One more filler chapter to slog through (Or is it?). I'm giddy in anticipation for the ones upcoming, though.
And once again, you guys rock! (and mineral).
Today would be a good day.
Ruby was in a good mood, somewhat inexplicably. To those who would know the facts and not the girl would say that she was excited for her partner in crime, either because of the magnificent new weapon he got or because of the successful mission that went with it.
To those who knew the girl and not the circumstance would say that it was simply her good nature finally shining through.
And to those who knew both the girl and the events leading up to this morning, it would be worrisome. They would question if it was a blissful smile of content, or a manifestation of depravity. Was this a healthy coping, or an omen of things to come?
But the number of people who knew Ruby Rose- truly knew the girl behind the flesh and blood doll she inhabited could be counted with a unicorn's hoof.
For everyone else, she was who she appeared to be. Even if some suspected more. What everyone could agree on was that it was a welcome change of pace.
The girl herself was indeed Zen with the world as it stood. Things were finally looking up, or rather, they were finally seeing things on an even playing field instead of from that dismal gutter which was their safe spot for so long.
Naruto- her partner in every sense of the word and some that hadn't been coined yet- was making substantial progress in his personal endeavors. And so was she. It seemed like only a matter of time before she could welcome him with open arms to her humble existence, and all she had to do was get it ready for his arrival.
There was a confidence that couldn't quite be explained. A promise, which bordered on a threat.
And that was worrying in an unknown way.
She was happy that there seemed to be no more doubt surrounding their communication. Once, words seemed lacking, letters not enough to express the entirety of what needed to be said. Now they spoke through action so there could be nothing lost in translation. With silence she'd shut him out, and with silence she welcomed him back.
But what would become of those words left unsaid? What life would flourish in the moments between moments? And what things go on in the dark where no one is there to see?
"So, what's the plan, O-Fearless Leader?"
Ruby stopped cold in her half-skipping gait, the three who were following bunching up behind the sudden roadblock.
"No, not fearless."
"What?"
"Not without fear, no. Fear is something we must always keep in mind, embrace. Fear reminds us that we are still alive, that we are sane."
The three teenagers took this darkly profound statement with visible disquiet, staring at their companion like she was a sage- an eccentric, mountain-dwelling recluse.
"Anyway-!" Ruby spun around and blindsided her comrades with a 180˚ turn. "I though that we'd finally take JNPR up on their offer for a group-training session. Today's the day they usually get together outside of class to go over team tactics out at the sports field across from the infirmary."
"How did you-"
"Since we haven't really done much team-building exercises since the beginning of the semester, I figured we'd want to spend some more time there after they were done, so I packed us lunches!"
Team RWBY had so many questions. Not the least of which was Weiss's, as she wondered just how Ruby had known when and where the other team held their practice when the topic had not come up. But most were just wondering where the girl got her everlasting energy from- or perhaps more specifically questioning whether they had truly seen that glimpse of solemnity, or if it had all just been a hallucination.
"Ruby… where did you learn how to cook?"
That was another question. Unfortunately, she couldn't exactly tell them that Yamato-sensei had drilled in healthy eating habits with carrot and stick (the carrot for eating, the stick for- well, you know).
"It's nothing special… really."
It wasn't. But it looked like it was with the perfectly-sized portions wrapped up neatly in banana leaves. The three held their parcels like Faberge eggs, or in Weiss's case like it was a ticking time-bomb until Blake took a cautionary sniff of the bundle she was handed.
"Fish. I'm good with it."
"Fish?"
"I made yours with kombu and nato- I mean, veggies, Weiss." The girl still held it like it was a crying baby at arm's length as she turned to her sister. "And yours is pork, Yang." To which she received an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
"Alright! Judging by the weight here, I'm thinking we could go on all day."
"Speak for yourself…"
"Come on, Ice-Queen. Where's your team spirit?"
The white-haired girl glared at Blake who was looking as smug as a cat with a mouse caught by the tail, coveting her bento and holding it close to her chest.
"Fine…" She was sure she'd regret it later.
Ruby was hoping she wouldn't.
"Hello!"
Already set to begin their regime, the P of JNPR found it hard to halt the prepared strike from impacting the newcomer who appeared suddenly at her elbow. The mortification of murdering a fellow student was short-lived, however. For after her clamped-shut eyes reopened in disbelief, the image of the girl impaled on her blade had removed itself to stand unharmed just to the side.
"Sorry!" The apology being almost as reflexive as the strike, and both being laughed off by the girl with one hand rubbing the back of her head in chagrin.
"Whoops! That's my bad. Sorry Pyrrha!"
