A/N: I've been skirting the AU aspect of this story, but starting from this chapter it begins to branch off in a different direction from the series. Hopefully, it is entertaining for you all.

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Ten months ago.

Richter fell to his knees, expelling more blood from his lungs onto the concrete floor. He opened his mouth wide, gulping in as much air as he could. His body shivered uncontrollably in a vain attempt to bring his temperature up, but it never warmed him up. He hadn't been warm in months, since the injections started.

He was in a rectangular room wide enough for two people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and long enough for him to pace around aimlessly, trying to think of ways to escape the hell he was enduring. The walls and ceiling were made of solid metal, a single dim Dust lamp hung at the center of the ceiling, casting a very dim circle of light at the center of the room, leaving the edges in darkness. A heavily barred thick metal door sat mockingly in front of him, taunting him with the way to freedom that he knew was a lie. Behind him to his right sat a worn out cot and on the opposite wall a sink and toilet. One he had failed to get to during his latest vomiting spell, it had been too sudden.

To Richter's immediate left was a dead beowulf. The grimm had bite marks all over it's neck, his bite marks. For some reason ripping into the monster's flesh satiated him and once he started he couldn't stop until the beowulf lay unmoving. The terribly intense hunger that was so strong it was painful had begun to diminish. Relief washed over the boy, followed by dread and sickness. What had he done? What was he becoming?

"Enjoy your meal?" A sultry voice asked from the other side of the cell's door. Richter's eyes widened when he heard it. It was a voice he had come to hate in the past few months.

Roaring like a wild man, Richter charged the door, slamming all the weight his small frame could muster, but like many times before, it did nothing. Through a horizontal viewpoint in the thick door she could see Cinder Fall's hated amber eyes looking at him. He could almost picture the arrogant smirk he knew she had on her face.

"I'll take that as a yes." She said. "You're the second one to survive this long. You should be proud."

Richter wiped his chin with his left hand, it came away red with blood, "I'll be proud when I'm standing over your dead corpse!"

Cinder was unmoved by his words. "You would murder the only person offering you safe harbor?"

"Safe harbor!?" Richter replied, incredulous. "You've been torturing me!" He scowled deeply at the amber-eyed woman. "When I get out of here, I'll inform the teachers at Signal about what you've done! They'll tear you to pieces!" He vowed.

Her response was a condescending chuckle. "I don't think that's going to work out the way you want."

"What?"

"Have you seen yourself lately?" Cinder asked, throwing a square object into the cell through the viewpoint. It slid to Richter's feet. "I've given you quite the makeover."

Richter picked up the small square object, it was a mirror. He peered into it expecting to see his face, but what he saw was a demon. The left eye's sclera was black and the iris was glowing orange, his skin had peeled off the left side of his face, revealing skin as dark as the corners of his cell. Even his teeth were changing, becoming slightly more pointed. He was….a monster.

"No…." He said in a whisper, despair crushing him.

"I wonder." Cinder thought out loud. "Would the teachers at Signal actually listen to you with a face like that? Or would they just kill you on sight?"

"My friends…." He said quickly, desperately. "….They would listen to me."

Cinder laughed cruelly in response. "You look like a living, breathing nightmare. They would run in fear at the first sight of you, wouldn't they?"

She was right, she was right and he hated her for it. Ruby, Pearce, Trista…they would all be afraid of him. They would treat him like a grimm, a monster, and cut him down. The thought of Ruby's silver eyes looking at him in fear felt like a punch to the gut. The despair gripped him tighter, threatening to crush him.

"You no longer have a place there." Cinder said, "This place is now your home. Enjoy your stay." And with that she closed the door's viewpoint, the sound of her shoes echoing in the halls beyond as she left Richter to his despair.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Present day.

Richter was perplexed as he stared at the words on his scroll's screen. How did they have the password already? They never got to finish scanning the rest of Weiss Schnee's mind!

"Looks like we already got what we needed from your brain little Schnee." Darion boasted, "Ms. Celvic's computer just had to sift through all the excess information to find it." With a flap of his wings, the psychopath took to the sky, seeking to fly over them.

"We can't let them escape!" Yang shouted.

Ruby nodded her acknowledgement, keeping her eyes on Darion. "Ice Flower!" She called out.

Richter watched as Weiss Schnee positioned herself to Ruby's left, creating a few glyphs in front of Ruby who had her sniper rifle aimed at Darion. She then fired five shots, the first two Darion managed to evade, but the final three hit their mark, covering his body in large irregular pieces of ice.

