Crimson XXXI: Fallout

Ruby let out a low groan as her mind finally returned to consciousness. She had to wonder if it was worth it though as her head was throbbing even worse than the last time she'd eaten an entire plate of cookies before bed (which wasn't that long ago). Barely able to crack open her right eye, it was dark and her vision was barely able to focus on the shapes around her. She could hardly tell where she was, only that she was under the covers of a bed and… there was someone sitting next to her. The distorted yet obviously spikey head of hair made it abundantly clear that it was Ragna, yet that was all she could see with her vision so blurred. The only other fact she could discern was through touch; he was holding her right hand with his left. Not gripping it tightly, but either holding it for comfort or monitoring her pulse. Whatever the reason, she couldn't muster enough energy to ask as her eye closed and she slowly found herself slipping back out of the world.

When Ruby next awoke, it was much brighter and she could finally discern her location: Beacon Academy's Nurse Office. Giving a groan as she slowly moved and undid the sheets, she didn't exactly feel at death's door like she'd been expecting. Instead only that she was a little numb for sleeping for so long. It wasn't an experience she'd expected to have after… after…

In a bit of a panic, Ruby undid bit of her top robe and looked for the scar that she'd have gotten from Messiah's spear, only to find nothing of the sort. Not a scar, not a blemish, her skin looked fine if a little sweaty from all the sleeping she'd likely done. It was then that her sense of smell also returned and she nearly gagged at her own scent. How long had she been here?

Light humming was heard on the other side of the office from behind a medical curtain, a sort of young voice at that. Ruby wanted to move out of bed and get a shower so she'd be feeling herself again, but her current and uncertain condition was a little too offsetting to commit to it foolishly. Instead she rested for another second before sighing.

"Excuse me?"

"Hmm?"

The person on the other end of the room headed over and pushed back the curtain to reveal a young girl that looked to be a little shorter than Ruby herself. She had dark skin, black hair, and wore a very traditional outfit. Ruby recognized her a Linhua, Litchi's assistant and daughter who she'd briefly met when she'd brought Ragna here after he'd passed out.

"Oh thank goodness you're finally awake," the girl said with her own sigh of relief. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused… and sweaty," Ruby admitted. "What… happened?"

"Not really sure, I've just been hearing a couple of rumors while I've been taking care of you with my mom," the young assistant admitted. "It's probably better to hear what your friends know, since they were the ones that had found you. As for getting healed, you can thank Celica. I think that you both have the same classes."

"Yeah, I know her," Ruby confirmed. "So her Semblance is really that powerful. It even brought me back when…" A long pause. "Where's Ragna?"

"He's still at Beacon, but it's probably better that you hear the story from your friends," Linhua said, not exactly putting Ruby at ease. "Tell you what, I'll do a couple of basic tests to make sure you're really up to board, bring them in, and then you all can talk while I sign off on the paperwork to discharge you."

"If you think I'm up for it, but how long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"Less asleep and more in a coma," she Linhua admitted, now that Ruby's condition had passed. "You've been out for three days. It's Thursday evening now and your friends usually come by to check around you by now anyways. First thing's first, let's go over those tests. This won't take long anyways; you were perfectly healthy while you were out, so it's more of checking our bases than any real worry."

To say that the sudden shift from being stabbed through the chest and about to die to going back to a hundred present was jarring was a total understatement. Linhua's tests were done both quickly and professionally, so Ruby didn't feel like there was much concern. By the end of them, Linhua had even finished brewing a pot of green tea (her mother's recipe) and Ruby was sitting off to the side with a steaming mug of the stuff in her hands.

When the door finally opened, Yang (as expected) looked like she wanted to tackle her sister with hug yet held her back with restraint and settled for a few happy tears. Weiss's previous airs seemed to dissipate for moment as she gave Ruby a happy smile and Blake let out a long breath of relief.

"So… how are you feeling?" Yang asked to break the ice.

"Same as when she asked me," Ruby answered, gesturing to Linhua. "Confused and sweaty."

"Don't you think you're being a little too casual about this?" Ah, Weiss was already back to her old self. "When we found you both after that explosion, stabbed through the chest, and on cusp of dying we thought we were going to lose you."

"Explosion?" Ruby asked. "What do you mean explosion? Is that how we got out of that place?"

"I guess you were already out when it happened," Blake admitted. "We were all at the edge of the sinkhole when it happened. I don't know what it was, but somehow there was a massive explosion of some sort of darkness that broke through the ground itself. No one got hurt by it, but Yang rushed in the moment it had ended and found you both."

"That… happened?" Ruby asked, thinking over the setting and how it could have been in any way possible… obviously nothing came to her mind. Moreso that there was something else she was concerned with. "Hey guys, about Ragna… I hope you didn't blame him for what happened to me. A lot happened down there and… I swear, it wasn't his fault."

