Grimm Reaper of Remnant

by Storm VII

Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long have completed their BEACON entrance exam to officially form Team RWBY. Fate has much in store for them as two especially menacing teams were also accepted in Ozpin's evaluations; Team JACK led by the cold Jin Kisaragi... and Team RAIN led by the enigmatic Ragna the Bloodedge. [RagnaxHarem] ARC TWO FINISHED!

26. Anchor

And here's another LONG awaited chapter. Enough stalling on that though, let's get the reviews done now and then you can get to reading.

Kalakuai: Ah, sorry about that. I should probably start writing some other stuff soon…ish.

P3R50N4: While I'm not going to spoil things coming up, I will say that Cinder hasn't had any of those developments at the present.

GM9000: Pretty good summary, and you're very welcome.

The Unplanner: More like coffee pudding, and Jin's more focused on coolness. As for Ruby, it's more of a think that she was directly able to attack Pyrrha with a form that she both wasn't expecting much from, and is a hard counter to one of her strongest abilities. If she'd been prepared it might've gone a very different direction. And nice theory.

Zero: Uh, hi?

Wlyman2009: Yeah, Venus is becoming that character.

Galiono: Even she needs to take some hits.

StormFarron185: I can kinda see something happening between Ragna and Tsubaki, but I think it's more of a growing respect. Still, I'm glad you liked the chaos as much as I did. As soon as I needed to think of a partner for Ragna, my mind immediately went: Tsubaki.

Bismark Alexander: Part of the plan, but things aren't that easy yet.

Flame-LoneWolf: 'He's mine' is kinda telling for a full on relationship.

Dracoog101: All those answers and more. And it wasn't burnout, just got distracted by my games and other stuff.

Enjoy this late chapter! Ciao!

Crimson XXVI: Anchor

"...Ugh... My head... What the hell-?"

"Glad to see you're finally awake, you've been out for almost two hours now." Ragna didn't recognize the voice, so he forced his eyes open and saw (once his vision finally cleared) a younger girl in a butterfly tied kimono. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'll be fine," he assured stubbornly as he rose from the pillow. Big mistake as the pain in his head seemed to get sharper, so sharp that he couldn't help but wince.

"Hey hey, easy," the girl tried to tell him worriedly. "You lost consciousness and collapsed in the middle of the hallway. It looked like your exhaustion finally took ahold of you... not that you're looking much better now."

'Collapsed? Out in public. Shit, that was careless of me,' Ragna thought irately at himself.

"That girl in the black and red skirt that somehow managed to drag you here was really worried about you; she didn't leave your side for like half an hour and the only reason she ever did was because I kept insisting that at the moment you just needed rest."

'Ruby did that?' Glancing to the corner of the office, he found the large Aramasa blade resting in the corner. "...She didn't try taking that back with her?"

"That's what you got from that?" the girl said disappointedly to him. "And I'm pretty sure she had bigger worries, like making sure the guy that just passed out was fine."

'Damn, she was concerned enough that she didn't try. I shouldn't have made her worry that much... or be such an ass with my assumptions.' "...Thanks for the bed rest then."

"Don't try to make a habit of this; I've heard that Project Hell can be brutal on your physical and mental health, but that's no excuse to suddenly drop in the middle of the hallway." She heard the shifting of fabric and knew that Ragna was forcing himself out of bed, what she hadn't been expecting was how hard it looked he was forcing himself just to stand. "H-Hey! Take it easy!"

"I'm fine, I heal much faster than most anyways," Ragna assured, though that hadn't been the case at all as of late.

Steeling himself and using what little control he still had of his semblance to force his body to recover, Ragna picked up the Aramasa. He remembered his first time picking up his weapon commenting how he felt its weight. Now it weighed more than ever, and not just physically.

"Thanks for looking after me, but I gotta go," the Reaper said bluntly as he made his way to the door.

"But what about your check-up? You should make sure this isn't something more serious!"

"Pass," Ragna said bluntly. "I don't need anyone looking after me."

"You say after just collapsing!" she shouted, though such words fell on deaf ears as Ragna shut the door behind him. "...How does mom manage to put up with these guys?"

'...I guess there's no getting around this, better find that target tonight after all,' the Reaper thought to himself as he headed down the hall. The students around him glanced his way whispering about... Ragna couldn't keep up with all of the rumors surrounding him and he didn't really care to try and quell any of them. 'Guess I should try to keep my head down for now and-'

"Ragna!"

He cursed his luck as Tsubaki and Noel hurried down the hallways to him. Both girls had a concerned look to them and it wouldn't take genius to know what it was for.

"Don't tell me what we heard earlier was true," his partner said to him. "You didn't really collapse did you?"

'Shit, what do I even say to them here?' Ragna internally contemplated. '...Like it matters.' "Don't worry about it, I just haven't been feeling well lately."

"It's been a little longer than just lately," Noel said worriedly. "You've been getting worse this entire quarter."

"Yeah, during Project Hell. I'm just taking this whole damn process worse than most. Burnout finally caught up to me after who knows how many hours of studying."

"Ragna, let me say this in the nicest way possible," his partner began. "You aren't normal."

'That's her nicest?'

"You proved early on that you can go days at a time without needing to sleep and have been one of the strongest fighters at the school. Now your losses are near equal with your wins this quarter, you just passed out, and half the time you seem completely dazed. How can you say that nothing's wrong?"

"Because..." Ragna wracked his mind before finally thinking of a proper excuse. "Because things are finally starting to calm down for me."

"Really? How so?" Tsubaki demanded.

"I've spent god knows how many hours a day these past few weeks working on the hardest project: the Random Partner one. That's in addition to my other projects and trying to practice," he explained. "I just finished the other night."

"You... you what?" Because Tsubaki was trying to see her partner in a better light, she'd gone out of her way to avoid most of the gossip surrounding him. This explained why she hadn't heard of the library incident from outside sources, but... "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because it slipped my mind, like a lot of stuff has since I've gotten so exhausted," he lied. "Look, all I need is a couple of days where I can either rest or do a saner amount of work. That alone should put me back up at a hundred percent in no time."

"I dunno," Noel admitted hesitantly. "It still feels weird that things could have ever gotten this bad for you, especially since you were fine after what Azrael put you through during our break."

"Still not convinced," the Reaper groaned, though he wondered where Noel's recent confidence had come from. Regardless, he realized that it was time to cut a deal. "Tell you what, if I'm not back at my best in the next few days I'll go see a doctor. You have my word."

It was an empty promise, one that he didn't intend to deliver on. But with an actual plan in place tonight, he figured that he wouldn't need to.

"...I guess you know your own body better than we would," Tsubaki said as she finally gave in. "Fine, but make sure that you don't push yourself too hard. I still say it should have never come to this in the first place."

'Easy for you to say, I'm the one that knows what's actually going on with me,' Ragna irately thought before feeling that was a little unfair. "Whatever, so I guess I'll see everyone tomorrow for our partner and group projects?"

"Ragna..." Noel sighed.

"Tomorrow's when you usually work on your Solo project and the Random Partner project. We do the other two projects the next day, on Sunday." Tsubaki's eyes had a slight scowl to them. "Did you really forget it was Friday? There were Mock Fights today even."

"...I'll use that time to get some rest, promise," Ragna sighed. "We can..." He paused suddenly, trying to keep himself from wincing as he felt a sudden surge of pain in his arm.

"What's wrong?" Noel asked with concern.

"...It's nothing, I'm going to get a nap in now.," he said as the feeling faded. "Might end up going for a walk tonight, so don't worry if I'm not in the room when you get back."

"If you really think that it will help, but stop by the cafeteria first for an early dinner," Tsubaki instructed, but despite the order it was clear she was only worried. "You'll feel better once you've eaten."

'Don't remind me.'

Later -Breakroom-

"Is it just me or are these questions getting even tougher?" Ruby sighed as she looked over her answers to Relius's question. She wasn't completely satisfied with her work, but the answer would suffice until they went back for a later rework. "Professor Clover sure has some interesting scenarios coming out of that brain of his."

"He does and I think that these questions are getting harder, but I also think that you're a little distracted today," Pyrrha noted. "I can guess that you haven't talked to Ragna yet, despite following him around?"

"It's not that... well, not just that," she had to admit. "I was actually ready to talk to him earlier today, but... as soon as I finally started walking towards him, he passed out."

"Passed out?" the model asked.

"Lost consciousness, fainted, blacked out. Whatever you want to call it," Ruby answered. "I was the only one around and I couldn't get him to wake up. So I ended up carrying him and had to go all the way to the nurse's office before I briefly left to let Noel know what was going on."

"You... carried him?" Even if Ruby had gotten stronger as evident from her unarmed skills, the difference in size made it a little difficult to imagine.

"More like I dragged him over my shoulders, but it wasn't too bad... actually I was a little scared how light he felt," she said worriedly. "I hope he's okay; after talking to Noel, I ended up working on my Solo project in the nurse's office so that I could make sure he was okay."

"Then do you want to go back? If it will put your mind at ease I don't mind waiting while you check on Ragna."

"Thanks, but I kinda already got kicked out by the girl working in there," Ruby admitted with a bit of embarrassment. "I guess if the professional assistant says that he's okay, I'll just have to take them at their word."

"Even still, this is obviously on your mind now," Pyrrha said in understanding.

