Took my sweet time, didn't I? Well, I did say this will be updated sooner or later and I did say this won't stop without an ending so don't worry about that.
I've decided to split the 10K special into two parts because I noticed how different they are from each other, if they were in one chapter it would've probably left a bad taste for the reader. Each chapter will be 5K words.
Bold move coming in this chapter, this should give an idea of where this story is going.
Enjoy!
I haven't watched Volume.6 so please no spoilers!
Little Grimm Riding Hood
Chapter 23: Credence
"Just go talk to her, what's the worst that can happen?" Yang encouraged her friend which had started crushing like the teenage boy he is upon seeing a beautiful redhead in the locker room with him and his two friends.
"I don't know, Yang. What if I'm shot down?" He answered.
Ruby quickly interjected. "You're an Arc! Nobody'd reject you! Just be smoooooth."
"Smooth?" He asked. Ruby nodded.
It was at that moment that Yang noticed something. "Look, her locker is next to yours! Come on, go and say hi." She then proceeded to push him into the direction of the girl, forcing him to go whether he liked it or not, such a good friend she was.
Well, good in the terms of intention only because in no way did she mean to push him so hard that he wouldn't be able to stop and end up literally falling on the redhead and bringing her to the ground with him.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" Jaune asked with a face as red as a kajillion suns mashed together to form one big ball of redness. He quickly got off of her and helped her to her feet. Her face was as red as his.
"I'm sorry..." She said, much to his confusion.
"No, it was my fault!" He said.
Yang tried to suppress her laughter as she watched the two of them proceed to apologize to each other and insisting it was their fault for the next few moments.
Jaune tilted his eyes towards his friend, Ruby. And his former friend and soon-to-be enemy, Yang. He spotted Ruby waving at him. "Be smooth!"
Jaune nodded softly as his eyes turned to face the redhead in front of him. "W-would you like to get a smoothie?"
Yang, nearly collapsing on the floor, spoke to Ruby. "Good job, Rubes. Now he's a goner." She said. Ruby felt a bit of guilt but it wasn't completely her fault since he clearly didn't completely catch what she said.
She was about to reply but that was when she spotted Jaune coming back, weirdly enough, out of every expression she would have expected him to have drawn all over his face she spotted the one that was least likely. A smile.
He spoke before they could ask anything. "She said yes!" He looked victorious and he had every right to be, asking a girl as pretty as she was could not be an easy feat, or so he thought, not knowing that he was talking to the nicest person in the whole school.
Yang was quick to wrap her arm around his shoulder. "See, my strategies always work! Now you've got yourself a date!"
Jaune simply murmured one thing in response. "You're dead to me." He said. Yang quickly tightened her grip around him and laughed.
"Ah come on, it isn't my fault that you're such a wuss!"
This was nice, Ruby thought. It reminded her of previous days, days when she didn't need to worry about things. It was a kind feeling of nostalgia, seeing her two friends together with her again.
"You guys are so cute together, are you sure she isn't the one you should be asking out, Jaune?" Ruby said as she watched Jaune's face light up with embarrassment, Yang only smiled as she forced Jaune's body closer to hers. His face grew redder.
"Come on Jaune, I wouldn't mind." Yang teased. Poor Jaune was getting demolished by the two girls.
"Ok! Ok! Timeout! Too close!" Jaune demanded, causing Yang to grin further.
"Whatcha mean?" Yang queried.
Jaune hesitated but he couldn't really take this any longer so he forced himself to speak. "Damn it, Yang, you're chest is too close!"
Her face immediately lit up with embarrassment as she let go of him and took a few steps back, damn it, he beat her at her own game! Her feeling of defeat grew worse as Ruby burst out laughing so loudly that every student in the locker room could hear her, including the White-Haired Schnee who was looking at her irritatingly.
But everything eventually had to come to an end and this was no different as the voice of the headmaster rung around the whole school thanks to the speaker system. Calling everyone to gather at the plaza of the school.
