Author's Headnote: Wowee, glad to see you guys like my work! We'll be skipping over a few hours to the point where everyone (except Ruby) is awake. This is mostly due to that I have no intention of writing Ruby's dreams for now. I originally intended on Ruby being able to tame the grimm via. dreaming, but than I thought "That's just cheesy and easy!", so no dream bonding nonsense. And this chapter we're finally going to find out what exactly happened that gave Ruby and Blake that convenient escape back into Beacon in one of the earlier chapters.
And to answer C313st14's question: Ruby will learn magic, but it won't be as potent as a Maiden's powers. And I'm not sure if you mean the Hellsing Nostferatu or the VTM Nostferatu, cause for the former I didn't watch Hellsing so I have no Idea what that's like, and for the latter is a big NO. As for in-story, technically she already is, since 'Nostferatu' is the name of the mythical grimm that attacked the White-Fang back around in 'Feral First Night'. But we all know that's feral Ruby. I hope answered your question.
So just sit back, and enjoy the chapter!
RWBY: Festival of Blood: Information Handed First and Second
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Blake Belladonna
Blake Belladonna:
Aura Status: 100% (Why wouldn't it?)
Semblance: Shadow Clone
Grades: Unchanged
Team Activity (Required for advancement to second year): That's Ruby's decision!
Team Relations:
-Ruby Rose (Main Character): Blake feels sorry for Ruby, yet sees a reflection of someone else from her.
-Weiss Schnee: Need to check to see if she doesn't change the alarm again.
-Yang Xiao Long: A bullet was dodged last night.
End of Major character status report
Beacon Academy, 9:00 AM, Wednesday, Beacon Courtyard
The morning routines were done. Ruby of course is still asleep, this is a surprise to Weiss and Yang, but not to Blake. Blake on the contrary was just reading her book. She's at the climax of the plot where the plot reaches it's peak. Team _WBY had to order food from the cafeteria because Ruby was sleeping and shirking off from her duty to make breakfast. Although most students order their breakfast anyway, and beacon's chef is one of the top-classes, so it's no real loss. Blake wonders what her leader was doing with her free time. Her being up all night she must have done something to pass the time. Blake knows Ruby has a passion with weapons, so she might have been spending the entire night working on something.
Blake opened up her scroll to see if there's anything on why the police were leaving uptown... apparently Torchwick was robbing the dust reserves back in uptown. They managed to capture and arrest the goons assisting him, along with securing the dust, but Torchwick himself got away. Why would the White-Fang work with Torchwick? Why do they need that much dust? Are they building a bomb? A weapon? Or perhaps it's to raise the prices of dust to an extreme... it's suspicious, but Blake knows she could work with JNPR to kill two birds with one stone.
Everyone was up early yesterday, mostly due to the police and all. Since the interrogations from the legal law are done, students could come in and out of Beacon anytime during daylight hours, night-time hours are of course off-limits and that would mean sneaking out. Half an hour ago, the chief called in the third year for interrogation, they are still at it. Blake may aswell wonder what they are up to... but who knows? It could be a red herring, and that the third year is just a quiet kid. Yet again, in most cases, the quiet kid is the one you should worry about. Nobody knows anything about them, what they look like, what their weapon is, even their semblance is unknown. Yet again, Jaune got into Beacon without unlocking his aura.
Now Blake can finally enjoy reading her book in peace. All she has to do is worry about Ruby waking up early or her not being there when she does wake up. She doesn't want Ruby to go feral again after all.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Jaune Arc
Beacon Academy, 8:34 AM (30 minutes until the present), Wednesday, Beacon Corridors
Jaune heard that the third year was going to be interrogated today. He was both excited and scared about this! Excited that he can finally get some information on them, and scared that they may pummel him to oblivion. Either way, this is the best time to get information for the investigation on one of the three top suspects. He was at the wall behind the interrogation room with his hearing cup, a special cup with accidental characteristics that let's him hear better through walls. He hears footsteps coming toward the room... than they stop, then they continue... they must have seen him with his cup facing towards the wall.