"Don't worry! I plan to check on him at some point today," Ruby said before forcing some confidence through. "And if, no when I see him and he's awake, I'm going to talk to him for real or at least set up a time where I'll be able."

"Good for you," her Random Project partner encouraged. "Though there is still one part about this I find unbelievable. Recently, Ragna's been taking his sword with him wherever he goes."

"Yep, I guess he's been really on edge about something lately. He had it on him when he passed out too. But thanks to my practicing I managed to drag it back to him afterwards."

"Really?" Pyrrha said with a sharp look in her eyes as she tried to practically see through Ruby. "You didn't take your time getting back so you could enjoy an opportunity with the Aramasa?"

"Hey! I'm more than just a weapons fanatic!" a wounded and pouting Ruby retorted. "I mean I might have... if I wasn't so worried about Ragna that I didn't think about it."

'...Good maidens, she is serious,' Pyrrha thought in shock. 'I think I might already know how she really feels, but... it's on her to come to the real conclusion, obvious or not.'

Later -Dinner-

"It feels like it's been a while since Ragna's joined us for dinner," Noel said as she glanced at his empty seat at Team Rain's table. "In fact, I think he's barely eaten with us at all this quarter."

"Like he was doing it much the last quarter, with all of the crap everyone except RWBY was giving him, I'd say it was a miracle if he was ever eating with us in the first place," the team's Mad Dog muttered.

"Right, but by then we'd managed to work our way through most of those issues; Ragna and I had agreed to work together as a team and he gave you the match he wanted."

'If it had been the match I'd really wanted, both of us would've gone further, MUCH further,' Azrael thought bitterly. 'And now, it's not like he could give me half of what I wanted. It's about time that I picked some other potential targets, someone to keep my appetite in check before... my other meal.'

"You worked things out?" Noel asked. "But... Ragna never came to me about anything like that."

"Probably because he didn't have a problem with you in the first place," her partner guessed with a shrug. "All in all, you're a hard person to take issue with."

'...That probably not the case; even now Ragna's still having trouble looking me in the eye. I can tell that he's trying to get along with me, but there's still some issue there. And then there's Jin, it's like what happens with Ragna but to an even worse degree.'

"My point is that this was the quarter where we were supposed to focus on working as a team, cementing ourselves as a single whole instead of as four individuals," Tsubaki said as she tried to get them back on track. "With everything that's happened during Project Hell and Cinder taking up most of his time, we haven't had much of a chance to see him outside of our projects."

"And you've talked to him about this?" Azrael asked.

"I've tried to bring it up to him before, but he keeps insisting that he'll get some time away from Cinder soon and it never ends up that way," the red head sighed. "At least now that their project is done with he'll have a chance to get away from her."

"Not to mention she's not going to want to see him after the scene she caused in the library," Azrael said as an offhand remark.

"Not after the... what?" Tsubaki question, turning to Noel who was just as confused as she.

"Well..."

"Tsubaki."

Before Azrael could explain what he'd meant, Jin had approached the table and interrupted. The blond student had his usual serious look about, still maintained even with his own Project Hell nerves setting in. He looked entirely focused on Tsubaki and didn't give the other two as much as a glance.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment," he requested.

"Oh, of course," she said, promising herself that she'd get the full story afterwards. Getting up, she assured her team that she'd be back in a moment and headed into the currently deserted hallway with Jin so they could speak in private for a moment. "Is something wrong with... you know what?'

"There could be," Jin answered honestly. "I think Venus might know."

"She... she does?" Tsubaki asked nervously. "...No way."

"You're taking this pretty hard," her childhood friend noted.

"It's not just that... I sometimes get the feeling..." Jin noticed how tense she was now allowing herself to appear. "...She might also know about... that too."

"What!?" Now Jin was especially taken aback. Knowing that Tsubaki would be far more upset than he was, he forced himself to remain calm and consider their options. "Are you certain?"

"No, but some of the comments that she made certainly makes it sound like she could know," she explained darkly. "It didn't sound like she was threatening to tell anyone, but even if that's true it still presents a problem... a big one."

"How could it have come to this?" Jin groaned. "And why didn't you tell me until now?"

"I... didn't want to worry you over nothing," she admitted. "But now that you're saying that she knows about that other problem, it's clear that she's had some way of figuring us out."

"And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to come to you," Jin explained. "Is it possible for you to find out where she's getting this information from? I have a few theories myself, but nothing concrete."

"I'll do what I can, I promise," Tsubaki assured. "But... it might be better that I wait until our projects are finished. I don't want to needlessly set her off before then. I know it's selfish, but-"

"Don't worry about that, she hasn't made any moves to make us rush yet," the Kisaragi heir agreed. "We have some time, but maybe try to focus on that project if you can. The sooner we get to the bottom of this mess, the better. This might even get her to open up to you."

"Of course, I'll let you know if she lets anything slip," she promised. "But you had another reason to come to me?"

"I did," Jin said as he oddly silent for a long moment. If Tsubaki didn't know the Kisaragi heir's stalwart confidence as well as she did, she would've sworn he was less than sure about something. "I was... hoping you'd come to the school dance with me."

"J-Jin!?" Tsubaki's face was scarlet in a deep blush. While it was obvious to everyone that she'd have loved to be asked by Jin, the sudden offer was still enough to catch her completely off guard. Her mind was crazily racing, but eventually her own reasoning came through. "Oh, this is... about Weiss, isn't it?"

"Sharp as always," Jin complemented with a smirk. Tsubaki (still a little embarrassed at her outburst) was indeed a little disappointed, but she understood the reasoning. It was a good plan, and frankly she certainly didn't mind the idea. "Of course, that's not all."

"It isn't?" Tsubaki asked. "There's another reason for doing this?"

"Of course," Jin told her. "There's no one else that I'd rather go to the dance with than you."

"You... really mean that?" she had to ask softly.

"Think about it; if this was truly all about Weiss, wouldn't it have been easier for me to avoid the dance all together? I'm asking because I'd like to go with you." It wasn't exactly a confession, and their relationship could never make things this simple... but Tsubaki had never been happier. Of course though...

"This is also about Venus too?" the redhead asked with a small smile. "I'm betting that you're also asking to get a bit of a rise out of her for all the trouble she's causing us."

"Heh, guilty as charged," he answered with a chuckle.

"In that case... I'd love to go with you. Thank you, Jin."

That night

'Damn. It should have never come to this, but I guess it could've been worse. Luck is... somewhat on my side. Still, to think-' Ragna shook his head, too tired to even finish that train of thought. 'Let's just get this over with, I'm heading out late enough that no one else should be around to see me leave, or at least not enough that they'd actually care about it. If I can get out of here easy, that'll at least be-'

Ragna paused his internal thoughts as he heard footsteps coming from along the corner. This was concerning for him not only because someone would see him now, but also that his senses had really fallen so far. Too late to hide now, he saw as the enigma revealed themselves to be-

"Ruby?"

His best friend was in her regular pajamas, hair damp showing she'd just gotten out of the shower. She looked surprised to see him, but that soon turned to relief.

"Thank goodness you're up and moving around, I was so worried earlier," she said, approaching Ragna to close the distance and commit herself to talking to him. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Fine, now that I got some rest," he promised. "And... thanks for carrying me to the nurse's office."

"No problem," Ruby assured with a smile. "You'd do the same for me."

'I mean she's not wrong to think that, but would she really...' Ragna pushed the thought out of his head, he was already dealing with enough. "Either way, I really owe you."

"You do? Then maybe we could hang out a bit?" Ruby asked, before realizing that it sounded like she was using this to force Ragna into spending time with her. "I mean, if you want to of course! I'm not trying to pressure you into hanging out! You can say no if you're too busy now! It's fine!"

'...I could be crazy, but I think she's got something that she wants me for.' "Does tomorrow work? Around noontime?"

"That... works," Ruby said, embarrassed at how awkward she was being around Ragna now. "A-anything you wanted to do?"

'Weren't you the one asking me?' Ragna thought as he considered their options. "Well, I did promise that we'd make cookies at some point. Maybe we can do that?"

"Cookies? Oh, that's perfect! We even meant to-"

Ruby stopped herself as she realized a big problem with that plan. When she'd come up with that promise, it had also been with her sister. The whole point to the three of them making cookies together in the first place was to try and figure out why Ragna's recipe had been so similar to her mother's. If they were alone she could discuss what they needed to, but if Yang were brought in that one-on-one talk could be... difficult.

'Maybe she'll be busy tomorrow and-' Ruby immediately felt anger in her chest at such a thought. She knew she was a better person than to even consider that kind of thinking. "Sounds good, I'll... let Yang know."

"Right, she was going to be there too," Ragna was reminded, showing Ruby that he likely wouldn't have noticed if it had just been the two of them (and despising that observation all the more). "Guess that's the plan then. I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Are you... going somewhere now?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm heading down to the city to get outta here. I was just gonna make it a short walk, but I might as well grab some ingredients while I'm out," he explained. "Don't worry though, I'll be okay now that I've got some breathing room with my Random project done."

"Your Random Project, right," Ruby started, again a little awkwardly. "I heard about that."

"...I take it you also heard about the thing with Cinder."

"Well..."

RWBY's Room -A Few Days Ago-

"Yang, for the love of the Maidens. Stop. Smiling." Weiss was at wits end with her teammate.

"What's wrong? I just happen to be in an especially good mood today," the blonde retorted with an obvious cheerfulness in her voice.

