"Yang..."

The blonde mumbles but doesn't wake up.

"Yang..."

More mumbling, but she stays asleep.

"Yang."

She mumbles again, but wakes up this time. The blonde sits up to her elbows, a yawn escaping her lips. Scratching her exposed stomach, she looks up at the young redhead peering down at her whilst standing over Yang’s bed. Yang moves her head in a "What's up?" manner.

"Look,” is all Ruby says before turning and walking over to the middle of the room. Yang follows her sister's path with a raised brow. After walking a good distance away, Ruby turns to Yang, points to her eyes, then to her own silver ones. Yang mimics the movement with a snort.

And then, Ruby is gone.

…No, she literally disappears.

In the blink of an eye, Ruby is… just gone. Poof. No more. The only things left behind are glowing, red rose petal-like particles that float to the floor. It takes a moment for Yang to register what just happened, but when she does, her jaw drops slow.

The next moment, Ruby reappears a few feet from the spot she vanished from, still looking at Yang. The blonde stares at Ruby with her jaw touching the ground.

“So, I can teleport now…” Ruby says

Yang nods her head slow. “That’s neat…”

And the two sisters stare at each other in silence.

"This is stupid."

“It is not ‘stupid’. It’s… ‘creative’."

“From where I’m standing, this looks pretty stupid.”

"Ruby, you'll be fine. This is completely safe!” Yang says as her little sister stands on the edge of a seven-story-tall building, looking down at the busy city street below.

Ruby’s shoulders sag. “I am going to die…” She turns back to Yang, who stands on the other side of the rooftop railing. "Yang, I forget. Why, exactly, am I on the edge of a seven-story-tall building again?"

The blonde crosses her arms over her chest. "Sudden-Death-Activation."

"Oh, that sounds nice."

"It's something I came up with a little while back. Or, at least, earlier this morning…” Yang mumbles that last part.

"You know I heard that, right?"

"No you didn't."

"Yang, I totally —“

"So you may be wondering, 'My dearest, fairest, sexiest sister, what on earth is this Sudden-Death-Activation you speak of?’”

“I’ll admit, it’s crossed my mind once or twice or six times.”

"Well, I'm glad you asked. See, for a few weeks now — three, to be exact — we’ve been practicing and practicing trying to get that awesome power of yours under control, because, let's be honest, it's freakin' sweet."

“I can get behind that, sure.”

"And in those three weeks, how much progress have we made in our efforts, young Rubles?”

"Hum, let's see — two, three, four, carry the one — None. No progress."

"Exactly!" Yang says, pointing at Ruby. "In all that time, no matter how hard we try, nothing seems to work! Why can't you do it right? Why is this so hard? And who keeps putting that darn wall in front of you?"

"The city architects, probably."

"So, as I rustled and bustled in my sleep, wondering what I could possibly do to get things moving along, it suddenly hit me."

"The wall?"

"An idea! A brilliant one! We've been going about it all wrong. It was so simple! We’ve been taking things too slow, walking the easy route, taking the safe path! We have to break from those secure boundaries, start taking things to the next level! We have to break new ground!"

Yang puts her hand on Ruby's shoulder, the redhead raising a brow at her sister.

"And how do you suppose we do that?"

Yang’s smiles extends to show some teeth. “Being about this high oughta do it.”

"What?"

Push.

Ruby goes tipping over the edge, her eyes still on Yang the whole time.

"What." she squeaks.

Yang points down. “Time to shine, kid.”

Ruby looks down. The street below grows a bit closer. She promptly does the normal thing anyone would do in this situation.

“W—ah!”

Ruby plummets to the ground. Her arms and legs flail as her feet leave the rooftop. Her silver eyes widen and her hair blows mad in the wind.

The crowd below looks up in a panic at seeing the young girl falling down at them. Some of the pedestrians even open their arms in an attempt to catch her. Ruby closes her eyes and puts her arms up over her face, preparing to smack right into the ground.

However… it never happens.

Time slows down all around her. A red rose petal drifts in front of her view. Following it, dozens of more float up and fill her vision with red. She takes a deep breath, one that seems to echo all around the still world.

And everything fades to black…

In… Out…

“Hey…”

In… Out…

“He—y…”

In… Out…

“Remnant to cutie, this is your captain speaking.”

Her breath hitches.

"You can open your eyes now."

One eyes cracks open. Then she shuts it quick.

"Seriously, you're not dead. Look."

Ruby lets her eyes open fully, daylight flooding her vision, making everything blurry and unfocused. As her sight clears up, the first things to greet her are the purple eyes and smirking face of her older sister kneeling bent down in front of her, her chin resting on her propped arm atop her thigh.

“Hello, sunshine,” Yang says.

Ruby drops her arms to her sides and stares at Yang.

"Look who's thinking with portals!”

Smack!

Ruby's open palm collides with Yang’s forehead, sending the blonde to the floor on her back. The redhead scrambles atop the woman, then grabs the blonde’s ears and tugs.

"Ow. Ow! Ow!"

"What in blueberry cinnamon sprinkled cheesecake were you thinking, you psycho?"

"Hold on, stop—“

"What kind of sister pushes their sibling off of a flubbing roof like that?"

"If you would just listen for a sec—“

"Why on earth would you do something like that? That is the exact opposite of protecting a loving family member from the dangers of the world! Give me a reason why I shouldn't smack you again!”

“‘Cause you’re gonna tear my ears off first!"

"Screw your ears!"

“O—kay!”

Yang’s short, bright hair glows and catches on fire, the ends rubbing against Ruby’s hands and wrists.

"Ow!" Ruby falls back to the ground, freeing Yang from her inescapable ear torture. Ruby blows on her singed hands. “Oh good, since pushing me off the roof wasn't enough, you gotta burn me, too?”

“Maybe if you didn’t try disremembering me, I wouldn’t have to!” Yang says as she lifts herself off the ground. "Why are you so angry?"

"You pushed me off of a roof!”

"That wasn't even a big deal! You know the most you would've gotten was a bloody nose. A fall like that is nothing to you."

"That still doesn't mean you can just shove me off a seven-story-building! Who does that?”

“Okay-Okay, fine, I'm sorry. I admit, that was a little…”

“Inane? Psychotic? Absolutely friggin’ stupid in every way shape of form?”

“Irresponsible…! But, sis… You are forgetting one very important aspect about this conversation we're having.”

Ruby rolls her eyes and turns to Yang. ”Oh? And what’s that?”

Yang puts her hand on her cocked hip. "We're having it."

Ruby tilts her head in confusion. However, her look of confusion is soon replaced by one of realization. She looks down at the ground to see that she is standing on it.

Not falling toward it.

Her eyes roam around and she sees the familiar sight of the rooftop her sister pushed her off of. There isn’t a scratch on her body. It’s almost as if nothing even happened.

Like she never actually fell.

Ruby looks back at her grinning blonde sister, eyes wide. “Sudden… Death… Activation…”

Yang’s grin deepens. ”Guess who just broke new ground.”

Pen is put to paper. Ruby writes in her journal:

“Hey, again. It’s me, Ruby.”

“Sorry I haven’t written in so long. Got a little caught up with… stuff.”

“So… I can teleport now. Yeah, I know, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one myself. And it came out of complete nowhere, too. One day I’m a (relatively) normal girl, the next I’m a superhero. I can’t say I don’t like my new, awesome abilities, because, let’s be real here, they’re pretty dang awesome.”

“Yang and I have been training for a while now. I think she’s more excited about my new powers than I am, because she’s always asking me to come out and practice with her. It’s actually kind of funny seeing her so excited about something like this. So, of course, I took her up on her offer.”

“We’ve practiced for hours, days, weeks, months— two, to be exact. With… varying degrees of success.”

“Sometimes, things went off without a hitch. We’d get down to business and, boom, no problems whatsoever!”

“All right, kiddo, ya' just gotta focus and do it, just like we practiced,” Yang says.

“Okay-Okay…” Ruby's says.

“Clear your mind, take deep breath…”

“I got it.”

“It’s as easy as A-B-C, 1-2-3. Nothin’ to it. Piece of—“

“Yang.”

Yang looks over at Ruby, who squints her eyes back at the blonde. Yang clears her throat and takes a step back. Ruby shakes her head and closes her her eyes.

She take in a deep breath, then lets it out in a huff.

Her lips purse.

She balls her fist and then…

Whoosh!

She vanishes. Glowing, red rose petals float to the ground in a small heap.

