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REAPER IN RED

Chapter 56

Flurries.

Flurries of speckled light, swirling in the blackness before me. The kaleidoscope of colours flickered between soft blues and gentle oranges and soothing purples in an ever-changing array. The unseen and unfeeling breeze which held those lights aloft continued its unknowable dance in the blackness.

There was no leading source. Just gentle all encompassing and comforting specks, wafting and floating on nothingness. Twirling and swaying.

It reminded me of snowfalls. The light snow which hung in the air after an almighty blizzard. A sign of calmer, gentler things to come.

The tiny lights glimmered and pulsed, the silent winds pushing them in each and every direction in some unremarkable pattern. Because there was a pattern.

It morphed and expanded, as new light -just as soft and gentle and calming as the last- was added to the expansive horde. Expanding and contracting and expanding.

Rising and falling in waves. Crests and troughs. Pushed and forming around invisible objects in the encompassing blackness.

More light. More speckles. More soothing calmness. More bounding and rebounding. Expanding.

But that never ending serenity.

As if by some unknown force, those lights danced to form a large circle. Still in flashing, pulsing specks of dust. With blackness within as well as without.

Their dance continued, pulsing once more. But no longer did they rise and fall, but pulse inwards and outwards and inwards some more.

More light was added to the mist.

More and more until the tranquility was too great, becoming claustrophobic in its serenity…

And then I woke up.

I was in a white bed. One that wasn't all too unfamiliar. I had been in this room before.

Yes, it was the same room I had found myself in after fighting those witches. After the first time I had used my magic in my human form. I tried to roll over onto my side, only to find that I couldn't move my body.

Looking down, I saw leather restraints around my wrists.

There was a faint and repetitive being now. I looked up to see some sort of electronic monitoring device. It was pulsing with its own waves, mirroring the incessant beeping. Not too dissimilar to…

My…

Huh, I couldn't quite remember my dream. Just that pulsing.

"Oh! You're finally awake. I will let your friends and the doctor know." Someone I didn't recognize had opened the door to my room while I was staring at the monitor, and I hadn't realized.

I was waiting there alone for only a moment before Cinder Fall swept into the room, kneeling beside my bed and placing a hand gently on the back of my own.

"Ruby Rose," she said. It was a factual statement. Like she was making sure I still knew my own name.

"Cinder Fall," was all I could think to reply. Opening my mouth to breath, I descended into a horrible fit of coughing. Each push of air from my chest tore its way through my neck, scratching deeper and deeper.

All the while, Cinder's hand was placed on mine.

Once I finished my coughing fit, letting out a soft whimper, she continued as if nothing had happened. "Your magic is weakening."

Again, another statement.

"Your territory is drawing on all the vestiges of magic coursing through you that is not being used to keep you alive," she continued, answering my silent question. "Try feeling out with your magic."

I shut my eyes, letting my head pulse with magical power. I felt the comforting buzz of human-form magic and searched for the bounds of my territory.

I frowned.

Trying again, I searched out, trying to find any connection I once had to the lands surrounding Beacon Academy.

"I-" I was worried. Frightened even. I could feel magic seeping out of me as it had in the past, but I couldn't feel my territory. Not the borders, nor anything else. It was like it had all vanished. Like my strength was being filtered out of me and disappearing into the air.

"Hush now, little one." Cinder interrupted. "We do not have long before your friends are informed of your condition. I have taken control of your territory."

My eyes widened in panic.

A hand was raised. The one that was resting on mine.

"You have been doing well with gaining control over your territory. Far better than I did when I first attempted to take my own. I shall allow you to take it back once you are able."

"H-how," I croaked. My throat was hoarse and raw. I felt my eyes dropping and my stomach twisting and flipping.

"Reapers can claim each other's territories. You know this."

I nodded slowly.

"What you have not yet likely discovered, is that it is much simpler and less draining to steal a territory during its formation, from a weaker Reaper. If done properly, I could break your connection with your territory completely. Or, if we were feuding, I could break your connection with your territory improperly. Let magic continually drain from you without any reward until you are a withered husk of yourself and quite easy to dispose of. Afterward, I could add in my own, much smaller amounts of magic and finished claiming the territory. Much less work that way, though the connection would be weaker. While we are not in a feud, I broke your connection improperly."

I felt the panic start settling in all through Cinder's speech. It ramped up severely as she finished. I was breathing rapidly, but I couldn't feel any air getting to where it needed to go. Each breath was shallow and quicker than the last. My hands were clammy, and my face felt pale. Tingles rushed up and down my body and I could feel my vision start going blurry.

Was I going to die?

Was Cinder going to use me up and kill me?

"A drawback of an improper break over a proper one, is that it is much simpler for the original Reaper to reclaim the territory from the new one. As long as the territory is back in your hands in the next couple days, there will be no problems for you. I took control over your territory to give you a short reprieve. You are not yet used to the expenditures required of claiming a territory. And it is much harder that you are attempting to keep in a human guise at the same time. When have you last Reaped?"

