Hello everyone. This is The Burning Ruler and I am back with another chapter of RWBY: A Demon's Life. I'm very sorry for what I'm about to say, but please just hear me out. I was thinking about it, and I realized that if I went off the Straw Poll results, it would inevitably make people upset that the one they picked wouldn't happen, so I think that I'm just going to try to write all of them. If one doesn't get written, I am very sorry, it would only be because I couldn't find a place for it to fit correctly. Also, if you didn't want any lemon scene, I am sorry, but if I weren't to pick any of the lemon options, everyone who wanted one wouldn't have a way to read them, but you can skip them. I am sorry if this makes you upset, but that is how I think I will do it. Now, you all know what time it is.
Tyson113: Thank you for the review, and I always respond to the reviews I am left.
Guest: Thank you. I hope that you continue reading this story.
Alright now that that's over with, I don't own RWBY, and let's just start the chapter already.
Chapter 11: Is it possible?
The next day Blake woke up first. When she woke up Shade was still fast asleep. She couldn't help but notice how peaceful he looked when he was asleep. She had considered staying in bed and snuggling with him, but knew that she had to get up. She got out of bed and got into the shower. When she got out the rest of her team was crowding around Shade and scratching their heads. After her team saw her, they took turns showering. First was Yang, then Ruby and finally Weiss. Blake had looked over to what was confusing the rest of her team, and she had to admit, it certainly was peculiar. Shade still seemed calm, but he was sleep talking in a language that she didn't understand. He didn't look to be saying any full sentences, but rather single words. There were a few words that came up the most often. These words sounded like neco, genus, perdere, and finem. Blake had no idea what these words meant, or even what language they were in, but she brushed them off. After brushing the off, Blake heard something else that interested her. Shade had said Te amoBlake. She had no idea what he had said, but seeing as it ended in her name, she knew that she had to ask Shade about it when he woke up. After the whole team finished their shower, Shade was still fast asleep. Team JNPR then came over to invite Team RWBY as well as Shade into town, but when they saw that Shade was still asleep, they decided to play a little joke on him.
"Hey Ruby? Do you still have that whistle from the first night here?" asked Weiss, smiling devilishly.
Ruby instantly took out her whistle. Everyone else covered their ears, human or cat, as it were. Ruby blew the whistle as loudly as she could. This woke Shade up, but his eyes remained closed. When the noise woke him up, he knew that he had to scare them back for this, and there is no time like the present. When Ruby stopped blowing the whistle, she thought that Shade was still asleep. She decided to get closer to Shade before blowing it again. She was beside his bed, and just before she blew the whistle, Shade opened his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs, nearly making Ruby jump out of her skin and scream along with everyone else in the room. Shade then burst into laughter.
"Gotcha!" yelled Shade. Normally this would make his friends mad, but they quickly shrugged it off, and started laughing as well.
"So Shade, team JNPR here wanted to know if you wanted to come into town with them. We are, but you don't have to if you don't want to. They are also going to invite Velvet, Sun, Mercury and Sarah." Explained Weiss.
"Alright yeah sure, just let me shower first." Said Shade, getting into the shower. After Shade got out of the shower, he and his friends went to get everyone else. On the way to town, everyone wanted to know something. Why did Shade chase after Roman Torchwick? What caused him to feel the need to go after him? Whenever he was asked Shade just replied with "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you right now. I will though. Just not yet." No one liked this answer but seeing as it took him a while to answer and he seemed visibly shaken when he did, they decided not to press any further. They knew that he would tell them in time. When the airship landed in town, Blake asked Shade if she could talk to him alone for a few seconds.
"Umm, yeah sure. We'll catch up soon." Said Shade.
"Ok. We'll see you soon." Said Ruby.
After their friends had left, Blake confronted Shade about what had happened this morning.
"What we're you saying this morning?" asked Blake.
"What do you mean?" asked Shade.
"Well, you were talking in you r sleep, but you weren't speaking English. I don't know what you were speaking, but you said words that sounded like neco, genus, perdere, and finem. I don't know what they mean, but that's not important. After that you said "Te amo Blake." I want to know what language you were speaking and what you said at the end there." said Blake.
"Well, from what you said, it sounds like I was speaking Latin, and loosely translated from Latin to English, "Te amo Blake" means…well it means… "I-I l-love you Blake." So I guess that is what I was saying." Explained Shade.
