No one kept track of time in that room, hours could have passed, and seasons ended only for it to seem for the group that they were still stuck in the same second of revelations. In the shadows of their awkward situation, there had been little comments, not enough to fully shake off the shackles of silences tugging at them, but enough to fill the void and remind each other that they were still there.
Some had little to say and some just didn't want to be distracted, Blake most of all as she shot down any attempt to discuss her newfound heritage with an unstable glare. Not a powerful one where the eyes narrowed with an implication of threat and intimidation that made someone back down. No, it was a failed attempt, one where Blake tried to glare but couldn't summon all the energy and rage to produce one, leaving the receiver instead feeling so guilty that they couldn't finish their thought.
"I can't believe we're doing this. We haven't gotten any of our memories back yet!" In a blink, they were now back in a featureless hallway, a hallway that could have been any part of the building and easily lost. Ruby didn't pay attention to the direction, everything just looked the same to her, but instead focused on her comrades who she assumed had better navigational awareness than her.
"We spent hours in that room and nothing came from it but moping around." Her response was measured, keeping up that bright and encouraging smile that made her stand out against the low lighting and bland grey walls. There was always that unshakable confidence that surrounded Ruby, it's what made her a magnet for people good and bad, a belief so strong that just listening to her gave you almost no choice but to trust what she was saying. It's only set back was that in the void, even Ruby's compassionate yells fell to a whispering volume. "We have to take matters into our own hands."
Ren, now far more intimidating with a clean dark suit replacing his restraining overalls, was a good boost for her in his own response, being the most level headed about the situation, at least outwardly. Ruby was sure that in private Ren would express his frustration, where it's safe too and there was no shame in that; it was similar to how she approached her own problems. "They did say that it's possible our memories will never return, so might as well start trying to track our old lives down." Now, even with Ruby's limited understanding of emotional and mental maturity, she did note the saddening element of acceptance to his tone. It was best to accept reality and move on to improving their situation, yes, but accepting wasn't the same as processing the situation. And Ruby was beginning to cast worried glances at her friend of fewer words in fear that he hadn't had come to as much terms with their problem as she originally thought.
"Guess we have to try and get used to it." Blake's tone was rarely ever enthusiastic, even when it was rife with warmth or joy there was always a certain level of deadpan played to level out the emotions, so Ruby didn't worry about that; at least Blake seemed to talk more which made it easier for Ruby to help her out. What didn't help was that her switch into 'Miss Schnee's' clothes proved only to accentuate the cutting nature of her tone, the look making Ruby think of an alternate universe where Goodwitch dyed her hair black and decided to become a feared secretary. Already bad enough with verbal social interaction, Ruby wouldn't judge her chances well on finding the right responses to the complex and confusing realm of body language.
Still, the little rose pumped her fist into the air and stuck a pose no one seemed to notice. "That's almost the spirit! Now, Blake, you said you had a limo?"
"Yeah, sure." At first, there was a delight as Blake tossed the keys into Ruby's open palm, but that dissolved little by little at the sight of Blake's completely reserved expression. Not the type of reserved Ruby fell too when she was in a crowded place and feared people talking to her, but the type when you're trying to hold back emotions, not letting those around you see the cracks in your mask or make you look weak.
The girl picked up the pace to pull in front of her friend, now walking backward as Blake made no effort to break stride. "Blake… Don't worry, we're gonna get through this, you'll see!" Big, toothy smile, power thumbs up and congratulatory, practically forcing Ruby's bright glow onto the gloomy aura ahead.
However, the woman was firm is swatting away that ray of sunshine, her trembling brow now making it clear she was holding back a bit of anger and bitterness, not wanting to lash out at the girl that was just trying her best to help. "Ruby, currently I am thinking. It's easier to think when you're not talking to me. So, just leave me out of this and let me follow, okay?" Blake didn't want to make Ruby feel bad, she didn't want to sound so annoyed at a friend trying to help a friend; even seeing the girl's faltering smile made Blake feel sick at how bad it came out, but bluntness was what worked best when dealing with Ruby.
"Oh. S-sure thing, Blake. Whatever you need." Ruby would never admit when she felt bad. Too pure for that. She'd say if she felt guilty, or disgusted or even annoyed, but never bad. Especially if it were one of her teammates who caused it, because she'd never forgive herself if she felt like she had thoughtlessly blamed her loved ones for 'her' problems. So, it was no surprise that she took Blake's request to leave her alone on the chin, with a tempered nod and a flash of understanding. She knew Blake meant nothing bad by it. Didn't make it hurt less.
"Does anyone even know where we're going?" Jaune immediately reminded Ruby that there were those who were as lost as her, his lips protruding in that deeply annoyed puffer fish look men got when they were trying to brood. However, that look was the least of his worries in Ruby's eyes. Ever since they left the recuperation chamber, Jaune had seemingly become the hottest person in the room and not in the good way. His skin flushed a building red, breaking out into hives that dragged back his already messy hair into an unkempt mass of twists and sweat prisons. By this point, he'd practically ripped apart his collar and it's polka dot buttons by how much he yanked down on it like he had an invisible tie. And considering his clothing already looked like it was patched together and stretched out, she feared he was going to end up turning his clothes two size too big for him. Was it nerves? Anger? Fear? It could have been an overwhelming fusion of all three for all Ruby knew.