"It's still spiteful," Blake commented harshly from where she was reading her book. "I'm not saying that Ragna's in the wrong here, but how would you feel if you were shot down like that?"

"After making someone else's life hell for the better part of three months? I'd have had it coming," Yang responded, not dropping her beaming complexion. "I just happen to feel happy right now, who says Cinder has anything to do with it? You want me to apologize for just feeling good?"

"Honestly, I think I've had to endure enough of you," Weiss said as she threw on a grey long coat. "I'm stepping out for a bit; I think I deserve a crepe."

"From that small shop in town? The one that's been making bank since it opened?" Weiss reservedly nodded at Yang's question, only for the blonde to break out into a large smile. "The same one that you only go to on special occasions? Like when something especially good has happened?"

"I-! This isn't about that! Don't bring me down to your level!" the heiress shouted, clearly put back on the defensive.

"Meanwhile," Yang continued. "My own partner is reading her own especially spicy romance novel, and judging by the summary on the back there's quite a bit of unrequited love in it."

"...This situation just reminded me that I haven't gotten to reading this yet," Blake defended, but she did bring the book closer so they wouldn't be able to look her in the eyes.

"And then... there's my sweet little sister," Yang said as she pulled out and immediately put on a pair of sunglasses to look at Ruby. This was for her own protection, as Ruby's intense polishing of the Crescent Rose had the weapon giving off a nearly blinding light.

"What? This is what I normally do."

"Fair enough."

"Why did you let her off so easily?!" Weiss demanded. "Sister privilege! I call sister privilege!"

'I'm not going to be able to finish this book tonight, am I?' Blake thought as she tried to ignore the two's bickering.

Back to the Present

"You can say we heard about it," Ruby admitted.

"We? Meaning your entire team? Guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Most of the campus has probably heard about it by now," the Reaper sighed.

"Have you talked to Cinder since then?" she asked with slight anxiety.

"Kind of had to when we met up to review our work. I told her I was sorry for being so damn blunt about it and she said she was sorry for overreacting… but I get the feeling that she had a lot more to say that she's staying quiet on," Ragna explained with a shrug. "Works for me just fine; it never would've worked out between us anyways."

'I guess I shouldn't have been too worried about this after all,' Ruby decided. 'Now I just need to find out how he sees our relationship.'

"I should get going, but I'll see you tomorrow," the Reaper promised. "Is there anything special you need me to get for tomorrow while I'm out?"

"I...I can grab a list." Ruby could see that Ragna was eager to get going, but she also knew that this might be her last chance to talk to him. "In fact, if you give me just a second I can head out with you and-"

"Thanks, but I just need the chance to clear my head," Ragna interrupted bluntly.

"So... I'd be an annoyance?" Ruby sounded slightly hurt. Sure she realized that her hounding of Ragna's weapon could be childish, but that had been when they were friends and she could afford to goof around. This was... different.

"No, nothing like that," Ragna said, struggling both because he really needed to be alone and that he was bad at this sort of thing. "I just..."

"No, it's fine. You don't have to explain yourself to me," his friend stopped him, still sounding disappointed. "I'll message you the ingredients later. But promise you'll call me if anything comes up."

"...I promise," Ragna conceded. "Don't keep yourself up on my account though; I'm not worth losing any sleep over."

"Don't say that!" Ruby said, with more force than Ragna had been expecting. "You should think better of yourself than... than whatever this is! And of course I'm worried about you after what happened today and-!" She stopped herself before she could finish that last sentence, now wasn't the time for that. "...If you can't take care of yourself for your own sake... then at least do it for mine."

'...Why does this damn mess have to be so complicated?' Ragna thought tiredly to himself. "Fine, I'm trying to get back to normal anyways. I just told you that's what I was trying to do now that my project's over."

"I know, but it doesn't sound like you're as worried about it as you should be," she said, attempting to reason with him.

"I guess..." he began before smirking. "It's probably because I've already got you to do my worrying for me."

"Someone has to," Ruby grumbled with a pout. "You better start shaping up mister! Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the Reaper finally conceded. "Go get some rest, I'll see ya in the morning."

"Are you still going on a walk tonight?" she asked.

"I plan to," he said simply, before trying to give his friend a smile as he decided to at least meet her halfway. "I'll send you a message once I get back. Is that going to put your mind at ease?"

"It will," she said, finally starting to smile. "See you tomorrow then."

Ragna figured that they had finally reached the end of their conversation and was about to head off, but not before he felt Ruby's arms wrap around his sides in a tight hug. Even now, even with how exhausted he was both physically and mentally, that same small blush alit his face like it always. Instead of pushing Ruby away like he had Cinder, he returned with a small embrace of his own however short it was. Afterwards, he watched Ruby head off with a smile on her face and a tired smirk on his... only to turn grimly serious once she was gone.

'We wouldn't have gotten so close if she ever found out why I'm really here... None of us would have.' Shame filling his thoughts, he proceeded to continue on his path out of the Academy and take his needed "break".

With Ruby, the young Huntress-In-Training was feeling better than ever. True she hadn't gotten to talk to Ragna like she'd really wanted to and it still sort of stung that he had to leave her behind, but that wasn't important to her now. She'd have a chance to spend some time with her bestie the next day, even if Yang would be there so she couldn't take the chance to really talk one-on-one with Ragna. Not completely out of the question though, she just needed to grab him aside a bit afterwards.

"Wow, someone's all smiles tonight," she heard Yang say from down the hall. Her sister looked like she'd just gotten out of the training room with her own Random Project partner Makoto as they both were covered in sweat and needing showers. "Finally get your hands on that new print of that missing issue of Weapons Monthly?"

"That'd be nice too, but no," Ruby said, making a note to check the bookstores next time she went into town. "Hey Yang, are you busy tomorrow around noon?"

"Nothing I can think of and I'm always willing to put a little time aside for my sweet little sister," the blonde said with a bit of sibling teasing. "What's going on?"

"I finally managed to find some time where Ragna was free and we could finally test out those cookie recipes he has," she explained. "He's already out buying stuff for tomorrow."

"That so?" Yang asked simply. In an instant Ruby knew something was up. Normally Yang would make some easy quip about the invitation (asking to be near the oven maybe), but now she seemed oddly serious. The expression didn't last long and she was soon smiling like it hadn't happened. "Ah shoot. I just remember that I needed tomorrow to catch up on my solo project. My bad sis."

"But didn't you just-?" Makoto couldn't finish as Yang delivered a not-so-subtle elbow to her ribs.

"Like I said, busy. Way too busy. SUPER busy," the blonde insisted, keeping her arm at the ready for another interruption.

"I... guess these projects come first after all," Ruby noted with disappointment. "I'll let Ragna know that we should call it off and-"

"Oh no you don't missy!" Yang interrupted fiercely. "You made those plans and Ragna's already out getting ready for them. It's on you to follow through." She then smirked. "Or am I going to have to drag you out on this one? Like when I got you two to meet in the first place."

"N-No, I'll go..."

With that decision made, Ruby decided to get back to the room after all... but not before giving her sister the biggest hug she could manage. It was honestly a little gross with how sweaty Yang had gotten during her workout, but Ruby didn't let that bother her at all before she ran off.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Makoto demanded, still a little sore (both meanings) from Yang's sucker punch. "Even if Cinder's more or less out of the way, you shouldn't be giving up any chances to hang with the guy."

"I'm not giving anything up, I'll get my chance at the camping trip. And if anyone has been screwed out of time with him it's Ruby," Yang retorted. "Something tells me she's needed this one-on-one time with him for a while. I'm not about to get in between that."

"So you're doing an awesome big sis thing then?" Makoto guessed.

"Pretty much," Yang agreed with a smirk. "Now we just gotta hope that Ragna's well enough to meet with her tomorrow."

Later that night

'It's almost fortunate that this guy is in town and he left enough breadcrumbs for me to follow,' Ragna thought as he felt the cold night wind. 'Not like the cops around here would have found any solid leads on this guy.'

The Reaper was kneeling on the edge of a large building overlooking a port-side gathering of warehouse complexes. There were a few guards, a couple of others moving large shipping containers. Sure it was decently late for all of this work, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Ragna knew better though; he could tell that none of them worked here and that their weapons were far from security class; lower military grade at least. Someone had paid to get in here to have the rest of the dock turn a blind eye or their cover story had honestly been that good. Didn't matter to him; he wasn't here to solve a case, just get results.

'...I'm doing everyone a favor here,' he thought darkly to himself. 'There's no telling how many lives these people have ruined, and they've all got Dead or Alive bounties on their heads... if anything the real problem is that I won't be able to collect on that.'

Even after assuring himself of that much, he wasn't looking forward to what he was about to do. This wasn't a first for him, but it was still something he'd fought hard to avoid. Now with his back pushed so far against the proverbial wall, he had to wonder if it was really worth it for some self-serving ideals. Shaking his head, he was about to make his move before he heard a small buzzing in his pocket. Figuring he should set his scroll to silent while on the job, he opened the device and read over the message first.

'Right, Ruby promised she'd get me a list. Gonna need to stop on my way back to...' Even his mind froze briefly. 'To...' Pushing the sight and any thoughts out of his mind, he closed the screen, sent the device to silent like he'd planned to, and pocketed the device. 'Gotta focus... let's get this done.'

