I should be studying for finals but here! Have this! This is set post v8, after the clip that was released at RTX. Content warning for blood and temporary character death. Enjoy!
Eventually, they decide to start exploring the forest. Their search of the beach hasn't turned up anything besides Ruby's beloved Crescent Rose, which she had quickly reclaimed. With no sign of their other teammates, they're going to have to start looking in other places.
Blake is just glad that she and Ruby found each other so quickly. It'd be a lot harder doing this on her own. Having Ruby with her always makes everything more bearable. Judging by the way Ruby smiles at her every time she glances over at her, the younger girl feels the same way.
No, not younger girl, woman. Ruby's grown so much since they started class together at Beacon, from a bright, cheerful girl that dreamed of fairytale endings to the powerful young huntress that walks alongside her now. Blake is happy to still be fighting at her side.
She just wishes that Ruby would lean on her more. Things have been so difficult lately, but Ruby refuses to talk to anyone about how she's feeling. She just smiles and insists that everything is fine.
But everything isn't fine, and they both know it. And Ruby can't keep going on like this forever. She's going to break eventually. Blake just hopes that she'll be able to put all the pieces back together when that happens.
Ruby's quiet as they walk through the seemingly endless trees. She's probably still trying to recover, physically and mentally, from Neo's attempt to strangle her. Blake still can't look at the dark bruises like handprints on her neck without flinching.
If she runs into Neo, she'll make her pay for that. To think that they could have lost Ruby—Blake shudders.
After what feels like forever, but is probably closer to an hour, they stumble across a small clearing. One look at Ruby is enough to see that she's exhausted, so Blake decides to suggest that they take a break for a bit. But before she can even open her mouth, Ruby's face goes white and she rushes over to the other side of the gap in the trees.
"Ruby, what—" Blake calls after her, the question dying in her throat when Ruby crouches down over what looks like a body. A body with red hair.
Blake feels her heart drop into her stomach, and that's before she hears Ruby cry "Penny!" in a hoarse and cracking voice.
Her entire body feels heavy as she slowly makes her way over to Ruby's side. Sure enough, it's Penny lying in the short grass, her eyes shut and long red hair tangled around her. She could almost be sleeping peacefully, except for the amount of blood soaking the front of her dress.
"Ruby," Blake manages to force out, then stops. She has no idea what she was trying to say, or what she even can say in this situation. After everything that's happened, it just seems too horrible, too cruel, to be real.
But it is real.
Ruby looks up at her, her eyes red and puffy and shining with unshed tears. She has one of Penny's limp hands clasped tightly in her own. "She's dead, Blake," she says dully. "I tried so hard to save her, and she's dead."
"Ruby," Blake says again, shoving down her own grief in favor of comforting her friend. However bad she feels, for Ruby, she must feel ten times worse. "This isn't your fault. You couldn't have—"
"But it is!" Ruby exclaims quietly, tears spilling over and trailing down her cheeks. "I should've been there! I should have protected her! I should've—" Her voice breaks and she starts to cry in earnest, burying her face in her hands. A few tears spill through her fingers anyway, dripping onto Penny's pale, lifeless face.
Their friend, gone. Another person lost in this seemingly endless war against Salem. And Ruby is falling to pieces right in front of her.
Blake can practically feel her heart breaking. "Ruby," she murmurs, gathering her friend into her arms and pulling her close. "This isn't your fault. You did everything you could, and you and Penny both know that. Don't blame yourself. Penny loved you, and she wouldn't want that."
Ruby doesn't respond except to cry harder, her sobs rising to near howls as she buries her face in Blake's chest. That has to be painful with her still-bruised throat, but Ruby is too lost in her grief to notice. Her fingers, wet with blood, clutch at the front of Blake's shirt, leaving streaks of red on the fabric.
Blake hardly notices. The world seems to have narrowed down to her and Ruby. Nothing else matters in this moment. She rests her chin on top of Ruby's head for a moment, closing her eyes and letting a few tears of her own leak out and drip into Ruby's hair.
When she opens her eyes again, she notices a faint silver glow coming from beside her, and frowns. She cranes her neck to look, only to see that the light is coming from Penny's body. As she watches, stunned, the blood covering Penny slowly disappears, as if wiped away by invisible hands.
The glow brightens as Penny's skin slowly regains its normal color, and Blake can almost see her chest start to rise and fall, as if she's still breathing. "Ruby," she finally says, forcing herself to snap out of her stunned disbelief. "Ruby, something's happening to Penny."
Ruby finally raises her head, sniffling, her face red and blotchy from crying, just as the light becomes so bright that it's impossible to look at. "Blake," she gasps, sitting up and pushing away slightly. "What is that?"
"I don't know," Blake admits. She doesn't know how to even try to explain this to Ruby. "I've never seen anything like this."
As they both watch, the glow continues to get stronger, until they both have to squeeze their eyes shut to avoid going blind. When Blake opens her eyes, the light has faded, gone as quickly as it appeared.
And Penny is still there, looking as if nothing had happened. Clean of any blood, pale but not deathly so, and—breathing. Blake blinks several times, but it isn't her imagination.
Ruby gasps loudly, crawling back over to Penny's side, once more taking one of her hands in her own. She gasps again. "She's alive, Blake." She leans over Penny's face, tapping gently. "Penny, are you there? Penny, please wake up!"
Penny's face scrunches, and then slowly, miraculously, her eyes open, revealing cracks of brilliant bright green. She blinks a few times, looking as confused as they are, before she opens her mouth. "Ruby?"
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