Darkness, that was all Ruby could see.
Where am I?
Ruby looked around mildly panicked, expecting some measure of… well anything, but all she saw was more Blackness.
What is this place? Ruby thought, taking an experimental step forward with no way of seeing the floor. It was so dark Ruby could have been walking off a cliff and she wouldn't know, but thankfully the floor was sturdy, and Ruby could hear the echo of a footstep when her boot cautiously hit the floor.
Wait, is this a dream? Ruby thought. I've got to be dreaming.
Ruby began to walk around, with each footstep and echo reverberated throughout wherever she was. She had no memory of how she got here. She kept walking until she saw something in the distance, a small speck of light, and began to walk towards it.
It was a decently long walk before Ruby arrived at the speck. What she found was an object, no bigger than her fist. It appeared to ignore the darkness and shined with its own light in the black void.
It was a small cube. It's edges were covered with a gold trim, most of its surface was tan, but a set of transparent diamonds twinkled on every side, giving view into the cube. Inside the cube was what looked like a smaller, solid tan cube. With nothing else to do, and nothing else seeming to exist, Ruby picked it up.
Ruby felt an ache in her head followed by a swift flash of… something. She couldn't really make it out but it seemed… familiar. Like the name was on the tip of her tongue but wouldn't come to mind.
Immediately the cube reacted to her touch, it's corners twisted slightly, but then they went back into the initial formation of the cube, almost like the cube was dissatisfied. Ruby picked it up and held it in her hand.
"Hey..." A voice said from the darkness, it was mumbled and faint.
Ruby turned to face it, but there was nothing there, no being, no speaker, just more blackness.
"Hey..." The voice said slightly more urgently.
Ruby tried to speak, but her mouth wouldn't move, she tried to respond, but she couldn't.
"Hey...!" The voice practically shouted this time.
Ruby looked around in desperation, she couldn't see who was speaking.
"Wake up!" The voice said, and then Ruby opened her eyes.
She was sitting in some sort of booth, surrounding a circular table. As her eyes began to focus back in and the light no longer blinded her she looked around the room. She was able to make out her team sitting at the booth with her and a man standing above her. Behind him she could see people, and she used that term lightly, spread out across what was probably a bar.
As her mind began to clear she realized just what, or who, she was looking at. There was one being that looked mostly human sitting at the bar, but she had green skin and two tails coming out her head. There was a big fuzzy thing that looked a bit like a bear on two legs next to it.
The weirdest things were in the corner though, four people with black eyes and large tan heads, wearing black suits playing a really catchy tune on instruments that Ruby didn't recognize in their own area off from the bar.
"You okay?" The man was clearly concerned but Ruby had been to dazed by her sleep and to shocked by her surroundings to talk at first. Instead she looked around with wide eyes mixed with their fair share of fear.
"Yeah, I think so." Ruby kept her voice low and quiet as she looked to her friends still unconscious on the table.
"You know them?" The man asked, gesturing at Ruby's unconscious team.
Ruby turned and got a good look at the man who shook her awake, he was wearing an exceptionally strange outfit, much like everyone else in the bar. It was a weird combination of what looked like white plastic armor and a duster,with tan robes draping over him. His face was still a little blurry since Ruby hadn't fully woken up yet, but she could tell it was mostly covered up, partly by a rough and unkept beard but mostly by some kind of helmet.
"Yeah, They're my friends." Ruby said back.
"Aren't you a little young to be hard drinking?"
"I wasn't..." Ruby said, still groggy, feeling like someone had smacked her around the head.
"Then why are you all passed out in a Cantina?" The man asked, obviously not believing her.
"What?" Ruby asked, confused.
"Why are you all-" The man began to repeat before Ruby interrupted him.
"No you don't understand, we don't drink." Ruby said groggily.
"Sure." The man said disbelievingly.
"Where are we?" The situation was dawning on her, waking up in a strange place, by a strange man, surrounded by strange 'people'.
The man sighed and sat down at the table next to an unconscious Yang, before pulling out what looked like a scroll and waving it over Yang's head. Ruby was unable to read what the text on the screen said as it appeared, as it appeared to be written in a strange language.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Ruby asked, almost fully awake and now concerned for her sister's safety
"Checking if she's alive." The man responded nonchalantly. "Low pulse but still breathing, just like you as a matter of fact."
