"Put on your hood," Amity warns Ruby as they exit the Blight Manor peacefully. The setting sun brings out a gradient to the sky ranging from bright red to dull orange and further until the other end is a sleepy dark blue.

"I crashed in a house like that, huh?" Ruby mutters as she looks past the metal gate and the huge residency where Amity lived before using her cloak, "so… Are you famous or rich or something?"

Without glancing back, Amity narrates as they march onward, "Blight Industries, my parents make Abomination-based stuff -for weaponry and security. You get the picture, we're manufacturers using our special track of magic."

Kind of like Weiss… What was hers? Schnee Dust Company, right? Imagine her face when she realizes all of this.

Ruby snickers from that thought, causing Amity to look back questioningly, "what?"

"It's nothing, you just remind me of someone, my teammate," Ruby waves the suspicion away.

Me too, Ruby. You remind me of a certain dork… Wait… Teammate?

"Speaking of which, did you arrive here with just your dog or…?"

"I remember my sister and my team fell into this weird gooey portal with me. So, me, Zwei, and three others."

"Oh no…"

"I know… They could be anywhere."

One human alone is already getting enough attention here… If everyone knew that there are four more…

"We'll have to hurry, do you have a way of contacting your friends?" Amity says as she imagines the chaos that could ensue, sprinting far ahead.

Ruby, following close by, reaches for her pockets and pulls out a white handheld device with a yellow diamond-shaped button -the entire thing no bigger than a notepad and way thinner. She presses the button and the device expands, revealing a translucent screen that can stretch and is held together by the white 'ends' of it.

"Whoa… What's that?" Amity asks as she catches a quick side glance.

"We call this a Scroll," Ruby passively replies as she touches the screen some more and sees the icons of her team, she calls up Yang first.

"A scroll… We also have our own version of it," Amity comments as she pulls out hers, a purple fabric held together by two dowels for ends and floats it into the air beside her. But then remembers that Luz doesn't have one, so she instead searches for Willow.

After a few rings only to end up hearing that the person is busy, Ruby groans, "she's not responding…" Ruby tries Weiss.

Amity hurriedly messages Willow, asking if she's with Luz right now.

"Weiss isn't answering either… I hope they didn't lose their scrolls. Blake, please answer."

"No… We… Parted ways shortly after a little trip to… The Market…" Amity recites Willow's answer verbatim, "she must definitely be in… The Owl House…"

Ruby stops running after dialing Blake only to immediately hear that she isn't even in range, the line never got to ring, "Blake…"

Amity didn't immediately notice that Ruby wasn't with her by the time she pocketed her purple scroll, "Ruby? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Ruby perks up at Amity's call and shakes her head, "I'll be right there!"

Ruby shifts Zwei into a more comfortable position under her cloak and catches up quickly to Amity using Petal Burst. As soon as they're side-by-side, they start running again.

"About that trick of yours. The flower petals and the dashing…"

"That's my Semblance, kinda like a special ability. I have a super speed that sometimes leaves behind rose petals."

"Oh! So when you were asking me if I had any…"

"Yeah."

"I see. Were you able to contact them?"

"No, two haven't answered the call and one isn't even in range… I just hope she's still alive somewhere, just very far."

Amity slows down her pace to place a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder, "don't worry, we'll find all of them. I'm sure they aren't that reckless."

"Thanks. I guess they aren't."

Maybe not Yang, but I'm sure Blake can handle herself.

They finally reach the Market of Bonesborough, a bustling open air place crowded with large tents, shacks of wood and stone towering Ruby at least three times, maybe even more. Her gasp of awe stretched out for much longer when Ruby looked around to see the 'landscape', she could make out two green arms looming over them all, and even the mountains are bones.

Are we inside a dead giant? Ruby asked herself.

"Wow… This is… Just…"

Amity looks back to see Ruby just circling around as she takes in everything, she looks back ahead to figure out where to go to get to the Owl House.

I wonder if this is how Luz reacted when she first got here.

Imagining Luz all starstruck about an environment like this… Amity would be lying if she said that isn't cu-!

Cut it out.

"Okay, just three things: Don't bump into anyone, don't reveal your ears, and don't-!"

Amity turns around to see Ruby and Zwei leaning towards a rack of crystal balls, her free hand reaching towards one of them. Amity immediately grabs Ruby's shoulder and pulls her away from them.

"And… Don't touch anything," Amity scolds Ruby as she leads the way. Ruby sheepishly nods and follows along. Her head hangs a little lower in shame.

"Hey! Watch it!" A passerby shouts when Ruby nearly stepped on his feet.

"Sorry!"

That was a close one!

"Whoa! Almost knocked over my cart there," another one nearly jumped in front of Ruby after trying to cross right in front of her with his cart of potions and elixirs.

"I know, sorry about that."

They should stop just cutting in all over the place.

"That's a bright red cloak you got there."

"Oh… U-uh, thanks, I guess?"

That's a compliment, right?

Well, keeping her head lowered only for a while, she eventually cranes her head a bit higher and just enjoys the walk.