She tore her thoughts over to Ren as she had to suddenly dance around his arms, now throw out around him in a grand gesture to play up his sarcastic response to Jaune. "Down enough identical looking, empty hallways to assume someone is intentionally trying to drive us insane?" He would have laughed, chortled even at his own joke, pathetic as it was, if that was something the man did. Then again, maybe it was something he did. Already, the man who called himself 'Ren' imagined that his real self laughed a lot. He was the funny guy no one found funny. Laughed too much. A laugh that was really annoying, dragged itself out and sounded more like a fish choking on land, gasping for the water rather than an actual laugh. Yeah, that was probably him.
Ruby leaned to the side to avoid the avalanche of dandruff that fell from Jaune scratching his head in tempered confusion. She might have not liked this absolutely bland attire she'd recovered from her bag, all long sleeves sewn so tight she could barely feel her arms and a long grey pencil skirt that she knew would only get in the way in battle, but she didn't want it to get dirty. "There has to be a sign or something around here." At this, Ruby's mind suddenly brought up the question of if the staff cleaned the people left in the pod or just left them in there to develop all sorts of nasty hygiene problems. Then again, hygiene aside, that would at least mean she didn't have strangers poking at her naked body while she was unconscious. Wait, is that why the water was green!? EW!
Ren seemed to take a cursory glance around the seemingly endless row of hallways as they reached an intersection, his brow raised to signify his own befuddlement with the lack of directions. Sometimes, Ruby swore that despite his lack of vocal range, the man had made an art out of brow wiggling. "Maybe it's an ironic joke by the building's architect to create a building that is hard to navigate specifically for the people who will be waking up lost."
No one picked a direction, but their legs carried them down a hallway in unison whether they cared to change it or not. Jaune's shoulders slumped as he walked, casting shadows across half of his body as a bitter scoff erupted from his throat. Ruby was about to answer but was silenced by the surprise of Blake speaking up, a somber tone mixed in with an unconvincing laugh following her. "Going by the staff we've met so far? Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised."
Noting Jaune's body language as she kept her eye on him, Ruby decided that he needed a good dollop of sugary, physical affection to cheer him up. Darting forward, she reached for his hand. A gesture he'd always seemed fond of back when they first started dating. However, when she reached for his hand, his arm seemed to have suddenly swung at just the right angle and time to completely miss Ruby's hand, leaving her to awkwardly giggle as he looked back at her, trying to act like she hadn't just failed to grasp his hand. She'd try again next time. The same thing was unlikely to happen twice, right? "Everyone here does seem to be a little… You know, jerky."
Once more, she reached for him and once more she missed. Must have had some leftover bad luck or something. She felt worse when he spoke, a clear aggressive presence to his tone that made her think about how she didn't do enough to comfort him. "Well, what do you expect? Who else would take up a job where they have to tend to and watch people take part in one of the most pathetic experiences ever?"
She thought to inject enough positivity for the both of them, bouncing up between them all and laughing off the comment with a slight bit of offense at the knock against one of her favored childhood pastimes. One in which she totally kicked Jaune's butt at three times a week. "Oh, come on, Jaune. Playing video games isn't pathetic. We all do it."
He didn't look at her when he talked, which she found a bit off-putting as he crossed his arms and dipped his head forward. "We play video games for a few hours or so. We take breaks. We don't outright leave our entire lives behind to spend months of our time in a video game."
Before she could protest how the amount of time, she'd put into video games reflected on her as a person, Ren looked over his shoulder to weigh in on the matter. "He does have a point. You have to ask; what type of people would throw months of their lives away to live a fantasy life? People, who have no life worth living?" There was a surprising gut punch to the implication behind his words, loudly smacking Ruby with the idea that 'Audrey' wasn't as great a person as Ruby Rose, just someone who wanted to be Ruby Rose. An idea that Ruby neither would nor wanted to entertain. "Or people who have something to run from."
"So…" Ruby paused, taking it all in. After a moment, her grin returned, positivity pushing through her thoughts and championing her conclusions. "We could be, like, super-criminals in hiding?" She could see it now: Audrey Averg, a master thief who stole from the right people at the wrong time, gives to the people, utterly stylish and lays low with a common disguise of an ordinary woman.
"You're making reality sound more exciting than it usually is." They could almost hear the loud pop of Ruby's mental balloon as Blake jabbed it with a sharp pin, immediately drawing out a pout from the girl.
"I'm just staying positive, guys."
Jaune spoke with little thought put into his meaning, the words just slipping out of his mouth like a loose faucet as the rest of his mind was preoccupied with stemming back the tides of brewing anxieties and demands. "Someone has too." It reminded him of how he felt when Ozpin had been revealed to be keeping more secrets from him, except this time he didn't have any target to lash out at, to blame, to be the sole cause of his anger. It was like something was bubbling under his skin, filling up an inch too high, but unable to put enough pressure to rip through to the other side, just pushing and pushing with no relief or simmering.
"What does that mean?" Ruby's eyes seemed comically small whenever she narrowed them, marching just a little faster to keep up to eye level with Jaune and pressure him with her gaze.
"Nothing. Nothing." He shook his head, falling back a little behind Ruby with a tired sigh. He was being genuine, never wanting to imply a serious insult to his friend, it was just pushed out by the pressure of everything he'd been holding back. Not that he would burden her with that knowledge. However, as he thought this, he noticed Ruby let out a nasty yelp. It wasn't your usual pained yelp accompanied by swear words but like the cry of a puppy who's tail you stepped on, immediately sending all of your protective instincts into overdrive. "Are you okay, Ruby?"
