Penny was thrilled... according to her systems at least. As she followed Ruby the less than human girl let her systems perform a visual scan, documenting her newest companion's overall status.

Physically fit; moderately healthy, aside from a tiny bit of plaque in the corner of her lower jaw; full aura reserves; all signs pointed to a positive overview with no need for medical attention. Ruby's healthy condition was good news, and needed no intervention.

Upon her arrival to Vale Penny had been tasked with not only participation in the Vytal tournament but also with keeping her teammates and allies in top condition. While she hadn't decided on whether Ruby Rose was part of either category she decided to intervene anyway should the situation call for it.

Ruby had agreed to show her around, and Penny determined that as a sign of them being at the very least acquaintances - which were also covered in the list of people to aid. Yet despite this she still kept a close eye on her guide, unaware of whether the girl was just friendly or secretly trying to gauge information on her; something she had been warned about beforehand.

General Ironwood along with specialist Schnee had discussed with her the potential threat they faced upon entering Vale in the manner they did; ordering her to keep tabs on potential threats hidden from common view. Yet shortly afterwards the objective was altered into generalized guarding of the festival and it's occupants in a more reserved nature.

Penny didn't quite understand the sudden change of assignment as she was not informed of the reason, yet she accepted it and calibrated her mission objectives accordingly to be more in line with gathering and studying data. She'd shut off her more dangerous combat enhancements to comply with the mission, re-routing most of her power into her scanners allowing the use of more costly features.

The scanners were incredibly inefficient in terms of energy use, yet they were state of the art and the best quality to date, so rather than bulk up her model or use lesser scanners they opted to allow the use of power transfer. Penny's systems allowed the routing of power, giving her the ability to choose which aspects and equipment she could use at any moment. The android girl was state of the art, and the most advanced creation of Atlas tech to date.

This was that exact reason she struggled to understand the world around her.

That struggle only compounded upon interaction with Ruby. Following the girl around and listening to her talk about various different attractions brought up one of the most difficult parts of her design, and one she had no precise data on.

That of emotion.

Penny unlike most other machines was given an aura. It was significant as it allowed her to feel what was described as 'emotions' or 'feelings' by her creator: a strong drive that held no real reasoning or rules for the most part, and would influence individual reactions to most situations and surroundings.

Ruby looked to her, and as her vision followed she spotted a small animal along the grass. Previously documented data would label the creature as a 'kitten' in common terms. Ruby appeared physically happy, and Penny herself was taken by the familiar strange feeling she'd previously labeled as 'joy'.

Penny disregarded her inability to determine why she randomly received moments of emotion, calculating it best to accept and study it's effects on herself.

As the two stepped closer the kitten looked to them, it's ears perking as it backed deeper into the small shadow of the nearby stall. It's black fur blended seamlessly with it's surroundings as it shivered, and the two girls stopped. A moment later the small animal bolted away and Ruby let out a sigh.

"Guess we scared it."

"Shall we chase after it?" Penny questioned as she felt a wave of 'emotion' overflow her systems again.

"No, we'll just make it more afraid." Ruby looked back to the main path before turning back to face her. "Besides, I said I'd show you around. Come on, we've still got a few places to check out."

"Then let us continue!" Penny spoke with what she had determined as a 'happy' tone.

"Right..." Ruby let out with an odd look as the two started down the path again.

Penny didn't understand why the girl was not displaying a joyful demeanor. She had used a happy tone, and they were in a situation that should have been happy, yet her companion took a more quiet mood which had her processing whether she'd read the situation incorrectly.

It didn't last as Ruby took to her previous excitement as she started pointing out her favorite attractions, one of which being a dining stall which specialized in baked goods. It wasn't long before the girl let out a gasp and pointed off in the distance.

"Hey! My friends are over there! Come on, I'll introduce you to them!" Ruby sped off as Penny followed along in a jog.

She saw it as an opportunity to gain more potential acquaintances, as well as add to her data pool. One of the top priorities Penny had been tasked with was the gathering and understanding of data, which had been dubbed 'learning' by her creator and the general.

It took only seconds for her to catch up, at which point Ruby turned to face her, waving to the others she was with.

"Penny, these are my friends!" Ruby looked to the others and waved to her. "Guy's, this is Penny!"

"Aw sis, I knew you had it in you!" The blond one spoke as she held Ruby in what appeared to be a rather uncomfortable embrace. "See, you can make friends on your own."

"Yang!" Ruby let out as she broke free from the grip and shook herself before looking back to Penny. "This is my sister Yang."

"Sup." Replied the blond with a wave.

"And this is Blake." Ruby told as she waved to the Faunus girl, who responded with a polite nod.

"And the guy over here is Vermillion." Ruby said as the man approached.

"Nice to meet you." He greeted with a slight smile.

Penny looked at him, feeling what she'd understood was confusion as she scanned him again. The scanner was state of the art, able to determine not only the maximum capacity a person's aura had but also a unique 'aura pattern' able to determine the individual without the use of sight; it was like a signature for aura, and unique to each individual.

Every living creature had a sort of aura pattern that her scanners could read, including animals and plants. Even with their lack of aura the soulless Grimm had an energy signature unique to them, theorized to be pure negativity in physical form.

