Hello. I'm really sorry for not updating this in so long, I was just on vacation and didn't have too much access to a computer. The few times I did, I couldn't get the files for this on there. Basically, it just didn't end up well. In short, sorry everyone. Thank you all for the reviews, though! That was way more than I was expecting and it makes me glad that people still like this story. Thanks. Well, better get this show on the road! Sorry about the really long author's note!
Hakuryukou79- Hehe, don't worry, you will know eventually... unless I forget to mention it. Thank you, I will try.
Hazzamo- Yes it is, Hazzamo, yes it is. And who says someone didn't take a photo? I certainly did not (wink wink). As for Ozpin, thanks, I just felt like he deserved some laughter. Who knows how much of it he gets in his job? Might as well laugh it up when he can.
necrofantasia- I agree but every time there was no adult witnesses. No professor ever saw her attempt to attack Ruby, they only saw the results. As for the favoritism, it's not that he cares personally, it's because Mr. Schnee has a lot of influence in the world and wouldn't hesitate to use it against Ozpin and the Academy if Weiss got hurt on campus. Ozpin doesn't have to worry about what happens to her on missions and whatnot because, well, it is an occupational hazard, but when she is threatened on campus? That's a different story. Yeah, she probably should. Otherwise who knows what will happen? What you said... or worse... hehehe, hahaha, HAHAHA, MWHAHAHA! Ahem, sorry, just needed to express my slightly sadistic side every now and then. Carry on.
pokemonallstarfan- Aww thank you. I try, I try. Hopefully I won't disappoint, eh?
Demonslayer572- Thank you very much! I have some plans that I hope I pull off, so I hope you like them! The backstory will come, don't worry, it will. Yes, by the way, I will.
Veigas Terre-... I am not sure what to say. Thank you. I will try to not disappoint.
rwbybomb21- Thank you. It will be more frequent from now on, I'm positive. I still have some stuff to write before I'm through.
foggraven- Don't worry, I will.
Flarecraft- Thanks.
Guest- I'm glad that you think so, I've been trying to work on that. Well, let your concern concern you no more, I updated! Late, yes, but still updated.
Kriss1989- Didn't you see the little disclaimer-type blurb at the beginning of the first chapter?
BlackHeart- Thank you. Hey, unexplainable reasons are the best reasons, right?
Lazaus- Thank you, although I'm more of an eight out of eight person myself.
That's that. This's this. There's there. I have no idea what I just wrote so I'm just gonna start the chapter now. Enjoy (or not).
Edit: Forgot to add in line breaks. My bad. Added those in, fixed a few mistakes, and adjusted one or two sentences.
"Huuuffffhhhh." Soul sat up in his sleeping bag and yawned, arms stretching out and hands rubbing against his eyes. Moving one hand away he cracked open an eyelid, only to shut it again.
"Dang it you sunlight... can't you shine somewhere else?" he muttered as he adjusted to the bright light streaming in the window. Once he was finally able to open his eyes he stood up and made his way towards his jacket, careful to avoid stepping on his sleeping companion. Ruby may not care about being woken up at any point in the morning but no one likes being woken up by being stepped on. That person being Ruby was only an additional reason to not do so.
He smiled as he observed the still-sleeping meister. She had curled up in a ball and had the closest thing to a smile she could make plastered across her face. Soul enjoyed watching the girl sleep (in a non-creepy and stalkerish way, mind you). She looked happier than she did any other time and he didn't want to ruin the rare occasion.
Soul managed to walk over his sleeping partner without incident and grabbed his jacket. As he shrugged it around his shoulders he called out "Morning, Rubes. Wakey-wakey. Time to wake up. It's iniation day! Today's the day we get to have a feast! Imagine all that pizza and chicken and steak..." His mouth started watering and drool started dripping out as he thought of all the mounds of food awaiting him.
Ruby awoke without yawning, stretching, rubbing, or anything. She merely opened her eyes and sat up. She turned to face Soul and raised an eyebrow at the sight that greeted her. His mouth was pouring out saliva like a waterfall and already a sizable puddle had formed on the ground.
"Soul, we will be fighting Grimm, beasts known to make grown men pee their pants, trying to stay alive long enough to get a spot into one of the most famous schools on the face of Remnant, and the first thing you thought of was the celebatory feast?"
He shrugged. "What can I say? I just woke up and I'm hungry. Plus, it's not like I am really concerned about all the Grimm, I know you and I are ready for anything, eh, Rubes?" He finished with a shark's grin.
She nodded as she grabbed her bundle of battle clothing, armor, and weapons then walked out of the room.
"I will meet you in the cafeteria in a few minutes, Soul. Try not to draw attention to yourself. Technically you are not supposed to be here so I don't want anyone to notice you specifically."
"I know, I know." He said nonchantly, rolling his eyes. "Jeez, Rubes, you don't need to remind me every time you leave me alone. Believe it or not, I don't always go out and draw attention to myself."
Ruby's response was to poke her head back into the room and point to the bloodstain on his jacket that hadn't quite dried yet. He looked down at it and then glanced back up at the door after she closed it.
"That was one time!" He shouted after her. The door cracked open again and again the finger pointed, only this time to change where it was pointing periodically to the various hidden bloodstains that still lingered on his jacket despite several washes.
He pouted and crossed his arms, the very definition of a petulant teen, albeit one that could change into a deadly weapon at will, as Ruby closed the door again. He heard the sound of footsteps slowly dimming as they moved off into the distance.
"You will never let me live it down, will you, Rubes?" he grumbled.
As Ruby moved away from the classroom and her grumbling partner towards the bathroom, carrying her bundle of clothes and weaponry in her hands, she walked past someone going in the opposite direction. Based on the black outfit she wearing and the ever-present bow on her head, she was the same person lurking in the shadows on the airship yesterday. Ruby kept moving past her, face hidden underneath her hood, and went further down the hall. She felt the black-themed stranger's eyes glance at her but she ignored the look, almost turning around the corner to the bathroom before the other girl spoke.
