Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and RWBY. Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum (rest in peace you saint of a man).
A question one would ask why type this up? Simple – why not?
Chapter 28: Existence Vol. 3
First thing Yang knew, she was holding Ren and this Senna girl by their throats demanding for answers, then she suddenly was farther away from her sister. Her friends arrived soon after as Ren blinked in and out of sight until he brought back Qrow. After expending so much reiatsu on the spell from the cero blast in the Dangai, it took all he had to get everyone out of safety. Unfortunately, it left Ren vulnerable to an enraged Yang accosting up to him and picking him up by the front of his shirt.
"Take me back there, you son of a bitch!" Yang demanded. Her sister was back and was turned into a monster. The best a sister could do was be there for her, maybe even reach out to her.
"I can't." Ren berated with grit teeth, "Even if I wanted to, you'll end up dead."
"Bullshit!" Yang roared, shaking Ren in her grasp, "You will take me back there or I swear to both Monty and Oum I will-"
BONK!
Yang's eyes lost their red fire as they rolled back to her head. Ren clumsily was set back on his feet while the blonde slumped to the ground unconscious. Behind her was Senna, her staff zanpakuto poised where Yang's head was. Her hands were shaking and she was hyperventilating.
"She's terrifying, alright." Senna excused, "I had to do it."
"It was probably for the best." Blake noted, very shaken by the recent developments that quite literally blew up in her face.
Ozpin nodded in agreement, although he was lost in his own world of thoughts. Weiss was...coping if one could call sitting in a corner with an unblinking eyes rocking back and forth, mumbling, "Of course Ruby would do this." Qrow had an unreadable expression on his face, deciding whether to gulp down the rest of his whiskey or quit drinking all together.
"All we can do is wait...this out." said Ren, "But in the off chance that things go off, I'll need some healing Kido, Senna."
Senna nodded and crouched to Ren's level when he sat down on the ground in exhaustion. A green glow flowed from her hands, and Ren could already feel his reiryoku reserves refilling and his exhaustion diminishing. In the meantime, Ren was praying to Ruby to make it through her ordeal.
(Inner World)
Ruby was NOT making it through her ordeal, evidenced by the amount of pavement and buildings she was hurled through. She spat mouthfuls of her blood, and she was sure a few ribs were broken. A few thoughts rang through her head, like why can she still feel pain in her head?!
"This was never yours." snarled Gruby, accosting to Ruby, "This body, this power, this life. It was never yours. It - is - all - mine!"
"I," Ruby groaned, coughing a bit as she tried to stand, "don't... understand. What did I... do to you?"
Gruby scowled menacingly revealing her fangs. Even when Ruby stood, Gruby simply stood right in front of her. She could attack the Grimm, but it would never work. Ruby tried to counter, but Gruby latched her clawed fingers around Ruby's throat. Silver eyes of bright innocence stared into red and black eyes burning with an eternal rage.
"Do I have to spell it out to you?!" said Gruby, "You were born!"
Gruby kicked Ruby in the chest, sending the Huntress tumbling across the ground like a tumbleweed. Once she anchored herself, Ruby let out wheezy breaths as her broken ribs tightened around her lungs.
"You were born and my existence was sacrificed for it." ranted Gruby, "I hate you. I've always hated you every single day you drew breath because I didn't get a life while you did."
Another kick landed on Ruby's jaw, coughing out more blood. Seeing enough of the beating, Ruby willed herself and used shunpo to get behind Gruby and swing her glaive. The Grimm easily deflected it aside with her claws and fired a bala into Ruby's chest. The bullet of reiatsu sent Ruby crashing into another building, and let the rubble trap her down.
"Why?" Ruby said, getting back up sluggishly, "Why do you hate me so much? Who are you?"
Ruby almost jumped like a scared girl when her doppleganger used sonido and stood inches from her face.
"Like I'd tell you." said Gruby, preparing for a finishing blow.
However, her claws met a black blade, and Gruby's red eyes trailed up to narrowed brown orbs of Ichigo Kurosaki. Ruby would've berated him for interfering in something she should be doing, only to realize Ichigo wouldn't listen in the first place. That's just who he is.