Jaune wasn't sure why he was facing away from the door, but he can't turn around now, the third year would be more likely to rat him out that way! Sounds of the third year opening the door could be heard, followed by a quiet closing. Jaune was prepared for this, he can finally record down the information needed on his scroll. He can hear them sitting and so the eavesdropping can finally begin. Hopefully he won't be ratted out like last time. Chief Blue was erratic about Jaune eavesdropping, literally. He was god damn crazy, acting like a cop from one of those movies, whilst others report he was a reasonable person.
"Great, you're finally here... uhh?" Chief Blue asked out of curiosity.
"..." The third year 'said'.
"What is your name, sir or madam?"
"..."
"Look, I'm your friend. I don't want to disrupt your time, if you co-operate you can stop wasting mine aswell."
"..."
"Kid, the silent treatment won't work on me. I am a veteran, whatever you've experienced is likely nothing compared to what I've seen."
"..."
"You know the longer you stay quiet, the longer we'll be sitting here right? Don't you have any friends?"
"..."
"Oh ya, you're the only kid in your class, surprised the headmaster didn't have you repeat your first year."
"..."
"Are you mute?"
"..."
"Well, this is going to be a long interrogation."
This will be going on for a couple of more hours. But Jaune is patient, what could go wrong?
Character Change: Jaune Arc - Blake Belladonna
Beacon Academy, 9:04 AM (Back at the present), Wednesday, Beacon Courtyard
Blake continues to read her book, well until Pyrrha shows up. She's likely going to ask about Jaune, and Blake has a curious idea to why.
"Excuse me Blake, have you seen Jaune anywhere?" Pyrrha asked Blake.
Of course, I knew she would ask that.
"He's likely eavesdropping on the third year's interrogation; don't know why they didn't do them yesterday." Blake responded.
"Not many people really know about them." Pyrrha stated.
"That's an understatement Pyrrha, we don't even know what they look like!"
"So... he's next to the interrogation room, right?"
Blake sighs... "Yes, he's most likely there. You are looking for him, right?"
"Yes, well got to go, see ya Blake."
Pyrrha walked off to find Jaune. Blake's just happy she can get back to her book. Pyrrha's typically the nicest person anyone in Beacon has ever met, she only has very few friends because her fame makes her look unobtainable. Blake feels sorry for her because of that. Blake continues to read her in the library where hopefully people don't disturb her, she's been meaning to get her book done since first entered Beacon.
Beacon Academy, 9:14 AM, Wednesday, Library
Blake spends sometime in the library for herself, reading her book of course. Spending a couple of hours on the book, she puts her bookmark in there and takes a small break. Curiously, she sees Nora studying. Nora is the last person she'd see studying of all people, she's typically more of the 'charge in and plan later' type of person, what could be so important that she's at a computer studying? There's the blackout investigation, but Jaune and Ren would most likely be the brains for the operation. The only other thing she could think of is the 'nostferatu' attack from Monday night, but why would Nora would be interested in studying grimm, albeit a mythical (and non-existent) grimm.
Out of curiosity, Blake looks over to Nora's computer, only to see she's just playing video-games. Blake wasn't sure what she was expecting from looking at the computer Nora was using, but it certainly wasn't this. Her curiosity sated; she goes to the computer across to do some research on her own. First thing's first, last night's thwarted dust robbery. From the looks of it, the scene of the crime was uptown's dust reserve, where the most high-quality dust not owned by a Schnee is stored. According to leak camera footage, the guards called the alarm BEFORE Torchwick showed up, it's as if this robbery was staged. Yet somehow, Torchwick got away.
This doesn't make sense; something is going on. No one could predict a dust robbery like that, especially on the night it happens. This was clearly staged, sure it was convenient for her and Ruby last night, but it's still suspicious. But who would plan something like this? From the looks of it, it wasn't planned from Torchwick's side. Perhaps the VPD has a mole inside the White Fang, or maybe there's a third party involved? The plot thickens.
