Chapter 4: Just Because I'm Losing, Doesn't Mean I'm Lost

Coldplay reference! In the title! Hooray! I know an easier reference to make in the title with the word 'Lost' in it would be to the show. But, as that's only one word, it would be a pretty vague one. So, that's the reference you're getting. Anyway, that tangent aside, just remember that I own nothing realted to RWBY. Monty Oum, the talented, lucky man that he is, owns it instead. Now, let's get to the meat of the story!

xxx

"…Okay, NOW will you admit we're lost?" was an exasperated Ruby's question.

Weiss and Ruby were now standing in front of a door that said, 'Employees Only'. Sure, Weiss had bought some time by stalling and looking at other exhibits, but the fact still remained that she had absolutely no clue where the hell the Kraken exhibit is. She had led Ruby over into a rather isolated area of the aquarium, where she assured her that THIS was where the exhibit was.

Of course, that was a guess at best, and a flat out lie at worst.

Now, Weiss was forced to eat her own words. It was a good thing she didn't sweat all that much to begin with, otherwise she would be absolutely drenched in it right now. It was hard being caught in her won lie. Her pride just wouldn't let it go.

"…Fine, we're lost, okay?" Weiss huffed out a confession. "I have NO idea where we are. Is that what you wanted to hear?".

"Yeah, pretty much," Ruby quickly replied.

Sighing, Weiss leaned against the wall. Ruby decided to lean next to her and take a break. They had been walking for a while, after all.

"I mean… I kinda guessed that already," Ruby further explained herself.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Weiss asked.

Ruby gave a small shrug. "I dunno. I guess I just wanted to spend time with you,".

"But you already do plenty of that," said Weiss.

Reaching over, Ruby wrapped an arm around Weiss and planted a peck on her cheek. As her girlfriend blushed, Ruby said, "Now, you know there's never enough of that…".

"Good point," agreed Weiss. Truth to be told, Weiss could spend eternity with Ruby and never get tired or bored.

Ruby took her arm back and stood up from the wall. "Come on, we should at least go back to the front," she suggested.

Weiss briefly froze. Then, scratching her neck nervously, she admitted, "I, eh, don't know where we are,".

"What? Weren't you paying attention where we were going?" Ruby asked with a measure of disbelief. She thought that Weiss might at least remember the places that they passed on the way here.

"Didn't you?" Weiss asked right back.

An awkward silence filled the area. "No…" Ruby sheepishly said.

Weiss stood up from the wall and turned to face the way they came. "Well, I guess we can retrace our steps…" she thought out loud.

"Sure, why not?" Ruby rhetorically asked. She took the initiative, and began to walk back the way Team White Rose had taken. Following her team leader, Weiss kept pace behind her. Hopefully, Ruby could get them out of the mess she herself had made.

xxx

"Okay, just where are we NOW?" Weiss complained.

Roughly twenty minutes later, the amount of retracing Team White Rose managed to accomplish was somewhere between jack and shit. In fact, it was much more likely that Ruby had gotten them even more lost. But, it was hard to say if that was more of her own fault, or if she was navigationally confused by Weiss' earlier wandering. Considering the person Ruby Rose was, it was likely a combination of both.

"Aww, geez…" Ruby groaned as the feeling of crushing disappointment washed over her. She was so lost, she couldn't even find her own feet.

In front of them, they were facing an emergency exit that led out to the parking lot. It wasn't even the section they parked in, so they couldn't orientate themselves, either. It really figured that would happen. Although, if one compares Ruby and Weiss' bad luck to that of their friends, they had gotten off pretty lightly. At least they didn't witness brutal dolphin murder today.

But, since they didn't know that, their collective spirit was low.

"I think we're lost again…" Ruby mumbled.

"You think? I thought we were in the lobby, checking out toys at the gift shop," Weiss sneered in complete sarcasm.

"That isn't really helping, you know," Ruby pointed out, annoyed. She didn't need this from Weiss. What she needed was a way back to the lobby, at least. The Kraken exhibit would be more preferable, but it was best to take small steps.

"Well, what else can we do? Try again? We're already lost!" Weiss heatedly exclaimed.

