Salem looked at Jaune. Jaune gave her a reassuring smile. She looked back at the group.

"He is... too much." Dead silence.
"He's too much," Salem repeated, and her voice held the tone of someone confessing to a war crime. "I am immortal. I have endured centuries of solitude, war, loss, and agony. I have never once... once... felt overwhelmed. But Jaune Arc does not stop. He does not stop. I have not slept in three days. I regenerated my entire body twice. My Aura, which I did not even know could be depleted, needs recovery."

She took a breath. "I need you people to help me manage him. I cannot do this alone. No one can do this alone." She pointed at Ruby. "You. Silver-eyed warrior. You will take shifts." Ruby made a sound like a dying animal. Salem pointed at Yang. "You seem sturdy. You're on rotation."

Yang looked at her fist, then at Salem, then at Jaune, and something behind her eyes simply gave up. Salem pointed at Weiss. "You seem organized. You will make schedules." Weiss, somehow, reached for a pen. Trauma was a hell of a drug. Salem pointed at Blake. "You will research if there are historical precedents for this level of... endurance. I need answers."

Blake, incredibly, opened a book. The Faunus need to know had been weaponized against them all. Salem pointed at Cinder. "No." "Jaune says you're part of this now." "I WILL BURN EVERYTHING..."

"Cinder." Jaune's voice was calm and warm. "It'll be fine." Cinder's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. She sat down. Salem turned to Oscar. "You have Ozpin in your head. He knows the tradition. He will advise."

"I want no part of this," Ozpin said immediately in Oscar's mind. "You'll do it," Oscar muttered. "You'll do it because you're a responsible adult."

"I have made many mistakes over my lifetimes. This is not one I wish to add to...." "Ozpin."
"....Fine."

Salem nodded, satisfied. She took Jaune's arm again. "We will be relocating to Patch by the end of the week. I expect everyone there by Monday. There will be a chore wheel. There will be boundaries. There will be...." She faltered. "There will be rules." She looked up at Jaune with an expression that was equal parts devotion and exhaustion. "He agreed to every other weekend off." Every other weekend. The Queen of the Grimm had negotiated every other weekend and considered it a victory.

Jaune smiled his stupid, golden-retriever smile.
"This is going to be great, you guys." Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, savior of Remnant, silver-eyed warrior, looked at her friends. They looked back. None of them had words. None of them would ever have words again. Cinder, enemy of humanity, slowly raised her hand. "Do I at least get my own room on Patch?" Salem considered this. "You will be in the guest house. With Blake."
"Why with Blake?" "Because she seems like she'll be reasonable about boundaries." Blake, mid-page-turn, went pale. Jaune clapped his hands together. "Alright! Team meeting to discuss the chore wheel at seven! Salem made snacks!" The Queen of the Grimm had made snacks. Remnant was saved...Yeah ...nobody felt saved.

"In all my centuries,"* Ozpin said quietly in Oscar's mind as they walked toward the exit, "I have never been more terrified, more confused, or more impressed." "Same," Oscar whispered.
"He rolled a natural twenty, Oscar. Against Salem."
"I know."

"The boy didn't even hesitate."

"I KNOW."

"....He knew. He absolutely knew."

Oscar stopped walking. The realization hit him like a truck. "He brought the die....He brought the die to the final battle."

Ozpin was silent for a long, long moment.

"The Arc family," he said finally, "has always been interesting." In the distance, Jaune could be heard asking Salem if she wanted to try a restaurant in Patch that had "really good pasta." Salem said yes. Cinder just screamed sick of the whole thing already.

The Ancient Way endured.

 

[Fusion Blaster]

Ren: I didn't know He was a bard.

Nora: FUCKING BARDS!

 

[Bev]

"You said lay the Queen."
"No. We said SLAY the Queen."
"And I did. She won't be an issue for some generations now."