Episode 2: Altercation at the Auspicious Auction

Blake's statement was met with silence. Not because there was nothing to comment on, but because everyone was trying to figure out what the first thing to say should even be.

"It's…weird," Ruby acknowledged, "but a fairy tale? That doesn't seem possible."

Blake pointedly cleared her throat and pointed at Little, who waved back. Ruby drew breath to explain what she really meant, but Weiss beat her to the mark. "What we've seen is improbable, but that doesn't mean we're in an actual fairy tale. I mean, we fell through some kind of inter-dimension space. What are the odds the place we land looks like some standard kid's story? Are we seriously entertaining this?"

"Do you have a better explanation?" asked Yang.

"Well," Weiss stepped forward and gestured at the tree, "let's try to be more logical, shall we? We fell from the sky, Ruby made friends with a tiny mouse—"

"Friends!" Little declared.

"—Blake and I got attacked by many less friendly tiny mice—"

"Sorry," Little said, much quieter this time.

"—and, uh," Weiss's attention landed on Yang, "you got your arm stolen by a, a, what was it again?"

"I never actually said. Because it's ridiculous." They all looked at her, and she sighed, voice going flat. "A talking raccoon riding on a purple wagon filled with trash."

Weiss blinked and let her hand fall. "Right. That. Okay, I see your point of view." She took a deep, bracing breath, but it burst out. "Nope, I can't do this. It's," she shook her head, eyes glistening. "I'm going over there for a second. Carry on without me."

Ruby watched her walk away, stop, hug herself, and shake. It was only her shoulders, though. She kept her face turned away. Her words carried on the faint breeze: "You're okay, Weiss. Keep it together. A new world? Winter would be fine with that. So be fine with it."

"Should we…?" Yang asked.

"I think it's best she has some space," Blake responded.

"If you say so."

Ruby looked back over the landscape that appeared more alien the longer she looked at it. And yet, there was something about it that tickled her memory. Some of the details…"As crazy as it sounds, something about this is familiar."

Blake smiled. "You noticed it too?"

Ruby shrugged. "I read a lot of stories when I was a kid. Or, had them read to me. But I don't remember which one sounded like this."

"The Girl Who Fell Through the World." Blake strode up to the edge of the cliff. "I…I think we're in the Ever After."

She turned back to face them with a wider smile tinged with pride at having been able to name it, but that smile flickered when only Ruby's expression filled with recognition.

Yang raised her hand in her own defense. "Sure, I was there for a lot of the stories read to Ruby, but I was usually asleep. Or, uh." She winced at how callous her words sounded. "I didn't really care as much."

"I didn't read much fiction as a child," Weiss said. She walked closer, wiping at one eye with her finger. No one commented on the dampness of her cheeks. "You're saying we're in some kind of make-believe fantasy land? Not just like a story, but in a story?"

"It's not make-believe," Little protested. "It's where I live!"

"I do think so, Weiss. Somehow. Little, can you tell us more about it? Have you ever heard the name 'Alyx'?"

"An 'Alyx'," Little mused thoughtfully. "Is that a purpose?"

Blake crossed one arm over her chest and tapped her chin with the other. "In the story, Alyx fell from the sky, and met with the hunter mice. Got trapped in vines, fought a Jabberwalker, and got her knife stolen by…a talking raccoon."

"Wasn't there a board game?" Yang asked.

"Against the red king," confirmed Ruby. "She won by cheating, I think."

Blake nodded. "She met the Curious Cat, the Rusted Knight, and finally got out through…" She glanced behind her, and they all followed her gaze. "The tree."

"So that's the plan, then?" asked Weiss. "We go to the tree? Or do we look for Alyx, or Yang's arm, or Ruby"—Ruby flinched under the sudden attention—"you're still missing Crescent Rose."

"I'll bet the Jinxy Peddler has it," Little said, sparing Ruby the need to explain her misadventures since waking up at the beach, Crescent Rose nowhere to be found.

"Who?" Weiss asked in disbelief.

