"And that's the match" Goodwitch called as the buzzer sounded, "Mr. Winchester these fights are becoming predictable, either choose an opponent other than Mr. Arc or come up with an actual strategy to defeat him, strength doesn't matter if you never get the chance to use it." Ruby smirked, internally taking quite a bit of joy both in the growth of her student/partner and in the utter defeat the bully had just endured. "And you Mr. Arc, your swordplay is excellent, but please remember that you have a shield, it would be wise to use it." Goodwitch finished her lecture and dismissed the class for the day.
"She's right you know." Ruby said to the blond knight at her side.
"Huh?" Jaune asked.
"Your shield, you have it, you should be able to use it." Ruby said.
"But, you said when we were training…" Jaune protested.
"I know what I said." Ruby interrupted, "I stand by that decision, you wanted me to teach you how to fight, I don't know how to fight with a shield, but I know enough to know it's nothing like what you see in those vids."
"Okay so what do you suggest?" Jaune asked.
"Maybe watch Pyrrha when she fights, ask for some pointers." Ruby said, "she's good and she uses a shield."
"Okay, maybe," Jaune said, "But not tonight."
"Of course!" Ruby said before lowering her voice, "because tonight we've got work to do."
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"They're weird." Nora said, causing Blake to raise an eyebrow at her.
"I don't think they'd appreciate you of all people saying that about them." Blake answered, "out of curiosity, what makes you say that?"
"Well, if they're together, then why don't they ever hold hands?" Nora said, "and I've never seen them hug or kiss."
"Maybe they're trying to keep it quiet." Pyrrha offered, "Ruby is the team leader afterall, she might be worried about it being seen as a conflict of interest."
"Really? those two? subtle?" Weiss scoffed, "I don't think there's a single person in Beacon who doesn't know they're together, especially since they keep doing their flirting everywhere." Blake turned to look back at the couple, Jaune was rubbing Ruby's head through her hood, which she returned with a jab in his side, though he merely laughed in response.
"Everybody's relationship is different," Blake said, "maybe they're just shy about doing stuff like that in front of others."
"They do both seem to be a little socially awkward." Weiss conceded.
"Awww, but thats boring." Nora said. Before the conversation could continue any further Ren came up and grabbed Nora and Weiss.
"We've got a team meeting in a bit," he said, "we should probably get back to our dorm."
"Right, of course." Weiss said and walked off with her team.
"Well at least their team is starting to work together more." Pyrrha said. Blake didn't answer though, the points Nora had brought up were still circling in her mind. It was probably nothing but some sense told her there was more to this story, and if Blake knew anything it was stories.
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Ruby perked up and looked around behind her, someone was there, she could feel it, whoever they were though they were doing a good job at concealing their emotions and staying downwind of her.
"Ruby?" Jaune asked besides her. They were both currently laying down on top of a stack of shipping crates, out of sight of the majority of the dock. "You keep doing that, is something wrong?"
"I feel like we're being watched." Ruby said.
"You think they know we're here?" Jaune asked nervously. Ruby closed her eyes and strained to detect the presence behind them.
'A little help here?' she asked her other half.
'Fine' the voice answered, and Ruby felt her awareness open up just slightly more, whoever this person was they were staying at the edge of her detection capabilities, but with the assistance of her other half she could at least get a sense of the dominant emotions, even if she couldn't figure out who it was.
'Curiosity and exhilaration.' the voice commented, 'someone's having fun watching you.'
'But there aren't any malicious feelings coming from them.' Ruby noted before turning back to Jaune.
"No, I don't think they're with the White Fang." Ruby finally said, "they're just sitting at the edge of my senses, I think whoever it is is just watching us." Jaune nodded before looking to the docks.
"Hey," He said while tapping Ruby's arm, "It's go time." Ruby looked back at the docks as a bullhead swooped in close. She could even hear a few more at the edges of her hearing.
"They're not alone." Ruby told Jaune, who nodded.
"We'll be careful."
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'Okay, This is just ridiculous' Blake thought, she knew there were differences in how Faunus used their senses, and some could train to be really good with them, but Ruby was something else. She couldn't get within shouting distance of the girl, without her turning to look almost directly at her. If there was one thing Blake prided herself on it was her stealth, but Ruby seemed to pick her out with almost supernatural accuracy.
'Oh, well I at least learned some things' Blake thought thinking about the pair, they definitely were not going on dates, or engaging in, other activities. Rather what she did learn left her with more questions. Questions like what exactly were the two were doing on a rooftop looking over a temporarily abandoned dock. Blake unfortunately wasn't given enough time to ponder what was going on when an unmarked Bullhead arrived. It made one pass over the docks before settling down amidst a cluster of Schnee company cargo crates. Blake's thoughts practically ground to a halt when the familiar white and black uniforms of the White Fang began to walk out.
