…
… … …
… … … … …
2:59 AM, Tuesday Morning
City of Vale, Warehouse District, Unit 117
…
The black bowler cap sat on the table next to the pile of notes and plans, most of which were now totally worthless. The owner of that cap leaned back in his metal folding chair and lit up a cigar, letting the smoke billow around his ginger hair in an attempt to relax.
And that was not an easy thing to do ever since their plans hit that little snag. How the loss of just one program could set them back this far was …not worth thinking about. Trying to do so just made his head hurt.
Roman was, of course, grateful to Cinder for getting him out of that Atlesian holding cell ahead of schedule – he had no intention of staying anywhere he couldn't smoke, at least. But in the end, his escape was only because they now had to resort to Plan B.
And Roman Torchwick was not looking forward to Plan B.
"How are the preparations coming?" a smooth, silky voice asked from the shadows. High-heeled footsteps signaled the approach of Roman's current boss. Blazing yellow eyes peered out from the darkness, followed by a form-fitting red dress.
"Oh-ho-ho, that's a good one!" The man paused to take a drag, then said, "Look around, gorgeous. We have one enormous warehouse with… three crates of dust!" His last words echoed into the emptiness. "Ever since that little stunt at the Breach, we've lost pretty much everything we had stockpiled to those animals in the White Fang. On top of that, none of them are all that eager to trust us again!"
Neo, Roman's current number-one henchman (as in, his only henchman), was leaning against the side wall and filing her nails. Every so often she'd look up and check on the conversation, then return to the work at hand.
"Oh, Roman… you know I'm more persuasive than you look." Cinder swayed her way past the ginger-haired man (who briefly furrowed his brow at her sneaky jab) and glanced over the notes on the table. "Just leave the White Fang to me. I'll get their cooperation. Your only job is to spread the word to the rest of them…" She regarded him with one eye, the other hiding beneath waves of dark hair.
He sighed, his next words were drawn out and exaggerated, "Oh-kay boss lady," he spread his arms for emphasis. Neo made a giggling motion, but there was no sound. There was never any sound from the mute woman.
As Cinder began to walk away, Roman got a sudden chill and shivered violently.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Cinder doing the same thing.
…
… … …
… … … … …
3:22 AM
Beacon Academy, Central Courtyard
…
Yang never fancied herself a morning person, but she could still wake up at 9:00 am with the best of them. Even stretching it to 7:00 am was somehow workable. 6:00 am if someone's life was at stake.
But 3:00 in the morning? She was fixin' to kill something. Or someone. Whichever she ran into first.
Currently she was standing outside, in the wee hours of the morning, and in her pajamas (thank the gods it wasn't very cold). All around her was not only the rest of her team, but also nearly all of the 'Ruby Squad' as Weiss had called them. 'Nearly' all, in that they had voted to let Cherry continue sleeping. No one wanted to be the one to wake her up.
Like Yang, both Blake and Ruby were still in their respective sleepwear. The best they could muster in such short notice was their shoes. Yang spied a bit of crust in the corner of Ruby's eye at one point, but didn't go after it. Weiss was more fully dressed, but even she was only at the bare minimum. Their wake-up call was a bit sudden, after all.
The Ruby Squad didn't look much better. The only two copies that were fully dressed were Carmine and, for some odd reason, Red. The boy didn't look tired at all, in fact. Rose was borrowing an extra set of Pyrrha's pjs, and Sapphire had on one of Carmine's spare sets. The latter also had her hair down – and Yang was struck with how it naturally formed into a style that matched all of the other Rubys.
I guess she really is one of them, after all.
Everybody was holding a weapon (not necessarily their own). Everyone was nervous.
Why? Because apparently Carmine had let something dangerous come through her little 'star-gate.'
… … …
"Okay, listen up you guys. I don't know where she is or what she's doing, but I can't let her run free. I need everyone's eyes wide open to spot her. She is beyond dangerous – one wrong move and someone will die, okay? Keep. Your. Guard. Up."
… … …
Such inspiring words. Good gods…
On the plus side, it was a nice enough night. The sky was free of clouds, allowing anyone on the ground a supreme view of the heavens in all their glittery brilliance. Yang remembered Sapphire mentioning this, but she was never a stargazer herself, so she quickly forgot about it. The air was not too chilly, with just a hint of mugginess that was typical for this time of year. Good running weather, at least for Yang.