Everyone in the locker room started dispersing except for Ruby who told her friends that she needed to go to the restroom first and that she will catch up with them later. She waited for everyone to leave the room before taking her Grimm Rose and using her semblance to quickly make her way to the first floor of Beacon Tower, in front of the elevator, to be precise.
The whole floor was empty thanks to everyone gathering around the plaza of the school. It was the perfect time to proceed with her plan, she needn't do much, just kill the maiden.
She was honestly expecting the maiden to be hidden in an extremely hard to find location but in the end, it was almost too easy, easy enough for her to already know where she is.
What made finding the maiden so much easier was the very same thing that helped Ruby the prior day with Ozpin and his guard, Grimm, they were always so useful and the quality of the Grimm she makes is leagues above those that come out of the Grimm spawning pools that are spread around the whole world, it was quite simple, really, Salem was the one who taught her how to use her gifts to their utmost limitations, she hadn't fully mastered the creation of Grimm but that doesn't change the fact that a Grimm created by her directly will be better than those coming out of the pools, she couldn't wait until she reaches Salem's level. If that was even possible.
The specific kind of Grimm she used was one as small as a fingernail, she created several of them and set them loose to search the whole school at night, they had small tails that resembled drills, allowing them to dig through the walls and ground for searching.
"Here goes." She said, stepping into the elevator, she looked under her as she extended Grimm Rose, cutting a hole through the elevator and dropping down would be quite easy. But that isn't why she hesitated.
As soon as her feet touch the ground of that basement she is virtually guaranteed to never see Jaune and Yang ever again, needless to say, she had a problem accepting that fact, especially when it comes to Yang.
Long ago, they both promised each other to always stay by each other's side, Ruby wanted to make up on that promise, she really did. Imagining how heartbroken Yang would be broke Ruby's own heart. Deep down, Ruby hoped that Yang could find it in her to forgive her, she knew it was an outrageous thing to wish for, as there is no way Yang would forgive this.
But even with all that, even with how much she did not want to lose either of her two friends, she promised Salem one thing and she had to deliver, failing again was simply not an option.
And so, Ruby raised her scythe and forced her arms as she swung downward, two things shattered with that swing, the elevator's floor was one, the second was Ruby's heart.
...
"So, are there any questions regarding your mission before we proceed?" The headmaster of Beacon asked out loud. He then waited to check if any of them do have questions, that was when he heard Glynda's voice from behind him.
"Professor Ozpin, I've just been sent a notification on my scroll, there is something wrong with the elevator in Beacon Tower." Was what she said.
If the problem was with any other elevator then it wouldn't have been a big deal, he could just get it fixed, but that specific one? Under it was a secret none from the school except for his most trusted should know. The simple fact of it needing maintenance was a big problem.
"Professor Ozpin." He heard a different voice call out his name, looking behind him, he spotted Yang Xiao Long with one arm raised.
"Can I help you, miss Xiao long?" He asked, half of his mind still occupied by the problem with the elevator.
"Yeah, umm... My friend, Ruby, she's kinda late, can we wait for her a few more minutes?" She requested, Ozpin felt a shiver run through his body with the mention of the name. Of course, this was it, he should have figured it out immediately.
He looked around, confirming that the redhead was indeed missing.
This was bad. This was very, very bad.
...
Damn it, how deep was this damn basement! Ruby thought, she had been falling for almost a whole minute and she was still unable to spot the ground under her, this basement was as deep as Beacon Tower is tall.
But it mattered not, not at all, the moment she dropped into this place was the moment she decided to end this, she just needed to pull the trigger one time and one time only, nobody else needs to be hurt today, no one other than the maiden. She was still somewhat against the idea of killing but now she had a huge motivation, that motivation was simply proving herself to Salem once more.
Still, the idea of killing... it brought back memories, and they weren't the kind of memories to make someone feel nostalgic, it was the kind that was, in fact, the exact opposite. Memories that made her feel wistful and traumatized.
