Author's Note: Round 1 is complete – but now for a breather. In this chapter we'll get our heads turned back the right way 'round as our intrepid interdimensional travelers get ready to set out once again.
(Temporary Note – In all honesty, I don't much like how the previous 3 chapters were paced. I think I buzzed through them too fast. Be on the lookout for updates to those chapters in particular – and if I update them, I'll let you know here.)
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The first thing Yang did when everyone came to their senses was to hand over Snow's lovely little ring with the blue stone. The look on that girl's face was worth all the trouble in the world, as far as the blonde was concerned.
Sapphire quickly exchanged a few words with Carmine, who then considered for about a minute before ordering both the old remote device and all the other items Yang had gathered into a massive DNA scanner. She didn't explain why right away, but it seemed important.
Unlike the device Carmine set up back on their home world, the larger transport device in her lab ended up needing almost double the amount of time to recalibrate. Yang, Blake and Snow had a full day before anyone could travel again.
Not that this was a bad thing. With Sapphire joining them, our heroes were able to take some much-needed time to rest.
…
"…Carmine, right? You seem angry. May I ask what the problem is? Specifically?"
"Someone's been fucking around with my programs… when I figure out who it is… Imma Taser 'em right on the nipples…!"
*gulp*
"Oh… Did you need something, Sapphire?"
*ahem* "Just checking on something… Didn't you say that my absence from my home world could cause …what was it… unstable conditions?"
"That was the case, but I checked on that as soon as you showed up. Turns out Remnant-8843 is still perfectly stable and waiting for your arrival. Whatever Rain did to make it that way seems to be holding up, but we don't have too much time to dawdle…"
"How much is 'not too much' …?"
"A few days at most. But when I send you home from here, I won't miss. I can promise you that."
"I'll hold you to that."
"Please do."
"There was also the matter of that remote device we obtained…"
"I'm running to through my scanners now, and I also hooked it up to the main system. Wherever it sent Marigold, I will find her. If the other items have any other DNA samples I can lock onto, that should speed up the process."
"For Weiss' sake, I hope you're right."
"She goes by the name 'Snow' now…"
"Oh yeah… Yang mentioned that. What actually happened to her there?"
"She hasn't explained her story to anyone yet. There was… a lot of emotional trauma when she first arrived. She also appeared to have lost portions of her memory."
"Because of her extended stay? Yang mentioned it was almost 10 years long."
"Partly. However, I believe it was mainly due to a side effect of remaining in a different world for a prolonged period of time. Her… 'natural energy' altered itself to match the frequency modulation of her new home, rather than what it once was."
"…What?"
"I've only observed the phenomenon in a select few subjects, but all of them suffered partial memory loss after their energy signature changed, which always happened after about a year's time. The younger subjects lost more, while the older ones lost less."
"Like a memory …'reset' …?"
"In a nutshell… yes."
"Would the lost memories come back if the subjects were sent back where they came from?"
"Absolutely not. I only tried that with two of them, but they both… … … died in agony. The body can only readjust itself once – it rejects any other attempts."
"…!"
"I didn't dare test the effect on any more subjects. Two lives on my hands are more than enough. That's why I refused to send Snow back to her family. It would have killed her."
"It might have killed her."
"Would you have taken that chance?"
"… … …No, I suppose not."
"…"
"So… even if we do find Marigold, she might not remember her own name, would she? They said she was only about 5 when she vanished…"
"At an age like that, she would be lucky to remember how to even breathe… but I'll still look. She is out there, somewhere, and I'll be damned before I give up now!"
"…"
"I owe Weiss… Snow… at least that much."
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Chapter 29:
Intermission
[1-2]
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[ Yang ]
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Unlike the others, Yang wasn't interested in resting. After she changed out of her normal outfit and into some workout clothes, the blonde wasted no time in locating and making use of Beacon's futuristic training facility.
So many toys to break… so little time.
She was busy dealing with a solid-light training dummy (that fought back rather fiercely) when the older version of Velvet Scarlatina walked in. Oh wait… make that Velvet Rose, if she'd taken Carmine's last name when they got hitched.
"Working out some stress?" the woman asked in that odd accent of hers.
