[Xiao Long Cabin – Patch Island]
For some reason, the house had been way too quiet lately.
That thought lingered in Ruby's head as she sat in the middle of the living room, performing maintenance on Crescent Rose. Everything felt strangely peaceful, too peaceful, actually. No noise, no yelling, none of the usual chaos.
Curious, she lifted her gaze and looked around.
Her mother, Summer, was sitting on the couch, focused on knitting what looked like a baby garment, or at least, trying to. Ruby watched her in silence, wondering if she should point out that her mom had somehow knitted three sleeves instead of two. But she looked so happy that Ruby decided not to ruin it for her.
In the other corner of the room, Qrow was sound asleep, still holding a half-empty bottle of liquor. Beside him, Zwei ate calmly from his bowl, not a care in the world. Everything was so still that Ruby started to feel uneasy.
It was like the source of all the energy in the house—or of all the chaos, rather—had vanished.
But… what was missing?
She didn't finish the thought before Zwei suddenly lifted his head from the bowl. His ears perked up, his body tense, eyes locked on the door.
"What is it, boy?" Ruby asked, setting Crescent Rose aside as she walked toward the corgi and crouched beside him.
"The squirrel again?"
Zwei ignored her. He barked twice and ran to the door, scratching it insistently.
"You wanna go out?" Ruby muttered, walking after him, still not understanding why he hated that stupid squirrel so much. She reached out for the doorknob, but before her hand even touched it—
BAM!
The door burst open, throwing her backward along with Zwei.
"Ahh!" Ruby screamed as she fell on her back. Zwei landed on top of her, squirming while she tried to shove him off.
"What the hell?!" she managed to yell, pushing herself halfway up.
She looked up, ready to scold whoever it was, but froze when she saw the culprit. Standing in the doorway was Yang. Although "standing" was being generous.
Her sister's hair was a tangled mess, her clothes torn, and her face smeared with dirt. Parts of her outfit were ripped, covered in dust, and marked with fresh bruises.
""Of course… Yang was the one missing," Ruby thought with a weary sigh. Suddenly everything made sense. The peace and quiet in the house weren't normal, and now she knew why.
It wasn't unusual for Yang to disappear for a few days, but this week she'd been gone longer than usual, and every time someone asked where she'd been, she dodged the question. Ruby had even joked that her sister was involved in something shady—drugs, smuggling, who knows what. But seeing her like this… maybe that joke wasn't so far off.
Naturally, her entrance didn't go unnoticed. Summer dropped her knitting needles and jumped to her feet, hurrying toward Yang with a deep frown.
"What happened?" she exclaimed, grabbing her by the shoulders.
Qrow, half-asleep, pushed himself up unsteadily, blinking with a confused expression as he tried to figure out what was happening.
Summer wasted no time circling Yang, checking her over quickly.
Her clothes were torn, there were bruises, but nothing that looked fatal. Even so, Summer's gaze stayed serious before finally softening with a relieved sigh.
"Was it Grimm? Or bandits?" she asked, not giving Yang a chance to answer.
It was a reasonable question. Ruby thought so too as she watched. Yang was strong; few things on Patch Island could leave her in that condition. But there was a problem: there weren't really any powerful Grimm in the area, and bandits—at least as far as Ruby knew—weren't exactly common around here.
Still upset about being knocked down, Ruby stepped closer anyway, curious to know who could've done that to her sister.
"Give me some space!" Yang complained, struggling to push them away.
"That's what I'm trying to say, it was—" Ruby listened, or at least tried to, but she couldn't stop her eyes from drifting toward what was hanging from Yang's arm.
Something dangled there, swaying with each movement. At first Ruby thought it was just some trash caught on her clothes, but soon realized it wasn't.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, cutting Yang off mid-sentence, her cry echoing through the room. It was a scream of pure panic, making everyone turn toward her at once.
Ruby's eyes were wide as she trembled, pointing with a shaking finger at Yang's wrist.
All eyes followed the direction of her hand and froze on the same sight: hanging pitifully from Yang's arm were the broken remains of Ember Celica. Or what was left of it.
Ruby's stomach twisted, a knot rising in her throat. Without thinking, she stepped forward and gently grabbed her sister's arm, lifting it to see better. She held the weapon's remains in her hands, staring in disbelief.
The metal was twisted and scorched, pieces missing; some fragments barely recognizable. Ruby caught the smell of burnt metal mixed with dust, and a brief wave of dizziness hit her, stealing her breath.
That wasn't just any weapon: she had built it herself. Every part, every adjustment, every damn weld; she had done it all with her own hands.