"Why are you coming from this side of the hall? The ballroom was over on that end." The girl asked, her tone mostly bland but containing a hint of curiousity. Ruby stopped walking for a moment but didn't turn around, instead pivoting her head just enough to see the stranger out of the corner of her eye before speaking.
"I slept in an empty classroom over there." Ruby answered as she took another step away from the bow-wearing female, only to stop when she heard another question.
"Why did you sleep in there? The ballroom was perfectly alright." By this point the other girl had stopped moving altogether and had turned towards her, apparently making this a real conversation rather than a quick chat in the hallway.
"I cannot observe potential threats when they're sleeping, among other things. They don't act like they would when awake. I saw no reason to remain." Ruby responded coldly, not caring about what the other girl thought.
"Observe potential threats? Why would you think that the other initiates could be enemies?" Seriously, why was this girl so curious? It's going to kill her someday. (I'm sorry, I just had to type that.)
For a moment, Ruby didn't bother to respond, simply turned her head completely straight again and continued walking. Upon reaching it she started going around it, only to stop for a brief moment when just the barest glint of her silver eyes was visible to the bow-wearing girl. Then she spoke.
"Why shouldn't I?"
Just like that, she vanished, leaving the stranger to wonder about what she just said. The stranger with the bow narrowed her eyes as she questioned why Ruby answered as she did.
"What could have happened to make her think like that?" She asked out loud as she resumed her walk to the cafeteria, only to jump back into the shadows of a nearby pillar as she heard a voice suddenly appear quite close to her.
"She's always tells me to be careful. Of course I'm careful, I never get hurt in fights!" The voice said as it slowly became louder and louder. Peaking around the pillar, the mysterious girl with the bow saw a strange kid with white hair walk along a few feet in front of her. He seemed to be thinking out loud as he ambled along to the cafeteria. "Well, it's mainly because Ruby is careful about using me... but I'm careful too! It's not completely her!"
She snorted while listening to the boy ramble to himself, amused at his private protesting. Then she frowned as she realized what she just said. Using him? What does he mean by that? Who's this Ruby person that would use him in combat?
"Still, I'm never get hurt so who cares if I'm careful? As long as I don't get hurt, I can still enjoy my pizza! Hahahaha, that's right! Who cares?! I'm can still enjoy my pizza no matter who's careful! On that note, to the cafeteria!" The red-eyed boy laughed as he slowly walked out of sight, his laughter ringing off the walls before quickly fading away. Her frowned deepened and her eyes narrowed when she heard him laugh. Hadn't she heard that laugh recently?
After a few minutes in the bathroom changing into her battle clothes, Ruby made her way to the cafeteria. She walked in a side door, looking around the room for her red-eyed partner as the usual clamor of a cafeteria filled with teens hit her eardrums. Her silver eyes darted from side to side before she finally noticed him over by the windows. Actually it was a little odd she didn't see him earlier with the waving and the shouting of "Hey, Rubes, over here!" that he was doing. She chalked it up to morning fatigue as she nodded and silently found her way towards him.
She sat down next to him without a greeting or even a nod. He merely grinned at her, though, as he said "Morning, Rubes, I gotcha some food. (At that he slid over a tray filled with pancakes and bacon with a glass of orange juice on the side) You remember Jaune, right?" He gestured to his other side at the nervous blonde boy sitting there. Said blonde gave her a small smile filled with anxiety and waved hesitantly.
She glanced at Jaune. She must not have woken up right or something this morning, otherwise she wouldn't have missed such an obvious detail. She gave him a subtle nod without expression as Soul continued, food spilling out of his mouth.
"I was walking over to get some food here when I saw Jaune standing alone near the door with a 'lost puppy in the woods' expression." He smirked for a moment with a strip of bacon hanging out the corner of his mouth. "I couldn't let a fellow pizza man stand there all alone so I invited him to join us. Do you mind?"
Ruby shoke her head as she grabbed her fork and knife and began eating her pancakes silently. Soul smiled. "Great! So, Jaune, how was your sleep? Did you have any cool dreams?"
The two began talking about various dreams they had, the main one being a dream Soul once had involving mountains of pizza in a world where everyone was cool. Jaune rebutted with a dream he had where he had angel wings and flew around the whole of Vytal. Soul agreed with him, calling it "a really really cool dream."
While her two companions chatted about their dreams Ruby ate her food and looked around the cafeteria to see if there was anyone she hadn't seen yesterday. Aside from a boy with pink eyes and an orange-haired bundle of energy hounding him, there was none. She returned to listening to Soul and Jaune as Soul made his finishing statement about his dream.
"... and right before I woke up I realized that I was the King of Cool and all the world had finally knew that! Unfortunately, before I could celebrate, I woke up." He slumped down in disappointment when he had finished. As Jaune moved to comfort him and Ruby rolled her eyes, an announcement came over the intercom.
"Attention, attention. All first-year students, please make your way to the locker room to grab your equipment and then go to Beacon Cliffs. Thank you." The intercom shut off at that point.
"Well, that's our cue. Come on, Jaune, Ruby, let's go! Off we go, into the dark green woods, to search among the trees, to kill all them Grimm!" Soul sang as he stood up and started dragging Jaune off to the locker room, Ruby quietly following behind them.
Once they got there Jaune managed to escape the grasp of his eager red-eyed friend. He told them he was going to try to find his locker and said bye to them also. Ruby gave him a small nod while Soul grinned and waved, calling out "Bye!" as Jaune left. Soul turned to his quiet partner and smiled.
"He's nice, right, Rubes?"
"Hmm" was her response as she walked around and examined everyone's weapons. She didn't have a chance before because everyone but her had moved their weapons to their lockers shortly before bed the night before. She didn't because she never went anywhere without them close at hand, even in the center of the world-famous academy for training Hunters and Huntresses.
She saw Jaune off in the distance wandering around with a confused expression and a piece of paper in his hands. She shoke her head. Oh Jaune, she thought, you can find a spot in an academy almost impossible to enter but you can't find your own locker that you visited yesterday? You are an odd one, Jaune.
