Chapter 10 – Ruby's New Moves
When Ruby awoke, she was in Cinder's bed. The owner of the room was sitting beside her, gently patting her on the head.
"W-What happened? Why did…i-is everyone ok?"
"Focus on yourself, little one. You've been out for nearly a day."
Out? Out of what? The last thing Ruby could remember was going to dinner after a long day of training, and then Salem had been asking her something, and…it was all blurry now. Try as she may, nothing could come to Ruby of the events that had followed Salem asking about…burgers? Barbecues? It was all such nonsense, so much so that Ruby wondered if Tyrian had done some brain surgery on her when she was out to garble her memories up.
"What happened?"
Cinder ran her hand through Ruby's hair. "You used your eyes to stun Salem. When she came to, her temperament seemed to have improved, and she recalled her goals of spiting Ozpin. At the time, I think she just los–"
"Eyes?"
Cinder looked down at Ruby. "Yes. Your silver eyes."
"I used my eyes…" Ruby tried to look at her own eyes, only to realize after a second that such action was impossible. "…w-what? My eyes?"
Cinder smiled softly. "You need not fear. The Scarabs cannot hear us."
"W-What?"
Why does she think I would…d-does she knew I was worried about Spring…?
Ruby didn't realize she was panting from distress until Cinder silenced her with a kiss. It didn't do anything to help Ruby's aching skull or terrified heart, and it certainly wasn't the calming lover's embrace Cinder seemed to expect it to be, but it did remind Ruby that she couldn't have a breakdown in front of an enemy. However, she was far too stressed out by the sudden infodump to speak, so she just held her tongue.
"Salem is not upset by your actions, nor is she fearful of your eyes. At best, they can only delay her briefly, not unlike the effect of conventional physical damage or a heavy Dust attack. You need not feign amnesia."
"Cinder, I really don't…"
Ruby didn't think she could say anything more without giving something away, so she just didn't speak. She felt woefully underprepared for this whole thing. Why couldn't Ozpin have sent a real spy instead of a snot-nosed kid who had a heart attack every time something went wrong?
The dark-haired woman studied Ruby for a second, and Ruby let her study her. She hadn't been lying about not recalling exactly what happened, which meant that if Cinder truly did read her facial expressions, there was nothing for Ruby to fear.
That's not true. There's everything for me to fear. Failure, capture, torture…lots of -ure's.
At last, Cinder let out a sigh. "You truly forgot?"
"My head hurts a lot…not a headache, but more like I physically took a hit."
"I suppose it follows that your first time would be rough."
Ruby suddenly became aware that she was lying down in Cinder's bed. "F-F-First?"
"First time using your…never mind. It's best you don't think about that. For now, let's say that you upset Salem, and we fled the room to allow her to work out some of her…emotions. Anyways, we're now one day behind on our training. Would you be up for some more?"
Ruby nodded. "As long as you don't hit me in my face."
"I'll try to restrain myself," Cinder said. "Though I can't promise I won't assault your face in other ways." She pulled Ruby closer to herself and stroked her hair. Ruby played along.
She really doesn't think much of me, does she? She mentioned silver eyes, which I know are important, as being something I used. Salem's only after me because I'm supposed to be Ozpin's favorite student, and my eye color was what tipped them all off. Does she just think I forgot or ignored that?
…Ozpin's favorite…
Ruby kept kissing Cinder.
Salem wants to use me to bring down Ozpin and the academies because it will be painful to him to see the chosen prodigy who he accepted to Beacon early be bad and do crime. I bought that, because in my mind, I'm Ozpin's spy. He gave me the mission, revealed to me the truth of the maidens and relics, and even trusted me enough to take his life so as to gain his enemies' trust. That makes me his underling, the one he chose…except Salem doesn't know any of that!
"Let's head to the training room," Cinder said, breaking their kiss. Ruby nodded with a sweet smile and desperately strove to keep the frantic train of thoughts she was having from showing any signs on her face.
To Salem, I'm just a kid Ozpin met in a police station once and offered a scholarship to. That's nice and all, but that's not a reason to suddenly select me to become her maiden host instead of Cinder, who's got years of training on me and is twice as loyal.
"I guess Salem trusts us enough to not have Tyrian or the doggo watch after us," Ruby japed playfully. She probably sounded like she was ranting crazily.
"Believe me, you do not want Tyrian watching you," Cinder bantered back. "Ever."