Said redhead blinked in wonderment after her mind had replayed the split-second encounter over, but quickly shrugged it off as just another eccentricity of the younger woman.
"That's alright, Ruby." Stepping out of her defensive stance and turning around to face the latest arrival, the rest of her team heaving a sigh of mixed relief and exasperation at the delay. "What're you doing here, though?"
"Well," She had to make a conscious effort to restrain her hand's ministrations by clasping it behind her back. "I thought, well, you know, that me and my team might finally take you up on your offer to train together…"
"That's wonderful!" Pyrrha cheered as two of her teammates came up behind, flanking her to see what all the commotion was about. "Where's the rest of your team, though?"
Ruby blinked as if considering this question for the first time before a weary shout supplied the answer for her.
"Hey peeps!" The blonde called from the far side of the clearing, trying to look less out of breath than she was. "What's-*phew*- what's up?" Holding it together better than the other two who were struggling between staring at the ground and glaring at their captain for taking off so suddenly without them.
Kicking her feet at the ground under the scathing looks, Ruby tried her best to look apologetic. Mentally reprimanding herself to cement this as a lesson that she had to be more considerate to her teammates, not letting her anxiousness get the better of her.
Normally this would not have escaped her mind. To herself as to Naruto, comrades were held in the highest regard. But considering the giant leap she was about to take, that normal sense of duty took a back seat in comparison.
"So… do you think it would still be alright?" The question was delivered to the towering redhead, but Ruby's gaze shot past her to the last member of JNPR to approach the central gathering.
"Of course…" The woman began to respond before realizing where the girl's gaze was directed and turning to face her leader. "I mean, if you think that it'd be a good idea, Jaune."
The whole field seemed to wait for the transparent blond to answer, his gaze flitting between his teammate and the formerly unapproachable pubescent.
"Yeah…sure."
Jaune was not a prideful person. He'd fully admit that for some reason the pint-sized girl scared the daylights out of him, starting on that first day when she'd so coldly stared through him like he hadn't even been there. Denied his existence with a single word. Her weapon of choice didn't help, either. In fact, she was probably even scarier now after the way she'd decimated team CRDL- twice.
"Sounds like fun."
At the same time, he was not one to hold the actions against her. Girls had rejected him far more harshly in the past, and she even looked like she was ready to make amends for it. Even if her actions had resulted in Cardin taking out his frustrations on him, the only one he could blame there was the bully himself. Chances were even good that if she hung out with JNPR more often, he might absorb some of her tenaciousness through her otherwise radiant personality.
"Alright. Well, then, why don't we start with a team spar? Four against four, just to warm up and see where we're all at?"
"Sounds like a plan." Ruby offered a strained smile which he was nonetheless grateful for, before looking back as she heard a ragged wheeze come from one of her team. "Just… maybe a few minutes to stretch before?"
As she'd anticipated, JNPR's teamwork was far more polished than their own. But this would be rectified soon enough after lunch. When the other team would break for the day, they would continue to hammer away at the issues, whittle away the rough edges that had persisted since they were mashed together on day one.
It wouldn't be finished in a single afternoon of work, though. There were glaring holes which threatened the structure of her team which needed to be filled in before it was too late.
"Aren't you going to take a break?"
After casting aside the biodegradable wrapping of her hastily scarfed lunch and letting it digest with a few light exercises, Ruby paused in the midst of a flowing kata to regard the approach.
"I already finished eating, and I'm not that tired." She confessed, trying simply to state it and not sound arrogant.
It wasn't a bother with this woman, for Pyrrha could empathize with the listlessness which came with stamina. While a wonder to see in one so young and frail-looking, she could see that Ruby was telling the truth. Not that she needed any more evidence after the handful of matches she'd witnessed over the past few weeks, and the determination shown in the morning matchups.
"Same. In that case, perhaps you wouldn't mind a one-on-one spar?"
Wouldn't mind was a gross understatement. This was something she'd been waiting for ever since finding out about Pyrrha's skill, and it was almost like a wet-dream come true.
She wanted to blame that analogy on outside influences, her sister and Naruto included. But the truth remained that it was the most appropriate description of the way she felt about it. There was a battle lust which hadn't been there before. At first being acceptable, she had been starved of that adrenaline rush for so long. But with weeks of spars and the desire not being sated, and after what happened with CRDL last night… she was no longer so sure it was normal. She was no longer sure it was healthy.
"I'd love to."
There were tingles up her spine that had nothing to do with the electric shouts of the exuberant Nora, and a fire in her gut that was separate from the inflammatory egging of her sister as the two took the field. There was no mind paid to the fact that they were becoming a spectacle, only focus on each other as they prepared to become one in the rush of battle.
