Creeping Thorns

Anti-hero

Hello. Second rewrite is here. Enjoy!


The ringing stopped.

Ruby slowly opened her eyes.

Blood and death and destruction met her blurred gaze. Her eyelids retreated quickly, as her hands darted around, feeling the bloodsoaked carpet beneath her. She moved shakily to her feet, and cast a lethargic glance at her surroundings. Dark walls, red lines, limbs and limbless bodies, and a small river of blood. Confusion bloomed rapidly, before she laid eyes on the headless corpse at her feet.

All her effort to stand became moot as she fell to her knees amidst the blood, panting and heaving.

"I... I did it again..." Ruby admitted in shame to the bodies, maimed beyond recognition. She bit back sobs but could not restrain her tears, flowing freely. However, the faintest noise in her ear - a sound suspiciously similar to a siren - interrupted her spontaneous grief. As sorry as she felt for these people, she had to go. Right now. A distant part of her wondered at what point she'd become so used to waking up surrounded by corpses that she could minimize her grief so quickly and put it away for later.

Partly, it was because they'd left her no choice. 'They', being the people that Ruby tended to kill, seemed to have a bad habit of doing that. And considering the kinds of people they generally were, these people might - might - have even deserved it. Either way, Ruby only hoped she'd never see the day she woke up surrounded by bodies and felt nothing. Bad guys or not, they were people. They deserved at least a second thought.

She got to her feet, pushing aside her self-flagellation for later. She had to find her way out. Only she had no idea where she even was, aside from vague recollections of being in the club still. She could simply go back the way she came, except that led to the club proper where probably even more henchmen were. The walls were so uniform and smooth that she could barely discern the doors. They also looked exactly the same. Indecision racketed Ruby's body like a fragmented bullet, riddling her with doubt.

Heavy, rapid footfalls echoed down the bloody corridors, directly into Ruby's ears. They were coming from both directions. Ruby groaned softly, already knowing what she had to do. Moments later, dozens of Valen Security Force officers rounded the corners, rifles drawn and trained on the corridor.

But no one was there.

Moonlight lit up the gruesome display before them. In trailed in languidly, drifting like smoke. The troopers trained their eyes upward at the source. A hole, barely wide enough to fit a child, met them.

Their leader immediately pressed an armored hand to his helmet.

"Central, Red is on the run, I repeat, Red is on the run."

"Roger that, Infantry Unit 12. Air Unit 12 is moving from covering to pursuing position. Over."


Prepare for your greatest moments
Prepare for your finest hour


Ruby soared.

She felt the cool autumn air whip through her hair and clothes as for a moment, she was weightless. Then she landed, craters emanating from her feet, as she quite literally hit the ground running. She dashed with inhuman speed, diving over various rooftops and around air conditioners and under ventilation shafts. Her hood was up as lights roamed over the roofs of Vale, tracking an incredibly specific target.

As Ruby rounded a corner, soaring high, the light caught her.

Crap.

She landed on all fours roughly but transitioned to a roll partway through, a feat of athleticism only possible due to her abilities. A Human would've died. Ruby kept running, attempting to evade the spotlight that stuck to her evasive form like glue. A voice on a megaphone up above shouted so loudly it was practically inside Ruby's ear.

"STOP! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST! COME PEACEFULLY OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"

It was a simple command. Ruby had no intention of obeying it. She slid under a ventilation duct and immediately turned on her heel, kicking up gravel. The sensation of rushing wind once again met her face as she briefly crouched then leapt. As she fell, she saw it before she heard it. An object of silver metal protruding from the side of the Police Airship. Ruby widened her eyes as everything slowed, watching it light up the dark sky in her direction. Her torso bent inhumanly on instinct as she spun midair, fitting her slim torso between the fist-sized shells. To her side, building's side exploded in a raw display of heat and glass. Thousands of reflections of Ruby's determined expression flew through the new sky, twinkling in the night...


This will be the day we've waited for!


…before Ruby's perception of time returned to normal and all that was left of the missed shot was glittering hail and a puff of smoke.

The first shot seemed to only be the beginning, as moments later the quiet of the night was split by bursts of high caliber explosive ordinance. Ruby dodged under a barrage and watched the metal turn to shrapnel before her eyes, sliding through the resulting wreck with her arms protectively crossed over her face. Sooner or later, one of those shots would hit. Ruby needed an escape. Now.

