"That. Was. Awwwwwwesome!"
Nora was literarily bouncing from wall to wall when they walked down the hallway leading to their dorm room. Her energy had yet dwindled even the slightest after the group trashed the school cafeteria. If anything, it seemed to have made her all the more excited.
"…is she going to be like that for the rest of the day?"
Weiss whispered to Ren. She was both amazed and horrified by the hammer-wielder's stamina.
The boy shrugged with a fond smile.
"Doubt it."
As he moved, he noticed a piece of lettuce dangling from his shirt pocket. He wordlessly picked it off and threw it to the side. The cleaning staff could take care of it.
"It's probably the sugar from all those soda… I think she will crash pretty soon."
The group chuckled.
"Well, but it was pretty epic." Ruby smiled as she skipped alongside her partner.
Being the youngest among the group of friends, she was perhaps the one who enjoyed the quarrel the most. Well, except for Nora, maybe.
Yang made a face.
Normally she would have agreed with her little sister, but the stickiness in her hair was making her grumpy.
"Yeah. Except now Professor Goodwitch is gonna be pissed at us for the next two months or so."
Everyone shivered. They knew it was true. Although they were not punished for their antics, they did receive a stern hour-long lecture from the terribly irritated Huntress.
Glynda Goodwitch may have remained neutral-faced through the scolding, but anyone not blind could see her displeasure, especially when those sharp cold green eyes fell upon them. It was a gaze that could freeze ocean.
Jaune tried his best to change the topic, though his voice was an octave higher than usual.
"Uh. So. How many watermelons did we destroy today?"
Pyrrha was quick to catch on to her partner's attempt to lighten the mood, and offered cheerfully.
"I counted 19."
Ahead of them, Nora made a sound that was somewhere between a maniacal laughter and a gleeful shriek. Ren pinched the bridge of his nose.
But when he thought about it, he was not entirely sure whether the pounding headache was because of his partner, or from the multiple instances he had been slammed into the floor violently. Nora avenged him, he was sure of that, but being punched by Yang was no joke, and sliding on the floor while running at high speed and crashing through several tables was quite painful, too.
"…you know, I'm starting to think the school's ketchup bottles are deceptively small, when you consider how much ketchup it actually hold."
The boy murmured.
"Oh, forget that."
Nora had ping-ponged her way back to meet up with them. Now she was walking backward and frowning.
"Hey, I just remembered something. Why was there a whole swordfish lying around? I mean, it wasn't even cooked."
"I am guessing some students requested it…?" Blake tried, but after receiving the incredulous looks from others, she threw her hands up. "Never mind."
They all laughed, and Blake couldn't help it but smiled, too.
"Okay. But seriously. Remind me to not engage in a food fight with Pyrrha when she is anywhere near a vending machine."
The redhead grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Naaaah. Don't worry about it." Ruby put a hand on the taller girl's shoulder, and smirked. "I got you guys good on that anyway."
"That you did." Jaune grumbled. "That you did."
"Aw come on Jaune." Yang nudged him playfully, but her lack of control over her force almost shoved the blond boy into the nearby wall.
Ruby snickered as she watched her friend trying desperately not to stumble. She turned to her elder sister.
"By the way, how high did you go, Yang?"
"Oh. Hmmmm." The brawler stroke her chin. "I dunno. Like really, really high? I think I saw the four kingdoms before I passed out in midair. And then when I opened my eyes again I was falling back through the ceiling."
"She was airborne for about a minute and half." Blake added in a flat tone.
"Wow…"
Weiss looked positively stupefied by Yang's account when she mentally went over the math.
"…I'm not sure how you are still alive…"
Ruby burst out laughing. So did Blake, and Weiss, and Team JNPR.
She was about to add on to their conversation, when she suddenly realized something was not right.
A moment ago she was just walking next to Weiss. But the next moment, she was falling behind. She frowned at the oddity. How did they walk so fast?
She picked up her pace.
But her friends seemed to move even faster. She couldn't keep up.
Unnerved, Ruby started jogging. "Uh, guys-"
But none of them heard her. They just kept on moving faster and faster, farther and farther away from her. Ruby could see them still talking and laughing, but she couldn't hear their voices. They didn't seem to realize she had fallen behind.
"Hey, guys!" She broke into a run, a hand reaching out. "Wait!"
