10. Aftermath

10. Aftermath

Ruby evaded a downward slash of claws with a final [Petal Form], then countered. Her scythe cleaved into the beast's shadow-flesh where its spine would have been. She darted away to dodge a few last desperate attacks, but the damage was done. Panting, exhausted, legs wobbly, she watched the beowolf finally die.

She stared in disbelief at the disintegrating corpse. An E-Rank Grimm. The two of them, first-evolution huntresses-in-training, had managed to take down an E-Rank. It was an absurd accomplishment.

But not one she could focus on, because while one threat was gone, the larger remained.

Silver eyes turned toward the Grimm seated on the throne. A single elegant eyebrow arched as Ruby leveled her scythe in her direction.

"Mm," the Grimm said. "Impressive. Maybe not a complete waste of my time. Still," she said, "you've just awoken to your powers. If a gem, an uncut one. I have little interest." She uncrossed her legs and stood. "We'll be seeing each other again, I'm sure. I was brought here for a reason, as were you. Until then, though..."

With a single curt nod, shadows enveloped the Grimm, and she vanished. In Ruby's peripheral vision, the Rift's exit portal slammed open, widening from a line into an oval. Ruby gaped in surprise, having been readying herself for a fight. A million questions ran through her head, but she pushed them all aside.

Because Yang was hurt.

She spun on her heel and ran over.

It took a few seconds of shaking Yang's shoulder and gently patting her cheek to get her to rouse. Aura-break was no joke. The magical shielding had guarded her from being hurt too bad physically, but she was going to be wrung out. Ruby would be too, for that matter, but at least she hadn't gone through an aura-break.

"Ruby?" a groggy Yang asked.

"We won," Ruby said first. "We're safe."

Yang blinked a few times, then remembered their circumstances. She stiffened and shot up—thankfully not to her feet, just sitting. Her head pivoted left and right as she took the empty cavern in. And the exit portal.

"Huh," Yang said, relaxing. "Where'd the girl go?"

"Shadows ate her."

"What?"

"Shadows ate her." After a confused look from Yang, Ruby giggled—it sounded slightly manic to her ears. It had been a long day. "I don't know, Yang, she said some weird stuff, then nodded at me and just...teleported. I didn't have to fight her." She sat down, setting Crescent Rose aside. "What the heck just happened?"

Yang rubbed the side of her head. She tried to find an explanation, but failed. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"That was a talking Grimm."

"And an E-Rank," Yang said. "What the hell was this Rift?" Looking to the left, she blinked suddenly. "And what are those?"

Ruby followed Yang's gaze.

"Uh," Ruby said. "Looks like...clothes."

Sure enough, two metal stands holding huntress outfits had appeared sometime after the Rift had ended.

"Makes sense," Yang said, grunting as she forced herself to her feet, swaying slightly. "It couldn't actually send us home naked. There's gonna be Huntsmen Association agents at our house."

There would be. If they'd failed to clear the Rift, that would've meant an instant breach—an outbreak of Grimm into Patch. Another reason the HA was careful with who it allocated Rifts to. Failure wouldn't just mean their own death; it would mean danger to nearby civilians.

Despite her excitement over having received her soul-manifested outfit, Ruby worriedly watched Yang as she headed for the two stands. She was one tough cookie, up and walking so soon after an aura break. Honestly, she seemed to be holding up better than Ruby. Her big sister really was invulnerable.

"Any guesses whose is whose?" Yang joked.

"I wonder," Ruby said, rolling her eyes.

She walked up to the metal stand that had materialized seemingly from nowhere. Her eyes widened as she took the outfit in. The corset. The combat skirt. The red cape. It was as stylish as she'd hoped. It wasn't surprising the color theme was mostly red and black—matched her hair. Outfits manifested from the soul, so they always stylistically fit with their huntress.

Ruby[collapse]Yang[collapse]

Besides, the Huntsman Association wouldn't believe them in the first place.

"Right," Ruby said. "Straightening out our story."

They did just that. Forty-five minutes later, she and Yang had worked out the details. The cover story wasn't complicated. They'd gone through a long, grueling Rift, with no weird events included. To be honest, that was eighty percent of the truth. While there'd been patches of strange things happening, the majority of their time had been spent progressing through an endless cavern, killing dozens of Grimm. Like any other Rift. The only truly strange thing was how large it had been, and they couldn't hide that from the Association; it was self-apparent by how long it took to clear.