Yang smiles wide, claps her hands and pumps her fist. “Yes!” she says. However, a moment passes and Ruby doesn’t appear back. Yang’s smile falls and she raises a brow, No sign of her. The blonde scratches the top of her head—

"Boo!"

“Wha!”

Yang screams at an uncharacteristically high pitch as Ruby jumps on her back. The redhead laughs, still clinging on to her sister as Yang catches breath. The big sister blonde glares at Ruby, who smiles from over her shoulder. The two hold each other’s gazes.… until Yang cracks and a laugh of her own sneaks out. Ruby joins in.

“Other times… yeah, not so much…”

“See, here’s the thing: I figured out how to do the thing relatively easily (we’re calling it “the thing” now. Yang’s idea. Shocker, I know). No, the real problem came when trying to actually, um, aim it. Like, I couldn’t quite figure out how to teleport to where I actually wanted to go.”

“I’d for a spot in front of me and I’d, say, teleport a bit off the ground—“

"Oh man— Ugh!”

“And fall.”

“I’d go again… and teleport upside down.”

"You gotta be kidding me— Ouch!”

“And fall.”

“Another shot and I’d teleport, of all places, above Yang.”

"Look out!"

“Oh, for the love of— Ah!”

“And fall.”

“But… most times…”

"Not again— Oof!”

“It was wall…”

“Augh!"

“Wall…”

“Crap!"

“Wall…”

“Dang it!”

“I really hate those walls…”

“I really hate these walls!”

“For a while, I sort of… plateaued. I wasn't making much progress and it bugged me big time. You could even say I (apologies in advanced)… hit a brick wall.”

“I’ll flick myself later, I promise…”

Ruby sits up off the ground, rubbing her bruised forehead.

"Kid, you've gotta stop running into the wall,” Yang says, strolling over to Ruby. She extends a hand down for her sister to take.

Ruby brushes Yang’s offered hand aside, lifting herself off the ground. ”Don’t you think I know that?"

Yang lifts her hands. “Whoa. Watch the sass there, kiddo. I’m just trying to give you some—"

"Well, thanks, Yang! Really! Big help you are!”

“Rubes, what is your deal?” Yang puts her hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “You need to calm down—”

“You calm down!” Ruby shoves Yang away from her, earring a surprised and even a sort of hurt look from Yang. Ruby breaths hard for a moment, gritting her teeth. Then, just like that, it all flushes away and she’s left looking horrified at what she just did. “I—I’m sorry…!”

Ruby turns heel and dashes off.

“Sis, wait!”

Ruby teleports from sight, leaving Yang alone on the rooftop.

“I’ll tell you what, though, Yang was the one who had it bad. Because she had to deal with me. And, I admit, I wasn’t always the best student. I’m still not the best person to deal with.”

“I wonder how she does it… She’s always having to handle me and I can barely handle myself most times… Yet here she is, always beside me… Years of this and she still finds the strength to deal with me…”

“How doesn’t she not hate me yet…?”

Within the two sister’s apartment, the door to the bedroom swings open and in walks Yang, the light from the living room seeping in and illuminating some of the darkness of the bedroom. Across the room, laying face down on her bed was Ruby, hugging her pillow. Yang chuckles sad, then walks into the room.

She reaches Ruby’s bed and sits down atop it, next to the young girl occupying. The blonde runs a hand through Ruby’s growing red hair.

“I’m sorry, Yang…” the young girl says. “I didn’t mean what I said… I just… Sometimes I just can’t control my emotions… I didn’t mean to—”

“Shhh…” Yang hushes her baby sister. “You’re okay. We can do this. You’re doing a great job, okay? We just need a little more practice, that’s all.” Yang leans down to Ruby’s ear. “I know you can do this, kiddo. You can do anything.”

She pecks Ruby’s cheek.

Rubbing her head once more, Yang stands and walks out of the room, closing the door behind herself. Ruby reaches her hand up and rubs the spot on her cheek where she was kissed.

She smiles.

“There were so many times Yang could have walked out and left me. No one would blame her. I sure wouldn’t. But every single day, she’s always walking through that door. And she always smiles. Even when I can tell she’s having bad day, she never forgets to smile at me. To hug me. To kiss me. She never forgets about me… even when she forgets about herself…”

“You really are amazing, sis…”

“And that’s what drove me to keep trying, you know? Whenever I felt like giving up, she was always there to keep pushing me forward. I just wanted to make her proud…”

“I just want to make you proud…”

Ruby appears on the rooftop in a kneeled position with her eyes squeezed shut. Ruby opens them up slow and looks around with wides eyes. When she turns to a watching Yang, she sees her sister was looking at her with a hanging jaw.

“Sis…” Yang says, a smile stretching across her face.

Soon enough, she’s outright laughing and running at Ruby, who yelps at Yang’s sudden rush. When Yang reaches her, she takes Ruby up in her arms and swings her around, laughing loudly. “You did it! You did it! I knew you could do it, baby girl! What’d I tell ya’? Hahahah!”

As she’s being swung, a smile creeps onto Ruby’s face.

“Eventually, I got back on track and started to get the hang of my powers. I don’t wanna brag or anything, JK, I totally do, but I think I made a lot of progress during my training. You know, after the initial giving up and stuff. But that’s not important right now, I’m trying to pat myself on the back for once.”

Ruby appears at the desk by the window and grabs a pencil before vanishing and appearing by a wall with a calendar, writing nonsensical doodles on it. She disappears and reappears on her bed, a book in hand. She teleports and is suddenly hanging from the light in the middle of the room. She teleports again and is now brushing her teeth with a pickle for some odd reason.

The whole time, Yang watches, a brow raised. “Okay, now you’re just showing off.”

Ruby turns to Yang with a smile before teleporting on Yang’s lap, rubbing her face on the laughing blonde’s, making Yang laugh.

“And, you know, I don't wanna jinx it, but… I think I can even say… I’m starting to master them…”

“Guess only time will tell, huh?”

Ruby appears in a gust of roses, stumbling from the landing. When she finds her balance, she looks ahead at a row of rooftops stretching before her. From behind, a ways away, she can hear the voice of her older sister yelling at her.

She turns around to see the blonde pumping her fist in the air, a huge smile on her face. "Go, sis! Go for it!” she says.

Ruby looks forward, a determined glint in her eye. She bends down, placing her hands on the ground.

Yang's hands fall to her side as she looks on, anticipation written all over her face. "Do it, kiddo…!”

Ruby's backside rises into the air, one leg is in front and the other stretched back. Her muscles tense up, sweat rolling down her skin. Her hair hangs low. Her eyes peer out through the strands at the rooftop runway. Her pupils dilate…

And she's off!

She disappears from sight, a gust of roses taking the place where she was once before. She reappears a longer distance away from where she originally started, running along the rooftop. When she meets another intersection between roofs, she teleports from one to another, stumbling a bit each time.

Yang watches with bated breath, her eyes wide, hands clasped together, a smile growing larger and larger as she watches. "Holy crap…!”

Ruby runs and teleports across rooftops, the stumbling lessening with each one. Before she knows it, she's full on sprinting and teleporting as if it were second nature, transitioning between the two easily. A smile starts to stretch across her lips as she breathes rapidly in her sprint.

"Haha...! Hahaha!” she laughs.

Ruby stretches her arms out behind herself. The rushing wind courses through her growing red locks.

The smile on her face is one of pure bliss. It grows larger and larger by the second.

As Ruby runs, she catches sight of something a bit... tougher looking.

The rooftop gaps hadn't been too big of a deal up to this point. She could have easily jumped over them rather than teleport. But this one is a lot bigger, an entire city block between the two rooftops coming up. She slows to a jog, a look of hesitation crossing her features.

But then… she hears a voice. The voice of her sister.

“I know you can do this, kiddo.”

The glint returns.

“You can do anything.”

And she grins. A wide, toothy smile tears across her lips.

Ruby speeds right back up, running faster than ever before. Her target: an air conditioning unit leading up to a rooftop exit that would provide a nice launch pad for her little stunt.

And she was gonna put it to good use.

Yang, still watching further back, sees what Ruby’s about to do and puts her hands on top of her head, eyes wide, smile wide. She laughs. "Oh man, she's crazy!"

Ruby vanishes, and reappears on top of the air conditioning unit, then on top of the entrance, and then...!

"Go Ruby!"

She jumps high into the air, doing a flip over the city ground below —

— over the people walking it—

— over the gap she'd run into!

The sun is directly above her, shadowing her entire form as she flips.

