"Oh? You're awake," The familiar voice rang in Ruby's ears, "I was expecting this to take longer."

"Who?" Ruby responded deliriously to the voice. Her vision was still blurred, but she could tell she was in the tunnels that connected Vale to Mountain Glenn.

"Me?" The voice questioned, "I don't have an identity."

"What do you-" Ruby cut off as her vision cleared. Standing before her was a girl her age. She looked almost exactly like Ruby, so much so that every minor difference was obvious to her eyes. Her hair was cut like hers but was deep black with no red tint to it. Her silver eyes were framed by a deep black sclera. The girl's clothes mirrored Ruby's own in pattern, but were white with black lining and her cloak was pitch black.

"People like me," The not-Ruby started to answer Ruby's unfinished question, "Since we aren't acknowledged by society, we aren't given names like yourself." She looked sad admitting it.

"We have nothing."

Ruby thought for a moment, she hated the idea that a person could be born into the world with no identity. "Kuro!"

"Hmm?" The girl was taken aback by Ruby's sudden outburst.

"Well, you don't have a name right?" Ruby asked earnestly

"Correct." The girl responded almost mechanically.

"So how about Kuro? It means black. I think it suits you." Ruby explained quickly, the words mashing together and barely intelligible.

"You acknowledge me?" She questioned.

"You are standing right in front of me. So, do you like it?" Ruby's eyes shined with hope as she responded.

"Yes, it's nice. I think." Kuro responded, amused at Ruby's enthusiasm.

"Well with that settled, uh, what happened? Why are we here?" She gestured around herself to emphasize her point.

"I have always been here," Kuro responded, "The racket you made earlier woke me up."

"Oh, sorry! Well, you see we were trying to stop these bad people from leading Grimm into Vale, but-but," Ruby winced, her head hurt tremendously, "W-we failed to stop them, I was fighting Grimm in the city. Then-" She winced again as she struggled to remember what happened, "Then I was surprised by an Ursa sneaking up on me, I think, it must have knocked me back into the tunnels."

"That seems to be what happened, yes." Kuro responded, "It's a good thing that you are okay."

"We should find a way above ground, shouldn't we?" Ruby asked trying to remember her survival classes.

"That would be the best approach, although it is a shame that they closed the tunnel after you fell in. It would have been easier to get back if they hadn't."

"Yeah, but with all the Grimm-" Ruby winced again and noticed something, "Wait, where are all the Grimm there should be like a thousand of them or something?"

"I dealt with them." Kuro responded,"They were too loud."

"You dealt with them all by yourself!" Ruby was astonished to hear that this girl no older than herself had defeated an entire hoard of Grimm alone, "But how, you don't seem to have a weapon on you?"

"Secret," Kuro winked, "We'll need to head towards Mountain Glenn to find an exit, there are quite a few holes in the tunnel from the explosions earlier. We could use one of those."

"Good idea, let's go!"

With that, the two girls backtracked through the tunnels talking among themselves. Ruby was surprised at how much, besides their looks, that she had in common with Kuro. They passed by several of the destroyed Paladin mechs Ruby and Doctor Oobleck had fought on the train, and further still they passed by the first of the train cars that had carried a bomb in it.

"It looks like this one didn't break a hole in the ceiling," Kuro said pointing up at the unmarred ceiling above the car.

"Guess we need to go further still then, right?"

"Seems so."

The two continued along the tunnel, but after a bit of complaining from Ruby the two decided to stop and Kuro checked Ruby's head to assess the damage.

"It seems you are suffering from a concussion of some form." Kuro stated after a few rudimentary tests, "We should take it a bit slower, so you don't pass out. I do believe I am required to remind you that you should not fall asleep in your current state."

"I won't. I am a little tired, but I can hold out," Ruby responded understanding her situation, "It's the headache that's bugging me. I feel like there's an army of those unicycling bagpipe guys in my head. All playing the most annoying notes they can find."

"That is an... intriguing way to put it."

After a short break, the girls walked further down the tunnel. Their discussion bounced back and forth between Ruby's two favourite subjects, fairy tales and weapons. Ruby talked about her favourite stories, favourite weapons, and the difficulties she faced designing her sniper-scythe. A few minutes passed as Ruby gleefully recounted tales of heroes and monsters when they came upon a group of bodies all wearing the White Fang uniform.

"Hmm, these are the bad guys you were talking about, aren't they? Did you kill them all?"

"What!? No, I- I-"

"Hitting them with the back of your scythe doesn't change much on a moving train. Those that fell off died, and you are responsible for that."

"Oh, but they were bad guys," Ruby tried to defend herself from Kuro outburst.

"What defines good or bad? I wonder how many of these men and women were friends with Blake." Kuro's stated, her voice emotionless.

"Wait, what? Blake's friends?"

"You mentioned Blake was a member of the White Fang once. I was just curious how many of her old friends did you kill today. Those who were only considered extremists by association."

"I haven't mentioned Blake to you, how do-"

"You did so. You're just forgetting because of you-"

"I did not! How do you know about her?"

"You never noticed her nasty glares then, did you?"

"Glares?"

Kuro smiled, "Yes every time you were alone with her and bothered her about her ears, or all those times Velvet was bullied by Cardin and you did nothing to stop it, did you not notice? Just how terrible of a leader are you?"

Ruby was shocked at Kuro's sudden change in demeanour, "But, but," She was at a loss for words. Did Blake hate her because she never helped Velvet when she was bullied? Why hadn't she noticed? Was she really such a terrible leader?

"I mean, honestly, how often do the two of you even talk?" Kuro continued.

"We- I-" Ruby was starting to cry, "Please stop. Why are you being so mean?"

"Because I'm your friend, unlike her," Kuro stated, clapping her hands together dramatically, "Well, enough with the reality check, we have to find a way out still."

"Right..." Tears were still flowing from Ruby's eyes as the two started again down the tunnels.

-Above Ground-

"I've found Crescent Rose!" Blake shouted drawing everyone's attention to her.

"Really, where was it?" Yang asked, the panic palpable in her voice.

"Near where the breach was," She replied, "I- I think Ruby fell into the breach."

"Good work, Miss Belladonna." Professor Goodwitch "The three of you will head back to Beacon with us. We'll need to talk to Ozpin about setting up a search team for Miss Rose."

Oobleck nodded his agreement with her words and his face showed obvious disease about the situation, "Don't worry Miss Xiao Long, We will save your sister."