ooO - Two Years Later - Ooo
Blink. Blink.
"Are you alright?"
Silence.
"Miss Rose?" Amidst the blur of dark shapes in the room, a gentle voice called out to her and her eyes honed in on the direction the sound was coming from. Her eyes fluttered as the world slowly came into focus and registered a fairly tan, dark-haired man with an autumnal array of colors that made up the irises of his eyes. "You're awake."
"Headmaster, please don't press her too hard." Heels clacked lightly against the floor as the academy's nurse approached him from behind. "Now that she's conscious, I can give a proper examination."
"I understand." The school's director sat beside Ruby and gave her a worried look. He was a strange man. Despite having been around long enough to have been her own parents' headmaster, time had barely affected the man. Even with the stress that came with his job, not a single hair on his head had whitened and his skin still held the elasticity of youth. "Are you feeling alright?"
A cloudy feeling permeated through her mind and she moved her eyes from spot to spot as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Where was she? Just a few minutes ago, she had been walking through the hallways on her own personal mission to not be late to class, for once. Now, she found herself inside a fairly sterile looking room. What happened before this? She scooted back, deeper into the stiff pillow that was behind her and the bed creaked.
"Please be careful, Miss Rose." His eyes were soft and his voice even softer, soothing her panic. "We found you passed out in the hallway and you were brought to the infirmary immediately. You've been out for several hours."
"I," Ruby paused to clear her throat and winced in pain. "I feel okay… but my head hurts a little…" She rubbed at her sinuses and closed her eyes in frustration. "What happened?"
"Are you sure?" He gave her a concerned look. "If you're having a migraine-"
"My head's just a little foggy," Ruby wiped her hand across her face. "I can't remember… what happened…"
"Other students said that you just passed out in the hallway," he shifted uncomfortably. "You were calling out Weiss' name in your sleep. Have you been having nightmares again?"
"I…" That's right… She recalled the pale skin and red eyes of a white-haired woman staring into her own.
"I finally found you." The dream had been so vivid, bringing a shiver down Ruby's spine as she recalled the details.
As always, her dream began with the happy times they'd had as children, but as the dream went on, it told the story of how Weiss had once saved her. Weiss had been hurt so badly that she'd almost lost an eye and had been hospitalized for weeks – weeks that Ruby had heard very little and been unable to see her best friend.
In that time, Weiss had grown to hate her and made it very clear when Ruby saw her again. The younger girl had been so excited to hear that Weiss was coming back and had been surprised to see that there was no trace of the damage to her eye. They had always been her favorite part about her best friend, but they were also what stopped her dead in her tracks before she could welcome her home.
They'd always said that Weiss was cold and emotionless as a child, but the moment those crystal blue eyes caught hold of the faintest trace of Ruby's outline, they'd always burst to life. Just… not this time. Ruby remembered the first time she felt the famed frigidness of the Schnee come over her and she froze in place. In the time that Weiss had been gone, the warmth she had once regarded the small girl with had completely iced over and Ruby could never break through again. The Schnee family's duties called, and now, Weiss was gone.
Just like everyone else that dared to be close to Ruby, she eventually died. Very little details were given to the public, but everyone knew that it was a White Fang attack that had led to her death. Those who were involved had let slip that her body had been left on display in front of the Schnee Manor and the Schnee matron, the last remaining symbol of Vale, had suffered a mental collapse upon finding her daughter in such a horrific state... but that was where Ruby's dream took a turn from reality.
In her dream, the sun was setting and she'd been walking home when it happened. As she'd made it to her street, the lamps came on and she saw the stark white figure of her beloved former best friend, stained vibrantly in red and dripping everywhere. The lamps flickered and suddenly she was gone.
Being an avid fan of horror movies, Ruby's instincts kicked in and she turned around, but nothing as cliché as she imagined happened. Shuttering at her own imagination, Ruby breathed a sigh of relief and quickly resumed her trek home. When she arrived at the gate, she hurriedly went through the painstaking process of putting in the pass codes that eventually granted entry to the brick wall that fenced in her home. She dropped her stuff on the ground near the door and eventually found her way to the living room couch, where she placed her phone on the table, collapsed onto the large piece of furniture and started drifting off to sleep... and then everything felt off.
A chill filled the room and something creaked, causing Ruby's eyes to shoot open. The presence of something dark and malicious loomed over her and an icy breath chilled the edge of her ear. The hair on her arms and neck stood, prickling inside her skin and an alarming chill ran through her, pooling at the nape of her neck before running its course through the rest of her body. She fought hard with the involuntary reaction and somehow managed to remain both silent and still. After a moment, the presence vanished and she waited an extra moment before she moved.