Yang let fly one last punch which caused the hologram to shatter, then looked over at her faunus audience and mused, "…You already know the answer to that, don't you?"
"Sometimes it helps to ask anyway."
"I suppose it does," she replied. "According to Carmine, the three of us'll be going on a lot more of those little other-world adventures while we're here. I'd hate to be caught unprepared for a real fight…"
Velvet offered the teenager a water bottle from a nearby cooler (wow, this place had it all) and said, "Wouldn't it be worse to be sore from working out too much?"
Yang tilted her head in confusion. "What is this… 'working out too much?' Is that possible?"
"For some of us mere mortals, yes."
"Sounds like a boring existence."
"Hmm…" Velvet muttered in agreement.
Both women sat on a bench in silence, one trying to cool down, the other waiting for an opportunity to speak. Yang may not have had the empathic abilities of her companion, but she could tell when something was on someone else's mind. Still, she figured it was best to wait.
"Did the… older Yang talk to you?"
There it was. "Yeah. She gave me the cliff notes version of what happened to the team. Sorry to hear it."
"I assume she put all of the blame on herself?"
Yang blinked at Velvet before responding, "Uh… yeah. Did something else happen?"
Velvet sighed before saying, "In truth… everyone exchanged harsh words that day, not just her. She just gave the worst of it – all four of them had already reached the breaking point before then, but… our announcement just tipped the balance."
Yang set her water down, but said nothing. She didn't dare interrupt.
"There was a lot of anger that day… a lot of hurt feelings… jealously… sadness… more raw emotion than I'd ever felt in one place before. Yang was angry that Ruby had abandoned her, Weiss was upset that Yang had become a bigot without anyone noticing, and Blake decided that Weiss had somehow returned to being an anti-faunus racist…"
"Okay whoa, whoa… just a sec…" Yang managed to pause the woman's story for a moment to digest the barrage of information. For the other two to make such radical assumptions… just what the flaming crap did that other Yang say?!
"Sorry… just thinking about it still leaves even me dizzy," Velvet confessed. "It's difficult for me to separate the words from the emotions in my memory. Everything just runs together."
"It's probably best that I don't know exactly what was said. I… … … I think I get the gist of it, though. Thanks," the blonde sighed.
"The …older Yang still feels strong guilt, even after all this time. I just wanted to clear the air between the two of you… if it ever came up again."
Yang nodded, then gave a weary smile and said, "Thank you. Seriously."
"In case you were considering giving me a hug," the rabbit faunus said as she scooted away just a bit, "…the showers are that way."
"…Wimp…"
"…Stinker…"
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[ Snow ]
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Carmine and Sapphire needed some time to talk in private, and the rest of Yang's memorabilia needed to be properly scanned before she could give any of it to Snow. The former Schnee could have stayed in the lab, but in truth there was something she needed more than anything Carmine's sci-fi campus could offer.
Coffee. From a real coffee shop.
Sam was never a coffee drinker before Snow arrived in his life, but once she convinced him to find some and try it, he became a believer. The two of them shared many a peaceful morning over a steaming cup of the good stuff, especially in their first year together. Marigold tried it once, but it was too bitter for her tastes. Snow still giggled whenever she remembered the poor girl's face twisting in disgust.
She stared at her ring again, something she'd done several dozen times since getting it back, simply staring and letting the memories wash over her. As the teenager sat by the window of the coffee shop, watching the city move on just outside, she choked back a lone tear. The pain of missing her family was still sharp, but it was growing slightly more dull as time passed.
But she didn't want it to ever fully go away. It helped her remember them.
Snow's old white-themed outfit was all she had in this world that still fit, so she wore it while out like this – but she refused to put her hair up in the side ponytail she was once known for. Instead, she let all of her snowy white hair simply hang loose. It helped her feel like she did before… regressing in age.
That detail, above everything else, still bugged her.
Snow took a sip from her mug, relishing the smell and flavor of the beans. It was nothing like the real stuff Sam had shipped in from the distant jungles of the south, but it worked. And she never used that cream or sugar nonsense, either – why bother going after the best beans in the world if you just smother the flavor with sweet crap?
Ah, Sam… you would have enjoyed this batch.
