Ruby bared her teeth as Crescent Rose sliced through flesh. She was a lethal blur of rose petals and falling limbs; she tore through Grimm as fast as they arrived and left a pile of corpses in her wake. Beowolves, Ursa and Boarbatusks piled up on top of one another and slowly faded away as Ruby moved on.
She drowned herself in the slaughter, revelled in it. This was what she'd been born for; the only thing she was really good at. Even from her first days at Beacon, it had been the same: too awkward to make friends, but lethal in a fight. She hadn't started to break out of her shell until she became friends with—
Ruby gritted her teeth and threw herself at a pair of Ursai—only Minors. She focussed on the movement of her blade, the swing of the monsters' claws, and the sound of more closing in. She couldn't afford to think; couldn't afford to be distracted.
An Ursa paw—removed from its previously attached arm—flew past her and she spun. She swung Crescent Rose with a burst of her semblance and—with the force of the blow multiplied by the burst of speed—cut through both Ursai. Their aggressive roars cut off abruptly as they were hewn in half.
She vaulted over the corpses and spun around. There was a group of four Beowolves approaching. The dead Ursai acted as a small hurdle for them; not enough to slow them for long, but enough to give Ruby a second's respite.
She reloaded Crescent Rose and chambered a round. As the Beowolves leapt over the corpses, Ruby fired. Two of the Beowolves—younger than the others, with less armour—toppled to the ground when bullets tore through their skulls. Ruby fired behind her and spun as she was pushed forwards. Crescent Rose sang as it cut through the air in a vicious whirlwind, effortlessly tearing through the Beowolves.
As the last Beowolves fell, the area went quiet, but for the sound of Ruby's panting. She leant on Crescent Rose and closed her eyes as she tried to catch her breath. After almost an hour of non-stop combat, she could feel her legs starting to give out underneath her. She needed a break, even if only for ten minutes, then she could go on.
Her knees buckled and Ruby slumped to the ground. Crescent Rose fell to the ground next to her with a thud. Ruby leant back, opening up her lungs, and sucked in a deep breath of air. She looked up at the canopy of trees above her. The orange light of the slowly setting sun was mixing with the green of the Emerald Forest, and casting a strange glimmer on the forest floor. The boughs swayed back and forth in the breeze. The leaves rustled quietly.
A twig snapped.
Ruby whipped her head towards the noise and grabbed Crescent Rose. Ren was standing not five metres away, guns in hand. Ruby shot to her feet and gave him a questioning look. Ren nodded his head, his eyes looking over Ruby's shoulder. She turned around, and gasped.
The black head of a King Taijitu was hovering inches away from her face, completely silent. Before Ruby could even blink, it lunged.
Fangs streaked towards her, and Ruby flung herself to the side. She felt one of the fangs graze past her leg, but her aura protected her. She winced in pain as she hit the ground; there was a bruise on her side from her battle the night before, and it had been keeping her on the back foot all day.
She looked around as she got to her feet, but the white head was nowhere to be seen. Ruby turned her attention back to the black one. Ren was charging towards it as it continued its lunge, firing both guns at its eyes. Bullets bounced off the snake's thick hide and skittered off into the woods. One round hit its left eye; it reared up and hissed in pain before focussing its next attack on Ren.
Ren leapt upwards as the Taijitu attacked, spun over its head—firing all the while—and landed near the base of a tree. He ran straight up the trunk of the tree for at least five metres and jumped. He landed on the snake's back as it pulled back from its previous attack and stabbed the blade of one of his guns into the eye he had hit. The snake flailed and Ren was thrown off its back, landing lightly on a branch of a tree.
Ruby glanced around again, searching for the other head, but—again—found nothing. She froze as she heard something behind her. Not a loud noise. Not even really a noise. It was more like the hint of a noise. A feeling that something had shifted behind her. Without thinking, she spun and fired.
