Author's Note:
Always happy to deliver the new chapter of joy. However, there were no reviews on it. Please guys, I really do appreciate those, no matter what you say.
Feedback is really important , so if I don't get that, I start feeling like no one's reading.
Jaune carried Pyrrha as quickly as he could to the "chapel" that he knew the Paladins would be at. She moaned, holding his hood to her face in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He could feel the warm fluid starting to soak through the fabric and onto his back. This only quickened his pace into a maddened sprint. He was suddenly very glad for all of the hours that he had lagged behind her, sweating and panting as he tried to keep up with her in their jogs. Those hours were probably the only reason that he hadn't yet collapsed, and would not let himself collapse.
He wanted to comfort Pyrrha in some way, but he didn't have the breath to spare to speak. Instead, he simply squeezed her tighter, hoping that it would be enough. Her muffled noises subsided slightly, but continued. Jaune pumped his legs harder beneath him, and finally, the lodge of the Paladins came into view.
It was the only building that was an active light source in the area, casting a warm glow out from its windows, and from the large hole in the back. Jaune approached the building without trepidation, holding Pyrrha tighter. When he reached the door, he held Pyrrha slightly off to the side, and brought a foot up into the barrier. It wasn't the most powerful kick that he had ever launched, but it felt like the most important. The door swung open, its hinges loosened significantly, and Jaune proceeded to barge in, shouting "I need help!"
A number of individuals looked up at him from a table on the far side of the room, food laid out in front of them. He had obviously caught them at a bad time, but he didn't care. He ran towards them as they stood, and looked at him with mixtures of confusion and worry on their faces. "Please, my friend is hurt, and needs help now!"
He met with them a short distance away from their table, and soon found the food being pushed off the tables and onto the floor to make room for her. She was laid out flat, and with some struggle, her hands were lifted away from her face.
The damage revealed was horrific. Deep gashes and profuse bleeding were bad enough, but the damage to her eye was obvious. What used to be a beautiful green eye was now a bloodied socked, filled with the deflated orb that had once held a series of lenses and fluids that had once allowed her to see. Attention was soon entirely on Pyrrha, and Jaune was thankful. He felt his stomach start to churn uneasily, and knew that, now that it was safe, he didn't need to keep such a solid hold on himself.
He retched, contents of his stomach spattering on the floor, and fell to his knees. Tears started to flow from his eyes. He had been so unable to help, and he got Pyrrha hurt. The temptation to look over his shoulder at the bloody scene was there, but he had to quell the feeling. If he saw it again, he would surely lose his stomach again.
With slow, shaky movements, he wiped his mouth off on his sleeve, and carefully picked himself up off of the floor. It took him a moment to make sure that he had his balance about him, but when he did, he stole a cautions look behind him, careful to avoid any of the disturbing things that he had already seen. Thankfully, there was a burly man directly between him and Pyrrha's face, making it impossible to even inadvertently catch a glimpse of the injury.
He saw a face that seemed familiar to him. He hadn't seen it himself, but it had been described for him. Amber, if his mind was serving him correctly, was tending to the injury itself, speaking softly to herself and casting a warm glow out from her hands. Jaune was about to lean to the side to allow a better look at what she was doing when one of the other Paladins started to make his way over to him.
Jaune watched him approach, and when he came into conversational distance, motioned for Jaune to walk with him, saying "Come on, let's talk." Jaune followed, but cast a concerned look over his shoulder. He wanted to make sure that Pyrrha was alright. He had already failed her once, he didn't want to do it again.
The man clapped his shoulder and said in a reassuring tone "She will be fine. Or, well…" he ran a hand awkwardly through his long brown hair. "At least, she won't get any worse. We've got our best Priestess on her, so there's nothing to worry about. Just come on, and tell me what happened." Jaune let out a tentative sigh, then nodded. It would be for the best, not just for the man, but for himself as well. He still needed to order the events in his head anyways.
