This one's a doozy...

REAPER IN RED

Chapter 44

I waited behind in that training room for the remainder of our allotted session. Even as the rest of my team left, trailing after a fleeing Blake. I told them I'd grab their things for them, but really, I wanted some time to myself. Some time to figure out what had just happened.

What in all of Salem's might had just happened.

I touched at my face, shoulders, and arms. No, everything felt human and normal. I checked at my scroll, using the camera to look into my own eyes. Silver, just like they always were in this form. And now long, black cloak. Just my totally awesome and cute red one. Same pale face, but not like pale-pale-slash-white bony one like it was in my Reaper form.

Then I took a seat. It was time to think back to the passed few days. Blake had been running away and spending plenty of time on her own lately. But she was always pretty introverted. She liked her alone time. I'd always thought it was because she was off reading or something.

That made the most sense, right?

But why was she scared of me? That I'd kill her. I'd never kill anybody! What sort of Reaper would I be if I did something like that?

Only evil Reapers do that.

Did she see me? Like, see me, see me?

I thought back. No, she couldn't have. I hadn't helped Blake or anybody else in my team fall asleep using my Reaper form in a long time. I made sure they were always asleep when I went out of the dorm room at night.

No matter how I looked at it, I couldn't think of one situation where Blake could have seen me and thought I was anything other than an ordinary human.

Hmm… maybe it was something to do with that? I was an exceptionally extraordinarily good huntress. Maybe she saw me practicing and got scared?

Ooh! Maybe she's scared of fighting me, because I don't like to get hit! Her being scared of something in my human guise made a heck of a lot more sense than anything else.

I had been super sneaky with my Reaper form.

I should probably ask Cinder to see what she thinks.

With that idea firmly locked in my brain, I finished packing up all my things and went to visit Cinder in her office.

As I walked closer and closer to Cinder's office, things started to slow down. Students I was passing by in the hallway slowed to a crawl. Each step of theirs taking as long as a half-dozen of my own. Idle chatter turned silent, leaving just the loud clicks of my footsteps to add some life to the school.

I looked into a classroom, seeing a handful of upper year students all frozen as they were reviewing notes. A pen was lying on the floor in front of one boy, his hand outstretched, waiting to catch it from his friend's toss.

Glancing around at the frozen faces around me, there was only one thought I my mind.

What was Cinder up to?

I hurried my pace towards her office. Like I was expecting, the hallways grew dimmer, as Cinder's Reaper form was pulling in all the light and bathing everything in exponentially growing darkness. Her office was near black, save for the recognizable glint of her piercing garnet gaze. Her eyes shone amid the darkness, heavy black cloak drawn over her skull, hand outstretched, and fingers placed gently on headmaster Ozpin's forehead.

"Cinder!" I shouted, rushing into the room to stop her. "What are you doing?"

I gripped her wrist, pulling on it. It barely budged. Like I was a human pulling on a bar of steel.

Cinder turned to look at me, her eyes the only real source of light in the room. There was a moment of confusion before it turned into understanding and acknowledgement with a small nod.

She let go of headmaster Ozpin, his body staying perfectly frozen like all humans were.

Cinder turned her full attention to me. The air of regality and strength that I had felt when we first met all those months ago seemed to be a fraction of what it once was. Now there was an air of familiarity.

Though, the raw, imposing strength she held over me as clearly visible. I flexed out with my magic, feeling the borders of my territory strengthen slightly as if actively fighting back against the intrusion from another Reaper.

In a moment, Cinder's skin returned to its humanly paleness, her black cloak shortening into her red dress and eyes turning into its familiar silver tone.

The world un-paused.

"Hello little one. How has your weekend going?"

"Wha-" I looked between Cinder and headmaster Ozpin then back again. "I… huh?"

"Good afternoon Ms. Rose, I assume you have a multitude of questions." Headmaster Ozpin wasn't the least bit perturbed about what had just happened, much less confused about how I had likely just appeared in the room in the blink of an -from his perspective of course- eye.

There was a mischievous glint in cinder's eyes as she placed an arm over the headmaster's shoulder. "You thought you were the only Reaper to spend time among humans?"

