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The girl stopped in front of the redhead and sighed, crossing her arms in front of her. "So what will you do now?" She reminded Rose of Professor Ozpin, for some odd reason. Probably in her tone of voice, a sense of unquestionable authority.
She finally muttered, "…Be damned if I know."
"You would just sit there and let one of them die?"
"Well I can't stop that," she whined, gesturing towards the frozen pair of combatants locked in an endless staring contest. "That one almost killed me just a minute ago, and she wasn't even angry yet," she pointed a finger at Coco and was only slightly surprised that the movement didn't hurt.
The girl gave a sigh that was part growl. There was an unmistakable tone of irritation in the noise. They stared at each other for a few minutes before the smaller one spoke again, "Come with me, and you will learn how to stop …that."
Oddly enough, there was no surprise in Rose's voice. "Where to?"
"Another world. A safer world. There you can learn that which you need to make this right. There you can grow as a leader and find yourself as a person."
The older redhead slowly turned her gaze to her sister and partner, both frozen in time. "What about them?"
"They will remain here while you're gone. When you're ready, I can return you to this exact place and time. To this exact moment."
Rose grunted as she stood to her feet. At least the pain of having her spine crushed into powder was gone. "That's not a choice, you know."
The smaller girl stood still, unmoving and unspeaking. Waiting.
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Chapter 10:
A Certain Fragrance
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6:02 AM, Wednesday Morning
Beacon Academy Multipurpose Activity Center (BMAC), Weight Lifting Room
(Early Morning of Day 2)
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The heavy iron weights clinked as she finished each rep, puncturing the silence with the noise. Not interrupting her thoughts, though. Rose breathed regularly, in and out, as she lifted. She thought back to the moment she first laid eyes on the girl called Rain. It was a bleak memory, not the least because Coco, her partner, was ready to kill Yang.
Is ready. It was hard to remember the whole time-travel thing sometimes.
With one last grunt of effort, Rose replaced the barbell on it's rack and sat up. Her toned muscles glittered with sweat. She quickly wiped her face off with a towel, then walked over to the window to catch her breath. In this world she really didn't have to have her workout this early, but some habits were just hard to break. At least she got to admire the sunrise in peace.
Quickly taking a drink of water, Rose grabbed a clean towel and made for the showers – only to be stopped by a thick rope and possibly the worst sign she could have thought of at that moment. Out of Order. Dammit. With a deep sigh and a bad feeling about what was to come, Rose turned and walked out of the room. Into the hunting grounds.
It wasn't a long walk to the dorm rooms from where she was, and thank the gods there was almost no one awake at this hour, so the tall teenager made the trip alone. To her surprise, however, she found none other than Weiss in the lobby of the building. Rose didn't bother hiding her curiosity. "What brings you into the land of the living so early, princess?"
The heiress gave Rose a flat stare. "I was hoping you could tell me where I might find Sapphire. The two of us have a lot to talk about. And if you must know, I simply felt like waking up early."
Ah, so that was it. Weiss felt bad about attacking out of nowhere and was feeling guilty. Rose almost hid her smile – it was amusing to use what she knew of the Weiss from her world to figure out what this Weiss was really thinking. "If she's not asleep in our room, then I don't know where she is. Sorry."
"What about you? A bit early to be out running, don't you think?" Weiss crossed her arms automatically, as though she sensed how easily she had been read.
"First of all, I was in the weight room. Second, no it's not. I'm sweaty because the showers over there are out of order," she said the last part with a mocking tone, driving home her displeasure. "Last I checked the showers up in the room still worked, so I'm heading there now. Any other questions?"
Weiss merely harrumphed as Rose strode past her. The taller version of Ruby ignored the elevator and took the stairs two at a time. In her haste, she didn't bother looking back to see if Weiss was following her – if she did, she would have noticed the slightly dazed look on the heiress' face.
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Sapphire was not in the room after all. In fact, no one was. This was a bit odd as it was still early, but a quick glance at the time told Rose that breakfast was being served in the cafeteria right about now. If she hurried with her shower, she might just make it there in time to join them. She was literally just starting to take her top off when…
Knock knock. "Rose, have you seen Weiss?" It was Blake. Rose cursed under her breath. Why did she have to show up now, of all times? Since she hated yelling through the door, Rose quickly reset her top, then went and greeted the faunus girl with her best smile, hoping her nervousness wasn't showing too obviously. Despite the awkwardness of that first day, she was starting to enjoy being around the faunus girl.
"Good morning to you, too. She was just down in the lobby. If you head there now she should… um, Blake? Are you okay?"
Within seconds of opening the door, a rather disturbing change came over the brunette. Her stance, which was slightly stiff at first, became loose, swaying – almost like she was a little drunk. Her eyes drooped a little as well. "Hmm…?" She had a clear feeling of drifting away from reality even with just that sound. As Blake stared at the redhead, her face became flushed.
Rose swallowed hard. That sense of impending danger was quite strong now. "Um… if you'll excuse me… I need to get ready for the day…" she said as she started to close the door.
