IDK what this is, it was originally just supposed to be a little snippet of a what-if Ruby sensed the weird jellyfish Grimm at Haven Academy and had a reaction to it, and somehow it morphed into this mess. This is set at the beginning of Volume 5. Enjoy!
Ruby is frustrated as they walk out through the halls of Haven Academy. Their talk with Professor Lionheart wasn't exactly productive, and now Qrow has ditched them in favor of wandering off to get a drink. And, they still don't really have a plan for what they're supposed to do now. Ruby is worried, about her uncle, her friends, what their next step should be, and it's starting to give her a headache.
Actually, that's not technically correct. She's had a headache since they arrived at the school, and it's been steadily worsening. It's just bad enough now that she's finally been forced to notice it. Oh well, it's probably just stress. She'll take a nap when she gets back to the house, and hopefully it'll go away.
Or not. As they turn down another hallway, the pain in her head suddenly spikes. Ruby stumbles backwards, disoriented. White spots dance in front of her eyes as she sways on her feet, attempting to get her bearings. What is this?
"Ruby?" She can barely make out Jaune's voice. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"I'm—" Before she can insist that she's fine, it's just a headache, nothing to worry about, the pounding behind her eyes surges in intensity and she falls to her knees. Jaune, Ren, and Nora all shout in surprise and alarm, rushing towards her, but Ruby can barely hear them over the roaring in her ears.
The spots flooding her vision have multiplied, and they've changed from white to black, blotting out her entire field of vision in favor of darkness. Strange images begin to flash through her mind: blood and shadowy monsters and hunters fighting on the battlefield. The roaring in her ears has changed to a harsh whispering, but Ruby can't seem to make out any of the words.
Just when Ruby thinks she can't take the pain anymore, it slowly begins to fade, and she falls gratefully into unconsciousness.
Her last thought before she passes out is that there's something evil lurking under Haven Academy, something that doesn't belong there. She can feel it.
When she wakes up, she's not sure how much time has passed, but her head is still aching faintly. She opens her eyes cautiously and discovers that she's back at the house they're staying in, laying on her bed, on top of the covers. She sits up slowly, wincing as it makes the pain in her head worsen slightly, and comes face to face with an extremely worried Jaune.
"You're awake!" he exclaims, sounding relieved. "We were so worried." Before she can pull together a response, he stands up, stretching slightly, and paces out of the room and over to the top of the stairs. "Nora! Ren! She woke up!"
His announcement is immediately followed by the sounds of two people thundering up the stairs. Nora comes skidding to a halt in the middle of the room, with Ren following more sedately. "Ruby! You scared us half to death!"
"We were quite worried," Ren adds quietly.
"Sorry guys," Ruby says sheepishly, feeling guilty that she'd gotten everyone so worked up over her. "I'm okay, really."
"What happened?" Jaune asks. "One moment you were fine, and the next, you fell to your knees and passed out."
"I—I don't know," Ruby admits quietly. The pain in her head is finally starting to fade, and she breaths a sigh of relief. "My head started to hurt really badly out of nowhere, and then I started to feel really weird, and after that I don't remember anything."
"That's all you remember?" She nods in response to Ren's question. "You don't have any idea of what might have caused it?"
"I'm afraid not. Sorry, guys." Ruby's pretty sure that it's connected to the strange presence she felt under the school, but she needs to be able to figure out more about it before she tells her friends. If she tells them that she "sensed something bad" at Haven Academy they'll either think she's imagining things, or that she's a crazy person. Or both.
No, she needs to do some more investigating first. Figure out what this thing really is.
"Well, we're just glad that you're okay now," Nora says, smiling at Ruby. The usual sparkle in her green eyes is dulled a bit with worry.
"Yeah," Jaune agrees. "We weren't sure what to do when you fainted, so we just brought you back here. We tried to call your uncle, but he's not answering his scroll."
"He's probably still out at the bar," Ruby says with a sigh.
"Probably." Jaune sighs heavily, before standing up and starting to shoo Ren and Nora out of the room. "Well, we're just glad that you're okay now. We'll go ahead let you get some more rest."
With her friends gone, Ruby is left alone in her room, with just her thoughts for company. She's still confused about what happened today, but one thing is clear—she needs to go back to Haven Academy. She needs to get to the bottom of this—literally. Whatever she was sensing earlier, it was underneath the school. Does Haven Academy have a basement? Or maybe it's a secret underground tunnel. Either way, Ruby needs to find it.
She's jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of someone knocking on the front door, followed by the sounds of someone shouting downstairs. Ruby sighs heavily, but she swings her legs over the side of the bed, bracing herself to head down the stairs and see what the commotion is about.
This better be important.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review if you liked it.
I might end up writing a follow up to this in the future.
Just a reminder that I do take requests for fics, so if there's an idea that you'd like to see me write, feel free to message me and if I like it, I might end up writing something for it.