"Hey... Jaune?"
"Yes Ruby?"
"Do you... Do you remember the day we met?"
Ruby propped herself up, folding her skirt beneath her thighs, with her back to a cold steel wall. Wiping her brow filled with dust and grime previously untouched for almost a century, she carefully placed Crescent Rose on the newly disturbed ground by her side. She couldn't really tell what was around her, much less where Jaune even was, in a what could be best described an enveloping darkness smelling of soot and mould. All she knew was that Jaune was close by, though his voice slightly muffled, with a metallic echo clearly heard with every breath and every whisper. Wherever they were, at least they weren't far apart. In a place devoid of light, the voice of a friend was her only consolation. And for what his voice was worth, it soothed the headache she's been fighting for the last hour. At least they were alive.
"Of course I do. I mean, it's not everyday a girl explodes on arrival to her new school"
"Heh. And it's not everyday a guy you don't know heaves his lunch on your new shoes on the flight there."
"Yeah... Yeah I guess I kind of set myself up for that."
A light laughter echoed through the halls of iron and stone. Compared to Ruby, Jaune could at least make some semblance of where he found himself. On one corner was a broken light, still attached to whatever its power source was, giving a faint incandescent glow to the room. It was enough for him to see a pair of broken and rusty lockers, a cot with a layer of dust thicker than the mattress, some old worn-out helmets on the ground, and some weird umbrella shaped... plants (?) he wouldn't dare touch. The echoes in this room rang shorter than where Ruby was. Taking a chair he doubts anyone has used in decades, he sat down closest to where he could hear his friend, leaning his sword and shield on the wall.
"Once you realize that you'll be attending the most prestigious combat school on the planet and that someone likely put peanuts in your sandwich, you'll understand what I mean."
Ruby sighed.
"You know... you weren't the only with butterflies in your stomach that day. I... I was nervous too, despite appearances."
"You? Nervous? The girl with the whimsical laugh while dodging Nevermores?"
A second sigh.
"Yang probably already told you but... I wasn't exactly the 'it' girl back in Signal. Back then, and even now, I was something of an oddball tomboy."
The concept of oddball girls didn't really register with Jaune. It was precisely this oddball quirkiness of Ruby that pulled him close. He liked oddballs because he was an oddball himself. He took a deep breath of the mouldy air.
"I'm not really like Weiss, with nice manners and upbringing that people gravitate around. Not like like Blake with that mysterious and alluring background people find intriguing. Not like my sister, who just needs to lower her jacket zipper and men turn into drooling babies."
Yeah there were times when it looked like her zipper would go all the way dokasdjlmlaskdj shut up Jaune shut it.
"You know I'm the girl covered in weapon grease or cookie crumbs, sometimes both. The girl who likes dark red hoodies rather than dainty dresses. The girl who'd rather smell like Grimmblood than perfume. Because of that... I guess people just think of me strange... Since I'm not really a girl..."
Ruby curled forward and hugged her knees at the end of that sentence. Jaune, for his part, stood up and faced her general direction. He had a face of disbelief, not that Ruby could see it.
"And I'm the guy anyone in school could beat if they even just sneezed in my general direction. The guy who, before coming to Beacon, was never even formally trained in the art of combat, and given up on by his own warrior family."
Jaune lightly punched the wall.
"I'm not like Cardin who could probably bench press a Boartusk. Not like Ren who's quiet demeanour contains unbridled courage. Not like Headmaster Ozpin who commands respect despite an injury permanently retiring him from being a Huntsman. Because of that... I believed people thought I was just a mistake in the paper work... The wrong man in the wrong place... Who probably wasn't really a man anyway..."
Jaune looked up, staring at the ceiling, and closed his eyes and clenched his fist.
"But no one really cared, at least no one who mattered did. Not Pyrrha, or Ren, or Nora. The same goes for you. The ones who matter don't care. Not Weiss, or Blake, or especially your own sister Yang. They welcomed both of us with open arms, no matter who or what we are, were, or maybe even would be."
Jaune went back to his seat, folded his arms, and leaned back on the wall between them.
"And so you know, even if none of them were in Beacon, we... Did meet each other, you know. On our first day. In rather... hilarious circumstances."
"Yeah... You're right. Sorry for that sentimental tripe."
"You're welcome. Also 'tripe?' Not a word I thought you knew how to use Ruby"
The two of them, free of some worry, again took deep breaths and laughed.
"I'm kinda surprised Jaune. Never took you for the self-confident type of guy. Self confident guys usually don't look at their own feet and still trip over themselves."
"And I never took you for the doubting kind of girl. Doubting hunters don't usually stick their weapons inside a Beowulf's maw and pull the trigger with reckless abandon."
"Fastest way to kill one sometimes. You really need to know how to use a gun Jaune."
Jaune could hear Ruby giggle from her side. A very feminine giggle at that. If there was anything ladylike about Ruby, contrary to what she just said, it was her laugh.
"Um Ruby... What exactly brought up this confession of self doubt? Self and doubt are two words one does not usually associate with the name Ruby Rose."
"Well..."
Ruby unconsciously began to draw circles on the ground beside her. Circles that seemed to start of as doodles, but as she began to muster the courage to speak, the doodles started to look like a scythe blade.
"My first attempt to make friends in Signal was with a group of girls, much like my team right now. They were my training team. Unlike team RWBY however, this group... Didn't really take their training in Signal seriously."
