Chapter Text
She’s lying.
“What? Who said that?” Ruby pushed herself up from the couch, looking around for the source of the voice, confused by the unfamiliar sound.
“I told you, I’m going out with friends. You have the house to yourself for the night, try not to burn it down.”
As she hunted for the source of the voice, Ruby momentarily glanced at her sister in the kitchen- only for her attention to be immediately locked in on Yang. She was on her way out the door as usual, but something was out of place. Air shimmered and pulsed in waves around her, as though heat was radiating off of her body- but it was more than heat, it was something… dangerous. Anger? She hadn’t seemed angry before, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Yang’s mood had changed on a dime.
“Yang? Are you… are you mad at me?”
Yang turned around, red eyes glowering down at her sister. Ruby inhaled sharply and immediately took a few steps back, the couch serving as impromptu-but-inadequate cover. That wasn’t right; Yang’s eyes were lilac, they’d always been lilac. Sometimes they looked red for a moment, but it was just a trick of the light. But it didn’t seem like a trick right now as Yang stared at her with eyes that smoldered like burning coal, and they only glowed hotter as the seconds passed.
“No, of course not. Why would you say that?”
“I just- a vibe, sorry. It was a dumb thing to say,” Ruby backtracked, forcing a smile onto her face.
“Hey…” Yang said, soft voice mismatched against a harsh expression as she walked towards Ruby. “Did you want me to stay? I can skip, it’s not that important.”
Danger. Run or fight.
The aura of rage pulsated and crashed against Ruby as Yang approached, so intense that it felt like it was choking the air from her lungs. Ruby’s heart hammered in her chest, but she didn’t know why. That was a lie; she knew why, but she didn’t understand why.
Run or fight!
Yang was right in front of her, wearing a smile and- did she always have such pronounced canines? They weren’t huge, and to be honest they didn’t even seem bigger than normal, but they were exceptionally noticeable at the moment. Ruby couldn’t help but think about what they’d look like as they bit into-
“Ruby? Are you okay?”
Ruby snapped back, blinking. Yang was looking at her with an often-seen soft expression and concerned purple eyes. Her teeth looked normal- no, they were normal- and Ruby no longer felt like she was about to drown in boiling water.
“Hey- yeah, I’m okay, I just kinda zoned out. Stay safe, okay? You know the full moon, it brings out all the crazies,” Ruby said, smiling as if she didn’t just feel like prey being backed into a corner, as if her heart wasn’t still beating out of her chest.
Yang laughed and slung her leather jacket over her shoulder, ruffling Ruby’s hair before turning to leave. “Yeah yeah. I will, sis, I promise. I’ll see you later.”
The door slammed shut and with that, everything was normal.
Ruby looked around the living room. The TV was turned off, there were sloppily stacked magazines on the couch, and Zwei was curled up in his bed. The red eyes- was it just a weird effect from the setting sun cascading in through the window?
Everything was alright.
Ruby looked around the kitchen. Dirty plates sat next to the sink, half a casserole was left on the counter, and the faucet dripped with a slow leak. The heat- maybe they had left the oven on after they cooked dinner?
Predators gather.
Ruby’s eyes flew open wide, looking around as she heard the voice once again. No, no, she wasn’t crazy. That was no panic attack, no trick of the light, no kitchen appliance errantly left on. Her sister- if it really was her sister- was something other than human. Ruby didn’t know what she was, but she would find out.
Nothing was normal. Nothing was alright.
“Come on come on, pick up!”
Ruby paced in the living room, staring desperately at her phone until it finally lit up.
“This is Tai-”
“Dad! Something is wrong-”
“-and I can’t pick up right now. Leave your name and I’ll get back to you ASAP!”
Ruby let out an exasperated groan as she waited for the beep. “Dad it’s me. Something’s wrong with Yang, I don’t- she went out, and I thought she was mad at me an-and she had glowing red eyes and idontknowwhathappened,” she said, pausing to take a deep breath. “Please just call me! I’m gonna try Uncle Qrow.”