The memories flashed through her mind in bursts: the blueprint spread out on the worktable, the late-night test shots in the yard, Yang's grin when she first held it, the promise to take care of it always.
And with that last thought, sadness turned to anger in seconds. Her eyes hardened, and without thinking, she grabbed Yang's jacket, yanking her forward until they were face to face.
"YOU DID THIS!" Ruby shouted, her voice trembling between rage and pain.
"Ruby, I can explain—" Yang started, trying to justify herself, but she didn't finish. Ruby's hands closed around her neck, squeezing hard, not out of real intent to hurt her, but from sheer desperation.
"I will kill you!" Ruby spat, knuckles white and hands shaking with fury.
She never got to carry out the threat. Qrow reacted instantly, lunging between them and grabbing Ruby by the arms, pulling them apart with effort.
"Not funny, Qrow, let me go!" Ruby protested, kicking and struggling, lifted like a child while she kept staring at the remains of Ember Celica, eyes shining with rage and pain.
"I have to avenge Ember Celica!" she shouted, thrashing her arms while Yang clutched her neck, coughing hard.
"It wasn't me!" Yang managed to say amid the coughing, still catching her breath.
"Then who? WHO?!" Ruby demanded, straining to break free. If it had not been Yang, then someone else would pay for what they had done to her weapon. Ember Celica had to be avenged; that was non-negotiable.
"IT WAS A RABBIT!" Yang suddenly yelled, her voice cutting through the noise in the room.
Silence fell instantly. Even Zwei froze, ears perked and body tense at the mention of the word rabbit. Qrow, startled, dropped Ruby with a dull thud the moment he processed what Yang had said.
"A... rabbit?" Summer repeated, frowning. "A rabbit... Grimm?"
Ruby blinked, confused. That made no sense. There were wolf Grimm, gorilla Grimm, elephant Grimm, even bird Grimm, but rabbit Grimm, no.
Although unlikely was not the same as impossible. The world had its own way of surprising people, and the Grimm were always finding new ways to do it.
But Yang shook her head with a seriousness that made it clear: "Not a Grimm! It was a normal rabbit! Small, brown, fluffy!"
The silence returned, more awkward than before. Ruby looked at Qrow and her mother, noticing the brief look they exchanged before turning their attention back to Yang.
"So... a normal rabbit did all that to you," Summer said calmly as she walked slowly to a cabinet. She opened a drawer and started rummaging through items with complete composure.
"What are you doing?" Yang asked, taking a step back.
Summer did not answer. She came back with a flashlight in hand and, without warning, shone it straight into Yang's eyes.
"Ah! What the hell, Mom!" Yang complained, turning her face away.
"Normal pupils," Summer murmured, lowering the flashlight. Then, with a quick motion, she grabbed Yang's arm and rolled up her sleeve.
"I don't see needle marks either."
"I'm not on drugs!" Yang exclaimed, exasperated.
Despite the tone, no one seemed convinced. Especially Ruby, who watched her with suspicion, arms crossed.
"Don't believe her, Mom. She's definitely on drugs. Only a filthy drug addict would break one of my creations—"
"Ah!" she complained when Qrow gave her a light smack on the head.
"That's enough, kid," he growled, while Ruby puffed her cheeks and dropped her gaze, pouting in offended silence.
Summer let out a sigh, placing a hand on Yang's shoulder.
"I believe you," she said in her most maternal tone, then added calmly, "but I'd believe you more if you gave me a blood sample."
Yang clenched her fists, feeling offended. "You don't trust me..." she muttered through her teeth.
"Well," Summer replied patiently, "it's hard to believe you when you say a rabbit did this to you. I'm not saying you're a—"
"LIAR!" Ruby burst out, cutting her off.
The look her mother gave her was enough to make her shrink back instantly.
"I think it would be better if you explained what happened," Summer said, regaining her calm. "Why don't you start with where you were?"
Yang took a deep breath, trying to collect herself. "I was in the woods looking for Daniel's rapier and..."
Ruby blasted her with a glare.
"Why were you looking for MY boyfriend's rapier ?" she emphasized, dragging out each word with venom.
Yang swallowed, visibly uncomfortable. "W-well... the reasons aren't important..." she muttered, avoiding Ruby's eyes.
Ruby watched her in silence, noticing how she kept looking away and shifting on the spot like she wanted to disappear. Clearly she was lying, but Ruby decided not to press her in front of their mother. She'd get the truth out of her later, that was for sure.
