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REAPER IN RED

Chapter 32

"… her rest. She looks like she needs it." Yang's voice was a soothing whisper so close to my ear. Her hand was gently stroking my hair from crown to tip. It felt so loving. So kind.

I unconsciously leaned into her hand, relishing the feeling of being mothered. It had been so long.

So long.

Groggily, I rolled over in my bed, unsure of how exactly I ended up there, but grateful all the same.

"Whazzat?" I intelligently asked my human sister. Her hand cupped my cheek.

"Good morning sleepy-head. We almost left for breakfast without you. Weiss here thought you could use the extra sleep."

"I most definitely did not," Weiss retorted with a squeak. "And now that you are awake, you should come with us. Rebuild your strength. I'll buy you a cookie or something else with untold amounts of sugar, if you'd like."

My giggle was interrupted by a small yawn. "Aww, is Weissy going soft on me?"

"I will not dignify that with an answer," Weiss said heading for the door. "Come one Blake. We'll save those two idiots of siblings a spot."

"Thanks! Save Rubes a cookie for me."

Weiss huffed as the door closed.

It was quiet for a second. I snuggled back into my pillow, way too tired to want to deal with anything the day had to offer.

"You alright there Rubes?" Asked a worried Yang.

I grunted. "I thought you were gonna let me get some more rest."

"Not a chance. We need to have a little sisterly talk. I have a few questions for you."

I felt my heart pummeling my chest. "About what?" I asked, my voice low and slow. I shifted under the covers, getting a grip on the edge of my bed.

My head was a little too close for comfort.

"You're worrying me, Rubes. You barely slept when we started at Beacon, and now you are beyond exhausted. Like, you fell asleep in class Ruby. You love class. To an insane degree, I might add. You're honestly as bad as Weiss, even though you're younger than us."

Heh. Younger. I let out a deep breath, calming myself as much as possible. Good. This was about normal stuff.

"On top of that, you went up against seven of us yesterday and if you hadn't stepped out of bounds, you would have won. One versus seven, Rubes. Only Pyrrha can do that and only against some of the lower ranked teams of our year."

Yang's hand gripped my arm tightly. I held my breath. What was she thinking? This line of questioning was worrisome. Would I have to escape? No, I was fine. I had to be. Yang was my sister. She had all the memories of me being with her throughout her life. She should remember me as a baby. As a kid. She'd remember mom. I fit in perfectly.

Did the humans figure out how to counter my mind magic?

Yang sighed, releasing my arm.

"You're pushing yourself too hard, aren't you." It was less of a question than a statement.

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

Technically it was the truth.

Instead of saying anything, she opted to sit down next to me, the bed shifting and swaying with her weight. I felt a hand on my back.

There weren't any words passed between us. It was silent, save for the sound of my bed creaking and the faint stroking of her hand over the covers. It was… peaceful. Was this what my books called sibling bonding?

It struck me how little time me and her actually spent together since coming to Beacon. Yes, we still all did stuff together, but it was rarely just the two of us. I had some alone time with Blake. I had some talks with Weiss about semblances and homework help. But Yang seemed to be a constant that I had been disregarding. She loved me because I was her sister, and I was pretty sure I loved her in turn for the same reason. I had to spend some more alone time with Yang. Just the two of us. Real sister bonding.

"We should spend more time together," I said, not moving from her soothing motions. "Just the two of us."

I could hear Yang's gentle hum. "I'd like that."

We stayed just like that for a few more minutes. The gentle swaying of my bed. The relaxing ministrations on my back and shoulders. The sounds of our breaths.

"Would you like me to get you some breakfast? Give you a few more minutes of sleep?"

Lifting myself up for the first time that morning, I shook my head. "No. I should probably join you guys. Just… if you catch me falling asleep…"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure to nudge you."

"Thanks sis."

"No problem at all, Ruby."

