Chapter 9) The New Arrivals

A/N: Sorry for the super-long delay… again. To quote Dr Ian Malcom, 'Life, uh… finds a way'… to get in the way of other projects. I hope this is worth the wait.

Content warning: This chapter briefly depicts a meltdown from the perspective of the character suffering from it. If you would rather skip over that particular event, jump from 'An image flashed through Ruby's mind…' to 'Finally, Ruby began to feel more like herself again.'

Ruby crouched low. She placed one hand in front of her on the ground, and held the other out behind her to keep balance. Shifting her weight slightly, she took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out. Then another. Then a third. She kept her gaze straight ahead, focused on her goal.

Drawing upon what remained of her Aura, Ruby pushed everything she had into her Semblance, and launched herself forward as fast as she could.

Ruby had often heard that other people with speed-based Semblances like hers would experience a feeling of everything else around them slowing down as they accelerated, but that had never happened to her. Time did not stretch on when she used her power. Her burst of speed lasted a fraction of a second, both for her audience and for herself, and she came to a halt just as quickly.

Ruby let her Aura recede, and suddenly found herself gasping for breath. Her legs began to tremble slightly, a sure sign that her body had reached its limit.

Maybe pushing my Semblance this much wasn't the best idea after all.

"S-so… h-how did… I do?" she panted.

Weiss looked up from the expanded screen of her Scroll, eyebrows raised in surprise. "One hundred meters in zero-point-five-nine seconds. You clock in at just under half the speed of sound."

Ruby nodded. She had figured as much. After all, this was hardly the first time she had tested the upper limits of her Semblance. Her instructors back at Signal had made sure of that.

Checking her own Scroll, Ruby saw that her Aura levels had fallen below a third.

"Time out." Ruby made her way off the track and fell into a sitting position with little grace. "I th-think I'm done f-f-for th-the day."

"I agree," Weiss replied. "We have everything we need anyway; we should head back and see how the others are doing."

"In a m-minute. I n-need to r-rest a little." She wasn't breathing as heavily, but she still felt like she would stumble if she tried to get up, so Ruby remained sat where she was.

Weiss came and sat beside Ruby, handing her a bottle of water which she accepted with a nod of thanks, draining half of it in a few gulps before pouring a little over her head to cool off somewhat.

"S-so, f-final numbers?" she asked a moment later.

Weiss tapped at the screen and brought up a spreadsheet full of information on the entire team. "Top speed of three-hundred and seventy-nine miles-per-hour, cooldown between uses ranging from five seconds to one minute depending on distance travelled, and a maximum range in one burst of one-hundred and sixty-eight meters."

Ruby nodded. She had managed to push her max range a little more than she had previously, but her top speed and cooldown times were still more-or-less the same as they had always been.

She sighed, unable to help feeling a little disappointed. It was looking less and less likely that she would ever be able to go supersonic, not unless she cheated a little…

"Hey W-Weiss? Could y-you show m-m-me how to use Dust like you do s-s-sometime?"

Weiss shook her head. "Ruby, I don't use Dust like that. My Semblance works in tandem with Dust effects, I don't infuse it into my body. Doing that sort of thing is really, really dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing."

"Oh… s-sorry."

Weiss frowned. "Ruby, what did we say about your apologising all the time?"

"S-stop it?"

"Stop it," repeated Weiss firmly. "You don't need to apologise for asking questions. It's fine to ask."

Ruby nodded, feeling her face flush slightly. "R-right. I'll try to r-r-remember."

Weiss hummed at that, then stood up, offering a hand to Ruby as she did so. "Now come on, we need to head back and get Blake and Yang's numbers as well, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Right." Taking Weiss' hand, she allowed herself to be pulled up, and the pair began making their way back towards the main building.

I hope Yang and Blake were able to manage all right.

It had been an idea Ruby had been thinking of for a while, to measure the upper limits of each of their Semblances. Knowing each other's limits as well as their own could wind up being helpful at some point. If nothing else, it would help them all set a baseline to measure themselves against. So, when Ruby realised that today would be a free morning, she had invoked her (admittedly rarely used) leader-powers to insist that they pair off and measure each other's abilities.

Ruby had thus learnt from observing her partner that Weiss could project her Glyphs as much as she wanted with no cooldown in-between, provided she had the Aura left to do so. However, when it came to casting multiple Glyphs, two at once seemed to be her limit, although she could project three simultaneously for a few seconds before they began to fade if she pushed herself to her absolute limit, though that would result in her straining herself quite a bit, leaving her dizzy from the exertion.

