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REAPER IN RED

Chapter 30

"And that is a victory for Cardin Winchester over Russel Thrush," came Professor Goodiwtch's boom voice as she flicked her riding crop and signalled for the two boys to leave the arena floor.

Cardin helped Russel up off the ground with a clasped arm and the two walked back to their seats with easy-going smiles on their faces. Russel gave me a wink in my direction, though I wasn't sure if the wink was for me, Jaune -who was sitting right behind me- or both of us. I liked to think it was for both of us. It felt good to have a new friend, even though he was friends with a meanie like Cardin. I still didn't forgive him for the stuff he did to Jaune so early on in the term.

"Can someone tell me what Mr. Thrush's greatest weaknesses were during his fight was?" The professor asked, eyes darting between students.

She pointed her riding crop at me.

No, she was pointing to Weiss who was all but waiving her hand madly beside me. Weiss stood up and cleared her throat. "He was putting too much focus into direct attacks. As someone who wields weapons with access to dust-based attacks, he should rely less on brute force, close range attacks which favour Cardin and more on dust-based, long ranged attacks, where his opponent is at a disadvantage."

"Very good. Can anyone in the front row potentially answer this question? No?" She looked around the room, waiting for anyone else she could call on. "It was something that Mr. Winchester said to his opponent before the match. Yes, I did hear it, Mr. Winchester and no, you will not be punished this time for your comments as it was not offensive. Mr. Winchester used his knowledge of his opponent to throw him off his game. By talking to his opponent about a recent dangerous and nearly disastrous fight with a coven of witches, he caused Mr. Thrush to doubt his abilities and grow nervous or anxious of the fight to come. While this tactic has no use against Grimm, it will be very useful when fighting human opponents. Some may consider it a dishonourable method of battle, but in the end, it is about victory. You cannot be honourable when you are dead.

"That being said, Mr. Winchester, we do follow Arena rules in my classroom and as such, I will expect of you not to use such tactics again. Am I understood?"

Once Professor Goodwitch descended into more detail about the fight we'd just seen, I let my mind wander to more interesting things. Not that the professor wasn't super interesting; she was. But, it was all about aura control and use of semblances when fighting certain types of combatants and a whole bunch of other stuff which was just so tedious. Did humans really need to think about all this stuff when they fought?

Well, I guessed it was like Reapers, learn the basics and then let instinct take care of the rest. It had been mind blowing to learn that humans had to train their auras -whatever that meant- in order to unlock their semblances. And how did they unlock semblances? Was it like a key they had to find? Like a key made from aura? Maybe there was a hole hidden somewhere on their bodies that the key goes into and that's how they unlock it! Or maybe it's like a mind game. Like, they just sleep and dream about some super cool power that becomes their semblance. I wonder what my semblance would be.

I guessed it would be my speed, considering that was what I was using as my 'semblance' while attending Beacon. When I ran fast enough, my shadows would spring up from where I stepped and turn into beautiful rose petals and-

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

How did that not click in my head before now? How could I have been so slow? As Weiss liked to say, I was being a complete and utter dolt. And I was! I so, so was.

My magic was working every time I ran fast enough. Without even realizing it, without it ever really clicking, I had been using magic.

I had unconsciously been using magic all this time. I had consciously used magic once when I was really stressed. Could the two be connected in some way?

Could I connect the two?

"Miss Rose will be fighting-"

"Wait!" I shot up out of my seat before Professor Goodwitch could read my opponent's name.

She scowled but gestured for me to continue.

"Can I fight my team?"

The professor raised an eyebrow. Clearly that hadn't been what she was expecting me to say. "And here I was presuming that you were going to use your recent time in the infirmary to back out of this fight. I will allow you to fight your teammates if you so desire. Maybe then you will win by something other than ring-out."

"Oh! Erm…"

"Yes, Miss Rose?"

"Can I… can I also fight team JNPR?"

"Miss Rose," Professor Goodwitch began with a frown. "I will not have you take on more than you are able to handle so soon after what you had already been through. I admire your courage to push yourself, but know when you are pushing yourself too mu-"

"I will allow it."

All heads turned to Headmaster Ozpin standing at the entrance, cup of coffee in hand. He looked completely at ease, leaning against the doorway.

"But headmaster-"

"I am curious to see what a scythe prodigy like Miss Rose here can do when not trapped in a small cave." Ozpin was definitely smirking from behind is mug. I just knew it.

Professor Goodwitch huffed, but waved me down to the arena floor. As I was going to pass her, she grabbed into my shoulder. I forced myself to stop moving, so I wouldn't pull her along with me.

Leaning in close to my ear, she said, "you are as talented as Miss Nikos in dodging attacks. A fight like this against so many opponents demands you make full use of that ability. I may dislike that style of fighting in my class, but against so many, it may be your only hope of victory."

I nodded, smiling.

"Good luck," Professor Goodwitch said as she let me go.

Wow, I had not expected the professor to actually be on my side, giving me hints for my upcoming fight. And there I was, always thinking that she had something against me and my amazing, super powerful -totally not in place because I still had no idea how strong I was compared to humans- fighting style.

I opened up Crescent Rose, spinning it around me, before settling into a low stance. My scythe standing proudly behind me. In front of me were my teammates and behind them were my friends in Team JNPR.

Yang, standing directly in front of me gave me a small smile and a wink. Weiss's sheepish smile belied her anxiousness. Whether it was because she was going up against me, or because I was going up against all of them, I wasn't totally sure. Blake was stoic. I couldn't spot any emotions on her face. Her hands clenched tightly on her weapons. Her knuckles were white.