The two walked in a small circuit around the building, Jaune recounting the events that had lead up to the tragedy, and his new friend listening intently. When they finished their loop, both stopped, and Jaune finished the tale. The man simply gave Jaune an awestruck look before shaking his head and saying "I must say, I admire your courage!" This hadn't been the response that Jaune had expected, and he raised an eyebrow. "What?"
The man shook his head, and said "You saw what that girl could do, and yet you went after her anyways! You're a brave man. I doubt that I would have been so decisive. And besides, you tried your best! What could be expected of facing such an overwhelming force? You tried, and you stood up for yourself. That is all that really matters." He looked over Jaune's shoulder, back over towards the table. "Ah, it looks like Amber has finished with her. Are you good to go over there?" Jaune nodded, feeling a little insulted at the question, but knowing why he asked. The puddle of vomit was still on the floor nearby.
The two started towards the table again, and Jaune tried to ready himself for the worst. When they reached the table, his stomach turned again. Pyrrha was sitting on the side of the table, speaking to Amber, who was sitting next to her, asking if she was alright and cleaning off the sides of her head, wiping the blood off with a white rag. She had another rag tied around her head, covering up the eye that was injured, and the rest of her face was left exposed. Jaune was relieved to see that the wounds all over the face had healed without leaving so much as a scar. The rag over her eye, though, gave him a bad feeling.
Pyrrha nodded, indicating that she felt fine, then turned to face Jaune. A small, unconvincing smile came across her face, and she lifted a hand to greet him. "Hello. I…" her voice trailed off awkwardly, and she brushed a few errand strands of hair form her eyes "I want to thank you. For bringing me back, you know."
Jaune shook his head, a certain look of disbelief coming across his face. "What was I supposed to do? Just let Nora keep wailing on you? No way! Anyways, I'm just glad you're alright." He moved forward, and wrapped his arms around Pyrrha. She did the same, but gave Amber a reluctant look over Jaune's shoulder. She didn't know how she was going to tell him, but she had to.
As Jaune broke the hug and stepped back, she gave him a slightly shifty look. "Look, Jaune, there's something that I feel like I should tell you. I'm glad that you think I look fine, but I'm not really totally unharmed." Jaune raised an eyebrow, then his gaze shifted slowly to the rag. The color drained from his face, and his hands went slowly to his face.
Pyrrha put her arms out towards Jaune in an effort to set him at ease, saying "Jaune, it's not your fault. You did everything you could." Jaune wasn't listening to her, however. He had turned to look at Amber, a look of horror on his face. "You couldn't fix it? Why couldn't you fix it?"
Amber's face adopted a much more stressed expression, and she put her hands up, saying "I'm sorry! I did the best I could! I tried to fix it, but the damage was too extensive! I can't repair everything, the damage wasn't just to the eye structure, but to the nerve itself. If I had tried to heal that, she would be in pain almost constantly. She chose herself to give up the possibility of regaining the eye.
Jaune's anger faded, and he looked back to Pyrrha with a shocked expression. She nodded, and said "Jaune, it's alright. I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."
Jaune heaved a sigh, letting the feeling ooze from his body. "Alright, if you say you're good, I won't. We still have to save Nora and Ren, though. We can't do it by ourselves, so we have to find someone to help. Who can we get?"
Nora twisted her back, vertebrae snapping back into place with loud popping sounds. Suddenly, she could feel her lower body again, and she made use of this trait instantly, picking herself up off the ground. She wrapped her arms around Ren, and carried him back into the building that she had deemed their nest. The bundle of blankets and one lone mattress that she had found some time ago would make for a much more comfortable place for her Ren to cuddle for the night.
Ren felt almost weightless in her arms as she carried him. When she laid him down and pulled the blankets over both of them, she felt something troubling. There was something wrong, but she couldn't place what it was. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on sleeping, but the pervasive feeling wouldn't leave her. She felt that she had to do something about it, but she didn't know what that could be.
