A Few Hours Later….
As sunlight poured in from a nearby window, golden rays shining through the openings in the blinds in a beautiful display, it didn't take long before the red-clad Huntress's eyes fluttered open. As Ruby sat up in her bed, her silver eyes checking each corner of the room to jog her memory, she looked back down to find the change of clothes provided to her. A buttoned up grey shirt with long sleeves, and grey pajama pants, similar to her garb at Patch. Looking to her left towards the other bed in the room, she noticed a lack of golden yellow hair and sighed. Everything clicked quietly, then, as she remembered where she was. It was a Mistralian township on the coastline, protected from Grimm by Mistral's military, which provided some comfort to the reaper, but with no sign of Jaune, it didn't help matters much. Standing up from her bed, she walked towards the door and softly turned the knob, opening to door, to see a sight which made her chuckle under her breath.
"Yeah? Well, I took out, like, fifty White Fang, two hundred Grimm, and I may have accidentally stepped on a squirrel." Nora boasted, her arms crossed in defiance as her toothy grin showed a small chip in her front teeth. In front of her, a certain cybernetic brawler shook her head, with her prosthetic missing from view. Apparently, Yang was released from the Medbay.
"Well, me, Blake, and Sun punched Adam Taurus's lights out, and I singlehandedly pummeled an Atlesian Paladin into pieces...again." Yang proudly said, as she thought back to that exact moment with wistful eyes. Ruby also stared off into space, looking directly at the sight.
With fire and the screams of civilians all around her, Ruby barely had any time to think as she flew around in a sea of rose petals, shooting down Grimm after Grimm all she began calling out to her team. "Yang? Blake? Weiss?" Ruby shouted out, pulling the trigger on an unsuspecting Beowulf who soon had only shadowy mist for a head, "Jaune?"
Suddenly, a loud thud sounded behind her, shaking the ground behind the young Huntress. Turning on her heel, Ruby stared agape in horror, as the Atlesian Paladin stepped into view. It had been clearly customized, now sporting the white and red of Adam's White Fang, with the logo of the snarling animal on it's arm. As it reared it's arm back to attack Ruby, she dodged quickly, bursting into a disorienting mess of rose petals before re-appearing and slashing at the mech with Crescent Rose. One, two, three slashes attempted to cut through the metal chassis of the Paladin, but to no avail as it suddenly rammed with the speed and force of a bull, sending the girl flying through the air. Her flight was soon interrupted, however, as she burst through the wall of a nearby building, sending brick and mortar everywhere around her as she laid there on her side, wheezing in pain. Looking up, she saw the Paladin enter view, and she tried to get up. Alas, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, bruised skin making it difficult to stand. As she closed her eyes and waited for the attack, a sudden roar of rage suddenly snapped her out of her pain. It was a wordless yell, but the sound of Ember Celica firing was enough as Ruby could see the Paladin topple over, with pieces of machine parts flying everywhere. When she finally gathered the power to stand up, she walked over, only to see Yang continue to punch a soon-to-be motionless mech. When the blonde stood to look to Ruby, a simple exchange of thumbs up was all that was needed before Yang gave one last berserk punch to the machine, then raced through the building to help Ruby.
A groan left Ruby's lips as she relived this, which caught the attention of Nora and Yang. Yang, especially, looked very happy to see her younger sister, a large smile on her face as she practically bounced in place. Nora was not too far behind, however, as the grin simply never left her face. "Oh, Ruby!" Yang said, walking over to her sister and giving her a gentle hug, "How are you?"
"Been better," Ruby said, the pain subsiding as the warmth and love seemingly radiating from the brawler kept her calm. "Haven't been in pain since yesterday."
"Well, that's good," Nora said, her tone carrying part of Nora's "odd wisdom", so to speak, as she said, "When I was little, and I mean around twelve, so don't go around feeling sorry for me, I once got smacked into a wall while doing combat training with Ren. Whoa! You shoulda seen me, Ruby, let me tell you. I was all curled up in a ball, I could only squeak and lightly groan about how unfair life is. Usual Saturday, really. The only good part was that Ren brought me soup and we would play games that didn't involve me getting out of b-"
The sound of Ruby clearing her throat interrupted Nora, who suddenly realized that she was going off on a tangent and blushed with a more subdued smile. "As fun as that sounds, I need to find Jaune," Ruby simply said, choosing to ignore the smirk Yang gave her. As Yang let loose an "Aww", she soon found that she failed. "Yang, it isn't like that!" Ruby insisted.
But that was all the ammo Yang and Nora needed, as the two walked towards her, with Yang saying "I never said it was. Well, I approve. You could do worse than Jaune, that's for sure."