"Blame him?" Yang repeated with a sad smile. "I don't think we could've blamed him if we wanted to. We were out there trying to find him in the first place and I think we all knew the risks of what could happen to us, even if it went a bit further than what we were expecting. And even then, you know how we found you both?" Ruby shook her head. "Ragna was holding onto you for dear life, he looked like he was covering you with his own body from whatever had destroyed that place. He seemed really out of it, but all he kept saying was Save her. Over and over again."

"… He's back," Ruby finally realized as her eyes started to water. "He's really back."

"…I'm really sorry, but that's where the good news ends," Weiss said, being the apparent bearer of bad news. "I can't say we know the whole story, but Ragna's in a really bad place here in Beacon. From what I understand, Ozpin and Goodwitch both tore into him very harshly when he returned. It took a lot to get Goodwitch to open up to the situation, but if Ragna takes more step out of line he's going to be Expelled from Beacon."

"That's not all; with Ragna's losses adding up and everything that's happened since it looks like his entire team is out of the running for the Vytal Festival," Blake continued. "He's even further behind in his project now than when he left and there's almost no way he's going to be able to recover from this… He's on the thinnest of ice right now."

"That's serious," Ruby stated bluntly (you could tell it was serious because Yang didn't even make a Weiss related pun). "Have you guys tried talking to him at all since he's been back?"

"Key word is tried. We can't find the guy anywhere. Not in classes, not at the cafeteria, not in his team room Ragna's nowhere to be found," Yang explained. "The only connection we have is what Tsubaki told us. She gets messages from him with his Project work, but that's it. He doesn't even respond to her own messages; just sends the work he's done and keeps everyone up to date on where he is in the research. Honestly, even with all of our searching we don't even know if he's on campus or not."

"But he… he has to be here," Ruby said. "When I was still stuck in bed I thought I saw him. He was still here with me, sitting in that chair over there." She pointing to the chair that appeared to be unmoved. "So he still has to be at Beacon… Doesn't he?"

"Oh, for the love of-! Of course he's still here!" Team RWBY was a little caught off guard as they remembered that Linhua was still in the room, going over Ruby's paperwork. "And she's right! Every night after everyone else had left, he'd come into Ruby's room to watch over her. Monday he had to break in, but I caught onto what he was doing by Tuesday and just gave him the damn key! All night long until I came in for the check-ins in the morning, he never once left her side!"

"Ragna… did that for me?" Ruby asked, before a blush started to alight her face. "But-but that's against the rules isn't it? Like he'd be expelled from Beacon if anyone found out about it?"

"That's what I told him! But he wasn't backing down!" she shouted. Apparently the girl had needed to vent at his behavior for a while now. "You don't need to worry about me though, I'm not going to rat him out for this. All I saw was a guy that was too afraid to have you left alone, even after your condition had stabilized."

"And see? That's what I don't get about this whole mess," Yang groaned. "Lately it feels like Ragna's been acting more distant to all of us even when there isn't someone like Cinder causing problems for him. But whenever it comes down to it, he's still always there for us a hundred percent. What's really going on with him?"

"…Since we know he's here, we should try to get an answer out of him during the camping trip," Weiss suggested. "I think it's going to be our last chance to get through to what he's actually trying to do at Beacon. Like it or not, we deserve an answer to that much."

"Works for me, and it's not like they're going to leave him behind. They made this entire trip required," Blake agreed. "So we'll hold off and get ready for the trip tomorrow."

"Provided I can even go," Ruby reminded sadly. "With the condition I'm in-"

"Like I said, you've been fine for quite a while now. The only issue was waiting for you to wake up," Linhua cut in once again. "And your tests say as much, so all I need to do is get mom to sign off on the paperwork and you'll be able to go on the trip no problem."

"After what she's been put through? Celica's healing must be something special," Yang noted. "But about that, what really happened down there?"

"What did you guys see when grabbed us?" Ruby asked, figuring that was the best place to start.

"Just an empty crater. You guys were stuck in the center of the blast. All we saw were you two, some pieces of what looked like Ragna's sword, and your Crescent Rose which only had slight damage," Weiss said. "With that last one, I offered that we could send it back to my company to repair, but everyone here kept insisting that you'd want to do it yourself."

"Just as a preference, but thanks," Ruby said in appreciation. "But that was it? Nothing else was there? …No one else either?"

"No… why? Was it the same person that hurt you?" Yang demanded with a scowl, wondering if whoever had was still alive.

"I… I just need some time to think through what really happened down below the surface," Ruby said, only for her stomach to give a low rumble. "…And some dinner too. I could eat just about anything after sleeping here for three days."

"Good timing then, I just got the rest of the paperwork filled out," Linhua informed them. "Best of luck out there, but be sure to let us know if you've got any concerns. We'll have a medical tent set up while we camp, so you can even check in with us there."

"Sounds awesome," Ruby said as she got to her feet easily enough. "I should do something nice for Celica too, she really saved my skin here. Didn't even have a mark on me."

"We can worry about that once we've eaten, you need to get your strength back," Blake reminded as the group stepped out of the office.