"Hey, why are ya standing there staring at that blonde guy?" Ruby heard this from behind her and turned around. Facing her was the blonde girl named Yang that Soul was oogling yesterday and who had came to her in the ballroom as well. The girl had cocked her head at her, only to straighten up and smirk as she asked in a coy voice, "Is this why you weren't searching for cute boys yesterday? Because you already found one?"
Yang looked more closely in the direction of Jaune. She whistled. "Not bad, honey. I have seen a lot worse than him. Plus, he has that whole 'bumbling idiot' vibe going for him."
Before she could continue or Ruby could scare her off, Soul caught up to them. He had been distracted by several interesting weapons he saw and fell a bit behind Ruby. When he noticed Ruby in the distance with someone facing away from him, he ran to catch up.
"Aww, Rubes, why didn't you wait? I'm not that bad, am I? Oh, who are you talking to-" Soul began with a smirk, only to cut himself off. The reason for said cut-off was a sharp intake of breath when the girl turned around. She was the same girl from yesterday that he saw, save for the fact that up close she appeared even more beautiful than before. His jaw dropped, his headband almost slid right off his head, and a thick torrent of blood started pouring out of his nose.
"Errr, Ruby? Is he okay?" Yang asked in a concerned tone. She leaned in closer to the boy, who she could see had really sharp teeth for some reason (perhaps he is a Faunus? But where is his ears or his tail?), and waved her hand in front of his face to try to gain his attention. He wasn't moving at all, not even to blink, and she was being creeped out by that. When she waved her hand he didn't react at all, perhaps his condition even worsened for it seemed that the flow of blood from his nose only increased. At this rate the floor would soon be a lovely pink color from all the blood staining it.
WHAM! Yang had blinked and when she had opened her eyes she saw the sharp-toothed boy on the ground and Ruby standing next to him without any expression on her face.
"He is fine." Ruby said as the boy climbed back up on his feet like he wasn't just knocked onto the ground. "He was just in a beauty-caused stupor."
"Oh." Yang muttered with a smile and a small blush. She was often told that she was beautiful but not to the level of causing a stupor before. She reached out her hand and the boy grabbed it, giving her a solid handshake. He gave her a sheepish grin.
"Hehe, cool guys don't go in beauty-caused stupors. They admire beautiful girls all the time." He said as he let go of Yang's hand and scratched the back of his head.
"Is that why your nose bled like a waterfall as you stood there blankly?" Ruby murmured to the Demon Weapon, causing him to sputter and wave his hands hurriedly.
"N-no, it wan't like that at all! It was just, uh... a rupture! Yes, a rupture! A blood vessel in my nose suddenly ruptured out of the blue, coincidentally at the same time as I saw her! It happened again just as she waved her hand in front of my face!" Soul attempted to explain to Ruby, completely forgetting about the fact that Yang was standing right there.
"Aww, so it wasn't my beauty that caused your nosebleed? And I was so flattered too..." Yang said in mock-disappointed tone as she wore a teasing grin. She didn't have a clue who this guy was but she wasn't going to let a prime opportunity for teasing slip by or her name wasn't Yang Xiao Long!
"What... I didn't mean... it was because of you... wait... no... what?" Soul stammered as he rapidly tried to amend his words. Then he stopped as he looked between the two girls in front of him, first at the impassive Ruby then at the grinning Yang. He sighed. "Not cool, girls. Not cool."
PHING! Any possible rebuttal from the girls was cut off due to the loud sound of a long metal object whizzing through the air. The three took a quick glance, only to see Jaune pinned against a wall by a gold and red spear. Seeing the same snnoying heiress from yesterday and a girl whose outfit seemed to be colored just like the spear, Soul began chuckling.
"Guess Jaune was right after all, ladies really do love the name!" Soul said between chuckles as a voice suddenly began speaking from the overhead intercom.
"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon cliff immediately." The familiar voice of Glynda Goodwitch echoed through the locker room before the intercom shut off and all of the students began making their way to the door.
"Well, guess that's our cue, Rubes. Let's go. See you later...?" Soul began as he started walking off, Ruby following closely behind with her hood up.
"Yang. The name's Yang Xiao Long. Nice to meet you." Yang responded with a small chuckle. Soul gave her a grateful grin as he moved closer to the pinned wannabe-knight.
"My name's Soul. See ya later, Yang." He replied as he walked off. Yang gave him one last wave right before they were too far away to see her well. This may have been her imagination but she could have almost sworn that she saw some blood dripping down Soul's nose again. She began chuckling again as she walked towards a different exit then the one the other two were going to.
"Hehe, that's one funny dude. I wouldn't mind messing with him again. Between him and Ruby, I'm sure these next four years won't be boring." She thought to herself as she exited the locker room, ready to face whatever challenges initiation. She was sure she could handle anything that they threw at her. She was Yang Xiao Long, after all.
(Meanwhile, back at the dynamic duo)
After the heiress and the spear's color-matching girl said a few words to Jaune and left him lying against the wall, Soul and Ruby approached the downtrodden boy, Ruby with her usual emotionless face and Soul with an amused smirk.
"So, Jaune, they dug the name, right?" Soul asked him as he reached down and pulled up the blonde boy. Jaune merely gave him the 'really?' look in response. Soul laughed when he saw Jaune's expression.
"Don't worry, they'll come around. Come on, stand up." Once Jaune managed to reach his feet, Soul steadied him and then let go of his hand, leaving Jaune to stumble around for a moment before he regained his balance.
"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" Jaune lamented to the two. Soul gave him a grin full of hidden laughter and Ruby just stood there, looking bored underneath her cloak.
"I think you went wrong when you listened to your dad of all people for dating advice." Soul told him, still grinning all the while. "Let's get a second opinion on this. Hey, Rubes?" He turned to his mainly red-wearing companion as he asked her opinion. "What do you think of that?"
Ruby stared into Soul's dark red orbs then took a glance at Jaune's curious blue ones. She turned herself away from the two boys before muttering her response.
