And the adventure continues!

REAPER IN RED
Chapter 20

We left that night. Blake and me, two silent predators in the dark, sneaking passed students and teachers alike. No camera to record our movements, we snuck around them all. No bushes rustled as we hid behind them, making our way slowly, cautiously, to the Beacon library. The restricted section would be tough to get into. Who knew what mysteries were awaiting us inside. Or what mysteries we would have to endure and defeat to gain access to such an important and restricted place.

I really wish it was as cool as that. In reality, we walked down the regular pathway towards the library, then cut down a narrow path beside the library building. We didn't even bother stopping to check for other students watching us or cameras or anything. Using Blake's nifty ribbon as rope, we climbed up the stone wall, opened up the nearest window which was unlocked and already slightly open, then jumped down into the restricted section.

That was it. No hidden booby-traps, no guards or surveillance drones. Not even a librarian wandering around to check to make sure nobody was inside the building after hours. It was like these people wanted students to sneak in! It was truly disappointing.

All that buildup for nothing.

Maybe I just made it seem like a much harder job in my head. I blame Weiss.

"So, here we are. Anything particular you're looking for? Or just general information about Reapers?" Blake asked, hands on hips.

"Anything you could find on Reapers would be helpful. Powers, territory, weapons, everything." I replied. Best to keep the specifics to a minimum. Did humans know that Reapers have territory? They didn't know that Reapers were solitary creatures...

Blake and I split up, her taking the shelves further to the back and me, towards the front. Nothing was ordered particularly well, with books relating to methods of interrogation used during the Faunus Wars, beside stories about ancient Grimm. I couldn't make any sense of why those two were placed together. Maybe it was just to make things harder for people sneaking in.

I huffed, "boring no-good library break in."

Blake's searching was way more methodical than mine, judging by the growing stack of books she had with her. "Find anything?" I heard a whisper from across the room.

"Nothing really," I whispered back, shaking my head. Where was the good stuff? A book on locations of Reaper herds -I snorted-, known strong-points of Reapers -I never knew there were so many different ways to say 'cloak'- and of course a very helpful book about how it was believed Reapers... mate. I don't think I've ever put a book away as fast as that one.

Gross.

And extremely inaccurate.

I will never get the picture of that Reaper and Grimm out of my head for as long as I live. What were they even doing? It was like... and then... but how... Did humans not even know about the animosity between Reapers and Grimm?! I thought that would have been pretty common knowledge.

I checked the date on the book. Oh, that's quite old. Like, before me old. Hopefully humans have learned a thing or two since then. I tried desperately to shake those memories from my head, cursing my species for not being able to change our own memories.

"Ya, there really isn't all that much. What I could find only makes mention of Reapers. Safety measures to take, average range of their... Presence, I think this book calls it. And their preferred modes of killing."

Darn, nothing super useful. And judging by what Blake had said, most of it was probably wrong. I was hoping for something, anything. Even a sentence to get me on the right path to start would be useful. Maybe a change of topic could help us both. I knew I needed one.

"How are you doing?"

"Huh? I'm fine."

"Blake, we both know that's a lie. I'm me and I'm shaken up."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

I shrugged in response, knowing that people would most likely fill in the blanks for themselves. Every sentient being that I've ever met did so. My guess was that she was thinking about how I wasn't a part of the fighting, but I didn't know for sure. Her thoughts were her own after all. And I wasn't in the mood to indulge my curiousity and check.

We continued going through books in relative silence.

I flipped open a book to a random page, searching for any mention of Reapers. Oh! This one is all about Barghests! I miss Zwei. He was the sweetest thing; followed me around and would help me calm down the dying. Rest in peace boy. I'll find that mortal that killed you and mom. Even if it takes me the rest of his life.

"Trust me, Ruby. I'm fine. Shaken up as well, maybe the occasional dream about the... skin crawler, but no worse than usual." Blake shrugged, trying to hold an air of indifference.

I definitely wouldn't have seen through it if I hadn't spent every night since the docks helping to calm her down from her bad dreams. I told her as much. She scowled.

