Ep. 34.5 – Flashbacks

Ruby was preparing her luggage before going on her honeymoon with her husband.

She still can't believe how much her life changed in the last five years. Like, one day, she gets home from Signal and finds this unknown guy sleeping on the couch. Then, her father tells her this stranger is going to stay with them until Beacon's term starts. Now, Ruby is all happy-go-lucky, but she is still wary of complete strangers. Upon hearing 'Beacon', all that wariness transformed in curiosity.

Tula lived with her and Yang for a month, though he did disappear a couple of times, and they became real close. There was a strange feeling in her chest, but she thought it was just happiness from having found another friend, maybe the brother she never had.

Oh, how wrong had she been. When they arrived at Beacon, Tula got strangely close to this 'Snow Angel' as he called her. Weiss was indeed beautiful, no one can argue against that, but there was a feeling welling up inside of her. As time passed and Tula started paying more and more attention to Weiss, she discovered that the feeling was jealousy. I mean, the guy stayed at your house for a month, treated her well, talked with her about her hobbies, trained with her, then here comes some white-haired weirdo and steals him from her.

Oh, how sad had she been when the two got together. She still held some hope that maybe they would break up or that she would die… Ok, maybe not die. During Weiss' 18th birthday, Yang and Ruby both saw the ring on her finger and everything they bottled up exploded. Yang had already talked with her sister and reached the conclusion that they both loved him.

Now, Plot twist! They rummaged the chalet and found a hidden stash of booze. It was already pretty late at night, so they opened up a bottle and drunk. Ruby just took a sip and it was enough to make her drunk, what a light-weight drinker.

Somehow, Ruby found herself in Tula's room the next day, on the bed. She was about to go crazy when she saw her sister right next to her, along with the white-haired bitch. Her mind went completely blank. What happened? Why am I here? Why are they here? All sorts of questions were racing through her mind.

Tula told them about his real origins, then the big question arrived: "So, what does this make us?"

Weiss ordered Tula to get out of the room, then started talking with them.

"Do you love him?" is all she asked, without any subtlety. It took a bit to answer: they had just learned that Tula is an extra-dimensional, immortal, robot warrior. Oh, and that he tricked them, but that's kinda understandable.

Yang was the first to speak: "I do. I didn't realize this until I was late, but I love him."

Ruby then answered as well: "Ever since he met you, I've had this feeling and it hurts. I love him and I really don't like how we are left out."

Weiss then said something that stunned them: "Well, too many details. You love him, that's all that matters. I really don't want him to cheat on me. I at least want to know who else will be with him. It will hurt less that way. You two… I think it won't hurt at all to share with you."

And that's the end of the story- NOT!

Tula's answer put a real big smile on their faces: he accepted and he said he'll make up for his 'selective withholding of information'. That doesn't matter: he accepted, Ruby and Yang focused only on that part.

In the beginning it was a little awkward because he was trying to balance the time he spent with all three of his girlfriends, though it was okay. All that mattered is that he was with them.

A couple of months after that, before the start of the tournament, Tula had accompanied Ruby to her mother's grave. He stayed silent the whole time and listened to Ruby talking:

"Hey mom! I've come to visit you! Beacon is great! I made a lot of friends, in particular team JNPR and the obviously the rest of my team! Oh, yeah! I am on a team with Yang, a girl named Weiss, and a gloomy cat called Blake! Oh, there's also Tula. And guess what? He's my boyfriend! Well, he's also Yang's and Weiss' boyfriend, but those are details. He tries really hard to make us all happy. Not only the girls, but his friends as well. You would love to meet him!"

At that point he spoke: "Well, I am here. Hello, Ms. Rose, I am Tula, the boyfriend."

They talked a little about their lives at Beacon and all the fun things that happened. Tula promised that he would make sure that Ruby is happy, at any cost. That made her really happy, though a little worried since she knew that 'at any cost' meant at ANY cost, be it spending time with her or killing hundreds of people. She secretly prayed he wouldn't go too overboard.

After that, the whole tournament and saving the world happened and Ruby was really scared. Tula didn't hold back from explaining that he could possibly go crazy while trying to save the world, but she believed it wouldn't happen. Tula still needs to make Weiss', Yang's and Ruby's wishes a reality, so he wouldn't leave them. He promised.

And he didn't. Tula saved the day and came back trying to crack a joke. Yeah, who treats saving the world like an everyday occurrence?!

