Sorry for taking so long, blame college.
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It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to become insane."
-Philip K. Dick, VALIS-
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Ruby's walked this line, she's been here before and didn't like it at all; she's seen what happens to herself when something of an outside force thinks it is its prerogative to interfere. This is what happens when that outside force decides to stop her from making a kill to a somewhat-doubtful liar whilst sane.
She goes the opposite.
She returns to that primal madness that is constantly welled up within her, boiling over the edges of her sanity and then, only then, will it overflow and cover her very being, submersing her consciousness within the confines of a tiny little haven away from the madness.
This has only happened once, and the only way to get her out of this state of madness was...well...unpleasant. Let's just say she almost lost her head because of what they did. If it wasn't for her blackened blood and her extremely fast healing rate, she would have died instantly as soon as the shovel of that one farmer dug into her neck.
While in this state, the madness becomes one form, one thing that controls her body as usual, except...she can't leave it as easily, if at all. No, she knows she can't leave it, yet she retreats to it anyway. Why does she do that? Simple, she has only ever made on true friend, even Rosemary Schnee wasn't a true friend; her madness was her friend, her companion. It was as warm as a lover's arms at night, as calm as a beating heart, as soothing as the rhythm of piano music, as humorous as a comedian; the madness was her friend; that, that, is why she retreats to its' warm embrace.
This has only happened once, of course. She still has that demonic smile, that maniacal laugh and that glint in her teeth and the shaking of the now blackened pupils.
What's the only difference? Every other time she was only hip-deep in insanity. Now; well, now she's completely submerged under it, a thick blood red and pitch black ocean swallowing her further every move to escape she makes, causing her to give in and wait it out.
Who knows how long it could be; hours, days, years? Hell, if she was lucky- or unlucky, on your perspective- she would get free of this maddened madness and return to her normal madness in mere minutes. She wasn't prepared to face the consequences while sane yet. Hell, she barely managed to talk to her teammates about her robotic enhancements- one of- without having a full blown insanity-induced heart attack.
So, her consciousness sat in the backseat while insanity took the wheel.
And her sanity chose to turn a blind eye as well.
(^^^^^^)
Neo watched on as she ignored Qrow's warnings and questions, standing there with a small smile.
Seeing Ruby again was certainly...well, it could be called an experience, but to her, experiences didn't laugh their demented, tortured little heads off while they butchered entire families- regardless if she remembered it or not. Neo was, now, truly...well...happy, to see Ruby again.
She was always such a character, her insanity such fun to deal with, her innocence slightly adorable as well as her lack of knowledge on the basic necessities of life- she remembers watching from afar as Ruby stared for almost an hour at a plastic bottle, trying to figure out what went in it and what they were used for.
While reminiscing, she had just barely enough time to dodge a flaming fireball aimed right at her head.
Neo smiled, she did enjoy watching her former friends- even if they could not really remember her- fight with the courtesy to enjoy it.
But then her smile faded; Ruby was enjoying this too much...then it hit her; Ruby truly did not remember her. To her, Neo was just another person in her way to her intended target. She almost missed the shadows coming at her from the sides.
She completely missed the glyph behind her.
As she back flipped, dodging the shadows that were aimed at her head by a centimetre, she landed right on the glyph, which changed colour almost immediately, switching to black and pinning her to the ground. She found herself unable to move. 'A Gravity glyph... That's new. Well, the ability to use glyphs and fire is new completely. Does she have three semblances? No, then she wouldn't have used those shadows earlier: Four, maybe? That's...'
A fireball slammed into her body, knocking her free of the glyph and right into the wall occupying the students and teachers. As she hit the wall, her thought process carried on as she lifted herself off and dusted off her jacket/corset.
'Hmm... I don't remember her being able to have this many semblances. Last I heard, it was impossible to have more than two, because three could rip you apart and if you had any more than that...it wasn't pretty.' She stared at Ruby, who was hunched over at a ninety degree angle, as if trying to remember something as she was being scolded. 'She looks like she's thinking. Odd, I thought she would have been sprinting at me, laughing all the way. She's not even making a...sound...' Realisation hit her like a ton of bricks to the face, causing her to almost shake in fear at this version of Ruby.
She knew what she was, what had happened , what needed to be done.
She knew what Cinder had told her as well, and that was not to fight back, only to compromise.
With this Ruby, there was only calculation, madness, blood and death; not even a peep, no laughter, no noise, nothing.
...Nothing but pure madness...
...Nothing.
"Oh fuck all kinds of duck." she exclaimed.
Then the battle truly began.
(^^^^^^)
She liked this place, it was warm and bright, filled with the sun and the moon and the stars. She liked this place, filled with halos of light and warm feelings. She liked this place...
...now she just hated it.
It wasn't warm and soft, cosy and nice. It was cold, desperate and maddening.
This place was madness.
Heh, for a minute there she almost grinned; well, she would have if it wasn't too scary considering where she was. She looked around, spotting three roads, all with signs.
She looked up towards the 'sky'; if it could be called that anyway. It was as black as night, with specks of red that dotted the harsh terrain of the area above her head, marking stars crimson coloured. The clouds were red, and in the distance she could see what seemed to be rain. Odd, this place never rained, not even when it got bad. No, this wasn't her sanctuary anymore; this was her mind's tomb.
