Chapter Eight: Last Levee


re:Bound

A Fanfiction by Allison Illuminated

Chapter Publish Date: 10/28/17


"Ruby? What are you doing?"

Ruby looked up from her thick book and yawned at Weiss. "Reading my history textbook, obviously.

The Schnee heiress stared at her, face filled with shadows in the dim light of WBYR's dorm room. "You're… actually doing your homework."

She smiled at her partner. "Well, I'm trying." If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't sure whether she was trying to study or not have a complete mental breakdown. It was taking more willpower than she would have liked not just start screaming for no reason.

Not that she was going to tell that to Weiss.

The aforementioned girl seemed to be genuinely happy as she settled down next to her, pulling up a chair to sit alongside her partner. "Well, then I suppose it would be my duty as team leader to assist you, right?" Flicking her ponytail off her shoulder, she pulled her binder off of their shared shelf and pulled Ruby's notebook towards her slightly, raising her eyebrows at a doodle on the page. "Okay… This corgi is cute, yes, but I don't see how that's going to help you understand the material..."

Ruby did her best to keep up with Weiss as her leader scoured through her notes. It became immediately obvious not only that she had no idea what was happening in class, but also that she didn't really know how to study. Weiss was a good teacher, though, and the thick leadership binder she had shown off that first day was actually incredibly useful. She had never been taught methodically like this before – her favorite teacher ever was her Uncle Qrow, who was freewheeling and often drunk in class.

She still hated it, of course. Every time she started zoning out, though, she immediately thought of Weiss crying in the library, and what Neo had said to her.

You have family who cares. You have friends who care. There are so many people who don't have that, and you do of all people. Why do you deserve any of that?

She had asked Neo to leave her alone while she studied. Shockingly, she had agreed and was now conspicuously absent from her mind. She had said something about going into town, maybe? Ruby had never expected she would actually feel it when Neo left, but there was something cold while she was gone she couldn't stamp out.

In a momentary lull in the transition from note-taking strategies and studying techniques to actual content, Ruby and Weiss glanced at each other at the same time and smiled. "Thank you," she said softly, and Weiss shrugged.

"Thank you for finally opening up, Ruby," she said softly as she traced the edges of the textbook. "We've all been worried about you, but you've seemed… better these past couple of days. I'm just glad you're letting me help you."

Ruby met her ice blue eyes, lit up by the desk light.

I've been so lost in everything with Neo, all of these dreams and violence… These are the moments I've been missing.

"You know, when we first met, I never thought I would say this, but you're a good leader, Weiss."

Her ponytail swayed behind her as she tilted her head. "And you can be, um, difficult sometimes, and I know you've gone through a lot, but I'm glad you're on my team. Are we going to go over these Grimm attacks?"

"Yeah, let's do it."

Side by side, the two partners worked through the dense history textbook. For once, Ruby felt like she might be able to actually fit in at Beacon.


Neo's boot connected with Ruby's head, sending her tumbling to the ground in a dazed haze.

Ow… What was that for?

The grassy commons were cold and dewy in the early morning. She didn't have long to take it in before she was lifted up by the collar of her combat outfit to stare directly into Neo's harsh brown and pink eyes. You asked me to teach you hand to hand combat because Cardin Winchester could have kicked your ass. You asked. Not me. Don't make me do that again.

Ruby groaned as she was dropped onto her knees. Clambering her way to her feet, she reluctantly took a combat stance and bared her aching fists. Crescent Rose sat where she had carefully placed it on the grass. Fine, I'm ready.

Neo smirked. Wonderful.

Activating her semblance, Ruby rammed forwards with as much force as she could muster. Neo brought her arms together to block, and Ruby barely ducked under a roundhouse kick. Even as she threw five times as many punches as Neo, the other girl clearly had the upper hand.

When she missed a punch, a kick to the gut sent her flying to the ground.

Coughs racked Ruby's body as Neo ground her heel into the dirt next to her. Rose, I'm not even using my semblance. If this had been a real fight, you're dead on the first punch.

I don't want to fight like this! Ruby exclaimed. You're trying to teach me like I'm Yang, but I'm not! I can't brawl, I can't throw insane punches like she can. It's not- um- it's not all swirly like Crescent Rose is.

Fine, Neo growled as she pulled her sword out. We'll do this your way.

Huh?

Dodge.

