Now for a bit of a lighter chapter.

REAPER IN RED

Chapter 11

"Jaune, you... killed that grimm for me. Why did you risk your life for a-for me?" Yang and Blake held me up. The world was spinning around me and my head was pulsing, but otherwise I was alright.

More than alright.

I was safe. There would be no strange and digging questions asked of me. Now only I had questions. Or just the one. A question which meant the world to me. Jaune could only shrug his shoulders.

"Because you're my friend. My first real friend and probably my best friend. You'd have done the same for me."

I wasn't sure if he was right, but I knew in my heart that I hoped it was. If anything, I would make sure that I Reaped his soul. He deserved nothing less. I looked around at all of them. Blake and Yang, with my arms over their shoulders and theirs around my waist, looking at me with worried expressions. I remembered mom with that same expression.

Nora and Ren were standing the furthest from us, but their path was directly between us and team CRDL. Their weapons were still drawn. Nora looked like a momma bear watching over her young. Ren, an impassable wall. Pyrrha had already left, following Jaune's instructions to go find Professor Goodwitch. Weiss was all over me, checking for any bumps or bruises. Her lips tight and eyes squinting, checking for anything. She didn't even utter a word of hostility. No condemnations or harsh criticisms or bitter complaints. Just silent work to make sure I wasn't hurt.

And Jaune.

Jaune was his normal self. Maybe a little embarrassed from my intense gaze on him. There was nothing there. No fear for his own safety, nor any hate towards me for putting him in that situation. He had no idea what I was. None of them did. Yet at that moment, it didn't matter to me. I wasn't Ruby the Reaper, hiding among humans. I was Ruby the Reaper, surrounded by friends. I felt my cheeks heat up, but it wasn't embarrassment. At least I don't think it was. Just gratitude. Gratitude for something I hadn't even realized I'd been missing for so many years.

Not since... No. it wasn't even worth thinking about at a time like this. This was a time for happy Ruby.

"Thank you so much."

"No problem. Just remember that if I ever need to borrow your notes."

I chuckled and lightly punched Jaune's shoulder. "Definitely."

"Now that all the doom and gloom is done, I think now calls for a pancake party!" Nora waved her war hammer over her head, smiling with glee.

"A pancake party?" I questioned.

Nora looked shocked by my confusions. "You've never had a pancake party?"

Her gaze quickly flicked from me to Yang and then through the rest of us, her eyes growing wider and expression dropping with each confused look she saw. She let out a loud wale, gripping onto Ren's shoulder for support.

"Ren! These poor, poor people! None of them have ever had a pancake party. You know what? This doubly calls for a pancake party! Ren, you're on pancake duty. Jaune, I want you to find the best movies ever. Everyone else, bring your tushes and any snacks you can find to our room tonight."

"You can't just tell people to come to our room. You need to invite them," Ren said in his normal delicate voice.

"Isn't that what I just did? And how could they say no! We're having pancakes!"

"The world doesn't revolve around pancakes Nora."

"That's what a non-believer would say!"

I giggled at Nora's and Ren's antics, thoroughly enjoying the banter between those two close friends. It felt perfect.

"I think that's a great idea, Nora. I'll bring the cookies," Yang said.

"Is everyone alright?" Came a worried professor Goodwitch marching towards us with a riding crop at the ready.

There were a few nods around me. Nora was shaking her head no, mind undoubtedly still on the topic of pancakes, until Ren nudged her.

"We're all good, teach." Yang said, her grip a little tighter on my torso than just a moment ago. "We had a run in with some Grimm, but everyone made it out okay. Rubes is just a little shook, but that's more because she ran into a tree than was hit by those bugs. Any scratches Rubiroo?"

"She has no cuts, bruises or scratches on her, from my initial look through," Weiss answered instead. "I would still recommend her spending some time in the medical wing. Her aura most likely took a beating as well."

"You do know I'm right here," I groaned, as Weiss spoke about me to Yang and Professor Goodwitch.

"Shush now, the adults are speaking." Weiss replied.

"Hey! I'm you're leader. I can... I can make you do my homework."

"No you can't."

"Well, I can make you do something. And it'll be terrible! Once I think of it."

I will take away her strawberries! No, I will force her to sit down and watch me eat her strawberries.

"If it's taking away my strawberry privileges, know that I rarely eat those. If ever." Weiss crossed her arms with a slight smirk.