Normally Ragna would've charged the complex without a second thought, but that had been when he'd been in peak condition. Here he wanted to make sure he knew just what he was getting into first, and that meant using stealth for the first time in a while. Making a way in wasn't much of a problem; even if Ragna's sword skills had sharply declined he could still cleave a hole in the wall without making a sound. Finding himself on the upper scaffolding, he caught sight of his target.

It was a somewhat unassuming old man with a long white beard and a dark grey traveler's cloak. Checking his scroll, Ragna had all the confirmation he would've needed. Counting him as well as the guards outside there would be around 20 of them. While the rest of the grunts had the military rifles that Ragna had noticed outside, the leader appeared to be unarmed for the moment. He knew their type well enough to know that they likely had a weapon hidden on them somewhere, whatever that it could end up being.

'This operation seems much smaller than the ones in this guy's reports,' the Reaper thought to himself before he leaned in to see what was being moved around. 'And he's smuggling weapons? I thought that this guy was a major player in illegal drugs. I can understand arming yourself, but how does he even have access to any of these?'

"What the-!?

(Cue Octopath Traveler Decisive Battle I)

If Ragna had been even a split second slower in dodging, the automatic fire would've torn through his body. He should've easily been able to sense someone coming up on him when he was this on guard, so had he really gotten that sloppy?

"Intruder!" the thug that discovered him shouted as if their gunfire hadn't alerted the whole complex already.

"A cop?" the leader guessed as he went for one of the guns he was in the process of shipping. Noticing Ragna who was using the crates as cover, he had his answer. "No, an academy student."

'This is getting outta hand, but I should still be able to do this. Not like I've got much of a choice,' Ragna thought as he noticed some of the guards were trying to get around his cover.

Letting loose a roundhouse kick on the crate he'd been hiding behind, he managed to send it flying into two of the attackers and knock them unconscious. Leaping down from the scaffolding, he used the much larger blade of the Aramasa to deflect the gunfire as he landed in the middle of three of the thugs. Using the blunt end of his sword, the Reaper blasted them back and put them out of the fight. Taking out his sword-rifle, he shot down four more of them that were gathering around the leader. These were only training rounds, but thanks to the ridiculous firing power he still succeeded in knocking them out.

'So far so good,' he thought as he deflected the shots from the leader's rifle with his longsword. Catching one at the right angle, he deflected it back into their gun and knocked the weapon from their hands. Ragna began to lunge forward before he heard something clatter at his feet. Instinct kicking in to save him, he dove to the side to just barely avoid the grenade explosion that would've ripped him to shreds and raised his barrier for a split second to block any shrapnel.

"Boss! You okay?" one of the guards demanded as they brought forward a new rifle which was yanked out of his hands by their leader. "How'd he find us? We haven't even been selling because of that bastard!"

"True, but he's the reason we get to have these in the first place," the old man said, though he seemed more annoyed with the situation than upset. "I'm getting too old for this. Flush him out however we can and don't worry about the mess. I just want this guy gone."

'So, someone's supplying him with all of this weaponry. And if they're willing to toss grenades around it's clear that they don't need to worry about raising a racket with the port staff,' Ragna considered from behind his cover. Choosing his moment, he leapt out of the cover just the enemy tossed three grenades towards him. Cleaving through them with Aramasa, he denied the Fire Dust reaction from taking place as the pieces fell uselessly to the ground. Deflecting the gunfire as he closed in, he unleashed another series of blunt end swing to put down another four of the drug dealers.

'This guy isn't going in for any fatal blows,' the leader thoughts as he tried raise his gun to try and catch Ragna was his back was turned. The training round that would've knocked him out was barely dodged as he scrambled for cover. While he tried to gather himself, he could overhear the thrashing Ragna was delivering to the rest of his men. 'If that punk's going after us, he'd know that we were all on the Dead or Alive boards, so why isn't he killing us to be done with… why's it gone silent?'

Popping out of cover with his assault rifle already armed and pointed, he saw that the rest of his men had already been dealt with. The surprise intruder was standing at the center of them with only the larger of his two blades out. He didn't make any effort to charge forward and finish this, though it might've ended then and there if that was the case. Despite his quick work, his brow appeared coated in sweat as it seemed he was nearly winded. Hoping to take advantage of this, the leader went to change the weapon to full auto, only for the younger man to sigh.

"You know that isn't going to work," he said sternly. "Come at me like you're actually fighting… there's something I've gotta check."

'He's using me for training?' the thug thought. 'It's a little insulting, but this might be my only way out.' Throwing the assault rifle to the side, he stood before Ragna unarmed for only a moment before two small nightstick sized clubs fell from out of his sleeves. "Have it your way."

His recent experience with Ren reminding him of how out of depth he still was at dual-wielding the two vastly different weapons, Ragna focused instead on his combat with the Aramasa. Deflecting his opponent's left club first, Ragna easily knocked away their second follow-up attack. Quickly spinning, they then let loose a parallel strike with both club, only to have them easily blocked by Ragna's sword. The Reaper then retaliated with a punch to the face to get them off balance before sweeping their legs with a low kick. Picking him off the ground and blasting him back with devastating punch to his chest, Ragna stabbed his sword into the ground before sending a wave of debris at them for good measure.

His opponent was forced to cover their face with crossed arms to avoid the additional attack, only dropping their guard with barely enough time to dodge Ragna's downward sword swing as he continued his assault. Swinging one of his clubs to try and catch is opponent, this time Ragna simply blocked with his arm before steeping back to dodge the follow up swing from the second club. Slashing horizontally he made contact in a clash that should have destroyed his opponent's weapon, only for a sudden fiery explosion blast his sword away. With the sudden opening they'd created, the thug leader thrust his second baton forward and Ragna was forced to guard with his arm again. This time though, Ragna felt painful electricity jolt through him from the weapon. Seeing the second club now coated in flames and being swung towards him, he quickly backstepped to avoid the attack.

'Dust reaction based weaponry? This guy's weapons were supposed to supposed to have heavy revolvers as their secondary function. Where the hell did he get this sort of modification?' he thought. 'Probably the same people the supplied him with all of these military grade rifles. There's some other shit going on here and it stinks.'

Putting that information aside for another time, Ragna focused on his current situation and how he was going to overcome the new weaponry without going overboard. A strategy in mind, Ragna quickly advanced on his opponent. Dodging their immediate thrust and then leaping back at their swing, Ragna raised his sword high above before bringing it down with all of his might. The response was… a powerful gust of wind that barely set his opponent off balance.

'Dammit, can't even create a single shockwave.'

The thug leader (acting much faster than someone his age normally would) quickly closed the distance and came in for a strike with the flame club. Ragna swung the Aramasa and countered as the felt the explosion in retaliation. This time duking to avoid the swipe from the lightning one, he retaliated with a powerful uppercut that knocked the man off his feet. Spinning into an overhead kick, Ragna then powerfully swung his sword and stuck the man with the blunt side of his sword sent them crashing into the wall. They didn't lose consciousness, their aura saved them from that much, but Ragna was clearly the dominant side in this conflict.

"Talk to me, who the hell's supplying you? And why?" Ragna demanded, trying to get his needed answers before things went any further and finished things.

"Rgh," the thug leader groaned as they made their way up to standing. "For whom it's not a difficult guess, probably the first person that come to mind at the moment." Ragna wanted specifics, but it was at least an answer. "As for why… you'll never know."

Watching them take a deep breath before emitting some of dark cloud from their mouth. The gas moved quickly and completely surrounded the area in a light and heavy smog screen. Ragna took his own deep breath before the cloud got to him, fearing that it might've been toxic. At the very least it wasn't burning his eyes, but there was telling what would happen now.

"Never would've made Huntsman with this sort of semblance," came his opponent's voice, echoing from all around Ragna. His darted around quickly, looking for a tell. A single drop of sweat forming on his forehead. "It doesn't work on the Grimm; those damn monsters were immune no matter how strong I made this. On regular people like you though? It's a complete godsend."

Struck in the chest by the lightning club, Ragna felt every single volt course through his body. Swinging his sword wildly, he missed completely before being smashed in the side and being blasted by an explosion. Raising his sword, he barely managed to guard against one strike as he felt the impact, only to weave around where he thought another attack was aimed. Slashing again to try and catch the offensive, he felt a strike from both of the weapons and fought the urge to scream. Stabbing forward, he saw the illusion flicker for a split second as it looked like he'd come close to hitting his opponent. He tried to capitalize on the moment, but then the fog set in again.

"Not bad. Not too many have survived a full minute against my Head in the Clouds semblance. Then again, most suffocate first thing," the voice echoed again. Ragna did his best to stay on guard, try to be ready for the next attack. Now covered in sweat, he was reaching his limit and running out of him. "Been fun kid, sorry I can't offer you the job."

Ragna heard it clearly, the clicking of a gun being set to full auto. A barrage of bullets that he couldn't see coming and that wouldn't stop firing until it had ripped his very flesh apart. It was the perfect move for this sort of semblance. But there was one thing that he hadn't counted on.

Ragna had been drilled by a particularly odd cat to always keep his surroundings in mind.

