Ruby is running.
She does not know why she's running, or who she is running from, but there is this feeling at the back of her mind that if she stops, if she turns around, even for a moment–
She is dead.
Crescent Rose hangs by her side, swinging with every step that she takes through the deep, dark forest that surrounds her. Her weight is a comfort, something that reminds her that she is still here, she still has her whole life ahead to live as she pushes through the foliage and onto a red dirt path.
Her boots squelch as they sink into the soft earth. What is making that sound, she doesn't dare ask, not even as that voice in her head tells her that she already knows, not even as she can see the soles of her boots dripping with something dark and thick that pools in her footprints. She doesn't ask where she's headed, either, not while it's chasing her—she just needs to run, to get as far away from it as possible before it catches up to her.
She hears the trees snap behind her. She can feel its breath on her neck, hot and heavy and so very alive. Danger lurks somewhere in between the decaying purple trees, its cold hands closing in around her neck so closely she can almost feel them begin to strangle her. It's here, it is very real, and she has to keep going, can't stop running because she knows what will happen if she does.
And then she trips.
Her boot catches on a root that she could have sworn wasn't there before, and before she knows it, her face is to the hazy green sky as the trees reach up to tie down her limbs and wrap her cloak over her face.
It is getting closer. She can hear the noises it makes as it tears through the forest, running faster now that it knows she is weak and helpless and all on her own. Ruby's heart catches in her throat, and she tries to twist free, but spindly purple branches reach up to claw at her face. She twists to the left and breaks out of the grasp of one tree, but when she turns right, three more pry her mouth open and poke at her eyes.
The pain urges her to struggle harder. She can't die like this—she needs to get home! She needs to get back to her sister, to her team, to everyone and everything she knows. It doesn't help—if anything, the branches close tighter, choking her with a thousand gnarled fingers. Ruby gasps for breath that refuses to come. She reaches up to try to pry the branches off her face, and that's when her elbow bumps against the hilt of Crescent Rose.
Oh. Right.
Just unfurling Crescent Rose is enough to dispel most of the branches. Ruby seizes the chance for what it is and severs what few branches remain with a twirl. Splinters rain down on her as the trees finally let go and leave her plummeting towards the ground, and Ruby barely has a moment to feel relieved before her face plants into the ground.
Another tree snaps above her. She doesn't have time to waste. Ruby pushes herself to her feet and breaks into another sprint across the crisp blue grass. She has to get away, has to run and... and...
And then she stops.
Wait a minute, she thinks, tightening her grip on Crescent Rose. I'm a huntress! What am I doing? I shouldn't be running. I can fight this thing!
She has dealt with Grimm by the dozen, and even if she was new to this whole Stand business, she'd already fought a bruiser, a parasite, and a literal sun. She could handle this. She would handle this, all on her own!
Ruby turns around.
"All passengers boarding Flight 156, please make your way to Terminal A."
Ruby gasped awake, her face slick with sweat and her heart going a thousand miles a minute. For a moment, she couldn't recognize where she was and panicked. The bustling crowds, the blaring screens, the vast desert outside that stretched on forever and the bright, whole moon that watched over all of it, they looked nothing like Beacon, and terror tightened its icy cold grip around her throat as she struggled to remember just what had happened.
Then she glanced over and saw Jotaro sitting next to her, and all the tension left her with a long sigh.
Oh. Right. We're still waiting for our flight, she thought, frowning.
After they'd gotten her passport, they'd gone straight to the local airport, and Jotaro had bought them the first ticket to their next destination, a trip which he'd told her would need them to transfer flights halfway through because this airport apparently only offered flights to the capital. When she asked why that was, Jotaro had just shrugged.
Ruby thought that was dumb. There were a lot of dumb things about this world, but this had to be the stupidest. For a decently sized town, it would make sense, sure, but this was a big city! It would be like if Argus only offered flights to Mistral. What were they gonna do if they ever got attacked by... maybe not the Grimm, but by bandits or something and Mistral was too busy to help?
"You're staring," Jotaro said suddenly. Ruby blinked, and as she did, she realized she had, in fact, been staring at someone—a man sitting across from them, tapping his foot as he flipped through the book in front of him. Thank Gods he was distracted. She didn't want him to think she was weird for staring, because she didn't know he was there, honest!
"Oh. I–I'm sorry," Ruby said, tearing her gaze away as she shook the thoughts out of her head. "I didn't mean to."
"Something's wrong."
"What?" From the way he'd said it, Ruby thought Jotaro knew something she didn't. She looked his way, but then he raised his eyebrow like he was asking her something even though he hadn't sounded like he was. "I–Is something wrong?" she asked.
Jotaro shrugged. "I dunno. You're the one who was staring."
Ruby shook her head. "Oh, no no no no. Nothing's wrong, I'm just... tired."
"You just woke up."
"I know." And wasn't that weird? Ruby hadn't noticed it before, but her legs ached like she'd just run a hundred miles. She hadn't—she'd been sleeping this whole time—but even as her heart finally calmed down, and her feet stopped hurting, she couldn't help but wish she'd listened to Jotaro and bought herself a water bottle when they'd been out shopping earlier today because man, she was thirsty.
