Sleep was hard to come, the night at the club playing on a constant loop in her head. When sleep did eventually find her, the scenes flashing in her mind clicked together into one long, horrifyingly vivid dream.

She was standing as if she was already part of the crowd, watching as a perfect copy of herself walked through the double doors, nervous excitement plain on her face. A smoke machine hissed next to her, the sudden noise making her flinch. In the split second that she looked away, the clone was gone. She pushed through the crowd as if she were the world's least interesting ghost. Not a soul paid any mind to her presence, even as she waved her hands curiously in front of them.

Reaching the main walkway, she glimpsed a flash of white, seeing herself leaning against the counter of an ornate circular bar. The other-her was flipping a single sided menu uninterestedly in her hands, not seeming to know what to do with herself. She walked up to stand next to her. Flashing neon lights and deafeningly loud electronic music pulsed on either side of them, the heat and sweat of a thousand others blanketing the room in a sickeningly sweet mist. She watched as her twin fiddled around in her purse, a twenty lien note slipping from the bag and being placed on the counter. Not a second after, a well dressed man in a white shirt and vest came to pour her a drink. Pointing at the brightest thing on the menu, she watched as an array of syrups and liquids were added to a shaker. An effervescent cerulean concoction poured from the cylinder, filling a wide bulbous glass to the brim. Hanging an orange wheel on the side and dropping a straw into it, the bartender set the cocktail in front of her and moved away. Looking quizzically to the side, she saw that her double was gone. Accepting the glass, she tentatively took a sip. Carbonated nail polish and fruit punch was how she would describe it, and the aftertaste was like sucking on a cherry scented dust cartridge.

Another flash of light and she saw herself searching for an empty seat. Her eyes landed on some strong-jawed hunter type, though maybe she just chose to remember him that way. He was slumped in front of a squat crystal tumbler, amber liquid twinkling with shards of melting ice. Looking up to acknowledge her presence, she got a closer look at the scraggly face hidden under greasy black hair. He must have been twice her age and already smelled of stale alcohol, but there was a certain mystery about him. A few empty seconds had him wave uncaringly at the empty stool next to him, to which she sat tactfully.

She struck up idle conversation as they finished their drinks, accepting his offer when he flagged down a server to buy another round. They chatted easily about news from the other Kingdoms, her assumptions being correct that the man was indeed a hunter by trade. As if he could be anything else, really. He seemed well-versed on the recent Torchwick attacks, which he was apparently on assignment for. The conversation moved to Beacon, Weiss outlining her own dreams of being a huntress. Coincidentally, he happened to have family there. He pulled out his scroll in an attempt to show her, Weiss watching pitifully as he struggled with the passcode for a long while. The screen flashed angrily with each failed entry, until he finally gave up and settled for just showing her the lock screen. A blurry picture that must have been him and his daughter was illuminated on the cracked display, their faces obscured by a ticking lock-out timer. She humored him, nodding along and complimenting how pretty she was, even though she couldn't really tell. The bartender came back a moment later, sliding a cup of water across the counter and telling the hunter not-so-kindly that he was cut off. He mumbled something under his breath, killed his drink, and stumbled awkwardly from the bar. Wishing him luck on his assignment, she watched with vague amusement as he shambled crookedly for the exit.

Alone again, she closed her eyes and let the music and sounds flow through her, a warm feeling spreading through her body. When she opened them again, blue met gold as she found herself staring into a pair of captivatingly colorful eyes far across from her. A waitress reached to grab something halfway between them, and when she moved away, they were gone. Tracing her gaze along the curve of the bar, she watched curiously as a confident teen roughly her age rounded the bend, sitting next to her with a flirtatious smile. He introduced himself, and she did so in kind, taking care to use the same fake name as before. Not that it would matter, she didn't plan on making any lasting friends here. He opened with some generic line about her looking so out of place alone, and she immediately took him as some kind of reprobate looking for an easy pickup. Flattery would get him nowhere, however, but the more he talked the more she found herself listening. He had a sense of humor, it turned out. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the energy of everyone partying like it was their last night on Remnant, but she finally felt at peace. It was as if at last the edge had been taken away and she had settled into the groove. Nothing existed outside of this little bubble; not Beacon, not Atlas, and definitely not her family name. Not even her team was here to add their own opinions to the mix. Here she could finally be no one, have no expectations. She turned away to fish more lien out of her purse, set it on the counter with a satisfying slap, and ordered another round of candied drinks.

Everything was a blur after that, dancing lights making long contrails across her vision as flashing strobes burned obnoxious holes in her retinas. She wiped the sweat off her face and steadied herself against the sway of the room, doing a doubletake when she saw the copy of herself again, this time swaying lazily on the dance floor. She was pressed in-between a dozen other warm bodies, all bobbing in complete chaos to the lethal hum of the music. She was swinging her arms gracefully in the air, eyes closed in complete bliss as the lithe charmer from before swayed alongside her. She struggled through the crowd, being pulled this way and that, until the spinning became too much. Losing her balance, she fell face first with a sharp clatter, loose coins and unwrapped table mints spilling from her pockets. She crawled feebly across the floor, covering her mouth as a hot noxious liquid drenched her sleeve. Something was pulling her up, and she blinked to find herself slouched over a pristine white sink. The sound of the running tap roared in her ears. Looking around dizzily, her gaze finally settled on the Weiss staring back at her. Her face was barely recognizable in the mirror, eyes twitching and black with pupil as a slow trickle of blood came from one nostril. Her tongue felt fuzzy and hot in her mouth, a thick trail of spittle hanging from her chin. She wiped it away and splashed her face in the cold water, tinting the sink a light pink color. When she looked up again, she was met with the same pair of piercing gold eyes as before.

