The Last Lifeboat

by DrTwit

Ruby Rose is dead. It wasn't Salem. It wasn't hordes of Grimm. It wasn't a stylish self-sacrifice for victory. It was a giant fish that drowned her. Many spend their life wondering who they are, and that question only gets more important for Ruby when she wakes up from her supposed death as Audry Averg.

2. Gasping For Air

There was no thought at first, just a building surge of curiosity before it imploded in confusion. The where, the who and how's were a jumbled mess that her mind could process. Then there were voices, many, many voices, too muffled to be understood, but the emotions they screamed rattled her brain. Some brought up a sense of familiarity, some downright terrified her, but she didn't know why.

She didn't know.

She didn't know…

What did she know? Her mind was so frazzled that for the moment she couldn't quite grasp the bare essentials of her identity or memories, just vague images and voices clawing at her head.

Nothing made sense anymore. The world was flipped upside down and drenched in an unsightly green. Was she still drowning? Was she even alive? Her eyes were wide with panic, her movements frantic, every breath like a rusty nail against her throat as she was forced to breathe through a tiny device covering her mouth. There was no physical feeling, just a dull numbness overtaken by the cold void engulfing her body. Even as her head tilted to see her body bound by a tight straight jacket, limbs locked together by belts, and a vast array of tubes and wiring digging into her back. She couldn't feel them piercing her flesh, but she was pretty sure that lack of feeling just made it even more horrifying to see.

Her body shook more, arms lashing out as much as they could, falling weak against her restraints as the effort was proved futile. She didn't want much, she just wanted to move, to take something off. If she could speak, she would beg to whatever was out there, just let her go, just let her gasp. By god, just let her scream. It was as if she were drowning, but her body never gave out, that pressure strangling her never ended, stuck in a perpetual state of desperation for air.

Suddenly, a seam formed at the bottom of her vision, a small cut in the dimly lit prison that gave way to light. It was small at first, but it slowly tore itself upwards, blinding her with the world outside, before the water dragged her through it. It was only then, when the warm air battered against her exposed cheeks, that she was allowed to gasp. She could feel again.

Everything hit her all at once.

It was sensory overload, the throbbing headache hitting her like a truck, the dryness of her mouth, the chill of the warm air rushing into her lungs as the device hit the floor and relief of her arms as the straight jacket loosened its bounds. She remembered the boat, she remembered the Grimm, she remembered what she lost. She remembered that she died. "Wh- Where am I?" It hurt to speak for a second, forcing her breath to push through her lungs like normal, turning her question into a series of hacking coughs and wheezing.

She could see clearer now, seeing herself in a crumpled mess at the foot of a large wall monitor, a quick glance showed her a picture of her lined up with different graphs and a heart monitor. At her back stood a large pillar reaching into the blinding lights that covered the ceiling, multiple pods like her own hanging off of it like leaves from a tree, multiple bodies being spat out in a dazed stupor as she had.

"Careful now, you haven't walked in a while there, your body needs to re-adjust." The sway of her body came to a stop as two firm hands took hold of her shoulder, urging her to her feet and directing her back to the pod, allowing her to lean against it for support. She couldn't bring herself to look up at his face, but she recognized the voice a little. A softness and underlying awkwardness masked by optimism, not unlike her own.

"Who… Who…" She couldn't finish as she felt the pit of her stomach rumble again, ready to vomit the emptiness away. Her body doubled over, the images of the past flashing once more, this time striking her like a burning iron. "Y-Yang?" She cried out for her sister, for her family. Were they all alright? If she'd survived, then they had to as well. Maybe Uncle Qrow came to save them at the last minute. That's what he does best. "Uncle Qrow?" Ruby tried to push off of the wall, to prove to herself that her legs could still walk, but the man trying to calm her never left her side, keeping her still. She wanted to snap at him for keeping her down, but her scowl quickly dissolved when she looked up to finally face him. "Oscar?"

There was no mistaking that mop of bent black hair or those eyes Oscar shared with the late headmaster. The mere sight of him made her feel safer. They must have been rescued; they must have been. Though, she had to say this was a weird-looking Atlas facility. And since when did hospitals use pods to heal people?

"Ruby?" The voice was low, barely noticeable if not for the fact that Ruby could clearly see Oscar's lips not moving. "Ruby!" This time, the voice called louder, but Ruby had no time to recognize it before Oscar jumped back and arms pulled her into a tight embrace against a lean chest. His hold loosened to allow Ruby a better view of his messy blond hair and blue eyes she knew so well.

