A/N: This is based loosely of re:Bound by Allison Illuminated. I assume the building Roman climbs is about 50 feet tall (around 5 stories), which equals out to about 15.24 metres. The fall from near the top (he was, like, a metre or so from the top of the ladder), around 48 ft up (14.6 m), but I rounded to the full 50, would result in a fatality (even falling from 14.6 m is fatal). So gravity is 9.8 m/s^2, and h = 1/2gt^2, t=1.76s. So it takes him 1.76 seconds to hit the ground. Calculate max velocity by v = gt = 17.28 m/s (averaging to about 62.22 km/h), which would lead to him (if he is near average in weight for a male 6'3, about 90.72 kg) hitting the ground with a force of 13'549.21 joules. That's like getting hit by a car going 112 km/h head-first. So yeah he dead, especially considering he is unable to decelerate much as he's falling a fairly short distance. Major cranial-cerebral damage and some spinal cord damage, broken bones, maybe some sort of hemorrhagic shock. Idk I'm no medical expert. I am pretty sure the math is correct, I haven't had a physics course in a while, so I did look it up to make sure but eh.
BTW I hc that Roman has a low amount of overall aura, enough to protect him from most hits, but nothing that would be considered highly lethal.
Also, over 9'000 words in this first chapter. Lord help me, because the next few are adding up to be around that length too.
Chapter 1: that's why we're making headlines
"I'm afraid this is where we part ways." The ginger-haired man says, as he lifts his cane and aims at the red-cloaked girl before him. A sharp blast resounds, and the bright light of the gunfire momentarily blinds her. Ruby swings her scythe to the ground and lets loose a quick shot to jet herself out of harm's way. She grins and looks to where he had been standing, only to find him gone. Silver eyes flick around before finally spotting him climbing a fire-escape ladder to a rooftop. Her scythe compacts – turning into a shorter, easier held, gun form – and she aims, lining her sights up with him. She squeezes the trigger and her gun recoils heavily. The tiny dust laden bullet ricochets off the back of his head, surprising her when it breaks his aura with a flash of orange. A miniature explosion occurs off to the side when the bullet finally lands some distance away, but she ignores it, too focused on what is happening before her. Torchwick flinches and his hands reach for his head involuntarily, releasing his grip on the ladder. There's a moment of silence, as if time slows to a crawl, as he begins to fall back. She gasps and dashes, pushing for her semblance, the rose petals sporadically fluttering behind her. He's falling. And from the height he's at, his lack of aura will kill him. His eyes connect with hers, green wide in terror and anger and disbelief, as he nears the ground. She's less than a metre from him when he lands headfirst on the hard concrete with a sickening splat. Blood bursts from where he lands, splattering her front a disgusting shade of red. She stands, frozen, before him, silver eyes wide in horror as she takes in what is at her feet. He's dead. He's actually dead. She killed him. She fucking killed him. Her thoughts spiral – the image of him hitting the ground replaying in her mind; the memory of his head crashing into the ground; the mantra of 'I killed him, I killed him, I killed him', repeating constantly, looping in with every memory of him. Tears fall from her eyes, mixing with the dark red on her face, running a horrifying shade of pinkish-red down her chin. Her whole body shakes and she drops her scythe-gun. The loud clang of the metal echoes impossibly loud throughout the darkened street. She feels the urge to fall to her knees and vomit, but a hand grabs her shoulder before she could. She turns, silver meeting green, and for a second she sees him standing there, but the image vanishes quickly. A blonde woman stands behind her, lips pursed and eyes swimming with some indefinable emotion as she stares at where he lay, immobile.
"I... I..." Ruby tries to speak, but her voice cracks. The woman's face softens with sympathy as she turns from the horrible scene to her.
"Shh..." The woman says, gently tugging her away from the scene behind them, away from the gore, away from him. "It'll be okay." The woman starts, clearly trying to distract Ruby. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. What's your name?"
"R-Ruby. Ruby R-Rose."
"Miss Rose?" Ruby flinches at the sudden voice. Professor Goodwitch, as the woman had preferred to be called, had brought her to a nearby police station, leaving her in the care of a team of officers as she ducked out to make a call. A female officer provided her with fresh clothes – later helping her change when it became clear that she couldn't clean the blood still stained into her skin without sending her into a near panic attack. Despite being fairly clean for nearly an hour by this point, Ruby swears she could still feel the disgusting wetness – the vague stickiness – of the blood. Thinking of it made her sick to her stomach. God, his aura broke so easily. He hit the ground so quickly. Splattered against the concrete, his body fractured, ruined, head turned just the slightest bit to her. Green eyes wide, unseeing, clouded in the throes of death. His existence, the liquid within that brought with it the survival of his soul, spilled forth from where his bones broke his flesh, oozing along the ground in time with the final beats of his heart; his skin paling rapidly with each finality; his aura pulsing, trying and failing to heal the damage. His chest rose fleetingly, desperately, as his brain despaired for oxygen that would never come from ravaged lungs. His entire being destroyed beyond repair all because she stupidly shot a dust round at-
"Ruby!" A more familiar voice called, startling her from her spiral. She looks up from the grey table. Her father is there, standing just inside the door, blue eyes anguished and fists clenched tightly. Professor Goodwitch is there as well, staring at her with an unreadable expression. A man is beside her. He is tall, with tousled silver hair and inquisitive brown eyes hidden behind small glasses, dressed sharply in green. "Ruby?" Her father softly asks, stepping into the room. She simply stares at him, not trusting her voice, certain that the only sound to come would be sobs. Her father mumbles something under his breath as he turns to the silver-haired man. "Ozpin, please. Let me take her home. What she's been through-" The man cuts him off,
"Is a tragedy, yes. I understand, Taiyang. These types of events are a horrible experience for any person, let alone a young woman such as she. But we have a procedure we must follow for these sorts of events." He turns to her, lips drawn into a thin line. "Miss Rose, I am Professor Ozpin, from Beacon." Ruby nods to him. "Miss Rose, can you tell me what happened earlier tonight?"
