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REAPER IN RED

Chapter 46

It was raining. Thick, wet streams of water fell from the clouds, landing on everything. As I laid on my bed, I could hear the heaving smacks of it hitting the windows of the dorm room. Unlike the usual sights out the window, all I could see was darkness and thick, wet streams. It reminded me of my time before Beacon. Before all this.

When I was alone.

Like a flash, I was back there. It had been raining that day too, now that I thought about it. I remember running. I was running so fast. As fast as my legs would take me. She was running along beside me. Long strides. For every one of hers, I had two footfalls. She was so much taller than me. I remember her being scared. She was shouting at me. Telling me to run. To not look back. I'd be safe once I reached home. All I had to do was make it into our cave. I'd be safe then.

I was fast. I've always been so fast. Mom and me joked that if I were human, speed would be my semblance. It was why I chose it for myself.

I was fast, but mom was so much faster. I lifted me up, increased her speed, and then threw me. It was a far throw, but it slowed her down.

My memory flashed forward. It was likely only a few seconds between her throwing me and this next part, but it felt like an eternity.

Mom was between me and him. A hand outstretched. Her scythe matching his. His eyes were like a Reaper's. I was so sure that he could have been one of us. But he wasn't. Of course he wasn't. He didn't move like us. He didn't act like us.

But he had the metal cannister on him. And he had that chain around his neck. He knew mom's moves as she made them. He threw fire dust.

I shivered.

He wasn't throwing fire dust at mom. He was throwing it at me. I was a kid and he threw fire dust at me. He shot it out of his scythe-sword-gun and it almost hit me so many times.

But mom defended me. There was so much fire. He didn't even give her enough time to change into her Reaper form. She could have survived if not for me. I was her weak link. And he knew the area so well. And then he got behind her.

It was over in a flash.

He could have been one of them. Like she was.

The pounding rain brought me out of that terrible memory and into another one.

The icy tundra was unlike anywhere else in the world. It was bereft of cities. Technically it was under the ownership of the kingdom of Atlas, but there were so few humans there it made little sense for them to monitor it at all.

Now that I thought about it, having learned so much from Blake, it might have been because those humans were Faunus. I had Reaped a soul. Just one soul. That Faunus had been dying from the cold. Too far from any nearby village to get help, and too cold to even muster up creating a fire. It was quick. I plucked his soul from his body, and he died with a small whimper and a relaxed sigh. He was at peace.

Then she found me. I was in her territory after all.

That ancient voice never let me forget it.

"My territory."

"My prey."

Chompies.

No.

The rain pelted harder on the glass window, drawing my attention to it.

Chompies were the nightmares from mom's stories. Chompies and Bities were bad Reapers who we had to save the humans from. But she -that thing- wasn't a monster from some story. Even just thinking about it, remembering it without giving it voice… It was still too much. Like the shear sound of its name could call it down from those Atlesian mountains to me.

It wasn't a Chompy. It was real and it was evil.

Yet, without it. Without my near-failed attempt at escaping it, I wouldn't be where I was today.

The rain let up a little bit. It still fell hard, but I could now see Beacon's streetlights still lit up the pathways. The cobblestone path was now covered in puddles still growing as rain fell on them.

The faint lights reminded me of Mr. Torchwick's ship. It was my lifeline. I saw it from a distance and prayed to Salem that I would make it there before it got me. I prayed harder than I ever had in my entire life. That Salem would come and save me and bring me to that ship. If I just reached the ship, I would be safe. That it would stop its attack. Its shouting -no, it's animalistic shrieking- rang in my ears. Its black cloak was as pristine and perfectly black as mine was, yet there was something about it that scared me more than anything. She didn't look any different than any other Reaper, but there was just something about her that felt oh so very wrong.

And sweet Salem, I was never more thankful in my life when I reached that ship before it left port. And even more lucky that it had stopped chasing me. Not that I really realized it had stopped. I was in too much pain to care about much else. I reached my goal, I could die happy.

But I didn't die. When I woke up, the ship was drifting through the water, with nobody piloting it. Because the one person on board was staring at me with so much fear in his eyes.

He was the first human I ever changed my guise in front of. He was the only one, before Blake. I didn't think I would show anyone else after him. Honestly, I didn't fully want to show him, but I needed to go somewhere else and I was on his boat, and I was still in a lot of pain.

When I changed to my human form, me and him had a long discussion. It was surprisingly helpful to talk to a human. Honestly, to talk to anybody at all. It had been so long to say more than just a few words to someone.

It was his idea to surround myself with people "my own age". Not that I was going to correct him on my age. But he dropped me off on Patch, I thanked him, and I didn't see him again until that night on the docks.

My attention broke when I heard Yang's voice. It was so quiet compared to the rain, now pouring so much harder after that lull.

I realized I wasn't the only one lost in my thoughts, looking at that window, into the rain.

"Is she safe out there?"

