Thanks for the patience with this one.

REAPER IN RED

Chapter 33

It was a quiet day.

Yang was clicking on her scroll, tossing and turning in her bed while playing some sort of fighting game. Or at least that was that it sounded like from all the grunts and groans an "ah ha!" laughs. Blake was curled up in a corner on the floor, a blanket across her lap and a bowl of popcorn to her side. She was caught between reading a book and doing some extra credit work on memory loss. For which course, I wasn't too sure. Probably a medical or health course or something. Every so often, I heard the telltale crunch of a kernel.

Weiss was at her desk, hunched over and writing something for some class. What work she was doing, I had no clue. Our pre-break tests had come and gone -I did so good!- and the professors weren't giving us too much homework to do. I finished all my homework last night and I knew Weiss finished it all well before me. Salem, even Yang was fully caught up on her work.

It was stressing her out. She kept on leaning back in her chair, rubbing her arms and neck. Even scratching her hair.

I was enjoying watching all of my friends. That was probably one of my favourite discoveries in my books on human behaviour. Humans were so interesting that even other humans did some human watching!

Human.

I giggled to myself at having repeated the world so many times in my mind. But truthfully, it was an incredible concept. People watched each other to pick up on social cues, and to just relieve their natural curiosity. Surrounded by my friends, it was so much fun to see how different they all were from one another. Yet, even with those differences, they were all friends. They were all friends with me. It was a pleasing thought.

Were Reapers as diverse in their personalities as humans? More importantly, if a person has a personality, does a Reaper have a... Reaperality? I shook my head. No, that sounded weird even to me. Not to worry. A better name would pop into my head eventually. In all, I could honestly say I did hope that Reapers had a wide range of personalities. Not like Grimm which just followed their baser instincts. Or even Necromancers who had only a handful of different ones. Imagine me being unique. Unique among Reaper-kind. Maybe not in the 'superhero who is the strongest of them all' sort of way, which were popular in comic books and cartoons, but my own person. My own Reaper.

"Ugh!" Weiss growled, spinning away from whatever she was working on to glare at Yang. "Can you please pick a spot and stick to it? Your tossing and turning is extremely distracting!"

Hey, I thought Yang was tossing and turning too! We are such close partners.

"Sorry Weissy." Yang jumped on her bed, bouncing a few times in the mattress and making a good deal more noise as she settled down into a strangely awkward position. Laying on her back, with her legs sticking up straight against the wall, and her head hanging off the bed. Maybe it was a way to send more blood to the brain so she could do better at videogames?

It didn't look to comfortable to me.

"Whatcha working on?" I asked.

Weiss waved a hand, eyes returning to her work. "Just a few smaller assignments from my father. Nothing to worry about."

"Your father gives you assignments?" Blake peaked up from her book.

"If there's nothing to worry about, why the crabbiness?" I shot Yang a dirty glare which she seemed to find cute and chuckle-worthy and not at all scary like I was going for. Be nice to Weiss!

Weiss sighed. "It's nothing for any of you to worry about. If I want to take over my father's company in the future, I need to be up to date on the information of the company. After the year we've been having so far, I have fallen behind. And if I want to join you in Patch tomorrow, then I'm going to need to have this all done. It's time consuming and tedious, but altogether not overly difficult. Just... don't distract me too much." In a much lower voice she said, "I really want to go with you all."

Aww, how cute! I almost ran up to her to give her a ginormous hug.

Instead, I offered to help her out.

"Unless you know Atlesian orology and speleology, I don't know if you will be of much use. Thanks anyways Ruby."

"Your welcome," I smiled and nodded. "But one question. Or is it two? Whatever, what's ororology and spelogy?"

"Orology and speleology. The study of mountains and the study of caves. For a mining company like the SDC, understanding where dust comes from is like the bread and butter of the industry. I don't fully know why my father wants me to learn this stuff. I know he knows none of it. I think he just likes giving me homework."