-Ten Months Ago-
"FINE!" Ruby yelled. And not only that, she yelled at Salem herself. The Fourteen-year-old extended her scythe and grabbed the tied huntsman and pulled him away, to a private spot. She was angry now- no, she was furious now, Salem understood it and even respected it which was the only reason Ruby wasn't going to suffer any consequences for yelling at her.
"I'll be waiting here." Salem replied, maintaining her composure as she saw Ruby disappear into the trees, the man being dragged behind her trying to yell as loud as possible but simply
was unable to do so thanks to the tape around his mouth, all that came out was muffled grunts.
Ruby walked for almost a whole minute, after deciding she was far enough, she set the man on the ground, his back against a tree. She didn't know where to begin with this, what was she even supposed to do?! Taking someone's life was never one of the things she thought she'd be doing now, as naive as that it, considering that she knew the line of work in which her family and she are involved in.
She looked at the man in front of her, tears were clearly forming in his eyes, making this all the harder, she kept resisting the urge to understand the muffled yells of the man but they were all too clear for her to not understand, he was definitely begging for his life, she wanted to not believe that, she wanted to lie to her own brain and think that it just sounds that way because his mouth is taped, but she couldn't, it was way too obvious.
She raised her scythe in the air, every second, no, every milli-second tore a part of her soul, especially after the man started squirming with all his might right in front of her, not even caring for how pathetic he might look, she didn't blame him though, she couldn't.
For her, the murderer, it was all so easy, just swing your weapon at him, but for him it was different, as soon as she decides to swing the scythe she decides to strip every little thing away from him, she'd be erasing him, his dreams, his hopes, and his beliefs.
This is not even putting into mind how much suffering she would be putting his family and friends in, who knows if he has children? She could be indirectly ruining the lives of even more people.
She was lost in those thoughts, only now regaining her wit after realizing that she had her scythe raised in the air for almost a minute. She sighed, she was torturing this man by being indecisive herself. She could only imagine how it would feel like to be him, not knowing if you're about to be spared or brutally murdered.
But that was enough, it was time to end this. "I'm sorry, I'm very sorry." She said, the man's heart skipped a beat as he saw her scythe coming straight for his head, his body jumped as he forced his head to look away.
Ruby's arms jerked upwards, yanking the scythe with them, she saw the scythe miss the man's head and hit the tree instead, completely tearing it in half. "Damnit, damnit! DAMNIT!" Ruby yelled as she furiously threw her weapon on the ground and fell on her knees. "GOD DAMN IT!" She yelled once more, no matter how many times she wavered in making her decision, she had to get this over with.
What did she ever do to deserve this agony?! Her currently-frantic heart had to make the decision and put an end to this. She picked up her scythe once more, this time adamant on going through with this, an involuntary scream forced its way out of her mouth as she swung once more. Again, she bemused herself with her own impotence as she once again failed to withhold her emotions and struck the ground instead, her scythe tore through the thick ground as if it were butter.
This time she refused to yell or scream, she simply left her scythe the way it is and calmly sat on the ground. She looked at the man, she had no damn idea what to do.
Correction, she knew what she wanted to do and she refused to believe that she was about to do it, her body, almost unwillingly, stood up once more, she simply grabbed her scythe and to the man's shock, started tearing the rope he was tied with, she then took the tape off his mouth and calmly whispered the words. "Leave, please leave before I change my mind."
The man failed to understand what had happened. The girl looked dejected but even so she just offered him his freedom? She looked as if she was overcome by dozens of different emotions, each of them opposing the other by one-hundred and eighty degrees.
Even if that was the case and even if that was intriguing, he decided to listen to the girl's advice and found himself off the ground and running away, the adrenaline flowing through his body made it hard for him to realize that he ran for five minutes straight. His heart lightened as he started hearing the sound of civilization, he could see a thick wall of plants in front of him, the sound was coming from behind them, if there was one thing he needed to do it was to assemble all the huntsmen he can find and report this place to the Huntsmen Academies.
