Ruby and Roman walked together along the streets of Vale, lights glittering atop the skyline as they approached downtown. She had to restrain herself from skipping in excitement every time Roman squeezed her hand in his with a broad smile on his face. All of her worries forgotten, she stood confidently at his side.

When Ruby looked up at his face, she noticed that his smile had not faded, pulling at his cheeks. His eyes crinkled with the affectation of his happiness made apparent in his face. More than anything else, Ruby was happy that he could let loose, at least for one night.

She turned back to the streets, watching the cramped establishments as they passed. All of them were restaurants that squeezed into little boxes of space, each of them culturally diverse despite being right next to them. One offered oriental food, the other only served high-quality sushi, and a place Ruby had been to with her team: a place that makes Vacuo-style burgers. They would be Ruby's favorite if they weren't so expensive, but they were so worth it.

The street fronts began to look like a psychedelic trip as they progressed, brilliant colors winding through the air and highlighting even the smoke clouds from shipping trucks that still used fossil fuels to power their vehicles. Suddenly, everything glowed with such a brightness that Ruby had to shield her eyes. She realized immediately that the truck was unmarked—not even a license plate. It quickly turned the corner and disappeared.

"Roman, where are we going?" she asked.

Roman turned, noting the concern on her face. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Ruby started to protest, recognizing that they were in the same area that the White Fang used to organize their numbers, but Roman squeezed her hand protectively, and she closed her mouth, a smile instead gracing her lips.

She realized where they were when they turned onto another street, lights low and deep red. Everyone on their side of the street was talking to each other, huddled in intimate groups spaced far apart from one another. They all seemed to be waiting for something.

Roman led her into a convenience store, wall-to-wall with liquor and a couple aisles of snacks. Not even a speck of dust was sold on any shelf, which confused Ruby—most places at least had backup cartridges.

Roman smiled at her and crossed to the back of the store, Ruby following close behind him. "Give me one second, okay?"

He approached the register, setting his elbows on the glass countertop, drug paraphernalia on display beneath. He called out to the cashier as he was stocking whiskey. "Mind if I use the phone?"

Ruby swiveled her head until her eyes landed on a phone booth in the back, tucked away from view.

"Yeah, man, of course. Go right ahead. Be warned, though, main crowd coming in at nine." The cashier's boisterous voice drew her attention back. Main crowd?

Roman turned back to her and took her hand once more. "Let's go," he whispered. They moved to the back of the store where a wooden phone booth stood in the corner. Roman picked up the phone and began dialing a number, but it was only six digits—not nearly long enough to dial anything.

After a brief moment, he hung the phone back on its hinges. The back wall to the phone booth opened, and a man dressed in a black suit greeted him, shaking his hand.

"Uh, Roman, who is this?" Ruby asked.

The man in the suit looked up to her. "Hey, Ruby, nice to see you, too."

Realization dawned on her. "Oh. Hi, Junior," she snickered.

"Please, call me Hei." He held open the door for them, gesturing inward.

When Ruby stepped inside, a blast of crisp, cold air hit her skin, contrasting with the muggy atmosphere inside the store. A staircase backlight with red light led down to the club area, brightened with glowing panels on the dance floor and low red light emitting from fixtures above the tables. Ruby glanced at the ceiling where there was a static disco ball tucked behind the foliage of crossbeams rigging the light equipment.

Junior closed the door behind them and began stepping down. "I just got this place all cleaned up."

"I forgot to ask," Roman said. "How did you get this place set up so quickly?"

"I bought it out when Blondie trashed my place the first time."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Ruby cut in.

Roman swung his head around to her. "Were you there?"

"Well, I didn't actually go in until that second time, but I found her over there sometime before I went to Beacon."

He raised an eyebrow. "Wait a second, I was there that night."

"Really? I didn't see you."

He scoffed. "Right, I left before Blondie tore the place up."

Ruby placed a finger on her lip. "I also used my semblance to get there—I was trying to figure out where she went."

"Next week, we met—well, sort of—at that dust shop, and it was love at first sight," he cooed, a sarcastic look on his face.

"Hardly," she laughed, covering her mouth.

"Just goes to show that fate can work in funny ways," Roman remarked. He raised a hand to his right cheekbone, suddenly lost in thought.

Ruby reached for his hand and pulled it away from his face. His initial resistance did nothing to dissuade her, and she wrapped her other hand around his, gazing up at him. "Are you okay?" she asked.

His eyes lazily wandered around until they landed on her, and he smiled in reassurance. She tightened her grip, maintaining her expression.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind right now." He leaned over and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Thank you."


"I'm such an idiot," Roman said, sitting across the bar from Junior.

"You know," he said, "You don't have to make such a big deal about it."

"Of all nights for me to remember, I have to pick the one night where I need not to be super distracted." Roman took another swig from his scotch. He groaned, resting his face on his hand as he watched the lone ice cube clink around on the edges of the glass.