She turned her thoughts to Tiny, and asked what she needed to do. "Why do I feel like this?" The response was a low whisper, quiet to avoid disturbing Ren, perfectly imitating her voice perfectly. "You are feeling this because you almost lost Ren. If you want to fix it, you need to be sure that you'll never lose Ren again. There aren't many ways to do this, but there is one that you could do right now, if you wished."
Nora was eager to fix the problem, and wanted to hear the solution. Tiny whispered the solution to her, and slowly, she wanted to do it. As Tiny spoke, using her voice, she learned the details. Doing it would even bring them closer together.
It was, in essence, a way that she could meld their souls together. If she did this, they would become almost one person. It was almost like what Tiny had done with her. She wanted to make Ren feel as good as Tiny had made her feel. It was the least she could do in exchange for all of the years of friendship. She would need time, though, but she had plenty of that now. It would be so wonderful to have Ren inside of her. And there were other benefits, too. If Ren resided inside of her body, he wouldn't have to worry about finding food, or being uncomfortable, or being cold ever again. It was an existence that she would want for him, and she was sure that he would want to take for himself.
She could not deny his whims, and had to do it. When Tiny finished explaining, she turned to Ren that started to try it immediately. It was difficult, she would have to learn how to bear her soul outwards, and pull Ren into herself. There was no way that it would be easy, but for Ren, the work would be worth it. She wanted to give him everything.
She rolled over, practically on top of him, and started to try. Nothing happened, but she wouldn't stop trying until she was able to do it. She had to. If she was able to do it, she would have done everything that she needed to. Then she could simply drift, not having to worry about keeping Ren safe. Her body was strong enough to keep both of them safe.
She spent the rest of the night trying, and even though she wasn't able to make any progress, her spirits were bolstered by the fact that it was even a possibility at all. Her mind started to focus on it more and more, leaving little room for anything else. It wasn't long before she had almost forgotten about Pyrrha and Jaune entirely, thoughts replaced by thinking of the future. It was all that really mattered, after all.
When Ozpin was awakened in the dead of night, he was somewhat irritable. When he found out that it was one of the leaders of a kingdom, however, he quashed all irritability as well as he could as he made himself presentable.
When he brought the view screen in front of him, he found the face of one of the leaders on the other end. Who it was, he didn't know, it was far too late to associate names with faces and jobs. The person, female, if his bleary vision didn't lie, wasted no time in saying "Ozpin, you posed your plans, and I certainly know which of your solutions I would like more. If you want outright support, however, you would need to compile a list of names of those who would be returned to fight. Do that, and I would find myself much more inclined to take that option."
The transmission cut out abruptly, leaving Ozpin in the harsh glow of the screen, eyes still not fully adjusted. He killed the screen with the push of a button, and walked back to his bed, knowing that he needed sleep. As he made his way back to his bed, a wavering voice came out of the darkness, and he could instantly tell that it was the voice of a shade. It said, without any fanfare or indication that it was there, "Worry not, Ozpin. I will accrue possible names, and submit them to you promptly."
Ozpin was far too tired at the moment to care that there had been a shade in his room. Instead, he simply laid down in his bed and started to sleep again. It would be a few more hours until he had to wake again and do any work, and he intended to get plenty of sleep before then.
Once he started to think of how he would gather the souls, he realized that he would likely need more than his own information. He would need names, memories, direction in some way. If he was left simply sifting through souls, it would take a long time to find the souls that he needed. The living, though, would've heard of some of the best warriors through simply living in a civilization in which heroes were romanticized.
He would have to find someone who was knowledgeable however, and doing that could pose a challenge. Without knowing a good place to start, he decided that talking to the one most recently-living individual in his employ.
Yang was sitting on her bed, Pyromancy in hand, when Naze's voice rang through her head like a gong. The sudden voice almost caused her to lose control of it, but she managed to clutch her fingers down, smashing the flame down and cutting off its power. "Yang, tell me the names of some of the more powerful Huntsmen and Huntresses in recent history, as well as where I might find their graves. The need may arise for me to have those experienced in fighting Grimm, to allow the living to focus on the more demonic threat. If you can't do that, then find someone who can."
