REAPER IN RED

Chapter 62

After all my classes finished today, I went to the room for detention. Unlike my first detention, this one was done in the room right next to Headmaster Ozpin's. It was a funny feeling, knowing that I've had two detentions this year. Three detentions? Right, almost forgot the ones I did with Professor Goodwitch after the witch hunt. That one was boring. I felt like a real human student!

This one was going to be so much fun though. It was going to be with Cinder! I could ask her so many questions like…

And…

Okay, I didn't really have any questions for her. We spoke not that long ago, and I asked so many questions then, but I would think of something when I got there. I always did.

The room itself look like any other small classroom. Desk to one side. A blackboard. A few rows of desks. Funny, I had never been to this class before. I wondered what they taught here.

"Advanced Aura Movement and Metabolic Rates."

I spun around to see Qrow Branwen of all people staring at me from the door. He looked bored, with his hands in his back pockets and his weird slouch, as he swaggered into the room like the killer he is.

"That's not a class you'll be worrying about until your last year. And you'll be how old when that rolls around?"

How old am I again? A hundred fifteen? And what did I tell the humans again? Salem, I should have picked an easy age to remember. Like, what if I was just fifteen years old. Easy as pie. Nothing to forget there. That would make Yang, and Weiss, and Blake, how old? Thirty? Thirty-five?

Oh right, I did say that I was fifteen.

"Younger than you, that's for sure," I said instead.

Qrow's lips twitched up, as his eyes narrowed. "Don't get cheeky with me, Ruby Rose. If that really is your name."

"It is. What are you doing here Q-Uncle Qrow?"

"I'm handling your detention. The good professor and Ozpin's sister voluntold me, so here I am."

Professor Goodwitch and who?! The headmaster has a sister here? I wonder who she is. Or if I met her. It probably Weiss. They both had white hair. Or maybe Coco from Velvet's team. They both wore glasses.

That made no sense. I look nothing like Yang and yet everyone is totally fine with believing that we're sisters. Okay, she is kind of like my human sister and I'm starting to like calling her my sister, but that's besides the point. Sweet Salem, stay on track.

"Who's the headmaster's sister?"

Instead of answering the question, Qrow rolled his eyes. "Like you wouldn't know. Anyways, sit down, shut up, and we can get through this without one of us doing something we'd regret."

"Is this about you still thinking that I'm a Grim Reaper?"

"I don't think that you're a Reaper. I've run into too many Reapers to be completely sure that my memory is up to standard. Yang remembers you, and so does Tai. Ozpin never gives a straight answer, so who knows what he thinks. But, my brain is telling me you are who you say you are."

I breathed out a soft sigh of relief.

"My gut on the other hand…" He leaned over to me, dead eyes staring into my soul. "It's telling me to tear your head from your shoulders and not give it a second thought."

"Good one," I chuckled, letting out a few of the fakest laughs that I've ever faked. He was too close. Had he been this close to mom when he killed her too? All I could think about was the million ways he could take my head off before I even realized.

I was a mighty Grim Reaper. One born to help humanity through to the next realm. My cloak was made of the darkest shadow and impossible for any to pierce through. The sight of me scared even the fiercest of Salemites. And I was shaking like a leaf.

He backed away, leaning back on a desk, "I saw you swing that scythe of yours. You trying to copy your dear uncle?"

Or maybe you're just trying to copy us Reapers.

"You got me! Totally. Yup yup. Just copying you, you know? Just my favourite… uncle."

"You wield that thing much better than I did at your age. You're what, fifteen? I was still trying to figure out how to spin a scythe around me without nicking myself. And you are performing advanced aerial maneuvers without breaking a sweat."

"It's because I've been practicing." For years. Decades even. Mom wanted me to be as good as she was by the time I was three hundred. Now that would never happen.

"Yang told me you were strong enough to be a Reaper Hunter. After seeing you like that, I can believe it."

