Chapter 8: Meeting in the Maze
The maze seemed to widen as they drew closer, the narrow corners and corridors branched open into a massive archway made of mossy stone.
"Looks like we're at the center…" Ruby said as she checked her map.
The center of the maze was a green, mossy ruin of grass and stone. A large open courtyard garden of sorts but old and decrepit as if it'd been untouched for centuries. The only semblance of anything was a singular working fountain in the middle, its stone carved to form a crest of sorts but the details had long since been destroyed. It just looked like a phalanx formation of spears and shields with water sprouting out of the top, falling into a circular base.
The blue markers had all arrived at the same time, prompting Ruby to look around. There were exactly four pathways branching from the center, they came from the south and the east and west were the markers, the north was the only unmarked way.
"The markers are drawing closer, looks like it's here, whatever it is," Ruby said, struggling to stay awake and preparing for a fight, grasping for air where her weapon used to be.
The shuffling sound of feet and muffled talking was heard as Ruby's eyes began to blur.
"Ruby? Is that you?!" it sounded like… Weiss?
"NOVA!" another Ruby sounded as rapid footsteps began approaching.
Ruby barely registered Weiss, Yang and Blake running up to her accompanied by her counterpart.
"Really thought we were alone in this maze!" Yang sighed in relief as she met up with the others, the Prime team RWBY was back together with Ruby-13 and Nova.
As Weiss locked eyes with Ruby, tension immediately followed, as if seeing Weiss was yet another reminder of what happened. It wasn't fair to Weiss, but she couldn't help but feel that bitter sting rise once more.
Weiss nervously approached Ruby, "Um… Ruby… I-…"
Blood seemed to roar in Ruby's ears again, her pressure was skyrocketing and every heart palpitation hammered against her ribcage like the force of a thousand piledrivers. This wasn't Weiss' fault, but Penny... she had to say something but all she could do was stare blankly, her cluttered head and lack of sleep were finally getting to her.
Weiss was trying to find the words to say when Ruby's vision began to blank out, her eyelids drooping heavily and suddenly the world was turning upside down.
"RUBY!" the voices faded to black as the reaper blacked out.
Ruby awoke to find the morning sun had been reduced to a twilight darkness brimming over the sky. The soft sound of a fire crackling was heard and the sounds of vibrant talking echoed in her ears.
Groggily she rose from her passed-out position, seemingly on a patch of soft grass with some wrapped clothes as a pillow.
The others were around the fire talking, Ruby-13 was leaning on Nova's shoulder and checking the system menu.
"Ugh… how long was I out?" Ruby asked wearily, approaching the fire.
Yang immediately sprung to her feet and began inspecting her sister, "Holy shit, are you okay? You slept for the entire day!"
"Nova was telling us that you weren't getting much sleep," Blake mentioned as she looked on concerned from her perch on a log.
"I'm fine…" Ruby said again, it felt automatic to say those two words now. She wasn't fine. She knew she wasn't but what sense did it make to tell them?
How could they help her?
Weiss was the only quiet one, looking up at Ruby until their eyes met, the Schnee's own quickly darted downward to avoid her gaze.
Like a bad hangover, once again she began to spiral into a pit of darkness... how could she dig herself out to be the leader they needed?
"Ruby!" the voice of Penny's ghost was back, echoing across the darkened field like a bell toll.
Instantly her head snapped up. She'd had enough, the pressure, the pain, the sound of Penny's voice echoing like a ghost in the darkness. Her world was crashing and she was three seconds from exploding when a sudden thought popped into her head.
What if this voice... was the real Penny? What if the real Penny had been transported here? Or some other version? She had to take the chance.
In her silent contemplation, she rose to the ground and took off, disregarding her friends, pushing them aside and sprinting toward the sound of the voice.
"HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" Yang yelled as her sister sprinted off into the maze.
Ruby briefly turned around, "Don't you hear that?!"
"HEAR WHAT?!"
But it was too late, Ruby had delved into the maze.
Nova and Ruby-13 looked at each other and shook their heads. Following Team RWBY.
"Over here!" the voice called, seemingly getting more and more distant as Ruby ran through the maze using the sound as a direction. She didn't care if she was hallucinating, the voice sounded so real to her.
"PENNY!" Ruby called back, "Where are you?!"
"Right down here Ruby!" Penny's cheerful voice responded as Ruby turned to its direction she saw the faint shimmer of orange hair and a green and black skirt walking down a dark corner.
Desperately chasing after the ghost she had long since lost where her tracks were. She didn't care. She had to find her.
As she rounded the corner, Ruby came face to face with a shimmering visage of Penny Polendina, standing in the middle of a dead end with a bright smile on her face. She… looked so real.
"P-Penny?" Ruby gingerly asked, her emotions overwhelming her completely as tears began to fall. "Penny I… I thought you were dead I…"
Penny nodded, "I am so glad you're here, I was so lonely in this place without you."
