Shift 0: Homecoming (empty)
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The sound reverberated through the room, the thick blue curtains hanging across the windows shifting slightly with every repetition.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. A round table was situated in the middle of the room, under the great shifting gears that made up the ceiling. A deck of cards sat in the centre of it, the backs depicting a mask-like face in black and white.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. A man sat across the table. He was wizened, ancient, a massive nose drooping over his clasped hands. A woman sat next to him, a large book across her lap. A pair of silver glasses concealed her eyes, her blond hair pulled into an elegant ponytail that spilled down the back of her blue dress.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The man stirred, looking up. His eyes were bloodshot, a somewhat crazed glimmer flickering in their depths.
"Hello, and welcome... To the Velvet Room. My name, is Igor." The man, Igor, then gestured to the woman to his left. "This, is Alicia." Alicia bowed her head.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, contract bearer." Igor coughed softly.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. "It seems to be your first time here. Not to worry, my guest. All will be explained in... Time." Igor seemed to chuckle to himself, before idly flipping cards from the deck, revealing them to be tarot cards. "But time, I fear, shall soon be something you will be running short of. Hmmm..." Igor looked at a card for a few moments, before placing to down.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. "It seems that my time here grows short. I have other... Matters, to attend to. But heed my words before you depart." Igor raised his gaze. "In the coming months, you will see strange things, and meet stranger people. Keep your mind open, and your heart safe. And above all, do not be afraid. For fear is the Shadows pathway." Igor then stood, and bowed slightly.
"Until we next meet."
Tick. Tock. Tick.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the nightmare city.
A figure sprinted onto an empty street, the sky swilling in tempests of madness.
Skittering sounds echoed from within the darkness.
The figure reached past it's dark, flowing hair and drew a dark blade. Ancient words gleamed along the weapon in the pale orange light.
And as the shadows seemed to shift and come to life, the young woman smirked and drew the weapon across her hand.
A jolt shook the girl from her sleep. Looking around the SUV in surprise, the girl then gave a large yawn, before stretching her arms, dislodging the headphones that were tangled in her red tinted hair in the process.
"Oh dangit," she muttered as they bounced onto the floor. Reaching down, she strained against her belt, before sighing in defeat as they slid across the floor as the vehicle rounded a bend. Then, a hand reached down and picked them up.
"Here you go, Ruby-chan," The other occupant of the rear seats said. With flowing, unruly blond locks, much more defined facial features and far more developed body, it was hard to imagine that the pair were siblings.
"Oh! Thanks Neechan," Ruby Rose replied with a smile. She then pulled her headphones back over her ears and clicked through her music player's library, searching for a song. As she did so, her mind wandered, and as she stared out at the passing world outside the vehicle, she thought about her dream. What was that place? Have I been there before?... It's weird. Whatever. I'll put it in my diary when we reach Vale. Speaking of...
"Hey, Ojisan. How much longer? I can't feel my legs, we've been sitting so long," Yang asked, saving Ruby the trouble of voicing the question.
"Not much further now, girls. In fact, I think we can see the city over this hill," the diver of the vehicle replied. Ruby and Yang shifted towards the middle seat and looked out the windscreen. As they crested the hill, they saw a sprawling city nestled between a forested area and the seaside, several large ships floating on the shimmering blue expanse. The sun hovered over the forest, its rays illuminating the sea of red leaves.
"Well girls, welcome to Vale," the diver said. Yang whistled softly, and Ruby gasped in awe.
"Wooooow..." she said softly. Yang put an arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulled her sister close.
"Pretty cool, huh?" After a few moments, Yang ruffled Ruby's hair, ignoring the red head's protest.
"Welcome home, Ruby-chan."
The green SUV pulled off the road into the driveway of a relatively modern home. The property looked to be in a state of disuse, the small front garden overgrown with weeds. Ruby kicked the rear door of the SVU open and hopped out, stretching her body out. A series of pops and cracks from the other side of the vehicle told Ruby that Yang was doing the exact same thing.
"Well girls, here we are," the driver said, getting out of the vehicle and yawning loudly. With silver eyes and a powerful looking build, Qrow Rose resembled both of his nieces to an extent. Running a hand through his greying brown hair, he sighed and looked at the house with a critical eye.
"Damnit, Taiyang. You said the place was being looked after," Qrow muttered, before pulling a set of keys from his pocket and turning to the two girls. "Start unloading, will you? I'll see about getting this place opened up."
Ruby stood in the centre of the small room. It was a shock to her system how much had changed in ten years. The window where once a small birdcage had hung had been replace by a glass sliding down that led out to the rear courtyard. The wall that once had been covered in paintings and drawings was now a flat white, her childhood effectively washed away. But then again, this place stopped being my home when Mum died... Sighing softly, Ruby put the box in her arms on the desk that occupied one corner of the room, before trudging to the nearby futon couch and sitting down. Her small television and radio still packed away on the floor, Ruby stared out the sliding glass door as the sun set, before getting to her feet and going to the box on the desk. Digging through it for a moment, she quickly pulled out a small diary, decorated with red and black drawings.
