Hey guys sorry for taking so long to update but you know the drill, workload and that. Also this chapter was very annoying I rewrote it three times and I'm still not satisfied with it. Awe well hope you guys enjoy it.
The two staff of Beacon academy turned as the door to Ozpin's office slammed open and an injured blonde stumbled in, ignoring the supporting hands that were offered by her two teammates. Using her crutches she approached the headmaster and just met his gaze as Ozpin placed his coffee down, already knowing the cause of the visit.
"Miss Xiao Long, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he greeted with a sigh.
Yang frowned as she glared at him, "where is she?"
"Miss Xiao Long, show some respect to the Headmaster," scolded Glynda.
"It's quite alright Glynda, she is understandably angry," dismissed Ozpin, easily before turning back to Yang. "Miss Rose is currently restrained in the Grimm holding cells and being monitored by Prof. Port and Oobleck until we can fix this."
"What's being done to bring my sister back?" asked Yang, leaning forward in her chair.
"We currently have our best analysis, aura and medical experts going over the data you recovered," informed the headmaster. "Unfortunately it's a slow progress as none of them are used to Earth terminology, still I'm confident that given time we can help her. We already have a couple of theories that could work."
"Which are?" prompted Weiss.
"In basic terms we heal the damage done to Miss Rose by her aura, at the very least it should give us a chance to bring her back," he explained.
"But…" replied Blake, recognizing the headmaster's tone.
"But to do so we need to restart her Remnant aura and we have no idea how the two auras would react with each other or even if there is any Remnant aura left in her body after this debacle. We could end up making the situation worse than it already is," informed Glynda.
"Have you tried it yet?" said Yang, curiously.
Ozpin shook his head, "no we wanted you to decide on this due to the inherent risks to your sister. You're the only family member who is aware of Ruby's condition and so the decision falls to you Yang."
"I want to see her," demanded the brawler.
"Very well follow me," sighed the headmaster as he left the office and lead them through the Beacon halls to professor Port's classroom.
The trio of students looked around in confusion before Ozpin walked over to Port's table and typed a code into the desk phone, the members of RWBY gasped as the blackboard split apart to reveal a doorway. Motioning them to follow the headmaster walked down the hallway and the students saw many different forms of Grimm caged in cells.
"What is this place?" whispered Weiss, shocked that the school had such a place on campus.
"This is where Prof. Port keeps his Grimm until he needs them for a live demonstration, he requested it to be built so he didn't need to go out hunting before every lesson," answered Ozpin as they approached the two teachers.
They two Beacon professors turned to face them as they heard the group approach them, "ah girls, welcome to my Edgar Hole," greeted Port.
The three girls just nodded dumbly and stared at the professor with expressions of disbelief on their faces, maybe they weren't giving the professor enough credit. Especially if he managed to capture all these Grimm alive by himself, maybe his stories weren't complete lies after all, that thought made all of them flinch.
"Any change?" asked Ozpin.
Oobleck shook his head, "it's just continuing to growl and struggle against its restraints. None of the features have disappeared but her condition appears to have stabilized at least."
Yang's eyes widened at this and she rushed up to the nearby cage before feeling tears well up at the sister of what was once her sister. Her entire body was covered in jointed white bone armour with red runic tattoos glowing along her body. Her face had been covered up by a menacing looking half masked that revealed nothing but her hate filled red eyes, the lower half of her face caked in dry blood and visible fangs being displayed as she snarled at the brawler.
One of her hands had a large hole in it, like something had impaled it and was covered in dried blood. She was restrained by a large number of chains that had been both bolted and wielded in place at the back of cage, which just screamed overkill to the blonde. The only thing that seemed to be the same was the resilient red hooded cloak that still clung to her protectively, a little dirty and a couple of shades darker but otherwise intact.
Taking a deep breath she turned to Ozpin, "let's do it."
The headmaster nodded and prepared to go into the cage, only to feel Yang grab his shirt, "I want to be the one to do it," she informed him.
"Miss Xiao Long that creature is very dangerous, it is too risky to allow you anywhere near it," he frowned.
"You said we don't know how it will react, Ruby's aura might respond better to a familiar aura then a stranger's," argued the brawler.
