“Do you not like it here…?”

She says nothing. Her damp, empty, silver eyes stay glued to the floor, her arms wrapped around the knees pulled up to her chest.

“Have you grown tired of this world…? This beautiful world around us…? Have you grown tired of me…?”

She slowly looks up to the figure before her, it as small and child like as the little red girl. It was covered in a dark shroud of shadows, fitting like a tattered cloak. It gently blew in a nonexistent wind like smoke from an ember. The figure was humanoid, it’s knees pulled up to it’s chest, resembling the little red girl’s own position, just like the oily skin of it’s exposed arms and legs did.

Ruby puts her forehead on her knees.

“I hate this place…” she says, a venom in her voice no normal child should be able to muster up. “I hate everything about it. This ocean, the sky, the moon… And I really hate you…”

Not having a face, it was impossible to tell if the young child’s words affected the figure sitting before Ruby. “I’m very sorry to hear that, Ruby…”

“Don’t say my name… It’s weird. I don’t like when you say it.”

“But it’s such a pretty name… Don’t you like it? I do…”

“You can’t say it!” she yells at her dark companion. “When you say it, I wish I never had that name. Why won’t you just go away and leave me alone…?”

“Why would I do that, Ruby…? I love you too much to leave you here alone… Besides… I quite like spending time with you… I feel… happy when I’m with you…”

“Well I don’t. I just want to go home… But instead, I’m stuck here with you…”

“Is that such a bad thing…?”

“The worst…”

At that, the figure could actually be seen flinching from the sting of Ruby’s harsh words. The child makes no sign of continuing the conversation, choosing to ignore the entity before her. The shadow slowly starts to rise from it’s position on the ground, then it begins to slowly approach Ruby, walking behind her. Ruby’s eyes rise to follow her unwanted company’s path with a tired, suspicious glare.

The shadow stands behind the child, then lowers to the ground. The cloak around it rises and begin to wrap around Ruby’s body. The child flinches from the cold touch, looking absolutely repulsed from the contact. However, she does her best to maintain her empty gaze, making sure not to make eye contact with the creature behind her.

“I do wish you wouldn't think so badly of me, child…” it says. “I only want to make you happy… Is that so bad…?”

“I’ll never be happy…” Ruby retorts. “As long as I’m here with you, that will never happen…”

“Don’t be so negative… I’m sure there is something I can do to change your mind…”

A dark hand emerges from the dark, cloak-like shroud. It slowly begins to trail down the young girl’s neck. Ruby’s expression grows more disgusted.

“I know… deep down… I can help you truly smile…”

The hand trails down further, hovering over her chest, then her stomach, next her leg. Another hand trails up Ruby’s arm, a finger gliding over the child’s skin, making it’s way to her neck.

“All you have to do…”

It’s hand squeezes around Ruby’s neck.

“Is let me in…”

“Gah!”

She vaults up from where she lay, screaming as she is yanked away from her nightmare. Her head is thrown in every direction. Her silver eyes, narrowed feral-like, scan the room fearfully. She quickly feels around her body as if it were covered in insects, then wraps her hands around her throat, feeling to be certain her own hands were the only ones grasping it.

As she slowly starts to realize no one was behind her, she begins to breath erratically, her breaths uneven; jagged, a cold sweat running over the entirety of her body. Her mouth had run dry, her hands convulsing. As the rapid beating of her heart began to slow back to normal, she wraps her arms around herself, trembling as she recalled the terrible dream she just escaped from, bringing her knees up close.

It was then she remembers she wasn’t entirely alone as two larger, more muscular arms begin to embrace her in a warm, comforting hug. The first thing she sees is blonde hair, glowing brighter than usual. She looks up to see her older sister hugging her with eyes closed, gently rocking the two back and forth, humming some sort of soft melody.

She can feel warmth resonating off of Yang, replacing the chill that encapsulated her form just seconds ago.

“Just a nightmare, kiddo…” Yang says quietly. “Just another nightmare…”

And as Yang continued to hold Ruby in a long, warm embrace, the young girl found it impossible to do anything but nuzzle up into her sister’s hug and try her hardest to rid her mind of that horrible experience…

And prepare herself for the exact same one the next night…

"Not only did you completely disregard our safety protocol, you then proceeded to absolutely stamp out common sense by thinking you two were enough of a force on your own to take on such a reckless task! Rather than report your findings to trained authorities, you two thought it would be a perfectly intelligent decision to combat armed men by yourselves! Of course that was the smart thing to do! Brilliant!”

There was nothing she could do at the moment. The amount of yelling the much older woman pacing the ground before her did made sure of that. All she could really do was keep her eyes on the floor, hands tucked between her legs, and mouth shut until the chew-out session was over.

“And that’s not even mentioning the fact that you committed cold blooded torture on one of the men! My word, why on Remnant, or any other place in this dimension, would you think doing something like that would ever be okay?! If we hadn’t bailed you two out, do you realize you could have faced serious charges for something like that?!”

“To be fair, they were perfectly within their rights for doing what they did,” the blonde behind Ruby puts her two cents in, earning a glare from the ranting woman. “Maybe torture was a bit… much, but it was for a good cause.”

“I don’t care what it was for! You can’t just go around torturing people without proper jurisdiction, and even then it’s frowned upon! Don’t try defending these two, Ms. Xiao-“

“Glynda.”

The woman halts her endless yelling and slowly turns back to the silver haired man sitting behind a desk. He straightens himself up and adjusts his glasses before leaning back in his seat calmly.

“Bombarding the poor children with your screaming isn’t going to help anything. You know that.”

Her eye twitches. Ozpin lifts a brow her direction and she eventually sighs. Clearing her throat, she straightens out her mildly unkempt blonde hair and adjusts the rectangular spectacles on the bridge of her nose. She directs her attention back to the redheaded girl currently fidgeting in her seat uncomfortably.

Glynda crosses her arms below her bosom, then calmly says, “Ruby… Sweetie. Would you mind telling me… why exactly you tortured a man, then proceeded to knock him unconscious? Just for clarification?”

Ruby genuinely tries to look Glynda in the eye by slowly bringing her gaze up, only to, just as quickly, look back to the floor from under her red hood. She fidgets uncomfortably in her chair as she struggles to find the right words. Out of desperation for an answer, she can’t help but to look to her right at the white haired student also being hailed on with screaming.

Weiss made no indication that she was even listening to what was happening, her eyes on the floor, but not particularly looking at anything. They seemed dull; empty as if her mind were bank, her mouth in a straight line.

Realizing the woman before her was still waiting for an answer, Ruby directs her attention back to Glynda. “I… I… H-He didn’t… I was…” She swallows saliva loudly. “…I was… I was a-angry…”

“YOU WERE ANG-“ Glynda almost screams once more, causing Ruby to jump in her seat and shake even more, preparing to be yelled at once more. However, the woman is able to quickly catch herself, albeit a twitch still present in her eye. She takes a deep breath, then lets it out. “Angry… you say…?”

Ruby continues to shake. “I was just… W-We needed to f-find out… where M-Melody was before it… before it was too l-late… H-He wasn’t coo… cooper… helping u-us, so… so I-I had no choice… I… I…”

“Okay, I’m cutting this off right now,” Yang decides to step in, causing all eyes, save for Weiss’, to direct at her as she walks forward, putting a hand on Ruby’s head. “Glynda, they did what they had to do. End of story. It was stupid and reckless and they shouldn’t have acted on their own. They get the point. Now, could you please stop?”

Just as Glynda opened her mouth to speak, Ozpin cuts in. “No, she’s right, Glynda. Scaring the poor girl is only making things more stressful than they have to be. You’ve made your point very clear.”

The spectacle wearing woman sighs, putting her head in her hand. “I just do not understand why you would do something so… out of character like this. I may have expected this from Yang, but you, Ruby? That is so unlike anything you’ve ever done before. And, goodness, how do you go from beating up a student to going outside of the city barrier all in one day?”

Ruby sinks lower in her seat.

The woman turns to Weiss. “And the same goes for you, Ms. Schnee. You’ve been one of my best and most responsible students all year. I expected you to have better judgment when it came to such dangerous situations as this. Just what would your mother think were she to… Ms. Schnee, are you even listening to me?”

Weiss makes no move to respond. Her eyes stare emptily into space. Everyone in the room looks at her, thoughts split between confusion and concern. Yang and Glynda give each other perplexed looks, then look to Ozpin, his composure showing no signs of wavering.

“Ms. Schnee?” he calls out.

Still nothing. Her eyes remained shadowed by her uncharacteristically messy hair.

“Weiss.”

It is Ruby who calls out her name this time, causing the snow haired teen to finally snap out of the trance she was trapped in. Slowly, her head rises and turns to the four other occupants of Ozpin’s office. Ruby can be seen flinching at the sight of the deep, dark bags under her dim, blue eyes. Bags reminiscent of her own.

“Weiss, did you hear a thing I’ve been saying all this time?” Glynda asks, more worry present in her voice rather than irritation.

Weiss looks down a little. “I…I’m sorry, ma’am… I’ll take responsibility for everything, if that’s okay with you…”

“For everything? Ms. Schnee, you aren’t the only one at fault here. There’s no need for you to-“

“I insist…” she cuts Glynda off, surprising the woman. “This entire mission was my idea from the start. Because of my actions… the situation resolved in a much worse outcome than it ever should have… My inability as a Huntress put the lives of Ruby, myself, and Mel…” She chokes up on the last word, a mistake easily caught by Ruby and Ozpin, the man narrowing his eyes ever so slightly. “…And the Fauna at stake. I feel it only right that I take the full brunt of the consequences to come…”

Glynda is left at a loss for words by Weiss’ statement. Unsure of how to answer, she directs her gaze to Ozpin, who didn’t make a move the entire time. That’s when he finally leans forward in his seat, resting his elbows on the desk before him.

“And you’re sure about this, Ms. Schnee?” he asks.

She slowly nods her head.

He adjusts his glasses. ‘Then, what do you think would be the proper punishment for your mistake?”

Her head lowers and her eyes are once again shadowed. “I will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from your institution for the rest of the semester, sir… I feel I do not deserve to take part in your program as I am unfit to be a Huntress… I apologize for wasting yours and all of the faculty’s time this year…”

Yangs’s eyes widen at what was just said and she can’t help but to look over and gauge how Glynda and Ozpin are taking the information. Glynda had her arms crossed, looking to the side, face covered in conflicting emotions. Ozpin had his eyes closed, hands still crossed over his mouth.

“…If that is what you think is best, Ms. Schnee,” he says after a pause. “But there is no need to apologize. I only hope you keep this experience close to your heart and learn from it. That is all the advice I truly can give you right now.”