"Alright Dream Diary-kun, let's see what you think of this one," Ruby muttered to herself, grabbing out a pencil from the box and starting to put her dream during the trip into words.
"Ruby! Dinner's ready!" Qrow's voice jerked Ruby from her trance-like state. Blinking and yawning, she looked at what she had written, as well as a pair of drawings. The first was of the people she had seen, Igor and Alicia they were labelled. The second was of the back of the deck of tarot cards that Igor had been looking at. Screwing her face up in thought, Ruby bit down on her pencil gently, deep in thought. What could something like this mean?...
"Ruby! Hurry up, or Yang'll eat your ramen!" Qrow called from the living area. Ruby shut the dream diary and quickly stood.
"Coming, Ojisan!" she shouted back, before sprinting out to the living area. While Ruby had been coped up in her room, Yang and Qrow had done a decent job of making the dusty, unused room somewhat liveable. Even so, a film of dust still coated the coach, and the kitchen obviously had seen better days. Indeed, the only surfaces that didn't have an amount of dust on them were the low dining table in the middle of the room, and the rather large television sitting on top of a rather large box. After sitting down across from Yang, Ruby gave her and Qrow a sheepish smile.
"Sorry. I was writing in my dream diary and sorta lost track of time, heh," she said, looking down at her cheap instant ramen bowl.
"It's alright Ruby. Now then, what do we say before eating?" Qrow asked. Ruby and Yang groaned softly, before clapping their hands together and saying "Thank you for the meal."
"Good girls. Now then, dig in. Should be done by now," Qrow said, pulling the lid off his own bowl. Ruby and Yang did the same, and the small family ate in a comfortable silence, the only sound (aside from the sound of slurped noodles) coming from the television, which was showing the weather report.
"Ah man! I love ramen," Yang said once she had finished, flopping backwards and stretching her legs out under the table, accidentally kicking Ruby in the process.
"Yang! That hurt!" Ruby complained, rubbing her leg and putting on the puppy eyes.
"Oh sorry Ruby-chan. I'm sure it didn't hurt too badly," Yang said with a smirk. Ruby gave off a low growl, and Qrow sighed.
"Girls, please, no fighting." Once Ruby had stopped growling and Yang had made a sound vaguely resembling an apology, Qrow spoke again.
"Now, you two start school tomorrow. You'll be at Beckon High School, which from what I heard from Taiyang is... Respectable." Qrow shuddered somewhat as he remembered the actual conversation he had had with Yang's father, before continuing. "Now, I'll be taking you there tomorrow, seeing as I have an appointment in the city in the morning anyway. After that, you'll have to catch a train. Now, I want you both asleep by midnight, am I clear?"
"Yes, Ojisan," the two girls replied. Qrow nodded, before fixing his gaze onto Ruby.
"This means in bed, properly asleep without those blasted headphones of yours. Understood?" Ruby nodded, a scowl on her face.
"But I can't sleep without them..." she muttered. The voices keep me awake without them.
"Well it's high time you learned how to. You're 15, Ruby. Yeah, you're a year ahead in school, but your sleeping pattern is truly awful, girl." Qrow sighed, before looking to Yang for help. Yang sat up and nudged her sister's leg gently with her foot, drawing her attention.
"We're just worried, Ruby. Is all. We're not having a go at you," she said softly. Ruby sighed softly.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry." Ruby then got to her feet and collected the empty ramen packets. Dumping them onto the trash pile as she went past, Ruby then disappeared into her room, emerging a moment later with a set of pajamas and quickly heading upstairs to the bathroom. As the sound fo running water filled the quiet, Qrow sighed and ran a hand over his stubble.
"She's always been like this, Ojisan. Ever since Mum died," Yang said. Qrow nodded slowly, before deeply sighing.
"I know. I just hope that being here doesn't hurt her any more then she already has been."
Ruby lay awake on her futon, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling. Across the room, hanging from her desk chair, was a school uniform, still in it's plastic wrappings. Sighing to herself, she then closed her eyes. Immediately, she heard them.
"She'll never be right." "She's not even trying in class." "Unacceptable. One more count of truancy and you're expelled." "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And at such a young age, too." "Mum's gone, Ruby! She's never coming back!" I don't want you! I don't want either of you!"
The voices grew in number and volume, until Ruby was covering her ears in a vain attempt to block them out.
"No, go away. You're not real!" Bolting upright, Ruby groped around the futon for several panicked moments, before finding her salvation. Clamping the headphones over her ears and hammering the play button until something, anything, started drowning out the voices. Sighing in relief, Ruby slowly slumped back down, slipping into a deep sleep, full of dreams of a velvet room, and a maddening orange sky.
A/N: Oh hai. So, I've been on a bit of a Persona trip lately, and found myself wondering "How awesome would Ruby with a Persona be?". And thus, this pile of trash was born. I am not sorry.
Copyright belongs to their sources.
Why are there smatterings of Japanese honorifics and other such nonsense? FUCK YOU THAT'S WHY.