Ruby Rose sighed as she sat in the dustplane on the way to Beacon. Yang had asked her to go shopping for a few things, plus, she also could not wait to see the new Western style battle arena that had just opened a few days ago.
She tapped her fingers idly on her knee as she waited for the plane to land. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the plane began to shake violently, and before she knew what was going on, everything went black.
()()()()()
Ruby bolted up wards, awake. She frantically looked at her environment. It was nighttime, judging how there was no sun. And she was in an alley, but instead of looking semi-decent like she was used to, this alleyway looked very...
old and decrepit.
She looked around quietly, hefting Crescent Rose as it turned into it's scythe form. She looked up and saw that there was an open window about a story above her. She leaped into the window, as silent as a ghost. The room she was in was small, with pink walls and a pure white bed being the only furnishing or decoration in the room. She silently crept through the door, and turned to see another door to her right, open slightly, but enough to see orange light coming through it.
What she saw didn't fail to shock her.
Now, on Remnant, you wouldn't be able to kill yourself because your aura would keep all attacks from damaging you, at least, until your aura reserves were empty. But, the fact that Ruby didn't think she was on Remnant anymore, made her want to lunge for the boy in front of her with a gun pointed as his own head.
She couldn't see the boys features, since the light was right behind him and castes a shadow over his front side. There was a black notebook right beside him, opened to a page with words that Ruby couldn't make out.
The boy stared at the red clad girl at his doorway in shock. Then, his face relaxed when he saw the scythe. He spoke, and when Ruby heard his voice...
Goodness, it was like watching a toddler get run over by a train.
"So, you're the grim reaper, huh? I kind of expected a guy, but, whatever. Well, end it now." His voice was so full of depression, and frustration, and anger. He puffed out his chest, and that's when Ruby realized he wanted her to kill him.
"N-No! I-I'm not this, Reaper-thingy whatever you called it! I just happened to see your window open and I jumped up!" Ruby stuttered.
The boy tilted his head in confusion, then he just sighed. "Well, if you're here to kill me, do it already. If not, I'll do it myself."
Ruby was utterly confused and helpless. She didn't want the boy to kill himself, so she offered the best idea that came to mind at the time.
"Hey, don't kill yourself. Why don't you come with me, to my world? This is obviously not Remnant, now is it?"
The boy tilted his head. "What is Remnant, and why should I trust you?"
"Because... Just trust me, alright. Don't kill yourself, and then when I find a way back to my world, I'll bring you along, okay?"
The boy nodded. "Fine, it's not like I want to stay here anyways."
Ruby carefully stepped forward. She sighed in relief when the boy out the gun down. "Good, now, can you give me the gun?"
The boy looked down at the gun and held it out to her. "Here."
Ruby gingerly took the gun from the boy's hand. For a second, their skin touched, and Ruby found that his hand was cold. Ice cold. The gun itself was a shiny silver pistol, smaller than Ren's guns, but still a bit menacing. On the grip their were words on the side: 'Colt M1911'.
"Now that that is all settled, can I stay here?" Ruby asked.
"Huh? Why here? It's depressing in here. Why don't you stay at a hotel?" The boy suggested, which earned a tilt of the head from Ruby.
"What's a hotel?" She asked.
The boy sighed. "It's a place where travelers stay in rooms that they rent for a few nights. There's one down the street. It's better than this place anyways."
Ruby fidgeted with her fingers suddenly, and she looked down in embarrassment. "I-I don't r-really sleep well un-unless s-someone is sleeping in the same room as me." She murmured. She didn't really expect the boy to hear that, so she was surprised when the boy let out an amused grunt.
"Well, I suppose so. I think I have a spare mattress in the closet. You can sleep on the bed." The boy said.
Ruby nodded slowly, her face still a light shade of red, although the dim lighting of the room concealed it.
The boy sighed and went over to turn off the lamp behind him, his back facing her. "Hey, can you turn on that light switch for me please?"
Ruby tilted her head again in confusion. "Light... switch?"
The boy sighed. "Where do you live? Under a rock? It's the lever next to you. Except it's small and it's mounted on the wall." He said as he turned off the lamp, plunging the room back in darkness. She heard ruffling sounds and the flipping of paper. She assumed it was the notebook.
Ruby looked to her left, then to her right. She found the switch and flicked it up. The room was suddenly engulfed in white light. Ruby covered her eyes from the sudden change of lighting, but the boy remained unfazed. Now that the light was on, Ruby could see what the boy looked like.