Ruby jumped out of the way as Neo lashed out, her sword whistling by her head. Stop, are you trying to kill me?

Yes, and so will they!

She screamed as Neo swept her blade into her side, sending her tumbling to the ground as her aura broke. Pain flared across her side, searing just like when Neo had struck her in her dreams. Curling up into a little ball, she couldn't stop herself from crying, clutching her side as something warm and sticky seeped through her fingers.

Blood.

She was hurdling through the air, she was hitting the ground. Roman's face was so pale, so lifeless, so shocked to have his chest split open to the open night air. She was screaming, had she ever stopped screaming? Her clothes kept getting stained with blood…

Neo was talking. She didn't listen.

Aura rushed into her body, and the wound closed up under her fingers, but she couldn't care less.

I killed him. I killed him. I killed him. I killed him. I killed him.

Murderer. I'm a murderer. I killed him.

I killed Roman Torchwick.

I'm a murderer.

Ruby, please, stop, I can't hide noises! Someone's going to come, please, just stop for a minute!

She was warm. Why was she warm? Was it the blood? She couldn't remember how to breathe anymore.

Ruby, you have to, you have to, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-

"I- I-"

It started as a whisper, weak and wavering, pulling Ruby back to her senses.

Pink and brown hair fell down into her face, wavering in her watery vision. A smaller body shook with sobs against hers, even as she cried her own tears. Neo glowed with black and white energy as aura flowed into Ruby, bringing her further and further away from Roman. Her eyes, illuminated by her own dying light, shone crystal clear in the dark.

"I- I'm so-"

Her voice was light but raspy, and she spoke in barely a whisper, struggling to force out sounds without a tongue. Voice cracking, she hung her head and looked away.

"You would have killed me." Just like I killed him.

Silence.

"I can't handle this," Ruby whispered, numb against the damp grass. "I can't do this anymore."

"I-"

"Get off of me."

Neo opened her mouth, but she couldn't make an r, couldn't say her name. Clinging tighter to Ruby, she sobbed into her shirt. Please, no, I'm sorry, I'm-

"Get off of me!" Ruby screamed and pushed.

For a moment, there was a brilliant green glow in the night. Neo ripped herself away from Ruby, staggering as she stared at Ruby in horror. No.

Ruby stared at Neo as her aura died down. She could feel her aura die down. She could see her aura die down.

What had she just done?

Neo shook her head as she stumbled away from Ruby. No. No, no, you can't have- You- Ruby, please, I'm sorry.

Don't call me that.

What-

Ruby struggled to her feet as her pain and fear-fueled the crimson inferno of rage inside of her. Her vision faded to red as she started walking towards Neo. I'm just you're plaything, aren't I? I'm just your little pawn, aren't I? I'm sick of secrets. I'm sick of living like this. I'm sick of fighting. Stop moving!

Neo froze in place as the air glowed green again. Ruby, please stop, don't do this!

Ruby stooped down and grabbed Crescent Rose, unleashing it in a whirl of gears and moving parts. Oh, but I'm not Ruby to you am I? I'm just a murderer. I just killed Roman Torchwich, so you get to torture me for months. Maybe you are teaching me something. Maybe I am just the Black Rose. It's not like you give a shit about me anyways.

Ruby, don't curse, Neo said faintly. This isn't you, please-"

"SHUT UP!" Ruby kicked as hard as she could, hitting Neo's side. The other girl tumbled into the grass, scrambling back to her feet but never moving from her spot. "Maybe I'm not the same fucking person I was when this all started, okay? Isn't that what you wanted? Didn't you want me to be one of them? Don't you want to hate me? Is that why you're trying so hard to fuck me up? Is that why I have no friends? Is that why my own teammates hate me? IS THIS WHAT YOU FUCKING WANTED?"

Tears ran down Neo's face as Ruby stalked forwards. Please, Ruby, do-

"I told you not to call me that."

Ruby's voice cut like the shattering glass panes of Dust Till Dawn. So did Crescent Rose.

Neo's head snapped back as she cudgeled the end of her scythe into her head. Her aura shattered as she collapsed to the ground, bloodied. Ruby felt her aura dim, and she snapped back to her senses.

She was a murderer. She had killed Roman Torchwick. Nothing was stopping her from killing in cold blood again.

Maybe something in her had died. Maybe it had already been long dead. Either way, she was already gone.