She nods again. “If it’s all right with you… may I be excused now, sir?”

Glynda looks to Weiss. “Where exactly are you going, Weiss?”

She turns to Glynda, face void of emotion. “…I will be arranging a funeral session for the Fauna that lost their lives in the forest.”

This most certainly catches Glynda and Yang off guard.

“Wait, you’re paying for that?” Yang asks.

“I’ll be using my family funds to pay for the funeral. I have already cleared it with my mother and I will be tending to the full arrangements… Mr. Ozpin…?”

Ozpin nods at the young girl. She slowly stands from her seat. After bowing to Ozpin, Glynda, and Yang respectfully, she turns to head for the door. Without another word, she opens it and exits the room, closing the door behind her, leaving the four other people in the office in silence, the ticking of the clock tower ringing out.

Yang breaks the ice with a sigh. “Poor kid…” She turns to Ozpin. “She isn’t coming back… Is she, sir?”

He shakes his head. “Students dropping out of this school isn’t unheard of. Some just aren’t able to adjust to having to one day battle the creatures in the dark. Not everyone takes it as well as you do, Yang.”

Yang shakes her head. “No… No they do not…”

“Now… I believe we have one other matter to discuss.” He eyes Ruby. “Matters regarding your recent… episode in the forest, Ruby.”

The red-haired girl nervously looks up at her name being called. Yang, however, steps from behind her and intervenes.

“Actually, Mr, Ozpin, could we, maybe, postpone this for later? The kid’s had a long day and I think we all could use a bit of a breather.”

Glynda turns to Yang, a noticeable look of worry in her eye. “A-Actually, Yang, that sounds like a good idea. Perhaps this is a conversation for another day. And I’m sure it will be a long one. Ozpin?” She turns to the silver haired man.

He lightly smiles, sighing softly. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Very well. We will pick up on this topic on a later date. For now, I want you two to go straight home and get some sleep. Yang, I trust you’ll watch over your little sister.”

She nods. “Yup.”

Ozpin directs his attention at Ruby. “And you, Ruby, are grounded until I say otherwise. That means no wandering around the city, or fighting dangerous criminals. I will be honest, I never thought I would have to say that to you of all people. Do you understand me, young lady?”

Ruby nods slowly.

“Alright then. You two are dismissed. Get home safe.”

“Gotcha,” Yang responds. She taps Ruby on the head. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get goin’. I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted.”

The young girl stands to her feet and her shoulders are wrapped by a muscular arm as Yang leads the two to the door.

“Oh, and Ruby?” The redhead halts in her walk and slightly turns to Ozpin. He keeps his eyes closed as he says his next words. “I am very proud of you… For being so brave… I hope you know that.”

Ruby doesn’t respond. In fact, her head only dips lower. Yang takes the young girl’s hand and gently pulls her along. “Come on, sis.”

The blond holds the door open, the two walk through it, and it lightly shuts, a small “click” being heard. Glynda can’t help but to release a held breath she didn’t even realize she had been holding. Her hands rise to her temples and rub them.

“Those two are quite the trouble makers,” she says. “So, what do you think? Is Yang going to chew Ruby out?”

Ozpin takes a swig of his coffee then places it back on the desk. “I highly doubt it. This is one of those situations where Yang might be just as scared as Ruby is…”

The moment they stepped out into the hallway, they only walk a few feet before Ruby stops and puts her back to one of the hallway walls, her face looking to the ground, covered by her hood. Yang stands before her, looking down to the young girl, arms to her side.

“…It happened again, didn’t it?”

Ruby doesn’t answer, remaining silent.

“Ruby, we had this talk before… You know you’re never, under any circumstances, supposed to step a foot near that barrier, let alone outside it. You know just as well as I do what’s waiting beyond it. That was really stupid what you did.”

She still doesn’t answer.

“And we both know what happens if a Grimm were to attack… what you might turn into… I know you don’t want that… beast comin’ out of you… You can’t do that anymore, sis…”

Her smaller body shakes as tiny sobs echo from under the hood.

“…I’m sorry…” Her hands come up to her obscured eyes. “I didn’t want to… I didn’t mean to… Weiss and Jaune… they needed me… I just… I just didn’t want to them… to die… I just… I wanted to help…”

Tears fall to the carpeted floor and onto Yang’s boots. The blonde says nothing as the young girl cries before her, she watching with saddened eyes.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Yang… I’m so sorry… I’m s-sorry…”

At that moment, Yang lifts one arm and pulls her baby sister into her chest, the child continuing her crying, repeating her apologies. Yang looks to the sky, her scarred left eye narrowing. Her unused hand balls into a fist by her side.

Two Weeks Later

The door to the rooftop opens and the redhead walks through, her red cloak draped over her shoulders. As she scanned the familiar area, she can’t help but to sigh a little.

“Feels like I’m always up here…” she says to herself quietly.

Letting the door close, she walks forward to the railings on the edge of the building top, leaning over it like she did every night. After taking a moment to simply breath in the air of the night, her hand starts to reach for the inside of her jacket where her journal was.

However, she stops just before reaching in. A sigh and her hand retracts, her mind changing after all.

Her head lowers into her hands, silver eyes closed, red hair hanging over her face. As much as she would like to forget about it, her most recent nightmare plays in her mind. The red water, the dark sky, the black moon; all of it appears. But none of those things hold a candle to the real nightmare of those images.

That… thing… That cloak wearing, child like thing… she’d seen it before, she’d talked to it before. But the last time that happened was…

“No-No, don’t think about it Ruby…!” she chassises herself, smacking her head with a balled fist. “That never happened…! That didn’t…! That wasn’t…! Gah!”

She lets out a frustrated scream as she bends down to the ground. No matter how much she forced those memories to stay buried, they kept coming back. The memories of all of those Grimm, surrounding herself and her sister, gnawing on Yang’s flesh, trying to chew out her own throat. The horrid thoughts of… whatever happened to her, the empty ramblings in her mind as she tore those creatures to pieces.

“Kill… Kill! Kill!”

It repeated as her claws tore off any limb she could grab, as her teeth sank into the mass of darkness that sunk its teeth into her, as she ignored the tremendous amount of her own blood splattering the ground.

It wasn’t her. She couldn’t control it. And as she helplessly fought against those animalistic feelings, that cloaked figure spoke to her, egged her on, laughed in glee at the atrocities Ruby was committing. The figure’s words from her recent nightmare repeat.

“I only want to make you happy…”

“Leave me alone…”

“I know, deep down… I can help you truly smile…”

“Leave me alone…!”

“All you have to do… Is let me in…”

“Leave me alone!”

Her eyes snap open as she screams. She could feel her blood violently coursing through her veins, her heart pumping rapidly. Her muscles tensed up underneath her cloak. Every hair on her body stood on end as she breathed uncontrolled. In fact, it was almost as if she were losing herself again. Just like in the forest two weeks, just like two years ago…

As she realized what almost occurred, she shakes her head, doing what she could to calm herself. She slowly looks into the sky, taking deep, long breath. Sweat pooled down her face and she swallows saliva. Slowly, she rises back to her feet.

“This is really getting old…” she mutters bitterly. “Screw it…”

Having enough for one night, she decides to head back in and attempt to get some form of rest. As she prepares to walk back indoors, she finds her vision filled with a rather pretty, bright teal color, a color affiliated with two eyes staring directly at her.

…Wait.

Her path toward the rooftop door had been obstructed rather abruptly by a person. This random person currently responsible for Ruby’s freeze stared into the depth of Ruby’s soul with big, round, teal eyes. Those eyes were mildly obscured by the person’s messy, wild, orange hair, bangs hanging down over her face. On said face, two bright blush marks were stuck to the person’s cheeks.

Now, you may be wondering, “How could Ruby possible notice so many details about this girl who decided to appear before her? Ruby was most definitely not the type of person to get in someone’s face like that.”

Well, that is due to the fact that, yes, Ruby would not, and did not do that. The girl right in front of her, barley three inches away, however, seemed to be the kind of person that did. This, obviously, is about to freak out our redhead, evident by her sliver eyes widening and her mouth slowly opening to unleash one hell of a scream.

However, just as she prepares to yell, she finds herself not being able to when the two hands of the intruder cover her mouth.

“Hello,” she says.

Ruby can only blink. As much as she still wanted to scream her little lungs out, Ruby found herself slowly nodding for some reason. Once she agrees to the teal eyed girl’s demands, her mouth is slowly uncovered. Once the girl’s hands fall, she crosses them behind her back, looking up at Ruby, a good head shorter than her.

For a solid thirty seconds, the two young girls have a staring contest. And it truly is a staring contest, because neither were blinking. For Ruby, it made sense, because she was about to have a minor heart attack. For the newcomer… it honestly looked like she was really trying to have a staring contest with Ruby right now.

“…Am I winning?”

Well, guess that proves that.

Vanish!

And at that moment, the orange haired girl got her question answered when Ruby suddenly vanishes from sight, crimson rose petals floating to the ground, fading away. The young girl blinks, looking down at the rose petals. She smiles.

“Totally winning.”

She appears on a rooftop, continuing her run for a few more feet, then teleports again. This time when she appears, she jumps off the edge of a two story building and lands with a roll inside an alleyway. She finally stops for a minute, leaning on a wall to catch her breath, holding her chest. She turns around in the direction she came from.

Her mind scrambled all over the place, trying to piece together what even just happened. Along with those thoughts of confusion, she worried about going back and finding that strange person still on the rooftop waiting for her. It takes a few more panicked breaths and trembles, but she is finally able to control herself enough to stand up straight and wipe her forehead of sweat. She didn’t even need to reach for her emergency pills, the tension of the situation cooling down enough for her to maintain her sanity.

That could have turned out much worse. It was a miracle she was able to-

“Hey!”

Her silver eyes widen as she hears a voice from above calling out to her. She quickly snaps her head to the top of a building. Standing over the edge, looking down at her with a large, toothy grin was the orange haired girl she ran away from in the first place. She waves at Ruby.

“Why’d you run for? Weren’t we having fun?” Ruby finds herself shaking in her boots. “Come on, let’s finish playing!”

Ruby panics and turns to run, teleporting from sight. She appears even further into the alleyway maze, running as fast as she can. She looks to the rooftops to see if her pursuer was still on her tail. She freaks out when she sees the same girl following her from above.

“Come on! Don’t be a meanie! I just wanna finish our game!”

She teleports again. When she appears, she starts to jump from wall to wall upward. With a flip, she lands back on the roof top then proceeds with her running. If she could just keep running, she’d lose her pursuer eventually. As long as she continuously teleported, she’d escape.

“Hey!”

This was impossible. Ruby looks to her side to see the girl was actually keeping up with her. How was she keeping up?

