The bonus second chapter this week! How are everyone's feels doing? Still ok? Don't worry, we shall get through this together!

So please enjoy :)

Ruby regained consciousness slowly, feeling an enormous amount of fog clouding her brain. Trying to clear it away, she shook her head slightly, but immediately stopped as an agonizing pain ripped across her forehead. She kept her eyes closed and waited for the pain to pass, concentrating on her breathing.

Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…

Once most of the agony had passed, she was left with a slight throbbing in her head as she opened her eyes slowly. She tried to move, but found that her arms and legs were being held in vice-like grips. Looking down, she saw that she had been strapped tightly to a chair, her arms and legs locked into large metal shackles.

After weakly struggling for several seconds, she gave up, realizing that there was no way she was getting out of that chair in her current state. She looked around the rest of the room, trying to make a mental note of her surroundings.

Aside from herself, the chair, and a light (which was currently switched off), there was nothing else in there with her. At least, nothing that she could see in the darkness. The only door she saw was situated directly in front of her and, try as she might, she couldn't even hear any noises coming from beyond it.

She searched her mind as she felt the fog begin to lift. Slowly, her memories began coming back to her in droves. The ripples in the air…the forest clearing…the ship…Weiss…WEISS.

She looked around frantically in search of her partner until her head began reeling from the sudden movements. Letting out a small groan, she finally found her voice.

"Weiss!" she called out into the darkness, hoping against hope that she would hear nothing in return.

Several seconds of silence passed, allowing Ruby to exhale in relief.

That's right…she had pushed Weiss out of the way when she had seen the ripples in the air crashing down towards them. She had tried to dash away, but the bars of the cage were already in place, with the floor neatly materializing underneath her feet.

She had tried to find a way out of the bars, but it had all happened too quickly…before she knew it, she was flying…soaring away from the ground as she watched Weiss run back towards her.

She remembered the air being extremely cold as the ship raced through it. She had tried to memorize the scenery flying by in order to figure out where she might be headed, but they quickly passed any section of Vale she had ever seen before. The city was soon not even visible upon the horizon; all she could see were the tops of green trees for as far as the eye could see.

After what had felt like an eternity, the ship had slowed down. Ruby had looked down in curiosity as a large section of trees shimmered below her in the same rippling motion as she had seen earlier.

The next second, the bars of the cage had expanded into solid walls, boxing her in completely on all sides. She remembered thinking that this wasn't good, at all. She had heard a hissing noise as a white vapor began seeping into the box around her, swirling around her feet as it began to fill the container.

After holding her breath for as long as she possibly could, she had finally needed to inhale if she wanted to keep living. That was the last thing she remembered until waking up several minutes ago.

She frowned as she tried to concentrate on her surroundings once more, looking for some point of weakness or anything that she could use to her advantage. But the throbbing in her head soon became unbearable and she was forced to close her eyes once more.

Whatever they had gassed her with had definitely fried her brain for the time being.

She couldn't be certain if she nodded off or not, since when she opened her eyes again the room had not changed a bit. How long had she been in here? A few hours? A few days? The growling in her stomach was really nothing new, so it didn't provide a clue as to how much time had passed.

Suddenly, the light in front of her switched on.

Pointed directly in her face, an excruciating pain tore across her forehead until she squeezed her eyes shut, head throbbing in loud protest. Not able to see, she listened intently as she heard the door in front of her open, followed by footsteps walking steadily towards her. They stopped when they had reached Ruby; she could feel someone's presence directly in front of her now.

She flinched as she felt a hand wrap gently around her chin, tilting her face upwards slightly. Ruby tried to open her eyes and see who was in front of her, but the second they opened a fraction of an inch, agony burned through her head as light invaded her pupils. She could sense the other person close to her, much too close for her liking. She could hear their breathing as they leaned towards her ear.

"It's good to see you again, Ruby Rose."

