Ruby XII
"So, have you become a hero? Like the ones in your picture books?" Tyrion asked, mockingly. I tried my best to ignore him and focus on my work, but that wasn't easy. Cleaning chimneys is hard work, but it doesn't necessarily require one's full attention. He basically had a captive audience. "Is this what Oz thinks a hunter should be?" He jeered, with a rare venom and base to his voice.
"What do you want, Tyrion!?" I snapped at him.
"Don't be mad at me," He floated off with his feet gliding through the air, "I'm not the one who got you into this mess. No one told you to do any of that."
"Uh-huh," I grumbled to him while he continued to float around me.
"You should've listened to your sister. She's got a good head on her shoulders,"
"Would you shut up? Who do you think you're helping? Because it's not me, all you're doing is talking to me like a child and I don't appreciate that,"
"I'll leave you be, but I think I have someone you might want to see,"
"Pardon?"
"Dark dealings of the ephemeral kind, a brilliant solvent for the mind. A tour guide for the underworld, from the inky shadows she heralds. For you, Ruby, I have an associate most nefarious! One who I think you'd like to meet," he said. This piqued my interest. Tyrian was still, of course, going to be put to death by my hands sooner or later. So it did not matter what he said. If anything it behooved him to keep feeding me useful information seeing as each piece bought him more time. I pulled my broom from the chimney and asked him to tell me more. Apparently he knew a girl that was attending Beacon at the same time who could help me rebuild my broken weapon.
"I don't think I'll be needing any help with that," I told him, returning to my work.
"Trust me for once. I think you and Cinder will have a lot to talk about. You're in need of a new weapon and she happens to possess knowledge of rare dust that could be of use to you. I mean, what else needs to be said? Of course, this life is yours and you're free to do with it as you please, but, if I may speak freely, I think it would be folly to ignore this opportunity. Besides, you and the little cinder girl would get along quite well. She's fond of sulking as well," Tyrion said, flying off and finally leaving me to my work.
"What a pest!" I shouted, kicking the chimney. Hours passed and the onset of the cold night air reminded me that it was time to leave. Ozpin demanded that I be on duty sweeping chimneys for a month and today was only my first day. A miserable time was ahead of me and I was sure that Tyrion would be there everyday to pester me. It's almost like he wanted me to skip straight to the part where I put his head on a pike. Perhaps men were in love with death. Death is the only aspect of life that all men pursue equally, even above women I'd say. However, important to note, is the fact that they typically aren't aware they're doing this.
Stranger still, I thought as I crawled into bed, was that I still hadn't seen Weiss anywhere. She had been gone for several days and her absence started to become conspicuous. Not that I was interested in seeing her. It just felt strange for her to wander off for days on end. She had to have known that I didn't want to see her. Even still, where was she sleeping; Or eating, or bathing for that matter? Hopefully she wasn't sleeping under some bridge or in a ditch somewhere. She'd probably be kidnapped or something. God in heaven, imagine the international incident that would cause. The spriggans surely wouldn't be too happy to hear that their princess, or queen or whatever, was kidnapped by some human, or, god forbid, a faunus. Well, whatever trouble that silly girl had gotten herself into was no concern of mine.
She always looked so proud of herself, and for nothing too! All that pride, and for what? Just so you could say that you're too proud to apologize to your friend? Or to say that you're too proud to see me face to face. Though I suppose it was a bit of an exaggeration to say that Weiss was friends with any of us. Even still, what is your pride worth if all it does is stop you dead in your tracks? Sure, she was intelligent and possessed a rare and enchanting beauty, but that was no excuse. No one is too pretty or too smart to own up to their mistakes. Nevermind the fact that her rotten demeanor soured any appeal her looks might grant her. Verily, I say there is no worse fate.
I thought about Weiss a lot that night, as well as in the following days. Soon a week had passed and she was nowhere to be seen. Having grown sufficiently worried, I set out on one cold and stormy night in search of her. High and low I searched, but to no avail. It was as though she had disappeared off of the face of the earth. My search paused as I took shelter under a dustlamp. They were tall metal things with glass cages. Inside the cages was a metal alloy made by mixing dust with tungsten, if I recall correctly. They stored their power during the day and released it at night in the form of a rich green glow. At night Beacon appeared to be a city of emeralds. In the eerie glow, one's eyes were liable to see things that were not there. Shadows transformed into full fledged men and began to walk; phantoms made flesh. That is not to say that I'm scared of the dark, quite the opposite in fact. I am a woman of the night and have made my home under the ebon blanket of skies unlit! I am like the unlawful, and even worse still; unholy, union between wolf and maiden. Or perhaps it would be more apt to compare myself to an opportunistic wolf wearing the fleece of a ewe. The dark doesn't scare me!
