Chapter Text
One day after turning eight years old, Ruby came home with a black eye.
She hadn’t even planned on talking about it or letting her dad see at all. But Tai just happened to be standing by the hallway as Ruby went towards the stairs. Ruby heard him gasp as he reached down and grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face him even as her eyes remained turned to the floor.
“Who did that to you?”
At that, Ruby finally looked up at him with a frown.
“A human.”
Tai’s expression of horror immediately changed, his brow furrowed and he looked down in disappointment and almost anger at his daughter. “Ruby-”
“What?” Ruby bit out.
Tai didn’t want to let that pass, but the defiant look in Ruby’s eyes told him he wouldn’t get anywhere today. With a sigh and a shake of his head he let go of her. “Just get some ice from the freezer first, alright?”
Ruby at least did that, since her face definitely kind of hurt. After bundling some ice in a kitchen rag she started to head up to her room.
“This is why I want you and Yang to always come home together, Ruby.”
“Well I don’t. I don’t need to be attached at the hip to Yang,” Ruby grit her teeth in anger.
“Ruby-”
“Just leave me alone sometimes!” Ruby shouted at him without a second look and ran up the stairs, leaving him behind. “Elt bizt’e aiwe!”
She knew he didn’t understand those words and that’s why she said them. She wanted him to feel left in the dark.
Ruby went into her room and closed the door behind her, sitting on her bed and holding the ice to her face. It didn’t hurt so bad anymore at least. One of her stupid classmates said something to her he shouldn’t have and Ruby made him pay for it with a bloody nose. That ended up in him being angry enough to punch her back just as hard. She wondered if his parents told him not to hit girls unless they were Faunus? She didn’t care. And she didn’t care that everyone else in class was going to see her with a black eye tomorrow and know she had been in another fight. The only thing that bothered her was now her dad knew.
Now she couldn’t even just relax at home like she wanted to.
Stupid classmates. Stupid school.
Stupid…
“Stupid humans...” Ruby whispered, even as she felt guilty immediately after. She didn’t regret what she had said but she still didn’t like seeing that look on her dad’s face.
She wished she could talk to Blake and Ilia right now but she knew they were busy, they had a schedule that they kept to when it came to calls. Especially with them getting more involved with the White Fang and Mr. Belladonna’s work, they didn’t have as much free time to just talk to Ruby whenever. Maybe when they all had scrolls of their own.
While she was sitting down on her bed—there was a knock on the door.
Ruby frowned. She already knew who that was just from the sound of the knocking.
“Hey, open up, Ruby,” Yang called from the other side of the door.
She got up, with the ice still pressed to her one eye, and opened up her door. There Yang was, arms folded over her chest, looking down at her with a mix of pity, guilt, and annoyance. She knew her sister was fighting between whether to be sad or angry right now. Like she often was. It wasn’t Yang who stopped wanting to stick around each other all the time. Or always head home together or spend lunch together. They both kind of understood that it’s not like Yang could always do that, but Yang had hoped that Ruby would at least try to avoid conflict at the same time. It was an unspoken agreement that could let them both be content. It was something Ruby never followed through on.
Ruby felt guilty about dragging Yang into her problems and making her time at school worse. But she refused to change who she was or act differently just because of her stupid classmates bullying her for being a Faunus.
“What?” Ruby asked, not even bothering to hide her own annoyance right now.
That seemed to get Yang to settle on being angry.
“It’s not fair for you to talk to dad that way. You shouldn’t say stuff like that,” Yang frowned. “He’s doing his best for you and you don’t need to treat him that way.”
Ruby glanced away. “Melize bizt’e aiwe delt tem...”
“Hey! I’m trying to talk to you, Ruby!” Yang glowered—like dad, she also didn’t understand the Old Faunian tongue.
“It’s fine, I just want to sit down right now...” Ruby said. “My head still hurts.”
“Look—you still don’t need to act like this towards me and dad. We’re your family, Ruby. And we’re trying to help you, do you know how much you’re hurting dad’s feelings every time you act like that towards him?”
“I didn’t ask for any of this. I just wanted to go to my room and be alone,” Ruby said.
“Well too bad, now you’re making dad upset.”
Ruby glared at her sister. “Oh, so I’m the one who’s bad today. I’m the one with a black eye, Yang! What about that?”
“I’m not blaming you for that! That’s not what I’m angry about—you’re being unfair!” Yang threw her arms out.
“Just leave me alone already if you’re just going to come here and yell at me!” Ruby grasped the door and slammed it back shut before Yang could say anything else. Her sister could’ve easily stopped it, or thrown it open again, but she didn’t. Ruby could tell she was silently stewing right outside the door, probably thinking of throwing it open. But she didn’t. As frustrated as Yang likely was, she let this go for now so Ruby could rest.
She still had a black eye after all.
Their dad definitely heard most of that argument though. Dinner, if she even went downstairs for it, was going to be awkward.
Everything was just so awkward and uncomfortable now. And it had nothing to do with her current black eye. That was just life right now in the Xiao Long-Rose household.