Her torn, red cloak flows behind her, her long, blood red hair blowing in the wind as she soars through it. A large, toothy grin is plastered on her face.

Ruby teleports and lands on a building top across the intersection, continuing her run and then goes into a teleport frenzy up a larger building. Once more and she flings herself high above the building before falling back to its top and landing in a kneel.

She stands up straight and throws her head back, taking in a long whiff of the high altitude air, then lets it out. The young girl walks forward and leans on the railing at the edge of the building, gazing out at the large expanses of Vale City— her new home.

She grins.

“It’s a new day…”

“Fauna! What are Fauna? What are these 'unholy amalgamations of human and animal' everyone seems to take interest in discussing? What are these 'killers in shadows' that so many love to call them? Failed science experiments? Creatures from another world? The true natural inhabitants of Remnant?”

Her pen scribbles across the paper, keeping up with the words that are spoken.

“Many people have many different theories on them. They also have many names. ‘Liars’, ‘degenerates’, ‘killers’, ‘psychos’, ‘heartless’, ‘insane criminals’; it all depends on who you ask. But what do all of these names have in common?”

The page flips. The pen is put down and replaced with a red-ink one as the various names said are written down and underlined.

“Such negativity surrounds the terms to describe these mysterious creatures! They live alongside us, yet still feel they must hide in the from us. One has to wonder where such animosity toward them spawned from, why such cruelty is necessary. Have any Fauna in this room experienced any pain such as that?”

The pen comes to a stop as the white-haired girl averts her eyes to the other side of the classroom, down on the first level of the multi-sectioned, crescent seatings.

A brown-haired girl raises her hand, it shaking. Her eyes are planted on the floor. The large bunny ears atop her head droop down, shadowing her face just as much as her locks do.

The large bellied professor notices this and walks over to the girl, his hands behind his back. When he reaches her, he asks, “Have you experienced the torments of being … ’different’, young lady?”

Her hand lowers to her lap. She raises her gaze up and pears out through her bangs, giving the professor before her a good look at the deep bags tinged in red and puffy under her eyes. The larger man bends down, getting closer.

The bunny-girl averts her gaze once more. The nods.

The professor stands up straight, on of his hands stroking the gray mustache covering his mouth. He takes a deep breath and—

“Such atrocity!” he says with a stomp.

The brown-haired Fauna girl jumps, sitting up straight, wide-eyed and confused along with the rest of the class.

“My dear young Fauna child, how you've suffered so! Such horrid acts of prejudice should never be allowed in this vast world we live in!”

He walks forward, bends down and takes the young girl's hands into his own. Her breath hitches, a small yelp escaping her throat.

“If only I could ease your suffering! Alas, we live in a world where such cruelty is so commonplace that a single man such as myself — despite how strong, brave, and devilishly handsome he may be — can make no large change alone! How the mean-spirited nature of some angers me to the core!”

He then slams his fist into the wall next to him, rattling the entire classroom. A few students even fall out of their seats. Everyone stares at the pot-bellied professor, waiting for him to do something.

The white haired girl looks around as if expecting someone to speak. When no one does, she opens her mouth. “U…Um —”

“Not to worry, young ones!” he says, interrupting the teen. “My apologies for that ungraceful display of anger. I simply let my emotions get the best of me for a moment there! Ahahahahaha!”

“Dude, this guy is a straight weirdo.”

The white haired girl overhears a few whispers from around her. Other students talking amongst themselves.

“The guy's about as crazy as my dad said he'd be,” a girl says. “Professor Port’s someone he knows way more than he’d like to.”

“Must be one of those ‘furry lovers’ everyone's always talking about,” a guy says.

“Well, ya' can't get any weirder than that, I guess,” she says back.

The white-haired teen rolls her eyes at her fellow students, looking back down at her notes —

“Huh?” When she looks down, she sees what seems to be a… glowing rose petal lying atop her open notepad. Her brow rising, she goes to pick up the petal, but retracts her hand when it crumbles. Then, in just a few short seconds, the rose petals completely fades away. She tilts her head. “What in the world…?”

“Whoa! The hell?” a student shouts.

The white-head’s gaze darts up at the sound of the other students freaking out. She looks around, alert, her fists balling and her eyes steeling. However, her brows soon unknit when she gazes around and… sees that nothing is really out of the ordinary. Her fists loosen and her face takes on a curious expression.

“She just appeared out of nowhere!”

“I didn't even notice her for a second!”

“Who even is that?”

That's when the white-head notices everyone's eyes directed to the front of the classroom. She turns that way and her eyes widen as she jumps a bit.

“W-Wait, where did she...?” she whispers.

In the middle of the classroom, a red-cloaked figure kneels before the large professor with a hood over their head as a group of red rose petals, the same as the one on the white haired girl’s notepad, float down around her. For a moment, she stays in her kneeled position before rising slow.

Her eyes open to look directly into the pot-bellied professor’s, who silently watches.

“Hohoho!” And then he starts to laugh. “You always add such a dramatic flare to your entrances for me, don’t you, my dear?”

She grins at the professor and reaches up to her head, pulling down a pair of headphones down around her neck, a tune echoing out the speakers. The red hooded girl lifts a hand from her long cloak and waves.

“Well if it isn't my favorite little delivery girl! You’re doing well I would hope?” He goes to place his meaty hand on her much smaller shoulder, only for her to flinch away, causing the professor to stop in his tracks. “Er, forgive me, my dear. I can be so forgetful sometimes.”

She smiles up at the man, apologetic.

The man clears his throat and strokes his large, mouth-covering mustache with one hand, putting his other one behind his back. “In any case. I do believe you’e come to run a few errands for old Ozpin up in the tower?”

The young girl nods and lifts a green box from under her hood, holding it up to Professor Port.

“Ah! There we are!” He takes the box from the girl’s hand. “Thank you, my dear! Always a pleasure to see your beautiful smile in my humble presence. Well, I suppose you have other errands to run for the old coot. You see to it those tasks of yours get done. Now, run along, little one.”

She takes a step back and bows down to the portly professor. In the blink of an eye, she vanishes from sight, leaving a bouquet of rose petals to float down before him.

When she reappears, it is next to the white haired student. Time seems to slow down as she caught sight of the teleporting hooded teen, who doesn’t pay any mind to the onlooker’s presence. And then, just like that, time speeds back up and she is gone like the wind, leaving the entire class bewildered.

The white-head continues to stare at the spot the girl was just in.

“Uh, Professor Port? Who was... that?” a student asks.

The teacher strokes his mustache. “Oh, don't mind her. You'll see that girl wandering around the campus from time to time, running errands for the Headmaster. If you happen to come across her, just leave the child to her own devices. Now, enough of that. Let us get back to today's lesson, children!”

As the professor continues to talk, the white haired girl's eyes drop to the pile of bright red roses. Each of the pedals fade away from existence, before her eyes just as the first did, no trace of their presence left behind.

“How... did she do that?”

“Weiss, I have seen a great deal of oddities in my time. Believe me, I have. But a girl who can simply vanish into thin air is a bit farfetched, don’t you think?”

She groans. “I know what I saw! Pyrrha, she appeared right in the middle of my class out of complete thin air! One minute she wasn’t there, the next minute, she was!”

The white haired girl, Weiss, walks alongside a much larger redheaded, Pyrrha, through an open courtyard of the school. Two pathways square around the small, grassy field where groups of students lounge about, either sitting on the wooden benches or the smooth, bright green grass itself. Others walk about either under the shaded pathways or across the field to their various classes, back to their homes and everything in between. Weiss and Pyrrha stroll under one of the pathways on one side of the courtyard together.

Weiss puts a hand to her forehead and sighs. “How can you not believe me? I was sitting right there with the rest of the class when it happened.”

“I never said I didn't believe you, Weiss,” Pyrrha says, lifting her hands in defense. “I… simply have never heard of a person vanishing and reappearing so... suddenly like that. I'm not even sure if that is possible.”

Weiss’s shoulder drops and she gives Pyrrha a deadpan look. “Then you don’t believe me!”

“Perhaps. But I never said it.” The white-head palms her face with a deep growl. Pyrrha giggles. “I’m only teasing, Weiss. But you have to understand my skepticism. Such an incredibly feat as the one you’re describing has never been classified before.”

“We live in a world overrun by shadow creatures and people with animal ears and you don't think this is possible?” Weiss ask, more to herself than to Pyrrha.

“Do you even believe it is?” Pyrrha ask.

