Alice awoke in a cold sweat, the bright orange flare of dancing flames still burning in front of her eyes. She screamed, and clutched the blankets close to her chin, her eyes wild and her hair in a tangled mess.
She heard nothing but white noise and saw nothing but the hypnotic dance of the fire that blazed in her mind, vaguely aware of Chessur sitting next to her, shaking her. Her scream continued until her throat was raw and her lungs burned for air.
The noise in her head slowly dissipated as she heard a faint female voice urgently speaking in front of her, and the flames faded as a face came into view, her vision slowly returning to normal. She saw red hair, a round face, and bright silver eyes with deep concern in them. The voice grew louder and louder as the noise faded away.
"Alice? Alice, are you okay? Speak to me!" Ruby said, her hands on Alice's shoulders. She was sitting on her bed on Alice's legs, and she had her shoulders in a tight grip.
"Ruby…?" Alice whispered, her voice hoarse and grating on her throat.
"It's me Alice, I'm here." Ruby said as she threw her arms around Alice, who remained locked in her position, eyes blankly staring forward.
"You're…here." She whispered. "Why…are you…here?"
"I heard you screaming…are you okay?" Ruby asked, the concern evident in her voice.
"No…no, no, no, no, no, no…." Alice muttered, rocking back and forth. "Gone, all of them, gone…the smoke the ash, burning, burning, BURNING!"
"Chessur, what's wrong with her?" Ruby asked, panicking a little.
"She's having a terror, Ruby. Don't let go of her, she might hurt herself." Chessur said, his voice serious. "It should subside in a few moments."
"All of them…dead….and all my fault…" Alice whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. She suddenly threw her arms around Ruby and began sobbing into her shoulder. Ruby clutched her close, feeling very protective of her friend.
The rest of Team RWBY had walked in and were standing silent and still in the doorway.
"You should leave." Absolem said grimly. "When she gets like this it takes a good couple of hours for her to recover. We usually stay with her, she freaks and tries to hurt herself otherwise."
"We, um, have classes…" Weiss said, and received an elbow to the ribs courtesy of Blake. "Ow!"
"Ruby can afford to miss a few classes." Blake murmured, directing Weiss away. "She gets good grades, she'll be fine."
"You gonna be alright Rubes?" Yang asked, a gentle smile on her face.
"Yeah. But you should be more worried about Alice." Ruby said, sniffling. "Why is she so upset?"
"That's for her to tell you. Not even we know. In fact, Alice doesn't talk to us much at all. Even me. To her, we're just teammates." Chessur rumbled.
"But…you're her friends, aren't you?" Ruby asked, confused.
"I like to amuse myself sometimes by thinking that, but no. Not really. Have you ever heard her use that word? Friend? She might act nice, and she might smile, and laugh. But she has never let anyone close to her. We know almost nothing about her past, and only I know a few details, and those details are merely people she wants me to keep an eye out for."
Ruby racked her brain. She knew Alice was her friend. She had said friendly things to her, right? But as she thought, she realized she knew…barely anything about Alice.
"She keeps people at a distance. I don't know why. But she has never in her life had anyone she really cared about, or that she fears losing."
Ruby fell silent as she absorbed this information.
"Come Absol, Nevins. It's about time we sat in on a class. We can do no more here, Alice won't let Ruby go and we can't exactly help her like this." Chessur said softly as he stood up.
Absolem opened her mouth to argue, but Chessur snarled. "Need I remind you, Absol, that in the case of Alice being dead, injured, or otherwise incapable of leading, you answer to me? Leave the girl alone and drop it."
Nevins left and followed Team RWBY down the hallway, quickly followed by Chessur and a scowling Absolem.
Alice continued sobbing into Ruby's shoulder for the next five minutes, then slowly calmed down and unwrapped her arms. Slumping back onto the bed, she covered her eyes with her hands and took a deep breath. Ruby fetched a tissue from the nightstand and wiped her face off.
"Thank you, Ruby…" Alice said quietly. "Sometimes they can't wake me up…they cannot reach me. But you did, God knows why. So thank you."