Her semblance must also be mind reading.

"I am glad to hear that you are alright, Miss Rose. As well as the rest of you. Know that I will be looking into this matter. There will most definitely be a full investigation into what has transpired here today. Lancers are not common in this forest." The professor gave us all a short glare before turning away, beckoning us all to follow her back to the bullhead.

Airships were still super cool. Even if this was maybe my third time on a bullhead ever, it was still very cool. Or as prissy-pants would say, 'delightfully fascinating'. The whirring engine, the slight back and forth rocking motion as it swam through the clouds, and who could forget the view. It was so pretty!

If I had human emotions in my Reaper form, there would so many missed Reapings. The sky was bright and the trees and buildings below were tiny. Even the people, as we flew over Vale, were like ants, scuttling around from place to place. Doing whatever people do when they don't have school. Probably eating and using the bathroom. People did a lot of that, right?

And there was just so many of them! They moved so quickly, rushing into and out of buildings and with their cars and buses and trains. It was like they all knew where they wanted to go and they just wanted to be there NOW! I couldn't blame them. If I was going to die at any moment I would probably want to do stuff pretty quickly too. Did they ever stop to smell the roses? Or plan things for the future? I knew I wanted to avenge my mother, but that was something I could do in a few decades.

No wait, how long did humans live for again? Eighty to ninety years usually? That only gave me... forty years? Maybe fifty years to find him and give him a piece of my mind. That wasn't a lot of time. And I still didn't know what I wanted to do to him yet!

I brushed off something poking my shoulder.

Where was I? Oh right, tiny humans and their super fast vehicles. What was it like to drive in a super fast car? Or maybe a motorcycle. Yang had a motorcycle back in Patch, I think. Had she ever let me ride on it? I honestly couldn't remember if she had that memory or not. Whatever, I would just need to ask her for a lift and she'll remind me. Or just say yes and we can make a real memory to think back on in the future.

I brushed my shoulder again.

Darn that bug. Doesn't it know when Reapers need time to think?

"Ruby..." The bug poked at me again.

Wait.

"Ruby?" I looked over at Yang, who was staring at me mid-poke. "Everything good in that head of yours?"

"Ya, just stuck in my thoughts."

"Anything you want to talk about with me?" Her voice held her concern. It was quite touching.

"It wasn't anything important. Just thinking about driving your motorcycle."

"Never gonna happen Rubes," Yang smirked. "But, I will gladly give you another ride."

"Thanks Yang."

"Now that little miss red riding hood is back in the land of the living, can we get back to party planning?" Nora said much too loudly.

Nora continued speaking about this and that, nothing really keeping my attention. She did mention strawberries once or twice, which I had to make sure was going to be at the party, but the rest pretty much washed right over me.

Strawberries? Sure. Love them.

Pancakes? Ren's made them for Nora almost every day since I met them. I even tried one when Ren forced her to share.

Hot Cocoa? I don't know why anybody would heat up and munch on bitter cocoa leaves, but huntsmen were always weird like that. Maybe it was like coffee. I bet I could sneak in a whole lot of sugar without Weiss noticing.

Cookies? Candy bars? Popcorn? What were these things! Popcorn at least makes some sense. Corn that's popped. Easy peasy. Corn was alright, but it was sort of hard to chew. Why was it party food? There was so much freaking food. Was this all humans did? Restaurants and the cafeteria and kitchens in their own houses. All for making food. Would it not be easier just to find a berry bush or apple tree? How often did humans need to eat?

Well, Yang and the rest of the team always went for breakfast together. Then there was that free period in the middle of the day where we all hung out at the cafeteria. Hey, they did always seem to have food then as well. And then was dinner. Great, now I'm going to need to research why people eat so much.

Or maybe that was just me.

"Oh my heavens. What are these divine creations?"

"Erm, they're just cookies Rubes."

"Cookies are incredible!"

Why was everyone laughing? How could they not tell me about these things! No wonder humans ate so much. This stuff was amazing. How did I live so long without knowing about these? If I had known, I would have joined the human world years ago.

"Whoa, girl. Slow down," Yang said, patting my back as I wolfed down another cookie. "You hardly ever eat during lunch or dinner with us anyways. Don't want to ruin your tiny appetite with sugar."