He neared the wall of plants, the sound of people, cars, and many different things were clearer now, but there was one sound that suddenly came out of nowhere, it came from behind him, he heard what he could only describe as the air whistling and it forced a shiver down his body, he turned around only to spot what looked like a black ball flying in the air, he couldn't even comprehend what happened as he barely spotted the scythe the girl had with the tip of his eye.
And it was headed straight for him.
...
A sudden realization of how close Ruby was to the bottom of the basement brought her out of her thoughts. She pressed a button on her trusty weapon, its shape started contorting and in a second it switched forms completely, rather than a scythe it became a double-sided spear.
All the four sides of the wall were close to her which meant that upon reaching its full length, her weapon stabbed into the concrete walls, she held on tight.
Her aura flared and the pain in her arms made her wince, she was falling extremely fast and if she didn't have aura her arms would have been likely ripped away from her because of the sudden halt.
This was all thanks to her naivety, even a moment out of focus while doing her work was dangerous and she allowed herself that for well over a moment.
She pressed another button on her weapon before it transformed into its square form, the one she uses when holstering it. Now the fall wasn't enough to hurt her at all and she easily landed on both her feet without even a slight stagger.
She immediately found herself stretching, what just happened took out a big chunk of her aura but at least her whole body was still intact.
She moved forward, walking through a small hallway that had a door at the end, every moment or so she found herself checking on her weapon, it made her feel safer.
She eventually reached the door at the end of the hallway and it opened automatically for her, she walked through and her eyes widened as she was greeted by a huge bunker-like room, at the end of it was her goal.
Her eyes set on the maiden in the tank and she extended her weapon into its rifle form as she moved towards her.
Time went by fast, fast enough that she could barely feel it, she was in front of the near-dead maiden before she knew it.
Her grip on Grimm Rose tightened. Was she really going to kill this helpless woman? She wasn't dangerous to them anymore, in fact, she couldn't even hurt a fly! She looked as if she would die even if they didn't kill her!
But no, she knew the answer, this maiden might not have been dangerous anymore but the power within her is, that's why they needed the power, to make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of the huntsmen, and that's why they needed to kill her.
Just pull the trigger once, only once, and the power would go to find its other half, Cinder.
And so she aimed her weapon on the defenseless maiden, trying to force her finger to pull the trigger wasn't easy, not at all, but she was finally getting close to doing it.
"Ruby." A chilling and calm voice rang from behind her, she quickly jerked her body and aimed her weapon on the person that she knew was behind her.
She found the person she expected, Ozpin. But she also found someone familiar next to him.
"Qrow?" She said, surprised and admittedly, scared. She was now facing one of the greatest huntsmen she ever heard of, and it did not look like he was happy with her, not one bit.
"May I ask you a question?" Ozpin said, she was at least comfortable that she could escape, both of them were about twenty feet away from her and she had the advantage of her semblance.
She didn't bother answering him so he spoke again. "Why?" He phrased his seemingly simple question.
No, screw this, screw him, and finally, screw his questions, she couldn't trust him, especially after he found her here.
She quickly formulated a plan, she found the easiest possible route to escape from and quickly turned around to shoot the maiden, this time, she did not hesitate to pull the trigger.
*Click* Was the sound she heard as her heart dropped, her gun was jammed!
"Aye, my semblance can be useful every now and then." Remarked a very irritated Qrow as he walked closer to her, she took a few steps back. "You're coming with us, kiddo." He said as he extended his hand to grab her cape.
She quickly switched Grimm Rose to scythe form and moved back further, she needed to think and she needed to do that quickly.
"Please, Miss Ruby, do not make us do this." She heard Ozpin say but paid him no mind, it doesn't matter if she surrenders or not he'll still do all sorts of horrible things, she could see it as far as him brainwashing her to be like one of his puppet huntsmen.