Firing a shot off from Clarent where he'd remembered they'd placed their previous gun was still a gamble though. If he'd gone for any other weapon in this cache of guns he was dead, but every now and again luck was one the Reaper's side. At the sudden shock of disarmament, the thug leader's semblance faded while his gun spun was thrown out of his control. Gasping for a sweet breath of air as he dropped his sword-rifle, Ragna grabbed out his signature weapon. With a final yell, he turned the weapon into its scythe form and swung with all of his remaining strength. His opponent grabbed their clubs and tried to defend, but the sharp blade finally broke the Dust weaponry and set off a reaction with its contents. The resulting explosion launched their owner into to a wall and shattered their aura. With a defeated groan, they fell unconscious to the ground.

(End theme)

"And stay down," Ragna muttered, too exhausted to come up with any better insults. Though he'd succeeded in taking out the criminals and winning the duel with their leader, he was more disappointed than anything with how it had gone. He'd already know that something was wrong with him for some time if his recent losses at the Academy hadn't made that painfully obvious, but to see himself fallen this far even when he was honestly fighting with his own life on the line… "It's why I'm here… to end this."

Starting with the leader, he walked over and observed the unconscious man. He gave off the occasional spark of lightning and his clothes had been badly charred from the activated Dust, but he was still alive. All of them were, which was what Ragna needed. This would've been a waste if he'd killed them too early. Now with all of them taken out and no noticeable signs of anyone checking out all the noise he'd caused (he made a mental note to inform the authorities of the port staff later), he could take his time and get everything out of this.

"…Can't turn back on this now," Ragna reminded himself as he raised his monstrous right arm. Black flames began to gather around the cursed appendage before condensing and altering its form. Ragna grunted in pain as it was transformed into a nightmarish black claw, pulsing with energy of pure darkness. Glancing back at the downed criminal, he steeled himself for the experience. "Time to eat…"

He swung downwards; his claw ready to pierce the chest of the drug dealer… but he couldn't follow through.

"You gotta do this, idiot," he said allowed himself to say aloud, physically trying to force himself forward for his barbaric act. Mentally though… he refused. He was stopping himself, even though he'd already done the heinous act before. Even though he already knew that it would be needed for not only his health, but his very survival. Gritting his teeth, reason and self-preservation struggled against whatever morality he still carried… and failed. "Dammit."

Taking out his scroll, he was going to call the authorities and have them collect the defeated thugs. Opening the device though, he found himself on the screen he'd closed it on. Yes it had been the ingredients that Ruby needed him to get for tomorrow's cookies (which was already unsettling with how close it seemed to his mother's own to his mother's own recipe), but also with the small paragraph that she'd written for him at the end.

You promised that you'd let me know when you made it back, so don't keep me worrying buster! Really looking forward to making some cookies with my bestie tomorrow! Always a great time!

But… it wasn't her message that had him so conflicted… it was how she signed off.

Love you,

Ruby

The next morning

"Oh man, why did I end up sending that?" Ruby said worriedly to herself for the umpteenth time that day as she paced around her team room, looking at the message she'd sent last night and the ending she'd written for it. "I didn't even mean to send it! The only people I end my messages that way for are Yang, dad, and uncle Qrow. Did Ragna not see it? His message just said, 'Made it back.' He didn't even talk about it. How am I supposed to interpret that?"

Needless to say, she'd been a mess ever since she'd awoken this morning and seen the message that she'd sent to her best friend that she was maybe starting to realize she had feelings for. She'd done her best to focus on her projects between breakfast and lunch, but that nagging doubt was still there and this time she didn't have Pyrrha to talk it out with. She'd gotten a little done to make up for the time she was about to spend relaxing, but it done little to get her mind off of matters.

"I just… it's almost time," she tried to reassure herself as she glanced at the clock on her scroll. "I'll be able to talk to him then and-" Hearing the door unlock, she let out a yelp right as Blake walked in.

"You okay?" she asked with confused concern. "You seem kinda high strung."

"I-I'm fine, I've just been drinking too much coffee lately," she half-lied. "I, uh… thought you were working with Nora today."

"We are, I just remembered some notes that I left back here," Blake said as she went over to her bed and shuffled through the mess of papers that had accumulated over the project hell quarter. She noticed that Ruby was looking at her scroll, but wasn't able to see the screen. "Are you checking the news too?"

"No, I'm just making sure I have my plans for later set right." Technically the truth. "What kinda news is it?"

"Most of the Academy is talking about it, check any of the local news stations," she said as Ruby began doing just that. "Here we go, that should do for my notes. Did you find a report?"

"I think so," Ruby said as a news anchor appeared on her scroll, the same in that had spoken when she stopped Torchwick just before coming to Beacon.

"While reports are still coming in from supposed witnesses, the police have already issued their statement on the detainment of Jack Géant, otherwise known as The Magic Bean Seller. Before we show the clip though, a little context. A reported failure of the late Huntsman Exams, he quickly turned his talents to selling narcotics which were often times infused with certain distilled Dust elements, most commonly fire and lightning. To make himself elusive and enable trade of his product among common routes, he often disguised the pills as beans which helped him to earn his infamous moniker. All available intelligence shows an abnormal silence of activity for a long two and a half years, ending only last night at the report of his capture. And now, the official statement offered by our city's police force this morning."

Ruby couldn't help but scowl slightly as she recognized one of the detectives that had detained Blake and Makoto late last quarter. Blake herself didn't bother to hide her own piercing complexion.

"We're pleased to report the capture of this heinous criminal mastermind along with his 21 accomplices," the detective said, looking way too smug for anyone's liking. "While we of course knew that he must have been hiding in this complex, the multiple noise complaints we heard last night was just what we needed in to gain access to their grounds. That noise proved to be a series of weapon misfires and Dust chain reactions, but the force moved in so quickly and effectively that they didn't have any time to react."

Ruby saw the officers behind the detective acting high unprofessional as they cheered themselves on for the raid, high-fived, and general made a ruckus in what was supposed to be an important interview.

"We still have work to do on our end, like finding this shipping company's involvement in this scheme. But don't fear; all parties involved will be brought to justice… Roman Torchwick and the White Fang included."

The screen shifted back to the news reporter.

"When pressed for further questions, the detectives and the police force insisted that releasing such information prematurely would only impede their progress. In this reporter's opinion-"

"They managed to catch a big criminal in the city?" Ruby asked as she paused the video. "That sounds too good for our police force, but I guess I'll take it."

"A lot of information says otherwise," Blake disagreed, her scowl hadn't faded. "I took a look on the web, and a lot of those witnesses reported that what they heard lasted too long for an accidental misfire, it had to have been a fight. And there's no way the police would have been able to find these guys without being tipped off… not when they're already so busy profiling every Faunus they see."

"Meaning someone else was the one that managed to take them out; maybe a Huntsman or Huntress trying to collect the bounty?"

"Then why wouldn't they take the credit? And if they had collected the bounty, the police force would have had to publish those records." Blake shook her head. "Looks like our town has a secret vigilante."

"You mean like a hero from the shadows?" Ruby asked with sparkles in her eyes. "That's so cool! I-!" She paused as an idea entered her head.

"Something wrong?" Blake had to ask.

"Just uh… this sorta reminded me of right before I came to Beacon," she said as her own half-truth, not wanting to shed light on her hypothesis without proof. "When I fought off Torchwick when he was robbing that Dust shop."

"I guess I can see that," the Cat Faunus said before smiling kindly. "Maybe your actions from back then inspired them to do some good here?"

"Maybe…"

Later -The Student Kitchen-

"…I got the ingredients while I was out," Ragna felt inclined to say to his best friend. No response was given back at him. "Did you not get the message I wrote to you when I got back, like I promised." More concerning silence. "Okay, I'll play your game. Why are you glaring at me?"

"Because I know what else you were up to last night," Ruby said, much sterner than Ragna was used to seeing her. "I know that what you do on your own time is no one's business, but charging an entire criminal group when everyone's worried about your condition is…"

"Stupid?"

"…I wasn't going to say that."

"You'd have had the right to," the Reaper admitted. He already knew he was far past the point of playing dumb with someone who knew him this well… or at least thought she did. Lying would have been easy enough for him, but it was difficult to do around Ruby. He settled for telling the truth, the parts of it he could. "A few days ago, I caught sight of a man that had been reportedly working for that Drug Dealer."

"You… keep track of that sort of thing?" Ruby asked, just a little doubtful.

"Remember, doing odd jobs and hunting down criminals was what put food in the table when I was out traveling. Sure, I don't look at it as much now that I'm living within the city, but I still check back every now and again out of habit. About a week ago while I was out in the city in the dead of night I saw one of the flunkies. I wasn't sure if he was really who I thought I was back then… but when I saw him last night and double checked there was no mistaking it."

"So, you followed him back to that complex they were using in the port," Ruby summarized. "Why didn't you notify the police?"

"…Did you want those thugs behind bars or not?" Ragna answered with another question.

"Okay, but what about us? You could've called us for help, have someone watch your back. In fact you said you'd call if anything came up."

"Didn't have the chance to; they caught sight of me while I was scoping out their base of operations." Ruby wondered if Ragna would've called even if he'd been given that chance.

"But you didn't take credit for it, or even get the bounty?" Ruby asked before shaking her head. "Sorry, this is starting to sound like an interrogation."

"Clearly someone's been working on Goodwitch's assignment," Ragna joked dryly. "For one thing I probably would've gotten in trouble like you did if I took the credit without actually being on the assignment. And after my last run in with those cops, they'd probably try to peg some charges on me. As for the bounty, I still got some saved up from those fights and I don't have a ton of expenses in the first place. These ingredients are probably the only thing I've bought in like a month."

