Author's Headnote: Well, it appears I'm in the awkward part of writing, at this point, anything I do for Saturday morning will be nothing but filter. So, I'll skip straight to Ruby. No need to write something pointless for morning time. people are here to see a vampiric Ruby, not Jaune doing forced chores. And if you're looking for the poll that I posted that I mentioned last chapter, it's on my profile page. Anyways, let's get to the chapter.

RWBY: Festival of Blood: Opera Night

Ruby Rose:

Aura Status: 100%

Thirst: Very Thirsty

Semblance: Wilted Petal Burst

Grades: Unchanged

Team Activity: Done.

Team Relations:

-Weiss Schnee: Ruby thinks she's suspicious about those puns she made last night.

-Blake Belladonna: The puns may have ruined anything to make them more than friends, or maybe not.

-Yang Xiao Long: Unbreakable Sister Bond... so as long as she's kept in the dark.

End of main character status report.

Beacon Academy, 2:59 PM, Saturday, RWBY Dormitory

Ruby was sleeping through the day like normal at this point. She wouldn't do it if she wasn't a vampire, not that she was given a choice at that. But it's the one moment of her undeath that brings her peace, because she's clinically dead. Although that is about to be interrupted in 3... 2...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Ruby gasped for breath as she does whenever she wakes up at this point, because she doesn't breathe in her sleep, because it's on manual mode now. Even than, she doesn't need to breathe to live anymore, because she's dead. No matter, she gets out of bed and starts to shower. She also covertly places Weiss' business card back where she found it. After her regular shower and brushing. She went to grab a drink from the fridge. She has enough of these to last her a week, although she's feeling extra thirsty, so she grabs two and downs both. Now she can think clearly. Now that she has had her drink of blood for the noon. She can go on preparing for the opera.

She went back in the bathroom and lowered her bandanna. Clearly Vale is not in a time of epidemic or pandemic, so she really can't wear her facemask to the Opera, but she'll bring it incase. But incase she has to take it off, she gets that costume makeup Blake brought her. Thankfully it's the same skin tone Ruby's skin is now or she'd have to rub her entire body in the stuff. She quickly puts two fingers in the container and wipes the makeup around her lips and on her lips, concealing the purple veins, thankfully their only expressive feature is the color, otherwise it wouldn't work. She looks at the mirror and sees a normal, albeit more pale face. Maybe she could go without the bandanna this time around. Nah, she's actually grown fond of the look. So, she puts it back on, although she quickly has to take it off for, she has to go out in formal wear soon.

Thankfully she got herself a formal facemask for that occasion. She prepares to get dressed in the dress she packed upon attending Beacon, along with the new flats and facemask. This is enough for the occasion. Now she just plays video games on her scroll until the rest of her team arrive and get ready for the night out. She really can't go outside for awhile because well... a GIANT BURNING STAR will kill her when she goes outside. But it matters little, she'll wait for them to show up. Even than, plenty of time before 7PM. May as well enjoy herself, even if she is wearing a dress right now.

After two hours, Blake shows up first to get ready. Clearly, she didn't want Ruby to wait it out all by herself. She's sort of glad somebody showed up before 7PM, no doubt Weiss will show up last for her being in a lazy mood. This is honestly the first time she's seen Blake wearing a dress, obviously it won't be the one she's wearing for the dance next week, right? But to surprise, Weiss shows up not looking like a lazy couch potato. Guess she finally realized relaxing doesn't mean be lazy. Which means of course, Yang will be the last one to show up. Weiss is wearing a slightly more formal dress than she typically wears, along with her typical high heels. How she walks those and not bend her foot 100 degrees is beyond Ruby.

After one hour of Weiss tapping her heel in an annoying manner, Yang finally shows up. What was taking her so long? No matter, as she was already dressed for the occasion, thankfully it was 7:15 so the sun can't really harm Ruby at this hour. It ain't one of those tv-show party night-outs, but a highbrow opera with a boyband singer lead will do. Besides, it's a show everyone on the team will enjoy. So the team went for their night out.

City of Vale, 7:45 PM, Saturday, Uptown

The team redeems their tickets at the opera house and proceeds to enter so. They got middle seats in a good range, so no need to bend their head up or lean forward for a better view. Ruby is minorly excited and managed to contain said excitement, low brow behavior is one way to distract the audience.

