A/N: Again KisaragiKei is away, busy partying with some awesome folk. I'd begrudge him, except he's in a very fun place (for his sake I'll refrain from dropping any names) I'd love to visit someday. So second verse same as the first, not as refined as usual.
B/N: I am not partying. Believe in nothing he says. Don't drink the koolaid and especially you Persephone, don't do it.
Unrelated anecdote: this chapter was actually supposed to be the last part of the previous one, but between the unwieldy length and the long span since my last update, I put the thing up as it was. So consider this as eight part 2.
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Running a hand over the flat edge of the sword, Ruby marveled at the weapon in her grip, the last of the four she got to personally inspect. What she was seeing both amazed her and reinforced the pit in her stomach, one she had from the moment she rediscovered Jaune. The sword was a lot like how she remembered, but with several crucial differences that served to mark the changes.
Just like its owner a voice in her head whispered, no matter how much she tried to block the thought.
The last time she beheld Crocea Mors, Ruby saw a weapon whose best days may have been behind it, wielded by someone who perhaps wasn't as skilled as they should have been. While the latter was still something she had yet to judge, the former was plainly a thing of the past.
The grip was now a shade of black, covered by a leathery material that a quick slice into the empty air proved proved to hold superlatively. A tiny pommel rested at the other end, a dense lump of black metal which could be used on its own as well as balancing out the rest of the sword. The guard retained its old shape, though it was now painted black. Of the blade itself, she could see no scratches, cracks, or imperfections. It was a length of silvery metal, disrupted by an odd decoration: a flat vein of the same black metal as the pommel.
Lifting it up for the tenth time, Ruby once again noted its lack of weight. She had certainly grown stronger over the years, but there was no doubt the sturdy weapon was lighter than before. If Ren hadn't used baby talk in explaining the metal's properties, she would have been far more concerned about it being too flimsy. She still thought so actually, though a brief demonstration on Jaune's shield proved his point.
"Trinium Titanium alloy." she murmured, letting the weird terms Ren and Carter used flow off her tongue. The latter's description sounded like some of the rare blacksmithing supplies that were and would remain forever out of her price range, but the former was something else entirely.
In the armory Carter had explained it as, "A rare element not found on Earth, and presumably Remnant. Its a hundred times the strength of steel but a hundredth of the weight."
Blake had objected to the stuff being able to do that, while holding a sample of the metal at the same time. Ruby and her sister didn't get why she was bothered by it, Yang even trying to bargain away something of hers for a few kilograms in spite of Weiss face palming. Carter had politely declined the deal.
Ruby glanced at the shield, resting against the wall next to the crate she was sitting on. It too was made of the same stuff as the sword, and like the blade, the colors had been seeped away. The old bronze pattern and trimming were now a shade of glossy black, the same substance as the pommel and the interior vein. Unconsciously she ran a single finger over the smooth metal, recalling the even stranger name it was called.
"Naquadah." she breathed softly. According to Carter, with Nora adding her own gleeful insights, the heavy element was even rarer than Trinium, and had a wide range of uses. From bombs (they all shied away from explaining just how powerful of bombs), to an incredibly potent energy source, to building material. There was one specific example the woman cited which caught her attention, all of the visitors in fact.
What she was feeling was the same stuff used to build the Stargates.
Engrossed as she was, Ruby wasn't deaf, if only thanks to the uncomfortable earmuffs they had to wear in the armory. The door was slung open, making her jerk the weapon down to glance it's way. Despite proving most of her perceptions wrong in the several hours she had been on Earth, she wasn't shaking her innate distrust of the soldiers here, consciously or unconsciously. So once she saw the two people striding inside, Ruby took a quiet breath of relief.
"Okay, made some guesses, but I think this is everything. All the stuff we arrived with at least." Jaune said with a nod as he walked into the armory, holding a large green duffel bag which he unceremoniously dumped on a cleared table.
Following him in, Pyrrha set an exact copy of the bag beside his, grabbing an orange magazine to place on top of it after a second of thought. That done, she looked to the side with a small smile.