The bullet hit one of the top fangs of the white Taijitu head, shattering it. The snake reared back and flailed in pain. Ruby fired at the ground as she jumped and swung Crescent Rose at the monster's head. In the course of its erratic flailing, the snake managed to dodge Ruby's swing and—a second later—smack her in the side. She was sent sailing through the air and slammed painfully into a tree. She cried out as a flash of pain lanced down her side, then winced quietly as the cry tore at her still-tender throat.
Ruby managed to orient herself as she fell and landed in a crouch. The Taijitu seemed to have recovered from its fit of pain and was turning to face her once again. Crescent Rose roared in Ruby's hands and blood filled the air as bullets tore through its scaled hide. It lunged despite the barrage of gunfire, fangs poised, and Ruby spun to the side, swinging Crescent Rose.
The blade vanished into the snake's mouth as it passed and hooked into soft flesh therein. As soon as Ruby felt the scythe tug in her hands—as the Taijitu threatened to yank it from her grasp—she heaved on it. She took off at a run as the blade cut through the monster, dragging the scythe behind her.
The blade cut along the snake for at least ten metres before Ruby came to a stop. She looked back and had to wince at what she saw. The white head off the Taijitu had been sliced in half along its flank. However the monster had thrashed in its death throes had unfolded it, and Ruby could see the insides of the snake from where she stood all the way to its mouth.
She shuddered at the sight and turned away. Ren was still fighting the other head, but seemed to be handling himself. Ruby rushed over to help, but before she took two steps, the ground began to tremble.
She stumbled and fell to one knee. She glanced around, suddenly afraid that a Goliath had arrived. The trees shook violently, their boughs whipping back and forth, and Ruby felt her heart rise into her throat. The two of them wouldn't be able to fight a Goliath alone. She glanced towards Ren, opening her mouth to shout a warning.
He seemed unfazed by the sudden trembling. Ren was still leaping back and forth, firing at the snake all the while. He never stayed on the ground, or on a branch of a tree, for longer than a heartbeat; the violent quaking simply didn't have time to affect him.
He was concentrating his fire on the plates of armour on the Taijitu's head; Ruby saw several chunks of the white plating break free. She got to her feet as she called Ren's name, but it was all she could do to remain upright.
Not that Ren needed the help. He kicked off the trunk of a tree and soared towards the snake as it reared in pain. He'd planned his jump so that he approached from the snake's blinded side. He raised both of his guns behind his head and brought them down on the top of the Taijitu's head. The blades pierced the weakened and cracked armour and the monster stiffened.
The trembling was weakening, and Ruby was beginning to relax. If a Goliath were the cause of the quake, they would have seen it by now. Though it did make her wonder what had caused it… Earthquakes were rare in Vale. Not unheard of, but rare. She shook her head; now wasn't the time. She took a step forward and, when she managed to keep her footing, took off at a run towards Ren.
The Taijitu toppled over and hit the ground with a loud thud. It didn't move. Ren's blades had apparently pierced its brain. He tugged the blades from the dead monster's head and closed his eyes.
Ruby came to a stop next to the fallen monster and waited. Ren had always been better than her at detecting nearby enemies. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, Ren slid his guns into his sleeves and opened his eyes. The trembling stopped completely as he jumped off the corpse of the Taijitu and turned towards Ruby.
"Clear," he said.
Ruby sighed and collapsed Crescent Rose. She hooked it onto her belt as she looked up at the sky. The sky was turning a dark red; they didn't have much daylight left, and even Ruby didn't like the idea of being in the Emerald Forest at night.
"We should probably head back," Ruby said.
Ren nodded, but didn't move. "We should rest first. There might be more on the way back."
Ruby glanced around as she considered. It was a good idea—she could use a breather—and if Ren had suggested it, then there were no Grimm around for miles. She looked back at Ren and nodded. They found a comfortable-looking tree and slumped to the ground under its shade.
Ruby leant her head against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes. She let out a sigh and sucked in a deep breath. She'd agreed to a break, but the faster they recovered, and left, the sooner they'd be safe. And the sooner she'd get away from Ren's questioning, judgemental eyes.
It had started as soon as she'd asked him to come with her. He'd given her a bland look, a raised eyebrow, and a nod, but Ruby could see a glint of… something… in his eyes. Like he… pitied her. She'd seen it, but gritted her teeth and ignored it.
