Small warning: suggestive scene ahead (it's tame, but I'm still telling you about it…)
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8:17 AM, Tuesday Morning
Beacon Academy Dormitory, Fourth Floor – Team RWBY Dorm Room
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As if this last Sunday morning wasn't bad enough, this morning the four teens were nearly dead.
The meeting was over before sunrise, giving most of the individuals involved some time to sleep before starting the day in earnest, but in truth that was harder than it sounded. The four members of team RWBY, along with the Ruby Squad, were totally exhausted. Nearly everyone's mind was whirling with conflicted emotions, questions, and general irritation. Some were frustrated. Others were troubled. Only Cherry and Ku, it seemed, could sleep peacefully.
Two weeks. That was all the time they had to get the three specific Ruby look-alikes whipped into shape to save the world.
There were other matters to attend to, however. Other issues to think about and to deal with.
There will be time enough later on to explore the inner workings of the minds of the Ruby Squad (Ruby herself included) – but for today, let us look into the thoughts of the remaining three.
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Weiss
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She only got about two hours of sleep this time, then Weiss was awake and tossing about beneath the sheet. For the heiress, the major thought on her mind was the Rubys themselves. There was something about them that left her feeling …unsettled.
First and foremost, there was Rose. The tall, muscular version of Ruby certainly stood out among the crowd, even next to Sapphire (who was concerning for a whole different reason). Yet there was something that had started bothering Weiss right away… something she first noticed at the breakfast table the other day…
To her eyes, Weiss thought Rose was …changing size. Somehow.
It didn't make any sense – when she first saw the taller redhead, Weiss saw a girl with well-defined arms who stood taller than Yang, and remained so throughout the day. The next day, at breakfast, she seemed …smaller. Just a little. Nearly imperceptible, but there it was.
Stranger still was how she looked earlier this morning as they were all heading out to meet the girl who they'd soon call Ku – there she looked even smaller… but again, just a little. It was baffling… but then, everything was getting twisted. At times she felt like the only member of the group with any common sense.
Sapphire was the other matter. The self-proclaimed Schnee had no business using glyphs – yet she used them all the same. Both she and Weiss were well aware that only members of the Schnee family – by blood – should be able to do this, and Ruby Rose could and should not qualify for that. There was just no way.
Yet she did. The woman seemed to exist solely to frustrate and defy Weiss.
The girl flipped over again on the bed, grunting lightly with the exertion. She sighed, sending her mind toward what she hoped were more pleasant thoughts.
She definitely liked Cherry (although who didn't at this point?), and she was quickly warming up to Ku (but made up her mind to ask about that creepy …thing later today). Carmine reminded Weiss of a 'game master' of sorts – someone who ran the game and delighted to see the players struggling. The boy called Red had a long way to go before she would trust him to do little more than lift the lid.
And then, of course, there was Rain. The heiress shivered a bit as she remembered the girl's ice-cold stare.
What could leave a person so …emotionally dead? What horrors could she have seen?
And she claimed to be 2,000 years old… how many people has she seen die?
Weiss swallowed hard, her throat dry, as she squeezed her eyes shut. That was something she really didn't want to think about right now.
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Blake
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The brunette's mind was currently thinking back to a few hours ago, just after their meeting had finished.
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As Ruby and Weiss helped drag Yang back to their own dorm room, Blake spied the ancient Ruby called Rain drifting off down the hall. The other members of the Ruby Squad left in the room seemed mostly preoccupied with getting back to sleep or getting ready for the rest of the day. She chose to follow Rain, keeping a short distance behind until she saw the girl pause by one of the hallway windows and stare up into the night sky. Blake walked over and stood next to her, admiring the view as well.
"They're different," Rain quietly said.
"What's different?" Blake responded.
"The stars… they're in a different pattern than what I know."
They were silent for a few minutes. The noise of the others moving around had faded into nothingness, leaving the two in total silence. Blake couldn't help but notice how the dark red color of Ruby's hair (all of them) looked pure black in this low light...
"730 years, …give or take a few decades," Rain said, suddenly.
"…Huh?" was the only answer Blake could mutter.
"That's how long it's been since I last stood within the walls of Beacon Academy. While it was in once piece, anyway."
The faunus had no response to that. She simply stood there, glancing between the starry heavens and the ancient girl in the red cloak. It was probably impossible to imagine the span of time she must have endured until now… and to think she might have been alone…
A sigh, followed by, "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. It doesn't matter. Nothing does." She turned and slowly walked away from the dorm rooms, muttering, "I'm heading to the roof."