While she's here, she could also do some second-hand research on vampires, all that came up is most likely fake vampire mythos. Yet again, it wouldn't be as reliable as Ruby's book anyway. And than it hit her, 'nostferatu'. If she could get any information on vampires, or at least attack reports caused by them, it'd have to be by that name. Blake searched up 'nostferatu' on the web and found various results on it, classifying it as a 'mythological grimm'. Blake decided to pull up an official page on the nostferatu to get more information on it.
Nostferatu: Grimm Archive Wiki
Disclaimer: This is a page about a mythological grimm, so the page may not be 100% true. This is mostly due to any evidence of this grimm's existence to be purely speculation.
The Nostferatu is a mythological grimm that only attacks at night. If you are looking for the vampire from fiction, click any one of these links. Unlike most mythological grimm, there have been reports of it's presence across all of remnant. This is an interesting development since most mythical grimm are only spotted in one realm. This grimm has no confirmed appearance since it has a tendency to kill all possible witnesses. Some speculate that the nostferatu is invisible, thus explaining why no one has ever seen it despite the multiple attacks across remnant.
These grimm have a tendency of biting their victims on the neck, draining their blood, this is how this grimm got it's name. By the size of the claw marks from various mauling attacks, it is implied that the grimm takes on a humanoid shape. Some theorize it looks like a more active variation of the rare apathy grimm that resides in northern mistral.
There have been countless nostferatu attacks that go back even before the great war.
The images shown are of the various hypothetical nostferatu attacks across remnant, each of them captioned to where they were.
Blake stopped reading the article, because it was not only a stub, it also didn't have any important information for her to help Ruby. Yet again, not everyone on remnant knows vampires are real, and any vampire attacks are dismissed as a grimm attack, specifically labeled as a 'nostferatu'. Blake will have to wonder how long her and Ruby could manage to hide Ruby's 'condition' from Weiss and Yang. Yang would surprisingly be easy since their sibling friendship made them get a long very well, so she trusts Ruby to not snoop around her. Weiss on the other hand, is much snoopier. Since she changed Ruby's alarm yesterday, it won't be long until Weiss checks up on Ruby in her sleep. Blake will need a distraction for Weiss...
Blake logged off the computer and went back to reading her book, hopefully nothing goes wrong.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Jaune Arc
Beacon Academy, 9:14 AM (10 minutes until the present), Wednesday, Beacon Corridors
40 minutes have passed and the chief is losing it, he is going insane from the third year's lack of response. Jaune doesn't know if the the third year could speak, or if they're just doing this to spite the chief, he focusses on the interrogation... hopefully he can catch some sort of information on the third year.
"ANSWER ME DANGIT! WHAT IS YOUR NAME!?" Chief Blue yelled.
"..." the third year 'replied'.
"WE HAVE BEEN HERE FOR FOURTY MINUTES! AND NOT ONCE HAVE YOU SAID ANYTHING!"
"..."
"YOU ARE HIDING SOMETHING! I KNOW IT! NO ONE CAN BE QUIET FOR THAT LONG WITHOUT HIDING SOMETHING!"
"..."
"JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WERE DOING MONDAY EVENING AND YOU CAN GO! HOW HARD IS THAT!?"
"..."
"Your name, and what you were doing."
"..."
"I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!"
"..."
"JUST COUGH IT UP ALREADY!"
"..."
"Okay, since you value your privacy too much, I'll keep this question vague. Did you do it?"
"..."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Slams of the table, scratch that. The sound of the table being thrown at the room can be heard. Clearly, he had finally snapped.
Character Change: Jaune Arc - Blake Belladonna
Beacon Academy, 9:26 AM (Back at the present), Wednesday, Library
Blake continued to read her book. She's a bookworm, in a library. It's something pretty ordinary. Blake starts on her next chapter that is until Weiss comes in and interrupts her reading session. Is there something Blake forgot to do, or is it something Blake did... or... oh no.
"Blake, have you seen Jaune anywhere?" Weiss asked.
That was unexpected, I'd thought she'd yell at me.
"Why do you want to know?" Blake asked back.