He'd agreed to come along, but Ruby had felt that he was only there to watch her. The Grimm had all seemed of little consequence. Well… everything seemed of little consequence to Ren, but he'd seemed even more apathetic than usual. The feeling of his eyes on her back angered her a little. She didn't need a babysitter. Whenever Jaune came with her, there was a sense of camaraderie; they fought together, watching each other's backs. With Ren, it just felt like he was there to… well… babysit.
She glanced over at him. He was sitting next to her, not a foot away, with his legs crossed and eyes closed. His breathing was as calm as if he'd been sitting there for hours, as if the last few hours of combat had done nothing to him. That irked Ruby a little. He had suggested a break, but clearly didn't need it. What was he trying to say? That he thought Ruby needed one when he didn't? Did he think she wasn't good enough to keep up with him?
Apparently no one thought she was good enough for anything these days. Blake and Yang were always worrying over her. Ren's eyes filled with pity—pity—whenever he saw her. Nora… well… Nora was… Nora. Jaune was the only who genuinely treated Ruby like she was capable. Pyrrha at least pretended, but Ruby knew that was for Jaune's sake more than hers.
Somewhere along the line, everyone had stopped believing in her. And that tore Ruby up inside. They'd trusted her all through their time at Beacon, let her call the shots. She was their leader. Even if the teams had been disbanded, they should know that she was still capable of being the leader. Most teams stayed together for missions for that very reason! They grew to trust each other, and their leader, so they decided to tackle missions as a team.
When they'd first graduated, that was how it had started. And it was perfect. It was all Ruby had ever dreamed of. She was a Huntress, leading her team into battle. She went on missions outside the kingdom with her best friends, going on adventures and protecting the weak and the innocent. Those were the happiest months of her life…
Then Weiss left.
Just like that, everything changed.
Ruby's breath caught as she remembered. She propped her arms on her knees, hung her head forward and closed her eyes.
"Weiss…? What's going on? Where are you going?"
"I… I'm going to Atlas."
"What for? Did something happen? Do we have a mission?"
"No… I'm just… going back."
"Oh… Do you want me to come with you?"
"No, Ruby… You have to stay here. I'm going alone."
"When will you be back?"
"I'm not coming back."
"… what?"
Ruby choked back a sob and winced as it hurt her throat. She felt a flash of anger as she was reminded of the beating she'd taken the night before, how she'd almost died. Here she was trying to convince her friends that she was capable enough to take care of herself, while she was coloured black and blue. She shot a glance at Ren, but he was still meditating. He hadn't heard her choke. Tears welled up in her eyes as Weiss' voice rang in her ears again.
"I said I'm not coming back, Ruby… I… I'm sorry. But I can't be with you anymore."
Ruby dashed away her tears, winced as she accidentally nudged her nose—even if it didn't look deformed, her nose was definitely broken—and did her best to push Weiss' voice away. She got to her feet and turned to Ren.
"Come on," she said. "We should get back."
Ren slowly opened his eyes and met her gaze. He didn't stand. He just gazed at her silently.
"Ruby, why are we out here?"
Ruby blinked, unsure of what to say. "Because the city put in a request for Grimm to be cleared out…"
Ren shook his head. "Anyone could have done this. Why did it have to be us?"
"You didn't have to come."
"And let you come out here alone? Not likely."
"Then what're you talking about? You wanted to come."
"No, I didn't. But I knew that you'd come anyway, even if I stayed."
Ruby crossed her arms. "So? Is there something wrong with wanting to help people?"
The dark-haired Huntsman sighed. "No, there's not. But there is a problem with putting yourself in unnecessary danger all the time and then claiming it's all for the greater good."
"What're you talking about? That's what Huntsmen and Huntresses do! We fight so that other people don't have to. We fight to protect the people who can't fight! If no one else wants to help me do it, then I'll do it alone!"
"We want to help you, Ruby. But we don't want to have to."
Anger flashed in Ruby's eyes. "And what do you mean 'have to' help me!? Does no one think I'm good enough to take care of myself? I can do this, Ren! You know I can. Everyone knows I can."