From prior experience, Ruby knew that the limits of Yang's Semblance were tied directly to her Aura levels. So long as her Aura was not depleted, she could continue to stockpile energy from each hit she took until she decided to use it, but the instant her Aura broke, all that energy went with it. If anyone could be used as a textbook example of how personality and Semblance reflected each other, Yang would fit that role perfectly. An all-in, all-or-nothing power to match an all-in, all-or-nothing mentality…

Ruby realised that Weiss was no longer walking by her side, having gone down the wrong corridor while still looking at her Scroll.

"W-Weiss, it's this w-way!" Ruby called, getting her directionally challenged partner's attention with a shout and a wave.

A few minutes later, the pair arrived at the training rooms and entered the one that Blake and Yang had taken. Blake was leaning against the wall, checking something on her own Scroll. Yang was nowhere to be seen.

"Your sister went to take a shower," said Blake without even looking up. "We finished a few minutes ago."

As Ruby entered the room, she saw out of the corner of her eye that the device used to measure impact force was dented. Evidently, Yang had not held back very much.

Are we gonna have to pay for that?

"Well then, care to fill us in so I can add your data to our spreadsheet?" asked Weiss without any preamble, stepping past Ruby and walking over to Blake.

Blake nodded and tapped at her Scroll. A ping indicated that she had sent a message to Weiss. Ruby sat beside Weiss on the bench, peering over her shoulder to read what Blake had sent over.

Yang's numbers were no surprise, but Blake's were what Ruby was interested in. After experiencing it during initiation, Ruby wanted to know exactly how the sword-wielder's Semblance worked, so she skimmed over her sister's entry and went straight to Blake's.

Blake had explained the basics to her already when she asked earlier. She could create copies of either herself or another person she was touching, and the copy would 'push' the real person out of the way as it spawned, helping them to avoid being hit. The copy would take the hit instead and fade immediately afterwards.

According to the numbers, one copy was Blake's current limit, with a three-second cooldown between uses. If the copy wasn't struck and dissipated by force, it would linger for a maximum of forty-five seconds unless Blake created another one, which would cause the old one to fade as she switched her focus to the new copy. As for how far she could be pushed away by spawning a copy, a single meter was the limit there, but she could decide the direction.

As Ruby considered what she was reading, a thought struck her.

"S-so, if you w-were f-falling, you could m-make copies to push you back up to s-stay in th-the air?"

Blake nodded. "I do that a lot to break my falls if I'm dropping from really high up." Then she gave Ruby an amused smirk. "Although if you're asking if I could fly with my Semblance by pushing off my clones over and over, I'd need to be able to use it quicker."

"I could do it," chimed in Weiss with more than a little smugness in her voice. "I can use one Glyph at a time as a platform and jump across them as far as I want to."

"That's not really flying, though," Blake pointed out. "More like using mid-air stepping-stones."

"W-we should try it out s-sometime! M-maybe that can be our n-next team training exercise? W-well, Yang w-wouldn't really be able to take part I guess, but the th-three of us could try to f-find out h-how far each of us could go. If we use the cliff over the Emerald Forest as a starting point, Yang could referee for us and we all launch off at the same time and use our Semblances to see how far we go before w-w-we… uh…"

Ruby trailed off, realising to her mortification that she had been rambling and both Blake and Weiss were looking at her with confusion.

"Uh, n-n-never m-mind. Th-that w-would be s-s-silly."

Blake and Weiss exchanged a look, and Ruby decided that she should probably leave before she embarrassed herself even more. Muttering a quick excuse of wanting a shower of her own, she quickly left the training room and headed back towards the dorm.

"Quiet please, children." Professor Goodwitch's voice cut across the chatter in the hall, and everyone fell silent at once.

"Thank-you, Glynda." Professor Ozpin stepped forwards, and everyone's attention was on the Headmaster.

Ruby was no exception, although she continued to fiddle with the hem of her cloak. She didn't pull her hood up, but she did consider it. Instead, she just kept her attention focussed entirely on the Professor, avoiding even glancing at her teammates beside her.

No-one had said anything after she returned, but Ruby still felt awkward about it.

"Good afternoon students, and thank you for coming to this impromptu gathering. I appreciate that you may have all been busy with your training or your studies, but I have several important announcements to make that I had planned to deliver to you later on down the line. However, circumstances have changed recently."

There probably would have been some murmuring from everyone at that, but the students at Beacon had quickly learned not to interrupt anyone speaking while Professor Goodwitch was around. Nonetheless, the atmosphere in the hall became noticeably more tense.