"You're just eager to get to the cafeteria because they're serving Trout tonight," Weiss sighed, only to notice Blake's slight glare. "What? That's not even a somewhat racist assumption. I know you."

"…Fair."

Later -Ozpins Office-

"Is that so? Thank you for the update," Ozpin said over his scroll. "Hmm. Yes, I suppose she's allowed to go to on the camping if she's truly recovered in full. Just keep an eye on her if you can… Right. You have a good evening too, Mrs. Faye-Ling." Hanging up the device, he turned to Glynda. "It seems that Miss Rose has awakened."

"That's a relief to hear, especially since you seem to have such a vested interest in her," Glynda said. "It's been a few days, and from what I can tell all reports of that explosion have been determined to be a major earthquake. It's fortunate that no one else was around to witness the event and that the energy melded with the night sky so easily at a distance."

"Yet it also presents a problem regarding the untapped power of Ragna the Bloodedge," Ozpin rightfully figured. "If he's capable of that much destruction, required for his survival or not, then he's an even bigger danger than I originally had thought… and considering what I already knew him to be capable of, that is indeed saying a lot."

"It's not making it any easier with how tight lipped he's been regarding the events that happened below ground," Glynda noted. "Now that Ruby Rose is awake, it may be in everyone's best interest to get the story for what happened from her."

"…While she's certainly trustworthy, I don't think that we can count on her words in this instant. It's apparent that she wouldn't say anything about Ragna that would put his character in such a negative light or label him as a beast," Ozpin denounced. "I have to wonder if perhaps Jubei's hand is needed here after all; it might be in my best interest to send him back to his teacher considering present circumstances."

"…But you're not going to?" Glynda asked at Ozpin's pause.

"I haven't decided yet. On one hand it's rare to see someone with half as much potential to be become an amazing Huntsmen. The issue is that I need to wonder how much of that is up to the individual and how much of that is Jubei passing down his knowledge to Ragna. If it's more of the latter, then it's only sensible that we allow the master to continue to mold the student."

"Ask yourself this then, how much does Ragna actually remind you of Jubei?"

Ozpin gave Glynda a strange look at that inquiry.

"Admittedly very little. In fact I'd say that Ragna hardly operates as one would expect an apprentice of Jubei to. I can't imagine that the student received nothing of master from their time together. Training and knowledge is expected to be passed down of course, but when you analyze their characters…"

"And yet as you said, he still holds incredible potential and has already accomplished much regardless of his teacher's lack of influence."

"Indeed, though I never imagined that you of all people would be giving Ragna the Bloodedge such a staunch defense."

"Then that should easily tell you what the correct choice is here; all I can do is state facts," Glynda reminded.

"Indeed," Ozpin agreed. "Then… if you've observed all of this, can I also count on you to provide him with a test? For what we've considered to be his true last chance?"

"Of course you can," Glynda said as she simply drew her own scroll before making a few cautious taps with it. "There, we'll have our results by tomorrow… though I still think that we should know what really happened over that weekend."

"I agree, but I think we can settle for asking Ragna or Miss Ross when one of them are in a far better mood," Ozpin agreed. "…But considering what may be about to happen regardless, this is going to be a difficult matter for any parties involved."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"A move made by our Reaper himself… and one that we have no business interfering with."

Cafeteria

"Everyone's staring," Ruby said through hushed breath, grateful that she had the rest of her team gathered around her at the dinner table. She'd taken a brief show and already felt even better than when she'd awoken earlier. Though she'd yet to proper thank Celica, she kept her eyes peeled for the redhead.

"Someone must have told them about your coma," Yang whispered back.

"Speaking of that, did you ever tell dad what happened?"

"I think it's probably better that he doesn't know," the older sister admitted. "He's… probably gone through enough already. We can fill him in soon enough, but I'd rather we make sure that he won't go into a panic attack over losing us."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," she sighed.

"RUBY!" she heard a voice call. It was team JNPR, and more specifically Pyrrha, who had called out to her. "Thank goodness you're alright."

"H-Hey Pyrrha," she said a little nervously. "Sorry I haven't been able to help with the project these past couple of days."

"Don't even worry about it, furthest thing from my mind right now," she said before sitting down with the rest of her team at the other side of the table. "We're just about done anyways; all we need is one more good day of studying together and we'll be in good shape. And the camping trip can't come soon enough."

"I've already got a ton of stuff picked out for us!" Pyrrha said excitedly. "I made sure to grab anything we'd need for smores, campfire stew, card games! The whole set!"

"She went a little overboard in our spending," Ren admitted. "Still, it should be a good time."

"Some of us look like we could use that good time," Jaune added as he glance over to a table where Team RAIN was sitting, sans their leader "I've been working with Noel on our random project assignments and it sounds like Tsubaki's at wits end with what to do with Ragna… part of me can't help but wonder if she wants the guy to come back."

"It's hard for her I know, but we'll at least be seeing Ragna for the camping trip tomorrow, count on that," Yang said with her usual spunky and go getter attitude.

"She's got a plan for him?" Nora had to ask.