"I know that feeling," Yang said, pointing a finger at Weiss. "Then again, my dad's a teacher, so I don't think it counts so much. Qrow too."

"Who?" I turned my head.

"Ha! Good one Rubes," Yang chuckled and turned back to her game.

Qrow?

No, nevermind. One thought at a time. It's helping Weiss time.

"I like to think I know some things about caves and mountains. Maybe I can help?"

Weiss looked like she was thinking long and hard about my offer of assistance. Strange emotions flashed through her eyes before finally settling on reluctance. "Fine, pull up a chair."

I skipped over and settled into a spot beside her. In front of Weiss, what she had been pouring over for the last few hours was a map of a section of Atlas which seemed strangely familiar, as well as her cluttered notes in a notebook.

"This is a map of Devils Peak; a fairly mountainous region of Mantle. Pretty barren of human settlement, and the latest land acquisition of the SDC. Oh, and keep it quiet. Technically, this is sensitive information."

Blake snorted in the background.

I nodded my confirmation as she continued to explain.

"There's potentially huge amounts of dusts under those mountains and in the winding caves, somewhere here. Father wants me to look over this map and find areas that are flat and nearby large cave opening. Apparently it's possible to do just from sight alone, but no matter how I look at this, I cannot see to tell what's a cave opening, or just a snow bank, or even if it's just a snow covered tree bent at an awkward angle. Maps I can read. Topographical ones, not so much."

Blake's head shot up, Faunus ears perking at attention. "Jacques Schnee bought Devils Peak? Does he not know the legends?"

"Legends?" Interesting!

Weiss scoffed. "Like those legends are real. Come on Blake. Atop a mountain of blood soaked ice, there she lives the Wretched Witch of Atlas?"

"There's stranger things in this world," Blake said with a shrug. "And witches are real, may I add." With a smirk. Blake added with a smirk.

I thought it was funny.

"Yes, but nobody actually thinks that the Witch of Atlas is like... an actual witch. If it was, huntsmen would have found it and killed it. And that's if you even believe it. According to the 'legends'," Weiss air-quoted. "More like children's bedtime stories. Hide so the Witch doesn't find you and eat you. Hide because the Witch of Atlas can steal the memories of others to lure... them... into... Ruby, see what you can do with this, Blake, I need to talk to you. Like, right now."

Just as fast as the conversation started, it was at an end. Weiss shot out from her chair and pulled Blake out of the dorm room. The door slammed behind them.

I looked at Yang with a puzzled expression. Something that Yang's own face was mirroring.

"Any idea what that was about?"

"Not even a little. Want to play Remnant: The Game while they're away?" Yang shook her scroll at me.

"Maybe a little later. I do want to help Weiss with her homework. Maybe after?"

"Sure thing Rubes. I'll be over here when you're ready."

Giving one last look at the door, I turned back to my homework. Weiss's homework.

Our homework. We're sharing now.

I didn't really understand what exactly Weiss was worrying about with this map. It was pretty easy to tell what was what. Like there was a mountain. Or was it a ravine? And there was a lake... or a tight row of trees. Okay, but that was definitely a smiley face, and oh. Okay, maybe Weiss was onto something.

And what was all this about a Witch of Atlas? A Witch of Atlas that isn't a witch. If the Witch is not a witch, then why call it a witch? Which Witch is which witch?

I giggled.

Heh. A witch that everyone is afraid of. Maybe it's an old one? No, it would have to be a coven of witches, since if it's a legend, then it would be quite old. Much older than a witch could actually live. And witches can't steal memories. Play with perception, sure. But no hardcore mind magic at all. Only we can do that...

I paled. Only we can do that.

The Witch of Atlas is a Reaper.

And it's famous and powerful, meaning it's likely a really old one.

And if it's a powerful and really old Reaper, then it...

Weiss said that it eats children.