"Idiotic." Soul burst out laughing as Jaune slumped down in defeat from the scythe-wielder's response.
"Oh man, that was good, Rubes. That was good." Soul had to literally wipe a tear from his eye as he finished laughing at Jaune's crestfallen expression. He patted the slumped boy's shoulders a few times in a doomed attempt to cheer him up. "It's okay, Jaune. It's okay, now you know not to listen to your dad for dating advice." Soul said as he finished with his 'pep' (he thought it was, at least) talk. He was about to say something else before he noticed Ruby gesturing towards the exit. He patted Jaune's shoulder one more time before he started walking towards the exit, Ruby falling into step next to him.
"Well, see ya eventually, Jaune. Good luck. Stay cool, okay?" Soul said, walking along briskly. Jaune looked up from his slumped position with a confused look at them.
"Wait, what? Where are you going, Soul?" Jaune asked with a cock of his head. Soul turned to face him and shrugged, still walking all the while.
"Like I said yesterday, I'm only visiting. It's time for me to head out." Soul said just as they reached the door. He turned away from Jaune, throwing him one last wave over his shoulder. "Bye. Never forget the deliciousness of pizza!" Then both he and Ruby left the locker room, leaving Jaune standing there alone.
"There goes my only friend here..." Jaune murmured to himself as he looked around the room. Suddenly he jumped as he seemed to remember something. "Oh dang, initiation! I'm going to be late! Wait up!" He yelled as he bolted out of the room at top speed.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will b evaluted in the Emerald Forest." Professor Ozpin stood there, facing the row of potential Hunters and Huntresses with Professor Goodwitch at his side. He took a sip from his ever-present coffee mug as Professor Goodwitch picked up the speech.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, let us put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be assigned teams... today." She said, causing a small murmuring to break out among the students. Only one remained quiet, choosing instead to comment inside her head.
Really? I thought we get them after we finished training, she thought to herself sarcastically. Before she could continue, she was interrupted by the one person who does so on a regular basis.
"Man, it's cool you get them today. Wonder how they choose them?" Soul whispered in her ear. Wasn't that hard, really, considering that the blade of the scythe hangs dangerously close to one of them.
"Quiet, Soul." Ruby whispered back to the scythe blade, looking like a crazy person to anyone looking at her right then. "They'll probably tell us in a moment."
After leaving Jaune behind to talk to himself in the locker room, Ruby and Soul went to a clearing in the forest next to the cliffs. A flash of light and a thump later, Ruby left the clearing richer one scythe and poorer one Soul. (Oh, the puns. They never stop.)
Now they were standing (well, hanging, in Soul's case) there in the row of initiates, waiting next to a nervous-looking Jaune. They couldn't wait for the speech to stop. For Soul it was because he couldn't wait to whoop some Grimm a*s and Ruby because, well, she just didn't like listening to speeches. Either way, they still had to wait for the two professors to stop talking before they could go. On that note...
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Sip. Looks like Professor Ozpin has retaken the narrative currently. "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well with."
Ruby remained silent as the headmaster continued talking. She already had Soul, everyone else was secondary. She would only take a partner just so no one would complain about her not having one.
"That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." It seemed that he was prepared for the scattered protests, for he just ignored them. Ruby just silently raised an eyebrow at the man's announcement.
He tells us to pair up with someone that we can work well with then goes around and says that the first person we make eye-contact with will be our partner for the next four years? She mused silently as someone went "See, I told you!" in the background. That didn't seem well-planned.
"Hey, Rubes, did that make any sense to you? It didn't make any for me." Apparently Soul agreed with her unspoken thoughts, based on his question. Ruby gave him a minscule, almost nonexistent, shrug in response.
"After you partnered up," continued the grey-haired headmaster, "head to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die."
"Awww h*ll yeah!" Out of nowhere came the shout, causing everyone save one red-cloaked figure to look around in confusion. The red-cloaked figure, however, merely reached a hand behind her and whacked her scythe hard.
"Soul..." she muttered with the barest infliction of anger lurking within, making the scythe gulp (exactly where does a scythe gulp even?) in response. "I thought I told you not to draw attention to yourself..."
"I couldn't resist, knowing that now you had no reason to hold back! How could I not shout for that?" Soul tried to rebut to his annoyed meister, his only response silence. The grey part of the scythe suddenly turned white, as if the weapon itself was actually paling. He knew the silence was not good. If Ruby did not respond to him, it meant bad things for him, very bad things. Fortunately, his rescue came in the form of Ozpin suddenly breaking the silence.
"Anyways..." he started, shaking his head a few times to get himself back on track, "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of the initiation but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are they any questions?"
Jaune whispered to her, "Good luck", before raising his hand and beginning to ask, "Yeah, um, sir?" She ignored the blonde boy completely and instead bent her legs into a crouch, ready for battle. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the heiress glaring at her from down the row with hatred but, like most things, she again ignored her.
"You ready, Rubes? What am I saying, of course you are." Soul said with a bit of pride. Ruby didn't respond, only bent lower as students started getting launched off into the sky, her turn coming closer and closer. Then she was off, the last thing she heard was Jaune going, "So, what exactly is a landing strategYYY?!"
She scoffed as she whistled through the air, the wind whipping her cloak everywhere. And there goes another of Soul's friends.
"Ahh, everything looks so cool from up here, eh, Rubes?" Now that they were away from everyone else, Soul began talking a bit more loudly than before. For once, Ruby had to agree. It was a great view.
"Yes, it is very... 'cool', up here, Soul." She told the Demon Weapon as they flew past an excited Yang. She was 'whooping' and yelling happily, uncaring of who heard her. She noticed Ruby moments later and gave her a little wave before she started firing her gauntlets, crashing through the trees and making a rolling landing. Ruby rolled her eyes as she noticed the flecks of blood streaming behind her while she continued flying.
"You really need to stop getting a nose bleed every time you see that girl, Soul." Ruby said as they continued flying, ignoring the arising protests from the living weapon.