"The…Jinxy Peddler?" Little tried again from behind the shield that was Ruby's neck. "That's the only talking raccoon I know."

"Do you know where he might be?" Blake asked.

"Of course!" Little exclaimed. They scrambled to the top of Ruby's head and spread their arms wide with confidence. "I'll lead the way!"

Five minutes into their walk and Little was already snoring away on the top of Ruby's head. Fortunately, all they'd had to do was make their way back to the path they'd already been following, at which point they could just stay on the sandy road cutting through the dense tropical forest.

"So, the town is close, right?" asked Blake.

Ruby poked at Little, but the mouse just rolled over, curled up, and went back to sleep. She shrugged.

Blake pursed her lips. "I've been thinking, if we're going to go to this town, we need to be careful. Alyx didn't know their customs and ended up starting a war between the townsfolk. Trouble followed her everywhere she went."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Kinda sounds like she went looking for it."

"She wasn't the best person, that's true."

Ruby toyed with her rose emblem for lack of anything else to do with her hands. "She lied and cheated her way through most of the book."

"She was a child in an unfamiliar place," put in Weiss. "Morals in children's stories are too simplistic. Wouldn't you do what you had to do to survive, if you were stuck like that?"

"Either way, we need to tread lightly. Even if we're not out to cause problems, there are four of us, and we're armed. We stand out far more."

The ticklish sensation of Little moving around alerted Ruby to their waking. Little stretched and peered up the path while rubbing one eye. "The town's just up ahead. The Jinxy Peddler always stops by our town before coming here. He tells lots of stories about it."

"Does he steal stuff from you guys too?" asked Yang.

"Steal?" Little repeated, shocked by the accusation. "Never! They just take the things we're not looking at. Fair's fair."

"Sounds like a legitimate businessperson," Weiss muttered. Blake side-eyed her but said nothing. "How did they manage to steal your arm, anyway?"

"I was knocked out in the fall. When I came to, that sneaky raccoon had already grabbed my arm and ran off before I could stop him."

"That's very underhanded of him," Blake said, only to realize the pun when Yang snickered.

"Yeah, something like that."

Her smile invited Blake to lean in a little closer. "So he caught you…unarmed?"

That earned an outright laugh. Their banter continued, their fingers brushing and then threading loosely together while they talked.

"About time," Weiss said. She and Ruby had fallen back during Yang's explanation, both lost in their thoughts, but Ruby far more so.

"For what?" Ruby asked, having missed the entire exchange, too focused on the painful sore spot that was Crescent Rose's absence and how lacking it would make leading everyone out of the Ever After that much harder. Once Yang had both halves of Ember Celica back, Ruby would be the only one missing her weapon.

"Nothing," Weiss said after a beat, worry creasing her brow. "Are you—"

"Don't worry. We'll find a way out of here and then we'll go back home."

Weiss stopped.

"Weiss?"

Her hands curled into fists and her shoulders hunched. "It's…it's all gone. My home. There's nothing for me to go back to. Just like Beacon, but…" Her shoulders fell and her voice cracked. "Worse."

Little shifted on Ruby's head and Ruby carefully took them in her hands so they wouldn't fall. She kept her gaze on Little to avoid the pain in Weiss's. "You did the best you could for Atlas, Weiss."

"But it wasn't enough. We hatched a crazy plan that put the whole kingdom at risk, and we don't even know if we saved the relics from," she clutched Myrtenaster's hilt, but stopped, took a breath. "Maybe Jaune and Winter were able to get them out, despite…everything. Despite us."

All around them, the cicadas—or whatever passed for cicadas in this place—droned loudly enough to be mistaken for the rising static eating at Ruby's ability to think.

Weiss swallowed and sought her eye. "I…I know that Penny—I know that was a lot to hear."

Ruby's heart skipped a beat. The same tunnel she'd fallen into before loomed, but this time, she closed her eyes against it and turned away from Weiss. She couldn't talk about that. Not here. Not yet.

Overhead, thunder rumbled.

