So uh, suuuup. Been... what, like over two months now? Yeeeaaaah... Alright, speaking seriously, I'm so sorry for the delay, especially considering the last chapter was a cliffhanger, largely thanks to circumstances out of my control. However, fear not! This chapter and the following two AFTER this have already been fully completed, all of which round up the Tournament's finale (not the season finale though)! Now with that said, I am humbled that even after so long away, I've reached the vaunted 500 Favourites mark. I didn't think it would be possible based on my level of writing, but thanks to you and your support, we've reached it. Thank you all so much for your kindness, and I hope as always not to disappoint.
Also, very important if you want to keep up to date with the story from now on, apparently has turned off email notifications for story updates in your settings, you'll have to turn it back on every six months as well (for some reason).
With all that said, LET'S HOP BACK TO IT!
Fighting Rose
Chapter 36
No mind to think
"Ozpin," Altria hissed sharply, "Any one of us can go down there right now and end Mercury Black in one strike if we so wish. Why allow Ruby Rose to suffer like this? Why after telling her about her mother's fate?"
"You're not one to talk about using people, Pendragon," Ozpin sniped back, Altria flinching back, "…Ruby Rose is potentially one of our greatest hopes to deal with the oncoming End-Times, if Erebus is to be believed. For her to show greater motivation than even her mother is something that is rare, very rare. We'd be foolish to waste it."
"And what does that have to do with pitting her against that assassin?" Altria asked, a cold look on her face.
"Those eyes have always awakened in moments of duress," Ozpin said, "Ruby and her mother are among the few people capable of controlling its power and taking it into their body, a skill that dramatically increases their fighting-prowess. Wukong's grandfather was capable as well before his heart-condition severely restricted him, but that is besides the point. With Ruby seeking to better her combative capabilities, there is no better catalyst for growth than a fight against one of Remnant's most notorious assassins."
"…if she falters…" Altria started.
"Then Diodes, Magnus and Dorn are on the side-lines," Ozpin assured her, "Should she fail to beat him, they will immediately subdue Mercury Black."
"...you're playing a dangerous game… Ozma," Altria said softly.
"It is a game that we all must play and you know that well enough… Artoria."
They two of them remained silent as they watched Ruby and Mercury stare each other down, Artoria's grip on her invisible blade tightening.
}-{
'Something's… off,' Ruby thought idly as she bounced on the spot, her eyes still on Mercury. 'I mean, I can still feel where I got hurt but it's like I… don't care? But the scar on my gut is... buzzing. I think?'
"Hey, we gonna start or what?" Mercury whined. "I'm having trouble keepin' my legs still. Besides, I reeeeaaaaaally wanna see what happens when I rip your eyes out and split your jaw in half."
"Hmm?" Ruby hummed, "Oh, uh, yeah. You go ahead and start, I'll manage… I think."
Mercury raised a brow at that, the surprisingly calm look on his face at odds with his vibrating eyes. He shrugged and stood straight up as he began to pick his nose, much to the shock and confusion of everyone watching. It was then that he exploded into action, suddenly back-to-back with Ruby in a streak of purple.
(Que Music: Dragon Ball Super, The power to resist)
"Welp, if that's what you want!" He cackled as he spun on the spot and raked his fingers out like claws, lines of aura trailing from his fingers ready to slice Ruby's head into slivers of bone, muscle and brain-matter. He felt his nails begin to slice the flesh of her cheek until her head seemed to become a blur, his hand passing through the cloudy image of her head like mist. The crowd at first began to shriek in terror before they quickly went silent again, just as confused as Mercury before Ruby sharply spun around so fast it looked as if she'd skipped a frame, her leg shooting even faster than when she was in her Crimson Burst state.
Her rising side-kick exploded into the shin of his descending roundhouse, the ground beneath their feet buckling as cracks spread from the arena's centre all the way to the walls. She was behind him now, roundhouse cutting through the air and barely scraping his scalp as he cackled and weaved under. He was spinning on his palms again, effortlessly hopping from hand to hand as his legs sliced at her from every conceivable angle like a tornado, Ruby giving ground at first as her upper body again seemed to skip frames with each evasion. Her already delicate and steady backsteps were becoming slower and slower before she came to a stop entirely, still rapidly weaving under, between and away.
*FSHH*
Mercury grunted as he almost lost his balance, his breakdancing slowing down for a fraction of a second before he regained his balance and continued to assault Ruby while spinning like a top.
*FSHHFSHHFSHH*
He saw it now, even as he continued to spin: her hands were quickly yet gently guiding his whirling kicks away from her at the last moment, the ones that did get close appearing to just skim right through her clothes. He hooted as he lost his balance entirely and began to spin on his back, cackling as he smoothly sprung back up into a handstand, looking up at Ruby as the latter looked down impassively on him. Her movements were... different.