Why does Salem think I mean something to Ozpin? Is it because of Uncle Qrow, who used to work for him? Dad was on Qrow's team, and so was mom – was it them? Or…
Ruby shifted Crescent into a war scythe and entered a fighting stance. "I'm ready when you are."
Salem said she wants to corrupt me. What if…What if she knows? Everything? What if she's already aware that I'm here with ulterior motives, but she thinks she can still make me turn evil? What if turning the double agent into a triple agent is the thing she's got planned?
Cinder's arrow nearly caught her on the neck. She was getting too distracted.
"Remember what I told you, Ruby. Don't take a hit when you can block, don't block when you can dodge, don't dodge when you can turn an attack around and go on the offensive."
"Got it!"
Well, if that's what she believes, she's wrong. I won't ever be loyal to Salem. I'm a superhero, and this is all just my origin story.
They broke from their sparring when Crescent's magazine ran empty, but Ruby continued on training solo. According to Cinder, Salem was expecting a progress report on Ruby's efforts to improve her combat abilities.
There was no doubt in Ruby's mind that she would be receiving a glowing recommendation that said she was more powerful than the God of Darkness himself, given that Cinder's own butt was on the line here as the teacher of their lessons. Still, it wasn't like Ruby was going to contradict Cinder, and she certainly had been improving quite a bit.
"If it goes well, and Salem is satisfied with your growth, you may be sent out on assignments, like the others are right now."
"Maiden missions?"
Cinder shook her head. "No. For one thing, we've no clue where the maidens are, save for Fall, and our enemies seem to have augmented security around her following Branwen's death."
"Oh. S-Sorry."
"It's fine," Cinder breathed. Ruby didn't think it was, but she'd rather let Cinder ignore the issue than force an argument. "There are never any guarantees in this organization, and an advantage one day can be a detriment the next."
Ruby nodded.
Cinder walked over to her and placed an arm on Ruby's shoulder. "I am not deceiving you here. I never thought I'd say it, but it was for the best I didn't launch my intended assault. If I seized the powers of the Fall Maiden before you joined us, I'd most likely have died when Salem chose you as the host in my place. She'd have killed me, or had you do it with your new Scarab."
"I-I-I'd never…Cinder, I wouldn't –"
"I know," she said. "I saw how you reacted to Tyrian when you thought him an innocent. But at this point, my position has changed. Having the maiden powers would make me a target rather than a goddess. Now, as I was saying, you won't be out hunting maidens for a long while, for multiple reasons. Though I will praise you to Salem, you won't be sent to fight those with a quarter of Ozpin's magic until you've been tried and tested in the field many times. You're Salem's VIP now, and she won't risk you until she's sure. Besides, even if we found a maiden, we would need to surveil them for days, perhaps even weeks, to comprehend their security detail better."
That all sounded good to Ruby. She'd been briefly worried when Cinder had said she wouldn't be out hunting maidens, but the reasons were all logical. That stuff she'd been thinking, about Salem knowing what she was really after, it had really been getting to her.
"Practice your forms while I'm gone. Demonstrate to me the combo I taught you three days ago."
Ruby nodded and stepped back. Unfurling Crescent Rose, she got into position as Cinder watched intently.
The combo move went perfectly. Ruby got all three swings of her weapon int just like she'd been taught.
"No, no, no…not like that."
"What?" exclaimed Ruby. "But I did everything you said."
Cinder shook her head. "You followed the motions precisely, and it's clear you've been practicing it. But your intent is lacking."
"Intent?" Ruby asked.
Stepping alongside Ruby, Cinder drew Midnight and did the exact same motions, but all slightly faster. It didn't look all that more intent than Ruby's own rendition of the attack.
"You do the first stab while preparing for the second, and the second while anticipating the third. As such, you hold back, as though you expect only the final movement to matter. All three are immensely important. Each movement of your blade is intended to be independent, a vicious attack of its own. The first strike knocks past an opponent's defenses and ensures they are off their guard. The second breaks their aura. The third pierces their chest to kill them."
Ruby took the advice into account and tried again, swinging harder every time, but Salem stopped her before she even got the second swing in.
"You have the motion, but you need to practice on something other than empty air."
"Something?" Ruby didn't like the sound of that, giving that Cinder by her own admission was teaching her how to kill people. "What something?"