"What happened Alice?" Ruby whispered in shock, her eyes still wide.
Taking a deep breath, Alice sat up. Her face was dead of all emotion, but in her eyes swam a sea of anger, sadness, loss. And…guilt? Ruby sat quietly as Alice composed her thoughts.
"I was very young when it happened," she whispered, almost too quietly for Ruby to hear. "My parents, my sister, had retired. Gone to bed. I stayed up late in the library, reading."
"I put one last log in the fireplace. I was cold. Thirty minutes later, the fire burned out and I went to bed. I awoke to a sea of orange, the light searing my eyes. Smoke had filled my lungs and ash had settled into my ears, eyes, and nose. I fell from the bed, coughing, throwing up the ash and smoke that had invaded my body. I cried out for my parents, but no one responded."
"I remember crawling over to the door to open it. It burned, but I got it open and nearly fell down the stairs, my eyes and lungs stinging and burning from the smoke. I cried out once more for my mother, my sister. My father. This time I got an answer."
"But not the one I wanted. I heard a scream, a deathly scream that even now still rests in my mind and destroys my dreams! My sister, crying out as the fire consumed our house!"
"If I could, I would have been crying. But the smoke and ash had dried out my eyes, and I simply ran for the door, to get out. A section of the floor collapsed from above me and blocked my way with fire, and the seared body of someone….someone that I now know to be my father, burned to an unrecognizable state by the uncaring fury of the flames."
"My dress caught. I didn't even notice though, as I ran for one of the windows and smashed into it, shattering it. I landed in the garden, still burning. I noticed the pain then, as my entire back had caught on fire as I burned. I rolled on the ground and it eventually stopped. I passed out."
"But before I did, I saw. I saw a woman, with raven hair and a dress with fire stitched into the very threads. Her voice was like cyanide mixed with sugar, as she laughed. She laughed. Then she was just gone, in a burst of white flames. Then the blackness consumed me and I was gone."
Ruby's jaw was slack, tears running down her face. She couldn't make a sound as Alice slowly got up out of the bed.
"Take off my shirt." She said numbly, holding out her arms. "Please."
Ruby slowly stood and helped Alice pull off her shirt, revealing a terrible scar warping and twisting on her back, marring the otherwise perfect smoothness of her pale skin. The scar ran from her waistline up to beneath her shoulders, a horrid reminder of a terrible event.
"Oh my god…" Ruby whispered as she found her hand reaching out and tracing over the deadened skin. "Why…why couldn't they fix it?"
"I chose to keep this." Alice said, her voice choked up. "I chose to keep this scar as a reminder that at a moment's notice, everything I love can be torn from me. Everything I care about is mortal, and the universe is cruel. I chose to keep this scar because this is what defines me. This world is no Wonderland, with tea and White Queens. It is a terrible place with monsters crawling every corner."
"But…you have your team. And you have your friends. And you have me…" Ruby said, touching Alice's shoulder.
She didn't move. "Ruby, what are the monsters in this world?"
"The Grimm." Ruby said without hesitation, and Alice chuckled grimly, hanging her head.
"And I hope you never encounter a monster fiercer than them," she said, her teeth gritted. "But you are wrong. The real monsters, the ones that should make you shiver and quake in your bed at night are us. The human race. People like that woman who harm and destroy others for pleasure. They are the true monsters, making the Grimm seem tame."
"That is why I am a Huntress," Alice whispered. "I rid the world of monsters. And the monsters fear me."
"I am Alice. I am what the monsters fear."
Ruby was silent. Then Alice felt arms around her bare waist, a face pressed into her back. A strange wetness was dripping down her skin as she realized Ruby was shaking.
"Ruby…"
"You can't say that!" Ruby said, her teeth clenched together and her voice choked. "You have people who love you and care about you and hate to see you cry! So you can't say that! Not ever!"
"You don't understand." Alice whispered.
"Yes I do! My mother was killed and I never even got to say goodbye! She was a Huntress, just like us! Out on a mission and she was taken from me!"
