As I kicked my sister with every ounce of power my Semblance had built up throughout our sparring match, I felt it. Really felt it. Normally she would just phase through me, vanishing into a blur of petals before I even made contact. But this time, the hit landed.
The impact cracked through the air like a thunderclap, the force reverberating up my leg and through my chest. For a split second, I saw something in Ruby's stance, a flicker, a moment of resistance, before she finally broke free and was sent flying backward with enough force to twist my stomach into a knot.
"Got you, Ruby!" I shouted, trying to keep my voice steady even as panic pricked behind my ribs. I dashed forward for a follow-up strike, ready to end the match.
Then I froze.
Her aura shattered.
It flickered once, then burst apart like glass catching the sun. I lunged toward her instinctively, faster than thought, reaching out to catch her.
But midair, she vanished.
My eyes widened. My breath caught. My heart slammed against my ribs. I hit the ground on my knees, and whipped my head around in every direction.
Nothing. Just empty air where she should have been.
"Ruby? Ruby!"
Then the world shifted.
Rose petals, hundreds of them, swirled around me in a violent spiral, a storm of red so thick it blurred my vision. They moved with purpose, with speed, with a precision she should not have had. She had no aura left. She should not have even been standing, let alone doing this.
My chest tightened, a cold knot forming beneath my sternum.
"Ruby, what are you doing? What is this? Since when can you do this?" I yelled, frustration and fear cutting through every word. "Come on, Ruby. Stop messing around. You cannot keep going like this. You should not even be on your feet."
The petals surged forward, almost alive. They wrapped around me before I could react, twisting around my arms, my waist, my legs, tightening with a slow and suffocating pressure that made my lungs seize.
My breath hitched as the cocoon constricted, inching closer to my face and brushing my skin with soft, blade-like edges.
Within seconds my arms and legs were completely immobilized.
And then I saw her.
Ruby stood perfectly still a few meters away, untouched by the raging storm. For a heartbeat she looked calm, almost serene, as if none of this chaos belonged to her at all. But something in her posture, something in the unnatural stillness of her form, froze me harder than the petals ever could.
Her eyes, normally that shining silver warmth, glinted red in the dim light. Not a reflection. Not a trick. They glowed, faint and ember-bright, burning through the shifting petals between us.
My heart stuttered, then thrashed.
Those red eyes locked onto mine, slow and deliberate, piercing straight through me. Something in her gaze felt ancient. Predatory. Wrong.
And then, without warning, Ruby moved.
She did not step. She did not dash. She appeared, as if the space between us bent out of her way, as if the petals themselves carried her forward. The air rippled with the aftershock of her movement, a cold whisper brushing across my skin.
"Ruby?" I managed, barely a breath.
The petals tightened.
She took another step.
And the world seemed to hold its breath.
Faster than my eyes could track, faster than my mind could even process, Ruby moved again. There was no shadow, no warning, no sound. Just a sudden, unstoppable presence in front of me, as if she had materialized from the petals surrounding me.
Before I could blink, pain bloomed in my abdomen.
The blow landed like a battering ram, a bone-rattling impact that tore the breath from my lungs in a single, broken gasp. My aura shattered instantly, exploding outward in a burst of fractured light, like the rose petals that had cocooned me now bursting apart in a chaotic flare. Raw pain surged through me, vibrating through every nerve, racing from my chest down my legs until my limbs went numb and useless.
I skidded across the grass, scraping furrows into the earth as my boots caught and slipped, barely slowing my momentum. The world spun in a blur of green and red, and when I finally stopped, my body felt hollow, drained, exhausted, and barely able to move.
Her strike had been precise. Deliberate. Terrifyingly strong.
I lay sprawled on my back, lungs burning, vision swimming, fighting just to draw in a steady breath. Every muscle trembled, the aftershock of our earlier clashes leaving my body hanging by a thread. I lifted my head, just enough to see a silhouette approaching with frightening speed.
"Ruby! Wait! Stop! What are you doing?!" I choked out, panic twisting my voice raw.
I tried to scramble, tried to force my arms beneath me, but my body refused to listen. She was already on top of me, her fist raised, red eyes blazing with something I did not recognize. An expression that sent ice crawling through my veins. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic mix of fear, disbelief, and desperate determination.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact.
But it never came.
Instead, her body collapsed onto me, heavy and limp. Ruby slumped forward, completely unconscious, her fist dropping harmlessly to the grass beside my head.
For a moment, I could not move.
Then relief crashed over me, sudden and overwhelming, almost dizzying, like a wave I had not realized I was holding back. My entire body sagged, muscles shaking from adrenaline and exhaustion. My chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven breaths as I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close on pure instinct.
Her small, fragile frame pressed into me, warm and painfully real. That warmth seeped into my bones, steadying the panic that had been tightening inside my chest from the moment she vanished, from the moment her eyes turned red, from the moment she struck me with strength she should not have had.
