Ruby sighed. She wanted to check her phone again, but also didn't want to risk someone seeing the glow from the screen. Even with the brightness all the way down, it would still be like a signal beacon in the dark. Heh, a beacon at Beacon. Still, the waiting was killing her. She had been creeping to the door that she hoped would give her answers, but on the way there she had noticed that a door was open, a dim light barely passing the door frame visible within, one of the staff she didn't know, up late doing teacher stuff she assumed. The door she needed to get to was right beyond that, but she remembered the floor was really squeaky there, and she couldn't have anyone around to hear it. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the light clicked off.
Slowly walking out of the room was, not a teacher like she had expected, but instead, the Headmaster himself, Professor Ozpin, walked out, unmistakable with his ever-present cane. As he passed by her, Ruby noticed something about the cane she hadn't before. The only time she had seen him was during orientation, and only distantly, as he spoke on stage, under bright lights. But now, close as she was, she noticed that the top of the cane glowed faintly, as did an intricate pattern of lines along the handle part. Just another thing to add to her list of questions. As he opened the door to the stairwell, a brief rectangle of weak light filtering down the hall before the door closed with a little click. She counted out three minutes, just to be sure he was gone, before once again moving toward her goal.
One short creaky trip later, she was in front of the door. Slowly, she set down her bag, usually filled with tons of tools scraps and papers, but now light, nearly empty. in the side pocket she had put one of her few emergency glow sticks, cracking it and shaking, letting a dim green glow spread out, before brushing her hair back and tucking it above her ear, letting the glow illuminate the area around her, before pulling out Weiss's wiring kit and a set of precision tools. Slowly, she unscrewed the screws around the faceplate, pulling it off. Next, she would have to pull off some components to get at the internal wiring, but when she pulled on the first one, the entire thing came off the door.
"What the…." she looked at the entire lock in her lap, seeing that there was no wiring at all, just a battery powered red LED. gently placing it back into the door, she quickly screwed the face plate back on, then tried the handle, which opened easily. She was extremely confused but not nearly as confused as what was in the room. If it could even be called a room that is. Most of the ceiling was destroyed, rubble littered the room, evidence of previous water damage was evident, but it wasn't as bad as it should have been, the result of the top being covered with a tarp, placed over the ruined part, the material taut. "What is going on in this school….?"
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Weiss sighed, sitting up in her bed. Everything around her was neat, right where it belonged. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she landed right in her slippers, and grabbed her towel and a small basket of showering supplies, walked off to the common showers, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She hated this part of the day, she really wasn't used to not having her own large private multi-faucet shower that automatically knew the temperature she preferred, but there was something freeing about it. Slipping out of her slippers, and nightgown, and into shower shoes, she turned the shower on (the first night she had actually needed Ruby to explain to her how it worked, quite embarrassing) adjusting the knob right to the little mark she had made, giving it a moment to properly heat up while she neatly folded her nightgown, before stepping into the warm cascade.
One ok shower later, Weiss was heading back to the dorm to change into her clothes for the day, a nice outfit she had picked out yesterday. She dressed quickly, noting that her roommate had still yet to wake up. She rolled her eyes, the girl was an absolute nightmare, in her opinion. She had no sense of privacy or organization, constantly listening to loud raucous music. But, Weiss couldn't deny her brilliance. She had a seeming intuition for mechanical work, and she had noticed that her laptops had no brand, meaning they were self-made. She knew what was involved in making a laptop, and based on their wear and tear, she had made them as an astoundingly young age. And even with her lack of organization skills, she still never seemed to have trouble finding anything.
As she was going to wake Ruby, she happened to glance at her workshop and saw that her wiring kit was out of place. Glaring at the closed door, she went over and fixed it, opening it to make sure nothing was missing. Any missing things Ruby would replace, but everything inside was still there. Had she messed with it just to annoy her? She growled softly, carefully setting it back down, deciding to not Wake Ruby up until after she had made and enjoyed her coffee. That way she would have enough time to get ready. But only if she worked efficiently. As she was making the coffee though, she felt...bad. She remembered how panicked she had looked on the first day of class rushing around. She may have been a mess, but she could tell that she valued being on time almost as much as she did. Sighing, she walked over to the door, but before she could knock, it opened, startling her.
Ruby was already fully dressed in her ripped and baggy clothes, she seemed to be completely preoccupied with something on her phone, and walked right into Weiss. Weiss for her part was surprised, Ruby had never gotten up without either her or some alarm, but based on how she looked, she didn't think Ruby had even been to sleep. After a mumbled apology, Ruby grabbed her bag, threw her stuff into it and left before Weiss could even ask about her stuff. It was strange for Ruby to not even say "hi" to her. She did it practically every time they crossed paths. She hadn't realized it but she had kind of started to enjoy the attention. It wasn't like the typical attention she got because of her father or her status. It was just Ruby being happy to see her. Weiss wondered if maybe she had been too mean. She decided she would keep a closer eye on Ruby, and to maybe loosen up a bit.
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Now Weiss was really concerned. Over the past week, Ruby had been increasingly shut in, and she looked like she wasn't getting much sleep, and she kept sneaking away somewhere. Despite Weiss's best efforts, she hadn't been able to follow her, she was much better at being sneaky than she was. She would look away for just a few moments and poof, Ruby was gone. She had been slacking off in class, not that the teachers minded, she was still doing quite well, but Weiss knew she couldn't keep it up for long. Weiss knew from experience what pushing yourself too hard could do. She had still been trying to find out where Ruby was sneaking off to, but she hadn't had much luck. Until tonight that is. She had with more ease that she had thought slipped out of their dorm without Ruby noticing. She hid around the corner at the end of the hall, and waited, not a few minutes later she saw Ruby slip out of the dorm, clearly looking at her closed door as if trying not to disturb her, before slowly closing it and slipping off down the hall the other way.
Weiss waited a few seconds before going to follow her. She watched as Ruby walked just a bit too quickly off to the academic building before slipping inside, Weiss waited as long as she thought reasonable, but she couldn't wait too long, the building was large and she could easily lose Ruby. slipping through the door, she heard the closest stairwell close. She slipped up next to it, waiting with her ear pressed against the door. One thing she had noticed was that the lower floors were much more renovated, and the further up you went the older it became. As such, if she heard Ruby open the door she's know about which floor she was going to, and indeed she heard the loud creaking of old hinges whining in protest before eventually a loud ker-thunk indicating she had just entered the top floor. Slipping through the door, Weiss quickly ran up the steps, slowly peeking through the window set in it.
Ruby had slipped to the end of the hall, before looking lazily around, not noticing Weiss, and slipped through a door at the end of the hall. There was no way Weiss could get in without Ruby hearing her, which meant she would have to wait at least one more day to find out what exactly Ruby had been doing, and what was in that room. If she recalled correctly, that door was supposed to be electronically locked, so if Ruby had hacked it, or worse, stolen a key card, she would have some explaining to do. Now lost in thought, she quickly left the building, not noticing the dark hooded figure leaning against a tree on the quad, a figure who seemed to flicker before simply vanishing into the darkness.
I feel like this chapter isn't as good, but for personal reason writing this story is kind of hard, It keeps reminding me of my own college experience, which just stresses me out, but with some good classic rock (Something this Ruby and I both have a love for) I managed to power through and finish this chapter. hope you enjoy and be sure to review with any questions comments or constructive criticism. none of that bullshit "this sucks go kill urself" shit now ya hear?