"Just to make Ragna finally see reason, like it or not," Blake clarified.

"Sounds… like her," Ren commented diplomatically.

"Hardly, we're all in favor at this point," Weiss argued.

"Well, it's nice to hear that he has so many friends looking out for him." It was a familiar voice, but not one that any of them cared to hear at that moment. Cinder Fall, carrying a tray of food and keeping her normal air of innocent sweetness about her. "Glad to see that you've recovered Ruby, I was a really worried for you there."

"Thanks," Ruby said. She wasn't trying to be unfriendly to Cinder (even if she couldn't help but suspect that she'd put Ragna in his project predicament) but she didn't have a clear grasp on where things stood between them. "Have you… heard from Ragna by chance?"

"Only the information concerning our Projects. It's difficult, but he's putting the work in to make up for lost time. I'm doing my part too where I'm able, but it's hard to coordinate when your partner isn't much for communication." She shrugged. "Guess I'll just have talk things out with him over the camping trip. Don't worry, I promise not to take up too much of his time."

"…I'll hold you to that," Weiss answered sternly.

"I'd expect nothing less. Again Ruby, good to see that you've recovered," Cinder said as she walked off to join her team. 'I'll have to come up with a little something for the camping trip, since Ragna wisely isn't showing his face around here. I just have to make sure it doesn't come back to me… unless I can give Team RWBY a REAL show.'

"Soooooo… Need us to keep her off your back while you finally talk things through with Ragna?" Jaune asked, getting a strange look from his partner. "What?"

"That's a very blunt offer to make Jaune; I half expected Nora to offer that."

"To be fair, he only beat me to it by about two seconds."

"I mean, it's kinda clear that something's up with Cinder and Ragna. Even if none of us are able to prove that she's either in the middle of something or has already done something to him, I think the only good part about his absence is the distance from her." Everyone looked at Jaune in surprise at his analysis. "At least that's how I see it."

"You've really started to work on that analytical mind of yours," Ruby noted. "Nice to see you're still growing your talents out."

"I kinda have to at this point; with all of the research we've had to do for the projects I haven't been able to get in as much combat practice as I should. That and I think that defense I got from Ragna's training is actually starting to slip. Things are looking pretty desperate if I don't want to make a fool of myself at the Vytal Festival."

"I wouldn't worry about that much, you still have plenty of time to train during the break.," Blake reminded.

"Besides, it's not like you're completely out of options. Why not ask Azrael for help and try seeing how many of his punches you can tank?" Yang offered.

"…I said I was desperate, not suicidal."

That Night

Litchi gave a low yawn as she organized her final papers before sticking them in the folder for future records. Approving Linhua's work had been easy enough and she'd trusted her daughter insight on Ruby's stabilized condition. Still, it was a fair bit vexing that she hadn't been able to heal the girl in the first place. Her best medical treatments would have done nothing to save her, it was only thanks to Celica's healing semblance that she'd recovered. It had been Ragna who'd told the students to grab her, like he somehow knew she'd be able to upon first glance. While Litchi had developed a rarer technique of utilizing her own aura to heal certain patients it was nowhere near as effective as what she'd witnessed. If that girl's talents could somehow be replicated…

A sharp knock at the door broke her out of her train of thought. It certainly wasn't her daughter as she'd already returned to her quarters for the night and her husband wouldn't had knocked, even this late into the night.

"It's open."

The door opened, revealing the silhouette that Litchi recognized immediately. She gave a knowing smile; what they were here for seemed obvious.

"I'm afraid the visiting period ended a few hours ago… and the patient you were hoping to visit was already discharged earlier today." Silence. "Though… I'm a little surprised you're visiting now. Normally you'd wait to be sure everyone else had left so that no one else would know you'd visited. I hope you don't mind that my daughter informed me."

"…I already heard she got out," they answered before reaching into their pocket and throwing a key which landed on Litchi's desk. "I just came to return that."

Litchi glanced at the key before looking back to Ragna and sighing. "She knew that you visited, all of them know now."

"And? It's hardly any of your business," the Reaper bit back. "If you want me punished for breaking in, then go tell Goodwitch and be done with it."

"Be done with it… that would apply to your tenure at Beacon as well, wouldn't it?" she asked sadly. No response. "You don't seem worried about it."

"It was stupid of me to be worried in the first place," Ragna answered. "I'm only staying enrolled because it's convenient. If I'm out, I still got backup plans."

"Convenient for what though? You haven't told me what it was you're trying to do here. Obviously you're not worried about becoming a Huntsman, so why did you come to Beacon in the first place?" Again, Ragna didn't give her an answer. "Then why are you bothering to work on your project if you're only here for conveniency?"

"Because I've got the rest of my team counting on me for our projects. I'd feel like an ass if I just gave up and left it to them," he answered. "I'll put in the effort as long as I need to, and until it's official that I'm out I don't want to drag anyone down."

"Is that why you're avoiding Team RWBY?"

