A/N: Hello. I'll just leave this here
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Between Darkness and Light
Something wasn't right. Not just that 'uh oh' feeling either. She felt stiff. She flexed her hand and could feel every joint pop. She could tell this was not going to feel good. What happened? The last thing she remembered was overexerting herself. Stupid giant snake. She could have taken it if it hadn't showed up while they were clearing out the rest of the ursa. Man Yang probably smashed that thing to oblivion.
Ruby opened her eyes….She closed them. She opened them again….Well she swears she's opening her eyes. Darkness flooded into her eyes whether she had them open or closed. Well flubernutters where was she now? It was so dark.
She moved her arm. Only then did the pain flare up, a small moan escaping her mouth as she pulled her arm up toward her face. She clenched her hand and it felt like her arm was on fire.
Ruby heard a sharp scrape followed by a grunt that was coming closer to her. She heard a growl. Her eyes went wide. Grimm! That was not good. She tried her arm again offering another pained cry. That changed things. The scrapping got faster. Louder. She opened her eyes again and still saw only darkness. She had panic in her eyes, she could feel it.
"Ruuubbbbyyyyy" She heard in a growl. This was the end.
Oh cheese and crackers! Oh cheese and crackers!
Something weld up inside her. She felt it release from her in an instant. She felt drained, tired, scared.
"Ah! What was?" More scrapping, "Ruby! Ruby snap out of it. Are you okay?" She felt someone grab her cheek before pulling away. It was warm. She heard shaking and a crack, like breaking a stick. Another growl.
Darkness took her.
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Ruby woke up. She couldn't remember much, but this time the pain was instant. It was like her whole body had a sledge hammer taken to it.
She opened her eyes. This time she could see, but only out of her left eye. There was tunnel extending towards darkness, the only light coming from a fire-dust stick on the ground in front of her foot. Beside her was a small brown pack she remembered, but couldn't place where.
Ruby tried to get up. Fire crawled up her arm, making her flinch back. Her right arm was heavily bandaged, but her left was not, so she examined herself. She probed where she was in pain with her left hand. Apparently her left side had taken the brunt of the injuries. Her left arm was bandaged from her wrist all the way to her shoulder. She had wrapping that went around her head covering the right side of her face including her eye, which explains why she couldn't see.
She heard a scrape. The sound broke the silence and brought her out of her own thoughts. Ren came out of the dark tunnel to her left hobbling on what looked like a makeshift cane.
She was glad he was okay. Well semi-okay. His left side looked as bad as her right side, well as much as she could tell. When he noticed she was awake, he hobbled over.
"Glad to see you back" he said calm-faced.
"Hey" Ruby weakly replied. "Thank you for saving me"
Ren set his makeshift cane down, ruby realizing it was a broken off sharp rock. A stalagmite? Stalagtight? Saranmight? It was probably one of those things. Ren then sat down beside Ruby, leaning back against the tunnel wall with a sigh.
"I have been trying to find a way out. I have made some progress, but it has been slow going. These tunnels loop and collapse randomly."
Ruby smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find it." She forgot her right arm was bandaged for a reason, wincing in pain as she moved"
Ren quickly shuffled over to her right side when she winced. "Try not to move it for now. Your right side was pretty bad. I did what I could, but we ran out of bandage. Let your aura do it's job"
Ruby was sure her aura was working, but the pain was still there. "Why did you even have bandages?"
"When you're on a team with Nora, you learn she can be a little reckless. I kept them on me for her sake"
That made sense. Nora was crazy, even when she wasn't being crazy awesome. Kinda reminded her of her sister, just with more sugar.
She heard a low shuffling down the tunnel and felt Ren tense. "We have to move" He grabbed his walking stick before grabbing the pack and putting it on his back. Ruby tried to move again only for Ren to hurry over and hold her back. "You may be awake now, but you are still in no position to walk"
"Okay, but how am I supposed to.."
"Don't worry, Don't panic, or you will attract them faster. Luckily I have everything covered." Ren unbuttoned her tattered cloak, which felt awkward but before she could comment he had tied the rock cane to his leg, wincing in pain. He grabbed Ruby next. "This is going to hurt" Ren flipped her over his back on top of the sack earning a muffled scream of pain.
Ruby heard a scuffle in the darkness of the tunnel behind them, then an unmistakable beowolf howl. "Ren, they're coming!" She panic whispered in his ear.
