In A Strange Land

When Ruby opened her eyes, she immediately noticed that she was not sleeping on her bed, but rather on a rough soil full of pebbles. It didn't take her long to figure out the reason for that.

"Right, I was…that storm…" She looked around upon noticing that there was something missing; or rather someone. "Hey, where are the others?"

She stood up from the ground, inspected Crescent Rose, before looking around once more.

"Guys?" She shouted, putting her hands around her mouth. "Professor?"

Hearing no reply, the huntress-in-training decided to move from her current location. As she did so, she noticed the large spires of Dust around her. She couldn't help but felt worried; a mere sneeze was enough to set off Dust. She definitely didn't want to find out how big an explosion an entire spire could create.

Still, she noticed that the Dust didn't look like anything that she ever see. While there was Gravity Dust which was colored black, it was not semi-transparent like the Dust spires around her. Maybe the Dust that she saw this whole time was already refined and these were simply how they look like in nature?

After several minutes of walking, Ruby encountered a forest, from which she could see a smoke arising. She deduced that either it was a forest fire or someone making a campfire. Thus, she went into the forest, hoping to find any sign of local.

It didn't take her long to find the answer.

Sitting on a log while roasting a bird over fire was a woman with grey hair covered with wide-brimmed hat. There was a sword at least as big as she was planted besides her. Happy that she had found a local, Ruby immediately approached her.

"Hello there, miss!" She greeted her.

Despite of that, the grey-haired woman didn't reply. In fact, she didn't even so much as glance towards her direction.

"Hello?" She greeted her again, this time waving her hand as well. "Miss, do you hear me?"

Once more, she was being ignored. The woman simply picked up the bird, inspected it, and – once finding out that it was done – took a big bite of the food, not caring in the slightest about the little girl that had been calling her for several minutes.

"Well, that's just…rude." Ruby was speechless. "She makes Weiss looks friendlier in comparison."

After a while of just standing there, being ignored, the girl decided to do something more direct to attract her attention; she walked straight towards the woman and grabbed her by the shoulder. It finally worked as she glanced towards her direction.

Smiling, Ruby was about to speak to her when the woman suddenly focused entirely on her, turning her entire body towards her. Surprised by the sudden attention, her words froze in her mouth, unable to be spoken.

"You're hurt." The woman stated in soft voice.

"Eh?" That was the only response that the girl could give.

"Here," She touched the right part of Ruby's stomach.

"Ouch!" She immediately jumped back in pain. "T-There's a wound there?"

"Likely adrenaline." The woman said before she took out a small bag. "Very good painkiller."

She opened the bag, revealing that it was first aid kit. Ruby admitted that it should have been obvious since it had a Red Cross symbol on it. As the woman put on a pair of gloves, she slowly raised her blouse, revealing the wound.

The huntress-in-training let out a hiss of pain as her wound being cleaned by an alcohol-soaked cotton. After it was done, the grey-haired woman applied some kind of gel on the wound, which felt quite cold. Finally, the gel-covered wound was covered with bandages as well.

As she was being treated, Ruby wondered how she got that wound in the first place. She didn't feel that there was anything wrong with her Aura. Then again, it was possible that it simply recover when she was unconscious.

"Thanks." She said as she lowered back her blouse. "Oh, that's right. I am Ruby Rose. And you are…?"

"Skadi." The woman answered before returning to her meal.

"Skadi? Just…Skadi?" The girl asked, only to receive no answer. "Y-You're ignoring me again, aren't you?"

The fact that she still didn't receive an answer confirmed it.

"Oh, man." Ruby sighed. "I am about to ask if you know the area. My friends are missing and I have no way to…"

Suddenly, she closed her mouth, remembering that she had forgotten about something important.

"My scroll!" She exclaimed as her hand went into her pocket. "How could I forgot? I just need to make a call…"

When she activated her scroll, the girl noticed that there was an icon missing on the screen, one that was very important for her in order to fulfill her objective.

The icon of signal.

"That's strange. I am pretty sure that there's a signal before I was knocked out." Ruby stated as she tried to gain one. "Actually, now that I mention it…"

She looked around the forest, more specifically at the trees that composed it. All tree might look similar to common people, but living in the Island of Patch, Ruby was familiar with the kinds of tree that grew in Vale. She didn't claim to know every single tree in the entire kingdom, but these trees were definitely not the same species as the trees that she saw before she was knocked out.

"Alright. That's just more and more mystery." The girl commented before she let out a sigh. "Um, Miss Skadi? Can you please let me know where we are? Please?"

"…Siracusa." She answered.

"And where is Siracusa?"

"Siracusa?" The woman sounded confused. "Where else?"

"Y-Yeah…" Ruby decided to close her mouth, realizing that she wouldn't get any answer more detailed than that.

Still, she never heard of a place called Siracusa. That was not counting the fact that she was not in a place called Siracusa before she was knocked out.

"Just what exactly happen here?" She asked herself.

"Still no signal, huh?" Weiss stated as she lowered her scroll before letting out a sigh.