"But- but…" I was at a loss for words. Cinder was just revealing herself to humans! And the headmaster was just standing there, doing nothing. What was going on? I grabbed at my hair in distress.

"You must have brain wiped the headmaster! How could you do that!" I pointed an accusatory finger at Cinder, who only gave me a small little guilty smile.

"Ms. Rose," the headmaster whispered, immediately pulling my attention. "The 'brain wipe' as it were is no more recent memory as what you have learned in Professor Oobleck's class all year."

That made no sense to me.

"But she's a Reaper! And-and you're a human. And you're not scared. And she was magicking you! And-and-"

"And there is still very much about this world that you have yet to fully understand, little one," Cinder lectured. "Do you truly think that a huntsman as talented as Ozpin hadn't known that the Highest Order Being was in his school?"

"I must apologize for my silence on the matter," headmaster Ozpin said. "But truly, you had reminded me of a dear friend during her youth. Would you have stayed and bonded with us lowly humans if you had known what I know about you?"

It felt like my brain was short circuiting. The headmaster knew? I had my suspicions, but hearing it confirmed was just too much. If the headmaster knew, then I wasn't safe. But he'd always known, and I was still alive? And he knew Cinder. Do the other professors know that Cinder is a…?

No. It had to only be the headmaster. If it was everyone then surely I'd have figured it out, right? I felt out with my magic and my territory's extent fluctuated. It was getting stronger every day, yet was fluctuating along with my emotions. It was draining me of my magic, just as much as I was willingly pushing magic into it. My heart was beating rapidly. I wasn't strong enough to take on Cinder, let alone Cinder and Ozpin together. I had to go. I had to get away.

Anywhere.

I gave one last look up at Cinder, confusion and fear palpable before running out.

I didn't know exactly where I was going; rose petals unconsciously springing forth from shadow with each rapid step I took. All I knew was I needed to go somewhere. Somewhere safe.

Somewhere away from others and where everything made sense.

And yet still, even with my thoughts turning towards isolation, I found myself outside my dorm room door.

I was breathing heavily as I stood outside my room, waiting for my beating heart to slow and my fatigue to lessen.

There was shouting going on inside. It was loud. Blake's voice rang out above the other's and she was clearly in a panic.

"I told you Yang! She's a monster! A-a demon! You've got to believe me!"

"Yang, keep her still!"

"-I'm trying," I could hear Yang grimace. "But she's squirming."

"We've got to get to safety! Call in- call in the expert huntsmen. The Reaper killers."

"I told you already! Ruby is not a Grim Reaper!" Yang shouted over Blake's cries, "She's training to be a Reaper killer."

"You're in on it!"

"Blake, Ruby's our friend. How could you possibly say such things about her. I know you haven't been sleeping well." Weiss's voice was calm and collected. Friendly, despite the clear annoyance coming from her tone. "You told me that you saw Ruby turning into a Reaper while at Mr. Xiao Long's."

"Use your brain for once Blake!" Yang shouted. There was a loud thump that could have either been a book falling or a chair being tipped over. "How can Ruby be a Reaper? Reapers aren't human!"

"Yang's got a point." Weiss chimed in.

Should I knock?

"Just think. You've been having nightmares about that Reaper at the docks for weeks, months now. Ruby's the only one of us that carries a scythe. She's a prodigy, sure. And she has that cloak she likes to wear. Obviously, she'd look like a Grim Reaper if you saw her at night."

"But-"

"-No buts!"

"This is the same conversation I had with her a week ago," Weiss grumbled. "It's like she's desperate to be scared of Ruby."

I think I should knock.

"Blake, Ruby's your friend. Do you honestly think that a Grim Reaper, the scariest, most fearsome creature on this entire planet, would spend her time at a school for huntsmen and huntresses, making friends with people and not killing them all left-right-and-center? What possible reason could you have for one of them spending time at a school. Boredom?"

Hey, that seemed like a callout. Boredom wasn't my only reason.

Blake was silent, possibly pondering what Weiss had said.

I knocked.

I think the term best suited to what happened inside that room would have been panicked silence. All commotion immediately stopped and I swore I could feel their eyes staring at me through the solid door.

"Erm… come in?" I don't think I've ever heard Yang's voice crack like that before.