Her mind's prison
She looked back down to the signs in front of her, and the roads stretching out in the left, right and straight ahead directions, starting as a fork-road would and branching off in their respectful directions.
The left sign said, as clear as day- considering the conditions there- 'Memories'.
She looked to the one on the right, marked 'emotion'.
She tried to avoid looking at the third one, knowing what it would say. Even if her mind had changed so much, these signs were always here, still there, never changed, a swell as the paths they led to. She could feel her eyes sliding off into that direction, and her whole body as well with them, looking at the last sign...
...'Madness'.
Of course, there were three things on her mind right now; why, when and where. She had the where covered- her mind of course, obviously.
She had the why covered; to escape her madness- which meant not taking the middle road. But then that also meant having to traverse her memories- some of which she would rather forget- and her emotions- something quite unfamiliar to her.
The when...when did she get here? She can't remember, but oh well, she looks to the left and right signs, finally going in one direction with a non-committed shrug of her shoulders.
She followed the path, and went through a trip that could very well change her life.
(^^^^^^)
Blake stared, and stared, and stared. Her eyes wide, her posture rigid and her arms and legs numb. She couldn't do anything, only watch. And she hated it. No, she loathed it. She wanted to help the new person and Ruby, but choosing one would mean deciding the fate of the other, and she simply could not do that.
She looked behind her, over her shoulder and saw Yang being dragged in, still snoring, by her feet, Weiss and Ozpin being the people pulling her.
Ozpin almost dropped her when he saw the state of which his courtyard and building were in; chunks of debris littered the area, masses of dust and wood clumped around, plaster and remnants of brick swamped the outside and side of the wall.
It was, to put simply, a mess.
Ozpin looked worried, the second emotion he has ever shown in front of a student this year, the first student being Ruby.
Blake was, unluckily, the second.
Unlucky, simply because she saw the urgency in the professor's eyes, the gleam on his glasses, and the dropping of his mouth. This look said it all; someone was going to die if he didn't stop it.
Blake rushed over and wordlessly grabbed Yang, helping Weiss lift her as Ozpin stormed over, reaching into his pocket with one hand as the other gripped his cane and he took long strides and stepped over the debris littering the area.
He was a true man on a mission.
The mission? Save Beacon and the new strange girl form sudden death at the hands of the most powerful and insane person he had ever known.
And, hopefully, save Ruby from herself.
(^^^^^^)
Neo's mind took her to a memory, something she thought she abandoned as soon as she got it, but it was still there, and she suddenly froze up as a fireball slammed into her aura, knocking her out and putting her aura in the dangerous zone of red.
With her last bouts of consciousness, she looked up at the sky, and that was when her mind took her away to a dangerous place.
Undetermined time, when Ruby was seven.
"N-Neo?"
Neo turned her head and looked at the skittish seven year old in front of her. Neo happened to be passing by when humans and Faunus alike decided to perform public torture. They had stabbed her, almost sliced one of her ears off and punctured one of her ribs.
Yet she still stood, and Neo came in to save the girl before more damage, lest they kill her, be done.
So she killed them, and decided to bring the girl along with her.
She looked at Ruby and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Red?" Red was a simple nickname she gave her, and it seemed to fit her well.
Ruby looked at her feet, and withdrew something from her pocket, holding it up to Neo and placing it in her palm, which confused the multi-coloured girl greatly. "H-Here. I...uh...F-Found this..."
Neo looked down at her hand and saw a large pink gem of some sort, one side slightly browned, the other a bright pink, almost translucent.
Neo looked back at Ruby with genuine confusion. "How did you get this? This must cost a fortune!"
Ruby looked almost...sad. "D-Do you not L-L-Like it?"
"No, I like it, a lot, but why did you give this to me, and where did it come from!?"
Ruby looked around, sheepishly avoiding Neo, looking everywhere but her. "Well...I-I-In a P-Person's...pocket."
Neo looked incredulous. "You...mean to tell me that you ...pick-pocketed?"
Ruby flinched, waiting for a punch. She opened her eyes when nothing came, only Neo looking at her weirdly. "I...I-I Uh...Do it A-All the T-Time."
Neo looked at her again, then at the gem, and after putting the gem in the front pocket of her corset/jacket, she looked over to Ruby. "Show me."
Ruby looked completely confused. "S-Show you W-What?"
"Show me how to pick-pocket."
And so, Ruby taught her new friend, her only friend, to pick-pocket, after giving her many shaky warnings that she should only do it for survival, not fun or want. She was taught by Neo the pressure points on a person, not that Ruby would be any good at exploiting them or would actually work up the courage to use them, and was also taught the specifics of toxins, more specifically poisons and knock-out gases.
Many weeks later, they had become best friends, and Neo took her on a trip through a nearby forest, gripping Ruby's hand as gently as she could. Neo was Ruby's best friend, but the concept still confused Ruby. Neo had told her it was like friends, but only more than friends, but not quite past the stage of friendship. This completely baffled her, and so she just took it with gusto...
...too bad that gusto didn't give her common sense to grab and bring her weapon with her.
Neo was armed with that umbrella-gun thing, but that didn't stop the beowolves from descending upon Ruby and wrapping their jaws neatly around her arm.
Neo saw the whole thing, and desperately tried to fight them off. She killed them all, and went to get help, but when she came back with a few doctors and nurses a mere two minutes later, all that could be seen was a smudge of red and a torn, blood red arm...
...with no body attached.