With the aid of the warp gummi, Sora, Ruby, and their entourage of world traveling friends reached the sanctuary world of Traverse Town. As they entered the front gates leading to the first district, they immediately relaxed at the familiar, welcoming sight of the Victorian architecture and starlit sky.
"Whooaaa. So this is where you and Yang ended up, Ruby?" Nora said, having not seen it until now. "Yup. It's also where I met Sora, Donald, and Goofy." Ruby said with a cheerful nod. Even Ren seemed impressed, though he was much more subtle about it. "It's nice." he said with a small smile and nod.
As they looked around, something caught Jaune's eyes. "Hey guys, look over there." Everyone followed where he pointed and saw a building up the stairway to the right of Cid's accessory shop. "Was that shop there always open?" Pyrrha asked aloud. Sora, Ruby, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other, not remembering seeing that particular building being open the last time they were here. "I...don't think so." Blake said with a shrug. "Well we got time while resupplying, so let's check it out!" Yang suggested with a cheerful smile.
"We aren't here to sight-see. We need to resupply." As usual, Donald had to be the wet blanket of the group. "Aww, come on Donald, I'm sure there's no harm in havin' a little fun while we're here. After all, we've been fightin' quite a lot lately. We could use a break, dont'cha think?" Goofy's suggestion irritated Donald who was clearly still completely focused on finding the King. Everyone else however...was far more attracted to the captain of the guard's suggestion. Even Weiss. "Well...I suppose it wouldn't hurt. But we'd better get our supplies when we're done." Weiss said, deciding not to argue against it. Donald let out a sigh of defeat as he said, "Fine. Let's go." And up the stairs they went.
"We should also visit Merlin and give him those pages." Sora said as he led the way to the new shop. "Oh yeah! Maybe we can fix Pooh's book now! And it's all thanks to you, Zwei. Aren't you just such a good boy?" she said adoringly, earning a cheerful bark from the little corgi. He wasn't aware of what he truly helped with, but he was being called a good boy, so that was more than enough reason for him to be happy.
As the group arrived at the new building, Sora pushed the door opened to find himself greeted by an unexpected sight. A familiar old woodcarver and his wooden son! "Sora. It's so good to see you again."
"Mister Geppetto!?" Sora asked as Jiminy joyfully hopped out the boy's hood and onto his shoulder. "You're here?" The older man smiled and nodded as he explained. "Yes. So is Pinocchio. Figaro and Cleo, too," Sure enough, not only was Pinocchio here, but so was the little black and white cat and the goldfish. "Why don't you all come in? I just finished making some snacks for us all. Don't worry, there's plenty."
The group all looked with one another with expressions ranging from surprise to relief. They weren't expecting to see him or Pinocchio here, but at the very least they were being greeted with familiar, friendly faces. "Hi Sora. Hi Jiminy." Pinocchio said, waving to them from his seat at the table.
As Zwei entered, his ears perked up when he saw Figaro...who was not as excited to see the corgi looking at him. Zwei gave a cheerful bark as he started to bound toward Figaro, who gave a frightened meow, scrambling up toward a shelf. "Zwei, no!" Yang yelled out, barely managing to reach out and grab the corgi in her arms. "Zwei, bad dog!" Weiss said, wagging her finger at the corgi's attempt to chase after the cat. Zwei looked up at her letting out a sad, guilty whimper. "Oh...it's okay. I love you." Weiss said, unable to stop herself from crumbling before Zwei. Figaro meanwhile let out a nervous meow as he looked down at Zwei. Blake shuffled beside the cat, whispering to him, "I know, right?" The two felines looked at each other with a knowing nod, looking toward their mutual enemy.
But after that little silly moment over with, Jaune cleared his throat and chose to ask the question on everyone's minds. "So Monstro sneezed you all to Traverse Town? How'd you get yourself this shop?" "A man named Leon helped us. He even got us this house to live in." Geppetto explained. Everyone looked around the place and saw various wood carvings with painstaking detail similarly to Pinocchio. A testament to Geppetto's talent. "Wow. These are beautiful." Pyrrha said, looking upon a myriad of beautifully carved wooden clocks lining the walls. "You really made all of these yourself?" Weiss asked, impressed. "Eheh. Well yes. This is my life's work. Say, I hear you're all fighting the Heartless. Pinocchio and I can't thank you enough. We'll do anything we can to help you." Geppetto said, smiling fondly at his wooden son who smiled back at his father.
Everyone couldn't help but smile at the sight of the father and son pair, especially Jiminy, who felt especially relieved that they managed to save Pinocchio. "Well I'm glad you guys managed to get here safely. I know Blake certainly didn't have a whale of a time~" Yet another pun by Yang, and one that got Blake glaring at her. Everyone else groaned with disapproval. "Oh, I get it! A-hyuck!" Except for Goofy who only made Donald sigh. Though Geppetto and Pinocchio couldn't help letting out some laughs of their own. A victory for Yang!
