Never before had Weiss questioned the decisions she had made in her short life as much as on this fateful day, or truly considered the other paths she could have taken.
After all, not only had she almost died several times fighting the living nightmare that Nergigante represented, but she was also having to deal with the consequences of that deadly confrontation.
The chaos present was one that made the last incident in Vale seem mild by comparison, and every time Weiss came across the body of a lifeless person, her heart heaved with guilt. As a result, doubts plagued her mind nonstop.
From the start, there were several reasons behind her decision to become a Huntress. Not only did Weiss want freedom and to escape her father's manipulative hands, but she also wanted to be like her older sister; to be perfect. Certainly, Winter wasn't arrogant enough to consider herself perfect when no one really was, but in Weiss's eyes, her older sister was the closest human to being a living manifestation of that concept, whether it was her charming appearance that could only be compared to the most beautiful day in winter, her calm and composed demeanor expected of a noble lady, or her strength that few could rival, especially among the women of this world.
As far as Weiss knew, only Glynda Goodwitch could compare and perhaps surpass Winter Schnee; both being examples to be followed by all the girls in the world who aspired to be protectors.
At the same time, however, while becoming a Huntress was a noble dream, Weiss couldn't forget who she was and the burden that weighed on her back for being the heir to Remnant's most powerful family, a responsibility her older sister had given up when she was still young to pursue a military career.
Even without becoming a Huntress and with the authority Winter had gained in the Atlas army to back her up, Weiss would have been more than capable of holding her father accountable for the crimes he had potentially committed and helping this world become a much better place, especially for the faunus.
Or so she wanted to believe.
As much as Weiss didn't want to admit it, the truth was different.
If she had stayed behind instead of following in her older sister's footsteps, there was a good chance that nothing would have changed, because she wouldn't have become the person she was now, someone capable of seeing past her arrogance and recognizing her father's mistakes.
It was only after coming to Beacon and meeting Ruby that Weiss began to understand that the world didn't revolve around her... and to realize how similar to her father she really was.
Even if Weiss didn't want to admit it, that man had managed to ingrain his despicable teachings in her almost permanently.
Weiss left that mansion/prison just in time to avoid becoming a cold, heartless puppet.
But now, as if by the irony of fate, as her white, haggard clothes turned completely red with blood that didn't belong to her, Weiss wished she could go back to being that indifferent version of herself.
The disaster she found herself in was that terrible, and there would hardly be a day in her life that would pass without her thinking about it.
However, while this situation broke her heart with every cold, lifeless body she encountered, it seemed like nothing compared to what her best friend was going through.
After hearing what Blake had to say, Ruby regained some of her determination and even returned to normal for a moment, especially after eating that Senzu Bean and hearing Vegeta's words of encouragement.
That didn't last long.
From the moment they arrived in Vale to help and Glynda had mistaken Ruby for her late mother, this girl had sunk back into that pit of darkness known as despair.
With every house that they checked for survivors, every lifeless body they found, and every critically ill person they saved... after each of these instances, Ruby got worse and worse and came closer to becoming just a shell of her former self.
The smiling, happy girl who had managed to melt Weiss' cold heart had lost her own.
As a result, before she knew it, the way Ruby was behaving was almost robotic, where her silver eyes were out of focus, her mind wandering, while her body did almost everything instinctively and was full of hesitation.
Ruby was afraid of hurting more people with her superhuman strength, so she avoided touching the victims directly, focusing instead on helping as Vegeta had suggested and moving the debris out of the way. Weiss would then use her Semblance to levitate these people with her Glyphs and hand them over to the paramedics on duty, where they would go through the triage process.
Just like that, Ruby continued to work around the clock, ignoring her surroundings to try and help as many people as possible. Unfortunately, her efforts only went so far as she relied heavily on Vegeta and his sensory ability to really help.
The prince had taken complete control of this operation and was giving instructions to everyone on where to find those in danger, while he saved more people than everyone else combined.
There was even a moment when he became frustrated with how inefficient these efforts were and decided to speed up the process a little. Then, all those present at the scene gasped as they saw Vegeta float into the air and reach out to make an entire block of houses and even some destroyed buildings levitate, the equivalent of hundreds of tons of debris, to rescue dozens of people at once.
This was a demonstration of power that no one there would forget for as long as they lived.
In fact, considering the number of people who had used their Scrolls to record this, Prince Vegeta's efforts would be known and remembered by the whole world.
