Ruby had escaped her own head. She was visited by Adam a few more times over the next few days. She began to hope the next time the door slid open, it was someone who wanted to hit her, and not the bull-horned man. She disconnected herself when she didn't get her wish. When the fighting broke out, she didn't hear it. When the fires glowed the wall opposite her cell orange, she didn't see it. But that acute sound… the soft and subtle opening of the cell door. The sound she knew so well… that she heard.
She looked up. And she didn't know if she finally snapped or if Blake was really standing in front of her. Tears welled, and she tried to croak out words through an injured throat. "Bl-… Bla-…" Cough…
That's when the faunus gripped her tight. Ruby smelt the familiar smell of Blake's shampoo, felt the comforting warmth only her girlfriend could truly provide. Her tears fell faster, and as Blake undid the cuffs, Ruby's arms fell around her. The redhead couldn't speak. She only sobbed into Blake's shoulder until she passed out.
Yang rushed into the room and found the two sitting there. Ruby, limp in Blake's arms. "Is she…?" The blonde asked, fearful.
"She's alive." Blake told her. "She's breathing, I can feel it. But she needs a hospital. She's weak."
"Got it. I'll call someone." Yang assured her.
"How's the rest of it looking?" Blake asked.
"We brought more than enough Huntsmen." Yang answered as she pulled out her scroll. "Don't even worry about it, Blake. It's finally all over."
While the blonde was calling Ruby's location in, Blake looked over her. She was bleeding from multiple wounds and lacerations, and the faunus was afraid that she could see bone sticking out form a few of them. She had more bruises than open wounds, but from the look of her, Blake wondered how much damage she couldn't see. Others soon found the cell, and Ruby was hoisted out on a stretcher, to be taken to a hospital on the mainland.
"She has at least twelve broken bones, three of which are ribs, and both her left forearm bones, as well as her left Femur. The rest are small bones in her wrists and her right hand. Fortunately, there is no internal bleeding, though she has lost a lot of blood regardless. She's lucky."
Blake only stared at Ruby through the window to her room as the doctor gave them the gory details. Yang, Weiss, Taiyang and Qrow were also in the room, listening to the doctor.
"Will she make it?" Taiyang asked.
"No doubt. With enough aura and rest, and a bit of regular, practical medicine. I've seen huntresses worse than her completely recover in only a week. You people are certainly made of different stuff. She should be completely able to walk at her own graduation." The doctor told them.
The room breathed a sigh of relief. Ruby looked bad, but she was going to be okay. Blake kept watching her, and saw her stir. Her eyes went wide. "Ruby!"
With the doctor's permission, the group entered the room as Ruby opened her eyes. The redhead looked around her. "I'm… It was… real… Blake?"
Blake stepped out from behind Yang, into Ruby's view. The faunus smiled. "I told you I would come back."
"Blake…" Ruby smiled.
The faunus approached the bedside slowly. "How are you feeling?"
Images of everything that had happened flashed through Ruby's mind in an instant. "I feel numb… I guess that's the hospital stuff, though…"
"You'll be out soon, Rubes." Yang promised. "And we'll be waiting."
Ruby wasn't the same. It became more obvious when she returned to Beacon. For starters, she still had a lot of healing to go. The doctor wanted her to stay, but Ruby was tired of lying in bed 'resting' all day. Even if she couldn't spar or even lift anything too heavy, it was easier to distract herself at school. It wasn't hard to understand why. Someone could only endure so much pain before it affects their mind…
Blake was the only one who noticed the extreme as unusual. Ruby wasn't just being distant. She had been actively avoiding Blake since she got back. She was always quick with an excuse whenever the faunus actually managed to corner her girlfriend, and Blake couldn't help but feel that something else had happened. Something that Ruby hadn't told them. Something that affected how she saw herself, or worse, how she saw Blake.
The faunus awoke one morning, gazing forlornly at Ruby's bunk. This morning, however, Ruby wasn't in it. She sat up and saw Yang at the door to the bathroom, waiting. "What's going on?" She asked the blonde.
"Rubes is having a bad morning. She woke up, nearly fell out her bed from vertigo, and ran into the bathroom. I think she's throwing up." Yang explained. "Maybe you and Weiss should just head to class without us today, Blake. I'll take care of-"
"I'll be fine, Yang." A groggy Ruby stepped out of the bathroom. "I think it's past."