All Blake could see in her departing back was total despair, hopelessness, and the complete disillusionment of a girl who once dreamed of greatness – only to be cursed to watch time flow by without her. Such emptiness, such crushing loneliness… the faunus felt her heart beginning to break as the girl vanished into the darkness of the hallway.
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Blake wiped the lone tear off her face before sighing deeply. There would be time to consider the ancient girl later on.
First she had business to attend to.
Her right hand drifted beneath the covers, heading for the space between her legs. The brunette's thoughts went to the newest object of her obsession… the girl who was everything she ever wanted to pounce on… the girl called Rose.
She got to work, biting down on her pillow to avoid making even the slightest noise.
Blake had always had a big-muscle fetish, something she was not too keen on sharing with the others… mainly since one of them fit neatly into her personal preferences. There was something about a nice set of toned, sweaty, well-defined muscles that caused the faunus to go rather quickly into the 'hot and bothered' zone. Her mother called it 'going into heat.' Blake just called it being horny.
Sun Wukong had a stronger affect on Blake than Yang did (those damn abs), so that was a good thing in her book. With Yang, she liked both the blonde's arms and legs – they were toned, but still sexy as hell. Blake never cared whether the one with the muscles was a boy or a girl, both had an equal effect on her hormones… but she'd never met anyone like Rose.
Her hand began moving faster, harder. She almost bit through the pillowcase.
When the girl came into the room for the first time that Sunday morning, Blake's first impulse was to bury her nose in the girl's hair and run her hands over every inch of that delicious body… It was better the next day, likely because Blake had slept a bit… better still the next few times, but she guessed it was because Rose had taken a shower. During these last few days, more than once did the following thought cross her mind: Does that girl sweat catnip or something? Good GODS!
She finished quietly, making a bad smell waft up to her nose from beneath the covers.
Well, shit… she really had it bad.
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Yang
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The blonde heard the movement and the light moans coming from beneath her, but chose to ignore them. Blake's business, not hers.
She also heard the creaking mattress as Weiss turned over again, but ignored that too.
No, Yang's mind was one a single thought that brought her fully awake less than an hour ago. A thought from their little meeting just a bit ago. Something that just …didn't …fit.
Carmine had said that the breaks in the timelines were caused by 'a Ruby Rose dying' …but how could that be the cause? Surely one person's death could not destroy all of time and space all by itself… could it? There had to be more than that.
She had come to two conclusions: 1) Either Carmine had more details on the matter that she was intentionally withholding, or 2) there was other, more important information that the woman had somehow simply failed to collect, thereby leaving everyone in the dark. Neither option was good, obviously …but it was hard to tell which was worse.
The blonde brawler never pretended to be a genius. Science was not her strong point (and for that matter, neither was science-fiction), but even she could tell something was amiss. She hoped, desperately, that the piece they were missing wasn't the most important one. The one piece that would make all the difference.
"…"
She was hit by a sudden memory, interrupting her thoughts. The coppery smell, and a hand over her mouth.
She had seen Ku's hands later on, during the meeting. They were clean… really clean… but she hadn't had time to wash them before then.
So why the hell did they smell so strongly of blood?
Yang shivered, pulling her covers up over her nose in an effort to smell something else.
She didn't want to know the answer.
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The tale of the next two weeks will be a long one, full of exciting moments, new meetings, danger and intrigue.
Ku's dark side will make a return. A student will meet his new teacher.
The creatures of Grimm will attack, only to be cut down. Evil will continue to stir behind the scenes.
And the clock will keep ticking…
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Chapter 6:
Intermission (Morning of Day 1)
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Meet the Rubys:
Name: Rain
Age: unknown (she claims to be over 2,000)
Home World: Remnant-0701
Description: Nearly identical to the normal Ruby, but shows far less emotion. Outfit and cloak are more faded and torn, too. No weapon – because she is a weapon.
Backstory: Concurrence, Chapter 1.
I've often tried to realistically imagine how someone would handle true immortality, and Rain is how I'd imagine Ruby handling that very thing. Cold and distant, but with her true heart buried deep inside under layers of stone - that is Rain. Yet there may be more to her, and indeed all the Rubys, than appearances would imply...
Author's Note: So, just a few things to get out of the way. First, I am aware that the sexual preferences of the characters is not fully accurate to the canon (at least, I assume so). Blake being bi is simply for the sake of the story. Second, this chapter was meant to be short as it only serves as a transition chapter – the next nine chapters are pure character development.
=^w^=