The winged psychopath began to lose altitude and Yang leapt up to meet him, right fist reared back for a massive punch. However, before she could get into melee range, Darion exerted himself, shattering the ice that held him with a burst of his tainted aura. The resulting shockwave threw Yang in the opposite direction and she plummeted back down to the ground.

Richter leapt into the sky, half a second before Yang crashed into the dirt. Activating his semblance, he struck out with his sword, catching Darion on the interior webbing of his right wing. The psychopath's aura protected the wing from being cut. However, the orange mark he had left on the wing suddenly glowed, by the time Richter landed, it exploded. Darion was unable to right himself as he unsteadily flew over the group and crashed into the ground about fifty yards away.

Ruby and Weiss were about to attack Darion as he struggled to his feet, when a sudden spotlight shined on them to their right. Looking in that direction, Richter spotted a bullhead aircraft, but it wasn't the ordinary models. This one had gatling guns and missile tubes underneath it's wings and they were pointed right at them.

"Hello!" A voice said over the bullhead's loudspeaker, Richter recognized that voice. Novus Procter, come to bail Darion out no doubt. The gatling guns on the aircraft began to whirr to life, "Goodbye!"

Richter cursed and took off in a sprint as bullets shredded the area he was at a second before. The sound of missiles zooming through the air reached his ears and he spurred himself to run faster. The ground began shaking violently as the missiles made contact. He could hear the explosions getting closer and in a last ditch effort to escape the onslaught he dove forward. The concussive force of a missile blast sent him tumbling through the air, the night sky and the ground trading time in his sight before he finally came down hard on his belly.

Sound became distorted for the ex-huntsman as he pushed his upper body off the ground. The loudest sound in his ears was an annoying ringing that refused to cease. With blurry vision, Richter looked around the battlefield, trying to locate Ruby and her friends.

He spotted Weiss Schnee dragging Ruby by her right arm towards his general direction. Ruby looked as dazed as he felt. Yang was on her hands and knees, shaking her head vigorously in an attempt to get the cobwebs out. It looked like everyone had survived.

Looking further back he spotted Darion standing tall, an arrogant smirk on his lips. "Blow the charges Novus." He ordered.

Novus positioned the bullhead above him, "You got it boss."

Richter was confused, charges? What charges?

He got his answer soon enough.

Several distant booms could be heard coming from the city. Richter looked in that direction to see multiple lazy trails of smoke floating up into the sky. Soon after, the sirens began. Richter winced, he didn't remember this part of the plan.

"Oh that's right, I forgot to brief you on this part of the mission Richter." Darion shouted, as if reading his mind. "In addition to Novus acquiring our getaway vehicle, he also planted a bunch of bombs in the city, mostly in populated areas. Got to keep that big bad Atlesian military distracted you know?"

"No…." Richter heard Ruby say softly. Looking on in shock and horror at the now-burning skyline of Vale within the walls. The short ex-huntsman snarled, there was a time for killing, but these deaths, there were people there that didn't deserve it, who were living their own lives. So this was the catch that he didn't see with Cinder Fall's deal. Yes with Darion's group he could stop the endless torment that was the hunger, but in doing so, he was allying himself with a madman. He turned to face Darion, fury building within his body.

Darion's smirk stayed on his face, but his eyes narrowed when he locked eyes with the short ex-huntsman. "You've got a nice look in your eyes now Richter. Eyes full of killing intent, I like that! There might be some hope for your sad ass yet!" Dropping to a crouching position, the winged psychopath suddenly leap upward, landing inside the bullhead through one of it's openings. "The next time you lay eyes on me, you'll be laying eyes on Remnant's new god!"

Richter could only watch helplessly as Novus turned the tail end of the bullhead towards him, getting ready to fly away. He caught a glimpse of Darion reverting to his human form, the skin around his face, arms and chest starting to regenerate. He would be fatigued for a while, but that didn't mean anything if he was ferried to the hideout via the bullhead. They had to ground that damned metal bird, but how?

"Yang! Richter!" Ruby suddenly called out, "Flamboree!"

Richter's jaw almost dropped to the ground, "What!?"

Yang was finally back to her feet, she looked at her sister tentatively, "Ruby, we haven't done that in over a…."

"Just do it!" Ruby interrupted, "Many more innocent people die if he gets away!"