Cautiously Ruby approached her, not daring to get too close as if touching her would send her away.
The ghost nodded in a very Penny-like manner and placed her hands behind her back, "I waited for you for so long… but now you're here!" she began walking around, pacing back and forth. "This is simply great! We can escape this place together! End this nightmare and be free!"
Ruby frowned, "Wait… Penny? You're trapped here?"
"Yup! Just like you! Just like your friends! Well… I say that term loosely."
Shaking her head and rubbing her eyes, Ruby responded, "What do you mean?"
Penny rolled her eyes and smiled, "Don't worry about that, come on, take my hand and we can leave. Together."
"What about the others? If you have a way out I need to go get them I…"
"NO!" Penny said with a snarl, "Just us…" suddenly her head snapped to her right and then extended her arm looking directly into Ruby's eyes, "Quickly! We don't have much time!"
"Penny we need to get the others… I…"
"WHY SHOULD WE?!" Penny's voice turned multilayered in different pitches as her emerald eyes turned crimson, "YOUR FRIENDS KILLED ME RUBY! I DIED FOR THEM! I DIED FOR YOU!"
Ruby felt a cold chill of fear as she recoiled at Penny's words, "Penny…"
"RUBY GET DOWN!" Nova's voice yelled out from the back as a blast of orange fire and silver light shot out, illuminating the darkness.
Ruby turned around in alarm, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT'S PENNY!"
A flash of red petals wrapped around her and pulled her back as Ruby-13 looked at her, "No… it's not…" she shook her head sadly.
Nova's fire erupted in an explosion within the dead end as the shadows began to flicker and warp, Penny's ghost screamed in pain clutching its head.
"AAARGH! LOOK AT WHAT THEY'RE DOING TO ME! RUBY! HELP ME!" Penny's ghost screamed as she was set on fire with no remorse. The dragon standing between the Rubys and Penny, his scales out in full display and his eyes glowing in the dark.
WBY came up behind, "What's going on?" Yang asked as she saw her sister wrapped in the arms of her counterpart.
Ruby broke out of her other self's grip and tried to make a break for Penny, "I NEED TO HELP HER! NOVA STOP WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Nova glared back, "Wake up Ruby! Penny is dead! DOES THAT THING LOOK LIKE PENNY TO YOU?!"
"W-What…?" she choked out, looking back at the ghost and rubbing her eyes. All she could see was Penny, and Nova with a ball of fire in his hands aimed straight at her.
Tears brimming in her eyes she screamed, "I WON'T LET HER GO AGAIN!" she Petal Burst forward and aimed directly at Nova, intending to tackle him to the ground but she was blindsided when a burst of bright silver light knocked her square in the chest and pinned her to the floor.
Ruby-13's eyes were glowing bright silver as her red cloak had become clad in silver light that shined so brightly it light up the darkness.
"GET OFF OF ME!" Ruby struggled under the strength of her counterpart but Ruby-13 grabbed her head and forced it to look at Penny.
"LOOK CLOSELY!"
"NO!" she screamed as she watched Nova's arm erupt in fire, with one swift blow he blinked in front of the Penny ghost and slammed his fist into its stomach, the fire exploding outward and leaving scorch marks on the walls and floor.
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" The Penny ghost wailed as it crumpled to the floor, the shadows converged from the walls and sucked into the ghost.
"Help me… RUBY!" Penny wailed… or at least it was…
Ruby watched in horror as her friend's image was melted away and a massive shadowy creature took its place. A Grimm standing about eight feet tall with elongated arms and a skull that looked nothing like she'd seen before. It's skull mask resembled a jackal with horns curling from the back of its head. It had a canine like-body that stood bipedal.
As it fully transformed back, it still tried mimicking Penny's voice which now sounded like a horrible mix of growls and wails… like an animal trying to speak. Inhuman and unnatural.
It disappeared into black smoke and filtered into the air and Ruby was left shocked cold on the floor. Ruby-13 released her weight and let Ruby lay flat on the floor.
"What the hell was that thing?!" Yang yelled, clearly horrified by the encounter.
Ruby-13 grimaced, "Nightreaver. I didn't think we'd find one here of all places…"
"You know what those things are?" Blake asked, shaken.
Nova nodded, "They feed off of trauma and nightmares, they like to lurk in the shadows and feed off your dreams, they are especially attracted to the recently traumatized. They lure you in with your grief and that's how they get you."
"Not particularly strong, but they fuck with you… I hate them so much…" Ruby-13 shivered as she recalled a dark memory. "They are also strangely resistant to the Silver Eyes."
Silently Nova walked up to the fallen Ruby and glared daggers at her, "What the hell were you thinking?!" his eyes were filled with a burning rage mixed with pity and pain. He was livid.
"W-What…?" she choked, this was the first time she'd seen him mad.
"You fucking wandered off into the maze, on your own, to chase after the ghost of someone you know for a fact is dead!" he snarled.
"Woah… easy Nova, don't be too hard on her…" Ruby-13 tried to ease him.