If it's who I think it is then, that's actually a ravine. That's a river; frozen solid, but still a river. That smiley face is actually large stone boulders. There's a chip over there that, yup. There's the chip from when the Bitey or Chompy threw me into it. My hip pulsed with phantom pain at the memory. I've been here. There. I've been to Devils Peak. I was cold and I was alone and I didn't even realize I wandered into another's territory. And He had taken her from me and I just wanted to find a city.

Well, at least she threw me in the right direction. I should be grateful for that, in a way.

That memory was both a terrible one, as well as a happy one.

Well, not happy, but the first memory while being alone where I felt confident. It was a shame that man had gotten lost hiking or something. Just laying there, freezing and shivering, with snow starting to pile over his blue body. I sighed at the fond memory. My first solo Reaping -my first solo Reaping without mom watching from a distance at least- that I could truly call my own. I knew I could survive after that day.

And I knew I really, really didn't want to be alone.

I guess that day changed my life entirely.

"What a strange little Reaper, I am. Wanting company," I chuckled with mirth.

I poured over the map for a little while longer, circling some areas that I remembered having caves, as well as marking off some places that I thought were dangerous. And the spot where I last remembered seeing that Bitey or Chompy. Or I guess I should start getting into the habit of calling it the Witch of Atlas.

What a terrible name.

Once I was done, I put down my pencil and jumped onto Yang's bed. Blake and Weiss were still gone, doing whatever those two were doing, but now it was some sister-Reaper bonding time. I brought out my scroll and we played a few rounds of some fighting game Yang seemed to enjoy. The controls were kind of strange, but it was a lot more fun than I had originally thought. This game would go great with cookies.

Yang looked at the door where Blake and Weiss still hadn't returned to.

"You think those two are fooling around?" Yang asked me out of the blue.

"Doing what?"

"You know, they left the room so quickly. Made out like bandits, they did."

"Did what?"

"Tongue wrestling, playing tonsil hockey, swapping spit."

I was really concerned that Yang wasn't understanding my very blank, confused expression. Was I not doing it right?

"Kissing Ruby. Do you think their kissing?"

"What?!" I exclaimed, aghast. "Ew, no! Why would anybody want to do that. It's nasty."

Yang laughed, curled in on herself. What was so funny? It's- it's gross! Why would anybody want to put their face on another person's face? It did not look enjoyable in any of the books I read.

"Huh," Yang breath out, wiping away a joyous tear from her eye. "Never change Rubes. Never change. I hope they're using chap-stick though."

I shook my head with a smile and returned my attention to my scroll screen in front of me.

"You too Yang. You too."

I know some of you were confused with the weird change in schedule thanks to SPKY Week and Mytileniad. But we're back to our regularly scheduled programming. I needed some time away from this fic to clear my head.

Cun - It's a tricky one! What will Blake and Weiss do? My vote is on bribing Ruby with cookies.

Dragonqueen1993 - A little bit of sister bonding time at the end here! But plenty more of that to come.

ajokitty1026 - *shrugs* Who knows? And new details are starting to seep in...

TiberiumSnow - Thank you and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Always so much to learn from a single event in history.

Dragon Lord Draco - Don't worry too much about the little dork. She'll be up and at it again in no time!

Firewyrm2 - That's for you to know and me to find out. Wait... (but all questions shall be revealed in time)

Guest - That's a pretty interesting theory.

FN75 - Does she? Does she now? ;)

Alucard45 - I cannot give you any answers to anything, but just know that I am smiling really hard while writing this. take that how you will. (also no V8 spoilers please! I haven't seen any of it yet!)

TM Calypso - So happy you enjoyed it enough to binge it. Chapters come out (usually) every other week, so hopefully that can satisfy you for a bit! But honest question, when binging it, does the story flow right? Nothing seems to happen to quickly or too slowly? That's always the problem with writing this (and posting this) in chunks. It's hard to tell if things are happening at a good pace.

See you all again in two weeks!