A Wreath Built of Withered Roses
Pt. III
The gentle flicker of flame broke through the darkness of her apartment. The curtains were drawn over the windows, blocking out the sun as she sat on the couch of her living room. Ruby studied the flame for a few moments, watched as it reached upwards at a perfect point until she breathed on it, making it shiver and dance. The small disposable lighter illuminated her face; she knew she had circles and bags under her silver eyes, the Red Death's crimson shadow had been towering over her in dreams as well as when she was awake.
Reaching to the small coffee table, she picked up a simple metal spoon that looked like it had seen much better days. The metal was distorted and burnt, a rainbow of shades from the alloy showing through as the milky white liquid that was sitting inside of it shook gently with the slow, deliberate movements. She brought the spoon to the lighter and sat it on top of its flame and left it there. Silver eyes watched as the fluid began to shift and bubble, quickly coming to a boiling point.
The Aura Stimulant that she used was good to keep her going in her every day, injecting it into her arm whenever she needed it to make herself feel better. It had a drawback, however, in that it took a long time to fully go through her system. From the point of injection to about an hour later, her Aura would be restored, but in the middle of a fight, she did not have that long for her Aura to come back. The concentrated doses, however, did just that. By cooking the impurities out of the medical substance and concentrating it, it becomes a much more potent tool for her to use in the middle of a fight.
With the cooking done, Ruby put the lighter down and quickly got one of the small booster packages with the tiny needle at the tip and poured the concentrated dose of Aura Stimulant into it. Once she got all she could off the spoon, she picked up the lighter again and began to run the flame over the plastic opening a few times before putting the lighter away again and pressing the warm, soft plastic together. The burning pain was no longer there, Ruby had done this so many times her fingertips were scarred and callused over now so she did not feel anything there anymore.
Setting the finished product down with the small pile of already done ones, Ruby began to work on the next one when she felt the cushion next to her dip down as someone sat down. Ruby took a deep breath and held it as she closed her eyes, readying herself for the conversation to come."Is this going to be enough?" The deep, garbled voice of the Red Death cut through her mind, disrupting the moment of peace she had while preparing the concentrated doses.
"Enough for what?"
"The world." She picked up one of the finished doses and examined it in front of her black and silver eyes. Ruby reached over and plucked it from her hand and set it with the others before she could ruin it. It was because of her that Ruby was running low on the concentrated doses in the first place. Collecting the finished ones, she slipped them all into her pouch and shook her head. She used almost half of a vial of Aura Stimulant just to replace the ones that she had used up to this point.
"The world is not the enemy," Ruby quickly shot back at the Red Death as she pulled another shot of Stimulant out with a syringe and gently emptied its contents into the burnt, used spoon, "and Weiss is not the enemy either." She could feel the glare from the dark woman as she pulled the spoon closer and began to heat its contents to cook the dose.
"Weiss is from Atlas, Atlas is the enemy,"
"I am sick of hearing you say that..."
Ruby was concentrating on watching the drug and did not see when the Red Death got out of her seat and kneeled next to her, her palms on her legs and looking up at her. Ruby looked away and into the silver rings floating in an endless sea of onyx, the right side of her face stained red with blood, with her cloak settled on her shoulders, and her white shirt stained crimson. "But it's the truth, Ruby. There is nothing left in this world full of pain and sorrow and anger. They would kill you in a second if you let them, so you must kill them first. Paint them red like roses."
Ruby stared at the Red Death as she whispered to her; her cold hands slowly slipping further up her legs, getting closer to the weapon that was resting on her hip. "They are so concerned with their own battles and they will never stop until they paint everyone else a shade of red that is not ours." Ruby felt her eyes slowly grow heavy, the weight slowly being lifted off of her body as her hands ghosted over her hips and gripped Crescent Rose, slowly taking it out of its holster. "We must paint them,"
"Red like roses..." she murmured as she saw the Red Death smile slowly and lift the weapon from her body. A sharp, burning pain cut through the inky crimson that was drowning her mind. On reflex, she released the object that was causing so much pain. A clatter of metal on wood took her attention, the metal spoon lay on the ground, the burnt and spoiled stimulant already soaked into the grey, dirty carpet. A moment of disbelief passed through her before sheer anger took control of her.