"Ren, you're a life saver." she said with undisguised relief, fixated on the five upright black magazines standing in a neat row. The sable haired young man nodded back, placing a sixth beside the rest instead of replying. Visible on the top were a couple of brass rifle cartridges, with many more below.
Ruby stood up from the crate of equipment while snagging the shield. Collapsing it over the otherwise excellent blade, she nodded to herself and made her way to Jaune, checking on Nora as well.
The orange haired girl was still busy on the same thing as the last time she looked; on the table she claimed was one of the weapons with several of its magazines beside it, along with a blocky radio, a Zat'nik'tel, and several plastic wrapped bricks she wouldn't let her touch. Finishing the line of stuff was her hammer in its carrying form. Magnhild's steel body was covered by the strong alloy, with the head of the hammer sporting six centimeters of solid Naquadah.
Ren was occupied with his own equipment, with his modified twin pistols clipped to his thighs instead of in the sleeves. Stormflower had a noticeably different feel on both of the bayonets, which the layer of green paint couldn't hide. He explained it as being pure trinium rather than an alloy, with the rest of the weapon reworked with titanium-steel components instead.
The newly minted Sergeant did a double take in surprise at Ruby walking up to him, chuckling bashfully after a moment. "Hey, sorry. Forgot you were in here."
"It's okay. I like the workmanship they did on it." Ruby said, holding it out for him to take. She spied one detail on his waist that she doubted was standard issue: his old belt. On the other side she saw a conventional holster with a recognizable Zat held in place.
"Thanks." he said, accepting the blade. He clipped Crocea Mors to his belt, pausing for a second to move it to a comfortable spot. Placing a hand on the hilt, Jaune softly smiled at the weapon. Once he referred to it as 'an old heirloom' with reluctance; she wondered what he called it now.
"So, Ruby." Pyrrha said, causing the girl to turn to her as Jaune busied himself with getting ready.
The redhead facing away from her lifted up a black colored rifle, akin to the ones the guards carried. When Yang tried that one out, Ren had called it an 'M16' and explained it as the standard rifle of the kingdom's military-country, she mentally corrected. For whatever reason they were insistent on not calling the nation a kingdom.
"Yeah?" she replied, looking over her clashing form. Akoúo was slung over her back, with Miló tucked underneath. There was a sliver sheen to both weapons now, with the last several centimeters of the javelin's tip now being the same glossy black as in the sword. Its bronze tone came from the finish she used, no longer a property of the weapon itself. As she watched, both weapons were unslung to be set beside the rest of the equipment.
"I've been meaning to ask, since the last Vytal Festival was supposed to be hosted in Vale, you should have competed. How well did you do?" she asked casually, zipping her jacket up in order to grab her vest.
A lump formed in the younger girl's throat, leaving a hiccup like sound as her voice clenched. Pyrrha had the black vest in hand, but she paused to look at her strangely. Ruby averted her eyes, painful memories flashing in her mind like some twisted picture show. She had spent so much time fantasizing about her friend's safe return, that she glossed over the problems which arose since they disappeared.
Beside her Ren had finished putting on his own vest, tugging it to a comfortable spot. "Earlier I asked Yang something similar. She didn't give me a straight answer."
"It'd suck if you lost." Nora offered from her spot, shrugging apologetically while she was putting her arms through the vest's opening. "You did get pretty far at least, right?" she asked, zipping the covering up.
"You kidding? She probably made it to the finals." Jaune complimented from out the corner of her eye, starting on his own vest.
"I-I got far yeah." Ruby said quickly, looking away from all of them. She didn't want to lie, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them what really happened. How a nice woman she met turned out to be a monster in disguise, how a bedtime story was real, and how a horde of Grimm very nearly ensured they was nothing to return home to.
Most of all, she didn't want to tell them how she unwittingly helped the crisis explode.
"That sucks. Still wish I could've seen it." Nora shrugged off. "So, Zats or M9s?" she asked, glancing at the alien weapon.
