It hurt Yang to watch her little sister like that, sitting on that cot, hugging her legs, rocking fore and back. The girl's breathing was quickened and Yang could hear the occasional whimper emanating from Ruby. Every moment broke Yang's heart.
As much as she wanted to rush in and comfort her little sister, Ruby remained locked away, preventing any and all visitors. But Yang could still watch her through the observation room window, from there she could watch over her sister in the only way she could. After Ruby blocked the door to her observation room Yang refused to abandon her vigil. The waste basket now stuffed with disposable plates her teammates brought her stood testament to that. Even with the younger girl finally asleep, Yang refused to leave her.
"Yang?" The quiet voice breaking Yang from her thoughts was Blake. The girl in black stood in the open doorway watching Yang with concern on her face. "Why don't you come to bed, its getting late."
"Nah, that's okay. I'll just stay with Ruby a little while longer." Said Yang as she tried to fake an upbeat tone.
"Somehow I knew you'd say that." Replied Blake as she strode closer, pulling up a chair next to Yang. Once she sat down, Blake pulled a blanket from her bookbag and draped it over Yang and herself. "If you're staying I'm staying."
"Come on Blake, you don't have too."
"Nope, I'm staying and that's final." Blake said with a look of defiance. With that Yang relented and shifted closer to her friend.
"Ug, can you believe they only put two chairs in here. That is so inconsiderate." Huffed Weiss as she came through the doorway carrying another chair and proceeded to plop it down on the other side of Yang. "Give me some of that." She said after sitting down, motioning for part of the blanket.
In that moment, as Yang let herself surrender to sleep, she felt a warmth like she had not felt in a long time, a feeling that maybe, just maybe everything would be alright.
The next morning it was clear that Ruby's condition had not improved. As Yang greeted the morning with her two teammates huddled against her, she could see a particularly agitated Ruby already awake. Her heavy breathing and swift pacing across the room made it clear to the older sister that she needed to take action to help.
As the morning progressed Yang got an idea. She admitted to herself it was not what one would call a good idea, but it was the best she could come up with. Thus she was going ahead with her crazy plan.
Standing outside Ruby's door with Blake and Weiss, Yang checked her scroll. It would not be long until Goodwitch would come back, so if Yang was going to do anything, now would be the time. Neither of her teammates knew what Yang had in store, she knew it was for the best.
"Ruby!" Yang called out as she pounded on the metal door. "Come on, just open the door."
"Yang she's not going to open the door." Said Weiss, unsure as to why Yang was even bothering trying to talk to her sister.
"Just," Yang started, frustration clear in her voice as she turned to Weiss. She then took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "Just let me handle this, okay?"
Weiss then nodded as she backed up, giving Yang her space.
After a few more tries, Yang came to the conclusion that soft and gentle was not getting the job done. It was time to activate big sister mode.
Furiously pounding on the door Yang yelled at her little sister. "Ruby Rose you open this door this instant! I swear missy if you don't open this door in ten seconds I will break it down!"
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
"Seven! Don't make me Ruby!"
"Six"
Suddenly Yang heard the sounds of the Ruby unblocking the door. Giving the door a quick test, Yang found it clear.
Yang looked back towards Blake and Weiss. "Don't worry guys. If anything happens just burst in and save me." She said with a cheeky smile.
"Good luck Yang." Blake said softly.
"R-Ruby?" Yang called as she cautiously entered the observation room. Ruby had already retreated back to her cot, hugging her knees and leaning against the wall, trying to put as much distance between her and her sister as possible.
"Go away Yang. Its not safe. I'm not safe." She said as she eyed Yang with a look that the elder had never seen on her little sister before. This look was a mixture of fear and hunger, like part of her was about to lunge forward and tear into her next meal.
"Its okay Ruby, its alright." Said Yang as she jammed the chair back under the door, blocking it once again.
Outside, the black and white pair heard the distinct sound of Yang blocking the door.