"…It's really that obvious?" Litchi only smiled at him. "Is Ruby going to be able to attend the camping trip?"

"Without issue. Right now she's at peak health."

"That's… good. After everything she was put through, the last thing that she needs is to miss this trip," Ragna agreed. "Thanks for looking after her."

"I'd say you did that more than anyone," the doctor responded kindly. "Speaking of that; my daughter wanted you to know that she'll be collecting later for lending you this key. I hope you know your sweets."

"For the love of…" A low and casual groan. "Maybe once this damn quarter's over, for now I gotta get back to work or else I'm never going to catch up."

"Don't overdo it though; Doctor's orders," she said a bit more sternly. "And at your age too much brooding-" Ragna shut the door before he could finish. "…I'm starting to understand how Goodwitch feels about him."

The next day

"…So Cinder," Mercury noted from the end of his bed, packing a light duffle bag for his camping trip. "You know that Ragna's back, right? I had to image that you either didn't know or flat out forgot, since you haven't been hounding him for every second since his apparent return."

"With all of your Ragna defenses, you'd think he was your boyfriend," Emerald bit back at her partner.

"When I had so much fun kicking his face in a week ago? I don't think so. 'Sides, too spiky." Neo doubted Mercury was serious, when was he? "But you've let things settle with him for quite a while. Why the sudden show of mercy?"

"If you really must know, it's because I haven't managed to track him down yet. It's hard to make someone's life a living hell when you can't even find them," Cinder explained casually. "For now I'll just have to stay my hand until something better comes along."

"Waiting around doesn't sound like you, especially with that eager look you got in your eyes when you heard he was back," Mercury reminded. "I'm more surprised that you didn't finish off the girl and finally give him a real piece of torment. That's what you wanted to do, right?"

Cinder thought back to when she had gone into the hospital room. It had been long after midnight and there should have been no one around… but there was Ragna's sitting at her side and holding her hand gingerly as he refused to so much as take his eye off his friend. He hadn't noticed her observing them through the small crack she'd opened in the doorway, but she hadn't tried anything else and didn't even bother to head back on any other night. What was the point? Ragna would still be there.

"…Her condition had already been declared as stabile, so if she'd died they could easily tie it back to murder and create an investigation. And even if we made sure that Ragna was found guilty, that just means that he wouldn't be here for the hell I want him to experience. What does it matter anyways? Everyone here will be dead before long."

"Assuming you don't make us trip at the finish line," Mercury reminded. "I dunno, what do you think about the whole mess Neo?" The mute girl only gave a shrug. "Riveting."

"Let's leave our talks there, we all have important business to attend to now," Cinder reminded as she headed for the doorway. "Remember everyone; smiles."

"We'd be the only ones. I can't believe their going to put us through mock battle before we leave on a trip," Emerald griped.

This wasn't exactly true as most of the students that they passed in the halls were too excited with the camping trip to care that they still had a class left to finish for the day. Many were excitedly discussing plans for once they arrived at the campsite while others were breathing a sigh of relief now that they had a few days away from any project work. A significant amount were obviously behind in their work and worried how their time on the now required trip would cut into the time they desperately needed (after not planning around) and Cinder could only pride in knowing Ragna was still a member of that group.

Their team was the last one into the mock battle room as Goodwitch stood near the entrance waiting to begin class. Glancing up at team RWBY, Cinder practically taunted them with an ever-so-sweet smile and a friendly wave before following the rest of her team to the stands and-

"You can remain here, Miss Fall," Goodwitch cut in, not raising her eyes from her scroll as she processed attendance. "You'll be taking part in today's match."

"Oh. Of course I… Wait, today's match? You mean we're only having one?" she demanded in surprise.

"That's all we have time for after all. I suppose all that's left to do now is wait for your opponent to arrive."

'Wait, she-!?' The sudden silence from the students as she heard footsteps coming from the doorway was all the confirmation she needed. Stepping into the room was none other than Ragna the Bloodedge with his usual grim look on his face. He wasn't dressed in his usual red coat and black hakama instead electing to wear his proper Beacon uniform, he lacked either of his swords, and more importantly-

"What happened to him?" Ruby asked as she looked over the much healthier Ragna. Now instead of thin and frail state she'd found him in, his body looked like it had at the start of the quarter and he didn't look like he was going to topple over out of nowhere. "How did he recover like that?"

"Like what? He was like this when we found you both?" Weiss explained.

'After he fought off Messiah? Did he somehow find Grimm or… that still couldn't have been enough on its own, could it have been?' "What about his jacket though? He never wears his uniform."

"Probably because it was torn to shreds, my guess is that's he's probably repairing it," Blake said, only to notice that her partner was bringing out her scroll and setting its camera to record. "Yang?"

"Trust me, I got a feeling this is one fight we're not gonna want to miss an instant of," she said with a smirk.

"Nice of you join our class for once, Mr. Bloodedge," Goodwitch said to her problem student without so much as raising her eyes from her scroll.

