Back at it again!

REAPER IN RED

Chapter 28

The walls of the infirmary were a strange off-colour white which was really annoying my eyes. The doctors and nurses around me were all -quote unquote- huntsman certified, whatever that meant. Not that that mattered all too much when I was concerned. Though, I was pretty concerned. They were looking at my ears and shining lights in my eyes and asking me way too many questions like "where are you right now?" and "how many fingers am I holding up?" and "Are you okay?"

And for some reason, none of them believed my answers of, "the human healing place", "three", and "never better". Wasn't that what these humans wanted to hear?!

They kept trying to poke me with these things they called needles, but they couldn't seem to penetrate my skin -aura, I told them- much to their growing frustration. It was only until Headmaster Ozpin told them that I would not need a blood transfusion, nor any blood tests did they finally back off.

The questions kept on coming, as did the tests; checking my eyes, ears and nose, sticking a light down my throat, poking and prodding every part of me. All the while, I felt weaker. Slower.

I coughed. It was loud and it was raspy, and I could feel it clawing its way up my throat before it spewed from my mouth. It was not pretty. Was this what humans described as 'feeling under the weather'? Because that was too gentle a term. If I wasn't positive it would kill me, I'd have clawed my way into my throat. I still might do it anyways.

"Are you alright dear?" The nurse said, giving me a small, nervous smile.

Heh, I remembered that smile. I used to give a similar one to humans right before I reaped them as a young child. It was shy in a way. Calming without being patronizing. It always seemed to calm them down before I separated their souls from their bodies. A gentle nick with my scythe and it was all over. No more painful than a light pinch. That's what my mom said anyways. They always seemed happy and at ease when I finally released them.

Wait, did that mean that I was dying? Was the nurse going to tell me that I was going to die? I felt my heartbeat speed up as I began to hyperventilate. This set off another round of coughing.

Okay, maybe I was giving coughing a bad reputation. Bad rep. Bad rap? What did Yang say? Doesn't matter. The coughing did work to help calm me down and force me to breath. No wonder humans did it. Coughing was wonderful!

"Never better," I rasped, giving the nurse a toothy smile.

She let out a soft hum, but it didn't look like my comment convinced her.

"Ruby!" I spun at the shout, feeling a pair of arms fly over my shoulders, wrapping me in a tight hug. Two long ears tapped lightly on my head, sending a ticklish thrill through me.

"Hi Velvet," I grinned, squeezing her forearms to try to awkwardly complete the embrace. We giggled at that.

"I'm so glad you're safe. That you made it out. I was so scared. So worried. I don't know how Coco does it, I really don't. I wanted to try being a leader just once with this, but I don't think my heart could take it." I felt Velvet's tears on my neck. "You were so brave. So, so brave. It didn't really hit me before, you know, adrenaline is a hell of a drug. But holy crap, I was so scared. I'm so glad we found you."

"Thanks, me too." Finally letting go of me, I turned to face her just as she rubbed away the tear trails with the palms of her hands. "It was… frightening in there. Seeing you all about to get smooshed by rocks. I wasn't sure if you all were going to survive."

"Well, we were all just fine. You were the one trapped alongside all those witches. How did you…" her question was left unfinished.

"The rocks killed them all. I… I think they were trying to get me then escape. They didn't move fast enough. I cut off their ears to give to the headmaster. Proof that they're dead and the cave is safe."

"You shouldn't have spent the time doing that, Ruby," Velvet said with a glare.

I rolled my eyes, "I had plenty of time. I found an exit right away."

"I have been meaning to ask you about that," the headmaster said as he opened the door to my infirmary room, closing it gently behind himself. "It must have been quite dark," his voice was too sing-song to be serious or threatening. Neither was the glint in his eye something that conveyed strict teacher. "However did you manage to find the one escape route in a collapsed cave system?"

Was he… was he taunting me?

Best to play dumb. I shrugged. "I don't know. It was really, really dark. I felt around a little bit and found a flashlight and then noticed a light where I could escape from."

I looked into his eyes, feigning as much innocence as I could manage. My books all said that liars look away when they lie, and I was no liar. Well, I was, but the headmaster didn't need to know that. Our eyes remained locked on one another for a tense moment, then he looked away.

"Well," he said with a smile. "It was a lucky coincidence then. A beneficial one that allowed for your safe and quick return to us. Please Ms. Rose, do well to rest up. You will need all your strength and wits for the days and weeks to come."