"Did you just answer my question with another question?" Weiss asked in turn.
"Yes, I did. Just be lucky you didn't ask Yang or you'd be in a loop of asking questions."
"Well, have you seen him?"
"I thought you didn't like him."
"No... it's not that! He borrowed something from me and I need it back!" Weiss blushed in anger.
"Oh, and what is it that he borrowed from you, Weiss?" Blake asked with a smug look.
"He borrowed my binder. I need that for when we organize the decorations for the Vytal festival once Ruby wakes up!"
"I think team CVFY will be covering that now."
"What makes you say that?"
"I saw them leave at 7 AM this morning with a lot of boxes."
"Dangit Ruby! Your oversleeping costed me my excuse to observe my opponents!"
"Not like you'd win anyway."
"Shush."
"Besides, only Penny and Sun are here. The rest of the students arrive on Sunday."
"There could be others that arrived early!"
"Name one that I haven't said."
"..."
"My case is closed. Jaune's likely eavesdropping on the third year by the way."
"Okay, now you tell me?"
"I just like damaging your sense of pride, that's all."
Weiss walked out of the library, looking like she's been angrily defeated. Blake enjoys her petty victory; she knows Weiss is crushing on Jaune. She's just hiding it, that's all. Blake goes to back to reading her book in a better mood than she was. Her mental celebration distracted her from reading though, so she had to start the page over. But that was okay for Blake, she likes the book anyway. She's currently halfway done with it anyway, she always reads it in her spare time, which she has a lot of in this upcoming week. Blake feels sorry for Ruby for having to take a permanent night shift in her life, and considering that almost everyone is asleep at night, she'd be lonely as heck.
Blake will be losing a lot of blood when Ruby wakes up, she needs to get her aura back up from 72%. That's not a safe number to be at. She could acquire blood packs from the clinic, but not only that would be suspicious, but it sure as heck wouldn't be allowed. Guess she'll have to risk her health to ensure Ruby's (or what's left of it). Blake can't always be around for Ruby however, so Blake will have to remind Ruby of that after she has been fed.
Blake continues to read her book undisturbed, hopefully nothing bad will come to disrupt her reading again.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Jaune Arc
Beacon Academy, 11:12 AM, Wednesday, Beacon Corridors
Things have gone from zero to one-hundred within the past three hours of this conversation, how the heck is the third year still able to not let out a single sound within this timeframe? Jaune's just astounded at that, truly they have some nerves of steel to put up with yelling for that long.
"YOU! ARE! DRIVING! ME! INSANE!" Chief Blue yelled.
"..." The third year 'replied'.
"JUST SAY ANYTHING! AND YOU'LL GO! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
"Hey Jaune!" Pyrrha said, breaking Jaune's concentration on the Eavesdropping.
"GAH! Pyrrha! Don't you see I'm busy with the investigation?" Jaune yelled at Pyrrha.
"I'm sorry, you were just taking so long I thought you'd be done by now."
"Wait, how long were you standing there?"
"Two hours!"
"Two hours?"
"Yes, two hours."
"You really didn't have anything else to do other than stare at me eavesdropping for two hours?"
"Nope, I have plenty of free time today, other than training."
The door to the interrogation room slammed open, it sounds like Chief Blue overheard the conversation. Jaune's in trouble now.
"YOU! I THOUGHT I MADE IT CLEAR THAT YOU WILL NOT EAVESDROP AGAIN!" Chief Blue yelled.
Ah shoot. Here's the part where I'll be running for my life! Not going through that again!
Jaune sprinted as fast as he could, bumping into various objects and students. As he was sprinting, he tripped over Weiss, although he quickly got back up and started running for his life. The chief of police is following Jaune across, although he doesn't care about the collateral, he's planning on catching Jaune! Jaune is nervous, scared, and every emotion in between. Why wouldn't he? He's literally running from a rage-induced police officer. He actually never promising to stop actually eavesdropping, he was just yelling at Jaune after the initial questioning. He's got to think of something to cool him off... think... think...