"Let's just find your book."

"I am sorry," I mumbled. Her bow-covered ears twitched.

She sighed, "you have nothing to be sorry for. You didn't know what Penny was nor that a Grim Reaper was going to show up. We're still friends, right? You didn't even blink when I told you about what I am or what I did before Beacon. Do you think I would -any of us would- turn on you because you made a bad call? If I remember right, it was Weiss and I that paired you off with her. You saved our lives by attacking it when you did, cutting off an arm. And then you went to get help. You, Ruby, are the reason we survived in the end."

In more ways than one, I replied in my head. I put the book on Barghests back in its place on the shelf, having read little more of it since Blake began talking. Sure, technically I saved them, but I was also the reason they were put at risk in the first place. I should have learned how to claim a territory. Then I might have known about Penny when she was in the school. I could have dealt with her and everything would have gone normally at the docks.

We would have fought the White Fang, and Torchwick would have spotted me and bolted and then we would all be together and happy again. It was simple. Just so... simple.

Why couldn't things be like they are in the stories?

"What do you normally look for in the restricted section?" The random question popped into my head. It was light. Easy. Nothing too tense and it broke the disquieting mood that hung between us.

"Anything really. I have my preferred genres of fiction, some of the older texts or first editions can only be found in the restricted sections. But sometimes I read historical logs. There are tons of them in here, most on the higher shelves and out of sight, but they are there. I... I like reading about their adventures. Their hardships and struggles and general thoughts on situations, both new and old. It makes my own problems seem simple in retrospect."

"I guess humans like feeling like the weight of the world isn't on their shoulders."

"Do you feel that way?"

"No. Not really. Maybe, I don't know. Before my mom died, she told me that there were always going to be others who did the same job as me so I needn't be afraid of being the only one. But at the same time, being here, or anywhere, I realize just how untrue that was. There aren't many of us. Not that I could find anyways. And not all of them are particularly nice or even want to uphold our purpose."

"There are always a few bad apples, but I think that most hunstmen pick the profession to do good." Oh right, she was thinking about huntsmen. "And look around. We're at Beacon. There are plenty of us learning to hunt down monsters and make the world a safer place."

Safer for humans maybe, I thought to myself with a slight eye roll. Humans. Ya, they had a lot of species going after them, but so too did they have many helping them out. And still they killed them. Vampires were always of note, as it was so ingrained into the human consciousness that even vampires thought of themselves as monsters and not humans. Then there were the good spirits, many of whom were treated like property and not with the respect they deserved as living creatures. I wasn't even going to start on my own species. I missed mom so much-

"Huh," I recognized a book. "What's this doing in the restricted section?"

"What did you find?" I turned as Blake walked up to me.

Pulling the book from the shelf, I showed it to her. The cover was made from worn leather and it was quite thin. The cursive scrawl of text in a faded gold colour detailed the book's title. "The Farmer's Daughter?" Blake's face scrunched up in confusion, as she handed it back to me, "never heard of it."

"You've never heard of it? It's my favourite fairytale! My mom would tell me the story every night when I was younger. It's about the daughter of a baker and how she married a farmer and then a hero visited them and forced the girl to have his kid, and the farmer raised her and she became the first Reaper."

Opening up the book to the story, I slowly read through the first few sentences, "well, I think my mom may have changed it up a little bit. I didn't think this was written as a sing-song."

Blake shrugged, then paused. "That sounds familiar. Almost like the Hero's Daughter."

I shook my head, "never heard of it."

Blake's ears twitched. "It's a pretty famous story. A summation of an ancient hero's life as well as his downfall. How even after a life of good deeds, he still accidentally unleashed unmistakable evil on this world. It's sad in a way. His destiny was written out before he even had a chance to live it."

"What sort of evil?"

"All of it. Reapers, Grimm, anything that huntsmen and huntresses go up against can be traced back to him in some way, shape or form. Though, I think this story puts a greater deal of significance on him, instead of his daughter like the name would suggest. What was it? The name is escaping me at this moment, it's not like the story even mentions it much."