Maybe it had something to do with the weird dream she'd just had? She had been running an awful lot there. Ruby knew that dreams could be dumb and they weren't supposed to affect you when you woke up, but who could say? She wasn't a dream expert or anything. Maybe she was just really stressed.
"I'm just... I have a lot on my mind," Ruby said after a moment.
Jotaro hummed, fiddling with the deck of cards in his hands as he relaxed back in his seat. When had he gotten up, anyway? "Go back to sleep, then."
Ruby frowned. She glanced up at the sign above them, the one that read "Terminal B," and asked, "Is our flight here yet? Shouldn't we get ready to go?"
"Not for another half hour."
Ruby melted into her seat and let her legs slink into the floor. Sleep it was, then. With a great big sigh, she pressed a hand to her eyes and closed them, but when she did, the green sky flashed before her, and the great big whatever it was loomed just behind her. It was just a dream. She wasn't in any danger, she knew that, but...
As Ruby felt her heart pick up pace, she groaned, knowing that she wasn't gonna fall back to sleep anytime soon.
She opened her eyes and stared up at the bright blue ceiling, tracing lines between the bright white lights as she fiddled with the bandages still wrapped around her face and tried to find some way to keep herself busy. Video games? No, she didn't feel like it today. Surfing through the web? She had no service here. Scrolling through her photos?
Her stomach clenched. No, not that either.
Again, she heard the tell-tale sound of cards flipping over each other. Ruby glanced at Jotaro again, watching as the deck between his hands moved together so fast, even she was having trouble keeping up.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Cards."
"I mean... why?"
Again, the cards flicked between his hands. Except, as Ruby watched, she noticed that they never really touched his hands. His fingers were moving like he was really shuffling the cards himself, but Ruby could see that they stopped just short of making contact.
"Giving Star Platinum something to do," Jotaro said. "He gets antsy when he's waiting."
Ruby bit her lip. Wasn't he worried that someone was gonna see? She glanced around, and that's when she noticed that the seats around them were completely empty. It shouldn't have surprised her as much as she did. Jotaro was a big guy—if she wasn't forced to go along with him, she wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.
Oh Gods, I hope no one is staring at me too, she thought. It's not weird that I'm sitting right next to him, is it? Do I look weird? Do we look weird?
Then, something occurred to her, and she frowned. "Wait a minute... isn't he part of your soul? He's you."
"I guess." Jotaro rubbed the bandages wrapped over the palms of his hands, even as the cards continued to play with themselves on his lap. "I don't know how this is supposed to work."
"But you have a Stand!"
"For less than a month. All I know is that if I think it, he'll hit things." Jotaro shrugged. "That's it."
He'd just had his Stand for a month? And he'd still been able to beat her up back when they'd fought, even with all her years of training with Aura—Ruby knew some people liked to say that Semblances were unfair, but this was just plain dumb!
If I had a Stand, I could kick his butt, Ruby thought with a frown, but it wasn't like that was gonna change anytime soon, so she might as well stick with what she had.
Shaking her head, Ruby said, "That's boring! If you have cards, you should use them!"
"For what?"
"I dunno. There's... like... card games, right?"
Jotaro raised an eyebrow. "You know any card games?"
"Ah... um..." In hindsight, she probably should've expected it, but how was she supposed to know any card games! She came from a world where you didn't need to know any games, not when you could just install a hundred games on your scroll! The closest she had ever come to playing with cards was playing Remnant: The Game with her friends, or, Gods forbid, Amity Arena.
"Does... Go Fish count?" she asked slowly.
Jotaro snorted and collected all the cards in his hands. Clearly that was the wrong answer, and yeah, maybe she'd asked for it, but that didn't make her feel any better about looking like an idiot, and she kicked his leg with a huff.
"If you're so bored, why don't I teach you a real game, then?" he asked.
"Like what?"
"Poker."
Ruby stuck out her tongue. "That's a boring game!"
"You've played?"
"No, but it's a game people play in casinos, right? Gambling is boring."
"It's a better game than Go Fish."
"And how do you know?"
Jotaro sighed, pulling his hat down over his face. "Good grief. Let's just play."
Thumbing through the cards he'd drawn, Jotaro tried not to give anything away as he looked through them one by one. A king of hearts, a queen of spades, a two of cloves, a nine of spades and an eight of hearts. A shitty hand, all things considered.
He glanced over the top of his cards to sneak a peek at Ruby. At least she seemed to be having a good time. For each card her eyes scanned over, her grin just got wider, and her feet fluttered under her seat. And why wouldn't she? A quick look at the table they'd pulled over, and it wasn't hard to tell who'd been winning so far. From the spare change Jotaro had pulled out of his own wallet to use as chips, Ruby only had three compared to Jotaro's seven. She was probably just happy that her luck was beginning to turn around.
Jotaro snorted. He'd have to see about that.
Something bumped against the back of his head. Jotaro glanced over his shoulder to see who it was: a mother holding a little girl by the hand. Jotaro opened his mouth to say something, but the girl burst into tears the moment he saw his face, and the mother leveled a glare at Jotaro like it was his fault her kid was such a wuss as she walked away.