They came to the border that separated their tropical plot of land from the next. The Red King's, no doubt, from the fiery trees that filled its acreage. The only way to get between the plots was a rickety old wooden bridge.

"So, this is the entrance to the other…acre, you called it?" Blake asked Little, who was drowsing in Ruby's cupped hands. The question roused them, and they stood.

"Yep, all we do is cross the bridge, and we'll be…well, wherever over there is!"

"You don't know?" asked Yang.

"Nope! Never been this far from home."

"Oh." Ruby glanced at her team. "Maybe you should go back?"

Little, still staring out at the bridge, put their paws on their sides like a human putting their hands on their hips. "I wouldn't have any idea how to go back. Maybe I'll live by this bridge."

Ruby stared. Blake's ears folded. Yang put her face in her hand. "You've got to be kidding."

"Did we kidnap them?" Ruby whispered.

Weiss sighed. "I'll handle this." She approached where Little was singing a ditty about building their first house and putting together a small shack out of twigs, leaves, and rocks. "Would you like to come with us?"

Little cocked their head. Behind them, the shack creaked ominously before collapsing in on itself. Little jumped.

"Yeah, that's…probably for the best."

Under a disconcertingly green sky sat the red acre's first village. The bright red trees broke up into rolling crimson fields that gave way to dozens of buildings built up and around more gentle hills. Every building was the same tan color and each sported a pointed red roof as brilliantly colored as the rest of the acre.

The path they were following became the main road. They followed its winding curves up into the thick of the village until they passed under an arching stairway and came upon what seemed to be a central marketplace. Stalls, signs, and hawkers filled both sides of the road. And though a gentle hubbub filled the air, the citizens were…unusual. Toy lions and unicorns, two-dimensional cutouts of people or animals tottering around on solid bases, even vague shapes with no features at all.

"Just…act like you belong, everybody," Blake advised.

"I've always wanted to be long," Little mused from Ruby's shoulder. "But I'm still just small."

They passed a banana stall and went under another archway. In the plaza beyond, a large crowd had gathered in front of a purple cart with sky blue trim. On the side, in bold white print, was the name "Jinxy."

"There it is!" Yang said. "I don't see the raccoon. Think we can just do what he did?"

"I don't know if stealing will make us blend in," Weiss said. "Then again, it seems they don't really have a concept of theft here."

Blake's gaze drifted to the right of the crowd. A small gathering of four toy soldiers stood vigil over the square. Easily eight feet tall each, they were armed with simple swords. One smiled and waved at a woman giving him a hug, only to get elbowed in the side by his compatriot.

"In the book," she said with a cautioning hand on Yang's shoulder, "Alyx had to barter with Jinxy for her dagger."

"Yeahhhhh," Yang drawled, "I don't think he deserves to get paid for what he did."

With a great explosion of purple smoke riddled with bright golden sparkles, the side of the cart swung open and down to reveal Jinxy himself. Clothed in a green shirt and loose purple pants, he strutted out onto the stage his cart provided with part of his weight supported by a walking stick. Laugh lines surrounded his eyes and even his darkest patches of fur were tinged with gray.

"Welcome, one and all!" he declared.

"He's truly a talking raccoon," Weiss said, seemingly coming to terms with it.

"And…a lot older than I remember from the book." Blake put a hand to her chin and frowned.

"I am Jinxy," Jinxy continued while he danced back and spun his stick towards the curtain pulling away behind him, "and these are the finest treasures of the acre!"

He hopped across his stage, tapping his stick twice against the counter three total times as he went. For each double tap, a treasure plopped down from above: a golden scepter, a pink bunny statue, and a green marionette doll.

Yang peered at the treasures in confusion and mild frustration. "I don't see my arm."

Blake tapped her chin. "All of Jinxy's treasures are just other items in disguise so that people think they're buying something extremely valuable."

"Okay," said Weiss, "so…which one is Yang's arm?"

"What does your heart tell you?" Blake asked Yang. "That's how Alyx knew." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"I mean," Yang pointed at the scepter, "that one looks roughly arm-sized…ish."