The uncharacteristic seriousness in Ruby's voice spurred the two into action. Richter had seen it before, Ruby only showed the leader side of her when things went bad. The situation they were in certainly qualified. If Darion got away in that bullhead, there would be no one to stop him in time from activating the Sirensong.

Positioning himself in front of Yang, Richter switched Dyrnwyn to pistol-form, generating a large black-white ball of aura at the tip of the barrel. Unlike two years ago, he had no problem keeping it steady. As soon as the ball stopped expanding Yang leapt forward and punched the aura ball as hard as she could, compressing it almost into a disc shape and rocketing it towards the retreating bullhead aircraft. Yang's aim was true, nailing the bullhead on it's tail. Smoke and fire erupted from where the disc impacted and the bullhead began to rapidly descend, disappearing below the treetops. Richter nodded at the sight, that should buy them time at least.

Ruby turned to Weiss, her face serious. "I'm sorry Weiss, but we need backup. We have to inform Professor Ozpin."

Weiss Schnee nodded soberly, "I know." Ruby pulled out her scroll, but Weiss grabbed her wrist gently, preventing her from using it. "I'll do it, I'm to blame for this."

"So am I." Richter muttered to himself, he saw Ruby cast him a quick glance, so she had heard him. If his petite friend was going to say anything it was stopped as Yang walked up to her, the blonde huntress pocketing her scroll.

"Blake just contacted me, she's got Gena Celvic tied up and she's on her way." Yang reported.

Ruby nodded. "Good." She turned towards Richter. "We need you to lead us to that hideout. I think we can both agree letting Darion activate the Sirensong would be a bad thing."

"Yes." He replied, who would have thought that Darion Shiver would have been such a raging psychopath? Not him.

"Once Blake regroups with us, we'll move." Ruby announced, everyone took the next few minutes to rest up. Richter couldn't help, but admire his old friend for taking control of the situation so readily. She definitely had the blood of a huntress in her.

Eventually Blake, the amber-eyed huntress joined them. The second she laid eyes on Richter she almost shot him with her pistol. Thankfully, Ruby talked her down, but Blake still eyed him warily, he didn't blame her. Weiss finally got off her scroll, approaching the group once more.

"What did Professor Ozpin say?" Ruby asked.

"He said he'd send what hunters he could, most are responding to all the chaos in the city along with the Atlesian military." Weiss answered.

Yang slammed a fist into an open palm. "Then it's up to us."

Ruby nodded, "Let's not waste any more time." She looked at him. "Richter, lead the way."

The short ex-huntsman nodded and took off at a pace that was just below a full sprint, heading towards the trail of smoke deeper in the forest that signified Darion's crashed bullhead. If they were fast enough, they might be able to catch Darion and Novus while they were still recovering from the crash.

Ruby ran up to his left side, matching pace with him, "How much time do we have?"

"Darion won't be able to activate the Sirensong right away." Richter answered, "It takes twenty minutes for it to power up. We'll have more time than that though."

"Why's that?"

"He used his altered form. While it's very powerful, it's also very taxing on the body." He informed her. "He'll need to recover from that first before he uses the Sirensong."

"You're sure?" Weiss asked from behind him.

He spared the heiress a glance, "Positive. He needs to be in his altered form if he wants to consume that many grimm at a rapid rate. If we're lucky though, he'll have died in the aircraft crash."

"I somehow doubt that." Yang piped up

Richter sighed, "Yeah, me too. One can always hope though."

Ruby smirked at him, "Oh, so you're hoping again?"

His response was to growl in annoyance, but Ruby just kept smirking at him.

After a short time, the group came upon the crashed aircraft. The right wing had been ripped completely off, the tail was gone and the left wing was on fire. Pieces of metal debris littered the clearing, but Richter saw no sign of Darion or Novus.

"I don't see any bodies." He heard Blake say.

Weiss sighed, "I suppose it was too much to hope for."

Yang ran a hand through her hair, "What now?"

Richter felt Ruby's silver eyes on him, "How far to the hideout?"

"On foot? It's going to take us the rest of the night, we'll arrive about sunrise." He answered.

She walked past him, "We'd better get to it then."

The group continued through the forest, Richter slowed their pace down to a brisk walk, not wanting to unnecessarily fatigue himself or Ruby's group in the long journey ahead. The crash must have injured Darion and Novus, which meant they would be moving at a similar pace. Perhaps they could catch up to them.

