Chapter 3

Ruby walked up to her dorms door and took a deep breath, Jaune saw how scared she was so he walked over and rested his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, "You gonna be ok?"

Ruby turned and faced him tears were once again threatening to break out as she nodded "I think so. I just don't know what to do, I mean should I tell them or what?"

Jaune shook his head with a frown as he said, "Look Ruby I am not going to tell you what you can and can't do but I wouldn't, not yet at least"

She gave him a weak smile and opened her dorm's door and stepped through, when she looked at the other occupants in the room she felt her nerves starting to act up,

Yang looked to her right eye and asked, "Ruby what happened to your eye?"

Ren quickly entered the dorm and said, "She tripped and something got in her eye, Jaune Nora and I were there to help her out"

Weiss smiled "Thank you Ren, Ruby do you know how worried I was?"

Ruby's gaze still at the floor said, "I'm sorry Weiss it just hurt and I needed to leave, I promise not to do it again"

Blake lowered her book and asked, "Are you going to be ok?" concern shown in her expression,

Ruby nodded "I think so, I just wanna go to sleep if that's ok"

Weiss Yang and Blake nodded so she climbed into her bed and closed her eyes then fell off to sleep in a matter of seconds.

The next morning, she awoke with a frown the pain her stomach causing her to groan, turning over to look around the room she saw Blake and Yang had left she then looked at the window and in the reflection, she couldn't see Weiss in her bed either they had left her in the room by herself. It was the first day of the weekend so she didn't have much planned, she sat up and slid off the bed, once she was walking around again she went over to her drawers and fished out a clean pair of clothes, walking into the bathroom she looked over to the mirror, she found no eyepatch and her eye looked normal,

"Must have been a dream" she mumbled, once she was undressed and walking towards the shower she saw something in the corner of her eye, when she looked over to the mirror again her eye was changed and her stomach growled, her arms wrapped around her sides as she groaned in pain again, it was unbearable the feeling could have been compared to that one time she cut Yang's hair by accident when training with her, when the pain subsided she turned around to take her shower knowing the pain wouldn't be back for a while. After Ruby had her shower and got dressed she found the eyepatch on her pillow and put it on, she left Beacon and went to Vale hoping a walk would do her some good.

On her walk, Ruby was looking around remembering all the fun times she had in the area, she had found the spot where she had met Penny, where she and Yang would go to eat lunch often, where she and Weiss first went out to dinner, she frowned at the last part knowing she would never be able to enjoy it again. After a few minutes of aimlessly walking through the streets of Vale she saw something, Yang Weiss and Blake were all at the book shop across the street, the first thing to catch her eye was Weiss, her girlfriend was actually looking through books, remembering when herself and Blake had tried to convince the Heiress to read a book she answered back 'I said no, to me it seems like a waste of time that could be better spent studying' a smile began to form when she saw this and began walking over to join them.

But once she was a few feet away from them she smelt something, her eyes lit up with excitement as she continued to sniff it out 'It smells like mom's cookies, but where is it coming fro-' before she could finish the thought she realised it was coming from her teammates, quickly taking steps back she said to herself "N-no, no, no I-I can't… I won't" she turned around and ran the other way.

When she stopped running she realised she had run halfway across town, and slowed down to a much slower and steadier pace, her scroll vibrated so she looked to it and saw a text from Yang,

'Call me as soon as you can'

Opening up her contacts list tapped on Yang's contact and waited as it rang a few times

'hello?'

"Hey Yang, you said you needed to talk?"

'Oh, hey Rubes, yeah I was just wondering what's up, you're not at Beacon and I thought I saw you in Vale earlier, so what's going on?'

Ruby frowned and said, "Just somethings I'd rather not talk about"

Yang's tone changed into a playful and teasing one as she asked, 'Oh I think I know what it is, make sure you get that thing I told you so when she's-'

Ruby's face turned a very bright red as she yelled "Wh-what the heck Yang! No!" Yang just laughed at Ruby's embarrassment,

But then the laughing stopped and after a brief silence she asked, 'Is it the food problem again?'

Ruby took a deep breath in then out "Yeah I don't know what to do but I will be back later don't worry"

Sighing Yang said, 'Ok well look if you need to talk to some please talk to me about it, I am worried and all I want to do is help, you know I love you, right sis?'