Blake sighed and glanced at Ruby, whose eyes had not strayed from the green doll since it appeared. "Ruby?"

"There's…something about that one."

Jinxy spun and swept the rabbit from the shelf, holding it aloft with great enthusiasm. "Fiiiirst item!" There was much oooh-ing and aaaaah-ing from the crowd. "The diamond-studded rabbit. You!" He pointed his stick at a citizen with extremely round features and arms that only flexed from the shoulder.

"Me!"

Jinxy was suddenly behind that man. "Jinxy's," he said with a wink, and the man laughed.

"How are we going to bid without any money?" asked Weiss while Jinxy led the man up on stage.

"I don't know," answered Blake. "I don't think there's any money in the Ever After. Jinxy just names whatever price he wants."

"Stealing is still on the table," Yang pointed out.

"Blending in, remember?" Weiss looked at Blake. "What did Jinxy want from Alyx?"

"Her…saddest memory." Blake's ears folded. "And her happiest."

"SOLD FOR," Jinxy declared, only to finish quietly, "a hug."

He and the man embraced, and again the crowd aaaaah-d in appreciation. Little gasped too, mousy features drawn up in shock. "Hugs are very valuable," they whispered, and promptly embraced a nearby lock of Ruby's hair.

Yang watched them for a second and then returned her focus to the stage. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

"Secoooond item," Jinxy, alone on the stage once more, declared. He took the scepter, spun it in his hands, and tossed it perfectly into the air, letting it whirl as a golden disk before he expertly snatched it when it fell. "A golden scepter. You!" He pointed with both the scepter and the stick, the latter at Yang and the former at the nearest toy soldier, who had his hand in the air.

Yang stared at the soldier askance. "Huh?"

The soldier put his hands on his hips and glared.

"The bidding starts at—"

"No, hold on," Yang interrupted, "I—I was the first one to—"

"Knowing a mother's love." At Jinxy's proclamation, Yang's protest died and her eyes went wide. "A fair price for some, I'd say."

Even Ruby drew in a sharp breath. "Yang—"

Yang's hand curled into a fist and she set her jaw. "No, it's fine. I know who my mom is, and I know she loved us both."

Before she could address Jinxy, the soldiers—one of whom had been furiously scribbling on a scroll held out by another—flourished that scroll for Jinxy to see. "Knowing a mother's love," the writer said. "By royal decree!"

Blake squinted at the scroll, which was actually wood. By His Royal Highness's Decree, to be paid is the sum 'Whatever Jinxy wants' it read, with a messy signature at the bottom next to a crowned heart crest.

"SOLD!" Jinxy crowed.

"Wait!" Yang protested. "That's my arm!"

"Whatever it is, it's royal property now," The soldier who spoke lectured with irritating condescension. "No price is too high for His Majesty's birthday."

"That's it," Yang said, eyes flaring red. "First everything goes wrong in Atlas, I think I die, I get my arm stolen, and now I'm just supposed to sit back and watch some stupid toys take it away like they actually have any right to it? No way. I'm getting my arm and we're getting out of here so we can actually head for the tree."

"Next item," Jinxy said in the background, but Ruby was the only one paying attention, "the jade marionette."

Ruby raised her hand and declared, "Me!" in the same instant Jinxy pointed at her and announced, "You!"

The rest of her team—save Yang, who was now torn between her sister and the soldiers walking away with her arm—stared at her.

"Ruby," Weiss hissed, "what are you doing?"

From where he lay casually on the counter, Jinxy smiled. "Bidding starts at," he swiftly produced a small jar from behind the curtain and held it aloft, "enough hope to fill this jar."

Ruby's hand dipped and fell. Hope? What had hope gotten them so far? A one-way bridge to who knew where, a fallen kingdom, no relics, and all of it on her head. She'd scraped her reserves of hope raw just trying to keep herself together through that. All she could offer Jinxy were her bloody fingertips and the ghost of the girl she'd been. That girl had wanted to go to the Ever After; that girl would've loved to run around in this place and play the hero instead of drag herself towards the exit knowing that nothing but ruin lay on the other side.

