'In, and out.'
'In, and out.'
'In, and out.'
To Ruby, her breathing exercises was the only thing keeping her from leaping from her suspended bed and indulging in the first person she found. Through her library research she read about people with addictions and compulsions, and the techniques they used to stay normal. Or as normal as the type of people she read about can be. Ruby knew her family and her friends could never understand her. Something was terribly wrong with her, she hurt people and enjoyed it, she was now the very thing she swore to protect this world from, a monster.
With a loud crash the room's door flew open to reveal a particularly satisfied looking Yang. Like the other members of her team, she had been out following her own lead into the person attacking the student body. The smile that adored her face did little for Ruby's peace of mind.
Already Weiss had returned by this point with Blake being the first of their team to arrive back at the room. Much like their last research expedition each of them split up in their search.
"Good!" Yang said enthusiastically. "You're all here. I found something super interesting. What did you guys find?"
"Well I learned something very interesting about our creep." Her big sister's statement felt like a stab to the heart for Ruby. That is what she was now, a creep.
"So far every victim has had a mysterious bouquet of flowers anonymously mailed to their hospital room. Almost a calling card of sorts."
Ruby knew where each of those came from. While it did not come close to making up for what she did, Ruby felt she had to do something to apologize in her own way. Luckily for her there were plenty of florists for her to pay cash in and to have no one ask questions.
Being high on her own detective skills Yang continued. "Like serial killers who brand their victims this guy is marking their own by sending them a bunch of flowers. Weird, but I'll go with it."
"Are you sure its the guy who's sending them?" Blake chimed in. "Couldn't it just be teammates and family members sending the flowers?
'Thanks Blake.' Ruby thought. 'See Yang, perfectly innocent explanations.'
"Naa. See I asked the teammates about it and none of them sent those flowers. And I went to the companies and each bouquet was paid for in cash without a name."
"That is the definition of anonymously." Snarked Blake.
In that moment Weiss started to regret her efforts to make the faunus more open in her communication. Ever since the incident when Blake accidentally revealed her heritage and ran off into the night, Weiss insisted that she make an effort to be more open with her teammates. An unfortunate side effect of this, as it seemed, was Blake not hiding her internal snide.
"Does no one else think this is weird?" Weiss chimed in. "Someone who drains people's blood and then sends flowers? It seems unlikely."
Her comment gave the group food for thought, causing a strange silence as both Blake and Yang found her statement to contain Weiss's impeccable logic.
When the group finally continued their conversation Ruby quietly slipped from the room under the guise of needing the restroom. She found a nice quiet place to hide away, a dark corner at the bottom of a particularly little used stairwell. The dusty cinderblock wall supported her weight as she leaned against it. As she did her mind wandered back to those desires that scared her so.
The sweet warmth of their bodies. The incomprehensible pleasure as the blood flowed into her. She loved every moment of it. The more she hurt and hunted the more willing she found herself to do it again.
"If what miss Karnstein said was true, then this just got much worse." Ironwood said as he stood next to Goodwitch as she surveyed the hospital bound victims. Hums and beeps of medical equipment filled the air. White cream walls reflected the sterile nature of this place. While students occupying these white beds was far from unusual, this was something Goodwitch would not stand for. A monster was hunting her students, and now she learned that the one behind it has the audacity to hide amongst them.
"I'm going to stop them. Every instructor is on the lookout for any student exhibiting strange or violent behavior." Said Goodwitch. "She choose someone who was capable of doing this. Not just physically capable, but someone willing to do this to their fellow students."
The seriousness on Goodwitch's face was something the general solem saw. This level of determination concerned Ironwood, but he was glad her anger was directed as someone who was not him.
"Do you have any suspects in mind?" Asked Ironwood.
"This academy has its fair share of bullies and aggressive types. But this is far beyond anything the children should be capable of. Ozpin selects each student who will be allowed to attend Beacon. Only those who he finds with the strength of character to become true huntsmen are allowed to attend."
Ironwood nodded in understanding. He knew this man well, and was confident in is impeccable judgement.