Ruby began smiling as she said, "Yeah I know, I'll will see you when I get back" hanging up and pocketing her scroll she began the long walk back.

After a few hours, she was only a few minutes away from the air docks but then she heard a familiar voice "Ruby over here!"

Turning her head, she saw Jaune Ren and Nora, waving back she tried to quickly get to the airship, but by the time she was starting to gain some speed Jaune had already crossed the street and was now standing next to her,

"Hey sorry about the other day, but um look I wanted you to join us so we could talk about that, we're only trying to help you"

Ruby was about to say no but then she stopped herself, 'Why does he want to help me?' Deciding to voice her thought she asked, "Why are you helping me?"

Jaune began smiling as he said, "Because I'm your friend. Well that and I know that if your secret got out you may not have many left, I want to help you so that won't happen"

Ruby looked over to the air docks and saw the airship she was supposed to be on leave, she sighed "I guess I don't have much of a choice now"

Jaune confusedly began looking in the direction she was and saw the airship take off, "Oh sorry were you meant to be on that?" He sounded like he felt guilty as he looked back to her,

"Yeah it was, guess I will see what you guys want since the next one is in an hour"

he nodded as he once again said, "Sorry I didn't know that you were going to be heading back to Beacon so soon"

Ruby sighed "It's fine Jaune, you didn't know"

Ruby and Jaune had made their way back over to Ren and Nora who were waiting for them, "So where are you guys taking me?"

Nora being the hyperactive girl she was practically shouted, "Re, where else!?"

The four of them made their way to the coffee shop which was only three minutes away and upon entering a woman with dark purple hair yelled "Arc where have you been!? I've been stuck here serving customers by myself and Hinami has been stuck in the kitchen all day!"

Jaune quickly ran behind Nora as he squeaked out "Sorry Touka I was busy at Beacon"

She seemed to calm down from the answer then looked over to Ruby and noticed the eyepatch, "déjà vu" Ruby took a step back as Touka snapped out of her trance, "Who's your friend?"

Jaune took a step out from behind Nora feeling a bit more confident as he answered, "This is Ruby, she has a bit of a problem, and well I'm not sure how to deal with it, and was kinda hoping you could help us out" he said the last part in more of a sheepish tone,

Touka took and let out a deep breath as she looked back to him, "What is the problem?"

Jaune took a look over to the tables and saw them packed with customers than back to her as he said, "I think we should talk about it where no one would over hear us"

She glanced at Nora then Ren who nodded and finally Ruby who was trying to hide behind Jaune,

"Ok fine I'll see you in the back in a few minutes, just gotta finish up here, oh and Arc if you help me out here it will go a lot faster" Jaune nodded as he rushed in behind the counter to help knowing it wasn't a request, "Nora, Ren take her to the break room" they also did as instructed and lead Ruby through a door behind the counter and turned a right going up a set of stairs to the second story, going down a long hallway they passed a few doors before stopping at the end.

Nora knocked on the door and waited, after a few seconds no one answered so she opened it they walked in, in the room were two couches a coffee table in between them, a TV to the right of the room and to the left a massive book shelf full of books.

The three were sitting on one of the couches waiting for five minutes but then Touka and Jaune walked in, Jaune sat next to Ruby while Touka sat on the couch opposite to all of them,

"So why do you need my help?" she asked looking at Ruby the same way Ozpin did whenever he spoke with her,

"I um well ah-"

Jaune interrupted "Ruby relax she's one of us"

Once Touka heard him say that she yelled "You told her!"

Jaune then recoiled back as he said, "T-there's a good reason I swear!"

she calmed down a bit and asked, "Well then what's the reason?"

Nora looked to Ruby "It's ok you can show her"

Ruby nodded and removed the eyepatch Ren had given her, after a minute Jaune asked with a worried tone "Ruby what's wrong, why aren't you showing her?"

Ruby then said in a sheepish tone "Bec-because I don't know how to"

Touka looked at them all and groaned, "Is this some kind of joke or not!"

It was then Ruby's stomach grumbled, and once again Ruby's arms went around her midsection as she clamped her eyes shut then fell off the couch thrashing and kicking her legs around as tears slowly made their way free, "Aaahhahhh! It hurts it hurts!"