Despite the situation that forced him to reveal himself, this made Weiss happy.
If anyone deserved to be a renowned Huntsman, it was Vegeta, the most powerful person in Remnant.
As Weiss and Ruby were also Ki users, they could also sense the presence of other people, but their abilities couldn't compare to those of their mentor. What's more, to their surprise, Vegeta could teleport and was taking all the critically injured straight to the hospital!
In any other moment or scenario, Ruby would have jumped out of joy at the prospect of yet another skill she could learn, but not this time. On the contrary, Ruby was so down that she didn't react even when her other friends from Beacon arrived to help, with Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, and Jaune bombarding them with questions.
An understandable reaction.
After all, they weren't in Beacon when the explosion happened, as they were the ones who caused the problem in the first place.
In addition to the concern of these friends, there was also the ethereal change in their current appearances and the overwhelming presence of Vegeta.
Not even Beacon's best student was immune to the body defined to the limit of the Prince who was leading this rescue operation. Seeing Pyrrha of all people blush when she looked at Vegeta only served to prove how desirable he really was, and even Professor Glynda seemed to be interested in him, given the almost shy way she acted when she showed up a few times to have her Aura recharged, which was just another of the countless abilities this man had. As for Beacon's worst student... Jaune seemed to have forgotten the world as he looked at Weiss and fell in love all over again.
As if she didn't need anything else.
At least it showed that her charm still existed even in this deplorable state. In fact, Jaune wasn't the only boy to look at her like that, and unfortunately, Vegeta wasn't one of them.
That aside, Weiss couldn't help but notice the way Ruby openly ignored them and walked away without saying a word, almost as if she was ashamed, and that bothered her deeply because her best friend would never have done something like that under normal circumstances.
Fortunately, this reunion served to inform everyone that despite the damage caused to the Beacon structure, no one at the school had been hurt by the explosion Ruby had caused.
Knowing this definitely helped to bring some sparkle into this defeated girl's eyes and fuel her determination to continue giving her all to help.
In Ruby's eyes, however, what she was doing was nothing more than what she should and could do to try and make up for her mistakes.
There was no time for lament, regret, or tears.
Ruby needed to dedicate every fiber of her being to saving those in need, even if it hurt to see so many people dead...people she had killed.
Even though Blake's words were still there to try and push these negative thoughts out of her mind, Ruby couldn't help but go back to believing that she was a monster for causing all this destruction and feeling unworthy of the power she had, of the dream she was chasing to become a Huntress, and even...of her surname.
Being mistaken for her mother by someone who knew her in the past only served to aggravate these feelings.
Summer Rose was everything Ruby wanted to be and everything she managed to destroy, along with the lives of countless innocent people.
Now, she had a new goal in life, and while part of her wanted to give up after helping on this day and ask Vegeta to find a way to take this power away from her, Ruby would dedicate her life to saving other people as compensation for her crimes...to redeem herself and never again to be a hero.
At any other time, hearing these people thank her for saving their lives would have been a source of happiness and pride. Under the current circumstances, every time someone thanked her, it was almost as if a sharp blade was being driven into her chest, straight into her heart.
It hurt so much that it was almost unbearable.
After this day, Ruby doubted very much that she would ever get a night's sleep without being plagued by nightmares.
"You're dealing with this in a much better way than I expected." Ruby jumped in fright at Vegeta's sudden appearance, almost as if he had teleported to her exact location. "I'd congratulate you, but I doubt you'd like that."
Besides, it was obvious that this girl had seen better days and was on the edge of her emotions, close to breaking down mentally, and that couldn't happen.
"I..." Ruby started and stopped, not knowing what to say, but only until she looked at this man and saw how calm, not to say indifferent, he was. "Doesn't all this... affect you?"
Even someone as powerful as him had to feel something, because he also had his clothes stained with blood, especially his white gloves, which were now red.
"I've seen worse." Vegeta had done much worse, even when he was less than half this girl's age. "Besides, what happened here isn't permanent."
That made Ruby stop and narrow her eyes, feeling uncomfortable with his comment. In a way, it even seemed as if Vegeta was disregarding the disaster that had happened as if it was all just some kind of illusion, and his indifferent behavior reflected as much.
"It's not permanent?" she repeated, trying to remain calm and not let her emotions speak for her. "What do you mean?"
Vegeta didn't answer immediately, considering how much he should say.