"Wha-?" Blake began to say out loud before stopping herself, 'what are the White Fang doing here!' Blake thought, she noticed Jaune and Ruby move to get up, 'were they waiting for them? Why?' As she was pondering this, Ruby took a running leap and jumped off of the crate she was on.
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Ruby looked around at the White Fang soldiers around her, they seemed frozen, as if not believing that she was there before them. She shattered that illusion pretty quickly, her first shot impacted directly with the nearby deer Faunus. By the time the remaining White Fang realised they were under attack Ruby had already fired her second shot into another nearby member. The quickest reacting amongst the White Fang charged Ruby with his sword at the ready. Ruby in turn grabbed the man's wrist and used the leverage to flip herself over the angry Faunus. While doing so Ruby reloaded Just Rose and kicked the faunus into the ground with her momentum. Ruby used her next to shots to lay out another two members in front of her. She could feel the wind behind her move as one of the Faunus terrorists moved to take advantage of Ruby's back being turned to him. Ruby ignored the faunus as she felt Jaune's Aura impact the terrorist and knock him to the ground, hard. The two stood back to back once again, using the opportunity to size up the remaining White Fang around.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!" Ruby smirked at the familiar irritated voice. Sure enough Roman Torchwick came storming around the corner looking ready to give somebody a tongue lashing. However the moment he spotted Ruby he growled. "You again. Why am I even surprised? You've been a thorn in my side since we first met."
Ruby widened her smirk into a full smile. The emotions coming from the criminal were rage, and annoyance in amounts that her other half was more than happy to feast upon. Ruby had read reports online about how the so called 'mastermind' was unflappable and always acted suave. She'd gotten under his skin, good.
"Oh! Hey look who it is!" Ruby said in an inordinately cheery voice while tapping Jaune on the shoulder. "It's Royal Matchstick!"
"What are you stupid animals standing around for?" Torchwick called out, "the runt's right in front of you, ki-"
Ruby's eyes widened as the presence that had been tailing her and Jaune charged into the area, the malicious intent the presence emitted was palpable, but not aimed at her or her teammate. The person revealed themselves to be Blake as she interrupted Torchwick by pressing her blade against his throat. The White Fang all tensed up, but didn't move, either unsure or unwilling to do so. They held a great deal of animosity towards the man.
"Brothers of the White Fang!" Blake began while undoing her bow to allow her ears to be clearly seen, "why are you aiding this scum? Against another Faunus no less?"
Guilt and agitation rolled off the White Fang in equal waves. Ruby's darker half was enjoying this a little too much.
"Ooh, kitty cat," Torchwick said, "didn't ya get the memo, little Red sure did."
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked.
"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture." Torchwick explained.
"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation." Blake said, her anger was rising beyond a point that would allow her to think clearly, as well as a sense of betrayal, oddly enough. However Ruby's attention wasn't focused on her partners emotions, instead it was on the mechanical whirring of several airships engines, which were steadily growing louder.
"Reinforcements are here." Ruby told Jaune quietly.
"Ours or theirs." Jaune asked.
"I wouldn't exactly call it a 'little' operation" Torchwick declared over the sound of the bullhead engines, which had just entered human hearing range.
"Oh." Was all Jaune could say. Ruby however found her attention being grabbed as she suddenly felt Torchwick's intent focus and a smug satisfaction come over him. A visual look confirmed he was about to fire his weapon at Blake's feet. Wordlessly Ruby kicked off, trusting Jaune to feel her absence and spring into action as well. The sound of his, as of yet, unnamed revolver going off indicated she was correct. Meanwhile Ruby's quick but rather intentionally telegraphed attack caused Torchwick to move his cane to deflect, resulting in the shot he fired flying a fair distance farther than he intended and exploding somewhat harmlessly away from them. Realizing that he now had an opponent in front and an opponent to his rear, one with a blade to his throat, Torchwick decided he needed to even the odds a bit. Blake felt Torchwick's plan in the form of an elbow impacting her stomach and forcing the air from her lungs before throwing her back a ways. Ruby meanwhile was forced on the defensive as Torchwick struck forward with rather astounding speed. A shot erupted from his cane a moment later, confusing Ruby as the shot was not aimed anywhere near her. Her confusion widened into surprise when Torchwick caught the shot on the crook of his cane and swung it to angle the shot at Ruby. She moved to deflect but wasn't able to do so quickly enough. The force of the explosion threw Ruby back and took a large chunk of her Aura. Fortunately Ruby's hood had, like most of the clothing Huntresses wore, been protected by her Aura, keeping the rather sensitive ears on her head safe even if her Aura couldn't protect the disguised Grimm appendage.