No fog anywhere. Perfect visibility. They'd see an ambush coming a mile away.
That was the hope, anyway.
… … …
"All I can tell you is that she is from Remnant-6602 and that she is …a bit 'damaged' in the head. I don't have any more details than that.
"And just so we're clear, Rain and I had agreed to avoid the sixty-six-hundred group of frequencies for this operation, since almost ALL of them involve their Ruby Rose going bad in some way – insane, evil, monster, vampire, you name it. All bad. Too far gone to help.
"Rain has got a LOT of explaining to do when she gets back…"
… … …
It seemed like the more Carmine told them, the more questions were raised. It was starting to get on Yang's nerves.
As they slowly walked along the road, lit at even intervals by pole lights, Yang spotted their target. She was standing on the path, about five lights away. Her red cloak covered everything and the hood was raised, hiding her face in full shadows. She didn't move a muscle. Another chill slid down Yang's back at the sight of her (it?)
Upon sighting their target, the group spread out just a bit ("Not too far apart, guys!") and readied their weapons. No one moved, each waiting for the other to strike first.
Two minutes went by with no movement on either side.
The pole lights began flickering, blacking out all at once for just a split second.
The newcomer was suddenly four lights away. She didn't show the slightest sign of moving.
Yang swallowed hard, hearing two others behind her doing the same.
How can anything be that damn fast?
The lights flickered again, plunging the group into total blackness for another split second. Yang swore it was shorter this time.
Three lights away.
This time she heard Sapphire expand her sword into it's full saber form. Yang absently remembered she needed to ask her why she had that particular sword later on. At least three other weapons made their own expanding/loading noises. Ruby whimpered slightly from beside her.
By now the entire group could feel the air growing much colder, as though the figure before them was some kind of malevolent ice spirit. And as Yang studied the cloaked stranger, she realized that about summed it up. There was an emptiness to it… cold and emotionless, almost like one would imagine the undead to be, were they to exist. Her nerves tensed… if this thing could move that fast, they might be in for one hell of a fight…
Once again the lights flickered. She heard several dust chambers being cocked and loaded behind her, ready for the attack. Darkness fell over the group again…
They were blind for several seconds this time. Yang's heart was beating rapidly now.
But when the lights came back on, her heart nearly stopped.
Dead, lifeless gray eyes peered out at her from beneath the hood – a mere three inches away from Yang's face. The thing that looked like Ruby grinned, a thin and creepy version of a smile.
Her last thought was Damn, she's taller than me! …but Yang remembered nothing else before blacking out.
…
When she slowly came to, the blonde found that she could not feel any part of her body save for her head – and that was being held by a hand on the face. She knew her body was still attached… just completely numb.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Yang found herself propped against the trunk of a tree some distance from any of the paved trails and the safety of the pole lights. She was actually up in the tree, maybe six feet off the ground. And she wasn't alone.
Her mouth was being held shut by the Ruby-thing's hand. It stank of copper and ammonia. The smell of blood. It's face was now fully shrouded in darkness once again as it whispered, "Well now… aren't you a sight for sore eyes… I wasn't sure I'd see you again, dear sister."
Yang's eyes widened at it's words. The voice was similar to Ruby's, but it was grating and unpleasant to hear. The tone carried it's own sort of ichor, like she would need to wash her ears out to keep them from gunking up.
That and the thing's free hand was beginning to …roam. Drifting to places Yang had never allowed anyone to touch before. Despite the numbness, Yang's body trembled violently.
"Oh, don't be afraid… I'll be gentle… ku-ku-ku…" It's laughter was somehow even worse. Yang's skin seemed to want to crawl away all by itself at the sound of it.
"Unhand. Her. Now."
The thing's eyes went wide at the sound of the new voice, but it had no chance of stopping what came next. Yang barely registered a glimmer of recognition in the Ruby-thing's eyes before it happened.
Someone pulled the thing's hood off from behind it, revealing a Ruby underneath that was oddly similar in looks to Carmine. Age-wise, anyway. As always, the hair was the same color and style – but the formerly lifeless gray eyes suddenly grew into a bright and alert silver.
With the hood removed, Yang was looking at a completely different person. In every way.