Her eyes moved with inhuman dexterity as she evaluated her surroundings in the space of a moment. The distraction was brief, yet long enough for a bullet to tear apart the air and pass Ruby's face, so close she could feel the heat of the screeching metal.

Lesson learned. Keep running.

She dug her fingers into a wall to swing her momentum around a corner, leaving a trail of dust and debris in her wake. A second spotlight came into view as she ran along the wall, and hesitated briefly before it too opened fire.

The explosions racked the building to the core, every spot Ruby touched detonating half a moment later. She moved faster than ever, darting across the building's face in a desperate bid to avoid the deadly projectiles. This pilot, however, was a markedly better shot than his compatriot. By the end of the wall, he had successfully led his target, and fired a full barrage into Ruby's back.

Ruby twisted agilely between the bullets, only for one to catch her side and explode midair. Ruby rocketed from the blast, crash landing on another rooftop in a heap of blood and limbs. She was only down and out for a moment, throwing herself to her haunches as blood spewed constantly from her side. Yet it was still enough for the Airships to move in, hovering over her position and lining up another barrage with ruthless precision.

Ruby's crouched form vanished in a deluge of bullets, blowing apart the roof in a near-constant fiery explosion. Ten seconds passed quickly as hell was rained on the child, the night sky brightening under the intense usage of such devastating weaponry.

The smoke lingered as debris continued to rain. The lights failed to pierce the smoke, showing only nebulous shadows. Finally, when it cleared, nothing remained, the roof having collapsed utterly. Moments later, the building groaned, and slowly began to implode into a pile of rubble.


Silence reined in Roman Torchwick's luxurious home for a moment. The holographic news footage cut to another building, this one miraculously still standing. The sign of Club 3B, with a reversed '3'. Junior's club. That was now apparently filled with Valen Security. At least in the back hallways, where the most illegal things happened. Such as Roman's info deals to secure his Dust shipments. And to stave off the perpetual threat of his imminent assassination.

Roman twirled his cigar between his fingers deftly, before stopping to take another drag. He exhaled slowly, smoke briefly interfering with the holographic display and glitching the color and quality. Then the cigar crumbled, crushed in his grip, as Roman's notorious temper that put many raging fires to shame was brought to bear. He simmered where he sat, eyes wide, positively livid.

"Always a showman, Ruby," he growled aloud. "You're making me look normal by comparison..."


Welcome to a world of bloody evolution


"Hello, and welcome back to the Silver Bulletin. I'm your hostess as ever, Sterling Silver. There has been several major events in Remnant the past week, the most local of which happened as recently as last night. It was 10:23pm on a chilly autumn evening when reports of gunfire and an explosive detonation came in from a downtown nightclub known as 'Club 3B.' Vale's own mass murdering terrorist 'Red' was spotted fleeing the scene, and is currently presumed dead after a deadly airship chase. Security has not confirmed anything yet, but early estimations and interviews suggest that Club 3B was home to a mass homicide of 18 victims, making this the third largest massacre in Vale City history, and Red's third confirmed appearance. Like always, there are currently no known survivors of the attack.

"We will be performing a segment on the life of Vale's bloodiest serial killer later in the month, on the 27th at our usual time, separating the facts from the CCTN rumors. Coming up, growing concerns over the increased armament buildups of Private Military Companies worldwide, potential attendees for the upcoming Vytal Festival in Vacuo, and the inspiring story of a local man and his dog. We'll be right back after these messages."


"So how'd you escape?"

"Oh, the first couple shots blew open the ground at my feet, so I kinda just... fell down."

"Wow. You accidentally evaded custody. Imagine what you could do if you actually tried." Emerald deadpanned sarcastically. Ruby pouted. Emerald was definitely picking up other people's traits. Now she was acting like Mercury.

"Well, if you ignore that bit at the end, I think what I did was cool." Here, Ruby decided to demonstrate, in miniature. "At first I was all like - hwah!" She jumped two inches off the ground. "Then I was like - huphuphuphup." She ran in place. "But then - kaboom!" Her arms spread as wide as she could, mimicking the size of the explosion. "So I was like 'missed me'! And ran on the wall like a ninja! I'm basically a super hero."

