Culture Shock
Author's Note: Just something I scribbled to help get rid of writer's block. Not the best and I doubt I'll ever continue it, but I'd like to think it's an interesting interaction.
Ruby doubled her grip on Crescent Rose as she looked down the sights. Five Beowolves had just finished dissolving on the ground and she was scanning the area for more. She was in the middle of a forest clearing, claw marks and bullet holes on the nearby trees being the only remaining evidence of the fight that had just taken place. It wasn't unheard of for the wolf Grimm to travel in packs that small, but she didn't want to take any chances, and thus stayed where she was. "Um, Mr. Wolf?" she said nervously. "Your friends, uh, sprained their ankles. If you're out there they need you to help them up." No response, although she hadn't expected one.
Seconds slowly turned to minutes, but there were no indicators of Grimm in the surrounding trees, not even something as small as a twig snapping. Ruby let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that makes pack number six, total Grimm down forty-two." She allowed herself a small smile as she folded up Crescent rose, holstering it on her back. Things were going well for her.
Eight hours ago she had been dropped off in the Emerald Forest for a final exam for Professor Port. As he had told her many times that while she, as a Huntress, should stick with her team whenever possible, there would most likely come a time when she would be separated from them. A time where she would have to survive on her own for extended periods of time. The goal of the exam was to spend twelve hours in the Emerald Forest on your own and last.
Of course Professor Port was watching on the cameras placed throughout the forest and ready to send help the minute it looked like Ruby needed it, but that didn't mean the test was danger free. Yang had already taken the test and passed with flying colors, but she had had received a nasty looking gash on her side that had put her in the hospital for a few days. Still, Ruby was starting to feel confident. She was two-thirds of the way through and had yet to run into any major problems. This was due in part to her deliberately sneaking past any larger Grimm, such as a Nevermore, but when you were stranded on your own, avoiding a fight you couldn't win was a very valuable tactic.
Making her way through the trees, Ruby started to head south. Weiss had suggested before the exam that she travel in all four of the cardinal directions to find out where the concentration of Grmm was the lightest. It had proven to be a very helpful tactic, and eventually she had realized that seemed to be less Grimm to the south. Or at the very least the packs of Grimm got smaller the further south she went.
"Oh, I owe her so much," Ruby said out loud, thinking back to her white haired teammate. "She's always helping me, even when she gets frustrated." She smiled. There had to be something she could do to show her thanks to Weiss. There was that ice cream place that Weiss always insisted would ruin her figure, the disdain in her voice doing little to hide the way her eyes lit up in glee while they were there. Or the store that had the cute flowing black dress she had been eyeing when she thought no one was looking. Or maybe she could take her out for a good weapon sharpening session, though Ruby suspected that Weiss would accused her of doing that just to sharpen Crescent Rose.
Ruby was in the middle of her train of thought when her foot caught on something, causing her to overbalance and smack face first into the ground. Pain sprang to life in her nose and she felt something very wet. She groaned. "Hope Professor Port doesn't take points off for clumsiness," she said weakly, getting to her feet. She doubted he would, but she still found herself praying that he had had to look away from his monitor for a seconds.
Blood was pouring down her face, to the point where a few drops had already fallen and stained the grass below. "Well, good thing I like red," she said, grabbing her cape and pulling it in front of her, using it to staunch the flow of blood. Groaning in discomfort she turned to look for whatever had caused her to trip. When she saw it, she blinked. "A lantern?"
Hanging from a metal post that was sticking out of the ground was indeed a lantern. An old fashioned looking lantern that glowed a very faint color that looked like a cross between purple and blue. Ruby would have sworn that it was an oil lantern, but the light didn't seem to be coming from a fire. It just seemed to be an orb of self-sustaining light that the lantern just happened to contain.
She glanced around. "Hello?" she called out through her cloak. "Did anyone put this lantern up? You there?" Nothing. Looking back at the lantern, Ruby's eyes fell to the ground around it. There wasn't anything else, no kind of campsite, no bags laying on the ground, Ruby couldn't even spot any grass bent from being stepped on. It was like the lantern had just grown out of the ground.
