Ruby was still, her mouth agape in shock and awe at the appearance of Holzfäller. It looked down at her for a moment before turning back to face the red skinned giant. Holzfäller settled into a low stance, its feet spread wide, their eyes following the red skinned giant's movements closely. Picking itself and its club out of the rubble the giant roared with anger and ran at Holzfäller and Ruby. Time seemed to slow down as Ruby watched it charge her and she heard Holzfäller ask her something "How would you like it to die? Will I hack it to pieces with my axe or strike it down without bloodying my hands." Ruby unknowingly smiled and in a jovial tone answered "Run wild, kill it however you wish!" The answer seemed to please Holzfäller and it charged forward swinging its axe. The two weapons met with a resounding crash, creating a rush of air powerful enough to cause the dust to whip up into the air. Over and over the weapons clashed, the two continued like this, neither gaining any significant advantage over the other. Ruby could see that the red skinned giant was growing impatient with the stalemate, it jumped back away from Holzfäller and pointed its mighty club towards her and Holzfäller. Suddenly the numerous metal studs that lined the fired out from it with a mighty bang like a cannon. The metal studs struck Holzfäller pushing it back, Ruby's body flared with pain even though she hadn't been hit directly. In retaliation Holzfäller motioned with its axe and a powerful gust of wind tore through the auditorium throwing nearby rubble into the red skinned giant piercing its hide causing gouts of thick, black blood to spurt out.
It staggered back and Holzfäller dashed forward and swung its axe! The sharpened blade bit deep into the neck of the giant. It toppled backwards the axe still in its neck, Ruby watched closely as Holzfäller pulled the axe out before swinging downwards into the monsters stomach repeatedly. Eventually they stopped and the red skinned giant disaster into dark vapours, leaving no trace of its self behind. With bloody axe in hand Holzfäller turned to Ruby, nodded and dissipated into blue flames. Ruby visibly sagged, she felt mentally drained but her headache had disappeared at least. A hundred thoughts raced through her head, questions like what was Holzfäller and that weird giant thing. She tried to make sense of it all before she had a sudden realisation. "Velvet!?"she shouted as she ran over to where the Faunus lay. Ruby knelt down next to her, the rabbit Faunus' chest was rising so she was breathing at least Ruby thought. The giant's attack had done a number on her though, knocking her unconscious and giving her a nasty looking gash above her eye but other than that it looked like her aura had taken most of the blow. Gingerly Ruby picked Velvet up, leaning the Faunus on her shoulder. Slowly she started to walk out of the auditorium with Velvet.
Ruby's mind went back to what had happened only minutes prior as she carried the Velvet through the empty halls. Nothing made sense, they were in the school but no one else was there, there was that monster that attacked them. It wasn't a Grimm she was sure of that at least, then there was the matter of Holzfäller. It had her voice and it did say it was her but she didn't use an axe or wear green nor was she a big, scary wolf person. The more she thought the more confusing the whole thing became. She pushed the thought of what had happened out of her mind and instead focused on a more immediate matter, how did they get home. Ruby retraced her steps, muttering to herself as she did "I was in the auditorium, red boy attacked but before that I was in the... bathroom!" Her face lit up with pride at the idea and she quickly made her way to the bathroom, making sure not to move too quickly as to not disturb Velvet. Laying the Faunus down gently against a wall, she started to inspect the mirror trying to see if there was a button or some mechanism that caused that ripple before. She huffed having found nothing. "Oh come on?! No button or secret lever, my detective cartoons have betrayed me once more!" She lamented in a comedically dramatic fashion, though she was growing worried. She looked down and saw a small camera, recognising it as Velvet's. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands, while it wasn't a master crafted sword or a high calibre firearm she could still appreciate the craftsmanship like the gold banding along the edges. There was a small screen on the back that let you see photos you took, out of curiosity Ruby began to click through the various photos. They were normal for the most part, pictures of Team CVFY, other students, a few of Ruby herself and her team. One stood out however, the latest photo which was of Velvet, she had taken a photo of herself looking in the mirror, it was a pretty photo but Ruby noticed that there was a shadowy figure in the reflection. The figure almost looked as if it was trying to get out. She shivered at how creepy it was before placing the camera back next to Velvet.