Neo's prone form was left in the dark, dusted with rose petals as Ruby disappeared into the night.


The deep scarlet stain on Neo's shirt sank and rose in the moonlight.

Crescent Rose gently swung from side to side, creaking in the quiet common room. Her combat outfit had a jagged foot long tear, curling edges turned black as her pale skin was visible underneath. Her silver eyes were cold.

She had wandered for an hour before she had come back to Neo and brought her in. What else could she do?

Neo was so small. How had she never noticed it before? Unconscious, arms crossed over her chest, it would be so effortless just to take her away forever. Her nightmare would never wake again at the bottom of Beacon Cliff.

She couldn't bring herself to do it.

She wanted to run, she wanted to go to back to the training center, she wanted Crescent Rose to kiss the air with all of the venom and fury she felt in her world. She wanted to destroy something. Her weapon was the only thing she had ever truly known and understood, after all.

She couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Red like roses..."

Her voice quavered, her throat growing thick as she knelt by the couch. Her music had always helped her before, why wasn't it changing anything now?

"Fills my head with dreams and finds me always closer…

Reaching out, she held Neo's hands, carefully threading her fingers together as she sang quietly. Everything was swirling inside of her, and she couldn't stop it, she couldn't hide it, not anymore.

"To the emptiness and sadness that has come to take the place of- of- of-"

Unable to take it any longer, she curled up as tight as she could, burying her head in her arms to lock herself in darkness.

"If you ever want to understand your powers, this will be the only way..." "There are times where a hunter must take a human life..."

She didn't want Ozpin in her head.

"Something's been off about you the whole time… We were never friends..."

She didn't want Blake in her head.

"We're just worried about you, Ruby."

She didn't want Yang in her head. She didn't want Weiss in her head. She didn't want Pyrrha, or Jaune, or anyone else in her head.

"Are your dreams gone?

"I control you, Ruby Rose, and I'm going to make sure you never forget that."

"Why are you running in the dark?"

"I want to hate you."

"Oh, Rose, I don't want you to die. I'm only going to make you use me, in the same way I'm going to use you."

"I want you to be one of them."

"You don't understand. You don't understand anything about me. Roman wasn't like them. He was different. He cared about me. He listened to me. So, I did it for him. I wanted to do it for him. And now, I can't even grieve for him because you're in my head! Get out of my head! There's always someone in my head!"

"I don't understand," she whispered to the dark.

"Because I loved him. And you will always be the person who took that away from me."

"If you won't be one of them..."

"You have family who cares. You have friends who care. There are so many people who don't have that, and you do of all people. Why do you deserve any of that? I don't understand it."

"I'll just turn you into one of them myself."

"I'm so-"

Reaching deep inside of herself, Ruby found her aura, pulsating crimson, sparking with Neo's white and black. For the first time, she could see Neo's aura as well, connecting to hers as pure energy shifted between them. There was an alien beauty to it, but Ruby couldn't see it.

Instead, she pulled as hard as she could.

Was this what Ozpin had mean, manipulating aura to calm herself? Her aura shrank and pulled away from Neo, growing smaller as its edges solidified into a hard shell around her core.

What was the ball of silver at her center? Curiously, she poked it only to meet solid resistance. It didn't matter, anyways. It wasn't like it was important.

Neo's aura feebly tried to hold onto hers, but she tore herself away and into herself. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't tear herself away from a tiny golden cord connecting them together. Frustrated, she pushed her aura further into herself, dragging red tendrils away from the darkness around her and into her core.

Slowly, her tears dried up as she began to reach her aura's limit.

I don't want Neo in my head.

I don't want anyone in my head.

I don't want to be in my own head anymore.


Ruby Rose's eyes shot open, red flecks dancing across steely gray.

It was comfortable, somehow, to feel nothing at all.


Neo woke up slowly, her head raging against every move she made. Once she had woken up enough, she cast out to Ruby – to apologize, to tell her anything.

Ruby?

Reaching out, she was met with a wall, one she could pass no matter how hard she raged against it. After casting her aura against Ruby's for several minutes, she sunk deeper onto the couch and buried her head in her hands.

What have I done?


"So, Jaune..."

"Huh?"