"Ozpin!" Her father hisses angrily. Ruby looks between the three adults, eyes lingering on Ozpin for a fraction of a second longer than the others, before her gaze drops to the table once again. A small device now sits in the centre of the table, a blinking red light emanating from it. A recording device of some sort. Ruby wonders, briefly, when it had been placed there. Or has it always been there?
"Miss Rose?" Ruby hunches into herself. Her thoughts slow to a sluggish crawl as she begins,
"I... I just wanted t-to get some dust. A-And read Weapons Quarterly..." Her voice is tiny, laden with emotions, ranging from fear to horror to pain. "A-And then ... th-then he walked in, a-and... and..." Her speech falters. It takes her nearly a minute of hitching, near sobbing, breaths before she continues, "He... he had these, uh, goons?" The word comes out with a questioning lilt. "Um... henchmen? I..." She shakes her head. "One of them tried to rob me. H-He had this red sword a-and he tried to hit me." A soft growl of anger comes from her father. "I-I used Crescent Rose to-" A gasp chokes off her sentence and her head snaps up. "Crescent Rose!" She looks at Professor Goodwitch. "Where is she?! I-I dropped her wh-when..."
"Your scythe, Miss Rose, is fine. I sent officers to retrieve it. Your sister currently has it with her in the reception area." Goodwitch says, and Ruby ducks her head again, returning her gaze to the table.
"R-Right... thank you... um... where was I..." She bites her lip. "I hit the guy with Crescent Rose and he went flying out the front window." The thugs had been easy to beat. He had been easy to beat. "I... he sent the rest of his... goons at me a-and I beat them. Then..." She trails off, mind blanking in panic, breaths coming quickly, too quickly. Oh god, she can't breathe and he hit the ground so fast and if she'd been just a bit faster she could have saved him but she wasn't she was slow too slow far too slow slow slow slow slow slow-
"Ruby!" A hand lands on her arm and she shrieks, leaping away, hands reflexively reaching for the empty space where Crescent Rose should be. The chair she'd been sitting on clatters loudly against the tiled floor. Her gaze shoots to her father, standing far closer than before, his arms raised peacefully. He forces a smile and takes a step towards her, softly repeating, "Ruby, hey, it's okay. Calm down, you're fine, you're safe." Gently, he reaches for her, taking her by the shoulder. "You alright?"
"I..." She swallows down the ball of emotion in her throat. "...sorry... I..." A flash of purple draws her attention, and she watches the chair right itself with a quiet clack. She looks to the professors, and notices Goodwitch's riding crop is in her hands. Her father guides her back to sitting, keeping a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I just..." Ozpin sighs, shaking his head.
"I understand, Miss Rose." He glances at the recording device. "Please, if you can, continue. Take your time." It takes her a moment for her to feel able to continue.
"He... he shot at me. With his c-cane. A-A burn crystal round, it – it exploded the ground." She sucks in a breath. "I-I dodged it a-and he disappeared. I-I saw him climbing a fire-escape. H-He was near the top and I... I..." He fell so fast, hit the ground, his blood it was on her, god she – her father squeezes her shoulder, stopping her from spiralling again. "I sh-shot at him. A-A simple burn dust round. I-It broke his aura and then he fell and I – I was so slow and he – then h-he was dead and broken and the red was everywhere and I wasn't fast enough and I-"
"Ruby." Her father says, breaking her rambling. His hand tightens. "It's okay, petal. It's okay. Deep breaths. C'mon, in," She inhales in deeply. "and out." Exhale. "In, out." They repeat the action several times before Ruby is calm enough to finish her tale.
"He... he fell. And died. A-And then Professor Goodwitch came a-and then I got clean and n-now I'm here. That's... what happened..." Ozpin reaches and shuts the recording device off. It beeps quietly before powering down. For a brief period, the only noise in the room is the rustle of fabric, from where her father is lightly rubbing her shoulder. Ozpin brings a hand to his temple and draws in a heavy breath. He looks to her, brown meeting silver.
"Miss Rose, I am... sorry," His voice is hesitant, as if that is not quite the word he wanted to say. "that this happened to you. While it may have been by accident, you are young, far too young, to have experienced one of the true horrors of a hunter's duty." He lays his hands flat against the table, leaning on them a tiny bit. "Very few huntsmen and huntresses go their entire lives without taking a life. It is an unfortunately common eventuality." Ruby swallows back a distressed response. "At Beacon – or any other finishing academy – it is a lesson that isn't taught until the third year. Most swear to never take a life, yet few can uphold that promise." He stares directly into her eyes, expression showing only the barest hint of pain. "I cannot say for certain that, should you continue to pursue a career in hunting, you will never take another life." His eyes close. "The worst kind of monster are not those born of Grimm. The worst kind of monster hide in human skin. In faunus skin. And should you continue on your chosen path, you will encounter many monsters." He looks at her again. "So tell me, Miss Rose, are you absolutely certain you want to be a huntress?" Ruby isn't sure how to answer. Her entire life's dream is to be a huntress; to save people; to slay monsters. And somewhere, deep in the recess of her mind, she's always known that not all monsters were Grimm; that not everyone lives; that even the tamest of fairy-tale has a death. This nightmare of a day has only proved that. For a passing moment, she wants to say no. No, she doesn't want to hunt. But she's trained her entire life for that – she's never known anything else. Her entire family were hunters. Her father, her uncle, her sister, even her mother. There is nothing else she can be. And so, she takes a deep breath and straightens in her seat and looks Ozpin dead in the eyes and declares,
"I will be a huntress."