Her fingers traced shapes and outlines on the wall as she was walked through an empty hallway.

"Wh-where are we g-going?" A voice that sounded just like hers echoed in her ears.

The crashing of a metal door was like a flashbang in her head, an instant migraine setting in. The air was colder now, and she could see the faint pinprick of stars dotting the sky. Her companion let go of her shoulder and reached for a scroll. Shrugging her off to talk into it, she stumbled clumsily against a nearby dumpster. Wrong. This was all wrong, a voice in her head kept telling her, pleading for her to open her eyes and run. Another wave of nausea overpowered the voice, and she fell behind the dumpster to be sick again. She was huddled in the corner, sandwiched between the dumpster and a pile of lumpy black trash bags when he found her again. His voice was angry, so angry. He yelled at her, reaching to pull her away as white-booted heels flung out to meet him. Why was he so mad at her? Pain spread across her flank as he kicked in return. She felt like she was sitting in the rain without an umbrella, tears running down her cheeks as hot pain wrapped around and covered her like a blanket. The sound of screeching tires filled the cramped alley, just as the crash of the metal door exploded again behind her. She felt herself rise, feet dragging dead across the ground as her head rocked back to stare at the swirling sky. More shouting, a desperate cry, and suddenly her lips were kissing the pavement as her world was turned on its side. A singsong of familiar staccato cracks rang in her ears, sounding through the night like a beautiful percussive chorus, and then darkness.

Her next dream had her walking again. She was walking without using her legs, floating like a ghost past empty halls and beaded curtains. The entrancing tone of pop music could be felt like a distant hammer pounding at the wall. She reached up to touch it, and saw long white sleeves trailing back to a bearded face. Swinging her arm to try and touch that too, the face dodged effortlessly back. More waves of nausea racked her body, and she opened her mouth to let them out. Closing her eyes with a groan, she opened them in what felt like seconds later to find herself laying in a dimly lit room. The ceiling and walls were spinning much slower now, but the whole room still felt like it was in motion. A girl that looked just like Ruby sat on a couch across from her, tapping lazily on her scroll. A lit cigarette was poised between her fingers, tracing intricate lines of smoke through the air.

"Ruby...?" Weiss tried and failed to sit up. "Is that you?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at Weiss and blew a mouth full of smoke at her. She coughed and turned away, the room rocking her to sleep again. When next she woke, the girl was gone. A black curtain swayed lazily in the corner of the room. Weiss tried to sit up again, falling off the side of the couch in a heap and taking a nearby ash tray with her. She grabbed onto the corner of the table it came from and used it to help her stand. Tripping over her feet like a newborn child who hasn't learned how to walk, she stumbled through the curtain into the now-empty hallway from before.

Backtracking past the walls with the shapes and outlines and through waterfalls of brightly colored beads, she eventually found the bright red exit door from before. Pressing against it with all her weight, she was once again submerged in the cool night air. The alley was empty now, mostly. A man was hunched across the edge of the dumpster picking through its contents. He stopped when she came out, but only gave her a second's glance before turning back to his task. She stepped over flattened boxes and litter until the sounds of traffic got louder. The rest of her dreams were of aching feet and falling rain, and when she opened her eyes again she was home.

Her eyes flicked open and darted back and forth around the room. She was scared, shivering, and drenched in sweat. Familiarity soothed her mind; the alarm clock ever presently counting the seconds next to her, scroll sitting on the charging docket beside it. Against the window was her desk with its neat stack of books. A pile of crumpled papers and candy wrappers were stuffed in the adjoining waste bin.

Safe. She was safe. At home in the middle of Beacon Academy. Not even a horde of Grimm could reach her here, so why was her heart still pounding? Tossing her blankets aside, she flicked a tangle of wet hair out of her eyes and made her way to the bathroom. She didn't bother flicking on the light, choosing instead to dump her toothbrush out of a nearby glass and fill it to the brim with water from the tap. She downed it in one go, gulping greedily at the tepid water. A cool icy feeling coursed through her. She tilted her head back and let the feeling spread, setting the glass back down with a clink.

"Get a hold of yourself..." She mumbled at her own pale reflection in the mirror.

Stepping back into her bedroom and glancing at the clock, she saw that the numbers have hardly moved since she called it a night. She wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse. More time to try for sleep, but that also meant more time to relive that same cursed dream. She made her way to the desk and sat for a moment, staring somberly out of the window. A vibrant green beacon of light shone from the top of the headmaster's tower, living up to the namesake of the academy.

"Maybe I should have gone to see him after all..." Weiss whispered to no one, continuing to stare into the inky black sky. Faintly, past Ozpin's tower and the Emerald Forest, the soft amber glow of Vale's perimeter wall could be seen blinking warmly into the night. It was a beautiful sight, but it only made her feel sick. Turning away with a sigh, she rubbed her eyes tiredly and walked back to bed, curling tightly into a ball under the sheets.