"What?" Ruby asked.
"For a moment there I thought you drank yourself to death." The man said. "Wouldn't be the first time it happened."
Ruby was startled, she didn't enjoy the idea of drinking, let alone to such a dangerous degree.
Ruby turned to her side and shook Weiss. "Weiss, get up."
"Eh?" Weiss said. "...Five more minutes..."
"Weiss! Get up!" Her shouting drew more attention then she liked but it accomplished her goal and Weiss sat up a little bit. She looked to Ruby with a glare for a moment before she realized where she was, or more appropriately where she wasn't.
Meanwhile the man tried to wake up Yang, to no avail, as she loudly snored on the table.
"Sithspit... she's really out cold. One moment." The man said before standing up. "Don't go anywhere."
After the man left Ruby woke up Blake by poking her repeatedly, by the time the man came back both Weiss and Blake were somewhat awake and very much so confused by their surroundings.
"Where are we?" Weiss whispered to the team leader, trying to avoid eye contact with the places strange inhabitants.
"What is that?" Blake asked gesturing towards one of the strange creatures.
"I'm back." The man said as he appeared, holding a cup full of something.
"Do not pour that on her head!" Ruby warned, quickly determining his intention. "She will kill you!"
"Fine, you wake her up then." The man said. It didn't take long for Ruby to prod Yang until she woke up, albeit begurgendley.
A quick glance around the table and Yang spotted Ruby. "Hey, thanks for coming to get me, must've had too many drinks, because my head is killing me."
"Yang... take a better look around." Blake nudged her partner's arm, drawing her attention to a rather peculiar looking clientele.
"Where are we?" Yang asked.
"That's what I asked and nobody has answered!" Weiss said indignantly.
"Kids, chill." The man said. "Tell me how many fingers I'm holding up."
The man raised four fingers.
"Whoa!" Ruby's eyes went wide, as did her smile, as the man held up four mechanical fingers attached to a metal hand, his sleeves prevented her from seeing just how much of his arm wasn't biological.
"Well jeez, that's rude." The man said.
Ruby's eyes widened with concern when she realized she had offended the man. "I'm so sorry, I just thought they were cool and that they could probably do really cool things an-" Her ramblings were cut short by his reassurance.
"Relax, no harm done" The man said. "So, you guys have all your bearings?"
"Do you know where we are?" Ruby asked, indirectly answering his question.
"Mos Eisley Cantina." The man simply responded. "How much did you drink that you forgot where you are?"
"None, we're not allowed to drink." Ruby said. For some reason, the man laughed.
"Ok then, where were you last if you don't mind me asking." The man said.
"Actually, we do mind." Weiss snapped.
The man sighed. "I can't help you if you don't tell me how you ended up here."
"Hmph, we were at Beacon Academy." Weiss said reluctantly.
"What's that, some College?" The man asked.
"It's a combat school." Weiss said.
"Boot camp then." The man said. "Well where is it?"
"Vale." Yang said.
"Okay, from here, where is that?" The man asked.
"Where's here?" Ruby asked.
The man sighed. "Mos Eisley Cantina, as in the spaceport."
"Spaceport?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, it's the biggest one on Tatooine." The man said.
"What's a Tatooine?" Blake asked.
The man laughed again. "Dry planet? Lots of sand? Two suns?"
"WHAT?!" They all said in unison, attracting some more attention from around the Cantina.
"That can't be right... no way!" Weiss panicked, obviously not believing him.
"Well what do you want from me, you're on Tatooine. Don't believe me? Well honestly I don't know what to say." The man said.
"We're not on Remnant?" Blake asked, trying to see if they had misunderstood the man.
"Never heard of that system, gimme a sec." The man said, sitting down before pulling out what looked like a primitive scroll and browsing it for a minute.
"Oh my gods... this isn't happening..." Yang said, obviously taking the revelation poorly.
"Calm down Yang, I'm sure this is just a mistake." Ruby laughed awkwardly at the poor attempt to calm her sister..