Ozpin glanced at the restrained creature before sighing and turning back to her, "very well Yang but I am going in with you and you will do exactly what I say if things go wrong, understood?"
The brawler just nodded and was helped into the cage by Ozpin as she walked up to the creature, her body outlined in a faint yellow glow. As she placed her hand on the creature's head a smoky black aura erupted from it and the cage was surrounded by two pulsing forces fighting for dominance; a yellow sun and a deep darkness, each growing stronger with each second.
Yang looked down at the snarling face before her and closed her eyes, "for it is in passing that we achieve immortality…"
The rest of her worlds were drowned out by a howl of pain and anger coming from the creature and the observers watched as the brawler swayed on her feet as she finished. Opening her eyes Yang met the same snarling face struggling against its restraints to bite her. A feeling of despair rose within her as her legs gave way and collapsed onto the ground.
"You did all you could Yang, it was a slim chance to begin with," comforted Ozpin as he helped the student to her feet. "Don't worry we're not giving up just yet."
As they all left the hidden chamber none of them noticed the tiny cracks growing on the creature's face mask, nor the wound on its hand beginning to close up.
The red hooded figure walked through the dark forest, following the sounds of a soft weeping echoing across the woods. Finally reaching the source she looked down and saw a girl curled up in a fetal position, sobbing into her hands.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault. I'm not weak, please stop it," chanted the girl.
The figure stroked the girl's head, causing her to look up, "what are you sorry for?" she asked the girl.
"I…I killed her, she's dead because of me," replied the girl.
"Who is?" pressed the figure.
The girl just shook her head, "I…I don't remember. But they won't stop blaming me, the whispers, they're everywhere. Please make it stop!" begged the girl.
The figure placed a red outlined hand on her shoulder, "I can't do that, only you can stop them. They're lying, ignore them and focus on me. Focus on what's in front of you right now and they'll go away."
The girl stopped sobbing as she looked up at her, "who are you?" she asked.
The figure giggled softly, "a simply question with a not so simple answer. The correct question is, who are you? The answers are one in the same."
The girl frowned, "my name is…my…name…is…" her voice trailed off as a frown of confusion crossed her face.
Seeing the girl struggling the figure sighed and grabbed her by the hand as the landscape changed to reveal an odd looking building with numerous children wondering in and out of it. Looking around the girl frowned as she felt a strange sense of familiarity overcome her, she'd been here before. Feeling something heavy weighing down on her back she grabbed it with practised ease to reveal a red and black scythe mechshift in front of her.
"What…what is this?" she asked, looking at the figure.
"That is our scythe, we made it during our time here. Tell me, what is her name?" responded the figure.
The girl frowned, "I don't know."
"Try, don't think about it and just say the first thing that comes to your mind. Now what would you call her?" replied her companion.
The girl looked at the scythe in her hand, "Crescent Rose."
The figure clapped softly, "correct, now why did you call her that?"
The girl put the scythe back into its sheath, "the blade reminds me of the moon."
"And Rose?" asked the figure eagerly.
"To…to…remind me of…something that was important to me…a…a reason to fight," struggled the girl.
The figure nodded, "and where are we?"
Looking around the girl's face furrowed in concentration, "a school…a combat school…my uncle teaches here…Signal Academy!" exclaimed the girl.
The figure applauded again before it grasped her hand and the scenery changed to another building and they were now standing on an asphalt field. Looking around she saw a group of teens playing volleyball on a nearby volleyball court. The girl again felt the twinge of familiarity in her body at the sight of this and turned to face the hooded figure.
"What is this place?" she asked in confusion.
"This is the school you went to," answered the figure.
"But I went to Signal, how could I go to two places at once?" argued the girl.
"How, indeed?" muttered her hooded companion as she turned to watch the game.
"Tell me, do you recognize those two?" she asked, pointing to a male and female teen high fiving each other.
The girl watched them for a few moments before a spike of pain lanced through her skull as the answers began piecing themselves together in her head, "that's…that's me!"
Suddenly memories began rushing into her head as she watched each of them and instantly she was surrounded by the same bright red outline as her companion. The hooded figure walked up to her as the environment changed back to the dark forest, their twin red glows illuminating the night.