"They all look very… Bizarre and surreal," Ruby comments as she puts Zwei down and simply glances between stalls.

Says the girl with a big red hood in the middle of a market, Amity thinks to herself as she ignores the stares the others are giving Ruby.

"Cute beast demon you got there," a third passerby compliments them.

Bark! Bark!

"Don't you guys have… Regular animal companions here?" Ruby asks rather incredulously.

"I don't know what you consider 'regular animal companions' here, unless you mean just having no magic. For all anyone would know, Zwei could either be a beast demon or a palisman."

"Right. Right. Talking to a natural-born witch. Forgot. Sorry. Everything's totally different here,"

Is this what they call 'culture shock'?

"Just so you know, whenever they ask, just answer 'beast demon' instead. More believable. Palismen need to transform to something else entirely, like a staff or whatever."

"Got it. So… Witches, Demons, and Palismen, anything else?"

"That's the basics. Save the other questions for when we get to where I'm taking you."

"Roger."

Relative silence accompanies them as they let the liveliness of the market surround them.

"Where is that lady Luz is always with? Doesn't she usually show up at this time? Or is she somewhere else?" Amity mutters, slightly a little preoccupied herself but not so much that they're lost.

Ruby is taking in the ambiance slowly but surely. Absorbed in her task of adjusting, she almost forgot to ask one more thing. Her curiosity really is bugging her about this particular subject.

"Hey, Amity, I know you said that I should save my questions… But… I gotta ask, about this other human that you know, what's her name? Does this person… Like, have a semblance?" Ruby finally starts.

"Her name is Luz-!"

Bark!

"And no, I don't think she has a semblance. If she did, she would've shown it most of the time," Amity replies, just glancing back every so often but mostly keeping her gaze in front.

Is she just like Jaune?

"How about a weapon? What's her weapon?"

"What? I don't think she has one… She doesn't seem to carry any weapons around. I-I hope not!" Amity genuinely worries about the implications of that.

Luz with a weapon other than a magic wand or staff? Talk about unhinged.

Meanwhile, Ruby is utterly baffled at how a person can be less equipped to be a huntress than Jaune. Did she abandon her weapon and training? That question terrifies Ruby all the way to her core.

After all, being a huntress has been Ruby's dream for multiple reasons.

Ruby shakes her head and then gazes at Amity in front of her.

What if…

"Is she the same age as you? How old are you?"

"I… Think so, yeah, judging by what I know of her, how she looks and acts. Doesn't seem to have an issue with age when she first enrolled into school," at least Amity can be a little more confident in answering that, "I'm fourteen, I take it you're sixteen? Seventeen?"

Ruby gives a sad laugh before lowering it into a slow chuckle and replying, "... Fifteen, actually."

"O-oh! Sorry about that! I was just basing it on my older siblings, I didn't mean to-!"

"It's fine, guess I should've expected that."

Just a year younger than me, huh? Does that mean she never got to be in an academy long enough before getting here?

"Back to your friend… You mentioned her enrolling in a school?"

"Yep. She's practicing magic just like the rest of us witches and demons, and I think she's trying to learn all the tracks of magic. Sounds like her now that I think about it. But she's… Different. She can cast magic in her own way."

So huntsmen and huntresses can actually do magic too? For real? I thought that was only in fairy tales, Ruby mused to herself as she easily dodges bumping shoulders with another passerby. No shouting means a plus.

Ruby vaguely recalls a story about a wizard, some maidens, and magic, but the story never quite stuck with her. Maybe she should ask Yang at some point.

Ruby looks back to her own hands, wondering how she herself can do magic. With the possibility of magic no longer limited to stories, Ruby's mind wanders a bit.

If Amity's human friend does magic differently, what did she mean by that? She doesn't draw magic circles in the air… But like… How then? What would it look like then?

Upon noticing that Amity has stopped walking, Ruby goes to her side to see her lips curling slowly upwards, her eyes relaxing as she stops worrying about where they are or if Ruby is already asking a dozen more questions and starts describing more of this person.

"It's actually kind of… Impressive, really, especially when you watch her do it."

"Sounds like you admire her," Ruby casually remarks with a smile.

"Huh?!" Amity exclaims, sharply turning her head back to Ruby as she tries her hardest not to let the rising blush be redder than Ruby's cloak, "w-what do you mean by that?!"

"Like you look up to her and all. Like you respect her. You know…" Ruby shrugs, her innocence mixed with a small dash of confusion and maybe, just maybe, even suspicion.

"O-oh… Right, y-yeah, just like that. Anyway! Let's keep moving! And I just said stop with the questions…" Amity shakes her head and starts speed walking further on.

Ruby raises an eyebrow at Amity's odd reaction and glances at Zwei, who only barked twice in response.

Looks like Zwei knows something Ruby doesn't.

She lets it go anyway, following Amity and Zwei weave through the traffic. Noticing how completely relaxed the market is aside from the attention she's garnering, looks like none of her teammates crashed here.