I felt a pang in my chest at Yang's words. While I was thinking only about myself, Yang was thinking of Blake. Of course she was. Yang was the best person ever. Of course she would think about her partner.

I could feel the words leave my lips before I realized I spoke them.

"I don't know," I whispered.

"I hope so." Yang replied after a pause.

I felt a shift underneath me. Weiss stood up from her bed and sat next to Yang, placing a hand on her shoulder. Weiss gave me a small, almost sad smile, then turned her attention to the rain covered streets below.

Was Blake alright?

Would she return?

Would she forgive me?

Could she forgive me?

Should I just tell Weiss and Yang about me and let them put me out of my misery?

Would their lives have been better if I just stayed away from them? I could have acted like any other Reaper and hid in forests, travelled around and Reaped the souls from the dying. I probably should have given myself some time to truly greave, now that I thought about it. A good few years, maybe a decade, to let myself come to terms with mom's death in front of my very eyes.

Blake had said she needed time to process. Well, she said that it was all too much, but not that it wouldn't eventually not be too much. There was still some hope, right?

I could have Blake back as my friend again, right?

"Why did she leave?" Yang whispered. She turned to me, her voice a little louder, "why did she leave, Ruby?"

I stared back at her, not quite sure how to respond. I could lie, I probably should lie, but I wasn't quite sure what to say. The silence was too long between us. I had to say something. "I-"

A loud crack of thunder.

I saw tears running down Yang's cheeks. "Do you think she quit?"

"Quit?" Weiss asked.

"Left Beacon. Quit. Is giving up being a huntress. All because of that… that Thing." A shiver wracked through Yang's whole body. "I'm so happy you weren't there for it Rubes. I-I don't know how I could have survived if something had happened to you then. I know that Blake thinks… whatever it is she thinks, but it effected all of us."

Weiss gripped Yang's forearm, "Yang…"

Yang sighed, "Ruby, you're the strongest of us. There's no doubt in my mind that you are one of the best in our year, let alone the entire school."

"Yang," Weiss said, a little bit more panicked.

Yang shook off Weiss's grasp. "No Weiss, she needs to hear this." Her eyes were back on me.

"I'm happy you weren't there for our fight on the docks, because it would have shaken you. And I know as your big sister I'm always meant to protect you, but I'm sure that once we graduate from Beacon, your skill will have easily engulfed mine. Maybe all of us combined. There's no doubt in my mind since the first time you swung that scythe of yours around that you would be following in uncle Qrow's footsteps."

I gulped. I didn't like where this was going. Had I really been letting loose with my strength that much? I thought I was behaving pretty normally for a human. Maybe I didn't like fighting people all that much; not like the amount I did fighting Grimm and other creatures. But did that really make me that strong?

"You went toe to toe with Pyrrha Nikos for god sakes. You went toe to toe with her whole team and ours' at the same time. And you nearly won."

Oh. Right. I did do that.

"Ruby. I have no doubt in my mind that you're going to be hunting those creatures like Qrow. Whatever happens with Blake, I know that you'll show her what you are. You're a hero, Ruby. Always have been, always will be."

Weiss sighed. We let the rain fill in our silence. My eyes turned towards Blake's empty bed.

"While I don't think Yang should have said anything, she's right. Ruby, you're our team leader. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but I like to think we've both grown since we started. You're my partner. Blake and I were trying to figure things out about you. Not anything bad per se. Just… you're just so mysterious. Compared to your sister, its like there are things in your past that just don't quite make sense and we wanted to know more about you. I'm sorry for that." Weiss's head dropped down in apology.

"There are still weird things that don't quite add up, but with Blake g-… without Blake here right now, it didn't feel right to continue keeping it a secret. I trust you. And whatever is going on with Blake, I'll make sure that she visits a therapist when we see her again. And we will."

Weiss leaned into Yang, giving her a comforting shake.

"We will."

Thank you all for your patience with this chapter and with this story as a whole! While there was plenty more to the break than just school stuff, please all of you remember that mental health is super important and it's okay to talk to people if and when you need to.

And I finally have my backlog back! It's not huge, but I'm currently writing the chapter after the next one, which definitely gives me a bit more leeway. The goal is to expand this backlog to a few more chapters, but we shall see if that goal happens!

NinjaGogeta - Yes and no.

Dragonqueen1993 - Glad to see it wasn't that bad.

Dragon Lord Draco - Rubes is definitely gonna need it

thewolfgod99 - New chapter indeed! and plenty more to come

firewyrm2 - For sure.

Kayden Delta - Plenty of questions! I will say that as of now, the relics are not going to be canon. That may change in the future, but I've been writing this without any sort of relics, so there is no need to worry about them here.

Shadow Walker of Fire - Thank you! They went really well!

cassnova5424 - Yumm! And thanks

Mexicat03 - It's always fun to play with what each character does or does not know. Makes things more interesting.

TM Calypso - Ruby is a dork that way. Sometimes teachers just call on the students who aren't paying attention.