Hello everybody! So, thanks for the responses to the authors note thing I did, and the responses to the new story are pretty awesome, so, just thanks I guess!

I would recommend checking out Alagaesian Anomaly if you like Dragon-Ruby, it's pretty much the same thing as this story but in Inheritance Cycle instead of Skyrim.

Well, on with the chapter...

Chapter 10

"Do you have...any idea...whatsoever of what just happened, Halva?" Ruby asked, her head going to and fro across the scattered remnants of the bandits, occasionally stopping to inspect particularly brutalized bandits with revulsion.

Rubbing his chin, Halva made no attempts to move from his perch atop a nearby rock, nor answer Ruby's question, much to her chagrin. Instead, he remained stationary, apparently puzzling over some unknown riddle.

Hearing him to his thoughts, Ruby went back to her own riddle. Namely, why the hell Jaune's Nightingale was out here in the middle of nowhere...unless-

Halva finally had his attention drawn when Ruby let out a small gasp, followed by a little hop of joy, watching with a slight smile as she barreled over to him, having finally figured it out.

"Hey Halva! Jaune sent that Nightingale to watch over us! Not that we'd need to be looked after, but it's still a nice thought." Ruby said happily, watching as Halva gave her a small nod and smile, before his face became neutral again, puzzling Ruby, who thought that he hadn't yet figured out the same thing and was puzzling over it. Evidently, he was thinking about something else, though what exactly was still up in the air for Ruby, and despite repeated attempts to get him to spill what he was thinking about, he remained silent and unmoving.

Giving up with a huff, Ruby trampled off from Halva, heading towards one of the corpses, and took the last few steps hesitantly, to which Halva realized that the corpse she'd approached was one of the few she had directly attacked, evidenced by the arrow hole which was now devoid of any indication that there was an arrow, aside from the hole itself, of course.

Approaching the corpse, Ruby watched carefully, taking in everything of this person, this actual person, she'd killed. Ruby had killed Grimm before, but it helped that each Grimm was practically devoid of individuality, as well as being mindless and heartless beasts, who care for naught but destroying humans.

And, while this man in front of her had probably thought much the same, wanting to kill and destroy to get what he wanted, it wasn't guaranteed that he was so, he was different from Grimm in so many regards. He had his own quirks, his own wants, desires, fears, loves, everything. He had his own mother and father, he might have a wife or children somewhere. For all Ruby knew, she could have just killed a much-beloved father who was always kind to his children and who had been practically strong-armed by poverty and conflict, with nowhere else to go, into his current life.

Maybe every morning this man would look at his sword, and tell himself 'Just one more time', and prayed for the one time where he could actually hang his sword up for the last time, and spend his days in peace. And she, with her arrow, had taken that all from him.

Quickly nipping the growing depression in the bud, Ruby found herself being wrapped up in strong arms, only slightly eeping before realizing it was Halva, though what exactly he was doing was lost on her, but not for long, as he spoke quietly and calmly, but with a strong and unyielding under-current to his voice.

"He was your first?" Halva spoke, and Ruby, much to his amusement, fell back on old quirks, twisting her head in her old so-so gesture, but responding properly before he could ask her to elaborate.

"Where we came from, we had creatures of darkness we hunted, and they hunted us. They were called Grimm. They were-" Ruby had to stop a moment to stop a sob from slipping out as she thought so hard about home, and creatures she'd possibly never get to see again. "-They were basically pure evil. All they wanted was to kill us, and we had to fight back against them. Not to brag, but I was good at it, I could mow my way through a back of Beowolves like I was just cutting a field of wheat." Ruby said with a slight grin, as much as she was able to with her mouth, before continuing.

"B-But he was different." She said, gesturing to the still-bleeding corpse in front of her. "He was a person, not some mindless creature of darkness. He could have had anybody waiting at home for him. May-" This time Ruby couldn't stop the sob from escaping, and she was surprised when Halva made no indication that he cared. Comforted by this, Ruby twisted her head around so she was facing away from the corpse and behind Halva, resting her head in his shoulder. "Maybe he had a wife waiting at home for him, or kids, and he had to do this, just to keep them alive?" Ruby said sadly, pulling her head back from Halva's shoulder enough to look at his face, and was shocked at the look of pure ice on his face.

"Ruby, my first kill was so long ago at this point that I don't even remember it, it's lost in the haze of fighting and killing to survive. But, what you must remember, is that these men and women made this choice. They could have turned their skills elsewhere, becoming mercenaries, and be paid a fair wage, or perhaps hold guards. Instead, they chose to become bandits, people who steal, kill, and sometimes rape and pillage if the group are feeling that way. Many of those that lie dead here came upon this life for the sheer lawlessness of it. They could do whatever they wanted, all they needed was the strength of arms to beat whatever their objective was into submission."

With a sigh, he looked away from Ruby and towards the corpses surrounding them. "Now, maybe a few of those that lay here dead were decent people once, but they all, as a group, made the decision to try to take from us, to kill us, and we responded in kind. And, before you even say it, no, knocking them out and leaving them for the guards wouldn't work. In Skyrim, the law is clear, they tried to kill us, and we responded in self-defence with equal force. They lost the ensuing battle, end of discussion. Tying them up would have seen them executed for the murders they have undoubtedly committed in the past, as a group. Even if one of these bandits never killed a single person, they'd be lumped in with the group, and executed based on that."