"Thank you, headmaster," I said with a nod of my head.

"I will let the rest of your friends and teammates see you now. They are all waiting outside, anxious for your wellbeing. Do take care to return their worry with gratitude."

"I will, headmaster."

With that, he left my room, leaving the door open as my friends barged inside.

"Ruby!" They all seemed to shout, wrapping me up in tight hugs, and checking every part of me that wasn't already covered in bandages.

I looked up from the mass of arms to see Blake smiling down at me from the doorway. Her arms were crossed, but she was leaning back against the frame with a relaxed posture. It was a small smile, and her eyes looked worried, tired maybe. But she was at ease. I gave her a bright and happy, toothy smile in return.

"Ow!" I let out when I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

"That's what you get for making me worried about you." Yang said with a relieved glare. "That's twice this year that I thought you might have been dead. Don't let it happen again."

Weiss huffed, patting the spot Yang had just punched. "Don't mind her so much, Ruby. We were told you were fine before you even arrived at the infirmary. Yang just likes to blow everything out of proportion. That something she did when you were kids too?"

I hummed in response.

"Still, don't be the hero ever again. You know I worry," Yang said, hands on hips. "But fighting three witches must have been beyond awesome, right?"

"Totally cool," Jaune said with a small grin. "Scary and a mess, but so cool. Didn't even realize how much of their language I knew."

"Ya Jaune, you were remarkable. I thought I'd have to pick up some of your slack," Velvet laughed.

Ruby looked around. "Has anyone seen Russel?"

"Russel Thrush? The bully?" Blake frowned.

"He wasn't so bad," Velvet waved Blake off. "Once he was away from the rest of his team, he was pretty nice. Followed all my instructions with little to no fuss. I'd say his and Jaune's strategy was what saved us in the end. Before the whole cave-in at least. That was some serious quick thinking. Anyways, Russel told me to tell you to get well. And that he wants another round in the arena with you. Said he needed to get back to his team."

"Nicer than I thought he'd be," Jaune commented.

"Nice guy, wrong crowd," Nora said sagely, before looking around. "What? I can say smart things sometimes too!"

"You are quite the dork," Ren said with a half smile, much to the surprise of everyone else. "What? I do speak and show emotion, on occasion."

A sudden burst of giggles bubbled up from inside me. I couldn't stop laughing. My friends were all just so weird. My laughter seemed to catch, and Nora started to laugh herself, followed by Yang's own guffaws. Soon, we were all laughing so hard tears spilled from our eyes. Even Blake was quietly tittering. It seemed like we all had something worth laughing about. Relief, joy, or in my case a little bit of both, the mood was so light and happy. Even with how tired I was feeling.

"Well, at least we know your funny bone isn't hurting," Yang quipped.

"Boo!" Nora called, alongside Blake's, "you had better ones."

Even Weiss let out a quick, "now? Really?"

All the while I could only smile at them. It was just so awesome to be with them, to be near them. I'd have never thought I would miss these people after being away from them for such a short period of time. Like, it was only this morning that I saw them last, yet it felt like ages. They were such good friends.

We continued to chat amongst the nine of us. Velvet's teammates in Team CFVY even joined us for a little while before snatching Velvet away for a night on the town. Velvet promised she would keep in touch with the rest of us. After a single day, I felt a part of velvet's team. Team… VRAT? Vibrant? SARR? Shark? SATR. Saturn. Yes, I like that the best. With Velvet, Russel and my best friend Jaune, we are Team Saturn! I wondered if we would ever do anything together again. Even if it was getting food together.

Speaking of food.

"Inside the caves," I began, quickly capturing the rest of their attention. "A witch tricked me into following her with a cookie, and now all I can think about are cookies."

Another round of quick laughter erupted from the group. Yang rubbed my head, messing up my hair, much to my chagrin. "Hey!" I squirmed. At least it would give me another reason to brush my hair again.

"Don't worry Rubes, your big sis has got you covered. I'll be back in a few."

"I'll join you," Blake said, giving me a quick look before following her out of the infirmary room without another word. Strange… did she not like infirmaries or something? Apparently, people die in infirmaries sometimes. Maybe she's just scared of that.

I'll try and help her out tonight or something to lessen her fears. That should help.

"But seriously, what was it like in there?" Weiss asked, leaning forward.

