Author's Note: Hey everyone, and welcome back! It's Thursday! Which means it's time for this to update! For the most part, I got positive feedback, which I'm really happy you guys like it so far. To the few that have a few problems, I understand your concerns, but I have my reasons for how these two chapters are written. You'll see at the end of this chapter that this was all just exposition to get to the real meat of what y'all are here for. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!
"Yang, send me back in time to save Ruby."
"Great! That's the spirit! Now, a few things I didn't mention before. One, you cannot tell her about any of this. I feel like this is obvious, but I gotta say it anyway. She probably won't believe you if you tell her, and she'll probably think you're crazy. Got it?" Yang asks. I nod. Obviously. I'm not stupid.
"Two! When you do this, you will inhabit the body of your younger self. You will go back to how you looked back then. And you'll get to experience some…" She trails off, coughing uncomfortably. "Some of the stronger… sexual urges of a teenager again. So… so don't do anything too bad with Ruby, okay?"
I laugh uncomfortably. "Don't worry, Yang. I won't do anything bad with Ruby," I say, with a slightly uncomfortable smile on my face. "Is there anything else that needs to be said?" I ask after a few seconds of hesitation.
"Yes, there is. Three! This will be your new life. We've constructed the ability to get you back there, but not to return you here. You will live out the rest of your life in that time, in that reality. And Four, your actions will have consequences. With this newfound knowledge, you will act differently, and things won't likely be the same. Just be aware of that. Or should I say a-WHEN of that? Eh? Eh? Get it? Because time travel?" Another groan from the others in the room. I chuckle and shake my head.
"I'm gonna miss you, Yang," I say. It's still so hard to believe that this is happening. My head spins, and I get lightheaded as this flood of information is presented to me at such a quick pace.
Why would Yang do this for me? This means a lot more to me than I'm showing. I wonder if she knows this? I hope she does. I'm not the best at expressing things.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't worry. You won't lose me, you'll just… change me… me's?" She looks around, confused and then gives out a frustrated sigh. "You'll have a different Yang to be with. There, that's what I was looking for." A thought occurs.
"Wait, Yang. You care about Ruby too, right? Why aren't you going back? With or without me? I feel like you should be going, not me." I question.
Yang is her sister. Her SISTER. Why does she not want to go back with me? Ruby's death affected her too, I know it. So… why? Why am I getting to go, and not her? This doesn't feel right.
"Because there's only room for one person to be able to go back." Her tone drops as she says this. It's almost a tone of defeat. Almost. This must be harder for her to do than she lets on. "And the reason it's you and not me is because you love her in a way that nobody else does. I've already found my someone. But you. You found your someone, and then you lost her. That's the hardest thing anyone goes through. We all feel like you should get another chance." She motions to the rest of the people in the room. Most of them smile and wave; however, a few of them look back at me awkwardly as if they had just been put on the spot, which they had.
"But… don't you want to go too?"
"I do want to go, Weiss, but you NEED to go. So let's get you ready to go, okay?" She smiles and looks away, obviously thinking that she could hide the tear that fell from her eyes. She couldn't hide it. Not from me. She's in so much pain over not being able to go… I might as well give her this one and pretend I didn't see it. And pretend I do, as she looks up and flashes me with that trademark smile of hers.
"O-okay," I reluctantly agree.
"Great! Now, follow me to where you'll be prepped for the journey." Yang says, motioning me forward to follow her. I do, and she takes me up to the time machine, showing me how the mechanisms work. It's extremely technical, and even after just being told about it, I've forgotten most of it. I don't know WHEN Yang got this technologically inclined, but it suits her I guess.
I give Yang a big hug. "Thank you, Yang. This means more to me than you know." There's not enough words to describe how I feel. Disbelief, wonder, confusion, hope, and mostly, unbridled joy.
She returns the hug in kind. "No problem, Weiss. Go make Ruby happy for the both of us." I try to hold back tears.
"Goodbye, Yang. Tell Blake goodbye for me too, okay?" I'm still trying to hold in tears, but it's not working as a few of them slip out. The hug lasts for probably a minute before we separate.
Eventually, they suit me up in some almost hazmat suit, except it's colored like aluminum foil: shiny silver. Apparently, it's for my "protection", but that kind of fell apart when a few of the workers got out their Scrolls to take pictures of me in it. But I sigh and put up with it. After all, I won't be having to put up with it much longer. Yang puts me in the chamber, and all noise immediately fades as the door is sealed after I step in. There is a window on the door that I can see out of. The team inside are running around frantically, adjusting knobs, turning wheels, and pressing buttons. Yang monitors them, and once they all give her some sort of positive signal, Yang faces me, smiles, and then presses a single button on the terminal next to the pod.
