So before starting, I thought it would be better to clear up something regarding the amount of time Ruby spent walking around the desert sands of Hueco Mundo. This was also pointed out by a few others so I thought it's best I clear it up now.
So when I wrote that segment, I intentionally left it vague. Why? Well for 2 reasons. One, it doesn't matter to the characters. Its not like Hueco Mundo has concepts of days and nights, seeing as how its always dark. The bleach wiki says that the moon is always in the lunar opposite phase of the living world, but I don't remember this being mentioned in the manga or anime, so its not what I have here. In my story, Hueco Mundo always has a crescent moon with perpetual nights. Therefore, the concept of time doesn't really exist for inhabitants of HM themselves. And second reason being, the entire idea was to portray that Ruby essentially spent a LOT of time wandering around HM with her own corpse with no one to talk to, watching as her own corpse decayed and decomposed. Whatever time period that helps the reader to play out this scenario in their mind would be different for each. Hence I left it vague. But if I should still mention a time period, I'd say this is how the timeline looks like:
Ruby entering HM and dying from thirst and hunger: 2-3 days from the time she entered HM.
Time Ruby spent dragging her own corpse as a Plus before getting devoured by a menos: 1-2 days, give or take.
Time ruby spent as a menos until the moment she becomes an Adjuchas: A few months.
Time Ruby spent as a solo Adjuchas before meeting Harribel: A couple of weeks.
So you see? A few months may not be too long for some, but might be a long time for others. But if I used my words in such a way as to convey the situation instead, then you would come up with a time period that best helps you picture the scenario being described. But still, I hope this clears up a few things! After contemplating a bit and looking over my rough drafts, I figured its best I do mention the time passed, even if it isn't exact. As usual, be sure to check out the last section where I answer some questions you guys have asked me and clear more things about the plot that you may have doubts about.
Chapter 3:The rose meets the wolf
A month had passed since the ex-rose huntress had joined their troupe. Never was there a boring moment whenever the new addition to Tier's group was involved. The cheetah adjuchas was easily bored when she wasn't hungry and always looked for ways to satisfy her boredom. The biggest form in which this came out, was through her curiosity. Curious as a cat, it was said and here, that couldn't possibly be truer. That, and her 'hobby' with weapons and anything that could be considered one. Tier Harribel thought she'd heard the last of it after narrowly dodging the topic of Ruby wanting to see her arm, but clearly, she didn't know the former rose huntress.
"Hey, uh, so,…" started the aforementioned former huntress slowly, with her head lowered and looking to the side. Tier already knew where this was heading, and she simply sighed.
"Can I have a look at it now?!" she asked, with a sudden burst of excitement, her voice full of optimism and her silvery eyes sparkling once more.
"I still don't think what's there to be so excited about, considering you've seen Harribel-sama fight with it" replied Apacci, unsure whether to be surprised by the adjuchas's persistence or annoyed by it.
"But its different seeing from afar and seeing it up close!" replied the cheetah adjuchas as a matter-of-factly way.
Tier thought she might as well get it over with. Sooner or later, it looked like Ruby was going to coax her into showing her weapon anyways.
"Alright, here you go little one. Just try not to hurt yourself" said the blonde vasto lorde, kneeling down to Ruby's level and extending her right arm towards her. The little one wasted no time, immediately touching and probing with oooh's and gasps of admiration.
"Wow, there are slits along the edge, most likely to reduce weight while maintaining integrity. Its pretty streamlined too, which should make it easier to swing without too much resistance!" she went off, mostly talking to herself. "Ooh, what's this, a joint here?! That explains how she can twist and change direction! Sweet!" Apacci, Mila-rose and Sung-sun could only watch in amusement. Sung-sun in particular, knew that there was more to her that what appears on the surface. While she had the demeanor of a youngling, she knew that even this youngling can be quite the fighter when push came to shove. She could still recollect one of their earlier hunts together after Ruby joined them.