Yang taps her foot impatiently, casting covert glances at the loudly ticking clock hanging on the wall. It's been nearly two hours since she and her father arrived at the police station; her father being taken to some other room in the building by an officer while she was told to wait in the reception. Her father hadn't told her exactly what happened on the ride over, only that Ruby had gotten into some sort of fight that ended in someone dying. But Yang has heard officers whisper to each other, about how her little sister ended up killing some infamous thief. Yang didn't want to believe it. Ruby was fifteen! There's no way she could even injure someone, let alone kill them! She looks to the chair beside her, seeing Ruby's folded-up scythe there. There's some sort of sticky dark liquid coating the very bottom of it. And Yang knows what it is, what it implies, despite her disbelief. There's human blood on her little sister's scythe. Her stomach churns, nausea roiling through her. God, what if it was true. What if her little sister had killed someone? Hands trembling, she snatches the scythe up, unfurling it to it's full form. Yang sighs in relief at the sight of the gleaming, clean, blade. She looks the weapon over, finding the blood coating a bit of the handle. Okay, that didn't mean anything. It probably just fell into some blood at the scene. She leans the scythe against the chairs, and makes her way to the receptionist, a young man with a set of floppy ears hanging from the top of his head.
"Excuse me?" Yang starts, gaining the young man's attention. He looks up at her with a smile,
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, uh, do you have like, a rag or something? It's just, my sister, her weapon's dirty, and, uh..." The man's eyes flick to the bright red scythe, eyebrows shooting up. He stands, typing something quickly on his computer.
"One moment, please." Yang nods. The man walks off to a back room, and Yang turns, moving to sit by the scythe, casting another covert glance at the clock. Nearly two-and-a-half hours now. Yang frowns, eyes drifting to the doorway her father disappeared down. What could be taking so long? "Ma'am?" She jumps at the man's sudden voice. Looking up, she sees him standing before her, a small bucket of soapy water and a rag in his hands. "I brought you these. Uh, if you need any help, please, just ask." Yang dips her head, accepting the items, and the young man makes his way back behind the receptionist desk. Yang dunks the rag into the water, and begins slowly washing the blood off of her sister's weapon. It doesn't take very long, maybe ten minutes, for the scythe to be fairly clean. Yang drops the rag into the water and stands, gently shaking droplets off of the weapon. She gives it a quick look-over, before she collapses it, setting it back onto the chair. She looks at it for a moment, trying to blink past the burning in her eyes.
"Y-Yang?" Yang's head snaps up. Ruby is standing there, just inside the reception area. But she's not looking at her. Ruby's eyes are downcast, looking everywhere but at Yang.
"R-Ruby!" Yang bounds forward, scooping the younger girl into a hug. She notices, of course, when Ruby tries to flinch away from her. It makes her hug her tighter. "Oh my god, are you alright?!" Her sister's hands tentatively wrap around her.
"Yang... I..." Yang brings a hand to Ruby's head, gently stroking her hair.
"Shh... everything's gonna be fine now..." It's a lie, Yang knows. But it comforts the younger, as her grip tightens and tears begin to wet the blonde's top. God, how Yang wishes it was the truth.
"Look at you! You're famous now, little red. Famous for killing me." Torchwick's voice echoes from where he stands beside the TV. And Ruby knows that he's just a figment of her imagination. He's just a hallucination. But still, he's there, taunting her, looking just like he had before he fell. Ruby hasn't slept yet. They'd gotten home at around six in the morning, as they had to wait for the ferries to start up, and now it was nearly three in the afternoon. But Ruby can't sleep, and as such decided to just watch TV until she collapses from exhaustion. "Geez, couldn't they have used a better photo? I look horrible in that one!" The TV is blaring a newscast. His picture, an old mugshot that depicts him with a smug grin, is in the top left corner, right next to a picture of her, red-cloak and all. "Well, they could have used a photo from the autopsy. Wouldn't that be nice? A picture of my dead body, all clean and cut open! Come on Red, look at me and tell me it wouldn't be cool." Ruby shifts her eyes from the TV to him involuntarily. He smirks at her before his pristine image wavers, being replaced by his gore covered form from that night. His skull is flattened slightly, and several of his bones poke from his skin, ripping right through his white coat. Blood leaks from every wound, some even spilling down past his lips, and his smirk widens into a grin. "This is much better, you know?" Ruby flinches back, closing her eyes. "Can't get rid of me that easily, Red." She can see him still. She'll never stop seeing him. She draws in a shaky breath and opens her eyes again, resolutely staring at the TV to avoid his gaze. "It's your fault I'm like this you know." She grabs the remote and turns the volume up, hoping to drown out his voice. "That's not going to work, you know." The newscast switches from the anchorwoman to an on-site report. Ruby nearly screams as she recognizes the area. The remote drops from her shaking hands as the on-site reporter begins,
"Here we see the spot where infamous criminal Roman Torchwick was killed, just last night. Early reports are saying that he and six unnamed hired thugs were in the process of robbing a nearby dust shop, when fifteen-year-old Ruby Rose, a student attending Signal Academy, put a stop to it. Rose apparently fought the thugs into submission, before attempting to stop Torchwick from escaping. Sometime during his escape attempt, Rose shot at him, causing him to fall nearly five stories to the ground. Early reports say he died on impact with the ground, and that it was, potentially, the bullet Rose shot which caused his aura to break." Ruby looks away from the TV, stomach churning violently. They knew. Everyone knows now. Everyone knows she's a murderer now. She feels her Scroll vibrate near-constantly in her pocket. She doesn't want to answer it. She can hear the newscast switch back to the anchorwoman, but they still talked about it. She can hear the anchorwoman speculate about how she did it and why it was a good thing. How and why killing him was a good thing. It wasn't her fault. She just wasn't fast enough – if she had been a bit faster – been a bit closer – she could have saved him but no he's dead broken ruined and it's her fault she caused it she shot him she made him fall and-
"Ruby!" The door to the house slams open and her sister comes flying into the room, her hair flaming and her eyes bright red. She spots the TV first, still playing the newscast. She dives for the remote and turns it off before turning to the younger girl. "Ruby, did you see the-"
"YES!" Ruby shouts, cutting her off. Yang winces. "I killed him and they're acting like it's a good thing but I killed him, I actually killed him-" Yang lunges forward, grabbing her sister by her arms.