He looked at her and clenched his fists, taking a deep breath to reign in his anger, "No… this has to be said…" he turned back to Ruby Prime, "Look, I get it okay?! You lost your friend, Weiss told us everything. Shit's fucked up! I GET IT!"
He paced back and forth, "BUT THAT DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO THROW EVERYTHING AWAY TO CHASE A DELLUSION SPAWNED FROM YOUR OWN TRAUMA! YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS! FUCK IF YOU AREN'T THEN YOU SURE AS HELL NEED TO BE BECAUSE IF NOT THEN YOU MIGHT AS WELL QUIT NOW!"
Ruby Prime's expression was unreadable as she got up, struggling to her feet she shot a tearful glare at him that was practically staring daggers into his soul. It stung his heart but he had to remember this wasn't his Ruby.
Even if it was his Ruby he wouldn't sugarcoat it. Seeing her wordlessly glaring, daring him to continue he did.
"You need to fucking suck it up and move forward because people like us don't get the luxury of grief!"
Suck it up? Isn't that what she's been doing this whole time? Hasn't that been all shes done?
Looking around at everyone's worried and dark expressions... she was like a mental case, a pitty party they crashed and none of them knew what to do.
But when did they ever?
When did they ever know what to do when she wasn't there?
When they abandoned her?
When they went behind her back?
When she failed and they thought they knew better?
They were just as much at fault as she was... so why did it feel like she was shouldering all the blame?
If anything... this was on them... they were the reason she was so messed up in the head right now.
Penny died because they failed.
"AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" she exploded back.
He was shocked by her sudden explosion of anger.
"WHAT DO ANY OF YOU KNOW ABOUT HOW I FEEL?!" she switched her gaze from Nova to Ruby-13 to her team. All of them were caught like deer in headlights.
"Suck it up! Put on a smile! Be the ideal Huntress! HOLD IT IN RUBY, PUSH A LITTLE MORE RUBY, KEEP IT IN AND MOVE ON RUBY!" she balled her fists up in a rage as she began to pace, "I AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE TELLING ME HOW I SHOULD FEEL!"
With one swift motion she was up in Nova and Ruby-13's faces, "I AM TIRED OF PRETENDING TO BE OKAY BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE NEEDS ME TO BE! Don't you fucking tell me how I should feel because you don't know what it's like!
Your lives have probably been all fucking sunshine and rainbows right?! I mean just look at you, all in love and stuff that's good for you! REALLY IT IS BUT MY LIFE WON'T ALLOW THAT SHIT!
We lost Beacon. I LOST MY FRIEND PYRRHA AND I THOUGHT I LOST PENNY THAT DAY! Then everyone out and abandons me after!" she said that last part glaring at Blake and Yang.
"OH and let's not forget Ozpin, the teacher I'd looked up to for years turned out to be an immortal LIAR!" she threw her hands into the air in exasperation. "Then we all follow my stupid plan in Atlas and I don't even know if it worked. People died and their blood is on my hands! I've failed as a Huntress and then I find out my friend is dead!"
Weiss felt a sting of guilt as she felt her throat choke up, "Ruby… I am so sorry I didn't tell you I…"
Ruby snapped on her and glared, "Save it. Doesn't matter now right? Gotta move on right?"
Yang got in front of Weiss between them, "Hey! Ruby this is uncalled for…"
"Uncalled for?! UNCALLED FOR?! YANG SINCE YOU CAME BACK YOU'VE BARELY LOOKED MY WAY BECAUSE ALL THAT'S BEEN ON YOUR MIND IS HER AND THAT STUPID ARM OF YOURS!" she pointed at Blake.
The cat Faunus shrank back and Yang got defensive, "RUBY STOP! This isn't like you…"
"Isn't like me?! Tell me what is me then?! Tell me, someone?! Because you all seem to know me more than I know myself right?!"
No one dared to answer.
"Exactly as I thought. No one has ever bothered to ask me how I feel. Maybe I don't want to suck it up anymore?! Maybe I don't want to be fighting like this anymore?!"
Ruby-13 tried to step in, "Look… Ruby… I know things look bad. I know what it's like I…"
"Don't…" she said in a low voice. "Don't do that…" with tears in her eyes she looked once more upon their faces and Petal burst into the maze, not caring where she was going.
Everyone was left stunned, unable to speak, unable to comprehend exactly what happened.
"This… is all my fault…" Weiss collapsed onto her knees sobbing as Yang and Blake wrapped their arms around her.
"No, it's none of your faults. We're all victims here…" Nova said darkly as he looked at his fiancé and nodded.
Ruby-13 pulled her cloak around her, "I'm going after her."
"What if you get lost? That's…" Blake tried but Ruby-13 gave her a reassuring gaze.
"Right now there's your Ruby out there suffering and alone. She ran but she doesn't want to be alone, I know… because we're the same. I'll bring her back, don't worry." With that, she left to follow after her counterpart.