"How's she holding up?" Blake asked.
"Not good. She hasn't left the dorm since it happened." Yang said looking worried.
"I don't blame her. I mean, imagine if you saw one of us die so brutally! I wouldn't even want to look at anyone let alone talk." Weiss said with a saddened look on her face. "Penny was such a nice girl too. I wish I'd gotten to know her more."
"Even so… She can't stay in there forever. I'll go and talk to her. She should atleast be able to talk to someone after 1 week." Yang said, about to open the door.
"Wait!" Blake stopped her. Do you want us to come with you or…"
Yang interrupted. "No. As much as I appreciate it I think she'll open up easier to family."
Blake and Weiss both nodded. "Ok. Good luck." Weiss said.
"And Yang? Don't go too hard on her." Blake said with a serious look.
Yang nodded. As Blake and Weiss walked off, she took a deep breath in and entered the dorm.
Ruby was lying on her bed, her face in her pillow. Her clothes were getting dirty and she was starting to smell.
Yang cautiously walked up to the bunk bed. "Ruby?"
There was no reply.
"Cmon Rubes. It's been 1 week. You need to start living again!"
No reply.
"Look… Let's get you in a shower, I'll make you some cookies and we can talk about it. Sound good?"
Still no reply from Ruby.
She sighed."Ruby." Yang climbed the ladder up to Ruby's bed. "I know losing a friend is hard and you have a right to grieve and feel sad. But you can't just let yourself waste away like this. It's not healthy. And besides, I don't think Penny would want you to be like this."
Ruby tilted her head so she was looking at Yang. "Why did it have to be her?" She said with a shaky voice. "She did nothing wrong." Her eyes were tearing up.
Yang looked at Ruby. Her eyes were also beginning to tear up. "This didn't happen for a reason. It was just one horrible accident."
"It wasn't an accident…" Ruby said, her voice getting slightly louder. "Pyrrha did this. She killed Penny. She killed my friend!"
Yang was shocked. She had never seen Ruby like this before. "Ruby! Pyrrha didn't know Penny was a robot! She's just as upset as you are."
Ruby's face was turning red with anger. "She didn't have to be so brutal! It's not like Penny was trying to kill her! It was a tournament!" She was now shouting.
"Stop yelling! Let's just have a calm chat about this and-"
"I don't want a 'calm chat', Yang! I want my best friend back! A 'calm chat' isn't going to do that is it?!"
Yang was now feeling a mix of anger and sadness. "I'm gonna let you calm down. Then maybe when you're willing to talk, we can actually help you bounce back up from this." She climbed down the ladder and stopped at the dorm's door. "Just remember that you weren't the only one affected by this." She exited the dorm and shut the door behind her.
Ruby was now regretting shouting at her sister. She burst out into tears and hugged her pillow. "Penny…" She said with cracking voice.
About 10 minutes had passed when there was a knock on the door. Ruby lay in her bed not caring about it. The doorknob turned and the door opened. In walked General James Ironwood who was holding a small pouch in his hand.
"Hello, Miss Rose." He said with a calm voice. "How have you been coping since Pen-" He stopped himself. "Since IT happened?"
Just like before there was no reply.
"I know you and Penny were very close. She would always talk about you when she returned to the ship. She even drew pictures of what you and her did together after every day!" He had a concerned smile on his face.
Ruby turned over and sat up. "Really?" She asked, her voice sounding slightly more uplifted.
"Indeed. I even have them right here. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded up bundle of paper. "Here." He walked over to Ruby's bed and passed them up to her. "She would want you to have them."
Ruby grabbed the paper. "There must be dozens of drawings here!" She thought to herself. Ruby noticed the pouch in the General's hand. "What's that?" She asked pointing to his gloved hand.
"Oh! I Almost forgot!" He said with a slightly embarrassed tone. "I found this in Penny's room. I don't know what's inside it but it was labeled to you. I thought you should be the first person to see it." He put the pouch at the foot of Ruby's bed.
"Thank you, General." Ruby said with a small smile.
"Ruby… I'm sorry about what happened to her. I should have stopped the match as soon as I saw who was in it. I just thought maybe Penny could hold her own. I was wrong…" He walked over to the door.
Ruby sighed. She remembered how she reacted when Yang tried to make her feel better. "It's okay, General. It's not your fault."
Ironwood looked down. "Enjoy the drawings, Miss Rose." He shut the door behind him as he left the dorm.
Ruby picked up the small pouch that had been left for her.
On it there was a label that said, "Property of Penny Polendina." Under that it said, "For Ruby Rose only."
"What could be in here?" Ruby said to herself. She opened the pouch to see that a small USB stick was inside. "Huh?" Ruby said as she picked up the stick. She pulled out her scroll and stuck the USB stick inside.
As soon as she did, a video file appeared with the title, "To my friend Ruby!".
Ruby started choking up just at the sight of this title. She hesitantly clicked on the file and the video opened up. It started to play. On the video was Penny Sitting at a white desk. She was in a completely blank, white room with only basic furniture like a bed, a desk and a small television.
"Salutations, Ruby! If you are watching this, then the Vytal Festival has ended and I am gone. But don't worry! I'll explain everything in moment. Before I got here, I was very nervous. I didn't know anyone in Vale, I didn't have many friends at Atlas and I had to represent my kingdom! But then I met you. When your team ran into me it was the greatest moment of my life! You called me your friend almost instantly! How often does that happen!? When Blake went missing, I felt that I owed it to you to help as best I could as your new friend."
As Ruby was watching the video, she began the unfold the drawings. What she saw made her tear up again. There were amazing drawings of moments she and Penny had together. There was one of Penny saving Ruby from the truck and one of the moment they became friends. All of these memories came flooding back to Ruby and hit her like a mace.
"We even managed to stop some bad guys. It was like we were a superhero and sidekick duo!"
Ruby giggled as tears fell down her cheeks.
"The day I told you about my secret changed my life forever. I had finally found someone who I could trust. A true friend. And you accepted me for who I am. You didn't care that I was not normal. You didn't care that I was not real. You still wanted to be my friend and I'm so grateful that you did!"
Ruby started spreading these pictures across her mattress. There were dozens of well drawn pictures of moments throughout their friendship. This mixed with Seeing Penny and hearing her voice again was almost too much for Ruby.
"Now I know you and everyone else saw me 'die', But I'll tell you a secret." Penny looked around. "That's part of my plan!
Ruby's looked up at her scroll. Her eyes widened.
"Remember when I said I wanted to stay at Beacon? I found a way." Penny grinned. It involves m-"
Penny was interrupted when she heard her door open. A girl wearing a uniform and beret appeared. It was Ciel.
"The next match is about to begin in 10 minutes, ma'am!" Ciel said as she pointed to her watch.
"Oh! I'll be with you in a minute!" Penny faced the camera again. "I have to go, Ruby. Do not worry about me." Penny moved her hand up to her scroll. "See you soon, friend!" Penny's smile was the last thing Ruby saw as the recording ended.
"No!" Ruby shouted. She needed to know what Penny's plan was. How she was going to stay at Beacon. She needed to know how her friend did this. She calmed herself down and looked around.
Suddenly, Ruby's scroll buzzed. It was a message from Yang. She opened the message and it read, "Hey Ruby. I'm sorry if I came off too harsh earlier. Want to have that chat?"
Ruby decided she was going to tell Yang about what she just saw. She took a shower, put on fresh clothes and grabbed a cookie. She ran straight towards the door and opened it.
Ruby froze. Before her was a small figure with Orange hair, freckles and a bow. Ruby didn't say a word. The figure just smiled and said softly:
"Salutations, friend."