Chapter 41

Ruby Rose

Author's Note: I know that this chapter is a bit shorter and for that, I do apologize. Every so often, things do tend to get a little hectic in my life and i had to take a bit of extra time at school to ensure my grades don't suffer. Otherwise, I should have everything back on schedule next week. As always, I appreciate all the reviews I get and I am still amazed at how many people like reading this little fic of mine. Thank you all so much for reading!

"Don't worry…keeping track will only make it more stressful…" Blake mumbled as she glanced behind me for a mere second.

"I guess Yang must be getting hit hard already." Ruby thought as she focused on rubbing Weiss' hair. Weiss had taken to lying her head on Ruby's lap as the young leader slowly glided her fingers through her partner's hair.

Ruby looked up to see her sister with a rather pained expression written on her face. Her body was fine, at least she assumed since Blake had not noticed anything, but her face was moving as though she was having a horrific nightmare. "Yang?" Ruby asked with a slight crack in her voice.

Yang's head seemed to jolt slightly but remained mostly unresponsive. "Yang?" Ruby asked with a louder voice. Finally, she managed to open her eyes, but looked around the room in complete confusion.

"Damn…that's some crazy stuff…but not really all he hyped it up to be…" Yang said in a dazed state. Ruby was relieved that her sister wasn't having too much of a horrible time.

"What do you mean…?" Blake inquired.

"This Omni-dust can be really crazy…I thought I was somewhere else…" Yang informed them while still putting the pieces together herself.

"I don't think it's over yet…" Blake stated as she turned her head to look at Yang, who was still very much enthralled by the room around her.

"How do you know there's more?" Yang asked as she managed to find her glass of water to take a drink.

The look on Blake's face clearly meant she was beginning to question whether or not she was being affected by the Omni-dust more than Yang. She picked her body up slowly and looked at the clock on the wall before returning to her recent position at Yang's bosom. "Yang…you should probably look at the clock again…" she stated as she reclaimed her position next to Yang.

After Yang had finally managed to look at the clock, she was astounded by what she was seeing. "What the fuck…?" She whispered.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked from Ruby's side; she was laying her head on the young leader's shoulder.

"I saw Yang with a pained expression on her face and called out to her." Ruby answered. "I think the Omni-dust is affecting her faster than us…" she finished by trailing off at the end.

"Oh, shit…" Yang stated as her head involuntarily fell back against the couch.

"Don't worry, Yang…I'll be right here with you the whole time." Blake said as she placed her hand around her partner's in an attempt to calm her down.

"I'll be good. I can handle this. I know he wouldn't put us through this unless he believed that we were strong enough…so I'm going to get through it." Yang growled through clenched teeth.

"Yang, don't fight it." Blake said as she placed her hand on Yang's cheek. "He said to let happen whatever is going to happen." She finished in a calming and serene tone.

"I feel like it's trying to pull my soul out of my body…it's getting stronger every second." Yang moaned.

"If you don't mind my asking…what do you feel right now?" Weiss asked from Ruby's side; her voice was sincere. "We're all in this together, I guess…" Ruby thought as a response.

"Right now…like I have to do something I really don't want to do. He wasn't kidding; when you find yourself losing so much of your mind, all you want to do is hold onto your thoughts." Yang clearly stated as she clenched her eyes shut and squeezed the armrest of the couch.

"That makes it more difficult." Blake said trying to reduce Yang's anxiety.

"I know…" Yang mumbled as a single tear ran down her cheek.

"What do you mean when you say 'lose your mind'?" Weiss asked, gaining her partner's attention. When a reply didn't come quickly she continued, "…but if you'd rather not say, I understand." Weiss obviously had a genuine concern for her teammate and friend.

"No…losing it isn't the right thing to say. It's moving too fast. A million thoughts run by in a moment and everything feels more sensitive. Sound, vision, smell…" Yang said before slowing drifting off again, her head slowly coming to a rest atop Blake's head.

"That might be why time is so distorted; if you have 'a million' thoughts in the same amount of time you would normally only have ten-or-so, then it seems like time is going by slower to your brain." Weiss informed.

"Well, it's been about ten seconds and she hasn't said anything. I think she'll be gone for a while this time." Blake said in a purposely failed attempt at humor.

"I hope she'll be alright…though I suppose if any of us were going to have problems, she'd be the last one on the list." Weiss said as she lowered her head back to Ruby's shoulder only to be surprised by the chill her body was giving off.

