In the Xiao Long/Rose family's garage, fifteen-year-old Yang squared off with her opponent. Or rather, since her opponent was a punching bag, she squared off, and the bag continued to hang by its chain, not knowing and not caring about the beatdown it was about to receive.
Standing safely behind the punching bag and a bit to the side – for she'd learned the hard way not to stand directly behind it – was Ruby. She wasn't just here to provide moral support, however, for she had a vital role to play in Yang's training.
"All right, I'm ready." Yang raised her fists, clad in her new gauntlets. They were simple, for now – she'd add guns later. For now, she simply wanted to train with the added weight to her fists.
Ruby silently nodded, then flared her Zone of Terror, willing it to become even stronger.
Yang gasped as the fear washed over her, as her panic level went from "Ruby is a potential threat" to "Ruby is an active danger." Her breathing turned shallow and rapid, and her hands started to shake. Finally, she closed her eyes, and after several seconds the specific fear of Ruby changed into the lurking terror of being stalked by an unseen foe. Yang tried to project that feeling onto the unseen punching bag, imagining that the solid mass in front of her was a manifestation of her fear. She punched with all her might.
With the sound of clinking chains, the punching bag flew backwards. Yang counted to two, then punched again, hitting the bag as it sailed back towards her. Though she couldn't see the results of her punches, she knew adrenaline was giving her punches extra force. She tried her best to keep track of where the bag would be at all times, even as she varied her punches, shifting the type of strike, their timing, and their directions, and making it harder and harder to figure out where the bag would travel next.
When it finally swung back from an unexpected angle and smacked into her temple, her heart seemed to stop for a moment, her instincts interpreting the blow as an attack from an enemy she couldn't see, and thus couldn't defend against. Though the "attack" wasn't forceful enough for her Semblance to turn it into power she could use, she still lashed out with renewed force, like a horse whipped and spurred to greater speed. But with her fear reinforced, it became harder to track where the punching bag was and where it was moving. The bag managed to land more hits on her.
She felt herself starting to lose control, losing her ability to keep track of things. But that was the point. This was what she was training for – to keep it together even when she was on the verge of panic. To keep under control when her sister was pushing her powers to their full strength.
It was perfect for training, really, the specific kind of fear Ruby could produce, if she was out of sight. It wasn't just fear of a person, it was fear of a thing, of a predator, of a monster. It was a very primal, basic fear, of something that couldn't be reasoned with, of something that meant death if it was not dealt with. The very kind of fear that Grimm produced in humanity. Just the kind of fear every Hunter and Huntress had to overcome.
After a while, Yang felt the fear easing up. Not because she was getting braver, but because Ruby had stopped flaring her Zone as strongly. Perhaps Ruby had run out of whatever energy source the Zone of Terror ran off of. Or, more likely, she didn't like doing this to her elder sister. Yang could only imagine what her own face looked like, as she lashed out blindly at a mere punching bag, eyes screwed shut as though she were terrified to look at the source of her fear.
It was true. She was afraid to open them. While her eyes were closed, she could superimpose that fear onto something of her own imagination. But when she could see the source of her fear... there would be no doubt as to its origin. She'd be afraid of Ruby. And she really didn't want to be this terrified of her own sister.
Yang took the opportunity to catch her breath and calm down, at least a little. As useful as this was, doing so for long periods was... taxing, to say the least. That was probably why her father and Qrow were both not in favor of this form of training.
Yang opened her eyes and looked over at her sister. Ruby had a troubled look on her face, which wasn't surprising. She was the one who had to subject her own sister to this, after all. Even Ruby wasn't really happy with this training.
"All you all right?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah." Yang said, between gasps of air. "Are you?"
Ruby grimaced. It was a look that held fatigue, but also guilt. "Yeah, it's just... I don't like intentionally using this..." She waved a hand around herself, "...thing I do on you."
"It's for a good cause, Ruby." Yang tried to smile, but had to fight with the lingering fear inside her for control of her expression, and only partially succeeded. "I'm fine with going through this if it makes me stronger."
"Yeah, but..." Ruby looked away for a moment, hesitating. "...It's nothing." She looked back to Yang. "You know... we could try sparring, if you want. I'm not sure how useful it'll be to just punch that poor bag over and over. Besides, that's the third bag we've bought in a month..."
Yang looked away from Ruby, and fixed her gaze on the punching bag. "Yeah, and just imagine what those punches will do to you. When you're using that power on me, I punch like my life depends on it. I'm afraid I'll hurt you if you're the one I'm hitting."
Those words were true, but they weren't the whole truth. It wasn't merely that Yang was afraid that she'd hit her little sister too hard. She was afraid that if she had the source of her fear right in front of her, fighting her... then she'd mean to hit Ruby too hard. That she would lose control and do precisely what her instincts told her to do in response to terror – fight and destroy whatever she was afraid of.
She wanted to believe that love was stronger than fear. But her sister could make fear very strong indeed. Stronger, Yang feared, than her own love for Ruby. Stronger than Yang herself.
Ruby had more or less the same seat assignment in every class – in a back corner, as far away from the teacher as possible, with as much space between herself and the other students as could be arranged. Fortunately for everyone involved, classrooms at Signal were quite large. Perhaps the architects had foreseen the issue of students with problematic Semblances, and made sure such students could have their space. Of course, Signal did have a program for students whose Semblances kept them from being around others. But that program involved private lessons, after hours, and Ruby wanted the chance to meet other students and make friends. At least at first.
As a result, she got to sit alone, in the most isolated corner of each classroom. She also got to be left out of group activities.
Eventually, she stopped trying. But her family didn't.