"Zats. Lets face it, if the P90 doesn't cut it, the pistol won't. No offense." Jaune added hurriedly, sparing an anxious look at Ren. The young man shrugged without looking his way.
"It's fine." he said indifferently, grabbing equipment from the table to place either in his pockets or on the vest somewhere. Pyrrha handed him his scroll once he finished taking his share of stuff, which he mumbled a thanks to before stuffing it into a pocket.
Ruby shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling out of her depth. She started to go to Jaune again to see if he needed help, but looking over him showed there was nothing she could do. Ren was the next obvious pick, though once she thought it over the red huntress realized she didn't get the chance to chat with Pyrrha yet; as a bonus she was the closer of the two. Coming up to her, Ruby caught sight of the blond handing over Nora's own scroll in the corner of her vision.
"So, why are you taking that?" she asked, gesturing to the M16. Pyrrha looked over while she was clipping a blocky radio (she assumed it was a radio, since it looked just like the one Jaune used on Cimmeria) onto her vest.
"Extra range and firepower. Its not as good as Miló I admit, but its good to be prepared in any case." she replied, lining up the curved box into the receiver to give the bottom a light slap. It locked it with a quiet click.
"Next paycheck says these won't do anything." Nora said loudly. Turning her head, she saw her lining up a magazine into her P90, using great care to make sure the parallel box was fed in properly. Reloading the small guns was one of precisely two complaints Ruby had with the weapon, on the same level as the hard to hold circular grips.
"You're probably right, but who knows? Maybe these will tear Grimm apart." Jaune said hopefully while he hefted his own SMG, plainly obvious he didn't believe it himself.
"Doubt it, but there's no point speculating." Pyrrha turned back to the table, grabbing a length of black strap to wrap diagonally over her torso. It was a harness with two clips, a design Ruby thought was weird. Checking on the others, she noted they all had the same type. When the redhead adjusted the second one so it was close to the barrel's edge, it clicked for her; they could just latch the Earther weapons in place with the setup, without risking the guns leaving their hands.
An idea occurred to Ruby once Pyrrha replaced both javelin and shield on her back, excitement flooding her despite how minor it was. "So, who did win-"
"Want me to carry that?" Ruby quickly interrupted, jabbing a finger at the large duffel. She blinked at her, evidently not anticipating the sudden request.
"Um, its just clothes. Thanks though." she replied, reaching for the carry strap. The red toned girl beat her to it, smiling unconvincingly.
"You're carrying a lot of stuff as is." she rightfully pointed out.
"Please, its just the clothes we arrived in. This one has mine and Nora's specifically." Pyrrha said, grabbing part of the strap herself.
"But if you carry too much, you'll get tired quickly. Then what?" Ruby added with a bright smile, tugging insistently. The older girl sighed and let go.
"You don't have to." she protested quietly, idly adjusting the M16 so it was pointed at the ground.
"But I want to." she refuted cheerfully. "Besides, you guys showed me around this place, its the least I could do." Ruby punctuated her sentence with hefting the duffel from the table. It weighed a lot more than she thought it would, and she couldn't help giving it an odd look once she pulled the strap over her head.
Ren held up his P90, racking the tiny latch which served to put a round in the chamber. Nodding in satisfaction, he clipped the weapon to his sling, testing for comfort before letting it dangle. But when he glanced to a tall locker on the end of the row of guns, something flickered over his features.
Ruby carefully trailed after him as he walked to it, catching Nora putting Magnhild on to finish the quartet. His hand paused when it was a few centimeters away from the locker, covered by the same fingerless gloves the others had. She raised an eyebrow at him taking a breath before grabbing the handle to swing it open. For a second she thought it held more of the terrible Zat weapons which dropped Yang so easily, but what he pulled out instead was far different.
"Ren." Ruby flinched, a hairsbreadth from using her semblance. Jerking herself around, she was stunned to see Pyrrha standing by her, somehow doing it without making a sound. The redhead offered her a small smile before turning back to her teammate. "What are you doing?"