"What the in the world?" she said, slowly approaching the lantern. Reaching out with her free hand, she gently touched it, wondering if it even felt hot. She never got the chance to find out, because the second her skin made contact with the metal, a very bizarre sensation shot through her body. It was hard to describe, the best that she could say was that it felt like her entire body had fallen asleep and dropped in icy water at the same time, and even that didn't do it justice. Reflexively, she pulled her hand back, looking down at the palm of her hand in confusion as the sensation left.
"Welcome back good hun-oh?" said a voice behind Ruby. Wheeling around, she saw an extremely tall woman in a redish-brownish dress and bonnet standing behind her. "My apologizes," the woman said softly, smiling kindly. "I thought that you were someone else. Have you made a contract as well?"
"I-what?" Ruby said, hopelessly confused at both the appearance of the woman and what she was saying. "No, I'm just taking Professor Port's exam. How did you even get here, the forest is supposed to be off limits to anyone not in the academy. In fact, is this lantern yours?" She turned around to point at the lantern, but it wasn't there anymore. In fact, nothing was there anymore. A horrible realization creeped over Ruby as she looked around and realized she wasn't in the Emerald Forest anymore.
She had no idea where she was. Pillars rose all around here and an eerie looking mist covered their base so she couldn't see how far down they went. Tombstones where scattered here and there around her, no more than half a dozen. But the thing that shocked Ruby the most was the moon. It was whole. "I just, where am I?" she asked, willing herself not to be scared as she turned back to face the woman.
"The Hunter's Dream," the woman replied. "Do not be afraid. This is a safe place where Hunters may rest from Hunt." Taking a step forward, she looked at Ruby's nose. She frowned. "Poor Hunter, allow me." Reaching into her dress she pulled out a pure white cloth, dabbing away at Ruby's face, cleaning the blood off.
"Thanks," Ruby said, letting her cloak fall to allow the woman more access. The dread that had crept into her had not gone away, but at the woman's insistence that this place was safe and the kindness she had shown, it had shrunk. "Just let me know when you're done so I can block it again. Oh, and could I please have that cloth? My cape may be red but my sister will kill me if I get too many bloodstains on it." Feeling rather guilty, Ruby whispered, "She's the one who does our laundry."
The woman let out a soft gentle laugh. "Certainly," she said, pressing the cloth into Ruby's hand.
"Sorry about the mess, I-" Ruby began, but as she did, she paused. She didn't feel anything on the front of her nose. Pressing her hand to it, she felt no more blood flowing down it. "How did you do that?" she asked in disbelief.
"I wasn't I, it was the dream," the woman said warmly. "It is a resting place. It eases pain."
That only left Ruby even more confused than before. "Look, I have no idea where I am. Can you please tell me what this place is?"
The woman opened her mouth to reply, but before she did, she paused. Looking at something over Ruby's shoulder, her eyes widened in surprise before calling out "Welcome back Good Hunter."
"I'm glad to be back Doll." a voice said from behind Ruby. Spinning around, she saw a woman wearing a long black coat with a waistcoat of the same color underneath. She wore a tricorne hat and had her face from the nose down covered by a cloth. The only part of her skin that was visible was the dark colored skin around her eyes. Her eyes themselves were a piercing shade of blue, to the point where Ruby found it unnerving and even a little unnatural. In her right hand was a thin sword, in her left, an equally thin pistol.
Upon spotting Ruby, the woman blinked. "Pardon me," she said, clearly as confused by the situation as Ruby was "But who are you?"
"Ruby Rose," Ruby blurted out. "I was in the Emerald Forest and taking Professor Port's exam when I tripped over a lamp like a klutz and I don't normally trip over things so it was really embarrassing and then I touched it and now I'm here and I just want to go back to Beacon before something happens." The woman blinked as Ruby took a deep breath.
"Calm down," she said, taking a step forward and putting a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Doll, could you pull up a few chairs inside? And pour some tea?"
"I already have a pot ready, I'll just get an extra cup," the Doll said warmly, turning and walking up the steps that were behind her. As she did, the woman and Ruby began to follow her, Ruby noticing for the first time the decent sized building that was built on a small hill in front of them.