-Flashback-
Sung-sun and Ruby were out hunting, Tier was out scouting as usual while Mila-Rose and Apacci were guarding the lair. Though hunting was usually done as a group together, Harribel decided that it would be better to also split up into smaller groups every once in a while and try to work together and add some difficulty to their fights. This would help her underlings grow during a battle. Groups were usually rotated but Harribel wanted to start with Mila-rose and Apacci first. Those two really needed to learn to separate personal thoughts from battle and learn to work together when required. And that was how the current scenario came out to be.
The snake and the cheetah were up against 3 adjucha this time; a crocodile type, a panda adjucha and a mammoth type adjucha. Sung-sun took on the mammoth, while Ruby took on the other 2, given her higher agility and speed.
It was a drawn out battle, with neither side dealing any decisive blows. Sure, Ruby was agile enough to avoid getting hit, but fighting 2 at a time did prove to be a hassle. Because when she moved in to attack one of them, the other one would try to cover for that one and retaliate against Ruby. And she could not tank hits, for her slender and small body would easily fall with 2-3 good hits. Sung-sun, on the other hand, was not as fast, but still faster than the huge mammoth type adjuchas. And given her snake like build, it made it easier for her to move around her enemy. Yet, she wasn't offensively strong enough to damage the mammoth's strong defenses. And a hit from the mammoth would mean critical damage, hence Sung-sun focused half her mind simply on avoiding the mammoth's stomps and his charges.
"Ah..uh….Sung-sun….? I could use a little help here…!" called out Ruby, avoiding a bite from the crocodile. She retaliated by biting at its tail, but was instead thrown off when it swung its tail to break free.
"Sorry, you'll…have…to…make….do somehow!" replied Ruby's partner, slithering around as she said it.
Ruby groaned, but decided she might as well use this chance to practice her new technique that she was practicing with her companions after their first fight together. She imagined a drawing in streams of energy, swirling in to become a sphere, a bright, red sphere at the base of her mouth. Surprisingly, this part had been fairly easy, almost as if it was second nature to her, manipulating reishi like that. But for the bala, she needed to compress it enough that it was about as big as her paws. This was the hard part, and it took quite a few explosions to her face and many other types of fails before she could get it right. That alone had taken her a few days of continuous trials. But eventually, she had such control over the technique that she could even manipulate the size of her bala to make smaller or bigger 'bullets', each one suitable for different situations.
She circled around the crocodile adjuchas and as that one opened its mouth to release a cero, Ruby jumped and stepped on its face, clamping its jaws. Earlier, she'd gotten the crocodile to attack its ally by dodging the croc's bite attack which landed on the panda instead. The panda's body was too large for the croc's mouth to bite, and that's when she'd noticed that although the croc had a large bite force, it couldn't free itself that easily by opening its jaws. So stepping on it had actually proven her theory that the croc's jaw opening strength was pathetically weak. After immobilizing the croc, she shot the bala still charged on her mouth right at the Panda's open mouth that was charging a cero. The bala zipped unimaginably fast, striking true at the panda's mask, destroying it. The croc then started trashing about, pushing her off and taking her off balance. It then struck her side with a mighty swing of its tail.
"GUUUUHHHH!" Her body rolled as she was flung far sideways. Oooohh, definitely felt that one, she muttered to herself, trying to pick herself up. The croc then went after Sung-sun, knowing that she was disadvantaged 2-to-1 and that Ruby was hit and less likely to be a problem.
Although her body was throbbing, her mind was clear. Ruby watched Sung-sun fighting against the Mammoth, with the croc going after her. She'd need to time this right for it to work, she told herself. So she somehow picked herself up, and raced towards the battle, all the while keeping her eyes fixed on Sung-sun and her immediate surroundings.
Almost there, almost…! Aannnnnd…now!
"Sung-sun, lunge to your left!" shouted Ruby, and while Sung-sun initially was taken aback, she did as she was told. A moment later, she noticed that she was tailed by the crocodile adjuchas, whose open jaw would have pincered her torso had it not been for ruby. And that wasn't all. One of the mammoth's tusk had pierced through the croc's open mouth, going through its head. Ruby wasted no time, dashed and took a solid bite out of the mammoth's fore leg. The adjuchas screamed in pain and came down on its knee. Sung-sun wasted no time, charging a cero aimed at the mammoth's face. Just as she fired the cero, Ruby shot out another bala in sync at the leg she took a bite at. The bala hit first, severing the mammoth's leg and further throwing it off balance. The cero did the rest, obliterating the face of the mammoth, finishing the fight.