I thought about it for a moment-

"-If you have to think about it, then it has been quite some time. You will likely need to Reap again soon. Both to regain your strength of form, as well as to complete your claim. You knew about this, yes?"

I silently nodded, letting Cinder's voice claim all the sound in the room.

"Good, I would hate to have to take the memory from you so you can learn it on your own."

My brows furrowed. I opened my mouth, trying to speak. I rasped a croaky cough, but Cinder Fall waited patiently for the pain to subside. "I thought Grim Reapers couldn't play with each other's memories."

Cinder Fall gave me a sad little smile. "They can't."

"Ruby!" Came the loud shriek from outside, as a storm of footsteps echoed from outside the room. In ran my entire team, as well as my friends in Team JNPR.

Yang flopped onto me, expelling all the air from my lungs.

I wasn't sure how many arms were wrapped around me, nor whose arms were wrapped around the arms wrapped around me, but everyone was talking at once.

"Are you okay?"

"Ruby, don't you dare scare me like that again, so help me gods!"

"My cookie buddy!"

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"You alright?"

"Okay?"

"Ruby-"

"Rubes-"

"You are-"

Their voices intermingled until I couldn't tell one from another. But, that was alright. Even though I felt terrible, I also felt… loved. Wanted.

"Hey guys," I whispered.

Weiss slapped my shoulder. "Don't you dare do something like that again."

"Ya!" Nora shouted with a wave of her arms. "Normally, you're all like 'WAPOW!' 'KAZOOM!' 'WOOSH!' but today you were all 'bleh' 'eek!' and- Mmf!" Whatever Nora was about to say was blocked out by Pyrrha's hand over her mouth.

"What Nora is trying to say, is that we were all so worried about you."

Everyone nodded at that.

Warmth welled up in my chest. "Thanks guys."

Then Nora punched my shoulder. "Ow!"

Ow! Darn it Nora, since when could you punch that hard? Is that what humans felt when being punched? Salem help me in this trying time and let me regain my strength soon. Even as I was claiming my territory -technically helping Cinder claim my territory for the moment- my need and desire for the safety of a claimed territory was drastically increasing.

"What was that for?" I managed to say amidst my internal musings, rubbing delicately at the injured spot.

Nora huffed. "That's what you get for losing to Cardin. CARDIN! He's like the class flub."

Flub?

"Flub?" Weiss echoed my question.

"Mhm!" Nora agreed with a singular nod. "He's on the team that you regularly beat on your own! Are you sick or something? Oh gosh, of course you're sick. Nobody loses to a flub like Cardin unless they're sick. Except for you, Jaune."

"Oh, thanks for that vote of confidence." Jaune said with his pleasant grin. "But seriously Ruby. I don't know if you're working yourself too hard or what, but with the festival coming up and all that, you really need to pace yourself. Take some breaks. Eat and sleep more. My father always said that a sick Huntsman was a dead huntsman… It sounded a little more inspiring and less pessimistic when he said it…"

"Anyways!" Yang said, still from her position glomped on top of me, "I think it's about time that we let the little missy here get some more rest. I want to see you bright eyed, and bushy tailed in the morning, is that clear?" She gave me a wicked side-eye that only worked because she was my sister in all but name.

"Sure Yang. Actually, speaking of, how long was I out for?"

An awkward silence.

Blake was on the one to answer that query. "A bit over a day. You collapsed during professor Goodwitch's class and spent the day in the medical wing. Oz and Miss Fall were the ones to spend the most time with you. I think Miss Fall has some background or something with medicine? Ozpin told us that there was no one better in all of Beacon to handle your care."

I almost snorted at that. Well, the headmaster wasn't wrong about that.

"A-anyways, I guess we should all get back to class, right? We were kind of called out to check on you." Blake rubbed her arm sheepishly.

I smiled, nestling back down into my bed. "Thanks guys. You're all-" I yawned. Wow, I really was tired. "great friends."

With a hand squeeze from Yang, they all began to leave, leaving a few last words of comfort and well-wishes before departing. At least, I thought they all left. Soon, it was just me and Blake together.

"Are you alright?" She asked, a little more serious than before. As I went to open my mouth to respond, she continued. "I mean, are you actually alright. Not the story that Miss Fall and the other staff are telling us about lack of sleep and a concussion."

"-Little one, I- Oh," Cinder paused her march into my room once she noticed Blake still there. Clearing her throat, she took on her more regal posture. "Miss Belladonna, I had thought you and yours were returning to class. I must speak with the patient about some pertinent information concerning her health."

"It's okay Cinder. She knows." I waved off her reaction.

Cinder hummed. "I see." Once more, her posture returned to the one I had begun becoming more familiar with. That strange mixture of ancient, powerful, wise and almost motherly. "Well then Miss Belladonna. It is a pleasure to actually meet you. When in mine and Miss Rose's presence, or that of the headmaster, you may refer to me as Cinder if you prefer."

Blake frowned, looking between me and Cinder.

I scratched my cheek.

She looked back between the two of us. Then her eyes widened in realization as it all clicked into place.

"What?!"