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Scene 8:

Waking Up

Ren pov

4:00 am

I woke with a start in a cold sweat. I jolted up, gulping in buckets of air, trying to catch my breath.

Was I…dead? I wondered.

I was extremely confused, and more than a little frightened. I had just died, from a Deathstalker stabbing me in the gut before it threw me into a tree so hard I-

Let's not think about that again I thought, trying to shake the thoughts of that…nightmare…from my mind.

I looked around to see what had happened, where I was. I was still shaking off the thoughts of the nightmare, trying to get my bearings and determine what was real, and what was a dream.

I'm still in the ballroom I thought.

So, since I'm still in the ballroom, that meant none of the initiation had actually happened. It was all a dream. A very, very strange and very, very dark dream, but a dream nonetheless.

That being said I thought, reconsidering.

I can't help but feel like the dream was something…more…than just a simple dream. I don't really know what, maybe it was my subconscious trying to tell me something, a vision of the future, or simply a reminder to not eat so much of Nora's cooking again. In any case, I would need time to process it, as well as time to calm down.

My heart was still racing as bullets of sweat rolled down my trembling body. My breath was still shaky and shallow. It felt like the rest of my body, and even parts of my mind, was still playing catch up to the idea that I didn't really die, that it was all a dream.

I let out another breath, trying to calm myself down again. I got to my feet, deciding that a nice walk in the cool morning air would do me good. It was still dark out, but one look at my scroll told me that was because it was very early in the morning, about 4:00 am, rather than still being night.

There's also the fact that there's no way I could go back to sleep again after that nightmare.

As I got up to leave the boy's side of the room I noticed that I didn't appear to be the only one who wasn't sleeping well. Many of them were whimpering, tossing and turning, or otherwise having restless sleep. Some were even awake, though they all looked horrified, like they had just been in their own personal hell.

I guess I wasn't the only one with a nightmare I thought.

Though, unlike them, I wasn't just sitting around telling myself it wasn't real.

In any case, Nora should be up in about 4 hours. I might as well see about getting some pancakes for her while I'm up. I thought as I left the room.


5:00 am

I had finally finished my run around the school. At first I started with a simple walk to think these things through, then it turned into a jog, then finally a run. Thinking about the nightmare made me realize a few things about myself, and the initiation.

While I continued to think about these things I made my way to the cafeteria to see if they were open, or to see if I could use the kitchen. Even if I wasn't going to be making Nora's pancakes, I found cooking to be…relaxing. It certainly helps to take my mind off things.

On my way there, I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I lost track of my surroundings. As I made my way through an intersection, I ran into someone else who was rounding the corner.

Literally.

We bumped into each other in the dark corridor, though I was fortunate and alert enough to keep my balance. She wasn't so lucky. The young girl was knocked onto the ground by the collision, giving a short cry of surprise, then of pain as she hit the ground.

After regaining my bearings, I looked her over. She was a pale young girl, about my age, with long white hair and a scar to the side of her left eye. She was currently wearing a pale nightgown. She was sitting there, her hand on her head, still dazed from the collision.

Deciding to take responsibility for my careless actions, as well as being polite, I offered her a hand up.

"Miss?" I said quietly, trying to get her attention.

In response she looked up in surprise, staring me in the eyes for a second, before she seemed to notice my hand. With a simple "oh" She took it, and I helped her up.

"Thank you." She said politely after she got back on her feet.

"It's the least I could do for not paying attention to where I was going." I responded courteously

"Nonsense, you are not the only one at fault for losing track of their surroundings." She said in kind

"I suppose not." I said, giving her a small smile for her surprising graciousness. A smile she returned.

"My name is Lie Ren, though you can just call me Ren" I said, introducing myself.

At that she seemed to be slightly embarrassed, her face blushing red.

"Right, of course, where are my manners." She muttered, apparently embarrassed at her apparent rudeness.

I simply raised an eyebrow at her as I awaited her response.

She cleared her throat, stood straight up, and puffed her chest out

"I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." She announced proudly, her chin held high.

In response I just looked at her for a couple seconds, processing that information, before stoically nodding in understanding.

Cool I thought

She seemed to be taken off guard by my…underwhelming…reaction.

"That's it?" She questioned

I shrugged, helpless to do much more than explain why.