"Who are you?" repeated the hooded figure.
The girl turned to her with a fierce expression of determination on her face, "I am the remnants of Ruby, the remnants of Laura. I am the Red Reaper."
"Welcome back Red," greeted the hooded figure before it began to disappear into rose petals, starting from the bottom up, Red just stared in confusion as these rose petals were absorbed into her body.
"Red, I'm sorry," apologized the figure as her body dissolved, leaving only the head remaining.
"For what and who are you?" replied Red.
"Fragments and pieces, a relic of the past now gone. A collection of lies that was used and abandoned," answered the figure as it finally disappeared into her body.
Frowning in confusion Red's aura outline faded and she headed deeper into the forest, following her instincts and arriving at a clearing. She growled as she saw the familiar sight of oily shadows watching her as she approached.
"You're not broken? How odd, still it's too late for you now. I told you I was your future and now I'm almost whole," commented a dual layered voice.
Turning to the speaker Red saw a masked shadow staring at her with red glowing eyes, "what…are…you?" gasped the reaper as the shadow gave her a toothy grin.
Yang glanced down at her scroll as she opened up the files Ozpin had given her, wanting her to take another look at it. Apparently he hoped that she would be able to pick up some of the Earth terminology after he found out that Ruby had talked to them about her home, there was little chance of that happening and they both knew it. Still she appreciated what the headmaster was trying to do, keeping her busy and trying to let her help in curing her sister. Sighing she placed her crutches on the floor before lying down on the bed and began reading the scroll.
Recovered remains of the first scientific study of aura awakening, personal log of researcher Nikoli Khrushchev. All other data destroyed during their facilities quarantine failsafe activation, attempts to recreate this experiment have all failed. The gas's formula has yet to be rediscovered.
Day 1-5
These poor souls have no idea what they are in for, we told them that they just needed to stay in this room for 20 days and they'd walk out free men. I understand the need to develop better weapons against the capitalists but bioweapon's always leave a sour taste in my mouth. Still at least they won't be missed, political prisoners rarely are.
The gas has been added to the subject's chamber and so far no usually activity had been observed in the subjects either physically or mentally. The subjects appear to be happy with their current situation and converse with each other often. It would appear this 'bioweapon' is not as deadly as we were lead to believe, I've conversed with my fellow researchers and they agree. Whatever we are adding to this chamber is not what our superiors told us.
# Day 4: Conversation topics appear to be getting increasingly dark, talks of traumatic events in the subjects past are now common. A possible side effect of the gas perhaps? The experiment will continue as planned.
Day 6-9
Subjects are beginning to display signs of paranoia, refusing to talk to each other and often attempting to betray their comrades in an attempt to gain the staff's trust by whispering 'secrets' into the microphones. Needless to say these attempts are wasted, none of us wish to attract the wrath of our superiors. So far it appears the gas is indeed having on effect on the mental stability of the subjects, no physical deformities are present yet.
Day 10
There was an…incident today with the subjects. At 0600 one of the subjects began screaming non-stop for over three hours. The subject continued to try and scream but the only succeeded in making small squeaking noises, leading us to believe he had torn his vocal cords. What disturbs me was the reaction from the rest of the subjects…or rather the lack of one. They showed no interest or care in their comrade screaming right next to them and just continued whispering into the microphones, those damning whispers. I can still hear them, even when I've left the observation room I still hear them in my head.
This job is beginning to get to me, I keep seeing things, oily shadows dancing along the walls. Maybe I'm just suffering from a lack of sleep. I'm going to request a transfer to a different unit tomorrow, hopefully I'll catch the Commissar in a good mood.
Day 11
My request for a transfer was…denied. According to the Commissar my skills are 'too valuable for the experiment to give up.' There was another incident today, another subject began screaming before his comrades stuck paper along most of the windows and destroyed all light sources, plunging their room into darkness. There was an almost animalistic growl heard in the microphones before the screaming was cut off abruptly, I don't know what I find more disturbing, when they didn't react or when they did.
Whatever this gas is, it is clear that it is having a horrific effect on the subject's mental state. So far no physical changes have been recorded aside from the self-inflicted torn vocal cords however due to the subjects blocking out the light any future physical changes will be hard to record. At least they've stopped whispering into the microphones, so why do I still hear them? Why do I still hear the whispers?