"GET BACK HERE AND FACE JUSTICE YOU EAVESDROPPER!" Chief Blue yelled.
Characer Change: Jaune Arc - Blake Belladonna
Beacon Academy, 11:23 AM, Wednesday, Library
Blake spending two undisturbed hours on her book, she finally finished a chapter without anyone interrupting her. She took a small break to get back to researching on another topic she's been meaning to get on to... the White Fang. She quickly got on one of the computers and searched up the White Fang. The results are various attacks they have done in the past while Blake was still with them, a long with reported activity in Vale. It's stated that the nostferatu attack on the White Fang has increased their activity in the kingdom's presence, even outside Vale's walls. This is due to paranoia from their leader, whose identity remains unknown. Blake knows who the local leader is, or at least she thought she knew him.
Ruby's last night encounter is also listed here, it's said that the various White Fang mooks were apprehended, with the female ones missing articles of their clothing. From the reports, Blake's impressed she managed to take down one of the larger ones, it would likely explain how her aura sank down so low. All the mooks were put in custody with no fatal injuries. Although there is one report of strange markings on one of the wrists of a mook, but it was dismissed as a flesh wound. Blake's relieved that Ruby didn't do anything suspicious, last thing she needs right now is Headmaster Ozpin watching her every move.
As she continues to browse reports, she hears the door being slammed open by Jaune, following by him hiding behind one of the bookshelves.
Wonder what happened there.
The cat faunas than sees Chief Blue in an upset mood. Jaune was clearly snooping around where he shouldn't... again. Yet again, Blake of all people shouldn't really be one to judge. Thankfully Coco just happened to be in the library, pummeled some sense into that guy. Things would have gone out of hand and destructive if it weren't for her, although she's still kind of mean. Velvet insists Coco's a good person, but after seeing that, Blake wouldn't want to be on her bad side. Blake got up and started looking for Jaune, only to find him at literally the first bookshelf.
"Jaune, what the heck were you doing to get him so mad?" Blake asked.
"uhh... you see, I was investigating the third year aaand..." Jaune stated before he was interrupted.
"Didn't Chief Blue yell at you last time you were eavesdropping?"
"Yes, but I didn't mean to get caught this time, I was extra careful."
"How did you get caught this time?"
"Pyrrha interrupted me. She apparently was standing behind me for two entire hours while I was eavesdropping."
"Why?"
"I don't know, I'd figured she'd have more important things to do other than just stare at me listening with a plastic cup!"
"Did you run into Weiss the other earlier? she says wants her binder back."
"Yes, I did... literally. And I don't have her binder. I guess Ruby has it."
I knew it! Weiss likes him.
"What would Ruby be doing with Weiss' binder?" Blake asked.
"I don't know, I'm not her! Speaking of Ruby, have you seen her today?" Jaune answered than asked.
"I'm sure she's somewhere around Beacon." she half-lied.
"Well, I'll be on the lookout. I heard some strange noises in the forge last night, that's why I'm wondering."
"I didn't hear anything."
"I guess I was just hearing things than."
"Well, I'll get back to my reading. See you at the meeting."
"Yep... see ya."
Blake went on to go back to her book.
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Jaune Arc
Beacon Academy, 11:43 AM, Wednesday, Training Yard
The training yard, the most important part of a combat school. Jaune has been coming here since that incident in Forever Fall. He's been learning the basics from Pyrrha, which has improved his skill greatly since he came here. However, sometimes, a trial by fire is necessary. The training yard is filled with consoles designated to simulate certain types of grimm, it was a gift from Atlas according to the fourth-year students, who beforehand could only train from using repurposed combat droids. The grimm simulated are merely solidified holograms, so if it goes south to a fatal degree, they'll fade. There is also, of course, the practice arena, one of the three arenas in Beacon academy, the other being the official arena and the stage at the combat classroom.
