Chương 1812: 43
Chapter 43Chapter Text
"You… are not human," the orange haired girl stated resolutely, eyes focusing and locking onto Ruby in a way that was distinctly unnatural even in a world of faunus and Aura and Semblances- the way that the irises rotated and made her pupils expand… Ruby gulped, leaning ever so slightly to the side as she raised her hands slightly to try and de-escalate the situation.
"W-well I me-an… I… um… I-I am a corgi f-faunus…" she stated, whimpering slightly as she tried and failed to speak clearly- a problem she hadn't really had in a while when talking to someone else because Beacon had been letting her grow out of her shell and push her to be more comfortable speaking to others- and before that, Signal had helped her be more confident answering questions in class. And now… now there was a very strange girl standing in front of her whose Aura sparked against Ruby's senses like muted lightning, smelling of steel and oil and that static haze that all electronics seemed to have.
"No, you are not," the girl stated resolutely, eyes narrowing as she kept her sword pointed perfectly at Ruby, not once trembling despite having her arm extended in a quite difficult position to maintain for so long. "You are a grimm . I do not know what kind of grimm you are, but your body registers absurd concentrations of grimm matter- thousands of times more than the average Huntsman or Huntress picks up due to clinging residue. Now talk! What exactly are you and how did you get into Vale!?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Ruby immediately backstepped, waving her hands frantically as the strange girl took a step forward, looking somehow so much more intimidating than her cutesy clothes and generally harmless looking aesthetics should have been- if Ruby hadn't literally been made of the stuff of nightmares, she would have been terrified by the sheer intensity in the orange haired girl's green, green eyes. "I'm just a normal girl with normal knees, I swear!"
"You are lying. Even if I had not sensed the amount of grimm matter around you, then your body itself betrays your words!" the girl stated, and Ruby just winced as she remembered just how much of her body was covered in black and red and literal grimm bone all over. She had extra eyes for gods' sake! Oh well. Too late to hide them. "Grimm eyes, grimm bone, and grimm flesh! Either you are a member of the White Fang, who are known to adopt grimm aesthetics to bring fear and intimidation to their words, a member of the Branwen clan, whose leader is known to wear a Nevermore style mask, or you are a grimm!"
"... Wait, Branwen? Like my uncle Qrow?" Ruby blinked slowly, furrowing her brow in confusion- Uncle Qrow had never said anything about a Branwen clan anywhere… then again, he had steered her clear of certain parts of Mistral's bandit territories once because of what he'd called 'a really bad argument with my sister'.
Wait, was Yang's mom a criminal!?
"... Qrow?" the girl stated slowly, not lowering her sword but otherwise furrowing her brow into a slightly confused frown as she looked ever so slightly to the side. Her eyes flashed and seemed to dilate oddly before she blinked twice and resumed her laser focus on Ruby. "Qrow Branwen, former member of Mistral's Branwen clan, Huntsman Class A, no restrictions on record. Service record of twenty one years, license issued by Beacon Academy. Family members on record: Raven Branwen, wanted criminal, sister. Taiyang Xiao Long, Huntsman Class A, brother in law. Summer Rose, deceased, sister in law. Cinder Branwen, Huntress in training, adopted daughter. Yang Xiao Long, Huntress in training, biological niece. Ruby Rose, Huntress in training, niece in law… alternately listed as deceased or a faunus despite having human parents."
"That's me! I'm Ruby Rose!" Ruby pouted, still not entirely sure where the girl was going with everything, though she was rather confused as to why her status seemed so weird when it was very clear that she wasn't dead and wasn't a faunus… technically. She still got treated like one, but… well. She hadn't been born with those ears. Or the tail. "I don't know why it says I'm dead though- I'm right here. Duh ."
"That remains to be seen, grimm who calls herself Ruby Rose," the girl stated resolutely, then frowned heavily as her eyes flashed further and her eyes narrowed even more. "Given your status as a student of Beacon Academy and previous attendance record at Signal, I do not think you are a significant threat to the people around you. However, your existence as a seemingly sapient and non-malicious grimm is something that the General will want to know of. You will come with me at once!"
"Wh- but… I don't even know you!" Ruby protested, shaking her head and backing away further even as the girl dropped her arm and her sword seemingly flew into something on her back on its own (wait, there was a cable there?) before she started forward and attempted to grab Ruby's wrist- only for Ruby to panic and leap away from the clearly insane girl while using her Semblance, disappearing in a flurry of petals before reconstituting herself down the alley. "And I'm really sorry but I don't have time to come with you! I have groceries to buy!"
"Wh- hey! Get back here Ruby Rose!" the girl shouted back, immediately running after Ruby with a frightening amount of speed and power, glaring determinedly as she chased the grimm girl through the alley and out of the other side- somehow keeping pace despite the fact that Ruby was running a lot faster than even most Huntresses could run!