"Wait… JAUNE!" Her heart swelled just by crying out his name, tears streaming down her cheeks as she jumped up to tackle her boyfriend's neck, swinging off of his shoulders. "I thought you were-"

"You were gone-"

"-I was alone-"

"-Everything was cold-"

"-Grimm everywhere-"

"-I was drowning-"

The two dorks couldn't tell who was saying what, but they didn't care, they just wanted to make sure they could smother each other with how terrified they were. They both broke away from their babbling, breaking out into a shared laugh that they desperately needed the comfort of, before just trading smiles.

Ruby added simply "I was worried."

Jaune countered "I was worried more."

Ruby stuck her tongue out and claimed victory "I was worried times infinity." At this point, her boyfriend admitted defeat with a bemused roll of his eyes. However, when his head briefly leaned back, Ruby noticed something off. It was definitely Jaune, that she knew for certain, but now that she got a better look at him, there were some additions. His muscles had shrunk somewhat, not back to his beacon days, but definitely less than he had before. He was leaner overall and there was an odd smell coming off of him, like old furniture. And then there was the little thing that stuck out most of all. "You look… Um…"

"What?" Jaune stared at her blankly, the twitching of his lips pulling at that 'thing'.

After several seconds of trying to come up with the best way to say it, Ruby just bit the bullet and blurted it out. "Jaune, when did you grow a tacky mustache?" There it was, nestled comfortably above his up lip, a strip of blond hair tickling at his nose, straight and unkempt. It wasn't big, didn't even reach his cheeks, just a small natural garden that made Ruby cringe a little. It really gave Jaune that… Old weary janitor look. A dashing janitor, of course! She added mentally.

"What!?" His eyes went from bemused confusion to shocked awe when his finger brushed past his bushy lip cover. "What the hell is going on?" The rest of his fingers joined in, squishing, pulling and stretching the hair in the hopes that it turned out to be a fake. No matter how hard he pulled, nothing came off. It was real. However, his surprise didn't end there as his eyes now turned on Ruby, looking over her far more intently than she was used to. Suddenly, about of self-consciousness about her appearance flickered in her mind. These straight jackets weren't doing any of them any favors. "Have you grown… Older?" Jaune asked after a minute of awkward staring, his fingers now poking at her shoulders curiously.

She wanted to open her mouth to question it, but now that he put the idea in her mind, she did notice that instead of her head reaching his chest during their hug, now she was able to quite easily rest her chin against his neck. She'd gotten taller somehow. Looking down at her hands, she immediately noted that her skin was a warmer color, less pale and tighter pulled around her bones. Quickly, she whirled around to the pod, lowering the door slightly so she could gauge her reflection in the glass. Her hair looked familiar, yet tamer. No strands of hair sticking out, no stylized look, not even any dark colors mixed in with the tips of her hair, just a plain dark redhead with short, straightened and finely cut hair. Jaune was right, she seemed older. The thing that made her gasp was when she noticed her eyes. They were brown. "How… How long were we out?"

"For Pete's sake, did you not hear the announcement?" The loud voice startled the two, underscored by an accent that was hard to nail down. There was a lightness to it that choked by an undertone of grit and smoke, drowned in cheap alcohol. "I swear, you're the type of blighters that need stickers to remind you not to poke plug sockets." The stepped into view with a scroll held out in front of him, his mechanic uniform displaying 'Merlot Corp' on its chest while his cap bound together with a handful of silver hair.

Shrugging off the man's comments, Ruby focused on his attire and voice. Bright orange and black color scheme? Grimey and scraggly? Loud and not a hint of higher class tone? "You don't look or sound Atlesian."

"Let me guess. Whatever mud land your arse is from calls you the smart one, ey?" He followed that with a wolfish grin and chuckle oozing with slime. "Oh, look, here comes the next one." He nodded to the other side of the pod setups, where two more people stepped into view, a man and a woman.

"I can barely hear you, my ears are ringing…" Ruby didn't recognize Blake until she spoke, like the familiar elements of the look couldn't come together without that one puzzle piece. Her hair was back to the long set of quills it used to be, but now it straightened out to a very professional look, with some of her hair showing inklings of white. Her frame was thinner, legs longer and less defined, but Ruby could definitely see Blake through it all. And, weighing the odds considering everything else, she then assumed the unusually tall man beside Blake, hair lacking the pink streaks, a more defined chin and eyes that had lost all color was Ren.

As Blake stumbled closer, Ruby could swear that Blake no longer had her cat ears, but she quickly dismissed the ideas. They were probably tucked under her hair. "Whoa, Blake, you don't look so good." Like Oscar had done for her, Ruby quickly moved to her teammate to act as a stable object for Blake to lean on.

"The same could be said about all of us, I think." Ren's voice was flat, slow and methodical. His eyes gazed around the room, but nothing changed in his expression. He was either taking this better than everyone else or he was taking it the worst and completely shut down.