"Maybe you could use that money to treat yourself sometime?" his friend tried to suggest. "Speaking of the ingredients, how much do I owe you for-?"

"Nothing, these weren't expensive anyways," the Reaper shot down.

"Come on, I can't make you pay for all of this."

'If you'd used those eyes of yours you might've,' Ragna thought, being honest with himself at least. "Let's just drop the twenty questions here and we'll call it even, alright?"

"Alright," Ruby sighed as she decided to move on. Looking around the ingredients, something immediately caught her eyes. "Why did you pick up jam? That wasn't on my list."

"Found it while I was shopping and it reminded me that there was this other recipe that my mom used to make. Even if those other cookies were good, these were her specialty." He smirked as he thought back on happier memories. "We used to all go out and pick berries in the woods near the church. Me, mom, Jin, and Sa…"

"Ragna?" He looked in pain, suffering at the mere thought of whatever he was remembering. "What's…?"

"It's nothing," Ragna told her off. She was about to protest, ask to help with whatever had caused this reaction. "Drop it."

His scowl… his tone of voice… Ragna was scaring her, threatening her even. He realized what he was doing and turned his gaze away, but the moment had already come to pass and it wasn't something he could ever take back. "Let's just… get to baking, before I fuck something else up."

"…Right!" While Ragna wasn't entirely sure why Ruby looked so serious after his outburst, it was something out of the resolve she had. Resolve to get Ragna to lighten up however she could, help him to heal. "So which recipe are we making first?"

"…I guess we can make the dough for both and relax while they're in the oven."

"Okay, let's do it!" she announced with vigor. "Mind if I lead?"

"Good ahead, but isn't that more of a dancing thing?" Ragna asked, only for Ruby to flick him square on his forehead. "Hey!"

"Focus; cookies."

"Alright, alright. You're taking this way too seriously."

"When it comes to cookies there's no such thing as too serious!" she declared. "By the end of this I want us to be putting out five star treats!"

"What did I sign up for?" Ragna groaned. But despite his groaning Ruby could see his small smile at her antics, only adding to her conviction.

'Time to get the old Ragna back.'

The process of cooking wasn't all that difficult; Ragna and Ruby both knew the ingredients and amounts, mixing them together was easy, rolling them out into individual cookies was fine, and Ragna's biggest issue was keeping Ruby from eating all of the chocolate chips before they used them in the actual cookies. It wasn't long before both types of cookies were baking in the oven and the two finally had sone time on their hands. Ruby had suggested that the two find a game to play on their scrolls while they waited… which went about as well for Ragna as you'd expect.

"…I swear, I'm going to murder whoever the hell thought Chance Time was a good idea," Ragna muttered as he lost the points he'd painstakingly earned to one of the stand-in COMs for the fifth time already.

"I don't blame you; I played an earlier version of this game with my Dad, Uncle Qrow, and Yang. Dad had the lead until the last turn and then Qrow landed on chance time, gave Yang all of his points, and put him in last… We ended up needing a new TV after that."

"Seriously?" Ragna asked with an eyebrow raised. "Did Yang get that kind of temper from him or was Qrow egging him on?"

"More of latter I think," Ruby admitted. "I mean it didn't really matter in the end; Yang was already on a really strong winning streak so it wasn't like there was much of a competition."

"Master of games Yang, huh?" the Reaper said with a shrug. "Maybe that's why she won that damn card game we played during the first quarter."

"I remember that," she said with an almost nostalgic smile. "That was the first time we all spent time together as a team. Before that it was you helping me study ahead in our classes."

"…I had my whole team against me at the time, but things were simpler then at least," the Reaper conceded.

"And they're still some good memories!" Ruby insisted. "And it's not like things are going to stay downhill for you, right?"

"I'd call taking a break and baking cookies a positive." Ruby appreciated the comment and had wanted their conversation to go on, but that was when their timer went off. "Promise you won't burn yourself by eating them first thing."

"I'll be patient…"

She ended up having something to do while they cooled anyways, decorating Ragna's own cookies with the jam and lines of melted chocolate from their leftover chocolate chips (her idea). With both types of cookies done, she went for one of the newer jam ones first and paused.

"Something wrong with it?" Ragna asked, knowing that he wasn't exactly a master of recreating his mother's old recipes.

"Nope, I really like this. A very close second to my mom's second to my mom's recipe," she said through a half mouthful of cookie. "I'm just... I'm trying to decide if this is nostalgic for me or not. I've obviously had this type of cookie before from a couple of bakeries, but these taste much better than any of those. It feels like this is somehow familiar, but I just don't know."

"Weird," Ragna stated bluntly as he thought it over before trying one of them himself. "These are pretty close to what I remember, but the problem's the jam. This was short notice so I just ended up getting the store bought stuff. I went for the high quality option, but whenever mom made these with us we always used our own homemade stuff."

"Homemade is always better, puts in that much more love into the recipe," Ruby agreed without even thinking. There was a brief but awkward pause between two, revealing to both of them that they were aware of the message from last night. She was about to address it… but her timidness gave in and she went for one of the chocolate chips instead. "Yep, this is most definitely my mom's old cookie recipe. Exactly how I remember them and just like how Yang and dad used to make these."

"Then this just confirms what we already knew," the Reaper said as he tried one of them for himself. "And when I shared these with Jin last time, he said the same thing about our mother's recipe. What's the link here? Or are we just looking at something that isn't even there in the first place?"

"Hmmm… Oh duh! I could just ask my dad! He might know something about all of this!" Ruby decided. "He's probably our best bet to finding out what's really going on anyways!"

"If you think that'll help; but I don't want to be dragging up any painful memories for him." Obviously, Ragna could relate. Trying to lighten the mood, he glanced at the remain cookie plates and smirked. "Don't tell me you were going eat the rest of these yourself?"

"Hey, I know to share!" Ruby returned with a pout. "Let's both take half of each kind to our room; I'm sure both of our teammates would appreciate these."

"Fine with me," Ragna agreed as he separated his portion. "See ya around I guess."

"…You mean we're done here?" Ruby asked, and Ragna could tell that she sounded worried about something… and he had a vague idea of what it was.

"…You had something else you wanted?" he asked. He tried his best to keep his tone even, but in truth he was on edge.

"I… wanted to… get some weapon practice in with you!" she decided suddenly. Ragna just stared at her awkwardly. "I don't mean actual sparring because you're still on the mend, but I think that practicing together is going to be perfect for us. And I…" She tried to wrack her brain with a new idea to get him to go, but only one thing was coming to mind. "…wanted to show you Crescent Rose?"

'Is she telling me or asking?' "I've already seen your scythe plenty of times before, in fact I even used to use one if you recall." Ragna wasn't exactly trying to put her down, but he wanted to at least try to get some of the reasoning out of the way.

"I know, but with all of the time I spend hounding you over the Aramasa, it's only fair that I give you a good taste of my own weapon. We've never done that before, right?" That… was actually solid reasoning, in a weird sort of way. "So? Are you open?"

"…Sure," Ragna finally said, though he didn't exactly sound too committed. "I'll meet you there after I drop these off."

"You got it!" Ruby said, trying to show off her familiar sense of energy. Grabbing her plate, she hurried past Ragna to get ready. 'This is it; I'm done stalling… I'm going to finally get things straight between us.'

She got to her Team Room quickly enough, but was a little surprised to find Jin and Weiss already there already going over their partner projects. Both raised their heads and quickly took notice of the cookies in Ruby's hands.

"Those jam cookies…" Jin started. "…Did my brother show you that recipe?"

"Better than that, we made these together!" At Ruby's reveal, Jin glanced over to Weiss to see her reaction to this information only to find that there had been no noticeable change… but had this reveal come from Cinder, he was sure that Ice Queen might've turned a few levels colder. "You guys want to try these?"

"I suppose I can allow a small sweets break," Weiss said as she grabbed one of the jam ones and Jin (after a moment's hesitation) did the same. "How… is Ragna doing?"

"Better I think, now that he's getting a bit of break," Ruby said, trying to reassure them both about his condition. "What about you two? Isn't the library a better place for this kind of project work?"

"And be seen with her in public? Hard pass." Jin harsh remark sounded like an insult to Ruby that was sure to have Weiss-

"My thoughts exactly." …Make clear the mutual distaste they had for each other? Ruby obviously knew they weren't exactly buddy-buddy even after working on such an important project this quarter, but to avoid just being seen together? "Thanks for the cookies Ruby, but Jin and I need to be getting back to work."

"Ooookay?" Ruby said before smiling. "I'll let Ragna know that you both liked his cookies!"

"Liked them, we haven't even-?" Jin had been about to remind her that they hadn't even tasted them yet, but his classmate had already left the team room in a hurry. "Is it wrong to say that she's a difficult person to understand at times?"

"Hardly, but I've just come to accept that and it's obvious that she's more invested in what she does than just about any person here." Jin solemnly nodded in agreement and finally took a bite of the treat he'd taken. "Taste nostalgic?"

"It does, though Ragna used to burn everything he tried to cook," Jin informed. "The word talent could never be applied to that man, not with how hard he had to work to learn even the most basic of skills."

"If anything, it sounds like you're just complimenting him on how hard he has to work and persevere," Weiss noted, a little slyly at that. "Good to hear that he's doing a little better at least."

