Ruby wakes up screaming.
It's unfortunately not that uncommon for her to still be in the midst of a nightmare when she suddenly jolts awake, nor is it that rare for her to have no idea where she is upon waking up. But still, this feels different for some reason.
"Oh my gosh, is she okay?"
"Could you keep it down? Some of us are actually trying to sleep!"
"What's going on? Is someone hurt?"
"She's fine, now back off and give us some space!" The last voice is the only one that Ruby recognizes. Yang is clearly worried, but hiding it under a layer of anger. As per usual. "Ruby, Ruby wake up. It's okay, it was just a nightmare. You're okay."
Belatedly, Ruby realizes that there's a pair of hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently. She finally manages to pry her eyes open to see Yang's worried face hovering over her. "Wha-" she manages a hoarse whisper before swallowing and trying to clear her throat. "What happened?"
"You were having a nightmare," Yang explains, letting out a long breath and releasing Ruby. She runs her hands through her hair, only worsening her bed head. "Are you okay?"
"Oh," Ruby replies absently, still trying to get her bearings. She shakes her head to clear it. "Yeah, I'm fine. Like you said, it was just a nightmare."
"Are you sure?" Yang doesn't look entirely convinced. "It's been a long time since they've been this bad, and now two nights in a row?"
"Maybe it's just nerves." Ruby tries to shrug it off. "I was nervous about starting at Beacon, maybe that's what triggered it."
Truthfully, this is worse than Ruby's nightmares usually are even after everything that's happened, and she knows exactly why. She's mostly stopped reliving Pyrrha's death in her dreams, but seeing her friend alive and well had dragged all those awful memories right back to the surface. And then there's all the awful things that led up to her somehow ending up back in the past.
If she closes her eyes, she can still see Yang falling through the darkness, probably to never be seen again. She remembers her own seemingly endless fall, the bottomless feeling in her stomach. Penny fighting against the virus that was trying to control her until she seemed about to be torn apart from the inside.
Tears prick at her eyes, and Ruby tries her best to blink them away. "Hey, it's okay," Yang tells her, pulling her in for a hug. "Whatever happened, it's over now."
Her sister has always had the best, most comforting bear hugs. Ruby finds herself melting into Yang's warmth, the tension leftover from her dreams easing. "I'm sorry," she mumbles into her sister's pajamas. This time, she's going to make things right. None of those bad things are going to happen to her friends, not if she can help it."
"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Yang insists, ruffling Ruby's hair. "I just want to make sure that you're okay."
"I'm fine, really," Ruby says, smiling gratefully at her sister. And she is. She's got a second chance to help her friends. She's better than fine; she's lucky.
Except for, she realizes, all of the other students that she probably woke up with her screaming. They're not in the dorms yet, after all. There's no walls separating them from the other students.
Forget the awkward meeting with Blake earlier, this is a way worse first impression to leave on everyone. Well, nothing Ruby can do about it now. It's a good thing she's never cared too much about what most people think of her.
She'll embarrass herself a thousand times over if it means keeping everyone safe.
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