The show has started. Yang lets out a small squeal like she does whenever she sees the lead singer of her favorite boyband. Weiss does too apparently. Ruby never understood this obsession, nor will she ever. She just wants to watch the show and listen to the music. The story is quite interesting. Ruby can relate to the main character all except for the lover part. Who would be Ruby's lover? Although she has heard rumors that people want to see her and Weiss together? What do they see with her and Ruby? Besides, rich and small is not really Ruby's type. Her and Blake? Well, she wouldn't mind it. being that Ruby finds her attractive and has stared at her breasts at one point in her post-life. But Ruby digresses and focuses on the show.

She sees that the man who turned her is attending this, and has been watching her. Has he been following her? What does he want with her? Whoever this 'Duke of Bloodshire' is, Ruby won't let him interfere with Ruby's life more than he already has. Bad enough she can't go out in the sun anymore, now she has stalker vampires to deal with. Why can't she just be a normal huntress girl with normal living huntress knees? And she wants to enjoy this without any reminder of her vampirism, or of vampires in general.

The first act has ended and the audience has applauded. Ruby insists the team stays for act two. Ruby and Blake were sitting next to eachother on this one. Although Yang is staring at Blake to not to try anything, she knows that look. It's the 'Do not touch my sister's crotch or I'll break your legs and shatter your teeth' look. Yang can be over-protective with Ruby at times, her first schoolyard crush with that little girl she met awhile back, although her crush said she homeschooled. Oh, how Yang threatened her with her lisped dialect. Ruby barely remembers it; it was actually during the second semester of her first year at grade school.

Flashback, 8 years ago.

Ruby just turned seven around when this happened. It was a cold November, like leaves have all fell off this point and it's just 20 degrees Fahrenheit from people calling it winter. Although of why that unit of measurement called Fahrenheit in this universe is unknown, likely the same people who named a fruit after a color. Or is the color named after the fruit? No one knows! But anyways, back on topic. Cold winter, Ruby was seven, leaves all fell off. Ruby was wearing a heavy coat that was one size too large so she could barely move her arms in it. She also looked like a little red marshmallow. Her sister, Yang still hasn't gotten her contacts yet and still wears her glasses reluctantly. She's wearing a much lighter jacket, using her semblance to heat herself up. So, Yang doesn't look like a marshmallow like Ruby, but she still looked like one of those pre-pubescent stereotypical nerds.

She and her sister just got back from school via. the bus. Her father teaches signal, not grade school, remember. As she was walking home, she saw this girl, she looked around one to two years older than Ruby. The memory on her appearance was fuzzy everywhere else. A lot of Ruby's older memories are fuzzy, but remembered for they hold a key point in Ruby's life. She walks up to the girl and introduces herself, although she's a bitt shy when doing so. The girl giggled and patted her head like she was some sort of puppy-dog. Ruby was a bit shy talking to her, butterflies in her stomach and everything. The older girl called her cute. And that's when Yang intervened. She couldn't remember what Yang said to the girl, but it ended with the girl saying goodbye to Ruby and running off. The memory is so fuzzy she doesn't know if Yang used threats or simply passive-aggressive statements, both of which is common methods used by Yang to scare off people verbally.

Ruby felt mad at Yang for scaring her off. She may never see that girl again. But Ruby punched her sister for doing that, although this would lead to Yang punching Ruby back and nearly breaking her left arm. Both ended up getting grounded for one week. Ruby for a day longer for she was the one who started the fight. She and her sister had a very prickly relationship. Sometimes best buds, other times bitter enemies. Yang was envious that Ruby didn't need glasses or braces whilst she needed both. Ruby was envious at her fighting skill. She managed to get a hang of martial-arts, swordplay, and now using a shotgun within two days while it took Ruby two weeks, she barely got a bullet on the target. One one hand, Yang was using training equipment, which she broke, even the shotgun. On the other, Crescent Rose managed to stay in tip-top shape with proper care.

But within the time she was grounded, she could never get that girl out of her thoughts. Someone outside of her direct family called her cute. And that she was shy talking to a girl? When she was fine talking to other guys and girls just fine? Although a bit awkward because she's a bit not-good with conversation. Maybe she'll see her again, maybe she doesn't. But who knows, maybe they'll just laugh it off and become friends.

Back to Present

She hasn't seen her since that day. Come to think of it, she hasn't seen her friends in Signal in a long time. Wonder what they were up to. But it matters little, the third act is about to start. There are seven acts to this opera, and everyone is enjoying themselves. Even Ruby, despite her paranoia. Surprised Yang has even agreed to this with her only being here for the main star. Yet again, Ruby doesn't know which musician in that group is Yang's favorite. Weiss and Blake are enjoying it too. And it appears the Duke of Bloodshire is more interested in Ruby, despite having a balcony seat for the show. How did he get a balcony seat? Must have some serious connections for a vampire nobody has seen to get a balcony seat. Yet again, he was nobility, he likely knows how to get stuff like this. Hmmm... Duke of Bloodshire... that sounds vaguely familiar, isn't there an old story about that? Well, when the time comes, she will remember it.

