This was such a terrible idea Ruby couldn't believe she was even considering it. Okay, well, technically, she hadn't considered it so much as she'd simply done it, an act of impulse more than anything. Probably a mistake.

Making small-talk with the alien typewriter-machine? She should have just kept her mouth shut.

"I am fine."

Still, if she had started this conversation, she might as well continue it. And besides, maybe it was her imagination, but as Inky (uggggh, names) had muttered its nonsensical statement, she couldn't help but get a sense of… desolation. Resignation. Like the floor had fallen out from underneath it one day and it hadn't the strength to get back up after it had hit the ground. The kind of hopelessness that ruined any attempts at happiness.

Ruby… was probably projecting, seeing things past the click-clacking of its typewriter voice. Still, there was something there, she was sure of it. She didn't want to just… leave someone else in that state, like that. Not again. Even if she couldn't truly help, she could at least just… be there.

"So… tell me about yourself!" Ruby tried, injecting a spot of pep into her voice. "Not everyday you get to meet someone from another world! Does everybody of your species look like you? What's the City like? Can you explain the Prescripts? "

The response took awhile, but it did come, eventually, in uncertain click-clack tones. "I am a Messenger of the Index. It is my purpose to deliver and carry out the Prescripts. The City is a city of humans, and only humans. Together, with every action, every footstep, every shouted and whispered word, we etch our will onto the surface of the City. The Will of the City. The Prescripts embody that will."

That… was surprisingly helpful. They had started off without confidence in their answers, structured one after the other and clearly struggling with phrasing and explanation, but slowly built back up to its rigid monotone. Ruby had a better picture of the situation now, even if she was missing a lot of things.

"So… the Prescripts are, like, instructions? Commandments? Laws? Is the Index your, uh, government? Do you not have Faunus? Also wait a second you're a human? Really?"

"The Prescripts are commands, written on scraps of cloth. 'To… cut out three six-pointed stars out of paper. Give them to the person living across the hall.' 'To… not leave your room until seven people have entered it. Kill each person with your bare hands.' 'To… provoke a G Corp Agent.'"

Okay, that seemed weird, but—Wait, what?

It continued responding methodically, oblivious to Ruby's shock. "The Index is one of the five Fingers, a major criminal syndicate. There is no such thing as 'Faunus' in the City. I am a human."

"Nonono!" Ruby almost shouted. "Don't just gloss over that! You did that? You follow orders like that? Just… killing people? You and your… syndicate?"

The typewriter… human, she supposed, still hadn't made any threatening gestures. It remained as casually stoic and creepy as ever. But her apprehension was heightened, her gut churning with worry. If it had just… flat-out killed seven people because a strip of cloth had told it to? That wasn't just cruel, it was… insane!

"Yes. Receive a Prescript… And carry it out… I took the flower and nailed the mannequin's heart. A grave of cherry blossoms rose from the crack…"

She'd risen to her feet, at some point, one hand clenched to her side in uncharacteristic anger. The other was behind her back, reaching for Crescent Rose. Ruby didn't recall when that had happened. "You just killed those people in cold blood. Because a Prescript told you to. How could you? Did you even know them?"

"Yes. All of my friends… And I have done worse. Stolen precious things from people and looked the other way, sat by and watched as Proxies did tenfold more…"

The churning her gut spilled up, came out through her mouth and spat in its face. "That's evil. I… I can't believe I was thinking about defending you! What the actual heck?"

"Evil…" it retorted. And it was a retort, Ruby couldn't help but note, somewhere behind the haze of anger that was settling over her mind. Not a simple, monotone, statement like most of the rest of what it had said. "How can you assign morality to something so vast as the human consciousness? Hatred and violence… the Prescripts represent each in adequate proportion…"

"That's… No!" She'd never been the best with words. Stuttered, here and there, her vocabulary not quite as developed as Weiss's or Blake's. And the words were not coming to her, no matter how brightly her passion flared.

"You're a monster," she heard herself say, in quiet tones. To an immediate response.

"Is that not obvious? Only a Distorted monster can best serve the will of the City. A kindhearted person could not stand this nightmare. People are always cruel, their volition ever crueler. It's a truth that repeats on and on…"

Ruby couldn't respond to that, deflating and letting the sound of dripping ink fill the otherwise silent night.

…At least at first.

"You know, you might be right. People can be jerks. People will be jerks."

Emerald and Mercury. The White Fang. Even the likes of Cardin. Cinder. Maybe everybody was secretly like them, holding spite and evil in their hearts. Maybe, collectively, that would lead to such evil deeds being part of the 'Will of the City'. Maybe, what people truly wanted, deep, deep down, was to hurt other people. But…

"That doesn't make it right to be a jerk too. Bad things happen every day, and a lot of those are caused by people. That doesn't give you an excuse to add to them."

"The will of the people—"

Ruby wasn't having it. "The people are wrong. You can be better. You can make things better. That's what being a Huntress, a hero, a good person is. I truly, strongly believe this."

The typewriter was silent, and for a moment Ruby wasn't certain it had heard her at all. She thought over what it had been saying over the past couple minutes. Slowly, the evidence began to piece together, forming a picture that proved…

"...You hate them. You can't stand it. You are a good person."

"..."

