It's good to be back.

REAPER IN RED

Chapter 42

I woke up with a giddy yawn. It felt like such a long night, but it was over. I was well rested -ish- and ready -ish- to start the day! But mostly, I was excited to see Cinder.

She was back!

Back from wherever she ran off to after we met during detention, but she was back! I was so excited to talk to her. To talk about getting a territory -well, starting the process of claiming one- and about how I could use magic without going into my Reaper form and just about how awesome everything was.

Blake was still being weird with me. She decided to sit next to Yang, instead of across from her at breakfast, so it was me, then Yang, then her on one side of the table, and Weiss alone on the other.

Weiss seemed fine with the arrangement, but she looked so lonely over there. She was eyeing Blake but didn't say anything on the matter.

"So -m," Yang said as she shoveled another helping of cereal into her mouth. "Sun was saying his team was coming in this afternoon. Wanna meet his team?"

"I'd love to, but they're arriving during Doctor Oobleck's study session. I need him to repeat yesterday's lecture," said Weiss, waving around her half eaten carrot. "Sun knows. I'm going to be spending time with him -them, during dinner."

"Hey! Why wasn't I invited to the little bonding sesh?" Yang gave her best pout.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "You all can come if you want to. We're probably just going to be sitting at the Haven Academy table."

"Still would have liked at invite," Yang grumbled into her spoon. She quickly turned her attention to her partner. "Blake, you've been awfully silent, anything to add?"

"No," her eyes flickered to me, almost unnoticed if not for the fact that she had to lean over to look at me around my sister. "I think I'm going to go to class early. I'll save your seats."

Then she was gone, leaving her oatmeal behind.

I looked at Weiss, then Yang, then at Blake's back as she left the cafeteria.

"Anybody going to finish that?"

Yang pushed Blake's bowl to me, and I happily dug in.

"I'll join you, Yang. You too Weiss!"

"Sounds good Rubes. We should probably follow after Blake. I'm not totally enjoying her newfound sense of… isolationism?" Yang stared off towards where Blake had gone.

"Big word, not the correct context. I'll give you a B-."

Yang cheered all the way to class.

Doctor Oobleck was standing still for once at the front of his classroom as we settled into our seats. He was talking to -hey, was that Cinder?- Cinder! I almost shouted for her, when a piercing silver eye turned my way, silencing me immediately.

Then, she went back to talking to my history professor.

Yang nudged my shoulder. "That's the hot teacher from Vacuo."

I nodded absentmindedly.

"Settle in students!" The professor shouted, raising his cup of coffee over his head. "Settle down! There is much to discuss and little time to discuss it!"

Fiddling with his thick framed spectacles, he took a loud slurp from his mug before continuing on. "As you can see, there are many new faces around you. This class along with others will be shared with students from all participating schools. So please, please! Make friend with your new acquaintances. The rules about sitting beside your teammates has been lifted until the end of the Vytal Festival. Starting next class of course. Please do not get up and move seats Mr. Lark! Thank you thank you thank you."

He gestured to Cinder, who looked at ease leaning against his desk.

"This is my fellow compatriot, Miss Cinder Fall. She is a world leading expert in the field of Reaper mythology and a skilled historian in her own right. She will be assisting me in teaching this class, as well as taking over in teaching those about to graduate, wherein I shall be assisting her. Professor Fall, the floor is yours."

Cinder stepped forward; hands clasped behind her back. "Hello students. As you have heard, my name is Cinder Fall. You can refer to me as Miss Fall or Professor Fall. I will mainly be teaching the upper year students, but please feel free to come by my office if you have any questions."

Her eyes turned to me. "My time is always available to those students who are eager to learn."

"Now," she continued with a loud clap. "The dear doctor has asked me to speak a little about the history of Reaper lore, or as it is more commonly known, Reaper mythology. Due to the lack of in depth first person accounts to the Grim Reaper, or even written sources on the Beings themselves, most in the history or biology communities don't consider the subject a true science just yet. Maybe one day we'll be able to have a sit down and talk face to face with one. But until then, I guess we will just have to settle for our best and brightest killing them wherever possible."

There was some chuckles from the students, but my team was fairly silent. I smiled a little when I noticed Cinder doing the same. A slight glimmer of amusement in her eye when talking about humans meeting Reapers.

"Please raise your hand and interrupt me with whatever questions you may have. Those of you in my class in Vacuo will be familiar with this, so I expect some hands. I know that those of you at Beacon have discussed at length the Battle of the Plains of Araguba?"

A rhetorical question that still brought some nods.