"Now, as many of you are no doubt aware, Beacon is hosting the Vytal Festival this year, and it has now been agreed what the specific rules for this year's tournament will be."

The tension gave way immediately to excitement, and Ruby felt her own nerves fade away as she processed what Professor Ozpin had just said.

Ruby had been watching the Vytal Festival Tournament since she was little, but she had never attended one in person. Atlas and Shade hosted the Festival most of the time, and Ruby had never ventured any further from home than to Vale, so she had only been able to watch the broadcasts. However, when Beacon's own Team SLVR claimed a surprise victory two years ago, Ruby had been very excited at the prospect of finally being able to watch a tournament live, even if it would mean sitting in a crowded and noisy audience.

But she was actually at Beacon herself this year. So maybe she wouldn't be watching the show this time around…

The screen behind Professor Ozpin lit up and showed a diagram of the brackets for the tournament, which the Headmaster began to explain.

"As usual, each Academy will be able to put forward a total of four teams from their First-Year and Second-Year student populations. We will of course be nominating two teams from each year as is tradition. As for how combatants will progress, the rounds will operate in the inverse of how they operated last time: Round One will be full four-verses-four battles between whole teams, while Round Two will consist of two-verses-two bouts. Round Three will be one-verses-one bouts, and the final Round Four will also be a one-verses-one match."

The display on the screen changed to show a list of all the First-Year and Second-Year Teams at Beacon.

"Myself and the other Professors have already begun to consider who will be chosen to represent Beacon, but there is still time for you to sway our decisions. We will not be making our final selection for another two months at least."

Professor Ozpin cast his gaze across the assembled student body, his expression shifting from serious to challenging as he began to pace up and down the stage.

"Some of you may have already been involved in smaller-scale tournaments in the past, but this particular tournament is quite different from those regional gatherings. The Vytal Festival is a global event, attended by thousands and broadcast across all of Remnant. It is a celebration of everything that we, as Huntsmen and Huntresses, embody and champion: strength, cooperation and above all, unity. If you are selected to represent Beacon on the world stage, you will not only be representing your school, or even your kingdom. You will be representing the very institution of Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Professor Ozpin stopped pacing, and the screen behind him once again switched to display something else. A golden trophy depicting the emblems of all four kingdoms joined into one.

"Victory in the Vytal Festival Tournament will therefore confer unto the winning Team a great deal of recognition, but even those who do not lift the trophy will have an opportunity to showcase themselves by taking part."

An image flashed through Ruby's mind of her and her Team lifting that trophy, their names etched into it alongside the names of all those who came before.

Alongside her idols and her heroes.

Alongside her Uncle Qrow, her father, and… her mom.

…

Another image swiftly overtook the fantasy: an image of herself down and out, her Team eliminated because of her, all looking at her with contempt for costing them their chance at victory while the crowd jeered and booed and hurled insults at them…

Ruby's excitement withered and died, and her stomach twisted uncomfortably.

Professor Ozpin stopped pacing. "Of course, you will not be the only students taking part in the Tournament, which brings me to the second reason I gathered you all here today. Yesterday evening, I was informed that the students from Atlas Academy would be arriving ahead of schedule, next week to be precise. As such, there will be…"

Ruby was no longer listening. Try as she might, she just couldn't get that unpleasant image out of her head, and it had soured her mood considerably.

Of course she would screw everything up for everyone else. All she ever did was cause problems for people after all. How could she ever allow herself to dream of being a Vytal Festival Champion like her parents? She was nothing like them. She was the odd-one-out, after all. The one who didn't fit.

But then what about Yang? What about Weiss, and Blake? They don't deserve to be held back because of me. Could they enter as a trio? No, the first round is four-against-four, so that's not an option. Maybe someone else could fill in for me, someone whose Team didn't get selected? Then they'd have a chance as well-

Ruby's train of thought was rudely derailed when the hall erupted into a cacophony of noise. Chairs scraped harshly against the floor as everyone began to stand up and move around, loud voices assaulted her ears as people launched into conversations, footsteps rang through the hall and everyone was pressing in around her and there were too many people around and her ears hurt from all the noise and the lights were too bright and her head was full of images all swirling around and making her feel sick and her chest was tight and it hurt to breathe and she needed to get out and get away and run and hide and-

A hand took hers and gently tugged her along, jolting Ruby out of her spiral for a moment and allowing her to focus of who exactly was leading her away.

Yang, because of course she was. She always knew when to step in, after all. She always knew what to do when Ruby was on the verge of a meltdown.