"And you don't have any problems now that Ruby's spending her time with him?" he inquired bluntly.

"Why would I? Do I really need to get in way when he's spending time with his friends?" Weiss reasoned casually.

"But if he were spending time with Cinder-"

"Then he wouldn't be spending time with a friend, and we both know that."

"Clearly."

Beacon's Practice Room

Ragna leaned against the training room wall as he waited for Ruby. While the room was currently empty, it hadn't been that way when he'd gotten here. A small group of students had been sparring themselves, likely practicing for the Vytal Festival next quarter. When he'd come in though, they'd only given him a collective scowl and headed on their way without a single word exchanged. He wasn't any stranger to this, aside from those within his small circle of friends he wasn't liked in the slightest. While he'd had enough suspicion of what might've put him here (his arrogance, his quick temper, his crude demeanor, etcetera), he'd yet to make any efforts to change these personal features and decided that such people could stuff it. It wasn't like any of these people would matter to him in the long run, so why should he waste his energy trying to get their approval? Energy that he seemed to be constantly losing at that, and had yet to be able to fix.

"Hey! Looks like we managed to get the sparring room to ourselves!" Ruby said excitedly as she entered with her Crescent Rose as promised. "Talk about lucky!"

'Luck's got nothing to do with it,' Ragna thought, but didn't bother correcting her. Instead gesturing over to a previously placed training dummy, he decided that they should get to Ruby's idea. "You said you wanted to show off the Crescent Rose, so go ahead."

"Right!" she said excitedly as she transformed her weapon into its signature scythe form. She stood in front of the dummy like she was staring down a Grimm she was about to take down. "But first…"

Ragna raised an eyebrow in surprise as she threw he prized weapon into the air. Using her semblance to rush towards the target, she managed to punch the dummy target with enough force that it leaned back on its flat stand. While Ragna could easily demolish these thing (were he still in his prime), he knew that knocking something this heavy back required a tremendous force. Ruby seemed to possess the needed strength though as she quickly followed up with a right hook then a roundhouse kick before leaping at the target and blasting it with a two leg kick. That final attack was also enough to push herself back, catching the Crescent Rose and getting off a clean sniper headshot before it had even hit the ground. Grinning to her best friend, Ragna seemed more than a little surprised.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Ruby said with a little bit of personal boasting. "I've been practicing those unarmed techniques you showed me."

"I hadn't noticed," Ragna answered sarcastically. "It's like looking into a fricken' mirror."

"And I'll take that as a compliment, and so should you. Imitation is the best form of flattery," she joked giddily. "It wasn't easy though; I've had to practice all quarter just to get that much down. But with where I started, I didn't have anywhere to go but up."

"Yeah, I remember," Ragna shot back with a smirk. "Back at the start of the term you were more dangerous if you tried to tickle me instead of outright attacking." This nostalgia seemed to be his own undoing as Ruby's got a mischievous glint in her silver eyes. "Don't you dare."

"What? I'm not doing anything," his young friend said with a sharp smile as she raised her hands as claws, though looking more cute than scary. Using her speed semblance to lunge to him, Ragna worriedly jumped to the side as Ruby cackled trying to chase him down. "Just call it a friendly hug!"

"Pass! Hard pass!" Ragna shouted, as his friend zoned in on him. Thankfully, he knew that he had a size advantage on Ruby and managed to hold her back with his better arm length while she fruitlessly tried to attack. "Not this time shorty. How about we get started on what you made me come here for in the first place?"

"Fine," Ruby relented as she handed her prized weapon to Ragna. "So the most basic of the basics is the two different modes of my weapon. Right now it's in Rifle form which doesn't have a blade, but it's much easier to aim your shots around and it's less unwieldy… not like that's usually an issue for you in the first place."

"No, but I get the reasoning," the Reaper agreed. "But doesn't your scythe also fire live rounds?"

"It does, but that's usually better for mid-ranged attacks when I have my opponent's positioning locked down. That or for firing blanks to propel me forward, but that's a technique to show off later. For now, let's practice your aim with the rifle."

It didn't take long and Ragna was able to get accustomed to how he held the unfamiliar weapon without that much trouble. Firing off a couple of practice shots at the training dummies, he was a little surprised to how accurate the aim of the weapon actually was; no need to make any adjustments for pinpoint accuracy at mid-range. Ruby still gave him a couple of pointers, since she was still more practiced in gunplay than he was. After that, she showed him how to switch between the weapon forms.

"And now we have the scythe form; perfect for up-close combat and still able to attack from a decent range!" Ruby announced proudly as the weapon transformed in Ragna's hands. "It probably doesn't carry the same amount of power or weight as the Aramasa, but you should be able to swing it around pretty quickly!"

"I'm aware, and I was using a much lighter scythe back during my Vacuo days," the Reaper reminded, before scratching the bridge of his nose as he thought back to the actual events. "Well, most of the time I was swinging it around like some sort of sledgehammer anyways. Not exactly the most flamboyant style."

"…I'm not sure how I feel about you holding that now," Ruby told him nervously, fearing for her beloved weapon.

"Calm down, I'm not going to break something that means so much to you," Ragna promised as he headed over to one of the fresh training dummies. Getting the right grip on the scythe to give him the precision and power, he unleashed a series of powerful slashes. First came the upwards attack that vertically cut his target in half. Then while it was launching upwards from the force followed with a decapitating slash to its head halves, one further down at the waist, and a final attack at the legs. The eight cleanly cut pieces only started to separate before he followed up with his classic roundhouse kick and sent them all into the disposal area. "See? No problem."

"Guess you're right," Ruby told him as her confident smile returned. "And it looks like you still have some of your old moves after all."

'Never lost my moves, but how I apply them in a fight is still a problem,' Ragna internally admitted as he thought back to the events of the previous night. "Either way the balance of this thing-" Ruby scowled at Ragna's phrasing. "…Of this… work of art…?" Her smile returned. "Well it's really damn good, handles really nicely too. Almost makes you wonder why people say that scythe-rifles are among the hardest weapons to master."

"Easy to say when you've already mastered half the weapon," Ruby argued. "But if anything's going to give you trouble, then it's going to be the other part of Crescent Rose, the propulsion system. By firing blank rounds you either increase the speed of your slash or use it for rapid movement. In my case I'm also able to combine it with my speed semblance to race around like crazy, that mobility makes me nearly impossible to hit."

"I know; I've seen you do it before in some of your mock fights," the Reaper reminded as he looked around the weapon's features. Managing to switch its setting so that it would fire blanks, he tried unleashing a basic practice swing while firing off a blast to increase his swing. He succeeded in the action itself, but his timing was off so that the attack itself was unaimed and uncontrolled. If it hadn't been for his (somehow still) above average strength and endurance, he would've landed square on his ass from the shock. "Dammit."

"Hey, that's still really close for your first attempt! And it's really hard to get the hang of!" Ruby encouraged as she got close to her friend. Ragna offered the weapon back to its owner so that he could be shown how to effectively use it, but instead it seemed like she had a more… "hands on" approach for him. Grabbing Ragna's hands so that she position his grip and guide him along in his attack. The Reaper couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable at their shared proximity, but tried to focus as Ruby taught him the correct area to let loose the blast. "Think you've got it down?"

"I… I guess we'll see," Ragna said nervously as she finally backed away. 'Calm down idiot; she's just your fri… she's just Ruby.' Performing the same series of swing that he had earlier, Ragna let loose the Crescent Rose with a harsh focus on timing his shots. Right from the first shot, he could tell that his timing was still off; while faster the swings weren't anywhere close to controlled or even fully extended. Still, it didn't keep him from following through and eventually it looked like he was slowly starting to get a solid feeling for the combinations… barely. "Not best display, is it?"

"Not at all. Trust me, you don't want to know how bad I was before my uncle gave me some really important pointers," his friend said, again to boost his confidence. "I'm sure that if you kept up the practice for even another month or so you'd totally get it down. But now it's time for the really tricky part; using the propulsion system to move yourself around."

"Is that even going to work for me? I get the feeling you're a hell of a lot lighter than I am," Ragna guessed as he handed the weapon back to its owner for a proper demonstration. "I dunno about this…"

"Just be open to the idea~!" Ruby told him cheerfully. "And the difference in weight shouldn't be an issue; you'll probably get less of kick from movement but it might just make it easier for you to pick up. The trick is shifting your weight before each blast and committing to the movement so you're not taken unaware."

For her visual example, Ruby got into a ready position before blasting herself into the air with her scythe. Quickly bringing her scythe in front of her after the momentum had stopped, she blasted herself back in the air. Following that with another blank round behind her, she propelled herself forward before spinning into a corkscrew as she brought her scythe down in a circle of swings. "See? Just like that."

"Just like that, huh?" Ragna said before shaking his head. "Alright, I'll give it a shot."

Bracing himself like he'd seen Ruby do, Ragna point the weapon at the ground and got ready to be launched into the air. Firing off the blank round, he felt himself getting carried off into the air… for about a foot before toppling over and landing square on his rear. Groaning, he sent Ruby a glare as the young lady was trying her best not to giggle but failing horribly.

"Glad you find it funny; do you want me how to learn this or not?"

"I'm sorry, but it just reminded me of when I was still trying to learn the working of a scythe-rifle," she told him happily. "The problem you had was that you were way too tense when getting ready. It's difficult, but you need to let yourself relax otherwise you'll unintentionally absorb the force you need to travel."

