To The Next Dawn

AN: Short story inspired by a prompt for the Work In Progress Discord Server, talk to SpookyNoodle for an invite if you want to take part in the contest.

Young Ruby Rose was not having the best morning. A pervading sense of dread hung over her, heavy and suffocating. Like a woolen sweater you couldn't claw off, she wasn't able to shake the feeling that something was wrong. The streets of Vale were far too quiet, far too empty. Once in a while she would see something out of the corner of her eye, only to whirl and find nothing, no one, there. Only, perhaps the most perplexing thing of all, Ruby couldn't recall how she ended up in the city.

She remembered opening her eyes and just, being here. Only it wasn't quite right for Vale. The trees alternated between what she remembered and mockeries of themselves. Little more than twigs with a mass of poorly defined green mush atop, yet she couldn't puzzle that out for too long. Behind her, around her, something was moving, always in the corner of her eye.

"This really isn't funny!"

Her voice didn't even give her the companionship of an echo, as if such rules of sound no longer applied. She remembered opening her eyes but she did not remember where she was when she had closed them. When it was. What time was it? Her scroll was missing, and none of the clocks in the city that she had found made sense. Each showed a different time, some being too indistinct to even make out the numbers.

As if they didn't matter enough to detail properly. Ruby grumbled to herself, frustration welling up in her chest. Movement, behind her. She whirled-finding nothing. Eyes closing, Ruby found a wall to lean against.

"I don't want to be alone."

She sat there for a time, listening to her own heartbeat. The only noise in the city. Time passed, she wasn't sure how much. Then, she heard it. Footsteps. Rushing forward, she saw her. Nora Valkyrie, running down the street, a look of worry across her face. Ruby gave chase, not thinking about the fact that Nora didn't quite look right. That didn't matter, what mattered was that it was someone, anyone.

It was her friend.

Putting on a burst of speed, black rose petals appearing around her, Ruby raced ahead. Easily overtaking Nora, she held a hand out, pleading with the older girl to stop for a moment. Nora skidded to a halt, a nervous energy in her eyes.

"Gosh, it's just so good to see you Nora! What is going on around here, all I know is that I just suddenly wake up and I'm in Vale and everything is..." Ruby's eyes widened as she took in the details of the woman in front of her.

Though physically she could pass for Nora's twin, this woman had black hair, plain clothes and dim grey eyes. Most of all, she lacked the energy and warmth of Ruby's friend, looking pensive and scared.

"Who are you?"

Both women were taken aback as they voiced the question at the same time. Nora's doppelganger took a step back, staring at the ground before nodding.

"I'm Sam. At least, I think I am."

Sam nodded to Ruby, encouraging the young huntress to continue.

Ruby smiled. "Ruby Rose! Huntress-in-training extraordinaire!" She couldn't keep the pride from her voice, but she didn't particularly mind it. "I'm sorry about this, you just look a lot like a friend of mine!"

A small smile came to Sam's features. "I know. I've known that for a while."

"Are you related?" Ruby tilted her head.

"No, I don't think we're supposed to be." Sam shook her head. A more genuine smile grew. "You're pretty loud, you know that? You've practically been shouting every other word."

"I'm sorry!" Ruby clasped her hands across her mouth. "Yang tells me that I get over excited sometimes and-" Ruby stopped. Yang.

Where was Yang? What had happened? She tried to recall, knowing that something had happened. It sat in the pit of her stomach, gnawing at her that something had gone wrong.

"It's okay. I think we'll be fine." Sam patted Ruby on the shoulder. "You go look for your sister. I'll wait for the others to come back here."

Ruby regarded her new friend. "Will you be okay out here, on your own?"

Sam laughed. It made Ruby feel a little sad. "Don't worry about that. I don't think we have much to fear anymore." She moved forward, embracing Ruby. "Don't be afraid of what you discover. Just remember, you are Ruby Rose. Hold onto that, and you'll be just fine."

Sam left Ruby there in the alley, Ruby more confused than before. Ruby looked towards Beacon, something about it looking off to her. Dark clouds surrounded Beacon Tower, which seemed to flicker between being destroyed and pristine. Something was drawing her there. Determination settling in her stomach, she began her trek to the school. She had figured the trip, on foot, would take a good while but it seemed like she arrived in no time at all.

The school was not the way she thought it would be. The bridge leading into the courtyard was damaged, and briefly Ruby thought of a Grimm attack being responsible. Only, the damage wasn't right for that. It looked familiar. Distinctive marks from her uncle and Weiss' elder sister, their fight. This confused Ruby further, she had seen Glynda fix the damage in no time at all.