She always has to take care of me.

Ruby used her free hand to pull up her hood, bowing her head and allowing her older sister to pull her along and lead her out of the crowded and noisy hall.

Her chest was beginning to hurt quite a bit, and Ruby realised that her breaths had become very rapid and shallow, and her heart was racing. Trusting Yang to guide her out safely, Ruby squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on trying to get her breathing under control, going through the usual exercise she had been taught.

In for four seconds, hold for one, out for three. In for four seconds, hold for one, out for three. In for four seconds…

Slowly but surely, Ruby was able to assert some control over her heartrate and breathing. The horrible tightness in her chest began to loosen, and the painful noises began to fade as Yang led her away from the hall and into an empty corridor. They stopped, and Yang let go of Ruby's hand.

Ruby wrapped her arms around herself and continued to go through the motions of counting the seconds of each breath. She opened her eyes, but kept her gaze downwards.

In for four seconds, hold for one, out for three. In for four seconds, hold for one, out for three.

Finally, Ruby began to feel more like herself again. She relaxed her grip on her upper arms, and felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back against the wall behind her.

All things considered, it had been a very mild episode compared to some of her other meltdowns, and she knew full well that it could have been a lot worse if Yang hadn't caught her in time.

But it had still happened, and like always, it left her feeling utterly awful.

"I'm s-sorry," she muttered.

A hand gently pulled her hood back, and Ruby lifted her gaze to see Yang standing above her, smiling.

"It's fine. You don't have anything to apologise for."

Yang must have said that to her a thousand times by now, and while Ruby knew her sister meant it every time, it didn't really do much to alleviate her guilt at having once again forced Yang to take care of her, like she was still the same little girl who fell apart at the drop of a hat.

Ruby's eyes stung and blurred slightly, so she quickly turned to hide her face. She would not cry in front of Yang. She could manage that much at least.

"I'm gonna take a w-walk." Ruby pulled her hood back into place, turned, and made it all of two steps before she was pulled back into a tight hug by Yang.

"I love you."

Ruby returned her sister's embrace. "I love you, too."

She never stammered when she said that.

With her hood up and her headphones on, Ruby slowly walked through the streets of Vale as she made her way towards the Dust Shop.

At Yang's suggestion, she had changed her clothes before heading out so as to avoid anyone asking her why she was off-campus for the afternoon. Thus, rather than wearing her Beacon uniform or even her combat gear, Ruby was instead dressed casual: a dark red t-shirt with long sleeves and silver stitching around the cuffs and neck, paired with a knee-length black skirt over dark tights. Her boots had been swapped for simple sneakers, and her Scroll and other items were in a pouch at her hip.

And her cloak, of course, fastened around her shoulders by her emblem-buckle as usual.

Perfectly casual and inconspicuous. Just the way she liked it.

'You… were the one,

Who held me down and told me I was heading nowhere.

You… should know your place,

Accept your fate and show good face and be thankful that you're there.'

Ruby liked Asche Schwarz's music, but lately she couldn't help but wonder why their voice sounded so familiar.

In any case, she wasn't really listening to the song, she just needed a little extra buffer between herself and everything else. Her headphones weren't noise-cancelling, so there was only so much they could do without a little help.

Ruby had also hoped the music would help distract her from her thoughts, but no such luck. She still found her mind wandering to all manner of unpleasant images: Weiss and Blake looking at her like she was a weirdo after she had rambled on with her stupid idea, the mental image of the crowd booing her and her team after she let them all down, her sister looking at her with tired eyes even as she smiled for her sake…

Ruby tried to steer her wayward mind elsewhere. She thought about what magazines the shopkeeper would have, what new ideas she might be able to get from them for her weapon, maybe she could even pluck up the courage to ask him about using raw Dust to boost her Semblance. After all, he was a Dust salesman, maybe he would know some tips for her to safely try and boost herself so she could finally go supersonic-

As it turned out, Ruby managed to distract herself quite well. So well, in fact, that she had completely stopped paying attention to her surroundings, and she walked right into the person in front of her.

"Wah?!"

A hand grabbed the front of Ruby's shirt, and Ruby found herself being pulled down by the person she had just barrelled over, landing on top of them with a grunt. Her headphones fell off as she landed, clattering to the ground beside the head of the girl underneath her.

"I am so sorry!" said the girl. "I did not mean to make you fall down as well! Are you hurt in any way?"

Ruby lifted her head and found herself staring into a pair of bright green eyes.

"WAAH!" Ruby quickly pushed herself off of the girl and scurried to her feet, her face burning as she blushed in mortification.

