"If this is your idea of fun, I'm concerned for your mental fortitude." Weiss scoffed.
Yang playfully jabbed her with her elbow. "C'mon! Don't be such a party pooper! It is fun, just try it!"
Blake looked up from her book for a second while Ruby giggled.
"I bet you can't beat me!" Ruby said in between giggles, twirling the game controller in her hands.
"Fine, I'll play with you. But only because you wouldn't stop bothering me." Weiss said, rolling her eyes.
"That's the spirit!" Yang exclaimed, patting the white-haired girl's shoulder. Weiss grabbed the player two controller and sat down next to Ruby. She stared at the screen as the computerized voice yelled "fight!" signaling the start of a new match.
—-
Ruby awoke from her dream with a start. She wasn't dead? She looked at her surroundings. She was in a small room, gray all around her. The walls were made of thick concrete. The entire place smelled of must, mold, and metal. She was laying on a grimy old couch, complete with a delightfully tacky orange color. Across from the couch sat the two CP officers that assaulted her, facing away and typing at some sort of computer terminal.
Ruby was confused. This certainly wasn't in any Civil Protection holding center, but she didn't feel entirely safe either. But something about these officers seemed different from the countless others she saw in City 28. They had a strange vibe to them, one of calmness and almost familiarity.
One of the officers heard Ruby shifting around and poked the shoulder of the officer to their left. They both turned around.
"Looks like you're finally awake." The one on the left said, voice modulated by the mask.
At this moment, Ruby realized she wasn't restrained. She sat upright, rubbing her head as it throbbed in pain. "What is this? Why am I here?"
The officers looked at each other and without a word, began to remove their masks. Ruby eyes widened immediately, and her face went pale as a sheet.
The officers had… familiar features to say the least. The one on the left had a full head of fiery blonde hair, while the one on the right had dark hair and a set of cat ears.
"Blake… Yang…" Ruby choked out, tears filling her eyes and streaming down her face. "Y-you're alive…"
Yang smiled widely while Blake simply nodded.
"Sorry for knocking you out. We couldn't risk having our location being discovered. I hope I didn't hurt you too badly." Yang flashed an apologetic smile and scratched the back of her head.
Ruby was too busy bawling her eyes out to take note of this.
"But man, you don't know what we had to do to get you out of there. Infiltrating the CPs was Blake's plan, and a good one at that, but it still took a while. Did you know that CP officers have beating quotas?" Yang rattled on. While she was clearly happy about finally getting Ruby, she was disturbed about what she had to do while serving as a Civil Protection officer.
Blake put her hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I'm sorry it took us so long. But today was the best opportunity in years.
Ruby's crying slowed down just enough to ask a question. "You were alive the whole time, and you were trying to get me out?" She wiped her eyes.
Yang nodded. "Yep. It took us five years, but we managed to catch up with you. I'm glad the Combine couldn't get to you first.."
"Where even am I?" Ruby asked, calming down at the sight of her sister and her old friend.
"This is the underground railroad, in the most literal sense. We set up shop in the old subway system under Vale to smuggle citizens and faunus out of City 28." Blake explained the situation.
"We? You mean, the Resistance?" Ruby asked, her curiosity rising by the second.
Blake nodded. "Yes. We've been working tirelessly to try to break the Combine's grip over Remnant." Her ears drooped in disappointment. "We've had limited success."
"But with you here, things are starting to look up!" Yang interjected, her usual cheerful self shining through the situation.
Ruby nods, and for the first time in seven long years, she genuinely smiles. "I'm ready to help out the Resistance however I can!" She pumped her arms.
Blake smiled at this. "I'm happy to see your enthusiasm return. We have important things to do."
"What do we need to do?" Ruby smiled and cocked her head.
Blake typed on the keyboard, which brought up a map of Vale. She pointed to a big gray blob. "That's what once was the City of Vale. It's now known as City 28." She traced her finger to a small red dot on the coast nearby. "That's Evergreen Point. It's a resistance stronghold in the area."
"I need to head there?" Ruby asked, a smile creeping across her face.
Blake nodded. "There's an old radio tower there that we're trying to get up and running. If we can get it to work, we can not only spread our message across Vale, we can scramble Combine transmittons across the entire area, leaving them in the dark."
Ruby nodded and smiled. "Okay, sounds easy enough! I can do that!" Yang winced at this while Blake shook her head.
