Author's Notes: Yo! Back again with another chapter, and this time... its a bit of a doozy. Lots of those questions people asked me from last chapter get answered in this one.
Something I feel that I should point out is that, I like keeping these chapters decently short. I'll make sure to make the big chapters longer of course, but for the most part, I enjoy this far more when writing a chapter every other day or so, especially when I keep them short. As such, I believe that I am going to try to make more chapters to make up for it. (I write more short stories than long form works, but that's just what I'm used to.) I've got lots of interesting ideas lined up and I hope that I can use at least a few of them. We'll just have to see, but I do hope that nobody's too torn up over getting more chapters with less in them. Anyways, hope you enjoy! Catch ya in a minute!
Chapter 4: Questions and Answers
Ruby rode down the elevator, her heart still hurting as her mind raced. Images appeared to her of the previous conversation, the lies she told. "Why do I keep doing that?" she asked herself as she exited the elevator. The halls were dark and empty, presumably because of the exhaustion of all of the teams. Ruby paid it no mind, however, as she thought of friends. "You're like a different person!" Her memories screamed. "You should really try acting your age." "You seem very mature for someone so young." The new memories she had with her team played in her mind like a dream. They seemed surreal, like out of a nightmare. "Is that how they view me?" she questioned, still slowly roaming the halls of Beacon. "It's different from before, isn't it?" Ruby thought of the first time she met everyone. How happy she was to have friends she could trust, a family that she could talk to. "We're sisters, right? We can talk about anything!" Memory Yang said. Ruby's eyes began to fill with tears, her mind focusing back on to what Professor Ozpin showed her. Her reflection now versus that happy smile that seemed ever-present was night and day. The young girl slowed her walk and stopped in the middle of the dark hallway, tears falling to the floor. She crouched down and laid against the wall, desperate for answers. "I don't want it to change," she thought, images of her friends' smiling faces playing in her head. The fun memories she shared with everyone at first, and all the happiness that they once had. "Why did I have to come back?" Ruby said aloud, curling into her knees. "I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees." She closed her eyes as she finally let the memories play. All the way through from the beginning.
Ruby woke with a start, the hallway now far brighter and noisier. She was still dressed in her combat garb, having slept there the whole night. She was almost positive her eyes were still puffy from all the tears. "It's the first day of classes, huh?" she thought as students rushed back and forth along the halls. Groggily, the red head moved towards her dorm, her mind no longer plagued by doubt, but instead fogged over with exhaustion.
As Ruby opened her team's room, she saw that everyone had already left. Thankfully, Ruby still had the same bed as her first go around, and a note laid on top of her pillow. "Hey, hope you didn't get too lost, we were a little worried, but we hope to see you in class! Signed, WBY." The note wrought no emotion from Ruby as she went to hop in the shower, feeling gross from the previous day. As she continued to get ready, the huntress in training mulled over a single idea. "Time travel, huh?" She thought about it constantly, wondering how such a sci-fi idea, one that she's seen in countless movies, rampaged its way into her life. There were far more questions than answers, but she knew one thing. "If I say that I've time traveled, that I'm not the Ruby they know, they'll laugh at me, right? Or worse, some may blame me for taking away the original Ruby," she thought as she finished getting dressed. Images of her original, happy self made her heart ache. "If I tell them what I've seen, though. It may not come true. I may not be able to stop it." She walked out the door and began making her way to her current class, knowing for certain she would be scolded for being late. "But can I stop it?" Doubt filled her mind once again as she opened the door to her class, seeing Weiss try her best to dispatch a Boarbatusk.
Ruby glanced at her team as she walked in, their expressions shifting to that of relief. "Awful kind of you to join us, Ms. Rose," Professor Port said as Weiss defeated the Grimm, signaling the bell to ring. "Ah! Well, class is dismissed, and Ms. Rose, please see me after." Ruby just nodded tiredly as she watched her friends leave, worry plastered onto their faces.
Professor Port gave the young girl an earful and quickly made it known that he hoped she would try to make it on time from there on. Overall, the man understood, being a big adjustment for a first day, but nevertheless Ruby was indeed scolded. The red head exited the classroom, and upon doing so, saw her friends waiting for her. A weak smile crawled over her lips as she looked at them. "This isn't right," she thought as she grit her teeth under her smile. The worried teens all rushed over to her, bombarding the younger girl with questions.
"What happened? Why do you look so tired? Are you okay?" the three girls asked at once. Ruby waved them off with a small smile, one devoid of any emotion. "I'm fine, guys, don't worry. Just tired from yesterday's initiation is all." Ruby gave her team a thumbs up, hoping that it would be enough to get them off her back for at least a little while. And surprisingly enough, it worked, sort of. "That still doesn't really explain why you didn't come back after Professor Ozpin talked with you," Blake said, concern filling her amber eyes. "I guess I just fell asleep on my way back," she said with a nervous smile, "I haven't felt that tired in a long time." Yang gave her an odd stare before sighing. "We're just glad you're okay. Now come on, we've got some exploring to do!" Yang tried to bring some excitement into her new team, but Weiss just huffed at her. "Seriously? We just got out of class; shouldn't we review?" Ruby scratched her neck, "Actually, I'll catch up. I have something to do really quick. Meet you guys at the room?" The rest of team RWBY just looked at the girl with a bit of confusion before nodding, letting the girl run off.