Ren got to his feet with a look almost as intense as her glare. "We know you can, but you're working yourself too hard. And we know that, at this rate, there's going to be a day when you don't come back, and that terrifies us."
Ruby scoffed. "Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence. It sure feels like you all believe in me."
"We do—"
"Then trust me! I'm fine!"
"Ruby, you are not fine! Have you seen your face today? I don't know what happened, and I'm not going to ask if you don't want to tell me, but you look like hell. I've never seen you beaten this bad before; you're clearly not at full fighting capability."
The furious Huntress opened her mouth to retort, but the Huntsman cut her off.
"So, no, you're not okay. You're not 'fine'. We've seen you when you're okay, when you're happy. We grew up with you being happy. We went through Beacon together, and you were happy all the while. You haven't been happy ever since Weiss left!"
Ruby flinched as if he had struck her. "That's not fair—"
Now Ren looked angry. "'Not fair?' Ruby, what you're doing isn't fair! Yang and Blake might never say it, Jaune might be too kind to, but I will. You're hurting us just as much as you're hurting yourself."
"What're you talking about? I'm not doing anything!"
"No, you are. And there must be some part of you that knows that."
Like an cowering animal, back into a corner, Ruby shrunk away from Ren's accusatory tone. "I… I'm just doing my job."
Ren shook his head. "You did your job before Weiss left. You went on missions with your team. You took rests. You didn't throw yourself from one life-threatening situation to the next, without any time to recover, just to keep Weiss out of your head."
"That's not…"
"It is," His voice was ice, cold and unrelenting. "And we all know it. You're upset that Weiss left—heartbroken—we get that. We can understand. We can sympathise. Hell, we can help. But you never let us. Ever since she left, you've just bottled everything up and spent your days killing. Does that sound like a healthy way to deal with a heartbreak?"
Her eyes fell to her feet. She didn't know what to say, though that was enough of an answer.
"Exactly," Ren continued. "And while it's good that you at least ask us to come along, is it really fair to make us spend every day looking out for you? I know Jaune is always willing to come with you, and I'm happy to come along whenever he can't, but don't you think he wants to spend time with his wife?"
The young Huntress nodded, but said nothing.
"The only time they spend alone together is when they go on their own missions. It's putting a strain on their relationship, Ruby. Do you want to be the reason, if indirectly, why Jaune and Pyrrha fall out?"
Ruby shook her head. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. She knew all this; she'd seen Pyrrha and Jaune arguing. She'd just pushed it all aside, convinced herself that protecting the city was more important.
"It might not be obvious when you look at her," Ren continued. "But Nora worries about you too. She asks me every night—every single night—if you're okay, and when you'll get better. And, for the first time in my life, I don't know what to say to her. And Yang and Blake… They're your sisters. They care about your well-being as much as any of us, if not more. They love you more than you'd realise, Ruby, because you're too wrapped up in this spiral of self-pity to notice."
"Yang left too…" Ruby muttered.
"She left on a mission because we made her! She was tearing herself apart worrying about you. All of us could see that she was reaching a breaking point, so we sent her away. Blake manages it better, but she's just as bad, and she couldn't deal with worrying about both you and Yang all the time. It's putting its own strain on their marriage as well. You can't keep putting them through this, Ruby."
A single, solitary tear dropped from her nose as she nodded.
"I don't want to sound harsh, here," Ren's voice softened. "I care about you too, but someone needed to say something. You can't keep doing this. We all know what you're doing and why, and we all know it's not good for you. You need to rest. You need to talk to someone—and it doesn't have to be me—but this isn't how you deal with emotions like these. Let us help you."
Ruby looked up and met Ren's gaze. He was smiling. All trace of anger was gone, replaced by a gentle care, and love. She wanted to smile back, wanted to nod, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I… I'll try," she muttered. She wasn't sure if she was lying or not.
He seemed to take it at face value and nodded. "That's all I ask."
Ruby took a deep breath and nodded.
Ren reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "You do look like hell though."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up."