"Right-right, you've got redirection-techniques!" He said as he began to cartwheel away from her, Ruby keeping up by casually running beside him, both gazes locked in on each other before Mercury once more landed on his feet, all hell breaking loose soon after. They disappeared, the ground where they once stood exploding as they reappeared standing sideways on the Hardlight-shield as if to defy gravity altogether, Mercury's straight-kick just barely brushing past Ruby's shoulder as she leaned to the side, hands down by her waist and body relaxed as they sprinted across the shield. Again and again, Mercury's curled fingers, clenched fists and lashing feet sought to carve through Ruby and splatter her like rotten fruit, every single one gently redirected away from her, dodged, or even appearing to phase right through her in a quick splash of petals.
"Bein' TRICKY HUH!?" He laughed as they both came to a sharp stop and shot his pointed fingers right at Ruby's eyes, the latter immediately moving to redirect the stab while also moving her head out of the way: right into the path of Mercury's right roundhouse-kick. He felt his metal shin and greave begin to crash into her skull, his mouth salivating as he waited for the popping sensation of her skull bursting open, until he felt the impact suddenly fizzle out. Ruby cartwheeled with the flow of his kick on the spot, her own right leg disappearing.
*BANGBANGBANGBANG*
Liver, floating-rib, throat and jaw were all hit by four near-instant roundhouse-kicks, Ruby planting her feet to stop her spin as slashed with both hands, her entire body going hazy again for a split second as his attacks passed right through her, his body now off balance and leaning forward. Her knee blurred towards his face yet he vaulted forward with the momentum of his missed attack, springing off her incoming knee with his hands and now directly above her.
"Gotta admit, I've been eager to steal this one! LUNAR PHASE!"
The crowd screamed again and continued to scream as he copied Ruby's move and spun like a buzzsaw, the latter unable to fully move out of the way this time: the edge of his steel boot slashed into Ruby's shoulder as she weaved away sharply, a spray of blood flying through the air while Mercury began to cackle like a hyena. Ruby suddenly reappeared floating right in front of him right as he finished the attack, his eyes going wide as she drew her arms back and clenched her fists hard, Beowulf's gauntlets pulsing erratically with silver light.
"Double Crescent BULLET."
Her fists crashed into his mouth and stomach simultaneously, a deafening shockwave made of silver-tipped petals exploding from the impact as Mercury was sent flying, his body bonelessly rolling across the ground of the arena. The moment of silence was broken by ragged cheering as his body stilled, Ruby slowly floating back down to the arena floor before silence cut back in as he got up, completely unfazed and utterly confused.
"Was…" he started, "Was that it?"
Ruby grimaced, the first visible emotion on her face since her change before she blasted forward, the ground beneath her torn apart as she skid to a stop behind him and leapt to throw a whipping roundhouse at his head.
*BOOM*
Again, another dazzling explosion of petals lit the arena up yet Mercury just stood there with Ruby's armoured foot planted in his cheek, barely a drop of blood falling from his nose.
"Are you sherious?" He spoke through Ruby's foot.
She grimaced again before she Tricked in front of him and proceeded to try and drown him in a rain of strikes. Jab-cross, left-roundhouse to the stomach, leaping straight-kick to the jaw, Lunar Phase to the top of his head, back-flip flash-kick to his teeth, finished off with a spinning roundhouse to his temple. All of them landed with the sound of a cannon going off, each blow sending more and more petals into the air, and not a single one phasing Mercury in the slightest. Some of them moved him from his spot, but he was barely damaged by her flurry, if at all. Curious, Mercury threw a roundhouse-kick at her midsection with enough force to cleave through ten full-grown men, Ruby responding with such ease that it was as if she'd had days to prepare for the attack coming, hopping slightly while spinning into a cartwheel as the kick passed by her ribs and hip. He spun with the momentum and launched a back-kick that would've caved her chest in had it landed cleanly, Ruby redirecting it out of the way with her raised knee and elbow even before she landed, doing the same to his followup curving axe-kick before she moved in, her movements now too obvious, too tense. As her left hook smashed into his cheek, he casually took the blow and stepped in hard and fired up with his own left hand.
"Metsu: SHORYUKEN!"
He grinned savagely as he felt a rib snap, yet the impacted died away once again as Ruby sharply twisted to the side and launched herself while also redirecting the blow away from herself, negating any more serious damage as she landed smoothly on her feet.
'Funny,' he thought, 'Those redirects were almost perfectly executed. Hell, her defence is some of the best I've seen but her attacks felt sloppy...'