Weiss looked at him calculatingly, although a small smile betrayed her unusually good mood. She had finally gotten through to Ruby last night, so it wouldn't hurt to be happy with herself every one in a while, would it? Besides, as much as she hated to admit it, the idiot boy's position as a team leader made him her peer and equal. She had to at least pretend she wanted to interact with him. "What did you think of the leadership conference this weekend? Is JNPR ready for our trip to Forever Fall tomorrow?"

Jaune looked like a deer caught in headlights. She was used to that, as it seemed to happen to people around her often at home in Atlas. "Oh, um, I'm not sure about the leadership stuff, I guess the tactics workshop was pretty interesting. We a-"

"We're totally going to kick Grimm butt tomorrow!" Nora yelled enthusiastically, pounding the table as she got to her feet. "Me and Ren and Pyrrha have been training super hard together, so anything bad that comes along is gonna get smashed."

Ren shrugged as he pulled his partner down into her seat. "It'll be fun," he said as he took another bite out of his stack of pancakes.

Team JNPR and WBY were seated around their breakfasts, bright morning light streaming into the cafeteria. Blake and Yang were quietly talking over to the side, and Ruby was nowhere to be found. Not like that doesn't happen all the time anyway.

Weiss leaned forwards over her continental breakfast – a small croissant with a dab of jam and fresh strawberries. "Wait a second Nora, what about Jaune?"

Pyrrha sighed as she stirred her spoon around in circles in her cereal. "Jaune… hasn't exactly been training with us."

Jaune crossed his arms over his bunny t-shirt, staring down at the table. "I- I guess that I, um, prefer training alone..."

Weiss glared at him. That's total bull, and everyone here knows it, Jaune. He winced but held her gaze until she looked away in disinterest. "I see."

A stroke of red caught the corner of Weiss' eye, and she stopped thinking about Jaune. "Ruby! Come over here and sit with us!" she yelled across the cafeteria.

Yang perked up and paused her conversation with Blake to look at Ruby. "Oh my god. Oh- Wha- Ruby!"

"What?" Yang burst out of her seat and ran over to Ruby as Weiss looked at her team member. Why was everyone else gasping in horror? She had her hood up – sure, that made her look like a criminal, but that was normal, so- Oh…

Yang pulled Ruby across the cafeteria and into a spare chair as Pyrrha stood up and ran over to her side. "Ruby, what happened? Are you okay?"

Weiss felt her stomach tumble as she stared at the massive tear in Ruby's combat outfit. Her side and the fabric were stained red, and she was covered in filth and grime. Her head hung low as her hood shadowed her face. That's a sword wound… One that cut through her outfit and her aura, if she had any left. "Ruby, who attacked you?"

A hush fell over the two teams as they all stared expectantly at her. She didn't move.

Weiss scowled as she got up and walked over to her partner's side. "Ruby, take your hood off and tell us what happened! Was it Grimm?" She didn't want to think about what that might imply, but she had to know. Reaching over, she pulled Ruby's hood back.

Silver eyes masked by swirling crimson film stared blankly ahead. She gulped and unconsciously backed up a step. Blake made a strange noise and pulled away from the table, and Yang grew even more frantic. "Ruby, are you okay?"

"She looks like you when you use your semblance," Pyrrha murmured.

"I'm fine."

Ruby looked up at Yang, then vanished into a cloud of rose petals faster than Weiss had ever seen her move. "Since when is her semblance that fast?" she said quietly, something in between concern and dread filling her. In moments, she was back at the table with a full tray of food, quickly making her way through her breakfast.

Yang grabbed Ruby's shoulder, and her sister blankly looked up at her. "Ruby, you're not answering me! What happened to your side? Did someone attack you?"

"I fell. I told you, I'm fine," Ruby snapped as she finished her meal and got up from the table.

Yang flinched back as Pyrrha said, "Wait, Ruby, can't you sit with us and talk for once? We're all really worried about you. Please, just sit down and let us help you!"

Ruby pulled her hood back up as she walked away, other students jumping aside as she walked alone away from their table. "No."

They watched her go in silence. Weiss was unable to rip her eyes away from the massive wound on her side. Stop her! Her rational mind screamed, but something else was deeply frightened of and for her partner.

"Hey, if it isn't th-"

Cardin Winchester slammed into the upper cafeteria wall as Ruby unleashed Crescent Rose directly into his chestplate. The cafeteria stopped and stared at her as he slid down the wall. Slinging her scythe over her shoulder, she walked out of the cafeteria before disappearing in a cloud of petals.