Their new attendant, however, couldn't shut up and give them time to adjust. "You were told to stop moving! Sit down, you numpties, or you'll turn your legs to jelly. The last one we had in here forgot how to feel, ran out of the room with a bunch of glass shards shoved up his bum."

"Look here-" Jaune started looking for any name tags on the man as he talked, trying to remain polite and casual. However, he had to pause when he finally located a name sewn into the man's sleeve. "Wait… Ozpin?"

Apparently, their previous headmaster nodded at them, adjusting his familiar spectacles yet still speaking with a voice that was a far cry from the tempered and wise vocals they were used too. "Well, at least you remembered how to read quickly."

All four friends were cognitive enough to look at each other and share visual confusion, all of them were for sure hearing and saying the same thing. "I… We don't understand, how could you be here?" Blake stepped forward, trying to get a better look at the man. He did look like Ozpin, but how? Did Oscar and him somehow separate while they were on a mission? Then why would Ozpin be speaking and treating them like this? "What is this place?" There was a pause as the flickering thought entered her mind that Qrow or Yang would know what was going on. "Where are our friends?"

'Ozpin' just laughed once more, tapping his scroll against his head cheekily. "Oh, come on, you don't have any of those right now otherwise you wouldn't be here. Ey? Ey?" When all he received was silence, he waved them off dismissively. "Come off it, I'm just joking."

"Can you please start making sense?!" Ruby cried out, her patience coming up short as Ozpin's frustrating behavior dragged out. "Where are we? Where's the ship? Where's the Grimm? Are we still in Atlas?"

He dropped his scroll on the table and stretched out lazily on a chair, not showing the barest hint of understanding. "Well, we haven't seen the Grimm in a while now with the Huntsman clearing 'em out every now and then." There was a pause for the man's face to break into a smile, wiggling a gloved finger at them. "Course, we had to tone down their difficulty for your experience." The smile became a frown when he was only treated with more blank stares and confused looks. He rolled his eyes with a frustrated growl. "Don't you get it? For the past year, you've been roleplaying in a virtual simulation. Never heard of video games before?"

"Simulation?" Ruby's words were barely understandable through her hard scoffing. The idea sounded insane. She stared at the man intently, looking for a crazy grin or overbearing laughter to overtake him.

Ozpin, however, was simply unimpressed as he repeated "Artificial reality? A fabrication of real life? God, do you prats know anything?".

Blake stood stone still, one eye raised while the other closed like she was expecting to blink away some sleep deprivation that would allow this to make sense. "Are you saying we were just playing a game this whole time?" Her voice came with an edge of unimpressed offense, like to even attempt to tell them this odd conclusion was insulting to her. "Our adventures, the fight against Salem, our deaths… All it just an elaborate digital construction for our entertainment?" In exasperation with what she just said, she looked around to her companions, finding solidarity that they were just as disbelieving as she was.

"Pretty much. How'd you like the graphics? Pretty slick, ey?" None of them responded, still united in the thought of 'is this guy for real?'. Ozpin was still going with this story and, begrudgingly, they had to admit he did sound pretty convinced. "Well, we did have a slight issue, about half-way through your run I had to switch out the graphics card for the updated engine. Let me tell you, the shift between two virtual platforms is hell on an Engineer's day." Another choking chuckle followed as Oscar approached them, lugging a toolbox under his arm. "This lad right here spent a week removing assets because the new engine couldn't handle loading all those locations at once."

"Haven did seem a bit empty…" Ren noted idly.

Ozpin pulled the toolbox out of Oscar's grasp, the smaller boy looking over the group with wide smiles. Ruby wanted to confront him on whatever joke Ozpin was playing, but she found the words caught in her throat when she saw how he looked at her, it was different. He didn't look at her like you would a friend, but like a complete stranger you'd never met before. Ozpin continued talking as he rummaged through the box. "Ah, Haven, such a tragedy. You know, I think it's utter rubbish that the restored content mod hasn't been integrated into the standard system yet, you just miss so much content from Mistral."

Jaune already had his fair share of problems with Ozpin even when the man wasn't there, the situation not helped by Ozpin's apathetic and unsympathetic humor. Frustration quickly built up in Jaune's stomach before exploding into him angrily slamming his hand against Ozpin's table, just hoping for one moment this man would take this seriously. "I'm sorry, but this makes no sense!" He yelled, looking to the rest of his friends to make sure they were on the same page. "Our lives couldn't have been fake. I remember arriving at Beacon, I remember Ruby exploding, I remember everything with Pyrrha and when she… I remember… That couldn't be fake."

The man wasn't fazed, grinning up at Ozpin with a face that was only becoming more and more punchable. "Technology can do wonders these days, Lad."

Blake, for the most part, was doing a far better job of holding back her irritation, merely letting it sink into her voice like venom. "At least our situation is amusing for you."

