Chapter 18
POV: Rocket
Ruby and Oobleck walked into our cozy little crevice. We had started a fire, with open windows giving plenty of ventilation for the smoke.
Ruby: Ooh! Fire!
Then she was on her knees in front of the fire, heating up her hands.
Ruby: So… Warm…
Oobleck inspected our arrangements. I had already set up my stuff in a seperate room to give the girls some privacy, and Oobleck immediately set his gear in an area between the two walls were it was cracked. Because of that, he was above everyone.
Yang: Hey, did Doctor Oobleck ask you why you wanted to become a huntsman? What did you say?
Ruby: No, he didn't... weird…
Oobleck: We'll need someone to take first watch.
Ruby: Done!
Oobleck: Everyone else, get ready for bed. Lights out in 30 minutes.
Ruby left for the watch-spot outside. Soon, everyone was laying around the fire, except for me, I was in the other room, but I could still hear them.
Yang: Hey, Blake, are you still up?
Blake: Yah
Yang: I've never really given a thought to why I want to be a huntress. I've kind of just always gone with the flow, you know? I wanted to go on crazy adventures and exciting battles, and being a huntress just kind of lined up with that.
Blake: I know what you mean. I want to fix all the wrongs in the world, but how will I… What will I…
Yang: I'm confident you can figure it out. After all, you're not one to back away from a fight.
Blake: Except I am! When you guys discovered I was a faunus, I ran! When I discovered one of my oldest friends had become a monster, I ran! Even my semblance… I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow, an empty clone of myself to take the hit while I run away.
Yang: How about you, Weiss. Are you up?
Weiss: Of course I am, you guys are talking...
I could hear the eye-roll from Yang.
Weiss: And, well, it's not what I meant.
Yang: Huh?
Weiss: What I said about upholding the honor. It's not what I meant. I'm not dumb, I know what my father is doing with the company. When I take over the company, I want to people to see the honor, rather than the mud my father is throwing all over it.
Yang: Yah, we aren't at all like Ruby, are we? She's always wanted to be huntress, even before she knew she could fight. Not because she wants to have fun, or any other alterior motivation, but because it's the right thing to do.
Weiss: Well, that is what it should be, isn't it? At its core, it's a job to protect the people, and whatever we want will have to come second.
I could see Oobleck from where I was laying, and he had apparently been listening, as he began to smile as Weiss finished talking.
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POV: Omniscient
Ruby's shift was over and Yang's had begun. Ruby was almost asleep, when Zwei got up. Without even barking, he started walking off.
Ruby: Zwei, what are you doing?
Zwei kept walking outside.
Ruby: Zwei, get back here.
She followed him out, to find him peeing behind a tree.
Ruby: Zwei, this is a wasteland. You could have done that anywhere.
Then she began to hear voices from around the corner. She grabbed Zwei and hid behind a bit of rubble. Two white fang members walked out from behind the corner.
Guard 1: I thought I heard a beowulf over here…
Guard 2: It doesn't matter, let's just finish our patrol and go home.
They walked out of sight down a different street. Ruby came out from behind cover.
Ruby: Yes! This is exactly what we were looking for.
Ruby started to trail the guards that had passed by. She was so busy tracking the guards, she failed to notice a shadow trailing her. The hunter had just become the hunted.
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Ruby had almost caught up to the guards she was silent as she moved from cover to cover, bush to tree, tree to light post. The guards went around a corner, leaving Ruby an opportunity to get a bit closer, without having to use cover. Instead of peering around the corner herself, though, she picked up Zwei and let him peer around the corner.
Ruby: Bark once they go inside.
She heard a clunk in the distance, and then Zwei barked.
Ruby: We can't do this alone. Oh! I'll call the others!
She pulled out her scroll and tried to call the rest of her team. She couldn't get a signal.
Ruby: Dangit! We have to go ba-
She heard a twig break behind her. She started to turn around, when she felt the ground beneath her shake, before dropping away! She caught herself on the edge of the hole. She knew she couldn't pull herself up with Zwei and Crescent Rose being held. She threw them up first and, tried to pull herself up.
?: Ruby!
Just then, the rest of the ground she was holding onto dropped away, leaving her to fall into the dark abyss beneath her.