The sable haired young man slowly turned, holding a tall staff in a two handed grip. Letting her eyes roam over it, Ruby was struck by its odd appearance; colored brown, with a elongated bulbous head on the top and a weirdly designed paddle like object on the bottom. She had the impression it was a weapon, but it wasn't like the Earth made ones. In fact, it seemed to have several cues in common with a Zat.
"I recall these having some effect in the cave while we were fighting, it'd be worth taking one along. To be prepared." Ren explained evenly, paraphrasing her. Nevertheless, there was a glint in his eyes Ruby didn't like.
"True." Pyrrha frowned, stepping closer with a free hand held out. "Still, how about I take the Staff? It's more my specialty anyway." she reached to grab the pole like weapon, but Ren yanked it out of the way.
"You're carrying too much as is." he said coldly, narrowing his eyes.
"Please, I insist-" she succeeded in grabbing it, but he refused to let go. Her forced expression faded, as he matched the look.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Taking a moment to observe the other two, she noted uneasily how both Jaune and Nora had paused where they were, not moving. She was missing something huge, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what.
Jaune turned around with an unreadable expression, taking a deliberately slow pace to reach the two. Pyrrha glanced over at him, reluctantly letting go to back up. Ren's hard stare was leveled on the blond instead. All the while, Ruby looked to each of them in turn, utterly lost.
"Ren." Jaune acknowledged, stopping an arms length away.
"We should take this along." he insisted, tightening his grip on the staff.
A weight seemed to settle on the young huntress, something that made her breath catch. Her fear was seeping away, leaving behind an eerie calm.
Jaune took a breath, a grimace flickering over him. "You're right. We should test out different tools to see what works, Staff weapons included. But." he held out an open hand, clearly asking for it but not grabbing, "That doesn't mean I want you to carry it."
"I have the least amount of gear right now. There's no reason why I shouldn't." Ren explained briskly, not moving.
"I know. But…" Jaune sighed, closing his eyes to tip his head back, perhaps struggling with his wording. "You know, I do have this shiny new Sergeant rank. Little more than an hour old at this point. I was hoping it'd be a few days before I started abusing it." he said casually, facing off center while he kept eye contact.
Ruby's jaw opened on its own, the shock great enough to overcome the odd numb feeling. How could he be so nonchalant about abusing his power, something which was anathema to everything it meant to be a Huntsman? To ignore their own codes meant becoming monsters worse than what they fought.
Ren's eyes narrowed.
"Is that an order?" he questioned lowly, staring at him dangerously.
"No, just thinking out loud. Bad habit I know. Stuff like I want Nora to take the Staff." Jaune tilted his head towards the orange haired girl in question, leaving Ruby confused at why she had yet to even turn around to face them. On top of everything else when she thought about it.
"And leave me underloaded." Ren countered, his tone icily cold.
A wry smile broke Jaune's otherwise uncomfortable stoney expression. "Nope. You're hauling the AT-4."
Ren blinked, his own cold expression shattering. Ruby hardly noticed, since she was witnessing Nora's entire posture being wracked by shock. The orange haired girl whirled around to stamp her foot on the concrete, hard enough to feel the tremor. Her face was contorted by incredulous rage as she gawked at Jaune.
"What!?" she exclaimed, "Why does he get the missile?!"
On his part Jaune turned her way, holding his hands up placating, with a nervous expression. Nevertheless, he had a relieved smile on.
"Because the last time you used one Captain Austin threatened to resign." he refuted calmly. A scowl overtook Nora, one of indignant rage.
"Austin said that?! I blew up that Al'kesh, remember!" she snarled.
"The crashed one? When the mission was to salvage it?" Pyrrha spoke up.
Nora looked away, shaking her fists futilely. "Well, there were Jaffa closing in. Lots. Like, a hundred."
"Funny, last time I asked you said there was eighty." Jaune chuckled, taking a deep breath before turning back to Ren with an open hand. She growled loudly.