"Nope, it's not in my databanks, is Remnant the planet or the system?" The man asked.
"The planet." Weiss said like he was stupid, she was brash, but obviously worried.
"Remnant doesn't exist, sorry." The man said.
"That's not possible..." Blake said, extremely concerned.
"Mister I..." Ruby before noticing she had something in her hands, it was the cube from her dream.
"What is..." The man began before noticing the cube. "Wait..." The man said, his mouth shifting to a frown.
"Do you recognize this?" Ruby said holding it up.
"Put that away you'll get us all killed!" The man hissed, not with anger but with worry as he looked around the room.
"Ok..." Ruby said.
"Just who the hell are you?" The man asked, abandoning civility.
"Ruby Rose."
"Yang Xiao Long."
"Blake Belladonna."
"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." For some reason, the man rolled his eyes.
"We can't talk about this here, you're coming with me." The man said.
"What? We don't know you!" Yang said.
Blake didn't say anything but kept her eyes locked on the man.
"You do not get to wave that THING around and then give no answers as to where you got it." The man said pointing at Ruby, who shifted awkwardly.
"Do you know what it is?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, and you shouldn't have it." The man said.
"Just who are you?" Weiss said.
The man thought for a second. "I'm... Shepard."
"I don't know you, I'm not following you." Weiss said simply and firmly.
Shepard sighed. "Look, if you don't get that thing off world, They're gonna come looking for you..."
"Off world?" Ruby asked, noticing the strange combination of words.
"They?" Yang asked, now interested.
"The Empire." Shepard said like it was obvious.
"We're not familiar with them." Weiss said.
"Seriously? Just where the hell are you from?" Shepard asked.
"Remnant!" They all said in broken unison.
"Alright look, I need that thing you have and you can't keep it safe for very long, so here's the deal, you come with me, and I'll explain what it is." Shepard sighed. "I'll give you my weapons if that'll make this any quicker."
"Deal!" Ruby immediately said, blinded by optimism and a need to see his weapons.
"Ruby!" Weiss and Yang both said in protest at once. Blake just sighed.
"Right." Shepard said digging into his holster and handing over the strangest pistol Ruby had ever seen.
"Cool!" Ruby said taking the weapon eagerly.
"Easy there, don't touch the safety." Shepard said cautiously.
Ruby examined the weapon but quickly realized several things were wrong with it, although it felt rude to criticize the weapon of someone she just met.
"Hold up, if we are going to follow you, and that's a big if, you said weapons, as in plural." Weiss said.
Shepard sighed realizing his mistake. "Fine, don't hit this button, or for kriffs sake we're all gonna die."
Shepard then handed over a small metal cylinder with a small button on it. Weiss took the "weapon."
"What happens if I push the button?" Weiss asked, obviously considering it.
"We all get killed by the Empire." Shepard said bluntly. "They only have a small garrison here but even I'm not sure I can kill them all."
"Kill?" Ruby asked.
Shepard sighed, obviously irritated. "Look around you!" he hissed.
The four girls looked around the Cantina and saw most of the staff was looking at them.
"We're making a scene, someone around here is gonna be a loyalist, report us, and then we're all gonna die!" he hissed.
Ruby checked to feel if Crescent Rose was still on her hip, and thankfully it was, it's comforting weight reassuring her that if things did get violent they could fight their way out of any situation.
"How do I know your telling the truth?" Yang asked.
"You don't." The man said bluntly. "Look, either we leave and talk about this on my ship, or-"
"Hey, quit bothering those kids!" One of the men said from behind him.
"Give me the saber." Shepard said, obviously irritated.
"What?" Weiss asked.
"My weapon!"
Slightly intimidated, Weiss handed over the tube, not knowing if it even was a weapon.
Shepard took it and turned around to face the man. "Who said that?" he asked.
"Me." A man in heavy armor said, standing up from his drink, everyone now looking at them.
Shepard simply held up the tube. "Recognize this?" Shepard asked.
"No, look are you gonna listen or-"
Shepard pushed the button on the cylinder.
Immediately a silver blade of light emerged from the cylinder, extending a 3 foot blade of glow into the air, Shepard held the cylinder like the hilt of a sword and leveled it at the man.