Weiss stops in her tracks in front of Pyrrha and turns to face her, hands on her hips. “It doesn’t matter what I believe! I saw it!”

“And that’s fair enough. But have you considered an alternative explanation?”

Weiss peers up at Pyrrha, crossing her arms over her chest. “And what’s that?”

“Well, for one: Excessive speed. A common skill in most growing Hunters and an even more common attribute as a consequences of one’s semblance. Not to mention the fact that a good deal of Fauna are known to have access to such large amounts of speed.”

Weiss’ look taken aback and her gaze drops. She puts her hand to her chin. “I… suppose that would explain a lot…”

“You said you looked up when you noticed the rest of your class begin to panic. There’s a real chance you simply might have been too caught up in your own thoughts to really notice. And even if you did, that girl might move at a speed the regular eye can’t follow so easily.”

Weiss’ hands drop to her side. “That’s… Huh…”

Pyrrha puts up her finger. “And there you have it. A much more logical explanation for a very illogical occurrence. This could all simply be a matter of hasty reaction and nothing more. You and I both know a feat such as teleporting isn’t something that's been document as of yet.”

Weiss sighs. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense…”

Pyrrha smiles. “No need to fret, Weiss. It was all a simple misunderstanding. And I’m sure it you’ll soon forget the whole thing ever happened.”

So, of course, at that moment, at the other side of the courtyard, the teleporting young girl in question appears in a gust of red roses and strolls under the pathway. Other students who also stroll along and lounge around do double takes and even jump in surprise.

Weiss and Pyrrha can do nothing but stare for a moment before looking at each other with perplexed looks. As Weiss’s surprised started warps into a scowl, Pyrrha’s lips curl up into an awkward, toothy smile.

“It all seems so… perfectly time, doesn’t it…? Hehe…” Pyrrha says.

Weiss continues to glare at Pyrrha for a moment longer before she rolls her eyes and focuses her attention on the red girl. “Come on,” she tells Pyrrha before walking toward her.

Pyrrha scrambles after the whitehead. “W-Wait! Weiss! Didn't you tell me that Professor Port specifically instructed you not to bother her? What are you planning on doing?”

“Would you relax? I'm not going to do anything. I just want to know how she does... whatever it is she does. I'm intrigued.”

“Okay, yes, I'll admit, I myself would like to know how her ability is possible, but we really should listen to the professor. We don't know how she’ll — oh, you're not even listening! Weiss!”

Weiss tails the girl, leaving a bit of distance between the two, not wanting to startle her.

“Hey, kid!” she says, trying to get her target’s attention. However, the hooded girl gives no sign of having heard Weiss' shout. The whitehead sighs and speeds up a little. “I just want to asks you some questions! Would you hold on a minute? Kid!”

Still no answer.

This time, Weiss' teeth grit and she growls. Her fists ball and she increases her pace to catch up to Ruby. “Don't ignore me!” Her hand reaches out and snags the red hood the girl wore. “I just want to ta—”

As Weiss forces the girl to turn her way, Pyrrha grabs her wrist and yanks her to a stop before taking Weiss by the shoulders.

“Pyrrha, ow!” Weiss complains.

“Weiss, stop it,” Pyrrha says. “We aren't supposed to bother her. I'm fairly certain she isn't too happy about you annoying her like this.”

“What are you talking about? Would you quit your worrying? She probably doesn’t even mind... us... at…”

The unhooded girl stares at the two schoolgirls, violently shaking and profusely sweating, a pair of dark red headphones hanging off one side of her head, music blaring. Her silver eyes are the size of dinner plates. It looks like the poor kid was about to outright cry.

“U...Um...” Weiss stuttered as Pyrrha looks on worriedly. “...Hey... You okay... kid...?” Weiss asks.

For a good ten seconds, the three ladies have a rather awkward staring contest, one that Weiss and Pyrrha were, apparently, winning. Weiss and Pyrrha look at each other from the corner of their eyes before looking back at the still trembling young girl.

“K…Kid…?” Weiss asks again.

Vanish!

Without even giving an answer, she vanishes from sight, leaving red rose petals behind in her wake. It takes a moment for Weiss and Pyrrha to process what just happened. Students from all around look at the scene, mumbling to themselves about the weirdness of it all.

“I... suppose she's not very... social... “ Pyrrha says awkwardly.

The fact is, the little red girl had long since distanced herself from the two girls who decided to converse with her of all people. There wasn’t a remote chance that they’d be able to catch her now, not with her strange ability. However, even with all of those factors known, she continued to run as fast as she could. She had no destination in mind, no real reason to keep running. The one and only thing that drove her to flee was simple:

Fear.

She was genuinely afraid of the small encounter she had with two curious young students who truly meant her no harm. She was honest to god afraid of the insignificant physical contact between her shoulder and a hand.

She was deathly fearful… of everyone.

And because of that… she ran.

“Ugh!”

“Gah!”

Her speedy getaway is harshly interrupted when Ruby finds herself tumbling to the ground, hitting it hard with her backside. The pain running through her body was enough to bring her mind out of its frantic scramble so she could regain some composure over her emotions.

Quickly sitting up, ignoring her slight pain, she looks around at the civilians who’ve stopped what they were doing to check on the scene. She finds herself shrinking under the many gazes, sweating uncontrollably, her body shaking. Her mind was going back to its untamed state, her heart beating faster by the second.

“Ow…”

That’s when she completely freezes up. Upon hearing the voice directly in front of her, she realizes she wasn’t the only one in the spotlight. She slowly turns her head and is met with two yellow eyes staring back directly into hers.

“Hello to you, too,” the black haired woman sitting before Ruby greets, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “In a bit of a rush, are we?”

Ruby looks around the ground and notices the various scraps of paper and books lying around her and the woman.

She begins to panic even more and goes to speak. “Ah…!” However, her voice is caught in her throat and she can’t mutter a single word. She tries again, but the same thing happens.

The woman’s brow rises. “Are… you okay?”

Ruby’s mouth hangs open as she tries to force words out. The longer she hesitates, the faster her heart beats. Her vision starts to impair and the world around her twists. The people around her distort and grow larger in size, succeeding in making her feel even more insignificant.

“Kid, what’s wrong with you?”

“Oh god, is she having a stroke?”

“Someone call a doctor, I think she needs medical attention!”

They all spoke. They all panicked. But she could barely focus on what they were saying. Her fists continuously convulse. Her body shakes uncontrollably, and her mouth goes dry. Her panic was growing out of hand. She had to run. She needed to escape.

She needed to escape!

“Kid!”

Her arm is grabbed. She freezes and looks up. Those same yellow eyes stare at her, filled with concern. She doesn’t even hesitate. Her instinct acts for her.

Vanish!

The crowd of people and the black haired woman are left stunned by the sudden vanishing of a certain red haired girl. The only things left behind are a group of red rose petals that float to the ground gently. One lands on the woman’s lap. She takes it up eyes it with confusion.

She looks around for a trace of the redheaded girl, unable to decipher what had just happened.

An orange bottle is pulled from her jacket with urgency. Her hands shake so much that she dropped it to the ground of the alleyway she hid in. She franticly retrieves it and forces the cap off. A handful of blue pills fall out of the bottle, but only two stay in her shaking hand. She throws the pills into her mouth and swallows.

As the two pills fall down her throat, she breaths erratically, all rhythm lost. Soon enough, her mind begins to calm, her heartbeat slows, and her vision slowly returns to normal. For a moment, she sits there behind an alleyway dumpster, alone with her thoughts and the pills on the ground.

She brings her knees up to her chest and her hands cover her face.

Small hiccups echo through the lone alleyway as tears stream down her face.

“You’ve had quite the eventful day, it would seem.”

Her eyes are locked to the floor as she sits in her seat. Ruby’s red hair hangs over her eyes, shadowing them. Loud ticking rings out from the four clocks around the office in the clock tower. She ignores them relatively easily.

“I’m sorry things did not go so well today. Are you okay?”

She nods her head slowly.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Ruby. It’s obvious that you’re far from ‘okay’.”

She closes her eyes for a moment as she takes slow breathes. “…What’s wrong me, Mr. Ozpin…?”

The silver haired man leans forward, resting his chin in his folded hands. “Nothing is wrong with you, dear.”

“Then why am I like this?”

“Because many unfortunate circumstances have had ill effects on your well being. That does not mean something is wrong with you. It simply means that it will take time for you to fully recuperate. It will also take much effort from you and I both.”

She sighs. “I seriously doubt I can be fixed, sir.”