"Wow." Nora put her hands on her hips as Cardin's team ran over him. "I know this probably isn't the right time, but that was aw-"

"Nora."

She pouted up at Ren, but stopped talking and went back to her breakfast.

Yang collapsed into her seat, staring blankly at the wall ahead of her. Blake and Pyrrha rushed to her side. "Her side… That wasn't Ruby, it's like she died and something else took over her," she said vacantly.

Blake shook her head. "That's not true. She's been like this for a while, I think she's just been better at hiding it."

"But-"

"Yang," Pyrrha said as rested her hand on Yang's shoulder. "We're Ruby's friends, we're not just going to stand by and do nothing! Come on, there's got to be a way that we can help her out!"

Weiss nodded, pushing her thoughts of Ruby's injury to the back of her mind. "Pyrrha's right, there's no way I'm going to let my partner be like this. Teams WBYR and JNPR, as your leader-"

"Hey!" Jaune exclaimed. "What about me?"

"Well, Weiss has spent more time training us than you have..." Ren said quietly. "She's actually very disciplined and helpful."

Weiss smiled at the compliment, then shot Jaune a questioning look. The boy sighed and shrugged. "Anyways, it's our job to make Ruby happy again! Who has any ideas?"

A tiny spark lit up Yang, and a shade of her confidence came back to her. "Well, I may have an idea..."


Jaune jumped as Milo slammed against the door, glowing bronze. "Hey, Pyrrha, what was that for?"

Pyrrha Nikos frowned as she pulled her weapon back to her. Finally, I got him to stay. "Jaune, I told you I need to talk to you, so why have you been ignoring me?"

Her partner sighed and leaned against the door. "Pyrrha, please, I can't tell you!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. You haven't told me who you've been training with for too long. I'm sick of it. "You can't hide this from me any longer. You're my friend, Jaune, nothing can possibly be too bad for you to tell me! Who have you been training with?"

"Ruby! It's Ruby, okay? That's why I've been getting up every night for the past couple of weeks," Jaune exclaimed, trying to turn the doorknob behind him.

Not for the first time, she was incredibly grateful for her semblance. "Ruby? Why Ruby?"

He searched wildly around the room looking for an out, but she had told Ren and Nora to leave them alone before classes this morning. That might have given Nora some… misguided ideas about them, but it was necessary. "I don't have a choice."

She caught her breath as she realized something. "Wait, did you give her that-"

"Of course not!" Jaune exclaimed forcefully. "She never came to wake me up last night, so I don't know what happened."

Pyrrha's gut twisted painfully, although she wasn't sure why. "She's been coming in here every night? Have you two been alone?"

"Yes, well-" His eyes were wild as he met her gaze. "Pyrrha, I wish I could have talked to you about it. Ruby, well- She-" He walked towards her and dropped his voice. "There are weird things that happen. Like, she works herself until her aura disappears, then she glows white and black and it just comes back. I mean, it's not normal! She- she's really messed up, like, she's super brutal and she just attacks me whenever I do something wrong. It's like a nightmare, Pyrrha."

Jaune squeezed his eyes shut, and she realized he was shaking. She embraced him, and he flinched back as if he was scared of her touch. "Jaune, why didn't you tell me? You know I'm always here for you. You can tell me anything."

"I faked my transcripts."

"What?"

"I never went to a combat school before Beacon," Jaune whispered. "My older sisters are all huntsmen or soldiers, but I was never that good at combat. My dad told me he was never going to give me Crocea Mors, even though I was the only boy in our family. So I ran. I stole the sword and ran, and I haven't talked to my family since. I came to Vale because I wanted to come to Beacon, but I didn't have the experience or money. I was working in the city for more than a year before I was able to get the fake transcripts, training with the retired huntsman who was running the bar I washed dishes for. That's why I couldn't tell anyone. That's why I couldn't tell you about Ruby. She told me she would keep it a secret as long as she trained me. I thought she was going to help me, not- not-"

Pyrrha hung her head over Jaune's shoulder as he started crying, unsure of what to say. He never was really supposed to be here… But he's worked so hard! Why didn't he come to me? I would have helped him, I would have done anything for him. "How did Ruby find out?"