After finding herself in a strange environment, she had been trying to contact her teammates and the teacher that accompanied them. However, that proved to be impossible due to the lack of signal, which was strange since not half an hour ago, they arrived at a settlement that was not out of range.

In any case, she decided that searching for her friends and teacher would be a more productive thing to do. After making sure that she has all her belongings on herself, the huntress-in-training decided to head towards the forest, where she saw a smoke emerging; usually a sign of civilization.

She entered the forest with her sword – Myrtenaster – drawn out. There was a possibility of some Grimm roaming around and she prefer to not be caught off guard. It didn't take her long to find the source of smoke, which was an already-extinguished bonfire.

"Damn, I am too late." Weiss said to herself. "Wait, hold on. The smoke still rises, which means…"

She searched the area for a while and managed to find what she was looking for; footprints, likely belonging to the one who set up the fire. The huntress-in-training that there appeared to be two pairs of footprints because some of them have different depth and two types of sole. She looked at where the footprints were heading for before following them.

As she did so, Weiss noticed that there was something strange. Despite having been inside the forest for several minutes, she didn't hear any sound, even the one made by an animal. Furthermore, there was no Grimm approaching her, despite the fact that she was the only source of negative emotion in the area.

Well, not counting the pair that she was following. And speaking about them…

"Come…! Need you…!"

She could barely heard the words, but it was clear that it was someone talking. The girl in white increased her speed, wanting to catch up on them.

"Can you please STOP ignoring me?!"

"Strange." Weiss thought. "That voice sounds familiar."

"Please, please, please?"

"Wait, could it be…?"

When she finally caught up to them, she was greeted by the sight of Ruby – her team leader – grabbing a woman's foot and being dragged through the ground with the woman herself not being bothered in the slightest.

"Ruby, what are you…?"

"Eh? That's…" The girl in question turned her head towards her and immediately smiled. "Weiss!"

Without any warning, the girl in red hood jumped towards her partner and tackled her, causing both of them to roll and fell to the ground.

"Ouch!" Weiss shouted. "What the hell are you doing, you dolt?!"

"I am sorry, Weiss." Ruby apologized. "It's just that, after spending some time with Miss Skadi, I…"

After saying the name, the leader of the team suddenly froze before turning her head, seeing that the woman was already far away from them.

"Wait!" She immediately stood up. "Come on, Weiss. She's our only ticket home!"

"Wha…?" The Atlesian was about to ask when the younger girl ran off. "R-Ruby, wait! Slow down, will you?!"

Once they managed to catch up with the white-haired woman, they slowed down and was able to have a conversation.

"Ruby, explain, please!" Weiss said before pointing her finger at the woman. "What do you mean that she's our only ticket home?"

"Well, Miss Skadi is a nice woman, ignoring the fact that she's ignoring me so far. She actually treated my wound…before no longer noticing me." The black-haired girl explained. "According to her, where in a place called 'Siracusa.' Have you ever heard about it, Weiss?"

"First time hearing it." She replied. "Also, she's ignoring you? Maybe it's because you're always nervous around strangers."

"M-Maybe. But watch this."

Ruby increased her speed and stood in front of Skadi.

"Stop!" She exclaimed while giving her a signal.

The woman didn't respond to the demand. She simply kept walking to the point of almost colliding with Ruby, which was avoided because the latter move away.

"See? If I didn't move, she would trample me!"

"I see. It is indeed a problem." The white-haired girl stated before sighing. "So, we're in a place that we never heard of, receiving no signal for our scroll, and our only led is the woman who ignored us."

"Well, at least she allowed us to follow her." She stated. "That's…good, right?"

"Usually, I would not suggest following a stranger. But, as you said, she's our only led and if she has any bad intention, well, let's just say she's bad at hiding it."

"Right. So, we follow Miss Skadi until we reach a settlement, contact Beacon, and ask them to send help in searching for Blake, Yang, and our professor."

"It's not like we have anything better to do. Though speaking of which, where are they right now?"

"I get no signal. What about you, Blake?"

"Same here."

After that, both huntresses-in-training put their scroll back to their pocket.

"So, any idea where we are?" Yang asked her partner.

"Nope. I don't recognize any of the landmark." The faunus replied.

"Well, that's a bummer." The blonde stated. "Hopefully Ruby and Weiss are fine. And professor as well, I suppose."

"Don't worry. Chances are high that they are at least close to each other, considering us." Blake said. "Anyway, we should try to find a settlement. Hopefully we can use our scroll there."

"Sounds like a plan."

They remained where they stood, silent fell among them, as if they were waiting for something.

"So, how do we find it?" The brawler asked, ending the awkward silence.

"Well…"

Before she could answer the question, a sound of explosion interrupted her. Both of them looked at the direction of where it came from, seeing a smoke rising from the sky.

"Wanna bet that that's the direction where we should go?" Yang pointed at the smoke.

"I know a sucker bet when I see one." Her partner replied.

The two of them began to ran, heading straight towards the source of the explosion.

And the prologue is finally done.

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