They stopped, and turned to look at her.
But even though they were not moving anymore, the distance between them and Ruby only grew wider and wider. And even though Ruby could see their lips moving, saying something to her, she still couldn't hear a damn thing aside from her own labored breathing.
"Wait." She heard herself screaming. "Don't leave me."
Her friends responded with a sad smile, and turned away. Then, they just disappeared.
And Ruby was left alone in the darkness again.
Ruby sat up from her sleeping bag abruptly, with her left hand reaching out, frantically grasping for what she could no longer reach.
It took her several seconds to register her surrounding, and for reality to finally seep back into her head.
There were rose petals flying wildly around her, a sure sign that she had activated her semblance in her sleep again. She noticed her fists were clenched tightly, but did not bother opening them. There was nothing there. There had never been.
Sighing in frustration, she threw herself back down and welcomed the throbbing pain as the back of her head impacted the not-so-comfortable makeshift pillow.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
In. Out. In. Out. In.
She closed her eyes.
The nightmare still haunted her.
Out.
She opened her eyes, and let go of all the tensions in her muscles.
It never got any easier. The pain. The burden. The sadness. Sometimes, she wasn't even sure how she had endured it thus far. Sometimes she would wake up crying, shaking uncontrollably. Sometimes she simply wanted to just lay there for the rest of the day, staring into the sky.
But every time, she would get back on her feet and pull up her hood. Every time when she thought she was going to break, she would hear the small voice in her head, reminding her why she still fought. Today would be no exception.
She wiped her face and gave herself another moment to regain her composure. It was not easy, but she managed to calm down.
She allowed herself to enter the routine of getting up, making herself more presentable, and packing all her stuff – she didn't have much, only the equipment necessary to survive in the wilderness and a few other tokens she always carried with her. She had done this so many times that the tasks no longer require the presence of her mind, and her thought drifted to her plan for the day.
Today she would reach the boundary of Vale, and take an airship to Beacon. Ozpin was waiting for her report.
She could have called her mentor and have him sent a Bullhead when she was done, sure, but she did not want to. After the event that had transpired over the last couple months, she wanted – no, needed – time alone with her thoughts.
It was one of the perks of traveling by foot instead of by vehicles, she supposed. It gave her time to think. Now that she was no longer the naïve fifteen-year-old Huntress in Training, and now that she learned a lot more than she ever imagined possible, Ruby found herself almost constantly contemplating on one subject or another.
It was one of the changes her younger self definitely would not have expected. But then again, so much had happened that her younger self could never imagine possible. Time had changed. The world had changed. Her friends and family had also changed, one way or another.
Her fingers touched something light.
She looked down, and saw the picture. It was a photo of her old team, taken shortly after the beginning of their second semester.
Ah… She could still remember that day so clearly…
She shook her head and tried to focus her thoughts. She had vowed to not dwell on what had been lost, so that she may concentrate on what she could still save.
Her gaze lingered on the four childish faces. Her own awkward grin. Yang's boisterous smirk. Blake's mysterious smile. And Weiss' slightly upward-curled lips, accompanied by her infamous look of irritation. Her thoughts betrayed her and wandered through the memories, as she stared at the picture.
She had some vague idea of where her teammates were, but it had been years since Ruby had seen them in person.
Ruby had tried to get the team back together, when the world settled down from the war. She had hoped – no, she was confident – that they could look past old grudges and go back to what they once were, before the chaos took over. She was wrong.
Ruby herself had changed, and so did everyone else.
By that time, Yang had thrown herself into an inferno of anger and rage so deep that Ruby could barely get close enough to her to talk, literarily. Blake had faded into the shadow again, doing whatever she felt necessary from within the dark. And Weiss… well, at that point, the heiress was too invested in her family enterprise to have more than a few minutes of time to spare.
Ruby tried very, very hard to put the pieces of her broken team back together.
But all she was rewarded with was endless shouting matches and hurtful insults. Of her best friends closing up and shutting out each other. She was sent into the hospital after trying to break up a particularly bad three-way arguments between her sister, the cat Faunus, and the heiress. After that, none of them would look at her again.
Still she tried to write them letters, to keep them updated on what's going on. None of them ever wrote back, and Ruby was beginning to doubt whether they even received the letters in the first place.
It took another trip to the hospital for her to learn the reasons why they never responded.