She hung up and tried a different number, only to be greeted by a generic message. After a moment of anger (“Why isn’t anyone answering?!”) Ruby left a similar voicemail for her uncle. She tossed her phone at the couch, rubbing her temples as she continued to think about the situation. As her eyes fell on her keys, hanging on a hook next to the door in the kitchen, a plan started to take form.
‘What if it’s not her? What if it’s just something that looks like her? What if Yang isn’t even…’ she thought, and hesitated. And yeah, for all she knew, her sister was gone, and whatever had just walked out of the house wasn’t her at all. She really didn’t have any idea of what she was walking into, or what Maybe-Yang was.
But what if the real Yang was in trouble?
Ruby went upstairs to her room, quickly swapping out her pajamas for some jeans and a black tank top. She was digging through drawers looking for her red flannel, when she was struck by serendipity. An ornate knife, only about four inches in length, shaped and stylized like a Roman cross. The metal seemed to sing as she unsheathed it, a beautiful sterling silver. Yang had given it to her for her 14th birthday- at the time, Ruby had thought it was just a nice gift that had matched her quasi-goth aesthetic, but now… now the gears were turning.
She remembered that five years ago, Yang had been going through a lot. Really bad mood swings (way worse than now), getting in trouble at school, and some self-destructive behavior that was… well, she saw her sister in handcuffs more than once. Her Uncle Qrow started coming around more frequently, and from what she understood he really helped Yang get herself back together- he had apparently been through a similar phase, though she never received any details outside of vague references in overheard conversations.
It was later that year that Yang had given Ruby the knife as a gift. Maybe… maybe it wasn’t just a cool accessory or a thoughtful gift. For all of her mood swings, all of her fighting at school, Yang had never once raised a hand against Ruby- and maybe she wanted to make sure her little sister could protect herself if she did. Maybe it was no coincidence that it was a silver blade.
She knew the word that came to mind, but in this case even putting two and two together made it hard to accept that the answer was four.
Ruby tucked the knife into her waistband and found the red-checkered flannel, grabbing her keys as she pulled the shirt on and ran back downstairs. She snagged her phone off the couch to see no new messages and no missed calls, eliciting a grumble from the girl. “The one time I actually call, and no one gets back to me. Of course.”
She flipped through the phone menus until she found the option she was looking for: “Find My Family”. Yang’s picture came up (alongside their dad) and she tapped on it, opening a local map. On the one hand, this could be considered a gross invasion of privacy. On the other hand, Ruby had already lost over an hour and she didn’t fancy riding around Vale hoping to catch a glimpse of Yang’s hair, shining beacon though it may be. While she waited for the map to load, Ruby got the rest of her riding gear in order- earplugs, leather gloves and boots, and her helmet, again rocking her preferred aesthetic of black and red.
When the map finally loaded after several minutes, Ruby saw why it had taken so long. Yang’s phone (and by extension, its owner) was somewhere completely unexpected; instead of being in the downtown city like she anticipated, Yang was apparently 30 or so miles in the other direction- Emerald Forest State Park. Far from a night at the club, she was seemingly camping or out on a hike in the woods. Ruby wasn’t sure if this was a positive development or not, just another item to be added to the growing list of uncertainties.
The sun had fully dipped beneath the horizon by the time Ruby opened up the garage and swung a leg over her motorcycle. The naked bike’s three cylinders roared to life, echoing down the small suburban street as she took off into the night.
Civilization fell by the wayside as Ruby rode outside city limits into a world shrouded in darkness, the road ahead illuminated by nothing but her headlight. She looked over at the passing trees, comforting and calming during the day, now gnarled and twisted; home to who-knows-what kinds of nightmarish creatures lurking just beyond.
A low, grinding sound reminded her to pay less attention to wood and more to asphalt, the rumble strip doing its job until she swerved the bike away from the side of the road. The last thing she needed was for an accident to derail her investigation, especially this far outside the city. Ruby spared a glance to her dash-mounted phone- the cell signal was starting to fade, but she was less than twenty minutes from the entrance to the park. From there she’d have to try and find Yang’s own motorcycle with a bit of perseverance and a dash of luck.