“Of course not, since you aren’t broken in the first place.”

“Now you’re lying…”

There is a moment of silence between the two. Ozpin takes his white coffee mug in hand and takes a small sip from it.

Placing it down, he speaks. “Ruby, I won’t deny that the things you’ve gone through have damaged you. However, the fact of the matter is, you and your sister are both still here. The mere fact that you are still able to move forward proves that you have not yet been broken. Damaged, yes, but still fully functional.”

“How am I ‘fully functional’ if I have take pills to keep myself from freaking out. I can’t even deal with being asked a simple question without completely having a mental breakdown and running behind a dumpster to take my daily dose of crazy medicine.”

He raises a brow. “So you believe your anxiety is a problem?”

“Yes… The fact is, Mr. Ozpin, I can kill Grimm better than I can talk to a person. What does that say about me…?”

“In that case, let’s work on this, shall we? That woman you mentioned running over, did you ever get the chance to apologize to her?”

Ruby shakes her head, sighing. “N… No, I… freaked out and ran off. That’s how I ended up behind the dumpster. I really did try, I just—“

“It’s fine,” he interrupts. “Don’t worry, I’m not angry with you. However, that still won’t do. That’s why I want you to find this woman and formally apologize to her without teleporting this time.”

Ruby stares at Ozpin, his words not quite sinking in just yet. “…I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh.” He clears his throat. “I said, ‘I want you to find this woman’—“

“No-No, I heard what you said, just… what?”

“Ruby, if we’re going to overcome this anxiety you have with being near others, we have to take the initiative. We’re never going to take care of this if you don’t try to open up.”

“You say that as if it were so easy to do. Did you forget about the fact that I need to take pills to keep myself from going completely bonkers? Now you want me to go directly to the source of that problem?”

“That woman is the source of your problem?”

“Don’t you dare pull a Yang on me, Mr. Ozpin. You know good and well that wasn’t what I meant. I was talking about speaking… to her.”

“Well, the first step to fixing your, as you call it, ‘problem’, is first admitting you have one, which you have already done. The next step is to confront it. And this situation is the perfect way of starting. I’m not asking you to have a sleepover with this woman, a simple ‘I’ apologize’ will suffice.”

Ruby squirms nervously in her seat as she bites into her lip. “I don’t know, Mr. Ozpin… I don’t think I can do this.”

“Well of course not with that sort of attitude.” He reaches over and takes his cane into hand. Using it for support, he stands from his seat and walks around his desk over to Ruby. “Ruby, I know you’re afraid. But I also know that you can do this… I have a proposition for you.”

She looks up at the man standing beside her.

“You only have to do it one time. That’s it.”

She looks at him curiously. “What to you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. I only ask that you give it one try. I want you to find the woman and try to approach her. If you can, apologize to her and be on your way. If you find that you simply cannot bring yourself to do it, then that’s fair enough and we’ll try again another day when you feel ready. Does that sound good to you?”

She thinks about it for a moment, her lips purse and her hand goes to her chin. She looks up at Ozpin. “…Only once?”

“That’s all I ask. However, there are a few conditions I want to make clear. Firstly: no teleporting.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Not kidding you.”

She groans, putting her face in her hands. “…Next.”

“Second: you have to honestly try. I don’t want to find out that you simply pretended to approach this young lady and then vanished off into the abyss.”

“How would you know if I did?”

Ozpin gives the girl a look from behind his glasses. She finds herself flinching back under his gaze. “I’ll know.”

She gulps. “A-Anymore terms?”

“Yes, one last condition.” He lifts his cane and taps the orange bottle in her hand. “I don’t want you depending on these. They are not cures for your anxiety, only temporary detractors from your pain. Do not put too much faith in them.”

She looks down at the bottle, shaking it to hear the many pills inside. She breathes.

“They help…” she says.

“I know. But do not let them control you. Abuse will only lead to more hardship. They're a tool. Not the way out. Understood?”

She sighs and nods slowly. “Yes, sir."

“Good. Then do we have a deal?”

She hesitates for a moment, looking to ground in deep thought.

“Ruby…” She looks to Ozpin. “I believe in you. You can beat this. I know you can.”

Her hand squeezes the bottle and she puts it in her pocket. Giving a nervous smile, she nods. “Okay… I’ll do it.”

He smiles. “Good. Then you’d best be going. It’s a big city and it might take you some time to find your little friend.”

“I guess. But, then again, it won’t be so bad. I’m pretty sure I can find one blacked haired, yellow-eyed girl. I’ve got this.”

The Next Day

"Oh my god, I don't have this!" she groans as her head slams to the table. "What was I thinking? Why did I think I could find one girl in such a ginormous city? This is impossible!"

As the young girl whines to herself, the bustling of the coffee shop continues, paying her no mind. People walk in and out of the store, ordering drinks, chatting amongst one another, or simply take advantage of the free Wi-Fi.

She hid under her large hood, her forehead rested on the small table she sat alone at in the corner of the shop. Her frustration with the day was taking its toll on her, and she wasn't sure how long she would be able to go on.

"How am I supposed to apologize to that lady if I can't even find her?" She sighs. "I can't go back to Mr. Ozpin like this, he'll be so disappointed. I really did try, it's just... Ugh!" She slams her head again. "...Ow."

She sits up, rubbing her now sore forehead. "Well, I did the best I could, at least. How was I supposed to find one single woman anyway? That's almost impossible, even with my pow—"

"Hey there, sorry, kid. Almost didn't see you sitting back here."

Ruby jumps from the sudden appearance of one of the waitresses beside her. Out of pure habit, she takes her hood and pulls it down over her entire face. After a moment, she looks up and peeks out at the waitress, who stood smiling brightly, holding a pen and notepad.

“Oh, did I scare ya’, sweetie?" she asks. “I’m really sorry about that. Can I make it up to you with something from the menu?" She chuckles.

Ruby swallows spit. For a moment, she turns to the exit, giving it a longing gaze. However, rather than move for it, she reluctantly back to the smiling waitress. She puts a hand to her chest and squeezes her eyes shut.

“You can do this… You can do this…” she whispers to herself.

Taking a deep breath, she opens the menu before her and skims through the drink section. Her eyes spot a pretty safe choice: medium fruit punch.

Her hand shaking, she slowly moves to point out the beverage she wanted to the waitress. "U...Um..." she stutters. Her mouth started to run dry. "C...C...Can I... Can I have...?"

The waitress leans over to look at what Ruby was trying to point out. "Ah! I got you, kiddo."

She writes down the drink order, giving Ruby the chance to sit back in her seat and breath. Finishing up, the waitress clicks her pen and places it in her apron.

"Okay! One cup of black coffee coming right up!"

Ruby nods absently before realizing what the waitress had said and scrambles to correct her. "W-Wait, I—“

"Be back in a moment, sweetie!”

And just like that, the waitress walks off, not giving Ruby the chance to change her order. Ruby deflates, leaning back into her seat. She closes her eyes, groaning.

"Way to go, Ruby..." she chastises herself before putting her face in her hands.

"Oh, excuse me, ma'am, didn't see you there."

"Don't worry about it. You’re fine."

Ruby looks up a little. ”That voice..." she says to herself.

Slowly, Ruby lifts her face out of her hands and turns her head to right, the direction the sound of the familiar voice came from. Two men stand in the way of the one Ruby was looking for. They conversed for a second and Ruby waits with bated breath for them to move just a little.

Then, they finally do and her eyes widen at who she sees sitting there.

"It's you…”

Sitting at a table alone, the yellow-eyed woman has one leg crossed over the other. Her eyes scan over the pages of a novel. Her unoccupied hand reaches for the mug sitting on the table and she lifts it to her mouth. The rest of the table top space is covered with three other books, a stack of different colored notebooks, and various, unorganized papers.

Ruby stares on as the woman goes about her business, probably unaware of the young girl's existence. Ruby gulps as a bead of sweat rolls down her face. She —

"Here you are, kiddo!"

Once again, Ruby finds herself jumping from the young waitress' sudden appearance. She looks up to see a mug of black coffee on her table.

"Just tell me if you need anything else, okay?"

And, once again, she's gone, leaving Ruby with a cup of coffee she didn't ask for. Curious, she slides the drink toward her. She gives it a little sniff, recoiling with a scrunched up face. Cautiously, she lifts the cup and—

"Pft! Ack! Ugh!"

The young girl starts to wipe her tongue on the sleeve of her jacket, her face twisting in disgust. She pushes the mug away as if it were poison.

