RWBY V9 C5

## Plot

Taking place almost immediately after the previous episode, Ruby is running away from the Herbalist's house. Curious is glad that the girls are still themselves. That's not always the case in the Ever After. Weiss points out that they're the one who left them in the first place, which is how they ended up meeting a giant caterpillar who drugged them, who was then swallowed up by a hole in the ground. This is apparently called "returning to the Ever After", and the cat tells them that Alyx had a similar reaction the first time she saw it too. They take a giant lily pad to a marketplace, and on the way, Curious explains that death doesn't exist for the inhabitants of the Ever After. When someone breaks, wears out, or finishes what they were made to do, they're called back, but the Herbalist's heart was too weak to listen, so the cat gave him a little bit of theirs. Now he'll be fixed up and made into the Herbalist he wanted to be when he was still himself. Then he'll come back and find his purpose. It could be the same as before, or not. He won't remember anything that happened. The cat knows that things in and from Remnant die, but the Ever After and its inhabitants aren't like them at all. They ascend. The Herbalist will have a purpose again. Weiss says that's impossible. Things have to die someday. The cat does recall one creature, but it's not the kind of thing to talk about with polite company. Blake asks if what happened to the Herbalist is the same thing that happened to the Red King. He couldn't cope when he lost to Alyx, so he was called back and fixed, and became the prince that the girls met. Ruby thinks he was worse, but Curious tells her that the point of the role isn't to be nice, it's to play the game and win, no matter what. That's why he cheats when the king didn't. It doesn't explain why he was so much meaner though. He doesn't consciously remember Alyx's deception after ascending, but the heart rarely forgets. There was nothing about ascension in the story, and Curious says that's because exposition is boring. That may be true, but it's also necessary to understand what the heck is going on. Blake wonders what else Alyx left out of her version of events. The cat volunteers to get most of the ingredients for the parfait, but the girls don't want to let them out of their sight again, so Weiss, Yang, and Blake go with them to make sure they stay on task. I mean, it would just take one of you to do that. I know that Yang and Blake have practically been joined at the hip since they were reunited, but still. You really shouldn't leave Ruby alone right now. Sure, she has Little, but that mouse has spent most of their screen time sleeping, being cute, and being scared. Am I the only one who finds it weird that none of the girls talked about what they saw when the Herbalist drugged them? The Teapot Lady will have the last ingredient. Ruby hears the clanging of a hammer as most of the surrounding area seems to darken and then disappear, as the stalls are replaced by identical tents. She sees Penny's sword hanging up in the tent. A blacksmith asks her if that weapon interests her. Ruby thought it was lost forever, and asks the blacksmith how she has it. Nothing, and no one, is ever truly lost. The blacksmith asks Ruby if she's lost. Her friends went somewhere else. She's doing this all alone. Little wakes up and doesn't think they're supposed to be here. They confirm to the blacksmith that they're Ruby's guide. They're friends, and Little wants to help her get home… even though they don't know where that is or how to get there. The blacksmith is forging a large butterfly wing, and she seems to be mechanical. Unlike Ruby's own friends/teammates/family, it's easy for her to see that this silver eyed warrior and smaller soul is carrying a rather large burden with her. This actually reminds me of all the shit Dawn Summers went through in the second half of season 5 and all of season 6 of *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*. She finds out that she's not even human, then her mom dies, her sister dies but then comes back and has to deal with her own issues, her surrogate older sisters/moms break up, one of them moves out and then dies, with her being the first one to find her body and staying there for hours, the other one basically becomes an addict and accidentally injures her, then threatens her, everyone else basically ignores her, she becomes a kleptomaniac, etc. Seriously, Ruby is Dawn. She's the youngest member of a rather large cast, and while she's not the most interesting character in the world, both in and out of universe, the fandoms seem to forget that she goes through a lot. Anyway, Ruby claims that she can handle it. If she changes her mind, then she can choose any weapon she wants and set her burden down. The sword has changed into Alyx's dagger. Ruby tells the blacksmith that she already has a weapon… at least, she did. And yet, here she is, searching for something else that she doesn't even know. When she sets the dagger down, she notices an axe that doubles as a gun, and sees her mother's reflection in it. She snaps out of it when the cat calls her name. The others have all of the ingredients. The blacksmith and her tent are gone, like they were never there in the first place. The others seem more concerned with getting back to normal and going home than with their leader's precarious mental state. What the hell Weiss? Yes, I know it's because they can't just read her mind and see inside her head, whereas we the audience technically can, and because Ruby bottles things up and doesn't share her problems, and even when she tries to she's interrupted, but still. While looking for the last ingredient at the Teapot Lady's stand, they see fireworks… that proclaim incoming danger. The Teapot Lady sucks everything back into the pot, but they need that ingredient. Ruby offers to trade it for her emblem, which she has worn in all of her main designs. She says it carries a mother's promise. The Teapot Lady accepts the deal. Curious tells them that it's the Jabberwalker. If it eats one of them, they don't ascend and can never come back. They make the parfait, but the small bite they took wasn't enough, and the Jabberwalker swats it away and grows large. A bird that was selling food suddenly attacks the Jabberwalker. The cat gave him something new to do for the moment. Wow, Heart really is an awesome power. Suddenly, the Rusted Knight arrives on his giant jackalope steed and saves them. His sword is broken, but he still does an excellent job. The girls get to the parfait, return to normal, and help him fight while a new song called "Chatterbox" plays. Yang uses her Semblance on the Jabberwalker… causing it to disappear in pink light, which means that it was one of Neo's illusions, but far tougher than normal. She's managed to basically clone the Jabberwalker, as more copies swarm everywhere, forcing the girls to retreat with the knight as the bird vendor and Curious stay behind to hold them off. The camera cuts away from the carnage, but it looks like the Jabberwalkers manage to at least devour the vendor, which Ruby sees. She has to help guide Weiss away from the smoking market and terrified, fleeing inhabitants. Weiss is tired of leaving places in ashes. The knight's jackalope is named Juniper. He removes his helmet, revealing that he's a heavily aged Jaune as the episode ends.