Ruby and sung-sun breathed sighs of relief, looking around once more to check if the coast was clear. Having confirmed nothing else was following them, the two regrouped.
"That was admirable" said Sung-sun, "How did you know that would happen?"
"He he he, I noticed the big guy moved in a really simple way, stomp, tusk, bash and then tusk again. I knew that other guy was charging behind you too. So all I had to do was time it right. Pretty cool right?" explained Ruby, quite happy with herself. Sung-sun could almost see a self-satisfied smug face on Ruby's face.
-Flashback end-
After that incident, the snake adjuchas actually realized that while Ruby may come off as a childish, happy-go-lucky individual, she certainly had potential for battle, a certain knack for observation, a certain intuition, one might say. Perhaps that explains her interest in weapons, she thought to herself. Heck, she had even gotten used to the crass words that escaped Apacci and Mila-rose's mouths at times and no longer reacted visibly like she initially did.
It looked like Ruby had enough examining Harribel's sword, and was now getting ready to head out.
"Planning to head off somewhere by yourself again…? Hasn't Harribel-sama asked you not to do that? You never listen do you?" sighed Mila-rose, nodding her head. Yes, this was another thing that the cheetah adjuchas routinely did, despite being warned not to do so many times in the short span of a few days. And yet, she didn't let that stop her in any way. She could never be satisfied in just staying in the lair during relatively calm days, and always looked for ways to stimulate herself.
"Hu hu, that's right!" chimed Ruby in response, giving a smug grin. "Wanna come along? I tell you, its really fun! There's so many things to see!" Ruby hoped atleast one of them would accompany her, thereby solving the problem of her being alone when she went exploring. And besides, company was always nice.
"What in that barren wasteland? Really? Are we seeing the same things?" questioned a disinterested Apacci. "No thanks, pipsqueak, I'll pass"
"Sung-sun~~! Won't you accompany this adorable little face along for the journey of your lifetime~~?" said Ruby in a sing-song voice, extending her paw as a means of presenting her proposition.
"Don't want to. Sounds like a pain in the ass" replied the snake, her expression mirroring her words. Ruby then swiftly turned to Mila-rose.
"Nope, count me out, cariño" came the reply from the lioness without even being asked.
"Eehhh you guys are no fun" said Ruby 'pouting'. "Guess I'll just go sightseeing and have fun myself then. Don't complain to me later if you miss out~~!"
"Tch, what's so fun out there in barren wastelands anyways?" asked apacci again.
"He he~~I'm not tellin'~~ Although, I'll give you a hint; I'm meeting a friend!" said Ruby, already leaving.
"How's that supposed to be a hint if you 're just telling exactly where you're going?" asked a deadpanned Apacci "Wait a minute, did you just say friend?! Don't tell me you've been meetin' other Adjucha?! Oye get back here you little squirt, OYE!" She shouted and called out but to no avail. The ex-rose huntress was already outside.
Harribel could only watch all of this, sighing slightly, before she could say anything. At this point, this had happened too many times that she couldn't care about telling Ruby off. Perhaps in her mind she'd half convinced herself that Ruby could handle herself and that Ruby wouldn't listen to her anyways, so it was pointless to try.
Ruby rose sprinted along the desolate sands of Hueco Mundo, her mind euphoric as she soaked in the feeling of the wind rushing as she sprinted. She could never get tired of freedom it gave her, speeding along the dunes not knowing where her legs would bring her next. That's all it came down to; she never had a set destination in mind when she went out exploring, she would simply go wherever her legs took her or she would simply leave it to her instincts.