Blake however, was just in shock. Shade had never said that he loved her before. She was never happier, and she couldn't respond with anything but a wide smile. She quickly threw her arms around her boyfriend and gave him a deep kiss on his lips. He wasted no time kissing her back. They broke apart when they realized that they did in fact need air to survive.
"I love you too Shade." said Blake before they caught up with their friends.
After breaking apart they left down the street to catch up with their friends. They all noticed the two of them smiling more than they could ever remember them doing before.
'Well, they're happy about something. I wonder what it is.' Weiss wondered.
It wasn't long until the group reached their new favourite hangout spot. The café.
"Well, let's go then." Said Jaune. When they got in, Pyrrha already knew what everyone wanted, and she asked Sarah to come up and help her. Weiss was about to go up with them, but Shade offered to do it. He got up and the three of them waited in line.
Pyrrha and Sarah looked at Shade, who was usually very talkative, but now he was silent. He also looked very different than a few moments ago. He looked very happy a little while ago, but now he looked conflicted. As if two of his long-time friends were in an argument, and he didn't know who to side with. He wanted to side with both of them, but he knew he couldn't, and he knew that he shouldn't.
"What's wrong Shade? You looked conflicted." asked Pyrrha.
"Nothing is wrong. I'm fine." Said Shade. However, neither Pyrrha nor Sarah was buying it. They knew something was wrong, however they also knew that they couldn't just ask to get him to answer, so they played along with what he said.
"Alright Shade. So, why were you so happy before?" asked Pyrrha.
"Oh, me and Blake just said that we love each other for the first time." Said Shade smiling, but before long, he looked conflicted again.
"Are you sure you're Ok? You seem upset about something." Said Sarah, still trying to get an answer out of Shade.
"Yes Sarah. I'm fine." Said Shade, getting visibly irritated.
"Ok, that's it. I know you are lying to me and frankly I'm sick of it. What is wrong?" asked Sarah, equally irritated.
"Nothing is wrong Sarah…" replied Shade, nearly at breaking point, and not in the way that Sarah wanted.
"Me and Pyrrha both know that that is a fat load of shit, and so do you. Just give me a straight answer. What. Is. Wrong?" asked Sarah.
Shade knew that he was about to snap, and he knew that he couldn't snap in a public place like this. He knew that he wasn't going to tell them what was wrong, but he also knew that if he stayed there much longer one of two things would happen. He would either snap, or he would end up telling them. With this on mind, he knew he had to leave so he could have some time to himself. "Nothing is wrong. But if you think that I'm lying, then maybe you really aren't my friend." Said Shade as he walked out of the café. By the time that Pyrrha and Sarah got to the door, he was long gone, and nowhere to be found. Sarah didn't expect Shade to have such an extreme reaction to her pressuring him into an answer.
"Does he really think that I'm not his friend?" asked Sarah.
"I'm not sure, but I do know that he doesn't want to talk to anybody right now, so it's probably best that we leave him alone for now so that he can cool off for a while. He'll come back eventually." Explained Pyrrha.
"Alright." Replied Sarah, worried her friendship with Shade was over.
Pyrrha and Sarah got back into line and got everyone their drinks apart from Shade's as he wasn't there anymore. When they got back, everyone wanted to know where Shade was, so Pyrrha and Sarah explained what had happened. Everyone was ready to go look for him, but Pyrrha said that it would be better if we just left him alone for a while. They didn't want to wait, but they all knew that Pyrrha was right. So they just sat and drank their drinks, but whenever they tried to start a conversation, it just ended abruptly. Shade wasn't there, and without him, they couldn't seem to hold a conversation. Everyone's moods also seemed to be worse than usual. They knew that Shade was having a harder time then them, but they also knew that they couldn't go and find him. That would just make it worse.
Shade had gone further into town. He stopped by a general store and bought a flask, then he went to a liquor store and bought a large bottle of whisky. He filled up his metal flask, and began to drink as he was walking. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew that he had to get away for a little while. He ended up in the emerald forest. He checked to make sure that he had his weapons, just in case. He did. He climbed up a tree and continued to drink. This calmed him down considerably. Sitting up in a tree with a bottle of whisky in hand. He noticed that he had his scroll, with all of his music on it. He didn't know if he had any songs that he could listen to right now. He began to scroll through his music. He ended at a song called "Baby Don't Cut by B-Mike". He put on a pair of headphones and hit play.