"Why are you even chasing me!? What did I even do to you!?" Ruby called back, whipping Crescent Rose out from her back and unfolding it into its rifle mode while slipping in an entire magazine of blanks in a single motion. As soon as she was clear of the sidewalk and made it to the other side without pedestrians, she jumped and fired downward to ricochet herself up, flinching as the pressure of the round still chipped the concrete slightly on her way up to the nearest rooftop to better get away from the crazy girl. "You're just chasing me for no reason because you say I'm part grimm! Who even are you and what is wrong with you!?"
"My name is Penny Polendina and I am a Huntress in training from Atlas! And you are part grimm! My sensors picked up a grimm signature strong enough to trigger level 2 alert if we were anywhere near the walls! Now please stop attempting to run away so I can take you to the General!" the now named Penny shot back, using an entire array of swords to slingshot herself up and onto the roofs alongside Ruby, the two of them flinging themselves all over as Ruby all but flew across the gaps and tried to shake Penny off of her tail- only to fail miserably, because the (possibly a cyborg) redhead was utterly relentless and seemingly had a perfect lock on her position and followed unerringly no matter how much Ruby juked and weaved, bobbed and bounced and tried to throw off the scent as much as possible without revealing her grimm powers- she didn't want to freak people out or call an actual grimm attack just because she needed to distract Penny for a second, after all!
"And I'm telling you, you've got the wrong girl! I'm a normal girl with normal knees, training to be a normal Huntress! I don't need to meet General Ironwood and I'm not letting you arrest me just like that!" Ruby yelped, dodging a flung sword and diving to the ground below, taking to the sidewalks once again as she ducked into an alleyway- behind, she could hear the loud thud of Penny landing, and she privately lamented that the redhead was trying to effectively arrest her on Atlesian authority because she had a really cool weapon and Ruby really wouldn't have minded getting a hand on on one of those floating swords.
The chase continued a little longer as Ruby went out at random, diving through one alleyway only to flash across the roads at blinding speed and dive into yet another alley- taking shortcuts at random across multiple roads and streets until she found herself smack dab in the middle of the area that she'd told Blake to go- slightly west, towards where two rivers became one and there were a bunch of cruise liners that docked for tourists to go shopping and get hotels.
And at that point… Ruby skidded to a halt before she could crash into the railing and fall over the edge into the water below. She slammed into the thin metal and almost warped it, but she was still relatively safe- just in time too, because mere seconds later a cruise liner rolled through the area that she'd almost crashed down through and came to a slow, easy halt at the docks a few hundred feet to the left.
Phew. No getting flattened by a cruise liner today. It wouldn't kill her as she'd so proven many years ago in a dumb swimming accident… but it'd still hurt to get hit with that much tonnage moving at any speed.
And then a lot of things happened in close succession.
The first was that there was a lot of yelling and running as a blond monkey faunus leapt off of the cruise liner with shouts from the cruise staff to catch the stowaway. The second was that said faunus ran up the stairs, leapt over the railing… and nearly bowled over Ruby, who happened to be in just the right position to nearly catch a flying foot to the face.
The third was that, as she threw herself back, Ruby flung herself straight into the arms of one Penny Polendina, who looked rather unhappy about being led on a nearly two mile chase over the course of less than three minutes.
The fourth was that said faunus yelled out a quick "Sorry!" before using Penny's shoulder as a springboard to launch himself onto a lamp post and further throw himself into the city- nearly on the exact same path that Ruby and Penny had arrived on, but in the other direction. Exit stage left, pursued by cops.
Ruby blinked, suddenly aware of just where she was now as Penny's arms tightened slightly. The two of them looked at each other, then vaguely in the same direction as they watched the faunus go.
"Well. He was quite rude," Penny sighed, gently setting Ruby upright and dusting her off slightly before idly wiping the dirt from her blouse. After a moment, the redhead cleared her throat and smiled a bit awkwardly as she held out her hand as if to shake. "I apologize if I was rude as well, Ruby Rose, but I am not arresting you. As you are a scientific curiosity, I wanted to bring you before the General as an important discovery and as a guest. Forgive me for my abruptness, I am still new to socialization."
Penny bowed, hand still extended, and Ruby…
Ruby only had one response she could give in the face of Penny's sudden sincerity.
"Yeah, okay. That's… fine. I freaked out first anyway," Ruby sighed, shaking Penny's hand gently and shrugging. "Um… so… wanna start over? Friends this time, instead of pointing a really cool sword at my face?"
".... Yes! Friends!"
"Cool… I'm still not letting you drag me to General Ironwood though. I really do have groceries to buy today."
"Oh. Alright then!"
[Objectively the bestest girl on Remnant (Spoilers for Chapter 81)]
[Just like in canon, Penny is still a surprising amount taller than Ruby]
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