"… Thanks." Like I'd ever kill a Reaper. Like I'd ever be so sick as to do something like that.

"Y'know. Yang spoke a whole lot about you, with me." He stretched out his long arms, rolling them up and back behind himself to lean on. His legs criss-crossed on the desk, and his attention was at the ceiling. His neck was in clear view, his adam's apple bouncing with each breath and word.

Oh Salem, how I wanted to be no better than a human and cleave through it, just like he did to my mother.

"She was telling me all about your childhood, and… Zwei." His finger's clenched tighter on the desk. "Not Bear, like I remember; but Reapers. Change all sorts of memories, you know? She was telling me about her mom. Your mom. What was her mom's name again?"

Um.

Mom's name is -was- Summer. Yang's mother that she remembers is Summer. Qrow won't remember mom. I never played with his mind to make sure that he remembers mom. How could he remember how great and amazing she is? The only time they ever met was when he chopped her head off, as she was trying to save me.

"I've always just called her mom."

He groaned, rubbing a hand over his eyes and pinching his nose. "You do have Tai's lippy tone; I'll give you that. Or maybe it's my sister's. Nah, if it was hers, Id have been smacked around by now."

Qrow had a sister too?! How many Reaper killers were in this family? Why was everyone starting to have secret sisters all of a sudden. Does Blake have a sister I don't know about? Does Yang? Well, me. But another?

"How about we both say a name on three and hope they match, yes?"

I nodded. Not much else I could do. His body was leaning so relaxed, but the tension in his arms and legs game him away. He was coiled like a viper prepared to strike.

"1. 2. 3."

"Raven."

"Summer."

He tensed.

I tensed.

His eyes widened.

My eyes widened and I prepared to flee.

"Did that damned to hells Reaper change my memory of my own sister? I remember her so clearly… Ugh. Yang said that same. Summer. Has plenty of memories of you both and her. Not that we can really trust our memories when working with Reapers. Something for you to learn before you get into this field. If you ever do." Qrow's posture changed, now fully relaxed, though his back arched in sorrow.

"One thing you should know before thinking about becoming a Reaper Hunter, Ruby. You don't have any friends in this line of work. People die too easily and too often. And even if they do survive, you can never be a hundred percent sure that the things you remember about them are truly about them and not some Grim Reaper messing with your head. Civilians fear their strength and invincibility. We hunters fear their mind magics. There's only the job for us. This job becomes our life. When our friends, family, or ourselves, can just be puppets of the things we swore to hunt down, it's the only thing we can completely trust."

I shuddered.

"You seem like a good kid, Ruby. I wish I could remember you like I do Yang and Tai." He leaned over to ruffle my hair.

I will need a shower to wash off the feeling of his hand on me. My heart tightened. No. Bad me. He may look like a lonely, stray kitty, but he is a murderer. A mom killer. Don't feel bad for him. Just because he has nothing, and no one anymore.

He deserves it.

He… deserves… whatever. I sighed.

There was a hurried knock on the door. Without waiting for a response, the door opened to-

"Cinder!" I beamed. "Erm, I mean Miss Fall."

"You done with big brother Ozzie-poo?"

Cinder smirked, "only I get to call him that."

What.

"Welp, I'm off. Enjoy the rest of your detention, Ruby. I've got better things to do."

"I've taken the liberty of hiding your flask."

"I guess I'm going to be finding a bar. Later Cin."

"Good evening, Qrow Branwen."

Qrow wandered through the door, just as lazily as he entered it, with a last remark of, "yeesh, always so formal in front of students."

The door closed behind him.

Cinder's friendly smirk, fell into a piercing gaze. Cinder's green eyes went right to mine. She looked so much better with her normal silver eyes.

"I'm sorry for being late, Ruby. My session with Oz. Pin. Ozpin. Headmaster Ozpin."

"Is Ozpin a Reaper too?!"

Cinder's hand was over my mouth faster than I could blink. "Hush, child! Do you want to shout our status to the entire school? Especially one with a Reaper Hunter within it?"