“Bleh! How does he drink this stuff?”

Ignoring the mug of crap and the bad taste in her mouth, she refocuses her attention on the reason she was in this coffee shop to begin with. Now filled with an unexpected adrenaline, the young girl balls her fist and stands from her seat. A determined look in her silver eyes, she walks over to the woman with a confident stride.

"E-Excuse me! Miss!"

Hearing the voice beside her, the black haired woman looks up from her book. "Yes, can I help you?" she asks, turning her head to see...

Nothing... Absolutely nothing.

She looks around confused, unsure if she really heard a voice just now. Placing her book down, she investigates her surroundings, expecting to find someone. However, everyone in the coffee shop seemed to pay her no mind, going about their business.

"Huh..." she says as she leans back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. On the floor next to her, something catches her eye, something rather familiar looking: a pile of red rose petals, fading away as if they were never even there.

"Why did I do that?! What was I thinking?!" she screams as she paces the rooftop, her hands gripping her hair. "He said no teleporting and my stupid butt did the exact opposite! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!"

Pow!

"Ow!"

Ruby takes hold of her foot as it throbs in pain.

"God, I hate these friggin' walls!”

And The Next Day

She sips on her tea, her eyes glued to the book in her hand. As the crowd of people went about their business, she was wandering in her own little world, inattentive of her surroundings, seemingly vulnerable to any surprises around her.

Key word: seemingly.

"You know, some people don't take too kindly to others staring at the back of their heads."

She could actually hear the young girl's breath hitch behind her. She can't help but to smirk, amused.

"There's an empty seat here, you know? You're more than welcome to take it, I won't mind." A moment passes and her little watcher still doesn't make a move. She rolls her eyes. "Come over here, little red."

Finally, small footsteps slowly approach her table, and, from the corner of her eye, she can see a red hooded figure walk from behind her.

The young girl turns around nervously, shaking in her dark boots. Her head is bowed as she does her best to avoid eye contact with the black haired woman.

"Sit down,” the woman tells the child. She only eyes the chair, but doesn't move to take it. The woman sighs. "Believe me, kid, if I were upset with you, it would be very obvious. Now please, take a seat."

The young girl audibly gulps, sweat rolling down her face, body shaking. Never the less, she pulls the chair out and slowly lowers herself into it. Her eyes stay on the floor. Her hands sit on her lap. The woman places her book down.

"You've been watching me for three days now. You usually sit in that corner by the window over there." The redhead is visibly surprised. "Yeah, I've known all along. Honestly, I just wanted to see what you would do. I figured confronting you about it would scare you off and then I'd never know. But you can understand why I'm a little suspicious of you, right?”

She doesn't answer. She only squirms in her seat, her eyes darting back and forward.

The woman leans forward, her elbows on the table. "I don't know if you're just some little creeper, or someone who wants to hurt me." Her gaze pierces into the young girl. ”You aren't trying to hurt me... are you?"

The redhead quickly looks up at Blake, her mouth open, ready to defend herself. However, nothing is said. She completely freezes up. The woman can see her hands convulsing.

"Hey again!"

The child pulls her hood completely over her head, balling up and quivering in her seat. The maid gives her a strange look, her brow raised, hand on hip. Studying the scene, the woman smiles, sighing to herself and sitting back in her chair.

"I suppose that answers that,” she says.

The waitress scratches her head. "Man, this is the third time I've scared you. I'm really sorry, sweetheart, I've really got to work on that." She looks at the yellow-eyed woman. "Oh, do you two know each other?"

She looks at the girl, then back at the waitress. "We've only met recently, but yes, I know her, Taylor."

The maid giggles. "Well, your little friend here's a jumpy one. Can I get you two some drinks?"

"Actually, can I get a refill on this?" She hands Taylor the mug.

"Can do! And what about you, sweetie? You want anything?"

Hearing the question, the hooded girl emerges from her ball, still shaking. Breathing deeply, she sits right in her seat and searches the menu. She lays the menu flat on the table and points out the fruit punch. The black haired woman notices the young girl’s hand shaking immensely, jittering around to other items around the fruit punch. She raises a brow.

"Can... Can I... Can I... Can I get...?" the young girl stutters.

The waitress looks over her shoulder and nods. "Right, same thing as last time! Coming right up, ladies." Putting her pad in her apron, she begins to walk off.

Ruby goes to grab her, but misses. "W-Wait...! Ms....!" But she's too quiet for the waitress to hear her and she sinks into her seat. "Not again…"

The woman, watching the girl, crosses her arms over her chest. "Taylor!" she calls out to the waitress, getting her attention.

Taylor walks back over to the table. "Yeah? Need something?”

"You got her drink wrong,” she says, pointing at the redhead, who looks up, surprised at being addressed.

"Wait, what?" She takes out her notepad and goes over it. "She wanted the black coffee, right?"

"No, she was pointing at the fruit punch. It just looked like she was refereeing to the coffee."

"Aw, you're kidding me!" She turns to Ruby. "Well, why didn't you tell me that? I really didn't know!"

The child looks at the floor. "I'm... I'm sorry..."

"No, I should be sorry. Let me fix that up for ya'. This ones on the house, okay?"

The waitress walks off, this time with the right order. The redhead sighs in relief. Looking up at the woman, she sees her face on her arm, a smirk on her lips. The young girl sits up, averting her eyes.

"T...Thank you..." she says.

"My pleasure,” the woman says. "Now, I believe we may have gotten off on the wrong foot."

Ruby blushes, biting her lip.

"Let's try this again, shall we?” She clears her throat. “My name is Blake. Blake Belladonna.” She leads puts her hand out. "Now you.”

The young girl squirms in her seat, her hands between her legs, her silver eyes avoiding Blake's yellow ones. "...R...R...Ruby... I'm Ruby... Hello..."

The woman smiles at Ruby’s awkwardness. "Hello."

Ruby smiles back awkwardly. The black haired woman looks on, waiting for a response. Ruby begins to sweat at this ‘riveting’ conversation.

Swallowing, she decides to speak. "I, uh… I ran you over... three days ago... Yeah…"

Blake lifts a brow at Ruby. "Right, you’re the girl that almost had a heart attack, I remember you. Thanks for that, by the way."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's fine."

"A-Are you okay...?"

"Quite."

"Okay..."

"Yep."

Silence.

"Not very talkative, are you?" Blake asks.

Ruby shakes her head. "I'm sorry…”

"You sure apologize a lot, you know that?"

Ruby looks up quickly, standing. "I-I can leave if I’m bothering—"

"You're fine. Just an observation.” Ruby falls back to her seat, quiet. “I’m not stopping you, though. Stay, or go; it’s up to you."

With that, Blake picks up her book and continues reading. Ruby eyes the woman from beneath her hood. Seeing her going back to her previous activity, Ruby lowers her head again.

The young girl takes a look around the table. She stops on a certain blue book.

"Is that ‘Destiny's Sky’?" Ruby asks. Blake looks up. "I... I've read that one before."

The woman slightly drops her book and looks up at Ruby. “Oh?"

Ruby nods. "Y-Yeah. It's about a... Oh, what was it again…? It’s about this bird… chained to this world, right? It was banished from heaven and condemned here for all eternity. But it turns out that the bird was actually a demon all along, but it refuses to accept that and wants to defy the truth. At least, I think that was how it went…”

Blake's book had now completely been placed on the table as the woman looks at Ruby, intrigued. "Wow... not a lot of people know the story."

"It was one of my favorites. I-I have a sister that read it to me when we were kids and we used to take turns doing the chapters. I remember not liking the ending, though. It was kind of... depressing. He ends up roaming the world, unsure of his true identity. The story never tells you if he ended up being happy after all. I really wanted the bird to find peace.”

The woman chuckles. "Yes, I was a bit torn on it myself. But I see why the author made it that way."

“R-Really?”

"It's a bit strange, but, despite not really liking it, I completely agreed with the ending. I thought it fit nicely that he ended up like that. Sad, yes, but… very fitting."

Ruby rubs her head. "I just thought he was cute."

A small smile forms on Blake's lips. Ruby sends a small smile back as a blush appears on her cheek. She looks down at the table's other contents. A sheet of paper with various notes scribbled on it was the first to catch her eye.

"You... write stories?"

The woman looks to where Ruby is looking and nods lightly. "It's a hobby of mine. Just something I do in my free time."

Ruby goes to pick the paper up but hesitates, looking at Blake. "D-Do you mind if I…?"