How was it back?

Ruby shook her head before continuing forward, black petals littering the ground behind her thanks to her Semblance. The courtyard was in shambles but inconsistently so. Grooves where inhuman claws had slashed through clashed with otherwise pristine stonework. A haze hung heavy in the air but without the smoke that was its source. Ruby gasped as she recalled Grimm, many Grimm, rushing towards the school. The cafeteria came into view and something drove Ruby there all the faster.

She remembered her sister, wounded on the ground. Unconscious, nearly dead from blood loss. Her arm. Her arm had been severed.

"Yang! Yang!"

Ruby bounded into the building, windows shattered. It did look like a warzone, but one of contrasts. Half of the building had been destroyed by fighting, bloodstains on the ground. The other half, torn up by a food war, with mackerel, pasta and far too hard bread sticks littering the environment. On the far side, bisected like a parlor trick, was the wall Ruby vividly remembered hitting as she ended the food fight.

Half of it was covered in the cracked spiderweb stone work, bright colorful stains splattered across. The other half was charred by some fire that no longer burned, darkened and tarnished. In the back of her mind, Ruby knew that if Yang was anywhere, she'd be in the courtyard. Where she had seen her last. Except something kept her searching, until she spied her sister.

Rubble on one side, watermelons on the other, Yang was strewn out in the debris. Ruby rushed over, sliding close, grabbing her sister up into a hug.

"Yang, please! Wake up!"

Lilac eyes fluttered open, looking at Ruby with a groggy expression. Ruby smiled.

Yang screamed, breaking out of Ruby's grip, leaping backwards.

"What are you!"

Ruby reached out for Yang. "What are you talking about? I'm your sister!"

"Don't you lie to me! What are you!"

Ruby brought her hand back, shrinking away. It was then she noticed. She hadn't been paying attention, hadn't taken the time to take stock of herself. Her hand was black. Truly black. There were no details there, no depth. Deeper than a shadow, she was nothing more than a silhouette.

Yang eyed her warily, pacing around her. Ruby couldn't stop herself, tears coming unbidden as she began to cry.

"I am! I am Ruby! Yang, please!"

Yang's expression softened, her aggressive stance faltering. She reached out for Ruby, only to discover her arm ending in a glowing yellow stump.

"Where's my arm!"

"Where is your arm!"

"I don't know! Don't yell at me!"

"You're the one yelling!"

The two began to dance around each other in a panic, ended by Ruby tripping over something in the rubble.

"Yang?"

"What shadow sister! I'm busy freaking out!"

"I think I...found it."

Yang stopped, looking over. Coming closer, she saw what Ruby had found. Her missing arm, with the severed end glowing yellow.

"Do-do you think you could just, pop it back on?"

"Shadow-Ruby, that is the dumbest idea I have ever heard."

Ruby glared at Yang. "I'm just Ruby! And, dear sister, who was it that thought using mayonnaise as a hair conditioner was a good idea?"

Yang gasped. "You swore you would never tell!"

"And you swore you'd always be my big sister!"

A painful silence filled the air between the two of them, both looking away in shame. Ruby looked back when Yang started to move, starting to apologize. Yang put a finger on her lips, shushing her.

"Give me a second."

The blonde reached down, picking up the still glowing limb. Shrugging, she brought it to the stump, the two glowing spots burning a bit brighter. It didn't reconnect as such, still floating just below where it had been severed, but it seemed to be acting like normal.

"Well I'll be damned, it did work." Yang passed a hand through the gap, yellow light trailing with her fingers. "Mostly."

Ruby watched with awe as Yang stood tall, and then squeaked when her sister grabbed her up in a bear hug. Ruby, for her credit, tried to hug back just as hard.

"I love you sis, even if you are a living shadow."

Ruby nuzzled into her big sister's grasp, still unsure what exactly was happening but happy to have her all the same. Yang suddenly stepped back.

"Blake! I remember now, she was fighting some red-headed guy and he stabbed her! Where is she?"

Ruby shrugged. "We could check the library?"

The two sisters moved, neither noticing as the cafeteria rearranged itself behind them. They were together, and they had friends to find. Ruby did look skyward to see the Coliseum, left and forgotten in the midst of the chaos. Arriving in the school, they found much the same as before. Despite the damage to the outside, nothing much seemed to have changed on the inside. It was peaceful, quiet. Untouched.