Breakfast was altogether quite pleasant. I served myself a small plate of food. Just some cookies and toast and strawberries and a glass of orange juice. My mind still felt fried from yesterday's events, and my stomach seemed to be mirroring it. At least, until I started eating. I hadn't realized how hungry I could be after performing magic in this human form. I hadn't realized I could even get this hungry at all.

Was anything else feeling off? More human?

I closed my eyes and let my body just feel.

Nope, still couldn't feel a single degree of temperature. Darn. I was really hoping I would.

My stomach growled at me for not feeding it. Rolling my eyes at my own plight, I grabbed my tray and a new assortment of breakfast foods.

The first class of the day was thankfully a lecture. No exercise required, just me, my desk and Professor Oobleck's amazing words. And the rest of the class, but they didn't count for much.

Except for Weiss. She asked good questions. She counts.

"Please class! We have much to discuss, much, much indeed!" The good doctor called out, all but waiving at us to take our seats. Somehow not spilling his coffee all over himself. "Our dear headmaster has instructed me to add an additional lecture on a most important topic if we had the time. And we do indeed have the time! Yes, this extra lecture will be on your upcoming tests, so I hope you study well over your break."

There was a collection of groans from everyone in the room.

"Yes, yes. Well, back in my day we had to go on hunts to search out precious artifacts discussed in lecture."

"Would've been so much better than listening to him drone on, right Rubes?" Yang whisper-chuckled to me.

I leaned back over to her, "sshh, I'm trying to listen to him drone on."

Yang coughed to cover a laugh, shaking her head in amusement.

"I have already introduced the setting and sequence to you early this year. Who here remembers our discussion about the Battle of the Plains of Araguba?" The doctor looked around the classroom. "No, that was not a rhetorical question, hands please. Hands."

Pyrrha stood. "It was the first battle during the Faunus Wars which human and Faunus fought side by side against a common enemy."

"And what was that enemy?"

"Grim Reapers."

"Indeed. Thank you for reminding us all, Miss Nikos. Yes, humans and Faunus fought together, bled together and died together against a herd of Reapers. This led to General Lapin Heyz's last stand. Him and the Dying 500, as we know them today. This brings us to what I shall be examining with you all this lesson."

My yawn caught in my throat as I immediately perked up. It was a lesson on Reapers. This was… this was fantastic. I had to learn everything I could about Reapers from the humans. Of course, if it was anything like referring to us as a 'herd' or that we were 'pack creatures' it was probably wrong.

"What will be of note for this lecture, is what happened to the Dying 500, and what we learned about Reapers from them prior to their demise. Let me paint you a picture. Close your eyes if you would."

I looked around, seeing about half the students doing just that. Well, they rested their heads on their desks, or leaned back and seemed to tune everything out. Blake was reading, barely paying attention. Her eyes flickered to me, then away when she caught me staring.

Huh, weird. Maybe it was one of those awkward eye contact moments that's in all the movies.

Professor -doctor- Oobleck shut off the lights. I closed my eyes.

"The Plains of Araguba have already seen much fighting. Days of it. Hours upon hours of conflict. Trenches paved their way across the sandy, lightly flowered grounds. Miles. Criss-crossing, connecting the front lines with the rear guards. Trenches and counter-trenches. Mud pooling in large potholes which came from basic dust bombs and some of the first dust-based artillery. Very rudimentary weapons. Only about two-thirds of the dust actually ignited. The rest was allowed to filter into he air and ground, turning nearly everything toxic for those who stayed in place for too long. Hundreds, if not thousands of bodies. Those of your friends as well as enemies litter the battlefield."

A shallow breath. This was the slowest he spoke in a long time, even if it was still quicker than most other professors.

"The white flag is raised. The battle is done. The two generals leave their trenches to sign the treaty of surrender. People of cheering and crying. It's over. And then a piercing, wailing scream. The sound of a woman, were she pierced with a dull blade."

My breath caught.

My vision flickered.

Run! Run Ruby! Run and don't look back, I beg you! Know that I-

That piercing wail.