"The message you sent didn't give me much of a choice; you said I'd be expelled if I didn't show up to this." Ragna had yet to so much as glance towards the stands or Cinder, only keeping his eyes focused on his teacher. "You have me here now, happy?"

"Hardly; attendance is both mandatory and expected. You're only hurting yourself by skipping classes, even if you are using that time to continue work on your projects. That being said, you're especially needed here today because you'll be participating in our final match before we leave for the school trip."

'Where is she coming from with this?' Cinder internally questioned. "I'm not sure this is the best timing for such a thing. Ragna's still without a weapon and it would hardly be fair to fight him while he's unarmed."

"I believe that we've made our policy regarding personal weapons quite clear," the instructor said. "Students are responsible for maintaining their weapons and that includes making sure that said gear is ready for mock battles. If it is unavailable, it is up to the student to request a temporary replacement from the academy and solve the issue quickly. I can assume that you've taken none of those steps." Ragna silently shook his head. "Then he'll fight unarmed, in said disadvantageous state. Given his fighting style, it won't be the largest blow to-"

The sudden sound a blade cutting through air alerted the three of them the instant before Ragna's hand shot out and grabbed the weapon thrown his way. Glancing at the object, he saw that it was a very familiar red gladius; the Izayoi Sword.

"…Miss Yayoi," Goodwitch started calmly as she adjusted her glasses. "Might I ask what you're doing?"

"Standing up for my partner." Her voice was tense but steady as she glared at Ragna. True, things were strained between them with Ragna's abandonment and secrets… but even still.

"Even if this is a clear breach of the rules?" the teacher asked.

"Saying that you'll support your partner is hardly worth anything if you don't do it when it really matters," she answered. "So yes, even if."

"…Very well, we'll discuss your punishment after the trip then." This didn't get a trace of a reaction from Tsubaki. "Now then, I'm sure you're unfamiliar with that weapon?"

"I've seen it in action, I'll learn my way with it soon enough," the Reaper answered back readily. "Besides, I get the feeling that I'm not allowed to lose this match."

"Take your positions." Seemed like Goodwitch was ignoring the question.

"I'll… take it easy on you," Cinder whispered as she grabbed out her twin blades. "I know you're in a bad position right now, so if I try to make you look good in this fight, then maybe she'll give you some credit." Ragna didn't so much as turn to her as he walked into his starting position. "Hey! I'm trying to help you!"

"…Seriously? You can still say that with a straight face?" As Ragna finally turned to face her with a hellish scowl, Cinder felt like she was looking directly into the eyes of death itself. "How damn stupid do you think I am?'

(Cue Sonic and the Black Knight -With Me-)

Caught off guard by the sudden revelation, Cinder let the smallest signs of surprise slip into her expression as Ragna took his ready position. Once the countdown had ended, Ragna wasted no time in charging straight for Cinder and giving a hefty swing with his borrowed weapon. Cinder went with a full cross guard out of caution, though she fully expected that she'd have no trouble holding this attack back. Instead Ragna's single strike was more than enough to break her reinforced guard and she had to leap back to avoid his free hand's uppercut. As he came at her with a horizontal slash, she leaped over him and tried to score a hit to the back of his head with one of her blades. Ragna blocked the attack without even turning, though he did swiftly spin into a clean roundhouse kick that sent her sailing back.

As she slid along the floor, Cinder combined both of her blades to form a bow before sending a multi-shot straight for the Reaper. A single masterful slash from the knife was enough to cleave all of the projectiles in half before Ragna threw his gladius as a projectile. Cinder used her bow to deflect the item into the ground, but Ragna used that chance to close that distance. Stating with a lunging jab, Cinder separated her bow and managed to block with the flat of her sword. Flipping around, she went on the offensive with a heavy overheard slash only for it to be guarded by Ragna's… forearm. Swiping low as she landed before slashing up with both weapons, the Reaper shifted to block both of his attacks with the same forearm. The attack didn't even leave scratching on his sleeves.

'What is that?! I haven't seen him do anything like this before! Is he blocking with pure aura!? He couldn't even manifest it before he left!'

Realizing her leader was in trouble, Emerald went for a quick vision. When Cinder was about to continue the assault even at a disadvantageous state, Emerald created the illusion that she was going to step back in order to avoid Ragna's counterattack. A small change, but it would be enough to land her attack cleanly if not a decisive blow to end the match.

WHAM!

The sudden sound of Ragna's punch striking Cinder cleanly in the chest resonated throughout the room as did the following shockwave from the impact. Cinder yelled as she was sent flying into the wall and caused strong cracks while her aura barely managed to hold. Goodwitch didn't call the match just yet, and Ragna used the brief pause to pick up Tsubaki's weapon.

'I… Did I time that wrong?' Emerald questioned internally. 'It's just that he'd already committed… right?

Far from certain, Cinder scowled at the sudden beating she'd just been given as she charged back at Ragna with both of her swords out as Ragna returned the charge in kind. This time Emerald used her illusions to show Cinder continuing her charge forward while reality held that she stopped short to reform her bows and form another set of arrows. Readying his swing, Ragna was only going to slash at open air and Cinder would-

CLANG!