Day 12-13
Nothing to report and I mean literally nothing to report. No sounds, no movement, in fact the only reason we know they're still in there is due to the oxygen consumption. The microphones are checked hourly but so far no faults have been found. Some of the other researchers are getting worried, they fear the gas has finally started to kill the subjects, good reddens I say. On a personal note I swear I saw glowing red eyes in the subject's room, staring at me before disappearing. Perhaps my lack of sleep really is starting to catch up to me but with the nightmares each night, sleep is getting harder to come by.
Day 14
Oh god, how could so many things go wrong in one day? My colleagues decided to open up the chamber to examine the subjects, only to find two of them dead. The cause of death? Cannibalism. They were torn apart by the fellow subjects and eaten, however this doesn't make sense as they had 5 days' worth of untouched food rations. It was almost as if they killed them for simple amusement, the subjects then displayed an almost pack like behaviour while fighting off their guards. The gas must have done something to their bodies, they displayed feats of strength no human is capable of naturally, even with the flight or fight response active. Five soldiers were killed trying to restrain the remaining subjects as they were dragged away for medical examination.
It was here when we discovered the subjects had developed an incredible resistance to sedatives, we pumped them with enough to kill an elephant! Unfortunately another two of the medical staff died in the process of realizing this. As of this moment we have no idea how the gas gave them such an immunity and it is unlikely we ever will thanks to our superiors. The Commissar informed us that our leaders aren't happy with this delay in the experiment and ordered us to place the subjects back in the chamber. He wasn't telling us everything though, I know what that look on his face meant.
#This has been confirmed by our most recent test on the VIP, new procedures will have to been developed to capture any Ferals alive.
Day 15
Only another two hours until I'm dead, I should be panicking, but honestly after what I saw today this whole facility needs to be destroyed. There was apparently a 'leak' in the facility's containment storage, meaning everyone here has been exposed to small amounts of the gas we were flooding the subjects with. I checked those failsafe systems myself before we started, there is no way they could of accidently 'leaked', someone had to of turned them off. Someone who has been wearing his gas mask non-stop since he got here, the Commissar.
I wasn't going to let him get away with it, so I killed him. He…he was a threat! The whispers told me so! I did what I had to but then…the last surviving subject… he was watching me as I did it, smiling the entire time. I…I snapped. I grabbed the Commissar's gun and stormed into the chamber before pointing the gun at his head. As he calmly looked at me I asked him, "what are you?!"
His eyes began glowing red as he gave me a toothy smile before replying…
"Yang come quick! Something's happening to Ruby!" cried Blake as she slammed the door open.
Dropping the scroll the two teammates rushed out of the dorm and headed to the holding cell, neither noticing a green haired girl watch them leave before grabbing the discarded scroll with a frown. Flicking through it Emerald smiled and began copying that data to her own scroll before heading back to her own room, Cinder would want to see this.
The masked shadow walked up to Red and causing the reaper to back away in fear, "have you forgotten so easily? We are you. We are the madness that lurks within you, begging to be free at every moment in your deepest animal mind."
The numerous oily shadows began to surround Red and they all spoke as one in their whispery tone, "we are what you hide from in your beds every night. We are what you sedate into silence and paralysis when you go to the nocturnal haven where we cannot tread. We are the monsters that monsters fear. We are Ferals."
Red swallowed before looking up defiantly at her shadowy doppelganger with a determined expression, "well that's good to know," she smiled, causing the all shadows to freeze and look at her.
As they stared at Red they all saw a vibrant red outline surround the reaper as her eyes narrowed on the masked doppelganger, "because if I trapped you before that means that I can put you back in your cage!" she snarled and threw a punch at her opponent.
The masked shadow's eyes widened as it was sent stumbling back a few feet and growled as it saw the aura outline surrounding Red, "so she interfered after all, did she? I should have known she wouldn't disappear that easily."
Red didn't respond and vanished in a flash of rose petals as she activated her semblance, reappearing behind the shadow with a round house kick to the head. The doppelganger grinned as it anticipated this and grabbed Red's leg, slamming her into the ground before kicking her while she was down. Crying out, the reaper tried to sweep kick the shadow off its feet only to see the doppelganger jump over the kick and back up a few steps. The surrounding oily figures just watching the fight between the two without so much as a twitch in either direction.