"Ok, let's start from the beginning," the woman said. "My name is Alta by the way. Now, what brought you to Yharnham?"
"To where now?" Ruby asked, wracking her brains for the place that Alta had mentioned and coming up with nothing. "Uh, where is that in relation to Beacon?"
"To what?" Alta replied, sounding baffled at the mention of Beacon. "What's Beacon?"
"A place where they train Huntsman and Huntresses," Ruby replied. "They send us out on missions sometimes too."
"Wait," Alta said, stopping just outside of the building, looking at Ruby. "You're a Hunter?"
"Uh, Huntress, and yes," Ruby said nervously. Alta had a strange look in her eye. A combination of disbelief and anger.
"How old are you?" Alta asked.
"Fifteen," Ruby said weakly, not liking where this conversation was going.
"The Workshop you're a part of recruits fifteen year olds and sends them off on missions?" Alta asked, her voice trembling with anger.
"Wait wait wait," Ruby said hastily, not wanting one of the two people in wherever they were to be angry. "I'm a special case, I jumped a few years. And I'm not a full blown Huntress yet, I'm a Huntress in training. And whenever they send us to a dangerous place, we always have a fully trained teacher with us. And we rarely go to places like that." Ruby giggled nervously.
Alta blinked. "I apologize, I shouldn't have been so quick to judge," Alta replied, a hint of shame in her voice. "The exact nature of who becomes a Hunter is a sore spot for me. I had it forced on me, flung into the Hunt before I even knew what it was. I'm glad that you are given time to train for it." Alta pulled down the cloth around her neck, smiling weakly. "Well, let's not keep the Doll waiting."
Nodding, the two of them walked inside. Books were scattered all over the inside, with a few workbenches with weapons on them here and there. The Doll had set up a small table for two in the center by the fair, two steaming cups of tea on it. "Thank you Doll," Alta said as she and Ruby approached the table and sat down on either side. Alta placed her weapons on the table before gently sipping her tea. "It's been too long."
"Why do you keep calling her Doll?" Ruby asked. "It's kinda rude isn't it?"
Alta nodded. "I'd love nothing more than to call her by her name, but she doesn't have one and refuses to take one. I don't like calling her Doll but she insists on it."
"Wait," Ruby said, trying to wrap her head around what she had just heard. "Why would she do that?"
"Because I am a Doll," the Doll said, extending one of her hands in front of Ruby's face. She glanced at it, and realized with a jolt that it was as white as snow and spotted obvious joints where bones would be on normal humans. Reaching out, she gently touched the hand, and realized how unnaturally smooth and cold it was.
"I couldn't tell," Ruby muttered. Her mind was buzzing. How was this even possible? Exactly where was she?
"It's easy to forget too," Atla said. "I keep having to remind herself that she's not flesh and bone, because she makes you wonder why it even matters." Atla gently picked up her tea cup and saucer before taking a small sip. "Now you might want to start from the beginning. Where are you from and what brought you to Yharnam?"
Ruby rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "You two keep mentioning this Yharnam place, but I've never heard of it." She really hoped it wasn't a place that was well known yet she had never heard of, she didn't want to sound like an idiot. "Could you maybe point out where it is on the map?" Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out her scroll. With a few taps, she brought up the world map of Remnant and slid it in front of Atla.
To her surprise, the woman jumped to her feet, almost spilling her tea, looking down at the scroll with wide eyes. "How did you do that?" she said in disbelief. "I've never seen glass like this before. Is it the work of the arcane?"
Ruby blinked. The various pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together in her head. "It's just my scroll. It's not magic, it's technology. It runs on electricity."
Atla looked confused. "Eckeltricity?"
"You don't know what electricity is?" Ruby asked. "How? It powers everything."
"I see," Atla said, looking down at the map. Her eyes widened a second time. "This is no map I've ever seen before," she said. "I don't recognize any of the continents, any of the oceans." She leaned closer. "Vale? Atlas? Mistral?" She shook her head. "I've never heard of any of these places. And why are there only four cities on this map? Is it incomplete?"