When Jaune immediately materialized by her side, worried and gentle, Ruby managed to smile through the sudden, but light pain. It was nothing serious or maddening, she just felt a sudden jolt of red hot aching rip up her right leg as a consequence of trying to speed up too much. For a moment, her mind looked back to that moment, back when she was all alone in the lower decks of the ship after her leg broke. It made her feel helpless. "I-It's fine, my leg is just a bit… Fragile."
They all seemed to stop even as she tried to carry on, Jaune crouching down to softly grasp the leg, checking for any visible injuries while Blake came closer with all her previous deadpan attitude buried under clear cut concern. "Does it hurt?" There was an instant shiver in the room despite the warm bodies crowding around her, though she didn't know whether this was from someone touching her wounded leg or because she never was much for anything touching her exposed legs in the first place. Though, maybe the fact that Jaune had to lift her dreadfully long skirt to get a look at her leg added an extra embarrassing effect to it.
"Only when I try to put too much pressure on it." Her panicked giggle grew as she simply waved off their worries, caught between being happy, as well as touched, that her rather minor injury brought them out of their slumps for a moment and being annoyed that she was keeping them up. "Must have had it before we got put in the pods." Pulling back from Jaune, she reached down to rub in, feeling the sting ebb away. Nothing major, but noticeable when she tried to run so fast. She was a bit late to the fitting irony of the injury. "It's probably just one of those little aches that'll fade in a few hours."
Now that Blake was up and talking, with Ruby assuring her that she was fine again, those now blue eyes turned to Jaune. "You know, I have a more prevalent question."
"What?" He jumped a little, the suspicion in her tone making him feel like he was about to be accused of something dire.
She peered at him through narrowed eyes, still retaining her usual look of scrutinizing as all the gears in her head turned in perfect harmony. "Why is your name the holding name here? Why are we the 'Jenkins Party'? Why is the hobo's name signed and not the rich girl who probably paid for all of this?"
Jaune held up his hands as if to say that he had nothing to do with whatever crime she was thinking up in her head. "Maybe she didn't want her name associated with it?"
Coming to Jaune's rescue, Ren, now bent over a small curve in the otherwise straight wall to just barely squint out words on the wall, called over to them. "Oh look, parking storage is this way!"
This set Ruby off into a rush, well as much of a rush you can do when you're limping, in the direction Ren pointed, not even trying to suppress the squee that followed. "I've never been inside a limo before. I'm going to press all the buttons!"
Jaune tentatively followed after her, trading a curious glance with Ren as the other two soon followed. He found it much easier to keep up with Ruby now, leaning past her with a single finger poking the air, simulating said buttons. "What buttons? It's a car. What, are you gonna spam the windows?"
She paused, eyes shifting nervously from left to right as her head sank. "…No." Immediately, her head shot up, fingers snapping in an excitable revelation. "Maybe I could dr-"
"Ren, take the keys from her."
Within moments Ruby wore a heavy frown as she watched Ren shake her prize teasingly in front of her, the keys hanging off his swift, thieving fingers. "Way ahead of you." As he spoke, they broke out into a larger room, one that actually looked different from the monotony of the hallways, which in of itself made them all breathe a sigh of relief. It was what you'd expect from a parking lot for the most part, a wide space held up by pillars and chalk, squeezing hundreds of cars together in a tight, compact space. However, where it was different was that the section with the cars themselves was blocked off by a hard light force field with a large terminal in the center of the room.
"Do we even have a destination in mind? Where would we go?" Blake asked while Ren made his way over to the obvious point of interest, her gaze flickering over the various cars, surprised at just how many there were. How many people were currently housed in this building? If she didn't know any better, she'd say the population of an entire town was fitted in here.
"We do have some keys to apartments," Ren suggested, not looking away from his destination, furrowing his eyebrows as the bright blue light of the console window hit him. It flickered a few monologues of appreciation for choosing this brand of vehicle storage system, but Ren just tuned it out, thinking further on his suggestion. "Perhaps we should try checking out our houses, the people there are bound to know us a little." It was an amusing image to say the least, of them turning up at their own doors to ask random strangers if they were the noisy neighbor everyone remembered.
Blake reached down to bat Ruby's hand away from incessantly poking the hard light forcefield, locking the girl down with a lightly scolding gaze before she looked back over to Ren, a slow exasperation to her voice. "Are we sure we're ready for that?" The group looked over each other before Ren replied, a sense of unease settling between them at the reminder, even for the ever-positive ball of sugar, Ruby.
"We have to face it eventually."
"Can we just…" It was rare to hear Blake pause like this, her face scrunched up like she was gritting her teeth and fighting back gasps. "Just drive around a little while?" She seemed to distance herself from everybody else, holding her shoulders in a tight one-way embrace, as if she was trying to hold herself together. There was a flicker of understanding shared between her and Ren, both having similar thoughts and questions pounding in their heads, but wanting to stay silent and avoid any potential outbursts in front of their friends. Whether for their own sake or their friends, they didn't know.
"I think we could all use a little break." There was something relieving about Jaune's agreement and assurance, putting on a smile for the two and jogging over to join Ren at the odd terminal, finding a slight bit of pleasure in the excitement of building up this limo.