Ren started to move slowly up the tunnel before realizing something. He looked at the tunnel wall and saw a line with an X over it. "We've been through here before," He frowned before pushing on.
As he moved the scuffling still got louder. "Ren!"
"Guess I have no choice"
Ruby saw Ren's aura flare up, surrounding her as well before she felt strange. Even when she stayed still her wounds ached with Ren's movements. The moment that strange sensation hit her, that pain was gone. Ruby felt, well not good, but content. She even managed a smile when Ren moved into a small indent he found in the wall.
Ren set her down and immediately the pain came back. She felt horrible, her body letting her know its protests against the movement. She tried to stifle it but a grunt of pain came out of her mouth.
She saw Ren notice it before throwing the dust rod over to the other side of the tunnel. He grabbed her hand and immediately the pain disappeared again. Ruby looked down, seeing her colors dull in the dim light.
A beowolf walked out of the darkness. It had large spikes on it and bigger front paws than a normal beowolf, typical of an Alpha. It sniffed the dust rod before howling and going further down the tunnel.
Ren put up three fingers, then two, then one.
A pack of smaller beowolfs ran past them trying to catch up with the Alpha. After a while Ren let out a sigh, Ruby echoing him with a breath she didn't know she was holding. She should have felt scared when they went past, but she didn't. Relief filled her though, giving her a calm that she really needed.
Ren shook his head. "They've been tracking us this whole time. Loosing them is harder than it looks. Luckily the Alpha has been keeping the other grimm away" Ruby saw her color come back, the pain following, as Ren let go of her hand to look down the dark tunnel. He grabbed another dust rod from his pack, clipping it onto his good side.
Ruby was going to say something. She was. She looked down, but then she noticed something and froze up. And oh boy did she freeze up.
"I think the coast is clear" Ren quickly picked Ruby up onto his back again before she could say anything, turning to go back down the tunnel the beowolfs chased them down.
Ruby didn't know how long it had been, but it had to be quite a while. She had been fading in and out of consciousness for a while now, succumbing to the tiredness her aches and pains gave her. Through Ren's jerky motions from walking on his cloak tied rock-leg she could feel him slowing down and his breathing becoming labored.
"I think we should rest soon." Ren pulled out one of his pistols. Dragging it along the wall.
"What are you doing? Won't that attract attention?"
"You'll see, just be patient". His blade skidded against the wall until at one part instead of skidding off it dug in. Ren stopped and used his blade to dig out a small hole, pushing his aura into the rock to break it easier. Soon he was sweating, but he had made a small hole in the wall just large enough for them to lay in.
Ren was very gentle when he laid her in the hole, putting an X on either side of the opening before laying next to her.
Did she ask now? It was important to her, but was it the right time? "Hey Ren?" Ruby touched her neck which was covered in bandages, peering underneath her clothes to see more bandages in the dull light. "How much did you see?" She looked over only to see him fast asleep. He must have been more exhausted than her. Ruby's eyes (eye?) drooped and she faded off into darkness again.
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Ruby woke up alone again. She could tell her aura had been working overtime. She felt bad, but her aches and pains were better than they were when she went to sleep. She was on Ren's back again as he slowly strove along. She saw a determination in his eyes. She shifted.
"Hello Ruby, have a pleasant nap?"
Ruby's mouth was dry. "Do we have any water?"
Ren did an uncharacteristic smile. "Soon we will. I found a way out while you slept. We're almost there. We will make it" He trudged on until there was a dim light that didn't come from the dust stick. Ren hobbled over faster, only stopping once they reached the outside world.
They were on a small slope that went down into woods. Behind them was the start of a mountain. Viewing the forest brought smiles to both their faces. One thing got Ren even more excited. They could see a small lake in the distance.
Getting off the slope was easy, going through the woods seemed easy but Ren kept speeding up, like they were running out of time. Ren tried to go faster and Ruby felt pain flare through her. "Owe, Ren slow down." He ignored her and kept speeding up. "Ren stop!"
"So close, so close so close, can't sto-"
Ren tripped over a rock, his bad leg giving out on him. Ruby slid off his back when he fell, sliding across the ground in front of him. It took everything Ruby had but she was able to flip over and drag herself back to Ren, flipping him onto his back.