"This can't be happening," Ruby said, pulling her scroll back to her side of the table. "No, if you don't recognize anything on this map, then that means I'm not in Remnant anymore. How is that possible?"
"There are many worlds," the Doll said. "The world the Good Hunter is from, this one, the Nightmare of Mensi. Tell me, did you travel here by touching a lantern?"
"How did you know that?" Ruby asked in surprise. In the back of her mind, she wondered what the Nightmare of Mensis was. It sounded like a horrible place.
"Lanterns are the only way to reach the Hunter's Dream," Atla answered. "Everytime I find a lantern I can freely travel between here and wherever I found it."
"Oh so I can travel back to where I was before?" Ruby asked, hope spiking in her heart.
The Doll nodded. "Yes, you should. In fact a new way out has just appeared here. I can show you how to leave whenever you wish."
Ruby sighed in relief. "I thought I might be stuck here forever," she said.
Atla shifted in her seat. Ruby thought that her comment might have made her uncomfortable, but before she could ask why the woman had spoken. "If you don't mind me asking, could you tell me more about this world you come from? It sounds very different from anything I'm used to."
"Oh, ok!" Ruby said happily. "Well, there are four kingdoms, Vale, Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo. They're pretty much the only safe places in the world safe from the Grimm. Oh right, you don't know what Grimm are. See, they look like animals, wolves, bears, snakes, stuff like that, but they're a lot bigger and more dangerous. They don't have souls and they feed off of negative emotion like hatred and sadness. They attack humans on sight and we don't really know where they come from. That's why there are Huntresses and Huntsmen like me." She proudly pointed at herself. "To fight Grimm and keep people safe. Well at least I'll be a Huntress when I graduate."
Atla nodded in interest. "So you hunt beasts as well, though a different kind. Tell me, what weapons do you use?"
Ruby's eyes lit up. "Well we have our aura and semblance, special abilities that everyone has and Huntresses' unlock, but we usually use awesome weapons like this." Reaching around to her back, she stood up and unfolded her scythe. She beamed at the scythe with pride. "Crescent Rose, made it myself. It's a combination of a scythe and a high caliber sniper rifle. Only two like it in the world, the other one my uncle has the other one."
Atla's jaw dropped slightly. "That's a very impressive weapon," she said softly. "I've seen a couple of weapons that combine firearm and blades, but none of them looked quite like that. Something is rather familiar about that though. Do all Hunters where you're from use transforming weapons too?"
"Sorta?" Ruby said uncertainly. "A lot of them do but not all. It's pretty common for them to be both a melee weapon and some form of gun though. Why do you ask?"
"Because transforming weapons, or as we call them Trick Weapons, are the primary weapons Hunters here use," Atla said.
"Ohhhhhh," Ruby said exactly, folding up Cresent Rose as she looked at Atla's sword. "What does your weapon do? What don't tell me. The hilt is actually a hilt to a knife that's coated with a special type of poison. No, then you couldn't use the sword properly, uh, the blade splits in half and spins like a buzz-saw, no you don't know what a buzz-saw is, uh, I give up what does it do."
Atla grinned. "Doesn't the sheath on my back look a little bit for a sword like this?"
As Ruby holstered Present Rose, she looked and saw that Atla's sheath was indeed huge, at least five times as thick as her sword. "Uh, yeah. Why is that? Doesn't it defeat the purpose of a blade if it rattles around? It'd get dented and stuff."
"Well you see," Atla said, standing up. "It's not just a sheath." Grabbing her sword, she reached over her shoulder and slit it into the sheath. There was a noise of metal on metal and Atla pulled the hilt, bringing the sword in front of her. However, as she rested the sword on her shoulder, the sheath was still attached, locked into place. "It's actually another blade. My sword locks into it for when I need something a little heavier."
"That is so cool!" Ruby practically squealed. "It has a name right? You can't just just have a sword that turns into a bigger sword without giving it a cool name."
"Uh, unlike you I didn't make mine, I found it so it already had a name," Atla said, blushing darkly. "Ludwig's Holy Blade. Though something about Hunters is that we don't have one weapon, we have two." She gave her pistol a small nudge. "I found that one too, though it has a better name. Evelyn. That's the way of the Hunter. Blade in one hand, firearm in the other."