The man gulped. "You Jedi have really fallen far if you're preying on kids."
"I'm not a Jedi." Shepard simply said. "And I'm not preying on them."
Meanwhile team RWBY including Ruby sat the table dumbfounded, unsure what to do.
"I'll stop you..." The man said unconfidently.
"Be a hero another day, trust me, you aren't gonna win this fight, and I don't want a fight, my intentions are peaceful." Shepard said.
"How can I believe you?" The man asked.
"You shouldn't, but you have too." Shepard said.
Everyone in the Cantina was now watching, the musicians had stopped playing, and the barkeeper looked irritated by the scene happening.
The man who had tried to be the hero sat down.
Shepard pressed the button on the cylinder again, and the blade of light retracted into the hilt again, Shepard then pulled out a wallet and walked over to the barkeep to hand him several metal objects.
"Get everyone a round, on me." Shepard said.
"You know I can't have you in here after that." The barkeeper said.
"I know, I won't be long." Shepard said before heading back over to team RWBY's table.
"What's a Jedi?" Ruby asked after several seconds of silence.
"Ask me another time!" Shepard seemed annoyed with the question, but his eyes seemed to hint at something more.
"Why not now?" Yang asked.
"Because, we're leaving!" Shepard snapped.
"We never agreed to follow you." Yang said, obviously irritated.
"Yang, we don't know where we are, he does." Ruby said before turning to Shepard. "Can you get us back home?"
"I can try, if it exists." Shepard said.
"It does." Ruby reassured.
"Let's go then." Shepard said.
The rest of team RWBY got up from their table, forced to follow their leader as the Cantina band resumed playing.
"You want my lightsaber?" Shepard asked, holding out the metal cylinder to Weiss.
"Yes." Weiss spoke before anyone else and claimed the weapon again.
"My ship is in the spaceport." Shepard said.
"Your ship?" Blake asked.
"You got a better way we can get off world? Now come on." Shepard said.
As scared as she was by everything this unfamiliar to her, the concept of a spaceship made her eager again.
Ruby knew she shouldn't trust the man that lead them, she would be crazy to trust a strange man she met in a bar, but she had a feeling about him. She couldn't tell what it was but she knew the man was
dangerous, there was something about him though… something told her she could at least trust him not to attack her or that he at least didn't have any intention to attack her. She hoped her hunch was right.
As Shepard led them out of the Cantina they arrived on a busy city street, with sand buildings making up most of the structures. The street was filled with sights that even after seeing some of the strange creatures of Tatooine she was not prepared for.
The first thing that caught Ruby's eye was a giant lizard, loaded with sacks of something and being ridden by a man in a light cloth clothes.
"Woah, what's that?!" Blake asked noticing the same creature.
"Do you not have Dewbacks where you come from?" Shepard asked.
"No!" Blake said.
"Guys… what's that?!" Weiss asked, pointing at a short creature wearing dark cloth all over its body, it's face almost black except for a pair of orange eyes staring at them.
"Look you can't just ask what everything we see is!" Shepard said. "We're on a tight schedule here!"
"Give us a little credit, this is all… new." Yang said as a strange creature with big eyes walked by her, obviously staring at her.
"Don't mind the locals, you don't bother them they won't bother you." Shepard said. "Mostly anyway, come on, we need to get moving before the Empire finds us."
"How are you so certain they'll find us?" Blake asked.
"They have eyes everywhere, and they'll have seen that little stunt I pulled in the Cantina, so we need to go." Shepard said.
As they continued to walk a small ship shaped like a fork flew overhead of the street, leaving a deafening engine roar as it flew overhead.
"Woah, is that a spaceship!?" Ruby bounced in place.
"Either that or an airspeeder, guessing by the speed I'd say starship." Shepard said. "Probably a fighter or light transport."
"Cool!" Ruby couldn't hide her clear excitement. "What kind of ship do you have?"
"You'll see it soon, it's in hangar 14, it's a short walk." Shepard said. "So long as we don't run into anything we'll be fine."
"Is it big?! does it have guns?!" Ruby asked excitedly.