This didn't mean that she'd always find something exciting though. Quite often, she would roam the whole time with nothing interesting, save for a few hollows, perhaps a few Gillians or maybe even Adjuchas. But being alone, she'd avoid conflict unless it was absolutely necessary or she was hungry. And besides, Gillians were alright, unless it was a huge horde. 1 adjuchas she could manage one-on-one and was confident she would win. After all, adjuchas were usually built bulky and focused more on power than dexterity and speed. She had the advantage in that sense. So even if things went south, she could escape, no biggie. Any more than 1, that would be troubling. So even Ruby never tried getting into that sort of a situation, especially since none of her companions usually knew where she went exploring.
But this time though, it was different. She hadn't lied when she said she was going to meet a friend, except, this one was not yet her friend. But in Ruby's mind, it was only a matter of time. Ruby 'met' this adjuchas on one of her previous trips in the middle of its hunt. Of course, Ruby hadn't dared approach and chose to observe from a distance to see how things played out. Normally, as mentioned, she'd avoid meeting adjucha by herself. But what caught her interest this time was the fact that this adjuchas was female, which one had fewer chances of coming across. Of course, she couldn't really tell this adjuchas was female just by looking, but when she heard her grunt and scream while she battled, that's how she could guess. Harribel did ask Ruby to find other female adjucha that might be having a difficult time surviving by themselves and try and befriend them if she could, so Ruby didn't mind.
This adjucha had the appearance of an ibex antelope slightly bigger than Apacci, sand colored fur covering her body, a black tail like that of a horse, hollow bones covering her midriff, shoulders and arms. She also had long green hair that Ruby could see from the back of her antelope shaped skull mask, her eyes hazel colored. Actually, now that Ruby took a second look, one of her arms was fused with a white lance.
Naturally, Ruby was just itching to have a look at that lance, but seeing as how this adjuchas was in the middle of a battle, she would have to hide and wait till this adjuchas was alone. Ever then of course, Ruby had no guarantee that she wouldn't be attacked.
She's fending really well for herself, observed Ruby. Even though she's fighting 2 other adjucha. And she doesn't even look concerned! Ruby was certainly impressed. Being one herself, she knew how nasty things could turn out fighting 2 of them at once.
Ruby watched a while, and that's when Ruby noticed something. She has no bloodlust, she thought to herself. She reminds me of big-sis, except a lot more docile. Almost like she's looking to end the fight as soon as she can because she doesn't want to fight.
And she was spot on. Soon enough, both adjucha were incapacitated but not dead. The female one put away her arm and galloped away. Sure, the adjucha were growling at her for not finishing them off and leaving them in the dust, humiliated. But the female one didn't care. The beaten adjucha picked themselves from the dirt and darted off. But because the female one didn't finish them off, Ruby had lost the chance of meeting her (since the beaten adjucha were still around). By the time they ran off, the female adjuchas was long gone. Ruby sighed in disappointment.
All that waiting and this is what I get. Life isn't fair sometimes, she pouted to herself. But hey, atleast she got to witness another cool weapon that she could potentially look forward to, so there was something good that came out of it after all, she smiled to herself. Ruby was confident that if she knew the direction in which the female galloped away, she could catch up to her. But she was lost and she wasn't in the mood to go looking so she called it a day.
And that was what she planned to do. As she was speeding along looking for the female adjuchas from the other day, she could sense some reaitsu coming off in the horizon, although she couldn't tell if it was from a single source or multiple. But this reaitsu was not like the reaitsu of any hollow she'd sensed in Hueco Mundo. In fact, it didn't feel like a hollow's reaitsu and yet it also did . Getting curious, she started going in the direction of the reaitsu.
She walked and walked, but didn't come across anything resembling a hollow. Even the bird and lizards that usually littered the dunes of Hueco Mundo were becoming increasingly scarce. But she knew she was going the right way, for the reaitsu that she was sensing was definitely getting stronger on her senses. But still nothing in sight.
Soon enough, the reaitsu she felt actually weighed on her. This had never happened before, even with Tier and this definitely wasn't the female adjuchas from the other day either. But then again, Tier was careful to suppress her spiritual pressure while she was around her underlings in order to reduce the strain on them. And the female adjuchas didn't have this level of strength from what she observed the other time. Still, this was nothing she couldn't handle, but perhaps turning back would be difficult. She wondered if she should press on or head back. Its not like she was hungry or that someone attacked her, so logically, Ruby had no reason to go on investigating. And yet her curiosity was biting into her.
