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korora12 · 6 years ago

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Ladybug Week Day 2 - Bedtime Stories

Day 1 Day 3

Word Count: 3810

Grimm. Monsters of nightmare, of bedtime stories meant to scare children. Behave, little Tenny, or the creatures of grimm will fall from the sky and eat you. No one knows where they come from or even how they function since grimm fade and dissolve upon death.

What is known is this: they are the greatest danger any space-faring civilization will face. Grimm move freely through space without need of a ship or air, their black bodies invisible against the void and only small white masks reveal their presence. Their method of moving through space so quickly is a mystery. It’s unknown what they eat, or even if they need sustenance. They don’t seem to be intelligent; at the least, no one has ever been able to communicate with them. Where there is one grimm, you can be sure there are more, and their only goal seems to be the eradication of intelligent life throughout the galaxy.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Today was just not Ruby’s day. What started as a simple escort job for a crateship carrying raw construction materials to Draconis 3, known locally as Eltanin, had quickly gone south when a spawner appeared from nowhere. Spawners were massive grimm that ranged in size from football field to small island nation and did exactly as their name implied; they spawned more, smaller grimm. Ruby thanked the stars that the one that had appeared, vaguely whale-shaped and covered in tentacles, was only a little larger than the crateship they were guarding. They would’ve stood no chance against an alpha spawner.

Crescent Rose was fast, agile, and deadly, which made her perfect for dealing with the smaller grimm, and thankfully she wasn’t alone. A second ship, the Crocea Mors, had also been hired for the job. She was an old ship, old enough that she would’ve fit better in a museum than out in space, but she’d been well-maintained and still seemed to function well. She was much slower than Crescent Rose, but her heavier weapons let her crew unleashed hell on the spawner directly.

Still, two ships against an effectively infinite stream of grimm was not good odds, and the numbers began to take their toll. Crocea Mors couldn’t stay on the spawner long enough to do any real damage to it without getting swarmed, and every time Crescent Rose swooped in to pick some grimm off her hide, they were forced to leave the crateship wide open. During one such run, grimm had managed to break into the crateship through a side window. The area had been sealed off from the vacuum of space, but not before several dozen of the creatures had boarded the ship.

Ruby had made the decision to dock with the crateship to protect the crew; Jaune would just have to make do without them for a bit.

Yang had stayed on Crescent Rose, taking control of her many guns and pointing their firing AI at any grimm that drew close. Ruby, Blake, and Weiss had rendezvoused with the crateship’s small crew, then started hunting grimm on foot.

Since this was their first real battle together, Ruby made sure to keep an eye on how her crewmates fought. She herself had brought her lazrifle onboard; her ballistic rifle would’ve been more effective against the grimm, but it was also more likely to blow a hole in the ship walls. Each pull of the trigger caused a small explosion of heat and light wherever she pointed, but only a sustained pulse would be able to tear through a space ship’s thick, coated walls. With a sixteen-centimeter bayonet attached to the end, her gun was nearly as long as she was tall, but Ruby was far too familiar with its heft for that to hinder her.

While Ruby held back and mowed down grimm with near-perfect aim, Weiss was the first to rush in to the fray. She was a materia, a silicon-based species made of light-generating crystals who had made their home on the planet Atlas. Weiss in particular looked like someone had carved a human out of white diamond or glass. Their bodies, though usually mobile, were extremely hard, allowing her to fight grimm up close without worry.

Watching Weiss fight made it obvious why Yang was so smitten with her. She wielded a thin sword and lazpistol in tandem, and the way she moved was like art in motion. One wouldn’t expect a creature of stone to flow like water, but she managed to do just that as she danced between opponents, blade flashing and gun firing. She wore a pair of modded magboots that let her glide across the floor without lifting her feet and could send her shooting towards an opponent like a particularly pointy missile.

Following in her shadow was Blake. Weapons wielded in opposite hands and blade a bit broader, she was nonetheless similarly equipped as Weiss, but the way she fought set her apart. Where Weiss had danced, Blake instead flew. Her naturally high strength and reflexes were further heightened by selectively overclocking certain internal systems, causing her to move almost too fast to follow. Ruby had very good eyes, but it seemed the grimm were not so lucky as they fell to her sword and gun as easily as they did to Weiss’ as she leapt and bounded through their numbers.

The trio was making short work of the grimm when the entire ship suddenly shook. Ruby immediately hit her helmet’s comm. “What was that?”

“Are you kidding?” Yang’s voiced rang in her ear, tinged with panic. “Try looking outside!”

The sounds of battle faded as Blake and Weiss finished clearing out the hallway. “We’re not near a window. Tell me what’s going on.”