His eyes were different colors, his left eye bright blue and his right blood red. He had midnight black hair with a single white streak going towards the back. His skin was fairly pale, and Ruby guessed it was from lack of sleep and food. He wore a grey hoodie with a white t-shirt underneath, and black sweat pants. Other than that, he was pretty fit, not too much, but it would attract a good number of girls.
Not that Ruby cared!
She blushed slightly, but fought it down with all of her willpower. The boy cracked his neck and knuckles. "My name is Kazuo Grey. What's yours?" He asked with an outstretched hand.
Ruby slowly stepped towards him and shook his hand. "R-Ruby, Ruby Rose. N-Nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
Ruby looked around the room. It was larger than the room she was previously in, with plain white walls, a few black shelves lining the far back wall, and three beautifully made paintings that hung on the wall to her right. The closet was to her immediate left, with white wooden doors. All in all, she liked it better than her room.
Kazuo went over to the closet and opened it. Inside was a large mattress that looked like it hadn't been used in a while. He grabbed a spare set of sheets that were inside of a sealed plastic bag and a spare pillow. He laid out his makeshift bed and laid down on it.
"Well, since it's nighttime, we should go to sleep. We'll discuss your chores tomorrow when you wake up. Good night." Kazuo said.
"Good night, Kazuo." Ruby replied. After stowing away Crescent Rose, she lay down on the surprisingly soft bed. She thought about her situation. Where was she? Why was she here? And... wait, why did he say 'when you wake up'? He's going to sleep too, right?
"Hey, Kazuo?" Ruby whispered softly.
"Yes?"
"You said when I wake up we'll talk about my chores during my stay. You're going to sleep too, right?" Ruby asked, a hint of worry lacing her voice.
Kazuo was honestly surprised. He just met this girl, (who literally came into his room with a giant scythe), and she's asking whether or not he would be sleeping? Granted that, yes, he hasn't gotten any sleep since his a few days ago, but really?
"Yes, I will." He lied, using the most emotionless voice he could muster. He knew that some people were just born with the ability to tell lies, and he wasn't going to hear any demands from this girl just because he was careless.
"Okay... Well, good night." Ruby whispered.
"Good night, Ruby." He replied.
Before Ruby fell asleep, she had one last thought that made her smile.
Yang was going to kill her when she got back.
()()()()()
Middle of the night:
Kazuo felt horrible. Yes, he never really slept, but it was worse when there was someone in your room. He had to make extra sure that he didn't wake her up when he left the room.
Currently, he was heading towards the living room where he kept his fathers old gun, an M16A2 that he used in the military. He was going to disassemble it, clean it, then reassemble it again, like he always did when he felt nervous or distressed. Right now, he was doing it because he just felt like it.
He walked into the room. It was decently sized, although living by himself seemed to help with that. There was a TV on the wall to his left, set in the middle of a wooden entertainment system along with an Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, and a PS3. To his right toward the back, two leather recliners sat, waiting to be used. To his immediate right was a doorway that led to the dining room, which flowed into the kitchen. There was also a wooden coffee table in the middle of the room, with a small gap between the bottom of the table and he floor.
That was where he kept the gun.
He pulled out a black box from underneath the coffee table, and proceeded to open it. Inside was a small black rod about the size of a screw, a firearms cleaning kit, and a grey camouflaged M16 with the words, 'Grey Scale' scraped onto the side. With practiced ease, he disassembled the gun and began to clean it. It had been a few weeks since he's done this, and the clicking of the metal parts never failed to calm him down. In about five minutes, the gun was thoroughly cleaned, and properly reassembled.
He primed the gun, but not before making sure the safety was on. He nodded approvingly of his work and put the gun back in the box, along with the rod and the cleaning kit. He sighed and got up, about to head over to the kitchen for a glass of water.
()()()()()
Ruby couldn't sleep. She had the sneaking suspicion that Kazuo had left the room, because she always slept like a rock when there was someone in the room. She didn't know why, but she just did.
She slowly rose from the bed, and saw that he had indeed left the room. She was impressed. She had not heard him leave the room at all, which was a surprise because she could hear Yang when she was clearing the fridge in the middle of the night. And her sister could be very, very quiet when she wanted to. She snuck out of the room and walked through the house. She spotted Kazuo walking towards a doorway, so she followed.
Kazuo had led her to a decent sized room, with a TV, entertainment system, weird black boxes on the entertainment system, a few leather chairs, and a coffee table. She watched from the doorway as Kazuo took out a box from under the coffee table. She saw Kazuo open the box and take out a small black box, a black rod, and a medium-sized grey object from the box.