Ren reluctantly offered the staff to Jaune, though the half scowl on his features didn't vanish. Ruby took a breath, discovering the pressure on her chest was seeping away. While its disappearance was good, she had a more immediate worry. As the sable haired young man backed away, she carefully approached him. His eyes remained on the staff, tracking it unnervingly.
"What was that all about?" she asked him. Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak, but a quick look by Ren caused her to clamp shut. Ruby raised an eyebrow when he turned her way, taking a breath to steady his nerves.
"Its nothing." he said quietly, audible over Nora's vocal grumbling.
As he moved to the section of the wall she wasn't allowed to browse, the red huntress glanced to Pyrrha questionably. The redhead sighed.
"Personal thing. He'll tell you some other day." she said carefully, giving him a measured look.
In Ruby's opinion, that didn't change anything. Ren continued to act tense, even as he came back with a large tube resembling a missile launcher draped over his back. The last thing he did was return to the still open staff locker, hesitating for a moment before grabbing something inside. A quick turn and a pair of small objects were tossed at Pyrrha, both of which she grabbed easily. One glance confirmed them to be a Zat and a pistol holster. Meanwhile Nora was outright pouting with the long staff in her grip, grimacing even as the blond went to retrieve a spare sling. Tying it on two points, he helped her move the weapon so it laid next to Magnhild. Nodding in satisfaction, Jaune glanced over the four, lingering on Ruby for a moment
"I said I would take it." she answered the unspoken question, resting a hand on the heavy duffel. A frown crossed him, but it passed quickly.
One final check on his friends showed them as ready as could be; Pyrrha was tightening the holster on her thigh, Ren idly tugged the missile's harness to a more comfortable spot, Nora was still quietly fuming at the staff forced into her possession while she felt along her tiny gun, and Jaune patted himself over one last time. For Ruby, the only things she lacked were Crescent Rose and a long list of answers.
"Alright, ready to go?" he asked them all.
"Sure am sir." Nora answered with a wide smirk. Janue's half smile was wracked by surprised as he spun around. "What? You're in charge, and you have the highest rank here sir." she mercilessly teased.
He stabbed a finger at her. "No. None of that."
Pyrrha smirked too, as Nora stifled a giggle.
"You're one step closer to officer sir." she politely informed, smiling easily.
"Seriously guys, stop it." Jaune snapped, pointing to her too.
"That's right, its what we're supposed to say sir." Ren spoke, a small smile coming over him. Jaune's face was becoming more and more red by the second.
"Uh, what they said. Sir." Ruby nervously added with a forced smile. The tittering came to an abrupt halt; she froze, wondering what she did wrong. She couldn't stop herself from shrinking back when Jaune slapped his face, groaning as he pointed to her.
"First off Ruby, you're a civilian. You don't call me sir, ever. I can get in trouble if anyone heard that. Second." he lifted his head to give each of them a glowering look, which failed to stop their teasing looks. "My first official order: do not call me sir. Got it?"
"Whatever you say, but I think its time for my Marine impression." Nora suggested devilishly, leering with a smirk.
"Last I checked, SG-5 and SG-16 are at the Alpha Site, so go ahead." Pyrrha invited with a gesture. Both women giggled, as Ren leveled a smirk at him.
Jaune stared testily. "Done yet?"
"You make it way too easy to pick on you." Nora snickered.
Groaning dramatically, Jaune rolled his eyes.
"Alright, breaks over. Lets go." he strolled to the door instead of continuing, the others following in his wake. Ruby trailed after the last (Nora in this case), unable to stop herself from taking a gulp of the stuffy air.
The red toned girl perked up; she saw it was almost over. Ruby had succeeded in her impromptu goal beyond what she imagined possible; her friends were not just alive, but safe and sound. The changes they underwent had her nervous, but now that she knew why they did it, she could understand. And now, they were heading back to Beacon. Going home.
The͟n ͟Wh͘at?
Ruby almost tripped when the idea hit her, stumbling over her own feet. The suddenness of the thought had caught her off guard entirely, leaving her vulnerable to a host of new uncomfortable thoughts. What was going to happen next?