Exhilarating. Fun. A little weird to be slapped around my witches, but mostly fun. And intense. It was magical, really. Without it, I'd wouldn't have been able to use magic outside my Reaper form. But judging from Jaune's face, that didn't seem to be the right answer.

"It lit my hair on fire," I let out with a shudder. I had not enjoyed the powerlessness I felt then. "I'm fine, it was just mind magic. Jaune helped shake me out of it. But I hadn't been scared like that in a very, very long time."

Since before I met Yang. Not since Atlas.

I fought down the spark of fear which shot through my body, subconsciously rubbing my hipbone.

"I'm… I'm actually a little tired." I let out a very fake yawn before a real one took hold.

"Alright, we will leave you be," Weiss said, gently rubbing my shoulder. "We'll be back to see you tomorrow?"

I nodded. "Can you tell Yang and Blake thanks for the cookies for me? I'll… I'll come get them tomorrow or something."

"Of course."

Weiss's light, sad smile was the last I saw of her before she left. Jaune and the rest of them said their goodbyes to me, wishing me a quick recovery. I promised Nora I'd tell her everything in detail, even more than what Jaune had told them. I thanked Ren and Pyrrha for coming to see me. Jaune, we gave each other a quick nod. All we needed was a silent conversation filled with mutual understanding.

He left, walking straighter. Taller. I know he felt so much more confident about himself and his abilities after taking down those witches. They may not have been the ones which took his sister, but they were witches all the same. I could sort of understand that mindset. He had proof that he could beat them now. That he could protect others from being in the same situation that he was in.

Personally, I just wished I could take on the same human that had killed my mom. I guess it was different. Jaune didn't grow up learning that witches were important to the balance between Life and Death. Jaune didn't need to worry about killing a witch and then forever changing who he was. On the inside.

I wouldn't either, anymore.

I had magic now. Magic in my human skin. I wouldn't need to fear any human ever again. I was safe.

Sitting there, alone in my bed in the white walled infirmary, I let my mind go blank and flexed my fingers, waiting for that feeling of magic to wash over me as it had in the cave.

I waited all night.

So, with university starting back up again and a severely diminished backlog, postings may slow down a little bit. There will still be one in 2 weeks at the usual time, but after that I may fall off my schedule a little bit. I will be sure to keep you all in the loop to how it's going. Like before, I don't plan on stopping to write this and I have plenty of stuff already outlined for this arc. We are still chugging along!

Also... 100k! We made it! This is beyond insane! I didn't expect the fic to reach half the word count, let alone one hundred freaking thousand. Okay, to be fair, the actual story minus these extra bits at the end is only at 86k, but still!

Sm0keyPanda - Don't I know it.

pokemanik671 - And it shall continue to do so!

c3l3st14 - spoilers. ;)

Dragonqueen1993 - hope it was worth the wait! It probably wasn't what you expected, but you should know by now that I like to drag this thing out! Don't worry, it'll (hopefully) be worth it in the end.

ajokitty1026 - patience young padawan! Oh who am I kidding? I'm just as excited as you are.

Alucard45 - So, a good portion of that will be explained during this arc. I can't say anything, cuz spoilers, but know that things shall be revealed.

TiberiumSnow - thank you! And it will be fun to see what she has to say about it.

JackTheSpades - Oh it'll be fun alright. And Yang's soft reset idea actually came from me having a great idea for how she would react, then forgetting about it when I walked into a new room, then took a moment before I was like: "Yes! Exactly like that!"

theshocker517 - hopefully the wait is worth it!

FN75 - spoilers!

Dragon Lord Draco - Her mother is also dead. Can't make it too obvious that there is magic being played on your mind. Only Reapers are that good.

Weird Crack Shipper - Like I said to Alucard, this will be explained this arc and I can't say anything cuz spoilers. Also, I love all the theories everyone has about Summer and Ruby and the Xiao Longs.

See you all in two weeks!

Sidenote: So, now that Rhodopis, my other long-running story has reached it's conclusion, I am probably going to leave that slot empty for the time being. I have a couple ideas in the works for what I want to put there, but nothing has a big enough backlog yet for it to work. That being said, next Monday, I will post a chapter of a medieval story I have been (very, very, VERY) slowly working on. Updates will be sporadic, similar to Goodrose, but much slower than that, since I'm going for a 4k word count minimum with it. So, see you then with Mytileniad!