"Hello," I said shyly, entering into the room. I tried my best to be calm, as if I hadn't overheard them having an entire conversation about me. A conversation about my friend Blake trying to tell them the truth and my friend Weiss and sister Yang trying to convince her with a lie.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"Sup."

I placed my things on my bed. Taking off my shoes, I slipped them underneath Weiss's bunk and walked into the bathroom to grab my hairbrush.

"So…" I wasn't good at this. What could I say? What should I say?

Yes everybody. Blake is correct. I am truly a Grim Reaper living in your midst. Which is apparently not all that impressive because Cinder Fall is also a Grim Reaper hiding among humans too! Oh, even more than that, but headmaster Ozpin? You know, the same guy in charge of a huntsman academy training humans to hunt and kill us? Well, he knows about Reapers too and apparently is pretty chummy with one. Who know? Maybe there's a necromancer running around the school too. Anything is possible!

I was losing it. Totally losing it.

This was way too busy of a day.

"You heard all that?" Yang said. Thank you Yang.

I nodded slowly. "Just the end."

"Okay then!" Weiss said throwing up her arms "Then can you please tell this nut that you're not a Grim Reaper? She's clearly got a screw loose and I'm going to request mental health counselling for her again. But I think she needs to hear it first from you."

I looked between each of them. The annoyed, almost angry expressions on their faces, mixed with sadness for their friend whom they thought was going crazy. I turned to look at Blake, with her manic eyes and obvious fear. She couldn't return my stare, as her vision kept darting to the floor, only able to look up at me in glancing.

That…

Well, that hurt.

A lot.

Much more than I expected it to, really. We were friends. She told me about her Faunus thing, and she helped me with my magic thing -even if she didn't know what she was helping me with at the time- and she called me her friend.

I remembered headmaster Ozpin and Cinder. There wasn't any fear in Ozpin's eyes. Not even when he was frozen in mine and her presence and she was doing… something to him.

"Okay," I mumbled. "Can I talk to Blake alone, please?"

"Sure thing," Yang slapped my back as she and Weiss left. The door closed gently behind them, leaving just me and Blake.

Blake was out of her chair and stepping backwards.

"You might have them fooled, but I saw you. I tried telling Weiss days ago, but she just doesn't believe me. I know what you are. And even if I have to die, I'm going to stop whatever plan you have, Reaper."

I flinched at how she said that word. There was just so much hate in it. Hate and fear.

What did my mom always say? 'One Reaper for every people'. In a perfect world, every village and town and city would have their own Reaper. To give humans safety, along with a more peaceful death. There was never anything there about them being so scared of us. What had we done to them to warrant it?

"I won't lie to you, Blake. We're friends." My voice was low and slow and stumbling. "Good friends. Since starting Beacon, really. I came here without a plan. How could I? Mom had died and I was kicked out of Atlas and… it doesn't matter anymore."

I looked up at Blake. "I'm your friend. I would never hurt you. I've never hurt a human in my life. I never would. You can… you can ask me anything you want, and I promise not to lie anymore. I just-just don't want to lose you. Lose this," I gestured around the room. "It my… my home, maybe? I don't know. All I know is that since mom, it's mine."

Blake was silent as I spoke. No questions. No comments. Nothing. Maybe she thought I was still joking with her? Maybe she thought I'd call her crazy or something, like Yang and Weiss did? I could feel tears leaking from my eyes as I silently urged Blake to understand.

I held out my hand, willing my human guise to drop.

Tendrils of shadow pooled together to form the solid object, growing in length with every passing second. My bright red hood sucked in shadows, turning crimson, then burgundy, then maroon as more darkness cloaked the cloak draping over my body, until it was pure black. I shut my eyes tightly, but tears still streamed down, and the sobs continued.

The staff grew. Three feet, then four. Then six. It stopped growing, only for a curved blade to begin to form from one end. The blade of the shadowed scythe was dark silver, almost matching my human eyes. My red cloak was now fully black, almost obscuring my full view. The light from the room had disappeared almost completely, all light had been sucked in, leaving just a dark, empty void behind.

With a final tear-filled sniffle, I rubbed my eyes removing any traces of sadness -any emotion- left from my face.