"Oh, so you swing that giant sword with one hand and shoot your pistol at the same time," Ruby said. It was almost funny, now that she thought about it. She was in a world that almost felt alien to her, yet here she was talking to a woman that was in the exact same line of work as her and actually having a good time. It was almost like she was back at the cafeteria at Beacon chatting with her friends.
Atla shook her head. "Nope. I like to think I'm pretty strong but even I can't wield this thing one handed. Have to holster the pistol whenever I want to use it. The smaller blade is for when I use the gun." She slid Ludwig's Holy Blade onto her back and both of them sat down again. "Anyway, you were saying?"
"Right, so before we can become Huntresses we have to go to school where other Huntresses and Hunters teach us for four years, and even before we get there we go through a lot of training," Ruby continued. "Usually you're seventeen or eighteen in your first year there, but I kinda jumped ahead like I told you."
"Oh, good so you're very much an adult before you officially become one," Atla said, sipping her tea. "That's a relief." She chuckled. "This is going to sound stupid but I was worried that children were forced to become Hunters were you're from. Sorry I made that assumption."
"Well, I have been on a few missions," Ruby admitted, pulling the neck of her collar, "Only they were the kind of missions where I…wasn't really supposed to be there but went anyway."
Atla let out a bark of laughter. "So you're that kind of person. The one who charges headfirst into a fight without thinking things through."
"Hey!" Ruby said, "That's completely untrue." Atla starred at her. "Mostly untrue." She continued starting. "I think things through," Ruby said defensively. "I only charge in to try and make things better. Sometimes my friends were in danger."
"Nothing to be ashamed of," Atla said.
"So we work in teams of four at the academy, I'm leader of team RWBY," Ruby said.
"Wait, the team is named after you?" Atla asked. "Are all teams named after their leader?"
"No not like that. It's R-W-B-Y," Ruby said. "It's made up of the first letters of all of our names." Atla nodded in understanding. "So we got tangled up in a few messes. There was that one time we destroyed the cafeteria, that wasn't too bad, but most of the time we end up dealing with criminals and the White Fang. They're a terrorist group."
"Terrorists huh," Atla said, letting out a tired sigh as she rubbed her eyes. "Sounds like your world isn't exactly at peace."
Ruby shook her head. "No. But like I said to my friend. That's why we're here. To make it better."
Atla looked directly into Ruby's eyes. "Do you think you can do that?" she asked. "The Grimm, the White Fang, those criminals, do you really think you can make a difference with them?"
Ruby felt a shiver go down her spine. There was nothing overly cruel or accusatory about Atla, but her deep blue eyes felt like they were staring directly into her soul. They just didn't look natural. "Yes," she said firmly. "I do."
Atla traced her finger around the rim of her tea-cup. "I wish you luck," she said softly. "I don't know what your situation is like. It could be manageable. I hope it is."
Ruby felt an odd shiver. There was something very depressing about Atla as she spoke. Like she was thinking about something that she wasn't talking about. "Well what about you? What's your world like?"
Atla paused before continuing. "Would you say your world is a nice place to live."
"Hey, we're talking about you know," Ruby said playfully. "And yes, it is."
"Well, my world is complicated. I'm from…I don't remember where I'm from. I can remember bits and scraps. My parent's face, how hot it felt, a creek I used to swim in, but none of it clearly. All I can remember with precision is the city of Yharnam. And Yharnam is a nightmare come to life."
Ruby stiffened. "How so?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"I'm like you in that I hunt beasts. The beasts I hunt aren't anything like the Grimm though, they aren't soulless abominations that crawled out of some distant land. Yharnham suffered an epidemic. People infected by the plague coughed up blood, turned violent, before finally turning into beasts." She grimaced. "That's what I hunt."
Ruby put her hand over her mouth in shock. "You hunt people?"
"Sadly they're not people anymore. The plague corrupts their minds, takes away their ability to think, to be rational, to be human. It does hurt though, to know that they weren't always the monsters that they've become. You get a little numb to it though, the entire city is overrun. More beasts than there are people."