Ozpin sighed as he saw her determination. "Fine, I did not want to go through with this but you've left me no choice, I apologize." He said, Ruby paid full attention to her surroundings as not to get surrounded.
Ozpin then spoke once more. "Miss Goodwitch." He said.
And that's when Ruby realized that what he had prepared was far worse than a trap or ambush. She almost unwillingly dropped her weapon as she saw Glynda walk into the bunker, next to her was Yang... in handcuffs and her mouth was taped shut.
"We've determined that you had a partner in crime, Ruby, and even if she was my niece, she needs to be punished for those crimes." Qrow said.
No, there was no way, there was no way Qrow would agree to such a thing!
"No! She has nothing to do with all of this! Leave her be!" Ruby yelled. Yang didn't deserve any of this, she was just mixed up in something that doesn't concern her!
"I assure you, Ruby, nothing bad will happen to either of you if you simply drop your weapon and come with us."
Like she'd ever believe that! Her best bet was to just kill the maiden now using her scythe and then try to rescue Yang with her semblance.
But before she could decide, she saw Ozpin take the tape off of Yang's mouth.
Ruby felt guilty, so guilty for bringing her friend into this. "Yang, j-just wait! I'll think of something!" She tried reassuring her friend but Yang only shook her head.
"No Ruby, I don't know what's happening here but please, please just listen to them. Uncle Qrow wouldn't lie."
Damn it! Why did everything come crashing down like this all of a sudden? Had she been threatened with her own life she wouldn't have cared as much as she is caring about Yang's safety.
"Listen to her, kid." She heard Qrow say as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
Ruby sighed as she realized what had just happened... she had just failed her family and mother once again, she had once again destroyed their faith in her.
The handcuffs tightened around her hands after she dropped her weapon to the ground, Qrow grabbed her by the shoulder and started pulling her towards the exit.
"What about Yang?" Ruby asked with concern.
"Take a look for yourself." He said, Ruby's eyes went to look at Yang and were met with the very confusing sight of Glynda unlocking Yang's handcuffs.
"I'm sorry, Ruby." She heard Yang say as she passed by her, she also noticed tears rolling down Yang's cheeks.
"Wait? What's happening?!" Ruby started struggling and tried to go back to Yang so she can make sure she's safe. Qrow was about ready to just lift her up and take her when Ozpin interjected.
"I'll take it from here, Qrow. You should stay with your Niece."
"I don't understand, what's happening!?" Ruby yelled as Ozpin came and stood by her side, Qrow went to Yang and hugged her.
"I'm sorry, Miss Ruby, but Yang was never in any danger. And so are you, I assure you." He sighed before continuing. "We just needed to make sure you came without a fight so we told her our intentions."
No, it couldn't be, Yang would never do that, never! He was just playing mind games on her!
Ozpin sighed again. "She agreed to help us."
Ruby's heart felt like it was stabbed by a hundred knives, this wasn't just betrayal, this was betrayal from her best friend!
The tears she didn't realize were falling started dropping to the floor, her eyes never stopped looking at Yang as Ozpin pulled her away.
...
What was this feeling inside of her?
Sadness? Agony? Despair? Hurt? Betrayal? Failure? Stupidity? Naivety? Lonliness? Scared? Woeful? Wicked? Distress? Sorrow? Anger? Tricked? hateful?
No, no no no no no no, it wasn't any of them, not one. It is something else. But what is it?
They were talking to her, she was talking to her, she should probably be paying attention, but she didn't want to, why? She didn't really know.
It was no use, she heard what they were saying and she understood it very well, she knows how Yang is standing across the table, she knows how many times she apologized.
But why did she? She didn't need to, Ruby was going to betray her too.
She also knew how Qrow had finally given up and how he is currently trying to convince Yang to leave Ruby in the interrogation room alone, and he did manage to convince her, she heard one last apology but she didn't really care, it didn't really make a difference, did it?