"Ruby, maybe you should stay in bed?" Blake suggested, concerned.
"That would be no better than the hospital. I'm fine." Ruby assured them.
"I think Blake's right." Yang confessed.
"Look, I promise I'll call the day quits if I feel bad again, but I'm fine now. It was just a quick thing, nothing serious." Ruby argued. The other two had no choice but to accept the stubborn girl's wishes.
"I think I'm staying in today, guys…" she told them all as they waited for her to exit the bathroom. It had been three days since her first morning upset, and it didn't seem to be letting up.
"Much as I agree with you, you need to eat something and try to keep it down. We can ask the kitchen to make you some soup?" Weiss suggested.
"She can stay here, and I'll take it back to the dorm." Blake immediately offered.
Ruby nodded. "Can I use one of your beds?" She asked Blake and Weiss. "I don't think I can make it into mine."
"Use mine." Blake told her. "And I'll use yours until this stomach bug passes." Ruby nodded and clambered into Blake's bed.
A few minutes later Blake returned, steaming bowl of soup in her hand. She opened the door and looked over Ruby with a frown. Ruby looked up, saw Blake's frown, and managed a weak smile. "I'll be fine, Blake."
"I know, it's just… I know." Blake nodded and handed her the bowl.
Ruby took it. Her nose scrunched. "What is it?"
"Chicken Noodle." Blake answered.
"It smells… off."
"It smells fine to me. Maybe it's because you're sick?" Blake suggested.
"I suppose…" Ruby tried to take a bite, but couldn't handle the smell. Blake took the bowl back. "I'll have them make something else."
"No, Blake, it's fine." Ruby insisted. "Don't bother the chefs, I can handle it."
"I'll be right back!" Blake told her, already out the door. In half the time as last time, she returned with more soup. "Told you!"
Ruby shook her head and smiled. "You didn't have to."
"I want to take care of you." Blake told her. "I want you to be happy."
Ruby smiled. She was starting to remember why she had fallen for Blake in the first place, why she had said yes when the faunus asked her on a date. Her smile failed as memories of Adam surfaced.
Blake noted the change in emotion. "Ruby, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Ruby assured her faunus lover. "You should get to class."
"Ruby, please…" Blake begged.
"I'm fine." The redhead told her, turning her head away. "You're already late by now. You should go."
"No." Blake put her foot down. "Look, I know it's a terrible time for this, but I won't let you keep avoiding it! Just… please talk to me, Ruby."
Ruby turned back to Blake. "Alright…" The redhead realized she was backed into a corner. "What do you want to talk about?"
"About whatever it is you aren't telling anybody." Blake asked. "There's something going on, something they did to you… and it's messing with your head."
Ruby shifted in her seat, unsure of how to proceed. Adam was at the forefront of her mind, but there was no way she could tell anybody… for all their tortures, that hurt the most. Pain that wasn't physical. But I need to tell somebody… I want to tell Blake… it's just one little confession… "I.. It's just… It's just… how much." Ruby settled on, cursing herself silently. "They never said anything, Blake. They just entered the cell, hit me, and left. I wasn't a prisoner. I wasn't a hostage. I was a stress ball, a punching bag. And they had a lot of stress…"
Blake hugged the girl close, and Ruby hesitated to return it. When she did, Blake spoke up. "It's over now Ruby. And you'll heal. You'll be good as new, better even. And this will all be a thing of the past."
Ruby nodded. "You really should head to class, Blake. I get you want to take care of me, but I won't let you sacrifice your grades. Not this close to graduation."
"Fine, fearless leader." Blake joked. "I'll see you later?"
Ruby nodded, and Blake left. The faunus stepped outside, unable to shake the feeling Ruby still wasn't telling her everything. But I've pushed too much already. She needs to heal first. Then we can talk. For real, this time.
When Blake finally left, Ruby broke. She started sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm so sorry Blake…" Ruby no longer knew why couldn't speak on it. Even if she tried, she always ended up saying something else. Returning to those nights was something she never wanted to do, but she did every night in her dreams. She spent so long in the shower now because most of it was her sitting on the bottom and crying. It was the only time she didn't have eyes on her. She felt violated, disturbed, unclean… and Blake was still pure. How can she possibly return to the relationship they had?