"Hm," Jinxy saw her hesitation. "You don't have enough, do you?"

The marionette fell from the counter onto the stage. Jinxy flinched and looked down to where Little was trying to drag the doll away.

"Why you little—" Jinxy hurled the jar away, where it shattered against the ground, and jumped down at Little, who shrieked.

"You weren't looking!" they cried as they skittered under him.

"Leave that alone!" Jinxy demanded. "You can't touch it until the deal is done!"

It was too late, however. Purple smoke engulfed the marionette in a shape distinctly longer than the doll. When the smoke cleared in a puff, gone was the doll. In its place was a solid green glass blade. Straining under the sudden weight, Little had no choice but to let it clatter down onto the stage.

Blake, Yang, and Weiss stared with furrowed brows, but recognition hit Ruby like a dagger in her gut. The breath left her and tears filled her eyes. Weiss's voice echoed from the tunnel yawning wide below her: "And Penny—she sacrificed herself—"

Jinxy's other illusions similarly went up in smoke. The first man held not a diamond-encrusted rabbit but a mouse nibbling on cheese. The soldiers held not a scepter but Yang's arm.

"It's a FAKE!" the man declared.

The soldier holding Yang's arm screamed and tossed her arm away. Yang sprinted after it, but grabbed its elbow socket at the same time a soldier grabbed its fingers. They played tug-of-war for a second before Yang managed to activate Ember Celica's embedded gauntlet, load a shell, and blow the soldier away.

Weiss, meanwhile, chased Ruby. Ruby, breaking up into petals to get through the crowd, reached the stage first.

"Fair's fair," Little told her with a smile when she appeared in front of them.

But Ruby couldn't return the smile. Her fingers shook when she reached for Penny's blade. Whether it was truly somehow a remnant from her brief time with the maiden powers or some trick of the Ever After, it didn't matter. The sword was Penny's, and seeing it, holding it, brought back the smallest spark of her bubbly warmth.

It was heavier than she expected. Solid glass, jagged and multifaceted, darker at its hilt and tip than the center of the blade.

Her next exhale came out unsteady. Her chest ached.

"Ruby, we've got to go," Weiss, having finally pushed through the crowd, urged. Little scrambled up Ruby's arm back to her hood. "Yang's got her arm—we've caused enough trouble."

"R-right."

Eyes fixed on Penny's sword, she let herself be pulled away. Jinxy went to give chase, growling, only for the first customer to get in the way and clear his throat pointedly. With a defeated sigh, Jinxy gave up his pursuit and returned the hug.

"We're doing the same thing Alyx did!" Blake strode ahead of them all, hands on her head. "We're ruining everything."

They'd left the village at a sprint to get ahead of anyone trying to give chase, but slowed to a brisk walk when no pursuers showed themselves. The red forest had once more closed in around them, though it was taking a break for a moment to present them with a small clearing.

"That's your biggest concern right now?" asked Weiss. Next to her, Yang carefully slotted her arm back into place and flexed her fingers a few times until she nodded, satisfied.

Blake paced for a second before heading to a nearby fallen tree. "I've read so many stories," she sat, hands nervously upraised by her chest as though she couldn't decide whether to cover her face or twine her fingers together. "I never thought I'd be the moral of one."

Weiss sighed. "What moral? We exposed a fraudulent auction, got Yang her arm back, and no one got hurt. Or did you forget that all of Jinxy's goods were stolen anyway? We're doing what we have to to get out of this place. No one said we had to do Alyx's story but better."

"Maybe, but…"

Blake's words fell away when Ruby silently sat on the other end of the log, Penny's sword cradled in her hands. The warmth it had offered had dwindled into the cold reality that Penny was gone, this lingering shard be damned.

"Ruby?" asked Yang quietly, taking a few steps closer.

"I couldn't explain why, but I—I was drawn to it."

Distant thunder drew abruptly closer. Little glanced at the darkening sky and Blake's ears flicked towards it as well. An instant later, rain began to fall, accompanied by more cracks of thunder. Yang held out her hand in surprise, but Weiss's patience finally snapped.