Blake gives a concerned look. Her hand rubs her neck. "I... I don't know... I'm a bit self conscious about my writing…"

Ruby withdraws her hand. "I-I'm sorry. I won't read it if you don't want me—“

“No-No, it's fine." Blake shrugs her shoulders. "I... suppose one story wouldn't hurt."

Ruby smiles. "Are you sure?”

Blake smiles back. “What the heck. Why not?"

Ruby takes the paper and slides it in front of her on the table.

For a good fifteen minutes, Blake and Ruby read their respective stories in silence. While Ruby fully focuses on her paper, Blake can't help but to look up from her book and watch Ruby every once in a while. In fact, she was so intent on watching Ruby that she completely forgot that she had a book in her hand.

While the redheaded girl engrossed herself into her short story, Blake felt as if much more time had gone by than the actual amount. The clock ticked painfully slow for her, every minute feeling like hours. Eventually, she put down her book altogether and waited for Ruby to finish.

Then, a glass hits the table and the paper is slid back. Blake waits with bated breath as Ruby sits in silence for a moment. After a moment, Ruby looks up and right into Blake's eyes, she staring back.

“Wow..."

"...Um..." Blake says. "Excuse me...?"

"Ms. Belladonna, that was... wow!"

Blake looks shocked by Ruby's excited reaction. "You... You really liked it?"

"Liked it? I absolutely loved it! That was such a well-written story. I didn't even want to put it down! Oh man, I wish it didn't have to end. That was incredible!"

Blake tries but ultimately fails to hold back a smile. She finds herself squirming in excitement from Ruby's enthusiastic response. "Thank you so much, Ruby... I've... never had anyone read my stories before. At least not right in front me…”

"You're a really great writer, Ms. Belladonna. I wish I could read more."

Blake looks down in thought for moment. "Well... I'll tell you what. If you come back here tomorrow... I might have more stories for you to read... If you'd like."

Ruby looks at Blake to see her smiling warmly at her. Ruby's own smile grows larger across her lips.

"Y-Yes, o-of course!" Ruby nods her head. "I-I'll be here! Thank you so much, Ms. Belladonna!”

Blake shakes her head, chucking. "Please. Call me Blake. And I look forward to seeing you again, Ruby.”

From there, a friendship started to blossom. One the little red girl did not expect.

The next day, she kept her promise. Returning to the same diner, Blake and Ruby spent the day reading. Blake would read her novels she collected over the years, while Ruby read the stories Blake had written over those same years.

They would each order their respective drinks, then lose themselves in the separate yet similar worlds they enjoyed traveling to so much.

After that first day, it would be a few more before the young girl would return. Blake wondered if she had scared little Ruby off somehow. Perhaps that one-time deal was exactly as thought: a one-time deal.

However, the little red girl thought otherwise.

Blake is tapped on the back by a small finger. Waking from her world of fiction, she turns around, her eyes widening in surprise. Ruby stands there smiling, her hands behind her back.

"Ruby,” Blake says, trying to hide her surprise. W-Where have you been?"

Ruby scratches the back of her head. "Sorry I was gone so long. It just... wasn't quite ready yet."

Blake tilts her head to the side. "Ready? What wasn't...?"

That’s when Ruby takes her hands from behind her back. In her hands are three pages, stapled together neatly. They are each covered in words, front and back. She holds the packet to Blake.

"What is this?" Blake asks.

Ruby shifts around nervously. "Well... after reading some of your stories... I wanted to... you know... try writing my own... and I thought that maybe... I mean, maybe you could... I don't know…"

Ruby doesn't have to finish her thought for Blake to figure out what was being asked. For a moment, Blake can only stare, unsure of how to answer. But, she managed to smile warmly and take the papers. Ruby looks up at Blake, expectedly.

"I would be more than happy to, Ruby,” Blake says.

The young girl smiles wide.

From that point, the two had swapped stories every time they met. They had created a schedule for certain days to meet up. This would give the two enough time to write and hone their craft. Once they met up again, they'd swap stories, review each other, and even exchange ideas.

With every meeting, the young girl found herself having more fun than the time before. She'd never had an experience like this.

She felt... happy around her. Yeah... happy.

"You know, it's strange…"

Ruby looks up from the story she was reading as Blake talks. "What is?”

“This…" She points between herself and Ruby. “Truthfully... I've never been the best in dealing with others. I've... always been alone, really. I mean, I was fine with it, don't get me wrong. It's just..." She looks at Ruby. "I'm having... a lot of fun hanging out with you. I guess I'm just not use to it... not being alone."

Ruby blinks. Then, she smiles brightly. “I like being with you, too, Blake.”

Blake smiles back.

Ruby goes back to reading the story in her hand. As she reads, she reaches out for the tray of frosted cookies in the middle of the table. She takes three and shoves them in her mouth, her cheeks puffing out from the amount of food she chewed on, like a chipmunk's would.

Blake watches, chuckling to herself at the amusing sight. At the same time, she notices that Ruby has a stray crumb on her lip. She reaches out and grabs it, Ruby turning to the woman. Realizing what was going on, the two look at each other for a moment before Ruby smiles and goes back to reading.

Looking at the crumb, Blake shrugs her shoulders and inserts it into her mouth casually.

The two's relationship only grew with every passing day. Weeks went by as the two enjoyed one another's company.

There were times Ruby's thoughts strayed to Yang.

She honestly wasn't sure how to tell her about Blake, something she wasn't looking forward to, really. She always knew Yang was very protective over her, and she was unsure about how her sister would react.

And, to be truthful, the little red girl wasn't particular sure how to deal with the relationship between her and Blake. This sort of thing was so alien to her. The only people she’d ever really been close to were Yang and Professor Ozpin, and he was only connected to her to a certain extent. How was she supposed to handle being with Blake? How would things develop?

Well, for starters, she'd be meeting Blake somewhere besides the coffee shop.

She stares at the mat in front of the door. On it was word “welcome” in nice, purple lettering. Blake leans on the doorframe at the top of the three steps, arms crossed as she waits for Ruby to make a move.

When Ruby continues to remain fixated on the wonderful welcome mat Blake picked up for a few lien at a thrift shop, she decides to intervene.

“Door’s wide open, Ruby,” she says. “You can come in any time. I’m not stopping you, really.”

Ruby looks up at Blake. “I… don’t think this is good idea…”

“Well, what happened? When I suggested this last week, you seemed relatively okay with the idea. Did something happen between then and now?”

“Yeah. I lost my confidence.”

“What are you so afraid of?”

Ruby shakes her head. “I just… I’ve never done this before. I’ve never had someone whose house I could just walk into. I feel like I’m intruding, or something. I don’t want to be a bother to you and I’m not sure if I’m quite ready to— Wah!”

In the middle of her rambling, Blake takes the initiative and grabs Ruby’s wrist, pulling her inside the house, across the doormat. The young girl stumbles a little. When she regains her balance, she turns around to promptly chastise Blake about the sudden act of force. However, she stops short when she sees the woman smiling at her.

Ruby looks around to see that she is, in fact, inside of Blake’s house. Standing up straight, she looks back at Blake.

“…Huh.” is all she says.

Blake, still smirking, starts to walk past Ruby and to the staircase directly in front of her. “Come on. I’ll go make some tea. Then we can get started for the day.”

“Hehehe,” Blake chuckles, turning the page of the book she held, sitting cross-legged at the foot of her bed. “Ruby, your sister sounds insane. She tied him up with the swing chain?”

Ruby laughs, swinging her legs as she lay on her stomach atop Blake’s purple sheeted bed. “Yeah, really. She warned him over and over again not to touch her hair, but he just kept grabbing at it. Every time he made a move for it, I think I had a mini heart attack. I just knew the situation was gonna get out of hand sooner, or later. Needless to say, I was absolutely right. It took five of the teachers to restrain Yang!”

Blake’s eyes widen. “Five? Did that work?”

Ruby snorts. “Heck no that didn’t work! She either tossed each and every one of them off her, or burned the heck out of them and kept swinging the kid around with the chain. He was crying like a baby the whole time. The funniest part? The entire time, he never let go of the strand of hair he snagged. He was absolutely determined to keep it!”

“Why would he go through all of that for a strand of your sister’s hair?”

After taking a big gulp of her drink, Ruby places it back down and continues with her story.

“Yang was really protective of her hair. See, she wanted to grow it out nice and long like a giant mane. She thought she had the prettiest hair in the whole entire world and really did not like it getting messed up any. One little touch and she exploded! So, naturally, that started this little contest to see who could do the impossible. That was the first sign she had a semblance actually.”

