One week. Definitely better than one year, if I do say so myself. In any case, this is easily the longest Ruby chapter in this fic, mostly because I couldn't end it earlier or I'd screw up my timeline even worse than I already have. But hey, posting first drafts is kind of my MO when it comes to fanfiction. Doesn't always give the most polished content, but I hope it's at least still enjoyable. Please let me know what you think!
Chapter Twenty-Five: Unearthing the Past
I nervously paced up and down the control room. I could understand my friends going to Vacuo to look for me, but attacking an oasis with gunships, even if they thought it was a trap, was just so…vicious. And if the video, which Coral had managed to find online a few minutes after the call had come in, was to be believed, the two airships had gunned down everyone who had come out of the burning wreckage. That was something odd as well: who were the people in the second airship?
"Uh, not to disturb your pacing, or anything, but is this really the time for that?" Coral asked, gesturing to the fourteen White Fang members on the floor, huddled together at the far end of the room.
"Yeah, sorry," I said softly. I looked at the prisoners and frowned.
Indigo was the only one cuffed and gagged, because we only had the one set of cuffs Coral had put on me when he brought me here. The gag had seemed like overkill to me, but Indigo had kept shouting insults at us. The others were all surprisingly calm. It was almost…creepy.
No other guards had shown up at the control room just yet, but it was only a matter of time before they would. I didn't have a lot of time, then, because there was no way I was going to use the control room staff as hostages. I wouldn't even do that to Indigo.
I glanced at Coral, who was dividing his attention between the door and one of the monitors. He'd been pretty willing to talk to me, despite seeing me as an enemy. Okay, so I had just saved his life, but still. Maybe some of the other White Fang would be willing to listen as well.
"Alright," I began. "I…have some questions. I hope some of you will feel like answering them."
None of them said anything. Not the most encouraging start, but hey. "First, why are you all so…okay with this? I just beat all of you up and handcuffed your boss. I thought you'd be angry, at least."
When the group kept quiet, Coral said, "I can answer that one. It's because of the Grimm. If we get too emotional, we'll draw the Grimm to the base. I don't know if you've noticed, but these walls aren't the strongest."
"Why are you helping her, Coral?" one of the White Fang on the floor asked.
He seemed to be a dog Faunus, judging by his Golden Retriever tail. He sounded more curious than truly angry.
"She saved my life. And she was talking a lot more sense than that guy," Coral said gesturing to Indigo with his head.
The White Fang member nodded slowly. "I see…" He looked at me again. "My name is Argent. I joined the White Fang a long time ago. It…has changed a lot over the years."
He looked at Indigo. Even though I couldn't see his eyes because of the mask he wore, the lines around his mouth made it pretty obvious that he wasn't happy. He took a couple of slow breaths to calm himself down again.
"I trust Coral. In the past, trust was the foundation of the White Fang. It united us all, and made us strong when the Humans made us feel weak. Now, all we seem to building on is hate."
He smiled, but I got the feeling this was one of those smiles that wouldn't reach his eyes.
"I thought that maybe, I could help the White Fang back to its roots from within, but now I feel that I should have left when Ghira stepped down. I don't think I could face him anymore, after Northern Star."
"I think he would forgive you," I said.
Argent gave me a curious look. "How would you know?" he asked.
"My friends and I met him on Menagerie. His daughter Blake is my teammate."
Several of the White Fang members gasped. Was this really that big of a reveal? Now I was getting worried that I should have stayed quiet…but Blake hadn't had any trouble using her own name to get us tickets to Menagerie. Surely it wasn't a secret…right?
To my immense relief, though, Argent then reached for his mask and took it off. He wasn't that old, but the lines around his brown eyes made him seem a lot older.
"If you are a friend of Ghira's…then whatever else you may be, you are certainly not my enemy," he said.
"You traitor," one of the other White Fang members snarled at him. She had small, white antlers and dark, wavy hair. "Are you so easily swayed by the lies of this Human?"
Argent scoffed. "Please, spare me the indignation. Who do you think is paying for the White Fang's new technology? The Human underworld has been making us do their dirty work for a year. Look at where we are. We're on a continent abandoned by Humans and Faunus alike. Does this seem like the way to equality to you?"
I began to understand why Argent had liked Coral. He was saying almost the same things as Coral had told me after I saved his life.
"If you and Coral didn't agree with what was going on…why didn't you leave?" I asked.