I slinked through the streets for a while longer, periodically glancing over my shoulder, just in case. One can never be too cautious. Then I came across a trail of blood leading around the corner. It led to a storm drain, a rather broad one at that. The drain was large enough for me to walk inside of it. The darkness of the tunnel seemed to begin more abruptly than it ought to have. So, I lit my lantern and it revealed a wall of black flesh and bone, most likely some kind of grimm. The creatures that The Brothers had styled themselves after were such ghastly things. Even a small grimm within the city's walls would be considered a problem. That was to say nothing of the large monstrosity in front of me. Its lumpy body blocked the entire tunnel so there was no telling how far back it's body went. It could have already infested the entire sewer. Situations like that, where a grimm wanders into the water supply, have led to the demise of many settlements, both big and small. My lucky day to stumble upon such existential dread. It was only made worse by what I saw when I looked down. A woman was stuck beneath the massive black creature. It had crushed her to death and left only her legs sticking out. Though it was making a serious effort towards devouring even those as well. Perhaps she had gotten too close to it and was dragged, suddenly, under it. What inky appendage could be responsible? The creature was a blob of dead shadowy skin with hardly any signs of bones or cartilage. How it held itself together and moved was a mystery. The answer for how it got there was no more apparent to me than how exactly it planned to leave. Assuming it planned on leaving in the first place.
Humanity had been fighting Grimm for all of recorded history. Some had even speculated that our conflict with them stretched even to the time before the fall, to the days when light still shined on the isle of Lamoor. There were a few common breeds of grimm that had been studied thoroughly: Beowulfs, Nevermores, and the dastardly King Taijitu all come to mind. Knowledge of their behavior has made disposing of them much more predictable and fewer hunters have died as a result. The work of those who came before us has proven to be invaluable in that respect. However, most of them defied categorization. Many grimm were completely unique, like the behemoth which lay before me. Such grimm were especially dangerous because the scope of their abilities were completely unknown. Any troupe of hunters who came across such a creature were sure to lose at least one member. So, me being alone meant almost certain death, total annihilation. I had resolved to ignore the thing for the time being and come back with reinforcements, but then something happened. The woman moved. Her legs kicked. This wasn't the twitch of a freshly dead corpse. No, this was a woman on the brink fighting for her life. She had probably been stuck like that for hours and yet she still persisted. I had to help her, what other choice was there?
I used my semblance and dragged the woman into my roses, merging her body with the cloud just as it did mine. To my dismay, the grimm was sucked in with her. While inside they became like me, they became one with the roses and lent their bodies to the mass of petals. My roses became gray and putrid as a result, that is to say nothing of the tremendous effort it took to move them. The grimm somehow managed to fight me for control over the cloud. It felt as though my semblance was not my own and it wouldn't follow my commands. The creature tried dragging both of us deeper into the sewers. I tried to resist, but it felt like trying to pull a mountain by a string. There was just no way. We flew deeper and deeper into the city's sewerage system. I struggled against the brute all the while, but he was simply too much. We crashed against walls and swam swiftly through sewage. After a while I was certain that the brute was lost.
In that moment I became a dog on leash being dragged about by some harsh taskmaster. I debated releasing my semblance and simply running with the body of the unconscious woman in tow, but that presented a number of problems. For one, how would I find my way out of Beacon's labyrinth sewers? The pipes seemed to stretch for miles and they all looked the same. I couldn't possibly navigate my way out of there in time to get the woman the medical attention she needed, all while dodging our dogged purser. Second, there was no guarantee that I would be able to outrun this monstrosity. Abhorrent grimm, like this one, usually had deceptive appearances. Fat and blobby things had been known to kill men by the dozen because of their surprising bursts of speed. Perhaps the sewer creature was one such grimm. There was no way of knowing and none of my options seemed appealing. I made one last attempt at wrestling back control from the beast and when I pulled on the leash this time I felt another pair of hands help me. Now it felt less like a mountain and more like a boulder, still a difficult task but now seizing control was at least plausible. Inches at first, then feet, and finally miles; I dragged that boulder to the horizon. I took us through a pipe that led back to the surface and finally released my semblance.