She shot to her knees as she tried to salvage anything she could, but everything from that dose was lost. "FUCK!" Ruby cried out as she slammed the metal spoon on the table and began to pace; fury was boiling inside of her and she was not sure what to do. "You fucking bitch! I can't get anymore Stimulant! Every bit we waste can't be replaced!" She shouted at her dark reflection as she ran her hands through her hair, deep breaths going in and out of her, as she tried to calm herself down.
"Then we need to hurry, we need to paint-"
"Shut up!" Her scream tore at her throat, and even the Red Death hesitated in coming closer, "Just leave me alone! Just fuck off!"
"Ruby,"
The Red Death did not get any closer after Ruby reached behind her and pulled her weapon free from its holder. It snapped open into a rifle and she aimed it right at the Red Death's heart. "Fuck. Off." They stared each other down for a few moments before the Red Death simply reached behind her head and pulled the damp hood of her cloak over her head, obscuring her face. She walked through the house, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake as she walked to the bedroom and slammed the door shut, making Ruby jump from the sudden noise.
With the Red Death gone, Ruby let out the breath she had been holding in for a while before she folded her weapon and slipped it back into its place. Hot tears stung her eyes as the strength in her legs were sapped from her and she leaned against the counter. With deep, ragged breaths, she held back her sobs as she blinked over and over again, lest her sorrow leak from her eyes. She brought her hands to her eyes to catch a few tears that fell but felt her hand already wet and something scratch on her face. When she looked at her right hand, she saw a large piece of glass sticking out of her bloodied palm.
She stared at it, her mind coming up with no reason why this had happened. Slowly, she pulled the shard out of her hand, a strange numbness had overtaken her, making the extraction painless. Looking around, she saw that the small window over her kitchen sink had been smashed somehow. A gentle breeze came into her small home, chilling her despite how warm it was. Inspecting her hand again, she saw that her Aura had not kicked in yet. The shaking in her hand and the headache that was beginning to form told her that it had been some time since her last injection.
With red(like roses) blood dripping from her fingers, she slowly moved back to the worn couch and started to collect her drug pieces and put them back into place. The lighter, now covered in blood, was put in a kitchen drawer with the cooled spoon. The bottle of stimulant was collected and was carried to the bathroom, where the door was locked as she leaned up against the door. Opening the mirror, she picked up the small box with the picture of a syringe on the shelf and shook it.
Empty.
With a growl, she threw it to the ground and began to search the bathroom up and down for any more needles that may have slipped out. Taking the few other things off the shelves, behind the sink and in her pouches, she came up empty-handed. "Fuck!" She ran her hands down her face as she began to try and think through a clouded mind before her eyes finally found the trash can that was sitting between the sink and the toilet. Desperation drove her to the small plastic can and she pulled it out of its place.
Throwing used toilet paper and wrappers, she found what she was looking for; the last needle she had used. Carefully, she pulled it from the depths of the trash can and inspected the medical steel and ensured that it was still straight. Placing the can back down, she looked the syringe over carefully before she began to run hot water through the sink. She waited for it to get as hot as it could be before slipping it into the water and pulling some of it into it and shaking it. She repeated the process a few times before turning the faucet off and nodding.
Even if it was a few days old, it was her own blood that would be inside of it anyway, so it should not be that bad anyways. Making sure that there was no more water inside of it, she stuck the tip in the bottle and pulled her usual amount of Aura Stimulant out and slipped the syringe between her teeth to roll up her sleeve. That was when she caught notice of her face. Staring at herself, she saw the whole right side of her face had red(like roses) blood smeared across her skin.
She stared at herself and felt she was staring into a stranger's face. Her world began to turn red, her breath was caught in her throat and she could not look away. Her reflection smiled and moved closer, gripping the mirror's frame and pulling herself out of it. Ruby dropped the syringe and moved as far as she could, but she was trapped in the small bathroom with her reflection. Her breaths came in shallow and quick as she was beginning to panic.
The reflection fell to the floor, but before it could get to its feet, Ruby quickly kicked it in the stomach, flipping it over. Ruby then mounted it and brought her fist to its face over and over again, trying to kill it. After one punch, it's body shattered into a thousand tiny red blobs. Each blob opened up into a mini version of Ruby and they all turned towards her and began to charge at her. Ruby could feel each of their tiny nails digging into her skin. She began to slap them off and rip them from her body, but there was just too many of them as she tried to endure the horde.