She teleports again, trying to pick up even more speed. Coming up before her, she can see a larger tower. Maybe she could gain some altitude and lose her pursuer that way. She runs for the tower as fast as she could. When she reaches it, she jumps into the air and plants her foot on one the edges, shooting up the side. Animalistic statues stick out from the outside of the building, objects she was able to latch on to and swing on, gaining more momentum to spiral herself up the tower.

She twists herself around a corner to reach another statute-

“Boo!”

“Eeep!”

The crazy girl was crouched atop the statue as if waiting for her! Ruby freaks out and misses her grab for the statue. Suddenly her wrists is grabbed by the pursuer. Ruby gives a half scared, half confused look as the girl return a wide, toothy grin. She revs up and swings Ruby upward, helping her up the building.

“There you go!” she yells. “I’m r~ight behind ya’!”

Ruby doesn’t really have time to question what exactly just happened, seeing as how she was still supposed to be running for her life. So, she catches on to another statue and flips on top of it. She begins to teleport up it once more. As she spiraled the tower-

“Hi!”

“Ah!”

-she’d find herself-

“Hello!”

“Augh!”

-constantly-

“Still here!”

“Come on!”

-running into-

“Bazinga!”

“What even?!”

-the crazy chick.

Finally, she reaches the top of the tower, jumping high into the air, and landing in a crouched position, ready to attack. Every hair on her body stood on end, her eyes narrowed as she looked around herself. It was quiet. Way too quiet. The whole time she climbed the tower, the girl constantly flapped her gums. So why wasn’t Ruby hearing anything now?

“Hah…!” She twist around, thinking she heard something move behind her. Nothing. She turns again. Still alone.

This wasn’t right. She wasn’t alone, she knew it. So where was…?

“Hey.”

She stiffens up at the sound of the voice directly behind. She turns. Teal eyes.

“Hrah!”

Suddenly, she is pounced on and tackled to the floor, her senses going haywire by this point. The two girls tumbled across the floor. Ruby thrashes, doing what she can to escape the lunatic’s hold. However, the girl held on stubbornly, laughing like a maniac the entire time.

They roll again and Ruby, this time, finds herself being pinned to the ground, the orange haired girl now straddling her, smiling down with that same grin. Ruby was dangerously close to freaking out right about now.

“Wow, that was fun!” the girl cheers loudly. “Man, you’re more of a riot than I could’ve ever hoped for! We should totally do that again!”

Ruby’s breathing had gone erratic. She shook violently under the girl’s hold. The pursuer leans down closer to Ruby’s face, causing the girl to freak out even more.

“Hey, why’d you run anyways? I just wanted to talk to-“

“Haaahh!”

“Whoa!”

Suddenly, Ruby ends up completely overpowering the girl and throwing her off to the side. The girl rolls across the ground before recovering in a crouched position on all fours. Her large smile had noticeably vanished by this point as she stared on at Ruby. The young girl teleports to her feet, snarling dangerously.

“Don’t you ever touch me!” Ruby screams, causing the girl to slightly cower back, her expression growing more fearful. “If you come near me, I’ll kill you!”

A shaky smile stretches on the girls lips as she puts her hands out. “W-Wait, wait! I-I’m not gonna hurt you! I just wanted to meet you! I-I’m a friend, watch!“ All of the sudden, with no warning, the young girl vanishes from sight, just as Ruby would.

This shocks the redhead as she looks around for the girl. Just then, she appears next to Ruby, scaring the young girl.

“L-Look, see? We’re the same!”

“Get. Back!” Ruby swings at the teal eyed girl, causing her to jump back and cower more, truly scared now. Her smile had completely been replaced by frightened eyes.

As Ruby stood on both feet, her teeth bared, eyes narrowed, the girl instead stays low to the ground on all fours, barely able to keep eye contact, as if looking directly at Ruby would get her killed.

“H-Hold on, please,” the girl says, surprisingly more meek than she originally let on. This actually catches Ruby off guard. The girl stays low like a puppy afraid of getting hurt. She cautiously, slowly crawls closer to Ruby, a hand outstretched. “I-I’m sorry… really… I didn’t… I didn't mean to scare you… I j-just wanted to talk…”

Ruby watches the cowering girl bow before her, still on high alert.

“P…Please don’t hurt me, ma’am… I just want to talk…”

Ruby didn’t know what to think of the situation at hand. Just moments before, this girl was chasing Ruby down with a vengeance. Now she’s acting like a scared little cub. Ruby had lost her grasp on the situation.

And that wasn’t the only thing she was losing her grasp on.

It was at that moment her vision began to blur and warp. It started getting harder to breath. Sweat pooled down her skin, her spine froze over. Her breathing grew even more out of whack than just before. Oh god, was she having another panic attack?

She loses balance and falls to the floor, shaking violently. She needed her medicine. She had to take a few. Her hand reaches into her jacket and scrummages for the orange bottle she kept on her person at all times. When she feels the all too familiar item, she quickly pulls it out and goes to twist the cap off.

The girl’s eyes widen at seeing what Ruby is about to do. She teleports from sight and reappears by the redhead. She snatches the bottle out of Ruby’s hand, the redhead panicking even more at what was happening.

“No!” the young girl says to Ruby. “Don’t take these! Just relax, you’ll be okay! You have to focus on happy thoughts! Think about the things that make you happy! Come on, you can do it!”

Ruby could barely even understand what the girl was trying to tell her. She had long since crossed the point of no return, and not having her medicine only made things worse. The world around her begins to blacken. The only sound she can hear now was the sound of her own erratic breathing.

Eventually, she simply lets herself be taken by the darkness.

“No, no, I’m sure of it, silly. What, you don’t trust my judgement? Don’t be such a meanie! Hehehe!”

The black surrounding her begins to dissipate as she slowly returned to the land of the living. She found it rather difficult to fully awaken, the temptation of sleep currently tugging at her mind relentlessly.

“Why do you not believe I know what I am talking about? Well, I don’t appreciate your tone. Am I hearing sarcasm in your voice? You know I hate it when you mock me!”

The only thing keeping her from fading back into the abyss of sleep was the sound of a voice getting louder by the second. The unfamiliar voice sounded awfully close now that she thought about it.

“I do too know what a sloth sounds like! I’ve seen dozens of them in my time! I even had one as a pet! I am not a liar!”

…Okay, what was going on right now?

“Hehe, of course you didn’t mean it, silly. I’ll forgive you on one condition: promise you’ll use our secret code sound from now on. So it’s a deal? I knew you’d like my idea! Oh, and, hey. Boop! Hehehe!”

It was about time she truly woke up. Sleep would have to wait.

Her eyes begin to fully open, letting the dim light of the night seep in. She mumbles as she tries to readjust herself to real life. As she moved around a little, that’s when she realizes that the “ground” she was lying on was actually a lot softer than she remembered from the countless other times she woke up on it. In fact, one could even say it had a kind of “squishy” quality to it.

After that, she can feel something atop her head stroking through her hair back and forth. It was a familiar sensation she’s found herself waking up to many times before. It was comforting; warm.

It was then she figured out what was going on.

“Yang…?”

“Nope! Nora, silly!”

Her eyes snap open wide. Her head twists to look above herself. The first things she sees are those all too familiar teal eyes and that large toothy grin. As sweat begins to form on her forehead, she looks down to where she was lying and realizes that it was the orange haired girl’s thighs her head had been resting on. And the hand stroking her hair? Not Yang’s, but that same girl’s.

Ruby looks back to the teal eyed girl.

“Yay! You’re awake!” she cheers excitedly.

“Waaah!” Ruby screams before scrambling up and away from the crazy girl, skittering back, eyes never leaving that girl’s sight.

Nora giggles on the ground. “You’re right on cue, too. I just got finished leaving my mark on the meanie faces just like you!”

“Y-You stay away from me, y-you psycho!”

The young girl lifts herself from the ground after having been pushed to it by Ruby. “W-Wait! I’m not a psycho, honest! I’m your friend!”

“We are n-not friends! You tried to k-k-k- you chased me! A-And then you tried to kill me by taking away my…! Actually, where are my pills at! Give them back to me!”

“Okay-Okay, I’ll give them back. But you have to promise not to take them when I do!”

“Give. Them. Back!”

The orange haired girl can be seen visibly flinching by Ruby’s rather terrifying tone of voice, a growl backing it. Slowly, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the orange bottle Ruby relied so heavily on. She gets low to the ground and places the bottle down cautiously, eyes never leaving Ruby’s. When the bottle leaves her hand, she scurries back to a safe distance. Ruby takes that opportunity to teleport to the bottle and take it up, quickly teleporting back to her original spot, fiddling with the top.

The crazy girl is alarmed by this. “W-Wait! No!”

“Leave me alone!” Ruby yells back.

“You don’t wanna take those! They won’t help you, honest!”

“Shut up!”

“They may help for a little while, but, eventually, they’ll wear off. They always do! Believe me, I know you think they’re helping; that they make things easier. I know how it feels.”

Ruby turns to the girl. “You don’t know anything! How could you possibly understand what I’m dealing with?! I don’t care what you say, I need these pills! It’s the only thing that helps me stay who I am! It’s the only thing that keeps me from losing myself! I don’t want to lose myself! You have no idea what is going on with me!”

The girl’s expression dampens. “…Yes I do. Because I tried to fix it, too…”

Ruby halts in her fiddling with the bottle. Slowly,she turns around to look at the young girl. “…What…?”

The girl’s hand rise to her head in a lightly balled fist and she softly knocks it against the side of her skull. “I didn’t want to lose myself either. I was… I was afraid of what’d I’d become if I did. So… I tried to fix myself. I tried for a long, long time. But when it didn’t work, I would try harder. And when that didn’t work, I would try harder. But… But I was still broken.”

Right before Ruby’s eyes, the girl vanishes from sight. A moment later, she reappears a few feet in front of her, causing Ruby to flinch back, holding the orange bottle close to her chest.

“That’s when I figured it out. I couldn’t fix myself. That part of me, was… well, apart of me. I couldn’t get rid of it. So, instead of trying to fix it, I embraced it. If I was gonna be stuck with it, I was gonna have some fun. And… And I did.” She points to the bottle Ruby held on to. “But I didn’t have to fix myself to do it. And neither should you.” She begins to smile. “I personally like you the way you are right now!… Y’know… if that means anything.”

The smaller girl holds out her open palm. Ruby looks between it and the girl.

“I know what it’s like. You don’t have to fix yourself. You’ve just gotta… find a way to make it fun.”

Her heart beat fast, sweat pooled down her face. Her eyes darted back and forward as the young girl’s words somehow affected her. She bit hard into her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes shut. The grip on the orange bottle tightened even more… until it didn’t.