The man just paused mid-rummaging, procuring an odd-looking screwdriver and shrugging. "Hey, by the hundredth time ya watch another drunk bloke stagger out of that pod and back to their real life, you just learn to laugh at the silly faces. Like, right now you look like a fish caught on a hook when it's cheek is getting pulled out." To help his point, he hooked one finger inside his cheek and pulled it out with an expression that seemed to say 'obvious, ain't it?'.

Oscar seemed to notice the rising tension, immediately jumping in between the two speakers with an awkward smile and hands spread out like a wall. His voice was soft and encouraging, his face slowly unfurling into a grimace to reflect his understanding. "It'll be hard to take in, I know, but your memories will come back either way. So… So, it's better to accept it now rather than just stewing in it. Believe me, it'll all wear off soon."

Eyebrows furrowed at these words. On one hand, they all appreciated that Oscar was being far more understanding than the man calling himself Ozpin, but his words weren't that reassuring. They still tried to support this ridiculous narrative. Jaune opened his mouth to respond, but he was quickly pulled back by Ruby, her eyes giving a voiceless order for them all to group up for a second. There were no words exchanged, just exasperated faces and strained gestures. Ruby bit down on her upper lip as Ozpin's words hammered away at her mental focus. It was ridiculous, impossible even, for it to be true. And everyone else knew it couldn't be true. That had to mean something, right? They couldn't all be crazy or mishearing the situation, so something had to be up.

Ren offered a simple answer to the silent question. "Ignoring the possibility of a very bizarre joke, this could just be shared delirium from our sustained trauma on the boat. It'll fade as we heal, hopefully."

Ruby, who had little to no knowledge of medical science to judge Ren's conclusion, nodded firmly. "So, we should just play along for now."

As the rest of the group nodded in agreement, Ozpin's voice boomed over them once more, his tone much giddier. "Say, which one of you was playing Blake?"

Something about that question felt insulting, but Ruby couldn't quite put her finger on it, only seeing that it was reflected in Blake's narrowed eyes as she turned back to him. "Uh, that would be me."

He'd thrown his screwdriver to the side now, a loud slap breaking through the churning of machinery as he clapped his hands together. "Oh, you dog you. Who was your favorite?"

Blake's face was completely blank. "My favorite what?"

"You know. Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more, say no more." His lips curved into a lecherous smile and eyes half-lidded as he leaned forward. "Your favorite snuggle buddy, tummy tickler, bed knocker; say no more, say no more."

"You could just say 'sexual partners'." Blake's voice fought to remain calm, but her eyes betrayed her annoyance and confusion with a twitch. "I didn't have time for that stuff, we were on a quest to save the world."

"You didn't sleep with anyone?"

It was such a blunt and odd question that Blake's face broke into innocent bewilderment, stammering for a moment. "Should I have?"

"That's the whole point of the game for your character!"

"What? I thought it was fighting for Faunus rights?" Everyone looked just as taken aback by her. She always talked about the Faunus, always worked towards the Faunus, everything she did revolved around the Faunus, so how could that have not been her objective?

"Yeah, at first, but when Salem releases the toxic Faunus plague that wipes out the Faunus population, it falls to you with your harem to bring the next generation of Faunus." Blake was at a loss for words, not just from the absurdity of it all, but from just how casual and matter of fact the man made it sound. Like it wasn't a strange thing to say.

She looked to her teammates for support but only found them giving her incredulous looks. Ruby was wide-eyed with parted lips, Jaune was confused and Ren was silently weirding her out. "…Stop judging me!"

Ozpin hopped to his feet, ignoring Blake's cries as he slinked over to Jaune, elbowing the boy in the ribs playfully. "And Jaune, ey? How'd you do?"

Taking this delirious situation in stride now that Ruby and Ren had calmed them, Jaune proudly puffed out his chest and stood in a powerful pose, lips brimming with confidence. "Well, I think I got the hang of MY character pretty quickly." He spread out his hand, a smile twisting with a delayed shrug, throwing modesty out of the window. "Really, I had him sussed from the start. He was so obvious."

A short whistle cut through him, Ozpin nodding and for the first time looking impressed. "Oh? You found the God Shard that early, huh?"

Jaune stopped. He looked at everyone else, keeping up the smug look, but now with much less energy as he quickly asked: "Sorry, the what?".

"The piece of the God of Light that lives inside Jaune. You know, the God of Light left a piece of himself behind to be reborn as a human with no memory and gain a greater understanding of the mortals he governed. He inherits his ultimate power, becomes a divine warrior and realizes he's not good enough to be a God, so he gives Ruby the final piece she needs to ascend and become a new Goddess of Remnant."