Ruby joined in, racing forward, grabbing Blake by the arm and tugging her along with a honey-filled chirp. "Besides, who doesn't want to drive around in a limo for a few hours? It's a limo!" As they reached the terminal, Ren was presented with a scanner prompting him to hold up an ID. Blake handed him the Schnee ID card and he drew it over the scanner's gaze, receiving a positive beep to confirm his identity and another screen telling him that his car was on the way. Around them, they saw that the sections bound by the force field were able to move, pushing forward around the room like a conveyor belt of cars, a hole opening up behind them where more cars popped up with a loud scratch of metal and machinery, even if muffled by the field's soundproofing efforts. After a drawn-out sequence of Ruby loudly 'ooo'ing at every car that passed them, they were finally faced with a car that was truly above everything else. Not just because it's bright purple and white color scheme was brighter than every other paint job in this dimly lit lot, not just because it stretched the length of three cars, but because if it wasn't obvious who owned the limo by this point, there was a giant 'Schnee' branding across the side of it in what they could only assume was solid gold as it was pushed through the field and left in front of them.
"Whoa, now that is a car!" Already, Ruby was hobbling around the car at top limping speed, careful not to let her bad leg ruin her day as she marveled at the way the metal surface shimmered with a fresh and rich polish. She may have been a weapons nut case, but that didn't mean she could appreciate the good maintenance of other forms of machinery.
Jaune seemed to momentarily perk up in awe as well, hesitating for a moment before running his fingers over the doors and leaning it, breathing in the thick aroma of less sickly oil. "It smells like… Money."
The car's owner could only hang her head in shame at the display of her friends, both because they were just plain acting weird and because she couldn't understand what made them so amazed by this lumbering hunk of empty money. "Jaune, stop sniffing the car." To her, it was just an egregious and tacky looking car, it didn't evoke feelings of awe, it evoked feelings of disgust at the obvious amount of money that was wasted on this vanity project. Solid gold engravings of her name? Was she really supposed to be so shallow in this reality?
Jaune and Ruby immediately jumped at attention, awkwardly standing still with nervous smiles under Blake's scolding gaze. Within minutes, Ren had opened the drivers' door while Ruby and Jaune piled into the back area of the limo, leaving a small window between the dynamic dorks and the stoic recluses. "Silver lining of this day, I'm happy to get out of this place. It's so depressing." He had to admit, he wasn't a man who was a sucker for expensive things, but he was exceedingly pleased with the amount of legroom this plush seat offered him.
From the back, he could hear Jaune pause in between holding Ruby away from the window after the fifth round of loud pressing to respond. "You're preaching to the choir."
Ruby was not amused at Jaune's denial of her fun, trying in vain to squirm through his arms with a forever frustrating frown on her face. Jaune, however, seemed to take this as the little piece of amusement he could get from the situation, just barely offering a small hint of a smile when Ruby pulled back, huffing to herself before moving onto something else to distract her. "Hey, Blake, pass me that scroll you had, please?" Without Blake's response, Ruby's hand poked through the open window to cheekily wave. The waving became more insistent as she started to question if Blake could see her hand, an awkward angel leaving Ruby unable to understand that Blake was currently staring at said hand with her face frozen in a twitching scowl. Reluctantly, Blake forced the scroll into Ruby's open palm and shoved it back into the passenger section. "Thanks. Maybe I can find a map online."
The loving purr of a well maintained and beautiful vehicle breathed an air of ease into the car, like the mere act of turning the ignition and starting it up immediately let some of the weight of their troubles was taken by the empty seats around them. Ren didn't tell them that he hadn't really driven much before, most certainly not something to the caliber of a limousine, yet as soon as he took the wheel it was like something instinctual, something from his soul, gripped his hands tightly and led him along. Perhaps he had driven something like this before. Before everything.
He turned the car to wrap around to the sole exit from the lot that wasn't the way they came in, descending down a ramp into a tunnel, one that immediately bathed them in soft blue colors and perfect contrast to the dim and grungy interior of the lot behind them. It was like instantly crossing into a completely different world, one that was bright, less compact and softer on the senses. It felt… Freeing. As his vision grew fond of the blue highlights twisting through the tunnel, he suddenly found his eyes noticing that the other shades of blue weren't from the lights, they were from the water being held back by (presumably) walls of glass surrounding the entire tunnel, various fish swimming past them.
At the corner of his eye, he could just see Ruby with her face pressed up against the glass, stars in her eyes and a blue hue to her skin. Jaune was leaning back, slightly nervous that she was leaning over him with her elbows digging into his leg to look, remarking "Seriously, who puts an aquarium in a parking lot?"
Blake shrugged. "The Atlas Elite?"
"…You're not wrong."
However, as the car pushed through the next opening in the tunnel, the road now opening up into different lanes with a sign above saying they were about to enter the city streets, Ren found his eyes widening at the new sight and calling for the other's attention. "Guys… I don't think we're in Atlas."
"Why- Oh my god…" The group were stopped in their tracks to gawk at the cityscape before them. Where they expected the icy tundras peaking over mantle's walls, they found a transparent dome. Where they expected bunched together brick houses billowing smoke and heat, they found lopsided and twisted structures and skyscrapers freely interlinked through various hanging highways, all shining brightly and leading to more tunnels. Beyond the dome was the seabed of the surrounding ocean, the ceiling of the dome projecting a false image of beautiful weather that the large aquatic creatures around them swam through. This wasn't the frozen wastes of Atlas, this was the underwater city of which they soon learned from the scroll was called Respite.