"We have Grimm aplenty. I'll have an Apathy remain still so you can practice on it. Their form is close enough to that of a human for the points of contact to be translatable. Actually, I'll get many. Grimm are plentiful in Evernight."
"But…"
Cinder shook her head. "Rose, you need to be perfect at this. I've used this same maneuver for every final blow on every huntsman or huntress I've killed. It works, and adding it to your repertoire will make you a force to be reckoned with."
Ruby looked down at Crescent Rose. "Still, I just…is it really necessary?"
"Just practice it," Cinder said. "No one is asking you to use it on anything but Grimm. Look, once you've proven yourself to Salem, she'll send you out into the field, and you'll be free to conduct yourself as you see fit. Use it, don't use it – it matters not. Just know it, or you'll wish you did when an opponent disembowels you."
Ozpin said I'm going to need to do horrible things to gain their trust…
"Okay. I guess it's not so bad, just practicing it on Grimm."
Cinder nodded with a smile. "Attagirl." She stepped out into the hallway and halted a Seer as it floated by. "Send some Apathy to this chamber, and ensure they do not wail." She winked at Ruby. "We don't need our prodigy falling asleep on the job."
When Cinder had gone off to see Salem, Ruby was only alone in the room for about a minute before these creepy looking Grimm people filtered into the room. They didn't walk, since none of them had legs (or faces), but instead they sort of glided over the ground.
It didn't take much for Ruby to start to want to kill them. For one thing, they were Grimm, which she'd spent her entire life bringing down. For another, these were particularly gross ones. Their heads were just the upper half of human skulls, and the way they looked at her was just…empty. There was nothing alive about them.
But…
It's not bad. I can learn how to use a killing technique without actually having to kill anyone. I'll just hold back when the time comes. Cinder said that the first two hits would disarm and break aura, so I'll only do them.
There's no need to kill anyone – not even the maidens, actually. I can steal her powers with the Scarab and let her live. No one needs to die.
The first Apathy Grimm stepped up to the plate, flailing its clawed hands to simulate an attack, and Ruby swung her scythe three times, the last of which pierce its chest in a poof of black smoke.
No more Apathy.
The next Apathy came forth.
There had been 150 Grimm on hand for Ruby to practice her form on. By the end of the night, when Cinder had returned to check up on Ruby's progress, she performed the three-hit combo move as naturally as walking. No, as naturally as breathing.
Cinder had been most pleased with what she saw.
Apparently, Cinder's praise hadn't been enough to sway the queen, though. Ruby had needed to train for another week with Cinder, and then another week alone after that when Cinder left for Mistral.
Their fake relationship had not progressed very far during the time they spent together. Both women were pretending for the other's sake that they meant something to one another, but Ruby would describe Cinder as nothing more than an acquaintance or a mild friend at best. Cinder seemed to think that declaring herself Ruby's lover had been enough to endear Ruby to her without putting any effort into spending time together outside of training or tutelage. Fortunately for Ruby, she didn't really like Cinder that way, so it was all for the best. Truth be told, she didn't really like girls that way either. She didn't actually think she liked anyone that way either.
When Cinder had told Ruby that she was leaving for Haven to resume her initial plan to bring down Beacon, Ruby had felt a mixture of relief and regret. On one hand, it was good to finally be free of her obligation to playact in their romance of convenience. On the other, that meant that Ruby was alone in the castle with no one but Salem and the doggo. Ruby didn't want to smooch Cinder, but she did want to not be alone.
Training solo was mostly just practicing the routines Cinder had given her before leaving and attempting to perfect her mastery of them. Ruby's accuracy improved the more she shot with Crescent, and her control of her aura had improved using Cinder's exercises. They were far more brutal than the stuff they taught at Signal: there was no way Dad would ask someone to dip their hand in oil, ignite it, and hold their aura until the fuel expired, but there was also no denying that Ruby's motivation to avoid the pain had been a key factor in learning how to thin out her aura just enough and make it last longer. That had always been an issue of hers – she'd tended to be an all-or-nothing gal – but with it out of the way, she was making progress towards being able to devote just enough targeted aura to block a single attack. That meant she would last longer in a fight, and stamina had always been a weak point of hers.