Not long after her GPS lost its sense of direction, Ruby passed an entryway with a dimly lit sign where she could just barely make out the words “Emerald Forest” painted on. After sliding her bike around with a fancy (and tire squealing) maneuver, she turned onto the dirt road and carefully proceeded down the winding path into the park. With every fork in the road, Ruby felt herself getting more and more anxious; this place was practically a labyrinth.
Several dead-ends (and one apology to some drunk campers) later, Ruby’s anxiety finally abated when she came across a gravel lot filled with vehicles- including one metallic-yellow-and-black sportbike. Strangely, the connected campsite seemed to be deserted- no tents, coolers, or any sort of typical party fare. After dismounting and removing her helmet and gloves, she double-checked the yellow bike to make sure it was Yang’s. If the gold helmet hanging off the throttle wasn’t enough proof, the plate matched- Yang was definitely somewhere around here.
Choosing to investigate the campsite next, Ruby switched her phone’s flashlight on and looked for any hint of activity. After checking around a few tables, she examined a grill- one of the simple public charcoal ones that never seem to get cleaned. To her surprise, the coals next to it were still warm. At last there was some evidence that people had actually been here. Whoever it was was meticulous about picking up after themselves, but at least they had left this.
Taking a few more minutes to look around, Ruby saw a well-worn path leading away from the campsite and deeper into the woods. Steeling herself (and holding up her flashlight), she proceeded down the path- or she was about to when something else grabbed her attention. A strange symbol, only about an inch tall, was carved into a tree right next to the trail. She looked at it for a few moments- it looked like an elongated “x”, but with a strange curve to it- like two comets crossing over each other. She snapped a quick pic with her phone and set herself down the path into the woods.
Not too far down the trail, the path split and once again Ruby found herself growing anxious at the choice. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, and that was assuming she didn’t end up lost in the forest. ‘I should just turn back,’ she thought to herself. ‘I don’t even have a good flashlight, or a first aid kit, or anything that I should have out here with me, and I-’
Her spiral was interrupted when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the same small symbol on a tree- the path to the right. Ruby again studied it for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and continued on her way.
‘Yang needs you. You don’t get to turn back,’ she thought, determination alight in her silver eyes.
That determination was tested again and again as she progressed, only the little symbol serving as a trail marker giving her any sense of hope. Ruby checked her phone and noted that her battery was rapidly depleting from liberal use of the flashlight, and that she’d been walking for almost a half hour- and that was when she began to hear a faint noise. It sounded like… instruments? Music, out here?
Ruby pushed forward, taking a twist and a turn and going up and over a small hill when she encountered a clearing- well, not fully clear, but a spot where the tree cover was much more sparse. It was a place for the trail to break up and people to take time to rest before continuing on. It was brighter here, the light of the full moon shining down through the thinner canopy. She took another step and-
“Hey there little lady,” a voice said as Ruby felt a hand on her shoulder. Immediately she screamed and jumped, losing her balance as she tried to spin away from whoever had touched her. Unfortunately, rapid movement in a dark forest was a recipe for disaster, and in this moment Ruby was an excellent chef; she tripped over a root and fell to the ground hard, trying to brace herself but only succeeding at smacking her elbow straight into a rock.
Ruby ignored her throbbing elbow and looked up at the man, shining the light from her phone (which she had remarkably held onto) on him. He immediately put a hand up to shield his eyes, his other holding a beer can. “Whoa there, didn’t mean to scare you, but you really shouldn’t be wandering around these trails after dark- lotta scary things in these woods. So uh, how about you stop shining that light in my eyes and tell me what brought you out here?”
After a moment, she reluctantly moved her phone away so that the man wasn’t being lit up like a Christmas tree. The man had seemingly come out of nowhere; there was no indication she was being followed from the campsite until now, and she hadn’t heard so much as the crinkle of a leaf underfoot. His look seemed more appropriate for a homeless man than a fellow hiker- baggy and torn clothes, a patchy beard, and hair that looked like it hadn’t ever seen a shower. He had enough of a drop on her that he could have already attacked if he wanted to, however, so Ruby disregarded the gut feeling that was telling her to get away.