"I've had enough of this." stated Ichigo, pushing back Gruby via focusing black reiatsu into his daito.
Suddenly, Gruby used sonido to appeared behind Ichigo's guard. Her hand flattened like a blade and raised over Ichigo's head.
"I am not Zangetsu." said Gruby, "Bye-bye, loverboy."
"What..." That was all Ichigo could get out before he was seeminly split in two and shattered away like glass. Gruby smiled sadistically as she heard tears dropping from Ruby's face. Maybe he was dead or he was just in his own inner world. There was no way to tell.
"ICHIGO!" Ruby cried. She tried to hold back sobs and instead focus on the enemy. Her grip on her glaive tightened. Pouring all her reiatsu into the zapakuto, Ruby raised over her head and gave a war cry as she brought down the blinding blade.
... Only for Gruby to catch it by the handle below the blade before impact.
"Like I said," said Gruby, "This power is mine."
The glaive was forced out of Ruby's hands. In Gruby's claws, the colors changed from silver and blue to red and black. Ruby felt her shinigami powers leave her. She couldn't even use Kido or shunpo. All she had left was her Aura and Semblance.
"This was never yours." said Gruby, as she plunged the glaive right through Ruby's chest. She didn't feel pain, but she felt her soul passing into a void. Ruby desperately tried to cling on to something but there was only silence as her senses dwindled.
(Real World)
'DAMMIT!' Ichigo roared in his head. He was unable to voice his frustrations vocally since Zangetsu was still in control of his body. However, his body was losing stamina now that Gruby cut off the link to his and Ruby's mindscape. He could will himself to stay in this form, but probably lose control, with or without Zangetsu's help. He appeared in sonido where he sensed Ren and Senna were, ignoring the new faces that stared at him in shock as his form chipped away to his real body to a teenager shinigami of orange hair.
"KAMI, DAMMIT!" Ichigo cursed, punching the ground. He could feel his Bankai slowly fading away.
"What happened?" asked Ren.
"That freak in Ruby is different from mine." Ichigo said, "I tried to help, but I was forced out. Pathetic. I'M PATHETIC!"
"Get a hold of yourself, Ichigo-san." said Senna, administering healing Kido to Ichigo, "There's still enough time that she can make it through this on her own, but right now we have our own problems in the form of a rampaging Vasto Lorde. If we don't move, she's going to...going to..."
(Que Bleach ost "Incantation")
As if on cue, Ruby appeared in a buzz of sound before the shinigami, Huntsmen, and Huntresses present. Even in the knowledge the Vasto Lorde was Ruby, they couldn't stop the wave of dread that flooded their senses. Instinct told them no matter what they did, death was all that awaited them. The shinigami fared a bit better from the killing intent, but they knew that they couldn't win. Ichigo could try, but he didn't have the spiritual energy at the moment to call upon his Bankai even.
"Senna." said Ichigo.
"Yeah?" said Senna.
"Please stop getting us killed with your jinxing." Ichigo said.
"Okay." Senna squeaked.
SIR of Team SIRR flared their spiritual pressure to shield the Remnanties, but it was nothing to the terror the Vasto Lorde seemed to emit from her eyes. The claws flexed excitedly at her sides, ready to tear through Aura and shred flesh. A snarling breath steamed out of the mouthpiece of the wolf mask. The buildup of spiritual pressure warned the following of the charging of a cero.
"Ruby..."
The pressure stopped as one voice made itself heard. The party followed Ruby's eyes to a conscious Yang staring with joy and slight shock at her sister alive again. She just couldn't see a monster like the others did, so all she saw in those red eyes was her baby sister.
"My little sister..." Yang mumbled.
No one could stop Yang approaching Ruby. The Vasto Lorde fixed its eyes on the blonde without any emotion. Yang opened her arms as though waiting for an embrace. She didn't stop even as Ruby raised her claws to bisect her.
"You wouldn't hurt me." said Yang, "It's me, Yang. Your big sis. Please come back to your big sis, Ruby."