Snow set her mug down and lightly ran her fingers over the scar on her face. It had faded with age back home, but now it felt just as it once did – too fresh. The memory of obtaining it was one of the few that never faded once, no matter how long she stayed with Sam.
Team RWBY was another. Those three girls had stayed close to her heart.
Oddly, the presence of Carmine and then Sapphire only bothered her a little. She didn't remember them, but she recognized that they were virtually identical to Ruby Rose, her old partner. That was enough to earn Snow's trust.
The woman called Sapphire, though… there was something else that was familiar about her. Something more personal. The woman reminded Snow of herself more than Ruby.
No… a relation? Like a sister? Did she even have a sister?
Snow managed to keep her personalized scroll with her when she arrived, but hadn't had much chance to play around with it. She pulled it out now and began to dig around. After almost an hour (long after her coffee had vanished), she found her personal files.
Weiss Schnee. Her old name. Father: Jacques Schnee. Mother: Willow Schnee. Siblings: Winter Schnee and Whitely Schnee.
The link for Winter brought up an image that looked almost exactly like Sapphire, but with Snow's white hair and ice-blue eyes. She had a face that spoke of strength, both in body and mind.
Her sister… why did Snow forget about her… but still remember Ruby and the others?
Quite discomforting. What else had slipped away with the years?
As the sun began to dip below the edge of the buildings, Snow pocketed her scroll and made her way back. She had no idea if the Beacon they once belonged to had these… what were they called? Trams? But it didn't matter. She'd been alone long enough – it was time to get back to the others.
Snow glanced at her ring one more time, letting Sam and Marigold's faces float before her mind's eye again. She knew in her heart that she would never stop missing them. Yang had mentioned that she and Sapphire had a lot to tell her regarding those two, but she might not like what they had to say…
That was probably true… but Snow found herself with far more patience than she would have expected. They knew the truth, so she was content to wait for them to be ready to tell it. Light knows they've waited long enough for her to tell them her own story.
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[ Blake ]
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The closet in Rain's room was more packed than Carmine had said. Blake sneezed a bit as more dust jumped into her nose. Most of this stuff hadn't even been moved for years at least.
Still, she found another part from the list. She pulled it out and set it in the pile with the other dozen or so things the Mad Scientist had sent her down here for. She then checked off another item of the list on her scroll before heading back in.
It was another errand. One of way too many to come.
Better than sewage work, though.
Just before she ducked her head back into the mess, a flash of light pulled Blake's attention back to the empty space of the room. At the center of that light stood a girl that only looked young at first glance. Her faded red hood and cloak was just as tattered as the first day Blake had seen it.
Rain had returned. But she wore a look of surprise… which was quite uncommon. "Blake? What are you doing here? …Actually, what day is it?"
The cat faunus almost replied, but stopped herself. Something was …off about this girl.
"No, wait… I think it's… dammit! I'm too early! I overshot… but wait, I can still…" The ancient Ruby look-alike's eyes were darting around the room and she was muttering to herself like she was having a caffeine buzz or something.
In short, Rain was not acting like herself.
All at once, the ancient variant of Ruby looked over at Blake and froze as she thought about something. She then raised her left hand and displayed her palm – four lines had been scribbled onto it in blue ink. "How many lines did I have the last time you saw me?"
"Umm… zero? I didn't know you doodled on yourself…"
"SHIT! I am WAY off…" she cursed and kicked a nearby box, which bounded off the far wall with a dull thud.
Blake took a cautious step back. "What… What's going on? Are you really Rain?"
"Can't say too much or I'll cause a paradox…" the shorter girl murmured as her silver eyes darted all around the room. Her mind was clearly running at a million miles an hour. "Long story short, I'm a …future version of Rain."
"Future…?"
"All I can say is that I just learned something that totally fucked my world up, okay? That's why I overshot and came too far back. So listen to me VERY CAREFULLY!" The girl suddenly darted forward, her normally emotionless eyes filled with a wildfire.
Blake gulped, but nodded.
"You CANNOT let me… Rain… know that this meeting happened. You can't even IMPLY that you met a future version of me. The next time you see me, act like nothing happened between then and the moment I vanished with Neo, do you hear me?!"