"Ehh... okay, the coolness is gone. Can we land know, Ruby?" Soul asked Ruby a minute or so later as they whisked past yet another tree. Ruby's response was to draw out her pistols and begin firing as they started descending into the trees. Leaves and branches filled the air, some connected to the trees and some not.
A particularly large one flew up in front of them, causing Ruby to react. She sheathed her pistols and drew out Soul, swinging him like a windmill except that the blade was swinging towards her. Once she drew close to the branch, the underside of the scythe blade latching onto the branch and swinging her like a human windmill. She swung up and down, over and over again, covering a few meters until she suddenly swung the blade away from the branch. The momentum threw her headfirst to the ground at an extreme speed. Almost at the point of no return, she swung her feet to the ground and bent her knees. SLAM! She hit the ground with the force of an elephant, cracking the ground and making a crater a meter wide. Soul was in her hand, the blade facing towards her back, and her other hand was on the grip of Rose Petals, ready to react to any sudden movements. Between the crater, her stance, and the fact that her hood fell over her eyes and hid them from view, the only thing Soul could say was...
"That was so flipping cool, Ruby. So...flipping...cool." Soul's voice caused Ruby to straighten up, dust herself off, and walk out of the crater. If Soul was talking, that meant that there was no immediate danger. She pulled her hood a little lower and moved a few broken branches out of her way before she moved off into the forest to go get a relic and, perhaps, a partner. She saw the temple while in the air so she knew where to get a relic but a partner? That's going to require some luck.
"So...bored...nothing...cool...around..." Soul groaned out as Ruby trudged through the forest. For the past twenty minutes there had been nothing but trees and shrubs around them, causing Soul to go a little stir-crazy. "Can't you do something cool like slashing a lot trees at once or something, Ruby?"
"Soul," Ruby began, eyes constantly flicking back and forth, looking for threats, "the whole point of not drawing attention to us is to not do things such as 'slashing a lot of trees at once or something'. Remember that."
"Alright, alright," Soul muttered as he continued hanging off of Ruby's back, "Sometimes you really are so uncool, Rubes. But that's why I'm your partner! To be the coolness to your uncoolness!"
"Quiet, Soul." Ruby suddenly said, right before Soul could start rambling about their collective coolness. They had just reached a small clearing with small boulders littering its edges, the forest thinning around it.
"What? I think it makes perfect sense. I mean, you say and do uncool stuff a lot, I do and say cool stuff a lot, it all fits together-" Soul started to say before Ruby cut him off.
"I'm not talking about your random theory about our coolness balancing out, Soul, I'm talking about that noise I just heard," Ruby muttered as she continued scanning the clearing for the noise's origin. Soul quieted once he knew why Ruby told him to be quiet and started looking around the clearing as well.
For a few moments, nothing happened save that a few leaves were blown around. Then appearing out of nowhere, almost like magic, a Beowolf came rushing at them, snarling and slashing out with its claws.
Ruby reacted just as fast, jumping into the air as the Beowolf charged underneath her. She drew out Rose Thorns and started firing, cracking a few spikes on its back but otherwise not doing very much damage to the Grimm. She landed in a crouch as the Grimm stopped running and turned around to face her, still snarling and growling all the while.
"Cool, our first Grimm. Make sure this a cool fight to remember, okay, Ruby?" Soul said as she pulled him out. She didn't respond as she dashed towards the Grimm in a semblance-fueled rush. She slashed at it but it jumped back as she did so, only catching a light scratch to the mask in the process. The Grimm tried to rake her with its claws but she ducked under the strike as she grabbed Rose Thorns again and put a few rounds into its stomach.
The Beowolf roared as it hunched over from the pain, giving Ruby enough time to do an upwards slice while it was distracted. However, the Beowulf jumped back again to avoid the blow. Immediately afterwards it lunged back forward, jaws wide open to chomp down on her flesh. Instead of warm soft flesh, it ate cold hard lead as Ruby pulled out both of her pistols and started stuffing its throat full of bullets. The Beowolf could only gargle and stumble at the sudden influx of metal into its body, leaving it wide open for a second as it tried to recover. That one second was all Ruby needed to finish it off.
She windmilled Soul just like earlier, catching one of the wolfish creature's arm on an upwards swing and cut it straight off from its torso. She switched the still-spinning scythe to her other hand to dearm (literally) the Grimm's other side. The scythe's swinging then went from vertical to horizontal as she lifted it above her head as she spun one another time, still windmilling all the while. The blade turned in the air and before the Grimm could let out a final growl its head was chopped straight off, flying into the air just like its fellow detached body parts. She didn't stop spinning quite yet, instead performing one more twirl before attempting to stab the monster with the butt of the scythe. The end sunk into its flesh for a moment before it bursted through its other side, sending chunks of dark flesh and black fur flying into the air. She stood there, half of the length of the entire scythe still sunken into the Beowolf's torso, as the sounds of thump, thump, thump came from behind her, showing that its arms and its head have finally hit the ground. Only then did she remove Soul from still-standing Beowolf corpse and hung him back on her back. The rest of the Grimm's body stood there for another moment, as if processing the loss of its head and various limbs, before falling to its knees and crumpling to the ground with one final thump echoing in the air. The entire fight took less than ten seconds.
"Soul, was that 'cool' enough for you?" Ruby asked quietly as she observed some type of black energy leak off of the dead Grimm's body. She kept watching and listening to the forest around them as Soul excitedly answered her.
"H*ll yeah that was cool enough! The way you blasted its throat full of bullets and then cut off its arms and head was flipping awesome!" Ruby didn't react to Soul as he kept going on and on about the fight, ranting about that 'st*pid Grimm didn't knew what hit it!' and the such, she just kept paying attention to her surroundings to make sure nothing snuck up on them. It paid off as she heard some growls came from the bushes across the clearing and saw several pairs of red eyes peer out of them.
"Soul, do you wish that fight was longer?" Ruby asked without any change of infliction in her tone as she slowly started reaching back to grab the scythe again.
"You know I do!" Soul practically shouted at her.