When finished, they stepped up to the portal.

"Ready?" Yang asked.

Ruby swallowed. "Ready."

They walked through.

And were instantly transported to their backyard.

Behind them, the Rift sealed up, blinking out of existence.

There was a plastic table set up a dozen feet away, situated on the porch by the sliding glass door leading into their house. Two huntsmen were there, a man and a woman. An in-progress match of some card game was laid out on the table, an easy way to pass time during a long and tedious watch duty.

The woman was a brown-haired faunus with antlers. The man, an older veteran with gray eyes and a scar on his cheek. Second and third evolution, by the badges on their chests. Ruby didn't recognize either of them, which wasn't that odd, because even if the island of Patch only had so many Huntsmen stationed there, there were still too many for her to know all their faces.

They hadn't drawn their weapons, but they had shot to their feet in less than a second—alert, for all they'd been playing a card game while waiting. They relaxed as they saw Ruby and Yang arrive, not a Grimm. The Rift had been successfully cleared, and they wouldn't be dealing with an outbreak event.

"Well done, girls," the man said after a second of looking them up and down. "But I hope you realize the trouble you're in."

Right.

Time for the consequences of entering a Rift without the Huntsman Association's clearance.

***

Before they were grilled by the Association, their dad came out from the house and started equally scolding and fretting over them. Ruby made her apologies, as did Yang, though it was obvious neither of them regretted what they had done; they'd saved months of waiting by jumping on the opportunity when it came. The only question was whether Yang's claim was right: whether the Association was going to be genuinely upset with them, with real consequences to follow, or whether it would be a slap on a wrist.

She and Yang were separated by the two huntsmen posted to watch over their Rift, and the questioning began. Ruby gave the mostly-accurate report she and Yang had collaborated on. The man didn't seem to be suspicious of the retelling. Why would he be? It wasn't like he had any reason to believe the Rift was anything but a normal one.

Once the initial questioning had finished, they'd been temporarily released. Ruby went upstairs to take a much-needed shower. Interestingly enough, when she de-summoned her huntress outfit, the clothes and supplies that had magically been taken when entering the Rift reappeared. So they hadn't been swallowed permanently.

Post-shower and getting changed, she, Yang, and Dad reconvened downstairs for food. Seeing how it had been nearly twenty-four full hours of rigorous activity since she'd last eaten, she and Yang devoured enough grilled cheeses to feed a family of eight. Only when she was uncomfortably stuffed did she finally acknowledge defeat and retire to the living room to enter a blissful catatonic state.

Two hours after that, someone higher up the Huntsman Association chain of command came to question them—and deliver verdicts and punishments.

Yang was right; it was a slap on the wrist. The sum of it was that they were on 'probation' for the next two months, and what they'd done would be reported to whatever Huntsman Academy they decided to attend. Ruby was slightly stressed over that second part, but even she recognized that none of the Academies would care. They valued, far and away, combat performance more than anything else. Maybe it would be a minor black mark on their record, but she doubted it would make the difference between an acceptance or denial.

When all of that was finished, the HA officer left their house. Dad scolded and congratulated them one more time. His thoughts on the matter were obviously mixed. He didn't seem to actually disapprove, just that, as a parent figure, he couldn't condone them flagrantly breaking the law.

Overnight, Ruby slept for probably twelve hours straight. Yang even longer.

"Alright," Yang said after they had devoured another huge breakfast, continuing to make up for the previous day's food debt. "I think it's time we go practice. And test a few things."

Dad was standing over by the fridge, so Yang couldn't say it outright. But Ruby picked up her meaning.

Pink Dust. Assuming it was going to be a consistent addition to their arsenal—and with how powerful it was, it had to be—they needed to have a grasp on its effects, how potent it was, and the best dust ratios to use in any given bullet.

Beyond that, they needed general practice. Through divine timing, the next Beacon qualification event was in four days, and while Ruby and Yang were new to their semblances and classes, it was possible they could place high enough to qualify for the upcoming semester. They just needed to play catch-up. To spend every waking moment sparring.

There was pre-exam cramming to do.