A loud knocking startled Ruby as she jumped slightly from where she laid. Groggy eyes began to look around, trying to figure out where she was. She recognised her toilet, sink and shower. Slowly pieces began to come together that she was laying on her bathroom floor. She eyed the used syringe, empty of its contents and still sticking out of her arm. Slowly, she pulled it out of her arm and watched it pull some of the skin with it before it popped out.
Slowly, she pulled herself to her knees and finally to her feet and held onto her skin to balance herself as another wave of knocking urged her to find out where it was coming from. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw the right half of her face was still covered in blood, but it was dried and caked on. Looking back at her hand, she saw the large scar of where the glass cut that her Aura had healed, leaving it a faint hint of red(like roses) from her Aura.
Running warm water, she washed her face of the blood that was dried on from before she passed out. Maybe she put too much in the syringe or something. Yet another round of knocking made her hurry up and make sure everything was fine before she disposed of the syringe and went to the front door, checking the bedroom for the Red Death. With no sighting of her, Ruby finally went to the front door and opened it up a crack to see who was knocking at her door for the last few minutes, only to be surprised at who had found her.
"Midori, what the hell are you doing here?"
The tall man with dark blue hair raised his hand in response. In his grip was a small, cardboard container with a handle, inside of it were six dark bottles all neatly sitting in their places. "What? Can't we come and have pizza and beer with our squad leader?" the man asked as he shook the carrier of beer. Ruby just looked at at the man strangely before poking her head out of the doorway and looking down the hall, seeing the rest of D-squad all standing nearby. Each of them was holding more beer or a stack of pizza boxes.
With a reluctant sigh, she opened the door wider and turned the light on in the apartment, illuminating the dark room from the sunset glow with the artificial bulbs in the ceiling. A steady stream of people walked into her apartment and set their things on the table across from the couch. Each of them was dressed in casual civilian clothing, jeans and t-shirts with a few little things on the front of them, as they sat down and began to pass on the food and drinks.
Ruby walked up to the table and took a slice of pizza from the top box. Simple pepperoni, nothing wrong with that. She grabbed a napkin and held it in her hand as she sat down, only to have an opened bottle of beer pressed into her hand. Before she could refuse the alcoholic drink, Midori raised his own beer and looked at each of them, "To the memory of Ray Pewt and Cobalt Tucks, who died in the Vacuo Resistance Army defence of the last city in Vacuo, Ritrr."
As everyone raised their own bottles in silence, Ruby quickly did a head count and saw that Tucks was indeed missing. This was the first time she had seen her squad since the battle of Ritrr and when everyone got separated after Arachne came out of the ground and forced everyone to retreat. With everything that happened, he must have been left behind when everyone left. Somberly, Ruby raised her own bottle in memory to her former squad mate. When everyone took their drink from their bottle, so too did Ruby.
The red cloaked woman nearly choked on the foul liquid as it passed through her lips and landed on her tongue. Holding the little amount of her tongue, she took the bottle away from her mouth and simply did her best not to spit it back out. It took everything she had to swallow the bitter water and when it was finally done, she quickly took a bite of the greasy pizza slice to cover the terrible aftertaste that lingered in her mouth. Looking around, she saw that everyone was all eating their pizza and drinking in a calm manner.
Looking down, Ruby began to eat at the slice in her hand. Sure, she was hungry, but she did not really feel like eating. It would have been worse for one of them to try and force her to eat rather than just eating slowly. "Yo, Rose," Sapphi said as she leaned over the back of the couch to hover next to her, "got the remote for the TV?" After a few moments to think about it, Ruby got out of her spot and walked over to the dead fireplace and picked up the simple black plastic rectangle with buttons on it. After she tossed it to the woman, she was thanked and got out of the way as the small node was turned on and the display came to view.
The shaven woman began to flick through the channels available as the others were simply filling the air with casual conversation. "Damn, Rose, how old is this thing?" the woman asked as she examined the remote closely as she tried to find more channels that were not simply static.
"Probably as old as this apartment..." Concador said as he ran a hand down the window and examined the dust that had collected over the years, "When was the last time you cleaned this place?"
"I'm not home much to worry about it..." Ruby admitted as the monotone man examined the broken window and raised an eyebrow at her. Silver eyes avoided the man as Sapphi finally found something that was not just static.
