Speed, while an imperative, was not very high up on the list of priorities for Ruby. And as much as Cinder wanted to continue moving further and further away from their crash site, neither of them had the energy to continue moving for long.
"I suppose," Cinder panted, letting Ruby slide off of her shoulders, "That it would not hurt to build shelter for the night now. Exhausting ourselves now would do nothing but endanger ourselves further."
Ruby didn't bother replying, simply rolling over and trying her best to regain her breath. Moving with a broken leg and weighed down by a malfunctioning Crescent Rose was more taxing than she could've thought. Not to mention the random headaches, as well as her vision constantly moving in and out of focus. If she wasn't so wiped out, she would've been worried.
Camp was simultaneously straightforward, and incredibly complicated.
Without any supplies to construct a decent camp, the two of them had to rely on anything that they could salvage around in the forest, managing a makeshift bed that would barely cover the length of Cinder's body when she laid on it. Fire was impossible, and ill-advised. The two of them agreed fairly quickly that anything that could attract Grimm would be out of the question, neither of them confident in their abilities to handle the emotionless death machines.
Especially as they realized that something was wrong with their Auras.
Aura recovery was something that Huntresses learned about at an early age, as it was essential to knowing how far they could really push themselves before they needed to flee to safety, and for about how long they would be taken out of a fight if their reserves were depleted. It didn't take very long for someone to learn how to feel for their reserves, and while they couldn't figure out how much Aura they had in concrete terms, every Huntsman knew their levels if they were able to take the time to peer inwards and check.
Even after several hours of strained hiking, Ruby's Aura should've been back by now.
She couldn't sense it at all.
The lack of Aura, as well as any attempts to try and hide it from Cinder, was suffocating. Had whatever happened to them in Beacon's clocktower affected their Aura in some way? Was she completely Aura-less now? A regular civilian with a broken leg that, if she could remember correctly from something she had read on her scroll years ago, would take weeks to heal? That's not speaking of her fighting capabilities. Crescent Rose was built for an Aura capable human. The sniper rounds kicked harder than any traditional civilian ammunition and could potentially harm or kill someone who was unprepared for the recoil. And while the scythe was deceptively lighter than one would imagine for how large the weapon was (thank you Uncle Qrow, for the help in properly balancing the weapon), one miscalculated swing could overextend Ruby in ways that could potentially be fatal for someone without any Aura.
Ruby glanced over at Cinder, who had walked stiffly towards a tree to inspect it.
The woman was still in great pain, Ruby could tell. It came out with every step, every word, every BREATH that Cinder took. Aura should be alleviating that kind of pain, and it didn't seem like that was happening. Although Ruby was forced to consider that she had never seen the extentt of injury from anyone else before, and that there was a chance that Aura was helping simply keep the woman alive at this point.
For what felt like the hundredth time since she had woken up today, her head began to remind her that it was still there, and very unhappy with its current conditions.
"I will take first watch."
Ruby's head snapped up at that, staring at the other woman. Even with only one eye, the gaze was chilling as she stared back.
If Cinder wanted to, she could kill Ruby right now. She probably wouldn't.
But sleeping would make that easier though.
Trying to shove her paranoia down was difficult, or impossible, depending on who was asking. But there were facts to try and consider.
Cinder could've killed her earlier. But she didn't. Because she needed Ruby.
If Ruby kept reminding herself of that, then maybe she would start to believe it herself.
"I don't mind taking first watch." Ruby tried to offer something of a compromise to the other woman, who didn't answer right away, instead continuing to stare at the younger girl.
The silence got to a point where Ruby almost decided to backtrack before Cinder gave her a sharp dip of her chin, limping over to the pile of leaves and kneeling onto the makeshift bed that they had crafted, exhaling slowly.
She laid Milo on the ground beside her before turning over on her good side, eye closing as she tried to fall asleep.
Ruby stared at Cinder, watching her side rise and fall in a slow, shuddering manner. She glanced at Milo, a broken form of what it once was, lying next to the woman who had killed its master.
Her hands gripped around Crescent Rose, wondering if Cinder would even be able to do anything if Ruby unfolded her weapon and stuck the pointy end into her right now.
She exhaled slowly, closing her eyes to help drown out the dull throb that decided to relocate itself in the back of her nose. The headache, she decided, wasn't natural.
What happened?
Ruby asked the question no less than a hundred times today, but trying to understand exactly what happened to the two of them was like trying to dig through diamond. Her memories were there, she could feel it, but thinking was impossible, and heavily discouraged by the crackling headaches that surrounded her mind.
Gently, Ruby tapped the back of her head against the trunk that she was resting on, preferring the sharp pain to the dull ache.
What was going to happen to her and Cinder? They would work together for now, that much was clear, and only reinforced by the olive branch that Cinder offered, trusting her enough to fall asleep first, even if she made sure that her back wasn't turned to Ruby. The bigger question would be if the pair would make it through the Emerald Forest with each other's aid.
"Cinder."
The woman opened her eye, still alert.
"How much do you remember?" Ruby asked. "I... neither of us are exactly sure what happened during that fight and how we ended up there. And..." Ruby let out a sigh. "I don't like you very much. But we need to get to the bottom of this. Because there's a lot wrong with-with me, and I need to know if it's just me."