The commands were terse, to say the least, but Yang knew that it was important. She nodded despite the fact that Naze was nowhere in sight, and responded, "Alright. None really come to mind now, but give me an hour or two, and I'll have a list." She picked herself up off the bed and carefully started to make her way towards the door, trying not to wake her friends. The library would be the best place to start looking for information like that, but she didn't know if it would be open at this late an hour, but if it wasn't she could probably find another way in.
When she left her room, she closed the door softly behind her and started to make her way off to the library. Before she could leave, however, her eyes went to team JNPR's door. Still, she had not seen the faintest signs of life from that room, and it was beginning to make her very nervous. They couldn't be doing well since losing Nora and Ren. She hadn't seen them since they came back from the hospital. She placed an ear against the door, listening intently for any sign that they were inside. She found none, and let out a sigh, continuing on her way towards the library. She was worried about Jaune and Pyrrha. They were both pretty stable and down-to-earth people, but the emotional stress of losing half a team would get to anyone, she was sure.
The walk to the library was a fairly quick one, street lamps illuminating the way through the night. The doors turned out not to be locked, and she was soon nose-deep in a wide variety of texts flashing by on screens. She took notes down on her scroll about everything of interest she found, and soon found herself oddly enjoying herself.
What she was doing was essentially a research assignment, something that she had never been fond of during school, but now there was something different about it. Reading about the exploits of heroes in the past, the insane things that they did to protect what they loved, and of their eventual demises at the hands of various causes. Most of them died in battle, but remarkably the majority's remains were recovered afterwards. She had never learned this, but it turned out that there were special procedures in case someone fell in battle. Retrieval and confirmation of death was one of the most important missions, given to some of the best.
It was a while before Yang even realized the speed at which she was working through texts. In around twenty minutes, she had ground her way through at least thirty different stories encompassing entire careers, from training to either retirement to death. A few of the men and women she read about were still alive, living in peace among the people they had protected. It was nice to see that some people did get happy endings, and she certainly hoped that her friends would get ends like that. Not that dying was all too bad an experience, she had found that out herself, but there were a lot of worse ways to go. She was lucky, really, to have gotten the death that she did. Lots of people got more painful deaths every day.
She shook her head, trying to focus on the task at hand. She had been given a job, and she actually thought that it was pretty enjoyable. In addition to names, she took down information on where they were buried, if they had been, where they had died, and where they were celebrated most.
Her list grew quickly, and it wasn't too long before the sun started to raise in the windows on the walls. She looked up, somewhat shocked, and then looked back down at her scroll. It was already almost six in the morning. She hadn't realized that time was going so quickly. She'd already gotten around three hundred people, but there was one that there was little to no information available for that she couldn't quite get out of her mind. She'd already wondered at the possibility, but had dismissed it some time ago.
Summer Rose had been one of the best Huntresses of the modern age, and had simply vanished without a trace. No one knew if she was alive or dead. She wondered if Naze would be able to figure something like that out. Surely with his immense necromantic abilities, he would be able to divine something like that easily. She recalled what she had read about necromancy in the book Naze had given her about finding specific souls. If he was going to find Summer, he would need either something that had been close to her like some personal item, or go to a place where memories of her were strong, where her spirit might have resided after dying.
An odd feeling came over Yang as she considered that. Had Summer done anything after she died, if she had died? She was so dedicated a mother that it was hard to imagine that she would let Ruby and Yang go on with their lives without watching over them, or to simply leave her father alone like that, depressed and shut down. But if she had watched over them, would she have been able to do anything? If she was just a ghost, she would have been weak. Maybe she was dead, but it was also a possibility that she was out there somewhere. Either way, it raised the possibility that she would see her mother again. Not her biological mother, of course, but she had always thought of Summer as her real mother. It was impossible not to, given how nurturing she always was.
She looked at her list, making sure that she had everything that she needed. Names, dates, locations, even a few next of kin. That should've been enough. She pushed her chair out, away from the table, and got back to her feet. It was still far too early in the day for anyone else to be in the library, so the only sound that met her ears on her way out was that of her shoes against the floor. The journey back to her dorm room was as uneventful as the one away from it had been, the sun rising slowly into the sky to replace the moon.