Blake shakes her head, laughing. “Goodness. That is one hair trigger temper your sister has.”

“Well, that’s my hot headed sister for you.”

The two pause, slowly looking at each other.

“…Did we really just do that?”

Blake blinks. “Seems like it.”

A moment of silence passes before the two laugh at their little accidental pun off. Blake calms down, looking at Ruby who was giggling like a child, holding her stomach, trying to stop herself.

“This is so strange.”

Ruby calms down a little, a chuckle or two still escaping. “What is?”

Blake scoots closer to Ruby and pokes cheek. “This.” Ruby giggles from the touch. “I never knew you could laugh like this. The most you’ve ever given me was a shy little giggle.”

Ruby smiles softly. “Yeah, it’s a… bit weird for me, too… Haven’t really had to do it much these days…”

“Well… I think you have a nice smile.”

“I could say the same for you.”

Blake smirks. “Yes, I… suppose I haven’t really smiled like this in a while. I almost forgot what it was like… to have this much fun with someone.”

Ruby’s smile sinks as her brows knit in a slight sadness. “Why are you alone, Blake?”

Blake rubs her arm and looks away from Ruby. “I… wasn't always. I used to have a... a, um... Someone very dear to me. Once upon a time.”

“Well… where are they?”

The black haired woman sighs. “We… aren’t really on good terms right now. There was… a bit of friction between them and I… Now… we don’t really talk anymore…”

“Have you tried to since then?”

“It’s not quite that easy, Ruby. Sometimes… some bonds can’t be repaired?”

Ruby’s eyes avert to the floor. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Blake shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing for you to concern yourself with. I’m fine now, really. I’ve had years to move on with my life, and, honestly… I feel happy. My life is better than ever before.”

A smile tugs at Ruby’s lips. “I’m glad to hear that, Blake.”

“And besides…” Blake wipes back some of Ruby’s hair from her face. “I have an adorable new friend now.”

Ruby blushes. “Friend… I’ve… never had one of those before…”

“Then I would be more than honored to be your first.” The two look at each other, smiling. A bead of sweat rolls down Ruby’s forehead. Blake is quick to notice. “Ruby, you should really take that jacket off.”

Ruby gives a confused tilt of the head before wiping her head, noticing the sweat on it. “Oh, this? It’s no big deal. I’m fine.”

Blake sighs. “Ruby, you’re gonna burn up if you keep sitting here with that thing on. I already told you, my AC unit isn’t working right now.”

Ruby brings her knees to her chest. “I… I don’t know… I don’t really feel comfortable without my cloak.”

Blake scratches the back of her head. “Well… I guess if it’s that important… How about this? Do you have an undershirt of some sort underneath all those layers?”

Ruby pulls her clothes up and checks. “Yes.”

“Okay. Then just take your jacket off for a second, remove the other layers, keep your undershirt on, and then put the jacket back on. It might feel better than having to wear all of it, right?”

Ruby ponders Blake’s idea for a moment, putting her finger on her chin. “Yeah, I… guess that’ll be okay. I can handle that.”

“Good to hear. Go ahead and undress.”

Ruby starts to slide off her jacket before stopping suddenly.

Blake’s brow rises. “Problem?”

There is a luminescent blush on Ruby’s cheeks. “…You’re sitting right there…”

Blake smirks, holding in a laugh. “Ruby, you’re wearing a shirt underneath.”

“Still weird. Don’t look.”

“Don’t you undress in front of your sister all of the time?”

“No.”

Blake can’t help but to let out a small chuckle. Rolling her eyes, she turns around, covering her eyes. Confirming that Blake isn’t looking, Ruby continues to undress. The woman decides to have a little fun with the young girl and try to sneak a little peak—

“No peaking!”

That plan a failure, Blake quickly covers her eyes again, laughing. “You are a shy little girl, you know that?”

“I’ve been told. Now don’t peak. I’m almost done, okay?”

But Blake was still in the mood to mess with Ruby. So, she decides to play off last time as pure luck and try again. This time, she is able to peak and not be caught immediately. However, her smile slowly fades as something on Ruby’s shoulder catches her eye.

“What in the world…?”

“Goodness, Ruby,” Blake says, inching closer. “What happened here?”

Ruby rolls her eyes. "What happened to 'no peaking?'"

"I'm sorry, it's just... this scar."

Blake crawls closer.

“What happened to you?” Blake asks.

“Wait, scar? Blake, what are you—“

Touch.

In her mind, countless images flash by; various images of blood-splattered walls, pictures of shadow like creatures with piecing red eyes. For a moment, her thoughts hold still on an image of a blonde haired woman, bloodied, a warm smile on her face. Her hand is outstretched, cradling Ruby’s face…

“AHHHH!”

She spins around, screaming, slashing Blake’s hand. Blood flies from Blake’s hand, causing the woman to jump back in pain. Ruby pushes herself away from the woman, falling off the bed to the floor on her back. Scrambling up, she moves to the corner of the room, her back to the perplexed woman.

“R-Ruby!” Blake says as she moves around the bed, holding her injured hand. She moves to the corner Ruby is crouched in.

“No!”

Blake stops in her tracks, eyes wide. “Ruby?”

“Ruby, wait. I… what’s the matter with you?” Blake moves closer. “Did I hurt you—“

“Stop!”

Blake jumps back from Ruby’s yell. It didn’t even sound like the same girl. Behind her scream, there was a demonic growl of some sort.

“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!... Don’t…! Don’t touch…!”

Blake swallows spit. She can actually feel herself trembling. Never the less, she tries to approach Ruby again. “Ruby…!”

Vanish!

Ruby is gone and then appears behind Blake at the bedroom door. Slamming it open, she teleports again, this time appearing down the staircase at the apartment entrance. Blake quickly follows.

“Ruby! Wait!” Blake quickly runs after her but isn’t fast enough to stop Ruby from vanishing again.

She rushes outside into the street, few people around. She looks around, desperate to find the young girl. However, there is no sign of her. Her shoulders sagging, Blake looks down to the ground. On it, a small pile of red rose petals lay. She bends down and takes two in her bloody hand.

“Ruby…”

In spite of the new found friendship the little red girl managed to forge, she still remained so terribly closed off from those that wanted nothing more than to connect with her. The poor child was so hurt… so scarred, that something as small as physical contact was enough to send her into such disarray.

But was it the small contact between hand and shoulder that scared her so much? Or was it the thought of opening her heart to another that terrified her. A scar she was so deeply ashamed of was presented to one she still was reserved to.

A scar she preferred to be none existent…

She appears in a dark alleyway, stumbling and falling ungracefully to a small puddle, soaking herself. She scrambles to her feet and runs for the wall behind a dumpster. She slides down it and hastily reaches into her pocket, pulling the familiar orange bottle out.

She clumsily rushes to screw the cap off, her hands violently shaking. When she manages to pry the cap off, she turns the bottle over and—

“Ah!”

With her hands shaking so much, she drops the entire bottle, the pills within falling out. She rushes to retrieve the medication. However, her vision begins to warp, impairing her. It was so bad that she couldn’t even grab for the pills anymore.

Three Days Later

The pages flips shut as the book closes. Her hand takes more of the pages and lifts them up before letting them fall and flap shut once more. Her yellow eyes stared at the falling pages emptily. She lay in her bed, her knees falling over the side. Her tank top hung messily from her arm.

The many books she and Ruby had pulled down to read remained untouched since the day she left. Two stacks are knocked over and cover the floor after Blake scrambled after the redheaded girl. The two cups of tea the two were enjoying together are also on the floor, the contents having dried up and stained the carpet.

Blake sighs, letting the book fall one last time before pulling her hand back.

“Ruby…” she says softly.

Knock-Knock.

The woman darts up at hearing her door being knocked on.

She swiftly hops from her bed and rushes out her room to the staircase. She runs down, jumping the last five, and takes the doorknob. Without hesitating, she throws the door open.

“Ruby, I’m so sorry about… the other…”

In front of the door, rather than the cute young redhead, a shorthaired blonde stood with her arms crossed. Her purple eyes are shadowed by the bangs that hung down over her face. A scar runs across her face and left eye.

The same eye that pierces into Blake…

“So… You must be Blake,” she says.

The hotheaded sister, Yang, and the black haired woman, Blake, stand in front of one another, staring into each other’s eyes.

And from here, we fade to black...