The consoles can also simulate non-grimm hostiles, but they are seldom used because huntsmen and huntresses almost always are tasked to fighting grimm, and there are plenty of real people to spar with. And of course, there's Jaune Arc, who is an expert level tactician, but a novice at combat by himself. Fortunately, thanks to his fake transcripts, it passes as 'obfuscating stupidity', whatever that means. Jaune has a beowulf projected from the console, and readies to fight it. Since it's just a single beowulf, it's simple enough for a first year to handle. He begins to practice the moves Pyrrha showed him, he blocks the upcoming attack from the beowulf with his shield, then bashes it, followed by a sweep from his sword. Without a flashy semblance, there is very little to do other than sticking to defense.
A couple more blocks, parries, and counters later and Jaune defeats the beowulf. He is improving, although he did get a hit a couple time. Thankfully, aura can recover overtime. Why wouldn't it? As he continues to train his combat skills, he begins to wonder about Ruby. Typically, she'd be up at the crack of dawn running around training or tuning up her scythe. He first saw her yesterday at 1 PM, and he has yet to see her today. Perhaps she's just working at the forge with tuning up her weapon. Yet again, it's not his business. Why would he bother snooping around someone's business other than investigating who caused the blackout on Monday?
Jaune, feeling more confident after dealing with those beowulves one at a time tries his bet on an ursa-mid. Ursai are stronger than beowulves, but they move slower, so Jaune takes advantage of that. The ursa hologram jumps towards and attempts to attack Jaune, he dodged and got grazed by one of the claws. Jaune than thrusts his sword, Croeca Mors into the lower right leg of the grimm. It hits, but the ursa unexpectedly slams Jaune out of range to charge at it to ram. Jaune carefully bashes the ursa's head at the right time, stunning it. He stabs the head with his sword, finishing it off. The hologram fades and Jaune feels confident in his victory.
Afterwards he decided to take a small break, too much training can be bad afterall.
Character Change: Jaune Arc - Blake Belladonna
Beacon Academy, 11:52 AM, Wednesday, Library
Blake decided that she spent a bit too much time in the library for now and decided to head elsewhere for now, perhaps she should see what Yang and Sun are up to. Yet again, she should check up on Ruby to see if Weiss or Yang haven't tried to wake her up. Blake has an Idea of what Ruby's going through. Yet again, Blake didn't suddenly turn into a faunas out of thin air. Blake's also not clinically dead, so there's that. Blake knew something bad would happen to her team if Ruby was found out, chances are, all of team RWBY would likely end up being secretly convicted. Ruby for being a vampire, and Blake, Weiss, and Yang for harboring one (even if it's unintentional).
Blake checked the time on her scroll, it's roughly 12 PM, she'd likely have to head back to the dorm and see if Ruby's alarm clock has been meddled with, and to see if Ruby is still sleeping, or has to explain to Weiss or Yang that they don't have to 'bury the body' in a shallow grave. Blake's also glad Yang wasn't the one team member that got turned into a vampire, just imagine the endless vampire puns! It would be annoying to deal with. Of course, Ruby will have to deal with classes starting next Monday, but Blake will talk to her about that for sure. And there's the upcoming training missions, she'll need to figure out something to keep her aura levels from draining out in the sunlight.
Then of course there's the Wednesday meeting with JNPR about the plan on Sunday night. Blake wonders if they got the stuff they need, or if Ruby has to go get them. Blake will sure as heck will not be helping Ruby tonight from all the blood she'll be losing today. It's all for Ruby though, she can't risk Ruby going feral and incite another grimm attack to be broadcasted on live television, or worse unintentionally killing her best friends.
Author's Footnote: Well, not my best work, but it's something. I decided to toss my hat at some Jaune, mostly due to me not wanting to write a chapter revolving around Blake reading her book and worrying if Weiss changed her alarm clock. I needed something to write about, don't worry people, Ruby will appear in the next chapter. I don't intend on writing every single event that occurs up to Ruby waking up after all, that'd be nothing more than filler at best. 'Slice of Life' is a good name for Ruby's new weapon, but I really want to hear more suggestions before I make a decision. If anyone else has any suggestions for Ruby's giant pizza cutter, leave it in the reviews, same goes with any questions, comments, criticism, etc. Well, see you guys next chapter!