The next few years, were the best in her life: peace, studying, training, dating, having fun with friends, having 'fun' with Tula, Yang, and Weiss… And then marriage! So great! Now he's stuck with her and with his gift, it's until the end of times.

On the other hand, Yang was sending some 'See ya later!' messages to all of her other friends. She was the most social of the 'gang'. Then she remembered how it all started.

This guy just sprouts out of the forest saying something incomprehensible before collapsing. Obviously, her father's character rubbed off on her, so she brought the downed stranger inside the house. Taiyang helped her put him on the couch and tried to take his armor off, but it was stuck. Not even the helmet would open up. So they waited. Around an hour later, the stranger started waking up, saying something about 'they're dead'.

Taiyang passed him a glass of water, which he took and opened up the helmet. Yang can still remember that she thought 'Hey! He's cool! No actually, he's pretty hot!' but she didn't show it on her face. After a short discussion, it was decided that he would stay with them and go to Beacon with her. She rushed to hug him for some reason she still doesn't know to this day. He didn't mind even though she got a little touchy-feely.

They stayed together for a month and it was a blast! He was strong to train with her, gentle to care for her and her sister, and even talked about her hobbies. It was great. Then something even better happened: Ruby would come with them to Beacon!

When they arrived, she met up with some old friends since it would be good to keep contact throughout the year. Never would she expect Tula to come in with some white-haired girl, looking the happiest he's been ever since he appeared. She felt the urge to punch the girl, but then she saw that Tula shielded her from some guys who wanted to get too close for comfort, without 'White' even knowing. Yang gave up the idea, but a feeling remained and it wasn't nice. That night, Tula came in the auditorium with his torso naked and boy was that some good eye-candy. She saw the opportunity and pulled him closer to her group. Unfortunately there was a certain white-haired bitch with them. She hogged him all night without letting either Yang or Ruby close. Worst of all, she was sleeping! It was absolutely not intentional so they couldn't even beat her up.

The interactions between Weiss and Tula changed over time and they got together. Yang knew that her feeling was jealousy but couldn't do much, so she bottled up her feelings.

Everything changed when she saw Weiss' ring on her 18th birthday. She talked with Ruby and discovered that her little sister also loved their teammate. They rummaged the kitchen and found some booze. They got drunk and the next thing they knew was that they were in bed along with Weiss.

Waking up and having their talk with Tula and Weiss, everything felt surreal. I mean… a robot is weird but okay, but an extra-dimensional being? That was stunning. Then Weiss accepted to share with them, and Yang never liked her more.

Tula tried his best to handle the three girls, but it was hard. They understood and gave him time and leeway.

Tula then brought her on an extra-planetary date. Now, Yang wasn't a fan of boring dates, so she did enjoy the crystal planet, but the real fun began when they started fishing on the resort planet. That was a blast! She even got to fight some aliens!

Then came the tournament, saving the world, and all that. She wasn't worried at all. She would kill Tula if he dared get hurt! Plus, she had confidence in him, but she was still scared, just a little. She will never admit that though.

And to no one's real surprise, he came back with a joke ready. A bad one, but a joke.

Then came the downtime after 'The Screeching'. He found Raven and showed to Yang that her mother did want to go back but was stuck in the past, confused. She wasn't surprised when he threatened her mother with killing the entire tribe. He would do it, but she knew that was just testing her.

Tula reunited Yang with her mother, and she couldn't be happier. Well, she was proved not long ago when she got married! And immortality, but that's an extra.

She was currently thinking: 'Heh, until time ends is a long time! Oh, we'll have so much fun!'

Similar thoughts were running through Weiss' mind, though she had already accepted everything about Tula, so she was thinking more about what to do during their honeymoon, including all the R-rated stuff. She looked the most prim and proper of the bunch, but she was slightly pervy. It just adds to her charm, no discussions allowed.

When she first met Tula, she thought 'Who the hell is this guy?', but spending time with him changed that thought to 'He always makes me happy, so what can I do for him?'. He did absolutely everything for her, from giving her gear for protection, to freeing her from her father's controlling behavior, to marrying her. Ok, there was a little jump between the last two, but the point is that she was extremely happy and knew she would be for eternity now. She kept looking at the Ghost she was gifted, then said: "You better work, IceCone. Otherwise I'll turn you into scrap!"

Tula's shitty naming sense rubbed off on her.

Similar thoughts were racing through many people's heads. The part about Tula changing their lives, not scrapping a Ghost.