Back to our regularly scheduled Reaping dolt.

REAPER IN RED

Chapter 34

The journey to Patch from Beacon felt a great deal more different than the journey from Patch to Beacon. I wouldn't say it was because I matured and grew up during my time away, -because heyo! 115-year-old here- but I definitely changed. I went to Beacon alone and curious about humans.

And now?

Now I'm returning there alongside probably my closest friends as well as my friend who might as well be my sister. It was still so weird to think that I had and actually relished in the thought of having myself a human sister.

The bullhead was smaller than the one we had taken from Patch to Beacon, only fitting maybe a dozen or so people, as opposed to the many dozens of students and all their luggage. We each had our own smaller suitcases -mine was red with flowers on it!- stored away above our seats. I got the window seat, staring out the window at how the waves of ocean turned to rows of farmland, with Weiss beside me going over some SDC reports with a red pen.

She'd been working on it the entire time, but she looked happy. And almost done.

Maybe that was why she was happy.

"Rubes look," came Yang's voice from the seat behind me, shaking my chair to grab my attention. She was pointing out the window to a house on the edge of a forest. It looked tiny from that height and only really noticeable because it was the only house nearby.

"Home," Yang finished.

I nodded, hoping Yang saw the top of my head moving along. I might have squealed with joy, but that was more so for Tai's -dad's- cooking, than for the man himself. What? Tai was quite a good cook. And his garden and vegetable field out front had an amazing selection to choose from.

Though I guess now I should be even more excited since I know quite a bit more about human things than I did when I was with him. Wow, I rubbed my chin. That seemed like forever ago. I would definitely need to spend some time in the forest nearby. Get re-acquainted with my old stomping grounds. Maybe hope for another death or two.

If there was something great about Patch, is that it was filled with old and aging humans.

"When we land, where's the first place you want to stop?" Yang's excited ramblings tore me from my thoughts. "I was thinking Juniper's, since they have the best burgers, but I'm also feeling White Hall for their pasta and crêpes. I know you love crêpes, right Rubes?"

She nudged me until I responded with a happy, "uh-huh!"

"Dad might want to cook for us though, but that's still a pretty good option."

"Guess we'll find out. You think he's waiting for you- er, us?"

"Psh, of course. He's a dork like that. I sorta see where you get it."

I let out a nervous laugh to accompany Yang's full-bellied one. Weiss gave me a weird look, but rolled her eyes and returned to her work. Then an announcement rang out telling everyone to store their stuff for landing, which made Weiss grumble as she packed up her notes into a small carry-on bag satchel bag she had with her.

It was a pretty cool bag. All white with a blue snow flake -a Schnee-flake, as Yang likes to call it- which was also used as some sort of lock to keep out prying eyes. And fingers. I definitely saw a candy bar in there and I know I saw Weiss seeing me eye her candy. Mark my words, that candy bar will be mine by the time we get back to Beacon!

"It's a granola bar Ruby. Not chocolate."

"Oh." Weiss's mind reading powers were at it again.

But I made myself the promise, so I'd probably still try and steal it. Maybe not eat it though.

The bullhead landed at a small landing bay, throwing the boring kind of dust every which-way. We grabbed our things and stepped off and out into the sunny skies of Patch.

"Follow me," Yang motioned, heading towards the main terminal building.

Before we even stepped inside, I heard a low, happy voice. "I can't believe my own girls walked by me without noticing."

Our heads spun on a swivel. "Dad!" Yang shouted, my own shout falling moments later.

"C'mere!" He pulled us into a tight hug, fussing with our hair and marvelling at how much bigger we had gotten since the start of the year. He was just so happy to see us again that I had to smile.

"Hi T-dad," I said into his shoulder.

"And these must be your partners I've been hearing so much about." Standing up to full height, hands on his hips, he grinned at Blake and Weiss. "You must be Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee. It's a pleasure to meet both of you. Thanks for keeping my girls out of trouble. Er, at least too much trouble. I know they must have been quite a handful."

"Nothing we couldn't handle, Mr. Xiao Long," Weiss replied dutifully.

"Hey, none of that," Tai said, waving her off. "Tai's just fine. Now come on. I have a roast in the oven and like a hundred different side dishes because I know that this one is always starving after a flight."

He pointed his thumb at Yang. "And I have fruits and nuts for Ruby, since I know you don't like too much food."

"Actually, I've been eating so much more at Beacon," I chimed in. "Cookies are so good!"

Tai seemed to pause for a moment, then shook himself out of his stupor. "Well, I'll be. Beacon sure has changed you a lot! Well, the more the merrier, I always say. Though, you should probably eat the nuts. Nobody else in the house likes them. And by nobody else, I mean me. Since I'm now an empty nester with you girls off to school."

"Oh, quit your complaining," Yang said with a laugh, as Tai wiped away a fake tear. "You must love all the freedom. And not paying for random property destruction."