"Because traitors get what they deserve," the antlered woman spat.
She turned her glare on me, but her mask didn't scare me anymore. Now, all I could see was someone who was angry at everything and everyone. I didn't really know why I could suddenly see this, but maybe what happened in Northern Star had just shaken me so badly that everything else seemed silly in comparison, or maybe I'd just gotten so angry at Indigo earlier that I just didn't have anything left. But no matter what the reason was, I just felt sad for her.
Before I could say anything to her, though, an alarm began to beep on one of the computers. Coral ran over and checked the screen.
"Grimm attack on the northwestern wall," he said with a dark look.
"Can the guards outside deal with it?" I asked.
Coral typed something on the computer and then said, "See for yourself."
I walked over and looked at the screen. The camera view showed Ursai, Beowolves, and Boarbatusks swarming out from the trees. I could see machinegun fire streaking down from above the camera, cutting into the Grimm and tearing them to shreds, but it didn't take long for one of the Ursai to reach the flimsy wall and tear a huge gash into it.
I glanced at the White Fang members behind me and thought of how easily I'd beaten them all, even tired and hungry. I was still tired and hungry, but I probably had a better chance against the Grimm than the White Fang did.
"Keep an eye on these guys," I said to Coral. "I'm going to deal with the Grimm."
The White Fang I ran into in the corridor were surprised to see me, but I ignored their shouts and ran straight past them. There was no time to explain anything right now, and if the Grimm weren't stopped, there would probably never be time.
Once I was outside, I simply followed the shouts and the gunfire. The northwestern wall was already dented inwards. At this rate, the Grimm would break through it in just a few seconds.
I sped up, and when I got closer to the wall, I leapt up in the air and fired Crescent Rose into the ground, using the recoil to boost myself up and over, and staying well out of the firing range of the machinegun in the watchtower. Even though I was obviously trying to help the White Fang, I didn't exactly trust them not to shoot me while I was doing it.
I flew over the wall, and in the light of the watchtower's floodlights I could see the Grimm. The nearest Ursa was so close to the wall that the machinegun couldn't hit it, so that one was the biggest threat.
I fired Crescent Rose into the monster's back, then flipped backwards, landing between two Beowolves and another Ursa. I swung Crescent Rose in a wide arc, cutting the Beowolves in half and decapitating the Ursa.
Before any of the other nearby Grimm could attack me, I recoil-boosted myself towards the Ursa near the wall and hooked my blade around its back. I jerked the blade forward, knowing full well that it wasn't going to cut through the tough hide without pulling the trigger for some extra power in the blade. But if I fired now, my own bullet would easily pierce through the wall, and that would kind of defeat the purpose of going outside to defend it at all.
The Ursa stumbled forward and swung at me, forcing me to sidestep and pull the monster past me, as if we were partners in some kind of dance. I vaguely recalled Professor Ozpin once comparing fighting to dancing.
As soon as the Ursa was past me, and on the side of the forest, I felt safe to open fire, and I shot it four times in quick succession, forcing it back with each shot and finally piercing its throat with the last round.
As the Ursa began to fall, a Boarbatusk came running at me from the right. I vaulted up, pulling Crescent Rose with me as I did so, and using her as a hook to cut the Boarbatusk in half from beneath.
I straightened myself in mid-air and swung downwards, impaling a Beowolf in mid-jump, but as soon as I landed, I was attacked by another Boarbatusk from the front, this one using its rolling attack. It was right in my line of fire, but the three shots I fired bounced off its armor without even slowing it down, and when it rolled into Crescent Rose it knocked her blade out of the ground, forcing me to take a step back.
The Boarbatusk was deflected by the impact, but it rolled away and then turned back around for another try.
Normally I'd have waited for it, but I had no time to stand around. Three Beowolves attacked me at once, and from that point onwards the fight became pure madness, the same sort of fight I'd experienced the night before.
I couldn't think. All I could do was block, slash, shoot, and dodge. I could still hear machineguns firing every now and then, but I had no idea of what the White Fang were doing. I couldn't spare a second to look out for them. All that mattered was that I had to keep fighting. My Aura was running out, my ammo was running out, my muscles were burning, but I couldn't, wouldn't, stop fighting.
"I am not going to die here!" I shouted, swinging Crescent Rose at an Ursa.