"Rules?" Pyrrha asked, twirling her sword with her wrist and settling into a casual stance.
"Don't die."
Where the words had come from, she'd no idea. To the Athenian warrior it was even more of a surprise, in pace with the sudden blitz which almost caught her off-guard with its lack of preamble. The crescent blade sunk deep into her guard, driving her feet into the ground which gave way underneath. Not to be deterred, she replied with equal intensity, throwing off the meteoric weight on her shield and thrusting her blade forward.
Only to have the image of the girl fade away, not dissimilar to earlier that morning. Pyrrha swept her foot out to block low, intercepting the low slash aimed at throwing her off-balance and blunting her blade with a hasty wick-tick at either side of Ruby's head which the girl deflected with a single twirl of her weapon.
The speed was not abnormal, nor was it unexpected. Unlike Pyrrha's Semblance, Ruby in no way disguised her singular aptitude during their classroom spars.
Though never had she flaunted it so blatantly. Ruby was the type of fighter to use superior composure and technique to defeat her opponents. With perhaps the occasional slip of her true strength when a student got uppity and challenged her rightfulness at the head of the class.
Technically Pyrrha still held that title, but she knew it was a paper crown. Glynda simply called upon the champion more than the prodigy for some unfathomable reason, and as such Pyrrha had more wins under her belt. Neither had lost, so this was the only true way to settle the question, and Pyrrha felt that she was every bit as eager to settle things as Ruby.
It was hard to admit that she may have been wrong about that.
Ruby backed off enough that Pyrrha felt compelled to use her rifle, taking fire with pinpoint accuracy at a target which danced around the rounds like they were hillbilly potshots, occasionally reaching out to snatch a few out of the air for show.
The Amazonian found herself growling at the ineffectualness of her weapon and quickly morphed it into its spear form. Loosing it with an unintended hint of her magnetic Semblance, the javelin was flung almost as fast as her bullets, angling improbably in air to intercept Ruby as she made to affect another casual dodge.
Only when eyes widened to drink in the sight of the pointed tip imbedding itself into the girl's gut did Pyrrha begin to get an inkling of her actions.
Regret never arrived. It was interrupted by screaming instinct bending her body backwards to bock the devastating downward swing with her shield, cartwheeling over to right herself and reflecting another howling blow from the massive scythe. She snagged the next one head on, thrusting the smaller girl backwards with raw power and forcing her way into Ruby's guard where she landed a ferocious kick to her gut with those pointed heels. The small body went careening backwards across the field.
"*Phew*! Ho boy! That was a good one!"
Standing up, the girl complimented with one hand rubbing her stomach where a hole had manifested in her corset. Despite the botherless air Ruby was putting on, Pyrrha was about to apologize for her excessive force before the girl continued.
"I'm really surprised how quick you caught on to that little trick. How many times have you seen it now? Two, three times?"
"Four, actually." Pyrrha admitted with a slight shrug, guardedly backing up towards her primary weapon. "You used it earlier this morning."
The slightly disquieting grin on Ruby's face was broken up by blinks erasing it like stones thrown in a river.
"I did?" Then she laughed, rubbing the back of her head with tongue pinched between her lips. "I don't really remember! I guess I must be more out-of-it than I thought!"
This time the frankness brought a frown to the redhead. It was long since known that Ruby was a tad aloof, but that trait was not extended to the battlegrounds. She'd always been acutely observant of every fight, no matter how trivial. Pyrrha found it hard to believe, but by the same token it was unlike the girl to be deceptive.
"So tell me, is that another natural part of your Semblance, or something you came up with on your own?"
She pushed aside the bleating doubts for the very real admiration held for her fellow student. It wasn't common for Semblances to have multiple functions. But ones like her own could be put to creative uses only at the limit of the user's ingenuity and determination.
"Not telling!" Ruby jibed, pulling down her eyelid in childish impudence. "We all have some abilities we want to keep secret… right?"
Catching herself on her back heel, Pyrrha felt a twinge of something unknown run up her spine with the offhand statement. Had she ever shown her polarity during a match? Even if she'd used it, it was always carefully hidden within her own raw strength. Had Ruby really figured it out based on just a few fleeting moments? Or was she simply bluffing?
It must have been the latter. After all, Pyrrha had made it a show of not flaunting it. But the doubt was already there, and that was enough.
"Although, I'm going to try my best to make you use everything you have up your sleeve."
With that promise stated the break was over and the battle resumed.
In a single backwards bound Pyrrha was reunited with her weapon, seamlessly flicking it into its sword form as she was beset by another round of hacking strikes that made her impenetrable shield creak. But she gave as good as she received, lashing out with snapping reposts which were dodged or deflected by that fluid movement bundled within the tiny package.