Maybe just a bit more, she told herself. She now really wanted to see the source of this reaitsu, because whatever or whoever was giving it off was immensely powerful. And on she went, the pressure on her increasing even further.
A while passed before the pressure was so much that she could just about walk. It wasn't suffocating, but at the same time, she doubted that she could sprint. Uwaah, this is really intense, she told herself, along with the fact that this was really a bad idea to continue going further. But then again, its not like she could sprint anyways, and whoever or whatever was sending out this much spiritual pressure could easily kill her if they wanted to. So, she might as well try to sneak a peek to sate her curiosity. And so she went, until she finally noticed not one but two figures in the horizon. They seemed to be sitting down in the sand, huddled together.
Hrmm….so it is hollows. Given their human-like appearance, a vasto lorde like big-sis perhaps? If only I can see their faces….
She decided to press on. Now, it was getting really difficult. There was perhaps 20 meters between themselves. She could barely stand but at this distance, she could get a better look at the individuals standing before her. Like Harribel, these hollows, most likely vasto lorde, had a humanoid forms. One of them had the form of a young girl, her face covered by half a mask in the shape of a helmet. The mask had two horns, one of them broken off, with a mark in the shape of a flame over the left eye socket. The girl also had light green hair and pale pink eyes. The other one was in the form of a man with wavy brown hair up to his shoulders, steel grey eyes and the lower jaw of a wolf's skull below his face. Both of them covered themselves with robes of some sort.
How very strange, she told herself. I've never seen hollows like them before. So….human looking. Even their spiritual pressure feels so different.
"Stop" said the female of the duo, "Are you stupid? You'll die if you come any closer"
Ruby stopped, surprised that a hollow(?), especially one that was this strong, would warn her about her own death. Here, it was the fittest who survive and there was no place for the weak. So for a stronger hollow to go out of its way to protect her was strange. But then again, she HAD seen other hollows that fit this description, like Tier and possibly that female adjuchas so it was not so strange, once she thought about it. Still, her business was done there. She wanted to see who was giving off this powerful reaitsu and she did. And the girl was generous enough to even warn her to turn back. There was no telling when the being would change its mind and decide to eat her instead. After all, Harribel only refrained from eating other hollows because she didn't want to gain power at the expense of others. The same could not be said for every other vasto lorde. And yet…she felt she couldn't just leave.
"Um…is it alright if I can ask something?" asked Ruby. "Do all hollows die….when they come close to you?" Ruby had a hunch what was going on, based on the strength of the spiritual pressure of this being, as well as the fact that she hadn't seen a single soul in sight around a large area surrounding these two. Neither of the duo said anything for a while. Perhaps it was the first time someone actually bothered making conversation with them without either running away or dying.
"I'm sure you know the answer yourself, from what I can see on your face" said the man. "But to answer your question, yes. As you can see, this much spiritual pressure would kill most hollows, even if they're adjucha. And I can tell you're barely standing yourself. We have no interest in eating or killing other hollows, so you should take your leave. Go on now." Having said that, the male vasto lorde simply dropped to the ground, lying down looking at the skies.
"Well, you heard him. Go on, shoo shoo" said the girl, waving her off with her hands.
Ruby however, was lost in thought. She was reminded of her initial days at Hueco Mundo, where she was all by herself, fending and roaming aimlessly seeking only to sate her hunger. Sure, she had a purpose, which kept her from having too many self-disruptive thoughts and kept her will strong. Yet, there wasn't a single instance where she didn't wish that she had someone. Even when hunting, she'd be envious of the Gillians who would travel in groups, and sometimes the adjuchas that she would observe that did travel in smaller groups of 2-3.
It was a huge shock when she realized that after a long, long time of solitude, she could finally make conversation with someone without the fear of being hunted or eaten. Even though she'd contemplated on how to converse with someone should the rare chance did appear. All that was blown away when she finally met Harribel and her group. Perhaps it was also due to the fact that Harribel reminded Ruby of the blonde haired girl from her dreams.