"Ruby, calm down! You didn't. You didn't kill him. It was an accident." Ruby squirms in her sister's grip, head shaking violently.
"I did! I shot him! If I hadn't he'd be alive! I broke his aura, I killed him!" She kicks out at Yang's legs, and her sister lets go to block the attack. "I killed him but he's still here and I can't stop seeing him and why is he still here why why why?!" Yang's eyes widen as they fade to their normal lilac.
"Ruby, what-"
"He's still here! Taunting me and telling me it's my fault but he doesn't have to I know it's my fault! I see him every time I think about it and I just want him to leave!" Ruby curls into a ball, sobbing heavily. "Why won't he leave?" Yang stares at her for a moment, mouth opening and closing like a fish, yet no words or sound escape her. Hesitantly, she brings her arms around her sister, letting the younger sob into her shoulder. For the second time in her life, Yang has no idea what to do. She doesn't know how to fix this.
"Come now, little red. That hurt." He lifts himself up, standing tall on broken legs, not even flinching at any pain he must be feeling. Ruby is frozen before him, scythe dropping from her shaking hands, clattering against the ground, the sound eerily loud. Torchwick bends down and picks up the weapon, holding tightly despite his arms flopping about wildly, the bones inside shattered. "Ooh, now this is a pretty little thing, now isn't it?" It shifts in his hands, folding into its rifle form. "Ah, and here's the weapon of the hour!" He cocks it, turning it over speculatively in his hands. "Why, its fairly strong. A sniper, right?" He looks to her and she gives a quick nod, the bones in her neck cracking with the motion. Torchwick lifts the gun up, peering down the sight. "Say, Red, how'd you get something like this?"
"I-I built it." Green eyes light up.
"Really? Such talent you have."
"T-Torchwick, jus-" She starts, but he cuts her off with,
"Ah, ah, ah, call me Roman, dear." He grins widely, his cheeks splitting, blood gushing down past his lips, staining his teeth red. "After all, a killer should know their victim's names." Ruby whimpers. He lifts the rifle up higher, turning it to face himself. She reaches for the gun. "Come now, Red. Finish the job." Her finger curls around the trigger, and there's a flash-
Cameras flash. "They better get my good side." Ruby shudders at his voice, biting her lip as she tries not to look at him from where he stands at the edge of the stage, mocking a crowd that will never see him. Reporters call out over top each other, vying for attention, looking to get the big scoop on Torchwick's death. It has been three days. Three days of nightmares and screaming and crying and trying to get everything back together. Three measly days. And it's not enough. Three days is nowhere near enough time for her to do something like this. Her silver eyes scan the large crowd. She suppresses a flinch with every pair of eyes she meets; every awed stare and pointing finger. Ruby takes a half-step back, hiding slightly behind Professor Ozpin.
"Are you doing alright, Miss Rose?" Ozpin asks quietly, brown eyes filling with concern. Ruby swallows the heaviness in her throat and nods. "Very well. There are a few questions you'll be asked to answer, but be assured that you do not have to answer any you are not comfortable with." Ruby dips her head and steps out of Ozpin's shadow. "Just point to whichever reporter you want." Ozpin whispers as she passes him to stand before the stand full of microphones, the hallucination Roman at her heels. Roman leans against the stand and grins at the reporters, gesturing to a perky brunette in the front row.
"Ooh, pick that one. She's got a great rack." Shakily, she raises a hand and points to a familiar looking reporter – a woman with lavender coloured hair and amber coloured eyes – standing next to the one hehad wanted her to pick.
"Miss Rose, Lisa Lavender from Vale News Network. Tell me, how old are you exactly?" Lisa holds up a pad and pen, ready to write.
"F-Fifteen." Ruby stutters out, not quite expecting the question. Her age had been widely circulated, as her basic Signal records were readily available to any who asked or did the slightest bit of research online. She can see Roman roll his eyes from her periphery.
"Really? Why, you must be very skilled. One more question, it is said you subdued six hired thugs alongside Torchwick, and each had varying degrees of cuts and blunt-force trauma. What weapon did you use?" Ruby actually lets out a smile at the question, a hand reaching behind her to pat the folded version of her precious sniper-scythe, and immediately cameras begin to flash. She notices Roman disappear, and her smile widens a bit.
"I used my sweetheart, Crescent Rose. She's a high-calibre sniper scythe that I built all by myself." She looks back at Ozpin with questioning eyes and the silver-haired man nods with a smile. Stepping back from the microphones, she unsheathes Crescent Rose, spinning it out and unfolding it to its impressive scythe form. The crowd shouts and screams in excitement and the camera flashes increase in frequency, and for the first time since it happened, Ruby feels happy. She folds her scythe into its rifle form and cocks it, before sliding it back into its closed form and hooking it back into its sheath. She looks back out at the crown and smiles again, "So, anymore questions?"
He's falling, he's falling, he's falling! She reaches for her semblance, but it doesn't come. She can't move. He's falling. She can't move. He hits the ground with a sickening splat; his bones break through his flesh; his skull explodes with the impact , showering her in gore. She can't move. A guttural moan escapes his body. His neck cracks loudly as he turns to face her, green eyes blank and empty; dead. Agonizingly slow, he begins to move, rolling onto his stomach. She can't move. He crawls to her, fingers digging deep into the concrete, leaving thick trails of blood as he moves closer. She can't move. He latches onto her ankle, his fingers stiff and cold, and his neck snaps back impossibly far. She can't move.