The sisters stopped when they heard a voice call out.

"Brothers of the White Fang!"

They veered into the room, finding Blake standing on a table, shouting at nothing. She moved like she was in a dream, eyes closed.

"Hey, kit-kat, wake up!" Yang waved at the Faunus.

"Blake? You okay up there?"

"And we may never be ready!" Blake had started acting out some memory or other, completely deaf to the sisters. "Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and- Ow, Yang!"

Ruby watched with mild horror as Yang chucked her severed limb at Blake, bonking her on the head. The limb immediately snapped back into place, floating just at where it had been cut. Blake, eyes open now, glared at Yang before she realized what she was seeing.

"Oh no, what happened to you two? What's going on? Ruby, you're covered in soot!"

Ruby looked at her impossibly dark arms before shrugging.

"Yang, what is going on with your arm!"

Yang laughed. "I don't know, but I think I like it. Though, kit-kat, since when were your ears purple?"

Blake's hand brushed up against her human ears, until she realized what Yang was talking about. Eyes widening, she grasped at her faunus ears, her bow nowhere to be found. Blake cursed to herself, getting off of the table.

"I think they're cute like that, Blake."

"Thanks Ruby..."

Yang put a finger to her chin. "You seem paler than usual, Blake. Almost glowing."

Blake crossed her arms. "You don't get to talk about looking different, Miss Ray-Girl."

Ruby tilted her head. "Your eyes are different too. They're more like when we first met. All cat eye slitty." Ruby made a few paw like gestures, only to be glared down by Blake. "Sorry."

"Yes, you are. Look, I don't know what's going on either guys. It was like I was stuck replaying the same events in my head, over and over again."

Ruby shrugged. "Well we've just got to find Weiss and then we can get back to Sam!"

"Who is Sam?"

Ruby pointed back at Vale. "Some Nora looking girl, back in the city. She told me you were waiting here."

"What are you morons doing?"

The sharp, high voice caught all of them off guard. Standing at the entrance was Weiss Schnee, in her Beacon Uniform. She looked positively crossed...yet her eyes were also closed, Ruby noticed.

"We're going to be late!"

The three looked between one another as Weiss started talking about the importance of punctuality. Blake and Ruby traded looks, Blake holding aloft Gambol Shroud. Ruby nodded.

Weiss let out a most undignified noise as the blunt side of the blade smacked her across the head. Clear blue eyes opened, annoyance quickly swapped by concern.

"This is most disconcerting."

The three did their best to get her up to speed, Ruby and Yang explaining to Blake and Weiss what the courtyard looked like. Of the four, Ruby had the most memories of events, Blake's memory fading after she had captured Roman. Weiss' own memories did not extend any further than that. Yang remembered trying to stop Adam.

"Well if something dangerous is going on, I am not wearing my uniform. It's entirely undignified and there aren't nearly enough ruffles in my combat skirt!" Weiss crossed her arms, daring the others to argue.

When no one did, the four moved towards their shared room. Ruby stopped briefly as Weiss disappeared within, the JNPR door drawing her attention. She was missing something. Ruby felt like she could remember more. That more had happened after. That she was forgetting things that had come before.

She was jostled out of her thoughts by the sound of a most displeased Schnee.

"What happened to my combat outfit!"

Emerging from the room, Weiss was wearing a white outfit as per her norm, but it was not her normal huntress attire. Yang was especially taken aback.

"Weiss, sweetie, why are you wearing Melanie's outfit? How did you even get that?"

Weiss wrapped the feathered scarf tighter around her neck.

"I don't know! The only outfits in there were this and Snowpea!"

Blake and Ruby shared a look. Blake decided to bite the bullet.

"Weiss, why didn't you just wear your other jacket then?"

"Are you kidding me? It's hot out here. And while I may not agree with what the twins do for a living, there is no arguing Melanie's style. Though," Weiss smirked, fixing Miltia's red feather in her hair. "I dare say I wear it better."

Ruby snorted. "You definitely wear ego better."

Weiss glared at her partner, one hand on her hip as she poked the younger girl on the chest. "You listen here you little ragamuffin, at least I have a...have...Ruby?" Weiss started to drift off, confusing taking over. "Why do you feel like a marshmallow?"

Ruby took a step back. "What?"

"You're soft. And spongy. Like you're made of fluff."

Yang regarded her sister, hand on her chin. "Your bones didn't creak when I was hugging you either..."

"Can we please focus!" Blake drew their attention, stomping her foot.

