Super important note at the bottom, please read.

REAPER IN RED

Chapter 54

We were walking back in mostly silence. Blake was still slightly nervous, judging by the looks she gave me every so often, but there definitely wasn't that fear that had been there just that morning. Maybe it was just curiosity now.

How many people get a chance to ask a Grim Reaper questions?

Especially with all that terrible information that human teachers say.

Okay, to be fair to most dying humans, they do ask a question or two usually before I Reap them. Not many, considering they are often on Death's door. And nine times out of ten, those questions are about how I'm doing, or how they're doing. Sometimes they even ask about others, but usually its personal. Or about me. People are kind in that way. And it's not like I can answer them while in Reaper guise anyways.

That was something that always confused me. It wasn't like my mouth disappeared while I was in Reaper form. It was still very much there. I could smile and frown -usually frown- and grimace. Could I stick out my tongue?

You know what? I don't think I've ever tried.

Another look from Blake.

"So, what's with you and Qrow?"

I froze.

It took Blake half a step to stop, spinning to face me.

"Heh, heh," I let out a terribly fake laugh, rubbing at my neck. "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you like a crazy strong… being?" Blake asked. "You seem to be quite scared of him. Is it because he's a Reaper Hunter?"

At least Blake whispered Qrow Branwen's very public career choice, and not me being a 'crazy strong being'. Good choice of whispering Blake.

"Well, duh. How'd you feel if I had you meet a faunus killer?"

Blake gave me a strange look. I thought that was a very reasonable comparison.

"Ruby, you did. Schnee ring any bells?"

"Oh, right." We continued walking. "But Weiss is nice."

Rolling her eyes, Blake nudged me. "Well, I know that now. But when I was still hiding my traits from you three, being within ten feet from someone with that last name was truly frightening… Is that the same having Qrow here?"

"Did a Schnee kill your mother?" I spat out.

Wait, I didn't mean to say that. No! Umm, take back? Undo? Reverse?

Ruby uses distract!

"Why did you bring him here?"

"I didn't. I ran into him on the way here. He bought me lunch and paid for the bullhead ticket back to campus. What were you saying about Qrow killing your mother?"

Distract failed!

"Can we… not talk about it?" I all but begged. "I hate that memory."

"How did she die?"

I gave Blake a scowl. She flinched and her bowtie covered feline ears dropped slightly. "Oh right. Sorry."

We walked in silence for a little longer.

Just as we were about to enter the lecture hall, she paused, hand on the doorknob.

"Can I ask when it happened?"

I took in a breath. Held it. Then sighed. I did promise to tell her everything, no lies.

"Before I got to Beacon. A while before Patch. I've known Yang and Tai for maybe a month or two longer than I've known you."

I let Blake mull that over in her head for a moment. It was true. Even though Yang definitely felt like my sister, I didn't really know her for very long. It was incredible how quickly the imaginary family bond became almost true after such a short span of time.

Yang really was my sister.

Just like how Weiss was my favourite partner and Blake was my friend. Best friend? Best acquaintance? Favourite acquaintance friend? I'd work on the official naming details later.

And then there was Cinder and whatever our relationship was. My… mentor? Reaper instructor? Friendly, old guide who died just before the climax of every good videogame or tv show to let you know that stuff was really getting serious?

Hopefully not. I liked Cinder. I didn't want her to die.

And if things were really like a story, then it'd be Qrow killing her if the imaginary writers were going the obvious route, or headmaster Ozpin for the twist villain route.

I think I'm going to call her my Reaper instructor then. Less death and all that.

"Oh." "Want to head into class?" We said at the same time.

Blake pursed her lips, but nodded.

Inside, I could immediately spot Weiss and Yang. Especially with Yang waiving her arms furiously.

Climbing up the stairs to them, I took my spot next to my sister. Blake sat on my other side.

"Brought your bags," Yang said to the two of us. "Also some leftover strawberries. Better eat them fast before class starts."

"Thanks!" I exclaimed, my mouth already half full of strawberries.