Blake's hand was a blur as she slapped it against the wood, holding it open firmly. A feral grin spread over her face.
Rose tried to dart around the girl, but was quickly caught and shoved backwards into the room, landing on one of the beds with a surprised grunt. Within moments Blake was on top of her, face fully red and breathing heavily. Her eyes glimmered dangerously, pupils fully contracted. Predator's eyes. She licked her lips and leaned down slowly, mouth open…
A quick twist was enough to knock the faunus off balance, giving Rose the opening she needed. The redhead rolled off the bed and shot to her feet, panic driving her legs, as she darted out the door. Her mind raced with possible places where she could go to get away from Blake, but none seemed effective. How does one escape a hungry predator without hurting it?
She reached the lobby before she realized it, stopping to catch her breath and check for footfalls. Was she following? What in the nine hells was going on, anyway?
The feeling of two small hands touching her shoulders sent Rose jumping several feet into the air. She didn't give a yelp – her survival instinct was too strong for that – but she turned and was shocked to find Weiss still standing there… except it seemed the heiress wasn't home at the moment. She had the same drunken sway as Blake, but her ice-blue eyes were dull and glazed over. And they were locked onto her.
Rose backed away in fear only to glance at the stairwell and spot Blake, crouched low and almost out of sight, staring at her like a hungry cat that just found a big, juicy mouse. It almost looked like her butt was wiggling, but only slightly.
Slowly, carefully, Rose backed towards the main door while keeping the two of them in sight. Inch by inch she crept towards it, not moving too quickly. Her gaze darted between the crouching faunus and the leering heiress, waiting to see which would strike first. Both had a look of… well it was hard to say what that look was. If she had to choose a name for it, Rose would call it a look of intense …desire.
After a minute-long half hour (or was it a half-hour long minute?), the redhead finally reached the door and gently backed out through it. Then she started to run.
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Rose never considered herself gay. Or lesbian. Whatever the word was. She had a healthy interest in guys just like other girls, although she did, admittedly, have a different mindset while she was around them. The two years she spent apart from Yang, other than taking her classes at Signal, were spent with her father and his group of guy friends. As such, Rose ended up more like a guy than even she realized before it was over… and by then it was too late to go back.
The girls never did leave her alone, even before that. She could never figure it out. Even when she was young, Rose was constantly bothered by the other girls – always asking her to hang out with them or play dolls or some such thing. Maybe that was why she naturally pulled away after a time. Thinking back, even Yang was acting odd around her some time before she left for Beacon. Maybe that had something to do with the blonde girl's desperate attitude about leaving…
In any case, the point was that Rose wasn't into girls. No, seriously. She liked looking at the ones who looked good, a habit picked up after hanging out with 'the guys' so much, but that was it. She considered it normal to appreciate the ones who put the time and effort into making themselves look their best. There was nothing wrong with that… right?
Coco made her think otherwise. Her partner back home was the first to pursue her so …aggressively. To the point of physically threatening other girls if she thought they were getting too close. Because of that, Rose now felt fear around anyone who began to act like Blake and Weiss were acting right now.
The BMAC was just ahead. Rose reached the small room that had been given to Carmine as a lab, slamming the door behind her just seconds before her two stalkers reached it. Her breathing only started slowing after she heard the click of the lock. She hoped that they weren't desperate enough to break the door down. Soon there was light knocking and scratching sounds, reminding Rose of various zombie movies she'd seen before.
"What is your problem… and so early in the morning?" Carmine, the mad scientist version of Ruby and main reason for the mess everyone was in, sat at a large bank of monitors and screens and yawned. The dim lights of the room fought with the bluish glow of the readouts and highlighted her dark red hair with odd combinations of color. Three empty coffee mugs sat next to the vast keyboard. "And why did you bring the undead to my door?" Her nose wrinkled, pushing her thin glasses higher on her face as she said, "…and why do you smell like you just rolled around in a pile of manure?"
She ignored the third question, but to answer the first two questions, Rose gave a brief summary of the morning's events. To her confusion, Carmine wasn't surprised – rather, she looked satisfied.
"I had suspected that something like this might happen, but until now I couldn't be sure. Rose, I believe I now know what your problem is." The bespectacled redhead picked up a small rag and a plastic baggie, then came closer to Rose… but not too close. Her grimace reminded Rose of the apparent stench. "If it's not too much to ask, I need a few samples for a DNA test. A little of your hair in this…" she held up the baggie, "…and a sweat sample on this…" and then the rag.
Rose was ready to start asking questions, but the creepy scratching and knocking made her oblige quickly. She did not want to risk getting kicked out of the room with those two acting like they might eat her alive.
Carmine had her two samples into a scanning device before Rose could get any words out, quickly saying, "We can dismiss the idea of your weight lifting and general style of dress being responsible for everyone's odd behavior around you… despite the fact that it does make you look quite... nice." One silver eye winked mischievously. "No, I believe your main problem is with pheromones."
All Rose could do was blink slowly at this information. "What's a pheromone?"