On her way back in, she still didn't see any sign of what was left of JNPR. She was sure now that something was wrong. They hadn't taken the loss well. Maybe they had even gone off and done something stupid. It wasn't like Pyrrha, but Yang had never seen Pyrrha really upset. Maybe she was the type to act impulsively, if in enough of a disarray. She opened her door again, and took a seat back on her bed. She was sure that Naze already knew that her task was complete, and she had faith that he would tell her what to do when he needed her.
All that she could do now was to wait for her teammates to wake up. She would practice her Pyromancy in the meantime,
When Ironwood woke up, his arm was pounding with that old ache that he had felt for years. He grimaced as he slid out of bed, and made himself ready for the day. He was sure that it would not be an easy one, as there was much that he had to do. It would take quite a bit of headache to get Ozpin's plan to go through.
He walked down from his bedroom, and ate a bland, tasteless breakfast. He didn't even pay enough attention to it to properly identify it, but he was fairly certain that he'd had it before. His mind was preoccupied by thoughts of how he might be able to show the leaders of the world that things desperately needed to happen. It would take every resource that they had available, and a few that they didn't yet, to repel the new threat.
He picked himself up quickly, and went to walk back to his office. The longer he delayed getting to work, the longer he would have to do it. Before he was able to reach his office, though, something rounded the corner and stopped him. Some part of him was glad to see the one he considered to be his very own daughter, but the main part of his mind knew that he needed to get work done. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't quite have time for Penny. He couldn't just say that, though.
"Mr. Ironwood, why do you look so upset?" Penny's innocent face was disarming, and he lost the ability to be angry. He gave her a small smile and said "There's a lot on my mind, Penny. I'm sorry, but I need to get to work." He walked past Penny, and hoped that she would simply walk away. She didn't, though, and continued to follow behind him. He sighed to himself as he heard her consistent footsteps behind him. She spoke again, this time her voice was much more hesitant. "Is there anything that I could do to help? Why not just tell me? I think that would help."
Ironwood caught himself about to tell her to go away. He couldn't do that, allow his military demeanor to seep through to his interactions with her. It was something that he always tried to be careful about. "Penny, I really do appreciate the effort you're making, but I need to work now. Maybe I'll tell you what's wrong later, for now I simply need to concentrate on my work."
It felt terrible to say, but it was the truth. He needed to work, there was a lot that depended on it. If he didn't start in right away, then Ozpin would no doubt be cross with him, and there would be many more repercussions as well. He couldn't just sit the day off. He had to work. And he couldn't allow Penny to know what it was he was working on.
His mind inevitably drifted back to the incident that had resulted in her almost crashing entirely. It was a jarring reminder of just how fragile his little girl could be. She had to be sheltered and protected, she was not fit for the harsh outside world. Not yet. He could try to help her get there, but he could not bring her there himself. She had to develop, like any child. And she had to be protected from the horrible traumas of the world. Or else she would be consumed by them. He couldn't let that happen.
When he reached his office, he sat behind his desk and started to do his work. It would be a long day, without a doubt.
Penny watched Ironwood go, no longer following him. She wanted to help him, but if he refused to tell her what was wrong, then she couldn't. Why wouldn't he tell her, though? Did he think that she wasn't strong enough? She was, she was sure. He just needed to have a little faith in her.
Maybe she could find out what was going wrong on her own, and try to fix it then. That would show Ironwood that she was more than capable of handling herself, as well as make him happy. She resolved to figure out the problem herself, even if it took her some time. There had to be something that she could do to help Ironwood. The challenge would be to find out what was going wrong. She didn't know exactly how she would find out.
There was always Ironwood's secret room. It was locked most of the time, but there was the small chance that he had forgotten to lock it again. If he hadn't, Penny could try something that she never really had and try to unlock it herself. Chances of that happening were similarly bad, but it would be better than nothing.