Ruby, after a few seconds of observation, identified the object as a gun. She was about to lunge at Kazuo, but stopped when she saw him start to take it apart. She stared in amazement as Kazuo slowly disassembled, cleaned, then reassembled the gun in about five minutes. She watched as he primed the gun, nodded, and returned the items back to the box, and the box back to underneath the coffee table.
"That was... fast. But why did he do that? Guns are supposed to be self sustained, but I've never seen that gun before," Ruby asked herself under her breath, "maybe a small peek wouldn't hurt."
Ruby quietly stalked towards the coffee table, making extra sure that the floor boards would not creak. Once she got to the table, she bent downwards and took out the box. Slowly, and carefully, Ruby opened the box and took out the camouflaged gun. She held it firmly and put her finger on the trigger. She imagined herself shooting Grimm with the gun.
"Finger off of the trigger until you're ready to fire." A voice scolded from behind her.
Ruby whipped around to find an expressionless Kazuo as he held two glasses of water in his hands. He held one out to her, which she gladly took after setting the gun down. Kazuo put his glass down on the table and took the gun in his hand. He was about to put the gun away when Ruby asked him a question.
"Kazuo, can you teach how to do that?" She asked him.
Kazuo tilted his head, adopting a confused expression. "Do... what?"
Ruby pointed at the gun in his hands. "How to take it apart."
Kazuo exchanged glances between the gun and Ruby, before he let out a small sigh of amusement. "Alright. Come here." Kazuo said as he patted the floor next to him.
Ruby obeyed and sat down next to him at the coffee table. Kazuo laid the gun out on the table along with the small box with the cleaning supplies and the small rod. "Okay, so first, before we do anything with this, I want to make sure you know the Cardinal Rules of Firearm Safety. What is the first rule?"
Ruby pondered for a moment before giving a shrug. "I don't know what these Cardinal Rules are."
Kazuo sighed in response to her statement. "Okay, here are the Cardinal Rules of Firearm Safety: Number One, treat all firearms as if they are loaded at all times. Number Two, do not aim or point your firearm at anything you did not wish to harm or destroy."
Ruby interrupted him with a grin. "Duh."
Kazuo made a small smile, but it vanished as quick as it came. He continued to speak. "Number Three, finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire. And lastly, Number Four, you are responsible for every shot you take, and you must be sure of your target and what is in front of, and beyond it." He finished.
Ruby nodded, forcing herself to remember what she had just been told.
"Recite the four Cardinal Rules please." Kazuo said.
Ruby recited the four Rules, pretty much flawlessly except for the fourth rule. Kazuo gave her an approving nod and turned back to the gun on the coffee table. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Okay, so we shall begin with disassembling this rifle. First, take this," he held up the small rod, "and push it against the pins here, and here." He said, pointing at two pins, one towards the back of he gun near the stock, and one at the front of the gun near the barrel. After the two pins were out of the gun, Kazuo split the gun into two pieces.
Throughout the middle of the night, Kazuo continued to teach Ruby how to dismantle the gun, and after a few tries, Ruby went head to head with Kazuo in a race to see who could disassemble and reassemble the gun the fastest. Kazuo won by two minutes, with a time of two minutes and twenty-four seconds. Ruby had a time of four minutes and thirty-two seconds.
Kazuo nodded approvingly before he ushered her to bed, to which Ruby protested, but obeyed nonetheless. "I have school tomorrow, and I need to be up early so that I don't miss the bus." Kazuo had said to her in a low voice.
"What's a bus?" Ruby asked innocently.
"It's a form of transportation, which you share with your schoolmates, or other people in general." Kazuo replied as he and Ruby walked back to Kazuo's room.
Ruby's face brightened at that. "So, kind of like a dustplane then!"
At her exclamation, Kazuo slightly jumped and stared at her. His expression was wavering between surprise and curiosity. "Yeah... Like a dustplane."
Ruby noticed the weird expression that Kazuo was making, and she flicked his forehead lightly. "Why are you looking at me like that? Stop it."
Kazuo snapped out of his daze and resumed walking. "Sorry."
Once they reached the bedroom and Kazuo made sure Ruby was tucked in, he laid down in his bed and waited for the night to end. He knew sleep would not come for him tonight.
It hadn't come for him since he broke.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry, I know this story was rushed a little. Okay, a lot, but that's not the point. Please leave your reviews so the I may improve on my pacing, grammar, and anything else that you find wrong with the story. (But please don't flag this fanfic just because it doesn't suit your tastes. People who do that are just plain jerks.)