So far, the show is... interesting. Nothing out of the ordinary other than the head vampire of vale being here. It's quite interesting, the story is... a bit weird. Apparently, the hero is cursed by their lover's uncle to be unable to go out during the day, lest grimm attack them. They self-train themselves despite this to overcome the curse, and now they're traveling from Vacuo to Mistral to find said lover. Well, since the actor playing him is a guy... so... and the lover is portrayed as a woman through her actress... so... ya... no need to be vague there.

It's similar to Ruby's own curse, only grimm ignores her and the sun would grill her like one of Weiss' celery sticks. How she managed to make charcoal out of celery is unknown, and she needs to learn how to cook properly. If Ruby could tell Weiss she doesn't need to eat food anymore, it would be great. So, she doesn't have to eat Weiss' cooking. She managed to burn a chicken while still having it be raw! Like, it's burnt on the outside and completely uncooked rawness on the inside. would make good for a mediocre blue-rare steak though, if the inside still wasn't cold. It was hot and cold at the same time and her tastebuds were in pain from the sensation. She's been trying to teach her cooking, but no matter what, she always messes up. How can someone mess up a grilled cheese sandwich? Like, really. it's something even a child could do easily, hell, even Yang managed to make one... until she burned down the house. Apparently, her semblance is tied to strong emotions in general, not just anger.

That's one way to get off-topic. Act four started when Ruby didn't even notice. Guess criticizing Weiss' cooking in her head really must have distracted her. Speaking of Weiss... she fell asleep. For how long? Who knows? Ruby than taps her shoulder to wake her up. It's rude to be asleep during one of these, isn't Weiss a musical performer? Shouldn't she know this? Ruby slapped her in the face for being rude. She than conceded because she knew better to fall asleep during one of these. She wants to watch the entire opera, even if it isn't that good. The only one who is enjoying it at this point is Yang. And Yang's more of the modern media consumer.

When act five started. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake all made a simultaneous sigh. In fact, almost everyone left the theater. And because of this, the opera got cancelled due to it's poor reviews. Yang was actually hit hard by this. Well, so much for holding Blake's hand at the end of the show... if she were to do that. Everyone left theater because they were instructed to. Well, now Ruby has to cheer up Yang, like Yang has for her whenever Ruby felt sad when she was younger.

"Cheer up Yang, I liked it." Ruby lied.

"No, you're lying. I know when you're lying Ruby." Yang grumbled.

"I didn't expect the show to be such a bomb." Blake commented.

"Exactly, I even fell asleep during it!" Weiss commented on Blake's comment.

"Still rude." Ruby said.

"Hey guys!" Pyrrha said, coming out of nowhere.

"GAH! Where did you come from!?" Ruby jumped scared.

"I came from attending the show silly."

"I really wanted to enjoy it; I even got the last four tickets for it. Well, that's a bunch of Lien I won't get back."

"It's okay Ruby, not everything goes as planned, you just have to adapt to the situation at hand."

"Aww, thanks Pyrrha. You really know how to lighten the mood."

"Well, I got to head back now, it's 1 AM."

"1 AM!?" Weiss, Blake, and Yang yelled.

The three of them rushed to the bullhead station. Yang even tripping on her heels... multiple times. Ruby than followed reluctantly, sure, she could enjoy some downtown freedom, but she's fifteen, not much for a teenager to do at night. She really hates her vampirism. She can't do anything fun during the day because the sun will kill her, and she can't do anything fun at night because she's too young. What purpose would anyone turn a teenager into a vampire? Teens can't really do anything, and they'd end up suffering for it, including Ruby herself. But right now, she just wants to get back to her own dorm and help her teammates sleep through the night. The immense boredom she'll have to endure when that occurs, she really can't leave the dorm, Weiss likely has set all the alarms to school schedule to 'prepare the team' for the classes that start on Monday.

Beacon Academy, 2:01 AM, Sunday, RWBY Dormitory

Everyone is deep asleep, and Ruby is just watching over them... say... she's a bit thirsty. Given that so far, she has to feed around twice a night. And she never got the opportunity for the second one. She could feed on Blake in her sleep, but she imagines how that would go down. But than she remembers she has bloodpacks. So, she grabs one from the fridge in their hiding place and starts to down on one. That should be enough to keep her sated for the night. But she'll need to feed on Blake when the morning comes. Need to conserve those bloodpacks. She also locks the door, so JNPR doesn't show up out of nowhere again. She could understand Nora and Ren for they were doing normal things, in their standards. She didn't expect Pyrrha to be the opera type though.