And how will she ever understand if I can't tell her? Ruby thought, and cried more. By the time the rest of team RWBY returned to check on her at lunch, she was long asleep, fidgeting in her nightmares. The soup lay cold and forgotten.
Over the next few days, Ruby appeared to be getting better. In truth, her nausea wasn't gone, but she had adjusted to it. Other than the nausea and her persistent nightmares, things finally seemed to be getting back to almost normal. She still couldn't look Blake in the eye for more than a few seconds, but that was something else entirely. The classes, the homework, the day to day, however, all seemed right again. Perhaps I'm finally starting to get over it… maybe I can tell someone soon… I know I need to…
Until one morning at breakfast. She was on auto-pilot in the mess hall, barely seeing what she was picking up. When she got back to the table, she received funny looks from her team mates. "What?"
"Pickles in honey?" Weiss asked.
"Cucumbers in ice cream?" Blake followed.
"And I thought you hated peanut butter and banana sandwiches…" Yang finished. "Plus, there's like… a lot…"
"Are you really planning to eat all of that?" Weiss asked, a hint of something in her voice… the same little hint she got whenever she was close to figuring out something during a study session.
"I guess I am." Ruby shrugged. "People's taste buds change, right? At least I'm eating at all." The redhead recalled the first few days she was back she ate nothing.
"Maybe it's because of that?" Blake theorized, silently wishing things could just be normal again. "She might just be hungry."
"I suppose…" Weiss sounded unconvinced.
Ruby shrugged and began eating, finishing the whole plate.
Later, Weiss cornered her outside of the first class, waiting until people disappeared before speaking. "Ruby, a lot of what you've been doing lately is kind of… suspicious. Is there something you haven't told any of us?" Weiss asked.
"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked.
"The puking, the eating… it's fine on its own, but all of it together? Ruby, are you sure you've told us everything they did to you?" Weiss asked, showing her concern.
This was Ruby's chance. Weiss may have been her partner, but she wasn't as close to Ruby personally. Their relationship stayed mainly professional. Maybe it was just the kind of person Ruby needed to finally tell someone. The redhead opened her mouth…
"No. There's nothing else…" and immediately cursed herself. "Can we please stop talking about it? Everybody keeps asking me, and I don't want to go back there…"
"I understand…" Weiss looked dejected, but she believed her partner. Which almost hurt Ruby worse than the actual lie. "I'm sorry."
That interaction did give the redhead something to think about all day. Weiss almost stumbled on what was quickly becoming Ruby's dark secret, because of things she was doing. Not so bad on their own, but when put together… The soon-to-be-huntress began linking all the strange things happening lately, with the one thing Weiss didn't have. Knowledge of what truly happened. One conclusion came quickly, and she just as quickly discounted it. But all day, she kept coming back to it, and it was soon the only conclusion with any logical merit. It terrified her to the core. She had to know.
Ruby went into Vale, looking for an out-of-the-way convenience store or gas station. Somewhere where the popularized huntress might not be so quickly recognized. Their exploits against the White Fang in the past few years had made team RWBY famous, red cloaks even become popular fashion. Some simpler clothes and her hood was all she needed to move town unnoticed, with so many other red hoods in the crowd.
She finally found the place she was looking for, and started scanning the shelves for the item she was looking for. Soon she located the item in question, and took a few boxes along with a case of water to the counter. The clerk raised an eyebrow at her selection.
"Do… you have a key for the bathroom?" Ruby asked as quietly as she could manage.
The clerk looked over her, and grew sad. He could tell she didn't want this. "Here." He passed her the key. "I don't get many customers, so you can take all the time you need."
Nearly two hours, 20 water bottles, and two dozen little sticks later saw the red reaper in tears. The little sticks were scattered about the floor where she tossed them in denial before picking up the next one. But with the final stick in her hand starting to show the same symbol as the others, there was little more Ruby could do to deny the truth.
As the little plus sign faded in, Ruby slid down the wall. She dropped the last pregnancy test and hugged her knees. There was only one way this was possible. One person who could possibly have done this to her. And the last thing Ruby wanted to do was bear his child.