Touka looked over Ruby worriedly as she asked, "What's wrong are you ok!?"

Ruby struggling to get up her eyes opened yelled at Touka, "Make the pain stop! Please! Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!"

Touka looked at Jaune pointedly "What's going on tell me NOW!"

Jaune was panicking as he answered, "We don't know that's why we came to you!"

Touka looked back to Ruby who was still crying but had stopped thrashing, "Why are you hurting?" she asked Ruby in a soft and soothing voice,

Ruby looked back to Touka showing her Kakugan as she said "I-I haven't eaten in a month but everything tastes so gr-gross now, I don't know what's ha-happening to m-me"

After hearing this Touka sighed "Not this again"

Jaune looked at Touka with wide eyes as he asked, "Wait you've seen this before!?"

Nodding Touka said, "Yeah, I know what we need to do but she may not like it"

Nora asked in a concerned tone "What is that?"

Frowning Touka said, "She needs to eat"

Nora Ren and Jaune looked at Ruby with worried expressions, as she asked "Wh-what do y-you mean ea-eat, I-I throw up an-anytime I eat som-something"

Touka answered her bluntly "That's because you can't eat that shit anymore"

Ruby now looking a bit scared asked "Wh-what do yo-you mean I-I can't?"

Touka walked over to a mini fridge in the far back corner that Ruby had failed to notice as she entered the room and pulled out a parcel "Eat this you will feel better" she said as she threw it to Ruby who caught it,

Examining it carefully she asked, "Wh-what's in i-it?"

Jaune quickly spoke up "Just eat it, trust me you don't wanna know"

Ruby glanced back at it then realised what it was, she threw it away then scampered to a corner of the room, "I won't eat another person!" she yelled.

Touka's frown was now more visible than before as she said, "Here we go again"

Jaune Ren and Nora looked to Touka, just as Nora was going to ask what she meant the door opened,

"Hinami what's wrong?" Touka asked,

Hinami began looking around the room worriedly as she answered, "I heard yelling and got worried so I came up to-" she stopped talking the moment her eyes landed on Ruby who was still cowering in the corner of the room, her Ghoul eye had not disappeared yet and the parcel was still on the floor giving Hinami a good idea to what was happening, "Who is that?" she asked,

Touka gestured to the others in the room "One of their friends from Beacon, right?" Jaune nodded

Hinami began walking over to Ruby and as she got closer she could hear choked back sobs, now next to her she asked, "What's wrong?"

Ruby just murmured "Hungry so hu-hungry" she looked back at Touka who nodded,

"It's ok now, but you have to eat"

Ruby just shook her head as she said, "I ca-can't eat an-another person, please there has to be something else?"

Touka spoke up, yet again being blunt "That is all your gonna be able to eat now"

Hinami turned around and yelled "Touka!"

Touka raised both her hands quickly defending herself, "I am sorry but you can't really sugar coat something like this"

Jaune looked at both of them and asked, "Like what?"

Hinami looked over to Jaune then back to Touka, she could see Touka's gaze go to the floor and her posture changed from strong and confident to sad and weak she asked, "Touka you aren't going to-" she was interrupted by a nod from the young woman,

Touka raised her head forcing her gaze back to Ruby then said, "I am not gonna make you eat it, but at least sit back on the couch, there's something you need to hear"

Ruby slowly stood up and sat back on the couch, Hinami sat next to Touka as she asked, "Are you sure you're ready to talk about him?" Touka nodded and looked back up at Ruby and the others,

"I have seen this before and it's put me through hell but I clawed my way back out, but I am gonna tell you what I know" Jaune and the others looked a bit surprised, especially since she was going to talk about her past, something she rarely did and not just that, whenever she did she was always careful with what she said.

"I once had a friend his name is Kaneki he was a human, I was still working at Anteiku at the time, he was with one of his friends who was being a total dick and well… an acquaintance of mine walked in and sat at another table, her name was Rize and he approached her to ask her out on a date she said yes and they left,

Later that day I passed by them and Rize was going to kill and eat him, I didn't do anything to stop it and continued to where I was going, on that same night an accident happened at the construction site near where I last saw the two, Rize died and Kaneki was seriously injured,

After they were found found they were taken to a hospital Rize was dead when they got there and Kaneki wasn't going to make it if they didn't act fast, so they did an organ transplant and put Rize's organs in him.