"I don't even know!" Jaune shouted as he pulled away from Pyrrha. "I was just going down to the weapons workshop to get stuff to take care of my sword, and she just goes all 'Oh, you're the one who faked his transcripts!' How the hell did the fifteen-year-old figure that out? For that matter, if she's fifteen, how is she so screwed up?"

"Jaune, calm down!" Pyrrha said forcefully, grabbing his armor with her semblance and sitting him down onto the nearest bed.

He stared back at her, frightened. "Sorry. I'm sorry, I should ha-"

"I don't care." She walked across the room and sat down next to him. "I just wish you had told me this sooner, so I could have helped you train. I'm your partner, so it's my job to support you. What should we do about Ruby?"

Jaune shook his head. "You don't understand, there's nothing we can do. If I get kicked out of Beacon, that's the end of my dream and I'll be homeless. If I leave here, I don't have anywhere else to go!"

"But-"

"If I talk to Ozpin, she'll tell him and I'll get kicked out. If I talk to her, she'll tell him and I'll get kicked out. I already tried to tell Yang about how violent she gets, but she wouldn't believe me! She has some fantasy idea that her sister is this kinda awkward, goofy, naive sweetheart who would never lay a finger on someone else, but she's not!"

"Yang is really depressed, Jaune," Pyrrha said softly as she rubbed his back to calm him down. "I've talked to Blake about it – she's absolutely terrified about her. She's such a good sister, but whatever is happening to Ruby is destroying her. Blake did say some of the same things you did about Ruby, though. I believe you. Can't we do anything?"

"I don't know. I don't have anything I can do to make her stop."

An idea popped into her head. "That's not true, actually. You have me."

"Huh?"

Pyrrha shot him her best determined look. "Alright, I know I've asked you this before, but I'm going to ask you again. Jaune Arc, will you let me train you?"

Jaune hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly. "I guess so..."

She embraced her partner, who reluctantly hugged her back. "We're going to fix this, okay? I promise that I won't let bad thing keep happening to us. We're all going to be alright. I promise."


Yang stood awkwardly in the middle of the training center as her combat class muttered around them, cocking and uncocking Ember Cecila. Her plan was flawless – as long as Ruby actually showed up to class.

Convincing Glynda to pair them up in a match? Easy. All it took was a little charm to convince her a good spar with her adorable depressed sister would cheer them both right up. Now, she just needed to Yang her sister around a bit, and it would be just like back in Patch.

Hopefully.

Turning to find Blake in the stands, she smirked and saluted at her partner. Besides, Blake's going to love this. Sparring her would be fun… Nope, this is more important.

Blake smiled and waved back at her, then Weiss poked her and they started talking again.

"Miss Rose, you are late."

Ruby! Yang spun around on her heel to see her sister walking into the room. Her heart fell slightly as she realized she looked the same as that morning. She had changed into her spare combat outfit, but she still had her hood pulled low over her eyes.

She didn't know why Ruby hadn't shown up to their room that morning after breakfast.

She didn't know why her sister was acting so distant.

She intended to change that.

Ruby made for the seats but was stopped short as Glynda held her in place with her semblance. "I don't think so. Since you were late, you will spar Miss Xiao Long to make up for lost time. This should make for an interesting fight."

Yang caught the teacher's eye in gratitude and nearly burst out laughing as Glynda winked at her, almost saucily. Guess she's not quite as much of a prude as I thought, that'll show me.

Ruby set her books down on the stairs and flipped her hood down as she walked into the center of the arena. In one fluid motion, she unclipped and unleashed Crescent Rose and dug the tip into the floor of the arena.

Silently. Which was a little unnerving, Yang supposed. None of her sister's usual complaining or fanfare. She could fix that.

"Ruby, don'tcha think you've been holed up in your room a bit too much?"

The crowd groaned, but the target audience was silent.

"I mean, you've really been breaking your schedule up lately, huh?"

Okay, so even she could admit that one was pretty bad. Glynda shot her a look that clearly said, 'Get on with it or I will lock you up in my Atlesian sex dungeon and perform unspeakable acts to you.'

Now, she didn't necessarily have a problem with that, but the point was taken. "Fine, I'm ready."

Blake rolled her eyes at her, and she tried Glynda's wink out on her. She laughed, so Yang decided that her combat teacher was seriously on to something.

"Let's get this over with," Ruby said as she tensed.