He watched for a moment, curious to see what her reaction would be. Again her face was blank even as she prodded her rib before she wordlessly reset it back into place without so much as flinching, ignoring the blood dripping from her mouth. She then took a few seconds to look at her hands, confused and a little frustrated as it seemed her body wouldn't listen to her. That thought however, her body not listening to her... that was the moment it clicked in her head.
…
"I…I don't get it," Yang said with a shaky voice. "Her Eyes let her level the playing-field against the Astartes back in Vale. Why isn't she having any effect on Mercury? Can… can she not beat him?"
The unspoken words hung over everyone's head like a sword: would she be killed?
"…No… no freaking way," Sun breathed, a light visibly switching on in his eyes as he caught on, Blake's eyes lighting up as she too realized what was happening.
"Y-you don't think…!?" Blake stuttered, equally awed.
"What? What is it!? Should we-!?" Yang started panicking until Sun and Blake placed their hands on Yang's shoulders.
"Yang…" Blake said slowly, "…I think Ruby's tapping into something that almost nobody else on the planet is capable of doing."
"An aura, calm as a windless ocean," Sun said, his eyes locked onto Ruby, "Every step as smooth marble, and each technique as easy as breathing. A technique where the master adapts to the battle on every level. The art of moving with honed Instinct alone, the pinnacle of technical mastery in martial arts!"
Yang looked back at Ruby, her worry still clear on her face.
"… but if that's the case, then why is she struggling so much?"
"Simple," Sun said, "It's because – !"
…
"I'm still too green," Ruby muttered, a soft huff of laughter escaping from her lips. "My body sorta knows what to do, but my head's screaming at me to tense up and hit him as hard as I can when that isn't the answer to winning this fight. I just gotta play to my strengths, be faster and more accurate. Hell, I shouldn't even be using something like this yet."
No mind to think.
"Yeah," Ruby hummed, "…something like that."
"Heeey," Mercury whined, "Are you actually gonna put up a good fight? Cuz I don't really wanna waste this gift on killing a few small-fries in the crowd."
"Yeah, don't worry about that," Ruby said as she started to bounce on the spot. "Just be careful what you wish for."
The glow in her eyes seemed harsher, her expression even flatter as she stopped bouncing and took one step forward. Six, seven, eight hazy images of Ruby surrounded Mercury and closed in fast, the latter shaking off his surprise with a gleeful smile.
"THAT'S BETTER! TATSUMAKI-SENPU-KYAKU!"
His tornado-kick unleashed a bladed circle of wind that sliced through all but one of the incoming visages, the middle vaulting over the attack and blasting into Mercury's chest with a dropkick. There was no sound this time, the air and ground completely unsettled before Mercury was fired into the shield so hard that the entire construct rippled and shuddered violently, the boy coughing a mix of blood and petals. Her flying knee pulverized his nose while the follow-up roundhouse to his temple sent him careening across the shielding, Ruby sprinting after him and Tricking in front of him to blast a football kick into his teeth. He shot back towards the arena floor, sharply correcting himself mid-air and landing on his feet to see Ruby having almost reached him by blasting off the shielding, her body spinning so fast through the air she was a spiral of red and silver light before her leg slashed out in a left hook-kick right for Mercury's head. He laughed as he leapt up and put his full power into a right roundhouse, the resulting explosion of screeching sound, rampant purple roiling against harsh silver and crimson light rendering everyone watching blind and deaf for a split second.
"What's THIS!?" He cackled as they struggled against each other, leg-muscles shaking and straining against each other as their aura continued to propel them forward like two clashing missiles. The armoured shin of his boot was ripped to scraps, revealing his bionic shin underneath. "This is WAY better, you should've started with THIS if you wanted to make things interesting! LUNAR PHASE!"
"Drifting Petals," Ruby countered, her voice dead as she used her elbow and hand to throw Mercury's axe-kick way off course and leading his head into a vicious uppercut, teeth and bloody petals flying from his mouth as his head snapped back. Even then he continued to laugh as he rocketed his head back down, fully crushing Ruby's cheekbone with his forehead as she simultaneously blasted her knee into his chest. Both were sent flying back but it was Mercury who landed and recovered first, ports on his shin and other boot opening up and popping out spheres of white Impact-Dust laced with purple Gravity-Dust. He gleefully blasted football kicks into them while packing his potent aura into the spheres, sending them racing for Ruby even as more spheres were ejected from his legs. Ruby once more landed gracefully on her feet, calmly watching the dust-attacks race for her before she simply began to walk forward. Her body once more seemed to skip frames to instantly dodge, hands sometimes blurring forward to redirect the attacks entirely while others occasionally passed clean through her. Those that didn't detonate upon making contact with the ground however sharply curved around to try and hit her once more, their numbers rapidly growing as Ruby's movements became sharper, faster and even more precise in response to the pressure, all while she began to move towards Mercury.