No one could stop the claw coming down. Yang didn't blink as though she was accepting her fate or something else entirely. Just inches from her face, the left hand caught the right wrist and pulled it back in a struggle. To every soul present, they felt hope when they saw the left eyes of the Vasto Lorde turn silver.
(Inner World)
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER!"
She thought didn't how long she was lost in that abyss that belonged to the dead. When Ruby heard Yang's voice, the embrace of the darkness was nothing to her. When Ruby saw her own hand coming down to kill her sister, she denied the fate that was death. She roared in silence in her mind, pushing her will and soul into her possessed and changed body to stop the hand that would kill Yang. Her eyes opened from the abyss, staring daggers into Gruby.
(Que "Red Like Roses Part 1")
"You can haunt me." said Ruby, gripping onto the glaive impaling her and yanking it forward, "You can hurt me. But you will stay - away - from - everyone I love!"
Ruby gritted her teeth as pain shot through her whole body. With one last heave, she removed the glaive from her chest. Her legs felt like lead ready to fall but she kept herself straight to glare at Gruby.
"You try to hurt them and I will end you!" Ruby declared, silver light igniting around her body. The wound in her chest mended itself as Ruby retook her inner world with her will.
Gruby laughed. "What can you do? I've got your shinigami powers with my Grimm to boot."
"You should know," said Ruby, extending her hand out, "that before I was a shinigami, I was and still am a Huntress."
Silver light condensed around Ruby's outstretched palm till it made a 7 foot long scythe, red and black in color. The handle was made out of compacted parts of a sniper rifle, complete with trigger, muzzle, scope, and clip. This was Crescent Rose.
"I made this, remember?" said Ruby, going into her usual stance and cocking the sniper round.
"Just give up!"
Ruby's response was to disappear in a storm of rose petals and kick Gruby in the back. The Grimm swiped the glaive behind, only for Ruby to dodge with the recoil of Crescent Rose. To Gruby's fury, there was blood where the bullet hit.
"Why are you so damn persistent?!"
"Because I am Ruby Rose," declared the Huntress, "I won't let myself turn into a monster."
Gruby couldn't even get a clear vision of Ruby. The closest image she could get of her was a red blur running around her with rose petals in her wake. Gruby intercept her with sonido, but Ruby would just dodge out of the way with the recoil of Crescent Rose and dealing a blow on Gruby. She couldn't aim a cero because Ruby wouldn't sit still. At this point, it became a battle of attrition.
"What is the point, Ruby?!" Gruby cried, firing cero after cero to no effect, "Your Aura reserves won't last long."Ruby's voice echoed in response. "It is what Uncle Qrow said. As long as it bleeds, all you need is one good hit."
Gruby cackled. "As if I would let you."
Gruby failed to notice Ruby's super speeds picking chunks of rubble from the destroyed buildings. Too full of frustration was she that the Grimm failed to realize chunks of rock flying around her following Ruby's air cone.
Her red eyes glanced to the form of Ruby suddenly running toward. Pushing her Semblance to the limit, Ruby turned into a red twister. Gruby simply sidestepped out an attempt to seemingly tackle Ruby.
Only to be pelted by the storm of rubble. Each chunk hit with the force of a freight train and making her stumble back.
"You think this will stop me?!" Gruby exclaimed.
Ruby didn't say anything in response to keep her presence hidden. She ran through the storm of rubble while pushing her Semblance to the limit. Her legs screamed in pain and her vision grew blurry. But once she saw Gruby, Ruby poured all her power, all her will, into one strike.
"IT'S OVER!"
Silver light burned in her eyes meeting rivaling blood eyes for just second, the latter in complete shock. Ruby twisted like a dancer till the blade of Crescent Rose sunk into Gruby. As it imapaled through the other side, silver light shot out to creste a deep crevice in the ground.
"No..." said Gruby, pulling on the blade to no avail, "I was so close."
Reiatsu leaked out of the wound. It condensed behind Gruby till the zanpakuto mother, Summer, appeared. She gave an appraising smile to Ruby.
" Good job, Ruby." said Summer, "The nightmare will end once you absorb subjugate her."