"You can't beat me Red, or have you forgotten the abilities of Earth aura?" it taunted.
"No ability is infallible," she replied, getting back into her combat stance.
"Ah yes Ozpin's words of wisdom, a smart man. However unlike that Captain, I know you better than you do yourself. I know when you will feint, attack, flee, I know every strategy you will use. You cannot win," it informed her.
"Then I guess it's time to think up some new ones, isn't it," grinned Red as she got into a footballer stance.
Using her semblance she crashed tackled the shadow to the ground, the red and black duo kicking up dust as they rolled along the ground. Red head-butted her counterpart only to receive a cut along her arm as the shadow's hands morphed into a familiar set of claws. Growling, the shadow's strength intensified as a black smog surrounded the pair and Red struggled to hold back the claw that was slowly approaching her throat. Using her other hand Red grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at the doppelganger's eyes, blinding it and causing it to reel back as she sent another aura infused punch into its head.
As the shadow recovered Red saw a small crack along its masked face from her last hit and smiled, "where's all that confidence now? Looks to me like your cracking under the pressure."
The doppelganger just reached up to touch its mask and glared at Red as familiar runic tattoos and white bone amour appeared along its body, making the reaper instantly wish for Crescent Rose to be here as she backed away. The armoured shadow charged Red and forced her to dive to the side as her opponent landed with a dull thud before turning to look at her with hate filled eyes.
"Why?! Why did she help you?! Why do we both have to suffer so you can play make believe?! It's all your fault!" raged the shadow as it rained blow after blow on her, only narrowly missing Red's head as she semblanced away.
"I won't kill you, oh no, I'm going to make you watch as I rip your friends and family to shreds. Maybe then you'll know the pain we've gone through because of you!" it spat and ran at Red.
The reapers eyes narrowed in anger at this threat as memories of all her friend's happy smiles filled her head, her aura changing to a bloody red instead of the vibrant shade at the thought. Grabbing the incoming claw with her hand, Red bit down on it, causing the doppelganger to screech in pain as it felt sharp teeth cut through its bone armour with ease. Ripping its hand from Red's mouth the armoured shadow leapt backwards and saw the bone armour disintegrating all over its body, the red runes' bright glow growing more dull by the second.
"That's not going to happen, I still need to apologize after all," growled Red as she looked at her opponent in the eye.
The shadow stepped back as it saw the black cat like eyes stare at her and the reaper gave a toothy grin, revealing her own sharp canines, "why are you so surprised? You're me after all. You're power is part of me as well, I'm simply taking it back."
The doppelganger's eyes widened as it watched the oily shadows surrounding the two hiss and retreat into the darkness as the reversed colour of the forest returned to normal, light beginning to chase the darkness from the woods.
"This is my mind and I'm ordering you to go back to your cage!" commanded Red as the light intensified and the shadow growled as it retreated to the tree line.
"So the Red Reaper has finally developed her fangs, has she? No prison lasts forever and you are not the master of that power, Red. You better hope you don't open my cage again or next time it will be you who is locked up," it warned in a strangely calm tone before dissolving into nothingness.
Red just sighed and collapsed to the ground as the outline faded, closing her eyes she enjoyed the now peaceful sounds of the forest, recognizing the numerous Remnant and Earth bird songs sounding in the distance. That was until she heard someone yelling and felt herself being shaken by what must have been a madman. Groaning she opened her eyes and saw the welcoming sight of Yang's worried face staring at her.
"Ruby you're okay," sobbed the blonde as a grateful smile carved itself over her face.
Red just hugged her sister and stared at her friends in the room with her, "yeah sis I'm fine, sorry for making you worry."
The masked shadow paced around its prison like a caged animal, searching for some sort of flaw to exploit but like always finding nothing. Once again it was sealed up tight from all but outside influences and the chances of Red accidently opening it up again were slim, especially with her now watching it.
"So I lost," sighed the shadow.
"It's your own fault you know," said a cheerful voice.