"Calm down already! Try to think of something positive!" Ruby ordered.

"Like what? Nothing about this is good!" Weiss shot back.

Ruby had to admit Weiss had a bit of a point. But, she just couldn't wallow in negativity! She needed to make Weiss feel better!

"Well… we could be on fire right now! That's worse!" tried Ruby.

Weiss stared at Ruby, dumbfounded at how stupid that sounded. "That doesn't apply here at all," she flatly stated.

"Yeah… umm…" Ruby began to think quickly. Then, a different technique hit her.

"At least we're in a nice, safe aquarium! I mean, we could be in the Forever Fall Forest, the Grimm Wilds, the Vacuo Desert, Dranglei—" Ruby reassured before being cut off by Weiss.

"Okay, okay, I get it." Weiss sighed. "But… What now? We have no idea where we are, and we need to find that exhibit," she groaned. Then, a thought hit her like a truck. How had she not thought about it before! Arrrgh, she was so stupid for not seeing the obvious answer!

"Why don't we just call the others and ask where the exhibit is?" she asked Ruby.

Ruby slapped her own forehead in shock. Oww! That was a bad idea. With the pain on her face still stinging, she complimented, "Man, you're really smart, Weiss!". Then, Ruby pulled out her scroll and began to page through her contact list.

Let's see… Yang and Blake probably weren't going to be of any help. Knowing Yang, she would just drag Blake off to do something on her own terms. Jaune and Pyrrha were good ideas, and so was Ren. Nora… not so much. The last time Ruby called her, she chatted her ear off on some dream she had. All Ruby wanted to know where they should meet for lunch that day.

So, Ruby tried to call Jaune first. But, for some odd reason, he wouldn't pick up. All Ruby heard was his voicemail recording telling her to leave a message. Was he busy looking at the exhibit already? Well, it wouldn't hurt to call Pyrrha, then. She always made time for people she knew.

There was only one dial tone before Pyrrha answered her scroll. "Hello? Ruby?" came her vice from the other end.

"Hey, yeah, Pyrrha? Um, sorry to, eh, interrupt, but I have a quick question for ya," Ruby cheerfully chatted into her scroll. She decided to flash Weiss a thumbs up. Naturally, Weiss didn't react. Instead, she looked at Ruby with an impatient look. The sooner they could figure this stuff out, the better.

"Sure, go ahead!" Pyrrha replied, anticipating whatever Ruby had to ask.

"Do… do you know where the Kraken exhibit is?" Ruby asked.

Ruby heard Pyrrha let out an irritated sigh on the other end. "No… Jaune and I have been looking at other things," she replied. Unless Ruby's ears were deceiving her, it sounded like Pyrrha had used up a lot of her natural patience.

"Oh… o-okay then, sorry for bothering you," Ruby swiftly said before she was about to hang up.

"Oh, it's no problem. I fact, I'm sorry I couldn't hel—" Pyrrha's voice was cut off. Ruby didn't want to sit through a lengthy apology for no reason. So, with that experience a bust, she decided to try the next best thing and call Ren.

Ruby pulled up Ren's scroll number and dialed it up. Putting it back against her ear, Ruby sat through about five dial tones before Ren decided to answer his scroll.

"Hello," was Ren's flat greeting.

"Hey, uh Ren? Mind if I ask you something real quick?" Ruby said into her scroll.

Ren's characteristically annoyed/pained sigh could be heard through the speaker. "Go ahead," he tiredly replied.

"Do you know where the Kraken tank is?" inquired Ruby.

There was a lengthy pause on the other end. Ruby could have sworn that Ren hung up, but then he responded with, "Unfortunately… yes,".

"Great! Where is it?" Ruby enthusiastically asked Ren.

"I wouldn't recommend seeing it, to be honest," Ren murmured.

"Whatever, can you tell me where it is?" pressed Ruby further.

Ren audibly groaned on the other end. "Fine, fine. It's down the hall from the children's play pit. But… for fair warning, you might not like what you see. Keep that in mind," he advised Ruby.

"Down the hall from the play pit! You got it!" Ruby parroted before abruptly hanging up the scroll. Then, she flashed a toothy grin at Weiss.

