The white haired man rewound the last few seconds of the video before him, his excitement building with each view of the screen. The kingdoms may have thought they had the most advanced Grimm detection systems known to man but his systems made them look like Faunus Wars era searchlights. So he had been among the first to detect a Grimm suddenly appearing in the middle of Vale. Furthermore he was likely the only one to detect that it wasn't simply a Grimm sneaking in. The creature hadn't been there one second and was the next. That had first piqued his interest so he had pulled the security camera footage so that he could watch it and others would only find corrupted files. What he saw filled him with excitement. All his years of research could not have prepared him for this. As the screen once again showed the little girl tackling her friend to the ground, then her image blurred and warped as the next few frames showed fur and bone plate take the place of the girl, he could only think one thing.
"She's perfect."
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She followed closely behind her pack, the bright full moon illuminated the dark black shapes of others of her pack. They were hunting for something, they didn't know what but when they found it, it would be delicious. Abruptly the entire pack stopped as rage impacted against them in the form of a semi-solid wall. Something was wrong, very wrong. Ruby heard a thunderous crack that drew her attention skywards. High in the sky the moon once bright and whole was shattered pieces were even beginning to fall from the celestial body.
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Ruby woke with a start. Looking around she found she was once again in the Beacon infirmary.
"Your stupid memories are intruding on my dreams again." Ruby said aloud to her other half.
'That always happens after I take over' the voice said, 'they'll go away soon'
Ruby sighed, she knew It was right, though that didn't make the feeling of walking around in ancient dreams any less weird. Looking around the room Ruby found her vision tinted in the same shade of red, that told her it was somewhere in the middle of the night. Just outside of the infirmary Ruby could detect another presence, guarded, lonely, and strong for Beacon. Ruby slowly got out of the bed and walked towards the door, shakily at first but she soon recovered her walking ability. It was at this moment she noticed another thing about her condition, namely that her only clothing was a hospital gown. She glanced around the room and couldn't find her normal clothing, thankfully the person outside the door could probably help with that. Slowly but surely Ruby moved to the door of the infirmary room. Opening it just a crack she looked out to see Pyrrha sleeping in a chair by the door.
"Psst! Pyrrha!" Ruby whisper-yelled to the sleeping girl. Pyrrha jerked awake at the sound.
"Wha-? Ruby!" Pyrrha suddenly said, "You're awake!"
"Yeah. Where are my clothes?" Ruby asked.
"Right!" Pyrrha got up and grabbed a bag that was sitting next to her, "C'mon I'll help." Pyrrha then entered the room and closed the door behind her. "I brought some of my pajamas, I know you like to sleep in your combat outfit but it was burnt pretty badly. Why didn't you tell us you only had one combat outfit?" she said as she pulled some rather oversized pajamas, on Ruby anyways, out of the bag.
"It, uh, never came up." Ruby said, as she tightened the drawstring of the pajama pants around her waist, though under her tail. "Thanks for bringing this, how long was I out?"
"A couple days, you were pretty burned when they first brought you in." Pyrrha answered, "Jaune too, I wish I had your guys' recovery time."
"Jaune was hurt?" Ruby asked, pausing in her efforts to swim into the pajama shirt Pyrrha had brought, concern evident in her voice.
"Not badly, you were much worse," Pyrrha answered, "All three of you actually came back with burns of varying levels." Ruby nodded pensively as she finished donning her clothes. "Ruby we need to talk."
"O-ok?" Ruby answered hesitantly.
"Look I get you and Jaune are, uh, partners." Pyrrha began, "But you guys are clearly getting into some dangerous stuff, you guys shouldn't be doing stuff like this alone, next time talk to your team okay?"
"Uh, okay." Ruby said.
"And since we're on break as of yesterday," Pyrrha said, "And you need a new combat outfit let's go shopping as a team!"
"Shopping?" Ruby said, "Really?"
"Yes" Pyrrha said, "You need more than one set of your combat attire and we need a team bonding event." Ruby could see the logic in Pyrrha's statement, even if she was generally against the idea of shopping as a recreational activity.
"Okay, what time is it?" Ruby asked.
"Half past midnight." Pyrrha answered.
"Alright let's talk about this in the morning, am I cleared to get out of here?" Ruby asked.
"Not yet," Pyrrha said, "The Doc isn't going to be in till the morning and she needs to be the one to clear you."
"Alright, thanks for the pajamas. I'll talk with you guys in the morning." Ruby said.
"Do you want me to stay?" Pyrrha asked.
"No you should try to get some good rest, not whatever that was in the chair." Ruby smiled "I'll see you tomorrow"
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"Is this really necessary Professor?" Ruby asked. 'I'm so done with this' she thought. Professor Vera had made it a point to check and recheck everything on Ruby before clearing her from the infirmary.
"This is the second time my diagnosis has been horrendously incorrect for your recovery time," Professor Vera answered, "first you make a month's worth of recovery in less than two weeks, then this, your aura continues to confuse and astound me."
