crimson morning au

I hate you, Yang!!!"

The words tore from Ruby's throat, raw and trembling. She wasn't sure if she was screaming or sobbing anymore. Her body shook, fingers clenched into fists so tight her nails dug into her palms. The bubbly, optimistic Ruby Rose was gone.

Yang stood there, silent. She didn't yell back. Didn't chase after her. She just turned away.

Ruby's breath hitched. She really doesn't care.

A whisper slithered into her ear.

"She never did."

Ruby gasped, whipping her head around. No one was there.

"She only keeps you around because she pities you."

The voice was soft, almost kind, but its words were poisoned needles.

"You're going to die alone."

Her knees buckled. The room felt too small, the walls pressing in. She needed to get out.

12:07 AM

The dorm was silent. Weiss, Blake, and Yang slept peacefully in their beds, their faces soft in the moonlight. Ruby should have felt safe. But the whisper still lingered, curling around her thoughts like vines.

She slipped out of bed. She didn't feel like herself anymore. Like something was missing. Or maybe, something else had taken its place.

A cold weight settled in her chest.

She wanted to die.

Ruby didn't know why. The feeling had been buried deep inside her since Summer died, but tonight it was unbearable. It wasn't just sadness—it was something else. Something unnatural.

Her hands moved on their own. She picked up a knife from her desk. The reflection in the blade didn't look like her. Her face was pale, her eyes empty. Slowly, methodically, she dragged the knife across her arm. Once. Twice. Again. The pain was dull compared to the ache in her heart.

A pen. A paper.

Her hand trembled as she wrote.

"Dear Yang, Weiss, Blake…"

"I'm sorry for what I did. But I can't do this anymore."

"I hear voices. And I think they're right."

"By the time you read this, I'll already be gone."

1:00 AM

The hallway stretched before her, dimly lit by the academy's emergency lights. It felt… wrong. The walls pulsed, almost breathing. The air was thick, pressing against her skin like invisible hands.

She had walked this hall a hundred times before. But now it was different.

She wasn't alone.

At the end of the hallway stood… herself.

Ruby's breath caught in her throat. The figure was taller, stretched unnaturally, its arms too long, fingers too sharp. Its face was still hers… but wrong. Eyes hollow. Lips twisted in a mockery of a smile.

"Who… are you?" Ruby whispered.

The thing tilted its head. A sickening crack echoed through the hall.

Then it lunged.

Ruby ran.

"HELP!" she screamed, but her voice didn't carry. The hall seemed endless, looping back on itself. Doors blurred together. There was no escape.

She threw herself into a side room, slamming the door shut. Outside, the creature pounded against the wood.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

Then… silence.

Ruby's breath was ragged. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. Slowly, she cracked the door open.

The hallway was empty.

She stepped out, cautiously. The air was still thick, suffocating. But ahead of her, the stairway came into view.

Relief.

She wasn't trapped. She could still get out.

She started walking down.

Ruby kept walking down the stairs, her legs growing weaker with each step. It should have ended by now. She had descended Beacon's stairwell a thousand times before, but something was different.

Each step echoed—too loud, too long, too hollow.

She looked over her shoulder. The door she had come from was gone.

The hallway, the academy, the world above—it had all faded into a black abyss.

"No, no, no…" she whispered, her breaths coming in short gasps.

Then, she heard them again.

The voices.

"She thinks she's a hero."

"She thinks anyone really cares."

"Poor little Ruby Rose. Always left behind. Always a burden."

Ruby clenched her head, trying to drown them out, but they were inside her skull, seeping into her thoughts like poison.

Then, her foot landed on solid ground.

The stairs had finally ended.

Before her stood a single wooden door, splintered and covered in old, dried blood. The handle was rusted, bent at an unnatural angle, as if someone had tried to tear it off.

She had two choices—turn back into the void or open the door.

Something inside her already knew—this door wasn't supposed to be here.

With shaking fingers, she grasped the handle.

It was warm.

She twisted it, the rusted metal groaning under her grip, and pushed the door open.

She was home.

The smell of dust and decay hit her first.

She was standing in the kitchen of her childhood home, but something was wrong.

The wooden floors were rotting, creaking under her weight. The light above flickered, casting deep, unsettling shadows.

Her eyes drifted to the walls.

Family portraits hung in distorted frames—but their faces were scratched out.

Yang's face—gone.

Weiss—gone.

Blake—gone.

Only hers remained, but her eyes in the photo were black voids, empty and endless.

A choked sob escaped her throat.

Then, she saw it.

The kitchen table.

A single piece of paper rested on the surface. Next to it, a knife.

Ruby took hesitant steps forward, feeling like something was watching her from the dark corners of the room.

She picked up the note.

It was written in her handwriting.

"You were never real."

The knife gleamed under the dim light.

Then, she felt it.

A presence behind her.

Slow, ragged breathing.

She turned around.

And standing in the doorway was herself.

But it wasn't her.

Its limbs were too long, its head tilted unnaturally, its grin carved deep into its cheeks.

Its eyes were like the ones in the photo—black, endless voids.

It took a step forward, and its neck cracked as it whispered:

"You know what to do."

Ruby wandered through the empty halls of Beacon, her footsteps echoing in the silence. The walls pulsed like a dying heart, breathing in and out as she walked. The voice in her head grew louder—a sickening chorus of whispers, laughter, and screams.

"You were never strong enough."

"You were always a burden."

"They don't need you. They never did."

Her legs moved on their own, leading her through the halls, out the door, and into the cold, empty night.

The Lonely Tree

It stood alone at the edge of a cliff, its branches twisted and gnarled, blackened by time. A noose hung from its strongest limb, swaying gently in the night breeze.

Ruby stared at it.

Something about it felt… right.

She touched her wrist—the fresh cuts burned, bleeding slightly.

Her body trembled.

Her mind was numb.

Her heart was empty.

For a moment, she thought about Yang, Weiss, and Blake.

Would they miss her?

Would they even care?

Would they even notice she was gone?

The whispers answered her.

"They already forgot you."

"You're nothing to them now."

"End it. Be free."

Tears streamed down her face as she stepped onto the rock beneath the tree.

Her hands shook as she pulled the noose around her neck.

She took a deep breath.

The last breath she would ever take.

Then—

She kicked the rock away.

The rope snapped tight.

Her body jerked violently, the wind howling around her as her vision blurred. The world faded into a dreamlike haze.

She swayed gently in the moonlight.

Like a puppet with its strings cut.

The whispers finally stopped.

And Ruby Rose was no more.

The Morning After

The sun rose, casting golden light over Beacon's fields. Birds chirped, the wind rustled through the trees, and life continued as if nothing had changed.

A scream shattered the morning peace.

Yang stood frozen, her face pale, her eyes wide with unspeakable horror.

Weiss and Blake stood behind her, unable to move, unable to breathe.

Ruby's body hung lifelessly from the tree, her cloak swaying gently in the breeze.

Her face was pale, her eyes closed as if she were only sleeping.

A small piece of paper rested near the base of the tree, fluttering in the wind.

Yang collapsed to her knees, hands shaking as she picked it up.

"Dear Yang, Weiss, Blake… I'm sorry. But I was never meant to be here."

A tear fell onto the page.

Weiss covered her mouth, choking on a sob.

Blake turned away, her shoulders trembling.

Yang clenched the note in her fist, her whole body shaking with grief and rage.

And somewhere, in the back of her mind, a voice whispered—

"You should have saved her."

The sun kept shining.

Beacon kept moving.

But Ruby Rose was gone.

Forever.

The End