"...red...why..." He moans, his voice deathly quiet, near inaudible. Yet to her it's as if he is screaming. "...why didn't you catch me..." His hand tightens around her ankle, fingernails scraping against her skin. She can't move. "...you're so slow..." His hands begin to climb her body, fingers clawing deep into her flesh, surely drawing blood. She can't move. "...so...slow..." His breath his hot against her neck. She can't move. "...too...slow..." His teeth rip into her throat. "...far...too..slow..." She can't move.
"Faster... faster..." Ruby mumbles to herself, pushing her semblance past its limits. The bright light of the shattered moon beats down on her, illuminating the clearing she is in. Her father had told her not to enter the woods on her own, especially at night, but she wasn't that far from her home. Currently, she's training in a fairly large clearing about a hundred metres across, within a stone's throw of her house, at just past three in the morning. Far enough away that no one will hear her or see her, yet close enough that the Grimm were unlikely to arrive. She can see Roman leaning against a tree, watching her with expressionless eyes. He'd been silent since the interview four days ago. Hopefully he's still quiet when she goes back to school in three days. Pushing for her semblance to give more, she tears around the clearing, rose petals scattering haphazardly around. As she rounds for another lap, she feels herself slow. "No!" She growls under her breath, forcing even more of her aura through her semblance. "No, no, faster, c'mon..." Ruby speeds through the clearing, just a bit faster than before. She gets through two more laps of the clearing before her aura breaks, sending her crashing, painfully, to the forest floor. Pressing herself up onto her hands and knees, she gasps for air, and slams a fist into the ground, over and over, frustration coursing through her. "Dammit! God dammit!" Rolling onto her back, she glares up at the shattered moon. "Not fast enough yet." She takes a moment to regain her breath before forcing herself back up to her feet. She wobbles slightly in place and sucks in a few ragged breaths. "Faster. Faster." She crouches, pulling up as much of what little aura she had restored with her short rest as she could, and blasts across the clearing.
She never notices her father watching her, blue eyes wreathed with guilt, hidden behind one of the many trees.
"Come now, Red, that wasn't very nice. Why didn't you catch me?" He says, slowly pulling himself to his feet. He's broken, bones sticking out of his skin oddly and blood leaking from every place it could. Ruby is frozen, unable to move, as he begin to shuffle closer to her. "Didn't your mommy teach you not to hit others?" Her hands tighten on Crescent Rose, yet she still cannot lift it or back away, not even a bit. He sidles right up to her, barely an inch between them and grins. "Sure looks like you enjoyed it though. Look at you!" He brings a bloodied hand to her face and taps her cheek. "My, red surely is a lovely colour on you. Why don't you give me a smile?" Her lips curve upwards without her wanting them to. He laughs, patting the top of her head condescendingly, streaking blood through her hair. "Beautiful! Well, Red? You gonna finish the job?" He steps back, arms opening wide. She feels her arms lift, Crescent Rose fully extending in her grip, and he laughs, "A veritable Grim Reaper you are!" Crescent Rose rises above her head, and her smile widens, and she's screaming in her head, desperately trying to regain control of her body. She can't. Crescent Rose slashes down, and then to the side, and over and over and over it stabs into him, killing him, goring him, ruining him further; all while he laughs. Over and over and over and over, stab and slash and cut and stab, until all that remains is an indescribable lump of flesh, still laughing from vocal cords that don't even exist anymore. Finally, she regains control, and Crescent Rose slips from her blood covered hands, and she screams-
A scream wakes him. Taiyang groans and looks at his alarm-clock, the bright green numbers 3:34 being displayed. His brow furrows as he lays back down, a hand running through his coarse blond hair. What had woken him? Ruby clearly hadn't gone out to 'train' yet, as Zwei would have woken him had she. And Yang never woke until she was forced to. He strains his ears. Faint whimpering can be heard from one of the upstairs rooms. Oh, one of his daughters must be sleep-talking. As he closes his eyes to fall back asleep, a hoarse cry echoes through the dark house. Blue eyes burst open wide. "Ruby!" He leaps to his feet and rushes from his room, speeding up the stairs. As he passes Yang's bedroom, the teen pokes her head out, groggily rubbing her eyes.
"Dad? What's going on?" Taiyang spares his eldest a glance before pushing his way into Ruby's room. His first instinct is to head for the bed, but a quick look around for threats finds him staring into a darkened corner of the room, where his youngest is curled into herself, her entire body shaking as she sobs. Taiyang approaches slowly.
"Ruby?" He hears her breath hitch. "Ruby, it's me, your dad." He crouches in front of her, hands hesitantly held before him. Even a huntress in training is dangerous. A huntress with Ruby's level of skill is doubly so. Chances were she wouldn't recognize him because of the darkened room and that meant she was likely to attack. Taking in her shivering form, he spies a glint of silver as she shifts a little, just enough to look to him. Taiyang sees in the hazy, barely-there look in her eyes, and turns to look at his eldest child standing in the doorway. "Yang, the light. Turn it on, please." With a vague nod of her blonde head, Yang flicks the light-switch, brightening the room. Ruby flinches at the sudden brightness, drawing Taiyang's attention. He reaches for her slowly, as if reaching for a cornered animal. "Ruby, little petal, it's alright. It's me, dad. And Yang, too." He briefly touches her shoulder and she jerks away with wide eyes. "Hey, hey, it's okay. It was a dream. Ruby, you're at home. In your room." He touches her shoulder again, and squeezes reassuringly. "You're safe." It takes a moment for his youngest to become lucid.
"...dad...?" Her voice is hoarse and she blinks rapidly, eyes flicking throughout the room. "I..." Taiyang leans forward, wrapping his arms around her. He gently sweeps his fingers through her hair. She returns the hug, holding onto him tightly. "...I'm sorry for waking you..." He forces out a chuckle.
"Hey, it's alright. You can't help it when you have a nightmare." He feels her flinch in his grasp. 'Oh.' He thinks, realizing just what dream she'd been having. He grimaces, silently thankful that neither of his daughters could see the cool rage dawning in his eyes, and tightens his hold on her. 'Most likely not a dream. A memory.'