"Yeah," Nora said, somehow having procured a pancake when she rejoined the conversation, "And as a member of Team RNJR, or former member, whatever, I give you express permission to-"
Ruby's embarrassed blush said it all, as she frowned and looked away from them. Yang and Nora looked to each other, as Yang said "Well, I know where he is. He's in that gym, close to the heliport. Could you check in on Weiss and Blake, though? They didn't make it back here."
Nodding, Ruby walked back into her room to get changed. After taking a well deserved shower, she saved time by throwing on the spare clothes she had, which consisted of her uniform from the fight against the Atlesian Paladin from her Beacon days. Leaving the temporary home, which was a military guarded hotel, Ruby first walked into the hospital. Upon walking in and introducing herself, the receptionist told her to go to room 235. Walking up to it, she turned the knob and walked in.
Weiss was still in bed, an IV drip full of blood in her arm, while Blake was laying her head on the same bed, both girls being fast asleep. In Blake's hand was a black, leather-bound book, and on Weiss's bedside table was a vase full of yellow flowers. With that, Ruby quietly crept out of the room, heading off to find Jaune.
Throughout the interior of the Viridian Gym, with it's green walls and welcoming decor, the sound of a heavy bag getting beaten and smashed could be heard as a Hunstman continued to wail on it, training for something big. The elderly coach behind him watched on, his greying-green hair and goatee showing his age the same as his wrinkles did, while he cleaned the ring behind him with a moist towel. As Jaune continued to wail on the heavy bag with taped fists, he looked around around to see accolades adorning the walls. Headlines of newspapers reading things like "Jack "Green Blur" Viridian retains heavyweight title!" were all that were needed to paint the picture of the old man overseeing his workout. He initially paid no mind to the door opening behind him, but when he glanced and saw Ruby enter, he gripped the heavy bag to stop it before turning to her.
"Ruby! Uh, good morning!." Jaune greeted, walking towards the young Huntress with his arms wide open. The two met in a tight hug, only separating to continue speaking. "I don't remember telling you where I was, though."
Ruby simply smiled and said "You didn't. Yang and Nora told me."
"Ah, gotcha," Jaune said, before turning his attention back to the bag, though not before commenting "Nice outfit."
"Oh, uh, thanks," Ruby said bashfully, "I had it with me at Beacon."
Nodding, Jaune continued hitting the bag, raining down blows that made the red bag sway and swing with power behind each strike. Ruby waited next to the ring, standing next to the old Jack as she watched Jaune continue his exercise. Soon, however, a ringing on his Scroll interrupted him from a nearby bench. Walking over and picking it up, he looked at the number for only a second before answering it. Cinder's broken voice immediately hit his ears, as she asked "J-Jaune?"
"Yeah?" Jaune responded, sitting on the bench as Ruby walked over and took the spot next to him.
"H-Has the…Narrator contacted you, y-yet?" Cinder asked, her voice wavering as she spoke. She was in protective custody per the orders of the Huntsmen and Huntresses, and thus was in a nearby building filled with security detail.
"Not yet. When he does, I'll let you know." Jaune responded, before saying a quiet "Bye" and hanging up, closing the Scroll in his hands.
Ruby cocked her head to the side and asked "Who's "he"?", her hands clasped together as she waited.
As Jaune prepared to respond, a burst of static startled both of them, as he opened his Scroll to find television static with a video call button over it. When the two looked at each other, Ruby wordlessly nodded as Jaune then pressed the button. The familiar scene of Victor Briar's reading corner appeared, this time the fans were able to be heard. There were quite a few of them, but nothing absolutely crazy. While in black and white, that disappeared with another clap as the red eyes of The Narrator looked to the screen as he grinned. "Ah, hello, Spaghetti Arms! Well, I see you had a go at that heavy bag, so maybe you'll get some meat on your bones soon."
Ruby turned to Jaune and asked "How did he know that?", to which Jaune could only look at the screen and ask "Vic, how do you know what's going on right now?"
"Simple, Vomit-Boy!" said The Narrator, who laughed under his breath. Suddenly, his face turned much more serious, his crimson red eyes glowing slightly brighter before he said "It's my Semblance. There is no place that I can view where I can't see everything." The crimson returned as he cocked his head to the side, saying "To be more specific, that's why I narrate. My Semblance is the ability to gain true vision, auditory and visual, on most anything. I usually use it for the novels I read on the show. Real fear, anguish, laughter, arousal; it's really quite useful."
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that last one. Little too much information." Jaune simply said, also choosing to ignore his moment of seriousness so that he wasn't afraid to focus. "Are you here to tell me about the first Guardian?"
"And me? I'm more than a little curious." Ruby said, as well, leaning over to view the screen.