What? No, "Yang, you're going down?" No, "Look at how weapony my stupid death blade is?" Is Ruby really not- Nope, this is going to help her feel normal again. It has to.

"Alright, your fight goes until one of you reaches twenty-five percent aura. Ready, go!"

Her sister shotgunned backward as Yang dodged the concentrated dust bullet. Kicking off of the wall, Ruby slammed Crescent Rose's tip back into the ground. The handle bent forwards as she kicked down, and Yang's eyes widened in shock as she easily took the hit with one arm and punched forwards with the other.

Is she actually kicking? When did she learn how to use physical attacks like that?

Ruby did a front flip and brought Crescent Rose down to where Yang had been. She fired to quick dust powered shots, only to wildly duck as Ruby rolled as she swept around with Crescent Rose.

Whenever her sister started spiraling around, long distance was the easy way to tire her out. Easy victory.

Yang leaped away from Ruby and got ready to change Ember Cecila to distance mode, then gasped as Ruby activated her semblance into a double crosscut. She tried again, only to find that Ruby wasn't letting her get away. Realizing she was stumbling, she decided it was time to go on the offensive.

Every time Ruby brought her weapon around, there was a moment where Crescent Rose was on the other side of her body. She could exploit that.

As Ruby's moves got more and more complex, she ducked and weaved through her attacks as she waited for the right moment. How was she dodging every shot she fired? Ruby had never been this good before. Then again, she hadn't sparred with her since right before they came to Beacon, so who really knew what had happened since them.

The moment came, and Yang struck.

Her chest filled with a deep satisfaction as she landed three punches directly on Ruby. Then, they came face to face. Staring into Ruby's crimson silver eyes, she knew she had made a mistake.

Ruby pulled the trigger on Crescent Rose, and her kill move dropped the blade directly into Yang's back. She then activated her semblance, and Yang lifted off the ground in a furious whirlwind of blows and red. After taking at least ten hits, Ruby kicked her down into the ground, where she slid back to hit the wall.

Ow… Ruby, how the hell did you do that?

It didn't matter. She could already feel her aura raging inside of her, emanating around her as she got to her feet and bashed Ember Cecila together.

Ruby had 78%, and she had 31%. That didn't matter. She was going to bash her little sister back to her senses.

Don't overextend yourself, just punch her then get away.

Ruby's eyes were calculating as she cocked Crescent Rose. Yang yelled and rushed forwards, only to duck underneath another dust explosion. Looking back up, Ruby was already halfway across the arena with three bullets coming at her from different angles.

Shit, she's strafing me. Two can play that game.

Focusing all of her energy on dodging, Yang shot round after round past where Ruby had been seconds earlier as she fought her way to the side of the arena. She can't strafe me if she can't get behind me.

Her back neared the wall, and suddenly Crescent Rose was on top of her.

No, she was just maneuvering me! Damn, how the hell-

Yang dove to the side as a gravity dust bullet ripped through the wall, punching forward and flipping off her gauntlets as Ruby swung Crescent Rose through her roll. Pushing off the wall, Yang landed a solid hit on Ruby's head as she flew past her and the scythe, landing on her feet as Ruby collapsed to her knees after the superpowered hit. "Hah, you still can't beat me, huh? We did always say my semblance was bet-"

Ruby kicked out, and Yang fell onto Crescent Rose's blade.

A ding signified the end of the match, and Ruby dumped Yang unceremoniously onto the ground as she sheathed Crescent Rose and stalked over to the stands.

Yang stared blankly at the pulsing red 2% on the board.

Did I just lose? To Ruby?

She saw Blake, then darkness.


[A/N] Here we go. Right now, we're heading full throttle to the end of Volume One and the first arc: Just two more chapters before we move on to Volume Two.

Ruby shuts down completely, so we get a glimpse into Yang, Weiss, and Pyrrha's thoughts. This was a lot of fun to write. I'm really focusing on fleshing out Ruby's perspective, so I've been trying to keep everything in her headspace. When she locks that up, though, we get a chance to see how everyone else has been faring.

Things are coming together, and not just for Ruby…

You guys are amazing as always, and I'm incredibly excited for next week's chapter and my birthday this week. Thank you all, and I'll see you there.

Signing out, Allie

[Edit 2/11/18] Grammar

Estimated Update Day: 11/4/17