My mood plummeted. "Sorry, Cinder. I was just so surprised. I didn't know the headmaster was a girl."

"He's not."

"There can be boy Reapers?!" I whisper-yelled. I was learning so much new stuff!

Cinder sighed and palmed her cheek. "You have Yang Xiao Long as a sister and you still don't understand."

"But, Ozpin knows about us, and Yang is my sister, but also a human under my magic- oh, I get it now."

Cinder smiled.

"You used super advanced Reaper magic to turn Ozpin into a human, to hide the fact that he's a girl and a Reaper."

Cinder frowned.

What? Did I say something?

Cinder rolled her eyes and sat hard on the seat behind the teacher's desk. "Every time I think of how impressive you are, I am reminded that you are still a very young child."

I'll choose to take that as a compliment.

Cinder yawned lyrically. "I've had a very long day, and I would rather not be babysitting you right now."

"Hey! I thought we were friends," I exclaimed. Why was Cinder being so weird right now?

Cinder sighed, "we are as close as a non-parental being can be with a young Reaper. It pains me to say that it mainly is due to your mother, but we are beholden to our own biologies, just as humans, and even Grimm are."

"Mom was amazing, wasn't she."

"Summer was everything a good Grim Reaper should be. The longer I spend around human younglings, the more I come to realize it. Ember would have been…" Cinder's eyes dimmed, as she stared off into the distance, seeing nothing but memories in front of her. "Regardless, you should stay away from Qrow Branwen."

"I know-"

"You don't know!" Cinder slammed a fist into the desk, the echo of the thick wood cracking reverberated around the room. "Qrow Branwen is one in a long line of huntsmen attempting to kill us all. And they are excellent at their job, Ruby. Excellent."

"What do you mean?"

Cinder sighed once more, her previous anger disappearing behind a mask of pain and much too long history. "What did Summer tell you about Reapers?"

I had to think back on that. Cinder wasn't asking me about how Reapers Reap, or do the stuff we do, but Reaper history. A much more complex topic, considering how much we don't like being near one another. "My mom liked to say a thousand humans for every Reaper. She said it was the dream of every Grim Reaper."

"It is. Go on?"

"She said that Reaping was the true final stage of human life. They live, and then they die. We make sure that they pass gently into the next realm, whatever it may be. And Reapers don't like each other. It's so that we… we expand over the world, so that no one area is without a Reaper."

"That is correct, albeit heavily simplified for a child. And what do you know of the Plains of Araguba?"

The Plains of Araguba? "Just what we learned about in class. And what you told us. Blake and me. Also after class, I guess."

"I lost my little Ember there."

"I'm so sorry, Cinder. I know what it's like to lose a mom. Losing a daughter must be just as bad."

"Thank you. But I lost much more than just my daughter. Araguba wasn't just my home cave. It was the cave for dozens of us. A massive network of deals and bargains, pacts and treaties. There was more Reaper magic interwoven in those stones than anywhere else on Remnant since the very creation of Reaperdom by Salem, Herself.

"It was an experiment. Something no Reaper had ever tried before. We wanted… we wanted to try and unify. To become more than our base instincts, and collectivize. Do what the humans did, as it were. Human fears of Reapers had continued to grow over the decades and centuries since Salem, and Reaper Hunting was becoming a much greater threat to our existence. As so, my plan -our plan- was to try and forcefully evolve our kind to being more open to partnerships and community. We would be safer from humans, and still able to do our Salem-given duty. You know what happens next."

"The war between human-humans and Faunus."

Cinder nodded gravely. She flexed her bandage-wrapped hand. "We chose Araguba due to their relative distance from any large populations. It would let us all enjoy our solitude, but also venture into human settlements to Reap, should the need arise within ourselves. It wasn't a great time," Cinder chuckled, "but it was something we all hoped to make work. We were all in some state of hunger. When the battles moved too close to our territory, our instincts took over. We did what Salem commanded, and we Reaped. The humans didn't like that. Many of us fell. We are nigh invincible, but there is so much we can do against a thousand swords for every one of us. Especially when we don't kill humans."