"Oh no, you must have some sort of fever! Should I call a doctor for you?"

"N-no!" Ruby shouted in a panic. "I'm f-f-fine!"

"Oh, well that is a relief!" replied the girl with a bright smile, all while she continued to lay on the ground, making no move to get up at all.

"Um, are y-you OK?" Ruby asked. What if she had injured this poor girl really badly?

"I am perfectly fine! Thank you for asking!" The girl rose to her feet, brushing off her clothes as she did so.

Ruby felt herself relax slightly. "Th-that's good. S-s-sorry f-for r-running into you like th-that."

"Apology accepted!" replied the girl. "And I hope you will accept my own apology for also not paying more attention to my surroundings."

"Uh… of course. I m-mean, apology accepted as w-well."

The girl was about Ruby's height, maybe a little taller, with long carrot-coloured hair that came down to her waist, adorned with a pink bow. Green seemed to be her colour of choice, as she was wearing a long green dress over a white top, with long billowing sleeves that seemed just a bit too large for her arms. Her boots were also green, with black detail on them. She had some sort of backpack on, and for some reason she was also wearing gloves, despite it not really being cold enough for such a thing.

The girl held out her hand, and Ruby realised she was handing her back her headphones. "I believe you dropped these, Miss."

"Oh, thanks." Ruby took the headphones and switched them off, stowing them away in her pouch, deciding that it was perhaps best she didn't keep wearing them while walking around a busy street.

The girl nodded. "Pardon me for asking, but are you from around here? I am afraid I have gotten lost."

"Are y-you looking f-for s-someplace in particular?" Ruby asked.

"Someone in particular to be precise," replied the girl. "But she did say that if we got separated, I should make my way towards a café called 'Mr Beans'. But I am afraid I do not know where such an establishment is located."

Ruby wracked her brain. She hadn't really explored Vale much yet, but that name rang a bell…

Ah, that's it! It's the café I met Professor Ozpin in!

"I'm h-heading that w-way now, if y-you w-wanna f-f-follow me." The Dust Shop was only one street away from the café, so she supposed she could make a small detour to help this girl out.

The girl in question lit up even more than she already was, her smile widening and her eyes almost sparkling. "You would do that for me? Even though we just met? You are such a nice person, Miss…" she trailed off. "I am so sorry, I never asked you your name."

"I'm Ruby. W-what's your n-name?"

"My name is Penny. It is nice to meet you, Miss Ruby!" The girl, Penny, held out her hand as she spoke, her bright smile never once leaving her face.

"Y-you can just call m-me Ruby," Ruby replied, shaking Penny's hand, who gripped hers in a very tight hold that almost hurt as much as Yang's handshakes did.

"Very well then Ruby, please lead the way!" said Penny, releasing her grip on Ruby's now throbbing hand.

Taking a second to reorient herself, Ruby recalled which direction they needed to go and set off, keeping her pace slow so as not to lose her newfound companion along the way.

"So, Ruby, are you attending Beacon by any chance?"

Ruby blinked. "H-how could y-you tell?"

Penny pointed at Ruby's hip pouch, which she only now realised was the one that had Beacon's logo on it instead of her own emblem. It had been a gift from her Uncle Qrow for getting accepted early, she must have gotten them mixed up.

"Y-yeah, I'm at Beacon," Ruby muttered, inwardly cursing herself for being so sloppy. So much for keeping a low profile.

"What is it like at Beacon? I imagine it is quite different from Atlas, but perhaps there are some things that are the same between the two?"

Ruby turned to look at Penny, surprised. "Y-you're from Atlas?"

Penny gave Ruby a playful mock salute. "Penny Polendina, Huntress-in-training at Atlas Academy, First-Year!"

Ruby dimly recalled Professor Ozpin saying something about the Atlas students arriving, but she was fairly certain that wasn't happening today.

"Y-you're h-here a little early, aren't y-you?"

Penny nodded. "My partner and I came ahead of everyone else. I have never been outside of my own Kingdom before, so I wanted to have the opportunity to see more of Vale before the Festival starts."

"But then y-you got s-separated."

"But then we got separated," replied Penny. "I suppose I got a little too excited to see a new Kingdom, and did not pay attention to where I was going."

Ruby couldn't quite supress an amused smile at that. Between Weiss and now this Penny girl, she seemed to be meeting a lot of people who got lost easily lately.

"W-well, w-what are your f-first impressions of Vale?" Ruby asked.