"She didn't." Said Weiss in disbelief. After failing to open the door Weiss and Blake pounded in its surface. "Yang! What are you doing?"
Black inside the observation room Yang slowly approached her sister as she spoke. "Look Ruby, you're getting worse. Let me guess, the longer between feedings the worse it gets?"
Ruby nodded.
"I know you're afraid you're gonna hurt somebody, but I won't let you. Don't worry its okay, just let me help you.
"No." Ruby said, shaking her head. "Go away Yang, please."
Yang let out a long sigh. "I thought you'd say that. But believe me, you need to eat something, and soon." From her shorts pocket, Yang retrieved her yellow pocket knife. Flicking open the blade she spoke to Ruby once again. "Look Ruby I'm sorry about this, but its for your own good. I'll try to go easy on you."
With that Yang dragged the blade across her palm. A stream of crimson pooled in her hand before her aura closed the wound.
Ruby froze. The sweet scent of blood consumed her. In an instant her silver eyes became red. The grip on her legs loosened.
After placing the knife back into her pocket Yang looked up at her sister. The innocence on her sister's face was gone, replaced with that of a wild animal. Ruby then lunged forward, intent on tearing into her next meal, the one she needed so badly.
Seeing this, Yang smiled and threw her arms out wide, welcoming her sister. "Come here Ruby."
The sudden crash and the sounds of an intense struggle alerted Blake and Weiss to what was happening behind that door. Without their weapons there was not much they could do to try to pry open the blocked door.
It was just as Goodwitch came around the corner, racing towards the ruckus generated by the pair that an eerily calm emanated from the observation room.
"Professor Goodwitch!" Blake called. "Help! Yang's in there and we can't open the door."
In an instant Goodwitch's demeanor turned to that of a seasoned professional. No confusion, and not a hint of hesitation. With a just of flick of the wrist her riding crop emitted a pulse of purple light, blasting the door off it's hinges and sending it crashing to the floor.
As the dust settled the trio rushed into the room, unsure as to what they would discover within.
"There you go, just take what you need." Yang's soothing voice was the first thing they registered upon entering. The second was the sight of the sisters. Ruby was crouched on the floor with Yang kneeling behind her, legs on either side of Ruby. In both hands Ruby gripped Yang's left arm, holding it to her mouth, lips pressed to it's surface, suckling on the blood within. Yang threw her right hand out, gesturing for the trio to stop where they were.
Seeing them stop, Yang returned her free hand to Ruby's hair and began stroking it to comfort the girl. "Shh, its alright Ruby. Take what you need."
The pain was by far not the worse Yang had ever felt. Many of her fights resulted in much more painful wounds than this. Sure it was bad, but she had to stay strong for her sister.
Soon Yang's vision began to tunnel, her head started to spin, and felt a general feeling of quezyness. The effects of her blood loss became apparent. Deciding she had given all she could Yang started to pull her arm away. For a few moments Ruby followed the arm, eager for more of the fluid. She felt annoyance for being denied what she so desperately needed, having to then remind herself that this was Yang she was thinking about, any more and she would risk hurting her own sister.
Blake rushed to catch Yang as she slipped backwards, preventing her from falling into the floor. "That was really idiotic you know that right?"
"Ya Blake I know." Replied Yang through half closed eyes. "But it seemed like a good idea at the time eh?"
Yang was soon deposited on a hastily set up cot outside of the observation room. The on call nurse set her up with an I.V. drip to help her recover. Unfortunately for Yang, there was nothing the nurse could do about the torrent of anger that was professor Goodwitch.
Yang lost track of how long Goodwitch scolded her for her "incredibly ill advised attempt to endanger her own safety and the safety of those around her."
The bonde guessed from the professor's choice of words that her plan was successful. Yang's memories became rather fuzzy after entering Ruby's room, so she was unsure how it all went down. She made a point to ask Blake about it later. Weiss would be a bad choice, all she would get from her would be another scolding.