The bear staggered back, missing both its front paws, but it wasn't done yet. It lunged, trying to rip out my throat, but I flung myself backwards, right into the center of the light beam from one of the floodlights…and right into the firing range of the machinegun.
I didn't have the energy to leap away anymore, and the Ursa was still charging at me. I tried to lift Crescent Rose, but my arms just didn't work anymore. I would've laughed, if I'd had the energy for it. Not even ten seconds ago I said I wouldn't die, and now I couldn't even move anymore.
I closed my eyes and thought of my friends. I hoped that they'd manage to complete the mission even without me. I wished I could be there with them. I could even see their faces. Blake, serious but kind-hearted, Yang, loud and strong, Weiss…
When I thought about Weiss, I felt warmth spreading throughout my entire body. It was like a warm, white light was filling me.
Machinegun fire tore through the air.
With a groan, I opened my eyes, and found myself staring at a featureless, gray ceiling, lined with harsh, blue fluorescent tubes. Was I dead?
I sat up and looked around. The room I was in was filled with beds, all of them empty. Lockers had been placed against the walls, between the beds.
To my great surprise, I saw Crescent Rose lying at my feet on the covers…and Coral sitting on the bed next to mine, watching me.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not dead, then," I said out loud.
Coral chuckled. "Nope. I'm amazed you woke up so quickly, though. You've only been out for a couple of hours."
"What…what happened, anyway?" I asked.
Coral looked amused. "Well, before you collapsed, you managed to kill most of the Grimm. The guards were able to kill the other ones, and once they were all dead Argent and I went outside to pick you up."
"And the others let you?"
Even though that made me happy, it still surprised me that the White Fang hadn't just left me to die out there, or at the very least thrown me back in the cell.
Coral nodded. "Yeah. There were a couple of people saying that we should just kill you while you were out."
He grinned. "Those people are in the cells now, with Indigo."
I blinked stupidly. "In the cells?" I repeated.
"Yep. Everyone else is…well, humbled, I guess? Especially Sand, the guy who found you in the airship. He said that couldn't believe that someone he'd tried to kill had risked her life to save his, and he even said that anyone who tried to hurt you would have to deal with him."
I smiled. "That's good to hear," I said softly.
"You probably saved the lives of everyone in this base tonight, Ruby," Coral said. "And in doing so, you've given them all a lot to think about. Our leaders sent us here so we could find ways to kill people more efficiently, and didn't care at all what would happen to us, or even if we would survive. Then you, a Human who has been actively working against us for months, show up here, and you immediately risk your life to help us. I don't think the contrast between you and our leaders could be any bigger."
He looked at me with a mixture of confusion and admiration.
"You're a very, very weird person," he said.
"Uh, thanks?" I replied. "So…what now?" I asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable by the way Coral was looking at me.
"Whatever you want," he replied. "Everyone here owes you big time. We'll help you in any way we can. I suppose you'll be wanting to go to Vacuo as soon as you can. While you were out, news came in that the people responsible for the attack on the Smuggler's Retreat were arrested. Among those arrested was the heiress of the SDC."
I felt my blood run cold. Weiss had been arrested? If that was true, then Coral was right and I had to get to Vacuo as soon as I could…but was that really the smartest thing to do? We'd been traveling from one place to another since the start of this journey, never really knowing what we were going to do once we got there.
Now, for the first time in this whole adventure, I was somewhere that was, without a doubt, connected to whatever it was the White Fang were planning. If I left now, all it would do is bring us back to square one, chasing after every bit of information we could find. But this base was here only because of the Guide. Whatever was going on here was, probably, very important to the White Fang.
There was nothing I wanted to do more than to go to Vacuo and reunite with my friends…but I couldn't. Not yet. I looked at Coral.
"I can't leave yet. Can you ask everyone to come to the control room?"
Again, I was nervously pacing back and forth in the control room. This time, though, it was less because of my friends, and more because talking to huge crowds has never been my favorite thing to do.
I looked at the White Fang members slowly walking into the room, and noticed that most of them had taken off their masks. Coral was the last one to enter the room, and he gave me a thumbs-up to signal that I could begin talking.
I took a deep breath and thought about my friends.
Just hold on, Blake, Yang, Weiss…
I let my eyes wander over the faces of the White Fang members. If what Coral had said was true, everyone here was now willing to help me. Only one way to find out.