"Thank you Blake! I knew I could count on-!"

"We can poke and prod Ruby later, we've got to find out what's going on!"

Ruby then knew in her heart, deep to her soul, she hated her friends. Each and every one of them. "Thanks. Truly, you are the only one I can rely on."

"You're welcome Ruby."

Ruby could feel her eye twitch.

The quartet began to move through the school, looking for more students. Yang had spotted Roy Stallion in a tree out back but they figured he'd be fine. Ruby was laughing at Weiss grousing about Melaine apparently being a cup size larger than her when something hit her suddenly. Ruby found her body moving on its own to the window.

"Rubes, are you okay?"

"Really, how uncouth. Suppose this is what I can expect from a shadow person as my leader."

"Really Weiss?" Blake was glaring at the heiress.

"What? Shadow people are like, three fifths a normal person! It's basic math."

"Really? Really!"

"What!"

"Would you two shut up!"

The black and white duo went quiet, Yang approaching Ruby. Ruby stood transfixed, staring up at the floating coliseum.

"I have to get up there, Yang."

Yang nodded. "Okay. I think I remember why." Yang glared at the stage, memories of a silver haired fighter coming quick and fresh. "If reality is playing fast and loose like it is for us, sis, we can fix this."

Yang tried to explain to the two what was going on as Ruby scouted ahead, Ruby scarcely hearing their conversation. She had to get to the top, had to see for herself. An ache in her chest made her move faster toward the Bullheads. She had the ship ready to go by the time the trio arrived.

"Ruby, it's weird. They really don't remember anything after the whole train thing. Weiss doesn't remember anything before it and Blake doesn't remember anything after."

Ruby shook her head. "We can't worry about that now. We have a friend to go put back together."

The trip was a rough one, with Weiss being the only one remotely familiar with the controls. She claimed to have some experience with Bullheads. Perhaps that was true, but only in the least helpful of ways. Yet they arrived, mostly in one piece. Ruby fell out of the ship, vowing to just use a rocket locker next time. She looked around the arena and spied it.

At the center of the battleground were most of the pieces of Penny. Ruby looked back at Yang, who nodded. Ruby leapt into Yang's arms, Yang rearing back and tossing Ruby into the air, giving her a heads start. Exploding into a black tornado, Ruby landed atop Penny's resting place. She shook the android by her remaining shoulder, but received no response.

Landing with a crash, Yang hurried over. She began collecting the pieces of Penny scattered across the arena, bringing them to Ruby. Like with Yang, they seemed to be drawn to her main body, a green energy emitting, holding each returned piece together. Blake and Weiss arrived as Ruby drew back, holding her breath. Hoping against hope that this would work.

Green mechanical eyes focused in on her, pupils dilating back to normal.

"Sal-u-tations Friend Ruby!" Penny made to salute with her right hand, only to find it absent. "That is not supposed to be missing."

Yang chuckled. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

Weiss called out from the stands. "Found it!"

Penny picked herself up, her body holding steady despite still being in pieces. Ruby idly wondered if it would work the same as Yang's arm.

"Friend Weiss, if you would toss me my arm, I would most appreciate it!"

"Why is it flipping me off?"

Everyone went quiet for a moment.

"I do not understand."

"Your hand. It's flipping me off."

Ruby looked at Penny. Penny looked at Ruby.

"Maybe it does not care for you?"

Ruby could feel Weiss' glare from across the way. She scratched the back of her head as the last piece was tossed to Penny. Penny gracefully caught it with the stub, the hand returning to her smoothly and effectively.

"Now I think it cares for you, Friend Weiss!"

A shout of frustration was the only response.

The four on the arena floor looked across at one another. Penny watched Ruby expectantly. Ruby couldn't hold it in anymore, giving Penny a big hug.

"I am fine, Friend Ruby. I assure you, I felt none of what transpired with Miss Nikos, though I am infinitely curious about what is currently going on."

Penny's words broke the last of Ruby's memories clear. The last thing she remembered before waking up in Vale.

Pyrrha, felled, being incinerated by a madwoman. A monster that dared pretend to be human. Ruby turned to look at the tower, which had moments ago been standing pristine.

Now it was shattered. Now it was how she remembered it, when Pyrrha Nikos was killed by Cinder Fall. The dragon was there, frozen in place. A storm was building around it, ruin creeping from it to the rest of the surroundings. Ruby didn't know what she would find there, but she knew she had to go look.