In the light of the cave she wasn't able to see much features, but here under the light of the shattered moon, she was able to see. Ren was in bad shape. He was covered in scrapes that were scabbed over, and was breathing quite fast. The biggest problem was his leg. Through the cuts on his white pants oozed out a yellow liquid. Ruby was no expert, but that looked really bad.
Well, it can't get any worse right? At least we are alive. It started to rain.
Ruby tried to stand. After a couple of failed attempts she pushed the little of her aura that wasn't trying to heal her into her legs. It worked but she was still shaky. Grabbing Ren was a different story. She pulled him, drug him across the ground. It took forever only for her to look back and realize was felt like a trek through an uphill swamp covered in thorns was just a couple of yards through the now soaked ground.
Ruby was able to pull Ren up under a tree, giving some protection from the rain. Her arm was bleeding again, and though she couldn't feel it anymore she was sure her right leg was as well.
Yang was going to kill her when she got back for making her worry. Though Weiss might get a shot at her first. She wondered how things were going without her there. Her team always did seem to get into trouble.
She looked up to see a dark figure coming towards her. It may have been a person. Her eye drooped and things got blurry
Whatever. All she needed now was a little rest.
Her vision went black.
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"Pearl don't get too far ahead of me!"
"But look mama it's pouring! We need to get back right?" Pearl kept spinning in circles as rain fell around them. She made sure no puddle went unsplashed either. No! No evil water grimm would rise up from these puddles for she was Pearl! Guardian of the Valley! She ran to another puddle ahead of her, the splash throwing a wave over her boots. She giggled with joy.
"Pearl slow down! Mom can only go so fast!"
Pearl looked back to see her big sister helping their mom with the deer. They put it on a sled that went over the dirt easily, but since it started raining the sled tended to get stuck in the puddles that they were going through.
Pearl stuck out her tongue. Jade may be her older sister but that did not mean she could tell her what to do. That right was reserved for the actual adults, not that that stopped Jade from trying. Pearl went farther out just to mess with Jade, hearing a concerned cry from her mother not to go too far.
It was hard to see through rain. Pearl ran towards one of the trees, looking back to see the silhouettes of her mother and sister. She saw Jade run ahead of their mother a little, probably searching for where she went. Pearl smirked. Time for a little payback.
Pearl ran around the side of the tree with the goal of hiding behind it. When her sister got near she would jump out and scare her, proving to her sister that even though she 'is a teenager now' she is not in charge. This would be so funny!
Pearl went around the side of the tree and tripped over a root.
The root groaned. Pearl may have only been eight but she knew one thing. Roots don't groan. She pulled herself out of the mud onto her knees, shaking the mud out of her hair. She looked back not knowing what to expect. Her eye's widened and she screamed.
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Ruby felt warm and dry when she came too. Opening her left eye she saw a wooden roof above her head. She tried to move when she felt a weight, a pressure on her stomach. She looked down and saw a small girl staring at her. She was small, young, with black hair that reminded Ruby of her own. The big difference was that this little girl had a small pair of white fuzzy ears on top of her head.
The little girl smiled, light twinkling in her crystal blue eyes, before jumping off of Ruby. "She's awake! She's awake!" The little girl ran out the door to the room into what Ruby assumed was a hallway based on the thumps "The dead lady woke up!"
Well that wasn't exactly what Ruby wanted to hear, but she was glad she wasn't dead. The small child reminded her of how she was back when she was a little girl. Curious and full of childlike wonder.
Ruby sat up, preparing for the pain to shoot through her to only find a small dull ache instead. She pulled the covers back, seeing that she was dressed in a long brown shirt that was too big for her and a small pair of shorts. Her right leg still had bandages on it, but only around her ankle. The rest of her leg looked fine besides a scar that ran down the side of it.
She flipped her legs over the bed and tried to stand. It was much easier then she remembered it being. Steadying herself against a small dresser that was next to the bed she walked over to a mirror she saw in the corner.
What she saw didn't surprise her. Her face was sunken in slightly and she had bags under her open eye. The right side of her face was still bandaged, but it looked like it was only wrapped around her eye, the rest of her face being uncovered.
"Hello?" Ruby turned her head towards the door as a woman just a little taller than Ruby opened the door. "I'm glad to see you are up, but please don't push it. I don't want to have to fix you again" she said with a smile.
Ruby looked over at the woman. She was obviously older than her, but she was small for her age. She wasn't old, maybe in her thirty's. She had dark blue eyes and shared an obvious resemblance to the little girl, sharing the small white ears as well. "Thank you for your help. I don't know if we would have made it without you. Miss….?"
