#becomeshield

over time ren found it more difficult to reign in their emotions, distancing themselves from their homeland might not have been as hard as it was for jaune, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t difficult. still, how were they meant to survive if they became so lax so close to the borders ? bandits netted the surrounding nations waiting for any news of the wayward prince, even a few months after his disappearance. the bounty on their heads still hadn’t dropped, but they had been seeing less and less trace of their former family and watching eyes. then again, that could be just them lulling the fighter into a false sense of security, ren wasn’t so confident in their talents that they’d be able to handle a liè assassin flawlessly.

were they up to something   ?

sneaking into places she wasn’t really supposed to be wasn’t anything ksenija was really all that unfamiliar with. usually though those places happened to be archaeological sites, not her own school- well, former school at this point. the barricade they’d put around the perimeter of the school wasn’t really that difficult to get over, some hastily put up chain-link fence that she could easily climb up and over before landing on the ground below. it was night and there wasn’t exactly a heavy police presence so she wasn’t very concerned with being spotted once over the fence, using the light of the moon to find her way to the gaping hole in the side of the building. at first she could only pause in front of it, unable to imagine what it was that’d caused such damage in the first place since information about the attack had been next to non-existent so far. had she better control over her semblance she could have simply touched the building and re-lived the events of that night, seen it for herself, but unfortunately she still wasn’t at that level of control.

deep breath was taken in and then slowly released, almost as if steeling herself, before she walked through the hole and into what’d been the great hall. signs of whatever battle had taken place were everywhere, including blood still dried on the ground which she tried to avert her eyes from. cracks in the walls, scorch marks, rubble lying everywhere- even what looked like claw marks in some places. whatever battle had taken place here had been a hard one... and yet it wasn’t one that she or any of haven’s students had been part of. they hadn’t been there to protect their school, their home- it’d been saved by a group of as yet unnamed strangers. there was a part of the jackal that felt something akin to shame at that, at not being present when it would have counted ; then there was the feeling of uncertainty, of what she could possibly do next. there was no telling how long it would take before haven was able to be opened as a school once more and the only two left were shade and atlas and neither of those were really options in her mind. she’d already left shade once, it wasn’t as if she could go back and beg to be re-admitted. as for atlas.... even just thinking of the icy kingdom was enough to cause her anxiety to heighten.

as best she could ksenija tried to shake the feeling, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her scroll in order to utilize it as a flashlight as she stepped further into the building, past where the moon’s light could provide enough luminance to go by. everywhere she looked was more of the same, signs of intense battle, until her light happened the chance upon something lying on the ground that was out of place. curiously the jackal went over and picked it up to examine it closer- a scroll, a bit weathered but in remarkably good condition for having been present during all this. the thought struck her of perhaps utilizing her semblance on it, it would have been less arduous than using it on the building itself, but this belonged to someone and therefore carried with it more than just the memories of this singular battle. it held the memories of that person’s personal life and that was something she swore not to pry into with her semblance, no matter how much she might have wanted to. ears that usually stood straight and tall drooped as a resigned sigh escaped her, slipping the scroll into her pocket- she’d have to find some way to turn it over to authorities without revealing where she’d gotten it from, they could make sure it found its way back to its rightful owner... hopefully. as she was about to make her way towards the staircase however her ears perked and turned in the direction of noise, footsteps that seemed to be coming closer and were more than likely those of a police officer. cue panic.

i make a pretty mean crepe….

“ Jaune. 

             Ruby    CAN’T    be    mad    at    Jaune    in    this    instance.    Sure,    the    SITUATION    that    surrounds    is    incredibly     UPSETTING,    but    given    what     was     currently    happening     with    all    of    them...    Well,    she    certainly    trusted    Oscar    enough    to    fend    for    himself     while    they    go    looking    for    him    in    the    process.     Neo’s    hard    to    beat    too,    specifically    when    she    can    look    like    those    you    TRUST,    but    all    is    not    lost.    The    moment    all    becomes    lost    is    hand-in-hand    with    the    moment    you    allow    yourself    to    QUIT.     They’d    all    just    have    to    keep    moving    forward    and    FORGIVE    THEMSELVES...      Hypocritical    of    petal    to    think    these    words,    but     she    doesn’t    tell    him    that.

meta topics : accepting.

i think saphron and jaune are a lot alike, and more than anything, understand each other better than most of their siblings.   i mean, they’re the only two who ever left home, which tells me that they have similar feelings about the stifling reality that was their childhood.  saphron craved freedom and independence, and wasn’t at all surprised when jaune followed in her footsteps.   at first, i think they bonded over being different from the rest of their siblings, who tended to fall in line pretty easily.  saphron was a free spirit in every sense of the word, and often had arguments with their father over her choices -- like getting a tongue piercing and getting into trouble in school.   when similar things began to happen to jaune, she sort of...  took him under her wing.  they grew closer.

she was relieved when he got accepted into beacon.   i mean, she was definitely nervous because he’d never been much of a fighter, but it meant getting away from home, finding himself, making friends, and so much more.  its what she had been searching for when she left to be with terra, and found it so much more fulfilling than she’d ever expected.   jaune getting to experience that was important to her, and more than anything, she was extremely proud of him.

that only grows exponentially by volume 6, when she sees him again after so long, after the fall of beacon, and sees this man standing before her, so brave and strong and changed.  it broke her heart to know why that happened, but she’s unbelievably proud of him.  (not to mention, finding out about him and ren is like x10 the excitement, because love did wonderful things for her, and she wants that for jaune too).

basically, he’s her baby brother, and she adores him and is unbelievably proud of everything he’s become.   he’s a very different person now from the boy she used to know, but nothing about it is a bad thing in her eyes.  he’s more confident and strong and she always knew he could get there, and is ecstatic to see him grow.   also, she loves to torment him, but that’s the natural sibling response.

a couple other little things...

i bet jaune was the first person she came out to, aside from terra (who i headcanon as a childhood best friend turned gay awakening).  out of everyone in her life, she trusted him the most with that information, and wanted him to know.

          “you’ll get over it.”

     the two of them stand over the mutilated corpses of a man and his wife whose names they didn’t bother learning. tyrian’s gauntlets, the queen’s servant, drip with blood, and a splatter crosses over his face in a diagonal line. both jaune’s sword and his shield are stained as well, though the boy himself was spared the worst of the splash. tyrian shakes his hands at his sides to shed some of the mess.