She smiled back at her friends. "Would you guys mind going back to Vale? I'm going to see if I can find one more friend."

Blake and Weiss were the first to respond, Blake supportive, Weiss confused. Penny nodded simply. Yang glanced at the tower and then at her sister.

"Are you going to be okay with what you find?"

Ruby shook her head. "Won't know until I go."

Yang nodded, gesturing to the others to move.

"I am not letting a machine pilot us home."

"You nearly got us killed trying to go up, Weiss."

"I at least have some experience with the contraption now!"

"Friend Weiss, if I may retort."

"You may."

Ruby did not see what Penny did, she was already stalking towards the locker that she had once used to bring down Roman's plans. She heard Weiss let out an indignant noise, Yang laughing loudly, and Blake laughing even louder.

"It appears to not care for you again, Friend Weiss. Funny that."

"How very dare!"

Ruby unsheathed her scythe, locking it onto the device. She punched in the codes and directed it to the tower.

Her arrival was softer than she thought it would be.

Everything was in ruin. Everything had been burned or torn or shattered. A fine coat of ash filled the room, with the dragon, frozen, looming over what had once been the roof. Ruby did not care about it, did not care about the damage. What she cared about stood in the middle of the room, familiar yet altogether alien.

Her tiara was gone, her hair hanging low and free. Her usual mirth and joy had been drained, only a contemplative, uneasy expression remaining. Gone were her outfits' highlights of red and brown, replaced instead with black and grey. Dull green eyes regarded Ruby with some fascination.

"Hello again."

"Pyrrha." The words barely made it out of her throat.

The Huntress did not offer a smile in return.

Ruby took a step forward, wanting to embrace her friend.
"They're going to forget about us, Ruby."

Ruby faltered. She looked at Pyrrha again, who was looking away. Looking into the distance.

"They've left us behind and they're not coming back."

"Pyrrha, please."

"The real Pyrrha Nikos is dead, Ruby. You watched her die. The real you. The one that got to move on."

Ruby took a step back, a presence building around Pyrrha.

"Our existence is a joke. We're a joke. Remnants left behind, constructs made for someone else's amusement. You're a silhouette! Do you know why? Because they couldn't even take the time to fill our world with real people!"

Pyrrha stomped forward, the aura around her growing in intensity. The metal in the area began to glow black, Pyrrha seizing on it with her rage.

"They're going to keep living, they're going to keep changing. We? We're going to be left behind. We've been left behind. We will be forgotten. Even our very world, what makes us who we are, is going to be forgotten, discarded. As if we don't matter! As if we never mattered!"

"Pyrrha, please!" Ruby tried to step forward, push against the pressure building from Pyrrha. She had to leap backwards as a metal spike erupted from beneath the ground.

"In time they may even remake us! Make it so that no one will ever see us again! Never know what we were like, flaws and all! This is all we are Ruby, mistakes, concepts, ideas that have been discarded and left to oblivion!" The aura advanced in power and ferocity, igniting the tower in flames all over again. Ruby felt herself being pushed back, felt the power Pyrrha was generating tear at her. "You're not the real Ruby Rose. You will never be the real Ruby Rose! In time, even the reason for why you are the way you are will be forgotten! We don't matter anymore!"

Ruby growled in her throat, launching herself forward. Pyrrha was faster, reacting before Ruby could get close, a wall of metal tearing up from the ground. Ruby, thinking quick, leapt towards the wall, running along it to get around Pyrrha. Pyrrha launched out her javelin, Ruby twisting as the blade just grazed past her cheek.

Ruby landed, her momentum ruined, near the feet of the prodigy. Pyrrha stared down at her, javelin returning to her hand with a motion. There was no warmth, no hope in those eyes.

"Let me at least end your misery. Let me change that much." Pyrrha's grip tightened, Ruby barely rolling out of the way of the downward stab.

Ruby twisted on her back, kicking her feet upwards, catching Pyrrha off guard. The champion had to leap backwards, a pillar of metal tearing out from the tower to catch her in midair. Ruby, finishing her spin, ended up back on her feet. She stared up at Pyrrha, knowing that only she could stop this. Unlocking Crescent Rose, Ruby prepared to fight.

"Really? Are you so stupid to think I'd let you use your weapon? You really are much too young!"

Ruby fired backwards, launching her at Pyrrha who was already motioning to tear away her prized weapon. Only, the magnetic pull never came. Pyrrha's eyes widened, her body barely dodging out of the way, as Ruby slashed through the space she had just been standing.

