Ruby sighed, leaning against a wall. Her feet hurt from all the walking, and she'd run out of candles, having to search in the dark instead. It must have been a couple of hours since she saw the vanishing Jaune, yet she still hadn't found the symbol on this floor. She had come across the ladder room lit by torches, but the ladder seemed to just disappear into the stone ceiling, there was no opening to the next floor. The girl had stayed in that room and pondered for a while over what may have been needed to open the way to the next level up, eventually realizing that it must be the symbols that were needed to progress. With that thought in mind, she'd set off again in search of another symbol, but hadn't had any luck so far in finding it.
She shivered, realizing just how cold it was down here without her cloak or even a candle, and being exhausted on top of that didn't help. How long has it been since I woke up here? Am I ever going to get out? Violently shaking her head, Ruby banished that thought of doubt from her mind. She was going to get out, she had to.
She refused to die in her own dream.
The girl was just starting to force herself back to her aching feet when she saw a light approaching. Though she probably should have felt wary of anything she saw in here, the light didn't seem to bother her. Maybe because all of the monsters have hidden in the shadows so far? Whatever the reason, she curiously watched the light as it got closer, and soon realized it was a candle like the ones she'd been using.
There was a young man holding the candle into the air, seeming to carefully survey his surroundings. He had slightly long brown hair and was wearing a green scarf, and it took her a moment to notice the blonde girl trailing behind him, the candlelight glinting off the girl's glasses. Ruby blinked in disbelief when she realized they were both wearing Beacon Academy uniforms.
"Glynda, is he still following us?"
"No, I don't think so. The scraping faded off in another direction awhile back."
"Good. Maybe now we can find that symbol in peace."
"Doubtful."
"Don't be so pessimistic, I'm sure we'll get all of those symbols and make it out of here."
The blonde didn't reply, instead continuing to follow her teammate in silence. Ruby just stared at them as they passed by her without seeing her, even though she was in plain sight, and was almost about to try speaking to them when she realized she could see the stone brick of the opposite wall right through their slightly transparent bodies.
Ruby chose to follow the two students as they wandered down the hall. They looked achingly familiar, and it felt like she should have recognized them on sight, but her memory felt fuzzy and she couldn't quite put her finger on where she knew them from. She was also curious as to why they looked like ghosts, but she had a strange feeling they weren't actually dead. Was this just a memory left behind by someone else who had ended up here?
Wait. Ruby stiffened for a moment, though didn't stop following the students. Where did that thought come from? This should just be a nightmare in my own head, but now that I think about it… Is this more than a nightmare, and other people have gotten stuck in here too? Before she could entertain the thought further, the two students stopped in front of a door. The girl was just reaching for the door as the two of them vanished, plunging the hall back into darkness at the absence of their phantom candle.
Realizing she herself had not actually explored this room before, Ruby pushed open the door and stepped inside. She could feel it was a relatively small room, and noticed the vague shape of a shelf in one corner and a chest in another, and chose to examine the shelf first. Just barely able to make out the shape of a couple of white candles in the darkness, she breathed a sigh of relief at the fact she'd be able to see again for awhile.
After she had one lit, Ruby turned to the chest. Inside, there was a flat metal object glinting from the light, and she couldn't hold back a triumphant smirk as she picked up Penny's green sword symbol.
There were a lot of things Ruby expected to see back at the ladder room, or even on the way to it. The sad Ren, statue Weiss, collapsing Blake… Especially the terrifying bloody Yang with Crescent Rose. Or maybe even to come back and find the room gone, or that the opening in the ceiling hadn't actually appeared like she'd expected.
The last thing she expected to find there was Roman Torchwick.
She had pushed open the door to the ladder room, and audibly gasped when she noticed the figure standing inside. Her gasp alerted him to her presence, making him turn to look at her, and a split second later she recognized him.
"Torchwick?!"
"Red?!"
"Wait, wait… You're real, right? You're not one of them?"
"Yes, I'm definitely one of the monsters like the bloody blonde with the scythe trying to murder everything." Came his reply, heavy with sarcasm.
"Yep, you're the real Torchwick…" She hissed under her breath.
Remembering they were enemies back in the real world, she looked down to see if he had his cane with him, which he did not. I guess it makes sense that neither of us would have our weapons here. At least it means he can't try to pull some sort of sneak attack with explosives. Which isn't very sneaky, come to think of it…
They stared distrustfully at each other for a few tense minutes, before Roman finally sighed and spoke again. "Look, I don't like you. You're an annoying brat that keeps messing up all of my plans, but seeing as how we're the only two beings in here that aren't trying to kill every living thing in sight, we should probably work together to find a way out of here."
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "You expect me to trust you?"
"No. I don't trust you, you don't trust me, sounds fair. We can be civil for a few hours, though, and get out of this damn place and back to the real world."
"So you're asking we call a truce." Ruby stated. "A very temporary truce."
"Exactly."
"… Fine."