"...wasn't..." Ruby mumbles, sagging further into his grip. "...wasn't fast enough. Never fast enough..." Taiyang closes his eyes. "...so... slow..." Her mumbles taper off into soft snores. Taiyang waits a moment longer before he lifts her into his arms and carries her to the bed. He tucks her in and lets out a soft sigh as he runs his fingers through her hair.
"Dad?" He turns to look at Yang, meeting her scared lilac eyes. Her gaze moves to her sister. "Ruby..."
"It will take a while, Yang, for Ruby to be even a little bit like normal." He gives his sleeping daughter a kiss on her forehead and stands. "She'll keep having nightmares for... a long time." Gods knew he sure did. After his first kill, it took nearly a year for the nightmares to end. But he'd been nineteen, nearly twenty, when that happened, and he'd already had the lesson on true monsters. He'd known that it was going to happen eventually. "And tomorrow..." His eyes close. "...tomorrow, you and her will be at Beacon." He knew that Ruby would leave for Beacon eventually. But he always figured it would be two years from now. Not at fifteen because she killed a man. Even if it had been an accident. It's not like the news nor the people believed it to be one. Taiyang lets out a soft snort. No, those fuckers thought she killed an infamous criminal on purpose, and had petitioned for Ruby to be let into one of the top four academies early. And since Signal essentially threw a graduation certificate at him for Ruby – with the excuse of 'she's already skilled enough to permanently stop a well-known criminal, she doesn't need any more training here' – there wasn't anywhere else she could go. She still needed schooling. He shakes his head and walks towards his eldest. "Yang, after tonight I won't be there for her." Yang nods, and he can see the faint glimmer of tears in her eyes. Taiyang hugs her close, letting her cry softly against his shoulder. "You alright?" He asks, drawing back to look at her. Yang shrugs, eyes downcast.
"Yeah, I guess." She takes a deep breath. Her tears vanish and her eyes light up in determination. "I'll be there for her, Dad. You might not be able to be, but I will be." Her eyes flash red. "No one will stop me." Taiyang smiles.
"Thank you, Yang."
you killed him, you killed him, you killed him, you killed him, you killed him, you killed him, you killed him-
The airbus is crowded and loud, students milling about. A few glance in her direction, probably wondering who the short person in the red hood was. Oh, who was she kidding. They likely knew exactly who she was. Her choice of school was well known the minute Ozpin accepted her. Her name would, for sure, have appeared on Beacon's public list of promising applicants. Ruby leans into the window, silver eyes staring out at the passing landscape, unfocused, studiously ignoring the hallucination sitting beside her. Heavy bags rest beneath her eyes. Nightmares kept her up most nights. It had been nearly two weeks since... him, since she... Ruby sucks in a breath, eyes closing. No, no, don't think about it. Beacon! Think about Beacon. Her eyes open once again, heavy regret and a touch of anger present in them, and she glances at the figment of him. A reward. She got into Beacon Academy two years early as a fucking reward for killing a man. Sure, Roman Torchwick was as bad a man as man could get, his crimes ranging from thievery to assault to flat out murder, but to get into a prestigious school two years early – to become famous for something as heinous as killing a person? It made her sick. Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch had said that they didn't know who leaked her name and image to the press, but someone had – along with the fact that it was her who took down Torchwick and not Goodwitch, who had been primed to take the fall for the thief's death. Within a day of his death, it felt like everyone knew her name and face. She hadn't left her house on Patch since the interview, yet her fame still persisted. If anything, it got worse. Rumours flew about how skilled she was and about who she'd take out next. God, she feels sick just imagining people getting their hopes up for her to kill another person. A shuddering breath rakes through her.
"Ruby?" She turns to face her sister. Yang stares at her with a mixture of pity, sympathy, and pride in her gaze. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Ruby nods and Yang places a hand on the younger teen's arm.
"You sure?" Ruby shrugs, turning back to the window. "Alright, well, if you ever need something, anything, I'm here, y'know? I love you sis." Ruby looks back at her and smiles softly.
"I love you too, Yang. It's just..." She trails off, eyes darting to him, and Yang leans closer. "Sometimes I still see... it." Yang winces, wrapping an arm around Ruby. "I'm fine, really. Just sometimes..." Ruby rests her head against her sister's shoulder.
"Yeah. Yeah, I get it. It takes time to get over that sort of thing. I know..." Yang's other arm comes up and around the younger, her hand running through crimson-tipped locks. "Remember, you're not alone. You can talk to me, y'know. Dad and Uncle Qrow too."
"I know..."
Beacon is grand. The photo from the brochure had nothing on the actual thing. Ruby and Yang stare up at the tall bell tower, eyes wide with awe.
"This is amazing." Yang breathes, voice wispy and light. "Man, Dad's stories don't even hold a candle to the real thing!" Ruby nods. Yang looks down to her and grins. "So, you know where to go?"
"No."
"Huh, neither do I." Yang laughs, making Ruby roll her eyes. "Hey, I'll run ahead and find out if there's a directory or a map or something." Ruby doesn't really want her to go, to leave her alone with the blasted hallucination, but a directory or map would be extremely helpful. Plus, he had been silent for a while now...
"Alright. I'll be by the statue." She points to said statue. The grey stone depicts a man and woman atop a large boulder; the man has his sword raised triumphantly before him, while the woman has a dual-bladed axe pointed at the ground. A fairly accurate carving of a Beowulf stands below them, seemingly howling out. Yang whistles appreciatively at the art, and tilts her head.
"Right, well, see you in a few!" With that, Yang runs off, breezing past the statue and various students. Ruby watches her go before approaching the stonework. She stands before it, gazing up at the depicted hunters.