"Yeah, it's unusual." Ruby chuckled uncomfortably. "Can I go now?" Professor Vera sighed.
"You have a lot of scars Ruby, I know your unusual Aura has probably made you feel like you're invincible but you can't count on that." Professor Vera said "Please be more careful in the future."
"I know I'm not invincible, probably better than you think." Ruby answered, "It took me the better part of ten years of Aura exercises to get my Aura to the strength it is today."
"Ten years of Aura training?" Professor Vera asked, at the nod Ruby gave her she continued, "you have A.D.S?"
"A.D.S?" Ruby tilted her head quizzically.
"Aura Deficiency Syndrome, it's not all too uncommon amongst the city populations," Professor Vera explained, "we're not sure what causes it, but it's typically characterized by a lack of Aura, inability to manifest Aura, a constant drainage on Aura, or some combination of those. That would explain the scars but not your quick recovery rate. Maybe it's an effect of your Semblance trying to make up for it."
"How is it treated?" Ruby asked.
"By not placing yourself in places where you'd need to use Aura." Professor Vera answered. Before Ruby could even protest that plan, Professor Vera held up her hand, "I'm sure that you consider that not an option for you, I do know the reason why you are here, and I will admit that you have adjusted very well to a life of Aura use even with A.D.S. but I would be remiss if I didn't warn you to be careful, being a huntress is not a safe job when you are completely healthy let alone have a potentially debilitating condition"
"I'll be fine." Ruby said back.
"Normally you'd have total confidentiality on something like this," Professor Vera said, "however since it is something that will affect your classes I'll have to let your teachers know."
"Affect my classes, how?" Ruby asked
"Likely nothing much, you'll probably get less lectures about your low Aura from Professor Goodwitch, but because Aura is so integral to being a huntress all your classes will need to be informed." Professor Vera paused, "It's not required but you should let your team know, you all need to be aware of each other's weaknesses."
"I'll.. think about it." Ruby said.
"Alright, that's all I can ask." Professor Vera said, "you're free to go, but please be more careful."
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After leaving the infirmary Ruby quickly made her way back to her team's dorm room.
'I do not want to be seen in the hall without my hood, let alone in pajamas' she thought to herself.
'Why? You've already shown your team that you have ears as well as a tail.' Her other half said, 'They thought it was fairly normal. People have actually given us our excuses for that, the whole Faunus thing.'
"Don't forget the A.D.S. thing professor Vera now thinks I have." Ruby whispered to her other half.
'No you actually have that.' Ruby stopped dead in her tracks at what her other half said.
"What?" she said aloud before remembering she was in the middle of the hallway.
'It's because of my presence but it is exactly what she described, a constant drain on your Aura and an inability to manifest Aura, your Aura is constantly fighting me and you can't manifest very much of it at a time.'
Ruby bit back a reply as Weiss turned the corner in the hallway ahead of her. Weiss immediately adopted a quizzical look on her face upon seeing Ruby in the hallway. Ruby for her part quickly realized that she was in fact in the middle of the hallway, in pajamas, pajamas that were several sizes too large for her. She quickly gave a polite nod and activated her semblance to reach her room without any further embarrassment.
The only member of her team there at the time was Jaune, sitting on his bed in his uniform for the day. His Aura seemed nervous for some reason, Ruby almost didn't need her other half to see the tension rolling off of him.
"Hey Jaune." Ruby said.
"Hey Ruby." Jaune replied.
"Where's-?"
"Blake and Pyrrha are down at the cafeteria getting breakfast." Jaune answered, "I told them I'd bring you down there, but we need to talk first."
"Okay, what about?" Ruby asked. Jaune's nervousness spiked.
"Ruby I saw," He paused as if searching for the right words, or working up the courage to say them, "I saw you inside that Grimm."
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"I think I just ran into Ruby in the hall?" Weiss said as she sat down at her and team RANB's table.
"You think?" Yang asked.
"I don't know! I've never seen her face before." Weiss said, "I wouldn't have even realized it was her if I hadn't seen that tail of hers poking out from underneath that dress of a shirt."
"Dress of a shirt?" Blake asked then she looked at Pyrrha, "Didn't you..?"
"Oh! I forgot!" Pyrrha said, "I was going to bring her a uniform this morning!"
"Why did you need to bring her a uniform?" Ren asked.
"Because she was in the infirmary and only had a pair of my PJs" Pyrrha answered.
"Ruby was in the infirmary?!" Nora jumped in and asked, at Bake's nod she was already in motion. "Ren! We should go check on her!"
"Nora! Wait!" Pyrrha called out, "Jaune wanted to talk privately with her, they should join us soon."
"Privately?" Weiss said, "They are not doing anything indecent are they?"
"I highly doubt that." Blake said.
