Later that afternoon, Ruby and Jet flew (riding on Jet's back in Ruby's case) for the shadier part of the massive Theyl Nocturne, where Jet needed to find someone. He'd given Ruby a harrowing warning that the general 'scumbags of the populace' lived there, and that they were to be on guard.

As Ruby watched another group of kids point up at her and Jet, she felt a small surge of self-consciousness. They were plainly visible to loads of people. And while being with Jet had worked wonders on her social skills (Jet hadn't let it go once he'd overheard Yang talking about it – damn his hearing) she still felt a little nervous in front of a crowd.

"Jet, can you fly down a less crowded place?" Ruby asked with a blush as they soared over a street filled with people.

"Or I could just turn on my invisibility via time-stop." Jet responded. "I'd rather save my energy though."

"Please." Ruby pleaded, and she waited for the world to turn grey. It did not, however.

"Which would you rather, less embarrassment or less ability in combat if something goes wrong?" Jet queried, and to Ruby, he sounded irritable. Did his semblances really take up that much energy?

As though he'd read Ruby's mind, Jet answered Ruby's unspoken question.

"My copied semblances take more energy and concentration to use than normal. I can use them, granted, but it really takes it out of me." he explained. "And believe me, I want all the energy I can get. I've got a bad feeling about this."

As they travelled closer and closer to their destination, Jet seemed to grow more and more agitated, though Ruby only knew because she knew the unconscious cues that Jet gave.

They soon reached a set of buildings on the outskirts of the city. Jet was instantly reminded of the cul-de-sac he'd spent his early days in, though these were more run down, like corpses well past their initial deaths and emitting their foul decay as a miasma to the eyes. He felt the reassuring weight of Ruby on his back as he prepared to land. While the girl herself didn't know it, her mere presence was like a depressant to his nerves here.

He landed on a section of mossy pavement outside an aged house, one that looked as if its own disease had set in. Green patches of plant life grew like parasites upon the greying bricks. The door was ajar, and Jet didn't have to have the most sensitive nose to smell something on the air, though he couldn't quite tell.

"Be on your guard, sweetheart." Jet warned, summoning Midnight Rose and Ember Graves, and feeling them combine into Ember Roses: Pain and Agony (he'd altered the name slightly in almost reverence to Ruby, though he'd never tell her that). The lightweight mechanised claws clicked, their sharp blades slicing through the air, the buzzing of the railguns as Jet lightly squeezed the firing buttons from within the claws mirroring his thoughts.

He turned just in time to see Ruby flinch at the sight of them.

"What's wrong?" he asked, as he flexed his claws.

"Those remind me of that time in the cave… where you went crazy." Ruby replied. Jet hissed in response. It wasn't a pleasant memory, watching Flux do what she did through his own eyes, not having any control. It sickened him.

"I'm in control now. Don't worry." Jet reassured as they approached the house. It wasn't especially big, only two floors, but Jet now sensed what had touched his nostrils earlier.

Blood.

Not good.

He grasped the door expertly with his right claw, intending to open the door, but it fell inwards with a bang that startled Jet, Ruby, and some pigeons that were nestling above on the roof. Upon closer examination, it had been ripped off its hinges. He turned back to Ruby.

"Ripped off its hinges. Do you smell that?" he asked.

"Blood." Ruby replied softly. "Jet, what are we here for?"

Jet gulped a little. He'd have to bend the truth, for her sake.

"Someone owes me something." Jet replied, a little too harshly, he thought. He said, in a softer voice, "I'm here for it."

There was silence behind him for a moment, Jet having tuned back to keep an eye on the potential danger. Finally, after several moments, he heard Ruby's reply.

"I trust you Jet. Just be careful." It sounded heartfelt.

"I will. In and out." he replied, before taking the first step into the house. He heard the click clack of Ruby switching her scythe into gun form. 'I'll handle the close quarters stuff. Can you watch my back?' he sent via telepathy, and kept the channel open, so that they could converse in silence.

'One step ahead of ya.' came Ruby's reply.

'We talk like this. Only speak out loud if we're compromised.' he thought.

'Compromised?' she thought back, and Jet sighed inwardly.