"I have a first-hand account of the battle, from a female that had witnessed the fighting. Her name was Cinder Fall; yes it was an ancestor of mine and my namesake. She wrote in her diary, of which only a few pages are left and preserved in the History Museum of Atlas, and I paraphrase of course, given the linguistic differences between the languages spoken at the time and cultural differences between wordage, 'it wasn't so much fear of what I was seeing which made me stand still, but all encompassing fear. Fear of their weapons. Fear of their clothes, like steel and ancient rock. But most of all, fear of what they could do to my daughter. I couldn't allow them to take her from me. Even surrounded by my people, whose oaths had brought me piece and solace. I still feared'."

Cinder looked up from the piece of paper she was reading off of, a clear sadness in her eyes. She muffled a sob with a clearing of her throat.

"Now, what can this passage teach us about the battle from the perspective of a non-combatant? What are some clues in her words that might tell us who this Cinder Fall was referring to? Was she fearful of the Higher Order Beings? Or was it the human enemies? Pay in mind that we do not know which side she was on."

A student from Vacuo raised his hand. Cinder quickly acknowledged him. "Well, she mentioned their clothes. And we know that only those in General Lapin's army used chain mail. The human force mainly wore leather or full plate. Clothes like steel and ancient rock? That sounds more like chain mail. So, Cinder Fall, -erm, this Cinder Fall, was likely on the human side."

Cinder nodded with a hum. "That is one possibility. Anyone else? Yes, you."

"The ancient Cinder Fall was scared for her daughter," Weiss said, standing up beside me. "Human forces at the time, especially those under the command of Atlesian generals were very much against females in their armies. So, unless her daughter was an ancient equivalent to a nurse, who tended to remain off the front lines, then her daughter fought on the Faunus side of the conflict under General Lapin. Furthermore, as the battle took place in Menagerie, there is a greater chance that the non-combatants present are Faunus, putting this Cinder and her daughter on that side."

"That is a very interesting perspective," Cinder accepted. "There is also a third possibility, but that one isn't as important except for those who choose to focus their studies solely on this battle."

Her eyes were back on me. I shifted in my seat. Did she want me to raise my hand?

"What I can say is that her daughter was indeed killed in the battle that followed. Her head was cut off."

Cinder's voice was solemn for a moment. Rubbing at her upper arms, she continued on, the moment of silenced unnoticed or uncared for by most of the class.

The class seemed a lot more relaxed than it usually was with Professor Oobleck's fast-then-a-Reaper's lecturing speeds. Cinder went over the Battle of the Plains of Araguba to make sure everyone was up to speed, answering questions along the way. She spent most of her time touching on the non-combatants and regular peoples that lived on the plains before the battle had even started, as well as how they made up an entire contingent of General Lapin's forces. She didn't talk much about the Reapers, always stopping just before that part of the fight were to begin.

I paid attention for the most part, but my mind kept going back to Cinder's journal. That was about her, right? It definitely wasn't some other Cinder. Did she have a kid? Was her kid… dead?

There was a pang in my chest as I imagined mom surviving that hunter instead of me.

Before I had even realized it, class was over. Blake gave me a quick look, then darted off to the next class ahead of the rest of us.

It was like that all day. What could be going on in her head? She was acting super strange. Did she not like all the extra people? That made sense. I read in my book on people's emotions, that some people just don't like crowds. Maybe she was one of them.

"Blake?" I tried during lunch, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She jumped, a shiver seeming to run through her body.

"O-oh, hi. Hello. Erm- Ruby. I didn't see you there." She was looking everywhere but at me.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded quickly. "Mhm. Yup. Yes. Actually, I forgot my notebook in Port's classroom. I'll see you, umm, later."

Blake was off before I could say another word.

I didn't notice her tight grip on her sword.

As the bell rang signalling the end to another great day of classes, I decided to go visit Cinder. I still had a little bit of time before Yang and me went to meet Sun's team.

A few quick knocks on the door and there she was. Her human form was tall; much taller than me. She wore a nice red dress -best colour choice ever- with gold accents. The dress was longer in the back, almost to the floor. A similar length to my cloak. Her silver eyes seemed bored until they met mine, quirking into a friendly, almost motherly expression.

"I was wondering when we'd have a chance to speak little one."

"Cinder!" I cheered, rushing up to her. My hug seemed to shock her, judging from the, "oomph" as she stepped back into her office.

"Please, have a seat. I am pleased to see you are doing well. And have yet to be discovered."

I nodded wildly. "Yup! I'm sneaky. Oh and Cinder! I started claiming a territory!"

Cinder's lips formed a pleased little smile. "Indeed little one. I felt the presence of magic as soon as I reached Beacon. Your claim to this place is strong, and strengthening with each passing day. And to see you still in your human guise. That is most fascinating. For one so young to perform magics such as this, especially without the proper tutelage."

"I was taught. Well, sorta. My teammates helped me out. They thought I was talking about my semblance, but what they said really helped me figure out what I could do."