"As I said, I was looking for the rapier and, to my surprise, I found it—" Yang resumed, trying to sound casual, only to be interrupted again.
"You found it!? Where is it?!" Ruby couldn't contain herself; excitement overcame her before she thought it through. The idea of recovering the original rapier thrilled her. Even though Daniel already had the replica, that didn't mean she couldn't keep the real one.
But her hopes lasted only a moment.
"I don't have it..." Yang said, shrugging.
The words deflated Ruby's excitement instantly. She felt the thrill drain away, leaving a mix of frustration and suspicion.
"Could you stop interrupting me?" Yang grumbled, annoyed.
"I found it, but it was in the hands of a rabbit... or in its mouth, more precisely."
Ruby blinked, confused. She was about to reply, but Qrow covered her face with his hand before she could get a word out. She stayed still, kicking and trying to shove his hand away while glaring at him.
"And I said, 'Hey, rabbit, give me that rapier !' and suddenly— BAM! —the rabbit stabs me with the rapier ," Yang recounted, making big gestures with her arms.
Ruby stared at her, not knowing where to start processing that. Each sentence sounded more absurd than the last.
"Of course I tried to activate my aura and take it from him, but the damn thing had a weird technique... rabbit swordsmanship."
Ruby felt an instinctive brow raise. No one said anything, but a look around the room confirmed everyone was thinking the same thing.
"And then the tree exploded. Then Ember Celica exploded. We fought like never before, but in the end I retreated strategically..."
Yang finished the story with a dramatic sigh, dropping her shoulders in defeat. Ruby just watched, half incredulous and half exhausted.
"So, who wants to go into the forest with me to fight that rabbit and get the rapier back?" Yang asked, smiling energetically as if nothing was wrong.
The silence was so thick Ruby could hear Zwei's tail move softly. No one breathed for a second.
The silence was so thick that Ruby could hear the soft swish of Zwei's tail. No one said a word—at least not until Summer stepped forward.
"Sweetheart… I think I speak for everyone when I say… GET HER!"
Everything turned into chaos. Ruby jumped in without hesitation, helping Qrow hold Yang down while Zwei enthusiastically bit one of her feet.
Summer, unshaken, pulled a syringe out of her pocket. "Calm down, it's just a little blood. Everything will be fine."
"You have to believe me!" yelled Yang from the floor, struggling hard. "It was the rabbit! The rabbit with its weird rabbit fencing—!"
"—Ah!" Yang gasped as she felt the needle prick her arm.
Summer lifted the syringe with a stern look.
"Done. Now we just have to take this to the lab. And if they find drugs in your system, you're in trouble!" she said, glaring at Yang.
Yang rubbed her arm with a pained grimace. "You could've just asked for it!" she grumbled, throwing her mother an offended look.
"Yes, but I didn't trust you to give it to me," Summer replied coolly, handing the sample to Qrow.
"Take it to Vale and have it analyzed."
Qrow sighed, slipping the vial into the inner pocket of his coat.
"Ah… well, I guess I don't have anything better to do," he muttered, heading for the door with obvious reluctance.
Ruby, however, barely noticed. Unlike everyone else, she hadn't forgotten what really mattered. Crossing her arms, she glared down at Yang.
"Why were you secretly looking for my boyfriend's rapier ?"
The comment froze Qrow mid-step. He turned on his heel with a half-smile and walked back to sit on the couch. "I've got to see this," he murmured, amused.
Ruby ignored him, keeping her eyes fixed on her sister, who looked like she was desperately searching for an excuse that could at least sound half-believable.
"Well… you see…" Yang stammered, scratching the back of her neck, not daring to look at her.
Ruby stomped her foot, growing impatient.
"Yang, I'm waiting for an answer."
Silence lingered for a few seconds. Then Yang sighed in defeat.
"You know what? Fine. I'm tired. It's time you knew the truth… your boyfriend is a slut—"
She didn't get to finish. Ruby didn't even realize when her body moved; she only felt the solid impact of her fist connecting with her sister's face.
"Ruby!" Summer shouted, running to Yang, who was now on the floor clutching her cheek.
Ruby stared, hand still raised, stunned, not understanding how it had happened.
Qrow approached, trying to hold back laughter. "Ruby, you can take Yang?" he asked, both amused and surprised.
"No one beat anyone!" Summer interjected, helping the so-called traitor of a sister back to her feet. "Good gods, look at that," she added, noticing the bruise already forming on Yang's cheek.
Yang growled, straightening with wounded pride.
"I have proof," she declared, pulling her scroll from her pocket. "Maybe I should've started with this."