"Ruby, thank god you are okay," I whispered, my voice soft and unsteady, cracking despite my best effort.
My aura, faint and flickering, slowly began to return. It spread like a gentle current through my arms and legs, easing the trembling and calming the frantic pounding of my heart. Each breath grew steadier. Each second less suffocating.
I held her tighter, letting the warmth of her body and the soft whisper of my aura quiet my spiraling thoughts. The danger had passed. Whatever had overtaken her, whatever that red glow had been, it was gone now.
And she was here.
Safe.
In my arms.
It took what felt like ten minutes, maybe longer, for my breathing to steady and for my body to finally settle. My aura returned slowly, filling the hollow ache in my limbs little by little.
I shifted, cradling her more securely. The faint energy of my Semblance lifted us just enough that it felt as if the weight of the entire world had finally eased off my shoulders.
"You scared me. Do not ever do that again, okay?" I murmured, my voice trembling yet firm. "You could have gotten hurt. I just... I do not want to lose you."
The rose petals that had surrounded us began to drift gently to the ground, settling across the flattened grass like snow falling after a storm. I let out a shaky laugh, part relief and part disbelief, as my fingers traced the curve of her shoulder. It grounded me in the simple truth that she was here, warm and breathing.
"I've got you, Ruby. I've got you," I whispered again, my heart still hammering. "We are okay. We are okay."
Carefully, I lifted her into my arms. She felt so light, almost unreal, as if loosening my grip even slightly would make her vanish again. I held her firmly against my chest as I walked toward the house. Each step was cautious and deliberate, as if moving too quickly might shatter the fragile calm surrounding us.
It only took a couple of minutes to make it back inside, although it felt much longer. The backyard was a mess from our sparring, and I had to weave around broken branches and torn patches of grass while keeping Ruby steady.
Inside, the living room was dim, the only movement coming from the flickering light of the television in the corner. I lowered her gently onto the couch and brushed a stray petal from her cheek. The screen showed a live news report. A Leviathan-class Grimm was tearing through a distant settlement, the reporter's voice tight with urgency.
Despite not wanting to look, I glanced over, and the moment I did I regretted it. The creature was enormous, a black dragon with countless heads, its body covered in jagged dust crystals. Each head snapped and twisted with a mind of its own, their collective roar shaking the camera feed into grainy static. It looked the size of a mountain, maybe even larger. I was transfixed; I couldn't look away, even as part of me tried to. I remembered hearing the name Tiamat in a history lesson long ago, a mythical Leviathan-class Grimm that was never supposed to be seen again. Back then it had felt like a distant legend, something too extreme to ever be real. But here it was, alive on the screen, its attacks raining down on the settlement in endless waves. Every strike sent up clouds of dust and fire, blotting out entire blocks of buildings like they had never existed.
There's another one, I thought to myself. Three wasn't enough. The words didn't even feel like mine, just a tired echo of dread trying to make sense of something too big, too cruel, too relentless to face.
I forced my eyes away.
After everything that had just happened, after something had taken control of Ruby, the last thing I needed was more fear or more reminders of how quickly the world could fall apart. The thought of watching another disaster unfold one I couldn't stop, couldn't even understand tightened something in my chest. My hands were still trembling, the memory of her vacant, glowing red eyes lingering like cold fingers at the back of my mind.
I reached for the remote and pressed the power button. Silence filled the room, broken only by the soft hum of the heater warming the air.
No bad news.
Not today.
Not with her lying there like this, not knowing if, or when she wakes up, she will still be Ruby.
I watched her chest rise and fall in slow and even breaths. The sound was steady and soothing, anchoring something in me that had been unraveling ever since her aura broke.
"Hang in there, Ruby," I whispered, kneeling beside her. "Just rest. Your sister is right here. I will not let anything happen to you."
Outside, the last light of day bled across the sky, turning the clouds soft shades of gold and violet. Long shadows stretched over the lawn and reached toward the quiet forest beyond. I scanned the treeline, half expecting and half dreading another sudden flash of movement, another surprise as dangerous as the one earlier.
But nothing moved. Everything was still.
The house felt heavy with silence, thick with relief and with the faint echo of the fear still fading from my body. I exhaled slowly and rubbed my thumb across Ruby's knuckles, hoping that small, steady touch could tether me to the Ruby I know and loved. I hoped it was still her in there. I had to believe it was.
I hoped Dad would come home soon. I needed him. Someone who could help make sense of what had happened to her. Ruby's Semblance had never acted like this. Well, she had only discovered it today, so what did I really know? I had never seen her eyes turn red. I had never seen her move with that kind of speed without aura, as if something else was guiding her.
I could not handle this alone.
Not yet.
For now, all I could do was stay by her side, hold her hand, and let her rest. I let the gentle pulse of my recovering aura ease the tight knot of worry in my chest. For now, that would have to be enough.
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Sorry for the late publish I was sick and had math exam exams