In the span of one morning, Ruby had found out there were things hiding in the night sky that were all too capable of destroying everything she knew, they could do it with all the ease of swatting a fly. Nowhere was safe, no place existed which couldn't be attacked. Monsters that stole everything someone was, controlling them as some demented puppet, were out there, ready to enslave everyone. The four in front of her had spent much of the past three years fighting those horrors, seeing things Ruby couldn't imagine. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren had seen and done things which frightened her more than she wanted to admit. What were they going to do now? What was she going to do?
Coming up to the thick metal door, Ruby strayed to one side of the hallway to avoid getting trampled by a squad sized group of marching soldiers, forcing away the discomfort at seeing each member of JNPR pause to give the lead woman a salute. She did notice the row of Remnant natives garnered some odd looks from the passing men and women, but none stopped to make a comment. She could only guess how her friends would respond.
Finally she found herself coming up to the recognizable entrance, one of two ways she saw to get into the Gateroom. Currently it was open, allowing the five to file in easily. Ruby heard the voices before she was inside, her team electing to head right there while JNPR went to get ready; she felt like tagging along for one last jaunt through this place.
Hearing her sister's exasperated tone initially made her tense up, but once she could firmly make out what they were saying she relaxed. "For the last time, I thought my Aura was going to block it. I didn't know, Ren didn't say a thing until after I got zapped. Besides, not like I shot anyone else."
"Still, that was dangerously irresponsible." Blake's unseen voice countered.
The trio were in the middle of the room, while Major Carter and a guard stood a short distance away. The woman had her arms crossed, with her foot was tapping on the floor. Ruby had the impression she'd been listening to them squabble for some time now. What made the red toned girl perk up was the sight of her team's weapons; Ember Cecelia, Myrtenaster, and Gambol Shround were back were the belonged, looking no worse for wear. A glance informed her the tired looking guard was holding Crescent Rose.
"You tell my dad, I'll punch you. Not kidding this time." Yang threatened with a stabbed finger.
Sensing movement, the ad hoc group turned to the arrivals. The teammates blinked in unison, maintaining a blank stare at their number. It lasted until Yang snorted, covering her mouth and turning away. Ruby trailed around them to go to the man holding her scythe, catching Jaune in the middle of a drawn out sigh.
"You should head back, I think you forgot something." Yang sniggered. This time both Pyrrha and Nora joined the blond in rolling their eyes.
"Were only going a few kilometers." Weiss said, raising a brow at them.
"Not carrying that much stuff." Jaune protested, Nora and Ren filtering away to get closer to the Gate.
Ruby held out her arms, and the soldier immediately half shoved the compacted weapon into her grip. He mouthed 'thank you' before striding away, off to do anything else. Paying half a mind to the ongoing conversation, she fell back on habit to check over her weapon. She insisted to herself that it wasn't because she thought the Earthers had been rough on it, accidentally or intentionally.
"Yeah, looks like it." Yang got out, past her bought of giggles.
"No seriously." Jaune glanced down to fumble with the items on him, "I only got my gun, my sword, clothes, IDC, radio…" he trailed off.
Beside him Pyrrha let her rifle dangle off its sling, crossing her arms with a faintly bemused look at her leader.
"Jaune, you're digging yourself a deeper hole here." she said softly. He groaned and slapped his face.
Finding a smudge from a greasy finger, Ruby frowned and used her sleeve to quickly buff it off. Beyond that, she saw no sign of abuse or tampering. There was still a bullet chambered, thanks to a quick rack of the bolt. But without popping the magazine out, she had no way to tell if she still had all her ammunition. Ruby wasn't going to check now; it wouldn't be a good sign of trust if she showed off that much suspicion.
"Alright." Carter started, catching the attentions of them all, Jaune especially. "The Prometheus will launch later this afternoon, it'll arrive at your homeworld in approximately thirty five hours. You need to inform someone in authority and make preparations for our arrival. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am." both Jaune and Pyrrha chorused; Ruby caught a flash of a frown come over all her friends; like her, they could do nothing about it.