"Anyone who takes advantage of whatever new abilities they were given to them by this woman to hunt students has no business attending Beacon in the first place." Said Goodwich as she turned to look at Ironwood. "I will find him James and he will have another thing coming for him when I do."
She was so scared. Muffled cries for help, begging Ruby to stop and let her go. But Ruby could not make herself stop. No matter how much she tried stop everything she was doing, it felt to good not to give in.
This girl was out alone for some unknown reason in the dark halls of beacon, and as much as Ruby wished she could just let the girl continue on with whatever goals or life events had to strolling the academy, her body's dark cravings would not let that happen.
Ruby sprinted away from her latest victim towards her stairwell hiding spot. Even at full sprint she felt herself moving slower than she was used too, her semblance had been feeling weaker of late. She barely made it to her sanctuary before she broke down in tears. It did not matter how many times she did this, she was still hurting innocent people and she would never be okay with it.
"Why am I doing this?" She said looking at her hands, the hands that hurt so many people. "Why can't I stop myself?"
She clenched her fingers into tight fists, digging her nails into her palms and sending the searing pain through her. In that moment Ruby began to realize the longer she stayed at Beacon the more people would be hurt. She had to keep everyone safe and the longer she spent there the more people she would hurt. The dreams of being a hero, protecting the innocent just like in her books, were over. Ruby knew she would never be the hero, the savior of the weak. Her goals were gone, but maybe she could do one last thing to protect her friends.
This latest combat lesson did little to stimulate Yang's attention. Professor Goodwitch was going on about something to do with battling a superior opponent, but the blond girl paid it little mind. Silver scroll in her lap, Yang stared intently at the device, reading through the various information she saved to it regarding her team's latest project.
Severe blood loss. Lacerations to the neck and shoulder. Bruises to the face, arms, and back. These injuries were common in nearly every victim. Something the team learned in their latest round of snooping. All this painted a strange puzzle that Yang was determined to solve.
"Yang." Weiss's harsh whisper snapped Yang back into reality. "Would you pay attention for once in your life. This is poor behavior and it reflects badly on your team."
Yang though about how for her teammate everything was in fact about her. Teammate slacking off, reflects badly on the princess. Someone skipping class, makes the princess look bad. For someone who was attacked in their own dorm room, Weiss, it seemed, paid little interest in finding the guy. While Weiss was spending the majority of her free time calling in favors and joining the team in their snooping exercises, it was her calm demeanor during class time that struck Yang as odd.
"Doesn't this just seem not as important? I'm pretty sure there's bigger things we could be working on right now." Yang whispered back.
"We cannot devote every waking moment to searching for my attacker Yang. We are still students and we all have responsibilities." Said Weiss.
Yang hated whenever Weiss's counter-points made sense, not that she would ever admit it. She just disliked sitting around doing nothing while some creep went around attacking people left and right.
"Fine ice queen. I'll pay attention." She said, eliciting a glare from the aforementioned Weiss. Looking up from her scroll Yang watched as the professor continued on about dealing with opponents much more powerful than yourself. A strange lecture topic Yang found considering Goodwitch's syllabus did not list it for this week.
"I mean are you sure this is a good idea?" Ruby said nervously, responding to Weiss's suggestion. The four teammates sat in their room discussing Weiss's plan. Ruby, Blake, and Yang sat on their respective beds while Weiss stood at the front of the room and told the group of her findings. Given what she had apparently devised, Yang could no longer fault her for paying attention in class.
"Of course you dunce. We've gone through much worse as a team and this will be no different." Weiss retorted.
"Still Weiss," Blake interjected, "What makes you think you're correct about our guy going after someone tonight?"
Weiss closed her eyes and sighed, realizing that bursting into the room and announcing to the team that they were going hunting for their bad guy tonight because he was going to strike again, was probably a statement that required more information.
"Looking at the dates of each incident points to a pattern of an attack every four to five nights." Weiss paused to study her audience's reaction. Blake nodded in understanding while the sisters gave Weiss blank stares. "Well the last attack that we are aware of took place six nights ago. Clearly that means our culprit will most likely be out tonight. Thus this is our opportunity to catch him."