"I have a close friend who's essentially the living incarnation of spontaneity. I've gotten used to surprises." I explained simply

"I-I see…" She said, trailing off in a manner that said otherwise.

Shaking her head, she refocused on something more important.

"In any case, could you direct me to the kitchen?" She asked

I raised an eyebrow again at the sheer coincidence of this before answering.

"Actually, I'm heading there myself. Feel free to join me." I responded calmly, inviting her to follow me.

My response cause her to look at me in mild surprise, apparently she saw the coincidence as well. She then appeared to simply acknowledge it as fact and moved on.

So, on we walked, with me leading the way, to the kitchen in the early hours the morning in mutual silence. The both of us up far before it would be reasonable, but neither deciding to question it.

When we finally got there, we saw that the cafeteria was apparently open, but nobody was there yet, not even the staff. We went into the open kitchen and found that, it too, was devoid of life, yet still open for us to enter.

Weiss looked around the room nervously, obviously uncomfortable with being somewhere she felt she shouldn't be. I, on the other hand, went about taking stock of what they had and where it was.

Finally, likely due to her nervousness, she spoke again.

"Um…so…why are you up at this hour?" She asked somewhat timidly

I paused, still holding a cabinet door open when she asked. Her question once again brought back the memories of that nightmare.

"I…couldn't sleep." I responded after a moment, resuming my inventory of the kitchen. "Had a…nightmare." I decided to continue.

She seemed to react to that, jolting up, as if I reminded her of something. Something best left forgotten.

"Ye-yeah…me too." She said quietly, obviously not expecting that.

"W-what was yours about?" She asked, trying to keep the conversation going, refusing to let it die. She seemed like she really need to talk about this, to get this out.

I sighed, not really wanting to bring it up. One look, however, at that sad, nervous, expression on her face as she looked down at her interlocked fingers convinced me to say it anyway.

"I had a dream about the Initiation." I began, something which got her attention again, causing her to look up.

"In the…nightmare…I…died…" I said slowly, having to force out each and every word. I felt that fear, that shock, come back in small waves. Not as bad as when I first experienced it, but I could still remember it clearly. Too clearly.

I let out another breath, trying to calm myself down.

"Me too." She said, shaking me out of my thoughts.

When she said that, I turned to her, confusion and surprise evident on my face.

"I-I had a nightmare like that too." She began to explain, appearing to have the same problem as me.

"It was the initiation and everything was going well, but then the Grimm just kept coming and coming, and they…they…" She continued, trying to explain, but at the end she seemed to lose her nerve.

She seemed to be taken back, reminded of what happened in that dream, that nightmare. She played with her hand nervously, her movements tense and scared as she gazed down at her feet. Her breaths became shaky as she became overwhelmed with emotions. She looked on the verge of losing herself to her memories and feelings.

In a show of support, understanding, and compassion, I provided an anchor to reality. I walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up in surprise, looking at me with watery blue eyes, I just gave her a small understanding smile.

"Me too." I said simply, letting her know she wasn't alone.

She nodded, taking in a breath as she acknowledged this. She seemed to calm down, relaxing a bit. She bit her lip, looking to the side nervously, before looking at me again.

"So…how'd you…" She said, trailing off, unable to say it. But that's all she needed to say.

I let out another breath as the memory of the Deathstalker stabbing me, impaling me, and throwing me into a tree hard enough to tear my body to pieces, flowed through my brain again.

"Deathstalker." I answered simply "You?"

"Beowolf." She whispered before shutting her mouth, unable to continue as the memories brought that fear, that terror back into her.

I nodded in understanding, saying nothing more on the matter as we stood there, sharing our misery, our fear, our terror, our horror.

Our death.

Finally I decided it would be best if we moved on from this topic. So, I moved away from her, resuming my task of taking inventory of the kitchen.

"So, why'd you want to come to the kitchen?" I asked, trying to take her mind off her death.

She took a moment to try to compose herself, to regain her dignity before responding.

"I, uh, there's a certain…dish…I like to eat, and it always makes me feel better. I was hoping they had something like it to help calm me down, to…" She began, trailing off again.

I nodded, understanding what she was getting at. While I didn't necessarily like to eat to feel better, I did like the comfort, the order, of cooking to get my mind off things.