Blake's knees were shaking slightly as she nodded again, afraid that her voice would crack if she tried to speak.
"No… … … Wait a minute… … … Aha! So that's why you had this. Here, take it…" the girl slapped a small device into Blake's palm. "There will come a time, soon, when you need to …subdue someone without killing them. Someone important to you. Use this on them… but don't let anyone know you have it. Keep it well-hidden."
Blake looked down and discovered a small piece of metal with a tiny spike in the center on one side and a sticky surface on the other.
"To use it, just stick the flat side to your palm and press the pointed side against your attacker. Any open patch of skin will do. It works like a Taser, but stronger – I made it to affect the entire nervous system at once. Also, it's only good for one use, so don't use it too early."
Blake really wanted to ask about the need for the thing, but didn't want to risk a …what did she call it? A paradox?
"I need to go," Rain muttered again as she scribbled a fifth line on her palm, crossing over the other four. "Stay strong, Blake. And remember… this meeting didn't happen."
Blake nodded emphatically right before the strange future Rain vanished once again. The cat faunus was left alone in the room with a pile of parts on one side and a mini-Taser in her hand… as well as a shitload of confusion in her brain.
As cold and emotionless as Rain normally presented herself to be… what the hell could have shaken her resolve that badly?
And did Blake really want to know?
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[ Main Lab ]
… … …
Carmine sat at her console once again as Yang, Blake, Snow and Sapphire stood just behind her. The Mad Scientist was still making adjustments to the machine's controls, but spared the group enough attention to talk to them.
"First of all, let me just apologize right now for keeping the stuff Yang brought with her in the scanning room all night…"
The former Schnee shook her head politely and said, "It's alright. Yang told me enough to tide me over. And I got my ring – that was the main thing I wanted, above all else." She gestured with her left hand, causing the blue stone to glitter in the light. "I'm willing to wait for the rest."
"Good to know," Carmine mumbled, then typed a few more things into the system. She then stood to her feet and gave the group her full attention as her expression turned deadly serious.
"Uh-oh… the 'business' face…" Yang mumbled.
"I know I mentioned putting you guys to work, but after running the results of my scans again, I found something interesting…"
She quickly brought up a big chart showing all of the various alternate Remnants she had found, along with various progress bars showing how far each of them had been scanned. Everyone could see the big, bright red exclamation marks that adorned almost two dozen of the listings.
"I found lingering 1802 energy in several worlds. Places I haven't sent any of you guys into yet. Places I haven't fully scanned. I believe they might indicate the presence of your young leader…"
"Ruby? You found her?" Yang demanded quickly.
"No… but I have a trail of sorts. Along with your other work, I'm sending you guys to each of these worlds to find the source of this unique energy signature. It might be Ruby… but it also might not be." Carmine then nodded to Snow and added, "If you wish to join those guys today, I'll allow it. I think you've recovered enough for the trip."
"As much fun as that sounds," the former Schnee mused, "I think I'll wait until the next ship leaves port."
Carmine nodded, "Understood."
"Yeah… she'd rather stay and play with me!"
The new voice came from right behind the gathered group, causing all four to jump clear in an instant. Yang and Blake had their weapons drawn in a heartbeat, and Sapphire was standing in a defensive position in front of Snow. Carmine had her hands hovering close to the console – one input from her could activate the room's security system.
Nobody fired a shot, however. They were too in shock at what stood before them. Or more specifically, who.
"Oh dear, oh dear… Did I startle you all? Goodness me…"
Of course they recognized the dark red hair and silver eyes… but that was about it. This woman had the largest pair of tits any of them had ever seen. No joke. She wore a long dress of black and red that dragged on the floor, but it's strength was clearly in the bust area. When she laughed, they all heard the sound of the stitching pulling apart bit by bit.
She also had a disturbing gleam in her eyes.
"And who, may I ask, are you supposed to be?" Carmine forced a good-natured smile over her agitation.
"Me?" The woman put one hand over her mammoth chest and laughed again. "Why… my name happens to be Ruby L. Rose. A pleasure to meet you all, at long last!"
