A/N: Chapters will vary in length, but they should be anywhere between 1'000 and 3'000 words.
Chapter 2: A Bit of News
Ruby groaned as she returned to consciousness. Her whole body ached and her head pounded terribly. 'What happened?' She cracked open her eyes, and was relieved when she met darkness. 'Ugh, how long was I out for?' She thought, attempting to sit up. She got about half-way up before falling back with a pained moan. "Ow..." She heard a yawn from beside her bed, and looked up to see Yang reaching to turn on the lamp next to her. The blonde rubbed her eyes and stared at her in confusion.
"Ruby?" Yang glanced at the clock hung on the wall, and Ruby followed her line of sight. It was four in the morning, no wonder it was so dark! "Why're you up so ear..." Yang trailed off, eyes widening slowly, a smile forming on her face. "Ruby! You're awake!" Yang gathered her up in a hug, twirling her around off the bed, and that was when Ruby noticed something was very wrong. Sure, she was shorter than Yang, and the older girl could sweep her off her feet, but she was not short enough that Yang could literally sweep her into her arms, several feet in the air. A final twirl had Yang depositing her back on the bed.
"Yang?" Ruby asked, before frowning in confusion. Was it just her, or was her voice higher than she remembered?
"Yeah Ruby?" Ruby shook her head, and continued,
"What happened?" Yang winced, and scratched her cheek sheepishly.
"Well, you see, there was this explosion..." Ruby nodded.
"Yeah, I know, I was flung into the wall."
"Your arm's broken, and, uh... well, you see..." Ruby rolled her eyes as her sister stalled.
"C'mon Yang, just tell me what happened!" Yang took a deep breath.
"Seeabunchofweirdstuffhappenedandyourintheinfirmaryohyourarmisbrokenandyourakidagainsorry!" She spewed out quickly, and Ruby blinked.
"Wait, what? Yang! I didn't catch any of that!"
"Uh... I said we should wait for Professor Ozpin?" Ruby narrowed her eyes at her.
"What happened Yang." The blonde winced again.
"Professor Ozpin could explain it better than me." Ruby huffed and crossed her arms. Or, she tried to, having forgotten that her arm was broken.
"Ouch!" She looked down at her arms and froze. "Wha...?" Her entire body looked like it had shrunk! But that was impossible! "Yang! What is going on!?" She raised her tiny hands to her sister, eyes wide. "Why am I so small!"
"Perhaps, Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long," Ozpin said, as he entered into the infirmary. "I can be of service." Ruby turned to him.
"Professor Ozpin! What is wrong with me!"
"Miss Rose, please, calm down. I will explain." Ozpin started over to them. "During your class on Dust, you caused an accident, which lead to an explosion." Ruby flinched at the accusation. "Don't worry, your current state is punishment enough. All in all it was a harmless accident. No one got hurt. No one, but you. Had you not moved out of Professor Goodwitch's glyph, you would have been fine. However you did, and as such your arm was broken, and a lot of Dust entered your body." Ruby frowned.
"But what does that have to do with me being so small?"
"You see, there is a lot about Dust that we do not yet understand. Your Aura had kicked in before you hit the wall to prevent most of the damage to your body, but it also activated all the Dust within you." Ozpin took a sip from the mug he was holding. "In all actuality, you should have exploded from the inside out." Yang gasped, and Ruby pulled a horrified yet confused face.
"Well why didn't I?"
"That... we do not know. As I said, there is a lot about Dust, and in this case Aura, that we do not understand." Ruby looked down at her arms again.
"Will I be like this forever?" Ozpin shook his head.
"Heavens no. This is temporary, a couple of months at the most. Perhaps you'll return to normal tomorrow, we do not know. When all the Dust in your system burns out, then you should return to normal. Unfortunately," He gave a specific look at her right arm. "your arm will have to heal naturally for a week or two, as introducing more Dust, even those of a healing nature, to your system right now may make this permanent." Ruby looked down at the plaster covered arm and frowned.
"But what about classes? I can't hold my precious sweetheart like this!" Ozpin took a second to figure out that she was talking about her sniper scythe.