"-And with the continued efforts from Vacuo, the last of the refugees from the desert region have finally been placed in temporary homes in the outskirts of Feiyan and Gelber Ziegelstein, as well as surrounding, smaller communities. While some people are still against welcoming the displaced people for fear of Grimm attacks, others have welcomed them with open arms. Huntsmen and Huntresses from around the globe have begun to fight back against larger hordes that have been plaguing cities, but not without their own casualties."
"While some Huntsmen and Huntresses had voiced concerns over the growing number of Grimm, their efforts are not without praise and they each urge every single person to be kind to their neighbour and donate to those less fortunate than others. For while it is negative emotions that draw Grimm to our walls, kindness and happiness is what keeps us safe from the hordes being drawn in. While this is true, the Huntsmen would like to remind us all that any sighting of Grimm can still lead to disaster; so any sighting should be reported imminently to local police so that trained professionals can deal with it. And now, onto the weather,"
The image of Lisa Lavender, the voice of the Vale News Network, was taken off the screen where a graph of the region showing clouds that were coming in that would rain down on them before the end of the week. As Ruby listened to the news personality talk about air pressure and humidity, Ruby was once again reminded about her own shortcomings in what she was supposed to be, and what she was now. Turning over her hand, she saw the red-tinted scar on her hand, and she followed the small trail of similar scars that pocked her hands from her time as a soldier and not a Huntress.
"You okay?" Ruby was taken out of her small world when Midori walked up to her and sat on the armrest of the couch next to where she was sitting. Ruby quickly pulled her hand away before he noticed the new scar and began to nibble at the cooling pizza in her hand.
"Fine,"
"Really?"
Ruby just stared at him and he slipped off the armrest and held his hands up in surrender. She sighed as she shoved the rest of the crust into her mouth and reached for another piece from the opened box. "Why are you worried about me?" she asked as she tested another sip of beer and decided that it still tasted horrible to her, but she forced the small sip down her throat before biting into the slice of pizza she had taken.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Midori said as he gestured to the room around her. "This place is is pretty much a dump. You got water stains on the ceiling, cracks in the wall. Your sink drips and almost nothing for furniture, makes a guy worry when a girl stays here on her own, you know?" Ruby sighed as she looked around the place and saw everything he was talking about. It did look like a dump, like it was just one bad repair away from being declared condemned for looks alone.
"It helps that I'm not here often. I'm mainly deployed so this is just a place to stay until I go out again..." Midori nodded to her explanation as he sipped his own drink.
"So where are you from, anyways?" Ruby looked over to Violet, who spoke over the weather report that was going over next weeks expected temperatures. Ruby saw that everyone seemed way more interested in her home than whatever was going on on the screen, so she indulged them to the best she could.
"I grew up on a small island city, Patch. It's just west of Vale, and I went to school at Signal there. For as long as I remember, it was just the three of us, Dad, Yang and me. My mom died when I was really young, I can't really remember her, but I know I missed her a lot. Some of my only memories of her are the lullabies she would sing for me and the cookies she made..." She felt a small smile creep across her face at the memories filling her mind.
"My sister raised me mainly, my dad was busy concentrating on his job so he could put food on the table for us. He did everything he could to make us happy, and we were. We may not have had the newest and the best things, but we had a home to live in at the end of the day." Recalling her childhood home, she remembered how warm and filled with love her home on Patch was; and how cold and hollow her current home was, with its plain white walls and bare shelves. She wanted to go back to those times more than anything.
Everyone was silent for a little while before Pixie smiled and nodded. "It sounds like a lovely home, maybe one day, when this is all over, you could show us around." Ruby looked over at the pink haired woman and smiled gently with a nod. A familiar warmth filled her body as everyone else nodded and clicked their bottles together in a promise to visit Patch when the war was over. Ruby looked back at the TV when she saw something catch her eye, on the small screen posted next to the news anchor showed the symbol of Beacon, the twin axes with a crack running between them.
"And in other news, today marks the fifth anniversary of the tragedy that happened at Beacon during the fortieth Vytal Festival, where a series of tragic events orchestrated by White Fang extremists led to a horde of Grimm being drawn to the city; quickly overwhelming the defence forces stationed there, resulting in the deaths of thousands from every kingdom that came to participate in the event... including the horrific on-air death of Penny Polendina, an Atlesian Huntress-in-training that came to participate in the festival tournament, from an accidental fatality by the hand of Mistrali native and favourite to win the tournament, Pyrrha Nikos."