"It's amazing." Even Jaune was glued to the window now, staring up at the bustling community reduced to flashing lights racing in-between curved buildings. Then he looked towards to dome's edges where he watched a group of fish just barely avoid grazing against it, causing him to gulp back down his amazement. "Also, kinda scary."
Blake gave a firm nod, her expression pulling back into a skeptical one matching her low voice and cautious gaze. "An entire city underwater? This can't be safe."
Of course, Ruby waved them off with a scoff, loudly squeaking as she pumped her arms into the air which, due to their position, only narrowly avoided accidentally giving Jaune a mean right hook to the jaw. "Who cares about safety, it's so cool!"
As the limo drove over a speed bump, Jaune suddenly found himself clutching his stomach with the pressing question of if his travel sickness was a game-only trait or something he took with him from real life. "Just looking at it makes me feel queasy."
Immediately, Ruby threw herself to the other side of the space, landing flat against the opposing door with a wrathful finger pointing at her boyfriend. "Do NOT vomit in the backseat with me!"
Shaking her head with a slight smile at the two's brewing quarrel, Blake turned back to stare outside the window, fighting a sigh as she perched her chin on the side. The humorous moments were privately appreciated, but unfortunately so brief for her until the nagging unease from today claws it's way back into the forefront of her mind. "So, still accepting the Schnee deal?" From her right came Ren's soft voice, neither taking their eyes away to address one another.
"It just…" Her eyelids shut tightly as her mind fought to keep it together, her throat just wanting to grow out her frustration, but her gritted teeth fighting to keep it down. "It just doesn't make any sense."
"What's not to make sense?" It was said so simply, without tact. He said it like he was repeating a simple fact, not confirming a thought that wrapped a cold chain tightly around her heart, steeling her with pangs of bitter pains. "A rich girl tired of the silver spoon looks for the fantasy of the lowly, oppressed underdog rebelling against the man. Miss Schnee becomes Blake Belladonna. You help the little people, you fight against your cruel father and get to live the dream selection of dedicated and beautiful love interests who love you for you instead of your money." She could hear his thumb tap idly against the steering wheel as he turned into a highway, so casual, so callous in the way he treated her pain. He had a point, of course, but he clearly poured all of his grace into combat rather than his words. "The perfect dream for a rich girl who's sick of her life."
She felt that quivering fury in the pit of her stomach that many times before she'd always told herself to restrain, that was best saved for her enemies, fuel for whatever objective she had to fulfill, but now there were no enemies and she had to bite back the urge to lash out at the man. Perhaps he deserved some scorn as with every blunt word without a hint of sympathy made her feel humiliated for her own feelings as if he wasn't taking her situation seriously, as if he were insulting her. However, in the back of her mind, a small voice reminded her that Ren was a good guy and while emotionally distant, was not the malicious type who'd revel in another's pain. She simply resigned herself to a simple statement, prominent aggression to her voice to hopefully get across the hurt she felt at his attitude. "You can be really cold sometimes, you know that?"
He choked back a pained sigh. She could hear it along with the quiet mutter of self-insults under his breath, pausing for a silent moment. It definitely hurt him more than he let on. "I… Sorry. I don't mean to be, it's just how I'm taking this all in, I guess. Just trying to rip off the band-aid as fast as possible and hope I avoid the sting, you know?" Blake finally looked to him, her hurt eye softening at his immediate apologetic display, nodding in understanding at his strategy. She knew the feeling of wanting to just blow past a problem, get the terrible truth over and done with so you can move quickly on how to proceed. It never looked great on anybody.
"You do seem to speak more than you usually do." Her tone was neutral, even she didn't know whether she meant that as a serious statement or a small teasing jab at his usual behavior. He didn't seem offended, so he probably took it as a simple observation.
"I usually have Nora to help me with getting across my emotions." The moment her name was mentioned, Ren's words trailed off into a quiet descent, just finishing with a tired whisper. His face spelled out regret, eyes staring ahead as thoughts of his former friend danced in his eyes with no avenue to convey just how much it affected him. He seemed to freeze up, unable to express what he wanted to express, confusing his body and just shutting it down for the most part.
For a moment, Blake considered comforting him with a hand on his shoulder, even reaching out slightly, yet halfway through the question of if that would just make things worse or if he'd have a bad reaction to sudden touch flared up and made her rescind her hand. "It's not weird to say you miss her." It was a simple sentence, but she believed it carried a powerful gesture. She found that the worst thing about feeling down was that nagging thought that you should be ashamed for feeling sad, alone in being a moron who doesn't just roll with life's punches and lock it away in the back of your mind. That her emotions didn't matter. Ren needed to know that he was neither alone nor had anything to be ashamed about.
"I miss all of them. We all do." The smile on his face was a sad one, but a smile all the same as a silent appreciation of Blake's comment was subtly expressed.
As Blake looked out the front, looking ahead towards the horizon, her mind brought flashes of simpler times, times that made her chuckle. "It's hard to believe that tomorrow I'll be waking up for the first time without Yang accidentally falling on me as she sleepwalks out of her bunk." It was a conflicted feeling as she spoke, a joy as she reminisced about better times, but a bittersweet reminder that it was still gone.
"Or Nora kicking down doors to drag us out of bed for early morning exercise." It surprised Blake to hear a genuine snigger from Ren, a bright smile held up by that sole image, of his old room, of his teammates, of Nora. It was a sense of warmth that stretched through his mind and protected him from the cold.