The mad scientist appeared to think for a few seconds, then turned and said, "Umm… A fancy word to explain how you smell." To emphasize her point, Carmine rubbed her own nose rapidly. "To us Rubys, you smell like… well, like a pile of feces. Rather crappy, to say the least. To most of the others, well… not so much."
A muffled voice drifted through the door, "Ro-o-o-ose… come play with us…" accompanied by odd meowing noises. There was also more scratching. The taller redhead gulped. Her smell had caused that?
Carmine calmly returned to her keyboard and entered a few lines of code – seconds later there was a hissing sound just outside the door, followed by two distinct thuds. The scratching had also stopped. Rose sweat-dropped.
"They'll be alright once they sleep it off. The scan should be done in an hour or so, but as for you…" Carmine dug a small bottle from one of her many boxes, "Add this to your shampoo the next time you shower. It's not a permanent fix, but it should help."
Carmine's lab had a shower attached to it (rather conveniently) and she let Rose use it. Once clean, she carried the still-sleeping heiress and brunette back to their dorm (over her shoulders, drawing more than a few stares from onlookers). When all was said and done, Rose and Carmine finally made their way into town for the big meeting.
And the battle that followed.
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7:53 PM, Friday
Beacon Academy Dormitory, Third Floor – Team CFVY Dorm Room
(Evening of Day 4)
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"I was wondering why those two didn't show up the other day…" Coco Adel took a sip of coffee as she listened to Rose's story. The redhead finished her glass of water and took a breath, trying to re-gather her thoughts. Pheromones, huh? Kinda hard to believe… but it would explain an awful lot. Thinking back, most of the time Rose had the girls drooling over her was right after her workouts… when she was at her sweatiest. She cringed at the memory. She also tried to avoid thinking about what would have happened if she had tried walking around her own world in the state she was in earlier… she might not have made it out alive.
The rest of team CFVY was sitting around the room engaged in some activity or another. Fox was listening to music on headphones, Velvet was fiddling with her camera, and Yatsuhashi was deep in meditation off in the corner. Rose and Coco sat together at the small table the team shared, discussing the events of the previous few days. The battle with Thorn was the main topic of pretty much every conversation around the school, though most people didn't have the hands-on experience that Rose did.
From her side of the room, Velvet muttered, "I'm glad little Cherry wasn't in the middle of that fight…" It was clear that the girl had become rather attached to the small catgirl version of Ruby. Yatsuhashi nodded from his corner. Apparently everyone was listening after all. None of them were too thrilled when they learned about what happened the other day, but they at least knew that Coco could handle herself. Given the option, all of them would have preferred taking part if it meant keeping civilians out of harms way.
The second-year leader set her cup down and gave Rose a serious look. "While I'm glad you got that all cleared up, I believe you had some other things to learn before you left?" The serious mood was ruined by a smirk. "About me, if I'm not mistaken?"
Rose gulped. Learning how to deal with Coco was her primary goal, but that didn't mean she was looking forward to it.
The brunette in the beret sat back and said, "If we assume that the …Coco from your world is almost the same as me… mainly that she has the same semblance… then this should be simple to explain." Rose blinked, wondering how the older girl could become used to the idea of other versions of herself so quickly. She still had trouble sleeping in a room with the other Rubys. "I'm not actually as strong as everyone thinks. I mean look at me, I'm a twig!"
Velvet muttered again, "That's not what you said in front of the mirror two days ago…"
Coco threw her empty paper cup at the faunus girl before continuing, "The reason is because my semblance allows me to alter the weight of anything I touch. My weapon is heavy enough to give most strongmen a workout, but as you know it's not a problem for me. I have no effect on the mass, though…"
Rose thought back to the night her Coco snapped. She had been flung into the side of a metal container hard enough to make the steel buckle underneath her. Now she understood why. In fact, this explained a lot. However… "If that's the case, how could anyone stop you from going on a rampage?"
"My weakness…" The brunette in the beret calmly looked at Rose, weighing her with her gaze. Considering. "Should I tell you…?" she muttered quietly.
Rose blinked. Velvet's ears had perked up just slightly, and both Fox and Yatsuhashi had tensed up just a hair. Everyone was listening now.
Coco apparently noticed this, standing up in a huff and sighing, "Nah, not right now. We still have time." The other three visibly wilted. Ah, disappointment.
Rose remained sitting in her chair as the team began getting ready for bed. Her emotions drifted between hopeful and concerned, anxious and relieved. On the one hand, she was glad that this Coco wasn't as yandere as the one back home, although it was hard to tell what might happen later – on the other hand, there was still a lot of things left unsaid. What was she about to say before? Was it important? Would it mean the difference between life and death once she got back home?
The well-toned girl gave her head a shake, trying to clear it. She would never get to sleep if she kept thinking like that.
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Author's Note: Another FYI – to my knowledge, we don't know what Coco's actual semblance is, so I made one up based on my own observations and various fan theories I've seen. I think it works. Also, I claim no knowledge of pheromones and how they work. That part was inspired by a manga called Yurika no Campus Life. It's a yuri manga, in case you couldn't figure that out.
=^w^=