It was a struggle for Ruby to open her eyes. As she did, the world around her was still dark. The only light source came from the shattered moon in the sky. But even that was obscured by the tinted, insulated windows of the tent she laid inside. There was also the silhouette of a person. Ruby turned her head to get a better look at the stranger and found pools of silver staring back at her. Ruby nearly mistook the stranger in her groggy state as a reflection of herself. But she blinked the blurriness of her vision away and saw details coming into focus. Ruby stared back at a fellow silver-eyed warrior.
The woman's face betrayed subtle wrinkles and bronze skin, showing how long she lived in Vacuo as a nomad. Everything else was obscured by a cloak and hood meant to shield her from the harsh desert sun.
That's right… I'm in a desert.
Just as Ruby's vision returned to her, so did her other senses. Despite the tent insulating her and the desert woman, she could hear the sounds of the desert wind. She faintly recalled tasting grains of sand that blew into her mouth when she first got accustomed to desert life. Her recollection extended back to her past experiences, to everything that had happened leading up to this point. She had quite the story to tell to this desert woman who saved her life. Ruby realized that if it weren't for this savior, she would have still been tortured by Tyrian Callows and Crimson Sanguine. If she went without water any longer, Team RWBY would be without its leader, just as Ruby had been without her mother all her life.
"Did Ozpin put you up to this?" The woman's tone had indirect criticism mixed with her curiosity. She reached for Ruby when she noticed her trying to sit up and pressed her down. "Don't. You still need to rest. Now, I ask you again: are you here because Ozpin got you involved in his affairs?"
Ruby frowned. "Not… exactly." Her voice didn't have its typical luster or optimism. She was worn out, having brushed with death more times in the past week than in her entire life. She wished she was back home in Patch.
The desert woman didn't say anything as she mulled over the implications. Does that mean she got involved by accident? Because of Cinder? Because of…
The savior's train of thought stopped when it arrived at the most significant part of Ozpin's conspiracy; the main reason why the Grimm exist; the destruction of Beacon Academy; the endless hunting of silver-eyed warriors.
"… Where's Salem? How far has she gotten with her plans?"
Ruby gave herself a moment to be smug. A smirk grew on her face, threatening to grow into a wolfish grin. Her silver eyes looked up at the night sky through the ceiling screen of the tent. She moved her left arm through the flaps of her red cloak, raising it higher until she was reaching out to the moon. Green, metallic digits curled inward while her index finger extended, pointing.
The savior followed where Ruby pointed. She pulled her hood back to extend her peripheral vision. She leaned forward and tilted her head to look at the moon and its fragments.
That was when Ruby noticed a collar around her savior's neck. What's that for? Ruby wondered. It reminded her of the Atlesian technology made to drain a person's Aura and transfer it to another person. Pyrrha told her all about that. Ruby could only speculate on what it could be used for. Is she willingly wearing that thing? Did it nullify her Aura? If so, was she… suppressing it on purpose? In a desert environment?
The savior eventually looked down at Ruby with skepticism in her expression, which brought Ruby's focus back to the topic at hand.
"We already knew Salem can't be killed," Ruby began after a dry chuckle, setting her prosthetic arm down to rest on her abdomen. Its green paint job, and the multi-colored Dust vials loaded into the forearm, stood out against her cloak's rose red. "So I had to get a bit creative. But… I can't take all the credit for what happened. We pulled it off, all thanks to a supercomputer on legs."
That was when the desert woman spoke up, her voice tinged with disbelief. "You... sent her… to the moon?"
"With Penny's help, yes," Ruby answered.
"Who?"
Oh, right. This person wouldn't know who that is. Then Ruby said, "An android girl from Atlas. You might like her."
The savior moved back into her previous sitting position, puzzled. Salem was banished to the moon? Just like that? She looked at the prosthetic arm for a moment. She had seen the whole thing when she carried Ruby out of that torture chamber. Now they were somewhere safe, where Ruby could be left while the savior made trips to the nearest oasis for water runs. But now that she had time to look at the arm in detail, she frowned.
"… Why did you paint it green?"
Ruby raised the prosthesis and glanced at it for a moment. She looked over the Atlesian cybernetics that made up her palm, as well as the vials of Dust loaded into the forearm that turned her prosthesis into a weapon and a multi-tool. Hidden within the cloak, the painted Aurite metal and circuitry continued to the shoulder. Her old arm needed to be replaced from the socket.
Ruby's silver eyes returned to the savior's. "Would you believe me if I said it was a metaphor?" She then gave a weak smile. "I'm Ruby Rose. And like a Rose…" Ruby clenched her metal hand into a fist almost triumphantly. "I grew my thorns."
The savior couldn't help but smile back. "So it's supposed to be your thorny stem?"
"Well, yeah," Ruby replied. "That's exactly what I named it, too."
The desert woman's gazed over to Ruby's possessions in the corner of the tent. She had what was necessary for life in the desert. But of note was a red scythe folded into its compact, box-like form. Leaning against it was a long, four-chambered revolver. There was also a Vacuan karambit, but unlike the one the savior had, this one had a more modern design.
So the Rose with her thorns fancies herself a weaponsmith, the savior mused. She looked back at Ruby and asked, "So, how did you get involved? What made you come to Vacuo, of all places? How'd you lose your arm? How…" The desert woman paused, a somber look spread across her face. "… How have you been?"
The last two questions brought a twinge of pain to Ruby. The arm was a scar that had healed, but it was still a scar nonetheless. But that other question had more weight to it than it had any right to. "How much time do you have?"
The savior shrugged her shoulders. "How much time do you want to spend telling me what you've been up to? You still need your rest anyway. What better way to pass the time than with a story or two?"
Ruby smiled. "You're right." She turned her head to gaze up at the moon once again, readjusted the cloak burrito she woke up in, and relaxed. "I'll start from the beginning."