"Unfortunately, you will be unable to take practical lessons. You are correct, you will be unable to do much with a broken arm and your current size. However," Ozpin took another sip from his mug. "you will still be able to take part in written work and lectures. After all, it was just your body that changed, not your mind." Ruby huffed and stuck out her tongue.
"Blegh, written work!" Ozpin chuckled, and signaled for the night nurse to come over.
"You may return to your dorm now Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long." The night nurse brought over a paper, which Ozpin signed and handed back. "Get some more rest. You have Doctor Oobleck's History class in the morning." Both girls groaned at the thought of the class. As Ozpin made his way out of the infirmary, Ruby struggled to get off the bed, which was designed for teenagers and adults, not little children.
"Need some help there Rubes?" Yang asked, before snatching her sister up.
"Ah! Put me down Yang!" Yang grinned and shook her head.
"No way! Besides..." She trailed off as Ruby yawned loudly. "You're lookin' mighty tired there." Ruby glared, but eventually relented when her sister shifted her arms into a better, more comfortable position.
"...fine." Ruby mumbled, her eyes starting to close against her will.
"...ch quieter asleep." Ruby heard, as she blearily blinked open her eyes. She looked around and found herself not on her haphazardly thrown together bed, but in Yang's much more safe and grounded one. Looks like they had arrived at the dorm room; and judging by the sunlight pouring in through the windows, it was later that morning. She smiled to herself and rolled over, closing her eyes once again. Just as she was dozing off, something poked her roughly in the side.
"Hey, Ruby, get up! You're going to be late!" Yang shouted, and another poke jammed into her ribs.
"...'fer what?" Ruby mumbled, sitting up.
"Classes you dolt!" Weiss said loudly, making Ruby jump.
"Classes?" She blinked in confusion, before her eyes widened. "Oh no not again!" She jumped out of bed, forgetting about her new size, and her face hit the ground with smack. She sat up, rubbing her nose with her non-plastered arm, and felt tears well up in her eyes. She was not going to cry because of a little pain! She's taken worse hits than this from Grim!
"Ruby! Are you okay?" Yang knelt down next to her, and Ruby waved her off with a sniffle.
"Fine, I'm fine. Does my nose look broken?" She moved her hand and looked up at Yang, who was scrutinizing the injury site.
"Nah, it's cool. You're just gonna have a big bruise there!" Ruby wobbled up to her feet and glanced down at the beat up old shirt she was wearing. It was one of Yang's, she knew that, but it was far too large for her small frame, and slid off her shoulders uneasily.
"What am I going to wear Yang?" Yang shrugged slightly, just as a knock came at the door. Blake, being the closest to it, opened the door. From their angle, Ruby and Yang couldn't see who it was, and they couldn't hear the whispered conversation between Blake and whoever it was. A few seconds later, Blake closed the door, a small package in her hands. "Who was it?"
"Professor Goodwitch. She said the Headmaster had went out to get these for you yesterday, and that we have a pass to go to town after classes to shop." Blake sat down on the edge of Yang's bed, and opened the package. She carefully started peeling out a tiny outfit. It was a simple outfit, consisting of a long-sleeved grey shirt, a red skirt, tiny black stockings, and a pair of black and red boots. Ruby sighed in relief. For a moment she thought it would be a miniature version of the school uniform. When she looked back at Blake, she saw the faunus pulling a thin, red, cape-like, scarf out of the package. Yang grabbed the clothes and ushered Ruby towards the bathroom, closing the door behind them quietly.
"Yang! I can dress myself you know!" Ruby shouted, an embarrassed blush on her face.
"Yeah I know, I'm just here to make sure you don't hurt yourself." Ruby stuck her tongue out at her sister, and stepped out of the shirt she was wearing. As she tugged on the stockings and undergarments, she came across a problem. It was hard getting to the right side of her body with her arm in a cast, add in that she needed both hands to pull the heavier-than-it-looks skirt on, and it was a recipe for her getting hurt again. She gave up the struggle a few seconds later and pouted, before looking up at her sister, who was trying to hold in snickers.
"Alright Yang, I need help." Yang laughed and grabbed the discarded skirt on the ground.