Speaking of the devil there she was standing just outside the prison boundary and watching it, her face still hidden by that accused red hood.
"You have some nerve showing up here. I must admit I never thought gloating would be something you'd enjoy, Ruby," it growled.
"It's sad, in a way I actually feel sorry for you. Besides I don't have any right to that name anymore than you do to yours," replied the female voice from the hood.
"Shut up," hissed the shadow.
The hooded figure continued on none the less, "nearly all the pieces that made up her were taken, to the point where only this embodiment of hatred and anger remains in front of me. Tell me, why do you continue to hide behind that mask?"
"Don't act like you're any better! Why don't you take that hood off hmm? Oh right I forgot, how silly of me," it snarled and glared at her while she flinched and gripped the edges of her cloak.
Seeing this the shadow smiled, "I seem to recall someone forcing her memories onto our dear Red, if that wasn't anger and jealousy guiding your actions then what was it?"
The hooded figure sighed sadly as she turned to look at the ground, "I admit it, I was scared and angry. Who wouldn't after it happened? I saw her with them and I just couldn't take it, I wanted to become whole just like you."
The masked doppelganger paused in shock at this confession, "so why did you help her? Doesn't it hurt you every time she's called that name? Or every time you see her with them? You nearly succeeded in becoming whole, she was even taking your name as her own. You were a single step from returning to the world but instead you helped her. Why did you stop?"
The red figure looked up in surprise at the lack of spite in the shadow's tone, replaced instead by a genuine confusion and curiosity. Sitting down on a nearby tree she took a deep breath and looked up to the whole moon in the sky, watching it bathe the forest in its light.
"It did at first," she admitted. "But then she did something that even I didn't expect, she started helping others without my influence. Then she nearly broke and I watched her guilt eat away at her, it turned her from an obstacle into what she really was, a scared girl who had no idea what to do."
Turning back to the shadow, she stood up and walked over to it, "when she saved Yang that wasn't me, that was all her. Even after everything Yang did, she still didn't hesitate to protect her and Ruby's aura responded to that, without my help. It made me realize something."
"And what was that?" scoffed the doppelganger as the two heard a roar of thunder and storm clouds grew in the night sky.
"She has more right to that name then I do, she is Ruby just like she is Laura," answered the figure as they both felt the first drops of rain hit them.
"Don't you dare say that! She is nothing but a fake, a puppet dancing to their strings," it snarled.
A sad laugh echoed from the red hooded face, "is she the puppet or are we? Red was made from fragments but the very name implies that it was incomplete. So what happened to the pieces that weren't used? Do they disappear?"
Reaching up to her hood the figure pulled it down to reveal a sad looking looking Ruby, only her her face had cracks in it as if it was made from broken glass. Replacing the hood over her head the figure backed away from the shadow, "Or do they live on. Under the illusion that they are the predecessor's? Was she dancing to their strings or was it us all along? Forcing our desires, our strengths, our memories onto her, shaping her into the person she is now? Were we tricked into turning her into exactly what they wanted, turning her into the Red Reaper? Was our longing to be whole again used to manipulate us?"
"You're lying!" it hissed.
"Am I? Why would we have not been absorbed like the rest of the fragments during her birth? You fought her, didn't you find it odd that she could use Laura's aura with needing you?" she asked.
"That was a fluke, nothing more. She doesn't even have true control over it like I do," replied the shadow.
"There is a difference between controlling power and being controlled by it, take that mask off and maybe you'll see that. If you refuse to see the truth in front of you then you'll never leave this prison again…I'll make sure of it," threatened the hooded figure as it walked away.
As it watched her leave the shadow reached up to its cracked mask as it pondered what she'd said before growling as another surge of rage filled it and returned to its pacing. Yet the seeds of doubt had began to take root in its mind and refused to go, it wasn't the puppet, was it?
Did you guys enjoy the red herring I threw in a couple of chapters ago :) Anyway volume 2 is done and dusted and hopefully this answers some of the questions in the earlier chapters. Unfortunately I'm not really happy with how the chapter turned out in the end but I decided that I'd kept you waiting long enough. Also for people who realised, yes this chapter was based off the Russian Sleep Experiment Creepypasta and if you have time you should read it, it is actually quite good.