"Gooood, REAALLY GOOD! STILL AIN'T ENOUGH!" He applauded as he stopped, suddenly shooting his arms out. Every single sphere froze in mid-air, Ruby also going still before he clapped his hands together, every single one spiralling right towards her like a compressing tornado.
"HELLZONE GRENADE, INTO…!" He cupped his hands together, one super-charged mass of writhing aura forming between them before he launched his palms forward. "METSU: HADOOOOKEEEEN!"
"HRAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Beams of red and silver light pierced through the tornado before it could explode with a roar that was not only heard but felt, Mercury's dust-tornado ripped to shreds by a pillar of crimson aura with shining silver wisps.
"CRESCENT ROSE KICK."
The silver-edged blade of aura fired out from her roundhouse right before the aura-blast hit her, the two attacks clashing and struggling briefly before they both collapsed into a burst of silver and purple light. Mercury snarled and moved to step forward, but before he could set his foot down, Ruby was on him, a spinning roundhouse re-breaking his jaw, her follow-up hook-kick cracking his temple and three bullet-like blasting into his mouth, eyes and nose. Her left hook smashed into his liver as his right elbow cracked across her temple, both spitting up blood yet Mercury striking first even more viciously than before with a straight-right.
"Drifting Petals."
Her hands on his wrist and the crook of his elbow, she yanked the latter down and shot the former up, dislocating his arm from its socket with a clean, meaty *POP* before her body warped forward, smashing her elbow into his solar-plexus and a backfist to his face with the same arm. His shoulder exploded into her chest an instant later, another *POP* as he used the impact to relocate his arm and bellowing as he uppercut her so hard in the stomach that it looked like a pint of blood was fired out of her mouth, more following as Mercury lifted his leg up and proceeded to juggle her mid-air with a barrage of straight kicks, more blood flung into the air, one final kick to her stomach sending her high into the air and fall limply towards him.
"HWOOOOOOOH!" He hooted as sickly purple aura coalesced around his fingertips, his hand shooting straight up to impale Ruby through the heart. "SHYAOOOOO!"
There was a buzzing, crackling sound as Ruby's entire body vibrated, her body seeming to become undone around his arm before turning into a mass of petals for just a split second before she reappeared in front of him, skin pink and steaming with her utterly relaxed hands drawn back. Mercury cackled as he swung his arm down in a wild chop for her collarbone, Ruby's hands shooting up as she stepped in and pivoted perfectly with the flow of his attack, tossing him him over her hip and sending him smashing face-first into the concrete, burying him up to his chest upside down before stomping him in his stomach. Concrete was thrown into the air as he was blasted through the ground, popping up while still laughing madly and clawing his way towards her. He leapt and drew his leg back for a roundhouse at her head, but she simply placed her heel on his bent knee to halt the kick before it could come and threw a razor-sharp straight-kick right at his chin. He again yanked his head forward, smashing his dome into her foot and clawing at her face, Ruby barely slipping to the side as another gash appeared above her cheekbone and letting loose another vicious combination: left hook to the head, left roundhouse to the leg and a leaping knee into his exposed face, teeth and blood bursting from his ragged lips. His middle and index fingers suddenly pierced through her side knuckle-deep, Ruby still blank-faced as she drove her elbow into his eye and kneed him hard the in the face again forcing him back a step. Yet again he recovered far too quickly, his raw physical power seemingly growing with each blow landed and taken as he roared and swung his right fist at her stomach, aiming to rip through her spine. His punch hit air as she Tricked to his right side and shot a looping uppercut under his arm and into his throat while Mercury slammed his elbow back into Ruby's face, both attacks hitting at exactly the same time. Mercury still managed to recover first, shrieking with glee as drew his arm back to rake his fingers towards Ruby's stomach and ready to disembowel her… but it was Ruby who was the first to attack. Her absolute relaxation shifted into unmatched explosiveness:
"Exploding Heart: Release FIST."
The combatants slid past each other to the sound of thunder, the *BOOM* once more rocking the entire arena. They both stood still for a moment before Mercury spewed petals from his mouth and fell to his knees, clutching his chest and appearing to fall still. Ruby stood in the middle of it all, eyes shining so brightly that her pupils almost vanished entirely before her bursting aura was snuffed out. She too was down on a knee now, clutching her bleeding shoulder and gored ribs, heaving and gasping for air as the silver light in her eyes flickered dimly.
"RUBY!" Yang screamed, "DON'T YOU BACK DOWN NOW!"