Shepard sighed. "Now is neither the time nor place!"
"Got it, sorry." Ruby shrunk back, hiding behind her friends.
"What makes you so eager to trust this man?" Weiss asked skeptically.
"I dunno, I don't trust him, I… it's just… this feeling, I don't know how to describe it." Ruby said.
"That's just a hunch." Yang accused.
"I guess." Ruby said, but something didn't feel right about it, even if it did sorta make sense.
Shepard turned and looked at her like he was trying to determine something, but didn't stop walking. It was mildly strange because she could only barley make out his eyes from under the helmet but he quickly turned back around and faced forwards again.
"So, what's up with the cube?" Yang asked Ruby. "Where did you get it?"
"I don't know, I had this weird dream, and then when we woke up I had it in my hand." Ruby said.
"Hmm?" Shepard showed curiosity, less like he didn't believe her and more like he just didn't like the sound of what he was hearing.
"Yeah… it was weird." Ruby said. "All of this is weird!"
"Tell me about it." Shepard muttered to himself. "We're almost… oh sithspit."
Shepard stopped, looking at something in front of them. Ruby followed his gaze and saw a group of maybe 10 people, all wearing white and black armor. They were all armed with what looked like carbines of some kind, and when they saw Shepard and team RWBY they started walking towards them.
"Stormtroopers! Get to hangar 14, give me my saber, I'll deal with this!" Shepard said.
"What? No!" Weiss cried out, angrily scowling at the man.
"They're going to kill us or worse! Give me the damn saber!" Shepard said.
Reluctantly Weiss handed over the weapon, which Shepard gripped and ignited it.
"Hold it right there!" One of the 'Stormtroopers' said, raising his weapon at Shepard.
"Drop your weapon, Jedi scum!" another stormtrooper said.
"Run!" Shepard said to team RWBY as he raised his saber.
"Don't let them escape!" Another stormtrooper ordered as they began to encircle team RWBY and Shepard.
Instead of running, team RWBY did what they had been trained to do, and drew their weapons. As Ruby drew Crescent Rose everyone on the street, including the stormtroopers, eyed her with confusion and fear as she drew the massive weapon. Weiss drew Myrtenaster, Blake drew Gambol shroud, and Yang extended Ember Celica.
"Oh!" Shepard said in shock before Ruby leveled Crescent Rose at the stormtrooper leader, swinging it around effortlessly.
"Leave us alone, we don't want to fight you!" Ruby said.
For a brief second, the stormtroopers confusion and mild fear actually made them consider Ruby's offer, until their orders came back to their mind and one of the stormtroopers fired a shot at Ruby. Instead of a bullet, some kind of red laser bolt came out of the barrel, it was about to strike Ruby when Shepard leveled his lightsaber in the way of the bolt.
Then something happened that even in this dangerous situation couldn't help but cause Ruby heaps of excitement, instead of the lightsaber just blocking the laser blast, the blaster bolt was deflected, and flew right back at the stormtrooper who fired it, hitting him in the helmet, before he fell to the ground.
Immediately Ruby realized that the men didn't have aura, as it would have deflected the shot, and Ruby couldn't help but worry for the people who were supposed to be her apparent enemies.
Yang however, did not notice this, as she leapt into battle, charging the closest stormtrooper before utterly annihilating him with a combination of punches, kicks, and shotgun blasts.
The stormtroopers panicked and began to fire wildly, missing most of their shots. Those that were going to hit were deflected by Shepard, almost like he knew which shots were in danger of hitting them.
"Guys, wait!" Ruby shouted right before Blake stabbed Gambol shroud right through a stormtrooper, from her eyes it was obvious she had expected the target to have aura and to survive, instead blood began to cover her sword as the stormtrooper fell to the ground, dead.
Weiss was shocked, but still unleashed several fire dust projectiles at several of the stormtroopers with Myrtenaster, causing even further panic, even though their armor was insulated. One of the stormtroopers was able to react and shot Weiss in the chest, however her aura absorbed the damage entirely.
Yang seemed unconcerned, or more likely didn't notice with the adrenaline pumping through her veins and her semblance in full control , that her opponents didn't have aura, as she began to fire a volley of shells with Ember Celica into the surviving stormtroopers, killing several.