"Either way we should ensure that they are not engaging in behavior inappropriate for huntsmen and huntresses." Weiss said while moving to stand and leave the table, only to be halted by her team leader's voice.
"Schnee, stop." Yang said, "This is one of those things you don't stick your nose into."
"Fine." Weiss said after a moment of consideration, and sat back down.
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If there was anything Jaune could have said to make Ruby's blood run cold, that was it.
'Run!' her other half screamed, 'Kill him and run!' Ruby meanwhile stood conflicted, her instincts screamed at her to run, her other half was doing the same, but something inside Ruby rooted her in place. It was over, she had finally started to feel comfortable around the people here, her friends, and now it was all over. She had been found out and would now be hunted by the very people she had grown close to.
'Kill him and run!' her other half continued to scream, making it hard to think, 'be gone before they realize what we are' Unbidded and unnoticed by Ruby tears began to flow down her cheeks.
"Ruby?" Jaune's voice snapped her out of her cyclic thought process. He sat there staring at her, concern and fear radiated off of him, he wasn't armed, his weapon was still in the closet.
I-I'll go." Ruby said, "Just, just please don't tell the others, I won't cause any trouble, I'll just-" she didn't get to finish as Jaune jumped up.
"No!" Jaune's shout startled Ruby and his sudden movement caused her to jump back and hold her left hand, which had seamlessly morphed into an armored claw, up in a defensive stance.
"Sorry, Sorry." Jaune said while backing off a bit, "I don't want you to leave, I just want to understand what's going on."
"You?! You're not?! What?!" Ruby finally settled on.
"Ruby, you need to talk in full sentences to communicate." Jaune chuckled.
"This isn't a laughing matter!" Ruby said, "you're training to be a huntsman, I'm part grimm, It's pretty clear what's supposed to happen here!"
"You are also training to be a huntress." Jaune pointed out.
"That's beside the point, I'm part grimm!" Ruby said, "Huntsmen kill Grimm!"
"No, huntsmen protect people, and yeah they kill grimm to do that, but you aren't a threat to people." Jaune said, "at least I don't think so, any blood rage or full moon things I need to know about?"
"Really?" Ruby said deadpan.
"Hey, I don't know, so why don't we sit down and talk about it." Jaune said while motioning to two of the beds in the center of the room. After a moment's hesitation Ruby agreed and sat down on the bed.
"So?" Jaune asked.
"What, ah, what do you want to know?" Ruby asked.
"Well first of all what was that? You clearly have some control over it," he motioned to her hand which had returned to normal when she moved to sit down, "Some kind of were-grimm thing?"
"No. Maybe. I don't know," Ruby said, "Grimm are not mindless, or rather not all grimm are still mindless."
"But you said you were part grimm not full grimm." Jaune clarified.
"I'll get to that, just let me finish." Ruby said.
"Right, sorry, please continue." Jaune said.
"The Grimm as a whole are not as aimless as humanity believes, they have ranks and commanders and a queen." Ruby explained, "she was once a human long ago back when the moon was whole. She took control of the grimm and gave them direction allowing them to become the threat to the kingdoms they are today."
"Wow" Jaune said, "that's a lot to take in"
"Yeah, I know I've had ten years to digest this information." Ruby said, "back then a grimm that had been around since before she took control became too powerful for her and she worried that it would be able to challenge her power. So she tried to destroy it, but it escaped, too wounded to survive on its own but alive for a short while. Then it found me, While I was…"
A forest, steel poking through flesh, a small hand on her back, green leaves died crimson.
"Ruby?" Ruby shook the thoughts, and memories, away and turned her attention back to Jaune.
"It found me while I was dying, somehow it combined us together," Ruby explained, "It repaired the damage that had been done to me and I made up for the parts it had lost in it's battle with the queen. Neither of us will survive without the other anymore."
"Wow. Okay, so not a spread-by-cursed-bite disease thing then?" Jaune said.
"I'm not a werewolf, Jaune." Ruby said.
"Right. Sorry." Jaune said, "so, what now?"
"Can we uh, keep this a secret?" Ruby asked.
"you don't want to tell the team?" Jaune asked.
"No, I don't know how they'll react and…" Ruby shuddered, "I've been on the wrong end of a huntsman team when I was little. Please, I really don't want to do that again."
"Okay, I'll keep it a secret."
"Thanks Jaune."
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A/N: I know a lot of people probably thought that this story was dead but to quote the great miracle max "well it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead, there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead." So yeah, this last while has been crazy for me between business stuff, being called up for active military service, a hostile coup d'etat, and other things going on currently I haven't had much if any time to write. Thus anything I produce will probably be coming out slowly, I still plan to finish at the very least this story, and Rogue Rose. The first Rose of Summer and Winters Fury are next on my priority list. I am planning on doing a reboot of family business once I've completed Rogue Rose, but that is quite a ways out.
Up Next in this story: a completely normal shopping trip with nothing going wrong at all.