I lifted the hood from my cloak over my head. The cloak had changed. It was longer, now lightly touching the floor. It wrapped around my entire body, with sleeves nearly covering my thin fingers. It was heavier. My fingers were bony; likely so was my face.

I wished I could talk to her like this. To know what was going inside her mind without forcing my will onto her.

I could feel her age in my mind. The likelihood of her death occurring decades into the future. I flared my territory, feeling it extend slightly.

Light and shadow mixed around the room as I felt strength seeping away from me and into my territorial borders. I didn't have the complete strength I did before to pull out every spec of light. If I was in my human guise, I would have yawned.

Now, I just stared ahead. Stared at Blake and her wide eyes. I shrugged my shoulders, curving my lips up as if to say, 'well this is me. The real me. I hope we can still be friends. In whatever form that meant to you.'

Blake opened her mouth, choking on whatever words she was trying to say. She took a hesitant step forward. I didn't move a muscle.

"Grim Reaper," she whispered in a voice as shaky as the rest of her. She was clearly petrified, yet mustering up whatever courage she had as a huntress to take those trembling steps closer.

I nodded.

Ever so slowly, I reached up with my free hand to pull down my hood so she could get a clear look at my face.

I was still my face. Pale and hollow and looking more like bone than skin, but it was still 'Ruby Rose'-shaped. It was still mine.

"Ruby?"

I nodded again.

She took a step back.

She was shaking like a leaf.

"This is…"

My eyes widened slightly.

Was she going to be okay? Accept me? Did she understand me?

"…too much."

She activated her semblance, disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

I would like to thank MissAnthrophy for helping me determine the direction I wanted to go with this chapter.

JackTheSpades - Escalation continued! Blake definitely tried to tell Weiss about it, but who would believe you if you said you were sharing a bunk with a near immortal creature? That seems a little too out there, even for people suspicious of her.

TM Calypso - Soon indeed. Of course, not everyone is in the know, but things are progressing for sure in that department.

Devashish Karatolios - Well, this story updates every other Monday and has been pretty consistent in its uploading schedule. So, mighty soon is still pretty good. And she did straight up say it! Who'd have thought that little Ruby would be brave enough? :P

Dragonqueen1993 - The correct answer: all of them confronted Blake! come on now, Blake was going mental!

JollyGobul - On the right track there, but you're off.

firewyrm2 - I know! I'm super sorry about that. 'Twas a tough week. But it still landed in the 2k minimum word count range! :D

Dragon Lord Draco - Similar to Jolly, you're on the right track. Good sleep is definitely an effect, but of what?

Shadow Walker Fire - I don't know what that is, but I'm going to go on a limb and say no, Reapers cannot do that.

jaclea - For Weiss, it's kind of a hard sell to say that your friend is the embodiment of pure evil (from human perspective). So, it's not like Weiss would believe her.

TheGatorWrite - Thank you! I'm super glad you're enjoying it

Cun - I'm happy you like this fic. It's been a long one and I also wish I could bang out like 50k chapters. One day! One day I shall put out a 50k chapter and it shall be glorious! For this chapter, I kind of thought it was time for somebody to know. And, well, you guys also get real confirmation that Ozpin knows too! So, two for the price of one. A heck of a lot happened this chapter and Ruby definitely got overwhelmed enough to spill her guts (metaphorically speaking). As for your Reaper weakness question, they do have weaknesses. There's one really important and well known one, which has been mentioned in passing through some chapters. Ruby also is more cautious about this weakness of hers too. It'll become pretty apparent in the future though.

Sm0keyPanda - Agreed. And she's been through so much too

Mikhail Sharon - I don't think I've really mentioned what happened to Raven once in this story. Assume she just did what she did in canon. She's not that relevant.

thewolfgod99 - 2 weeks!

videocrazy - Regarding Blake's actions, when has Blake ever come at anything straight up? It's always skittishness. Similarly, you saw what everyone was like after facing Reaper-Ruby for a short amount of time at the docks fight. They were all petrified for her. Reapers are literally the embodiment of death. Sometimes it makes sense not to just run up to something you're scared of and ask. As for your other point, ya. On reread I agree that it reads a little odd. I was going for the whole mysterious vibe, but it's a little wonky.

See you for the next chapter!