"Um, hello, everyone," I began uncertainly. "I…My name is Ruby Rose. I'm a Huntress from Beacon. And I…my friends and I…have been sent on a mission. A mission to stop whatever it is the White Fang is planning. The only problem is…we have no idea what that is. All we know is that is has something to do with the Guide."
I took another deep breath to steady myself.
"I ended up here on Perditus by accident, after sneaking aboard an airship after the Grimm attack on Northern Star. So the first thing I want to know is this: was the Guide responsible for that attack?"
I saw the White Fang members exchanging uneasy glances. Even the few who still wore their masks seemed to be ashamed. Eventually, it was Argent who answered me.
"Yes. The Guide drew the Grimm towards Northern Star, leading to its destruction."
I nodded slowly. Even though I'd been pretty sure of it, hearing it spoken with certainty made me feel a stab of anger at the people in front of me, but it faded quickly when I saw how miserable they all looked.
"What does Perditus have to do with the Guide?" I asked.
A woman answered me this time, and I realized it was the same woman who'd called Coral and Argent traitors before. I didn't know why, but seeing her here made me feel a bit better. She'd even taken her mask off.
"The Guide was created on Perditus, thousands of years ago. For what reason, we don't really know. Our boss…" She said the word with so much disgust it made me shiver. "…didn't want to tell us anything else about it."
"So what is the purpose of this base? Indigo said your mission was to rebuild the Guide. Was that true?" I asked.
The woman shrugged. "I don't know. I doubt it, to be honest, and I think even Indigo knew that it wasn't true. Sand and his team were sent to Northern Star to oversee the Guide's first large-scale deployment, and…well, you were there. You know better than anyone how well it worked. I don't think it's incomplete. But I think that maybe our boss doesn't know everything that is to know about it." She scoffed. "I think she expects us to find an ancient user manual, or something."
"I think Amaranth is right," a man near the front of the group said. He had dark skin and eyes, and two curled horns on his head. "Our orders were to find ruins of the civilization that created the Guide, and to bring back everything that could possibly be connected to it."
He shook his head with a bitter expression. "We haven't even found the ruins yet. For all we know we're in the completely wrong place."
"I don't think we are," Argent said.
Amaranth looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "How can you say that now? We've been sent to this forsaken continent with next to no equipment. It was up to our enemy, someone I wanted to kill, to save our asses. If this assignment was so important, why not bring some paladins here, at least?" she asked.
Argent laughed, but there was no joy in it. "Isn't it obvious? Our 'boss' is Human. She doesn't trust us. The military hardware goes to the cells near the kingdoms because they will need to fight off Huntsmen and cause as much damage as they can. We only need to fight some Grimm, and we're not allowed to damage the ruins. Clearly, animals like us shouldn't be trusted to know how to handle ourselves. And when we would inevitably have been killed, it would just reinforce her point that we're too dumb to live," he said bitterly. "But at the same time, she does want us to do her work for her, so I doubt she'd have sent us to the completely wrong place. Even for her, that wouldn't make sense."
"Who is your boss?" I asked, fearing I already knew the answer.
"We don't know her name. All we know that she's a Human, who struck a deal with the White Fang leadership: weapons and other resources, in return for our help bringing down the kingdoms," Amaranth said. "The leaders know her name, but she forced them to keep it quiet, or she'd kill all of them."
"We didn't really know how she planned to do that, given how powerful our leaders are, but if she had the Guide, well…" Argent added.
I nodded slowly. That fit, I think. If Adam hated Cinder it made sense for him to reveal her name to hinder her.
"So how does the Guide work, exactly?" I asked.
Argent gave an apologetic shrug. "We're not entirely sure," he said. "It focuses negative energy in one spot, drawing in the Grimm in huge numbers, but we don't know how it does that. I don't think it uses Dust, anyway."
There wasn't much to go on, that much was clear. But doing nothing was just not…me.
"Well…" I began. "I guess there's only one thing I can do. I'm going to look for the ruins and try to find out exactly what Cinder is after."
I paused for a moment, trying to think of the best words to use.
"I can't stay here for very long. My friends are in trouble, and even though they can take care of themselves, I have to get back to them. But I think I can stay here for a few days."
Again, I paused. I looked at the White Fang members. Most looked uncertain or resigned.
"I don't really want to ask any of you to keep looking for something without even knowing what it is. It's probably safer in the base than it is in the forest, anyway."