As soon as Goodwitch left to go speak with a pair of security personnel, Weiss and Blake marched over to the bedridden blonde.
"You!" Weiss shouted in the hallway. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"
"Good to see you too Weiss." Yang calmly replied as she sat up.
"Weiss was just worried about what could've happened to you." Blake interjected before any more yelling could occur. "Ruby's not quite herself right now and you could have been seriously hurt in there."
Dropping her head, Yang let out a long sigh. "Its just I feel so helpless ya know? The one time it really matters and I can't do anything about it."
"Yang," Weiss said as she reached out a hand to Yang's shoulder. "You don't have to do this yourself. We're a team, we can do this together."
"I hate to break it to you two," Blake interjected, "but there's not much we can do. This is way out of our league and we have no idea what is happening to Ruby or what we can do to help her."
"Well then," Yang said with a devious smile, "I guess its time we stop sitting around and find out what's really going on."
Oobleck's office sat serine, dark, and abandoned in the late hour. Computer monitors and their rotating Beacon logo screensavers cast a dim light into the room. The sounds of a creaking broke through the tranquil silence as a window was carefully pulled open from the outside.
Balancing atop one of Weiss's shimmering glyphs Blake worked her skills to jimmy the window latch. Her unique past left her suitably qualified for more complicated forms of room entry.
After the window opened, Blake silently passed through the opening and soon afterward Weiss gracefully followed with Yang entering last. Finding themselves in the overly cluttered office, the trio made their way over Oobleck's equally disorganized desk.
The teammates hastily sifted through the piles of paperwork, looking for anything that could help them save their friend. As Yang and Weiss scoured their own piles Blake paused, staring at the shadow of herself cast upon the table.
'He couldn't be that careless, could he?' she thought. Something like that though, it never hurt to try.
Spinning on her heels, Blake turned to face the trio of computer screens. Reaching her index finger out, she touched the center screen. Instantly the rotating Beacon logo vanished, replaced instead by an image and notes with a horrifying implication for Ruby.
"Guys." Blake softly called out. "You're gonna want to see this."
The longer Ruby spent in this observation room, the less it felt like a refuge and more like a prison. When she first came here she thought that everyone would be safe. These people who watched her were here to keep everyone safe.
But now, these people did not feel so much as protectors but wardens. While she kept telling herself that this was for the best, a growing part of her was angry about being trapped in here, away from all that intoxicating blood.
Ruby's dreams were becoming darker and darker lately. Images of blood and death consumed her nightly slumber. Yet, as time went on, she became less disturbed by them. Merely experiencing them, almost with a sense of boredom.
Light. The sudden brightness freed Ruby from her dark dreams. She bolted upright, the intense light was almost too painful to open her eyes fully. As her vision began to clear she saw a figure. A woman, leaning against the wall adjacent to the lightswitch. Soon her features became more pronounced. Jet black hair, blue eyes, black jacket.
Ruby recognized this woman. She had seen her once before.
"Sup Young Rose." Carmilla said with a devilish grin.
Yang, Blake, and Weiss stared at the computer screens. Upon it's surface, an image stared back at them. It was a magnified color image taken from a sample of Ruby's blood. But that is not why they were staring, it was the implications of what Oobleck found in her blood that had them transfixed.
Amongst the red of the plasma and oxygen carrying red blood cells was something else, it was large, it was white and black with streaks of red. Oobleck's notes confirmed what the girls feared.
"Its a Grimm." Yang softly exclaimed, finally breaking the silence. "Some kind of single celled Grimm."
"No." Said Weiss defiantly. "There is no such thing as a single celled Grimm. They don't exist. They can't exist."
"Evidently they do." Said Blake.
"So this is what's making Ruby sick?" Yang said as she ran her fingers along the image. "How are we supposed to fight something that small?"
Blake shook her head. "I don't know Yang. I just don't know."
Ruby let out a primal yell as she charged the woman before her. With all her might she swung at her with a closed fist. Yet it did not hit anything. The woman faded into a black cloud and the fist merely passed through the space where she once stood.