But even so, Ruby never hurt someone or kill them simply by being around others. No one should have to live like that, she thought. She just imagined herself in that situation, killing Harribel, Apacci, Mila-rose and Sung-sun just as she walked near them. She shuddered violently. The thought of it was too much to bear. It's decided then, let's give some company.
"What can I call you?" she asked, facing their direction. The male simply looked at her, turning his head. The girl though, grew slightly annoyed.
"You still haven't left?" asked the girl, part surprised, part irritated. "Didn't you hear me, dumbass? From the looks of it, you're barely standing there. And you'll D.I.E if you come any closer. What part of that didn't you get?"
"If I can't come close to you, I can just talk from here" said Ruby, "And besides, you just told me you had no interest in killing me. I walked a long way to get here, so I'd like to stay here a while. You're fine with that, aren't you? If I die, it would be because of my own fault, not yours. Surely you have no complaints regarding that?"
The girl just gave up at this point. "Hmph, do as you wish" she replied. "And to answer your previous question, you can call him Starrk and I'm Lilynette"
So this was a lengthier chapter than usual! Hope you liked it and I think it answers some of your questions! But still I'll address them here all the same. Also, thanks for the info on the ratings, I decided to keep the T rating until the dark parts are written.
Q. Will Ruby become an arrancar? (Firewyrm2)
A. Thanks for the review, glad you liked the story. As for whether she becomes an arrancar or not, I cant really say anything much now without spoiling. All I can say is that I have definitely planned something for her, and don't worry about her being unrecognizable to her friends. When the time comes, she will be.
Q. Why is Ruby so enthusiastic here? She's not penny, in the show she's more reserved and shy.
A. Indeed you're right. But this chapter explains that part better I think. Ruby WAS shy during the start of RWBY. But of course, this is Ruby after she'd become more comfortable meeting others. Also, during her initial time in Hueco Mundo, she was all alone for a long time. Not so strange that she'd be looking to meet someone that she didn't have to eat or kill. Besides, a huge part of it is Ruby finding resemblance to the blonde haired girl from her dreams in Harribel.
Q. How are the dark parts going to be? (Guest)
A: Well, it wont be sexual in nature, because for me, that's not what makes a story dark. Or rather, it wont be the main driving point of showing that something is 'dark'. It will be very psychological in nature. I consider things like Higurashi, Shiki, Kara no Shoujo, some stuff from RE:Zero and such to be 'dark'. This story isn't some hentai doujinshi after all, so even if there is sex or similar themes, it will only be there to show a point and not really exaggerated upon or be a main plot point.
Q. Ruby doesn't hate bad-language, and this is shown in cannon. Why is 'child-like' being equated to 'immature'? (RandomName3064)
A. Ahaha well, it's a bit funny this one. This came about because of some really amazing RWBY crossovers I'd read before and many of them did have this troupe where Ruby reacts visibly to curse words. This was my small way of paying homage to that, and personally, I thought it was cute. But it really was just a one time thing that I wanted to try. You'll notice that it isn't there starting this chapter. And besides, realistically, an innocent child wouldn't react like that to curse words, they'd just stare as if nothing happened because to them, the curse words don't mean anything since they don't know about them. If anything, they'll be curious to know what it means.
Also, I'm not modelling this after Ruby from RWBY. The point I want to show the readers is her innocence and childish nature. I take inspiration from a lot of characters and a bit of my own touch for that to happen. Though this includes some part of Ruby from cannon, I also take inspiration from other characters such as Phos from Land of the lustrous. Because yeah, enjoy happy and frolicking Ruby while you can. It wont be the same after certain events. Really glad you liked the story!
5h1n Z3r0: Thanks a lot for the tip on the ratings, and really glad you liked the story!
Astral Chronicles: Thanks a lot!
Juan Sebastian Borrero: Yup!
Dragonborn2704: You wont have to wait too long to find out!
TooBad69: Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed the story! I'll try my best not to disappoint both myself and all my readers. I answered your question regarding the time period at the start of the chapter, hope that helped!