"But…it looks like that won't be happening." She said sorrowfully

"Actually..." I began, wanting to cheer the sad heiress up, "I happen to have some talent as a chef. Nothing too fancy or anything, but if you tell me what it is, I could see what I can do." I suggested

At this she looked at me, a measure of hope and surprise in her eyes.

"Really? You could do that?" She asked

"Maybe. It depends, just tell me what it is and I'll do the best I can." I explained.

She nodded in assent, taking in a breath.

"Okay, just, promise not to laugh, okay?" She asked.

I paused my searching once more to turn and give her a quizzical look.

"Promise!" She insisted seriously

In response I slowly nodded my head, not understanding where this was going, but not wanting to disrespect her.

"Okay, it's called…it's called…Schneeballen." She said finally, forcing the last word out as quickly as possible.

I blinked, not sure if I heard it right. I looked at her silently for confirmation.

"Yes, Schneeballen." She answered, growing flustered at the name.

I stared at her for a couple seconds as my brain checked and re-checked to make sure it was right.

Finally I gave her a wry smile and a snort of amusement before turning back to my work.

"It's not funny!" She cried out in embarrassment and outrage.

I waved her off, saying silently "Yeah, yeah."

"The two names have nothing to do with each other!" She cried indignantly

When she said this I peeked my head out from the cabinet door it was behind, giving her a skeptical look.

"…okay, maybe they have something to do with each other." She conceded

"But that's not why I like them!" She quickly argued.

I silently hid my head behind the cabinet door once more, trying to hide the smile growing on my face.

"So, what is a…Schneeballen?" I asked, desperately trying to keep the smile out of my voice.

"No, Schneeballen is plural, it's like saying doughnuts. You mean a Schneeball." She corrected, irritated at the slight against her favorite food.

"Sorry" I apologized, more out of formality that anything else.

She "hmphed", obviously still indignant, but still explained it to me.

"A Schneeball is a delicious, sugary ball of wrapped up strips of dough. That's where it gets the name, because it resembles a snowball with all the delicious, sweet, powdered sugar covering it.." She explained. The second she began speaking of her favorite food her voice melted from indignant to forlorn pleasure.

I frowned as I tried to picture it, as well as how to make it.

"Hmm…I think I can do something like that…" I began, coming up with a basic plan to make something along those lines.

"But just to be sure, why don't you help?" I asked, looking at her once more.

She seemed surprised, taken aback by this.

"Me?" She asked, wondering why I would ask her help.

"Yeah. Even if you don't know how to make one yourself, you've had one. You know what they're like. You can help me get as close to the real thing as possible." I explained.

She thought about it for a couple seconds, wondering whether my idea had any merit. Finally, she relented.

"I guess I could try." She said slowly, still somewhat skeptical, but willing to give it a try.


6:00 am

And so with that the two of us spent the next hour trying to make these Schneeballen Weiss so adored. We eventually got close enough for her to be satisfied, though we did have a few failures.

While she enjoyed her Schneeballen, I proceeded to prepare Nora's pancakes by making the batter for them. I would actually make them once she got up, that way she wouldn't have to eat cold pancakes. Not that she would complain if they were, but she deserved better than that.

While I made them, we continued to talk. Even though Nora is indisputably my closest friend, the fact is she can be…draining…

In comparison, Wiess is something of a breath of fresh air. She's polite and organized, if a bit prideful. Sure, she can be somewhat…demanding, and on occasion stuck up, and nothing like Nora, but…I kind of like that about her.

At about 6:00 am, when the sun was beginning to come up, we said goodbye and parted ways.

"Thank you, Ren, for…everything." Weiss said graciously "It was…nice…having someone to talk to."

"You're welcome, but don't forget, you helped me too. Besides, I got a new recipe out of this." I responded with a small smile

She chuckled at my comment. When she sobered up, she looked at me again and formally said, "Well then, Lie Ren, have a good day. I hope we can become teammates."

"I feel the same, Weiss Schnee. Stay safe out there." I responded in kind.

And with that, we parted ways. Weiss explored the campus more, seeking out other people to attempt to partner up with. I, on the other hand, headed back to the ballroom to check up on Nora.

A handful of people had come into the cafeteria while Weiss and I were there. They didn't bother us, but it was becoming apparent to the two of us that we weren't the only ones who didn't sleep well. Taking that under consideration, I couldn't help but worry about my childhood friend.