Penny hummed at that. "It is certainly very different from both Atlas and Mantle. Everything feels much less crowded together for one, and the buildings are smaller as well. And of course, it is much warmer here."

"That f-figures," Ruby mused. "W-what about Atlas Academy? W-what's th-that like?"

"Of course, the hard-light training rooms are very popular, so if you wish to make use of them, you need to book them in advance to make sure you will have the opportunity to do so."
"M-makes sense," Ruby replied. "Th-they do s-sound really cool. Our training rooms m-mostly use m-mechanical equipment."

"Oh, Atlas Academy has normal training rooms as well, it is just that they are not as popular with the students as the hard-light rooms."

Ruby took a sip of her drink as they sat in the café, still waiting for Penny's partner to arrive, passing the time with friendly, comfortable chatter.

Ruby was rarely one to chat with people for long stretches of time, especially with people she had barely known for a day, but she nonetheless found herself remarkably at ease just talking with Penny. The carrot-haired girl was very animated and talkative, the sort of person Ruby usually found herself feeling overwhelmed by. Nora, for instance, was exhausting to talk to.

But talking to Penny felt… natural. Easy. Not at all overwhelming, but engaging and, dare she even think it, nice. Penny talked a lot, yes, but she was not a loud talker or a fast talker, so Ruby had no trouble keeping up with her. And when Ruby spoke, Penny listened, never cutting her off.

She hadn't even mentioned Ruby's stammer once the entire time, and Ruby herself hadn't paid it much mind either.

"May I ask about something else, Ruby?"

"Sure." Ruby set down her drink and nodded. "W-what do you w-want to know?"

"What kind of weapon do you use? If that is not too personal a question, of course."

"I can sh-show you, if you'd like?" Ruby pulled her Scroll from her pouch and expanded the screen, moving her chair around the table so she was sat more beside Penny than across from her. Tapping at the menus, she brought up the folder full of images of Crescent Rose and began to flip through them one by one.

"This is Crescent Rose. Sh-she's a h-hybrid sn-sniper rifle scythe."

"Fascinating!" Penny moved her own chair to better see the screen. "I have never met a scythe-wielder before. What made you chose such an unusual weapon?"

Ruby smiled, recalling memories of days long past. Of seeing her family in action, of listening to stories about their adventures, of afternoons spent sketching designs or assembling models, and that one time when she was seven when she put together a bunch of spare parts she found in her mother's workroom and then accidentally shot the window with the half-finished product.

Dad had been in a panic, Mom was impressed, and Yang had laughed her head off and spent the next month making jokes about the whole thing.

"M-my uncle uses a scythe, and my M-Mom used a s-sniper rifle. I r-really liked both, s-so I decided to-"

SLAM!

Ruby jumped in her seat, startled by the loud noise. Turning her head to see what had caused it, she saw a large man in a hood standing by the counter. The noise had been caused by him slamming his fist onto the tabletop hard enough to crack the surface.

The entire café fell silent, all eyes upon the man.

"You turned away one of our brothers from your establishment two days ago." The man's voice was strangely smooth and level, and he spoke with an accent that Ruby couldn't quite place.

"L-look, we don't want any trouble," the young barista stammered, her face pale. "I was just trying to-"

"You were trying to drive us out," the man said, cutting her off without even raising his voice. "You saw a Faunus, and decided you didn't want him around, so you made him leave, ridiculing him in front of all your patrons."

"Please, I didn't mean to offend him, I just thought it was for the best he went somewhere else." The barista was shaking now, her voice rising in panic as she remained rooted to the spot.

"You can make excuses for yourself all you like, but it does not change what you did. After all, acts and deeds are more potent than speech."

The man lowered his hood and revealed his face… or rather, the mask he wore over his face. Bone-white, with red lines in a pattern that emulated the Grimm.

"And it is though my actions now, that I shall make an example of you." The White Fang soldier drew a gun from a holster in his jacket.

The barista began to cry. "No, please! I'm sorry, please don't hurt me! Please!"

The White Fang Soldier lifted his gun and began to take aim.

Ruby didn't have her weapon, nor did she have much Aura left after her training earlier. But there was no time to come up with a plan. The girl behind the counter was about to die.

So Ruby did the only thing she could. She threw her drink.

The porcelain cup smashed into pieces as it collided with the soldier's head.

A gunshot rang through the air, and the café was filled with screams as everyone flew into a panic, but Ruby blocked all of that out. The soldier's aim had been thrown off by Ruby's improvised action, and his shot had gone wide, missing the barista and instead shattering a glass on the shelf behind her.