"Alright. Good luck." Carter finished, walking away out the room and making a thumbs up gesture at the plate of glass.
Replacing Crescent Rose on her back, Ruby rejoined the main group as the other two did the same. As she mentally psyched herself up, she heard Jaune mutter, "Lets get this done." Unexpectedly Yang snorted, finding out in short order how many eyes were on her.
"Oh, right. You just put this tune in my head." she answered the unspoken question, shrugging forcefully.
After a second of thought she winced, in time for Jaune to ask, "How?"
"Um, Rolling Train right?" Ruby asked her, which she nodded to.
"Context?" Ren asked blandly, shifting his weight around as they waited.
"Rolling Train, by Smashing Melons. Its this overplayed song on the net." Weiss explained with a guarded shrug.
"Any good?" Nora asked interestedly, fiddling with her gun's harness.
"It was. But after you've heard it a million times its not. Almost wanna go back to Achieve Men's new album." Yang shuddered dramatically, which Ruby nodded to.
"Never could get into Achieve Men." Pyrrha said idly, turning to the direction of the gate. Ruby observed her hands adjusting the harnessed rifle, continually bringing up a boot to tap on the floor.
As the closest, Weiss glanced over her impatient form. "Excited?"
"Very." Pyrrha replied, her gaze locked onto the Gate.
One by one they all turned to the alien construct, waiting. Ruby flinched when the inner ring began to grind away, moving an incomprehensible symbol over one of the chevrons. It clacked over the mark, glowing orange.
"I gotta say, this whole shebang was… kinda fun." Yang admitted with a shrug.
"Wish I could have gone outside for a while. Seen more of Earth." Blake spoke up, flicking her golden eyes around the bare room one more time.
Ren shook his head, briefly craning his head to her. "Bad idea. There's a snowstorm topside."
The red toned girl considered telling the others about what happened in the armory, but upon remembering his anger she rethought the idea. If he was willing to get upset at his own team, what would he do with his back to the wall? Ruby rolled her shoulders, deciding to keep quiet for now.
"Huh. I guess that's… yeah." Weiss shook off her thoughts, letting her head fall back to the ceiling. Ruby copied her, squinting at something very very high up. After a few seconds of examination, she was mostly certain she saw the ceiling. Why someone built a massive shaft, big enough to hold an entire building inside, just to contain one object was something she had no answers for.
"Kinda wish you guys could stick around a bit longer." Nora said wistfully. "There's so much cool stuff here you would love. A three oh two in action, area fifty one, some of the TV they got here, Jaune's apartment, and there's this restaurant that makes the best pancakes-"
"Wait a sec, go back." Blake interrupted with a raised hand, silencing her. She then turned to Jaune with a confused expression. "Apartment? Jaune, you have an apartment?"
In a seconds time the young man found himself under four pairs of eyes, brimming with questions. He took a shallow breath, flicking to Nora for a moment. The orange haired girl shrugged defensively.
"Yeah, knew this was going to come up sooner or later." he said softly, turning back to the Gate with an unreadable expression.
"C'mon, details." Yang prompted with a circular gesture, looking expectantly at him.
Jaune rolled his shoulders, idly adjusting the clothes duffel. "Its this little one bedroom place in Colorado Springs, that's a town about a twenty minute drive away from here. Not much to look at I admit, but hey."
"All the same, I'm amazed." Weiss spoke up, focused on him with a rare impressed smile. "Not just that they let you get your own place, but you get paid enough to afford it." she said, getting a mirthless chuckle from him.
"Only got the lease last week actually, haven't formally moved in yet. Made all those assimilation classes worth it though." he snorted bemusedly, needing a second to notice what he said had given Ruby a small frown. "Those are just courses on the culture here, its so you can walk down the street without letting everyone know you're an alien."
"Still, congratulations." Blake said, nodding at him.
"Thanks." he said, checking over his gun again. Ruby was just close enough, and with a well timed lull in the noise level, to catch a quiet mutter from him. "Planned on going furniture shopping in a couple days."