Ruby scanned the area around her, running around the halls before skidding to a stop right behind the person she was looking for. "Professor Ozpin, funny meeting you here," she said, trying to regain her breath. Ozpin turned around, smiling. "Ruby Rose. I suppose it is. Now, what has you in such a hurry?" Ruby rubbed her arm nervously. "I wanted some advice." Ozpin quirked an eyebrow. "Oh really? Now what kind of advice would you like?" The young red head took a deep breath. "How do you know what the right thing to do is?" Ozpin's eyes widened, not expecting such a deep question from one of his youngest students. He cleared his throat, pushing up his glasses. "That all depends. What is your goal?" Ruby looked down at her feet, twiddling her hands a little as she mulled it over. The thoughts whirled around her head rapidly, forcing her to take a deep breath. "I don't want to mess up," she said, still looking away. Ozpin just smiled turning towards Ruby. "Then don't think about it all at once. Take your time and slow down. Be patient with yourself and with others and eventually, you'll find yourself able to take on any task." Ruby still didn't look up, clearly unsatisfied. "What if I'm not strong enough? What if I know what's going to happen, but I can't stop it?" Ozpin saw the deep struggle inside the girl. He rested a hand on her shoulder. "Then rely on those around you. There are those who are willing to help, you just have to ask." Ruby looked up, pain striking her features. "What have you seen?"
Ruby slowly walked down the hall, her cloak fluttering behind her. "What have you seen?" she thought about. She gritted her teeth, remembering how easy it was to lie. "I had a dream, about… losing everyone. I just wondered what to do in that kind of situation." Ruby mentally berated herself for saying it, but regardless, she didn't feel sorry for it. "If I had told him… I wonder what would have changed. How different things would become. Would it be worse?" She thought of things turning out crueler than before. The thoughts of her friends dying instead of splitting apart plagued her, as did the fear of the unknown. "But isn't my friends' happiness worth it?" The girl stopped, looking down at her hands. "Isn't mine?" Ruby's heart ached, the mental battle she had with herself taking its toll on her. The girl sighed, her exhausted frame swaying slightly as she began to walk again, nearing ever closer to her room. She glanced outside a window, where darkness began to loom. "I wonder how long I've been gone," she thought passively. She closed her eyes for a second, taking in a soothing breath as rain began to fall. "Was it supposed to rain today?" She turned towards the window, looking outside to see the dark, ominous clouds hanging above her as the sun began to set. Ruby pulled away from the window, thinking again. There was a single thought that she couldn't shake, one too optimistic for the time, and far too much like her old self. She shook her head, the thought persisting. "What if telling them is the right thing to do?" She bit her lip, anger forming. "No, of course it isn't. Just because I hate lying to them, doesn't make it right to possibly change the entire outcome. From what I've seen, I can change the outcomes of events. If I tell them, something worse might come out of it," she vented to herself. The thought shocked her somewhat. Throwing away her own happiness for the sake of others. "Is that right?" She pondered the thought a moment longer, but as she began to agree that it was, a sharp pain began splitting across her face.
The searing pain didn't stop for a while, forcing Ruby to run into the nearest bathroom. She stared into the mirror, looking to where the pain should be. Her hand lightly ran across her left cheek, the pain having completely vanished. Her silver eyes stared deeply into her reflection, worry flashing across her face. "What was that?"
As Ruby left the bathroom, she tried to shake away her worries, but the question still remained. "What caused that pain?" The red head absentmindedly rubbed her cheek again, still unsure of why the pain appeared and then disappeared so suddenly. She pushed the thought aside as she saw her dorm room come into view, her heartbeat quickening. Ruby stepped up to her door, resting her hand on the doorknob. "It'll be okay. It's for their sake. I can do this," she thought. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door, revealing the faces of her team, which quickly and unexpectedly brought tears to her eyes.
Yang paced back and forth in the RWBY dorm, worry evident on her face. Her demeanor making everyone else tense. "She's hiding something, right? I mean. She used to be so happy and childish before, but when she came home one night, she was almost like a different person. Do you think—" Weiss quickly stood up. "No, I don't. Look, I don't know that side of her, but whatever's bothering her, she clearly doesn't want us to know. Even if it's keeping her up at night." Weiss said the last bit quietly, as she began to feel for her leader. As the tensions in the room lingered, the door opened, revealing a teary-eyed Ruby. The room was stunned and silent as Ruby slowly walked up to her sister, wrapping her arms around her. The younger girl gripped the blonde's jacket tightly as the tears flowed harder. Yang was speechless as her younger sister wept in her arms, not used to so much sadness coming from the red head. Weiss was left agape, seeing the girl let out so much emotion, nearly making the Ice Queen herself fall to tears. Blake stayed silent throughout the whole process as the sounds of crying filled the room.
Ruby stayed in the warmth of her sister's hug for some time. Thoughts swirled in her head like a storm. "I don't know what to say…" she thought as the tears began to slow. "Why did it have to be like this? It's not fair." Yang had been patting her back for a while now, having moved to the bed to sit. Ruby took in shaky breath after shaky breath, trying to get a grip on her emotions. Yang took in a deep breath of her own, looking to the other two girls in the room, both looking very worried. Yang spoke softly to the young girl, "We're here for you if you want to talk about it." Yang treaded carefully with her words, this strained territory being a new one for her. Ruby nodded into Yang's arms as she finally began to calm down. The red head's breathing became smoother and smoother, until finally the girl shut her eyes, allowing sleep to take over.
So this... this took a lot of thinking. I had to write and rewrite and write again. I finally believe I got it to a point to where I still have control over the rest of the story. (Thankfully.) Like I said above, lots of cool ideas came up when writing and I hope to use a couple of them next chapter. I hope you all are still enjoying this... tragic... route. Poor Red's going through a tough time, but I think its safe to say it can only go up from here! (Or can it?) Time will tell of course. (Rewriting can always happen!) Anyways, hope you enjoy the rest of your day, thanks for stopping by, and, like always, until next time!