(AN-Shade is going to be singing this song, I just want to warn you, this song is very emotional and depressing. If you are Ok with that, then by all means listen to it, but if you aren't please don't listen to it. You have been warned.)
She's only 17, her whole life's ahead of her.
She hates school because the people there discredit her.
Her boyfriend tries to show her that's not how it seems.
But everyday she just gets lowered with her self-esteem.
He let's her know that every night will have a brighter day,
She even tried to overdose and take her life away.
She's feeling hopeless there just sitting down beside her bed,
Then he takes his hand and places it beside her head.
Shade begins to remember the first time he heard this song. It was a few days after he got together with Pyrrha, and he even remembers how he found it. It was the exact song that described what had happened.
He tries to hold her but with every touch she still resists,
And then he sees the scars that bury deep within her wrists,
She's feeling numb, he tries to beg and plead and ask her, "Why?"
She says this way she has control of the pain she feels inside.
He's asking her, "How long it's going since you've felt this way?
Because you got me here, just feeling so damn helpless."
She says, "It's been a while. I guess I needed better luck."
And then he screams at her and tells her, "Baby, never cut!"
Nobody seems to get you, you feel you're on your own,
But listen, pretty lady, you don't have to be alone.
So, baby, don't cut, baby, don't cut.
You can do anything, just promise baby you won't cut.
I know your heart is hurting, you think the road has end,
You may just feel that blade you're holding is your only friend.
But baby don't cut, baby don't cut.
You can do anything, just promise baby you won't cut.
The next day at school she's feeling better than the day before.
Even cracked a couple smiles as she walked the corridor.
But all that seemed to end: she dropped her books when she walked into class.
And every student in the room just seemed to point and laugh.
She couldn't take it anymore, she sent her boy a text.
She said, "I love you with my body, heart and soul to death."
He thought nothing, typed "I love you", then he sent it.
By "death" he didn't know that she had literally just meant it.
Shade remembered this line. He also remembered how he felt that the song was reading his mind here the first time he heard it. The only part about this song that didn't fit was the age of the girl in the song. Other than that, it was pretty much dead on.
She ducked the next class, ran home into the bathroom.
Thought to herself she wouldn't break her promise that soon.
One cut... two cuts... three cuts... four
The blood just started dripping from the tub to the floor.
Her boyfriend had a feeling in his stomach that he hated.
He followed it right down to her house he never waited.
The front door was open, he heard the water running.
He stormed into the bathroom and his heart just started gunning.
Nobody seems to get you, you feel you're on your own,
But listen pretty lady you don't have to be alone.
So baby don't cut, baby don't cut.
You can do anything, just promise baby you won't cut.
I know your heart is hurting, you think the road has end,
You may just feel that blade you're holding is your only friend.
But baby don't cut, baby don't cut.
You can do anything, just promise baby you won't cut.
He puts her arm around his shoulder, he's just tryna lean her back up.
Yelling out her name as he lays her beside the bathtub.
Feels his whole world just took a hit from a big avalanche.
Screaming out so heavily, "Somebody call an ambulance!"
Feeling mad angry like somebody's led her onto this.
Her eyeballs are rolling, drifting out of consciousness.
Thinking to himself why the hell did she just stop at will.
The tears just keep on rolling as they head to the hospital.
Paramedics rush her in, the doctor calls emergency.
She's lost a lot of blood the place looks like a murder scene,
An hour later, the doc walks over with a sour face,
And says, "Excuse me for the words that I'm about to say.
I'm sorry for your loss," the boy just starts collapsing.
His own world, his own girl just took a crashing.
Saying to himself that it's his fault and that he let it up.
"Baby, I thought you made a promise you would never cut."
Nobody seems to get you, you feel you're on your own,
But listen pretty lady you don't have to be alone.
So baby don't cut, baby don't cut.
You can do anything, just promise baby you won't cut.
I know your heart is hurting, you think the road has end,
You may just feel that blade you're holding is your only friend.
But baby don't cut, baby don't cut.
You can do anything, just promise baby you won't cut.
As the song ended Shade realized that he was crying. This song made too many bad memories resurface. He decided that he couldn't let his team see him in this state, so he decided to find somewhere to stay for the night. He started to walk towards the place that he stayed before going to Beacon. He knocked on the door, and Matt come to it.