"STAND AND FIGHT RUBY!" Sun roared, "IT'S NOT OVER YET!"
"What the hell happened!?" Jaune screeched, "She wasn't even flinching a minute ago!"
"Her body can't keep up with that level of output on top of how her previous skill pushed her limits," Pyrrha hissed, biting her lip and struggling not to try and fly in herself, "That's not even mentioning how hard it is to maintain that empty state of mind in the middle of a deathmatch even without injuries that severe."
The incorrect choice. Should have evaded first if you knew it was coming.
"Y-yeah," She heaved, struggling not to throw up or pass out as her vision twisted and warped from the pain. "At least I know now."
"Well I'll be DAMNED!"
Ruby silenced the noise in her mind and shot to her feet, the pain no longer registering to her and her aura flowing from her skin once more as side-kick clashed against side-kick, her leg quickly disengaging by slipping past his foot and batting his own kick to the side. They both landed almost back-to-back before they spun and shot both of their respective fists forward into the other's knuckles to the sound of roaring thunder once more.
"Movin' without conscious thought, eh!?" He giggled through bloody teeth, the muscles and veins in his face twisting and warping, "That's some high-level stuff, but you ain't ready for it yet if you're still struggling to switch between offence and defence!"
"Just because my body can react doesn't mean it's the right reaction," Ruby agreed plainly as her arms shook. "Then it's a good thing I get to use you as a stepping-stone and continue to evolve."
"HAH! You might be all calm-an'-flowy Instinct," He laughed as his muscles warped and swelled, the 'M' on his head pulsing violently as he now stood looming half-a-head taller over Ruby, "BUT I'M ALL EGO, AND I'LL SQUASH YOU UNDER THE WEIGHT OF MY PRIDE!"
"Ego or Instinct, we're both on our last legs," She said as she suddenly slipped her hands onto the inside, throwing his arms out to the side and smashing her own head into his mouth and sending blood flying into the air, kneeing him on the inside of his thigh to overbalance him as he was send reeling back from the impact and Tricking to his side to elbow him in the throat. "So why don't we wrap this up? Winner takes all?"
*BANG*
Her elbow smashed into his chest instead as he gripped metallic toes into the floor so hard that it cracked, his body slowly rising against Ruby's elbow.
"Yeah, I like that!" He grinned, "WINNER TAKES ALL!"
(Que Music: Dragon Ball Super, Clash of Gods)
They both vanished and reappeared in the middle of the air over the centre of the ruined arena an arm's length away from each other, at first appearing to just float stock-still. Multiple hazy images of them suddenly appeared around the arena for mere moments, all of them locked in some kind of clash. Ruby weaving under Mercury's right hook, or Mercury taking a knee to the liver to strike Ruby with one of his own, other times both of them mutually clashing, all while the original two floated in the centre, their forms occasionally blurry, an arm or a leg going hazy. With each passing moment, their arms got higher and higher, steadily raising into a fighting stance while their hands and legs blurred faster and faster before –
*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG*
It was less like a series of individual blows and more akin to a single, continuous roar of sound that shattered the stone beneath them and ripped through sections of the Hardlight shield. Their limbs seemed to multiply as they threw everything they had at each other, bracers clashed into gauntlets, bionic shins smashed into black-iron greaves, the air-pressure each blow enough to reduce a normal person to a fine paste. And slowly, Ruby was losing out. It was not that her blows were becoming weaker, but Mercury's became wilder, faster, stronger. It seemed that the deadlock of blows would break at any moment, Ruby becoming more and more defensive as she began to visibly drown under Mercury's assault, her body slowly vanishing within the whirlwind of strikes. For a moment, everyone saw her eyes dim to its normal hue before she closed them entirely, and their hearts fell as they bore witness to the death of an honest, kind soul.
No will to break.
Her eyes snapped open and Mercury realised that he was not looking at Ruby Rose anymore. Her eyes were voids of pure silver light devoid of humanity, the rest of her face completely covered by pitch-back shadow as aura-tipped curled fingers aimed to flay the skin from her face. There was a shriek of steel as her corkscrew left-cross smashed into his fingers before he could fully outstretch his hand, pulverizing the bones in his hand as it was thrown back. She skipped forward, her knees smashing into his ribs and snapping them like twigs too before she was suddenly behind and above him, her Lunar Phase cracking into the back of his head and launching him into the floor. He flipped and landed on his feet hard, sharply pivoting to try and block only for his body to shudder and fall to a knee, blood and petals spewing from his mouth as his head spun and muscles yanked the wrong way. Ruby was crouched on one of the highest parts of the shield before blasting off right towards Mercury with a fist drawn back, her body a streak of crimson and silver as she spoke in a voice that wasn't entirely her own.
