And what would that be?" Sam asked.

"We go to the source," I replied simply.

"What source?" Cliff asked.

"The guys who made the show in the first place," I explained.

He raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think they would know anything?"

"I read this fanfic once, it was a Mass Effect fanfic. It was an inverted self-insert where

Shepard ended up on Earth and the self-insert found her. Most of the fic was this epic road

trip to get her to Bioware headquarters to meet Casey Hudson to find some answers. Then

there was a portal back to Mass Effect."

"We can't exactly drive down to Texas, Isaac," Cliff stated. "It'd be expensive, and since

Ruby is an unperson on Earth we'd have to smuggle her across the border. Not to mention

that we'd miss a lot of school and, in Ben's case, work."

He paused, presumably for what he thought was dramatic effect. "Besides, there's no

guarantee they'll be able to help us at all. That was a carefully crafted fanfic. This is reality,

where nothing works out."

"I think it's worth noting that Ruby Rose is standing right there," Sam interjected. "At this

point, the distinctions between reality and fiction are kind of vague."

"True," Cliff admitted. "But I don't think we should risk, you know, getting thrown in

Gitmo. And, you know, getting Ruby taken by the government."

"What if we did turn her over?" Ben asked.

"If we're gonna pursue the movie logic, then they'll probably lock her up and study her for

science or something. I don't think I could live with myself if that happened, even if they

don't kill us."

"But if you take the movie logic all the way, there would be a badass escape and no guilt on

anyone's part," I argued.

"Maybe," Cliff allowed. "But like I've said, this isn't a movie. This is real life. Which means

lots and lots of bureaucratic hoops to jump through, a media circus, five minutes of fame,

fear and infamy, and at the end nobody gets anything resembling a life."

"I feel safer with you guys," Ruby said.

"Don't worry, we're not going to turn you over to anyone," Jen reassured her, giving

everyone else a hard look.

"So, what do you think we should do?" Sam asked me.

"Well, we should at least send Monty an email," I reply. "We can describe what happened,

put in a few pictures, maybe get a little video of Ruby introducing herself, then we send it to

Monty and hope he reads it."

"Without any security?" Ben questioned.

Cliff shrugged. "Real life, remember? NSA's looking for terrorists and foreign agents, not

suspicious fan mail."

"Yeah, I agree with Cliff," I agreed. "I think it's safe."

"Then let's do it," Sam directed. He unplugged his laptop from its charging cord and took it

from the spot on Ben's counter, placing it on the table in front of Ruby. It took him about

thirty seconds to launch Thunderbird and create a new message.

"Cliff, do you want to write the message?" he asked.

Cliff glared at Sam. "I do creative writing, not business communications."

"I'll do it," I said. I leaned forward and started typing.

Dear Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum

You'll never believe what happened. We were walking through Vancouver when we found

someon we thouhtg was a RWBY cos-player. That seemed kinda aswemon so we said hi and

then found out she was relaly Ruby Rose! It sounds crazy but its true. Shes convinced us

withlack of knowledge of earth and skills that shouldn't be possible. I've attached a video of

her.

This is real and we need your help. We cant find her teammates and we dont now how to get

her back to Remannt. Maybe you can hepl us? I mean maybe its not coincindent that u made

this story and there is realy remannt and now shes hear yeah?

-Isaac Sanders, Cliff Leblanc, Samuel Georgeas, Benjamin Taylor, Jennifer O'Reilly, and

Ruby Rose

"God, Isaac, you suck at writing," Cliff muttered. I decided to be a nice guy and ignore him.

"It's the video that matters," Sam insisted. He pushed me aside and brought up webcam

software. Then he moved aside and motioned for Ruby to sit down.

"What do I do?"

"Just explain the situation as you see it." He clicked the record button.

Ruby Rose

I did the best I could at recording the message. I introduced who I was, where I was from,

who I knew, what happened on Remnant. I couldn't say how I got here, though. I know it

would help a lot if I could and I felt bad even though Isaac said it was fine. After I was done,

Isaac added some of the pictures we took with Crescent Rose and sent the message.