She pulled him out and took a two-handed grip as at least ten more Beowolves charged into the clearing, growling ferally as they started surrounding her. Ruby crouched a little, taking only more one moment to say "Here you go then, Soul," before vanishing into a swirl of rose petals.
Deep underground somewhere far between the four kingdoms, a figure stirred.
The cavern had no light, absolutely none at all, the place so dark one couldn't even see the end of their own nose. Yet, somehow, the figure could be seen rising onto its feet, as if it was darker than the surrounding darkness itself. When the figure rose to its feet, the cavern, a large space absolutely coated in stalagmites and stalactites, shuddered and rumbled, bits of rock and debris falling unseen from the ceiling. Suddenly, the figure spoke.
"Ahh, finally." Its voice was deep and gutteral, yet possessed a slight hint of sophistication. "It has been far too long since the last one." The figure, appearing humanoid in shape, stretched its hands above its head before lowering them back to its sides. "A Rose has finally begun to bloom once more."
It began walking away from where it had laid before, winding between stalagmites that reached over halfway towards the ceiling, somehow not running into a single one despite the complete darkness surrounding it. It went to the back of the cavern where there weren't any stalagmites and reached out into the air, seemingly petting something.
"Hello, my pet. It has been a long time, hasn't it?" It murmured as it continued stroking in the darkness. A loud grumble echoed off the walls as whatever the figure was stroking responded to the touch. The figure didn't react other than to start stroking it a little faster. Eventually the unknown creature stopped grumbling as the figure began speaking again.
"Yes, yes, I know, it's been far too long. Don't worry, I think we are going to be around for a while this time." Again a grumble rang out, this one having a happier sound than before. "I require one of your children for a task. Just a little test to make sure the Rose is ready to start blossoming."
One last grumble, this time sounding like it was agreeing, sounded out into the air, causing the figure to grin. This grin was full of large white teeth, ones that looked capable of tearing flesh and bone, ones that looked like they belonged to a Grimm, ones that shouldn't in any possible way belong to a humanoid figure.
"Excellent," the dark figure said as a loud rumbling noise filled the cavern and caused a few stalactites to fall to the ground. The figure turned around and lifted its head to the ceiling, like it was trying to see through the miles of rock above them to the surface, before it spoke one last time.
"Let's see if this Rose will bloom or if it wilt down to nothing."
Phish! All that could be seen for one moment was a flash of white and red, the next had a Beowolf falling to the ground as its head and a arm slid right off its body like butter.
The other Beowolves stopped moving when they saw one of their packmates fall to the ground out of nowhere, the red-colored prey nowhere to be found. One particular Beowolf, a higher-up in the pack hierarchy, lowered its muzzle to the ground and began sniffing as the others remained where they were, trying to catch the scent of the prey again. The scent was... was... all over itself?
It tried to stand straight back up again, only to realize it somehow lost all feeling in its back and legs, instead it simply slumped all the way back to the ground. It felt only pain in its body, darkness was starting to crowd its vision, and the last thing it saw was its packmates starting to surround something coated in red. Then everything was black.
"Two down, around fifteen to go," Soul said as the painted eye on the scythe looked at the fallen Beowolf with many large cuts coating its back and legs a few feet behind them. Ruby didn't reply, only tightened her grip on the scythe as the group of wolfish monsters surrounded her, crowding her in between all of them. The girl in red and the monsters coated in black stared at each other for a minute, each waiting for the other to make the first move. A leaf fell in the background, inciting a Beowolf to try a strike at the silent girl facing them.
Ruby didn't move as the clawed paw came closer and closer to her. She waited, and waited, and waited, and... now! She flipped the scythe in a circle, causing the shaft to come up and whack the claws away from her as she gripped Rose Petals in her hand and fired several shots point blank into the bone-white mask in front of her. The demonic mask began splintering and cracking as each shot pounded into the last before it had time to settle, increasing the penetration of the bullets tenfold. With a loud 'crack!', the mask shattered, making the Beowolf desperately raise its paws and try to hold the mask pieces onto its face, giving Ruby the opportunity to swing Soul and bisect the creature.
"Ruby, at your six o'clock!" Came the shout from the human weapon as Ruby stepped back from the collapsing halves of the Beowolf. Instantly she spun and slashed simultaneously, catching another Grimm in the act of trying to bite her. The bite fell flat, just like its lower jaw after the slash. The Beowolf began gurgling as its tongue started hanging out over its chest, claws clutching at its ruined mouth. Ruby came in closer and jabbed her pistol into the cavity left by the absence of its jaw. She fired once, sending a bullet into its brain and killing it instantly.
Without another moment's waste, she grabbed the body and dropped, using her downwards notion to throw the jawless corpse into three Beowolves that were trying to sneak up on her. The body slammed into them, sending the quartet crashing into the ground. Ruby finished sliding back onto her feet, one massive slash later and she added three more Beowolves to the body count. She stood and faced the remaining nine who, by now, were admittingly a little more hesitant to attack her.
"Alright... let's finish them." Ruby nodded at her partner's statement as she lifted her scythe back, as if preparing for one massive strike. The Beowolves stopped and cocked their head at the sight. They were at least ten feet away from her, how could the strike hit?
It could hit if the scythe was thrown like a discus, that's how. Like the great Minstral champions of old, she threw the over-sized harvesting tool perfectly. It was like a spinning wheel of death (Wow, that was so cliche) as it went flying at the Beowolves, leaving them no time to run away or attempt to dodge. Not that they would have anyway, the combination of the spinning and twirling colors of grey, red, and black hypnotized them into a state of docile stupor. They could only watch as the scythe came slashing into them, causing the air to be filled with flying body parts and wisps of black energy. The scythe only stopped spinning after it annihilated the group of Grimm and crashed blade-first into a tree trunk, quivering for a second from the impact before it just stuck there.
"Ruby, behind you!" Soul shouted, his voice sounding all warbly due to the last remaining quivers of the impact. She turned and saw three more Beowolves, probably the omegas that waited in the shadows while the others were hunting, rushing at her, claws extended. There was no time to pull out either Rose Petals or Rose Thorns, even if there was she couldn't shoot all three of them before they fell upon her. She had only one option left. She didn't want to reveal her trump card so early into her time at Beacon but it was that or some pretty bad injuries.