Alice clenched her fists. "Then why do you do this? If you understand my pain, then how can you be so cheerful?!"
"Because I believe that this world can be kind!" Ruby cried out, holding Alice tighter. "Bad things happen to people, but look at all the good there is in the world! I may have lost my mother, but I have the greatest older sister in the world! I have my friends that are the best friends of all! I have Blake, and Weiss, and Jaune! And Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and a bunch of other people!"
"And they could be taken too! Just like your mother, just like my parents, and my sister! The pain, the loss, it isn't worth it!" Alice screamed out, her fists tightening. Her eyes were shut tight, and a few tears dripped down onto her cheeks. "That is why I am alone. It's much easier to be alone, and by yourself than to have your heart ripped out of your chest and shredded to pieces."
Ruby wasn't sure why she did when she did. She spun Alice around, not caring that she was topless, and slapped her across the face. Alice stumbled back a few steps, stunned.
"You…you just slapped me." She said dumbly, her hand on her cheek.
"Because you're…you…..are such…an idiot!" Ruby screeched, her face wet. "When people die, it's sad! But that doesn't mean you shouldn't have friends! The relationships you make, the people you grow close to, those people make you stronger! Even now, even though you claim that you're alone, you're still fighting for someone!"
Alice blinked. "What do you mean…?"
"You're fighting in their memory, aren't you?" Ruby said, her voice choked with anger. "Your family! They're the reason you fight, aren't they?"
"So what if they are?" Alice lashed out.
"So why can't you fight like that for the people who are alive who care about you?!" Ruby said, and Alice took a step back from her ferocity. "At the end of the day, you're still fighting for someone! You said you wanted to rid the world of monsters. Don't do it for the people who are gone, do it for the people who care about you now!"
"And why do you fight then?!" Alice said loudly, pointing. "Aren't you fighting for the same reason as I am?"
"I fight so that no one has to go through what I did!"
Alice blinked and looked at Ruby's eyes. "What…?"
"I fight so that Blake, Yang, Weiss, Jaune, and everyone else in this stupid, unfair world doesn't lose anyone ever again! Not for revenge, or for the memory of her. I fight for them."
"But…."
"Not a day goes by where I don't think about Mom. But I don't think about the pain of losing her. I think of all the good times, the happy times I had with her. The things we did together. The jokes we told at dinner. The cereal she spat all over the table when I told her that a boy asked me out!"
Alice was silent. She didn't remember the last time she thought about a happy memory of her family. Only that one dreadful night.
"That's why friends and relationships are worth it." Ruby said, sitting back onto the bed. "The memories and experiences we share with them are a thousand times stronger than the pain of having them torn away."
Alice collapsed onto the floor, tears dripping onto the floor. Ruby walked over to her and put her arms around her.
After a few minutes, she spoke up again. "I'm…an idiot."
"No. You're just a lost little kitten." Ruby whispered, smiling.
Alice sniffed. "How did we even get to this conversation anyway?"
Ruby laughed. "I don't know, but I'm glad we had it. In movies, this sort of stuff always simmers and boils underneath the surface, causing a ton of problems. It's good we got it out of the way early."
Alice giggled. "Yeah. You're right."
The two girls sat in silence for a few moments longer. Then Ruby spoke up again.
"Hey Alice?"
"Yeah?"
"You're still shirtless you know."
Alice blinked. "I knew that."
Their laughter could be heard echoing down the halls as Alice made her first, and currently only, friend.
…
"Ruby?" Alice asked as they walked down the hallway towards the mess hall.
"Yeah?"
"Could you, um, keep quiet about what we talked about?"
"Of course! I'm not that insensitive." Ruby scoffed, reaching out to grasp Alice's hand. "But…I have a question for you."
"Go for it."
"Chessur said you never spoke to anyone about your past. Why me?"
Alice was silent for a few minutes before she answered. "While that isn't totally true, I don't know. But I haven't kept completely quiet about my past. Chess knows a few things, but he doesn't know the whole story. Only the things I thought were important at the time for him to know, as my teammate."