(Que Bleach ost "Some things can't be explained")
Ruby nodded and narrowed her eyes on Gruby who was no kneeling. First, Ruby took back her shinigami powers, and in the process Crescent Rose turned into Ruby's zanpakuto in its sealed state. Finally, there was only absorbing her Grimm. She was stopped when Gruby's hand shot up to Ruby's wrist.
What happened next completely stopped Ruby's train of thought of abdorbing the Grimm.
Gruby was - crying! "Is it too much to ask? Is it really too much - to want a life?!"
Gruby raised her head, and when Ruby saw her face she lost all resolve to end the Grimm. She was shedding tears, and despite her eyes were so demonic looking the tears were no different than a human's.
Gruby sobbed. "I just want a life, that's all I want. Why is that such a bad thing? ALL I WANT IS TO LIVE!"
Ruby swordarm was shaking, unable to pull out Gruby's reiatsu and end her. This wasn't a Grimm before her. A Grimm would never cry.
It begged the question in Ruby's head who was Gruby really.
"Ruby, you can't hesitate." Summer called, "You have to end this now!"
Ruby glanced to her mother. She wasn't looking at Ruby at all, but to Gruby instead. As she looked at the black-clad doppleganger, Ruby could see so much guilt and regret. In those eyes, Ruby could see that Summer knew more than she let on.
Summer gasped when Ruby put both hands on the blade and yanked it free from Gruby, who was still sobbing softly. The zanpakuto mother was going to protest till her own daughter leveled a cold glare toward.
"You know who she is, don't you?" Ruby said coldly.
"I - you don't need to know." said Summer, her voice breaking.
"Stop hiding stuff from me!" Ruby demanded, "Tell me who she is!"
"I-"
"TELL ME!"
Ruby's voice echoed across the mindscape and silenced whatever protest Summer was about to make. She tilted her head down, shame dirtying her face. Summer looked back at Ruby with tears streaming down her face.
"She isn't a Grimm." said Summer, "Her name is Cristina, and in another life... she would've been your sister."
Ruby's eyes shot wide open in shock. Her zanpakuto fell from her shaking hand. A million thoughts stormed in Ruby's head, but the most prominent was how could Gruby - no, Cristina be her sister.
"How?" said Ruby.
"I was the happiest mother in the world." said Summer, the tears picking up pace, "When I learned I was going to have twins, I was so overjoyed. I would often talk to you two about how much I wanted to bake for you, to clothe you, to take you to your first day to school. Not even two months and I was already calling you Ruby and Cristina. But... fate had other plans. I became sick, very sick. When the doctors told me what to do, I wanted to cry and scream to the gods that I can't let them do this to me. I wanted to meet you both so badly, but my sickness wouldn't let me have both of you unless one of you died to make treatment possible. All those promises I made would only be half, but if I didn't do it, I wouldn't have you, Ruby, my little petal. Not even nine months and I already failed one of my children."
Summer's eyes and cheeks became red with sobs and the tears drenched her face. She buried her head in her hands, unable to look at Ruby and Cristina. Ruby didn't know what to feel. Pity for the dilemma of not birthing both children, or anger that Summer would just give up on a life to save another.
"But how is she here in my head?" said Ruby.
This time it was Cristina who answered.
"You promised so much, Mom." Cristina said, "I wanted everything that you said. I remembered. I wasn't prepared to go. While I was killed off, my soul still persisted and refused to pass on. And you we both know what happens with a soul full of regrets."
"Hollowfication." Ruby answered.
Cristina continued. "I wasn't even born yet, so of course there would be complications. I binded to the nearest soul there was, and here we are, Ruby. Every day. Every - damn - day I hated you because you had everything Mother promised while I was stuck in the depths of your soul unable to know what life was. Unable to taste the cookies she wanted to bake me. Unable to see the roses. Unable to smell the air of Patch. Unable to know and be loved."
Cristina glared at Summer, hatred burning in her red eyes. "You took everything away from me. Why? Maybe - maybe we would've both made it, but you were too much of a coward to care."
"..." Summer looked to Ruby, trying to find support from her daughter, "Ruby, I-"
"She was," Ruby interrupted with a sharp tongue, "no, is your daughter, and yet you threw her away. We both could've made it, Mom."