I smiled. "But if you want answers, like I do, you're all welcome to join me. I can't promise that we'll find anything, but if we do find something, you all deserve to know about it."
I didn't really expect any of the White Fang, except maybe Coral or Argent, to volunteer helping me, but to my surprise everyone in the control room began shouting their support. Were they that interested in finding out what was going on, or were they just that grateful to me for fighting the Grimm? Whatever the reason was, it made me smile to see that even people who had seen me as an enemy, were now willing to help me. I only hoped that my decision to stay here a bit longer would prove to be the right one.
I stretched as I stepped outside into the morning sun. Because I'd barely slept or eaten since arriving on Perditus, I'd decided against going out immediately after my little speech, even though some the White Fang seemed very eager to get going.
Now, though, I was fed and rested, and Crescent Rose was loaded. Whatever the forest had in store for me, I was ready for it.
Coral, Argent, and Amaranth were coming with me, and a number of other groups would be going out as well. Argent didn't think they would very successful, however, since they wouldn't be as able to deal with Grimm as my group was. Even so, I was glad for their support.
Our group would be heading northwest. Apparently, the airship crew had seen some strange shapes through the trees there, but no one had been willing to go that deep into the forest without proper weapons.
I couldn't blame them. The Grimm here on Perditus had lived without human intervention for a long time, and even though I could fight them, they were much stronger than the ones I was used to. If we ran into a Goliath, we were done for. But I didn't think there would be many Goliaths here. The trees were old and big, and none of them showed any signs of ever having been pushed over by a huge Grimm.
And, despite the danger of the Grimm, I felt happy when we set out into the forest. The White Fang here on Perditus…well, the ones not currently in their own jail cells…were on our side now. Maybe once Cinder had been dealt with, we'd be able to reach out to the other Faunus as well, and finally begin working towards a better future for everyone, regardless of who they were or where they came from. Yeah, it was a long way off, but why would I let that get in the way of my happiness?
We walked through the forest in silence. I don't know if the others were just trying to keep an ear out for Grimm, or if they felt a bit awkward being around me, but I didn't mind the silence. It gave me some time to think about what I'd do once we had found the ruins. Okay, maybe I was getting ahead of myself a bit, assuming we'd immediately find the ruins, but I had a good feeling about it.
What I was worried about, was what we would find there. If it was something small, I might be able to take it with me, but if it were something bigger, like something carved into a rock or something, we'd be in some trouble. I wouldn't be able to remove it, which probably meant that I'd have to destroy the ruins, and doing that would most likely attract all the Grimm in the area to us. Well, I'd deal with that when the time came.
"Hey, look at that rock," Coral said, shaking me from my thoughts.
I looked in the direction he was pointing, and saw a block of white stone that had faded, but still clearly visible markings on it.
I walked over to it and knelt down to inspect it a bit closer. Even though I had no idea what the markings meant, I was pretty sure they'd been made by people, and that they weren't just some random scratches from Grimm or the weather.
I looked at Coral and the others and smiled. "I think we're on the right track."
We kept walking, and it didn't take long for us to spot more blocks of stone that didn't look like they really belonged in this area. Then, we began to see the faint outlines of what had probably once been walls. Was this the place we had been looking for, or were these walls just the remains of an entirely unrelated attempt to settle Perditus? Somehow, I didn't think it was. This had to be it.
"I think we should spread out just a little bit," I said. "But don't go too far. If you think there are any Grimm nearby, get back to the others."
The others agreed with my plan, and we slowly spread apart as we searched the ruins of the village.
"What are we even looking for?" Amaranth asked, before everyone had gotten out of sight.
I didn't really know, the answer, but fortunately I wasn't alone.
"Assuming the Guide was something important to this village, I'd say we should be looking for a building that looks like it may have been a temple or something," Argent said.
I nodded. That made sense. I guessed that meant I had to look for something big, or at least something had once been big. How hard could that be?
Two hours later, we still hadn't found anything that looked even remotely promising. We'd seen a lot of stones and old, crumbled walls, but nothing particularly big. Searching was made even harder by the trees, which had completely overgrown the area in the centuries since the village's destruction. For all we knew, one of those massive trees was hiding what we sought.