"So do they like train you guys to like strike first and then ask questions?" Ruby spun around to see the source of the voice sitting cross legged on the metal table. "Is anyone at this school capable of holding a civil conversation?"
Ruby glared and clenched her fists as she started marching toward her.
"Okay, okay. Before you hurt yourself Rose, I'm gonna tell you what I told Glynda. You can't hurt me. Believe me I've tried."
Upon hearing this Ruby paused her march, unsure as to what she should do.
"Look, I just wanna talk. Is that alright Ruby? You don't mind if I call you Ruby do you?"
Receiving nothing but a stern glare the woman continued. "Whatever. Name's Carmilla. At least that's what I've been going by for a while now. I guess I figured you deserved some sort of explanation." Carmilla let out a long sigh. "I want you to know it wasn't personal. That's sorta a shitty thing to say but its true. What I mean to say is that its not about you and I'm truly sorry about that. I assume someone's already filled you in on the particulars of what I am and I guess what you are as well."
"A vampire." Said Ruby.
"Yup, hello." Carmilla said waving to Ruby. "That's what I am. An immortal blood drinking creature of the night."
It was too quiet. Ruby had expected her guards to come running in by now. Yet, all there had been was silence.
Catching Ruby's glances towards the one way mirror, Carmilla rolled her eyes and spoke up once again. "No they're not dead. Which is odd for me ya know. They'll be sore tomorrow though. Anyway, you still have this goody too shoes thing going on, so; I figured you'd be too distracted to chat if there were a pair of dead bodies on the other side of that glass. Don't worry, though, you'll get over it."
Much to Carmilla's amusement Ruby continued to glare at her with increasing intensity.
"Still Ruby I wanted to chat with you about what you should expect as you become a true vampire. It looks like you're gonna experience it after all. Our little witch seems so intent on trying to find a way to cure you that you're gonna become a full fledged blood drinker in no time."
Realizing that this woman was just going to sit there and talk, Ruby walked over and plopped down on her cot and folded her arms.
"You've experienced some of it already, the suggestion. Ya know, when I made you stay silent when I turned you? That's more of a simple one. Let's see, there's also being able to become a mist and pass through walls, very useful by the way. Turning into animals is also a lot of fun. Granted like normal abilities they take aura to accomplish. But since we can't generate our own you have to get it from people."
"By killing them." Ruby cut in with venom in her words.
"If you've been alive as long as I have honey, you realise that shaving a few years off of someone's life really isn't that big a deal." Said Carmilla. "Oh no! This random man was gonna do so much more in that tiny bit of time, what a tragic loss to the world." She finished her overly dramatic and sarcastic display with a mock faint. "Besides, you have to admit, draining the life from someone, wow, is that an amazing feeling."
"How long have you been alive?" Ruby's simple, innocent question caused Carmilla to sit back up and stare at that young girl in silence for a while.
"So, so long Ruby." She said with a deep sadness in her voice. "Its been so long that I don't even remember. How messed up is that? Not even knowing how old you are?" She sighed as she looked down at her feet. "All these years just blur together. The people, the places, all of it, just a big mass of jumbled memories. Ya know I don't even remember what my mom looked like. Some days I like to pretend, just for a moment, that I can remember her face, smiling at me. But its not real. Can you imagine that, having the memory of your own mother just fade away with time?"
Ruby thought of her own mother, Summer Rose. She was so young when Summer died. Who knows how many of her memories of her mother were simply her imagination. Who knows how many are lost for ever.
"Its just not fair ya know." Carmilla's tone turned more angry than before. "This is what happens when you have eternity? People and memories just fade away? There was this girl once, she was amazing. Vibrant red hair that glistened in the morning sun like fire. Her laugh was enough to melt the heart of even the most evil Ursa." She paused, for once Ruby saw a genuine smile on her face. "She never judged or condemned me for what I was. I think I loved her. But I had to leave, only for a little bit I thought. A short stint away to let the heat die down. It couldn't have been that long, it shouldn't 'ave been." She let out a long sigh. "That's the problem with eternity, time just moves so fast. Take a short reprieve somewhere and decades sail by. When I came back for her she was long gone. Took me days to find where she had been buried. Turns out she waited for me. She waited and I never came back to her."