Once again, Ruby appeared at his left side, "I'm sorry." She said to him.

Richter was thoroughly confused, "For what?"

She kept her gaze ahead, "I had no idea you were still alive after the manor incident. I thought you were….dead." She clarified, her eyes revealing the sadness she felt, "If I'd known, I would have come looking for you."

A sigh escaped the short ex-huntsman's lips, so that's what's eating at her, "Ruby, I don't blame you for what happened to me at the manor. I made that decision on my own. I don't regret it."

He saw her visibly relax, sparing him a tentative glance. "So how did you get….changed?"

Richter frowned, "A woman named Cinder Fall kept experimenting with me." He answered, "Every day for five months she injected me with some kind of black liquid." He winced at the memory, "The closest thing I can describe it to would be having magma injected directly into your veins, the pain was beyond imagining."

Ruby's silver eyes widened slightly, "Wait, her name was Cinder Fall?"

He made eye contact with her, "You've heard of that name?"

"She's a student visiting from Haven Academy." She informed him.

"That's no student." Richter snarled, "That is a cruel monster that delights in suffering." His gaze intensified on his red-cloaked friend, "You have a viper in your midst, after we finish here, I strongly suggest dealing with it." He spat.

"Richter…" She said softly, dimly aware that her eyes were full of concern, but the rage was welling up inside him.

The short ex-huntsman balled his hands into fists, "Cinder robbed me of my humanity, my pride, my hope. She basically took my world and shattered it, breaking me. And once she did, she picked up the pieces and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. All I had to do was help Darion Shiver and his group."

"What was the offer?" Ruby inquired.

Richter closed his eyes and shook his head, his hands relaxing, "It doesn't matter anymore."

Now that Darion and him had irreconcilable differences, his goal of ending the hunger permanently was gone, there would be no way Darion would let him near the Sirensong now. Which meant his days in the foreseeable future would be filled with agony and the bitter taste of grimm. The thought of it was almost enough to drive him mad.

They walked in silence for a few moments. Ruby casting a few awkward glances his way as they progressed through the forest. He knew she was trying to think of something to say, to ease the tension, but there was nothing he could do to help her out. He was just as hesitant to say something, after all he did hurt her friends, knocked her out and kidnapped her partner. Things like that tend to make conversation awkward.

"You know…." Ruby suddenly spoke, her hands nervously behind her back. "…Maybe someone at Beacon might be able to help you. Professor Ozpin's bound to know something about this or maybe General Ironwood has some Atlesian technology that could…"

Richter's eyebrows furrowed in anger, "Oh yes." He interrupted, "So I can be thrown into another lab to have more experiments run on me." He said irritably. "No thanks Ruby, I've had enough needles to last me a lifetime." He quickened his pace, increasing the distance from her. "I'm going to go scout ahead." And with that he leapt to one of the tree branches and took off, leaving a discouraged Ruby behind him.

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Yang saw the entire exchange between Ruby and Richter. She joined her little sister after their old friend took off like a bat out of hell.

"Okay, that may have not been the best suggestion to make." Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

Yang placed her right hand on her sister's left shoulder, "It's alright Ruby, Richter won't stay mad at you."

She looked at Yang. "Are you sure?"

The blonde huntress gave her baby sister a reassuring smile, "He's never been able to before." She released her grip on Ruby's shoulder, "I'll go talk to him."

"I'll go with you." Ruby quickly replied.

"No, it'd be better if you stay here for now, give him time to cool off." Yang said, she winked at her, "I won't be gone long." Breaking into a sprint, the blonde huntress raced to catch up with Richter.

She honestly wasn't sure what to think of their old friend at this point. They had a common enemy in Darion Shiver, but beyond that it was all a realm of uncertainty for her. If she had her way, she would have punched Richter's lights out for having hurt her little sister. However, watching Ruby's recent exchange with the short ex-huntsman pushed those thoughts out of her head. Ruby desperately wanted to bring Richter back into the fold and as her older sister, Yang had to at least try and make an effort to support that decision.

The blonde huntress caught up with the short ex-huntsman, who was currently perched in a high tree branch. Richter's eyes were squinted as he tried to see off into the distance, attempting to spot Darion or his henchman.

"See anything?" Yang asked him.

"Nothing at the moment." Came Richter's reply, a little edge in his tone. "They can't be too far ahead though. They're on foot just like us and Darion has to be feeling the aftereffects of his altered form."

She shrugged, "So things aren't going completely wrong."

