Hello toothache my old friend. You're here to fuck my life again…

Notice: As has been mentioned before, I have to take a week off for this work event I am running (awards ceremony), and to collate judge's info, handle last minute questions, arrange stuff on the day, do the opening speeches and hand out the awards, etc. All boring organisational crap, but it's going to have me in a hotel for several days, so I need a week off writing.

That week will be from Sat 23rd to Fri 29th March. Meaning that for this story, there will be no update on Sunday 24th March. Will continue as normal from the week after. If in doubt, check dates at bottom of chapter.

Cover Art: Z-ComiX

Chapter 25

"Mrs Mars? This is Ruby. We were hoping you'd be able to rent an apartment to her…" Jaune looked back to Ruby and smiled nervously, wondering how Ruby would handle the over-friendly old lady, especially in her current mood.

"Ruby?" The old lady smiled. "And does Ruby have a last name?"

"Rose. Ruby Rose." Ruby extended a hand, which the old lady shook.

"How old are you, dear? You look rather young."

"I'm fifteen. Almost sixteen."

"And already wanting to live alone? I'm not sure…"

"It's a test," Ruby lied. "I'm going to be schooling out of Vale next year and my uncle wants me to get some practice living alone first. He's worried about letting me go on my own otherwise."

"Oh, I see! He lives in the city then?"

"Down on the Water's Edge Boulevard. He runs a small inn and bar there. It's nice, but a little too loud for me to study properly." Ruby managed a completely innocent laugh, falling into the role with a lot more comfort than he'd expected of her. Was it just him she couldn't act like this around, or was it a sign of trust that she didn't feel she had to? "It's full of people drinking and eating at all hours. I can barely even focus, and I've got exams coming up…"

"So, your uncle suggested you move out a bit?"

"Mhm." Ruby smiled happily. "He wouldn't have been okay with it if Jaune wasn't living here, though. Jaune's going to be there if I have any problems. My uncle is happy to pay the rent, too." Ruby held out a small packet. "Jaune told us how much it was. This would be two months in advance."

"Hmm." Mrs Mars inspected the envelope shrewdly but made no motion to take it. "And your uncle is close enough to come if you need him?"

"Yep. Would you like to speak with him?"

"I think I should. Not for any doubt on your part, dear. You look like such a lovely young girl. It's just that I'd worry about you at your age. Fifteen really is too young to be living on your own."

Ruby looked to him. "I wouldn't be completely alone…"

"Fifteen is too young to be living with another man, too."

Jaune almost choked. "I-It's not like that!"

"I know, dear, I know." Mrs Mars patted his arm with that condescending old person look that somehow managed to be both fond and patronising. "Trust an experienced woman like myself to be able to tell if that was on the cards. If Ruby's uncle is happy to come down and meet with me, and to present ideas on how he'll help her if she needs it, I'll be happy to rent to her."

"He can come today," Ruby promised. "I can give you his number."

"Wonderful. I have a free schedule and I promise we'll get this sorted by this evening. Keep the money, dear," Mrs Mars said, pushing it back to Ruby. "Jaune, why don't you show her around the room next to yours while I call her uncle? And no funny business!"

"M-Mrs Mars…" he stammered weakly. "It's not like that."

"Well, don't be so easy to tease, boy, and no one would do it." With a laugh, she slapped his arm. "And give a knock on Blake's door, won't you? I've not seen the girl for days now and she owes me rent."

"Will do."

Taking the key offered from Mrs Mars, and with a polite nod and a "hello" to Mrs Mars, Jaune took Ruby back outside and up the staircase leading to the first-floor walkway. It wasn't Ruby's first time to his apartment, but the times before had been through the window and not exactly social visits. Jaune stopped at the door next to his and unlocked it, stepping inside with Ruby in tow.

"The guy who originally lived here moved out. I think he failed his exams or lost his job. I didn't really talk to him much. Looks like he left it neat enough, though. Or Mrs Mars cleaned it. Probably the second. She takes being a landlord really seriously."

"Hm." Ruby stepped in behind him. "You've not told her about Blake?"