As I dug into my meal, I pretended not to notice Yang's silent question over my head to her partner.

'You okay?' Yang mouthed.

Blake gave a little smile and a single nod. It was quickly returned by Yang with a much happier look on her face.

"-It's fairly easy to determine from the equation written on the board -which will be on your upcoming test, mind you- that the size of a Necromancer's zombie horde is directly proportional to the age of the necromancer itself, when accounting for the continent coefficient, terrain coefficient, the root of Springfire's Estimation constant and the Springfire-Gypsum Horde Area Constant." Doctor Oobleck said, finally taking a deep breath after nearly an hour of constant lecturing. The blackboard in front of him was covered in chalk and drawings. If it weren't for how fast he was moving, the professor would have a face filled with chalk dust from how much scribbling he was doing.

It was honestly so amazing what humans have come up with. They could take something so cool and unique and awesome as a necromancer summoning hordes and hordes of zombies, and somehow desire to turn that amazingness into something as boring as math. Math! Not that I was paying much attention to anything he was saying anyways…

And for some reason, Doctor Oobleck wanted us to memorize the equation, constants and coefficients. Like we'd ever need to know the math while fighting zombies and necromancers. Well, for humans, zombies at least.

Weiss was furiously scribbling away at her notebook, trying to copy every single line and equation into her own notes. Blake was at least doing the smart thing and taking a picture of the entire board to look at sometime in the future.

Yang… had her hand raised. Why was Yang raising her hand?

"Professor?"

"-Doctor."

"Doctor," Yang acquiesced. "Why would we need to know, let alone memorize the equation?"

"No, no, Miss Xiao Long," Doctor Oobleck said, shaking his head. "I don't expect you to memorize the equation alone. I expect you to be able to solve the equation in an instant."

Yang's eyes widened. "Still, what's the point?"

Good sister. Asking the smart questions. A+ and a gold star for you.

The doctor smiled as if he was just given the perfect opportunity to start another hour long lecture.

"What a marvelous question!" Oobleck cried with glee.

Bad sister. Why would you ask such a question? F and no gold star for you.

He looked up at the rest of the class. "Students, can any of you help me answer Miss Xiao Long's question? Can you tell me the reasons why it is so important to know a necromancer's age?"

Of course, Weiss's hand was one of the first to be raised. But shockingly, she wasn't called on. Instead, Pyrrha took the question, standing gracefully from her seat.

"A necromancer's age is relevant as necromancer's gain intelligence the longer they are alive. Older necromancer's are likely to include greater amounts of strategy and deception in their attacks and retreats, compared to younger ones. Similarly, through their age, it's possibly to predict how many unlinked zombie hordes this necromancer might have summoned."

"Perfect answer, Miss Nikos!" Doctor Oobleck replied, taking a sip from his coffee mug, only to realize partway through that he had finished his cup of coffee nearly twenty minutes ago. "Now, based on what Miss Nikos said, what is the age range for Necromancers?"

This time, Weiss did answer.

"First Necromancers are between the ages of zero and two years. Second Necromancers between two and five. Young Necromancers from five to ten, and Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth between the ages of ten to fifteen, fifteen to nineteen, nineteen to twenty four and twenty four to forty years. Old Necromancers are between forty and four hundred years, and Ancient Necromancers are anything older than that." With a slight huff of confidence, she sat back down.

"Textbook answer Miss Schnee. Textbook answer indeed. While these age ranges are beneficial to know, since most kill quests placed on necromancers will be labeled by the job in such a way, it is better for academics and those huntsmen who tend to fight more necromancers, to know the much more accurate range of horde size to necromancer age found in table 27-b of your textbook. It can and will save your life to know such information. Were I my dear friend Peter, I'd regale you with tales of my own youth, but instead, you will just have to take my word for it as your professor with a multitude of experience and knowledge on the subject. Now!" Doctor Oobleck said with a great, big clap of his hands, "it is time we move on from our unit on necromancers to touch on something a little stranger, albeit no less dangerous."