But amidst that joy, there was...a very wistful expression on Ruby's face. One that grew all the more painful as her eyes fixed upon the cheerful Pinocchio. And though everyone else missed it, Sora noticed a tear streaking down her cheek. As did Geppetto and Pinocchio who both stopped laughing at the sight. Sora's joyful expression also turned to one of concern, noticing the faraway and regretful expression joining the wistfulness in her eyes. "Ruby?"
"W-What?" Ruby snapped out of her thoughts, faintly registering the moisture on her cheek and wiping it away. Everyone else stopped laughing as well when they realized Ruby wasn't laughing...or even smiling. "Ms. Ruby? What's the matter?" Pinocchio asked with innocent concern. An expression which made the pang in Ruby's heart stronger. His expression...it was so much like hers. By now, her friends and teammates certainly noticed it. Though Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy weren't sure what brought this on, the other huntresses and huntsmen began putting the pieces together. "N-Nothing, just..." It was too much to ignore. The tears were starting to flow from her eyes again. "...s-sorry, I've gotta go." The faintly growing tremble in her voice was audible as suddenly she suddenly turned on her heels and bolted out the door.
"Ruby?! Wait!" Sora exclaimed in surprise as he rushed out the door after her. Everyone quickly followed after him, though Pyrrha stayed behind, bowing apologetically to their aged host. "I'm sorry. It was very good to see you again Mister Geppetto. Take care." The older man blinked with confusion, unable to fathom what came over the poor girl. "Erm, yes. Take care as well. Let the others know they can come here any time. And...do find the poor girl as quickly as you can." he said. "I will. Bye." Pyrrha said, turning on her heels and following the others. Pinocchio could only stare at the door with an expression of confusion and concern. "Ms. Ruby..." He had no idea why she suddenly became so sad.
"Where did she go?" Yang asked, frantically looking around for her sister. "We don't know. Sora said he thought he saw her go toward the alleyway, but when he got there, she was gone." Goofy said with worry and a genuine expression of sorrow and worry. Something that was not often seen on his usually cheerful, optimistic face. "Ugh! That dolt! We don't have time to be searching the town for her!" Weiss complained, if only to hide how incredibly worried she was. "Weiss, that isn't the issue here." Blake said, frowning at the insensitive prioritization the Schnee heiress seemed to have.
"We've got to find her." Sora said, clenching his hands. He had no idea what was plaguing her, but he couldn't bear the idea of Ruby being so sad and alone. "Well fortunately, there's only so many places in this town she could have gone. It should be easy finding her." Weiss said after taking a breath to calm herself.
"If we split up, we can cover more ground." Jaune suggested as he began sorting the search parties. "Sora, Donald and Goofy, check the second second district. Weiss, Blake and Yang, search the third district and Merlin's home. Nora and Ren, you keep searching here in the first district. Pyrrha and I will go look for her in the hotel, inside and out." Everyone nodded one group after another, and with their groups assigned, they separated and began the search. They could only hope Ruby hadn't gotten far.
However, after everyone scattered, just as Sora was about to run off with Donald and Goofy, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. For the briefest moment, he saw somebody go through the doors leading second district. Somebody he had been desperately searching for. There she was...once again! "Kairi?!"
Donald and Goofy stopped in their tracks when they heard Sora's voice. They looked back to Sora...only to glance to each other in confusion after looking where he looked. They had no idea what he was looking at or what he was on about this time, but they didn't have time to think about it. For a moment later, they were taken off guard by the sight of Sora practically charging through the second district doors. "Sora?!" "Wait for us!" Donald and Goofy yelled respectively, rushing after him. First Ruby now Sora? What had come over the two of them!?
They didn't know that the red caped huntress had taken refuge under the bell that revealed the Keyhole of Traverse Town, curled up in the fetal position as she sniffled and whimpered to herself. The memories had been flowing back to her ever since she met Pinocchio in Traverse Town, but when they met him and Geppetto inside of Monstro, she found herself unable to help thinking about...her. And seeing them again like this, so happy to be with each other, she couldn't hold it back. Their first meeting, the innocently chipper salutation, the rather slightly enthusiasm, the secret she revealed when she saved Ruby's life, the talk of her father who built her and cared about her more than anything, and...that fateful day at the Vytal tournament. Pinocchio and Geppetto. Was this what it would have been like for her and her own father were she still alive? She couldn't bear the painful thought as the tears flowed from her eyes, a single name escaping her grief stricken voice.
"Penny..."
"Ruby?"
The silence that was filled only with Ruby's grief was soon joined by a voice that startled her. Ruby frantically looked around, eyes red and moist from crying. When she didn't see anyone, she wondered if she was imagining things. But all it took was a downward look to see why she didn't see anyone at first. The voice belonged to Jiminy, who was standing beside her.
"Jiminy? H...How did you find me?" she asked, voice trembling noticeably. "We crickets can hop far and high, so catching up to you was easy." Jiminy's attempt to lighten the mood was...not that effective. But it didn't stop him from explaining further. "When you ran out Geppetto's home, everyone else ran out trying to find you. For a brief moment, I saw a trail of rose petals heading to the second district. At first I was gonna tell Sora and the others, but I had a hunch you were too distraught to talk to all of them about it." He hopped onto Ruby's knee, looking up at her with a gentle expression bereft of judgement. "What's on your mind?"