I wasn't really sure about what Isaac said about being able to get help from the people who

made RWBY here. I guess maybe they had some kind of connection to Remnant and that

was where they got the story. But Cliff said that just because we were a story here didn't

mean there was any connection, it could just be a quantum coincidence thingamajig.

I hoped they would know something and be able to help me. That would be good, right?

I couldn't sleep that night.

I saw my team again, in my thoughts. And I thought I could remember them yelling, me

being pulled away, panicked looks... Weiss reaching for me, Yang yelling, Blake doing

something. I don't know if it was a memory or a nightmare. But it felt scary and real.

I got pancakes again for breakfast, and I ate a lot of them. I guess what Jen said was true, or

close enough, because I needed to eat a lot before I wasn't hungry anymore. Then I waited

and read a book that Cliff said I should read. It was written in Valic, but apparently Valic is

called English here. The book was about something called a submarine and everyone had

funny names and the main character was mad so he was stealing the submarine or

something and it didn't make any sense.

It was mid-afternoon the next day, a Sunday, when Sam finally got a message back. He

didn't read it, and told Ben instead, who told Jen, who told me. An hour later, everyone was

there, and Isaac opened the message.

Isaac

I read the message again, swearing quietly under my breath.

Awesome cosplay and roleplay, guys. Best I've seen yet

-Monty

Two short sentences of nope.

"So, is that it now?" Ruby asked quietly.

"No, fuck that, we're not done yet," Sam insisted after a moment of pause. "To convince this

Monty guy, we're gonna need proof. Irrefutable proof."

"Like what?" I asked. "We already sent pictures. We even sent a short video of Ruby herself

explaining the situation. I mean, that should have been convincing-"

"This isn't Mass Effect," Cliff commented snarkily. "You can do that pretty easily. And

remember, reality is unrealistic. Going from anime to reality, nobody's guaranteed to look

the same. Ruby may look like Ruby, but she might not exactly match everyone's mental

image of her. So a vaguely Ruby vlogging is hardly conclusive evidence."

"Well, it should have been enough for them to go off of," I offered. I mean, she looked and

acted like Ruby Rose. What else did they want? "And maybe they could ask about it some

more?"

"And why would they even think that this was real?" Cliff retorted. "What's more likely,

Isaac? Some fans got together to do the best cosplay ever, or Ruby Rose actually ended up

here?"

"If they already knew that-"

"Damn it, Cliff, you're assuming that they know anything at all!" Cliff shouted at me. "Drop

that assumption. Drop that fucking assumption right the fuck now."

"You shouldn't swear in front of Ruby," Jen said, but I don't think Cliff heard her.

"Guys," Sam interrupted. "Guys, calm the fuck down."

"I'm not assuming too much, you're just refusing to consider that other people might be able

to help us!" I shout back, anger beginning to boil.

"Fuck you!" Cliff yelled. I backed away and found myself against the counter with a pissed

off Cliff about to drive his fist into my face.

Then Ruby stepped between us, pushing us apart with ease. "Why are you fighting?"

"Because Cliff is an asshole!" I shouted, finally sick and tired of dealing with his shit.

"Because Isaac is a fucking moron!" Cliff roared back at me.

"You're friends, aren't you? You're bickering like silly children!" Was I being lectured by

Ruby Rose? This was definitely activating some strange portions of my brain, some more

pleasant than others.

"Isaac, you have to understand that it's hard to believe that all this is real. When I came here,

I couldn't believe it was real, and I went through it."

She turned to Cliff. "Cliff, you have to assume that the Rooster Teeth people know what's

happening and just don't want to tell anyone until you know for sure that they don't."

Ruby stepped back. "Now apologize and hug."

"Seriously?"

She folded her arms. "Yes."

Cliff sighed.

I sighed.

He drew me into a manly bear-hug and pounded me on the back. That hurt, but oddly not as

much as where Ruby pushed against my sternum. "Sorry, man."

"Hey, we're all stressed. Burned out. It's been a busy week."