“The spawner just latched on to the crateship. I had to break loose to avoid being crushed.”

A new voice joined their channel. “We’ve lowered the barricades on all the windows and airlocks,” Captain Braun, the man in charge of the crateship, said. “Most of the breached areas are blocked off, but the site of the initial breach is still unresponsive. Atmosphere is dropping in the areas ahead of you, and if they get much further, we’ll start losing our shipment.”

“Jaune has an idea for destroying the spawner,” Ren chimed in next, “but we’re going to need some help to line up the shot.”

“Right.” Ruby’s mind whirled. The situation might be different, but what needed to be done was still the same. “Yang, rendezvous with Crocea Mors and give them whatever help they need to kill that thing. Captain Braun, close off the areas behind us. I don’t want this ship to completely depressurize if they break through.”

“You risk getting trapped if I do that.”

As the only member of the boarding party that couldn’t last for hours in the vacuum of space, Ruby was equipped with a skintight spacesuit, an oxygen tank, and a helmet, all worn under a large red cloak. “I’ve got three hours of oxygen. That should be plenty of time to clean up and get everyone inside before I run out.”

Ruby could hear heavy metal walls slam down behind her. She pressed a button on her helmet and it fabricated a clear visor before her eyes, sealing her off completely. It cut her off from most sound, but her crew was fluent in Atlesian Sign Language. “Let’s go,” she signed.

The trio continued down the hallway, more barricades dropping behind them as they went, until they finally reached their goal. At the end of the hall were a pair of massive metal doors partitioning them away from the gaping hole in the ship that Ruby knew was on the other side. Unfortunately for them all, a lot of grimm had made it through before the barriers came down, and some were still there, trying to pry it open. A loud bang on the door suggested there were yet more grimm still waiting to pile through.

Ruby attacked first, using the advantages of surprise and range to take out three grimm before they realized what was happening. One, a round thing held aloft by long, spindly legs, fired a series of white spines from its back. Blake deflected several with her sword while Weiss and Ruby let them shatter harmlessly against their skin and cloak respectively.

The spider-like grimm was already dissolving, courtesy of Ruby’s crackshot aim, by the time Blake and Weiss closed the distance between them. The battle was over in under a minute.

Ruby activated her comm, speaking into the silence of her helmet. “That clears up the grimm that got through. Now as long as the doors hold we’ll be—” She was cut off by a loud clang as both doors shook violently.

“Ruby,” Weiss signed, managing to get her point across despite both her hands still carrying her weapons, “please stop talking before you get us all killed.”

The trio backed away from the doors as they shook again. “Activate magboots,” Ruby signed. The women managed to stick themselves to the floor just in time for a fourth strike to tear a hole between the doors. Ruby’s cloak whipped around her as all the air in the hall suddenly decided it wanted to be outside. The onrushing air pressure bent one of the doors at an angle, widening the gap further.

Small, tube-shaped grimm, each no bigger than a small dog, began pouring through the opening in droves. They were covered in legs, as many jutting upwards as facing the ground, and each leg was tipped with tiny claws sharp enough to dig into the metal floor and pull them forward in spite of the onrushing air. At their size even a lazpistol could do enough damage to kill one with a well-placed shot, but there were so many they threatened to overwhelm them through sheer numbers.

The airflow cut out before the invading grimm managed to fill the space between them, leaving the room depressurized and its occupants free to move again. “Spread out,” Ruby signed, and her crewmates obeyed. Before the grimm could spread in response, she leaned over into a runner’s crouch, gun held tightly in both hands. Lines on her suit began to glow before the world blurred passed her.

Cybernetic enhancements in her legs, coupled with further enhancements in her boots, put Ruby’s top speed somewhere around 100 kilometers per hour while on the surface of Vale. With no air resistance, on a ship with lower gravity, Ruby topped out closer to 200.

Grimm scattered as she sped through them; she lowered her bayonet blade into their numbers, further spreading her range of destruction. With a slam of her legs she leapt high enough to bounce off the ceiling, bleeding off momentum with the help of gravity, then came to a complete stop by landing feet first in a puddle of ex-grimm directly in front of the open doors. Her crimson cloak settled around her, long enough to reach the ground and protect her from the claws of any grimm she missed.

Ruby took a moment, as her crew began picking off the stragglers, to take a look inside. Or perhaps it was outside now. Whatever purpose this room had once served, it wouldn’t be able to return to the task anytime soon. Most of the outer wall was gone. Remnants of window frames hinted at its previous shape, but they had largely been ripped away. In their place was a giant tentacle as wide across as the room was tall. A large chunk of flesh was missing from the end of it, no doubt repurposed into the attacking grimm.

