This Author's note, as well as future ones, has been moved to the end of the chapter for formatting. See below for more details.
What is the matter? Tau asked in her head. Receiving no response, even in her thoughts, Tau continued. West? West, what's wrong?
West? WEST?
Ruby barely registered the sound, her eyes glazing over and her words caught in her throat. The sight before her had stopped her words even as she had started to say them. She opened her mouth slightly, but stopped. There was so much she wanted to say… but she had no words for it.
She stood unsteadily, and very slowly. Immediately, Pyrrha's eye swivelled to her location, the young girl frowning and squinting slightly, trying to make out the faint blur that was before her. Ruby deactivated her cloaking, after some minor resistance from Tau, and looked right at her.
Pyrrha quickly pulled up the DMR and knife she had been carrying, assuming a stance, her muscles tensed and ready to lunge. But Pyrrha hesitated, probably because Ruby was making no threatening moves towards her. Ruby feel a stab of pain looking at the girl, who had changed so much since she had last seen her.
A scar ran down the entire left side of Pyrrha's face, easily an inch thick, entirely obscuring her eye. Pyrrha looked easily a decade older, and had a slightly unnerving look in her remaining eye. Her nose was bent in ways that showed it had been broken numerous times, and when Ruby looked at Pyrrha's form, her stance was slightly lopsided, and the girl's breathing seemed unstable.
At least one broken or fractured rib, and a broken leg, and that was just a first glance, through full body armour. Pyrrha wasn't even close to combat ready, yet here she was, ignoring what must have been agonising pain, invading a spaceship and being prepared to fight.
"Well?" Pyrrha asked. "What do you want?" Her voice had also taken a more vicious, cold tone than the warm one it used to be.
"You shouldn't be fighting, you should be resting in a medical bay," Ruby replied calmly. "Too much stress or talking could easily cause what already seems to be irreparable damage to get worse."
Pyrrha frowned in response. "And why would an enemy show such care?"
Ruby was briefly confused by the girl's reaction, only to remember that her helmet had a voice filter built in.
"Any human life is worth caring for, and judging from your actions…" Ruby said, gesturing to the dead pilot, "You clearly agree." Ruby decided to stop being cryptic, and reached her hands up to remove her helmet.
A loud explosion down the hall interrupted her, and the two spun instantly to the location it came from. Ruby felt a pound in her chest, which knocked her to the ground, and quickly reactivated her active camo when she saw one of Pyrrha's allies barrelling down the hall at an incredible speed carrying another of Pyrrha's allies and a large crate in their arms.
"Let's go! Now!" They called out ahead of them, and Pyrrha's head spun, only to find Ruby missing. Ruby lay perfectly still in the corner on the ground, watching the events proceed. Shrugging, Pyrrha snapped into action, donning her helmet and running back through the door, waving her arm at something, and the sound of an engine filled Ruby's ears.
Ruby frowned slightly. Considering the damage that had been dealt to that room, it couldn't be safe to try and take off from there. But apparently whoever Pyrrha's pilot was, they were crazy enough to attempt it, because when Ruby peeked through the doorway after the three soldiers, a Pelican was taking off as the soldiers ran forward and jumped onto the open ramp.
The Pelican quickly gained speed, and hurtled off in a hurry. Ruby heard footsteps, and lots of them, looking over to see Carolina leading another Freelancer, C.T., Ruby remembered, after them.
"Damn it!" Carolina called loudly, punching the wall and leaving a dent when she saw the bay was empty.
Ruby disabled her camouflage, and stood up unsteadily. Immediately, Carolina's vision tunnelled on her. Carolina quickly touched her radio.
"Agent Carolina to command, requesting a medical team immediately! We have an Agent severely wounded, get to my location ASAP!" Carolina yelled, rushing over to help Ruby stand up.
Ruby wasn't that wounded, so she wasn't sure what the fuss was about, even as her world began to blur a bit as the adrenalin wore off. Besides, she didn't even feel any pain. She felt a force on her chest, and looked down to see Carolina examining something, that looked quite familiar. It looked almost like a knife… almost identical to the once Pyrrha had been carrying…
Carolina said something faint, but Ruby couldn't quite make it out. She was too busy looking at the knife. Wasn't she meant to feel pain? And how did it even get there? The only chance Pyrrha had to stab her was when she had been distracted by her ally, and even then Ruby should've noticed.
But upon closer inspection, Ruby saw the shards of metal poking out through her armour all around the knife. They must have fried her pain receptors. It had been hard to tell when it was obscured by all that blood… so much… blood…
Ruby felt herself begin to fall.