Ruby snatched it from her hands without hesitation, suspicious. Her eyes scanned the screen quickly, seeing Daniel's name and a chat she didn't recognize.
"You've been texting my boyfriend?!" she shouted, voice rising.
"No!" Yang defended herself, raising her hands. "Look at the messages. He's the one who texted me first. Seriously, just read them."
Ruby hesitated for a moment, then opened the chat. She scrolled through the messages one after another, silently. Her expression shifted—first surprise, then confusion, and finally disbelief.
"This can't be..." Ruby murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I told you," Yang tried to explain, taking a step closer. "I knew I should've told you earlier, but I didn't know how—"
Ruby hurled the scroll straight at her face, cutting her off mid-sentence.
"You're harassing my boyfriend, you backstabbing rat! I knew you liked him! I could always tell by the way you looked at him!"
"Are you blind? Look at the messages!" Yang shot back, exasperated.
But it was too late. Qrow already had the scroll in his hand, flipping through it with an expression of amused curiosity.
"Alright, let's see… I only see your messages here, Yang," he commented, raising a brow. "'We should hang out sometime.' 'Why don't you send me a picture?' And… wow. Very explicit stuff. I'm gonna need a drink to scrub this from my brain."
He chuckled, pulling out his flask and taking a long swig.
Yang, growing paler by the second, snatched the scroll from his hands and skimmed through it, her face twisting in disbelief as she read line after line.
Ruby watched her in silence, heart hammering, her anger and disappointment mixing into something sharp and unsteady.
Her sister's face fell apart with every line she read; her expression shifted from confusion to pure panic as she confirmed that all the messages were indeed from her.
"This can't be right…" Yang muttered, staring at the screen in horror. "You have to believe me—he messaged me first, I swear!"
Ruby nearly laughed. The desperation in Yang's voice was so pathetic it almost made her feel sorry for her. Almost.
"It was him!" Yang shouted, raising her voice in panic. "He must've deleted the messages and tampered with my scroll!"
Ruby stared at her without blinking, crossing her arms.
"Tampered with your scroll?" she repeated with mock surprise. "And how exactly would he do that? He's in Atlas! To mess with your scroll he'd have to be a hacker, access the CCT network, and—what—pull off a technological miracle?"
A dry, tired laugh escaped her. She stepped forward, jabbing Yang in the chest with her finger.
"Daniel would never do something like that," she sneered. "He's one of the purest people I know—and listen closely, Yang—because neither you nor anyone else is going to ruin this relationship. Nothing you say will change that."
"So stay the hell away from my boyfriend. Got it?!"
[Somewhere in Mantle]
"CUNNILINGUS! GET YOUR CUNNILINGUS!" shouted Daniel, in his so-called Aegis form, standing proudly on a busy Mantle street corner.
"With tongue and plenty of drool! Absolutely free for huntresses with powerful semblances!"
His announcement, unsurprisingly, earned him a full range of reactions—disgust, confusion, curiosity, and, from a few, mild interest.
Daniel, unfazed, simply grinned, convinced this was his most brilliant idea yet.
-//-
Author's Note:
Another chapter! This one was supposed to be longer and +18, but as you can see, I ran out of time. Buuuut I've left the +18 part perfectly set up for the next one, so.... patience
I've got a couple of questions for you:
First: as the more observant among you might've noticed, this chapter was written in past tense, and I usually write in present. Why did I do that? I wanted to experiment—some fanfics I've read use that style, and I really liked how it felt. So I'd like your opinion: how did this chapter feel to you? Did you like the phrasing? Do you prefer the previous style?
And I swear to God I'm gonna fuck the next person who says, "Write however you like."
Second: I've got a list of semblances ready for the next episode. The next one's going to have a lot—I swear! Though it'll probably be short scenes featuring different women, mixed with some bad jokes. So if there's a particular semblance you want him to get, now's the time to tell me. Winter and her mother are being saved for later.
(You can stop reading here; the rest is just me rambling...)
Third:these past weeks I've been sick and kind of uninspired, so I started drafting a few other fanfics, just ideas for now, nothing developed yet. I've got a bit of everything, honestly. Here are the concepts; I'd like to know which one interests you most, since I'm thinking of starting something new alongside this, even if I don't publish it.
Yeah, this author's note is long, but it's my story, so… that's fine, right?
1. How to Train Your Dragon – Journey Across the World
Basically, Hiccup doesn't stay in Berk. He runs away with Toothless before they can force him to kill a dragon, and the two of them travel the world, discovering new cultures and dragons—including mythical ones.