When we hit the ground the woman was in my arms. Her long black hair hung from her head in grimey matted locks. Her shoulders were covered in scratch marks and her dress, a long satin number with a mermaid silhouette, was torn and wet with sewage. The stress of carrying all three of us with my semblance was starting to catch up to me. I began to pass out, but as my vision grew dark the sight of the brute snapped me back to reality. It was humongous. The general body plan of the creature appeared to be similar to that of a slug except its underside was lined with arms and hands of varying lengths. Some were broad and muscular while others were emaciated and leperous. The arms closest to its head had an odd number of joints. I counted 5 or 6 elbow-like points where the appendages seemed to bend. The fingers on each of its hands were equally mangled. The impossible anatomy of the grimm's belly was accompanied by a wretched stench. It was unlike anything I had ever smelled in my life. If a corpse could shit this is what it would smell like. It burned my nose and eyes and it only grew worse as the slug's hands threatened to make contact with my skin. They drew closer and upon touching my cheek it turned the skin red. Its hand touched me only for a moment before falling limply to the ground. Soon its body was above me and I was trapped in a cage of arms and hands. Moving swiftly, I activated my semblance one more time, and carried us to safety. There was no telling how much longer I could use my powers. What else can someone do in times of uncertainty besides run towards home?
I flew the two of us back to the academy before collapsing on the steps from overuse of my semblance. The woman was still breathing and seemed relatively warm so there was at least some hope that she could be saved. Once I had her safely in the care of a healer I'd return back to the grimm to finish what I had started. In no world would I be bested by an abomination such as that.
"Help! Someone help! We need a healer!" I shouted into the night, to no response. Things grew grim as I carried her through the halls and no one answered me. What was the problem? Everyone may have been asleep, but rest assured I was shouting at the top of my lungs. Anyone sleeping would have most likely heard me so where were they? "Somebody help! Please just come already! I'll do anything, just come!"
"What's wrong Ms. Rose? It's the middle of the night," Professor Port asked, appearing from behind me. I turned to face him and revealed the comatose body of the woman I had found stuck under the grimm. His face dropped in horror at the sight of her. Port led the two of us to the school's infirmary where another one of the school's staff, Glynda Goodwitch, began tending to the wounds of the sewer woman. Regrettably, I must refer to her as such because I have no real name for her. When she wakes, I'll ask for her given name and make amends.
When Glynda asked me for information on her all I could tell her was that I knew nothing about the woman and had only just found her tonight while patrolling the streets and causeways. They placed her onto a bed and gave her several vein drips to keep her stable. I watched the process carefully, taking mental notes in case I ever had to tend to someone's wounds in a life or death situation. They said that she would be fine so long as she was given time to rest, though they could not say how long that would be.
"When she comes to, you should be here," said Glynda, "She'll probably have something to say to the one who saved her,"
"What about the Grimm?"
"What about the grimm? It shouldn't matter, not to you at least. I'll gather some of the other professors to deal with it, in the meantime you stay put and look after the girl."
"What? No, you don't understand I can help, I can-"
"Ruby, please. Calm down. I know what it's like coming face to face with a grimm. You're not thinking straight right now. Just take a moment to breathe and pause. Think about what you've done for a moment. You saved a life, which is no small task. And without a weapon, a plan, or any aura left I feel it would be best if you took a moment to appreciate that and see your mission through to the end. After all, what if something happened to her while we were all gone. Would you still feel like a hero then?"
Her words were bittersweet, but I considered them nonetheless. I looked back on what I had said and done and began to feel guilty for how I had placed my own desires over those of others. We all do it from time to time, but I had been particularly selfish as of late. Was that what motivated me to pursue the grimm in the sewers, even past the point of my own exhaustion? Or was there something else, something darker and more deep seated, acting upon my will? I just wanted to finish the job, to kill the grimm that I had started a fight with, but was that a desire born out of an instinct to protect others or was it something else? To be completely honest I had no idea. Things seemed as though they could go either way inside of my fragile heart.