“I’m looking for my sister, we got separated while we were hiking,” Ruby lied as she pushed herself to her feet, rubbing her aching elbow.
“Damn, there’s two of you? Well, no one else’s come through here,” the shady man said with a gravelly laugh, causing a chill to run down Ruby’s spine. He took a long sip from his drink, before raising the can and gesturing further down the trail. “Listen, you shouldn’t be here. We’re having a bit of a get together, and we get a little too rowdy for girls like you if you know what I mean. Now I’m gonna do you a favor and forget I saw you, you do me a favor and bounce your cute little ass back up the path.”
Ruby shivered as the chill that had run down her spine extended to her whole body. There was something disconcerting about the way he was looking at her, like she was just a piece of meat- and not in a lecherous way despite the comments he just made. She took a step back, keeping her eyes on the man. “Thanks, but I really need to find my sister. She’s going to be scared without me.”
“I’d tell you to listen to him, but he likes to play with his food,” a new, feminine voice came as Ruby’s heart once again did a somersault. She spun around and a woman was standing right there, only a few yards away. For a second time in as many minutes, a person had snuck up on Ruby in the woods- at least this time she had the excuse of being distracted and already scared half to death. But as the words she spoke sunk in, Ruby felt a new sense of dread creep over her.
“I… I just want to find my sister, and then I’ll leave. Please,” she pleaded, “I know she’s down this way, I just- I-”
The woman approached and shushed Ruby. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Here, why don’t you come with me? We’ll see if we can find her together.”
“N-no, that’s- I can go on my own,” she stammered, backing up- until she suddenly hit something that hadn’t been there before. Something dense and tall and breathing .
Ruby shuddered and closed her eyes, feeling her whole body shake as the hot breath washed over her. The rumble of a low, bassy growl reverberated straight through her core as she slipped her phone into her pocket and slowly turned to face… whatever it was behind her. She squeezed her eyes tightly in a silent, desperate plea for there to be nothing there. Her prayers went unanswered when she finally looked up, and straight into the bloodshot yellow eyes of a monster.
Had it not been hunched over to stare Ruby in the face, the beast would have almost doubled her in height. Thick, brown fur covered the entirety of the creature, doing its best to cover the sinewy musculature of an apex predator. Teeth as long as fingers protruded from its snarling visage, saliva dripping as its snout advanced to bask in the scent of fear. Ruby averted her eyes, but what she saw next gave no comfort; a bulging paw with thick claws raking the ground, waiting for the opportunity to rend and tear their prey.
Ruby took another step back, breath coming quick and short as terror surged through her, instincts screaming to flee, to curl up in a ball and cry, to lash out with her knife-
Wait. Her knife.
She has a silver dagger.
Hands slowly moved to her waistband, feeling the blade tucked there. The creature still snarled and glared at her neck, so hyper-fixated on the kill that it didn’t react to the motion.
Fight.
“My, my, you are an intriguing one. Most humans would’ve been screaming and pissing themselves, but here you are. Face-to-face with one of humanity’s ancient predators, and barely even a reaction,” the woman said from behind Ruby.
“I would love to find out more about you,” she continued. “It’s almost a shame that you have to die, but the law is the law- you cannot be allowed to pollute this sacred ground.”
Ruby could afford to wait no longer. In a flash, she drew the knife and slashed at the closest target: the beast’s face. Without even waiting to see if she struck home, she turned to sprint away; but not before she felt something slice deep into her left arm. An agonized howl pierced through the air but Ruby didn’t turn back to look; she focused on getting as far away as possible even as her heart felt like it was trying to break through her chest. She kept her distance and dodged around the woman as she dashed through the clearing, praying that she didn’t trip on an unseen obstacle.
The music that Ruby had previously tuned out slowly grew louder- it was definitely not ideal to keep pushing forward, especially not if there were more of those… those things. She felt a wet, sticky warmth spreading down her arm, but she couldn’t pause to take care of it. All she could hope for now was to find Yang and that maybe, somehow, she knew what was happening and could get them out of this mess.
