This chapter came from a random night of drinking and awesome music. Don't ask me how. I don't know either.

Ruby was no longer sure reading the diary was something she should have been doing. Blake had always been tight-lipped about her past. Now, she held a key to the door that led to Blake's past. It scared her a little. Still, she read on.

Date 6, 1

Dear diary,

I didn't do much today. When I woke up, I felt sick. Dad said it could be the way the boat moves. I just stayed in the room. Moving around only made me feel worse.

She paused for a moment. "I wonder if Blake's like Jaune but with ships?", she pondered out loud. It certainly sounded like that to her.

Date 6, 2

Dear diary,

I felt better today. Mom showed me around the boat. It looked big from the outside but it's even bigger on the inside!

Mom walked around the boat with me and we saw all kinds of neat things. A place called the cargo hold was the biggest thing we saw. There were so many boxes! A man said they held many kinds of things. He said they held things like food, dust, and metals.

We also went to a place called the deck. It was kind of scary. There was water as far as I could see. Mom said there were all kinds of fish swimming around below us. She called it the ocean and said it was their home. Imagine diary. A home so large you can't see where it starts or ends. When I thought about it like being a home, I wasn't scared any more.

Date: 6, 2

Dear diary,

There isn't much to do on the boat. So mom kept reading to me. Remember how I said the pirates took over a boat? The pirates even went to bury treasure! It's just so cool! Being stuck on an island with pirates and treasure. I wonder if something exciting like that will happen to me one day?

I bet hunters and huntresses have interesting things happen to them. I've heard about them from my parents but I've never seen one. I wonder what they're like? Would they hate me for being a faunus? Would they give me mean looks and call me an animal like other humans have done?

Dad says that not all humans are bad and I believe him. They dedicate their lives to protecting people. How could someone like that be a bad person?

Ruby stopped reading and sat there, looking at the diary entry. She felt a lone tear roll down her cheek as she felt her chest clench up. Sadness gripped her heart with it's icy claws. "For a kid to ask something like that..." she trailed off as she re-read the entry. When she blinked, she felt another tear begin it's downward journey. She turned the page.

Date: 6, 3

Dear diary,

I asked my parents where the boat is going. They said it's going to a place called Vale. Mom said it's a huge city with lots and lots of people. I asked her if it was as big as the ocean. She laughed and told me that it's not that big. I wonder what will happen when we get there?

When I said that, dad told me that I would being going to a place called school. He said school is a place where I get to learn about cool stuff with other kids. Like the weather, why it rains, and all kinds of things. When he told me about it, I got really excited. I couldn't help it. School really sounds like fun!

She felt the tugging of a smile as she remembered her first week at Signal Academy. "She's right. It is always fun to see new places and try new things.", she said as she thought of her friends that were still attending her old academy. "I bet everyone can't wait to come to Beacon.", she said, a full blown smile on her face as she turned the page and continued reading.

However, the questions that child Blake had posed still gnawed at her. Given what little that Blake had told her, she knew it wouldn't be the last of those kinds of questions. Ultimately, she was sure it was questions like those which drove her friend to joining the White Fang.

Date: 6, 4

Dear diary,

It's getting too boring to be on a boat. While seeing everything inside the boat was exciting, it's been three days now. Mom finished reading Treasure Island to me but now I have nothing to do. Dad said I was being something. I don't know how to spell it. I just know it sounds like what you would call someone seeing the doctor.

She sympathized with the bored child but she couldn't see Blake being impatient. It also led her to question if Blake would read to help pass the time. Before she went back to reading the diary, she glanced at 'Ninjas of Love' and wondered if that was the only reason Blake would read that kind of book.

Mom said that I could try to make up stories like Treasure Island. When I couldn't think of a story, mom had me sit next to her so she could tell me a story. When I sat next to her, she started rubbing my ears. She told me it was a story about a girl who grew up fighting monsters. The girl had many friends who battled the monsters with her.

I asked mom why and she said they fought because they had to. If they didn't fight the monsters, the monsters would break their home. She said that the monsters kept coming back and broke their home one day. Lots of people got hurt but the girl kept fighting the monsters to protect them.

It took the girl a long time but she chased off the monsters. After seeing her home couldn't be fixed, the girl and her friends had to make a new home in a new place. Mom told me that the people made their new home in a thick forest with big trees all over. She said the trees were always a pretty red color and would always drop their leaves. I hope it's a real place. It sounded wonderful.

Diary, I wish I could tell you the rest but that's all I remember mom telling me. Some times I fall asleep when mom rubs my ears. It just feels so good when she does that.

She stopped reading when she felt her stomach asserting it's demands for food. Though she wanted to continue reading, she relented to the needs of her body and used her homework as a bookmark. Satisfied, she pulled her secret cookie stash from underneath her uniforms stored in the bottom dresser drawer. Cookie tin in hand, she pulled herself into the top bunk she had claimed for herself and settled down with her back against the cool wall.

After opening the diary and setting aside her homework, she popped open the cookie tin as she thought about when her mother would tell stories or read to her. She would wrap her cloak tightly around her body, snuggle in between her mother and sister, and quietly listen. While she always enjoyed the stories, her mother always had a plate of freshly baked cookies ready to go. With memories of her mother starting to flow, she began reading while occasionally munching on a cookie, a faint smile gracing her lips.

Date: 6, 5

Dear diary,

We finally reached Vale and I couldn't be happier. When we got off the boat, I couldn't see an end to the dock. It was like the ocean. As far as I could see, I saw boat after boat. There were even people getting off of other boats. I wanted to look around but mom made me hold her hand. Dad said it's so I wouldn't get lost. It was a really big place so I believe him.

When we left the dock, I was in for a surprise. There were people everywhere I looked! I mean it diary. I've never seen so many people in one place. We passed by dust shops, food stalls, clothing stores, and all kinds of other places.

There was so much stuff in all of those places that I just had to know where it all came from. Dad told me that boats like the one we rode on bring things to Vale. Shops buy those things and sell them to people like us. Mom told me what it was called but I don't remember what she called it.

She stopped reading and thought about the various places she had visited in Vale. "I never really thought about where everything comes from. Leave it to Blake to be curious about everything.", she said before grabbing a cookie as she started reading again.

We stopped walking when we came to a place called Joe's Diner. Mom and dad said it was time for lunch. The inside was so loud that it made my ears hurt! I didn't know a place could be that loud! When I tried to cover my ears, mom took me outside and we waited for dad. She told me that we can hear better than humans and the noise from the people was making her ears hurt too.

When dad came out with food, I could smell that it was different from what mom would cook. I asked dad what it was. He said they're called burgers but they look like sandwiches. We got to eat when we got to a place dad called a motel. They were good but I'd rather eat a tuna sandwich. They're my favorite food.

She couldn't help but giggle as she had seen Blake choose tuna sandwiches for practically every meal they ate together. She had seen Blake change it up a bit by adding different types of cheese, a hard boiled egg, mayo, and all sorts of other things to her sandwiches. However, Blake's sandwiches almost always had tuna thrown in the mix.

She wondered if Blake's love for tuna was much like her own love of cookies. The taste of a cookie always reminded her of a warm room heated by a fire place. In a way, it helped her to remember the image of her mother holding a book, reading to her and her sister. They certainly reminded her of happier days.

I don't know when I'll have time for another chapter. I have my first of five college finals to work on and it's in XHTML/CSS. While I know the material, the final is going to require a lot of planning and design work. Wish me luck?