She started walking immediately towards the room, feeling reasonably paranoid as she did so. If any of the guards saw what she was doing, there was no doubt that they would go straight to Ironwood. Then she would have not only failed to help, but also made things worse. When she finally got to the long hallway that precluded the door, her heart feel in her chest. Two guards were posted outside of the door, and were looking at her with wary expressions. They already knew what she was going to try and do, and they didn't want it to happen.
Penny sighed. She only wanted to help, but they were making it impossible to do so. She couldn't do anything for them if she didn't know what was going on, and that seemed to be their goal. With a very heavy sigh, she turned, and started to head back to her room. If she couldn't do anything to help, then the best thing that she could do was get out of the way. It still felt wrong, though. She needed to do something, and she was being denied that opportunity. It almost made her want to scream. She wondered if her friends knew what was going on. Ruby was a smart girl, maybe she would be able to tell her what was happening.
Penny didn't want to disturb Ironwood any more than she already had, though, and she knew that asking his permission to go would make him worry. Instead, she decided to not ask if she could go, and to simply do it. If she was fast, she would be back before anyone knew, and there would be no harm done. A smile came across her face as she set her new course of action in her mind. It was the beginning of the weekend, so Ruby wouldn't be in classes today. She started off, and began her journey.
Getting through the facility was easy, it was the gate that would pose an issue. She knew that the guard there would be wise to the fact that she wasn't supposed to go anywhere, and not let her pass. She had to find another way through.
It was a few minutes of covert looking before she managed to find a fault in the security systems, where there were no cameras, sensors, or personal to tell of her escape. It was a place where the walls of the great facility met with one of the streets of the city. With enormous strength and deft movement, Penny launched herself over the wall, turning and twisting herself in mid-air before coming down on solid concrete, knees bending to dull the force of her impact.
When she looked up, she realized that she was getting a multitude of puzzled expressions from those who were walking by, and decided to not dally in getting to Beacon. Her footsteps were quick, and before too long she found herself precisely where she meant to be.
It was still early in the morning, and given that it was the start of the weekend, no students were awake yet. There wasn't one among them who didn't savor the sweet opportunity of sleeping in. Penny didn't blame them, but if none were awake, that would make getting into the dormitory impossible. Instead, she would either have to wait, or find her own way in. Knowing that time was of the essence, she opted to find her own path.
A brief moment of analysis told her that the tree near the side of the building was sturdy enough to hold the majority of her weight, and was close to Ruby's room. It would be an optimal path, and take her quickly to Ruby.
She approached the tree, and tried to decide the best way to climb it. She had never done something like this before, but she had seen other people do it. Usually they made use of a low-hanging branch, or some other method of starting the climb. This tree didn't have any low hanging limbs, and she didn't know any of the other methods of climbing a tree. It was too vertical of a jump to make, and if she tried to bound off of the building, there was a good chance that she would damage its sides. Her only choice was clear.
She placed one hand on one side, and another on the other, then squeezed as hard as she could with her fingers. Her fingers dug into the bark, and she felt some of it split under the pressure, but there was nothing to be done about that. She hoisted herself up, using her legs to hold herself in place, before moving her hands up, and digging in again. It was a slow process, but she eventually reached a good height, and let the tree go, pushing off with her legs. She landed nimbly on the lip outside of the windows, and immediately started to shuffle to the side towards Ruby's window.
Her back was to the wall as she made her way forward, soon finding herself just outside the room in which her friend dwelled. She turned herself carefully to avoid falling back to the ground below, and was surprised to find Yang staring at her through the window, a large smile on her face.
Penny waved at her, and Yang started to move towards the window, making to open it. It took a few seconds of fumbling with the locking mechanism, but the window popped open, and Penny stepped inside the room. Ruby was sleeping on her top bunk above Weiss, sprawled out over her covers in a rather tangled way, and Penny was about to go to wake her when Yang put a put out. "Let her sleep for now. She needs it." Her voice was a hushed whisper, and Penny matched her volume automatically. "Alright."
