Ruby had to learn a lot and learn it fast. Fortunately, in addition to her fighting prowess, she
was a quick learner.
She learned about all the countries. They were like Remnant's kingdoms, but they didn't use
that word because it had connotations. She didn't memorize them all, of course. There were
way too many. Remnant had four. Earth had hundreds. But she remembered a few names
and a few things about them. They were in Canada. The powerful country to the south was
the United States. The other superpower was Russia. There was the United Kingdom.
France. Germany. Ukraine. Japan. Israel. Nigeria. Malaysia. So many.
She learned about race, religion, and the other lines that divided the people of Earth. With
seven billion people and hundreds of countries, she was expecting more variety. After all,
Remnant had a lot of the same stuff, and it was all mixed together in four kingdoms. But the
difference was that everything formed not-so-neat lines and people divided themselves
along them. Even though they weren't that different, they found reasons to hate.
She learned about war and conflict. How there was still fighting in the world. How wars
spanned the globe and killed millions. Horrific stories of cities being bombed to the ground,
people just murdered by advancing armies. The names they gave were too nice. World War
I. World War II. Vietnam. Gulf War. On Remnant, war was something that was fought
between armies on the battlefield. But on Earth, it happened everywhere, happened to
everyone. In some parts of the world, it was still happening. Gaza. Syria. Ukraine.
She learned what powered Earth instead of Dust. Gunpowder was used like Dust in
weapons, but that was all it did. To actually make their technology work, they had to use
other stuff. The big advance was the Industrial Revolution, when they started burning coal
and using steam. Then they started using oil, which was really valuable and wars were
fought over it. And then, just fifty years ago, they started splitting the atom. She didn't
realize atoms could be split. Maybe even the scientists on Remnant didn't know that. There
were problems with everything, and even the Earth people agreed that Dust was probably
better.
She learned about Earth's culture. Or rather, cultures. With everyone different and spread
out, everyone had their own take on things. There was so much to take in. So many books,
videos, comics, music. So much of the same stuff and so much different stuff. It was too
much for anyone, and people tended to focus on a few things that they really liked. She
found a few things she liked, too. They had fairy tales on Earth, but she still liked the ones
on Remnant better. She found herself drawn to superheroes, and joked that on Remnant,
they would just be normal heroes.
She learned how to use the Internet. It was a global network with lots of sites to visit, full of
information and entertainment and you could even buy stuff on it. They didn't have anything
like that on Remnant! There was tons of information there and you could access it from
anywhere. And then she found some really nasty stuff and she didn't want to go on the
internet anymore and she learned how to safely use the internet.
She learned why there was no school. Apparently there was something called a union, which
workers formed to get better pay and working conditions. The teachers were complaining
that they weren't getting paid enough and there weren't enough resources in the classroom.
The government was saying they couldn't spend more money without raising taxes and
cutting other services. She thought that was stupid and they should just pay the teachers
already, but maybe that's just because she didn't want to deal with angry teachers.
Life on Earth sounded both fun and boring. It sounded both easy and hard. She was both
excited and apprehensive. All in all, it was both completely the same and totally different
from Remnant.
Ruby could live here. She had to. But she swore a silent oath to herself. She would keep
looking for her friends, and she would keep looking for a way home.
ACT 2 : ICE PRINCESS
The girl was awakened by a strange voice.
"Chy ye khto tut?" the voice asked. It repeated, "Chy ye khto tut?"
She didn't understand, but the sound was enough to jolt her awake. She blinked and stood
up, gathering her surroundings. Then she blinked again. This looked like a... destroyed city.
There was dust in the air and on her jacket and skirt, which she patted off.
Absentmindedly, her hand brushed against her side. Good. It was still there. That reassured
her somewhat.
"Z vamy vse harazd?" the voice asked in what the girl assumed was the same gibberish
language. She turned and saw the owner of the voice. It was a man in green and brown
military fatigues. He was carrying some kind of rifle- some kind of crude rifle.
"What?" the girl replied, raising an eyebrow. She had never heard anyone speak that
language before.
"Yak vas zvaty?" the man asked, concerned.
"What are you saying?"
With a heavy accent, the man struggled, "What is name?"
The girl replied, "Weiss."
Cliff
Laughable Donetstk Propaganda Video Featuring Princess Anastasia
Now, usually I don't read articles with clickbait titles like that. Especially misspelled
clickbait titles. I was looking for actual news on the Ukrainian conflict, whether the
ceasefire was holding or not. But Anastasia captured a lot of hearts, and I guess one of them
was mine, because at the mention of her name I was strangely curious.
There wasn't actually an article, just the video in question. It was only three minutes long, so
what the hell. Database homework could wait. I started the video and fullscreen'd it.
At first, I thought the video was a ripoff that wasn't going to show the princess at all. It
showed two men in military fatigues, presumably pro-Russian rebels, one masked and one
not. They were standing in front of mostly-intact building, and both were carrying
Kalashnikov rifles. No Anastasia in sight. I guess they'd bring her out later, or maybe it was
just some shitty metaphor.
Maybe one of the rifles was named Princess Anastasia.
They spouted off for about a minute about the militia and how they were fighting and why
they were fighting or something like that. I wasn't actually sure, because their English wasn't
very good and I couldn't understand what they were saying.
"Now we show special person who support us," the non-masked rebel said, catching my
attention. Was the princess going to show up finally?
A girl, maybe about my age or a little younger, stepped into the frame. She was scowling
hard, and clearly was not happy to be there. Despite that, her gait was firm and dignified and
actually princess-y.
"She is Princess of Tsar," the non-masked rebel explained excitedly. More like some poor
girl you found and gave a few rubles to pretend to be your princess. And they didn't even get
the outfit right. But the demeanour wasn't bad.
Maybe she could have a future in acting.
"Anastasia." Sure, guys. Last time I checked, Princess Anastasia didn't have platinum
blonde hair. To be fair, that might have something to do with all the photos being in black
and white. Still, I was pretty sure she had darker hair.
In addition to, you know, being dead for a hundred fucking years.
"I have no idea what these dunces are talking about." I blinked, and not just because
"Anastasia" spoke clear, English with no discernible accent. The girl sounded familiar.
Before she could say anything else, they moved the camera and presumably pushed her
away outside the frame.
With the girl in the back of my mind, I watched the rest of the video. It was the usual
propaganda bullshit, talking about the injustice of the Kyiv regime, the betrayal against
ethnic Russians, the Russocentric future, the lies of the west, all in broken, heavily accented
English. I might have laughed if I wasn't still thinking about the briefly shown girl.
I seeked back and rewatched the segment that had caught my eye. "I have no idea what
these dunces are talking about."
I paused the video and stared at the still image. It was a really crappy video, taken with a
phone and probably by someone who had no idea what they were doing. Compression
artifacts and a general lack of detail made it difficult to make out much. Platinum blonde
hair in a lopsided ponytail- I think, the white balance was awful. Off-white jacket with red
inside, matching skirt. I couldn't see what she had on her feet, but it wasn't tall boots.
Fix the white balance and take away the dirt and...
"No fucking way."