How could someone have gotten in? She put a hand on the ground and placed her weight on it as she grabbed for her phone, but it was gone. Shit! She clambered around, feeling for it in the dark, and knocked something off the table that hit the table with a metallic ding. Her eyes widened as a dark presence slowly gathered behind her and she closed her eyes, silently praying that when she turned around it would just be a false alarm.
"Looking for this?" A dreadfully familiar voice pierced the silence and Ruby's world jarred. Her heart slammed against her chest and a lump stuck in her throat as she turned around at an agonizingly slow pace. As she did, the blood-soaked Schnee's eyes bore down on her with a sickening oppression, but something was vastly different about her.
The once-blue eyes Ruby had loved so much had been replaced with a maliciously crimson red, glowing with a needy hunger. Despite the large amount of blood soaked into her outfit, there was no evidence of wounds on her body. A wicked grin spread across Weiss' features as she eyed her like a piece of meat and Ruby's heart sank as she made out the outlines of sharp fangs. That wasn't possible. Those suspected of vampirism were cremated and Weiss had been declared untainted before her funerary proceedings.
"I've been thinking about you a lot, my little Rose." The disdain she felt in Weiss' voice as the pet name left her lips caused Ruby's heart to sink further. Before things had changed, she'd had something else that she called her, but it had been so long that Ruby had forgotten it. Things happened and any trace of endearment between them had vanished.
There was a brief delay in action between the two girls, but when it started, it happened so fast. Weiss dropped the phone and Ruby tried to flee from the couch, but the vampire pulled the furniture back and flipped it over. Barely able to process what happened, Ruby spilled out onto the floor and Weiss' foot came down near her face. The white-clad vampire flipped her over and pinned her to the ground by her neck, crushing her windpipe with an inhuman strength.
"I've finally found you." Weiss neared her neck and Ruby began to hyperventilate, gasping for air that she could hold in due to the weight Weiss was placing on her chest. "Fear makes you taste sweeter!" And with that, Weiss sank her teeth into Ruby's neck.
"Miss Rose…" A hand touched her arm, bringing her back to reality. Her eyes found the hand and she focused on the white fabric covering it, tracing the black sleeve of its coat until they eventually reached the owner's eyes again. The headmaster tilted his head with a concerned expression, silently begging for a response.
"I remembered... a dream," she looked around the room in a listless fashion, mentally naming the objects that decorated the walls in an effort to ground herself. Even if it was only a dream, it wasn't her first time experiencing trauma like this and she was familiar with finding a way to keep herself from going back to the dark places. She wouldn't let it happen so easily. "It happens every time I go there. It's not new."
"I see. Do you need someone to talk to about your nightmares?" The headmaster took her hand in between both of his own and spoke softly. "I should have protected your family better, Miss Rose. I wish that I could have changed the way things happened. If I had done things differently…"
"It's not your fault, Oscar," Ruby forced a smile. It really wasn't. "How could you have known?"
"Ruby," the older man gave her a bitter smile.
"Besides," she faked a smile. "I was just being stubborn today. The lab took too much blood and I was running late to class."
"I see," he looked over her carefully. The child before him had long complained of nightmares, but recently they'd gotten worse. However, this was the first time she outright passed out after the Schnee took blood samples from her. They'd backed off and been doing it less often at his request, but he noticed they'd starting taking more as a result. "I'm still responsible for you while your family is away."
"I was the one that decided not to take care of myself after," Ruby dismissed his attempt at shouldering the blame. "Any way that you look at it, it was my fault."
"They won't see it that way," he laughed bitterly. "I know that I've said it before, but I always have a room ready for you. I really wish you'd consider it, at least while they're away."
"Noooooo way, Oscar," Ruby shook her head. "I was planning to stay with Penny until one of them gets back. I'll be fine! They love having me over!" He smirked at her and shook his head.
"For a moment there, you reminded me of Summer," he put a hand on her head and she winced under the pressure. "So resilient, even in her most frail times."
"Yeah, well at my age," Ruby winced. "Mom was already one of your go-to people. You even sent her out on the kinds of missions real Hunters do." Ruby threw her hands up in frustration. "Meanwhile, I can't even do a simple guard duty. How am I supposed to even begin to compare to her?"
"Summer had her fair share of trials. Of that, I can assure you," he spoke distantly as if he were reliving the past. "You just haven't found your path yet, but you have so much untapped potential. We just need to figure out what it is that will draw it out for you."
"Aaaaalright, Miss Rose," the nurse sang out, pushing Oscar out of the room. "Now that you seem to be feeling a little better, I'm going to have to ask the headmaster to leave the room! Who knows what will happen if we keep you sitting still for too long!"
ooOOoo
Walking down the halls, Ruby headed listlessly to her locker. Had she really been out that long? She remembered getting to school, but now, half the school day had passed. What little books she had been carrying, the nurse had returned to her and she was now placing them in her locker… Who did she have next? Ironwood? Plum?... Port?! Yeah, that had to be it. Just as she exchanged her books for the correct ones, footsteps romped through the hallway.