Ruby was like a condensed whirlpool of destruction, ravishing everything in her path. And Pyrrha was caught up in that riptide, feeding into the overbearing gale with an upwelling of her own pride and prowess. Together they were the perfect storm, razing the carefully manicured training ground and encouraging their teams to take a step back, lest they get caught up in the wanton destruction.
"This is AWESOME!"
Ren and Jaune could only nod in affirmation to their excitable teammate's declaration. It was such in the classical sense of the word, leaving the six observers in state of awe in which they could only remark on the vast difference between their own abilities and the ones on display.
Blake had stopped waving her serialized team RWBY banner and even Yang was mute, perched on the edge of her seat with half-eaten lunches long since forgotten. Ruby's partner was torn, however. Satisfied with her captain's capabilities, but wondering how the world have been so blind to someone with such aptitude. She was now more anxious than ever to find out just what those mysterious reports said.
A grasscutter swing whistled underneath Pyrrha's defense, so unexpected that she had no chance to take advantage of the girl's exposed guard. The only option was to hop over it, trapping herself in the air as the low-blow turned into a headstand and Ruby's booted feet shot out to knock her even higher.
The moment her feet left the ground outside of her own volition, Pyrrha knew she was in trouble. The girl's Semblance allowed her to move faster than the acceleration of gravity could pull her down, essentially giving her the ability to fly. There was no reasonable way for her to keep up.
Not that Ruby would give her the chance. Occupied at all times by the red bullet snaking around and battering her about the air like a pinball.
Someone was supposed to be monitoring their respective Aura levels to make sure that the friendly spar didn't accidently turn deadly. With the way the girl was leaning on her speed Semblance, she should have used up her reserves by now. But it didn't look like she had any intention of stopping, so Pyrrha would have to take that matter into her own hands.
Pirouetting in place, she lashed out with the short sword before Ruby's transient form could impact her again, honing her Semblance onto the metal of Crescent Rose. The girl stopped dead, and Pyrrha used this moment of genuine surprise to hook her blade around her opponent's haft and hurl her bodily at the ground.
The jerk being so sudden and vicious, Ruby was powerless to stop herself from being thrown downwards. And even once her boots sunk deep into the chewed-up ground underneath, she could not reverse her momentum so easily. Thus, she was stuck there as Pyrrha descended with a gravity-imbued overhand strike which buckled her knees and forced both of her arms to strain underneath the burden of her weapon.
Teeth clenched so that she tasted iron, silver eyes wavering in and out of focus as she bore up underneath the overbearing of a stronger adversary. Adrenaline was no longer enough to keep this up, and there was something vouching for itself deep within her to take its place.
But she wouldn't let it, this was her life, her fight, and even if Naruto was knocking she would bar the door.
Not that she had the energy left to do so, anyway. She'd expended too much early on, hoping to overtake the more experienced huntress quickly in the fight. Pyrrha stooping to using her polarity was not something she honestly anticipated. The only option was to go on the defensive and try to hold out until a strategy presented itself. But first she had to get out of this predicament.
From her knees she dropped the short distance to the ground, imposing her legs between herself and the sword of Damocles and breaking the deadlock. Summersaulting backwards and trying to put some distance between the two, she was not expecting the tables to be so suddenly turned as Pyrrha followed her with dogged tenacity.
The match hinged on her back foot now, sword relentlessly smashing at her defenses while she struggled to get a strike in edgewise. She could no longer count on her after-image to fool the redhead. Now with her polarity in full swing, she could track the movements using the instantaneous pull of magnetism and not rely on the faulty signals traveling from the eye to the brain.
In her newfound desperation it never occurred to her that Pyrrha was every bit as exhausted as she, running off of fumes dredged up from months of silent stoking of the embers. Had she used her Semblance from the beginning, things might have been different. But she'd already expended too much of her Aura defending against the strikes Ruby managed to sneak in.
Both would have to finish it quickly.
Point-blank Ruby blasted a single gravity-round from her sniper, shot going wild but the sound and flash enough to distract the berserker redhead and give her some breathing room. She skidded to a halt with scythe poised behind her, breathing heavy and hopes banked on the next exchange which would have to be the last. Her throat burned, and her chest heaved, she had never been run so ragged.
She had never felt so alive!
One finger on the trigger and another on the bolt she shot and racked three rounds in such quick succession that it sounded like a machinegun, accelerating her towards Pyrrha at speeds lapping the sound barrier many times over.
Then she used her Semblance.