On the positive side of things, though, we hadn't encountered any Grimm yet. It worried me a bit, because my first night in the forest I'd been under attack nearly constantly. Was there some reason they were avoiding this place? Or were they just waiting for the right moment to strike? Dr. Oobleck had said that the Goliaths we'd seen near Mountain Glenn had lived for hundreds of years and weren't mindless anymore.
Even though the Grimm I'd fought here didn't seem to have that kind of intelligence just yet, they would probably have lived long enough to learn how to ambush people. Not many people went to Perditus, of course, but I was pretty sure that every now and then someone would feel brave enough to risk it, like the White Fang had done now.
From somewhere to my right, I heard Amaranth yelling, "I think I've found something!"
I felt my heart speeding up as I made my way over to her. Were we finally about to get some kind of idea of what Cinder was after?
I reached Amaranth at the same time as Coral, and it didn't take long for Argent to arrive as well.
At first, I didn't really see why Amaranth had called us all over. There weren't many walls, except for some short lines of stone here and there, and there were just as many trees in the area as there had been everywhere else. I gave her a questioning look.
"Look over there, near the roots of that tree," she said. "There's something underneath them, like some kind of hatch."
I looked at the roots of the tree, and I saw that Amaranth was right. The hatch had been made out of metal, by the looks of it, and the roots of the tree had partially grown over it. But the hatch was pretty big, and even these roots hadn't been able to completely hide it.
"Do you think we can get it open?" Coral asked.
"We'd need some fairly heavy equipment to get that tree out of the way, I think," Argent said.
I smiled. "It'll be fine," I said.
I unfolded Crescent Rose and walked over to the buried hatch. I steadied myself, and with three quick swings I'd cut away the roots that kept the hatch closed.
I grinned and made the victory symbol at the others, then bent down and pulled the ring on the hatch. It resisted, probably because it hadn't been opened in centuries, but eventually I did manage to pull it open.
The hatch had been hiding a staircase carved out of the same white-gray stone as the walls, but even though the tunnel was pitch black I could immediately see that we still had a lot of work left to do. I saw tree roots growing through the walls and ceiling of the tunnel, but at least I still didn't see any Grimm. The others walked over and looked down the tunnel as well.
"One of you has a flashlight, right?" I asked.
Coral nodded and pulled his scroll from his pocket.
"Alright. I'll go down first and clear out the roots. Coral, I'll leave the light to you," I said.
"Right," Coral agreed.
He turned on the flashlight on his scroll. With a last glance at Argent and Amaranth, who both looked pretty nervous, we headed into the tunnel.
The dark tunnel felt a bit cramped, but after a couple of minutes at the least the roots had stopped being an issue. I had no idea how far underground we were at this point, but it already felt like we were hundreds of meters down. We probably weren't, but that's how it felt.
Eventually, though, the stairs ended. The tunnel opened up into a huge underground room. It wasn't as big as the Mountain Glenn caverns, or the White Fang base just outside of Vale, but it was still massive.
The light from Coral's scroll couldn't even illuminate it completely. What I could see were rows upon rows of benches, like the ones I'd seen in churches, only instead of having only two lines of them, there were at least six rows here, extending far forward.
I didn't think the village had ever had enough people to fill this hall up completely, but maybe I'd been wrong. Maybe this had been a city. The floor, walls, and even benches were made out of the same kind of white-gray stone as everything else.
The ceiling was high and domed. I vaguely recalled Weiss once telling me that domed structures were stronger than flat ones, but I couldn't remember why.
Along the walls and the paths between the benches, I could see torches. None of them were lit, of course, but I imagined that the hall would have been incredibly hot if all of those torches would be lit at the same time.
Slowly, I began to walk forward, down the path right in front of me.
"Is it safe?" Coral asked.
I turned around. "I don't know, but I don't think anyone's been here in a while. The Grimm wouldn't really have a reason to come here, even if they could…I think," I said.
"Very reassuring," Amaranth said with a roll of her eyes.
Despite her sarcasm, though, she did come with us as we began to cross the massive hallway. As we walked along, I began to see the faint outlines of the opposite wall, and what looked like some kind of podium in front of it, with one of those little professor-desks in the middle. Behind the professor-desk I could see a statue, that seemed to be almost as high as the hall itself.
It was clearly a man, dressed in armor, with robes underneath it, but we were still too far away for me to see the face clearly. Even so, I began to feel very, very uneasy when I looked at it. I could vaguely see the outline of the statue's hair, and it looked very familiar.
