Reluctantly, Ruby left the Reaper behind to see what's wrong with the villagers; to see how they could be "possessed." She would have stayed behind to listen to a more complete version of the events, or even to work together with the Reaper, but past experiences taught her that every second is precious in an emergency. Being too late to save Pyrrha in the Fall of Beacon taught her that much. The Reaper must have known that as well; it only gave Ruby the bare minimum information before it pleaded with her to help them.
It didn't take long for her to find them, even without a hint from the Reaper as to where they actually were. There were bloodstains on the ground in a trail that led past the inn. She ran to the scene, expecting to find some simpler explanation for what the Reaper told her; either a Grimm that could possess the villagers or just in-fighting brought about by the recent devastation. What she found was…many villagers lying on the ground motionless.
"Am I too late?" Ruby quietly asked herself. The thought terrified her; that even with the greatest possible haste, she was still too late to save the innocent. They weren't fighting like the Reaper said, just…lying there.
"Okay," she muttered. "Whatever did this couldn't have gone far."
She moved at a much slower pace, her feet touched the ground heel-to-toe to avoid making noise. If she was ambushed from behind without a weapon, she would surely die, with or without a pair of silver Grimm-disintegrating eyes. Her eyes peeled toward every rooftop, window, and even the villagers themselves. Anywhere that something or someone could hide, she watched carefully. After that close scrape with death against the Apathy, she knew she needed to be more cautious when she was alone.
One of the villagers' limbs twitched when she walked past them, which caused her to gasp and take a step back. Her sudden shock turned to concern when he slowly rolled on his back, looking at Ruby with a blank stare.
"H-help," he pleaded with a quivering jaw. Ruby dropped all pretense of caution and came to this man's side. When she lifted his head off the ground and turned him over, her own arms started to shake.
"You're gonna be okay," Ruby said with tears sliding freely down her eyes. "I'm here to save you! You're gonna be okay!"
The man had tears in his eyes and saliva oozing from his mouth; to say he was emotionally battered was an understatement. In addition, she saw the bloody gash across the man's chest after she turned him over, which made her scared as well. She saw his lips move, but his words were inaudible. All of a sudden, a stream of vomit burst from his mouth and struck Ruby across the shoulder and face. A tiny bit of it struck her lips which made her feel sick.
"Ew!" she yelled, spitting out this man's disgusting vomit and wiping off the rest with the end of her cape. "Ewewewewew!"
The stench of vomit and blood filled her nostrils. This was so different from the stories of heroes that protected people. This was all too gritty.
"H-help," the wounded man muttered. He coughed out blood and his limbs seized up.
"Hang in there!" Ruby yelled. She didn't have any a Healing Semblance, or medicine, or…anything. What could she do…besides take one of the weapons nearby and put him out of his—
"No! I can't think like that," she said to herself. "There has to be a better way."
She tried to think of a solution, but the only thing that went through her mind was that he needed medical attention before he bled to death…even though she didn't have any medical supplies…and she wasn't a doctor…and there probably weren't any doctors for miles.
"I'll, uh…I'll find something around here that can help and…and," Ruby said, clinging desperately to hope. She didn't even get a chance to finish the sentence before the wounded man stopped moving altogether. Ruby stared quietly at his lifeless eyes. She reached out to him, to coax out some semblance of life, but to no avail. More tears freely fell from her eyes. It was another life senseless taken away.
Her eyes drifted toward a blood-soaked axe lying nearby. Just from the look of it, the blade was large enough to inflict the wound this man succumbed to. The sight of more bloodied weapons and mangled corpses scattered across the ground at least confirmed one thing. The Apathy didn't do this. The villagers that remained here took up arms and killed each other, just as the Reaper said. There's no other explanation.
"Why?" Ruby asked, another tear fell from her face. Even after everything she did to save the people here, her efforts were all in vain. She'd went through failure before, but nothing like this. Nothing so…cruel. With nothing else to be done for these people, Ruby left the scene back where she came from. The only thought on her mind was hunting down whatever made this happen…whatever made the people kill each other. She couldn't let anyone else die…especially like this.
Ruby went back to the corner of the village where she left the Reaper. It was still there, next to the two villagers that collapsed next to it. Unlike the corpses Ruby left behind, these two didn't appear to have any major wounds. The Reaper itself was lying down with its petrified claws over its chest. Ruby collected herself and wiped the tears from her face before she approached it. The Reaper looked up to see her.
"Ruby," it said weakly. "The people…did you—"
It stopped when it saw the quiet misery in Ruby's eyes; its gaze begged her not to say the words.
"I was too late," Ruby said, monotone. She turned away, unable to look at her Grimm self. The Reaper looked at her petrified claws, feeling powerless for the second time since it was created. Even with claws that could tear flesh like butter and a body that could withstand most forms of attack without effort, silver eyes excluded, it still couldn't make a positive difference. Burning hot tears came down its cheeks; the ground sizzled and rotted where they landed.
"I'm…sorry," it said with remorse. "I…I couldn't…do anything."
Ruby still had her suspicions about what the Reaper really saw, but the sight of these tears garnered some sympathy from her.
"The hate…it's gone," the Reaper said. "Those two…don't have…any negativity…left. They were…like that…when you—"
It gritted its fangs in pain before it finished the sentence, but Ruby could put two and two together. She remembered how saw them attacking the Reaper earlier when she thought it was an Apathy. They probably thought it was one of them, too. She remembered when she used her silver eyes on the Reaper by mistake…and how they fell to the ground comatose immediately afterwards.
"Your arms," Ruby said with concern. "You can't break free?"
"No…negativity," the Reaper responded weakly. "I get stronger…from negativity. I'm…Grimm."