"Che, what a bunch of chumps. Hunters, blegh." Roman says, finally breaking his near week-long silence. Ruby doesn't acknowledge him. He scowls, pushing between her and the statue. "Come on Red, look at me!" She meets his eyes, and he grins. For a brief second, his broken and bloodied body appears in his place. It's gone quickly, and Ruby isn't sure if he had changed forms on purpose or if she was imagining it. "Why even bother being a huntress Red? I mean, you're already a murderer, and hey, assassins get paid three times as much. Use your passion for murder to get cash fast!" Ruby flinches away from him, eyes wide.
"What?!" She nearly shrieks, drawing a bit of attention from passing students. Ignoring them, she glares at Roman, "How dare you even assume-" He interrupts her,
"Hey, you know what they say! Assuming makes an ass of you and me!" He bends down, smirk alighting on his face. "And you didn't deny it!" He leans even closer, and Ruby, despite her best attempts, can't tear her gaze from his. "You liked killing me, didn't you? You enjoyed it. You liked being covered in my blood. You liked firing your gun at me. I bet you even knew it would break my aura! You killed me on purpose." He grins, and presses his forehead against hers. "Admit it!"
"No, no, no no no no no no no-" She's shaking, head violently moving in protest. He laughs and backs away.
"Aw, come now little red. I can see it in your eyes! You really liked it, didn't you?" He gives her a wink before he disappears, not even allowing her time to respond. Her breaths come quickly, to the point where she is nearly hyperventilating. She rests her head in her hands and tries her hardest not to cry.
"Hey, aren't you that kid?" Ruby startles at the question, turning to face a girl dressed in white, with equally white hair and bright blue eyes. A cart sits behind her, laden with a large amount of suitcases. The girl's eyes widen as they meet Ruby's silver orbs. "You are! Ruby Rose, right? You took out Torchwick!" Ruby flinches at the mention of his name, reflexively looking around for the hallucination of him. But he hasn't returned yet. It was odd, usually he disappeared and returned within ten minutes, but it had been nearly twenty since their... conversation. She takes a deep breath to steady herself before replying,
"Y-Yeah, I'm Ruby. Uh... who are you?" The girl stares at her for a moment, as if not comprehending what she asked.
"Seriously?" She says, under her breath, before continuing with a louder, "My name is Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." Ruby tilts her head. Schnee? Dust? Oh, she must be a rich kid.
"So, you're rich?" Weiss scoffs, but offers a sharp nod. "Oh, um... isn't the SDC based in Atlas though?" She asks, drudging up what little info she knew of the Schnee Dust Company. "Why'd you come here, to Beacon?" Weiss flicks a hand in a dismissive gesture.
"I aim to be a huntress, to bring pride to the Schnee name. Beacon has the highest quality of education in hunter training. It's only logical I come here." She cocks her head to the side. "What about you? Surely you received various offers from other academies." Ruby dips her head, eyes falling to the ground.
"Yeah. One from each of the top academies. Shade, Atlas, Haven, and Beacon. But..." She looks over her shoulder at the large academy behind her. True, she could have gone to any school she wanted. However... "My mother attended here. If anything, I just want to be closer to her memory." Her voice fades into a murmur near the end. She hears a soft gasp from Weiss and forces a smile onto her face, turning quickly to face the heiress. "Also, my dad and uncle came here too! And my sister's starting this year as well!" And then, as if speaking of the devil, Yang comes running up from down the walkway.
"RUBY!" She shouts, skidding to a stop beside her. "Hey! I found a directory and I even got a map downloaded to my scroll." She points to a large building up ahead. "And an older student said we newbies gotta meet in that amphitheatre in about twenty minutes for the welcoming ceremony." It is only then that Yang seems to realize that Weiss is there. "Oh, hello! Didn't see ya for a second. My name's Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's sister." Yang holds out a hand and Weiss grabs it hesitantly to shake.
"Weiss Schnee." The white haired girl drops Yang's hand quickly. "I don't mean to be rude, but you two look nothing alike." Yang booms out a boisterous laugh.
"Yeah, we get that a lot. Different moms, same dad, y'know?" Weiss nods, clearly uncomfortable with the exuberant Yang.
"Oh, I see." She glances back at her luggage. "I apologize, but I must see to my equipment." She curtsies neatly. "It was nice to meet you, Ruby, Yang." The heiress grabs hold of her cart handle and begins dragging it towards the academy entrance. Yang smiles.
"Man, nice to see you make something of a friend, Rubes." Ruby shrugs.
"I dunno, Yang. She only talked to me 'cause of... that." Yang winces, bringing a hand to her sister's shoulder.
"Oh. Well, she seemed nice-ish."
"I guess."
"Ruby, Yang!" The sisters hear the moment they walk into the amphitheatre. Looking for the source, they see Weiss, giving a discreet wave to them, and they approach. The heiress gives them a polite nod. "You two are just in time, the headmaster is about to give his speech." Ruby gazes around the large amphitheatre, and immediately notices the less-than-subtle glances she is receiving from the other students. Fighting back a wince, she shuffles a bit closer to her sister. A loud, sharp, noise echoes throughout the room, and Ruby turns to see Professor Ozpin standing on the stage. He glances around the room once and lets out a soft, near-unnoticeable sigh.
"I'll... keep this brief." He begins. "You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and once you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people, to slaying monsters." Ruby shudders, knowing that Ozpin is looking directly at her as he spoke. "But I look among you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Whispers break out among the students. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only take you so far." He glances around the room once again, and, even though she can't see him doing so clearly, Ruby knows that he lingers his gaze on her for far longer. "It is up to you to take the first step." With that, he steps away from the microphone, walking off. Professor Goodwitch strides onto the stage, stopping before the mic.
"You are to gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. Dismissed." Chatter quickly rises around them. Yang makes a soft noise in the back of her throat and Ruby looks at her questioningly. Yang gestures vaguely at the stage.
"Ozpin... he seemed... off." Ruby nods.
"Yeah. It's like he wasn't even there."