Though she was grateful to have such caring friends, and one as insightful as Jiminy with her, Ruby was still hesitant. Jiminy could see how deep that hesitation ran as she simply pulled her legs up against her body even tighter, tearful silver eyes looking to the side. Pensive as Jiminy felt, he smiled as reassuringly as he could, speaking in a soft tone. "You don't have to worry. It's just you and me right now. And Jiminy Cricket always has an ear to lend to those who need guidance. You can trust me, Ruby. Not to brag, but I'm a very good listener and I've got a lots of positive wisdom to share." A sentiment he shared with a chipper twirl of his cane and tip of his hat.
Ruby's silver eyes turned back to him, seeing the warm smile on the cricket's face. She couldn't help grinning a little at the sight. She couldn't deny was something comforting about his demeanor that made her feel like she really could share her sorrows with him. Perhaps that's why he was Pinocchio's conscience? "Okay. Thanks Jiminy," she finally said before taking a deep breath. "It was about my world, Remnant...And about one of my friends from it."
"A friend of yours, huh?" Jiminy said, sitting down on her kneecap as he gave Ruby his full attention. "Who is this friend? And what do they have to do with why you ran off?"
Ruby paused for a moment before explaining. "Her...name was Penny. She was...well, I met her out of sheer coincidence around the time that my friends and I first discovered Blake was a faunus. She was really...enthusiastic to meet new people, to put it simply. I wasn't really sure how to deal with her, really. She saved my life a few times, actually. In fact, it was around the second time she saved me that I learned something...important about her." Jiminy nodded silently as he listened more intently. "She and I were running from a pair of soldiers from Atlas, the most advanced and populous city of Remnant. I tried to carry her in my arms before using my Semblance, but she ended up being way heavier than she looked. I ended up stumbling and falling into the road, right in the path of a truck." That detail shocked Jiminy, but he remained silent as Ruby continued. "But just as I was about to be run over, Penny dashed in front of me and stopped it dead in its tracks with her bare hands."
Of course now, Jiminy couldn't help but comment at that particular part. "My goodness. She sounds even stronger than Yang and Nora." Ruby simply gave small nod before continuing. "Mm...Maybe. But when she realized the attention she drew, she ran into an alley and I ran after her. When I tried asking her what all that was about, what was going on, how she did that, stuff like that, she tried to tell me everything was fine...oddly hiccuping for some reason whenever she did. But she eventually shared what all that was about when she showed me her hands after stopping that truck. Underneath her skin was...metal. Robotics. She told me...she wasn't a real girl."
A light of realization began to show in Jiminy's eyes. He was starting to connect the dots between why she reacted in such ways around Pinocchio, even more so when Geppetto came into the picture. "Oh my...So that's why you said her name when we were inside Monstro. Pinocchio reminded you of Penny."
"Wait...I said that out loud?" Ruby said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. She found herself letting out a huffing, self-deprecating laugh of defeat as she lowered her head. "But...Yeah. Penny came to my mind when Riku kept calling Pinocchio a puppet...implying that he wasn't real...like Penny believed she was." Jiminy hummed in thought before looking to her again. "Well that certainly explains THAT incident. But why are you out here now, all by yourself? What happened to Penny" Ruby's brow furrowed once more and her lips began quivering. "Because... Penny... the last time I saw her, she... she..."
Her face was in her arms once more, muffled sobs escaping her as the dam broke. It was then Jiminy realized what Ruby couldn't bring herself to say. Penny was...no longer around. He hung his head in sorrow before hopping to her left shoulder, placing his tiny hand upon her tear soaked cheek. "I see...To think, you've been holding in all this pain. You're such a sweet young lady." His words made Ruby look to him in confusion. "Wh...What do you mean?" she asked, voice strained from crying. "Somebody like you is genuinely rare, Ruby. All that honesty, understanding, and compassion. You should be proud of how wonderful a heart you have. I'm sure your other friends believe so, too. I know Geppetto and Pinocch do after all you've done for them."
Despite the painful thoughts about Penny still haunting her mind and heart, Ruby couldn't help listening to Jiminy's encouragement. "You...You think so?" she asked, earning a smile and a nod, both filled to the brim with certainty. "Absolutely. I won't ask you to explain yourself to your friends like you have for me. But Ruby...you should consider being true to yourself. Heart alone may not change the worlds. But you must have heart in order to make the change possible. And the best way to do that...is being as true to your heart as possible. Even with the sad things."
She wasn't entirely sure what he meant but Ruby couldn't deny she started to feel better. She smiled and stood, looking to Jiminy with an appreciative smile. "Thanks Jiminy. You really are a good listener."
Together they walked out from the bell tower and across the rooftops, hoping she'd be able to find her friends who were no doubt searching for her this very moment.