"You cost the city millions of Lien in property damage."

"Eh, Anti-hero. Close enough, right?"

"Those are two completely different things."

Despite herself, Ruby smiled.

She was extremely grateful to have this, even if it wasn't quite what it was before, for many reasons. Considering how their last conversation went, she felt certain that Emerald had burned all bridges, even those as meaningless as small talk, and yet here they were. That, and talking with friends (?) was also an extremely effective way of staving off the existential dread and guilt of being a monster that ate people to survive. To say nothing of the pending dire scolding Ruby was to receive from her big brother and guardian, Roman Torchwick. On the list of Ruby's priorities however, it lay low, at the back of her mind by way of conscious effort as her focus was directed forward. Roman could wait. Making amends often could not.

While their relationship had never been warm, considering Emerald's bitter pragmatism and mean streak, it had never been this glacial. Three words had swept away years of effort, as Emerald returned to the same even-toned dead-eyed girl she was when Ruby first met her. Fortunately, the solution was quite simple. Paddle harder. Unfortunately, the implementation was rather complex. How do you make someone like you? Especially if they dislike you? Ruby had exempted herself from these questions because she never felt they were important, as her friendly personality made quick friends with most. Her place within the iceberg had only been acquired due to the exceptional circumstances through which Ruby and Emerald met, and served as one of the few exceptions in either of their lives. But when somebody didn't want to be friends, didn't want to open up, it was less an art of supportively cushioning the fall and more of carefully chiseling an extremely delicate shell, where a single misplaced motion made the effort infinitely harder. All in a desperate effort to even glimpse what lay inside.

People, Ruby surmised, were hard. It definitely didn't help that she wasn't exactly a people person.

Some may ask what Ruby stood to gain. To her, the thought was backwards. Ruby wondered what she had to lose. If you're going to see someone a lot, why not at least get along? Their last conversation had revealed, however, that even 'getting along' would take truly herculean effort. Especially when one was as deeply conflicted and troubled as Ruby. Still. She couldn't in good conscience not try her very best. Her only hope was that one day, perhaps a day sooner than she thought, Emerald would be able to smile outside of brutalizing someone. To be happy, without constraints.

It'd be incredible to be a super hero for a change, instead of an anti-hero.

The disagreement likely could've continued for a while longer, had someone not walked up to them. Emerald raised a brow - okay, that was exactly how Mercury did it too, Emerald had to be doing this intentionally - while Ruby's head was rather slow to turn. She sheepishly stared up at her guardian and resident Crime Lord of Vale, Roman Torchwick, who was absolutely fuming. Ruby almost thought she saw smoke coming out of his ears.

"Ruby." And that all but confirmed it. He never said her name, not unless- "We need to talk." His eyes tightened. "Now."

Ruby also almost thought she saw the faintest hints of sympathy in Emerald's eyes.


"Why did you do it?" The Hero asked the Villain, lording above with his magical weapon held aloft. The Villain's laboratory fell apart around them, a world of fire and debris, years of effort and scheming laid waste in hours.

"You couldn't possibly understand." The Villain said back, gritting his teeth as his fatal wounds steadily drained him of his vitality. There was nothing but conviction and hatred in his eyes, the spark of life already within the reaper's grasp. "No one can. You think you're not the Villain in this, but you are. Everything I did, I did for Remnant and Humanity, 'Hero'."

"Perhaps. Perhaps, the villain of your story, is yourself."

Ruby sighed. She never realized just how much her life resembled a story until she couldn't even read her favorite comics without feeling personally attacked. She stared at the detailed expression of the villain, nothing more than lines and color on a page, and still felt as though she was being purposefully reminded of her conversation with Roman. Which, as most expected, went exceptionally poorly, as well as being as traumatically memorable. Now Ruby was stuck in her room, laying on her bed and trying to forget something she should absolutely be focusing on right now, to little success. Her idle mind wandered, rolling onto her back and staring at nothing in particular. As it would, it drifted of its own accord to one of the very things she wanted to avoid thinking about.

Several months ago, Ruby started having very unusual dreams. While Ruby didn't exactly need to sleep, it was faster than simply waiting for her vitality to return. On occasion, the dreams could even be entertaining. These dreams, however, seemed to serve a far different purpose.

