The gravel crunched under Ruby's boots as she landed on the ground. She paced away from the building, steering towards the helipad. A holographic board was erected in front of the helipad. A timer ticking down was projected from it. It read fifteen minutes.
The lake's about a thousand meters across. Assuming its a circle, here to Vale is about 1.5 kilometers of running. I run at fifteen kilometers per hour. . . She calculated the numbers in her head. That's six minutes. Faster than fifteen. It'll have to do.
She turned and ran down the side of the school, leaving the pavement. The wilting forest whipped past her face and dry leaves crunched under her foot. She lept down a rock face and darted forwards.
Ruby quickly left the forest and entered Vale. The first signs of the city were some hiking trails and dirt roads. They quickly transitioned into gravel which in turn led to asphalt. Ruby raised her head to see the CCT shined in the distance, towering over the buildings surrounding it.
She sprinted up to the large park surrounding the tower She observed two guards patrolling the perimeter. Why the hell are there only two people defending the sole building that connects Vale to the rest of the world?
No wonder Cinder won so easily, She bitterly thought as she pulled out Crescent Rose in gun form and snuck up behind one of the guards. Her gun's side smashed into his head and knocked him unconscious. She searched through his pockets and found an id card. This should have enough clearance to get to the top of the tower.
She grabbed him by his armpits and pulled him into a bush. It was dark and he would stay concealed until morning. She would be gone by the time they found him.
The door slid open with a scan of the card. The inside of the CCT was dark with a flight of steps leading up to the elevator. She walked up to it and pressed the button. The door slid open and she walked in, punching the button to the top floor. Okay. If I can act as Penny's teammate, they should tell me where she is. Then I can go find her and act as if I bumped into her.
Maybe things are going to be alright. She pulled her scroll out and swiped a few times. "I am Ciel Soleil," she spoke into it. She pressed a few buttons and the audio clip played again. "I am Ciel Soleil." The voice was deeper. Sounds close enough. Shouldn't be distinguishable over the radio.
The elevator door opened and Ruby stepped out. She walked over to one of the computers and plugged her scroll in. The screen blinked on, revealing an operator sitting behind a desk. "Good afternoon. Who would you like to call?"
"Redirect this to Atlas Academy," Ruby ordered in a deeper voice. The operator disappeared, only to be replaced by the Atlas insignia.
"This is Atlas, what may we do for you?"
"This is Icarus 18-078-096. I request the location of Pinocchio, over."
"Icarus, you are calling from Vale CCT. Do you confirm?"
"Affirmative."
"Icarus, file here says you're stationed in Atlas . Why are you calling from Vale CCT?"
Atlas? What is Ciel doing in Atlas? She should've came here with Penny as a team. Heck, she practically follows Penny everywhere! Only reason she would leave is if Penny did too. . .
That's why I didn't bump into her the other day.
"Icarus?" The voice called out again.
"Icarus out." Ruby pulled her scroll out and ran back into the elevator. She jammed the button leading to the ground floor. Her mind was racing, but nothing turned up. She had no plan.
The card worked again as she left the building. She tossed it back into the bush hiding the unconscious body and left.
But why is Penny in Atlas? Didn't I see her fight the White Fang a month back?
The creeping suspicion that something was wrong returned. Of course everything's wrong! Blake's still off somewhere, Weiss is still pissed off and now Pyrrha and Jaune have somehow managed to get into an argument! Things couldn't be worse!
She scowled as she walked away. Her hand reached up and rubbed her forehead that had started to throb again. Well, if Penny is in Atlas, that means she won't be helping when Blake fights Roman. Which means I'll have to help Blake.
Ruby ran back to the dorm. She took a deep gasp of air and opened the door, stepping inside. Weiss and Yang were still sitting in the same spot.
Weiss turned in her chair. "What took you so long?"
"I stayed out in town today looking for some spare parts for Crescent Rose," Ruby half-lied.
Yang raised her eyebrow. "Yeah right. That's the most transparent lie ever," she said. "I thought you were mauled by Grimm or something, you can't just go out to do one thing and then return whenever you feel like it."
Ruby grimaced and looked away slightly. "Alright, fine. I went out and talked with Pyrrha about what happened with her and Jaune. Okay?"
"What part of 'it's not your business' do you not understand?" Weiss asked incredulously. Ruby shot a glare towards her but her attention went back to Yang a moment later.
"Look at our team! Blake's ran off, Weiss isn't helping at all, and now you're disappearing and going off to help somebody else! It's like you're not even trying to keep things together." Yang said. Her eyes hints of red creeped into her eyes alongside a faint trace of tears.
"Well maybe I am trying!" Ruby hated to see those eyes aimed at her, but pushed past her uneasiness. It was for their own good!
You don't know what's going on and what's going to happen. I do.