It was like Pyrrha was standing still as Crescent Rose descended. It wouldn't have mattered if the woman's shield was up for she would have cleaved through it like butter. The thoughts in her head were running so rampant around that sole desire for victory, there was no way concern for her comrade could reach her conscious mind. The guillotine descended.
And stopped cold.
It was unfathomable, it was grating, it was humiliating. It was an affront to her blood sweat and tears which had gotten her to this point when Pyrrha froze her final swing with but a careless finger, shield cast aside so that she could point that accusing digit at her heart. Such an easy dismissal of her hard work, that short-sword cocking back mockingly slow to deliver the finishing blow.
No, this shouldn't be happening.
At apex tension her arm knocked like an arrow ready to be released.
No, it wasn't fair.
Fingers of fate loosed the blade and it shot towards her breast, her hands still tied to her scythe suspended above their heads.
No, she rejected the inevitability, the helplessness that she swore to never feel again.
Piercing like a needle through space and time, the point called out to her.
"NO!"
The ground crumbled beneath her feet as radioactive energy erupted from every pore, halting the sword like her own had been, locked in time. The force which bound her to stillness weakened, shattered under a resistance it had never encountered before. Crescent Rose completed its downward swing, a semicircle imprinted on the retinas of all watching as the arena lit up with a blinding crimson light.
Pyrrha was sent tumbling back, skipping off the ground like a stone and slamming into the woods not far off. The sturdy tree trunk caving underneath her back and her silent scream rustling the spectating leaves.
Gasping for air. Tasting dirt. Moving because her body ordered her to, telling her to check and see that she wasn't paralyzed. Pyrrha scraped herself off the ground, forcing her chin up to see the shadow which now blotted the sun.
A Cheshire smile loomed over her, bone white mouth of teeth imposed on a shade of malicious darkness. She and the specter were alone in that day suddenly turned crimson sunset, the crescent moon already woxen high into night. It leered at her from where it hung in the starless sky, teasing her with scant moments to live before it descended to smite her.
She was going to die.
"Ruby!"
The call pierced through the veil, shattered that mirror world and she blinked as the shards fell from her eyes like sand.
The petit scythe-wielder stood over her with a blank expression, as if she was just made aware of where she was, what she was doing, and who was calling the shots.
Crescent Rose slipped from her grip and pinwheeled to the ground, imbedding deep behind the two of them as Ruby dropped to her knees, groping for her friend in blind desperation.
"Pyrrha?! Pyrrha?! Are you alright?! I'm so sorry!"
The redhead chuckled absently as she accepted the arm which latched on to her own, too overcome with the roller-coaster ride to do anything else but marvel. There would be time to think about it though, as they got a spatula to pry her off the ground and she spent the rest of the afternoon- make that week, licking her wounds.
"It's alright. I'm alright, I think…"
She felt the gentle touch as Ren lay a concerned hand on her back, breathing a sigh of relief at knowing she still had sensation in the lower part of her body.
"It's bruised, possibly some cracks. But nothing that Aura and a good bit of rest won't cure." Came the novice diagnosis. Followed up swiftly by the qualification that he was not a medic, and that someone else should go get the school's nurse.
"I'm so sorry!" Ruby reiterated. "I promise that I'll take notes for you- no! I'll do your homework while you're recovering!"
As tempting as this was, Pyrrha was not one to take advantage of a guilty conscious such as this. She waved the younger girl off dismissively, wincing as she discovered a previously unknown pain in her shoulder. In fact, her entire front chose then to let her know that it was not to be ignored, simply hadn't had attention yet due to the pressing matter of her back.
"It's my fault." The now ex-champion insisted. "I escalated it and let things get out of hand. I'm sorry." Offering a pathetically apologetic smile to the girl crouched over her who was all but inconsolable.
"But-"
"Just what is going on here?"
It was a familiar rhetorical question. They were sure the woman had been watching them the entire time using her squadron of drones roaming the airspace around the school. Otherwise, there was no way she could have caught on to them so quickly. Two of the school's immaculately uniformed medical staff flanked her determined stride, adding to the assumption.
"Oh boy…"
"Ms. Goodwitch-Ah!"
Trying to stand up and intercept her instructor was perhaps not the best idea on Pyrrha's part, as the painful spasm caused her arms to buckle and taste another mouthful of dirt. It also provided further ammunition for the towering blonde woman as she loomed down accusingly at the gaggle of students who knew they were in untold amounts of trouble, regardless of their guilt.
"Do not try to move, Ms. Nikos."
Goodwitch admonished the sheepish fighter who mumbled her acceptance to the earth. She then turned her scathing green eyes to her usual scapegoat, aiming what was sure to be an excoriating diatribe at the young girl on the virtues of precaution and subtlety.