Ruby was adjusting her blanket once again as to try and remain comfortable during the come-up. "I'm getting really exhausted…" Ruby said as she finished adjusting the blanket once again.

"Any noticeable visual changes yet?" Weiss asked.

"Without a doubt." Ruby said as she examined the room.

"Are you able to describe it?" Weiss asked.

"They almost look like flowers…" Ruby said before slowly closing her eyes. "Wow." She gasped.

"What is it?" Weiss asked.

"It's like there's a movie behind my eyelids. It's so beautiful." Ruby explained in awe.

"It might be starting to hit you next…" Weiss stated.

"What?" Ruby asked quietly.

"I said you might be the next person who gets affected." Weiss repeated, receiving silence as the answer. Weiss looked to her partner only to see her face pointing upward and her chest rising and falling ever so slowly. "Best of luck…" Weiss mumbled.

"What a beautiful view!" Ruby thought as she gazed out at an incredibly vast tunnel which she was flying through. She examined her surroundings to be met with a seemingly infinite manifestation of flowing geometric patterns. They looked amazingly digital in their movements but remained calm in how pronounced they were.

Upon exiting the tunnel, Ruby was immediately greeted with the sight of many different people, or what she considered to be people. They consisted solely of rotating fractal shapes that still managed to fit together like Lego pieces. "They seem like they're really nice…" Ruby thought as she ran up to them. As soon as she made it close enough to speak with them, they had suddenly teleported farther away.

She looked around to after sensing something was amiss. It was now that she noticed the massive hole in the sky. "I wonder if that is the tunnel I came out of?" Ruby thought before bringing her thoughts back down to the people she was running toward. They were even farther away than before she looked at the tunnel.

As she was getting closer, she saw a massive cloud coming toward the people in the distance. Just as before, every time she managed to reach the people they would teleport farther away but the cloud continued to loom closer and closer.

"Guys! Move!" Ruby thought as she ran toward them with increasing fear.

"Why do you care?" One of the voices rang out.

"Because you haven't done anything wrong!" Ruby thought without realizing that she wasn't actually speaking.

"Do not believe for one moment that you care for our sake. You fight to save others so that you will be without guilt." The voice said menacingly.

"That's not true, I've always tried my best to help people." Ruby though frantically as she continued to run toward, just barely missing them every time.

"You fight for the sole purpose of fueling your ego. You take pride in the fact that you are among the youngest at Beacon Academy. You take pride in being chosen as the leader for your team. You take pride in knowing that you were good enough to be chosen by the Knight-General." The voiced growled.

Ruby stopped running and stood silently, thinking of a reasonable counter argument.

"And to top it all off…" a different voice said, though she knew it was the same person talking. Ruby turned around and was faced with a rough and rugged version of herself. They wore the same hunting clothes, but the second Ruby's clothes had clearly seen battle recently. "…you know already. And you like it." She said with a grin.

"That doesn't mean that I don't care about my teammates." Ruby said, speaking the words for the first time.

"Be honest with yourself, every time that something has gone wrong with one of your hunts, what has been the most frustrating thing each time?" The voice asked in faux meekness.

Ruby sighed, "I can honestly say that –"

"No. You can't." The other Ruby interrupted. "During the Hunt? You were more defeated by the fact that you weren't a good leader than anything else." The rugged Ruby stated to which the original began to tear up. "Sorry!" The second Ruby yelled sarcastically with a laugh. "I didn't mean to hurt your feeling by laying out your true desires in front of you." She finished with a yell.

After several moments of nothing but laughter, Ruby spoke up. "Listen to me. I care about my teammates…" she started.

"Do you really?" the second asked.

"No. I care about everyone." Ruby yelled causing the second Ruby to be pushed back by the force of her assertiveness. "I get angry about not being a good enough leader to protect them. I already know that I'm prideful about many things, but don't you dare question my love for my friends and the innocent." She yelled, clenching her eyes shut.

As she opened her eyes, she was met with the sight of the people she had been chasing after earlier. They were standing around her before the one in the middle held out their hand. Ruby mirrored the gesture, taking his hand and giving a firm handshake before they disappeared.

Ruby suddenly began to start falling though the fractals she was standing on before reentering the familiar tunnel from earlier. As she fell through the tunnel for what felt like hours, she could feel herself slowly forgetting everything which had just happened to her. Tears began to come to her eyes as her mind was overwhelmed by emotions of joy and happiness. "I can do this…I don't know why I have to, but I can." She thought as she faced forward without fear.