"If this is your idea of 'trying,' then maybe you should stop!" Yang retorted, her anger flooding into her eyes as they flickered red.
Weiss looked at Ruby. "Aren't you supposed to be a leader? So far I haven't seen you do a single thing to keep us together. Sometimes, it's almost like you don't exist. It's like you're nothing more than a shadow."
This is too familiar. . . Her scroll buzzed in her pocket. Ruby's hand went straight to her skirt pocket and grasped at her scroll to take it out, when a loud thump sounded outside their room door. Three sets of eyes stared at the door as silence permeated throughout the room. Yang stood up and paced to the door before kicking it open. Ruby ran up and looked to the left.
She saw a flash of white and gold peek out from the edge of the hallway and set out for it. She glanced to her teammates.
"I'm going this way," she said to them. She left the doorway and ran after the figure, blending into a red blur as she picked up speed. Weiss went the other way as Yang knocked on team JNPR's dorm.
Ruby stopped her pursuit when she reached a set the end of the hallway. One path led to Goodwitch's office while the other led to the student locker area.
I'd like to see somebody hide in Glynda's office, she thought to herself.
She turned and went straight for the locker area. Somebody was panting from around the corner as if they were recovering their breath. Bingo.
She rushed into the locker room and appeared right behind of the perpetrator.
"Jaune?!"
The blond's posture went from hunched over to rigidly straight as he slowly turned around and gave Ruby a shaky smile.
"Hey Ruby," he said, waving his hand. He held a textbook which pages were folded in many places, as if it was dropped face down while open. Jaune immediately saw the book in her line of vision and swapped with with his free hand, smiling innocently, or at least attempting to before she glared.
Still glaring at the Arc, she asked, "What were you doing outside my room?"
Gulping in fear, Jaune responded, "W-w-well, my room is right across the hall-" Ruby raised an eyebrow and gave a threatening look.
Jaune panicked. "Okay, okay! I was coming back from the training room, then I heard Yang's yelling, and, well, you know the rest."
Ruby kept up her look before sighing and letting it up. Jaune relaxed a bit and was about to say something when Ruby's scroll buzzed again. She took it out of her pocket and turned it on.
A blurry view of the docks greeted her. A bullhead was sitting in the center. Multiple figures were heaving crates out of the cargo bay. An orange haired figure paced around the bullhead, overlooking the grunts. He talked with somebody behind the bullhead before disappearing from Ruby's vision.
"What's this?" Jaune asked.
"Nothing." Jaune ignored her words and leaned over anyways to see.
"Why are you looking at the docks-" Jaune questioned. "Wait, this is about Blake, isn't it."
"What do you mean by 'Blake?'" Ruby tested. How much do you know?
"Weiss, uh, Weiss told us about what went down."
What? That doesn't sound like Weiss. Oh wait. This is an attack on Blake. That's more like it. Ruby scowled. "I just guessed that Blake might show up around there."
"You don't think she might be joining th-"
"No, she's out for revenge," Ruby explained. "Don't ask how I know."
Jaune sighed. He debated to himself for a moment but decided to let it go. "Well, is there any way I can help? You can't be trying to do this investigation on your own."
"What, no! I don't want you pulling me-" Ruby blurted out before catching her words.
"Hey, I know I'm not the best at fighting, but I can still help! Just by, you know, looking around Vale and stuff."
Yeah, and what good would that do? Blake's going to go to the docks. Sun practically guarantees it.
"Just, no. You won't be able to find Blake anyways," Ruby said.
Jaune furrowed his brow. "I'm just trying to help you here! I mean like, you 'helped' me with Cardin, but I don't need somebody telling me what I can do and what I can't! Maybe it's about time I actually did something myself, instead of having somebody else do it for me."
Ruby was a little taken aback. She debated with herself for a moment and sighed. "I don't want to do this, but you can help." Ugh. No harm done, I guess. I just need to keep him away when the fight starts.
Jaune ignored the first half and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "Thanks." He looked back to Ruby's scroll, now closed. "So, well, if you think Blake's going to go to the White Fang base at the docks, what are you going to do?"
Wait for her to screw up, go in to help, capture (or kill) Roman. "I dunno, it seems pretty unlikely to happen."
"Really? She does seem the type to harbor grudges," Jaune asked.
"How do you know?"
"She, um, wasn't very quiet earlier. Like I said, the doors aren't very soundproof."
"What did you hear," Ruby asked. Was JNPR able to hear those arguments all along?
Jaune put his mind to remembering the argument. "Well, there was something about the Schnee family. That's all I picked up."
Good. They didn't hear everything. Wouldn't want them tak- What am I thinking? They're our friends! Ruby frowned at her troublesome thoughts and filed them away for another day.
"Well, if Blake's more than likely to start a fight with the White Fang, we should at least have a contingency."