Giving in, Ruby places the bottle into the orange haired girl’s hand and walks away, hands on head. The teal eyed girl had a victorious smile on her lips. She walked up to Ruby as the redheaded girl leaned on the railing of the building top.

“Who… are you…?” Ruby asked.

The girl places the bottle on the railing . Her already rather large grin expands even more so that her pearly whites are in clear view, shining in the moonlight. She grabs on to the railing and hops up on top of it, effectively taking Ruby off guard. Making sure to dodge the pill bottle, she twists around and towers above Ruby, chest poked out, hands on hips.

“Nora!”

After that, neither of the two make a move. Ruby stares up at the now named Nora with a blank expression. Nora, on the other hand, remains in her statuesque superhero pose, making no sign she otherwise wasn’t actually a statue. An awkward breeze rolls by.

“Oh my god, why is it always me…?” Ruby asks herself, her body sinking.

Nora bends down on top of the rail. “I also happen to be your biggest fan!”

“Oh, good...” She looks up to Nora. “What do mean by that?”

Nora laughs. “I mean what I mean, silly! I totally admire you! The way you dealt with those jerks was only something somebody as powerful as you could pull off!”

This catches Ruby’s attention. “W-Wait, jerks? What jerks?”

“The meanie faces that shot at you? The jerks in the black suits?”

Ruby’s eyes widen. “You… saw all of that?”

“Uh-hu! The whole thing! But my favorite part was how you dealt with the guys in that warehouse! I’ve never seen something so incredible in my life besides myself, of course! I’m guessing you’ve had a lot of practice using that ability of yours, huh?”

“You saw that, too? Wait, h-have you been spying on me?”

“What? No! Of course not! Spying is such a creepy thing to do! No-No, I was watching from a far off distance in a place you wouldn’t possibly be able to see me while I observed the way you beat up those stupid poopy heads with that mean white haired girl and the buff, pretty redhead with the pole!”

“That’s spying, you psycho!”

“No it’s not! Didn’t you hear me the first time? It’s watching from a far off distance-“

Ruby puts her hands out, shaking her head. “Y-Yes, I got the memo. But what I’m trying to say is…”

Nora looks at Ruby with her head cocked to the side, an innocent smile on her face. Ruby looks back with a conflicted expression.

“…So how are you able to teleport like me?”

Nora shrugs. “I dunno.”

Ruby’s shoulders sag. “What do mean you don’t know?”

“Do you know how you do it?”

Ruby is about to answer but realizes that she, in fact, has no better clue about it than Nora does.

“I’ve always been able to do it as far as I remember. I always thought it was kind of neat, because I was the only one who could do it. Well, that, and because it was just insanely fun! And then I met you and got excited about meeting someone like me.”

“Is that why you’re a… um… fan of me?”

“Because of that trick? No, of course not.” She teleports from sight, Ruby not prepared for her vanishing. She turns around and sees Nora there, almost making her yelp. “I’m a fan of how you use it! The way you took those guys out? Now that was a sight to see! You were so cool with the ‘waaaah!’ and the ‘kiyaaaa!’, and especially the ‘wahteh!’”

Ruby rubs her arm. “I… All of that was just self defense. It was a misunderstanding that spiraled way, way…” She sighs. “Way out of control.”

“Self defense, taking the offense, Sierra Mist, Fresca: it’s all the same. The point is, you handled the problem like a beast! Almost makes me jealous, to be honest.”

“You’re not missing much. Just because bullets don’t kill you doesn’t mean they don’t hurt like a… Wait, uh, Nora, was it?”

“Present!” she says, raising her hand.

“What other abilities do you have?”

She cocks her head to the side. “Other abilities?”

“Yeah, like, besides the teleporting thing. Can you do anything else?”

The young girl looks into the sky in thought, rocking from side to side. She looks back to Ruby, a rather sly smile on her face. “You real~ly wanna know?”

“W-What? Oh, uh… I mean, I’d like to, yes.”

Nora’s smile stretches out once again. She stand up on the rail and flips off of it to the ground, landing on all fours. Quickly pouncing to her feet, she says, “Nope!”

Ruby deadpans. “N-Nope? What do mean nope?!”

“You really do sound like the snow cone head that was with you, y’know that? I mean what I mean: nope!”

“W-Well why not?”

“I could go ahead and blab all my secrets to you right now and be all “Boring McBorington” about it. Or!”

Ruby gives Nora a gaze of suspicion. “O… Or what?”

“Or I could be “Awesome Vash Stewart the III” and show you on the playing field!”

“T-The playing field?”

Nora appears beside Ruby and wraps an arm around her shoulder, scaring the crap out of said little red girl. “That’s right! I’ll make you a deal! I really wanna hang out with you some more. And you wanna know what other awesome things I can pull off. So, why don’t you come back here tomorrow night and we can kill two otters with one walrus.”

“…Y-You mean ‘kill two birds with… o-one stone’…?”

Nora gives Ruby a look of confusion. “Well why would I say something stupid like that?”

Ruby decides the proximity between the two was far too close for comfort and she teleports away from Nora, putting her hood up over her head. “S-So let me get this straight. Y-You want me to come back here tomorrow… so we can play some more?”

“Yay! You got it!”

“I-I don’t know, Nora. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, b-but… well… I mean… you sort of… you seriously f-freak me out… just a little…” Suddenly, for but an instant, Nora drops her cheery persona, a wave of sadness washing over her features, something Ruby was easily able to catch, and was really not expecting. “N-No, I didn’t mean quite like t-that! I meant that you only s-scare me a little, b-but I guess you aren’t the scariest person I’ve ever met!”

Nora shakes her head, a significantly smaller smile on her lips. “It’s… It’s okay, Ruby. I… I’ve actually gotten that a lot… I know I’m not the most… normal person to be around. Sometimes I can be a little… forward. B-But I promise I’m not someone trying to hurt you. And if you come back tomorrow, I’ll prove it to you! Just give me a chance and I promise I’ll be the coolest friend you could possibly ask for! Honest!”

Ruby looks to the ground. “N-Nora, I don’t…”

She makes the grave mistake of looking back up to the orange haired girl. She sees the young girl giving her a pleading gaze, a hopeful glint in her big teal eyes, a nervous smile on her lips. The instant Ruby saw this, she immediately regretted not keeping her own gaze on her shoes.

Finally, she sighs defeatedly. “…I’ll… I’ll think about it, Nora… That’s the best I can do…”

The light in Nora’s eye shines even brighter and the same excited smile returns. “That’s more than enough for me! Yay! Just think about it before then! I really hope you end up coming!”

“Don’t get your hopes up. I said I’d think about it.”

Nora nods her head vigorously. “I gotcha-I gotcha! Just can’t help myself!” She puts her hands behind her back. “W-Well, I guess I’d best get going. Don’t wanna bother you too much in one night, right? You might get tired of me too soon, hehe… Y-You’re not… bored of me already… right?”

Ruby fiddles with her fingers. “I’d be lying if I said I was…”

“Great! Then, I’ll let you get back home then. Oh, and, um, I’m… really sorry about scaring you like that. I just… wanted to play with you. That’s all.”

“I-It’s okay Nora. Just… please try not to give me a panic attack next time. And please don’t keep me from stopping said panic attack. That kind of thing will make me really not like you.”

Nora blushes. “N-Noted. Oh, speaking of which.” She begins to walk over to the railing where the orange bottle was. She stops beside it. “You really don’t have to fix yourself with these things. If you want… I could show you how to make that side of you more fun.”

Ruby’s gaze hardens. “What does that mean, Nora?”

She smirks. “Show up tomorrow and find out.”

With those final words, Ruby blinks and finds herself alone on the roof top, her only company being the orange pill bottle still on the railing. She lets out a large, shaky sigh, her head coming up to her mildly pounding head. She withdraws her hand and looks down at it. It shook a little. She began to ball and stretch it out continuously.

She looks up to the bottle that waited patiently for her to pick it up. She walks over and takes it in hand, shaking it to hear the contents inside. Closing her eyes, she puts it into her pockets and turns for home.

“Can’t believe I’m saying this… but I could really use a nap,” she says before teleporting out of existence.

The Next Day

Her eyes slowly crack open, allowing the light of the morning to seep through the openings, causing her to just as quickly close her lids once more. More prepared this time, she takes extra caution as she begins to fully awaken from her slumber. The more she returned from the realm of sleep, she started to hear the familiar sound of her sister’s voice.

However, it wasn’t alone. She could swear she was hearing an extra voice in the room, one that (obviously) wasn’t Ruby’s own. In fact, as her hearing started to clear up and hone, it sounded like the extra voice came from precisely her own bed. And, if she wasn’t crazy, she could also feel something weighing down the edge of the bed, slightly on top of her-

Ruby bolts up, realizing there was someone sitting on her bed other than Yang. As she sits up, she is, yet again, met with two distinctly yellow colored eyes, barely inches from her own. For but a second, Ruby and the intruder stare at one another. After that short second, the person speaks.

“Hello.”

With that, Ruby was quickly able decipher who it was she was speaking to, her senses calming down greatly, those feelings of panic now replaced by those of confusion.

“Blake?” she asks, tilting her head.

The blake haired, hoodie wearing woman lifts a hand. “Present.”

Ruby backs away from Blake’s face and begins to look around the apartment. Her hand scratches the top of her head. “This is definitely my house. So what exactly are you doing here?”

Blake can’t help but to snort a little. “Well, not really the greeting I was expecting, but I suppose it’s better than you panicking.”

“Yo! She wake up?” the voice of Yang rings from outside the bedroom.

Blake turns her attention to the door. “Yeah! Just now!”

“Oh, good! Hi, sis!”

Ruby is a bit taken aback by how calm Yang sounded, despite Blake being in the house. “Uh, h-hi, Yang!”

Just then, Yang trots into the room holding a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon in one hand, and a glass of milk in the other, an amused smirk on her lips. She walks over to Ruby and holds out the food and drink to Ruby.

“O-Oh,” Ruby says before taking the dishes from Yang, placing them on the desk between hers and Yang’s bed. “Thank you.”

Yang walks over to her bed and begins to make it up. “I invited Blake.”

As she cut her pancakes into pieces, Ruby looks between Yang and Blake, a bit surprised. “R-Really? What for?”

Blake puts the book she had in her hand on her lap. “No particular reason. Just dropped by for a friendly visit. I hope you don’t mind, Ruby. Sorry if I scared you.”

“N-No, don’t worry about it. Just wasn’t expecting to see you this morning.”

“Morning?” Yang questions, turning around. “Kid, it’s 2 in the afternoon right now. You were sleeping like a log by the time I got up.”

