Awkward.
No…weird.
No, no, the feeling was definitely awkward.
Standing in front of four characters from a show that were watched in a different realm, having listened to private conversations they had and knowing their backstories led to Carly feeling very…very awkward.
It was also pleasant, as the four former Beacon students were adorable and Carly secretly wanted to adopt all of them.
But now wasn't the time for fangirling.
Jaune was the first to speak, taking a step forward, "Are there any other survivors? We heard bandits and Grimm attacked, so if anyone needs help—"
"No, we're okay and…we didn't find anyone left either," Carly interrupted, trying to make sense of all that has happened in just mere moments. She glanced at Sam to see that her friend seemed to be struggling like her. Sam looked like she wanted to leap in joy and tackle Ruby and Nora into a hug but she also seemed to be taking in the fact that not only have they been teleported to an internet show, but just have landed in the remains of a brutal attack.
Carly did my best to shake off the crazy emotions brewing inside of her to figure out what to do next, when Ruby says with a kind smile, "Well, we're glad there are some people still alive. We just found a huntsman who…didn't make it," here she paused, a sad faraway look overtaking her features.
"Perhaps you knew him? We didn't catch his name, but maybe you'll remember him?" Jaune questioned.
Sam and Carly glanced at one other for a moment before saying, "Not likely. We kinda…just got here too."
Carly groaned internally at how she phrased that, what with what happened to them.
How on earth was she supposed to explain to these kids…everything?!
'Okay, one step at a time. First let's get out of here, this place is just too much for me to handle right now,' Carly thought to herself. She took a deep breath and said to Ruby and her team, "We got here a few moments ago, so we weren't around for the attack either," she paused, thinking for a moment on how to propose the next sentence. She needed to make it sound like she had only just met the children before she could tell them the truth, "Where are you four headed?" Sam shot her a look at that phrasing.
Here, Nora spoke, "Haven academy, Mistral. We were hoping to take an airship from a nearby village but that's still—"
"Up in the air?" Sam interjected an unsure smile on her face.
"Oh my God, Sam," Carly face palmed, but couldn't help but let out a snort and smile.
The joke seemed to lift a little bit of the dread from the air, but only a little.
After a moment, Sam said, "Perhaps we can travel with you? We've been sort of heading in that direction ourselves," she looked at Carly from the corner of her eye, one that translated to them needing to have a private conversation later, but following Carly's lead in terms of playing ignorant.
The four young huntsman and huntresses in training all looked at one another before saying, "That'd be great."
Ruby was the first to introduce herself, "I'm Ruby Rose."
Jaune reached out a hand and said, "Jaune Ark."
Ren gave a small bow and said, "Lie Ren."
Nora sidled up next to Ren while saying, "And I'm Nora Valkyrie!"
Sam shook hands with Jaune as she replied, "My name is Samantha Hood, but you can call me Sam."
Carly took Jaune's hand after Sam released it and spoke, "And I'm Carly Swanson."
With the introductions all said and done, the six of them then began to leave the town behind them.
Carly stopped a moment as the others walked ahead of her, Sam following suite, her eyes questioning on her friend.
Carly turned and looked at the destroyed village, saddened by the image. She sent a silent prayer that perhaps the souls of all the lives lost here were at peace or at the very least on their way to a heavenly afterlife.
Sam touched her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, asking in a whisper, "You okay?"
Carly gave a weak smile and said, "I'm good. What about you? You handling all this okay?"
Her friend smiled, stronger than Carly's, "I'm alright. We got this, but we do need to talk later."
Carly nodded at this but before she could say anything regarding the subject, she heard a birds cry.
A ash black crow was perched on top of one of the still standing beams, staring at them with garnet eyes.
Carly sucked in a breath as she realized that the bird could be possibly be a certain huntsman watching them as the two females walked alongside the younger inhabitants of Remnant.
Shaking her head, Carly forced herself to look away and tell herself once more, 'One step at a time. One step at a time.'
With that, both brunettes rushed to catch up to team RNJR.
"So are you huntresses?" Ruby asked in a friendly tone, after a few moments of all of them walking.
They had put a decent amount of distance between them and Shion, and any negative emotions that were in the air had evaporated as they got further and further away from the destroyed town.
"Uh—" Carly felt her mind go blank as she searched for a way to either divert the conversation or lie convincingly.
"Yes! We've been pretty busy lately but we've been licensed for a while now," Sam said with a large smile. To anyone else, it would have been definite expression, but Carly knew her friend well enough to know that Sam was struggling to keep up the façade that the two of them had lived in Remnant all their lives.
