RWBY: Heroes Across Realms

Chapter 4: Resilience

Rupert's POV.

The trip to Vale took a while since we live on the outskirts of the city. Then again, we needed some bigger plains for the mansion that my dad built for us before he disappeared. I never once took what I had for granted, we have everything we need, so I don't see what else I would need in my life to make up for the fact that I live in a big house with the only family I have left.

The final episode of my mother's soap opera Foolish Summer was being broadcast on the little monitor that was installed right behind the front passenger seat.

The story follows Emma, a gifted artist with a terrible past, as she rekindles her connection with James, a previous businessman who is now a homeless vagabond and a stalker. Their love story is being recounted against the backdrop of a beautiful town where the limits of the heart are always being challenged, secrets are revealed, relationships are tested, and new passions start to emerge. That is exactly how it is described in the article description, I kid you not.

There are many things I am, but a poet is not one of them. I cringed when I realized I had recited that.

My mom didn't have headphones, and I didn't want to interrupt her soap opera, not because she specifically said she didn't want to be interrupted, but just because I didn't want to. I was listening to some music on my scroll, so it's a good thing I had my headphones with me because otherwise, I would have had to turn up the volume to hear it.

I decided that it would be kind of me not to because I could tell that she had been waiting for the conclusion of her soap opera. It makes it natural that she would have the volume at its highest given that she was watching it on a monitor that was already mounted in the back of the passenger seat. Meanwhile, I was just bobbing my head to the song I was listening to.

No one, not even Rollo himself, said anything on the ride to Vale. Oh well, I guess it's natural. I mean, most of the time, no one talks much when on the road, and usually they're just left to their own devices. Ironic, since I was using one right now.

I was simply bobbing my head. That was all there was to it. However, after a while, I decided to stop listening to music and watch a movie because I was becoming tired of it. I was about to laugh out loud at the movie I chose because the first few minutes were already funny to me. However, I stopped myself when I saw my mother was still engrossed in her soap opera. I guess people can applaud my efforts there.

But somewhere throughout the episode, I saw my mother cup her mouth with her palm, perhaps to contain a gasp. I caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye and noticed that she was crying.

Seeing my mom cry sort of worried me, but then I remembered that she was watching a soap opera, and soap operas do tend to have dramatic sequences that would make anyone cry, especially middle-aged women, like my mom. I sighed and decided to comfort her, like any loving son would. I took my headphones off and said, "Woah, hey mom, are you okay?" as I put a hand on her shoulder. The second my hand touches her shoulder, she throws herself at me and hugs me, pulling me into her embrace.

"Mom! What the heck?!" I exclaim, dropping both my headphones and my scroll as she tightly hugs me. "It was so sad!" she weeps on my shoulder. "What... was?" I ask between raspy breaths as her hug tightens. For a middle-aged woman, she sure was strong.

"James got back with Emma!" Is that seriously what she's crying about? Oh man, Mom, you sure are a huge softie. "Mom, of course, Emma got back with James!" I said, not believing that my Mom wasn't expecting that ending to the soap opera. "Like, seriously, Mom, everyone knew that Emma was gonna get back with James. Who has more screen time than the other characters? They do. Well, Emma is the main character and James is the villain... uh... well, he is the villain but he's also Emma's love interest."