Oh, piss off, you little shit, Jotaro thought, frowning. What the hell did I do to you, anyway?
It was things like this that just reminded him how much he hated taking public flights. When it wasn't the people, it was—well, it was really just the people, but since they were low on money after all the shit they'd been through, it was really the only way they could get to where they needed to go.
"So," Ruby said suddenly, shuffling the cards around in her hand, "if I have two of one card and three of another, what's that called again?"
"Full house," Jotaro said. "The only hands that can beat it are a four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush."
"So it's a good hand, right?"
Keeping his face impassive, Jotaro tightened his fist on the table, folded his hand into his lap and said, "Good is relative."
"You... don't have anything better, do you?"
"I do."
Ruby's smile wavered, but just a bit. "No you don't! You're lying!"
"Maybe I am." With a flick of his thumb, Jotaro tossed one coin into the middle. "But you won't know until we've played, will you? What's it gonna be?"
A look of worry crossed Ruby's face. Her finger hovered over her coins, and she pressed over one, then two, before she pushed one into the middle. "Check."
"Raise."
Ruby shook her head. "No no no. There's no way that you–" Her silver eyes wandered to the deck, like knowing what cards were in there would help her, but Jotaro could tell she was just panicking.
After a moment, she bit her lip and pushed her second coin into the middle. "Call," she said.
"Check."
"Check."
Jotaro let out a long sigh. "Showdown it is, then."
He placed his cards on the table, spreading them out for Ruby to see, and almost immediately, her eyes snapped hungrily to the cards on the table. When she saw what he'd had, she leveled a silver-eyed glare at him.
"You butthead! You were lying!"
"And what if I was? You still won."
"It doesn't feel like it," Ruby grumbled, throwing her own hand onto the table: a two of hearts and cloves, and a five of hearts, spades, and diamonds. A full house, exactly like she'd said.
Jotaro collected the cards as she collected her winnings, shuffled the deck under Star Platinum's curious gaze, and dealt their hands again. He supposed he could've had Star Platinum look over her shoulder to see if she hadn't copied him and lied through her teeth. She wouldn't even know he'd done it—she couldn't see Stands like Polnareff or Kakyoin could—but even if Jotaro was an ass, he wouldn't stoop so low. He was gonna beat her fair and square.
A nine of diamonds, hearts, and cloves, along with an ace of hearts and a jack of spades. He narrowed his eyes and glanced over at Ruby, but her face was just as neutral as his, if not a little troubled. From what he could guess, she'd likely drawn a hand no better than his. Nothing decisive, but nothing too bad either.
"Your call," he said, and Ruby jolted, flushing bright red.
"Oh, that's right!" she sputtered out, and she pushed a coin into the middle. "I'm sorry."
Jotaro just hummed. After their brief game of War, which he'd won decisively, he'd given her the basics on Five-card-draw poker, and to his surprise, she'd caught on very well. It seemed like she could hold her attention to something for more than a minute when she wanted to. If she wasn't so easy to read, maybe she'd actually be a challenge.
Maybe being the operative word.
Jotaro flicked his own coin into the middle. "Call."
Ruby looked at him, then to the middle, then to her own cards. She chewed on her thumb, thought about it for a bit, before she pushed another coin into the middle. "Raise."
Jotaro frowned. He glanced at his cards and pretended to think about it, like Ruby had, before he tightened his fist and muttered, "Shit."
He didn't miss how Ruby's face brightened at that. He also didn't miss how the man sitting across from them twitched, pretending to read the book in front of him. It would have been convincing to anyone else, but with Star Platinum's sharp vision, he could see that the man's eyes hadn't moved for the past fifteen minutes. Was he watching them?
"Call," Jotaro said, and he tossed his second coin into the middle.
"I think you're in trouble now, aren't you?" Ruby asked, her smile growing wider by the second.
Jotaro's lips drew further down, and he glanced away. "Who knows. I could be lying again."
"I don't think so!" Ruby pressed her finger down on another coin and pushed it out. "Raise."
Drumming his fingers on the table, Jotaro ran a hand through his hair, then matched the bet. "Call."
"Raise."
"Call."
Ruby hummed. "I'm gonna check, then."
"You are?" Jotaro slid his last coin over the table. "Fuck it, then. I'm gonna raise."
Blinking, Ruby glanced over at Jotaro, but he refused to meet her gaze. Anyone else would've noticed such an obvious trap.
"Call," Ruby said. "I guess that means it's showdown time!"
An ace of diamonds, a queen of cloves, and an eight of hearts, spades, and diamonds. Certainly not the worst hand she could've had. Had his luck been any worse, he might've lost.
Then, for the first time that game, Jotaro smirked, and pressed his own hand onto the table. The moment Ruby set her eyes on his cards, her eyes bulged, and she sputtered out, "Y–you can't do that!"
"Do what? Win?"
"Yeah! I mean, no! I mean... yeah!"
Jotaro motioned to the cards on the table. "Well I just did."
"No you didn't!" Ruby stomped a foot on the floor and huffed. "This game sucks. You just won cause you got lucky."