Slowly, cautiously, we moved closer. There were no sounds around us at all, but the statue made me shiver, for some reason. Had some part of me realized something I hadn't, yet?
Then, finally, the face came into focus. I gasped.
"Ruby?" Coral asked. "Are you okay?"
"No way…" I muttered.
"What's wrong?" Argent asked.
I turned around and looked at the others, unable to believe what I'd just seen.
"That statue…that's Professor Ozpin."
"The Headmaster of Beacon?" Argent asked skeptically.
I nodded stupidly. "I know it's impossible," I said. "But that's him. Coral, can you take a picture of that statue?"
Coral nodded and immediately turned on his camera.
Meanwhile, I was thinking as fast as I could. I remembered that when Uncle Qrow had told us about the Guide for the first time, he had mentioned that Professor Ozpin said it was an ancient warlord, and that Mr. Belladonna hadn't seemed very convinced. But what if the person Professor Ozpin referred to was someone even older than Mr. Belladonna's history books? What if it had been someone here on Perditus, the Lost Continent? What if it had been Professor Ozpin himself? But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? If Professor Ozpin knew what the Guide was and how it worked, wouldn't he have told Uncle Qrow and General Ironwood, at least?
"Does your base have a radio?" I asked, looking at each of the three White Fang members with me in turn.
Amaranth nodded. "Yes, but we can only reach Vacuo and Vale," she said.
"That's fine. Come on, we have to go. I need to get in touch with Beacon as quickly as I can."
I didn't bother waiting for their reply and began to run back towards the stairs. What did this mean?! I had to get answers. If Professor Ozpin had been hiding things from us when he sent us on this mission, then could we really trust him? I refused to believe that he was evil or in league with Cinder, because if he had been, he would have probably told her that there was nothing to find on Perditus. But then what was his reason to keep quiet? Why did he need to keep secrets at all, if this mission was really as important as he had said it was?
I ran up the stairs, followed closely by the others. I was so focused on trying to come up with reasons for Professor Ozpin's secrecy that the trip back to the surface seemed to take no time at all, but when we emerged, we weren't alone anymore.
On every side, we were surrounded by Grimm of all shapes and sizes. There were even a couple of Deathstalkers and King Taijitus. Of course they had to show up now.
"I don't have time for this…" I muttered, unfolding Crescent Rose and launching myself forward.
Behind me, I heard the White Fang readying their guns and opening fire, but after that I could only concentrate on fighting the Grimm.
Because I'd been able to rest up and eat at the White Fang base, I didn't have a lot of trouble at first. I could freely jump, flip, shoot, and swing, and even though some of the bigger Grimm did a fairly good job surviving my attacks, by far the most of them were Beowolves and Ursai, and they were no big threat now that I was a little bit rested.
But as the fight went on, I had to focus more attention on the three White Fang members, who weren't as strong fighters as I was, and the Grimm seemed to have realized that as well. More and more often, they began ignoring me and focusing on them instead.
With an angry swing, I cut an Ursa in half just before it could get to Amaranth.
"Thanks," she said shakily.
I didn't get a chance to respond, as another Ursa came barreling towards me. I shoved Crescent Rose's barrel in its face and pulled the trigger three times in a row, sending the Ursa flying back, with most of its head missing. If we stayed here we'd be done for.
"Run!" I yelled. "We need to head for the base!"
The others didn't reply, but they had clearly heard me. All of them began to move towards the southeast, while I kept jumping from person to person to keep the Grimm off their backs. It was a small bit of luck that these Grimm were now so focused on the three 'easy targets', because I could move around pretty freely now that they weren't attacking me specifically anymore. Of course, since they had three people to choose from, I now had to be in three places at once.
"Get closer together!" I shouted.
Again, they didn't respond, but I could see that Coral, who was slightly ahead of everyone, began to hold back a little bit.
I took a deep breath and leapt back into the fight, and soon we were moving as a small group. I made sure to stay a little bit behind the others so I could swing Crescent Rose without worrying about accidentally hitting them.
We took nearly twice as long getting back to the base, but fortunately, we finally did manage to make it…only to find that the camp was already under attack by even more Grimm than there had been the day before. Had they been waiting for me to leave, or was this a coincidence?
"We're done for," Amaranth said softly, when she saw the camp.
"Not yet," I said confidently. "The walls haven't broken yet, but it probably won't be long before they do. Round up everyone you can find and get to your airships."