Then a few days later I saw him being attacked by another Ghoul so I helped him out, of course I didn't know who he was until after I saved him. As it turned out he had one Ghoul eye and one human eye, he had turned into a half-Ghoul and wasn't able to eat human food anymore he also said he would never eat a human.

He is still around today and I also know all of you knew of him before today, so can you take a guess to who he is?"

All of them remained silent for a whole minute before she answered her own question, "The Eye-patch, and to think a half-Ghoul is SS rated by the CCG" Touka laughed as she said the last part, Hinami rested her hand on Touka's back and rubbed it in slow circular motions, "So you see there really isn't much I can do to help you except teach you what I did him"

Ruby asked in a tone that showed how nervous she was "What is th-that?"

Touka said the next word without emotion "Survive, a friend and I taught him how to defend himself and the manager Yoshimura taught him how to hide from the Ghoul investigators, he doesn't need the eyepatch anymore but he still uses it,"

Ruby looked a bit calmer now as she took in the information, "Th-thank you, I know telling me this might have been a bit difficult but thank you"

Touka smiled as she walked over to the parcel and passed it to her again, "If you change your mind at least you have that" then left the room presumably going back down stairs to the cafe.

Jaune looked over to Ruby and said, "Well we better get going or we'll miss our next flight to Beacon" Ren and Nora picked up their bags and followed the two back to the air docks.

Ruby looked at the parcel and put it in her pocket she then looked to her left and asked "Jaune?"

He turned to her eyeing her worriedly "Yes Ruby?"

"What do I do now?"

He turned his gaze to the floor and answered, "I don't know and I am sorry that I can't help you turn normal again, but if you do want to learn what Touka told you she would teach you I am willing to help" Ruby gave him a small thankful smile

"Thanks, Jaune."

Arriving back at Beacon they went to the second-year dorms and went to their respective dorms, Ruby was the first one back out of all her team so she went over to the desk and searched her pocket for the parcel Touka had given her, "Damn it, it must have fallen out of my pocket" she frowned and sat on Weiss' bed.

A few minutes later and the rest of her team began entering the dorm, "Hey Rubes were back!"

Ruby looked to the door, the pain in her stomach it's too much she needed to eat, and it had to be now, Ruby got up off the bed as her stomach grumbled, she growled in pain and looked towards her teammates as they were all worriedly looking over to her, she murmured "I-I'm sooooo Hu-hung-grrry" Yang went to take a step forward until Ruby jumped/tackled at her, at first Yang thought it was a hug but at the last second she saw Ruby's mouth open and moving towards her neck, she pulled her arm in front and activated Ember Celica and everyone winced to the sound of teeth and metal colliding, as Blake and Weiss jumped back in shock,

Yang tried pushing Ruby back, "Ruby! What are you doing!?" Yang's other hand got caught on to the eyepatch and it slipped off revealing her Ghoul eye.

Weiss and Blake were beyond terrified as they watched the scene play before them Ruby was a Ghoul they could all see it, watching as the younger girl tried to eat her sister. After a minute of struggling Ruby's eye changed back to normal, it was then her eyes were filled with fear and she stopped struggling, Yang saw her chance and threw Ruby to the other side of the room, looking into her little sisters eyes she didn't see the same look Ruby had when they were fighting just moments ago. She now noticed the eye had turned back to its normal silver, and Ruby was backing away in fear, "Yang! I am so sorry! Please, please do-don't hate m-me!" tears were running down her face as she averted her gaze from them.

Weiss was the first to recover "Yo-you're a Ghoul?"

Ruby shook her head "No, n-no I am Human I am not a Ghoul. I am not a Ghoul!"

Blake just remained slient as she stared at her in fear while Yang asked, "You just tried to eat me! My own sister just tried to eat me! Are you even my sister!?"

Ruby continued to back away slowly "I-I am s-sorry please I didn't mean to"

Blake began to recover from the shock and glared as she asked "Why didn't you tell us you're a Ghoul?!"

Ruby glared back at Blake and yelled "I am a Human!"

Blake snapped back at her with a deathly tone "Then how do you explain your eye? How do you explain you trying to eat your own sister!"

