"I can't shake her."

"Blue 3, hold on! We'll ta-"

"Red 1, Fox 2," Ruby said as a steak of fire raced across the sky from her right wing. An explosion, that was previously Blue 3, occured as she pulled back on the joystick to ascend higher into the sky.

"Dam it... Blue 4, Blue 5, focus on Red 1."

She smirked a little bit as she saw two fighters break off to engage her. "Red 2, you still have my back?"

"Affirmative Red 1," the voice of Helvetika came over the radio. Helvetika was her currant Wingman in the situation they were in and she was glad that it was someone she could trust.

"Let's split then up and focus on one of them."

"Roger that," Ruby could hear the amusement in Helvetika's voice as she had guessed that her Wingman knew what she was planning.

Ruby aimed herself at the two oncoming fighters and pushed the throttle as far was it would go. A beeping noise rang throughout her cockpit, letting her know that they had a lock-on her. She was still smirking.

The distance between them was still vast and they made the mistake of firing their missiles too early. Ruby waited as long as she could before she released flares and rolled to the side, watching as the missiles harm flew by her and after the remains of the flares. She continued on as if two missiles had not just been launched at her and aimed the nose of her plane right in between the two opponents.

Seeing how close she was, and not firing her missiles at them, they both freaked out a little bit and veered off in opposite directions.

Just as planned.

Helvetika started to follow the one that broke off at Ruby's right and Ruby slowed down to make her turn faster to chase after the other. Once her target was visible, she pushed the throttle forward to chase after him.

It took a few seconds but she was finally within firing range. All she needed was a lock-on to finish him off.

"Come on," Ruby whispered to herself. The one she was trailing behind was keeping himself in a loop, so that she wouldn't be able to get a lock-on him. Then he made his mistake.

Her prey had decided to speed up to try to out maneuver her, this lead to his tight loop into becoming loose. Ruby maintained her speed and was able to get directly behind him.

"Almost there..." the reticle almost had a lock-on.

"I can't shake her," Blue 4 panicked.

"Almost there..." her reticle turned red. "Red 1, Fox 2." A missile from her left wing flared to life as it closed onto her victim. They tried to use flares but it was too late. The missile was close enough so the tracking wasn't thrown off course by the time the flares activated and instead hit the engine of the enemy fighter.

"Damn it!"

When she looked over, she could see that Helvetika had taken out target and the rest if her squad had finished off the last remaining enemies.

"Hell yeah!"

"We did it!"

"Good lead Red 1!"

Ruby smiled as her squad cheered and the words 'VICTORY' came to life across her cockpit as it darkened. The door opened it and she could see her instructor's smiling face.

LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, SIMULATOR BAY, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA

DATE: 30 OCTOBER 2002

TIME: 1537

"Good job out there Rose," he said as Ruby got out of the simulator. He then went into lecture mode about everything wrong with the battle, including jer reckless charge, before he went into detail about what was right.

"Now then... we're all done with the Sims for the day. Before we go though, I do have an announcement," he paused as he looked around the room, making sure he had everyone's attention. "I've already said this before, but as of tomorrow I will no longer be your instructor. My time as a teacher is up and I can finally get out and do some real work," a few chuckles were heard in the class. "You will have a new instructor on Monday and from what I hear, he will be quite a... handful to deal with. Now, clean this place up and we can leave."

"Sir, Yessir!" Came the loud chorus of twenty pilots-in-training.

LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, DORMITORY COURTYARD, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA

DATE: 30 OCTOBER 2002

TIME: 1700

"Looks like I owe that drink tonight Rose," one of Ruby's fellow cadets said as he sat down where she, Helvetika, and a few others sat. "Guess you can consider it my birthday present for you."

"Nope," Ruby said as she popped the 'P.' "That was a bet, and you lost. My birthday present should be something else." He just gave a shrug in response to her. They all laughed at his response.

It had been a little over a month and a half since she had started at the Pilot School. Out of her Flight from basic, there were a few who went to the Warrant Officer school with her but only Helvetika came with her to the Pilot School.

"So have you guys heard some of the rumors about our new teacher?" One of members in the group asked.

"No," Ruby looked curious at the man. "Is it interesting?"

"I overheard some of the higher ups talking," another one started off. "Apparently it's some big shot from overseas."

"I heard that the only reason he's coming is because they want to strengthen some relations with other countries," a third made her 'knowledge' known.

"Either way," Helvetika said. "Our Instructor said that he would be difficult to deal with. So he's probably gonna have a huge ego to go with his skills... if he has them."

Everyone but Ruby smirked at that. They were all confident in their current abilities of flying because, truth be told, they wouldn't have made it where they were at if they didn't show hard work and promise in this field of work.

Ruby had stopped paying attention a little bit ago. Something was tugging at the back of her mind. Like all of this seemed to have played out before, almost like déjà vu just... different. Ruby closed her eyes to try and think about it.

Maybe... she began. Maybe I was doing something similar before. Or at least, had a conversation that was like this... Friends just gossiping about the new teacher they're going to have.

"Ruby."

I haven't seen those 'eyes' since that one time... Maybe they were who I gossiped with before.

"Ruuubbyyyy."

When was the last time I remembered something? I think it-

"OW!"

A stinging sensation right in between her eyebrows had brought her out of her thoughts. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Helvetika with her arm stretched out and her fingers were in a position that let Ruby know that she was just flicked.

"Back from space now?" Helvetika asked.

"How long was I out for?" Ruby asked as she rubbed her forehead.

"Don't know," Helvetika gave a shrug. "But you were making some funny faces, so I thought that you might wanna come out of whatever it was that was making those weird faces."