"Wait what?" Ruby said in horror. "Why hasn't the city been evacuated?"
"No one left to evacuate it," Atla said sadly. "I think. It's not quite clear exactly what's going on in Yharnam. I'm an outsider, it was already like this when I first got here. I got pulled into a contract with the Hunter's Dream and now I've spent who knows how long fighting these beasts to try and save the few people who are left."
"So the world outside Yarnam doesn't know what's happening?" Ruby asked.
"I don't think so," Atla said, screwing up her face in concentration as she tried to remember. "All I remember hearing about Yharnam is that it was a place of great healing. That they had a miracle cure called Paleblood that could cure any disease. I guess it didn't exist, considering the plague. I got lucky though, the Hunter's Dream cured me. I actually had the beast plague, and made my way here searching for the Paleblood, and when I made my contract with the Dream, I was cured."
"Then why don't more people make contracts or whatever?" Ruby asked.
"The Dream is not a place easily entered," the Doll said. "Only skilled warriors like yourself can. It is the nature of the dream. What is more, the Dream is not simply a cure, it is a duty."
"I've…died," Atla said bluntly. "I've died more times than I can remember. Yharnam is a brutal place, with monsters I couldn't describe to you lurking around every corner. All it takes is one misplaced step for them to rip my life away from me. But the Dream won't let me stay dead. Every time it brings me back and forces me to keep fighting until I complete my objective."
"Objetive?" Ruby asked.
"To destroy the source of the beast plague," the doll replied.
"Well, that's good isn't it? You can't die and you can destroy the source of the beast plague." Ruby gave a feeble smile. "Couldn't things get better?"
"I used to think that. Now I'm not so sure. The deeper I go, the more I figure out exactly what's going on in that city. And I don't like what I'm finding. The beast plague isn't just an ordinary plague. There are forces at play that are far beyond anything I could've imagined. It looks like they may have been pulling the strings for quite some time," Atla said.
She ran her fingers through her hat. "It isn't just some politician's manipulating things from behind the scene. It's far more than that. I have seen things that defy everything that I was ever told about the world. I have learned truths. Horrible, horrible truths. Things that I wish I had never known. To make it even worse, I feel like I've only just begun to uncover what's truly happening. Like I only understand a very tiny part of the greater hole and have no idea what I'm dealing with."
"Oh geez," Ruby said, searching for words of comfort. "I'm sorry."
"But that's not the worst part. The worst part is what it's done to me. I hear them now. Whispering to me. Dark little secrets. Things I wish I had never known. They tell me just how sheltered my world is, how the only reason we get by is how ignorant we are. That if we knew the truth then we would know how utterly insignificant we were." Then, without warning, Atla slammed both of her fists onto the table. "THEY'RE ALWAYS THERE! WHISPERING! SCRATCHING! CLAWING AT THE BACK OF MY SKULL!" Ruby jumped to her feet, her hand instinctively flying to rest on Crescent Rose while the Doll clasped her hands over her mouth in shock.
Atla seemed like a completely different person now, frustration and anger seemed etched into her face as she heavily panted, grinding her teeth together. However, as seconds passed, the anger slowly slid away as she realized what she had done. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I pray you never feel the way I do right now. I feel small. We're all so small. There are things out there far more powerful than we could possibly comprehend. What can we do against them?"
"You're not making any sense," Ruby said. "What things?" She felt a little afraid now. She had no idea what Atla was talking about. All of it sounded frankly impossible. "Is she insane?" she wondered.
"The Great Ones," Atla said, her voice starting to crack. "They're the ones responsible for the beast plague. Why? I couldn't tell you. I doubt any human could ever understand the way that they think. What I do know is that the more I look around Yharnam, the more it becomes clear that they were always the ones in control. Statues for them everywhere, they're always watching you from a rooftop somewhere. None of the beasts roaming the streets can compare to them."
"But what ARE they?" Ruby asked.