Seeing this display of emotion, Ruby struggled to see her as the same dark figure who assaulted her that horrible night. Could this same person, someone who had experienced love and loss, pain and happiness, be the same monster who killed without remorse, and took pleasure in destroying lives?
Carmilla realized then that she had shared too much with the young girl. She hopped to her feet and strolled over to the door. Taking one last moment she turned back to Ruby and spoke. "Well its been fun young rose, but your friends over there will be awake soon so I better run along. Just remember that soon enough your new abilities will be awesome."
With a wink her body dissolved into a black cloud as she passed through the closed door, leaving Ruby all alone.
Back in team RWBY's dorm, the trio was looking over the many files they copied from Oobleck's office during their search. They had learned many worrying facts about Ruby's that night. From the graphs of Ruby's aura levels over time Yang discovered that her soul was not dying at a steady rate, but instead in random spurts, and it was accelerating. One hour her soul would be stable, then without warning her aura level would take a massive hit, like a chunk of her soul just disappeared.
Yang angrily paced across the room while Weiss and Blake went over the information. Since there was nothing to punch and no one to terrorize, the blonde felt useless. Unfortunately for Weiss and Blake, this lead to Yang venting her frustration on the pair.
Loud huffing and random, if not colorful, swears from Yang repeatedly broke Weiss's concentration. This left the heiress with a particularly short fuse.
"Yang!" Weiss called out. She was sick and tired of Yang's attitude. "Since you refuse to assist us in researching Ruby's condition, would you please refrain from distracting us?"
"What's your problem Weiss?" Said Yang.
"My problem is you. We're trying to help your sister and all you can do is mope, loudly mope if I must add." Weiss said as she stood and approached Yang.
"Well maybe I'm just tired of this pointlessness! You two seem to think that just because you have these fancy charts that you can somehow save Ruby. Well guess what, she's dying! No worse than that. She's going to turn into a soulless abomination and there's nothing we can do about it!"
In an instant Blake was between the aggravated pair, holding her palms out, silencing each girl. Blake was well aware that the late hour and worry left their tempers on edge, but this was not the time to release. "Weiss," Blake said as she turned to her, "go, sit down."
Weiss was visibly taken aback by Blake's brazen command. But upon seeing the look on Blake's face, not one of stirn command, but of soft pleading, she relented. Weiss nodded and took a seat back on her bed.
Turning to Yang, Blake rested a hand on her shoulder. Blake looked the fiery blonde in the eye. "Yang please." She spoke softly. "I understand that you feel useless and like a failure right now."
"Gee Blake, pep talks really aren't your thing." Yang snarked.
"I'm not finished. Just listen. You want to rush in and save Ruby, but you can't so you feel like a failure. But you're not. Yang you're a strong, powerful warrior who hasn't failed anyone. This information is how we're going to save her. And we are going to save her, together. So we need your help Yang, we need to be there for Ruby."
Yang listened to Blake's words. This girl spoke to her in a way that Yang herself would. The comforting touch, the understanding, this was what Yang herself should be doing. She was supposed to be the strong one, the pillar, not the one who needed comforting.
She dropped her head low before speaking up. "Okay Blake."
Blake smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Good, now lets find a way to save Ruby."
The trio spent the remainder of that day looking over the data they had collected as well as performing their own research, even going as far as to bail on classes that day. Yang spared a few hours to question a friend of her's on the shady part of town. Unfortunately Junior had never even heard of this "Carmilla chick," much to Yangs displeasure. Weiss and Blake poured over the information as well as combining it with whatever they could find in the Beacon library medical section.