"Great," she said. "Now it's raining on just us." She stalked across the small clearing and shoved a hand towards the tree. "Alyx went to the tree, right? So let's go."

"I don't think it's gonna work like that," cautioned Blake. "In the book—"

"We. Are not. In a book. And even if we were, we know how it ends! Right over there." She stalked off into the undergrowth…and emerged on the other side of the clearing from the direction they'd come earlier. She got all of three steps farther before she caught Yang's eye and froze. "But that's…" she looked behind her, then at where she'd gone. "That doesn't make any sense."

She walked into the trees again. Again, she emerged from the path they'd already traveled. Again she went. Again she returned.

"I did that earlier," Ruby said, and her miserable tone broke Weiss from her furious stride. "The more frustrated you get, the more it loops."

"Yeah," Little said. "You can't get any closer to the tree that way."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Weiss demanded, nearly yelling. Ruby drew into herself.

Yang, watching her sister, said, "We should get Crescent Rose. That comes before we figure out how we're getting to the tree."

The rain kept pouring down. Ruby couldn't even raise her head. She was spared the effort of dredging up some kind of appropriately leader-like response when distant voices pierced the ring of trees and shrubs around them:

"This way! Somebody's sad!"

"I'd be sad too if I ruined the royal birthday!"

Yang groaned. "These guys again."

Ruby pressed her lips together and stared down into Penny's sword. At just the right angle, she could see her own eyes staring back at her. Silver eyes that had once held enough hope to fill the world, not just a single jar. But maybe, there was enough left for this single moment, if only to honor the person whose echo she held in her hands. "Blake. What did Alyx do next?"

Blake, half-distracted by the dissipating storm, answered, "She, uh…went to the Crimson Castle and beat the Red King at his own game."

Four soldiers on toy horses—just wooden horse heads on sticks—burst through the trees and hit the ground. "Hands up, you treasonous birthday ruiners!" ordered the one in the lead.

"Okay," Yang said, raising her fists. Ember Celica audibly chambered two rounds with the gesture, and the soldiers—remembering the one that was blasted back earlier—took a half step back in fear.

"We want to go to the birthday party." Ruby stood. She repeated herself. "We want to go to the birthday party!"

Yang lowered her hands.

"Well too bad," the lead soldier said, "because we're going to—oh. Yes. That's where we're taking you! As prisoners. For stealing royal property!"

Ruby took a deep breath. Her hands still shook, but only someone looking closely would notice. "What if I offered you something better. The weapon of a powerful warrior."

Her team exchanged worried looks.

"She only just—" started Yang at a whisper, only for the soldiers ooooh-ing over the sword to cut her off.

"Go on," they said.

"Not just a powerful warrior; the most powerful to ever live. She was touched by magic. She gave her life for thousands. She took a message of hope to the stars and she saw the world through better eyes." She raised her own eyes from the sword. Her hands weren't shaking anymore. "Take us to the royal birthday and allow us to present this most precious gift."

The soldiers, two of whom were bawling, one of whom was comforting his horse, and the nearest of whom was wiping away his tears and sniffling, needed a second to recover.

"Yes," the nearest one said, voice cracking. "By royal decree."

He then snatched the sword from Ruby's hand. Its edge caught her finger, momentarily bringing her aura there into view before it faded.

"Come on men, you heard her! We've got a birthday to celebrate!"

The soldiers filed off into the trees with mechanical precision. Ruby, rubbing her finger, was slow to start after them. The others, headed by Blake, caught up easily.

"Are you sure about this?"

"The Red King won't mind a green sword," Yang said. "Right?"

Weiss sighed. "Maybe he'll like the change of pace."

"We may not know exactly what's going on," Ruby said, "but for whatever reason, this place is putting us on a similar path as a book some of us read as kids. I say we follow it." Her pace picked up and her voice took on an edge. "And stop pretending we know what we're doing."

Before anyone comes at me for using "he/him" for Jinxy, the show did it first.