‘You really messed up,’ she thought to herself. ‘You should’ve just stayed home, waited for Yang to come back and talked to her then. But no, you wanted to be the hero, to save her.’
As she closed on the opposite side of the clearing, Ruby saw a figure emerge from the trail that led even deeper in. With her way forward blocked, her heart dropped as she came to a stop, breathing heavily. When the figure started to move quickly towards her, Ruby practically resigned herself to her fate- until she recognized the volume of hair bounding towards her.
“Yang?” Ruby’s voice cracked, tears starting to build in her eyes.
“Ruby! How did- what are you doing out here?!” Yang asked, a terrified urgency in her voice. “Why- oh God, your arm- what’s-”
“Yang there’s s-something back there, a monster and- and I-I know it’s crazy but I t-think it’s a werewolf and I have the silver knife you gave me and I hit it but it got me and I’m here cause you were really strange earlier a-and Yangareyouawerewolf,” she babbled out, tears fully flowing.
“I-” Yang started, but paused when she looked back at the way that Ruby had come. “Put that away,” she said, indicating the knife. “I promise I… I will tell you everything, Ruby. But right now you need to follow my lead and do exactly as I say.”
Ruby nodded with a sniffle and returned the knife to its sheathe in her waistband. Yang immediately grabbed her and spun her around, covering her mouth with a hand as she did so. The pair that she had run away from were approaching- the woman who was still seemingly human, and the creature that she had apparently injured.
“Shay, Vernal, were you too distracted with each other to notice a girl slip through?” Yang asked with sarcastic confidence, giving Ruby a convincingly rough shove.
“Careful, Xiao Long,” Vernal warned, eyes narrowing as they fell on Ruby again. “That bitch has a silver knife, she took out Shay’s eye.”
“Yeah yeah, already took care of it, I heard the howl. He should focus less on mentally undressing people and more on stopping them,” Yang said, starting to lead Ruby back around towards the front of the clearing. “Go back to the group, get it looked at. I’ll take care of this one.”
The monster snarled and started to move towards the pair and let out a vocalization so harsh, so guttural, that it was barely recognizable as speech. “Mine,” it growled, the word itself stinging Ruby’s ears and eliciting a whimper into Yang’s hand.
“Shay claimed her, and she bloodied him. By rights, she is his to kill,” Vernal declared.
“I don’t care what he wants; she got past him and I stopped her. And I know even he isn’t stupid enough to challenge me under the full moon,” Yang said, anger seeping into her words; the implied threat enough to cause the advancing beast to falter. With that, she continued to march Ruby away from the pair.
“It’s strange,” Vernal called after her. “You love to fight, but you’ve always avoided butchering the sheep- and now you’re volunteering?” Yang didn’t waver, but Vernal continued. “And isn’t it interesting that you’ve never wanted to talk about your human family even though you only came to us a few years ago. And now the first human you’ve offered to get rid of is one who showed up looking for her sister .”
That was enough to get Yang to stop in her tracks, back towards her clanmates. Her grip on Ruby loosened, who consequently turned to look at her. “Yang?”
“You know the way out, down the trail?” she asked quietly. Ruby nodded. "I need you to run as fast as you can, get back to your bike and get out of here. Call Dad, I’ll be home as soon as I can. And Ruby?”
Ruby and Yang’s eyes met, silver watching as lilac dissolved into a bloody red.
“Don’t look back.”
Ruby had to stifle a gag at the sight in front of her. Yang’s entire body started to shift and distort, ligaments popping as they flexed to accommodate reshaping bones and elongating muscles. Veins invaded the whites of her eyes, and hair bloomed across her face; it was only when her nose jutted out into a snout and her teeth lengthened into vicious fangs that she couldn’t bring herself to watch any further, turning and dashing down the path as fast as her legs would carry her.
As she tore back down the trail, barely able to see with the limited moonlight that filtered in through the trees, Ruby found herself wishing she had run more cross-country in high school instead of track. She also wished she wasn’t running in boots, but both of those concerns were secondary in her mind to what she had just witnessed.