TIME: 2217
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
Location: Emergency Bay
"-Right, wa-"
"-Administering anae-"
"Remove her chest plate! Come on, people, move!"
Ruby cracked open her eyes slightly as she felt a tug on her chest. There was a dull throb in her chest, which seemed to be slowly fading, and all around her voices were saying various things in a blur of noise, all of it simultaneous.
The pressure stopped, and a sharp stab of pain replaced it, only to quickly fade. Ruby's vision was very blurry, but she forced herself to sit up. She felt someone try to push her back down, but she swatted away their hand and steadied herself, clutching her head as the blood rushed back into it.
More unintelligible noise followed this, but she ignored it, picking up her helmet and throwing it off, grunting in annoyance as she rubbed her eyes to try and clear them. Immediately, her eyesight sharpened dramatically and things began to stop blurring.
In front of her were masked medics, and around her were the familiar white walls of a hospital.
"Please, Ma'am, you need to lay-"
Ruby scoffed and ignored the medic who said that, looking down at her chest. The lower half of her chest plate had been taken off. Already, her aura had healed the brunt of the damage, and although the shards of metal had been removed, the knife was still lodged firmly in the upper half.
Ruby raised her hand up and gripped the knife, biting back a grunt of pain as she tore it out. Blood spurted up from the wound, only to quickly stop, even as she heard those around her yell in surprise and disapproval.
The pain faded quickly, although the wound remained, but Ruby wasn't very surprised. Her aura was probably working over time as it was, and would have likely drained by now. Even so, it had done its job well enough.
She looked back up to those around her, and was surprised to see the Director himself standing in the room. He really did seem to have an unhealthy obsession with her. To her gratitude, the Director ordered the Medics to back off, despite their protests and frantic claims that she could die from the wound.
Even so, the Director did seem concerned, although apparently trusted her judgement. Ruby lay back down slowly, hit by a wave of nausea that was oh so common when one's aura was dangerously low. She felt something dig into her hand, and noticed she was still tightly clutching the knife. She brought it up to her head, and saw something carved on the blade. Something in Ancient Vytalian.
'Pyrrhic victory'.
Well… that confirmed this was Pyrrha's knife. The study of the language was obligatory at Beacon, and she had no reason to believe anyone else would know the language, let alone carve it into their weapon.
Ruby snarled in frustration, stabbing the knife into her bed. It wasn't like Pyrrha to attack people like that… but then it just brought up a whole new question.
What was Pyrrha even doing here, and how did she get here? Ozpin had sent Ruby, but he would've let her know if Pyrrha had been coming along too.
So what was she doing here?
"How are you feeling, Agent?" The Director asked her. Ruby sat in silence, pondering the question.
"Her thoughts are a mess, sir," Tau replied for her. "I can't quite make them out. It is doubtful you will receive any satisfactory answer."
Ruby didn't think that was quite true… so maybe Tau's difficulty had stemmed from her using her aura. It had been some time since she had last let it run wild, as her armour nullified it, and it was primarily dormant while she slept. Even now she was hesitant to use it very often.
The smallest occurrence can change the soul, and thus her aura. With all that had happened to her recently, she wasn't sure she wanted to see the kind of changes that had taken place.
"I will be fine soon enough," Ruby replied outwardly. She could practically hear the Director nod curtly.
"Good to hear it. Your mission has been called off so you may have more time to recover."
Ruby inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a huge weight lift from her chest.
"Once you are recovered, we will ask you to give a report on what happened. Until then, just rest. You need your strength," The Director said to her calmly.
"Yes, sir," Ruby replied, closing her eyes slightly. "Give me a few hours and I should be fine."
"Very well, Agent. Medics, please examine the wound to see if it is infected. Would I be correct in assuming that you would like it to heal on its own if possible?" The Director asked her.
Ruby shook her head faintly, and sighed in exhaustion. There was a reason using too much aura was dangerous, it could easily knock you out.
"It's best to save my innate healing for when it's necessary. Any help you could give it will speed things up."
Ruby let her eyes close and began to drift off, even as she felt the Medics poke around her chest.
TIME: 0700
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
Location: Emergency Bay
Ruby yawned and sat up, feeling a slight tension in chest her, but nothing else to remind her of her injury. Not even a dull throb. She looked around slowly, unsurprised to find the room as empty and dull as she remembered it.