School the next day was about as fun as ever. At least her black eye and Canyon’s bruised nose were enough that most everyone else stayed away from her for now and didn’t say anything. She could just sit quietly and be miserable like normal. She was almost surprised she wasn’t in trouble but she knew by now that the rest of the school and adults just liked to ignore her instead. Any real trouble would get back to her dad anyways and they didn’t want that just like she didn’t.
Two years so far. She was used to things by now.
Two years with the same dumb classmates with the only change being her teacher each year.
Everyone was a little older, the bullying was different, most had gotten bored of it. She was closer to just being the unpopular girl that no one liked who happened to also be a Faunus at this point. It didn’t help her though. She was still excluded, still had no friends here. And no one cared whenever she spoke about Faunus rights or the issues plaguing her people.
She wished she never had to see any of them again.
But it was still years until Signal. And she was starting to expect things to be just as bad there—even if that probably wasn’t true. Ruby couldn’t shake the pessimism. Dad and Uncle Qrow being there, it should make her happy and optimistic.
But she was still the only Faunus.
Regardless, she was grateful for the silence today. Even more than normal she just didn’t want to talk to anyone. The school day passed by fast enough because of that, class and lunch and everything else, and soon Ruby was walking home down the usual dirt road. Winding through one of many forests that covered Patch.
Between school and home was one of the few places where she could really relax. On days where she wasn’t talking to Blake and Ilia, these moments were her favorite. She didn’t have to deal with classmates and didn’t have to deal with dad and Yang fumbling around trying to make her feel better. She was tired of all the accidentally hurtful things they would say and do. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t their intention, it just showed Ruby that she didn’t fully belong, that she was different from them and always would be.
Sometimes Ruby would take an extra long way home, even though she knew that could be dangerous with the Grimm on Patch. They usually didn’t come to this part of the island but they were never that far either. Still, sometimes Ruby just wanted some more time on her own. Quietly relaxing under one of the trees, taking a very slow walk through the brush, it was just what she needed.
She knew she would get bullied for this too.
They’d say the “snake” liked being in the forest more than around humans.
They’d say she belonged out here with her kind.
She didn’t care.
Today though she wasn’t really going out of her way to put things off, with the black eye she still had she mostly wanted to get home and just lie down on her bed with some ice. There were still books she wanted to read too anyways. Ruby wasn’t as much in the mood to enjoy nature right now.
“Rose!”
Oh great.
Ruby turned her head to see that Canyon had followed her. And he wasn’t alone. There were two of her other classmates with him, both boys, and an older boy she didn’t recognize who was maybe ten or eleven.
“I have. A first. Name,” Ruby glared at them. She wasn’t going to be afraid.
“You think you can talk to us like that?” The older boy said, a smirk on his face.
Ruby’s fists shook. “I can’t because I’m a Faunus?”
“That’s right, and I’m going to make you pay for what you did to my little brother,” the older boy, apparently Canyon’s brother, said.
“I didn’t know you had a brother...” Ruby frowned at Canyon. Two years of class and she didn’t know that. She probably hardly knew anything about her classmates.
Also, this was pretty bad. If Canyon’s older brother was anything like Yang was to her, Ruby was in trouble. She couldn’t even say he had hit her first since it was Ruby who threw the first punch. Maybe that was just too humiliating. He couldn’t stand that a Faunus had actually stood up to him and punched him. If she was just a girl he would’ve been too ashamed to say anything about it, but a Faunus? No, he couldn’t let that go, could he? And now he had told his brother about it and they were going to do who knows what to her.
“You stupid Faunus, you shouldn’t even be at our school. Why don’t you just stay home already?” Canyon’s brother said.
“Because I want to become a Huntress like my mom. Who was also a Faunus, just like me. So I don’t care what you think,” Ruby glared at him. “I bet none of you are moving onto Signal so why don’t you just leave me alone and then we never have to see each other again.”
“Yeah and for the next few years you can keep doing book reports and presentations on all your dumb Faunus stuff again and again… the whole class is sick of you. That’s all you ever talk about,” Canyon said to her.
Ruby stomped her foot down. “Because it’s important! Because it’s important to me! And because everyone keeps acting like you are right now it just means no one has gotten the message! You’re all horrible!”
Canyon’s brother stepped forward. “And you need to learn your place.”
Ruby backed away. “Just leave me alone...”
“You’re not coming back to school one way or another,” the older boy shook his head and raised his fist at her.
Here she was, trembling after stating her desire to become a Huntress. Become a Huntress that would defend humans like these from the Grimm. Whether they deserved it or not. She didn’t want to run. She didn’t want them to see her afraid. She didn’t want them to win. She had to stand up as a Faunus. Right now, in this moment, she stood for her entire species.
“I bet if you were a rattlesnake Faunus your tail would be rattling right now, wouldn’t it?” Canyon taunted.
“Shut up...” Ruby’s pupils contracted, the other boys from her class were moving around behind her. She bit her lip. “R-Really makes you feel good? Ganging up on a girl? You think you’re the good guys right now just because you’re human and I’m a Faunus?”
She took another step back but one of the other boys pushed her and Ruby stumbled forward with a yelp, falling to her knees.