Ruby only glared at her friend in response. In truth, she didn't appreciate the fact that she was brought out of thoughts but she knew that Helvetika was worried. Ruby hadn't told anyone about her... condition. So while to others it may seems like she wasn't thinking about anything serious, in actuality, she was.

"I hope you're ready for tomorrow though," Helvitla wrapped her arm around Ruby's neck. "It's gonna be a birthday party you won't forget."

Yeah, Ruby thought sorrowly. It'll be the only birthday I can remember.

The shattered moon hung in the night sky. A familiar looking Dark Forest surrounded her on another winter night. A familiar red cloak draped itself around her form and guarded her from the elements that she was sure would have hindered her without the cloak. This was the same place she was the previous time and the time before that and the time before that.

It made her wonder why it was always this place she came to. This small Patch of snow covered land that she walked through endlessly.

Instead of going on the paths that she had already gone one, she decided to try and see what was in the forest around her. So, she turned and walked in the darkness that surrounded her.

The only sounds were that of her boots crushing the snow, her breathing that looked like a small spirit coming from her mouth, and the Crows that were following her.

Always the Crows.

Their beady black eyes watching her every move, but not judgingly. They seemed worried. Worried for what though? She didn't know. All she knew was that they were always there, even if she couldn't see them, she knew that the crows were watching her. Sometimes they even guided her to a new place. They also prevented her from going to some places.

She didn't understand then whatsoever, but she felt like she could trust the Crows. That they knew what they were doing. That they wouldn't let harm befall her.

So she continued on her endless journy of the night until she happened across a road. It was well worn and looked like no one had traveled it in years. The Crows blocked one side of the path, the path that lead towards the center of the Patch of land. She could almost hear them say 'not yet.' So, with only one option remaining, she went down the path.

The path was rough and long. Had it been hours already or was it only a few minutes. Time was always hard to tell in this place. The darkness grew around her but she wasn't afraid. Why should she be? The Crows were still with her. Even the glowing red eyes of the Beasts of Darkness wouldn't dare to approach her with the Crows around.

That was when she saw it. It was an old house, that looked more like a shack, that looked like it was ready to collapse any second. In front of it was a little red wagon.

Curiouser and curiouser.

She walked up to the wagon and peered inside. What she saw a weird to find in a place like this, especially considering the season. It was a single Rose bud. It looked as though it was just beginning to bloom and the red was standing out in the scenery that was black and white. But in front if the wagon was truly mystifying.

At the handle of the wagon was a small golden snake, yet it wasn't a Snake. It had the body of one but the head was slightly different and it had small budding horns on the top of its head. The Snake like creature looked worse for wear and the gaze of its burning red eyes was focused on the shack. Her silver eyes followed where the Snake was looking and saw several more red eyes staring back at them.

It was then that she noticed the Crows were gone for it was silent. It was only her, the Snake, and the Rose bud. She reached behind her, only to curse at the fact she didn't have a weapon. She looked around and saw that the Beasts of Darkness were coming out if the Dark Forest around them.

Their mouths salivated at the prey they had waited so long for. Their saliva burned away the snow underneath them. Claws glistened in the moonlight as they twitched ready to kill.

And they lunged at her, ready to kill her, the Snake, and the Rose bud. She quickly gathered the other two in an attempt to protect them and closed her eyes hoping it would be quick.

A caw sounded out from around her.

When her silver eyes opened she saw the Beasts of Darkness were dissolving into air and a single man stood tall. His back was facing her she against the moon light, so couldn't tell much about him. The only two things that she could see of him though were a tattered red cape that he wore and the helmet he wore was that of the Crows.

Silver eyes blinked open as she stared at her ceiling. Her pounding head hurt as the memories from the night before set in.

"Maybe I shouldn't of had that last Strawberry Sunrise..."

LOCATION: TIAMAT AIR BASE, SCHOOL HOUSE ROOM 128, FEDERATION OF CENTRAL USEA

DATE: 02 NOVEMBER 2002

TIME: 0715

"Are you really ok Ruby?" Helvetika asked her.

"Yeah, just a weird dream from the drinks," Ruby said as she stretched her arms.

"So when's he suppose to he here?" An impatient classmate said.

"Soon," said another as he attempted to calm him down.

"I thought that he suppose to be a professional," Helvetika whispered to Ruby.

"Maybe he just woke u-"

The slamming of the door silenced all of them and had them all sitting at attention. They could hear the boots hitting the ground as he walked up from behind them.

"Damn stupid directions... it's like they expect me to know the place," a familiar voice sounded out. Ruby couldn't quite place where she heard it before but she knew that she had heard it before.

The man got to the front of the before he set his gear down and turned around to face the class. "I'll be your new instructor starting today." His head started to look at each of the students in his class. "This won't be an easy cl-" his brown eyes looked with her silver eyes. Both sets widened as they realised who the other was staring at.

""IT'S YOU!"" Ruby Rose pointed at the man in front of her and the man did the same.

"You still owe me coffee Little Red!" Larry Foulke said almost childishly.

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

DATE: UNKNOWN

TIME: UNKNOWN

A single man laid in bed, the light hitting right on his eyes forcing him to wake up from the dream he had. It had been about her. He had been searching for her, and so she had plagued his dreams every night.

As he looked around his room the only thing he focused on was the half drunk bottle of whiskey by his bedside. He opened it up and took a long swig that finished it off.

"I'm too sober for this shit this early."

Hello Hello,

Welcome back to another chapter of Shattered Rose. We get to see a bit of action, even if it is a sim, and the return of a character.

Ruby has another dream, one that seems very familiar. There's also another charcter at the end of the chapter that I'm sure many if you will recognize right away.

This chapter was a bit shorter for her training because I think that her real training will begin with Pixie here.

Hope you guys saw the referqnces I made.

Please read, review, and enjoy

Stay Frosty,

SP4R