"Then they were upon them all. Grim Reapers. We do not know how many that were there fought against those two armies. Best estimates place the herd at about twenty-five to fifty-five. Fifty-five against two armies, who together made up one hundred times that amount. It was a massacre. Reapers slaughtered without remorse. They used their scythes. They used their bare hands. Their teeth. Everything."

Teeth? That didn't sound right.

"From first person accounts, from those lucky few whom were given the chance to run and tell their stories, we know that Reapers will work together and do so quite well. They follow similar patterns, even if their attacks seem random. They will fight together if an enemy is too powerful to take them down. We also know that they are not loyal to their herd. A source claimed that a handful of Reapers took up arms against one of their own. It was a runt. Grim Reapers do not take kindly to those too weak to survive amongst their own. This trait is seen in many wild animals. Even ancient humans and faunus held practices of abandoning their young who did not have the strength to survive."

A runt? I held back a gasp. My eyes couldn't stay closed. I had to, I had to get out of my own head.

"No," I whispered.

They killed a child. Why would they kill a child?

"Strikes were performed to the neck, which did break upon contact, unlike many other parts of their bodies. While a broken neck is a good method to slow down a Reaper, only fully removing their head from their torso will kill one. Fire as well is a good method of slowing them down, causing injury. At least, they let out screams of pain. Whether they are indeed in pain or just making a mockery of it, we still do not know."

I rubbed the back of my neck. I could almost see the flames which licked my scalp in that cave.

"The last, and certainly most important piece of knowledge gleamed, was the likelihood of killing a Reaper. Those runts were the easiest to kill, as were those we consider elderly. You can tell an elderly Reaper apart from other Reapers, by the weariness of their cloaks. Their cloaks look old and frayed. A curved weapon, sliding into their hoods, behind the neck and a tug forward is the best method to kill a Reaper. While we have proof of at least five Reaper deaths, historians and experienced huntsmen have placed the final tally at closer to fourteen Reapers slain."

Fourteen.

They.

Those.

Those humans killed fourteen of us.

And for what? Because we wanted to ensure their dying passed on without pain? Because we wanted to stop them from killing each other?

Why would we kill humans? We… we don't do that.

There was an annoying voice in the back of my head saying, "well, some of us do."

I shook that thought away. No. We don't do that. We… we kill those who do.

Was that why they were all together? Were they killing a… no. Reapers are solitary. We don't like being with others of our own kind. It was what Salem commanded and how she made us in her image.

I felt the tinge of an incoming headache as I laid my head on my notebook. Professor Oobleck moved onto how humans discovered what happened to the Dying 500, as well as the tools and techniques used in excavating from war-torn and presumably Reaper-infested areas.

But I couldn't pay attention anymore.

This was enough for today.

C3l3st14 - Hmm, neat theory!

Alucard45 - That's a neat theory as well. Let's see if either hold up? ;)

lasereye27 - All these great theories! They shall all be answered in time.

Dragonqueen1993 - Almost there. But the hard part is done

JackTheSpades - That's understandable. There are still a few more minor things that Ruby needs to learn before I can really push ahead in this particular plot-point. But, there is a reason so much focus is being spent on it. As for the other point of the Blake and Weiss goos-chase, well, that's going to come along a bit more as well. Just need another chapter or 2 before that.

damngaki - Maybe not that far. Ruby did have a place to sleep in chapter 1 of this whole thing (wow that was a long time ago!)

Cun - Who knows? Glad you are enjoying this!

Sm0keyPanda - Lol. Dive.

Dragon Lord Draco - Interesting, interesting. Let's see if your theory is correct.

TiberiumSnow - Thank you! It's going to be interesting to play with a human Ruby who can use some more powers.

Alank2 - I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

Anyways, October 24 is the start to SPKY Week, which I'm taking part in (and trying to help create). 8 days of halloween themed stories! So stay tuned for that. Similarly, because my focus is being put on writing those stories, I'm a little behind on my writing for this one. So, if the fateful day comes and I don't have a chapter ready for release, I will be posting a Myteliniad chapter in its place, then post the Reaper chapter the week. So, see you all then!