While he was planning to reveal the Dragon Balls, he didn't want to do it so soon. However, it was clear that this girl had already been tortured enough and resisted for much longer than he initially believed it would take for her to break down. As such, Ruby deserved to have her efforts recognized and the rest of her heart appeased.
"In three months, all of this will be undone," Vegeta said, looking directly into the silver eyes with the divine power of this student of his. "Everything that was destroyed will be restored along with the lives that were lost, except for the bad people."
There was no point in reviving garbage.
To Ruby, again, it seemed like Vegeta was the one lost in delusion, or he was treating her like a stupid child who believed in fairy tales.
While it was true that she worshipped and revered heroes, that didn't mean she believed in the Gods of Light and Darkness or the Four Maidens!
"Stop it..." Ruby asked in a low voice, her hands clenching as the rose petals circling her body increased in quantity along with the intensity of her power and emotions. "I-I don't need you to comfort me with lies."
Contrary to what most people believed, she was no longer a little girl who needed to be protected, especially from her own actions.
"Do I look like someone who lies?" Vegeta made the air around him heavy and pushed away the insignificant power of this naïve little girl as if it were nothing because it was nothing. "The universe is almost immeasurable and full of mysteries you can't even imagine." He dispersed his power and came closer to rest one of his hands on this frightened girl's shoulder, trying to reassure her. "I died before, Ruby Rose." This little revelation made her silver eyes widen. "Twice, I must say. Still, I'm standing here in front of you."
Although he would at least admit that even someone like him, who had explored an entire galaxy while conquering planets and devastating civilizations, would have a difficult time believing something so absurd.
However, that changed after Vegeta obtained proof and confirmation through Raditz's sacrifice.
Ruby didn't know what to say, her heart beating faster at the possibility of something so absurd being real. After all, this man in front of her had done things considered impossible with his limitless power and even had in his possession magic beans capable of healing broken bones in seconds.
Maybe, just maybe, there was some kind of magical power out there that was unknown to everyone and more than capable of undoing this tragedy.
"If...if that's really true, then why?" That was the doubt that made Ruby start shaking as she did her best to keep the tears from streaming down her face again. "Why didn't you say it before?"
Before her heart broke.
"Because I was punishing you." Vegeta didn't need to lie about that and shifted his focus to all the destruction that had been caused in this city. "I wanted you to take responsibility for your actions, so you would understand the weight of having this power and how fragile the world around you really is."
Not just the world, but even the entire universe could be destroyed with no more than a collision of fists between entities of power.
For that reason, Vegeta was going to fight Kakarot in the Empty World, a place where there was absolutely nothing to be destroyed.
Ruby remained silent, her tears finally winning the fight for freedom as she realized that, contrary to what she had imagined, Vegeta was not treating her like a child. Quite the opposite, he had tortured her on purpose to ingrain a lesson in her soul, and it had worked in a way that could only be described as traumatic.
If what Vegeta said was really true, and there was a chance that it was, her mistake would be erased in three months, and then what? What was Ruby supposed to do?
Unexpectedly, a clue to her answer came from the person who had left her in this state of confusion in the first place.
"You can hate me if you want." Vegeta decided to walk away from this girl and give her the space and time she surely needed to align her thoughts, but not without saying something first. "You can even hate the power I gave you, but..." he paused, but didn't look back, "don't give up on your dreams."
Only regret would come of that.
Ruby could only watch as Vegeta walked away from her to go back to helping the people who needed it and put out her hand, as if to reach him, but stopped without really trying and considering what had been said. While Ruby felt she had every right in the world to hate him for putting her through this nightmare without knowing that it could all be undone and even hate the power that had given rise to this disaster, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
At the end of the day, this destruction was still caused by her.
If anything, Ruby admired and respected Vegeta even more for not treating her as if she were made of glass and not hesitating to hold her accountable for her actions. After all, even if those mistakes could somehow be erased, that didn't mean they didn't happen.
Now, Ruby had to choose and decide what she would do next.
In a way, Vegeta was right when he told her not to give up on her dreams. However, the dream she had was childish and flawed. To be a hero, you need much more than just good intentions...you need to be strong and know how to use that strength, and in that regard, there was no one better than Prince Vegeta, her mentor.
This man was unlike anyone Ruby had ever met in her short life, and suddenly, she couldn't help but see the heroic image of her mother being replaced in her mind.
If before she had wanted to be like Summer, now Ruby wanted to be like and be with Vegeta.