"What can I say? Oh yeah, I saw Blake killed by a possessed woman who can control fire." He sighed. "Besides, I've not had the chance and I don't want to be the one to break the news. Maybe it's best if she thinks Blake skipped out. Easier to stomach."

"Is that fair to Blake?"

He looked back. "Do you think Blake would even care?"

"No." Ruby sighed. "I guess not."

He could ask her the next time he saw her, but he fully knew she'd roll her eyes, laze down on her sunning rock and refuse to answer. Adam would then say something disparaging about humans and their foolish rituals. Frankly, as long as Blake had Adam, her pool and her rock to sunbathe on, she was happy. The only thing she'd have liked was another human body to mess around in.

He drew the line there – and refused to even consider her little suggestions of a coma victim or similar. It sounded nice and easy, but he really didn't know how souls worked, and just because someone was in a coma or braindead didn't mean their soul had moved on. How cruel would it be to take someone already in so bad a situation and feed their soul to Blake?

"The place is small, but it has everything it needs and it's in a good spot. Mrs and Mr Mars are nice, too. A little old-fashioned. Don't let them get you talking about religion. They can go on for hours and they'll probably invite you to church with them."

"Would I even be welcome in a church?"

"No idea. You're the Grimm expert here."

"Just because I'm a Grimm doesn't mean I know how Grimm work. Do you know how humans work?"

"Considering I'm learning to be a doctor…?"

"Okay. Bad example." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Most people don't."

He laughed. "I get it." Maybe it was the change in setting or just the meeting with Mrs Mars, but while Ruby didn't look to be in a better mood, she was at least a little less dark than before. It might even have been the sun streaming in through the sliding glass door leading onto the balcony. "It's a cramped fit, but it works. I'm not sure how much stuff you have anyway."

"Not too much. It'll be fine. I can keep important things at the Beacon anyway." Ruby ran her fingers over the hob and cooker.

"Can you cook?" he asked.

"Nope. Yang could, a little, but it's hard to find any reason to when you live with a cook. Ozpin used to make us meals when we were younger, then Oscar took over and Velvet helped sometimes. I can microwave stuff, but nothing to compete with them."

"Must have been nice living there…"

"We ate well, if nothing else." Ruby smiled nostalgically. "Yang always made light of it, said it was living the life, but I knew it was to keep me happy. The `life` would have been living with Summer and Taiyang." Her smile fell. "And Ruby…"

"I think her ideal would have been living with Taiyang, Summer, Ruby and you," he said. "You really think she'd not want you around if everything came back? She'd drag you to meet them and demand they adopt you as their third child."

She giggled. "Probably. Yang was… She was always like that…"

A tear fell from her eye.

"There's nothing wrong with thinking about her. Remembering her."

Jaune's phone buzzed and he drew it out, leaving Ruby to explore the rest of the apartment – as limited as that was – on her own. Swiping his thumb to open the messages, he found the latest one from Nora.

"Skool boring. Ev1 talkn bout u."

"Should you really be texting me?" he sent back, allowing the spell check to handle everything. Something Nora obviously either ignored or intentionally turned off. "Does Ren know you're texting me?"

"N." he got back, followed quickly by. "Dnt tell Rn."

He rolled his eyes. "What is everyone saying?"

"U join gang. U no Kungfu. U hot." There was a long pause before he received another text. "Nt hot as Rn tho."

"Thanks…"

"Still luv u! XxX"

Only Nora…

"We still on sat?"

"Yes. See you then."

"U brng fren?"

Jaune glanced over to Ruby, who was testing the mattress. "She's pretty beat up still," he sent back. "Not in the mood at all. I suggested it and she didn't sound happy with it."

"Ofc not. Brng hr."

"She won't like it…"

"Bring. Her." Complete punctuation and spelling, a sign of the apocalypse or just what awaited him if he let her down.

"Okay okay, I'll bring her. You need to help me out with her though."

"Will -clock emoji- ur back."

It felt like her text-speak got harder to read the longer she texted him. He was about to reply as much when another, longer, text came through. Still from Nora's phone, but now written rather differently.

