"Ruby!"

Sometimes, Ruby really doesn't want to get up again.

"Come on, Ruby, wake up!"

Lately, it feels like they just keep taking hits, one after the other, with no sign of any light at the end of the tunnel. How many more blows they take before it's too much? How much more can they lose before none of it is worth it anymore?

"Please, Ruby, snap out of it already! I know it's hard, and things haven't been great, but we need you right now!"

Vaguely, she can hear Blake's voice, can make out what her friend is saying, but it sounds so muffled and quiet, like she's underwater. Is she underwater? She kind of does feel like she's drowning. Her head feels foggy and light, and it's getting hard to breathe.

"Ruby!"

But Blake sounds desperate. Scared. And even if it feels impossible, to move, to think, that it's pointless to get back up, Ruby won't abandon the people she cares about.

Pain lances through her body as her eyes shoot open, jolting her back to her senses. Oh, right The Grimm had slammed into her, bowling her over and knocking Crescent Rose out of her hands, and snatched her up. Something had prevented it from taking off with her—Blake, probably—but she's still stuck in its mouth.

With no weapon. Quite a pickle, this situation she's gotten into.

"Come on, Ruby!"

This time, Blake's voice comes through loud and clear. Ruby can't keep her friend waiting any longer—she's held out long enough. Once more, the silver flames around her eyes spring to life. With a growl of frustration, she starts to kick and squirm and flail, searching desperately for any kind of leverage to help her out. Twisting, she manages to drive an elbow into the roof of the Grimm's mouth.

Roaring in pain, the monster rears back, its mouth dropping open, allowing Ruby to roll out of its grasp. She plops unceremoniously to the ground with a loud thud, which doesn't feel great, but at least she's free now. Behind her, she can hear Blake breathe a sigh of relief as she scrambles to her feet.

Furious at the loss of its prey, the Grimm lunges for Blake. Ruby immediately rushes to her friend's defense. "Blake!" Her lack of any kind of weapon, her drained aura, the exhaustion and injuries weighing her body down—all of that ceases to matter in the face of her teammate being in danger.

Suddenly, impossibly, Ruby feels a familiar weight in her hands as she lunges at the Grimm. She doesn't hesitate, doesn't pause to think about what's going on or where it came from, just allows instinct to take over, bringing the weapon down on the thing attacking her friend.

The blow is enough to cause the Grimm to stagger back and leave Blake alone, but now enough to kill it, unfortunately. It at least gives Ruby and Blake a chance to regroup and recover, glancing at each other in relief. And then, in Blake's case, staring at Ruby is disbelief.

Following her friend's gaze, Ruby's eyes go wide and she lets out a gasp when she realizes what has her friend so shocked. In her hands is a scythe—but not Crescent Rose. Instead of metal, the weapon she's holding is made entirely of amber flames.

How—

But there's no time to dwell on it, no time to ask the countless questions that they both have. With another loud roar, the Grimm whirls around and takes off back towards the house—and their friends. Ruby scrambles to retrieve Crescent Rose and they both take off in hot pursuit, right on the Grimm's heels.

"That's a person."

Penny is safe. The Grimm is defeated. But all of that pales in the face of what they just witnessed. Inside of the creature that had been attacking them had been a person all along.

A person with silver eyes.

It's too much for her mind to take in, on top of everything else that's happened today.. The pain and exhaustion from before are creeping back in, and she can hear a high-pitched ringing in her ears as the room seems to shrink and spin around her.

It's almost a relief when it all fades to black.

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