"Ohmygawd… Yang?! Is that you?!" The hand let go instantly as both arms were used to embrace the blonde in the warmest hug she had ever gotten. "I was waiting for you up in Ozpin's office and Glynda was there and someone called them on the phone and then I blacked out again you know I've been doing that more and more lately I don't know why and I haven't seen Dad in a while and have you seen Mom lately I can't seem to find her no matter where I look and Yang are you listening to me Yang? Hello?"
The formerly cold and emotionless creature was suddenly a warm, outgoing, and hyperactive child in a young adult's body. The only change was the hood. Like switching on a light.
What the flaming crap?
The new voice from behind spoke again, and Yang was hit with a wave of goosebumps at the sound of it, "Oh give her a break… can't you see she's tired?"
Both Yang and her captor turned to see Ruby Rose standing there – but it was not the Ruby that Yang knew. Out of all of the doppelgangers they had met so far, this one was both the most familiar …and the most alien.
She wore the same combat outfit… but it looked faded and worn. Ancient, even. She had the same height and build as Ruby (the only one who did, in fact)… yet her presence loomed larger than any of the other's. Even her voice was the same… yet there was a depth to it, like the difference between looking into a shallow pool of water compared to gazing over the open ocean. They were leagues apart.
This new Ruby knelt down, giving her older-yet-younger counterpart a ruffling of the hair and getting a giggle in response – but she wasn't smiling. "Are you okay, Yang?"
The blonde wanted to respond, but found herself without words. Or breath, for that matter. She wanted to scream, she wanted to laugh, she wanted to ask a million questions (most of them repeated for good measure), …but she could barely manage to bring her hand up to her face.
Infinitely deep silver eyes gazed into her lavender ones. The new Ruby nodded lightly. She turned back to the Ruby-thing and calmly said, "Keep the hood off for now, sport. We have some people to meet."
…
… … …
… … … … …
3:45 AM
Beacon Academy Dormitory, Fourth Floor - Ruby Squad Room
…
Back in the repurposed dorm room next to team RWBY's, the gathering of nearly a dozen people was just getting settled. A fresh pot of coffee had been brewed for those who still needed a wake-me-up even after the adrenaline-pumping events of the night… -err, morning.
Yang dimly slurped her coffee. She didn't bother with cream or sugar this time. No one in the room did, actually.
Carmine sat at one end of the room, serving as the de facto leader of this little assembly. Sitting in the circle around the room, clockwise from the mad scientist, was Sapphire, Rose, Weiss, Blake, Cherry (who was asleep on one of the beds and purring softly), the new crazy-Ruby, the Ruby who saved Yang (no one had said so yet, but she was probably the one called Rain), Yang herself, then her Ruby, and finally Red.
Quite the crew, honestly.
"Rain, my dear…" Carmine was looking at the Ruby who saved Yang (I knew it!), "…care to explain yourself?"
Slowly, as though in a daze, everyone in the room turned to look at the dusty version of Ruby who only replied with a simple, "…Nope." She popped the 'p' sound, of course.
The tension between them began to build until Yang could almost see the sparks of their gazes zapping back and forth. Nearly everyone began to feel the effect – even Cherry stirred in her sleep, her little brow furrowing.
"This… is… so… cool! I've got so many clones!" The crazy-Ruby spoke up next breaking the tension, no longer able to keep her child-like wonder in check at such a new scenario. "It's like a whole family of me! Big sisters, little sisters, a brother, and even a mommy and a daddy!"
At this outburst Rose began to choke on her drink. It didn't take a genius to figure out which one of them was supposed to be the 'daddy' here. Sapphire patted her back in a friendly manner, trying to help her get her breath back between coughs.
Carmine cleared her throat, then adjusted her glasses and said, "I suppose we'll have to sort this out later. First of all, since we're all finally together in the same room, let's go around and introduce ourselves one more time for the new arrivals." She finished her cup of coffee in one big swallow, then set her mug down and motioned to Sapphire who was sitting just to her left. "Staring with you, if you don't mind…"
The tall woman sighed, crossing her arms to drive home the fact that she did mind but chose not to say anything. "Very well. My name is Sapphire Schnee, eldest daughter of the Schnee family and specialist of the Atlesian army. For the last three years I've been working as a combat instructor for Atlas Academy, but I was called back to active service for a short period. I was ambushed during a routine search-and-rescue mission that turned out to be a trap by the White Fang… but then I was rescued by miss Rain and brought here."
The crazy-Ruby quietly said, "Wow… she's almost as cool as Uncle Qrow…" Rain quickly shushed her.