"Strange," I chuckled, "you would think a story about the hero's daughter would talk a bit more about the hero's daughter. Well, I guess that's also similar to the Farmer's Daughter. She's only mentioned near the end... Hmm, I wonder if they are versions of the same story..."

"What did you say?"

Oh, I had mumbled that last bit out loud instead of in my head. Woops. I repeated it out loud, knowing that Blake had probably heard it with her more sensitive hearing. It wasn't like the stories were anything new. My mom had been told the Farmer's Daughter by her own mother as a child and the story was old by then. That meant it was old. Thousands of years old.

And this Hero's Daughter story. It was... it was just too similar.

That had to be a coincidence, right? A human version to a Reaper story. Right? Or was it something more?

It sparked something in me. A faint whisper of curiousity. And oh so many delightful questions. Why would humans and Reapers have the same story, if it actually was the same story? I knew my version was old; it mentioned Her, for Salem's sake -heh-. Did Blake's version mentioned Her as well?

"Blake? Do you have a copy of the Hero's Daughter that I can read when we go back to the room?"

"Ya, sure. I think my book on fairytales is currently holding up my bed, so we might need Yang's help to get it, but of course. Are you taking that one with you?"

She gestured to the Farmer's Daughter, still clutched tightly in my grasp. I nodded, "It's not really what I was looking for, but it will be nice to read the story again. Hear the story again. Read? Whatever. Want to borrow it after me?"

"Please."

Sneaking out was just as easy as sneaking in. Well, there was the challenge of bringing a stack of books -most of which Blake found- up through the window and back down again. But Blake was super experienced with that. Walking back to our room was similar to walking there. Just two students, now carrying a handful of books each back to our room for what could look like a study session.

Pay no mind to the fact that it was dark outside and the library was well passed closed at this point. But Blake looked unperturbed. So I made sure to look the same.

The Team RWBY room was quiet however. Weiss and Yang were both in their beds, but undeniably awake. Yang let out a breath of relief when we walked through the door and shut off her scroll, getting more comfortable in her bed.

Weiss was still sitting up, hugging her legs against her chest and resting her chin on one. Her expression was difficult to read, but she was in deep though about something. I whispered my thanks to Blake and she hopped into her own bed, placing the books she was holding on a desk. I did the same. I'd read the books later tonight. Maybe after getting an hour or two of sleep.

Even Reapers needed our rest.

Chapter 20! It took how many chapters to sneak into the library? I agree with Ruby, it's Weiss's fault.

Alucard45 - *rubs hands together maniacally* Ruby's outing is gonna be fun. (if it does happen... no spoilers)

Sm0keyPanda - Sometimes you just need a nice, relaxing chapter to calm things down.

lasereye27 - So, I touch on this concept here and there in previous chapters, and it will be explained a little more in the future (albeit, from character perspectives who themselves are biased) so a very, very, very quick explanation is that Reapers can sense a person's natural time of death. Were a person to be stabbed in the chest, if left alone, they would have 60 seconds to live. That is what the Reaper senses. If a doctor is nearby and manages to stop the bleeding and patch up the person in time, then their lifespan (as sensed by a Reaper) would change to fit. The purpose to why a Reaper does what it does has only been hinted at, so you are asking the right questions for sure.

Firewyrm2 - Yes. This entire story started out as a half-page excerpt about Ruby's reveal. So, when and how she is revealed has been planned out since before I started posting this story. That being said, if I revealed her during the last battle, then there wouldn't really be any interesting character dynamics. Imagine what would happen if it was revealed in the last fight. Everyone would be scared of Reaper Rubes, but that's about it. Now, if the reveal happens later? It can be a lot more 'fun'. And thank you for the strawberries!

Dragonqueen1993 - Merci! I shall earn that final star if it is the last thing I do!

FN75 - Glad you enjoyed that interlude. And that that chapter brought up so many interesting points!

Madaar - Which do you think? because one of those is very close to the correct answer and the other one is very close to what humans believe to be the case. :P