I know it's been basically a year since I published this story, and frankly I had no intention to adding a second chapter to it. I was going to leave it as it was and see if another writer wanted to expand on it or not.
I'm not even on anymore, I've mostly moved to AO3 at this point and planned on just using this profile as a way to observe the growth of my writing.
Recently I've been back on my RWBY/Rooster Teeth kick and decided to reread two of the RWBY stories, one of them being Fragments. And suddenly I had the inspiration to make a sort of sequel to Fragments, of how the girl's lives were after they found corrupted!Ruby. So I did. And so this chapter was born.
I hope everyone who waited so long enjoys :)
Ruby knew that before the pool she could be considered a decent artist.
Now she used it as a main form of communication with her team, so she got better. With a pencil and a sketchbook Blake had gifted her, Ruby found peace in the pages.
Weiss shifted against Ruby's back, making the corrupted lean forward a bit, once her partner settled she leaned against her back again.
Returning to her current drawing, Ruby frowned as she tried to figure out how exactly to add the distinct bubbling tar detail of the pool Salem would drop her in. Switching to a black colored pencil, she decided the details could be more seen with a secondary color.
They didn't look up as the front door opened and closed, Yang's voice coming through the hallway as she spoke to Blake.
"I'm telling you! A rip off!" The blonde grumbled as she placed the groceries on the counter.
"Still less than bail payments," Blake smirked, setting her bags down before she started to unpack them.
"I don't even want to know," Weiss stood up, brushing down her skirt.
Ruby slouched forward, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she completely focused on her drawing. Setting the black colored pencil beside her she quickly picked up the red one.
Leaning back she frowned, tapping the end of the colored pencil to her lip for a second. She set it down.
"Whatcha drawing, Rubbles?" Yang ruffled the younger girl's black hair.
Ruby handed over the sketch book, she grabbed Yang's hand and held it back to her head. She smiled as she enjoyed the touch.
Yang frowned as she looked at the drawing. "Is… this the Grimm pools?"
The corrupted nodded, she made grabby hands at the sketchpad. She flipped the page to a drawing she made the night before.
Of a rose petal floating above the pool, moments before falling in.
Ruby thinks one of the things she liked most now-a-days was physical affection.
She remembered liking it plenty before the pool, but Salem's experiments never had a non-harmful touch to them. Only pain, only despair. And she stopped understanding that positive touch could happen.
Positive touch, something her teammates were happy to share with her.
Hugs, hand holding, whatever she needed they were happy to give.
Yang definitely had the best hugs, always has in her memories, she just engulfed one in warmth and love.
Ruby nudged Yang's arm on the couch, her puppy dog eyes already activated.
"You know I can never say no to you," Yang smiled and pulled her sister into a hug, Ruby easily slid into her lap and returned the hug.
Resting her head on her older sister's shoulder, Rudy began to doze to the noise of the tv and Yang's breathing.
A growl was the only warning she got before the Hound leapt through the window.
Using her Semblance, Ruby just barely avoided being trapped under its claws. She sped down the hall towards their bedroom.
Ruby just got her fingers around Crescent Rose when the Hound slammed into her and put her through the cabin wall.
Her teammates had gone into town, picking up supplies for a planned hunt. Hopefully, they'll notice the alert of Ruby's aura going down. Hopefully, they'll make it in time.
Ruby slashed at the Hound before leaping back and shooting at its head. The beast barely reacted at the bullets, powering through them to get closer. It raised a powerful paw.
Spinning Crescent Rose in front of her like a shield, the attack only pushed the corrupted back a few feet. She slashed at the Hound, it grunted at the attacks, but they didn't seem to be doing any real damage.
With a powerful smack, Crescent Rose was knocked out of Ruby's hands and it pushed her down to the ground with its paws on her shoulders.
The corrupted let out a yelp of pain, scratching at the Hound's tar-like legs as it leaned its snout close to her face.
"Bring...back...the traitor."
The Hound slammed her into the ground, over and over until her aura shattered. Ruby dug her nails into the Hound's legs as wings shot out of its back.
"RUBY!"
The Hound didn't even glance behind itself, gaining air with Ruby in its paws.
They suddenly stopped rising and the beast growled, Blake's weapon wrapped around its back foot.
Taking the chance, Ruby struggled in its grip and attempted to roll out of its paws. Claws dug into her arm and thighs and she winced at the pain.
A gunshot and Yang was on its back, punching and firing into its body. Black glyphs formed and began to drag the creature back to the earth.
Eventually, Ruby managed to wiggle free and rolled onto the ground. She quickly got to her feet and snatched Crescent Rose where her poor weapon was thrown.
The Hound crashed into the ground, Yang leapt off its back and stood beside Blake. The beast turned its head to face Ruby, who was frowning.
"Bring...back...the traitor."
Ruby rolled her eyes, yeah, she was going to be loyal to the woman that took her away from her team and experimented on her. Even cursed her to live in pain as her powers burned away at the Grimm corruption slowly, but surely. Not just her, but other silver-eyed warriors as well. Salem put too much faith in her ability to control Grimm in order to control Ruby, forgetting that Ruby was not a Grimm.
Ruby was a person.
Her silver eyes shined briefly before flashing their purifying light. Once it disappeared they stared at the Hound.
As it revealed the person underneath. One of their eyes covered in a silver web and their skin melted under the Grimm tar that slowly ate away at them.
Ruby aimed at their head, blinking as she pulled the trigger and ended the Hound's suffering.
To think, that could have been her if Salem had decided to.
The Grimm tar turned to ash, leaving only a blackened skeleton.
"Are you hurt?" Yang carefully held her younger sister's shoulders, looking her over.
Ruby gave her teammates a pained smile, placing a hand over the one on her left shoulder.
Her voice was barely audible, lack of use for an extended time and the abuse it was put through in her experimentation.
"I'm okay."
This story is complete, I will no longer be adding onto this plot. If any readers want to expand on this or even write something based on it, by all means DO IT! All I ask is that you PM me a link or even just to be like "Hey, I wrote this thing based off your thing." I absolutely LOVE reading other people's work that have been created from my own, the reason I even started writing fanfiction is because I wanted to share how much my favorite shows/books/etc have inspired me to get into writing and grow as a writer. So inspiring other people to write is, like, me accomplishing the whole reason I even started writing in the first place.
This might be the final thing I post on , depending on how the future goes. I'll be moving anything I plan on continuing to write for onto my AO3 account, I'd already started duel posting on both accounts before just deciding that I've...outgrown . I'm pretty deep into college and I'm getting into the meat of my degree, I remember creating this account in Middle School to cope with somethings going on...
I didn't mean to get really deep into this, I just wanted to let those who follow my page for my RWBY content know what's happening.
See you all on the other side :).