As the woman spoke the name, several letters appeared in mid-air and floated in place that spelled out the name she had just said – 'Ruby L. Rose.' They looked to be made of solid light, but were not holograms.
"What's the L stand for?" Carmine pondered aloud.
Miss Ruby L. Rose grinned a grin that was about 20% too wide as she replied, "Whatever you want, honey… Lynn… Lunch… Lesbian… Lottery ticket…"
"Are you nuts or something?" Yang asked all of a sudden.
"Salted or unsalted?" came the instant, very serious reply.
"Honey-roasted, I'd say…" Blake added.
"Hah! I'll remember that one!" the woman chuckled. "I mainly came to see what you lot are supposed to be, and I'm not impressed, really. That chair would be more of a threat to the Goddess…"
All five other occupants of the room glanced at each other. Goddess?
"I also came to eat all of your donuts."
"We don't have any donuts in here…" Carmine replied quickly.
"You're welcome," she responded without a pause.
The letters that once spelled out 'Ruby L. Rose' had started drifting and rotating in the air, rearranging themselves without anyone watching them. Carmine glanced at them, but quickly returned her gaze to the woman with boobs that had their own zip code.
At that moment, a flash of light heralded the arrival of yet another girl who was not Ruby – but this one was a far more welcome sight.
"I think…" Rain said in her usual monotone, "…that you need to leave. Right now."
Nobody noticed that Blake tried to get a look at Rain's left hand.
"Leave? But I just got here! Is this any way to treat a guest?"
Rain crossed her arms. "An unwelcome guest, yes."
"You are such a poopy-pants, you know that?"
"I've been called worse…"
"I can imagine," the mega-boobed woman sauntered closer, seemingly oblivious to the danger that Rain posed. "Someone like you, who doesn't even have her own soul?"
Rain grew tense, but didn't flinch. She remained silent. Everyone else in the room stared in stunned silence.
"Oh I know about you… I see many things, you know. I can see magic in the air, porn magazines hidden between mattresses, and even the human soul. And you… I've seen into your very core…" she poked Rain with one finger, smirking much too wide for a normal person. "…And do you know what I saw?"
"DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?" Yang shouted as she let loose a single shot with her gauntlets. The woman turned to look at the incoming bullet…
And caught it in her mouth.
Then chewed it up and swallowed it. "Mmm… tastes like cinnamon!"
Yang's eyes very nearly popped out of her head.
"Where was I? Oh yes…" the woman turned her attention back to the seemingly frozen Rain before speaking again. The floating letters from earlier were now circling her waist.
"Believe it or not, small one …you actually have FOUR souls… but not one of them are truly yours."
This time Rain did flinch. The tension in the room had grown to levels that left it hard to even breathe. At least for most of the humans.
Did that woman just say… Rain had four souls?
The top-heavy stranger didn't seem to be affected by the tension of the room at all as she mused "Well my darlings, I must be off. My Goddess calls for me. Do be careful playing around in Her universe… you might stub your toe on something nasty."
The letters finally stopped rotating in front of her, but they were in another order entirely. They now spelled out a new word…
"As I said, my name is Ruby L. Rose… but you lot may call me Soulberry."
With that, she disappeared in a burst of colored confetti, complete with a toy trumpet blare in the background.
Nobody moved for several seconds. No one could quite believe what they had just seen. Or heard. The only sound was the hum of the air conditioning. Carmine was the first to move, pulling a fresh cigarette from her pack and lighting it with shaky fingers. "Did that really just happen?" she asked no one in particular.
"What looney bin did she crawl out of…?" Blake wondered aloud.
"Wherever it was…" Yang added, "They didn't need a moon to supply the extra gravitational pull… god damn!"
Snow actually chuckled at the mental imagery, then added, "Those things were rather …large, weren't they?"
Yang wasn't done. "If she had a bra, the size tag would just say 'Nope!' When she bends over, dogs probably start howling!"
Snow was starting to laugh harder and harder as the jokes continued. Sapphire, Blake and Carmine stared in wonder at the sight – Yang didn't seem to notice.
"She's her own waterbed! She's a self-deploying airbag! She's her own floatation device! She'll never drown in a pool! If she laid on her back, they'd fall into her face and suffocate her! She… um, what's wrong with her?"