Ruby put the photo into her pocket, before she felt the dampness on her cheeks. She raised her hands to clean her face the best she could. It would have to do. She was going to be late if she did not start moving.
"I am so taking a vacation after this."
She mumbled to herself, despite knowing that she would never have the chance.
Ruby was surprised to see the blond man when she entered Ozpin's office.
"Jaune!" She called out in delight and rushed to shake his hands.
"Hey Ruby."
The man chuckled and returned the greeting. It never cease to amaze Ruby when she compared the man in front of her to the boy that she befriended on the first day of Beacon. Gone was the clumsy teenage schoolboy with awkward demeanors. Jaune had grown into a confident leader, a fearless warrior, and a courteous gentleman.
Her friend had definitely changed for the better, and sometimes when Ruby looked at Jaune, she wondered what kind of changes other people saw in her. She never really found out.
"Ms. Rose."
The slightly amused voice of her mentor reminded her of her purpose.
"Professor Ozpin."
She turned to the elder man and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I, uh." She tried to remember her apology, but couldn't remember the rehearsed speech at all. "Sorry I'm late." She blurted out.
Ozpin just smiled back and shook his head lightly.
"There is no need. After all, I do trust your judgement. If you prefer some alone time between sending the report and our meeting, I am more than willing to comply." He paused. "Speaking of which, you picked an excellent time to arrive. I would like Mr. Arc to hear what you have discovered as well. His team might benefit greatly for their next mission."
Ruby raised a brow at Jaune, but the young man just shrugged.
"Yes sir." She looked back to Ozpin, and inhaled deeply before beginning.
"The documentations were badly damaged, but I managed to scan everything into my Scroll before, er-" she rubbed the back of her head nervously, "before some unwelcome companies interrupted. The site went down, and I, um, I don't think anything inside are recoverable."
Jaune didn't even bother to try to suppress his snickers. Ozpin had the decency to hide his amused smile behind his coffee mug, but Ruby could see it anyway. Her face was hot with embarrassment and she elbowed Jaune.
"Ow."
"The pictures are here." She ignored her friend and put her Scroll on the table. Several holographic images started dancing in the space before the Hunters and Huntress. "I did manage to decipher most of them."
She sighed. The next part was not going to be pleasant at all.
Jaune and Ozpin caught the change in her voice, and straightened their backs. Jaune frowned while trying his best to translate the ancient symbols, while Ozpin just silently read through the lines. Ruby gave them a few seconds before carrying on.
"Well, the jest of it is that our theory on the passageways is correct. By the look of it, they sealed those off with some really powerful magic."
"Do you think maybe it's the Maidens…?"
She shook her head. "I'm not sure. But if it's the Maidens, something doesn't make sense."
She waved a hand and brought up one of the image.
"Here." She pointed to the scorched page. "It said that there are five passages, and the rituals were performed simultaneously. So if four of them were performed by the Maidens-"
"-who was the fifth person?" Ozpin finished for her, nodding his head slightly before sinking into deep thought.
Ruby looked at her mentor. As much as she respected him, it was at times like this that she wished he was as ridiculously powerful as the world had imagined. Ozpin was wise, he was strong as a Huntsman, insightful to the world events, and resourceful when he needed to be.
But Ozpin was just as powerless as the rest of them when it came to guarding the peace of the world.
"It also said that the seals should be unbreakable from the other side." She added in a quiet whisper, drawing the attentions of the two men.
"The seals act as a neutralizer, so that the darkness will be mostly nullified when it touches the barrier. There might be some residual power leaking through, but it shouldn't be anywhere near the level we have seen."
"We must assume the seals are compromised, then." Ozpin nodded.
"But why?" Jaune looked disturbed. "Who would wish to accelerate the destruction when they will also be ruined?"
"The desperate. The insane. The ignorant. People who bear too much hatred toward the world that they would rather see it shattered than to admit there are still beauties that are worth defending." Ozpin sighed. "Mr. Arc, I must ask that you speed up your investigation. Use whatever necessary means to find and stop the perpetrators."
"Yes sir."
"As for you, Ms. Rose-"
"I am going to find the damaged seal."
"What?" Jaune blinked several times before fully understand what Ruby said. "Ruby, no. If the Grimm population around the major cities has skyrocketed to record high, what do you think it will be like anywhere near the seal? It's going to be swarmed by Grimm. You won't last very long by yourself."