Releasing his hold on the now squirming Ruby, he let her hop away from him, though she didn't go far, only slightly off of him before curling herself up to look up at him. "But why?", drawing confusion from Halva.

"Why what? Why would they be killed? Why would they attack us in the first place? Why what, Ruby?" He asked, only to receive a shake of the head and a huff.

"Why everything? Why is all this even happening? I just want to go back home, and I don't even know why I was taken from there. I want to know why I have to be here instead of with my team, why I have to do any of this, but I guess the Universe won't be kind and just give me an answer, now will it?" Ruby said the last part with a little venom, throwing her gaze up to the sky, as if daring something to answer her, but when no words bounded down to her, and no stars shot across the sky in acknowledgement, she let her head fall back down to the ground, staring at the ground ahead of her and ignoring her surroundings.

Rubbing his eyes, Halva pinched his nose and quietly said his parting words.

"Guess that's just life, huh Red?", turning away before he could see Ruby's surprise, as he'd unknowingly sounded just like Roman, especially with his passing use of her old nickname, just another way the Universe was trying to mess with the poor dragon. Resting her head back on herself, Ruby threw another glance at the stars, still awed at the twin moons dancing across the sky, whole and un-marred.

"Life, huh?"

Deciding not to spend a night anywhere near where those bandits were lying dead, the pair made their way up the roads of Skyrim, heading off-road at one point to avoid going too close to Fort Kastav, and settling in at the foothills surrounding the Shrine of Azura in a small cave, too small to be an animal den, but enough to spend a sheltered night in before finishing their journey.

The pair didn't talk much into the night, content to simply get the journey over and done with, though Halva did praise Ruby when he saw that she'd managed to make her arrows as small as nails, cementing the idea in his head that she'd be capable of staying under the radar.

After their rest, the pair quickly packed up their few camping belongings, or rather, Halva packed his things up, while Ruby just watched over him with a slightly mournful expression on her face at the thought that she'd never again be able to do such a thing with her current body, but she shook her head of that thought. The pair quickly left the cave and made their way towards the nearby road, rejoining it near the Whistling Mine, and swiftly following said road north, towards the growing forms of buildings, and the much taller stone building far behind the far stouter wooden buildings, which Ruby had decided was very likely the College.

Approaching the town, the pair weren't prepared for a man to come running up to them, clad in regular peasant garbs, with a light satchel slung across his back. Halva had moved his hand to rest atop his sword, and Ruby had subtly adjusted her position, all the better to launch her hidden arrow at the man, who, after a glance towards Ruby and a nod to himself, reached behind himself to his bag.

"I've been looking for you. Got something I'm supposed to deliver - your hands only." The man said quickly, pulling out a sealed letter from his satchel and placing it in a surprised Halva's hand, before stepping to the side and walking briskly past them, with only a quick wave as his form of goodbye, disappearing quickly in the distance, leaving Halva and Ruby to just stare after him in surprise.

Recovering first, Halva shrugged, opening a pouch and sliding the letter in for later. When Ruby looked to ask why he hadn't read it, he simply pointed upwards, towards the clouds and snow currently falling, and Ruby nodded in understanding without a single word, turning her focus to the other side of town, where a bored-looking Altmer stood leaning against the entrance of what must be the College, a narrow and crumbling stone bridge connecting the town with the huge stone building.

Looking at Halva, Ruby watched as he glanced between the Altmer mage, the College, then Ruby, before nodding, both to himself and to Ruby, and began walking towards the woman, who perked up and narrowed her eyes at them when she saw exactly who was approaching the college.

"Halt!" The woman called out when they approached, continuing to inspect the two figures as they came to a stop a safe distance from her. "Welcome to the College of Winterhold. I am Faralda, one of the senior Wizards here, as well as Guardian of the Bridge. If you wish to gain entrance, you must proof your value of magic." She then turned her focus towards Ruby, who was just calmly stood next to Halva, cocking her head when Faralda began inspecting her closely, possibly looking for any signs of a trick or illusion.

Finding so much trick, her eyes narrowed again and she looked towards Halva. "I should hope you know that while the College would normally not allow 'pets' int-". Before the woman could continue, she was stopped dead by the glare from Halva and the growl coming from Ruby.

"I would think it wise that you be very careful about your next words. Ruby is no mere pet, she is here for the same reason as I, to enrol in the College and learn about magic. And-" He said quickly, raising a hand before the woman could utter a word, "-She is no mere novice to magic." He said, looking towards Ruby and nodding.

Stepping forward, Ruby ignored the look that the Altmer was giving her and instead focused in on herself to try and summon her Arma Gigas, finding it moderately harder, as she hadn't had a chance to practice summoning her little suit of armor since that night at Mixwater Mill. But, focusing hard, she found her mental image of the summon, and began pouring the correct quantity of Magicka required to form a physical manifestation of the suit.