"Well sorry, I'm just not that fond of using something that's about to blast me into the ceiling," the Reaper retorted.

"It's all about practice and getting used to the force. Here, let me show you."

The two spent a full hour exploring Ruby's weapon and it's launch features. Ragna wasn't the fastest learner in the first place and his current condition did nothing to help that. Still, he didn't complain and saw Ruby's lessons through as he tried to grasp the true difficulty of her weapon. By the end of his training it was clear that he'd improved; now able to launch himself into the air without difficulty as well as follow up with a shaky air blast to move him again.

"Nicely done!" Ruby complimented as Ragna landed to ground after his most recent attempt, able to hold his balance without problem. "I'm sure if you committed to this weapon you'd be able to master it by the end of next quarter."

"Thanks, but I don't think that the Vytal Festival would be the best place to learn using something new in the first place," he reminded realistically. "I guess this was good practice at least… and I guess I understand you a little better too?"

"You… you do?"

"Sure. By learning how to use this thing and understanding how you really fight I managed to get inside your head a little," Ragna explained with a casual shrug. "Frankly, it's not much of a wonder why you're so hyper most of the time. You'd need all of that extra energy to handle a weapon needing that much skill."

"I guess…" Ragna wasn't sure what he'd said that had been so wrong, but Ruby looked serious now… and nervous. "You… said that you can understand me a little better now?"

"…Is this about that message you sent last night?" he questioned bluntly, but he wasn't exactly all that confident himself. "I read the list and… the ending of it too."

"Y-yeah," Ruby admitted. "This… this is about that. That ending I sent sort of a…"

"A mistake?" Ragna was hoping that's all it was to avoid complications… at least it could be explained away without much trouble.

"It was… it was an accident, sure," she explained, her voice becoming softer. "But even though I didn't really mean to send it that way… I still wouldn't call it a mistake."

"I see." Ragna was unreadable.

"I… I know that you turned down Cinder not too long ago," Ruby admitted. "So I know this isn't the best time for this sort of thing, but I still want to know how… how we stand…"

"Right," he sighed. "I… I'm sorry, really…"

It wasn't nearly as harsh as he'd stopped Cinder's advances, but still… Ruby felt a pit form in her stomach.

"But it's not that it's your fault or anything," Ragna followed up. "I'm not the type of guy that gets into relationships in the first place. Even just having something as basic as someone to talk to is still weird to me, and I don't have any clue what I'm supposed to do half the time."

"I guess that makes sense," Ruby said. He'd just broken any chances of their relationship being… that, but she needed one more answer. "So what are we then? I… want to know what things really are between us?"

"…Isn't it obvious?" Ragna asked as he faced Ruby with a warm smile. "You're my best friend."

'…Oh maidens, no…'

It was even worse than she could have possibly imagined. Ruby didn't know how she could tell. Ragna wasn't giving off any noticeable tells. In fact it almost looked like he believed what he was saying… but she knew.

It sounded like he was lying.

"I… I gotta go." Now she was the one that couldn't face him.

"Ruby?" Ragna asked, sounding worried… at least that's what it looked like to her.

"Thanks for today, Ragna." She was barely able to keep it together, and even that was fading fast. "I'll see you later…"

Maybe he considered stopping her, calling out to her, try to convince her that he meant it… but he don't do anything. He let her leave out of the training room without another word. Let her run down the hall and past several students, before running to team JNPR's room and finding Pyrrha. The redhead's team was there, but a silent look from her gave everyone else the message to clear the room for them.

"Ruby? How… how did it go?" She was just asking to try and comfort her; she could easily see the writing on the wall.

"We… we talked," she said as her last bit of self-control faded. "And… I don't even know what he's thinking anymore. He said that he doesn't want that, but…"

"I'm so sorry," Pyrrha said trying to comfort her friend and assignment partner. "Did you… did you maybe get your own answer?"

"…No."

She'd reached her limit. All Pyrrha could do was hold her friend close as she let out the tears she'd been trying to hold in. She tried to tell herself that there was no way Ragna would've tried to hurt her like this, but Ruby's sorrowful sobbing made a compelling statement otherwise.

Back in the Training Room

Ragna had remained frozen to the same spot he'd been when Ruby had left him. As far as he saw it, she might as well have exited from her life altogether. He was trying his best to not think about the events that had just transpired, about what he'd just failed to do… To say that this was a new low for him was an apt conclusion, but as the scent of roses filled the training room he knew that the miserable day wasn't over yet.

"I don't like seeing you when I'm in a good mood, and I sure as hell ain't ready to deal with your shit now," he growled. It was pointless, Rachel wouldn't leave him that easily. Stubborn as she was.

"Really Ragna…" she sighed, showing her disappointment. "What are you doing?"

"My damn job, that's what," he barked. "You think I've just been screwing around here? If I had let that-"

"No. What are you still doing at Beacon?" the vampire demanded of him. "You should have left this place long ago. And as foolhardy as you've proven yourself, it's clear that even you know that."

"I… I still have my deal with Qrow," he reminded, almost sounding like he needed to convince himself this time. "That deal was the whole reason why-"

"Undelivered, and I have no idea why you even believe he could accomplish your own work in the first place," she told him with a scowl, her anger seeping through. "You need to leave."

"That's not your call to make!" Ragna shouted.

"Maybe not, but you know it's the right one," Rachel affirmed harshly. "Your body is failing, training with Jubei would have awarded you far better progress, and those self-serving "bonds" that you've formed here are only feeding into your own pain. This was only a waste of your own time, and you're forgetting your purpose."

"Forgetting!?" the Reaper yelled, a harsh black aura surrounding him. "It's the whole reason why I'm here! It's all I've got left! You think I'd ever forget that!?" If it hadn't been for Rachel's barriers to cancel out his noise, the entire building might've heard the Reaper's rage. "I'm… not stopping. Not now, not damn ever!"

"Then you know what you'll have to do eventually," she said, speaking much softer now even against the taller man's rage. "I'd suggest doing it sooner rather than later, stalling will only fuel that what you've already allowed yourself to suffer… and to proportions you can't even imagine."

"Like you know what's going to happen. Is this just more bullshit that you can't even tell me about?" Ragna growled.

"…I tried to get my warning through to you, I truly did." If Ragna wasn't being so stubborn, he might've noticed the underlying sadness in Rachel's voice. "I won't be able to advise you for some time… not with the path you've chosen."

"Please. Don't go making me happy now." It was a final, spite filled bite. Rachel didn't even bother responding to it. As the scent of roses filled the air once more and she vanished, Ragna let out his loudest groan yet in defeat. "Should I really leave Beacon? What about… What the hell am I supposed to do? Just… just… GOD DAMMIT!"

Striking the floor with his fist at current strength barely left an impression… rather leaving his still human hand broken and bleeding.

Later

"You seem pretty happy at the news," Emerald noted from her bed. "Can we call this just desserts?"

"My thoughts exactly," Cinder said with a mischievous smile. "And the timing couldn't have possibly been better." She turned to Mercury. "Are you ready for your own role?"

"…Thought I told you that I was going to sit this out," he reminded, before shrugging. "Eh, what the hell? I won't pass up a chance to take that bastard down a peg or two. Might even be fun. So… what've you got for me?"

"Oh, I'll certainly be sure to make it fun for you," his leader promised.

From her own corner, Neo just sat and watched wordlessly. She couldn't take much interest in Cinder's own sadistic plans. She wasn't doing this for her in the first place, there was someone else who needed her help. Working with Cinder just happened to be her best way to accomplish that. Still… it made for a fun bit of drama at least.

The Next Day -The Library-

"Wasn't the whole point of relaxing that you were supposed to be feeling better?" Tsubaki demanded as Ragna sat down to his group assignment… late, very late. "Somehow you look even worse."

"I already told you that it was going to take at least a couple of days," Ragna reminded harshly as he brought of his scroll and started booting it up. "Just give it some time."

"Ragna, are you sure you shouldn't see a doctor at least?" Noel asked worriedly. "Yesterday you even promised that you'd-"

"In a few days," he stubbornly cut her off as he repeated himself. Noel's meek side seemed to return at her leader's harshness. Ragna knew that it wasn't her fault, but his current ire left him with little room to care.

"Leave him be, it's like you're arguing with a wall," Azrael responded gruffly. "Hopefully that hard-headedness of his will at least let us blast ahead in our own project."

"Giving me more time to relax," Ragna reminded, directing that comment to Tsubaki who still looked far from convinced. "There a problem?"

"…Plenty of them, but I'm not in the mood to call it out at the moment," she finally relented. "We've been waiting on your notes anyways. You have the strategies you recorded to take down those larger Grimm in a city defense effort?"

"Yeah, got those right here," Ragna said as he started tapping on his screen to bring the files up. "In order to take down the… the…"

"The what?" Azrael demanded as Ragna tapped on scroll a few more times. And then again, this time more frantically. "What now?"

"I…" Ragna started to say as his eyes seemed to grow wide. Going into his physical notes, he took out a couple of page and looked coldly at them both before grabbing out more. His team watched, Tsubaki growing worried, Noel terrified, and Azrael… very annoyed. All of the pages, the screen on his scroll containing his digital notes…

All of them. Blank.

"Where the hell-!?"

Next Time: Gone