"That's awesome! We're still in training, so maybe we can learn a thing or two from you," Ruby said excitedly.
It took all of Carly's energy not to cringe and let out a painful groan as she imagined her and Sam trying to teach the crew fighting lessons.
Her mind only supplied images of all of them collapsing onto their weapons, embarrassing themselves, terrible injuries, and overall awkward moments so intense it would suffocate them.
"Sure thing! Sounds like a plan!" Sam said, this time sounding too forcefully. However, they were lucky enough that Ruby was the only one listening as Jaune, Nora, and Ren were examining the map. And also, thankfully, Ruby didn't see through the lie.
"Hey, anyone up for a quick break while we try to figure out this map?" Jaune suggested, looking very confused at the paper he was holding.
"Yes! Me and Sam are going to—uh—circle the perimeter! Make sure there's no Grimm around!" Carly jumped onto the opportunity. This was a perfect chance to have a private conversation with Sam about their predicament!
"Right! Let's go!" Sam agreed as she grabbed Carly's arm and practically bolted as subtly as possible to a safe distance where their conversation couldn't be heard.
She certainly was better than Carly at pulling that off.
After they were far away enough from the others, Sam whirled on Carly and said desperately, "We have to tell them the truth! We might be able to prevent so many problems from happening if we let them know the whole story!"
"I agree, but do you think they will believe us? Or ditch us because they think we're crazy?" Carly supplied. She wanted just as much to tell the young former Beacon students of all the events that had yet to unfold and information that could assist in their journey. However, wouldn't such a concept also sound so out of this world that they wouldn't accept it?
"They'll probably think we are crazy at first, but we have proof! Think about it, if we present information that no one else would know except for them, they'll be convinced! How many people know about Ruby's silver eyes? Or Jaune using Pyrrha's crown as a way to honor her memory? Or that Roman Torchwick was killed by a Grimm griffon while he and Ruby were fighting?" Sam stated.
Carly had to agree that her friend was making very good and sound points. The problem was if the team would still believe them even with all that information. But perhaps if they could, in the future, believe the fairy tales of their world, they could accept this concept too?
Although that bit of information would be delivered by a trusted ally, whereas Sam and her had only just met the four students. So there was a high possibility that they still wouldn't buy such a tale.
And yet, there was one thing that tipped Carly's mind on the matter.
They weren't huntresses.
They didn't know how to fight or use their semblances, or summon their auras. Heck, they didn't even know how to use their weapons! So eventually when they had to "fight", the two friends would be caught in their lie.
"You're right. We need to tell them. It's the best option," Carly agreed.
Sam gave her an encouraging smile and said, "Let's do this."
As the two females walked back to team RNJR, they overheard Ren's calm voice speak, "You can't read it because it's upside down, Jaune."
"Oh! That explains a lot," Jaune said embarrassingly.
Ruby and Nora giggled as Jaune turned the map right side up before noticing Sam and Carly returning.
"Everything good?" Ruby asked.
Carly took a deep breath and said, "Uh yeah. Listen kids, there's something me and Sam need to tell you."
Sam spoke with a strong tone as she said, "It might sound a little crazy but we need you to hear us out."
The small team before them all looked at each other in confusion before Nora said, "Okay? What is it?"
This was it, here we go.
Carly opened her mouth to speak and began, "All of this is—aaaargghhh!"
A large tree branch, from freaking nowhere, came crashing down onto Carly, interrupting her. Carly spat out a leaf as she shoved the branch off her and stood up, once again attempting to explain everything to the others.
"Alright, so. We are actually from—haaaaarggckk!"
Another large tree branch landed on top of her, coming once again out of freaking nowhere! Carly groaned and shoved the branch off of her, already feeling a bruise form. She shook the twigs and leaves out of her hair as she stepped onto the path, as far away from any possible tree branches that could land on her and tried again to speak.
"Okay! So, listen, we know that—aaaugh! God dangit!"
How many tree branches could fall on one person?!
She heard the younger members of their group stifling their giggles as Sam bit a smile while helping her friend up. Wincing at the mild pain from three branches landing on her, Carly stood up and took a moment to collect herself. She looked at Sam pleadingly, who seemed to sympathize with her.
So Sam opened her mouth to begin her own explanation when suddenly the wind picked up, so much so that Sam's hooded cape flew up and around her face, muffling anything she could've said. Then as quick as it came, it left.
Carly's eyes widened as the events replayed in her mind, and based on Sam's expression as she untangled herself from her cape, she was having the same thought.
'Could they not tell the others what was to come?'