Ruby remembered blood. An ocean of blood had swept through and left the world soaked red in its wake. Tears burned down her cheeks as agony tore apart her soul. Screams echoed, the audible remnants of something terrible reverberating in her ears. And, off to the side, a bloodied form lay facing away, trailing golden hair, red blossoming. It was only a moment in time, and yet it stretched forever, Ruby carrying the terrible concoction of dread and sorrow to waking world every time. Something absolutely terrible happened in that room. And Ruby hadn't the stomach to truly contemplate what it may be. Because one of the most probable answers was that she had kil-

Ruby ended that line of thought with extreme prejudice, shutting her eyes tightly to hold back the tears at the mere thought. Something as vile as her abilities squirmed on the edges of her mind and heart. If that theory was true, (pleasenopleasenopleaseno) then Ruby's mind would shatter completely, and madness would twist the cracks together into something truly abominate. Of only that brutal fact among her dark and chaotic life, she was absolutely certain.

She didn't even know Yang. The version of herself that existed during the first 5 years of her life probably did, but she, the one with the massive memory gap, didn't. Other memories bubbled to the surface like the last vestiges of a diver who'd drowned at the bottom of the ocean. She remembered her enormous golden hair, her radiant smiles, and mesmerizing eyes. But the images were just that, images. They told her about Yang as much as a photograph would. What drove her to find her were the powerful emotions those images drew from Ruby's soul with ease, the conditioned attachments she had to someone she didn't even know the name of until a couple months ago. A single smile could fill Ruby's whole miserable day with warmth, and an inspiring glance could grant her the strength to overcome any hardship. The part of her that knew how to eat people and to shapeshift also said that she needed to find her, because she was her sister. And that's what sisters do for one another.

And that was that. Ruby considered the potential discoveries of the origins of herself and her powers as merely added benefits. It would be nice to finally know, but only one thing gave Ruby the warmth to survive the perpetual autumn chill. A dazzling smile, bright eyes, and the emotion Ruby knew beyond any doubt was love. Not the tough love of Roman, or whatever the hell emotion Cinder felt towards her. Just love. Pure, optimistic, and hopeful. After years of drowning, it was the first breathe of air she'd ever had. And she would fight like hell to keep it.

The Hero of her favorite story was motivated by a need to do the right thing, regardless of the cost. Ruby was too selfish for that, she was ashamed to admit in not quite those words. She didn't have the courage to be a hero. Her idle hand sought an empty spot on her sternum, where something precious once was. But she could help those around her. It was the only compromise her conscience could even remotely tolerate.

Her bed vibrated. Ruby felt her face heat up before realizing it was just her scroll, sighing as she fished it out from beneath her covers. She had one new notification.

I have what you want.

She double blinked in confusion.

"Well, that's totally not weird at all." Roman's sarcasm was evidently beginning to rub off on her, if it hadn't already.

She read the message several times, noting that the sender did indeed not have any contact details. Not even the basic silhouetted humanoid profile picture standard of all scrolls, unless manually changed. Dimly, she realized this wasn't her scroll. All of the messages on it were in some kind of code, even the IDs. This message was the only exception, an especially disturbing exception at that. There was only two people Ruby could think of right now that would have an encrypted scroll. One of them was dead, and the other one was already furious with her. Monster-Ruby must have snagged Junior's scroll during the mayhem. Or while it was... yeah. Sighing as the sword of Roman continued to hang above her, she browsed through the scroll, attempting to confirm her suspicions. Her not-inconsequential effort went unrewarded, however, as she wondered how she would decipher the scroll. Junior covered his tracks well enough. Unfortunately for him, the name 'Junior' was something of an open secret in the Valen underworld. Though his real name was considerably harder to find, and if Ruby wasn't Roman's charge, she'd likely have never found it. And without it, he never would've talked to her, presuming her to just be some kid.

She paused, then smacked her forehead. "Duh." She closed her eyes, and focused inward, looking for thoughts not her own. The same screaming faces as in her nightmares met her, webbing off into the furthest reaches of her mind, forever caught in their last moments. She deftly moved past that, and found what she was looking for.

Her eyes opened, now as brown as Junior's, and began to read, smiling as understanding blossomed within her. Man, Junior had some friends in high places. Some of them he was afraid to name, even under the guise of some nonsensical code he probably made up. Roman always said that it wasn't paranoia if you were right, and in Junior's case, considering who he knew? He was a dead man if even half this stuff came out.