"Ruby!" An overzealous girl with blue eyes and light strawberry blonde hair jumped on her, circling around her and shaking her by the shoulders. "What happened?! I thought you died and then I would have been sad, but I would have had to wait to mourn you because I'd have to go break some legs and there's no time for sadness when you're exacting revenge, so then I'd have to apologize when I finally had the time and I'd totally miss your funeral, but you'd understand, right?... RIGHT?!"
Ruby's head spun at the word vomit that metaphorically slapped her in the face. Nora could be so aggressive at times, but it was always good-willed and put a smile on her face. She really had a way of making things bright, even when there was only darkness.
"Haha, for you, Nora?" Ruby smiled. "I'd totally forgive you. My revenge is in your hands."
"VENGEANCE WILL BE MIIIIIIIIIIINE!"
"Don't you mean mine?" Ruby raised an eyebrow and pointed to herself.
"Eh, tomayto tomahto," the Venetian blonde waved it off smoothly. "Same thing."
"Ah, Nora, don't hang off of her like that!" An Asian boy with a pink streak in his hair pulled her away. "She's still recovering!"
"Noooo," Nora reached to and yelled overdramatically. "My love!"
"We'll be together soon," Ruby called back playfully.
"And we'd better consummate!" Nora gave her a thumb up and stuck out her tongue.
"Wait, what?"
"Nora!"
"Relax, Renny," Nora put her hands behind her head and pursed her lips. "I'm just kidding."
"What did I just witness?" A tall boy with short blonde hair joined them, along with another light red-head, a rabbit-eared Faunus, and a posh-looking girl with short brown hair.
"Hello, friends!" The red-head saluted them and scoured over them until her green eyes landed on Ruby. "Ruby, sal-u-tations! Are you feeling better?"
"Hey Penny," Ruby gave her a thumb up. "I'm feeling much better!"
"Sen-sational!"
"They said I haven't been getting enough rest, so I just need to sleep more," Ruby sighed. "I'm gonna' try to do that over the weekend though."
"You have terrible luck though," the posh brunette stated as they left their lockers and headed to their next class. Somehow, the whole group had wound up together. "It's like a black cloud just permanently follows you everywhere."
"Coco!" The rabbit girl gasped and Ruby stopped walking, losing herself in her thoughts. "You can't say things like that!"
"What?" Coco held her arms out. "It's not like I said she deserves it! I'm just saying that Ruby has really bad luck!"
"Ruby, don't pay attention to her!" The rabbit girl tried to comfort her. "Coco's just being mean."
"No, she's right," Ruby kept eyes from meeting any of the others'. "First, my- my parents, then there was the field trip, and now this… I've always had horrible dreams right before something happens and they're keeping me awake at night again. I can't sleep."
"Ruby," Penny said softly. "None of us blame you for that field trip or Pyrrha. You weren't even with us."
"No, but I-"
"Ruby Rose," Nora chimed in. "The only butts here are the ones those dreams of yours are gonna' start kissing! Cuz we're ready for anything your dreams throw our way now!"
"Someone's optimistic today," Coco muttered under breath sarcastically. "Ow!" The brunette yelped in pain as Velvet elbowed her.
"What Coco means is that Nora is inspired," Velvet eyed her companion dangerously. "And we would all love to help any way we can. Isn't that right, Coco?"
"Uh," Coco started to perspire. This damn rabbit was the only one that managed to put the fear of God into her. Which was ironic considering Velvet was usually the timid one in the group… and had the least field experience of them all; including Ruby, who wasn't even allowed to operate on field missions. "I mean, why are we acting like Ruby's totally defenseless? Sure, I agree she needs help, but she's one of the best shots in Signal."
"You guys know… I can't really perform under pressure," Ruby twiddled her thumbs and looked away. "Once we get into a hostile environment, I freeze up. I can't even handle basic guard duty the right way."
"Her grades are a trainwreck too," Nora cracked. "Just ask her about Port's class."
"Guys, give her a break," Jaune put his hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner as they approached the aforementioned teacher's classroom. "She's already had a rough day. Let's just get through this class and call it a day!"
"Well, with all that sleep, you'd better be able to stay awake," Coco poked at her. "Cuz I don't think tired is gonna' cut it as an excuse this time."
"Uh, Ruby, do you have to meet with Ironwood today?" Jaune asked. "Or do you think it's a good idea?"