She quickly reached a hand behind her back, this time past where Soul usually hangs out (Hehe, get it?), instead grabbing at a sheath that laid almost always hidden underneath her red cloak, barely visible against the whitish-lining. She wrapped her hand around the hilt of the sword in the black sheathe with a line of red dots going down it (Sound familiar? I mentioned it once before) before pulling it out just as the first Beowolf reached her and slashed at her with its claws.
It was an ordinary sword, really, almost completely normal except for its color scheme and a hole in its crossguard. The hilt and crossguard was of a whitish-grey, somewhere between the gray of Soul's scythe shaft and her hood's inner lining. In the center of its crossguard, shortly before the blade extended out of it, was an irregularly-shaped hole that seemed to hold no purpose. It was orignally meant to hold Dust crystals but none could fit in it, causing it to become just an unusual asthetic feature. The blade itself had a black stripe running straight through its middle, dividing the otherwise dark red blade in half. It was named Blood Rose (Unoriginal, yes. Gets the job done, yes) and the reason Ruby forged it was for the purpose of being a trump card when her enemies thought she was weaponless or when her other weapons couldn't be used for one reason or the other. Despite being a backup weapon, it was forged just as well as any other person's main weapon and was just as, if not more, deadly than one as well. A fact that she was going to put into good use.
She swung the sword, chopping off the arm moments before the claws could reach her and rake her flesh. The arm went in one direction as the sword went in the other, finishing its lethal arc before it suddenly lunged forward, stabbing the Beowolf in the stomach. Pulling the blade out of the Beowolf's destroyed stomach, Ruby shoved the rapidly-limpening Beowolf away as she ducked beneath a swipe from another. She side-stepped another swipe coming from one side then a swipe from the other. She did this a few times before suddenly stepping forward. One of the Beowolves was suprised by this if the sloppy stike coming afterwards meant anything. Ruby didn't side-step this one, instead she ducked as it came very close to digging into her face. The sloppy and wild swipe went over her as the Beowolf became unbalanced. It couldn't stop the swipe in time to avoid digging its claws finger-deep into its fellow Beowolf's throat. The Beowolf who had its throat done in by his packmate went limp, still alive but just barely. The one who swiped orignally tried to remove its claws from its packmate's throat tissue but failed miserably, reduced to standing there as it desperately yanked at its claws. So focused in its task, it forgot about the one who it originally was trying to swipe in the first place.
After taking a moment to observe her enemy's rather foolish behavior, Ruby walked forward, Blood Rose gripped in her right hand, up to the Beowulf still on its feet. It barely even had the time to look at her before she began hacking and slashing at it, so fast it was she was just a blur and without stopping for a moment's rest. She only stopped when the Beowulf appeared more red than black, still standing solely beacuse of the weight on its claw. She glanced at the fallen Beowolf who was just barely clinging to life. As she bent down towards it, it tried to attack her with its claws and bite at her but the most it could do was a soft growl as she lifted Blood Rose above its head. Then, just like that, the Beowulf stopped growling, exactly like how it stopped doing everything else.
Standing up from the newly-made Beowolf corpse, Ruby took a moment to sheathe her sword and to look around the clearing. Claws and jaws littered the ground as well as various other Beowolf parts, interspersed with bullet shells and slash marks from the fight. After the initial look, she ignored the destroyed clearing as she strode over to the trunk where Soul still stuck, the occasional quiver still going through his body.
"Ni-nice, Rubes," He said as Ruby pulled him out of the trunk, his voice occasionally hitching by a quiver ringing across his blade, "Tha-that was pr-pretty c-cool. It's c-cool enough for a f-first fight against th-the Grimm, that's for s-sure."
"Hmm," Ruby murmured as she walked off into the forest towards the temple, leaving behind the clearing to be picked apart by the forest's scavengers.
"That was... rather brutal." Professor Goodwitch as she watched Ruby walk off into the forest on her Scroll.
Professor Ozpin, on the other hand, just took a sip of his coffee as he watched the same thing on his Scroll. "Is it? Are you suprised, Glynda?"
"Are you serious, Ozpin? She cut off a Grimm's jaw then blew its brains out without a second thought!" Professor Goodwitch tried to reason with him as they looked over the Emerald Forest lying before them. "Doesn't that seem the least bit brutal to you?"
Professor Ozpin just gave her a deadpan look. "Glynda, it may seem like that to you, to a student, or to maybe even me, but to her it was just defeating the Grimm, nothing more, nothing less."
"But Ozpin..." Glynda said, only to be cut off by a raise of his hand.
"Remember how she was during her interview?" At that Glynda gave a nod. "How she sounded cynical and maybe even a bit rude to us? To her, she just answering our questions. Same thing here." He turned away from her and resumed staring out over the forest, Glynda joining him after a moment's hesitation. He took another a sip of his coffee before he continued. "Let what will be, be. She may one day change how she fights and lives... or maybe she won't. We will just have to live with it in the process."
"Well, if that's how is..." Glynda mumbled grudgingly. She looked annoyed for a moment before she regained her professional air. "I'm curious about that black energy coming off the Grimm she defeated, though." She lifted up her scroll, showing a picture of said energy hanging in the air as Ruby walked by it. "I have never seen that happen before, neither in the inititations nor my own years as a Huntress. Do you have any idea?" Her only answer was silence. "Professor Ozpin?"
He merely stood on the edge of the cliff, cane and mug in hand and his eyes never left the treetops. Glynda rolled her eyes and sighed at the headmaster's antics before returning to watching the initiation on her Scroll. Only once he was sure she was absorbed in her Scroll once more did Ozpin whisper to himself.
"The Aura... the disappearing and reappearing scythe... and now that energy... it seems to be all adding up. The possibility of a Demon Weapon just keeps growing higher and higher. The question is, what does she plan to do with it?"