So, I re-entered the ballroom and made my way over to where I knew Nora had been sleeping. I found her, standing with her back to me, packing up her sleeping bag and sleepwear, which she had changed out of.

"Nora?" I said, getting her attention.

The instant I said that, she spun around, her eyes widened at the sight of me, and a face splitting smile broke across her face.

"Ren!" She exclaimed, running over to hug me with her bear-like strength.

As I felt my bones being turned to powder under the power of her hug, I sought to save myself.

"Nora." I squeezed out calmly, knowing that's all I needed to say.

Instantly, she released me and retreated back a couple feet, giving me space.

"Oops, sorry Ren." She said, trying to appear as the same ever cheerful Nora as usual.

Unfortunately for her, I could tell something was up. She was…nervous. There was a measure of…something…in her, something she was trying to hide.

"Nora, what's wrong?" I asked sincerely, concerned.

"What?! What are you talking about?! Nothing's wrong!" She frantically tried to deny.

I didn't believe it for an instant.

"Nora." I repeated, this time in a tone that brokered no argument.

She sighed, realizing that she couldn't hide it from me. She could never hide anything from me.

"It's nothing Ren, it was just a nightmare. A silly, stupid, nightmare." She said, though I could tell it was anything but.

I quirked my eyebrow, my suspicions rising. I had a feeling that her nightmare, and the ones of everyone else, myself and Weiss included, weren't random.

"Let me guess, it was about the initiation today." I guessed, trying to get her to open up about it.

After I talked with Weiss about the nightmare, I felt better. I didn't forget it, I could never forget that horror, that terror, but it felt good to talk about it. I knew that if Nora just bottled it up inside, it would really affect her. No matter how much she just wanted to shove this painful memory inside a vault and pretend it never happened, she needed to talk about it.

So I pushed her.

I pushed her to talk about what I suspected, was her death.

When I mentioned the initiation, her eyes widened, her mouth dropped slightly, and a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"How did you…?" She began, trailing off

"I…I had the same dream." I explained, still hesitant to talk about my death.

With that, her look of surprised grew into mute horror.

"Ren…" She said softly, surprised by my admission. She gulped, bringing up her courage to say what she needed to. "Did you…die?" she continued, her concern and horror growing in equal amounts.

As much as her nightmare scared her, the idea that I had my own, just as bad, horrified her more than hers ever could.

I sighed, still not liking the idea of talking about the nightmare. Sure, talking with Weiss had made me feel better, but that was a far cry from being comfortable with it. I doubt I would ever truly feel comfortable about the incredibly vivid and realistic dream about my death.

I simply nodded in confirmation, unwilling to voice it.

And with that her eyes began to water as her heartbreaking concern for me won out. The idea that I had to suffer what she did, and she could do nothing to help me, killed her on the inside.

Not a moment later, she lunged at me, bringing me into another crushing hug. She cried into my chest, her concern for me flowing freely down her face and onto my shirt.

This time I let her do it. I could have stopped it if I wanted to, I could have gotten annoyed that she was ruining my shirt, or that she was crushing me again. Instead I was relieved that she was letting it all out. Nora may be a person capable of boundless joy and happiness, but so too could she feel deep, depressing sorrow.

As she cried in my arms, I took the time to look around.

I noticed that almost everyone else in the room had already cleared out, there was only few people left in here.

Across the room from me was a girl in a dark sleeping yukata, laughing to herself about something. There was something…different…about that laugh, though. It wasn't a laugh about something specifically funny, more about something survived.

There was also a blond boy in blue footie pajamas who looked like he was just getting up.

And finally, there were two girls still asleep.

The first had a large mane of bright, golden blond hair. The second, had long scarlet hair.

The golden girl looked like she was having a hellish nightmare filled with anguish and despair. Her face a rictus of pain, loss, and guilt.

Scarlet, however, had a look of cold, focused wrath on her face. She had fierce snarl of struggle, of effort and ferocity on her face.

Apparently the blond boy noticed Scarlet, and decided he was going to try to help her.

Oh, that won't end well for him I thought.


Jaune pov

6:30 am

Well…that was…weird

That's all I could really say about the matter.

Apparently, it had all been a dream, even though it felt so real. That being said, the dream was surprisingly…uplifting, as well as weird.