"You sure are a handful. I still think there is a scorch mark on the ceiling from that time you tried to cook using your semblance."

"Dad!" Yang whined. Blake, Weiss and me all giggled at that.

"Alright, the truck's just out there. You girls can all drop your bags into the back and we'll be on our way home. And be sure to ask plenty of questions about my girls. They have plenty of secrets which will make great blackmail material."

"Dad!" Yang laughed.

The drive from the bullhead docks to the Xiao Long residence was a really nice one. Mainly just empty roads once we turned away from the main town, with the occasional farm or house. We did pass by Signal Academy, a combat training school that Yang had gone to. Yang made sure to point the building out in case we wanted to practice or train in their gym, instead of out in the backyard.

Tai -dad- mentioned the route to the beachfront; down a smaller one-lane road, which would eventually turn into a fully paved one leading to the old warehouses and the ocean-going docks. I sighed wistfully, remembering that ancient vampire from so long ago. I never would have thought that would have led to all this.

"You good Rubes?"

"Ya, just thinking, Yang."

Finally, we were at Tai's place. Dad's place. I huffed. I really needed to get back into the pattern of calling Tai dad, even in my own head. Don't want any awkwardness when my friends are around. I did need a refresher course in our family history though, so I'd have to take a look at that later tonight. But for now, it was time to relax and eat my fill.

Dad's place was just as warm and cozy as I remembered it being. Yang's -and my- room was overtop the kitchen, which was a blessing and a curse now that I indulged in human food. The vents seemed to connect the two, letting amazing smells waft through the air straight into my nostrils.

Me and Yang decided to share her room, while Blake and Weiss took the guest bedroom -my room for the time I was here- which left everyone comfortable but maybe a little squished on the mattresses. Dad said he wouldn't mind letting them use his room, since it had a bigger bed, but they were fine with my guest bedroom. It all worked out in the end.

"Girls! Din-din!" came dad's voice from the kitchen, matching in pitch with my gurgling stomach.

"In a minute!" I called back. I wanted to finish unpacking everything. I hid my diary underneath my pillow. The safest spot I knew. Then I took out my trusty, glorious hairbrush, stroked it through my hair a few times for posterity, then placed it on my night table. Lastly, I took Crescent Rose and laid her gently on the bed. There. All unpacked.

Except for clothes, but those didn't count.

Skipping downstairs, I emerged into the kitchen, seeing little place to set down a plate, as the table, along with the countertops were covered with different dishes, each smelling incredible in their own right. Weiss and Blake were laughing to a story about Yang as a baby, while Yang tried to laugh it off through bites of egg roll. They all stood around the kitchen, leaning on various surfaces with plates piled high.

I gave dad a quick hug before filling my own plate. Mainly with the fruits and nuts he had gotten for me, as well as a few cookies.

"So, you were about to tell us a story about Ruby as a kid?" Blake said between bites of some sort of orange sauce covered fish, swinging around her fork.

"Hm, yes I was." Tai chuckled, taking a sip of water and leaning back against the countertop.

"Ruby's always been a… let's say an adventurous sort. I think she was fast on her feet even before discovering her semblance."

Everyone laughed at that. I hid my own smile too.

"Okay, so we're in a desert. I'm thinking outside Vacuo?" Tai shook his head, "I can't remember exactly where at this moment, but let's say Vacuo. It was the four of us, all chasing after this pack of chimeras. Ruby, you see, had gotten it in her head that the chimeras we were chasing after, part dog, part lion was the cutest thing in existence and just had to be ridden. Summer agreed, so I agreed and off we went."

My eyes went wide. No. I-I don't remember giving him this memory. Was it subconscious? It had to have been subconscious. Mom and I weren't in Vacuo. It was somewhere outside Menagerie. I had begged her for hours, maybe days to let me try riding one.

"Well, we'd ben wandering around for what must have been an hour?" It had been a day. Maybe day and a half.

"We finally caught up to them. A pack of four or so, including a really young one which Ruby had already named."

"Ziggy," I mumbled.

"Ziggy!" Tai shouted with a laugh and a clap. "Yes, Ruby already had this whole plan for how she was going to take care of Ziggy. Water and feed him. Even how to keep it's flaming breath from burning down the forest or our clothes. The whole nine yards. Being chimera, they did exactly what you'd expect them to do."

"Attack," Weiss helpfully added in.

Dad nodded. "They attacked. Fire, some smoke, we were in the desert, so it wasn't like there was much to light up, except for us, but Summer took them all out. Ruby was lying on the ground, crying and asking if Ziggy was going to the after place."

"Aw, a crying little Ruby Rose! Must have been quite cute," Blake smirked.

"I'm not cute. I'm dangerous."

"Sure you are, Rubes," Yang replied to my pout with an eyeroll.