Oh, here he comes, Ozpin, she figured he'd be here sooner or later, well, she wasn't going to let him brainwash her yet, no, not yet. She still needed to figure out what the damned word is.
But he was harder to ignore, not like Yang, when he spoke she listened more, she concentrated more.
He was a liar. She heard all he had to say and didn't believe a single thing.
"We can help you."
No, they won't help her. Well, they can try, but in the end, they aren't helping her for any reason other than making sure that one threat has been dealt with, they didn't actually care about anything else.
"You were dragged into a life you had nothing to do with."
No, it was her choice to live this life, maybe not at the start but now it is, her family gave her everything, knowledge from one, strength from the other, fun from one, and passion from another.
But what did she give her? What did Salem give her?
Well, that's a silly question, really, she gave her everything, life, love, power, all of it.
These people though? Their only interest is to take that away and use it for their own good.
"They aren't as good as you think they are."
When she thought about it though, there was one thing that she believed, they were right, they are the good guys, we are the bad guys.
Well, from their perspective, at least. Yes, that was all of it, it was just a matter of perspective, of the way you view the world.
There wouldn't be any good without any bad because there would be nothing to consider good if it can't be compared to what is bad. The same goes for anything bad.
Good guys don't exist without bad guys, it was just a matter of how each person chooses who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.
What was the word... what was it, what on Remnant was it?!
Oh yeah, a matter of perspective.
That's it, now she knows.
"I want to see Yang." She had finally spoken after hours of silence, was this a weird request? Probably, she had just left after Ruby refused to talk to her, after all.
Still, they'd probably let her in with the hopes of getting any sort of information from Ruby, well, she was going to give them all the information they'd ever need.
She didn't listen to any more words until Yang was in the room with her uncle, but she didn't want him here, she was going to say this to Yang.
She knew they're probably still able to hear her because of the sound recorders but she was still only going to say this to Yang.
It's not like they'll be able to listen to those recordings later anyway.
"Leave." She said with her cold voice, the man almost laughed, she could predict what he was about to say, something close to how there was no chance in hell he'd do that, that's why she cut him off before he could speak.
"Leave." She repeated, He tried again.
"Leave." No matter how many times it took for her to make him go out, she'd keep saying the same word.
"It's fine Uncle Qrow, she won't do anything," Yang said, good, that saves a lot of time.
He left after murmuring some sort of threat, who cares, really?
"Yang." She pushed her body forward, her hands still chained to the metal chair.
"How do I feel right now?" She asked, Yang was expectedly taken aback from the question.
"I-I"
"Answer the question. How do I feel?" She repeated, Yang took a deep breath.
"Hurt?" She barely mouthed, it almost sounded pathetic, this wasn't the normal Yang.
"No, try again." Her eyes were cold enough to freeze water yet her gaze was enough to boil it.
'I... s-sad?"
"No, again." She wasn't going to get it, that's why she was on the so-called good side.
"I don't know! I'm sorry, I don-"
"Don't be sorry, you don't need to be, you betrayed me and I betrayed you, we were destined for this since the start. I was just as horrible to you as you were to me."
She thought of the words again.
It was sadness, no, it was agony, no, despair. Hurt. Betrayed. Failure. Stupidity. Naivety. Alone. Scared. Woeful. Wicked. Distress. Sorrow. Anger. Trickery. hateful.
That was it.
"I'll tell you how I feel Yang, I feel all of them, every single one of them."
She finally understood Salem's perspective, she finally found out why these people are her enemy, it was hate.
Hate hate hate hate hate.
And she'll make sure they hate her as well.
Some people will probably hate where I went with this story and THAT'S OKAY, it won't be for everyone but I hope it's clear, this story won't be spending much time in Beacon, this is a story about Ruby and her 'Family' and it will stay like that, doing a Beacon arc will only make this story worse and reduce my capabilities for being original, don't worry though, I still have lots of plans for the future.
Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!