"I'm not just Ruby Rose, Pyrrha. I'm better! I ain't got no metal on me!" The shadow Ruby smiled, spinning Crescent Rose from one hand into the other. "Now let's cut this teen angst out. I'm starving and we still have people to find!"

Pyrrha shook, her anger radiating off of her. "You still don't get it, do you? We're dead! We're worse than dead! I am going to tear this world apart, piece by piece, and grant us all the peace we deserve!"

Ruby saw the look in her eye. It was not a look that her friend would have ever had. Standing on the pillar of metal that Pyrrha had so recently used to catch herself, Ruby bowed her head. She had a job to do.

The gunshot was almost fast enough to catch Ruby unaware. Almost. Ruby was already moving, firing Crescent Rose behind herself, shooting off to the side. Pyrrha gave case, tearing great gouts of metal out of the surroundings to try and catch Ruby off guard. Ruby ran, keeping to the walls, running up the spikes and pillars summoned, firing Crescent Rose to keep building momentum.

Pyrrha, with a snarl, tore the walls away, revealing the outside world even more than before. Ruby launched herself through the air, wreathed in black roses. Pyrrha watched as the stream of black roses became three, splitting off from one another. Tossing her shield at one, she saw the flicker of mass in the other.

Her shield split one of the streams, revealing it for the feint that it was. The second stream slammed into Pyrrha's shield, Pyrrha smiling a cold smile at the dull thud. Mirthless satisfaction gave way to shock as instead of a fifteen year old girl falling from the roses, Crescent Rose clattered to the ground.

Not even Pyrrha Nikos could react fast enough as the third stream punched into her back, Ruby throwing every kick she could into Pyrrha's body. Every bit of power the young huntress could muster, every ounce of speed she had, hammering into Pyrrha's unprotected back. Ruby, falling now, lashed out with a kick to the back of Pyrrha's head and one last kick at the back of her knees.

The two women collapsed to the ground, Pyrrha stunned. Ruby was gasping for breath, privately ecstatic that her plan had worked. Ruby crawled towards her friend who laid on the ground, disbelief pouring out of her. The aura appeared again, the pressure trying to keep Ruby away. The anger and loss Pyrrha had felt, the betrayal and confusion.

Ruby pushed through the pain, pushed through her friend's doubts and worries. Crawling along the ground, forcing herself through the aura, she reached Pyrrha. Raising her hand, Ruby Rose slapped Pyrrha Nikos across the face.

"What does that matter!"

Pyrrha stared at Ruby, taken aback.

"Who cares if we're not the 'real' ones? Who cares if we're abandoned here in an incomplete, inconsistent world? Here, now, I am Ruby Rose! You are Pyrrha Nikos! And we are alive!"

Ruby grabbed Pyrrha's hands, trying to get through to the prize fighter. "Who gives a shiz what we were made for? What was planned for us? We are alive. We have a chance to live our lives the way we want to. No one is ever going to forget us, Pyrrha. No one would dare. We feel, we cry, we hurt. We can laugh, love and live."

A familiar soft look came over Pyrrha's face, her eyes returning to the bright green Ruby was so used to. Struggling, Ruby helped Pyrrha to her feet. The taller woman barely had the strength in her legs to keep standing, Ruby struggling to keep her upright with a hug.

"Let's just live, Pyrrha. Let's be happy. Who cares if the world remembers us. We will always have each other." Ruby took a step back, Pyrrha finding her balance again. "Let's go. If what you think is true, then this whole world is ours, Pyrrha. Our own world to define, have adventures in! We have friends to find, fiends to stop, and maybe some stupid things to do!"

Ruby stepped back, stepping up onto the rocket locker. She held her hand out to the lost friend.

"Could we find Jaune next?"

Ruby smiled.

"Absolutely. Geez, I wonder what he's going to look like. Maybe he'll be a Faunus?"

Pyrrha giggled. "That would be, pleasant."
The clouds around the tower began to fall back, the sun shining through. The damage to the courtyard was vanishing, the mood of the place changing. This was their reality now, and it would be defined by them.

Ruby looked to the bright sky, with a smile only she knew was there. It didn't matter if their stories were done. If there were new worlds with different versions of themselves out there. Maybe they were prettier, but she knew in her heart that they wouldn't exist without them. The originals, flaws and all. They were probably slower anyways!

"I wonder if that blue haired Nora wearing Glynda's outfit is out there."

Ruby Rose knew she was going to have a great day now that she had her friends.