On the small screen next to Lisa Lavender was the pictures of both Pyrrha and Penny, her friends from years ago. Had it really been five years since the Fall? Five years since her life had been consumed by grief and war? Five years since the incident with Jaune, where Nora became silent and Ren was confined to a wheelchair? Memories flashed before her mind. Memories of her standing in the doorway, seeing Penny ripped to pieces for all the world to witness; of Pyrrha with an arrow sticking out of her chest; of Cinder with the bow in her hands and a smile on her face, her dark hair and red(like roses) dress billowing with the breeze as Pyrrha became ash before their eyes...
Ruby was taken out of her daze when she heard another name she had recognised. "Few people still blame the actions of Patch native, Yang Xiao Long, for her unnecessary brutality in her match against Mercury Black, dealing an unprovoked attack while his Aura was gone at the end of their match. While not solely responsible for the events that happened that day, her actions did not help the general mood of everyone around Vale to prepare for the subsequent attack and drawing of the Grimm to the city."
"Adam Taurus is still at large, leading the White Fang, the Faunus extremist group that took responsibility for the destruction of Vale; leading the Grimm provoked by a mysterious woman who had hacked into Vale's security system to broadcast a message of fear across the city and all the world, drawing in the Creatures of Grimm. Because of this event, the CCT in Vale was destroyed, making our words and the words of everyone silent between the kingdoms. This, in turn, led to a tragic misunderstanding in the form of the Second Great War... Simply because we could no longer talk to each other."
"Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones because of this war; to everyone, from Faunus to Human; from the deserts of Vacuo to the badlands of Mistral; from the frozen tundra of Atlas to the plains of Menagerie. All of us here hope and pray for a quick end to this war. This is Lisa Lavender for the Vale News Network, have a good night and stay safe." The light in the studio dimmed and the ending theme began to play. Ruby just stared at the screen as some credits began to roll and gave a sniff, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
"I'll drink to that!" a loud voice called out as Auburn held his drink out and nodded. Everyone else agreed with him and took a long sip of beer, Ruby following suit but only just a little bit. When everyone was done, Auburn turned to Ruby and nodded to her. "You were there, right? When everything went down?" Everyone looked between the two of them as Ruby looked back at the screen, some kind of rerun for an infomercial selling a ladder of some kind.
"I was," Ruby lamented, "I was there when Penny was killed, she was my friend. I was her first real friend. Not one that had try and be nice to her since they were on a Team together." She felt a hand on her shoulder, and when she looked to see who it was, her mother smiled at her gently. Half her face was hidden by the red and white cloak that she wore. Ruby tried to blink the tears out of her eyes, but they ended up just rolling down her cheeks followed by another heavy sniff to try to clear her runny nose as she continued to talk.
"She was gone. Just like that. I didn't even say goodbye, we left the arena to fight in the city. I left her body behind and I never went back to bury her..." Tears now freely escaped her eyes as she found herself just letting it all out. She felt Summer squeeze her shoulder to urge her to continue, to release everything that she had been holding onto since that day. "And Pyrrha, she was the best of us. She was kind, and strong, and generous, and never raised her voice at anything. And I couldn't save her. I was too slow to save her, to save either of them. I watched as Cinder killed her on top of the tower that night because I was too slow."
"I was too slow..." Her voice was nothing but a whisper now and no one was paying attention to the TV anymore. In a flash, Sapphi moved from where she was leaning up against the wall and rushed towards Ruby, enveloping her in a warm embrace. When she felt the touch of another person, everything just spilled out. She cried into her shoulder as the woman squeezed her tightly. Everyone else just watched unsure of what to do now. After a while of crying, she took a deep breath and released the pink haired woman before she began to wipe the tears and snot running down her face with her sleeve. "Thank you..." she whispered gently as she took deep breaths to calm herself.
"Anytime, Rose. You're not alone in this...we're all here with you."
Ruby simply nodded as she stared down at the ground.
Violet was the next to comfort her, "You went through a lot, Rose; and at a young age. That kind of shit doesn't just go away if you ignore it. You gotta talk about it," she was kneeling in front of her and gently holding her hands with her own, unaffected by the fact that her hands were wet and snotty. "You were fifteen when all that happened, and ever since then, you've done nothing but fight this war and that just isn't right. You need to stop and breathe and just work things through..."