It was when Yang returned from her city escapades that she found Weiss and Blake silently waiting for her.
"Yang we need to talk." Said Blake.
"What is it this time?" It was clear that Yang's frustration was starting to return.
Blake sighed. "Look this is all theoretical and Weiss and I are far from experts in this."
"Blake!" Exclaimed Yang, cutting off Blake's stammering.
"We were looking at the rate in which Ruby's soul is um, dying, now Yang you have to understand that its not uniform in anyway and appears to rely on a variety of factors that we don't understand." Blake's nervous stammering continued much to Yang's great annoyance.
"What Blake is so elegantly trying to say," Weiss cut in, "is that we ran the numbers on Ruby's aura levels and compared them to the when the devices recorded the drops in said levels."
"Yang," Said Blake, "Ruby doesn't have long."
"H-How long does she have?" Asked Yang.
"Days." Replied Weiss with sadness in her voice. "If we don't stop this infection soon, by the end of the week there will be nothing left but soulless abomination with Ruby's face. Once that happens, we've lost her and there's no coming back from that."
The shimmering lights of the Vale night glowed brilliantly in comparison to the pitch black sky above. Ozpin watched from his high office as the ominous storm clouds grew thicker, blocking out even the shattered moon itself. In his hand he grasped is silver scroll, upon it played the footage from the previous night of miss Karnstein's talk with the young miss Rose. He reviewed it countless times already, hoping to capture any clues as to the woman's ultimate goals, but so far her true motives remained elusive.
Much like professor Oobleck and the medical staff who worked at a feverish pace, the headmaster had yet to find much time for sleep. It seemed like a betrayal to rest while the life of one of his students hangs in the balance.
Ozpin switched back to his most recent message. It was from Oobleck, explaining his deep worry that his team's progress towards unraveling Ruby's condition would come to little too late. They were trying every combination of antibiotics and poisons imaginable in the vain hopes of finding a way to kill the grimm infecting the young huntress. But as of yet nothing was working.
In the past, Ozpin was never the one to let his emotions rule is decisions. He was calm and calculating; no matter the threat he used reason to deal with it. But this time was different. For the first time in a long time he felt anger. He hated this woman for what she did to his student, a student that he scouted personally to attend his academy. If it was not for his intervention this child would be safe, far away from here. But because he saw promise in her, because he saw a future, she was here. The only reason this child was suffering so, was because he chose for her to come here.
As much as he tried to convince himself that Karnstein would have just as easily attacked another one of his students if miss Rose was not there, it did little to comfort the thoughts that he failed to protect his students from a monster.
His gaze returned to the skyline. Somewhere out in those city lights was the woman responsible for all this suffering. Somewhere out there were the answers they all seeked.
As the dark stormclouds rolled over Beacon, the crashing of thunder was silenced by the vast structure above the place where Ruby slept. She spent her night dreaming of death and pain, of pleasure and blood. Her sleep that night was as turbulent as the storm above.
Soon the dawn sun rose and the storm passed, and with it the nightmares faded. Her mind drifted into a dreamless slumber. With it her form finally relaxed. Behind the glass into her observation room, Ruby's newest guards watched over her. Their worries for her laxed when her sleep became still.
After Ruby's last visitor the headmaster restricted her nighttime monitoring to Beacon security personnel only. This decision lead to a somewhat heated conversation between professor Ozpin and Ruby's passionate older sister. While Ozpin appreciated the protectiveness displayed by the members of team RWBY, he felt it was in everyone's best interest that if Ruby were to receive another visit, trained security personnel should be on site.
A sudden burning deep in her chest woke Ruby from her slumber. As the fire grew stronger, so did Ruby's hunger and desire for cruelty. She bolted upright in her cot, her heart racing as she was gripped by the icy hand of fear.
Ruby felt what was happening. The bloodlust, the joy that came from draining the life from the weak, growing deep inside her, pushing aside all else. She could feel herself slipping away, everything that made her who she was, drifting into the darkness.