She stormed past him, towards the city, a smile tugging at her lips. Ren laughed as he followed her. He caught up quickly and walked alongside her back to Vale. They heard Grimm occasionally as they trekked through the forest, but none of them attacked, so Ruby ignored them. She knew what Ren would say if she dove into another fight right after his lecture, and she wasn't going to deal with that.
They entered Vale as the sun hit the horizon. Ren offered to walk Ruby home, but she turned him down, telling him she needed some time to think. He watched her walk away, a concerned look on his face, but said nothing. She glanced back as she turned the corner and saw him finally turning away.
A sigh escaped her as she lost sight of Ren. His words rang in her ears, mocking her. She knew he was right: she couldn't keep depending on everyone so much, it was unfair on all of them. A getaway, a mission abroad, that was what she needed. Yang would be home tonight or tomorrow, and Ruby really didn't want to explain what had happened to her, and why she was so battered. A few days out of the city—alone, not depending on anyone—sounded wonderful.
She nodded to herself as she passed a small bakery, the owner closing up his shop. He called out to her—she came by frequently and often ate there—but she didn't even hear him. After watching her walk past in awkward silence, hand raised in greeting, he shrugged and turned back to his work.
The sky was beginning to darken when Ruby reached her apartment. No one crossed her path as she entered the building and made her way up to the top floor, and for that she was grateful.
The last light of the day shone in her window, painting everything in the room a bloody orange. A dull throbbing started in Ruby's side as she stepped inside. Maybe Ren was right, and she needed some rest, but Ruby was too determined to let a bruise slow her down.
Tomorrow, she thought, I'll leave. I'll find a mission, and I'll go.
That way, she couldn't depend on anyone. No one would have to put up with her. She wouldn't get in between any couples, or ruin any relationships. People could get on with their lives. Everyone would be happier.
Ruby hung Crescent Rose up and slumped onto the lounge in her living room. A holographic screen snapped into life on the wall as she sat down and showed a news anchor talking about some dull, boring current event in Vacuo. Something about a kidnapping, nothing important. Ruby blocked it out.
She pulled out her scroll.
Huntsmen and Huntresses had a simple system of work once they graduated. Some became teachers, some did research, but most became freelancers of a sort. There was an application on every Huntsmen or Huntresses' scroll that showed them a list of available jobs, or other requests. One could scroll through it, find one that sounded interesting, fun, or whatever other criteria one used to choose jobs, and volunteer for it.
All jobs had a reward posted for payment upon completion. Easier ones payed less; harder, more dangerous jobs payed more. It was encouraged to go on harder jobs with partners, or teams, and the larger rewards were split equally.
There were requests for anything from hunting down the leader of a criminal organisation, or protecting a village far away that was under Grimm attack, to things like clearing Grimm from the surrounding forests. Anything that could require a Huntsman or Huntress was posted on the Board, as it was called.
Ruby slipped her scroll out of her pocket to check the Board—she needed to find a job that was at least a few days away from Vale—and was surprised to see a small, yellow light flashing on the surface of the closed scroll. There was no reason anyone would have called her; every one of her friends who was in Vale had known where she was all day, and none of the others had returned yet.
She opened the scroll with a sigh and checked the caller ID.
People say that when someone is surprised enough, their heart will 'skip a beat'. They say it's an uncomfortable, sometimes painful, experience that only occurs when someone is confronted with a potentially life-changing event, or emotional upheaval, out of the blue. 'Skipping a beat' is an apt description for what most people experience in such a situation, but it requires that the heart quickly start beating again.
Ruby's heart stopped entirely.
For at least a second, maybe two, nothing moved. So it hurt like hell when it kicked in again. She gasped in a painful mix of physical pain, shock and a sudden wave of emotional turmoil, then dropped her scroll.
She scrambled back, leaning into the back of the couch, as she stared at the scroll. It couldn't be true, she knew that. It had to be some kind of joke, and a sick one at that, or a hallucination. There was no way… But the possibility of it being real made her crawl over and pick up the scroll again, to double check.
There it was again.
One missed call. Weiss Schnee.