Ruby searched for a hint of anger, or violence in Cinder's face.
One wrong move, and I'll kill her, Ruby decided. Even if I die here, at least I'll take a monster out with me.
"I remember that my name is Cinder." The woman sat up slowly, crossing her legs slowly and resting her blackened arm in her lap. "I remember fighting for something that mattered to me a lot. I remembered killing someone." Ruby shuddered. "And I remember... I remember feeling scared." She confessed, glancing away. "Like something I've worked a very long time for was snatched away at the last second."
A guilty thrill ran across Ruby's spine. Something happened when Ruby arrived, and it ruined Cinder's plan.
Good.
"There's something wrong with me." She raised her singed eyebrow at Ruby. "Although that much I'm sure you could tell."
"How bad is it?" Ruby asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
Cinder answered with a shrug, gesturing towards the arm all the way up to her shoulder. "I can't feel it. I can't really move it." She touched her covered eye. "I'm sure that I've lost my eye as well." She gripped her neck, squeezing tightly. "My throat is recovering, which I suppose is a blessing." She moved her hand back to her knee, piercing Ruby with her look.
"I am not sure if my Aura is gone forever or gone at the moment, but it has not recovered yet. And that is concerning."
Ruby nodded, relief flooding her body.
"I'm not getting anything there either," She admitted, "Hopefully it's just recovering really slowly."
Cinder nodded.
Okay.
Progress.
Ruby'll take it.
"What's your name?" Cinder asked.
Ruby looked at the woman, debating on whether or not to lie. Would it matter? Would the lie do anything while the two of them were stuck in the middle of nowhere?
"Pyrrha. My name is Pyrrha."
Ruby had thought that changing shifts would be more difficult, and that she would've been too paranoid to fall asleep properly, but the last twelve hours had taken more of a toll on her body than she thought, falling into a slumber deep enough that no dreams came to her, one minute closing her eyes and the next getting shaken awake by a pale Cinder, the start of a sunrise peeking through the trees that were sheltering them.
"It's time to move."
Without a camp to break, Cinder and Ruby simply started moving, doing their best to move in a straight line. The Emerald Forest wasn't endless, and they would find the edge of it eventually. Ruby just had to hope that the edge that they found was the one nearer to civilization.
The journey happened through multiple breaks, doing their best to recover their stamina and plan out the next direction to head. Twice they had to double back and make detours after hearing or seeing signs of roaming Grimm.
But there was good news.
It was unexpected, but the surprise was welcome when Ruby felt her Aura spark, releasing a small trickle into her system. The feeling of her Aura returning even in the smallest of amounts was enough to give her goosebumps, and judging from the sharp inhale from Cinder, she had felt a similar rush.
Their Aura returning was enough of a morale booster that they were able to keep up a particularly brutal pace, until Ruby shook her head, sweat pouring from her body as she collapsed onto her knees with a groan.
"No... no more."
Far from disagreeing, Cinder gracefully accepted the impromptu call for a cease, sliding into a sitting position a few feet away from Ruby.
"We've... we've made good enough progress, I suppose." Cinder swiped at her forehead. "This is as good of a place to set camp as any."
Setting up camp the second time was faster than the first, allowing them to seriously have a discussion as the two of them sat around a decayed tree trunk.
"Fire would not be a good idea. And even if it was, there isn't really a way for us to start one." Cinder paused thoughtfully. "Unless one of your rounds contained some fire dust that we can use."
Ruby shook her head. "Unfortunately not."
"Then this conversation means nothing. The night is cold, yes, but we are conveniently exhausted enough that we do not have any trouble sleeping. If we were faced with some matter of needing to make food, perhaps the conversation would be more imperative."
The reminder of their lack of food caused Ruby's stomach to grumble loudly, setting off a reaction from Cinder's stomach. The two of them looked at their stomachs, then back to each other.
"That's next on the list of priorities, I suppose." Cinder decided. "Without knowing how much distance we're covering, or how far away civilization is, it would be foolhardy for the two of us to spend more days traveling with nothing to sustain ourselves."
Ruby nodded.
"I suppose we have an advantage in that regard, for once. I assume that you're a good enough shot to take down an animal with that sniper?"
"I am. But we might have a problem with that." Cinder raised an eyebrow as Ruby continued to explain. "Crescent Rose isn't built as hunting rifle. It's designed to take down Grimm. The caliber that's needed to do so means that unless if I shoot at anything that isn't a Grimm or someone with Aura, it's more likely that I, uh... pasteifiy it."
Cinder's expression soured.
"Also, a shot like that's going to attract a lot of attention. And not the good kind."
In the end, Cinder agreed that Cresent Rose would have to be put on the sidelines for a hunting venture.
"Do you have anything that you could do?" Ruby asked, hoping to push the impetus towards Cinder, who considered the question for a second before shaking her head.
"Not likely. I feel as if I might be a good enough shot with something like a bow... but that's out of the question."
"Right."
The two of them sat in a growing silence, the darkness encroaching as they contemplated their diminishing odds of survival.