It had been a simple plan: go back to the past, prevent the deaths that still haunted her nights, and then go back.
What tipped Ruby off that it would not be that simple wasn't-surprisingly enough–the fact that she was falling when she had just been on solid ground. Or that she that couldn't figure out where she was falling, the top of trees the only thing she could see. It was, instead, the way her eyes were tearing up because of her falling speed. Eyes. Plural.
The novelty of having depth perception again was almost enough to distract her from the fast approaching ground. In a daze she felt more than watched how her body used the recoil from Crescent Rose to slow down before spinning around a branch to arrest her momentum. It was only during the final spin that the disassociation began to fade; the surprise making her fall in an uncoordinated heap.
The impact finished grounding her, making Ruby finally remember her situation. Quickly sitting up, she looked around. Satisfied that there was no one nearby she reached to touch her right eye expecting to find her usual patch.
A poked eye later, she was breathing hard to calm down.
What is going on? she thought, trying to remember if she had read anything about old injuries healing themselves. She went to look in her bag to check if she had missed something when she realized that there was no bag. There was nothing nearby either, the forest seemingly undisturbed besides the branches broken in her fall.
Ruby wasn't someone prone to panic but her current situation was almost enough to make her wish she could freak out without feeling guilty about it. Inside the bag had been not only the research notes she had borrowed but also her way back home.
She was stuck, wherever or whenever she was, at least for the time being.
Well, the "where" was a mystery but Ruby was pretty sure she was in the forests near Beacon, if only because the academy had been her original destination.
It was the "when" that was the problem. How far into the past had she jumped? Intent was supposedly more important than anything else so she should have enough time to warn Ozpin about Cinder's plans but that didn't really answer her question.
First things first, she decided. As long as she didn't know how much time she had, she needed to make getting to Beacon a priority. Only then she'd worry about going back home. Nodding to herself she turned, only to see a Grimm right in front of her.
— — —
The jump had taken a lot more from Ruby than she had expected. Crescent Rose felt heavier, and it didn't help that the Beowulf seemed to resist her hits more easily than it should have.
Slowly, Ruby and the beast moved through the forest, having to catch her breath more than once after jumping out of the beast's reach before leaping back to hit the Grimm with her scythe.
Running towards a tree, she jumped once again and slammed her feet into the trunk, using the impulse and the recoil of her rifle to turn herself in the air and land facing the Beowulf's back. That was her chance, and she used it. Once again using the recoil of her rifle to gain speed, she spun in place and just before the monster turned she extended her scythe, beheading it cleanly.
The body hadn't even begun falling to the ground when she saw another two Grimm nearby, probably attracted by the fight.
Cleaning the sweat from her forehead, Ruby thought about her options. The beasts seemed to be taking their time, trying to flank her before attacking.
She figured she could still fight, but she was already tired and she didn't know how long it'd take to get to Beacon. She could probably beat these two but how many would appear afterwards? And she didn't like her chances if night fell with her still there.
The choice was clear. Hanging Crescent Rose behind her back, she activated her semblance. And then she exploded.
— — —
"Are you okay?"
Ruby was used to waking up still hearing the voices of those she had lost but this was the first time they had asked her if she was okay. With a groan she reached towards her head, trying to contain the pain that threatened to make her fall unconscious again.
Ugh, did I go drinking again with Weiss? I can't remember the last time my head hurt this much…, she thought.
Trying to open her eyes, she struggled to sit up but a hand gently forced her down. Feeling the ground with her hands Ruby realized that she wasn't in her bed. It had to have been a wild night if she had fallen asleep outside, or maybe Weiss had finally kicked her out…
"You should stay down a little longer, I think you hit your head when you fell, "the voice continued, making Ruby wonder if maybe she was still dreaming. "I'm sorry fo–"
With a gasp Ruby opened her eyes and even through the pain she recognized the worried green eyes that were hovering over hers, she had been seeing them every night for years after all.
"… for not catching you in time." Pyrrha finished, her brow furrowed at Ruby's new dumbfounded expression. "Are you okay?" she asked again.
Opening and closing her mouth multiple times, Ruby tried to calm herself down. Of course Pyrrha was alive, that was the whole idea of traveling back. But that didn't make seeing her friend alive any easier.
She nodded, quickly closing her eyes again to try and hold back some tears. She couldn't risk Pyrrha recognizing her silver eyes. She was older and probably more rugged but silver eyes weren't exactly common, connecting her younger self to her current self wouldn't be hard if she gave her a chance.
"I need to go," Ruby started, making a second attempt at sitting up, this time Pyrrha not stopping her.
"Where? Do you have a partner already?"
"A partner?" And Ruby couldn't stop herself from opening her eyes to look at Pyrrha again, sealing her fate without even knowing it.
"Yes, a partner. Are you sure you're okay? Does your head hurt? I can't believe Professor Ozpin thinks this is a good idea, we are only students. And I haven't even found Jaune yet, I hope he still has my wea…"
Pyrrha's voice vanished under Ruby's panicked thoughts. Partner? Does that mean I'm back to my first day of school? But why would she think I can be her partner unless…
Ruby had never been too detail-oriented outside of battle. She was sure at least some of her colleagues thought she was a bit of an airhead. And for the first time in her life, she agreed with them.
The restored eye should have been her first clue. In her defense she hadn't been paying too much attention to herself but the black combat skirt was pretty unmissable now that she was looking down. Her injuries hadn't been magically healed, she had jumped back to a time and body where she was years away from suffering them.
Did I jump into Past Ruby's body? Or is there another Ruby running around? …did I kill my younger self by jumping back? Shuddering, she tabled that thought for later. Hopefully she was only borrowing her body and going back would turn everything back to normal.
Pyrrha had stopped talking and was looking at her again, thrown off by Ruby's silence. Probably trying to decide if she should try to get help, Ruby thought.
"Sorry! I'm okay!" She said, quickly standing up, Pyrrha taking a few steps back in surprise. "I think I hit my head harder than I thought but I'm fine now," she continued, trying to calm down a very unconvinced Pyrrha.
"If you say so… so, do you have a part–"
"So, Pyrrha, right? We should go look for your weapon! Jaune is probably trying to find you!" Ruby interrupted, not wanting to get into that conversation.
Nonplussed, Pyrrha nodded. "I never introduced myself…" she asked, suspicion in her eyes.
Ruby gulped trying to think of an excuse before remembering a certain hoodie. "Oh, I saw you in a Pumpkin Pete's cereal box! I'm Ruby Rose, nice to meet you!"
Pyrrha's expression slightly dropped before smiling again and shaking her hand. Ruby's stomach churned in guilt, she should have remembered that her friend didn't like her fame.
"Nice to meet you too. Let's go find Jaune, I'm feeling a bit defenseless without Miló."
"Oh yeah, I definitely get that, I'm not sure what I'd do without my Crescent Rose. What happened?"
While Pyrrha recounted how she had thrown her weapon at Jaune to save him, Ruby was furiously thinking how to keep from screwing up things even more. Her plan depended on changing things as little as possible besides saving her friends. She wasn't an expert in time travel but nothing good ever happened when the timeline changed too much in her sci-fi comics.
How can I get Jaune to partner with Pyrrha? she wondered, trying as hard as she could to avoid thinking about the other partnership in danger.