Ruby Tower (A quick Rwby TF story) (Patreon)

A short experimental TF story:

"Just be careful," Ruby warned, climbing the steps to the tower carefully, the pouring rain making the old stone steps more of a hazard than the Grimm she and her team had fought to get this far. "The criminal we're bringing in has defeated at least five hunters so far. Be careful when we fight her!"

"Rumour has it they have some weird kind of semblance that makes them super powerful or something," Yang added, her arms raised to shield her eyes from the rain.

"Any idea what kind of semblance? That could mean a lot of things..." Blake looked thoroughly drenched, like a cat that had been thrown in the river, but her eyes still sharply scanned the team's surroundings, her superior vision showing her to see far more in the dripping dark than any of her teammates.

"Nope!" Ruby's tone was half apologetic, half excited. "We're going to have to work it out as we go. Isn't it exciting?"

"All the witnesses could agree on was that it was 'like magic'," Yang grunted. "She was fighting a hunter or huntress, then bam, the hunter was gone in a poof of smoke."

"Maybe teleportation?" Weiss, the last of their motley crew, was somehow the least drenched. "Maybe she's sending them... away?"

"Maybe!" Ruby nodded, finally reaching the old wooden door at the top of the stairs and putting her hand on the handle. "So be careful! Whatever you do, don't go-"

---

Poof

Crescent Rose clattered to the floor as the smoke cleared. The tower was quiet, save for the footsteps of a single woman, clad in dark heels, a dark dress, and a dark pointed hat.

"Well that was exciting," the Witch said, looking around her somewhat messy kitchen, marked and charred in more than a few places by the battle that had just passed. "My, they keep sending you people after me. Is the bounty really that big? Oh, well, I suppose..." She knelt down and picked up the pleasingly shared red flower vase that lay on the floor next to the scythe. "... I really shouldn't be calling you people anymore, should I?"

Weiss had been the first to fall, not even noticing the witch sneaking up behind them. There had simply been a poof of smoke, and when the others had turned around their companion was gone. None of them had noticed the new mirror hanging on the wall with a blue-white frame and a snowflake pattern, but it noticed them, fondly reflecting their images as was its purpose.

Second and third place had been a tie. Once they'd found the witch Yang had charged in, fists raised, aura burning, while Blake had jumped into the shadows, seeking to use her partner's attack as a distraction and strike past they're target's defences. There had been twin poofs of smoke, and then a hefty looking tome with a scantily clad cat Faunus on the cover landed heavily on the table, next to a golden lamp that had been sculpted in the shadow of a proud naked woman with long, glowing hair and, for some reason, a cybernetic arm. The lamp shone brightly, illuminating the room with fierce devotion, while the book simply lay there, desperately hungering to be read - as was their purpose.

And Ruby, of course, so quick and nimble, fought the longest. She might have been able to flee if she'd chosen, but she could never abandon her teammates - and so she spun around the room, her semblance flaring, her weapon raised- until she, too, went poof, and the battle was over, her new ceramic form rolling over the tiled floor.

The Witch wasted no time putting her new property to work. Casually she filled her ruby vase with water from the tap, and then glanced around for flowers to fill it. She sighed when she saw none, before noticing again the scythe on the floor, and smiling. In but a moment she had it in her hands, and with one last poof, the deadly metal weapon became a slender, fragile, long-stemmed rose, which she carefully dropped into the vase, and placed in the middle of the kitchen table. Lovely! It really brought the room together.

The vase sparkled, rose petals occasionally floating up from within its hollow depths, as though from nowhere - totally commented to be fulfilling its purpose.

The Witch smiled and nodded to herself, before gathering up her new book and lamp, and carrying them off towards the stairs. She paused in front of the mirror, considering her reflection... and she smiled again as she felt gentle, obedient invisible hands adjust her dress and hat, straightening her outfit out for her, leaving just a hint of frost in their wake. Then she resumed her journey, leaving the mirror to reflect the vase, and the vase to look pretty, and nothing more.

At the top of the tower lay the Witch's snug bedroom, and given the late hour she was well overdue in making use of it. She put her book and her lamp down on the bedside table before moving to get changed into her night clothes - feeling absolutely no shame about doing so in front of a pair of objects, naturally - and then finally slid into bed, taking her new tome back up as she did so. Cracking open the cover, she absently stroked a finger up her lamp's golden frame, which in turn made the lamp's hair grow brighter, until it was at just the right light to read by. And then read she did.

"Oh my," she giggled, turning a page. "Aren't you a lewd little thing?"

The book, of course, had no real thoughts about that - nor about anything, truly. Books didn't think, after all - and nor did lamps, mirrors, or vases, for that matter. But it none the less felt contentment in being used for its purpose, just as the lamp, mirror, and vase did. And as they would from now on, forever more, as simple objects, possessions, in a Witch's ever-growing collection.