Had the tentacle been responsible for breaking open the door? Much of the room was still blocked off from her angle, but if she could poke her head through quickly, she might get a better read on what they were facing.

Her comm sprung to life in her ear. “Ruby, look out!” Blake shouted.

She was already backpedaling before she could see why. A massive hand, black as night, grabbed the side of the bent door. Another one joined it, then two more. A great heave peeled the door from the wall, revealing the creature behind it.

Even hunched over as it was, the grimm’s head brushed against the ceiling. It’s bone-white mask, bulbous, mouthless, and misshapen, sat squarely between the shoulders of four pillars of muscles that might be called arms. Its furred torso, as wide as it was tall, rested atop four squat legs that spread in each direction for balance.

It tossed the door aside and charged.

Ruby’s crew was already moving before it reached them. Blake leapt straight up, slashing repeatedly at its torso as she rose, then ricocheted off its shoulder. Turning in midair, she began unloading her lazpistol into its mask as she flew backwards. Ruby put distance between herself and the monster and, the moment Blake was clear, started taking shots at its elbows, wrists, and shoulders. Weiss dashed around its feet, tearing gouges and jabbing holes in its legs and knees.

The creature kicked out a foot at Weiss, three stubby toes latching on to her and slamming her into the ground. A brief flash of purplish-white shone from inside her; the equivalent of a scream of pain for a species that spoke with light instead of sound.

Blake was already hurdling towards her, having bounced off a wall to redirect her flight, when she saw her scream. A full-force flying slash severed one of the toes, giving Weiss enough room to stab upwards into the sole pinning her down. The grimm flinched backwards and Weiss was able to free herself. Blake grabbed her arm to help her up, and neither seemed to notice as the monster raised two fists to the ceiling.

Not enough time to warn them via comm, Ruby instead did the only thing she could think of to get them out of harm’s way. She dashed forward at high speed, grabbing both of her crewmates as she passed, narrowly avoiding its falling fists and skidding to a stop in the room beyond their foe.

Blake gingerly rubbed her side where Ruby had grabbed her, but nodded her thanks anyway.

The grimm struggled to turn its oversized bulk in their direction, buying them a little time. “We’re wearing it down,” Ruby signed. “If we keep attacking it from different angles it should have trouble keeping up with us. Stay in motion and don’t lose focus.”

Before either woman could respond, the room began to shake. Ruby’s eyes widened in shock as she had a sudden realization. She’d zeroed in too much on the giant grimm attacking them that she’d forgotten to account for the spawner tentacle still protruding into the room. She’d assumed, based on experience, that it’d used up so much mass making their current foe that it wouldn’t be able to spawn more grimm for a while. She’d failed to consider that it could still attack them directly before she rushed them all into its range. It had no way to sense their exact location, Ruby was pretty sure of that, but that didn’t stop it from flailing wildly until it hit them.

She wrapped her cloak tightly around herself and hoped it would hold up. Weiss was zipping along the ground, dodging the writhing tentacle as best she could. And Blake…

Ruby’s heart stopped beating as she watched Blake misjudge a jump and take the full force of the spawner straight on. She hit the wall and didn’t bounce back.

Ruby screamed Blake’s name and it echoed in her ears.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The world was dark when Blake reactivated. She lay in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. A warm breeze blew through an open window, carrying with it the scent of flowers and grain. She was on a planet, then, which didn’t square up with her most recent memory of being thrown against a wall by a Grimm. Sitting at the side of her bed, head in her arms and seemingly asleep, was one Ruby Rose.

She was still wearing her spacesuit and cloak, with signs of helmet hair clear atop her head, despite the fact that Blake’s internal clock told her over a day had passed. A book lay half-open by her side, next to her discarded helmet.

Blake shifted in the bed and Ruby bolted upright. “Blake! You’re awake!” Her silver eyes were rimmed red, adding to her bedraggled look. “Thank goodness, I was so worried.”

“Hey.” A quick self-diagnostic revealed that most of the damage she’d suffered had been repaired. But still she wondered, “What happened? Is the crateship and crew okay?”

Ruby nodded while rubbing some sleep from her eye. She spoke in a quiet tone, more reserved than her usual cheer. “Yeah. Jaune’s plan worked. Yang says he had a mass driver that launched high-yield explosives straight into the spawner’s mouth. Blew it to smithereens. After that it was just clean up. Most of the Grimm retreated, and Weiss and I were able to kill the one on the ship and get you back to Crescent Rose.” Her hand dropped back to the bed. “But you were hurt really bad, more than Weiss could fix on her own, so we took you to a hospital once we got to Eltanin.”