Might have been going a little far, but she was on the mark, she was sure of it. Their hesitation after every statement. Its rote monotone, the recitation of platitudes with no passion behind them… at first, she'd thought it normal—a function of their alien biology or cultural issues or whatever. Now that she knew they were (once?) a human, however, it read as something much more familiar. They were phoning it in. They found the Prescripts just as horrific as she did. They just couldn't show it.

Not only that. The despair in their voice had been tangible, even through the typewriter filter. And earlier they'd said… all their friends, dead by their own hands. They had to be lonely. And guilty. How had she not noticed that earlier… they weren't proud of being a Messenger of the Index. They were overflowing with regret, dripping all over the forest floor.

Her anger was bleeding out, replaced by pity. Even though Ruby (obviously) didn't condone friend-murder, she couldn't find it in her to berate them any further. Not when they were so obviously miserable. And it wasn't really in her to be so angry.

They all had their burdens to bear. Some were just worse than others. But all were worth respecting.

She did beg the question, though, in repressed tones.

"I just wanna know one thing. Why? Why'd you do these things, if you can't stand them? Why do you follow the Prescripts? Couldn't you just… not? Was it your job?"

Ruby got the sense that, if they'd had eyes, the mechanical abomination would be raising an eyebrow in incredulity. When they spoke, she got the impression of a very strange sense of awe.

"...Naive. You're so very naive. That's simply the way of the City. One does what one must."

…That might be all the explanation she was going to get.

Ruby returned to her sitting position on the floor, scooching over to avoid the growing puddle of ink. The source of that ink didn't really move much, but seemed to shift about a bit, reaching some slightly more comfortable state of being.

The moon would be visible for a good while longer, Ruby figured. But she could make out a glimmering at the edge of the horizon, not so unlike the shimmering of their new companion's appearance. Morning was coming, and with it, another day of trekking across the continent.

"…There was a time, when I tried to form the tiniest crack in the Prescripts."

Ruby's head snapped to attention, caught by surprise. She was not expecting them to continue.

"Receive a Prescript… And carry it out. I forged some, to harm the Index. To help some people. To show my free will. It was futile. The Prescripts… they saw all. They knew what I was doing all along. And I realized my limit."

"Oh…"

What else was there to say to that?

"...I'm sorry."

"..."

"Tell you what: I, uh, won't tell the others. About the murder. If you don't," she finally said, after a moment's reflection. It felt a little disingenuous, to leave out such information, even to the people she trusted. But she was pretty sure it would be a good idea. They'd probably react much more harshly than her, if given the partial pictures the inkblot machine tended to hand out, and she'd been seriously considering attacking them. And hey, maybe the aforementioned machine was right, and she was being naive and foolish by allowing this person who she knew had killed their friends just… stick around.

"Also… This isn't the City, right? I think… I think that people, as a whole. Aren't as evil as you think they are. And even if they are… they're still worth helping. It's never wrong to help people. You don't need Prescripts to do that."

On the other hand… she didn't think it was wrong to give them another chance. They truly did feel like a good person, trapped in the worst circumstances. And now that their City seemed so far away…

Maybe they could just live, a little bit.

Both were silent from that point onward, watching the sun dawn on a new day.

To… celebrate your birthday alone.

What did it say about him, that he was being so easily swayed by the words of a girl barely past her majority? It was foolish, he was certain. Throwing statements into the wind did not make them true. And yet, the threads that had once been his heart pulsed brightly, the flow of ink was lessening, his hands shaking… Her faith in the goodness of humanity was almost contagious. Could it be?

No.

To… gift a bouquet of flowers to the person you most despise.

He would not. Even if she was right, and this was some miraculously better world. He'd long since hit a wall, one that he couldn't overcome. His nightmare would never end. And there was no point in trying the impossible. And if he could not return, back to the City and its Will…

He should've just taken his life that fateful day. Put an end to this.

To… become a Messenger of the Index.

Maybe he still should.

To… play "Hallelujah" on a piano. It need not be perfect, merely your best effort.

They'd traveled, for a day. He'd simply drifted along with the flow. The orange-haired girl—Nora—had pestered him with questions, constantly. None of them had hit close to home, and he'd answered them to the best of his ability, until Ruby had put a stop to them.

Ruby was asleep, now. They all were. Save for the lone person keeping vigil beside him. A curious, excitable, and very very determined person.

"So… Inky! Whatcha thinking?"

Poor Yan. This is going to be slow and grueling.

Unrelated side note:

Ruby's Page:
 - HP: 83 SR: 83
 - Speed III: Speed Dice Slot +1. Gain an additional Speed Die at Emotion Level 3 (Cannot overlap).
 - Aura: Does not recover Stagger Resist upon recovering from Stagger. Upon being Staggered, all damage resistances change to fatal, but continues to act.
 - Crescent Rose: Slash Dice Power +1, Ranged Dice Power +1. Can use Ranged Combat Pages.
 - Momentum: Upon winning a clash, gain 1 Momentum, capped at 2. (Momentum: Gain +1 Power for each stack of Momentum. On a one-sided attack, lose 1 Momentum. Upon losing a clash, lose all Momentum.)
 - Silver Eyes: On ally death, add a copy of Blinding Light to hand (5 Light, Mass Summation, Can only be used this scene: 17-26 Slash, On Hit: Immobilize target this Scene) and reduce its cost by the current Emotion Level.

I'll probably do one of these every chapter, idk.

Guest: Yes, and not until the sequel.

Feel free to leave a review; I'll probably answer any questions you may have.