"It's my fault." Two mouths opened wide to speak but were beaten by Yang stepping in front of her sister and the rest. "As the unofficial referee I should have been watching their Aura levels. I let myself become distracted and this was the result."
While this was technically true, it had gone unspoken that it applied only to the last three-on-three spar they had before lunch, in which both blondes on each side had sat on the sidelines. Ruby was about to point this out, picking up where she left off to confess her irresponsible behavior when she was interrupted yet again.
"No, Ms. Goodwitch, it's my fault." Despite the cringe on her face and the less-than dignified position of being shuffled onto a stretcher, Pyrrha's assertive attitude was hard to argue with. "I was the one who approached Ruby for the spar, and as such, it was my negligence in setting ground rules which resulted in this. Furthermore, as the one with vastly more experience in a tournament setting, it should have been my responsibility to make sure the match was conducted in an orderly manner." She sent the still agape Ruby a weak smile as the female nurse busied herself with removing some of Pyrrha's layers to inspect the damage. "I have no one to blame but myself."
Convolutedly, they had never thought to confront Glynda with cold, hard logic before. Realizing this now was a little embarrassing, but no less useful in stopping whatever remarks were tottering on her lips and making that admonishing finger as potent as a wet noodle.
"Well… that being said, I have repeatedly reminded Ms. Rose about her recklessness during combat. She needs to learn how to better control her actions."
"I agree." Tired of being preempted by well-meaning comrades, Ruby spoke up for herself at long last. "I let the pace of the fight lead me instead of the other way around. That kind of mistake can cost someone their lives in a real-life scenario." Intertwined fingers clenched until they bled, but she tucked them close into her skirt so that the color matched seamlessly. "It almost did here. I have no excuse for it, and I will accept any punishment you deem necessary."
There was no excuse. There wasn't even an explanation to justify what had happened. Why had she been so determined to win? What had caused her to continue the fight when it had been obvious it was long over?
It wasn't like this was the first time she had felt such… urges. She had almost pulled the trigger on Cardin in class and had barely restrained the desire to rend him from head to toe shortly after. It was inconceivable that she should feel similarly when fighting with Pyrrha. Kind, gentle, perfect Pyrrha.
"Don't let it happen again."
With head still bowed they missed the flash of surprise across her face. Had she spaced out during her scolding? Was she really getting off without a punishment? Did she deserve to?
"Ms. Rose."
"Yes!"
As if reading her thoughts, Glynda turned back to her from appraising the injured warrior who was uncomfortable with all the doting she received from her teammates.
"Come see me later in my office. We need to have a talk."
"Yes."
Seeing that her punishment had only been postponed was both relieving and nerve-wracking. At the very least it allowed her to focus her attention on the here and now.
"Pyrrha, I am so, so sorry." She approached the stretcher held between the two orderlies cautiously, afraid to incite the Amazon's teammates who might not want her anywhere near the woman after what had happened.
"Don't worry about it." Smiling carelessly, Pyrrha managed to prop herself up on an elbow and send the girl a reassuring smile. "This is nothing. You should have seen me after my first tournament, I could barely get out of bed for a week. I'm already feeling better. See?"
"That's probably because we hooked you up with enough tranquilizers to make a Beowulf into a lapdog." One of the orderlies muttered, trying to hurry the party along.
"Ren, I never noticed, but your hair is so prettyyyyyy…. It's smooth. How do you get it so smooth? I wish I could get my hair that smooth, smooooth, smooooooooth. Weird. Like Jazz. Do you know how to play the sax, Ren? Ren?"
"Okay, I think that's enough." Said boy stepped away from his teammate who was busily groping at his cascading hair while trying to be herded by the nurses. He leaned over to Ruby whispering conspiratorially as Nora was having a field day with the 'new and improved' Pyrrha, and Janue was trying to keep the redhead's hands from wandering any more than necessary. "Actually Ruby, if you could take an extra set of notes that would be much appreciated. I'm already busy enough making one for Nora, and Jaune's handwriting… well, frankly it's atrocious."
The girl nodded seriously and whispered back.
"Is that okay, though? Aren't you… I don't know. Aren't you angry with me?"
The frankness and imperturbability that had been with him since the day he approached her had not waned in the interim. Ren looked at her with little more than a half-lidded gaze as he simply questioned.
"No. Why should I be?" She was plenty upset with herself, it only stood to reason that he would be. "Pyrrha is tough. She'll be back on her feet in no time. Probably asking for a rematch if what I've come to learn about her holds. If anything, I'd be more worried for you."
