Ruby thought it best to be put into isolation and so Ozpin gave her a special room in the faculty unit of the school. Locking her in from the outside, Glynda promised to keep watch over her. Less than an hour into the plan, Ruby could already feel herself starting to crack.
Some hunters didn't have the wealth of aura that Glynda had. Oobleck's had been drained rather quickly after he had used it to heal Ruby's burns, but to see the combat instructor drain so quickly seemed impossible to Ruby. She tried to manage on her own after that, but her mind was starting to get hazy again. The world around her began to blur, and she felt annoyed at herself, and angry at nothing.
Thinking she might be hungry, she ate a quick but nourishing lunch, which only served to annoy her more when the idea didn't work.
The feeling of the Grimm were sinking under her skin yet again, and she had to resist the urge to try and drag them out. If Ozpin was right, that wouldn't work anyway, because the Grimm weren't really there. She doused herself in a cold shower, then ravenously ate two boxes of cookies. The entire time, her eyes watched the clock. Her nerves were alight with things unknown to her, emotions twisting within in a way she didn't have enough experience with.
Then after a long time, her palms became sweaty, and she felt the throb and pangs of arousal. Desire and hunger clawed deeper sill, and she thought back to Ozpin's words. She doubted craving sex and craving aura were the same things, but she felt the desire now more than ever. Whatever it was, it dug into her, and she forced out a harsh breath.
"Ruby." Glynda spoke from the speaker into the open room. "Are you alright?"
"I can't take it." Ruby murmured, wrapping herself in the Blanket and rolling around, trying to find relief from the sensations. "They won't go away."
"It's to be expected. Isolation is not an easy choice. Honestly, I'm surprised that's the route you want to go with." Glynda sighed. "You sister and Blake Belladonna from your team have arrived to Beacon, they are being informed of your condition as we speak. Ozpin has chosen to omit some of the...personal...details."
"How long is this going to last?" Ruby croaked out from betwixt the tears slipping from her eyes.
"We don't know." Glynda murmured.
"I can't do this." Ruby's voice shook. "I can't take it. I can't. I can't, I can't, I can't."
Glynda flung the door open, and entered inside grabbing ahold of the bundled young woman who shook so violently in her arms. "You can Ruby, you must."
Yang watched from a silent video feed as her sister initiated a kiss with Glynda, silver eyes wild and untamed. "That's not my sister. Lookalike, maybe, but Ruby would never do something like that." Yang said, swallowing back the hard truth put in front of her. "She doesn't lose herself like that, and she's not the kind of person to go around kissing people."
"Physical touch can ease the symptoms." Ozpin said slowly from behind his desk. "She could have launched herself like that at anyone, even you." He watched Ruby push away almost violently, as if she just realized what she had done. "I assure you, that is your sister."
The fear in Ruby's eyes seemed at war with something else. Her expression a twisted mix of the thoughts running through her head. Though they couldn't hear the conversion, they watched as Glynda reached forward, as if offering the invitation to continue. Ruby obviously denied the request, zipping into the bathroom at to speed, slamming the door behind her.
"That's Ruby alright." Blake deadpanned.
"Who would have guessed something like this would happen to her…" Yang said, her voice thick with emotion.
"We've contacted someone with firsthand experience in this matter. Your uncle, to be exact." Ozpin turned off the video, entrusting the situation completely to Glynda. "He's away right now. Even if he were to return, there's no cure for this. Only time, and in some cases a great deal of it. His only advice was to support her, by any means, in any way we can."
"I just need to give her my aura, right?" Yang bit out. "That's it, I just channel it into her?"
"Until it depletes." Ozpin nodded. "However even so, time is the only answer for this. You cannot mend her aura. It must repair itself. In the meantime, her soul has been damaged by the Grimm, and in some ways it may never return to normal. Once her own aura is up and running however, then we can to begin to treat whatever lingering symptoms remain as we find them. Until then, she's going to crave that which she does not have, just like Grimm do."
"Yang, maybe you shouldn't go near Ruby right now…" Blake trailed off. "If she's acting like that, maybe she doesn't want us here."
"I don't see why the hell not."
Golden eyes leveled on the woman, a knowing stare reflected there. "Do you remember the first time I went into heat? Remember what that was like?" Blake shot back, shaking her head then, not wanting to think of it herself. "Know what's worse? That's natural, completely biological, and I knew. I was prepared. If this is anything like that at all, she's not thinking straight."
Yang bit her lip hard, chewing on that thought long and hard. "I don't give a damn. What room number is she in? I want to go see her."
"I'm afraid I cannot give you that information." Ozpin said as he folded his hands neatly on his desk. "Ruby asked to be kept away from those currently uninvolved with this matter. She has been informed that you've been contacted. She can ask for your support at any time. I hope that you will respect her choice at this time."
At this, yang felt her whole body sag under the weight of that implication. "Ruby's really sick, isn't she?"
"This is not an illness, Ms. Xiao Long. Merely a change in her usual condition." Ozpin hoped he was being reassuring, but he could tell that his words were doing nothing to sooth Yang's ire. "Still, the matter is delicate, and I ask that you treat it with the due diligence and respect that it deserves."
Glynda felt her heart ache for the woman on the other side of the door, likely letting control of her mind slip through her fingers. Although Ruby was in no immediate danger due to her condition, she was also in no right of mind. Sanity was a slippery slope, emotions a precipice that one could fall into accidentally. She had been trying to coax Ruby out of hiding, to soothe the obvious unease weighing her down.
However, Ruby didn't want to face Glynda, could even dare look her in the eye, and wouldn't to open the door.
Glynda made a call to Bartholomew Oobleck, explaining to him what she knew, and demanding he come at least attempt to see to this matter. In her words, it was the least he could do after staying with Ruby last night. He sensed a bit of vitriol in her statements, not to mention the mounting frustration that Ruby's refusals provided. As soon as he was able, he came to the aid of his former student once more, finding the scene no different than what Glynda had described.
"It took you long enough." Glynda barked at him.
"Given the events of last night, I thought I ought to be properly prepared." He replied, holding a bad from the nearby Beacon shop, setting it off to the side.
"Don't you think it's a little wrong to be sharing relations with one of your former students?"
"Any more wrong than you sharing relations with the headmaster?" The speckled man responded, removing his tie and setting it aside, least he be strangled by it.
"The difference is in our state of mind, Bart." Glynda told him with a shake of her head. "I thought you of all people would respect that distance."
"It isn't as if I'm going to encourage the matter. Yet to deny her could be catastrophic." He replied averting his gaze at the more thought. "She's one of us now, part of Ozpin's fold. The man puts a great deal of respect into her, it's only obvious to conclude that we must do the same. She's a young huntress, yes, but no less capable. Her abilities have never been our concern, and you know this well."
"Which is exactly why I worry as much as I do." Glynda warned, finger outstretched in her lecture.
"You know I do as well." He murmured softly.
"Be that as it may, be careful with her." Glynda didn't need to make an open threat, it was clear as day. "Her legacy far outshines you and I, we're expendable compared to the silver eyed warriors. There are so few who know of their powers in battle, fewer still trained to slay Grimm. Do not break her heart, it is far too fragile, especially now."