It was undoubtable: Ruby was getting better. Cinder had been devoting entire days to just getting Ruby up to snuff, and the best she'd gotten at Signal was 10 minute spars with far weaker opponents, followed by Qrow handing off a few pointers before moving on to the next kid. She wasn't saying that the way combat schools did things were wrong, but having a private tutor was definitely a lot more fun. Of course, Ruby understood basic concepts like supply and demand and understood that not every could have one, but that didn't stop her from enjoying the huntress training she'd received in her time at Evernight.
All things came to an end, though, and so did Ruby's tranquil days of practicing her new skills.
"You and Tyrian are going to be dispatched to Vacuo for a specific task involving my hound. From there, you shall travel across Sanus towards Vale, at which point further instructions will be delivered by Cinder."
Ruby raised a hand.
"Rose, you need not…" Salem shook her head. "Just speak your question, child."
"I thought Cinder was in Mistral."
"She is masquerading as a student of Haven attending Beacon for the Vytal Festival as a temporary transfer. Her assignment is her own; there is no need for you to know it."
"Okay. Thank you, ma'am."
Ruby's hand lowered, and Salem sighed discontentedly.
"你应该称呼我们的女王，而不是女士." Tyrian whispered, elbowing Ruby in the stomach.
"Oh, that's truly not necessary," said Salem, composing herself. "Miss Rose's…unique ways of referring to me are acceptable."
Tyrian just said random stuff, and she understood it? But what did it mean? It must've been somehow related to me calling her ma'am, given the context and Salem's response, but was he chiding me or offering me advice? I couldn't tell!
"Hunt," said the hound.
All three turned to look at it.
"W-What's our mission?" Ruby asked abruptly. "I-If we aren't supposed to know Cinder's, what are Tyrian and me gonna do in Vacuo? Assuming that it's okay for us to know, ma'am…er, Lady Salem."
"接近了，但还是没有烟草。你是个失败者，应该感到羞耻。"
Tyrian smiled, so Ruby did too. She must've gotten the appellation right.
"Your mission is to test the hound's ability to follow orders," said Salem. "It has been given specific instructions that must be followed, and I only wish for you to observe how precisely they are completed. The orders are intentionally complicated, so as to provide my Grimm with many opportunities for failure, allowing me to diagnose which aspects of its sentience must be improved upon."
"Sounds easy enough," said Ruby. It was a nice and simple first mission, and she wouldn't even have to do anything bad. Testing out a brand new doggo for how good its obedience was – that kinda sounded fun, when she thought about it.
"This is not an insult or reflection of your combat ability, Miss Rose," Salem said, misinterpreting the comment. "I would've had Hazel complete it if he were the only member of my ranks present. In time, we shall complete your training and find you tasks appropriate to your skill level as it increases, but for now, this must be done. I would send Tyrian, but…the nature of the hounds' commands might distract him."
The Faunus nodded sullenly. "众所周知，我的注意力持续时间很短."
"So, what're we gonna watch the doggo do?" asked Ruby.
"There is an irrelevant village in Vacuo called Ovais. It is suitable isolated and typically receives fewer than ten visitors per year," Salem explained. "The hound has been instructed to kill anyone there, sparing only those with blue eyes or red hair but not both. Report back to me on its success via a Seer that has been sent to Ovais in advance when the destruction is completed."
"Oh," Ruby said dumbly. "Simple as pie."
"Quite so," said Salem, nodding.
Ruby stood up, and Tyrian took her by the hand to direct her to the airship docks. Salem waved a goodbye as they left.
"Good luck on your first mission, Ruby. I'm sure you'll do well."
Coming Soon – Ruby's First Mission
And now, some tips from Ruby:
Ruby's Tip #889 – No soap in the public restroom's dispenser for your dirty unwashed potty hands? Throw up on them. Human stomach acids kill 90% of all bacteria and 70% of all viruses.
Ruby's Tip #604 – The most expensive storebought present can never compare to a simple card.
Ruby's Note – Sorry, I misspoke. A simple gift card is what I meant to say.
Ruby's Tip #487 – Out of straws? Make one yourself by poking the core of a spaghetti out with a smaller, thinner spaghetti.
Ruby's Notes – This also works for apples and some types of rye-bread sandwiches.
Author's Notes
Ruby will not be super OP, but she's not going to be UP either (if that's a term). Salem is focusing 100% of Cinder's efforts on getting Ruby up to snuff on combat, whereas Beacon had classes like History and Portology that don't contribute to her Att or Def stats.
Happy rats, and don't do crime!