Yang looked at Ruby for a second, silence making the presence of Penny somewhat awkward. When she looked back at Penny, she was staring back at her, blinking infrequently. Yang went to sit down on her bed again, motioning for Penny to do the same. "Why don't you tell me why you're here?"
Penny nodded and smiled happily, taking a seat next to Yang and starting to talk. "Well, I came here because I wanted to ask…" Yang made a few wild motions, eyes widening slightly and going to Ruby across from them. Penny tilted her head, ceasing her explanation, before something about Yang's gestures started to make sense, and she realized that she had not been whispering. She put a hand to her mouth and whispered "Sorry." Before starting over again. "I came here to ask Ruby if she knew what was going on that was making everyone so nervous and tense. See, Mr. Ironwood has been acting very strangely recently, and he refused to tell me why. No one else would tell me either, so I thought that Ruby might be able to tell me."
Yang recalled what had happened last time Penny had come around with questions, and understood entirely why Ironwood wouldn't be prime to tell her. She didn't know if there was a reason that it had happened the last time, but she didn't think that it was necessarily her place to take that risk. She didn't know it if was Ruby's place, either, but she would let her make that judgment.
Ironwood being nervous was something that made sense. He was at the head of efforts to get people ready to battle demons. Yang had heard enough about it from Naze, and she had been in favor of sending everything that they had against them right away, stopping them from becoming a threat at all. Naze had said that he didn't want to "baby" the living though, and she supposed that she could see why. Still, it was going to cause issues, and both of them knew it. It was the path that he had chosen, though, and Yang couldn't do anything about that.
Ruby started to stir in her bed, and both girls looked up at her somewhat expectantly. Her eyes drifted open slowly, lazily rolling around the room before coming to rest of Yang's bed and its occupants. "Penny…?" Her voice was groggy, and she sounded more than a little confused. Nevertheless, she turned over in her bed, righting herself, and blinked a few times. "Penny, what are you doing here?" Her voice was now muffled not only by sleep but by a mass of blankets in her mouth.
Penny stood from the bed and walked over to the side of Ruby's bed, looking up at her friend with a curious expression. "Ruby, I've been wondering something. Why does everyone seem so nervous? Mr. Ironwood has been tense, and I think that it has something to do with Naze. Mr. Ironwood told me not to talk to Naze, though, so I couldn't ask him."
Ruby lifted her head from her bed, and after a few moments the rest of her followed, leaning back against the cool wall behind her. "Didn't he tell you not to talk to me, too?" Her question hung in the air for a moment before Penny nodded, and said "But you're my friend! You said that I could talk to you about anything!" Suddenly, a scared expression came across her face, and she said as if dreading the answer "Are we not friends anymore?"
Ruby shook her head, saying in a somewhat exasperated tone "No, Penny…" her voice trailed off as she dragged herself closer to the edge of the bed, and she dropped to the floor in front of Penny. Her knees almost gave out under the sudden stress, weak from being so recently asleep. She caught herself with her arms, though, and was standing straight up quickly. "Penny, we're still friends. I just don't know if I can tell you that."
Another confused look came over her face, and she said "Ruby, I think you know what's going on. You offered to help me, once, now I want to do the same. I want to help! It seems like something very bad is happening, and if I can do something about it, I should. Please, just tell me what's wrong."
Ruby looked to Yang tentatively. She had a better idea of what was really going on, but they had all heard the news broadcasts and seen the videos. Bad stuff was starting to happen, and no one was really sure how they would stop it. Ruby sighed. "Penny, have you been watching the news?" Penny shook her head. She wasn't normally allowed to watch the news. She did try, occasionally, but she always got caught rather quickly.
Ruby bit her lip, considering the best way to tell her without triggering the violent reaction she'd had last time. The best way to do that was probably to make it as simple as she could, which was good, because she barely understood the situation herself. "Well, there are a lot of bad things…" she paused to look over at Yang, making sure that she was being accurate. "…making people do bad things. They aren't like Grimm, so no one really knows how to fight them yet. The General is probably stressed out because he's trying to find a way to do that. It's really important that he does find a way to do it, because if we don't…" her mind went to what Yang had told her about what a demon could do to a person, and what she had seen one do to Nora "We're in trouble."
Behind Penny, Yang nodded, indicating that she agreed with what had been said. Penny nodded, indicating that she understood. "But I could help fight! You know that I'm good at fighting!" Ruby nodded, and stepped closer to Penny, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Yes, I know you are, but you might not be the kind of fighting we need. It's hard to explain, but I think you should just wait until Ironwood is ready to tell you himself. That's the best that you could do."
Penny fixed Ruby with a sad gaze. It was obvious that she wanted to help, and that being told she had to take a backseat didn't soothe that urge at all. "Alright Ruby, if you say so." Her eyes flicked to the clock in the corner of the room, and she tensed up, realizing how long she had been gone. Someone was sure to be noticing her absence by now.
Her arms came up, and she shuffled on her feet nervously or a second before saying "I'm sorry Ruby, but I need to go now." Ruby glanced up at the clock, then back at her friend. "Alright, just be safe, okay?" Penny nodded, then spread her arms in what was the request for a hug. Ruby accepted, wrapping her arms around her friend, and sincerely hoping that she didn't squeeze as hard as she had the last few times. She didn't, and Ruby felt a genuine link between them. She wanted to help, but there was nothing that she could do. Penny let go, and started to walk towards the door again. "Goodbye Ruby, goodbye Yang." She waved, then left through the door. Ruby watched her go, then yawned. It was tempting to go back to sleep, but she felt like she wouldn't wake up until noon if she did that. There was much that she wanted to do, and she would miss most of it if she simply slept.
Roman leaned against the window, watching the crowds of people outside. The look on his face made it clear that he was worried about what was going on out there. He shook his head, and said to Neo behind him "I don't like this. There's something too weird about it. I've seen a lot of drugs, but nothing that makes people do this." He looked back at her, and waited for a response.
Neo nodded, agreeing. She felt a kind of unease as well. Cinder had been out among her new "followers" for some time now, and they were both starting to wonder if something hadn't happened to her. Neither one dared go outside, though, for fear of being dragged into the auditorium and turned into whatever those people were. Mindless, it seemed.
Neo and Roman had both agreed to do everything they could to prevent the other from falling into whatever madness it was. They both wanted out, but the airship hovering around the town had made it clear no one was going anywhere, blasting every person who tried to escape into oblivion. As they were, they saw no means of getting out. Roman never would've thought that one of Cinder's plans would go this far, and now that he'd seen it, he'd had enough. He wanted out of his deal with Cinder. Crime on a smaller scale was fine, arson, armed robbery, maybe a murder here or there, but not this. Whatever this was. He still wasn't sure what was going on. All he knew was that he had a good view of the chaos from his room, and that he didn't want to so much as touch the water.
Neo was right there with him, as she always was. Happenings had been getting freaky, and when they got too freaky for Neo, it was time to get out. There was still no way out, though, which was the main obstacle of the thing. If they somehow did manage to dodge the freaks outside, they'd still get blown to smithereens by the airship.
He turned away from the window and sat on the bed, thinking hard. He had a tough choice to make. If he got caught again, there was no way he would get away from being tossed in a cell, but that could be preferable to going into whatever addled state was overtaking the town.
He looked at Neo. She was looking at him, concern on her face. It was comforting to see, if only for the fact that it was the only face he had seen recently that wasn't twisted into bizarre expressions. He spoke again, breaking the heavy silence. "I think we need a way out." Neo nodded again. "But how? I mean, you've probably got the ability to just waltz right on out whenever you want, but I wouldn't be able to get past the first freak outside."
Both thought hard about their predicament, but neither came up with a good solution. Finally, after about an hour, Neo's head perked up like a dog's, and a ghostly voice from somewhere behind both of them said in a wavering voice "I think we might be able to make a deal."