The lady looked away. "Just call me Jasmine." She looked back at Ruby. Ruby saw a fire in her eyes that reminded her of her mother. "What is your name?"
"Ruby" Ruby looked around. "I was with someone. My friend Ren."
The fire in the woman's eyes went out. "I did what I could, but..."
Ruby didn't let her finish. Ruby pushed past the woman channeling her now moderate level aura into her legs. She crashed into the hallway and went down it. It opened up into a small living room with a rock fireplace on the side. The lady...Jasmine tried to grab Ruby but Ruby used her semblance to dodge her. Ruby went out the door to the left of the room and found herself outside.
She looked around frantically to see the little girl that was on top of her when she woke up next to a grave. She looked to be praying at it.
Ruby assumed the worst. Tears spilled from her eyes as Ruby ran as fast as she could towards the grave. "No, he's not dead! He can't be dead" Ruby clawed at the dirt, and when the little girl tried to grab her she smacked her away. Earning a little yelp from the girl.
Ruby was so focused she didn't notice a larger girl coming from down the small path leading to the small house. She did feel when that girl tackled her to the ground, holding her good arm behind her back.
"What do you think you're doing!?"
"He's not dead! He can't be!"
Jasmine came up, the little girl clinging to her pants. "Mommy is it true? Is daddy not dead?"
That snapped Ruby out of despair and into confusion. Only then did she realize she wasn't only being held down, but there was a blade to her neck.
"I knew we shouldn't have helped them. She finally wakes up and the first thing she does is desecrate a grave." The girl holding her down said.
Jasmine sighed, "Jade she's just confused and hurt. And your not helping! Let her up."
"But she smacked Pearl! Are you just going to let her get away with that!"
Jasmine put a stern face on. "Jade let her up, or there will be consequences"
Ruby heard The girl, Jade growl a little but let her up. "Yes mame" Jade kept her arm behind her back but put away the small blade. Jade herself looked different than Jasmine or the little girl apparently named Pearl. Jade was skinny, with dark skin that showed over toned muscle. She had bright yellow eyes that reminded her of Blake, tiger ears and a orange and white tail were prominent features on Jade.
"Ruby your friend is fine. Come with me" Jasmine turned back toward the house, giving Jade a stern glare when she realized she still had Ruby's arm.
Jade pushed her forward as she followed Jasmine back into the house, going towards the opposite end she was housed in. Jasmine unlocked and opened a door. There Ren was, still asleep on the bed. "Your friend was severely dehydrated, had infected wounds, and was also sleep deprived. I did what I could but he still hasn't woke up yet."
"Pssch, like that's the biggest problem here" Jade sneered from the door. "You know what they are"
"Jade! Be kind to our guests! They are not to be feared!"
Jade turned her back to the room flicking her tail. "Believe what you want, but I am not going to be caught unprepared when they come."
Ruby understood. They were on the frontier and close to Mountain Glenn. Grimm must be a problem out here.
"Don't mind Jade. She has been different because of recent events. She doesn't trust easily" Jasmine checked Ren. Seemingly satisfied she escorted Ruby back to her room where she stripped Ruby and gave her a thorough checkup.
"So you are a doctor?" Ruby asked after.
Jasmine smiled. "You could say that. I've seen my far share of battle wounds, though it has been a while"
Ruby heard 'battle wounds' and instantly thought of something. "Did you used to be a huntress"
"Jasmine's small ears perked straight up, but her face said something else. "No, I never was, but I am guessing you and your friend are?"
"Yes" Ruby said slightly disappointed, "Well in training. We are Beacon students"
"Oh my" Jasmine smiled while one of her ears started flicking. "I can hear great pride in your voice" Jasmines face got slightly darker. "While you're here though, don't let others hear you say that"
Again Ruby was confused. "We are in the frontier right? Why shouldn't people know there are huntsmen here. They will want to help!"
Jasmine looked sad. "Let's just say that people here don't trust huntsman"
Jasmine's face got even darker as she got up and grabbed the door. "And some of us are just running from out past"
The door shut, leaving Ruby alone.
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A/N: Originally I was going to do Ruby's entire escapade in one chapter. That is not going to happen.
Also I would love to hear what people think about my three OC's, Jasmine, Jade, and Pearl
They will be explained in time, of course.
Either way until next time
Read and Review :D