There was a delay of a few seconds before Jaune and Ruby collectively yelled out "WHAT?!"

Ozpin, once more, shrugged it off, indifferent to their confusion, but amused by their mistake. "It's obvious, innit? How Jaune could live in Remnant for so long and not know any basic facts about it? Why did he have so much aura? Why does the Headmaster character just let him into Beacon and make him team leader despite showing no skill and forging his documents? Why's Tyrian interested in him? Because of his fractured memory and true identity." When they still didn't seem to get it, Ozpin's eyes widened, and he began to splutter. He dropped back into his seat, gasping for breath as laughter threatened to shatter his insides, erupting from his mouth like a broken voice box. He couldn't even try to contain himself. "Hang on. Hang on a bloody minute. Are you telling me you've been playing the useless twat version of Jaune this entire time!?" His fist slammed against the chair, followed by another howl of laughter as Jaune's short-lived smugness drained from his face. "Oh, that's too much, lad. Too much!"

Ruby didn't believe a word of this, she really didn't. But she did feel the sudden need to snuggle up against her boyfriend's arm to give him support, his own expression falling even deeper at the man's laughter.

A beeping sound from above them stole away the rest of the conversation, prompting Oscar to jump up and peer through a computer monitor that Ruby could only see the back of. "Ozpin, the next group is on their way, we should really speed this up."

"Speed this up?" Jaune managed to squeak out incredulously.

Ren seemed to concur with the statement, still seemingly reserved and trying not to react too much. "We still have so many questions!"

Jaune caught his voice and added on "I haven't even processed it yet. What do we do?"

"Calm down, Love. Just head down there to the recuperation chamber and your memories will start coming back soon." Ozpin stretched every syllable as one does with a child as if the four weren't listening to what was being said.

Blake balked at this, her arms flapping up before dropping back down in a half-finished gesture. "Just sit and wait? That's your solution?"

By this point, Ozpin was back on his feet, incessantly shooing the group away, towards the now open door. "If you don't mind, I have to set up for the next group. Go."

As they were hurried along, they spotted another group of four being shuffled past them, bearing a similar color scheme to their own. "And our memories will come back?"

"Well, there are some cases where they never come back… But I'm sure you'll be fine. Go!" And just like that, the door slammed down, locking them out with Jaune pushing against it, desperate to get back inside.

There they stood, in the middle of a brightly lit room that was only just a bit bigger than a prison cell, with not a word between them. Ruby found Blake was just staring ahead, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought. Ren leaned against the wall, his fingers burrowing into the underside of his chin, just able to see the trembling of his flesh as he finally let the impact show. And Jaune had propped himself up against the thick steel door, pushing with all his might and yelling at Ozpin to open this door so he could… He never answered what he'd do, with Ruby going so far as to assume that Jaune had nothing in mind, but this seemed to be far less about accomplishing something and more about resisting Ozpin's words and directions. Her arms hooked around his waist, lightly tugging him back as his knuckles still wrapped even against the air, his skin flushed red with sweat and his eyes shut tight. "Jaune, please, no use hurting yourself." At her pleading, he stopped, his body language immediately deflating and his lower lip trembling. She hugged him tighter as she saw it, saw that he was scared of accepting what they'd been told after things were becoming harder to dismiss as fiction.

Around them, the chairs were simple cushions with legs outlining a small coffee table and Ren was already sinking into one of them, his head in his hands and his breathing exercises already on the way. Blake was the first to break up the silence, taking multiple attempts to keep her voice steady as she talked. "So… This is it then?" Another silent pause as they all felt the air around them weigh down on their minds. Ruby struggled to keep her face hopeful as she witnessed how Blake and Ren, two people she knew for keeping a clear head and in check, looking utterly defeated. "This is really happening?"

"Looks like it…" Ren muttered, breathing deeply into his hands.

"This is real." Jaune pushed off of Ruby and paced about the room, fingers running through his new haircut and pulling it back.

"There's always the chance we're all just having the same nightmare." When Ruby spoke, she immediately felt like a wall of eyes surrounded, staring down at her with silent judgment and withheld bitterness. Her words were lost to the void as everyone else seemed to just dismiss them, whether because they couldn't hear them or they couldn't take them, she didn't know.

"So… Is that it?" Jaune almost sounded like he was choking, not even bother to try and hide his bitterness anymore. "Our lives, our friends… Our families? We're just supposed to accept that they were fake?" He almost tried to punch the wall, but he decided against it at the last second, stopping his hand and just angrily shaking it. "We don't even know who each other is, do we?"

The other two slumped at his words, but Ruby shook her head firmly and jumped between them. Reaching out to both of them with outstretched hands. "Hey, I know who you guys are. We worked together for years."