He flipped the page in his own textbook. A clear signal for the rest of us to do the same. At least those of us who still brought their textbooks to class. I know that most everyone -besides Weiss- just read through their textbooks later and instead spent the majority of class trying to scribble as many notes as we possibly could from what we could gleam from Doctor Oobleck. It was still remarkable how fast that man could talk when he truly got going.

"We shall now be starting our short unit on Syrens and Sirens." Somehow, the professor managed to make the two words sound different. I think it had to do with the extended 'r' sound in the first word, but I couldn't be completely sure, since he said both words so quickly. "Sirens are the more abundant of the two creatures and are thus the more studied and well known. As such, most of the rest of this lecture and the next will focus on them. As such, since we only have a short amount of time left today before class concludes, we shall make our way through the less well known creature, and more importantly and relevant to this classroom, the history of them."

In record speed, the blackboard was erased, leaving only chalk dust marks where dozens of equations and words had once been. Weiss whimpered at the loss of the text. It looked like she had only finished copying down half of what the professor had written down.

Good thing Blake took that picture, especially since I had yet to even reach for my pencil this lesson. I should have probably been taking notes, but the time I started paying attention, there was already so much stuff! How was I to know that during this one class, Doctor Oobleck would switch from talking about history that I found boring, to talking about zombies and necromancers!

Oh Salem. He'd begun talking again and I missed the first part of his story! "-all likelihood that they have been slaughtered to near extinction."

Good. At least we were learning about something not too relevant. Like I'd ever get to see a creature that was near extinct. Actually, now I was curious. I raised my hand.

"Yes, Miss Rose?"

"When did syrens get slaughtered to near extinction?"

The doctor sighed. "As I had just said, syrens were used for their varying melodies by the kingdoms and cities vying for dominance, and as such they were slaughtered to near extinction between two hundred and three hundred years ago."

I blushed at his stern voice. It didn't seem like he liked my question very much. I yawned.

"The main things you should know about syrens, are that they all look to possess wings and fish tails. The fish tails they are hatched with; them being mainly aquatic creatures and all, while the wings tend to grow in at around four weeks to four months old. Witness testimony varies. Now for the brunt of this chapter, let us talk sirens and the vast and wide history of siren use by humans and faunus."

Pausing to take a breath, he stared longingly at his empty coffee cup.

"Unlike syrens, who were deemed so useful to military use, they were used to near extinction, leaving only a handful of breeding pairs in the wild, sirens are hatched with a single melody they are able to sing. Similar to most bird species. Sirens are birthed in eggs, often found in coastal areas. Their nests tend to be made of stone, rocks and pebbles found nearby. It helps the eggs -often batches of 2 or 3- to camouflage with the surrounding area. Likewise, it protects the eggs from harsh waves, which can damage the shells, while letting in the light mists of water, which are considered beneficial to baby siren development. Before we move on to the history of these fine creatures, can somebody please tell me what a baby siren is called? Yes Miss Valkyrie?"

"A Chicklet!" Nora shouted with unrepentant excitement.

"Very good. Now to the brunt of our topic. The siren was first documented over four thousand years ago by nomads wandering along the southern coasts of Vacuo. At first, the creature was used for its meat. They are fairly easy to capture when they are on land, and since they tend to congregate in groups of five to fifteen, they make for a good bounty. The first instances of sirens being used for their songs happened roughly one thousand years after their first documentation, when faunus settling in the area would offer fish; particularly starfish and aquatic crustaceans to sirens, in exchange for 'happy songs', giving them a measure of protection against grimm in the area. It was through this group that sirens were traded away as eggs for the first time. As you know, sirens will only produce melodies if they could hear the melodies of their parents before they hatch. Back then, if there was no way to record the sound, so these sirens lacked the ability to produce a melody. Many silent sirens were abandoned, while others were eaten as a delicacy. Abandoned silent sirens were often targeted by other wild creatures, however they have done pretty well for themselves in Menagerie, when they were brought over some fifty years ago and have since become an invasive species on the island."