"No shit."

There was a pregnant pause. Finally, I pointed and said quietly, "Tell me that's not Ruby

Rose."

Cliff sighed. "I'm not the one who needs convincing."

I glared at him, "Then figure out how to convince Monty."

Cliff waved his hand. "Well that's easy. Who can fight like Ruby?"

I glared at him. Seriously, why didn't he just say that earlier?

"I am an awesome fighter!" Ruby said enthusiastically, miming some fighting actions. Did

she just go from mature leader mode to kid in the space of thirty seconds

"Nobody. Well, nobody on Earth," Cliff continued, ignoring her. "We film Ruby doing her

thing. That's pretty hard to refute."

"It could still be a fake," Ben muttered.

"What's more likely? Nobodies with a massive CGI budget or Ruby Rose actually being

here?" Cliff asked, then replied to himself, "Actually, it's still the CGI. But it's worth a shot."

"Agreed," Sam concluded. "Ben, get your camera and tripod. Let's do this."

Ruby Rose

"Wonderful, an overgrown, abandoned field," Cliff muttered as Ben fiddled with the camera.

I'd changed back into my fighting outfit and I was carrying Crescent Rose again. I was Ruby

Rose and I had to look like Ruby Rose.

"Okay, so Sam and Jen are setting up targets," Isaac explained. "You need to fight them like

you would the Grimm. Use your weapon- transforming it if you can- and your semblance,

and if you can show it, your Aura too. Ben will film the whole thing, and hopefully that will

convince Monty that you're the real deal."

"Ammo," Cliff mentioned.

"What about it?" I asked.

"You probably won't be able to get any more here," he replied. "Maybe you can get

something that will work, but it won't be exactly the same. And if Crescent Rose breaks, you

might not be able to fix it either."

I ignored that he called my precious it and focused on the rest of what he had to say. I guess

it made sense. With no Dust or anything like it, I wouldn't have anything to work with.

"So I shouldn't use Crescent Rose?" I asked.

Isaac told me, "No, you have to use Crescent Rose, that's practically part of who you are.

Just don't use too much ammo."

"Targets are ready!" Sam shouted from the other side of the field, before sprinting toward us

with Jen behind him. It took them a while. I guess Earth humans are just slow.

"Ben, are you rolling?" Sam asked, moving behind him.

After a brief pause and a beeping noise, he replied, "I am now."

"Isaac?"

Isaac stepped in front of the camera and did this goofy wave. "Hi, I'm Isaac, with me are

Cliff and Jen, with Sam and Ben behind the camera. Say hi, guys."

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Okay, Ruby, step out and stand over here, please."

I did what Isaac said, smiling and waving at the camera. It wasn't natural for me, not like it

would be for Weiss or Pyrrha. It was making me nervous, but I was already kind of numb

just from being here. "Hi, I'm Ruby Rose!"

"Ruby is going to demonstrate that she's actually the real Ruby by doing stuff that's

impossible for normal people to do on Earth."

"No CGI, no wires, no special effects," Cliff added.

"No, none of that. Everything you're about to see is real."

"Ruby," Sam nodded to me. I nodded back.

Even though it was just wooden targets, fighting was a blur. I always remembered the

feelings way more than what I actually did. I just kind of settled into a natural rhythm, I

guess. Uncle Qrow said that was normal for any really good fighter, which made me feel

good and proud.

I started by zipping toward the targets using my semblance to go really fast. I remember

blowing one to pieces with a bullet, and shattering another one by hitting it with the back

end of Crescent Rose. I remember leaping into the air and propelling myself up and

dropping down on one of the targets, protecting myself with my Aura. I remember

shattering at least three of them with Crescent Rose. It was quick and it was easy, nothing

like hunting Grimm at all, but I had to pretend they were Grimm so it would look right.

When I finished, I stepped back in front of the camera, struck a pose with Crescent Rose,

and took a bow. My impromptu audience was speechless.

"Well, that was pretty fucking impressive," Sam finally said. "Let's just hope this Monty guy

is just as impressed."