"This fight will have normal tournament rules, regardless of the fighting space. Do not get in each other's way and once you are out, you must remain out. I will have no complaints as to my rulings, is that clear?"

There were nods from all of us.

"I said, is that clear?!"

"Yes, Professor," we all called out in response.

This was going to be exciting.

I could feel my heart beating loudly, and not in the death was approaching sort of way. This was excitement. Real, and oh so human excitement. I was going to be activating my magic. I just knew it. I had to do it.

Because if I couldn't, I don't know what I would do. What I could do.

Salem, what I should do.

All that would be left to me would be activating it in my Reaper form. Living at least a full month away from my human friends. One full month inside or nearby a huntsman school like Beacon and not get caught.

Well, it had been quite some time already and I hadn't been caught yet. But still, it would be a hundred times worse if I went around looking like a Reaper. It wasn't like I could answer their questions or anything in that form.

No, I shook those depressing and less than helpful thoughts from my head. This was what I had to be focusing on. This was what mattered. I would get my magic to work in my human form.

I would spread my energy and claim my territory.

Great Salem, I will claim my first territory in this place surrounded with humans and finally be safe, really safe, from… from…

I could feel myself getting emotional.

I would claim my territory and never leave it. Not like mo-

"Just start this thing already," I whispered to myself, feeling my fingers curl a little tighter around my weapon's shaft without me meaning for them to. I could almost hear the squeaking of metal from my Crescent Rose.

Darn, I would have to make sure that everything was fixed and orderly after this fight. Me squeezing it too har would be a terrible way to break Crescent's shaft… again.

"Ruby Rose, are you ready?" The professor looked at me. I nodded slowly.

"Attackers, are you ready?"

There were some nods. "Let's break her legs!" Nora cheered.

"Then… Begin."

They all charged me.

I blinked. Shadow exploded around me, swiftly turning into bright red rose petals. By the time my eyes opened once more, I was behind them all.

I spun, my scythe curving in a deadly arc. Pyrrha dodged my attack, just as I knew she would. A hammer rained down from above, as Yang's shotgun gauntlets barked loudly. I heard the telltale poof of Blake twisting into shadow. Ren's buzzing weapons as he fired green shots at me.

And Weiss, standing behind Jaune's shield, sword raised and letting loose a barrage of ice down from above.

I smiled. This was what I wanted, what I was hoping for.

This was going to be enough.

It had to be.

I flung myself forward, narrowly dodging each blow. Some icy hail managed to hit me -which was awesome- but it didn't look to be enough to cause any significant aura drop, even in humans. None of them were reacting at least. That was a good sign.

Pyrrha barged through the mass of teammates, striking down. My arms moved from reflex alone, blocking the strike with my shaft. Then her shield flew forward. No real time to react, I spun my weapon, blocking with the curve of my blade, wincing at the damage it was doing to edge. Then there was a kick.

It struck me in the knee.

I looked to the side to see Blake flipping backwards. I hadn't even noticed she was so close.

Then Pyrrha was gone, Yang taking her place. A sucker punch high. One low. Jabs to the chest, neck, stomach. Everywhere. She was fast. Much faster than she had been only a few weeks ago.

Then there was Nora and Ren, teaming up with such harmony that I barely had time to retreat, only to step into the awaiting strike zone of Jaune. I rolled out of the way, just barely managing to stay inside the fighting arena.

I swung my scythe, unbalancing Jaune, then gently tossing myself at him.

"Oof!" Jaune let out as my face struck true, sending him flying to the ground.

Okay, good. I looked at the monitor, seeing that his aura was only slightly affected by my assault. That was a perfect amount of strength.

My stomach filled with butterflies.

That meant I was getting better, right?

My lack of focus nearly led to my head being severed from my body. Only just managing to duck out of reach of Blake's sword. Weiss's deadly accurate flurry followed suite. This would have been a lot harder without Crescent Rose to nudge away the strikes.

Flipping my weapon around, I parried Weiss and jabbed back. She dodged my strike and jumped back, giving me breathing room for the first time all fight.

I then noticed Jaune whispering to his teammates and mine. They were nodding along.

Then it hit me.

Jaune was also a team leader. And while I most definitely had been in my head about most things, he had really been flourishing in the position. I should have noticed his knack for hair-brained strategies when we went up against the witches.

And now he was leading two teams which were very close with one another.

As they all spread out around me, forming a semi-circle, with my back to the edge of the arena, I let out a slow breath. This was it. The moment of truth.

I shut my eyes and let out a small prayer.

They burst forward as I opened them.

I cannot believe I just split up a fight scene into two parts.

Dragonqueen1993 - It's a-coming!

Alucard45 - Yeah, I also hate the trope of 'this problem can be solved with a 5 second conversation'. So, for this at least, I tried to give a Reaper some self-preserving motivations for not being able to share such a detail with anybody.

ajokitty1026 - That is quite the great summary! Like honestly, I am very impressed. A couple smaller points which were missed, but that is definitely the broad-strokes plot as of now.

Dragon Lord Draco - *shrugs* Who knows what Blake and Weiss might be thinking? ;)

joeytackle - I can see it be more interesting that way. Unless I write a really, really good 'coming-out as a Reaper' scene. Or maybe I just kill off the cast and they never find out at all? So many fun possibilities!

Before I head off for another bit of time, I'd like to say: Thank you all! Reaper in Red has passed 500 follows! That is beyond insane. Like, I never expected to even reach a tenth of this amount. So, I am honoured to everyone who deigned to follow my story as well as to everyone who has taken their precious time to read it. Cookies for you all! And to those who don't like cookies, I shall see you on Thursday! Yes, Reaper's next chapter will come out on Thursday, as is tradition!

See you then!