"If that were really true, then why didn't you win after the round before?"
"I didn't have enough coins!"
"You still could've pushed harder. If you had, I wouldn't have had the chips to bleed you out in the last round."
Ruby's shoulders sagged, and she let out a defeated sigh. "Well... that's because I didn't know if I was gonna win or not."
"Exactly," Jotaro said, adjusting the bandages under his shirt as he shuffled in his seat. "Poker's not just about playing your hand, it's about how well you play the jackass sitting across from you."
"Hey!"
"Sorry. Dumbass."
Ruby pouted and slunk further down her seat, before something seemed to occur to her. "Wait a minute. You lying to me, pretending like you had a better hand than me, that was on purpose?!"
"What did you think it was?"
"I thought you were just being a jerk!"
Jotaro shrugged. "I'm an asshole, but I'm not an asshole for no reason."
"That doesn't make it any better!" With a sigh, Ruby curled up on her seat and glared down at the cards hatefully. "This game still sucks."
"All passengers boarding Flight 157, please make your way to Terminal B."
Ruby perked up. "Terminal B? That's us!"
"That's us," Jotaro replied, nodding. He collected the coins in one hand, the cards in the other, and stuffed them both down his pockets. "Let's blow this place. We've stayed here for so long, it's started to get boring."
"You can say that again!"
Jotaro stepped aside and let Ruby skip ahead of him as the other passengers began to line up for boarding. The people around them shuffled uncomfortably as they took their place in line, and though Ruby seemed oblivious, Jotaro didn't need Star Platinum's sharp eyes to miss the strange looks sent their way from the mothers pulling their children close, the businessmen holding their suitcases just a little tighter, and the strange man behind them keeping his eyes glued to them as he shut the book in his lap and slid into line a few places behind them.
Did he tell Ruby? A part of him said he should, but she was still dealing with her shit, whatever it was. This was none of her business, so he decided to leave it be.
They hadn't even gotten on the plane, and already Jotaro couldn't help but wish for the flight to be over.
"So you know how I told you that Crescent Rose is Dust-powered? I was thinking, maybe I should give her an upgrade that lets her use other types of ammo cause Dust needs Aura to activate, and no one else has Aura, but they can use guns just fine, and I think it would be very helpful if I can save my Dust for later cause there aren't any stores that sell any here, right?"
Beside her, Jotaro mumbled something that might have been a response, or something that might have just been a noise with his mouth. Not all that different to what he'd say usually, but there was something about the way he said it that sounded more strained. Curious, Ruby cast him a look just in time to see him pull his hat over his face.
Is–is he trying to ignore me? she thought. But it's only been an hour! He can't be that bored, can he?
Of course, Ruby didn't need to talk to him for the whole flight. She still had her scroll, but she'd rather not spend her time here alone, so she sat a little straighter and asked, "I'm sorry, is this boring? You look bored."
Jotaro waved her away. "I'm not bored. I'm listening."
"We can talk about something else if you want! Like... um... we can talk about Aura! Or Stands, if you want."
"No, no. You can keep talking. I don't really care."
That didn't really sound like a good thing, but when it came to Jotaro, who could really tell? Shrugging, Ruby patted the compartment over their heads, where she'd stashed Crescent Rose for the moment.
"So, like I said, I was thinking of changing the firing mechanism for Crescent Rose—I actually took a look at the gun we got from Steely Dan, and actually I was kinda surprised how similar they both were because they both use a pin to ignite the bullets, but Crescent Rose's pin is different because it also needs Aura to ignite the dust so I'm probably gonna have to change that. I have a few ideas, but I'm gonna need to get parts for it when we get there, so do you know where I can find the nearest weapons shop in the capital?"
"No?"
"You don't know?"
Jotaro shook his head. "No, I mean, there aren't any. Not unless you can find the black market."
Ruby's jaw dropped. "Wait, what? But then where are people supposed to get their guns?"
"They're not. Owning guns is illegal in most places."
"But then how are people supposed to protect themselves!"
"Protect themselves from what?"
"From the–"
Then Ruby stopped. Oh, that's right. There aren't any Grimm here, so I guess it makes sense that people don't need to buy guns.
And that was great for everyone else, but for her... it meant she was gonna have a hard time trying to find spare parts for Crescent Rose.
"Is it different in Vale?" Jotaro asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"I guess? A huntress has gotta be able to stock up on gear wherever she goes, and it helps no one if a huntress's weapon breaks in the middle of an invasion." Ruby paused. "That's... not weird, is it?"
"Probably not for you, but a lotta countries on our side of Eurasia aren't nearly as lax. You're sure we live on the same continent?"
"Ah hah hah... I dunno. I'm new to this whole 'waking up in a completely new kingdom' thing. Where do you think I'm from?"
Jotaro looked her up and down. "America."
"What makes you say that?"
"Cause it's just like you: loud and annoying."
"Hey!" Ruby kicked his leg again. This time, she caught the briefest flash of Aura as he deflected her blow. Jerk.
"Not like it's all bad," Jotaro said. "My mom's from there. Plus, they're the strongest country in the world right now, and their movies are second to none."