"Ruby!" She snapped out of her reverie at the sound of her sister's voice, being brought back to reality along with her silent decision. "What happened?!"
Yang grabbed her little sister's shoulders and felt fear when she saw the tears streaming down her face, along with a smile.
In her lilac eyes, Ruby had finally broken down, and as an immediate reaction, she wanted to blame Vegeta for it. But then, the unexpected happened, and Yang saw her hand being pushed away by a slap capable of breaking a normal person's bones.
"R-Ruby?" She held up her sore hand and took a step back without understanding what was happening. "Why did you..."
Yang stopped, feeling instinctive shivers as she saw rose petals appearing around her little sister, along with an almost oppressive red aura reminiscent of Vegeta's own.
"I think that's enough, Yang." Ruby dried her tears and lost her smile as she looked at her overprotective sister. "Stop treating me like a child."
After everything that had happened... No, even before that, she was no longer a helpless little girl, and her sister needed to understand that.
"Wh-what are you talking about, Ruby?" Yang didn't understand where this sudden hostility was coming from. "I'm just worried about you."
As an older sister should.
"That's the problem, Yang." Ruby turned her back on this girl and moved in the same direction that Vegeta had followed. "You worry too much."
Having said that, she disappeared with her insane speed before an answer could be given, leaving Yang open-mouthed and not knowing what to say or what to think.
She had never seen her little sister act like that!
"Well, I can't say I didn't see this coming." Blake finally caught up with her partner and ended up seeing a bit of what happened. "But not like this or in such a place."
There were better times to broach family matters like this.
"Blake, do you think Ruby is right?" Yang opted not to try to chase her little sister and try to clarify this mess with her partner. "That I worry too much and treat her like a child?"
"Yes," Blake answered immediately, and it made her partner wince as she was hit with the truth. "Ruby's only a little over a year younger than us, and she's been leading us ever since we entered Beacon." Which was impressive, she had to admit. "Still, you don't trust her to look after herself and even chase off any and all boys who dare to look in her direction." In a way, it was always fun to watch, but it had its consequences in preventing the girl from really growing up. "Honestly, sometimes you treat Ruby more like she's your daughter and not as your little sister."
That couldn't be good for a girl's mental health, and it reflected immensely in the behavior of the girl in question, where she didn't even know everything she needed to know as a woman.
Yang opened her mouth to rebut, but she couldn't find the words.
In the end, there was truth in what Blake had said.
Ever since Summer died, Yang was the one who looked after Ruby, taking on the role of mother when her father was overcome by depression after losing his second wife. During that time, she even caused a stupid incident by taking her little sister in her equally stupid attempt to find her biological mother... to find a mother who could replace Summer.
After understanding what had almost happened that day, Yang swore that she would take care of Ruby for the rest of her life.
As expected, even though some time had passed since then and Ruby had grown up to become one of the most powerful people in this world, that overprotective side of her remained unchanged and would probably continue to be so.
Ruby was and always would be her baby sister.
"What should I do then?" Yang hated these internal conflicts and not knowing which path was the right one. "Walk away and let her do what she wants?"
That seemed like a bad idea for more than just her promise, especially when you considered all this destruction. If Ruby had listened to what Yang said and had run away with Weiss when she had the chance, it was very likely that none of this would have happened.
Her stubbornness in fighting the Nergigante was what caused this tragedy.
"Not exactly." Blake knew from experience that completely ignoring her family's opinion wasn't exactly the best course of action. "Let her live her own life, but be there to help her up if she slips and falls."
Just like her family would do.
"I see." Yang could do that, but there was another option that reflected in her red eyes and the fire in her golden hair. "Or I could get stronger, too, and beat that little attitude out of her!"
Just like her family would do!
Blake couldn't help but roll her eyes and smile at how "Yang" this was.
"If Vegeta trains us." She made a point of remembering that little detail that hadn't yet been definitively confirmed. "Otherwise, fighting Ruby or even Weiss is suicide."
The level those two had reached was that absurd.
"Then we'd better get back to work." Yang couldn't relax now, especially when she was so close to getting what she wanted. That's right, if Vegeta trains us, then Blake and I will also have to live with him to train!
This would be the ideal opportunity to get to know him better and finally understand these feelings that didn't want to leave her heart.
With that decided, Yang and Blake moved on to the next area that needed help.
Fortunately, there wasn't much more to be done, and soon everything would come to an end.