Ruby shifted nervously on her bed. Weiss was correct; as much as Ruby tried to control herself, the longer she went the stronger the urges, and the weaker her self control, became. If she did not hurt someone soon, Ruby hated to imagine what she would do if she waited.
"We get that Weiss, but what makes you think you'll succeed where the police haven't? I'm pretty sure they've figured this out as well." Said Yang.
"Well," Weiss started, clearly proud of her own perceived brilliance, "Our guy is obviously making a point to avoid any law enforcement or academy personnel. However, whoever he or she is, they're targeting students who are out late, and alone." Her last statement triggered exactly the negative reaction she expected from her teammates.
"Woa, woa woa." Yang started. "You want us patrolling the school, as bait! I agree with Ruby on this one. This is not a good idea."
"That's not exactly what she said." Replied Weiss.
"I think Weiss's plan has promise." Blake interrupted. "I feel this is our best chance at finding whoever is doing this." Her calm tone successfully defusing the fire and ice confrontation. "What about you Ruby? What do you think?"
The girl in red shifted uncomfortably on her bed before speaking. "W-Well it seems rather dangerous ya know. What if one of you gets hurt? Maybe we should just stay in tonight and let someone else handle it." She said nervously.
"Oh please, no one's gonna hurt this badass!" Yang proudly stated. It never ceased to amaze Ruby how quickly her sister's opinion would change if someone even insinuated that she might lose a fight, a fact that she wished she would remember more often. "Come on Rubes, no one is going to lay a finger on this team. Even if its Weiss's terrible plan."
"Hey!" Said Weiss.
"What do you say Ruby, we all stay in constant contact and call if we see anything. If we do it right there will be nothing to worry about." Blake said reassuringly. All eyes turned to their leader as they awaited her answer.
A cold chill flowed over Ruby's red clad form. From her perch atop one of Beacon's many roofs she surveyed the quiet campus below. The irony of her situation was not lost on her. While she was supposed to be patrolling for the one attacking students, in reality she was hunting for her next victim. She wished she could wait just another night, anything to ensure her friends would not find her out, if she delayed she was sure to lose control again. She refused to let herself fall into that again. Soon, soon enough she would leave this place, slipping away in the night, off to somewhere she could never hurt anyone ever again.
Through the darkness she spied her newest target, a young boy, just a few years older than herself. He would be perfect.
Sprinting across the rooftops the silent predator closed on her target. Once again she found her speed lacking. As the days went on her semblance continued to weaken. Secretly she hoped that each stolen drink would restore her.
She leaped down from the roof when her target entered a campus building. Through the double glass doors she creeped, slowly closing on her prey. Every time she did this she hoped that she would suddenly lose this overpowering desire, this desire to tear this person open and indulge in their blood. If only she could stop herself. If only.
With a thunderous crash the boy was smashed into the adjacent wall. Dazed and confused he could hardly fight back as the powerful attacker dragged him into a dark classroom.
Ruby pulled herself atop of her victim, pinning him with her weight. as she pulled his head to the left and savagely tore his collar aside, exposing the flesh of his neck. The pang of guilt was silenced by the overwhelming desire inside her, the one reminding her of the gloriousness that awaited her beneath his skin.
Dropping her head down she plunged her teeth into his neck, slicing it open and allowing the wonderful fluid to flow free. Ruby gulped down the euphoria inducing drink, tuning out her perception of the world around her.
Abruptly the door flew open and the classroom was bathed in light. An excited feminine voice filled the room. Ruby felt her stomach drop, she knew that voice. She knew the person behind it, and feared that one above all else.
"Ah ha! gotcha!"
Ruby raised her head from her victim, blood streamed down her lips and chin. There in the doorway with one hand on the lightswitch the other pointing a gauntlet into the room, was Yang. Time seemed to slow down as Yang continued to speak. "Come on and fight me you bea…" Her voice abruptly cut off upon seeing the red clad girl.
Yang's face held an expression of confusion slowly morphing into one of horrifying realization and disbelief. "R-Ruby?"
Author's Notes:
Let me know what you think. So far I'm having a lot of fun writing this.
Please review.
Thank you for reading.