That's what made it so heart-breaking for Blake to witness that smile immediately disappear, ripped away along with its warmth by the cold hands of reality, leaving only a hollow numbness in their heavy hearts. At such heartless tragedy, she could only ask why. "Why would someone do this to people?" She didn't know how genuinely angry she was until she heard the animalistic growl that accompanied her words, a legitimate offense brought on by the thought of the building they just left.
"Give people good memories? Memories that maybe they'd never get in the first place?" Ren jumped at her sudden aggression in her voice, stumbling over his words, lost in the conversation as he was slightly confused at what Blake took issue with. She sounded like she'd been forced through hell instead of a willing fantasy. "We all signed up for it, didn't we?"
"No, give people lives, lives they cherish, things that evoke a real connection and then… Knowing that at the end of the day, they'll have to rip people away from those lives and tell them it was all fake." She let her anger get the better of her, displayed at full force as her fist slammed down on the limo door, eye narrowing with a hopeless glare at the world ahead. This twisted world that would allow such terrible abuse to take place, that would put them through this, that would take all those things away. "It's cruel. Monstrous."
"Must be a killer marketing ploy, at least." His voice lost all emotions once more, visibly slumping in his seat as the weight of Blake's words set in. It was a terrible thought. One that only became graver the more he thought about it, a bigger weight developing in his stomach. "Hooks you on your dream life just long enough for you to get attached, then rips it away and locks entry behind a new paywall. Leaves you so desperate for another second of that life you loved that you'd pay anything." The two stared ahead in silence, taking it all in before Ren gasped out, choking on his own disgust at the implication. "God, it's like… It's like a drug. Getting people addicted. Getting them dependant on the company. Are we drug addicts?"
"And it already feels like I'm ready for a relapse." It was like a massive hammer striking them in the chest, not just knocking out the air in their lungs, but cracking a few ribs for good measure. Even as they talked of how disgusted they were with his pathetic process, they knew they immediately wanted to return to their lives, return to the false NPCs who bowed down to their dreams. And they hated themselves for it, for that voice in their head telling them that they'd do anything for another chance, another hit, another hour in that machine.
Ren's voice trembled, just trying to keep it all together despite it all. "It's like Ruby says, we're all in this together."
"Right." The mention of Ruby gave the two some confidence back, finding themselves appreciating her constant positivity more and more with every passing second. "I guess there has to be a silver lining somewhere."
Said ball of moral support seemed to intervene upon her name being mentioned, sticking her head through the middle window, triumphant smirk on her face. "Hey, I found our game."
"Huh?"
She held up the scroll, shaking it for Blake to see. "Remnant: Shadow War, I found its website." Pulling back into her seat, Ruby zoomed in on the website page as Jaune looked over her shoulder and Blake peered through the window. "Join up to seven other players in the most ambitious virtual reality experience of this generation. A 1-1 recreation of Remnant rife with detail, adventure, and action." "Create your character from 8 narrative roles and play a pivotal part in fighting the shadow that looms over Remnant. Play with others or play alone with NPCs with the newest 'full-body immersion' technology."
Jaune's finger presses down against the screen to stop Ruby from scrolling, staring down at the picture gallery associated with the description. "Hey, look, that's Goodwitch's class."
"That isn't Goodwitch. Doesn't look like her at all." The woman that stood in the preview picture had the costume down, glaring over the class of generic silhouettes with a stern gaze as her small cape flapped dramatically, yet the woman herself was all wrong. Her hair was now brown, her skin dark and her eyes bright.
Ruby scrolled further through the gallery, finding different videos that cycled through snapshots of different events she remembered of her year at Beacon, from the dust shop robbery to the highway chase, to Amity Arena. However, she barely recognized the characters in the trailer. Torchwick was a girl now? The person taking Cinder's place was bald now? Her face scrunched up in confusion, looking to the others to make sure they were seeing the same thing. "I don't see Yang, Weiss or anyone else from our teams in these trailers. Wouldn't they be pretty big NPCs?" It was rather disheartening to find no pictures of them, Ruby held a small hope that she'd at least be able to see their smiling faces one more time.
After a few more seconds of scrolling, Jaune pointed to a small section about the technology that went into the game. "Huh, look here. It seems that the NPC's appearance and personality are colored by subconscious recollections of people we know, right down to the random civilians."
"Of course." Ruby cried out, exasperated as if it was a puzzle she'd been trying to figure out for hours. She looked to Jaune, not noticing how he'd suddenly gone silent and sullen, exclaiming "That's why people like Ozpin and Goodwitch look like the staff here, we must have mentally put them in the helpful adult's role."
Blake added in "Or unhelpful adults depending on your point of view." Usually, Jaune would jump on that in agreement, to speak up how the ways Ozpin pissed him off made more sense as a bitter reflection of the ill-mannered engineer that greeted them, but he found himself caught up in his thoughts. The idea that they were all people he knew, from the teachers to his teammates, giving rise a silent implication in his head, one he couldn't figure out. Could it mean-
"Then Weiss… Yang?" His thoughts were clouded by Ruby's speculation, prompting him to shuffle away, moving to a corner where he could think more. How could he proceed from here? If the likes of Pyrrha was someone he knew in real life, wouldn't that make it terribly creepy to play out a relationship in a simulation like that? Just something about that implication was ick-
"People we've met, but… Possibly idealized for our personal needs." Ren threw his weight in, once more pushed Jaune's thoughts to the wayside, another voice added to the pile that shortened the room in Jaune's own mind.
