Why did Ruby, or rather, the lack of Ruby, have such a devastating affect on everyone? It was understandable for Yang to feel as she did, but not any of the others.
To Weiss, Ruby was the first teenager, no, first person to put up with her icy personality unconditionally. First person to show her that there are people who love her aside from Winter.
As for Blake, the bubbly girl had somehow always brought a smile to her face. The young prodigy of a girl had shown Blake that there is hope for humanity and faunus.
Her thoughts sounded like a funeral procession. With a shake of her head, Pyrrha (yes, Pyrrha) knocked on the dark oak door. The muffled arguments from the other side ceased and after a few tense moments, "come in" was heard. Steeling herself for whatever unfortunate news awaited her, the Amazon-esque woman opened the door into the clock-themed, coffee- smelling room.
"Ah, Ms. Nikos, I'll get right to it. We found the lost Rose."
/To prevent such a short chapter, line break/
No amount of preparation could have prepared the champion for this news. While this seemed to be good news, her mind was filled with questions. Why did they tell her? Why now? Where was she? What does she look like? How long has it been? Does her team know? Am I the first one to know? Why?
"She's different." The headmaster replied as if he read her mind. "We thought it would be best if someone who wasn't too close to her, but still is professional and level-headed saw her first."
His words stung a little. True, the two red-oriented huntresses weren't exactly close, but that didn't alleviate the pang in her . 'saw her first' is she here? How do I look? What, why does that matter? "She's here?"
A grunt was heard from the darkened corner of the room. Slowly stepping into the light; each step caused a nervousness to build up inside the warrior. What seemed like ages passed before the leader of the team that shared her name, was revealed. Rustically layered hair, still majorly black with red tips; it reached to her delicate shoulders in the back, her bangs dipped down to her eye brows. The once childish face has shed it's innocence and was replaced with an all-too-serious womanly one. Defined zygomatic arches and chiseled shape, she was no longer adorable, rather… pretty? Her face was not without blemish, scars painted her features; ear to jaw, lip to chin, nose to cheek, if anything they only added to her beauty. The most prevalent feature of the recently found huntress, would have to be the black cloth covering her left eye. It is so skillfully attached that it looks as though it were simply that part of her face rather something covering it.
As expected, her body had filled out with maturity. The once 15 year old leader bud has grown into 20 year old rose. Taller, smarter, experienced. "Got a problem?" her voice. Low and gravelly, but otherwise emotionless. There was no hint of the old Ruby. As for the eye, it was challenging and intimidating, but there was a hint of something else. Deep beneath the iris. Fear?
"Er, n-no. It's just, you know - Haven't seen - Well - You were-" why was she stuttering, why was the champion of the ring nervous around her friend?
"Let's sit down." Ozpin's ever-calm voice suggested. Once everyone was in a seat he began, "Now, first, try not to stare at her too much." He paused expecting her to defend herself, instead, Pyrrha simply nodded. He smiled, he made the right choice. "Second, be calm." Another nod. "Miss Rose was found with evidence of binding and torturing. We don't know by who, where, why, or for how long. She just showed up on radar a few days ago, out of nowhere. Troubling, really. After admittance to the infirmary it was found that she technically shouldn't be alive. By that I mean, she was poisoned, beaten, bleeding, broken, and dehydrated. For some odd reason, she wasn't starving. Probably how the poison got in her. She was actually well-fed." Ruby was stoic, staring out the glass wall of the tower. She looked as though she weren't even breathing. "By miracle alone, here she is. You are the first aside from Glynda, the doctors and nurses; and myself, to see her. We don't 100% know what happened to her. She won't talk to us about it. We do know, that prolonged gazing and heightened decibel levels cause her to become painfully aggressive." He took a sip from his mug and rubbed his forearm. "On a better note, she is still quite the huntress. Even more deadly than before…"
Pyrrha warily glanced over at the stoic leader. Inside she could feel sorrow, relief, and maybe a little bit of excitement.