Chapter Text
Ruby Rose was preparing herself for a night of rest in the lodgings that had become her and the others’ temporary home while in Mistral. It had been several long, busy days since the Battle of Haven, and even though the fight had been won—more or less—there was still plenty to be done in the aftermath.
They’d helped in rounding up what remaining Red Claw had slipped through their grasp the night of the battle, though not all of them were found… most worryingly of all, Adam Taurus. While he no longer held the power he once had, it would be naive to assume he wasn’t still a threat.
In fact, there had been no trace found of any of Salem’s collaborators, and it was safe to assume they had already fled Mistral. It bothered Ruby knowing that they were still out there, but she knew their paths would cross again. She just hoped that next time, they’d be taking some of them down.
Ruby sat down on her bed in her pajamas—a long-sleeved shirt and fluffy, comfy pants, Yang asleep in another bed next to hers, snoring. What personally worried her most was that there was no sign of Cinder either. Not even a body. She didn’t know what happened during the woman’s fight with Kadmeia, but she’d hoped that Cinder would be gone, no longer a problem they had to face… but perhaps that was hoping for too much.
Ruby let out a sigh. Ozpin had declared Atlas as their next destination. Getting there with their borders closed down would be no easy task, but she was sure Ozpin already had a plan for that—he always seemed to. But there was still too much they didn’t know. Lingering questions in her mind. Her eyes had flashed again, but she didn’t understand why or how to control them. They didn’t know what Salem’s people were planning next, how long they had before the next crisis arose… they still didn’t know much of anything, really.
Ruby groaned softly, rubbing her eyes. She was too stressed to sleep, that was already clear… and almost without thinking, she stood from her bed, carefully tiptoeing to the door so as not to wake her slumbering sister.
In short time, Ruby found herself quietly knocking on the door to the room Weiss Schnee was staying in. While Blake had been staying with her parents and the rest of the White Fang, Weiss had elected to stay with Ruby’s group instead—she could certainly understand why. It had been so long since they’d all been together like this… even if they were kept so busy they didn’t exactly have much time for catching up, it was nice just to be close.
Ruby had gotten the basics of what had happened on Blake and Weiss’s end at the very least—Blake had run home to Menagerie, and Sun and his team had followed her, not wanting her to be alone. One thing led to another, and they were all stranded together on the continent. Weiss had fled Atlas, only for her ship to be seized by Red Claw and for Weiss to be personally delivered to Adam Taurus in Menagerie. Blake and the others eventually rescued her, though Weiss had been a bit cagey on the details and had cut off Blake before she could go into specifics. However, as the rest of their tale went, once the Red Claw there had been rousted, they’d all traveled to Mistral to stop the attack on Haven.
Weiss, Blake, and Team Triple S had also been told about everything that transpired with Ruby and the others, which meant everyone at least had some picture of what had happened between all of them.
Ruby didn’t hear any movement from beyond the door. Of course, Weiss could very well be sleeping—she had to be exhausted, too. Ruby was about to walk away when she finally heard shuffling and the sound of the handle turning as the door was pulled ajar. “Ruby…?”
Ruby turned, looking at the door to see Weiss peeking out. Her hair was down, falling over her pale shoulders like white curtains. She wore a light blue cami top and some white shorts, far less… expensive looking than her usual fare.
Ruby smiled sheepishly. “Sorry—I didn’t wake you up, did I?”
Weiss shook her head. “No, not at all. I was still getting ready for bed.”
“Right,” Ruby said, more of a breath than actual speech. “I, uh… was thinking too much and couldn’t sleep. You… mind if I come in?”
Weiss smiled, and Ruby felt a tidal wave of warmth crash over her. How long had it been since she’d last seen that smile? So slight, and yet it felt so significant to her. The way Weiss’s dimples became more defined, the way her eyebrows relaxed, her eyes softening… picturing it in her head never did the real thing justice.
“Of course,” Weiss said, pulling the door open and stepping aside to let Ruby through. “I… was sort of hoping we’d have some time to talk anyway.”
Ruby stepped through. “Yeah, guess we’ve been a little too busy, huh?”
The two walked toward the bed. Weiss was the only one staying in this room—Ruby and Yang shared one, as did Team JNR, and Raven, Qrow, and Oscar had another, leaving one unclaimed. They sat down next to each other… and remained silent.
Ruby realized that, sitting here now, she didn’t have the slightest clue how to start a conversation with someone she hadn’t seen in months. So much had happened… the last time they’d seen each other before Haven was just before Ruby charged up the Beacon Tower, Weiss shoving a charm into her hand and Ruby making a promise.
Suddenly, Weiss’s hand was near Ruby’s face, brushing away a lock of hair, fingertips ghosting the skin of her forehead. “When’s the last time you cut your hair?”
“Uh… when we were still at Beacon, I think.”
Weiss smiled again, wistful. “It’s a mess.”
Ruby giggled. “Yeah, guess it is.”
Weiss lowered her hand… placing it atop Ruby’s on the bed. She stared Ruby in the face. “Every time I look at you here, I… I start wondering if any of this is real. Sometimes I worried that we… that we’d never see each other again.”