"Oh, Professor Ozpin," He was shaken out of his private musings by Glynda speaking up once more.
"Yes?"
"How much longer do you think it will be until that girl gets a partner?"
"Hmmm..." He quickly pulled out his Scroll and started pulling up some folders. After a minute of searching and tapping, he opened one particular folder showing a real-time map of the forest. He peered closely at it before he suddenly burst out laughing. Glynda's eyes widened in suprise for a moment before she narrowed them extremely.
"Professor Ozpin..." She muttered as she began slapping her riding crop against her hand, "What exactly are you laughing it?"
"Ohh..." Professor Ozpin had to bend down for a moment and let out a last few chuckles before he could stand up straight and answer. "It's just that I think I know who her partner is going to be. Let's just say that it will be a... 'special' partnership."
Ruby was walking along the forest for a while, Soul hanging on her back, and still found no sign of either the temple or a partner. It was so long, in fact, that Soul decided to start speaking up again.
"So... who do you think our other partner will be?" He asked his silent companion. Ruby gave him a tiny shrug but otherwise didn't answer as she continued walking in search of the temple.
"I kinda hope it's Jaune. He seems like a cool guy." Soul told her. Ruby's response suggested that she didn't particularly agree with the idea.
"You say that just because he like pizza."
"What?! No! Of course not!" The scythe almost began to shake with the passion he infused into his words. Ruby's words, on the other hand, was about as passionate as drying paint.
"Then why do you want Jaune as a partner?"
"Because... he's... uh... well..." Soul stammered, trying to think of something in Jaune's defense. He drew a blank, however, so he changed his choice.
"Okay, fine, how about Yang?"
"Considering that everytime you see her your nose bleeds, no."
"Oh come on! It so does not."
"It's bleeding right now."
"Dang it!"
After spending a few minutes trying to staunch the flow of blood from his nose, Soul added in one final contribution. "As long as it isn't that annoying ice heiress, anyone is fine. Right, Rubes?" She remained silent but Soul got the feeling that she quietly agreed.
"Yeah, that would be horrible. Imagine if we ran into her around this corner, that would stink. Good thing that'll never happ-" Soul started saying before Ruby began going around a tree and running into something. She only swayed slightly as the other person went crashing into the ground. Upon looking down, the two saw a pale girl all dressed in white and very light blue on the ground rubbing her bottom with her eyes closed. Suddenly she opened them and started glancing around quickly, obviously trying to find out what hit her. Then she looked up, blue eyes meeting dulled silver ones. There was only one thing Soul could silently whisper at that moment.
"I really need to shut my mouth sometimes."
Yeah, I'm finally done! Chapter 3 of The Soul Ruby has finally been published! Woo! Sorry to make you all wait! I just want to give a few quick shout outs before you all head out if that's okay.
First, thank you FlamingGinger06 for beta-ing this again. Thank you very much for reading my possibly-horrible writing beforehand and giving me your feedback! Thanks!
Second, thank you rwbybomb21 for being so concerned about this chapter's release and for tossing around some ideas with me! In that vein of thought, the Blake scene, the landing strategy, and a few other tidbits all originally came from him so thank you!
Finally, a quick mention of Hazzamo for asking about this chapter as well. Thank you!
Well, that's it for now. Next time you'll see Weiss's reaction to her new 'partner', answers to a few questions including the black energy and what 'children' was being talked about, and... some other stuff. I guess that's it. Actually, wait. As a mini-apology and because I feel like it, I will try my hand at writing an omake. I hope that it's somewhat decent and that you all like it. Enjoy (or not. It is my first omake, after all).
Omake: This is Halloween
P.S. Insert Copyright legal stuff here. Basically, the song's not mine.
Ruby bolted up in bed suddenly, eyes glancing all around as she looked around the room. Then she relaxed a mere miniscule bit as she recognized her room in the apartment. It was the middle of the night and shadows covered the whole room, the only source of light was the moonlight streaming in the window. Everything was quiet.
After a few more glances just to be sure it was safe, Ruby started to get out of bed to get a drink of water, only to freeze and draw her pistols, barrels aimed at the darkness as a loud sound started echoing across the room. She waited for something to move for a seconds, vaguely hearing the noise in the background. When nothing made so much as a twitch, she started paying attention to what she was hearing. Then it clicked.
The song 'This is Halloween' was playing somewhere nearby.
Her facial expression didn't change as she resheathed her pistols and listened to the music. Soul must be listening to loud music again. He never leaves it alone. Why this song, though?
"It's our town, everybody scream, in this town of Halloween." The latest words bounced of the walls of the dark room as Ruby listened. It sounded so close. It's a miracle Soul had any hearing drums left after listening to such loud music.
"I am the one hiding under your bed." What? Since when has a low rasping sung this song? Smack! Suddenly, a shadowy hand clasped the edge of her bed, causing her to bolt back towards the wall as a figure shrouded in darkness started rising up from under her bed.
"Teeth ground sharp..." The voice sang as the... the... thing leaned closer, mouth stretching into a grin of lunacy and madness full of sharp teeth, a seemingly-clawed hand coming towards her.
"And eyes glowing red!" It yelled as suddenly two bloody red orbs appeared, seemingly floating in the darkness.
For a moment, Ruby just sat and stared at the mysterious figure as it stared back at her. Then, with a sigh, the figure reached over its other hand to a nearby lamp, flicking it on and showering the room with light. The figure groaned as it reached up a now-normal hand to move some white hair away from his eyes.
"Dang it, Rubes, can't you let me pull off a cool joke for once?! Do you know how long I waited under your bed (Wow, that sounded creepy) for this one moment?!" Soul asked her in disappointment as she continued to stare at him with her blank expression. A few seconds later...
Wham!
"Ow ow ow!" Soul cried out as he rolled on the floor, Ruby walking past him towards the door. "Come on, Rubes, that was good and you know it!"
His only answer was a loud slam!
Okay, that was a lot better in my head. I'm a little disappointed with myself right now. Anyways, that's all, folks! Bye! Have a good one!