Once more Emerald was proven wrong as Tsubaki's weapon extended into a bladed whip that clashed with Cinder's bow and knocked the arrows out of her grasp before she could fire them off. As the whip came back for a second swing, she separated her weapons and deflected the whip before Ragna retracted it back into its base knife form. Clashing between the knife and one of Cinder's blades sent the two into a blade lock. With his weapon occupied, she tried to attack Ragna with her other blade only for Ragna to catch the attack at her wrist. Before Cinder could break free, Ragna reeled back before delivering a brutal headbutt to Cinder's face that sent her staggering back and gained a shocked gasp from most of the onlookers. Ragna didn't pursue the attack any further, only scowling Cinder down as his tormenter was letting her own aggression seep through with her own enraged scowl.

"She's about to blow it," Mercury whispered. "Do something!"

"I'm trying!" Emerald snapped back. "Alright, let's try this…"

She then created a more nightmarish illusion as Cinder readied her bow and arrows. Without a specific idea already in mind, she instead resorted to the same nightmare that had net Ragna his crippling loss against Mercury. Just to test if this was actually working, she placed the phantom to Ragna's left while Cinder ran to his right and started knocking her arrows before firing them at a multitude of angles. Not only did she notice Ragna glance to where the apparition would be standing for a fraction of an instant, he even swung into that angle to cover himself from attack… while also catching one of Cinder's arrows with how wide his whip swing had been. It should have been impossible, but with that briefest of contacts with launched projectile was enough to break Ragna out of his illusion and he then moved as a blur to destroy the rest in a flash of rapid knife swings.

'He can't… he's… he's immune to the visions!? Or he can fight through them!?'

As Ragna charged forward, Cinder separated her blades once more and came at Ragna with a heavy overhead clash. Ragna's uppercut clashed against her and caused Cinder to stumble as the spark flew around them. Coming from either side in a pincer slash, one final parry from Ragna knocked the blades from her hands as they sailed through the air. The force was even enough to knock Cinder off her feet and blast her into a wall for the second time. As she struggled to recover from the attack she was covered by a shadow as Ragna closed the distance and…

(End theme)

Cinder had barely stopped herself from unleashing a magic attack on Ragna as the Reaper held her against the wall, the blade of the Izayoi was a hair breadth from her neck. The slightest movement and Ragna could kill her if she didn't act first… the question was if he'd go through with it. When Ragna began speaking, his words were so quiet that only she could hear.

"Last warning; stop it with your petty bullshit. Stop whatever sick plans you've got for me or anyone else… or I'll do something worth getting expelled over." Taking the blade away from her neck, he nonchalantly tossed into the air where it twirled around right before impaling itself right in between Tsubaki and Noel.

"A good match, though I'd ask that you don't throw blades into the crowd." Ragna just gave her a non-committed shrug. "Class dismissed everyone. Please head to your assigned teachers and they'll bring you to your transportation. Remember, no one is allowed to take off until the ships are fully boarded. So don't be the group that keeps our flight plans stalled."

Without a second look at Cinder, Ragna headed out of the mock room. Stooping just outside the doorway, he gave one last glance in the direction of Team RWBY before heading on his way.

"…You're falling asleep to that every night for the next week at least, aren't you?" Weiss asked as Yang finished her recording. The blonde pocketed her scroll before glancing with an eyebrow raised at her teammate. "Again, I know you."

"Never said you were wrong." She smirked. "Want me to send you a copy?"

As the rest of the teams piled out in quite a hurry to their rooms to grab their luggage before finding their assigned teachers, Cinder remained motionless against the where Ragna had defeated her. Cautiously, the rest of her team approach though they only did so when they were sure everyone else had left the room.

"Cinder, I…" Emerald slowly began.

"Please don't blow up the school. Still a little early for that." Of all the times for Mercury to make a wisecrack.

"…He… He…"

Neo cautiously look a step back and pulled the other two with her, just as the ground beneath Cinder's feet became red hot. Her face became stern with rage as fire itself seemed to burn in her eyes.

"On this trip… He DIES."

"Cinder… isn't that an overreaction?" Emerald asked cautiously. "He only beat you in one match. He still doesn't have a weapon and you never used your Semblance or your other powers. If anything, if it ever came down to an all-out fight you could still finish him."

"It might not be enough; you could tell that your illusions don't even affect him now," she said through grit teeth. "And he should have been crippled after everything I put him through. How did he recover like that in just a few days!?"

"…Hate to bring it up, but I warned you about this back when you thought you'd won." Emerald tried to tell her partner off from pushing Cinder too far. "Now you're putting us all in a corner. If you really try to push this and we get found out; we're all dead. And I'm not taking that fall for you now."

"…Fine. I'll be patient and wait for a better chance then," she conceded with a glare. "But I want all you ready for the instant we make a move on him. Understood? He's too big of a threat now."