"Ember died."

"Ember… Ember was put down. It wasn't a peaceful death, but it was something that had to be done."

I frowned. What a strange way of wording that. "How did she…"

"Me. I killed her. I slew my own precious daughter." There were tears in Cinder's eyes, falling freely down her face. Her entire body was shaking, holding back sobs. I moved to get up, and wrap her in a hug, but I was forced back into my seat by the unbridled power that she was giving off in her emotional state. She rubbed at her tear streaks with the back of her hand. Coughing out her final tears. "But, I digress. We can talk more about myself and my daughter another time. I was telling you about Reaperdom and Reaper Hunters."

Nodding, I let her return the subject back to where it had been. I would think more on her being a Bitey or Chompy when I was by myself. I couldn't shudder. I wouldn't show any newfound sense of fear. Cinder had been a mentor to me for some time now, and was holding my territory while I got better. I wouldn't let the unknown scare me. Especially this kind of unknown.

I'll need to talk to Blake about it.

I wish I could talk to my whole team, but… Yang and Weiss wouldn't understand. Weiss particularly. I scared her more than anyone else, when we fought the Skin-Crawler. She still sometimes had nightmares about it.

"The humans killed so many of us before they retreated. We had put too many eggs into one basket. Our already shrinking population was dwindling. There… aren't many of us left. Summer, she had the idea of reshaping human opinion of us. Not for the better, like so many before had tried, but for the worse. Let propaganda spread that we were nigh impossible to kill. For every one Reaper seen, there was a dozen-dozen more that killed unseen. If we became the stuff of nightmare, then there would be less humans trying to kill us. It helped in part that most of what was spread was factual. Reapers are nigh immortal, and near fully invincible in our Reaper guise. Humans were already terrified of us due to our link with death, and so it was a short leap to what it is now. Not to mention, it scared off thousands of people from becoming Reaper Hunters. That did mean that those that chose to join the profession are that much better, but as we are so few, we can escape them most of the time. Even the history of the Plains of Araguba was heavily propagandized. They know that they killed a few of us, but they don't know how destructive that one battle was…"

I let Cinder's words trail off into a deep silence. I let it continue, as my mind digested the story she had told me. My mom was the reason why Blake had fled from me when she first found out. Why Weiss was still having nightmares about seeing me once. I didn't know how to feel about that. Mom was the perfect mother. She was the best Reaper ever! And she caused so much fear and mistrust.

"Qrow Branwen is one of the new generations of Reaper Hunters. Who has grown up and lived through our propaganda. He has trained in every way possible to exterminate Reaper-kind. He can sense us, like so many master aura users. His semblance is powerful, especially against our kind. He-"

"He killed my mom." I ground out, standing up from my seat. I could feel shadow swirl around me, as my emotions were rampaging through my head. "Mom told me to run. If I could just get to her territory, I would be safe and she would join me. But by the time I got to our cave, the territory was gone, and mom never showed up. I know how dangerous Qrow is."

"Good."

I stepped around my desk, and up to hers.

"Cinder, I want my territory back."

"As I told you, you can get it when you are back to full strength. And when you can take it from me."

"Then let me take it. Please."

"No, Ruby. I know all this talk of Summer and Qrow is affecting you and your emotions, but you are not ready to command a territory yet."

"When will I be ready, then?" I wasn't liking her talking down to me so much. Something about this talk of mom and my territory was pulling at something inside me.

"When you understand."

"Understand what?"

"Why you and I aren't the same. Why I and so many other Reapers respected Summer. And why we do what we do." What did that even mean?

"Then tell me!"

"Detention is over. Get out. You are a solitary Grim Reaper, and you are a student at one of the oldest schools on Remnant. Figure it out yourself."