"Nora is paying little enough attention to this lecture as is. Please refrain from getting her in detention or I will NEVER hear the end of it. Ren."

"Whoops," Jaune said out loud.

A second later, he got another text.

"Busted… T_T"

Jaune laughed and put his phone away, looking back as Ruby was flopped down on the bed dozing off gently. He was about to tell her not to when the room wasn't hers yet but paused to yawn himself. They'd both been up all night dealing with Rebecca, Ozpin, and then the nocturnal hours of the hunters.

I guess Mrs Mars gave us the keys already… he thought, laying them down on Ruby's bedside table. A little presumptuous maybe, but Ozpin would have no trouble convincing Mrs Mars to let Ruby stay. He was sure of that. Letting himself out, he pulled the door shut, hearing it lock, and then made his way back to his own apartment. With a final text message to his mother – it being a daily requirement now so that she knew he was safe and well – Jaune laid down on his own bed, hooked his arms behind his head and drifted off to sleep.

/-/

His gargantuan eyes opened, shining spotlights through the deep, dark ocean.

Turning his head to the side, he looked down at his serpentine body and had to fight the immediate surge of fear that ran through him. Of course, it was his body now, not the Leviathan's. It still took him a few seconds to accept that and relax.

His body in the real world was sleeping. He felt he could wake it up if he wanted; it was just a matter of opening his eyes. There wouldn't be any point though. With Rebecca gone, the real world was safe. For now. Better still, he would notice if someone came close. He could feel that one Grimm was near his body. In his domain. His human domain of the apartment block.

That had to be Ruby. So, in theory, he should be able to tell if any other Grimm came around.

Something caught his attention far to the east. He didn't know how he knew it was the east, or that it was there at all – but his vision seemed to pierce hundreds of miles through the ocean, up onto the shore where something was splashing about in his waters.

Not invading. Just splashing. Incessantly.

With a mournful groan, he uncoiled his body from the ocean floor and urged the water about him to push him forward. It wasn't so much swimming as being propelled and having a body like this felt as weird as it sounded. His eyes blinked strangely, water rushed up his cavernous nose slits and his jaw worked in a completely different manner.

Jaune tried not to think about it. Instead, he focused on the splashing. It wasn't stopping and the Grimm wasn't coming further into the water; just sitting on the exterior and jumping in and out, causing an absolute ruckus.

Picking up speed as he travelled, he fit his huge body out of the deep, then into the shallows, eventually shifting back into human form for the sole reason that it was smaller, and thus able to reach up onto the beach.

He came out to find a black panther slapping its paw over and over into the shallows.

"Blake?"

"Unless you know some other Grimm who would come and call on you."

"No, but…" He gestured to her paw. "Was that really necessary? It was giving me a headache."

"Oh, I apologise. Next time I'll swim thousands of miles out into the ocean, and down, using my gills to breathe underwater." She shook her head purposefully, making the absence of any such bodily functions obvious.

"Sorry. What did you need me for?"

"Another Grimm has entered our territory. It hovers on the outskirts, fleeing whenever Adam or I approach."

"Rebecca?"

"No. Your friend. The one who smells of roses and death…"

"Ruby!"

"Yes." Blake's ears flicked back. "Ally though she may be, he kills my glade with his presence."

"Ruby is a he?"

Blake rolled her feline eyes. "Human terms for inhuman creatures."

Jaune blinked. "Wait, you're a-"

"Do not finish that statement and show your stupidity any further than you already have." Turning away, the panther bucked its shoulder in a gesture for him to follow. "She, he, it – however you wish to call it – is causing my glade to age and die. I want it gone."

"But Ruby is on our side…"

"That does not change anything. It can be `on our side` while keeping a respectable distance away from my domain. Since Adam and I cannot approach it without it fleeing, you can be the one to do so. Take it back to your domain if you wish. The Leviathan hardly allowed anything to exist in its waters, so your friend won't be killing anything there."