I mean, I saved Lilith from the Grimm. That was great, maybe I'm not such a hopeless loser after all. At the same time…

What the hell was that White Wolf at the end?

I think it was a white Beowolf, and I think it killed me. It sounded like it did, but I didn't feel anything. I didn't even see anything. One second I'm looking at a giant white Beowolf, the next everything's dark and I hear a disturbing Crack.

Then I'm awake.

Then there's the fact that I felt…different. Like if when that strange glowing thing happened to me in the dream, it actually happened. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it

In the end, after taking a couple moments to shake the sleep off and get my bearings again, I decided to move on, shrugging it off as nothing terribly important. Instead I decided to look around the room.

Apparently almost everyone had left. In fact, there was only a couple people left. A girl in a black…robe thingy, a girl with orange hair hugging a guy with black hair with a pink stripe in it and…

A girl with scarlet red hair tossing and turning in her sleep.

She looked like she was having some kind of horrible nightmare. Most might have seen this and moved on, but I just couldn't find it in m to do that. Especially not after that dream. So, I got up, and made my way over to her, determined to wake her from her nightmare.

I walk over to her sleeping bag, crouch down, and reach down, touching her shoulder with my right arm. The second I apply the slightest shake to wake her up, I immediately regret my actions.

Her startlingly cold, dark, emerald green eyes shoot open, and in a flash my world is flipped upside down. Before I know it, I'm on the ground with the Scarlet girl pulling my right arm up and away from me in an incredibly uncomfortable position. Her foot is firmly planted on my neck, choking me.

I'm helpless. If she wanted to, she could break my arm, or even kill me, and I wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

I look at her cold, wrathful green eyes in fear, in terror. I silently beg her to let me go, to let me live. I can't even talk because her foot's cutting off my air supply. As my vision begins to blur from lack of air, she changes.

She blinks, shakes her head, and when she opens them again, those cold, wrathful, dark emerald eyes are replaced with warm, bright, kind ones. She looks down at me, and what she's doing to me, and recoils in horror of what she's done, dropping my arm and stepping of my neck.

I cough, holding my sore neck as I struggle to return the life giving air to my lungs.

"Oh my god! I am so so sorry!" She apologizes emphatically, giving me a hand up.

At first, I'm hesitant to take it after what she did to me, but another look in her eyes is all I need to accept it. I can tell that she is not only sorry for what she's done, but horrified by it.

I take her hand, and with barely any effort, she pulls me up to my feet. Still coughing, I manage to choke out, "What…was…that?"

"Oh, I, er…" She begins bashfully, ashamed of her actions. "I was just having a bad dream. You just caught me at a bad time is all."

"Really?" I manage to say, my throat finally working properly again.

"Yeah, again, I am so sorry I did that. I don't normally do that to people I meet." She said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.

Now that I'm not dying anymore, I can take a closer look at her.

She's certainly beautiful. Beautiful, and tall. Seriously, she's a head taller than. Not only that, but I can see definite muscle tone throughout her body. Based on how she reacted when I tried to wake her up, I'm willing to bet she has skill too. She has long red hair in a ponytail, and a bronze headpiece that looks like it's holding it in place.

She's like some kind of…Amazonian warrior woman.

"In that case, I guess it's okay. It was just…instincts, right?" I respond, trying to comfort her.

She seemed to be honestly remorseful about what she did, so I decided to forgive her. I'd probably have forgiven her anyway, I'm terrible at holding grudges.

At that she visibly relaxed, letting out a breath of air.

"Yeah, just instincts." She agrees, though there's something lurking under that, something deeper beneath it.

"So, my name's Jaune Arc. Short swe-" I begin before I remember when I said the exact same thing to Lilith, as well as how that turned out.

Never again I think in horror.

"-Er, just Jaune Arc." I correct myself, my smile only faltering for moment. I hold out my hand, inviting her to take it and introduce herself to me.

She stares at the hand for a moment as a strange look crosses her face for an instant.

Then she smiles nervously, hesitantly taking my hand. I can tell she's trying to be gentle, but it still feels like she's crushing every bone in my hand.

"Pyrrah Nikos." She replies with a beaming, if nervous, smile.

"Sorry again for that." She apologizes again as her smile falters.

Wow, she still feels bad about that

"It's no problem. Besides, that just means you'll be a great teammate!" I say, trying to cheer her up.

