Two days later, Ruby walked into Beacon's cafeteria.
The entire lunch room quieted for a moment, everyone turning to look at the young girl. It was no secret that something had happened to team RWBY's leader, and everyone was curious to see what had happened. After a moment though, everyone looked away, and the cafeteria returned to it's previous level of noise.
Team JNPR and RWBY, however, did not look away. It had been a difficult two days for Weiss, Blake, and Yang. While they knew she was alive, at least, that was not as much comfort as it once was. Team JNPR, on the other hand, were more glad to see Ruby moving about again. While they had been told that Ruby had been asleep, the only other information they could get was a muttered "She isn't the same" from Yang before the blonde had returned to her room to mope.
Jaune waved to Ruby, calling out, "Hey Ruby! Come sit with us again!" The young girl paused for a moment, glanced down at her scroll, and walked towards lunch lady to grab her lunch. After taking a simple meal, the first thing she could reach, the redhead began to walk over to her team's table.
Ruby sat down next to Weiss and wordlessly began to dig into her food. After a moment's silence, Jaune spoke up.
"So Ruby, you're feeling better, I guess? That's great! Classes just haven't been the same without you." Jaune said, smiling at his friend.
The look Ruby gave him as she reached for her scroll made that smile waver a bit. Looking away from him, Ruby tapped on her scroll for a few moments before pushing the device towards Jaune, spinning it so he could see it.
'Who are you again?' The scroll read.
Jaune blinked momentarily as Pyrrha leaned over his shoulder to read the scroll. "Come on Ruby, that isn't funny," Jaune told her firmly, a frown replacing his smile, "I'm Jaune. Don't you know that?"
Pulling her scroll back, Ruby typed a new message before handing it back. Jaune read aloud to the group, "'Nope. Doc said I lost my memories, ability to speak.'" Team JNPR stared at Ruby, then turned to the rest of her team. Blake placed a comforting hand around Yang, lest she start crying again, while Yang simply looked down and Weiss mechanically carried on eating.
Nora was the first to find her words. "So... she doesn't remember any of us? But... but we were friends..." Nora murmured, uncharacteristically somber as she contemplated the loss of one of her best friends. Ren reached over to pat her on the shoulder before turning to Blake.
"Is she going to be all right?" Ren said simply, ever one to get to the heart of the matter. Blake replied, "We don't know. Doctor Redmond said maybe, but..." She left the "but" hanging there in the backdrop of chatter from the rest of the room, as teams WBY and JNPR sat for a moment, contemplating what that "but" would mean.
Seemingly ignorant of the emotions around her, Ruby stood up and began walking towards the utensil kiosk near the center of the cafeteria. Her tablemates watched her walk over and grab a few napkins. "Did... Ruby just go get napkins? For herself?" Pyrrha asked, seeming perturbed. "That's... not like her, is it."
Weiss nodded woodenly. "No, no it isn't. And there is the problem."
Before she could elaborate, a commotion in the center of the room drew their eyes, along with the eyes of the rest of the room.
Their eyes found Cardin and his team standing around- and considering the height difference, over- Ruby, who simply stood there holding a few napkins and staring into the older boy's face.
"Hey, if it isn't the runt." Cardin sneered into the silence that had suddenly fallen around the room. "Word is you got brain damage. That true, little girl?"
Ruby simply stared back at him without answering (which, of course, she couldn't). Rolling her eyes dismissively, she turned on her heel and began to walk back towards her table.
Or tried to.
Ruby was stopped in her tracks by Cardin's hand closing around around her arm, as the older boy growled, "I asked you a question, runt. I don't like being ignored."
Back at team RWBY and JNPR's table, Yang went instantly from morose to flaming angry, eyes shifting from lilac to red. "What the hell does he think he's doing to my sister." Yang growled as she stood up, about to leap over the table and pulverize Cardin. Blake reached a hand over to stop the volatile girl, but she didn't need to.
Because Ruby moved first.