Blake looked around the room she was in. It most certainly did not look like a hospital room. It looked more like someone’s house. She had a pretty good idea how the rest of the story went.

Ruby balled the bedsheets between her fists. She continued, “when we got to the hospital, they wouldn’t even look at you. They said…” she broke off, looking away. “Well it doesn’t matter what they said. It’s not worth repeating. Yang was ready to start threatening people if they didn’t admit you until one of the doctors pointed us towards a clinic in a nearby town.” She shook her head as if trying to clear it. “How could they do that? Just turn away someone in need?”

“It’s unfortunately common,” Blake answered, though she suspected the question had been rhetorical. “Hospitals aren’t legally required to have someone on staff who’s familiar with FAUNIS biology. Without anyone who can give the proper care, they’re allowed to turn us away.”

“It’s not right.” Blake could see tears forming in the corners of Ruby’s eyes. “You could have died. And they were going to let it happen. People like that…” she trailed off, not finishing the thought aloud.

Blake placed her hand over Ruby’s, pressing down until they finally unfurled. She understood Ruby’s anger viscerally; she’d felt it herself more than once.

When Ruby met her eyes again, her voice was quiet and plaintive, begging for an answer. “Are these the people we’re out here trying to protect?”

It was a difficult question. Blake couldn’t deny that she resented those sorts of people. But she’d also seen where that resentment could lead if left unchecked. “There are good people too, who do deserve protection.” She waved her hand around. “Who was it who took us in?”

Some of the visible tension began to leave Ruby’s shoulders. “Dr. Zong. He’s a FAUNIS too. Most of the town is, from the looks of it.”

Blake left Ruby to her thoughts. This was an important moment, but Ruby had to figure out for herself what it meant. It was easy to go from “these people willfully and cruelly hurt me” to “they don’t deserve my protection” to “the world would be better off without certain people in it”. She’d started down that path once, and getting off it had cost her dearly. She didn’t want Ruby to suffer the same way.

To be honest, Blake’s brush with near-death bothered her a bit as well. Diagnostic logs showed that a crack had formed in her core matrix, the one part of a FAUNIS’s body that wasn’t replaceable. Repairing it would’ve required careful application of properly programmed nanobots, which a hospital not set up for treating FAUNIS likely wouldn’t have had. If left unchecked, the damage could’ve worsened, causing loss of memory, personality, or even identity.

So the pair sat in silence for a while, until Ruby at last broke it. “I’m sorry.” She turned her hand over, wrapping her fingers around Blake’s. “I’ve seen racism before, but it was different this time. I was so scared that you might not wake up. The thought that I might never get to see you again… I wasn’t even that scared when the spawner showed up, but from the moment you hit the wall and didn’t get up, I wasn’t able to think straight.”

There was something more here. Something Blake was supposed to say. Ruby was important to her, Blake knew that much. Even though she’d only known her for a couple months, Blake found herself drawn towards her captain in a way that wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.

She’d told herself at first that her interest was only in trying to prevent Ruby from turning out like that man. But the more she got to know this woman, the more certain she became that the similarities she’d noticed were only surface similarities. At their cores they were drastically different people.

And anyway, getting things right with Ruby wouldn’t make up for or undo her past failures.

Despite that, there was still a definite attraction there, but it wasn’t the sort of thing Blake was ready to put a name to. So instead she said, “Thank you,” and hoped it was enough. She squeezed Ruby’s hand with her own, then pulled it back.

“Of course,” Ruby replied.

Unable to meet her captain’s eyes, Blake’s sight instead fell on the book splayed out on the bed nearby. “Did you fall asleep while reading?”

A hint of pink touched Ruby’s cheeks. She picked up the book, gently straightening creased pages before shutting it fully. “It’s an old adventure novel my dad used to read me to help me sleep. I thought you might like it, so I was reading to you. Not that you probably heard any of it. Is that okay?”

“Of course,” Blake said, parroting Ruby’s earlier words. “Are there any grimm in it?”

“Completely grimm-free. It’s a fantasy story about a married couple, a historian and an archaeologist, who discover an ancient civilization and are changed by its unknown magics.”

“Sounds interesting. Do you want to keep reading it to me?”

Ruby’s face lit up with a grin as she flipped back to the first page. Blake did her best to stay awake, listening as a story filled the air between them, but doing so proved difficult. The air was warm, the bed was soft, and Ruby was nearby. Before the first chapter was done, she’d turned once more to the land of dreams.

#rwby #ruby rose #blake belladonna #ladybug #ladybug (rwby)#ladybugweek #fanfiction #my writing #The Last Frontier #space au #Ladybugweek2k19

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