Ruby is running. She doesn't know what she's running from or what she might be running towards, she just knows that if she lets herself slow down or stop, something terrible is going to happen.
Just what that terrible thing is, she doesn't know.
Behind her, she can hear cruel, mocking laughter and the sound of footsteps, as if there's someone running behind her, right on her heels. She can feel the sting of bruises on her face, her arms, her body. Her is chasing her, trying to stop her. She'd had to fight him earlier when he wouldn't let her pass him.
Ruby doesn't know who he is.
She continues running, skidding around another corner before taking off once more. She doesn't recognize this place. It looks like she's in the back hallway of some enormous building. A stadium, maybe? The walls and floors are all uniformly gray. But where she is right now doesn't matter.
She needs to hurry. If she doesn't hurry, she'll be too late to save her. The question of just who she's trying to save slips her mind when she rounds another corner and sees the way that the hallway opens up and becomes wider not too far from where she's standing.
She's made it!
Her relief quickly turns to despair when she realizes that although she's reached her destination, she's too late. She barely notices the massive arena that she's standing it, or the bright lights shining down from every direction and blinding her, or the satisfied laughter of her pursuer. Instead, Ruby collapses to her knees, letting the first few tears fall as she gazes at the broken body of her friend.
"Penny," she murmurs brokenly, her voice cracking. Tears pool in her eyes, blurring her vision as grief overwhelms her.
Ruby jerks awake, heart hammering in her chest. It's pounding so hard that she feels ill and her head spins. It was just a dream, she tries to reassure herself. Tries to shake off the remnants of that awful nightmare.
But it felt so real.
Something gleaming nearby distracts her. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby notices the sunlight streaming in through the windows of the living room.
They overslept!
Everyone's acting odd this morning. For a group that was so eager to get out of here last night, they're all dragging this morning.
Granted, she doesn't know most of them very well. It's possible that none of them are morning people. But still, even if they all slept badly last night—like she did—they shouldn't all be this tired. At least not to the point of stumbling around, going through the motions like zombies.
And then there's Yang and Qrow. Ruby has never seen her sister act this subdued before, not even on her darkest days. The person standing next to her doesn't feel like her sister at all. And Qrow—well, Ruby has seen her uncle depressed before, many times. And drunk. She's found her uncle passed out after a night of drinking too much more times than she can count—probably more times than any niece should have to. But this is different. Worse. Wrong, somehow, to the point of making her hair stand up on the back of her neck.
Sure enough, he's refilling his flask for the third time this morning. "Uncle Qrow," she begins softly. "Do you think you could maybe cut back a bit? At least until we're safely out of here."
"Leave it alone," comes her uncle's gruff response. Ruby slumps a bit, shoulders sagging. Well, that was useless.
Maybe once they get out of here everyone will perk up.
That hope lasts exactly thirty seconds, before she walks outside to find that they've got a flat tire.
The rest of the group seems to be acting like this latest incident is a sign of the apocalypse, that they should just lie down here and give up. Ruby heaves a sigh.
"Guys, let's calm down," she urges them. "It's just bad luck. We just need to find something to refill it with. Maybe there's something in one of the garages where the trailer was." She sighs for what feels like the hundredth time today. It's only been a day, but she's already tired of being the one that everyone looks to in order to pull things together.
Oscar goes off to look without much of a fuss, which Ruby is grateful for, although he might just be eager to get away from the increasingly toxic atmosphere surrounding their group.
She doesn't really blame him.
She sighs again, then frowns, noticing that they're missing something. "Where's the lamp?"
"Who cares," Yang mutters under her breath, scowling.
"I've got it," Weiss answers, ignoring her and handing the lamp over to Ruby. The metal feels chilly against her fingers.
"Thanks, Weiss," she replies, managing a small smile. "We need to keep it safe."
"Does it really matter what we do with it?" Blake cuts in, voice dull. "It's not like it's really going to help in the end."
"Yeah," Yang agrees. "In the end, Salem's going to get her hands on it anyway. We might as well just toss it in the well here and leave it."
"Don't be ridiculous," Ruby retorts, trying and failing to fight off a sudden wave of exhaustion and hopelessness.
"She's got a point," Weiss says, and Ruby feels her heart sink. "At least it'd be safe for a while."
"It'll delay the inevitable," Blake agrees. "Which is basically what we've been doing."
It's ridiculous, what they're suggesting, and Ruby should just shrub it off, but she's so tired, and scared, and just leaving the relic here and ditching the responsibility is so tempting. She finds herself stepping towards the well, holding the lamp out over the dark opening. It feels like she's sleepwalking, or maybe watching herself in a dream.
Just before she's about to toss the lamp in, a gleam of—something—catches her eye, jolting her out of her trance. Startled, the lamp slips through her fingers and out of sight before she can grab it again. "No!"
"It's fine, Ruby, just leave it," Yang replies, sounding bored.
"No!" Ruby says again, rounding on her sister. The rest of them are looking at her like she's crazy, but she doesn't care. "I'm not leaving without the lamp!"
"Ruby, come on, calm down already. It doesn't matter," Weiss chimes in, but Ruby will not calm down.
"I'll go down and look for it by myself if I have to," Ruby says firmly. "I don't care if I have to do it alone. I refuse to just leave it here for the Grimm to find. Mom wouldn't give up like that, and neither will I."
Her words seem to stir something in Yang, if just for a moment. "Ok, Ruby, fine, we'll come with you. You don't need to shout."
The tunnel under the well is just as creepy as Ruby thought it would be. And dark, Ruby ends up using her scroll as a flashlight. "Do you guys see anything?" she asks, turning her head to glance at the other girls. She spots the dim glow of the lamp a few feet away and scoops it up triumphantly.
Looking up, she spots a monster—a Grimm that she's never seen before. She's never even seen anything like it. She shrieks, turning on her heel and dashing the other way.
But running has become strangely difficult. Everything seems to be happening in slow motion, as if she's running through syrup. When she catches up to the others, it's clear that they've having the same problem, their mad dash for safety instead a slow shamble.
Weiss and Yang are ahead of her, but Ruby can't see Blake anywhere. She turns her head to check on her friend—and feels a surge of terror.
Blake isn't running. She's stopped moving, instead laying still on the ground as the Grimm continue to advance.
"Blake!" Ruby screams, as the tunnel is swallowed up in a burst of brilliant white light.
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