Was I moved by a primeval desire to defend those who could not defend themselves or was it something more selfish? At the time I could not say for certain. I started to think back to some of the times in the past when I had acted similarly and began to wonder. Perhaps I, or more to the point my ego, was the problem all along. I probably never would have talked to Cardin in the first place if I hadn't thought that I could somehow singlehandedly wipe the smug smirk from his face. When I stepped between him and Weiss my first thoughts were unclear. In fact it felt like a mix of several different emotions so pinpointing which particular feeling motivated me would be impossible. Part of me wanted to protect her, but why? Weiss was a strong fighter and deadly with her aura so to say that she needed a protector was ridiculous. Hell, she probably could have beaten Cardin on her own without me ever having to step in. It wouldn't make any sense for me to say that I was protecting her. Was I sticking up for my teammate? Was that what moved me back then? No, that can't be right either. If I had felt like I had to protect her out of some abstract sense of duty, some intoxicating naivete about what it means to be a leader, then I would have gone searching for her sooner, that much is for certain. I put off talking to her for days, she disappeared, and then I delayed looking for her even longer. Is that something a leader would do? I think not.
No, I think it was much less complicated than that. My motives were actually remarkably simple upon closer inspection. I did not know then, but now I see clearly what forces were at work. I was moved not by a sense of justice but rather the telltale beating of a young heart. There were no ideals behind my actions then, nor was there any complex thought. It was all very, very simple. Weiss was a beautiful girl and I fancied her. That was it. I loved almost everything about her: her long ashen hair, her eyes like the pale blue of the early morning, and her dower nature as well. Normally I found people who were fond of complaining and sulking to be rather annoying, but with Weiss it was different. When she did something that I would otherwise find irritating, it came across as charming. One time the team and I were searching for a particular dust vendor in the city's center. We looked all day and didn't find anything. Towards the end, when we decided to head back, Weiss complained the whole way. She said it was stupid that we even tried to find him without any directions or sense of where to start. She continued on like that, bringing up all manner of complaints and gripes. The others were tired and didn't have the energy to engage with Weiss and her bellyaching. She made the whole mood turn sour so we walked in silence for most of the way. Blake and Yang went straight to bed after because they didn't want anything to do with her. Sure, Weiss was being a bother, but that was who she was. Weiss Schnee was a girl with an attitude problem so how mad could you really be when she did something obnoxious? Of course by then I was already completely head over heels for her so I was grinning underneath my hood while Weiss grated on everyone's nerves. I hid my feelings well for a girl overcome with love for the first time. They were held safely in the deep recesses of my heart and things would stay that way if I had any say in it. Indeed, not even my sister was aware of how I felt. For now though, it still felt nice to get it off my chest, in whatever small way I could. I love Weiss Schnee, I love her, I love her.
Glynda gave me a small ax then she and Port left to go kill the grimm I found in the sewers. It was completely black. The wood, the ax head, all of it was black. I waited by the bedside of the unconscious woman all night. Eventually the sun rose and Glynda still hadn't come back. I almost started to get worried, but the thought soon passed. They were hunters, all of them. There was no way that they would have any trouble dealing with one measly grimm. Something surprising happened that morning though. The woman woke up. Her eyes were a rich amber color which glittered in the morning light like specks of frost, or perhaps it would be more apt to compare them to sparkles of sea glass. She tried getting up, but I urged her to stay still and rest.
"Slow down, a lot's happened. You shouldn't try to leave yet,"
"Where am I?" She groaned at a volume barely above a whisper.
"You're in Beacon academy. I found you in the sewers crushed under the body of a grimm. I fought it, managed to pull you out, and, well, now we're here,"
"Beacon… That sounds familiar. I think I go here, but I'm not sure it's all so hazy,"
"That's okay, don't worry. Plenty of people feel like they have amnesia when they wake up from being knocked out. I'm sure you'll start to remember once you get more time to rest,"
"Right," She said, somewhat skeptical.
"Do you remember anything else?" I asked her and the woman paused for quite some time. It was at least a minute of her trying her hardest to recall any scant piece of information that might have clung to her mind. Several breathless words left her lips, but none of them came out fully formed. She finally found the words, spoke, and said:
"I remember just one thing. I know what my name is,"
"That's wonderful," I replied, "Tell me!"
"My name… It's Cinder," She said.