"Dude, believe me, it's fine." Junior's back was turned, but Roman would bet that he rolled his eyes.

"It's not fine, though," he muttered under his breath. "I didn't want Ruby to catch on that I was upset about this."

Junior turned around to face him. "Oh my god…Roman, believe me, I'm sure that Ruby doesn't mind at all. She has seen you at your worst, with mascara running down your face, and she still agreed to go out with you. I don't think getting distracted for one second will suddenly make her change her mind."

Roman sighed. "For your information, jackass, it was eyeliner."

"And you tell me that you're not a kid anymore."

"Oh, shut up." Roman felt a tapping on his shoulder.

He turned, Ruby standing with her arm outstretched, dark spots all over her dress. The sweet look on her face instantly relieved him.

"I really hope that's not from the toilet," he joked.

She looked down and gasped. "No! It was just the sink."

"Jeez, what did you do to it?" Roman handed her a napkin.

She took in her fingers, skin grazing across his. Roman's heart fluttered. "I may have been a little too rough with the knob."

Junior laughed.

Ruby's face flushed with red, and she flustered, "What? What did I say?"

Junior shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

Roman chuckled, "Did you intend to say that?"

"Say what?" Ruby covered her cheeks.

"It's, a—uh, how do I put this…euphemism?" Roman supplied.

"Crap!" Ruby flung her fists down to her sides. "Second time today, and now it's something I said."

"What was the first?" he asked, a devious smirk on his face.

"Weiss and my sister were trying to get me to take a con—" Ruby slapped a hand over her face, blushing even more than she was before.

Junior laughed uproariously, walking away to catch his breath on the countertop.

"Not again," Ruby whined.

"Is this what happened earlier?" Roman jabbed a thumb in Junior's direction.

"Pretty much," she said, hand muffling her words.

Roman grabbed her hand, standing up and pulling her towards the floor. His heart pounded inside his chest so uncomfortably that he felt like he might throw up, but he tried to ignore it as he looked at her, face still red with embarrassment. He smiled, taking her other hand and moving closer to her.

"Do you know how to waltz?"

Ruby tucked her chin. "I hardly know how to dance," she admitted.

He chuckled. "It's okay, it's basically just stepping in a circle."

"I'll still find a way to screw it up," she muttered.

Roman wrapped his fingers around her chin. "It's okay. I don't mind if you step on my feet."

Her fluttering eyelashes made him falter. He stepped back and pulled her arm up to hide the blush he felt on his skin. She spun underneath his hand on cue, and upon turning back around to him, she smiled warmly.

"See? You got it."


Ruby snuggled closer to Roman as they sat on the bench, listening to the birds chirping in the park as people passed them by. He rested his head on hers as he took a deep breath. She ran her fingers across his bare skin, Roman having taken off his jacket to give to Ruby. There were goosebumps all up and down his arm, which Ruby considered weird—it wasn't that cold out.

Suddenly, Roman's phone rang, snapping them out of the moment and back into reality. Ruby reached into his jacket pocket and removed his scroll. "It's Neo," she said. "Do you want me to hang up?"

He sighed. "I can't. She knows I'm busy tonight—she wouldn't call unless it's important."

"Yeah, Neo?"

Ruby heard the dial tone immediately, Roman pulling the scroll away from her phone. She noticed immediately that she had sent a wall of text messages, but she could not decipher any of the words from her position.

Suddenly, Roman's eyes were blown wide.

"The police just raided my apartment."


Hi everyone! Another chapter today, heck yeah. I got a lot more time to write this because I had to call out sick from work yesterday...RIP. Hey, by the way, Mima and I just put up a forum that we're really just going to be using to respond to your guys' questions and tell you when we plan on updating, and I realize immediately that all of those questions may very well be "When can we expect the update?" But eh, I don't really care. It'll hold my bitch ass accountable. You should be able to find it by searching Satheon and Mimakiko under "forum." But anyways, thank you so much for reading!

T-tawny: THANK YOU lol it was so satisfying for me to write oh my goodness I felt so freaking clean and whole after finishing ch 28. Also, thank you for your very kind words. They made me smile :) You know, right after I swore because you unintentionally spoiled the next chapter...oopsies! But really, thank you haha

buzzsaw935: DANG IT am I that predictable? I'll try to do better lmao

-Sera

Hellooooo guys, I'm here to respond to reviews on Terra Incognita because I'm too lazy to open a forum thread. Maybe I'll do it later if more people review it. Oh well, that's for tomorrow's me to deal with.

Rosewick267: I'm so glad you liked it! (You know, sort of) Also, I feel that schoolwork on a SPIRITUAL level, dude. Holy crap.

T-tawny: NOOOOO lmao don't worry it's not the ending to Fallen World. I showed it to Sera and she was like "I'm never fucking doing this ever, you Satanist" or you know...something like that. Thank you so much for the support :)

-Mima