I looked at Coral and Argent. "Can you reach the Vale tower from inside the airships?"
Argent nodded. "We can use the base's antenna from the airship as long as the generator in the base is intact, yes, but once the Grimm are inside the walls it will only take them a few minutes to break it down."
"Okay. You two go and get the prisoners out of the cells, then. We're not leaving them here to die. I'll go look for other survivors, and kill as many Grimm as I can, and then we're getting out of here," I said.
They looked at me like I'd lost my mind.
"We don't have time to discuss this, go!" I shouted.
There were probably a lot of people who would shout at me for risking my life, again, for people who had tried to kill me multiple times, but I didn't care. Even if I couldn't save everyone, I'd at least save most.
I ran off, cutting through three Beowolves at once when they leapt at me from the tree line. I was not going to let this be another Northern Star, where all I could do was watching how the Grimm killed people, even if they were the people responsible for Northern Star in the first place.
I was tired, and again I was running low on Dust, but I still had enough strength in me to help the small groups of White Fang members who came running in from the forest. I told all of them to just get to the airships as quickly as possible.
I circled the camp twice, killing most of the Grimm I came across, but now the bigger ones were beginning to arrive. They'd seen the defense of the base weakening, and they knew that they weren't really at risk anymore.
Using the last of my ammo, I recoil-boosted over the wall and ran towards the landing pad to the right of the main building.
Behind me, I heard a crunching sound as the Grimm began to tear down the wall I'd just jumped over.
As I sprinted over, I saw one of the airships taking off. I grinned despite myself, happy that they were paying enough attention to save their lives.
The cargo door of the airship that was still on the ground was open. I focused the Aura I had left, and burst forward in a flurry of rose petals.
As soon as I was in the cargo bay, I shouted, "Get us into the air!"
The cargo bay was noisy and crowded, but whoever was piloting it seemed to have heard me, because the ship immediately began to rise off the ground.
"Everybody, keep an eye out for Nevermores or other flying Grimm," I said. "I have to contact Beacon before the Grimm kill the power in the base."
They didn't argue, and even made space for me so I could get myself into the cockpit. Sand and Coral were the pilot and copilot.
"Open a connection to Vale, please," I said.
I knew I sounded rushed, but there wasn't any time.
"And upload the picture of the statue, if you can," I added.
Coral nodded and touched his scroll to one of the screens, then typed something in and handed me the headset.
I put it on, and for a moment I only heard silence. Then, there was a crackle, and a voice said, "This is General James Ironwood. We do not recognize this frequency. Identify yourself."
The General sounded angry, but I'd never been happier to hear his voice.
"General! This is Ruby Rose, from an airship over Perditus. I need to tell you something very important," I said.
"Perditus?" the General replied. He sounded suspicious.
"I have no time to explain it now," I said. "The White Fang were on Perditus looking for information on the Guide, but we found something else instead. General, there's a statue of Professor Ozpin there. Coral, send him the picture."
There was a moment of silence, but when the General spoke again, he sounded even angrier than before.
"Ozpin! To think that I trusted you…bastard!"
He fell silent again, but only for a very short moment.
"Ruby, thank you for bringing this to my attention. Now, listen carefully. You…"
Static filled my headphones, and I almost threw them off my head. But then, I heard another voice of the radio. One I'd only heard once before, in Beacon's dorm.
"I think that'll be enough. You may think that you've helped, Ruby Rose, because you managed to get a little bit of information to Ironwood. But it's too late. The Vytal Festival finals are tonight…and it will be the last night of…"
Without warning, the connection was cut.
"The generator at the base is down," Sand said with a glance at his instruments. He looked at me.
"So…where are we going? Vacuo or Vale?"
I thought for a moment. I still wanted nothing more than to get to Vacuo to reunite with my friends…but Cinder had pretty much declared war just now. I sighed.
I'm sorry, Blake, Yang. I'm sorry, Weiss. You'll have to hold on without me just a bit longer.
"Take us to Vale."
And with that, we end another chapter. I actually wanted to end when Ruby recognized the statue, but that would just bite me in the ass later. Anyway, the 'professor-desk' Ruby mentions is, of course, a lectern, but I have this sneaking feeling I've been screwing up Ruby's vocabulary for a long time and I figured I might as well try to get it right, even though we're this late in the fic. Well, please let me know what you think, and see you next time!