"You know, I always laughed at the thought of ending up in prison for all the bars I keep busting, but I never would've imagined this one. There's something a little mysterious about this dream," a blonde brawler states her thoughts out loud as her lilac eyes inspected her cell and scanned the outside, which mostly consisted of similar looking metal bars and a wooden door dotting here and there. Levers fill the gap between two cells, which one opens which cell, Yang is not sure.

"This is unique, no stairs, just the entire floor spiraling upward," Yang coos as she looks up, seeing the giant open circle letting the evening light creep its last rays onto the topmost cells. The grey-blue stone blocks and concrete pairing nicely well, giving the whole prison a less sterile and boring look.

But a prison is still a prison. And whenever Yang dreams of being in prison, there's usually one course of action that she would prefer to do.

Escape.

Of course, Yang wouldn't actually bust out of prison if she really was arrested for a crime. But this is a dream, right?

But what about a while ago? The entire running around in the middle of the day looking for Zwei and the machine?

Surely that one isn't a dream. Am I unconscious right now? This better not be because of food poisoning.

"Only one way to find out… HEAVE H-!"

Yang headbutts herself on the prison bars.

GONG!

"HOuch… Okay, not the smartest move, but okay, can't break out as easily as usual, not a dream then… So where the heck am I?" Yang slumps back to a wall to recover.

"You're an annoyingly talkative one, aren't you?" A deep, male voice interrupts her.

"What the, who's there?" Yang shakes the dizziness off and turns to the prison bars

"You must be new here to not be familiar with my voice," he replies, whoever this person may be, heavy pairs of stomps echo and rumble the floor around her, so she musters the focus to stand up and approach the bars only to be greeted by a hulking mass of gray muscles, a black hood covers this person's head while he adorns a full-face mask the shape of a ibis with yellow buttons for eyes.

The rest of his attire is what looks like a dirty white doctor's coat buttoned up like a vest with a triangular brass badge. Looking down, Yang sees black trousers and dark purple shoes, seemingly used but maintained surprisingly well enough.

"Yeah, no kidding, who are you?"

"I am the one and only feared Warden Wrath here. Interesting toys you have here, by the way," The man, now introducing himself as the Warden, holds up a palm, revealing Yang's scroll and wallet.

"Wha-Hey! So you were frisking me while I was knocked out?! That's crossing a line there," Yang complains as she runs up to the bars.

"Consider yourself lucky that I only did the bare minimum a respectful yet competent prison guard should do."

"Consider yourself lucky that you still get to say that in front of my face and not get your lights knocked out right now."

The Warden only chuckles in response, "amusing threats you are giving me, while behind bars. And don't play dumb with me, you tried to break out just a while ago. I caught you on the floor near the open area."

"Tried to break out?! I was asleep the entire time! I don't sleepwalk."

"Hah! Very… Wait, you were asleep the whole time?"

At least the tension has lifted up a bit, at least Yang can still try to walk away scot-free from all this nonsense. All she needs to do is actually talk some sense.

Calming down, Yang replies, "Yes. So, what? Are you gonna keep me in here for a crime I didn't even know I was committing?! Don't you have warnings or tickets?"

"Warnings? Now why would I do that?" The Warden replies, seemingly offended at the proposition.

"You said it yourself, I'm new here… Might as well fill me in," Yang said.

If you know what I mean, she almost tried to add that phrase, click her tongue, and wink… But maybe not right now. Save that suggestive joke for a later time. This one might be a bigger creep than Junior.

"You know, tell me wherever I am and whatever rules I broke in front of your face."

So instead she just fixes her hair, unknowingly revealing her round ears to the Warden. Resulting in a genuinely surprised gasp followed by a deep, sinister declaration.

"Aha! A perfect crime that you have committed… Is being a human, the second human I have encountered, in fact."

Yang explodes in anger, her eyes flickering to her furious red and her hair starts slowly standing up, flaring, "what?! As if you aren't! What a load of-!"

The Warden raises one of his fists, which immediately morphs into a giant mallet, and swings it full force onto the bars, bending and warping them as he strikes.

Yang, both in shock at the Warden's hammer-hand and at his destructive outburst, instinctively lets go of the groaning metal bars and steps back.

"Just to not confuse things, blonde human…" The Warden says as he uses his other hand to reach for his beaked mask and takes it off, revealing a huge mouth with teeth as large and sharp as a Beowolf, dominating most of his head, "you're not in your world."

With that, Yang's breath hitched in fear. Trying her best to fight her fight-or-flight instincts at this unidentifiable hostility, she finally drops her fists and gives a huff of resignation before reluctantly stepping back to a corner of the cell. The Warden calms down, puts on his mask, and pulls back both of his hands before glaring at the cells adjacent to Yang. Presumably threatening them as well, silently this time.

Just where am I exactly? Second human?

He then starts walking away and the silence resumes, save the shuffling of feet Yang can hear on both sides. The other prisoners, maybe they can share a few things if they can just not get caught speaking.

Yang in there, Yang, was all she told herself in an attempt to lift her spirits a bit.

This is going to be a long stay if she doesn't know even just a bit more.

Weiss, Blake… Ruby. You guys better be in safer places than I am right now.