She looks surprised by what I say, as if that wasn't something she'd ever expect me to say. As if no one's ever said that to her.

"R-really? You want to be on a team with me?" She questions in disbelief.

"Yeah! Of course, why not?" I respond, a smile on my face.

"Don't you know who I am?" She asks, growing confused.

"Of course I do!" I cheerfully respond.

At that, her face falls into despair.

"Oh…I see-" She begins to say

"You're Pyrrah Nikos, the beautiful tall girl who can kick my ass!" I continue, heedless to what she was saying.

Then we both freeze as we realize what I said.

"I said that out loud didn't I?" I question, a frozen smile on my face.

At that she covers her mouth as she chuckles a little.

"Yes, yes you did." She responds, smiling again.

Not again I think as I let my face fall in embarrassment. I was successful in cheering her up, but not in the way I had wanted, and once again, I made a fool of myself.

She chuckles again at my misery, patting me on the shoulder.

"Thank you Jaune. I would love to be your teammate." She beams at me

"Really?" I say hopefully, looking up at her.

"Of course." She responds with a bright smile, one I quickly return.

Then she grimaces, holding her head.

"Uh, sorry Jaune, I need to go to the restroom. But thank you for your offer." She says, trying to work a smile through her obvious pain.

She quickly makes her way out of the ballroom, grabbing her bag of stuff on her way out.

"Well…that was weird." I say to no one in particular.

She was nice though. I hope we do become teammates.


Pyrrah pov

6:45 am

I ran into the bathroom after my head-splitting migraine hit me. I barely had enough time to give a weak goodbye to that boy, Jaune, and grab my stuff.

I let the door swing shut behind me, quickly running to a sink in the clean, white, room. I dropped my bag beside, me, and turned the faucet on. I rinsed my face in the cold water, cooling me off as I tried to relieve the stress building in me after that…dream.

I looked up in the mirror, looking to see how I looked after all my rinsing. I figured I looked horrible. I feel like I didn't get any real, meaningful sleep. It was only my pleasant meeting with Jaune that helped calm me down at all. Even still, I felt this incredible pressure in my head. So, I tried to see how horrible I looked.

Instead I saw a 12-year old girl staring back at me. She has long crimson hair that simply falls down from her head. She stares back at me with hardened, crimson eyes that were almost black they were so dark. They're filled with an ice cold fury, and she has stern frown on her face. Most unsettling of all, is that she's absolutely covered, head to toe, in blood.

Deep, crimson, blood.

She looks like some kind of scarlet demon staring back at me. The blood covers every inch of her skin, staining it red with the wet, crimson, juice of life.

I close my eyes and shake my head, trying to purge the image from my mind.

It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. I keep telling myself.

I let out a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I count down from ten, trying to let the stress leave my body. At zero I open my eyes.

And I'm staring back at myself again.

I let out a sigh of relief, glad everything's back to normal.

I guess that nightmare really got to me I think to myself, coming up for an explanation for what I saw.

Now I'm seeing things.

This, of course, brought me back to thinking about my nightmare again.

Most people would have probably chalked it up to nerves or something, but I wasn't even remotely nervous about entering the Grimm infested forest. The thing I was most nervous about was meeting my partner.

Which I never did in the nightmare. Maybe that's what it was about? My fears about not finding a partner, and always being alone? I thought, throwing up another suggestion.

It was the only answer that made sense.

Another wave of excruciating pain flowing through my head scrambles my thoughts, filling me a pulse of agony that pushes everything else out. I clench my eyes shut and grip the edges of the sink as I try to let the pain pass.

"Are you alright?" A voice asks, cutting through the darkness.

I jolt up, whirling around to the source of the voice. I have to force myself not to react, to not try and…eliminate…a potential threat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Says a girl with black hair wearing a black yukata, bow, and a bag slung over her shoulder, holding up her hands in a non-threatening fashion.

Of real note is the fact that despite being surprised by my reaction, she was still able to react to it. When I spun around I could hear her jump back a foot or two, getting outside my striking range. Normally, I'd dismiss it, never think about it again. It'd simply be a small, ignored, footnote about the girl.

But now, after that nightmare, some deep dark part of my mind said, Interesting

I stop, trying to reign myself in. I let out another shaky breath. I still feel that tension, that pressure. It strains me, pushes me, but I try to ignore it. I open my eyes and look back up at her.