"Shade? Is that you? What's up?" asked Matt.
"Hey Matt. Do you mind if I stay here for the night?" asked Shade.
Matt knew that something must have happened, so he let Shade in and directed him to the guest room.
"Thanks Matt." Said Shade as Matt walked out of the room.
"No problem. I'll see you in the morning?" asked Matt.
"Maybe. If I wake up before you, I may leave before you get up. Just in case. Thanks for letting me stay here tonight. I owe you." Said Shade, but Matt just waved it off.
"You don't owe me anything." Said Matt.
"Night." Said Shade, falling asleep almost immediately.
The next morning Shade woke up before Matt. He left a note for Matt on the counter, grabbed his flask and whisky, and started to go back towards Beacon.
Meanwhile back at Beacon, Team RWBY and Team JNPR were getting ready to go into town to look for Shade.
"He has to be on his way back right? He would be looking for us too right? He wouldn't think so little of us that he wouldn't think we would go look for him right?" asked Ruby.
"Too many questions Ruby, but yeah." Said Pyrrha.
"Alright let's go find your boyfriend Blake." Said Nora.
This made Weiss upset again, remembering that Shade was with Blake, and there was little chance that she could have him.
"Alright let's go then." Said Blake, leading the group into town.
The group of friends went to town to look for their friends. It didn't take long to find him because they were asking people if they had seen him, and it was easy to spot a 17 year old with long black hair that covered one of his eyes. It was only after 10 minutes of searching for him that they found him. They were all about to go over at once, but some people wanted to go over and talk to him before the whole group came over. Sarah went first.
"Hey Shade." said Sarah.
"Hey Sarah. Look, I'm sorry. I overreacted. I hope that we can stay friends." Said Shade.
"Of course, but I was also in the wrong. I shouldn't have pushed you to open up so hard." Said Sarah.
Pyrrah was next.
"Hey Pyrrha. I'm sorry I ran like that. I shouldn't have just left like that. That was not cool." Said Shade.
"It's Ok. Just let me know the next time you do that." Said Pyrrha.
"Well I'm really hoping that there isn't a next time, but there might be, and if there is, I will." Said Shade.
"Good. Now Blake wants to talk to you about a couple things actually." Sais Pyrrha as Blake walked over.
Pyrrha left and Blake wrapped her arms around him and began to cry. Shade knew why. "I just want to let you know that I ran away because of my own problems, not because I don't love you. I said that in my sleep, yes, but I also meant it." Said Shade.
Blake looked so relieved that it wasn't that. But it also made her wonder what his problem was. She decided that after the rest of the group came over, she would ask him privately.
"What else did you need to talk to me about?" asked Shade.
Blake took out her scroll and brought up the recording she took of Weiss and Yang. "The day you went to town with Ruby, Weiss and Yang were talking about her feelings towards you and this is what they said. I thought that you might want to hear it." Said Blake.
"Yeah, I do." Replied Shade. He took out headphones and began to listen to the conversation. When it ended, Shade was in shock. "Well, at least that answers why she loves me of all people." Shade said. 'But it doesn't help me decide at all.' He thought afterwards.
"Yeah, I guess it does. Well, let's bring the rest of them over." Said Blake. Weiss heard this and brought everyone over.
She was the first to notice the bottle of whisky and flask. After seeing this she pointed it out to everyone else, and Pyrrha explained that Shade only drank to calm himself down if he had the option. Everyone seemed to be ok with that. After he apologized to the rest of his friends, they all started to bring him back to school. Blake however said that she needed to talk to Shade alone. Shade went with her to a private place.
"I want to know what's wrong. Please tell me." Asked Blake.
Shade didn't want to answer, but knew that he had to. "Ok, this is a long story, but I think that Pyrrha should be around for it, because it kind of also involves her and she deserves to know." Blake quickly sent a message to Pyrrha telling her to meet her and Shade where they were. Pyrrha showed up shortly.
"What's up?" asked Pyrrha.
"Alright here's the story." Said Shade.
CLIFFHANGER! Sorry but I think that this would be a good time to cut it off and leave it on a good cliffhanger. Once again, I'm sorry that I cancelled the Straw Poll, but I hope you can understand my reasoning. But for now, I am leaving it here, and I will see you in the next chapter of RWBY: A Demon's Life.