Ruby’s eyes widen. “Are you serious?”

“Kiddo, I already did my class for the day, went out to lunch with Blake and everything. We came back here almost an hour ago.”

Ruby leans back on the bed. “You’re kidding me…” She puts a fork full of pancake and eggs in her mouth.

"Hell, I for one am happy to see you finally getting some rest. Been a while since I woke up before you."

"I guess…" Ruby says after swallowing her food.

"What time did you go to sleep?" Blake asks.

"Uh, I don't know. It was kind of late. I guess I just ended up-"

That was when she hesitates in speaking any further. She started to remember the rather strange night she had. The most dominate image was the site of those teal eyes, that orange hair, and that...

...freakishly huge mouth...

She unknowingly shivers at the thought, an action not unnoticed by Blake.

"Something wrong?” the woman asks, giving the young girl a concerned look.

Realizing she had lost her concentration, Ruby returns her focus back to Blake, shaking her head. "N-No, I'm all wet- all RIGHT! I'm all... right..."

Blake's brow rises. "Does that... have something to do with your dream?"

Ruby sighs. "More like my nightmare."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it. I just had a... very strange night."

"Well, I'm about to have a very strange afternoon."

Blake and Ruby turn to Yang who had just re-entered the room holding some sort of device in her hand.

"What's that?" Blake asks.

"My scroll," Yang answers.

Blake rolls her eyes. "Love how you assume I know what that means."

Yang chuckles. "All students in Beacon are issued one of these things. It's like a glorified schedule with a built in communication systems, camera, flashlight; you know, little utilities and stuff. Oh, and it plays Tetris.”

“I want it.”

"Oh yeah," Ruby says, "I forgot you told me about that thing."

That brings a question to Ruby's mind. One she'd have to remember to ask if she saw Jaune again in the future.

"Regular students usually have them to monitor their teammates stats and stuff, but us Junior Huntresses can chose to work alone." Yang finishes.

"I'm assuming you work solo?" Blake asks, crossing her arms.

The blonde shrugs. "I'm a loner, what can I say? Don't want any of those other noobs gettin' in my way."

"In case you punch them as well, I assume?"

"Hey, their fault if they don't listen."

"Sis." Yang looks to Ruby who called her. "Losing focus. Get back on topic."

"Oh, right, thanks, baby girl." Yang collapses her scroll and puts it in her pocket. Rushing over to the dresser on the other side of the bedroom, she says, "I just got a message from Ozpin: wants me to meet him by that little store on Mayweather a few blocks from here."

"Oh, you mean the one where you punched that girl in her throat that one time?"

"That's the one."

Blake looks between the sisters. "Should I ask what the story behind that is?”

Yang turns to Blake, smirking. "Tell ya' later." She goes back to digging through her drawers. "Some maniac apparently vandalized one of the stores on that street last night. Ozzy sent me a picture and whoever's to blame really did a number on the place."

At that, Ruby's eyes widen.

"I just got finished leaving my mark on the meanie faces just like you!"

Those were Nora's words the night before. Was this what she…?

"Sounds like they haven't found the culprit yet," Blake comments.

"Nope," Yang answers. "I'm guessing that's where I come in."

"Isn't this a job for the police. Why would they call you?"

Yang finally pulls out a yellow teeshirt and holds it up. “Well, that’s the thing about being a Junior Huntress. You aren’t consider a true Huntress yet, just someone who showed true promise of being able to become one. If I were a real Huntress, the feds wouldn’t dream on calling me for this mess. But, we juniors end up getting stuck with-“

“Whoa-Whoa-Whoa! Stop!”

At Ruby’s yelling, Yang pauses what she' doing and gives her sister a confused look, tilting her head slightly. “What?”

“What do mean ‘what?!' We have a guest, you know!”

Yang looks down at her exposed abdomen, her shirt dangerously close to being lifted from over her chest. Blake looks on, her eyes only ever so slightly widening.

“Wow, Yang, you are ripped.”

Ruby gives the black haired woman a look of disbelief. “She’s getting naked right in front of you and that’s what you decide to focus on?”

Blake shrugs.

“Geez, sis,” Yang says. “Would you calm your --“

“No! Shush!” Ruby shuts Yang up, her hands covering her eyes, a bright blush on her cheeks. She points out the room.

“Oh, for the --“

Ruby points. With a vengeance.

Yang and Blake exchange a looks, Yang pointing at her sister, shaking her head, an expression on her face screaming, ’See what I have to put up with?’ Blake silently giggles, shrugging her shoulders. The blonde rolls her eyes and leaves the room with her change of clothes in hand.

“So, what were you saying?” Blake asks.

“Nah, that’s really all there is. Only other tidbit is something you might be interested in, Rubes.”

Ruby perks up at being addressed.

“Along with all the damages, a few bodies were found. Granted they were only a bit a roughed up, but it seemed pretty obvious who exactly our little criminal was targeting. Turns out a group of thugs were having a little meeting in the cellar of the old store. And here’s the interesting part.” She pokes her head into the room, looking at Ruby. “They were dudes in black suites, wearing red ties. Kind of like the jerks that you and Weiss dealt with.”

This catches the redhead off guard and her eyes widen in surprise. Blake is also interested.

“You don’t say…” Blake says. “Any more details on that?”

“That’s why I’m heading up there now. Guessin’ Ozpin’s gonna fill me in once I meet up with him. All I know is, whatever’s goin’ on with these suit thugs is getting out of hand. It’s no wonder I’m having to get involved.”

As Yang talked, Ruby was far from paying attention. Her mind had wandered back to a certain orange haired maniac; the same one she was now sure wrecked the store Yang was heading to. What was the point of all this? Was this some kind of message she was supposed to be getting? Why would Nora…?

“Yo. Sis!”

Ruby is pulled from her train of thought as Yang yelled to get her attention. She jerked her head to the blonde, who stared at her intently along with Blake, who looked worried.

“It’s okay,” Yang says, arms crossed. “You don’t need to worry about anything. I’m handling this now. It’s my problem, not yours. I just thought you’d like to know is all.”

Ruby looks away from Yang, a look of distress still evident on her face. “Yang? Do you think I could come with you?”

Yang is a bit shocked by this. “Rubes, I don’t really know about --“

“Please? I won’t get in the way, I promise. I just… wanna see it. That’s all.”

The blonde crosses her arm in deep thought, considering Ruby’s request.

“Please?”

Yang and Blake exchange looks. The black haired woman shrugs.

Yang sighs. “Ozpin did say you were grounded, sis.”

“B-But he only said I couldn’t wander off on my own,” Ruby retorts. “I think I should be okay if I’m with you, right?”

Yang and Ruby exchange looks, the blonde still not looking too sure about the younger girl’s request. Sighing, she says, “Screw it… I guess it’s not too big a deal. Just please don’t cause any trouble, okay? Not like I have to tell you that, though.”

Ruby nods. “Thank you, Yang. I’ll be good, I promise.”

Yang puts a hand on her waist and turns to the black haired woman on Ruby’s bed. “Might as well make it a field trip, then. You wanna tag along, kitty cat?”

Looking up from her book, Blake closes it shut with a smirk. “Well, aren't you sweet, inviting little ol’ me along. I guess I could be nosy for a minute and see what all the fuss is about.”

“Then get yer’ ass up and let’s get goin’. Time for me to do some important Huntress work.”

“Swear,” Ruby says.

“Never miss a beat, do ya’, sis?”

Ruby shakes her head, smiling up at Yang. “Nope.”

“That’s why I love ya’, you little bastard,” Yang says, rubbing Ruby’s head playfully.

“Swear,” the child giggles.

“Whoa…”

“My goodness…”

“Wow, it’s even more messed up in person.”

The three girls, along with a moderate crowd of onlooking civilians, stand behind stretched out yellow police tape as they stare on at the crumbling store building before them.

Though, honestly, calling it a building at this point would have anyone raising a brow. By now, calling it a simple hole would properly describe it better. And that’s all there really was; a massive hole with the wreckage of the building it once used to be strewn about the ground in a heaping mess. The inside was unrecognizable as the remnants of a store, more of the wreckage seeping in.

Various police officers scanned around the area, taking crime scene photos, searching through the mess for any clues on who or what could have caused this. A few people in fancy suits could also be seen on the outside being filmed by camera wielding people. They must have been with their respective news teams, reporting on the situation.

Yang rubs her short blonde hair. “No wonder they called me in. Hell, there might actually be a Grimm attached to this case.”

“I can assure you, that’d be an entire different call I would send you if that were the case.”

Yang, Ruby and Blake turn to the approaching voice behind them. That’s when they are met with the familiar image of a mug and cane carrying, silver haired man.

“There you are.” Yang says, adjusting the pair of shades over her eyes.

“H-Hi, Mr. Ozpin,” Ruby greets.

The older man nods to the two sisters. “Ruby, aren’t you supposed to be grounded? You do realize if Glynda were to find out you’re disobeying rules again, you’d be in for another round of yelling, don’t you?”

Ruby takes on a nervous look at the horrid thoughts of being bombarded with the nagging from Ozpin’s right hand.

“Relax, Ozzy. She’s with me,” Yang says, putting a hand on Ruby’s head. “I can take my sister out to the town from time to time, can’t I?”

“Yes, but I don’t think bringing her to a crime scene exactly fits the bill.” That’s when Ozpin takes notice to Blake, who remained silent the entire time. “Oh, I see you took the liberty of inviting friends as well.”

Yang puts an arm around Blake, pulling the black haired woman in closer despite her feeble grunts of protests. “She’s with me, too. Couldn’t just leave her alone at the apartment, could I?”

Ozpin grins. “I hadn’t realized you made a new friend. Well then, I suppose it would only be polite of me to introduce myself.”

Blake, freeing herself from Yang’s hold, walks forward. “I know who you are, sir. You’re Professor Ozpin; head of Beacon Academy as well the City of Vale as a whole.”

Ozpin find himself chuckling a bit. “Well, I… suppose that is a bit obvious, isn’t it?” Putting his cane under his arm, he extends his hands out to Blake. “A pleasure to meet a new friend of my girls, miss…”

“Blake. Blake Belladonna. The pleasure is mine, sir.” She accepts his handshake.

“Well then, with introductions out of the way, I suppose we should talk about what you're seeing here, Yang.”

“Looks like a big ass hole to me,” Yang answers bluntly. “What the hell made it?”

Ozpin shakes his head. “Your guess is as good as anyone else’s. The only real intel that’s been recovered is that it happened late last night, rather loudly as well. The men you see here have been trying to figure things out ever since they got the call.”

“You mentioned there were some guys in black suits here, too?”

“I did.” Ozpin takes peek at Ruby, which makes her fidget under his gaze. “And that would explain why a certain someone is here, I see.”

Yang shrugs. “She insisted on coming. Can you really blame her, though? She’s had the most contact with the guys out of all of us.”

“That is very true. In fact, I suspected she’d come join along if I told you to tell her that.”

This surprises Ruby. “W-Wait… Yang, he told you to tell me that?”

Yang gives a guilty grin. “He said he needed to talk to you.”

Ruby shakes her head. “Wow. Don’t I feel used.”

“Ruby, I actually have some questions for you, if you think you’re up to discussing your recent endeavors.” The redhead’s lips purse at what Ozpin was referring to. Her eyes lower to the ground. “Just bare with me for but a moment. I know you already told us everything you knew about those thugs who attacked you. But was there, perhaps, anything else you failed to mention? Any information you think might be of use to our effort in putting these criminals to justice?”

The young girl racks her mind for anymore information she may have left out when she talked to the police, Ozpin and Glynda. “Well… I saw the leader.”

“Did you now?”

“I’m sorry. I forgot to bring him up last time.”

“It’s fine, Ruby. God knows that wasn’t exactly on the forefront of your mind. What can you tell me about the leader?”

“Umm… w-well, it was a man… he looked like he was in his… 20s maybe? He had this white suit… some kind of top hat… and this weird orange hair. It looked like he needed a whole jar of hair gel to keep it the shape it was in. Oh, a-and he had a cane just like you. But I think it was more for style than anything.”

Ozpin takes a sip from his mug. “Interesting… I’ll be sure to give this information to the authorities for you, Ruby. If you happen to remember anything else about what happened, would you be so kind as to let Yang, myself, or Glynda know in the future? Your help would be greatly appreciated.”

Ruby nods. “Y-Yes sir.”

“Good girl. Now, Yang, I believe you are now on the same playing field as the rest of the police. Be sure to talk to the captain before departing for home and see what he needs you to do.”

Yang mock salutes. “Can do!”

Ozpin turns to Ruby and nods. “Ruby. You be good now. And your sister told me that you managed to finally get some sleep. I’m very happy for you.”

“O-Oh. Thank you, Mr. Ozpin,” Ruby responds.

Lastly, he turns to Blake. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Belladonna. You be sure to keep these two in check for me.”

Blake smirks. “That… might be a bit of a challenge, sir.”

“I’m sure it will. Oh, and, before I forget, did Ruby happen to properly apologize for knocking you down a while back?”

Blake, as well as Ruby, was caught off guard by this. “A-Actually, she did, now that you mention it.”

He smiles. “And now she’s hanging around with you. I think you’ll fit in quite nicely, Ms. Belladonna.” With that, the man walks off, not turning back to Blake, or Ruby once, leaving the two girls confused at what just happened.

“Well… he’s cryptic.”

“Yeah, he has a tendency of doing that a lot.” Yang comments.

“How exactly do you two know the headmaster of Beacon Academy? And Yang, if you sass me and say something along the lines of ‘because I go to the school, kitty cat’, I’m going to flick you.”

Yang unconsciously rubs her forehead. “Geez, am I that transparent?”

“No. I’m just wise to your ways.”

The blonde shrugs with a smirk. “That old man is the reason we have someplace to live here in Vale. After we got here, he sort took us in and made sure we got by. Gave us a roof over our heads, kept us feed; I guess you could call him our… guardian of sorts.”

“Wow. Learning something new about you two everyday.” Blake looks over to Ruby. Her brow rises when she sees that the young girl staring intently at her own shoes in deep thought. “Ruby?” When she receives no answer, she reaches a hand out and lightly shakes Ruby by the shoulder. “Ruby.”

The young girl looks to Blake. “Yes?”

“You okay? You sort of… spaced out for a second there.”

“Oh, d-did I? I’m sorry, I do that a lot.”

Blake smiles. “Yes, I’m quite aware.”

“Somethin’ on your mind, baby girl?” Yang asks.

Ruby lifts an arm from under her jacket and rubs her opposite arm, biting her lip. “I was just… thinking about what Mr. Ozpin said. And… well… Yang…”

Yang gives Ruby a look of suspicion, crossing her arms over her chest. “Got somethin’ you need to tell me, sis?”

“I… Um… kind of… sort of… maybe… do…? Can we… talk about this at home, though?”

Yang and Blake exchange looks. Yang looks back to Ruby. “Sure, I guess we can get out of here. Let me talk to the police first, then we can head home.”

“O-Okay…”

The older woman uncrosses her arms and begins to walk away toward the grouped up police officers, leaving Blake and Ruby with one another. The black haired woman takes the opportunity to lean down to Ruby and ask, “Just between you and I, is whatever you’re planning on telling your sister going to be bad in any way?”

Ruby looks up at Blake and says, with a nervous grin, “She’s… not gonna be happy, I’ll tell you that much…”

An hour after Yang finished her business at the crime scene, the three ladies were now retuning back to Yang and Ruby’s apartment. They were currently walking down the hallway the room they stayed in was on, nearing it. Once they turn the last corner, they see two people standing in front of the door, a boy and a girl. The boy was knocking on the door, apparently not yet getting the memo that no one was home. His companion leaned on the wall behind him, waiting patiently for the boy to finish what he was doing.

While Yang lifted a brow in confusion, Ruby’s eyes widen when she instantly recognizes the visitors.

“Jaune?” she calls out.

The blonde and his companion turn to the oncoming three, a smile stretching across Jaune’s face.

“Hey! There you are!” he greets, walking to meet Ruby halfway. “How you doin’, Ruby? It’s been while!”

“Y-Yeah, it has. I-I’ve been doing okay, I guess.”

“Good to hear. I just wanted to stop by and say what’s up, see how everything was going for you, ya’ know? Oh, you remember Pyrrha, right?”

Ruby looks around Jaune and spots the familiar looking tall redhead, who waves back.

“Hello again,” she greets politely.

Ruby hesitantly raises a hands and waves. “H-Hi again… You’re… Weiss’ friend, right?”

Pyrrha nods, smiling. “That I am. I realize you and I never had a chance to properly meet, so I decided I should come along to fix that.”

“Last I remember, you and Pyrrha had to get to know each other while being shot at,” Jaune says. “Not exactly a great first impression, if I have to be- OH GOD, IT’S YOU!”

Suddenly, Jaune scrambles back and away, hiding behind Pyrrha, who looks at him like he was acting strange (which he totally was). Ruby tilts her head in confusion at his sudden panic. That’s when she notices a slight shadow looming overhead and she looks straight up, meeting the eyes of her older sister, who looked down at her, just as lost.

That’s when the memories of her first meeting with Jaune plays back in her mind and she figures things out.

“Oh, right, she tried to fry you at the beginning of the school year, didn’t she?” Ruby asked Jaune.

Yang scratches her head. “Wait, what?”

“You’re the maniac from the forest that tried to kill me!” Jaune yells from behind Pyrrha. “And you threw me into a tree for no apparent reason! Yeah, I had to run away from you the entire test!”

Yang scratches her head. “I’ve… fried a lot of people, dude. But I seriously, for the life of me, do not remember your face.”

At that, Jaune seemingly forgets his fear and now has a surprised, actually sort of hurt look on his face and he walks around Pyrrha. “W-Wait… You seriously don’t remember me at all? Like, even as the guy that screams like a little girl? The dude at the… um… bottom of the student ranking list.”

Yang rakes her mind, honestly trying to see if she can remember Jaune’s identity. However, all she can really do is shrug and shake her head. “Nope. Sorry, guy. Really drawin’ a blank here.”

Jaune finds his shoulders sagging down, his mouth, eyes, and excitement following suit. “Oh… well then…”

“If it makes you feel any better, a lot of people have felt my wrath, so sometimes it’s hard to keep track of names.”

“No, she's right, I’ve seen it,” Ruby throws in her two cents.

This catches Jaune’s attention. “Hold on. How do you even know this psycho?”

Yang and Ruby give each other a look, then look back at Jaune, and flatly respond at the same time, “She’s my sister.”

“Are you kidding me?! Then why didn’t you tell me that when we first met?!”

“Because I was hoping something like this would happen and, I’ve gotta say, Jaune, you did not disappoint,” Ruby answers with a grin.

“You’re a little devil when you wanna be, aren’t you?”

“Two sides of coin.”

“I definitely remember you, though,” Yang says, addressing Pyrrha, who stands at attention at being noticed. “Yeah, you’re Pyrrha. I recall you actually giving me a hard time during the test a few months back. The instructors wouldn’t shut up about how well you did. Not bad.”

Pyrrha is taken off guard by the sudden praise she was receiving. “T-Thank you, Ms. Xiao Long. Your kind words are much appreciated.” She bows in respect.

“Oh, come on, knock that off. You don’t gotta act like that away from the school. I’m just Yang right now. Especially to people who’re cool with my little sis here,” Yang finishes while messing up the younger girl’s hair, receiving a protesting whine because of it.

“I-It was nothing, really. Things, simply… worked out how they did.”

“Oh, damn it!” Yang exclaims. “Where are my manners? How could I forget about ol’ Blakey here? Pyrrha, Jaune, this lady right here is… Whoa.”

At Yang’s sudden bait and switch, Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha look around Yang to see what she was looking at. Ruby flinches back when she sees Blake.

The black haired woman’s hair stood on end. Her sharp teeth were bared down, her lips trembling at the force with which she grit her teeth. Her hands were balled, pulling on the bottom of her dark hoodie, stretching it out, threatening to tear the fabric. A slight tremble could be seen coursing through her entire body, legs obviously wobbly.

But the scariest part were her yellow eyes. The pupils had dilated greatly, making Blake almost seem like a different person entirely.

And the strangest part of all it was the fact that her eyes seemed to be planted squarely on Pyrrha.

The red haired, toned teen fidgeted uncomfortably where she stood, a drop of sweat rolling down the side of her face. She could feel the intensity of Blake’s unending stare weighing down on her by the minute.

“B-Blake, w… what’s wrong,” Ruby tries to talk to the woman. She receives no answer.

“Yo, kitty cat, what’s with the glarin’?” Yang tries. Still nothing. The staring continues. “Hey!” No answer. Yang decides to try something else. She takes a hand, raises it to Blake’s forehead and flicks it hard, a loud “pap!” ringing out. “Blake!”

Just like that, the woman snaps out of her trance, returning back to normal, looking around confused, rubbing her sore forehead. She looks to the group in the hall to see everyone staring at her worried and confused.

“U-Umm…” Blake starts. “What’s… going on…?”

“What was that all about?” Yang asks for everyone else.

“Excuse me?”

“What’s with all the death glares and daggers? Got some beef with Pyrrha I don’t know about?”

“Yang, what are you talking about?”

“Y-You were staring down Pyrrha, like, really hard,” Ruby clarifies. “I-I’ve never seen you look like that before.”

Blake gives Ruby a surprised look. “I-I did what?”

“You really don’t remember anything, Blake?”

Blake looks up at Pyrrha, who was still a bit uneasy. “O-Oh my goodness. I don’t know what came over me, I… must have zoned out. I’m so sorry, Ms. Pyrrha. I had no intention of making you uncomfortable like that.”

Pyrrha looks to loosen up a little. “I-It’s fine. You simply caught me off guard, is all. I’m sure you didn’t mean any harm by it.”

“No, I most certainly did not. M-My name is Blake Belladonna, I’m a friend of Ruby and Yang here. It’s nice meet you, Pyrrha.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Ms. Belladonna.” She bows.

“Okay, now that we got that awkwardness out of the way, why don’t we head inside and get to know each other a little.” Yang says before looking to Ruby. “And, sis, you had something to tell me didn’t you?”

Ruby’s eyes widen. “U-Uhhh…” She looks around at everyone in the hall and sighs. “W-Well, guess I have an audience now… Oh boy…”

“Oh. My glob. Ruby!”

“I know…”

“You can not be serious right now!”

“Totally serious…”

“What is with you and getting into trouble lately?!”

“I’m sorry…”

“So you’re telling me you not only met the person I’m supposed to be trying to put behind bars, not only are you telling me my target is a crazy little girl, now you’re telling me this psycho chased you around town like a freakin’ ninja? Seriously?”

“I find it strange you had to repeat something I literally just got finished saying, but yes, Yang, that is the gist of my story.”

The blonde smacks a hand into her face. “Son of a mother, sis.”

“Yeah…”

Needless to say, the group had moved into the two sister’s apartment after the older of the two invited them all to enter. It was soon after that when Ruby became the center of attention as she recounted the story of her rather strange night involving one crazy, psycho chick.

Again, needless to say, Yang was not the happiest camper at the moment.

Jaune, who sat in a chair next to Ruby’s bed, leaned into Pyrrha’s ear, who in turn actually sat on Ruby’s bed. He asks, “Okay, I’m lost. What’s the problem here?”

Pyrrha answers Jaune’s question. “Yang seems to have been assigned the task of tracking down an elusive criminal who completely tore through a small shop and Ruby seems to have crossed paths with said criminal, something Yang seems to not be too happy about. Meanwhile, this girl named Nora is still on the loose and wants to meet up with Ruby once more for another night of fun.”

“Oh. Well. Thanks, Pyrrha.”

She smiles at him.

Yang shakes her head, rubbing her forehead. “Okay-Okay, so, what, this girl apparently has some kind of crush on you, or something?”

Ruby rubs her head. “I… think it’s more of a fan thing. Like, she said something about really wanting to meet me ever since those suit guys shot at me. I guess last night was just the one she decided to take the initiative.”

“And she wants you to meet up with her again tonight?”

“Like I said before, that’s right.”

Yang groans. “Kid, you are a magnet for trouble, I’ll tell you what…” That’s when Yang’s eyes open, an idea popping up in her idea. “Wait-Wait-Wait, actually, I can use this to my advantage. You said she was gonna show up to meet you tonight, right? At the same time?”

“Oh my god, did I not just say that…?” Ruby says under her breath.

“Kid, speak up? That’s what she said, right?”

Ruby rolls her eyes. “Yes-Yes, that’s what she said, Yang.”

“Then that’s the perfect time to take her in. All you’ve gotta do is make sure to show up at that little spot she wants to see you at, then I can hop out the shrubbery on her wrecking ball ass --“

“Swear.”

“-- tag her, bag her, and be done with this. All before the day even ends! It’s perfect!”

Ruby raises her hand like she was in a classroom waiting to be called on by the teacher. The blonde chuckles in amusement at the redhead’s little gesture. Shaking her head, she points to Ruby, giving her the go-ahead to speak.

“Umm… funny thing about that, Yang…” she says.

Yang lifts a brow. “What…?”

“I… p-probably should have mentioned this first, but… N-Nora can kind of… do the thing…”

Yang’s face twists in confusion, not really sure what Ruby was-

“Oh my god…”

Okay, retract that last statement, Yang gets it now.

“She can do the thing, too?!”

Ruby ducks her head low, twirling her fingers. “B…Bit of an omission on my part.”

“Geez, you think?! You’re killin’ me here, sis!”

Jaune rolls the chair he sat in over to Yang’s bed and side of the room, stopping next to Blake, who sat quietly listening the whole time. She gives him a puzzled look as he leans in close and asks, “What ‘the thing’?”

Blake leans in and answers, “Ruby’s teleporting ability.”

“What?!”

“Ow,” Blake says, rubbing her sore ear after Jaune screams right into it.

“Wait, you mean to tell me there’s someone else in the world who can do the thing with the cool?! That is so not fair! I wanna do it, too!”

Ruby looks over to the boy. “J-Jaune, I really don’t think it’s something you can just learn.”

“I'd like to as well,” Pyrrha speaks up, garnering all eyes in the room. She blushes. “It… seems fun…”

“Same,” Blake joins in.

“Okay, yeah, you all wanna maybe shut up?” Yang intervenes. “We can all agree Ruby’s power rocks, but we have more important things goin’ on right now. Now It’s gonna be a pain in the ass to catch this Nora chick!”

“Okay, first off, swear, Yang. Goodness. Second, that’s kind of another thing…” Ruby says.

The blonde slowly turns to her sister. “Oh god, now what?”

Ruby takes a deep breath, composing herself before she speaks her thought, not wanting to stutter for this one. “I’m… going to meet up with Nora tonight.”

A pause… quickly ended by Yang saying, “What.”

“Ruby, what are you talking back? You really want to meet up with that strange girl again after what she did to you yesterday?” Blake asks, expanding on Yang’s flat “what”.

“I know it sounds crazy, but-“

“Did you not also say that same girl kept you from taking the pills you apparently need to keep from going coco?” Jaune asks.

“Y-Yes, I did, but just let me-“

“And isn’t this Nora also responsible for not only completely destroying an entire building, but also attacking a group of men we know for a fact are dangerous criminals with guns?” Pyrrha tacs on.

“Hang on, just-“

“Ruby, what the hell are you smoking?” Yang adds on.

“WOULD YOU ALL JUST LET ME SPEAK FOR ONE FLIPPING SECOND?!”

The instant she finishes yelling, Ruby covers her own mouth, shocked herself by how loud she got and how quickly she lost her composure like that. Her surprise was reflected by the other four bodies in the room. Jaune had rolled his chair toward the bedroom door as if he were about to run out the room.

“I will never get used to that…” Jaune says, breaking the silence.

Ruby shakily removes her hands from her mouth. “I… I’m so sorry, I… that wasn’t… I didn’t…”

“Wow, sis, my bad,” Yang says. “Didn’t mean to be so rude. You okay?”

“Y-Yes, I just… I don’t know what c-came over me…”

“Hey-Hey, don’t worry about it. That was our bad, we were being mean.”

The redhead nods, straightening out her hair. “R-Right…” She clears her throat. “N-Now, I… I realize me wanting to see Nora again might seem strange, but just hear me out, Yang.”

The blonds crosses her arms. “Alright. I’m listenin’.”

“…I feel like… there’s something more to Nora than meets the eye. I don’t know, it’s just… from talking to her, yes, she seems a bit… off her rocker. I know, understatement of the year. But, the thing is, I was constantly getting this feeling that there was a lot more to her than she was letting on. Something tells me outright apprehending her isn’t going to help anything in the long run. Not yet, at least.”

“…Okay. So what are your thoughts on this then? What do you think the best course of action would be?” Yang asks

Ruby rubs her neck. “I think… I think if I play along with whatever Nora’s game is, she’ll let me in on more secrets. Believe it or not, I really think Nora knows more about what’s going on with those guys that attacked me than anyone does. I mean, think about, of all the places she could have attacked, it just happened to be the little shop holding a group of them in secrecy? Can you really call that just coincidence?”

“Well, maybe,” Blake say. “I mean, what if it all really was just a crazy coincidence? And how do you even really now it was Nora who destroyed the shop?”

“I… I can’t really say I have solid proof. To be honest, I actually am just going off the coincidences right now. It all just seems too coincidental. And, thinking about what I got from Nora yesterday, I really wouldn’t put something like this past her. I’m not saying she’s the symbol of perfect planning, or reason, but I also don’t think she’s just an air headed psycho like I wanted to believe while she chased me down.”

“If I could add on to this," Blake says, "Does this feeling of yours also have anything to do with the fact you and Nora have the same abilities.”

Ruby is taken aback by Blake’s unexpected question, but decides to ponder over it. “Actually… that does have something to do with it. I don’t know if I can explain this in a way you’ll understand, Yang, but… Despite how different Nora and I really are… we’re also scarily similar…”

Yang’s eyes widen slightly.

“I can feel something when I’m near her… it shouldn’t have been, but it was so easy to be around her. You’d think I’d be doing everything I can to stay as far away from her as possible, but… being around her was like… being around you, Yang…”

Yang’s arm drop to her sides. “Seriously…?”

“I said it was hard to explain… but that pretty much does it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I necessarily feel the same way about her as I do about you, but what I mean is-“

“You feel conformable near her. It’s not so hard to loosen up when you’re together.”

Ruby looks down at her open palm. “I’m not good with people… I have an incredibly hard time being around others… as much as I hate it… But with Nora, it was only like that for a short time after she stopped chasing me and we just talked. After that… it just got easier and easier to talk to her like I do you, or Blake, or even Jaune. Truth is Yang, my real reason for doing this… is to see what Nora can tell me about our power. I feel like… the teleporting is only the beginning of what she may know. She knows something… and I want to know what it is…”

Yang puts both hands behind her head and turns from Ruby, pacing the room slowly, lifting her head to the ceiling in thought, pondering everything Ruby said.

“I… I don’t know about this one, Rubes…”

“I know it seems dangerous, Yang, but… I have to do this. I want to do this. Nora could know something really important about me. A-And besides, this could benefit you, too. Nora really could know something about those suit guys and you’d helping with more than just the vandalism, but with a bigger problem entirely.”

“Sis, I get what yer’ sayin’, but… this ain’t sitting right with me, you know? What if she tries to hurt you?”

“Yang, I doubt she’s gonna try anything like that. Nora seems to like me too much to want do anything to harm me. And even if she did, I’m sure I could take her. And I’ll have you for backup if anything goes awry.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s great and all, sis. I still don’t think you should-“

“Actually, I think you should let her do this.”

All eyes in the room now direct to Blake. Yang lifts a brow her way.

“Oh great, now you’re siding with her?”

Blake crosses her legs. “I’ve just been listening to you two talk. And after evaluating the situation, I think Ruby has a point on this one, Yang. If Nora really is behind the vandalism, and she really did target that specific store, maybe there is an ulterior motive behind her attack rather than just mindless destruction. Maybe she really is specifically targeting those thugs. If it’s true, then you not only get your culprit, but you also get information on what these other thugs are up to.”

“Yeah, but-“

“And even if Nora turns out not to be the real culprit, nothing is really lost. That means Nora really is just an odd little girl who happens to be like Ruby. At the very least, Ruby would have found somebody else like herself.”

“Okay, yeah, but you’re still not-“

“The least you can do is entertain the idea and see where it goes. Ruby is more than capable of taking care of herself in case the situation goes bad, and she’ll have us to help if it does. That being said, Ruby also has a point when she mentioned Nora not really seeming like a threat. It’s not like she’s going on a suicide mission, she just needs to get Nora talking, then we’ll get our answer. So, I say let her do this.”

“All right already! I got it! Sheesh!”

The older Junior Huntress massages the bridge of her nose, tapping her foot to the floor. She opens one eye to look at Ruby, the young girl giving an awkward grin. Yang shakes her head, sighing. She snaps her fingers then points to the young girl.

“You sure you wanna do this, kiddo?”

Ruby nods. “Yes. I am…”

“You realize if Ozpin finds out I let you do this, he’s gonna be steaming, right? And I’m not even gonna mention Glynda, because I’m just praying Ozpin spares us from that Hell if he finds out.”

“Then they won’t have to know about this, will they?”

Yang smirks. “Fine, you win. We’ll do this your way.”

“Um… if I may… make a request,” Pyrrha speaks up, raising her hand similar to how Ruby did.

“Oh god, what do you have to add to this now?”

“This case seems quite interesting… And this Nora character is one I’m a bit intrigued by. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to, perhaps, find some information about our little trouble maker. If it isn’t too much to ask.”

Yang and Ruby look at each other surprised before turning back to Pyrrha. “You… wanna dig up some intel for me?”

Pyrrha nods. “I want to know about Nora myself. While you take care of actually dealing with her, I can do some background work for you. I’ll be sure to forward any information I retrieve to you the minute I find it.”

Yang scratches the back of her head. “Sure. I mean, why not. At least someone else can take care of the boring crap for me then. Go nuts. I’ll send you a message with my scroll and you can just copy the number then.”

Pyrrha bows her head. “I appreciate this, Ms. Xiao- I-I mean, Ms. Yang.” Pyrrha directs her attention to Jaune. “Jaune. I don’t suppose you’d care to join me in my research. Though, you really don’t need to get involved if you’d rather not.”

Jaune shrugs his shoulders. “Eh, why not? I’ve got nothing better to do. Sure, I’m in.” He lifts himself from the chair he sat in, then waves to Yang and Ruby. “Well, I guess you have official Huntress business to do and stuff. Guess we’ll just get out of you girl’s hair then. Come on, Pyrrha. Off we go on our wonderful adventure.” He opens the door. “Later everybody. Nice meeting you, Yang, Blake. See you around, Ruby.”

She waves. “S-Sure. Bye, Jaune.”

“It was a pleasure making your acquaintance,” Pyrrha says, following Jaune out. “I hope to meet you three again.”

“Peace out, babe,” Yang salutes. “Keep up the good work at Beacon.”

“I’ll make sure of it.”

“It was very nice to meet you, Pyrrha,” Blake says, reaching a hand out to be shaken.

Pyrrha smiles and puts her own hand in Blake’s. “The pleasure was mine, Ms. Belladonna.”

“Blake is fine, I insist. I want to apologize again for earlier. I meant you no harm, I hope you know that.”

“It is of no concern. I’m sure you just had something else on your mind. Think nothing of it.”

Blake nods, returning the smile.

With that, both Pyrrha and Jaune leave the room, preparing to exit the apartment.

“Nice kids,” Yang comments offhand.

“Oh! Wait a minute!” Ruby exclaims suddenly. Without warning, she teleports from sight and appears by the door, then teleports out the room. She appears behind Jaune and Pyrrha just as they were preparing to leave the apartment.

“Hang on!”

Jaune jumps at the suddenly appearing girl. “Ruby, you’ve really gotta warn a guy before you just exist like that!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she apologizes quickly. “I just wanted to ask you guys something real fast.”

Jaune straightens himself up, clearing his throat. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Do you remember when we first met, Jaune? In the cafeteria, where I hit the jerk with the pudding bowl?”

He chuckles. “How could I forget? Cardin’s wearing a neck brace now, you know that, right?”

“I’m sure it’ll make it easier for him to support that fat head of his.. Okay, so, today I remembered that all students in Beacon receive those Scroll thingies when they get to the school. Yang even has one herself.”

“Yeah, that’s right. I have mine in my pocket right... Oh, wait, I see where this is going.”

“When you and Pyrrha were trying to find us, why didn’t either of you think to just use your scroll to call Weiss so you could find her faster? She’s your partner Jaune, and your friend, Pyrrha. I’m sure you two had her number, right?”

Jaune and Pyrrha exchange embarrassed grins. Jaune scratches the back of his head. “Uh… funny story about that. Remember how I kind of dragged you out the cafeteria when you knocked the soul out of Cardin?”

“Yeah…”

“Thing is… we were in kind of a rush when all that was going down… My main priority was just getting out of dodge and… not much else…”

“Oh my god, you forgot your Scroll on the table, didn’t you?”

He hangs his head in shame. “Guilty…”

“Oh wow.” Ruby can’t help but to grin.

“It was only after all of that when I ended up retrieving Jaune’s scroll and returning it to him,” Pyrrha says, patting Jaune on the back out of sympathy.

The boy sighs. “I guess one good thing came out of it: it made for one heck of an ice breaker between us. If she hadn’t given the Scroll back, I don’t think Pyrrha and I would have become friends.” He smiles at Pyrrha.

She smiles back. “Yes… I suppose that is true.”

Ruby looked confused. “Wait… you’re telling me you guys haven’t talked before then? Don’t you both know Weiss? You should have been able to meet each other then.”

“Well… Honestly, Ruby, Weiss made that a bit difficult.”

Jaune nods. “Yeah. The only times Pyrrha and I were ever really in the same room were when Pyrrha was hanging around the little ice princess. And Weiss made it a point to not stay around me for more than a few minutes at a time. Heck, she even preferred to stay over at Pyrrha’s dorm.”

“Because of that, we never really talked to each other. Weiss preferred if I stayed as far as possible from Jaune.”

Ruby shakes her head. “Geez, that girl is something.”

“She wasn’t so bad once you got to know her. She was just… difficult to get to know.”

“You’re telling me…” Jaune and Ruby say at the same time.

Pyrrha laughs awkwardly. Her expression dampens, however, soon after that. “I must say, though… I do quite miss her…”

Jaune and Ruby look at each other solemnly. Jaune sighs. “She did just up and leave, huh? Didn’t even say goodbye. Left me without a partner and everything.”

Ruby looks between the blonde boy and the muscular girl. “Wait, she did? Does that mean that you two are…?”

“Wha? Oh, no-no-no!” Jaune denies.

Pyrrha shakes her head, a smile on her face. “No, it’s not like that. Jaune and I have simply formed a friendship. I haven’t replaced Weiss as Jaune’s partner.”

“Yeah, I haven’t really been issued a new one yet. And besides, Pyrrha here’s partnerless for a reason you know.”

Ruby tilts her head. “Really?”

“Nobody was compatible with her. Pyrrha’s a stud over at Beacon! One of the top students in the entire Academy! We’re all supposed to have found our partners during the test in Emerald forest, and most of us did… Except for Pyrrha.”

“No kidding…”

Pyrrha plays with the ponytail falling over her shoulder. “I… suppose I just didn’t quite do the test right.”

“Nah, you’re being modest,” Jaune says. “Nobody in our entire class was at the level to really matching up with Pyrrha’s skill. A lot of the teachers were actually surprised Headmaster Ozpin announced Pyrrha wasn’t going to be paired with anyone. Heck, most of us were taken off guard.”

“So… no, I do not have a partner, Ruby. Not yet, at least, as far as I know.”

“And there is no way she’d ever be paired with someone like me. Top of the class and bottom of the same class don’t really go together.”

“O-Oh,” Ruby says.

“Although, I suppose… the possibility is there…” Pyrrha says under her breath.

Ruby’s ears twitch. She gives Pyrrha a surprised look, opening her mouth to speak.

“Huh? What was that, Pyrrha?” Jaune asks, tilting his head at the older redhead.

She shakes her head. “It was nothing, Jaune. Just thinking out loud. Come on, we should depart.”

“Oh, a-alright then.” Jaune grabs the doorknob and opens the door, moving aside to let Pyrrha through, she nodding in thanks. “Okay, for real this time, see you around, Ruby.”

Ruby snaps from her thoughts at being addressed. She waves. “Bye, Jaune. For real this time.”

Smirking, he walks out the apartment, jogging after Pyrrha. Ruby walks forward to watch them leave, leaning on the doorway. “I heard that…” she says to herself. That’s when one last thought comes to mind. “H-Hey, one last thing!” she yells out. “I get Jaune not calling Weiss, but what about you, Pyrrha? Why didn’t you just call her then?”

The redhead turns around while walking, smiling. “Funny you should mention! While chasing after you, Weiss also forgot her own Scroll!”

Ruby’s mouth opens as she processes the answer. Without even knowing, Ruby begins to chuckles to herself. “Of course she did…” With that, she steps back into her apartment, shutting the door.

Closing her eyes, she teleports away from the door and back to the bedroom, reappearing in the middle of Yang, who leaned on the desk between the two beds, and Blake, who still sat on Yang’s bed.

“Everything good, kiddo?” Yang asks.

Ruby nods. “Uh-hu. Just had a few questions to ask, that’s all. So, did I miss anything?”

“Not much, other than fact that Blake’s sticking around for this little mission of ours.”

Ruby turns to Blake, confused. “Wait, Blake, what does this have to do with you?”

The black haired woman smiles. “You really think I’m going to leave now? No, this is going to be quite interesting. And so long as I don’t actually interfere with the process, I’m still just a side watcher, right?” She looks to Yang. “How’s about it, Yang. Okay if one more person snoops around with you?”

The blonde shrugs. “Might as well. Apparently everybody and their mothers are in this thing now. What’s one more pest?” She stands from her spot on the desk. “All right. Guess we’d better get this thing rollin’. First thing’s first, though. I’ve gotta go pick up some gear.”

To Be Continued...