"Ironwood…" Ruby look up in thought. Ironwood was in charge of Signal's armory and she assisted him with weapon maintenance. It was the one thing that really got her mind off of things, and he'd been pretty busy recently. Yang had been placed on a mission that went out of town and he had been directly responsible for making sure her team was outfitted with proper equipment. "No, not today. He's being super anal about equipment and wanted to make sure he handled it all. They've got him on standby to head into the field if needed."
"Ah, I see." Jaune hummed to himself and looked off in the distance. "I guess that makes sense."
"Well, I can't really efficiently test all the weapons…"
"Does that mean you're still having trouble with Lightforge, Ruby?" Ren asked.
"Yeah," Ruby sighed. "I'm fine with testing ranged weaponry. LF ammo is pre-loaded and it releases on impact, but close-quarters weaponry is different. Like, I can't channel LF."
"That's super weird," Jaune said. He'd always found this quality of Ruby's to be fairly strange. All humans possessed an affinity for Lightforge. Even if they couldn't produce it themselves, they could still channel an external source of it… but that's just how it was. Humans could use Lightforge, while Darkforge was poison to them. Freaks were the opposite… but Ruby was different. "I still don't understand how Forge just doesn't affect you. I didn't think it was possible for a human to have no affinity for Lightforge."
"Y'know, I 've always wondered this, but if Forge doesn't affect Ruby," Coco wondered out loud. "Then what does that mean if a Freak bites her? Darkforge works by infecting the Lightforge within a host, but having no affinity means she doesn't have any Forge within her, right?" Ruby stopped in her tracks and blinked in surprise. She'd never really thought about it like that. Did she have immunity to the mutations that Darkforge caused?
"I… I don't know," she started. "I've never thought about it, but honestly, the Schnee never tell me what they're testing me for when they drag me out of school. Do you guys think that might be why?"
"Well, the Schnee are pretty on top of things like that," Nora held both arms out to her sides and shrugged. "If you ask me, you should demand some answers! I can help with that!"
"Please don't," Ren pouted. "You've given me enough trouble this week."
"Oh, come on, Renny! It was one Grimm!"
"And what happened when you hit that one Grimm?" He air quoted her.
"Eeeer, I may have started a feud between two vampires," Nora looked away. "But we finished our mission."
"No," Ren corrected her. "You rode it into battle declaring that the territory was yours and told your new subjects to bow before you or face certain death… and if they didn't like it, they had to go through me! Their feud was with you and you dragged me into it…"
"Eh," Nora shrugged. "Po-tay-to, po-tah-to." Nora grinned playfully and hopped into his arms. Ren stumbled and caught her, with his legs wavering as he regained his balance. "Where else would I be without my gallant knight!"
"Christ," Coco gagged and rolled her eyes. "Could you be anymore fake?" She took her place in her seat as they waited for Professor Port to arrive. "Anyways, it's kinda' good that Ruby can't go out in the field right now."
"Why's that?" Nora frowned.
"The Puritans," Jaune sighed. "With the rise in vampire activity, those jackasses have been on the move again and the sightings are getting dangerously closer to Vale. We have an agreement with them that states they won't cross our borders as long as we stay out of their business, but it looks like they're testing the Vale's patience."
"Uh," Ruby raised her hand timidly and her friends looked at her curiously. "Puritans?"
"Seriously," Coco said to herself. "What do you do all class?"
"I," Ruby found an interesting spot on her desk. "Have a very active imagination that can't be contained."
"Samesies!" Nora declared with a high five.
"It's like you're the same person sometimes," Coco mumbled under her breath. "The Puritans are a highly religious sect, blessed with Holy powers. Rather than going after Freaks, they view all Forgebearers as humankind's enemies. That means that they consider the Freaks that ally with us and Lightforge bearers to be enemies. Dark or Light, it doesn't matter to them. If you can use Forge, you're an Unholy being to them and must be cleansed."
"Well," Ruby shifted uneasily. That meant like baptism or exorcism, right? "That doesn't seem so bad."
"Ruby, it means they'll kill you…" Velvet gripped her shoulders firmly and given her a single shake for emphasis. "And I've heard they take their time…" Ruby shuttered, as a chill ran up her spine.
There were people out there that just enjoyed torturing innocent people? She looked at her friends and thought about life without them. It wasn't pleasant to think about it and hearing things like this made her incredibly uneasy, knowing that her friends often did minor operations within city limits. She sorely wished that she could just suddenly become a real asset out on the field, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. For now, she needed to focus on getting better.
ooOOoo
AN: Woo! Chapter set ups! Information, strange happenings, religious sects, lab testing, friends, TIME SKIPS! What more could you want? (a better storyyyyyy) Aight, I joke. Happy Turkey Day to those that celebrate! If you don't, I still hope your meals were awesome and you were surrounded by good people!