‘Yang is a werewolf,’ she thought. ‘Oh my God, my sister is a werewolf. When did she get bit? And is she part of some group? What-’ Her train of thought was interrupted when she stumbled, but she managed to keep her feet under her. 'Run now, think later.'
Eventually Ruby had to slow her pace a little, the lack of recent training catching up to her as her endurance faltered. Luckily it hadn't been much further to the trail exit, but she seemed to be in the clear either way. It wasn't until Ruby got to her bike and went to grab her helmet that she realized her newest problem- she couldn't lift her left arm.
She looked down at the wound, wincing as she touched it gently. She couldn't tell the severity of the injury, but based on the slash through her clothing and not being able to move the arm (but her wrist and fingers were fine), Ruby surmised that the attack had at least partially torn her bicep and possibly a deltoid.
Knowing that she couldn’t afford to panic right now, she focused on the task at hand; she pulled on the helmet with her one good arm but didn’t fasten it, swinging her leg over the bike. She flipped the shifter into neutral with her foot and started the motorcycle, bringing up the kickstand. ‘You know how to do this. Just get it moving a bit… ’ she thought to herself, using her feet to start walking the bike forward. ‘Roll on the throttle aaaand- shift.’ The bike jerked violently, threatening to throw Ruby off as she forced the bike into gear without the clutch- but her gamble paid off, and she was moving.
Steering the bike with one hand was tricky, but Ruby managed it as best she could. Left turns had to be taken a bit slower than normal, and she had to be careful not to come to a full stop, but otherwise it wasn’t too difficult. Without the need to check every road this time, she was back out of the park and onto paved roads in short order. She dared to breathe a sigh of relief, going through things in her head.
‘Gotta call dad. I should probably go to the hospital, I can explain my arm as a, uh… Kitchen accident? Or a dog attack- is it insensitive to call it a dog attack if my sister is also a werewolf? Also, her eyes totally were red, I knew I wasn’t crazy!”
Even as her mind raced at a million miles per minute, Ruby slowed down to take a sharp curve only for something to catch her eye off in the woods to the side. Without a chance to get any sense of what was lurking just beyond the treeline (not that it took much imagination with what she had just witnessed), she had to put her eyes back onto the road. In that moment, the trees ahead practically exploded as they showered her with splinters, a mass of muscle and fur bursting onto the road in front of her. She only had time to swerve and try to ride past, not even hitting the brakes for fear of locking them up- but as Ruby slid by, she felt something slam into the rear of the bike. Before she could even attempt to regain control, the motorcycle slid out from under her- and Ruby was tumbling along the road.
The asphalt gnashed and ripped at her clothes, finding purchase in the skin beneath when given the opportunity. Before the road could shred much more than her leg, Ruby luckily found herself rolling on the grass, helmet bouncing off a rock before she mercifully came to a stop. She groaned and tried to reach up to raise her visor only for her arm to disobey her, sliced up as it was. Her breath came quick and shallow as she managed to lift her head to see the beast that had just dissaddled her approach hungrily. It had several open slash wounds across its torso, but they didn’t seem to be slowing it down at all as blood dripped from its mangled eye and saliva flowed from its mouth.
Ruby felt her heartbeat quicken when her legs refused to listen to her command to get up, her arms even refusing to search for the dagger that she had previously used. The creature leaned forward and broke into a sprint, leaping into the air with claws ready to rend her flesh to ribbons. Mustering up all of her energy and her will to resist, her will to stay alive, she let out a piercing cry.
“Stop!” Ruby screamed, a blinding light erupting from her eyes and releasing a pressure behind them that she hadn’t even been aware of. She watched as the werewolf landed back down to the ground, lowering its claws and just… Staying still. It didn’t move as it was enveloped by the energy, compelled to listen despite all prior intent to prey on the girl. As a wave of fatigue came over Ruby, she distinctly saw another figure similar to the first run out of the trees. With blistering speed, the new figure tackled the frozen creature and began ripping into it as it stood paralyzed. She briefly fought against the darkness encroaching from the edges of her vision, watching as fur and viscera flew out from the werewolf before she finally gave in.
As the darkness overtook her, the otherworldly howls of agony from the monster were the last sound that Ruby heard.