It occurred to Ruby there was an opinion missing from the conversation; swiftly coming up on Pyrrha, she tapped her on the side. "Hey, have you seen his apartment?"
The redhead responded with a noncommittal, "Yeah."
The last chevron choose the moment to lock in place, finishing the otherworldly ritual. Immediately the 'kawoosh' of glowing water spilled out, reaching out a short distance before settling back in place. The red toned girl saw her team flinch from the procedure, while the others didn't react whatsoever. Snapping her head to them, Yang had to groan.
"Okay, be level with me. How do you get used to that?" she stabbed a hand at the glowing object.
"You just do. Alright." Jaune stepped forward, so he was in front of the group. "I'll take point, follow me in on your own pace." he said, starting to walk towards the ring.
A flutter of rose petals put Ruby right next to him, which made him give her a brief look before shrugging. "Why not. Anyway, lets go."
He strolled easily up the ramp, with her a pace behind him. Sparing a glance over her shoulder, Ruby noticed both the unease in her own team and the concealed excitement in the others. In the glass a short distance away, she saw someone wave. She returned a wave of her own before turning forward, discovering Jaune has already vanished.
Ruby took a breath and forced herself to lunge forward, before her doubts consumed her. The glowing water engulfed her entirely, giving her a strange…
…Feeling…
…that ended as soon as it began when she was spat out the other end. Sucking in air, she powered away from the ring for the incoming travelers. When something cracked under her feet she squeaked and grabbed Crescent Rose, alarm surging through her system.
"You okay?" Jaune demanded worriedly.
Forcing herself to stop and think, Ruby looked at what she stepped on. A blush formed when she saw what it was: the glow sticks Blake dropped earlier. She tossed them out hours ago, but after all that happened it felt more like weeks. Turning around, she saw Jaune looking concerned as he stood by with the P90 up.
"I'm fine." Ruby answered carefully. Shaking off the embarrassment of jumping at shadows, she flicked her eyes at the Gate.
Yang was the next one to appear with a wet plop, shuddering. "Okay, that was just weird."
She got out of the way in time for Nora and Weiss to appear in the same fashion, the latter unbalanced in spite of her better composure. Blake walked through the otherworldly water next, clearing out for Pyrrha and Ren to arrive. A couple seconds after they came through, the Stargate shorted out with a electric crackle. The tiny cave was plunged into darkness.
New lights flicked on, wide panes from scrolls and narrow cones from the P90s inbuilt flashlights. They all worked together to sweep around the small space, looking for anything dangerous or threatening. The search came up empty, but the constant glow from the caves exit caught the mixed group's attention, one by one.
"Ready?" Jaune asked loudly.
"I'm good. Lets get out of here." Yang declared, closing her scroll to stride towards the exit. Ruby easily overtook her, first hearing then faintly seeing the others on their heels.
It was a short distance from the Stargate to the cave opening, a distance which didn't end quickly enough. Coming out into the midday sun, Ruby let herself take in the achingly relieving sight of the red foliage of Forever Fall. She took a breath of air, tasting the scent of home. Never before was she so relieved to be in the wilderness.
Craning her neck, Ruby saw her four missing friends taking in the old sight too. Each of them paused, letting themselves slump in place. It wasn't hard for her to see the enormous smiles each had.
"Wow." Nora breathed softly, unusually quiet with a warm smile.
Blake came up behind them, noticing their almost entranced forms as Ruby did. "Never thought I'd be happy to see this place." Weiss was a few steps behind her, with Yang coming up last.
"We're home guys." Pyrrha glanced around, smiling widely. Unless Ruby was badly mistaken, there was a watery sheen in her eyes. "It…it almost doesn't seem real."
A cracked stick made all eight snap to the same direction, each one having a weapon in hand. Another smashed tree branch narrowed down its location, so sixteen eyes were trained on the brush the creature erupted from. Tearing through the foliage, the two and a half meters tall, faintly lupine, and skull topped creature paused to stare malevolently at the humans.
Ren sighed. "Yep. We are definitely back."
The Beowolf looked over the gathered returnees and roared.