"Right." He wasn't sure why he'd expected niceness from Blake, especially here. The only reason she'd helped him in the first place was to prevent Leviathan flooding her domain, and that remained her main motivation. Only now to stop Rebecca in case she set fire to Blake's domain. "I'll talk with her and move her back to mine. I'm surprised she didn't come straight to me. She knows where my ocean is – and she can breathe under it."

"She cannot breathe at all, holding neither form nor figure. As for the reason, it is likely similar to my own in not searching for you. Your ocean is a rather large place. Finding you is not so easy a matter. Finding me, however, is much more. And it – she – knows that I would know how to reach you." Blake huffed and shook her large head from side to side. "I do not appreciate being used as a messenger."

"You don't appreciate much, do you?"

"I appreciate my rock." Blake said defensively. Her lips peeled back in a wry smile. "And I appreciate Adam's co-"

"Too much information!"

"I was going to say his company. What did you think I was talking about?"

He didn't believe her for a second. As he followed Blake into her domain, he began to smell Adam's musky scent. There was a tang of `Blakeness` to it, likely because of their time spent together, and it was easier to track the faint smell of Blake than it was him.

Once they got closer, he picked up another.

Ruby.

Her form was that of the spectral cloth floating in the air as he came out into a patch of trees in which Adam stood, glaring at Ruby's tattered cloth floating behind some trees. Adam snorted once on noticing him and padded over to Blake, mumbling something he couldn't hear. Nothing kind for sure.

"Ruby?" Jaune called.

The cloth came out from behind the trees and floated a metre or two away from him. Up close and without the constant threat of Leviathan chomping down on him, he could finally see that there was something inside the cloth – but not what it was. It, or Ruby, was entirely invisible, and only the shape the cloth made forming over a head and shoulders suggested at a body.

His eyes trailed down, finally noticing that the cloth wasn't `floating` at all. Though he couldn't see them, Ruby obviously had feet, because the grass was ageing and dying in a slow circle radiating out from two points close together.

Everything she touched was slowly dying.

"Out of our domain, death bringer," Adam snapped. "You've found him. Go speak on the beaches if you need to."

Blake nodded along, though without the caustic words. Her muscles were bunched and Jaune had the oddest feeling she was bothered by the death of the grass and plant life. Considering how upset he'd been at Blake splashing in the water – how much he'd felt that – it might have been similar for her. Blake and Adam might literally have been feeling a part of them dying while Ruby was here.

"We should go speak in my domain," Jaune said, reaching for Ruby. "Or on the beach like Adam says. Not sure if you can talk underwater like I can."

Ruby's cloak pulled away as he came close and quickly flapped from side to side, as though she were shaking her head. The softest, faintest, voice he'd ever heard barely reached his ears. "Don't touch me," it ghosted.

"Ruby?"

"No touch…" Ruby stepped back again, grass dying under her. She must have touched a tree for the bark began to wither and crack, and behind him Blake whined in obvious distress. Ruby must have heard it for she quickly stepped away from the tree.

It wasn't the touch of death, not when she'd touched him before, but then, he didn't physically exist in this world, and certainly hadn't when Leviathan had been fighting him. Back then, he'd been a soul given some conceptual form. Ruby had been able to touch and affect him but hadn't harmed him. Now, it was hard to say.

"You can't touch anything?" he asked.

"Never to interact. Never to know the embrace of a living creature. No life. No grass. No flowers. Only death and rot."

A life of loneliness. An existence of solitude. No mate for Ruby, for what Grimm could be around her without ageing and dying? No family or companions, nor, he imagined, any Domains to neighbour hers, for any that did would wither and die.

Nothing but eternal solitude.

Until Yang.

And then, cruelly, nothing once more. Yang had been taken from her.

"Come," Ruby whispered, turning away. "I want to find the one responsible and embrace her."

"Ruby…"

That's all I could manage around my tooth and jaw creaking, the constant brushing of teeth (and yes, I know, you shouldn't but it gives me twenty minutes of relief), and the absolute maximum painkillers I'm allowed to have. Ugh.

Hoping this is all fixed Monday at the dentist. Just rip the bastard tooth out if they have to.

Next Chapter: 31st March (TWO WEEKS)

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur