Sleep didn't agree with Ruby this afternoon.

Tapping her shoes together, she remained on a vacant bench, mindlessly allowing her thoughts to seize her. Ruby had never been known for sitting still and being patient, but several hours of waiting paled in comparison to the weeks of waiting she had done when first wishing for her partner's miraculous return.

Her eyes felt dry and tired, in reminisce of the sleepless nights spent on her travels with Jaune, Ren, and Nora. She had no trouble keeping awake then, wasting away life with petty daydreams and distractions from lurking monsters. At the time, it was at least reasonable to be vigilant, since there was always the chance of a Grimm ambush. Perhaps now, in a place of questionable peace, was the time to rest her exhausted feet.

Sleep didn't come as easily as it did in the past. She was prone to insomnia. Resting her head on her own right shoulder, Ruby tried to close her eyes to no avail.

When she was younger, much younger, her mother used to sing to her in bed. It was a homey tune that Ruby had memorized. It always reminded her of rose petals, the warmth of the sun, and the color of white - the color of her mother's cherished cloak. Ruby stroked the ends of her own garment, a red one which she kept out of sentimental value. She remembered her childhood in Patch; Ruby had punched an insensitive boy in the nose for making fun of her over-sized cape. It was the only time her father had been called down to the school. He had been slightly disappointed in her. Yang, in the meantime, beamed at her in pride.

Once the melodies disappeared, her sister selflessly took over her mother's place (thankfully not in song, even if Yang did have a decent voice). Even as a small kid, who missed her family deeply, Ruby had never demanded it from Yang. But Yang never needed to be asked to take care of her family.

.

"So," said Yang, tucking her little sibling safely into bed. "What do you want me to read you tonight?"

"I don't know." A younger Ruby pulled on her sister's pigtails as she giggled. "You choose!"

"Well..." The blonde clicked her tongue playfully. "How about the tale of the four seasons?"

"...Nah! Not that one." Ruby shook her head rather quickly. "I want uncle's stories," she specified.

Her sister frowned in disapproval. "You know, dad doesn't really like it when Uncle Qrow tells us about pretty tavern ladies."

"No!" It was too early for Ruby to have mastered the eye roll. All she knew how to do was flail her arms around in a fussy fit. "I want the ones about monsters."

The little blonde was noticeably silent for a moment, her shoulders drooping as she stared at her sister's unassuming face.

"Okay." Yang's smile poorly concealed her true thoughts, thoughts that a child could not understand until she was a little bit older. "The ones about monsters then."

.

She would give anything to hear her sister recite the tale of the four seasons, or any fairy tale for that matter. In fact, even a word of comfort or encouragement would have been enough. There hadn't been any communication between them in ages. A few grunts here and there could hardly qualify as a full-fledged conversation.

Thinking about Yang was too greatly an emotional burden. Reluctantly, Ruby moved away to another face she intensely missed.

The figure of Blake Belladonna was a nice image to have when preparing to sleep. The girl was private, reserved, and everything about her was soft spoken. Her faunus friend had once said something about restive nights... Her memory went back as far as the day of their Initiation.

.

Restless, Ruby had gotten up in the middle of the night to make herself a warm cup of hot chocolate. The petite leader was certain that she was the only one awake, especially at two o'clock in the morning. In jittery excitement, she dunked two marshmallows into her mug and was about to tiptoe back towards her bed. When she turned around however, she found two pairs of amber eyes staring at her right through the darkness. She nearly screamed. Nearly, until a cold hand slapped over her mouth, muffling her forthcoming cry.

"Mmph!"

"Ssh," whispered the shadow. "You'll wake the others."

"...Blake?" Ruby lowered her voice, obeying at once. "What are you doing up so late?"

"I couldn't sleep," her friend answered simply, choosing to edge closer to her bed, the one standing to the farthest right.

"Are you nervous too?" Ruby chirped happily, dying to strengthen their line of new friendship. "I mean, we're officially a team now and our classes start right away. I can't wait to go out on actual missions and kick some major Grimm butt. Just think! In four years, we're all going to be real huntsmen and huntresses and we can travel around the world together and-!"

"Ruby," Blake interrupted her calmly, but with a mildly warning tone. Two beds away from them, the heiress slightly stirred.

"Oops, sorry," she apologized quietly. "I got too excited."

Clearly, Blake didn't share her opinion regarding this matter. Even in the darkness, the girl rivaled out the shadows. Her dim expression and her heavy aura were highlighted in black. But there was at least a twinkle of warmth in her eyes, as if interested by a newfound beacon of light.

"You'll make a great huntress, Ruby."

"You too, Blake," the leader eagerly returned. "I'm glad we're on the same team."

The girl didn't choose to say anything to this.

"You should get some rest," she instead replied. "Tomorrow's another big day."

"Exactly! I don't think I can calm myself before then." She looked to her mysterious teammate for suggestions. "What do you do when you can't fall asleep?"

"I just don't."

"Don't what?"

"I don't sleep."

.

Drat. She had forgotten that cats tend to be nocturnal.

Currently, she had fallen into this category of resignation. Losing sleep didn't seem to be an awful solution, it was a better choice than suffering from uninvited nightmares. But then again, Blake wasn't the best person to go to for advice. Ruby loved the faunus dearly, but the girl had ran away once from their team, and twice from Yang. She wasn't sure if following in her friend's footsteps would be wise.

That left her thoughts to solely linger on her partner.

Ruby never had too many late night discussions with Weiss. The Ice Queen kept to a strict schedule that proved hard to interrupt. There was the exception of that one incident, when she had argued with the heiress, fighting over the position of leadership and whether or not Ruby was capable of leading a team of four at the age of fifteen. They had made peace with it, which was unexpectedly instigated by Weiss. What followed after was a sincere and pleasant banter between two blossoming friends.

.

Weiss returned, bathed and dressed in her usual sleeping attire. Her hair was down once again and Ruby couldn't help but marvel at her partner's appearance during the night: the rich, snobby, heiress of the richest company in the world of Remnant, dozing off soundlessly in the bed below hers. They exchanged a brief look before Weiss climbed under her own blankets, vanishing from the team leader's point of view.

"Thanks for the coffee," Ruby said to the girl nonetheless, ignoring her sister's loud snores. "Although I don't think I can plan on going to sleep now."

"Weren't you going to study all night long?" It may have been a jab at her lack of endurance, or it could have been a subtle joke. Ruby wasn't sure. She decided to interpret it as a light tease.

"You don't need to force yourself to study for my sake," said the heiress's faint voice.

"I'm not! I'm just...trying to be a good leader, I guess."

"...You already are," Ruby thought she heard her partner murmur. She grinned broadly to herself, believing her ears rather than trying to confirm it over with the heiress, who would obviously deny having said anything nice.

"Hey, Weiss?"

"What?" The Ice Queen grunted.

"I really can't go to sleep."

There was a short, disbelieving sigh. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

"I was hoping you had some ideas since you're so, so smart," Ruby emphasized that last part, feeling like she was in a playful mood.

"Oh, ha-ha. Very funny." Weiss scoffed. "You're nothing like your sister over there. The regular pun master, keeping me awake with her insufferable snoring."

"Yang?" Ruby laughed. "You'll get used to it. She's like a big warm teddy bear, actually. I used to sneak into her bed all the time whenever I couldn't sleep."

"I wasn't planning on cuddling with your sister," retorted Weiss, sounding a bit flustered.

"And I wasn't saying you should!" Ruby refrained from peeking over her bed. She had an odd hunch that her icy partner would be blushing, a rare sight she hoped to see.

"You go do it then."

"I can't go there now." Ruby rolled her eyes. "I might end up waking Blake."

"Then try counting to one hundred," ordered Weiss.

"Hmm... Okay. Great idea, partner!" The leader closed her alert silver eyes. "One... Two... Three... Four-"

"Not out loud!" Weiss hissed angrily.

"Geez! Sorry!" Half-cringing, Ruby burrowed into her bed covers. "I just can't fall asleep, all right?"

"Well, there's no need to bring me down with you."

"You know, someone used to tell me that when you can't sleep at night, it's because you're awake in somebody else's dreams," quoted Ruby, remembering an old story her mother had once told her on a hot summer night. "...So whose dream do you think we're in right now?"

"I don't know," grumbled Weiss. "But I do hope they stop dreaming about you soon."

.

These recollections weren't helpful at all. Thinking about Weiss rarely allowed Ruby to unwind, never for adverse reasons but for the good. All she had to do was conjure up an image of Weiss Schnee, and then the girl's mere presence would have the power of keeping Ruby conscious for forevermore. There was a sense of mystery and distance that was vastly different from the one Blake emanated. The heiress, outwardly, was cold. But never did her aura seem to be stating that she wished to be alone, truly alone. Without fail, there was a tiny twinge of invitation at the end of her frigid aura, the minuscule quality of her partner that kept Ruby engaged, concerned with learning more.

Yang had somehow managed to melt down the barrier between her and Blake. Knowing her sister, she had most likely done so with a roaring flamethrower. Ruby, however, only had a short candle at her disposal. It was small, but her efforts would count for something in the end.

Unable to fall asleep, she desired for her real spirit to be elsewhere, perhaps being summoned by her partner's dreams. This was impossible, of course. Weiss wouldn't be thinking about her. The heiress hardly remembered her, and Ruby couldn't even imagine a world where Weiss would voluntarily fall asleep during a teacher's lecture.

Her daydreams amounted to nothing. Neither nostalgia nor the short relapse of memories distracted her completely from reality.

She didn't anticipate on being gone for so long, but a day had already gone. Rediscovering Weiss was an unforeseen outcome for the better. Amnesia was hardly a trivial issue, but she was painfully reminded of what else she had left behind. Regardless of it having been by choice or chance, she was miles away from Jaune, Ren, or Nora, and even farther away from figuring out where they would be. Ruby prayed that, wherever they were, they wouldn't be worried about her.

For a second she couldn't move. Her body must have transferred the feeling of numbness into physical paralysis. Forcing her legs to unbend, she got back onto her feet. In uncomfortable, still-soggy boots, Ruby walked around the restful neighborhood. She asked passing strangers for the time. They gave it to her, never without the strange, judging, glimmer in their eyes. As the clock handle moved towards four, Ruby decided it would be best to slowly turn towards the school, aiming to meet with Weiss halfway.

She had been remembering the directions, and retracing her steps, when the sky above her turned dark. Quickly, rain began to fall. Ruby ran through the streets, heading towards the first store she saw with a large niche to hide out from the downpour.

The shop was a single story stone-walled building, with a slate roof that stood out among other, fancier structures. Through the transparent windows, she saw shelves and ledges, carrying thick hardcover books, candles, and strange-looking objects. Her body etched closer to the front door. Near the entrance was a clear display of alluring little objects, labelled magical balls, ventriloquist dolls, runic artifacts, love potions, charmed jewelry, and rainbow lollipops.

It was too late to turn away; she had seen the man standing behind the counter, a middle-aged man with untidy gray hair and black shaded spectacles. The demeanor of wisdom and gentle authority was unquestionable.

"Professor Ozpin?" Ruby took two gingerly steps inside, her throat growing dry at the sight of another familiar face. "You're alive? How…? They told me you disappeared during the fight."

The headmaster of Beacon stared down at her, with a faint tint of curiosity.

"Professor?" The man chuckled. "I'm afraid I'm just an ordinary shop owner."

Ruby couldn't even begin to understand, her level of cogitation dropping as the oxygen in her brain and lungs rapidly drained. The trauma had been relatively less than before, having already experienced the same lunacy with Weiss. And although being forgotten by her best friend was much more painful, it didn't quite relieve her of the shock that still came around the second time. For if a renowned huntsman like Professor Ozpin had been affected by this plague, then conceivably there was no chance for herself at all.

"But I do know who you are." He startled her, with his face suddenly growing ablaze in excitement.

"Tell me. What is an adorable girl such as yourself doing here," he leaned against the wide desk, "lost inside a world that isn't yours?"

"...Lost?" Her throat clamped up for a second. "I'm not lost."

He gave her a probing glance, looking hardly interested by what she was saying, but more piqued by how she was saying it. "Where are you at the moment?"

"...I don't know."

"And where are you from?" He asked again.

"The kingdom of Vale."

"Then I would think that you are lost," the man deduced, "if you cannot tell me where you are now and if we are not in Vale."

"Can you tell me where I am then?" Ruby asked quietly, squeezing her own hand so hard that she cut off its circulation.

"Well, right now you're in my humble magic shop," he answered vaguely. "Far away from home."

If this man wasn't Professor Ozpin, he sure had a knack for impersonating him, speaking in unsolvable riddles and countering questions with even more maddening questions.

"I don't understand what you're telling me," she decided to tell him honestly.

"Why don't we first get acquainted," her teacher suggested, as he poured himself a cup of tea from the back table. "You already seem to know who I am. I think I have the right to know your name?"

"Ruby." She gulped. "Ruby Rose."

"Miss Rose." His brown gaze pierced into hers. "Do you believe in magic?"

There was a long, puzzling pause.

She mulled over the term, frowning for it was hardly ever used in her world. The origin of it ran deep, possibly created by their ancestors when they tried describing Dust upon its first discovery. It was used to describe an action both unnatural and unfathomable. However, Dust quickly became the main source of energy propellant for the rest of Remnant, too closely studied and widespread to be anything more than ordinary.

"...Um... No," Ruby determined.

"And why not?"

"Because it's not magic if everybody can use it."

Her reply appeared to sincerely surprise the man. Intrigued, he persisted with his interrogation. "So, in your world, everyone can manipulate the matter of energy and do whatever they wish with it?"

Is that what Aura was? Ruby merely shrugged, her scientific knowledge only touching the surface of how Dust worked.

"That's a strange, strange universe of yours. I'd like to hear more about it." Setting down a cup of tea in front of her, he eagerly went on. "You see, it is believed that there is no finite set of universes. Although time and space are intangible concepts, some say that they are flat and never ending."

"If so, we are presented with the possibility that there are an infinite number of hypothetical universes in our future, including the ones in which we live in already, and ones in which we do not exist." The man lowered his glasses by a quarter of an inch, leveling an intense stare in Ruby's direction. "But just because we do not occupy these particular universes, it doesn't mean that they aren't inhabited by others."

"In these alternate dimensions, space, time, matter, energy, even the laws of physics, all of them are left to our own imagination and our choices. They may be identical to our own, or they have the potential of being something entirely different from us."

"You, Ruby Rose, like everyone else, belong to a universe." The wind howled viciously against the windows. "However, you do not belong in this one."

"But-" She definitively shook her head. Dumbstruck would be the most befitting illustration. "But how?"

"Everything that ever happens, happens for a reason." There was an unwavering amount of power in his voice. When he asserted his point of view, hers vanished in an instant. "There are no coincidences. If you are here, you must be here with reason. A purpose that led you here, even if you can't remember it, or weren't aware of it to begin with. Either you needed to be here or, vice versa, you were the one needed."

"I'd suggest that you find your answers quickly." He saw her expression, paused, and then smiled rather chillingly. "Otherwise, it might be too late."

"Too late?"

"Balance must be restored." There was a glint of craze in his eyes. It held her captive, unable to escape. Her tea cup remained untouched. Ruby felt her pulse run wild, fighting the urge to leave. "Return this world to what it once was, Miss Rose. I fear a storm is coming."

There was a colossal explosion. The sound of it seemed to blow the room apart as thunder echoed mightily from behind them. In an instant, the electricity went out. The sky was letting a flood loose. Not mere droplets, but truckloads of water fell from the top.

"That's enough, boss," an annoyed voice intervened. A lean man in his early twenties walked out from the storage unit, carrying several dusty boxes in his arms. "You're scaring all our customers away," he accused, scowling darkly.

"Forgive me," Ozpin said, peacefully sipping from his chamomile tea leaves. "I was only speaking the truth."

"Listen, kid." The worker addressed Ruby. "Our shopkeeper likes to have his fun. He does this all the time. You see those flickering lights? He has a switch behind the desk that makes them do that. Stories are the only things he have left. So don't listen to a single thing he tells you, all right?"

Evidently, Ruby had been too shaken to hear his cautionary message. She shook her head violently, avoiding any eye contact with her could-be professor. Akin to having a seizure, the young huntress toppled out of her stool and raced out the door, into the crashing storm.

Professor Ozpin was one of the greatest huntsmen to live in this century. That man inside the shop looked like him, talked like him, but he had a feature that drastically told him apart: a manic level of enthusiasm. He was smiling, but his words felt like fire. The good humor did not reach his eyes, which were burning and dangerously perceptive. And although his largely interrogative demeanor led Ruby to believe that the doppelganger was simply a crazy clone, she couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. The speech he cited still carried that same taste of ancient sagacity.

This was the same case as before. Weiss looked like herself, talked like her usual self, and behaved as stubbornly and skeptically as ever. And yet, the differences for her partner had also started to show. They were subtle, but she had noticed them just the same. Like how she parted her hair slightly differently, like the lack of her facial scar. Aura healing didn't work that way. As improbable as it was to bring back a lost arm, one could never revive dead skin.

But she was still Weiss Schnee, wasn't she? She had to be the partner Ruby knew and loved: the Ice Queen with her soft spots, the heiress fighting to be a huntress against her father's wishes, the stubborn teammate who could bring them into line with her virtuously self-asserting manner.

Then what did this entail? Ruby was mortally afraid of being wrong, after her frequent and vehement claims of honesty. Nevertheless, all the evidences were pointing towards a direction she could no longer argue with.

Burdened, she broke into a desperate run, her boots sloshing, every patch of her clothing sodden. Rain streamed down her face and chin while blood drained out from it in turn.

Did she really belong to another world? She ran even harder. Or was she simply losing her mind? She ran until the people around her turned obscure. Soon her blood-laced pants reached the premises of a peaceful private school. She had promised Weiss not to follow, and yet the temptation had been too strong to withstand.

Sound withered away in the devastating wind. Very few people stood outside the front doors of the building. Ruby was noticeable in the crowd, in her battle attire, standing defiantly without an umbrella. One of the voices recognized her and proceeded forward. It came in the form of a young bright-haired girl, with lime green eyes and an uplifting smile. Already, Ruby was surrounded by the ghosts of her past. One of them stood before her now, looking at her like they had just enjoyed a nice chat. A petite redhead waved at her, said hello to her, and called her by her first name.

"Ruby!"

She struggled to breathe, a fit of weeping creeping up like bile, like tears rising from deep within her.

This figure was different from Weiss, who had been taken away to Atlas, from Professor Ozpin, who was presumed missing by the most optimistic of minds. Ruby couldn't accept her friendly greeting. Normally, the recognition would have been welcomed without any ambivalent thought. Today, it was different.

With Penny Polendina, it was different.

Because Penny Polendina was unmistakably, unequivocally, meant to be dead.

Weiss knew where she was, who she was, and what day of the month it was. These were the sorts of tests a person conducted when self-diagnosing for a stroke or a brain aneurysm. Considering that she wasn't seconds away from collapsing onto the ground, Weiss took it as a sign to mean that a certain someone had forgotten to abide by a certain set of governing rules.

Honestly, she growled, the request hadn't been too much to ask for. If Ruby had waited for another ten minutes or so, Weiss would have joined the girl by the convenience store several blocks away from the school. Instead, the girl had to come here, parading along like she was a fellow attending student.

"There you are! I knew I heard voices."

Annoyed, Weiss had half the mind to swat the girl on the nose with her book and then drag her out of the classroom by the ends of her cape. Weiss was prepared to do whatever it took to explain the situation to Blake and Yang. That was the plan, or at least it had been the plan until her mind registered two strong anomalies.

Anomaly number one. There was nothing for Weiss to grab and use as the wild girl's leash, because Ruby wasn't wearing her signature red cloak. Instead, she was wearing their school uniform, a perfect match from the black socks, to the navy skirt, to the white buttoned shirt.

"Ruby! What are you doing here?" Yang questioned, surprised by the girl's company. "I thought you had a track meeting today."

Anomaly number two: she was recognized. Just last night, this girl divulged that there was nowhere else for her to go and that she had no relatives or friends who were in close distance of contacting. Now then, how in the blazing hell was she conversing with Yang like they knew each other since recess?

"It got cancelled. It's raining like crazy and the field's too muddy," replied Ruby, shaking some remaining droplets of water off from her reddish hair. "Geez, sis. At least take a comb with you to school," the girl commented shortly, an off-handed joke at the messy state of the blonde's hair.

"Shut up," muttered Yang.

"What the hell?" cried Weiss.

Yes, everybody in the room – Blake, Yang, and the bane of her existence included – was staring at her now, looking like they had witnessed her swallow a neighboring fly. But no other phrase even came close to describing the situation than those three words. Seriously… What the hell?!

"Is something wrong, Weiss?" Yang was the first to break the silence. She may have been worried for her sanity, like they all very much should be.

Frankly, Weiss didn't know how to answer. Was something wrong? Technically, everything that could possibly be going wrong in the world was going wrong. She never felt the need to be dramatic with what she thought or said. The current circumstances did many promising things to make her change her mind.

The worst part was the indifference. The worst part was Ruby, standing there in full school uniform, wearing that perfectly innocent face of concern and confusion. It was convincing enough to fool any passing visitor. The facade, however, was futile against Weiss, for Weiss knew what the girl was now. She was a wolf, merely hiding among a herd of sheep.

"Um... Hi? I don't think I've ever seen you before." A friendly hand was extended to her. "I'm Ruby. Who are you?"

At this point, Weiss truly wished that Ruby Rose had been insane the whole time. She truly, truly wished for Blake or Yang's next words to be: "Hey, Weiss. Here's our friend, Ruby. She's a bit mentally unstable so please be gentle with her." Because if there weren't going to be any excuses as detailed as the ones she expected, then Weiss's doubting nature had no other choice but to conclude that she had been toyed with the entire time. Maybe this was a scheme that they were all in on, like prank television. After all, Yang had been strangely insistent on taking her out with her sister the other day.

Her sister. They were related. A feature about the blonde had always distinctly reminded Weiss of someone else. Now, she was cruelly remembered of where she had seen Yang's smile before, whenever the blonde made a joke or bickered with Blake Belladonna. It had been the same one she had glimpsed at, the very first and last smile Ruby had given her when they first met on her bedroom floor.

It hurt her, to an abnormal degree. The realization came after, when Weiss discovered that it had been because she actually cared. She had taken the time to puzzle over Ruby Rose's words, behaviors, and strange mannerisms. She had taken the effort to try and understand where the girl was coming from and at least attempt to help her in some way, shape, or form. Ruby had saved her life, and though everything else may have been an elaborate performance to others, Weiss wanted at least this fact to have been true.

Then, after the throes of betrayal, came the rage. For what reason, Weiss did not know. She daresay didn't need that detail in order to embrace her fury. Weiss glowered at her, besieged with rightful anger. Everything about the girl, and what she embodied, now stood in firing range of Weiss's vengeful wrath.

"Ruby, this is Weiss," Blake introduced in her stead, sensing the tense shift in atmosphere. "She's the new transfer student in our grade."

"Oh! Well, it's nice to meet you." Ruby laughed nervously. "I'm a year below you, so you probably haven't seen me around or anything? Unless you're taking economics with all the freshman and the sophomores. Because if you are, then I should have seen you? But maybe I wasn't paying much attention or-"

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Weiss growled, nearly lunging for her backpack to throw it at the girl's clueless face.

Ruby signaled for help from Blake, the sensible one.

"What are you talking about?" Blake kept a wary eye on Weiss as she asked. "Have you two met before?"

Just as Weiss's patience was about to expire, a fifth figure walked into the empty classroom.

"Hello, friends." Heads turned to greet the other female student: a redhead, with hair closer to orange than pure scarlet. Her steps were as agile and joyous as a songbird. She had short curly hair that hung below her chin, along with a fair skin complexion and a light sprinkle of freckles around the brim of her nose. Bright green eyes sparkled around the room. "Oh, Ruby! I didn't know you would be here."

"Hey, Penny."

"I thought I saw you in front of the school," the redhead hummed, casually walking towards her group of schoolmates, not realizing the moderating effect of her own words.

"Uh... Nope?" Ruby breathed momentarily, gladly accepting this congenial form of distraction. "I just left the gym and then I came straight here."

"That's strange," Penny remarked. "There was somebody outside who looked exactly like you."

"Really?" Easily fascinated, Ruby asked eagerly. "How exactly? Is she still there? I always wanted to meet my doppelganger."

"I don't think so." Penny frowned with belated confusion. "She ran away after I tried talking to her. It's weird though... She knew my name and everything."

"She knew who you were?" The topic sparked great interest in Yang as well; the blonde glanced over at her sister in mock concern. "Are you sure you don't have an evil twin out there, Rubes?"

"What did she look like?"

The air of levity dropped quickly, the silence contributed by Yang, who had snapped her mouth shut at once, startled by the interruption of one of her infamous jokes. Ruby pressed her lips together, similarly afraid of what would be happening next.

"The girl that you saw." Without meaning to, Weiss addressed the redhead in an oddly confrontational manner. "What was she wearing?"

At the urgency of her inquiry, Penny's visage turned serious. "She was wearing a weird black dress... Along with a bright red cape."

That was all that Weiss needed to hear. She fiercely walked up to the redhead, resolving to decrease the distance between them to barely a feet before pursuing the most important question of all: "Which way did she go?"

"Um..." Penny tapped nervously with her feet. The others, particularly Yang, stirred in their seats, as if they were preparing to pry the girl away from their friend if the situation turned violent. Instinctively, Weiss calmed herself, taking in short but steady breaths as she loosened the strength in her clenched fists. All she thirsted for was the truth, the veracity that would soon free her of this tortuous jigsaw.

"You said she ran away from you," Weiss tried again, hoping not to frighten the redhead again. "You must have seen where she went," she reasoned.

"I think she went towards the park, but I'm not too sure."

Normally, Weiss would never act unless all facts pointed towards a verdict that was one hundred percent in accuracy. Yet the instant the nervous redhead revealed her estimations, Weiss could not bear to sit around and let the possibility of answers rot with her.

She ran for the door.

"Wait, what's going on?" Yang jumped to her feet. "Where are you going?"

Weiss ignored her. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

She realized what was at stake, how freakish it would appear for her to leave after the chaos her actions had caused. Running away would be a catastrophe, but at the moment, she downright didn't care. The benefits outweighed the costs. Weiss did not know what would be in store for her in the end, and yet she knew that the pathway leading up to Ruby Rose - the one she had talked to and shared a room with - would be the right one to choose.

Promptly, she escaped the room. It was one of those few instances where Weiss felt a surge of faith in her athletic abilities. She didn't see where her legs went, but Weiss promised herself that she wouldn't stop until she reached the front entrance of the school.

Instead, her ears led her to where she needed to go. They tracked the sound of gushing rain, bombarding the ground like bullets. A single clap of thunder and a flash of lightning came a few seconds after. Weiss had missed the part of the conversation that warned her of the brewing storm.

Shoving the rest of her books into her bag, she found that she carried no umbrella. The only one that she owned was lying underneath her bed, still in a ruined state after being shoved down an ugly beast's throat.

"Wait!" A voice cried out to her. Weiss whirled around, confused by the interruption of her thoughts.

It was Ruby. Not the Ruby Rose she knew or cared about, but the Ruby who belonged to the school, to Yang, and to Blake. She decided to call her Ruby number two until the mystery had been cleared.

"Where are you going?" asked Ruby number two in a panicky rant. "It's pouring out there!"

There wasn't a hint of dishonesty in her, only concern.

"I have to go," Weiss mumbled. "I have to check."

By saying this, she relieved her mind of what had always been there, more or less, the doubt: insane or sane, wrong or right, she had to see it for herself.

The girl began digging out a small and narrow object from her backpack. "Do you have an umbrella with you?"

"No."

"Then here."

A brief flashback occurred when Weiss remembered the first time she had been passed on umbrella by a girl who looked exactly like the one standing beside her. Except, this time it was a gesture of pure kindness and cheery innocence. And this time it had been handed to her without a prior murderous hunt. The contraption was bright red with black polka dots, a bit flamboyant to suit Weiss's tastes, but an umbrella nonetheless.

Numb and dazed, Weiss accepted the offering in a blur of confusing emotions.

"Be careful," she was told. "Getting hit by lightning. It isn't that uncommon, you know."

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll be going home with Yang. But next week, you have some explaining to do, okay?" Ruby number two smiled warmly. "Oh! And just for the record, I do remember you now."

"What...?"

"I saw you at the library yesterday, when I was looking for something to read," she explained, positively delighted by her own memory. "Isn't that what you were talking about?"

For a minute, Weiss couldn't speak, all of her breaths trapped inside.

"Um..." She succumbed to her mistake. "Yes?"

"Well, it was nice to see you again then!" The girl ran inside, after waving briefly as she turned. "Bye!"

Weiss faltered, just seconds away from mindlessly returning the gesture. Then another roll of thunder carried her back.

The sun never emerged, its surroundings too dark and vengeful. Even the great gray clouds coiled against the wind. Maybe it was utter madness to run out in the rain in this weather. However, somewhere along the line Weiss made the conscious decision that using an umbrella during a storm would be perfectly safe. Pacing as fast as she could through the abrasive air, Weiss went ahead. Big, sopping drops of moisture grazed at her bare knees. The wind made them wild and unpredictable, though the showering bullets did less damage than the spongy earth underneath her feet, sinking her shoes into the soft soil, slowing her steps by a notable amount.

Leaves shuddered violently as a group. A couple were blown away from their homes, racing past Weiss's eyes and ears. They guided her path, allowing her to shift the umbrella towards the direction of the fickle wind. It acted as an applicable shield.

Through the cluster of cars and cramped city streets, she found the town park easily due to its verdant color of life. The place was hardly occupied. Any children who may have been nearby the local playground, any elders who could have been sitting on a park bench, leisurely reading the daily gazette, were absent. The only ones present were rushing, eager to leave.

"...Ruby?" The rain drowned out most of her calls. Anxiously, Weiss raised her voice, wishing that human will alone could chase away the fear and hesitancy that still leeched upon her throat. "Ruby Rose! Where are you?"

There was no answer. Several bikers, who hadn't predicted the storm, stared at her in astonishment. Unperturbed, she maintained her shouting, walking around aimlessly with a dying threat, gazing up and down the paved road, not even entirely sure where to start her search.

"What are you doing here?" A wary tone reached her from the heavens.

Silence engulfed the sentence in an instant. Her pulse sped up. Weiss shook her head, hoping that she had not heard wrong. It came somewhere from above, and the sound had belonged to a female. Eyelashes moved rapidly, catching great big drops of water as she tilted her umbrella backwards, tackling the rain with her bare face as she saw without obstruction. Ruby was sitting several feet in the air. Legs dangling off a thick tree branch, she wasn't even looking down at Weiss. Her silver gaze held business elsewhere, fighting to see through the haze of the storm instead of peering safely towards the ground.

"I found you." Weiss shuddered as she spoke. Weiss realized that she had been pleased by this, and this knowledge thoroughly surprised her by the minute. Although it took a moment to admit it completely, Ruby had taken such a strong possession over her. Stepping forward onto a pile of discarded leaves, the cold stopped tormenting her at once, fleeing under the protection of the large oak and the petite girl who rested on top of it. "Ruby, come down here. I can't talk to you like this and I am not going up there for you. I'm terrified of heights."

However, all she heard instead was the girl's red cape, fluttering weakly as not even Mother Nature acknowledged Weiss's proposal with the tiniest gust of wind.

"Ruby!" She called out again with a determined edge. The girl still refused to let herself be noticed. It was a fruitless situation and Weiss knew better than to throw a fit after the way she behaved the previous night. There were diplomatic ways of getting what she wanted. Screaming and kicking at the tree trunk definitely wouldn't be one of them. However, a proper method of making peace with the girl would require much more time and energy than Weiss could afford, standing out here alone in the rain, in a strange city, with no friends or a real family.

So Weiss did what a reckless person would most likely do. What this so-called Ruby Rose would have done for her. Abandoning the umbrella, her fingers dug into the grooves of the thick trunk. Her efforts did not go unnoticed. Because once she reached the center of the tree, groaning and grunting, cussing and breaking a fingernail, she was finally given the right to stare at the silvery orbs of Ruby and have those foreign eyes return the favor.

"I thought you said you were scared of heights," mumbled Ruby.

"I am!" Weiss yelped, nearly screaming again as she quickly lost her balance. Ruby caught her by the arm before she could topple over the branch. "And I'm not exactly fond of climbing trees either, but I did what I had to do!"

Her body felt that same tingle of warmth again, from adrenaline and that inexplicable relief that came with Ruby's companionship. Her nose filled with the strong scent of musty leaves and moss. Her wrists and ankles were aching and her body protested against the rough surface of the bark. But there was a matter that was infinitely more important than her own physical comfort. "I needed to talk to you."

"Why? I was just being a big nuisance to you," said Ruby in disagreement. Her demeanor had changed so drastically within the hours of brief separation. It alarmed Weiss, especially since she bore no reason to have initiated such a hostile air.

Weiss tried to logically embrace the issue. "What's wrong? What happened?"

She received no coherent reply. Ruby's shoulders simply sagged a bit more and her dreary eyes moved down to inspect her own hands rather than face Weiss's question.

"I told you to wait for me." She huffed. "Why did you come all the way here to the school?"

"Were you really planning on coming back?"

"I know that I was running a bit late, but-"

"Please don't lie to me." There was a hint of malice as Ruby asked for the second time. "Were you really going to come back?"

Weiss stopped to examine whether this idea really did reside within her. No, she refuted. She had meant to return, even before the damning evidence came in the form of Ruby number two.

"...What do you mean?" Weiss found the courage to continue. In response, the girl crossed her feet and fixed her gaze onto her muddy shoes, solidifying into another immovable state.

Multiple times Weiss vainly thought about resuming the conversation. Yet whenever she opened her mouth, or gave the subtle notion that she yearned to speak, Ruby looked over at her with a forlorn expression, as if requesting to have the silence last just a little longer.

"I saw someone," Ruby eventually answered, jaws tightening as she talked.

"Who did you see?" She asked slowly, pretending not to know.

"...I saw someone that I shouldn't have seen. Someone that shouldn't be here, not anymore," said Ruby, reverting to a countenance expressive of grief and despair. "But she was standing right there in front of me. Alive."

The last word sent an acute chill down her spine. Ruby was speaking of this person in a terribly familiar tone, like one often used when recalling the dead. Weiss felt an ominous presence tighten at her heart, triggering the night of her mother's funeral as an icy reminder ran through her bloodstream. Her grip grew firm the tree branch, conjuring a bitter curse upon the cold.

"And she wasn't..." A broken mumble twisted through the air. "Whoever it was, it wasn't even her."

Ruby didn't seem to be breathing, too busy grappling with the sudden shift in everything she knew. Weiss could sympathize. She was still immersed in the struggle herself.

"I don't know what's real anymore. Am I really going crazy?"

"Maybe we both are," Weiss admitted weakly. There wasn't any verbal response to this either, but there didn't have to be one for Weiss to confirm that she had been heard. When she spoke to her, Ruby listened, and in due course answered, but never gave her a sincere glance. This was plain to see, even for the most oblivious observer. Weiss, during the interim, often looked closely at the girl, not wondering why she felt the need to do so.

"I saw you at my school today."

Ruby winced, acting like she was caught at the scene of the crime. "I know. I didn't go inside though, I swear-"

"It's okay," Weiss stopped her. "I'm not mad, I'm just telling you what I saw."

Even now, with all the impossible deeds that have been established, she still couldn't understand it fully. She contemplated on contacting Ruby number two and holding a conversation with her, in the presence of Ruby number one, just to make sure that the two coexisted at the same time. Instead, she decided to take a leap of faith. "I saw someone who looks like you. Exactly like you. She's also called Ruby Rose...and she's a student at my school."

She anticipated this to have caused some sort of physical reaction. Her guesses died poorly. The hooded girl did begin to quiver, but her visage remained roughly static, as if she had been told this already and had come to terms with it. Her chest twisted at the sight.

"How is that possible?" Ruby ultimately murmured.

"Because this isn't your world." She summoned a note of sympathy. "You're not crazy. You're just- You're in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"So you're not Weiss."

"I am Weiss," she answered instinctively.

"But you're not Weiss Schnee." The girl accused her again, her quavering voice reflecting the tumultuous pattern that hid behind it. Grief touched the girl's features, more clearly than ever before. It took a moment to realize what Ruby precisely meant.

"You're right," said Weiss quietly. "I'm not."

The girl immediately turned away, her wet bangs sticking to the corner of her eyes.

"Ruby-" Yet the girl glided away the instant Weiss made an effort to touch her shoulder. It was a flinch, as if everything about their intercourse left nothing to retrieve but pain.

"I'm sorry for bothering you then." Again, she said with the same dim sentiment that Weiss could not possibly grasp. There was an involuntary movement below her wrist. Her fingers twitched by an inch, edging oddly closer to Ruby's hand. But Ruby's figure left her, just as quickly. Her body lurched forward abruptly and the girl landed on the ground, safe but not any happier.

Ruby did not call her Weiss then. She hadn't been properly named ever since they last parted.

"Wait!"

She wanted Ruby to be the last thing on her mind. She was never the one to believe in fairy tales, anything related to the supernatural or the afterlife. The lure of adventure and mystery hadn't been the one to set her decision into action.

Her choice was the product of that single, pitiful, look on Ruby. The countenance that wore all the sorrow and hollowness existent in the world. It made Weiss feel small, even shameful. She was entitled to feel miserable. But this girl's face, compiled to form one excruciatingly clear emotion of pain, made her lost of reason. There was one other soul that didn't belong here, a point of empathy they both could now share. This unseen force was drawing her in fast.

"Let me help you."

Silver eyes pierced into her, sifting through her heart to search for Weiss's real intent. Weiss met her gaze with scarce confidence. It was crucial that she did not break eye contact. Yesterday, she had taken Ruby home out of mixed gratitude and fear. Today, the previous motives were eclipsed by one imperious thought.

"Ruby, I believe you."

As soon as that was established, the uncertainty left her in its dust. She didn't know how long it would last. Yet even if their partnership together should be fleeting, she would do what she could to help this girl return to her home.

With the red hood pulled deeply over her head, Ruby stayed silent, causing the wait for her reply to extend across several disheartening minutes. Refusing to be kept wondering by those inscrutable pale irises, Weiss observed the ground instead. This had been a dumb mistake, considering where she was. "But first... Could you help me get down from here, please?"

And for a second, something slipped and Weiss was staring at a whole new person, perhaps the ghost of who this girl once used to be. A gracious smile found Ruby's lips, enduring beautifully before the girl remembered the quandary she was stuck in.

"You know…" The girl pursed her lips, looking torn between being intrigued and being saddened. "You're not like Weiss at all."

"Does your Weiss know how to climb trees?"

"No." Ruby paused. "She just never says please."

Author's Note:

I apologize for the mistake I made in the previous chapter. I wrote that Weiss's scar was on her right side instead of her left. It has been fixed. Thank you user djjohns94 for pointing it out!

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