At lunch, fourteen-year-old Ruby and sixteen-year-old Yang had a table to themselves, albeit one in a secluded corner. Ruby's Zone tended to ensure that they had space and weren't disturbed. Ruby usually enjoyed these times, as she got to spend time with the one student at Signal who could stand her. Sometimes, though… even Yang got tired of her.
"I keep telling you, Ruby, you've got to meet some new people," Yang said between bites of food.
"I'm fine as it is," Ruby said, looking away.
"Come on!" Yang gave her a cheeky smile. "You won't know whether you'll like them or not unless you get to know them!"
"Tell that to them," Ruby grumbled, looking back over at her sister. "If you can find someone who's not terrified of me, maybe then I can actually hold a conversation with them."
"There's that kid over there." Yang tilted her head towards one of the nearby tables. Ruby didn't bother to look, knowing perfectly well who her sister meant. A lanky student in dark clothing, with ruffled brown hair and a furtive look. Sometimes he'd glance at the sisters while he ate, but then again he seemed to glance everywhere. He was the only student to sit at an adjacent table, and seemed positioned so that he was just halfway between Ruby and the other students, in the middle of the empty space the Zone had cleared.
"He probably just wants to be alone," Ruby said, trying to think of a time when she'd seen him with other students, and failing. Granted, she didn't have any classes with him, since he was in Yang's grade, but if he had classmates he liked being with, why wasn't he with them now?
"People don't just want to be alone." Yang shook her head. "They're alone because they don't have a choice."
Ruby didn't have a reply to that, because she wasn't really sure she could contradict it. As much as she told herself she was fine with just Yang at lunch, and by herself in classrooms, and as much as she wanted to believe she only needed her family and her books… she still felt lonely at times. When she read stories of heroes going on adventures, she couldn't help but wonder what it was like to have friends. Of course, the friends she was interested in were the kind she would fight villains and monsters alongside, the kind she would entrust her life to, not the kind she'd shop for clothes with or talk to about boys.
After all, people might want to fight alongside a Huntress with a constant aura of fear around her, but who would want to hang out with a person like that?
But then again, Ruby was at a training academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses. Not one of the big ones, admittedly, but even so… maybe she could find what she wanted here.
"What if I scare him off?" She looked over in the student's direction, to find him looking at her – though he quickly looked away.
"Then he's too much of a scaredy-cat to be a Huntsman," Yang said, waving a hand dismissively.
That wasn't reassuring. But even so, Ruby had run out of excuses. So, she took a breath, slowly stood up from her seat, and walked towards her fellow isolated student. He looked towards her again, possibly alerted by the increase in fear from Ruby growing closer. His blue eyes widened. Ruby cleared her throat. "Um… hi."
He stared at her for a moment before replying. "Hi?"
Ruby looked back at Yang, but her older sister just gave her a wink and a thumbs-up. Ruby turned back to the student, trying to smile. "I'm Ruby." Slowly, making no sudden movements, she extended her hand. "What's your name?"
"Jacob." Just as slowly, as if expecting her to lunge forward and bite him at any moment, he reached out to shake her hand. After the two ceased contact, a moment of silence passed.
Finally, Ruby chose to be the one to speak. "I'm… sorry about my Semblance."
Jacob shook his head. "Don't worry about it.
Too late, Ruby thought. "It's… something that just happens. I've had it since I was nine."
Jacob nodded, then hesitated a moment before speaking again. "I've had my Semblance since I was eleven. I can make objects move." He blushed a little. "Okay, it sounds really stupid when I put it that way, but I can kind of… possess objects. See things through their eyes, and move them."
"Oh wow." Ruby smiled. "That seems useful."
"Eh… I have to really concentrate in order to do it. Not all that useful in a fight." He sighed. "Yours is probably super useful. Does it work on Grimm?"
"It does." Ruby nodded. "But if there are too many Grimm, they get brave enough to fight me anyway." She frowned for a moment, wondering whether or not to reveal more information. "I can actually do something else other than make people afraid. I can go super fast, too!"
"Really?" Jacob's eyes lit up, though he started getting a wistful expression on his face. "Dual semblances are super rare. You're lucky."
Ruby grimaced. "I don't feel so lucky. I wish I just had speed and not this Zone." A heartbeat passed. "We call it the Zone of Terror, my family and I."
"It fits." Jacob nodded again.
At that moment, the bell rang. Ruby thought she could see a moment of relief on Jacob's face. She cleared her throat. "W-well… I guess I'll talk to you later?"
"If you'd like." He gave her a strained smile. "We do sit near each other at lunch."
Ruby nodded. "Later, then!" She walked back to her table to gather her things. Yang smiled as she approached. "See? Not so bad!"
"Easy for you to say," Ruby said, glancing back towards Jacob. He hadn't let her out of his sight, until she caught him staring. Then he stood up from his table, gathered his backpack, and made his way towards the nearest cafeteria exit.
"Hey, you made a great start today. Now that you've broken the ice, it'll be easier to do tomorrow." Yang grinned. "And before you know it, you'll have a friend!"
"Until he graduates this year, anyway." Ruby grumbled, starting to move towards the exit with everyone else.
"Hey, that's still one more friend than you had before." Yang slapped her sister on the back. "You know you're going to need friends if you're going to be a Huntress."
"Huh?" Ruby looked back towards Yang. But Yang was already heading off in a different direction to her own class. Ruby sighed. "Why can't I just have you?" she said softly.
Author's Notes:
It took some willpower to not call Ruby's fear aura a "Terror Radius." Anyway, another short chapter, consisting of a couple scenes I thought of. Not my favorite chapter, but one that I feel was necessary to show a bit of what Ruby's life at Signal was like. I just wish I'd been able to come up with more scenes...