"No."

"Hey." Yang said, running a hand through her hair, "Ruby didn't mean anything bad about suggesting you see Professor Ozpin or General Ironwood. She was just trying to help you."

"I know." Richter admitted, his tone softer. "But just the thought of being stuck in another lab is enough to get my blood boiling." He leapt down from the tree branch, landing a short distance in front of Yang with his back facing her.

"You know she mourned you for a long time." The blonde huntress informed him.

Richter continued to have his back towards her, looking straight into the forest. "Did she?"

"You've been friends since you were little kids, of course she did." Yang replied. "And I would go out on a limb and say you were becoming more than friends."

That got Richter's attention, he turned his head to look at her, a surprised expression on his face. "What?"

"I know my baby sister, I've seen the way she looks at you, even now during all of this." She continued, "She cares about you a lot Richter, a lot."

Richter's dark-brown orbs switched their gaze to the ground, a frown on his face. "What are you getting at?"

Yang took a deep breath, patience, she needed patience. "After we fought you in the city, I thought you were a lost cause. The next time I saw you I was going to cave your face in. But I could tell that Ruby was refusing to completely give up on you."

She saw his face soften slightly as she told him all this. So Ruby's gut instinct was right, the Richter they had known growing up was still in there, but how far was he buried? How much of him remained?

"I know you care for her too." Yang continued, "Which is why I'm staying my hand, for now."

Richter returned his attention to the forest ahead of him. "Even if I do, it doesn't change anything." He sounded bitter and tired. "I can't become a huntsman the way I am now and I can't walk a path of darkness like Darion." He looked down at his hands, "I'm lost Yang, I don't know where I belong anymore."

"Then come back to Vale with us when this is over." She urged. "I know Ruby would be happy if you did. Just think about it okay?"

He didn't respond, still staring at the ground. Most likely he was absorbing all of this. Turning around, Yang began to walk back to the others, leaving Richter to his thoughts. She stopped after half a dozen paces, there was still one more thing she had to say.

"Remember, the decisions you make don't just affect you, but the people you care about." The blonde huntress said, looking back at Richter, her eyes narrowed at his back. "If you break Ruby's heart, I'll break you." She finished, dead serious.

"I'm already broken." Richter responded. "Besides, I don't plan on hurting her anymore anyway."

Yang stared at him for a moment more, "I hope so." She said solemnly. There was nothing more to say as she went to regroup with her team.

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It was a long five hours before Ruby called for the team to make camp. There was a few hours before dawn and she wanted them to rest up. Richter had told her they would definitely reach the hideout before noon tomorrow.

Blake had found signs of people moving through the woods, one of them wounded. It was a relief to the red-cloaked girl, as that meant Darion didn't have a huge lead on them like she had originally thought.

Yang hadn't spoken much after having her talk with Richter, she had just given Ruby a bone-crushing hug and went back to following her lead. Richter himself seemed to be opening up to her more and more as the hours passed. Admittedly, the progress was much slower than she preferred, but at least it was something.

Weiss was struggling with the coming storm that her family's company was about to receive. By revealing to Professor Ozpin that the Sirensong was still around, she had revealed her father as a liar. Public relations for the SDC was definitely going to take a hit, but how hard, no one knew. For the first time, Weiss might be dealing with some serious fallout with her father. Ruby felt bad for her pale teammate, she couldn't imagine ever being at odds with her own dad like that.

The red-cloaked girl felt someone shake her in her sleeping bag. Opening her silver eyes, Ruby looked to see Blake standing over her.

"Your turn on watch." Her faunus teammate said.

Ruby rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, "Okay." She replied, grabbing Crescent Rose and finding a high tree branch where she could have a good vantage point. The red-cloaked girl was just settling in when she realized that one of the sleeping bags was empty.

It was Richter's.

Hastily scanning her surroundings with the scope of her rifle, Ruby spotted movement to the south of their position, some distance away. As she zoomed in with the scope, she caught sight of Richter grabbing a beowulf by the shoulders and biting into it's jugular, ripping out a huge piece of dark flesh from the grimm. She winced at the sight, so this is what Weiss was talking about.

Leaping off her tree branch, Ruby swiftly made her way on foot to the clearing that Richter was at. When she arrived, there were several dead grimm lying around her old friend. Richter's back was to her as he dropped the beowulf he was holding, a large chunk of flesh missing from it's neck as it began to dissolve.