Doctor Oobleck continued through his lecture, his voice speeding up as he grew more excited about the vast history of this weird fish thing. All in all, it was sort of interesting, but the idea of eating a siren just felt weird to me. Maybe it was because they had apposable thumbs. Maybe it was because I used to bathe with a group of hatchling chicklets when I was really young.

Now that was an old memory. I remember them grabbing at my face and cheeks with their weird, webbed hands. They were sort of slimy. Not in a gross way, but in the same way a fish that has been taken out of the water is. Kinda cool, since they spend a large part of their lives being all slimy while on land. Not far from the water though.

Huh, hadn't thought about that memory in a while.

Though, it did feel like I had heard somebody mentioning sirens a little while ago. Where could I have heard it?

I mentally shrugged. Oh whatever. If it's important it'll come back to me.

As the good doctor was about to get into the overuse of sirens for keeping away grimm, leading to their eventual passive immunity, the bell decided to ring. Thank Salem.

Weiss was in a similar boat as me. Her hair looked slightly wild as she still furiously took notes, trying to catch up to the end of Doctor Oobleck's lecture. I was just happy this class was over. I was super in the mood for Professor Goodwitch's class. And then after her class, it was lunch! I was super excited for lunch. For some reason I was really hungry.

Oh right, I had missed breakfast. And a bowl of strawberries was not good enough! Okay, it was slightly good enough, but more would always be better.

I yawned again. Blasted magical territory. Stop making me so sleepy!

"Hey, you ready to go?" Yang said, pulling her bag over one shoulder.

I nodded. "Sure! Blake?"

She gave me a small smile, her feline ears wiggling slightly underneath her bow. "Sounds good to me."

As we left with all our things -Weiss being lead by Yang as she grumbled about not finishing her notes- I could hear the faintest of shouts from Professor Oobleck about something with the Vytal Festival.

Hopefully it wasn't too important.

Hi everyone! It seems like there was a slight miscommunication about my Halloween Interlude. I tried to make it clear, but it seems like I failed at that. But, that interlude was non-canon. I just thought, since it was Halloween, and the story itself is filled with all these Halloween-type species and characters, I would show you the mini-chapter I did which inspired me to write Reaper in Red. It's not canon. I used parts of the story behind that mini-chapter for Blake, and later on I may use it for Weiss (maybe. Hence me saying that there could potentially be spoilers in it). But overall, it's not canon. My mistake. I have since updated the chapter to make it a little more clear that it's not canon.

Now that that has been concluded, holy crap! Reaper in Red has reached over 900 follows! That's beyond insane. I say this every time we hit a milestone, but I cannot thank you enough. Everyone who reads and/or comments on my work is just so awesome. The story also passed 700 favourites, which is crazy too! I think the next big thing that'll happen for this story is passing 250k views. But that'll come in time. For now, thank you thank you thank you so so much and as my gift to all of you, I hope you enjoy your Thursday bonus chapter!

Ninguem248 - The future of this story is gonna be fun!

Cun - Thank you so much! So glad you enjoy it!

Dragon Lord Draco - It'll happen pretty soon. Either next chapter or the chapter after that. I don't plan on it being a hidden thing.

Sm0keyPanda - Blake's not great at asking questions, now is she

firewyrm2 - Definitely a good milestone to reach. And enjoy the game! I've never played it but heard good things.

TM Calypso - It's Ruby. There will always be a disaster somewhere down the line.

Emerald Black - There are two answers to this question. One answer is spoilers. The other, is because who would you ask about humans feeling pain as they die? can't really ask the humans, cuz they're dead. And can't really ask Reapers, cuz you just saw them stabbing your human friend with a very long and pointy scythe.

joecola00 - So happy you enjoyed! I love having a story long enough that people call it binging!

Nekojules - There shall definitely be more chapters like that! Blake still needs to officially meet Cinder too, right? :P

Yuuki D. Blazer - Now that's the reaction I had been hoping for!

nbadm - No, it's not canon. It was just meant as a little gift to you guys for Halloween, to see where this story originated.