Content warning for brief descriptions of dead bodies.
Ruby finds herself alone in a large, dark room.
She blinks several times in confusion; she has no memory of where she is or how she might have gotten here. As her eyes adjust to the gloom, she starts to be able to make out some of the details of the room she's in. It's a large room, with a high ceiling shrouded in shadows. The floor is hardwood, by the sound of it, and covered with a thick carpet. She can't quite make out the color in the pitch dark. Her footsteps echo ominously throughout the room when she shuffles forward a few steps, trying her best to be cautious in the odd situation she's found herself in.
If there's anyone else around, they'll be able to hear her loud and clear. Hardwood floors aren't great for being sneaky.
She hears a clock start to chime from somewhere nearby. Twelve chimes, one after the other, long and low and loud in the resounding silence. Wherever Ruby is, however she ended up here, apparently it's midnight right now.
In this large, empty, darkened room, Ruby is reminded of the enormous entrance hall of the Schnee Manor when they'd arrived there to take refuge after their disastrous Atlesian base break-in. Except this time there's no Whitley here to demand to know what's going on. Or maybe it's like the lobby of one of those fancy hotels in downtown Atlas, at night after all the guests have gone to their rooms. Ruby's been in a couple of those when patrolling through Atlas at night, and they'd had the same feeling of grandiose silence to them.
To think that just a week ago, she'd been focused on huntress duties like patrolling Atlas. It seems unimaginable that things could change so drastically in the span of a few days.
Well, getting lost in her thoughts and wallowing in what-ifs isn't going to get her anywhere. She might as well explore, try to figure out where she is and what's going on. No one has come rushing over after hearing her footsteps earlier, so Ruby is guessing that wherever she is, she's alone.
Even with her eyes having adjusted to the dark, it's difficult to see what's in front of her, so Ruby shuffles forwards slowly with small steps, one arm outstretched in front of her to (hopefully) keep her from running face-first into anything. She probably looks ridiculous, but it's completely dark in here, and it's not like there's anyone around to see her making a fool of herself, anyway.
It doesn't take her long before her hand brushes up against something, and she pauses. A wall? Leaning forward slightly, she feels around a bit more, bringing her other hand up to help cover more ground. Whatever she's touching is too smooth to be a wall—it feels more like something made of glass, like a window, maybe?
Or maybe it's a door. One of her hands brushes up against something hard and metal, some sort of handle. Wherever she is, this place is definitely fancy enough to have glass doors at the entrance. Wrapping a hand around the handle, she pulls, softly at first, then more firmly. The door won't budge.
Well, it is the middle of the night, after all. It's not that unusual that everything would be locked up. It's pretty frustrating, though. She feels around for the handle for the other door, and tries that one as well. No dice. It's locked as well.
Ruby is just starting to get frustrated at the dead end she's run into when the silence is shattered by a loud scream. The sound is high-pitched and desperate, coming from somewhere behind her in the gloom. She feels the hair on the back of her neck stand up
In the horror movies that Ruby loves to watch (back when she had free time), bad things always happen to the characters who go towards the screaming. The smart thing to do in those situations would be to run far, far away from the screams, so that the monster or the ghost or the killer can't get you. But Ruby isn't a damsel in distress, or a character in a horror movie. She's a huntress who's dedicated her life to protecting the people of Remnant.
Which means that it's her duty to go towards the screams, to help whoever might be in danger and figure out what's going on. That's much easier said that done in this situation, stuck in the dark with no idea where she is and no weapon on her, but a true huntress wouldn't let that stop her, and neither will Ruby.
Still, it's slow going, since she can't just go running off into the dark without risking running into something—which won't help her be able to help anyone. She hopes that she's heading in the right direction, but there's no way to tell for sure. She'll just have to hope that she's on the right track.
It seems to take an eternity before her hand finally brushes up against something besides empty air. It's much rougher than the glass doors she tried earlier; maybe it's a wooden door? Her guess is proved correct when she comes across a round metal handle. Holding her breath, she tries it, and to her surprise, it turns. The door swings open easily.
There's some light in the room beyond the door, although it's dim, with a strange reddish glow to it. At least it allows Ruby to finally get a look at her surroundings, even if it is a bit foreboding. After being in the complete dark for so long, it takes her eyes a bit to adjust. Squinting warily, she stumbles over something on the ground.
When she glances down to see what it is, her breath catches in her throat. It's the body of a girl, a young woman that doesn't seem much younger than Ruby herself. She feels a shiver run down her spine.
It's horrifying, but there's nothing she can do about it right now. Heart in her throat, Ruby forces herself to step over the body and to keep moving forward. Whoever was screaming earlier might still be in trouble. Ruby wants to at least try to help them.
She stumbles across two more bodies as she makes her way through the eerie hallway. Another girl who looks to be around the same age as the first, and an older woman, who looks similar enough to the two girls to be their mother. It's an unsettling thought. Why—and more importantly, who—would kill an entire family like that.
Ruby looks up from the mother's body to see a young woman standing in front of her. She looks to be about the same age as the other girls Ruby stumbled across, and she's dressed in all white, holding a broken necklace in one hand and a pair of swords in the other. And, when Ruby looks up to meet her gaze, the strange girl is scowling harshly at her.
"What?"
Back at the Schnee Manor, Ruby wakes with a start.
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