Ruby had started to to draw down a scythe handle.
"We were classmates and I was the one who always tried to get them to take their training seriously. Kind of hard when they freak out on every broken nail. My day wasn't complete if half my nails weren't broken in training with my uncle. Eventually... They started to resent me, especially after I became the top student in class."
Ruby let out a sigh as she drew a cartridge and bolt mechanism on the handle.
"After class I usually spend my time tuning up Crescent Rose. One day while in armory I was tuning up Crescent Rose. I was covered in grease wearing just work shoes and overalls. One of the girls... Was hiding in the room taking pictures."
Ruby had just completed drawing on the ground. It was a sketch of her weapon. Ruby's known to be very talented in sketching, and this even extended to drawing on soil and sand.
"When I came in the next day... There were copies of that picture of me around the campus with the caption... 'grease girl'.
Ruby spoke with a quiver in her voice as she angrily kicked off the drawing she made on the ground.
"The moment I saw those girls... My other classmates just... Just laughing out loud... I ran. Took my headphones and ran. Walked around the city for a while. Ended up that night in the Dust shop that Torchwick robbed. The night I met Mr. Ozpin. The night I got accepted into Beacon."
"Ruby... That... That happened just the day before we met..."
Jaune's eyes just widened in surprise. He could barely fathom how a girl humiliated in her own school could be so... Happy the day after.
"Well it's all in the past now. To be honest I almost forgot about it the moment Ozpin said he was letting me into Beacon. It's... Kind of funny how I only recall it now, probably the last place I should be remembering it."
Ruby stood up and picked up her weapon. Opening up Crescent Rose, she checked it for nicks and scratches and if the blade was still sharp. Seeing that her beloved weapon was still as good as it was after her last maintenance, she checked the wall between them and noticed a foot-wide and foot long hole. The end on Jaune's side was covered by a metal plate. It was big enough for them to see each other and to even pass things between them. If they could get the plate out of the way.
"I guess I'm just being sentimental or something. Or maybe disoriented. Maybe I'm just worried? I can't exactly tell how much time passed since I couldn't find my scroll after I got up. What time is it Jaune?"
Booting up his scroll, which still had 90% battery on it, Jaune checked for the time.
"It's 8:30pm. 5 hours since we arrived at the mission landing zone, and probably around 2 hours since the crash."
"Hmmm... So I was out for probably an hour."
Ruby could feel a small lump on her forehead. Not exactly painful but noticeable.
"What time did you wake up?
"Probably the same time as you did. Good thing I didn't lose my scroll. Might be something here we can use."
Checking his scroll, all Jaune could see were error messages. For them to work, scrolls needed to be connected to the Beacon wireless network. Without the network signal there was no way to ascertain exactly where they are, or even contact anyone. The best he could do was activate the short range SOS beacon, which delivered a locator signal independent of the network. The downside of this was it ate up a lot of battery life... And at 90% charge the best it could do was run for 3 days, if he shut down all other functions.
"I've activated the SOS. It'll be good for a while. I'm sure by then they'll find the signal. If not... Well we should at least find a way to charge it."
Jaune put the scroll back in his pack. He then heard something knocking behind the wall.
"Jaune, can you remove the plate exactly at the spot I'm knocking on?"
Taking is scabbard, Jaune used it to pry out the metal plate between the two of them. Not something one should do with a priceless family heirloom, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Upon removing the plate, he was in for a surprise.
"Cookies? Not surprised honestly."
There was a hand holding a small plastic bag of slightly crumbled chocolate chip cookies. The cookies most likely got crushed during the explosion, but again, beggars can't be choosers.
"Sorry. No milk this time."
"You sure? Do you have enough for yourself?"
"It's the only rations I brought with me. Don't worry, we still have enough for tomorrow."
"Er... Cookies don't really count as rations Ruby. Then again you'd be the only one in the entire city of Vale who'd consider cookies to be a balanced and nutritious diet, not that I'm complaining. And I don't take my cookies with milk since I'm lactose intolerant."
"Man Jaune... I'm starting to understand why your life kinda sucks."
As Ruby withdrew her hand from the hole, the light coming from Jaune's side quickly illuminated Ruby's side. Reeling a bit from the light and letting her eyes adjust, she could see what looks like a mangled train car in the prevailing darkness. Curious as she was, she was too tired to check.
"You made these yourself?
"Yeah. Blake had to arm the fire extinguisher though. Got an earful from Weiss after that."
"They're pretty good. And... Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
Jaune, taking a look at the cookies she had made for him, decided to save the rest for another time. Somewhere inside he could feel that they might be here for a while.
"... Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
Jaune another look around the room he was in. A room that, if he was right, probably hasn't been used in a century. With what he could make out of its contents, it was probably a quarters for the maintenance workers in the tunnel. It was somewhat ironic, he thought, being stuck in a room that others may have also been stuck in so many years ago.
Ruby stared off into the distance of the rail tunnel just beyond the wrecked train engine, into the engulfing darkness beyond. All she could do was hope that there weren't any Grimm down that tunnel, as she wasn't really in any condition to fight. As it was, the light through the hole from Jaune's side was barely lighting up her side of the wall, just enough for her to see maybe 8 meters in front of her. She also couldn't help but scratch that black and blue spot on the right side of her abdomen.
The two of them, two friends in a situation now beyond their control, both sat down in their respective sides, eating their cookies.