This time Jaune did punch the wall, the loud 'thwomp' causing the girl to jump in fright. "No, our avatars worked together for years. We probably didn't even know each other's names before we got hooked up." He turned around, his back settling against the wall as he nursed is now bruised knuckles.

Ruby sighed, stepping up to her boyfriend with a comforting smile, resting her fingers on his hurt hand, but he just ripped it away, as if frightened by her touch. Her eyes widened and her hand went to her heart, it hurts more than she realized to see them all like this. "We have to remain calm. It won't do us any good to start stressing ourselves out." She found it hard to control her voice, but she knew she had to remain together and calm to keep everyone else from sinking deeper.

"You want us to remain calm?" He spat out, the surprising amount of venom under his tone made Ruby shrink under it, her heart feeling as small as she used to be. She'd never had Jaune lash out at her like this before. It didn't feel nice. "We had families, people we loved and would die for. Now, we wake up… And everyone's a stranger." He pushed past Ruby, leaving her in silence as he stomped around the room, trying to work off all these emotions overwhelming him. Ruby shuttered for a moment. She wasn't a stranger. She wasn't. Jaune didn't mean it, right? He's just… Stressed.

As if to save them all from dealing with the outburst, the door pulled itself up to reveal a tall and strict looking woman wrapped in nurse's garb. She had a resemblance to Glynda Goodwitch. "Ah, you must be the Jenkins party."

They looked at each other oddly, then back as Blake shook her head. "I think you have the wrong room."

'Glynda' looked down at her scroll, eyes flipping through presumably a list before furrowing in confusion. "No, Recuperation Room 078, Jenkins party."

"Oh god." Jaune's groans were sad to hear, but they at least sounded better than his spite. The man scratching the back of his head as he exclaimed "One of us has the last name 'Jenkins'. No wonder we went for more colorful names in the game."

The woman either didn't take note of their conversation or didn't care, pulling behind her a trolley with four large duffle bags, which she proceeded to drop on the table before them and stroll out, not a comment of explanation or comfort to be heard. Everyone seemed to distance themselves from the bags as if the lady had just trapped them in the room with explosives that would trigger with any sudden moves. Blake breathed out a sigh. "Four Bags." Her eyes flickered between her friends. "Four people." A gulp was heard from Jaune. "Looks like our answers are here."

Ren nodded in agreement, eyes peering down at the bag, looking over them through hesitant eyes stuck in a mid-flight-or-fight response. "Who wants to take the plunge?"

"I'll do it." There was no hesitation for Ruby, she let her confidence and strength flood into her voice as she fearlessly stepped forward. She was determined to hold her friends together through this crisis, and she would, whether they were helping her or not. She just had to show them that there was nothing to worry about and everything would be fine. "I know this is… This is a hard moment, but I know who I am, and I know who you guys are. You're my friends. No matter what happens. Even if it turns out you all have really bad names… I'll be sticking with you every step of the way." They all looked up at her with reserved, but desperate looks. They flickered back and forth but nodded with a silent thanks for the kind words. Even here, they would still follow her lead. With that, Ruby turned to the first bag, planting one foot firmly on the table to push herself over it as she unzipped the top, eyes narrowing as she peeled through the inside.

"Well, one of you is a complete neat freak." Her voice came off lighter, hoping she could alleviate some tension with some levity. She started pulling items out one by one. "Pressed suits from a century ago, three layers of handkerchiefs, way too many shades, two bottles of hand sanitizer, all labeled in alphabetical order and-" In her palm, a very dangerous looking handgun gleamed under the light. It was stainless steel, resembling Ironwood's gun, but a lot bulkier with different 'levels' printed across the barrels. According to its label, it was nicknamed the 'Hand Canon'. "Whoa, someone's packing heat." Perhaps at least one of them was still a Huntsman in this world.

"Any id?" Jaune asked, a sliver of envy breaking from his gaze as he looked at the mean-looking firearm.

"Here it is! Let's- Huh…" She slid a thin card out from the front pouch, holding it up to the light where her lips parted for an impressed whistle. In one smooth motion, she tossed the card at Ren, who had enough reflexes to swipe it out of the air. "Hello, Operator Kuriyuri."

His brow perked up, intrigued ass he gazed over the front of the card. "There's no first name."

Ruby shrugged, finger pressed against her temple. "Hey, maybe your parents just had a really specific career path planned for you and named you 'Operator'."

"So what? You're a doctor?"

Blake took a sideways glance at the blond doofus. "Jaune, why would a doctor be packing a gun?"

"Look at the back," Ren flipped the card over, showing them a familiar set of initials behind a set of different numbers and dates. "SDC branding." His pinky came up to tap against the bottom blurb. "Seems I have a license to kill."

