Weiss yawned and stretched as she woke from her slumber. The cave was almost as dark as it had been the night before, but a faint light could be seen coming from the entrance. She got up and followed the light to the cave's exit, where she could make out the silhouette of her partner. Only her outline was visible, because, even on the threshold of the cavern, a thick fog obscured Weiss' sight. It unnerved her. Fog was not terribly uncommon where she grew up, but this seemed almost… unnatural.

"This is not going to make for an easy search," the heiress sadly noted.

"Oh, you're awake," Ruby exclaimed, turning around. "Yeah, the weather doesn't seem to like us. But I'm not about to stay cooped up in this cave while we wait this out; We might as well try to make a little progress."

"I suppose that's reasonable. I need to get these clothes dry, too…" Weiss responded, looking down at her outfit in a manner that suggested she had already lost all hope of salvaging it.

Having come to an agreement, the girls walked cautiously out into the haze. Before long, they found themselves back in the woods, and trees quickly surrounded them. The fog obscured their vision, such that they could only see twenty feet ahead of them.

"Does something seem… off, to you?" questioned Weiss, as they walked.

"Well, the trees seem closer together than I remember," Ruby answered, "but that's probably just the fog making me feel claustrophobic."

"You're probably right."

They kept walking. A minute later, Weiss spoke up again.

"It feels empty. Like nothing lives here, not even monsters."

"Weiss, every forest has at least something living in it."

"Every tree we walk past looks the same," the heiress continued, clearly disconcerted, "and we -"

"We should stop and rest, to let you cool off," Ruby interrupted. "Can't have you in such bad shape if we're attacked!"

Weiss stopped, realizing how nervous and childish she must have just sounded. "...Okay," she agreed, "that would probably be for the best."

They sat down with their backs to a tree, waiting in silence. In a strange way, Ruby felt as if time was passing more quickly than usual.

"Weiss, look! The fog is fading," Ruby observed.

Slowly but surely, the haze lifted, and the girls got a good look at their surroundings.

"This doesn't look anything like the Emerald Forest," Weiss noted, her voice passive.

"It's a big place," rationalized Ruby. "We hardly saw any of it last time we were here."

"I'm fairly certain there wasn't any area of the forest which the sun didn't touch."

It was dark, though Ruby was sure it was day. There were no rays of sun shining through the thick canopy created by the tightly packed trees, and she couldn't catch a glimpse of the sky. And the trees were tall - they towered at least twice as high as any tree they'd seen the day before. Weiss was right; this place did not belong in the Emerald Forest, and they probably hadn't walked a mile from their cave.

"Maybe the cave had two exits, and we left through the other one without knowing?" Ruby suggested, knowing the prospect was unlikely.

"I suppose I can't think of any other possibility," Weiss conceded.

For a few moments, they remained in place, thinking.

"Trees," Ruby started. "These are trees. I'll just climb one, and see where we are."

The younger girl stood and got a grip on the tree, before scurrying up it in an almost squirrel-like manner. She fought her way through the foliage at the top, and forced her head up into open air. What she saw took her breath away. The sky was a deep green, as beautiful as it was bizarre, almost indistinguishable from the canopy of the forest. The trees extended as far as the eye could see in almost every direction - only to her right, where the sun was positioned, did the environment change into what appeared to be desert. Over the sand, the sky turned a warm yellow-gold; the line where the two skies met was startlingly clear. That border seemed terribly far, though, just on the edge of her sight; it would be at least a full day's march.

"Weiss," Ruby shouted down, still in awe, "I've a feeling we're not in Remnant anymore."

After taking in the sight for a few more moments, she scrambled back down the tree to a very impatient looking Weiss.

"What do you mean, not in Remnant anymore?" she demanded.

"The sky is green," Ruby explained.

"Green."

Ruby nodded. "Pretty much the same color as the leaves on these trees."

"And you're confident," Weiss began, "that what you were seeing was the sky, and not, in fact, more leaves?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Yes, Weiss; I could see the sun. The forest goes out for miles in all directions, but I could see what looked like a desert way off that way."

"Okay. We should head back to the cave, then, and find out where we got mixed up," Weiss calmly proposed.

Her partner shook her head. "The forest stretches for miles, like I said. The cave was part of the cliff, and I can confirm that there is no cliff anywhere nearby. It's gone, though I can't explain it."

"Okay. Easy. We message the other two and tell them what happened, they come help us or send for help from Beacon," Weiss said, taking out her scroll. "No connection," she deadpanned. "I don't know what I was expecting."

"Well, at least we can still see the Aura meters! So we know they're alive, and they know we are. Eventually they'll notice we're gone, and get help.

Weiss nodded. She was near her breaking point, but Ruby couldn't tell. "For now we might as well… what? Explore?" asked the heiress.

Ruby shrugged. "Let's head toward the desert, and see if there's anything interesting there or on the way."

"I suppose there's not much of a choice, is there?"

A/N: And here we go. Apologies for the slightly tedious early chapters. I tried to keep them short while preserving all of the plot buildup. Finally, though, it starts to get interesting.

Please leave a review! If you have any questions, add them to your review or just send a PM and I'll do my best to answer them.