Ruby wasn't all that into movies, not unless they were big, fun action movies, but knowing what sort of movies were super popular right now might be useful for later, so she leaned forward and asked, "What sorta movies do they make?"
"You know what a blockbuster is?"
"Kinda? They're like... really big and expensive movies, right?"
Jotaro tilted his head. "That's one way to put it. They're the guys who invented it."
"Really?"
"Yep. Movies so popular that you'd wait all day just to see it in theaters, like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Back To The Future, shit like that."
Ruby opened her mouth to reply, only for someone else to cut her off. "You both have watched Star Wars too?"
Both Ruby and Jotaro turned to look behind them. There, leaning over the edge of Jotaro's seat, a little boy watched them with a big smile on his face. Immediately, Ruby's mind jumped to the worst conclusion. Oh no, were we not supposed to be talking about that?
"What's it to you?" Jotaro asked without missing a beat.
The kid's smile just widened. "No one else I know has seen Star Wars. It is very hard to get American movies here, but I saw Star Wars when I was visiting my grandparents last week and it is so cool!"
Jotaro snorted. Ruby thought that was a little mean, so she returned the boy's smile with one of her own. "I haven't seen Star Wars. What's it about?"
"Oh, it is awesome! It is all about Luke, who is the strongest Jedi in the world, and he fights Darth Vader in space and saves the Princess. You really need to see it, it's the coolest movie ever!"
"Oh, I see..." Turning to Jotaro, she hissed, "Jotaro? What's a Jedi?"
"It's a thing in the movie. Don't worry about it," he replied.
"But it's so cool!" the boy cut in. "He has magic powers, and he flies a cool spaceship that shoots lasers. My uncle, he says they actually went into space to shoot the movie, too. Isn't that amazing?"
Ruby giggled. Of course, she knew that was probably just computer-generated special effects. Going to space had been impossible, even on Remnant, but when she was a kid, she liked to imagine crazy things too, so who was she to rain on his parade? "Yeah, that sounds awesome," she said, nodding along. "I've gotta see this movie when I get home!"
"How the hell are you gonna do that?" Jotaro asked. "You didn't even know what the hell America was until a few minutes ago."
"I dunno. I'll figure something out!"
Jotaro's chair groaned as the boy leaned over, his eyes on the ceiling as he said, "Technology is so amazing. First we are sending people to the moon, and now we are making movies in space!"
"Yeah, that's... wait a minute, did you say there are people on the moon?!"
The boy blinked. "Yes. You did not know?"
Beside her, Jotaro pulled his hat over his head and said, "She doesn't know shit cause she's from a village in the middle of nowhere. Just ignore her."
I don't know crap indeed! Ruby thought, trying to suppress her growing panic. There are people on the moon?! When?! How?! Why didn't Jotaro tell me about this?!
Jotaro had told the boy to ignore her, which, if she had to guess, was his own way of trying to protect her, and she was really grateful for that, but still, she could feel the boy's curious gaze on the back of her head. Who was this girl? she could practically hear him thinking. Why doesn't she know about something as important as someone landing on the freaking moon? Is she really from nowhere? Or maybe...
"I need to go!" she suddenly blurted out, jumping to her feet.
Jotaro didn't even bother to look up as he asked, "Where?"
"Ah... um..." Nearby, she heard a door open. Her eyes locked onto that just in time to see a woman leaving the bathroom, a baby cradled in her arms, and she grasped the chance with both hands.
"The bathroom!" she said. "I really, really need to pee. So... um... bye!"
And with that well-timed excuse, she dashed out of the seat and into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
I'm so dumb! she thought, clutching her burning face with a groan. Why didn't I ask about that? I mean, it's not like anyone ever got to space in my world, but I still look like an idiot! Oh Gods, what if someone overheard us? Everyone will think I'm so weird!
Catching a look of herself in the mirror, Ruby took a deep breath, pulled back her hair, and tried to get herself under control. She knew she was freaking out over nothing, but she couldn't help it! It wasn't like she could practice for this kind of stuff.
And maybe it was fine to not know about things like that. Sure, it was super important, and it was probably weird that she'd never heard of it, even if she did come from an isolated frontier town, but it was just one thing. Just as long as she kept her mouth shut, she could keep herself from saying weird things.
Ruby washed her hands, slapped her cheeks, gave herself one last look in the mirror to make sure her face was back to its normal color, and pushed the door back open.
Crack!
Ruby yelped, then yelped again as she saw the person standing behind the door smash into the back wall of the plane, cursing and clutching his nose.
"Oh my Gosh, I'm so, so sorry!" she said, running over to his side and helping him to his feet. "Are you okay?"
Of course, she expected him to be mad at her. This whole mess was her fault, after all, so he was right to be mad, but even she didn't expect him to grab her by the collar and shove her into a wall. A pair of bottles nestled on the rack above her tumbled loose from the impact and spilled water over her head.
"Don't touch me!" the man yelled, and he stormed off, leaving Ruby completely stunned.
What was that? Did she do something wrong? Jotaro didn't like her, sure, and he got mad at her plenty of times, but even he had never spoken to her with such sheer hatred.