Immediately, Ruby cast aside the tension of the situation in favor of being amazed, even if this probably didn't compare to a Huntress status. "Wow, Ren, you must be some sort of super-secret agent like Johnny Thunder or 0011!"

Ren got up to pursue his supposed belongings himself, uncovering a small, purple book with no title. He regarded it with suspicion, with all the technology around them, it seemed odd to have a physical paper journal. "And a notebook? I'll look at it later."

As he picked up the duffle bag and brought it over to his chair, Ruby moved on to the next reveal. "Next up is…" When the zip was pulled, it was like the bag exploded with a thick fog of old gym shorts and cheap deodorant, blasting fumes into the nose of poor, helpless Ruby. She reeled back in horror, clutching her nose tightly. Like the brave hero she was, her free hand ventured into the bag and grabbed a hold of some thick fabric and yanking it out. In her hand, she held aloft a long, sad-looking coat with its color long since drained. "What innocent animal was butchered and stuffed in here? It smells horrible. Ew."

Jaune rolled his eyes at the exaggerated reaction. "You're overreacting, Ruby. It's just a vomit green coat."

He was surprised to find Blake raising her hand, her face weary as she reeled back from the coat. "No, no, she has a point. That…" She struggled to call it a coat as she repeatedly pointed at it, spluttering out "That thing needs to be burned."

The coat safely cast into the corner of the room where it could harm no one else, Ruby procured the next article of clothing, a pair of large, bright orange shoes stretching far too wide to fit on anyone's foot. "Look these shoes. Is one of you a clown? And this plaid flask is just tacky." Next up was a wallet covered in ripped up receipts, threads hanging loosely over the side in abundance. "Here's the wallet." Flipping it open, more paper dropped out, but she soldiered on and pulled back layers of pouches to find anything that could identify the owner. "A Fruity Tootie club card, expired. A keycard to a room at the 'Open Lotus'. A button. A button. A button. A-"

Ren held up his hand as A pile of buttons flooded out of the wallet from different holes. "A lot of buttons, we get it."

The next item made Ruby's eyes bulge out as she cautiously held the next item by the corner of it's packaging with her nails. "Who keeps a condom in their wallet?!"

Everyone had their fair share of reactions, Jaune most of all looking appalled. "A sad, sad person. No dignity, no pride, just desperation and-" Jaune stopped mid-sentence as he noted everyone's eyes on him, resulting in his next gasp coming out as more of a sob. "Oh god, I'm a Jenkins…" Ruby hesitantly pulled out the ID to confirm. "A Larry Jenkins!" He dropped onto his seat with a howl, throwing his head back as his fingers massaged his temples. "I can see it all. I walk around in clown shoes, wear some rags I probably stole from a hobo, grew a car dealership stache, live off of unemployment checks, spend my days complaining about women on the internet, can barely open a door let alone lift weights and carry around a condom one size too big to feel better about myself." He gripped his hair tightly, groaning like a creaky wooden floor. "Since when did being Jaune Arc become an upgrade!?"

Ruby awkwardly rushed over to him, patting his back like one would poke a strange animal, not entirely sure how to comfort someone like this. "Breath, Jaune. Breathe." She started nervously giggling because she was always told that laughter was infectious, but Jaune seemed immune so far. "It's okay. Jenkins is a great name, right guys?" She finished that sentence with enough emphasis on the request for encouragement, that it came out as a threatening grunt to Blake and Ren.

"Uh, yeah… Totally…" Ren gave off the most unenthusiastic woo Ruby had ever heard.

Blake nervously forced a smile as she held up a big thumbs up for Jaune. "Rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

"Do they?" Jaune asked, head in hands and utterly defeated.

Ruby squeezed torso in a tightly knit hug, calling out loudly to Blake "Yes, we do!" Again, she set off with the laughter, pulling away and slipping past Jaune to pick up the odd shoes with all her enthusiasm pumped to elven. "And clown shoes? Man, I love clowns! They're like the symbols of childhood wonder. You're a wonder, Jaune."

Jaune got to his feet, teeth gritted, and eyes determined as he repeated Ruby's words under his breath, getting louder and more confident with every repeat. "Yeah… You're right. I am a wonder. A man who brings joy to those around him. A man who knows there are more important things than the small conveniences in life like good clothes and frivolous pleasantries. Someone who's considerate enough to always have protection ready, because he knows he'll be getting it, but knows that it's cool to be safe! Not a loser who'd… Throw away months of his life living in a virtual reality game." And all at once he deflated once more, groaning out a bitter sigh before moving past Ruby. He could at least help with unloading the bags, picking up the next one and rummaging around for an ID. "And behind bag number three is… Ruby!"