We sat quietly for a moment. I was jittery with excitement. I wasn't quite sure why I was so excited to see Cinder again. It wasn't like we were best friends or anything from the one time we ran into each other. Or even good friends at all. Maybe it was just being with someone who was like me. More like me than I thought, considering she was pretending to be human too.

Though, that'll probably be pretty weird if we kept on stopping time whenever we walked by each other in the halls, or I went too close to her during a history class.

"I was thinking, is time stopped now?"

Cinder chuckled. "No little one. It seems that while you are mastering some elements of being a Reaper, you are lacking in other areas. I should have expected such things. No, little one."

"Are you going to get me to learn it for myself like you did with the territory?"

Another smile. "No. That was a test of sorts. An assurance that you were strong enough to survive on your own. It's not everyday that a youngling can survive in the greater world without their mother. Your mother and I may have known each other, but nature still must take its course… At least, that was before I remembered something from my past. Now I know that I must help you. In what ways I can, I shall.

"But to answer your question, there are two reasons why time will not freeze for us. The first," she held up a finger, "is that we are both in our human guises. One of us must be in our true forms to warrant a stoppage. The second, and much more relevant to our situation-" she flipped up a second finger. "We know each other. We have met, shared names and have come to an understanding. A Vow of sorts. It would be difficult for Reapers to meet and interact if we always paused time, would it not?"

Cinder giggled. "Anyways, here we are. You, little one, are preparing to finalize your claim to your first territory. I shall be present. And I shall help you."

"Can I help you with what you're doing here?"

Cinder pursed her lips. "That is a possibility. But though I knew your mother, I do not yet place trust in you. Nor should you place your full trust in me." Cinder's words were like a warning piercing through my heart. "There is much about this place which you are standing that you do not yet know. You are still too immature in the ways of the world to fully grasp what I may tell you. Learn, little one. I will teach you what I can, but you must learn."

"Learn and forget all you believe to be true. Because, trust me this once when I say: Humans are not the only ones who believe in lies."

It's great to be back to Ruby's perspective again. And now I can officially say we're done the basics and we've arrived at the 'now that you understand the AU, it's time to change everything' part of the story! (Not to say I'm going to change how magic or Higher Order creatures work. That would just be canon breaking which isn't too fun) Also, last chapter got almost double the usual reviews, so without further ado:

c3l3st14 - To answer your first question, no. Reaper magic can't make guns full auto, or turn them into AOE shots. Reapers are surprisingly resistant to most ammunition, but think of their skin like that of a Beowolf or other Grimm. Resistant, but not impenetrable. That isn't to talk about their cloaks... More on that later. So, I think I touched on this in reviews many chapters ago, but essentially, Reapers get stronger with age, up until a point where they reach their peak, before they start to become weaker. It follows the same pattern with aging. A Reaper ages more slowly up until a point, and then their aging speeds up again. so a 2,000 year old Reaper is stronger than a 1,000 year old Reaper, but also stronger than an 5,000 year old Reaper. (This info isn't super relevant to the story, hence why I'm sharing here and not inside the story)

firewyrm2 #1- Wooh! That is essentially it.

Emerald Black - Your question will definitely be answered in the coming chapters.

firewyrm2 #2 - Who knows what Blake will do? So many possibilities!

Shadow Walker - Sorta, yes. I imagined Reaper Ruby looks pretty similar to a classic Grimm Reaper. Skeleton body, dark black cloak, piercing red eyes. Nightmare fuel (wrapped in an adorable package)

notteraos - It would be. If only Ruby could use it without it being so obvious.

JollyGobul - That's for sure.

Dragonqueen1993 - I refuse to answer any of these questions. You shall get nothing out of me!

JackTheSpades - Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. For those lines, I think I was trying to go for abrupt and shocking. Like Blake herself didn't expect it. But rereading it, it definitely could have used some more description. Also, keep what you said in mind as we venture into the next part of the story.

Devashish - I'm curious what Blake will do too. And WEF! That's funny. I might steal that.

AssassinBlaze - Sorry! More chapters coming soon!

DrakosAlex - Thank you.

Sm0keyPanda - It had to happen eventually.

Kayden - Missing chapters just means there is more to read! I'm glad you enjoyed.

Cun - It's going to be fun playing around with what each character knows/doesn't know, that's for sure.

Guest - Indeed! Also, hehe. Blake pun.

TiberiumSnow - Spoilers. ;)

Dragon Lord Draco - That was all obviously a trick so she'd let her guard down! There is nobody more cunning that Ruby Rose!

Arielle Brix - I know I had to reread some chapter when writing this one.

jaclea - I refuse to give away anything about whether or not this prediction is correct!

TM Calypso - I'm glad to be back to Ruby too. Blake was fun, but nothing can top Ruby.

Alucard45 - There was definitely a reason as for why Blake was the one to find out. It's probably not a good reason, but there is a reason! No, I'm not going to share because that's spoilers.

Until next time!