What did I do? Ruby thought as she slid back into the bathroom, wiping her hair down with a paper towel. People don't get that mad for no reason. It has to be my fault, but what did I do?
When she returned to her seat, Jotaro and the boy were still talking. The boy was talking, anyway, but Jotaro was nodding along, which was way more than he was doing with her!
"...I think Eastwood is handsome, but I do not like his movies. I think he is too mean," Ruby managed to overhear from the boy as she was buckling her seatbelt.
As Jotaro nodded beside her, she asked, "What are you talking about?"
"We are talking about actors that we like," the boy said. "Do you have any actors you like?"
"Oh, um... I don't know..." It wasn't like she didn't have any favorites—she didn't but that was beside the point—it was that she didn't know any actors in this world.
"Come on," Jotaro said suddenly. "You're a girl. You've gotta have one."
"What does me being a girl have anything to do with it?"
Jotaro shrugged. "I dunno. You girls always have some celebrity you're fawning over."
"I... don't really know any actors."
"You did not have movies in your town?" the boy next to them said. "That is sad."
"We had movies!" Ruby said with a huff. "I just don't really care about... actors and stuff like that."
"What is an actor in the last movie you saw? You should remember that much, no?"
"Ah... um..." The boy leaned closer, his smile growing bigger by the second, and Ruby knew she probably didn't have to answer, but he just looked so excited that she would feel bad if she didn't, so she blurted out the first name that came to her. "Spruce Willis?"
"Bruce Willis?" Jotaro said. "The American actor?"
Ruby gulped. "Ah... no? He's... different."
"Really?"
And what were the odds that the only actor she could remember was someone who had a doppelganger in this world, too? Her and her big mouth.
"I thought you didn't know what America was," Jotaro said.
"Oh. Um... I forgot?"
Jotaro narrowed his eyes. It was a stupid excuse. Anyone could have seen through it, and Ruby really should've thought of something better, but she panicked and that was the best she could think of! Jotaro didn't seem like he cared that much about it, and as soon as the boy started talking again, his attention was drawn away from her, but Ruby couldn't help but feel like every time she said something, something always went wrong. First that nice lady in the clothes store today, and now this?
Maybe I should just shut up, Ruby thought, sinking lower into her seat. I can't mess up if I don't say anything, can I?
"Our flight got delayed."
"Oh."
Jotaro narrowed his eyes, watching as Ruby continued to thumb through the deck of cards he'd given her to keep her busy while he'd left to talk to the front desk. "They found a dead body on our flight. Suffocated in her sleep."
"Okay."
And that's how he knew something was off. Ruby, for all her faults, cared a whole lot about people she didn't know. If she could somehow find it in herself to like him, she sure as hell wouldn't be saying "Okay" to a dead guy.
Over his shoulder, he felt Star Platinum cast a worried look at Ruby, but he waved him away. He knew Ruby wasn't okay. Sure, she'd been getting better earlier that day, but it wasn't like he even knew what her problem was, so he had no idea what was going on in that thick head of hers.
It'd be a lot easier if I knew what the hell was going on, Jotaro thought, drawing his brows down. But it's none of my business, so what can I do?
If it were him, he'd just get annoyed that she was trying to stick her nose in his business, so the least he could do was keep his nose out of hers.
Jotaro checked his wrist, then frowned as he remembered he didn't have his watch with him any more. The clock on the terminal said 8:45pm. If he was going to eat supper, now was probably gonna be the time, but he wasn't really feeling hungry.
He certainly felt tired—7 hours of sleep across two days would do that to anyone—but if he fell asleep now, he was probably gonna miss their next flight, so he'd just have to deal with it for a bit longer.
"I'm going for a walk," he said, waving a hand back at Ruby as he turned and headed toward the exit. "You can come if you want. Or don't. Just be back before 1."
Of course, she was gonna come whether she liked it or not, because she hated people almost as he did, so Jotaro wasn't surprised when he heard her run to catch up with him. It hurt no one to give her the choice, though.
"So, where are we going?" Ruby asked, falling in step beside him.
Jotaro shrugged. He would've been more than happy to tell her, he really would, but he'd only set off to give himself something to do. If Kakyoin were here, maybe he'd have some suggestions from some travel brochure he'd picked up back in the airport, but he wasn't here, so Jotaro was going to have to make-do.
"I'm gonna go to the beach," he said after a moment.
"Oh. Why?"
"Dunno. The water's nice."
"Okay."
The city of Abu Dhabi was nothing if not massive. For a city out in the middle of the desert, the architecture was certainly impressive, buildings looming over him just like any city in Japan. Windows glinted above him hinting at the faintest traces of life hidden behind sprawling structures of steel and glass, and though he and Ruby passed by a few rowdy individuals stumbling their way home, for the most part, it was a lot quieter than he'd have expected from a city this big.
On one hand, that meant less idiots to pester him, and less people to piss off when he strolled through the middle of the busy road. On the other hand, less witnesses meant that the shadow following them would have less to worry about when he made his move. Jotaro could feel his eyes on the back of his head—the same eyes that had been watching them since they'd gotten on the plane. He could feel their shadow growing bolder by the minute, and any second, he was going to make a move.