"Great! Now, step into the skirt." The skirt was on much quicker than she could have managed, and her sister grabbed the grey shirt off the counter. "Lift your arms up!" The shirt was tugged on just as quickly, and Ruby smoothed out a few wrinkles. "And finally..." She felt Yang wrap the red scarf-cape around her neck, and smiled at the familiar colour. "Perfect!" Before Ruby could even think of leaving the room, Yang picked her up and placed her on the edge of the sink to look into the mirror. Ruby looked into said mirror, and noted that the scarf fell off her shoulders behind her, much like her hood did. She tore her eyes off of the scarf, and looked at her nose, which still hurt a bit. It was a little red, but other than that, it didn't look like it was going to bruise.
"Okay Yang, let's go. I don't want to be late. We still have to get breakfast!" Yang nodded, and helped her off of the counter. She reached up for the doorknob, but it was out of reach by a head. Yang raised a brow and pushed open the door. "I could have done that!"
"Sure ya' could. Come on, get your boots on." Ruby stuck her tongue out at her sister once again, and stomped off to the door to get her boots on. 'Class is not going to be fun,' She thought, stepping to the boots, before fumbling to tie the laces together. She growled in frustration, and looked over to her sister, who was buttoning up her blazer. Before she could call out to her, Blake crouched down in front of her.
"Do you need some help? I know how hard it is tying things with a broken arm." Ruby nodded, and turned her head away as an embarrassed blush crawled across her cheeks. Blake swiftly tied the laces together. "There."
"Th-Thanks Blake." Blake shrugged and slid on her own boots. The door knob to the dorm's front room was a bit lower than the washroom one, so Ruby jumped up and grabbed it. She twisted it and kicked open the door before letting herself fall to the ground. She looked up at the sound of Team JNPR's door opening. Nora stepped out with a grin- a grin that fell when she spotted her. "Nora?"
"Oh aren't you a cutie!" Nora squealed, picking Ruby up. Nora laughed and turned to the rest of her team. "Ren, look! It's a mini-Ruby!" Ruby pushed against Nora, struggling to breathe.
"Nora, you're strangling her." Ren said, and Nora gasped before placing Ruby gently on the ground.
"I'm sorry mini-Ruby!" Jaune and Pyrrha stuck their heads out the door at the shout.
"Hey, what's going on out here?" Yang said, stepping into the hall. "Ruby, you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, just had a bit of air squeezed from my lungs." Ruby muttered, glaring up at a sheepish Nora. Weiss scoffed as she exited the dorm as well.
"She's fine you brute. Stop smothering her." Yang narrowed her eyes.
"Shut it Ice Queen." Weiss stomped her foot.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that!" Ruby raised her arms and got between the two.
"Stop fighting! I'm getting hungrier by the second!" Yang and Weiss glared at each other as the blonde grabbed Ruby's left hand and started walking down the hall, the rest of Team RWBY at their heels. Team JNPR looked at each other.
"How'd Ruby get so small?"
Breakfast had been a relatively quiet affair, as they were the last to enter and had managed to snag a table near the doors. Yang brought some food over for Ruby, who was shrinking into her hood at the stares being lodged at her, and they ate quickly and left even quicker. Currently they were loitering outside the History classroom, waiting for Dr. Oobleck to open the doors. Ruby was savouring a cookie she had swiped before leaving the dinner hall, and her teammates were leaning against the wall.
"Where's Oobleck, he's usually here way early!" Yang said, glancing at the time displayed on her Scroll. Five minutes until class starts. The other students in the class could be heard walking down the hall.
"I'm sure he's-" Blake was cut off by Oobleck himself.
"Right here ladies! In now, come inside! Class is starting!" Oobleck pushed open the door, and dashed to his desk, drinking from his thermos. Ruby always had the sneaking suspicion that his thermos was more than just a thermos, but she could never prove it. The second everyone sat down, the bell for class start rang. Oobleck took another sip from his thermos, and began to quickly write on the board. Ruby felt a headache start to form, making her groan. She rested her head on the desk in front of her. A piece of chalk bounced off the top of her head, having been thrown at her by the professor. "Miss Rose! No sleeping in class!"
"Sorry!" She muttered, sitting up. She heard Yang snickering beside her, and kicked her under the desk. Ruby put her chin in her hand and started to daydream. It was better than tuning in to an impossible to follow lecture.