Ruby fell to the floor and curled into a ball as she sobbed "I am Human. I am Human. I am Human",

Yang looked to Blake and Weiss "What do we do?"

Blake looked to Ruby then back "I don't know, Weiss what do you think?" Weiss was staring at Ruby her breathing was level and she looked calm but she didn't respond, "Weiss!"

Weiss' head snapped towards the two, "Uh w-wh-what!?"

Blake sighed "I asked what should we do?"

Weiss looked back to Ruby who was still sobbing in the middle of the room, "I am not sure what to do"

Yang took a step towards Ruby, Ruby's head snapped up and she saw Yang move in closer so she shuffled back "D-don't come near m-me! I don't wa-want to hurt y-you"

Yang sighed "Ruby what happened to you?"

Ruby shook her head vigorously as she said, "I don't know, I don't know what happened I-I don't know"

Blake who had now calmed down a bit then asked "Ruby why did you attack Yang like that?"

Ruby looked up to Blake, Blake could see the fear in her eyes she feared what they were thinking of her now, Blake remembered the look it was that same look she had years ago, Ruby answered "I-I was just so hu-hungry I-I lost control I don't know why"

Yang took another step closer "Ruby it's ok, I forgive you but please tell me what happened"

Ruby looked at Yang and said, "All I know is after leaving the hospital I couldn't eat food then this" she started crying again,

Blake looked over to Yang then Weiss "You two over here for a moment, Ruby please just move back a bit" Ruby nodded and leaned against the wall on the other side of the room, Blake whispered "She isn't lying I saw it in her eyes, she's telling the truth, so what do we do?"

Weiss whispered back "I don't know but we can't leave her like this"

Yang nodded "Weiss is right, we have to do something but what?"

Blake looked down as if she were ashamed of something then spoke her mind "I think we should tell Ozpin"

Weiss and Yang glared at her, "No we are not doing that he will have her taken away"

Weiss then said, "I am with Yang we can't tell him, I want to help her but what do we do?"

It was then a knock on the door interrupted them, Weiss walked over and answered the door "Weiss what's going on we heard you guys yelling and got worried, are you going to be ok?" asked Jaune,

Weiss looked back into the dorm then back to him "Yeah everything's fine you can go now"

Ruby yelled out "Wait! Jaune!"

Weiss snapped back at Ruby "What are you doing?"

Ruby answered nervously "It's ok we can trust him"

Weiss glanced at her girlfriend then back to Jaune "Fine get in here but a word of this to anyone and I will kill you"

He nodded and entered the dorm, once he was standing in the middle of the room he asked "So what's up"

Ruby spoke up trying not to break down "I-I tried to eat Ya-yang"

He looked at Ruby with shock then fear as he asked "What?! What happened to the meat Touka gave you?" He looked around in a panicked state,

Ruby answered quietly, "It must have fallen out of my pocket" Jaune sighed and turned around to see the rest of team RWBY glaring at him,

Weiss asked with clear annoyance "You knew! Why does he know?!"

Ruby looked to Weiss and said "Weiss it's not what you think I-" Jaune cut her off,

"You three need to sit down and remain calm right now everyone is on edge, I need to get Ren and Nora ok, I will be right back"

Weiss was about to say something but Ruby spoke up first "Weiss it's ok they know too"

Weiss glared at the both of them but let him pass.

A few moments later Jaune came back with his two teammates, "Now Weiss Blake Yang, we need you to tell us what happened" he stated clearly wanting this to be over as soon as possible,

Yang was the one to answer, "We just got back and Ruby was lying on Weiss' bed once I told her we got back she was looking at us weirdly, before I could ask what was wrong she said 'I'm so hungry' and tackled me down, at first I thought she was tackling me into a hug, but then I saw her mouth open and moving towards my neck, I raised my arm and activated Ember Celica so she didn't bite me, I tried pushing her back and my hand got caught on the eyepatch she was wearing, it came off and I- I saw her eye, not long after that she seemed to stop so I threw her away."

Jaune nodded and Nora spoke up, "What do you guys know about Ghouls?"