Ruby placed her other hand on top of Weiss’s, squeezing it. “I would’ve found you. No matter what.”
Weiss chuckled. “I know, you dolt.” Her cheeks glowed with a rosy pink, and a sly grin crossed her lips as she reached up to touch the top of Ruby’s head with her free hand. “But when did you get taller than me?”
“I guess I hit my last growth spurt,” Ruby said with a laugh. “Nice to be the one looking down at someone for a change.”
“Lucky,” Weiss grumbled… before snickering and falling into a laugh.
Ruby started to laugh as well. It felt amazing, just the two of them poking fun at each other like they used to… she needed this. As they laughed, they leaned closer together, their faces drawing near.
And ever so gradually, the laughter began to fade, the two looking deep into each other’s eyes.
“Ruby, I… I really missed you.”
“I missed you too.” Ruby felt herself move closer, almost instinctively. “I… there wasn’t a day that went by where I didn’t think of you, Weiss.”
Their hands had moved as well. Ruby’s were on the bed on either side of Weiss’s thighs, Weiss’s behind her, holding herself up. She was leaning backward, Ruby starting to lean over her… leaning closer and closer.
“Yeah?” Weiss said, barely more than a whisper escaping her lips.
Ruby felt drawn in, like a satellite pulled into Weiss’s gravity. And the only thought in her mind was how she wanted to be closer—wanted to touch her, to hold onto her and never let her go again.
Ruby moved her hand further up the bed, bringing her some of that extra distance… but her arm brushed past Weiss’s side, where the corner of her top had moved up just so slightly without her realizing it.
Ruby felt a scar… the one left behind by Cinder’s claws. And then all she could see was Weiss crumpled on the ground, weak in her arms, bleeding everywhere… her quiet words, the color draining from her face….
Ruby launched herself back from Weiss, her heart pounding in her chest, sweat already starting to bead on her forehead, and pure terror racing through her veins.
In an instant, Weiss was sitting up again, reaching out to Ruby with worry. “Ruby? Ruby, are– are you okay? Did I do something–?”
Ruby stood from the bed, stepping away and trying to slow her breathing enough to answer. “No, no, Weiss, you– it wasn’t anything you did, I just– I– I’m fine.”
“You… you don’t seem fine.”
Ruby ran her hand over the top of her scalp. This had been a bad, stupid, terrible idea. “I think I just need to go get some fresh air. Sorry, we can talk more later.”
Weiss’s hand fell to her side from where it had still been reaching out toward Ruby. “...Okay. Just… let me know if you need anything, alright?”
Ruby mumbled an “I will,” which she was pretty sure was barely intelligible as she left the room.
She made her way out onto one of the balconies and took in a deep breath of the cool night air, releasing it through her mouth. She leaned over the railing, tangling her fingers in her hair.
That had been… what had that been? Everything happening before, then… then the absolute terror that had entered Ruby’s mind. The thought of how fragile this all was, how easily she could lose Weiss—lose anyone. And when Weiss had been hurt, she’d fallen apart….
Ruby lifted her head, looking up at the vast night sky. It was all so much to take. And now that the spike of adrenaline she felt was fading away, bone-deep tiredness overtook her senses. She backed away from the railing, lying down on the balcony deck so she could look up at the stars.
She would just rest a moment, get her bearings, and then she’d go back inside and go to bed. She wouldn’t be long.
But then her eyelids began to feel heavy… and a few seconds later, she decided that maybe this wasn’t such a bad place to sleep after all.
Ruby opened her eyes to a dark, silent void. She saw no visible source of light, but when she held her hands out in front of her, she could see them as clearly as if it were day. Looking down, she saw the softly rippling reflection of herself beneath her, like she was standing on the surface of a black ocean.
Ruby turned—nothing behind her either. Nothing but the shadow.
“Why, this is an interesting development—you’re further along than I’d thought.”
Ruby turned her head again, looking for the source of the unfamiliar voice. It was smooth, silky… but it made her skin crawl, made every hair on the back of her neck stand up, made her brain instinctually command her to run.
But there was nowhere to run to. No escaping this place. “Who’s there?!”
Ruby heard the continuous sound of water being displaced, turning toward it—she saw a pale shape rising from beneath the surface she stood on, about ten feet away from her. As she looked closer, it appeared to be a face—bone-white with black sclera and red irises. It continued to rise, water flowing up beneath it in a vague, humanoid shape. Once it had risen eight feet into the air, the water below it solidified into a body—long and too thin, skeletal arms at its sides. In an instant, Ruby recalled the terrifying vision Emerald had left them with at the Battle of Haven.
The vision of Salem herself.
“It’s been quite some time since one of your kind have expanded their abilities enough to actually connect with me like this. The last one must’ve been… oh, a decade ago, perhaps?”
Ruby was breathing heavily, unable to tear her eyes away from the unsettling form before her, unable to even will her legs to move her away from it. “Y– you’re not real,” she stammered. “This is just a nightmare. You’re not real.”