At the mention of her name, Ruby was filled with a sudden burst of excitement. Yes, this situation hadn't been the best so far, but there was always that tingling sensation of whimsy at the mystery of her own 'identity'. Again, she didn't believe any of this for a second, but it was like waking up on Christmas day and hoping you didn't get socks again. "Yes, I'm next. Who am I? Am I someone famous? Am I amazing? Maybe I'm a truck driver. Or a superhero. Gotta be a huntress at least, right?"

Jaune held her at arm's length as she bounced on over to him, desperately reaching for the ID as Jaune read it out. "Audry Averg. That's an… Odd name."

Ruby's spunk faded a little from that reveal, but she still didn't let it push her down. A name was just one thing, you could change your name, but what about her life? "Okay, not as cool as Ruby Rose, but that's fine. What have I got in my big bag of goodies?"

"Uh… Blankets. Some tissues. A slinky. A wallet…" With every announcement, Ruby's smile twisted into a progressive frown, eyes sinking and shoulders sagging. "Hey, some gum! Oh, it's cardboard flavored."

"That can't be it!" She exclaimed, snatching the bag out of his hands and jumping onto the table, resting it against her shoulder as her hands vigorously dug through the contents. "Come on, there's gotta be more in here." One by one she pulled out a whole set of grim and gloomy-looking outfits. "Where's the color? My clothes all look like I stepped out Atlas Teacher's catalog!" Her frustration was every growing until she was sticking her head inside the bag, determined to find just one thing that was actually notable. "…Is that a stamp collection?" Needless to say, she was disappointed.

As Ruby silently stewed over the reveal that her bag was perfectly average, Blake stepped up to the plat, looking over the final bag. "I guess I'm up." She felt a great weight to her fingers when they caressed the zip, her mind overflowing with what could possibly lie in store for her in this bag. However, if her teammates could go through theirs, then so could she. Biting her lip, she took the plunge and yanked the zipper down in one quick strike, immediately being hit by a variety of strong, yet sweet and expensive smells. The first thing that met her was a picture of herself strapped to the inside of the bag. "That's my picture hanging there, alright."

Ruby peeked over her shoulder, taking in the absolutely grumpy expression the woman in the picture held. "You don't look that happy."

"I would expect," Blake stated absentmindedly, pushing the picture inside, only to be overtaken by bright colors and shimmering jewels underneath. "Whoa, look at this stuff." Ruby gasped behind her, hands lunging for the bag and letting neatly folded golden dresses and diamond-encrusted heels unfurl onto the table. "These dresses… These are the types of clothes you need the money that would take a lifetime to earn just to buy one." Everyone crowded around the bag, stuck in utter awe as they took different items out, all looking pretty damn expensive. Blake found herself pulling a pair of keys from the corner of the bag, a bright white pass hanging between them. "I have a limo in storage."

Jaune scoffed. "Oh great, life's mocking me now."

"Several credit cards. Trophies from Atlas Academy." The contents ended up in one huge heap on the table, the other bags left forgotten. Ren held up a small box, opening it to reveal to Blake a wide assortment of different emblems and symbols emblazoned upon badges. "Don't know what these badges mean." Was all she could say. Next, she found her hands pooling at a slim white bar, barely as big as her hand. Poking at the edges, she found that the bar was split in half and could be pulled apart, however when she attempted to push one side, it just made that half shoot out, leaving a hard-light projection in its wake. It must have been some sort of new Scroll. "This looks high tech."

Blake wouldn't think of herself as a money-hungry person, or someone who likes to flash her expenses, but seeing this pile of items that were probably far more expensive than she was, it was very overwhelming. And it didn't let up when Ren handed her the ID card.

Ruby beamed up at Blake, reaching for the ID. However, she stopped when she noticed Blake had gone still, it was like she was frozen solid. "What does it say? Is your name funny? I bet it's funny."

"I… I…" Blake's eyes widened, a face stretched in a mix of shock of guilt. A shaking hand reached up to run through her hair for the first time since she got here, finding that there were no extra sets of ears there. Her mind flashed back to the picture, where her golden eyes were replaced with hard blue ones. Her lower lip trembled when she finally worked up the willpower to look back at Ruby, practically choking on her own words. "It says… Wither Schnee."

"Holy crap."

"We had two Weiss's all along?"

"No… No… It makes no sense." It was all becoming a blur. Everyone's voices melding into one, unable to distinguish between the other, everything becoming louder, loud enough to sting her eardrums. She couldn't be, she told herself, she couldn't be anyone other than Blake Belladonna. This had to be wrong. In her heart, it felt like experiencing the death of her entire family at once, with a simple name immediately poisoning all those memories. She felt sick, but her stomach was empty. And suddenly she yearned for the embrace of Ghira and Kali one last time. When she could hear everyone fine again, she found herself on the floor, curled up in the corner, breathing erratically. "I need a minute."