"SERIOUS STRIKE."
Muscles forcibly yanked into place as Mercury shot up and whirled into a high spinning back-kick, his heel making contact with Ruby's armoured fist before the latter simply burst into petals, leaving him overextended and wide open, Ruby behind him in a slight crouch while her silver eyes shone even harsher. He would never be able to fully remember, but those inhuman eyes made something in him shudder in fear.
"No you fuckin' DON'T! SHUN-GOKU-SATS-!"
Her mind void of thought and her will not entirely her own anymore, Ruby calmly drifted forward right before Mercury could begin his attack, her entire body becoming hazy... all except her soulless eyes staring right at her victim.
"Crescent Rose: END."
(Music End)
For a single moment, the entire arena flashed with streaks of silver-edged crimson light to form a massive ethereal rose before it collapsed in on itself, right where Mercury was currently standing stock-still, back to back with Ruby for the final time. She closed her eyes and calmly walked away, the arena silent before a storm of petals exploded from Mercury's skin, washing away the vile purple aura and the symbol burned into his skin before he collapsed to his knees, eyes rolled up into his head. Once more, there was silence. Once more, Ruby Rose gently breathed out, her transformation fading as she slowly opened her eyes and raised a single fist.
"...Jackpot."
And the crowd went wild. The wave of cheers literally bowled Ruby over onto her backside, her arm shaking like a leaf in the wind but she refused to put it down, just to prove to herself that this wasn't a dream. She saw her sister, her teammates, Sun, her friends sprinting towards her, all of them crying and shouting in joy as her head began to sway. She was suddenly very aware of how much pain she was in: every broken bone, every gash, every massive bruise on her organs, and every pint of blood lost was catching up to her all at once.
'Y'know it's funny,' She thought as she suppressed a groan, 'It isn't as bad as I'd thought it'd-'
Then her muscles began to spasm and vomit spewed from her mouth, the sensation of a white-hot wire being shoved through her eyes, into her brain, down her spine and through every single nerve she had, vision blasted white and rendering her blind. She could faintly register the sensation of her back hitting the floor, barely hear the shouts of joy from her friends warp into screams of fear as the pain overwhelmed her and sent her consciousness into oblivion. Even then, she could feel her eyes burning.
}-{
She 'snapped awake' back in what looked to be the living-room of her home on Patch. Everything seemed a bit blurry and even now she could still feel just how badly her body was wrecked. However, she could also feel herself slowly but steadily being knit back together, the familiar feeling of a comfy, woolly blanket wrapping around her and soothing the pain away.
"Okay, so I'm not dead and Jaune's fixing me up," Ruby sighed in relief, "Good... that's good."
She leaned back on the familiar sensation of the couch and groaned, allowing herself to finally relax and heal while taking in her surroundings. This had been the first time this had happened to her, so she was admittedly curious. The room, as vaguely fuzzy as it seemed, appeared to be an accurate recreation of her favourite room back home. It had the same warm feeling, the same cosy sensation, but she couldn't help but wonder why? Was it an after-effect of her eyes? This hadn't happened to her after the battle with the Astartes though, but then again she hadn't been in the 'transformation' anywhere near as long, nor was her body as massively stressed out to the point where she had a seizure.
"Two seizures, actually," She corrected herself, clicking her tongue. "...Surprised I'm not dead after all that."
"It's nothing short of impressive really."
If she had the ability to leap out of her skin, she would have. She calmed herself and stifled a groan as she 'sat up' to face Cinder Fall sitting beside her. Though the older girl was as demurely confident as ever, something about her features seemed... off. It was as if there was something added that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Indeed, Ruby attributed it to being face-to-face with her for what was now becoming an extended period of time. Deciding that she'd figure it out at some point, she brushed it off and decided to talk to Cinder.
"Alright," Ruby groaned, getting straight to the point, "What's your deal? You here to like... possess me or something? Eat my soul?"
"Pfft," Cinder snickered before bursting to laughter that was, admittedly, melodious, "No! Not at all! Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to, thanks to those eyes of yours no matter your weakened state."
Ruby's eyes narrowed slightly. She kept that information stored in her head.
"Anyway, I just wanted to say congrats for beating Mercury. I have to say, that was an excellent showing, well beyond what I thought you capable of," She said, and Ruby was shocked to find that she was sincere, "Mercury warned me about you, but me being on my high horse, I ignored it. Silly of me I know, but hey, what can you do?"
"...oh God, you're not being sarcastic," Ruby deadpanned, though she was genuinely shocked. There was none of that suppression or forced stillness from Cinder's aura that suggested she was lying or hiding something. She was wearing her thoughts and emotions on her sleeve.