She looked around and saw that everyone in her squad all nodded to Violet's words; they were all here for her whenever she needed them. The last set of eyes she saw was a pair of silver ones standing by the wall. Her mother smiled like she always did and nodded, knowing that she was with people who cared about her. They stared at each other for a few moments before she took a deep breath and thanked them all again. When she calmed down enough, she got out of her seat and walked to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. Choosing the one that had the least amount of dust settled on it, she filled it up and took a deep drink as everyone settled back down.
"So," Sapphi began as she ran a hand over her shaven head and looked over at the young Huntress, "Who is Cinder?"
The words passed through her lips like a reflex, like it was just the right thing to do. That the whole world made sense with one, simple phrase.
From the corner of her eye, she saw the Red Death approach and speak in unison with her, "The enemy..."
A sudden burst of music stole everyone's attention as a graphic with the words 'Breaking News' passed over the screen and Lisa Lavender appeared again. This time, she was looking over a piece of paper and talking to someone off screen, quickly getting ready and making sure what she was given to read off of was correct. When the jingle was finished, the woman took a deep breath and spoke.
"This is Lisa Lavender with the Vale News Network, live with breaking news. The city of Fort Meihua has fallen under Atlesian control earlier this week and the Mistral War Council has called for a full retreat to the Capital. Civilians from Western Anima are being evacuated and will be coming to the Valenese Reclamation Army-controlled cities before the end of the week. Everyone is urged to open your doors, if you haven't already, to help out those less fortunate than yourself. Donate money or time to help build temporary homes to help ease the stress. Any old clothing or spare food will be accepted at the same centres as before."
"Mistral is also looking for any volunteers from the Army to be deployed in Mistral to help with the defence of the city. Those looking to help are urged to go to a VRA building and sign up as soon as possible. Details as soon as we can receive them. Please, help any and every way you can. Please stay tuned for details regarding opening your home or donation centres..." Ruby watched as the woman continued to talk about everything people could do to help those coming from Mistral and to prepare for the influx of refugees.
Ruby just stared, unbelieving that the final stand of Mistral would happen in the Capitol. Something pulled at her insides, a feeling of something that she could not describe pulling her toward it. She stared at the screen and began to turn; she stared right into the eyes of the Red Death, who smiled at her, knowing what she was going to do. But she was not doing this for her; she was not going there to kill everyone she met. She was going there to help. She was going to Weiss.
"Rose?" She heard Midori's voice as she began to walk towards her door. He called out her name again before she stopped and turned around to face him, "Don't tell me you're going..." Everyone looked at her, worry and shock on their faces, as she had just balled her eyes out about fighting and now she was going back.
"I have to..." she said as she pulled her cloak closer towards herself and began to walk closer to her door.
"Why?"
She stopped and thought about it; but she just looked back at him, at everyone, before lowering her head and closing her eyes. "I'm sorry, but I have to."
And so she left her squad behind in her apartment. Reaching the ground floor, Ruby made quick work of getting from her building to where they were taking in volunteers to fight in Mistral. When she arrived, she saw someone was already waiting for her to get there.
Her friend stood up from her place on a bench and nodded to her. Nora had changed into a black bomber jacket that was opened to reveal a white blouse that had a torn heart in the middle of her chest.
Of course Nora was not going to sit this out, people were in danger, and she goes wherever that danger is to save everyone she can. Without Any more distractions, Ruby placed a hand on Nora's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, "Let's go."
And together they marched off to war.
Hey! Welcome back for more angst and such.
I would like to apologise for the large span of nothing between chapters, lots have been happening for both me and my editor (Big thanks for him to making sure everything comes out realistic and correct) and he would like to say a few words!
"Editor's Note- Sorry for the delay, I usually try to turn a chapter around in a couple days, but this one took me a week… We want to make sure that the scenes involving Ruby's addiction are done well, and the emotional weight of this chapter was difficult to perfect. I've also had a few IRL issues to tackle and I'm very busy lately with my RWBY Tabletop RPG Conversion playtest."
So yeah!
If you enjoyed, please leave a favourite. If you already have, please leave a comment! I love reading them and I love replying to them. This story is also posted on AO3 under the same name, so if you read there as well, come show your support! I also have a Tumblr (AngryFaceWritings) come say hi!
And as always, thank you for taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of madness!