Doubling over in pain, she rolled off the bed to the cold floor below, the pain so intense she could not even call out.
'Help me, please help me.' Tears streamed down her face. She wanted Yang; she wanted her sister to hug her and tell her that everything would be okay.
'I don't want to leave, I want to say me.'
Ruby's eyes clamped shut. She refused to let herself surcome to this. She was a huntress, not a monster.
'I will not go!' Ruby declared to herself defiantly as she pushed herself up off the floor. 'I want to stay, me!'
Suddenly the wildfire in her chest flared and Ruby crumpled to the floor.
In the room opposite the one way mirror, the concerned guards activated the intercom.
"Miss Rose? Miss Rose are you alright?" Their concern escalated as Ruby lay on the floor for several moments.
As they scrambled to their feet, ready to rush to her aid, a quiet voice emanated from the room.
"I'm… I'm okay."
Feeling relief the pair soon retook their seats as Ruby regained her footing and rose from the floor.
The two guards watched as the girl silently stood with her back to them. Finally she spoke up again.
"I think I'm gonna be just fine."
She turned her head around to face them with her body slowly following suit. A grin was plastered across her face as she spoke again.
"Its okay, everything's fine."
With her grin transforming into a full smile she started towards the glass. As she reached the end of the room, instead of slowing down she leaped, taking air and launching towards the mirror. Yet instead of crashing into its surface, the two guards watched her body fade into a black cloud and pass through. The dark haired girl, cheerfully laughing the whole time.
The sounds of childish laughter were cut off by a pair of dying screams. Much like the thunder, the vast structure above, silenced all sounds.
Weiss Schnee was always the last to awaken. Her teammates blamed it on her more lavish upbringing. But she knew better. She knew there was no reason to limit one's important and necessary rest. People did not become as skilled as herself on lack of vital sleep.
She heard Yang and Blake wake up and ready themselves for their morning showers, but the exhausted girl did not feel the desire to leave the comforting embrace of her bed. Worry and stress over their friend's condition greatly ruined the team's sleep and Weiss was no different. The last few nights were long and sleepless.
A while after hearing the pair leave for the showers, Weiss lifted herself off her pillow. With an audible groan she resolved to meet the day before rolling out of her bed. Wearing her white nightgown she stood before the drawn red curtain that dimmed the morning sunlight. She reached out her left hand to grasp the thin material. Weiss paused there, she debated the merits of flooding the room with unrestricted light.
Without warning Weiss's vision was cut off by a pair of soft, slender fingers.
"Guess who?" Came a familiar cheery voice.
Weiss spun around and pulled the arms from her face. She held the invading pair of arms by the wrists as she looked the culprit in the eyes. Before Weiss was the smiling face of her friend. Ruby was wearing her signature red and black skirt with her favorite red cape across her back.
"R-Ruby? What are you doing here?" Weiss's tone was a mix of confusion and accusatory.
Ruby looked at her with mischievous grin. "Weiss, I was sooo bored down there. I wanted to come up and see you."
Weiss let go of Ruby's arms and looked at the girl in the eyes. She felt her heart rate begin to spike. Weiss was sure something was seriously wrong with the way Ruby was acting.
"Hey Ruby, why don't we take you back down to the observation room? I think everyone is going to be looking for you soon."
"Pfff, naa!" Replied Ruby. "Oh Weiss! Get dressed, we're going out!" She exclaimed as she bounced over to her dresser.
"Ruby Rose! We are not going anywhere! You are going back down to that room!"
Ruby rolled her eyes and marched back over to Weiss. "Ugg, Weiss you're being so boring."
Stepping forward, Ruby rested her arms on Weiss's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Weiss looked deep into those silver orbs. Never before had Weiss noticed how entrancing those eyes were, she felt herself melting before them, letting every word Ruby spoke sink in.
"Please, we never do anything just the two of us. Come on, you get dressed and I'll grab some stuff." Said Ruby eagerly.
