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It was another foggy night up in Atlas, in both the figurative sense and in the literal sense. Salem’s forces had been dispersed, but for how long could this moment of advantage last? Ruby sighed as she laid on the runway in front of Atlas Academy, glaring up at the sky with no aim in particular. Her legs kicked up and down every few seconds, just centimetres away from letting them slightly peer over the edge as she let her mind fall back into that dark place for just a brief second. A grimace appeared on her pale face as she begrudgingly sat upright, now switching her focus to looking across the horizon.
“Trouble sleeping?” Came a soft voice from behind her, “I’m not too experienced on the subject, but I hear a bed is more effective than concrete.” It was Penny, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Ruby let out a small nasal chuckle at the redhead’s quip, turning a few degrees to watch her approach.
“Y’know, I’m kinda starting to miss those old jet legs of yours. I could actually hear you coming and I wouldn’t nearly end up falling off of the balcony!” The young huntress bantered.
Sitting cross legged about a meter away, Penny looked down at her hands and feet, softly breathing and feeling the warmth that came from her own body.
“I’ll find some loud shoes soon enough. I’m just… I’m still taking it all in. I have so many questions, no time for answers, it feels so bizarre to not be able to just hook myself into a mainframe, get information and hack the database.” Penny said, watching her fingers as she clenched and spread her hands.
“You made that last part up.” Ruby quickly retorted, tilting her head with a coy smile.
“I’ll have you know it was only eighty percent made up! While we were posing for promotional material at the Vytal festival, I received signals from the CCT towers when I posed like a teapot.”
The two girls shared a laugh, before letting the silence fall over them for a few moments. Ruby looked back up the sky, letting out a little groan, “I’m still never going to forgive myself for what happened.”
Penny was taken aback by the sudden shift in tone, reaching out to place a hand on Ruby’s shoulder before her hand was lightly pressed away by the huntress.
“I know you’re going to say it wasn’t my fault, that we’re going to get revenge, it’s just... Everyone loses people. Countless people probably lost their friends that day, and I have the gall to act like my suffering is worse than everyone else’s. And-”
“But you don’t.”
This time it was Penny’s turn to interrupt. She scooted a bit closer to Ruby, taking a gentle hold of her dismissive hand between both of her own.
“You don’t have a selfish bone in your body, Ruby. Everything you do has always been for other people, and if the world was filled with more people like you, it’d be much better for it.” Penny looked across at the pale girl with a warm smile, with Ruby just letting out another little sigh with sullen eyes.
“Me existing is the sole reason we have enemies as ferocious as we do. I would probably have saved more people by not becoming a huntress. All I seem to do is attract the people that want to hurt the ones I care about!” Ruby retorted, her fingers lightly clenching against Penny’s hands.
Firmly shaking her head, Penny moved one of her hands to Ruby’s chin, tilting her head up so they could actually make eye contact.
“And yet you also bring the ones you care about together. Look at me, if it weren’t for you, I would never have had a single fleeting thought that I mattered at all! Now I have real thoughts, I can actually speak to people, I can actually… Well, you understand, you’re a human after all.” Penny sheepishly chuckled, her thumb and forefinger giving a light squeeze to Ruby’s jaw. She began to stand up, keeping a hold of Ruby’s hand as she got up onto her feet.
Ruby’s head slumped against Penny’s shoulder as she was dragged up, mumbling in disagreement as Penny went from holding her hand to draping an arm over her shoulder with an inquisitively raised eyebrow.
“Do you know what the first thing I said was when I woke back up?” She asked, looking to Ruby who slowly shook her head, “I asked where you were. Bless my dad’s soul, he didn’t know what on Remnant I was talking about! Eventually he did, considering I seemed to rarely shut up about you.” Penny paused, hearing a little giggle coming from the downtrodden girl at her side. She beamed wide, glad that telling her story was at least getting some sort of reaction.
“My point is, you have positively affected people’s lives in more ways than you’ll ever know. Just because you aren’t seeing a room full of happy smiling faces doesn’t mean that the knowledge of your existence hasn’t brought joy to someone somewhere.” Penny finally stopped, hoping that her words had gotten through to her. Ruby slowly looked up at the sky again, echoing Penny’s movement by wrapping an arm around her as they watched the fog,
“Other than you, nobody thinks about me, though. And when they do, it’s always ‘Ruby must be SO sad’ or ‘This must be so hard on Ruby’. I get doting, but I’m just a chore.”
Penny shook her head again, firmly placing her hands on Ruby’s shoulders.
“Two hundred and thirty seven nights.” She spoke, glaring at the huntress.
“Eh? What are-”
“Two hundred and thirty seven nights. That’s how long I waited for you to come back,” Penny continued, her grip on Ruby tightening ever so slightly, “I thought you were gone too, Ruby. Every night I would look up in the sky and just watch the stars, hoping one would come down and bring you back to me. I never got to say goodbye to you, and I begged for the day that I could say hello again instead.” She trailed off, before suddenly pulling Ruby in close and hugging her tight.
Ruby took everything in. The cold air around her being sliced in twain by Penny’s warmth, the way her friend trembled, the subtle sound of Penny doing her best to hold back tears. They were one and the same, keeping up brave facades to try and inspire light in an otherwise dark world. She gingerly returned the hug, slowly bringing her arms around Penny’s back.
“Y’know, you were wrong back there, Penny. I do have some selfish bones in my body.”
“Ruby, you know that isn’t tr-”
“Nono, you don’t understand. You’ve given them to me.”
Penny slowly pulled back from the hug, peering at Ruby with a confused expression. Ruby’s face went a deep red and she slapped herself before quickly fumbling her words back together.
“Okay okay, bad analogy! Look, what I’m trying to say is that you’ve done for me what I’ve apparently done for you. You make me feel like I matter. Everyone says I’m this important silver eyed warrior that has to be reserved and kept in line, but it’s never mattered to them that I’m still me beneath all that. You’re the only one that’s seen me through all that. So... Thank you, Penny.” She finally let out, her hands coming to rest on top of Penny’s arms.
Letting out a sweet little giggle, Penny brought her arms back, now taking hold of Ruby’s hands.
“This is just like when I told you I wasn’t real. Except… Well, now we both are! Not that you haven’t always been, and I also apparently have always been as well? Gah… Your bad analogy virus is rubbing off on me.”