"I'm fine." I say, giving a weak, pained, smile. "Just a…nightmare. A nightmare and headache."

She nods slowly after a second, accepting it.

"Okay. I was just worried after what I saw with you and that blond boy. You seemed to run in here like he said something to upset you." She explained.

"What!" I say in surprise, my eyes widening. "No! No no no, Jaune didn't do anything!"

I take another breath, arranging my thoughts in the time it takes me to blink.

"Jaune, the blond boy, didn't do anything. He was…sweet, but he came at a bad time. I just had a really bad dream, and woke up with a migraine." I explain to her.

She quirks an eyebrow, but seems to accept it.

"Well then, sorry for interrupting you." She apologizes. She pauses, as if considering what to do next, or if the next course of action is a good one.

"My name's Blake, Blake Belladonna." She finally says, introducing herself and holding out her hand.

When I take it, I can't help but notice her wince as another spasm of pain racks my body, involuntarily forcing me to clench my hand.

"Pyrrah Nikos." I respond in kind with another pained smile.

"Do you want something for your headache?" She asks, concerned.

Some part of me resists this, insisting that I not intrude on her. Another says that I can't trust her, that there's something…different…about her. Something…dangerous.

I ignore these thoughts, struggling to bring my mind back together.

"That would be great." I reply, grimacing and closing my eyes as another pulse of agony erupts from my head.

She reaches into the bag slung over her shoulder, searching for something. She makes a sound, noting that she found it.

She pulls out a long, wickedly curved, knife with a gut hook, dripping wet with fresh, crimson, blood.

My subconscious immediately wants to react, to move, to neutralize the threat. I force it down, and blink, shaking the thoughts away.

When I open my eyes, the knife is gone, and its place is a bottle of ibuprofen.

She shakes out a couple of the red pills, handing them to me. I graciously accept, thanking her for it. She responds with a stoic nod as I ingest the crimson tablets, ignoring the voice in my head telling me they're poison.

I close my eyes and let out a breath of relief. It'll be a little while before they actually start to kick in, but just knowing they're there helps relieve a little bit of the tension inside my skull.

Opening them again, I turn back to the girl in black, Blake.

"Thank you again." I say sincerely.

"Well, had a pretty bad dream myself, but it looks like you had a worse one. Just wanted to lend a hand." She explains

"Really?" I say, attempting to make small talk, but somewhat ignorant of how to do it well.

"What happened?" I ask, getting into a large stall to change.

She pauses for a minute, not saying anything. At first I'm worried I scared off someone else I could have been friends with by asking a bad question, but then she answers.

"I was trapped in hell, and I had to kill myself to escape." She answers with a shaky breath, still affected by the memory.

"I…I can't imagine what that's like." I said, feeling incredible horror and pity for the girl.

But then a little voice in my head scoffed and said, She doesn't know hell, she knows a bad dream. You can't wake up from hell

I clamp down on it, trying to shut it up, to stomp it out.

After just a moment to get into my underwear, I reply with my own nightmare.

"I dreamt that I had to fight. I had to fight forever, without an end in sight. I just kept fighting, and killing, and killing. They just kept coming, and I just couldn't stop. It was like that's all my existence consisted of, fighting." I answered, an unknowable mix of emotions leaking into my voice.

There was guilt, horror, fear, anger, rage, some exotic cocktail of darkness. I can't even begin to describe my reaction to that dream, because I don't even know myself.

I could hear her pause in the process of dressing herself. I could almost hear the gears in her head processing that, thinking it over, what it meant, what it entailed, what kind of hell I had.

"I don't even know what to say about that." She said finally said.

I laughed a cold, hollow, mirthless laugh, devoid of joy. "Neither do I."

And with that, I exited the stall, done getting changed.

It appeared she was done as well, currently wearing a tight black and white outfit, and the same black bow as before. It was then I noticed she had amber eyes that held something in them. It was something most people wouldn't have recognized, wouldn't have noticed. But I did.

Those were the eyes of a predator.

I knew, because I saw those same eyes not 5 minutes ago in the mirror.

Looks like someone else has some…experience…on their hands that dark voice spoke once more.


Ruby pov

7:00 am

I'm starting to think this wasn't the best idea I thought, my head still pounding with un-ending waves of agony.