"It's different now. Not only is the place crawling with grimm, the Combine managed to weaponize them and make them even more aggressive. On top of that, there's White Fang gangs that go around and lynch any human they come across." Blake sighed and closed her eyes.
"The White Fang is still around? I thought faunus were forced back into slavery?" Ruby cocked her head, confused by this fact.
"The White Fang still exists, but not as they did before the Fall. They're more like a group of raiders or bandits, who kill people that leave the cities and take their loot. The Combine keeps them around because they add an extra layer of danger for people who dare leave the cities, and they sow even more division between people and faunus." Yang interjected.
"As I'm sure you've noticed, the Combine have put in place a 'pacification field' across the entirety of Remnant. It cripples your aura and prevents you from using your semblance. You'll have to rely on old fashioned fighting skills to survive." Blake explained the situation. This was not good. Semblances are vital to fighting and surviving.
"Oh…" Ruby's smile fell. She felt dejected, but not hopeless. In fact, it was as if a sudden burst of hope had entered her body as soon as she woke up.
"This feeling. I feel hopeful. I haven't felt this way in years. I've never seen it on anyone else's face. But you guys seem so full of it. Why is that?" Ruby questioned. It had been so long, the sensation was almost alien to her.
Blake signed. "The Combine… they drug the citizenry. They use the extract from something called an "apathy grimm" to keep the populace hopeless and complacent. It's in the food and water they ration out in the cities."
Ruby's eyes widened at this horrifying thought. "They use grimm extract… to drug people… and keep them complacent?!" This thought made her sick to her stomach.
"But check this out!" Yang's energy broke up the tension in the room. She handed Ruby a bottle of pills. "Medicine that prevents the apathy from affecting you. Take one pill before you a meal or a drink, and you'll be fine!"
Ruby stared at the bottle. It was full of circular, chalky white pills. "Pills that prevent the apathy… how did you get this?" Ruby stared in confusion.
"They're given out to Civil Protection officers monthly. One of our associates managed to reverse engineer them and produce them for the Resistance." Blake stated, matter-of-factly.
"So be sure to loot them off of any CPs you find! And I'm sure the Resistance at Evergreen Point will give them out too!" Yang said with a smile. Her energy was truly contagious, and it caused Ruby to smile herself.
Blake got up from her seat, and walked to the other side of the room. She opened a green metal cabinet, and retrieved two items from them. She put them on the couch next to Ruby. "I believe you dropped these back at Beacon."
Ruby's eyes got so wide Yang thought they would pop out of her head. A massive smile painted Ruby's face. The two things in front of her were none other than her old huntress uniform, and Crescent Rose, her signature weapon.
"You found these?!" Ruby was practically jumping up and down from excitement.
Yang nodded. "The uniform is a recreation, but we managed to find Crescent Rose before City 28 was established. We've held it here for years, waiting for you to come back."
Ruby was crying yet again, tears of joy. "Thank you… thank you so much…"
"I will warn you Ruby, the road ahead is perilous. You will have to kill people. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Your goal right now is to head to Evergreen and get that radio tower functional." Blake said, her no-nonsense attitude shining through.
"You won't be coming with me?" Ruby asked, disappointed that she'll have to leave her friends all ready.
"Me and Blake have to stay here and help more people escape. When the radio goes online, we'll be able to connect to Evergreen and give you your next assignment. Don't worry though, we'll see you again soon enough." Yang stated, with a smile. Ruby couldn't help but smile too.
"You'll have to walk the rails to get there. Get out at the stop marked with the number 12. Don't worry too much though, all the trains are offline, so there's no fear about being hit by one." Blake stated, clicking a button on the keyboard that turned off the screen. "We'll turn our backs, so you can get dressed in your uniform." Blake said. Both her and Yang turned their backs to Ruby.
As the girls turned their backs, Ruby slipped out of her itchy citizen's uniform and into the much more comfortable huntress uniform. Blake and Yang turned back to face Ruby. Blake smiled and Yang gave a thumbs up.
"Looking good, Rubes!" Yang smiled. That nickname took Ruby way back, to the days of Beacon, before the Combine. It made her smile with joy.
Understanding her assignment, Ruby left the room without a word and walked onto the decommissioned track. For the first time in seven long years, Ruby felt like a huntress again.
With a long lost spring in her step, she marched forwards, heading towards Evergreen Point.