Well... dead-er.

Ruby held back a giggle. She sincerely hoped she wasn't developing a sense of humor centered on dead people, because it was hard enough to make friends already, what with crippling social anxiety and the whole eating people thing, not to mention her line of work. The last thing she needed was to become weirder. Her scroll buzzed again, interrupting her revelry. The mirth vanished from her face immediately.

I know you are not Junior.

Attached to the message was a video. Ruby, still apprehensive, nonetheless tapped the icon and was greeted with a disturbingly familiar scene. Twelve tendrils were surging forth the end the lives of as many men, a single bearded man with a rocket launcher standing among them, paralyzed as they were dragged towards the creature's devouring skin. The short frame of the monster was dark, yet uncovered by black armor was a pale face shrouded by a red hood. Peering our from underneath was a young girl with red, hungry eyes. Ruby dropped the scroll and bolted, hand on her mouth as she sought out her bathroom. She practically collapsed upon her toilet, and with no more theatrics, heaved. Even after her stomach was emptied, she continued to gasp and choke, her revulsion attempting to force out something that was no longer there. The video was only a visual recording, but Ruby's near-perfect memory supplied the accompanying sound with ease. Now more than ever, she was desperately trying to keep that door closed. Even while an impossibly strong monster tried to force its way through, she held on. It grew stronger the more heed she paid it, yet it also thrived in the dark. The door began to bend, buckling at the corners as something with red eyes and thousands of screaming faces peered through the cracks. Ruby fell back, writhing on the bathroom floor like a drug addict in withdrawal, skin literally crawling as she suffered its gaze.

Much the same, she honestly thought she wouldn't make it, feeling the sanity drain from her mind like blood from an open vein. She drew herself tightly together, trembling as tears flowed freely down her face. The psychological struggle between Ruby and Monster-Ruby waged on, as no clear victor emerged from the violent confrontation. Skin shifted, bones writhed, and limbs twisted as the red seeped into Ruby's iris'.

Then, as quickly as the attack started, it ended. The redness receded, the monster slinking back to the far corners of Ruby's consciousness. Ruby breathed heavily, tears cool on her flushed face. The feeling in her limbs returned slowly, and once they had, she wished they remained numb. Her limbs were twisted very uncomfortably, almost like a knot. Carefully, tenderly, she untangled them, feeling her bones shift and crack into place with a painful grimace. Long after her limbs returned to their natural positions, she continued to lay on her side, letting the tile cool her unbearably warm skin. She was truly a pathetic sight, trembling like an infant as the horror of the incident overtook her. The distant words of her conversation with Roman flowed through her chaotic mind, as though the monster was taunting her, forcing her to realize her impending fate...


In time, your heart will open minds
A story will be told


...a considerably more disheveled Ruby emerged from the bathroom, expression held tight by determination.

She found Junior's scroll right where she'd left it. A new message awaited her.

An address, and a time, three days from now. 1 million Lien. Come alone. Meet all our demands, or Red's identity goes public within the hour. Blackmail, plain and simple.

She contemplated what to do with the scroll. There was a high probability it was bugged. But it also served as her only line to her blackmailers. Reluctantly, she decided to hold onto it. There was the potential value in holding onto Oum-knows amounts of blackmail of her own, but that was secondary. Maintaining her secrecy was paramount. As was fixing her mistakes. She held no illusions about seedy opportunists - she literally lived with one - or bad luck. This was her doing. This was her fault.

And it was up to her to atone.


And victory is in a simple soul!


This Chapter May Also Be Named (TCMABN for short) - Two adults fantasize about what they'd do to 13 year old girl Anti-Hero for different reasons.

Question. Is there a ship with Ruby and Emerald? If so, and it is not called Tourmaline, then I will be very very disappointed.

Hint: This is not because Ruby/Emerald is a thing in this story, this is not an official announcement, this is not an 'april fools'.

oR iS iT?!1? No. It is not.

Fact fun: After I finished this chapter, I had a shower and sang This Life is Mine at the top of my lungs, I was so happy to get this done.

That should conclude my tired musings. Chapter 3 revision is gonna be out whenever. Review please.