Beacon's ballroom is as grand as the rest of the school. It is large, easily holding all the applicants, with lots of space left over. Ruby looks around the ballroom, noting which people seemed to know who she was and which seemed to either not or just not care. Most seemed to just recognize the bright red cloak she's wearing over her pyjamas. A blond teen in blue footie pyjamas waves at her once he notices her staring. She huffs out a laugh and waves back.
"Hey Rubes, who you waving at?" Yang asks, relaxing on the futon next to her. Ruby points at the oddly dressed blond.
"Him." Yang looks and sputters out a laugh.
"W-What is he wearing?!" A new voice chimes in,
"It seems to be a footie with Pumpkin Pete on it." Both sisters turn to see a tall redhead, who had claimed the spot next to Yang. The redhead smiles softly. "Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you." Yang laughs at that.
"True, true! But it's delicious!" Yang wipes a tear from her eye and grins at the redhead. "So, I'm Yang. Yang Xiao-Long. This," She moves and points at Ruby. "is my sister, Ruby." Ruby squeaks at the sudden attention and stutters,
"H-Hi! I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose!" There's a brief, knowing glint in the redhead's eyes, and Ruby is sure the next thing to come from her mouth would be about Torchwick. Instead, what comes is,
"Nice to meet you both!" The redhead says. "My name is Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos." Ruby's relief is near palpable. There is no mention of Torchwick. Pyrrha seemed to not care about... Ruby pauses the thought. Where had she heard the redhead's name?
"Pyrrha... Pyrrha..." She mumbles, eyes screwing shut trying to remember. The two older teens look at her in confusion, brows raising. "Oh yeah!" Ruby shouts, grinning widely. Pyrrha Nikos is the four-time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournaments! Ruby had spent many days watching the footage, simply for the weapons used. Miló and Akoúo̱ were a triple threat! It had three different forms! Ruby points a finger at Pyrrha, and exclaims, "Your weapons are so cool! They transform three different ways and there's a shield as well and you're able to call them back to you without even-" Her slew of words is cut off by both Yang's hand covering her mouth and Pyrrha laughing. Ruby glares at her sister and moves the blonde's hand away. "Yang that's gross! Who knows where your hands have been!" Yang makes a vaguely rude gesture, and Ruby gasps loudly. "I'm telling dad you did that!"
"No you won't!" Yang shouts, throwing her pillow at her sister. The two break down in giggles. After a moment, Yang looks to Pyrrha with a wide grin. "Sorry, sorry, Rubes is a bit obsessed with weapons." Ruby gasps again.
"I am not!" Pyrrha laughs once more, waving her hands dismissively, before saying,
"No, no, it's fine!" She smiles at Ruby. "I'd love to talk about weapons with you Ruby." Ruby squeals happily, practically vibrating in her seat. She makes to say something, but Yang, once again, cuts her off with,
"Some other day, sis! It's getting late. We should get some sleep!" Ruby pouts, but she can understand the logic. They had initiation tomorrow, and they needed to get up early to prepare. Ruby lays back on her sleeping roll and smiles up at the ceiling, in time to see the lights start to dim. She turns to look at Yang and Pyrrha and says,
"Right! Goodnight, Yang, Pyrrha!" She hopes that there will be no nightmares that night. Even though she knows that hope is futile.
He's on the ground, wheezing, blood pooling around him. Ruby steps up to him, head cocked to the side, Crescent Rose in its rifle form in her hands. He gurgles something out around the blood in his mouth, and she smiles down at him, raising her gun. He stares up at her with wide green eyes. She cocks her gun and aims right at his chest. His lips widen in a grin.
"Do... it..." He chokes out, spattering her boots with bloodied spittle. Her finger squeezes the trigger-
Ruby gasps awake. She shivers, hands clenching her cloak tightly. Slowly, to avoid waking anyone, she stands. She makes her way down the aisle, and out into the darkened hallways.
Eventually, she finds herself inside a training area. The space is large, sparsely decorated with various training implements. A row of benches sits against a far wall, just in front of an audience area. A flicker of orange and white alerts her to the return of the hallucination, and, when she turns to look, Roman is leaning against the far wall, hat pulled low over his eyes. Ruby, not acknowledging him past a small sigh, walks to the centre of the room and lets out a breath. Training will make her feel better. Training will help her sleep. She crouches, drawing up her aura, and dashes. She's gotten much faster since Torchwick's death. If she had been this fast back then, she could have saved him. Too little, too late. She slows to a stop. "Never again." She whispers to herself. Looking around at the slowly dissipating rose petals, she repeats, "Never again." She crouches once more, and begins to run.
Brown and green eyes watch the camera footage. Ozpin sighs, leaning back in his chair. Glynda tuts, eyes narrowing at the red blur on the screen.
"She's going to end up killing herself." She says, and Ozpin sighs once again.
"I know. When Taiyang called and said she'd likely end up training late in the night, I didn't expect it to be at two in the morning on her first night here." He looks back at the footage, wincing when the speedster crashes due to lack of aura. "This is insane. She's clearly improved her semblance exponentially, to the point where we can barely see her, yet she seems determined to go even faster." He watches the red cloaked girl stand, clearly low on aura, and begin to use her semblance once more. "At this rate..." Glynda frowns, brows furrowing deeply.
"She'll be dead from exhaustion before the end of the year. This... this is madness, Ozpin. She needs to be stopped. Or taught a new way to cope." She turns away from the footage once the red speedster collapses, most likely unconscious from exhaustion. "Over training is dangerous, and I will be telling her so. For now, I'll go and bring her to the infirmary." Ozpin nods, eyes closing.
"Please..."
A/N: Don't worry Ruby will eventually return to her more chipper self. She won't be as naive or as innocent as she is in the show, but she will slowly heal.
Also dear gods, I wrote this in like two days, and spent like a week rereading and reworking it. I don't think there are many errors left, but if you spot one be sure to tell me.
Next chapter is the obligatory initiation chapter.
This is cross-posted to my AO3, if you prefer to read there. Link in profile.