A feral growl tore through Ruby's mind, an overwhelming urge to KILL the creature that DARED to try hurt IT.
"Stop." Ruby said, repeating out loud a mental mantra she had used many times before, "calm, think" her other half listened just in time for Ruby to hear the sound of another shot being fired. Instinct and training drove her to dive to the side and land in a combat roll. Several more shots followed, but by now Ruby had caught up in her battle tracking and was easily able to dodge. The shots ended abruptly a moment later when Blake charged back in to attack Torchwick once again. Ruby would have assisted her except she felt Jaune's determination suddenly give way to panic, he was about to get overrun. Deciding to trust Blake to handle Torchwick for a moment. Ruby rushed to assist Jaune with his battle. He was currently facing off against three sword wielding Faunus with another two getting ready to fire type 14 Valean submachine guns at him. Around him lay several more Faunus bleeding out. Despite the chat Ruby had given him after their first investigation Ruby knew she would likely need to have another talk tonight. However that was for later and instead Ruby focused on the biggest issues first. Before the two machine gunners could fire six hundred and sixty-eight grains of dust fueled led tore through their defenses, and chests, in quick succession. A flourish of rose petals later and one of the swordsmen was dead and the other was on the defensive from this new threat. As the two vigilante detectives finished their fight with the Faunus terrorists Ruby heard a cry from where Blake was fighting Torchwick. She turned just in time to see Blake take Torchwick's cane to her face and go down hard. Fortunately Ruby could sense an Aura coming from her unconscious partner, but it was spent, broken. Ruby charged Torchwick again, forcing him away from Blake before he could deal any more, permanent damage. Jaune came up quickly behind her and took a defensive stance above the unconscious girl just as more White Fang moved to surround them. Everyone seemed to freeze for a moment until several things happened at once.
First Torchwick's smug superiority switched to terror as he mumbled "those morons."
Second Ruby heard a mechanical whirring coming from one of the bulkheads flying above them.
Finally Ruby took notice of the absurdly strong smell of dust around their new position, as well as the flagging or broken Aura of her and her teammates.
Ruby did the only thing she could think of and through herself backwards as the first bullets flew through the air and impacted the highly volatile dust around her. There was a brief explosion as she tackled Jaune onto Blake with both of them beneath her, then nothing.
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Jaune's ears were still ringing when he regained his senses, and the world was on fire. The last thing he had seen before the explosion was Ruby tackling him, her eyes wide with panic. It was one of the few times her expression could be seen in public and it was an expression Jaune was sure he didn't want to see again. Someone as strong and sure as Ruby panicking said a lot about the situation, speaking of which. To Jaune's relief he didn't feel like he was burning and a quick check beneath him confirmed that Blake was similarly intact, if not a little bruised. Jaune turned to check on Ruby and froze. Had Jaune studied his Grimm biology textbook a little less he might not have recognized the creature before him. It was a beowolf, a relatively common and easy grimm, except in this case. This beowolf was massive, it could have easily stood beside an ursa major and still had a bit of height on it, and it's bone plates covered almost everything. The spines that jutted out of it's back and shoulders were longer than Jaunes sword, and looked about as sharp. Then it growled. The rumble was deep, powerful, it made Jaune's heart nearly stop out of fear. To make matters worse the Grimm was standing over him and Blake, with flames all around them there was nowhere to run, not that they could have escaped this beast. Then the Gimm looked at him. Jaune likely would have died from heart failure then and there but another sound drew both their attention. From above the roar of the flames the sound of a bullheads engine could be heard descending. The beowolf looked in the direction of the sound and leaped. Over the flames and almost straight into the sky. Leaving Jaune stunned. He quickly realised that he needed to get Blake and himself out of the inferno. Yet as he went about covering the Faunus girl and preparing to run through the flames to safety two things stuck in his mind. Ruby was nowhere to be found, and that Grimm, in the midst of its glowing red eyes, had silver irises.
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A/N Woo boy, finally got the big reveal out of the way and we finally get to see Ruby's other half since they merged. I might have mentioned it to a reader in a PM (i'm not sure) that both the Grimm and Ruby have affected each other. Physically as well as mentally. This can be seen in Ruby in the ease with which she takes life and her features looking more like a faunus, similarly the Grimm tends to think things through more, this is an effect Ruby has had on it and not simply its considerable age. It also has a few features of Ruby's in its Grimm form, eyes aside, but i'll get into those later. I know it's been a while since I last posted, well, anything, but that's life sometimes. I myself have been writing this chapter with one hand due to an injury I gave myself about a week ago. I hope and plan to have another chapter for this story out within this next week but we'll see where life takes us. Hope you all enjoy and know that neither I nor this story are dead.