“Hey!” She tried to get up but Canyon pushed her back down. “Stop it!”
“Stop it!~” Canyon teased and grabbed her hair, tugging on it.
“Let go!” Ruby swung out, trying to hit him, but he let go of her and Ruby was left on her hands and knees. Dirty, teary-eyed, angry. She hadn’t felt this helpless and humiliated in a long time.
“You tried to hit my little brother again,” Canyon’s brother angrily glared at her before pushing Ruby again, harder than the others, and knocking her onto her back. “You think you can get away with that, Faunus?”
“Careful, bro, she might spit venom at you if she’s angry,” Canyon laughed.
“Gross… Faunus really are more like animals than humans,” his brother sneered.
“She’d never spit venom, she’s too scared too, she’s always been like that,” one of the other boys said.
“Yeah she wouldn’t even spit at any of the squirrels or birds around school. Probably wants to though so she can have a snack,” the other boy said.
Ruby trembled in fear and anger the more they talked. She shouldn’t let their words get to her like this. Not after hearing them again and again over the years, but she couldn’t help it. It was wrong. She couldn’t just let it go. If she just let them talk like this, let them do things like this without repercussion, they’d keep thinking they were right. They’d do it to other Faunus in the future. How could she let that happen? She couldn’t let them think they could get away with this.
Canyon’s older brother walked towards her, ready to hurt her even worse now.
“You’re just like all other Faunus—you’re a disgusting freak.”
Ruby’s pupils narrowed to the thinnest of slits. Instinct took over the moment those words entered her brain.
No. Disgusting freak. She wasn’t a freak. She wasn’t disgusting.
And she was going to make him pay for saying that.
Ruby’s mouth opened—her fangs coming down just as a high-pressurized stream of venom left from them—shooting right towards his eyes.
He wouldn’t have time to blink or turn away.
Instead something pushed into him from the side, a yellow blur that knocked him out of the way. Yang. Ruby’s eyes widened as the venom splattered harmlessly against her sister’s arm and shirt as she pushed Canyon’s brother to the ground. She and everyone else looked at the deadly dripping liquid for a moment before they realized what had happened. Ruby was frozen. They were all frozen.
“S-She...” Canyon stuttered.
The voice seemed to finally knock some sense back into Yang as she angrily grit her teeth and looked around at the boys who had tried attacking Ruby.
“Get out of here! Don’t touch my little sister again, do you hear me?!” Yang roared.
Canyon’s brother scrambled to his feet and grabbed his brother—running in fear from both Yang and Ruby. The two other classmates ran away with them as well. It was just Ruby and Yang now, Yang breathing heavily, Ruby still almost in shock, but they were safe.
Ruby was still shaking a bit on the ground. “Y-Yang...”
Immediately Yang’s attention fully swung towards her. A just as angry glare still in her lilac eyes.
“How could you do that, Ruby?”
The words hit her like a truck.
Ruby gawked in disbelief but it quickly morphed to anger. “H-How could I do that? They were attacking me, Yang! Did you hear what they said about me!”
“You can’t spit venom in someone’s face, Ruby!”
“Oh...” Ruby’s expression darkened. “So that’s it? Of course you’d take their side… they’re humans like you.”
“Taking their side?!” Yang’s fists shook in anger as she glared at Ruby. “You could’ve blinded him for life, Ruby!”
“So what!” Ruby shouted back. “Maybe he deserved it!”
“You think mom would want that?!”
Ruby froze, but not out of regret. Out of anger.
“You can’t say that. Mom was a Faunus like me. And you don’t know anything,” Ruby pushed herself to her feet and stomped past Yang.
“Ruby!”
“I don’t care, Yang!”
“She didn’t want you doing things like this and you know it! Even if they were bullying you! Mom would never want this!”
Ruby’s teeth clenched and she looked back over her shoulder at Yang. “Culizo.”
Yang frowned. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
That, more than anything else, set Ruby’s anger off again and she fully rounded to face Yang, tears brimming in her eyes. “You’d know if you ever read any of the books I gave you! Instead you’re just siding with the other humans like you! Blaming me for being attacked! You don’t care or understand anything I’m going through as a Faunus, if you did you’d be on my side! How can you defend them and look at me like that?!” Ruby’s pupils narrowed to near paper-thin slits. “It’s because they’re human and I’m a Faunus. Don’t try and deny it.”
“I’m not starting this with you. I’m not letting you just make up an argument in your head and treat me like that, Ruby,” Yang shook her head and started walking towards—past—her. “You know it’s not true so stop it. Let’s go home.”
“It’s easy for you to just shrug everything off… I can’t do that,” Ruby said as Yang walked by her.
Yang still didn’t rise to any more provocations and it just made Ruby angrier. With a frustrated growl she turned and started running back down the dirt road home, bumping past Yang as she went. She knew that annoyed Yang but if Yang was going to be unfair to her then Ruby would do the same. Ruby ran home, but she didn’t stop there or head up to her room, as soon as she got in the front door all she did was throw her bag to the floor and run back out. Heading towards the cliff side where her mother’s grave was.