Yang finally stopped joking when she found Snow doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down her face. The poor girl could barely catch her breath.
Somehow, this was more amazing of a sight than Ruby Rose with omega-level tits.
…
About 15 minutes later, Snow had calmed down and everyone had recovered from their close encounter of the booby kind. Mostly.
"I'd always suspected those four did something strange to me…" Rain wondered aloud as she paced the room, ignoring the stares this was attracting. "…Now it makes sense. Four souls… it was them. It had to be them. The Four Maidens…"
Blake looked like she wanted to say something, but kept silent. She also looked more worried than the others for some odd reason.
"Rain," Carmine started saying, "…Are you gonna be…"
"I need to leave again," the shorter girl interrupted. "The things she said… there's something else going on around here. Someone moving behind the scenes. This 'Goddess…' I need to find out who that is."
Rain moved over to the desk and grabbed a blue pen, muttering, "Neo snatched my transport device, but I can still travel on my own… it's just less accurate. Using this world as a base has helped before, but I lose track too easily. So…"
She scribbled a single blue line into her left palm. "Each time I stop here, I'll draw a line."
Blake muttered something like, "No… too early… something else has to happen…" as her hand moved towards her pocket, but pulled it away. Yang glanced at her, but stayed quiet.
"Carmine, I assume you have them covering for me? My work load…"
"Yeah," she answered dismissively, "You're good. Go on, get out of here."
Rain nodded, then closed her eyes and focused. A small flash of light later, and she was gone once again.
Neither the teenagers nor Sapphire seemed able to process everything that had just happened. First a stranger simply appears behind them, saying what could only be taken as a warning – then she says something extraordinary about Rain – and now Rain herself simply ran off? Why did it seem like reality itself was starting to come unraveled?
"Well…" the Mad Scientist said suddenly, "…shall we get on with this?"
As before, Yang took platform 1 and Blake took platform 2. Sapphire stood next to Snow as they watched their friends prepare to take the plunge into the multiverse once again. Carmine handed another one of her devices to Yang before the blonde took her position.
"The same rules apply as before: no more than a year to get done with your mission, or there will be consequences. No matter how long you're gone, you'll appear back here five minutes later. Yang, this time you have the 'work' job – the world you're going to doesn't have a scanner yet. Follow the directions on your scroll to install that one. It's a simple job, but easily the most important – Rain always did these first."
The blonde started protesting, but a Look from Carmine shut her up.
"Blake, I'm sending you to one of the worlds with a trace of 1802 energy. Find it, confirm what it is, and deal with it accordingly. If it's Ruby herself, then obviously bring her back with you."
Yang reached over and took Blake's hand in a firm handshake, then said, "Good luck… partner."
"You, too."
"Oh, and…" Yang emphasized her own chest as she added, "Watch out for Miss Looney, the Goodyear blimps." This prompted a sigh from Blake and a bright laugh from Snow.
With the press of a button, their vision was filled with a bluish-green light once again…
\_…_/
\_/
Yang sighed. She really wanted to be the one to find Ruby first. But in this case, she would trust her partner to handle it.
Assuming Ruby was there at all. It was a possibility she would not ignore.
First thing's first, though… time to look… around…?
… … …Oh, shit.
All around Yang stood tall buildings, vast storefronts, and expansive roads and parkways… … … all in ruins. Vegetation had grown up into the cracks and crevices left by age or natural disaster. Everything she could see raised warning flags in Yang's brain that she was in a post-apocalyptic world of some sort.
That meant one of several options awaited her. And none of them were promising.
"FREEZE! Don't move a fucking muscle!"
The voice was familiar, but the tone was loaded with pure killing intent. Yang quickly raised both hands in a show of surrender, then started to turn around slowly.
"I SAID DON'T FUCKING MOVE! !" The angry voice from behind her was accentuated by a bullet hitting the concrete wall just past Yang. She stopped turning, wondering if she was about to be robbed by a bandit of some kind. Places like these usually had at least a few…
Footsteps approached warily as Yang's attacker moved to the side, letting the blonde catch a glimpse from the side of her vision.
It was a grown-up Ruby. Of course.