I looked back up in the mirror. Reflecting back at me I saw my alabaster white face, marred by two streams of red trailing from either nostril, and two bloodshot eyes. My nose bleed had since calmed down and closed up thanks to my aura, but it was indicative of the fact that I probably pushed myself too far.

But…

I had learned a lot from it. Quite a lot, in fact. It turned out to be surprisingly effective, if draining. So, while I may wish I didn't have to deal with the severe blowback, I'm still happy about the results, so I won't whine about it hurting.

It's not like it even compares to some of the pain I've endured, of some of the agony I've suffered. I can deal with one little headache.

I walked out of the bathroom after cleaning myself up, making sure I didn't look like death itself.

Ms. Goodwitch was laying breakfast on the table when she was alerted to my presence from the sound of the door. She directed her attention to me, her eyes narrowing when got a good look at my face.

"Ruby! What happened to you?" She questioned sternly.

I sighed, realizing what was probably going to happen next. Apparently I didn't clean up well enough.

"I didn't sleep well." I answered.

She sighed in exasperation.

"Ruby, you do know that today is the day of the initiation, right? You need to be at your best." She said, both concerned and annoyed.

"Not my fault." I pouted, sitting at the table.

"Oh really, then whose is it?" She remarked.

"Lucifer's." I said simply, digging into my eggs.

"Lucifer's?" She said skeptically

"Yep." I answered, swallowing my forkful of eggs and taking a drink of water.

"Are you finally going to tell me who he is?" She asked sardonically, still remembering what I told her last time.

That being said, I decided to humor her a bit. She'd proven enough of herself to me that I can trust her with at least part of the truth.

"He's the voice in my head." I responded honestly with a straight face.

Though I couldn't help but have the corners of my mouth twitch upwards when I saw the look on her face.

"My, my. It appears you've taken after me, after all." He tells me.

"My young disciple."


A/n:

I'm back

Back again

Sorry, I couldn't help it. I listen to an odd mix of Black Keys, Eminem, Three Days Grace, and some other stuff when I write this story.

I know, blues, rap, and rock is an odd combo, but I don't care. Hell, I even listen to some good old Foreigner while I write this thing.

In any case, I'm back. This chapter is actually coming out later than I'd planned, which I'm sorry for.

Frankly, it's thanks to lag.

See, one of the things I was determined to do before i wrote this chapter, was catch up on all of volume 3 of RWBY, to see if I needed to change anything.

And, man, there were a lot of surprise.

First, turns out Qrow is actually BETTER than I was planning on writing him. I mean, he's like my new favorite character.

And I don't have to really change anything to suite him.

Second, I actually know about Cinder's plans a bit more, which helps with what's going to happen now.

Third, We learned about several semblances, that kind of changes a few things. Mainly Nora and Emerald's. That's all I'm really going to say on that matter, don't want to give anything away.

Fourth, we learned a bit more about Wiess's family dynamic, and her fancy semblance, so I can do things with that.

Finally, Pyrrah. I have had big plans for her since I started writing this thing, it's why she's one of the characters on the list. Turns out, my plans might actually end up being kind of validated. That has me unbelievably pumped.

Now, onto the actual chapter itself.

The beginning is actually a testament to why I keep the plans about the future chapters, and character's relationships with each other, loose.

That thing with Ren and Weiss?

Totally unplanned.

They were just going to be acquaintances, like how they are in the show. In the show I don't think they ever actually even talk to each other.

But then I started writing it, and then Weiss kinda showed up, and the way I wrote them they kind of just meshed, and in the end I had them bond over them talking about their nightmares, and making Schneeballen.

Schneeballen, by the way, is a real thing. Look it up.

I did

I was looking for german desserts, something to add depth to Weiss's character, when I found Schneeballen, and I just couldn't Not do that.

Oh yeah, and everyone has been introduced, and everyone's bonded with someone. I don't have to have, like, twenty different ? povs.

Yea

The next chapter is going to be that start of the Emerald Forest arc, which, if you took note of how different thing already are, and my fan of the butterfly effect, shall be different.

How different?

You'll just have to wait and see.

Oh, and we'll find out about the dark secrets in Yang's nightmare later.

Oh, and again, a bunch of povs, it'd be great to know the opinion you guys have of them, or at least, how well I'm doing with them.

That's it, see you again soon-ish.