The man... 'Vermillion' as introduced by Ruby already had an incorrect output, with seemingly both Grimm energy as well as aura mixed in one opposing meld. It was this that had Penny confused as to how that was possible. Even his human aura was odd, familiar even. Yet she was left with a more demanding and crucial question that overshadowed the former anomalies.

Why were parts of it missing?

.

.

The desert sands flurried as Ruby trudged through the storm. She still hated the desert, and the storms were one of the many reasons. While she could fight good enough, the raging sands limited her available options, and that was excluding the shifting unstable terrain. It was both hard to hear and see, which slowed her trek to a crawl. Of course that wasn't counting the battles she got into along the way.

With the colossal dead the remaining Grimm under it's control would have been set free, and they thanked her by jumping out from the sands every so often. They were no issue as even with the limits imposed she still diced them to pieces.

Strangely enough the slow movements she took had an effect on how the Grimm behaved. They made - in her opinion - rather predictable attacks, often choosing to just leap for her. Whether they did so because of her slow movement or lack of aura she didn't know; all she knew was that it made them easier to kill, and that was a plus in her books.

Ruby had just gotten done ripping her scythe through another of the worms when the storm had eased up. Letting out a sigh of relief she looked out across the cleared sandy dunes, only to realize she was closer to her stop then she thought.

Off in the distance she could see the small area, marked strongly by it's overall flat terrain. It was one of the few places in Menagerie's desert where the dunes didn't rise, and would eventually become the last haven for humanity near the end of the war with Salem.

It would eventually come to be known as Kiaʻi o Nalo, and would host the last stand against Salem. While they may have lost in the end, it had been the turning point for her personally, and the last place she'd been before starting anew.

From being one of the most dangerous places on the island it ended up becoming one of the safest in all of Remnant. It's overall harsh surroundings combined with Menagerie's often ignored landscape and events it became the only safe haven.

Until Salem found it.

Ruby shook herself from the memories as she set out. There was one particular spot she needed to place the seed, one spot that would never be overlooked. After a few minutes of wandering Ruby found it. The small patch of sand looked the same as the rest, and held no land marks of the sort.

What it would become however was the only place that guaranteed it's discovery: the town square. Kiaʻi o Nalo would be built around the very spot she stared at, and where better to grow a landmark then the one place where everyone could see it?

Ruby let the seed emerge into her palm as she ducked down. The pressure that once filled her being upon such action was lost to her now, melding with the rest of the darkness in her system. Her hand graced the sand as she gently lowered the seed into a small hole. Carefully she covered it and stood, letting herself slouch for a moment before being graced with what she'd expected.

New memories.

Only these ones were different, and she found herself start to panic as she watched them unfold within her mind.

This isn't right, they're too soon!

Most of the memories gained had been of events in order from one to the next, showing how her actions had altered them. Only this time they had been before another set of memories she'd already gained previously.

On it's own it didn't sound like much, but the reasoning for such a thing was near catastrophic to her. If she was seeing memories out of order, then did that mean that her choices and actions had no significance on the future?

If she was granted visions of events before she made a change, then what did that say about her other actions, her other memories? Were they already influenced before hand, or had the memories already shown the effects of all her choices? Did that mean she succeeded, or were her actions already decided for her?

Was her success pre-ordained, or was her failure destined?

What's the point...

Ruby dropped to her knees as the questions tore at her. Was it all or nothing, were all her choices and attempts worthless? If she was already seeing the events after the fact and not as she made them then did it mean her path was already decided? The questions repeated over and over as she was swallowed in despair

Was it all pointless?

Ruby gripped at her head, holding back her urge to scream as she did the equivalent of mental gymnastics trying to wrap her head around it all; in a desperate attempt to find some reasoning that proved her wrong. Yet nothing came.

Does it even matter?

That question had been the one to put a stop to her shaking, and although she still felt intense pain and fear at the prospect of destined failure she held back for a moment to think it through.

I wouldn't even have this mission if it was worthless, so does that mean I'm making a difference?

If she chose to ignore the mission would it do anything, or would she end up completing it anyway? After thousands of failed attempts she'd took a risk and tried something new, and there she was, weeping and trembling at the thought of it being useless. Yet she saw change; even though out of order the visions still showed change.

Ruby stood with ragged breaths as she calmed herself, looking down at the spot which held the tiny shard of darkness. Whether her success or failure was destined wouldn't make a difference in the end, and she'd have no way of knowing until she gained all the memories anyway.

With a heavy sigh she steeled herself and made her decision. Starting towards the cliff and back to the ship she trudged defiantly, dead set on reaching the end.

Holding onto the glimmer of hope that it wasn't all for nothing.

Author's note

...

Wow, the chapter is both late and short. Sorry about that, but the week's been all sorts of trash, and unfortunately it lead to this. I did my best to end the chapter on a better note, with Future Ruby coming to some sort of conclusion; even if a little dark.

We also got a bit of Penny's perspective, which I found rather fun to write. A machine with the ability to feel and think for itself: how would it see the world? Hopefully you found my take on her interesting.

Anyway, that's all for this time. Tell me what you think.

See you next time.

Edit:

Due to a string of terrible luck I'll be unable to post Monday. Chapter will be moved to Friday due to my current lack of time. Sorry for that.