Aeon of Roses

act 0-1: Rubedo part 5.1

Cold.

Ruby woke up feeling a cold shiver running through her body, her eyes slowly opening. She was disoriented, and it took a moment for her to adapt to the darkness around her. The young huntress stretched her arms and let out a long yawn.

Ruby felt tired, and there were obvious reasons for that. Throughout the two weeks that had passed, Ruby's life had been nothing but hectic. With Kai's fast recovery thanks to a newly learned spell from Aureolus, Ruby went back to trying to balance her school life and being an assistant to an alchemist.

If Ruby had to be honest about how her life had gone until now, she could say with absolute confidence that it was...

Not good.

Not good at all. Juggling the two had become an almost impossible task as both demanded the young huntress's attention. With her school life at Beacon, there were assignments with deadlines that flew by faster than a bullet fired head-on.

If we also count the new material that has to be drilled and the strategic planning that has to be remembered, Ruby's mind could very well collapse under the sheer amount of new information dumped on first-year students like her.

For example, depending on where you live, the toxin that a manticore carries in its tail can vary from causing paralysis to inducing hallucinations, and even venom potent enough to kill ten adult males. Or consider the fireballs from a sphinx, which are made up of a slimy liquid comparable to ethanol and ignite upon firing. The list goes on with herbs that can be used as antidotes against poisoning, weapon management, and, of course, team building.

'The last one was already bad since the beginning of the school year though...'

Ruby gave a depressing sigh as she slumped deeper into her seat. Not much had changed since Blake disappeared from the picture. They had study sessions, and Ruby was grateful for the time they put into it (even if it was just Ruby and Yang copying most of Weiss's notes and nodding along to whatever the Schnee heir had to say). It was better than nothing. Still, having Blake not around felt wrong. Ever since Ruby's stupid move, she hadn't seen the cat faunus.

Was Blake still mad at Ruby for being inconsiderate? Still annoyed at Ruby for touching a faunus trait without permission? Ruby didn't have a clear answer for why Blake was so upset that she refused to come to school. If this kept up, she would be expelled thanks to her! And the last thing Ruby wanted was to destroy someone's career when she was the one who created the whole fiasco.

Yet that wasn't the only thing that had the young huntress busy. The other side was an entirely different realm of the unknown.

Magic.

Something Ruby first thought was a simple piece of fiction was actually a real phenomenon that defied the very laws of this world. Even if she disliked the original story of how magic came to be, Ruby herself couldn't help but feel a rush of adrenaline when magic was demonstrated right in front of her eyes.

It was so alien, yet the young huntress couldn't help but feel a surge of familiarity. It was like remembering how to walk after years of being disabled. The steps you took felt weird, but you knew how to take a step nonetheless. Aureolus theorized that Ruby's efficiency in controlling her semblance gave her an edge in refining her mana into functional spells. That was the only thing Ruby had going for her, though.