...
...
...
...
"...here for... loooong time..."
"...immense healing..." "...impossible for...disease..."
"...the strength...through...roof..." "...military...pay millions..."
...
...
"...Wait!..."
...
"Please don't leave me alone."
OCTOBER 20TH 9:03AM
Blake's eyes snapped wide open. Yet another morning where she had woken in a cold sweat, panting heavily out of fear. Even in her sleep, she couldn't escape the horrors of her past. But she needn't worry. It had been a week. A full week since Ruby had set the rules of Blake's stay with her as her room mate, and everything had gone swimmingly. She was able to stay as long as she wanted, under very few conditions.
The first; Blake wasn't to take anything from anyone else's dorm room. After the thefts in the year previous, which although Ruby never suspected Blake since the items were more valuable then food; she thought it best to give her that rule first. That way, she could be ruled out if it was to happen again.
The second; not to leave through the door. Blake was free to come and go as she pleased, but going through the building would only cause trouble. And that lead to the last rule.
Stay out of sight.
This was beneficial for both Ruby and Blake. For Blake, the less people knew about her the better. It meant she was safe, and unlikely to be reported like she first worried about. For Ruby, it meant the safety of her school year at Beacon. She didn't know the specific rules of having undocumented residents, but suspected she would be far more then a slap on the wrist.
Ruby had already left for chemistry class. She was gone well before Blake had woke up. Even though each morning she wanted to say goodbye, she thought it best to let her keep resting. She was here for that purpose after all.
But it meant she had no one to talk to about her nightmares.
"Every night..." She was already sitting herself upright. "Every night, I'm back at that place. Why can't I just get it out of my head?"
Dragging herself out of her bed, she stood up and rubbed her eyes. There was no point in sleeping any longer, if it only meant re-living even more of the horrors in her head again.
"Nope. I should get dressed."
Ruby had been good enough to get her some clothes of her own, including the black dressing gown she had worn to bed. Now, she went from having absolutely nothing, to at least two weeks worth of fresh clothes all to herself. But clothes were only as fresh as she herself felt. She needed to bathe.
But there was a problem with that. Each time Blake needed to bathe before, Ruby had set it up for her. She had no idea how basic plumbing worked. It went as far as Ruby even having to show her how to pour a glass of water when she needed it.
"It's the same principal... right? I'm just getting a really big glass of water."
Walking toward the bathroom, she took a moment to look around at what was inside once again. Obviously she had familiarised herself with the toilet; her people weren't that primitive. But the rest was still new.
"Okay... so that's the... smaller bath tub..." She was looking at the sink. "That's only for brushing teeth, or washing face. The controls for the big bathtub won't be on that..."
Then she looked to the tub, and the area all around it. Was there always a metal bar above it? What was the sheet of fabric hanging down from it for? It wasn't something Ruby had showed her before, so it was probably unimportant. Best to leave it there. Looking downward again, she spotted the faucet. That must be where the water came from!
"So... what was it Ruby said again?" She asked herself, leaning further forward it to inspect it more. There were two handles. One had a ring of red around it, while the other had a ring of blue. Blue meant water, right? Maybe the red one was for emergencies? Grasping the blue handle, she remembered.
"That's it! Right for off, left... for... on!" The handle was rather stiff, but after a forceful twist, it began to turn... Yet nothing came from the pipe.
"Huh..." A few more twists, around and around. Something had to come out eventua-
WHSHHHHHHHHH!
Yelping in fright, Blake ended up falling headfirst into the tub. She was being completely drenched by the sudden shower. The water wasn't coming from the pipe. It was coming from above her! It was raining indoors?! When she tried to look up, she was blinded by the force of the water. It was like a storm! She was only running a bath, how could she screw up that badly on her own?!
Hissing loudly in pure frustration, she jumped upward, flinging her arms to whatever the cause was. But that only made things worse. The shower head fell from it's holster, landing straight into the bathtub. The force of the water coming from it made it twist and turn, spraying both Blake, and the entirety of the room.
"STOP!" She yelled at it, holding her arms up to try and stop the water hitting her in the face. How on earth was she going to sort this problem?!
"Dad... Dad she's eating fine." In the room just below, Yang was idly pacing. Scroll to her ear, staring out into thin air without a care in the world. Her father had called to check on Ruby's progress at the college. Even if he spoke to Ruby herself every day, he continued to call Yang to double check.
"Yes, Dad. I'm looking after her. I swear you ask me this every time!" By then she was starting to chuckle. Her father's worrying was comical, if she where honest with herself.
Quickly clearing some space from the messy kitchen work top, she made room for her to lean against it. Yang really was untidy, and no amount of prompting from Weiss to clean it up was going to stop her. In fact, just before Weiss left for the same chemistry as Ruby, she had forced Yang to get up with her, demanding her to have it clean before she got back. So much for that.
"For the last time, yes, dad. I have the spare key to her room. If anything happens, I'll be the first one to go up and che-"
As she idly looked up, she noticed something off. Something, very, off. There was a large, damp mark on the ceiling, one only growing bigger by the minute. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realised. That was Ruby's bathroom.
"Dad, I think Ruby's got a burst pipe." Yang was already getting back up, retrieving the spare set of keys for Ruby's dorm room and heading for the door. "I'll call you back."