"Why would I be?" Cinder said with a grin. "You're strong in body, mind and soul. I respect you for it, Ruby Rose. It's a genuine shame we're on opposite sides, but that's how the hand of fate falls, unfortunately."
"Wow, I mean... you're just blatantly saying that you're my enemy straight to my face, huh?" Ruby said, her eyebrows raised. "That's..."
"Surprised, I take it?" Cinder giggled, "I expected as much. Then again, it's clear that you're at least somewhat aware of what's going on behind the curtain so it'd be stupid to treat you like a kid who doesn't know any better. I guess this is a... not-informal way of declaring war, seeing as you've won the first battle."
"...War it is," Ruby said, outstretching on open hand. Cinder gracefully returned it, both squeezing firmly.
"Of course, just because you've beaten Mercury doesn't mean you've stopped our plans altogether," Cinder said evenly, "I can work around it, but it'll take some time. Consider it a concession until the end of the Vytal Festival Tournament."
"If only it were that easy," Ruby sighed, "But I'll take what I can get. Though..." Her silver eyes hardened, "What's to stop me from telling Ozpin to just capture or kill you right after I wake up?"
"Oh~? Seems every rose has its thorns after all," Cinder chuckled, "In any case, I know you aren't stupid. I don't doubt and even invite you to tell him about our interaction. Sure, you and the rest of his sycophants would be able to take me down eventually... but are you really willing to risk that many lives? Of course, not that the vaunted Headmaster of Beacon wouldn't jump at the chance if the losses were at an acceptable rate."
"...Dammit," Ruby kissed her teeth, still noting the disgust that Cinder held for even mentioning Ozpin.
"Thought so," Cinder nodded, "Still, a good try though. Anyone else would have felt the pressure from that, but I'm not anyone else, am I?"
"I wish," Ruby rolled her eyes before she simply observed Cinder again. "...not that he's the most likeable person, but why do you hate Ozpin so much?"
"Because he's a damn hypocrite," Cinder snarled, the genuine venom almost making Ruby reel back, "For all his talk of unity and peace, it doesn't erase what he did in his past life, and how the sheer weight of his arrogance led him to subjugate all sentient life for an impossible goal."
Ruby raised her brows in surprise. That was new.
"If he hadn't then..." Cinder's hand went to her throat, and Ruby saw it: where Cinder's neck was normally covered by a choker or a turtleneck, the saw the ragged scar circling around the entirety of her throat, a combination of a friction and a burn scar. Ruby felt something soften in her, even if only slightly, as her own hand rested on her stomach, something that Cinder noticed. "...right, you have quite a scar too."
"...Mm," Ruby hummed.
"...did it push you to mitigate your weakness?"
"...Yes," Ruby answered simply. "It's not the only reason and not exactly the wording I'd use but... yes."
"...Good," Cinder nodded, "That's good."
From her side-profile, Ruby also saw what had been tickling the back of her mind: Cinder's ears. They were noticeably pointed, just like the depiction of the Elvish people from her stories. At a mere glance, it was difficult to see for any person, but this close to her, it was umistakable. She struggled to remember the exact name that was used for that fantastic race of beings... was it Elder?
'No, it was Eldar...' Ruby remembered, 'Or... Aeldari? One of the two, I'm pretty sure.'
That was when it struck her just how... old Cinder felt. She may have looked youthful, but the way her shoulders seemed weighed down... she may have acted in a manner befitting her youthful appearance, but she felt considerably older than Ruby, despite what her beautiful features suggested.
"...I swear to god, if you're going to say that we're not so different..." Ruby sighed in an attempt to break the mood.
"Hah! It may be true, but I'm not that cliche," Cinder laughed, Ruby's own mouth going into a crooked grin in spite of herself, "...a shame. I would've quite liked to get to know you on better terms, if we hadn't taken different paths."
"...I think so too," Ruby said after a moment.
"Mm," Cinder hummed as she appeared to sense something and stood. "Well, all that said, it's time I leave. It's been a real pleasure to properly speak with you Ruby Rose."
"Can't believe I'm saying this but... you too Cinder, even if we have to kill each other at some point."
Cinder nodded before looking past Ruby and flinching as if stung before she vanished like a heat-mirage, almost as if she was thrown out of Ruby's mind. Curious, Ruby turned around to see what made Cinder vacate the space so quickly before her heart began to beat wildly and her breathing stopped. Summer Rose was nose-to-nose with her, a wide and inhuman grin on her face, her eyes pools of soulless silver moonlight. Ruby opened her mouth and screamed at the twisted mockery, the sound ripping the room apart while the inhuman, false face of her mother seemed to grow even larger before it spoke two, terrifying words.