"Well, that's about to change. Ruby Rose is going to be joining you in eating food!"

"Hooray? Seriously Rubes, you alright? You're acting like you've never had cookies before."

Oh, right. I guess I'll need a little peak into her memories later tonight to refresh my own. So instead, I shovelled another handful of those delicious things into my mouth and said, "so 'ummy."

Yang gave me a strange look, shaking her head, she chortled. "Ruby, you're such a dork."

"And stop hogging the cookies! Mama needs some sugar!" Nora shouted, grabbing for the tray in my lap.

I hissed.

"Did you just hiss at Nora?" Blake asked.

"No. No I did not."

I hissed again when she made a move for my cookies.

This was kind of fun. Just all of us sitting here in the JNPR dorm room. Ren had come in with a heaping plate of steaming hot pancakes, which earned shouts of thanks from everyone; Nora especially loud. Jaune and Yang were playing some sort of video game on their scrolls, Weiss and Pyrrha were chatting amicably about something and Blake was leaning against a bed with a book and a smile.

This was really nice. Something I would gladly do again.

"Pause that game. It's time for the moment you have all been waiting for."

"Pancakes?" I guessed.

Nora had to think for a moment. "Well, that too. But I'm talking about team bonding! We've known each other for what, two weeks now? Maybe three? Besides Renny and me knowing each other forever and coming to Beacon together -but not together together- and of course Ruby and Yang being sisters, what else do we know about each other?"

"Well, we all found out that Ruby is a glutton for cookies." Yang joked, earning a laugh from the rest of the group and a groan from me.

"Thank you Yang, perfect example." Nora said, pleased. "Ooh, I know. I can tell you all about my super important dream!"

"Please don't." Jaune begged, to which Nora brushed him off with a flick of a pancake.

"So there I was. Surrounded by Grimm of every kind."

"They were nevermore." Ren corrected

"A thousand nevermore!"

"There were three nevermore."

"Huh, three nevermore." Yang said, tapping her chin in amazement. "Strange. It always seems to be three. How come there are never more?"

The room was silent for a moment.

"Yang, you may be my partner, but I'll have no regrets about slapping that grin off your face."

"Shut up Blakey, you know you loved it. Sis, back me up here."

"Blake, I give you permission to slap that grin off my sister's face."

"Hey!"

The group laughed at Yang's expense. This was so amazing. Pancakes, a plate of cookies and these people around me. These...

"Friends."

"What was that Rubes?" Yang's attention turned back to me, a smile still plastered on her face.

"You guys are all my friends. I-I just wanted to thank all of you for that. I've been alone - I mean, lonely, for so long. It's... just really nice."

"Aw, shucks. You know what this calls for?"

"Group hug!" Nora shouted, pouncing on Ren and Pyrrha, wrapping an arm over their shoulders and pulling them towards me.

I smiled and laughed as they fell on top of me, quickly followed by Yang, pulling Blake and Weiss down. I felt Jaune's hand on my own and I gave it a friendly squeeze. Who would have thought that a Grim Reaper would be friends with a pack of teen-aged humans?

I hoped things would never have to change.

I hope so too Ruby. I hope so too.

Alucard45 - I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm still not super confident with it all so I may go back to do an edit of it, but who knows. I still have the rest of this story left to write first. And I will be looking forward to your essay of critiques!

Firewyrm2 - Are you caught up with the show? I'm fine with however it goes. I do hope Ruby remains single throughout the whole thing. Having her paired off with Oscar is weird to me and the idea that she ends up with Jaune is very cliche (main-girl with main-guy). If RT can make bumblebee work, then good on them. If not, then that's fine too. I just want Ruby and Blake to (meaningfully) interact at least once before the show ends!

Guest - Be afraid. Be very afraid. The P stands for pain! Or panic. Or pedantry. haven't decided yet.

Oh, I should probably mention this. From December 20 onwards until early January, this story will be going on hiatus. No, not the 'I super promise I will be back and then never return' type of hiatus. I will be going on vacation and will most likely have next to no internet connection so I couldn't even post if I wanted to. I will however, continue to write so you guys will have plenty more when I come back. That means, it is sad to say, that this will be the final chapter I post until January. Which is sort of a great coincidence as this completely wraps up this section of the story before we start getting into the more fun bits! I will see you all soon and have an amazing Hannukah/Christmas/break!