"I guess that means I'm next," the muscular teenager said after a pause. "My name's Ruby… like almost everyone else, I guess… but you can call me Rose. I'm still just a first-year, so I don't have quite as long of a story as miss Sapphire does, but whatever. My partner back home, Coco, kinda went nuts and got into a big fight with Yang. Like, really big. Rain… I guess she's called, she never told me… came in and kinda… stopped time for me? So once I get back I've got a lot of work to do to calm them both down…" She sighed, rubbing the back of her head with one hand.
No reaction this time, but other eyes turned to regard the well-spoken Rain with a new wonder. She can stop time…?
Carmine piped up and said, "Don't worry, Weiss. We're just doing the Rubys right now." The heiress breathed a sigh at the news. Since the next Ruby was the catgirl asleep on the bed, Carmine continued, "I'll just give her introduction so we can let her sleep. That's also a Ruby, of course, but we agreed to call her Cherry. In short, her world doesn't actually have Grimm, or any sort of monsters or evil… it's something of a paradise. I chose to pull her here because it soon will, though I'm still not sure just what that will be. No one on her world is in any shape to fight it off, so I'm going to work on helping her to learn how to defend herself."
As if in response to being referred to, Cherry gave a wide yawn (along with a little squeak) and stretched her little arms out in front of her, then lightly rolled over to face the wall. Her purring resumed moments later.
Everyone in the room muffled their squee so as not to wake her up.
"Oh! Oh! Is it my turn now? Is it? Is it?" the crazy-Ruby was literally bouncing up and down on her seat with excitement. "I wanna pick my own nickname! I wanna be Red Riding Hood!"
At this the boy Ruby coughed a bit and shakily said, "Um, I… k-kinda already have that name. I'm Red."
The bottom lip was extended, "Oh, poopy." She then brightened up again and tried, "How about something cool like Blood Ruby…?"
Weiss spoke up here, saying, "That's a bit redundant, isn't it?"
This answer was met with a wet raspberry. "Fine then. I'll be Elektra!"
"No," Yang shot her down.
"Hello Kitty?"
"Hell no," Blake snapped. "Wait, what…"
"Coriander!"
"What? Wait, why…" Yang again.
"Pinky! You know, like, 'They're Pinky… they're Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain…'" she sang joyfully.
Rain glanced over and muttered, "You're loud."
She crossed her arms, pouting hard. "Ooh… you're no fun…"
Amidst the commotion, no one noticed that Cherry had woken up and hobbled over to where the crazy-Ruby sat. The child climbed up into her lap, stared at her with those big dinner-plate eyes and said, "Ku… play with me…"
Yang could only chuckle, "It seems the Great Sage and Eminent Snuggler has spoken. You are now Ku."
The newly named Ku could only hold a look of disappointment for about 1.2 seconds before breaking into a bright grin, "Oh fine. Ku it is." She then began a quiet game of patty-cake with the catgirl, ignoring everything else in the room.
The mad scientist at the front of the room murmured, "'Ku' huh? That's what she calls her big sister back home…"
Rain, the ancient Ruby look-alike, put in her two cents by gesturing towards Ku and saying, "I'll explain her story later on. After we're all done here." Her tone left no room for disagreement. "And all you people need to know about me is that I'm over 2,000 years old, I've seen some serious shit, and you don't want to make me mad. Got it?" She didn't yell, growl, or raise her voice even a single decibel, but the effect was almost the same. "Also, if I warn you about something, you better be damn sure you take me seriously."
Nearly everyone in the room nodded emphatically, eyes wide. This girl was starting to get a bit …scary.
Yang nudged her sister lightly, reminding her that it was her turn next.
"Oh! ...Oh, it's my turn, isn't it?" the redhead started hard, lost in her own thoughts. "Okay, well… since this is my world, I'm the only one who gets to be called plain ol' Ruby! Nice to meet'cha!"
Only when she got at least three nods from the room did Ruby continue, "I guess my story's the most boring, but here goes: I foiled a robbery attempt, got invited into Beacon two years early, they made me the leader of my own team, I met a bunch of nice people, made friends with Jaune and Pyrrha and a bunch of other guys, fell down a hole, tried to stop a train, killed a crap-ton of Grimm…"
"You're rambling, Rubes…" Yang said from beside her. "Keep it short."