Salem chuckled, the sound rich and deep. “Oh, I assure you, child, this is very much real… and you have those unique eyes of yours to thank for it.”
Ruby swallowed down her fear. She still wanted to believe this was all just a dream… but something in her gut told her Salem was right. “My eyes? What do you mean?”
Salem smiled wide—too wide. “Those are answers that I’m afraid you will have to find yourself. Besides—I have questions of my own. I’m very curious about the girl who has caused us this small bit of trouble in our plans.” She laughed again. “Do you know this is a fight you cannot win?”
Ruby grimaced. “You can say that as many times as you want, but you’re not gonna scare us off. We are going to stop you.”
“Oh, sweet child,” Salem cooed. “I’m afraid you don’t quite grasp what I mean. This is not some empty boast—it is a simple fact that this war is impossible for you to win.”
Ruby was starting to feel more confident. Part of that was because she was becoming certain that, whatever this place was, Salem could do no harm to her here—after all, if she could, Ruby doubted she’d even bother with a conversation. That, and all Salem had were empty threats. “We stopped the attack on Haven. The Pestilence is dead.”
Salem chuckled. “Only minor setbacks, my dear. They are of no true consequence to my plans. I suppose he did not tell you the truth, did he? He always was very… economical with it.”
Ruby braced a foot behind her. “‘He?’ Who’s ‘he?’ And what truth are you talking about?”
Salem tilted her head to the side—then slithered forward like a snake, coiling around Ruby and looking her straight in the eyes, their faces inches apart. “Why, the one you call Ozpin, of course. And I’m referring to the truth about me. That I cannot be killed.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes. “Everyone can die. Even you.”
Salem’s irises shrank to pinpricks, her toothy smile stretching even further along her cheeks, far past the point of what was natural. “Is that so? You already know that isn’t quite the case, don’t you? All you have to do is look to your beloved Headmaster for proof of that. Is it so unreasonable to you that I, too, am also immortal? Though, perhaps more in the traditional sense, unlike Ozpin. But perhaps you’re right… after all, Ozpin would never lie or omit information to serve his own purposes, right?”
Ruby could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage. She didn’t want to believe this… but what if Salem was telling her the truth? There was no reason to trust her, but Ozpin had shown that he was not quite so trustworthy himself at times. Everything about him was layers upon layers of secrets… it wasn’t impossible to reason that what Salem was saying could be one of them.
Salem’s body continued to circle around Ruby, though her head remained completely stationary, still smiling in that disturbing way. “The world is not a fairy tale, Ruby Rose. The adventurous heroes in those stories your mother read to you as a child were nothing more than the idle fantasies of those too weak to grasp the power they coveted for themselves. After all… if you were anything like those heroes, you wouldn’t have been too slow to save your friends, would you?”
The faces of Penny and Pyrrha flashed in Ruby’s mind.
Salem slid back from Ruby. “And you wouldn’t have to worry that you won’t be able to protect those close to you.”
“S– stop it,” Ruby said, her voice weak. “That’s not true!”
Salem just chuckled quietly to herself, lifting a bony hand to her side and turning it upward as she raised her arm. Seemingly summoned by her, something began to rise from the water… something familiar to Ruby. A girl close to her age with long, white hair and a scar across her left eye. Weiss….
“This girl…” Salem spoke, reaching a sharp finger out and tracing it along Weiss’s jawline. “She has been very prevalent in your thoughts during our conversation. Curious… you must care for her quite deeply.” Suddenly, she put her clawed finger at Weiss’s throat.
Ruby felt herself involuntarily flinch forward, her heart jumping, overwhelmed by the instinct to keep Weiss safe.
Salem grinned. She moved her hand away, and “Weiss” dropped back down under the surface of the black water. “If you really want to protect this girl, to ensure her safety, then you should demand the truth from Ozpin. The whole truth, the truth of how hopeless your struggle really is. I look forward to meeting you again… Ruby Rose.”
With that, Ruby suddenly found herself back on the balcony, sweat trickling over her entire body. She was still lying on her back, still facing up at the stars. She hadn’t gone anywhere.
She sat up, waiting for her heartbeat to slow back down to a natural rhythm. She was shaking—trembling with fear. She pulled her knees to her chest, trying to focus on breathing.
Ruby’s eyes caught the charm on her wrist that Weiss had given her. Salem had known exactly what to target to make her feel afraid. Her attachment to Weiss… it was a weakness their enemy could exploit, like Cinder had—aiming for Weiss to make Ruby fall apart when her ability to stay composed was her most valuable asset as a leader.
That couldn’t happen again. Ruby needed to be reliable, someone the rest of her team could lean on, turn to for guidance in battle. She couldn’t crack just because one person was in trouble. If anyone else got hurt or killed because she lost focus… it would be her responsibility.
It would hurt, but there was only one thing she could do. She had to distance herself from Weiss. It was what was best for her and for everyone else.
Ruby traced her thumb over the bracelet. Despite her decision… she still couldn’t bear the thought of parting with it.