She puts on her headphones and decides to play some quick games on her scroll. No need to do tune-ups since weapons weren't used today. She also needs to keep the door locked.

Tonight, was awful. Hopefully next time when Ruby plans something like this, she can plan ahead. Yet again, she didn't know that the opera would be awful. No one did, given that the tickets nearly sold out. But hey, not everything in the universe is favorable to her, especially since she was turned into a vampire almost one week ago. And how would she deal with classes? She'd need to bring a bloodpack with her to class. Mostly to recover her aura from the sun damage, and to help sate her thirst if Blake isn't around.

Although she's considering whether to go to sleep and risk eating Weiss' cooking or stay up and give everyone a nice meal, but raising eyebrows to why Ruby was up all night. She's got until 4:30 AM to decide and it's already 3:15 AM. May as well go shower now, especially since she's still wearing that dress. She strips out of it and prepares it for the dry-cleaners. She'll also be preparing for a long, cold shower. She doesn't know why she prefers the cold showers now, maybe because she's clinically dead or something. But it's what she prefers now, and as an added bonus she doesn't care about Yang using all the hot water anymore. Since she prefers cold showers. Ruby does her typical mid-shower thinking before she applies shampoo so it doesn't get in her eyes again. She than applies the shampoo, then the conditioner. After washing her hair, she does a quick rinse, applies another layer of body-wash and soaps up. She than gets out of the shower fresh and clean. She may as well brush her teeth. Her dentist would be surprised seeing Ruby's fangs.

How long can Ruby keep up the ruse anyhow? She knows her dentist will report it for sure. Same with anyone with traditional or modern medicine. No heart activity, no body heat. Ruby's a living corpse. And that would cause a panic. She'd have to go with alternative medicine clinics for her medical exams. Because they'd believe that Ruby has 'lost her groove' or something. Better than causing a kingdom-wide panic over Ruby's literal dead body. Well, it's something Ruby has to learn to tolerate. She's disgusted by the thought of it, but she can't let people know she's actually a vampire. Especially her sister, Ruby has come to the conclusion that Yang will in fact be devastated if she found out about Ruby's condition.

She just gets on her bunk and lies in bed. Thinking about how to hide her vampirism from her peers. And that's when she heard loud noises coming from the sky.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

PYWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEUH

From the sounds of it, the Atlassian military has arrived. Atlas always has an oversized air force, from what her grandparents told her, their air force is huge to overcompensate for their small navy. Given that they are on a continent of cold snow and ice by themselves, unsurprising. And from what Doctor Oobleck has said about the great war, it was their navy that costed them the great war. The people were so upset, they overthrew and killed their monarchy. Along with other high-ranking officials and had a weird economy system for twenty years.

"Uuuuugh, what was that noise!?" Blake yelled; she woke up from the noise.

"Blake, go back to sleep, it's just the Atlas air fleet. It's something normal." Weiss complained, not knowing she's not in Atlas.

"Weiss, we're in Vale, not Atlas." Ruby commented.

"What's the Atlassian military doing in Vale?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know, but I want to go to sleep." Blake complained.

Yang is still sleeping; it takes a lot to wake her up.

"Maybe we should just get some earplugs and go back to bed." Ruby said.

"Way ahead of you." Blake said before putting on her earplugs and going back to bed.

Ruby does the same, although she's not sure how Weiss managed to adapt sleeping through it. Must be something she's used to living there and all. But it matters little, she gets some earplugs and goes back to bed. and than prepares for a 2-hour, 30-minute rest before Weiss wakes everyone up and makes breakfast. Tomorrow is going to be torture before the big operation she and Blake has with JNPR.

Author's Footnote: Yes, finally, the chapter is done. Now that we're getting into the point of canon, I can finally write from there and not have to improvise... for now. Honestly, I'd write in the opera, but I'm not that good with writing lyrical classical music, or music in general. Better leave music to the musicians. So, to make up for it, I just say the show bombed and everyone had to leave. Y'know an Opera is bad when it starts at 8PM and the middle of it is at 1:30 AM. That means the show ends at 5 AM. No wonder it bombed; nobody would tolerate that much sleep deprivation. And to think I'd use this to create a romantic scene with Ruby and Blake. But than I remembered I didn't put romance in one of the genres. Don't worry Ladybug fans, the pairing will commence, it's just going to be a secondary thing. And knowing me, it will either be very sudden or very, very, very, VERY slow. If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc. please leave them in the reviews.