Ruby opened her eyes and stared silently at the roof of her team's dorm before nervously reaching towards her Scroll and turning it on. Flicking through her contacts, she pressed on the most recent message her scroll had received from the contact known as 'Best mom,' and read the message with bated breath.
['Cursed Arm was repelled...the countermeasures worked little Rose.']
Ruby was noticeably less moody than she'd been after the events of Forever Fall, forcibly putting them to the back of her mind before she could drown in them.
Too many had died, and it was killing her inside. She hadn't eaten as much as she used to, and she constantly huddled under a blanket in her team's dorm room, hands clutched over her Scroll, and eyes blood shot as she waited for updates.
While she was still confined as a student, her mother had more than enough means to orchestrate better plans than she ever could.
A part of Ruby still blamed herself for the events that transpired in Forever Fall because if she'd stayed with Neo and the others when Cursed Arm attacked, she and Shirou would have contained the situation rather than chase after it.
Yes, she regretted her choice.
She'd been unable to stop the impulse to aid her uncle Qrow and the others in their ambush of Cursed Arm, never knowing that the butterfly effect could shift the target to her cohort instead.
Shivering, Ruby remembered that Cursed Arm's target was Yang. If Yang had gone to Forever Fall, then- Ruby shook her head.
Small mercies, but her actions had still let her save Yang.
Yet the same could not be said for those that died who weren't supposed to.
Ms. Goodwitch, Prof Port and Oobleck, and half of her classmates...
Ruby reaffirmed once more that too many had died at her recklessness, but hardened her heart because more would perish from inaction.
['Cursed Arm was repelled...the countermeasures worked little Rose.']
Ruby read the message from her mother again with renewed fervor.
She threw off her bed sheets and hurriedly dressed up for class.
Starting from today, she'd be a new Ruby Rose. Stronger, brighter, maturer.
Harrowing as prior circumstances had been, they directly tempered away the naivety that had once stained Ruby's eyes with enthusiasm.
No longer did she poses the demeanor of a simple child, but a burgeoning poise of what a hero should be.
Good.
Noting Ruby's changes to overcome her struggles and strengthen her mentality, Shirou let out a sigh of relief in his dematerialized form. He was pushing Ruby to grow faster than she should have, but alternatively, his duty as a Servant was to fulfill his Master's wishes.
"Shirou!" Ruby called out. "I-"
"Shut up!" Weiss hissed, covering her ears with a pillow as she glanced at the time. "It's six in the morning! You're too old to still be talking with imaginary friends!"
"He's not imagin-"
Off the side, even Neo was shoving a lit scroll towards Ruby with 'Quiet Baby Leader!' in bold text. Only her hand was sticking out of the blanket with her scroll, but the words were conveyed.
As for Pyrrha, she was the smart one and called dibs on the shower while Ruby was inattentive.
If Ruby wanted to be a Hero that saved others indiscriminately, then ironically, the situation would push her into that.
YOU ARE READING
The Huntsman of Red V2
AdventureGuardian, Protector, Hero, and perhaps something more, that was what he had always meant to her, but to others he was simply known as the Huntsman of Red, Remnant's final hope. This story is not mine, it belongs to Parcasious