"You can see the docks right? We'll know if she decides to attack."
"Yeah. It's at least half an hour from here to the docks, though. Ten if we're already in Vale."
"We're still going to search for her. That means we should be in Vale."
"Alright then, ten minutes. Five if we're nearby." She sighed. "It's the best we have." She glanced at the clock over the lockers. "It's been a while. You should get back to your dorm."
"How about you?"
"After you," Ruby stated. Jaune gave her a suspicious look, but left anyways. The room was silent after he walked away. Ruby started walking back, intending to do the same.
"Tsk tsk, don't go quite yet." Yang turned the corner. "What's this dock you were talking about? Why don't I know about it?" she threatened. She stepped forwards. "Blake is my partner. I thought I'd be higher up on your priorities," she growled. Her eyes were red.
Ruby stood her ground. "I wasn't going to let Jaune help either," she said.
"So that means you weren't going to tell anybody? Do you have no regard for your own safety?!" she almost yelled. "Imagine if I woke up one day to find that both my partner and my sister are dead! You can't take on the White Fang on your own. The best you can do is let someone come with you."
"They're just suspicions!"
"Yeah, you didn't put cameras all over Vale though, why this particular place? You almost seem certain of it."
"But- you'll, alright, fine, you can come." Ruby dreaded the words as they left her mouth. A part of her feared what might happen again. She tried her best to stifle the feeling.
"But I'll what?" Yang muttered.
"Nothing."
Yang looked Ruby in the eye before sighing and backing off. Her eyes faded back into lilac. "Look, don't let my worst nightmares come true, okay?"
"I won't," Ruby reassured. Yang gave her a concerned look, but didn't say anything. She turned and left the room.
Ruby followed after her sister. She entered her dorm. It was dark and Weiss and Yang were in their beds. Weiss was already in her dreams. Yang had her back to the room. She shifted her bedsheets in discomfort.
Ruby climbed onto her bed and buried herself into her blankets, trying to sleep. It didn't come to her though, and she stayed there wide awake on the bed. Her mind invariably drifted to Blake and her predicament. I don't have a plan, she thought to herself. It scared her.
The foreboding sense of dread pressed into her, and it was only late in the night when she finally dozed off into an uneasy slumber.
Ruby was in a claustrophobic box. "What's your greatest regret?" Two chairs were bolted into the wall. She was sitting in one. Jaune was on the other.
"Where am I?"
"You're in a dream. Somewhere far from the real world, anyways." He leaned back and gave a foreboding smile.
"Who are you? You're not Jaune."
"You already know me." Ruby blinked, and she saw herself sitting in the chair. She blinked again. Jaune was back. "But let's talk about the issue at hand. What is your greatest regret?"
"You're me. Don't you already know?"
He chuckled. "I do. That's not what I'm here for."
"You're always here."
"No, I'm not. I'm only here when you're scared."
"Who are you then? You're not me either. I'm always here."
"I'm an old friend," he said reassuringly. He leaned in. "What is your greatest regret? Or may I reword this for you: what is your greatest fear?"
"And what happens if I don't tell you?"
"Then I guess we'll never know," Jaune said, knowing how Ruby would respond.
Ruby sighed. "My friends dying. That's what I'm scared of."
He smiled bitterly. "Close, but not quite there."
Ruby sighed. "Yang dying."
Jaune thought for a moment. "Good enough," he shrugged. The walls on the left and right pulled back. One side dropped off into an abyss. The other pulled out a pathway. It extended outwards into infinity. "Why don't we take a trip down memory lane?" He asked as he stood up. Ruby did the same.
They walked down the elevated passageway. A wall with a door faded in from the abyss ahead of them. Ruby stepped forwards and pushed it open. A torrent of wind blew through the door, throwing her hair in the wind. She stepped through and found herself in a dim room. Yang was tied to a chair bolted in the center of the room. A harsh light casted long shadows on the walls.
Behind Her was Neo, holding an ornate pistol. She sported a sweet smile and put the gun to the back of Yang's head. Ruby tried running forwards to stop what was next, but her feet were planted to the ground.
A loud bang rang through the room as Neo fired the gun. She silently laughed and teleported away. Ruby's feet moved as she tripped forwards, running towards her sister.
She pushed Yang's hair away from her face, hand running over her smooth forehead. She looked like she was sleeping.
Ruby broke down and cried. She dropped down to her knees, and hugged her sister one last time.
DorkKnight: Hey. I don't actually have much to say right now. Howbout you, Exiled?
Exiled: Nothing that comes to mind except that we actually got this chapter done ahead of time. Of course, now that we're finally getting into the climax of this arc, things can start moving along faster I suppose. All I guess I have to say is tell us how we're doing? Good, bad, meh? Let us know what you think?