"Oh, aha-ha-ha…" She waved her arms in front of her comically, finishing with, "Sorry, just got excited. So yeah, super basic. Nothing awesome like you guys."
When all eyes turned to regard the last redhead to speak, they were met with a bright red face and sputtering. "Geez, don't… d-don't stare so much…" Red was currently trying to force his chair to meld with the wall, hopefully taking him with it.
Not for the last time, Yang thought You know… he is kinda cute…
In an attempt to give an understandable speech and to keep from freaking out any more, the male Ruby took three deep breaths, then cleared his throat before saying, "So I'm… Red. S'just a nickname. Anyway, my story's pretty the same as Ruby's… except, like Carmine's pointed out, everyone back home who's a guy is suddenly a girl here, and vice versa…"
Ku popped up from her game, "What's a… 'viseverza?'"
"It's a fancy word that means 'other way around,'" Sapphire answered quickly.
Both Ku and Cherry 'ooh'-ed in unison.
Sensing the boy was done, Carmine suddenly jumped to her feet and said, "Oh-kay! I think that's enough for tonight! I say we get some sleep and-"
BANG!
The redhead was standing very still, in mid-stride, no longer trying to make a break for the door. A smoking hole in the wall was evidence of the bullet that had passed less than an inch in front of the scientist's face. A large bead of sweat emerged on her forehead.
Yang's hair glowed faintly as she loaded another cartridge into Ember Celica, growling, "Sit. Your ass. Down."
"Yes ma'am…" came the meek response as the older woman quickly skittered back to her chair. Ku and Cherry peeked out from their hiding place behind Rose, checking to see if it was safe.
Yang continued, "I think we've all waiting long enough, professor. No one leaves until we've heard the full story. So start talking." She crossed her arms as she finished.
The corner of Rain's mouth twitched upwards. It was the closest anyone would get to seeing her smile for quite some time.
"Okay, okay…" Carmine turned back to pour a fresh cup of coffee, taking a slurp. "Before I begin, let me just say that I'm going to omit some details intentionally, since they're not important right now. It started back at the dance you guys just had…" she nodded towards Yang and Ruby, who nodded back.
The Beacon Dance had been quite the show alright. The most obvious (and memorable) part was how team JNPR got together for a big dance number – with Jaune in a dress. Needless to say, he was very much the subject of other students conversations from then on. The less obvious event took place in a different part of the campus; namely, the CCT tower. Ruby had tracked some kind of burglar into it, tried to fight her (but those damn heels), and ultimately failed to catch anything other than a bruised bottom.
"My story starts at the tower. Due to random luck, I happened to notice an emblem flashing across one of the monitors. Long story short, I found and removed a virus program (with some help from Atlas technicians, of course). The woman who planted it was tracked down soon after; that was Cinder Fall, by the way." Team RWBY and Rose all twitched one eye each as she said that last part.
This time Sapphire had the look of amazement, "I'm sure our worlds have similar levels of technology, but for you to do something that even Atlas couldn't do… that's hard to believe."
Carmine ignored her. "After that, I shifted my academic focus to the realm of technology and the wonders beyond. Then things happened… I invented stuff… yada-yada-omit-omit… and then I found a way to travel dimensions!"
Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby all fell to the floor at the same time, their legs splayed up in a comical fashion.
Carmine took another sip of her coffee before taking a more serious tone. "That was when I met Rain… and this whole mess really began…"
…
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… … … … …
Same Time
Beacon Academy, CCT Tower, Headmaster's Office
…
Professor Ozpin sat at his desk, once again awake at this ungodly hour, checking over the system.
His insomnia had started a few days ago, when the woman claiming to be a future Ruby Rose presented him with her impossible scenario… yet over the next few days, nothing seemed to be impossible anymore. She had pulled nearly half a dozen extra versions of Ruby into this world, something that simply should not be. One was enough, if you asked him.
And then there was her warning: Keep an eye on Cinder Fall and check the overall system status on a daily basis. Daily.
The man didn't understand what was so important about the girl from Haven Academy that he should place any extra security on her, but he could not oppose Ironwood's demands to postpone the Vytal Festival Tournament… especially after finding an actual virus program planted into the CCT.
He sighed, ignoring his coffee. He didn't want to be awake any more than the next insomniac.
The screen next to his desk indicated that all systems were functioning normally, all within standard regulation. He sighed again, trying to dispel his growing unease.