Taking a brief moment to take in her Grimm self's words, Ruby's attention went toward her burned arm. She vaguely remembered how easily it broke free when it was encased in stone last time, or at least the fact that she was in horrible pain when it did. She unwrapped the piece of cape around her burn wound enough to expose it to the air.
"What…are you—" the Reaper asked.
Ruby inserted her finger in her wound, deep into the muscle. Her face contorted in pain, but she didn't stop. The Reaper could see the pain…and feel the negativity she was inflicting upon herself, and its own strength returning.
"Ruby, stop!" it yelled. She ignored it, digging her finger deeper until she literally touched a nerve. The sharp pain was excruciating; she couldn't withhold her anguished screams, but it was enough negativity for the Reaper to break its arms loose from the stone. It quickly stood up, no longer weakened by Ruby's use of her eyes. Ruby pulled her finger out and clutched her wound with her hand to stifle the pain.
"Ruby," the Reaper said with a frown, feeling responsible for her pain. "Thanks…I—"
"Heh…sure," Ruby gave it a weak smile. "My power comes from positivity. Yours comes from negativity. Perfect complementary teamwork, right?"
The two gave a quick laugh and Ruby released her arm, letting the Reaper reapply the cape over her wound. It kept its claws curled inward as it did so, to avoid tearing into her flesh by accident. When it was finished, the two looked each other in the eye, and then away.
"Ruby, don't do that ever again," the Reaper said with a frown.
"Not even to help you?" Ruby asked, concerned about her Grimm self's well-being.
"It's bad enough you got that burn because I made a mistake," the Reaper explained with visible guilt. "The last thing I want is to cause any more pain."
Now strengthened enough to walk again, the Reaper stood back up and offered Ruby the palm of its claw; its razor sharp nails curved inward. She took it, and it casually lifted her off the ground until her grip loosened and her feet touched the ground.
"Gruby, you have to tell me what happened," Ruby said sternly. "What's going on? Why did they kill each other?"
"I told you," the Reaper answered. "It was like they were possessed. I don't know what caused it, but I saw so much hate in them. It was almost like they were Grimm themselves."
"My eyes," Ruby muttered, looking down at the two comatose villagers. "They did something to them, even though they shouldn't affect people."
"Yeah," the Reaper added. "When you…uh, hurt me with that light, the hate…it went away."
"You mean when I used my eyes on them, not you?"
"Uh…maybe. It all happened so fast."
Ruby paused, trying to believe the words of her Grimm self, but it was getting difficult to give it the benefit of the doubt.
"You had to have seen something," Ruby said. "When I got to this village first, it was full of Apathy. The people here weren't going crazy. They were just tired. They couldn't fight at all, let alone fight each other."
"I know. I killed some of them on my way here, but they weren't causing the people to hate," the Reaper said, shaking its head. "I don't know what did! If there were any other Grimm, I would have sensed them."
"People don't just murder each other for no reason!" Ruby yelled, her hands curled into fists.
"I know!" the Reaper yelled, its hands also curled. "But…that's what I saw! All their fear and sadness became hate out of nowhere! They just snapped! I saw it the moment I—" the Reaper paused, its face displayed intense guilt. "—set foot…in the village."
Ruby's face mimicked the Reaper's and the tension faded from her arms.
"What are you saying?" she asked quietly. The Reaper turned away, unresponsive, but the guilt on its face never wavered.
"Gruby?" she asked again, with a tone of desperation.
"No," it said softly. "No, no, no. It can't be."
The possibility hadn't occurred to it until just now, but Salem was the one that created the Reaper. Her goal had always been to divide humanity, by whatever means. Putting that information together with what it saw, it seemed possible that there was a Grimm involved; one that even the Reaper wouldn't have noticed. That Grimm was…itself. It started to believe that it had actually made the people succumb to hatred with its mere presence.
"You…you don't think—" Ruby asked, having quietly come to the same conclusion.
"I…I think I sense…more Grimm…over there," the Reaper feebly said, pointing toward a small mountain that stretched at least hundreds of feet away from the village. "I…I better kill them before they're drawn here by my presence.
"How many?" she asked. "Maybe I should come with you."
"No, you stay here because…because some of them might run past me," it explained, fumbling over its own words. "You know I start fires when I run. If I go after them, I might burn down what's left of this place. Someone needs to stay here just in case."
Ruby said nothing, but her facial expression betrayed her silence. There was a deep-seated loathing in the Reaper, and Ruby knew it.
"Yeah," the Reaper assured itself. "It would be better that way. I can…I can still fight. I can kill. It's so easy for me. That's how I can do good…by killing monsters. It's all I'm good for. You can protect people. You can stay by them…and give them hope. You don't have to be afraid."
"Afraid?" Ruby shook her head, her mouth agape from the Reaper's words. "Why are you saying things like that? What are you afraid of?"
The Reaper walked away, not saying another word. She was right. It was afraid. Deep down, they both knew the reason why. They both knew the reason why it had to get away from the village, but neither had the courage to say it out loud. It was for that reason that Ruby didn't make an attempt to stop the Reaper from leaving. Her attention turned to the two remaining villagers that were still barely alive. She had to try to help them; she was the only one that could try.
There were, of course, no Grimm in the Reaper's path. It was a lie; an excuse to get away from civilization. It found a small indent on the mountain slope and leaned on it. As it did so, its claw scraped along the rocky slope and left a mark; a cruel reminder of how dangerous it was…even when it meant no harm. It looked up at the shattered moon in the sky, the product of the God of Darkness' casual destruction, and then looked down at its claws once more. Thinking of the people that murdered their own in their hate-filled haze, the Reaper slumped to the cold ground and sobbed freely. Burns and famine appeared in the dirt where its tears struck, like acid that dissolved any metal it touched.