"I'm probably the only person who can do this and you both know it. If there is a fifth power, there is a chance it will be this. And for that, I have to at least try." She gave both men a hard look.
They knew well enough what it meant. Ruby had definitely done more research than she had let on, and although neither of them wanted to acknowledge it, it was true that they had suspected the same thing when Ruby pointed out the existence of the fifth seal.
It didn't help that Ruby had that determined expression on her face. They knew that once Ruby had made her decision, she would not back down from it. Her stubbornness might get her killed, but she would still somehow manage to get pass their resistance and get to where she wanted to be.
"Besides, who said I was going alone?"
Jaune blinked again.
"Ms. Rose…" Ozpin began carefully. He had guessed what Ruby was going to say. "I don't think it would be a good idea."
"They are the only people I trust enough to bring with me." Ruby stated simply, before she remembered. "No offense, Jaune."
"None taken."
She nodded. "And if everyone is so worried that I will endanger myself out there, well, isn't it more reason to have them in the expedition team?"
It was then that the two men saw the reluctance behind the humorless smile.
"After all, I will be an awful leader if I can't stay alive long enough to make sure my teammates don't kill each other."
The young fellow who greeted her outside looked familiar, but Ruby could not quite discern whether they had met before. She thought he might be a new teaching assistance or something, but she was not sure.
Not that it's of any importance, just another minor addition to the 'things-she-is-not-sure-of' list. Which, to her frustration, had been getting longer and longer as the days passed.
"Ms. Rose."
He greeted her nervously, and Ruby ignore the cracked voice. It irritated her. Why did more and more people greet her like her name was strangling them?
"Uh. The Headmaster asked me to lead you to the vault."
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak without sounding annoyed.
The young teacher hesitated, but started walking anyway. He looked back several times as if uncertain whether the honored guest was going to follow.
Ruby rolled her eyes when he was not looking. Well, okay, maybe she did have an idea why people acted the way they did. After all, it was not every day that people came face-to-face with one of the most well-known Huntress alive. Her reputation during the war probably didn't help, though if anyone asked, she would argue that the tales circulating in the kingdoms were over-exaggerated and she did not deserve the awe and respect people showed her.
If she could, she would trade all the fame and glory for a minute of her old life in a heartbeat. She really did not look forward to the reunion, even though she missed each of her teammates terribly.
She had wished they would have the time to sit down together, peacefully, and just… talk. It wouldn't even matter if they couldn't resolve their issues right away. She just wanted to be with them, to have one normal day with them. But this had to be done. There was no other way-
She stopped and turned her head slightly.
There were movements at the corner of her eyes, and she thought she caught a glimpse of something familiar.
They had been walking along the pavement on the side of a building with giant windows. She stared inside.
Young, lively faces surrounded the tables. Each of them innocent. Some schoolboys were throwing fruits at each other, laughing, talking. One of them had lettuce in his hair. Another's cloth was decorated with what looked like an assortment of peanut butter and jam. Someone was yelling for them to quit it, but was rewarded with a cake in the face.
"I'm sorry you have to see this."
The young teacher was obviously embarrassed when he noticed what she was looking at, and started toward the door. "Just give me a moment to-"
"No, no." She stopped him with what seemed to him must be rather uncharacteristic haste. Not that she cared. She was focusing on not letting her turmoil of emotions surface. God. This was the first time she found it so hard to hold her smile. "Let them. Please."
Without waiting for a response, she started walking again. Her eyes lingered on the scene for only one more brief moment.
In the back of her mind, she could still hear the shouts and laughter from the cafeteria where she once sat with her friends. The sounds had somehow blended with echoes from the past. And it took all her strength to not break down right then and there and cry.
Although none of the plans she spent hours making up ever got carried out. Although their clothes were practically ruined to the point that no amount of detergent could reprimand the damages. Although they argued all the way back to their dorms about which team had ultimately won. And although it was probably the stupidest thing they had ever done. There was no question about one thing.
It was the best day ever.
.
.
A/N: Okay. So. I can't stop myself from watching the food fight in Ep 1 of S2 over and over again. It was epic. It was hilarious. But it also gave a lot of heartache when you remember what happened afterward.
Reviews/comments are highly appreciated. And thanks for reading.