"You need to stop seeing them as your teammates and more as your friends." Ruby scolded gently.
"Even Absolem?" Alice asked jokingly, a smile breaking out on her face.
"Yes, you dummy. Even her. And besides, she isn't that bad. She just thinks that you treat her like a five-year-old and that gets on her nerves."
"But she acts like a five-year-old!"
"Because you don't trust her." Ruby said, grinning. "Try giving her a little credit, eh? I watched her fight, she's insanely talented. Almost as much as Pyrrha, and her aim with that bow is impeccable."
"She is good." Alice muttered. "I just can't stand her attitude."
"She also has to be smart, because unless your team is a bunch of mind-readers, she seemed to do most of the talking when you lot were discussing strategy for that teamfight against Team JNPR."
Alice shrugged.
"C'mon. Just try it. Give her some leeway and some responsibility. Show her that you have faith in her abilities and that you trust her, and I guarantee that she'll be a lot less of a toddler." Ruby said, grinning.
"Since when did you become so wise?" Alice muttered, rubbing the top of Ruby's head.
"I had to deal with Weiss."
"Nevermind."
…
Lunch was concluded with much chattering of the three teams, with Teams ANAC and RWBY expressing concern over Alice, and she made many protests that she was fine now.
Chessur sat next to her and quietly observed her talking to Ruby, who sat on her other side. Eventually Alice noticed and leaned over to whisper in his ear.
"Hey. Um…sorry about calling you 'cat' the other day. And a few weeks ago. And…you get the point."
Chessur blinked in surprise. "It's fine." He rumbled back, not sure what had gotten into his leader. So he nearly had a heart attack when Alice offered her hand.
"Friends?"
"…friends." Chessur said with a grin as he shook Alice's hand, who grinned right back. That caped girl must be some kind of wonder drug to make Alice do that he thought.
Alice, Chessur, and Ruby found themselves walking down the hall together as they walked back to the dorms, everyone else having some sort of other engagement. The trio was talking about some random topic when they nearly ran into Ozpin, who was talking with a group of three people.
"Ah, Ruby, Alice! And…Chessur?" he said, smiling slightly. "I want you to meet some people that are going to be staying with us for a while. They've come from Vacuo to participate in the tournament. May I introduce their…leader? Leader, Cinder Fall."
A woman with raven colored hair and a black dress with orange patterns turned and looked at the threesome. Alice's expression became stony, Chessur let out a hiss of shock, and Ruby grinned and held out her hand.
"Hi, I'm Ruby! Welcome to Beacon!"
"Greetings…Ruby." Cinder said smoothly, shaking her hand. "And…I'm sorry, have we met before?" she asked, looking at Alice with narrowed eyes.
Alice was pinching her arm behind her back quite hard to keep her voice level. "No. We haven't."
"Hm. You look familiar. Anyway, nice meeting you. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other around…" Cinder said with a smile as she turned and walked off, her two friends in tow. Ozpin had turned and walked off in the opposite direction, saying something about a refill.
Ruby smiled. "She seems nice!"
Then she turned and saw the expressions on her friend's faces, and her own expression immediately turned uncertain.
"What?"
Author's Note
Hm. This came out a lot different than I thought.
I had started writing this chapter to maybe dangle the thread of Alice's past with a nightmare, then…that happened. Oh well. More fuel for my planned RubyAlice pairing.
I like it.
But we're about to get a lot deeper into the plot, with Cinder making her move.
But Spike, you cry, the ending of Chapter 3 doesn't work with this chapter at all! It's like two completely different characters! – What you are thinking about this chapter.
I may have written it badly, I don't know you tell me, but Alice doesn't know why she wants so badly to protect Ruby. When all she's done her whole life is shut people out, only saying what is absolutely necessary, having any sort of positive feelings about someone is just plain weird.
Anyway, please remember to review! It makes me happy! And happy Spike means more chapters!
As always, please enjoy Chapter 4 of The Strife of Sanity – The Fires of the Past, and have a wonderful day.
Spike