"Well," Tai continued. "Ruby was completely devastated from losing her chance to ride on Ziggy the chimera, but there wasn't much we could do. We turned around and headed back to civilization." We actually went back to our cave. It had a really nice strawberry bush next to it.

"On the way, I-" it was actually mom. "-started noticing something was following us. I grabbed Summer's weapon and dove at it, expecting it to be a chimera we might have missed. Instead, it was this cute dog. It had been following us since before we left to chance after the creatures and we just noticed it. Ruby thought it was a sign and we just had to take it home. She named it Zwei. And Zwei's been a part of this family ever since."

Oh Zwei. He had been the best Barghest a Reaper could ever ask for. So cute and adorable! He had these cute fangs and he loved to nip at my fingers when I was nervous. His kisses were just so sweet, and he was just so warm to sleep on. He had helped me so much with my Reapings. I was sad when he died, but it had been a long life. Mom said he lived to sixty years. Much older than normal. She said he stayed alive longer because he must have loved me too much to go.

"That was amazing, thank you for the story, Mr. Xiao Long," Weiss said.

"Please, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Tai?"

"Tai, where's Zwei now?" Blake looked around, clearly unhappy about the supposed presence of a dog.

"Oh, he's out in the backyard. He likes sleeping out there when the girls are home. Give them more space and all that. His doghouse is around back and he is extremely friendly. So say hello to him whenever you'd like to."

"I'll do that right now!" Weiss said with a squeal, rushing out back.

"I think the dog-loving will be left to her. Dogs aren't my favourite animals," Blake was relieved that the dog was staying outside.

"Ruby? Do you want to introduce your partner to Zwei?" Dad asked.

"Erm, sure." I slowly put down my plate and trudged outside.

As I stepped outside, I saw Weiss on her knees, fingers already deep inside the dog's hair. It's keychain jingling with every pet and pat.

"Oh you are so cute, Zwei. Yes you are, yes you are!" Weiss's whining seemed to make the animal happy; it's tongue flopping this way and that. "I've always wanted a little dog. But, I guess I will have to make do with you. Should I take you home with me? You'd like that, right? Oh, your keychain is backwards, let me fix that… Bear?"

Weiss turned to look at me, confused. "Bear?"

Zwei barked.

"Huh?" I elegantly responded.

"Why does Zwei's nametag say Bear?"

Zwei barked and shook his head.

The keychain around the dog's neck was a nametag?

"Umm… it was a joke? Y-Yang liked to make a joke about Zwei being so tiny. Like the opposite… of a bear?"

Silence reigned between us. My eyes shifted from Zwei to Weiss. Zwei looked perfectly happy being as far from me as possible, curled up into Weiss's arms.

Weiss shrugged. "Sounds like a terrible joke Yang would make." She turned back to Zwei, "hey boy, want to come inside?"

Zwei barked twice.

"Good boy! Let's go."

Weiss stood up and walked over to me, Zwei following.

And then he got within a few steps of me.

He barked out a terrified whine and rushed back towards his doghouse, hiding out inside of it. Not giving either of us a look.

"What was that about?"

"No idea. Zwei gets like that sometimes."

GreenTheRyno - Fun times indeed.

C3l3st14 - I've never seen 40k so I can't say anything about that, but there will need to be plenty of training in every sense. So far, you should get a pretty good gauge on what Ruby's powerset is, as well as potentially who might be her trainer.

ccl1995 - I really hope they all remain a big, happy, squishy family!

Sm0keyPanda - *shrugs* guess you guys will soon need to learn a bit more Ruby/Summer backstory.

JackTheSpades - I'm so happy you are enjoying this! The buildup is slow and unfortunately, not yet over. But it should be worth it *crosses fingers super, duper tight*

TM Calypso - That's a huge relief. I'm always nervous about that. To answer your question, who knows? :)

Dragon Lord Draco - Question to ask yourself. If you weren't a reader, who already knows about Ruby's Reaperhood, what would you think?

lasereye27 - *smiles*

Dragonqueen1993 - Ah yes. The Princess Bride pops up in the best of times!

Cun - Ooh, I'm excited to start watching V8. There's like 4 episodes out already and I still haven't started yet. I'm so excited to binge it all!

firewyrm2 - yes and the bitey bit was a throwback to an earlier chapter. The two subspecies of Reapers that Ruby remembered her mom telling her about; Bities and Chompies. Those aren't the real names, but Ruby doesn't know what the real names are. just what her mother called them.

Alucard45 - Glad you have such faith in your theories!

Alank2 - So glad you enjoyed.

TiberiumSnow - Hopefully this chapter answered your question about Tai being back in the story. :P The last time we saw him was chapter 1! So long ago!

The Tailor - very interesting set of circumstances Ruby has found herself in.

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! Sorry I couldn't actually answer like anyone's questions. No spoilers!