"So… Was he pointing in the direction she's coming from or where we should go?" Roman wondered, looking down the hall where Ren had pointed.
A giant red scythe slamming into the wall above his head was his only answer.
"Does that answer your question?" Ruby asked as they dashed away, glancing back at Yang as she tried to pull the scythe free again. "Looks like he was showing where we needed to go. Run!"
They heard the familiar enraged scream echo down the halls after them, the grating noise starting up as Yang followed the fleeing duo. Ruby cringed at the sound, remembering again that it was her poor scythe making that sound from the abuse it was so strongly enduring. Her momentary lapse in concentration caused her to trip, and she braced herself as she started to fall to the floor, but she didn't expect Roman to grab her arm and pull her back to her feet before she could hit the ground.
"Watch where you're going, Red." Did Torchwick seriously just help me?
Making it back to the intersection where they'd originally started, they paused for a moment, even though they could still hear Yang quickly following. "Where now?" Ruby asked, though whether she was asking herself, Roman, or the walls, she didn't know. Luckily, Ren appeared again in the middle hallway, gesturing for them to follow him there before vanishing again.
"Why exactly are we trusting one of the monsters in here?" Her companion demanded as they ran after the ghostly image.
"He doesn't seem to be hostile. At the moment, he's the best chance we've got." She answered, sounding slightly breathless as all of the running away from monsters she'd been doing for the past several hours started to catch up to her. Normally, Ruby was fine with running for hours on end, the rest of her team could be out of breath and exhausted and she'd still be in the same shape as when they started, but this place seemed to suck the energy out of her.
Again, there were two different doors ahead. "Think we should split up again and hide in different spots?" Roman asked her, and she nodded. He immediately blew out his candle, plunging the hall into darkness, and the two ducked into opposite rooms. Once she had the door safely shut behind her, Ruby froze, barely daring to breathe as she heard Yang get closer and closer.
And then she passed right by the two doors and continued down the hall, now getting farther away with each passing second until finally, Ruby could hear her no longer. The girl leaned against the door with a relieved sigh, sliding down to the floor again in exhaustion. Looking up into the dark room after a moment, she figured she should at least look at what may be in here, and reached for her candle.
Once it was lit, though, she regretted that decision.
There was blood streaked across the floor and splattered onto one wall, apparently belonging to the limp body on the floor a few steps away. There was a small pool of blood on one side of it, which the ghostly Ren was now standing in, looking almost as if he was in pain from the amount of sadness he seemed to feel. At first, Ruby didn't recognize the pink outfit and pale orange hair, Ren staring at her for several minutes as she tried to figure out where she knew this person from. Finally, she gasped and her eyes widened in horror.
"Nora…" Ruby looked up at Ren, now understanding why he seemed to give off a contagious sad feeling everywhere he went. This was why Ren was in complete and utter anguish.
He motioned for her to come closer, and Ruby obeyed, standing up and walking over to Nora. They stared down at her unmoving, bloody body for a long minute before Ruby noticed the candlelight glinting off of a pink piece of metal hanging from the end of Nora's shirt, and she reached down to pick up the object.
Turning over Nora's hammer symbol in her hand, Ruby looked back at Ren. He gave her a small, sad smile, nodding slightly, and then he was gone again. She looked back at the symbol. He led me here to get this. I guess he doesn't want me to end up like they did. Is he the only one this place didn't turn into a monster? Ruby shook her head, knowing she needed to go find Roman and keep trying to get out. She placed the pink hammer symbol beside the green sword, green gears, and red rose on her belt, and turned to leave.
She didn't notice the Weiss that had followed her into the room.