Until he stepped into Star Platinum's range, he was more than happy to let the man think he hadn't noticed.
Jotaro reached the sea in an hour's time. Fenced off from the beach below, a handful of boats tied to a nearby pier, it was just like every other beach he'd visited. Even halfway across the globe, the ocean here was just the same as the ocean anywhere else. The water lapping at the beach, pulling away and pushing back in as strands of the moon's reflection bobbed up and down on the salty surface, a smell clinging to the air that reminded him of long and lazy summer days. Polnareff might have found it boring, always looking for something new to satisfy his taste for adventure, but to Jotaro, it reminded him of home.
"So..." Ruby said, breaking the perfectly fine peace they'd had a moment ago with her squeaky voice, "What are we doing here?"
"Nothing," Jotaro replied.
"Oh." She tapped her foot against the sidewalk. "I mean... can we do something else, maybe? Something fun?"
Jotaro scowled. "I just want to stay here and watch. If you don't like it, you can find something else to do."
She wasn't going to, for much of the same reason why she'd followed him. That made keeping track of her less of a pain, but as she continued to tap her foot, Jotaro closed his eyes and sighed, realizing that it also meant he was gonna have to deal with her no matter where he went.
"Just relax," he said. "You don't have to do anything. You've been through a lot of shit, so it won't hurt anyone if you take some time off."
"I guess."
Still, her foot continued to tap against the concrete, and it wasn't until Jotaro moved his foot over and pressed down on hers that she finally got the message.
"What's the ocean like back in your home?" he said, suddenly.
Ruby blinked. "Huh? I don't... I mean, why do you ask?"
"Dunno. Just curious."
"It's not like I ever really paid much attention to it. Water is water. You can drink it, you can swim in it. What's there to know?"
"What's there to know about this place?" Jotaro bit back. "It's the same continent as my home, but the people are different, the food is different, and the weather is different. It's not just water. Each ocean's like its own planet." He pointed to one of the docked boats. "You can take that boat from here and get yourself back home, but you'll pass through a bunch of different habitats and meet a bunch of different critters, and you'd never know."
"Oh." Ruby tilted her head. "I... guess that's true."
"You guess? The ocean covers sixty-six percent of the planet you live on. I think everyone should be more interested in that."
"Well, it's not like I thought it was boring! It's just so dangerous to go into the ocean back home. The oceans are infested with Grimm."
"Then I'll tell Gramps to send you back home by air when we're done."
"Yeah..." Jotaro paused. There was something in the way she said it that sounded off. He looked her way again, only to find her eyes fixed to her feet, her lips pressed into a tight line, and what was that silver glint he saw pooled in her eyes?
"I guess I just always saw the ocean the same way I saw the moon. I never really paid attention back home," she suddenly blurted out. "I mean, like... it's just always there, you know? It's not like it's gonna disappear. But, seeing it in one piece like this... I dunno, I guess it looks kinda pretty..."
Jotaro frowned. "One piece? The hell do you mean by that?"
Ruby said nothing. Nearby, the ocean continued to crash against the beach, going in and out, as steady as the rise and fall of her chest.
Then she took in a shaky breath, and she turned to look him in the eyes, and for a moment, Jotaro froze, suddenly caught off guard as she gazed up at him with her big, silver eyes.
"Jotaro," she said. "The truth is, I'm–"
Jotaro held a hand over her mouth. "Wait."
Ruby flinched. "Did–did I do something?"
"No, not you. You hear that?"
"Um... no?"
Ruby might not have, probably because she didn't know what she was looking for, but as Jotaro closed his eyes, he heard a soft squeaking come from below. Opening his eyes, Jotaro saw movement down on the beach, and though it was dark, he could just barely make out enough from the pale moonlight to see what it was.
There, laid on its side in the sand, was a dolphin.
Jotaro took off his shoes and socks and thrust them into Ruby's hands. "Hold these," he said, then he vaulted over the fence before she could say another word.
He'd seen dolphins before, of course. His mom had brought him to the aquarium many times when he was a kid, but even as he knelt down beside the struggling animal, he couldn't help but hesitate. This was the first time he was gonna touch a dolphin, a real one. Was he ready for this?
"What's wrong?" Ruby called out from the deck.
"It's beached," Jotaro yelled back. "Can't get back into the water."
"Is that bad? I thought dolphins can breathe air just fine?"
"They're too used to living in the water. Their internal organs are gonna collapse if they spend too much time out of it."
"Oh. I–is there anything I can do to help?"
"No!"
"Okay. Okay!"
Giving the dolphin a quick look over, he knit his brows together as he tried to think of what he'd learned from the few books he'd read on dolphins. Of course, a dolphin on its side was gonna die because of the gravity pulling its organs down. All he was gonna have to do was push it back onto its stomach. Simple enough.
At least, that's what he thought, before he leaned a little too close, and the dolphin caught him on the side of his face with a flick of its tail and knocked him into the sand.
"Shit!" he hissed, clutching his cheek. "I'm trying to help you, asshole. Hold still!"