But she was holding a perfectly normal hunting rifle, not a sniper-scythe.
"Wait… is that you, Xiao Long? How did you get here? And your skin… are you cured?"
"I, uh…" Yang started uncertainly, "…Can I put my hands down first?"
"I guess." The older version of Ruby wore clothes that looked much more… pedestrian than what she normally wore. A khaki shirt, blue jeans and hiking boots, as well as a full-looking backpack completed the post-apocalyptic survivor look to a tee. "Just know that if you make any sudden moves towards me, I will shoot you."
"What exactly do you think I'm gonna do?"
The grown Ruby gave Yang a long, hard stare before nodding to herself and saying, "…I expected you to try and bite me. That's how they spread the disease – they infect living humans through bites."
Yang sighed deeply, letting her head hang down limp. "Goddammit…" she muttered angrily. "Zombies. It just had to be zombies, didn't it?"
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\_/
…
…
…?
Blake's vision slowly faded out of black… and she found herself staring right into the glare of a light bulb. Her hearing was muffled, but it was slowly recovering… and all she could make out was angry voices, angry at her… for something…
What… the hell happened?
She vaguely recalled seeing a dark patch of woods right after she arrived, but then… a sudden pain, like getting hit in the back of the head. After that came blackness.
Had she been captured? Less than five minutes after getting here?
Damn… she was losing her edge.
One blurry man-shape came forward and punched her across the face, waking her up just a bit more and nearly knocking her to the floor – but she was stopped by the ropes that tied her to her chair. Not a good sign.
On the other hand, nothing was stopping her from using her semblance to escape… but she hadn't fully recovered from the first blow… so they would probably catch her again with little problem…
But who… the hell… were they?
Suddenly, a red blur. A familiar voice cutting through the mud in her ears.
Now this was too good to be true. Had she really found the very person she was looking for on the first shot? Could she believe her luck was that good?
Blake couldn't make out anything they were saying, but it was clear the girl in red was trying to calm the man down. The faunus could finally see clear enough to make out the unmistakable silhouette of her team leader, that same red cloak with the hood raised.
It was her. Ruby.
All of a sudden, Blake's ribbon was removed. She had a moment of pure panic as Ruby forced the angry man's hand onto her head, which led to the inevitable tugging of her faunus parts. Blake's cry of pain was still muddy in her own ears.
The effect, however, was instant. All sense of anger in the man was gone like a puff of smoke in a strong wind. His fingers, while rough and callused, became gentle. He brushed the fur carefully, making sure he was actually feeling what he thought he was feeling.
The man and everyone else in the room backed off as Ruby worked to untie Blake. She could finally make out words as Ruby said, very happily, "Oh B-B-Blake! You have no idea how happy I am t-t-to see you…!"
Ruby stuttering? That was new. "Good to see you too, Ruby…" she said tiredly. "But was the ear thing necessary?"
"I learned it from you, remember?"
Blake's brow furrowed as the first traces of doubt entered her mind. "Learned… what now?"
"D-d-did you forget about it? You showed me that t-t-trick when I first arrived. It helps c-c-calm other faunus down, remember?"
Blake's confusion only grew stronger as she studied the hooded face before her. It certainly looked like Ruby, but if she'd learned anything from current events, that didn't mean much.
Sensing Blake's distress, Ruby pouted a little and lowered her hood. "It's me… Rosey."
She had two floppy dog ears on her head.
Faunus ears.
Blackness welcomed her back once again as Blake passed out, losing feeling moments before hitting the floor face-first.
… … … … …
… … …
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A/N: Tune in next time as we begin Round 2!
For those wondering, I'm keeping the chapters in each round going in the same order – Yang first, then Blake, then Weiss (when applicable), and Ruby last. It just makes it easier to keep everything straight in my head. In short, it's the reverse of R-W-B-Y.
And I know I keep delaying having Weiss/Snow actually tell her story, but I promise I'll get to it. Soon. But it's not like I'm not leaving little bits and pieces for you to put together on your own, right? In my opinion, stories you deduce on your own tend to stick in your mind more strongly than normal.
…
(Credits: Rosey the faunus Ruby created by The Layman and used with permission.)
=^w^=