"If that's what you say, then I don't deserve to be your mother." Summer sobbed, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
"No, wait I-"
It was too late. Summer turned her head away and disappeared deep into the mindscape. Silver reiatsu leaked off of her and entered Ruby, giving her full access to her shinigami powers. Her fists clenched in frustration at her sides.
"AAAHHH!" Ruby screamed, kicking a sizable chunk of the earth. Tears of regret were flowing down her face, but were quickly wiped away.
"So what now?" said Cristina, "Are you going to finish me off? I'm still a monster."
"No!" Ruby answered firmly, picking Cristina to her feet, "I want to help you."
Cristina's black eyes widened in disbelief. "Why? I tried to kill you. I can't be forgiven."
Suddenly, Cristina was wrapped in the first warm embrace as Ruby, her sister in spirit, hugged her to quell the darkness within her.
"There are so many reasons why." Ruby said, "You were suffering. All you wanted was to live, just like I have. I have no idea how much that pained you, but I'm so sorry for that. I forgive you, Cristina, because you're family. You'll always be family."
For the first time in her lonely existence, the rage was lacking within Cristina replaced by something greater. The alien soul wrapped her arms around the first person to care for her, even after putting Ruby through so much. They were stayed like that in a warm embrace for a few minutes in complete silence.
"Thank you... sis." Cristina mumbled, "But I am not gonna stop being a sadist. I've lived with it, and I will continue to do so."
Ruby chuckled. "It would be too boring otherwise."
"You are free to use my power." said Cristina, holding Ruby at arms length, "You should go. You've got people waiting for you on the outside."
"I look forward to fighting with you, Cristina." said Ruby as she disappeared in a flash of silver light.
"Oh yeah." said Cristina, "I probably should've told her that I kinda screwed up with the whole mask thing. Those two are going to freak out."
(Real World)
The wolf Vasto Lorde's body cracked like a cocoon till it shattered. Out from that shell stood Ruby in human form, with a wolf mask over her face. The party stood in complete silence. The aura in the air was less violent but it was still there and powerful. Ruby took a deep breath, which was heard as a snarl to the spectators making them all tense. Red eyes opened from the slits of the mask staring back at the group, but most notably the Remnanties.
"Holy crap." said Ruby, as the mask shattered, "I am back."
"Is that really you, Ruby?" asked Yang, struggling to keep herself from clamping on her sister like a mother hen.
"Hey, guys." Ruby greeted with a weak smile.
Her sights locked on Ichigo. She dashed in a storm of rose petals towards the orange-head. Every Remnantie except Ren widened their eyes when Ruby pressed her lips onto Ichigo in a kiss, the latter widening his eyes in surprise at the sudden act.
"I thought you died." mumbled Ruby as she snuggled into Ichigo's neck, relishing his protective aura.
"Hey, have more confidence me, okay?" said Ichigo with a smile.
The spectators could only gawk at the sight that Ruby, the all-so innocent girl, kissing a seemingly random teenager. Yang was about to beat the ever living crap out Ichigo for answers and for possibly violating her baby sister's innocence till they noticed something odd about the pair.
Ichigo and Ruby backed up until their eyes were locked on a certain alien part. Where Ruby was staring, there was a long, white tail with a red tip waving behind Ichigo connected just above his tailbone. Ichigo was staring at the odd addition of Ruby suddenly having two fluffy ears caring a strong resemblance to the Vasto Lorde she was earlier.
"Why do you a tail/pair of ears?" they asked in unison.
Ichigo looked to where Ruby was looking at, and vice versa to where Ichigo was staring at. Indeed, when they touched them they couldn't definitely feel them as a part of their body. Complete silence dawned on the entire party. The only one who wasn't slacked jaw was a short and confused old woman with robotic eyes.
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(Que everyone freaking out, including the reader/readers)
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You are welcome to scream in the reviews. I hope you are satisfied with the truth of Gruby/Cristina. Ichigo won't have dual wielding, at least not yet. He won't be having a tail back in Earth, only when he is in Remnant or spirit form.
Next is Chapter 29.
Stay in touch. Please, please leave a review.