2. Control Freak
Someone finds Control Freak's remote and starts hopping through the multiverse—until someone smacks them with a lamp and steals it. Our protagonist? The person who hit them with the lamp.
3. I Didn't Kill Robin
A regular guy with a nervous tic that makes him laugh when he's anxious. Everything's fine until he accidentally pushes Robin into a woodchipper… live on broadcast. Now he's being hunted by Batman and the rest of the heroes.
4.RWBY – The Delivery Man
Alternate Remnant. Everyone has a "system," and their class determines their future. Grimm spawn from dungeons, and Huntsmen go in to clear them and keep the world safe.
The catch? The protagonist's class is Delivery Man.
Imagine you're deep inside a dungeon, about to get shredded by a Grimm, when suddenly—BAM!, a delivery truck runs it over and hands you your package.
I don't know… think about it.
5. Konosuba – Journey Between Worlds
I read Konosuba a few years back, so my memory's fuzzy, but Picture this: the protagonist gets run over by a guy identical to Freddie Mercury. In the middle of his living room. The next thing he knows, he's standing before Aqua. Long story short, he asks for the ability to travel between worlds. He gets it, but he can't stay in any of them. He's forced to return every time. From there, he starts building a business trading goods across worlds.
He'd have the Adventurer class and absolutely no Aqua, Megumin, or Darkness as companions.
All new characters instead: a half-meter-tall wolf girl with delusions of grandeur, and an unemployed demon who just can't convince humans to sell their souls.
Tomoko would probably show up too. As you can tell, that one's already a bit more developed in my notes.
6. Harry Potter – I'm a Diary
Yeah, super original (I know).
But imagine the protagonist spending years trapped inside the diary, plotting his escape, using Ginny to draw in more victims to feed on so he can finally manifest a real body.
From there, he begins hunting down the other Horcruxes, to absorb them.
7. I Have a Spaceship
He has a spaceship… duh.
He travels between worlds and universes, collecting materials and technology while constantly upgrading his ship, making it bigger and bigger. [Image]
Imagine he arrives in a stunningly beautiful world… only to be carried off by a giant mosquito.
Or he lands on a human world, specifically on the one island where they decided cloning dinosaurs was a great idea.
It starts as a small ship, growing larger and more advanced over time. [Image.]
8. Simps Counterattack… Again?
The protagonist has such terrible taste that, after leaving a positive comment on a really bad fanfic, lightning strikes him and he's dragged before the Court of Good Taste.
They find him guilty and reincarnate him inside that same fanfic with a system that gives him millions… but he can only spend the money on women, not on himself.
Picture the girl dining on lobster in her new apartment—everything paid by him—while he eats a cheap burger and walks home because he can't afford the bus.
It's pure absurd comedy, blending universes from Victorious, Sam & Cat, Zoey 101, The Big Bang Theory, and more. I've actually written a little bit of this one already.
9. RWBY – I Want to Build a Castle
Someone dies and ends up stranded in the world of RWBY, far from any civilization. Luckily, they have a Minecraft system and decide to start building. Until one day, an explorer finds them… or rather, finds the floating castle they built. [Image].
10. RWBY – Mr. Satan
A younger version of Mr. Satan ends up in the world of RWBY.
That's it. And honestly, that alone would be hilarious.
11. The Rabbit's Burrow
Lord Frith, creator of all things, grows bored, until he finds a lost soul and grants it its own world, filled with life and resources. The problem: the soul is alone, and eventually asks to return to its original world. Frith agrees, but only if it earns the right to do so.He gives it the name El-ahrairah and the abilities of a rabbit, along with some physical traits. It digs tunnels between worlds in search of its own, but never finds it.
I've actually made good progress on this one, it mixes a lot of things: Pokémon, El Dorado, Zoids, Voltron, Alice in Wonderland, DC, Zootopia, Adventure Time, Re:Zero, Hero 108, Avatar, RWBY, Miraculous, Chowder, Legend of the Guardians, Hotel Transylvania, Undertale… well, I've written quite a bit of it, at least the foundation and story.That last one is my favorite, and the most developed one, or at least the one I have the clearest vision for.
ALMOST FORGOT: every story includes +18 content, though that should've been obvious… it's me, after all.
I should probably stop here, this author's note alone is nearing a thousand words.
Anyway, it was fun to write this; kind of liberating, honestly.
I should make a Discord server, could share stuff like this there… maybe. I don't know, I never really liked Discord that much.
Anyway, see you next time!
Kisses and hugs, rats.