Watching from behind her, Halva raised an eyebrow as he watched Ruby begin forming something other than the agreed-upon arrow, and he, as well as the nearby Faralda, both widened their eyes as they watched Ruby mold her Magicka into a foot-tall suit of armor. Thinking quickly back, Halva almost smacked himself when he realized that, by telling her to scale down her ballista attack, he'd inadvertently also told her that she could possibly do the same with her familiar.

Ruby, however, was resolutely ignoring her audience. Instead, she spent all her willpower focusing on making absolutely sure that she kept picturing her Arma Gigas as being only a foot tall. It wouldn't do to suddenly have her familiar explode if it suddenly went from a single foot tall to being 10-foot tall, as trying to stretch the Magicka that made it was forced into that much of a difference in size, that would definitely cause a massive failure in the structure of the magical armor somewhere. Most likely would be that the entire thing would disintegrate back to pure magicka, which had a tendency to explode.

Confident in her now unwavering image of her familiar, she re-opened her eyes, and at the same time willed her familiar to take a rather familiar pose, knelt down, it's sword stabbed tip-first into the ground, and head lowered. Turning her head away from her familiar, she looked at Halva, who, Ruby noted with a mix of joy and fear, that Halva was a bit of a mixed bag of emotions right now. He was proud, and angry, and awe-struck, and a bit fearful, though Ruby reasoned the fear wasn't of her, but rather of what the College might do.

Their stare was brought to a close when the suit of armor then stood up, standing at the ready behind Ruby and gesturing with his hand towards the mage that this little demonstration was for, who seemed to be indecisive between applauding and casting her own magic. Though, watching the summon sling his weapon across his back and cross his arms, she lowered her hands and attempted to straighten herself up quickly, nodding towards Ruby and turning to look towards Halva.

"Well, it's safe to say that your p-" She quickly stopped herself, looking again towards Ruby, who noticed her slip, but still appreciated that she at least was able to stop herself before she said it, "that your partner is definitely competent enough for entry to the College. Now, if you would be so kind as to attempt a spell of your own towards the seal on the wall, or towards me if it is not a combat spell, such as healing hands, and I will decide whether it is sufficient in power enough to grant entry, though I trust that, with a companion such as yours," She nodded towards Ruby at this, who preened a little at the praise, "you should be more than capable of such magic."

Sighing, Halva raised his left hand towards the seal, bringing up his familiar Lightning Bolt spell, watching the lightning coil itself around his arm like a snake, before lashing it out towards the rune, causing no damage to the stone structure, or the structure of the rune itself, but making the rune start to glow brightly from the absorbed energy, and watching as the masterful rune dissipated the Magicka of the spell harmlessly, to return to the soil and stone around them.

"Hmm, yes, very good use of Lightning Bolt, and the psychological impacts of using it akin to a striking snake, very adept usage of such a low-level spell. I must admit, I am impressed with both your unique uses of magic, though I still wish to know what spell your companion used, that is for a later day. I hereby permit you both entry to the College of Winterhold as prospective students. If you would follow me please." The woman then spun on the spot, walking along the bridge, leaving Ruby and Halva to trail behind them.

"Well, that went well." Ruby said, still slightly giddy at the first reactions to her modified familiar.

"Don't count your chickens early Ruby, we still need to actually get inside. Though, with what you just did, I can't imagine they'd turn us away." Halva said, crossing his arms and looking at Ruby pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I saw an opportunity to show off, alright? Anyway, not like it's any different to changing the size of my bolt!" She yelled.

"Ruby, the bolt doesn't act on its own. Changing the size of an autonomous follower is pretty major. but, it doesn't matter now. Onwards and upwards!" Halva yelled, drawing a smirk from Ruby, and a confused eyebrow from Faralda, who just shook her head, and considered the two new students to the College. She had, of course, heard the rumors that the Dragonborn was travelling with a tiny dragon of his own, but it was still a surprise to see for herself.

Pushing her questions aside, Faralda reached the gates of the College, pushing them wide and, with a dramatic turn, waved her hand behind her, facing Halva and Ruby, and gesturing into the main courtyard.

"Welcome to the College!"

Neato. I liked writing this chapter quite a bit.

Ruby actually reacting to directly killing people is something I don't see many stories actually address. She indirectly killed White Fang during the Breach, when she knocked them off the train and into the horde of Grimm following them, where they undoubtedly died, but this is different. She fired those arrows, and she ended their lives. Now she has that weight on her shoulders.

And I LOVE writing Ruby messing about with Magicka. Trust me, soon enough I'll introduce Dovahzuul, I've been talking with someone quite well-versed in Elder Scrolls lore, and have a few of my own shouts ready to go, which Ruby will definitely get some good use out of!

I've decided on an upload schedule for my 3 stories, you can find it on my profile, though this story will go to be twice a week uploads, on Tuesday and Friday, so the next chapter will be on Friday, though this may be subject to change!

And, as I cannot say this enough, thanks for the kind words everyone! It means the world to me when somebody says that they genuinely enjoyed reading this!

Next Chapter: 12th of July