Ruby went back to examining the mirror, it looked normal so she decided to touch it and as soon as she did it started to change consistency. Like before it became more akin to water while still remaining reflective. Hesitant Ruby pushed her hand into it before quickly pulling it back. Ruby was beaming as she picked Velvet and her camera up and made her way through the mirror. As she crawled through it she noted how cold it was, it was like crawling through cold soup Ruby thought. Before long Ruby found herself back in the same bathroom she had just left. She made her way down from the mirror and sink and lay Velvet on the ground. Looking around Ruby saw that the bathroom was empty, she peeked out into the hall and saw some students walking past. Pulling her head back in, she breathed a sigh of relief "Oooh we're home." Ruby turned her attention back to Velvet who had actually started to wake up. Velvet rubbed her head and groaned in pain before she saw Ruby looking down at her with a look of worry in their face. "Ruby? Uhhh my head did I slip or something?" Velvet asked holding her head. No even missing a beat Ruby agreed "Oh yeah, I uhh fell asleep in stall and when I heard you fall I woke up and found you like this." She didn't know why she lied but she felt that maybe she shouldn't mention the mirror. Velvet nodded her head believing the lie. Not soon after Ruby heard the distinctive sound of heals on tile. She turned to see the imposing, bespectacled visage of Glynda Goodwitch looming over her. "Ms. Rose why am I not surprised and miss Scarlatina?" When her eyes landed on Velvet a look of confusion fell apron her which soon turned to worry when she saw the blood above her eye. "What happened to you?" Glynda knelt down next to the two students, Velvet proceeded to explain the situation as she had been told by Ruby, that she had fallen and hit her head. Satisfied with the answer Glynda helped Velvet to her feet and in a curt tone spoke to Ruby "We will discuss your skipping of class later, for now classes have ended so return to your dorm room." Ruby apologised and left the restroom, hurriedly making her way to the dorms.
It took around fifteen minutes for Ruby to arrive at her dorm room, she could hear the voices of her teammates inside , they were talking about something. Making her way in she saw Weiss, Blake and Yang were all sitting on their beds talking, she managed to catch the tail end of their conversation. "...she was unreliable." Weiss was saying haughtily with Yang about to retort but she cut herself off when she Ruby enter. "Ruby! Where have you been?" Yang said, jumping down and grabbing her sister, pulling her in tight. "Ohh..um I fell asleep in the bathroom." Ruby replied quietly. Each of the girls reacted in different ways, Yang burst out laughing, Weiss rolled her eyes exasperated and Blake simply picked up a book and began to read. Once Yang had calmed down Ruby told the three the same lie she had told Glynda and Velvet. While she did feel bad for lying to them she felt it would be too difficult to explain what had actually happened. After she had finished the four girls got ready to go to sleep as it was much later than Ruby had initially thought. Settling down Ruby fell into a deep sleep as a wave of fatigue washed over her.
As she slept Ruby began to dream, it was a mixture of the events that had transpired that day and of the same blue butterfly she had seen earlier. The dream faded and Ruby awoke to find herself in a living that was reminiscent of her childhood home save for one key detail. The furniture, all the appliances were blue. Like really blue she thought. She heard someone clear their throat and she turned to see two men standing in the centre of the room. One was a younger looking man dressed in a blue velvet suit kinda like the butlers that Weiss had told her about, his hair was slicked back and a stark white in colour even whiter than Weiss's and his eyes were a piercing yellow. The other man however was much more startling to look at. He was sat at a desk in a black three piece suit, he had large bloodshot eyes and an unnerving grin. Though the feature that shocked Ruby the most was his large, curved nose. It was too long! Ruby thought, should she say something, she was about to but stopped herself out of nervousness. The sitting man began to speak. "Welcome to the Velvet room. My name is Igor and this is Julius." Igor said, his voice despite his appearance was oddly calming. "Where am I?" Ruby asked quizzically as she looked all wound the Velvet room. Igor chuckled as he watched her explore like a newborn puppy "This place exists in the realm in between that of mind and matter, only those bound by contract may enter." He said calmly ensuring that she understood. She got what he was saying for the most part, some of it still confused her though. The other man Julius looked at her with the same look that Weiss would give her, disappointed yet annoyed at the same time. "So why am I here?" Ruby asked as she inspected a nearby couch, finding it to be comfy and sitting down. Igor thought for a moment before answering in a more solemn tone "You have accepted the contract and have been drawn into a most imbalanced game. This room however is here to assist you in this game. Julius shall be your guide to your personas and he will help cultivate your potential while I oversee your progress in this game." "Personas? Game, I'm sorry but this isn't making much sense." Ruby said with a hint of confusion in her voice. Julius rolled his eyes and spoke in a curt almost rude tone "You are a player and I am here to assist you. A persona is your inner self manifested physically, you awakened to yours today didn't you." The way in which he spoke shocked Ruby, while he hadn't shouted it had the same impact as if he did. "Julius please but yes that is our purpose. I hope you make a most interesting guest. Ah it appears our time is nearing its end. Please Ms. Rose take this key and we shall speak again." Igor said and as he did so a key appeared in front of Ruby. She took it and all around her the Velvet room began to disappear and a loud ringing filled her ears.