Weiss felt fuzzy and numb as she nodded. Ruby responded by squealing excitedly and rushing to toss various items in her pack.
Her mind in a fog, Weiss proceed to ready herself for the day. She dressed herself in her white combat outfit and tied her hair in an off center ponytail. But strange nagging thoughts hung in the back of her mind. Why was she doing this? Why was she going along with what Ruby was saying?
After completing her morning prep, Weiss stood silently in the center of the room, awaiting Ruby's attention. Soon enough an excited Ruby came bounding over to Weiss. She took the heiress by the hand and lead her towards the window.
A click was heard emanating from the room's door. In that moment, the wood door opened into the room and in walked the freshly showed pair.
Blake and Yang froze, standing there before them was a glassy eyed Weiss and holding her from behind was a grinning Ruby. Weiss looked half conscious and confused while Ruby had the look of a child who had successfully stolen candy.
Ruby pushed herself and Weiss backwards towards the window. Both Blake and Yang called out to the pair.
"Weiss!" Yelled Blake.
"Ruby no!" Called Yang.
But neither of them could stop Ruby as she faded into a black cloud and passed through the window with Weiss in tow.
Several facts became apparent to Weiss as she came too. First, she was bound by her wrists. Second, she was on a bed. Third, she had a fresh pain coming from the side of her neck. She did not need to look at the wound to recognize it as another bite mark. Rather quickly she deduced that bite was the reason for the blank spot in her memory.
'I'm so gonna kill Ruby for this.' She thought to herself. 'All this biting is getting ridiculous, once we fix her, I swear I'm gonna kill her.'
Leaning her head back she tried to get a good look at her restraints. What appeared her to as bedsheets or cloths of some kind secured her wrists to the wooden headboard. She groaned as she made a mental note to give Ruby a major lecture later on her choice restraint techniques. Honestly, what self respecting huntress would tie a prisoner to a bed with bedsheets of all things? Of course the dolt had to make things as awkward as possible to explain when rescue arrived.
'Yang is never going to let me live this down.'
"Weiss, you're awake!" Squealed an excited Ruby. Her voice emanating from the foot of the bed.
Weiss looked towards the source of the sound just in time to see the girl in red bouncing towards her. Ruby almost managed to contain all the red colored liquid in the wine glass she was holding in her left hand.
"Darn it Ruby, be careful! You're going to spill that everywhere." Weiss scolded. "Seriously untie me and lets get home before whoever lives here comes back. Also, where did you even take us anyway?" Weiss had no time for games and from her brief look around it was clear to her that this was not a hotel room but someone's bedroom.
"Shh, don't worry about it. See look they're not gonna mind." With a small giggle Ruby shifted to the side, giving Weiss a view of the front of the room. What she saw there horrified her.
Laying on the floor against the doorframe were two people. They were pale, motionless, and had deep cuts on their necks. Weiss had been around long enough to recognize corpses when she saw them.
She recoiled as far as she could as the girl with the wine glass continued to scoot towards her. In that moment she recognized what was wrong with her. This was not Ruby. Ruby was dead, the soul that made her who she was had long since vanished.
This was a soulless monster wearing the body of her best friend.
"What's wrong Weiss?" She said with a chilling smile. "I've got a present I want to give you." Her hand lifted the glass to Weiss as she spoke. When it got to her face Weiss could smell the crimson contents. It was a smell she knew all too well. Blood, it was blood.
"Trust me Weiss, I enjoyed it too."
Author's Notes:
So this is the longest chapter I've written thus far. Just over 6500 words.
Its interesting though how much gets cut from the final product. For example there's a deleted scene where Carmilla meets and kills a young woman. I was originally going to place that after Ozpin's bit to show how evil she was. I was worried that I had gone to far in my attempts to humanize her. But in the end I decided that having someone die then would diminish the impact of Ruby's quadruple murder.
As always I love hearing what you guys think. So shoot me a review.
I hope you guys enjoyed this one.