I start thinking about the others in this reality. Blake, Yang, Nora, Jaune, Ren, Sun, Neptune. All of them. I'm going to miss them. Of course, I'll have them again. But not the same them. We won't have gone through the things we've gone through here. They won't know me. I'll know them, but they won't know me.
I close my eyes and shake my head. It sounds bad, but them not knowing me is something that I'm willing to deal with if I can see her again. "I'm coming for you, Ruby." I start to think about all of the things that I can do differently this time around. Things to make life better for not only myself, but for those around me.
Things like spending more time doing fun things with other people. While schoolwork is important, so are friendships. Things like laughing more. Things like standing up to Father before he decides that he needs to send me an ultimatum. And most importantly, things like being better to Ruby. She deserves the best.
Small compartments start opening up at the bottom of the pod, and Dust starts pouring in. A mixture of color swirls around my feet as Dust of all colors fills up the pod up to my knees. It's a strange feeling. A voice sounds from a speaker located in the pod.
"You ready, Weiss?" It's Yang. She's standing in front of the pod, looking through the window. I close my eyes, breathe in and out, and open them again. I flash a weak smile, and give a thumbs up.
There's no turning back now. Let's get this over with. Soon I'll see her again. I smile, remembering Ruby. I feel nervous, but hopeful. There's so much possibility with what can happen. Despite the nerves pulsing through my body, I'm somehow calm. Nervous, but calm. I'm unsure as to why, but… I'm glad that I'm not a gibbering mess during the process.
"Atom accelerator powering on now," Yang's voice comes through again. I close my eyes again, waiting until it's done. Another minute or so passes before Yang's voice comes on again.
"Atomic collision in T-minus 5…"
This is it.
"4…"
I'm really doing it.
"3…"
I'm going back in time.
"2..."
To save Ruby.
"1…"
To love Ruby.
"Now."
Immediately after saying that, a bright light flashes above me as, I'm assuming, the atoms collide. A large explosion noise, almost deafening, follows shortly thereafter. The Dust around me starts rising and swirling around me, coating my suit more and more as it churns in the pod. Once every inch of my body is covered, another bright flash, and then darkness.
I can't really describe the feeling of being surrounded by emptiness. Boring, I guess. Lonely, yes. Cold? Kind of. The nothingness that swallowed me seems to last forever, and then almost as soon as it was here, it was gone, and I was sent soaring through wherever I was.
The Darkness gives way to a bright blue, and my body is thrown downward, feeling some sense of gravity for the first time in what felt like minutes? Hours? Who knows. Then again, I am using a time machine. It would make sense for time itself to be a bit… off.
I keep rushing downwards, my heart fluttering anxiously as a scene opens up in front of me: My servants, my luggage, and I getting off of an airship. The ground approaching my field of vision at an alarmingly fast rate. My heart skips a beat, awaiting an impact, but right as I'm about to hit the ground, I fade. My form fades and seeks out the body of my younger self. Upon getting to it, it seems to mesh, effortlessly fusing with. I gasp as I open my eyes and don't see the neverending expanse of nothingness, but the front steps of Beacon for technically the first time.
"Miss Schnee? Is something wrong?" One of the servants asks me. I smile politely and shake my head.
"No, everything is fine, thank you." I respond, thrown off a bit about how different my voice sounds. The servant, whose name escapes me, simply nods and continues walking with my luggage. My knees feel weak and my head spins. I start to feel nauseous, and sweat begins to form on my brow. But even in spite of all of this, I still smile to myself.
You did it, Yang. You gave me the best thing anyone could have given me: A second chance. Your friendship has meant so much to me over the years, and I can't wait to become friends with you all over again. I'll miss you, Yang, but I still won't be without you. It's strange. But either way, thank you…
A large crash soon sounds from behind me, interrupting my musings. Slightly peeved that something would interrupt my happy moment, I turn around and yell. "What are you doing?"
Then my eyes see the real reason for the crash, and the memory comes back to me: this exact same thing happened on my first day of being at Beacon. And the same person at the cause. The same brunette with red dyed tips. The same awkward and hyper huntress in training that I came to fall for.
Ruby...