"Of course," Emerald answered. Neo only nodded once while Mercury didn't say anything.

Later

Ragna was silent as he stood on the roof of the school, watching as the fleet of transport ships left. It was only fortunate that Ozpin had honored his request to be left behind, even if he was the last one left inside the academy. Per the departure procedure, none of the ships would be allowed to leave until all of the students were accounted for… with the exception of himself of course. This meant he was finally alone at the Academy for an entire weekend, giving him well needed time to finish his project and… now that Ruby had recovered he could get his thoughts together. He couldn't say this felt like a victory, more like a necessary evil. Once the final ships had disappeared from sight, he headed off the roofs and back inside.

Walking through the empty halls was hardly surreal. Ragna had already traveled through every night in both silence and solitude on his way to visit Ruby. True he didn't have to keep the volume down as he walked along now or worry about any other stealthy qualities, but it was almost completely the same… almost. There was an odd feeling nagging him at the back of his head, but it wasn't like when he was with Cinder. It was… something else. He'd experienced it a lot in his time of solitude during the first quarter, but only in very key moments. It was like he needed to be far away from any student to have this feeling and it absolutely needed to be silent. The feeling itself was an oddity in itself. At first he'd thought it was only due to a lack of sleep, but now he was starting to identify the sensation. In fact it felt awfully similar to…

He shook the thought out of his head. No reason to dwell on those nightmare any longer. Heading over his team room, he cautiously unlocked and opened the door before hitting the light switch. Aside from a few missing features that were likely packed for their camping trip, the room looked exactly the same from the last time he'd slept in here close to a full week ago. His own area looked like it had been dusted and he didn't remember leaving his bed so properly made. Speaking of said bed though, there was a dark red folder laying at the center. Raising an eyebrow since he didn't recognize it, he walked over and opened the front… and went still at what he saw.

Notes on Grimm Studies, Combat Tactics, Semblances, Geography, History and a multitude of other subjects. All inscribed in his handwriting. Flipping through he saw countless other pages that he recognized along with the actual answers that had been assigned as project questions. At the very back there was a small thumb drive of data… and he had a strong suspicion it held his digital notes.

"…What is this?" he demanded as he glared down at the information. "Cinder couldn't have just caved like that… could she? After all of the work she'd have to put into screwing with me; even if I don't have any proof." He shook his head. "What a sick joke."

…A knock on his door.

Ragna was still for a long moment. He had to have imagined that. But there it was again. Exhaling deeply, he headed over to the doorway and opened to whoever was on the other side…

"You've got to be kidding me."

Meanwhile

Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren sat on their side of the transportation ship as the vehicle gave a low hum in its flight across the sky. Ren was as cool as he normally was, but then again he had to the best disposition for it. Pyrrha was wisely electing to cover herself and was currently reading a magazine regarding the latest in training routines and Huntsman talents. Jaune and Nora were both fidgety messes as they kept glancing over to the hastily made manikins on the other side of the ship. Made from item that they'd packed and accessories left by Team RWBY, these were hardly convincing… but the ship had still taken off. In spite of everything against them.

"You four must think you're so clever," Relius Clover said without so much as glancing back from his seat at the front.

Next time on February 17th

Grimm Reaper

Well everyone… we're just about at the end of the crazy update spree. Just a little bit left and then I can start to move onto other things. Thanks to everyone so much for the help and support you've shown. A bit of a spoiler, but I'm writing this kinda stuff now because the next chapter… well it's gonna be a big one and those usually mean that I won't have an author's note. Still leave your reviews though! I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts when it comes out ON MY BIRTHDAY! WOO WOO!

Aside from that though, CF got rollback and the connection with how Ragna just beat Cinder isn't lost on me and I think it's a hilarious coincidence.

Again though, thank you everyone SO MUCH for your support. Let me get to all of our reviews and…

I'll see you all on the other side. Ciao.

From Chapter XXIX: Broken

BlitzNutral69: Yep, and he's served his purpose.

Javier Amon Belmont: Answers… NEXT TIME (well last time, but next time to).

Darkkrt: And in pieces.

Incofnito74: Thanks! Enjoyed writing it.

NiceScourge: Not quite how you wanted it to play out, but hopefully the end result was worth it.

The Unplanner: Nope, Celica's healing comes in clutch once more.

P3R50N4: Hopefully it was work the wait, but said wait was much shorter than some of the other ones.

Xaxiel1572: Well he's still here… for now.

Yuki terimi: Very much so, but with a different phrase.

From BLOODEDGE

Kitsune No Hi 75: You got your wish.

Dracoog101: Thanks, and that's Ragna to a tee.

.76163331: Thanks for the kind words (once I translated them).

Faightan Gaims: Oof, that's long overdue.

P3R50N4: I'm going to guess that you're saying finally to Ragna finally using Soul Eater and not how long the chapter took.

GM9000: Actually it's less that the eggs were rotten and more like… well, that's more up to interpretation.

The Unplanner: An interesting… twist on the story.

Yuki terimi: And you only had to wait a week.