Weiss and Blake said in unison "They're monsters"

Yang answered "They are like us but forced to eat other people to survive"

Nora nodded with a sad smile only Blake knew what it meant and reached for Gambol Shroud, Jaune quickly said "Blake! Let's keep it calm ok?"

she glared at them and asked "Why should I trust a Ghoul?" Weiss' and Yang's eyes widened as they stared at them,

Jaune sighed "Not all of us are monsters ya know"

Weiss looking at the three with anger and fear asked, "What do you mean by that?"

He looked at her with another sad smile "Not all of us enjoy killing to survive, I haven't killed a single Human in my life and I am still here"

Weiss asked still sceptical of the whole situation "Then how have you not died yet?"

His sad smile turned to a frown, "I have only eaten people who have committed suicide and the Grimm, that's it"

Blake's anger flared as she yelled "Bullshit! The Grimm will disappear before you can get in a single bite"

His frowned grew as he answered, "Not if you eat them alive" that statement alone turned Weiss green as she gagged and Blake wasn't too far from that stage either,

Yang being the calmest of the three asked, "Why?"

Nora answered this time "Because it's better than killing people to survive, it tastes like shit but we can eat it"

Ruby looked over to them and asked "C-can you help me I am so h-hungry and I don't have anything I can eat" Ren nodded and rolled up his sleeve walking over to Ruby, "Wait! What are you doing?"

Ren rolled his eyes as he was now kneeling next to her "Just take a bite, just one bite, it will help you through two days before you start feeling hungry again"

Weiss asked clearly confused by the action "So wait you're not a Ghoul?"

Ren shook his head "No I am not but Nora is"

Ruby looked at his arm and reached for it but then her other arm pulled that one back, "I am sorry but I can't Ren, I just can't eat another Human" he gave her a sympathetic frown,

Blake asked "Ren are you sure you want to feed yourself to her?"

He nodded then turned back to Ruby as he asked, "Ruby would you rather it be Yang or me?"

She asked confused "W-what?" he asked again

"Who would you rather it be Yang or me?"

she looked to the ground and said "Y-you but please don't do this" he smiled as he said his next words,

"Ruby I promise we will take you to Touka and tell her that you need more, I am sure she will be happy to help you, remember what she said about her friend"

Ruby looked to Ren then her teammates, Yang said "Ruby if this is killing you I am not gonna judge, do what you need to"

Weiss looked unhappy but said "It's ok Ruby if it's what you need than I am ok with it"

Blake sighed "If Ren is fine with it I am but just know I won't think less of you for it"

Ruby nodded and looked back to Ren "Ok, but just one bite, right?" He nodded and held his arm up, Ruby slowly moved closer and when she was close enough pulled his arm to her mouth with the speed of her Semblance and bit down ripping off a piece of flesh off and started chewing, her eye began to change again and a small smile formed on her blooded lips, Ren winced as he pulled his arm back and got some bandages around it,

Yang asked "How are you feeling sis?"

After a minute Ruby gave a small but sad smile "Better, thank you Ren"

He nodded and headed back to his dorm, Nora gave Ruby a hug and said, "If you need help find one of us, we will be there for you, and just between you and me, I think Touka likes you"

Ruby smiled and returned the hug, Jaune spoke up "So uh yeah like Nora said if you need help or just want to talk then come to one of us alright?"

Ruby nodded and said "Weiss I think I will sleep by myself tonight" Weiss nodded and walked over to Ruby she hesitated for a moment but then hugged her, Ruby returned the hug happily,

Weiss asked "So what do we do now"

Ruby frowned "I don't know, I think I am gonna go to bed"

she turned around to go to her bed but then Blake said "Wait, Ruby it's not that I don't trust you but shouldn't we do something so we don't have to worry about being eaten?"

Ruby nodded as she walked over to the dresser and pulled out some rope "You could tie me down for the night. That's if you want to"

Yang asked, "Where did you get that from?"

Ruby answered, "I still had some left over after putting the bunk beds up… Again"

Blake took the rope and tied Ruby to her bed, looking off to the side to Yang and Blake she said said "Goodnight guys" she received three replies back and smiled, 'At least they still accept me' moments later her world faded to black.

Yeah I know, bit of a rushed ending but I needed to get off to sleep since I'm still doing exams, anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it did what I was hoping for, I'm excited to hear what all of you have to say that is if you do, but anyways see you in the next chapter.