Shepard seemed shocked by the brutal effectiveness of team RWBY in combat, he had probably expected them to be a liability, instead they were effortlessly tearing apart an entire squad unintentionally.
"Guys…" Ruby said darkly, almost on the verge of tears at the realization that her team could have ended a life, let alone several.
Once Yang had finished smashing the last stormtrooper, and her semblance finally dispersed, she seemed to realize what she had just done. It took Ruby a moment to notice how uncomfortable her sister looked, she did fail to notice her sister's shaking hand and slightly distant stare.
"Holy mother of-" Shepard began but didn't finish it as Yang walked over to Ruby.
"You okay?" Yang asked.
"No." Ruby said shakily as she looked at the corpses of the stormtroopers around her, she sat down in raw shock.
"I don't think I'm okay either." Yang had managed to get herself back under control but the doubt was still clear in her eyes. "But we had to do it… right?"
"That was… horrible, why didn't they have aura?!" Weiss asked, shocked.
"We need to go, now!" Shepard said.
"We just killed those people!" Weiss said in protest.
"They were gonna kill you, now let's go!" Shepard said.
Yang pulled Ruby to her feet, and they began to walk over the dead bodies of the stormtroopers towards hangar 14, which turned out to be a circular wall of sand with several passageways leading through it. As they walked through one of the passageways Ruby got her first look at Shepard's ship.
Ruby wanted to be impressed, and in a way she was, but recent events had dulled her excitement. It looked like a flying saucer, except it had a long tube on the right side that was obviously the cockpit. Overall the vessel was much larger then she had expected.
"Gimme a sec." Shepard said as he walked over to one of the landing gears and hit a button on it, lowering a ramp from the bottom of the ship that led into its interior. "Alright, all aboard, meet me in the cockpit."
Cautiously team RWBY boarded the ship, with Shepard following and shutting the ramp.
"Let's get out of here." Shepard said.
The interior of the ship was utilitarian, cramped, and cold compared to the scorching heat of tatooine. It was mostly grey, with colorful buttons lining the walls. Shepard quickly led the way through the thin corridors to the cockpit, which was surprisingly large for a ship that apparently only needed one pilot, there was enough room for all of them as Shepard sat down at the controls and began to interact with them.
"I feel sick…" Ruby said weakly.
"It's okay Ruby." Yang said.
"You're welcome to sit at the table in the lounge if you want." Shepard said. "I'll get us into deep space and then we'll talk about what just happened."
"What about the cube?" Ruby asked.
"The cube can wait, I wanna know where you learned to fight like that." Shepard said as the engines of the craft began to hum softly.
"Why didn't those guys have auras?" Weiss asked.
"No idea what that is, like I said, we'll talk once we're in space." Shepard said.
"Comeon Ruby." Yang said, leading Ruby back to the lounge, with Weiss following, Blake stayed in the cockpit.
"You not going with them?" Shepard asked as the ship took off.
"I want to see this." Blake's curiosity won out.
"What, us leaving orbit?" Shepard said as the ship rapidly gained speed.
"I've never been to space before." Blake explained.
"Hmm" Shepard hummed in response.
They sat in silence for several minutes as the sky began to turn black instead of blue, and stars began to emerge.
"I notice you're not as torn up about the killing thing as your friends." Shepard said.
Blake said nothing, not wanting to give away her troubled past.
"Relax, I get it, 'Let sleeping dogs lie' and all that crap." Shepard said.
They watched as the stars soared by as they accelerated into space.
"We're almost clear of the gravity well, then we can jump to hyperspace." Shepard said.
"What?" Blake asked.
"Lightspeed, it's how we get between planets." Shepard said. "Your not familiar with it?"
"No… where we come from we don't have space travel."
"Interesting." Shepard said.
"So…" Blake began.
"Hold that thought." Shepard said before pulling down a lever on his console and the stars began to bend into the shapes of lines, before suddenly they were flying through what looked like a cloudy blue tunnel.
"This hyperspace lane will take us a few hours to get anywhere, we'll have some time to talk, it's time we sort this mess out, let's go." Shepard said.