But as the blonde brute left the room, she didn't notice an important detail.
The cover to her own vent beginning to move.
OCTOBER 20TH 11:15AM
"So, Ruby. You've been living with Blake for a whole week now, yet neither me nor Yang have seen her come out the room."
Weiss was casually making conversation as she held a test tube up into the light, swirling around the green liquid inside to inspect each detail. Chemistry practical had been going on for fifteen minutes, and already Weiss was further ahead then the whole class. Along with Ruby, who thanks to Weiss's help, wasn't far behind her.
"Why are you so desperate to meet her?" Ruby asked, only just fetching a tripod and gauze for her Bunsen burner. Whenever the subject of Blake came up, she was eager to change it. For obvious reasons. Yet Weiss never let it go. "She just got assigned because they saw my room was half vacant. We don't even talk that much!"
"Well that's clearly a lie." Weiss finally placed the test tube in it's holster, adjusting her goggles to a better fit on her face. "Yang and I quite often hear you talking to each other. We are only in the floor below."
"You listen to us?!" Now Ruby's heart was beating faster. If they had listened to her on occasion, what did they hear? Would Blake now be in danger?!
But Weiss put her at ease. "No, we don't listen to your conversations as such. But I do hear you sometimes. You, in particular, are not the quietest woman in the dorm-block miss Rose."
The sigh of relief was obvious to Weiss. And that only made her even more curious. Why was Ruby keeping so much about Blake a secret? She wanted to find out.
"So... Tell me about her. What are her majors, for example?"
That question was such a basic one to ask, and yet Ruby was completely unprepared for it. She knew she should have prepared a basic 'if they ask x, the answer is y' list in her head.
"U-Uuuuhh..." She began, only just holding one of her own test tubes over the blue hot flame to heat it up. She needed something to distract Weiss so she could think. What kind of things would Blake particularly study?
'Come on Ruby, think, think! There must be something else Blake likes!' "... English is one. Like, fictional writing, that kind of stuff!"
"Fictional writing?" The answer raised one of Weiss's eyebrows in question. "I didn't think Beacon did a course on that."
"Neither did I!" Nervously laughing, Ruby gave a quick swirl of the test tube once satisfied, putting it to one side so she could gather some of the final elements for their experiment. Now they were both at the same stage, they could work together, so she thought.
She couldn't lie about everything. Not to Weiss, at least. Weiss had grown to be a good friend, even if they initially disliked one another. Maybe she could even help out, somewhat. Or perhaps would know how to gather more information. Prying into that hope a little more, Ruby cleared her throat.
"She's come from afar to study here. Like, really far away. I think she said she came from a place called 'Vacuo'?"
For a short moment, Weiss thought to herself. The name rang a bell, for reasons unknown to her. She was no geography student, so didn't know all the countries in the world, but this one she faintly heard of. And then it seemed to click, as she snapped her fingers to quite clearly show.
"I've heard of that place! Not many people live there. My dad always told me that it was full of jungles that were teaming with monsters, so only a few expeditions were allowed out of the city set up there." Then her curiosity was peaked even more. "Do you think she's been in that jungle then? Maybe she's wanting to write stories about it!"
Something wasn't quite right. From the amount Weiss knew, it was clear she had connections to Vacuo itself. Or possibly, her family did. Maybe her father had even been there before on an expedition, and even met the people that dwelled within. Blake said it herself, the humans knew of them, but weren't fussed about them at first.
"Maybe... She did say some weird legends and stuff about it. Like..." Taking a deep breath in, it was time to take a risk.
"Weiss, have you heard of Faunus?"
Weiss was already reaching to grab some of the magnesium Ruby had supplied when the question made her stop still. Yet again, another name that rang a bell. "I've heard of it. My dad told me some tall tales about people with ears, or tails, or horns that lived in the jungle. I think that's what he called them."
Instead of continuing, she placed the amount she needed to one side of the test tube, sitting down on the taller stool to think on it more. "Yes, that's definitely the name. When he went on the first expedition there, he said people spotted them in the jungles, but he was never allowed to go see. He himself hasn't been back again." Scoffing, she picked up a small strip of the metal. "But that's entirely bogus. I mean, come on. People with horns? Living in the jungle? Give me a break."
"Y-Yeah..." Ruby picked up a few more strips then her, looking back and foth between it and the test tube. "Complete nonsense. W-What's next? Yang turns out to be a Sasquach?"
"Uuuurgh that woman." The subject had taken a change, which Ruby was greatful for. Any further questions into things may lead to suspicion. Not to mention, it was amusing to watch Weiss's face as she went on. "I swear she's descended from one! It's like I'm looking after an animal!"
"In a good way?" Ruby asked, giving a light nudge to her side.
One that was responded to by a slap across the back of her head. "In a bad way! God, you're both definitely from the same family tree, it's all innuendo this and dirty talk that!"
Ruby only wiggled her eyebrows in response. Weiss had just dropped herself in it.
"T-That doesn't-... I mean we're not- she and I aren't- I'm not... UGH!" In her frustration, she simply sank further into the stool, hunching her shoulders to try and hide her obviously red face. Through the sleeves of her jacket, she mumbled. "I hope your experiment blows up in your face."
"What you say?" Leaning over to drop the five strips of magnesium into her test tube. Big mistake.
BOOM!