"So… Does that mean that… People who died in the game…" His thoughts didn't get a chance to manifest as Blake began her own speculation, all three now here and loud, pushing him deeper into the corner. He just needed a second away from all the talk, maybe they could keep their voices-
"Are living people here?" Ruby finished the thought, scooting closer to Jaune and once more trying to take his hand as if she assumed he somehow wasn't trying to move away. He just wanted to think, why wouldn't they let him think?
"And people who we hated enough to make the villains?" Ruby didn't seem phased or even notice when he pulled his hand away from hers again, her forced positivity beginning to get on his nerves, feeling more like she was trying to shove enough pills down his throat to make him gag.
"Let's focus on getting ourselves home." And now shifting to an entirely different subject? Great, just damn great, that makes it SO much easier to think about what- What was he thinking? God damn it, why won't they just be quiet!?
"What are we gonna do?" He, thinking himself leading by example for this conversation, showed restraint. He was quiet, he was reserved and the only distracting part of his approach was the visible shaking of his body as he tried to contain himself. He needed to think. "Show up at Schnee Manor or whatever with two of us looking like homeless dorks." A flash of anger stirred within him as he noted the odd look he was getting at his exasperated laugh as if it was somehow weird to find this part laughable or silly. He didn't look at them weirdly when they were talking over his mind. "For all we know, we don't even have homes anymore."
Blake gripped the frames of the window, soft eyes showing concern at Jaune's displeasure. "That's why we're going to find out, Jaune."
He told himself he was fine, that he wasn't going to say anything nasty or raise his voice. He just needed some time to himself, without their judgmental gazes sending him conflicting thoughts, without them talking loudly and without Ruby trying to grab his hand. Damn it, couldn't she get the message that it wasn't helping? "I just… I don't think I can handle this with an audience."
"You want to go out into the city alone without your memories?" Ren sounded aghast at the mere idea. To anyone else, this was just the reaction to the obviously flawed plan, but Jaune could only think of it as some sort of attack, like the idea of Jaune being left on his own simply spelled disaster. "I want to have some time to think." He kept his voice low. Low and firm.
"I'm there with him on that," Blake admitted, her eyes glancing downwards like there was shame to be had in wanting time to yourself to think.
Ruby looked between the two, her frown deepening as she stood up to rally them back to her. Yet all Jaune could see was her taking up more space, more time, pressuring him further. Just let him go! "Guys, splitting up is the last thing we should do."
"Is suffocating under all of your voices any better?!" His sliver of an outburst, a hitch in volume and a tone fighting to keep his frustration at bay, it made Ren sigh with a nod, pulling the car over to a curb and slamming on the breaks. If his leader needed time, he'd give it to him, even if ill-advised.
"If you feel that strongly about it, I can drop you off here, near your destinations and we can keep in contact with the Scrolls." Jaune was already pawing at the door, waiting for the go-ahead to open it and dive out of the vehicle.
"That'd be nice, Ren."
"But Jaune-" Ruby didn't get any time to finish her pleas as Jaune took that moment as the opportunity to push through the door, immediately being embraced by the cold air outside as he stumbled out onto the quiet street. It was immediately more refreshing than the stuffy car filled with loud noises and conflicting thoughts, colder too.
"I'll be fine. Some fresh air, a few paces to clear my head, I'll be fine. Fine and dandy." He breathed in the air, taking a deep gasp to blow away the clouds hanging over his every thought, but he just wasn't allowed. Ruby had stumbled out of the car after him, rushing to his side with her biggest smile and soothing tone.
"Jaune, you don't have to be alone on this." Her fingers slipped between his, tugging on them to intertwine and pull him closer. She wanted to connect with him, comfort him and remind him that he'd never be alone. She was here for him. She would help him. As long as they had each other, they could do this, they could survive. "We're gonna get through this. We can figure this all out, together."
This time, Jaune made it a point to rip his hand away from her as obvious as he could, so there was no way she could misinterpret it as a slip-up. He didn't like her trying to hold her hand, what it represented. He couldn't stand it anymore. She needed to understand that, even if it meant letting all his anger bubble to the surface. "Ruby, stop it."
Ruby knew there had been something off, but she was caught off guard by this. She definitely noticed the forceful knock against her gesture, and she didn't miss the emotion leaking into his voice. Surely this must have been something she was missing. Why would he be mad at her? Boyfriends and girlfriends hold hands, nothing to be embarrassed or pissed about, right? "Stop what?" She concluded that he was maybe looking for a bigger dose of physical affection, jumping straight into trying to pull his arm into a hug, his favorite position when they were cuddling to watch TV. Once more, to her shock, this only set him off further as he jumped back, fingers forming frustrated fists as he tried to calmly explain it to her.
"This!" He pointed at her and then back at him, arms still shaking and teeth gritted. He was holding it all back, but the more this conversation pushed, the more he wanted to unload, just get it off his back, make her see the obvious. "There is no 'we'. Not anymore… Possibly not even before..."
It only fully dawned upon her then what he was getting at, that the situation was more serious than she thought. "W-What?"
He couldn't stop it from all coming out at that moment, everything that had been brewing since he was pulled out of that pod. His tone wasn't kind, it wasn't understanding, it was straight up furious, pouring out the regret, the hatred, the despair that welled up in the bottom of his stomach. "Don't you get it? I don't even know who you are anymore. Our relationship was essentially an online roleplaying session we took too seriously." He said those words. He didn't know if he believed them fully, just that they felt like what he needed to say, what he needed to rid himself of. He knew it hurt to say them, but he stills aid them to Ruby and he could feel a slap across the face just from watching her upper lip tremble.