"Richter?" She called his name.

He froze up for a moment, before turning towards her slowly, wolfing down a piece of grimm flesh before responding. "Ruby." He said, looking nervous. "Sorry, I was hoping to be discreet."

"It's okay." She reassured him, "Weiss told me about your little grimm-eating thing."

"Yup, this is my diet now." He confirmed, waving an arm to indicate the dead grimm. "No more meat and potatoes for me."

"Is that all you can eat? I mean could you eat normal food?" She asked.

"I could, but it would not sustain me." He answered, finding a nearby tree to lean his back against.

Ruby joined him, taking a spot to his right. "Do you miss it though? Pizza? Burgers? Strawberry milkshakes?"

Richter wiped his mouth with his bandaged right hand. "All the damn time."

She found that she wasn't sure what to say. Which was odd, they had known each other for so long. How could she not know what to talk about? "Well, at least it's a creative way to kill grimm." She said awkwardly, inwardly wincing. Seriously was that the best she could come up with?

Richter actually snorted though, "That is true." He agreed.

Silence settled over the teenagers as they looked up into the stars of the night sky, retreating into their thoughts. Wasn't it a night similar to this a year ago at the manor? Things had seemed so serene right before they began that fateful mission. Which reminded her….

"I haven't told Pearce and Trista you're alive yet." She informed him.

"Good." Came his terse reply, "Keep it that way."

She turned her head to look at him. "But they should know…."

"NO!" He suddenly shouted intensely, standing up from his position on the tree to face her fully. The unexpected outburst shocking Ruby into silence. "They should remember how I was…." He looked down at his hands, "…Not this. Reduced to a creature that feeds off of the filth they are sworn to destroy."

Ruby stood up straight from the tree as well, "They wouldn't think of you like that."

Richter snarled in response, his dark-brown eyes blazing. "They should."

He suddenly doubled over, collapsing to his knees. Ruby was at his side in an instant, but he waved her off.

"I'm fine…!" He said through clenched teeth. "…Just sometimes…a bad reaction…!"

She was far from convinced, especially when multiple inch-long cuts began to appear on his cheeks, forehead, chin and the bridge of his nose. "Richter, your face is bleeding all over!"

"…It'll pass…!" He croaked out, grunting in pain. Not knowing what else to do, Ruby began rubbing his back with her left hand, gripping his right forearm firmly with her right. The rivers of blood continued to flow from his face, pooling beneath him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the blood stopped and the cuts around his face closed up, as if they were never there.

Richter immediately staggered to his feet, twisting around and falling against a tree trunk. She watched as he collapsed into a sitting position, breathing heavily. He pulled out a cloth from his side pouch and began raising a shaky hand to his face when Ruby gently took it from his grasp, dropping into a crouch on his right side and wiping his face clean of the excess blood.

"You're cold." She noted, seeing him shivering uncontrollably.

He nodded, "….I get bad chills after feeding…" His dark-brown orbs locked onto her silver ones. "Now do you see why I don't want our friends to see me? I'm a wreck."

Ruby knew what Richter was thinking. Because he could rip his face off and eat grimm, he would be shunned by his friends. He was afraid of the look on their faces if they laid eyes on him in his current state. That look of disgust and fear as they deemed him a freak. That was what Richter was afraid of, being ostracized by his closest friends, leaving him all alone.

But that wasn't what was going to happen.

She grasped his hands tightly with her own. "They wouldn't be afraid." She said softly, staring intensely into his dark-brown orbs.

He was surprised by her intensity. "Ruby…"

She touched her forehead to his, never breaking eye contact. "I'm not afraid."

"You shouldn't…."

She closed her eyes and touched her lips to his in a chaste kiss. When she reopened them she saw Richter's dark-brown eyes looking at her in amazement. She was actually surprised at her own actions herself, it was like her body moved on it's own.

This time Richter was the one to press his lips to hers. Ruby felt warmth spread through her body from the kiss, it made her feel serene and content, as if all was right in the world, even though it wasn't.

They separated, though Ruby's forehead was still against his. She could see Richter's dark-brown eyes searching hers fervently, for what she was not sure. Whatever it was he seemed to find it, as he visibly relaxed, allowing himself a small smile.

"Well…." He started, "…At least I'm not cold anymore."

Ruby grinned.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

A/N: The next few chapters are the final series of battles for the fic. I'll need more time to plan these out so the updates might come a little slower. Apologies in advance.