Acting swiftly, Ruby launched herself out of her seat and sprinted across the café, ramming her shoulder into the gunman's side and knocking him off balance, raising her Aura as she did so to absorb the impact.

The gunman recovered quickly, spinning around and swinging the butt of his pistol towards Ruby's head. She ducked underneath his swing and lashed out with a jab at his torso, once again knocking him slightly off balance.

It was all the opening Ruby needed. With her left hand she grabbed the gunman's wrist, and with her right she grabbed his arm at the elbow. Twisting around, she forced the gunman's arm upwards, then pushed more Aura into her arms to give her the little extra boost needed to finish the job. The gunman's wrist bent at an unnatural angle, and he dropped his pistol with a pained grunt.

Releasing his arm, Ruby followed up with a kick, intending to knock the wind out of her opponent-

Red metal flashed, and Ruby's leg stung as it was slashed with a sword the gunman drew from his belt.

Ruby fell to the ground, and the now thoroughly enraged White Fang soldier stood above her, sword raised in preparation to strike once more.

"You meddling little s-"

A bolt of green flashed through the air, striking the soldier square in the chest and sending him hurtling backwards, crashing into a table behind him.

"You will not hurt anyone else."

Ruby turned to look behind her. Penny was standing at their table, holding what Ruby could only assume was her weapon in one hand. It looked like a short sword, or perhaps a long knife, except it had a handle that was bent at an angle, and Penny was holding it like a gun as opposed to a bladed weapon.

"You will remain on the ground where you are until the authorities arrive, or I will have no choice but to use additional force to ensure the safety of everyone here." Penny's bright smile and sparkling eyes were gone. Her gaze was angry, and her tone of voice indicated that she was having some trouble staying calm.

The gunman said nothing in response.

"Uh, I think you knocked him out," said the man closest to him.

Ruby grabbed a piece of broken porcelain and threw it at the downed gunman. It bounced off his leg, eliciting no response from him.

"Yep, h-he's out." Ruby looked back at Penny. "It's OK, y-you can lower y-your gun."

Rather than lowering her weapon or holstering it, Penny simply let go of it. However, rather than dropping to the floor, it was instead pulled behind Penny and slid into the strange backpack she wore. Ruby was just about able to make out the very thin wire attached to the handle that seemed to have been responsible for the curious effect.

"You're bleeding!" someone gasped.

Ruby glanced at her leg, and sure enough, she was bleeding from a gash on her calf. Evidently her Aura had broken when she took that last hit, and it had been unable to completely deflect the slash. A small pool of blood was gathering underneath her leg, and now that her adrenaline was beginning to wear off, the slight stinging was growing a lot more painful.

Penny was at her side in an instant, kneeling down and carefully straightening Ruby's leg out to get a better look at the injury.

"H-how bad is it?" Ruby asked, wincing in pain as Penny examined her.

"It does not appear to be life-threatening," Penny replied. "But we should perhaps call an ambulance nonetheless."

"Penny?" a voice called out from the café entrance.

Standing in the doorway was a girl in a white shirt and blue skirt, with a blue beret atop her head. She was surveying the scene inside with a baffled expression on her face.

"Hello again, Ciel," Penny called out across the café. "Could you please call the police and an ambulance to come as soon as they can? Also, I will need to borrow your first-aid kit if you have it with you."

The new girl, Ciel, let out a long-suffering sigh. "I wasn't even gone two hours," she muttered.

"Make sure to change the dressings every six hours, and no strenuous activity for a few days while it heals. Now, are you sure there's no-one we can call to pick you up?"

"Th-there's really n-n-no n-need. I'll be f-fine."

The paramedic shrugged. "Suit yourself, but if you wind up in front of me again because you aggravated the injury, I won't be amused." With that, the paramedic packed up her equipment, gathered up the remains of Ruby's tights that had needed to be cut off to get them out of the way, and departed with her colleagues who had likewise finished attending to the other café patrons.

Ruby watched them go as she remained sat on the bench outside the café. The police had already carted the gunman off, so now it seemed everything had been resolved.

No need to make Yang worry about me any more than she already does. I'll just say I fell over and cut myself of some broken glass.

"Ruby, was it?"

Ruby turned to see Ciel and Penny standing beside her. Both had rather worried expressions on their faces, although Ciel's was a bit less pronounced.

"Are y-you Penny's partner?" she asked.

Ciel nodded. "I wanted to thank you for helping Penny out. I appreciate you keeping an eye on her while we were separated. She can get into trouble quite easily."

Ciel was quite different from Penny, much more proper and well-spoken. She reminded Ruby a little bit of Weiss in that regard.