But the dolphin had no idea what he was saying, and when he tried to approach again, the dolphin slapped him away.
Dammit! Why the hell won't it let me help?
Jotaro waved his hand, and Star Platinum appeared at his side. If the dolphin didn't want him getting close, surely his Stand would have no problem, not when the dolphin couldn't see him. Carefully, his Stand hovered close, reached under the dolphin, and began to lift it up.
And all hell broke loose.
The dolphin, which had been weakly struggling in the sand for the past hour, suddenly found new strength as it thrashed in Star Platinum's arms in an effort to break free. Jotaro could understand why—it had no idea what was going on and it was completely at his mercy. He could see where it was coming from, he really could, but–
"Shit–fuck–mother–" Jotaro growled. "Stop! I'm not gonna hurt you!"
Star Platinum adjusted his grip, grasping it by the fins to keep it from slipping out. The dolphin just panicked harder. Its tail reached up and jabbed Star Platinum in the eye.
It didn't hurt—it wasn't like the dolphin was a Stand user—but it surprised Star Platinum so much that, for a moment, he let go.
That was all the chance the dolphin needed to break free and fall back to the ground.
Snap.
Jotaro froze. The dolphin did too, before it jerked once, twice, and fell limp onto the beach. Jotaro would have to be an idiot to miss the implication.
"Shit shit shit!" Jotaro rushed to the dolphin's side and grabbed it by the fins, but already he could feel its struggles grow weak. It tried to push him away again, but this time, its tail barely had enough strength to graze his face.
What should he do? What the hell was he supposed to do?! He was supposed to know about this shit, he'd read practically every book in his house about marine life, but none of them said anything about how he was supposed to deal with this!
"Oi," he said, leveling his meanest scowl at the dolphin. "You're not gonna die. You hear me? I'm gonna save you! You're not fucking dying, not on my watch!"
It wasn't like the dolphin could even understand him. Nothing he could do, nothing he could say was gonna help, but he had to do something! Jotaro ran his hands over its skin, trying to feel for... broken bones? Ruptured organs? How the hell was he supposed to know what broken bones in a dolphin was supposed to feel like?
The dolphin twitched again. Its eyes landed on Jotaro, and with one last squeak so quiet he almost missed it, its tail fell back onto the sand.
"Oi. Hey!" Jotaro shoved the dolphin, hoping against all hope that it would try to push him away or fight back or something, but all he got for his efforts was silence.
The waves continued to lap at the shore. Up and down they went, dragging sand back into the ocean, and bringing sand back in. Next to him, a boat groaned in the cold, salty water, grinding up against the pier it was tied to. Nearby, he could hear cars rumble past on some road he'd passed earlier, what few people still up and about eager to get to wherever they were going.
Jotaro roared, spraying a geyser of sand into the air as he slammed his fist back into the ground.
"A–are you okay?" Ruby asked as she watched him haul himself back onto the sidewalk.
Jotaro took a deep breath, dusted the sand out of his pants, and without looking at her, he said, "I'm fine."
He wasn't. Even he wasn't stupid enough to lie to himself and say he was fine. In the middle of the night, with no one else around to help, that dolphin was going to die either way. It wasn't his fault it had died—but he'd sure as hell made sure it died confused and scared and in so much pain.
"I'm sorry."
Jotaro looked up. Ruby looked back, her lips set in a look so soft and gentle he was half tempted to reach out and touch them, but so fragile that he didn't dare to because they might break, and again, she said, "I–I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asked.
"I... I dunno. For... being so useless."
Jotaro tightened his hand into a fist. "Not your fault."
And that was the worst part of it all. Why the hell was he stuck with her? Why was she trying to comfort him? Why did she have to be so nice and caring and so... so heroic? If she wasn't so nice, if she was some snide, evil bitch who wanted to see him suffer, he could beat the shit out of her no problem.
Because that was all he was good for, wasn't it?
He couldn't save some stupid dolphin. He didn't have any useful powers like healing or talking to animals, or whatever. He could already beat up people just fine on his own. Why the hell did he have to have a Stand that did more of that?
"I'm going back," he said, turning away before Ruby could catch the murderous look in his eyes. "Don't want to miss the plane."
And with that, he began the long walk back to the airport, leaving his fuck-up behind. He didn't even bother listening to see if Ruby was behind him. He wasn't even sure if he wanted her to be.
Behind him, on the beach, the waves continued to lap at the unmoving body of the beached dolphin.
In just seventeen days, his mom would join it, lying cold and motionless on the ground.
It's 2 weeks late, I know. I can't promise it'll get any better, especially since I've been considering adding a 4th story into the rotation–not the smartest thing when I've already had enough trouble juggling 3 stories as is, but who knows, maybe the bigger workload'll convince me to get off my ass and work harder–but writing really does help take some stress off my shoulders when I've the time to do it.
Not a whole lot else to say. My life is not very exciting. I've gotten back to reading fanfic recently–Black Sun, Blood Moon is one I'd certainly recommend checking out if any of you like Jaune x Cinder stuff. Feel free to leave a review, it keeps the story at the top of my mind! Until next time, take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!