Hello child.
}-{
Ruby awoke, screaming and crying like a banshee as she thrashed her arms about in a blind, panicked rage, uncaring of who or what she hit as she stumbled and dragged herself to the nearest corner of the room by sheer instinct, her back to it as she put her fists up and continued to swing wildly. For a few moments, she was deaf to everything around her aside from own screaming ringing in her head before she felt her abused arms and legs rapidly grow tired, dropping down to a knee while she still kept her shaking arms up defensively. Her senses slowly returned to her even as the roaring of her blood and breathing in her ears continued, slowly peaking from her guard to see the tear-stained face of her sister knelt in front of her, a small bruise on her cheek rapidly fading away.
"...Ruby?" Yang said, her voice small.
"...S-sis...?" Ruby whimpered, slowly reaching forward to touch Yang's face, just to confirm she was real. The moment her fingers brushed Yang's hair, she launched herself forward into a death-grip hug while sobbing, Ruby returning the embrace equally as fiercely.
"I'm here Ruby," Yang said, her voice cracking, "I'm here."
"And I'm over here..." Jaune groaned from the other side of the infirmary room, cradling his bruised ribs while Pyrrha helped pull him out of a crater in the wall. It took a few minutes for Ruby to largely calm down, though she was still badly shaken by what she saw in that mental landscape.
"You gonna be okay?" Yang asked softly, easily able to step back into the job of being a figure that Ruby could lean on. Ruby herself was quiet for a while, still shaking slightly even as she willed herself to calm down despite the image of the thing that was puppeting her mother's façade fresh in her mind. If her mind lingered on that for too long, she knew that she'd start screaming again and fiercely palmed at her eyes, deciding to steer clear of the issue for now and instead focus on something that wouldn't drive her insane.
"...C-Cinder was speaking to me," Ruby said softly.
"Really? Well now I know we've gotta strangle that bitch-!" Yang snarled, her power spiking as black flames popped from her hair.
"N-no, no it wasn't like that!" Ruby quickly placated her sister, much to the latter's confusion. "She... she was impressed. She said that I... managed to stop her plans for the festival altogether."
"...You're serious," Blake said, almost unbelieving, "And you believe her?"
"I'm with Blake on this one," Weiss said softly as Blake shot her a grateful look, "I think we're all in agreement that she's not to be trusted."
"I know, but..." Ruby paused as Yang helped her up and sat her back down on the bed, "...our souls were basically face to face. I... felt her honesty, felt her frustration, felt when she found something funny. She wasn't faking anything."
"That's... a lot to take in," Pyrrha said, biting her nail.
"I know," Ruby conceded, "But I swear it's the truth. Besides, I don't think any one of us could attack her right now, not even Ozpin. As long as she's here, any kind of offensive action against her is gonna result in innocent lives lost. I'm not willing to risk that, and to her credit, she doesn't seem like she'd go out and attack at random."
"...So that's it then?" Jaune asked, hope in his voice, "You managed to foil her plans?"
"...For now," Ruby nodded slowly, "She said she can't really do anything until the Tournament ends, and by that then, I don't see what she could do to try and rile up a high enough amount of negativity to start a Grimm incursion."
"Then..." Jaune started, his eyes going wide, "Holy crap Ruby, I think you just saved the Festival and all of Vale."
"I... I think so," Ruby blinked, seeming to properly relax. "...Sorry I whacked you Jaune, I just..." The image popped in her head again and she struggled to suppress a shudder, "...guess I thought I was still in the fight with Mercury."
"Hey, can't blame you," Jaune laughed, "I've apparently got a very hittable face. Also what's with the down mood? She didn't just win the first round of the Finals: RUBY JUST SAVED A KINGDOM, WOOOOOOOO!"
Everyone stared at him for a moment before shrugging and cheering with him, Ruby giggling as she finally manage to relax a bit more. Even as the room was filled with cheering, Yang kept a close eye on her sister. It wouldn't be the first time Ruby woke up crying and fighting, but for a reaction that severe... she wasn't buying Ruby's explanation, and as she judged how Sun was silently clapping in the corner of the room, neither was he. Not one bit.
(TWBY Continued...)
Cinder not being a total ass and being respectful!? What a twist, I know! Been pretty excited to show that something about this Cinder is different compared to canon, not just in potential origin but in demeanour as well. Keep in mind that in her conversation with Ruby, she was actually being genuine and literal with what she was saying. Oh and uh, think of what you will with that last message to Ruby from that thing in her head. All said and done, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thank you again to everyone who's been cheering the story on, love you guys and I wouldn't be here without you. Peace ouuut!