"I don't have the words for that," Atla said, shaking her head. "We never came up with a word that could properly capture what the Great Ones are. The only way you could understand is to stand before one, and if you were to do that you wouldn't walk away as yourself. The experience would change you. You would've looked onto something infinitely bigger than yourself and you would've learned things. Things that you wished you hadn't, things that you could never forget no matter how much you wanted to." Tears started to trickle down her face as she talked. "I hope you never see one Ruby. I hope you never feel the way I do."
The Doll approached Atla, dabbing at her face with another cloth. "Shhh," she said comfortingly. "You were not summoned to the Dream to fight a pointless battle. My Master tells me little, but that much I know from him."
"See?" Ruby said. "Can't you fight the Great Ones? If they're flesh and blood like we are, no matter how tough they are they could still go down if you shoot them enough."
"It's not that simple," Atla said, wiping away a few tears that the Doll had missed. "These things can't be killed the same way a beast can. They may bleed when you stab and shoot them, but you can't just wipe them out the way you would do an infestation. I'm sorry, I would explain why if I knew myself, but even I know little about them. All I do know is that every time I beat one of them, I don't thwart their plans. I don't set them back. At the very best, I inconvenience them."
"But if that's the case, why do you keep fighting?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know what else to do," Atla replied miserably. "Even if I feel like I need a miracle to triumph over them, I'm not content to just let them do whatever they want." She gave a weak laugh. "I take back what I said before, I'm the one who charges in without thinking things through, not you. It's why I'm still stuck in this miserable place."
An awkward silence filled the room. Ruby just wasn't sure what to say. She had had a feeling from the look of the place that it wasn't exactly paradise but she had never dreamed that it would be THIS bad. One thing that bothered her was that she still didn't quite understand what "this" was. "I don't know if there's anything that can beat them."
"Nothing at all?" Ruby asked. A chill was going down her spine. "What are these things?"
"That's something if I ever learn the answer to, it may very well break my mind," Atla replied. "They're beyond our comprehension." She sighed. "I'm sorry. You were having a good time before I went and ruined it.
Ruby, without thinking, stood up and walked around the table to where Atla is. Not saying a word, she reached out and gave Atla a hug. The older woman was stunned into silence for a handful of seconds. "You don't need to worry," she said. "That's what friends do right? Listen to their problems."
"Heh. Friends. I kinda like the sound of that," Atla said, returning the hug. After a little while, they broke away.
"So, what now?" Ruby asked.
"You should probably go back to your world," Atla said. "Maybe you and I will meet again someday. I hope we do."
Ruby felt a little sad as she looked at Atla. She had felt like she had finally been getting to know her. "How do I get back here?" she asked.
"The lantern should work," Atla said. "Though one thing I'm worried about is that your world isn't connected to the Hunter's Dream the way that my dream is. There might be some complications, so be careful. And it's dangerous here, don't come back unless you have to. Doll."
The Doll smiled at Ruby. "Farewell Young Hunter. May you find comfort in the waking world." She clasped her hands together and muttered something under her breath. Ruby felt something wet around her feet and looked down just in time to see a few tiny creatures poking out of the ground before everything around her changed. Before she could think, she was back in the Emerald Forest.
Looking around, she saw that she was exactly where she had left. The only difference was that the Lantern was lying on its side. Taking a step closer, she realized with horror that it was shattered. A pang of sorrow fell over her. She reminded herself that there could be other lanterns that would allow her to go back, but that only made things a little better.
"Ms. Rose?" Professor Port's voice emanated from her scroll. "Your connection was cut off for a second. What happened?"
"He didn't see?" she whispered. What was she supposed to tell him? The full truth? Would he even believe it? In fact, how was she even supposed to explain it when Atla hadn't been clear at all. It might be too absurd for Port to believe with such scant details.
She looked up at the sky. The shattered moon that she knew was visible, even in the daytime. How was she supposed to explain the concepts of massive creatures out there, far beyond what they could comprehend? Did she even believe that they existed herself? Atla hadn't exactly given her definitive proof. But the thought of creatures like that being out there caused Ruby to swallow. Creatures that could rip entire worlds apart at the seams. Creatures that couldn't be stopped.
She felt very small.
Author's Note: Not meant as a prelude to anything, just an examination of the worlds of Bloodborne and RWBY…not colliding, but brushing against each other.