If the woman called Carmine had been right about alternate realities and the computer virus from her own time, …what else might she be right about?
Near the bottom of the screen was five words: Status of subject "Amber": Unchanged.
…
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… … … … …
Same Time
Beacon Academy Dormitory, Fourth Floor – Ruby Squad Room
…
As she had done on the first day team RWBY met her, Carmine once again had her little holographic display put up in the center of the room for all to see. The lines that designated each timeline spread out like a three-dimensional spider web, branching out in all directions and ending somewhere past the edge.
"This all looks pretty good, yes? Nothing too unusual…"
Ten heads nodded, since no one wanted to start arguing about how none of this was freaking normal.
"Yet if I zoom even further out…" she said as she fingered her scroll. The lines in mid-air compressed in on themselves until a clearly defined edge could be seen.
Ruby was the first to spot the problem, "Hey, …why are there so many blank spots?" She was pointing at the thicker bunches of lines where, as she mentioned, many of the lines came to an abrupt end. The visual was similar to a thick canopy of leaves in an old tree where something had blasted out a large section of the leaves, leaving only empty, exposed branches.
Yang's brow furrowed in concern. If these were timelines, then that would mean…
"Therein lies the issue. Both Rain and myself took careful note of these blanks. No matter how much we studied, we only found one clear answer. No matter which world we looked at, it was the same problem in all of them: A Ruby Rose died. That timeline simply collapsed afterwards, destroying everything."
"…!" Everyone in the room gave a light gasp at this news. No one said anything. Needless to say, such a serious reason was not at all what Yang was expecting to hear…
"Rose, Red and Sapphire – You three were specially chosen to stop three of the most vital timeline breakdowns. In your own time and left to your own devices, all three of you would have died, leaving not just your own worlds at risk, but all others in close proximity. By my calculations, your success would save around 2,813 individual timelines. An uncountable number of lives."
Rose gulped hard. Red groaned and clutched his midsection like he might become sick at any moment. Sapphire just blinked, waiting for the rest of the information.
"As such, we felt it was necessary to bring you to a 'safe' world to prepare you for this task. 1802 had the highest rate of stability out of any world we had scanned, so here we are. I've laid out a basic training plan for each of you, but take note – we will only have about two weeks before the lingering temporal energy begins to dissipate, thus leaving you all-"
"A-hem…" Yang cleared her throat, glaring daggers at the professor.
"I mean… um… crap… we will only have about two weeks… before… uh… how do I say it…?"
At the pause, Rain spoke up and said, "In two weeks, the doors back to your own worlds will close. Your absence will no longer be unnoticed. Everything will quickly destabilize after that. Mission: failed."
Carmine breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Rain." She then began informing the two women and one boy of their roles over the next 14 days.
Rose will shadow team CFVY, learning everything she can about advanced team strategies, tagging along on a couple of missions, …and of course, how to better deal with Coco Adel.
Red will shadow team JNPR, learning everything he can about basic teamwork (since it's his weakness) and relationship building techniques. Nora will work on his other problem… whatever that was.
Sapphire will shadow team CRDL… but not for what she can learn. Her job will be to train them a little bit. Once she's had enough, the Schnee woman would be free to decide her own training path.
"…"
Yang had begun to fade out by this point, drifting off to sleep whether she liked it or not. The important information had finally been given, and that was all that really mattered. She vaguely recalled further discussion about Ku… something about how she didn't really have anything to do… the term 'multiple personality disorder' was said out loud… She felt Cherry nudging her arm inquisitively… Ruby had excused herself…
Right before she passed out, Yang glanced over at Rain… who was looking her dead in the eyes.
A silent message passed over to her, ringing crystal clear into the fog of her sleep-addled mind:
Her hood is the trigger. Remember. And beware.
…
… … …
… … … … …
Chapter 5:
The Reason For The Gathering
… … … … …
… … …
…
Meet the Rubys:
Name: Ku / Thorn
Age: around 19
Home World: Remnant-6602
Description: Almost as tall as Sapphire, wears the normal red hood and cloak. Eyes are bright and cheerful as Ku, dim and empty as Thorn. Doesn't carry a weapon.
Backstory: Concurrence, Chapter 5.
Ku (the Hawaiian word for 'Rose') has gone through quite a few iterations by this point. She started out as a Ruby bent on revenge only, then as a demented demon-child, but now exists as a split-personality cinnamon roll of death.
=^w^=