Ruby recognized the feminine voice, but couldn't quite place it. The more she tried to wrack her brain to pull up the face associated with that voice, the further the memory seemed to slip away.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked the voice, trying again in vain to open her eyes as the person finally backed slightly away from her, returning some of Ruby's personal space.

The laugh that cut through the air sent shivers down her spine.

"Let's just say…I'm an old friend."

"My teammates are going to come for me, you know," Ruby said confidently, knowing that what she said was not a lie. Yang and Weiss would not stop searching until they found her.

"How are they going to find you, when you're five stories below ground? Hidden in the vast wilderness? Shielded by a state-of-the-art cloaking system?"

Ruby felt her heart fall at those words, confidence wavering slightly. How would they find her if this place was as well hidden as just described? And she had seen for herself just how far outside of Vale they had traveled to get here.

"Even if they can find this place, they wouldn't be able to break you out. Although I'm sure their attempt would be most…entertaining." Another wicked laugh coursed through the room.

Ruby couldn't figure out who this person was, or how they knew her, but she could feel that they were pure evil. Being in the same room with them was beginning to make Ruby's skin crawl with unease.

"What do you want from me?" Ruby wearily asked, feeling a wave of exhaustion hit her from the events of the past day. The aftereffects of that vapor certainly weren't helping her energy level, either. She just wanted to go to sleep so that her head would stop pounding.

"Ah, of course," the voice began. "How rude of me to…invite…you here and not even give you a proper explanation."

"Very soon, a group of my very loyal followers will be helping carry out my final plans. The endgame, if you will. And you, my precious little flower, will be very helpful in leading us to success. Can't you just imagine it now? How the people of Vale will feel when their very own prized huntress, Ruby Rose, turns against them? I can see the pandemonium when they realize that they can no longer trust the hunters and huntresses to protect them. It will be glorious."

"But I'll never do that!" Ruby yelled towards the voice as a gleeful laugh filled the room. She squinted her eyes as she tried to see through the light, feeling her head begin searing in pain once again. But she refused to close her eyes this time, no matter how much her mind screamed at her to turn away. Ruby could only see the shaded outline of the woman standing in front of her, still not recognizing who it might be.

"Ah, unfortunately, you won't really have a choice," the woman responded in fake remorse as she moved behind the light, turning it so that it was pointed more directly into Ruby's eyes. Ruby squinted until her eyes were barely open, but refused to close them entirely, no matter how much pain she was in.

"A new world order is on the horizon. You should be thankful that you'll have the opportunity to help overthrow that fool Ozpin and his collection of hopeless do-gooders. Not many of Beacon's 'elite' will survive to see the future I plan to create."

The figure took several steps towards the door, clearly finished speaking with Ruby.

"Oh," a pause as she turned back, "but I'll personally make sure that that prissy little heiress survives long enough for you to kill her with your very own hands."

Ruby felt her blood run cold as the figure finally opened the door, flooding the room with even more bright light.

"Congratulations on your engagement, by the way."

With another evil laugh ringing in Ruby's ears, the metal door clanged loudly shut as the light clicked off, plunging her back into darkness.

She felt the tears threatening to spill over in her eyes, but managed to hold them at bay. She refused to feel defeated because of that…horrible person. She had to stay strong, for Weiss, for Yang, and for Blake. She needed to stay strong so that she could make it out of here alive.

But…the person had seemed so…confident…that Ruby would fall right into their plans. She didn't know how they planned to make her cooperate, but she would never hurt Weiss…she would rather die first.

A small sob escaped from her throat as she thought about what she might have to do in order to protect her teammates…and to prevent herself from becoming whatever monster they were planning on creating.

"Weiss…Yang…" she pled softly to the empty air, "Please find me soon…"

She closed her eyes once more, feeling two big tears roll down her cheeks. Her lips twitched upwards as she thought about what Weiss would say if she had just heard Ruby's plea.

'I'm trying, you dolt. Do you think it's easy, finding a hidden base in the middle of the damn wilderness?'

Ruby had no doubt that Weiss and Yang would find her, eventually. She just hoped that when that time came, it wasn't already too late…