Silence. Just silence.
That is all Ruby could hear as she and her friends stared out into the vast deserts of Vacuo.
Soon enough, a Atlesian airship found them as they were taken to Shade Academy to reunite with the rest of their group.
Ruby didn't know how much time had passed while they were in the Ever After.
A day? A month? A year!?
Ruby honestly didn't know nor did she care to be frank.
After everything she and her friends went through in the Ever After, she could do without a little Salem nonsense for a while.
Soon they arrived at Shade Academy and she promptly plopped herself on her bed, pretty tired to do anything.
She thought back to her experiences in the Ever After. The obstacles she and her teammates faced all while being posed with one brutal question.
"Who was she?"
Who was she? Ruby thought she had that figured out, she was a huntress: a hero meant to save people like her mother.
After all, that is what a huntress is, right?
But the more she saw of the world, the more she felt like she was making things worse.
And the whole fiasco in Atlas was probably the culmination of all their failures before they went into the Ever After.
Ruby didn't want to face the truth, that she, Weiss, Blake and Yang had failed in living up to their own expectations.
Ruby sighed as she fiddled with Crescent Rose. Once upon a time, it had been her pride and joy. Her symbol as a future huntress.
But now, as she looked over the battle-hardened cracks in her precious weapon. She had designed Crescent Rose to help people but she couldn't help but think she had harmed more people in the process.
She remembered meeting the Red Prince, just how angry he looked and how much Alyx beating him had broken him down completely.
Yet… she had tried to do the same thing right, even though they justified it by saying they needed to get home.
Just like Alyx.
Ruby sighed and she lied down on the bed.
Even though she never met Alyx, she couldn't help but feel a certain familiarity to her.
A girl dropped into a fantastical world and tries to get home.
No wonder it became a fairy tale in Remnant.
Still she wondered if Alyx was always mean and petty or just being dropped into the Ever After forced her to be like that.
She may never know, but she wanted to believe that despite everything that Alyx did, she was still a kind person underneath all that bluster.
Because she felt like she and the rest of Team RWBY had followed Alyx's journey throughout the Ever After in some way.
Then they met the cat.
Looking back, she should have not trusted him from the start. They should have been suspicious of him from the start.
But since he saved them from the Red Prince, they had to be gracious.
Ruby could sense that the cat and Alyx had met before but she didn't know why, even in the story they had heard, his presence was kind of weird in a way that she couldn't explain.
But they followed him as they thought he could lead them out of the Ever After, they hoped.
However, it wouldn't be long before they met up with Jaune, who was clearly a lot older and had taken up the identity of the 'Rusted Knight'.
Seeing him again, was both comforting and distracting for Ruby.
It was nice to see a friend again, but when he told them about what had happened in Atlas following their fall into the void, she immediately felt worse.
Still, they continued on with Ruby even getting back Crescent Rose in the process.
Yet it didn't feel the same to her.
And from there everything seemed to be one colossal mess after another. Meeting the Paper Pleasers and learning that they were supposed to ascend a long time ago put things in perspective.
Then Ruby snapped at her teammates and accused them of not caring about her feelings and only focusing on their issues.
Not her best moment to be honest.
Still she decided to go to the tree by herself, not knowing that Neo was following her.
Yeah, this was her mother would have totally done.
So when she managed it to the castle, she was confronted by Neo's illusions tormenting her about her failures.
And then the cat revealed his true colors and wanted to take over Ruby's body for himself.
SSo that wasn't good but thankfully Little and her friends managed to protect before Little was crushed by Neo.
And that pushed her over the edge and she drank the tea and ascended.
When she ascended she met the Blacksmith, who offered her the chance to become anyone she wanted, including the likes of her mother.
Ruby briefly considered that option… until she saw that her mother had lied about her last mission to her dad and the both of them.
It was a reality check that Ruby needed as she learned that not even her mother was perfect and that is when she heard her mother's last words to her.
"I love you just the way you are."
With those words, Ruby soon knew who she had to be and decided to be just herself.
And o she ascended and helped Jaune and her teammates defeat the cat who had taken over Neo's body.
And finally, Neo decides to stay behind in the Ever After the group finally returned to Remnant.
That left Ruby where she currently was as she decided to freshen up before going to meet up with her friends again.
She knew she wasn't the only one changed during their adventure throughout the Ever After but she did feel like a massive burden was lifted from her.
No matter what happens in the future, she will be herself no matter what happens.
And that is something she would swear her life on.