That was for sure. What was going on with her? Had she really abandoned her sanity somewhere along the line, and if so, where had she left it?
"Okay." She relented. "I'll have to try twice as hard for both of us!"
That elicited a smile of confidence from the male who sent a short wave to the other three before retreating to his team. Disappearing around the bend with the small entourage, just catching the tail end of a loud conversation with his ginger-haired teammate.
"How do you get your hair so silky-smooth anyway? I thought we used the same shampoo, right, Ren…?"
"Well, I think that's all for today." Weiss spoke up for her otherwise morose team, still not managing to stir any of them from where they were rooted in the ground. She sighed to an empty audience.
Ruby was plucked from her thoughts when her sister threw a strong arm around her shoulders and squeezed her into her bosom. She looked up to see a faraway look in those lilac eyes, turning towards her eventually with a regard more deep and poignant than she had ever believed possible.
"Come on Champ. Let's go home."
Today… had been a day. Just like things had been things, and ideas a continually shifting concept.
Maybe tomorrow would be better. Maybe it would be worse. The confidence that she had that morning had ebbed somewhat, making her wonder if she ought to reach out to the person who knew her best. Where words failed to describe, he might know what was going on with her. The knowledge that she could turn to him in times of need lessened the fear surrounding the unknown.
Covers pulled well up over her head, she swept a hand underneath her pillow and pulled out a familiar green notebook. Different, though, from the one she had known. A sequel, as it were. Not a replacement.
What to write? It had been so long since they had used words… were they even still necessary? He had seen what had happened, felt the opera of sensation playing across her body during the spar's duration. Or had he? It might have all been her imagination, her flawed and malleable mind dreaming up emotions to hoodwink her into overlooking a declining sanity. It was worth telling him how she felt, at least.
But as she cracked open that still-new spine to the first blank page, she found it filled. Her heart caught in her throat as she recognized the boxy scrawl that was different than her own but still familiar.
Dear Ruby,
Not long ago you said that there were things you couldn't trust me with. I know that writing this note in your diary probably doesn't help with that, but I'm not trying to deny it any more. I just want you to know that I understand, and I agree that I haven't been the most understanding sister. I thought that with you here again, things could go back to normal. But now I realize they can't. Our lives were probably never 'normal' to begin with anyway, huh?
Coming here, coming to Beacon has forced me to change my mind on what that word means to me. It has made me reevaluate what's important. It's tough to admit, but being normal rates pretty low on that list.
What's important to me is you, Ruby. Dad and Qrow too. Yes, I still love them even despite what they did, or didn't do to you. But you can blame me for that. You can resent me for loving them as I do you, but know that it won't change how I feel. How can I hate them and not hate myself? I can just try to make up for those mistakes, try to patch things over with you and maybe someday help you do the same with them.
You have more people who are dear to you now, too, that I can't compete with. Eventually you might not need me anymore, and I must accept that. Our teammates, they might still be a little bit strangers but I can already feel that they hold an important place in your heart. They might be able to understand you better than I ever could, in time.
I won't- I can't pretend anymore to say that I know you. Believe me when I say that I'm trying, though. I want to understand what it's been like to be you, what we- what I have made you go through. I want to see the world through your eyes, that world that must have been so beautiful and rich to create such a wonderful person. Someday, maybe, we can both try to bring that person back to the light, so that the whole world might be made equally beautiful.
Forever your sister,
Yang
P.S. I have been holding on to something for you. Whenever you're ready for it.
By the time she'd finished the words were jumping all over the page, the book shaking in her grip and long streaks of tears ran down the crease. The flashlight illuminating the cloth cavern fell from her hands and she was buried in a warm darkness.
"Ruby, are you alright?"
Her partner whispered tentatively over the edge of her bed from downstairs. She realized that she must be rattling the posts in her trembling, and quickly tried to collect herself so that her apology wouldn't incite further investigation.
"Fine, Weiss. I just… got a cramp."
There was a long pause where she feared she'd been caught in her lie. The weight of Weiss's scrunched-up scrutiny could be felt through the covers.
"Alright… do you need a glass of water?"
"No, thanks." She nearly choked.
Another long moment in which it appeared like Weiss was contemplating calling her on the bluff before the mutely stern voice spoke again.
"Just don't stay up too late studying, alright? You need some rest after today."
"Will do."
Feeling the minute shift in the heavy wood as the slip of a girl slid back into her bed and Ruby let out a sigh of relief.
No doubt about it, she would have to come clean. Tomorrow. After getting some answers of her own.
The room would be dark when she finally emerged, the light which had guided her only a flickering candle in the other room. It would not fail to draw her towards it like a moth to the flame. But at the same time, the journey through the woods and the long way through the tunnel left her tired.