"Jaune, you… You don't mean this. It's just the stress talking." She could have been pleading with him or trying to convince herself, trying one more time to move closer to him, hoping that if just for one second he could feel her embrace again he'd be reminded of the incomparable warmth she felt whenever she was close to him. That he'd suddenly remember how their embraces were so sweet he'd try to trick her into dragging them out for hours on end. That he'd realize all he needed to do was take back these horrible things he was saying and she'd understand because she loved him.
"No, it's reality talking!" His anger came to the surface and suddenly he was very imposing. He yelled at her. He glared at her. Ruby had witnessed Jaune's anger many times, at Ozpin and at Cinder, but the very idea of him looking at her with those hateful eyes, that she did something or hurt him in such a way that he'd look upon her with so much fire in his eyes. It crushed her. She was reminded of the look he gave Oscar two seconds before he slammed the poor boy into a wall, ready to crush him. Jaune must've noticed how Ruby shrank under his gaze, wobbling back like she was afraid he'd- He stopped, took a deep breath and spoke low, finding himself trembling and his heart pounding. He would never hurt Ruby, ever. "We can't… We can't do this anymore. Not now."
"But, but… I thought we were... You said you were in love with me!" She didn't hide the bile she spat at him with those words, her voice shrill and her eyes wide as if she were gasping for air. Her entire body shook and he could see the tears developing in her eyes as poked a finger into his chest, quickly jumping on any thought she could find, anything to make sense of these ridiculous things Jaune was telling her. "What about the dates, the chocolates and all those hours we spent texting each other just so we didn't wake everyone else up at night?" Her breath hitched, her wide eyes gazed at him, silently pleading for him to tell her he was wrong, that this wasn't the end of the line, that they still had a chance. She'd already lost Yang and Weiss, he couldn't leave her now. It just wasn't true. "It can't mean nothing. I love you, Jaune!"
Against his better judgment, he moved closer to her to grasp her shoulders. He immediately regretted it as it only meant he could feel the warm softness of her touch once again, voices tugging at his mind telling him he was being an idiot, that he was making a mistake and daring him to look her in the eye and tell her that his heart didn't break seeing her so downtrodden and that he didn't want to scoop her up in his arms. "Yes, you love Jaune. Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose, maybe they had something. But you know something else about them? They don't exist, they're fiction. They're just characters we made. Audrey and Larry? Did they even know each other's names?"
"Jaune, you KNOW this wrong." She didn't dare blink, keeping eye contact with him as the boy fought back his own tears developing in the fact of his actions, which she saw as hope for him realizing the mistake he's making. "You can say it's not there, that it's all made up, but, but…" Desperately, she pulled his hand over her chest, pressing it tightly against her where he could feel her heartbreaking in two. "Feel that? That's my heart. And I know you feel that too in yours!" Every time she hugged him, she could hear his heart in her ear, a soft and relaxing rhythm that made her feel at home. She knew it well and she knew it couldn't mean nothing. She tried to look up at him again, pleading for him to reconsider, but by now he had conceded to avoid her eyes, looking elsewhere as she beat on his chest. "It… It can't be fake. Please, Jaune, don't do this to me… I love you."
"I'm sorry, but we can't just pretend that it's all okay and nothing's changed. I could have a girlfriend already, one of us could be married, maybe you're not my type, maybe we actually hated each other in real life… How can you honestly expect us to love each other when we don't even know who we are?" Suddenly, Ruby thought back to the speculation that people in the game could be alive here ad suddenly, despite how shameful it was to admit, her mind spitefully wondered if this was because of the possibility of Pyrrha being back. Pyrrha, the girl who constantly had Ruby questioning if she was merely a lesser replacement for Jaune's true affections. It was a terrible thought. She hated herself for even bringing such jealousy into this, but her heart was desperate for anything to keep it together, but all it was finding were more painful truths and insecurities. Her head dropped to stare at the ground, refusing to let Jaune see her tears rush down her cheeks. He took this and her silence as a sign the conversation was over, stepping away from her while also attempting to keep his eyes concealed. He had to do this, that's what he told himself, continuing the relationship would just hurt them both. He had to do this. Had to. Because… Because if he didn't, then he just tore Ruby apart and made her cry for no good reason. And he wouldn't be able to live with himself if that was the truth. "I'll see you soon."
Ruby just stood there, her brain slow in processing what just happened. She didn't even notice Blake and Ren getting out of the limo, Blake's arms wrapping around her shoulders in a tight embrace, quietly repeating that it'll be alright. "He just needs time, Ruby, I'm sure of it."
The little rose had never been the dating type, Jaune had been her first and for a while, she believed that he was the one, the one she'd give her heart to, the one that proved love at delayed sight was just as good as love at first sight. This was love. It felt like love, they told each other it was love and everything sounded like love. But now, in this moment, that love turned against her. It strangled her heart in a manner she'd never been hurt before, leaving her lightly sobbing into Blake's shoulder. It hurt, it hurt so much, it was like a bout of anger at him for hurting her and self-loathing for not being able to convince him to stay clashed within her, banging against her flesh. Did she do something wrong? Could she make it right? Something, she needed something to show her a light at the end of the tunnel. "My heart can't be fake… Can it?"
Why did it hurt? Why was love so cold to her?