'Spotted by an enemy or if they know we're here.' Jet responded. They walked down the entrance hall into the living room. What they saw made Jet nearly gasp in surprise.

The normally upkept furniture of the house was slashed, fluff everywhere, little pitter-patters of bloody drops peppering the floor. Jet spotted two corpses in the center, partially hidden by bits of furniture, the bloody floor and carpet telling the story of two brutal deaths, especially as one of the corpses arms and legs were badly shredded. It was only when he rounded the sofa, guns pointed at them, that he truly lost the battle with his stomach.

The first dead man lay, arms and legs shredded by what looked like teeth and claw marks. His throat bore a cavernous hole, which could only have been ripped out. His face was frozen in a shocked 'o', his tongue having rolled back into his throat. The man he lay on top of had been ripped in half by the waistline, his innards trailing underneath the first corpse. Blood pooled around them, though they had long since exhausted their life's substance upon the wooden boards of their resting place.

'Ruby, don't lo-' Jet sent hurriedly, before his stomach instantly rebelled against him and unleashed its contents like a cannon. Jet turned away quickly and triggered Ruby's semblance dizzily to rush over to a corner before he was violently sick, feeling his breakfast exit his body in a physical manifestation of disgust as he knelt to stabilize himself, detaching his claws and throwing them aside.

He heard Ruby give a soft 'ee' just as he finished the first heave of his stomach, and the fear he felt turned into another sickening lurch which forced yet more out of his mouth. Using as much willpower as he could muster, he prevented further heaves, and felt a shaking little hand on his back. With a cough and a spit, he turned to Ruby, who was now gripping his shoulders.

"Oh gosh, are you okay?" Ruby asked, concern evident in her voice. Jet said nothing, instead conjuring some of his healing liquid which he gulped down. It tasted revolting, like the rotting carcass of a fish combined with the nastiest medicine you could taste. Fighting his stomach's attempt to expel what he'd just tasted, Jet looked back at Ruby, feeling the soothing effect of the liquid on his stomach.

"Do you have anything sweet?" he asked.

"Um." Ruby said, thinking. Jet realised with a jolt that they were now speaking aloud, though there again, someone would have heard him throwing up. "No." she said. Dammit. "Wait, hold on." Ruby said, reaching into her back pockets, pulling out a doobleberry. Jet took it with a nod of thanks and ate it, feeling the familiar sweetness dispel the curse of revulsion on his tongue.

"Sorry." Jet apologised. "That was a shock for me." He turned back to the bodies, and felt his stomach behave normally now. "I didn't come here expecting to see death."

"Don't be silly, Jet." Ruby said reproachfully, and Jet had the sense that he was being scolded. "I'd probably be sick too if I looked."

"Wait, you hadn't?" Jet asked, surprised. Ruby had her back to the carnage, not looking back for a second.

"Remember what I said? I trust you. If you said not to look, I won't." Ruby replied with a reassuring smile. Wow. Ruby really had a surge of maturity in the last couple of months, based on what Jet was seeing.

"Just don't look in the center of this room." Jet said, after a brief pause. Ruby nodded, then gestured to a set of stairs that Jet hadn't noticed to his right. He nodded in understanding, then, readying his claws once more, pressed onwards, wary for signs of further bloodshed as they ascended the creaking stairs.

Upon reaching the top flights, they heard wheezing coming from a bedroom to the right of them, and looked the other way to see more blood coming from the bedroom opposite. Jet pointed at the bedroom with the wheezing coming from it, and Ruby nodded in response. She was completely focussed.

This place was scary, but she was more concerned about two things. Jet, and the possible threats within the place. Jet still looked a little shaky, but his claws remained steady, and right now, that was what mattered. They still didn't know who, or what, had committed this, and whether they were still here. As a result, Ruby didn't have time or chance to show fear.

Jet raised one of his claws and held up three blades.

One went down. Ruby braced herself.

A second lowered. Ruby cocked Crescent Rose.

The third followed. Jet raised his closed fist.

SMASH!

Jet punched the door off its hinges with an ear-splitting crash, and they rushed into the bedroom, guns ready.