"Mother," Her parched words would be absorbed by the overbearing silence.
"Yes, dear?" From the room with the candle, the voice she thought she recognized. Sickeningly sweet, hauntingly familiar.
"I'm hungry."
"There's some meat in the pantry, why don't you have some?"
She would find freshly butchered meat in the dusty cabinet, quickly taking a piece off the waxy paper and scarfing it down hungrily. Something would shift in the shadows by her feet and rub up against her leg.
"Go away." She would tell the cat, holding the meat above her head away from it. But the cat would just smile up at her.
"That's your mother's flesh you're eating."
"Mother," The mouthful stuck in her throat. "There's a cat in here… and she says that I'm eating your flesh."
"Don't you know that cats lie?" The call would come back. "Throw a shoe at the cat."
Afterwards when she finished the meat, she would be overcome by a terrible thirst.
"Mother,"
"What is it dear?"
"I'm thirsty." She would complain, staring at her single shoe and wondering if she had walked all the way here with one bare foot. Wondering where here was, exactly.
"There's some wine on the table, drink some."
The pitcher would be made of tarnished silver and from its spout would pour wine as rich and as sweet as syrup.
A snowy white dove would land on the sill of an open window that she wouldn't notice until then.
"That's your mother's blood your drinking." Its cheeps were crisp and scolding.
Red droplets would spill from the cracks in her mouth, staining her crimson cowl with sin.
"Mother, there's a bird here, and she says that I'm drinking your blood."
"You mustn't believe the bird," The voice would call out, reassuring her with the image she could almost remember. "Chase it away and shut the window."
Buttoning up the shutters and sealing the empty house once more, she would find that with her hunger appeased and her thirst quenched that her fatigue was the only thing left.
"Mother," She would lament, rubbing her silver eyes and pulling the red cloak around her shoulders some more. "I'm tired."
"Then come here dear, and lie down next to me."
She would follow that voice into the candlelit room, the waning glow hiding things in the shadows. Throwing a shroud over events so terrible they should never see the light of day.
For a while it had seemed like things were returning to normal.
No, that wasn't true. Things that had once seemed simple on the surface were proving to be treacherous holes which had no bottom and swallowed up anyone trying to explore their depths.
The task was simple- back when he thought it impossible. Though now as it was so close that he could practically reach out and caress that pale face, it suddenly seemed like the wrong thing to do.
They were different people. They saw things, felt things differently. No matter how much shared experience, no matter the extent which their lives played off one another and intermeshed in unfathomable ways, there was nothing that could change this fundamental fact.
Like describing color to the blind, there was that impossible assumption, that leap of faith. Their thoughts had always been almost parallel, making that jump easy. But reactions could differ, and similar actions didn't always share a motivation. What made them different wasn't their world, it was the way they responded to it.
The stimuli were the same. Hunger, thirst, taste. The sound of music and the scent of nature. Pleasure. Pain, the throbbing toe, the twisting gut, the broken heart. They felt all. He knew the ups and down of being a woman just as much as she knew the awkwardness of being a man. Why should he have doubted that she felt this?
Rage. Anger. Bloodlust. They shared the bad, as well as the good.
Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and craned his neck. Up, up, up to look at the unfathomably large pillars in front of him, the harvest-moon eyes looming behind, and the simple paper tag holding it all together.
"Oi! You and I need to have a talk."
A smile filled with the bones of giants opened up in the black pit behind the gate, staring out at him and making promises time would never forget.
"My, what big … ears you have."
Unable to remember where he'd heard that line, forgetting it in a moment where he reconsidered whether this was a good idea. Had the demon grown in the time since he last saw it? Had the reality changed, or merely his memory of it?
"All the better to hear you with…" Drawl so deep and strong that it invaded his diaphragm. "So you want to talk? Fine, let us talk…"
A voice that was the promise of salvation in an empty bottle. The tip of a sharp blade. The bottom of a deep, dark well.
None of that scared him. The only thing he feared was what he'd yet to know, what sort of things went on in the shadows when no one was watching.
First thing coming to mind, just wanted to mention the banana-leaves lunch thing. That was something my hostess did for me and my mentor when we were staying in a Ryōkan at Iwojima. Ingenious, AND delicious. Freaking Japanese know how wrap anything.
And second… yeah. Not exactly the Little Red Riding Hood that you're used to, huh? This is actually one of the original versions, believe it or not I didn't have to alter it much to fit the story. Hardly at all, actually. Brothers Grimm whitewashed a whole bunch of stories, but kid's stories were really F**ked up back then.