On the ground to her left was her helmet, although she couldn't see her chest plate anywhere, meaning it had likely been taken to either be repaired or thrown out. Instead, she was wearing what seemed to be a casual t-shirt and jeans, and her armour was on a stand besides her.
Ruby sighed, picking up the helmet and placing it next to the stand. While she did appreciate it being stored, whoever had put the helmet elsewhere was an idiot.
She heard something clatter to the ground as she lifted it. It was Pyrrha's knife. She was surprised she had been allowed to keep it, but shrugged and bent down to pick it up, running her hand over it. It was a nice knife, very well made, and felt sturdy in her grip. The blade didn't have a mark on it, despite being rammed through her armour.
Ruby heard footsteps, and spun to the source to see York entering the infirmary, dressed in his armour, as was standard. It made Ruby feel slightly embarrassed, knowing she couldn't put hers back on until the chest plate was replaced. Until then she would stick out like a sore thumb.
But still, she supposed it was a nice change to be able to feel her aura circulate for once. It felt like… a warm glow, really. There was no other way to describe it.
"Ah, she lives!" York said jokingly, sitting down next to her. "You gave us all a pretty big scare. Glad you're okay."
Ruby nodded acknowledgement, and lay back down slightly. She was feeling a bit dizzy, although she wasn't surprised considering how quickly she had sat up.
"You know, you've been spending more time in the hospital than I have. You're not a very lucky person, are you?" York joked, taking off his helmet and setting it on his knee. "But seriously, how're you feeling?"
"A little bit… confused," Ruby admitted, continuing to run her hand along the knife.
"About the Project or the Insurrectionists?"
Ruby sighed. "Both. But at the moment, specifically the Insurrection."
"Oh?"
"I know one of their members," Ruby said sadly.
"Ah. A friend, I take it?" York asked sadly. Ruby nodded. "Let me guess. It kind of makes you wonder whose side you should really be on, doesn't it?"
Ruby looked at York sharply. "Have you been having thoughts along those lines?"
York shrugged. "Sometimes… it kind of seems like we're the bad guys."
"I guess it does," Ruby replied thoughtfully. York probably didn't know she'd been sent on a literal assassination mission, but she decided to spare him that. She didn't want to ruin what little image he had left of what, in his eyes, was probably his home.
The companionable lull the conversation was in was interrupted, however, by an unnecessarily loud announcement by F.I.L.I.S.
"All Agents on team one, please report for briefing," Boomed the A.I.
York sighed. "Well, that's my cue. Never a dull moment and all that."
"So, what's this mission about?"
"Recon probably found the Insurrection, so we're probably going after their leader again."
"Again?"
"Our intel keeps being faulty. You probably slept through it, but apparently he's hiding in Bone Valley. The last time we tried to catch him, our ship almost got nuked and C.T went missing."
Ruby felt a stab of sadness. "I see… so the mission isn't really to capture the leader this time, is it?"
York donned his helmet and paused, indicating he had similar thoughts. "I don't know yet, but the briefing's gonna tell me, isn't it."
Ruby stood up from her bed, beginning to put on her armour. "Do you know where I can get a spare chest piece?" She asked.
"Are you seriously thinking of tagging along?"
Ruby shrugged. "If I say I'm good, which I am, by the way…" Ruby started, conveniently tripping slightly as she said that. "The Director probably won't mind. Besides, the friend I mentioned earlier is the reason I'm in hospital in the first place, and I'd really like to meet them."
Ruby was trying to sound ominous, but there was more logic behind her words than just threat. If she made it sound like she and Pyrrha were rivals, there was a fair chance they would let Ruby fight Pyrrha alone. Knowing how good Pyrrha was, that was for the best if she still had her semblance, and even if she didn't, she would prefer to not see Pyrrha die.
And to ask about why she was here, but that could come later.
York passed her one, conveniently in her colour, and Ruby paused to look at him sceptically. "What do you think I came here for? I didn't expect you to be awake yet, or I would've brought the others. I was going to replace it for you, just in case, y'know?"
Ruby snatched it out of his hands, placing it on. "Well, thanks," She said simply, donning her armour in a few minutes, a substantial improvement on what her first try had been like.
"Agent York, please report to briefing," F.I.L.I.S said impatiently.
"Welp, no reason to keep everyone waiting, let's go," York said, walking off with Ruby quickly following.
Author's Note:
I am aware this chapter is late, and apologise for this. I have had little work ethic and limited time. This story will still be updated regularly, although with much larger intervals. I will not abandon this story.
Thank you for your patience, SHKOV