Spinning in Cardin's grip, Ruby used her free arm to fire a punch into Cardin's gut. While Ruby was a small girl, she was also a huntress in training, and the wielder of a very large scythe. Her punch was easily enough to make Cardin release her and double over, gasping for air as he held his stomach. With a flurry of rose petals, Ruby used her semblance to leap the few feet she needed, landing with one foot on the back of Cardin's neck. At his muffled exclamation, Ruby drove her foot down, forcing Cardin forward and down off his feet while she somersaulted in midair, landing softly behind Cardin. Ruby turned towards the rest of team CRDL, giving them each a glare as she did so. The 3 boys stood there gaping at her, as Cardin picked himself up off the ground. "Alright, you little-" Carding ground out as he turned towards her, and the stopped.
Ruby was glaring at him with an expression he had never seen before. It was not the standard expression of fear and doubt he was used to seeing in people like Velvet, for instance. It was a look of pure anger, almost animalistic in its message.
Back off.
The standoff lasted for just a few seconds until Cardin looked away. "Come on guys," he mumbled angrily as he began to walk away, "Let's go." Team CRDL followed their leader, throwing a few glances back at the young girl in red behind them as they did so.
Ruby's gaze followed them as they walked away until she abruptly turned and walked back towards her table. She seemed ignorant of the fact that every eye in the cafeteria was following her as she sat down, placed her napkins on the table next to her food, and continued eating.
The cafeteria slowly returned to its previous level of noise as Ruby's tablemates stared at her. Nora was the first to break the silence. "Nice job!" The boisterous girl cheered, despite her previous somberness. "Always good to stick it to the bullies!"
Ruby didn't acknowledge her.
Nora's smile faltered a bit, but she carried on anyways. "That was so cool how you jumped on his head, and kicked his stupid butt into the ground! Where did u learn that?"
"It was a bit nasty, though." Blake commented. "While I don't like Cardin any more than any of you, he hadn't really done anything yet."
"I think she made the right choice." Yang put in, mustering a smile. "Always fighting to make the world a better place, right Rubes?" As she spoke, Yang reached over and patted Ruby's shoulder. Ruby paused in her eating at her sister's touch, frowning a bit. Weiss watched as she blinked slowly, looking confused. A shiver seemed to run through the young girl as her lips moved, as though she were trying to speak.
At that moment, a bell echoed through the cafeteria. "Welp, time for the next class, team!" Jaune said, standing up with his tray. "What do we have, Combat Training now? ...We do, right Pyrrha?"
"Yes Jaune, you remembered." Pyrrha said with a smile, as team JNPR began to walk away from the table. She turned back towards team RWBY, a little slower to move as they were. "We'll see you there, I guess?"
Blake nodded. "See you again in a bit." The Faunus girl stood up, pulling Yang up with her. "Come on guys, we have to go." Blake looked at Ruby. "Is Ruby coming to class with us?"
The confusion clearing from her face, Ruby straightened up in her seat and gave a quick nod. Grabbing her scroll, the young girl glanced at it, then typed for a moment. Holding the scroll up, the rest of Ruby's team read, 'Doc says I'm good enough for classes.' Yang opened her mouth as if to protest, but Ruby had already begun to walk purposefully out of the cafeteria.
The rest of team RWBY looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged. As they moved to catch up with their leader, Weiss trailed behind the other two, caught up in her own thoughts.. Ruby had been trying to say something earlier, she was sure of it. Weiss had taken a few years of lipreading practice, as her father had thought it a useful skill. She thought she knew what Ruby said, but it didn't make sense. As Weiss picked up her pace a bit to move into line with the rest of her team, one thought kept nagging her.
Why would Ruby have tried to answer Yang with, "Fairytales"?
Remember when I said the goal was a chapter every two weeks? Yeah. Um.
Anyway, another chapter! This one is shorter because I found a decent place to end it, and I wanted to update something. I'm sorry- getting myself to write can be a bit difficult sometimes. Anyway, hopefully I'll be a little faster on the next one. If I'm not, feel free to pm me and pressure me into writing- trust me, I'll need it.
As always, leave a review with criticism, complements, etc. and I'll try to answer back. It's always fun talking to you guys.