"Ciel, this was not my fault on this occasion. If anything, it was a good thing myself and Ruby were present."

Ciel nodded again. "I know, and I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you both. Once again, Ruby, thank you."

"It's f-fine," Ruby replied. "I'm glad I could h-h-help."

"Are you sure you do not require any assistance, Ruby?" asked Penny, stepping forwards and placing her hands upon the armrest of the bench. "I could escort you back to Beacon, or I could call your teammates, or I could-"

Ruby waved her hands in front of her. "N-no, r-really, I'm f-fine. I'll just rest h-here for a little bit before I h-head back."

Penny paused for a moment, then sat beside Ruby on the bench. "Well then, I can at least keep you company until then."

Ruby opened her mouth to say that no, she was fine, and Penny could go with her partner and not worry about her, and she didn't want to inconvenience them both…

"If th-that's OK with y-your partner?" Ruby asked, casting a glance at Ciel.

The beret-wearing girl gave them both a small but warm smile. "Just don't wander off again. I need to go and get our hotel room booked anyway, so I'll meet you back here in, say, an hour and a half?"

Penny shot out of her seat and wrapped Ciel in a tight embrace, lifting her off of the ground and spinning her around. "Thank-you thank-you thank-you, Ciel!"

"Don't mention it," wheezed the other girl. "Now please, stop hugging me before my spine breaks."

After setting Ciel back down with an apology, Penny resumed her seat beside Ruby with a giddy grin on her face.

"One more thing before I go," Ciel added, turning to face Ruby directly. "Can you not mention to anyone that you met us today? We're technically not supposed to be here yet, after all."

Ruby nodded, miming zipping her mouth shut.

With that, Ciel left, leaving just Ruby and Penny on the bench.

"Is it painful?" Penny asked.

Ruby shrugged. "N-not that m-much." It still stung a little, but the paramedic had given her a mild painkiller after bandaging her up, which had taken the edge off for the most part.

"Um, excuse me?"

Ruby turned to see that the barista was standing behind her, holding two mugs of hot chocolate.

"It's not much, but here. To say thanks for saving me."

The mugs were tall, topped with whipped cream and marshmallows, and Ruby savoured her first sip. Penny had politely declined hers, saying she wasn't hungry or thirsty, and to give it to someone else.

"S-so, wh-what were w-we talking about?" asked Ruby.

"You were showing me your weapon on your Scroll."

"Y-yours w-was pretty cool too. H-how does it w-work?"

And like that, Ruby was able to fall back into the comfortable conversation she had been having with Penny before. No worries, no fights, just the two of them talking about various things and passing the time.

When Ciel returned to collect Penny, Ruby was almost sad to part ways with her.

"I hope to see you again soon, Ruby. I have a lot more things I would like to ask you about."

"S-same h-here," Ruby replied. "S-see you s-soon!"

As the girls parted ways and Ruby began to slowly limp back towards the airship pick-up point to return to Beacon, she found herself looking forward to seeing Penny again.

Hello again to all of you who have been so patient with me these past few weeks, and greetings to any newcomers who've joined us in the meantime! I'm Not Scot.

First, let me apologise again for the delay. I've had a lot on my plate these past few weeks, and as such I had to shelve my writing endeavours while I sorted all of that out. But now it's all done, and I have a solid two weeks mostly free of responsibilities to take advantage of now. Yay!

So, Penny and Ruby have met up, earlier than in canon. I really liked the friendship between these two in the show, and I was so happy when she came back in Volume 7, and super exited when she became a Maiden at the end. So of course, like all my favourite characters in fiction, she had to die… twice.

Darn it, but hey, maybe her ghost will turn up in the Ever After in Volume 9? I mean, with a name like Ever After, it has to be some sort of afterlife-type deal, right? Right!?

I should probably stay focussed on this story for now. The events of Volume 9 are a long, long ways off for this fic after all.

Please do leave your thoughts in the comments, I'm very eager to see what people make of how I'm presenting the characters and events. Love it? Hate it? By all means, share your opinions no matter what they may be.

Next chapter will be Blake-focussed. I won't give a specific time frame for when it will be uploaded, but hopefully it won't take a whole month this time. No promises, though.

For now, I shall take my leave.

Until next time,

Not Scot.

P.S: We never see the characters dressed in casual clothes in the series, but surely they own other things besides uniforms and combat gear? Were I able to draw remotely well, I might have provided an illustration. Instead, you'll just have to use your imaginations based on my description of what Ruby was wearing.