"I know where it is~~" Ruby chirped in a sing-song voice.

"I know. You said it out loud less than a minute ago," Weiss observed. That deflated Ruby a little bit, as her shoulders visibly slumped.

"Should we get going then?" Ruby suggested, being brought back down to the ground.

"Absolutely. We've spent enough time being lost as is. Now, if we can find our way to the children's area, then we can find the exhibit," Weiss droned. With that being said, she turned on her heel and began to walk away.

But, halfway down the short hallway, she paused. Then, as if she was trying to restrain herself, she turned around to face Ruby. "I, uh, don't know where we are…" she admitted in a strained voice.

Ruby chuckled to herself a she walked up to Weiss' side. With a half reassuring, half patronizing pat on the shoulder, she declared, "Oh-ho, my Weiss. I paid attention this time. Come on, follow me!". Ruby proudly strode ahead, as if she was some bold, revolutionary explorer.

Weiss rolled her eyes a bit at the sight. Sure, Ruby' dorkiness was an adorable trait, but by now her patience had worn down to the point where it was less than appreciated. All Weiss wanted to do was look at that damn oversized squid… octopus… beast… thing and get back to Beacon Academy. She didn't want to drag this out any longer. At his point, wandering around this aquarium was about as painful as a forced castration without anything to dull the feeling. Okay, maybe not THAT bad, but the point still stood. Weiss didn't want to stay here for much longer.

And so, Ruby bravely (in her mind) led her team (only composed of Weiss at the moment) to their ultimate goal (a sea creature in a display).

It wasn't really dramatic when you think about it.

xxx

About twenty or so minutes later (Ruby's memory wasn't all that great, after all), Team White Rose was finally heading down the right hallway, towards the Kraken tank.

"I wonder how big it is?' Ruby wondered out loud.

"We'll see when we get there," replied Weiss, picking up her pace. With an end in sight, she had all the motivation she needed to get to that damned Kraken.

Ruby, of course, brushed off Weiss in favor for her own train of thought. "Let's see… Ren said it wasn't that far from the kid's play place…". Right at that moment, Weiss and Ruby walked right next to the mentioned area.

Abruptly, Ruby stopped to look inside. Then, without a word, Ruby walked in, as if she was a moth drawn to a flame.

"Wha—Ruby? What are you doing?" Weiss confusedly asked.

"Ball pit!" Ruby cried over her shoulder. Oh, the aquarium had a ball pit to play in! This place had gone up a dozen points in Ruby's mind. In absolute glee, Ruby hopped into the ball pit and slid beneath the ocean of balls (Don't read into that phrase too much).

Rubbing her temples, Weiss shuffled after Ruby. There was so much wrong with what was happening. First of all, this was a place for CHILDREN, not huntresses in training. Secondly, they had a goal to accomplish, and Ruby had ditched it right before they got there. And finally, Ruby didn't look like she was going to be leaving the ball pit any time soon.

"Ruby! Get out of there!" Weiss yelled at the ball pit. She got no response. Her frustration growing, Weiss shouted louder. "We don't have time for this! Get out!".

"GRRAHHH!" Ruby shouted as she leapt out from under the balls to scare Weiss.

"GAH—FUCK!" Weiss yelped in terror. Then, realizing she swore in a children's playroom, her face grew redder than imaginable with anger. She was so angry, that one could cook rice using nothing but her boiling anger.

"Ha ha! You can't catch me!" Ruby teased as she disappeared under the balls again.

"Oh, you… YOU… DOLTTTTTT!" Weiss cried as she dove into the ball pit to catch Ruby. She wasn't going to get away with making her swear in such an uncouth manner! Weiss was now the metaphorical shark in the ball ocean, with Ruby as her prey.

So much for checking out the Kraken exhibit.

xxx

Man, ball pits are cool. It doesn't matter if you're a kid, or an adult, or something in between, they'll never stop being awesome. Well, except in a few situations, like a small one being the only bonus at some shitty convention, or if some random kid took a piss in there. Regardless, they're still fun. Anyway, go ahead and tell me your opinions on ball pits with a review or message for me! This is The Draigg, disappearing beneath a sea of balls (Please, don't read into that).