"But of course!" The Narrator said, "It helps that you can view things the same way. Observe." Cracking open the book, the contents suddenly burst into purple flame as both Ruby and Jaune soon saw themselves looking, hearing, and even smelling a whole new place. It was a casino, with slot machines rolling around them. In front of them was a blackjack table, where a purple suited man sat, shuffling his deck. He had neatly combed hair, a groomed mustache, and wore a blue tie. Suddenly, The Narrator's voice was heard, which no one else but them could even hear. "His title is "The Gambler"," The Narrator said, his voice changing into a more atmospheric tone, deep and deadpan. "Born Ferris Violeta, The Gambler spent his days conning people out of their hard earned Lien, along with his wife Indi Violeta." Right then, a woman in a blue-ish suit walked over to him, handing him a few thousand Lien that was obviously pilfered from somewhere.
As purple flame once again covered Ruby and Jaune's vision, the scene changed to them standing before the familiar sight of green and silver hair at a desk, with a playing card deck in the Gambler's hands. Standing before them was Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black, Cinder's accomplices in the Fall of Beacon. "One day, however, they did the impossible, yet an impossible that should've stayed that way: they out-conned a con-man."
"Alright, see, this is how it goes." Ferris said, his voice gruff and raspy as he spoke to the thief and assassin, "It's simple, pick a card from the deck. If it's the elusive King of Hearts, you win big. If it isn't, I do. Got it?" The nods from both parties was enough, and the Gambler got set to work.
The Narrator's voice played again, saying "See, The Gambler conned first, and won second, and that was just the order of operations. He has a Semblance that allows him to cheat." Just then, the world slowed down as they could see what he did. With a tap of his fingers, the face down King of Hearts card was marked with an eyeball symbol, and with quite a bit of sleight of hand, stealthily hid the card in his sleeve as he continued shuffling. Laying each card face down on the table, Emerald got set to work in choosing which one to pick, or at least, that's what she wanted. With her Semblance active, Emerald merely stood there and rifled through the cards, trying to find the King of Hearts while her illusion pretended to do silent guess work. Indi nodded, her blue bobbing as she did so, and Ferris pulled out the King of Hearts, placing his hand behind his back. With a quick tap of the his finger against the eye, the illusion was dashed away as Emerald stood there, her eyes wide with frustration. Throwing the card towards her, a rigged sharp edge hit her thumb, making her drop each card.
As she stared at the spilled deck, as she could say was "H-How-" before the purple flame changed it again. This time, it appeared to be a cozy house. Snow fell outside the window as Indi counted what seemed like a large sum of money at the couch. In the kitchen, Ferris absentmindedly shuffled the deck at the table.
"In doing so, and showing off quite the gift, he caught the attention of the Grimmsdottir herself, Salem. And she sent someone to tell him the...good news, as it were.", and with that, a knock on the door alerted the wife, who stood up and opened it. In front of her was a man hunched over, his yellow eyes wide as he laughed silently. Suddenly, a scream hit the ears of Ruby and Jaune as his scorpion tail lashed out and struck her down. He rushed forward to meet the Gambler, and without a single word mentioned, the fear won out as the two were brought back to reality.
"With no choice except death, Ferris became the first Guardian, the Gambler, and began to aid Salem in exchange for his survival," said The Narrator, who paused or finished in order to take a sip of his green tea. On the bench, Ruby and Jaune both sat horrified. "So, here's the down low: The Gambler's ability is his upgraded Semblance. He has literal card tricks, and can imbue and enchant them with various powers. Fire, ice, electricity, explosions...you can be seriously fucked up. And with that, I thank Vale and Mistral's network for my primetime slot." he said, tapping an earpiece on his left side before saluting.
"U-Um, right," Jaune said, unsure of what to think as Indi's death by Tyrian's sting burned in his memory, "C-Can I spare him? He's been through a lot."
The Narrator nodded as he sipped his tea before saying "You can, I suppose. But that is another Guardian that will live. It's up to you."
Jaune then deliberated for some time before saying, "Well, can I get some help? I mean, have you seen me?" to which The Narrator nodded.
"I have indeed, Noodles. You can bring Cinder and one friend. Otherwise, civilians have to stay out of it." and with that, and the knowledge that the battles happen the day after, Jaune pocketed his Scroll.
"You going to help me and Cinder?" Jaune asked, standing up from his seat. Ruby also stood, planting her feet firmly on the ground.
"I suppose I can. I may not trust Cinder, but I trust you," Ruby explained, "If you're helping her, so am I. Besides, these Guardians seem dangerous, and if I can stop them, it's one less thing to worry about." And with that, Jaune gulped down a breath as he planned and prepared in his mind for the next day.